> That Others May Live
>  by CptBrony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


That Others May Live



Airman First Class Jack “Frost” McDaniel and Lt. Harris “Duke” Sky walked around the airstrip at Pope Field, North Carolina. They weren’t talking; they were too busy taking in the sights. It was their first time there, after all. They had both gone into the Air Force after college. Harris had attended the United States Air Force Academy, where he boxed and excelled academically. He was considered one of the best fighters in collegiate boxing in the United States. He had every intention of getting to where he was. Jack, on the other hand, had been planning on going into finance after college. He was no sports star; he was pretty much an average guy. But he had been considering a military career for a long time, and when he learned about this, he was quick to go for it. He trained hard during college, but after, he enlisted instead of going in as an officer. He never thought of himself as a leader of men.

Now, here they were, joining up with the Twenty-fourth Special Tactics Squadron at their new home base. It had been hard to get here, but they made it. After seven years as Pararescuemen, they were able to try out and join up. Both made it, and that was where they first met. They were the only ones of their group to make it. “Wow. So, what do you think we’re gonna do first?” Jack asked. 

Harris shook his head slowly, still dazed by being at Pope. “Don’t know. Probably more training?” It still hadn’t quite hit either of them that they were now in one of the most secretive units in the US Military. They had no idea what they should expect. “I bet there’ll be a whole lot more stuff on staying hidden and more first aid and serious medical treatment training.” 

Jack nodded. “Yeah.” He thought for a moment. “I wonder what kinds of missions we’ll get?” Harris looked up to the sky. “No idea.”

An F-22 Raptor took off down the runway next to them, lifting off the runway and speeding off. They had to plug their ears when it flew by. “Let’s go!” Harris yelled, forgetting that the noise was gone. Jack nodded, and they ran away from the airstrip towards a hangar.

They ran all the way to the hangar, their training having made it easy for them to run nonstop for any short distance. Once there, they stopped and looked around. All around them, there were C130’s, among other cargo planes, and even a C5 Galaxy. “The sheer size of those things will never cease to amaze me.” Harris commented.

“Yeah. How humanity managed to pull that off is beyond me.” 

Harris laughed. “And that’s why you and I aren’t engineers or technicians.” Jack shared a laugh, and they walked along the hangar’s outside wall.

They walked along the wall until they reached the door to the hangar. It was wide open, revealing the sleek form of a B-2 Stealth Bomber in all its glory. Under it were half a dozen technicians and maintenance boys making sure that it didn’t fall apart on them or stop being stealthy. Everyone in the military is important. “The techies are still hard at work I guess.” There was always a little rivalry between the Twenty-fourth at Pope and the techies. They would prank each other; in secret of course; couldn’t have the brass find out; they made jokes, and generally mocked each other. But both knew the importance of the other. Jack and Harris walked on, letting the techies do their jobs.

They walked to the back of the hangar. Their CO had told them to meet him there for a discussion on their futures in the Twenty-fourth. Jack had been very excited, while Harris kept himself calm. “I wonder what he’s got for us?” Jack wondered aloud.

Harris shook his head. “I don’t know man, but my bet is that it’s more training.” 

Jack was fidgeting with his fingers. The anticipation was getting into his mind. But he wouldn’t let himself create any ideas of what to expect. “Probably.” he dismissed. There was a small room in the back of the hangar. Inside, Jack and Harris could clearly see their CO, Major Ash, but there was another guy there. Jack’s excitement turned into caution. “What..?” Harris shook his head and didn’t respond.

At the door, they knocked three times. “Come in.” an order came.

Harris looked at Jack, who let his hand float in front of him. “After you.” Harris cocked an eyebrow and led his buddy through the door. 

Inside, there were two men, Major Ash and a man they didn’t know. “Major..?” Harris began.

The Major held up a hand. “Sit.” Harris and Jack did as they were ordered. The Major pointed at the other man, who stood wearing a decent suit and sunglasses. “This man is from the CIA.” Major Ash explained. “He needs us to do something.” Jack and Harris looked to the CIA man, shock prevailing through their eyes. “If you would, OGA?”

The man sat down in the chair right behind him. “Thank you.” he replied, not facing the Major. He was staring straight at the two PJ’s before him. “I have a situation that I need to be resolved without becoming directly involved in.” Jack and Harris looked at each other. “Before I go into the details of the mission, let me give you some background.”

OGA put his elbows on his knees. “The CIA has been conducting secret operations in Pakistan for quite some time. We operate there in the search of terror cells and terrorist training camps.” He stood up and walked over to the wall. Reaching up, he got his hand on the bottom of a rolled up map and pulled it down. “We have spies, sure, but the men who I am referencing are the Special Activities Division. SAD operatives are working around the world every moment of every day. Even outside of wartime, they’re out there.” He pointed at Pakistan. “We know that there are training camps for terrorists here in Pakistan. SAD goes in there and takes out the camps and anyone in them. Now, that’s where the trouble starts for us now.” 

He turned around and looked at the PJ’s. “One of our men was going on a lone reconnaissance mission. His job was to get in there, find a suspected camp for Al Qaeda cells, and report it in. From there, we would send in a team to take out the camp.” He paused, waiting for a question.

“So why are we needed?” Jack asked.

OGA looked to Major Ash, who looked back. “The man we sent in hasn’t reported in. We aren’t sure what may have happened.”

Harris leaned back in his chair. “So why don’t you send in some of your guys to find him? Why would you need us?” 

OGA sat back down. “The CIA doesn’t exactly use the ‘none left behind’ prospect. When a SAD operative goes out, he does so because he doesn’t operate with any indication of being American. It gives us plausible deniability for why a foreign operative is in a country. We can say that it wasn’t us.” 

Jack looked at OGA in disbelief. “So you just abandon them if they get caught?” 

OGA nodded. “That’s what they join up for.” He continued. “Our SAD operative has gone missing, and I want you to find him and bring him home.”

Harris and Jack looked to OGA, then to Major Ash, then back to OGA. “If they sign up for this, and you’re one of them, then why are you trying to get him back? Doesn’t that go against your SOP?” 

OGA looked to Major Ash. The Major also looked pretty curious about this. “This operative happens to be one of my best friends. I understand it’s a conflict of interest; that’s why I came to JSOC. You guys live for this shit.” Jack sat back, but Harris couldn’t help but feel slightly offended. What did OGA mean by that? “You’re job is to go in and rescue our guy. So now, that’s what you’re going to do.” The PJ’s looked to Major Ash; he looked back at them. “It’s up to you boys. I can’t make you take on an unbooked operation for the CIA.” 

Harris looked at OGA, then turned to Jack. “Let me talk to my guy here.” OGA nodded and walked over to Major Ash, presumably to talk about whatever they would be needing. Meanwhile, Jack and Harris were talking on their own. “Do you think we should take the op?” Harris asked. He always asked for Jack’s input. Teamwork is essential to an effective team. “I mean, it’s kinda odd. This isn’t exactly a normal op.” 

Jack looked to OGA, who was now arguing with Major Ash. “I think we probably should. This guy is in the SAD; probably originally from JSOC. He must be pretty valuable to the CIA, and to national security.” Harris couldn’t argue that point. He nodded to Jack, who nodded back, and they turned around.

“We’ll do it.” Major Ash turned around to face his boys. OGA wore a smile.

“Alright.” the Major said. “From now until the end of the op, you’ll be under his command.” The PJ’s looked at OGA, taking in his elated countenance. This would be interesting.

*********************************************************************************

A week after the meeting, they found themselves in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. This was the same place that the raid on Bin Laden was staged from; appropriate. 

The brutal midday sun beat down on the Pararescuemen as they walked from the barracks of the base to the hangar. They were lugging most of their gear with them. Harris carried a 4.7x30mm MP7 PDW for his primary and a 5.7x28mm FN Five-SeveN for his sidearm. He carried ten mags for the MP7 and ten for the Five-SeveN. Other then that, the only things he carried were first aid and survival gear, like a blowout kit, his knife, water, some food, and his plates. Jack carried a 5.56x45mm HK416 assault rifle and eight mags, and a 9x19mm Sig P226 pistol with eight mags as well. On his thigh, he carried his prized CRKT FE9 Combat Knife. Like Harris, he also had things like a blowout kit, water, some food, and his plates. The rest of what they would need was in the hangar already.

They walked through the hot climate pondering what may await them in Pakistan. Neither spoke; there was little to be said yet. Jack wondered what his first mission with the Twenty-fourth would feel like. “This is crazy!” he thought, but in a good way. “I’m going on a top secret mission to retrieve some OGA guy from another country.” He thought about what consequences there might be. “If we’re caught, we’ll die. But if we succeed...” He had no idea what would happen when they returned. No credit, but certainly some prestige among their fellow airmen. Harris, on the other hand, was thinking about how to counter any trouble that they may encounter. 

“If we run into Pakistani forces, out best bet would be to run and gun. Terrorists? Probably kill ’em.” They were looking for a guy whose job was to hunt and kill terror leaders and such. A few dead terrorists wouldn’t be so bad. “Civvies? Nothing, I think. But it will all depend on the ROE.” 

Their thoughts were cut short by a voice calling out to them from up ahead. “Hurry it up, guys! You’re on a timeline!” They both looked up; OGA was standing in the hangar door, clearly unhappy with the PJ’s timing. They looked at their watches simultaneously; they were far from being late. 

They walked up to the OGA guy, whose name they still didn’t know, and likely never would. “We’re ready.” Harris said. There was no point in arguing with the man about the fact that they were actually early. His friend was lost in Pakistan; of course he was short. 

“Good.” OGA replied curtly. He led the PJ’s into the hangar. “Alright, before I get you on the plane, let me talk to you about what I was discussing with some higher-ups earlier.” Jack groaned. It couldn’t be good. “Relax. You’ll be flying in on this C130. Then, when you’re over your target, you’ll jump, obviously. Once you get your feet on the ground, you’ll start your search for my guy. Odds are,” he said, pulling out a map. “He’s somewhere around here.” He was pointing at a very mountainous area of Pakistan, almost towards the border with India. “He was looking for terror cells that were planning to distract the world by attacking India, then attack the US.” He handed Jack the map. “He landed around there, we believe. When you find him, get out of the area and activate this beacon.” He handed them a small radio. “You’ll have to get out of the mountains because, for whatever reason, comms aren’t working out there.”

Harris felt uneasy about that. Comms not working, a SAD operative going missing and not being heard from... something was up. “Sir, if you don’t mind my asking, what’s going on? This is the weirdest op I’ve ever heard of for PJ’s. What’s going on?” 

OGA looked at him through his large sunglasses. “We don’t know. That’s the rough part. We can honestly say that we have no idea why this is happening. That’s why we’re sending you in.” Harris and Jack decided not to take it the wrong way. “When you’ve activated the beacon, we’ll send in a stealth chopper to get you. Odds are, we’ll send it from Jalalabad, and it’ll bring you back there. If not, from and to India.” Harris nodded. Jack bunched his face displeasingly. “You’ll be fine. I can only hope that my guy is right now.” The PJ’s looked at each other.

“Don’t worry.” Jack assured OGA. “We’ll bring him home.” That was a promise the the aimed to keep.

They all started walking over to the C130 in the hangar. Not wanting to walk in awkward silence, Jack struck up conversation. “So, what other stuff did you discuss while you were talking with the higher-ups?” he asked OGA. Harris looked at him with a face that said, “Really?”, but OGA chuckled.

“The ‘Good Idea Fairy’ decided to pay us a visit.” Jack blinked. Harris groaned. “No worries; I kept her at bay.” Jack stepped forward and walked next to OGA. 

“What did she bring us?”

OGA started to laugh. “Well, some genius thought that we should drop you from a B2, so that you wouldn’t risk being shot down. Another guy suggested sending you in with six guys from SFOD-D or DEVGRU. I explained that this was a small operation that needed minimal people involved; more people could get harder for this op. Another guy suggested using Stealth Fighters to take out potential enemy targets before you dropped. That idea got scrapped immediately. Those were easily the dumbest ideas, but there were certainly others.” Suddenly, Jack and Harris really appreciated this OGA guy running the op.

They were next to the plane. “Alright. When you drop, it looks like there’ll be some cloud cover. We’ll spend the next few hours getting everything prepared and quadruple checked. We’ll be off the ground at 2100. See you then.” The PJ’s nodded to OGA and set about checking all of their gear.

*********************************************************************************

The time for departure came quickly, though it didn’t feel so for Jack and Harris. Everything else that they needed was in the C130; parachutes and some small things, like bribing money and some tech. The tech included night vision, satcoms, thermal scopes, radio coms to talk to each other, and a laser for marking locations for a satellite. They also received some other gear; two flash-bang grenades each, one frag each, and one flare gun each. They put it all in their battle-rattle and took their seats in the plane.

OGA was across from them. “Alright, from now on, you’ll have to refer to each other by your callsigns.” He waited. 

“Frost.” Jack said.

“Duke.” 

OGA nodded. “Alright.” He gave a thumbs-up to the guy by the front, who returned it and went to the cockpit. A few minutes later, the plane started up. “Okay, so here’s what we’ve got.” OGA started. “Weather reports indicate a cloud bank that’s been hanging around the area for a while. Unfortunately, you’ll have to jump through it.” Frost and Duke looked at each other. “From Pakistani weather reports, the clouds are still about five thousand feet above the ground. That’s still enough time for your HALO drop.” The planes engines started up, and the C130 lurched forward on the runway. “You’ll be looking for this man.” OGA shouted over the engine, presenting a picture. The man in the picture was tall, wearing a skydiver’s outfit, and had a bunch of tech on him. 

“He had no weapons when he dropped, since we didn’t want to risk anything on a simple recon mission. Turns out, we were right.” Duke took the photo. “We’ll drop you in the same area where my guy dropped. Start searching from there. When you find him, use your satcoms to contact us, and we’ll come get you.” Duke and Frost sat back as the plane took off right as OGA finished talking.

They spent the rest of the flight in silence. Duke was checking his own gear, while Frost was admiring his FE9. “Have you ever seen a more perfect knife?” Frost asked rhetorically. 

“No, actually.” It’s a nice knife. 

“Yeah. Curved edges to prevent people from gripping the blade. Finger grooves to keep it in my hand. Anodized steel for a stealthy black finish. I tell you, it’s amazing. You have to get one.” Duke went back to his gear. He should get one after the op.

About twenty minutes after takeoff, the pilot got on the intercom. “DZ in ten mikes.” Duke and Frost got up and checked each other’s rigs. When they finished and gave their okays, they moved to the back of the plane where the door was. 

“Remember who you’re looking for!” OGA shouted. The door started to open. 

“Five mikes to DZ.” The red light on the side of the cabin glowed angrily. 

“And the rules of engagement are to get my guy the hell out of Pakistan!”

The light turned green. “GO GO GO!” the intercom shouted. Duke went out first, followed immediately by Frost. They looked down as they fell; OGA wasn’t kidding about the clouds. Even though it was night and it was dark, they were still the darkest things around, and they didn’t look very welcoming. They looked especially bad when there was a flash of lightning from underneath. 

“They didn’t tell us this would happen!” Frost thought, pissed off. He was about to be killed in a lightning storm because the CIA couldn’t keep track of its own people or check the damn weather report. Duke, meanwhile, was thinking tactically. “We’ll hopefully be safe until we hit the ground.” he hoped. He wasn’t a weatherman, so he didn’t know if the lightning would hit them mid-air.

When they first contacted the clouds, it felt like someone had shoved them hard on the whole front of their bodies. The clouds were bizarrely thick; they shouldn’t be able to get so dense that you can touch them like that. The trip was short, but incredibly unpleasant. Lightning flashed around them, blinding them for just a moment. Thunder boomed around them. It was as if someone had set off a stun grenade next to them. When they were finally clear of the clouds, they looked down. The ground was fast approaching, much faster than they were told to expect. 

“Deploy!” Duke shouted into his radio. He and Frost deployed their chutes, being yanked up by the sudden reduction in speed. There was no wind or rain; apparently, it was a dry lightning storm. 

“Boss, I thought that they said it would be raining.” Frost said into his radio. 

Duke looked around. “They did. And they were wrong.”

The ground was fast approaching. When they landed, it they had to roll upon contact since they hadn’t lost enough speed. So far, nothing had gone quite according to plan on this op. “They also said that we would have more space between us and the ground.” Duke nodded. Immediately, the two went about packing up their chutes. Unfortunately, since they did have US logos on them, they had to pack them up in a carriable fashion. Once they were done, they put the packs on their backs and looked west. 

“You wanna start in that direction, boss man?” Frost asked. Duke looked out there. In the distance, there was a small town with some lights. 

“Sure. Let’s get moving.” They started trekking through the mountains towards their destination, heedfully walking through the unfamiliar terrain, vigilant of their surroundings.

This journey was going to be a long one.


> Boots on the Ground
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Boots on the Ground


Duke and Frost got on the move down the mountain. Looking forward, the landscape wasn’t the most friendly; there were cacti everywhere, and the number of hills and mountains between them and whatever population was at the light was worse than he had expected. “This is what I signed up for.” Duke thought. He was retrieving an American who needed to be rescued; he was living his dream.

He and Frost looked up at the sky. Unexpectedly, the clouds had disappeared completely, revealing a much starrier sky then there should have been. “Yo, Duke. Isn’t this like a six on that scale of stars you can see in the sky?” Frost asked.

Duke looked over at him. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” he replied. 

Frost ignored it and kept talking. “This sky is like what you would see in the Australian Outback. Something is up.” He was shaking his head as he spoke. Duke looked up at the sky; there were more stars than in Jalalabad, he could see that. 

“Whatever, man. Let’s keep moving.”

They walked on, the dirt crunching under their boots like thousands of tiny ice cubes being crushed by an icemaker. The stars twinkled in an unnatural light. Even the landscape seemed off. “Maybe he has a point.” Duke thought. While he was reflecting on the oddness of the landscape, he he pulled out the pair of binoculars from his survival kit. “Hold.” he ordered. Frost stopped dead in his tracks. Duke pulled up the binoculars and laid down on the ground. The zoom was 14x; he would have to be still. He aimed them at the town. “I’m not detecting any movement.” he said. There were two large, decorated horses outside a building, chewing something in a strange fashion. He lowered the optics. “I got horses. There’s definitely people down there.”

Frost nodded. “How fast should we approach?” he asked. “We should try to get there by morning.” 

They got back on the move. After about three hours of trekking through mountainous terrain, they were about halfway to the small village. Frost looked to their right and stopped. “Dude, hold on.” he said. Duke looked over; what was so interesting? “Check this out.” Duke walked over. It was just a cactus, nothing special. “Take a good look at it.” Duke rolled his eyes and looked hard at it. 

Then he noticed. “It’s like, one really funky shade of green all over.” he commented. “Shouldn’t it have shadows? The moon is out.” That was when he realized another thing; the moon hadn’t been out earlier. 

“Boss, something is seriously wrong here.” Duke couldn’t help but to agree with the sentiment.

“Let’s go.” he said, trying to ignore the cactus. “We have a job to do.”

Not five minutes after moving again, Duke was getting that feeling like something was going to go wrong. So he pulled up his satcom. “Overlord, this is Papa Romeo Two. Something is weird out here. How copy, over?” He listened; nothing. Comms were, indeed, down. “Frost, comms aren’t working.” He turned around, a scowl on his face.

“How? The radios are just fine. And the clouds are gone.” He turned around and looked to the village. “What the hell is going on?”

Duke shook his head. “Let’s just try to get the mission done. Then we can get outta here.”

Frost nodded. “Roger that.”

They walked on.
*********************************************************************************
They arrived at a point about three hundred meters away from the village at one hour before dawn, up on a small cliff to remain unseen. The sky was just beginning to change, going from a dark black and blue to a glorious range of orange hues and purple clouds. It was totally silent; not a noise emanated from the area around the Pararescuemen. The valley in which they learned the village was located in was still coated with darkness, a foreboding blanket on an untamed land of hostility. The cool desert air from the night would soon be replaced by the blazing hot air of the day. The two men used their night vision to get a good view of the houses.

The horses were gone, nowhere to be seen. The men took that as their indication to get moving into the village to search for signs of the OGA boy. “Let’s roll.” Duke ordered. Frost nodded, and they descended from their small cliff down to the village.

They approached slowly and quietly, weapons trained on the village in front of them. They had no way of knowing if any hostiles were present in the village. Or the village could become hostile of OGA was here and they tried to rescue him. Either way, the Pararescuemen found it to be a better idea to keep cautious. “Stay frosty.” Duke said. He heard a small chuckle in his radio com. 

“Am I ever not?” He smiled and they stacked up at the edge of the village.

They were next to the wall of a mud hut, keeping an eye in all directions. Duke moved out of cover first, but only a little. He scanned the area for hostiles and found none. “Move.” he said.  He left the cover of a wall, followed quickly by Frost, and they moved through the village. None of the lights were on in the buildings. “They must have left for the night.” Duke thought. Up ahead, they saw a house that looked much larger than the rest in the village. If they were holding a prisoner, it would probably be in there. “House up ahead.” Duke said. Behind him, Frost grunted.

They advanced on the house, being sure to scan the areas around them for hostiles. Once they were at the house, they regrouped. “We’ll go around.” Duke whispered. “Search for another entrance. A window, if necessary.” 

Frost nodded. “I’ll take point.” They moved around the house. When they were at the next wall, a light suddenly came on above them. 

“Hold!” Duke whispered. They stopped dead in their tracks and listened.

“فماذا حدث لهذا المخلوق من قبل بضعة أيام?” a male voice said. They were speaking in Arabic.

“I thought they spoke Urdu here.” Frost commented. Duke nodded. He thought so too.

“اعتقد انه ذهب الى الملك للاسترشاد بها.” A female voice responded.

“Dang. This could be trouble.” They listened for a bit longer, but it was just more Arabic. They moved on to the back of the house.

They scanned the area from the corner before approaching the back yard. Once they confirmed that nothing was there, they moved forward. Around them were a number of articles of clothing hanging on a wire. But something was off. “Boss, this is too weird.” Duke moved to get next to Frost, who had moved to examine the garments. “They’re not anything I’ve ever seen another person wear.” There were strangely shaped shawls, bizarre ear covers... and several saddles. 

“Must be for their horses.” He looked around; there were no horses. “Let’s move.” It was getting harder to ignore the strangeness of the operation.

They approached the back door. It was closed, and they couldn’t hear any voices on the other side. “Frost, take point.” Frost moved forward and tentatively put his hand on the door. It was unlocked. “Breaching.” he whispered. He slowly pushed the creaky door open. There was movement inside. 

“Hide!” Frost whispered over radiocoms. They ran from the house and hid among the garments. Shortly after, a figure, the visual obscured by clothes, came out.

“من هناك؟” the male voice asked. When he received only the night wind as a response, he went back inside and closed the door behind him. Duke let out a pent up breath.

“That was close.” Frost commented on his coms. Duke looked over at him; he was crouching on the ground in a firing pose. “Let’s move.” he said. They could come back to this house later.

They moved away from the back yard of the house and onto other homes in the village. Most were not so large; they were single level, maximum two room huts. Even then, only a handful were two room. “I’m glad I live in America.” Duke commented. 

“True that.” They cleared most of the homes fairly quickly; the residents were either asleep or not home. “Is it just me, or are most of these homes empty?” They were.

“I don’t know.” Duke replied. “Let’s get back to the main house.” They were calling it the main house because of how big it was.

They returned to the backyard of the main house and crouched among the garments again. Up ahead, the house was silent again, the lights no longer on. “Could be a trap.” Duke thought. He looked to Frost; he was thinking the same. Frost pointed up at the roof. Duke cocked an eyebrow. “How?” He then pointed to a wall on the side. “Nice.” he complimented. Frost moved to the wall and leaned against it, cupping his hands. Getting a running start, Duke ran at him and jumped up, getting a boost from Frost on his way up. Duke reached up and got his hands on the edge of the wall and pulled himself up. He leaned over the side of the wall. “Your turn.” But instead of taking his hand, Frost ran at the wall and tried to run up it. He just hit the wall with a body slam.

“Ow.” he said, laying on the ground. Duke shook his head. 

“Just take my hand, ice brain.” Frost moved back and took a look at the wall. He sighed in defeat and ran forward. As he leapt up the wall to get Duke’s hand, the lights in the house came back on. “Crap!” Duke thought as he yanked Frost up the wall. As soon as he was stably on the wall, they ran to the roof. Below them, they could hear someone walking out of the house and into the yard. But the sounds that came from his or her feet were unusual; it was like this person had four legs instead of two. 

“الذي هو هنا؟ وأنا أعلم أنك هنا.” It was the man. When he got no response, he continued speaking. “إذا كنت ودية، وأنا لن القتال.” Frost looked to Duke, who was already looking at Frost. Neither had any idea what this guy was saying. After a few minutes of silence, the man sighed loudly. “ربما كانت على حق. ربما أنا أتخيل الأشياء.” He walked back inside.

Duke and Frost waited for a few minutes before moving. Being on the roof, they had the potential to wake up anyone who might be below them. They turned around on their bellies. Behind them, there was a pair of rooms on the roof, each with a door leading to the roof where they were. The two men stood up, weapons at the ready. “Move.” Duke ordered. They approached the two rooms and looked inside.

Duke saw something that changed how he was looking at this mission for good. Using his finger, he signaled for Frost to join him. “What is it?” Frost whispered. Duke pointed in front of them into the room. Before them, lying in a bed, was one of the horses that Duke had seen before they approached the village. It snored peacefully in the bed, its chest rising slowly as it took in precious breath. It was colored as strangely as the cacti in the region. Very monochromatic in spots, but overall, very technicolor in appearance. It’s head was shaped a tad odd, being somewhat more pointed at the snout. The eyes were enormous, taking up most of the horse’s face.

Frost backed up slowly, pulling Duke with him. “Boss,” he said. “I don’t think we landed in Pakistan.”

A noise came from a staircase in the corner of the room. Frost shoved Duke away from the line of sight of the window and moved to one side of it. He listened. “البكم الضوضاء، مع نومي بعيدا.” He moved away from the window a ways and dared a look inside; sure enough, the man was a horse too. Presumably, that was his mare in the bed. The stallion climbed in and slept fairly quickly.

Frost moved forward to pick up Duke, but he was already getting up. When Frost was up next to him, Duke had a spacy look on his face. “Boss?” he asked. 

“Alright. We landed in a weird place where there are apparently talking horses.” Duke looked at his partner. “Did we ingest or smoke anything before we came here?” he asked. Frost shook his head. “Right.” He thought hard. “This might explain the lack of comms. And if that’s true for us...” It had to be true for the OGA boy; which meant that he was in this world too. “Frost, here’s the gameplan.” Frost knelt down and listened intently. “Logic says that the OGA boy must also be here, since he’s also not in contact with CENTCOM. We still have a job to do; so let’s go do it.” Duke stood up and moved to the other room that could be accessed from the roof. 

Smiling cynically, Frost followed. “This mission is just getting more and more interesting.” 

The pointed the barrels of their weapons into the room before peeking inside. There were two very small horses in two beds in this room, both sound asleep. The men moved in slowly, silently, making sure that they didn’t step on anything noisy that might awaken the small horses. Once both were inside, they looked around the room for any unlikely signs of OGA; that’s what they named their HVI. When they confirmed none, they moved to the staircase in the corner and descended into the first floor of the home.

At the base of the stairs, they scanned the room for any more signs of either OGA or hostiles. They saw nothing of either. “I’ll take left.” Duke said.

Frost nodded. “I got the right.” They separated into the two sections of the large house, each taking the time to investigate whatever room they came across. Duke went through the living room, what looked like a study, and what looked like a playroom for the kids. In them, he found no signs of OGA.

Frost went through a very stark room with a nice wooden floor. On the ceiling was a very expensive looking chandelier and several bizarre horse shoes on shelves off to the side. “Ball room.” he concluded. He investigated everything he could see, which wasn’t much. But he did find something. 

“Boss, I think I might have something.” he said into his radio. “What is it?” came the response. Frost picked up a zippo lighter. “I think our guy might be a smoker. I found a zippo lighter.” Duke waited a moment to reply. 

“Does it have a logo?”

Frost turned it around in his hand. “Negative.” In the other room, Duke was nodding to himself.

“Hold onto that.” Frost affirmed and moved on.

The next room he found himself in was the kitchen. There were numerous cupboards, two stoves, a fridge, a table, and an oven. “What?” Frost said quietly to himself. “What use do you have for these things when-” He stopped his thoughts. Something was off about all of this, more off than before. “Boss, how much light would you say came from these buildings earlier?” he asked.

“The amount you might get from a grouping of incandescent bulbs. Why?” Frost looked up; there were incandescent bulbs. 

“Is there a generator anywhere?” Duke must have taken a moment to think, because he took his time responding. 

“No, I didn’t see any.” There was a pause. “Just keep looking. We’ll figure this out later.” Frost nodded and went back to investigating.

The kitchen had been recently used, he could tell that much. The stove was still warm, the light bulbs looked like they were still glowing just a little bit, and there were dishes in the sink. Though no visible signs of OGA. “Boss, I got nothing- wait.” he saw something on the countertop that caught his attention. He walked over and picked up the item. “Scratch that, I think I got something.”

“What is it?” Duke asked immediately.

“I think I found his camera.” Frost turned the item over in his hands, inspecting it; no logos anywhere.

“Grab it, and meet me in the back of the house.” Frost put the camera on his gear web. 

“Roger.” It wasn’t easy with everything he was carrying.

He went to the back of the house, where Duke was waiting for him. “Let’s see it.” he said, holding his palm out. Frost pulled off the camera and handed it to Duke. “This was our guy’s alright. He was definitely here.” He stuffed it into his parachute pack. “Let’s move. The sun’s coming up.” Frost nodded, and the two men ran off away from the village, questioning what exactly was real and what was not.

> Contact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Contact



Frost and Duke ran from the village as fast as their feet would carry them. With all the rattle they were wearing, it was a tough run.

They stopped at a point about five hundred meters from the village, behind a large boulder. “What do we do now, boss?” Frost asked. He held out the lighter. “We have plenty of reason to think he may be here, but how should we proceed?” He flicked the lighter open, but didn't light it. No need to give away their position.

“We probably can’t just waltz in. Too risky.” Duke replied. They sat in silence. “Here’s the plan. We go back to the house, look for intel or a basement, then try to get out. If we don’t find anything, we’ll have to use interrogation tactics.” Frost frowned. 

“We aren’t trained for that.” he replied.

Duke shrugged. “We’ll just do it the way they do on TV and movies. Should be simple enough.” Frost sighed, but relented on it.

They rested behind the boulder for the day, taking shifts on who went to sleep just in case they were about to be uncovered. Once it was night again, they moved back into the village.

The Pararescuemen made a beeline for the main house, careful not to get too close to any other buildings on the way there. They made sure to stick to the shadows as they closed in. “We’re going in through the front.” Duke ordered. If they didn't find what they wanted, then they would go for the horse guy. 

“Roger.” Frost moved forward, ahead of Duke, and got right up to the doorway. But it wasn’t a door, it was just a curtain. “Guess there’s no breach and clear.” Frost commented, moving aside the curtain. There was no man or horse inside. Duke came up behind. “Clear.” Frost said very quietly. They moved in.

Both men had their weapons aimed forward as they cleared each room in the house in their search. Each room was clear; the owners must have been in bed already. Frost keyed his radio. “Boss, I got-” There was a loud thumping from upstairs. Frost sighed in the kitchen. “Boss, we got thump-thump.” 

Duke went silent. “Thump-thump?” he asked in seriousness.

Frost nodded. “Thump-thump.” More silence.

“Alright, we’ll check for a basement now.” Frost nodded to himself and went back the way he came. There was no basement.

He met back up with Duke. “You find a basement?” Duke shook his head slowly. Both men sighed. “Alright.” Duke looked at the his weapon, the only thing in his hands. “You find any intel?” he asked. Frost shook his head. Both men sighed again. “Alright. Upstairs we go.” They moved toward the staircase that they remembered led to the kids’ room, then found the other and moved up. Slowly and silently, they moved up. “Stack up.” Frost got behind Duke and prepared for the breach.

“GO!” They stormed into the room, taking either side. The stallion’s and mare’s heads shot to the side to find out who was bursting into the room. Before they could respond, Frost ran up and socked the stallion in the side of his head with his HK416, knocking back on the bed. The mare started screaming, but was quickly shut up when Duke pointed his MP7 at her and said in a low, menacing voice, “Shut it.” She went silent. he walked over to her. “You will remain silent.” He turned; Frost was standing on the side of the stallion, keeping him on the floor where he fell to after being bashed in the face. They nodded to each other.

“Alright.” Frost said. The stallion struggled very weakly under his boot. “Do you speak English?” The stallion looked up at him. 

“It not English; it Equish.” 

Frost blinked, then looked to Duke. He shrugged. Turning his attention back to the stallion, Frost put more weight on his foot. “Fine. Whatever.” He motioned for Duke to give him the picture, and when it was tossed to him, he snatched it up and put it before the stallion. “Where is this man?” The stallion studied the photo for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. “You took the camera.” Frost nodded. “Where is he?”

The stallion snorted. “He is not here.” he stated. “We never took him, if that is what you imply.” Frost put more weight down.

“Then why do you have this camera?” Duke tossed him the camera, which Frost put right into the stallion’s face.

Again, he snorted. “He gave it as payment for helping.”

Frost looked to Duke, who narrowed his eyes in thought. Frost took the moment to let him think. “Explain it.” The stallion cleared his throat before starting. 

“He said he landed here, not a place that he was supposed to land in. He asked how to get back to America, wherever that is. We told him we help, and he offered the camera as payment.” 

Frost pulled out the lighter. “And this?” The stallion looked at it. 

“I don’t know what that item is.” Frost lit a flame. 

“Ah. That must be what he used to smoke.” So he was a smoker. “Please get off. I will help you find him.” Frost looked back to Duke. He nodded, and Frost got off.

Frost moved back alongside Duke, both being right next to the window if things went wrong. The stallion stood, then looked to the mare. “Wait downstairs. Make tea.” The mare nodded and walked away, looking frightfully to Duke and Frost. Horses are flight animals, after all. “This ‘man’ you are looking for was here. Now he is not. We sent him to our leaders for help.”

Duke looked outside. “I thought you were the leader of the village.” The stallion nodded. 

“Yes. But not of the country.” He looked to both men, then continued. “Our leaders can show him a way home, we believe. If not them, others, maybe. Either way, he is gone.” 

Duke stepped forward. “Alright.” He looked to Frost, then back. “Take us to your leaders.”

Frost started cracking up, but the stallion clearly didn't understand why. “What is funny?” he asked. 

Frost waved a dismissive hand up. “Nothing, nothing. You were telling us..?” The stallion gave him an unsure look, then turned to Duke, who was still serious. 

“We will take you there in the morning. But if I may ask,” He waited for confirmation. When there was no response, he continued. “Why are you looking for him?” Duke looked to Frost, who shrugged. Your call boss. 

“He’s a buddy of ours, and some friends want him to come home.” The stallion looked fairly unconvinced. 

“I thought he might be a criminal, with how you treated me and my wife.” Neither man made any motion to apologize. “But I suppose I will take your word for it.” 

He walked over to the staircase. “Come.” he ordered. Frost and Duke walked on, wary of the potential for a hostile situation. They broke into this guy’s house and assaulted him and his wife. He might be really into honor fighting, or something. “My wife makes tea.” They exited the room.

They went downstairs and through all of the rooms to the kitchen. Through each room, the two men were scanning to check for the wife, in case she decided to attack. They heard her in the kitchen. “هو الشاي جاهز؟” he asked his wife as they all entered. She replied by bringing a tray of tea and cups with biscuits to the table. “شكرا لك.” The stallion turned to them. “Do you mind if she is with us?” The men shook their heads and sat. “Thank you.” The mare sat. “Might I ask why you have so very many things with you?” the stallion asked. 

The men looked at each other. “Gear. For our jobs.” The short answer was all the stallion needed to hear.

“Ah. I see. And what are your names?” Frost sipped his tea. 

“Frost.” 

“Duke.” the stallion nodded. “How about yours?” He looked to the two men, one at a time, as if gauging how he should respond. “Afaf.” The men nodded, glad to at least know the name of their apparent host.

They all sat there silently after exchanging names, sipping their tea cautiously, watching each other. Frost decided to try to break the awkward silence with a simple conversation. “How is it that you have electricity, but no way of generating electricity?” Afaf looked at him with a raised eyebrow for a moment, but his expression seemed to become understanding rapidly. 

“Ah. The other man wondered this. We have magic.” Frost and Duke blinked, looked at each other, and blinked again. 

“What?” Afaf repeated himself. “I thought I heard you right.” Afaf took the last sip from his tea. 

“The other man had the same reaction. We cannot explain; it just is. You do not have magic?” Duke and Frost shook their heads. Afaf nodded slowly, like he was trying to puzzle together some great conundrum. “Ah. I see. Then how do you have your things?” 

Duke set his cup down. “We use technology and innovation.” Afaf nodded again.

They sat in silence once again, neither party thinking of any way for them to talk without ultimately ending up in silence again. “The other man said he worked for the CIA.” Afaf’s wife suddenly stated. “Do you work for Princess Celestia of Equestria?” 

Duke cocked his eyebrow and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. “No, we don’t.” He leaned back forward. “Who is Celestia?” The mare blinked twice, then looked to her husband, who seemed to give the all clear for her to explain. 

“Well, she and her sister Luna are the rulers of Equestria, a nation to the west. We share a long border with them, and do much business with them.” She went on to explain the government, economy, and society of this neighboring state. “And a long time ago, they assisted us in our troubles against the Griffon insurgents.” 

Frost’s ears perked up. “Insurgents? In Saddle Arabia?” The mare nodded, not sure why it was so significant. “Boss, this world might be more like ours than one would think.” 

Duke nodded and shut his eyes for a moment. “Yep.” 

Duke decided that it was time to stop hoping for the conversation to take a new turn. “So, this man, he said that he’s CIA?” Afaf and his wife nodded. “And can you tell us anything about him?” 

Afaf looked to his wife, who shrugged at him. “Well,” he began. “He was a very good guest. Polite. Smoked outside. Great with our little ones. He said that he dropped into some place called Pakistan to find insurgents. We just assumed that that was his name for Saddle Arabia.” 

Duke put his elbows on the table. “I can tell you now, it isn’t. Pakistan is a country that is far away from here.” 

Afaf nodded, and continued with his explanation. “Ah. Okay. Well, anyhow, we thought that he would help us with our current insurgent problem. The Griffons have returned to cause trouble. Equestria helps as much as it can, but we fear that that may not be enough. When your friend said he was CIA, we thought that meant Celestial Intervention Agency. Celestia’s secret group of spies and whatnot. We sent him to our leader, King Sauri. We thought that he would help with the troubles.”

Duke and Frost took this all in with grim faces. They were hoping to simply locate OGA, nab him, and get out. They weren’t expecting to end up in some other world and having to avoid getting involved  with their terrorist problems. “Is something troubling you?” Afaf’s wife asked. 

“No, we’re fine.” Frost lied. He leaned into Duke’s ear. “Boss, we might have to keep our jobs a secret. If they find out about them, this could end badly.” 

Duke nodded. “I know.” They refocused on the horses on front of them. “Alright. In the morning, when we go to see this King Sauri, we’ll ask him about our friend.” Afaf nodded. “Good. Now that that is done, let us all get some rest.” He stood up. “You may sleep anywhere on this level. Good night.” The Pararescuemen nodded as Afaf and his wife walked away and went upstairs.

A few minutes after the master of the house left, Frost and Duke got up and walked around slowly, looking for a relatively comfortable place to sleep. “Boss, I don’t like this.” Frost commented. Duke nodded grimly. “If they have him, or know where he is, we might be forced to take him back by force. For one reason or another.” 

Duke sighed. “I know.” he replied. This was all getting too weird for him. “Let’s just try to get some rest for now. We’ll be moving out early, I’ll bet.” They went into what looked like a living room with a couch and a nice carpet. Duke took the couch and Frost took the floor. 

“Why do you get the couch?” Frost asked in mock resentment. 

“Because I’m the officer.”

Frost lay down and looked up at the ceiling, to the light with no electricity. “How did you become an officer?” he asked. Duke shifted on the couch and looked up as well. 

“I went to the Air Force Academy.” He sat up and tossed off his parachute, prompting Frost to do the same. “I boxed there. It’s how I got the name Duke.” Frost thought about his own past while he listened. “I had been planning on flying an F-22, but unfortunately, they weren’t accepting any more pilots into that program. The F-35 was available, but I just failed the initial test to get into one. Probably would have failed the F-22 test too. So I looked into the programs that favored people who were extremely physically fit, and I saw Pararescue. So that’s how I got here.” 

Frost nodded. “Cool.” He was quiet for a moment. “What did your family think of it?” 

Duke breathed in deep. “My dad was proud, but my mom was afraid. Still, they supported me. We stay in touch.” Duke’s head rolled over and his eyes lazily drifted over. “How about you?”

Frost scratched his chin. “Well, I went to college. But not with any help from my family.” Duke looked over and raised an eyebrow. “My dad was a jerk, and my mother was a drunk. I don’t think I was on purpose.” He sat up to make it easier to talk. “My dad was always trying to smack me around, saying that I thought I was better than him.” He smirked. “Even if it was true.” Duke chuckled. 

“I got good grades and was decent at running. Using that, I was able to get a scholarship to Fordham University. That was like a slap to the teeth for my father, who never even completed High School.” Frost pulled out the lighter and flicked it open and closed. Clink. Clink. “He hated me for that. So I just kept on doing well, and I didn’t go home for summers. I would still mail my parents my transcripts, though. Just to screw with them.” Duke was actually laughing now. He had no idea why it was so funny. “My father said that I would still never amount to anything. In response, I went to enlist in the Air Force, you know, get out of contact with him. The recruiter told me about Pararescue, so I signed up. Be the best, just to spite my father.” Clink. 

“But it wound up being about more than that afterward. Before I shipped off to training, I kept seeing images of people being injured and dying around the world. I thought, ‘This world may have given me my father, but it gave me a lot to make up for it. Time to even the debt.’ So, I decided that I would do it for the people.”

He flicked open the lighter and this time, he lit a flame. He closed it quickly. “But the best moment of all was when my mother contacted me for the last time. I expected her to be calling me to ask for money or just her being in a drunken fit. But she was sober.” he turned around. “You know what she said?” Duke shook his head slowly. 

“Bad things?” 

Frost laughed. “No. She said how proud she was of me. How sorry she was that she hadn’t been there. At first, I thought she was lying to get me on her good side. But then,” He took in a deep, rattly breath. “She told me that she wanted me to go out and save the world. Be the man my father never could be. And that if I never came home, as long as I was saving people, it was fine. Just so long as I kept making her proud to be MY mother.” His voice got a little shaky, and his eyes watered a little. “I don’t have anyone else back home, really. She’s the only one who cared about me. And I’ll probably never see her again for a long time.” 

Duke sat up, and looked to his partner. “You know, we may be new to each other, but I care for you, like you care for me. You’ll always have someone at your back.” 

Frost looked over. “We might die,” Duke began their personal variation of the Pararescuemen’s motto. 

“so That others may live.” Both men smiled. “Good night.” Frost said. They both laid down. 

“And don’t let the creepers bite.” Duke chuckled as he heard Frost scrambling around on the ground.

> Charlie Golf India
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Charlie Golf India


Duke and Frost woke up early. Not early for them, but early for the whole town. The sun had yet to come out, and there was an eerie silence over the land. The stars were just starting to disappear, replaced by a lambent orange glow, high in the sky. The moon was still visible in the early morning, seemingly painted into the sky like a watercolor art. The pararescuemen were sitting in two of the chairs in the living room, waiting for their host to awaken and come down.

“So what do you think they wanted OGA to do for them?” Frost asked, flicking the lighter open and closed. “Do you think he even clarified that he isn’t a part of this ‘Celestial Intervention Service’?” 

“From the sound of it, they think he’s a spy for whoever this Celestia is. With his skills, he probably could help them pretty well. Whether or not he will has yet to be seen.” Duke looked at the flag on his sleeve. “He’s loyal to the United States; but if it means getting home, he might just be forced to help them if it means getting there.”

“I really hope we don’t have to help them. Not our business.”

They went silent again for a while, just looking out the window at the barren landscape just beyond the town. There was a long street before them, leading out into the wilderness and mountains, and the only easily traveled valley in the area. At least, it was that way for horses. The two humans had had little actual difficulty getting through the terrain to this village, something they probably didn’t like. The village, were it not for the arrival of humans, would be very strategically located and hard to attack.

A couple of hours passed, and the sun was beginning to make its rise into the sky. “Here he comes.” Duke said, standing up and dusting himself off, getting Frost to do the same. Hoofsteps could be heard from the staircase. Without looking toward the stairs, Duke asked, “So how did you two sleep last night?”

“Well enough.” Afaf replied flatly.

“Good.” Duke understood; even if they aren’t hostile, no one wants to have real conversation with people who broke into their house.

Afaf walked over to them, his wife alongside him. “We will be departing today. I made sent some messages; a carriage will come by to pick us up at noon, and will take us to the capital. The journey is two days, but we will have food and water.” He turned to his wife and nodded.

“Excuse me,” she said, shying slightly when Frost and Duke looked to her. “But I was wondering if you would like to meet our children? They must have awoken last night in all the commotion, and they really want to see who you are.” 

Duke and Frost paused for a moment and convened, hushing their voices and holding up a hand to keep their talking unheard. “Boss, this won’t hurt us, I think. I mean, we have until noon to kill time, basically. And we don’t want to make a bad impression.”

Duke nodded in agreement. “Seems good to me. But watch what you say; we don’t want to reveal anything that might make risk or any more curiosity in the kids.” Frost nodded back to him, then they both nodded to Afaf’s wife.

“Good!” she said, a big smile coming across her face. She walked over to the other staircase. “You may come down!”

The two tiny horses came running down from their room, excited looks on their faces, the clacks of their tiny hooves on the mud floor rattling through the air like a machine gun. They were only about two and a half feet tall, shocking for being able to make that level of noise. “أين هي المخلوقات؟” one asked, the voice being that of a little boy. The mother pointed at Duke and Frost, and when the kids laid eyes on the men, they froze. They looked at their parents, then to the men again. “ما هي؟” the one asked.

The mother was about to speak, but she stopped before starting, a ponderous look on her face. She looked to the men. “What are you?” she asked.

“Humans.”

There was an odd look of recognition on her face, like she had heard the term before. Maybe she had, when OGA was there. While she turned to her kids to tell them, Afaf came over to them, a new smile on his face. “I was unaware that this was the case. It is good to know that you are human.”

Duke and Frost, confused by the reaction of the horses, looked to each other for clarification. There was none to be had. “I’m sorry, are you familiar with humans?” Duke asked.

“Not personally, but there have been stories about your kind here. They tell of a human who did great things. It was around eight years ago that the human was here.”

Duke and Frost nodded, still unclear on what exactly that meant. They let it go, though, since they had a mission to take care of, and turned their attention back to the kids.

“So what are their names?” Frost asked as he kneeled down to get a better look at the tiny foals. His unthreatening stance seemed to put a little more assurance in the the kids, who readily ran up to him to ask him questions he would never understand. 

They came rapidfire, in whatever language it was that the kids were speaking. Duke had managed to step back and let Frost take most of it. He handled it fairly well, though, considering. It seemed like he was good with kids. 

“Well,” Frost said, standing up and looking at the kids, a bewildered countenance dominating his expression. “I don’t understand a word they just said.” 

He turned to Duke and shrugged his shoulders, asking, “Any understanding at all?” Duke shook his head. “Thought not.”

Frost looked to the mother, who immediately began translating. “They ask; What are you?, Who are you?, What are you wearing?, Where are you from?, Why did you come here last night?” Frost counted the questions with his fingers and asked her to repeat the last one. When she did, he turned to Duke, who nodded, giving him the ok to answer.

“We are humans, we are men who look for lost people, we are wearing simple traveling gear, we are from America, and we came here looking for somebody.” The mother translated, taking very little time, and the kids nodded every second, soaking up the information like a dry sponge in a pool. 

“Any more questions?” Frost asked. The mother translated again, and the response that came was that they were satisfied.

“Let us go outside, so that the rest of the village can meet you.” Afaf suggested happily. Duke and Frost locked gazes for a moment, considering the possible consequences of this. When they decided that it wouldn’t be too bad, they turned to Afaf and nodded. “Good!” he said excitedly. They walked outside into the blazing sun.

The men had yet to see the village in its busy, awake state. There were dozens of the horses around the street of the main house alone, all going about their day like humans. There were bustling market stands, where the horses were haggling away at various items, like canteens and rugs. Children ran about in the street, and Afaf’s kids ran past the men to go join them. The mares were all wearing very culturally Pakistani garbs, an odd thing, considering they were anywhere but there. Or even on Earth, for that matter. Some were on top of buildings, looking to the mountains with small telescopes, ever vigilant for something.

“What are they looking for?” Duke asked.

Afaf’s face turned grim, looking very serious, the shadows from his features becoming seemingly stronger and darker on the one side of his face. “They are our sentries. They stay on the lookout for the Griffon menace. If they see any coming, we all go into our homes to protect the mares and foals. As long as we stay inside with our blades, they cannot get us, for we have too strong an advantage when they cannot simply fly away.”

Frost absentmindedly scanned the mountains himself, now wary of this clearly present danger, almost expecting an attack at any moment. He had learned back in the Sandbox that attacks could happen any time. “What if they drop ordinance on you? Will the houses hold under it?”

Afaf shook his head. “I know of the ordinance of which you talk. But they have none. It is closely guarded by our military. They will not get their filthy claws on it.” Frost nodded at this, neutral about the response he had received.

Duke wasn’t satisfied, though. “But you can’t guarantee that it can’t happen. If you are attacked with explosives, what will you do? A homemade bomb is easy enough to make. We saw them in Iraq all the time; they’re responsible for most of our military’s casualties in the war.”

Afaf looked at Duke, evidently perturbed by his words. “That cannot be. How can one make a bomb in one’s home?”

Duke shrugged. “Well, all you need is the right chemicals and a det cord or radio trigger. Or they can be timed. Very simple machines can blow up trucks, or I guess...” Duke looked around for a good comparison. He got it when he spotted a large, ornate carriage. “That carriage.”

Afaf looked to the carriage, a look of absolute horror coming across his face. “That carriage could be blown up?” he asked.

Duke nodded. “Yeah. You look troubled.”

“That carriage is the one we will be taking to the capital.” Now Duke understood why he was so scared. He had basically just told him, ‘We might get killed in that thing, even though it seems safe enough!’ He turned to Frost.

“Well, boss, we should probably get going soon.” Frost said, already going towards the carriage. Afaf shouted some word at him, though not in English, and he stopped. “What?”

“We must get supplies for the journey first. Food, water, and weapons.” Frost looked to Duke, who nodded for him to go with it. Free food and water was good for them.

They spent the next hour getting supplies and getting prepared for the two day journey. They went to stands and bought food from shopkeepers, mostly wheat and grain, and had to haggle fiercely in order to get a fair price. 

Then, they moved onto the well, a town controlled item that Afaf was able to draw from for free. The guards tried to make Duke and Frost pay up, but Afaf cleared that up quickly, speaking in his native tongue, but using the word ‘Human’. When they heard that, the stallions eased up instantly, eager to help out their new friends. 

After that they moved onto weapons, getting spears and crossbows and bolts. “No thanks,” Frost had said. “I got my own.” He showed his FE9 to Afaf, who quickly decided to let them use what they had. In the end, they had several pounds of grain and wheat, close to fifteen gallons of water, and everyone was armed to the teeth.

“You think we have enough?” Frost whispered to Duke, looking to the equipment laden stallions who would apparently be accompanying them. There were three other horses, armored and ready to fight, who would ride in another carriage behind them.

Duke shrugged. “Is that even possible?” he asked. Frost chuckled, and they moved on.

Once they were finally armed and ready to go, it was about half past eleven, and the sun was just starting to beat down on them like a drill instructor to his trainees. It was swelteringly hot, and the crazy amount of things they carried was weighing them down significantly. 

One of the horses who would be dragging the carriage came over. “يمكنك وضع كل ذلك في مساحة الأمتعة تحت إذا أردت.” Frost and Duke, still confused about the language, looked to Afaf, who was standing next to them.

“He says, ‘You can put all of that in the baggage space underneath if you like.’” Both men let out a collective “ahh”, and immediately went over to their carriage to dump their battle rattle. For such a simple trip, they might need their weapons and a couple mags at most.

Once everything was in order and they were all set, the caravan headed out into the desert on the only road within miles. Once they were out of the town, a lot of the stallions severely tensed up. 

“What’s up, do you think?” Frost asked as he leaned into Duke to whisper.

“You heard them earlier; they’ve been having trouble with an invasion here. They’re probably anticipating an attack.”

Frost groaned. “Ugh, I hope that doesn’t happen.” He looked to the horizon. “That would just be annoying.”

Duke gave his words a curt nod. “Let’s just try to rest. God knows we’re gonna need it.” Frost sighed and complied, and the two men closed their eyes and dozed off for a time.

*********************************************************************************

That night, the caravan had set up a fire, which they all sat around, laughing and telling great stories of the past.

Except for Duke and Frost. They sat off to the side, not particularly unwanted, but not exactly welcome. They hadn’t tried to join in on the fun of the stallions, instead opting to keep their distance. The language barrier was enough, but there was also the weird factor of what exactly they all were. Duke and Frost weren’t interested in making friends either, only in making sure that they completed their mission. The others seemed similar; get the humans to the capital unscathed, get paid, be done. Purely business.

Duke and Frost were laying down in the dirt, staring up at the night sky, thinking to themselves. Frost thought about who they were looking for, what he might be like. Few people actually knew if they had ever met a CIA guy before, and the one that he had met met the criteria for the stereotype; hard, harsh, almost uncaring of those he spoke to. He hadn’t brought up his thoughts to Duke, since they weren’t that important, but they still persisted. He had met many different kinds of people, good and bad, and he wondered where OGA would fall. He hoped that he would be good, or less than bad; he had met too many of the latter.

Duke thought about home, about his family. He had a mother and father who loved him, and a brother who had gone into the private sector for R&D. He remembered their shock when he said he wanted to go Air Force, and chuckled when he remembered his brother’s words; “I’ll design your next plane!” He loved his life before, and he had a lot to go back to at home. Right now, he just hoped that he would get home.

“Hey, Frost.” he said.

“Yah?” The other man threw his voice in a foreign accent, sounding aloof and as if he were home with people he liked.

“I think we should discuss our RoE.” He sat up and moved over to a rock to lean on it for a backrest. “If we’re attacked by these Griffon invaders, I don’t think we should engage.”

Frost sat up quickly, surprised by his partner’s words. “What?” he asked. “Why not?”

“This isn’t our conflict, so we can’t engage. Plus, these things won’t exactly be the Taliban. We wouldn’t be cleared to engage anyway.”

Frost frowned and furrowed his brow, making lines appear all over his face, shadows cast over by the small fire off to their side. “Then what would we do? If we’re attacked, we won’t have a choice.”

Duke nodded. “Yeah. But if THEY’RE attacked, and we’re left out of it, we don’t go in. Unless we absolutely have to to survive and complete the mission, we don’t get involved.”

Frost took a moment to consider. There was the possibility of being attacked, but if THEY weren’t attacked, Duke had a good point. They didn’t want to pick a fight that would be hard to fight with only two people. And it was the horses’ fight, after all. “Alright. We don’t engage unless forced to.” Duke nodded, and the two men laid back down.

A few minutes later, the fire to their side went out and everyone was going to sleep. Except the sentries, of course, who patrolled the perimeter with hawk-like eyes, scanning the horizon like a set of security cameras, never blinking, never stopping. Frost watched them as they went. “You know that we’ll get sucked into this, right?” Duke only grunted, and the two men went to sleep.

*********************************************************************************
The next day, they were quickly on the move again, taking little time to get everything together. The horses didn’t seem particularly intent on staying in one place for too long, but this was understandable. Duke and Frost knew what it was like to be in enemy territory with the possibility of an attack at any moment.

They shipped out at 0600. The sky was changing shades, going from its pitch black and peppering of stars to a blood red and blinding sun over the horizon. The men looked around; nothing of civilization was visible any more, not even the town they came from. The world they were now in was cut off from everything, a barren wasteland of terror and potential ambushes. In the mountains of Afghanistan, the area was often called the Valley of Death. Now, they had a new one to deal with.

After they started moving, the stallions seemed to grow extremely tense. Looking around, Frost noticed that their eyes were darting around to the surrounding hills, ever on the watch for an ambush. He turned and looked to Duke, who was doing the same with his own eyes. He felt just a tad uncomfortable with it.

“Hey,” he said, catching Afaf’s attention in front of him. “Why is everyone so tense?” 

Afaf kept his eyes on the move, not looking directly at Frost as he answered. “This area has the worst tendency of ambushes.” he explained. “Almost every time we come through, we are attacked.” Frost blinked in front of him. “Do not worry, though.” he said, helping Frost to relax a bit. “They never attack caravans this big.”

The conversation ended there, with Frost’s fears somewhat alleviated, but not enough to keep him from looking around himself. He and Duke had their hands on their guns and the safeties off. Both men chambered rounds in their weapons, drawing a look from Afaf, but they never spoke. The sky was turning blue again, the sun rising up to its peak in the sky. Though the light was blindingly bright, the men and stallions kept their eyes open and on the expansive landscape. Dust was kicked up by the winds, the dry and coarse particles rubbing hard against the skin.

At 1200 hours, they stopped for a break to eat and drink. Duke and Frost hopped off their carriage, blissful over the opportunity to stretch their legs and get some movement out of their systems. They stretched for a good bit, being followed shortly by Afaf.

“We must hurry. We do not want to stay in any place for too long.” Afaf explained. The two men ended their stretches and looked to Afaf. “Come. We must eat and drink.” The men and stallion walked over to the group of stallions, who were all sitting in a circle, watching every direction. They joined the group and ate silently, no one really wanting to talk at the moment.

It was 1252 hours when a huge dust storm rolled in. It rolled in from the mountains, coming out of nowhere. The cloud moved towards them at a breakneck pace, moving rocks as it passed. “واردة! Incoming!” Afaf yelled, hunkering down. The stallions and men dropped to the ground as quickly as they could, already being buffeted by the intense winds. The dust storm slammed into them, bits of pebble shrapnel sandblasting their faces. Duke and Frost had to cover their faces in order to keep the skin on them.

The dust storm settled on them, falling to pieces on top of them and dying out. The men were the first to stand up, taking in their surroundings in as much detail as possible, ensuring that nothing was missing. Their carriage was still there, which was all that they cared about. They noticed the others, though they were turned over and the items they were carrying had spilled out all over the place. It was only by the virtue of the weight of their battle rattle that their carriage had stayed upright.

“الجميع على ما يرام؟” Afaf asked. There were responses of varying energy from his stallions, some sounding like they were right as rain, others sounding like they had swallowed some gritty sand. The men of course didn’t understand, but from the tones, they figured that everyone was alright. “Are you two okay?” Afaf asked the men. They both nodded. “Good.”

The stallions all got up and looked to their carriages, groaning and whining about having to right them. Still, without a moment’s hesitation, they moved over and got to work.

Duke tapped Frost on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow. “We’ll help!” he shouted to the stallions, running over to them. They all just looked on at him, not understanding, but when Duke and Frost got their hands on the flipped side of the carriage, the stallions understood and moved on, grins sneaking onto their faces. The humans seemed alright.

That was when all Hell broke loose. Loud screeches came from the hillside, prompting everyone to look that way. The humans looked over their in pure confusion, while the stallions looked over in pure terror. They all scrambled for their weapons, leaving the men by the carriage. “What’s going on?” Duke shouted.

Shadows appeared all over the ground under them, strange shapes clearly high above. Duke and Frost looked up at the sight; close to two dozen griffons were directly above them, their figures being blackened by the shadows on their bellies and the shapes distorted by the light. Duke didn’t take any time trying to see these things. “Get Down!” he shouted. The men ran to their carriage and took cover.

The griffons were upon the caravan in less than a moment, landing hard, their talons scraping at the ground like a fork to a chalkboard. From their cover, the men looked on at the hostile creatures; their plumage was collectively a very dark brown, with white on their chests and large feathers on their wings. there was an assortment of body paint, ranging from a  little on the wings to it being all over their bodies. One, presumably the leader, had painted around his eyes.

“وسوف تكون حرة!” a female voice shouted from the leader’s mouth. Evidently, he was a she. Without waiting for a response, the griffons went right at the stallions, who had barely managed to arm themselves. 

The battle was intense from the very beginning. Swords and spears clashed, metal clangs and sparks flying. The griffons clearly outmatched the stallions in skill, especially with the ability to use their talons like hands. The stallions were struggling to repel the attackers, doing their level best to fight back. They weren’t on the right level, though.

Duke and Frost had been waiting at the sideline as he battle raged, but that didn’t stay true for long. At one point, a griffon stabbed one of the stallions with his short sword, knocking him down, and as he screeched his victory screech, looking around, he spotted the two humans. He froze in an instant, his face somehow growing pale through the feathers on his face. “البشر! قتل البشر!!” he shouted. Several other griffons who were standing around, already victorious, turned and saw them. Time seemed to stop for everyone as the true gravity of the situation came into light.

The griffons all screeched loudly, running and flying forward to engage this other threat. “Engage!” Duke yelled, dropping into a stable firing stance. Frost stayed standing, and before the griffons could get even close, they opened fire, 4.7mm rounds and 5.56mm rounds tearing through the enemy combatants. Feathers exploded into the air and screams higher than any screech pierced all present ears as the griffons fell, riddled with bullet holes. The loud bangs from the guns had brought all attention to the men from the rest of the battlefield, the whole thing stopping to observe what had just happened.

The stallions looked on in shock along with the griffons at the sight of the bodies lying on the ground in varying degrees of evisceration. All had their jaws, or beaks, agape, and some were walking backwards, away from the carnage. “تراجع!” the female voice called out, its source flying away as fast as possible. She was immediately joined by another ten griffons, all flying off to escape the fury of modern weaponry.

The men and stallions watched as the griffons all flew off, none intent on following or continuing the fight. As the griffons disappeared over the hillside, Duke called out to the rest of the caravan, “Is everyone alright?” He received responses, still in the other language, in varying degrees of pain, ranging from simple groans to hurried shouts for what he assumed to be help.

He looked to the stallion that he had seen stabbed and ran over, yelling. As he ran, Frost right behind, the other stallions who were uninjured or relatively so ran over as well. The stallion was lying on the ground, bleeding badly from the wound in his chest. Duke dropped to his knees next to the stallion.

“Frost, wraps, now.” he ordered. Frost ran over to their carriage and rummaged through his pack for bandages and gauze pads.. When he finally got them, he sprinted back over, tossing the items to his partner before he arrived. Duke caught them in the air and immediately unrolled them. “This might hurt.” he warned the stallion as he got ready to apply pressure. Before a reaction could be had, he stuffed the pad on the wound and started wrapping the stallion in the bandage. Surprisingly, the stallion only sucked in air through his teeth, and didn’t flail about in pain. When Duke finished, he helped the stallion to his hooves and got under him. “Frost.” His partner joined him under the stallion, and they carried him over to one of the carriages where they let him down.

Duke looked down at himself; he actually didn’t have any blood on him from the stallion. “Nice.” he said, turning around and leaving the stallion in the carriage. Frost ran up to join him.

“Good going, boss.” he complimented. “Let’s hope he ends up alright.” Duke nodded without responding, and the two simply walked on over to their carriage.

“Duke! Frost!” The men turned around to see Afaf running towards them. Behind him, the rest of the stallions were getting into their carriages and hooking up for the rest of the journey. When Afaf got to the men, he stopped and panted for a moment. “That... that was amazing!” he yelled. “I did not know you had such items with you.”

The men looked to each other for a moment. “Sure.” Duke said, turning his attention back to Afaf. “You never know when you might encounter unfriendly people. Or griffons. Whatever.”

Afaf nodded. “Well, it makes me comfortable to have you here. At least those griffon ولد غير شرعي won’t come after us again on this journey.” He ran past them to the carriage, with the men simply going at a leisurely pace.

“Boss, I think we might be involved now.” Frost warned.

“I know, Frost.” Duke replied darkly. “I know.”

> Foreign Relations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Foreign Relations


The remainder of the trip to the capital was uneventful, but everyone had their guard up just in case. They watched the hills as if they might come alive any second, like they were itching to devour the group and swallow it into the never ending wasteland of the desert.

In the last day, they had lost two stallions to wounds sustained in the battle. One had what seemed minor injuries, like small cuts and whatnot, but infection had evidently occurred, and he fell. The other had been stabbed in the chest and bled out over time. Through the remainder of the trip, he was talking in a raspy, resigned voice. “أذهب الآن إلى نهاية كل شيء.”, he kept saying.

Now, the men were told that they would be approaching the city by mid day. It was about 1000 hours.

“So, boss.” Frost initiated. “What do you think we’re gonna see in this city?” He looked up to the sky and put his hands out, like he was beholding some magnificent treasure. “Will we see a glorious city of gold and wonders? Of wealth and triumph?” He let his hands fall down unceremoniously to his lap. “Or will it be a city of poverty and despair?”

Duke chuckled a bit and looked forward. “I think we’ll find out real soon.” He pointed out in the direction that they were heading.

They could see a large city behind a large wall off in the distance. The wall was tall and looked extremely strong, and it loomed over the city as if trying to remind them of the dangers of the wasteland. Behind the wall Duke and Frost could see only a few very tall buildings with a very ornate one in the middle. Presumably, this was the palace. It was tall and white, with golden rings going all the way up the towers at increasingly short intervals. It soared over the buildings that surrounded it, casting shadows over them when the sun was in position. From outside, it seemed to be a glorious city indeed.

It took only a little more time for them to reach the gates to the city and the tall, overbearing sentry towers overhead. At various placements around the base of the wall there were small guard houses with stallions flowing in and out of them constantly. The wall itself was maybe fifty feet high and would block out the sun at any time other than noon, which was not far away. The hot sun bore down on the caravan as it stopped before the gates.

Afaf got out first, followed soon after by the rest of the stallions, and he approached the gate guards. Frost was looking up at the wall while Duke was observing the conversation between the guards and Afaf. The stallions clearly knew each other from the way they bantered, and when they finished Afaf pointed back at the humans. The guard looked and went wide-eyed.

He yelled, “فتح البوابات!” The gates began to open.

Afaf walked back over to the men and pointed into the gate. “Welcome to Akhal Teke. The greatest city in Saddle Arabia.” He turned around to leave, and the men glanced at each other.

“Well, let’s go. Shouldn’t keep a king waiting.” Duke stepped forward and Frost followed.

They fell in behind Afaf as they walked through the giant wall and into the city. When they emerged, the men had to admit that they were impressed. As soon as they got past the wall, there was a bustling city before them. Street markets abounded with all sorts of patrons, horses, little horses, and even griffons, haggling away at the little items that were offered by the vendors. The buildings were mostly two levels high, with rugs or clothes hanging outside most of the windows. They all wore garb that reminded the men of Saudi Arabia back home, and all the stallions were carrying weapons.

“Afaf,” Frost began, getting Afaf to turn around. “Why do all these guys have swords twice the size of my arms with them?”

Afaf laughed. “No need to worry, friend.” he said. “They do not carry them because they expect to fight. They carry them to defend the city against invaders. They will not harm you.” Frost nodded and went on scanning his surroundings.

They walked through the markets with little trouble. The only trouble that they got was from merchants trying to stop them to sell them their wares. Some sold jewelery, others clothes. Some sold food and water. “Boss, let’s get something decent to eat.” Frost suggested at one stand. Duke conceded with no regrets, and Afaf bought them some roasted beef, which they devoured voraciously, getting some looks from the horses around them. 

They went on through the market unscathed and proceeded to the palace. When they got there, Duke and Frost stopped at the base of a set of stairs that led up to the front door.

Duke whistled. “Now THAT is a palace.” 

The ornate building towered over them, reflecting the bright sunlight off of its gleaming walls and golden arches. The window frames seemed to be polished white marble, blinding and glorious to the eyes. At the base of the walls, there were murals of great battles, all with one stallion leading his soldiers from the front lines.

“Guess that’s supposed to be the king.” Frost stated flatly, never being one to be impressed by those who need to catalogue their deeds so publicly. “Must be a real fighter.”

Duke nodded. “Yeah. I bet he-”

“Men!” Afaf called, already going up the steps. “Please, we must hurry. Even you should not keep the king waiting.” He turned around and trotted up the steps, and Duke and Frost cautiously followed behind.

They approached the front door of the palace, a massive set of double doors with more depictions of great battles on them, only now, they were carved into the door and frequently lined with either gold or gems. Frost continued to lose potential respect for the king as he took in the size of the doors and how much crap was on them. “That could be much better used to improve your kingdom” he thought.

Afaf stopped about sixteen meters before the doors. “Just follow my lead.” he said to the men, who simply nodded in reply. He nodded back, and they walked forward to the door. “تحياتي!” Afaf announced.

The guards at the door, there were two, got into battle stance instantly, almost drawing the same reaction from Duke and Frost. “من هو هذا؟ وما هي؟” they asked aggressively. “كنت قد أفضل إجابة بسرعة.” Afaf swallowed hard at their words, enticing the men to put their hands on their weapons.

“هم البشر، من أماكن بعيدة. يمكن أن تساعدنا وسوف تفعل ذلك في تبادل لمساعدتنا.” Afaf replied. The two guards turned their heads and looked at each other incredulously, then looked to the humans behind Afaf. There was a hint of recognition in their eyes, and they retracted their stances and stood at attention. 

“شكرا لك.” Afaf said, walking past the guards. As Duke and Frost walked by, they observed the guards closely. Both looked extremely nervous, like they knew if they messed up, they would be beheaded. The men walked past and ignored it, seeing as it was none of their business.

The inside of the palace was even greater than the outside; everything was decorated. The tables had purple cloth draped over them with a silver chalice or candlesticks on each one. The pillars that held up the palace were wrapped in ornate golden ropes that went from the floor to the ceiling, almost a hundred feet above. From the ceiling, there were crystal chandeliers with bright, burning candles in them, odd for the daytime. The windows that let the light in were all stained glass depictions of either more battles or some ancient event, like the crowning of a king and queen. 

The floor was unbelievable; it looked like the tiles were their equivalent to Pietra Firma, but obsidian tiles with dozens of diamonds placed into them. They sparkled and glistened in the light, giving the floor the look of the night sky, twinkling stars dominating black background. There were red and purple carpets everywhere, creating more of the feeling that this was the house of royalty, where peasants dared not traverse.

They quickly made their way through all the wide and lavish hallways to the throne room door, constantly under the nervous and ashamed eyes of the guards, who resided in every corner of every room. The door was large and gold, with emeralds and sapphires cut into patterns to resemble grass and water, two things that this region clearly had little of. 

“Wait here.” Afaf ordered, and walked over to a guard in front of the door. They began to speak, and the men decided not to bother listening this time.

“What do you think they’re gonna want from us?” Frost asked in a normal voice. None of the horses around them would understand anyway. “We need to find OGA, and they might know where he is. They’ll want something in return.”

Duke grunted. “We already got involved in their war. That’s probably what they’ll want from us.” He looked over to Afaf and the guard, who were having a heated exchange for whatever reason. “But I can’t help but think that this isn’t how we want things to go.”

Frost chuckled. “When have things ever gone how people want them to go?” Duke chuckled back, and they ended their conversation.

Afaf returned, fuming, and stomped past the men. “What happened?” Frost asked, nervous about what they might have to deal with.

“سخيف الحمار. The king is ‘too busy’ to see us right now, even though we sent him a message explaining what is happening. We cannot see him today.”

Duke frowned. “Then where are we gonna put our stuff?” he asked. “We can’t just leave it outside to be stolen.”

“No worries about that.” Afaf replied, waving a hoof yet still walking. “Your other things will be sent to guest rooms in the palace. You will also be sleeping here tonight. But you will not see the king until tomorrow.” He was clearly not happy about this, but as long as they had their stuff, the men didn’t really care.

“Why the offense?” Frost asked. “Maybe something came up.”

Afaf sighed. “You are unfamiliar with our culture. This I forgot.” They stepped outside and back into the blazing sun, but this time, they were in a garden. “Here, courtesy and respect means much. We told him we would be here, so it is expected that we will be received. When we are not, it is clear that we are not worth his time. Considering who YOU two are, this is great offense to all of us.”

Duke shrugged as they entered the garden. “Well, you never know what might have come up.” he began to explain. “If the kingdom is under serious attack anywhere by those jerkoffs we met on the road, he might need to deal with that. That’s pretty important.”

Afaf put his hoof to his chin and stopped, considering this. “Maybe you are right.” he said. “But we will not know until tomorrow.”

They walked through the remainder of the garden in silence. It was a magnificent garden, with all kinds of amazing desert flowers and foreign plants growing in it. There was a big marble fountain in the middle, the water being spewed from the mouth of the statue of a well dressed stallion. “Is this the king?” Duke asked Afaf, who nodded. He nodded to himself and they continued.

The garden quickly ended, and they found themselves in the street. They were in the wealthier section of the city, clearly, as all the houses had at least three levels. There were very well dressed horses everywhere, often trailed by a less nicely dressed one. “I guess this is the wealthy district?” Frost asked.

Afaf nodded, now smiling big and waving his front leg around. “This is the best section of the city. There is never crime here, and the residents are the best you will meet.”

The men looked around more, taking in what they were surrounded by. The horses were all traveling around in small groups, accompanied by servants, and were laughing and having a good time. They seemed decent enough.

“No crime, huh?” Frost asked. He was looking at a servant mare who was being reamed at by her master. He struck her, causing Frost’s jaw to clench. “Then what do you call that?”

Afaf looked around, apparently confused. “Call what?” Frost pointed forward. “Oh, that? They’re just slaves being given discipline. No need to worry yourself about their masters.” Frost blinked twice, then looked at Duke, who was also speechless. They didn’t give half a damn about the masters; What about the slaves? “Come, let me show you the traditional ways of the markets.” Afaf lead the men out of the wealthy section, with Frost looking back at the abusive master and his mare-slave.

They walked on back to the markets, where Afaf was to show them how to haggle. He stopped at a jewelery and bauble stand that was selling mostly necklaces and wristbands that would barely fit most human wrists. Duke and Frost stood next to Afaf as he haggled away, trying to take in the ways of the country. “You speak Equish?” Afaf asked the stand owner. The owner nodded. “Good.”

They went at it in ‘Equish’, Afaf trying to buy two necklaces for one hundred fifty bits, apparently that was their currency, as opposed to the in hundred seventy-four that was written as their price tags. While he did that, Duke stopped paying particular attention and paid more attention to his surroundings, leaving Frost to listen to the haggling. He noticed that few in the marketplace were actually looking at them now, either not caring or being too afraid to. When he looked into the eyes of one of the small horses, it shied away, trying to hide itself in a crowd.

His scanning was interrupted when a voice cried out. “سرق أموالي!” Duke looked to his right where the source was; there was a mare yelling and pointing after some stallion that was running in Duke’s direction with a sack in his mouth. The others in the crowd also yelled, but none made a move to stop him.

When he got close, Duke stepped out and extended his arm out, causing the stallion to slam into his forearm and crash to the ground. Afaf and Frost turned around, stunned and smirking respectively, and watched as Duke walked over to the grounded stallion. “No.” he said, putting his foot on the stallion’s side. He tore the sack of money out of his mouth and turned around.

The victim had already run over to get her money back, but slowed down when she saw that it was Duke, and not a stallion or griffon. When she stopped in front of him, she swallowed hard and looked terrified. 

“I believe this is yours.” Duke said, extending the sack out to the mare. She looked at it, then him, then back at it. Then she took it, muttered something, and turned and ran off. Duke was left to scratch his head. “Odd.”

Frost slapped him on the shoulder. “Nice work, man.” he complimented. They both looked around at the gathered crowd. “But maybe it’s time to split.” Duke nodded and they turned to Afaf.

“One moment.” Afaf turned back to the mare at the stand and said some things, which were quickly followed by him receiving the necklaces at a greatly discounted price. “Here.” he said, giving them to the men. “You earned a lot of respect just now.” The men took the necklaces and gave their thanks and the group walked back to the palace.

They went back through the wealthy district, Afaf saying how, “It is safer this way.” the whole time. The men were unhappy about going back through the pretentious section of the city, but obliged in an effort to avoid being rude.

They walked through the area with little happening. The residents occasionally gave them passing glances, but always kept their eyes off the men, like looking at them would give them eye cancer or herpes or something. They seemed to have no desire to associate with anyone who wore working clothes. “Pompous jerkoffs.” Duke muttered out of Afaf’s earshot. Frost had to agree.

Pretty soon, they were back to approaching the palace gardens. They were about to enter when Frost heard something nearby. “كيف تجرؤ أنت تنظر لي في تيه العين!” It was followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground like a brick and a cry of pain. 
“You guys head on,” Frost said, intent on investigating. “I need to check something.” As he walked away, Duke and Afaf exchanged glances, then quickly followed behind Frost.

They didn’t talk, but they knew where Frost was going. They followed him all the way to the source of the scuttle, a mare lying on the ground with a very unhappy stallion over her. “لقد حان الوقت الذي تعلمته مكانك!” the stallion yelled, raising his hoof.

Before anyone but Duke could say anything, and he didn’t, Frost was next to the stallion, holding his hoof in place in the air. “I think not, buddy.” The stallion turned and looked at his aggressor, and paled as soon as he laid eyes on him. “You speak Eng- Equish?” The stallion nodded. “Good. Now, hear this; you aren’t ever going to hit anyone ever again. Got it?”

The stallion swallowed. “No, I do what I want.” Frost squeezed the stallion’s leg hard, making him fall. Afaf yelled something in the background, but Duke was holding him back. “No, you don’t. It’s guys like YOU that I hate, who make the world suck.” He out his hand on the handle of his FE9. “Now, are you going to hit anyone ever again?”

“Hah!” a male voice shouted. Frost looked up at a stallion who had burst out of the house. He was quite large. “Release my son.” 

Frost smiled. “Sure.” He tossed the son to the side and stepped in front of the mare, getting between her and the new guy. “So to whom do I owe the lack of care?”

The stallion snarled. “You have attacked my son.” Frost shrugged. “You show us great disrespect with this.”

Now it was Frost’s turn to frown. “Well, you showed her great disrespect. So why should I show you any?” 
“She is a slave. She-”

“You know, I’m getting really tired of your crap. Now I’m gonna tell you the same thing that I told your rotten apple.” He pointed at the mare. “You can either never hurt anyone like her again, or I can make sure you don’t.”

The stallion growled. “You want to stop me from treating my property how I wish?” he asked. He pulled out a five inch knife and held it in his teeth. “Then take it.”

Frost turned around and looked at his companions; Afaf looked horrified, but Duke just looked impatient. “You can do this now or you can keep wasting time.” he said. “Just do something.”

Frost turned to the stallion, a wide smile splayed out across his face. “Alright.”

The stallion, still growling and snarling, moved the knife so that he could speak. “Here are the rules; we fight to the death, unless one of us yields. The winner gets any three things from the other that they want. Such is our way in this city. Do you accept?”

Frost nodded, hand on his knife. “Yes.”

The mare and son got away from the action, leaving Frost and the stallion alone in the street. The stallion held his knife out, smiling confidently. Frost had been waiting to say this for a long time. “That’s not a knife.” he said in his best Crocodile Dundee voice, pulling out his FE9. “THAT’s a knife.”

The stallion gaped at the nine inch blade and dropped his own knife on the ground. Frost took the chance and got right up in there, holding the knife firmly against the neck of the stallion. “Submit?” The stallion nodded, slowly, to avoid cutting himself, and stepped back.

Frost stepped back, satisfied at a job well done, and thought about his demands. It didn’t take much thought. “I want her.” he said, pointing at the mare. She walked right over to him. “I want...” he forgot what he was asking for. Lost, he looked to Duke.

“Some beers.” Frost nodded and repeated that to the stallion, who grumbled the whole time he had his slaves get the things.

“And last, I want you to release your slaves.” The stallion clenched his jaw and didn’t do anything for a moment. “Well?” He sighed a frustrated sigh, and called his slaves before him. When he released them, they all cheered and ran off, except for the mare by Frost’s side. “Good.”

He turned to her and extended his hand. “Are you alright?” She just looked up at him, scared, and he knelt down, still extending his hand. “Can you speak... Equish?”

“Yes.” she responded automatically. She put her hoof in his hand and stood, though wobbly.

“You’re free to go now.” Frost explained, turning around and going back to his companions. “Do as you like.”

The group of three walked off towards the gardens, leaving behind many elated slaves and a very angry family. “Well, Frost. You just made us plenty of nice friends but one probably powerful enemy.” Duke shrugged. “But I doubt that it’ll come back to us. You know, things going how we want them to and all.”

Frost shook his head, sighing a happy sigh. “Well, it’s no different now than when we were operating in places like Kandahar or the Triangle of Death. At least we know how to operate.” Duke chuckled a little at this and they continued on.

They walked through the garden gates, and right after, they heard a clatter of metal on metal right behind them. “ماذا؟” Afaf shouted, spinning around to see what was going on. The men turned with less gusto, not as caring about what was going on. There were the two guards at the entrance stopping the passage of a mare in rags. “نخرجها من هنا!”

The two guards started moving to grab the mare, but Duke and Frost stepped forward. “Stop!” they both shouted. The action halted instantly, the two guards looking back curiously and Afaf looking confused. The men stepped forward to get a look at the mare.

It was the mare that Frost had gotten away from that stallion. She was held back by the gate guards, apparently having tried to follow them into the garden. The men took a better look at her; she was an alabaster mare, short, more like a pony. She had a blonde mane that looked like it had been scuffed up daily and a messy blonde tail. Her eyes were a striking blue, like those of a Husky.

“Are you following us?” Duke asked. The mare nodded. “Well, you deal with this,” he ordered, turning to Frost. “I didn’t cause this.”

Frost sighed. “What is your name, mare?”

She shrunk away, getting as small as possible, and replied, “I am Amel of Kyrg.”

“Why are you following us, Amel? We don’t like being followed.” He moved closer as he finished his statement to emphasize his point.

She looked up at the two guards, nervously, then turned her head to face Frost. “I want serve you. It is all I know, ever since I was little. I not do anything else.”

Frost knelt and put his arm on his knee. “You know, we can’t really take any servants or slaves. That’s not what we do or what we need.”

“Let me go with you!” she said, catching herself right after shouting. She quieted down considerably, almost whispering, 	“Please. They will hurt me if I don’t have someone who protects me...”

Frost inwardly sighed and looked to Duke. Duke looked at him flatly, his expression saying, If you don’t choose now, I’ll choose for you. He glanced back at the mare, contemplating his options. She wanted to travel with them, but she didn’t understand what they did. 

“Tell you what.” he said, standing back up. “You can travel with us; but there are some rules that’ll come with this.” He looked down at her, trying to be intimidating to dissuade her from wanting to go with them. “One: we will be busy A LOT. We won’t always be around, so you can’t expect us to be. Two: What we do is dangerous, more than you will know. You have to be able to handle yourself and do exactly as we say in the event that danger comes to us. Three: Whenever we stop in a town or city, you will remain in the town or city.” He turned to Duke, who was looking on with his own contemplative look. “Anything else?”

“Yeah.” he said. He stepped forward and walked between the guards, making a clearing. “You absolutely will not touch any of our things without us giving you the okay.”

The mare swallowed hard again and looked between the two humans for a time. She could see the hardness in their expressions, their faces conveying to her just how dangerous it would be to go with them. She could tell that there would be a lot going on with these two in the near future.

“Okay.” she said. Duke nodded and Frost took in a deep breath. The guards moved aside for the mare to move in and the men turned to walk to the palace. Afaf looked at her with disdain before turning around and walking away. She followed quickly, fearful of the royal guards at either side of her.

As she caught up to her savior and his friend, she couldn’t help but wonder about just how much change and excitement would come with the arrival of these two beings of legend. She wondered if they would bring as much excitement as the last one, if they would be able to do as much as he had. She wondered if they were as strange as the last one had been. 

But most of all; she wondered if going with them was the right choice.

> Hail to the King
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Hail to the King



Duke was the first to get up in the morning. As he got up, he stretched himself out and took a glance around. He could see Frost off to the side in his own bed, breathing slowly, but evidently soon to be awakening. In the corner, there was a grouping of standing shades set up to make a small room for the mare, Amel. Through the window, rays of sunlight encompassed the room, casting a yellow glow throughout. In another corner, their gear was piled up like dirty laundry.


The previous day, after they came back to the palace, they had been directed to their room. Afaf brought them there and left them to their own devices, always throwing a distasteful look toward Amel, who cowered from it every time. When they arrived at their room, Frost took the time to ask Amel some questions about herself, which occupied a lot of his time. Duke, meanwhile, checked their gear to make sure everything was there.

For the remainder of the day, the group stayed in the room, occasionally being visited by guards to have food delivered. During that time, Frost decided to learn more about his new equine friend.

Duke listened in as Frost went, just interested enough to want to hear a few things. “So, Amel.” he awkwardly began. “How exactly did you end up in that household?” he asked.

Amel was taken off guard by the sudden question, and stammered out a response that wasn’t in English. “English, or Equish, please.” he requested.

Amel took a moment to gather her thoughts. “I was taken from home by                 قاطع طريق , the slave sellers. They killed stallions, took mares, children. I was young.”

Frost nodded, taking in every detail, hoping that it would help her to be more useful by telling them about her. “I see.” he commented. Another thought came to his mind. “How did you learn... Equish, in the first place?”

Amel puffed her chest just a tiny bit. “Learned by listen to family and guests. Help from other slaves too.” She went on, adding, “When master saw this, he thought I could be helpful, made me learn more.”

Frost found himself genuinely interested, and continued on with his questions about her. He learned that she had been in a very abusive house after becoming a slave and the details of that, and a few things about her family, though she was reluctant to talk about that. It went well into the night, and once they were done, they all went to sleep and dreamed dreams about what was most on their minds.


Duke walked over to Frost, who was already on the path to getting up. “Get up.” he ordered, pinching Frost’s nose. It only took a second for Frost’s eyes to shoot open, at which, Duke instantly let go. “We gotta get ready.” He walked back to his own little area and made his bed.

Frost stood up and made his own bed, wanting to be respectful of their host. He decided that he would rather not find out what happens when you disrespect a king.

“Boss, do you think we’re gonna meet with this king today?” he asked as he tucked his sheets under the mattress. “We were supposed to yesterday, but he didn’t seem to want to see us. I’d say that doesn’t look good for our odds today.”

Duke finished his own bed and stood straight, cracking his back. “I don’t know.” he explained. “And I don’t think that speculating about it is going to get us anywhere. So let’s just wait and see.”

The two men were done cleaning their respective zones and thought about what to do next. They hadn’t been contacted since their dinner was delivered to them last night, so they had no idea what was going to be happening today. Duke went over to their gear pile and started going through it again, looking for the binoculars. When he found them, he set his elbows up in the window and set to looking around the city.

Frost had nothing to do though, so he just glanced around for a bit. The walls in this room, like everything else in the palace, were lavishly decorated and told of the greatness of past kings and whatnot. Frost had little interest in such trivial nonsense, so he kept looking. He spotted the zone that they had set up for Amel.

He walked over and knocked on the wooden frame of the shade. “Yo.” he said, though fairly quietly. He got no answer. “Alright, well, I guess you can just sleep for now.” he turned to Duke, who was looking out at the city, taking in everything there was to see. “I’m gonna go for a run, boss. See you later.” Duke grunted in response, and Frost set out.

He opened the door slowly and quietly, trying not to be loud, and hopped out, letting the door close on its own. It clicked shut, and he walked off.

He was halfway down the hall when someone called him. “Hey!” He turned around to see a horse in silver armor walking toward him. He sounded like he was mad, but Frost could hardly tell with all the stuff he was wearing on his face. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked.

Frost turned around and let his hands fall to his sides in an unmenacing manner. “Just going for a run. Care to join me?” he offered. The guard didn’t reply. “Alright.” He turned around to walk away.

“I can’t just let you wander around the castle.” the guard said gruffly.

Frost turned back around, a pleasant smile across his face. “I know the way out.” he explained. “But feel free to join me if you want to make certain I go the right way.”

The guard didn’t move an inch. “I can’t let you wander around. Go back to your room and stay there.” He took a wider stance in preparation to fight. “Or I will be forced to bring you back.”

Frost sighed and put his hands in his pockets, which prompted the guard to snort. “Fine.” he said, still smiling. “I’ll go back. This is your house, after all.” He sauntered in the direction of the guard, who had been taken by surprise by Frost’s actions, and the guard sidestepped him quickly. “Though I would like to know when I will be allowed to roam in the areas where your average civilian would roam. Soon, but not now.” The guard eyed him suspiciously as he walked away, then let his guard back down and went along his rounds.

Frost was back at his room and about to knock on the door when he heard a conversation from the other side. it sounded like Duke was arguing with someone, but whoever the other one was, they hadn’t spoken yet. Frost waited for a moment to enter.
“So no, you can’t just take whatever you want from us. This may be your house, but these are our things. You no touchy.”

The other one spoke. “We don’t want any of the other things. Those are yours and yours to handle.” It was a male voice. “But SHE is not to stay here. She may be free now, but she is still a peasant. She is not permitted to be here.”

Frost took this as the moment to enter. “Hey!” he said, smile still ever present. “What’s going on?”

He looked around. He could see Amel hiding behind Duke, looking terrified at the guard and hugging her shield’s legs. The guard looked incredibly unhappy with her being here and at Duke for allowing it. Duke, though, was looking at Frost already, his expression saying, I’m glad you’re here, but please deal with this. The guard turned to Frost and slicked his tongue.

“Human who is known as Frost.” he said, giving a slight, choked bow. “Please, understand this. She is a peasant, she is not allowed here. You must talk to your friend and explain.”

Frost’s smile faltered for a moment, at which Duke moved Amel back a bit. “You know, it was my idea to bring her here.” he said, walking forward toward the guard. “I don’t feel like making her leave. She’s a living, intelligent being, like you or me. She didn’t do anything to be where she is.”

The guard snarled, not having seen a this coming. “You clearly do not understand-”

“No, I understand perfectly.” Frost said, his smile gone. “I just don’t care. You can tell your king that she’s a close personal friend of mine. He’ll be hard pressed to make her leave with that bit of info. He wouldn’t want to offend his guest, now, would he?” 

The guard looked at Frost, then to Amel, then back to Frost. “I know that you only met-”

“Her yesterday, and yet, I still like her better than you. What does that say about you?”

The guard’s jaw went stiff, and he just stood in his spot like a statue, eyes going between human and pony. Finally, he said, “Fine. But the King shall know.” Frost chuckled. “What’s so funny?”

He sighed, his easy smile returning to his face. “Let him know. I’m sure he’d rather have us as allies anyway.” The guard frowned and walked out.

Frost turned to Duke and Amel. “So, what exactly was that all about?” he asked.

Duke stepped aside, exposing Amel, and put his hands out. “Please, after you.” he said, and walked back over to his bed to sit.

Amel looked down shamefully. “They say that slaves are not allowed. We not worthy.” She poked at the ground with her front hoof. “ I thought that free meant I worthy. But I not.” She turned around and walked over to her sleeping area. “I think I should leave. I don’t want cause trouble.”

Frost looked back at Duke, who was just fiddling with his weapons. He sighed and turned back to Amel. “No, you don’t have to go.” His father treated him the way she was being treated; he couldn’t just allow that, even if Duke could.

She turned to face him. “But I cause trouble.” she said. “I can’t make you seem bad. That is bad of me.”

Frost shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m certain that if this King wants us to like him, he’ll allow you to stay with us.” When he spotted Amel’s uncertain look, he walked over. “Even if he isn’t the best of guys, he should still be a logical guy. It’ll be fine.”

Amel looked up at him, and a small smile formulated across her face. “حسنا.” she said.

Frost stood up. “Good. Now, there is something I need you to do.” Amel looked up at him nervously, unsure of what to expect from her new friend. “I need you to learn better English, make it easier to communicate. Can you do that for me?” She blinked, then nodded. “Good.” Then he remembered one other thing. “Can you read?”

She replied in the negative. “Alright.” Frost said. He turned to see Duke, who was looking on with a look of mild interest. “Duke, I think we need to teach her to read, if she’s gonna help us to travel and carry our stuff.” 

Duke thought it over for a moment, then replied, “Sure. Makes sense to me.”


They spent the next couple of hours doing a few things to pass the time. Duke did some exercises, push-ups and curl-ups. Frost got a start on teaching Amel how to read and better speak English. At the end of those couple of hours, there was a knock on the door.

“Hello?” Duke shouted and waited for a response. When none came, he walked over to the door and knocked back on it. “Who’s there?”

A familiar voice rang. “Afaf. Please let me in.” Duke stepped back with his hand on the door handle, pulling it open as he moved. “Thank you.”

Afaf stepped in and tried his best not to look at Amel, the hate stuck to his face like sweat to a desert-residing man. He entered the room as nonchalantly as possible, but it was clear that something was exciting him. Duke shut the door with a little click.

“What brings you back here, Afaf?” Frost asked, standing and leaving Amel with a book. They had asked for some earlier after deciding to teach her to read. “Is something going on?”

Afaf turned to the human, locking his gaze on him. “Yes, the king would like to see you!” he announced excitedly. “Come, come! We must not keep him waiting!” He turned and trotted out of the room, leaving everyone else to eat the dust.

Frost turned back to Amel. “We’re gonna go meet this king now.” he explained. “Do not let anyone in here. They will not have any reason, regardless of what they may say. Keep the door locked and keep our stuff in that pile.” Amrl replied in the positive, and Frost nodded back.

“Let’s get going, Frost.” Duke said, tidying up his uniform and encouraging Frost to do the same. “Don’t wanna keep the king waiting.” The two men exited their room, and as they left, they heard the click of the door locking behind them.

Afaf had come back for them after rudely leaving them behind and escorted them through the palace. Frost spotted the aggressive guard from earlier, and as he passed, he sneered at him, earning a grumpy “harumph” from the guard. Duke elbowed his partner to behave, and both men put on stoic faces as they made their way through the remainder of the massive palace.

They were back at those massive doors from the previous day, overly decorated and wishful in its glory. The guards at either side set out their weapons to block passage, but Afaf spoke quickly to them and pointed back at Duke and Frost, and they pulled their weapons back. As they did so, the door slowly began to open, the bottom just barely scratching the ground as it moved, creating an incredibly irritating screeching noise.

“Let us go. He is inside awaiting us.” Afaf led the men through the door and to the king.

Inside the throne room, there was even more decoration than the rest of the palace. Duke had half been expecting for there to be very little, but the amount of stuff was absurd. The walls were lined with jewels and gold, and vines slayed out onto part of the wall from the windows. There was a small marble fountain in the center of the room, and the red velvet carpet they were walking on split and went around it.

As they approached the end of the room, a large iron throne with a very large horse became visible. The horse wore a golden crown, the style you might see old English kings wear, and he wore long, purple robes. His throne was an ominous black, serving almost as a curtain of iron to prevent one from seeing anything behind it. Around him, he had what was likely his elite guards, each one with matte black armor on.

Afaf bowed down at the end of the carpet they were walking on, saying something in their language that sounded to the effect of: “Oh great king, we are not worthy of your excellence. Please, allow us to bask within it, so that we might learn to be so great.” The kind of thing you would hear in places that feared their ruler.

“بما فيه الكفاية.” the king said, interrupting Afaf’s monologue. He turned to the humans, who had not bowed down. “I see you have brought some very... interesting guests.” He stood up and walked down to the men. Once in front of them, he squinted his eyes to get a better look at them, studying every detail he could muster. “It’s good to see that there are more of you.”

He turned and walked back to the throne, robe trailing behind him as he moved back up. “Afaf. لدي القليل من الوقت لالعوام. تأكد من لا شيء يأتون إلى هنا اليوم.” Afaf nodded to his king and ran off.

As Afaf ran off, the king settled into his chair and let out a relaxed sigh. “Okay. Now that he has left, we can talk. You needn’t worry of my guards; they do not speak Equish.” Duke and Frost remained stoic. “Ah, men of action, not words. That is good. You will need to be.”

Duke’s brow furrowed as he processed what that meant. “I’m sorry, but what exactly do you expect us to do?” he asked. “We’re here to find someone, a friend of ours. We’re too busy to help you.” He desperately hoped that he could get out of this whole thing.

Alas, that was not to be. “I know who you look for. The other human, correct? From the Celestia’s agency?” Duke and Frost were both glad that he didn’t know that OGA was from the OGA. “I understand that you want to find him. Well, I would gladly tell you if I knew.”

Frost looked up at the king, unfazed, given that he expected as much. “Well, why should we help you then?” he asked. “If you can’t help us find our guy, then why would we help you with whatever your problem is?” He knew their problem.

The king nodded. “I understand what you say. But our problems are connected, you see.” He stood up and moved to the side of his throne. “Come.” He walked past his throne, followed soon after by the two wary humans.

They walked under a golden arch and through a large hallway, though now, there were no decorations. There was nothing ornate at all about this area. It was all just bare wall and floor. At the end of the hall, there was a room with a large round table with gold cups at each chair in the middle and a big square made of wire in the middle.

“You see, when the other human arrived here, he was very intent on getting home to wherever Pakistan is.” Frost chuckled silently, but was further silenced by Duke’s elbow. “He said that his world is very different from this one, and that he had to get home as soon as possible.”

The king led the human around the table to the biggest chair and sat upon it. “I told him that I knew how to get him home if he helped us deal with the invading Griffons. At first he said no, but I convinced him otherwise.”

“And how did you do that?” Duke asked suspiciously. “We know who he is and what he does. And we also know that it would take some mighty powerful words to ‘convince’ him to do anything.”

“Yes, well. I told him that I know of a way out of this world.” The king shrugged. “I cannot get it myself, but I know who has it. And I told him that in exchange for his help, I would tell him where his way home is. Obviously, he took the deal.”
The king started sipping a drink at the table as Frost spoke. “Well, what did you want him to do?” he asked. “If he isn’t here, and you don’t know where he is, you must have sent him out.”

The king set his cup back down and looked between the two men. “I sent him on his mission some time ago. It was supposed to be a few days at the most, but he has not returned. According to my sources, the Griffons have him.”

Duek and Frost went stock still. Neither had been expecting this to happen, for OGA to have become involved in a foreign conflict. He had changed the game completely by doing that. If the enemy of which the king spoke of had taken their man, they would have no choice but to go after them.

“Hang on.” Duke said. He grabbed Frost by his sleeve and urged him aside for a moment so they could talk in peace. The king didn’t object, he likely knew what they were going to be talking about.

“Boss, I don’t like this.” Frost cautioned. “OGA got involved in a foreign conflict without permission from his higher-ups. We aren’t even supposed to be out looking for him.” He turned to glance at the king, who seemed to be off in his own little place. “Maybe we should just find our way home and tell the guy that his man is gone.”

Duke thought for a moment. “I agree, but I don’t think we can. If we want to get home, we’re going to have to play by this guy’s rules, and that’s going to mean fighting it out with these Griffons. And if OGA was sent to them for something, he’ll probably want whatever it is that OGA was supposed to get.”

“Damn.” Frost cursed. “Can this get any worse?”

“Don’t say that, Frost,” Duke warned, turning back to the king. “It can always do just that.”

They walked back over to the king, who sat with an almost smug look on his face. The men didn’t comment on it. “Well, what was that you were talking about?” he asked.

“Nothing to worry about.” Duke dismissed. “But one thing; what did you send OGA to do exactly? What was his mission?”

The king stood from his seat and began walking back around the table. “That.” he said, pointing at a sheet of paper. “We sent him there to spy on our enemy, to see what they are up to. Celestia herself was interested in this knowledge.”

Ignoring the reference to this Celestia character, Frost took the paper and started looking through it. “As you can see, the conflict affects all of us.” the king explained. “We sent your friend, ‘OGA’, to get information on weapons, weapons of great power that could make this fight much more difficult. We need that information.”

“And we need to find our man.” Frost said.

“Yes.” the king said. “So I would like to offer a deal; you help us to find him so that we can get the information, and then you can bring him home to Pakistan.” His face became serious. “You will have to fight in our war. But that is because your man is already in it. In order to find the chest at the end of the dungeon, you must first enter the dungeon yourself.” The king walked over and extended his hoof out to Duke. “So. Is it a deal?”

Duke looked to Frost, who silently deferred to Duke’s judgment. Duke looked back, and, against his better judgment, took the hoof. “We accept. But we will have terms to discuss.”

The king nodded understandingly. “Yes, I understand. We can discuss this more tomorrow. In the meantime, please, enjoy my palace, and all it has to offer.”

The men nodded and began to walk off when Frost remembered one last thing. “I don’t think we ever exchanged names.” he said.

The king shook his head. “Whoops, how silly of me. I am King Sauri, son of ‘Adl Ahad.”

The men nodded. “I’m Frost.”

“Duke.”

King Sauri smiled gleefully. “Great. The guards will be informed of your status, and tomorrow, we will speak again. Good day.” He trotted off another corridor, leaving the men to find their own way.

It took a few minutes, but they were able to find their way out of the room. As they walked down the stark hallway, the men thought about what they were getting into. On the one hand, it would be easier because they wouldn’t be shot at by guns. On the other, the enemy could fly. It was too confusing to think about without more information, so they just left it at that.

But as they made their way back to their temporary home, they figured that one thing was a given; this was going to be different from any operation that any special forces operators had ever done before.

> Meeting the Team
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








Meeting the Team



The men awoke easily enough, though neither was looking forward to this day. As they got up, they stretched themselves out and did some minor exercises; push-ups, curl-ups, squats. It felt good to the men to warm up for the day.

While they did that, Amel was still sleeping peacefully in her little zone. Frost glanced over to her, then looked outside to the bright, rising sun. 

“It’s wakeup time,” he said with a grin. He hop-squatted over to the border between the men’s area and hers and squatted down low. Duke watched, confused but interested, wondering what kind of spectacle this would turn out to be.

Frost leapt up into the air like a frog and got his hands up on top of the shade. Duke was impressed by the jump; he knew that he probably couldn’t get quite that high off of nothing. Frost’s impressive display didn’t last, though. Before he could get his leg over the wall, he came crashing down on it, groin first, letting out a pained grunt as his full body weight went down on the wooden frame of the shade.

The shade completely collapsed and sent Frost rolling several feet away from it. With all the noise, Amel shot upright in her bed, which confused Duke, and she hurriedly scanned her surroundings. When she saw Frost on the floor, clearly in pain, she rushed out of bed and ran to him.

“Are you okay?” she asked, helping him up. At first, Frost didn’t answer, just groaned. “سيد Frost?” she asked. Frost nodded his answer and smiled at her.

“Thank you.” he said as he gently pushed her away so he could stand on his own. “I’m good.” His voice was strained and a bit higher than usual.

Duke started clapping, getting both his companions to look over at him. “Truly an amazing display of acrobatics there, Frost. You should have gone to the Olympics for it. Really.” Frost looked at him dryly, seemingly unamused, but he couldn’t hide the tiny smirk on his face.

Frost went and sat down on his bed, regaining his composure, and tried to forget his failed attempt at waking Amel in his own way. “So, boss,” he began. “We have to fight for these guys now.” 

Duke went over to the pile and pulled his weapon out of it. “Yeah. We do.” They were both silent for a moment. “We’ll still be discussing our terms, though. We don’t have to all out fight for them. Our main concern is OGA; so that’s always our primary objective.”

Frost nodded. “Yeah.” He looked at Amel, who was just sitting silently on her hind end, listening. “You understand any of this?” he asked.

Amel looked to her savior, startled, then said, “No, I no understand.” she said, almost with a shameful tone. “Is that good?”

Frost shrugged. “I suppose. It doesn’t matter so much to me; you’d have to ask the boss.”

Amel turned to Duke, who was checking various parts of his MP7, and questioned him with her eyes. “What?” he asked. She just looked at him. “I don’t care. Once we’re done, it won’t matter any more. Probably.” He watched Amel’s face become a little bit happier, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he should try to keep the whole thing out of her head. But that was something to think about later.

They finished talking, and now, it was about half past seven. Any minute, there would probably be a guard delivering food to them. They could have just left, but they weren’t sure if Sauri had yet told his men to let them wander. He had said that he would inform the guard, but that could mean anything. It could mean that they were told the night before, or it could mean they would be told when a deal was met.

A series of knocks on the door answered the question. Duke set his weapon down and walked over and opened the door a little bit, just enough to get a look at the guard’s face. One can’t be too careful.

“Yes?” he asked. “What brings you here?”

The guard’s eyes widened just a little bit when he saw Duke. Duke didn’t recognize him. “Umm, I was told to tell you that you’re free to move about the palace now, sir.” Duke raised his eyebrow at being called sir, unsure of exactly why he was just called ‘sir’. “King Sauri figured that you would want to eat breakfast in the dining room.”

Duke nodded. “Thank you.” he replied. “We’ll be there shortly to get some food. We can find our own way.” The guard nodded quickly, then turned and walked away.

Duke shut the door and turned back to Frost, who now had Amel next to him. He sounded like he was trying to teach her better English. “Alright!” he said as he clapped his hands together. Frost looked up, but Amel kept her eyes down. “Time for chow. Let’s move.” Frost got up to follow Duke, but Amel remained where she was.

Duke looked straight at her. “You coming?” he asked. Amel looked up at him, an expression of horror on her face. “Are you coming?” he asked again, much slower.

She blinked twice, trying to respond. “A peasant is not allowed in the palace! Definitely not the guest’s dining hall!” she shouted.

Duke covered his left ear and replied, “Well, I don’t think that they’ll mind. If they want our help, anyway. Right Frost?”

Frost nodded. “Yeah, you’ll be fine. Just come on- we’re gonna be late for food!” He turned around and walked off. Duke turned, but looked at Amel one last time before leaving. She took that as the cue to come along, and ran up behind Duke.

“Just stick with us.” he said, setting his hand on the back of her neck. “God knows we’ll want as many friends present as possible for this.”



They walked into the dining room unsure of what to expect. They thought that, because this room was for guests, that it would be less decorated than the rest of the palace. Instead, they found themselves in a massive chamber with an eyeful of bright, shiny, lavishly unnecessary dining utensils. All of them were silver, from the looks of it, and the goblets and cups all had some sorts of jewels in them. The table itself looked like it was made of jade, and the cushions where the horses and ponies sat were all a very dark shade of purple with gold embroidery and lining.

The men had been expecting to see King Sauri, maybe, or some of his higher ranking stallions. They had assumed that this was where the discussion would take place. It was not at all that. There was no sign of the King or any officials while they walked in.

“I wonder where the king’s at?” Frost said aloud to no one. Duke looked around, curious as well as to the whereabouts of the king.

A guard trotted over to them. “Hello, humans.” he greeted stoically. His voice took a turn south, though. “And friend of humans.” He was looking straight at Amel, who cowered behind Frost, and who in turn moved to be between her and the guard.

“Hello,” Duke replied. “You got anything to tell us about today?” he asked.

The guard nodded. “Yes. The King shall see you some time after you have eaten breakfast and seen some of the palace. He wishes for you to have time to enjoy yourselves before discussing your business.” He turned around and went to leave the room. “You will be allowed to go where you will, within reason, and you may come here to eat any time.” With that, he left.

Duke watched the guard as he exited the room, partly suspicious of the king and partially thankful for the spare time. When he turned around, Frost and Amel were already sitting down at the table getting food. Frost had to order for Amel, since the servants in the palace refused to serve her directly. Duke ignored the small display of overt arrogance and sat down to order his own food.

They all ate in relative silence, Frost and Duke thinking about their terms and Amel simply being tired. Frost wondered about what this war would be like. “They don’t exactly have guns.” he thought. “So fighting these griffons can’t be that hard. But,” he looked at Amel. “if they’re going after civilians, that could make things more complicated.”

“What conditions should I give Sauri?” he wondered. “I have to make sure that Amel sticks with us. Speaking their language, she might be helpful. She’ll also help carry our stuff around.” He decided that he would have to be sure to mention her in his terms. “I’m sure that Duke can take care of operational talk.”

And he planned to. Duke thought hard about that while he ate. “Our primary goal is to find OGA. We don’t care about anything else. We fight in their war, they help us to find him. But what will fighting entail?” He considered this. “We might have to actually fight, which is almost out of the question. We aren’t exactly infantry, so we’ll have to point that out somehow.”

Before him was a cut of meat, which he sliced into slowly and chewed slowly as he continued thinking. “Just gotta be careful on that one.” he figured. “Part of the deal could be that we’ll provide first aid on missions, though we don’t know equine anatomy. That makes things tougher. Maybe we’ll just go on special operations or something? Seems like a possibility.”

Both men gave their thoughts a bit more time before finishing with them, as well as with their food. Once they were finished, they were about to get up when Amel said, “Wait!” The two men looked at her and, with a sheepish expression, she asked, “Can I have some more time to eat?”

Duke looked at Frost, and Frost at Duke. Frost shrugged and waved for Duke to head on out. He would wait for her to finish. Duke nodded curtly and exited the room.

He turned right as soon as he was out of the doorway and decided that he would explore. He had been given permission to go through the palace areas, within reason, so he decided that he would do just that. Unfortunately, he and Frost had left their comms back up in their room, so if one needed the other, it would be hard to find them. Deciding that it wasn’t too important at the moment, Duke went on his merry way.

He figured that he would actually just go back to the garden; it seemed like a peaceful enough place for the moment. After everything that had been going on, Duke was looking for a nice place to just sit down and relax for a moment. Being stressed out, mentally or physically, never helps anything.

The walk to the garden was short, and he needed directions a couple of times, but once he was there, he finally felt himself  relax a bit. Earlier, he had spotted a bench that looked like something he could sit on, so he walked around looking for it. After a few minutes, he found it next to the fountain and sat down.

“Ahhh,” he released as he leaned back. He remembered learning at the Air Force how preexisting stress can adversely affect flight skills. Duke always figured that it applied to all things, especially Special Operations, so he always kept it in mind and did his best to remain relaxed. As of yet, he had never once lost his cool in battle.

His brief respite was short-lived, though. He heard the hoofsteps of a guard wearing metal horseshoes approaching. “What are you doing here, human?” Duke turned around to face the distinctly male voice. The stallion who had approached him from behind the fountain was huge; one could see the muscles rippling through his body. The armor he wore was different from the others, too; it was clearly metal, but there was a slight difference between it and silver.

Duke sat back up. “So much for any relaxing.” he thought. “I’m sitting. What are you doing?” he asked. 

“I’m making sure no one tresspasses in the royal palace.” he answered gruffly. “And you’re doing just that. You have to leave.” 

Duke stood up a little bit, remaining totally calm. “I understand that you’re just doing your job, but I assure you that I’m allowed here. The king said that he told the guards about our status.”

The guard frowned. “Well, I was never told. Nor would I care. You aren’t any kind of noble; you aren’t allowed in the palace. Now, you have to leave.”

Duke was starting to get annoyed, but reined himself in and kept it under control. “Actually, I don’t. But I will if it means avoiding conflict with potential allies.” He turned around. “I’m going to go meet my partner and bring him to our room where we’ll wait for the king to call for us.”

The guard snickered. “Yeah, I’m sure that you and your ‘partner’ are gonna be fine waiting up there on your own.” Duke ignored the comment and walked off.

He walked back to the room in haste, not wanting to run into any other guards like that one. If he did, he wouldn’t be surprised if it escalated and became a fight. No doubt he would have the upper hand, but he couldn’t risk getting hurt. Or hurting any of them.

He got back quickly and entered hurriedly, shutting the door behind him as he entered. “‘Sup boss?” came an unexpected greeting from Frost inside the room. Duke turned and saw him and Amel sitting on the bed, seemingly going over letters on a piece of paper. “What made you hurry so much?”

Duke walked over to his bed and sat down, releasing a very slightly frustrated sigh as he sat. “I ran into a guard who was too aggressive for his own good. I just left him, though. Can’t risk starting something.” Frost nodded at this and turned back to Amel.




The following hour was spent by Frost teaching Amel the different letters. She picked up quickly, already having some understanding of English, and she was getting the hang of English grammar. Frost had to spend extra time explaining the whole thing with two t’s and why it was necessary, as well as with some other letters, like r and l. It was going well enough.


Duke sat off to the side listening to the lessons, occasionally interjecting his own tidbits of information. Mostly, though, he just sat and thought about the meeting with Sauri. He wondered about how large this conflict really was, and how severe involvement might get. If it was too big, He and Frost would have to just find OGA and get out; to risk extended time in an all out war-zone is a dangerous endeavor for any soldier.

Three knocks sounded at the door. Allowing Frost to continue with Amel, Duke stood up and walked over to open the door. “Yes?” he asked as he opened it.

Outside the door was a young looking guard, if Duke had any ability to guess age here. He looked pretty nervous, but still somehow sure of himself. “The King is ready to see you in the War Room.” When Duke just looked at him, the guard continued. “The room behind the throne room.”

Duke nodded. “Alright. We’ll be there soon. Tell him we thank him for sending someone for us.” The young guard smiled and nodded, then trotted off to deliver Duke’s message. “Alright, Frost!” he shouted. Frost stood up at the ready. “Let’s go. You,” He pointed at Amel. “Come along.” Amel hopped up, confused, but followed her orders and went along.

The men ignored the looks that their little group was getting through the halls, but Amel was clearly uncomfortable. While Duke and Frost were standing up straight, Amel had her head sunk down, looking at the floor. Some of the guards looked displeased with the humans as they walked through the halls, but most were silently watching in a state of semi-awe. The trip was awkward to say the least.

They entered the throne room and walked right through unopposed, and then went behind the throne. One of the guards stopped Amel. “You cannot go past here, peasant.” he said. “Only the humans.”

Frost turned around and looked at Amel’s terrified expression. “We need her present.” he explained. “She’s going to be a part of this.” The guard looked back at Frost, his stance unchanged. “If you don’t let her come with us, we don’t have to stay.” Reluctantly, the guard allowed for Amel to pass, and they all made their way to the War Room.

Inside the war room, the King awaited with a group of other stallions, all wearing dark gray armor. As the men entered, he saw them and announced, “أنها قد وصلت!” He turned to the stallions. “هذه هي البشر التي سوف تعمل مع.” They all nodded and looked at the humans and mare, faces stoic and stark.

Duke approached the king and extended his hand. “Glad to see you, King Sauri.” he greeted. Sauri took his hand and shook. “I trust that we can talk without any interruption?”

Sauri nodded. “Of course. I don’t think that this will take too long, though. My terms, at least, are quite simple.”

Duke smiled and nodded. “I hope that ours are too.”

Sauri released Duke’s hand and pointed to two cushions on the ground. “Shall we?”

“Let’s.”

King Sauri sat down opposite of the two cushions and clapped his hooves together. In the next moment, several cups of tea, more than three, were brought out. When one was offered to Duke and then Frost, both men accepted and drank as they sat. Amel set herself down behind them.

“Alright. Who goes first?” Frost asked. He didn’t want to sound impatient, but this needed to get done soon. 

Sauri sipped his tea and spoke. “I shall, I suppose.”

Duke nodded. “Alright. What are your terms, exactly?” he asked, gently holding his cup of tea in his hands and bringing it to his mouth.

“Well,” Sauri began. “My terms, as I said, are simple; you help us to fight these enemies, and we shall help you find your friend. OGA, was he?” Duke and Frost nodded. “Good. You would have to fight in our war to find him anyway, so why not kill two griffons with one stone?”

Duke and Frost ignored the analogy as the king continued. “You will fight alongside us, and if need be, you will help our stallions to prepare for battle with some training if necessary. Looking at you and the items you brought, you don’t come across as normal soldiers.” 

He sipped his tea while he gauged the reactions of the men. There was no reaction.  The king went on. “I do not know enough to say what exactly you might do, but I can tell that you aren’t normal. Whatever you typically do, that will be your main job in the fighting.”

Duke looked to Frost, who nodded. “Alright,” Frost began. “What we do is Combat Search and Rescue. We go in quietly to rescue people from combat zones if they’re injured, soldiers or civilians. We also go in with special teams when they think they might need a medical specialist.”

Sauri nodded, apparently interested in the unique specialization. “Good, good. We will give you your roles according to that.” He finished his tea and looked at the men, then Amel, who shrunk down. “I also believe that you will want to talk about your little friend. I have heard about the encounters that some of my guards have had with you about her.”

Duke remained still, but Frost looked back at Amel, almost like he was making sure she was still there. “It is not normal that we allow peasants here, I can assure you. It makes me feel... uncomfortable. But I will allow it for you if it will help us to be friends.”

Frost looked to Duke, a little surprised at the king’s words, then back to the king. “Yes, that will be acceptable.” He looked to Duke again, who nodded. “We find your terms adequate.”

Duke leaned forward. “Now we’ll name ours?” The king nodded. “Alright. Our first term, since we already took care of Amel, is that we will only help you until we get OGA or find him dead. And if he leaves your nation, we will follow him and make an agreement with whatever other nation we come across.”

Sauri frowned very slightly, barely enough to notice. He didn’t look overly excited about that. “Hmmm...” He considered it carefully. “Well, I suppose that your words make sense. It will be sad, though, to lose your help. It is acceptable.”

Duke nodded. “Second. Frost and I operate in a pair. We’ll work with your men, but we never get separated unless we say so.” The king nodded. “Good. Also, your men are to NEVER touch our things unless we give the okay. They’re dangerous items, and-”

Sauri chuckled. “Believe me, I have heard about such weapons. I don’t think my stallions will handle them.”

“Umm... good.” The men were just as happy to hear that. “Well, one left. If we deem a mission too dangerous or risky, we don’t go. We have enough experience to know suicide missions when we see them.”

The king considered it for a moment, then nodded. “Very well. It will save my stallions from harm, I suppose.” He breathed in deep and asked, “Are we in agreement?”

The men both nodded after exchanging glances. “Very good!” the king shouted. he had been holding in his breath. “Now, I am sure that you would like to meet the stallions that you should be working with the most.”

The King stood up and spun around to his stallions in gray armor. “في الأمام والوسط!” he shouted, and they all rushed forward. Duke and Frost stood up and walked forward, an incredibly intimidated Amel following right behind.

King Sauri stood off to the side. “These are my best soldiers.” he said. He started from the closest to him, all the way to the left of the men. “This is Abud, then Abir, Akin, Kashif, Nasr, and the captain, Nedal Nibamaso.”

Duke looked at each one, but stopped when he saw the captain. “He can’t be.” he thought. Upon closer inspection, he could and would, in fact, be. “We meet again.” Duke said as he stepped up to the captain.

Nedal was the same guard that had been such a nuisance to him earlier. “We do.” He sneered at Duke. “It appears that we will be working together.”

Duke shook his head. “Not together.” he said. “We’ll be in the shadows while you do your thing. We won’t be together for any time that counts.” Now, it was Duke’s turn to sneer as the guard captain let out a frustrated growl.

“Calm yourself, Nedal.” Sauri ordered. Like a military dog, he instantly hushed himself up, but still could not hide his displeasement. “You will go alongside these stallions for your missions, but your goals will be different.” He turned to his men. “These men are our allies. Do not detriment them in any way. And listen to what they have to say; it might be of value to you.”

King Sauri walked over to the table. “Come. We already have a mission planned.” He made a motion with his foreleg encouraging his stallions to join him, and everyone was around the table. Frost had to keep his hand on Amel’s shoulder to get her to move along.

“This valley is permeated with the Griffon menace.” Sauri began for the men. Evidently, the others had already gotten the intel. “They have my subjects hostage, which I don’t appreciate. They are mine; not theirs. These stallions will attack from the front and sides to take the town.” He pointed at a map on the table of the AO, indicating where each group would go. “You will need to enter from behind quietly to free my subjects.”

Duke halted it. “And what relevance does this have to OGA?” he asked. “He’s our main concern.”

Sauri nodded. “My spies, who have unfortunately been found out and killed, before they died, sent me information on a strange being that was held here. It was what drew my attention in the first place, and why I had to push back our meeting. It might be your OGA.”

Duke nodded, and behind him, Frost breathed in deep and slow as he took in the information. If all went well, they could be home pretty soon. “Sounds good.” Frost said from behind. “What’s the opposition look like?” he asked.

Sauri went back to the map. “Well, we know that the enemy force is significant, but with your weapons, they will be no detriment to you. My stallions here will have small trouble, but nothing they can’t handle. It isn’t exactly a fortified base of theirs.”

Duke nodded and stepped back from the table, over to where Frost stood. “Sounds fine to me. We’ll go on this mission.”

Sauri smiled widely and held his head high. “رائع!” he exclaimed. “Ready yourselves. You will leave tomorrow morning, and will likely arrive at nightfall. That is when you must strike.” He turned to his men. “So please, rest yourselves, and prepare for the journey.”


The men nodded and left for their room with Amel. Once there, the men set about preparing themselves for their mission.

Inside, Amel went over to her zone and sat down, fidgeting about. Frost noticed this and walked over to her. “Something on your mind?” he asked.

She looked up at him with fearful eyes. “You will be gone tomorrow.” she stated matter-of-factly. “While you are gone, who will keep me here? I have nothing to prove that I am to be here...”

Frost sat before her. “No worries. You’ll be fine. They can’t make you leave, King Sauri said that he’s fine with you being here. You won’t leave.” He looked at Duke, who was preparing his things. “Remain in the room if possible. Whenever you have to leave, take the beds and set them perpendicular to the wall.” She was lost on that word. “Ummm, set them so that the pillows go against the wall. Whenever you come back, reset them to the way they are now.”

Amel was confused. “I do not get it. Why will that help?” she asked.

“If they make you leave when you aren’t in this room, and you aren’t here when we return, the beds will tell us. If they’re perpendicular, we’ll know that you were sent away. If not, we’ll know that you’re still here. And we’ll find you, either way.” 

With Frost’s reassuring words, Amel gave him a soft smile and shut her eyes. “Thank you.” she said.

Frost ruffled her mane, making it messier than it already was. “Don’t mention it.” he said. When he removed his hand, it felt odd, so he sniffed it. “Whoah.” he said, sending his hand away. “No offense, but if you ever get a chance to take a bath here, please, do.” Amel blushed a little and giggled.

Frost stood up and went back to preparing his gear for the op. “Yo, boss.” he called. “You ready to fight these griffons, which only the ancient Greeks claim to have fought?”

Duke slid a magazine into his MP7 without chambering a round. “I wish.”

> Operation: Desert Fury
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Operation: Desert Fury




Duke and Frost had gotten up early the morning of the mission to make sure that they were totally prepared. They suited up with their plates, basic gear, water, ammo, grenades, flashbangs, and guns. Duke grabbed the binoculars as well. One can never be too careful, and surveillance is the ultimate tool for a special operator.

When they set out that morning, Amel didn’t follow them out of the palace for fear of being kept out. She said goodbye from the room, grabbing Frost’s leg and hugging him tight. “Good luck.” She sounded like she was actually afraid that the men might not come back. After assuring her that they would return, the men went to the war room to meet their sister team for the mission.

They had met up at the front gate and set out immediately, taking little time to go over anything. The stallions seemed a bit uncomfortable around the men, just as the men were around the stallions. While they traveled, the men would catch the stallions sneaking looks at them and whispering amongst themselves. It made them uneasy.

“Boss, I don’t trust these guys,” Frost said.

Duke nodded. “Me neither. But they’re all we’ve got for now.”

They rode for the entire day, with Duke and Frost in a small carriage and the stallions walking beside them. The sun was hot, but the men were in the shade to avoid sunburn, while the stallions had light fur to keep them from getting burned. 


They arrived at the infill zone that night around 2340 hours. The moon was only a sliver in the sky, providing very little light for them to be detected in. Above, the stars ruled over the sky, suspended in place like leaves under water. The hills had become all out mountains and valleys, with villages like Afaf’s scattered throughout the valleys. The night was completely silent, save for a few distressed voices from the valley below the infill point.

Nedal crawled to the edge of the cliff that the team was waiting on, followed by his second-in-command and the PJ’s. Duke pulled out his binoculars and took a look, getting an envious look from Nedal over his better tech.

Duke looked through his lenses at a fairly large village down in the valley. The place looked pretty normal, with mud houses, a little street market, and small farms. But that was quickly overshadowed when he spotted a large group of horses -- possibly the entire population of the village -- being kept in a small area toward what was likely main building of the village. They were surrounded by a group of griffons that were carrying scimitars and clubs. The griffons barked orders at the villagers, causing them to cower in fear.

Nedal was already impatient, but not knowing what was happening while a foreigner did was getting to him. “Well?” he asked. “What do you see?”

Duke lowered the binoculars and put them into his gear web. “The majority of the villagers are being kept around the main building, and they are surrounded by a group of griffons that did NOT look friendly.” Nedal grunted a response. “And I couldn’t see if they have anyone patrolling the area.”

Nedal contemplated this. “Alright.” He crawled his way away from the edge of the cliff with the men. “Here’s the mission.” The men had not been given specifics until just now. “You two have to go in and look for one of our guys. And yours, I suppose.” He sounded disgusted. “If you find them, you get them out. While you’re searching outside of the fight, we’ll be attacking from the hillside.”

Frost listened and voiced his concerns about the plan. “What about the villagers?” he asked. “If they see you coming, the griffons might hurt them or worse.”

Nedal growled at Frost, which only drew a dissatisfied frown from the man. “They aren’t our concern. We’re only here to show them that they can’t get away with committing their acts of terror within our borders. To Tartarus with the villagers.”

Frost looked at Duke, who looked back at Frost. “Those aren’t the rules of engagement that we follow,” he explained calmly. “If we’re doing this, we’re doing this our way.”

Nedal stood all the way up to intimidate the men. “No. You want our help, you do this OUR way.”

Duke and Frost stood up, hands on their weapons. “We’re helping you, ass. So if you want us to help you with your quite frankly primitive war, then you do what we want,” Duke explained.

Nedal growled, but didn’t continue. Duke took this as his chance to explain the new rules. “Nedal, you translate.” Duke pulled in the group. “Frost and I are going to go down there first under the cover of darkness. We’ll move through the village, searching for our objectives, and if we find them, we’ll get them out. After that, we’ll come back down and put ourselves in a position to make sure nothing happens to the hostages when you assault.” He listened intently as Nedal translated for him. “Questions?”

Nedal finished, and the stallions looked a bit confused, which worried Duke. He had no way of making sure that Nedal said what he wanted him to; he didn’t trust him. Still, this had to happen tonight, so Duke just had to hope for the best. “Good.” He and Frost stood up and made their way back to the edge of the cliff to get one last look at the village.


They concluded that there was nothing new for them to see, and so they used some long ropes brought by the horses to climb down the cliff. It made the men uncomfortable to be held up by nothing but the strength of the mouths of the horses above them, topped by the lack of trust, but the only other way would take too long. It only took them a few minutes to get all the way down to the ground, where they took up shooting positions to make sure the area was safe.

Once they knew they were clear, the men started making their way to the village, keeping low and quiet along the way. Up above, Nedal and his stallions watched on, the enlisted looking on in wonder, Nedal with a scowl on his face. He looked up ahead at the enemy-controlled village, then back to the men. They would be there in a relatively short time.

“الخروج.” Nedal ordered. The stallions stood up and followed orders.


Duke and Frost were approaching the village; they were about two hundred meters away from the edge of it. Weapons held up and rounds chambered, they scanned the area up ahead for any griffons. “Clear,” Duke stated quietly. The two men took the opportunity to stand up and run to the village.

As soon as they were within arm’s reach of the first building, they dropped back into their low stances to evade detection. Frost moved forward to take point and peeked around the corner of the building. Nothing. “Clear.” The two men quietly made their way around the corner and to the end of the next wall. Once there, they stopped. “Hold,” Frost said. He looked around the corner again, but instead of seeing no one, this time there was a griffon patrol walking down the street. In the darkness, they didn’t see Frost’s head poke out of the corner. He quickly retracted it.

“Boss, we got a patrol. Three griffons, all with swords and chest armor.”

“Alright. Wait til’ they pass. We do this silently,” Duke ordered. Frost nodded back to him and they waited.

A few minutes later, the griffon patrol walked past them, not really paying attention to their surroundings. One was incredibly gruff sounding, while the other two sounded much more submissive, like underlings.. One said something in their language and prompted the gruff one to claw him across the face. Evidently, the gruff one was the leader.

Once the patrol was far enough to their left, they left the relative safety of the alley they were in and ran across the street into a small home. With their weapons drawn they scanned the interior, and when they saw no hostiles they entered. Duke took a look outside to check if the patrol was turning around, but they turned a corner and went out of sight.

He turned to Frost, who had his ear to the wall on the opposite side, probably trying to listen for anything outside. “Frost, over here,” Duke whispered. Frost left the wall and approached Duke. “We gotta look for OGA, see if he’s here. We start with the buildings on the outskirts, then move onto the inner section of the village. And remember: do it silently.” Frost nodded, and the men got ready to move out again.

No one was outside, and they took the chance to make a move to the next home. For the single-room huts, they just peeked inside and moved on. It was easy enough to check those, only without entering -- there was a bit more risk of being caught. For some of the bigger homes, multiple rooms -- the only multi-floor home was the main house -- they had to enter inside and check each room.

They went around the village perimeter and slowly made their way deeper in as they went. Once they started getting farther in, that was when the multi-room homes started becoming more common. It ate away time. On top of it taking longer, they had to move slower and more quietly as they penetrated the village, with patrols becoming more common and larger. Instead of hiding between homes, they had to hide in them because the new patrols were carrying torches, and actually checked the alleys. Probably looking for villagers that were hiding.

The men were about eighty meters from the center of town when they came to a house much larger than most, one that had several rooms and even a ladder to the roof. Presumably, there was something up there of value, which was likely gone now. Still, it held value to the Pararescuemen; it was a vantage point. The ladder outside was broken, but with any luck, there would be one inside.

“Inside,” Duke ordered. He and Frost took up positions at the doorway that had a cloth instead of a door and poked in at the same time. No one. “Move.” The two men entered the home silent as a pair of cockroaches crawling across your bed at night.

The men stayed together in the house. They started out in the foyer where they entered, looking around for anything that they could use to get up top. It wasn’t that they were inspired by the ladder to go to the roof; it was that the ladder indicated that the roof was a safe place to go and wouldn’t collapse.

After finding nothing in the foyer, the men decided to go to the right and check the next room there. They would start right and if they found nothing, they would go back to the left. The first room they went through was a living room.

It was filled with books, so the previous owner of this home was definitely educated and wealthy. The place was ransacked; the books were all over the floor, torn apart and tossed about. There were ripped up cushions for sitting toward the wall, their stuffing all over the floor. The magical light fixture above them was flickering just a bit, but not enough to mess with a person’s vision.

“Someone had a bad day,” Frost commented. They moved into the room and looked around for anything they could use to get to the roof. When they found nothing, Frost took point and went into the next room. “Clear,” he announced in a whisper. The men moved into the kitchen of the house.

There was nothing here either, and this was apparently the end of this section of the house. “Back to the foyer.” Duke thought. He got Frost’s attention by keying his mic and then pointed back the way they came. Frost nodded back to him, and they moved with the noise of a church mouse on the way back to the foyer, listening for movement outside. 

There was nothing. They proceeded into the next room.

Within was something they hadn’t been expecting: a griffon, sitting at a desk, writing furiously on something. He or she was hunched over and sounded frustrated, though with their different customs, he could have been feeling anything. Around him were several small piles of papers, each with a little weight on it. He never heard the men enter the room.

Duke was about to move forward to dispatch the griffon when Frost tapped his shoulder. He turned around to look and was greeted by Frost putting his finger to his lips. Duke nodded and stepped back to let Frost go.

He stepped forward, quiet as a mouse, and pulled his CRKT FE9 from its sheath. The anodized black blade was almost invisible in the room, save for the uncolored, razor sharp edge of the knife. As Frost moved forward toward the enemy, he shifted the knife in his hand to get a better hold on it. For this particular function, he knew that the hammer grip was best.

Frost got right up behind the griffon and looked back at Duke. He nodded. With the okay to make the kill, Frost quickly brought his hand around and closed it on the griffon’s beak, keeping him from squawking about while he plunged the nine inch blade into the back of his neck, severing the brainstem for an instant kill. Frost pulled the knife out and gently lowered the body of his foe to the floor, where it silently lay still.

“Nice,” Duke said as he passed by Frost to take point on the next room.

Frost fell in behind instantly, and they made their way through the rest of the rooms. There were no more griffons or papers, so they returned to the room with the dead griffon and looked through the documents. There was a problem: the documents, as expected, weren’t written in English. But that wasn’t it; they were written in a language that did not look like the one they had been seeing on the walls of the palace. 

“Damn,” Duke thought as he looked over the documents. If these could have provided any intel on the village, they were made useless by this language. No one would be able to read them. “Best to leave them for now.” he decided. They could have come back for them later.

Frost called to him from the corner of the room. “Boss, I think I got something here.” Duke turned around to look. “It’s a ladder to a hatch in the ceiling.”

Duke observed the ladder and followed it up to the ceiling, where there was, in fact, a hatch. How these horses were supposed to use it, he wasn’t sure. Magic. “Good work,” he said back. Frost started climbing the ladder, followed soon after by Duke, and they found themselves on the roof.

Up on the roof, the men crawled over to the edge to get a decent look at the hostage situation below them. Part of the arrangement was to help them with their war, as much as it felt weird to them, so they had to make sure the villagers came out okay. Once at the edge, they made a sitrep.

They weren’t far at all from where the hostages were being held. The entire village was there, by the looks of it. Mares held their foals close and stallions stood between their families and the griffons. Down below, the situation was clearly extremely tense; one thing wrong, and it might explode. The men kept their eyes on the area.

“Boss, it doesn’t look too good for them,” Frost commented grimly.

“I know.”

“What should we do?”

Duke thought for a moment. “Well, our priority is OGA and info regarding him, but we may already have that. But then again, he might be in the main house.”

“There’s no way we’re getting in there without a fight.”

“I know.” Duke thought again. “Alright. I think I’ve got it. We-” He paused. Off in the distance, he spotted something. In fact, he spotted a bunch of things. And they were all moving. “What the hell?”

Frost followed his eyes, and as the two men realized what they were looking at, alarm bells started ringing. 

That bastard was going through with his original plan! 

“Dammit!” Duke cursed in a whisper. “We gotta move.”

“Roger that,” Frost replied. The two men went back down through the hatch and into the house. “Boss, what’re we gonna do? If they get here, it’ll be total chaos.” Voices were no longer low.

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” Duke tried to come up with a plan. Nothing looked particularly good here. “Argh! Why is he so... argh!” He held his weapon in ready position and got moving. “Come on, we’re gonna try to make a distraction right before the attack force gets here. We need to get to good positions.” Frost nodded.

They ran around the house, sticking to the shadows as much as possible, and approached the situational area. “Frost, get over to the side. Cover the hostages from there.”

“Rog’.” He turned back around and took the longer way over to the side of the area.

Once he was in position, Frost took up a firing stance in the shade of an alleyway and waited. With trained eyes, the two men found each other again and waited. Frost didn’t need a signal to know when to open fire, though; he would be able to tell when Duke wanted to attack.

They waited in place for a few minutes, but those minutes felt like centuries. They knew that Nedal’s team was attacking, it was just a matter of time until they arrived. They had no idea of how the griffons would react, what they might try to do to the villagers. They didn’t know if there were traps waiting for Nedal’s force. All in all, it made waiting really suck.

There was shouting at the edge of the village. In the distance, the clash of metal on metal could be heard. The griffons around the villagers faced that direction; Duke and Frost faced them with itchy trigger fingers. One of the griffons shouted something, and about one quarter of the guarding griffons flew off in a haste. The others all became much more alert, watching the villagers with grim elation and controlled anger. They were waiting for this to happen.

Suddenly, one started talking. It was the gruff sounding one from earlier. “أراهن كنت تعتقد أن الملك الخاص بك وسوف تساعدك.” he said. “أنه سيفشل لك تماما كما فشلت شعبنا ببعيد.” The villagers didn’t move an inch, so the griffon took the chance to put himself closer to a single mare. “وأتساءل ما كنت مثل.” She stepped back from him, terrified, into the crowd of hostages. The griffon moved closer, but a stallion got in the way. “تحرك.” The stallion shook his head; in response, the griffon knocked him aside.

Duke looked to Frost, who nodded, and both men stood out of the shadows. With controlled shots, they each started shooting the guards around the group of hostages, taking each one down with one or two shots. They never even knew what was hitting them before most of them were down.

“:تشغيل!” one yelled. It and several others ran into the main building and shut the door as they ran in. 

Duke and Frost exited their spots and took up positions around the group. Primarily, they had their eyes on the building, but being special operators, they had their eyes everywhere. That was how they saw the oncoming enemies from the sky.

“Duke, up high!” Frost shouted. The men aimed up and opened fire at the group of seven griffons descending upon them from above. With controlled shots, the men used the remainders of their mags to take down four of them. The other three landed on the ground, one with a wound to its shoulder, the other two uninjured, not twelve feet from either man. Hitting moving targets is far from easy.

The men let their weapons fall to their sides, secured by straps, and pulled their sidearms. Duke got two shots off at one before the other closed in for a close quarters fight. It got close and swiped at Duke’s arm, keeping the pistol pointed away from it, and went for a slash across his neck with its vicious claws. Duke dodged and went back, using his left hand to pull out his knife, a simple KaBar, and slashed at his attacker. He missed, but it got the griffon to back off. With more space, he brought his hand back around and fired three shots into the griffon, two in the chest, one in the neck. It fell down in a mess of sticky feathers.

Frost had been less fortunate; the griffon landed right next to him. Before he could get his pistol around, it was on top of him, trying to peck at his throat. Frost knee’d it in the gut and tossed it off of him. As it fell away, it landed on his wrist and he dropped his pistol. He and the griffon got back up quickly, the pistol in between them.

Frost looked at the pistol, then at the griffon, and grinned. “It’s been a while,” he said as he pulled out his FE9 again, “since I’ve had a good fight.” The griffon snorted at him, clearly not understanding him, and dragged its talons against the dirt. Frost responded by putting his knife out in front of him, holding it in standard position. “Bring it on.”

The griffon moved fast towards him, faster than he would have thought, and drew its sword. The blade was a scimitar, long, curvy, and heavy, and made a whoosh as it fell. Frost sidestepped it, letting the weight of the weapon take it out of harm’s way, and moved in for the kill. He took the knife and pushed it into what might be considered the wrist of the giant bird and pushed up from there, drawing the blade across its arm-like appendage. The knife continued across the neck of the bird and went into the air, where it then came back down with force into the back of the griffon’s neck. The griffon made a shocked noise in Frost’s cold embrace, and it tried to breath in. The knife was lodged into its windpipe.

“Looks like it’ll be a bit longer.” He took the scimitar out of the griffon’s talons with his left hand and pulled his knife out, then stepped away. “Thanks for trying.” The griffon fell with an unceremonious thud to the ground.

Frost picked up his pistol and set it back in his holster, then walked over to Duke. “You good?” he asked. Duke nodded, and the men looked over the villagers. “They look alright,” he commented. “Should we go into the main building?”

Duke stood. “Let’s.”

Duke got up and took the lead in the assault on the building, ignoring the cheers that were coming from the village horses behind the men. At the door, they both reloaded, Duke taking the left side and Frost the right. Duke reached around his back and pulled out a flashbang.

“Ready?” he asked. Frost grunted and nodded. “Breach!”

Frost came around and kicked the door down, and Duke pulled the pin on the flashbang and tossed it inside. Once the flash went off and the angry shouts resounded from inside, the men stormed in. Rather than take the griffons down, there were three in the first room, the men tackled them and broke their wings, then threw them outside, either through a window or the open door. Once there, the villagers were able to take care of them.

Frost took a look outside and saw that Nedal’s force had made its way to the center of town. His stallions were outside, barking orders at the living griffons, and giving terse orders to the villagers. Figuring that the villagers were safe enough, Frost turned away from the window and refocused his attention on the task at hand.

Duke was already making his way further into the house, so Frost fell in behind and covered his six as he advanced. Each time they entered a room to clear it, it was empty.

“Damn!” Duke cursed. “They left already. Get out back, they might still be around.”

“Got it.”

The men ran out the back entrance to the building and scanned the area. Frost spotted movement to the right. “There!” he shouted as he started to give chase. Duke followed suit, and they ran after the figures in the dark. The two men could hear a struggle of some kind coming from the group. “They must have a prisoner with them!” Frost shouted.

They followed the group all the way out of the village to a small opening with a large number of boulders. The men kept on alert as they entered the area, keeping their eyes on the boulders for any hostiles that might pop out. Duke put up a fist and they stopped and listened; there was a scuffle in the distance, directly ahead. “Go.” It was time to be silent again.

They advanced, using the shadows of the boulders for cover of darkness as they moved out. The scuffle wasn’t moving; they could tell because it was rapidly getting closer. Now, the men could hear multiple voices. “Might be more than one POW,” Duke thought. Now, the sounds were just over the next boulder. Just on the other side...

“العدو في الأفق!” a voice shouted from their left. The men looked over; a male sounding griffon was yelling and pointing at them. The men each fired off one shot, both hitting the center of mass, knocking the stupid bird off its feet. On the other side of the boulder, several voices shouted out. 

“Get him out of here!” a female voice angrily ordered. Duke and Frost ran around the boulder and saw a small group of griffons, four, with a very strange prisoner.

“OGA!?!?” Duke shouted.

“JSOC!?!?” the prisoner shouted back. Then the prisoner was struck across the face with a rock, knocking him unconscious, and the griffons flew away with him, rapidly gaining altitude. Duke and Frost took aim at the one carrying OGA, but neither fired off a shot. If he fell from there, he could very easily die on landing.

Duke let his weapon fall from firing stance and angrily kicked at a nearby boulder. “Dammit dammit dammit!” he shouted. “We almost had him! We were THAT close!” He paced around for a couple of seconds, then fell to the ground and sat. “So close.”

Frost looked up at the sky, following the griffons as the flew off. “It’s never that easy, boss. Murphy’s never allowed for that.” He didn’t take his eyes off of the flying beasts as he continued. “But you know what this means, right boss?”

“Yeah...”

“It means that he’s alive. And it means that we’re gonna go get him.” He turned to Duke. “Even if we have to fight for him.” Duke got up and looked at his partner. “And we’re gonna win.”

With new determination and a reason to want to fight these griffons, the men went back to the village to move on with their mission, ready for whatever came at them.

> Offload
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Offload


Duke and Frost walked back to the village, feeling disappointed but determined. They knew that OGA was alive and here in magicland. They knew who was holding him. And they knew that they wouldn’t be alone in the fight, even if it meant fighting in a foreign war.

As the men approached the village, they heard a series of loud cheers coming from the group that had been held in the center of town. From where they were, they could only see the glow of torches lit in the dark that signified where the villagers were. The light permeated every crevice it could reach, and shadows were cast all over the place by the dancing and prancing horses.

The men decided that they didn’t feel up to a celebration at the moment, having just failed to secure OGA. They decided to go around all the celebrations and observe from the shadows, see if they couldn’t find Nedal to have a discussion on how to proceed. They moved through a little side street, looking for the big house that they had been on the roof of to observe. There was intel to gather there, as well as a place to just sit.

They didn’t find themselves going there, though. Right on the other side of the row of homes on their left was the celebration, fires illuminating the night and horses enjoying their freedom. One of them spotted Duke and Frost through an alleyway.

“هناك هم!” he shouted. Duke and Frost’s eyes went straight to the source of the voice, a stallion with two others who was approaching them with smiles on their faces. “أنت هم الذين أنقذوا لنا!” the same one said.

Before they could explain that they didn’t understand, Duke and Frost found themselves being pushed to the center of the party. As soon as they were out of the alley, cheers rang out around them. The men were pushed right into the middle of the celebrations, where they were greeted with gifts of necklaces, bracelets, and strange baubles the likes of which they had never seen. Little fillies and colts ran up to them and hugged their legs, and the mares would give them unexpected pecks on the cheek. The men squirmed away from all the attention.

Their salvation came in the form of Nedal and his stallions running in and looking around for enemy griffons. They scoured the place quickly, checking homes, crevices, alleys, and looking to the sky. When they found nothing, they stood off to the side somewhere while Nedal walked in.

“It would seem that you appeal to the peasants. Shocking,” he said as he walked up to the men, getting the villagers to back away.

“And what does it tell you, how the peasants and YOUR KING like us and want us around?” Duke replied. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you’re not worthy of peasant love.”

Nedal frowned. “I am much too worthy for them to even consider speaking to me. They know their place. As you should know yours.”

Duke stepped forward. “And you ought to know yours.”

Frost remained in his spot with the villagers, not wanting them to feel like they were exposed to Nedal and his stallions. “We had a plan and we have our Rules of Engagement. We don’t put civvies in harm’s way, and we explained that to you, yet you disregarded us. You seem to forget that you have no authority over us, Nedal.”

“Shut up. I only speak to officers.” the stallion snapped at Frost.

“You don’t tell my partner to shut up, Nedal, just like you don’t try to tell us how to do our job. We came in to rescue our guy and to rescue hostages. Not only did you very nearly get these hostages beaten and possibly killed, your actions resulted in the griffons managing to escape with OGA.” Duke leaned in to the stallion and touched him, nose to nose. “You ignored the deal we made with your king. And guess what? He’s gonna hear about it.”

“Ha!” Nedal replied. He held up a hoof and waved it over the crowd. “He does not care for them any more than I do. He will not care about that.”

“Oh, but he does. And he will. And you’ll be in deep, deep shit.”

Duke turned back to Frost. “Go back to that house and grab the intel. We’re gonna personally deliver it to King Sauri.” He turned back to Nedal. “And I hope he delivers me your head on a silver platter,” he said darkly with a finger poking Nedal’s chest.

Frost had already gone off to collect the intel, so Duke just walked back over to the villagers. They all looked at him expectantly, like they thought he would be able to tell them something. Instead of speaking, he just smiled and held his arms up high in a victorious stance. They all cheered.

On his way to the intel house, Frost kept an eye out for any straggler griffons. But he was looking out for more than just that. He wanted to keep an eye out for Nedal and his stallions. He wouldn’t past that dude to send someone to do something, especially after that little display in front of an entire village. In the darkness, Frost made sure that no shapes appeared too suddenly or looked too much like horses.

When he got to the house, before he went in, he checked it through a window to make sure it was clear. When he confirmed it as such, he quietly entered and made his way to the room with the intel. When he got there, he noticed that the body of the griffon was gone.

“Odd,” he said.

Frost approached the area where the body had been laying and looked around. There was still blood on the floor, of course. It looked like it had been smeared, though, and a trail led to the ladder. “Must have gotten the body out.” he thought. They did the same thing that Al Qaeda fighters did in Iraq; they would make sure that the bodies were taken away before the battle ended so the kills couldn’t actually be counted.

Frost ignored that in the hopes that the intel was still there. He took a look at the table and quickly determined that not all of it was still there. “Dang it,” he said to himself. There was still some left, illegible to him, but it would have to do. Frost stacked all the documents and put them under his arm to bring them to Duke.

Frost strolled back to the center of town, where he was once again greeted with enthusiasm bordering on worship. He had to gently push his way through the crowd of horses, shaking hooves, accepting gifts, letting little ones see him. Eventually, he was able to make it through and find Duke.

“Yo, boss man, got the docs,” he announced. “I think we’re about ready to get moving.”

Duke walked over to him and took the documents, looking them over and then sticking them underneath his plates. “Good work,” he said.

From there, the men waved goodbye to the villagers and left with Nedal’s stallions to the caravan home. They went and gathered all of the gear and camping materials from their previous location and set out to return to the capital, where they would further learn about the war and just how deep they would have to delve to get their guy back.

*************************************************************************

The ride back to the capital was silent; no one spoke. The stallions all stuck to their own group while the men rode in their carriage with their weapons in their laps. It was tense -- not only was there still a constant risk of ambush through most of the ride, but there were new tensions between the men and Nedal. And those tensions would likely only get worse.

They arrived at the city in the morning, right around 0940 hours. The sun was out and blazing, the heat waves coming off the ground distorting light. Any horses that they passed were wearing veils or large hats to protect against the sun. The men thankfully had a roof on their carriage.

The gates opened for them when they approached and they just rode right in. All of the locals watched them as they passed by, in awe over the presence of two warrior humans. They may not have known about their involvement in the war before, but when they rode in with the guards, it became very clear. None cheered like the villagers had, but most of them were wearing big smiles. Duke made a note to find out more about this obsession with humans at some point, if they ever entered a country in which the men could actually communicate with the inhabitants.

The caravan went straight to the palace and dropped off the team and pair at the front gates, then went off on its own to do whatever else it had to do. The men watched it as it went, then turned to enter the palace. Nedal wanted to keep them from going in, though.

“Hold on, humans,” he said, walking forward. “You aren’t going to see the king yet. He is much too busy, and you must be exhausted from travel. We will go see him and tell him of what events occurred, then you can see him later. He will want to see you, probably.”

Duke and Frost turned and looked uncaringly into Nedal’s eyes. It was very clear from how they were shifting about, focusing on different things, that he was lying. He probably wanted to tell King Sauri about how the humans actually made things worse, nearly blew the whole thing. He would receive no such pleasure.

“Our policy is to immediately meet with the highest authority and to debrief them on the op, regardless of circumstances. If our spouses are giving birth, if there is a funeral, anything... we go and debrief. We’re going now, as is our standard operating procedure,” Duke explained. “You’re free to tag along, if you like,” he finished with a sneer.

Nedal scowled, but before he could speak again, the men turned around and walked into the palace. They moved at a brisk pace through the halls, eager to offload the information to King Sauri and his guys. They would be able to make sense of the intel, and with any luck, he would smack around Nedal for being an ass.

The guards, upon seeing the men in their Combat uniforms and carrying weapons, allowed the men to pass without questioning. They went right past all security and into the throne room, where the king sat, looking antsy and eager for the men to return. And probably his stallions, too.

“Ah!” he shouted when the men entered the room. “It is good to see that you have returned safely. Please, come along.” King Sauri leapt off his throne and ran around behind, making his way to the War Room. Duke and Frost looked behind themselves, seeing no sign of Nedal and his stallions. Frost shrugged to Duke, and they went on.

“Where do you think they are?” Duke asked nonchalantly.

“Probably being questioned for authenticity by the other guards. We got past cuz’ we aren’t exactly the easiest dudes for them to impersonate.” Duke agreed, and they went on in silence.

King Sauri had already run to the room, leaving the men to go the rest of the dark hallway alone. When they finally emerged, the king looked back and smiled wider than either man would have believed possible.

“Good, good. Now, let’s get on with the information.” The king sat down with another group of horses, all wearing very different outfits than the guards. Some wore lab coats, some wore suits. Generally, very different from the culture in that place.

“Alright,” Duke started. He pulled up two cushions for him and Frost, who sat down beside him. “First order of business: We found these documents.” Duke took a minute to pull the documents out of his armor. They had been between the plates and the under clothing, so they weren’t sweaty. “They need to be translated and decoded.”

One of the lab coat stallions came forward. “I can take,” he said, extending his hoof out. “We do this well.” Duke handed over the small pile of documents to the stallion, who took them and exited the room. One of the suit stallions followed him out.

“Excellent! We almost never get anything useful like that from griffon-held places,” King Sauri complemented. “Anything else?” he asked.

“Well, there had been some, but before we went back for it, they came back and took some away, plus the body of one of their guys,” Frost explained. “There had been more, but we have no idea what may have been on it. It, or what we did get, may have information on OGA.”

King Sauri’s eyes widened. “Really?” 

“Yes. But you’ll want to hear the events of the operation before we tell you that, since it happened toward the end.”

King Sauri nodded and requested for the entire story. The men started with how they explained to Nedal how they operated, and his initial reluctance and later refusal to comply. They gave Sauri numbers, how many griffons they estimated they encountered, and how many villagers there were and were nearly captured. The men were very stoic when they explained how they rescued the villagers; by shooting the griffons.

“I am glad that you saved my subjects,” Sauri said lightly. “I am sure that you had to do it.”

“Yeah,” Frost said. “But we wouldn’t have had to kill them if Nedal had done what we said. We might have captured some instead.”

“What did my captain do?” Sauri asked with concern.

Duke tapped Frost on the shoulder, letting him know that he would take care of this. “He attacked when we gave him express orders not to,” he began. “We explained the risk of a frontal assault -- we nearly saw the risk become reality -- but he went on with it anyway. And you know what the worst part is?”

“What?”

Duke leaned forward. “OGA was there. If you’re guy hadn’t attacked, just done as we said, we would have OGA, and you might have another highly trained human to assist you.” He had no intentions of letting OGA help any more than he had to help after they got him back. He was just appealing to the mindset that the horses had about humans. “Instead, his actions resulted in the griffons escaping with OGA.”

“How do you know it was him?” Sauri asked hopefully.

“When we called to him, he responded. He shouted back: ‘JSOC?’... our military designation is with JSOC,” Frost recounted.

King Sauri was quiet for a moment. He clearly didn’t like the idea of his best stallion going against the best interests of his subjects, and to top it off, nearly getting them killed. Plus, he ruined the humans’ chances of finding OGA, who would have been a massive aid to them. The more he thought, the more his face went sour.

“I will be forced to speak with him when he gets here,” he finally stated, earning a silent victory cheer from the men. “Where is he, by the way?”

The men both shrugged. “He had been right behind us, but he didn’t keep up by the looks of it,” Duke said casually. “Maybe your guards wanted to check if he was really who he claims?”

The king nodded. “Ah, yes. That could be. There are some ponies who fight with the griffons as mercenaries.” The king stood. “Well, I think that we are finished here. You both may return to your own quarters.”

The men stood as well and gave a light bow to the king. “Thank you, King Sauri,” Duke replied. The men turned and walked out through the hallway from which they came.

As they passed through, the men saw Nedal and his stallions up ahead. Nedal evidently saw them as well, as he made his team step out of the way for the men. And as the two passed, they glanced at Nedal’s team. Some wore looks of distrust or outright hate. Others looked like they were in awe. And a couple actually looked scared of them. Nedal himself wore a stone cold, emotionless face, which very poorly hid his distaste for the humans. 

They passed through the awkward moment with the horses and/or ponies, as Sauri referred to some of his subjects, without incident. Or at least no open incident. The men knew that the conflict with Nedal wasn’t going to end anytime soon.

So they opted not to put more thought into things that needn’t be taken care of by them and simply went back to their quarters for some well earned rest and relaxation.

> Search and Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Search and Rescue


Duke and Frost could already feel the stress of the mission melting off of them. As they walked back to their room, the men could hardly wait to dump all of their gear in a pile in the corner and just lay down on their beds, free of annoying stallions and near-misses on missions. All men need a moment to sit down after a mission.

They approached their room and noticed that the door was slightly ajar. Frost furrowed his brow, suspicious, and sped up his pace to the door. Duke followed suit, and the men stopped as soon as they reached the door.

“Ready?” Frost asked.

Duke nodded, and the men threw the door open and went into the room. Frost went in first and did a quick scan for any unwelcome visitors. He found none; in fact, there was no one here. He immediately went over to the gear pile and checked everything. After a few minutes, he concluded that nothing was stolen. Duke checked the beds for anything that might not be pleasant to find in their sleep, but also came up with squat.

“Boss, everything is still here.” Frost said.

Duke looked over the beds one more time. “Not everything, Frost.”

Frost turned around and looked around. Everything seemed to be there; the pillows and sheets were on the beds, the paintings and wall hanging’s were still on the walls. The windows were undamaged, and-

The beds were perpendicular to the wall.

Frost just stared for a moment, then sighed in mild frustration. “I’ll go see if she’s still in the castle.” he said.

“I’ll go, too. Got nothing better to do.” Duke walked over to the gear pile. “Might as well drop off the heavy stuff here first.”

Frost agreed and the men set aside all their gear except for their knives, the KaBar and the FE9, which they kept hidden. They opted to wear them openly, since it looked like that kind of thing wasn’t frowned upon in this city. Duke considered bringing his pistol, but decided that it would be unnecessary and using it would probably not go well with the locals. When they were ready, the men left their room, locked it, and decided to first check the dining room where they previously ate.

Frost took the lead down the halls, walking as fast as he could without getting in trouble with the guards, who watched on with mild curiosity. He was followed somewhat slowly by Duke, who didn’t have as much invested in this as Frost. Though he did want Amel around for translation and travel purposes. She could be useful.

When the men reached the dining room, they didn’t bother trying to be polite to any who might be inside. Frost burst through the door and did a quick scan of the room; there were nobles, sure, but Amel didn’t seem to be present. Frost walked around the table hurriedly, earning a few looks from those at the table who weren’t too nervous to look at him, and he concluded that she wasn’t around.

“We should ask some guards or servants where she might be.” Duke suggested. Frost walked over, slowed for Duke, and then they both exited the room. “Odds are, they won’t be so ashamed of sending her away that we won’t get an answer.”

“Sounds good boss.”

The men talked to the guards immediately outside the dining room first, but it was no dice. They didn’t know anything. The men moved on, going back toward the wing with their quarters, questioning each guard as they passed. None seemed to know that Amel was even in the palace at all.

“Makes sense.” Duke said. “It wasn’t like she ever went anywhere without us.”

“Yeah.”

When they reached their wing, they started off in the direction of their room. On the way, there was a distinct lack of guards. Duke noted this, wondering where on earth they might have gone to. Before, there were plenty of guards. Maybe they were there for when they weren’t permitted to go where they wanted, though.

Eventually, they finally found a lone guard, standing outside another door in the wing, looking incredibly bored. He wasn’t paying any attention to his surroundings; he didn’t even see the men down the hall, even though he was looking in that general direction. When the men finally came right up to him, he noticed their presence, and straightened his posture completely.

“You speak Eng- Equish?” Duke asked.

The guard nodded. “Yes, I learn when we have Equestria guests here. They are very nice ponies.”

“Good.” Duke pointed down the hall. “Our room is down that way. Living in that room, along with us, was a mare named Amel. You know anything about where she might be?”

The guard put a hoof to his chin. “Now that you say, I did see a mare there. She was taken away by my fellow guards. Lots of yelling, hitting.” The men furrowed their brows, but the guard didn’t seem to see. “They took her out of the palace. Don’t know where.”

“Thanks.” Frost replied, unhappy with the news. “Do you happen to know who the guards were who took her?”

The guard pondered his memories. “Yes, but I do not know names. They guard treasure room right now.”

The men nodded and decided to head off in that direction. They decided to take their time to make sure that Frost was cooled off and wouldn’t do anything irrational.

Duke had wondered at first why he felt so strongly about people, or in this case, intelligent ponies, being mistreated, but he had figured it out eventually. Frost had an abusive father and neglectful mother and hated them, and he did everything he could to get away from them. When he saw it happen to others, like Amel, he probably remembered it all. He could easily have been doing all this just to try to forget his crappy childhood.

So they moved at a significantly reduced pace to make sure that Frost didn’t pick any unnecessary fights. The other guards in the halls must have noticed their evidently serious and/or stressed out appearances, as they stepped off to the side whenever they passed by. No one seemed too intent on picking a fight with the humans.

The men showed up at the treasure room door, albeit after a time, since they required help finding the way. The first few guards had been suspicious, but when they saw that the men seemed  unarmed, they gave them directions. Now, Duke and Frost were looking at two very bored-looking guards outside a big golden door. Neither noticed Duke and Frost looking at them from the other side of the hall, and were ill-prepared for the men’s arrival.

“You!” Frost shouted as he walked over to the door. The guards, shocked out of boredom, stood at attention and stared straight forward. Frost placed himself just in front of one guard so that his spear was too long to come around and get him. “I want to know where you sent Amel.”

“What?” the guard replied.

“Where is the mare you sent away from here?” he asked. The guard tried to formulate his words, but took too long. “Where is she?”

“What?” he responded again. He seemed fairly shocked at the clearly unhappy human before him.

Frost took a quick glance at Duke, who seemed to think that this would be entertaining. “What do I look like to you?” Frost asked the flustered guard. He looked at the other guard to direct the question at him.

“Human?” the other guard said.

“Do I look like some kind of idiot to you?” he asked.

“What?”

Frost sighed loudly. “You know what country I’m from?” he asked.

“No.” the first guard said.

“America. We speak Equish in America. You speak Equish here, boy?”

The guards both blinked. “What?”

“Equish, little hustler! Do you speak it?”

“Yes?” both replied.

“Then where did you send Amel?”

The guards were still visibly shocked, and looked at each other, not sure of how to respond. “What?”

Frost shook his head and walked in a little circle. “Say ‘what’ again. Say it again. Do it, I dare you. Try saying ‘what’ one more damn time!” Neither guard spoke. “Good. Now,” Frost pointed at Duke and himself. “We had a friend named Amel who was staying in the guest room with us. You two,” he said, pointing at both stallions. “Took her away rather violently. Now, I would hate to get forceful with you, but if you don’t tell me where she is, I will get forceful.”

The first guard he spoke to swallowed hard. “We brought her back to previous owner.” he said. “We were trying to do right thing and return property-”

Frost put his hand up and stopped the guard. “I don’t care what your ‘best intentions’ were. She isn’t his any more. Does she look like a slave?” The guard replied saying that he didn’t know what slaves looked like. “Then why did you treat her like one?” He didn’t know. “Don’t ever treat anyone that way again.”

Frost walked away from the terrified guards with a smiling Duke in tow. “What’re you smiling about?” he asked Duke.

“Nothing.” Duke replied, not dropping his grin.

The men didn’t speak anymore for the moment, as they were busy trying to figure out how they were going to go about taking Amel back from that stallion who had previously owned her. If he had Amel again, he probably wouldn’t be happy with the prospect of giving her up a second time. The men might be forced to sneak in and take her in the coming night. Or they could just go in and take her.

As they exited the palace through the gardens, the way to that section of the city where their target was, the men kept their eyes open to all sides in case it was some kind of ruse set up by Nedal. They put nothing below him, a mentality that they got from how he treated civilians and hostages. There was no trust there.

The men moved swiftly through the city and quickly found themselves before the large home of the slave owner. Duke took a moment this time to take note of any important features on the house. Most of it came off as normal and flat, but certain parts stuck out to him: Some of the decorative bits on the walls could serve as perfect footholds and gripping points if they had to climb into the house. There were cutouts in the walls instead of windows, so they wouldn’t need to force their way in. These two prominent features would make it easy to get inside. Duke wondered if all the wealthy homes in this strange nation were like this.

The men were about to go in through the front gate. “أرى أنك قد عادوا.” they heard from off to the right. The men turned and saw the homeowner there. “What brings you back to my home? I trust you don’t think that I went back on the deal.”

Duke breathed slowly. “Actually, we do.” he said, eliciting a very ungrateful look from the homeowner. “Two guards took Amel from our room while we were gone and returned her here. We came to get her back.”

The homeowner balked. “That you would insinuate that I, Melaysh Naijela, would do such a thing is offensive and intolerable! Leave my home now.”

Duke sighed. “We’re not leaving without her.” he explained. “Maybe your son decided to take her? He didn’t exactly have a deal to honor.”

Melaysh considered this. “To dishonor the deal I made would be most punishable. And I do not appreciate what you say about my son.” He paused. “But I suppose you will not leave until you know for certain?” The men nodded. “Very well.” Melaysh said with a sigh. “You may find him in his room most likely on the top level. It will have a silver placard.”

The men nodded and made their way into the house much easier than expected. They passed Melaysh uncaringly and strutted into the house, making their way straight to the top floor. On the way, they did see that, indeed, Melaysh honored their deal and no longer seemed to have any slaves. There were well dressed servants now, probably paid just enough to not be slaves, who gave the men nervous glances when they passed. The men simply ignored the looks and continued their beeline to the top floor.

The top floor was marginally smaller than the rest of the house, taking up vast amounts of space and having many more rooms than a family of even twelve could use completely. There were open rooms and balconies, letting in the hot air of the afternoon to warm up the house. Some rooms were closed, but upon inspection of the doors, they were confirmed as not being Melaysh’s son’s room. The silver placard had to be somewhere.

Eventually, they were able to find it. Frost spotted it at the end of the hall and pointed to it. “Let’s go.” he said. The men briskly walked on to the door.

As they got closer, they could hear some kind of rumbling and thudding from the other side. “Thump-thump.” Duke said as they approached. Frost nodded and they moved to either side of the door, fully prepared to wait for the stallion to be done.

That was not to last, though. Frost was listening in the whole time, hoping to glean something from the voices that sounded from the other side. There was a triumphant voice and sad whimpering; He gleaned something unpleasant to imagine. “Boss, that’s not the fun kind of thump-thump!” he said, stepping off the wall and getting in front of the door. Duke’s eyes widened, and in an instant, he was behind Frost, ready to break the door down.

“Ready?” Frost asked. Duke tapped his shoulder, and they began the attack.

Frost kicked the door down and the men ran in, yelling loudly for those present to get down and not move. The stallion in the room was on the bed with a mare under him and looking wildly at the men running at him. Before he even knew what was happening, Frost clotheslined him with his arm and brought him to the floor. He tried to get up, but Duke came up and uppercutted him in the stomach, knocking his wind out. Frost got up behind him and yanked his tail, pulling him backwards and toward a wall with a window hole.

The stallion couldn’t react in time as he was pulled off the ground by the men and thrown at the wall. Unfortunately for him, there was no wall; only a window hole. The only thing that saved him was the fact that the men never let go.

“ما الذي يجري؟!” he shouted. “واسمحوا لي مرة أخرى في الداخل!”

Frost was above him, holding him up by his back left leg. “You understand a word of that?” he asked Duke.

“Not a single one.” Duke replied, holding the stallion up by his front left foreleg.

The stallion switched to English. “I remember you! You took my slave away!”

Frost clicked his tongue. “No, your father lost to me and honored the deal he made.” He checked how far down the fall would be; at least forty feet. “You know, we came here looking for Amel. Instead, we find you violating a young mare.” he turned to Duke. “Tell me Duke, how long is the punishment for this back home?”

“I heard that the average sentence is over ten years in prison.”

“You hear that?” Frost asked the stallion. “For this, you could get locked up for over a decade.”

“We are not at your home, though. Are we?”

Frost shook the stallion. “Maybe not, but there are reasons for this punishment. We don’t appreciate people who harm people like that. You know, back in the day, they got the capital punishment for it. In some places, they still do.”

“If you kill me, you will suffer.” the stallion shot back.

Frost turned to Duke. “I don’t know if we’ll kill you. But if we pull you back up, we will be trying to save you. And I don’t know about my friend here,” Frost loosened his grip just a tad. “But my arm tends to get tired pretty easily. How about that, Duke?”

“I have been meaning to work my arms out more.”

The stallion looked up, terrified. “Fine, fine! I won’t do it ever again! Now let me go!”

“Bad choice of words.” Frost stated. He and Duke let go for a split second.

“AHHH!”

But they made sure that they didn’t drop him.

“We’ll pull you back up, but you’re gonna sit tight for a bit.” Duke explained. The men yanked the stallion back up, getting a pop from a joint and a scream of pain, and threw the stallion to the floor.

“كتفي!” he shouted, writhing on the floor.

The men walked right past the painfully hissing stallion and over to the bed to the crying mare. “Are you alright?” Duke asked. He put his hand on the shoulder of the mare and turned her around.

The men stood stock still as they realized that it was Amel crying in front of them. She had numerous bruises on her face, hopefully from those guards, and had her eyes shut tight. She was shaking violently on the bed, like she was in the Siberian wilderness without protection from the cold. 

“Amel?” Frost said softly, sitting beside her. Duke stepped back to watch. “Amel, it’s Frost.”

Her eyes shot open and fully rook in her savior. “F-F-F-Frost?” she said. He looked at her sadly. “Frost!” She leapt at him and wrapped her hooves around him, bawling into the Pararescueman’s shoulder. He patted her back gently and hugged her back. “Y-y-you found me...”

“I won’t let harm come to you. Never again.”

Duke looked on from the sideline, a small smile making its way across his face. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what your culture is, or what your experiences have been. Seeing someone being rescued from their pain is enough to make you happy.

“The first reason I joined up.” Duke thought.

Duke decided to let Frost handle the situation with helping Amel while he dealt with the stallion. “You.” he said quietly enough to not be heard by Amel. The stallion looked up. “We’re gonna chat with your dad.”

He brought the stallion to his feet and made his way to the door.

“Hold up.” Frost said from behind. Duke turned around and saw Frost carrying Amel on his back. Duke really wanted to know how these ponies and horses and things could grip at all without fingers. “Let’s get her out of here.” Duke nodded.

They dragged and carried the stallion and Amel respectively and remained completely silent the whole way, proud that they did their jobs, but sad that they were needed in the first place.

> Unpredictability
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Unpredictability


Frost was the first into the room at the palace with Amel still on his back. On the way over, she had calmed a bit, and actually dozed off a little, which was surprising to the Pararescueman. As soon as he entered, he went straight over to Amel’s little alcove and set her down on her bed, then proceeding to set it back to being parallel to the wall. Duke came in behind, watching on and making sure that they weren’t harassed by any guards who thought that they might try something.

Before they had left the house, Duke had brought the young stallion back down to his father, Melaysh. At first, Melaysh was really pissed off about his son being injured, but when Duke explained the situation, his face took on another turn. He told the men that they could leave, so they did just that. As Duke left behind Frost, he looked back and saw Melaysh looking toward his terrified son from a doorway, holding a big stick.

It might not be their fight, or their country or even world, but the stallion’s actions were disgusting. No man, regardless of being anything but a psychopath or sociopath, can truly not care when such acts are committed. As such, Duke could feel himself smiling as they left and he heard the yelps of pain from the house.

Amel snoozed lightly on the bed, but she didn’t seem very deep in sleep. “Frost?” Duke asked. “You alright?” He knew that Frost grew up in a troubled household, but he wasn’t sure what else may have happened. His father and mother’s relationship could have contributed to everything, after all.

“Yeah.” Frost replied. He paused for a moment. “You think she’ll be alright?”

Duke shrugged. “Can’t say. Don’t know her. But if she was able to suffer that for so long before, and not kill herself, I bet she’ll make it through. It might be harder, but I bet we can help.” Frost nodded solemnly.

She was stirring behind her curtain. “I think we have to talk to the king about this.” Frost said. “He gave us the okay to have her here. If he was truthful, his guards will be punished. If not,” Frost eyed his knife. “There will be hell to pay.”

Duke didn’t move or respond, just looked at Frost. “In one form or another, I can take care of that. You have to take care of her.” Duke thought back to his days at the Air Force Academy. There had certainly been a couple of sexual assaults there; they were put all over the news. “She’ll need you.”

Duke stood up and walked over to the window and looked out. They were pretty high up, a natural place to be for any Airman. The city bustled below them, ponies and horses, and the occasional griffon, going about their various businesses. Some griffons were harassed, others left alone. There was a thief being savagely beaten, a public hanging in the distance. Duke wondered if the horse being hanged was a murderer or a rapist.

He stepped away from the window. “I wonder if they have any idea of what’s really going on in this world right now?” he wondered.

Frost went over to the gear pile and picked out his rifle to inspect and clean it. Gotta pass the time. “So,” he began as he disassembled his weapon. “How long do you think it’ll be until they can get us that intel?”

Duke shook his head. “No idea. Could be in their language, or in another. And they might try to make us do something in exchange for it.” He grabbed his radio com, then walked over to the door. “I’ve got nothing better to do, so I’ll see if I can find out. You stay here.” Frost nodded, and Duke exited the room.

Frost went and grabbed his own radio com, then continued cleaning his weapon. He needed to distract himself for a bit, get his mind in the right place. Performing some meticulous task was always good for that; it requires all of one’s attention, so it takes it. Frost got into the zone as he wiped off his parts with the Tuff cloth. He kept it up until, when finished, he checked all the parts to make sure they still worked. When they did, he set the rifle aside and just sat on his bed.

Amel moved around and made a small ruckus, attracting Frost’s attention. He stood up immediately and walked over to the synthetic border between the two zones and stood outside it and listened. Amel was breathing deeply, probably trying to calm herself or get her bearings. “Frost?” she said weakly.

“Yeah?” he said. She made a little yipe, clearly not having expected him to be right there.

“Umm...” She was unsure of what to say. “Is Duke there?”

“No.”

She was silent. “Okay.” Silence again. “T-thanks for saving me.”

Frost breathed in deeply. “That’s what we do; we rescue people.” He stepped away from the border. “Do you need anything? Food, water?”

Amel sniffed inside her alcove, and the sound of hooves on stone came out. She stepped out. “I think water sounds nice. And food.”

Frost nodded. “Let’s go get some.”

Amel simply nodded her response, and the two walked out and to the dining room. Guards were giving them looks as they passed, some trying to intimidate Amel. Frost responded by giving them the most poisonous looks he could muster, the kind that said, I will end you. None of the guards bothered them after getting a look.

They walked into the dining room only to find it partially occupied by a bunch of well dressed nobles. As they entered, the nobles’ heads all turned and their eyes went wide at seeing the human and previous slave-pony. Some let out huffs of disgust, others simply shook their heads disapprovingly. Frost put his hand on Amel’s neck and ignored them as he guided her through to get some food.

They sat down and had their plates filled and ate in silence, trying to ignore the prying eyes and hateful expressions directed towards them. Amel kept her eyes down, toward her plate, while Frost’s eyes were up and scanning, making sure no one tried anything. He wasn’t about to let some ass come up and try to ruin their meal.

And yet, some ass did just that. “We are nobles, you know.” One of the mares, who evidently had heard about the Equish-speaking humans, had stood up and walked over, her dress trailing the whole way. Good thing the floor was so clean. “We don’t appreciate the company of slaves, especially not in the palace.”

Amel was about to stand, but Frost got up first. “Well, in case you weren’t told, here’s some news; She’s allowed here, and she’s not a slave any more. She’s on the same level as you, now, if not above you.” The mare scoffed.  Frost went on. “And furthermore, I don’t need some condescending bitch trying to tell me who is and isn’t good enough to be around her. I grew up in a poor,  abusive household with crappy parents. I ended up becoming one of the most elite special operations soldiers there is; I’m tier one, 24th STS. So don’t go trying to tell me that where a person, or pony, is born or what fate they suffer means something, because I can tell you from experience, that it does not.” He sat back down. “Now, would you care to join us for a pleasant meal?” he added with a smile.

The mare’s face turned red. “حراس!” she shouted. Two guards came running. “تأخذ هذه اثنين من للخروج من هنا.” The guards looked at Frost and Amel. “رمى بها في الشوارع القذرة التي تنتمي إليها.”

Frost had wondered what they would do, and even hoped that they would try to follow orders. But it would seem that they were in the know. “آسف. ضيوف الملك.” The mare’s jaw fell slack, and she looked back at the human and pony. “لا يمكننا الاقتراب منها.”

The guards turned and walked away. “See what I mean? You can’t touch us. And if you try, in any way, you will regret it.” Frost went back to eating, but sat directly next to Amel. The mare walked away in a fuming rage.

Amel looked up at Frost. “Thank you.” She looked over at the nobles, then back to Frost. “You and Duke are only ones to defend me.”

Frost took a bite of some bread and swallowed hard, the scratchy stuff feeling pleasant on its way down. “Well, that’s going to change eventually. Trust me.” Amel smiled at Frost’s hopeful words and ate on, her mood much elevated after the exchange between him and the mare.

Frost’s radio comm keyed. “Frost, Duke. You might want to head over to the war room.”

Frost put his finger to his ear. “What is it? I’m eating with Amel.”

“Feel free to bring her. I’m sure your first date can wait.” Frost chuckled. “But seriously, this is important. We might be about to get another role in this world.”

Frost nodded. “Alright, we’re on our way.” He turned to Amel. “Well, I hope you’re almost done, or I’ll just carry it for you. We need to go to the War Room.” Amel looked at him confused, but nodded and scarfed down the rest of her food, and the two made their way to the War Room.


**************************************************************************

Duke decided he would go straight to talk to King Sauri. He didn’t want to seem alarmed or in a rush, though, because that could betray a weakness in the form of needing information, something that could easily be used against him. He needed to make sure he came off as calm and collected, not anxious and waiting for anything. His pace was slow as he made his way there.

The guards gave him little in the way of care or importance on his way there, which was fine by him. He had no desire to be unpopular with the guards. Some gave him strange looks, like they had received when they first got here, but that had become fairly normal. He could imagine the looks that Frost and Amel would get if they left the room and walked anywhere. And he was glad that he had left Frost to deal with that.

Duke arrived at the doors and was greeted by two guards saluting him as he approached. He nodded to them, confused, but paid it no mind when they opened the doors for him. As he walked in, he looked around and noticed that the guards inside the throne room were noticeably absent. The only sound that came from the room was the water flowing from that fountain in the middle. Unnerved, but not letting it show, Duke went on.

The throne had no one on it. It looked incredibly stark and bland, actually. Most of the decoration that went into it was actually only there when Sauri was.

Duke went past it and made his way down the starker hallway and to the War Room. From the end, Duke could hear several voices talking, one at a time. No one sounded very emotional; no anger, sadness, frustration, anything. It was probably just a formal ceremony. As Duke walked into the room, he found that it certainly wasn’t that.

He walked in on King Sauri speaking to a fairly large group of stallions. This might explain where all the guards went.

Duke knocked on the table, getting the king to turn around. “Ah, Duke!” he greeted with a big smile. “Please, come in. I actually think you could help a great deal with this.”

Duke walked over, curiosity replacing any nervousness that he had had. “What can I do for you?” he asked.

King Sauri held up his right foreleg and waved it over the group of stallions. “I need your opinion on these stallions. Who do you think could make up a new, much more capable unit to fight the griffons?”

Duke looked them over, but not only would that get him nothing, they were horses, so that resulted in him getting even less. “I really can’t say.” he explained. “Back home, people just had to pass a physical trial to get into some military training, and even then, a lot of those people failed the following training. Soldiers back home are made, not born.” Sauri looked up at him, intrigued. “At least, that’s how it works back home.”

“Hmmm.” King Sauri turned back to his stallions. “An interesting point.”

“Might I ask what kind of unit you plan on making?” Duke asked. He figured that he and Frost had probably inspired the idea. “And how do you plan on training them?”

King Sauri looked back to Duke. “Well, I was hoping that they might become soldiers like you and your friend, Frost.” Duke had bought the boardwalk on that one. “And I thought that you and your friend might train them.” But he did not pass go, nor collect two hundred dollars.

Duke stepped back. “Whoa, hold on. We can’t just do that.” Duke began. “We need to get permission from our higher-ups to perform foreign unit training, and we can’t exactly contact them right now. There’s no way for us to do this.”

“But if they never have to know, and never can unless you tell them, then why not train them?” Sauri asked. “I was thinking that you could train them and lead them on missions. Nedal told me his side of the story, and I can see that you will not help us unless you follow your ‘rules of engagement’.” So Nedal was right about this guy. “If you train and lead them, you may feel free to operate how you will.”

Duke actually had to stop and consider this. It was true, his superiors would never know about any of this unless he or Frost told them. And when they got back, since the higher-ups probably wouldn’t believe them, they and OGA would probably have to make some crazy story up to explain what took so long and why they couldn’t contact CENTCOM. So it was entirely possible to secretly train one of these foreign units without visible repercussions.

On top of that, they could have the stallions under their command doing whatever they say. It would be loads more helpful to have an operation go the way they planned, unlike when Nedal decided to ignore their plan and invade the town. It would make operating much easier, and they could do things the way THEY wanted to.

But there were some things that he needed to check on before he made a decision. “Let me think about it.” Sauri nodded. “Anyway, on to why I came; That intel we grabbed at the village. How long is that going to take to translate?”

Sauri shrugged. “I don’t know. My translators said that it was half in the griffon language, half in ours. It was written in some kind of confusing code to make it hard to read. So it will take some time.”

That meant that they would have time to kill before another important OGA related mission. They could train a new unit. “Alright. I’ll need to get Frost’s opinion on this, but I think we might be sold; we’ll be able to train them, at least in some smaller things.”

“Wonderful!”

Duke nodded. “Yes, I bet it is.” He paused for a moment, then moved onto the other subject he came for. “And about that mare with us, Amel.” Sauri nodded. He remembered her. “She was forcefully taken from OUR room by your guards. Any comment?”

Sauri frowned. “A king never goes back on his word, I thought you would know that.”

“My experiences with leaders have tended to give me lesser opinions about them.” Duke included.

“It is shameful, then. No, I had nothing done. And I will have my guards told not to touch her ever again, you have my word.” Duke nodded. “You and your friend and mare may live here how you will, as long as you don’t cause trouble.”

“Trust me, we won’t be the ones causing trouble.” King Sauri nodded, almost like he knew that would be the case.

Duke turned around and keyed his mic. “Frost, Duke. You might want to head over to the war room.”

“What is it? I’m eating with Amel.”

“Feel free to bring her. I’m sure your first date can wait.” Frost chuckled on the other side of the comms. “But seriously, this is important. We might be about to get another role in this world.”

“Alright, we’re on our way.”

Duke released his mic and went to sit down to wait for Frost to arrive, looking over the stallions while he waited.


Frost arrived with Amel shortly, looking somewhere between content, curious, and nervous when he got there. He first glanced at Duke, who sat quietly, listening to Sauri talk to his stallions, then at the stallions, who looked stony and almost unreadable. He had a feeling about what he was going to be told by Duke.

“So. What’s going on?” Duke filled him in, adding his own opinions about it as he went on. When he finished, Frost took a moment to think. “Well, I can’t say that I object too much, though I’m not entirely sure. It’s your call, boss.”

Duke nodded. “Sauri.” The king turned around, an excited look on his face. He must have been listening. “We’ll do it.”

The king smiled wide and practically hopped over. Not very kingly. “Great!” he replied enthusiastically. “Let me show you all of the stallions who you can select.”

“Is this not all of them?” Duke asked.

“No, there are plenty more beyond this room.” King Sauri sent his stallions in the direction opposite of the way to the throne room. As they approached the wall, it opened up and revealed a hidden passage. “Come, come!” Sauri followed his stallions down the hidden hall.

The men fell in behind the king and glanced around at the walls. These were very different from the walls of the hall that led to the War Room. There were tapestries that depicted individuals who must have performed some great feat, often accompanied by paintings or drawings or carvings. There was a large number of the classic shield with two swords behind it decoration, and the shields were all very ornate, different crests adorning each one. Beneath them, the stone floor was carved and filled in with various precious metals; silver, gold, even platinum made intricate patterns on the ground beneath them.

“I guess this is where their economy goes.” Frost thought. At the least, it looked like they were honoring the dead or something. He kept Amel close as they walked.

They arrived at the end of the hall and stepped out into a massive arena-like room. There were a few groups of seats here and there, each with a designation. The arena area itself was huge, a circle that was likely around two hundred-fifty meters wide. Throughout the floor, there was all sorts of equine training equipment; jumps, bits with weights attached, sandbag laden saddles, punching bags, or maybe they were kicking bags, and other pieces of training and workout gear. Almost everything was in use at the moment the men entered.

King Sauri shouted something, and all of the stallions lined up. There must have been a good three dozen of them, making three rows of ten stallions each. They all stared straight ahead, clearly aware of the men, but not willing to break their disciplined stance. King Sauri looked them over one more time, then turned back to the men.

“Well, these are the elite guards of mine who are eligible to become more elite. Please, browse to your heart’s content.” Sauri stepped aside.

Duke frowned, and he and Frost walked forward to look over the stallions. While unfamiliar with equine anatomy, the men could clearly see which ones were physically superior and which needed work. A few broke their straightforward stares to look at the men, but when they made eye contact by accident, they quickly looked away. Most, though, were stoic and unmoving.

But there was one who decided to open his mouth. “I see we met again.” Nedal. “But I suppose that this time, it’s less tense.”

Duke furrowed his brow. “It’s not any less tense than before, trust me on that.” He turned to Sauri. “He’s absolutely not going to be allowed in.” Several of the stallions in the group went wide-eyed.

Sauri looked shocked as well. “Why ever not?” he asked.

“He already displayed a gross lack of care for civilians, and our Rules of Engagement. He’s not eligible for the training, nor will he be.” Duke explained.

Nedal stepped forward. “Well, these are my stallions. You take them, you take me.”

“In case you aren’t in the know,” Frost began. “We’re going to command this unit, not you. Any of these guys who make it are never going to be under your command again. On top of that, you would have to pass the physical and psych evaluations. You won’t.” Nedal growled at him, causing Amel behind him to cower. “And we don’t like you.”

“Damn right.” Duke said. “Sauri, I wish I could say that I hate to say it, but he’s not joining. And if you demand that he does, well, then you won’t get a special unit. Plain and simple.”

Nedal took in a deep breath. “I will not be disrespected in such a way by outsiders.”

“You will, and you’ll get real damn used to it.” Frost said, shielding Amel. He pulled her chin up to look directly at Nedal. “Cuz’ we choose who we train and aid in battle. So you also might want to stop being a dick.”

Nedal clamped his mouth shut and moved back. Duke watched him as he skulked back, then turned back to the king. “Well?” he asked. “What’ll it be?”

Sauri looked at Nedal, who had determination in his eyes, then sighed. “I’m sorry, Nedal. You’ll not be joining the new unit.” Nedal’s jaw tightened, but he held his tongue. “You men may begin training the stallions when you are ready.”

Duke and Frost nodded, then turned back to the stallions. “We’ll start tomorrow-”

“Boss, they don’t speak English.”

Duke sighed, having forgotten. “Amel.” he ordered. She yelped, then came right to his side.

“Yes?”

“Translate for me.” She nodded, and Duke began. “You will report here tomorrow morning at five. We will begin then.” Amel translated, trying not to sound nervous. “Thank you, Amel.” He knew that her bilingual skill would come in handy. He turned to Frost. “Alright, we got nothing to do today. Back to the room.”

“Rog’.” The men began walking back to their room.

Before they left the room, though, they decided to watch each of the stallions leave to see how they looked at the trio. Most didn’t look at them at all as they left, but some looked at Amel, not with anger, but confusion. They didn’t seem particularly upset by her.

But then Nedal walked by. “I will get back at you for this disrespect.” he warned. He looked right at Amel. “I know you have at least one weakness.”

Frost pushed Amel behind him, and, with a smile, grabbed Nedal by his lower jaw while his mouth was open. He smiled brightly. “If you ever try to threaten her or us ever again,” he said. He closed his eyes in a pleasant manner, like he was about to take a nap. “I’ll take this jaw, and I'll wear it like a necklace.” He released Nedal’s lower jaw, still smiling, and watched him walk away. The stallion looked back nervously at the human as he left.

Duke whistled. “Damn, dude. Didn’t think I’d hear you say something like that.”

Frost shrugged. “Meh.”

The men and mare left the training arena and sauntered on back to their own quarters, thoughts of the potential future weighing heavily on all of their minds.

> The Test
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




The Test


Duke and Frost had to wake up early the following day, right around 0330. Not just early by normal standards; they were up early by their standards. The sun wasn’t even close to rising over the horizon when they got out of bed and began their day. After some stretches and waking Amel to be translator, they grabbed the gear they would need and set out to the training room.

On the way there, Duke thought about how exactly he would start the training. Odds were that they wouldn’t have much time to actually train the stallions before they were sent out on another mission, so he had to be brief. Having never trained another soldier before, he wasn’t entirely sure what he should do. He knew that he should try to teach them some form of combat first aid, which could take a whole day, especially with the language barrier. Amel could help with that, but things would still be difficult.

The most important skill they would have to teach would be stealth, of course. The last thing they needed on these missions, and in any of their kinds of missions in general, was to be found by the enemy. Given how the stallions had attacked the town, something told Duke that stealth wasn’t their specialty.

He thought about the physical aspect of the training. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to put the stallions through the rigors of physical conditioning, so he would just have to make sure they could meet certain standards at the beginning; standards which, also unfortunately, would have to be adjusted for their equine anatomy.

“Frost,” he began, catching his partner’s attention. “Remember the PAST we had to get through to join Combat Rescue? What was basically our Physical Screening Test?”

“Yeah.” Frost replied tiredly. “Underwater swim, surface swim, running, chin-ups, push-ups, flutter kicks, and sit-ups. You gonna make them do all that?”

Duke considered it, but decided otherwise. “We can’t make them do the swim without a pool, and I don’t think they’ll be going in the water any time soon. So we’ll scratch that.”

He started thinking about how to adjust the run time for the stallions, unsure of how fast the stallions could go and for how long. He had never studied horses before, why would he? He had no idea how capable they were of that. Duke wasn’t sure how they would do flutter kicks either, but given how strange they were compared to normal horses with how they could manipulate their appendages, he figured he could find a way. Same with all of it, really.

“We’ll probably just have to make stuff up as we go.” Duke concluded. “I have a feeling that we’ll be doing that a lot from now on anyhow.” Frost chuckled at his prediction.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, one Pararescueman on either side of the mare who would serve as their translator for the time being. This time, though, as they walked through the halls, they did not receive any strange or hostile looks. The guards would either ignore them or just nod an acknowledgement as they passed. None seemed to acknowledge Amel, though there were no looks being directed her way. They must have been told that she was the translator for them now.

The guards in front of the throne room door stepped aside as the big door swung open to let the men and mare inside. They upped their pace as they entered, the men having to usher a tired Amel to move more quickly, and went straight through the room and into the tunnel behind the throne. At the end of the tunnel, they found themselves in the presence of several horses all wearing what could be mistaken as bathrobes.

They didn’t look up from their work, which was a large group of papers, as the men walked by. “Hey.” Frost said. One looked at him; he clearly wished he was asleep. “How much longer do you think it’ll be until you get that intel translated?”

It took the analyst a moment to figure out what he was being asked. He responded, “Few days.”

Frost nodded. “Alright.”

The group continued on into the hall to the training room. Once they were in the room, Duke looked around at the various pieces of equipment around. He saw a pull-up bar, weight bench, free weights, there was a half-mile track around the perimeter, wires and bridges strung up above them, and parts of the wall that were clearly meant for climbing. On the ground, there were strange markings all over, typically rectangular, and within them, there was a discolored patch of dirt. Duke figured that it was something that might come into play later. There was also a clock, looking out of place in the arena styled training ground.

He took a mental note of everything. “Well, if they have a weight bench, they can do push-ups. I guess I’ll just perform a basic Physical Screening Test to see if they can do it. If not, they get sent home. Not like it matters that much if they all fail.” He and Frost really didn’t need or want a team to work with. They were fine on their own.

Duke decided that he would do ta basic PST first, then, when they had weeded out the ones who couldn’t make the cut, there would be more basic conditioning using the equipment available. The PST would be simple; minimums of six minutes for a mile and a half run, eight pull-ups, forty sit-ups, and fifty push-ups. If too many made it through his adjusted test, Duke would make it a competitive system and select only the best ten who completed the PST. Too many was about fourteen.

While they waited, Frost started to do a run along the track around the perimeter. Duke decided that it would be a good idea to warm up, so he went to the pull-up bar and started doing those. While they did that, Amel just sat in the center of the room watching, her eyes mostly unfocused due to waking up so early. Ultimately, she fell asleep, sitting in the middle of the room.

Frost came off his run and Duke finished doing his pull-ups. Nice and warmed up, they went to the sleeping Amel and sat near her to talk about their plans.

“Alright Frost, we’ll make them do a PST, see who can do it.” He went over the basics of his plan, to which Frost simply nodded in agreement. “After that, we’ll spend today making sure they can keep up and do various different exercises, probably using the equipment we have around. Anyone who gets through today will start the actual training tomorrow or tonight.”

“Or tonight?”

Duke shrugged. “I don’t know, it’ll depend on how long we think we need. We might have to stay up late and get up early.” By their standards, of course.

Frost groaned. “Ugh.” He looked at Amel. “If only we could sleep whenever we needed to.”

Duke chuckled. “Might as well say, ‘If only we were civvies’.”

Frost chuckled as well, still looking at Amel. “It’s adorable, isn’t it?” he said. Duke looked confused. “I mean, it’s like seeing a kitten sleep or something. I honestly can’t even take them seriously. Especially if they all look this way at any point each day.”

Duke looked at Amel, then nodded. “I see exactly what you mean. And maybe we can use their lack of threatening appearance to our advantage.” He could very easily mess with their minds if he didn’t take them seriously. A great aspect of mental toughness and psychological training. “I bet we can even make this fun for us.”

“Heh, yeah. How much do you wanna bet that our trainers enjoyed tormenting us during training?”

The men continued talking until the stallions finally showed up at five before the hour. As soon as they were in, the men woke Amel and walked over to them and looked them over. They were all seemingly in good shape; they would have to be in order to be elite. Their discipline mostly seemed proper, though there were some wandering eyes. Some laid on Amel, some on Frost and Duke. It was only fair to cut them a tiny bit of slack of course; they were trading in their old commander for two temporary ones, after whom, they had no idea who would command them.

Duke shouted, “Attention!” The stallions didn’t know the word, but they clearly understood the gist of what it meant. All eyes went straight forward and all posture became rigid like a statue. Duke tapped Amel on the shoulder. “I’ll need you to translate.”

“Okay.”

Duke cleared his throat. “We’ll be starting you off with a physical screening test.” Amel translated each sentence before he began his next one. Her english was improving. “You will have to do a mile and a half run in six minutes or less... eight pull-ups on the bar... forty sit-ups... and fifty push-ups.” He let Amel take her time. “You’ll start with the run.” He let Amel translate, then shouted, “GO!!”

The stallions turned in unison and started sprinting down the track. Frost was keeping an eye on the clock while they stampeded like it was the Running of the Bulls, their hooves resounding through the arena room like thunder. There were several stallions who were distinctly better, already far ahead of the group and maintaining it very well. Amel seemed entranced by the running warriors.

Before Duke knew it, they were completing the mile and a half. “Time!” he yelled several times to Frost, who noted each one. In the order they completed the run, the stallions who finished filed on over to Frost and stated their name without being told so Frost could record it. That was good; they had the ability to figure out what to do.

Over the next half minute, the rest of them finished up, the last boasting a relatively unimpressive five minutes and forty seconds. But they all made it.

“Dammit.” Duke said. He should have reduced the time allotted. No matter. “Alright. Time for the next part.” Amel translated, and Duke walked over to the pull-up bar, followed by a large group of stallions. “Frost,” he said as he took a place on one side of the setup. Amel took the other. “Say the names in the order in which they finished.”

Frost began calling out names, and the stallions lined up accordingly. The first began his pull-ups; it actually surprised Duke when he only managed nine. He watched in silence as the rest of them filed in to do the next requirement A good ten of the thirty-five candidates dropped out on this one.

“Shameful.” Frost said casually. “Just shameful.”

They continued on over to a plain area where there was probably a sparring ring to do the pushups and situps. “Pushups.” Duke ordered. “Stop and drop!” The stallions only did so after Amel translated for the man. There was a large amount of grunting coming from the group, and most seemed to be struggling with the exercise. Frost looked at the clock. 

“Thirty seconds!” Oh... Duke forgot to mention a time limit. Oh well.

The stallions seemed to realize what was going on, and some of them really started cranking out the pushups. Duke was sure to take a note of who sacrificed quality for quantity, one of the many being the number three stallion in the group.

“Time!”

“Stop!” Duke shouted, rushing forward in an effort to disturb them. They all fell to the floor, sweaty and exhausted. “Alright, Amel.” She ran forward. “Do you think any of them will lie?”

“No, sir. They value honor.”

“Very well. Take their numbers and give them to Frost.” Amel nodded and went over to the stallions to get the numbers.
While she did that, Duke walked over to Frost, who was chuckling about the apparent massive effort it was taking the stallions to do any of what was required of them. “Well, Frost. What are you thinking?”

He shook his head. “No idea boss. I know that this doesn’t define their ability to be special operators, but still. It’s funny to see all of them struggle with this.”

Duke nodded and looked back to the group. The stallions all lined up to give Amel their counts, but there was something odd about them. “Yo, Frost.” Frost looked curiously at his partner. “You see anything odd about them?” Frost looked in the direction of the group. “I can’t quite place it...”

Frost almost started to laugh. “They’re puffing out their chests when they walk up to her.” He snickered. “Watch. They’ll each correct their posture just before talking to her, and they’ll be all assertive.”

Duke watched, and sure enough, that was exactly what was happening. He couldn’t help but be intrigued about the behavior, and wonder as to why it was happening. Before, they would have turned a blind eye to her being mugged in the streets, but now they were all trying to be presentable. It was actually more than Duke or Frost had done in her presence. Even though they rescued her twice, Duke couldn’t help but feel like a dick when he saw other dicks being polite.

“You’re right.” he said. “I wonder why...”

Frost looked at his partner like really? and shook his head again. “Boss, how do you not see it?” Duke looked to him. “They all want her to like them because SHE just became all important and stuff. She’s the assistant to the humans who will be their commanders, so now, she has a special place. She just became a connection to us to them today, so they all want to connect themselves to us in some way.”

Duke looked back to the group. “I bet they want to connect to her in some way, too. You see the blush on that one?”

“I do, and I bet it’s not the only part of him with more blood in it than usual.”

Duke chuckled; he remembered his first crush pretty well, though it was probably different here. “How about his puffed up chest?”

“Mmm hmm. I bet that not all of that is his chest, though.”

“How much do you wanna bet that they’re rigid as statues when they talk to her?” By now, Amel was done with a little more than half of the stallions, the rest of whom were sitting off to the side to catch their breath.

“I bet their bones are like stone right now; they’re probably the only reason their legs haven’t given out trying to support them. Extra help and all.” Frost stated simply. “Though they should watch out, or there might be a chisel getting hammered into that stone. After all, their intended audience clearly isn’t interested in their artworks.” Amel was rolling her eyes as some of the stallions passed.

“Well, let’s hope that their dams hold up and they can restrain themselves.”

Frost chuckled as Duke began to head back to the group. “If their dams beak, I hope that the overflow happens in another room.” Duke smiled and shook his head as he left Frost at the clock.

Duke approached the exhausted group with a fast stride, and headed straight for Amel. “Amel, what were the lowest numbers?” he asked. If there were any lower than fifty, they were out.

“The lowest counts were thirty-nine, forty-one, forty-nine, forty-two, forty-five, and forty-seven.” Duke asked her who those six stallions were. “Right over there, sir.” Amel said.

Duke pointed at each of the six and told them, “You failed; it’s time to go.” When Amel translated, they all looked like they had been slapped across the face, but complied and left the room. That left nineteen, so there had to be at least four more dropouts in order to avoid a competitive system.

Duke dropped onto his back in front of the stallions to attract their attention. “Situps.” he ordered, demonstrating the exercise for them. Some looked horrified about the next test. “Ready, set...” Duke looked to Amel and Frost, both of whom nodded their preparation. “Start!”

The stallions flipped over and started doing their situps. It was clear from the very beginning that these guys were not used to doing this particular work; they all looked like fish out of water. There were a few who had the hang of it, but some of the others were downright embarrassing to watch. They would curl up like beetles every time, their legs even going inward like one. Others hopelessly flailed about on the ground, trying to stay on their backs. Frost openly laughed at the spectacle from his spot next to the clock.

“Time!” Frost shouted, bringing his laughter under control. The stallions all stopped what they were doing and let themselves fall to the floor, exhausted. They allowed themselves to sprawl out across the floor, like cats on their owners’ beds.

Duke looked to Amel, who replied to it with, “I will get them.” Duke nodded, but instead of just waiting, he decided to go stand next to her while she took numbers. He wouldn’t be surprised if some of them lied about this test, so he wanted to discourage them from doing so.

The ones who had clearly been the strongest contenders went up first. The highest number was forty-nine, pretty good, considering. A total of six were able to make the requirement; a few came pretty close, and the rest failed pretty badly. All but the six, and ultimately he decided the other three who almost made it, were dismissed. Duke couldn’t help but wonder if they would go back to Nedal. Or if he would even take them.

Duke was joined by Frost once the others stallions all left, and the two men looked over their new, smaller group with feigned indifference. The stallions all got back into a line, trying their best to stare straight ahead, awaiting orders. They all looked pretty tired, and smelled truly awful.

“Alright.” Duke shouted. “Now that the beginning is over, we’ll move onto the physical conditioning stage.”

When Amel translated, some of the stallions let out an audible groan, drawing a chuckle from Frost and Amel. Duke smiled; he could make this pretty fun if he tried. And dammit, if he wasn’t going to try.


> On the Fly
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






On the Fly



Duke had them running laps again, only this time, they were all carrying sandbags. Two forty-five pound sandbags.

“MOVE, MOVE! I WANT SPEED!”

He was yelling at them to go faster, and he and Frost ran alongside them to “encourage” them to keep up. Initially, Amel had translated for them on this one, but Duke decided that it would be more interesting to see how they handled not understanding what they were being told. They had to figure out what they were being told to do, as they would soon do in the field, and weren’t allowed to crack under pressure. If one failed to follow orders, he would have to go to the pullup bar.

At this point, Duke and Frost pretty much just did whatever they could to make it difficult for the stallions. Duke watched as Frost ran off for a moment, then came back a new ten pound sandbag for each stallion. He went all out in order to put one on the back of each candidate.

“DON’T DROP THE SANDBAGS!” They weren’t secured like saddlebags, unlike the other ones they carried.

One of the stallions almost immediately dropped his sandbag, but didn’t make any move like he noticed. “YOU!” Duke shouted. All of the stallions slowed down and turned around; they had figured out that “you” meant that they should all look back. Duke grabbed the sandbag off the ground. “CARRY IT!” He threw it at the stallion who dropped it, who caught it in his mouth and started carrying it that way.

Frost seemed to like that idea. “All of you, move the bag to your mouth now!” He pointed at the one who was carrying it that way to explain, and after a moment, the stallions all switched over. Their heads hung noticeably lower as they ran.

“Keep your heads up!” Frost shouted. Off the track, Amel shouted out Frost’s orders to the stallions.

The stallions struggled to keep their heads up and their eyes forward as they ran with the sandbags in their mouths. Some had a tendency to look back to see who was behind them or if the humans were looking at them. Every time, Duke would run up to the stallion and shout in his face. Since they didn’t understand, they would just go back to looking forward, nearly pissing in their armor.

They finished their eighth lap around the perimeter. “STOP!” Duke shouted. They had already learned that command very well, and all of the stallions froze in place. Duke pointed at the climbing wall. “Climb to the top and wait there!” The stallions ran to the wall, some groaning as they heard the command repeated in their own language.

Duke and Frost ran over behind them to catch stragglers, though none were had. At the wall, the stallions all waited in place, some looking up the wall, others dutifully staring straight ahead. When the humans and mare ran over, the stallions all stood in place.

“Did I stutter?” Duke asked. After the translation, the stallions all got a look of terror on their faces. “Climb!”

The candidates all clambered amongst themselves, each one trying to be the first one up the wall. Except for a couple. They waited for the others to go first. “GO!” Frost shouted as he ran at them. The two stallions joined their brethren on the wall, making their way up. On the way up, there was little or no teamwork to be had, some even pushing others out of the way in order to get up first. There were just three doing that, though.

Once they were all up, Duke and Frost started up. “You’ll need to yell from down here.” Frost told Amel as he went up. “Otherwise, they might not hear you. And that’ll be THEIR fault.”

Amel chuckled. “Yes, Frost.” She watched in awe as the humans scaled the wall with incredible speed. “وأتساءل عما إذا كان كل البشر يمكن أن نفعل ذلك؟” she wondered.

The men were on top of the group before any of the stallions knew it, weaving their way around the hooved climbers who could barely hold on. Some shook like there was an earthquake going on. Duke scanned the group, trying to gauge how tired they were. Some were certainly struggling, though they seemed to be the ones who were being pushed out of the way. That kind of lack of teamwork could get you killed in the field.

Duke pointed at the three who had been pushing others out of the way. “You three.” he shouted so that Amel could hear him. “Back to the ground, now.” Amel shouted up Duke’s command, and the three stallions shamefully made their way slowly back down to the ground.

He turned his attention to the rest. “The rest of you,” he began, letting Amel shout up to them. “See this cord?” There was a cord hanging just above them; Duke had seen it earlier. “You are going to hang from this cord and shimmy your way to the other side, then find a way down. Work together!” He and Frost started making their way across to demonstrate what they wanted as Amel shouted the orders.

The men were able to get across quickly and find a way down easily, even though there wasn’t a built-in way to climb down. They used the grooves in the wall to lower themselves down to the ground to watch. If any of the stallions fell, they would be able to rush over and help, then send them away.

The stallions were only halfway across when the men hit the ground, moving like caterpillars on a leaf, if that leaf was less than one fiftieth of the caterpillars width. The men maneuvered over to be under the group just in case something happened and watched as they went across. Eventually, when they were across, most of them just continued to hang there without any clue of what to do.

“Work together to find a way down, come one!” Frost shouted, faking anger.

The stallions actually managed to surprise the men with what they did next. First, they just talked, but after a few minutes, they started to make a chain down to the ground. Or rather halfway; they would just jump from there and roll. They hooked their hooves at what would be called the wrist and worked like those barrel monkey toys that were just so awesome. Once enough were down, they formed a platform that had several levels to it, stallions standing on stallions, and let the remaining stallions fall onto them.

As the last one fell, Duke and Frost stepped toward the group. The whole platform disintegrated as they got close, everyone falling over and losing their footing. The men had to try desperately not to laugh at the spectacle, Frost biting his lip and Duke simply looking in another direction.

The nine stallions stood back up and stared straight ahead, faces red from either embarrassment or a head rush. Some let their eyes glance at Amel, who was barely able to hide her own laughter at them. Maybe that was why some were red faced; they had just hit on her, and now, this happened. 

Duke crossed his arms as he approached. “Amel, call over those three stallions.” he ordered.

“Yes sir.” she replied. She turned around and barked out, “الحصول على أكثر من هنا!” The three ashamed stallions sprinted over, not exactly eager to hear their punishment for whatever they did wrong.

Duke watched them run over. When they arrived and stood at attention in front of the group, Duke told Amel, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” she said, sounding a bit more confident. She was probably enjoying putting these guys through Hell. Wouldn’t you?

“Do you see these three?” Duke said, pointing at them. He waited for a moment while they were given the translation. “These three did not use teamwork. That can get you killed in combat, especially in our kind of combat.” He paused for a moment. “If you can’t naturally work as a team, you should leave now.” The stallions all looked nervous, but still determined, when they heard what he said.

Frost walked forward. “As for you three.” he said, pointing at them each individually. “You will have to go.” When Amel translated, the stallions looked like they had been kicked right in the nads. “Maybe later when they’re training operatives you can join, but until you learn teamwork, you have no place here. You must leave now.”

Amel gave them their orders and the stallions exited the room, heads hung low, eyes shut. The remaining six watched as their previous comrades left, all wondering who would be the next to go. 

Duke let them watch just until the stallions were out of the room, then barked, “Get to the free zone!” He had come to calling the area where they had done their pushups earlier by that name. “Go!”

The group of six sprinted over, bodies aching, eyelids trying desperately not to fall. While they moved, they could hardly even feel their hooves crushing the ground beneath them. Their minds were too preoccupied with the next objective to think about the searing pain in their muscles right now. It was like a dream, but turned into a nightmare, run by bizarre aliens who seemed to gain some terrifying satisfaction from causing them pain.

Duke shouted, and they all dropped to the ground to do more push ups. It was odd, seeing horses doing push ups, but they seemed to have joints similar to those of humans. The men watched as the stallions bobbed up and down, trying not to fall to the floor, sweat pouring from their heads like Niagara Falls. Their manes were soaked with sweat and lashed like whips when they moved.

The men started going around them, shouting, sometimes without even saying words. The stallions had no idea what they were being yelled at for, and when one was focused on individually, he had to stare right at the ground to drown out the nonsensical blather coming from their trainers’ mouths. Frost got close enough to look one straight in the eye.

“GET LOWER!”

The stallion couldn’t ignore him any more, and had to look around to see what the others were doing that prevented them from being yelled at coherently. When he saw how much higher up he was than the rest, he whimpered and started trying to go lower.

“LOWER!”

The stallion tried to get as low as possible, but failed and collapsed. Frost grabbed him by the mane and dragged him away, the other stallions looking up in horror. Duke shouted at them, and they put their heads down, too scared to look on. They weren’t scared for their friend, though. They were more scared for themselves and terrified of the wrath of the Duke.

Frost picked up the stallion and tossed him toward the pull up bar. “Give me fifteen. Now.” he ordered coldly. The stallion looked at the bar, then back to Frost. “Why, you little-” He started to walk towards the stallion, but stopped when he ran up to the bar and leapt up for it. He missed on the first try.

“Do it again.” Frost ordered, arms crossed, looking expectant.

The stallion leapt up once more and made it, but only barely. Because he had no fingers to latch onto the bar, he had to hook his hooves around it like they were wrists. Once he got his grip, he started doing his work. 

One.

Two.

Three.

Four...

Five...

Six...

He tried to get his seventh, but his forelegs and hooves were coated with sweat. The stallion slipped off the bar and landed flat on his back with a loud Smack. Frost was ready to move in case he was hurt, but when he got up, he looked fine. Mostly.

The stallion looked at the bar forlornly, then back to Frost. Still Frost just stood there, waiting. Under his scrutiny, the stallion began to try to shrink away, like that would save him from the brutality of the winter Frost.

Frost took one look at him and actually felt sorry, a little bit. He remembered how much he struggled with his PAST, especially with the pull ups. The stallion was looking straight at the ground, ashamed of his failure. Behind the human, he could hear the grunts of his teammates fighting against gravity.

He looked back up at Frost, but instead of being met with anger at his failure, he found himself face to face with something else. He looked up at the human, who was bent forward and looking the stallion directly in the eyes at his level. Frost poked him in the chest.

“I want you to do it. Can you do it for me?” he asked in a normal voice. He wasn’t trying to sound intimidating or cruel. He was just casual; it rocked the stallion to the core.

The stallion furrowed his brow. “أنا لا أعرف ما قلته للتو،” he began. “ولكن أعتقد أنني يجب أن تحاول مرة أخرى.” 

He got back up and looked at his comrades, then back to the bar, the shame gone. Like a lion after its prey, he leapt back onto the bar and went for his pull ups again. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen...

Frost stopped him at twenty, proud that he was able to get him to keep going. While he and Duke may have been abusing them, physically and psychologically, they didn’t actively want to see them fail. No trainer ever does. The trainers just want the people who are the best to prove themselves.

Frost led the stallion back to the rest group, who were just finishing up their round of push ups. The stallion joined back with them as they took a two minute rest before beginning the next round.

Duke walked over to Frost, eyes on the time. “How was he?” he asked quickly.

They had to be fast, so Frost had a speedy response. “He was having trouble, but he pushed through. I think he might be good.”

Duke nodded. “That’s good, I guess. I just want to knock off at least two more of them. If not, I suppose we’ll have a pretty big team.” Frost nodded in response.

The two minute break was up before any of the stallions wanted it to be, and the men stood in front of them, waiting. As soon as one of the stallions realized what was happening, they all scrambled to get back into formation. It took them much longer to get to it this time than any other time.

“What’s going on here?! Get in formation!” Frost yelled.

They all got into their line and stood at the ready. Duke snarled at them, causing a bit of cowering, then turned to look at the clock. He had no idea what it said.

“Amel, what time is it?” he asked.

Amel looked at the clock. “It is soon going to be six hours after noon.”

Damn, that didn’t take long. Duke looked back at the group in front of him; they looked haggard and exhausted, about ready to die if they were given permission to do so. He could tell that they all wanted to just fall down and sleep on the ground; he had wanted to in his training plenty. But he couldn’t let them be finished just yet.

Looking around, he tried to find something he hadn’t used just yet. At first, he thought that he would send them back up the wall, but that would take more time than he felt like and they had done it earlier. They had used most of the weights as something to weigh the stallions down while they worked, and they still had the sandbags on them, so that was pretty much out.

He noticed something that he had totally forgotten about; horse jumps. They were in increments, the first being just a foot tall, the next two, then three, and so forth.They went up to about five feet, and there were little holes in the ground under some of them. Most were wide enough to have three of them jump over t once, some even had enough room for four. It was perfect.

“Amel!” Duke shouted. She ran over, eager to help out. “I have one last thing for you to make them do.” She nodded, and he turned back to the stallions.

“Alright, mares, you have one last challenge to do.” he announced smugly. It was really a stroke of genius. “You’ll be running again, but there’s a catch.” He waited for a moment after the translation was finished, smiling devilishly, racking the nerves of the stallions before him. “You’ll be doing those jumps. But this time, you’ll be racing.”

The stallions’ jaws fell to the floor at hearing that. “The top finisher, which will be determined by place and grace in jumps, will get to be done. The others will go again. But the catch...” He waited; they were anxious to hear what he was going to do to screw with them this time. “Whoever finishes last is kicked out immediately, no ifs, ands, ors, or buts.”

When Amel told them what Duke said, they all gasped and looked around at each other, horrified at the prospect of putting their own friends in such a position. “You’ll run ten laps of all the jumps as soon as Frost puts them on the track.”

“Dammit.” Frost said as he walked off to place the jumps. Duke chuckled at him.

He turned his attention back to the stallions. “I want to see just how capable you are. So get ready; you’ll be up against what’s hopefully a decent match.” He walked off to talk with Frost while the stallions all murmured amongst themselves.

Frost saw him coming as he placed the first of the jumps. “You know how much you suck at times?” he said, grunting while he placed the jump.

“Ha. I do now.”

He and Frost walked over to the second jump, which Duke helped with this time. “So boss. You really gonna kick out whoever finishes last? I mean, that’s not really the point of this part...”

They reached the second jump and got under it, lifting it up with ease. “Wow. This is light.” Duke commented. “But anyway, no. I don’t plan to. This is all a mental test.”

“Oh?” Frost asked. “Pray tell, what is it you are doing?”

They carried the second jump over to the track and set it down. “By now, I know who’s got endurance and who doesn’t, who’s strong and who’s not really. By the looks they give each other, they know too.”

“I see.”

“Well, the test is simple; Those guys who are stronger and such are pretty good, they’ll finish easily enough. The weaker ones will have trouble. But I want to see each stallion’s attitude. Those who are weak; I want to see if they pretty much give up. Those who are strong; I want to see if they give a reduced effort. Place means nothing in this race; the only ones who are gonna get kicked are the ones who don’t still give it everything they’ve got.”

“Hah!” Frost shouted, clapping his gloved hands together. “Good thinking, boss.”

“Thanks.”

They finished up with the jumps, putting a total of seven around the track for the stallions to jump. They didn’t put them in any kind of order, though; they set them randomly. The order went three, six, two, seven, five, one, four. Once that was done, the men walked back to the stallions, who were all looking either confident or nervous about the race.

Duke tapped Amel on the shoulder, and she cleared her throat to translate. “Alright. Everyone line up and get ready to go.” he ordered. The stallions nodded in sync and all trotted on over to the track. “There is no time limit; I want to see the best from you.” 

They were all itching to go, twitching in their eyes and hinds. Looking at them, Frost could see the tension, ready to release and rocket them forward like a bullet from a gun. Their hooves pressed into the ground, digging in like a drill to get a good start. Next to Frost, Duke raised his hand up high.

He threw it back down. “GO!”

They all ran forward, some much faster, others much slower. The two who were in front sped on, leaping over the first jump like it was nothing. Frost was the one who kept an eye on them. They were both pretty impressive, shooting forward at crazy speeds. It was clear that both of them were putting everything they had into it.

Duke was watching the rest of the group behind, as they were mostly close together. One started to fall behind, but he kept on going, running like a madman. Or madstallion. The others left him in their dust, all of them seeming to want to race each other.

The time passed quickly for the men, and the first two stallions were only two laps away from finishing. But Frost frowned at them. Something was wrong.

The first stallion had left the other behind some time ago, about sixty feet away. He looked back at the other stallion, whose chest contracted and expanded like a vacuum bag, and smiled. He actually began to slow his pace down, taking to a leisurely stroll as he went along.

“Son of a bitch.” Frost thought. The stallion finished his last two laps in comfort, and his tail followed soon after, breathing hard and ready to collapse.

Duke watched as the others were about three laps away from finishing. The one was still way behind, he had actually been lapped by the others, but he still went on. The others were still racing amongst themselves, looking haggard and in pain. Their lungs were probably on fire right about then.

That was when one of them decided that he couldn’t go on. He began to slow down and took to a leisurely pace as he ran, hope lost and ready to simply stop. Behind him, the other stallion saw him slow down and upped his own pace, ready to try to pass him if he could manage to make up his lost lap. The other two just kept on going.

The first two of the group finished not long after, followed not very closely by the one who gave up because it was too hard. He was followed close after by the last stallion, who Frost recognized as the one who failed his pull ups before but then recovered. The last one looked around at those who he believed defeated him, then puffed out his chest and walked over to the men, looking at least proud that he had the mental toughness to never stop.The men raised their eyebrows at him as he began to speak.

“I can help.” Amel said from close by, listening. “He says, ‘I have failed, but I am not ashamed. I put forth what I had. If you are happy about that Frost, I am glad to leave, for I have pleased my superior.’ He thinks he failed.”

Duke and Frost looked down at him, feigning disappointment. “Get over there,” Duke said, pointing at the rest of the group. “And we’ll address this.” The stallion looked over, nodded, then ran there, ready to receive his punishment.

The men strutted over and stood before the group. Looking them over, Duke and Frost pointed right at the two who had failed the actual test. “Step forward.” Duke said, pointing down. They stepped forward, curious as to why they were being chosen.

Duke looked to Amel, then back to the group. “I lied about the test. It wasn’t about physical ability.” When they understood, the stallions’ eyes shot wide and they looked at each other, confused. “The test was to see who could keep going, non stop, even though it was hard.” Duke turned to the two before him. “You both ceased to give the effort we wanted, even though you were both fine in where you were.”

Frost waited for Amel to translate, then went on with his own monologue. “You see him?” Frost said, pointing at the one who came last. “He never stopped. That’s one of the most important traits that you can have. If you’re taken by the enemy, you need to be able to take whatever they can dish out at you and toss it back. You need to be able to run longer than them, outlast them. That is what makes a special operator special.”

“You two failed us on a personal level.” Duke said sternly. “You are to leave us now. You may return to Nedal and try again some other time.”

The two stallions before them looked positively shocked; they had believed that they completed exactly what they were told. But then again, lying and false information would be a regular occurrence with the honorless griffons. With tears in their eyes and heaviness in their hearts, they turned around and sulked away, silently accepting that they had failed. But they could always try again someday; they had learned a powerful lesson.

The men looked to the group of four still before them. “Congratulations.” Duke said cheerily. He wasn’t that cheery, but this was something that could be celebrated. “Meet us here again tomorrow at 0700 for the real training.” When Amel translated it, the four stallions let out a loud series of cheers and embraces, absolute glee exploding out of them like dynamite.

With that, the men, mare, and stallions all left for their own quarters for a night of well deserved rest.

> Back to School
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







Back to School




Duke, Frost, and Amel waited in the War Room for the four stallions who had passed the physical test to show up. Today was the day that they would be going over the skills they would likely need and practice techniques, in combat, stealth, and first aid. It was going to be another long day.

Duke decided to start in the classroom to try to make everything simpler. They would go over the skills, review them, then practice them in the training room. Unfortunately, there could be no written tests or assessments outside actual training scenarios. The men just had to hope that it would work out for them.

While they waited, Frost busied himself and Amel by going over her English. She was getting a better grip on the language by now; one might have a hard time figuring that it was her second language. The only thing that gave it away was her accent. Her language skills were coming in handy so far.

Duke had grabbed a drawing pad, some paper, and a feather and ink from a spot on the table to start making some drawings. He didn’t know where the large feather came from, and he didn’t really want to either. To prepare for his classroom session, he drew rough sketches of the skills they would be going over, like the Door Breaching, Escape and Evasion, Survival in the wilderness, and stealth. The odds of getting everything finished today were basically zero.

At exactly the time they told the stallions to show up, not a minute sooner or later, they walked in through the doors. At attention, the four remaining stallions from the previous day waited for their orders. Duke definitely liked this; punctuality is a key part of special operations.

“Alright, take a seat on any four spots and we’ll start with some basic skills.” Duke ordered. Once the words were translated, the stallions sat down next to each other, eager to learn.

One spoke something. “He says...” Amel translated. “‘What kinds of skills will we learn today? Do you have fighting secrets and special tactics?”

Duke raised an eyebrow at the stallion who spoke. Slowly, he replied, “Well, we have tactics to teach you, but you all seem proficient in close combat. We’ll be going over a few important skills today that we’ll be using a lot in the near future.” When the stallion got the words, he failed to hide his excitement in the form of a silly-looking smile. Duke let it slide this time.

He looked back at Frost, who nodded and stood by his side. “Alright.” he began, drawing all attention from the soon-to-be horse commandos. “The first skill we’ll be learning is Door Breaching.” He pulled up the crude drawing he made, depicting a stick man kicking at a rectangle.

“Boss. You suck at drawing.” Frost snickered. Duke rolled his eyes and ignored him.

“What we do is we go up to a door in groups, and one designated guy kicks the door down. Once he has, the rest of the team moves in.” He waited; none spoke. “Any questions?”

One stallion raised his hoof after a moment, and Duke pointed at him. After he finished his question, Amel said, “He asks, ‘How do we decide who kicks the door down? Also, is there added danger to the door kicker?”

Duke nodded slowly, arms now crossed. “A fair question.” he said. “Yes, there is added danger, but you knew that when you volunteered for this job. The door kicker is more exposed, but if the team does what it’s supposed to, you should be fine. As for the kicker...” He had to think about this for a second. “The kicker is whoever has the strongest legs. The first guy in is the most talented fighter in the group.”

The stallion didn’t wait to ask another question. Amel let him finish, then said, “He wants to know who gets to go in first.”

“I’ll decide who gets what roles later. Right now, I need to see what you guys can do for this skill. So let’s go.” Duke replied, turning around and walking to the training room. Frost followed first, then Amel, and then finally the stallions. Behind the men, the stallions were all talking amongst themselves, trying to put a hush to their excitement.

Duke walked into the room and looked around. The night before, he had went to King Sauri and asked him more about the room and its contents. What he found out pleased him, to say the least. He had found out that the outlines on the floor were spots where walls and doors could be raised out of the ground by pushing a block near the entrance. There were several blocks, too; one was for a few walls, another for doors, several combinations, and one last one that made the room an outright maze. Sauri said that they never really used that button except for entertainment, something that Duke barely didn’t facepalm to.

Once everyone was in the room, Duke found the block he needed to press and leaned on it. “Now we practice.” he said. He would have liked more time to go over the skill itself, but they didn’t exactly have months to train these guys. They would have to teach as they went along.

Several doors and walls came out of the ground around the room, making the stallions even more excited. It was like watching little girls getting their nails painted; neither man ever thought they would see a group of hardened warriors so different from their usual MO.

Once everything was ready to go, Duke started walking and ordered, “Let’s move out!” The stallions followed without missing a beat.

Frost got up next to Duke and leaned in. “How many times do you think they’ll screw up before they figure out what they need to do?” he asked. “My bet’s on ‘until we tell them’.”

Duke snorted. “Well, you stole my bet, Frost.” he said. “I wonder how many stallions can fit through one of these doors anyway?”

Frost snickered. “Probably not enough.” Duke smiled and shook his head as they walked on.

The men stood off to the side of one of the now raised doors and stood waiting. The stallions were still whispering amongst themselves, not paying enough attention. Amel was listening for anything that she thought the men might need to hear, but when she got nothing, she just looked to them impatiently. 

Duke had had enough of the silliness. “Alright, kiddies, get ready to start practicing the breach.” With no translation for “kiddies”, it took Amel a moment to translate. “Figure out who’s gonna kick the door in first and who’s gonna go in first. We’ll be watching.”

Duke and Frost watched on as the stallions, left to their own devices, tried to figure out what they were going to do. They understood the drawing and the action they would perform, but they had no idea who would do it. With no leadership amongst themselves, they soon started trying to take various roles. All of them wanted to kick the door down first, and it took them several minutes just to get through that. Then, they had to decide who would go in first, which took another few minutes. When they were finally done and looked ready to go, almost ten minutes had passed.

“Some more work to do.” Duke thought with a groan. “Alright, when I shout go, breach the door.” he ordered. The stallions all lined up at the door, and once all was said, Amel nodded to Duke. “GO!”

The door kicker shot his legs out at the door, busting it open and nearly taking it off its hinges. The first stallion in the group immediately went to move in, but before he managed to get a foot inside, he tripped over the kicker’s legs and fell flat on his face. The other two followed close behind, the first one trying to jump over and hitting his head on the doorway and the second getting a faceful of ass. Finally, the kicker collapsed under all the weight, and the whole group was reduced to a pile of tangled legs and necks with bodies thrown somewhere inside.

Duke lightly pinched his nose and breathed in deep while Frost openly laughed at the phenomenon. Never before had either of them seen a group of warriors screw up a door breach so badly. It didn’t help, either, when the stallions started pulling out of the door like their hind legs weren’t working. Slightly ashamed at having just witnessed that, but also having somewhat expected it, the men walked forward, trying to hide what they thought of the situation. Amel ran up next to Frost, giggling away at the stallions.

“Alright, I wasn’t expecting anything quite that bad.” Duke said. The stallions all shrank when they heard it from Amel. “But I suppose that it’s your first time. What were you guys doing before you went for the breach? What did you talk about?”

The stallions gave their answer, after which, Duke looked to Amel. “They say that they discussed who had what roles. They thought that it would be easy to do.”

Frost shook his head. “Well, things in our job are rarely easy the first time. That was quite frankly foolish of you to think it would be.” He waited for them to understand, which, once they did, made them look to the ground. “One thing you’ll learn from us is to never think it’ll ever be easy. It rarely is, and when it is, it’s because you thought it would be the hardest thing in the world, and that’s what you prepared for. You have, have, HAVE to train like you’re in combat, or combat might just kill you.”

Duke nodded. “Precisely.” he said, waiting. Once Amel gave him the clear, he went on. “You have to prepare for everything possible so that there are no surprises. You need to make your plan before you act and you need to have contingency plans for when that plan goes down the drain. You need to be like a surgeon’s scalpel; sharp, precise, and have a razor’s edge. You are going to supposedly be the best soldiers Sauri will have; make sure you show that.” He waited, and when the stallions didn’t reply with anything but looks of understanding and determination, Duke ordered them, “Now, let’s try it again.”

The men watched the stallions as they went forth and continued attempting the door breach. The same two stallions kept being the kicker and point stallion the whole time; they were having some trouble with the whole concept. After over an hour of trying to breach just this one door, the group eventually managed to do it right. The door shot open, and a moment later, after the kicker’s legs were out of the way, the point stallion led the other three in. On the other side, there was nothing waiting for them except for the pride in finishing.

But that pride wasn’t going to last long. “That was pretty good.” Frost commented nonchalantly. “But I would say that it doesn’t mean a ton without enemies on the other side. You, boss?”

Duke nodded. “I agree completely.” he said. They walked over to the stallions, who were celebrating their pseudo-victory with great enthusiasm. “Listen up!” he shouted, garnering the attention of all present. “That was fine work there.” he complemented. He waited for Amel to translate and see the happy looks on the stallions’ faces before giving them the bad news. “You seem to understand it now. But you can’t just practice against an empty room.”

When the stallions’ faces fell, Frost chuckled and chimed in, “Yep. So on the next one, we’ll be waiting for you on the other side. You have to get in, tackle us, and hold us down. Then, we’ll think about passing you for this test.”

The stallions all looked horrified at the new prospect of attacking their human mentors; some even looked shaky in the knees. “For this test, we will strike back. Albeit lightly, but you will get smacked a bit. Oh, and we want some other guys to take the major roles.” When they understood, two of the stallions groaned loudly, knowing the abuse that was to come.

Duke walked to the other side of the door. “Let’s do this, Frost.” he ordered.

“Aye.” came the reply.

Duke turned to Amel. “You wait on the side, watch them. If it looks like anything is really wrong, like serious injury or something, shout it out.”

“Yes sir.” Amel responded.

The two men took positions on the other side of the door and waited. Thanks to the wall, the stallions would have no idea where they were standing or how. They would be forced to react quickly and without thought to pass the test of skill. During combat, people don’t really rise to the occasion; it’s pretty rare. What happens is that people fall to their training and do what they learned during training. That was the goal here.

The men had no weapons on them at the moment; they wouldn’t need them. After checking their stances and balance, Duke and Frost both looked to Amel to give the order. At first, she didn’t understand why they weren’t doing anything. Once she got it, though, she, with great fervor, announced, “GO!”

The stallions breached the door and filed in in a nearly-textbook breach of the door. But it was only nearly-textbook. As soon as they were in, they were disorganized just enough that they didn’t know who was doing what. The men took advantage of their helplessness and tackled two to the ground. Once Frost got his down, he went after the third in and threw him back through the door, right into the kicker. They fell with an unceremonious series of what was probably expletives.

Duke got up and looked around, then sighed disappointedly. “Well, that was pathetic. I thought I told you to plan ahead!” he shouted. The stallions who had fallen outside rushed back in and the group made their line again, ready to get chewed out. “Why didn’t you take us down?” he asked.

After getting the translation, the stallions spoke amongst themselves for a few minutes, then finally gave their reply. “They did not know where you would be, and thought that they could just look for you and attack on sight. They believed that they could team up on the two of you if they entered fast enough.”

Frost shook his head while Duke sighed. “Sorry to disappoint, but that isn’t how it works.” Frost explained. “You have to know who’s going where at all times. You can’t just look around and hope for the best; that’s a good way to get stabbed by an unexpected enemy. You have to designate who goes where and when so that you cover all possible areas of the room. The point of a team in breaching is so that you can each cover a section of the room. The point man- stallion- is in the most danger because he’s in there alone, and that’s why the best fighter goes in first.”

Duke nodded at Frost’s explanation, then gave out his next orders. “Alright. Take it from the top, and do what my friend here just explained to you. Maybe you might stand a chance.” Everyone went back to their starting positions; but Duke and Frost moved elsewhere behind the door; and got ready for round two.

A few minutes of prep and hushed talking later, it was all good.

“GO!” Amel shouted.

The stallions kicked in the door and rushed in, though this time, each one went straight in some direction and didn’t look around too much; just enough to see if they would get flanked. The point stallion went straight forward, while the two who followed went to either side, and the last one ran in straight forward as well. Duke and Frost were off to their right and straight ahead, so they were able to spot them and engage quickly.

Unfortunately, they were dealing with humans. Humans who have arms, and hands, and fingers. The humans, with their much greater maneuverability in tight spaces, easily dodged the stallions and took them down, one with a throw over the shoulder, the other by being slapped across the face and tripped. After slapping the one, Frost ran forward to get another helping. He caught one unexpectedly in the side, sending him sprawling across the floor.

The last stallion, though, had decided not to attack Duke. Instead, he went after the distracted Frost and went for the tackle. Frost heard it coming and just barely managed to dodge him. With no human to stop his forward momentum, the stallion went face first into the wall and crumpled to the ground in a heap of disappointment.

The men brushed themselves off and observed their handiwork. It was actually pretty good, how they handled themselves. They weren’t exactly trained to fight highly trained human special operators, so all things considered, they pretty much did pass. Griffons would be easier for them to fight anyway.

“Not bad.” Duke said as the stallions all got up to hear what they did wrong. They were all pretty surprised when Amel told them what Duke just said. “Considering that you aren’t trained to fight us, and how we’re more trained than you, you did well. We never really expected you to take us down; we just wanted to make sure you did the breach correctly.”

Frost nodded. “Yeah. If you ever need to do a breach, the enemy will likely not expect you to enter like that, at least in this world. You should be able to take them by surprise and do it effectively f you do it like you just did. Of course, you can get better. And the only way you’ll get better is through practice.” Both men smiled when the stallions groaned at Amel’s translation.

Duke looked to her and used his fingers to tell her Come here. She walked on over, curious, and stood by Duke’s side, looking up to him for an explanation. The man didn’t look down, and instead, looked to Frost with a mischievous grin on his face. Frost returned it, drawing cautious suspicion from the mare.

“What?” she asked.

“How would you like to be our damsel in distress? Our hostage, to be rescued by these valiant young bucks who live to serve?” Duke asked, putting both hands on what would be Amel’s shoulders. “To be the mare that they want to serve, then slap them when we give you the all clear?”

Amel blinked. “Uhh... okay.” she replied.

Duke shot up. “Wonderful!” he announced, drawing the attention of the stallions. “I have good news for you!” he said.

“So good.” Frost said, nodding.

“Tell them what’s about to happen.” Duke said to Amel. She turned to the stallions and began to explain, and slowly, like caterpillars on a leaf, the stallions’ expressions began to change. At first, they looked worried, but then, as Amel went on, they seemed to grow eager. Toward the end, they all looked unusually excited about the exercise, and were chattering about, sometimes looking right at Amel.

“I think that they don’t quite understand.” Amel said. “They think that they can impress me by rescuing me from you.”

Duke shrugged. “Oh well. More fun for us.” he said. “Come on,” he ordered as he turned around. “We need to get ready for this. Oh, and tell them that we won’t hit them this time; but if we can get both hands on you before they get us, they fail, and they all have to carry you back to our room alongside us.”

Amel smiled and translated the new rules for the stallions, who looked confused and now unsure of their new task. She then ran to the men and waited in between them with each one about eight feet to either side of her. Neither man was even facing her.

“Tell them that they can go whenever they deem it proper.” Frost told the mare. She shouted out to the stallions on the other side, and after a second, a whole lot of noise could be heard from them. The men steeled themselves as they prepped for the attack.

The door burst open once more; this time breaking off the hinges; and the stallions ran in. Before they could even hope to react, the men were wrapped around Amel like a burrito, hugging her tightly to brace for potential impact. The point stallion gave up instantly, already seeing the failure, but the ones behind him had no idea. They ran right into him, getting more facefulls of ass, causing him to trip over the busted door on the ground and create yet another pile of failure.

Frost and Amel laughed, while Duke just disengaged himself from the trio and looked down at the stallions with mock disappointment. He hadn’t expected them to pass the first time; truth be told, he wasn’t sure they ever would. If they ever needed a point man in a hostage situation, it would be either Duke or Frost with guns, which would be much better for ensuring the safety of the hostage. They might as well practice, though. They could need it in the future.

“Alright, that was sad.” Duke admonished. “You could try to be coordinated. And don’t be so predictable in when you go. You could have waited for a minute or two and then went.” Amel translated for him from Frost’s grasp as he stood up and walked over without putting her down. “You need to think, guys! We won’t always be able to tell you what to do out there, so you need to get your minds in the right set, or you’ll be killed. Plain and simple.”

Duke waited for Amel to finish translating, which took longer with Frost holding her, then made one last statement. “That’s right. And you could easily get hostages killed, which is unacceptable. We’re going to keep doing this until you can get it right.” The men went back to their places behind the door and wall in a hurry, trying to get the stallions to hurry as well. “Come on, let’s go!”

The training in door breaching went on for the rest of the day; they never got to anything else. The stallions had a slow improvement rate, but it was improvement nonetheless. Every time, the men would have to critique the stallions and tell them exactly what they did wrong and the various ways to fix it. And every time, the stallions would focus on that, but leave something else out to go wrong. They managed to actually get to Amel before the men on two occasions, but unfortunately, that wasn’t good enough for Duke and Frost.

At the end of the day, around 1800 hours, the men decided to pack it up. The stallions pretty much had it, and they were so exhausted, and pretty beaten by slaps from the men when they got too close to Amel, that they could barely register what was said.

“Alright, I guess we can learn more tomorrow.” Duke said, which ended up getting cheers from the stallions. “Let’s head to the War Room for a debrief, and discuss tomorrow.”

They all left the training room, leaving all the training gear out for the next day, and walked at an easy pace to the War Room. Once inside, the stallions all sat in their usual line at a table, and Duke and Frost stood before them on the other side. For a moment, Duke sifted through his crude drawings from earlier to find the sneaking one he made.

“Alright, here it is.” he said as he pulled it up. Everyone stood ready to listen and speak. “Tomorrow, we’ll go over escape and evasion, plus throw in stealth and remaining hidden. I’ll see if I can’t get some strings pulled to get some more stuff in there, but what we have might work. It’ll involve a few takedowns, maybe a hostage rescue, but mostly, you guys will be trying not to be found by us in there. Questions?”

One stallion had a question, which he didn’t hesitate to ask. Duke looked to Amel for his question. “He wants to know what you mean by not being found.”

Behind Duke, Frost smiled widely and let out an evil chuckle. “It means we’ll be hunting you in there, and you won’t be allowed to fight us. You have to remain hidden and not need to fight us to pass.”

Duke nodded. “Yes, though if we catch you, you will be given a chance to fight us off and run away. It is escape and evasion, after all.” He looked over the group of tired stallions. “Anything else?”

No one spoke, and they all just looked at him, waiting for their next set of orders. He did have to admit, he liked that about these stallions. They followed their orders when given, and he didn’t doubt that they would do so to a fault. It would be useful to him and Frost in their search for OGA to have such dedicated, skilled warriors at their disposal. He just hoped that he didn’t need to use them for too long.

“Alright, good work today. Dismissed.” The stallions let out little grunts of pride and turned to leave the room together, eager for some rest.

Duke collected up his drawings, and he, Frost, and Amel walked on out. Initially, they were all quiet, one thinking about his little class, one about tormenting his partner’s class, and one who was satisfied with quiet. 

Eventually, Frost broke the silence. “Well, boss, that was quite a day. I can’t wait to see what we have tomorrow.”

“That makes me glad; it’ll be a lot of fun.” Duke realized something, though. “Those stallions aren’t carrying Amel back.”

Frost looked at the mare, who also realized that they had forgotten. “No worries; we can make them do it in the morning. I’ll send a messenger.” The mare gave him a big, toothy smile as he finished speaking.

They took care of everything they thought they would be needing the next day, ate some food, and then headed to their quarters for a good night’s rest and some mind-numbing weapons maintenance. Who knew; they might decide to bring them the next day.

> SERE
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





SERE





With immense pleasure, Duke looked over the grounds he had to work with; Sauri’s boys certainly hadn’t failed him.

The previous night, before going to bed, he had tasked some of the guards with getting brush and other natural cover for the room. He had told them that they were to raise all of the walls in the training room and to set up the cover in a variety of places, and to make it seem as much like the Saddle Arabian landscape as possible. They had brought in small bushes, rocks, ranging from small to large, and even dug up the ground in a few areas to simulate the countryside. It was pretty impressive for one night.

He had also requested a large array of gear, the kind that he wanted his stallions to be carrying into combat. They had swords, daggers, metal plate armor, helmets, first aid kits, food, water, zoom optics, and loads of other gear. All in all, their kits each weighed somewhere around fifty pounds.

The stallions were going to arrive shortly. In an effort to maximize the realism of the training, Duke and Frost walked around to try to get to know the landscape as well as possible. Their enemies would most likely know the areas they were hiding in like the tips of their talons, so the stallions needed to be put at a disadvantage.

“Alright, Frost, we have ten minutes, so move quick and try to take in everything,” Duke ordered.

“Yes sir.” Frost ran off to the right, while Duke opted to go left.

Before going in, Duke turned to Amel, who was sitting by the door. “If we aren’t back when they return, have them give you their names. Note them and tell us each one when we get back, and after you do that, make them recount the details of the door breach.”

Amel nodded, though was unsure. “I do not know the details, though.”

“I know. Just pretend like you do, and whenever they say something, act unimpressed. I want them to be absolutely certain of their training.” He turned around to enter the maze. “Oh, and if they seem tired at all, feel free to make them warm up with some calisthenics.” Amel smiled and replied in the affirmative, and Duke ran into the maze.

Frost ran about, taking quick notes of everything that seemed like it would be important. He noted the locations of rocks, bushes, dugouts and trenches, and the condition of the ground beneath him. He made certain that he knew the areas around all of the really big rocks and bushes, noting any decent hiding places in and around them, just in case the stallions decided to get clever. He did so with everything as he went through the maze.

He began to make his way back to the front of the maze when Duke keyed the mic. “Frost, what do you think of us carrying our weapons?” he asked.

“I think that they might slow us down. This training is for them, not us.” Duke grunted on the other side of the line. “We should carry some of that rope you brought down, though. We can tie them up with it.” Duke had brought down all kinds of supplies that they could use for this.

“Ha, that sounds like a good idea. We’ll figure out more once we get back to the start area.”

“Roger that.” Frost replied. They turned off their mics and both men returned to the beginning of the maze.

A short time later, both men were back at the front of the maze, searching for their charge of stallions. They spotted them by the wall, with their hind hooves up against it and doing pushups at a steep angle. Amel snickered at their pain from a ways off.

“Amel.” Frost said as the men approached, closing the distance quickly. She whipped around, letting out a startled yelp.

“Yes, Frost?” she asked, gasping for breath from the surprise.

He chuckled. “What are you having them do?” he asked.

Amel smiled. “I have them doing fifty warm-up push-ups. Get their legs ready to run.”

“Good.” Duke said, walking past her and Frost. He waited for all of the stallions to finish. Once they did, he spoke to them.

“Listen up!” he shouted, the stallions’ attention snapping to him. “Today, we’re going to- Amel?” She just realized she needed to translate, and ran over with a sheepish smile. “Today, we’re going to do Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape. I’ve had the maze set up with all manner of natural cover for you to use while we hunt you down and try to capture you.” He smiled mischievously as the stallions swallowed hard once they understood.

“Frost and I will be looking for you in the maze. Your job is to not get caught. If we catch you, we take you to a special room where you will be our prisoner. There, we will simulate interrogation and give you a taste of what it’s like to be a POW.” Amel looked up at him, confused at the acronym. “Prisoner of War.” She “ahh’d” at his explanation, and continued.

Frost piped in. “There really isn’t anything as good as getting a taste of being a POW to help you realize just how much you hope that it never happens to you or your buddies.” The men paused to wait.

“Quite.” Duke agreed. “Frost and I will be carrying various pieces of gear to capture you and to mess with you. You guys, though, will be carrying your typical payload of gear that you would have on a normal mission. But you can’t use any of it.”

A moment later, he heard muffled groans escape the stallions’ mouths. “If we capture you, we will hold you for one hour. After that, we will simply do as we please with you. Now don your gear, you’ll be off soon.”

The amount of anxiousness in the stallions’ eyes was considerable as they prepared themselves for their next excursion into pain. One of them asked a question as he got his packs on. “He wants to know what exactly you think you would do with them.” Amel said.

Duke looked to Frost, and both men turned to face the stallions with massive grins. “Well, I guess that it’ll just be a surprise for them.” Duke raised his hand. “You’ll get a ten minute head start. But first, we want your names.” Duke looked to Amel, who ran over to the men’s gear pile and yanked out a pen and piece of paper.

Amel went by the line, ordering the stallions from tallest to shortest. “They are Abd-al-Aziz, Abd-al-Hamid, Abd-al-Malik, and Abd-al-Rashid.”

Duke nodded. “Alright. We’ll call you Aziz, Hamid, Malik, and Rashid for short.” He looked at each one individually, taking note of who was who. 

“RUN LIKE BITCHES!” he shouted, pointing into the maze. Amel couldn’t even translate before they were gone inside.

Frost snickered. “You see that boss? They separated.”

Duke shook his head. “This’ll be too easy.” He kept an eye on his watch as they waited. After ten minutes, he looked to his partner. “Ready?”

“Whenever you are,” Frost replied.

They started into the maze. “Oh, we’ll want you to wait in the room, Amel. We might have a use for you...” Amel nodded excitedly and ran in after the humans, all of them eager to see just how badly this first run would go for the stallions.

**********************************************************************************

Malik had run the fastest away from the start area, going immediately left with Hamid while Rashid and Aziz ran right. None of them had any idea where they were even going, so they didn’t really care about which direction they went.

He had run for ten minutes straight, and then ran for another three. Hamid, however, had thought it better to hide somewhere than to keep running away. Malik had to disagree. He thought that running would be better because if push came to shove, he could outrun the humans and then hide, so he still had the option. If the humans found Hamid, he would surely be doomed. At that point, running wouldn’t work, and they weren’t permitted to fight back. What a ridiculous rule...

Malik hadn’t even considered stopping his movement at any point. Every time he came to a turn or intersection in the maze, he just went whichever direction he went three times before. He had lost track, eventually, though, and so chose at random. He was totally lost. But that was okay.

Now, he was well on the other side of the room, at the wall, trying to figure out if there could be a way for him to get up. He still didn’t stop, though. No, that would be foolish. If he was caught off guard and unprepared, the humans would have him. And they were probably going to do... things to him.

He tried not to think about it; it would distract him too much as he tried to stay on the move. He tried to focus on what was directly in front of him and the ground under his hooves. Thu-thu-thud. Thu-thu-thud. Thu-thu-thud. The monotonous drone of his hooves against the dirt felt familiar and comforting.

As he ran, he did look a bit at his surroundings. He noticed all the rocks and bushes, a lot like the landscape of his country. Duke hadn’t been lying; it was pretty good. Of course, he hadn’t been the one to do it. He had other guards do it for him, just like he was having him do this crazy stuff.

“AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Malik stopped dead in his tracks. That sounded a lot like Rashid! The humans must have gotten him. Even from this distance and in these many walls, he could hear the terrified yell of his comrade. Oh, the poor guy. Malik tried not to think about what would happen to his friend as he ran along.

A minute later, he figured that he should try to avoid running in the direction of the yell. Unfortunately, he hadn’t done it before, when he actually knew what direction it came from, so he had no idea where he was going now. He could be going right into the jaws of the beast, as it were.

He was growing tired after running with all this stuff, so he slowed his pace to catch his breath. But he couldn’t even keep that up; his body wanted rest. So he gave it to it. He stopped and leaned against one of the walls, positioning himself behind a rock so that he might remain hidden. It was then that he noticed that there were a lot of natural sounds from around him. The most annoyingly noticeable was the infamous Tartarus Cricket, a bizarre species of cricket native to Saddle Arabia and nowhere else. It was worse than aphids and locusts with crops.

How had they managed to catch those? It baffled him. Maybe someone had a problem with them in their home or farm, and they volunteered to give them away. Or maybe they were just in the royal garden, and Duke wanted to use them rather than have them burned alive. Or they could have come in with the brush and rocks.

He listened for them; no sounds came. What? Where had they gone? Darn it, he should have paid more attention. He might have been able to squash them if he had found them, the annoying little bastards. The only thing worse was fleas.

He got off the wall and looked around the corner, his breathing finally calming down enough for him to calmly look around. Nothing; nothing at all. Malik sighed in relief and continued on with his evasion of the humans.

Before he knew it, the crickets were back and as annoying as they typically were. He was at an intersection, four way, that had a big rock in the middle with a bush on top. It was like a cake with a cherry; he had seen them in books. He always liked the pictures.

Movement.

Malik froze as he stared ahead. He would swear that he just saw movement in the corridor up ahead. It wasn’t terribly unlikely; the maze was big, but not exactly HUGE. He could go either left or right, but there was the distinct possibility that the were coordinated, and one was taking another way. No, his best bet was to turn around and go back the way he came. He turned around and went to sprint.


“BOOGABOOGA!”

“AAAHHHHHH!”

************************************************************************************

Rashid sat indignantly in the middle of the room, starting at the ground in an effort not to look at the mare Amel. She was sitting off to the side of the room, watching, trying to get Rashid to crack and give up where Aziz was. But he wouldn’t crack. No, she could never get to him. Never.

Rashid flinched as three knocks sounded out from the door. “Amel, it’s Frost. Open up.” Rashid watched as the mare Amel went over to the door and opened it for the human. “Got another toy for you.” Frost tossed in a stallion onto the ground. Was that Malik?

After tossing Malik inside, Frost grabbed the rope from the corner and tied him up, then dropped him down next to Rashid. The human and mare began to have a conversation, one that neither stallion was particularly interested in hearing. They were probably discussing the terrible torture that awaited the stallions.

“They were both so damn noisy, was the problem. It was easy to find them just by listening. And be sure to tell them all of this.” The mare nodded to him, and soon after, Frost exited the room and continued his search for the rest of the team.

Rashid used his tail to indicate to Malik that he should just stare at the floor and do nothing. He got it quickly, and without a word, he did as Rashid did. Neither felt in a mood to talk anyway.

Rashid could hear the mare walking around them. “هذا يمكن أن يكون أسهل، كما تعلمون. You could just tell us where they are.”

“No. We won’t do that to them.” It was nice to be able to have a conversation in his own language after all this time, even if under these circumstances. “We will never give them up.”

Right in front of him, the mare dropped and sat on the ground. “Come now, it won’t be any worse than what you’re getting now.” She used her forehoof to raise Rashid’s chin so that he was looking at her. “And you know, we could make a deal.”

Rashid’s attention was grasped by the balls. “What kind of deal?” he asked cautiously.

Amel chuckled in the back of her throat and stood up. “I don’t know. I bet we could work out...” She swished her tail in his face. “... Something.”

Rashid could feel his face redden. “I- no, I will not.”

“Come on. Wouldn’t you like to help out one poor little mare?” She walked up to him and nuzzled under his chin.

“Calm down.” Rashid told himself. Her feminine wiles would never be able to defeat him!

He wished that was true. He just had to hold out until someone else got bagged. “Please? I promise you won’t experience any pain. Maybe we can work together?” She pushed herself onto the stallion, getting her chest up against his. “After you’ve helped me to find your friends?”

Rashid was sweating bullets; he was about to break. Amel just needed to give him one more push.

“I bet you’re still a عذراء.” she tantalized.

Rashid had broken. He had never been trained for this, never expected anything like it to become possible. This entire situation was alien to him, even more so than the humans. He simply didn’t know how he could fight it.

“Aziz is behind the rock by the fourth corridor, two lefts, one right, and another left from the main entrance.”

Amel smiled. “Good colt. But no treat for you.” Rashid blinked. “You misbehaved by giving away your teammate. No treat for you. Bad, bad colt.” Leaving behind a depressed and ashamed stallion in Rashid, Amel went over to the window and leaned out. “Check the rock by the fourth corridor, two lefts, one right, and another left from the main entrance!”

“HOOAH!” she heard back from two locations.

Amel went back inside and walked over to Malik. “I guess I can’t get you the same way, can I?” she stated. She received no response. “Would you disrespect me by ignoring me? I can have Frost cause you quite a bit of pain.” Still nothing.

She was about to continue when the door burst open, and in waltzed two humans, carrying two stallions over their shoulders. “Sorry to crash the party, but the last guests have arrived.” Frost stated happily. The men dropped the two stallions, Aziz and Hamid, to the floor.

Duke went back and leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “I have to say that I’m disappointed. I thought that you guys had the idea of teamwork down.” The stallions took a moment, then looked down at the ground once Amel told them. “You should have stuck together, kept power in numbers. That’s why we have small teams in the first place.”

“If you guys had stuck together, you might have stood some sort of a chance against us.” Frost added. “But by going off on your own, you became easy targets. It became four cases of two on one instead of four on two.”

“Not only that, but two of you had no stealth at all. Rashid and Malik, you just stomped all around the place, announcing your location to anyone within fifty meters. That’s a quick way to get killed.” Duke brought his thumb across his throat for emphasis.

“And Hamid and Aziz, you stayed in one location for too long. If you remain in one spot, then we’ll definitely find you eventually because eventually, it would come down to just that spot.” Frost explained. “One half of you had one half of the right idea, the other half had the other half of the right idea.” That phrase took some time for Amel to translate.

Duke and Frost waited for a response. What they got was just about what they expected.

“They want to try again. This time, they say they can do it,” translated Amel.

Duke snickered. “Well, this time, the goal is changing.” Amel blinked, and when she told the stallions, they just blinked as well. “This time, you’re doing the escape portion of the training. After this, we can go back to evasion and resistance. Survival can be a lecture, so we’ll do that later.”

He looked straight as Rashid. “And this time, don’t let your plans out to the enemy. If anyone does it twice, they’re out of the training. You need to be as tough as can be to be in this job.” Rashid shrunk as much as possible. “Mental toughness is key, and no matter what is offered to you, remember that it isn’t going to happen. The enemy will not spare your teammates or loved ones. They will not free you, or give you special treatment. They will not be nice, and they most definitely, unarguably, WILL NOT have sex with you. Don’t let yourselves think that being a POW can possibly go well on any scale; it’ll all be torture.” Rashid further shrunk under the scrutiny.

Frost nodded. “Stockholm syndrome kills.” Amel didn’t translate Stockholm Syndrome. “You can’t succumb to it, no matter how much we try to make you.”

The stallions were silent for a moment, then all nodded, indicating their preparedness for the next round. Now, they had a feeling of how they were going to want to go about this.

“Alright. Now, you’ll be allowed to put up some resistance, like throwing us or pushing us away. But not to Amel; you have to find a way to sneak past her.” The stallions all looked to the mare, who just smiled a big, toothy smile. “She’ll be patrolling the perimeter of this room. We’ll be patrolling the rest of the maze. Your job is to get back to the beginning area, as a group.” Duke emphasized that last point. “If you can do it, you won’t have to do it again.”

Frost gave them more new rules. “You all have to sneak by Amel.” he explained, letting Amel get her words in before continuing. “If she catches you, the one who was caught has to come back. The others have to go back in and quietly rescue him. Without being caught. If you’re all caught, you’re just back at square one.” Amel translated, but gave Frost a look that asked Please stop with the strange phrases. “Start over. And it’ll keep going until you can get it right.”

After a minute, the stallions seemed to have a full comprehension of the op. “Any questions?” Duke asked, glancing over the group. “No? Well, then. Let’s begin.” He, Frost, and Amel all left the small room to take up their positions for the next round. Now that they would have it as four on two, or even four on one, Duke wondered who would end up being the bulls, and who would end up being the runners. 

No matter; he had a feeling that they would do it right this time.

> The Great Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




The Great Escape



The four stallions sat in a circle in the middle of their little area, each one trying to think out a plan. They had spoken before and agreed that each of them would think of something, then they would collaborate and combine plans to make something that would work. They had been sitting in their circle for over an hour trying to think up ways to escape.

They were all lightly bound, but it was nothing that was easy to break out of. Of course, that might make a lot of noise, snapping the ropes that bound them. Aziz had already come up with a plan for that.

“يا شباب. I have an idea for getting out quietly.” he whispered.

“Let’s hear it.” Malik replied, eager for something. He had been quietly brooding more than planning.

“These ropes are tied around our legs, but they aren’t secured; with a little effort, we can slip right out.” He listened for the small grunts of approval. “One of us will get his hooves between the other’s legs, then that one will slip out and help the others.”

Rashid chuckled. “I had no idea you were like that, Aziz.” he joked.

“Learn something new every day.” Aziz replied, drawing stifled laughter from his teammates.

Without discussion, the first one to get between the legs of his teammate was Hamid, who had been silently listening the whole time. With a few grunts and misses, he was able to get his hooves behind Aziz’ restraints. Once there, he locked his position on the ground and braced himself against Aziz, who started to push off of him. His hind legs dug into Hamid’s gut painfully, but the stallion held firm against the legs of his teammate.

Soon, Aziz’ legs shot out from his restraints, almost sending him stumbling across the room, and Hamid flew onto his back. While they did that, Rashid and Malik worked on their own restraint, getting a similar result at the end of their struggle. Once two of the four were out, they set out to release the other two by roughly the same method, just the pusher standing up.

Now, they were all out of their restraints and ready to move out. But first, they had to go over their plan.

“Alright.” Hamid began. “What do we know?”

“We know that the mare Amel is out there; if she sees us, we come right back.” Malik said. “We also know that Duke and Frost are out there somewhere; they will have to actually catch us. But we can fight back now.”

Hamid nodded. “Good, good. But the way they are, they will have a distinct advantage in close fighting. How can we fight against them?”

All went silent for a moment. “I have an idea.” Rashid said. “We need to stand in a formation, one that will prevent them from sneaking up on us. That is where they will get us the most easily.”

“Yes, that should work!” Aziz whispered loudly. “We should be able to look around in all directions at all times.” He looked around, a thoughtful expression on his face. “One of us will go in front, mostly looking forward. One will go in the middle and keep an eye on our flanks. The last two will pair up to take the rear, taking turns looking around and to the rear.”

“But what’s the plan if they can get up to us to fight?” Hamid asked.

Rashid thought about the formation. “If the front runner ends up under attack, then the middle one will run forward and attack, maybe jumping over the front runner. The middle one is unlikely to be attacked, but if he is, the rear pair can work together to get him free. If one of the rear is attacked, the other will help. And because they shouldn’t be able to sneak up on us with this formation, if both in the rear are attacked, the other two will be able to react in time to fight back.”

Hamid smiled. “I like it.” Then something struck him. “What if they jump down from the walls, the way a griffon would come down on us?”

Rashid frowned, having forgotten about the high zones. “Uh, maybe...”

Malik piped in. “The middle one can look up there sometimes, since he has the least to actively look at. Anything he sees, the rears can see, so he can also look to the sky.”

“Very nice.” Hamid said. He liked planning things out; unlike Nedal, who liked to wing it and see what happened. These humans made him look like a total buffoon. “So that’s how we will travel. But what should we do to get away from here without Amel seeing us?”

The group went silent once again and thought about the situation. They had no idea where she might be out there, nor what rounds she might be making. There were two doors out of the room, plus two holes that served as windows that they could use.One wall was bare, so that left three avenues of escape in three directions. The doors would be nice because they would be the fastest to run out of, but they were the most obvious ways out, located on opposite sides of the room. The windows were both on the last side, but it would be substantially harder to get out of those without making noise.

The stallions looked once at each other, then nodded and each went to a window or door. Rashid and Hamid took the doors, and Malik and Aziz took the windows. To avoid being seen, the stallions approached slowly from the sides of the openings and kept a fair distance from the window to remain hidden in the darker room.

“Nothing here.” Aziz and Malik whispered together. There was only an alley sized hall outside their windows.

“I got nothing.” Rashid replied after cracking his door open. His area was barren and open; a risky bet for running away.

Hamid was unsure of how to proceed. So far, he had decent information that Amel wasn’t in the other areas. That left his and the outside of the wall without windows. If he opened his door, he could be seen and his team could be reshackled in a much more efficient manner, reducing their odds of escaping.

He took a good look at the door; it was shoddily made, the type that he had seen in the less noble villages. Basically, it was several wooden boards loosely put together with holes in several spots. Hamid got as close to it as possible and peered through the spaces.

“I found her.” he announced quietly. Right outside, not ten feet away, was Amel, staring at the door. “It looks like she’s pretty intent on watching this door.”

The others all nodded. “Good.” Rashid said. “We’ll go out this other door nice and quiet, and take our formation as soon as we’re out of her reach.”

Rashid stood before the door waiting while the rest of the team moved in behind to get ready. Once they were stacked up, Rashid glanced back at them, eager to get out. From the back, Malik nodded to him. With that green light, Rashid silently pushed the door open and the stallions began to move out.

They moved quickly and quietly across the space and slipped into the corridor straight ahead of them. Rashid took point, followed by Hamid, then by Malik and Aziz. With a quick confirmation that they were still hidden, they moved out into the maze.

With Rashid on point, he decided what directions they would go. Before taking any turn or passing any intersection, he would slow down and take a quick look down each hallway to check for Duke or Frost. They had no idea if the humans would attack alone or together, so it was always better to check.

The stallions kept light on their hooves, trying their best not to make too much noise as they moved through the maze. To avoid making noise with each step, they figured out that they could put their hooves back on the ground from the side edge first, effectively making a rolling motion rather than a stomping one. They also moved swiftly without too many sudden stops or decelerations to avoid having their packs jingle or move.

Malik and Aziz were, by far, in the riskiest area of the formation. There were so many avenues of attack on them and so many fewer ways for their teammates to help them if an attack occurred. Because of this, their eyes were in constant motion, never taking more than a couple of seconds in any direction. The two were like a well oiled machine; when one was looking to his side, the other was looking back, and they moved in perfect sync. It was this action that might have saved them from a lot of pain.

“I think I saw one!” Aziz whispered loudly. The group slowed down just a little, enough to be able to listen to their surroundings. “Behind us!”

Rashid and Hamid both tried to think fast while Aziz and Malik turned around to see if they were being followed. If they stayed like this, they would be sitting ducks; the humans could probably see the weaknesses in their formation more easily when they weren’t moving.

“Circle up!” Hamid said, getting into position. The other three followed close behind. “Watch for movement. If you see something, get to running, we’ll remake our formation on the move.”

The stallions all held their breath; the world went silent, frozen, as they scanned the area. Nothing moved, nothing made any noise. It was like nothing was ever there. But they all knew better than that by now.

“Get back into formation and get moving.” Rashid ordered. He lowered his voice so that only his teammates could hear. “If you see movement again, we break into two groups and meet up at the end. If you get there, and after ten minutes no one shows up, go back in for them.”

He got three affirming nods, and the stallions began to move out once again. They all took the same positions as before, their pairs in case of a dash already decided. Now, as they moved, their hearts raced and urged them to sprint out of the maze, but the stallions fought their instincts. Fear of the humans and of failure drove them to go forward.

They moved through the maze at the same pace as before, but the movements of their eyes and heads picked up significantly. There was now the distinct possibility that they were being followed, stalked like prey, and they couldn’t see the predator. They had to remain totally alert and ready to act in case of an attack.

They hit another intersection, this one with a great deal more space in it and with several large rocks in the middle. Rashid looked around, but saw nothing. He slowed his pace, and consequently his team’s pace, as they moved around the rocks to check all the passages. Rashid made sure to keep one eye on the corridors and one eye on the rocks next to them. It was an excellent place for an ambush.

Hamid stared intently at the rocks. He could just tell that Duke or Frost was nearby, they had to be. It was like he could feel one of them watching him, their eyes boring into his skull. The rocks were positioned in such a way that, unless they broke formation, the stallions could never see all the way around it, so that seemed like the most likely hiding place. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep starting at the rocks, as it was also his job to keep an eye on the sky.

He looked up; about fifteen feet up, there was something perched on the wall. As Hamid’s eyes widened, a big, toothy smile came across the face of Frost.

“UP HIGH!” he shouted, running to Rashid and pushing him forward. “BREAK!”

Behind, Aziz and Malik had no trouble following the plan, and both bolted down a random hall. Rashid took a second to look up and was greeted by Frost leaping off the wall in his general direction.

“AH!” he yelped as he just moved out of the way. Frost landed right next to him more gracefully than Hamid would have thought his body capable of. “Hamid!”

Hamid took the cue and rammed Frost, getting his body under the human, then throwing him off to the side and out of the way. The human made several grunts as he began to stand back up.

“RUN!”

The stallions hauled it into overdrive and sprinted away from the human as he got up to give chase. They knew that they could certainly outrun him, but odds were that he would outsmart them. As Hamid looked back, he could see Frost poking something on the side of his head and speaking, probably telling Duke where he found them all. 

Rashid and Hamid raced through the maze, eager to escape and try to meet up with Aziz and Malik. “Wait...” Hamid mentally slapped himself. They had no way of communicating at all, not even shouting. They would just give away their positions; and while Duke and Frost only spoke Equish, if Amel heard, she could shout back what they said in Equish. Without any way to get in contact with their other two teammates, Rashid and Hamid had to just hope for that luck would let them run into their teammates.

Rashid took a sharp left, then stopped, causing Hamid to almost trip over him. “What are you doing?!” he asked as quietly as possible. Better safe than sorry.

Rashid took a moment to breath. “We can wait for him here. If he comes around the corner, we take him down, then use his own rope to tie him up. Then we can carry him away with us.”

“It sounds alright.” Hamid said. “But what if he doesn’t follow our path?”

“If he doesn’t, then we leave after three minutes. But tell me; do you think we lost him?”

Hamid didn’t have to respond to that; Rashid already knew the answer. With a jab of his hoof, Rashid had Hamid wait right next to him and get as low as possible, ready to pounce on the human when he passed.

They waited. And waited. And waited. Hamid began to grow frustrated, but stayed quiet since he couldn’t tell if someone was around the corner. He had no way of knowing how to tell how much time had passed, so when he eventually felt like the three minutes were up, he poked Rashid in the side.

“Let’s get moving-”

In an instant, Rashid was crushed to the ground under the force of a falling human in camouflage pants and shirt. He yelled out as he was crushed and pressed into the ground, trying to fight against the human but failing. Hamid looked over and blinked, unsure of exactly what just happened as Rashid was being tossed around and tied up.

“Hey!” he finally shouted, tackling Frost again.

Frost went flying to the side and off of Rashid, who went straight to getting the almost tied rope of off himself. Hamid placed himself between his partner and the human, ready for a struggle.

The human said something that Hamid didn’t understand, then lunged at him, arms outstretched and fingers spread. Hamid dropped low and shifted his weight forward, and as Frost went over him, he bucked up to throw the human into the air. Frost reacted quickly, getting his hands on Hamid’s rear and keeping himself stable as he was bucked up, and continued forward, onto Rashid. Hamid hadn’t even turned yet when he heard Rashid’s battle begin.

Rashid was face to face with Frost, slightly disconcerted by the crazy grin on his face and the widened stance. Rashid lowered his center of gravity and prepared himself to spring forward and fight as Hamid came back to continue his own battle.

Hamid went to tackle Frost from behind, but his loud hoofstomps gave him away easily, and Frost countered him by leaning forward and catching the stallion on his back. Getting a good grip on Hamid’s mane with his left hand and getting his right arm around the side of his neck, Frost performed a makeshift Tai Otoshi on the stallion, dropping him to the ground. Hamid groaned as Frost rolled him away to continue after Rashid.

Rashid was already after him, though; no group ever has its members take turns in a fight. Rashid placed his body in between the legs of the human and, with as much force as he could muster, rose up into the air, lifting the human with him.

Frost made a high-pitched sound, foreign to Rashid, as he fell off of his back and to the ground, clutching his groin. Rashid regretted having done it, but that was what he felt he had to do. He looked at Frost, then the rope, then back to Frost, and decided that he didn’t have the time or know how to tie up his human instructor. Instead, he walked over to Hamid dragged him to his feet.

“Come, we need to find Aziz and Malik.”

Hamid nodded back, and the two stallions ran off to find their teammates, leaving Frost curled up on the ground and groaning in pain.



Aziz and Malik were unsure of how to proceed now that they were out of harm’s way. They hadn’t discussed any plans after breaking formation and running, a foolish lack of forethought on their part. Now, they were lost and at an intersection, and couldn’t decide where to go.

“How far did we run?” Aziz asked, checking the rear and above.

Malik shrugged and sighed. “I don’t know. We ran fast, and we ran pretty long, I think. I have no idea where we need to go now.”

Aziz sighed in response, feeling disappointed at their situation, and wordlessly moved on, taking a right at the intersection. Malik followed, glad that Aziz was willing to take the lead and make the decisions. That was another problem that they had as a group; none of them had ever lead before. Nedal had always told them what to do, so with this bizarre new freedom to choose their way, the stallions were in unfamiliar territory. The humans were forcing them to think for themselves. 

Of course, if the humans were right, they would likely always have to think for themselves in unfamiliar territory. That’s how the humans say they operate, so that was how the stallions would have to operate. They were taking a bunch of low-ranking soldiers and making them into a highly trained special missions unit. They each had to become leaders in their own rights.

Aziz just kept on walking, keeping the crunching below his hooves to a minimum to listen to their surroundings. Behind him, Malik was watching the sky and behind them, not listening as much as he was watching. Aziz kept his eyes forward, trained on anything in front of him.

Aziz was only watching for movement, whereas Malik tried to look for anything that seemed out of place. Though nothing seemed odd at the moment; there were rocks, small and large, jagged and smooth. Holes and little ditches in the ground, not big enough for a human to hide in. Up high, there was nothing but a dome shaped ceiling. They would occasionally pass bushes on their journey, some small, some tumbleweeds, though those were uncommon to say the least in Saddle Arabia, and they took on various shapes and colors.

Aziz passed a big one that would be perfect to hide behind, or even under. Just to be safe, Malik went around the other side of it to check for feet or hands or other human parts under it, as well as to see if Duke was on the other side. Frost was chasing Rashid and Hamid, so he was accounted for.

Malik let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when he saw nothing. Instantly regretting it, he turned his attention to the air in a fit of paranoia, only to catch nothing.

“Damn humans and their tactics.” he grumbled.

“Hey, hurry up. We can’t get so far apart.” Aziz said from up front.

Malik sighed behind Aziz and began to walk forward. Aziz kept his eyes forward, not willing to risk letting his eyes drift and potentially get them attacked. He heard Malik trip.

“Malik, hurry up-”

Aziz turned around to see that the bush had come to life and was covering Malik’s mouth as it pinned him to the ground and began to tie him up with a rope. Stunned, but only for a second, Aziz figured that it had to be Duke in the bush, somehow wearing it like armor, only for stealth. Masterful camouflage, it was.

“Malik!” he shouted as he ran forward. His steps never faltered as the Dukebush turned around to face his new foe, more rope in hand. Aziz saw that he was forming a circle with it, probably to tie up his legs with, and looked for a way past. “Can’t always get an easy way...” he thought.

Instead of sidestepping the way any smart warrior would, Aziz upped his speed and leapt at Duke through the loop, jaw open wide. Duke wasn’t able to close it fast enough, and Aziz’ snout rammed into his chest, sending him back and onto the ground. With the rope tied around his torso, Aziz went straight to getting the ties off of Malik so that it would be two on one.

It was for not, however, as Duke recovered quickly and got back on Aziz right as he finished getting Malik’s back legs untied. Still unable to walk, Malik was forced to just watch as Duke, his face hidden and instilling more terror than if it wasn’t, expertly moved the rope around Aziz and tied up the rest of his body. When he was finally done, he let out a big, throaty laugh and dropped Malik to the floor.

The two stallions glanced at each other, angry at how easily they were taken down, and tried to think of a plan to escape. They had to be fast, for Duke was poking the side of his head and saying something, likely telling Frost to get over here to pick up the prisoners.

The stallions were confused, though, when Duke’s body language seemingly became panicked and he started talking faster. They still could not understand what he was saying, but it was clear that he was not happy at the moment. Duke just sighed after a while, said one last thing, then turned back to the stallions on the ground.

The human plopped himself down in front of Aziz and looked thoughtful. Then, out of nowhere, he picked up a jagged rock off the ground and poked Aziz in the side with it, eliciting a loud yelp from him. “What the hell!?” Aziz shouted, unhappy.

Before he had even finished yelling, Duke was back to the side of the corridor, looking like any other plant. “Aziz?! Malik?!” someone shouted from the distance. It must have been Rashid or Hamid. “We’re close to you; don’t move!”

Malik and Aziz looked to each other, knowing fully well what was in store for their friends if they came to their rescue. “To hell with it.” Malik thought. “I can’t let my teammates get captured.” He took in a deep breath and, just as Rashid and Hamid came around a corner thirty feet away, he bellowed, “THE PLANT HERE IS DUKE! WATCH OUT!”

The two stallions, now coming down the hall, looked straight at the plant and, determination burning in their eyes, they ran at it with all the force they could muster.

“OH SHIT!” Duke thought.

The stallions rammed him and sent him rolling fifteen feet in the other direction, ripping apart his plant disguise and exposing the human underneath. With him dealt with, Rashid and Hamid turned their attention to their incapacitated teammates and went about untying them with great haste.

“Thanks.” Aziz said as he stood up. He looked at Duke, who was on his hands and knees some distance away. “He’ll be alright?” he asked.

Rashid chuckled. “Better off than Frost.” Malik got up and walked over, both his and Aziz’ eyebrows raised, and tried to get more on that. “It isn’t important right now. Right now, we just need to get out of here.”

“Amen to that.” Hamid replied.

The four stallions got back into formation and jogged off, eager to get out of the maze and complete their first major training simulation.

> The More You Know
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




The More You Know



After finishing their exercise, the stallions were given a lecture about survival by their human mentors. They went over alternate sources of water, safe plants to eat, hideaways, nighttime navigation, and a plethora of other important skills. Duke was going to be taking more than one day to teach them all the skills, and then at least one more to administer tests on them.

“I can take this, Frost.” Duke said the following morning. “Why don’t you go around the city, see if you can learn the local culture?” After finishing, he tossed a sack of coins that he didn’t explain the origin of to his partner.

Frost saw the wisdom in that and agreed. Knowing local culture could easily mean the difference between life and death. He could secure or lose allies based on what he said or did, and the more allies they had, the better. He remembered that story about the Army Special Forces in Afghanistan who managed to get some Rangers out of hot water by showing a village leader respect by giving him gifts and displaying extensive knowledge of their ancient culture. That was the kind of thing that he needed to know if he was to operate in such an alien land.

Duke had also gotten another translator from King Sauri so that Frost could walk around with Amel. He would need a translator in the city, and Amel was happy to go along. Her grasp of English was getting better; she was able to translate idioms more easily at this point.

Now, he walked through the castle with her at his side, knife on his belt just in case, feeling ready to walk about and try to learn how to address the locals.

Amel was going to be really helpful in that sector. “When you meet someone for the first time in a formal setting, you always bow your head.” she explained. “It is a sign of respect and trust, and graciousness for hospitality.”

The guards saluted as they walked by, but neither Frost nor Amel noticed. “Alright.” the man replied. “Do we shake hand and hoof, or is that not really a thing here?”

“Why would it not be a thing?” Amel asked almost defensively. “And yes, you shake hooves. Depending on the situation, you might also embrace each other and say a common greeting.”

Frost nodded as they walked out the palace doors and into the garden. “And what might these greetings be?’ he asked.

“الفحل جيد، انه لمن دواعي سروري! It means, ‘Good stallion, it is a pleasure.’ You can also say يشرفني ان كنت تمنحني وقتك. It means ‘I am honored that you would grant me your time.’”

Frost tried to remember the greetings, but the Saddle Arabian language was similar to Arabic; hardly an easy language to learn. “Well, I’m sure you can translate for me anyway.” he said, waving it off. Amel rolled her eyes as they exited the palace gardens.

He looked around as they entered the streets of the much nicer section of the city, where all the rich people lived. He had never known what it was like to live in an area like this, so interactions with people or ponies or horses like these were totally alien to him. Combined with the fact that it was another world and culture, he had no idea what to do.

He had Amel walk next to him and effectively take the lead as they moved about the city, seeing as she would naturally know more about the area. She quickly led them out of the wealthy area and into the more middle class section of the city, where there were more artisans, smiths, and other assorted vendors. Most of these citizens operated out of their own homes, so it was also a residential neighborhood, and was much more populated.

On both sides of the bustling street they walked down, vendors saw the sack of coins and vied for their attention.

“فقط أفضل المجوهرات لفرس الخاص بك!”

“محارب يحتاج السيف جيدا للمعركة!”

“الخضار المطبوخة الطازجة البقاء مثالية للالفحل الخاص بك!”

Frost just kept on walking with Amel, who was ignoring the vendors as they shouted at them. Frost would swear that he saw her blush several times as they yelled, but how could that be if there was fur in the way of her skin? Clueless and curious he had to ask.

“What are they saying?” He looked around at the different vendors. “I can’t even tell what most of them are selling.”

“They just wish to sell us trinkets and unnecessary things.” Amel answered quickly. “They have to make a living, after all.” This was a perfect chance for a culture lesson, though. “One thing you must remember is that vendors can be very aggressive around here; they all compete with each other. They will say anything to get your attention on them.”

“I suppose that it’s a good thing that I don’t understand them, then?”

Amel nodded. “Yes; the last thing you want to do is make eye contact. It’s an invitation for them to approach you, and then you have to either just leave, which is rude, or haggle.”

“Haggle?” Frost asked disbelievingly.

“Yes. They are masters of the art, and all of them can do it. You must never let yourself be taken by them.”

Frost nodded, trying his best to keep his eyes forward and evade those of street vendors. It wasn’t easy, though, as some of them were out in the street, showing off their merchandise to passersby, eager to make a sale. If that was what they thought of it as; most probably saw it as eating that night.

“مهلا، الإنسان!”

Frost let his eyes move to look in the direction of the noise without turning his head, but Amel outright looked that way. To their left, there was a stand with all kinds of things hanging off of it.

“تعال هنا، لدي شيء قد تجدها مفيدة.” the vendor said. Frost glanced at Amel, who stared assertively at the vendor.

Frost took it as an okay to look, and saw that the vendor was not exactly selling trinkets. All over the counter in front of him were blades of varying sizes, from tiny knives that go in pockets, to outright swords that must have been three feet long. He walked over to the stall, eager to get a closer look, and learned the hard way just what Amel had been telling him.

“أنت محارب، استطيع ان اقول.” he said, smiling eagerly at Frost.

Unsure of who to respond, Frost looked back to Amel, who sighed and stepped forward to help. “He says that he can tell you are a warrior.”

“Well, he would be right.” Frost replied, nodding to the vendor.

The stallion started chattering away, Amel interpreting his words as he went. “He thinks that you could use another blade, for you can never have enough.”

Frost nodded slowly, thinking about the prospect. He already had a perfect knife for fighting, this guy couldn’t possibly offer him anything useful. “Well, I must say that I disagree. Can I say that?” he added, hopeful not to offend. Amel responded by translating for him.

The vendor nodded, then went off again. “He says that you can always have different blades for different purposes; battle, food, what you call utility. You must be able to address all situations.”

Frost considered for a moment. “Why not?” he thought. He pulled out his FE9. “I guess that I could use a utility knife.” he said to himself, remembering that the FE9 has almost no utility capabilities; it was designed purely to kill. “What do you have?”

Once he understood, the vendor beamed, and started going through all his utility knives. As he went, Amel pointed at each one and explained; “This one is excellent for cutting ropes of all sorts; even the toughest of them cannot stand to it; he’s just advertising. This one is good for getting the point in and moving small things around. This one...” And it went on for a pretty long time. Frost listened intently, deciding that he would, in fact, get a knife. Not to be polite, but because he might actually want to have one.

At the end, he had already decided that he wanted the first knife since it seemed reasonably priced at twenty whatevers and he had at least two hundred. “What’s this currency called, anyway?” he wondered as he pulled out the coins. The vendor smiled excitedly as he took the money and handed the knife to his first human customer.

Amel sighed. “Well, Frost, you opened up a door for other vendors to come get you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Frost smirked and shook his head. “Yeah, well.” His eyes glossed over the knife selection one more time, looking over the pocket knives. There was one in particular that he saw that was extremely nice; it was a folder, with a black handle, a metal clip, and an engraving on the blade that he couldn’t read. “Looks alot like a Benchmade 551S.” he thought. Pointing to it, he asked how much it was without speaking. The vendor replied by tracing out a ten with his hoof. “Nice.” Frost said aloud, pulling out ten more coins and dropping them on the counter. The vendor handed him the knife, and his eyes fell on the FE9.

He asked Frost a question, pointing to the knife. “He wants to know if you would part with it.” Amel said, also pointing at the knife.

Frost looked at it, then back to the vendor. “Sorry, my friend, but this knife is staying with me.” When Amel translated, the vendor understood, said what was probably a goodbye and thank you, and they finished their business.

Frost and Amel walked away from the vendor, one satisfied, the other, clearly not. “Why did you buy a second knife?” Amel asked. “You already have the knives you might need.”

“I got it for you.” he replied casually. Amel blinked. “I figure that with what you and we have gone through recently, you might want to keep it on you. So here.” Without warning, he suddenly clipped the knife onto Amel’s mane, causing her to jump at the sudden contact. “I’m sure I can get something to make it easier for you to access later.”

Amel felt the knife with her hoof, a look of wonder in her eyes. “I... thank you.” she said.

“Don’t mention it.” Frost replied. “I can show you how to use it later.”

They walked down the street, still trying to avoid the street vendors, looking for anything that might be a cue for learning. Around them, horses and ponies, and even a few griffons, were going about their lives, minding their own business. The only thing they got from that was to generally just be polite to each other as they went around; no need to start fights.

They soon exited the busier area of what could be called the market district and found themselves in a more residential area, with more homes and residences. There were a few places here and there, mostly little home stores for furniture trade and even some restaurants, but it was generally much more peaceful. No shouting vendors, no one being aggressive, no one making much noise. Frost took it as a cue that hustle and bustle was generally not accepted in certain areas.

He looked around and saw a group of what seemed to be well-dressed horses walk into a building that had tables outside its windows. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that there were horses and even some griffons inside eating. Surprisingly, there was meat on the griffons’ plate; Frost would never have expected that to be served here. The sight of the food made his stomach growl, and he realized that it was getting close to time for lunch already.

“You hungry, Amel?” he asked, still looking at the restaurant.

She looked up at him, then followed his eyes to the restaurant. “I suppose I could eat something.” she replied. “But I think we should look elsewhere; that restaurant is for upper class citizens and foreigners, mostly.”

“Well, I guess that it’s a good thing I’m a foreigner.” Frost patted Amel’s head and started moving toward the restaurant. “Come on, I’m sure they’ll let us in, since we have the money to prove we aren’t beggars.”

Amel couldn’t really argue that point, so she followed him. She still thought that they wouldn’t be allowed in since Frost only had a combat uniform and she had no clothes on at all, but they would just be given a choice of more formal wear inside. She had had to follow her previous masters here before when they entertained foreign diplomats, so she knew the restaurant fairly well.

As they approached the building, Amel leaned over to Frost, who had to bend down to hear. “You should always bow when you meet an upper-class stallion or mare. Show as much respect as possible.”

“Got it.”

At the entrance, there was no one there waiting, so they just stood outside patiently. Odds were that the server was taking care of the group that just came in, so it was only reasonable to wait. In the meantime, Frost took in the scenery; it was all eerily similar to the palace. Depictions of battles in which one horse would lead the charge and fight so valiantly, gems in the walls, fine curtains and wall hangings. The tables all had elegant silverware, probably made of actual silver, and decorated ceramic plates. The cups were the only thing out of place; they were a dull gray, like pewter.

Frost snapped out of his scan when he heard someone coming from inside. As soon as the horse was out, wearing a fancy serving outfit, Frost and Amel gave two low, slow bows.

“Hello.” Frost said, initiating the conversation. Amel greeted him in his own tongue.

The server looked them over for a second before replying. “Hello.” His use of English brought Frost’s eyes back up. “I am the server. What brings you here?”

Frost waited for Amel to answer, but instead, she just looked at him expectantly. Eventually, he replied, “We were hoping to dine in your fine establishment. Would that be possible?”

The server hmm’d and looked over the two before him. Ordinarily, he would never consider letting them in; one was naked, and the other was dressed for war. He even had an unconcealed knife on his leg that bordered on a short sword. He was, however, human, and this was clearly his mare, so an exception could certainly be made.

“I believe so.” the server replied, at last. “Would you like to borrow more formal clothes, Miss?” He looked at Amel as he spoke; he certainly had nothing for Frost to wear.

“That would be nice.” she replied, bowing her head again.

The server nodded and lead them into the building, where the other patrons were too busy to pay them any mind. The server had Frost wait in the lobby while he brought Amel to the closet by the side to get her a formal outfit. Thinking about it, Frost figured he and Duke might want to see about getting formal attire; in the event of attending anything that wasn’t combat oriented.

Before long, Amel came back wearing a simple white gown type dress, and the server lead his next two patrons to a table by a window. Frost took the seat facing the door, Amel across from him. The server dropped two menus for them and left them there to decide.

Frost opened his up and took a look. “Wow, this is pretty good stuff.” he commented, with an affirming grunt from Amel. They looked over their menus in silence for a time. “You know, I didn’t really picture a restaurant in a city like this.”

Amel nodded. “These places are not terribly common; mostly, it is here for visiting foreigners. Ponies and even griffons are more inclined to visit the city when there are places like this. Diplomats from Equestria and the Southern Griffon Colonies like to come here. That is also why your language is on the menu, alongside ours.” Frost hadn’t noticed the presence of two languages on the menu until she pointed it out.

Frost nodded understandingly; gotta improve the city’s economy, and what better way than to get tourists to come along and spend their money? Back on Earth, entire countries based their economies on tourism; that was why the economic crash years ago devastated them. But they bounced back.

He set down his menu, having decided on a plate of beef that was all fancified beyond his understanding. Amel probably got most of it, though.

“So, when did you learn most of the things you’re teaching me now?” he asked, unsure of why a slave would know all this. Amel looked up. “Was this while you were here, or..?”

Amel nodded. “Much of what I learned that I told you today was here. Before, I didn’t need to know it, but being a slave here, I was forced to learn.”

Frost cocked an eyebrow. “Didn’t have to learn it before?” he asked, curious.

“Yes, I was the daughter of a زعيم قرية; you would call him a village leader. He kept the village in check, and he was varu fair-hooved in his dealings.”

“What happened?” Frost asked, hoping not to cross any lines.

Amel sighed. “There was an incident; the son of the زعيم قرية in another village wanted me as his wife. My father said no; the village he was from was very poor. Words were exchanged, and soon, they came to our village themselves to fight for me.”

Frost was confused. “Wait, if they wanted you, how did you end up here?”

“Well, the son wanted to prove himself and earn his place as the next زعيم قرية, so he stepped forward to fight himself. Sensing that his youth would be his downfall, my father fought him and slew him.”

Frost continued to listen. “The other زعيم قرية accused my father of cheating, and demanded blood in return. Or me for one of his other sons. My father refused to give me to them, though. They returned with a large group of warriors.”

Frost tried to think about what may have occurred. “Let me guess; they had a huge force?”

Amel nodded. “Yes. While they were very poor, they had many villagers to fight. We had better tools for battle, but their numbers overwhelmed. During the battle, my father was killed, but so were the sons of the other زعيم قرية. Feeling that someone needed to be punished, the زعيم قرية took me and sold me for revenge. I spent years like that, and then you came along and I was out.”

The server returned and took their orders, putting a pause in their conversation. No one ever likes to continue a personal conversation in front of a waiter who doesn’t actually care. He left them two cups of water that tasted stale to Frost, and once he was gone, they kept on talking.

“Wow.” Frost said. “I had heard of stuff like that back home, but I never expected to meet someone who actually had it happen.”

“Yes, it is not a terribly uncommon occurrence here.” Amel replied, picking up her cup with her teeth and taking a sip of water. “It wasn’t fun, and I had to learn to look at life in another light. Now, there isn’t that much that seems so horrible.”

Frost felt a pang of sympathy for the mare in front of him. It was a really terrible thing that happened to her. If he and Duke hadn’t landed here, she would still be stuck in that household.

More questions came up in his mind, and they seemed to align well with the conversation. “What exactly is the role of mares here?” he asked. “You never said anything about your mother and what she thought of the whole thing.”

Amel took a big gulp of her water before answering. “My mother died when I was little; I think that was why my father wouldn’t send me away. He said I look like her.”

Her story just kept on getting worse. “Damn. Sorry.” Amel nodded lightly, keeping her eyes to the floor. Frost thought for a moment. “You know, I lost my mother not that long ago.”

Amel looked up. “Oh, my, I’m sorry. What happened?”

Frost took his own cup in his hand. “Well, about eight months before this deployment, she was driving home from work to pick up my deadbeat dad from a bar when a drunk driver rammed into her car on the driver’s side. Doctors said she was killed instantly, so at least there was no pain.” He downed the water, wishing it were stronger.

“Oh.” Amel said, not understanding the reference to cars. “Did you get the driver?”

Frost laughed a resentful laugh for just second. “Damn right; it was my father, leaving the parking lot of the bar at forty miles an hour. I found out that he had lifted his friend’s keys and planned to drive himself home.” He fiddled with his cup. “Worst part, I couldn’t tell the command. They would have taken me off duty and made me take time off to grieve. Can’t send a grieving soldier to go in and rescue people, you know?”

“I see.” Amel replied.

“Anyhow, back to the topic at hand!” Frost exclaimed, putting a happy face back on. “What is the role of mares here?”

Amel shrugged. “Housewives. Mares take care of the children, please the husband, clean the homestead. Mares who don’t have slaves buy or grow and then prepare the food. The stallions are the masters of the house; you can always bet that the one to talk to is a stallion.” Amel tried to gauge her friend, but he seemed like he was back in a good mood. He must have learned the same lessons as her at some point.

Frost was about to ask questions about the hierarchal systems when the server returned with their food, a slab of beef with spices and stuff on it, and a large salad. Amel’s nose scrunched at Frost’s meal, but he didn’t notice. She was used to it anyway; she had been around griffons, even if they were thought to be evil by many.

Once the server was gone again, Frost felt he could ask. “What about this caste system?” he asked, thinking of two very large countries back home. “Is there any kind of stigma related to talking to certain groups, anything good or bad that can come from it?”

Amel thought carefully for a moment. “In a strictly familiar setting, yes. You and Duke would be expected to address upper class horses with respect, but you are welcome to talk to them, being elite soldiers. If you are in a war-fighting setting, you could order anyone to do something. Some might balk at you, and they don’t have to do what you say, but you are free to issue orders without punishment.”

“What happens if a recruit issues an order to a village leader?” Frost asked, already working out the consequences.

“He would be disregarded, and flogged for speaking disrespectfully to his superiors.” Amel responded like it was of no concern.

Frost nodded, neck becoming sore from so much of it. “And what would you say the classes are?” he asked.

“From the top, they would be the nobles, the smiths, the traders, the artisans, the soldiers, depending on rank, the slaves of the nobles, and the poor and physically deficient.”

Frost raised an eyebrow. “Physically deficient?”

Amel nodded, chewing on her salad. “Those born with physical deformities; strange legs, bones in wrong places, born without limbs, and those who seem to have damaged brains. These ones are generally left in the desert; if not, they become outcasts, and often live under the city in the sewer system.”

Frost remained silent for a time, making his way through his meal, trying not to think about that. He supposed that it must have made some sense; they didn’t exactly have modern medicine. But it was the social impact on the last group that hit him as being awful; that kind of thing just didn’t happen back home.

He tried to get his mind off of it. “So how do you like helping to train the guys?” he asked, twiddling his fork. “You seemed to do well in the escape exercise.” He took up his cup and drank some water.

Amel chuckled. “Yes, I rather enjoy it. It feels good to no longer be the helpless one; I haven’t had that since before I was sold when I was twelve.”

Frost choked on the water and looked like a sputtering moron after she finished. He managed to draw some looks from the other patrons, who looked at him with some level of awe, then went back to their own business. Holding his hand up to signal that he was alright, he waited until he could speak.

“You were sold at age twelve?” he asked in horror. She nodded in response. “How old are you now?”

Amel thought. “About twenty-three.”

He looked at her with a mix of anger, shock, sympathy, and horror. She was only about six years younger than him, and while he was going to school and doing well enough, she was being abused by horses she didn’t even know. At least he knew his foe, his father, but she had suffered in the dark for almost half her life. No friends, family, comfort, nothing. 

“Huh.” was all he said.

Amel pushed her plate forward, empty. “I was just a server for the family until I turned sixteen, when I became a mare. Then I took on the basic housewife responsibilities I told you about. Except for an obvious one.”

“Well, thank the heavens for that!” Frost thought sarcastically.

“Until a filly becomes a mare, she is able to interact with other children the Equestrian fashion; nothing is viewed as unacceptable actions or interactions. Once a mare, though, she must act like one, and take on her role as caretaker. Most are married rapidly after coming of age.”

Frost looked around the room at the other patrons. Now, he saw them all in a different light, a light that he personally did not want to be put under, and would never want to. “I think I’m done.” he said, pushing his own plate forward. “How much do you think this was?”

Amel turned her head and raised her foreleg, calling the waited over. They exchanged some words in their language, and Amel turned back to Frost. “Seventy-eight.” she said.

Frost pulled out the coins and counted them, more than ready to leave. Once the check was paid, and Amel’s dress returned, they left the restaurant and began to make their way back to the palace. When they reached the market area, though, upon quick inspection, it was decided that they could never get past the crowds.

“We can take another way.” Amel said, turning in another direction. Frost simply followed close behind.

She lead him away from the market and through a much emptier area of the city. As they walked through, Frost was appalled. The rancid smell of death and decay penetrated the very ground, drifting up and polluting the air. Raw sewage from the nearby homes was dumped onto the ground and ran in sickly brown rivers into the entrances to the sewer system, with rodents of varying enormity skittering in and out from. Dead animals littered the ground, rotting away in the filth. It was easily the most awful place Frost had ever seen.

“This is where the outcasts live.” Amel commented.

Frost had been about expecting this; he had seen it in movies, and she just said it; and when he looked around, he did see the occasional sign of life. A paper here, tattered clothes there. There were bones in the ground, some of which were partially buried. It was surprising that none of the denizens were out during the day; at the same time, though, it wasn’t.

Frost never saw a single horse as they went through the putrid area, something he was grateful for. The last thing he needed to see was what the denizens of this area probably looked like at this point in their no doubt much shortened lives. When they finally got out of the area, Frost greedily took in the fresher air and much better neighborhood.

“I can’t believe the nobles live next to that.” he said as they walked down a familiar street in the noble section.

Amel shrugged. “They know not to come into this area.”

Frost took the lead again as they reentered the palace gardens, and, taking one look back, felt real sadness for those poor beings. But he had a job to do, and helping them wasn’t a part of it.

> Heading Down Range
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Heading Down Range



The days went on, training and learning. Duke administered several written tests on the lectures he had given over the last couple of days, thankful that the stallions knew how to read and write. They all passed with varying degrees of satisfaction, but all passed. The obvious leaders were Rashid and Hamid, but that would only be relevant after Duke and Frost were gone, at which point, they didn’t care. The two humans would lead two stallions each for the time being.

Duke and Frost were getting anxious to get the intel on OGA and the Gryphon fighters. They wanted nothing more than to get out there, find their guy, and get out. Duke had a feeling that Sauri was holding back in order to get the most he could out of the humans, but he couldn’t say it to anyone other than Frost for risk of causing offense. It was a frustrating situation to be in.

Now, Duke and Frost were in their quarters with Amel, setting up an urban combat scenario that would use the less affluent section of the city. The objective would be to find Amel in the city, held by Duke and Frost, within a time limit to simulate her having an injury. The training was one of the things they had wanted to simulate for a while. Alas, it was not meant to be.

Several knocks sounded at the door, drawing all eyes away from a set of drawn out plans on the table. Duke and Frost exchanged a quick glance, and Frost nodded and headed over to the door. The knocking continued until he finally opened it.

“Can we help you?” he asked, unhappy at being interrupted.

Before him stood an ordinary guard, looking nervous and sweaty. “You are requested by King Sauri.” he replied shakily. “He said he wants your skills for a mission. ”

Frost looked at the guard, zero emotion visible on his face, then nodded. “Very well. Thank you.” The guard nodded quickly, then trotted off as Frost shut the door.

He walked back into the room, a smile growing on his face as Amel and Duke continued going over plans. After a moment, Duke asked, without turning, “What was that about?”

Frost chuckled. “That was about us putting our plans on hold. Sauri wants to see us, says it’s urgent.”

Duke took in Frosts information, remaining still for a second, then nodded. “Alright. I guess we can do this another time.” He turned to Amel. “I want you to see if you can finish this while we’re gone. If we have the time when we come back, we’ll put them through this.”

“Yes Duke!” Amel replied, giving him her best salute. It was hard for both humans not to laugh at the silliness of how she was standing. 

The men began to set themselves up and got out their gear, readying for a potential operation. They grabbed their plates, helmets, weapons, blowout kits, compasses, and anything else they might need. Canteens, flash grenades, and their webbings were picked out first. As they went through this, Amel watched with uncertainty, wondering if they would go out, and more importantly, if they would come back. As they finished up and started to head out the door, she ran over to Frost and wrapped her forelegs around his leg.

“Just make sure you come back.” she said, feeling dread in her bones.

Frost smiled and patted her twice on the head. “No worries, little lady. We’ll be back. Hopefully with another human.” Amel nuzzled his leg and stepped back, waving to her human friends, her only friends, as they walked out the door and shut it gently behind them.

Duke and Frost looked to each other once and nodded, and they walked at a brisk pace to the throne room. Seeing their sense of purpose as they made their way through the palace, guards and servants made it a point to stay out of their way and give them plenty of space. Seeing the humans in their battle gear set a few nerves on end, some guards slightly lowering their weapons in case something were to occur, but the men gave no indication of noticing or caring. They were too preoccupied to care.

They were saluted as they walked through the doors of the throne room, and as they quickly approached the end of the room, they noticed King Sauri sitting on his throne, talking to someone whose back was to them. The men slowed their pace to give them more time to speak, simply out of respect for whoever this other one was, and listened. It turned out that he was the last one they had any respect for at all.

“Nedal, ، وسوف لا يكون لديك تفعل أي شيء لهم!” Sauri shouted. The soldier before him didn’t even flinch. “هم أفضل الأصول لدينا، وسوف نعطيهم الاحترام الذي يستحقونه. أنا واضح؟”

Nedal didn’t move at all. When Sauri repeated what he asked, the stubborn stallion finally gave in and reluctantly nodded, snarling as he did so. Still, neither one of them had noticed the humans’ entrance, though that was alright. It gave them a chance to see  how Nedal was with his superior officer and ruler.

Sauri looked up from Nedal and his eyes landed on the two humans, a small smile appearing on his face. “Ah, speaking of.” Speaking of? What were they saying? “I am glad you could get here so swiftly. I’m sure your stallions will be along shortly?”

Duke nodded. “I’m sure they will be.”

Sauri’s smile faltered for a second, but it came back quickly. “Well, I’m sure you know them well by now. Come, we have much to discuss.” Sauri hopped off the throne and spun around, making his way back to through the hall and to the war room. Duke and Frost followed suit, then followed by Nedal, seething with anger behind them. It made them uneasy having him behind them in a closed space.

When they got to the war room, it looked drastically different than it had the day before. Before, it was just another empty room. Now, there were analysts sitting at the chairs, papers scattered on the large round table.  There were maps and random items strewn about, like screwdrivers and tiny screws, which made little sense to the men. The pictures hung up were mostly of gryphons, but there was just one of OGA. The face was dark, though, so they couldn’t tell what he looked like in it.

King Sauri pointed at two chairs on the right of the one that was clearly his. Seeing two chairs instead of sitting cushions, the men obliged and took their seats. As they sat down, the horses around them gave them looks of wonder and awe, this being the first time for most of them seeing the humans at all. it was certainly the first time any had seen them in their warfighting gear.

Nedal took the seat to Sauri’s left, something Frost learned from Amel that was incredibly insulting in some scenarios. He didn’t doubt that this was one such scenario.

“Alright.” Sauri began, taking on a tone the men had not heard before. He sounded like a commander. “From the information we have received from the papers Duke and Frost brought us, what do we know?”

One of the stallions not too far to the right of the men stood up. “We know that they have  number of camps where they base their attacks out of.” the stallion replied in English. Sauri must have told them to speak in English. “Most of them are resupply camps, and can be taken care of easily by Commander Nedal and his stallions.”

Nedal puffed out his chest and gave the humans a smug look. Duke remained stoic, more concerned about the briefing than about putting down Nedal. Frost just smiled innocently at him, drawing a small shudder from the stallion as he turned his head back. He remembered the last time he got a smile like that; his mouth still felt like it needed to be cleaned out.

Another stallion stood. “We know that there are two camps, though, where they keep prisoners. They are here,” the stallion pointed to two locations, one in a valley, the other by a river. “And here. They might kill the prisoners if Nedal’s teams go in.”

“So?” Nedal asked angrily. “Why does it matter?”

Duke and Frost wanted to go over and hang him out to dry, but the stallion spoke before they had a chance to. “Because the prisoners in one compound, at least, are very wealthy. We believe. In whichever one is the other one there are foreign prisoners, at least one from Equestria. From our source, though, we believe that the pony is very important.”

“Can’t have an international incident.” Duke commented, remembering the Algerian Hostage Crisis where a number of foreign hostages died. It hurt their relations with several countries. “It would spell a lot of trouble for you guys.”

“Exactly.” the stallion replied. From the side, the men could hear Nedal growl. he was ignored by all. “Those missions will be reserved for the humans and their team.”

He sat down and was replaced by another stallion, more toward Nedal’s side of the table. “Our spy in the organization, called Hawkani, said that there was rumored to be a human hostage at one of them. Which one, he did not know.” Duke and Frost scowled. “But he did say that both places would have more information to gather.”

Duke pulled a map from the table and checked it. The river compound would be easy enough; they could approach by the water. From the looks of it, there was a lot of vegetation between the water itself and the compound, so they could sneak in through that and move out from there. The valley would be a lot tougher, though. The only way in was a direct approach from either the sides, where there was an altitude advantage, or down below, where they might be able to sneak up to it by using rocks and plants for cover.

While Duke looked over the information that they had before them, Frost got into the discussion with the analysts. “What’s the sitrep- How many enemies are we talking about in either compound?” he asked.

Another stallion spoke, without standing this time. “At least two dozen, maybe more.”

“Damn.” Frost thought. “Alright.” He thought. He and Duke had gone against tough odds before. They hadn’t exactly been the PJ’s in Mogadishu, back in the nineties, but they went with some Navy SEALs into a village in Sierra Leone where there was intense fighting happened about two years prior to this. It wasn’t as bad as Mogadishu, though. “How about enemy gear? What do they have at their disposal; Are they armed, do they have armor?”

The analyst took a moment to understand. “They have no armor, but they have plenty of swords. We believe that they also have crossbows, though this is unconfirmed, so you must assume the worst. They have lights and some other simpler items at their disposal, but the main thing you should worry about is their weapons.”

“Good.” Frost said, turning his head toward Duke. “What are you thinking boss?”

Duke set down the papers he was holding. “I think we need to move soon and get to this river compound.” Frost cocked an eyebrow at him, and he continued. “It says here that there might be an injured hostage at the river compound, the severity unknown. We need to get out there and retrieve the prisoners ASAP.”

Sauri nodded. “Very well, your team shall go to the river first.”

“And mine will take care of the valley.” Nedal interrupted aggressively.

Sauri hissed, “You will do no such thing!” He turned around and snarled at his soldier. “You will attack the camps that I tell you to, and you will follow my orders. I am your king; you do as I say.”

Nedal hesitated in responding. “Yes, my king.” Duke and Frost could see, clear as day, how their presence was making tensions between these two much tighter as each day passed. Well, it’s not their problem anyway. Not yet, at least.

Sauri turned back to the men. “You will take care of the river compound, then prepare to attack the valley once you have returned.” With that conclusion, the king cleared his throat and sat back down. “Speaking your language is not so easy.”

Both men chuckled. “Most people back home can’t even speak it right.” Irony. “It’s an annoying language at times, with all its rules and grammar.”

Sauri smiled. “I am glad you agree! It is the reason that I had these made when you first agreed to work with us.” The men cocked eyebrows as Sauri turned around to yell at someone to bring something in. “They were just finished; they are translating... uhh...” Sauri tried to find the word as the items were brought in and placed on the table.

Duke picked one up. “Comms.”

Sauri flashed him a toothy smile. “Yes, that.” The men put two of the total of eight headsets on, maneuvering the mics to their mouths and getting the earpieces securely in their ears. They were very light and didn’t get in the way at all. “They were very expensive and the spells are very intricate, but they are also sturdy and weatherproof. They are very special, though, with a large number of delicate spells put into them; they are a very well kept secret. We do not have the time to make more, so you will only have two spares.”

The men put them on and blew into them to test if the noise came out on the other’s end. They worked nicely. “Very nice.” Duke said, taking his off.

“Yes, they are good? Just do not lose them; we would rather avoid having these fall into the hands of the enemy, so please, only use them with your soldiers, and do not lose them. I could end badly if the secrets within them were exposed to the enemy.”

The men were unsure of how terrible the secrets of translation spells could be in enemy hands, but they had no idea how magic worked, so they let it go. “Sound great. Thank you.” They bowed to the king and the analysts who were no doubt involved in making the items. This also explained the presence of screwdrivers. The men slipped their own on, adjusting the tightness of the restraints to fit them as well as possible.

Duke felt something and turned around in his chair. “I wonder when they got here?” he wondered aloud, drawing the eyes of Nedal, Sauri, and Frost backwards. Behind them stood the stallions of their team. “Well, this is a perfect time to issue their new comms.”

Frost hopped up, grabbing the new mics, and walked over to his new team, holding them all out in front of him like they were radioactive bomb cores. At first the stallions didn’t understand, but when Hamid spotted the one on Frost’s head, he took the hint and put one on. The others soon followed suit, but all took some time, not having hands and all. How the did it at all was a mystery to the men.

“Magic.” Duke concluded, hating the word more and more every time he came to that conclusion. Why this world couldn’t just make sense, he would never know.

When the stallions finally had their mics on, the men just listened for a minute.

“I’m glad they finally got us some mics.” Hamid commented.

“Yeah.” Aziz replied. “Equestria’s always been ahead of our gear, so it’s nice to get something that they all have.”

So this land of Equestria was vastly technologically superior, or at least a little bit better. Maybe that could come in handy in the future.

Malik and Rashid joined in the conversation, and now, Duke and Frost were listening to all four of their teammates whom they did not understand at all before. It was an odd thing, listening to guys that they know weren’t speaking their language, yet understanding perfectly. After a few minutes, Duke broke up their conversation.

“Alright, boys. Do you understand me?” he asked. All the stallions stopped and looked at the humans, surprised at hearing Duke’s voice in their own language. They all nodded, faces unmoving, but clear excitement in their eyes. “Good. We have a mission. We’ll brief you on the way there.”

Frost looked back to the table. “What time are we leaving?” he asked.

Sauri stood. “Get all the items you need, then head to the front gate. You must leave for the river by noon.”

Duke listened and made his own plans for him and his team. Not a lot of time to prepare, but still more than the needed. He would do a gear before they left to make sure everyone had what they needed.

“You all get that?” he asked rhetorically, unsure of whether or not they got it. “Pick up anything you’ll need and be at the front gate at 1000 hours. Wheels up at 1200. Dismissed.”

The stallions saluted and left, eager to go on their first mission ever with the humans. Duke watched them go, wondering if their first mission would be a success or a catastrophe. His bet was on the former, but as always, he planned for the latter.

“Lets get ready to go, Frost.” Duke ordered. All their gear already on them, and grabbing a map, the men said their goodbyes to those in the room and went out to the front gate to wait for the stallions, hoping that their reduced training time was enough to get their new teammates into shape for this kind of mission.

> Operation: Prowling Lion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Operation: Prowling Lion



The stallions met up with the men at the gate, all their gear ready to go and feeling eager to prove themselves. After doing all their pre-op checks, and securing the gear to a pair of carriages they would be riding for at least part of the journey, they set out.

The journey had only taken the day; roughly eight hours of riding under a canopy, hiding from the brutal sun. The pullers of the carriages didn’t seem bothered, though. While they rode, the men went over plans on the map they brought with the stallions. They had managed to stuff almost all the gear in one carriage, while the team rode in the other. The only gear that wasn’t stuffed away were what the men carried in case of an attack.

The map indicated that the river was rather large, but not impassable by swimming. The stallions wouldn’t be able to do that, though; their bodies weren’t exactly designed to swim. They could approach directly from any side, except the river side, but that would be suicide, as there was no cover within eighteen meters of the house on land. From the sketch of the building they had said, it looked like there was a set of balconies that would serve perfectly as lookouts for the temporary occupants.

Ultimately, they came up with a joint plan; the men would approach through the river, while the stallions would go by land. Once Duke and Frost were across and physically at the compound, they would go about silencing any watchdogs there so that the stallions could approach quietly. If things went loud, they would have to bug out. There were an estimated two dozen hostiles; there could easily be a lot more. Lastly, and most importantly, this exact carriage would go on another, easier route to meet them at an extraction point to pick up at least the rescued prisoners, somewhere on a road to the north of the compound.

They went over multiple plans of attack on their wheeled journey and planned for a wide array of potential layouts of the inside of the compound. They had no idea where the hostages would be located, so it was decided that, once inside, Frost would take Rashid and Malik and go up, while Duke took Hamid and Aziz and check around for a basement. If there was no basement, they would join up with Frost’s team heading up and search the floors together.

Now, they were slowly making their way across the many hills and small mountains that made up the hostile landscape. Everyone on the team kept their eyes to the sky, watching for any Gryphon patrols that might fly by. More than once, they all dropped and hugged the dirt because of some suspicious clouds. They were only about five klicks away from the target, a perfect place to be made; they could see part of the river from where they were. The team of six slowed their pace and traveled low to the ground as they closed in on the target.

As they reached the crest of a hill, Frost pulled his optics out of his webbing and took a look, reducing the zoom for steadier viewing. “Boss, I got eyes on the target building.”

“What’s it look like?” Duke replied as he and the stallions closed in on a single spot right behind Frost.

Frost took a moment to respond. “We got patrols, two Golfs per. One on the ground, one walking around on the roof. Armed with scimitars and crossbows, plus some lightly glowing orbs.”

“Must be those explosives we heard about.” Duke figured. That made things more complicated. But not by too much. “Alright. Everyone, on me.” Duke waved his hand towards himself to get the team close.

Frost put away his optics and crawled back, keeping his eyes in the direction of the compound in case anyone came out to say hello. As he slowly crawled back, Duke prepared his weapons, chambering a round in his MP7 and pistol and checking to make sure his knife would come right out if he pulled on it. Once Frost was back, he did the same with his 416 and P226.

The stallions watched with wonder as the humans prepped their weapons for combat. “Alright, we got the compound up ahead of us. Everyone remember the plan?” Stoic nods came in reply. “Good. And hand signals, and our friendly designation?” If someone said “Sky”, the reply was “Fall”.

Duke nodded, then turned to Frost, asking silently what they would do to get the stallions across. “It looks pretty shallow off in that area, boss.” Frost said, pointing in a direction to an area of the river that he sawe had lots of rocks in it. “They could hop across and wait for us in the brush; they won’t be seen unless they have an air patrol.”

Duke nodded again. “Good. You guys catch that?” They all nodded. “Good. Head out to the rocky area, we’ll cross by swimming. We’ll take care of the ground patrol, then you meet us at the end of the brush. DO NOT be seen; remember, use common sense.” Nothing like real world experience to train someone to do something right.

The stallions got up and slowly began to make their way to the crossing point in the river. Duke and Frost could tell that they would take a while doing it, so they slowly made their own way down the hill and simply covered the skies and brushline when they got there. They would wait until the stallions were across the river to actually head out.

Duke caught something in the corner of his eye. “Shit.” he thought. He keyed his magic mic. “Boys, you need to get low and as invisible as possible; you got a patrol heading your way.”

“Yes sir.” came two replies. Duke and Frost hurried over to a large bush and got under and behind it, eyes still on the gryphon who was flying about fifty meters above them. The gryphon stopped for a moment, seemingly looking around, then flew back to the compound, thankfully not in a rush.

“Phew.” Frost commented as he climbed out from under the bush.

“I’ll say.” Duke replied. He contacted the stallions, and asked, “You guys good?”

“We had to drop most of our bodies into the water, but we’re back above and moving to the brush. We shall see you at the rally point.”

“Good.” Duke began to move toward the water. “Time to get our feet wet, Frost.”

“Hooah.”

The men waded into the water and quickly found themselves swimming where their feet couldn’t touch the ground. The water wasn’t frigid, but it must have come from a mountain glacier at some point, because it was far from being warm. As the men swam through, they watched the skies and the brushline for any signs of either their enemies or their friends.

An enemy flew into the air, possibly the same as before. “Under!” Duke whispered loudly.

The men took in deep breaths and shoved their head under the cold water, which threatened to take said breath away. Keeping with the discipline the received during water training, they swam onward under the surface unable to see if the gryphon above them was floating and looking around. He might have been regularly going out to check the landscape, but Duke wasn’t willing to let that thought cross his mind. He always had to assume that they had been made, and be ready to face a worst case scenario. If he was wrong, then that was good.

As they swam forward, pushed sideways to the left by the fairly strong current, their lungs began to grow anxious for some more air. The men fought their instincts and kept on swimming, starting to slowly let out bubbles to ease the pain in their lungs. It was risky, but it could easily be passed off as a fish under the water. Though, seeing as these gryphons probably ate fish, it might have been a poorly thought out idea.

Soon enough, their lungs couldn’t handle much more, and they resurfaced. In order to remain quiet, they had to resurface earlier than they could have and make sure that rather than suck in breath and gasp for air, they could breath in slowly and avoid any unnecessary noise. As soon as their heads were out, their eyes scanned the sky for any signs of the gryphon. When they saw nothing, they continued forward.

Right as they started to move, though, they saw the hawkish being sitting on the edge of the water. Luckily, he was facing the compound, leaving Duke and Frost safe to continue moving forward. As they moved, they noticed a low orange glow emitting from something that the gryphon was holding, and it was shaped like a small orb. He was holding a magical grenade; stealth was critical.

They reached the river bank without making any noise and moved out of the water, weapons at the ready. Duke looked to Frost, who nodded back, putting his weapon back and slowly pulling the FE9 out of its holster. Once he was ready, the men went through with their takedown.

Duke ran up and closed his hand around the gryphon’s beak and covering its throat with his other hand, keeping any noise from escaping its maw. Almost simultaneously, Frost ran up behind it and, using the knife’s First Grip, shoved it up into the back of the gryphon’s neck, severing its brain stem swiftly and silently. The beast stopped moving instantly.

Frost pulled the knife out and cleaned the blade on the feathers of his fallen foe, then helped Duke to carry the body away to the river, along with the explosive, where they dumped it unceremoniously into the strong current to be carried away. Once done, and sure that the grenade wouldn't detonate, they turned back around and approached the wall of the compound, where they waited and listened for enemy combatants around the corner.

They stopped right at the corner, facing the brush, and remained completely still.

“Erh- ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!” Duke and Frost let their attention move to the brush as what sounded like a high-pitched bird call rang out from inside. When they looked over, they saw their stallions, waiting, well-hidden within the brush.

“What is it?” Duke asked with a shrug and tilt of his head.

The stallion, Rashid, made a circle motion with his forehoof and then put his forelegs out as if they were like wings, making an angry face as he did so. Gryphons were around the corner.

“Alright then.” Duke thought, thankful that his new teammates were already proving useful. He signed back, affirming his understanding, and Rashid made his bird call again, looking over at the gryphons around the corner.

The two gryphons started to walk toward the brush to investigate the noise. As they moved forward, Duke and Frost came out from the corner and ran up behind them, both with their knives in hand. Frost grabbed the one on the left, closing the beak with his left hand and slitting the throat with the knife in his right. Duke leapt at his from behind and plunged his knife into the neck of his target, bringing him to the ground and keeping the face down. Both men then removed their knives, wiping them on the bodies, and went about moving the bodies.

The stallions rushed out to aid the men, and they all brought the bodies to the brush, where they would likely never be found. Once it was taken care of, they all moved over to the wall and regrouped.

Duke checked the numbers to make sure everyone was there, and once he was good to go, he gave them a sitrep. “Alright. We took down three Golfs, but there could be more inside. A lot more. Right now, we need to find a way inside. Hamid, Aziz, you two are with me when we head inside.”

“Yes sir.” they both replied.

“Rashid, Malik, you go with Frost. Frost, your fireteam will head upstairs as soon as possible to start getting a good look around, see if you can find the HVI’s. Do not engage any hostiles unless necessary; this is a rescue, not a raid. I don’t want a bloodbath.”

“Rog’.” Frost replied.

“My team will check the first floor and see if there’s a basement. If anyone finds the HVI’s, key in and tell the rest of us. We can release’em, bag’em, and get the Hell out of here. Any questions?” No one spoke. “Good. Let’s find a way inside.”

Duke took the front of the line as they moved, hugging the wall to avoid being potentially seen by the gryphons up top. They moved slowly at first, but as they rounded the first corner and found themselves exposed to the road, they upped their pace and quickly got away from the open area. As they moved, Duke noticed several windows into the first floor, looking into each one. Inside, he could see gryphons sleeping and doing various simple tasks, but no signs of the prisoners. It made sense; what smart bad guy keeps his prisoners in a room with windows?

As they rounded the corner to the last wall, Duke nearly banged his head on an unexpected staircase, narrowly avoiding it. He took one look at it, and smiled to himself, glad that his plan was going to go better than expected. He waited for everyone to group up on the other side of the staircase, where there was also a door to the first floor.

“Alright, new idea.” he said. “Frost, take your team and head up these stairs to the second floor. Start your search there; we’ll start down here.”

“Got it.” Frost pointed at Rashid and Malik. “You two, up the stairs, on me. Quick and quiet.” He looked back to Duke. “Meet up back out here?”

Duke nodded, and Frost took his stallions and went up the stairs, knife out and weapon still behind his back, ready for anything. As he disappeared up the stairs, Duke turned to his own stallions. “Let’s go, those hostages aren’t going to rescue themselves.”

He moved over to the door and set his hand on the doorknob. From the looks of it, the door wasn’t designed to have a lock, so Duke just pushed on it to open. It slowly began to move, but let out a little squeak with each inch it moved. Frustrated with the noise, Duke continued to open it very slowly, minimizing the noise and slipping inside, MP7 in hand and pointed forward. Once inside, he took a crouched position next to the door as Hamid and Aziz entered. Now, they were in the belly of the beast.

Duke pointed his hand forward so signal Hamid to take point. Hamid nodded and began to move forward through a thin hallway, followed by Duke, weapon up, then Aziz. As they moved down the hallway, they listened for any sign of coming hostiles from the many doorways around them. Some doors were open, demanding a look in before being passed, while others were safe enough to simply walk past. Any closed room where there was no noise required that they open the door to check for the hostages.

They had passed and checked eight rooms already, no good results. The first three rooms were empty, just food storage and random junk. Two of them had sleeping gryphons in them, totalling out to around twelve combatants, who had all their battle gear right under their bunks. The others all had explosives in them.

Duke’s team stopped before a new door, one that looked very distinct compared to all the others. It was much bigger, made of metal, and looked extremely reinforced. Duke moved into a position to open the door, but upon trying to open it up, found that it did not move.

“Something important is in there.” he concluded. From inside, he could hear two voices, speaking casually, like they were very familiar. When he looked around at the hall and the way he came and noticed that there would be no windows in this room. “Definitely worth a check later.”

He moved away from the door, noting its location, and kept moving through the building, looking for a basement or a door to one. He and his stallions kept checking rooms, finding more and more enemies and enemy equipment, making him more and more uncomfortable. If anything at all went wrong, they might not get out. Everything had to go perfectly.

After several more minutes of checking, Hamid came upon a door with a sign on it. “It reads ‘Basement’.” he explained. The stallion put his ear to the door. “I think I hear someone down there.”

Duke nodded, then looked back to Aziz. “Aziz, get ready to come in behind me.” he ordered, getting a nod and moving to open the door. He checked for both stallions to be prepared, and once ready, he opened the door and quickly moved in. He found himself in a staircase. “Check corners.” he said as he made his way down.

The stallions followed close behind, nearly stepping on the feet or hooves of whoever was in front as they moved. At the base of the stairs, there was another door. Without a word, they all stacked up on the door and prepared to go in. Duke switched from his MP7 to his knife.

“Ready?” Duke asked. A second later, he ordered, “Go!”

He threw the door open and ran inside, followed by his stallions, and checked the room. In front of them was a big room rather than a series of halls. Inside the room, there were three gryphon guards, all of them wearing shocked expressions on their beaks and carrying small swords. Before they had a chance to react, Duke, Hamid, and Aziz engaged each one up close.

Duke brought his knife around and slashed the throat of his, severing arteries and taking away the gryphon’s ability to speak. Aziz and Hamid sprinted up to their targets and spun around, bucking the hostiles hard in their throats, collapsing their larynxes and breaking their necks. The gryphons fell in gasping messes to the floor to fall to asphyxiation.

Duke put his knife away and pulled out his MP7, turning to face the door. “You guys, check for anything or anyone that we should get out of here. I’ll watch the door.”

“Yes sir.” Hamid replied. Turning to Aziz, he ordered, “Check for intelligence or hostages.”

Aziz nodded and went about the room, looking for anything useful. He walked over to a table and started sifting through piles of documents, checking them for information on the one called OGA, enemy movements, or overall enemy numbers. The papers were all in his own language, so he was easily able to understand. He went through three piles, finding details about enemy supply movements, but little else. They were mostly just manifests.

While Aziz worked through more piles of paper, Hamid walked around the room, investigating anything that looked promising. He opened up lockers to reveal explosives and spears, plus armor plates. Their intel had been wrong; it may have been wrong about other things as well.

Hamid kept removing cloths from various objects, finding little of genuine interest or use. There were barrels of alcoholic drinks, food, and other basic needs. He found a few personal items, like pictures of families and friends. He disregarded those, looking for something that would actually affect how he would fight them, whether it meant they had an advantage or he did.

He kept going until he was in the middle of the wall, looking down at a cube covered with a cloth. He tried to remove it with a simple pull with his mouth, but found that the cloth was securely attached to whatever was under it. Bringing his hoof up, he tapped it twice, getting back a small rattling sound from underneath. Curious, he decided to pull out his secondary weapon, a small knife, and cut at the cloth. Under it, he found a cage. Inside, the cage, he found something of an entirely different nature.

“Duke,” he began, taking in the sight before him. “I think you might want to see this.”



> Operation: Prowling Lion Pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Operation: Prowling Lion



Frost led his team up the stairs and to the second floor, sticking to the sides of each step to avoid putting his weight on the middle and cause any to creak or moan. The stallions tried to do the same, but with their anatomy, they had to spread their legs wide and step on both edges of each step. It took little time for them to reach the door to the second floor.

At the top of the stairs, Frost could hear Duke open the door down below and take his team into the lion’s den. Duke had the luxury of space down there; at the top of the stairs, there was just a door, no balcony or anything. Setting his hand on the knob, Frost jiggled it around, testing it. When he found that it would open, he had Malik and Rashid to fall in behind him.

“Stack up.” he ordered in a whisper. “Breach in three... two... one...” Frost pushed the door open quickly but quietly, minimizing the noise made and time it was present. Rifle up and taking a crouch position, Frost scanned the hall for hostiles as his teammates entered the building.

Once they were inside, Frost stepped back, eyes forward, and shut the door to prevent any light from getting in there. No reason to announce that someone came inside, invite the residents to walk around looking for their comrades. It was safe to assume that they would think that it was time to switch shifts, so they had to minimize their signature in whatever ways they could.

Rashid took point as they went through, just like Duke and Frost discussed, with Frost in the middle and Malik in the back. Duke kept his rifle up, ready to fire if absolutely necessary, but kept his knife at the ready at his side. He would be able to easily rip it out for a quiet takedown if the occasion arose.

They immediately went about checking rooms, searching for hostages and intel. Unfortunately, this floor must have been mostly residential; they only found enemies in the first few rooms. They all had some gear with them, but most of it must have been stored elsewhere. Frost didn’t want to see the rest of it anyhow.

They continued to search rooms, mostly by just peeking inside, each time finding more enemies, making it very clear that being made would get them all killed. As they continued, their steps became more conscientious, keeping as light and nimble as they could. The trio kept their eyes constantly scanning the area, ears perked up to listen for movement. Luckily, none came from the second floor, only the sounds of peaceful breathing from the rooms to any side of them.

There was a center room to the floor, but when they looked inside, all they saw was something they wished they hadn’t; it was the group leader’s quarters. There was almost definitely valuable intel in there, but the leader was enormous, lying in bed with what looked like two female gryphons, one on either side. The smell from the room was enough to make them all silently gag, and shut the door quietly to keep the smell inside. If they entered that room, silence would be hard, and if they were made, as concluded before, they would all be killed.

After concluding that there was nothing for them to take from this floor, Frost went about looking for the entrance to the top floor, right below the roof patrol. Up there, they would have to be extra careful to avoid making too much noise. There was no way of knowing how thick the roof was.

Rashid led the team through the third floor quickly, the image of dozens of enemy fighters still fresh in his mind. On the third floor, there were fewer rooms, but still more gryphons than the team felt comfortable with. They pressed on, though, hunting for anything that might tell them where the hostages were. None of them signed up to be comfortable.

Rashid led them through the halls, trying to make his way to the center room of this floor. All the other rooms probably just had more enemies in them, and the center rooms would be the easiest to defend, so that would be the ideal place to keep prisoners. He walked on through the hallways, this floor almost like a maze, trying to find the center room. He passed several rooms multiple times, growing more and more frustrated at his inability to locate the center room. He hadn’t even looked into the other rooms that they didn’t search while they went.

Frost was growing confused. The previous floor had a center room. The first floor probably had one. Why would the top floor not have a center room? He supposed that the leader did sleep on the second floor, so there wasn’t as much of a need for one up here. But did that mean that they built this compound themselves? If so, how many more like it were there?

He tapped Rashid on his back to stop. “Hold.” he ordered. Rashid stopped, Malik turning around to keep his eyes directly on their rear while they waited. Frost looked around, trying to figure out the top floor. It was clear that there was no center room; where they stood was where the center room would be. They were in the very middle of the floor.

Before he could continue thinking, his mic went off. “Frost.” Duke’s voice came clearly.

“Yeah?” Frost replied in a whisper.

“We found two HVI’s.” Duke replied, the sound of a cage being smashed in the background. “Neither is injured, just shaken and tired. There might be another one, but not in either of our AO’s. Search whatever areas you haven’t, then regroup outside by the brush. But be quick.”

“Roger.” Frost tapped Rashid on the back again. “Time to search the other rooms; lead away.”

“Yes sir.” Rashid replied.

They got back to moving, heading in the direction of the rooms that they hadn’t looked in while searching for a center room. Rashid hadn’t kept track of the way while they were moving before, so they had to walk around the floor blindly until they found their way. They crept through the hall, alert like a gazelle grazing in a plain, watching for enemies.

A door shot open in front of them, lighting up the hallway with the blue hue of bright moonlight, temporarily blinding the team. Instantly, Frost got up against the wall, dragging Rashid with him and reaching back to grab Malik when he was safe. They pressed themselves against the wall, eyes forward during their recovery, ready to strike.

A gryphon came out of the doorway and moved to the right, getting on the other side of the light coming through the door. “Peregrine? You there?” she said in English, clearly female. Foreign fighters. When she got no response, she shrugged, turned around, and walked back towards the door. She rubbed her eyes and shifted her gaze forward, right in the direction of the team, then went back inside, grumbling to herself sleepily.

Frost released a pent up breath he didn’t know he had, relief flooding through his body. “Alright.” he said. “We search the rooms, then bug the hell out of here. Let’s move.”

They moved at a quickened pace, eager to find their rooms and get out of what could easily become a killzone. It didn’t take long to find the rooms this time, Frost mostly just glancing inside and seeing more gryphons in each room. Up here, though, there seemed to be more females sleeping on nicer beds. They must have separated the floors by gender. Made sense; too much noise can take away others’ sleep.

The contents of last room, though, gave the team pause. When they cracked the door open, inside, Frost saw a gryphon with a massive blade, drawing a sharpening stone across it like a he was caressing his lover. He even had a creepy face to go with the action, like he was married to his blade.

He was facing the door for a minute, but he must have finished with his sword, as he turned around and set it on a table, grabbing a cloth and polishing it. Frost took the opportunity to open the door further and get a better look into the room.

He found what they were looking for; in the middle of the room, there was a horse, or a pony, considering its size. It had a yellow coat and a long red mane, kept together by a big red bow on top of her head. Its eyes were covered by a nasty looking rag, like it came off the streets. At the base of its neck, it wore a neckerchief, green with red spots. But it took Frost only a moment to determine that the red spots weren’t meant to be there.

The gryphon started to turn around, and Frost hurriedly shut the door. Inside, he could hear it talking. “You think that you can just infiltrate our organization, steal our secrets?” a male voice asked commandingly. “We know that you are with the CIA.”

Frost had to shake his head, knowing that his CIA wasn’t going to be here. “Please, mister... I don’t know what y’all are talkin’ about.” The hostage replied. It was obviously female, but had an inexplicable southern US accent, like she was from Alabama or something. “Please, just let us go.”

The sound of metal scraping on the floor eerily made its way across the inside of the room. “Now now. We don’t want you to get hurt again.” Anger and alarm filled Frost from top to bottom. “We know what happens when you lie.”

The sound of a small scuffle came from the other side of the door. “Please, don’t... please!”

The gryphon began to laugh inside, grunting as he lifted something heavy off the ground. “Shit, stack up!” It only took a second.

“Please don’t!”

“GO!”

Rashid kicked the door in and Frost and Malik stormed into the room, weapons at the ready. The gryphon spun around, taken by surprise, a snarl appearing on his face. His sword was already high in the air, and he brought it down with the force of a freight truck on Malik. Malik narrowly dodged, the blade shaving off a patch of hair before slamming into the ground with a loud clang. As he rolled, up, Malik shot his legs out in a buck, knocking the gryphon back.

Rashid moved into position behind the gryphon and managed to put the gryphon into a full nelson, causing him to drop the sword and flail about, shouting, trying to get out. As he held him there, Frost came up with his knife and stabbed it into the gryphon’s chest, then moved aside, leaving it there. Malik came up and bucked the knife in further, knocking the wind out of the gryphon as the knife went in deep enough that only the end of the handle was visible.

Frost returned and yanked the knife out, generating a loud schluck noise as it was released.The gryphon fell, the sucking chest wound filling his lung with blood, trying to gasp for air, but only spurting out blood. As he writhed on the ground, Frost could hear noises come from the halls. Their little battle had made quite a bit of noise.

“Malik, shut the door and keep it closed!” Frost ordered, going over to the mare in the middle of the room. Malik ran over and bucked the door shut, then went about moving some furniture from the area against it, Rashid jumping in to help.

Malik and Rashid pressed themselves against their barricade to add more defense, making sure that the other residents couldn’t push the door open. Outside, they could hear several of them trying to talk to the dead gryphon inside.

“Is everything alright?”

“Are you good, need help?”

“Just come to bed already!”

They started to bang on the door, demanding that it open up. Malik and Rashid looked at each other, cynical looks on their faces. When they turned around to see Frost, they saw him untying the mare and looking her over for injuries.

Frost didn’t like what he was seeing; she was cut up on her back and belly, she had bruises and possibly damaged bones all over, and she might have had a head injury. There could be severe psychological trauma from torture, if that gryphon had been doing that to her before. Her condition wasn’t terribly permitting of easy travel, so he would likely have to carry her out of the building. But now, that wasn’t much of an option.

He removed the cloth around her eyes, causing her to blink and look around frantically before she finally looked at him. “Wha..?” she said, shock evident in her eyes. That could be very bad.

“We’re here to bring you home.” Frost said. Instantly, her eyes started to tear up and she leapt forward and wrapped her forelegs around Frost. He always loved saying that to people.

The banging on the door was getting worse. “Boss, we gotta go!” Rashid yelled. After his shout, the gryphons outside must have figured out what was happening, and they started all out attacking the door. It opened just a little, letting everyone see each other. “Now!”

Frost nodded, looked around for an exit, and concluded that the only way out was a window off to the side. When he ran over and opened it, he was thankful to see that there was a balcony outside. “This way!” he shouted, climbing out the window. The gryphons on the other side of the door were fully aware of the situation now, and frantically assaulted the door to get inside. Once out, he turned back to it. “Come on, mare, I’ll get you.” The mare looked around, then left through the window, eager to escape her captors.

Malik and Rashid followed soon after, abandoning their barricade for the safety of exposure outside. Once everyone was out, Frost took a look around the ground, looking for the brush. Evidently, it was the wrong side, so they had to move in order to find it. When they did, they stopped and looked for Duke and his fireteam.

Duke stepped out of the brush and looked up. “What are you doing up there? We gotta go!”

Frost scanned the area, looking for that roof patrol. They were nowhere to be seen. “We got held up; we’re gonna have to jump down.”

Duke sighed and turned around, calling to Hamid and Aziz. When they were out, he looked back up. “Alright, we’ll try to catch you. But don’t expect any miracles.”

Frost nodded, a cynical smile on his face, and turned to his charge. “Alright, mare. You jump off here, they’ll catch you. We’ll be right behind you.”

She swallowed hard. “Sure thing.” She was looking at him funny, which Frost would have to figure out later, then jumped off the balcony. Duke managed to catch her with some effort, then sent her into the brush. Frost and his team all jumped off on their own, rolling as they hit the ground to varying degrees of success. Overall, none of them enjoyed the experience.

They recovered quickly, then moved behind the brushline and out of sight. Duke led them through dense foliage, far away from the compound, eventually coming on the three rescued hostages; two ponies, one horse. The other pony was a white unicorn with a blue mane, and he looked like one of the tougher ones you might encounter here and there.

Once they had regrouped, they sat in a close circle, trying to figure out what to do. “Alright.” Duke started. “We’ve been made, but we should be safe for now. If we keep moving up the treeline, we can make it to the exfil point and get out of here without incident. Questions?” That was directed more towards the hostages, none of whom spoke. “Good. Let’s move.”

Duke took the lead, and Frost took the back, with their stallions scattered around a bit and the rescued prisoners in the middle. There was little actual worry about being seen and attacked while in the brush, but one can never be too careful when in enemy territory. All eyes were constantly scanning the area for enemies entering the brush, either from the sides or from above. The only audible noise from anyone was from the hostages.

They continued through the brush for almost an hour, never stopping once for anything. If anyone had to use the bathroom, they did so while moving, much to the chagrin of anyone behind. If the ground became unstable and muddy, they walked on roots, however uncomfortable. No one slowed down, and no one wanted to.

Frost was watching the mare he had rescued like a hawk, noting any changes in her walking pattern. She stumbled here and there, drawing Frost a little closer to her, but she stayed on her feet well enough. They had been traveling at a pace that forced her to make an effort to keep up, but she did just fine.

Until she just couldn’t stand any more. Without any advance warning, she listed off to her left and began to fall to the marshy ground. “Catch her!” Frost shouted to Hamid, who was the only one close enough. The stallion dove under her to catch her, just making it underneath her and keeping her open wounds out of the marsh.

Ahead of them, Duke halted the group and spun around to see Frost rushing forward to see the mare on Hamid’s back. Cursing to himself, he moved back as well to check on her. 

“What happened?” he asked as he ran back.

Frost picked up the mare off Hamid’s back and set her against a tree, examining her. “She had been tortured by a gryphon in the compound. Her injuries didn’t look terrible, but they must have been old and never allowed to close; she’s low on blood.”

Snarling, Duke took a look at her. She definitely had been tortured, and her complexion was getting bad. Her face was paler than normal, her eyes were dilated, and her legs shook. She was obviously extremely fatigued by her experiences. If they didn’t get her out soon and treat her in a cleaner environment, she could easily die.

“Get her on your back, Frost, and get in the middle.” Frost nodded and set to work, Duke turning his attention to everyone else. “Alright guys, time to haul ass outta here, double time!” He ran back to the front, evading trees and plants, and started to immediately make his way forward.

They got to moving again, faster and with greater purpose, while at the same time trying to keep the mare alive. Hamid had had taken a cloth from inside the building, and was wrapping it around the mare’s back while they moved. He had to reduce the bleeding, or she could bleed out on Frost’s back. As Duke had taught them, non-combatant casualties are unacceptable.

It did not take too long for them to get to the end of the brush and find themselves not too far from a road. Checking his map, Duke made sure that this was the road where they would meet the carriage for extraction. When he confirm it, he gave the order to get to the road and wait for their only hope to save the mare.

They reached the road, panting by the time they got there, running at top speed, and stopped to check everyone. As soon as Duke determined that they were all present, he turned to Frost.

“Set her down.” he ordered.

Frost got as low as he could and set the mare down gently, keeping her more wounded back facing up for the aid of gravity. Once she was lying on the ground, Duke ran over, pulling out his blowout kit, and set to work treating the mare’s wounds.

Frost pulled up his rifle and scanned the skies while Duke did his work, crouched low and steady. He listened as he tore the tape and pulled out the gauze pads, setting them in place on the mare and wrapping her up like a mummy on halloween. She made little noises of protest to Duke’s invasive procedures, but her protests went unheeded as Duke saved her life. Using a small flashlight, Duke then proceeded to perform a neurological exam to check for a head injury. It was pointless, really; she couldn’t focus anyhow.

As Duke finished up, Frost looked around, looking for the carriage. “Where the hell is our extraction?” he wondered aloud and angrily.

Rashid stepped forward. “It will be here. Do not worry.” Duke glanced at him, unsure of whether or not to feel relieved, and opted to instead just keep his eyes open.

And his open eyes spotted something that pissed him off more than anything else. “Contact!” he shouted, pointing his rifle at the sky.

Everyone turned and looked in the same direction, seeing two gryphons flying in their direction. They must not have been sure about what they saw; they flew well within Frost’s range before screeching as loudly as possible and going for a dive.

The stallions reacted by surrounding the HVI’s, forming a defensive circle around them and facing outwards. Duke and Frost stood between the mare and the gryphons and opened automatic fire on the birds, spraying a wall of bullets at their oncoming attackers. The gryphons weren’t able to get out of the way of the supersonic bits of lead flying their way and dropped to the ground like sacks of grain, bloody and riddled with holes.

Off in the distance, the sound of more screeches could be heard resonating through the valley. “Boss,” Frost said trepidatiously. “I think we might have company soon.”

Duke growled. “I know.” He thought about what to do. There was no way they could outrun the enemy; they could fly. Without a good set of wheels and fast runners, it was a hopeless endeavor. They would be forced to stand and fight if it came to that, and with the sheer numbers that they saw before, that didn’t seem like a very fun prospect.

Duke and Frost kept their eyes on the horizon, waiting for the enemy to show up. Sure enough, a few minutes later, they could see dozens of little dots appearing in the sky, rapidly approaching their position. The men got into steady firing positions, reloading and readying their weapons for round two, prepared to fight to the death.

“Boss!” Aziz yelled suddenly from behind. Duke didn’t turn around. “Friendlies coming down the road!”

That drew the attention of the men, tearing their gazes from the sky to the road. Frost let out a little cheer and Duke’s heart skipped a beat; the carriage was right there, speeding toward them. The men got up and ran over to the group, jumping and waving at the coming ride out.

The carriage double-timed it and reached the team in a haste. “قفز على!” one of the four stallions yelled.

“لم يكن لديك ليقول لنا مرتين!” Rashid shouted excitedly as they all jumped in, dragging their charges in with them. As soon as everyone was in, the carriage sped off back in the direction it came from, carrying with it the most elated group of beings in the country that night.



> Offload
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Offload





That night, the men and their team were rushed back to the city at a breakneck pace, shooting down the path, nearly capsizing when they hit several potholes in the dirt road. The men provided emergency medical aid to the wounded and tortured mare, stemming her bleeding as much as possible and keeping her awake throughout the ride. If they let her sleep, they might lose her.

They let the stallions take care of the other two rescued hostages, mostly just watching over them. They never talked to each other, never seemed to intent on talking to them. It wasn’t hard to tell that there was at least a little harbored tension there.

Getting back to the city took much less time than getting to their AO just hours ago. As soon as they arrived, the gates opened up for them, and their carriage raced into the city, disregarding the safety of any civilians it passed as it went, making Duke and Frost uncomfortable. As they went through the narrow passages of the city, they started to get cheers from the citizens, if the looks on the stallions’ faces were any evidence.

When they arrived at the palace, Duke and Frost picked up the mare and jumped out of the  carriage. “We need medical, now!” Duke shouted. Several guard started barking out orders, and soon enough, several horses dressed in what appeared to be doctor’s outfits came by to relieve the men of their charge.

Without waiting to be called, the men took their team and the remaining rescued prisoners and entered the palace, heading straight for the war room. Once there, the plan was to debrief the stallions, debrief the team, then send the two stallions home. On the journey through the hall, the white stallion kept trying to talk to the team, trying to tell them what he knew, but they refused to have any of it until they were in a secure room with no potential eavesdroppers.

The guards of the palace stepped aside to let the team through, and when they saw the civilians with them, most of their eyes expanded further than should have been possible. Whispers drifted into the air and into the ears of the team members as they walked through the halls, trying to ignore the sounds. The men didn’t know what was being said, but whatever it was, it must have been something important.

When they reached the doors to the throne room, they didn’t wait for the door to start opening. The men took the lead and pushed the door open themselves, striding in with purpose visible from a mile away. King Sauri, as expected, was sitting on his throne, discussing some matter of state with some noble on the ground before him. When he saw the team approaching with two extras, his attention to the noble died in an instant.

“ترك لي. الآن.” he ordered the noble. The noble looked surprised and angry, but when he turned to leave and saw the team, his eyes widened, and he rushed away.

The king’s attention was fully on the men and the team now. “Let us move to a better room.” Sauri ordered, getting off his throne and starting to the hall behind. The men and the team followed shortly behind.

The walk to the room was quick and quiet; the white stallion didn’t seem to be as interested in talking any more. When the men looked back at him, he seemed to be keeping his lips held tight and looked more than a little bit nervous. They could clearly see his eyes darting back and forth, sweat forming on his brow, and his quickly increasing breathing rate. He obviously didn’t want to be here.

When they finally reached the war room, which was filled with what looked like officers, King Sauri took his very nice cushion and plopped himself down, facing the team.

“Okay.” he began. “Let us learn what has happened.”

Duke took center stage. “The carriage dropped us off at the predesignated zone, just as planned. We advanced through the terrain, never encountering any hostiles. When we got in view of the compound, it was on the other side of the river.”

“There was a patrol flying around that area.” Frost added.

Duke nodded. “There was. When we crossed the river, Frost and I were able to swim, while the stallions took a rocky path a little downriver. When Frost and I reached the other side, there was a gryphon standing guard. Luckily, he was facing inland, so he didn’t see us.”

Out of nowhere, Rashid began to speak. With the mics still in, the men were able to understand what he was saying. “We reached the other side without issue, but did not encounter any enemies. We do not believe that they are very good at traveling through dense foliage.”

Sauri nodded. “Good to know.” he replied, trying to make sure the humans could understand.

Duke waited to see if the stallions had more to say. When they didn’t, he continued with his own after-action report. “The gryphon was holding what we believe to be one of those magical explosives that we were told about. Frost and I were able to quietly dispatch him, then dump his body and grenade into the river.” Sauri didn’t quite get the word grenade, so Duke quickly explained it.

“I see.” the king said. “What were you able to get from the compound? I can tell that it went fairly well.”

Duke looked to Frost and patted his chest, deciding that he would go first. “Well, we searched the rooms as we went. The first thing that we noticed was that there were a LOT more gryphons in there than we had thought.”

“How many more?” Sauri asked.

“There were at least fifty or sixty, possibly more.”

The king lowered his head, looking at the ground solemnly. “I see.”

Duke nodded back, agreeing with the king’s sentiments. “Yeah. Not great.” he concluded. “As we went through, we were able to determine that they are much, much more well-armed than your information indicated. These guys are extremely dangerous.”

Frost chuckled at the comment, drawing more than a few confused gazes. “You guys would be screwed if you had never learned this.”

Only the king understood, and could do nothing but frustratedly agree. “Yes. Thank you for telling us.”

“Don’t mention it.” Frost replied. “But actually, don’t. We don’t like the spotlight, not while we’re on mission.” The king cocked his brow at the human, confused, but let it go and let Duke continue.

Duke went on. “Well, we found a room in the middle of the first floor, but we were never able to access it. If you send Nedal and his assault team, you might still be able to get something from it.”

The king’s ears perked up at hearing that one bit of good news. What might resemble a smile being on his face, he spun around and looked at one of his officers. “اكتشاف Nedal, إرساله إلى النهر لجلب أي شيء انه يمكن الحصول على حوافر له.” he ordered. The officer stood, saluted, and ran off, probably to go send Nedal out. “Excellent; thank you, Duke.”

“No worries.” Duke replied. After yet another interruption, he continued. “Well, after that, we decided to look for a basement. We snuck through the compound, checking the rooms and becoming more and more concerned with each one, and eventually found the door down there.” Duke pointed at Hamid and Aziz. “When we breached the door, we ran in and dispatched three enemy guards. After we took care of that, Hamid and Aziz searched the room while i kept watch.”

When Duke did not continue, Hamid figured that it was his time to talk. “Duke watched the door. While Aziz was searching through papers, I was looking around the room for anything that might prove useful to take or know. That was when I stumbled upon these two,” He pointed at the two stallions they had rescued. “Inside some cages.”

Duke took the reins again. “Yeah, and then I contacted Frost to tell him that we found something and we were leaving the building. From there, we just snuck out with the hostages and waited.”

King Sauri smiled a wide, toothy smile, clearly happy with the outcome of the situation. “Very excellent!” he said. “I am glad that you were able to rescue our noble and a foreigner without incident.”

Frost opened his mouth to talk, but no words came at first. “Well,” he began, flipping Sauri’s smile. “Not exactly.”

“What do you mean?” the king asked hurriedly, like a delayed answer would cause a war.

Frost stepped forward and took the center, Duke stepping aside as he came up. “I took Rashid and Malik up to the second and third floors. We determined that the second floor was where the leader of the group was sleeping-”

“Why did you not dispatch him?!” Sauri asked, suddenly flaring with anger.

Frost gave him a second to vent. When he deemed that he king was good, he went on. “If we had, the other gryphons in the room, a bunch of what we think were females, would have woken up and notified the others that we were there. If that had happened, both the hostages and us would all have been killed.” The king looked doubtful. “No one is invincible.”

“The purpose of this mission was to rescue hostages, King Sauri.” Duke added. “We don't do raids, generally. Our specialty is combat search-and-rescue. That’s what we do, and that’s not going to change.”

The king didn’t answer, just waited for Frost to continue. After getting a nod from Duke, he did so, glossing over unnecessary details. “We went through, not finding anything else on the second floor. When we got to the third floor, we were nearly made, but managed to keep hidden. Shortly after that, we found a suspicious room.”

“What made it suspicious?” Sauri asked.

Frost scowled at the king for interrupting him, but it went unnoticed. “We heard voices, speaking our language. One was gruff, and very male. The other was female, and had a very familiar accent to us, like its owner was from the southern region of our country. Upon opening the door and looking inside, we determined that the female was a pony, like the white guy,” He pointed at the white stallion. “And probably a prisoner. When we looked more inside, we saw that she was tortured and badly injured.”

The king’s pupils shrunk at hearing this. “What did you do?!”

Frost put up his hands to try to calm the king down. “We burst in and confronted the gryphon, who had a very large blade. It was loud and rough, but we took him down. It made a lot of noise, so we barricaded the door and I had my boys keep the door closed.” The stallions puffed out their chests at their mention. “I freed the mare, and we bugged out with the enemy trying to get in and nab us. We jumped out the window, jumped down to the ground, and went through the brush from there.”

Sauri heaved out a sigh of relief. “Oh, I was expecting much worse.” he said, getting a grin from Frost. “It is good to hear that it all went fairly well.”

“That’s how we do it.” Frost replied.

The king looked over the team one last time, judging their physical states, like he wanted to see if they would be good to continue. “I think that you should take a short break.” he said. Evidently, he didn’t think they were good to go. “Soon, you will go to the valley. An old friend of mine is being held there, and I want him back.”

“Got it.” Duke replied.

“Oh!” Sauri gasped, eliciting the men to cock their brows. “I forgot; did you find OGA?” The men sighed and shook their heads, getting a sympathetic nod from the king. “I see. Well, he may be in the valley. When you go there, you will be able to search for him some more.” The men affirmed their stance on the position, glad to get a day or two to prepare, and Sauri stepped past them.

The king walked right up to the noble and pony, looking them over. He didn’t take long with the horse, waving him away after not a moment of looking him over. When the noble left, he looked over the pony, scrutinizing every detail he could. When he finally spoke, the men’s and their team’s mouths dropped to the floor.

“What brings you here, Prince Shining Armor?”

The men stared at the apparently extremely valuable pony they had rescued. Shining Armor flashed his eyes around the room, looking incredibly uncomfortable. When his eyes landed on the men, they remained there for just a split-second, just long enough for the men to figure out that he wasn’t too keen on answering, then shot back to the king.

“I was here on a relief mission,” he explained. “I came here with that other mare to aid in building homes, getting fresh food and water to villages, and providing education to the uneducated.”

The king deadpanned, “How noble.” He stepped forward, taking an aggressive stance toward the prince. “But we would have liked to have known about your ‘aid mission’. If you wish to come here again, it will not be to help those we do not care about.”

Shining Armor snarled. “Fine.” The king nodded, then turned around. From the look of relief on the prince’s face, the men could tell that he had just dodged a bullet. “You two.” Sauri said, pointing at the men. “He will remain in your quarters for the time being. Tomorrow, he will be sent back to the Crystal Empire.”

Duke and Frost exchanged a glance, then nodded. “Alright.” Duke replied. “I guess we should take him there now?”

“That would be best.”

Duke nodded, then turned to the prince. “You. Come with us.” The prince didn’t look terribly happy, but didn’t argue. “As for you guys,” Duke began to the stallions of his team. “You can take a break, go relax. Tomorrow, if we aren’t heading out, we’ll do more training.” The stallions all voiced their happiness and ran off to go do whatever it is they do in Saddle Arabia for fun.

The men led Shining Armor out of the war room and through the throne room, silent tension keeping them at arm’s length. The men had no reason to trust this stallion, especially with how he just lied about why he was here. It was astonishing that Sauri hadn’t picked it up. When people fear you, they tend to be less inclined to lie to you.

Shining Armor didn’t seem too trusting of the men, either, for whatever reason. He kept looking at them suspiciously, like they had done something to wrong him. Maybe that other human they had heard about from a long time ago did something...

No matter, they were back at the room in no time. Frost walked up and knocked three times, hard, on the door. “You in there, Amel?” he asked.

He took a step back, but not fast enough. The door exploded open, slamming into the entirety of Frost’s front, knocking him straight to the ground.

“Hey!” Amel said gleefully, eyes shut, not noticing that Frost was on the ground. When she opened them and saw Frost laying still on the ground, eyes closed, she released a loud gasp and leaped over to him. “Sorry!” she said. Frost didn’t respond.

“Cool, Frost, since she doesn’t care about you or anything.” Duke thought, shaking his head at Frost’s little joke.

“Frost?” Amel asked, worry becoming evident in his voice. “Are you okay?”

Duke stepped up and tapped Amel on the shoulder. “I got this.” he said. Amel stepped back. “You know, Frost,” Duke began. “I’m not too sure that Amel knows CPR. I know I’m not touching your lips with mine, so I guess that this is the perfect time to teach her the procedure.”

Frost’s eyes narrowly opened, scorning his officer. “You suck.” he whispered. Honestly, who wants to have a horse’s, or in her case, a pony’s, mouth on theirs?  Immediately, he sat up. “I’m good.”

Amel was confused for a moment, but when she saw the looks the men were giving each other, she huffed and turned around. “Good, then.” She walked into the room, chin up, and went over to her little section.

Behind the men, Shining Armor chuckled, drawing them to look in his direction. “I know how that feels; my wife likes to give me the cold shoulder sometimes when I play jokes on her.”

Duke couldn’t hold in all his laughter as Frost tried to figure out why it was relevant, getting a confused look from his partner. “Go on, fix what you’ve done.” Still confused, Frost got up and walked into the room to go talk to Amel.

Shining Armor went in after, not waiting for an invitation, followed by Duke, who shut the door behind them and then just leaned on it, taking in everything. Frost was trying to reason with Amel, and laughably failing. He still had no clue about the joke, or anything; it was a good thing that Duke was the officer. Shining Armor was looking at the gear pile without touching anything, Frost’s weapons and armor all just piled up on the bottom where he must have thrown them on his way in. He seemed especially intrigued by the 416.

Duke walked up behind him and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Quite the tech, eh?”

“Quite,” the prince replied, seemingly awestruck.

Duke nodded silently, not continuing. After several minutes, he deemed that Shining Armor had had enough time to gawk at the items.

“I know you were lying in there,” he said outright. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”

“And you aren’t supposed to be here either,” Shining Armor replied, though he seemed rather cryptic about it.

Duke huffed. “No, we’re not. Neither is our target, OGA. We want to find him and get out of here, and if you have any information, we need to know it.” No response. “We aren’t sticking with these guys, we have no obligation to them. If you tell us something we can use, we won’t necessarily share it.”

Shining Armor looked up at the human, sizing up his honesty, unsure of who to proceed. “Well,” he sighed. “I wasn’t here on an aid mission.”

“No shit!” Frost shouted from behind a wall. Duke and the prince turned to look that way, only to see a hoof smack Frost upside the head through the wall.

The price continued. “I was here to infiltrate the group Hawkani, the most dangerous group to my nation’s and my allies national security. I came here with the mare, Applebloom, disguised as an aid worker. She and her friends were all here for an actual aid mission, but I figured I could use it to get close to the gryphons by getting into the villages they tend to attack. I thought I could maybe follow them and find their hideouts.”

Duke’s expression was stoic and cold. “I guess you failed?”

“Yeah.” Shining grimaced. “I was made, as you seemed to put it. When they caught me, they assumed that the aid workers were with me, and attacked them. The leader, Applebloom, and a noble from the village, were taken. About six days of captivity later, you came along.”

“Tell me you learned something useful while they had you.”

Shining Armor turned around and walked over to Duke’s bed, then hopped up and sat down on it. “You mind?” Duke shook his head. “I heard a few things about a human, like you. Said he was CIA, but I knew that couldn’t be ours. He must have been taken from your world.”

Duke was about to speak, but his mind started to swirl with questions. After a moment, he managed to compose his thoughts into words. “All right. Question one: What do you know about the human’s whereabouts?”

Shining thought back. “All I know is that he’s being closely watched in heavily guarded locations.”

“That actually narrows it down a little.” The valley compound would be a good start. “Question two: What do you mean, taken?”

Shining looked uncomfortable. “All I know on that one is that Celestia and Luna are getting desperate. They reached out to the best warrior world they knew.”

Duke scowled; that didn’t help. “Fine. Three: What is all this about another human before?”

“That history isn’t mine to tell.” the prince began. “You’ll have to ask the princesses, particularly Luna, about that to get the actual story. I can’t help you there. Sorry.” Painfully useless answer.

Duke sighed frustratedly; he was getting much less than he had expected out of this guy. “Damn.” he cursed. “Is there anything else you know that can help us?”

Shining Armor shook his head slowly and genuinely. “I’m sorry I can’t help you any more.” he said sadly. “I wish I could; I know you’ll be good for us while you do your own thing.”

Duke wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Uh, cool, then. I guess we’re done.” Shining nodded. “Since you’re staying here, you’ll sleep...” He looked around, trying to find a place for their high-value guest. “There.” He pointed at Frost’s bed.

“Isn’t that where your friend sleeps?” Shining asked, jumping off the bed.

“Not for tonight.” Duke replied. “Frost!”

“Yeah?” Frost replied, sticking his head out of the walled off area.

“You’ll be sleeping in there with Amel tonight.”

Amel stuck her own head out, said head turning extremely red at what she thought Duke was implying. “Boss, you’re a dick.” Frost replied unhappily. He turned to Amel. “Guess I’ll take the floor, then.”

Amel swallowed hard. “Yes, that works.” she said hastily. Frost nodded to her, then walked out and to his stuff to take his parachute backpack to use as a pillow later. As he returned to the area behind the wall, Amel looked to Duke. “I don’t get it.” she said with her eyes.

Duke smiled. “Neither does he.” he indicated with a movement of his shoulders and head. Amel narrowed her eyes at the human and turned back around, heading into her frosty little alcove.

“Cold shoulder.” Shining commented, taking his place on Frost’s bed. “Some say Hell is hot. I say it’s a frozen wasteland.”

Duke chuckled. “Hell has no fury like a woman’s scorn.”

They both chuckled, and the stallion went to sleep, eager to let it take him after his harrowing experience, and Duke just went over to his gear and started doing his maintenance, glad to be able to let himself be equally as lost in his simple task.

> Applied Learning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Applied Learning




Everyone decided to hit the hay early that day; it wasn’t exactly the most relaxing thing to do, rescuing hostages from a building of unknown enemy numbers and trying to get out as quickly as possible with as few confrontations as possible. The men were dead tired, and had little desire to do anything at the moment.

That night, everyone slept soundly and without much disturbance. The only thing that kept it from being a perfect night’s sleep was the snoring coming from Prince Shining Armor over in Frost’s bed. It had taken Duke an extra half-hour to fall asleep, but he still managed it. A good night’s rest was the best recovery they could get after such an eventful operation.

As the men awoke, before the prince and even before Amel, they got up and started doing some morning stretches, get the muscles a little less tense. It was too bad they didn’t have a bathroom; a hot bath would have been nice.

Duke finished off his stretches first, more concerned about getting the stallions ready for more training. It wasn’t just for them; if the men kept themselves on their toes, they would be ready any time to go anywhere.

“Ahg.” Duke groaned. He rolled his head to either side, resulting in several muffled pops and a very pleasant feeling in his neck. “Frost, you remember those plans we had? For urban training?”

Frost stopped his own stretches for a moment and leaned against the wall next to the door. “Yeah. I think Amel dropped them onto the pile, over there.” Frost pointed generically at the pile of gear.

Duke frowned. “Thanks.” he said with mild sarcasm. He dredged over to the pile of their stuff and started looking it over. After a minute, he finally found the plans, and he grabbed them in his left hand and walked back over to his bed.

As he looked them over, he realized just how far they hadn’t actually gotten. They had a general plan for what they would do, but they had nowhere to do it yet. He wasn’t worried about getting permission; if it all went right, no one would actually know that there was a hostage simulation in progress. All he needed to know was where there was a good place to do it.

“Frost.” Duke began. Frost was still leaning on the wall, watching.

“Yeah?”

“I’m gonna head out into the city to find good areas for our training simulation.” Duke explained. “I’ll take the stallions with me, make them run laps and do stuff, I guess.” He yawned loudly, causing the stallion in Frost’s bed to stir. “While I’m out, you should try to get more information out of our friend here.” He pointed at Shining Armor. “I think he might still know more than he’s letting on.”

“Rog’.”

Duke stood up and moved away from his bed. “While you’re at it, try to see if you can get to talk to that other one, the mare. She might be able to help; could’ve overheard something.”

Frost nodded, pushing himself from the wall. “Anything else I should get done today?”

Duke’s eyes wandered to the ceiling, intricate and glittery with all the gemstones in it. “I’ll contact you over comms if I think of anything. But this might take up your day anyway.”

Frost looked over at the sleeping prince. “I’ll get on it as soon as he’s good. It’s a safe bet that waiting would be better for his friend.”

“Well enough, I suppose.” Duke replied, walking towards the door. As he opened it and took a step out, he had one more thing to say. “Oh, and Frost?” His partner raised his brow. “Nedal will be back today. Avoid him if you can. If you can’t, try to keep him away from the ‘guests’ and Amel. No need for an incident.”

“Got it.” Frost replied. Duke gave him a quick salute and stepped out.

Frost took a look outside; the sun was just coming up, so it was probably around six in the morning, possibly a bit later. He knew that Shining Armor was still asleep; he snored all night. Since it was a good bet that the mare Applebloom was also still sleeping, or at least resting, that left Frost with nothing to do for the time being. Thinking of nothing better to do, he walked over to the gear pile to rummage through it and check for anything that needs attention.

He could hear Amel stirring in her sleep through the blinds that served as walls, and wondered if bringing her along for the mare would be a good idea. Since the mare was a civilian, she might feel more inclined to talk to another civilian. Amel would be less intimidating than a human special operator wearing an ABU.

He leaned down and started going through the pile of gear, checking everything to make sure it was in tip-shape. The parachute cords were good, nothing was torn or worn out, no rust anywhere, all electronics worked, even if mostly useless here. It was all good.

Except one thing. “Where are they?” Frost wondered aloud, going back through the pile. He knew that they were in there, he and Duke had them specifically for the mission. They were actually pretty important, so he really needed to find them.

“Frost?” Amel said, appearing right behind him and making him flinch.

He turned his head, not really paying attention. “Yes? What is it?” he asked. “And why are you up?”

Amel frowned. “Well, your noise woke me. And I was wondering what you are doing.”

Frost turned back to the pile. “I’m looking for two pieces of clothing that Duke and I need for the future. They’re pretty important, so if you could help, that would be great.”

Amel wordlessly spun around and walked back to her little area. As Frost went through the pile, he could hear her moving items of varying light weights around, and soon, she returned carrying two maroon berets.

“Are these them?” she asked.

Frost smiled, brow half-raised, and took them. “Yeah.” he replied, setting them onto the pile. “But why did you have them?”

Amel shrugged. “I saw them and I was wondering what they were.They are headdress, yes?”

“Indeed.”

“But you have helmets.”

Frost chuckled. “And that’s where these came in.” Amel looked confused. “Here’s what we had planned; We drop into Pakistan, find OGA, and head to a predesignated extraction point. If we’re wearing our helmets, it means we’re safe and good to get picked up. If we’re wearing our berets, that means that our helmets were probably taken, and it isn’t safe for the helicopter to land and get us.”

“What’s a helicopter-”

“I’ll explain that another time.” Frost said quickly. “But back to the headwear, we also wear them for more formal or solemn occasions. If we lose one of our own, we’ll wear them at the funeral procession and take them off during to show respect.” Amel nodded in response, wondering how often he had needed to wear his beret.

After making sure that the berets were safely placed on the pile and were generally out of sight, Frost turned back around to Amel. She was sitting there, not really doing anything, just being a little pony in the middle of the floor. It made him think about how much danger she was probably in on a regular basis, and how she probably couldn’t defend herself.

It was just enough to remind him. “Hey, go grab that knife I gave you. It’s time to learn how to use it.”

Amel looked surprised, but immediately, a big smile crossed her face and she ran to her bed to get the knife. With a toss of her mattress, she had the knife, and when she came back, she had it in her teeth, ready to start learning.

Frost chuckled at her enthusiasm, going to retrieve his own knife, the FE9. From beside his bed, where he kept it, he took it up and took a quick look at it. The edge was incredibly sharp, much sharper than was safe to work with. But then an idea popped up; why not cut the already nasty sheets up and use them to cover the blade? Congratulating himself, he went about that and soon returned to Amel with a much less dangerous blade.

“Alright.” Frost began, checking one last time to make sure the cloth on the blade was secure. “Now, these are obviously very different knives. However, I do know how to use that one, so I will teach you to the best of my ability. And if you can defend yourself from me when I’m using THIS knife on any level of success, you can probably protect yourself from most people armed like this.”’

Amel set the knife on the ground. “رائع! Let us begin!”

Frost nodded. “All right. First, we’ll start off with holding it.”

“Like this?” Amel responded quickly.

Frost hadn’t been paying much attention, but when she said that, he had to look. Somehow, defying science, logic, and reason, she was holding the knife by bending what might be called a wrist joint and holding it within the bend. He blinked once, then twice, then a third time, unable to comprehend how it was being done.

“How do you... never mind. That’s good.” Amel looked perfectly innocent, holding the knife. She had no idea how much she was throwing her instructor off right now. “Okay, now let’s see your best cut and stab.”

Amel started with the cut. Being untrained, she just brought her foreleg up and then back down in a straight line, no arc or anything. When she went for the stab, she held the knife at a downward angle, but pushing straight forward. It amazed Frost that her foreleg could move in those directions at all.

Frost drank the sights in with a dose of humility, remembering when he first started. His teacher was an ass, and it took him awhile to learn, so he decided to try to be nice. “All right, not terrible for your first time.” Amel waited. “But there were a couple of things you need to fix.”

Frost cleared his throat, bringing up his own knife. “When you go for a cut, you want to make sure that when you contact your target, or pretend target, in this case, that you draw as soon as you initiate that contact. By pulling the knife towards you once you hit them, you use the blade to cut into them. If you just keep going down, that’s a hacking attack, and that’s only good for larger blades. For example, mine is good for that.”

Amel brought her knife back up and went through the motion slowly, trying to get it all down in her head. “So I give them the blade,” she said, bringing it down before her and stopping it. “Then I take it back.”

“As good an analogy as any.” Frost replied. “As for the stab, you really need to make sure that the blade is perpendicular, or going straight into, the target. If it goes in on an angle, it won’t be as likely to go in the right way, or even at all. What you did, also, was a jab; stand still, thrust forward. A good stab involves the use of your bodyweight to generate more force and drive the knife in.” He emphasized the point on driving the knife in by putting his left hand on the unsharpened section of the false edge and shoving it forward.

“Okay.” Amel said, trying the new stab. She was having trouble keeping the blade forward as she stabbed at the air, something Frost wasn’t particularly glad to see. He had another idea, though; Take a pillow, hold it out in front of him, and have her stab it. Once again, happy about his ability to come up with solutions to simple problems, he went over and grabbed a pillow.

When he returned, he pushed the pillow out in front of him and stood before Amel. “Stab the pillow.”

Amel looked ready at first, but then unsure. “Are you certain?” she asked, concern highlighting her features.

“It’ll be fine. I’ll keep it up.”

Amel nodded and did as she was told, stabbing the pillow with as much force as her body could muster. She did move Frost back a few paces, what with her pony anatomy and strength, and soon enough, she was able to get it. Once she understood the basic attacks, Frost went over how to block enemy blades with her own and how to effectively get out of the way of attacks. After about three hours of teaching, Amel was able to parry, evade, and roll out of the way of most attacks.

Frost smiled approvingly as Amel hopped back up, albeit gracelessly. “Good.” he said, clapping his hands together. “You seem to generally have the motions in your head.”

Amel smiled. She was panting and sweaty, trying to from the words to express her gratitude. “Thank yo-”

“Now for the fun part!” Frost shouted excitedly.

Amel blinked, confused. “What?”

Without warning, Frost lunged forward, bringing his own knife, still covered in cloth, to bear. With a big motion, to make it obvious as to what his action would be, he brought his arm up and swung it down with moderate force, Amel’s eyes exploding in size and a loud gasp escaping her muzzle. She ducked sideways, falling down, and rolled away.

As she got back up, she shouted, “What are you doing?!” Frost didn’t respond, though, only came at her again. He moved much slower than she knew he could, shoving his hand forward with the knife pointed at the mare. Unable to get out of the way, Amel made an arc with her foreleg through the air and knocked Frost’s arm to the side. With an opening available, she took her own knife, somehow wedged in her other foreleg, and pointed it at Frost, holding it just before his abdomen.

Frost stopped moving. “What are you doing?” Amel asked, extremely angry.

“Testing you.” Frost said like nothing had happened. “And I think that you’ve passed for now.”

Frost extricated himself from in front of Amel and walked over to his bed, placing the knife back. “For now?” Amel asked, unhappy with what that implied.

“For now.” Frost affirmed. Stepping away from his bed, he looked over at the prince, who was rolling around like he was ready to wake up. “And for now, I have some things that need doing. And I may need you with me.”

He walked over to Shining Armor’s bed and started shaking the prince, urging him to wake up. Amel trudged over, exhausted, wishing that she wouldn’t potentially be needed for whatever Frost need to do. She quietly watched as Frost brought the sleeping prince back into the real world.

“What?” Shining asked tiredly.

“Get up. I have a few questions.” Frost stepped back as he spoke, giving Shining some room to move. Most people would say that you shouldn’t ask people questions right after they get up, but Frost remembered learning once that that time is when their inhibitions aren’t at full strength. That and when they’re drunk, but Frost didn’t have time for that.

Shining Armor rolled off the bed and stood tall, joints cracking and muscles stretching. “Shoot.” he said with a loud yawn.

“Great.” Frost replied. “My first question; How large a problem is this group, the Hawkani?”

“They’re the largest group of criminals and terrorists in the world.” Shining answered. “They cause serious trouble everywhere except for Equestria, the Crystal Empire, and a few other nations.”

“What kind of trouble?”

Shining shrugged. “The usual; kidnappings, bombings, generally causing mayhem and paranoia. They’re dangerous, but we’re doing a good job of fighting them.”

“Where are the most concentrations of them, where they would keep high-value individuals?” He was implying OGA, but Shining had no need to know that.

“Most of them are in the Southern Gryphon Colonies, but we don’t generally send any but our finest there to take them down. In the last couple of years, it practically became a no-stallion’s land. You go there, you’re not likely to get help from any locals.”

“Damn.” Frost thought. He and Duke would need help if OGA ended up down there. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”

“Tell me about it. It only got worse when dragons started going there to make their cave-homes.”

Frost froze. Dragons? He actually said dragons? “You said dragons.” he deadpanned. Shining nodded. “Greeeat.”

“Yeah, even Celestia and Luna’s 117th can’t take on the number of dragons down there.” Frost looked at Shining like he was speaking Arabic. “The Nighthawks.”

Frost ignored the unit’s familiar name and moved onto the last question. “Okay then. Lastly, what kinds of prisoners do they generally hold onto? Do they ever terminate prisoners?”

Behind Frost, Amel silently gasped at the question, a horrified expression on her face. Executing Prisoners of War in their world, at least, had been outlawed after Discord’s defeat.

“They keep valuable prisoners. I thought you would be able to figure that out.” Shining replied. He meant no offense, though.

“Good enough for me.” Frost concluded. “Thanks for your help.”

Frost turned around and patted Amel on the shoulder as he began to walk away. “Any time.” Shining replied as the human and mare exited the room. When they were gone, he walked over to the window and looked outside. There were many things for him to take care of, but he wouldn’t be able to take care of them here.

“I need to get home. They'll need me soon.” he worried, looking longingly in the direction of his home.

Frost and Amel walked through the halls with purpose, the human occasionally acknowledging guards who saluted them as they passed. Amel kept up at a nervous gait, still not overjoyed at walking through the palace halls with so many guards around. They made her uncomfortable, as they would to any civilian.

The pair had to stop and ask for directions multiple times, much against Frost’s initiative. When they got lost, Amel had to bite Frost’s pants to make him stop, then ask a nearby horse for help. Every time, Frost would tap his foot impatiently, then, when Amel finally got the directions, he would start off in the direction without hearing the full directions.

In time, they reached a wing of the palace that they were unfamiliar with. Frost couldn’t read the sign above the hall, but Amel could. “Authorized Personnel Only”.

“Maybe we should get a guide first.” Amel suggested.

Frost waved his hand on front of himself. “Pssh, I’m sure it’ll be fine. When we explain why we’re here, they’ll let us in.”

“I don't know...”

“Well, I’m heading in. Feel free to join me.” Frost started walking down the hall at a slow pace, using it to encourage Amel to join him. Reluctantly, she ran up to his side and walked beside him, keeping extra close in the unwelcome area.

The walls in this area were certainly different; there were no decorations or anything. They were totally bare, with a few signs and words carved out into the walls by doors. Amel would read them off as they passed, and they would decide whether or not to knock on the doors and check.

They passed almost a dozen rooms; “Analysis”, “Intelligence”, “Barracks” multiple times, “Physical Training”, “Tactics”, “Mess”. There was more than one of each, and with the labels on them, it was clear that this was the guards’ section of the palace.

They kept on walking, not once encountering anyone to send them back the way they came. It was an oddly empty wing of the palace at the moment, though Frost did not mind. If the mare Applebloom was here, it would make his life that much easier to be able to find and talk to her without interference.

They took two left turns and went down a flight of stairs, then took a right and then another left. At this point, they were just wandering the halls, looking for a room that might have Applebloom in it. Down here, there were very differently labeled rooms; “Weapons”, “Smith”, “Debrief”, and, most significantly, “Special Care”.

At the “Special Care” door, Frost stopped and stared forward. This was the most likely room to have the mare in it, and it was the most likely that she was with a doctor of some sort at the moment. As long as no guards came in while he and Amel were inside, he should be able to lie his way into talking to the mare.

“Let’s go in.” Frost said, pushing the door open and sauntering inside like he belonged there. Amel took in a deep breath to calm herself, then followed close behind, hoping that nothing would happen inside.

Inside, the walls were whitewashed and bare, like a manufacturing room in a microchip factory. The floor was one surface, no tiles or grooves anywhere. The walls were much the same, only with anatomical drawings on boards and some other basic doctor’s office items. The ceiling had several long lights, though there was no way they were fluorescent, as they gave off too much normal light. At a regular-looking desk sat a horse in a plain white coat with two pockets on the front.

“ماذا تفعلون هنا؟” he asked.

Frost looked down at Amel, but she was standing stock still. After a quick nudge, she came back into the real world.

“What do I say?” she asked. Frost just shrugged. She sighed loudly. “لقد ارسلنا الى هنا للحديث معه.” she said to the doctor.

The doctor looked skeptical, but replied simply, “ما يرام. ولكن أنا لا أريد منك أن يسبب أي مشاكل.”

Amel translated for Frost, explaining that they could talk, but couldn’t cause any kind of commotion. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” he replied.

WIth that, the doctor went back to whatever work he had at his desk and let Frost and Amel approach the mare, who was facing the wall. As they closed in, Frost could see the treatment she had received from the local doctors all over her body. Her cuts had been stitched up very well and looked perfectly clean, more than Frost honestly expected from these guys. Her bruises looked like they had ceased their swelling from when Frost first found her, so that was good. There were no signs of serious infection anywhere, either. All that could only mean that she was in good enough shape to talk.

When he stood directly over her, he turned once to Amel. “Try to be casual, make everything seem fine.” he explained. Once Amel got herself ready, calming her breathing and getting rid of the tension in her body, Frost went to business.

“Applebloom.” he said quietly, hoping he got the name right. “Applebloom.”

“Huh?” the mare replied, rolling over to face her new conversation partner. “What?” She brought her hooves up to rub her eyes.

“Hi Applebloom.” Frost said slowly. “I’m Frost. I just have a few questions for you.” He waited for a response; instead, all he got was an increasingly wide-eyed look from the mare. “I have to know-”

The mare suddenly shot up and grabbed Frost in a big hug, squeezing on his neck. “Y’all saved me from them gryphons!” she shouted. Frost couldn’t reply in the tightness of the hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Frost made several choking noises to try to indicate that she was suffocating him, but she must not have heard them. “Easy there, miss, it’s all fine now.” Amel said, getting herself into the fray and removing Applebloom’s legs from Frost’s neck. “You are safe.”

Frost stated sucking in air, eliciting a blush and a sheepish smile from the mare on the table. “Sorry.”

“It’s all good.” Frost replied. He turned his head to Amel. “Thanks.”

She blushed herself and turned away. “Think nothing of it.”

Frost nodded and turned back to Applebloom. “Anyway, as I was saying, I have a few questions for you.”

The mare looked over to the doctor, who had turned to see the commotion, then hopped off the table when he made no move to tell her not to. “Alrighty then.”

Frost moved over to a wall and leaned against it, getting comfortable. “I need to know if you heard anything about any plans or set-ups that the Hawkani group has. Anything at all.”

“Kind’f a broad question.” Applebloom replied with a frown. “Anyhow, Ah don’t know anything that can help y’all there.”

Amel walked up to the mare and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “That’s fine.” she said with a nice smile. “Did you ever hear anything about a... special prisoner? One that wouldn’t be like any others?”

Applebloom thought. “Now that ya mention it, Ah did hear about some special guy being held in a valley.” As much as that might have seemed helpful, Sauri had already said that a good friend of his was there. Not useful. “They said he needed to be guarded extra careful.”

“How about his physical appearance?” Frost asked. “Anything out of the ordinary?”

“Nah, no one said anything about his physical appearance.” So it was a he. Still, not very useful. “Other than that, they mostly just tried to get information out of me.”

Frost sighed inwardly, but kept his composure the same to avoid making the mare feel like she hadn’t helped. “Alright, thanks for the help. Get well soon.” He turned away to walk out.

“Wait!” Applebloom shouted.

Frost turned around to see that the two mares were both staring at him intently. “Yes?”

Applebloom looked to Amel, who looked back, then back at Frost. When Applebloom returned her gaze to him, he could see a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

“What kind of human are you?” she asked.

Frost wasn’t sure how to answer that one. “Uhh... Military?” he said. Applebloom’s eyes got even brighter. “Air Force Pararescue?” he added, curious.

Then, the hope died. Just flatlined. “Oh. Okay.” Applebloom said hopelessly. Frost raised a questioning eyebrow at her. “It’s nothing.” she said oddly quickly.

With more questions than before, but expecting that she would only share about as much as Shining Armor, Frost nodded and turned around. “Okay then... get well soon. Let’s go, Amel.”

Amel ran after the human, waving goodbye to her fellow mare as she left. As Frost walked away from the infirmary, he could only wonder about what exactly he and Duke had fallen into through that damn cloud over Pakistan. All he knew was that there was a lot more going on than he had been expecting, and it went much deeper than the CIA would ever think it could.

> Tactical Assessment
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Tactical Assessment




“Hotel, in position.” Hamid whispered into his mic.

The speaker in his ear crackled and clicked. “Mike, ready to go.” Malik responded.

Hamid nodded to himself. “Romeo, Alpha, are you ready to go?”

“We’re good.” Rashid, Romeo, replied. “Ready to commence operation.”

Duke had spent the better half of the previous day preparing this whole scenario. As last time, Amel was playing the part of the prisoner, being held by two very experienced operatives of an opposing force, the OpFor. OpFor had issued its demands at the start of the day by leaving a note on Rashid’s bedside table, detailing the requirements for passing the test. The team was to attempt a rescue of the prisoner, but due to civilian presence, they had to be completely under the radar and avoid any detection by the civilian presence in order to avoid causing a panic. And civilian casualties were considered unacceptable.

The rest of it was the basic demands; money, power, movement of troops out of an area, etc. They were put into the letter to add a bit of authenticity to it. But that wasn’t important; what was important was that the stallions get in, grab the prisoner, and get out quickly, quietly, and cleanly. This was the first and potentially only installment of any training they might have in Urban Combat.

Duke and Frost were hidden somewhere in the city, but at the same time, they were walking about, trying to find the stallions. If they managed to find the stallions, they were going to start a fight, trying to force them to retreat. The tough part was that they were liable to grab nearby civilians and use them, and those civilians were completely unaware of what was going on. And the stallions would be forced to address the immediate problem before advancing.

They could also run back to the location of the prisoner, if they deemed it easier, and move her somewhere else. That was the hardest part by far, not having the knowledge of where Amel was. On top of that, they had only a day to locate her. The stallions had to find out where she was by going around the city and looking for clues, asking questions, and seeing if they could follow one of the humans if they found one. Since they were in disguise, they wouldn’t necessarily be seen right off. That was a huge part of the test.

Right now, it was right after midday. They had been walking around for hours that morning, taking in any possible clues that the humans were nearby. Malik and Aziz had been asking around about any sightings of the humans, but to no avail. None of what they learned was actually usable, just about how the humans might have walked by and no one cared enough to see where they went.

They had no idea what the humans were doing, whether or not one was remaining with Amel or both were patrolling the area around her location. They had to consider all possibilities, though. The only way they would find the mare in time was if they followed every lead they got as fast as they could.

Now, they regrouped in a little bazaar, sitting in several vantage points throughout the area. Hamid was sitting at a table eating a dish of Ful Medames and drinking gahwa. Malik was within his line of sight, meandering through the stalls, looking at items that might interest him in other scenarios. Rashid and Aziz were out of sight, on the other end of the bazaar, being inconspicuous in their own ways, keeping their eyes peeled for a human.

They had seen two pairs of deep footprints of the human’s boots, going straight through the bazaar. When Hamid asked a nearby merchant about it, he ended up having to haggle for the information and spending eight bits. It was worth it, though, since the merchant told him about how the humans came by earlier and now one of them would periodically come back around.

Hamid took a sip of his gahwa and scanned the area; nothing. “Alpha, Romeo, Mike, anything at all?” he asked over the magic comms. He had to use the “NATO Phonetic Alphabet”, as Duke called it, because it hid their names in case anyone overheard.

“Nothing yet.”

“I don't see him.”

“No one walked by me.”

It was frustrating, truthfully. The stallions just wanted to find out where Amel was, break down the door, and grab her and leave. Problem was, this kind of thing might become a regular occurrence, so they had to gain some “Intel Gathering Skills” if they were going to be effective at defeating the Gryphon menace. Gathering information is a boring endeavor; but it always pays off incredibly well in the end.

Hamid took a few more bites of his food and looked back up. Malik had moved himself out of view, possibly going to look at more stalls or something. He couldn’t meander about the same ones the whole time, that would look too conspicuous. Still, Hamid couldn’t help but be a little nervous. He liked having at least one teammate in his sight in case things went sideways.

“Mike, I lost visual.” Hamid said, trying to talk like the humans. “Where are you?”

There was a moment of silence over the radio.

“I see him.” Malik conveyed hurriedly. “Frost is entering the bazaar, hands in his pockets.”

Hamid felt a surge of excitement and panic rush through him. “Whatever you do, don’t get too close.” he warned, trying to keep his movements calm and not give away his nervousness. “He might recognize you through your disguise.”

“I’ll keep my distance.” Malik replied. “He’s coming in by the street on the south end of the bazaar.”

Hamid nodded to himself mostly as he thought about what to do next. “Romeo, Alpha, start moving around like normal citizens.” he ordered. “But don’t get too close to Frost.”

“We are moving now.”

“Yes, Hotel.”

Hamid had effectively taken leadership of the operation, seeing as he already had intimate knowledge of the streets and its inhabitants. He had grown up in a town like this, exploring the markets, talking to the horses, eating the food. He knew exactly how to blend in here, making him the perfect guy to lead this particular mission. But he wouldn’t always lead the missions; team versatility is vital, after all.

Hamid got up and sauntered off to the south end to see if he could get a visual on Frost, see where he would be going. As he maneuvered through the crowds, avoiding bumping into anyone and making a scene, his eyes flashed left and right trying to find the human. It was risky, having all four of them observing Frost at once, but he didn’t want to risk losing him. If they did, it could easily end in a failure.

“There you are.” Hamid’s eyes landed on Frost as he walked through the bazaar, looking innocently around like a child in an antique store. he didn’t understand any of what was going on, but he didn’t say anything that might convey that.

“I’m moving.” Malik said over the radio. Hamid spotted him walking past Frost in the opposite direction, getting within two meters of the man. It was enough to make him hold his breath. “I’ll turn around and follow him once I’m sure he isn’t looking.”

“Good.” Hamid replied. He keyed his mic. “Romeo, Alpha, where are you?”

“We are moving together. Tell us where he is heading, and we will go there now.”

Hamid nodded and went back to watching Frost. The human was glancing at the stalls as he passed by, not stopping by any of them to see what was there. With no translator, he was hopelessly lost when it came to buying anything anyway. Thinking about it, if he couldn’t understand them, and he wasn’t wearing his mic, they could speak their own language around him and he would be none the wiser.

The language barrier was actually proving to be useful now. “Stallions, he doesn’t have his mic.” Hamid broadcasted. “You can speak around him and he won’t understand.”

“Excellent.” Rashid replied.

Hamid moved to a position about six meters to Frost’s right and started walking in the same direction, occasionally looking back in his direction to see where he was going. Malik was about ten meters behind Frost now, doing a poor job of looking inconspicuous. Hamid warned Malik to back up further to avoid being seen or he would blow the whole operation. Frost might not be as physically fast as them, but with those hands and feet, if he started to run, he could easily find a creative way to escape.

With Malik further back, barely within sight, Hamid started looking around for Rashid and Aziz. He quickly spotted them, wearing two very well-made peasant outfits, totally covering their bodies, walking and laughing about five meters ahead of Frost. The only thing that told Hamid that it was them was a single uniform mark on all their clothes, a scimitar with wings where a cutie mark would be.

Frost was moving at a steady but fast pace, almost losing Malik. This was why Hamid wanted to have more stallions on the human. If one failed, there were others to take his place.

“Romeo, Alpha, Frost, coming up on you from behind.”

Rashid nodded in response to Hamid’s warning. “Got it.” he replied. He wanted to know how close the human was, though. And while he knew that Frost wouldn’t understand if he said anything, he didn’t want to say it with Frost so closeby, for it might alert him in some way.

Aziz could sense that Rashid wanted to know, and he knew just how to get that knowledge. “حتى ذلك الحين قلت، هذا ليس القمر، وهذا هو محطة الفضاء!” he shouted, laughing loudly and slapping Rashid on the side. His hoof, however, didn’t touch Rashid. Rather, it hit his bag, spilling out most of its contents around them. “آسف، واسمحوا لي أن الحصول على ذلك.” he said.

Aziz bent over to start picking up the items off the ground, turning around and keeping his face toward the ground as he looked directly at Frost. The human was right there, right behind them, standing there while he went to pick up the items.

He said something to them, which was barely picked up in one of their mics. “Let me help you with that.” it sounded like. Frost bent over and started picking up the items with Aziz, returning each one to Rashid.

Hamid watched with pent up breath, ready to burst from anxiety. Frost was looking directly at his stallions, not one meter in front of him, picking up their things. Aziz was working hard not to let his headcover move out of the way to let Frost see. Rashid kept his head low, averting his gaze away from the human. Once Frost was done handing the items back to Rashid and Aziz, he gave them a little wave and said goodbye.

The relief washed over Hamid like a wave over sand. “Romeo, Alpha, move away and do not approach Frost again. If he recognizes you, it’s over.”

The stallions confirmed and moved in the opposite direction of Frost, doing their best not to look back that way. While they were getting away from the human, Malik was still following, keeping his safe distance of about ten meters. Hamid was still off to the side, watching Frost making his way across the bazaar. He wore an oblivious smile on his face, like nothing was wrong. Maybe nothing was.

He exited the bazaar and went down a narrow street, forcing Hamid to wait for him to pass by and then let Malik go past.

“If he takes any turns, you keep going forward and tell me which way. I’ll go that way, then you turn around and follow once I’ve left your sight.”

“And the same for when he turns on you?” Malik asked. Hamid nodded, and the stallions continued with their mission.

Malik had to get a little bit closer to Frost, who was looking about the street, scanning everything in sight. To avoid suspicion, Malik started observing his surroundings as well, mostly just looking at whatever seemed to catch Frost’s interest. There were all sorts of pieces of art hanging in windows, or off walls. Some of the merchants who couldn’t afford to live in the bazaar had to live in the streets just off. It was mostly artisans, none of them too aggressive. That was probably why they couldn’t sell enough to live in the bazaar.

Frost kept on walking, but at the first intersection, he took a right turn into an even narrower street.

“Hotel, Frost just went right at the next street.” Malik said quietly, hurrying past the narrow street where Frost turned.

“I see it.” Hamid replied.

Hamid sped up a little to reach the street before Frost potentially left through a building or took another path to wherever he was going. Lightly pushing other horses out of his way, Hamid pressed himself against the wall to his right as he approached the new street, hoping that he could look around the corner without being seen. As he arrived at the corner, he slowly peeked around it, searching for Frost. He saw the man standing in the middle of the street, scratching his head, like he was confused. Then, the human shrugged nonchalantly, and went into a building on his left.

Hamid ran up and tried to get to the building as quickly as possible, hoping that the human would still be inside. If he wasn’t, he could easily have escaped and gotten himself to just about any place where he would never be seen.

When Hamid reached the door, he ran right on through and rapidly rotated his head from side to side, looking for the man. Nothing. He must have gotten away from him, taken a back exit. Hamid spun around to run out of the store and contact Malik.

And he froze in place. Next to the door, sitting on a chair, was Frost, scratching at his growing beard, making a scrutinizing look at Hamid. The stallion swallowed hard, trying to think of a way out, but nothing came to mind. He turned around slowly, seeing what might be behind him. There were several pieces of art behind him on the wall, each one depicting a different scene of recent events involving gryphon attacks. Frost must have been looking at that.

Then, the man said something, but he said it loud enough to be picked up by Hamid’s headset.

“I like the disguise. But you might want to try to avoid running so much.”

Hamid went into full panic and bolted back out the door right past the sitting human. Outside, he flung his head back and forth, looking for his teammates. When he saw none, he turned back to the building he had just ran out of and stared at the entrance, ignoring the onlookers around him.

“Stallions, we’ve been found out. Spread out and prepare for anything.”

At first, Hamid received no reply, only static from the line. Sensing that something was happening, he prepared for a potential battle in front of the store by crouching low and preparing to tackle the human should he exit the building.

The reply to his warning came unexpectedly.

“Hotel, Mike. I saw Frost exit through a back door, he’s running. I’m in pursuit.”

“What direction?” Hamid asked.

“West, heading toward the residential area.”

Hamid took the information and started sprinting in that direction. “Got it.” he replied as he snaked through the crowd. “Romeo, Alpha, make your way there as soon as possible. We don’t want to lose Frost.”

“Yes sir.” Aziz replied.

Hamid kept on running, hooves crushing the dirt beneath them in a flurry of movement. As he ran, he tried to think of anything that might give him an edge over Frost in the area. He knew the area already, if only slightly more than Frost. He knew how the streets were situated, unlike Frost, who probably thought it to be a grid-system. There were all sorts of little ways to get around as well, outside the normal streets. He would have to use this to catch up.

“Hotel, this is Mike.” Malik sounded like he was growing exhausted. “Frost is still going, though a bit slower. I made my way to the roof to keep an eye on him.” Hamid felt a surge of excitement flow through him.

“Good work, keep on him! We’ll try to catch up, just keep us informed!”

Malik confirmed and kept running after the human, hoping that the human would stop soon and he would be able to scout while awaiting the arrival of his teammates.


********************************************************************


Malik managed to follow Frost for a long time, and eventually, he was able to follow Frost back to the “safehouse”.

Frost had been looking behind him constantly on the run, making sure no one was behind him, trying to attack him. Little did he know, there was a stallion up on the roofs following, watching, ready to leap down if necessary. He never noticed Malik up there, running, attracting little attention thanks to the running human taking said attention.

Malik remained up on his roof, intently watching the small building that he had seen Frost go into. To be safe, when Frost went inside, Malik, sticking to the roofs, walked around the area, checking to see if Frost had left through a back door. There was no back door, thankfully, only small windows. Even so, just to be safe, Malik had gone over and jumped onto the roof of Frost’s building as lightly as possible and listened.

He definitely heard voices, two males and a female. The males spoke a language he didn’t understand, Equish, if he guessed it right. That meant that only the two humans could be in there, and Amel was probably tied up inside, ready to be rescued. Malik was amazed that the mare was so willing to let the humans use her in these simulations.

Once he confirmed that the humans had her inside, Malik jumped away from that roof and made his way to one that was in a position to watch the entrance. There, he waited for his team to arrive and prepare to assault.

About thirteen minutes later, they showed up. Malik spotted them on the ground, looking around for him, and called to them.

“Up here!” he shouted. There was no way the humans could hear him from where they were. “Quickly!”

The rest of the team found their way up through stacking themselves and then pulling each other up, with Malik keeping his eyes on the building. Once everyone was up and ready, Hamid tapped on the roof and had them gather around. Malik positioned himself to keep watch on the building.

“What can you tell us, Mike?” Hamid asked, silently begrudging not being allowed to use their actual names.

“I made my way over there, and can confirm that Amel is inside.” The team waited. “That’s all.”

Hamid sighed. “Okay then, I suppose that we can work off of that.”

Rashid stood up and looked over at the building. “I think that we would have the best chance at getting Amel out if we were to have two of us breach the door and the other two jump in through windows.” he began. “Assuming Amel is in the center of the room, that gives us the room to run in, grab her, and go. If she’s against a wall, Duke and Frost will be forced to choose who they fight off, giving the others enough time to get Amel out.”

“I like it.” Hamid said, grinning widely. “So who’s going to-”

“Get down!” Malik whispered loudly, dropping to the ground and pulling Aziz, next to him, down with him.

Rashid and Hamid dropped like bricks to the roof and flattened themselves as much as possible. Hamid, being the leader, decided to take a risk and peek his head up just enough to see the entrance to the small building. From where he was, he could clearly see Duke and Frost talking to each other and pointing in several directions. Once they were done, they bumped their fists together and walked off in opposite directions. Hamid shoved his face against the roof where everyone else’s faces were.

“New plan!” he said in a rush. “Duke and Frost left, but without Amel. We go in now and grab her, then leave like nothing happened. Good?”

After a resounding set of grunts of approval, the team immediately went about work. They all leapt off the roof and onto the ground, attracting the attention of several passersby and nearly running over one. They ran up to the front door of the building and rushed straight in.

Inside, it was oddly empty. The home must have been for sale or something, because there was nothing but a couple of tables, some chairs, and a single rug. The walls were cracked all over, the furniture was clearly very old, and there was an eerie feeling that the small home might collapse at any time. It was enough to make the stallions dramatically increase their pace.

Amel was sitting, though not tied up, in the center of the room, looking bored and generally uninterested in the stallions. When they ran up to her, she said nothing, didn’t even look at them. She was clearly fine, so they had no understanding of why she wasn’t moving.

“Amel.” Hamid said. “We’re taking you out of here.”

She groaned at him in response, as if she was sick or injured. Hamid looked back at his stallions, confused, and then turned back to the mare. Before he spoke again, though, he spotted a small, folded piece of paper in her mane. Gingerly, he nudged it out with his hoof and opened it up. When he opened it, he saw that something was written down, probably something Duke had someone do the day before, and began to read aloud to his team.

Stallions

You have located Amel. As of the moment you finish reading this letter, you will begin a field medical aid exercise. Amel, in this exercise, has suffered several injuries at the hands of her captors. Her left hind leg is broken, preventing walking. On her side, just behind her foreleg, she has a severe gash that is bleeding significantly. The victim has suffered a concussion and is unable to speak at this time, save for making loud groans. Her body is bruised, indicating torture.

You must provide emergency first-aid and evacuate the mare to safety, where you will take up a defensive position and await further orders. And if you do not continue to provide aid during the defense, you will lose her and fail the mission.

Good luck

Hamid looked nervously to his teammates, who looked back at him equally so, and dropped the note.

“Mal- Mike, Alpha, pick her up and carry her, we’re going now!”

Malik and Aziz grabbed the mare, who responded by groaning extremely loudly, and propped her up on their backs, getting as close together as possible to act like a stretcher. Once she was securely on their backs, the stallions nodded to their other teammates, who nodded back and took positions in front of and behind the stallions. In a solid formation and prepared for a fight, they set out.

The team burst out the door with haste and quickly began to run away from the area, eager to flee from the potential presence of the humans nearby. Hamid was in the front, his eyes forward and glancing to the sides to check for the humans as they ran. Rashid was in the back, watching the sides and prepared to take one for the team should they be attacked from behind.

Amel groaned loudly. “Romeo, get up here!” Aziz shouted. Rashid ran up to him and stood next to him. “The note said to provide emergency aid. We need to slow down so you can apply proper aid to the wounds.”

Rashid agreed and they conveyed their agreement to Hamid, who also agreed, albeit reluctantly. He didn’t like the idea of slowing down, but it was a necessary risk at the moment. They couldn’t risk failure.

Rashid began to apply the aid as they ran, tearing off some fabric from his outfit and stuffing it where the wound would be were it real. Then, he checked her head for any serious injuries, actually finding a paint indicator on the side of her head where the injury was to be. To avoid the risk of brain swelling, which Duke had explained very briefly in their first lecture on Combat Injuries, Rashid maneuvered Amel so that her head would be up higher. Given the location of the would-be gash, there was nothing to do about the bleeding but stunt it, so the raising of her head would do nothing to that.

Thinking fast, Rashid pulled out his small sword and wrapped it up in cloth, then set it against Amel’s injured leg. Then, he ripped some more cloth from his outfit and wrapped her leg up in that, making an effective temporary splint. Just at the cost of his main weapon.

“Team!” Hamid shouted suddenly, halting in the middle of the street. “Over there”

He pointed at a perfect space in between two small buildings with a staircase heading up. Instantly, he ran to it and went up the steps, checking for enemies. When he found none, he beckoned to his teammates, who eagerly followed him up.

Once up, Malik and Aziz moved Amel to a position where they could set her down gently and left Rashid to look after her.

“What is the plan?” Malik asked.

Hamid looked around; the rooftop they were on was perfect. There was only one easy, quick way up that wouldn’t cause a ruckus, and there were multiple ways down they could use to get Amel out if the humans showed up. It was a highly defensible position to be sure.

“We hold out here and wait for the next set of orders.” he said. “Then, we can-”

“Sir!” Rashid shouted suddenly, jumping up and running over. “I think you’ll want to look at this.”

Hamid looked over at Rashid and saw a little note in his grip. He took it hastily from the stallion.

“Where did you get this?” he asked worriedly as he opened the note.

“Amel gave it to me.” Rashid explained. “She said it would be important.”

Hamid swallowed hard and opened up the note to read;

Stallions,

Good work. If this is the note you are reading, then you successfully managed to rescue the hostage and provide proper medical aid. You also managed to avoid us and escape. While you did encounter us once, you were able to respond to the situation accordingly and complete your task with efficiency.

You have passed the test. Go back to the palace with Amel to meet with us at 1800 hours. We’ll want an AAR on the events of your day and we will discuss things that could be better for the future.

Good work,
Duke and Frost

When Hamid finished reading the note, the other stallions let out cheers of joy at the successful completion of their task. Even Amel, who was now getting up and walking over to them, wore a little smile on her face. It was a job well done.

And as the team left for the palace with their charge in tow, they knew that that was the only way they wanted to feel in the future.



> Planning Ahead
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








Planning Ahead





Duke and Frost walked with purpose as they went to the war room to meet with Sauri. They had been called early that morning, at around 0400 hours, told that something urgent had come up. The guard who told them wasn’t able to say, not being in the loop, so the men took that as a sign that they had to haul it to the room. There must have been some kind of unexpected development.

Amel was still asleep, so the men just left her a note explaining their possible absence when she awoke. Frost had wanted to wake her and tell her, but Duke wanted to go immediately to see the king. Their priority was to do their job, and to do their job quickly and efficiently.

As usual, they went right through the throne room doors, and as expected, there was no one on the throne at the moment. They briskly made their way across the room, wearing serious expressions and ignoring the slightly greater-than-usual number of guards present. They didn’t particularly know why there were more guards, but the men just figured it was a sensitive meeting.

They went onwards through the hall and reached the door to the war room. Duke saw that the doors were closed and banged on them three times, hard, before going to enter. When no one even answered, he thought it best to wait.

“What do you suppose is happening, boss?” Frost asked with a hint of uncertainty.

Duke shook his head. “I couldn’t say, Frost.” he replied, also feeling uncertain. “But whatever it is, it sounds like it’s important.”

Frost was about to respond with something witty, but the doors suddenly shot open. nearly striking the men across their faces. Before them stood a very stern-looking stallion, a most displeased expression on his face. He took one look at the men and nodded, moving aside to let them in. They entered without another word.

At the table sat the same group as before; analysts, strategists, Sauri, and Nedal. They were all in the heat of some intense debate, yelling and screaming in what sounded to the men like gibberish. No one noticed as they walked up behind Sauri and simply stood.

Nedal shouted something, then turned his head in angry disgust, spotting the humans.

“Well, look who came to crash the party.” he said with disdain.

Everyone stopped looking to look at whoever Nedal was talking to in what most of them heard as gibberish. As soon as they saw the humans, they all shut up completely and waited for the men to respond.

“All that’s missing is ‘pin the tail on the donkey’.” Duke replied. “What’s going on here?”

Nedal turned back to the table, ignoring the men, and looked around. He wanted to continue discussing their plan, but no one else was too intent on talking now. He hated this effect that the humans had on everyone around him. It took away the power he had grown accustomed to, and he feared that he might lose at least some of it permanantly.

Sauri turned in his seat. “Men!” he shouted, a smile now plastered across his face. He looked incredibly exhausted. “I am glad you have arrived!”

Duke nodded, and Frost smiled. “Well, you rang for us.” Frost said. Sauri didn’t understand, but simply pretended to and went on.

“We have a new... development.” he began.

“What kind of development?” Duke asked, a mild feeling of dread forming up in his gut.

Sauri sighed. “Well, at thee valley compound, my good friend may be in much more danger than we previously believed.”

“How much more?” Frost asked.

Sauri looked to the floor. “They might kill him soon, if we do not act.”

“Was that not already on the table as a possibility?” Frost asked, annoyance entering his voice. “When something like this comes up, you NEVER take the worst case scenario off the table. It’s basic hostage-rescue 101.”

“Easy, Frost.” Duke said, hoping Frost hadn’t offended the king with his little quip. He turned to Sauri. “We don’t exactly appreciate the situation getting this far, but we’ve worked with worse. How bad is it?”

Sauri turned back to the table. “Well, thanks to the information you and your team obtained last time, we can assume that the valley compound is very heavily guarded. And odds are, they won’t be asleep like in the last location.”

“Dang.” Duke thought. “They’re in a defensible location with lots of manpower, weapons, and they’ll be way more alert than in the river compound. Fantastic.”

“They have my friend Blueblood from Equestria, a dear old friend of mine, knows what it means to be a royal.” Sauri continued. “Anyway, he isn’t exactly known for his tact... he’s rather more upfront than I about being a royal and deserving all that comes with it.”

Frost had some choice words he would have liked to have said, but decided to let it slide to hear the rest. The more they knew about their rescue charge and the area, the better equipped they would be to deal with anything that arose.

“We have no idea if your friend OGA is there.” Sauri said with a hint of shame. “If he’s still in Saddle Arabia, he will be in this compound. If not, once this is done, we will send you along your way to wherever he may be.”

“That sounds good to us.” Duke replied, thankful that he at least had an idea of when they would be leaving this damn desert. “The sooner we get out of Saddle Arabia, the better.”

“We have a sketch of the compound, and a potential layout.” Sauri said, pointing to two large pieces of paper. Duke walked over and picked up the floor plan of the compound as Sauri went on. “The compound was built by our forces long ago, and we used it as an outpost back in the days before our nation was unified.”

Duke nodded slowly as he read over the floor plans. “Now what was that about ‘potential layout’?” he asked, unhappy with where that could be heading.

“Well, they may have altered it to fit for their flight habits or for more usable rooms.” Sauri explained. “We can’t be certain. We know the layout of the land around the compound, but once you’re inside, we don’t have any solid information for you.”

“So we’ll be going in blind. Again.” Frost thought with an inward sigh. “Greeat.”

“Now, we must ask you; what do you think your odds are of getting in and out without serious consequence with your team?”

Duke looked to Frost, Frost to Duke, and they exchanged their doubts through their quick visual exchange. There were all kinds of problems with this, and a small team would have an impossibly difficult time getting inside without being detected given what they had. They didn’t have UAV recon, no quick extract, no air support, and not a lot of firepower for the numbers they would be facing.

“Probably not.” Duke replied. “We don’t have nearly enough here to pull off that kind of rescue with a small team.” And that left them with one thing.

“Very well.” Sauri said. He turned to Nedal. “Nedal, أنت وقواتك يجب استكمال لهم وتوفر لهم نافذة للحصول على. سوف تعمل جنبا إلى جنب معهم.” The only thing they had at their disposal was Nedal and his stallions. And it was a safe bet that they weren’t intent on being a Quick Reaction Force.

Nedal’s face only served to prove what the men were thinking. “لا يمكنك أن تطلب مني أن أعمل معه!” He sounded rather angry. “أنا والفحول بلدي يمكن أن تأخذ هذا أنفسنا!”

Sauri was clearly very, VERY unhappy with the response he got. Immediately, he started yelling at the stallion, positively barking at him. The men took a step back, unsure of how to handle the situation, and opted to just watch. After a few minutes of argument, Nedal finally gave a defeated sigh and slumped in his chair like a little boy who just got punished for stealing a cookie.

Sauri turned back to the men. “You will tell him exactly what you need done. He will do it. If he does not, you can حاكم أمام مجلس عسكري him.” The men raised their eyebrows at the king. “How do they say it in Equestria?” he asked his advisors.

“Court martial.” one replied. Nedal flinched at the phrase; he knew what that would mean.

Frost let a tiny smirk cross his face, glad to hear that Nedal had to do whatever he said. The world did seem to have a way of making up for some of the crap it tends to put people through. Duke however, took it with a curt nod and an emotionless mindset.

“Very well.” he replied.

Sauri nodded back. “Good. Nedal,” he said, irritation dripping from his voice. “الذهاب معهم الآن والبدء في وضع خطة للهجوم. ولا يخيب لي.” Nedal growled under his breath but obliged with whatever his order was and stood.

He walked over to the humans. “Well, let’s get going.” he said. He was absolutely furious right now. “Let’s make this plan.”

The men turned around and started walking out of the war room and down the hall, followed by Nedal, who seemed to like to keep his distance. The whole way, he was talking in his language, making disgusted sounds and generally being resentful. The men ignored it, instead choosing to try to think of possible plans of action while they walked. As much as they didn’t like working with Sauri, they had to be professional about it.

Once they were in the throne room, they stopped at the fountain in the middle of the room.

“Nedal.” Duke said stoically.

“What?” the stallion responded curtly.

Duke didn’t care. “We are heading out there to perform an important mission. The guy we’re rescuing is in a serious life or death situation; if someone screws up, he dies. I can’t have the soldiers under my command unwilling to work with each other. If you’ve got a problem working with us, say it now so we can deal with it. If we go in the way we are now, we all might get killed.”

Nedal blinked. He hadn’t expected Duke to be straightforward about it. He had never met a human before, but from what he could tell, they weren’t the most straightforward species. Even so.

“I don’t like you.” Nedal said simply. “I hate both of you. I have no desire to work with either of you. You have no place here, and worse, you’re trying to take mine. So yes, I have a problem with you.”

“That’s a damn shame.” Duke said. “But I don’t give half of one. If you’ve got a problem, you need to figure out how to solve it, or you aren’t going on this mission.” Nedal’s eyes shot wide and he bared his teeth at the human. “We can’t have an ineffective team leader on this with us. Like I said, you or others will be killed. I need to know that you can get over your little problems with us and do your damn job like the professional you supposedly are.”

Nedal closed his mouth. “Yes, Duke.”

“Good.” Duke replied. “And if it makes you feel any better, after this mission, Frost and I won’t be sticking around.” Nedal was surprised. “Does that help any?”

Nedal could tell that Duke was mocking him, but he still felt some level of relief from his words. “Yes, Duke.” 

He nodded. “All right. Go gather up your stallions, we’ll gather up ours, and we’ll meet in the garden to discuss the plan. Ten minutes. Go.” Nedal nodded curtly and ran off to retrieve his soldiers.

Duke and Frost went off to collect their own soldiers, taking only a few minutes to reach their barracks and then a few more to get to the garden. two minutes ahead of schedule, they waited for Nedal and his assault team to arrive.

He arrived just on time, thirteen seconds to spare. Punctuality is a good thing, especially in the military.

The enlisted non-human soldiers all sat around in their groups, assault team and what was recently labeled as the Search and Rescue, or SAR, team. It had a different acronym in Saddle Arabian, but the men had no idea what it was.

Duke, Frost, and Nedal took the center of the little area they were sitting in and looked about. The whole team was actually pretty ragtag in the eyes of the men. Trained primarily as light infantry with a poor leader, with a small group of guys who were barely trained as their new unit of special forces, they didn’t come off as that impressive. But to Nedal, they looked like the pinnacle of power and capability.

Duke took center stage and spoke. “Nedal, I’ll need you to translate.” Nedal frowned at him, but silently agreed to do it.

“Alright.” Duke began. “Our job is to go into a compound in a valley and retrieve two high-value assets from inside the compound.” He paused for Nedal. “We believe them to be somewhere inside. Our team, the SAR team, will be going inside to retrieve the assets.”

“The assault team, you guys, will be outside for the entirety of the operation. You will be providing the force necessary for us to slip in and out either unnoticed or with minimal resistance. Any questions so far?”

Nedal finished his translation and waited for questions. When he got none, he nodded to Duke.

“Good.” Duke replied. He turned to the SAR team, all of whom had their mics on. “Team, go over your usual setups and think about what you’ll be bringing. Aziz and Rashid are with me, Malik and Hamid are with Frost. Questions?” None. “Good.”

Nedal, as much as he hated the humans, had to admire Duke’s professionalism. He was a soldier first, not a politician. But still, Duke was a threat to his power. That was bad. And Frost, he was just as bad, only he was more annoying. He was actually a threat to Nedal.

“Nedal.”

Nedal turned to the human who said his name. “Yes, Frost?” he replied.

“I don't know how you usually brief your men or set them up, but you might as well do that now. Give everyone their roles and set’em up.”

Nedal frowned; of course he was going to do that. Just not at the moment. He replied in the affirmative and turned to his assault team and spoke to them.

The men waited for him to finish, then went over to him.

“Let’s go over the overall plan.” Duke said flatly.

Nedal looked to the man. “I’m all ears.” he said. He didn’t have the full command over his troops in this fight, so naturally he wouldn’t be too happy.

Frost spoke first. “Our SAR team is going in first, obviously, but we aren’t getting in there without something to keep the enemy occupied.” he said. “That’s where your team comes in.”

“We think it would be best if our team snuck up on the compound from one side and your assault troops attacked from the other to distract them and dwindle their numbers,” Duke added. “We’ll be able to slip in and out without nearly as much resistance when your...” Duke looked over to see how many troops Nedal had. “twenty-five guys attack the compound from one side.”

“They can definitely handle at least eight gryphons, right?” Frost asked.

Nedal snarled. “Of course they can, they are the best in our army!” he replied angrily. Frost just shrugged his shoulders.

“Anyway,” Duke said as he pulled up the map of the AO from his waistline. “We think that the best method would be this. Duke laid out the map and started pointing at various spots.

“Your team would have the best advantage if they attacked from up this hill here,” he explained, pointing at a steep hill. “If you bring along some crossbows or ranged weapons, you can pick off the gryphons while they fly up to your location. From there, you can make your way down the hill, where you’ll still have the advantage of altitude, and make your way to the compound.”

Frost took over. “We’ll attack from the other side, where there seems to be somewhat more foliage and a less steep hill. Once your assault begins, we’ll make our way inside. We’ll try to be fast, but since we don’t know what’s inside, it might take us a bit of time. If you come down and we still aren’t out, secure the outside area and wait for us. With our weapons, more friendlies in a confined space is much more dangerous.”

Nedal looked at the plan and thought. It wasn’t that bad, really. He still had most of his command over his troops, and he would be handling a major section of the operation. But he had been hoping for the chance to go in and rescue Blueblood. He wanted to show Sauri that the humans weren't necessary and that he could handle whatever came their way, but it seemed unlikely at this point. It would be a sore point for him, but like Duke told him; he needed to be professional.

“It seems good enough.” Nedal said. “Are there any fine points for us to go over?”

“Yeah, but those can wait until we all have all our gear and we’re ready to head out.” Duke said. “The sooner we head out, the better.”

“Quite.” Nedal replied. He turned to his team. “فريق! الحصول على العتاد الخاص بك والحصول على استعداد لترك!” He turned back to Duke. “We should meet at the front gate of the city. There will be carriages waiting for us there.”

“We’ll meet you there in half an hour.” Duke replied, receiving a nod from Nedal before he turned away. Duke turned back to the SAR team. “Get your gear and meet at the front gate of the city in half an hour! We’re heading out!”

His order was met with several “Yes sir’s!” by the team, each of whom ran off to get his gear.

Duke and Frost ran up to their room to retrieve their own gear. Careful not to wake Amel, they retrieved everything they could need and made their way to the front gate of the city.

“Boss?” Frost said.

“Yeah?”

“I have a feeling that this op isn’t exactly going to go the way we expect it to.”

“Well, Frost, we may make our plans and we may have our contingency plans, but what we were really trained to do is react accordingly to any situation. So the bottom line: Never expect the op to go how you expect it to.” Frost just chuckled at that as they ran off through the city to their next major operation.

> Operation: Red Tail
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Operation: Red Tail


Part One





The ride to the AO felt long and uncomfortable. Nedal was constantly trying to come up with plans where the SAR Team wouldn’t have any real role at all, and would just sit off on the side. Naturally, the men didn’t trust Nedal to get the mission done right, so they trashed every one of those plans outright.

Ultimately, they agreed on the same idea from earlier; the SAR Team would go in silently from the flatter, more stable ground across from the compound, while Nedal and his twenty-five stallion force would assault from a cliffside to provide the SAR Team with an opening to get inside. Nedal was none too happy about it, but the men didn’t care. They were here for a reason; find this character, Blueblood, and, more importantly, find OGA.

After they agreed on that, the men took aside the rest of the SAR Team and discussed how things were going to go. Malik and Hamid were with Frost, while Aziz and Rashid were with Duke. Those were the fireteams, but the group was going to try its best to stick together once inside the compound. They would need to have a good amount of force ready if they found themselves in a fight.

The men had grabbed several items for this mission, which they had almost forgotten they had packed for the rescue operation of OGA back in Afghanistan. Duke and Frost both brought their flare guns and night vision, and each man had one flash grenade, leaving one left in their quarters. They had intended to bring their frag grenades, but when they went to the front gate, they were given some confiscated explosives from the river compound from when Nedal took it over.

But now, they were here, and they all knew their jobs. Nedal moved up to a position on a tall mountainside next to the compound, while the SAR Team moved into a position on the opposite side of the compound, roughly five hundred yards away from the edge of it. From where they were, they could just barely make out the patrols walking around the perimeter of the base by the small lights they had in their claws.

“I have eyes on enemy patrols,” Frost said, the only one peeking over a large rock providing them with cover. “Looks like a lot of bad guys.”

“Any idea how many?” Duke asked.

Frost slid off the rock, landing softly next to Hamid. “All I can say is that there are a LOT of them. We can’t possibly fight our way inside.” He pulled up up his rifle and looked down at it. “Even with these, we couldn’t get inside. We’ll have to wait.”

“Alright,” Duke replied. “We wait for Nedal to begin his assault, then we go for it.” He leaned backwards and looked out from behind the rock. “But we’ll need to be a little closer when the action starts.”

“Roger that,” Frost replied.

The team checked all their gear for functionality, flipping switches, checking buckles and straps, and they began to make their way forward to the compound. Right now, it was up to Nedal for this mission to go right.



************************************************************************



Nedal observed the compound through the incredibly powerful looking-glasses the men had given him to use earlier. He was amazed at how much they magnified; he had to set them on a rock to get a stable image.

He was checking everything before he began his assault, allowing his soldiers to prepare themselves for the battle ahead. Behind him, he could hear the clunking of plate armor as it was donned and swords sliding through their sheaths. The sounds were like music to his ears.

Slowly, Nedal moved the binoculars around to get a better view of what initial resistance he and his soldiers would be facing. There were almost a dozen patrols, most of which were at least three gryphons strong. They all looked exceptionally fearsome for the pigeons he knew they really were. No matter, though; they would be slain soon enough.

Nedal turned to his stallions and looked them over. They all looked about prepared. They were all wearing their armor, wore their blades at their sides, and had their crossbows slung over their backs. These were true warriors, not like that SAR team that the humans had created.

“Honor lies with those who fight without using the shadows, those who do not hide during the battle. The greater amount of power and strength will always prevail.” Nedal believed it to the core of his being.

They were situated on an admittedly too-small cliffside, but they could manage. Nedal went about walking around to check on the individual stallions, to make sure that there would be no dead weight when the fighting began. As he walked around, he liked what he saw. Everyone was prepared, armored up and weapons ready.

“Sir!”

Nedal turned and saw the large form of his lieutenant, running over to him with a serious look on his face. Nedal always did think he had serious potential, but he was occasionally in contradiction to Nedal, making him difficult to work with. Still, if he could just figure out the proper way to fight a battle, he could be one of the greatest leaders Saddle Arabia had ever seen.

“Lieutenant, I am glad to see you. Are you prepared?” Nedal began to walk back to his spot where he left the high-zoom optics.

The lieutenant followed by his side. “Yes sir. But I must ask you something.”

Nedal sighed; he knew where this was going. “Yes, what is it?”

“Why are we wearing this heavy armor? It will only encumber and slow us down on our descent. It could result in a serious loss in our numbers if we aren’t moving as fast as possible.”

“We will move fast. The armor will change nothing,” Nedal replied, letting his annoyance show.

“What if our stallions fall, or trip? It could be catastrophic.”

What, did he think that Nedal’s soldiers were weak? “No one will fall. I trained them better than that. We are the strongest unit in the world; none shall defeat us.”

They arrived back at Nedal’s spot, and the commander took up the binoculars again. Looking back down at the compound, he could clearly see that the compound was not just a surface compound; the way the ground bulged going toward the mountainside, it clearly went into the mountain. There could be a number of entrances into the compound throughout the area. That wouldn’t be so bad, though. The crossbows would be able to take care of any flying enemies.

“Sir, I do not believe that this is wise. If we don’t wear the armor, we will be less likely to be hit or fall, and we will make it down the hill faster. We can take the compound more easily and the humans will be able to get their job done-”

“The humans are not our concern!” Nedal shouted, losing control of his optics. Cursing, he reacquired his view. “They will do whatever they do, and we will do our job. Their job’s success or failure is not our concern.”

“But sir-”

“End of discussion.” It was amazing that Nedal let the discussion go on that long in the first place. The lieutenant shrugged and walked away, knowing that it was a good time to give up, and went to his stallions to discuss how to deal with any troublesome circumstances.

Nedal moved his view around, satisfied with what he had of the compound, and shifted his gaze to the far end of the compound and looked out in that direction. Beyond, in the vast, rocky landscape, he searched for the SAR team. Soon enough, he spotted them, two bipeds leading four quadrupeds up to a safe location near the compound, where they would wait for Nedal to begin the assault. Nedal liked that; it was up to him to begin their mission.

He went through everything he needed to know. When he began the assault, once the majority of the forces were on his group, the SAR team would go in and search the compound. If they came out, they would fire up a flare to signify that they were gone, and they would move away from the compound to get the “HVI” or whatever out of danger. From there, Nedal and his group would have free reign over what happened.

The SAR team moved into a good hiding spot about fifty yards out from the edge of the compound and stopped, waiting for Nedal to begin his assault. Confidently, the stallion turned around and looked out at his assault group.

“Group up!” he shouted, causing all the soldiers to frantically prepare for battle, doing some final checks on their gear and lining up in front of their leader.

“It is time for battle,” he said, confidence soaring from his lungs. “We are here to crush the enemy, to make sure they can never fight again. We will destroy all that they have down there, and when we are done, there will be nothing but smoldering ruins left!” He received several cheers. “It is up to us to defend our land, and we will do it tonight!”

Most of the stallions in the assault group began to cheer loudly, loosing their battle cries into the night sky. Nedal grinned maliciously, thinking about how he would slay every gryphon down there, how they would attempt to flee with their claws tucked and ripped feathers. Then, with a massive burst of energy, he leapt out toward the ridgeline and pointed at the compound.

“Attack!”



***************************************************************************



The men and stallions of the SAR team watched the mountainside for their cue, eager to get inside and grab their charges to get this whole thing done and over with. With a bit of focus, Frost was able to squint and see a small mass of bodies come over the edge of the cliff and start to move down. After a few seconds, they would hear the faint war cries of the soldiers as they came down.

“Here they come,” Frost said.

“Wait for the battle to start. Then we go.”

Now that they all knew that they were going to be good to go, they all stood in positions to sprint to the edge of the compound and make their way inside with as little incident as possible. The group watched for any enemies that would come out of the compound, just as prepared to flee as to run in.

And soon enough, the enemies began to pour out of the compound as well as come in from around the perimeter. Their numbers were unbelievable; much more than the last compound. At least forty-five were coming out to go deal with the enemy on the side of the mountain, and there could easily be more inside. Nedal was going to have a tough time up there. It was a good idea to get the altitude advantage.

Duke stuck his hand out to keep everyone back while they waited for the enemy’s numbers to dwindle a bit before heading in. Intently, he watched as they all came out and turned in the other direction, heading over to a fight that was nothing more than a distraction. Then, when they were mostly in that direction, Duke shot his hand forward.

“Go, go!” he said in a loud whisper.

The SAR team burst from cover and made a beeline for the perimeter of the compound, hooves and feet thudding against the dirt beneath them as they ran. They could hear the gryphons shouting in the area that made up the complex, but no one could make out what was being said. The team kept all eyes on the sky, watching for any potential enemies who may swoop down and blow the operation before they even got inside. If it was going to happen at all, now would be the time.

They made it to the wall without issue, and stopped to take a few seconds to get over. The stallions stood at the base of the wall, in pairs, and the humans jumped up and stood on their backs, weapons forward. When they peeked over the walls, they scanned the area, finding no gryphons looking in their directions. They could see a few in the distance, preparing something, but they were too preoccupied to look away from the mountainside.

“Clear,” Frost said quietly.

The men hopped up and sat on the wall, then went prone, chests flat against it, and dropped their arms down. Aziz and Rashid were the first ones to extend their hooves out to get up, with the men yanking at their forelegs to pull them up and drop them on the other side. All the while, there were at least two pairs of eyes trained on the environment, watching for enemy activity. When Rashid and Aziz were over, Malik and Hamid came over next.

Once the stallions were over, Duke and Frost slid off the top and into the compound, rolling as they hit the ground to minimize noise and jarring of their legs. Once they were up, the men took a quick look around, searching for anything that might provide cover or an entrance to where they needed to be. Frost spotted a door on the large building in the center of the area down on the first floor.

“There,” he said. “Entrance, twenty meters up.”

“Roger,” Duke replied.

The men took point as the team moved forward toward the door, eyes going in all directions, weapons at the ready. Their hearts raced as they moved. They all knew that they wouldn’t stand a chance if they were discovered in here and the attention shifted to them, so speed and stealth were critical. If anyone screwed up, they would all be captured; much worse than being killed.

They were able to make it to the door without any problems, but when they arrived, several gryphons shot out of the upper floors just above them and circled. The stallions pressed themselves against the wall with their swords out and the men raised their weapons at the birds.

“Do you think they saw us?” Frost asked.

Duke waited to respond. Before he did, the gryphons all turned around and went to the other side of the building, in the direction of the mountain.

“No,” he replied, feeling the stress reduce ever so slightly. “We’re good. Let’s get inside and get what we came for.”

“Roger that,” Frost replied. He turned to the stallions. “Two of you, get up front to bust the door open if necessary, two of you get behind.”

Malik and Hamid nodded and moved up to the door while Rashid and Aziz took the rear to provide cover. In the middle stood Frost, then Duke, ready for the assault.

Malik went to push the door open; it was unlocked.

“I guess they weren’t expecting visitors,” the stallion said with a nervous laugh.

“Guess not,” Duke said. “Let’s go.”

The team filed in through the door and into the unknown abyss, wondering what awaited them in the hostile environment ahead.


***************************************************************************



Nedal could see the gryphons coming up at his assault team from the base of the mountain.

“Ready yourselves, stallions!” he shouted. “The birds are nearly upon us!”

They had barely gotten twenty meters down the mountain before they were spotted, their strong, durable armor glowing bright in the moonlight. As they moved, Nedal could hear the clinking and clunking of the armor they wore easily, as the sound of metal on metal blasted through the air. Hooves thundered down the mountainside, weapons shined and begged for battle, and the smell of adrenaline and sweat permeated the air. Nedal would never ask to be anywhere else.

The stallions at the front of the group, in a powerful, wall-like line, slowed themselves down and drew their crossbows, already loaded and ready to fire. Then, one by one,they took aim at the birds coming at them from below and fired, striking down a gryphon with every shot. Any time that one stallion had to reload, another would be ready to fire, providing cover and safety to his fellow soldiers.

Nedal pulled his own crossbow off his back, a special, high-powered variant of the one his soldiers were using, and made his way to the front. As the leader, it was his job to do everything that his soldiers did, and then do more. When he slid down to the line, his stallions moved aside to let him in.

Nedal took aim at the screeching birds, trying to decide which one he wanted to take out of the sky this night and for all nights in the future. When he found his mark, a young-looking gryphon who had fresh warpaint on his face, he took aim quickly and loosed his bolt into the air. Faster than even Nedal’s eyes could track, it struck home, and knocked the young gryphon to the ground. He then rolled down the mountainside, leaving behind a barely visible trail of blood.

“Onward!” Nedal shouted, bursting forward down the slowly steepening side of the mountain.

His stallions loosed loud war cries as they followed suit, thrusting themselves down the mountain and closing in on the compound, roughly three hundred meters down. As they moved, more gryphons began to arrive, forcing them to stop more frequently and send more stallions up to open fire with their crossbows to keep the enemy suppressed.

On the way down, though, one stallion did not make it to the front line; he tripped, moving at top speed, and went sliding down the mountain.

Nedal turned and saw it, focusing his attention through all the loud voices and loud twangs of the crossbows, and sprang to action. Like a lion on prey, Nedal leapt toward where the stallion would be and braced himself, setting his center of gravity as low as possible, for impact. When the stallion collided with him, Nedal felt like a cart had just rammed him in the side.

His armor protected him from the impact, and he only moved slightly under the force of the stallion above him. When they stopped, Nedal immediately turned his attention back to the battle ahead.

“Thank you, sir-”

“Get up and get moving, soldier,” Nedal replied. They couldn’t just sit there, there was work to be done.

WIth the crossbows still effective, the assault group pressed forward, knocking numerous gryphons out of the air as they went. The gryphons’ numbers were not dwindling, though, but growing, and soon, the crossbows alone wouldn’t suffice. Nedal had the fullest confidence in his soldiers, though, and he knew that they could handle whatever came their way.

The team continued forward, shooting and running. So far, the assault was going perfectly; the gryphon numbers were not as bad as believed, and the only trouble was that sad stallion who tripped. The gryphons were clearly not tacticians, incapable of finding a way to fight back and unable to flee. At this rate, the humans would have no need to go in, because Nedal and his assault group could take care of everything.

But it didn’t last.

“Captain, gryphons on our flanks!”

Nedal spun around, alarmed by this sudden development, and saw his lieutenant standing ready for a close fight. Nedal followed where his officer was looking and, sure enough, spotted a large group of gryphons coming at them from the right. With a snap of his head in the other direction, he could see another group of birds from the left.

He had to act fast. He’d had a feeling that there would be cave systems here, and he had an idea of how to deal with the threat.

“Gryphons on our flanks, prepare for battle!” he shouted, taking the position to the left, opposite his lieutenant.

A few stallions remained on the front while a number of them moved to either side of the group and opened fire on the gryphons descending upon them from the flanks. Thankfully, the groups attacking the flanks were relatively small, and could be dealt with easily enough. With several volleys of bolts through the air, the groups were dealt with, and any survivors either laid still to avoid detection or rolled away.

Nedal took note of the potential for flank attacks and prepared to move again.

“Move back forward-”

Before he turned around, he heard a loud scream from behind him. It was no gryphon screech, though, but that of a horse, one of his stallions. When he turned around to find out what had happened, he saw a group of eleven gryphons between him and his lieutenant’s flank guards, battling with the few guards that remained in the center to continue pushing forward. Three of his soldiers lay on the ground, blood pooling underneath them, only one of them making any visible signs that he was alive. The other soldiers, a total of ten, were standing their ground and fighting back with their blades and hooves.

Nedal felt himself swell with anger, that these birds would dare to attack his group, to get in between all of them. If they wanted to play rough, Nedal could play rough.

Nedal sprinted forward, nearly losing his footing on the slanted mountainside, and closed the distance between himself and his targets in on time, slamming into one of the gryphon’s throats, crushing its larynx. The gryphon fell back, clutching at its throat, then fell to the ground, cold and unmoving.

Nedal snarled at the other gryphons as they fought his stallions, dropping his crossbow and pulling out his sword. With the handle in his mouth, he ran forward to ring the odds back in the favor of his stallions.

But the situation worsened before he even began, with more gryphons coming up and descending on the group before any could react. After just a few moments, the number of gryphons in the area outnumbered the assault group, and they were forced to drop their crossbows and fight closer than this part of the plan called for. Ranged weapons fell and rolled down the mountain as swords were brandished and blood began to fly.

The clangs of metal on metal were deafening to anyone not suited for combat, the ringing of which remaining in the ear like the scream a never-ending grindstone. Nedal swiftly moved through the group, positioning himself in front of his soldiers to face the gryphons directly and cut them down as any true stallion should.

Nedal moved away from one of his stallions and went to attack another when a gryphon landed in front of him before he made it over. The gryphon, brow furrowed and painted like a demon, hissed at Nedal, drawing a massive, curved sword from its hip and taking a combat stance.

“You think you can kill me?” Nedal asked. “You don’t have what it takes.”

“It’s not about killing you,” the gryphon replied, speaking Nedal’s tongue fairly well. “It’s about making sure you don’t succeed.”

Nedal crouched low, ready to pounce. “That means you’ll have to kill me.”

The gryphon growled, then shot forward at Nedal with incredible speed. When the distance was closed, he swung his sword ferociously, attempting to hack the stallion to pieces with his massive blade. Nedal dodged every strike, though, parrying the weapon sideways with every step. He never got a chance to counter; he was purely on the defensive.

Nedal tried to think of some way he could turn the tables. “His swings are constantly aimed at my neck, never the rest of my body. If I can move just my neck out of the way, I should be able to counter before he can put himself back into a position to strike me,” he thought.

With a new plan in mind, Nedal started to push back against the gryphon, doing everything he could to avoid being pushed backwards any further. The gryphon noticed the new strategy, though, and adjusted his swings to compensate for Nedal’s neck movement. But he couldn’t compensate enough, not with how much was going on around them and influencing their movements from outside their battle.

Nedal finally managed to stop moving back and started holding his ground against the gryphon, blocking the bird’s strikes and enacting a few of his own. The battle was even now, with both combatants taking every opportunity available. With how it was going, Nedal would have it in the bag.

The stallion blocked a side-slash upwards into the air and closed the last meter of distance between himself and his opponent, slamming his sword into the side of the gryphon’s torso, a non-lethal strike that would keep him in place.

“Go with the rest of your brethren in Hell, bird,” he said, declaring that he had won.

“I would rather be with my brethren than fighting you here,” the gryphon replied with a grunt, the pain of the sword in his side becoming too great.

Nedal ripped his blade out and watched the gryphon fall to the ground, clutching his side, trying to stem the bleeding out of instinct. Nedal was proud; this was clearly a leader among the gryphons, and he was here, at Nedal’s hooves, his mercy. He had defeated yet another powerful opponent without trouble, he was the greatest warrior.

He raised his sword and prepared to bring it down. “Goodbye, pathetic fowl.”

But the sword never came down.

Nedal felt himself being thrust to the side, slammed from the left by a large metal mass. The blow knocked the breath out of him, sending him sprawling to the ground, gasping for air as his diaphragm suffered intense spasms. In his distorted vision, depraved of oxygen as his lungs refused to function properly, he could just make out the still, bloody from of one of his soldiers on top of him.

Just as his breathing began to return to him, he felt a claw land on his side and grip at his armor.

“I guess that you have lost,” the gryphon he was fighting said, grinning maliciously at him. He raised his blade into the air the way an executioner raised his axe.“Goodbye, Equine.” Nedal’s eyes filled with rage at the thought that this bird  was about to kill him.

Just before the blade came down, another, smaller blade shot through the gryphon’s neck, plunging in from the back and bursting out the other end, shocking the gryphon and stopping all his movement. From behind, Nedal’s lieutenant came around, tearing the blade out and bringing it around in an arc to finish the bird off.

The body of the gryphon, now missing its head, fell limp to the ground next to Nedal and lay still. The lieutenant moved up to Nedal and took up a defensive stance next to him, fighting off any other gryphons that came close.

“Captain, are you alright?!” he asked through his teeth as they clenched his blade. The lieutenant dodged and parried a multitude of attacks in his efforts to protect his leader.

Eventually, Nedal was able to stand back up and get back in the fight. “I am fine,” he said. “We need to move! Down the mountain, cut through them if you must!” Nedal bellowed out his order so that all his remaining stallions could hear.

There were still a few gryphons up on the mountain with them, but Nedal could see more of them waiting at the perimeter of the compound, carrying various long and close-range weapons. As he heard the last few cries of slain gryphons fade away behind him, he thought about how they should best approach the compound below to destroy the gryphons who had control of it.

Before he could complete his thoughts, his lieutenant came up next to him. “Captain, we must fall back,” he said, panting, his fur and armor severely discolored. “We cannot possibly hope to take the compound successfully. There are simply too many of them.”

Nedal briefly considered that, but scrapped it when he thought about the humans down there. If he left now, they would be left alone, and as unlikely as it seemed, if they succeeded, he would look like a coward. He couldn’t allow that; he was the captain of the best assault troops in Saddle Arabia! No one was better than him, no soldiers were stronger than his. And if there was a chance that the humans could succeed, than he would definitely win with a decisive victory.

“No,” he said with finality. “We must attack them now, or all will be lost. We move forward.” Nedal started to walk forward, ignoring the pain in his body.

“Onward! We will not stop until we destroy this gryphon menace!” he bellowed, his voice carrying through the valley so that all might hear and fear him.

Now was the time for the real battle to begin.




> Operation: Red Tail PT 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Operation: Red Tail


Part Two





The SAR Team moved quietly through the first hallway of the large compound, moving in pairs; Malik and Hamid took the front, Duke and Frost took center, and Rashid and Aziz took the rear. Down the hallway, there were several doors on either side as well as entrances into other hallways. Excellent places to be ambushed.

“Eyes on our flanks,” Duke warned. “And keep your weapons ready.”

Duke and Frost had their weapons up and constantly scanned the halls, listening and watching for enemy movement. It was a little suspect, that there was so little movement inside, but given Nedal’s hillside assault, it wasn’t terribly surprising. Even so, they had to be on their guards.

They came upon a set of doors, one on the right and one on the left. Breaking into their two groups, Frost took Malik and Hamid and stacked onto the door on the right, while Duke took Rashid and Aziz on the left. The two humans checked the hall for any approaching hostiles, and when they saw no one, looked once to each other. After a quick nod, the humans turned back to the doors and tests the knobs. They were unlocked.

Swiftly and silently, the humans pushed the doors open and moved inside, followed immediately by their equine companions. On the left door, Duke and his stallions looked over the room and saw nothing. There were no hostiles, nor any sign of either OGA or this Blueblood character in the room. There were some cots, probably where some of the gryphons outside had been sleeping, but other than a few feathers on them, there was nothing else of interest.

On the left, Frost went in with his stallions and found a similar, but more occupied, room. Inside, he found himself face to face with a gryphon on a cot, holding a very small bird in its arms, looking terrified at him. As the stallions rushed, the presumably female gryphon held her baby much closer, fear of the stallions taking it away dominating her expression.

“Ma’am, stay quiet, we won’t-” Frost was interrupted by a shout from the side of the room.

“Who are you!?” a male voice boomed.

Frost turned around to see a very large, very angry-looking gryphon standing over another cot, this one with another small gryphon in it. Frost turned his weapon in his direction.

“Get down and stay down,” he ordered.

The gryphon looked horrified when Frost pointed his weapon at him, but suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, his face took on a twisted look of rage and, screaming, he lunged at the human.

Frost reacted quickly, lowering his stance and removing his finger from the trigger of his weapon. With one quick motion, he did a fast barrel strike, hitting the gryphon just under the beak. The gryphon fell back a little, stunned, and was immediately tackled to the floor by Malik and Hamid, landing just before the cot with the other small gryphon in it.

He attempted to struggle out, but his efforts were in vain. Frost ran up to him and knelt beside him.

“What do you want?!” the gryphon asked in a panic, looking back to his mate and chick on the other cot.

“We want Blueblood and a human, where are they?”

The gryphon was hyperventilating at this point, trying to reason with his foes. “I don’t know, they don’t keep me in the loop! I’m just here because I can read and write!”

Frost stood up and sighed. “Fine,” he said. “You take your wife and kids and leave, this is no place for civilians. And don’t tell your buddies out there that we’re in here.”

The stallions looked up at Frost with incredulity. “You cannot be serious, Frost!” Malik shouted. “He’s the enemy, we cannot just let him go!”

“He’s a civilian, and we don’t harm civilians!” Frost said back, a little angry that Malik said that. “Now get off of him and let him go.”

The stallions glanced at each other, and, grumbling, released their prisoner. The gryphon shot up and grabbed his chick off the bed, causing it to stir a little, then grabbed his wife and other chick.

“You have honor, human,” he said.

“Just get out of here.”

The gryphon nodded and ran of, family in two, leaving Frost with his two stallions in the room. They looked at him with uncertainty after the gryphon was gone, but Frost simply ignored it and looked around, finding nothing. He left the room to regroup with Duke.

Duke was standing in the doorway to his room, and Frost did the same. “Anything?” Duke asked.

“Yeah, but nothing good,” Frost said, drawing a frown from Duke. “They have civvies here, like the houses in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

“Shit,” Duke responded heavily.

“Yeah. So we’re gonna have to stick to what we learned in Close Quarters Defense; shooting is less than ideal.” The men learned to hone their reflexes in CQD training, to rapidly decide who earned a bullet and who earned a quick barrel strike to the face. Of course, with civilians present, they had to avoid the risk of shooting them, so it was mostly going to be melee combat. They had done it in Iraq, so they could do it here too.

The team continued through the first floor, encountering little of interest or danger. There were no gryphons on this floor, at least not any more. All they found were empty rooms and molted feathers. There were kitchens and storage rooms, but the storage on this floor was just food and water.

As they finished up searching the last remaining room on the first floor, Duke got to thinking. If OGA or Blueblood were here at any point, who was to say that they hadn't already been evacuated from the compound? Why would they even still be here, given the assault, unless the gryphons were certain they could win the battle outside?

“This is bad,” Duke realized with dread. There were two major possibilities here; their targets weren’t here anymore, or Nedal was going to find himself in a battle far worse than they had imagined.

“Boss,” Frost said, walking up and tapping Duke’s shoulder. “What’s up?”

Duke brushed his hand off. “We need to move faster,” he replied. “Let’s find the next floor and get moving.” Frost looked concerned at him, but nodded and called over the stallions.

They exited the room and took a right, down the only hall they had yet to take. It was a short hall with no features, save for a door at the very end. It made the team uncomfortable, being in such an enclosed space with no way out on either side. They rushed through this last hall to the door, which Hamid ran up to and kicked in.

Malik was the first through the door, followed by Duke and then Hamid. They were in a stairwell now, with one flight going up and another going down. Duke took a position watching the stairs going up while the rest of the team filed in.

Frost came in and took in the situation. “Which way?” he asked.

“Up,” Duke replied quickly. “We need to clear the building first.”

The team moved back into their formation and went up the stairs, eyes watching every angle of exposure. Duke had always hated stairwells like this, where someone could take you from surprised from either the top or the bottom. There was no tactical advantage here, and everyone was set on edge.

They went up one flight and found the door to the second floor. “Frost,” Duke called quietly.

“Yeah?”

“You take your team and check this floor,” Duke ordered. “I’ll take my guys and we’ll secure the top floor. Try not to take longer than five minutes.”

“Rog’.” Frost clicked his tongue at Malik and Hamid, and they fell in behind him as he started up the stairs.

Duke watched them go for a moment, then turned to Rashid and Aziz. “We’re gonna move quick and clean and get out of this as fast as possible,” he said. “I’ll take center, Rashid takes the front. Aziz, rear guard.”

“Yes sir,” Aziz replied dutifully, moving to the back.

Once in their little formation, Rashid turned around and prepared to buck the door. When Duke nodded to him, Rashid reared up his hind legs and blasted them back out with tremendous force, sending the door flying open. Duke rushed in past Rashid, weapon up, and scanned the area. There were no hostiles present.

“Clear,” he announced, moving forward to allow room for his stallions to come in.

This floor was distinctly different from the first; it was a training room. It looked a lot like the training center in that camp in Afghanistan, Darunta, if Duke remembered correctly. There was plywood serving as walls all over the place, creating a maze for which the gryphons could train for close combat.

“Let’s do this quick,” Duke ordered, moving forward. “I don’t think we’re gonna find much.”

This time, the human took the lead, letting the two stallions file in behind him as he entered the plywood maze. The maze was much worse than Duke was expecting; the halls were a maximum of three meters long, and every break was a four-way intersection. The only places where it wasn’t were when the maze went up against the wall of the building itself.

At one of those walls, there was a window, looking out over the yard and up to the mountainside. As they passed by, Duke took a moment to stop and look outside.

“Oh, no...”

He could just see the battle in the darkness of the night, and he didn’t like what he was seeing. There were wounded gryphons down at the base of the mountain, nursing their wounds or being taken away because their injuries were too severe. Duke could count two stallions lying there as well, bloodied and broken from the roll down. As his eyes followed the mountainside up, he could see a mass of gryphons up around Nedal and his assault troops. They wouldn’t last long.

Without warning the stallions, Duke ran forward through the maze, eager to get through it as quickly as possible. He figured there wouldn’t be any hostiles here, not when they could be in actual combat, so he kept his weapon lower but pointing forward as he ran.

“Duke, wait!” Rashid shouted from behind. His words fell on deaf ears.

Duke continued forward until he found a plywood door. Uninterested in waiting, he raised his weapon and kicked the door down, remaining in his place afterward to make sure he could shoot any gryphons before they got to him. Inside, though, there was nothing but an empty chair and a piece of clothing on the ground.

The clothing caught Duke’s attention. Cautiously, now, he walked forward and knelt beside it. With the barrel of his gun, he prodded at it to make sure there were no explosives under it. Once he concluded it was safe, he lifted it up to get a better look at what it was.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said in a whisper. In his hands, he was holding a jacket. A human jacket.

Rashid and Aziz finally caught up to him, panting, and looked at what he was holding.

“What is that?” Rashid asked.

Duke stuffed the jacket under his plates. “Intel,” he replied. He pressed his finger to his ear. “Frost?”

There was a crackle of static. “Yeah boss?”

“OGA was here; I got a jacket that was definitely his.”

“Awesome.”

“Yeah,” Duke replied. “We’re done here, moving to the stairwell. Meet you there.”

“Roger, we’ll be there soon.” The mics went silent, and Duke took his team back to the staircase.



Frost stood before the door, ready for the breach. It was a big door this time, one that looked like it might need a couple of bucks to take down. Whatever was on the other side of it, it was something that they weren’t supposed to see.

When they went through the door to this floor, they were met with a beautiful sight; documents everywhere, on desks, on the floor, and some of it was even in English. He had forgotten to ask the gryphon from earlier how he could speak English, or Equish, whatever, but it didn’t seem important at the time. Nonetheless, he snagged whatever documents he could understand and stuffed them under his plates for later.

Malik was standing before the door, waiting for the order to smash it down. “Ready, Frost?” he asked, anxiousness in his voice.

Frost nodded. “Do it.”

Malik pulled his legs as close to himself as possible, then shot them back out toward the large door. When he struck, the door budged, almost opening enough for them to see inside, but not quite enough. Frustrated, Malik reared up again and sent one more driving charge at the door, knocking it clear off its hinges.

Frost ran inside, rifle up, and scanned the room.

He stopped not half a meter into the room; there were over a dozen gryphons inside, in the process of gearing up for battle. Some wore plated armor, while some went skins. They all had vicious looking blades on them, some of them serrated, and wore war paint all over their bodies. When Frost ran in, they just looked in his direction, shocked at the sudden entry.

Frost turned around and went back through the door.

“RUN!”

He bolted back toward the stairwell, followed closely by his stallions, the gryphons shouting and chasing after them. Frost made it to the doorway to the stairwell and turned around, taking his firing stance and firing a couple of bursts over the heads of his stallions. The stallions ducked, letting the bullets fly past them, and several screams sounded out from that way. 

Once the stallions were there, they leapt through the door and shut it behind them, taking jumping steps down the stairs.

Duke and his stallions were there, on the second level, looking up with confusion.

“Frost, what’s-”

“Just run!” Frost shouted at his partner, running past him down the stairs.

Duke looked up and saw the gryphons coming through the door, looking down at them with twisted rage on their faces. 

“Aw crap,” he said, turning tail and following Frost.

The team ran down the stairs, trying to make it to the bottom of the stairwell, but they didn’t make it before the gryphons were upon them. The gryphons dropped from the top, avoiding the stairs, and landed right next to them. Before the men could bring their guns around, a pair of gryphons swiped them away, sending them down the stairwell.

In response, the men drew their blades and slashed at their foes, both of them drawing blood. Frost was able to bring up his left arm and stuff the gryphon’s arm, then sent his FE9 through the opening and into the gryphon’s chest, then pulled it out and slashed at the gryphon’s neck. Duke maneuvered his knife quickly, getting it up into the neck of his opponent.

The stallions were handling the rest of the gryphons who were on them, bucking and punching wildly. Malik was able to buck a gryphon into the railing next to the stairs, breaking its back and sending it over. Rashid and Aziz took on a group of three, bucking one into another so that they could take the third alone. They were able to daze him with a punch, then buck him in the face, twisting his neck and breaking it. Turning their attention to the other two, they pulled out their blades and rushed them, stabbing them in their guts and ripping their blades to the sides, opening them wide.

Hamid fought off one by letting it grab him and then writhing out of it to get it in a headlock. Once there, he held it as tightly as possible for several seconds, causing it to pass out, then stomped on its neck.

The remaining few were up above, about to jump down. “Shit, we got more-”

Suddenly, the building began to shake violently, sending everyone stumbling about the stairwell. The gryphons held onto the railing, keeping themselves in place, while Hamid and Malik went stumbling down the stairs and the rest of the SAR Team tried to steady themselves on the ground.

“What the hell was that?” Rashid asked.

Duke felt something hit the top of his helmet. When he looked up, he saw massive cracks in the ceiling above him and in the walls of the stairwell. Slowly, the building was shifting, the cracks getting larger and bigger pieces of it falling down.

Duke yanked his stallions off the ground and grabbed Frost. “Go, go, get to the basement!”

Above them, the gryphons were screeching, but the sounds were quickly drowned out by the loud rumble of the building. The team ran down the stairs, spotting Hamid and Malik at the bottom at the start of a long hall. When the two stallions saw them and the crumbling building behind them, they turned around and fled for the safety of the hall behind them.

Right as they reached the base of the stairs, a loud, continuous crash came from behind them, followed by a wave of dust and debris following them down the hall. The ground beneath them shook especially violently now, sending everyone to the ground and scrambling to get away from the doomed building.

The rumbling slowed to a stop as they crawled, eliciting them to stand up and look back. Unfortunately, they couldn’t see a thing in the pure darkness.

“Frost, drop your nods,” Duke ordered.

Frost pulled down his night-vision from his helmet and looked around, letting his eyes adjust for a moment. Once they did, he could see a sea of green over everything, and a bright shine in the eyes of his comrades who looked at him. Duke was already wearing his night-vision, checking to make sure everything was working, and sighed.

“What the hell was that?” Aziz asked anxiously.

“I don’t know, but I would bet that it has to do with everything outside,” Duke replied, turning to see the hall. It wasn’t actually a hall after approximately twenty meters, more of a long cavern. It must have lead into the mountains. “And I also bet it doesn’t matter.”

“We still have a job to do,” Frost said authoritatively. “Let’s go in there and do it.”

The two humans grabbed their stallions and held them by their manes, leading them through the darkness to whatever hostility lurked in the caves ahead.


***************************************************************************


Nedal picked up the gryphon before him and threw it to the ground, knocking the wind out of its lungs, then stomped on its throat to silence it permanently. He was standing in the middle of the battle, bruised and bloodied, though much of the blood wasn’t his. Around him, the battle raged, screams of pain, rage, and warfare ringing perpetually ringing out.

He and his troops were in a bad way up here; the enemy numbers were seemingly unending, and he had already lost ten of his troops. With only fifteen left, it was questionable whether or not he would be able to take the compound.

Of course, he couldn’t even begin to think that. “Push on, stallions!” he bellowed. “Not much farther!”

They were almost at the bottom of the hill, just before the perimeter wall of the compound. It wasn’t too tall, a wall they could easily jump over, but it was what lay on the other side that could cause trouble. There could be anything; more gryphons, waiting for them, traps, or worse, new obstacles placed there since the battle started.

Nedal pushed forward, his assault troops following as quickly as they could through the hail of enemies. It took a great effort, but soon, he and his troops were at the wall, though they were pinned up against it by the mass of gryphons on them. The stallions did their best to fight them off, but the enemy numbers were quickly becoming overwhelming.

Nedal could see this coming. “Over the wall!” he ordered.

From where they were, they wouldn’t be able to jump over the wall, so they had to form up steps out of their bodies. Three stallions pressed themselves into the walls to make the steps, while the remaining twelve took turns climbing up and jumping over. As their own numbers on this side of the wall dwindled, the force of the gryphons seemed to grow stronger and stronger.

Nedal leapt up onto the back of a stallion and jumped over. He should have been the first one over, something he would be incredibly sore about later, but that didn’t matter at the moment. He was one of the last three over the wall, so in a way, he was holding off the enemy for the rest of his team.

Right as he jumped over, he could hear the screams of one of his stallions from that side of the wall pierce the air, followed by two more. Those three soldiers would not die in vain.

This side of the wall offered little reprieve. While there were fewer gryphons here, the mass of them could just fly over the wall and attack from above. There were very possibly more in the compound, but Nedal wasn’t worried about them; they were Duke and Frost’s problem.

Nedal and his assault troops ran from the wall, eager to get away from where they had previously been pinned, and formed up a circle. The twelve stallions drew their blades, some even pulled out a few explosives from the river compound, and waited. Thee gryphons from this side of the wall were slowly approaching them, seemingly unsure, while an eerie silence beckoned from the other side of the wall.

“Sir,” a voice said.

“Yes, lieutenant?” Nedal replied, in no mood to talk right now. “I wasn’t sure you made it.”

“I’m not that easy to kill,” the lieutenant replied. “But sir, I think we may want to move soon.”

“Why would we need to-”

Suddenly, a vehement screech rang through the air, deafening the soldiers and catching the attention of the gryphons around them. Everyone looked toward the source, the other side of the wall. Some began to shake.

“That would be why,” the lieutenant said.

Nedal was about to give the order for everyone to move toward the building when the gryphons at the wall flew up into the air, beaks bloodied and animalistic looks in their eyes. Nedal had never seen anything look this bloodthirsty, this ready to kill whatever they could. It was the first time he ever felt real fear.

They rose up as high as they could, and, with incredible speed, they flew down, dive-bombing at the soldiers with no regard to their own safety. Nedal shouted for his soldiers to tighten the circle and brace for the impact, preparing himself for a fight to the death.

But before the gryphons were upon them once again, a glowing orange orb flew through the air in their general direction. The gryphons didn’t seem to notice the item, not stopping, and flew right into it, resulting in a massive explosion that shook the entire area. Bodies and parts of bodies were scattered about by the force of the bomb, and sending the remaining dive-bombers in random directions, many straight into the ground.

Nedal looked to his left; his lieutenant had thrown the bomb. After throwing it, he turned around and faced the majority of the gryphons behind them, blade drawn and one explosive left in his pouch.

Nedal turned with him. “Go go go!” he shouted.

His soldiers bellowed and ran forward into the group of gryphons, at least forty strong, and the gryphons charged right back. When the twelve stallions collided with the forty gryphons, all hell broke loose.

The sound of clattering metal, sword on sword, sword on armor, all of it, took over the air. There was no room to use explosives here, it would kill too many of Nedal’s own troops. They were forced to fight in close, exhausted, battered and bloody, and they were looking like they would lose.

Nedal spotted a space next to the building that looked like it would be highly defensible. With a dash of energy and speed, he ran from the major battle and checked it out. It was a generator room, and the generator used highly flammable, pressurized propane gas, and it was massive. If the generator were hit, it would be capable of taking down a four story building.

“Damn,” Nedal muttered to himself. He kept a note of it and ran back to the battle; it was no defensible location.

He didn’t need to go far; his stallions followed him, along with the battle, and they were right on the generator room. Nedal went to run forward when a curved blade sliced down through the air just before his face, giving him just enough time to respond to it by jumping sideways and stuffing his blade into the chest of the gryphon responsible. With a loud scream, the gryphon fell back and onto the ground, never to move again.

Nedal pushed his way through the battle to the center, where he saw his lieutenant fighting a group of three gryphons. It looked like one had managed to get a shot on him, as there was blood coming from under his armor on his side, and they were about to overpower him and kill him. Not one to let his officers die, Nedal rushed in.

He came in from behind the gryphons and shoved his blade into the neck of one, severing the brain stem and causing a quick death. The other two had yet to notice, so he quickly dispatched one while his lieutenant charged the other and reared around for a buck. As Nedal cut the throat of his gryphon, his lieutenant’s buck drew a sickening snap from the gryphon, sending it flying backwards and onto the ground.

Nedal moved to be flank-to-flank with his officer. “How goes your battle?” he asked, panting.

“Well enough,” the lieutenant replied. “Though I am worrying.”

“About what?” Nedal asked. He didn’t like the sound of that; his soldiers weren’t allowed to worry.

“That.” His lieutenant was only looking one way, so Nedal turned around to see what it was.

It was a small army of gryphons approaching their position from the valley, the area where the SAR Team approached. There must have been another area in the valley where there were gryphons, because numbers like this were never even conceived in the war room. The approaching gryphons all shined in the moonlight, indicating the presence of armor, and they were closing fast. They could be here in a matter of minutes, possibly less.

Nedal had to think now or he wouldn’t get to think again. There was no way his no longer twelve, beaten, and exhausted stallions could fight off this force, even he could admit that. But that was where his soldiers were better; they were more efficient, smarter. They could think of unorthodox solutions to standard problems to come out of them as unscathed as possible.

“That’s it!” Nedal shouted.

“What’s it, sir?”

“Give me your last bomb!” Nedal ordered, sticking his hoof out. Nervously, his lieutenant gave him the bomb, treating it gingerly, like a child, and Nedal snatched it from his hoof.

He new exactly what he had to do. The battle was winding down here, but soon, the army of gryphons would be upon them. Maybe twenty seconds. He moved about the battlefield, running over the bodies of his foes and comrades, getting into a good position to throw the bomb exactly where he needed to. If he did this wrong, it could be catastrophic to his troops’ chances of surviving this ordeal.

“More gryphons incoming!” one of his soldiers yelled. The gryphons were just over them now, ready to swoop down and finish what their dead friends started. Nedal waited, it had to be just right before he could throw.

And the gryphons descended on the stallions, almost all at once.

“Goodbye, you fowl sons of bitches!”

Nedal threw the bomb into the generator room.

There was a massive explosion, throwing Nedal away from the building and over thirty meters toward the wall, where he smashed into it with a loud crack, and everything went black.

> Operation: Red Tail PT 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Operation: Red Tail






Duke and Frost led their stallions through the dark at a slow, deliberate pace. On the ground around them were chunks of rock of varying sizes, jagged-edged and risky to step on. The men and stallions were forced to step around them to avoid rolling ay ankles.

Duke and Frost could see the door at the end of the hall through their nightvision optics. It was a large door, very large, made of metal with a large handle toward the side. It almost looked like a blast-resistant door. It was clearly the type that would slide to the side, rather than open in or out. Duke felt a little bit of anxiety release from his body at the sight; it meant that the breach would be a little safer.

They reached the door, and Duke brought his stallions over to the side, away from where the door would open. Upon seeing this, Frost did the same.

“Frost,” Duke whispered. “Take the door.”

Frost nodded and slung his weapon over his shoulder, then placed his hands on the door handle. With a loud grunt and a huge pull, he yanked on the door. It didn’t move.

“Malik, Hamid, help me out!” Frost said loudly.

The two stallions navigated through the dark, with aid from Duke, over to the door. Once next to Frost, Malik grabbed the waistline of his pants with his teeth, while Hamid moved to the other side to push.

“At least take me out to dinner first, Malik,” Frost said with a chuckle. Malik didn’t get it.

As the door started moving, Duke positioned himself at the opening, weapon pointing through. He was prepared to flip up his nightvision if it proved necessary, but on the other side of the door, there was more darkness. After the first couple of feet, the door started screeching loudly as it moved, forcing the stallions to cover their ears to protect their sensitive hearing. The men ignored it, though it was painful for them, and kept their attention on their tasks.

When the door was all the way open, Frost pulled his weapon back up and joined Duke before the entrance.

“I don’t like this, boss,” he said trepidatiously.

“Me neither,” Duke responded. “But since when did that even matter?”

The men rounded up their respective stallions and advanced through the door. As they moved, the team did its best to maintain as much noise discipline as possible, carefully trying to avoid stepping on anything particularly noisy. The problem wasn’t so much stepping on something noisy, though, as it was tripping and falling.

On the other side of the door was a large room filled with boxes and crates of varying sizes. They were laid out all over the place, some in piles, some standing alone. From somewhere within the groups of boxes, voices could be heard arguing about something.

Duke and Frost led the team further into the total darkness of the room. The stallions were feeling much more nervous about the room, as they could not see, and were having a hard time keeping themselves under control. Duke and Frost had experience with this sort of thing; the stallions had never done anything quite like this before.

They entered the groups of crates and moved about, trying to navigate throguh, looking for anything that might indicate an important hostage. Most of the crates were labeled in a language other than English, though, possibly Arabic. It was frustrating work, since the stallions could neither see the crates nor put the nightvision on. The men were forced to use other methods to determine what lay inside, like knock on a crate and wait for a response or try to peer inside.

Many of the crates were too small to fit a person, though, and they were able to simply push on forward. The voices were still arguing somewhere, but they were sounding increasingly loud. That was good; if their argument got too loud, they wouldn’t necessarily hear the team passing by.

Duke was at the front of the group when they found a pair of gryphons, the arguing ones.

“Hold,” Duke whispered into his comms.

Frost moved up next to him and took a look. “Boss, this isn’t good,” he said.

“You’re telling me.”

In front of them was a gryphon in civilian dress, no war paint, no weapons. He was holding a clipboard, some kind of manifest, and a bright light, looking around at the crates. In front of him was some other gryphon, this one wearing armor and a sword, taking a verbal beating.

“Can you even comprehend what I am telling you!?” the civilian gryphon asked. The other did not respond. “I don’t think you do.” He was speaking Equish.

“Boss, I think he may be a bad guy,” Frost said, getting his weapon ready.

“No weapon,” Duke replied. “Do not engage.”

The gryphon was still shouting. “If we are going to transport prisoners, they have to be fed and kept alive. We cannot just let them die.” The gryphon looked at the crates. “I’ll not transport them inside wooden boxes.”

The other gryphon responded in a gruff tone with a difficult accent, to which the civilian replied very calmly, and they walked off, still talking.

“You hear that?” Duke asked rhetorically. “No crates.”

“Good,” Frost replied. “No more time with those, then.”

The team got moving, trying to move in a similar direction to the gryphons, through the room. The floor was starting to get smoother as they went, like the rock was being replaced by polished tile or stone. Looking around, Frost could see lights up on the ceiling through his nightvision. Whatever had taken out the power had affected the cave system as well, apparently. But no intelligent fighter would forget to have backup power in his cave system.

The team reached the other end of the room, where the entrance to another passage awaited them. There was no door, and the passage was rather narrow, forcing them to move in pairs. Duke sent Aziz and Rashid in first, then grabbed Frost and went, followed lastly by Malik and Hamid. The new floor clicked and clacked under the hooves of the stallions, making the men wince every time a step was taken.

The passage had several other passages coming off of it, and the team was forced to check each one for the man and stallio they were looking for. The first few were just dead ends, where more weapons and gear were being stored. A couple led to training rooms, come with physical training, others with mockups of places inside.

The team went into a room, still in the dark, and took a moment to rest.

“Boss, I don’t much like this place,” Frost said.

“Oh? And why might that be?”

“It reminds me of the stories of Zhawar Kili. That place was a huge terrorist training ground with thousands of tons of weapons. If this place is similar on any level, it would take us weeks to search the whole thing.”

Duke considered this for a moment. If Frost was right, that was absolutely true. They might spend weeks searching this place and come up with nothing, and that would be if they managed to kill all the enemy combatants inside. As it was, they had no support, and there was no chance of them actually managing such a feat.

All this threatened to make Duke get frustrated.

“We’re still going,” he ordered. “If we don’t find him, we’ll just have to leave. Odds aren’t that he’ll still be here after this assault.”

“Roger.”

The team got back up and left the room to move out. As they left, they listened intently for any potential hostiles down the passage. When they heard nothing, they took the same direction they were going in before and moved as quickly as possible.

Further down the passage was the end, splitting off into two more passages that went perpendicular to the current one they were in. Duke decided to lead his team down the right passage. Down the right passage, Duke could see the entrance to another cavern.

They entered the next cavern and found themselves in another storage room. This one was different, though. It had cages all over the place, some with wild-looking animals in them, most empty. Those were just the ones they could see, though.

“This looks promising,” Duke thought. “Alright, spread out and search,” he ordered the group. Frost nodded and took Malik and Hamid and went off in one direction while Duke took his stallions and went off in another. 

Frost, still attached to his stallions, led them through the area slowly and quietly, trying to avoid waking up any animals. Some of them were familiar, like dogs or coyotes. Others, though, were entirely alien to him. One of the cages was enormous, and contained a large number of what looked like wooden wolves with leaves for ears.

Frost took a moment to look at them. “This world just gets weirder and weirder every time we find something,” he thought.

They kept on going, glancing into each of the cages, trying to find either this prince or OGA. They had heard a few patrols of gryphons, though from the lack of armor and the way they spoke, it was clear that they weren’t combatants. They were probably just taking care of or training the animals, not actually taking part in the fighting. The team couldn’t engage them.

They kept moving, maintaining their silence and listening for enemies.

“Sir,” Hamid said.

“Yeah?”

A moment of silence. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Frost asked, growing hopeful.

“I heard some groaning in the distance, like someone is in pain,” Hamid said. “Might be Blueblood.”

“Alright, good ear,” Frost said. He keyed his mic. “Boss?”

“Yeah?”

“We might have a lead on finding Blueblood. We’re gonna follow it.”

“Roger that.”

Frost turned back to Hamid. “What direction?” he asked.

“Directly ahead.”

“Okay, stick to me and let’s move out.”

Frost moved forward, stallions in two, and started listening hard for any signs of their targets. His hearing wasn’t as good as the stallions’, so it was definitely good to have them here. While Frost listened for the groans, Hamid and Malik listened for any enemies that might come by. They heard nothing.

Frost heard the groans up ahead. “There you are,” he whispered.

He moved forward more quickly, eager to find one of the targets, and found a medium-sized cage sitting against a wall. Inside, he could see a stallion with what might have been a white coat and a light name. He had a horn, which bothered Frost, but what bothered him more was the fact that it was severely damaged. Halfway up from the base, the horn was jagged and looked like someone had broken it off. The stallion’s body was bruised, and he wasn’t sounding fantastic.

Frost keyed his mic. “Boss, we got Blueblood.”

“Alright, good. Get him and prepare to bring him with us.”

Frost nodded and turned to his stallions. “Any ideas on how to open this cage?” he asked.

Hamid shook his head, but Malik nodded. “I brought with me a crowbar,” he said, pulling it off of his back. “You said to bring whatever gear we would need.”

“Attaboy,” Frost said, taking the crowbar.

Frost took the crowbar and looked at the lock. It was a padlock, and an old one at that. Figuring the inside was probably rusted to weakness, and stuck one end of the crowbar into the shackle of the lock and set it tight so it wouldn’t move.

Being the only one who could see, Frost decided he should give the kick to open it up. He stepped back and, with as much force as he could muster, thrust his foot forward and into the crowbar. With a loud clang, the mechanisms inside the lock broke, allowing the shackle of the lock to slide out and open the lock.

The noise was loud, so they had to act fast. Frost took the lock off the door and tossed it aside, running inside and grabbing Blueblood. He threw Blueblood over his shoulder, grabbed his stallions, and quickly ran off.

He keyed his mic. “Boss, we got him. Moving back to the entrance now.”

“Roger, meet you there.”

There was shouting somewhere in the room as Frost led his stallions away from the cage. Frost knew that the didn’t have long before the gryphons figured out what happened, so he hurried up his pace away from the room. At the entrance to the room, he spotted Duke and his stallions.

“Frost,” Duke said.

“Duke.” Frost looked up at Blueblood. “He doesn’t look too great, but nothing too severe,” he said. “We need to get him out.”

“I know. We’re pulling out now. I overheard some guards talking about OGA; they’ve already moved him. He’s not in Saddle Arabia any more. Hasn’t been for a couple of days now.”

“Shit,” Frost replied.

“Yeah. So let’s get the hell out of here.”

As they exited the large room filled with cages, the shouts from behind grew louder and more alarmed. It was a safe bet that they had discovered or at least suspected the lack of a stallion prince in his cage, so speed was critical. The way the team came into the caves wouldn’t work, so they would have to find a new way out and fast. Otherwise, they would be forced to fight their way out of the caves.

As they exited, Frost handed off Blueblood to Aziz, who moved to the center of the group to provide maximum protection for the prince. Frost stayed next to him, while Duke took the lead, with the stallions surrounding Aziz as much as they could in the narrow passages.

They ran down the halls for several minutes, with Duke leading them in whatever direction went up. The higher up they went, the more likely they were to locate an exit to escape. Hooves and boots thudded against the ground, stamping the ground down beneath them.

After around ten more minutes of running, Duke spotted a light up ahead.

“Slow down,” he ordered, going from running to crouching. “I think I see our way out up ahead.”

The team moved up and grouped together, looking out ahead. Frost could see the light at the end easily, and even the stallions could see it a little bit. With newfound determination, the team got back up and made its way forward swiftly and silently.

They advanced through the passage and took a right turn, where the light had been shining off of a rock at the end of the passage. Around the corner, the way out was in clear view. They moved up to a small ridge over a large open space that lead out into the open.

But the way out was blocked by enemy fighters. There were over a dozen of them visible, working and moving about with crates of varying sizes. They seemed to be working at a hectic pace, sounding panicked and rushed as they moved. If the team played its cards right, it would be able to slip right past them in their distracted state.

The men flipped up their nightvision and let their eyes acclimate.

“How’re we gonna go about this one, boss?” Frost asked. “I see three ways we can do this.”

“I think I see what you see,” Duke replied. “Care to share?”

“Well, we can sneak around them, sticking to the walls,” Frost explained, pointing at the perimeter of the room. “Though there isn’t a lot to use to hide that way.”

“Or we could use the shadows and sneak our way out through the crowds,” Duk added. “But if we get made, it’s death.”

“Yep.” Frost put his hands on his rifle. “Or we could shoot our way out. I don’t think I need to say why that’ll fail.”

“Nope.” Duke looked at the situation and didn’t see much. “An ideas, stallions?”

Aziz set Blueblood on the ground. “Sir, I think that either you or Frost should stay with me and the prince,” he said. “We don’t want to risk him being taken away, and you are the best-equipped fighters.”

“Very well,” Duke said. “Frost, you’ll definitely stick with Aziz, though I would like for us all to stay together. You’re assigned to him for now.”

“Roger,” Frost replied.

“Any other ideas?” Duke asked.

Rashid was looking at the obstacle ahead. “I can’t think of anything, other than that we need to move soon. The enemy probably isn’t too far behind us.”

Duke looked to Malik and Hamid, but they had nothing either. The only option they had to have a chance at escaping alive was to take the perimeter.

“Dammit, we’re going along the side.” He didn’t like it, but it was necessary. “I’ll take point, keep a tight perimeter. If we get made, Aziz runs for the exit while the rest of us cover. Questions?” There were none. “Let’s go.”

Duke slowly made his way down first, followed by Rashid, then Aziz. Malik and Hamid went down next, followed by Frost, who was providing cover from up high during the descent. Once everyone was down, they hugged the wall and slowly moved around the perimeter.

There were piles of boxes and crates around the room, providing them some modicum of cover, but not much. When they were particularly exposed, the team had to rush forward, keeping low, to avoid detection by the busy gryphons. Thankfully, none of them seemed to be paying attention to the walls.

The team took cover behind a stack of crates. “Alright,” Duke whispered, drawing his teammates in close. “The exit is just ten meters that way. Move fast and get out there as quick as you can.”

“I’ll take point,” Frost said. “And Aziz will come right behind me.”

“Alright.” Duke poked his head out of cover. “Ready... go!”

Frost burst out of the cover and made a beeline for the exit, followed instantly by Aziz with Blueblood on his back. An instant later, Malik and Hamid ran, followed by Duke, and then Rashid. The team was running at full sprint, with Frost already at the exit, sitting behind a rock and providing cover. Quickly, Aziz made his way there, along with Malik.

Hamid was almost at the entrance when a gryphon suddenly walked out from behind a pile of crates. The stallion crashed into the gryphon, sending them both stumbling to the ground in a heap of confusion. Duke’s heart rate suddenly spiked as the gryphon started to get up.

The gryphon looked right at Hamid. “Intruder!” it shouted.

Duke was on it with his knife in its neck, but it was too late; as the body crashed to the ground, the rest of the gryphons were already looking over at him and Hamid. Rashid ran right past the human, realizing what was about to come.

Duke ran forward and yanked Hamid from the ground. “Go, go!” he shouted.

The gryphons screeched as they flew into the air to pursue the invaders. Duke and Hamid managed to get outside before the gryphons were upon them, just able to get into a defensive stance before they were attacked. Frost, Malik, and Rashid were all standing around Aziz, trying to keep the path clear enough for him to keep moving.

The gryphons landed all over the place, looking over the group, searching for their prisoner. They could clearly see that Duke and Hamid were on their own, and that there was someone on the back of the middle stallion of the other group. One of them jumped back into the air and looked straight at Aziz.

“Get the prince!”

The gryphons were upon the team like sharks on seals. Three of them went after Duke and Hamid, while the remainder, a total of nine, went after Frost’s group.

One of the gryphons before Duke took a swipe at his face, which Duke managed to duck low and counter with a barrel strike to parry away the gryphon’s other arm. Before he could bring his MP7 back around to shoot, another gryphon came along and blocked his arm. Duke responded by promptly dropping the gun and pulling his hands back to get his sidearm, which he pulled out of its holster and pushed forward, letting loose two shots into the gryphon’s chest.

While this went on, Hamid took on the one other gryphon attacking them, keeping his neck out of harm’s way and trying to get into a position to counter. The gryphon went for a grab on the stallion’s neck, trying to squeeze at his arteries and cut into them with his claws. Hamid avoided the garb and dodged left, putting him outside the gryphon’s guard. He lunged forward and bit down on the gryphon’s arm, dragging it down to the ground. With the gryphon on the ground, Hamid lifted up his hind leg and stomped down on the gryphon’s neck, breaking it.

He turned around and looked at Duke’s situation, seeing that one gryphon was down while the other was doing everything possible to keep the small firearm away from it. Hamid couldn’t jump over Duke, not with so little space to run. Instead, he rolled to the side,putting himself into a position to strike from the side.

As he rolled up, he pulled his legs in close, ready to spring forward. When he was fully prepared, he launched himself forward and into the gryphon, knocking him to the side. Caught off guard, Duke looked on for just a moment, then lunged for his primary weapon. As he did so, Hamid pulled his knife and stabbed the gryphon in the neck, then ripped the blade out sideways to cause maximum damage.

Way from them, Frost and the rest of the stallions were not faring too well. The nine gryphons on them were proving to be too many. Frost stuck close to Aziz, keeping his rifle pointed up and trying to acquire targets without risking shooting his own teammates. With all the movement, though, he was unable to safely fire, and so slung his rifle, instead pulling out his FE9.

Rashid was engaged in furious close-combat with two gryphons, keeping one of them between himself and the other to prevent it from getting a point of attack. The gryphon was taking swipes at his head and chest, Rashid blocking all of them with his foreleg. Malik had three on him, though he was not faring so well as Rashid; he had several cuts on him already.

Frost only had three before him as well, leaving the final gryphon unaccounted for. He had no time to look, though, as the gryphons were attacking him. The first gryphon launched itself into the air and came down hard, while one of his comrades came at Frost from the ground. Frost couldn’t move aside to get out of the way or they would have a straight shot at Aziz, so he had to stand his ground. When the gryphons were upon him, he acted quickly.

The gryphon from the ground reached him first, thrusting its claw forward. Frost stopped it short by shoving his hand into the crook of its elbow, then brought his knife around and stabbed it in the side of its neck. As he pulled the blade out, the gryphon from the air was already at him, forcing Frost to put up his left arm to block. The gryphon’s claw tore at his arm, creating three large gashes, but Frost’s arm held, and he countered with a stab straight up into the gryphon’s chest.

The third gryphon thought it to be a good time to attack, and lunged forward. Before Frost could react, though, it stopped short and stepped back. Figuring it was on the defensive, Frost stepped forward to go for the kill.

Rashid headbutted the gryphon before him and knocked the breath out of it, leaving it heaving on the ground. With one incapacitated, he was able to focus on the other. He pulled out his knife and moved forward to battle.

Before he made it, though, he felt a sharp pain in his left hind leg. When he turned to look, he saw that the gryphon on the ground had clawed his leg, getting its talons in about two centimeters. He promptly removed his leg from the gryphon’s grasp and fired it back down at the gryphon’s neck, while at the same time, holding up his knife to defend his neck from the other attacker. It was a good idea, too; the other tried to slash at his neck with its talons, instead cutting its claw on the blade.

Malik could feel himself growing tired, blood flowing from his wounds and body battered. He had to fight on, though. He had his knife out and slashed at the gryphon before him, ut the gryphon dodged easily and moved underneath. Malik tried to bring up the knife to defend against it, but before he could, the gryphon had him by the neck, squeezing tight. Another gryphon advanced on him and thrust its talons into his hind leg, though the stallion couldn’t scream due to his crushed neck. Just before he blacked out, he saw the third gryphon move on past him, murder in its eyes.

Aziz faced down the gryphon with intense determination not to be taken down. The prince was still on his back, but seeing as they could not harm the prince to severely, he would serve as a sort of armor for Aziz while he fought. The gryphon clearly knew this, as it was hesitant to advance on the stallion with the knife in his teeth. Aziz scanned the gryphon’s stance for any openings, finding several easily exploitable areas. He moved the knife in his teeth to be better positioned for the kill.

Aziz felt an unexpected explosion of pain from his right side, drawing a loud gasp from him. The pain then repeated itself up toward his shoulder, causing him to collapse to the ground, dropping the prince. He turned his head around; the ninth gryphon was standing over him, a smug grin on his beak, blood on his claws. Without waiting for anything, the gryphon picked up Prince Blueblood, shouted something Aziz couldn’t catch and flew off.

The gryphon before Frost jumped into the air and flew away, giving Frost a moment to look behind him. There, he saw Aziz bleeding on the ground and the gryphons flying off with Prince Blueblood in two.

“NO!” he shouted, bringing up his rifle to fire. He aimed it at the gryphons around the one carrying Blueblood and fired off three short bursts, knocking one of them out of the sky.

Duke witnessed this, but instead of running to shoot at the gryphons, he ran to Aziz. Duke knelt down next to the stallion and looked at his face; it was growing pale. As the blood flowed out, he put his hand to the stallion’s neck; nothing.

“Dammit,” he muttered.

Frost turned around. “They got away,” he said, sounding defeated.

“Yeah,” Duke replied. He stood. “Grab Aziz, I’ll check Malik.” Frost’s face fell at the sight of Aziz’s body, but he picked the body up off the ground anyway. No one gets left behind.

Duke checked Malik and felt relieved to find a pulse and no serious, life-threatening wounds. “Rashid, Hamid, help me out,” Duke ordered.

The stallions came over to help lift Malik off the ground. When Duke went to put Malik o his back, Hamid stopped him.

“I will carry him, sir,” he said. Duke nodded and handed him off to Hamid. Over with Frost, Rashid was taking Aziz off of Frost’s back.

With their casualties taken and bodies beaten, Duke took in their surroundings. They were toward the top of the mountain, right around the area where they staged from. He could see the compound from here, almost directly below them. If the gryphons had come out of here earlier, they would already have all been dead. They came into this operation with almost no usable intel.

They started down the mountain toward what looked like the remains of the compound. With the collapse earlier, there would likely not be any more gryphons there, and if Nedal and his assault troops did survive, they would have the area under some control.

The team moved down the side of the mountain a their own pace, none too eager to see the fruits of their hard labor, nothing but the sounds of their boots and hooves against the ground to accompany them.

> Recovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Recovery





The team walked down the mountain dejected and angry. They had lost Blueblood at the last possible second, Aziz was dead, and if they weren’t quick about it, Malik might join him. The op was a total failure, nothing gained in any sense.

Duke and Frost took the front while Rashid, carrying Aziz, and Hamid, carrying Malik, trailed behind. If one of them were to fall, someone would have to catch them, and if both fell, both would need someone. The men had their weapons slung over their shoulders, as they didn’t believe that anything would come after them at this point that they couldn’t deal with more ammo-efficiently.

They had been walking for over an hour at a painfully slow pace, making sure that no one tripped or got hurt on the way down. The last thing they would need was for someone to get injured when carrying one injured teammate and one dead one.

Duke looked out forward and tried to gauge the original site of the compound, before the caves. It was too dark, so he dropped his nightvision for just a moment. What he saw was disheartening, but not unexpected; the compound was pretty much gone. There was rubble everywhere, very little movement, and probably not much in the way of life any more. He flipped his nightvision back up.

“Let’em know we’re coming,” Duke whispered to himself.

He pulled out his flare gun, checking the chamber to make sure there was a flare inside. Frost noticed him do this and decided to take his own out. While Frost got his out, Duke pointed his straight up into the sky and fired it, sending a bright red flare shooting up into the otherwise peaceful night sky. The light from the flare lit up the area around them for the brief moment it was close enough to do so, letting any survivors know that they were coming.

Frost didn’t fire his flare. “So Duke,” he said.

“Hm?” Duke replied.

“You think we got anyone left down there?” Frost asked, concerned.

Duke looked back at the rubble. “Not sure,” he said. “I sure hope so.”

“What if there are gryphons down there?” Fost asked. “We just told them we’re coming.”

Duke realized he was still carrying the flare gun and put it away. From over his shoulder, he put his MP7 back in his hand and checked the magazine, making sure there was plenty of ammo left. His sidearm was good, he remembered, and his knife was back in its sheath. He was ready for one more fight.

“If there are gryphons down there,” he said, staring intensely at the compound. “We kill ‘em all.”

Frost just nodded and kept on forward. Duke slung his weapon back over his shoulder and took a look back at Hamid and Rashid. They were looking exhausted, having to carry their casualties and all their gear. Feeling bad for them, Duke slowed down so that he would be next to them. 

“I can take some of his gear off,” Duke suggested to Rashid as he moved next to him. “Make him lighter.”

“Please do, sir,” Rashid replied. “I am growing tired.”

Duke took most of the gear off of Aziz’s body and just tossed it aside, seeing no use in keeping a dead stallion’s gear, save for the mic. Once that was done, he moved over to Hamid to help take some of Malik’s gear off. He had to decide what was important on Malik, though, since the stallion was still alive.

Frost was still at the front of the group, getting a little farther than he would have liked. He opted to stop and wait for them to come by, taking a look around as he waited. There was nothing to look at, of course, but still. Maybe he would spot something useful.

Instead, he heard what sounded like wings flapping in the air. With a sigh, he turned in their direction to face what was most likely an enemy fighter, and sure enough, he spotted a gryphon closing the distance between them fast. Before he could pull up his HK416, though, the gryphon landed not ten feet from him.

“Human!” he shouted angrily. “You have caused great damage to our plans in this country!”

“Well, it wasn’t just me,” Frost replied. “I have friends who helped. We also weren’t the ones who blew your house to kingdom come.”

“It matters not!” the gryphon said aggressively. “You have caused us great trouble, and you must die for your insolence!”

The gryphon prepared to attack. Frost just sighed, wishing this night would just end, and raised his flare gun, still in hand. Before the gryphon could react, he fired his flare directly into its face, the ball of fire exploding on contact. The gryphon fell to the ground, clutching its face with its claws.

“I can’t imagine that feels good,” Frost commented, thinking about clutching your face with claws. The flare probably didn’t feel too good, either.

The others were just passing as Frost pulled his pistol and was about to fire. As they approached, no one said anything, just kept on walking. Frost had expected someone to say something, but it seemed no one cared about this gryphon, still screaming and clutching its face. Frost shrugged, then continued with his team. As he passed the gryphon, he pressed the barrel of his pistol into its head and fired off one round, silencing the gryphon’s screams.


They went the rest of the way to the compound and found themselves there in just over another hour. When they hit the compound, they hit a wall that they could have climbed over, given time. However, it was not the wisest thing to do when carrying casualties, so they went around to look for a gate of some kind. When they found it, Frost pulled up his rifle and shot out the lock, and they walked inside.

It was chaos, or at least it had been. The building was about gone, bodies strewn about. The dead they could see were just that; the dead they could see. Who knew how many were under the rubble? The number of gryphon casualties was, with any luck, a greater percentage than the casualties of Nedal’s assault troops, but nothing was looking too promising.

The team moved in, hoping to find any survivors in the wreckage. As they moved closer to the other side of the wreckage in their search, movement could be heard. At first, Duke had the team stop to listen, but from the thudding of hooves on the ground and the voices which Hamid and Rashid recognized, it was clear that there were still some stallions left. Duke gave the order to move forward and the team made its presence known.

“Assault troops, this is the SAR Team! Hold your weapons, were coming out!” Duke shouted. As they moved forward, Hamid shouted the command out in his language so that the assault troops would understand.

They walked out, weapons up just in case, and took in the scene. There were five assault troops walking about, all injured in various ways, tending to the dead. The men remembered there being twenty-five troops, but given that some were missing, they must have died on the way down. A couple of the remaining troops were limping fairly severely, two were fine, and one was sitting down, with what looked like a broken leg.

“What happened here?” Duke asked everyone as he walked in. None of them understood.

“Sir,” Rashid said, catching Duke’s attention. “Take and give Aziz’s translator. He won’t need it at any longer.” He sounded like he was in disbelief as he spoke.

Duke nodded and grabbed the translator from his fallen comrade. “Ask them who the highest-ranking soldier is here.”

“Yes sir,” Rashid replied. He shouted out the question in their language, to which one stallion responded by walking up to the team.

Duke addressed him. “Here,” he said, handing over the mic. The stallion took it and fixed it to his head.

“This will make it much easier,” he said, thankful for the translator.

“Quite.” Duke looked around at the scene. “What happened here? And who are you?”

“I am the lieutenant,” the stallion replied. “My name is long and difficult for foreigners to pronounce, so that will do. As for what happened,” the lieutenant looked about with Duke. “Everything went to Hell.”

“How so?” Duke asked. After looking over the group of assault troops again, he realized that Nedal wasn’t there. “And where did Nedal go?”

The lieutenant grimaced. “Same story,” he replied. “We fought through heavy resistance, losing a number of soldiers on the way down. When we got here, there were more than we expected Nedal refused to fall back, so we pressed on.”

“Sounds like something he would do,” Duke whispered to himself.

“We pushed them back, but they returned with a small army of soldiers. We didn’t stand a chance...” The lieutenant shook his head as he spoke.

“That doesn’t explain the building, though,” Duke said, wanting that explanation more than anything else. That collapse nearly killed his team.

“That was Nedal,” the lieutenant explained. “He had found a gas generator, I think. It’s the only explanation for the explosion that came when he tossed the explosive in with it.”

“That colossal idiot,” Duke thought. He could have killed everyone with that little stunt.

“The explosion took out the building and sent most of us scattered throughout the yard. Nedal hit the wall...” He trailed off as he spoke, looking toward the wall nearby. “His spine was broken on impact. Didn’t make it.”

“Shit,” Duke replied. Nedal may have been his least favorite stallion that he met, but he didn’t deserve to die. Not in Duke’s mind. “But that’s what comes from foolish decisions.”

“Yes,” the lieutenant said. “We have tried to gather as many of our fallen as we can, but some are trapped under the rubble. We don’t have the ability to get them out.”

Duke looked to the rubble. “I can guess why,” he said. To move some of those rocks would require muscle groups that the horses didn’t have. “Want me to take a crack at it?”

A smile briefly graced the lieutenant’s face. “Thank you,” he said. “We need to bury them within twenty-four hours of death. It is the most respectful way to handle the dead.”

Duke nodded and walked away, toward where his team was sitting. He had heard of the twenty-four hour in places back home. To prevent the nasty decomposition in hotter climates from spreading disease, people would bury their dead almost immediately. It became a customary thing in some places after a while.

Duke stopped by his team on his way to the rubble. “Rashid, Hamid, they’re burying the dead. You’ll probably want to do the same with Aziz.” Duke turned to Frost. “We need to comb the rubble for more bodies.” Frost frowned. “It’s gross, I know, but it needs to be done.”

Frost glanced at Malik as they set him down. “I’d help you, but Malik needs medical attention,” he said. “I have a few wraps and bandages with me, but I’ll need to improvise.”

Duke nodded understandingly. “Alright you stay here and try to fix him up. I’ll comb the rubble for bodies and intel.” He reached behind his back, under his plates. “Take my bandages. They’ll give you at least a little more to work with.”

“Thanks, boss,” Frost replied.

Duke left his partner to tend to Malik while he went to go through the rubble for more bodies. He wasn’t totally sure he would find much, though; some of the pieces of rubble were far too large for him to move. If he wanted them to move, he would need help, and if the seven stallions out there with the bodies were going to be spending time burying them, he would have to get it done on his own.

He walked up onto the rubble and started his search. The easiest places to start would be any areas where the rubble hadn’t piled up too high off the ground, giving him quick access to the ground, and possibly underneath the rubble. He had to be careful with those areas, though, because if they were supporting anything, he didn’t want the surprise of having several tons of building material falling down on him.

The first space he searched came up empty, not even a little passage under the rubble. He moved onto another area, further into the wreckage, and after moving some of the concrete, found a dead body. It was still mostly intact, about as intact as something could be after having several tons of concrete rubble bury. Duke picked it up and carried as much as he could out and to the stallions tending the dead.

When he returned, he found another area with no bodies, but it did have a small entrance to the area under the rubble. Duke couldn’t fit inside, but he lay down to take a look to see if there were any bodies; nothing. He stood up and moved on.

The next area he checked was a mostly-standing wall of concrete with a pile of rubble at the base. As Duke approached, he could hear rocks shifting and thought it to be safer to approach from the side, where nothing would roll onto him. As he approached, he listened more carefully for any sounds of danger. What he heard was entirely different.

“مساعدة، من فضلك.”

It wa as soldier, still alive in the wreckage. Duke instantly forgot the moving rocks and ran over to the pile. Through a hole, just about the size of his fist, he could spot the stallion inside. There was actually a small room, just enough for the stallion inside to move his forelegs around. He was trying, weakly, to push aside some of what had accumulated on top of him.

Duke reached his hand in. “Hang on!” he shouted. “I’ll get you out!”

He pulled his hand back and and started moving the rubble aside to increase the size of the hole. The pieces were precariously placed on top of one another, so he had to move numerous other pieces before he could actually address the hole. As he worked, he could hear the stallion inside speaking.

“أنا لا أريد أن أموت هنا،” he said, several times. His voice was growing extremely weak, and with the increased light from the enlarged hole, he could see the stallion’s face growing pale.

“Don’t talk, I’ll be right there!” Duke responded once, trying to get the stallion to preserve his strength.

He kept at the rubble, throwing pieces aside. It was incredibly exhausting work, work that Duke wouldn’t be able to keep up for long. The sweat was pouring down the man’s face, threatening to get into his eyes and blind him. He could smell it all over his face, and as the air circulated more and more into the rubble, the smell of blood grew stronger and stronger.

The hole was about two feet wide now. Duke was tired, but he had to keep going to get the soldier out of his rubble tomb. He looked inside, and saw that, if he could get the rubble off the stallion, he should be able to pull him out of the hole. He reached inside and grabbed the stallion’s hoof with his hand.

“I got you!” he shouted. “Hang on!”

The stallion gripped his hand back, however he managed to do that. At first, Duke tried to pull him out, but after a moment, he realized something. The grip that the stallion had on his hand wasn’t strong, nor was it a grip of determination. It was the kind of grip Duke had gotten once in Afghanistan, when the Army Special Forces soldier he was rescuing was about to bleed out.

“أخبر عائلتي حاربت جيدا،” the stallion said, starting to cry. “أخبر زوجتي أنني أحبها.”

Duke’s jaw clenched, and he just gripped the hoof as strongly as he could. He nodded to the stallion, memorizing the exact sound of what had been said so he could find out what it was later. Then, like a passing wind, the stallion’s grip faded away, and his head limped to the side.

Duke lowered his head in respect, then went back to work on getting the stallion out. He could spend more time now increasing the size of the hole, so he went about that. When he had it about one meter wide, he leaned in to pull the stallion out, thinking it would be difficult with the rubble on his legs.

It was easier than Duke expected, but that wasn’t a good thing. As the body started to slide out, Duke realized that the rubble was, in fact, ON his legs. The wounds to his head weren’t that severe, but that wasn’t what had killed him. Even if Duke had gotten him out, he would still have died, and probably a lot faster.

It was gruesome work, but Duke pulled out what he could and carried it back, utterly silent the whole way. He could feel his pants getting wet, the smell of sweat and blood overpowering his senses, just trying to get back without incident. He had done work like this plenty before, though, and he could do it again.

Duke arrived at the place for the dead and called out to the lieutenant. “Hey, I got one here!”

The lieutenant came running over. “Good, I will... take him... oh.” He looked rather perturbed by the sight in Duke’s arms. “Oh my.”

“Yeah,” Duke replied. “He was alive when I found him. Said, ‘أخبر عائلتي حاربت جيدا،’ and ‘أخبر زوجتي أنني أحبها،’.”

The lieutenant nodded solemnly. “Yes, I will take care of him. Give him to me.” Duke handed the body over onto the lieutenant’s back. “He wants you to tell his family that he fought well, and his wife that he loves her very much.”

“I don’t know where they are,” Duke replied. “But if you can get me that information, I’ll take care of it.” He had been tasked with this. He would get it done. Although, he had never had to do this before.

“I will write it down for you on our way back,” the lieutenant replied. “Or tell you, and  you can write it down.”

“Got it.”

The lieutenant turned around to go to his troops. “If it isn’t too much trouble, could you go get the rest of him? We need to bury as much as we can.”

Duke nodded. “On it.”

Duke made his way back to the area of rubble that he found the stallion and went to retrieve the rest of the stallion. To get at it, he had to climb inside the rubble, and although he was uncomfortable with it, he went in and did it. He found the parts he was looking for and gingerly removed the rubble from them, then placed them at the entrance to his little cave. He was about to leave when something caught his eye.

There was very little space in the rubble cave, just about over a meter to stand and a meter and a half to either side to extend one’s legs. To the side, pinned under some rubble, there were several sheets of paper. Carefully, ready to escape if necessary, Duke moved the rubble aside to get at the papers.

What he picked up was interesting. The first paper he picked up had nothing on it except for a strange symbol. The symbol was a pair of wings, possibly gryphon, behind a wolf’s head. Under the wolf’s head, there was a pair of blades, though not curved or anything like that. They appeared to be falchions with serrated edges. Curious, Duke pocketed the symbol and looked at the other documents.

Some were in the language that Duke couldn’t understand and one was a map. It wasn’t just a map, though; it had scribbles and markings all over it. The map was of Saddle Arabia, and it looked like it contained supply and troop movements, if the symbols were anything to jude by. Duke grabbed it and held onto it as he exited the little rubble cave.

He carried everything back to the group, eager to lose the remains of the stallion. As soon as he arrived, one of the living soldiers took the body off his hands, leaving him to return to Frost. When he walked over, he saw Frost hunched over Malik, whispering something.

“You’re gonna be fine,” he assured the now-conscious Malik. “They aren’t permanent. You’ll be out for a time, but you’ll come back just as strong.”

Malik nodded weakly on the ground. “Yes sir,” he replied, sounding at least a little thankful that he would make it just fine.

Duke walked up just as Frost stood. “How is he?” Duke asked, already aware of the answer.

“He’s doing alright,” Frost said. He walked up to Duke and leaned in. “But if we don’t get him serious aid soon, his wounds might not heal up properly.”

“Thought so,” Duke said. “We already fired off our flares, alerting the response troops that we’re done.” That was a part of the plan they hadn’t gone over with Nedal. “They’ll arrive soon, given how much time has already passed. In the meantime, I think you and I can just sit and wait.”

Frost nodded and let himself fall onto his rear. “Say, boss, why didn’t we have those other troops here to help us out?” Frost asked. “I never questioned it, but now that shit happened, I have to.”

“They aren’t exactly combat troops,” Duke replied. “I tried to get more from Sauri, but he declined. I convinced him to give us some basic support personnel, but they aren’t trained for fighting, just delivering supplies and such to troops on the lines.”

“Ah,” Frost said.

They sat down next to Malik, who was already asleep again, and talked. They talked about various things; the stallion in the rubble and how Duke was going to visit the family, Duke’s family back home, the friends they had made in the Pipeline and other instances, and the map Duke had found. There were no solid conclusion to anything, as the men were too exhausted and beaten to analyze anything in depth at the moment. They also talked about Nedal and their SAR team.

“The building collapse was Nedal,” Duke explained. “He tossed one of these,” he said, holding out his explosive from Sauri. “Into a room with a gas generator. Killed almost everyone present, including him.”

Frost looked at the ground. “Well,” he started with a sigh. “I... just... There are no words.”

Duke nodded. “Yeah.” He turned to look out at the stallions. “We almost lost our lives in there because of him. We barely managed to get out, but we ended up in the fire as opposed to the frying pan we were already in.”

Frost nodded, then went silent for a bit. When he spoke again, he sounded more curious than caring.

“What’ll happen to the SAR Team?” he asked. “We aren’t sticking around any longer.”

Duke hadn’t thought about it mch. “Well, I guess we’ll have to hand off leadership to Rashid and Hamid,” he said. “They proved some value as leaders, at least in my book. They’ll have to take over the team and get more soldiers for it, and train them on their own.”

“That sounds good,” Frost said. “Once we’re done here, it won’t be our concern any more.”

“Amen to that,” Duke replied. They just wanted to get out of Saddle Arabia.

As the men continued their sparse conversation, the stallions continued to work with their dead, and in the distance, one could hear a small army of hooves stomping into the ground as they approached the site. The night had been long and hard, for everyone, and nothing would feel better than to get back to their homes and residences and get a good night’s sleep.

Though, as the men would always be sure to remember, the dead never get to come home.

> Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Aftermath




The ride back to the city felt long and onerous. The men had to keep their eyes on Malik the entire ride there, and everyone was watching for an ambush that might attack the vulnerable convoy.

It was morning when they arrived at the city, and everyone was dead tired. Rashid and Hamid’s eyes fluttered open and shut throughout the last two hours of the ride, while Duke and Frost kept theirs open the whole ride. Whether or not they could have effectively responded to an attack immediately was up for questioning.

The streets were mostly empty in the city at the time they arrived. Duke and Frost both wore digital watches, as many special operators do, and Duke checked the time. It was barely seven in the morning. Normally, the men would already be up, but since they hadn’t slept at all that night, they wanted nothing more than to plop onto a mattress and let sleep take them.

The convoy arrived at the palace in no time, letting all of its passengers off at the front gates. Duke and Frost hadn’t actually gone through this area that much, mostly going through the gardens, and the craftsmanship of the area was astonishing. Or, at least, it would have been, had the men been in any condition to notice any of it.

As the convoy left, the guards took note of the haggard appearance of the soldiers before them. Were it not for the humans, they would never have guessed that they were soldiers; their clothes were so torn and they were so dirty that they could have passed off as peasants. The men only marginally looked better, everything but the torn clothes being about the same. There were distinct blood stains in obvious patches all over the group. As they approached the door, the guards looked at each other, then put their spears out to block the way.

Duke saw it and thought to himself, “What the hell?” 

When he arrived before the guards, one of them said something to him in his native tongue. With an exasperated sigh, Duke turned around and pulled the mic off of the injured Malik’s head and tossed it to the guard. When the guard didn’t get it, Duke pointed at his own and made gestures to tell the guard to wear it. The guard hastily tried to get it onto his head, ultimately requiring Duke to aid him.

“Can you understand me?” Duke asked.

The guard stallion blinked. “Yes,” he replied.

“Now what were you saying?” Duke asked, rapidly growing impatient.

The stallion cleared his throat. “We cannot allow anyone to enter the palace in such a condition, regardless of who you are. This is a place of refinement and greatness, not to be soiled by-”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about your refinement!” Duke shouted, getting the guard to step away. “My team is beaten, bloody, and exhausted. We want to rest, we need to give an After-Action Report to the king. We’re going in there, clean or no, and you won’t do anything about it.”

Duke pressed forward and shoved the guard out of his way, refusing to look back. Frost and the rest of the team followed, not noticing the looks of contempt they received from the guards as they walked past. As he passed him, Frost plucked the translator off of the guard’s head with little grace, practically slapping him. Under them, small droplets of blood and sweat formed a trail through the halls and chambers as they moved. It was no wonder the guards didn’t want them to come in.

Just before they made it to the king’s chamber, Duke let out a frustrated sigh and held his hand to his face. The rest of the team stopped behind him, looking on. After a moment of muttering to himself, Duke turned around.

“You guys head on ahead,” he said. “I need to take care of something.”

“What would that be, sir?” Rashid asked.

Duke started walking. “I told the lieutenant that I would take care of informing that stallion’s family of his death. He gave me their address here in the city on the ride back.”

“You ever done that before, boss?” Frost asked with concern. “I’ll come with you, the king can probably wait a little longer.”

“No, no, you guys head on in,” Duke said with a wave. “I’ll take care of this.” With that, Duke ran off to the gardens exit to go find the family of the soldier. Frost watched him go for a moment, then shook his head.

“I would never wish that job on anyone,” he said. At least no one would have to deal with that if Frost died.

First, Frost brought Malik to the infirmary area of the palace, then went to see the king with Rashid and Hamid. They spent the walk in silence, receiving curious glances from the guards around them. They were probably wondering how the filthy trio had gotten into the palace. The team was more focused on informing the king of the events of the night, though, and kept on walking.

When they arrived at the throne room, the guard standing outside it tried to stop them. Frost gave him the coldest death glare he could manage, and the stallion quickly moved aside. As the door opened, Frost noticed that, on the inside, there was a large group of horses. As in, a very large group of horses. Most were decked out in fancy outfits, wearing nice jewelry and carrying all sorts of trinkets.

“This can’t end well,” Frost thought as he walked in. Now he was wishing that he had made himself at least a little presentable. On his way up, he tried to straighten out his sleeves and pants to look more decent.

He and the stallions trudged through the chamber toward the throne, where they could see Sauri sitting on his throne, looking proud. When he saw the rough look of the trio and lack of three members, though, his expression faltered. The horses all around them were muttering in their language things that seemed to put the Rashid and Hamid on edge. Frost tried not to notice it and approached the king.

“I see you have returned,” Sauri said, though not happily. “What transpired?”

“Are they allowed to hear this?” Frost asked, to which the king nodded. Frost felt his chest tighten with anxiety. “Everything went wrong.” The muttering became full-blown conversation in the background.

“Everything? How could everything go wrong?” Sauri asked in disbelief.

“The information on the compound was almost completely inaccurate,” Frost began. “They had more soldiers than the intel indicated, practically an army, and the assault force didn’t stand a chance. There are five of them left.” The talking in the background grew louder, forcing Frost to speak up. “There was an entire cave complex where they were holding Blueblood, who we lost, after grabbing him, to a large group of gryphons while we had no assault support. The building that we thought was the entire compound was leveled, and any intel inside was just about destroyed.”

“This cannot be,” Sauri interrupted. “Nedal and his troops are excellent, and you are supposed to be even better!”

“Don’t give me that,” Frost warned, his voice taking on a cold tone again. The guards around him tensed up at him. “We’re special operations, not super soldiers. Nedal made the decision to take on a force he couldn’t possibly defeat, and his assault troops suffered for it.”

“I’m sorry?” Sauri asked, growing angry.

Frost toned back his critique. “He led his team against these impossible odds and lost. He saw it coming, and he still went. You lost twenty of your best soldiers because of that, and Nedal’s actions nearly killed my team.” Frost took a moment to point at Rashid and Hamid. Sauri stood from his throne, resulting in louder conversations on the side.

“I assure you, Nedal was a good soldier,” Sauri said defensively.

“I don’t doubt that,” Frost said. “He just wasn’t a good leader,” he thought privately. That lieutenant would have been a good leader for that mission.

Sauri seemed satisfied and sat back down. “What became of him?” he asked. “He is not with you.” Frost took off his helmet and held it to his chest, letting everyone know that bad news was coming.

“I’m sorry, but he didn’t survive,” he said, then added, “Though he did fight hard.”

Sauri tried to put on a strong face, but he did a poor job of concealing his sadness at the news. In the background, the conversation grew ever louder, giving Sauri a moment to lose himself in his own mind. Frost had seen people lose their buddies; it’s a part of Pararescue; so he let the king have some time. But not too much.

Frost put his helmet back on. “King Sauri, We had to-” The king couldn’t hear him over the crowd. “King Sauri, I-” Still, nothing. Frost turned around to face them all. “Will you all shut up!?!” he shouted, silencing the room. King Sauri took notice. “King Sauri, we buried the dead, including one of our own, out there at the compound. I hope that isn’t a problem.”

The king waved his hand. “No, no. He would have wanted to be buried on a battlefield.” The king’s hoof shook. “He told me that when I led him into battle as my lieutenant before I became king.” Frost didn’t know what to say, so he just nodded and remained silent. Thankfully, everyone else in the room remained silent as well, giving them time to think.

“What else do you have to inform me of?” Sauri asked.

Frost stepped forward. “Duke found these in the rubble,” he said, pulling several pieces of paper out of his plates. “He handed them to me on the ride here. One’s a map, the other’s a weird symbol we don’t know.”

One of the king’s aides came forward and took the papers, bringing them up to the king. When Sauri saw the symbol, his eyes widened all the way, and he frantically grabbed the paper from his King’s aide. He studied the symbol like it was a holy text for a moment, then set it down on the floor.

“Thank you for bringing these to us,” he said.

Frost wanted to ask what the symbol was, but kept his questions to himself. The king then looked over the map, muttering to himself and occasionally talking to one of his aids. After a few minutes of that, an aide took the map and ran off with it.

“Is there anything else?” Sauri asked.

Frost shrugged. “Only that OGA got moved days ago and isn’t in the country,” he said. “And that Blueblood wasn’t recovered. But he didn’t seem too badly injured when we found him.”

Sauri nodded. “Very well.” He paused, looking Frost over. “I suppose that you and Duke will not be staying, then?” He had a little bit of hope in his voice.

“That’s right,” Frost said. Sauri looked disappointed. “We need to find our guy, and if he’s not here, we need to travel to find him. Anything you can tell us would be helpful.”

Sauri thought for a moment. “I’m afraid we don’t have much,” he replied, causing Frost to sigh and let his head drop. “But-” Frost looked up hopefully. “-the Equestrians might be able to help you.”

“Aren’t they Equestrians?” Frost wondered.

“They have a long-standing conflict with these gryphons, and they might have what you need. We can send you there as soon as today,” Sauri said.

Frost looked back at the stallions. “If it’s all fine with you, I think Duke and I could use a day’s rest before we leave,” he said. “Rest up, say our goodbyes.”

Sauri smiled weakly and nodded understandingly. “Very well. You may stay in the same room you have been in. Tomorrow at noon, a guard will retrieve you to bring you to your transport.”

“Thank you,” Frost said. “How long is the trip?”

“The land portion is six days,” Sauri said. “The sea portion is two more, with stops at several ports.”

Duke and Frost didn’t care to acclimate, as they had proven, so they would mostly just be checking gear and such on the trip. Amel would be coming with them, helping to carry their stuff and generally being a companion, so they would have some pleasant company. She might be able to tell them a little about where they were going in regards to political and military situations, which could drastically alter the nature of their involvement.

Frost bowed. “Thank you, your majesty,” he said and turned around. “I suppose we may see you tomorrow?”

Sauri laughed. “It is a poor host who does not see off his guests!” he announced, getting laughs from everyone else. The uproarious noise made Frost want to run out of the room, but he controlled his reaction. He and the stallions exited the room and stopped once the doors were shut.

“You guys go do whatever you do,” Frost ordered. “I’m going to get some rest.”

The stallions saluted Frost and then walked off, probably to go and get some rest for themselves. Frost went up to his and Duke’s room, ignoring everything on his way there. He just wanted to sleep. Nothing would get in his way now, not when he was so close.

Except for the door to his room. When he arrived, the door was locked from the inside, forcing him to knock on it as hard as he could. When he received no answer, he knocked even harder, as if he were trying to bang the door down. In his exhausted state, he didn’t notice Amel as she approached him from the side.

“Open the door, Amel!” he shouted at the door.

“Fine,” she said, startling the airman away from it. She took out a key and stuck it in keyhole under the handle and pushed the door open. “Lazy man,” she said jokingly.

Frost followed her in after a moment. “Where were you?” he asked.

She hopped up onto his bed. “You saw those nobles down there?” she asked. Frost nodded. “Some of them were wondering about you and Duke. When they learned about me, they called on me to ask questions.”

Frost nodded. “Everyone always wants to hear about what the special ops guys do,” he mumbled grumpily to himself. “Just let us do our jobs. You don’t need to know about it, it’s sort of the point.”

Amel giggled. “Some of them were particularly interested in you, Frost,” she added.

Frost played it off as Amel playing games with him and plopped down next to her. Without warning her, he pushed her away from the center of the bed so he could lay down and set his feet on his pillow. After realizing he was wearing his boots, he begrudgingly sat back up and took them off, as well as his socks. Given the heat of the room, he took off his plates, his helmet, and then the rest of his clothes, other than his underwear, and tossed it all aside.

Amel sniffed the air and was repulsed. “Whoa!” she shouted, covering her nose. “You smell terrible!”

Frost put his hands in the air. “What of you expect from a guy like me? Especially when he hasn’t had a shower or bath in WEEKS?”

Amel didn’t give it any thought, instead accusing Frost of being gross. Frost didn’t respond, hoping she would just let him rest, but that didn’t seem to be happening. She seemed to decide that it would be a fun idea to sit on Frost’s chest while he tried to fall asleep. She didn’t weigh a ton, but in his current state, she felt like a semi.

“Why?” he asked tiredly, trying to push her off.

“Because,” Amel replied. To lighten the load on him, Amel moved herself so that she was just laying across his chest. After what he went through, he could use a warm, comforting presence, she thought.

Frost hadn’t the strength nor the will to fight it, and it honestly did make him feel better to have the soft pony distracting him from his soreness and disappointment, so he only put forth a non-serious effort to try to get her off of him. She didn’t move, clearly aware that his attempts had no effort to them. After stopping that, he let his arms out and put one on Amel’s neck to hold her close, like a child with a stuffed animal. Frost let her stay, and that was when Duke finally returned from his own sort of After-Action Report.

He walked through the door and wasn’t sure what to say. It was an odd scene; Duke, laying like a dead man Amel, who seemed to be content to lay on top of him. Neither of them seemed to notice Duke as he walked in and shut the door, hoping no one else saw the two. When the door clicked, the pair finally noticed Duke’s entrance looked in his direction. Duke looked back and forth between them.

“Sit on his face,” Duke said with a mischievous smile.

Frost sat all the way up, knocking Amel over. “Dammit, Duke,” he said while Duke laughed. Duke walked over to his own bed and sat down, laughing at his partner’s expense.

“Well, you should have known what that looked like,” Duke replied with a smirk. Frost chuckled, but still looked grossed out out at the idea.

“Boss, no,” Frost replied. “Just no.”

“What?” Amel asked, confused. Frost didn’t answer her. “What did Duke mean?”

“It’s not important,” Frost answered quickly.

Duke wasn’t letting it end. “Well, Amel, you see, there are certain acts that two people who enjoy spending time with each other can do...” he began.

“Duke, if you keep it up, I’ll throw my sweaty underwear at you,” Frost warned.

“And where will that leave you?” Duke replied with a smirk. 

“Noo!” Frost said, covering his eyes.

“What is he talking about!?” Amel demanded.

“Nothing!” Frost said with finality. “It means nothing.”

Amel looked at him unsatisfied. “I will find out what that means,” she said. “Eventually.”

“As long as it isn’t from him,” Frost replied, pointing at Duke.

Duke shrugged. “Well, my day was awful, so I needed a good laugh. Your expense was just a good place to find it.”

Frost looked over at him seriously. “I forgot about that,” he said. “How did that go?”

“About as well as you would think,” Duke replied, moving back onto his bed and stripping down to go to sleep. “I hope I never have to do that again.”

“I imagine that you had trouble speaking to them,” Frost commented.

Duke sighed. “Shit,” he said. “I forgot Aziz’s translator at their home.”

Frost shrugged. “Eh, they can keep it as a memento or something,” he said, like it was nothing. “We shouldn’t need ours much longer.”

“With any luck,” Duke replied.

“Not much longer?” Amel cut in. “Are you leaving?”

“Yeah,” Duke replied. “Are you not coming?”

Amel blinked and pulled her head back. She hadn’t really been expecting them to think she would go with them. On the one hoof, she was leaving her homeland, where she was born and raised. On the other, it was leaving behind a place with many years of suffering for her for her mother’s ancestral home. To them, it was mostly whether or not she would be able to shoulder some of the weight of the gear. And help them to get through places without being taken by authorities.

“I am,” she said happily.

The men nodded to her and then turned toward their walls to nod off. They would need a proper night’s rest for the journey the next day, and so would Amel, so they all went to their own spots and went to sleep. But before they went to sleep, there was still one question.

“But what does it mean to ‘sit on one’s face’?” Amel asked.

Frost groaned into his pillow and Duke chuckled before they both let sleep take them.

> Life is a Highway
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








Life is a Highway




When Duke and Frost woke up the next morning, they felt refreshed in their minds, but terribly sore in their bodies. Amel had to push them to get them up, forcing them out of bed as hard as she could. Both men were shoved to the ground and rolled away, groggily muttering curses as they tried to function.

They checked all the gear to make sure they had everything they came with and set it in a pile. Right now, the men wanted to go eat some food. It was already ten in the morning, and Amel had been awake. Rather than go on her own and wait for the men later, she decided to wait for them now. It was the polite thing to do, she thought.

The trio went down to the dining hall to eat something before they left for the land of Equestria. Neither Duke nor Frost felt like thinking about it at the moment, as they were too hungry, but Amel’s mind was abuzz with thought. What was Equestria like? Why had her mother left it so long ago? What awaited her there, and what awaited her human companions?

They entered the dining hall silently to find it completely empty. There was still leftover food from breakfast that morning, so they scrounged what they could from that. It turned out to be a great deal of food that was to be left to waste. That was fine by Duke and Frost, it meant that there was more for them. They all picked up some plates and filled them up and sat down together at the table. The men eagerly dove into their food while Amel watched.

She chuckled. “I’ve never seen you eat with such eagerness before,” she commented. “It is funny to watch.”

The men had food all over their faces, throwing manners to the wind. Duke only grunted back, and Frost merely nodded. Neither had particularly realized that she was speaking, only heard her speak and responded how they thought they should. Amel knew this, but she also knew how exhausted they still were.

“I wonder what awaits us in our travels?” she wondered aloud. “What do you think we should expect in Equestria?”

Duke swallowed some noodles. “You tell us,” he said, though only barely coherently through his still semi-full mouth. “You’re the one who had heard of Equestria before we knew this world even existed.”

She smiled. “I suppose that is true,” she replied.

“Well?” Frost asked. “What should we expect?”

Amel thought back. “I know that they are a mixed group, with many cultures put together. They are a mainly female society, I think, with four princesses who lead the nation. Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight.”

“Great, more royalty,” Duke thought.

“They are nice, though,” Amel continued. “They represent the sun, moon, love, and friendship.”

Duke and Frost stopped and looked at each other for a moment. That seemed like a random assortment of things to be princesses of. The pairs made sense on their own, but both pairs together was just odd. But so far, nothing really made sense to them, so they didn’t question it.

“That’s good,” Frost said. “We hope to be able to cooperate with them.”

They continued eating, though the conversation was ended. Amel had gotten Duke thinking about how to deal with these princesses, how to make sure they were on his side. He had to be careful about that, though, because as much as he would like their help, he didn’t want to get sidetracked into their war. They had already wasted time in Saddle Arabia. They didn’t want to risk doing so much again.

After they ate, the group left the dining hall and went back to the room to collect their things. With Amel’s help, they were able to easily carry all of their things. Duke and Frost took all the hazardous gear; grenades, flashbangs, knives, guns and ammo; and their plates and uniforms. Amel took their parachutes and other gear.

It was about noon, time to go. They left their room without looking back and went to the throne room to talk to Sauri about their transportation. While they walked there, the guards around them on their way back gave them varying looks. Some were happy, and saluted them. Others seemed pretty peeved, and only now showed it since the humans would be leaving. Amel didn’t notice it too much, but the men did, and it felt a little odd to know that there were some guards here who truly disliked them.

When they entered the throne room, Frost felt like it was empty without all the horses from the previous day. There were just a few guards here and there, and Sauri sitting on his throne. The king remained sitting down as the humans approached him.

“Good day, Duke and Frost,” he said, forgetting Amel. “I trust you are well-rested?”

“About as well as we’re gonna get,” Duke replied. “We’re ready to head on out. What’s our transportation?”

“At the front gate to the city, there is a carriage waiting for you. It will take you to the coast, where a ship will be waiting for you to take you overseas.” Sauri stood. “You will have food and water the whole way, and you will be well taken care of.”

“Thank you,” Duke replied, giving the king a small bow. Frost did the same.

“No. Thank you,” Sauri said. “You have done us a service. You did not have to help us, but you agreed to do so.”

“We sort of needed to,” Frost thought.

“For your actions, and for felling many a gryphon, in your carriage is a sum of one thousand Equestrian bits. It is the money of Equestria, and it should help you to get started once you arrive there.”

Duke and Frost stood tall. They hadn’t been expecting to receive any compensation, so hearing that was great news. They had no idea how much money that was, though, so they looked to Amel for an answer. Her jaw hung low, practically hitting the ground, and her face was in shock. It must have been quite a bit of money.

“Thank you, your majesty,” Frost said, earning a grin from Sauri.

“I am glad you appreciate it,” Sauri replied. “Now, I suppose that you must be on your way. I wouldn’t want to keep you from finding OGA.”

“Yes your majesty,” Duke said. “We will be on our way.”

Before the trio turned around, Sauri had one last thing. “You wouldn’t want to walk!” he said. “There is a carriage waiting outside the main door. Take that out. And here-” Sauri pulled out a small bag of coins and tossed it to Duke. “Keep these in case you decide you want something on your way out.”

“Thank you again,” Duke replied, putting the bag on his waistline. They all turned around and walked away.

“Good luck with your journey!” Sauri shouted to them as they exited the throne room.

The trio left the palace through the front door and found their carriage. They climbed in, eager to leave, and signaled the puller to move as quickly as he could. He got the hint and took off fast, almost making Frost fall out of the carriage as he sped away. Throughout the streets, horses cheered them on as they left the city, clearly appreciative of what Duke and Frost had done there.

They arrived at the front gate to the city in no time, and dismounted there. Duke took a bit and tossed it to the driver as a tip, who stared at it for a moment, then bowed and went off. He seemed extremely happy to have received it, meaning that the bit was worth a great deal to them. Duke would have to find out just how much these things were valued at when they found someone who spoke English.

The trio walked out the front gate of the city, and the first thing they were facing was none other than their teammates, Hamid, Rashid, and Malik, who was on crutches. None of them had their translators, but they were all wearing their uniforms and stood at attention. As the men approached, they saluted enthusiastically and rigidly.

“At ease, stallions,” Duke said with an calm wave of his hand. The stallions released their posture. “No need for that any more.”

Hamid stepped forward. “أفترض أنه لا يمكن فهم لي،” he began, putting his hoof to his chest.  “ولكن أردت أن أقول أنه تم متعة القتال جنبا إلى جنب مع لكم.” He stuck his hoof out when he finished speaking. Duke looked at it for a moment, then took it in his hand.

“I have no idea what you just said, but I’m certain it was positive,” he said, gripping the hoof firmly. “Good luck out there from now on. You guys can take whatever the world throws at you.”

They released their brief embrace, and stepped back to their respective groups. Duke and Frost saluted their no-longer-teammates, and they saluted back. Amel bowed deeply to them, despite the weight on her back from the parachutes and other gear. Then, with awkward hand and hoof gestures, and a few garbled words on both ends, the groups parted ways, with the SAR team’s remnants going back into the city.

Frost looked back at them as they walked to what appeared to be their carriage. “I’m gonna sort of miss them,” he said lightly.

“Yeah, me too,” Duke replied. “But they’ll be fine on their own. And we have a job to do.”

“Yeah. I would rather keep going on our own than stick around and keep fighting with the Saddle Arabians anyhow.” Frost stuck his hands in his pockets. “They’re nice, but I wouldn’t want to stay with them.”

“Same here,” Amel said, getting the men’s attention. “I would rather go anywhere than remain here.”

“It sort of goes without saying for you,” Duke replied. “I mean, this place has kind of sucked for you. I certainly wouldn’t want to stick around, were I you.”

“You men are much better than any of them,” Amel said. “Of that, I am certain.”

They walked up to the carriage and found that it was theirs. It was incredibly nice, possibly one of Sauri’s personal carriages. It was very well maintained, with gold decorations all over and carpet inside. The entire thing was self-contained, as in there was a ceiling and a door that could close when they were inside. Like Sauri promised, there was a large sack of coins in there, large enough to make the men wonder how they would carry it.

They all climbed in and sat down and shut the door. Right after the door was closed, the puller started dragging the carriage along behind him. The bag of coins jingled and shifted as the carriage started, and other items sung their songs in the cabin. Frost noticed that some of them were glass and crystal flasks, glasses, and pitchers. There was water and wine inside the carriage, plus some delicious-looking food.

“Nice,” Frost said, grabbing a pitcher. It was cool to the touch, probably from magic, and when he sniffed it, it smelled like wine. Grabbing a glass, he poured himself a little and took a sip.

“Frost, it seems a bit early for that,” Duke said.

Frost shrugged. “I wanted to try,” he replied. “And it’s always time somewhere.”

Duke smiled and shook his head. “Well, how is it?”

Frost nodded slowly. “Not bad.” He set the pitcher back and put his glass where he found it. “Anyone hungry?”

Duke shook his head, as did Amel. Frost moved himself to where the food sat and took inventory. There was no meat, obviously, being the king’s probably carriage, but there was some tasty-looking other stuff. There were some basic salad parts, but there was also noodles with several small batches of sauces, including tomato. Frost took some of that and went back to his seat next to Amel.

The smell of pasta, or at least its equivalent, filled the air in the cabin as they rode along. The cabin was well-vented, probably also due to magic of some kind. Duke nodded off a little bit, though never for more than a few minutes, and Amel just sat with a relaxed look on her face. At one point, Frost noticed she was staring at him. When he questioned her about it, she blushed and apologized.

“Not a problem,” Frost said to her. Without him noticing, she kept on staring at him later.

Soon, nightfall came, and the carriage came to a stop. They were all in safe country, and the starry night was gorgeous, so everyone in the carriage decided to lay down outside for the night. Duke and Frost were on either side of Amel, acting as sort of shields from a potential attacker. This area was safe from Gryphons, but who knew what else was out here?

They lay there in silence while the puller and someone who was apparently also there made a fire for themselves off by the carriage. If they were willing to make a fire, odds were that it was pretty safe, and they could handle the security detail.. Duke and Frost were mostly just watching the stars, looking for patterns they could use for navigation later. Amel was quiet in between them, her eyes scanning the skies as well.

“You know any constellations?” Frost asked.

“What?” Amel replied.

Frost waved his hand in the air by his wrist. “You know, patterns in the stars.” Amel was becoming good with her English, but certain words simply don’t come up that often.

“Oh!” Amel said. “Yes, there are plenty.”

“Why don’t you point them out to us?” Duke said.

Amel searched the sky. “Well, there are lots of them,” she said, raising her hoof. “Some change when Princess Luna of Equestria wants to change them, but many remain throughout all the nights. There is the Ursa Major, which always points to the north, and not far is the Ursa Minor. They are shaped like bears, and the legends say that the Ursa Major gave birth to the Ursa Majors that roam the world today.”

“What’s an Ursa Major?” Duke asked.

“They are massive bears, the size of King Sauri’s palace, which roam in the wilderness. There are very few, and they often stay away from each other. They are shimmery like the stars and clear as the night sky, only their eyes visible. So our legends tell,” Amel added.

“Are they actually real?” Frost asked, somewhat unsettled.

Amel nodded. “Oh, yes. Princess Twilight of Equestria battled an Ursa Minor before she became princess, a baby of an Ursa Major. They are as big as houses.”

“Great,” Duke said. They had to really watch their backs in the wilderness, it would seem. There was no telling what else might be out there.

They lay in silence for a time after that. Amel traced the sky with her hoof, pointing out constellations, and Frost put his hand next to her hoof to follow. She pushed it away at times to point at specific spots, and Frost would push back jokingly. Duke lay thinking about the future while they played their little game. Eventually, the hoof and hand came down, and it was time to sleep.

“The nights get cold here,” Amel said, vying for them to go to the carriage.

The men looked at each other, then turned in and put Amel in a two-sided bear hug. She hadn’t expected it and tried to jump away in her start, but the arms prevented her from moving. She struggled against them to escape, but there was no give.

“Why are you holding me?” she asked.

“Because huddling together preserves body heat,” Duke replied. “It’s more comfortable this way.”

“I’m not comfortable,” Amel said. “Why don’t we sleep in the carriage?”

“Not enough room to lay down,” Frost said. “You can go in, but we’ll have to stay out here.”

Amel was silent for a moment. “Okay,” she said with a sigh. “I will stay out here so you don’t get scared.” She smirked at Duke, who was in front of her, when she finished speaking.

“Don’t worry about me,” Duke said. “But I think you might need to tell Frost a story and give him some warm milk to get him to sleep.”

“Nah, I’m good,” Frost said. “I’ve got my Teddy Bear right here. That’s fine.”

The trio huddled close together to preserve their body heat in the cold, desert night, just waiting for the next day of travel.


***************************************************************


The carriage bounced up and down on the uneven ground. Both the humans and the mare would get into the air and then slam back down into their seats. Duke and Frost hadn’t slept all that much the previous night, but the rough roads didn’t stop them from catching some rest to make up their deficits.

Amel watched them both sleep, since there was nothing else to do. Both of them had their heads down and to the side, keeping their airways unobstructed. Their eyes were closed lightly, giving them what appeared to be a calm face in their sleep. They mumbled incoherent sentences in their sleep, often shifting their heads’ positions when they spoke.

Amel hadn’t known that they didn’t sleep much the previous night. It made sense, because they were in unknown country, but they said that they slept only a few hours at most. It hadn’t made much sense to Amel. They had worked hard on little sleep, weren’t they good with what they got?

Amel looked to Frost’s face. His eyes were twitching, along with his nose and lips. Soon after Amel noticed this, his neck started making jerky motions, like he was trying to get a fly to get off of him. His hands clenched into fists and his arms tightened in close to his body, like he was preparing for a fight. Then he started mumbling and making aggressive sounds, and everything started to become more severe.

“Frost?” Amel said. He didn’t notice in his sleep. She went to poke him.

“Don’t,” Duke ordered, snapping his eyes open.

Amel felt her heart jump a little at the sudden noise. She retracted her hoof from Frost’s person and put it before her like a shamed school filly, and looked down at the ground. Duke tapped his foot and had her bring her head up to face him, then made a calming gesture with his hands to indicate that she wasn’t in trouble.

“What is wrong with him?” Amel asked, looking concernedly at Frost.

Duke looked hard at his partner. “I don’t see what you’re talking about,” he said.

Amel blinked and looked confusedly at Duke. “He is far from restful,” she said. “He moves suddenly and looks distressed.”

Duke shrugged. “That’s normal,” he said.

“What?” Amel replied, aghast. “Why is that normal for him?”

“Not just for him,” Duke said. “For most of us in combat jobs in the military.”

Amel looked like she didn’t believe her ears. She looked at Frost, then back at Duke, shaking her head. She was trying to formulate something to say, but couldn’t seem to comprehend what Duke had told her.

“Why is that normal?” she asked.

“Because that’s what comes from what we do,” he said. “We get stressed out from the shit we see out there. It’s impossible to forget that stuff.”

“How bad could they be?” Amel asked with legitimate wonder.

“Horrible,” Duke replied. “No one can forget it when one of their comrades dies in battle, especially in our kind of battle. With your weapons, they kind of bleed out before they die, they can get out a last word or something. Back home, though, it’s not quite the same.”

“What do you mean?” Amel asked.

“When you see your friend get shot in the head, he’s gone, then and there,” Duke explained. “You learn just how easily life is lost. Just how easy it is to be killed out there, and how much life is really worth. Some people see it as the most precious thing in the world when they come home. Others see it as pointless, a thing that can become dust in the wind without notice by anyone else in the world.

People see these things and finally understand, ‘I could die just as easily.’ They learn that they aren’t alive because of some amazing strategy; they’re alive because they were lucky enough that it wasn’t THEM who got killed. But when they realize that, they remember how unlucky their good friend was that day. Why hadn’t they died instead? What let them live? And none of us can truly accept that there is no answer to that.”

“Our warriors never think about that,” Amel commented.

Duke nodded. “They should. But until the day that they can see their friends killed by a tiny piece of lead fired from over seven hundred yards away, they can’t comprehend just what life is worth.” He shrugged. “That’s just how it is, I guess.”

“And what is life worth to you?” Amel asked. “What have you learned?”

Duke sighed. “Well, let me tell you a story,” he said, leaning back into his seat. “I had to go in, alone, one day, into Afghanistan to rescue an Army Special Forces soldier. He had been helping a village out to be able to fight the Taliban and stand up for themselves. Well, the Taliban didn’t like that, and they attacked.”

“Who is the Taliban?” Amel asked.

“They’re bad guys, but the particulars don’t matter,” Duke replied, leaving the history out of it. “Well, they went in and slaughtered this village. The Green Beret tried to escape, but they hunted him. When he got in a position to call for help on his radio, he was injured. They sent air strikes to clear the area not too far and scare off the militants.

“I was sent in to get him. When I parachuted in, I thought I would find a guy with a broken arm or something hiding in a tree. What I got was totally different; he had tripped and fallen down a ravine, got wedged between some rocks. His leg was broken and twisted and his face was beaten and bloody from the fall.

“When I got there, he looked like he was ready to cry, he was so happy. But when I went to get him out, I found out his leg was stuck, and his knee was so crushed, it was basically powder. I had to take out my KaBar and amputate it on the spot.”

“يا إلهي،” Amel replied in terror.

Duke continued. “I cut the leg after giving him something to bite down on and tried to carry him out of the ravine. He was losing blood fast, even with the bandages on him, and when I finally got topside, he was almost dead. I called for an evac chopper-”

“Evac chopper?” Amel repeated.

Duke ignored it and went on. “But it didn’t arrive on time. The guy knew he was about to die, too, the whole time. He never thought he was getting out. ‘Get my body back,’ he told me. ‘Tell my family I’ll miss them.’ He held out a note for me to take. The moment I took it, his head slumped back, and he was gone.” Duke paused. “That was my first ever rescue. A total failure.”

“I... I’m so sorry,” Amel said, trying to console Duke.

“That Special Forces Soldier has been on my mind ever since that day,” Duke said. “I see him every night, I see his painful death. You want to know the value I put on life? Life is the most precious thing in existence, not because I’m alive, but because there are people who care about me and whom I care about back. That Green Beret’s life had worth, to him and his friends and his family, and it’s that knowledge that keeps me going. Through all the death, through all the violence, all the gore, pain, cold, and blood, it’s him that reminds me just what I’m fighting for. He reminds me of our creed; These things we do, that others may live.”

Amel was nearly speechless. “Wow,” she said. “I... I can’t even begin to understand.”

“Few can,” Duke said. “But that’s not what we ask of people. We only ask that people appreciate it just a little bit, and that they don't try to understand. We understand these things so that they don’t have to. It’s part of why you don’t see as many happy military families, especially with special ops guys.”

“Especially?” Amel asked, looking sadly at Duke. “What do you mean?”

“We’re always on call, we can get pulled away at any time,” Duke said. “And there is never a guarantee that we’ll come home. Even now, if Frost and I can’t find a way home, our families will never see us again, and we might as well be dead.”

“Who do you have back home?” Amel asked. “Neither of you seem like the married men.”

“I don’t know, maybe someday,” Duke replied. “Right now, neither of us is taken. It’s our parents and siblings who worry. But we accepted this life, and they accepted our choice. It’s just how it is.”

It became clear to Amel in that moment that Frost never spoke of what happened with his mother and father to Duke. Frost said he never told anyone who might do something, which must have included Duke. He was suffering alone, then, with Amel as his only confidant. She was the only one who knew. Frost must have trusted her quite a bit to tell her that.

“But yeah,” Duke said. “That all pretty much explains why we don't sleep too well. People like to think that we don’t need that much sleep, but we aren’t superhuman; we need sleep too. So we get it any time we can and in any quantity we can.”

Amel was stunned at everything she had just learned. They lived a uniquely difficult like, these men. Many had little family, only their friends, which one might say is their family. When one of them died, it hit hard, because there must not have been too many of them, being “special ops”. As much as Amel would never wish such a life on anyone, she didn’t doubt that if she loved a “special ops” man, she would choose the life of his wife as well.

She wanted to get away from that, though. “What kinds of ‘special ops’ warriors do you have?” she asked.

Duke seemed glad about the change of topic as well. “Lots. There’s Army Special Forces, which act as sort of trainers for guerrillas most of the time, but they can do other stuff. Navy SEALs are the Navy’s big-hitting special ops, with lots of assault missions in Afghanistan. Mostly, they operate in the water, though. The Army Rangers do special operations, but they’re mostly extremely hard-hitting light infantry. From the Rangers and Army Special Forces, they get people who go to Delta Force, a counterterrorist unit.

SEAL Team Six is also counterterrorist. Neither of those groups are actually named the way I just told you, but that’s how most people know them. There are also Navy SWCCs, who operate boats, and the army has the 160th SOAR for flying helicopters.”

“Flying?” Amel said in awe.

Duke chuckled. “Yes, flying. Nothing compared to me and Frost in the AIR FORCE, though.”

“Do you fly often?” Amel asked, fascinated.

“That’s how we usually get to the drop point,” Duke explained. “We fly in a plane, then jump out and use parachutes to get safely to the ground. That was actually how we arrived here in the first place.”

They continued talking for a time about the different Special Operations Units, but Duke maintained his ignorance about most of them. Even in their community, things were told on a need-to-know basis, so one PJ probably didn’t know much about what another PJ did on his last deployment. It was especially true when talking about cross-branch units.

Frost woke up eventually and joined the conversation, but he was kept in the dark about the conversation Duke had with Amel. The entire time, she couldn’t stop looking sadly at him, feeling sorry for both the humans. But this life was their choice, and evidently, they could live with it. There was no telling how long they would, though. And that was what made Amel feel sad for them.

She would never quite be able to look at them the same way again after this adventure of theirs, because the more she thought about it, the less it seemed like an adventure and the more it seemed like an exile.

> Where the Grass Isn't Much Greener
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Where the Grass isn’t Much Greener




The rest of the trip went by quickly for the men. The two days on the water, though, were tough on Amel, who had never been on a ship before. She was seasick the entire way, requiring a soothing hand from whichever of her companions happen to be nearby. The seas weren’t even that rough, only three foot swells. Duke and Frost had dealt with much worse in Dive Training.

When they finally made landfall, Amel was practically kissing the ground, she was so happy to be ashore. She was the first one off, leaving her share of the gear on the boat so she could get a moment of stable ground. Duke felt bad for her after she suffered so much during the sea travel, so he simply picked up what she left and carried it to land.

Duke dropped it next to her. “Be careful where you leave our things,” he said. “We don’t want any unsavory characters to try to steal valuable US Military gear.”

Amel came out of her happy stupor and looked up at him. “Sorry,” she said, ashamed. “I won’t do it again.”

Duke looked around. “Nah, it isn’t a huge problem, not here,” he said. “Most of this stuff wouldn’t be valuable to ponies and such anyway. Most of it.” He emphasized his last words to make sure Amel understood her responsibility.

They had landed at a shipping dock, not a travel port like Duke had been expecting. From the ship he, Frost, and Amel had ridden on, he could see large amounts of cargo being taken out of the ship and stacked in crates on the dock. Sauri must have sent them with a merchant’s vessel to cut the cost of transportation.

Frost came down from the ship with his gear and the large sack of money in tow. He struggled under the weight of it all, most of the weight coming from the sack of money, seeing as it was gold coinage. Duke was about to trudge up to help his partner out with the weight when Frost called out to him.

“Yo, Duke, you take care of immigration or whatever! Me and Amel will watch the gear!”

Duke understood the importance of that. “Alright, just don’t drop our money into the water!” Duke shouted back. “We will probably need it!” He turned to Amel. “Help him out, would you?”

Amel nodded and ran up to help Frost while Duke left them with his own gear to go find an immigration desk. Since it wasn’t a travel port, the odds of there actually being one nearby were low, but Duke thought it would be safer to check. If there turned out to be one and they were found sneaking into the country, there could be trouble.

He searched the entire dock for an office of immigration. He found dozens of offices; exports, imports, repairs for ships, illegal cargo seizures, and many more. Not shockingly, there was no immigration office anywhere. The merchants and shippers probably didn’t go into Equestria for their business, or those that did had special passes. Duke, Frost, and Amel had no such passes, and would unfortunately have to illegally enter the country.

Duke returned to where he left his companions only to find that they were missing. The gear was also missing, which set off alarm bells in his head. Were they taken by security? Did they have to run in hurry and find some place to hide?

“Psst!”

Duke looked to his right, where the noise came from.

“Duke, come over here!” Frost said, waving his hand from out of a dark corner between two large transportation crates.

Duke walked over casually and joined Frost in the dark corner, where he found Amel and all the gear. Nothing seemed damaged or broken, relieving Duke of his worst fears for the situation. Amel looked uncomfortable in her spot against the wall, sitting on top of awkwardly shaped gear.

“Why are you hiding?” Duke asked. “Are there guards, were you found and questioned?”

“No, no,” Frost replied. “We just thought it would be safer. Immigration through here probably isn’t strictly legal, so we thought it would be smarter to sneak our way out of here. Any ideas?”

Duke thought for a moment. “Well... I suppose that we just need to find our way out of the docks, then. I’ll take point.”

Everyone picked up their gear and Frost tossed the money over his shoulder and hauled it with him. They were forced to move slowly to avoid having the money make too much noise and result in them being found. It was possible that they were allowed to be here, seeing as the stallions who ran the ship had known about where they were going, but Duke didn’t want to take chances. Odds weren’t great that Sauri had sent much word ahead to whatever the Equestrian Port Authority was.

They made it out of the docks, with a few close calls, and made their way on top of a hill before a field just beyond it. The grassy field wasn’t the nicest they had ever seen; most of the grass was a sickly brown, not even the dormant brown you usually see with grass. There were empty patches of dirt everywhere, and sewage drain pipes that were exposed and broken, killing whatever plants were nearby. It reminded Frost of that section of Akhal Teke where all the “undesirables” lived.

Across from the field was something the men weren’t expecting; a massive, metropolitan city. There were tall buildings everywhere. They weren’t quite skyscrapers, like in New York City, but they were certainly tall. Activity could be seen on the road just twenty meters on the other side of the field, with ponies walking around, pulling carts, and such.

“I see a city,” Duke said, ever observant.

Frost pointed into the sky. “That wasn’t the first thing I saw,” he said. “I see flying ponies up in the sky.”

Duke looked up; sure enough, there were ponies, flying around. They were pegasi, the ancient, mythical horse with wings. Similar to the traffic below, they seemed to fly around in something of a grid, stopping above intersections at floating lights on clouds and letting each other get by. The pegasi could be seen kicking clouds out of existence in various areas where the coverage was a little darker than the common gray for the day.

The trio got low to the ground to evade detection. “Boss,” Frost said. “Did we take in anything that we didn’t know what it was on the trip?”

“No, Frost, and I don’t think you should be surprised. We’ve already cut deals with talking horses to find OGA and fought gryphons; a few pegasi shouldn’t be surprising.”

Frost sighed. “Next thing you know, we’ll be seeing unicorns.”

“Of course,” Amel said. “There are plenty of unicorns in Equestria. Many live in Canterlot.”

Both men stopped for a moment, then slowly turned toward Amel. Neither could speak at first, simply trying to comprehend the words that came out of her mouth. Duke tried to put it on her having bad English, but nothing could make sense of Canterlot. Frost looked like his brain had a short circuit and that he was trying to fix it with a hammer.

“You’re joking,” Frost said finally.

Amel shook her head. “No. There are many in Canterlot. It is the leadership capital of Equestria, and unicorns are known for their cleverness and cunning.”

“So that’s where their leaders will be, huh?” Duke thought. “That would make it the place to go right now.”

“Now, I think I can say that no man has ever seen what I’ve seen,” Frost said. “Sure, some crazies back home may talk to horses, but how many have seen pegasi and eventually get to talk to unicorns too? And how many also fought and killed gryphons?”

Amel looked confused. “It isn’t that bad,” she said. “They are perfectly nice ponies.”

“I’m sure they are,” Frost said. “So why don't we go meet some?”

“Not just yet,” Duke said, eying the city. “We should find out where we are, make it seem like we’re supposed to be here. Then we’ll go in.”

They moved back down their side of the hill and regrouped. Duke and Frost left their weapons hanging, as they suspected that they wouldn’t need their primaries, and Duke led the way. Frost took the middle, protecting their money, and Amel took the back. She still had the knife that Frost had bought for her in her mane. She had practiced enough with it that she felt safe taking the rear.

Eventually, they made their way to the entrance gate to the docks, where they had to go one at a time past the gate to avoid being spotted by the security guard. Once past him, they moved off the road to the left, where they could see train tracks leading to and from the city. There was no train at the moment, but it was clear that they frequented the area from the way the vegetation was dying around the tracks.

After some time, almost to sundown, they were able to get to what appeared to be the “front entrance” of sorts to the city. There were several highways that led in, all with carriages on them, and four sets of train tracks in just this area. Above the tracks, there was a huge green sign;

WELCOME TO BALTIMARE

Duke could already feel Frost’s logic starting to shut down and just rubbed his temples. He had to admit, it was hard not to have one’s mind blown when presented with something like this. What was next, the country of Prance?

“Alright, let’s go before Frost’s brain oozes out of his head,” Duke ordered. They took the long way and walked into the city by the underpass.


******************************************************************


It turned out, the underpass might not have been the best way to take. Not thirty meters in, the men had to pull out their sidearms just in case some of the sketchy ponies around them decided they wanted to steal some valuable US Military gear. Amel stayed close to Frost, standing in front of him so that no one would have a chance to make a grab for her. It was a massive relief when they were out of there and back in the street.

Unlike the underpass ponies, the ponies in the streets of Baltimare seemed to see the group as more than a source of money and fights. Many stared at them as they passed, most moving out of the way. While it made them feel uncomfortable, the trio was certainly happier here than on the way in.

Duke’s stomach growled. “Guys, I think we should go find someplace to eat something,” he said.

“Amen to that,” Frost replied.

Duke continued to lead them through the city, searching for anywhere they could get a meal. The good news was that, here, there was a much better chance of finding a place where Duke would actually understand what was being said to him. They could all enjoy a decent meal together.

For fifteen minutes, they walked about, but they had no idea where they were. Duke tried to figure out what kind of area they were in. There were a few stores here and there on the street they were on, but there were also a number of residential buildings. The nature of the stores varied, from what looked like an outdoors store to what looked like a store Duke would never allow himself to be seen in. Amel looked disgusted at the “XXX” neon sign in the front.

Duke gave up searching. They weren’t familiar with the city on any level. Neither Duke nor Frost had even been to Baltimore back home. Amel was no help here, either, as she had barely even heard of this particular city. Only a few Equestrian cities were actually famous outside the country, it seemed. Duke had Frost and Amel wait next to a wall while he went to get directions.

“Excuse me,” Duke said to a passing stallion. The stallion froze and stared at him. “I and my friends are looking for a place to eat, and maybe somewhere to spend the night later. Can you point us somewhere?”

The stallion swallowed hard. “W-who are you?” he asked.

“I’m Duke,” Duke replied slowly. “My friends are Frost, the tall one, and Amel, the brown one. We need to eat some food and find a place to sleep. Can you help?”

The stallion nodded. “S-sure, uhh...” He looked around nervously. “Ju-just go down the street here, three blocks, a-and there’s a restaurant, nice place. They can tell you where to find a place to stay the night later.” He swallowed again.

Duke nodded slowly. “Thanks,” he said calmly, trying to keep everything under control. “Appreciate it.” He walked away, making sure to fully turn his back, and heard the stallion scurry off.

Frost had watched the whole thing. “Well, that doesn’t bode well,” he said as Duke returned. “You think this’ll mean trouble?”

Duke looked back; the stallion was long gone. “Nah,” he said. “Nothing serious, at least.”

Duke led them down the street to where the stallion said that the restaurant was. The whole way, they were getting suspicious looks, but sometimes, when it was clear that they spotted Amel, the severity of the looks would slightly diminish. Bringing her had turned out to be an excellent idea. If they hadn’t, they probably would have been arrested by Animal Control or something ridiculous.

They arrived at the restaurant, and Frost could smell the food from outside. It smelled incredible; various different spices, the smell of steamed and cooked vegetables, and the refreshing feel of air conditioning. It had been far too long since Duke and Frost got to spend time in a climate-controlled room.

“Let’s get in there,” Frost said impatiently. No one argued as he took the lead and went inside.

Frost walked through the doors and found that the area around him was totally silent. Everyone around was staring at him, and when Duke and Amel came in, at them as well. Frost stood uncomfortably for a minute in his place, then moved forward toward where the waitress stood. Given the ponies around them, there would likely be a wait time for them, but Frost could still find out.

“Hi,” he said, putting his hand up.

The waitress blinked at him. “Uhm, hi,” she said.

“Do you have any free tables?” Frost asked. “For three?” Frost tapped his fingers on his side as the waitress checked for him.

“Uh, yes,” she said, still looking at him with wide eyes. “If you’ll follow me.”

She led the group into the restaurant and to a table near a window. As they passed other groups, the ponies would lift their heads from their plates or conversations and stare at Duke and Frost. They had kept all their gear with them for fear of it being stolen, so they were bulkier than usual, and occasionally bumped into tables. Whenever they apologized, the ponies would act like they hadn’t expected an apology and show some level of appreciation.

The waitress had them sit at a table and left them to retrieve some menus. During the wait, Duke and Frost glanced around the restaurant. Ponies were looking at them, some whispering amongst themselves, and pointing. It made the men uneasy, though they kept their cool to avoid creating any incidents.

The waitress returned. “Here you are,” she said. “Would you like water... sirs?”

Duke nodded. “That would be great, thanks,” he said. The waitress nodded and walked off, looking proud that she guessed the genders correctly.

“Well, this is awkward,” Frost said. “I don’t think any of them know what to think of us.” He made it a point to speak at normal volume.

“Ah, they’ll get over it,” Duke said. “We’re just passing through on our way to the capital. Won’t be here long.”

“What are you going to do once you are at the capital?” Amel asked. “I know you are looking for your friend, but what do you plan to do with the Equestrians?”

“That’s a fair question,” Duke replied. “I think we’ll be able to hammer something out. We help them, just a little, they help us, just a little. All we need is information on where to find OGA, nothing else. It might be similar to what we did in Saddle Arabia. We go on missions where OGA might be there and where there may be a secondary objective for us as well. It’s a fair trade.”

“I guess,” Amel said. “But if you knew where he was, could you not get him yourselves?”

“Depends,” Frost said, jumping in. “If we need help getting somewhere, we might need them. We have to offer something to them so that they offer that support to us if we need it.”

“Exactly,” Duke said. “We need to be as strategic as possible, and make sure that we have the overall power in the situation. It’s our best bet.”

The waitress came back with the water, and the group ordered some food. She couldn’t see Duke and Frost’s teeth, so she had no way of knowing that they ate meat. To further avoid any possible confrontations, they kept their meals to vegetables and bread, plus an apple each. Amel had trouble deciding, and simply settled for what her companions had gotten. They continued to talk about what they were going to do as they waited and then through their meal.

When they finished, they received the bill; thirty bits. Considering that this meal would have been something like sixty dollars in the US, Duke and Frost liked the price. At least, they thought that it probably sounded fair. Frost pulled the bits out of the bag and dropped them onto the table, then the group went back to the front.

“Excuse me,” Duke said to the waitress as they came close. She looked in their direction. “Where might we find a hotel nearby?”

“Up the street, take a left, then the next right. There is a large building that’s really decorative. Can’t miss it,” the waitress said.

“Thank you,” Duke replied. He motioned for Frost and Amel to follow him. Before they left, though, the waitress had a question.

“Where are you from?” she asked.

Duke turned to face her. “Not important,” he said. “We’re just looking for our friend. Human, like us. You heard anything about him?” It was possible that OGA had made the news.

The waitress’s eyes showed some small level of recognition for the word human when Duke said it. Sauri had said that there was another human in this world some time before, but he hadn’t been able to give them almost any information on that. Odds were that the men wouldn’t have the time to go chasing after that old story while they searched for OGA and possibly fought a war, but it did pique the men’s interest.

“No, haven’t heard anything about any human in Equestria,” the waitress replied.

Duke shrugged. “Thanks anyway.” He left with his companions and they made their way to the hotel.

They made it to the hotel without incident and paid fifty bits for a night there. There was a bag guy who offered to take their bags to their room for them, but the men weren’t too keen on letting some random guy handle their gear. They took the cart from him and took care of it themselves, wheeling their gear to their room on the eighth floor. There, they opened the door and took in the very nice oom.

It was a nice room, tastefully decorated. The walls were green with gold stripes, easy to sleep in because of the non-reflective nature of the green. The two beds were large and looked fluffy, with big pillows and large comforter sheets on them. They were green and white, perfectly clean and ready to be mussied up again. 

Duke wheeled the cart to the center of the room. “Alright, we can either spend the rest of the day here, or we can go around the city and kill time,” he said. “Thoughts?”

Frost shrugged. “I’ll do whatever,” he said. “I could rest, but I don’t think that seeing the city is such a bad idea.”

Amel jumped onto one of the fluffy beds and sank in. “Ahh,” she said, instantly relaxing. “I think I like this.”

“Well, I guess she’s staying,” Duke said. “She also gets that bed.” Duke walked over to the other bed and removed one pillow and ripped one of the sheets out from under the comforter. “Frost, you get the floor.”

“Again?” Frost asked. “You just can’t accept that you want to sleep with me,” he said with a smirk.

“Of course,” Duke replied. “Now here-” he tossed the pillow and sheet to Frost- “Make yourself comfortable. Odds are, there aren’t any bed bugs here.”

Frost moved in between the beds and set down his pillow and sheet. “I sure hope so,” he said. “If I get any, it’s your fault.” Frost turned his attention to the already-sleeping Amel. “Well, I’d hate to leave her alone, and sleeping on something stable is pretty appealing right now...”

“I agree,” Duke said, plopping onto his bed. “I’ll just-”

Duke noticed something on the nightstand next to him. It was a radio, a little thing, with a knob to adjust the channel. he picked it up and looked it over. It was just like any radio back home, easy to operate. Duke turned it on and listened to what it had to say.

“You’re listening to the Adventures of Daring Do, greatest explorer in Equestria!”

“What’s that?” Frost asked.

“The thing that’ll keep us entertained until we decide to sleep,” Duke replied.

“Solid,” Frost replied.

They listened to the radio on a hushed volume for hours until they finally went to sleep, glad to have some decent respite in their long journey to find one man in an entire alien world.

> On Track
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






On Track





Duke and Frost woke up at around six the next morning easily enough. Duke started his day of with push-ups, Frost with sit-ups. Amel still slept peacefully in her bed, snoring gently in the dark room.

The men went to checking their gear again, as they were so used to doing. Even back home, they wouldn’t be checking their gear quite this much, but in this world, there was nothing else for them to do at the moment. They couldn’t go out because it might arouse the suspicions of the locals. Ponies might be afraid of them and call the authorities. Overall, it was a much better idea to just stay put early in the morning.

When the men finished their warm-ups for the morning, they each took a shower. Duke went first, taking a short shower to avoid using much hot water. It was a hotel, but hey, one never knows when in a foreign land. Frost went next and took an equally short time. By the time they finished, Amel was just beginning to stir.

“So, boss,” Frost said as he walked out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around him. “What’s the game plan for where we go next?”

“I think we need to head to the capital of Equestria,” Duke said. “That’s where we’ll find the political and hopefully military leaders of the country. From what Amel told us, I think that these princesses just about control everything to some extent, so they’re going to be the ponies to talk to.”

“I don’t know, Frost said. “Do you think we can trust them?”

“About as much as we trusted Sauri,” Duke said. “We’ll need to walk like we’re on eggshells out there, because we probably will be. We don’t know how things work out here, and it’s important that we don’t make them think we hope to change that. These princesses might be nice, they might be dangerous.”

“They’re definitely going to be asking us to help them in return for helping us to find OGA, assuming they even do help us,” Frost said. “What can we do to avoid that? Combat search and Rescue is our thing, and it wouldn’t be too much of a problem, I don’t think.”

“Not much,” Duke said. “But I think I can handle most of that. If we’re going to get what we want, we’ll need more than just the support of the national leaders. You might have to take a bit of a PR role, get the nationals to support us, too.”

Frost took in a deep breath. “I get that,” Frost said. “But what can we limit our role to?”

“I think we can limit it solely to operational support and rescues,” Duke said. “I know that we won’t train any of their soldiers if they ask. And we’ll only go on missions that either involve the potential of finding OGA or if the mission is in exchange for OGA. We can’t ignore the possibility that they might want to use him as a bargaining chip.”

“Damn, I hadn’t considered that,” Frost said. “This is just getting more and more complicated by the second.”

“That’s why we’re special operators, Frost, because we have to think differently from anyone else.” Duke looked at Amel, who was just starting to sit up and rub her eyes. “And we aren’t exactly going into it blind. More like, partially blind due to cataracts.”

“That makes me feel better,” Frost replied. He looked over to Amel as well. “Are you waking up now?” he asked her.

Amel rubbed her eyes and looked at him. “Yes,” she said simply. “How did you men sleep?”

“Well enough,” Duke replied. “Now hurry it up and get ready to leave. We need to get moving if we want to get transportation to the capital without too much trouble.”

Amel rolled off the bed and stood up, blinking away her sleepiness. “I am ready,” she said. “Shall we go?”

“You’re not going to at least shower first?” Duke asked. “We did you the courtesy of not smelling for the trip. And you should have gotten a whiff of Frost last night.” Duke looked over at Frost. “Though you might have gotten a good whiff of him already.” Frost opened his mouth to reply, but Amel spoke first.

“I know he smells bad. I have gotten this ‘whiff’ of him that you speak of.” Duke suddenly started chuckling and Frost shot him an unhappy look. “What?”

“Just ignore him,” Frost said. “Go take your shower. Just make it fast.”

Amel, confused and still somewhat tired, did as Frost ordered and went to the bathroom to take her shower. When she walked in, she was fascinated by what she beheld. A beautiful bathroom, with marble tiles on the floor and walls, and a huge mirror over two large sinks. The running water in and of itself was incredible to her, as she had not seen much of that in Saddle Arabia, but the multiple controls for hot and cold were amazing. Only the palace had running water, and she was not permitted in those areas which had it.

She turned to the shower and found a problem. She had no idea how to use it. She had never even seen a shower like this, and had no reference of how to operate it. She tried pushing a nozzle on top of a faucet back and forth, but nothing seemed to start it. She also pushed down a button-like piece on the faucet. Still, nothing. She quickly grew embittered by the contraption.

“What’s taking so long?” Duke asked through the door. He knocked hard on it. “Trouble?”

“I do not know how it works,” Amel said.

Duke opened the door and walked in, finding a confounded Amel staring at the faucet in the shower. She had turned the temperature nozzle all the way to hot, so maybe it was good that she was lost. He approached and turned the nozzle to a reasonable temperature, then pulled another nozzle away from the wall, starting the stream of water. Amel jumped back at the sudden deluge with a yelp.

“I always hated hotel showers,” Duke commented. “It always takes forever to figure out how they work. Just use the normal ones that people use, I always think.”

Amel watched in wonder at the massive quantity of water coming down at the base of the tub. In her homeland, everyone always fought over water, even killed for it. They had enough here to let it stream over them and remove their filth.

“Thank you,” Amel said. “And I just stand in it?”

“Well, you should use soap and shampoo,” Duke said. Then he realized. “But you don’t use it often, do you?”

“Not on myself,” Amel said.

Duke contemplated whether or not it would be worth it to help her. After taking a good sniff of the air around Amel, hh determined that it was, indeed, worth it. He didn’t want to do it on his own, so he called in Frost. They had Amel step into the shower and used soap and shampoo to clean her off. There was an awkward silence the entire time, but when she came out, she looked and smelled like a new mare. It would do to attract a little less attention, or at least negative attention.

“Nice and clean,” Duke said. “Feel better?”

“I feel funny,” Amel said. “My coat feels so... light.”

“It should, since it hasn’t got all that crap all over it now,” Frost said. “You’ll get used to the feeling.”

“Of being washed by my human friends?” Ame said with a raised eyebrow.

“No,” Duke replied. “Of being clean. You can do it yourself. If you want help, though, I can make Frost do it.”

“Thanks a million, boss,” Frost said.

The group packed all its gear and headed out to find the train station. The mare at the front desk of the hotel accepted their key suspiciously, as if they had done something to it or the room it went to. They carried the gear out of the building to find their way to the train station.

They hailed a cab pulled by a large stallion, and asked him to bring them to the train station. The guy had stopped after seeing Amel, not noticing the men at either side behind her. When he spotted them, he immediately bolted. When they hailed another one, they were able to talk the guy into taking them to a train station. When they arrived, they handed him the fare he asked for and sent him on his way without trouble.

The train station had few enough ponies at it. Most who were there froze and stared at the sight of the humans and Amel. On the way in, Duke and Frost let them stare and simply kept going. Amel, feeling conscious about how different she looked now, couldn’t ignore them. She was used to being ignored at home, with the attention going to either man at her side. Now, she couldn’t shake the idea that she was being looked at.

They went to the main building, a good-sized set of rooms next to two tracks, and dropped their bags. On the platform around them were several other ponies, standing alone, and then a small group. The small group seemed to consist of young stallions on a mission of mischief, giggling their little hearts away at some joke one of them told.

“Amel, you stay here,” Duke said, putting his hand on Frost’s shoulder. “We’re gonna go get some train tickets.”

“To where?” Amel asked.

“Whatever direction we need to start going to get to the capital,” Duke explained.

Duke and Frost entered the small building with the bag of bits from the previous day, leaving the gear with Amel to guard it. She still had her knife that Frost bought for her in Saddle Arabia, and she had been careful to keep it hidden so that even Duke and Frost wouldn’t know she had it, so she felt a little bit safer. For her shower, she hadn’t worn it, but put it on immediately after getting out.

So she stood silently over the pile of gear, watching the ponies around her with a sense of mild paranoia and distrust. The stallions in the group were particularly disconcerting, as they seemed to look at her every now and then and turn away when she noticed. She had her eyes on them. But then, they weren’t the ones who turned out to e the troublemakers.

“Hey, pretty lady,” a stallion said as he approached Amel from behind. She spun to face him. “You shouldn’t be out here all alone. Aren’t you lonely? Maybe you should spend the wait nice and safe with a big, strong stallion?” He added a disturbing attempt at a seductive grin at the end.

Amel had a feeling she knew what he meant. “No, thank you,” she said. “My friends are just inside and should be out shortly.”

“Come on, we can still have a dance or two,” the stallion said, getting closer. He put his hoof out to touch Amel, but she backed away.

“No,” she said. She put her hoof into her mane, where her knife was. “Please, go away.”

“Aww, now you’re hurting my feelings,” the stallion said. In the background, the mischievous group stopped chattering. “Come on. I promise, it’ll be fun.”

“I said, no,” Amel said. She was starting to grow afraid.

The stallion lunged forward and grabbed Amel’s left wrist. “Well, why not make it easier for us both, then?”

Amel put her right hoof into her mane and whipped out the knife, unfolding it like Frost showed her and shoving it forward toward the stallion. The stallion recoiled at the presence of the deadly weapon, just going back far enough to avoid being stabbed. When Amel landed with the knife hoof, she went to stab at him again, but he sidestepped it and tried to move around her.

Suddenly, the group of mischievous stallions was there and on top of the attacker, pulling him aside and throwing him toward the train tracks. Before he could adequately respond, two of them were on him and kicking him into submission, angrily yelling at him with strange accents. Another two started at the stallion, and the last one stood between the group and Amel.

She looked at them, befuddled. “Thank you,” she said.

“Oi, no worries,” the nice stallion said. “We’re from Buckston, where we don’t take too kindly tah bad apples like him.” He turned to see him buddies dragging the stallion away. “May the wind be at your back.” With that, he walked away.

Amel stared at the departed, dumbfounded. Back home, she would have been left to be attacked because she was a slave. Here, in Equestria, random strangers jumped in to save her. Much like what Frost and Duke did in Saddle Arabia.

The two men walked out of the building with three train tickets. “We heard a scuffle,” Frost said, going to Amel and kneeling down. “You okay?”

Amel nodded. “Yes, I am alright,” she said. “A nice group of stallions took care of me. Sounded funny.”

“I heard someone say ‘Buckston’ from inside,” Duke said. “Must be a regional accent.”

The group waited for their train to arrive at seven thirty-six. Duke and Frost were able to get tickets directly to the city of Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. They were told that the train ride would take most of the day, so they bought first class tickets so they could get food while on the train.

When the train arrived, ponies started filing out, and as they came out and noticed the humans, they would part to either side like they were the Red Sea. Duke and Frost took the lead forward, cutting a path through the crowd to the train.

It was nice inside, much nicer than most other trains the men had been on. This one had, at least in first class, tables you could eat at in one car and private rooms in which you sleep in the attached car. The floor was carpeted and all the furniture was made of some exotic hardwood. The seats were all velvet and well-cushioned, and very comfortable to sit on.

The group took a table and sat down. There were menus sitting on the table, and they had yet to eat breakfast, so they picked them up and inspected them for their options. It was all what Duke and Frost would refer to as “vegetarian” options, not very appetizing, but they had to eat something. The men went with simple salads and set their menus down.

“So, what do you think this city is going to be like?” Frost asked of Duke. “I mean, it sounds like ‘Camelot’, so when I imagine it, I think of Britishisms. There can’t be a coincidence there, not with everything else that we’ve seen.”

“I’d be convinced,” Duke said. “But I bet it’s a little more like Washington, back home. As the definite political capital, and with what I’ve perceived as some modern policies and a pretty modern society. They have electricity and such, so I think of it as being like nineties America at the earliest.”

“I hope it isn’t like D.C.,” Frost said. “The last thing we need is politicians as frustrating ours in a foreign country in which we’re operating.”

“The last thing we want is any politician making our job more difficult,” Duke said. “Avoid those ponies as much as possible. It’ll only be trouble if we get stuck dealing with them or making arrangements.”

“Only deal with the national leaders,” Frost summarized.

“Exactly,” Duke said.

A service mare came by and stopped to gawk at the military-clad humans sitting in the car. The men waited for a moment, but when the mare didn’t speak, they just stated which salads they wanted, and Amel did the same. Embarrassed at her own rudeness, the mare took the orders and continued along her way.

“So,” Amel said. “What will you do with all that money when we arrive?”

Frost looked at the sack of money and thought. They still had about eight hundred fifty bits left. It was a lot of money, and it was also a lot of weight to carry. He wasn’t interested in lugging it around everywhere.

“We’ll need to find a bank that takes money from foreigners,” Frost said. “I really hope we find one. This stuff’s heavy.”

“If it’s the capital, you can bet there will be,” Duke said. “Just be careful where you decide on. We might not use it after we leave, but money is money, and we’d rather keep it and not need it than lose it and find ourselves stuck.”

“I have heard horses and ponies talk about their banks before, during my old master’s dinners,” Amel said. “I think the one they trust most is called Harmony Vault Bank.”

“Well, that’s where we’ll be headed, then,” Frost said.

After that conversation, they didn’t talk much. The men fidgeted about, checking things and looking out the window. Amel stared at them the whole way. Thinking about it, she didn’t know a ton about them outside their military personas. She knew about Frost’s family, but she didn’t know about them specifically. She didn’t know what they liked to do, where they spent most of their free time, if they had any, or even about their culture. She had been with them for a while, yet still knew so little.

She didn’t like the silence, so she thought about how to ask them about their personal lives. From how they had described their jobs before, they might not be inclined to talk about their personal lives, though. There had to be some things that would seem normal to talk about, simple things.

“So,” Amel began, addressing Duke. “What do you do for fun?”

Duke sniffed. “What?” he said, looking over at Amel. “Uh, I just sort of go out with friends, usually to a bar not far from whatever base I’m at. We tell jokes, share stories, stuff like that.”

“Nothing else?” Amel asked. She found his answer unsatisfactory.

Duke shrugged. “Well, I...” He thought. “I have a bit of a management position, so I’m busy a lot of the time. I enjoy my job, most days, though, so my life is good.”

Now Amel could accept his answer. “You, Frost?” she asked.

Frost contemplated the question before answering. “We enlisted boys are a little less rigid most of the time than the officers,” he said. “Once you get to a high enough rank, you’re an NCO, so you get some level of management, but most of us do what Duke said; we hang out, head to the bar, stuff like that. We also like to have competitions, see who’s best in some physical activity. Money is usually-” He glanced at Duke. “Not involved.” Duke snorted.

“Just like when we talk about which of you will win, money is not involved,” Duke said. Frost gave a small laugh.

“But it is very similar?” Amel asked.

Frost shrugged. “Well, Duke really hit the nail on the head; we do it because we want to. We worked hard to get to where we are, so if we didn’t enjoy it, or thought we wouldn’t, we wouldn’t have signed up. We’re among the lucky few who can do what we want for a living and enjoy it.”

“The lucky few?” Amel asked. Both men nodded.

“Most of the time, and it’s especially true for those who enlist, they get assigned a job, and don’t often get to pick it. Unless it’s a specific thing, like SEALs, or PJs, like us, you don’t try out for anything. Most guys get a job, get trained for it, and go out.” Duke shrugged as he finished.

“That sounds a lot like gryphon society,” Amel said.

“They sound like a military society, then,” Duke replied.

Amel nodded. “Yes, very. I think the most war-oriented species in the world. They do very much with war paint and armor to signify their fighting prowess, and have many battle customs.”

“What kinds of customs are those?” Frost asked.

“Mostly about earning appearance and status,” Amel said. “I know very little.”

“Everything helps,” Duke said.

Their food came and they ate quickly. Once they were done, they moved out of the eating car and into the sleeping car, where they searched briefly for a room to rest in and kill the time of the ride. At this point, it seemed like they were more often just killing time than actually searching for their charge.

They closed and locked the door and sat down. There were four beds, two sets of two beds, one on top of the other, on either side of the relatively small room. Amel Hopped up to one of the beds on top and lay down. Frost was on the bed under her, Duke across from them on the bottom bunk. They had been carrying the gear with them the whole time, so Duke moved off of the bottom bunk and they put it there, and he took the top bunk.

Amel giggled as she watched Duke try to lie down, but the bed wasn’t long enough. he had to keep his legs bent at least thirty degrees, and they had to go to either side, because there wasn’t enough room on top for them to go up. Beneath Amel, Frost had enough space to keep his legs going up, but bumped Amel’s bunk several times.

Eventually, Duke lay down on his side, facing Frost and Amel. Amel could hear Frost adjust under her, also facing out. It didn’t look like a comfortable position. After a short time, Duke grew tired of his position and rolled off the bed and landed on the floor. There, he started going through his gear again, organizing it into two piles; his gear and Frost’s; and then into sub-groups based on the items.

Amel quickly grew bored. “What shall we do to pass the time?” she wondered aloud. Duke only grunted in response.

“Well, I know this game that Rangers liked to play when they were on patrol in Iraq,” Frost said. “It’s called Riddle Me This. I tell you a riddle, you try to answer it.”

Amel smiled and clopped her hooves together. “That sounds like fun!”

Duke continued checking the gear while Frost and Amel spoke in riddles and rhymes for most of the rest of the way, with everyone thinking about what awaited them once they arrived at the capital.

> Your Princesses Are in This Castle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Your Princesses Are in This Castle





The train arrived at roughly one in the morning. As the passengers exited their cars, they went about their personal business. There was no rush, because there were almost no ponies waiting to get on such an early train.

Duke and Frost stepped off with their gear and looked around. Nopony seemed to notice them, but they also looked extremely groggy. The men were as well, of course, but did their best not to show it. Amel came up shortly behind them, rubbing her eyes and grumpy about having to get up at such an absurd hour.

“Where to?” Frost asked no one in particular.

“We should find some place to stay for the rest of the night,” Duke said. “We can deal with whatever we need to later today. It would be best to be rested for it.”

“Sounds good to me, boss,” Frost said.

Amel stepped in front of them. “Should we go?” she asked with some impatience. “I don’t think the workers like us standing around here.”

Duke nodded. “Yeah, let’s head out. Don’t want to cause a scene.”

The trio made their way off the platform and toward the city. The station was only a little bit aways from the city, giving enough space so that the sounds wouldn’t carry too far but not so far that it wasn’t inconvenient to get there. The ponies who got off the train all had some form of transportation waiting for them, but Duke, Frost, and Amel had to walk to the city. Having taken off first, the ponies who passed by them give them curious looks as they went by.

As they approached the city, the men couldn’t help but be impressed. The first thing they noticed was how exceptionally clean it was. There was no trash in the streets, and the cobblestones that made them up shined in the lights and looked brand new. The sidewalks were all perfectly flat and looked untouched by rain, snow, or cold. The Saddle Arabian Capital had been positively revolting in many parts, and Baltimare wasn’t that great either, so this place blew them out of the water.

The buildings were all several stories tall, and Duke noticed that they got a little bit taller at certain intervals as they approached what looked like a path up a hill to the castle up top. It was a stroke of genius; if the city were laid siege to, the defenders would continue to have the high ground up until that path. After that, it was a wide open space with grass and the dirt path, leaving attackers exposed.

Even though it was so nice and clean, though, the men advanced with caution and took the front and back. In an unknown city, you never know what might come out at you, especially in a foreign land. People might try to take advantage of your lack of knowledge of the culture, or jump you if you aren’t watching. No matter how nice the city, that kind of stuff could always happen.

They approached an intersection and Duke had them stop. There was a map of the city on one of the corners. Duke motioned for them to go over to it, and they did so with haste and caution. Once there, they congregated around the map and tried to figure out where they were.

“Duke, it looks like we’re here,” Frost said, pointing to an area at the right side of the map. “There are twenty-six rows of buildings between us and the path to that castle on the map, and we’re just in from the train station.”

Duke looked at where the train station was. “Frost, we’re at least two streets in from the entrance from the train path,” Duke said. “It puts us more like here-” Duke pointed at an intersection on the map. “Where it says there is a map of the city.”

Amel looked up at it. “That mark, it means there is a map there?” she asked. Duke nodded. “But that mark is at every spot on this side of the map...”

Duke looked again at the map. Sure enough, there was one mark at every spot. Instead of using marks for figuring it out, Duke decided to go with the names of major stores of landmarks to see where they were. When he took a glance at the building in front of him, he saw a sign that read A Fleur in the Thornbush. Looking again at the map, he was able to find the store and determine where they were.

“Damn this puny print,” Duke muttered. He turned to his friends. “Alright, we’re here-” he pointed at the spot. “It looks like we’re going to go...” He took one more look at the map to find a hotel. Tracing his finger around the glass over the map, he left an oily streak mark to know which way he had gone. It wasn’t on purpose, but it worked nicely. “This way.”

“And which way is that, Duke?” Amel asked, unable to see where Duke was pointing on the map.

“We need to head in that direction,” Duke said, pointing down the street in the opposite direction of the train station. “We go five blocks, turn left, and then one more block. The description of the hotel was that it’s cheap enough for anyone to vacation in Canterlot, so that’s what we’re taking.”

“Sounds good to me,” Frost said, jungling the bag of money. “I bet it’s not quite as cheap as it says.”

“That’s a safe assumption,” Amel said.

The group moved down the street quickly but carefully, making sure to stay in the light and keep their eyes in as many places as possible. Frost took the sides and Duke took the front, while Frost would just listen for any suspicious noises that came out from behind them. Amel walked in between them, nervous and tired.

They arrived at the hotel unhindered and entered calmly. As they walked in, the men looked around. There was no one in the lobby, not even a receptionist at the desk. Duke and Frost looked at each other and silently decided that they would need to find someplace else. Amel, though, decided to find the receptionist.

“Hello?” she shouted. “Is anypony here?”

“Amel, no one is here,” Duke said. “We can find another place to sleep-”

“Wha?” A voice came out from behind the desk, and shortly thereafter, a stallion rose up. “Can I help you?” Frost looked to Duke and shrugged, and the two men approached the desk behind Amel.

“We need a room for the night,’ Amel said.

“Yeah, sure, of course,” the stallion said, not noticing the humans in front of him. “Twenty bits for a night.”

Amel turned to Frost. “Sounds fair,” she said.

“Alright then,” Frost replied. He dropped took a moment to remove the bits from the sack attached to his side.

Amel took them and put them on the desk. “There you go,” she said.

“Thank you,” the stallion said with a yawn. He dropped a key on the desk and took the bits. “There’s your key. Room number seven. Enjoy your stay.” With that, he dropped back below view and started snoring from underneath the desk.

The trio moved along and walked down the hall to their left, all the way down to the final room. When they opened the door, they weren’t overwhelmed. It was nothing like the hotel they stayed at in Baltimare. However much nicer this city was, it was definitely much more expensive for the same thing here.

There was one bed, which would naturally go to Amel. She entered and dropped her share of the gear, and the men walked past her to drop their gear by the wall. There was no window in this room, leaving them only the door to escape. It was a ridiculous fire hazard, but the men weren’t worried about it.

Amel climbed up onto the bed and crawled into the center, taking up as much space as possible. The bed looked like it was built big enough for two ponies, but given that Duke and Frost were a bit bigger than most of these ponies, there was no reason to even consider trying to share. The men took a spot on either side of the bed and paid down.

“We heading up to the castle tomorrow?” Frost asked.

Duke nodded, mostly to himself. “Yep,” he said. “We’re heading up there, and hopefully, we’ll talk to one of these princesses.”

“Is it a good idea for us to just waltz up there, unannounced?” Frost asked. “I don’t think they’ll appreciate it so much...”

“With any luck, Sauri sent them some kind of message to tell them we would be here,” Duke replied. “No idea if he told them we would be here at a certain time, either. All I’ve got is that I hope he did send them something to tell them we were coming. If not, this could be harder than expected.”

Frost sighed. “Greeeat,” he said slowly. He turned to face the side of the bed and went to sleep.

Duke didn’t sleep right away. There were still a few things on his mind. Would the ponies ask the men to live nearby, or even in the castle? They might live on military bases or be given special living quarters. They could be limited to who they interact with as well. It was even possible that they would have restricted interactions with Amel. While Duke could get over that loss, and he didn’t doubt Frost could as well, Amel had grown on the both of them. They would at least try to keep her around.

That brought on the question of where she might stay. Odds were that she wouldn’t be staying with them all the time any more. That was fine, though. They could visit when time permitted, assuming it did.

Duke also thought about who they might end up working with. They had to train new soldiers for Sauri, but from what few things he got from them over there, it sounded like Equestria was much more capable as far as their military capacity. They could end up with a unit that already existed, probably getting support personnel for operations. They had seen pegasi around, so they might have an Air Force. That would make the men incredibly happy.

Duke thought about how to greet the princesses and whatever politicians there would be. The princesses would command some level of respect, to be sure, and it was a safe bet that they would have to be courteous to others to earn favor. A bow was safe and easy, it seemed pretty universal. Handshakes probably weren’t going to happen, though. He had seen horses back home cross their necks to show affection, but Duke and Frost had normal necks, so that was out as well.

There was so much they didn’t understand about this culture. Saddle Arabia had a culture that at least resembled that of Saudi Arabia back home. Equestria was clearly extremely different, and varied greatly all over the place, if the two cities they had seen were anything to judge by. There was more variation in the residents of this world than Earth, there was much more for them to learn. Even if they were forced to spend a lifetime here, Duke doubted that they could possibly learn it all.

But those thoughts were proving to be too much effort for no return. Duke set them aside for a time when they might actually become relevant and tried to sleep. It took some time, but sleep took him, and the typical dreams were flowing freely.


****************************************************************


Everyone woke up at roughly the same time, which was odd to say the least. Amel took several minutes to be able to put together a coherent thought, but by that time, Duke and Frost were already up, putting their things together.

“Hey, boss,” Frost said.

“Yeah?” Duke asked.

“You have any weird dreams last night?” Frost asked.

Duke blinked. “Yeah, I did,” he said. “What were yours about?”

Frost shook his head. “Some blue horse with wings and a horn came to talk to me. I don’t remember all of what she said, but I remember that she mentioned talking to you at the end.”

Duke stopped and looked over to his partner. “That’s weird,” he said. “Same horse in mine, but she didn’t mention you.”

“She was in my dreams as well,” Amel added. “I believe that it was Princess Luna, the princess of the night. She controls the moon and dreamlands.”

The men looked to her, then each other. They could hardly remember talking to this princess, but at least they had an idea of who she was.

“Did she speak to you?” Duke asked.

“Yes,” Amel said. “She asked me about you two, and who I was. I told her only what I thought you would be okay with.”

“What kinds of things were those?” Frost asked with some concern. Why couldn’t they remember their conversations, but Amel could?

“She asked me for your names; Duke and Frost; where you came from; another world; what you do; you are special soldiers; and various things about how I came to be with the two of you.” Amel nodded her head sleepily and yawned. “She seemed very excited.”

“I imagine,” Frost said. “It isn’t every day that you get guys like us dropping out of the sky.”

Now, Duke had even more to think about. The princess of the night had opted not to make her conversations with the men very memorable. Duke could remember bits and pieces and remember refusing to tell her a lot of things, but what had they told her? Why couldn’t they remember what they told her? And most importantly: Could they trust her?

“I think that getting to that castle sooner rather than later is a good idea,” Duke said. He looked at the clock, which read half past seven. “The early bird catches the worm.”

“I’m up for it,” Frost said, already packing his share of the gear on.

Duke and Amel loaded up their shares and they left their room. As they exited the building, the desk stallion looked wide-eyed at them and his jaw fell to the ground. He hadn’t noticed them the previous night, so seeing them now was a bit of a shock.

Out on the street, the area was way too bright and shiny. Neither man had his sunglasses, not having packed them for a mission that was supposed to be finished before the night ended. The white buildings had them almost blinded as they walked out, forcing them to stay there for a moment to acclimate.

As they stood there, they noticed the massive amount of noise around them, and quickly, they noticed that the noise was quieting down a bit. When they could finally see, they were greeted by a huge crowd of ponies, standing around and staring at them. Uncomfortable with the situation, they removed themselves from the area and started on their way to the castle.

Ponies moved out of their way as they walked. None of them appeared to be afraid of them, but extremely respectful. Many were in awe. It was as if the coming of the two men had some sort of extra meaning to them. Maybe it had something to do with the other guy who had supposedly been here? Duke reminded himself to ask the princesses about that at some point before they left for home.

They were waiting t an intersection to cross when somepony approached them.

“Hello?” he said.

Duke and Frost turned around. The guy was big, really big. About as tall as the men. He wore a fancy tuxedo and a monocle, and spoke with a british accent. At his side was what appeared to be his mare, an equally tall, very slender one with a light coat and pink mane. The stallion had a white coat and a blue mane.

“Yes?” Duke asked in return.

“Might I inquire as to where you are headed?” the stallion asked.

Duke pointed up toward the hill. “We’re heading to the castle,” he said.

The stallion nodded. “It’s a long walk,” he said. “Why don’t I call you a cab and have them take you there?”

Duke and Frost both smiled, and Frost replied, “Thanks, that would be great.”

The stallion hailed a cab and the men just watched. Everypony around seemed to stop for this guy. He was clearly very important, someone respected and liked by most. He might have been a noble or politician, but few people liked those guys, so that was toward the bottom of the list.

The cab pulled up and the stallion looked to the trio. “Here you are,” he said. “Have a lovely trip.”

“Thank you, Mr..?” Duke said.

“My name is Fancy Pants,” the stallion replied. “You can call me Fancy.”

“Thank you, Fancy,” Duke said, feeling awkward saying that as a name.

Duke and Frost got up onto the cab first and waited for Amel. Before she could jump in, though, Fancy stopped her.

“My, you look lovely,” he said, getting a blush from the mare. “Here, for you.” Fancy handed her a very intricate, green brooch for her mane.

“Oh, my,” Amel said. “Thank you.”

“No, no, thank you,” Fancy said. “I’m sure that you have been very helpful.”

Amel smiled and hopped up into the cab and they rode off, waving goodbye to Fancy. Once they were out of visual range, they all stopped waving and thought about who he might have been.

“He was nice,” Amel said, breaking the silence.

“Very generous, from the looks of it,” Duke said, pointing to the brooch. “You think he’s trying anything?”

“Don’t know,” Frost said, looking suspiciously in the direction from which they came. “But I won’t trust anyone yet.”

“Bet you’re jealous,” Duke teased, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, yeah,” Frost replied.

The ride was pleasant and smooth, and they didn’t attract much attention. Nopony was interested in seeing whoever was in the cab. It gave the men chance to observe the ponies, though they didn’t see much. They were just walking around town, holding their heads high most of the time and doing little things. When they passed a restaurant, they watched ponies eating delicate looking foods with fancy silverware. It seemed to be a very extravagant city.

When they reached the path to the castle, the cab dropped them there and left. The friends looked to each other once then advanced up the hill. It wasn’t too steep, but with the added weight of all the gear, it wasn’t the most fun journey they had undertaken so far. Though it was far from the worst.

As they approached the castle, they spotted the dozens of guards standing in strategic locations around them. Many were stationed next to the path to intimidate potential aggressors, and others who were well-armed, not by modern standards, though, stood on the walls with crossbows.

As the trio walked down the path, they were practically being laser-targeted by the guards. Not one of their expressions betrayed any emotion, but it was clear that they were ready to attack. Even with their weapons, gear, and training, Duke and Frost could never take this group on their own.

The men were sure to display a lack of aggression or threat as they walked up to the gate and watched it open. Inside, there was a large courtyard with even more guards, but also more ponies wearing fancy outfits like the nobles in old England. Everyone stopped to look at the men as they walked through the courtyard toward the castle. The men ignored it in an attempt to look official as they walked.

Duke and Frost took a spot on either side of Amel at the main door to the castle. The door opened slowly, like the gate, and they entered with purpose. The inside of the castle was huge and extremely decorated, with lavish wall-hangings and gold and silver all over the place. They spared no expense in building the place.

There was a carpet leading to a massive set of double-doors before them. The group followed the carpet to the door, though it did not open immediately when they approached. They ended up standing there, waiting, for several minutes before the door would open.

“I guess this is it,” Frost said.

“Yep,” Duke replied shortly.

“I hope this works out for us,” Frost said.

“I am sure it will,” Amel told him. “I have heard about them. They will help.”

“That isn’t what we’re worried about,” Duke said.

Just then, the door opened, revealing an enormous throne room. The carpet continued in, leading all the way to a large throne. On the throne sat a huge white horse with a horn and wings, wearing golden hoof ornaments, a chest crest, and what looked like a diadem. Sitting on the floor next to her, with a poorly contained smile, was the same blue horse princess from the previous night. Luna and Celestia.

“Here we go,” Duke muttered.

The trio started down the path before them toward the princesses. The princesses never moved, just stared at the men on either side of Amel as they walked up. The guards around them watched the men like hawks. They held spears vertically, ready to lunge forward and go for a jab. When the group was before the princess, they all bowed.

“Please, rise,” a motherly voice said.

The group rose up and looked at the princesses. They were both smiling, though for obviously different reasons. It was clear who the eldest was, the one on the throne, and who was typically in charge. They both fit well into their foretold roles; dark blue one takes the night and the white one takes the day. Duke and Frost would likely be dealing with Princess Celestia.

“Hello, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” Duke said.

“Hello, human,” Celestia said. “We have been awaiting your arrival.”



> Making Allies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Making Allies





Duke placed his hands behind his back and held them tightly together. The princess seemed nice enough, but as with all politicians and rulers, it could easily be a façade she was putting on to get the men to trust her. He made sure to only give her respectful glances and to never smile. If her guards could keep their emotions in check, so could Duke and Frost.

“You’ve been expecting us?” Duke asked.

Princess Celestia nodded. “Yes, we have for a bit of time now,” she said. “King Sauri of Saddle Arabia informed us of your coming arrival not so long ago. We had sent a dispatch of guards to meet you outside the docks where you arrived, but you seemed to have a different plan.”

“Yeah, we’re sorry about that,” Duke said. “We weren’t sure that Sauri sent the message ahead of our arrival. Wanted to avoid a confrontation.”

“Yes, I can imagine why,” Princess Celestia said. She stood up and walked forward to the men, her sister falling in next to her. “We have heard quite a bit about you from the King’s message. Including your equipment.” She smiled a bit more, ever gentle in her countenance. “I thank you for avoiding confrontations; it speaks quite well of you.”

“That’s the way we prefer to do it,” Frost said.

Princess Celestia nodded. “I understand,” she said. She walked in between the men and lowered her head to view Amel, who instinctively cowered back. “Relax, young one, I am not going to be so cruel as those you knew before. You will live a good life here, I promise you.”

Amel swallowed and stood back up. “Really?” she asked, betraying the amount of hope on her voice. Princess Celestia nodded. “T-thank you.”

“Princess,” Duke interrupted, trying to keep the attention off of Amel and stay on topic. “If you received a message from Sauri, then you surely know why we are here.”

Princess Celestia stepped back and nodded again. “Yes, I know,” she said, face turning solemn. “I promise you, we will do what we can to help you find your friend.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Frost said. “When shall we discuss the details of how we will advance?”

“We can take care of that later,” Princess Celestia said with a wave of her hoof. “I must take care of certain matters pertaining to our kingdom for the time being. So, I shall leave you in the capable hooves of my sister, Luna.” The men looked away from Princess Celestia and glanced at Princess Luna. She wore a big smile and waved excitedly at them. “She has been eager to talk to you.”

“Our understanding is that she already did,” Frost said. “Though we don’t seem to remember it very well.”

Luna frowned at Frost. “Dost thou believeth that I erased thine memories?” she asked.

Frost opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. “What?” he finally said.

“Do you think I did that?” Princess Luna asked.

“Honestly, yes,” Duke said. “You might know that you’re nice and good, but we don’t. We can’t go assuming the best about anyone here, it isn’t safe.”

Princess Luna nodded understandingly. “I see,” she said, eying Frost for an uncomfortable moment. “Well, I did no such thing. After failing to get any information about either of you from you, I went to your friend Amel for answers.” Princess Luna bowed her head to Amel. “Thank you for answering my questions.”

Amel blinked. “You are welcome?” she said uncertainly. Princess Celestia cleared her throat, regaining everyone’s attention.

“We shall discuss the details of your work here later over dinner,” she said. “For now, my sister shall help you with anything you may need to take care of. Relax for now, as troubling times shall surely come soon.” With that, Princess Celestia took her leave of the group and her sister and went off to do whatever princesses do.

That left the men and Amel alone with an eager looking Princess Luna, who stared at them expectantly. Frost did his best not to look her way, instead observing the intricate patterns on the ceiling and in the floor. Duke watched the stained glass windows, also trying to avoid being the one who started a conversation that could go almost anywhere.

Amel was kicking her hooves at the ground, trying to think of something to say. But what could she say to a princess? She led a life of slavery, then was freed, and was now in front of the princess. And the princess knew all of that. So, she went with the most standard thing she could.

“Nice weather out, today,” Amel said.

Princess Luna nodded and looked to a window. “Quite,” she said. “The Air Guard has done a good job of keeping Canterlot clear this day.”

“Air Guard?” Frost asked, now intrigued. Duke listened in as well, hoping that this Air Guard was what it sounded like it would be.

“Yes, the Air Guard,” Princess Luna said. “They are in charge of guarding Equestrian air space and providing us a means of air superiority and airpower. There are many facets of this branch  of our forces, but this is one of our more commonly used assets.”

“What kinds of soldiers make up the Air Guard, Princess Luna?” Duke asked.

Princess Luna started walking toward the door, motioning for the group to follow. The men took the lead in a heartbeat, and Amel trailed in behind, also eager to hear about this. If there were soldiers like Duke and Frost in Equestria, that would be almost too much of a coincidence.

“Please, just call me Luna,” Princess Luna said. Duke nodded to her. “In Sauri’s letter, he said that you told him you were with the United States Air Force?” Luna asked.

“Yes, that is correct,” Duke said. “Our Air Force’s power is mostly in fighter and bomber aircraft, but we have some ground guys. And then there’s us.”

Luna nodded. “Well, we have no ‘aircraft’, but we have flying soldiers who carry explosives and ranged weapons. However, most of our Air Guard consists of airborne soldiers, and there are different roles amongst them.”

“What kinds of roles?” Frost asked.

They were standing outside now, and Luna took in a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. They were surrounded by guards who wore golden armor and carried a variety of weapons. Before, they seemed to be watching the men, ready to pounce if necessary, but now, they couldn’t seem to care less. They now watched the men like any normal passersby.

“Many,” Luna began, answering Frost’s question. “There are plenty of battalions in our guard, each with a different purpose. There is the 2nd ‘Spirit’ and 52nd ‘Strato-Bunkers’ Heavy Ordinance Battalions, the 15th ‘Eagle Strike’ and 16th ‘Battle Falcons’ Assault Battalions, the 5th ‘Cosmos’, 17th ‘Globe Mistresses’, and 130th ‘Herculean Helpers’ battalions-“

“Any clues on which battalion we might work with?” Frost interrupted, trying to get to what the men wanted to hear.

Luna nodded. “Sure,” she said. “It won’t be any of them, though. You might work with the 22nd, the 35th, or the 117th.”

“And what are their names?” Amel asked.

Luna looked at the young mare and pursed her lips for a moment in thought. Amel shrunk back a bit, thinking she did something wrong, but Frost patted her back t let her know it was alright.  Eventually, Luna shrugged and seemed to relax her thoughts.

”I suppose if you’ve been with these two, it won’t matter if you hear this,” she said. “You will likely hear about it anyhow. But please, tell no one, as we would like to keep these units as unknown as possible.” Amel nodded, and Luna went on. “The 22nd is the Rapid Assault, Prosecution, Termination, Observation, and Reconnaissance Battalion. The name pretty much says it all. The 35th Joint Strike Force takes the best from different units in  the Air Guard and puts them together for assaults that require many different fighters.

And the 117th is the unit you, Duke and Frost, will likely work with. They handle… special, missions. You and them are not so different. I think that you will find that you shall like them.” Luna wore a confident grin as she finished speaking.

Amel blinked, trying to get all of that. “Ah,” she said.

“What are the typical missions of the 117th?” Frost asked.

Luna started walking again and they started heading toward a garden. The garden was filled with many statues of different ponies, strange creatures, and symbols. The trio took the opportunity to take a look at whom the ponies honored and gave respect to after they were gone. 

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors and the men it remembers,” Duke thought. 

Many of the statues were just symbolic, but those that were of specific ponies did not disappoint. One of them was of a 117th soldier, many years ago, whose team was killed and he stayed behind to make sure a group of civilians could get away from the battlefield. Another was of a soldier from the Royal Unicorps who was killed while rescuing a downed teammate.

The group kept on walking, and Luna started to explain what types of missions the 117th takes on. Duke listened intently, but as they passed a certain statue, Frost’s attention was pulled elsewhere.

This statue was quite odd. It didn’t have a pony on it, but the symbol was different from anything else he had seen around. It was a pair of hooves connected to the base of the statue, a pair of wings coming out to either side from behind, and a horn coming out of the top and pointing at the sky. In the middle, there was a bad eagle, wings spread, facing sideways. When Frost took a closer look at the pedestal, the only word on it was Harkness.

He returned to the conversation just in time to have missed what missions the 117th did. Duke got it, though, and he would tell Frost later before dinner when they recapped what they had learned from Luna today. The group was still walking and re-entered the castle by a side entrance. They walked down a long corridor, no longer talking about the coming missions, but about other heroes.

“The Elements of Harmony protect Equestria from threats that are of a less military nature,” Luna explained. “They battle single entities that are too much for our armed forces to handle, though they are not capable of handling a military threat.”

“You guys have to deal with quite a few problems,” Duke said. “Must be frustrating at times, never having a  decent break.”

Luna shook her head. “No, no, it is not a problem to me. I handle the moon, dreamscape, and Night Court. My problems are little, and I only help the Elements or military in times of dire need, or when they are short staffed. Generally, our specific groups can handle the jobs they are given, and if they need help, it is arranged, and the problem is taken care of.”

They continue down the corridor until they found a stairwell, which they climbed up to the next floor. On that floor, there were fewer guards, though the ones that were there weren’t wearing the fancy golden armor any more. These ones wore lighter, sturdier armor that protected against cutting tools as well as blunt force, while being flexible enough for fast maneuvering. Whatever was here, it was really important.

“Please, allow me to show you where you will stay for the next couple of nights,” Luna said, leading them forward. The group followed, hoping that they would finally get to drop the equipment somewhere safe.

They passed a number of rooms labeled storage, some of weapons, others of armor. There was other stuff in other rooms, but most of it was tactical gear that the men couldn’t use because it was designed for ponies. When they reached the room Luna was talking about, it wasn’t labeled as anything.

“This is where you three shall stay for now,” Luna said as she opened the door.

The trio walked into a very nice room with marble tile flooring and three queen-sized beds. The sheets on each of them were white and purple with gold trimmings, and the bedposts were made of brass. There were dressers and nightstands for each bed in the large room, and toiletries on each nightstand to use in an attached bathroom. The ceiling was just high enough that the men couldn’t get to it even if they jumped, and from it, in the middle of the room, hung a chandelier made of crystal and more brass.

Duke whistled. “You spared no expense.” He walked to one of the beds. “Thank you. We’ll make good use of everything.”

“I am glad,” Luna said with closed eyes and a soft smile. “Please, feel free to do whatever you shall. As long as the guards do not stop you, of course. I must go take care of some things.” Luna turned around to walk away.

“What kinds of things?” Frost asked nonchalantly.

Luna smiled, facing out the door. “I must go and take care of my subjects in my own way.” Without explaining further, she left them in there.

The trio dropped the gear in the corner of the room and went about the room, seeing what they had. There were bathrobes designed for ponies, but none for humans, which was fine. There were two shaving kits in the room, which Duke and Frost eagerly grabbed and used. If they were to meet the princesses, they should be clean-shaven, as they would be expected to be when speaking to the commander of the Twenty-Fourth STS. Once they finished that, the men looked for new clothes, but there was nothing. Amel found a simple white dress to wear, but the men were stuck with their uniforms.

The trio finished getting themselves ready for dinner and, once they were ready, decided to walk around the castle. They hadn’t been told when or where dinner would be, but odds were that a guard would come and find them when it was time. Until then, they tried to learn what they could about this land. There was a public library on the first floor used often by scholars, so they started there. The library had many thousands of books, so it was the perfect way to spend the time until dinner.

The day went by quickly, with food deliveries made to the library for lunch, and at around 1800 hours, a guard came and found them.

“Dinner is soon,” he said from the door. “If you will come with me.” He turned around without waiting for them and started walking. The trio dropped their books where they were and followed.

They were brought to a massive dining hall with one long table down the middle, then several smaller tables off to the side. The ponies had managed to create what must have been a fifteen meter tablecloth for the table, held down by hundreds of pounds of silverware. At the end of the table sat the princesses, looking content and peaceful.

Duke went down the right of the table and Frost and Amel went left. As they approached, the princesses smiled at them. Celestia’s horn started to glow yellow, and the chairs glowed as well, poking at the men’s curiosity. When the chairs moved backwards, it took the men a moment before they realized what had just happened. Though, with everything they had seen lately, it was no real surprise, so they simply sat down and let their chairs move back in on their own.

“I trust you have had a fine day?” Celestia asked.

Duke nodded. “Yes, very informative, Princess.”

Celestia smiled again. “Please, just Celestia,” she said. “Might I inquire as to what you learned?”

“Luna told us a bit about your Air Guard,” Duke said, nodding toward Luna. “After she left us to our own devices, we went to your library to do some research on gryphons and historical problem areas of this world.”

“Ah, I see,” Celestia said. She took a slow sip of her tea. “And you must have seen the Southern Gryphon Colonies?”

“It was mentioned more than a few times,” Frost said.

Celestia sighed. “Yes, that is where all this began many years ago. You will quite possibly find yourselves there at some point.”

“Assuming that’s where OGA is,” Duke said.

“Of course,” Celestia said. “We will make sure that you aren’t sent anywhere that isn’t relevant to your own mission.”

“That’s good,” Frost said. “Though we have no idea where the places are that might be relevant.”

“The gryphons are causing trouble all over the world,” Celestia said. “Though some are worse than others. You will not be taking missions within our borders, but you may have to go to our neighbors. The Crystal Empire to the north, the Southern Gryphon Colonies, the Lands of the Dragons… It goes on.”

“Well, we’re trained for any environment, any day of any week of the year,” Duke said. “However short notice, we’ll be ready to deploy somewhere within half an hour. So where isn’t so much a problem, but why and when. The how, we leave to you.”

“I thank you for your trust,” Celestia said. “Though for missions, my sister shall handle operational details. She has a mind for these things.”

Luna nodded, a serious look on her face. “I have always prided myself on my military mind,” she said. “You can trust me take the right path.”

“Thank you, Luna,” Duke said. “Where will we be stationed?”

“I believe that, for now, here would be best,” Luna said. “Though soon, we will place you elsewhere. We might station you in Ponyville or Fillydephia. Wherever it is, we will be able to get you where you need to be in no time.”

“Will we be living in military barracks?” Frost asked.

“Not exactly,” Luna said. “We must wait to place you because we need to first build your quarters. Add the necessary things to live and whatnot. It will be a military style barracks, at least, and a special mission unit detachment may live with you, permanently or from time to time, for rapid deployment.”

“Where will Amel live?” Frost asked. “She isn’t a citizen here, and we don’t want to send her back…”

Luna put up a hoof. “Not to worry, we can take care of that. There are some small places in Ponyville, so I suppose we will put you there. We wouldn’t want to separate friends.”

Frost looked to Amel, who was smiling warmly at him. “Thank you,” she said.

“Don’t mention it,” Frost replied, ruffling her nicely done mane into a mess.

Duke continued the discussion. “When will we meet this team that we will work with?” he asked.

Luna closed her eyes for a moment, and her horn started to glow a deep navy blue. A fine, dark mist advanced from the horn and went through the roof and into the night sky, reaching out for whatever was up there. When Luna returned, she addressed Duke’s question.

“The team leader will be here shortly,” she said. "He is one of our best Nighthawks."

“Okay,” Duke replied. ‘While we wait: what kinds of operational tasking do you expect to give us?”

“You are Pararescuemen,” Luna said, reaffirming what she knew. “Suffice it to say, we will need to do rescues occasionally, though without your OGA, you will be able to say no. Besides that, you may join the Nighthawks on assaults where we expect heavy enemy presence and where having a highly trained medic is advisable. We have heard much of your exploits, and would be interested in using your skills.”

“I think that sounds fair,” Duke said. “Frost?”

“Seems good to me,” Frost said. “Just what we usually do.”

Duke turned his attention back to the princesses. “So, when will this Nighthawks leader be here?” he asked. He felt his stomach growl a bit. “And is there a menu or something we could select from?”

Celestia’s horn glowed, and a serving pony came over. “We have every vegetable and fruit under the sun, and we still serve some meat for when partakers of meat come to dine at our table. Whatever you think of, we probably have.”

Duke, Frost, and Amel thought over their orders for a minute, then asked for steak rare, steak medium, and steamed vegetables respectively. As the server left, there were several knocks on the door to the dining hall.

“This should be him,” Luna said. “Come in!”

The doors opened, and in walked an ash gray pegasus wearing what looked like a utility outfit with a dozen pockets. He wore a black watch on his right foreleg, and had some cloth bands on his hind legs. His eyes were striking shade of blue against his gray body, and his mane was mostly red with a streak of gray running through it. He couldn’t have been any older than Duke or Frost.

“Friends, I would like to introduce Aprotelese,” Luna said, standing up. The men stood up as well, followed by Amel. “He is the leader of his platoon in the 117th. Few are greater than he in combat.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Aprotelese said. He looked at the men. “Are these the humans you mentioned?”

“Indeed they are,” Luna said. “They are not quite the same as you, but their missions are similar enough and their skills are unmatched. You shall find them to be quite adequate.”

Duke thought that their short conversation was a bit odd, but didn’t pursue it and moved from the table to shake hands with Aprotelese. When he approached, the Pegasus took the initiative and stuck his hoof out.

“I think we know each other’s names,” he said.

Duke took the hoof and shook it. “I believe that we do. You’re good?”

Aprotelese grinned. “I am,” he said. “Are you?”

“We are,” Duke replied. “It’ll be nice to work with a team of trained spec ops guys.”

“Thanks,” Aprotelese said. “And it’ll be good for us to work with such uniquely trained guys.”

They released themselves from the shake and Duke returned to his seat. Aprotelese remained standing, keeping his eyes on his princess. When she dismissed him, he gave a quick salute and then flew off. Overall, he seemed like a decent soldier.

“So, that was Aprotelese,” Luna said. “I trust that you can work with him and his team?”

“I think so,” Duke said with a slow nod. He leaned forward and rested his elbows in the table. “So, what should we do now?” he asked.

Celestia answered, “Now, we can eat in peace and have simple conversation,” she said. “I believe that our business has been taken care of.”

They all waited for the food to arrive, and made small talk while they waited. Luna spoke mostly to Duke, asking him a dozen questions he wasn’t allowed to answer, while Celestia was talking to Frost and Amel, curious about the cultures of both their homes from the perspective of nationals from said homes. When the food arrived, it was set down with glasses of wine and water, as Amel did not drink.

Celestia raised her wineglass. “To a prosperous new partnership,” she said, pushing it forward.

Duke and Frost stuck their glasses out, clinging them against Celestia’s and then Luna’s, which was also out. The crystal made a light ding noise that resounded through the dining hall. The men pulled their glasses back and held them up or  a moment more.

“To a prosperous new partnership,” Duke repeated, hiding his secret suspicions.

The rest of dinner went by casually into the night, with no more heavy conversation or subjects.

The time for discussion was over.

> The New Team
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





The New Team





The next morning, Duke and Frost got up early to go and find the workout area. They needed to get in a good workout, as they hadn’t been able to do so lately. It would be good for their muscle health, and they might be able to make some more friends while there.

They had to ask directions from guards several times, mostly because some of them didn’t even respond when asked. They were obviously taking their duties very seriously, but what harm could there have been in just giving the men directions? Frost first thought that the guards were being cold and unfriendly, but Duke quickly pointed out that they were like that from the moment the men first saw them.

So they took some time to find the workout area. When they did get there, the guard wouldn’t let them in, citing some now out of date regulation preventing non-equestrian individuals and non-military personnel from entering. After some debate with the guard and citing their special agreement with the princesses, the guard reluctantly agreed to let the men in.

When the men walked in, they were no less than impressed. The room was enormous; bigger than the small stadium they had in Saddle Arabia. There were also a lot more guys in there training; mostly everything was being used. Ponies were at the bench, benching significant weights considering their physiology. Pegasi were in the air, doing incredible aerial maneuvers that the men wouldn't have thought possible at high speeds such as theirs, and Earth Ponies were running around the perimeter of the room.

There was a noticeable lack unicorns in the room, with just a few using their magic to lift gargantuan boulders and move them around. They were off to the side, out of the way with their dangerous equipment. The room stunk of the most pungent sweat the men had ever smelled, and they were forced to stop so they could acclimate for a moment.

While they stood in their spots, the stallions in the room started noticing them by the entrance. Many slowed down and stopped their work to see what the men looked like. Duke and Frost were only wearing undershirts and their fatigue pants. The soldiers around the room could clearly see the fit musculature on the humans, and they couldn’t help but wonder what those muscles could do.

Once the men were good to go, they advanced further into the room and realized that almost all eyes were on them. The stallions around them were quite large, and a buck from any one of them would total either man. Feeling awkward, the men decided to start their exercise with a two mile run around the room. As they determined the number of laps and their actions became obvious, the stallions let their attention return to their own workouts for the time being.

Duke and Frost started on their run and generally kept their eyes forward, occasionally sneaking glances at the other soldiers. The guys on the ground were certainly interesting, but it was the ones in the air that Duke was interested in. He looked up and tried to find Aprotelese, but he couldn’t remember exactly what he looked like.

“So, boss,” Frost said, pulling Duke’s eyes back to the ground. “What do you think of all this? I think that these guys look like some tough mofos.”

“Ditto,” Duke said. “But these guys on the ground aren’t what we’re going to work with. At least, not much. I’m more interested in what’s in the air right now.”

Frost glanced upwards for a moment. The pegasi were still going at it up there, shooting through hoops and loops, barely avoiding a horrific crash and burn at every turn. All of them had some serious weight attached to them as they flew through the air, slowing them down now, but enabling much greater speed later. If they let their bodies heal and muscles grow after each one of these, they could probably move at incredible speeds with astonishing control.

“Who do you think they are?” Frost asked. Duke shook his head, and a few beads of sweat flew off and splashed to the ground.

“I don’t know,” he said. “But they are impressive. I don’t know if Aprotelese is up there, though. He’s the guy I want to talk to.”

The men finished their run and thought about what they would do for the weight routine. Normally, they would be looking for a pool to get some swimming in, but odds were that these ponies didn’t swim too much. They opted to start with basic pushups, situps, and pullups, and set out right away.

The stallions started watching again, but this time, the men ignored them and kept going. After their warm-up, they moved onto the area that looked like it focused on the core. The men started working at a fast pace and didn’t slow down, hoping to gain some sort of favor with the rest of this community. In any warrior community, one universally respected trait is the ability to work without stopping.

After a comprehensive core workout, they got up to go and get some water. None of the stallions stopped them, nodding their respect as the men passed. They took turns at the water fountain, Frost going first and then Duke. While they drank up, a stallion came up from behind.

“I’m glad that you were telling the truth,” he said.

Duke stood up and wiped his mouth. “I told you,” he said, turning around and sticking his hand out. “We’re good.”

Aprotelese smiled and put his hoof in the hand and shook. “So I’ve been getting more information about the two of you,” he said. “You’re called Pararescuemen?”

“Thats right,” Duke said. “Though I’m also called a Combat Rescue Officer.”

Aprotelese’s smile faltered for a moment. “So, you’re an officer?” he asked. “You command a lot of guys?”

“In other units, I would,” Duke said. “But in this one, the missions generally don’t demand more than two or three guys. Usually it’s just the most experienced individual who takes the lead, though the highest-ranking guy does have the final say. But, we do listen to the more experienced guys when we somehow get paired up with them and aren’t them ourselves.”

Aprotelese smiled wide again. “That’s good to hear. I’ve never been a fan of units that rely on rank more than experienced operators.”

“No need to worry about that,” Frost said. “It’s about working together to come up with a solution and then someone leads the way through it. Our job demands that of us.”

“Yes, combat search and rescue,” Aprotelese said. “You rescue injured soldiers from the battlefield?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Duke said. “When we’re stationed somewhere, we can also be called on to rescue civilians. We do drop onto the battlefield and behind enemy lines to get our wounded, but we also recover pilots and flight crew who were shot down and survived and retrieve bodies. And when necessary, we can take on assaulter roles to go in with the other special operations units so that that have an experienced and highly trained medic available.”

Aprotelese nodded respectfully. “Sounds like one helluva job.”

“It is,” Frost said. “It’s hard, disturbing, disgusting, and painful, but it’s also the most rewarding job with some of the most amazing adventures in the community. We do it because we love it; otherwise, why would we do it?”

Aprotelese laughed. “Ain’t that the truth!” he said.

Duke realized that their hand and hoof were still connected and let go, letting both drop to their normal places. He looked up at the ceiling while Aprotelese and Frost exchanged a few words and watched the pegasi again. It must have been something, to fly like that. When he went to the Air Force Academy, he had actually gone to fly an F15E Strike Eagle, but fell in love with the idea of performing medical rescues behind enemy lines when he heard about it. Still, he wondered what it must be like to be in control of such powerful flight.

“So are those your guys?” Duke asked offhandedly.

“Hm?” Aprotelese said. “Oh, them? Nah, they’re not mine. And that means they aren’t likely to come down.”

“Why’s that?” Frost asked.

“Those are the boys from the 22nd battalion,” Aprotelese explained. “They take their physical training to a whole other level. They’re pretty much our counterpart; they do massive, rapid assault, day or night, and leave soon after with nothing but dust and destruction behind them.”

“And how would you describe your boys?” Duke asked.

“We take missions where stealth and sneaking around is a priority,” Aprotelese said, crouching to emphasize his point. “We do things more like what you do because we can be way more quiet. The citizens of Equestria will hear about those guys because their ops are loud and proud, while ours are silent but deadly. We have a couple of their guys who wanted to go into a more secretive unit, and those skills are incredibly valuable to us.”

“I can imagine,” Duke said.

Aprotelese turned to walk away while still looking at the men. “You guys wanna meet the team? They’ve been waiting to meet you.”

“Let’s do that,” Frost said. “Better now than later when it’s a bit late.”

They left the workout room and walked down several hallways to a small door that didn’t look like anything special. When Aprotelese opened it and they walked inside, Duke and Frost got to meet the stallions who make up Aprotelese’s squad in the 117th. They were all sitting around in various areas of the room, some reading, doing equipment maintenance, or other normal day to day activities.

“Team!” Arotelese announced. His stallions all looked up curiously. “These are the humans we’ll be working with.” Duke and Frost stepped forward. “They’re Duke and Frost, the Pararescuemen.”

Aprotelese’s teammates all stood and started walking over to get a better look at the humans. The physicality of the stallions varied greatly; all were pegasi, but their heights, musculature and bulkiness, and body ratios varied enough that they all looked distinct in the group. It would be helpful for when they were wearing gear and masks to identify who was who.

“Afternoon, gents,” Duke said. “It’s good to meet you.” The soldiers lined up in front of the men.

Aprotelese stood at the end of the line. “These are my stallions,” he said. Each of the five stallions introduced himself in order from the right of the men to the left.

“Aardvark.”

“Raven.”

“Tiger Shark.”

“Dart.”

“Phantasm.”

Duke and Frost shook the hooves of each soldier with a smile. Once they were all finished, Aprotelese gave them a wave to let them go back to whatever it was each of them was doing before the men arrived. There was no lingering to learn more about the men; the soldiers only seemed interested in their jobs.

“Are those their actual names?” Duke asked.

“Maybe,” Aprotelese said. “Maybe not. You may never know, Duke and Frost.” He leaned his head forward to give them a knowing look.

“Touché,” Frost said.

Aprotelese led them further into the room. “This is our relaxation room,” he explained. “We come in here after a good training simulation or workout and fix up and maintain the equipment. We only take about fifteen minutes, and then we head back to the training room. We’re only still in here because the 22nd is taking so much damn time in there.”

“They always do,” Dart said from the background.

“Eeyup,” Aprotelese said. “Every time.” He waved for the men to follow him. “Come on, I’ll show you some of our stuff.”

The men followed him through the room and through a hall at the back leading to a very heavy, very sturdy closed door. On it there were two indented markings shaped like wings, with some intricate lines and cords running within them. It looked sort of like a lock, like a hand analyzer or something Aprotelese walked up to it and flared his wings out, then got up on his hind legs and floated forward. At the door, he pressed his wings against it, and the door started glowing lightly. A moment later, it opened up and Aprotelese walked inside.

The men started forward. “That’s pretty cool,” Frost commented.

They walked in and examined the items in the room. There were dozens of blades, spears, and odd ranged weapons hanging on racks on the walls. On ponyquins throughout the room, there was pristine armor and uniforms very unlike the armor seen on other soldiers and the guards. It looked light, probably cut resistant but not necessarily the best for stopping blunt force. Helmets with different optics and features sat on the heads of the mannequins, and the body vests on them were laden with gear that the men could not understand.

“This is where we keep our stored gear,” Aprotelese said. “Some of it, at least. The stuff we don’t mind you seeing.”

“If this is what you don’t mind us seeing, I would love to see the door you keep the other stuff behind,” Frost said. He walked to one of the mannequins to see what it carried.

“That door is a secret,” Aprotelese said. “Suffice it to say, it isn’t too far away.” Who knew what other kinds of gear they had stored away that they didn’t want ponies to see?

“I’m seeing a lot of variation in the setups,” Duke said. He thoroughly examined several and found some very different types of gear. “Anything about that?”

“Well, everypony has a different role on the team,” Aprotelese said. “Like I told you before, we have guys from all kinds of units. Some are light and fast; others are strong and can knock down walls. We all carry standard equipment, but after that, each of us has something that caters to our specific skills. Kind of like you guys and your big medical kits.”

Duke nodded approvingly. “It’s good to have skill diversity on the team. You encounter a tough situation, you should be able to overcome it.”

“Exactly.” Aprotelese motioned for the men to follow him and started walking out. “You never know what the gryphons may pull, so it’s best to be prepared.”

They left the equipment room and then left the Nighthawk’s vicinity. The trio didn’t head back to the training room, instead heading down the hall toward the living barracks. It was the direction that Duke, Frost, and Amel were living in at the moment, so the men took the hint that conversation time had ended. It was nice, though, and they had gained quite a bit of insight into this other unit.

When they arrived at the hallway intersection, Aprotelese stopped.

“Well, it’s been fun, but I need to get my guys and go over some training simulations,” he said. “See you guys around.”

“See ya later,” Frost replied. Aprotelese walked past them down the hall back to his team. As he walked off, Frost quietly added, “Probably sooner than we think.”

The men made their way back to their room, where they found Amel not present. She left them a note explaining that she was invited to go on a walk with some visiting princess, Cadance, or something, and she wouldn’t be back for a bit. Duke and Frost decided that it was a good time to lounge around and check anything that needed checking. After that, they might head back to the library and do some research to find out about that other human.

Before they got started, though, there was a loud knock on their door. The men exchanged a glance, and Frost hopped up to answer the door. When he opened it up, a guard stood there completely stoic, as if he had never been knocking. Frost waited for a second, then raised his eyebrow at the awkwardly quiet guard.

“Sirs, the princesses request that you come see them in the throne room right away,” he said. “It is urgent.”

Frost turned to Duke, who was sitting on his bed. “Time to go,” Frost said.

Duke rose from his spot. “Then let’s go.” The guard walked away and the men followed, prepared for whatever came their way.



> Goodwill
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Goodwill





The men were brought to a special war room within Princess Celestia’s quarters. They wondered at first why the room was in such a personal space, and concluded that it was probably one of the most secure rooms in the entire castle. There were probably secrets of every shape and size in there, so security would be tight.

At least they thought it would be. When they arrived at the doors, there was one guard outside the door and when the door opened, there were no guards inside. The men were allowed to waltz right in, and took in the décor diligently. A person’s room could reveal a lot about them, and this one was no exception.

There were books in various places; by a plain fireplace in the corner, next to the window, on the nightstand next to the bed. Some lay wide open, and others were closed, but all were just average, everyday books. Fiction, science, history, every literary genre was there. But they were organized according to area, like how the history books were by the window. And each of the areas was somehow related to each genre.

The men continued on through blindly, as they were never told which way to go. After only a few steps, though, they could hear two voices, conversing in the next room. Duke and Frost opted to wait and hear what was being talked about.

“Are you certain this is acceptable?” a young female voice asked.

“I do hope so,” another replied, this one sounding like a somewhat older mare. This one one seemed to have more experience in dealing with people and/or ponies if the uncertain tone was anything to go by. Judging from the motherly tone, it was probably Celestia, and the other, younger one was probably Luna. “I value this unicorn very much. He has skills that are of extremely high priority to be passed on to the next generation of unicorn soldiers.”

Duke and Frost took this as their cue to go in. They had a general idea of what they would be asked to do; rescue somepony. And judging from how they hoped that they would do it, it may or may not involve OGA. Duke kept that in mind as he thought about how valuable it would be to take the mission.

“Hello?” Duke said as he and Frost walked in. The princesses turned to see the men. “You rang?”

“Yes, we did ring,” Celestia replied. “Please, come.”

Celestia and Luna were sitting together at a small table with only a couple of little figurines on it. As the men got closer, they could see that the table was actually a map, and one of the figurines was of a pony. The pony, upon inspection, was clearly a unicorn, probably the one they were talking about.

Duke and Frost stood next to the table. “What is it you need of us, Ma’am?” Duke asked.

“We need to discuss a mission,” Celestia replied. “Please, sit.” She levitated over two cushions from somewhere else in the room, and the men sat.

“What does this mission entail, exactly?” Frost asked as he plopped down. “We overheard something about a unicorn.”

“Yes, I know,” Celestia said, throwing them a little grin. It faded quickly. “The unicorn is very highly skilled, and we would hate to lose him.”

“Before we go further,” Duke cut in. “Where does our man stand in this?”

Celestia breathed out slowly, then looked to her sister. Luna only shrugged, then motioned for Celestia to tell the men.

“We do not believe that mister OGA has any direct implications in this matter,” Celestia said. “We were hoping-”

“I apologize, princess, but we cannot undertake this mission. We already bent the rules once with the Saddle Arabians by taking on special operations with them, even if under our own command, but taking orders and missions from a foreign power with no direct gain to the United States without authorization is a violation of military law. Sorry to have wasted your time.” Duke and Frost moved to stand.

“Please, wait!” Celestia said. The men stopped. “This is a highly important mission. And we only said that your friend isn’t directly involved.”

“What does that mean, princess?” Duke asked “What are we supposed to do with that?”

Celestia clearly wanted to say something, but at the same time, was doing everything she could to avoid it. She paused for a moment, then opened her mouth to speak. But then she closed it again, and put her hoof to her chin to think. It was an odd gesture, seeing a royal pony do that, but the men were more distracted by the growing frustration of not being given the information they needed.

“There may be information about OGA that you can get,” she said.

Duke exchanged a glance with Frost and then leaned on the table. “Ma’am, if you have pertinent information on OGA, we would very much like to get it now,” he said. “Intel in these wars is incredibly time sensitive, and if you have it, we need it. We’ll work something out later.”

“No, we have nothing now,” Celestia said.

Duke stood straight again. “Then there isn’t much to talk about.”

Celestia sighed. “Please, we need you to-”

“Sister, I believe that we can trust them with our operational details,” Luna said. “They have had strong operational security training and conditioning; they won’t talk. And if they are to trust us with their lives, directly or otherwise, we would do well to trust them back.”

Celestia looked to her sister uncertainly, but sighed in personal defeat. “Very well,” she said. The men stood, waiting. “The unicorn in question is Master Sergeant Star Streak. He is with the Unicorn Reconnaissance unit. He and his team were doing recon in the Southern Gryphon Colonies just south of the San Palomino desert, south of Las Pegasus.”

“What were they doing there?” Frost asked.

“One of the major problems we have is with enemy fighters secretly crossing our border in the desert,” Celestia said. “They arrive in Las Pegasus, a city where nopony cares where you’re from, and then move out in our country. Then, they generate chaos the likes of which Discord frowns upon.”

Duke ignored this Discord character and pressed for more information. “So, what were your boys doing? Looking for enemy fighters, crossing over?”

“Sort of,” Celestia said. “The primary purpose of the Recon unit is not fighting. They scope out areas, find trails and intelligence, and get us the information we need to generate a full assault. That was Star Streak’s mission.”

“I’m going to go off on a limb and say it didn’t go well,” Frost said.

Celestia nodded. “Very correct,” she said grimly. “The unit was discovered by the Colonial Militia and attacked. Most were able to get out, but Star Streak stayed behind to hold them off.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Duke said with his hands up. “The Colonial Militia? If your guys started a war with another nation, then I’m sorry, but that is something we won’t be involved with. Terrorists are one thing, but bringing the United States into an armed conflict with an established nation and potential military power is beyond what we’ll do.”

Celestia shook her head. “No, the militia is just thugs who pretend that they work on behalf of the government,” she said. “Though the way they treat civilians, you might think they did.”

“Okay, so they’re a gang, is what you’re saying, like the West Side Boys from Sierra Leone.” Princess Celestia showed no recognition, so Duke went on. “It doesn’t sound like something your Nighthawks can’t handle.”

“They can’t,” Luna said. She was staring at the table. “The terrain isn’t the friendliest to ponykind; that’s why the gryphons got it. It’s very mountainous, not good for hooves, and has wind patterns that aren’t easy for anyone to navigate except those who have lived in them. And the Nighthawks aren’t medically trained like you.”

“So he’s injured,” Frost said. “How bad?”

“We don’t know,” Celestia said. “When his team returned, they said he was fighting off a dozen on his own. We know he is alive because he sends out a magical wave every half hour. But it is getting weaker; he needs help as soon as possible.”

Duke nodded slowly. “So, that’s the situation.” The princesses nodded. “Alright. But let’s get back to the main issue; how does this all come back to OGA?” The princesses frowned. They must have thought that they could avoid that.

“Star Streak’s team said that they saw a group of gryphons walking with something strange,” Celestia said. “Star Streak went on ahead, and while he was gone, the team was spotted. It was when he returned that they were ambushed. No one had the time to ask Star Streak what he saw.”

The men exchanged a glance, and Duke turned back to the princesses. “Give us a minute.” The men exited the room to get a bit of privacy for a discussion.

Frost sat on the bed. “Well, boss?” he asked in a hushed voice. “What’s your opinion?”

“I’m not sure,” he said. “I mean, on the one hand, these guys see a lot of weird stuff. If something is strange to them, it must not be very common. But then again, it could be anything in the damned world, too. Who knows what they DON’T know that they have here?”

“But if this does lead to OGA, boss, it wouldn’t be good to miss out,” Frost said. “So we don’t know if it was even our guy. Choosing to go on that would be a gamble.”

“Yeah,” Duke said. He rubbed his face. “Any ideas?”

“What other reasons might we have to go out there?” Frost asked rhetorically. “If we do this, it’ll establish us with the locals and the military. Get some connections, maybe share information a little easier.”

“But where does that put us with regard to autonomy?” Duke asked. “We would have to hold up our Rescue Ranger reputation to keep the good karma going, and if we don’t, we’ll be worse off than we would be without a reputation.”

“True, true,” Frost said. He tried to think.

“Maybe...” Duke started. “Yes, it will give us something to work with. We’ll know the landscape of the most likely place OGA will be; the Southern Gryphon Colonies. If that’s where these groups are based, that’s the likely HQ. We’ll want to know what it’s like there.”

“An excellent point,” Frost said. “It’ll show us how they fight there, too, and it could give us an idea of where they might be hiding.”

“We’ll need to develope a relationship with the transport pegasi, of course, but that shouldn’t be a problem,” Duke said. “But at the same time, how wise is a rescue mission down there?”

‘We might find out soon,” Frost said. “All we need is a good reason to go, after all.”

Duke nodded. “Well, I can think of at least one.” Frost crossed his arms and looked expectantly at Duke. Duke turned back toward the room and stuck his hands in his pockets. “They’ll owe us a favor.”

Frost smiled. “That they will, Duke, that they will. You game?”

“I’m game,” Duke said. “Let’s get back in there.” Frost hopped off the bed and they walked back into the room.

Celestia and Luna were staring at the table, but practically jumped up when the men entered. They looked worried, rightfully so, and stared hopefully at the men.

“We’ve agreed to accept this mission,” Duke said. Celestia let out a massive sigh of relief, and behind her, Luna fell onto her rump. “We just have a few more questions.”

Celestia nodded. “Go ahead.”

“I thought Luna commanded the special operations,” Frost said. “Why are you here, Celestia?”

Celestia looked confused. “My unicorn needs rescuing,” she said. “I needed to be here to make sure he gets the support he needs.”

“Very well,” Duke said. “Will you be sitting in on the rest of our mission plannings?”

“No, she will not, Luna said. She stood back up, albeit slowly. “I handle the special missions; only when she has a reason to come will she do so.”

“Fair enough,” Frost said with a shrug.

Duke went on. “Luna, how do you plan to get us out there?” he asked. “You said yourself, you can’t get pegasi in there very well.”

“I never said that,” Luna said.

“Yes you did,” Frost replied. Duke shook his head and Luna shot him a look. “Sorry.”

“Fine, I said it,” Luna admitted. “But what I didn’t say was that we have no one who can help. There are gryphons living in Equestria, and some in our guard. They will drop you into the valley, and they will pick you up. Unless you wish to drop in by parachute.”

“Sounds like a terrible idea, honestly,” Duke said. “Unpredictable winds and all. A drop-off pick-up plan works fine.” Duke approached the table. “Now where is this guy?”

Luna pointed at the only pony on the board. “This is him,” she said. “You can see here-” she pointed around the pony- “that he is in a crevasse, where he is not easy to get to. He won’t be found by the enemy, but if we are too slow, not by us either. The mountains have many of these.”

“It’s like being stationed in Iceland all over again,” Frost commented.

“There are steep slopes around the area, but the crevasse is close to a path that you can use.” Luna pointed at a path along the mountain side.

“If that’s a path, I imagine that the enemy uses it,” Duke said, trying to emphasize the obviousness of the problem.

“With your weapons, it shouldn’t be a problem, yes?” Luna asked.

“With the limited ammo we have, the, ideally, thirty-pound med kits we’ll carry, and our climbing gear on hand, plus our plates, night vision, and other important gear, that might not be such a small problem,” Duke said. “Any other ideas?”

“Well, if you intend to bring climbing gear, why not just go off the path?” Luna asked.

“Where do you plan to drop us?” Duke asked. Luna pointed to a spot about five hundred feet above the start of the crevasse and a mile to the north where the unicorn was sitting. “Yeah, that’ll take a long time, and we don't exactly have-” Duke checked the altitude markers- “mile long ropes and gear for climbing in a rescue situation. We have to take the path.”

“That’s gonna suck so much,” Frost said. “And shooting presents its own issues.”

“Yeah, the noise is gonna travel all through the mountain range, attracting every fighter within a mile.” Duke looked at Luna. “Your plan isn’t working out so well.”

Luna looked contemplative for a moment, then nodded. “Very well. While you are gone, I will talk to our magisters about creating items to keep the sound to a minimum on your weapons.”

“Won’t they need our weapons for that?” Duke asked. This was getting totally ridiculous.

“No,” Luna said. Duke blinked in disbelief. “Magic can be used to silence anything, I’ll have you know. They will make several, and we shall test them when you return.”

“Sounds good,” Frost said. “Haha, sounds. Silencer.” Duke shook his head with a groan.

“Is this adequate?” Luna asked.

Duke thought about what they had. They knew where he was, which was absolutely vital. They would be carrying a lot of stuff out there, and they would have to be stealthy. There would be quite a bit of travel, by foot, mostly, and hazards everywhere. It was a risky mission; but the PJs of the Twenty-Fourth live for risky business.

“We’ll need to work out a few more details,” Duke said. “But we feel satisfied with this at the moment. We’ll go and gather our gear.”

Luna smiled and nodded. “Excellent,” she said. “Meet me at the runway in the mountain. If you need to find it, ask the Nighthawks or other special operations units to bring you there. Tell them, ‘Et nox sicut plurimi’.”

“Got it,” Duke said. He and Frost turned and started walking out. “We’ll meet you at the runway.”

It was on now; The Pararescuemen could finally do what they do best.

> O'er the Hills We Go
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






O’er the Hills We Go





The men sat on a massive carriage pulled through the sky by close to a dozen pegasi on the way to the border. The carriage looked to be made of metal, and Duke had wondered how it could fly, but he soon found that magic would have a role to play in everything in this world. He found it impossible to wrap his head around it, so he stopped trying.

When he and Frost had arrived at the runway, they were lugging all the gear they needed on their own. Several guardsponies offered assistance, but the men weren’t sure they wanted their sensitive gear to be handled by those who didn’t understand it. The last thing they needed was for their twelve thousand dollar night vision optics to be broken because someone was careless.

But they found out to their honestly unhappy surprise that they would have to let someone else take their stuff for at least a little bit. When they arrived at the border, they would be strapped onto two gryphons from the Equestrian guard who would then jump off with them into the mountains. Their gear would be strapped to two other gryphons. When they all landed, the men would assemble their gear with the gryphons as lookouts, and then the gryphons would leave.

Duke brought his flare gun, which would be used to signal for reinforcements from a different flying carriage that would be on station just on the other side of the border if everything went wrong. Should it occur, the carriage would fly over and release a contingent of pegasi and the gryphons to come down and fight. But this was a last resort plan; plan A was much more ideal.

Plan A was for the men to find the unicorn, fix him up for transport, then put some device on the tip of his horn to send out a signal for an extraction. A new pair of gryphons would drop in to come and get the unicorn. They would say the word “Blue”, followed by the men’s response of “Ridge” so that they knew they were friendly. Then, the men would climb further up the mountain to await pickup at higher altitude. They would have to take a separate pickup because the original flying carriage would be back home, with its crew resting, and the new one only had the two gryphons to help. If the men got to the top of the mountain, the winds wouldn’t be as bad, and they could be picked up by pegasi.

Duke and Frost sat next to their gear with the two gryphons who would be handling it, explaining the fragile nature of some of it and how important it was to keep it undamaged. The gryphons listened intently to the men, taking the lecture in like the words of a prophet. The gryphons who would be carrying Duke and Frost were setting up their more complex rigs while they waited.

“Thirty seconds!” a voice shouted.

Everyone looked up to the front, nodded, and set about for the drop. They were able to hear it because the cabin of the flying carriage was closed. The carriage was eerily similar to a C-130 on the inside, similar in width and about half as long. The main force of pegasi were in front of it, dragging it along, while a few were up top, keeping it in the air. And thanks to the magic, the ride was smoother than that of a C-130.

The gryphons Duke and Frost were talking to got to attaching the gear to themselves and the men walked over to the other two. They didn’t speak when the men approached, only nodded and faced them so the men could see the tandem rigs. The men nodded, and they walked over to the end of the cabin, where the door was closed, and started setting up. By the time they were ready, the door was starting to open.

“Ten seconds!” the voice shouted again.

The familiar cool rush of wind from a jump felt like a brief moment back home, preparing for a training jump. They could feel the air flowing underneath them, the fresh smell of high altitude air a welcome feel in their nostrils. Their heart rates started going again, but came with an odd sense of calm, a feeling of zen. This was what they did; it was what they were born to do.

The door sat wide open and led out into the dark night sky. Frost peered over the edge of the floor to see the mountain below. They were only about half a mile from the peaks of most of them, so the gryphons would have to flare their wings pretty fast. Frost desperately hoped that they knew what they were doing.

The voice came on again. “GO, GO, GO!”

With the command, the mission was on for real, and everyone started toward the open air. The gryphons with the gear went first, hopping out and flaring immediately to adjust for the awkward loads they carried. The gryphons with the men followed close behind, exiting the plane with a grace that the bizarrely shaped birds didn’t seem capable of. For the men, it was like wearing a parachute that had a mind of its own.

The wind tore at their faces, the freezing, high altitude mountain air like icy daggers against their faces. They could all just see each other in the night sky, silhouettes in the darkness illuminated only by the faint light reflecting off feathers. The gryphons could see the ground easily with their far superior vision, and the men could feel when they prepared for the landing.

The ground came up fast, and in an instant, each gryphon was on the ground, separating from his respective load. The equipment-bearing gryphons placed the gear gently on the ground while the other two extricated the humans from the harnesses. When they were free, the men immediately rna to their gear and set themselves up.

“Humans are on the ground,” one of the gryphons said, putting a claw to his ear. “Heading back up for extract.”

Three of the gryphons immediately took off, leaving the one who had been speaking on the ground for just a moment longer. He briefly watched the men rapidly donning their gear and making the appropriate preparations, then approached them.

“Good luck,” he said.

“We’ll see you later,” Frost replied automatically. The gryphon could see that they were focused on the task at hand and left them alone on the mountainside.

The mountain was silent as death and chilled winds passed in quick bursts. The winds whistled and wailed, carrying every possible sound with them through the valley. But in the night, there were no sounds that one would want to hear.

The men finished getting their gear on and took in their exact surroundings. They knew that they had landed in the right place, but now, they had to establish which way to go. There was a path just about a hundred yards down the side of the mountain that they would have to take to get to the unicorn, and after some hiking, they would go back off trail to find the crevasse and rope down. Duke had the compass and map and faced the direction they would need to go.

“Let’s get moving. That guy won’t last much longer,” he said.

“Rog,’” Frost replied.

They set out down the hill, keeping low to avoid detection and keep their centers of gravity toward the earth. To further avoid falling, they were forced to lean into the mountainside and keep at least one hand on it for control of their descent. They had to take it carefully but quickly to get to their charge safely and efficiently.

It took a bit of time, but they made their way to a relatively flat path that would take them most of the way to the unicorn they needed to find. The path, though, seemed wildly unsafe, as while on one end there was a mountainside, the other had a steep, almost ninety degree drop down into a foggy abyss. They would have to keep at least one eye down there the entire time they were here to avoid being snuck up on or stumbled upon by an unexpected gryphon.

Now on the path, the men started walking through the mountain range. The dirt of the mountainside crunched underneath their boots. dozens of thoughts ran through their heads, primarily concerning the rescue. How many enemies might show up? What would the walls of the crevasse be like? If something went wrong with their gear, how serious would the equipment failure be? Could there be unexpected weather that might hinder or all-out end the rescue?

As usual, they were risking a great deal to perform the rescue. The only difference was that, now, they were doing it for a different nation.

“Boss,” Frost said. “You think that these ponies have much of a chance against these gryphons?”

“I don’t know, Frost,” Duke said. “It’s no different than the war on terror back home. It’ll never end, but if they play their cards right, they might be able to stay in the lead.”

“Going purely off of their fighting capabilities,” Frost said.

Duke paused the conversation to step over a large rock in the middle of the path. It posed a particular challenge with its odd shape on the narrow path, but they crossed over it quickly.

“We don’t know what the ponies can do,” Duke said. “But if you’re thinking of the horses of Saddle Arabia; no, probably not.”

“Ah, that’s a shame,” Frost said. “I liked our boys out there.”

“If they can train more guys like them, then they may be able to stand to the gryphons, but if they keep their forces purely conventional, they won’t win.” Duke certainly thought that they had capable fighters, but not the right kind.

Frost nodded thoughtfully. “Equestria does have that,” he commented.

“That they do,” Duke replied.

Duke stopped for a moment to take a look at the map and compass to determine where exactly they were in relation to the unicorn. From the topographical map and landmarks; namely, crevasses with very distinct shapes; he could see that they were about halfway there. They were making good time, actually getting there a little early, but that didn’t mean they could slack off. They had to keep pushing forward.

The men kept their ears open as much as their eyes throughout the mission. It wasn’t quite dark enough to start using their night vision with the moonlight, but the odd light distribution made depth perception difficult. The night vision was more for going down the crevasse rather than travelling across the mountains. They had to feel the terrain carefully with their feet most of the time when they detected any hint of a hazard.

Duke and Frost froze; their ears picked up some sound coming from a little below the ridge to their left. Frost crouched down low, and Duke took a look over the edge.

It was hard to see, but Duke could just make out several figures, gryphons, walking along another path that led from one cave to another. The path was short, only about eight or ten meters, and the cave entrances were just large enough for the men to be able to walk through, albeit uncomfortably. The gryphons wore simple clothes, mostly white cloth draped around their bodies, and one carried a sword. The group was a lot like the natives one might see in Afghanistan.

Duke removed himself from the ledge and stepped back, then turned to Frost. Silently, with his hands, Duke told Frost that there were three gryphons, putting up three fingers, and that they were moving down a path, walking fingers, to a cave, the walking fingers going under the arch made by his other hand. Duke closed his fist to tell Frost not to move, but Frost was already ahead of him on that one.

They remained completely still while they waited for the gryphons to disappear into the next cave. The gryphons were taking their sweet time, though, and it sounded like they were actually standing around, probably looking out at the valley. Neither man could make out exactly what they were saying, but the words sounded a lot like English. Duke and Frost were losing time waiting for them to move like this, and if they didn’t hurry, they would be behind schedule.

Duke made the decision to get moving again. he signaled to Frost to continue forward, to which Frost nodded. They started off slow, lightly brushing where their feet would land with the toes of their boots to move aside the crunchy dirt, and kept their pace as quiet as possible. They had training in noise discipline, like all special operations forces, but they weren’t exactly Force Recon Marines. Every time they heard something crunch or crush under their feet, it was, at least to them, like a bomb was going off for the whole valley to hear.

Before long, they were out of earshot of the gryphons, and they resumed their previous, still not fast pace. It had been a close call back there, one that they didn’t want to repeat, so they made absolutely certain that there were no caves ahead of them on their own path as they pressed onward.

At last, after the long trek along the path and nearly being heard, they could see the crevasse where the unicorn was. It was just up the mountainside, about a thirty meters, a huge gash in the rock. The mountainside here was a little less steep than they had seen earlier. Not much farther down the path was an exit from the mountains, toward Equestria’s border, where the unicorn had been operating.

“Eyes on,” Duke said.

“Rog.’” Frost looked up at the crevasse and breathed deeply. “I always have felt bad for anyone who gets stuck in one of those.”

“It’s a real bitch to get them out, that’s for sure,” Duke said. He started up the side of the mountain. “Let’s get moving, we haven’t got a lot of time.”

Duke took the lead and the men made their way to the crevasse. The wind whistled hard around them, picking up strength, and they were forced to hunker down to keep their balance on the rocks. Frost remembered a talk he once had with a Special Ops Weather Technician about mountain weather. Winds like this weren’t typical of mountains, not when they had good weather.

“Boss, I think we got a storm coming,” Frost warned.

Duke looked to the sky; sure enough, in the distance, there were clouds forming that didn’t even begin to look friendly.

“Let’s go,” Duke said with a new sense of urgency. “We gotta get this guy out ASAP.”

With another source of inspiration to get the job done, the men hauled up the side of the mountain to the crevasse. They made there in good time, well ahead of the coming storm, and started setting up their climbing gear. They took out their tools, and the especially important Spring-loaded Camming Device, and set the anchoring rods into the ground and tugged on them to make sure they were secure. Then, they attached their rigs and tugged again to make sure the rigs were good to go. With confirmed safety of equipment and no other living things in sight, they put on their night vision and descended into the nearly pitch black crevasse.

The descent took more time than anticipated. A lot of the rock faces were hard to get their boots to stick to, even though they were climbing boots. They would have liked to rappel down, but the tiny space that was the top of the hole wasn’t very permitting. They had to ease themselves down in the beginning.

About halfway down, it opened up a little, revealing it to be like a single room cave. It was pitch dark, but with the infrared nightvision, the men were able to see easily. It didn’t take long for one to spot the unicorn.

“Boss, toward the wall, east side,” Frost said, pointing down.

Duke looked over where Frost was pointing. There, situated in a corner, was the unicorn, laying completely silent and barely moving. He had his uniform off and draped over him like a sheet and wore a small tarp as well. There was blood on the ground, and the unicorn was shivering visibly.

“I see him,” Duke replied. He and Frost hurried the rest of their descent, hit the ground, and rushed over to the unicorn.

When they got to him, Frost removed the tarp and uniform from on top of him and Duke held him in place to get a good look at him. He only barely seemed to notice the men, groaning in response to their taking away of his sources of warmth. Duke looked him over for injuries and found that he had several lacerations on his side and determined that he had several cracked, if not broken, ribs.

“Get the IV ready,” Duke said.

Frost pulled out his medical kit and started setting up an I.V. for the unicorn. Among all the medical gear they carried, the I.V. was perhaps the most important. If they had thought to ask, they might have asked about the unicorn’s blood type and asked for a bag of it to use, but they were a bit rushed at the time. Duke started taking out bandages and applying them to the unicorn’s wounds while Frost worked.

“Ready,” Frost said, holding up the IV. “Unicorn, can you hear me?” he asked as he approached. No response. “If you can hear me, I’m going to insert an IV into your leg. It might sting a bit. Just stay still.” Frost took it slow to avoid any potential of startling the unicorn in case he was conscious, however unlikely it seemed.

Frost sat next to to the unicorn and stuck the needle in his hind leg. Duke was holding him down as Frost administered the IV, just in case the unicorn freaked out at being stuck with the needle. It took a moment for Frost to find a spot; he needed to feel around for a vein that would be bulging enough to find, and the blood loss the unicorn had experienced was already making it difficult.

With the IV in place and the lacerations bandaged up, the men made a final assessment of their charge. He had several serious injuries that would be critical if they didn’t get him out soon, but for the time being, he was as stable as he could be. Carefully, Duke removed the signalling device from his gear and placed it gingerly on the unicorn’s horn. Once in place, it emitted a low signature, dark orange glow and made no noise.

“Tracker is in place,” Duke said. “Let’s pull him out of here.”

“Roger that,” Frost said.

Duke and Frost had carried with them on this mission a break-down stretcher, one that they could reassemble whenever the need arose. With an efficiency found among few other human beings, they assembled the stretcher and placed the unicorn gently atop it. They carried it over to the wall and set it down between them.

“I’ll take left,” Duke said. “We hook the stretcher to our sides and make our way up. Move at the same speed, or we all fall down.”

“London bridges,” Frost replied.

They hooked up to their climbing gear and attached the sides of the stretcher to themselves. The unicorn was neatly strapped into his bed and was in no risk of falling out, even if the stretcher were to roll. Though that would possibly make the men fall, so the risk of death by impact with the ground was still very much prevalent.

Slowly and with extreme prudence, they made their way back up the wall and out to the world above. It took substantially longer than getting down, as it always does, but they had planned for a long ascent out of the crevasse. And getting out faster wasn’t all that important right now anyway; if they got out, and the gryphons had not arrived yet, they would just be waiting out in the open with an injured recon pony in tow. And no one wanted that.

They were almost at the top when Duke could hear two voices atop the crevasse.

“Blue?” a voice asked.

“Ridge!” Duke answered from below.

From heard a startled yelp from just over the ridgeline and chuckled a little to himself. The gryphon who made the noise peeked over the ledge down at the men and the unicorn and motioned for his buddy to join him. Once the men were close enough, the gryphons grabbed onto them and helped them out of the hole.

“Thanks,” Duke said.

“Don’t mention it,” the lead gryphon said. “Is he alright?”

“He’ll be fine, but only if you get him to serious medical aid quickly,” Duke replied. “Strap him onto yourself and fly out of here.”

“Got it,” the gryphon said. He and his flight buddy set up a rig to carry the unicorn away, put him in, and set out with the injured unicorn.

Alone, the men started putting all their gear back into place on their personal rigs and started up the mountain one more time. They had successfully retrieved the unicorn and brought him out of the dark and into safety, and there was not an enemy in sight. The weather was coming, but it was only present enough to block out the moonlight enough that the men needed to continue to wear their nightvision, and they would no doubt be able to get out of the area with ease. It had proven to be a very good rescue.

Frost looked up the side of the mountain. “More climbing... great,” he complained.

“Yep,” Duke replied. “The sooner we start, the sooner we end. So get moving, I want to take a warm shower when we get back.”

“Amen to that,” Frost replied.

Proud of a mission accomplished, they ascended the mountainside at the fastest pace they could manage. The entire way, they remained vigilant of their surroundings, weapons ready in case enemy fighters showed up. Everything had a mechanical green glow in the nightvision optics, and the sky appeared black and empty through them. It was a long trek to the top, but they made good time up the slope.

At the top, the men scanned the area. They couldn’t see well into the sky with the cloud cover, so they had no way of knowing when the pegasi would arrive. The top of the mountain they were operating on was high, giving them an altitude advantage if something were to happen, but they were totally exposed otherwise. They had to hope the pegasi arrived soon.

“So. Here we are,” Frost said. “At the top of the world, waiting for a storm to roll by, in enemy territory, waiting for our extraction.”

“So we are,” Duke replied.

“It was good to get to do a rescue,” Frost said. “I hope that most of the missions in this joint venture of ours are more like this.”

“As much as I agree, I seriously doubt it,” Duke said. “We got paired with the Nighthawks. They’re a combat unit. We’ll probably be acting as medics and personnel recoverers for them on missions where OGA might be present and there is significant danger.”

“Ahh, that’s right,” Frost said. “But maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“We can never rely on luck, my friend. It’s never on our side.” Duke looked over at Frost and smirked. “But if one of us gets lucky, it’ll probably be you.” Frost couldn’t see it, but Duke waggled his eyebrows at him under his helmet.

“Cool, boss, real cool.” Frost shook his head and stopped talking.

Not long after they finished conversing, some of the cloud cover broke, and through the hole, several pegasi flew in. Duke and Frost waved their arms back and forth to get the pegasi’s attention, drawing them down to their position.

“Duke and Frost,” a heavily armored pegasus said as he landed. “We’re with the 117th. We’re here to carry you guys out.”

“Good to see we got some stink bugs with us,” Frost said. The pegasus raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. “We’re ready when you are.”

The armored pegasus nodded and turned to two pegasi, ordering them to come and take care of the gear so that the pegasi who would carry the men wouldn’t be overloaded. Duke and Frost stripped the gear off and neatly bundled it, then handed it over to the Nighthawks to carry. Two other Nighthawks approached the men, wearing harnesses on their backs, and strapped them on.

When everything was said and done the group flew out of the area of operations and to the flying carriage that would take them home, feeling good about the mission and ready for some time to rest.



> Proof of Purchase
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Proof of Purchase





The ride home was long, turbulent, and smelled like sweaty horse. Of course, it wasn’t a transport jet, and it was filled with hard-working equines. That didn’t help to make it any better, though.

At the end of the ride, the men practically fell out of the flying carriage and onto the runway. The fresh air was incredible, with the taste of the mountains and altitude replacing the stench of horse sweat and blood from treating the wounded unicorn. Pegasi around them gave them confused looks, not understanding that the men had never been subjected to quite that before.

“Oh, it’s good to be back,” Frost said.

“Right,” Duke replied. He stood back up. “We should accompany the unicorn to the docs.”

“Roger that,” Frost said. A Pararescueman’s mission doesn’t end until the patient is safely in the hands of highly trained doctors.

The unicorn had had a rough ride, being so badly injured, but the men kept him alive with IVs and bandages to stop any bleeding. The hardest part was keeping him from falling into a sleep cycle. If that were to happen, the odds of him waking up were extremely low. The other guys on the carriage were really helpful, providing the men with knowledge of equine anatomy and medical facts.

They turned back to the carriage and watched as the unicorn was pulled out on his medical gurney, making little noises every so often at what he thought were blurry masses of fur. When the stallions were next to the men, they simply nodded before handing him off to them, to which the men responded with just another set of nods. From there, they each took one side of the gurney and rushed the unicorn off the compact airstrip and over to a small casualty hospital that was made for just this reason. They made sure to tell the pegasi to have their gear brought to their room, and they would deal with it after that.

Frost went ahead and opened the door and held it so that Duke could push the unicorn inside without knocking him around too much. The doctors here had been told to expect the men and had nurses waiting. When they saw the unicorn, they sprang into action and spirited him away, barely giving the men time to get in a word.

“We need to share our medical report!” Frost said.

“Tell it the doctors, we’re going to get this guy some blood!” one of the nurses yelled back.

Duke looked to Frost and shrugged, then went off to find a doctor. Frost stayed in the lobby-area, watching the nurses go off in their hallway, just in case a doctor walked by.

The whole complex was small, but everything was shrunk, so overall, it could still hold a significant number of casualties. They would never be comfortable, but being injured kind of made that a moot point. Duke had to squish up against the wall for ponies trying to pass by him, large and bulky with most of his equipment still on, and a lot of the ponies looked up at him strangely.

He overheard a group of ponies talking and chuckling in a room to his right up ahead in the hallway and went to check it out. When he opened the door, he saw a group of ponies, several stallions and a couple of mares, sitting in what appeared to be lab coats or some such apparel. They all had stethoscopes on, too, and carried notepads in front pockets on their uniforms. Unexpectedly, only one was a unicorn.

“Hey,” Duke said as he entered the room. “Which one of you is going to take the unicorn, the one we just brought in?”

“That would be me,” a mare said. She was the unicorn of the group. “I will head down straight away.” She stood up and started toward the door.

“Alright,” Duke said, stepping aside. “When we brought him out of there, we made our report. He has lacerations on his body that will need to be addressed soon, plus what we later observed to be two broken ribs, a compound fracture in his right foreleg, and a possible concussion, probably from falling.”

“Thank you,” the doctor said as she left the room.

Duke nodded as she left since there was nothing left to say. When she was out of sight, he turned back to the group of doctors before him. They were all staring at him like he should keep talking, but he had nothing else to say, so it was just creepy. He stuck his hands in his pockets and stood there for a minute, then decided he should get back to Frost.

“I should really get going,” he said. No one lifted a hoof to say anything as he exited the room, only continued to stare.

Duke went back down the hall to the front lobby, where he found Frost still waiting. Together, they left the hospital and walked down the runway to the farthest wall, where there was a door into the castle. The door was well-guarded, with two Earth Pony guards, both larger than either Duke or Frost, carrying broadswords and lances.

“Stallions,” Duke said as they approached.

“Good morning,” one said. They opened the door and let the men through.

“Good morning to you, too,” Frost said. After they walked through and the doors shut, Frost said, “Is it really morning already? Man, we had a long night.”

“We did,” Duke said. “And it isn’t over yet. We still have to report to Celestia, and probably Luna, put our gear in order, and clean ourselves up. Then, we can catch some Z’s and end our night.”

“At the start of the morning? I bet maintainers don’t have to deal with that,” Frost said.

“Not like we signed up because we liked the hours,” Duke replied.

They randomly ambled through the halls, seeking the way to the princesses’ quarters. They were finally starting to feel the exhaustion from the night, with the adrenaline of the mission wearing off, and they had to ask a guard to lead them to one of the princesses. The guard happily led them through the halls, being careful to avoid certain areas labeled “authorized personnel only”.

Eventually, they were brought to Princess Celestia’s chambers, where they were told to patiently wait outside the door. The guard left them there and went back to his post, which neither of the men understood, but they waited like they were told. Soon, though, the door opened up, and they took that as their cue to head on in.

No one was inside the first section of the chambers, and the men couldn’t hear anyone anywhere else, so they went on through. The next room was the library, where they had met Celestia before, and there was a table with chairs. They had elected to stand last time, but this time, they were happy to take two of the seats at the table and wait.

“So where is the princess?” Frost asked.

“I don’t know, but I assume she was the one who let us in, so I say we wait here for her,” Duke replied.

“What if she didn’t?” Frost asked.

Duke thought about it for a moment. “That wouldn’t even make sense,” he said. “Unless someone else opened the door, which I doubt, Celestia invited us in. And who else could open the door?”

“Luna, maybe, or some guard. Maybe that guard who left us outside?” Frost reasoned.

Duke shook his head. “No, I don’t think a guard can just open the door whenever he wants. Only Luna would open the door other than Celestia, and I didn’t see, her, so-”

Duke was interrupted by the sound of a door opening off to their side. The men looked in that direction and saw steam flowing out of a doorway and a figure moving in the steam. They watched the figure as it came out, and it turned out to be Celestia. She was all wet, presumably from a shower or bath, and her mane looked drenched and heavy. She was levitating a towel next to herself and had her eyes closed contentedly.

When she walked out and opened her eyes, she saw the men, but didn’t look surprised. She smiled softly at them, slowly making her way over. The men stood from their seats and gave light bows.

“Please, no need for that,” Celestia said. The men sat back down. “It is good to see you again.”

“It’s good to be back,” Duke said. “I trust you want to hear the debrief?”

“Ah, yes, very much so,” Celestia said. She moved the towel with her magic and, once she was adequately dry, sat down at the table with the men. Her mane was still wet, and most of the upper half of her body. “I trust it went well?”

“It did,” Duke said. “We were able to provide emergency treatment and bring the unicorn back here for serious treatment. He’s back and I’m sure he’ll be able to go back onto the battlefield once he’s recovered.”

“Ah, that’s good,” Celestia said. Before she went on, she flashed her horn and made a teaset appear on the table and poured herself some tea. “Would you care for some?” she asked.

“No, thanks, we just need rest,” Duke replied. Celestia nodded and shrugged and slowly sipped at her tea.

Frost leaned into Duke. “This is weird, boss,” he said. “I don’t like it. I feel awkward.”

“I know what you mean,” Duke said.

Celestia set her cup down. “And the two of you are fine? No troubles, didn’t hurt yourselves?” she asked.

“No,” Duke replied. “We were able to do it without incident. We saw a trio of gryphons, one with a sword, but couldn’t tell if they were hostile, so we didn’t engage. Gotta conserve ammo, after all.”

“Yes, I suppose you do,” Celestia said with an odd look. “Tell me, how does the ammo in you weapons work?”

“I don’t know that we should tell you that,” Frost said.

“I know the general gist,” Celestia said. “An explosion in a small, contained environment propels an object forward. But what of the specifics?”

The men exchanged a look. If they told her what they knew about the ammunition they used, there were definite advantages and drawbacks. They could get her to generate more ammo for them, but they might also be giving her the secret to making weapons of her own. If they didn’t already have the weapons, it presented the very real possibility that they would be thrust into modern warfare without being prepared for it, and a lot of bad things could happen.

“We still don’t think it’s such a good idea,” Duke said.

Celestia took another sip of tea. “I understand,” she said. “But you must understand, I have no intention of using your weapons or making them. The last thing I want is a new, incredibly deadly form of weapons to fight wars with or against. I want peace, and these weapons would ruin the chances for that. But if you can be equipped, and keep knowledge of the weapons and ammo out of anyone else’s hooves, it would be incredibly useful to us.”

“If somepony has to make the ammo, that secret already belongs to someone it shouldn’t,” Frost said.

Celestia nodded understandingly. “I see your point, but must remind you that I have some of the most powerful magic in the world at my disposal,” Celestia said. “I can make sure your secrets are kept. And I promise you, I will not reveal any of them.”

Duke sighed quietly. “And you can promise us, give us an absolute guarantee, that the ammunition recipes will NEVER be revealed?” Duke asked.

Celestia nodded slowly. “Absolutely. Luna will oversee all production and be in charge of the program. You can meet with her and give her any of the information you need to share with her.”

“Very well,” Duke said. “But this is going to be limited. I don’t want any stockpiling of ammo. We’ll ask for specific amounts, and we will receive those amounts. No extra, no less. And ammunition will never be made without our sayso.”

“Very well,” Celestia said. She took the towel and dried her mane and face. “You will have priority control over the program. If it gets you what you need.”

“Great,” Frost said. “So we’ll just run to you guys whenever we need stuff.” Celestia either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the veiled sarcasm in the statement.

“Well, I am glad that all that is now settled,” Celestia said, standing up. “If you will excuse me, I must go visit my recon unicorn. You may feel free to head to your quarters and clean yourselves up. You’ve more than earned a rest.”

“Thank you, princess,” Duke said with a bow. They exited her quarters and started for their own.

They walked as quietly as possible through the halls to avoid waking anyone who might be sleeping in any of the rooms. It was still early in the morning; the sun was just coming into the sky as the men left the room; and most of the ponies would still be sleeping for at least a couple more hours. Amel was probably also asleep, so the men might end up having to put off their showers for a while until she was up.

When they arrived at their room, Frost slowly cracked the door open and peeked inside. The fresh sunlight illuminated the room in a bright orange glow, reflecting off the polished marble flooring and walls. Frost could see Amel curled up on her bed, sleeping like a log. It looked adorable, but that adorable look would become one of severe grouchiness if she was awoken.

The men snuck in and shut the door behind them. Right off, Duke saw all of their equipment, neatly stowed in the corner and waiting to be maintained. He walked over that way while Frost started to remove his personal gear and quietly set it on the ground next to his bed.

“Boss, I don’t know if I like this,” Frost said.

“You don’t?” Duke said. “Well, I happen to know that you don’t like this. And don’t worry; neither do I.”

“To have to go to them for ammo, support, housing... they’re getting too much leverage over us.” Frost crossed his arms. “It’s a big risk we’re taking here.”

“A necessary one, unfortunately,” Duke said as he started to remove his own gear at his pile. “If we want to get home at all, we’ll have to follow along. If we want to get home with OGA, we not only have to play by their rules, but bend some of our own.”

“Rule-bending makes me uncomfortable,” Frost said.

“Really?” Duke asked, raising an eyebrow at his partner. “Well, we took on Amel as our travel companion.”

“Alright, maybe not that bothered,” Frost said with a frown. “But only when it benefits us without serious repercussions. This has trouble written all over it.”

“Amel said that we can trust these ponies,” Duke said. “So that’s what we have to go off of if we want this to work out. Mutual trust.”

“So our best bet is to make this as quick as possible, is what you mean,” Frost added.

“Precisely,” Duke answered.

Frost shook his head with a sigh. “I never thought I would end up in a situation like this,” he said. With his gear and most of his clothes off, he walked to the bathroom. “I’m taking my shower. I’ll close the door, but if she wakes up, you’ll be her target.” With that, Frost closed the bathroom door behind him and went about his business.

“I’m not so sure that I’m her target, buddy,” Duke said with a glance at the sleeping mare. “So good luck to you.”

Duke went back to taking care of his gear and, when he was done, moved on to take care of Frost’s for him, thinking about how they could find OGA faster and be out of this madhouse world before something catastrophic occurred.



> Moving Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Moving Day





The men slept through a substantial portion of the day and then decided to just keep on resting that night. Amel wanted to go out and see the castle grounds, but neither man would go, so she stayed with them. She made a big stink of it for a while, but eventually, she calmed down and just hung out with Frost and Duke.

The next day, everyone was rejuvenated and revitalized, ready to take on the world. Neither man expected a mission for that day or particularly soon in their future, and felt glad for it. They had gotten their rest, but now, as with all PJs in foreign lands, it was time to go out and taste the local culture and explore the mysteries of the foreign land. All three of the party were ready for a day of fun and exploration.

But that day didn’t come today.

Three knocks sounded at their door as they prepared to head out. “Who is it?” Duke shouted.

“I have a message from her royal highness, Princess Luna,” a guard’s voice replied. Duke groaned at the monotonous call to duty.

“What’re you groaning about?” Frost said, walking out of the bathroom.

“Princess Luna’s calling on us,” Duke said.

Frost hung his head and sighed. “Well, damn. And here I thought we would get to have some fun.”

Amel stepped out of the bathroom behind Frost. “What?” she asked, distraught.

“Looks like our day of fun is on hold,” Duke said, turning to look at Amel. He did a double take, though, when he noticed she came out of the bathroom. “Why were the two of you in there together?” he asked.

Amel raised an eyebrow. “Frost was helping me with my mane and clip,” she said. When she said clip, she was always referring to the knife Frost bought for her in Saddle Arabia.

Duke nodded slowly. “Riiight,” he said. Amel huffed at him and stared in the other direction.

Duke went to the door and opened it up to reveal the guard outside. “Please, if you would all come with me,” he said as he spun around.

“All? As in, Amel as well?” Duke said in a surprised reply.

“Yes sir, she must come as well,” the guard explained. “Princess Luna will tell you why when you get there.”

“You can’t?” Frost asked as he and Amel walked to the door.

The guard shook his head. “Above my pay grade,” he said.

The guard led the trio from their room to Princess Luna’s personal chambers. Duke had expected to go to a war room to be briefed on a mission at first, but with Amel present, it didn’t make any sense. There must not have been a mission. If whatever it was involved her, it must have been informal or in regards to her role with the men.

When they arrived at Luna’s door, the guard saluted, then left them before the door. The men salute back as they were taught, and Amel tried to imitate, but just looked silly. The group waited for the doors to open, and when they finally did, just inside was the princess, looking out at her country from her balcony.

“Princess Luna,” Duke said as he led the way in. Amel gave a bow first, but cut it short when neither man did so.

“Duke, Frost. And... Amel,” Luna said, sounding like she had forgotten Amel’s name. She turned around and smiled at them. “I am glad you could come by.”

“What is it you need, princess?” Frost asked. “We’ll be ready in half an hour, tops. We had planned a day of fun in the city...”

“Frost, hush,” Duke said.

Luna waved her hoof back and forth and giggled. “No, no, nothing like that! But I never did congratulate you on such an exquisite job rescuing my sister’s unicorn.”

“All in a day’s work, ma’am,” Frost said, standing as straight as possible.

“Of course,” Luna said, still giggling. “But, as I said, this is not a mission. Though I fear you will have to get your things together today.”

“What is it?” Amel asked. “Are they going far away?”

“I would hardly say far. But do not worry, fair Amel, you shall accompany them.” Luna reassured the mare with a touch of her hoof to Amel’s shoulder.

Amel let out a breath she had pent up for several minutes. “Thank you, princess,” she said.

Luna took her hoof back. “Yes, you will need to gather up your things by noon, I am afraid. No day of fun in the city; you’re moving out.”

“Tired of us already, princess?” Frost asked with a grin.

“You humans tend to be so smelly,” Luna said.

Frost chuckled, but Duke felt something else. She said that as if she were familiar with humans, like she had met one or more. She must have had some sort of relationship with the previous human in Equestria, and form the sound of it, she was close to him. She might be able to elaborate on some of what Duke had been contemplating.

Duke cleared his throat. “Princess, if I could ask you something...”

Luna looked to him with cheery eyes. “Regarding this, or something else?” she asked.

“Something else,” Duke replied, knowing where it was going.

Luna shook her head slowly. “I am afraid that it must wait, then. I must work out some things with certain transfers regarding you and some others to your new station.”

“Yes, of course,” Duke said, silently cursing.

“What do you mean?” Frost asked.

“You shall be stationed in Ponyville for the time being, and it will be your primary headquarters in Equestria,” Luna explained. “It is where one of our fellow princesses lives along with other very important ponies who may influence your search. You will have resources there that you do not have as much access to here, and a runway not far away that will have carriages to take you wherever you need to go.”

“What about ‘some others’?” Amel asked.

Luna smiled. “You recall me saying that you will work with my Nighthawks?” Luna asked. Duke and Frost nodded. “Well, they will be stationed in Ponyville with you. Your mission will often overlap or require that you be together, so keeping you together is the goal.”

“Aprotelese?” Frost asked. Luna nodded. “Cool, he seemed like a decent guy.”

“You seem like you would like him,” Luna said.

Duke clapped his hands together. “Well, since that’s sorted out, we should probably get ready to move. If you would excuse us, princess.”

Luna nodded. “Yes, go and pack up your things. Be at the front of the castle at noon.”

“Are we not flying?” Frost asked.

Luna shook her head. “All flights are fully occupied, so you will take the train.”

Frost heard Amel breath a sigh of relief. “Not into flying?” he asked her.

“It is not my first choice,” she said.

Frost chuckled at her and put his arm around her neck. “Ironic, then, that you got stuck with two guys from the United States AIR FORCE,” he said. With a pat on her side, he released her and left the room with Duke.

Amel went to follow, but Luna stopped her. “You certainly know how to pick them,” she said with a grin.

“Huh?” Amel replied.

Luna chuckled and pointed at the exiting Frost with her wing. “Hold onto that one,” she said. “He’s a keeper.”

Amel blushed furiously. “I-I-I, umm, I don’t-” Luna gave her a look that said really? “P-please excuse me,” Amel said and then immediately ducked out.

Luna laughed when Amel was gone, then turned back to her window. “Yes, he is a keeper,” she said. “If only Cinny had managed to keep hers...”


**********************************************************************


The men’s gear was already organized, so packing only took a short time. They still had a couple of hours before they would be taken to the train, so the trio decided that they would take a look around the castle. It was a beautiful day to see the grounds.

They decided to start off in the gardens, but when they got there, they found that the gardens would be their only stop for the day. The place was absolutely enormous, with a dozen paths, statues everywhere, a hedge maze, and benches and ponds throughout. It looked like it was Central Park inside a castle.

Duke whistled. “They sure know how to treat royalty,” he said with a hint of dissatisfaction.

“Sure do,” Frost said without the same feeling. He was stunned. “It’s so quiet.”

“Not like the rest of the castle,” Amel said. “When you two were gone, everything was crazy with nobles and highborn ponies.”

Frost let out a humorless laugh. “Sounds like a wonderful time,” he said sarcastically.

Duke beheld the garden with relaxed eyes. He had always liked serene places, but the garden wasn’t really what he was looking for. He was really into museums and historical places. Every time he went to one, he came out knowing something he didn’t know before, and he believed that you should always try to learn something new every day.

“You two feel free to walk around,” Duke said. “I‘m going to look at the statues.”

Frost gave him a little salute. “Suit yourself,” he said. Duke went down the path on his own to go and view the statues.

“So, uhh, what should we do?” Amel asked.

Frost shrugged. “I guess we can just walk around,” he said.

Amel was happy to walk, so she and Frost started off in a different direction than Duke went. The gardens were very nice, much better than the palace grounds in Saddle Arabia. Birds flew about, chirping their little songs for the walkers. There was a light breeze, not cold, but cool enough that the temperature was just perfect with it. The ground was soft under them, a welcome change from the tiles and packed dirt they had been walking on for so long.

Amel felt a bit strange. She remembered what Princess Luna had said to her the previous night, but she didn’t want to. Frost was nice, and she liked him a lot, but it was conflicting in her head. Frost and Duke helped her because they wanted to do the right thing, not because they knew her. Maybe that was why she liked Frost; he jumped in to save her when he didn’t have to.

Duke did too, though. Although she didn’t like Duke as much. He didn’t come across as being as nice as Frost, not in conversation at least. Frost also seemed a little more fun. But that begged a question.

“Frost?” Amel said.

“Hm?”

“Is that your real name?” Amel asked.

Frost blinked, surprised at the question. “Well... no, it’s not.” He hoped she wouldn’t ask for it.

“How did you get it?” Amel asked.

Frost felt relieved. “Well, it’s a bit of a story,” Frost said.

“I think we have time,” Amel said.

Frost had to think back for a minute. “Well, it all started back in the early days of my career. Right now, we’re with a very special unit, one that it takes time to get to. You have to serve a minimum two years in Pararescue before you get there, though most guys have more under their belt.”

“What was your original unit?” Amel asked.

“I was first assigned to the 352nd Special Operations Group, 321st Special Tactics Squadron,” Frost explained. “Not any more, though. But that was where I got my name.”

“How was that?” Amel asked.

“Well, we were certainly a special unit with mainly military responsibilities, but all Pararescuemen have to be capable of rescues,” Frost said. “The unit was based in England, a big island country way in the north. With our aircraft, we were able to fly really far to other northern countries to perform rescues of people in trouble. Almost all of the time, I got sent to Norway to rescue mountaineers and skiers.”

“So you are Frost because you went to cold places?” Amel asked.

Frost chuckled. “Not quite,” he said. “Once, when we went for a rescue, it was to save someone who had seriously slashed their leg on a rock when they fell. They were injured pretty badly. We were called in to rescue them. To get there, we had to fly in a CV-22B Osprey, a freaky hybrid aircraft that takes a while to explain, to rescue the climbers.”

“It turned out, the injury was worse than we had been told. When we got there, we found out that the guy’s leg was nearly shorn off by a falling rock.” Frost smiled as Amel shuddered with repulsion at the thought. “We didn’t have a tourniquet with us to deal with that kind of bleeding. Honestly, the guy was lucky; the cold had kept his blood flowing slower and slowed his bodily functions, and that was what kept him alive.”

“What did you do?” Amel asked, excited to hear the story.

“I did the only thing I could do; I improvised. When we set out, we all brought basic medical gear and some thin, but extremely well made, insulating jackets for warmth. When we touched down, my buddy went to secure the lines to get the climber up to the Osprey while I treated the guy.”

“I had to take off my jacket and use it to tourniquet his leg, like they did in the world wars ridiculously long ago. It was my only good thermal protection, but I had to save this guy. It worked really well, and it was a good thing it did; the line for the stretcher that would bring the climber up to the Osprey broke.”

“Oh no!” Amel said.

Frost nodded. “Yeah, we thought the guy was doomed. But we were informed that another chopper, an HH60 Pavehawk, would be by really soon to get us. In the meantime, we had to treat the guy and keep him alive. And I was positively freezing the whole time without a jacket.”

“Did you get him out?” Amel asked.

Frost nodded proudly. “Yup, we got him out of there alive and brought him home. I let him keep my jacket, since it was stained with his blood. He loved it and I think he still has it to this day. But when we got on the helicopter, one of the crewman looked at me and said, ‘You like like you just came out of the freezer!’” Frost said with a laugh. “I had little icicles all over my arms and shirt. My buddy said I frosted over out there, and then, everyone called me Frost.”

“Wow,” Amel said. “That’s amazing.” Frost smiled brightly at her compliment and they continued their walk without more major conversation.

Princess Luna was right about him; he really was an awesome guy.



Duke marveled at the craftsmanship of the statues. For beings that only had hooves, they were carved with precision and mastery. Unless they were unicorns. Then they were still good, but not quite as impressive.

Duke felt captivated by a particular statue in the garden, though. It wasn’t of any pony, or horse, or anyone. It had two legs at the bottom, keeping it attached to the stand, then two wings going out, and a horn out of the top. The most striking part, though, was the eagle in the middle with its wings flared. The way it was drawn, it almost reminded Duke of the SEAL Trident.

He noticed an inscription in the front. It wasn’t long, only one word, etched deep into the stone. The word had a powerful ring to it, like if he said it, it might bring something about or evoke someone somewhere in some world and tell them that something was happening.

“Harkness,” Duke read.

The power of the word didn’t feel real, though. Duke stood there, as if waiting for something to happen while a brief breeze passed him by along the path, moving his hair before his eyes. After a few seconds of standing there, he shrugged his shoulders and walked away. It might have been a Special Ops unit memorial or something.

Duke walked on back to the castle, where he spotted Frost and Amel standing in front of the door, waiting. He took his time walking back, appreciating the beautiful garden a little bit more before he left it behind. As he came within earshot, Frost called out to him.

“Have a nice long stroll?” he asked.

Duke nodded slowly. “I learned a few things today,” he said.

“We’d best get going,” Frost said. “They’ll be waiting for us out front soon. We’d best grab our things and head out.”

“Sounds like a plan, Frost,” Duke replied.

It didn’t take long for the trio to go get their things and go to the front of the castle to wait. They took less time than anticipated, and ended up waiting out there for half an hour before someone finally showed up. When a stallion came to take their bags onto a cart, the men and mare were happy to secure their things to it and walk alongside it.

The walk to the train also didn’t take very long, and they were waiting around for the second time that day. Though this time, they weren’t going to be as bored.

Duke noticed a dot coming toward them in the sky. “Incoming,” he said casually.

Frost looked up and, as the dot came closer, saw that it as Aprotelese. “It looks like we’re getting a send-off before we go.”

Aprotelese was flying incredibly fast and had already landed by the time Duke and Frost were standing up to greet him. Before saying anything, he shook himself off to get the water from the clouds off and warm up a little now that he was back on ground level. He was wearing an empty tactical vest, horseshoes, a knife, and a dark gray beret. When he was finished, he smiled and happily greeted his new teammates.

“What’s up, guys?” Aprotelese asked.

“You were, a minute ago,” Frost said. He stepped forward and stuck his hand out.

Aprotelese took it and shook. “Something I bet you guys wish you could do yourselves,” Aprotelese said.

“If only,” Duke replied.

Aprotelese looked past the men and stopped. Amel was standing off behind them, looking away and trying to avoid being seen, but to no avail. As Aprotelese saw her, he immediately made his way around the men and walked toward her.

“Hello,” he said in a slightly deepened voice. “Might I ask your name?”

Amel looked at him, startled at the unexpected conversation. “Umm, I- I am Amel,” she said nervously.

Aprotelese removed his beret. “I am Aprotelese,” he said with a soft smile. “It is a true pleasure to meet you.”

Amel swallowed and blinked. “Thank you,” she said.

Aprotelese kept his beret off. “I fear that my eyes must be having difficulty seeing,” he said, sitting his rump down. “Because I can’t see anything but you at the moment.”

Amel turned a bright shade of red and started to stammer. When she couldn’t find words to say anything, she put her head down and let her mane fall in front of her face.

“Uh, I... Um, you...” She was having a lot of trouble. Frost saw it and decided to come to the rescue.

“Amel’s been traveling with us for quite some time now,” Frost said. “We freed her from some nasty ‘royals’ in Saddle Arabia, and decided that we like her and want to have her around.”

Aprotelese looked at Frost, then Amel, then Frost again. “Ah, so that is where you come from,” he said to Amel. “Well, I can promise you, nothing like that exists in Equestria. I and my fellow guards do our best to protect ponies like yourself.”

Amel looked through her mane at the stallion. “I thank you for your service,” she said quietly with a smile.

Duke walked over to break up the conversation. “Aprotelese, can I talk to you about something for a minute?” he asked.

“No problem,” the stallion replied quickly. He left Frost and Amel to chat with Duke.

Amel looked at her hooves, fiddling with them. “He is handsome,” she said after a minute.

“Gotta watch that guy,” Frost thought. He nodded slowly. “Stallions must look their best when they can,” he replied.

Amel looked up at Frost. “You will e working with him?” she asked.

“It sounds like we’ll be living with him,” Frost said.

Amel nodded. “Well, he seems nice... but maybe not what I am searching for.”

Frost nodded, barely listening. “Oh, you wait; he’ll try to convince you otherwise.” Frost looked down at Amel with a grin. Amel looked at Aprotelese again, who was talking to a disappointed looking Duke.

“I wish him good fortune, then,” Amel said. “I know the kind of stallion I like most.”


Duke, meanwhile, was growing frustrated. “So you know nothing about him?” he asked.

Aprotelese shook his head. “Nope, sorry. Heard stories, but nothing more. Not even a name. He stayed low profile, from what I understand, and something happened that made him go away, along with a lot of what ponies knew about him. Can’t help you other than that, sorry.”

“Damn,” Duke said. “Guess I’ll have to do some serious research into this.” Duke was determined to learn the story behind this other human and to find out what he did.

The train finally showed up, blowing its loud whistle, and when everything was good to go, the trio plus Aprotelese boarded up, ready to face down whatever adventures, dangers, and bizarre twists they would encounter on their way to finding OGA.

> A Stable Community
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



A Stable Community





The train screeched to a stop as it approached Ponyville. The men couldn’t see the town from their window, though, because the angle was too much. They didn’t care much, though; they would just see it when they walked into town.

When the train was completely stopped, everyone stood up, stretched, and headed out. They grabbed all their things, not letting Aprotelese carry anything, and walked off the train onto the platform. The platform was wholly uninhabited when they walked off. Frost glanced around the small area.

“Not much of a welcoming committee,” he said.

“Are you surprised?” Duke asked.

Aprotelese scratched his head. “I am,” he said. “I understand that Princess Twilight was told we would be here. She didn’t even send Captain Sentry to come and greet us.”

Duke shrugged. “If I had three special operators coming into town, I wouldn’t want everyone to see them either. It doesn’t do anything good for OPSEC.”

“Makes sense, I guess,” Aprotelese said. He looked toward the town. “We need to head to Princess Twilight’s castle and meet up with her. She is handling our living situation here.”

“Lead the way,” Frost said.

Aprotelese chuckled and started walking. “Look in the direction of the town,” he said. “You don’t need me to lead the way.”

Duke, Frost, and Amel all looked toward where Aprotelese was walking and saw his point in a heartbeat. There was a huge, crystalline, purple and blue castle in the distance, protruding out of the surrounding area like a ship on fire in the ocean. The men’s and mare’s jaws dropped at seeing it.

“Impressed?” Aprotelese asked.

The trio began to follow him. “That’s an understatement,” Frost said. “Is that thing even safe?”

“What do you mean?” Aprotelese asked.

“I mean, it doesn’t look that secure,” Frost said.

“It’s well guarded,” Aprotelese said.

Frost shook his head. “No, I mean it looks like it could fall over on a windy day. It’s like a super tree house, but with one disproportionately small support keeping it up.”

“Trust me, it’ll stay up,” Aprotelese said. “We have magic for that. It’s how Canterlot is kept on the mountain.” The men looked at each other uncomfortably with the knowledge that magic was the only reason they survived the time they spent in Canterlot.

Aprotelese casually led them into town like it was nothing. Going through, the men saw that this town was definitely more diverse than Canterlot. There were pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies all over the place. And every one of them stared at the men as they passed.

The castle was, of course, all the way on the other side of town, so the men would be the spectacle of the day for the entire town. Everywhere, ponies dropped what they were doing to look at Duke and Frost as they passed, some with open jaws, others with wide eyes. Some with both. Frost waved at a few of them, and they could only slowly wave back in disbelief in response.

There was a small open-air market that they had to pass through on the way. Here was where most of the ponies in town seemed to be. The crowds were incredibly thick, and the only reason they got through as because everypony got out of their way when they saw the humans approaching. Even the shopkeepers stopped to look.

Before they got all the way through, Frost felt a pang of hunger hit his stomach.

“Yo, Aprotelese, is one of the stalls a food stall?” he asked.

“Most of them are,” Aprotelese responded. “What are you thinking?”

“Something to hold me over for now, like an apple or something.” Frost put his hand to his belly to feel it growl.

“Sure, the stall is right over there,” Aprotelese said, pointing toward a stall with a dozen or so apples on display. “I’ll give you some cash...”

“No need,” Frost said. “Still have Sauri’s money.”

Aprotelese blinked. “Oh,” he said. “Cool. You should bank that, set up an account. I’m sure the princess will help you.”

“Sweet,” Frost said.

Frost split from the group and walked over to the apple stall, getting looks the whole way there. Nopony talked to him on the way. At the stall, he could see a young mare, staring off into the sky, daydreaming. But something was oddly familiar about this mare. Her coat was a light yellow and she had a red mane with a bow in it. There were a few places on her where her fur didn’t seem to come in quite right, like it was healing.

“‘Scuse me, miss,” Frost said, curious.

The mare lifted her head. “Yes, can Ah help... you...” She stared at Frost when she looked up into his face. “What..?”

“Wait,” Frost said, narrowing his eyes. “I remember you... You’re-”

Before he finished, the mare leapt over her stall and grabbed him, bringing him to the ground in a powerful bear hug. Frost could feel his ribs bending under the force while being crushed by her full weight. She was making it hard to breathe, but Frost wasn’t going to do anything drastic to get her off.

“Can’t- breathe-” he said.

The mare let him go and stood over him. “Ah can’t believe you’re here! In Ponyville!” she shouted. She stepped away, picked him up, and hugged him again. “Ah can’t believe it!”

Frost coughed. “Yes, I am here, and so is my friend, Duke,” he said.

The mare raised her hoof to the air. “Hey everypony! This is the guy that saved me in Saddle Arabia!”

Suddenly, a raucous cheer rose from the crowd, and everyone swarmed Frost. He couldn’t tell if Duke and Amel would be suffering the same fate, or if the full brunt of the love was on Frost.

“Now I know why Princess Twilight wanted this kept under wraps,” Frost thought.

Frost was hailed with all manner of congratulations, thank-you’s, questions, and pats on the back. He had to admit, it was nice to know that he was appreciated. Even if it was hard to get away.

“So what brings you to Ponyville, mister?” the mare asked.

“Work,” Frost replied simply. “I don’t think I ever got your name?”

“Ah’m Apple Bloom,” she said. “Ah was in Saddle Arabia on a service trip.”

“It didn’t go as planned, did it?” Frost thought. He wouldn’t say it, though. No need to bring the trauma back up.

“You saved mah life,” she said, nuzzling her face into Frost’s side. “Ah never did get to thank you right.”

“Well, I’d say that this is perfectly sufficient,” Frost said, patting her head and stepping back. “But I really need to go-”

“Frost!” Duke shouted from behind.

Frost looked in Duke’s direction. He was trying to push his way through the crowd and having trouble doing it/ When Frost turned his attention there, everypony else did as well, and when they saw Duke, they quickly moved out of the way. When Duke finally got to Frost’s position, he called back to Amel, who came up right after.

“Apple Bloom, this is Duke,” Frost said, pointing at his partner. “And you just heard my name, Frost. This young mare is Amel.”

Amel stepped forward, between Frost and Apple Bloom. “Good to meet you,” she said.

Apple Bloom nodded. “Likewise,” she said, sticking her hoof out. Amel took it and shook.

“So anyway, it was great meeting you, but we really need to get going,” Frost said. “We have to meet up with the princess to get living arrangements.”

Apple Bloom gasped loudly. “You’ll be LIVING here?!” she asked.

“Yes, we will," Duke said. "You’ll be seeing some more of us for a little while.”

"That's great!" Apple bloom said excitedly.

Duke nodded. “It certainly will be. I;m afraid we have to get going now, but we will see you around, ma’am,” he said.

“Later!” Frost shouted.

Amel laughed as they walked off, then turned to Apple Bloom. “It was a pleasure,” she said. “But I must be going with them.”

“Of course,” Apple Bloom said. “Can’t let your man get away for too long.” Amel blushed, smiled awkwardly, and then hurried off.

She met up with the men and Aprotelese, who was waiting for them by a small building. Aprotelese was laughing hard at them, while Duke was pinching his with his fingers and Frost was standing with his hands in his pockets.

“You’re a goon,” Amel heard Duke say.

“No more than you,” Frost replied. “I’m just more public about it.”

Amel walked up and put herself into the view of the men. “Shall we go?” she asked a little quickly.

“Certainly,” Aprotelese said.

The men looked back with smiles as Aprotelese led them away from the crowd and toward the massive castle. As they left, the crowd gradually went back to what each individual was doing, though not without conversation. Rumors were abound already, with speculations as to why the men were here, who they were and what they did, and just what this meant for the near future.

As they grew closer to the castle, it just never seemed to stop getting bigger. It was absurd. How much money had it cost to build this ridiculous thing? Back home, such decadence in a government building would hardly be tolerated. Sure, they were fancy inside, but they weren’t made of crystal.

When they did get there, the initial shock had worn off and the men were able to casually look up toward the body of the castle. The doors at the base stood out from the tree as a bright gold and were at least fifteen feet tall. There was a big star like thing on them, split down the middle by the double doors. That must have been the princess’s symbol.

“We gotta climb up to meet the princess and her council,” Aprotelese said.

Frost sighed and Duke shook his head. “Let’s get this over with, then,” Duke said.

They entered and were immediately greeted by a spiral staircase that led all the way up the tree. Climbing it was a monster of a task, especially with all their gear. Aprotelese had an easy time, flying when he could and sitting when he got too far ahead, but Amel was panting by the end and the men felt like their legs would fall off.

After the stairs, there was a series of halls and guards through said halls. They all wore armor similar to that of the Royal Guard, but theirs was a deep shade of magenta with white straps and had white plumes on the helmets. They looked sillier than they probably were.

“Not quite the pony military,” Duke thought.

The guards watched Aprotelese and the men and Amel as they went through. They all knew that these were the ones they were to expect, but they still didn’t trust them. They had never seen Aprotelese before, or the men, and Amel was no doubt a blaring security risk in their eyes. Though the only security risk from her would come if the guards tried to remove her from the castle without the men.

They stopped before another set of double doors. “Here we are,” Aprotelese said.

Duke sighed. “Time for another royal meeting,” he said.

“How many PJs can say they’ve met three princesses and a king?” Frost asked.

Aprotelese chuckled. “By the end of your time here, you’ll probably have met more than that.”

The doors opened to reveal a big council chamber and six chairs, organized in a circle in the center of the room. The largest one held a purple alicorn princess wearing a crown and those odd metal shoes for hooves. She looked distinctly uncomfortable in them, though. The others held two pegasi, a unicorn, and two earth ponies. If not for the one unicorn, it would have totally politically correct.

Aprotelese went straight for the circle. “Princess,” he said. “Council.”

“Yes, Aprotelese, I was told?” Princess Twilight replied. “You have our guests?”

“Yes ma’am, right behind me,” Aprotelese said. He motioned for the men to come forward. “They are Duke and Frost, and their nice friend Amel.”

The trio stepped forward and took the center of the circle. Aprotelese remained outside the circle, watching. The men wanted to be able to see all the ponies they were talking to. They were surprised at the color variation in the ponies. It didn’t look like genetics had much of a role in physical appearance at all in this world.

“Princess,” Duke greeted.

“You must be Duke,” Princess Twilight said.

“I am,” Duke replied. “And this is my partner, Frost, and our friend, Amel.” Duke pointed to his friends as he introduced them. “We were told that we would have housing here while we are stationed here?”

“Absolutely,” Princess Twilight said. “And please, no formalities. You are not my subject anyhow.”

“Yes Twilight,” Frost responded. “And we trust that Amel will be staying with us?”

“I don’t see why not,” Twilight said.

“Excellent!” Frost said with a smile. “Don’t worry, we won’t cause TOO much trouble.”

“It sounds like you already caused a bit of a scene on your way here,” the unicorn said. “We could hear it all from up here while we waited.”

Frost chuckled. “Like I said, not too much, miss..?”

“Rarity, darling,” she said.

Duke looked around. “And who might you all be? We should at least try to get to know each other.”

They all went one by one introducing themselves. It started with a pegasus next to Twilight.

“I’m Rainbow Dash, flier extraordinaire, Wonderbolts reserve, and Element of Loyalty! I’m awesome in whatever way you can think of. Go ahead, think.”

“Fingers,” Duke said instantly.

Rainbow opened her mouth, then shut it and glared at Duke. Her glare quickly turned into a grin.

“You’re clever,” she said.

“I like to think so,” Duke replied.

The next one was a pink earth mare. “I’m Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter! I like to party and make friends and help ponies and meet humans and watch humans and throw parties and eat cake and bake cake and I should make a cake for your housewarming party that I’m going to throw for you and get presents and get a registry for those two and then throw an after party when it’s all done!”

“You mentioned partying a lot,” Frost said.

“I like parties!” Pinkie said.

The next one was quiet. “And you, miss?” Duke said.

She was a yellow pegasus hiding behind a pink mane. “I- I’m Fluttershy...” she said. Not much else.

“Aaand?” Frost said.

“I’m the E-Element of Kindness. I work with animals. Uhhm, I live in my cottage with my husband, a nice farmer, you would like him. And, I, uhhh...” The men waited. They were willing to wait. “I helped to reform bad guys when they were ready.”

Duke nodded. “Impressive.” The complement drew a smile and a small blush from the mare.

“Ah’m Applejack,” the next one said, saving the first from the spotlight. “Ah’m the Element of Honesty. Mah sister, Apple Bloom, was rescued by none other than you two in Saddle Arabia while she was on that service trip. Ah owe you two more than Ah can ever repay, and this is mah first time meetin’ you.”

“You owe us nothing,” Frost said. “Our motto; These things we do, that others may live.”

Applejack smiled. “Well, ain’t you just a big ol’ blessing to the world.”

Frost smiled. “Thank you.”

Duke made mental notes on all of them. From what he understood, they all had close personal connections to the human from before. When he got the chance, he would have to get one on ones with them to find out what he did and whom he was. His curiosity continued to grow about this guy, to the point where, unless they were on a mission, he couldn’t get it off his mind.

“This is my council,” Twilight said. “My closest friends and my most trusted advisors. I am glad you could meet them.”

“We are too,” Duke said. “So, now that we know each other, what is our living situation like?”

Twilight nodded. “We have an empty home, a large one, on the edge of town, toward the forest. It will be big enough for a four-stallion elements of Nighthawks, you men, and your friend there, Amel.” Twilight nodded to the mare. “It will be fully stocked with food at all times. But if you ever want meat, you’ll have to go into the forest and get it yourselves.”

“That’s fine,” Duke said.

“What?” Frost replied, unsettled. “I can’t hunt.”

“The princesses are giving us ammo,” Duke whispered. “And soon, we’ll hopefully get those silencers Luna mentioned before the last mission. Hunting won’t be so hard.”

“I’ll find a way,” Frost said.

Duke turned his attention back to the princess. “Thank you, Twilight. You have been very helpful to us and our mission here.”

“I’m glad to help. I hope we can cooperate effectively further in the future,” Twilight said.

The men and Amel turned back to Aprotelese. “Let’s go see our new home,” Duke said.

Together, they left to go and settle down for the night in what was likely to be an empty house and a day of searching for cheap furniture followed by sleeping on the floor after the search failed.

> New Neighbors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






New Neighbors





The group made its way to the house through backstreets and alleys. They had achieved instant fame earlier just by walking through and encountering the most unexpected individuals possible, and they didn’t need to get caught up again.

When they arrived at the house, out of sight of most of the town and close to the forest, the men were definitely having positive thoughts about the place. It was much bigger than the typical barracks they got on deployment with other PJs, and it had three floors. The windows were currently blocked out by blinds, the house was unremarkable and easy to miss, and it had a little garden on the side. It was perfect.

“Nice,” Frost said.

“I’ll say,” Duke said.

“How many rooms are there?” Amel asked.

“Don’t know,” Frost said. He walked toward the house. “Let’s find out.”

Frost approached the door and found it locked. He grunted and frowned; the princess hadn’t said that the door would be locked. Delta Force boys and DEVGRU guys learned how to pick locks and steal cars and all that crazy stuff, but PJs didn’t need it, so they never learned it. Frost looked around for where a key might be hidden. The mailbox on the doorframe was empty, and the key wasn’t under the mat. When he looked above the door frame, though, he finally found it.

“Ah, here we go!” he said.

Frost opened up the door and walked inside, followed soon after by Duke, Amel, and then Aprotelese. Inside, it was just what they expected; mostly empty and in need of painting and customizing. The walls were totally barren and gray, with dusty wood and tile flooring and no carpet. There was a chair in the first room, and upon exploration, three beds were found upstairs on the second and third floor and a table in the kitchen with a fridge and stove. It had the bare essentials for those who had just arrived, but depending on how big Aprotelese’s Nighthawks squad was, they might need more furniture.

“Looks like we’ll need to get more stuff for our temporary home,” Aprotelese said.

Duke shrugged as he dropped his gear by the door and Frost did the same. “I couldn’t care much less to be honest,” he said. “With luck or effort, we’ll spend little enough time here as it is. You and your guys can feel free to customize, and you, Frost, and Amel, as well, but I’ll be keeping myself occupied.”

“This is Ponyville,” Aprotelese said. “I can’t think of that much a human would want to do here.”

“Anything a pony would do, I would guess,” Frost said.

Aprotelese shrugged. “Maybe.”

“So when do your Nighthawks get here?” Duke asked. He stood before the fridge, holding it open to see the vast emptiness inside. “And how many have you got?”

“Just my squad,” Aprotelese said. “Five other guys. They’ll arrive tomorrow night.”

“Will they need furniture?” Duke asked. He shut the fridge and went and sat on the table.

“Probably,” he said. “With all this space, I think we should all get our own quarters.”

“Sounds good to me, boss,” Frost said. “How should we go about this?”

Duke examined the three individuals before him. Amel kept quiet the whole time because she seemed to feel awkward being around a group of military guys who spoke a language she still had a bit of trouble with. Aprotelese looked nonchalant, glancing at his hooves occasionally, and Frost was chilled out leaning on the wall.

“Let’s find the biggest room and give it to Amel,” he said.

Amel blinked, surprised. “Umm, why do I get the biggest room?” she asked.

Duke looked at the guys. “Well, we’ll be out a lot, so a big room would go to waste with us. And since we’ll be gross most of the time, you’ll want a nice sized space to get away from us for a bit when we come back from missions.”

“You’ve always been gross, Duke, and I have never minded so far,” Amel said.

Duke snorted. “Thanks for the compliment,” he said. Amel looked confused, but he went on. “Anyway, with all this other space, we can keep our gear in a separate room across the hall or next door, rather than in the same room. We just don’t need a big room.”

“Besides, don’t you want to collect trinkets and baubles to make the space feel more like yours?” Frost asked. “It’s always nice to make a space the way you want it.”

Amel pouted her lips in thought. “I guess that sounds like fun,” she said. Duke nodded.

“Any issues, Aprotelese?” he asked.

Aprotelese shook his head. “I got no complaints,” he said.

Duke nodded. “Very well. Amel, let’s go look for your room.” Duke stood and walked out, followed close by Amel.

Frost and Aprotelese were left in the room alone. On their own, they walked around the kitchen, thinking about how they would adjust it to fit their needs and wants as best it could, from food storage, to cooking, to being fit for the guys to sit around a table drinking a beer. Duke and Frost weren’t technically supposed to drink here, because they were still on deployment to Pakistan ‘officially’, but given the circumstances, it wouldn’t be a problem.

“Will your guys handle living in this house well?” Frost asked suddenly, getting Aprotelese’s attention. “I mean living with a mare.”

“I’ll keep ’em in line, don’t worry,” Aprotelese said. “They’re mostly single, but I’ll have them mingle with the townsponies. Amel will be totally safe.”

“Good,” Frost said. “‘Cuz I don’t want to use ammo unless I’m on a mission.” Aprotelese nodded in appreciation and left the room.

Upstairs, Duke and Amel were looking at the different rooms. They were mostly the same size except for the Master Bedroom, where they were currently. This had to be the nicest bedroom Duke had ever seen. The bed in here was huge, king-sized, and the bathroom was positively glorious. The toilet was low for pony use and did not bode well for the human’s use of toilets in purely pony communities, but it was pristine and worked like a charm. The shower was a walk-in shower with a rainshower head and those other sprayers that came out of the walls and had two knobs for temperature control.

The bath was amazing. The tub was built into the corner and could easily fit eighty gallons of water. The faucet was brass with brass handles, and there was already shampoo and conditioner next to the tub. The sink, not too far away, was much the same.

Amel was giddy with excitement. “Ooh, this is amazing!” she said.

Duke sighed. “Why did I give up the biggest room?” he asked himself. “Being nice does have the occasional downside, I guess.”

“I’m going to go get Frost!” Amel said as she ran out.

Duke watched her go. “He’s totally clueless,” he thought with amusement.

Moments later, Amel came running back with Frost behind her. When he walked into the bathroom, he let out a whistle.

“Impressive,” he said. When he noticed Duke looking forlorn by the side, he chuckled and said, “Jealous?”

“Are you not?” Duke asked. “Though I suppose you might not have to be.”

“Huh?” Frost said.

“Never mind,” Duke said with a wave of his hand.

Frost shrugged and went back to taking in the room. Amel was chattering away, half in English, half in her native language, loving and admiring the new room she got to live in. She hadn’t been overwhelmed by the other rooms she lived in, but Frost guessed that the difference now was that she was allowed to make minor alterations to make it perfect for her.

As fun as it was to watch her squeal over the room, they had things to do.

“Very nice,” Frost said. “I think we need to go out and get some things for our new home. You can get things for your room over time, Amel, but for now, we need the essentials.” Frost turned to the guys. “I’ll grab my bag of bits, and we can head out.”

“Alright,” Aprotelese said. “But I don’t think we could furnish this house or even what we’ll use of it with ten thousand bits, let alone the nine hundred something we do have.”

“Then let’s get what we need and get it cheap,” Duke said. “Get as much as we can.”

“I want to come!” Amel said excitedly. “I’ve never been out purchasing things like this before!”

“I guess you haven’t been shopping,” Frost said as the realization hit him. “I think it’ll be a fun time for you.” Amel smiled and danced on her hooftips.

The group left the house, locking the door behind them, and went into town. This time, they didn’t have to hide, nor could they if they wanted to. The lunch time for the day had ended, or whatever had the ponies out and about, so the streets were mostly empty. The ponies who were about would stop and waved enthusiastically at them. The men would wave back lightly, but kept on going to avoid conversation.

The first store they went to was the most obvious, a place called Quills and Sofas. The name said it all. If the men were lucky, they would sell more than sitting furniture, and they could get the beds for the Nighthawks when they arrived the next day. Quills would be nice, too, as with ink, they could be used for writing or drawing important documents regarding missions and objectives.

When they walked in, they found themselves in a maze of furniture. There were chairs, of the lawn variety, the rocking kind, and others, and there were also couches and, of course, sofas. The writing section was somewhere in the mess, but it would take a miracle to find it. Instead, there was only one option to take.

“Hello?” Duke said. “Anyone here?”

“Coming!” a voice answered. Not long after, an older pony wearing big spectacles came running by to greet his customers. “How can I help-”

He paused, and Aprotelese spoke. “We need furniture,” he said.

The spectacled pony nodded. “Yes, I know,” he said. “I was told to expect you. The princess said you would likely stop by for furniture.”

“Good,” Duke said. “So you know what we need?”

“No,” the pony said. “But she said that she would pick up whatever tab you left here. So, feel free to take what you will and just tell me what you want. It will be at your home by tonight.”

“Awesome,” Frost said. “Do you have beds?”

“Does this look like a mattress store?” the pony asked. Frost blinked. “No, I have no beds. I can order some, but they won’t be here until tomorrow.”

“That works,” Duke replied. He looked to the furniture. “Alright guys, Amel, let’s get cracking.”

The group walked around the store choosing whatever struck their fancy. Amel was on an absolute spree and had to be reminded by Frost of the limited space on occasion, but she seemed to be having fun. They selected several couches, noting their inventory numbers, and did the same for a number of chairs. Once they finished with that, they went back to the shopkeeper, gave him the list, and asked for six single beds. That, plus the three they already had, would be just enough for one bed per individual in the house.

When they left, they looked for other stores where they could get their hands on tables and shelves and the like. After a bit of searching, they discovered a carpentry shop that would sell everything they needed. The owner of the business was extremely friendly, probably because he knew he would make good money from the princess later when he sent her the bill. He urged the group to select whatever they liked the most without consideration for the cost.

They did just that and came out with nice tables, shelves, nightstands, wall hooks, and many other nice pieces for the house. Amel had chosen some very ornate pieces that were of a style she called Haymaraduasha. No one understood, but when she explained that it was a pony race of black and white stripes, they got it. Aprotelese mentioned that they were called Zebras in Equish, and they they hailed from several nations, like Zebrastan and Zebronia.

Nothing else specific came to mind for furnishing the house, so the group meandered about for a while, looking for anything interesting, useful, or fun for later. Aprotelese knew a bit about the town and pointed out a bowling alley, a huge spa, and a race track. Frost was interested, but Amel didn’t know what bowling was and had never heard of a spa before. Duke just didn’t care, as he had other things in mind.

On their walk, they came across a large, gnarled tree with a door on the front and a sign that read New Golden Oaks Library. This caught Duke’s attention instantly.

“Hey, you never mentioned a library,” Duke said to Aprotelese.

Aprotelese looked toward the library. “I didn’t realize they had one,” he said. “The original was blown to pieces by the demon Tirek, years ago.”

Duke stuck his hands in his pocket and walked to the library door. “Well, I guess they regrew it.”

He knocked on the door and heard some rushed and hushed chatter from inside. It silenced quickly, and no one answered. Duke knocked again, and again, he heard hushed dialogue from inside. Finally, he heard a set of footsteps coming to the door. When it opened, he had to admit he was struck by the unexpected greeter at the door. It was a dragon, about as tall as him, with green spines along his back and purple scales. It was like meeting the real Barney the Dinosaur.

“Yes, can I help you?” he asked. Right after he asked that, though, he saw who he was talking to. “Oh, man, it’s you! I wasn’t expecting you to come by here.”

“You saw us earlier?” Duke asked.

The dragon shook his head. “No, but you saved my friend, and I heard from her that you were in town. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Our job,” Duke replied.

“Well, I’m Spike, the current librarian. Why don’t you come on in? I’ve got snacks inside.”

Duke smiled. “Sounds great,” he said. He turned briefly to his friends. “You guys head on, I’ll be here for a bit.”

Frost raised a hand to him. “Okay, see you later!” he shouted. Frost and the others walked off while Duke followed Spike into the library.

The library was about what one would expect inside. Everything was wood, because it was inside a tree. The shelves were carved into the walls, the stairs were carved out of the walls, everything. Except the kitchen, which Duke could see from the front. That looked to have a tile floor. Several tables were carved out of the tree, but some were bought elsewhere and brought in. At one of the tables sat a white unicorn mare with a pick and purple mane and a picture of a musical note on her hind.

“Hello,” Duke said.

She looked to him and beamed. “Hi!” she basically shouted. She leapt up and ran to Duke. “I’m Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom’s friend! Are you Frost?”

Duke chuckled. “No, I’m Duke,” he said. “Frost is busy elsewhere right now. I just wanted to stop by and see what the library has got.”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “We had to rebuild the library after it was burned down by Tirek, but with Apple Bloom’s carpentry skills, it was no problem. The real trouble was getting replacement books.” Sweetie Belle looked dreamily at Spike for a moment. “But Spike was determined to fix it up, and he did a great job of it.”

Spike blushed. “Well, I had to get it right, right?”

Sweetie Belle walked up to him and planted a peck on his cheek. “And you did a very good job.”

Duke nodded. “Well, if I’m not interrupting anything, I was wondering if I could ask you guys some questions?”

“No, no, you aren’t interrupting!” Spike said. he put his arm around Sweetie Belle. “You’re always welcome to stop by.”

“Thank you, then,” Duke said. “So, my first question; How recent do your history books get? I assume you have history books, since this is a library.”

Spike pointed a the history section. “The books go from thousands of years ago to recent history,” he said. “But if you want books about current or recent events, you’ll need to look in that section. Recent events covers everything from yesterday to about ten or fifteen years ago. What are you looking for?”

“I’m looking for information on a guy who was here a few years ago,” Duke explained. “I don’t know exactly how many years ago, but I would bet you remember him. He wasn’t exactly the kind of guy who was born here.”

The smiled on the pony’s and dragon’s faded, and they leaned into each other’s heads to whisper something. Duke didn’t like that they felt a need to do that, but unfortunately, this was how his search would probably go from now on. The good news was that he knew these two knew something about it.

Spike looked up. “I know who you mean,” he said. “It’s weird, though. The name is getting away from me right now...”

“Same here,” Sweetie Belle said. “I remember him, but his name just seems like it... faded away.”

Duke frowned. “Anything at all? Do you remember anything about him?”

Spike nodded fervently. “Oh, yeah! He was a cool guy, but he had a lot of problems that-” Before he went on, his eyes froze where they were, pupils shrinking to tiny pinpricks. Sweetie Belle was much the same. When they recovered, Spike shook his head and went on. “He had some serious problems before he came here that he wouldn’t elaborate on.”

Duke nodded. “Alright. But what about him? What can you tell me about him, what he did to be so memorable?”

Spike shook his head. “Sorry, man, but I can’t remember. I never heard about him doing anything, I just remember him being a pretty cool dude, eventually. He hung out with some guys, I know one was Big Mac, here in town, and the girls knew him, albeit not as well.”

“Who is Big Mac? And the girls?” Duke asked.

“The girls are the Elements of Harmony, the council you met in the castle,” Spike explained. “Big Mac works at Sweet Apple Acres. Used to live there, but now he lives in Fluttershy’s cottage.”

Duke nodded. “Alright, I’ll look into that,” he said. “Thanks for the help.” Duke turned around and walked out.

“You’re welcome!” Sweetie Belle said. “Feel free to stop by any time!”

That entire encounter had been incredibly suspicious. Something outside their control had stepped in to prevent Duke from getting some piece of vital information about this other human’s past, something that might reveal his identity. Why was it so important that he be kept a secret? And what had he done here, and on the Human Earth, for that matter, that would cause a need to keep him hidden? Twilight and her council knew something, something hugely important, that they were keeping secret. It was a safe bet that the other princesses knew as well. But Duke couldn’t go to them just yet; he would have to start with this Big Mac character.

One thing was certain; whoever he was, he had more to do with this world than Duke thought. And he might have something to do with Duke’s and Frost’s arrival here. Duke was determined to find out, and he would spend as much of his free time as possible figuring it out.

When he got back to the house, he walked in to find everyone sitting on the front steps, talking casually and pointing at the forest occasionally. As Duke approached, Frost took notice and waved to him. Duke waved back and when he stood before them, he stuck his hands in his pocket and looked to the door.

“Forgot to give you guys the key,” he said. He had taken it when they left.

“Sure did, boss,” Frost answered.

Frost, Aprotelese, and Amel moved aside so that Duke could open the door, and they all followed him inside. Once there, they went to the kitchen, where Aprotelese realized that they had no food. He asked Frost for some bits to go out shopping for some food, and Frost handed him some and off he went.

“Gotta have food to live,” Frost said.

“Yep,” Duke said. He looked to Amel. “Is there anything you would particularly like?”

“Nothing that they would have here,” she said.

Duke nodded slowly. “Very well,” he said. “So, before we go on doing things, let’s work out the sleeping arrangements tonight.”

“Tonight?” Amel asked. “Why tonight?”

“We have three beds currently,” Duke said. “And four of us are here. One of the three of us fighters will be taking a couch when it arrives.”

“How do we choose?” Frost asked. “Best not to make our national host of sorts sleep uncomfortably.”

“I know,” Duke said. “So I thought you would take it again.”

Frost shook his head. “Well, ain’t that just the bees knees.”

“That is not necessary,” Amel said.

“How is that?” Duke asked.

“My room has a large bed. Frost can sleep there tonight,” Amel said.

“Awfully eager to sleep with Frost, huh?” Duke said with a grin.

Frost put his fingers up in a shaka sign and, shaking them quickly, said, “Ssssssssick, boss.”

Amel, meanwhile, only had a mild blush. “I am not eager,” she said. If she got the context, she would have been much more unhappy with Duke.

“Don’t worry; that’s what they all say,” Duke said.

“Who all?” Amel asked, looking to Frost. “Who are these ‘all’ that Duke says you know so well?”

Frost leaned back and put his hands forward. “No, no, no, that’s just an expression. I don’t know that many women.”

“As shocking as that would be, I think the ladies would line up to meet you!” Duke suggested. “I mean, just look at this fine piece of human architecture. Really, a true masterpiece.”

“You did box at the Air Force Academy, so it isn’t surprising that I’m better-looking than you,” Frost said.

Duke feigned hurt. “Yes, my deformed face is a shame to my family!” he said.

Before Ame could fully understand what was happening, both men started laughing and slapping knees. Frost nearly fell off the table, and Duke was slowly sliding down the wall. During their bout of hysterics, Aprotelese walked in through the front door with food and entered the kitchen with at least eight bags on him.

Duke noticed him walking in. “One trip?” he asked. “Impressive.”

“Nah, I got more outside,” Aprotelese replied. “I’ll grab it in a minute, after I learn what’s been happening here.”

“Well, it started with sleeping arrangements, then rapidly devolved into what you see before you,” Frost said.

Aprotelese looked to Amel, who shook her head. “I don’t get their foreign-ness.”

“Alright then,” Aprotelese said. “So anyway, what are our sleeping arrangements?”

“Duke, you tell him,” Frost said. “Amel, you and me can get the groceries.” Frost and Amel walked out to get the remainder of the food.

Duke watched them leave, then turned back to Aproteese. “Well, with two smalls and one king, we have enough bed space for four,” he said. “Amel said she would share with Frost so that he wouldn’t get the floor again, so they’ll take the master for now.” Aprotelese looked to the front door, where Amel and Frost were reentering the house. 

“That lucky bastard,” Aprotelese commented with a smile.

Duke was about to ask why Frost was lucky, but then remembered that ponies had obviously different standards than humans. Aprotelese clearly thought Amel was pretty, likely as did other stallions, so he thought Frost was lucky. Duke thought Frost was just oblivious, not lucky.

“Don’t be so sure,” Duke thought. “To each their own. But nothing is happening there.”

Arotelese smiled. “Wonderful!” he said.

Duke chuckled. “I still wouldn’t try if I were you, though. She has her eye on someone already.”

Aprotelese frowned and groaned. “I know,” he said.

Duke laughed and said nothing as the mare and his partner walked back in, and for the rest of the day, they all stayed at home and waited for their new home dècor to arrive so that they could live comfortably and easily when not working. Work would be often, and it was important to relax in between.

> Like a Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Like a Family





Frost awoke the next morning feeling groggy and stiff. He was contorted in ways he never thought he could manage while awake, let alone while sleeping. When he turned his head and tried to roll over, he met with a rude awakening in the form of rolling off the bed and being helpless against gravity as it brought him to the floor.

He landed with an unceremonious thud and lay flat where he hit, not moving for a moment. When he finally got himself up and got his gears turning, he looked on the bed. It was no wonder he had ended up falling off; Amel took up most of the bed. She was sprawled out like a cat, looking positively graceful as she lightly snored away with an open mouth.

Frost rubbed his eyes and went to the bathroom to clean himself up and fully prepare himself mentally for whatever was in store today. He started with a cold shower to shock himself awake, brushed his teeth, and looked himself over in the mirror. He was growing quite the beard. He’d noticed the same thing on Duke as well. They would have to shave soon.

With his little morning ritual done, Frost threw on his underwear and took all his clothing, which was very little still, and brought it downstairs. After leaving Duke at the library, one of the things he, Amel, and Aprotelese found was an appliance store. They went in looking for whatever they might need; cooking wares, ovens, more refrigerators, washing machines and dryers, anything. The main thing Frost wanted was a washer-dryer combo. They had none in stock, though, and had to order them for the human. For the time being, he was forced to hand wash his clothes with an old roller.

Duke and Aprotelese were still asleep. It was, after all, six in the morning, and Frost had been next to a bed hog, so he was the only one up. It seemed like a good time to get the hard work of cleaning clothes done. When he went outside, the sun was just starting to come up and there were already a few pegasi in the sky.

Frost got to work. It was harder than he expected. When he saw it in the movies, it all looked so simple. To actually use a laundry wringer was different than he thought. He had no idea what he was doing. After almost an hour of unsuccessfully trying his shirt, he gave up and sat in front of it, thinking.

“Frost?” Amel’s voice called from the door. She had also awoken, apparently, and didn’t feel like sleeping in.

“Yeah, I’m out here,” Frost said almost dismissively.

“What are you doing?” Amel asked as she walked out.

“I was trying to wash my clothes,” Frost said, pointing at his shirt. “But I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Amel sat next to him and giggled. “Well, you never did learn, did you?” she asked. Frost shook his head. “I will show you.”

Amel moved in front of him and started doing Frost’s laundry for him, prompting the man to move aside to watch. He normally cleaned his own clothes because he liked to be able to do things himself, but he had to admit, having Amel do it was nice. She didn’t seem to mind and he could just sit and watch. In no time, she was finished with the shirt and carried it to the house.

“I will hang this up inside,” she said through her teeth. “Try to get something done with that.”

Frost nodded and started working at his own laundry. After seeing Amel demonstrate it, he could do it on his own easily. The roller was still a pain, though, and he would be more than happy to have Amel do it if she was willing next time.

When Amel returned, Frost had already finished his laundry. “Are you all done, Frost?” she asked.

Frost stood with his clothes in his hands, stretched out to his sides. “All done,” he said.

Amel stopped and stared for a minute. This was the first time she had seen Frost basically naked in a totally casual setting, and something felt weird about it. Now, she was noticing his level of fitness. She didn’t know the standards of human musculature, but she could tell that he had muscles hanging from the bottoms of his arms. His chest and abdomen had solid builds as well, and he had large muscles in his back that could be seen from the front. She didn’t know what they were, but they were beneath his arms and on the sides of his back.

Frost put the uniform inside and came back out to find Amel looking at the ground, petting at it with her hoof. She didn’t seem to notice when he walked past, but he would swear that she was a little red in the face. He picked up the bucket of soapy water and started back to the house.

“You alright?” he asked of her.

Amel’s head shot back up. “Fine!” she said with a forced smile. “Just a little hot is all.” That didn’t make sense, considering she used to live in a desert.

“Well then,” Frost said, moving his hands underneath the bucket with a mischievous grin. “This should help you cool off!”

Amel saw it coming at the last second, but before she could protest, soapy water ran over her body like a waterfall. It was fairly cold, but not too cold, and suds covered Amel after the water was gone. Frost tried to run back to the house, but his hysterics slowed him down too much.

“You..!” Amel said.

She sprinted after Frost and tackled him ten feet from the door, bringing them both to the dirt. Amel’s tackle got Frost’s back all wet, and when he rolled over, he stood back up with dirt all over him. Not finished, Amel tackled him from the front this time, getting more of the water and now her own dirt onto him there. All the while, Frost couldn’t stop laughing, and Amel didn’t even notice her own giggles of joy.

Amel tired out quickly and rolled away. Frost was standing up, but decided to go and sit next to Amel on the ground. He was already in a position of needing another shower, so he figured it wouldn’t matter if he got a little dirtier.

“You are silly,” Amel said.

“I know,” Frost replied.

At the house, the back screen door opened and shut. “Who’s making such a raucous in my backyard?” Duke’s voice beckoned.

“Just these two,” Aprotelese’s voice replied. “Probably better to let them go at it.”

“You guys are up early,” Frost said.

Duke walked over to him but didn’t sit. “The same could be said for you two.”

Frost chuckled and pointed at Amel. “Well, this one took up most of the bed, and I ended up hitting the floor. I left to do laundry, and like a cat, she followed me, and soon enough, it went right to hell.”

“I did not take up the bed,” Amel defensively said.

“You were sprawled out all over the thing,” Frost replied.

Aprotelese leaned up to Duke. “She wasn’t trying to sprawl out all over the bed,” he said. He and Duke chuckled at the joke, which Frost didn’t seem to notice. Amel did, though, and shot them a look that quickly silenced their glee.

“If you two are done getting each other wet and dirty, there’s still some things for us to do today,” Duke said. Frost put his face in his hands at the comment, but thankfully, Amel didn’t get it. “We have to organize the house when our stuff arrives, set up any rooms that we won’t be living in, and get anything we missed and didn’t order.”

“I can take the house,” Aprotelese said. “I’m fast with that stuff.”

“Good,” Duke said. “Frost, you and I will go into the town and see if we can get our hands on some new clothes. There must be a seamstress here who can make us something to wear other than what we’ve been wearing for...” Duke thought. “Holy shit, how long have we been here?”

“I’ve got the number scratched into the inside of my helmet,” Frost said. “But it’s been a while.”

“I hope command doesn’t think we died,” Duke said.

“They’ll probably think we’re trapped with OGA or something,” Frost said. “When we get back, we’ll just say we were captured and escaped with OGA.”

Duke snapped his fingers and pointed. “Good thinking, man,” he said.

“What should I do?” Amel asked. She didn’t want to be left out of the day’s activities.

“If you could help Aprotelese get the house ready, that would be really great,” Frost said.

Amel looked at Aprotelese. He was trying to smile charmingly, but came off as goonish and silly instead.

She sighed. “I will help him get the house ready. But I want to go out and get clothes sometime too.”

“Sure, next time we go out for something other than official or major stuff,” Duke said. “Frost would go with you.”

“And you, boss?” Frost asked.

“I have other things planned for my free time,” Duke said. “Things that qualify as major.”

Frost shrugged. “Works for me,” he said. He looked to Amel. “I guess we’ll see you later.”

Amel waved to Frost and Duke as they turned and left. “Later!” she said.

“Alright, looks like it’s you and me fixing up the house,” Aprotelese said, walking up and bumping Amel’s side with his elbow. “What’re you thinking of first?”

“I will take the first floor,” Amel said. “You take the top. I will then look for a basement or cellar, because I don't think we found one yet if there is. You take the second floor.”

Aprotelese nodded. “Right away, milady!” he said. He shot back to the house and went right to the top floor.

Amel looked back to the men, whom she could just barely see by now, and then turned back to the house to go and start working. She had liked being around the men almost all the time before, but she could tell that she would really have to get used to them being away for extended periods. But she would wait. She was already being very patient with one of them.



Duke and Frost walked into the town feeling grateful that most of the ponies weren’t out early in the day. There were pegasi in the sky, but no ponies on the ground. The pegasi in the sky were knocking around the clouds and doing aerial maneuvers to warm up for their days. Frost watched them while Duke kept his eyes scanning the area for anything that might tell them where to go.

“You ever wonder what it’s like to fly like that?” Frost asked. “To be up there totally on your own power?”

“Not on my own power,” Duke answered. “Only in jets.”

They kept on walking, looking at signs, trying to find a place to make custom clothing. There were plenty of stores that sold clothes, but none of them were tailored for humans. When Duke or Frost would look in the window, it was a pony mannequin in the window wearing whatever was in style these days. 

The men made their way to the town center, where there stood a large town hall. Several benches surrounded the large building, so the men decided to take a seat for a minute before continuing with their search. The air was fresh and clean, the ambient noise was low, and a cool breeze was going by. It was a nice moment to sit.

“Maybe there’s a town map inside?” Frost suggested.

Duke stretched out his legs. “Maybe. Go check.” Frost stood up with his own stretch and then went into the building. When he came out a minute later, he was holding a small piece of paper.

“Here’s a map,” he said. “Though I’m not sure we’ll need it. The mare at the front desk who gave me the map said that the place we’re looking for is about half as tall as town hall and white with a lot of decorations. The owner lives upstairs.”

Duke stood. “Great, then let’s go,” he said.

The men strolled along through the rest of town to their desired location without any rush. Ponies were just starting to get up and leave their homes, and many of them greeted the men as they passed. The men would just wave back with a little smile and keep on going. Some ponies looked like they wanted to talk, but the men weren’t feeling up to it.

When they arrived at their location, Carousel Boutique, they stopped to admire it for a moment. It was certainly ornate. Streamers, frillies, fancy shutters, the owner went all out. If she both lived here and operated her business here, it made sense. Make sure everyone knows what is located here, and you can attract more business.

Inside, the lights were on, so the men went up to the door and knocked a few times. Inside, they could hear some mild shuffling of hooves and a faint groan. The door opened soon after with a grumbling white unicorn mare on the other side.

“What can I help you with?” she asked, mane frazzled and in front of her face. She couldn’t see the men through it.

“We understand that you’re the town seamstress,” Duke said. The mare moved her purple mane aside and took one look at the men, then livened up quite a bit.

“Oh my, I apologize, darlings! I didn’t know it was you!” she said.

“Heeeeeey!” Frost said, pointing at her. “You were up in the castle when we first arrived. Rarity, right?”

Rarity smiled confidently and puffed her chest out. “The one and only, darling,” she said. “What brings you here this morning? Oh, that can wait. Come in, I have coffee and biscuits.” Rarity turned and walked back inside, followed by two hungry men.

Inside, the men were impressed with what they saw. Fancy, over-indulgent outfits lined one wall, with fancy, black tie outfits on another. The room wasn’t filled all the way, and most of the clothes had order numbers on them. There was a stage with mirrors off to one side and changing rooms not far.

They went into the kitchen, attached to the main room of the store, and Rarity had them sit at the table. They waited quietly while she poured them some coffee and pulled out plates for biscuits. When she brought them to the table, she sat down with them and daintily started eating.

“I assume you’re here to replace those unholy outfits,” Rarity said. “They simply have no flare to them at all.”

“These are combat uniforms, ma’am,” Duke said. “Flare is a bad thing.”

“Well, it certainly is a good thing you came to me then!” Rarity said. “I will have you looking spick and spiffy in no time. I can also repair those, seeing as they do look to have some tears.”

The men looked at their outfits. “Yes, you are right about that,” Frost said. “Maybe next time.”

“Of course. I can also make another set so that you aren’t wearing the same thing all the time.” Rarity nodded as she spoke. “You fine men deserve as much after rescuing Applejack’s little sister.”

“Thank you, but that’s what we do,” Frost said.

Rarity waved her hoof up. “Oh, posh. You signed up for it knowing it would be hard and dangerous. That is why you deserve it.”

“Thank you,” Duke said. He took a bite of his biscuit. “How much will we owe you for the clothes?”

“Oh, nothing!” Rarity said. “Free of charge. I make enough on my business as it is. I wouldn’t expect you to pay for it.”

“Wow, thank you,” Frost said. “So how do we go about this?”

“Come with me, I will have Sweetie take your measurements,” Rarity said. She got up and walked into the main room. “Sweetie Belle, come here! We have to take a customer’s measurements!”

Duke and Frost followed Rarity to the stage. They decided that Duke would go first, because Frost would have to rinse himself off. He was still dirty from being tackled by Amel and still walking around in his underwear. Duke hadn’t even noticed until they walked in, but Frost didn’t seem to give a damn.

“Is there somewhere I can rinse off?” Frost asked.

Rarity pointed to a staircase. “Up the stairs, second door on your left,” she said.

“Thank you,” Frost replied. He walked over to the stairs.

Before he went up, another white mare shot down the stairs and leapt up over him, just avoiding his head. Frost looked back, unfazed, and noticed that this white mare had a pinkish mane and a musical note on her flank.

“Hi there,” Frost said.

Sweetie Belle turned and saw him. “Oh, hey! Didn’t see you there. What brings you here?” she asked.

“Duke and I are getting new clothes,” Frost answered. “He’s over there. I need to clean up. I’ll be back down in a minute.”

“Okay!” Sweetie Belle said.

Frost ran up the stairs and Sweetie Belle walked over to Rarity’s stage. When she saw Duke taking his shirt and pants off, she stopped and pointed at him.

“Hey!” she greeted.

Duke turned. “Heeey!” he said, also pointing. “I remember you.”

“You two have met?” Rarity asked, surprised.

“I went to the library, and she was there with the librarian,” Duke said.

Rarity turned and gave Sweetie Belle a knowing look, to which Sweetie smiled sheepishly and blushed. Rarity chuckled and turned back to Duke.

“My sister, the charmer of dragons,” she said.

“Rarityyyyyy!” Sweetie whined.

Duke laughed. “Well, you know what they say about dragons,” he said.

Rarity giggled. “Yes, I do,” she replied. “So is it true, Sweetie, what they say?”

Sweetie Belle’s face was totally red by now. “I-I don’t know!” she said, flustered. “I... He... Let’s take measurements!” Duke couldn’t suppress his chuckles as Sweetie Belle came up with a measuring tape.

“It doesn’t get better as you get older,” Duke warned. “When it’s not family, it’s friends. Get used to it now.”

“Arms up,” Sweetie commanded, ignoring the human. Duke complied. “Alright, let’s see...”

While Sweetie took measurements, Duke talked to Rarity. “So what does the council do?” he asked. “If you’re here, running a business, then how often do you meet?”

“Every afternoon, and longer on weekends,” Rarity replied. “It’s often just social. Celestia and Luna generally handle the most important national and international matters, while Twilight and us run day to day things. Twilight also meets with ambassadors to try to make alliances and friendships, which we will help with at times.”

“Sounds tough,” Duke said. Sweetie Belle was taking his legs, and he had to stand bowlegged. 

“At times, but it is fun for the most part. Meeting foreigners, seeing alien cultures, new designs... I love it.” Rarity looked dreamily up into the ceiling. “I even met a great stallion doing that.”

“Does he live here?” Duke asked.

Rarity sighed and shook her head. “No, I’m afraid he is stationed in Stalliongrad acting as an ambassador’s aid. We meet when we can, but that isn’t very often.”

“A tough life,” Duke said.

“Not as tough as yours, I am sure. Or your special somepony’s,” Rarity remarked.

Duke shook his head. “Don’t got one. Neither does Frost.”

“Really?” Rarity said. She looked Duke over. “I wouldn’t have guessed that.”

“We’re busy a lot,” Duke explained. “Not a lot of time to go out dating.”

“How sad,” Rarity said. “If only more humans were here, you would have more free time here than at home.”

“That would be awesome,” Duke said.

Sweetie finished with his measurements and Frost came down just in time to start his. Duke and Rarity continued to chat while Frost and Sweetie Belle talked. Before long, Frost was done, they placed an order, and they were ready to head out.

“Thanks for everything,” Duke said as he left.

Rarity and Sweetie waved to him. “Goodbye! We will have your clothes by two days from now!”

The men walked back to the house glad to know that they would have new clothes soon. Rarity was really generous, which probably explained her seat on the council. She would probably give them high quality stuff. They only wanted shirts and shorts, plus an extra uniform each, but Rarity would likely go beyond what was asked of her.

More and more ponies were out now, often staring at Frost walking around in his underwear. Duke distanced himself a bit from his partner, trying to avoid the gazes. Frost was starting to notice the gazes as well and picked up his pace a little. Soon enough, they arrived back at the house, and Frost eagerly an inside to get his now dry clothes back.

When he ran inside, he immediately went up the stairs, not even noticing a new group sitting in the next room. Most of them didn’t respond to the near naked man running through other than making confused or surprised expressions. When Duke came inside, he saw them in the room and spotted Aprotelese among them.

“Hello there,” Duke said.

“Hey Duke!” Aprotelese said. “The guys arrived sooner than expected, as you can see.”

“Sooner is better than later,” Duke said.

The Nighthawks all stood at attention. “Easy guys,” Aprotelese said. They all sat. “We can take care of introductions when Frost comes back down. For now, they came bearing gifts!”

“Gifts?” Duke questioned.

“Not gifts, per say,” one of the Nighthawks said. “Packages from the princesses.”

There were two boxes sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. Duke walked over and eagerly examined them, picking them up and shaking them. The first was light, and it sounded like there was a lot of stuffing in it. The second was unexpectedly heavy, and when Duke shook it slowly, he heard small metal items knocking around inside a metal box. He could guess what that one was.

Duke opened it, and sure enough, there were two boxes of ammunition inside. They were all standard rounds, nothing special. Each box was split into two compartments by a small barrier. The larger side of each box had the ammo for the men’s primary weapon systems, while the smaller side contained ammo for their secondaries. Satisfied by what he saw, Duke close dup the ammo boxes and moved onto the next box. 

The contents of the next box were far from disappointing. It was the sound suppressors that he had been hoping for. There were eight in all, more than Duke thought, but they came with a note. It read,

Dear Duke and Frost,

We hope you are adjusting well to Ponyville. It is a lovely town, and we expect that you will enjoy it and its residents.

There are several more items than you asked for in this box. This is because, while we have an idea of the size of your weapons and the necessary size of the items. Please, feel free to test them outside the town (FAR outside the town) to select the best ones. You may do as you wish with the rest.

Regards,

Princess Luna and Princess Celestia

Duke smiled. “Nice,” he said.

“I guess you like them?” Aprotelese asked.

Duke nodded slowly. “We’ll see.”

Soon, Frost came back down, fully clothed and accompanied by Amel. “What’s up?” he asked as he walked in.

“We got us some goodies,” Duke said, tossing Frost a suppressor.

Frost happily looked the suppressor over. “Sweet. We’ll test them later?”

“Later,” Duke said. “For now, let’s get to know our new team.”

Introductions flew by quickly; the Nighthawks the men didn’t know were Fog, Comet, Moon Moon, Wolf, and Mosquito. They were all friendly and eager to work with the men, which was good, because one of them had a bit of news.

“And just so you know, Luna told us that we might all get called on tomorrow night,” Moon Moon said. “We’re going to be on high alert tomorrow because some Earth Guards are patrolling a notorious area of the border.”

“How long is the flight from here to there?” Duke asked.

“With the guys who’ll be flying us, just about an hour and a half or two hours,” Wolf said. “Magical distress calls will alert us to any problems instantly, so we’ll be able to respond as quickly as possible. If the problems persist, we might get stuck in San Palomino Air Base for a night or two.”

“Very well,” Duke said. “We’ll be more than ready.”


	

> Expect the Unexpected
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Expect the Unexpected





Duke and Frost took their new suppressors out into the forest the next morning for a little test run. To see how well they worked, they looked for a large animal, like a bear, that they could be not far from when the weapons discharged. A bear, if what they knew of this world was accurate by now, would not freak out at the sound. Even if a weapon was suppressed, after all, it still sounded pretty loud. 

The suppressors they tested were all very good, with the two best making not only a not-as-loud sound, but making it sound different than a gunshot. The men were very satisfied with what they received, and opted not to tell anyone unless asked due to the nature of what they were using.

When they got back to the house, they found the Nighthawks moving things around, really setting up their personal quarters, and casually hanging out in various places. A couple of them were sitting next to a radio with excellent sound quality, one was ransacking the fridge, and the others either sat around or were exercising.

They had all gotten up a little bit early to set up their gear in case they were called to action. They didn’t go to wait at any runways, which the Nighthawks would bring them to, because the flight to whatever place they might be called would be long. Mostly, they would go there to check for injuries and casualties, because a QRF would already have arrived to provide support and the Nighthawks would act as security.

When Duke and Frost took a seat in the living room, Duke glanced at his watch. It was about half past eight, half an hour before the Nighthawks informed the men the patrols would go out today. They had stayed up for a while after the Nighthawks arrived and Amel went to sleep to talk about anything that could come up in missions.

The main thing they talked about was the nature of their missions. In the future, they would almost exclusively be going behind enemy lines to rescue ponies and allies, and not operating within Equestrian borders. It was also possible that the men would be pulled away for missions where the Nighthawks would not assist them, like in cases where a pair of fighters would have an easier time than a group.

Everyone, including Amel, was sitting in the living room now, chatting about anything that came to mind. The soldiers and airmen weren’t leaving yet, and it was good to stay relaxed until it counted.

“So how did you come to hang around these guys?” Moon Moon asked of Amel. “I don’t think I need to say why I never expected this.”

“Well,” Amel started. “They saved me from a very bad horse in Saddle Arabia. I didn’t know what to do after that, so I followed them, and they were nice and let me go with them. All I had ever done for a long time was serve, so I thought would do that with them. They didn’t treat me the way I used to be treated, though, and now I am much happier.”

“That has to be the short version,” Moon Moon said.

Amel smiled sheepishly. “Yes, it is.”

“The long version goes on for days after we first found her,” Frost said. “After we let her follow us into the palace, we-”

Something in the room started making an unholy noise, like a classic digital alarm clock blaring in the morning. Everyone was startled by the sudden noise intrusion and started looking around. Aprotelese, though, looked down at his hip, toward the source of the noise. It was a small pager with a blinking red light, blaring its noise at steady intervals.

“Story time’s over guys,” he said. “That’s our cue.”

Everyone but Amel stood up. “Grab your gear and meet outside in two minutes max,” Duke ordered. He and the stallions ran off throughout the house to find their gear.

Amel looked up at Frost. “Be careful,” she said.

“I’ll be fine,” Frost reassured her. “Hopefully I’ll be back by tonight.” Frost ran off to get his stuff. “And do something during the day! Don’t just sit here worrying!”

The stallions and men met outside, geared up and ready to go. To get to the airstrip, two of the stallions would carry the men with all their gear. The other stallions took the lead in the flight formation to ease up the burden of flying against the wind on the others.

Getting to the secret runway was easy and relatively quick, just a ten minute flight out of Ponyville. For a normal pegasus, it would be more like twenty to twenty-five minutes, and for any normal pony, a forty-five minute walk at a brisk pace. When they arrived, the base was quiet and manned by a small number of pegasus ponies. Around the perimeter was a tall fence to keep civilians out and away from the runway.

There was a carriage waiting for them on the runway when they arrived. The ponies manning the runway directed them onboard without speaking so much as a word, except to Aprotelese, giving him the mission detail, and in a matter of minutes, the team was strapped in and taking off. Once they were airborne, the team got to discussing the mission.

“So what’s the situation?” Duke asked at an almost normal volume. Without engines, the carriage was much quieter than a plane.

“We aren’t sure,” Aprotelese replied with a frown. “This isn’t what we were expecting. We thought they would call us to ask for help in retrieving injured ponies from the site of an ambush, but there hasn’t been a distress call.”

“No distress call?” Frost repeated.

“Yeah. A patrol of Earth Guards was out in the mountains, just keeping a track on the border, and they didn’t call in when they were scheduled to,” Aprotelese explained. “Given the time they didn’t call in, they were at least close to a hot zone. It’s possible that they were ambushed.”

“Wouldn’t they send out a search party?” Duke asked.

“They did,” Aprotelese said. “Patrols are all over the place now, searching for any killed or captured troops. They want us down there to help, and evac anyone injured in the search.”

“They’re sure it isn’t malfunctioning comms?” Duke asked.

“Our comms are magic-based. If something went wrong, that would mean the pony carrying the power source was killed and they would have shot up flares. Which they didn’t.” Aprotelese said the statement with a bit of clear displeasement about their comms systems.

“Where are we going?” Frost asked.

“We’ll land briefly at San Palomino Air Base, then get a smaller carriage to take us out to the believed location where the earth ponies went missing,” Aprotelese said. “We’ll search for a while unless we’re called away to save other search parties.”

“Rescue the rescuers,” Frost said. “Nightmare scenario.”

The remainder of the flight was spent sharing experiences fighting the gryphons. The Nighthawks had been at it for some time, five years, and they were all fighting before that in other units as well. From what the men understood, the Nighthawks had been a long-running unit, until a little over fifteen years ago when most of them were killed in a massive battle against the gryphons. The remaining Nighthawks were either too injured to keep fighting or left the service because the trauma of the battle was too much. Duke couldn’t imagine what it was like to have your entire elite military unit snuffed out so quickly.

Now, two individuals referred to as Mustang and Blazer ran the unit from Canterlot. They started it back up after Blazer was mysteriously brought home and the pair felt inspired to recreate their unit. No one knew how Blazer came home, but no one questioned it.

When they landed, the team was ushered out of the carriage and walked over to a supply tent, where they were given water and food for their search and in case the potential survivors needed any. Once they were all loaded up, they were quickly moved to a new carriage, this one carried by four pegasi, one on each corner of a square platform with short walls.

It would serve as a helicopter type of platform to launch from, good for what they were doing. They all had to board in specific seats according to their individual weights in order to keep the platform balanced, lest it dump them from a thousand feet up onto a slippery, steep mountainside.

The pegasi pushed off with their incredibly powerful wings and got airborne, carrying the team away from the base. On the flight, everyone was strapped in, but they could still reach most of their equipment. The Nighthawks loaded up their crossbows, their only ranged weapons, and the men loaded magazines into their weapons. Everyone double-checked their straps and clips, making sure everything was secured, and put on their goggles and visors.

The men looked out over the landscape while they flew, as they hadn’t had the opportunity last time. It was really beautiful; trees dotted the landscape up until the altitude didn’t permit for them to be present. It looked so long and quiet, with valleys visible on the other side of the mountains that served as the border between Equestria and the Southern Colonies.

It masked a long and bloody conflict between the gryphons and ponies. The men still weren’t sure why the whole war started, but that wasn’t their concern. They were only here to find OGA, the reason they were going to war against the gryphons. Once they had him, their concerns would end and their involvement with them.

The flight was about half an hour, and when they landed, the carriage crew was quick to bug out of the area. They weren’t intent on staying around for this. It was understandable, though, since they weren’t combat troops.

Once the carriage crew had flown out of the area, the team met and discussed a plan of action.

“So how do we advance here?” Frost asked. “I’ve never done a straight up search and rescue where we have no idea where the guys might actually be.”

“What direction were the stallions patrolling?” Duke asked. Aprotelese pointed east. “Then that’s the direction we go.”

“Sounds good to me,” Aprotelese said. “Group up, guys.”

Duke and Frost took the front positions in the group, weapons up and eyes constantly scanning the area around them. Behind them, the Nighthawks took a formation of two columns of three, allowing them to split their sectors of watch into six zones.

They trekked through the mountains slowly, watching for movement of either enemies or friendlies. Everything was creepily still, and it felt like they were being watched by some sort of horror movie monster. The hills around them had eyes and ears, and could quickly convey to other hills what was happening amongst them.

The men were primarily looking for bodies or booby traps. Or both. Insurgents in Iraq had been known for taking the bodies of US soldiers, putting them somewhere, and booby-trapping the spot. They knew that someone would come for the bodies, so they did what they could to make more bodies with American bait. It was a dirty tactic, but no one ever gave terrorists credit for fighting with any level of what most of the world knew as honor.

Duke and Frost mentally prepared themselves for the worst. They had seen some nasty stuff in search and rescue, not all of it in combat situations. The worst was typically combat related injuries, but other stuff was really bad. One of the stories they often got in training was a rescue in Iceland where a PJ had to treat a man who accidentally cut off his arm with farming equipment. He survived, and the arm was reattached, but it was a rough scene.

The men did not know what the gryphons might be willing to do to the ponies to make a point, so they carried their full medical gear with them. It weighed a ton, but that was the price of saving lives. The had the ability to treat burns, cuts and scrapes, broken bones, severed limbs, even if survival was still unlikely, head trauma, blood loss, and more.

“So how are relations between ponies and gryphons these days?” Frost asked of anyone who would listen.

“Horrible,” Fog said. “What else would they be?”

“I mean, like, how bad in regards to how much they dislike ponies?” Frost explained. “What kinds of things would they do to ponies they get their... talons? On.”

“Dude, why he would even ask that...” Moon Moon complained.

“It would help to know what we might expect,” Duke said. “Serious injuries, critical injuries, broken bones? These things affect the patient’s mobility, how safe it is to transport him at all, how long we have once we find him, etcetera.”

“Oh. I see your point there,” Moon Moon said.

“The gryphons are really pissed off at us,” Wolf said. “One of their big things is honesty, so if they think you’re telling the truth, they won’t hurt you. If you lie, though... it can get real ugly.”

“Like how?” Duke asked, stepping over some rocks.

“Like, hoof grating, mane burning, tail chopping, chemical ugly,” Wolf said.

“That sounds pretty ugly,” Frost said.

“Yeah. It is.” Wolf sounded like he knew a little more about that than he would have liked.

The group continued walking, though they were getting off the path and had to do some serious mountaineering. They were climbing up onto tall boulders and outcroppings to see distance, tiptoeing across narrow ledges to cross canyons, and slowly sliding down the sides of the mountain. The men were, at least. the Nighthawks could fly, and they didn’t need to do any of that.

The winds were a little bit unpredictable today, so the Nighthawks had trouble getting to altitude above the mountains. Especially as they approached the valleys the winds would alter unexpectedly and the Nighthawks would be forced to keep their wings closed tight. Over the mountains, in the distance, dark clouds were visible within the valleys, no doubt causing some of the winds flying through. Understanding how storm clouds were there was a bit out of the men’s training, so they just went with it.

They kept on going until they found a particularly steep climb, around sixty degrees, and there was no other way to go. To the left was a vertical drop and the right was a wall, so they had to go up. The men took the lead, taking careful steps on sketchy rocks to go up the near-wall. The ground under them was unstable, requiring a lot of re-steps and slow, precise placement of feet.

When they reached the top, the men looked out over a ledge at the top and over a massive area. There weren’t many spots ahead of them higher than where they were, so they could see a long way and spot any flat areas ahead of them. It was hard to see over such a great distance. But the men were more interested in what was not so far away down below.

“Boss, do you see that?” Frost asked, pointing out and down at a spot forty meters down below and maybe a hundred meters out.

“I see it,” Duke said. “But I’m not sure what it is.”

The Nighthawks were just coming up to either side of the men to see what they were referencing. Below, where Frost was pointing, was a dark, yellowish haze, sitting on the ground and slowly spreading out. It was fading very slowly, and inside, there were several shapes that were too familiar to everyone.

“Are those the patrol ponies?” Wolf asked.

Duke turned to the group. “Binoculars?” he asked. Fog reached into his gear, pulled out a pair, and handed them to Duke.

Duke pulled up the binoculars and looked out. Sure enough, there were several stallions, lying on the ground inside the yellowish haze. He couldn’t make out any details, but it was painfully clear that the stallions were not moving and probably not breathing.

“That’s them,” Duke muttered grimly.

Moon Moon shot up into the air. “Let’s go get them!” he said. He was about to shoot out.

Frost jumped up and grabbed his tail. “No!” he shouted. “Do NOT go down there!”

“Those are our guys!” Moon Moon shouted. “We can’t just leave them there!”

“They’re dead,” Duke said coldly. “Getting them now or later won’t matter.”

“They’ll decompose,” Moon Moon said. “I thought you guys did body retrieval.”

“We do,” Duke replied. “But we do it carefully to avoid getting killed.”

“They’re right,” Aprotelese said. “How do you propose we proceed?”

“Whatever we do, there’s not a chance I’m going into that haze,” Frost said.

“Ditto,” Duke said.

Aprotelese looked down at the area. “Well, there’s not much wind down there, evidently,” he said. “The air currents are going over the area, because of those-” Aprotelese pointed at some high rocks to the left and right. “And those. They block the wind.”

“So the haze is just gonna sit there?” Fog asked.

“It doesn’t have to,” Aprotelese said. “If we can create an air current to push it away, it should make the area safe.”

“There is no guarantee of that,” Duke said. “I’m no SOWT, but I don’t know that creating a new air current here is such a great idea. And if that haze came from a weapon, it might be an area denial weapon. Even if the haze goes, the ground may still be affected.”

“Well, you two wait here then,” Aprotelese said. “I’m making a current. Comet, Mosquito, on me. Fog, Wolf, and Moon Moon be ready to fly in and get us if you need to and are able to. Duke and Frost, if it comes to that, I hope you’re ready to fix us up.”

“If those are chemicals, I wish you luck,” Frost said under his breath. No one heard, and Aprotelese took his Nighthawks out to push the haze away.

Duke, Frost, and the remaining Nighthawks watched as Aprotelese and his stallions took a position above the haze and far to the right. With some very powerful flaps of their wings, which somehow didn’t move them, they sent a strong air current through the area. Slowly but surely, the yellowish haze started to move away. As it dispersed, it raised up into the air, prompting the Nighthawks to move away and take a higher position. Eventually, all of the haze was dispersed and went over the rocks to the men’s left.

The Nighthawks, once done, flew down to the location of the bodies and tentatively walked around the area, checking for any remaining hazards with their own lives. When nothing happened, they signaled for the rest of the team to come down. The Nighthawks on the ledge carried the men down carefully and quickly, eager to retrieve the bodies of their fallen comrades.

The Nighthawks dropped the men a ways away from the bodies and then flew in. The men waited for a moment to allow the stallions time alone with their fallen friends, but didn’t give them a lot of time. They were in a war zone, after all, and the less time they spent here, the better.

The Nighthawks were silent around the bodies, and when the end approached, they understood why. It was a horrific scene. The bodies had huge, open blisters all over their exposed skin, letting body fluids drain out onto the ground in a deathly smelling scene. No body part was spared; eyes, orifices, skin. Their mouths were mostly open, too, so it could be assumed that the damage was further reaching than they could see.

“Jesus,” Frost said.

“What the hell happened here?” Duke asked, kneeling next to a body without touching it.

“We don’t know,” Aprotelese said. “Never seen something like this before.” He was extremely disturbed by the unreal images hitting his eyes.

“We gotta move them, guys,” Fog said, moving to a body. “We can’t stay here-”

“Don’t touch them!” Frost shouted, reaching out at Fog.

Fog looked at him confused and upset. “He’s my comrade,” he said.

Frost pointed at the body. “We have no idea what did this,” Frost explained. “If anything is left on him, any residue at all, it could kill you just as painfully. If we’re going to safely take these bodies home, we need hazmat suits until we at least discern what killed them.”

“It must have been that haze,” Aprotelese said.

“Yes, but we can’t identify that haze right now,” Frost said. “I don’t think anyone here is a chemical engineer, so we’ll have to leave it to experts.”

“So how do we do this?” Moon Moon asked.

Duke looked to Aprotelese. “You got a flare?” he asked. Aprotelese nodded. “Good. Fire it up, get reinforcements here. When they arrive, tell them what’s going on and make sure they don’t touch the bodies without protection. Send back the fastest guy in the group to get hazmat soldiers.”

“What’re you gonna do?” Aprotelese asked. “It sounds like you’re not going to tell them.”

“You guys maintain security around the bodies. Better to keep a large group,” Duke explained. “Frost and I will look around a bit, see what we can find. If we aren’t back in ten minutes, come looking.”

“Gotcha,” Aprotelese said. As the men turned to leave, Aprotelese shot up a flare high into the sky, attracting the attention of every pony and likely gryphon in and near the area.

The men found a small path away from where the haze was pushed and started their search for any evidence as to what happened. There were no prints on the ground, since the gryphons could fly in this environment. There wasn’t any indication of the size of whatever group may have ambushed them, if that was even the case. It was possible that it had been a trap, set off by someone high and far enough that they couldn’t be found. That happened a lot in Afghanistan.

They kept their search up, looking for any signs of a trap rather than of enemy combatants. It didn’t take long to find something; broken glass, all over the place. How it got this far from the detonation zone, the men weren’t sure, but the pieces had no labels or pieces of labels on them and they were shattered like they were thrown with force and over a long distance. Put together, though the men didn’t actually touch them, they resembled a bottle or case.

There was nothing else in the area, and they had to get back to the Nighthawks, so they made their way to the team. When they got back, the Nighthawks were standing silently in a circle around the bodies, seemingly saying something. Again, the men stayed back to give them a moment for their dead, and this time waited for them to be done.

When it looked like they were done, the men rejoined them and stood quietly around the bodies. No one wanted to talk; they still had to understand how anyone could use something so horrifying to kill another living thing. These stallions had suffered the worst kind of pain before they died, and they were left to rot in the middle of the mountains in the most dangerous place to ponies in the world.

“Did you find something?” Aprotelese asked.

“Yes,” Duke answered. “Broken glass. Some sort of container. These guys were attacked, and from somewhere around here.”

“Ambush,” Moon Moon concluded disdainfully.

“Yep,” Frost said. “We need to get this info back to the princesses. After that, I’m sure you can look for whoever did this.”

The reinforcements hadn’t arrived yet, so when they did, Duke and Frost took control of the situation. The soldiers were from the Thirty-Fifth Joint Strike Force, bringing in soldiers from units across the Air Guard. An older guy named Eagle took the message for hazmat units to come and shot back to base with incredible speed. Before long, he returned with two ponies in special suits and a specialized casualty-retrieval carriage, and the bodies were brought back to base for temporary storage.

The Nighthawks and the men soon made their own way out and back to the base. Everyone was completely silent along the way. When they got back, no one on base knew what was happening. It was for the better, really.

Whatever this weapon was that the gryphons had, it was a game changer. Without warning, an attack could kill dozens, or even hundreds, of ponies. Any special operations units the princesses had at their disposal would be constantly looking for the source of this weapon, possibly including Duke and Frost. The implications for their search for OGA had just changed dramatically.

One mission, one patrol, and everything had changed. But the men were prepared; adaptation was a part of what they did.



> New Threat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






New Threat





Duke, Frost, and the Nighthawks all disembarked from the plane at the secret air strip and were immediately whisked away to a small building toward the end of the runway. Inside, the room was totally empty, except for a small screen on the wall and several chairs and cushions on the ground.

The screen flashed into life, revealing Princess Luna. “Greetings, soldiers and airmen. I trust your mission went well?”

Everyone sat. “Well, we found the patrol,” Duke said.

“It hardly went well, though,” Aprotelese finished.

Luna frowned. “How so?” she asked.

“When we found the patrol, they were all dead,” Duke said. “Ambushed.”

“This is grave news,” Luna said. She clearly didn’t understand the severity of the situation yet, though, as she had not been informed of what happened.

“The patrol wasn’t ambushed by a group, though. At least, it might not have been,” Frost said.

“What?” Luna asked. “How could one gryphon defeat our Earth Guards?”

Duke looked to Frost, then back to the screen. “Ma’am, are you familiar with weaponized chemical agents?”

Luna blinked, startled. “No, I am not.”

“Well, that’s what was used, we believe,” Duke said.

“When we found the bodies, there was a yellowish haze around them in the air. After Aprotelese and his Nighthawks pushed it away, we went down to the bodies.”

“What did you see?” Luna asked.

“The bodies were covered in blisters. Everywhere,” Frost explained. “Legs, bodies, necks, faces... Their mouths were open, so we believe that, whatever agent was used to kill them so gruesomely, they breathed it in, and it destroyed their lungs.”

Luna looked about ready to vomit. “Did you recover them?” she asked.

“We did,” Aprotelese jumped in. “The men here went searching for any enemy combatants. They found a glass bottle, which they say may have been used to disperse some of the agent. The bodies are back home, where they belong, but there may be more like them if we don’t figure this out.”

“He is correct,” Duke said. “Whatever this is, if this was a test run, it was damn effective. They’ll make more of whatever it is. And the worst part is that we don’t know what it is. We can’t possibly treat it, even if somepony did survive initial exposure.”

Luna was silent for a few moments. It was all sinking in, the gravity of this situation. She was trying to process how to best proceed in the face of a new enemy weapon, one that could kill countless ponies in a matter of minutes anywhere it could be easily transported. And it could be easily transported.

“We are not familiar with ‘weaponized chemical agents’,” Luna said. “It sounds like you are. Would you explain them to me?”

“Chemical weapons have a nasty history back on Earth,” Frost started. “The UN banned their use as Weapons of Mass Destruction. Doesn’t stop countries from using them, of course, but this should tell you how bad they are.”

“When one is dropped, the area in which it was dropped can’t be inhabited for a while, or until cleanup can be done,” Duke went on. “Some last a little while. Others take over the ground and water and destroy areas for a long time.”

“They’re one of the nastiest ways to die imaginable,” Frost said. “I’d rather have a nuclear bomb dropped on me. At least it wouldn’t hurt.” No one understood the reference.

“They’re cruel and incredibly effective weapons, especially for terrorism,” Duke said. “They’re like biological weapons. Easy to move or send. Easily kill people. If you don’t take out the source fast, it can mean all kinds of hell for you.”

“These weapons did not previously exist in our world,” Luna said. “Why would they show up now?”

Aprotelese said what everypony was thinking. “If this OGA guy is their captive, and he knows a thing or two about these weapons...”

Duke shook his head. “I don’t like that kind of thinking,” he said. “But I can’t discount it. OGA was from a governmental agency built on secrecy; He could easily know about this weapon and dozens more recipes for death.”

“But why would OGA know about that stuff?” Frost wondered. “He was going into Pakistan to find terror cells.”

“That could be exactly why he was sent there,” Duke said. “But the reason for him going there isn’t relevant to us now. We need to find him. When he gets home, he’ll go back to whatever business it was he was doing when he landed here instead.”

“So how many kinds of these ‘chemical weapons’ are there?” Fog asked.

“A lot,” Duke said. “I had to study some of them in the Air Force academy, for history and chemistry. I studied nerve agents, sulfur mustards, and early weapons, like Chlorine.”

“What kind was used here?” Aprotelese asked.

“I can’t say for sure,” Duke replied. “I only saw blisters and a yellowish haze. It could be any of a large number. Just be glad that this wasn’t a nerve agent; these are bad, but those managed to be worse.”

“Hard to believe it gets worse than what those guys had to suffer,” Moon Moon grumbled.

“Well, imagine it,” Frost said. “Actually, don’t; it’s too nasty.”

“We will look into it further,” Luna said. “If the stallions breathed this chemical in, we may be able to find traces of it in their lungs. If that fails, their clothes may also hold answers.”

“How long will that take?” Mosquito asked.

“It may take some time,” Luna replied dishearteningly.

“Not as long as you think,” Frost said. Everypony looked to him. “This stuff is pretty distinctly unnatural and out of place. If you find something that seems off, that’ll probably be it.”

“Well, that’s good news. Sort of,” Aprotelese said.

Luna nodded. “As good as we can hope for right now,”she said. “You have done your jobs and done them well, stallions and men. You should go back home, get some rest. We may call on you again soon if this danger makes itself known again.”

“Always a pleasure,” Frost said.

The Nighthawks and men walked out of the room and flew back to Ponyville. It was late, around two in the morning, so they were all eager to get back home and get some shuteye. They hadn’t even been out working that long, it was everything after that took forever. Still, it was better than the red tape and debriefings the men had to deal with most of the time back home.

The stallions didn’t have to carry the men this time, they were given a lift in a four-pegasus, helicopter style transport carriage. One at each corner, open top, seat belts for non-pegasi ponies. The landscape was beautiful at night, but no one was thinking anything about the land beneath them other than the danger it was facing.

The carriage dropped them all off at their home and hovered away. The men and stallions entered the house quietly, as Amel would be asleep right now. They carried their gear on their backs to avoid dropping it or ragging on the floor.

Frost entered first, and when he did, he quickly spotted Amel, lying on the couch in the living room. He snickered to himself as he watched her sleeping. Her mouth was wide open, with a bit of drool coming out the side. She snored softly, but still enough that everyone heard it as they came in. She had obviously gotten home and been worried, so she tried to stay up to see the team come home.

After putting his gear away, Frost went back to her and gently picked her up to carry her back to her room. He had his own room, thankfully, so he wouldn’t have to lose the bed again. As he carried her up, she twitched adorably and rolled around in his arms, ultimately hugging his chest and pulling herself in. He was like a giant dream teddy bear.

After gently placing her on her bed in her room, Frost went back downstairs to grab a beer from the fridge. He felt like he could use one about now. The other guys were all already in their beds, sleeping like logs, so sneaking his restless self past them was no issue. In the kitchen, he turned on no lights, instead deciding that drinking in the dark was the better way to go.

He sipped away at his beer and let his mind sleep while his body went on autopilot. It was a talent most special operators developed after a short time, a little more so than conventional military forces. To keep your mind sharp for battle, you turned it off when you didn’t need it but weren’t sleeping. Frost had heard of the Japanese concept of Mushin a long time ago; mastery of something to the point where you do not think about it, you merely do it; and felt that it was something worth pursuing.

When he was halfway done with his beer, the lights clicked on and his eyes clicked shut. He heard the hoofsteps go to the fridge, open it, and pull out another longneck bottle of Samaloco Adams. The hooves soon joined him at the table, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Mosquito in front of him.

“Still awake?” Frost asked.

“Yeah,” Mosquito replied. “So are you.”

“Not really,” Frost said. “Running on cruise control right now.” Mosquito gave him a confused look, which Frost brushed aside with a wave of his hand.

“What’s keeping you up?” Mosquito asked.

Frost shook his head. “Nothing in particular,” he said.

Mosquito nodded. “Well, it is for me,” he said. “I can’t seem to forget about those soldiers tonight. Why did it happen to them?” Mosquito looked to Frost as if the man had the answer. “Why does this have to happen here, anywhere? What is the reason?”

“There isn’t a reason,” Frost said. “You can’t dwell on finding it. If you do, you’ll never sleep.”

“Is that why you aren’t asleep?” Mosquito asked. “Because you can’t forget?”

“No,” Frost said. He gazed into the amber waves of his half-finished beer, searching. “I can’t sleep because I can forget.” He held the beer up to the light, hoping it would shine through. “I’ve seen some shit out there, man. Things you don’t forget. But I did; I forgot the faces of the men I’ve saved, the ones I’ve pulled out of combat zones, fires, crevasses, trees, mountainsides. I’ve forgotten the bodies of my fallen comrades, forgotten what it means to hold a dead body in my arms. I’ve forgotten what the faces of the families look like when they hear that their little man or their little girl was killed in a mortar blast.”

The light shined through the beer, but nothing came. “I’ve phazed out what their faces looked like. What it feels like every time I carry a body onto the chopper. What the men I’ve saved look like when I pull them on a gurney into the hospital. Can I forget? Yes, I always do. I don’t see men any more when I see them, I don’t see women, I don’t see families, I don’t see children. I don’t want to.”

Frost put the beer down. “What does that make me now? I am a Pararescueman; These things I do, that others may live. Am I a man?” Frost took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t know. I’ve given up my attachment to my patients, just like so many others. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been strong enough to stay in this profession.”

Mosquito looked at Frost’s beer for an answer, too, as the man went on. “If I cared, I wouldn’t be able to keep on saving lives, knowing that those lives are still destroyed. I wouldn’t be able to go out and retrieve fallen Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, Pilots, Airmen... I wouldn’t be able to go out and find the civilians who lost contact with their families on a climbing trip. Shouldn’t I care, though? Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”

Mosquito found no answer and continued his silence. “Aren’t I supposed to care about my fellow warfighters, the people we protect? Is this a job, a calling, am I doing it for others or myself now? All I know is that I have to keep doing it, for their sakes and for mine. I just...” Frost shook his head and tapped the bottle to his forehead. “I don’t know. I care, but... I’m not attached. I can’t be. Or I will be destroyed” Frost downed the rest of his beer and sat in silence.

Mosquito looked at the man before him silently. Was this the fate of all men in war, to forget? To choose not to see men or people or ponies, and to see the objective? Was this going to be his future?

“No one can ever know,” Mosquito said.

Frost shook his head and stood. “That’s a goddamn shame, that is,” he said.

Without another word, Frost tossed his bottle into the trash bin and went up to go to sleep, while Mosquito sat in the kitchen a while longer, alone with alcohol and a hope that he never forgot. He believed that there was no such thing as a colt to forget.






> Local Culture
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Local Culture




When everyone woke up, they felt refreshed and ready to tackle a day of exploring the locale and seeing the sights. The Nighthawks’ plans were cut short, though, when they were called to an emergency meeting in Canterlot for all Air Guard Special Operations Forces. That left the men and Amel alone to see what the small town of Ponyville had to offer.

Amel was ecstatic to see the men when she came down for breakfast and saw them sitting at the table. Amel ran to Frost and gave him a big hug, saying how happy she was that he was okay, and gave Duke a pleasant hello and good morning.

Duke sipped his coffee. “So what is the town like, Amel?” he asked. “You went out yesterday, right?”

“I did,” Amel said proudly. “I met lots of wonderful ponies. There was one odd one, though, that followed me around for a while before talking to me. She was green, very light, like mint, and she stared at me intensely the whole time. She was asking a lot about you two, muttered something about a book, then ran off after thanking me for my time.”

“I see this world has its share of weirdos as well,” Frost commented.

“I think we already knew that, Frost,” Duke said. “What else happened, besides being stalked?”

“I went to the bakery, and there were many excellent treats there,” Amel said. “The pink mare from when we met Princess Twilight, Pinkie Pie, was there. I think she works there.”

“In government and small business,” Frost said. “Not a combo you find much at all back home.”

“She asked me if I was getting anything for you two,” Amel went on. “She said, ‘What do Pararescuemen Duke and Frost want?’ I was a little surprised that she remembered your names.”

“I’m more surprised that she knew our unit,” Duke said. “I don’t think we ever mentioned that to her.”

Amel thought for a moment. “Oh, you are right. I wonder how she knew?”

“Doesn’t matter much,” Frost said. “As long as she makes good food. I’ll have to go and see it later.”

“Yeah, how about we head on out?” Duke suggested. “The day is going, and we need to take whatever leisure time we can, whenever we can.”

Amel smiled. “Alright, let’s go out.”

The trio finished their food and went out on the town at around half past nine. The town was just getting into its daily routine, when everyone was out and about doing whatever they do. Some ponies would look at the trio as they passed, but most had gotten used to them pretty quickly. When they did get looks, they would simply nod to the onlooker and continue along their way.

Walking around, there were some immediate and distinct similarities to American society in the town. There was a burger joint that had an eerie similarity to everyone’s favorite Golden Arches, but with hay burgers instead of beef. There was also some serious competition among stores that sold similar items, all trying to outdo each other with lower prices. Ads were present throughout town, mostly as posters.

It was a small town, so the men knew there wouldn’t be a plethora of things to do. Still, they aimed to find something interesting. Dining would certainly be an option, testing the local culinary arts to see what they generally liked. Except for hay items, the men wouldn’t eat those. They found a bowling alley, which was nice, and they also passed the library again. Duke knew he would be going back there every so often.

“Walking around like tourists in New York is getting us nowhere,” Frost said.

“I agree,” Duke said back. “Let’s see if we can find something to try right now.”

“Or we could ask for directions,” Amel said. The men just looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language. “Ugh, stallions.”

“Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?” Frost asked.

“With the bottoms of my hooves, which might have fallen off somewhere behind us,” Amel replied.

Duke chuckled. “Alright, alright, we’ll ask somepony for directions.”

“Somepony?” Frost asked incredulously.

“Yes, Frost, somepony,” Duke said. “That’s what they say, so until we get back, let’s say it, too.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Frost said.

While the men were talking to each other, Amel walked over to a stallion working on something in his front yard and got directions to attractions. The stallion was happy to help, and pointed her toward a path into the forest, since she would be safe with the men, a rodeo field, an obstacle and strength course, some historical sites, and told her about the Zebra living in the forest named Zecora.

Amel returned to two waiting men. “He was very helpful,” she said. “He told me about several places.”

“Like?” Duke asked. Amel repeated what she was told. “Alright. I feel like taking a walk through the forest.”

“That sounds interesting,” Frost said.

“Then we will go to the forest!” Amel said chipperly.

The trio walked out of town and toward the forest in search of the path. When they eventually found it, they all paused outside it and stared. It was dark in the forest, darker than it had any right to be. The trees were tall and had lots of leaves, but not enough for the effect they were apparently having. Amel said that the forest was magical in some way, and that the weather was all acting on its own inside. It sounded natural to the men, but it wasn’t the norm for Equestria.

“That’s very dark,” Amel said with clear fear.

“It is,” Frost said. “Let’s go in!” He started walking at a quick pace to the forest so Amel couldn’t stop him quick enough.

“Frost!” Amel said. She looked to Duke.

“What?” Duke asked. “He’s my partner, not my man. I can’t make him stop.” Amel blushed as Duke walked in after his partner at his own pace, and Amel followed soon behind.

When they were in the forest, away from the entrance, their nightvision kicked in, and they could see in the darkness just enough. Frost put his hand son his hips as he tried to decide what direction to go; along the path, or off the path?

“Frost, stick to the path,” Duke shouted. “It probably isn’t safe otherwise, and we don’t have any weapons.”

‘Maybe we should leave, then,” Amel said. “Next time, come back with them so that it is safer.”

“You were sounding perfectly fine with this before,” Duke said.

“That was before it became so dark and dangerous,” Amel said.

“Don’t worry, little lady,” Duke said, patting Amel on the back. “We’re here, so nothing bad’s gonna happen. And even if something did, we know how to fix it, so it’s okay.”

“Can you fix an injury on my body?” Amel asked hopefully.

“We can do basic first aid and get you to a hospital,” Duke said. “It’s generally the same for you as us. I always carry a small med pack with me, in case such situations arise.”

“That is good to know,” Amel said.

Up ahead, Frost was growing impatient. “Hey, guys, come on! Let’s see where this leads!”

“No one is stopping you!” Duke shouted back.

“No, just how slow you guys are!” Frost yelled back.

Amel shook her head. “You men are strange,” she said.

“No different from any stallion,” Duke said.

Amel shook her head again. “Stallions,” she sighed definitively.

Duke and Amel caught up to Frost and they continued on through the forest. Nature sounds assaulted their ears from all sides, with the men looking for the sources with fascination and Amel searching with caution. Owls had taken a liking to swooping low overhead, which the men found to be quite fun. They would hoot loudly as they passed, sending Amel scurrying for cover next to Frost and draw the men’s eyes after the birds.

The path started wide, but grew narrower as they went on. Before it became too narrow, Amel positioned herself in between Frost and Duke, with Frost taking the front and Duke in the rear. In the distance, roars and moans of what were clearly large animals could be heard, finally sending a chill of serious caution through the men.

They kept walking until they found a clearing by a river and decided to take a short break for a bit. They had been walking for the better part of an hour, and Duke wanted to air out his feet for a bit. He knew better than to actually set them on the ground, what with a risk of hookworms or some other hellish monstrosity potentially around. He sat on a rock by the riverbed so he wouldn’t have to do a delicate balancing act.

“What a peaceful place,” Frost said, standing before the water and glancing around.

“It is,” Duke said. “Like when you go into those areas of national parks where most people don’t go. Following a guide, of course.”

“Of course,” Frost said with a chuckle.

“That hardly sounded peaceful back there,” Amel said.

“Don’t be such a scaredy mare,” Frost said. “I’m here, and so is Duke. You only have to outrun one of us to get out safely anyhow.” Amel was not amused by the joke.

“And you’re faster than us, naturally,” Duke added. “But that isn’t going to be necessary, because we do know how to avoid those situations. SERE school taught us that.”

Amel looked uneasily at them. “Okay.”

Duke put his boots on and looked out over the river. “Well, I suppose that we can jump on the rocks to get over,” he said.

“Or,” Frost said, putting his index finger into the air. “We can take that nice bridge over there.” Frost pointed at a spot a ways behind Duke.

Duke looked behind and saw the bridge. “Well, alright then.”

The trio moved on to the bridge and examined it before crossing. It was a big, sturdy stone bridge, and it looked relatively new, which seemed odd. The path itself was obviously quite old, so unless an old bridge was demolished, it didn’t make much sense. No one gave it too much thought, though. It was better that there was a bridge.

“Seems safe,” Duke said.

Duke and Frost walked side by side across the bridge, with Amel to Frost’s other side. The stone clicked and clacked beneath their feet and hooves. It was well-polished granite, designed with flat spots for hooves rather than curved all the way for human feet. The men hardly noticed, but it was an incredibly annoying feature while they walked.

Frost tapped Duke on the shoulder. “So, Duke, what was that thing you wanted to ask Luna that-”

Suddenly, the water to the right side of the bridge exploded upwards and showered the trio, soaking them and nearly knocking them down. Amel held onto Frost’s pants to stay up, while Frost held Duke, and Duke held the side of the bridge. When the water cleared, before them towered a huge, dragon-like creature from the water with a ridiculous orange mustache and hair and purple scales.

“HALT!” he shouted. The trio looked up at him, completely shocked. “Answer me, these questions three, then the other side ye see!”

Frost grinned and stepped forward in a heartbeat. “Ask me your questions, bridgekeeper, I’m not afraid!”

Duke regained his composure and looked at his partner. “Really, now?” he asked. Frost ignored him.

“What... is your name?” the creature asked.

“Jack McDaniel!” Frost replied. Amel’s ears perked up at hearing that little fact.

“What... is your quest?” the creature asked.

“To complete our secret mission!” Frost replied. Behind him, Duke had his face in his hand and he was shaking his head at the unbelievable situation.

“What... is the capital of Saddle Arabia?” the creature finished.

“Akhal Teke!” Frost replied. The creature blinked.

“Most get that one wrong,” he said.

“We were just there not long ago,” Frost explained.

“Ah, I see,” the creature said. “Well, I guess you three can pass. I wasn’t really going to stop you anyhow.”

“Thank you,” Frost said. “Before we go, though, what’s your name?”

“I’m Steven Magnet,” the creature replied. “Toodaloo!” With that, the random river serpent disappeared back into the water. The trio finished passing over the bridge and continued on.

“That was unexpected,” Frost said.

“You don’t need to tell me,” Duke said, still sighing at what just transpired.

“Handled it like a pro, though, if I may say so myself,” Frost replied.

“I swear, you’re more suited for this... cartoon world, than ours,” Duke said.

“But what would you do without me?” Frost asked jokingly.

Duke smiled. “Honestly, now? Not a clue.” Amel stayed quiet while they exchanged banter.

She stayed quiet for the remainder of the walk through the forest. The men were always looking around and pointing at cool or interesting things, while she thought. Frost’s name was actually Jack McDaniel. Had she ever heard that before? Thinking about it, she never had.

The trio marched on through the forest. There no signs telling them where to go, but the men had learned extremely high level navigation skills in Air Force SERE, and they could, at the very least, remember their way out of the forest. They were also sticking to the paths, so there was that to guide them home.

After a while longer of walking, they came across an old, odd tree. It was very gnarled all over, like it had been shaped. The thought that it had been shaped was reinforced by the presence of a door and windows, and several masks outside that looked like they were from ancient Africa.

“Who would live out here?” Amel asked in shock.

“Someone with some serious grit,” Frost commented. “And the ability to fend off anything that came by.”

“Let’s knock, see who’s home,” Duke suggested. The group walked up to the door.

Duke knocked three times on the door and they all waited. When the door was answered, the individual standing before them in the door was as surprised as them. She was a zebra, living deep in an enchanted forest with no one else around. Past her, the trio could see alchemical supplies and potions all over the place.

And the zebra was as surprised to see them as they were to see her. She just stood there, staring, until finally, she regained her composure.

“I see I have unexpected guests,” she said. “I am Zecora, and you caught me in one of my rests.”

“Terribly sorry,” Frost said. “We were just exploring the forest and came across your home. Thought we would see who had the balls to live out here.”

“I assure you, you will find no balls here,” Zecora replied. “Though I do host the occasional deer.” Duke raised an eyebrow.

“I see... so, uh, what do you do out here?” he asked.

“I do many things in this place of nature,” Zecora said. “Come inside, do not be a stranger.” Zecora turned and walked in, leaving the door open for the trio to follow. They did, and inside, they sat down around a small table.

The inside of the house was, honestly, a little bit creepy. Zecora had more of those masks everywhere, staring at the group with empty eyes, like they were going to steal their souls. The pot of brew, whatever it was, smelled awful,  like death.

“This is weird,” Frost said while their host was gone.

“I am scared,” Amel said.

“Well, the door is always there if we need to make a break for it,” Duke said.

Zecora came back. “That will not be necessary, new friends,” she said, having overheard. “You are not some means to an end.”

“Good to hear,” Frost said. “Why do you speak in rhymes?”

“A rhyme when I speak?” Zecora asked. “I assure you, I am no poetry geek.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” Duke muttered, looking up at unknown forces.

“Anyway, I am glad you came by, for it is good to meet humans who are not shy,” Zecora said.

“You’ve met a human before?” Duke jumped in, suddenly excited.

“Indeed I have,” Zecora said. “But first, let me pour you some soup, to fatten those calves.”

The trio pondered the odd rhymes while Zecora poured them soup from the pot that smelled like death. For just a second, the coming brew distracted Duke from his thoughts on the other human he had been hearing about, but they returned quickly, and he looked intently at the zebra. Frost and Amel, meanwhile, were already chattering away next to him.

“Here you go,” Zecora said, setting several bowls of soup on the table. “Just be sure to take it slow.”

“Will do,” Frost said. he took a sip. “It’s pretty good.”

“Thank you for your words so nice,” Zecora said. “The ingredients are quite pungent, but have a tasty spice.”

“It is good!” Amel said after she tasted it.

Duke didn’t take a sip yet, though. “You said you met a human before?” he asked of Zecora.

“Indeed I did,” Zecora said. “Though I must say, he was quite off the grid.”

“What did you know of him?” Duke asked.

“In a land far away, he was born in darkness,” Zecora began. “When he came here, he was known as Harkness. His name escapes me, for some reason, but I know that knowledge of him is not in season.”

“Not very successful information hunting, eh?” Duke asked.

“The information is hard to find, but if you do, your mind it will grind,” Zecora said. “With certainty, you heard of him some time, but not certainly, you know the nature of the crime.”

“Crime?” Duke asked.

“I remember not what happened, exactly” Zecora said, shaking her head. “But I know that it happened very, very sadly. He suffered in your world, came back in ours, and disappeared from here, followed by special powers.”

“He went home?” Duke asked. Frost and Amel were listening now.

“I do not know what he did,” Zecora said. “My minds draws blank, the information is rid.”

“Dammit,” Duke muttered.

“All is not lost, for nothing is destroyed,” Zecora said. “I know who can help you, though you, they will avoid.”

“Why?” Duke asked.

“Harkness went away with secrets abound,” Zecora said. “He would not be happy, were they spread all around.”

“This Harkness character,” Frost said, leaning onto the table. “What did he do here?”

“I know nothing of that, never did I know,” Zecora said. “Nor can I say who would, as it was long ago.”

Duke leaned back and put his hands on the ground behind him to steady himself. This Harkness character had been most influential here, it sounded. Perhaps influential to the point where the princesses would be familiar with him. Duke had missed his chance to learn what they knew of him, but there was a good bet they knew more about him than they would likely admit.

Whatever he did, it may have influenced the ponies’ policies towards humans in Equestria from that point on.

“Thank you, Miss Zecora,” Duke said. He stood up. “You’ve been very helpful.”

“Where you going?” Frost asked, still sitting.

“I have a few things I need to go check on,” Duke said. “Feel free to stick around.”

Frost shrugged. “Alright. See ya later.”

Duke nodded to his partner, Amel, and Zecora, then turned and left. This visit had turned out to be more than exploration of some forest; it potentially added a whole new level of complexity to the mission. One that could have gone back years, even a decade or more. And Duke was determined to get to the bottom of it before they left.

At this point...  if they left.





> Your Human and You
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Your Human and You





Frost and Amel left Zecora’s hut a short while later after eating some tasty food and drinking their share of her water. Zecora had offered them some potions, but Frost was skeptical and said no, and Amel simply said no thank you. Silently, she was morally opposed to the use of potions, but she had encountered enough different cultures lately to see that just because something was different didn’t mean it was evil.

They returned to town and still had plenty of time to kill, so they walked around to find out what else the town had to offer. They were pretty much silent for most of their walking, with Frost scanning the area and Amel thinking about him.

She still couldn’t get his real name out of her mind. Jack McDaniel... Why hadn’t he told her his real name? Thinking about it, Frost wasn’t much of a name, even if it was plausible. She had no idea what human names sounded like. Was there as much variation as pony, horse, and gryphon names? What did they usually sound like? What was Duke’s name, what cultural significance did they have? But even through all of this, one question ruled overall:

Why did Frost never give Amel his real name?

“Hey, Amel!” Frost said, yanking her from her thoughts. “Check that out!”

Amel looked forward at what Frost was pointing at. He had his finger trained on a sign that said Rodeo Ring, and behind, a dirt track. There were several dozen ponies in the stands cheering for the two ponies in the dirt, wrestling and trying to pin each other on the ground. The two ponies were all too familiar; a cyan blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, and an orange earth pony with a blonde mane and a stetson hat.

“Let’s see what’s going on over there!” Frost announced more than suggested.

When they reached the edge of the rodeo ring, they saw the two ponies in a bitter struggle to pin each other on the ground and claim victory. Applejack had a distinct advantage in weight, but Rainbow Dash was consistently too fast for the larger earth pony to catch. Rainbow was able to push AJ around a bit, but she was unable to totally knock her down at any point.

Frost started cheering on and Amel just watched in silence, curious as to why other ponies found the fighting so interesting. Frost was a warrior, so she got that, but the other crowd was a mystery to her. Maybe they just loved violence; so uncivilized.

“Sweep the leg, no mercy!” Frost shouted.

Applejack suddenly turned to face the new voice. “What?!” she asked. She had been too distracted to hear.

And she was distracted again now, leaving Rainbow Dash with the perfect opportunity to sweep the leg. She ran under AJ, yanking her hooves out from under her, sending her to the ground in an explosion of dust. Rainbow Dash then proceeded to grab AJ’s tail and use it to wrap up AJ’s hind legs, then did the same with AJ’s flailing front legs and her mane. With that, Rainbow took a proud stance over her friend and roared.

“I AM THE IRON PONY!!”

The crowd went wild, and Frost started laughing, now understanding what exactly was happening. Amel let the joyful cheer get to her a bit and started laughing herself as Rainbow untied Applejack. Applejack looked somewhat peeved, specifically with Frost, and when she stared walking over, it was clear that it was all with him.

“Y’all distracted me!” she yelled as she approached.

Frost shrugged. “You shoulda been paying attention to her,” he said casually.

“He didn’t need to,” Rainbow said, floating next to her friend just out of reach. “I woulda won soon anyway.”

“Keep tellin’ yourself that, mare,” Applejack warned. “Next time, I’ll git you good.”

“If you don’t let yourself get distracted again,” Frost said. Applejack shot him a glare. “What? It’s true.”

“You think you’re so good, huh?” Applejack asked, a smile forming on her face. “Why don’tcha jump into the ring, then? Show us what you’re made of.”

“Sure!” Frost replied delightfully. Applejack and Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise as the human hopped over the fence. “Let’s have at it!”

“Now ya see, it wouldn’t be fair fer a big ol’ man like you to wrestle me,” Applejack said. “I got somepony else for you.”

“Bring it on,” Frost said.

“Are you sure?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I know who she’s gonna call, and he’s never been beat.”

“If I don’t try, I already know that I won’t win,” Frost said. Amel smiled at the little phrase.

“Alrighty then,” Applejack said. “Hey, Big Mac!” she shouted, looking toward the crowd.

It only took a moment for Frost to know who she was referencing. A huge red stallion stood out of the crowd, much to the behest of the small yellow pegasus next to him, and walked down to the ring. The whole way, he was talking to the mare, presumably his significant other, probably reassuring her that Frost wouldn’t hurt him too bad.

When he jumped into the ring, though, Frost really got a good look at him, and started to regret his decision. The stallion was the size of a horse, easily, and with every step, his muscles rippled and veins bulged. When he stepped, the dust would kick up in a whirlwind around his hooves and get stuck in his fetlocks.

“You called, sis?” he said. This was Applejack’s brother... not good.

“Ah did,” Applejack said, grinning at Frost. “This here fellah thinks he’s hot stuff. Felt like havin’ a challenge.”

Big Mac looked Frost up and down. There was a hint of recognition in his eyes, like he knew what he was looking at, but he had probable seen Frost in town. Frost stood tall and proud for the stallion to observe him. Amel moved in a better position to see, ultimately ending up in the spectator stands to watch the whole match.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac said.

“Damn right,” Frost said.

“You still wanna go?” Big Mac asked. Frost removed his shirt, exposing his bare skin to the rough dirt and rocks.

“Let’s rock,” Frost replied with a smirk.

“Okay then,” Applejack said. “Rainbow, you wanna do the honors?”

“He may be your brother, AJ, but you’re still the Element of Honesty,” Rainbow said. They started heading to the stands. “You won’t give favoritism.”

“Ah know,” Applejack said. “But Ah just wanna watch this.”

“Okay then,” Rainbow said. She flew up to a good position to be the judge, leaving Applejack to walk over to Amel.

While Frost and Big Mac took opposite positions in the ring, Applejack walked to a spot next to Amel and sat down. Amel felt like she was under scrutiny next to such an important pony, but Applejack was initially silent, staring at the coming match. Amel did likewise, until finally the silence was broken.

“So you and Mister Frost, huh?” Applejack asked.

“Hm?” Amel asked.

“Ah saw how you looked at him when he took that shirt off,” Applejack said with a sly grin. Amel blushed hard. “Don’t worry, Ah won’t say anything. But you picked an interestin’ fellah, that you did.”

“What makes him so interesting?” Amel faked poorly.

“Lots o’ things, Ah reckon,” Applejack said. “Like how he’s got them muscles on him, even though he ain’t a pony.”

“Yeah,” Amel said, looking toward Frost in the distance.

“See there? You’re staring at him,” Applejack said. “So how did you two meet?”

“I was a slave in Saddle Arabia,” Amel said quickly. Applejack blinked. “Frost and his friend Duke saved me and took me in.”

Applejack smacked her knee. “Well, that’s mighty fine of them to do that! They should get medals for such kindness.” Applejack turned around and shouted up the steps, “Hey, Fluttershy!”

Amel looked up and saw the small yellow pegasus there, looking to her friend and coming down. She was very pretty, and her long, flowy mane would have made any Saddle Arabian mare envious to the point of theft. Her coat was well-kept, and she had a very worried but quiet look on her face.

“Yes, Applejack?” she asked softly.

Applejack patted Amel on the back. “This here mare was rescued from a real tough spot by those humans; one of the kindest things Ah ever heard of.”

Fluttershy looked to Amel, prompting her to speak. “Uhh, yes, they did,” Amel said. “I used to be a slave-”

“Oh, dear!” Fluttershy semi-shouted with her hooves at her mouth. She rushed up to Amel and held her hooves. “Are you okay? I know that ponies in those situations can suffer permanent damage.”

“I am fine,” Amel said, pulling her hoof away. “Frost and his friend saved me.”

Fluttershy blinked. “Oh, dear,” she said.

“What?” Amel asked.

“I’m conflicted now,” Fluttershy said. “Do I root for my husband, or the man who so kindly saved you from such a horrible place?”

“Root fer my brother!” Applejack shouted. “Now let’s hush up, they’re starting.”

Amel looked up to see Rainbow Dash holding a microphone. Fluttershy took a seat next to Amel and watched in quiet nervousness, much like Amel. Neither knew if their closest someponies was going to come out totally alright.

“In the right corner... the undefeated stallion of Ponyville, taking the championship from Cloudsdale’s own Bulk Biceps last year and even redesigning the physical training regiment for the Canterlot Royal Guard, he’s the stallion you know and love, the king of apples, the father of two and brother to my best friend... Big Macintooooooosh!”

Big Mac stepped forward into the ring as some hard music started playing. He ignored it and looked as stoic and uncaring as possible, but when Fluttershy started cheering him on, he let up a tiny smile and nodded her way.

“And in this corner... the new guy in town, he’s hanging out with some weird set of royal guards, walking through the forest at night like a fool, he’s a member of his own nation’s military, and has no experience fighting a pony... Froooooooost!”

Frost stepped into the ring with new music, shirt off and now only in his underwear, and raised his hands up in the air with confidence. A number of ponies booed him just for sport, but as many cheered him on, throwing in thanks for saving Apple Bloom. Amel waved to Frost, who responded by pointing to her and winking. The crowd “ooh’d” at the gesture, turning Amel’s face to a deep shade of red and making Frost laugh out on the track.

The stallion and man met in the center. “Here we have a match of the ages,” Rainbow said. “Nothing the likes of which has been seen in over a decade, we will finally know, who is stronger; Man, or Pony!” Rainbow announced. The crowd went wild. “Combatants: To ARMS!”

Frost and Mac punched their hooves and fists together before starting and stepped back a few steps. It was just customary; they wouldn’t really hit each other unless they had to. This was a wrestling match with fewer rules than usual, but it was still wrestling.

Fluttershy and Amel cheered on for their respective fighters as they began. Frost knew better than to be the first attacker with a new opponent, so he waited for Big Mac to make a move. The stallion started it off with a speedy charge at the man before him, but Frost just got out of the way and grabbed Mac’s tail. Big Mac responded by whipping around and sending Frost flying, then rolling on the ground.

Frost was covered in dirt now and he was a little scraped up from the tiny rocks, but he was still good. When Big Mac charged him again, Frost decided to jump up instead of to the side. Big Mac went right under him, and Frost landed on the red work horse's back. From there, he tried to turn around to ride the stallion like he would back home, but he fell off and rolled again.

Big Mac stopped for a short breather. “Y’know, yer gonna have to be better than that if you wanna take me down,” he said.

Frost stood with a grunt. “I know,” Frost said. “I’m just warming up.”

Now, Frost charged at Big Mac, hands out, and tried to grab at the stallion’s yoke. He succeeded, and when Mac tried to counter, Frost hopped sideways, draggin the yoke and Mac’s head with it. He threw the stallion to the ground, getting a cry of sympathy from the crowd. Mac just rolled back up immediately, though, and faced down the human.

“Ain’t gonna work!” he shouted.

“I realize that!” Frost replied.

As they charged again, Amel’s mind slipped back to his real name. What did it say about him that he didn’t want ponies to know? This, or something else? Was there a history with that name? What was going on? She brought her attention back to the match just in time to see the final charge.

“AHHHHH!” both the stallion and the man cried.

When they collided with more force than anypony thought was safe, Frost locked his arms around Big Mac’s neck and held on tight, while Big Mac wrapped his forelegs around the human. They spun in the air for a moment as their momentum carried them, then crashed to the ground and fired dust all over the place. They grappled there, on the ground, for some time, vying for control over each other and throwing dust all over.

Frost rolled off for just a moment, but before either he or Big Mac stood up, he dove onto the stallion’s side and pinned him as much as he could. Big Mac proceeded to roll right out of it and went about three yards away. As he stood up, Frost tackled him and brought him to the fence where the spectators were watching from, drawing them all much closer.

Now, Amel got to see Frost’s battle expression. It wasn’t at all what she expected; most ponies and horses and gryphons and the like have angry faces when in battle. Not Frost. His face was clearly showing the strain of the fight, but it betrayed no emotion, no frustration or anger. His eyes were quick and calculating, trying to figure out the best way to get the end result he wanted.

They were cold, emotionless, and ruthless.... and it terrified the young mare. Maybe Frost had lied, and that was the real reason he had that nickname.

Nopony else noticed that, though, as they were too busy making way for Fluttershy to cheer next to her husband.

“Come on, honey, you can do it! Take him down!” Fluttershy yelled, throwing everypony off.

The stallion and man struggled on the fence for a time, then, finally, looked at each other once and let go, patting each other on the side and back in mutual respect for their fighting prowess. The audience was confused by this, even Fluttershy and Applejack. The fighters left from the fence toward the center of the ring, quickly followed by Rainbow Dash, who sought to find out what was going on. She talked with them for a brief moment before addressing the crowd.

“It would seem that our fighters are tied!” Rainbow Dash announced.

The crowd went silent for just a moment, then erupted back into cheer again. Mac and Frost shook hand and hoof, then went back to where they felt they should go. Frost acquired his pants from where he dropped them and then returned to the stands to talk to Amel while Mac hopped over the fence and nuzzled his mare.

“That was impressive,” Amel said.

“My big red stallion is really something,” Fluttershy said in a very different tone. “I bet that Frost can’t match him in every way.”

Amel blinked, then stepped back. “Riiight,” she said. “I’ll just... go over here.”

She turned around and met Frost’s face, right behind her. It startled her a bit, but when she recovered, she couldn’t scold him. She had to look away.

“Hey, Applejack, do you have my shirt?” Frost asked.

“Eeyup, right here!” the mare said. She tossed Frost the shirt, but he didn’t put it on. “Ah gotta say, that was some mighty fine wrestling. Come back any time you like so we can watch you again!”

“Will do,” Frost said. “We were actually just walking around looking for stuff to do when we found this. Getting to know the town, y’know?” Applejack nodded. “What else is there to see?”

“Well, if you’re willing to go for a bit of a hike, you can check out Rainbow Falls,” Applejack said. “It’s a long walk, though, and you’ll want to camp at night.”

“Maybe another time,” frost said. He turned to Amel. “What do you think?”

“It sounds nice,” Amels aid, still not looking.

Applejack grinned evilly. “It’s a great date spot,” she said, drawing more blood to Amel’s face. “Mah brother took Fluttershy there fer their honeymoon.”

“Sounds like a fun place then,” Frost said. Amel just kept getting redder as the conversation went.

“Beautiful, too,” Applejack said. “For now, though, if you’re looking for something simple, you can go see a movie.”

“Ooh, that sounds cool!” Amel said. Her blush faded. “I never saw a movie, even though the masters always talked about them.”

“Never saw a movie?” Frost asked. “Time to change that. Thanks, AJ!”

“You’re welcome!” Applejack said.

Frost put his hand on Amel’s shoulder, getting her to look at him. When she looked, she saw a mischievous look in his eyes and instantly questioned his plans. By the time she knew what was happening, it was too late.

Frost grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder, earning a surprised yelp from her and spun around. “To the movies!” he announced. shirt in one hand and mare in the other. Amel shouted at him to put her down as he ran off, bouncing along, earning all levels of laughter from the crowd behind as they watched him disappear.

“They should just go to Rainbow Falls already,” Fluttershy said to her husband.

“Now, honey, that’s our special place,” Mac said, nuzzling her. “They can find their own.”



Frost and Amel arrived at the movie theatre, and Frost set her down easy. When she was free, though, she started beating on his chest and legs for carrying her all that way and embarrassing her so much in front of the town and just generally yelled at him. Frost looked to the ticket pony, who just chuckled through the whole thing, then turned back to Amel. Again, without warning, he picked her up, this time with his hands just under her forelegs, like a cat.

“You know you loved it,” Frost said with a grin.

Amel frowned and looked away. “Maybe... But I’m still mad at you.”

“As long as you had fun,” Frost said, putting her down. He approached the ticket pony and asked for two tickets to any movie.

The movie was alright, but neither Amel nor Frost understood the plot. It was about some photographer pony who witnessed a murder from his apartment's rear window and started taking pictures of the stallion who did it to catch him. As fun as it was, they wouldn’t see it again.

After the movie, they went to the park to sit down for a bit. Frost was happy to rest his feet, and Amel was glad to sit next to her human friend. But the questions were back, and they were itching to get out.

Frost looked to her and made a little frown. “You have a question in your eyes,” he said.

Amel looked at him. She wasn’t going to hide it any more. She wasn’t going to sit in silence and suffer while Frost went on obliviously, never knowing what the answer would be or if the question was even worth asking. Amel had to know, and she had to know now; lest her relationship never be full with this man.

She took a deep breath, and...

“So how was your day?”

She blurted it out with a sheepish smile and a mind screaming at her for not being brave enough to just ask the right question.

Frost raised an eyebrow. “Good?” he replied. “That wasn’t the question you wanted to ask.”

Shoot. Now he was asking the question. “Okay,” Amel said nervously. “Umm, why did you... what do you think... uhh, what, uhhh...”

“Amel, you can ask me anything, you know that,” Frost said. “Well, almost anything. But you know perfectly well what I can’t answer.”

Amel took in another breath. “Okay,” she said. She looked Frost dead in the eye and asked, “Why did you never tell me your real name?”

Frost blinked, sat back, and blinked some more. He had to think this one over.

“Well... shit, I don’t know. It never really came up,” he said.

“From the beginning, though. Why do you use a fake name?”

“Well, it isn’t fake, really,” Frost said. That’s how lots of people call me.”

“Except those closest to you,” Amel said with clear hurt.

Frost leaned into her and put his arm around her. “Aw, now that isn’t true,” he said. “Some of my best friends are PJs, they call me Frost. They gave me the name. And you know that they’re my real family.”

“But they now your real name, as well. I did not until earlier.” Amel looked away, then back in Frost’s eyes. “Am I not that important?”

“You’re plenty important,” Frost said. “I never really thought about my real name here. Frost is my nickname and my work name. And here, regardless of what I’m doing or thinking, I’m working.”

“So spending time with me is still work?” Amel asked.

“It’s the better part of my workday, that’s for sure,” Frost said, hugging Amel close. “But I still have my duties to fulfill here. When we find OGA and get him home, then I won’t be working.”

“But when will you come back?” Amel asked. “We don’t exactly have a portal to just walk through to bring you here.”

“I’m sure something could be worked out,” Frost said.

“So you would come back for me?” Amel asked. Her eyes teared up and one tear ran down her cheek.

Frost wiped it away and held her chin. “I’ll always be willing and able to come back for you,” he said. He pulled her into a full hug. “Now don’t you go crying; I might cry too.”

Amel laughed. “Ha, the big, muscular, strong, fighting human, crying? Big, tough, Frosty Jack McDaniels? I would pay to see that.”

Frost let go of Amel and chuckled. “You can have it for free if you try hard enough,” Frost said. “So, what did you think of saying my full name?”

Amel looked down, then back up. “I like Frost better.”

Frost nodded. “Me too.”





> Research projects
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Research Projects





When Duke left Frost and Amel with Zecora in the hut, he opted not to tell them why exactly he felt like leaving. He didn’t feel like concerning them with his own pursuits. This was more of a private endeavor, anyway.

Walking through the forest alone was somewhat anxiety-inducing, but Duke kept to the path and walked quickly. He figured that if he all out ran, he might look like prey to some big predators he had never seen, and he didn’t need that experience. He had a large enough variance of experiences already.

When he was out of the forest, Duke walked straight to the town library. When seeking knowledge, that was always the best place to start, even if it was unlikely to have anything on the subject. There had already been one indication of something being there; Duke just needed to find out what.

He couldn’t get the information directly out of them, but maybe he could ease them through the process. Something external was screwing with the librarian’s and his marefriend’s abilities to remember the other human, probably some kind of magic. Either he did something really bad, which could spell trouble, or he really didn’t want anyone to find out who he was.

Duke had known a guy like that.

When Duke arrived at the library, he knocked three times on the front door and waited. Inside, he heard some shuffling and then light hoofsteps. When the door opened, he was greeted by Sweetie Belle, whose face brightened like the sun at seeing Duke again.

She jumped forward and hugged him. “Hey, glad to see you back!” she shouted.

“Glad I could stop by,” Duke said, unused to such sudden affection. These ponies really liked the men for rescuing Apple Bloom. “Mind if I come in?”

“Wouldn’t be much of a public library if it wasn’t open to the public,” Sweetie Belle said. She stepped inside, followed soon after by Duke.

Duke could hear Spike the librarian over in the kitchen making food. It was odd, seeing so many casual living arrangements inside a public building, especially right off of the main room. The food smelled pretty good, but Duke had other things he was looking for right now.

“So what do you need?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“What kind of recent histories do you have?” Duke asked.

“We have archived newspaper articles, essays, accounts...” Sweetie Belle said, trailing off at the end.

“Anything comprehensive?” Duke asked.

Sweetie Belle shrugged “Depends on what you would call comprehensive.”

“I guess newspapers will work,” Duke said. “Where are they?” Sweetie Belle pointed him to the archives and Duke thanked her and went on his way.

The newspapers would be far from easy to get through; there were easily thousands of archived articles. They were all sorted by date, though, so Duke was able to give a rough estimate of when he needed to be looking for. He decided on checking the records from twelve to nine years ago. That was the timeframe he had been hearing about every so often.

He started at the beginning, checking each article for any information he could discern about this other human. Not one of the articles in the first hour of searching yielded any results, despite some appearing to come close. Others might have had information, but Duke wasn’t sure. Because they were actual newspapers, they were liable to be smudged, and every one that he found that looked promising was smudged up pretty bad.

“Man, why’s it gotta be this way?” Duke muttered.

“Something troubling you?” Sweetie Belle asked from afar.

“I can’t find anything that I’m looking for,” Duke said.

“What was it you wanted to find again?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Information on the first human,” Duke replied.

“Oh,” Sweetie Belle said. “Yeah, there’s only one newspaper that even has anything like that.”

“Do you know which one?” Duke asked.

“Sure,” Sweetie Belle said. She walked over. “I’ll get it for you.”

Duke stepped back while Sweetie Belle retrieved the old newspaper for him. While she did that with her magic, Duke briefly looked around the library. It was well-maintained, organized, and very clean. It also appeared to have some very valuable books, placed on pedestals and in glass cases.

Except one pedestal, which was empty.

“What goes there?” Duke asked.

Sweetie Belle turned to him with the newspaper, which he took in his hand.

“Oh, that was a really special book,” Sweetie Belle said with a hint of sadness.

“What was it?” Duke asked.

“That was actually the book you would be looking for,” Sweetie Belle said. “It was special. It recorded events as they happened on its own, and it focused on the first human.”

Duke looked to the pedestal and cursed, wishing he hadn’t asked. Not that he could do anything about it, he just wished he didn’t know that everything he needed for this USED to exist.

“What happened?” Duke asked.

“It was destroyed when Tirek leveled the library,” Sweetie Belle explained. “The only book that couldn’t be replaced, because no one understands the magic behind it.”

“Not even the princesses?” Duke asked.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Not even. It was one of an unknown number of special, magical books. They predate Celestia and Luna, and even those who came before them. Some say Starswirl the Bearded made them, but the magic would have been cracked by now.”

Duke too his newspaper to a chair. “How many of these books do you know of?”

“Only a few, and none are in Equestria any more,” Sweetie Belle explained. “Saddle Arabia has one concerning the life of one of their ancient rulers that they treat as a sacred object. There was one of a gryphon, but the gryphon turned evil and the book disappeared. It was titled Guifrond, after his name, and only reappeared after his death.”

“How do you know he died?” Duke asked.

“It said it at the end of the book,” Sweetie Belle explained.

Duke nodded. “Interesting.”

He turned his attention to the newspaper and unfolded it. As he unfolded it, he saw part of what he was looking for; a human in a photograph, standing in the road, looking normal. Only his face was different. When he looked at it, he would swear he knew it, but he couldn’t pull anything out of his memories...

He looked at the name. “Harkness...” he whispered slowly.

There he was; the owner of the name on that stone. So, whoever he was, he did something worthy of commemoration that was destined to be forgotten forever. Spike's and Sweetie Belle's little episode when they tried to remember this guy was still fresh in Duke's mind. Duke was determined to figure out who this guy was, for some faint, hard to identify reason. He would ask everyone, and if need be, he would grill the princesses themselves for information.

Something was off about this, and he suspected that the princesses were somehow involved in the massive loss of memory.

“So what’s your interest in this?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Duke was yanked out of his thoughts by the intrusion. “Uh, nothing particular. Just curious.” It was something particular, but he wasn’t telling.

“Alright,” Sweetie Belle said. She sat down. “So can I ask you some questions?”

“Shoot,” Duke replied. He set aside the now useless paper.

“Where are you from?” Sweetie Belle asked. “How much have you traveled, too? I’ve always wanted to travel, but Rarity won’t let me until Spike is big enough to protect me, especially after Apple Bloom’s experience.”

“I’ve traveled a lot,” Duke said. “In the military, I can’t tell you where I’ve gone. But before that...” Duke thought. “I went to the Air Force Academy in Colorado. I also lived in New Jersey in my earlier life, though I lived in Australia for a few years of high school. I fell in love with fighter jets and came back to the states to fly one, but I couldn’t make the cut, so I tried for this instead. It was a good decision.”

“Cool,” Sweetie Belle said. “Were they nice places?”

Duke laughed. “Yeah, they were great. But that didn’t stop us from constantly criticizing ourselves in our eternal quest to be better.”

“Sound stough,” Sweetie Belle commented.

Duke shrugged. “Not really. Not for me, anyway.”

Duke heard steps from the kitchen and looked over to see Spike coming out with a tray of food and tea. When Spike saw, he greeted Duke with a nod and walked over. When he set the tray down, he sat next to Sweetie Belle and put his arm around her.

“Hey man,” he said.

“Yo,” Duke replied.

“How’s that research going?” Spike asked.

“About as well as it can, which is good, I guess,” Duke said. “I just wish it could go better.”

Spike chuckled. “Yeah, the library is ironically not the best place for your search. You’re gonna have to look for ponies with firsthand experience.”

“And who might they be?” Duke asked thinking about who he could ask.

“Exactly who you think,” Spike said.

Duke nodded and stood. “Thanks. I’ll go and do that.”

Spike put his hand up. “Good luck, dude.”

As Duke turned around, he heard Sweetie Belle start to giggle. Just as he left, he dared a glance back and saw Spike tickling the young mare and her trying to suppress her laughter. With a smile and a shake of his head, Duke went on out.

Duke went out and started walking around to search for any of the ponies he could think of. He had heard the name Big Mac, along with the Elements, one of whom was his wife. The others, he understood, were all very closed-lipped about it. Hopefully, he would get Big Mac to talk, since Fluttershy wasn’t very talkative in the first place.

He knew where they lived, so he decided to start there. Walking across town, he got a lot of approving nods and smiles, which he returned gratefully. He was grateful for the fact that these ponies weren’t terrified of the big scary human who showed up out of nowhere. Of course, if the last human did something great, of course they would love people.

The dirt crunched under Duke’s boots as he walked. He would need to get some casual shoes or something around here, lest he appear to be in a constant state of readiness, even if he was. No need to intimidate anypony. Thinking about it, he might also try to get a new dress uniform in case he had to attend an official event as a Combat Rescue Officer. It was unlikely, and he could probably get out of it, but if OGA were concerned, he would throw on his best outfit in a heartbeat.

When he arrived at the cottage, he first noticed how there were animals everywhere. They lived in the tree that was the house and in the back yard, yet it was all very clean and well-kept. Back home, these ponies would be animal hoarders, but apparently, that was okay here.

Duke walked up to the front door and knocked three times, then waited patiently. No one answered, so he knocked again. Still, no answer.

Duke felt a slight tug on his pants. He looked down and saw a small white rabbit, a very old one, grabbing his pants. When he blinked, trying to comprehend the rabbit grabbing his pants, the little critter pointed away from the house and down the road.

“They aren’t home?” Duke asked. The old rabbit nodded. “Alright, thanks little guy.” Before Duke could leave, the rabbit grabbed him again. “What?” It looked up at him and raised its arms up. “Uh, alright.” Duke picked up the little rabbit and carried it with him.

When he walked back through the town, the townsponies all awed and swooned over him carrying the little rabbit. The rabbit, a funny little guy, started flexing for the mares, who would just giggle at it. Some of them looked affectionately at Duke, and one even winked.

Duke just kept on walking from those ones. “Don’t end up in Frost's position,” he thought.

He wasn’t sure what to make of it, so he fell back on simply not wanting it for himself. He didn’t care that much what someone else did.

“I wonder if the first human had a mare here?” Duke wondered aloud.

The rabbit below him nodded and pointed toward a bar, but Duke didn’t notice and kept on walking. Right as he passed the bar, he finally saw it. It was called the Salt Lick.

“Gotta remember that, so we can grab some beers later,” he said. The rabbit smacked its forehead as Duke kept on walking.

Eventually, Duke came across a large group of ponies walking away from some kind of dirt track. There were a lot of them, but two stood out the most. Fluttershy and Big Mac, the bright yellow and red, dirt-covered stallion were in the front. The little rabbit started trying to hop away from Duke, but he kept a hold on it for fear of it hurting itself.

“Hey!” Duke shouted.

Fluttershy looked toward him. “Oh, hello,” she said. When she saw the rabbit, she beamed. “Oh, Angel, I didn’t know you wanted to come out today!”

She flew up to Duke incredibly fast and grabbed the rabbit from him, hugging it tight and rocking it every which way. As Big Mac approached, Angel the rabbit stuck it tongue out at him and pulled on its eyelid. Big Mac chuckled and nodded, conceding this victory to the rabbit. When Fluttershy finally calmed down, she continued to hold the rabbit and floated back to the ground.

“So what brings you here, mister Duke?” Fluttershy asked.

“I actually have some questions for the two of you,” Duke said. “It was really convenient that I found you so fast.”

“Angel probably pointed you the right way, even if you didn’t notice,” Fluttershy said, petting Angel the rabbit.

Duke leaned forward, smiling. “Thanks, little guy.” The rabbit smacked its forehead again, but Duke returned his attention to Fluttershy. “So, those questions...”

“I’m afraid I have to go help my little animals at home,” Fluttershy said. She leaned up and kissed her husband on the cheek, getting an unhappy grunt from Angel the rabbit. “I’ll see you tonight, honey.”

“See ya tonight,” Big Mac replied. Fluttershy flew off, leaving the stallion and man alone.

Duke looked to Big Mac. “So, Big Mac... I heard you know about another human?”

“Call me Mac,” Big Mac said. Duke nodded. “Just wrestled Frost.”

“A different human,” Duke said, knowing that Mac was avoiding the question.

Mac narrowed his eyes. “‘Fraid Ah can’t help you much there.”

“I was told you hung out with him a lot,” Duke said.

“Never said Ah didn’t know,” Mac said. “Just that Ah can’t help.”

“Why not?” Duke asked.

“Ah promised Ah wouldn’t tell anypony,” Mac said.

“Come on,” Duke said.

“Eenope.” Mac said with a finality that made Duke lose hope.

“Look, I might know him,” Duke said. It was possible; if the human was famous for disappearing for a time and then returning, he might have made the news.

“Ah don’t know if you do or not,” Mac said. “But Ah guess Ah can say one thing. He knew Princess Luna real well. Like, really, really well. He also did a lot of great things that he never recognized as great.”

“Helpful...” Duke said sarcastically.

“It is, actually,” Mac replied. “Look, Ah like you. But Ah can’t give you any compromising info. He likes his privacy.”

“At least tell me how long ago this happened,” Duke pleaded.

“All the things happened with him about eleven years ago,” Mac said.

Duke took that bit of information and noted it. It was a long time ago. But not too long ago, and certainly not too recently either.

“Guess that’s all I’m getting?” Duke asked. Mac nodded. “Fine. But I will come back for more information.”

“If you can give me a good reason, Ah’ll tell,” Mac explained. He walked past Duke. “But it better be damn good for me to give up mah friend’s identity.”

“It will be,” Duke said. “I just need to think of what it will be.”

It hadn’t been the most productive day ever, but compared to what he had gotten so far, it was like stumbling on a diamond deposit. He just needed to cut and polish what he found until it as usable.

Duke walked back to the house with a lot on his mind, but knew that he was at least getting somewhere. And right now, when OGA was God knew where, that was all that really mattered.





> Into the Storm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Into the Storm





The men and Amel had had a good time that day and ended up hitting the hay early. Having fun or doing intensive research can be exhausting, even for the toughest of men. Amel protested, as she wanted to spend more time with Frost, but you can’t win every battle.

The next morning, the men were eating breakfast and drinking coffee when the front door made a series of loud knocking noises. Duke got up and answered the door to find the NIghthawks standing in a group.

“Morning, gents,” Duke said, stepping back to let the stallions in.

“Morning,” Aprotelese greeted. The others gave their salutations as well, though none sounded particularly happy.

“How was your day yesterday?” Duke asked.

“Good enough,” Aprotelese replied. “Though we come back bearing bad news.”

The group entered the kitchen, prompting Frost to look up. “What kind of bad news?” Frost asked with a full mouth.

“The kind that means we’ll be heading out today,” Aprotelese said.

Frost swallowed. “That does sound bad.”

“What’re the details?” Duke asked.

Aprotelese took a seat and sighed. “Some stallions from the Earth Ponies’ Echo Brigade are trapped in the Wetlands, of all places,” he said. He grabbed Duke’s coffee and took a swig but Duke was less concerned about that right now. “We’re getting called on to do a rescue.”

“When did this come out?” Duke asked.

“Just as we were leaving this morning,” Aprotelese said. “So about half an hour ago. They were in a bad shape from what the intel told us.”

“How bad?” Frost asked.

“They called in for help because they couldn’t go out the way they came in due to a landslide,” Aprotelese explained. “They had no choice but to go forward an extra four kilometers to find the only other path nearby that would get them above the cloudline. On the way there, they were ambushed.”

“Sounds like something that was planned,” Duke said.

“Exactly,” Aprotelese agreed. “We think the gryphons took out the path in order to force the Echo stallions further into the Wetlands. They were waiting for them... it was an excellent ambush.”

“How bad are the stallions right now? Injuries, casualties?” Frost asked.

“We know at least four of the six are wounded,” Aprotelese said. “The remaining two did a good job fighting off the gryphon attackers, but they need help to get away from the AO. That’s why we’re going in.”

“You described this region as the ‘Wetlands’,” Frost said. “What does that mean, exactly?”

“The Wetlands are a region where it is constantly raining,” Aprotelese explained. “From the dawn of Equestria, likely to the end of Equestria, the rains never stopped once and they will never stop. The bottom of the valleys are flooded and allegedly filled with whirlpools that suck you up and beat you against the rock face before drowning you.”

“Yikes,” Duke said.

“Yeah,” Aprotelese affirmed. “There are supposed cave systems that are close enough to see it, but not to be hit by it, but nopony has ever gone down that far. Too many enemy combatants to try it and not enough reward for it.”

“So basically, avoid falling at all costs,” Duke simplified.

“Yes,” Aprotelese said.

“Lovely,” Duke replied.

Frost stood from the table. “Well, I ate, so I’m gonna get myself ready,” he said. “You guys feel free to the fridge, I guess.” The Nighthawks and Duke went back to eating and drinking coffee while Frost went upstairs to retrieve his gear.

Frost walked into his room and started putting his things together. He checked the components of his rifle to make sure it was good to go, did the same with his pistol, and strapped his FE9 to his side. Once that was done, he determined what medical supplies he would need. If it was an ambush on a mountainside, there would likely be cuts, bruises, broken bones, and concussions. If that Mustard Gas was there, though...

Frost’s ears perked up and he stood straight. “You can come in,” he said.

He turned around to see Amel walking in. She looked around the room for a moment before talking, as if she was expecting to see some crazy posters or wall hangings around the room. She seemed just as surprised, though, that the walls were bare, and the only decoration was a pile of gear.

“I see you are getting ready to go,” Amel stated.

Frost nodded. “Yeah. Some dudes need our help out there.”

“How badly?” Amel asked.

“Bad,” Frost replied.

Amel looked down for a moment before nodding. “I see.”

Frost walked over to her and stroked her mane. “Come on, you know I’ll be back. I always am.”

“I know,” Amel said. “I just had so much fun yesterday. I was hoping we could do it again...”

“We will,” Frost assured the young mare. “When I’m around, we can always do stuff. I just have to do this.”

Amel nodded. “I know. Just promise me that you will be alright?”

Frost smiled and scratched Amel’s ear. “I promise.”

He patted her on the head and went back to setting up what he would need to take with him, and Amel went downstairs to go get something to eat. Once Frost had all his things prepared, he brought what he planned to carry downstairs and set it to the side. Not long after, the rest of the team had their own things ready and everyone was prepared to head out.

Once everyone was prepared, they walked out the front door and started walking. Before they got far, though, Amel popped out the front door and waved to them.

“Good luck, Frost, and Duke, and... uhhh...” She forgot the name of the Equestrian Special Mission unit. “Stallions!”

“Thank you, milady!” Aprotelese replied.

“We’ll be back!” Frost shouted. “I’ll bring something home for you!”

Amel gave her human a big, toothy smile and waved one last time before heading inside. Aprotelese put his head down as his teammates laughed at him, and Frost just chuckled along. They all knew that Amel wasn’t interested in Aprotelese, but only one didn’t know that she had taken a liking to Frost.

He was destined to figure it out eventually. And what a day that was destined to be.




Flying out to San Palomino Air Base wasn’t too much of a journey. The stallions who pulled the flying carriage were strong and fast, unbothered by the cold of the altitude of their flight. At the front of the open cabin sat a mare, watching the ground for trouble and their landing zone. During the flight, the men and Nighthawks discussed any potential problems or protocols they wanted to follow and remember.

The general rules they decided on, besides the standard rules of engagement, involved their formation. Because they would be in the dark and in the rain for a lot of the operation, the men would take the center of the formation. They were the only two who were pretty much screwed if they fell down the ravine since they couldn’t fly, so they took the center. The stallions would stay low during the mission to let them fire over their heads of it was necessary. While the men had been trained not to do that particular sort of thing, they recognized that sometimes, it was all that could be done.

When they reached the Air Base, they got a connecting carriage that would take them to the Southern Gryphon Colonies. The new one wasn’t built for speed and distance like the first one. It was more resembling of a helicopter. It used four stallions, one on each corner, so that it could take off and land vertically, and, if need be, they could go more forward to increase speed. That function was limited by the shape of the carriage, though, so it wasn’t quite like an Osprey.

While they sat strapped into the exposed cabin of the heli-carriage, as the men referred to it, everyone checked their weapons, plates, and gear one last time. The men chambered rounds to test the mechanism, then removed the magazines, unchambered the round, put it back in the magazine, and reinserted the magazine into their guns. The stallions watched this with intrigue, silently wishing they had such weapons at their disposal.

The mare at the front turned to the team. “One minute!” she shouted.

With showtime coming on them rapidly, everyone secured everything one last time and sat patiently while the mare at the front counted down.

“Thirty seconds!”

“Twenty second!”

“Ten seconds!”

The team could feel the carriage coming down and getting ready to drop them off, so they unstrapped themselves from their seats. Each of the stallions moved off of the seat and lay low on the floor as if they were ready to pounce. It made sense to Duke and Frost; that was the fastest way they could get out. They responded by getting off of their own seats and kneeling before the exit door.

The carriage hit the ground. “Go! Go! Go!” the mare shouted.

The team flew and ran out of the carriage, and as soon as they were clear, the carriage hopped back off the ground and took off. The Nighthawks made hoof signals to tell them everything was good, and once the carriage was gone, only the sound of the storms in the valley could be heard.

The team got into formation, with Aprotelese in front and the men in the middle, Frost behind Duke. “Ready?” the stallion asked. Everyone affirmed. “Let’s go.”

The team advanced on the valley, and Duke and Frost got their first good look at what lay ahead. Before them, the valley was filled completely with storm clouds. One couldn’t see past them they were so thick. It was an eerily smooth cloudline, too, like a calm lake of dark gray. The men knew that underneath it was chaos and rain and a land that would try to kill them as much as the inhabitants they were fighting.

The team slowly made their way into into the valley, taking minutes to reach the cloudline. They were already able to hear the pouring rain, and as they came closer, it only became louder and louder until it was nearly deafening. They wouldn’t be able to hear any hostiles gryphons around them as they walked, so it was going to be all on their eyes to get through.

When they got below the cloudline. they were soaked by the cloud itself, and then started to feel the rain hitting them when they were below. It was incredibly dark; with the rain on top of that, they could hardly see. Thankfully, Aprotelese had brought a small light with him to make sure they kept to the path.

Frost tapped Duke on the shoulder to get his attention. “Boss, I don’t think this was the best idea!” he shouted.

“Since when is it ever a good idea to enter a combat are?” Duke shouted back. Frost chuckled, though it was drowned out by the rain.

“Good point,” Frost said.

Duke looked forward, an ominous feeling snaking its way through his mind. This was easily the most hazardous place he had ever gone to do a rescue. Afghanistan made this look easy; as least the primary concern was the enemy fighters. Here, they were a very dangerous secondary. But it was more than just the dangers here that made him feel odd.

“I haven’t seen rain like this before!” Frost shouted.

“I did, long time ago,” Duke said. “I was in Vietnam, helping a friend.” Duke would never forget that kind of rainfall.

The team continued forward, careful of where everyone stepped and watching for any movement in the distance. Every now and again, a lightning bolt would flash somewhere, revealing the entire landscape. It was terrifying, yet beautiful. When the lightning flashed, you could see everything, even through the rain. The mountains in the distance towered over the valleys, and the sky was invisible on the other side of the clouds. Everything here was smooth as a well-polished granite countertop, and only varied in shades from dark gray to black.

The team walked along precarious ledges and ridges, sometimes just barely big enough to accommodate the stallions. The men rarely had trouble, being thinner than the stallions when shimmying sideways, but when a ledge was also angled, they had to move slowly and keep their hands on the wall. The wall was smooth, though, so they couldn’t push on it, or they would fall.

After crossing a ledge, they found themselves on a relatively straight path next to a straight drop to the valley floor. Curious, Frost looked down, but nothing was visible. He kept looking, though, as they walked, hoping that a flash of lightning would illuminate it.

Eventually, Frost got his wish; a flash of lightning streaked across the sky in the distance, and the resulting flash allowed him to see all the way to the valley floor. What he saw was not what he was hoping to see; down below, there was a huge river, but it didn’t fit in with the smooth landscape. Rocks jutted out of the water all over, creating white water rapids, and in a few spots, he could see whirlpools that took up half of the space in the river.

“Holy shit,” Frost said. Behind him, Fog looked down at what was now extremely dark and unseeable.

“Yeah, the whirlpools down there are no joke,” he said. “We don’t know exactly how many stallions fell down there and were lost during the first war here. We never recovered any of them.”

“Duly noted,” Frost said.

The team kept on going, crossing more ledges and ridges, but trying their best to stick to paths or relatively flat areas. The stallions couldn’t fly in this weather, at least not safely, and unlike the men’s rubber-soled boots, the stallions’ hooves were not good for keeping traction with the smooth rock face. If the men were leading the way, they could have accidentally left the stallions behind because of that.

Up front, Aprotelese stopped. “What’s going on?!” Duke asked.

Aprotelese turned around. “We’ve got a bit of a tight situation!” he shouted back. “The rock face here is smooth, but the angle is pretty steep! I’m not sure we’ll be able to cross it!”

Duke looked ahead, but he was in the blind. Aprotelese’s slight was helpful, and Duke could see the steepening incline. But they had to get moving.

“I got an idea!” Duke shouted. He leaned forward a bit, and Aprotelese did the same. “I’ll take you guys over one at a time, Frost will stay here to provide cover! If you slip, I’ll be able to catch you!”

Aprotelese looked back at the incline, then back to Duke and nodded. “Sounds good!”

Duke told Frost the plan, then tapped the each of the backs of the Nighthawks before him to get them to lower themselves so he could step over them. When he reached Aprotelese, he stepped out onto the incline first to check his ability to stand. He had little trouble, thanks to his boots, and offered his hand to Aprotelese.

“Come on!” he shouted.

Aprotelese put his hoof in Duke’s hand and started moving. Once the pair was on the incline, Aprotelese switched to gripping Duke’s gear with his teeth, and Duke kept one hand on Aprotelese’s mane. As they made their way across, Duke scanned the area with his weapon in case someone decided to attack. It was a prime time for it.

Duke reached the other end after a short time and released Aprotelese, who in turn released Duke and stood on the new, flat ground. Aprotelese looked relieved, like he had been waiting for something bad to happen. Truth be told, Duke was in the same boat.

Duke keyed his mic. “Frost, you read?”

“I read, boss,” Frost replied.

“You saw how I brought Aprotelese over?” Duke asked.

“Affirmative,” Frost replied.

“Do that with one of the stallions over there. I don’t want to leave Aprotelese alone here.” Duke knew that a lone stallion here would be practically sentenced to death.

“Roger, I’ll be over real quick.”

A minute after Frost finished, Duke could see him when Aprotelese shined his light on the incline. Frost had brought over Moon Moon, who was really having a hard time getting his footing on the ledge. Frost mostly dragged him over, fighting the forces of gravity and rain trying to knock him down.

When he got over to the flat area, he dropped Moon Moon and addressed Duke. “You want me to get the others?” he asked.

“No, you stay here; I’ll get them!” Duke shouted.

“You sure?” Frost asked.

“Aiming my MP7 is a little bit easier here than aiming your rifle,” Duke reasoned. Frost could accept that, and Duke went about retrieving the rest of the team.

The rest of the team wasn’t too hard; Mosquito was an easy grab, and Wolf handled himself pretty well. Once they were over, Duke realized that there were only two left. If he went back alone, that would leave one of them on his own on the other side.

“Frost, come with me; we’re gonna get the last two,” Duke ordered.

“Got it,” Frost replied.

The two men made their way back to the other side and met up with Fog and Comet. The two stallions were tense, watching for enemy movement in the rain and lightning, hoping they weren’t in view of any gryphons. When the men returned, they were more than happy to hop up and start making their way across.

Duke took Fog in front, and Frost took Comet in the back. Slowly, they started making their way across the rock face to the other side. Fog gripped Duke with his teeth, Frost held Fog’s tail, and Comet held onto Frost’s gear with his teeth. It almost seemed like the rain was getting worse as they walked, but they all knew better. It wasn’t going to get better or worse, because this area was consistently like this.

About halfway across, on the steepest part of the incline, the worst happened.

Fog lost his footing on the rock face and slipped, slamming into his side on the ground and started to slide down.

Duke spun around when his contact was severed and saw the stallion sliding down. Frost was still with Comet and was only able to watch as Fog slid closer to death every second, trying to fight it but incapable of stopping.

“Hang on!” Duke shouted.

He launched himself forward off the incline toward Fog and landed on his back, feet going first. With the extra speed and acceleration, he was able to catch up with Fog quickly and get a hand on his mane. He couldn’t see where the edge of the incline was, but he knew they would probably be close to it by the time they stopped, if they didn’t just fall right off. If that happened, Duke was seriously hoping that there was something under the ledge.

When Duke had his hand on Fog’s mane, he shoved his rubber-soled boots into the rock to generate enough friction to stop. He could feel the water underneath trying to keep his boots off, but he pressed hard, and he could feel himself skidding. He placed his other hand on the rock to try to further slow his fall.

Then, at one point, he felt his feet hit something jutting up, and he came to a jolting halt on the rock. He felt Fog continue for a moment before starting to drop vertically. Acting fast, Duke took his other hand off the rock and shot forward to grab the stallion’s wing at the base. He just made it, and now, Fog hung over an unknown depth, suspended only by the strength of Duke’s grip.

“Help me out here!” Duke shouted to the stallion.

As Duke pulled up, Fog got his hooves on the rock again and started pulling himself up. Once he was back up, Duke grabbed him by the torso and led him back up the slope, one small step at a time. As he climbed, Duke heard his mic key.

“Duke, you alright!?” Frost called.

“We’re fine,” Duke replied. “Just a bit of a scare. We’re coming up.”

“More than a bit if you ask me,” Frost replied. “We’ll be waiting.”

Duke and Fog carefully made their way back up the slope, making sure they had their footing every step of the way. The rain continued to try to get underneath them and pull their feet and hooves out from under them, and massive gusts of wind threatened to knock them off balance. When they eventually reached a high enough point, Duke could see Aprotelese’s slight in the distance, and started making a heading in that direction.

When the pair approached the group, Frost spotted them and helped them onto the flatter area of the new path.

“You guys good to go?” Frost asked.

“We’re good,” Duke replied. “Too bad we couldn’t have brought gear for this situation, eh?”

“I don’t think there is gear for this kind of AO,” Frost replied, looking around as lightning illuminated the valley.

Aprotelese cut in. “Let’s go. We’re behind schedule,” he said.

“Lead the way,” Duke said.

Aprotelese took the lead once more and walked along the path toward the area they believed the Echo stallions to be located in. There weren’t any more extreme ledges like the previous one, but the downpour was still a major problem. The fact that enemies lurked in the darkness around them didn’t help either.

After some time, they reached the area they had been trying to get to. The Echo stallions were supposed to have a small light, but that could have run out of whatever power source it had by now. Or they could have turned it off because they had to keep hidden in the darkness. A light would give them away in a heartbeat.

“ECHO!!!” Aprotelese shouted, startling the men and alarming them enough to make them bring their weapons to bear.

In the distance, a light flashed on, just a small ways up and forward on the rock face. Without warning, Aprotelese started speed walking over to the light, forcing the team to scramble to keep up with him. As they approached the light, they could start to make out shapes around it. Four were lying down, held in place by the two stallions standing in the group as the rain tried to drag them away.

“Echo!” Aprotelese said as he ran up to the group.

The standing stallions and one of the stallions lying down looked at Aprotelese and their faces brightened as if they were being given millions of bits. Duke and Frost could hear their sighs of relief over the pouring rain.

“Damn, are we glad to see you!” one of the stallions said. “Boulder, 10th Mountain Battalion, Echo Brigade.”

“Aprotelese, Nighthawks,” Aprotelese responded. “We’re here to get you out of here.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Boulder replied. “But that may be easier said than done. Four of us aren’t able to walk.”

“How bad is it?” Aprotelese asked.

“Three severely wounded, one KIA,” Boulder replied.

Aprotelese grinded his teeth at the news. “Damn,” he said. “Yo, Duke, Frost!”

The men made their way forward. “You rang?” Frost asked. Boulder looked at the men with a surprised expression. He appeared to have heard of them, but never expected to see them.

“Can you treat these guys and make it safe to get them out of here?” Aprotelese asked.

“We can,” Duke replied.

Duke and Frost immediately set to work, sterilizing and bandaging up any open wounds they saw and splinting broken bones. The squad had taken a serious beating from whatever group had assaulted them. Hopefully, the stallions were able to take down all of the enemy fighters, but that chance was slim, so they had to move fast.

When the men finished treating the stallions, they pulled up the Nighthawks and assigned them to carry the immobilized stallions so the group could move to the extraction point. It was further ahead, since there was never a guarantee that they could follow the path they came in on, so they didn’t know what was in store. Even that, though, was better than what they knew was now behind them.

Fog, Moon Moon, Mosquito, and Wolf carried the wounded and dead, while Boulder, his remaining fighter, Aprotelese, the men, and Comet took up security and stayed around the casualty group as much as possible. Duke took a front position and Frost took a rear position, giving them the fullest possible range to fire in.

The path forward wasn’t so severe. It was mostly flat, and the few areas that weren’t were easy to navigate on account of the Echo stallions knowing how to walk the area and giving help to the Nighthawks. Duke and Frost kept their eyes open the whole way, watching through the storm and flashes of light for any gryphons who might attack.

After a time, they reached the path that would take them up and out of the valley and back into the light of day. It was a welcome prospect to the entire group, none of whom were keen on being put in a position this treacherous again any time soon.

But they weren’t out yet.

Duke, in the front, had his eyes up when he spotted movement in a flash of lightning.

“Hold!” he shouted, putting his fist up to stop everyone.

Behind him, Boulder looked forward, but only saw dark. “What?” he asked, the tension in his voice so visible one could practically see it parting the rain.

Duke got down to one knee and looked forward. Then, suddenly, something clanked its way down the side of the mountain and landed against his knee. Duke looked down at it and just was able to see it in Boulder’s light; a small, metal canister with a tapered tip on top.

It was releasing a yellowish brown smoke.

Duke stood up immediately and kicked it to the side. “CONTACT!!”

In a blinding explosion of action, lights all around the area turned on, focusing directly on the group of stallions and men. Gryphons stood behind the lights and were rushing in past them to engage the team with swords and knives. The stallions drew if they could or hunkered down if they were carrying bodies.

The men immediately started laying down fire on the assaulting gryphons, cutting down a number of them with controlled bursts of hot lead in the freezing rain, sending them tumbling down the rock face and into the dark, murky abyss.

The bright muzzle flashes and deafening roar of the weapons threw off all of the other fighters, gryphons and stallions, letting the men engage for just a little longer until their magazines ran out of ammunition. More gryphons were attacking, though, and advanced too quickly to give the men time to reload, forcing them to pull their knives and leave the empty magazines in their weapons.

One gryphon tried to jump up into the air and land on Duke, but Duke responded by side-stepping and leaving his knife in the air where he had been standing, letting the gryphon land on it and kill itself. It nearly took the knife out of Duke’s hand as it continued to follow gravity, but Duke held on, and the knife ripped its way out of the gryphon’s side.

Boulder and Comet, behind Duke, had their weapons pulled and joined in the fight at the front of their group, cutting down every gryphon that came at them.

In the back, Frost and Aprotelese were fending off a horde of gryphons trying to attack from below. One of them was foolish enough to throw another gas canister, which Frost just lightly kicked back down in their direction, turning their own weapon against them. He could hear the screams of panic as they tried to escape the gas, and heard some of their talons scrape against the rock as they lost their footing and slid down the mountain.

Some of them were smarter, though, and decided to attack with their melee weapons. Most of them seemed to be interested in attacking Aprotelese, but one of them was intent on killing Frost and gunned for him.

Frost pulled his FE9 and stood in a combat stance as the gryphon came up in front of him. The gryphon never stopped moving, and as it came upon the man, it brought its sword down on him with as much force as it could muster. Frost blocked it by placing the side of the knife blade in his other palm and holding it up. The gryphon’s sword struck the flat side of the steel knife and bounced away due to Frost’s blocking angle, giving Frost a chance to counter.

He brought the knife around with a swift motion of his wrist and slashed across the gryphon’s shoulder, just missing the neck he was aiming for. The gryphon stepped back a bit, unphased, then continued the assault.

When he tried to bring the sword down again, Frost stopped it by shoving his hand up and grabbing the gryphon’s talons, giving him as much control of the sword as the gryphon had. WIth an opportunity ripe for the taking, Frost swung his arm around and went for a stab in the gryphon’s side.

The gryphon blocked the stab, though, using a basic mid-level block, and responded with its own counter toward Frost’s head. Its talons were spread out and, with a murderous look in its eyes, it went to rip Frost’s throat to shreds.

Frost was having none of it. He ducked low to protect his neck, instead taking a set of talons to his face, earning a trio of gashes on his left cheek and one on his right.

Now in a lower position and seeing an open opportunity again, Frost removed his left hand from the gryphon’s sword handle and got a firm grasp on the two flat sides of the blade of his knife. WIth some careful maneuvering, he put the knife on the other side of the gryphon’s arm relative to himself and yanked down. The force proved too much for the gryphon’s body to handle, and the blade went right through the thin arm, severing it.

“AAAHHHHH!” the gryphon screamed in agony.

Frost practically leapt up and thrust the knife through the bottom of the gryphon’s head up, silencing it forever. In the brief moment as the knife plowed through the gryphon’s head, the light seemed to drain from its eyes, and it quickly went limp. Frost let his arm fall and the knife slide out as the gryphon crumpled to the ground and slid away, following the trail of rain and blood to the abyss.

He turned his attention to Aprotelese, who had apparently handled his own situation without too much issue. There were no more gryphons around him, and he was panting from the exertion and excitement of the battle.

“Is everyone alright?!” Aprotelese asked. Everyone affirmed. “Then let’s get out of here!”

Frost covered his face with his hands as the team made its way back up the mountain. When they reached the top, and they were out of the rain and out of danger, he pulled out some of his remaining bandages and started fixing himself up. Duke noticed it, but had to turn his attention to the injured stallions to make sure they were still alright and their conditions hadn’t declined.

By the time all the stallions had been checked and Frost had bandaged himself up, the exfil carriage arrived and everyone hopped onboard, ecstatic to be out of the Southern Gryphon Colonies and all just waiting to get to go home to their loved ones.

Almost all of them, at least.

Frost chuckled as they took off. “Amel is gonna be soooo pissed at me,” he said.

“Eeyup,” Duke said, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes. “And I get to watch all of it unfold from a safe distance.”







> Digging In
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Digging In





The transport carriage flew the team to the San Palomino Air Base as fast as possible. The stallions were in deteriorating condition, despite the men’s medical attention, and Frost had to adjust to avoid having his own blood fall onto the wounds of any of the stallions. It was a pretty bad gash, and Duke planned to immediately deal with it after they landed.

When they hit the runway at the base, the team prepared to run off and carry the stallions to the base hospital. As the door opened, they saw that they had a clear run toward their objective location and bolted for it.

It was getting pretty late at night, so it was dark and only security ponies were around. Most of them ignored the team as they ran through. When they arrived at the hospital, they burst through the doors and ran to the emergency medical area.

There, they handed off the patient’s to the doctors and then made their way out. Before they left, a doctor approached them and told them to wait there for a minute. Duke took the chance to look at Frost’s face.

“Frost, let me see that gash,” Duke said.

Frost faced him and presented his face. “Can’t get enough of my beautiful face?” he asked.

Duke chuckled. “I’ve seen more of it than I care to,” he said, wiping away blood. The gash was really bad. “Besides, I’m not the one who cares about your face.” Frost was about to respond when a doctor came out of a nearby hallway and approached him.

“Hello. I am Doctor Banfield,” the unicorn said, getting the men’s attention. “I see they weren’t exaggerating when they said one of the humans had gotten hurt rescuing our stallions.”

“‘Tis just a flesh wound,” Frost said.

The doctor chuckled. “Even so. I can fix that up real fast, if you don’t mind.”

Frost looked at Duke, who shrugged and stepped aside. “Sure thing, doc,” Frost said.

Frost leaned his face forward and the doctor leaned forward, touching his unicorn horn to Frost’s wound. It stung like hell to have it directly touched, of course, but Frost gritted his teeth through it and stayed still. In a matter of moments, the pain was gone, and Frost touched his forehead. The gash was gone, replaced with three lines of scar tissue on the left side of his face and one on his right.

Frost turned to Duke. “How do I look?” he asked.

Duke put his hand to his chin. “You look like you got attacked by a cat you held too long.”

Frost laughed. “Thanks, boss.”

“Alright, enough joking around,” Aprotelese said. “Let’s get back. I need to write up a report of what happened to give to the Princess.”

“When will she want it?” Duke asked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” Aprotelese said. “Technically, I’m team leader, so I send the report. You don’t actually have to write one because you aren’t Equestrian soldiers.”

“We’re not American soldiers either,” Frost said, earning a confused glance. “We’re American Airmen.” Aprotelese shrugged, and the team made its way out.

The team went back to the runway, where there was another carriage waiting for them to bring them back to Ponyville. They didn’t feel like they were in any particular rush, so they sauntered along, letting themselves have a nice little break from the hustle of the mission.

The ride back was bumpy, but otherwise uneventful. The pegasi dragging the carriage tried to adjust to minimize the turbulence, but they could only do so much. Duke and Frost maneuvered themselves to sit on their sides to spare their spines from the abuse of being tossed up and down in their seats, and the stallions just sat in their usual fashion.

When they finally landed, it was pretty late, about 2230 hours. Stepping off of the carriage, they waved goodbye to the pegasi who brought them home as they took off once again into the dark night sky for parts unknown.

“I don’t envy those guys,” Comet commented.

“DItto,” Moon Moon replied.

“Alright, you guys can start going ahead,” Aprotelese said. “I’ll be quick with the report, try to catch up to you. I wouldn’t want to make you wait.”

“Gotcha,” Frost said.

Aprotelese and the team went their separate ways and the team started its way back to town. It was dark outside, and the sounds of the night-stalkers of Equestria resonated in the wilderness. The men were exhausted, but the sounds were disconcerting, prompting them to keep their hands on their weapons. The stallions didn’t seem to care, really, but being native to this land, they were probably used to it.

When they got back to town, there was a surprising amount of activity for the time of night. Ponies going around, carrying candy and toys, fillies and colts scattered about in their games. As the team passed through in full combat gear, ponies moved out of the way, interested but still intimidated by the warriors.

“Know what, we’ll meet you guys at the house,” Fog said, hopping into the air. “I really need to get to sleep.”

“Alright, see you there,” Duke replied. The Nighthawks flew off, leaving the men to get home on their own.

Duke and Frost continued walking through town, taking in the sights. There was clearly a celebration of some kind going on, though they couldn’t tell what it was celebrating. None of the adults were doing anything specific, as far as the men could tell, and the kids were just playing.

But the game they were playing turned out to be something interesting.

The men were walking along, minding their own business, when a little colt suddenly ran out from an alley right into Frost’s leg with a grunt.

“Whoa, watch out there, little guy,” Frost said as the colt rubbed his nose. “What’re you...” He took a good look at the colt; he was wearing a camouflaged outfit, a helmet, and had a pretend sword. “What’re you doing?”

“We’re playing Rescue Rangers!” the colt said excitedly as a group of colts and fillies came out of the alley he ran out from.

“Rescue Rangers?” Duke said with a chuckle of disbelief.

“Yeah, it’s a game my older brother Rumble taught me. There’s two teams, the Coltnappers and the Rescue Force, and the Rescue Force has to save the coltnapped ponies from the Coltnappers.” The little guy sounded really excited about his game.

Frost chuckled. “Well, I’m sure you guys would make fine Rescue Rangers,” he said, barely containing his laughter. Seriously, what were the odds? “Take it from me.”

“Thanks, mister!” the colt said.

“So where’d you get those outfits?” Duke asked. “They look pretty nice for a simple game.”

“They’re a big part of being hidden and surprising the bad guys,” the colt said. “Rumble said the guy he learned the game from knew all about that because of where he was from.”

Duke raised an eyebrow. “Where was he from?” he asked.

“Really far away,” the colt said. “He wasn’t a pony, either. I don’t know what he was, ‘cuz I wasn’t born yet.”

Outwardly, Duke smiled, but inwardly, he frowned at his curiosity. This sounded like it could have been someone from Earth, but that would be circumstantial at best. So he decided to change the subject.

“So what is this little festival?” he asked.

“We’re celebrating Redemption,” one of the other kids shouted. “From within the darkness, we reckon the Harkness!”

Duke blinked. Frost didn’t quite understand because he hadn’t been looking into it, but Duke understood the significance of the festival. The theme of the festival was redemption, obviously inspired by this Harkness character, telling Duke that something had been important about his presence here. But the pieces didn’t fit together very well at all. He taught them this rescue game, but he had needed redemption? Or did he redeem somepony here?

The whole thing was getting deeper and more complicated with every twist and turn. Unless Harkness was an existing word that had been used to identify him as opposed to a name, which would make things even more ridiculously difficult.

“Very interesting,” Duke said truthfully. Frost looked at him curiously. “Well, we have to go kids. Have fun.”

“See ya, mister!” the first colt said. With that, the men walked on.

“What was that?” Frost asked.

“What?” Duke replied.

“That look, like you knew something really, really important,” Frost clarified. 

“Don’t worry, just a personal revelation,” Duke said. “I’ve been looking into something for a while now and I think it just changed.”

“Ah,” Frost said. “Well, good luck. If you want help, I can see what I can find too.”

“No, I’ll be good,” Duke said. Frost nodded and they walked the rest of the way in silence.

The men made their way home without any other interruptions, just taking in the sights as they went along. This didn’t seem to be the most important festival by any stretch, but there was definitely a reverence for it here. It might have been more of a local celebration.

When they returned home, they saw the lights on and the door ajar. Inside, as they got closer, they could hear chatter that sounded like it was from a group of mares. The Nighthawks weren’t making much noise, probably going to sleep.

Duke and Frost knocked on the door a couple of times before entering, but no one inside heard, so they entered quietly. To the right, in the next room, the lights were on and the voices seemed to start there, so that was the direction they went In the room, they found Amel sitting with Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, and Applejack.

“Hey, ladies,” Duke greeted as he and Frost walked in.

“Good evening, sirs,” Twilight said. “I trust everything went well?”

“It was fine,” Duke replied. “We came back in one piece, so I can’t complain.”

“Wasn’t fun, but the job itself rarely is,” Frost commented, stepping up next to Duke.

“Hello Frost!” Amel greeted. Her face had a hint of redness to it. Duke grinned and decided to just watch.

“Hey Amel,” Frost said.

Amel squinted at his face. “Oh my goodness, what happened to your face?!” she exclaimed suddenly, jumping from her seat and running to Frost to get a closer look.

Frost stopped her just before she bowled him over. “It’s nothing, I’m good.”

“Don’t look like nothin’,” Applejack said. “Ya look like ya got hit pretty good.”

“Nothing he couldn’t handle, the big, strong man he is,” Duke joked. Frost shot him a confused and slightly annoyed look, but the girls all giggled, and Amel just stared at Frost’s face.

“Big man,” Amel repeated. “Why is your face damaged?”

“We had a bit of a skirmish,” Frost explained. “I could take him, though.”

“I just want you to come back to me at the end of your missions,” Amel said, leaning onto Frost.

Frost hugged her, but looked to the girls. “How much has she had?” he mouthed.

“Only a few, she can’t do very much,” Rarity mouthed back.

Frost looked back down. “Let’s get you to bed,” he said and started to pick her up.

Amel resisted. “No, I still have some questions for you.”

Frost sighed. “Okay?” All the while, Duke was silently laughing to himself.

“Will you try not to ruin your face for me?” she asked. Frost nodded. “Good.”

“Is that it?” Frost asked.

“Yes,” Amel replied.

“Great,” Frost replied. He quickly got under her and picked her up, earning a squeak from the mare. “Then let’s get you to sleep.”

“Okay,” Amel said, letting herself be limp on Frost’s shoulder.

“Excuse me while I bring her up,” Frost said. “I’ll be back down shortly.”

Everyone nodded to Frost as he left the room with Amel to bring her upstairs.

Rarity giggled. “She wouldn’t stop talking about him while you were gone,” she said.

“I would bet so,” Duke replied. “Of course, Frost is clueless, so all that gushing isn’t going to get her too far.”

Rarity gasped. “Frost doesn’t know?!”

Duke laughed. “It all flies right over his head,” he said.

“I feel like he should know,” Twilight said.

“We can’t tell him, if that’s what you’re saying,” Rarity replied. “Only Amel can tell him! It has to be perfect! Oh, the star-crossed love between a former slave and the hero who saved her, what a romantic tale!”

“What about me?” Duke asked in mock offense.

“Hm? Oh, I’m sure you fit in there somewhere,” Rarity dismissed. “Ooh, this is simply marvelous! I’ll have to talk to her, teach her how to drop hints, and make herself up, and-”

And Rarity went on for a time, prompting Duke to drown it out with his own thoughts. Twilight Sparkle occasionally threw her opinion into the mix, and Applejack just watched Rarity go nuts in her seat.

After a short time, Frost returned, and everyone went relatively silent. When he walked back into the room, he slowed down and looked around carefully, as everyone was looking at him.

“What?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Rarity said with a poorly hidden smile.

“Riiight,” Frost replied. He leaned to Duke. “Is something up?” he whispered.

“Nah, you’re good,” Duke said dismissively.

The mares all stood. “Well, we hate to intrude,” Twilight said. “Amel had invited us, but since she’s up asleep, we should go.”

“If you want to,” Duke said with a shrug. “Though I have a few questions."

“Shoot,” Applejack said.

Before Duke went on, Frost tapped his shoulder. “I’m gonna hit the sack,” he said. “See you in the morning.”

“See you,” Duke replied. Frost left. “Anyway, my question. What is this festival exactly?”

The mares exchanged a brief glance before answering, giving Duke some cause for suspicion. Twilight Sparkle stepped forward to answer his question, and from the way she walked, he could already tell that she wouldn’t be giving him a straight answer.

“It’s a festival about redemption,” she said, rehashing what Duke heard earlier. “Sometimes, a pony falls into the darkness and lets evil take them over. They do bad things. But sometimes, they come back up to the light. This has been something we have done to our most powerful enemies several times, and it has always had a wonderful result. We want to celebrate that.”

“Sounds good,” Duke said. “What kinds of events?”

“Uhh,” Twilight said, faltering. “We reformed Princess Luna a long time ago. That was pretty significant. I was able to reform Trixie, an old rival. Rarity convinced a young mare to do the right thing and leave a dishonest boss.”

“She really was a brute of the fashion industry,” Rarity said.

“Hmm, yes, yes,” Duke said. “Any other individuals that I could relate to?”

“Well,” Twilight said. “I don’t think so.”

“I might know one,” Rarity said. “Though I doubt you two are that similar.”

“Try me,” Duke said.

“He was a man, like yourself. I had him living in my basement, since he was sleeping in a ditch outside town at before,” Rarity began. “He had a difficult time in your world. When he was brought here-”

“Brought?” Duke asked, befuddled.

“Brought,” Rarity confirmed. “When he was brought here, he was on the brink of suicide. For a long time, too. We nursed him back to health as much as we could, but ultimately, it was up to him to climb out of the darkness he fell into. And he did. It is probably one of the most inspiring stories of our time.”

“I’d love to hear it,” Duke said.

Rarity looked up at a clock on the wall. “I’m afraid I don’t have the time. It really must be one in one sitting to make sense. The story is very long, and not the most pleasant one we can tell.”

“I see,” Duke said, disappointed. “Well, another time.”

“Another time,” Rarity said. She and the others made for the door. “Perhaps we will see you around town.”

“Yeah. Good night,” Duke said.

The mares left Duke alone on the bottom floor of the house. He decided to wait for Aprotelese to return before shutting the lights off, so he went to the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge. Throwing his legs onto the table and kicking back, he let himself relax a bit from a hard day’s work and a frustratingly close call to getting the answer he had been looking for.

He couldn’t even begin to comprehend how complex this whole thing was getting, and there was not a doubt in his mind that it would only get worse from here.





> Rainbows Over Their Heads
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Rainbows Over Their Heads





Aprotelese returned late that night, but Duke had stayed up and waited for him to make sure he got back okay on his own. When he walked back into the house, the two merely nodded to each other and Aprotelese quickly went to bed. They didn’t need to exchange words for Aprotelese to show his appreciation for Duke’s staying up and waiting.

When Duke went back upstairs, he could hear sound from several rooms and wondered how everyone else was sleeping. Duke knew all too well how it felt to be unable to sleep and only hoped that the others weren't experiencing that problem. He knew a lot of guys who had it all the time, and it wasn't a fun thing to live with.

When Duke made it to his room, he stripped down and lay in bed happily. He was ready for a good night’s rest. But as he closed his eyes, he heard his door creak open and light hoof clops against the floor enter slowly.

Without looking to the door and with a long sigh, Duke shook his head. “You went to the wrong room.” The steps stopped for a moment, then slowly began to recede back out of the room. Before they were gone, though, Duke made one last comment. “We all need to rest. Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow.” With that, the not-so-stealth pony left and went back to bed.

Alone at last, Duke rolled onto his side and looked out his window. He could see the moon bright in the sky, full and powerful, yanking on the tides of this world and giving light to the dark. Below, the Everfree Forest made its spooky noises and showed its glowing pairs of eyes in the dark. It was a little disconcerting, being so close to such a mysterious area, but Duke knew it had to be at least a little bit safe.

Gently, he closed his tired eyes and drifted off into sleep, where he would relive events of the past, see possible events of the future, and cross the bizarre paths of the mind to see them all.



The next morning, Frost was the first one up, rousing himself with a loud yawn and a long, drawn-out stretch. He threw his feet over the side of the bed and hopped out, dropping to the floor to do some morning pushups and situps to start his day off right. Something felt right about today, even if he couldn’t quite place it.

Once he finished that, he threw on his clothes and went downstairs to make himself some breakfast. It was pleasant, working in the kitchen alone and quiet in the morning. The sun was rising, the birds were chirping, and the smell of mediocre-cooked food reigned supreme.

When Frost had everything finished up, he sat gently in one of the chairs and started eating. There was such peace at this time of the day; nothing could ruin it.

Or so Frost thought.

A large THUD sounded from above, followed soon after by heavy hoofsteps. They slowly sounded like they were making a heading for the stairs. When they got there, the speed of the pony’s movement slowed dramatically. Taking the stairs slowly was probably a wise decision.

Frost watched the doorway as he ate to see Amel walk in. Her mane was disheveled, she had heavy bags under her eyes, and she generally looked hungover. Frost chuckled as she walked in, seemingly not noticing him at the table, and went to the fridge to get water. When she poured a glass for herself out of a pitcher in the fridge, she turned and saw Frost and had a mild start.

“You, uhh... heh, you feelin’ okay?” Frost asked, still chuckling.

Amel groaned, eliciting more chuckles from her human friend. “No,” Amel said. She took a seat next to Frost.

Frost patted her lightly on the head. “Well, that’s a hangover. I’m guessing you had fun with the ladies last night?”

Amel nodded. “It was fun.”

“Good,” Frost said. “And now you’ve learned that you have to pace your drinking, or this happens.”

“This is from the wine?” Amel asked, genuinely surprised. “I don’t know if I want to drink this again...”

“I guess you’ve never been drunk before?” Frost asked. “Well, as long as you take it slow and reasonably, you’re fine. I learned it in college. Beer has the same effect, if you drink enough.”

Amel looked at Frost with shock. “You drink this all the time!” she said.

Frost shook his head. “Not all the time. Gotta keep my head straight, after all.”

Amel leaned herself on Frost’s shoulder. “Can I make it go away?” she asked.

Frost put his arm around the silly mare. “‘Fraid not. You just gotta deal with it for a bit.” Ame groaned again and Frost patted her head.

Frost continued eating his breakfast while Amel leaned on him. She rubbed her face into his shoulder as if she might meld into him and her headache would be taken away. Frost felt sorry for her, understanding the hell of a first hangover, and scratched her head to make her feel a little better. When he started doing that, Amel calmed down a little and just leaned on him, happy to be where she was.

When Frost finished eating, he gently pushed Amel off and had her lay her head on the table, drawing light protests from the mare. Frost took care of his dishes and put everything away, then went and picked Amel up to carry her to the couch in the other room. She was heavy in his arms, totally limp, and when he sat down with her in a fireman’s carry, she just stayed on his lap, unmoving. Frost didn’t move her right away, though, content to sit there and scratch her head.

Together, they sat there quietly, glad to have a moment of peace. Amel was already looking a little better, thankfully, so Frost thought about what there would be to do for the day. There was certainly plenty in the town, but he was feeling like doing something else, something simpler.

“Anything on the agenda for today?” Frost asked.

Amel shook her head. “Nothing particular,” she said. “Why?”

“I’m trying to think of what I want to do today,” Frost explained.

Amel lifted her head. “Well, the ladies were telling me last night about a lovely place called Rainbow Falls,” Amel said. “It’s a nice place for a couple of ponies to visit.” She leaned into him as she spoke, trying to get across the point that if she went somewhere, she wanted to go there.

“Interesting,” Frost said. “Any idea how to get there?”

“It would be easiest to get somepony to take us there,” Amel replied.

“Well, that sounds like a fine idea then!” Frost said. “If you will please get up, we can get going immediately.”

“Going somewhere?”

The question was unexpected, mainly because it came from Duke on the stairs, startling Amel and drawing Frost’s eyes in that direction.

“Yeah. Some place called Rainbow Falls,” Frost said. “Sounds pretty cool.”

Duke stroked his chin. “Well, I got nothing else going on. I’ll tag along.”

“Cool,” Frost said. Frost got up and went to the kitchen for a moment, leaving Duke and Amel alone together. Amel shot a glare at Duke, like she thought she could stab him with her eyes, and Duke shot a knowing look back.

I know what you’re planning, Duke said with his eyes. Amel harumphed at him, got up, and followed Frost into the kitchen.

Duke followed soon after to find Frost getting a quick drink of water before they headed out. While he did that, Duke made himself a sandwich, then, realizing they would need to bring food, told the others to wait while he made more. Amel was about to offer to help, but Frost stopped her and did it himself. When everything was ready, they set out for the edge of town to find a way to get to Rainbow Falls.

As usual, it was still early, and very few ponies were out and about. The trio walked aimlessly through the town trying to think of where they could get transportation to their location and decided to try and check Town Hall. When they arrived, it was just opening up, occupied by yawning ponies and grumbling officials.

“Hello?” Frost called as he and the other two walked in.

Up ahead, a reception mare saw them and raised her head instantly. “Oh, hello! We weren’t expecting anyone this early.” She sounded like she had been jolted awake. “Is there any problem?”

“No problem, ma’am,” Duke said. “We were just wondering if we could get transportation to this place, Rainbow Falls?”

The mare thought for a moment. “I’m sorry, but there’s no actual transportation that is run by the town. I’m trying to think of ponies who might be willing to take you up there...” The trio waited while the mare tried to think of who would get up this early to take them up. “For the most part, the ponies who would are asleep. Pegasi who could carry you there.”

“Hmm,” Frost replied.

“Is there anypony who can help?” Amel asked with a pout.

“I’m sure there is,” the mare replied. “Try checking with the ponies who are already awake. The Apple Family could help, or the guards, if you can get Princess Twilight’s okay.”

Duke looked to Frost, who looked back, and they both nodded. “Thank you, ma’am,” Duke said. The receptionist mare waved to the trio as they made their way out.

“So what’s the plan?” Frost asked. “Guards?”

“Nah, I don’t wanna bother the guards for a basic trip,” Duke said. “Let’s see if we can get Big Macintosh to take us.”

“Sounds fair to me,” Frost replied.

The trio happily went along their way to the Apple homestead, but Frost and Amel were unaware of the real reason that Duke wanted to get Big Macintosh to take them. He would be able to answer the questions that Duke had about this other human. He had already refused to answer them before, but if Duke played his cards right, he would be able to make the big workhorse stumble and let out something that he didn’t mean to.

They walked all the way to Sweet Apple Acres to find the area where they would have to search much larger than they could efficiently search. Ordinarily, Duke would axe the trip and suggest they do it another day, but he was more determined than either of his companions to see this come to fruition.

Frost whistled. “That’s a lot of land to scour,” he said.

“It is,” Duke replied. “I suggest we split up.”

“I don’t really know how to find my way in such a big farm,” Amel said.

“Stick with Frost. His scent shouldn’t be too hard for you to follow,” Duke said, wiggling his eyebrows at Amel and drawing a blush from her.

“Thanks boss,” Frost said, thinking it was a joke about his smell.

The group split up and started searching the farm without going to the farmhouse first to ask where they could find an Apple pony. Looking back, that would have been a much better idea, but they weren’t in a rush, and the orchard was a relaxing place. Duke went off to the right to start searching while Frost and Amel went left.

Frost and Amel walked slowly through the orchard, admiring the bountiful trees that covered the farmland. The vastness of the orchard and the massive amount of fresh food was a wonder to both, but especially Amel, who had spent most of her life in a city where almost all the food was imported, and it fascinated her.

“This is incredible,” she said.

“It really is,” Frost said. “You know, I had considered being a farmer before joining the Air Force.”

“Really?” Amel asked.

“Yeah. It really appealed to me,” Frost said. “Still does. When I retire, I think I could take this up as a lifestyle. Not commercial, though, just enough for myself and anyone living with me.”

“Would you let me live with you?” Amel asked.

“Totally,” Frost replied without hesitation. Amel squee’d with joy at the response, drawing a smile and laugh from her human friend.

“What would I do?” she asked, letting her fantasy take over her thoughts.

“Whatever you wanted,” Frost said. “You could work the fields with me. Or you could build barns and houses. You could cook or whatever else there is to do in the house. You’d be able to choose what to do with yourself.”

Amel laughed and looked up at Frost gently. “I would happily live with you forever,” she said.

“And I’d always have you with me,” Frost said, rubbing the top of Amel’s head. She pressed against his hand with her head affectionately as they continued walking.

The two continued their search a little while longer, then decided to hit the house to see if they would have any better luck there.



Duke had his hands in his pockets as he strolled through the orchard on the lookout for anypony, though he specifically wanted Big Macintosh. As he walked, he noticed that there seemed to be a trend of appleless trees in one direction. That had to be the way to find somepony, so Duke kept on walking in that direction.

Eventually, he started hearing the occasional THUNK of hooves against bark and knew immediately where to go. Following the noise, he walked along the empty trees until he found something close to what he was looking for; Apple Bloom.

She was rearing up to kick a tree again as Duke approached, though she didn’t notice him. Duke waited for her to thrust her hooves against the tree and bring the apples crashing to the ground before greeting her.

“Hey there,” Duke said.

Apple Bloom looked in his direction and her face brightened up like a light bulb. “Hey Duke!” she said, running over and giving him a hug. “What brings y’all here so early?”

“Well, my partner and Amel and I are looking for somepony who can take us up to Rainbow Falls,” Duke explained. “I was wondering if your brother was around?”

“Nah, sorry. He and Fluttershy’re on a trip to Manehattan.” Apple Bloom looked apologetic as she spoke.

Duke clicked his tongue. “Ah, dang. Oh well, we can probably find somepony else to help.”

“We can ask Applejack,” Apple Bloom suggested. “She’s still in the house is ya wanna catch her.”

“Sure, thanks,” Duke said. He looked around; there was no actual path back to the house. “Uhh, which way?”

Apple Bloom picked up some apple buckets and threw them over her back. “Ah gotta bring these back, so Ah’ll just take ya.”

“Thank you,” Duke said. Then, without asking, he grabbed two of the buckets from Apple Bloom’s back. “You don’t have to carry all that weight.”

“Thanks, but Ah can take it,” Apple Bloom said. 

“True, but no medical professional wants to see an ex-patient overexert herself,” Duke said, refusing to give the buckets back. Apple Bloom smiled at him and they started walking.

“So how long have you been a doctor?” Apple Bloom asked.

Duke shook his head. “I’m not an actual doctor,” Duke said. “I’m highly trained in Rescue and Recovery, Combat Medicine, Emergency First Aid, and general injury treatment.”

“... Sounds like a doctor if ya ask me,” Apple Bloom said.

Duke shrugged and grinned. “Well, y’know. Little differences. And anyhow, I’ve been doing this for years now. And I hope to continue doing it to fulfill  twenty or more year career.”

“Y’all plan on doin’ this fer more than twenty years!?” Apple Bloom asked, amazed. “Y’all’re really something, ain’tcha?”

“I like to think so,” Duke said. “I’ll do this as long as I can.”

Apple Bloom bumped his leg with her side. “Y’all seem like a real good guy,” she said. Then a thought struck her. “Wait, won’t you be kinda old when you’re that far into your career?”

“Yeah, unfortunately,” Duke said.

“So how old are you now?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I’m thirty,” Duke said. “The big three-o.”

Apple Bloom chuckled. “Y’all’re an old man Ah guess,” she said. “Ah’m twenty-five.”

Duke raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, not long from now, YOU will be an old mare,” he said jokingly. “Enjoy your youth while you can, little lady.”

Apple Bloom laughed. “Ah do mah best.”

The two kept on walking and chatting about one thing or another. The walk was pretty long, so it was a good way to pass the time. After some time, when the house came into view, they could both see Frost and Amel talking to Applejack in front of the house, seemingly having a good time. Duke didn’t want to miss anything important, so he sped up, prompting Apple Bloom to keep up with him as well.

As the two got closer, the group in front of the house noticed them and looked in their direction, waiting for them to get within hearing distance. When they were close enough, the conversation resumed. They had been talking about the trip to Rainbow Falls.

“So you’ll take us?” Frost asked.

“Heck yeah, Ah’ll take ya,” Applejack said. “Rainbow Falls is a place everypony should visit. Picnics, sightseeing, honeymoons and dates, it’s great.” Duke heard an emphasis on that last one and saw Amel’s excitement at the prospect in her eyes. Then Applejack looked at her sister walking with Duke. “AB, maybe y’all should go too, since it’s been so long.”

Apple Bloom frowned at her sister. “Ah would, but Ah got YOUR chores to do.”

Applejack laughed. “Maybe y’all shouldn’t make bets that ya can’t win, then!” Duke chuckled at Apple Bloom’s discontent over the situation she clearly got herself into.

“Well, thank you very much for taking us up,” Duke said. “When can we head out?”

“We can head out as soon as Ah get mah cart,” Applejack said. “If y’all’ll wait at the gate to the farm, Ah’ll meet ya there.”

“Sure, sounds good,” Frost said. He, Duke, and Amel got walking to the front gate to wait for their ride.

After a short time, Applejack arrived with a cart towed behind her to take the group up to Rainbow Falls. The trio climbed onto the back, Duke, then Amel, then Frost, and set off.

Getting through town didn’t take much time, and before they knew it, they were on the trail up a mountain to get to the Falls. Frost and Amel were in the back, taking in the nature around the trail around them, while Duke sat immediately behind Applejack. He had his legs hanging out over the front edge of the cart’s wall, though avoided getting in Applejack’s way.

“So,” Duke started with a slap of his lap. “How’s everything?”

Applejack looked back and raised an eyebrow at him. “Good...” she said. “How’s your, uhh... mission, going?”

“As well as it can,” Duke said slightly begrudgingly. “Finding this guy isn’t easy. And you’d think finding one of the three humans in this world wouldn’t be that hard.”

“Ha, yeah, sure seems that way,” Applejack replied. “Y’all’re pretty distinct, ya are. Always have been.”

“You think so?” Duke asked.

“Hey yeah, why, Ah remember when...” Duke blinked as Applejack spoke. “Told us all about his home way far away. Ain’t like nothing we got here, no sir.”

“Nope, home is a pretty unique place,” Duke replied. “What did you say his name was?”

“Uhh, what? Ah didn’t,” Applejack said nervously, causing Duke to frown. “Anywho, he was a good guy when we got to know him. And Ah’d love to visit that home of yours some day.”

“You’d love it, I can tell,” Duke said. “All kinds of people, some we know and some we don’t. It’s all about finding the people we want to find.”

“Ain’t that always the truth,” Applejack said.

Duke decided to give it a little break and check out what Frost and Amel were doing in the back, make sure nothing got too crazy. When he looked, he saw Frost pointing at one thing or another to the sides of the cart, and Amel cozying up next to him. She was hugging his other arm with her forelegs, and rather than look where Frost was pointing, she was looking up at him.

“Hey you crazy kids, this is a family ride,” Duke shouted.

Frost turned his attention to Duke with a raised eyebrow, and Amel, face now red from the embarrassment of being called out, let go of Frost’s arm and glared at Duke. Applejack could feel it from where she was and started laughing, making Amel’s face even more red.

“Well, there’s no blood family relations here,” Frost said, still missing the comment’s true nature.

“That’s my point exactly,” Duke said, turning back to Applejack. Frost looked at Amel, who quickly turned her head to look away and hide her face.

“Them crazy kids,” Applejack said.

“Them crazy kids are gonna be the death of me,” Duke said, chuckling and shaking his head.

The rest of the ride went with much eventfulness, though Duke still threw in the occasional comment when he saw Amel trying to close the distance between herself and Frost. It wasn’t so much that he was against the relationship; no, the whole idea was bothering him less and less, and he couldn’t explain why. It was so fun, embarrassing Amel about Frost, and he couldn’t wait for the day Frost found out. What a day that would be.

The cart came to a stop.

“All hands, get your butts off mah cart!” Applejack announced. “We’re here!”

The trio hopped off the cart and advanced a short ways up the road. What they saw did nothing short of take their collective breath away; liquid rainbows, flowing like rivers, falling from clouds and landing on the ground in a display of physical prismatic poetry. Duke took a few steps forward and stopped to just look. He was joined by Frost and Amel, and all of them were too struck for words.

“Ah’m heading back!” Applejack shouted. “The way back ain’t too bad, so have fun!” Applejack left without waiting for a response.

Frost cleared his throat. “This... this is something.”

“Why would Applejack want to come to America if this kind of thing exists here?” Duke wondered aloud. “This is beautiful.”

Frost walked up to where the rainbows went to the ground and knelt beside the rainbow lake. Amel followed him and sat there, looking down at it as if she expected to see a reflection. They were only greeted by swirling colors and one very insatiable curiosity.

Frost stuck his fingers in the rainbow and brought them to his lips.

“Ow!” he shouted, jumping up and dancing about. “HOT HOT HOT HOT!”

Amel was shocked at first, but when she saw that Frost wasn’t any real danger, she started giggling at his silly dancing about. When Frost’s tongue was cleared of the offending liquid, he noticed her giggling and started to chuckle himself. Duke, too, found himself in a cheerful mood at Frost’s dismay over the unexpected taste of the rainbow fluid.

When Frost went and sat down next to Amel by the lakeside, Duke decided to leave them be for a time and walked off to explore the area on his own. He could see why Amel wanted to bring Frost here when she heard about it; it was a great place to spend time peacefully with someone you care about.

Duke heard the pair laughing and speaking gently in the distance as he let his mind wander to other things. He didn’t want to think about what needed to be done at the moment, and instead, thought about home. But that still brought up an important question.

How were they going to get home?







> Long Road Ahead
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Long Road Ahead






The trip to Rainbow Falls had been lovely. It was a fantastic little trip for the men to wind down and relax in the quiet of nature and just be calm. Frost had a fun time hanging out with Amel, who naturally had a most enjoyable time with Frost. Duke found his thoughts going to some complicated places, but opted not to remain on those subjects and did some introspection instead.

Later that evening, they made their way back down the mountain, which wasn’t too difficult. Going up would have been a pain, to be sure, but that was an uphill journey. By the time they arrived back in town, it had gotten pretty dark outside, and they went straight to the house.

The next morning, the men and Amel were the last to rouse from their sleep. Aprotelese and his Nighthawks were sitting around the table eating a hearty breakfast, discussing matters of significance and matters of nothingness. It varied based on who was talking.

When Duke finally awoke, about half an hour later than usual, he came down the stairs quietly to get himself a cup of coffee to start the day off right. When he came down the steps and into the kitchen, he greeted his fellow warriors with a nod and a small wave, then went about his morning business.

Not too long after Duke came down, Frost and Amel came walking down the stairs to a silently entertained crowd. They weren’t going to start making jokes or anything like that because they had caught on to what was happening. It was just too hilarious that Frost was so clueless.

“So how was your trip yesterday?” Aprotelese asked. “See anything cool?”

Frost smiled and nodded slowly. “Yeah, saw the rainbows falling off the clouds onto the ground. I swear, if I hadn’t already accepted where we are, I would’ve assumed someone spiked my drink or something.”

The Nighthawks all laughed. “You humans live in the plainest world,” Moon Moon commented.

Duke shrugged. “At the very least, I understand what’s usually going on around me. How much do you guys even understand about this world?”

“Almost nothing, honestly,” Mosquito answered with an indifferent wave of his hoof. “But we accepted that thousands of years ago because of how ludicrous some of what we deal with is.”

“Huh,” Frost said. “Maybe if our world was a little more incomprehensible, we wouldn’t be as violent.”

Duke smirked. “Don’t bet on that, Frost,” he said.

The two men and Amel sat at the table with the Nighthawks to share breakfast with their team. For the most part, it was silent, with someone bringing up one thing or another every now and again. No one seemed too in the mood for conversation; it was just one of those mornings. It felt like there was something more important they had to do.

Aprotelese decided to break the silence.

“So, Amel,” he said, looking straight her way. “What did you think of Rainbow Falls? Not quite like Saddle Arabia’s natural wonders, the?”

Amel shook her head, though she didn’t seem to care. “I never saw any of them in person, only paintings in my master’s home,” she explained. “Once I was in Akhal Teke, I didn’t leave except for one or two occasions.”

“Oh,” Aprotelese said. Seeking to avoid rekindling bad memories, he switched the subject. “How do you like the town?” Now, Frost was watching him, but the man kept silent.

“I like it very much,” Amel said with a new smile. Aprotelese showed clear signs of relief. “Rarity and Princess Twilight are so polite. And Fluttershy, too. Pinkie Pie is a bit crazy, I think, and the pegasus Rainbow Dash is not as nice, but they’re still okay.”

“Do you just hang out with them any time?” Aprotelese asked. “That’s pretty impressive.”

“I don’t know why you would say that,” Amel said. “But we spend time together when we aren’t too busy. I always have someone to be with when the men are gone.”

“Of course, it’s hard to replace Frost,” Duke joked, poking his partner in the shoulder with his elbow. “I mean, look at his dashing face and at how clever and smart he is.” Frost sensed a joke pointed at him and decided it was time for a battle of wit.

“Only beat out by my ability to outrun, outswim, and outlift my partner,” he verbally jabbed.

“And yet, I’m a mechanical engineer from the Air Force Academy, and you’re a history major from some silly school in New York,” Duke came back.

“Yeah, yeah,” Frost said.

Amel was giggling at the silly humans next to her. She had been wondering ever since she got to know them how they could be so silly at home, yet they were incredibly well-trained medical specialists and warriors elsewhere. They were so talented at keeping their work at work and not bringing it home. She really liked that about them.

“So you both went to college, huh?” Aprotelese asked. The men nodded. “I went to college too, studied Pegasus history. Good to know I’m not the only guy who values the past.” Aprotelese raised his glass to Frost, who raised his in return.

Duke shook his head in mock disappointment. “I swear, you guys just can’t stay out of the past. Look to the future; that’s where our lives are going.”

“Gotta understand the past in order to understand the future,” Frost argued.

Duke smiled and nodded silently, but his thoughts continued. I suppose I’ve know the truth of that lesson lately, he thought. Maybe Frost would have better luck than him, since he might have an eye for this sort of thing. “Hey, Frost, do you think you could help me out with-”

Before he could finish his sentence, a green fireball suddenly exploded to life in the middle of the table. Everyone was taken completely off guard by the abrupt explosion that came out of nowhere and reeled back from the table, expecting pain to follow. Pain did follow, when they all hit the ground, but nothing came from where the fireball had come to life.

“What the heck was that?!” Frost asked from the ground. While they fell, Amel had grabbed his arm and fallen with him, and by the time he was getting up, he had her safely behind him.

“Not a clue, but I don’t think anything is on fire,” Duke said as he got up. He looked at the center of the table, and where there was previously nothing but air, there was now a rolled up piece of paper. “But there is this thing here...”

Aprotelese was up now as well. “Oh, a message from one of the princesses,” he said. “Must be important, if she sent it like this.” He opened it up and began to read.

Dear Duke and Frost,

This is from Princess Luna. We appear to have a delicate situation in our northern ally, the Crystal Empire, that is of imminent significance. We were not given all the details due to the sensitive nature of the issue, but they are in need of medical specialists and individuals trained in dealing with highly hazardous materials. Word of your abilities appears to have spread, and so they requested you specifically.

The Crystal Empire is to the north of here, a very cold, icy wasteland, for the most part. Bring only what you absolutely must use. Anything else can be provided to you once you are up there.

Amel stood up and had an excited look on her face. “Oh my, the Crystal Empire?! The things I have heard about that place! That was where the evil king Sombra was defeated once and for all by the elements of harmony, and where the Crystal Heart is kept safe! And the city is supposed to be gorgeous!” She was hopping up and down a little bit with every other word out of her mouth.

“Sounds like you could enjoy yourself,” Frost said.

Aprotelese cut in, though, with some bad news. “Ah, sorry, but the letter isn’t done.”

“Please continue,” Duke said. Aprotelese cleared his throat.

	Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor have requested that only military personnel be sent to the Crystal Empire at this time. The situation is rather volatile, and the presence of foreign civilians presents more risk than reward at this time.

When Amel heard this, her heart sank, and she let her rump fall to the floor with a pouty face.

We are not sure how long you will be needed, nor are we sure what exactly you are needed for. You can, of course, deny the request, or if you deem it to be beyond your capabilities, leave once you find out what the problem is. No one can make you do anything. If you have anything you want to ask about the Crystal Empire, stop by one of the elements’ homes. They have been there numerous times and will be able to help you.

For the Nighthawks; You are needed for a situation in Zebrastan. Their forces are having difficulty dealing with an insurgency, possibly funded and trained by Gryphons. Your next deployment will be to train them and go on missions to deal with the source of their expertise.

Men, your train leaves at noon for the Crystal Empire. Nighthawks, you are to report to the airstrip as soon as you are ready to leave.

-PL

“Well, that’s all she wrote,” Aprotelese said.

“This isn’t what I like to hear,” Duke said.

“This isn’t what I like to not hear, is more like it,” Frost said. “But she said we could deny them once we learned what is actually happening.”

“True,” Duke said. “I just don’t want to go all that way for nothing.”

Frost shrugged. “At least we may learn something.” Duke could only hope.

Amel was even more unhappy than either of her men, though. “This isn’t fair!” she whined. “Why can’t I go too? I would have loved to have seen the Crystal Empire...”

Frost patted her back and consoled her. “It’s for your own safety. They wouldn’t ban travellers otherwise.”

“It’s bad for the tourism industry,” Duke added. “They wouldn’t ban travellers unless the situation was a serious, imminent threat to security.”

“I still want to go,” Amel grumbled. Frost scratched behind her ear, but she wasn’t any happier. “What will I do while all of you are gone? The house is going to be so empty. I don’t want to be all alone...”

“We can stay in contact,” Frost said. “I’m sure it won’t be hard.”

“Actually, it should be pretty easy,” Mosquito commented from the sideline. “There’s a magical item called a scry mirror. It lets you talk face to face with a anypony with another scry mirror, so long as there’s nothing preventing communications, like a spell.”

“Really?” Frost replied.

“Yeah,” Mosquito replied. “The Crystal Empire probably has tons, and I’d bet that Princess Twilight will let Amel have one.”

“Would she?!” Amel asked excitedly. “That would be wonderful! We can talk whenever you’re available, Frost!” She grabbed her human in a big hug while he smiled at her glee.

“Sure thing,” Frost said. “But I want you to promise me something.”

“What?” Amel asked curiously.

“Make sure you do stuff during the day. We can talk at night when I’m around, but I want you to hang out with other ponies here, like Miss Rarity,” Frost said.

Amel nodded. “Okay.”

Duke clapped his hands together. “Alright, now that that’s settled, let’s all get ready to do our jobs.” With a single cheer of agreement from the relevant crowd, everyone scattered to get their things ready as soon as possible for their coming trips.

Duke and Frost went to their rooms and gathered everything they thought they needed quickly, brought it downstairs, and then started going through it more thoroughly to make sure they actually needed certain items. They decided to leave any of their explosives at home, like their remaining frags and flashbang grenades that they still hadn’t used, and other things like Nightvision that wouldn’t prove useful in a whiteout snowstorm or a cave or house where a flashlight would work fine. Helmets and regular goggles were a must, as was armor and weapons, and especially medical gear.

Amel sat by and watched while the men worked through their gear. She looked on curiously as they decided what was important and what wasn’t, eventually getting up and standing next to Frost as he worked. Without realizing it, Frost would hand her things to set aside, and she would either give up immediately on understanding it or, in the case of the Nightvision, put it on for a moment to see how it felt.

She set aside the goggles and sat back down. “So we don’t know how long you will be gone?” she asked. 

“No idea,” Duke replied.

“Okay,” Amel said sadly. “Do you think you’ll get to see the city?”

“Not much, if this is as bad as it sounds,” Duke replied again.

“We’ll see it on the way in,” Frost said. “I’ll tell you about it when we get a chance to talk.”

“When should we talk?” Amel asked.

Frost stopped for a moment to think. “Like I said, night is best. If you can, get a smallish mirror that you can carry for a bit. I’ll have to leave mine wherever we’re staying, so I’ll try to call you.”

Amel smiled happily. “Yay!”

Duke got up and stretched his back. “Well, I’m finished. We have a bit of time before we need to catch the train, so I’m gonna keep going it over a bit and try to write up anything I think we’ll need.”

“Solid,” Frost said.

For the next several hours, the men mainly did preparations for the trip, curious as to what they would find up north and just how serious this situation was.



When the time came to get going, the men packed up their things and headed out. Amel walked with them to the train station so she could say goodbye one last time when they got there.

The men decided to walk around the perimeter of the town while carrying their gear to keep the mission on the downlow and avoid interacting with the townsponies. If the situation was as bad as it seemed, it would be better to keep what they where they were going a secret. Anyone with family or friends up there might want to know things that the men couldn’t tell them.

On the edge of town, only a few ponies were active, but those who were knew the men instantly.

“Hey!” a scratchy voice called from above.

The trio looked up and saw Rainbow Dash descending upon them from a cloud up high, looking determined and eager for some unknown objective. When she landed, she brushed herself off and stood proudly with her chest pushed out and an arrogant smile.

“Hey,” Duke replied.

“What are you guys doing?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Heading out for some action?”

“Just going out of the area for a bit,” Frost replied. “We’ll be back eventually.”

“Heh, secret stuff, huh? I won’t ask,” Rainbow said. “I’m guessing you’re in a hurry, so let’s get you to..?”

“The train,” Duke finished.

“To the train, then,” Rainbow said.

The group walked along with Rainbow Dash bragging about her accomplishment all along the way. To any pony they may have seemed impressive, but the men had nothing to compare her to, so they just nodded along as she talked about herself. Amel listened half-heartedly, with a look on her face that just screamed Not again.

“So what kinds of badassery do you guys like to do?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Just the normal special ops stuff,” Frost answered. “Most of what we do is in the area of combat trauma or first response.”

“Saving ponies, I like it,” Rainbow said.

“That’s what we do,” Duke answered. The he thought of something. “What other badasses have you met from far away places?”

“Plenty,” Rainbow Dash said. “But only a few have been tougher than me.”

“I have trouble believing that,” Duke said, baiting the mare in. “Who?”

“Well, there was one guy-” Rainbow Dash seemed to catch herself mid-sentence, stumbled, then went on. “He was tough. Took on a lot of bad guys. None were as magical or powerful as the ones we’ve battled, but I couldn’t have beaten them. They were a different kind of evil.”

“Different kind of evil?” Duke asked.

“Not exactly what Twilight or me or my friends deal with,” Rainbow said.

“What can you tell me about him?” Duke asked.

“Not much, really,” Rainbow said. She was getting a suspicious look on her face. “I don’t think it would help much anyhow. You probably aren’t going to find much of him here anyway.”

The group continued onto the train station and waited for the train to arrive. Duke still tried to get answers out of Rainbow Dash, figuring she had to know something about the other human, but she was stubbornly not letting anything slip. Frost and Amel had their own conversation going and didn’t notice Duke’s attempts to learn the local history.

In the distance, the train blew its horn and the men could see its front light. At the same time, as if on cue, the other ponies from the Council showed up and ran over.

“Wait, we have to say bye-bye first!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she ran.

The group at the train station looked toward the running mares and waited for them to get to them. The train was rapidly approaching, so there wasn’t a lot of time for talking.

The ponies stopped at the platform to catch their breath. 

“We... we thought we wouldn’t make it,” Applejack said.

“We wanted to wish you luck on your journey,” Princess Twilight said. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but we know it’s important.”

“Thank you, everypony,” Duke said. “Your well-wishes mean a lot.”

“Thank you,” Frost said as well.

“You gotta promise to come back!” Pinkie Pie shouted, running up to Duke. “I still need to throw you guys so many parties!” She had her nose right in Duke’s face.

Duke set his fingertip on her snout and pushed her back down. “We’ll be back,” he reassured her.

“Yeah, we’re gonna be fine,” Frost said.

“You said that last time,” Amel complained. “Look at your face!”

“Come on, it’s not that bad,” Frost said. “What’s it say about a person if they go through life without getting a little bit bruised up?”

“Amen to that,” Rainbow Dash and Applejack both said.

“Anyway, I promise, I’ll be back, and I won’t even get hurt this time,” Frost said, kneeling down to look Amel in the eyes. Behind him, the six elements of harmony were squee’ing silently. “I promise you.”

Amel blushed and looked down. “Okay,” she said. When Frost turned around, the mares quickly regained their composure and looked for something else to talk about.

Rarity looked at Duke’s uniform and saw the American Flag patch. “Is that your nation’s flag?” she asked, already understanding the symbol.

“Yes, it is,” Duke answered.

“It’s very nice,” Rarity replied. “While you’re gone, I should make a couple for the two of you.”

“Ha, thanks, but that won’t be necessary,” Duke said. “We would only need them for ceremonies here, and I don’t expect anything of the sort to be happening.”

“Even so, I shall do it. Maybe you can hang one outside your door while you are here,” Rarity said.

Duke nodded slowly. “That’d be nice.”

Right as the conversation ended, the train was upon the station, horn blaring and wheels ceasing to spin. When the doors opened, ponies started pouring out and dominating the platform, prompting the men to safeguard their gear.

“Well, we need to get going,” Duke said. With a wave, he went and boarded the train.

Frost followed, but had one last thing. “Girls, make sure Amel doesn’t spend all her time in the house! Show her the town!” Amel blushed and smiled at Frost as he boarded the train.

Before long, the train took off with the men inside for the Frozen North. Amel and the others all waved at it as it went, aware that the men probably couldn’t see them from inside. When the train was out of sight, they all put their hooves down.

Amel worried, but she knew her humans were strong and capable. With a sigh, she turned around to walk back home.

She was stopped, though, by the six mares behind her, who were now all staring at her expectantly. She stopped and looked back, and as the smiles on the mares grew larger, she grew more nervous.

“What?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Rarity said. “Come, we must show you the town! As ordered by Frost!”

Amel was practically dragged away by a group of mares determined to show her the town they lived in and keep her mind away from worrying about the human who commanded so many of her feelings.






> Cracks in the Crystal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Cracks in the Crystal





The train slowly came to a stop. The men had allowed themselves to fall asleep on the train since there were no other ponies anywhere on it who might be a little too curious for the mission’s good. They had fallen asleep well before entering the Frozen North, and missed the change in scenery.

When they picked up their gear and stepped off the train, they were taken by the beautiful city before them. Shining and bright, it looked like an absolute utopia. While they stared in awe at the city, the train took its leave behind them, switching its direction and returning home.

Frost turned to watch it leave, but when it was gone, he didn’t turn back around. He was fixated on what he saw. It was a frozen, barren wasteland outside the small area before them. Duke asked him what he was looking at, turned around, and saw for himself what they were getting ready to go into.

“Well. That’s different,” he stated bluntly.

“They said that if we didn’t like it, we could just leave,” Frost said. “I’m not so sure right now that we were given the truth of the matter.”

Duke looked in the direction the train left. It was already out of sight now, nothing but blistering, snowy wind howling across the landscape was there now.

Duke frowned. “I’m not sure either,” he said. “But I’m not sure they’ve been giving us the truth at all this whole time.”

The men turned back to the city and started walking.

As they approached a large gate that looked a bit like something in Okinawa, they spotted two glistening guard statues standing at either side of the gate carrying spears. At first, they looked like they were just there as decoration, but as the men got closer, they could see them breathing and making small movements. The guards flicked their eyes to the men, nodded, and continued to act as sentinels for the train entrance to the city.

The men nodded in return and walked past. It was incredibly weird, seeing sparkling and glistening ponies as guards. It seemed like a less than tactical thing. Of course, it could have advantages. There was no surprise, but they could shine a light on themselves and have it reflect and blind hostile fighters. Or, if their bodies were crystal, they were immune to being cut. But then, being smashed could be a death sentence.

Forgetting the tactical effects of crystallizing ponies, the men went on into the city. It was a gorgeous city to be true, but nopony walked the streets. It wasn’t surprising, given the possible situation at hand, but the men had expected at least something. Depending on the threat, the ponies were hardly that much safer inside their houses than on the streets.

When they arrived at the castle, the men were greeted by two more crystal guards, who made no motion at their appearance. The doors swung open slowly before the men, inviting them in, and the men accepted the invitation. Before them, inside, was a large staircase, leading high into the tower that was the palace.

Frost whistled. “This is going to be a long trip,” he said.

Duke sighed. “Why can’t architecture just be simple?”

The men started trudging their way up the stairs, carrying their heavy packs like mules on a mountain trail. Each step felt like a leap under the weight, but they had gone through worse in training. At least here,  they weren’t being shot at.

When they reached the top of the stairs, The men opted to sit down for a moment before continuing. They had climbed an undeterminable number of flights of stairs, but they knew that they had climbed up at least two hundred feet. In their short breather, they looked around, spotting more stairs and a set of large double doors that looked like they led somewhere important.

“Think that’s it?” Frost asked.

“I hope so,” Duke replied.

The men stood up and continued onward to the doors. When they reached them, they didn’t open automatically, so they were forced to push them open. They opened easier than either man thought they would, but it still took significant effort to move them aside.

When they pushed through and walked into the room, they saw rows of guards on either side of the way staring intently at them, clearly ready to draw. Ahead, there were two thrones, each a different color, and each sporting a different pony. The two ponies were leaning close to each other, not facing the door, and as the men approached, they saw that the two ponies were a pink mare and a familiar white stallion, paying more mind to each other than their audience.

Duke instantly recognized the who he was looking at. “Well well well, if it isn’t our old buddy from Saddle Arabia,” he greeted loudly.

The two ponies jerked away from each other and looked to the men, blushes coloring their faces, and quickly regained their composure. When Frost saw the stallion’s face, he recognized him as well and pointed a finger forward as he declared his recollection.

“Yeah, I remember you!” he shouted.

Shining Armor cleared his throat. “Um, yes. It is me. And this of course is Princess Cadance.”

“Shining told me about how you all met,” Cadance said. “I thank you for saving him.”

“Not a problem,” Frost said.

“Not to sound rude, but we just climbed a lot of steps,” Duke interjected. “Is there someplace we could sit to get to business more quickly?”

Cadance nodded. “Of course. Shiny, you can handle this, I’m sure.”

“If it’s all the same to you, Cadance, I’d like you in there with me,” Shining Armor said. “I think it would be best if we were both present for this.”

Cadance nodded understandingly. “Okay then.”

The two ponies stood up and walked away from their thrones to their right, where Duke and Frost followed. The hall they walked through was short and led to a small room with a small, rectangular table in the middle. On the walls of the perimeter, there were various maps with circles, squares, and strings all over them.

The men dropped their packs against the wall to the right and situated themselves toward that end of the table. Shining Armor and Cadance took the other side.

“So you’re probably wondering why we called for you to come here,” Shining Armor said.

“Clichè,” Frost said.

“Hush, Frost,” Duke said.

Shining Armor continued. “To answer any questions you have regarding that, we need medically skilled fighters capable of partaking in unconventional operations. We haven’t fulfilled that need yet in the Crystal Empire, not yet to an operational capacity, so we called for help.”

“That’s a specific capacity to fill,” Duke commented.

“It is,” Shining Armor concluded.

“It was my idea to have highly skilled medics,” Cadance added. “I don’t want to lose my soldiers when they can be saved.”

“That’s a good mindset,” Frost said. Cadance smiled.

“Right,” Shining Armor said. “Anyway. We need the medically skilled aspect here because the threat we face is one we can’t deal with. If it hits our soldiers or populace, we can’t save them.”

“What kind of threat are we talking about?” Duke asked. “And do you know if that kind of threat is even around here? Where did you learn of it?”

“I learned about it in Saddle Arabia,” Shining Armor answered. “That’s why I was out there. I was gathering intelligence on the enemy’s capabilities to attack us, and found a result I was desperately hoping not to.”

“Well damn,” Frost said. “Sorry to hear that.”

“The weapon they have now... it isn’t like anything we’ve seen,” Shining Armor explained. “This kind of thing didn’t exist in Equestria even a year ago. The thoughts behind its creation are just so evil, so twisted, that no one had thought of it. I figure it must have come from another source.”

“A human source,” Frost elaborated. Shining Armor looked to him.

“I am not accusing either of you,” he said. “I don’t think either of you is that evil; just look at what you do for a living. But someone else may have let this slip.”

“OGA,” Duke said.

“I don’t know who OGA is, but if it’s another human, you hit the nail on the head,” Shining Armor said. “We know that there is a third who was here before you two. A third in captivity of the gryphons.”

“So what is this weapon?” Frost asked.

Shining Armor looked to his wife, then to the men. “Gas.”

Both men blinked. “Gas,” they said together.

“A gas that kills those who breathe it in,” Shining Armor continued. “We don’t know how to deal with it. It hurts exposed skin, kills if breathed in. Outside our city, the crystallizing magic is no longer able to effect the ponies, so they aren’t safe from it.”

“And you think we are?” Frost asked.

“No,” Cadance said before her husband. “But you must know something about treating those exposed to such a weapon.”

“Hate to break it to you, hon, but if they’re exposed to it, odds are, so are we,” Frost said.

“Frost makes a point,” Duke said. “Unless we’re protected, there’s not much we can do. Unless we are protected, in which case, why aren’t the other guys?”

Cadance thought for a moment. “We’ll need to find a way to protect you and our soldiers. This was destined to be necessary anyway.”

“Hazmat suits with rebreathers are a good way to go,” Duke said. “Lots of safe breathing air, and less risk of contamination.”

“I think Princess Celestia has something along those lines,” Shining Armor said to himself out loud. “I’ll have to call down there, see if we can’t get some for our soldiers.”

“So what’s this mission?” Duke asked. “You called us here for action.”

Shining Armor pointed to the map. “We’ve discovered the location of the gryphon hideout here in the North,” he said, pointing to a mountainous area. “It’s in a cave complex around the midsection of this mountain.”

“What’s there?” Frost asked.

“We think that’s where they’re storing their gas,” Shining Armor explained.

The men’s train came to a screeching halt. “Their gas,” Duke repeated.

“Yes, their gas,” Shining Armor said. “We think if we send a party out tonight, we can-”

“No way in Hell,” Frost said.

Shining Armor looked up in shock. “What!?” he said.

“If you think we’re going out there tonight, you’re nuts,” Frost said. “We’re exhausted from travel, whether we look it or not. We need to prepare our kits, which take time. We need to establish a plan, which takes more time. We can’t possibly navigate a blizzard at night. And we are NOT. Attacking. Without. Gas. Protection.” Frost looked the prince dead in the eyes as he spoke.

“When we called you here-”

“Now now, settle down!” Cadance said, putting a hoof on her husband. “I’m sure we can work this out.”

“Unless you can get us some protective hazmat by tomorrow and come up with a plan that won’t result in us freezing to death in the middle of nowhere, nothing’s happening,” Duke said. “We aren’t riskng our necks like that. The risk is way too high.”

“Well, we can do all of that,” Cadance said. “And you can go out tomorrow.”

“That sounds better,” Duke said. “Now. Let’s get back to what Frost and I came here for.”

“Right,” Shining Armor said. “Well, let’s discuss the landscape, since you brought that up as a worry.”

“Always good to know your geography,” Frost said.

“We’ll have ponies who know how to navigate the land take you to your destination,” Shining Armor explained. “They’ll have special horseshoes and a sleigh that you will ride in. Once you get to the mountain, though, they can’t follow you. Ponies aren’t designed for climbing.”

“Understandable, if not ideal,” Duke commented.

“When you get to the mountain, since you’ll be on your own, there’s a few things you have to know about the North,” Shining Armor said. “Some time ago, the evil king Sombra ruled this place. When the crystal empire returned, he came with it, and his magic controlled everything.”

“Not the best guy, I guess?” Frost said.

“He was pure evil. When we defeated him, his influence on the land was reduced,” Shining Armor said. “But only reduced. Some of his magic still lingers in places around the North, taking whatever life it can and twisting it to its evil purposes.”

“Whoa,” Duke said. “So if we go the wrong way, we die?”

“No,” Shining Armor said. “You will possibly be consumed by evil. If only one of you is affected, you will end up fighting each other to the death. If both... I would have to set up our guard to eliminate you on sight.”

“So you’ll be watching for us when we come back,” Duke said. Shining Armor nodded grimly. “If we come back like that... it’s gonna be bad.”

“I know. That’s why I’m telling you about it.” Shining Armor pointed at the entire map. “We can’t say for certain where these radiating magics are. They move, though they take likings to particular areas. This mountain has one.” He pointed at the area of operation on the map. “Watch for it. If it comes for you, do whatever it takes to get out.”

“That won’t be fun,” Frost said.

“Better than being evil,” Duke replied.

“There will naturally be gryphons, but you may also see changelings,” Duke said. “They can only imitate what they see, though.”

“Our faces will be covered. That’ll be our identifying signal if we separate,” Duke said.

“That’s all we need to discuss for now,” Shining Armor said. “Anything?”

“Yeah. We’ll want some cold weather gear, food, and flares,” Frost said.

“We may also want climbing gear suitable to this mountain,” Duke added. “Along with that, a way to carry the hazmat suits on our backs that won’t get in the way. We can’t just wear them the whole way.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Cadance said. “Princess Celestia has some smart engineers.”

“Oh!” Frost said suddenly, getting everyone’s attention. “When you call for the suits, tell them to call Rarity in Ponyville. She has our measurements.”

“Well, that makes things easier,” Shining Armor said. “If that’s all, you can take your things upstairs to the next level. Your room is there, and you can rest until tomorrow.”

The men nodded and picked up their stuff. “We’ll see you tomorrow,” Duke said.

“Expect to be out by noon at the latest!” Shining Armor called as the men left.

The men made their way to their room, unhappily climbing even more stairs to get to their location. When they made it to their floor, they found several pairs of guards walking around, patrolling the hall. One guard pointed them to their room, and the men thanked him and went on their way. Duke walked in first, leaving Frost to shut the door behind him. When Frost turned around, he stopped.

“Frost?” Duke asked.

“Boss,” Frost said. He stepped aside to let Duke see what he saw. “I think that’s an elevator.”

“I think it is too,” Duke said, dropping his stuff next to one of the beds. “I think they just installed it while we were talking, don’t you? We never wasted any steps.”

“Totally,” Frost said with a chuckle. He shut the door, and the men quickly got their rest that night. They would need it for the harsh climate they would be travelling through the next day.






> Ice Cold Killers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Ice Cold Killers





Duke and Frost sat quietly on the sleigh, gloved hands on their gear and keeping their eyes out for trouble. They had only left the city a few minutes prior, but they couldn’t even see it now except for a light at the top of the palace tower.

Not one bit of their bodies were exposed to the cold air, courtesy of Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. They were told that it would be best if they wore special visors to keep the snow off their faces and reduce any glare coming off the snow should they get so high on the mountain that the storm lessened. The men happily accepted any reasonable piece of equipment that came their way.

The hazmat suits had come quickly, thankfully, and the men had them on under their clothes. Princess Cadance had them designed to be form-fitting, and the only thing that really needed to be donned separately was the helmet and oxygen system. The system was complex, as it would potentially have to account for changes in altitude to avoid complications with the amount of oxygen it administered, but the princess assured the men that it worked.

Other than that, they had the gear they chose, warm clothes, and climbing equipment provided by the prince. Total, it was actually slightly less in weight than what they usually carried, but they couldn’t use everything here with how cold it was. Electronics don’t work so great in extreme temperatures, which was why the men weren’t trained to rely exclusively on them.

The crystal ponies dragging the sleigh was also decked out for arctic conditions and battle, but their main purpose was the bring the sleigh where it needed to be, and they were booking it. The wind tore at the ponies, trying to find any fold or tear in their clothes to get in, but the ponies had some tough stuff. Their eyes were always going forward and some other direction at the same time, watching for natural hazards or enemies.

Duke and Frost sat behind the front wall in the sleigh to be out of the wind. Frost cradled his rifle in his arms and Duke had his MP7 in his hand, as they had no idea what to expect out here, and truthfully, neither did these crystal ponies. They were told that there could be gryphons, changelings, unkillable and evil magic, and random creatures out here. They weren’t going to take chances.

Frost tapped Duke’s shoulder. “How high do you think this mountain is gonna be?” Frost asked.

“No idea!” Duke said back over the wind overhead. “The mountains of Antarctica are up to two miles high, just covered in ice most of the way up. Not sure what to expect.”

“True that,” Frost said. He raised himself up a little to look out over the side of the sleigh. “I just wish I knew what was out-”

Frost stopped as he thought he saw movement in the distance. It was faint, but he would swear that he spotted something. Duke heard him stop and got to his knees to peek over the side as well.

“What?” he said.

“Thought I saw something,” Frost said. “It was probably noth-”

Out of their peripherals, the men both saw a movement to the right, behind the sleigh. They whipped their heads that way to see what it was, but they couldn’t see anything in the storm. Both men raised their weapons slightly, anticipating a possible attack, but when none came, they sat back down.

“Getting paranoid,” Duke said.

“I’d rather be paranoid than dead,” Frost replied.

“So what do you think these changelings look like?” Duke asked. “I don’t think I’d ever really heard of them before.”

“Not a clue,” Frost replied. “Theoretically, I don’t think they look like anything, since they can change their form. Whatever they start out as is a good guess, but I don’t think it really matters.”

“Makes sense,” Duke said.

The men braced themselves as the sleigh suddenly lurched forward and accelerated.It was possible that they hit a downward slope or some ice as opposed to snow and it was easier for the pullers to move the sleigh, but something didn’t feel right. Frost went back to the side of the sleigh to look out and Duke started moving toward the back.

Duke peeked over the wall and saw nothing but white. The snowstorm had intensified a little bit, and it was harder to see anything but snow flying everywhere. In the storm, though, Duke saw something. Though he had no idea what it was.

He felt his mic key. “Puller one, this is Duke,” he said as he knelt down below the wall, responding to one of the pullers calling on him.

“Keep an eye out!” the puller shouted into the mic. “We saw something out there that we need to keep away from!”

“Roger,” Duke said. “We’ll keep watch on the sides and back.”

“Copy,” the puller replied.

Duke raised up again to look out into the storm. He didn’t know how he was supposed to watch out for anything in this weather, but he had to try. If something came up on them, they would be done for.

“Frost, do you see anything on the side?” Duke said as he glanced to the right.

“Nothing!” Frost said, turning his head to look at Duke. No one could see it, but Frost’s eyes looked like they would bulge out of his head in his visor.

“Gotcha, gonna keep looking-”

“DUKE, GET BACK!” Frost bellowed as he leaned forward and grabbed Duke away from the wall.

Frost grabbed him and yanked him back, bringing both men crashing to the floor at the front of the sleigh as something rammed into the back. Duke scrambled to get off of Frost and sit in a position that would give him a position to fire from. Each man braced a foot against the gear setups that were tied to the side walls of the sleigh in preparation for impact.

No second impact came, though, and the men were left sitting there in a rush of adrenaline. They exchanged a look of uncertainty and anxiety, then looked back to the rear of the sleigh.

“Check it out,” Duke said.

“Screw that,” Frost said. They waited another moment. “I think it’s gon-”

Suddenly, the back of the sleigh exploded into twisted shards of wood and debris as a humongous, black-clawed fist smashed through it. It tore away at the sleigh wall until it was effectively gone, revealing a white furry monster with black eyes, a black nose, and black lips, roaring as it ran to keep up with the sleigh.

“WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA!” Duke said, scrambling backwards to stay against the wall.

“HOLY SHIIIT!” Frost shouted. The monster roared at them and tried to reach for them as it attempted to get a footing in the sleigh.

“SHOOT THIS THING!” Duke ordered, pointing his weapon at it and chambering a round. But when he fired, nothing came out.

“My gun isn’t working!” Frost shouted. The creature swiped at his leg, and Frost narrowly evaded.

“Mine neither!” Duke yelled back. The creature lunged forward, but Duke launched his boot-housed foot right at its nose. “SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!”

The creature reeled a little, but then tried to come at them again. Both men pulled the chamber mechanism on their guns and heard the satisfying click that meant they worked this time and laid waste to the monster in front of them. Gunfire rang through the snowstorm and flashes of light illuminated the sleigh as hot lead tore through the monsters face, ripping it apart and causing it to fall off the sleigh and out of sight.

“What the hell was that thing!?” Duke shouted.

“It looked like a wampa!” Frost answered.

“What the hell is a wampa?!” Duke responded.

“That creature from Hoth, you know? In Star Wars?” Frost said.

“I’ve never seen Star Wars!” Duke answered.

“What?!” Frost shouted. “What do you mean you never watched Star Wars?!”

“I never watched it, alright?!” Duke shouted. “Don’t judge me!”

“It’s kind of hard not to, since J.J. Abrams kinda made some awesome ones after those prequels!” Frost said.

The mics keyed. “You boys alright back there? We heard weapons discharge,” one of the pullers said.

“We’re fine, but the sleigh took a hit,” Frost answered. “Something that looked like a WAMPA-” Frost looked at Duke as he said it- “Took the rear wall of the sled off. We killed it and we still have our gear, though.”

“I don’t know what a wampa is, but there were some Northern Yetis around that we wanted you to watch for,” the puller said. “I guess you saw one.”

“We saw it alright,” Duke said. “I never want to see one again.”

“Well, it’s a rare sighting, so you won’t likely,” the puller said.

The sleigh ride went on with the men holding onto the side walls for dear life, hoping not to encounter anything else that could sneak up on them by walking normally until it was five feet away. They kept their guns at the ready just in case, though.

After a time, they arrived at their destination; the foot of a tall, dominant mountain. They couldn’t see very high up in this weather, which would make climbing difficult, but according to the topographical map they looked at, there were plenty of ridges where they could reestablish themselves and stand on their own two feet. The men took their gear and walked over to the mountainside.

“We’ll be waiting here for you!” one of the pullers shouted. Duke gave him a thumbs-up and the men started their way up.

Climbing up the mountain wasn’t quite as hard as the men expected, but it was still a serious challenge to their endurance. Even though the rock face had plenty of places for them to step, they had to watch carefully to avoid stepping on any weaker ice or snow. If something collapsed, whoever collapsed it would surely go with it, potentially followed soon after by the other.

The wind howled past them as it tried to rip them away from the mountain and toss them aside like plastic bags. The men fiercely held on, only taking the next step or grab when they were absolutely ready. Snow hit them like a sandblaster, slowly accumulating on parts of their gear and forcing them to shake off every now and again to avoid being too heavy from the extra weight of the snow.

After a time, the men reached a large ridge and were able to take a moment to rest and recuperate. They were careful not to sit too close to the edge, opting to take to one knee next to the rock face.

Frost looked out into the storm. “I hope those boys down there are alright!” he shouted.

“I’m sure they will be,” Duke shouted back. “They’re trained for this, and they dressed pretty warm! They’ll be good.”

“Nah, it’s not the weather that’s got me worried,” Frost explained. “I’m concerned about those creatures out there. What if our ride gets eaten by the kind of thing that nearly took us out of the sleigh?”

“I bet it won’t be anything to worry about,” Duke assured his partner. “Besides, we-”

Duke stopped. In the distance, faintly, but still very much there, he could hear something. Frost saw him stop and listened as well. When he heard it, it sent a chill up his spine The sound wasn’t anything natural, especially out here. It sounded almost like metal grinding on metal in the distance, as if a bridge were swaying and about to collapse. The familiar groan reminded him of those situations in movies where the people are in a car sitting precariously on a ledge and need to be totally still to not fall.

The men raised their weapons and scanned some more before deciding that it would be better to get this done sooner rather than later. They got back on their feet and started making their way up. This time, though, they took the ledge for as far as they could before having to actually get on the rock face again to climb. If something was out there, watching them or waiting for them, they didn’t want to be caught off guard.

The men continued to climb up, searching for the cave entrance. They were in the general vicinity, but because they had to move on their own path, they needed to keep their eyes open. They were fast approaching the altitude that the cave entrance would likely be located.

Duke kept his head on a swivel and his eyes rolling to watch the air behind them. The odds that a gryphon would be capable of flying in this were low, but if one got the drop on him here, it would kill him in a heartbeat. Not to mention that bizarre sound from before. He didn’t want to think about what may have generated that.

Frost mostly looked to his left and right to watch for anything that might affect their ability to climb or anything that may come after them there. Duke was ahead of him on the wall, so he couldn’t see very far at all in that direction, and instead opted to glance downward occasionally. Nothing was following them up the mountainside.

Frost saw something in his peripherals and looked up. “Huh?” he said, checking the air behind him.

“What?” Duke said into his mic.

“...Nothing.” Frost concluded. He would have sworn he saw movement in the air, but it turned out to just be snow.

“Roger that,” Duke replied.

A short time later, the men hit another ledge and took a minute to rest. They kept their weapons at the ready this time, since they were so close to where the entrance should be and they didn’t want to risk being found and reported. Gunshots would no doubt be heard in this storm, but it would be tough given the high winds and snow.

Frost moved a short way down the ledge to take a look around and see if their target was nearby. When he approached the end, he knelt on the ground to stabilize himself.

“Hey, Duke,” Frost called. “I think I see our mark.”

Duke slowly made his way over and looked in the same direction as Frost. Down below, he could see a cave entrance about five yards away, just barely visible through the snow. Just outside, he could see a white-camouflage clad gryphon standing guard at the worst possible station. He must have done something bad to get this spot.

“Solid,” Duke said. He keyed his comms. “Stallions, we found the entrance. Observing now, and will take intel notes for-”

Before he could finish, a massive gust of wind shot straight up the mountainside in front of the men, blowing the snow up and knocking them back. The men landed on their backs and looked forward, weapons up, confused and panicked. That kind of gust wasn’t supposed to happen.

Then they saw it; a black, deathly mist, shooting up the mountainside toward the top. It had small green and purple tendrils coming off of it, and even through their gear, the men could feel the singular, bone-chilling cold and smell of death emanating off its presence. When the mist passed, it left behind a the sound of a screaming ghost, fading away into nothing up the mountain.

“That is not good,” Frost said. He and Duke stood up.

“Stallions, this is Duke,” Duke said quickly. “Serious problems up here, not safe. We’re coming back down ASAP!”

“Got it,” one of the stallions replied.

The men went forward for another look. Down below, the gryphon guard had disappeared, probably ran back into the cave. Not an unreasonable response. What had that thing even been? Was it that magic that the crystal ponies explained?

The answer came in the form of three gryphons shooting out of the cave entrance, screaming and flailing wildly to escape. When their wings were caught by the winds, though, they all lost control, and some spiraled off into the distance while others were thrown into the mountainside, where their bones snapped loud enough for the men to hear and they slowly slid to the ground below. One gryphon followed behind, but before it could be thrown around by the wind, the black mist followed it out of the cave and grabbed it.

The men watched in terror as the black mist threw the gryphon about like a rag doll and then held it in place. The gryphon screamed for mercy, but all it got was a massive pressure on its body that killed it almost instantly, and was then it was dropped to nothingness.

“Shit,” Frost said.

The black mist, though only a body of gas, seemed to turn around and face the men. Both men froze, and they could swear that they saw two green, hate-filled eyes staring at them. Then, the mist shot up the mountain to join the rest of it.

“We gotta run!” Duke said.

Duke and Frost turned and went back to the way they came up, but this time, they weren’t going to give the same care to where they put their feet. Giving a quick glance up, Frost looked for any sign of the mist, but saw nothing. Though, in the eerie silence, he heard a low rumble.

“Duke...” Frost said.

Duke looked up. “Oh no,” he said.

The rumbling got louder.

“Avalanche!” Frost said.

The men didn’t set up anything and instead chose to hop off the ledge and slide down the steep wall. In an effort to slow their descent, they used their ice-climbing picks to try to drag against the ice. It would probably ruin them, but that wasn’t exactly the first concern at the moment.

Escaping an avalanche is no easy feat; they can go up to eighty miles per hour. The men, however, could not go that fast, or they would splatter on whatever surface they ended up hitting. When they hit the next ledge, Duke gave a quick glance up to check their time. He could already see the snow starting to come on them.

Inside it, there was the black mist, wretched green eyes, and a terrible, razor-toothed maw.

“GOOO!” Duke yelled.

The men went down the next slope and slowed themselves less than the first time. This time they had to evade holes and cracks that would lead to ravines, and ultimately, a very unpleasant death. Rolling, scraping, and hopping their way down, they just barely made  it ahead of the coming avalanche.

When they hit the bottom, the men spotted the crystal ponies and the sleigh and bolted for it. The ponies spotted them coming, but their eyes exploded in size when they saw what was coming after them. As the men approached the sleigh, the ponies started speeding up for the escape. Duke and Frost hopped on just in time for the sleigh to get moving fast enough to escape an early, frozen grave.

The men watched behind them as the snow came crashing down to the ground and the black mist started to dissipate at the base of the mountain. They had to hold onto the sides with vice grips to avoid flying out the hole in the back made by that creature earlier. All in all, though, they were just happy to be alive.

“Jeez, guys, we all nearly got killed there!” one of the pullers shouted.

“But we didn’t,” Duke said, looking back. “Not this time, at least.”

“Let’s just get back,” Frost said. “I kinda wanna sit down where my spine won’t be jarred around nonstop.”

“Amen to that!” one of the pullers replied. The group sped off into the distance towards the city, happy to be alive and out of the greatest danger they had encountered thus far.




When they reached the city, Duke and Frost went straight to the palace to meet with the prince and get some well-earned rest. They were still shocked by everything they saw out there, and while they were maintaining their sanity very well for being the second and third humans to enter Equestria, this experience was fraying them just a bit.

They knocked on the doors to the throne room and the doors opened slowly, revealing the rulers of the Crystal Empire.

“Ah, you’ve returned,” Princess Cadance said.

“You say that like you didn’t think we would,” Frost said.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t what I meant,” Princess Cadance tried to recover. “I was merely saying that-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Duke said with a wave of his hand. “We’re still getting over what we saw out there.”

“What would that be?” Shining Armor asked.

“A black mist that threw a bunch of gryphons around like rag dolls and broke them like toothpicks,” Frost said. “That was way too much.”

“Yes, we were afraid you would encounter that. It’s why we warned you about it,” Shining Armor explained. “Seeing as you escaped, you’re both clearly able to get away. However, you will need to recover before we can send you out there again.”

“Give us until tomorrow,” Duke said. “We just want to get back to where it’s warm sometime soon.”

“And you shall be,” Princess Cadance said.

“But what were you saying about gryphons being attacked?” Shining Armor said.

“The black mist went into the cave,” Frost said. “Gryphons flew out to their deaths and one was grabbed by it. It must have killed everything inside that place.”

“Damn,” Shining Armor said.

“Shining, language!” Princess Cadance reprimanded her husband.

“Sorry,” Shining Armor replied. “But that means that Sombra’s magic probably ruptured everything inside. No doubt gas is everywhere.”

“That’s why we have the suits,” Frost said.

“We do,” Duke said. “But you’ll need some pony suits too.”

“You want a team?” Shining Armor guessed. Duke nodded. “After this, I can understand. You’ll have your team tomorrow, no worries.”

“Good,” Duke said.

“So are we finished?” Frost asked. Duke nodded to him. “I’m gonna head to our room and call Amel. I’ll see you in a bit, Duke.”

“Enjoy yourself,” Duke said. “No dickpics!”

When Duke turned around, Princess Cadance was giving him a strange look while Shining Armor looked rather entertained. Frost just kept on walking, unphased, and when he was gone, Duke turned his attention back to the royals whom he just used offensive language in front of.

“Well then,” he said. “I should also get going.”

“Wait, why did you tell him no-”

“Cadance!” Shining Armor cut off. “Uhh, no worries. He was just joking.” Cadance raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’re the princess of love, right?” Duke asked.

“I am,” Cadance replied.

“Before we leave, I may need to ask a favor of you,” Duke said.

Cadance raised her brow even more. “Umm, okay?”

Duke gave her a thumbs-up. “Thanks.”

Duke left two confused royal ponies in the throne room and went back to his room where he quietly moved around the background of Frost’s video call to clean himself up and go to sleep.







> Different Battles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Different Battles




Amel stretched long and far when she awoke that morning. It wasn’t as easy to wake up when there wasn’t all kinds of commotion coming from everywhere else in the house at the early bird hours. It felt pretty lonely.

She had to learn to deal with that, though. She lived in a house of men and stallions who got called away at every possible instance they could be used. Then there was the chance that they might not come back. She believed in her men, but the chance still lingered in the back of her mind...

She had to keep her mind off the possibilities and focus on what was. They were off, doing what they did, and she was here. She didn’t know what was happening, and she had to accept it, no matter what. And if she couldn’t, she would just do something else.

Amel rolled out of bed and made her way to the bathroom through the eerily silent halls. The steady, muffled thumps of her hooves on the carpet echoed briefly in the hall, reminding her of just how empty it was. When she made it to the bathroom, the thumps turned to clicks and clacks on the white tile floor.

She brushed her teeth, cleaned herself up, and went downstairs to eat breakfast before her day started. She still couldn’t quite get over how different this was than the life she used to lead. If every pony on Equestria lived this way, they had truly incredible lives. Hopefully they weren’t taking them for granted.

Here, she could drink some tea with her morning sandwich, as opposed to eating whatever leftover slop there was from the previous night with what was hopefully clean water. She savored every second of every sip, as if she were afraid she would never get it again. She wanted to remember what it tasted like in case it was ever taken from her.

When she finished eating, she cleaned up everything she used and had one last stretch before heading out for her day. Today, she was going to be spending time with the Elements of Harmony. They all decided together that it would be a spa day. Well, all but Rainbow Dash, but she gave in in the end anyway.

With a skip in her step, Amel trotted off to the Ponyville Day Spa to meet her new buddies. This was going to be a good portion of her day, as she understood, and after, she would do whatever came up. She probably wouldn’t get to hang out with Rainbow Dash because she was so busy doing what she called “Wonderbolt Stuff”, but that was okay. Amel wanted to spend time with Rarity anyway.

Amel let her thoughts swim over to what Rarity could help her with while they spent time together. The high-class mare seemed to understand how to get and keep any stallion’s attention, and Amel could use advice in that area. She hadn’t succeeded yet in keeping Frost’s attention, so maybe it was time to try a different strategy.

She did wonder why Frost seemed so oblivious. Was it her? She was a pony, and he was a human, so that would undoubtedly contribute… Unless he did know, and he was avoiding recognizing to not to hurt Amel’s feelings. Amel felt her heart sink a little at the thought, as it was a very real possibility. Although, the way Duke poked fun at him, and Frost didn’t seem to get it there either, it seemed more likely that Frost just didn’t see it as it flew over his head.

When Amel arrived at the spa, she excitedly rushed in through the door to find her group of friends waiting patiently for her.

“Hey!” she greeted giddily.

Rarity was the first to look up and see her, flashing a big smile. “Amel, so glad you came! Some of us were wondering if you were going to make it.” Rarity shot a quick look at Applejack and Rainbow, both of whom looked elsewhere.

“I did say I would come,” Amel said.

“Well, let’s not waste any more time!” Rarity suggested. The girls went to the desk and then into their scheduled appointment.

The girls started off with the mud bath in one of the other rooms. Amel thought it was strange; that such refined ponies in such a clean society thought it was classy and pleasant to cover themselves in filth. She had lived like that for a long time, and didn’t want to go back.

But, the others were doing it, and she didn’t want to be rude, so she stepped into the giant pool of mud after them. She immediately noticed that it felt substantially different from the dirt she was used to; it felt less gritty, and it was wet mud rather than dry dust and debris. There were also supposed to be some minerals and such in it that helped soften the skin, and Amel could already feel them going to work on her.

“Aaaahhhhhh,” she said, sinking in a little.

“Every mare deserves a bit of pampering every now and then,” Rarity said.

“I agree,” Twilight said. “It’s good to not have to work on princess business once in a while.”

“And get away from the boys, right?” Applejack said.

Twilight giggled. “I love my boys,” she said. “Flash and I wanted our little colt and we love him to death. But… it is nice to get some girl time.”

“I can’t say the same,” Fluttershy said. “My stallion is my favorite pony ever.”

“Ah know,” Applejack said. “I catch ya sneaking onto the farm to see him.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy said, a blush beginning to form. “Heh, umm… yes, I like to go see him during the day.”

“The barn probably has lots of good rolling hay, right?” Rainbow said, causing Fluttershy to blush intensely. WIth a smirk, Rainbow then added, “I know I’d use it if it were available to me.”

“Weren’t you supposed to be busy with ‘Wonderbolt stuff’?” Twilight asked.

“They cancelled for the day, so I figured I’d come along and hang out with our new friend,” Rainbow said, looking at Amel.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Amel said.

“Well, Rainbow, since you’re here and interested in Fluttershy’s love life, why not tell us about your own?” Rarity said.

Pinkie Pie exploded out of the mud. “Ooh, ooh, yes! How’s your big, strong guard?”

“Fine, fine. Serving a tour in San Palomino, but we aren’t far from each other.” Rainbow sighed. “I do wish she were around more, though.”

“I have that with Flash sometimes,” Twilight said. “I want to station him in my castle permanently, but he has an obligation to his troops to be with them. I can’t tear apart their friendship for myself.”

“That’d be some irony, considering you’re the princess of Friendship,” Applejack said.

“Yeah!” Pinkie shouted. “Like, an iron beam being ironed by an all-iron iron!”

Amel blinked. “What?” she said.

“Never used an iron?” Pinkie asked. Amel shook her head. “It’s super convenient, like, I use it all the time for-“

“Let’s not go off on a tangent, Pinkie,” Rarity said.

Pinkie pouted. “Alright,” she said. “How’s your ambassador, then? Has he been around lately?”

Rarity sighed. “Recently, but his work keeps him very busy. I take whatever time I can get with him, though.”

“Where is he ambassador to?” Amel asked.

“Zebrastan,” Rarity replied.

“Man, he’s far,” Pinkie said. “I wouldn’t know how it feels. Me and AJ are both single bachelorettes!” Pinkie swam over to her friend and put her hoof around her shoulder.

“Don’t mean Ah want to be…” Applejack muttered.

“Oh, hush,” Pinkie said. “We still have our friends, potential cousin.”

“Friends are always good,” Amel said.

Before they could continue, a bell went off somewhere, and that seemed to signify that it was time to get out. The group of mares hopped out, went through a quick-shower room, and moved onto the massage room. Rainbow Dash opted to sit in the tub next to the tables and simply relax in there.

Once they were all in place, the conversation continued.

“So what about you, Amel?” Twilight asked. “Any special stallions?” Amel made faces toward the floor where she was looking, laying on her belly.

“No, no stallions,” she said.

Rarity chuckled. “No STALLIONS, that’s right,” she said, making it clear what she meant.

“You like one of the human men?” Twilight asked.

“Mmm hmm,” Amel said. She would have responded more, but the massage she was getting on her back had her too relaxed to respond any more than necessary.

“Didn’t something like that happen years ago..?” Pinkie said from a hooficure chair.

“Yes, I believe so,” Rarity replied curtly.

“How did it work out?” Amel asked.

“I believe they loved each other, but I can’t say for certain,” Rarity said. “They were very good friends, at the least.”

“Where was he from?” Amel asked.

Amel couldn’t see it, but the girls all made questioning faces to each other. They appeared uncertain of what to say, but Rarity nodded to let them know that she would take the lead here.

“No one was sure at first, but with the amount of time he spent in the wilderness, one would guess he was from a relatively government-less region,” Rarity explained.

“Mmm,” Amel said, thinking she understood.

“He went back there eventually. No one was sure why at first, and some still wonder. But we remember him, and that’s what helps us not to miss him too much,” Rarity said.

“If we try hard enough, we can still see him, too, even if we can’t talk,” Pinkie included.

“But enough of that!” Rarity said. “Let’s talk about your man!”

Amel blushed. “I-I guess we can,” she said nervously.

“Which one is he?” Pinkie asked. “It’s a 50-50 shot if we guess!”

“F-Frost,” Amel said.

“Ah, yes, he seems nice,” Fluttershy said. “He wrestled Macky, remember?”

“Yes,” Amel said.

“So he’s a wrestler, eh?” Applejack asked.

“A Pararescueman,” Amel corrected. “He jumps out of flying machines and saves people.”

“That’s why the princesses are getting your men to help us,” Twilight said.

“Well, what’s he like? Tell us about him!” Rarity said excitedly.

“W-Well, he’s super nice to me all the time, and he always helps me and likes to spend time with me. He’s big and strong, too, and he’s so selfless…” Amel trailed off for a moment. “Umm, he’s really great.”

“How about the looks?” Rainbow asked bluntly. “He a looker to you?”

Amel thought about it for a moment. She hadn’t really looked at him that way at all, truth be told. Maybe for a moment or two here and there, but she never thought of him as being particularly handsome. He was a human, after all, and that kind of attraction wasn’t really there, probably in either direction.

“Umm, he’s a human, so I don’t really know,” Amel said.

“So ya like him purely for who he is?” Applejack asked, receiving a nod in reply. “Well, Ah’ll be! It’s real love, ain’t it?”

“Y-yes,” Amel said. “I would say… so.”

“Well, is he, ya know, ‘knowledgeable’ in the category of being a good partner in every way?” Rainbow asked.

Amel didn’t understand, but Rarity did. “Rainbow! Not appropriate!” Amel raised an eyebrow, but it went ignored.

“What? It’s a legitimate question,” Rainbow said. “He should be able to give her something more tangible.”

“RAINBOW!” Rarity said. The other girls all chuckled, while Amel still didn’t understand.

“So, Amel, do you think he can make you feel physically good?” Rainbow asked directly.

“I don’t know. He doesn’t seem like he knows how to give a massage or anything like that,” Amel said.

“How about after the massage?” Rainbow asked. Rarity gave up.

“He cooks to survive, not to eat good food, so I doubt it,” Amel said.

Rainbow just looked flatly at her and gave one more effort. “Would he eat food or something else?” she asked.

“What else would he eat?” Amel asked. “I don’t understand what you are asking.”

Rainbow put her face in her hooves and sighed. “Will you… I don’t know, consummate, I guess?” Rainbow asked.

Amel finally got it and her face turned completely red. She kept down on the table so the others wouldn’t see.

“Uhh, I- uhh, umm, we- I- I don’t…” Amel couldn’t respond.

“Rainbow, I think you broke her,” Pinkie said.

“Good going, there,” Twilight said. “Amel, don’t think you have to answer that.”

“T-thank you, princess,” Amel said.

Rainbow sighed. “Alright, not that. But you like him, and you want him to realize that, right?” she said. Amel nodded.

“Rainbow, you aren’t allowed to suggest anything after that debacle,” Rarity said. “I fear for what you have planned.”

“Then what’s your idea?” Rainbow asked.

Rarity clopped her hooves together. “Ooh, this is going to be fun!” she said. “Amel, I am going to make you completely irresistible and easily noticed for your man!”

“Okay,” Amel said, calming down from the previous trauma.

“I wanna help, I wanna help!” Pinkie said. “I’m good at this stuff!”

“Then why are you single?” Applejack asked.

“Because I want to find Cheese, that’s why,” Pinkie said. Applejack nodded her understanding.

“Very well,” Rarity said. “After this is done, Amel, Pinkie and I will take you and do a total change-up on you!”

Amel swallowed. “That sounds okay, I suppose,” she said.

Twilight looked over at Amel. “No worries, they won’t do anything crazy,” she said. “Well, Pinkie might.”

“Let’s get going then!” Pinkie shouted, hopping up from her seat and rushing to the door. “Time’s a-wasting!”

Rarity sighed. “Well, the appointment is almost done anyhow,” she said. Amel groaned internally, as she had been deeply enjoying her first spa session. Rarity stood. “Come, Amel, let us give you a whole new look!”

Amel followed Rarity and Pinkie out, casting a glance back to the others and receiving mostly pleasant nods. Rainbow just giggled at her.

When she was gone, Rainbow chimed one last thing in;

“So… do you think they’ll-“

“Dang it, girl!” Applejack shouted.




Rarity and Pinkie Pie marched around town in the search of anything that they thought would help Amel in her quest. Amel followed quietly, wishing they could just leave it be, but didn’t want to say anything. It might have just been out of habit from the old days at home.

“Where will we start?” Amel asked.

“Well, we just had a spa session, so that’s taken care of,” Rarity said. “So we must start from the top and work our way down!”

“Like her head?” Pinkie asked.

“Not necessarily,” Rarity said. “Though I suspect we can certainly do something with that mane.”

“What is wrong with my mane?” Amel asked.

“Nothing is wrong, really,” Rarity said. She walked over and felt Amel’s mane. “It is a bit rough, and-“ Rarity felt something and tugged it out, earning a small protest from Amel. “And… you carry a knife in it. Lovely.” Rarity handed the knife back.

“Frost gave it to me when he bought it in Akhal Teke,” Amel explained.

Rarity sighed. “Stallions,” she said. “A gift is a gift, though, and certainly the thought is what counts.”

“But what of my mane?” Amel asked.

“Ah, yes,” Rarity said. “We can certainly brush it and straighten it a bit, maybe use some conditioner to soften it up.”

“Frost’ll wanna be like frosting on your cupcake head!” Pinkie said. Amel giggled at the joke. “It’ll be all soft and cozy and fluffy and nice!”

“Exactly,” Rarity said. “So we can start there. After that, we shall do your tail, and then try makeup and outfits. No stallion will resist you!”

“I don’t want a stallion,” Amel said absent-mindedly.

“Even so,” Rarity said. “It’s the principle that matters!” Amel looked doubtful at her, but let Rarity go on.

“So let’s go to the salon!” Pinkie said.

They started by going to the Mane Salon in town and had them take care of Amel’s mane. It took longer than anticipated from years of little care, but using some special shampoos and conditioners, they made Amel’s mane feel like silk. They were able to do the same to her tail, though Amel didn’t think Frost would be interested in that.

“Not yet,” Pinkie muttered, pulling a Rainbow Dash.

When they left the salon, they started making their way toward Carousel Boutique. Along the way, stallions around them, and a mare or two, started looking their way. Rarity made a point of it to keep Amel visible, not allowing her to hide behind either of her friends.

“Wait!” Pinkie said. They all stopped. “We should show Amel how to make cupcakes and brownies!”

“Why?” Rarity asked.

“So she can bake treats for her man when he comes home,” Pinkie explained. “Ya’ know, soften him up, let his guard down, and then- pounce with the dress!”

“You sound like you are planning a battle,” Amel said.

“This is a battle! A battle for love!” Pinkie bellowed to the heavens, standing up on her hind legs.

“Pinkie, you’re making a scene,” Rarity said. The pink party pony smiled sheepishly and got back down to all fours.

“I already know some foods,” Amel said. “Maybe later you can teach me your candies and treats?”

“Oh, I will!” Pinkie said, grabbing Amel and wrapping a foreleg around her. “You’ll be learning from the best!“

“It is true, Pinkie is the best,” Rarity said.

“I believe you,” Amel said.

“Good!” Pinkie said. “Now, let’s get you some clothes! You’re stark naked!” Amel raised an eyebrow at her as Rarity rolled her eyes with a smile.

When they arrived at Rarity’s, Amel was sent to wait on the small stage while Rarity fetched some outfits for her to try on. Pinkie waited with her and chatted to pass the time.

“So, what’s it like, spending so much time with a human?” she asked.

“Duke and Frost are very different,” Amel said. “Which one?”

“Frost, silly!” Pinkie replied.

“It is wonderful,” Amel said dreamily. “He’s so nice to me all the time. I like playing with him, talking to him, eating with him… I enjoy my time with him. I wish his job wasn’t so dangerous.”

“Of course, if he didn’t have that job, he wouldn’t be here,” Pinkie said. “Maybe he was meant to be a para-guy for more than just saving lives.” Pinkie wiggled her eyebrows at Amel to get her point across.

Amel chuckled. “The world does not revolve around me, I think,” she said.

“Me either,” Pinkie said. “But that doesn’t mean the world doesn’t watch out for me every now and again.”

Before they could go on, Rarity returned with about a dozen or so dresses floating in the air around her.

“Here we go!” she said excitedly. “Let’s get to it!”

She rushed over to Amel and started intricately helping her to put the dresses on, simultaneously stitching them if necessary to fit. The first few were ruled out immediately; Amel’s brown coat didn’t go well with the same color dress or with a pink dress. Frilled dresses didn’t work very well either.

“These are very intricate and complex,” Amel said, using big words.

“Indeed, these types are often commissioned,” Rarity said. “These were cancelled orders. I just want to see one that works okay for now, and use it for inspiration to make you a much better dress later.”

“Thank you,” Amel said.

“I’m seeing a bit of a pattern,” Pinkie said, looking contemplative.

“Hmm?” Rarity asked.

“These complex dresses, with a lot going on… something just doesn’t sit right.”

“The rump?” Rarity asked.

“No, no, the fit is fine,” Pinkie said. “They just look… Fluffle-pufflicious. But not in a good way.”

Rarity stepped back. “I see your point,” she said. “I have some simpler dresses, let’s try those.”

“Please, do,” Amel said. “I prefer the simple dresses.”

“That’s why they don’t look right, then!” Pinkie said.

Rarity left for a minute to go and get some basic dresses, really templates used to place more serious designs on. She returned with a white, gray, black, blue, and red dresses with almost invisible stitching and a few hems strategically placed.

“These are to your liking?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, very much,” Amel said. “The white one looks like the first dress I ever wore when Frost took me to dinner in Akhal Teke.”

Rarity and Pinkie gasped. “You’ve already gone on a date?!” they shouted together.

Amel flinched. “No, we just went to eat, and that was where we ended up,” she said. “They let me borrow a dress to enter the restaurant.”

“Ah, I see,” Rarity said. “I know that kind of restaurant. Very high class.”

“Still a date,” Pinkie said quietly.

“May I try it?” Amel asked. Rarity floated it over, and Amel made her way into it. “I like it very much,” she said decisively.

“It looks very good on you,” Rarity said proudly. “I shall make you a similar one, but with different material and more flow. I won’t add anything crazy, no worries.”

Pinkie was about to say something when she suddenly froze, and her head started moving like a clock’s second hand. The other two mares just looked at her, confused.

“It’s girls’ night in a few minutes!” Pinkie shouted.

Rarity looked at a clock on the other wall. “Oh, dear, it certainly is! Time flies when you’re having fun!” Rarity helped Amel off the stage. “Just wear it for tonight. I have a feeling you’ll want to.”

“Thank you so much,” Amel said. Rarity smiled and nodded, and the trio made its way to the library.



When they arrived, they opened the door and were greeted with smiles and a bouncing Pinkie Pie. Inside, the girls were sitting in a circle with a stack of playing cards in the middle. They were playing Hearts, by the look of it, and Fluttershy didn’t seem to understand what was happening, but that was probably normal.

“Hey, you made it!” Twilight said.

“Of course darling, we would never miss this,” Rarity replied. “And we brought Amel.”

“Hello Amel,” Fluttershy greeted. “You look really nice.”

Amel smiled. “Thank you.”

From a kitchen to the side, Spike the dragon came in. “I’m glad you girls still come here for hanging out,” he said. “It’s great to get to spend time with you.”

“I have an obligation to come here,” Rarity said. “Sweetie Belle frequently goes out with friends or to sing at night. I must make sure you two aren’t here doing your adolescent things.” Rarity gave Spike a knowing look, to which he responded with a chuckle.

“Well, since you’re here, let’s watch the movie!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Applejack said. “Ever seen a movie, Amel?”

“I’ve only heard of them,” Amel replied.

“They’re great,” Applejack said. “Just sit back and watch the screen.”

“So what’s the movie for tonight?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Let’s see,” Twilight said. “We have either a Daring Do movie, or we can watch a semi-documentary on the Southern Gryphon Colonies.”

“Daring Do!” Rainbow Dash shouted immediately.

“Let’s let Amel decide, since she’s new,” Fluttershy suggested.

“It sounds like Daring Do is good,” Amel said.

“Then Daring Do it is!” Twilight said. She removed a disk from a case and put it in a strange machine, and in no time, images were projected onto a screen and the movie was starting.



After the movie was done, Twilight pulled out some special bottles of wine from her saddlebag, the Quinta Vineyard 319, something only wealthy ponies had, and the girls started chatting about life and what they did. Rarity mostly talked about Sweetie Belle’s coming singing career and how she had to watch out for the little mare. Twilight tried to tell her Spike was good to watch her, but Rarity jokingly refused to trust any boys with her little sister. It was hard to tell if she seriously thought that Spike would try something dishonorable.

The conversations centered on regular events of daily life, and Amel loved that. They weren’t worrying about things out of their control, how those things might affect their lives. It was so relaxed and fun, and it helped that the girls were getting a bit tipsy as the night went on. Eventually, though, Amel had to go and prepare for a possible call from Frost.

“This has been wonderful,” she said. “But I must be going now.”

“Aww, don’t go yet missy!” Applejack said. “The night ain’t over yet!”

Rarity tapped Applejack’s shoulder. “She might get a call,” she said.

“Oh,” Applejack said. “Well, then, y’all best get going to talk to yer man!”

The girls all said their goodbyes and Amel made her way home. It wasn’t so far, and she was able to walk straight for the most part, so she wasn’t afraid. When she got home, she went inside and grabbed the magical mirror and sat on the couch to wait.

After about an hour, she started to lose hope that she would get a call from Frost. What was happening? Was he all right? Was he busy? He could be in danger! Amel started to feel a bit of panic come on.

Then, however, the mirror started acting up, and a few seconds later, she saw a confused image of Frost in the glass.

“Frost!” she said happily.

Frost flinched backwards. “Amel? I can’t see you,” he said.

Amel furrowed her brow. She picked up the mirror and walked around. “How about now?”

“I’m see- something- wait, I los- y- -gain,” Frost said.

“Frost, I only caught some of what you said,” Amel said.

“Jeez, it’s like Skype all over again,” Frost said.

Amel went outside. “Is it working?”

“There we go!” Frost said. “I can see you now. You look good.”

Amel blushed and smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “You are looking nice.”

“Hahaha, if only you could have seen me before,” Frost said. “I was bundled up like a mummy.”

Amel laughed. “I wouldn’t want you like that,” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to see you.”

“Hopefully you’ll see me again in person soon,” Frost said.

Amel put her hoof to the glass. “Hopefully,” she said. “So what are you doing up there?”

“Just chilling,” Frost said.

“Chilling… Frozen North, haha,” Amel said.

“Ha, I didn’t catch that!” Frost said with a chuckle. “But yeah. I can’t really go into detail.”

“I understand,” Amel replied. “I just wish I could be with you.”

“Me too,” Frost said. Amel blushed.

“I mean… I like being with you.” Amel took in a deep breath. “It’s fun, and you’re just so nice to me always.”

Frost smiled. “I don’t know why I wouldn’t be,” he said.

“I just… What I mean to say is…” Amel tried to put it into words, but her tongue was failing her. “Umm…”

“You can tell me what’s on your mind,” Frost said.

Amel couldn’t say it so slowly, so she went and blurted it out.

“أحبك!” she said. She stared at the mirror after.

“Uhh… I don’t understand,” Frost said.

Amel gulped. “I… uhh, well-“

“No, like, I didn’t understand your words. I don’t speak that language, haha,” Frost said. Amel sighed with relief.

“Oh, yes,” she said.

“What did you say?” Frost asked.

Amel froze. “Uhh, I said… Let’s eat. Like, when you get back.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Frost said.

“Great!” Amel said emphatically with a sheepish smile. “Well, I don’t want to take your sleep from you, so I suppose we should be done.”

Frost nodded slowly. “Yeah, I might have to be up early. I’ll call you again before we get back, okay?”

“Yes, that sounds okay,” Amel said.

“Bye,” Frost said with a wave.

Amel waved back. “Bye,” she said with a hint of sadness. They ended the call after figuring out how and Amel set the mirror down.

She desperately wanted to tell him what she was feeling, but it was so hard. The stories never involved the mare having to let her feelings be known to the stallion, it was always the stallion who had to get the mare. Of course, those stories were about princesses, not ex-slaves.

And it wouldn’t e a good idea now anyway; after all, Frost had a lot to think about. He couldn’t be distracted by any potential problems from Amel’s feelings. That could be detrimental to his efforts or even get him hurt. And Amel couldn’t live with herself if she got him killed or something.

So, with her head hanging lower than normal, she made her way to her bed and went to sleep, hoping Frost and Duke would return soon.
 
 
 
 

> An Air of Danger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








An Air of Danger





Duke and Frost were readying themselves up next to the sleigh before they moved out. They were given a team of three Crystal Pony stallions, Shining’s best, and everyone was equipped with the Hazmat suits they needed. The stallions gave Duke and Frost funny looks, but the men were largely able to ignore them.

“So you two are humans,” one of them asked.

“Yes,” Duke replied. “I’m Duke, and he’s Frost. What was your name again?”

“I am Agate Fire,” the stallion replied. “And my friends are Moon Rock and Ocean Sediment.”

“Right,” Duke said.

They had all been introduced earlier, but hadn’t gotten much time to get to know each other. The men couldn’t help but wonder how qualified the stallions were for the type of mission they were going on and weren’t sure they could entrust certain tasks to them. They were obviously very capable in the environment they would be going to, but the men had little idea of the training they had gotten.

Likewise, the stallions were unsure of how well the men could handle the regional weather. They had been out the previous day, but they didn’t stay out long. It was apparently due to a magical phenomenon on the mountain, but the ones the stallions had seen weren’t that serious. Though, if these warrior men, now famous across Equestria for their talent and bravery, had been as rattled as the stallions were told, it must have been something.

“Alright, I’m good to go,” Frost said. He loaded himself up into the sleigh and looked back. “Whenever you guys are done.”

“I’m done too,” Duke said. He looked to Agate. “You good?”

“If you are,” Agate said with a questioning look.

“I won’t be bothered by the conditions,” Duke said. “Just be ready. I may have to entrust to you a few specialized tasks.”

“My stallions and I can do it,” Agate said. Duke took his word on it and climbed into the sleigh.

The stallions finished up their preparations and loaded up into the sleigh. They filed in one at a time, making the best use of space as they entered. Duke and Frost kept their firearms away from the floor and stallions, preferring to keep them close after the encounter they had on the last trip. The stallions didn’t seem worried, but Duke and Frost were not intent on having a repeat of that little bit of trauma.

The sleigh got moving and the team looked directly ahead rather than back. Whatever was awaiting them wouldn’t wait for them to face it to rear its ugly head, and they wanted to be sure they saw it before it saw them.

As the sleigh bumped and slid, the team huddled together to discuss the mission. Duke and Frost led the discussion, as they were the leaders of the mission.

“Alright, boys, we’re going to the same mountain Frost and I hit yesterday to get any intel we can as well as take down the facility,” Duke said. “Problem is, the facility is already probably taken out by that black mist we saw. That only leaves the gathering of intel and anything else, which we would naturally have preferred to have done before the facility was destroyed.”

“That’s where the hazmat suits come in,” Frost said. The men had to raise their voices over the wind. “There could be gas in there that we don’t want to be exposed to. It’s highly toxic.”

“Yes, so if your suit is EVER compromised at any point, however small it may be, get out immediately,” Duke said. “No one needs to die when there’s no one to kill us.”

“Odds that someone survived?” Moon Rock asked.

“Not sure,” Duke said. “If they were exposed to the gas, they’re probably dead. We aren’t sure if there are any safe rooms or anything. If there are, then we’re opening them and anyone inside will likely end up exposed anyway and we won’t need to fight. So just take care that you don’t get yourself killed.”

“Doesn’t sound too hard,” Moon Rock said.

“Unless Sombra comes back,” Ocean Sediment said. “Then we’re screwed.”

With the major details out of the way, the team continued to discuss the smaller things, like movement formation where the men took the center with two stallions behind and one in front. The men would be able to watch safely from the center and could shoot if absolutely necessary, though it would be safer not too. A tank could explode and throw shrapnel everywhere if they found themselves shooting bullets toward the wrong places.

In time, the team arrived at the mountain and started making its way up. They took more time than just Duke and Frost had, but only by a small margin, so they still arrived on time. When they were all up, the men radioed the sleigh and told it they were good.

“Let’s get in there,” Frost said.

“Get ready,” Duke said. The hazmat helmets went on and everyone slowly advanced into the cave mouth.

The cave was deathly quiet as the team walked in, gravel that appeared to be spattered everywhere crunching under their feet and hooves. It was dark, forcing everyone to pull out flashlights that they packed to see.

The first sight to greet the team’s eyes in the new light was exactly what they had been expecting; a dead gryphon, feathers scattered about and exposed skin appearing bloated and boiled. Its face betrayed the terror it felt as it died, trapped in an eternal scream with dried up foam coming from its beak.

“Damn… think anyone got out?” Frost said.

“Nothing we can do for them now,” Duke replied.

“Even they didn’t deserve that kind of death,” Agate said. “Although I suppose they did plan to do that to us.”

“Let’s keep moving,” Duke said.

There were more and more bodies as the team advanced further into the cave. Not all of them had been killed by the gas, though. They could see who was killed that way from dried up foam in beaks, but a lot of them were so slashed up and crusty from dried blood that you might not think they were gryphons. And still worse, some were so physically mutilated and deformed that the only identifying factor for their species was whatever was left of their beak.

The general, eerie silence of the cave augmented the disturbing scenery with the occasional noise here and there. They sounded mechanical, like machines that had survived the attack, and consisted of an occasional clank or crack from further in the cave. The bodies were all frozen, both in time and in actuality, as the cold air had frozen many of the bodily fluids that had once been draining out of their natural orifices and wounds.

The team continued to advance through the cave until they finally reached what appeared to be the true base of operation the gryphons had planned to launch from. It was impressive, considering where the gryphons were and what they had to work with; they had smoothed out the ground, brought in tables and chairs and other furniture items, and there were technological instruments that one would never expect to find deep in a cave inside a mountain in a frozen wasteland.

Frost whistled. “Ain’t this something?” he said. “What kind of stone is this mountain made of?”

“We don’t generally keep track of mountains we don’t concern ourselves with,” Moon Rock said. “Though I suppose this is evidence that we need to be watching everything from now on.”

“Can you tell?” Frost asked.

Moon Rock lowered himself to look at the floor. “It looks like it’s a whole lot of granite with a few other things thrown in here and there,” he said. Duke gave him a curious glance. “Rocks are my special talent.”

“Well, we’ll be using other talents here,” Duke said. “Let’s get moving. I don’t want to spend any more time here than necessary.”

The team moved as one through the facility, looking over and through the contents of the desks and tables strewn about. Documents lay across the floor, probably from when that Sombra magic came through.

At any given time, there was at least one incredibly mangled gryphon body in sight. Most of the time, it was two or three. Sombra’s magic left no survivors, that much was certain. The blood from the incident had soaked into a number of documents, rendering them totally unreadable and unusable.

The crystal ponies collected up most of the documents they found, as they had some saddlebags equipped on top of their suits for just this occasion. The ponies were quick about grabbing anything that looked readable so that it could be checked out later, as they didn’t have the time to actually go through most of what they found. It had really turned out to be something of a potential intel goldmine.

“Man, these guys were gonna go all out on your city,” Duke said.

“They were,” Agate said. “I’m glad we got you and came out here, even if Sombra took care of it.”

“You think Sombra knew about this?” Ocean asked.

“Why would he help you if your rulers killed him?” Duke asked.

“It used to be his city,” Agate replied. “He probably doesn’t want to see it destroyed, since he would still see it as his.”

“Didn’t we just say he’s dead?” Frost asked.

“He is,” Ocean said.

“So how does he still decide to protect his property?” Duke asked.

“Because he’s still floating around,” Moon Rock said. “I’m not a magister, so I won’t pretend to know what’s going on, but long story short, he’s dead but he’s not.”

“Frickin’ magic,” Frost muttered.

Duke saw a stack of documents underneath a gryphon and pushed the body away with his foot. The stack was largely stained dark red and brown with dried and frozen blood, but there were a few salvageable pages. After checking them over to see if there was any context he could use, he tossed them in his own pack.

“Hey boss, come here,” Frost said.

Duke walked over to his partner. “What is it?” he asked

Frost shoved a body off a table where it was slumped over. “Check out these vials,” he said. Frost picked one up and handed it carefully to Duke. “See what’s inside?”

“I see exactly what’s inside,” Duke said. “But it doesn’t look like Chlorine.”

“No?” Frost asked.

“There’s something, but I don’t know what it is,” Duke said. “I’ll wrap it up and take it back.”

“Got it,” Frost replied. Duke may be able to figure our what it was, because there was something different in this vial.

“What did you find?” Agate asked of Duke.

“Something new,” Duke said. “There’s a very faint light disturbance inside this vial, so there’s something in it.”

Agate walked up and asked Duke to look at it. Duke complied and showed it to the crystal pony, who observed it carefully.

“Well, it isn’t what’s inside that’s making that light,” Agate said.

“What?” Duke asked.

“There’s a protection spell on it,” Agate explained. “I think you’re right, there’s something in there. And it has been enchanted so that if it gets out, it won’t spread. Whatever it is, probably a weapon like that other gas we’ve heard about, they didn’t want to take any risk in it getting out.”

“Maybe all the vials here are like this,” Duke said.

“Doubt it,” Agate said. “Otherwise, they would have protected most of the area. This spell isn’t that expensive. Whatever is in there is very particular.”

“Well, that’s just fantastic,” Duke said. He was carrying what was probably an even deadlier weapon in his bag now.

“So why do the gryphons want to fight the crystal empire?” Frost asked, checking through a dozen stacks of paper near a map table.

“We support Equestria, have since our return to the world,” Moon Rock said. Frost didn’t ask what returning to the world meant. “Their enemies are ours, and ours, theirs.”

“Good friends, then,” Frost said. Moon Rock nodded.

“Any reason why this kind of attack would happen to you and not a place like Canterlot?” Duke asked.

“Easier target and setup,” Ocean said. “We’re a more sparsely populated region, so it’s easier to stay hidden if you’re willing to risk the wilderness. Plus, we don’t have walls or natural protection except the weather, so it wouldn’t be hard to walk in.”

“Sounds like you ought to build a wall,” Duke said.

“With what?” Agate asked.

“Ice,” Duke answered simply. “Pull some Game of Thrones shit out there, build a four hundred foot tall wall.”

“Loved that show,” Frost said.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Agate said. “I’ll run it by Prince Armor.”

“Sirs, this area appears to be clear,” Moon Rock said. “Should we move further in?”

“Yes, we need to be thorough,” Duke said. “Just be quick.”

The team advanced through more of the cave and found a long corridor. On either side was an occasional doorway, through which the team could see ruptured tanks where there was a particularly high amount of gas.

“Looks like we found the source of the death,” Frost said. In each room were even more bodies strewn about, ripped up by shrapnel from the exploding tanks and chemically burned by the gas that followed. “That can’t have been a good time.”

“Duke looked into a couple of the rooms. “These are just storage areas,” he said. “We’ll leave the rest and hit the end of the hall. I see a big door.”

“Copy that,” the ponies all said. Frost simply nodded.

They reached the end of the hall and found a large metal doorway, but there was no handle. It was an automatic doorway, which opened up as they all approached. The following room was small, but still big enough to fit the whole team.

“Should we bunch in?” Agate asked.

“No,” Duke said. “This looks like a decontamination chamber. The other side will be clean, probably, even if destroyed.”

“Enemies,” Agate said.

“Yes,” Duke answered. “Frost, you and I will go first. You boys watch this side, we’ll get you when we’re done.”

“Roger that,” Agate said. The ponies set up security from behind in case of any unwanted visitors.

Duke and Frost entered the chamber and Frost pressed a red button on the side, closing the door behind them. Both men raised their weapons and pointed them forward as the decontamination chemicals flowed over and around them, taking care of anything that might have stuck to them. When the ventilation turned on, they mentally prepared themselves to run in and gun down any gryphons they saw. All unknowns here were to be considered hostile, given the use of the facility.

Someone on the other side seemed to have heard the men entered the chamber. “Thank the heavens, someone came to take us home!” a voice screamed.

“Maybe now the incessant whining will end,” another voice said. “This guy has gotten on my nerves.”

The decontamination chemicals stopped flowing and the doors began to open. Without hesitation, the men rushed through the door, greeting three very surprised gryphons and one unknown being sitting in the middle with a bag on his head. The gryphons had lab coats and knives on their legs, clearly combatants.

Duke and Frost fired well-placed bursts into each enemy gryphon, turning their terrified expressions into expressions of shock and then emptiness. When the three gryphons were down, the hooded being made panicked noises and tried to move, to which Frost responded by coming around and hitting him with the butt of his rifle.

“Get down!” Frost yelled, pointing the barrel straight at the being.

“Ow!” the being said. “Watch it you blithering idiot!”

Duke looked at the being; it had hooves. “Are you a pony?” he asked in disbelief.

“What do you think I am?” the pony replied.

“Wait a minute,” Frost said. “Have we seen him before?”

“Take the hood off,” Duke said.

Frost did as Duke said and pulled off the hood. What they saw surprised them even more than the fact that anyone survived the attack by Sombra’s magic; it was that guy, Prince Blueblood, they had tried to rescue in Saddle Arabia.

“What the Hell are you doing here?!” Frost asked

“I was kidnapped, no thanks to you,” Blueblood said.

Duke frowned. “If you wanna get out of here, you do as we say,” Duke said.

“As if! I am a prince!” Blueblood said.

“Then feel free to leave, prince,” Frost said. “There’s just about a fifth of a mile of deadly chlorine gas and God knows what else in the way of you getting to the deadliest wilderness in the region.”

Blueblood frowned. “You wouldn’t leave me here.”

“You still haven’t answered why you’re here,” Duke said gruffly.

Blueblood huffed. “They have held me for some time, you know,” he said. “They told me that if I could help them get into cities undetected and make life easier for them, that they would let me go.”

Duke and Frost blinked and stared. “What?” both men asked.

“I can’t stay here any longer, don’t you get it?” Blueblood said. “They have deprived me of all that I need.”

“So they starved you?” Frost asked, steadily growing angry.

“No, I had food and water,” Blueblood said. “I never had a bath, they shoved me around, locked me in rooms. I must leave!”

“So because they mistreated you a little, you were going to help them spread chlorine gas through the cities,” Duke said more than asked. “You traitorous son of a bitch…” he muttered.

“I only helped them a little,” Blueblood said. “I only told them enough to be able to get in, I didn’t do anything that would get them in.” Duke remained calm through the ridiculous statement, taking in a deep breath.

“You little-“ Frost began.

“They needed me elsewhere, thankfully,” Blueblood said.

“Elsewhere?” Duke asked.

“They said they needed my magic to develop something new,” Blueblood explained. “Something deadlier than what they have. I figured that what they have is already very deadly, so a new thing wouldn’t matter.”

“You helped the enemy for a bit of comfort,” Frost said. He still couldn’t believe his ears.

“You’ll still answer for what you’ve done,” Duke said. “You betrayed your country, and I’m sure you’ll receive a fitting punishment.”

“Punishment?!” Blueblood yelled angrily. “I am a prince! My life is far above the peasants.”

Frost had had enough. “Duke, we can’t get him out with all that gas,” he said. “I think we’d best leave him here and send in a new team to get him with the gear they’ll need.”

Blueblood froze. “You know, Frost, I think that’s our only option,” Duke said. “But before we go, I have one question for the prince.”

“What?” Blueblood asked, fearful of being left behind.

“What did you help them develop?” Duke asked.

“I don’t know. They said something, it started with ‘V’ and something came after,” Blueblood said.

Duke frowned. “Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to remember while you wait for the new team to come get you.” The men turned around and walked away.

“No! Don’t leave me here! I didn’t do anything to you!” Blueblood shouted.

“We’ll send a team with an extra suit to come and get you,” Frost said with a wave.

The men walked into the decontamination chamber, ignoring the pleading of the prince. He would survive in there, and the crystal ponies would send in a team to get him. It would give the men time to inform Prince Armor of how exactly the gryphons planned on getting in and how they gained the information they needed, and Armor would take it from there.

The men walked out of the chamber. “You good? We heard your weapons from out here,” Moon Rock said.

“Damn, those things are crazy,” Ocean commented.

“It’s good,” Frost said.

“We have an HVI in there, Prince Blueblood,” Duke said. The ponies wore shocked expressions. “We’ll send a team to get him later, one equipped to get him out.”

“Shouldn’t we try now?” Agate asked.

“We’ll explain on the way,” Duke said. “For now, let’s go and get this information back. That vial we found might be a lot worse than we expected.”

“Copy that,” Agate said.

The team made its way out of the cave and down the mountain to the sleigh. As they sped back to the city, Duke pulled out the vial and looked at it. He had a bad feeling about what was inside it, but he wouldn’t know until they had it analyzed. Hopefully the gryphons never finished making whatever it was.

“You alright, boss?” Frost asked.

“No,” Duke said, gripping the vial. He put it away. “No, I’m not alright.”

The ride back went in relative silence, the screams of the damned unheard in the frozen wastes of the north.

> Tracks That Go Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 






Tracks that Go Home






The men walked into the crystal elevator and rode it all the way to where Shining Armor would be waiting. After everything from that day, they were ready to take whatever easy way up they could.

They made haste to get to the throne room where Cadence and Shining Armor would be waiting. The guards let them pass without trouble. The men had gone on a mission for the wellbeing of the crystal ponies, after all.

When the men walked into the throne room, Cadence and Shining Armor stood from their seats and ran over to them to greet them.

“What happened? What did you find?” Cadence asked emphatically.

“Other room,” Duke said firmly. Cadence blinked, but nodded along with her husband and the group left for a more private area in case of prying magic eyes.

Once they were in a separate room, away from the ears of the public, they all took seats around a small table with the map of the Frozen North on it. Frost stretched out comfortably, and Duke leaned forward onto the table. The men waited for the ponies to speak.

“Well?” Shining Armor said.

“Well,” Duke said. “We found the place and it was in total wreckage. Only four survivors.”

“And what did you do with them?” Cadence asked.

“We had to take down three,” Frost said. “The forth is one you might want to do deal with yourselves with.”

“What?” Shining Armor said.

“The other one was a hostage, one Prince Blueblood,” Duke said.

Shining Armor and Cadence’s eyes exploded in size to be even astronomically bigger than usual. Cadence tried to form words, but while her lips moved, nothing came out. Shining Armor was simply speechless.

“Why would we want to do that to him?” Cadence asked. “He’s family…”

Duke saw Shining Armor mouth, ”Only by extension,” with a hint of disdain. Shining Armor clearly already disliked him, and no doubt with good reason.

“Well, when we went in there, we weren’t expecting to find him,” Frost said. “But before we ran into him and his captors, we did find a new substance, probably a chemical weapon, that we didn’t know of previously. It was still being developed by someone in there.”

“So?” Shining Armor.

“It needed magic, apparently, to be generated,” Frost answered. The ponies weren’t quite putting two and two together. “Prince Blueblood helped them to develop it.”

“What?” Shining Armor asked, his voice suddenly taking on a dark tone.

“Yes,” Duke said, equally as dark. “I believe he cited his reason as being that they deprived him of his comforts and his life is worth far more than that of lowly peasants.”

Shining Armor was visible angry. “That little shit…” he grumbled.

Cadence was shocked. “I can’t believe Blue would do this,” she said.

“You must not know him very well, then,” Frost said. “I don’t know what sort of punishment you have for that here, but back home-“

“Frost,” Duke said with a warning tone. Frost ceased speaking.

“Oh, he’s gonna pay,” Shining Armor said.

“We still need to get his side of the story,” Cadence said.

Duke pulled some documents out of his bag. “Here it is, ma’am,” he said, sliding the across the table. “These and the other documents have an excellent chance of telling you about how he used his magic to help them develop a new gas.”

“Do you have any of this gas?” Shining Armor asked. “Dumb question, but still.”

“We did take a vial,” Duke said. He pulled it carefully out of his bag. “It’s clear, so you can’t really see it, but there is something. Some kind of magic revealed it to us.”

Shining Armor took it in his magic. “There’s a protection spell on it,” he said. “Whatever it is, it must be worse than the other gas.”

“Blueblood said it started with a V,” Frost mentioned. “Not sure what it could be.”

“I don’t think any gas names start with V back home, but then again, I don’t know many languages other than English,” Duke said. “It could be anything for all I know.”

“Thank you for bringing it to us,” Cadence said. “We will send it to Aunt Celestia right away to get it analyzed.”

“Good,” Duke said. “I wasn’t comfortable carrying that thing around as it was.”

“Is there anything else you can tell us?” Shining Armor asked.

“Only that we’d like to go home now,” Frost said. “You have everything we had, all the gryphons are currently deceased, and the city is safe for now.”

“I second that,” Shining Armor said. “I know how it feels to be away from home for fighting. I’ll send you back to Ponyville on the train tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Duke asked.

“Logistics need to be worked out, and if something comes up and we need you here, in the city-“ Shining Armor wanted to make it very clear that they wouldn’t be going out into the wastes again. “-You’ll be available. Plus…”

“What?” Duke asked.

Cadence sighed. “Well, Blueblood isn’t a citizen here. If he did help the enemy, more than just we are affected, and the law of the land is that he must be tried first in his homeland.”

Frost blinked. “We have to ride home with him.”

“I’m afraid so,” Shining Armor said. He floated over a few things from a desk to the side. “Here. Duct tape, in case he starts running his mouth.”

Duke took the tape. “Cool. This’ll be all we need, I think.” Shining Armor nodded and returned the other items to the desk off to the side.

“Well, if that’s all, I suppose you boys can go rest for the day,” Shining Armor said. “Good work.”

“Thanks,” Frost said. He stood up and walked off. Duke, however, remained.

“Are you not tired?” Cadence asked with a mild chuckle.

“Oh, I am,” Duke said. “But remember how I asked you for that favor?”

“Ah, yes,” Cadence said. She leaned forward. “So what do you need?”

Duke looked back to make sure Frost was gone. “I imagine you’re able to find out what is best for ‘wooing’ individual ponies…”










The next day, Duke and Frost waited at the train station. Their understanding was that a team went out, grabbed Blueblood, and tossed him in the dungeon when they returned. A prison escort would take him here, and the men would take him back to Equestria. They had a feeling that duct tape would be helpful on the ride back.

Eventually, the prince was brought to them, grumbling the whole way as he was shackled at the ankles and had a bag over his seemingly odd horn. The men nodded to the tired-looking guards and took custody of the traitor. When they left, Blueblood finally spoke his mind.

“Cretins, I shall have you flogged-“

“Shaddup,” Frost said curtly. He ripped some duct tape off the roll.

Blueblood squeaked and ended his chatter immediately. Frost smiled and nodded, and Duke just quietly thanked his partner for taking care of it.

“Here comes the train,” Duke said, pointing down the tracks.

The train came up quickly, and the men boarded with their charge and gear. As the train started up again soon after, they looked back at the city in the frost, glad to be done with it. They were trained to deal with the cold, but that didn’t mean they liked it. Why couldn’t Equestria consist of Hawaii-type places? Of all the alternate worlds to end up in…

Duke wanted to get his mind off the weather. “So Frost,” he began.

“So Duke,” Frost replied.

“You got any special plans for home?” Duke asked.

“Like Ponyville?” Frost asked. Duke nodded. “Not particularly. Maybe I’ll hang out with Amel, if I don’t end up sleeping too much.”

“Not gonna use her as a pillow?” Duke asked with a grin.

Frost laughed. “Not sure how she’d feel about that.” Duke knew.

“I don’t know, she seems like a cuddle machine,” Duke said. “And she’s so soft and fuzzy, too.”

“Like a giant teddy bear,” Frost said with a chuckle. “You got any special plans that don’t involve me? You seem intent on this.”

“Oh, you are my special plan,” Duke said. “Maybe I’m going insane with this, but hey. I’m in a land of pastel-colored, talking, magical ponies. I probably went mad when we hit the ground.” How long ago was that, anyway?

Frost raised an eyebrow. “Uhh, okay,” he said. “Care to share?”

“Sharing is communism,” Duke said.

“Sharing is caring,” Frost corrected.

“Then caring is communism,” Duke said jokingly.

“Curses, capitalism’s greatest enemy is kindness and ponies!” Frost decreed. The men shared a laugh.

“What is wrong with you two?” Blueblood asked.

Without a word, Frost quickly ripped some duct tape off and put it on Blueblood’s mouth. Blueblood couldn’t resist in time and was totally silenced for the remainder of the ride.

“Good,” Duke said. Blueblood tried to get it off, but without fingers, he couldn’t. And he knew better than to use his magic when there were two humans armed with very powerful weapons escorting him to Canterlot.

The rest of the ride was spent in blissful quiet, with the men having small talk here and there and Blueblood ultimately falling asleep in his seat.






When the men arrived in Ponyville, they were expecting their new friends to greet them at the station. Frost had called back the previous night to tell them they were returning, but no one showed up. It was more than a little suspicious, though; there wasn’t a soul on the platform or around it.

“Where is everypony?” Frost asked of no one in particular.

“Not a clue,” Duke said. He ripped the duct tape off of Blueblood. “Where is everyone?”

“How the hell should I know?!” Blueblood responded angrily, putting his hoof over his mouth.

“Whoa, snappy,” Frost said. “I don’t want to travel with a guy like that.”

“Me neither,” Duke said. “So you can walk back to the city on your own.”

“Walk?” Blueblood said with disbelief.

“Yes, walk,” Duke said. He pointed toward Canterlot, up on the mountain in the distance. “It’s in that direction.”

“I will wait for the train before I walk,” Blueblood said defiantly.

“Fine by me,” Frost said. He and Duke walked away from the platform. “How long until he notices that sign that says all trains are cancelled?

“Doubtful he’ll notice in the next hour,” Duke said. He glanced back to see Blueblood staring forward. “Maybe even two.”

“Sucks to suck,” Frost said.

“We should probably grab him and take him to Princess Twilight,” Duke said.

“Nah, I don’t think we’ll need to,” Frost said dismissively. “He thinks he’s innocent. He’ll turn himself in.”

“True,” Duke replied.

Duke and Frost continued on with all their gear, suspicious about the lack of activity but glad that they didn’t have to navigate the busy streets with all their gear with them. When they looked up, they did see some pegasi guards flying around in groups of three, flying fast and at varying altitudes.

“Weird,” Duke said.

“Hey, there’s a bar there,” Frost said, pointing forward. “Let’s see if anypony is there.”

The men moved toward the Salt Lick bar and made their way inside. In the bar, there was only a single pony at the bar, cleaning glasses as she picked them up. She was young, they could tell, and she was clearly extremely tense as she worked. They could see the fear rigidifying her.

“Hey, miss?” Duke said.

The mare looked up with a gasp, dropping and breaking a glass. “Oh, it’s just you men,” she said. She grabbed a broom and swept up the broken glass. “Been wondering how long it would take you to stop by.”

“I bet,” Duke said. “Humans like to drink, right?”

“Ha, that’s what the owner says,” the mare said.

“What makes her say that?” Frost asked, curious. Duke listened intently.

“She knew someone, I think,” the mare said. “She doesn’t say much about the human who used to stop by here with his friends.”

“Where is she now?” Duke asked. “I imagine that if something is up-“ Duke pointed his thumb at the door. “She’d want to watch the bar.”

“I’d have a gun,” Frost chimed in.

“She’s in Canterlot right now with friends,” the mare said. “She sent a letter by magic to watch the place while she was out. With the threat level being what it is, she didn’t want to wait for someone to keep an eye on her business.”

“Threat level?” Frost asked.

“Yeah. A threat was made against Ponyville last night,” the mare said. “It said to expect retaliation in the coming days. Not sure for what, but you can’t tell very often with guys that make threats like that.”

Duke scowled. He wanted to keep learning about the other human, and he seemed to have a solid lead here, but if the town was threatened, that took priority.

“If that’s true, we can’t stick around for drinks,” Duke said, stepping back. “Frost, let’s move.”

“The threat level is Red,” the mare said. “Watch out if you go outside.”

Frost raised an eyebrow. “We will,” he said. With that, he and Duke walked outside and promptly started to watch out.

“I imagine Princess Twilight is on pretty high alert right now,” Duke said.

“If the air patrols are any indication,” Frost replied.

“You would think there’d be more,” Duke said.

“This war looks to be getting worse,” Frost said. “Resources and ponypower are probably spread thin.”

“If Equestria isn’t careful, it’ll start dealing with what we had to deal with,” Duke said. “I hope they can finish this war soon.”

“This war is the same as ours,” Frost said. He looked up and saw two patrols fly overhead. “It’ll never end. There is no single enemy. No matter how many hostiles they eliminate, a new one will step up.”

“As long as there’s two sides, the fighting will never stop,” Duke finished.

“Where do you think Amel is?” Frost asked. “I don’t want to leave her at home on the edge of town alone.”

“She’s a smart mare,” Duke said. “She knows better than to stay in dangerous places.”

“True,” Frost said.

“You know, if I were to get married, my wife-to-be would need to be smart,” Duke said.

“I know,” Frost said. “Gotta make up for you, after all.”

Duke chuckled. “So I guess your girl better be pretty,” he said.

“Ha, nah, no need,” Frost said. “If I ever got married, she’d be nice, smart, and she’d understand me and my job.”

“You probably don’t have to look far, then,” Duke insinuated.

“Duke, you might know women, but I am wildly unfamiliar,” Frost replied. “I've never exactly been superb with women.”

“Glad to see you’re still clueless,” Duke said.

The men thought about where Amel might go in the event of an emergency. The safest place she could find in the safest location. The first place they thought of was Twilight’s castle, but that was a prime target for an attack. Hit the bottom, and the whole thing goes down hard. The next location was Rarity’s place, and odds were, more ponies would be there.

The men made their way to Rarity’s Boutique. As they walked there, they encountered a couple of patrols, each one consisting of two earth ponies and one unicorn. It was a smart tactical decision; the earth ponies were stronger and better at close fighting, and the unicorn could provide magical support to the two of them. And with how many patrols there were, odds were good that if there was a surprise attack, another patrol would hear a scuffle and come running.

When the men arrived at the Boutique, they found it being guarded by four earth ponies and with two pegasi circling overhead. Rarity’s home appeared to have become a safe haven for whatever ponies were still in town. On top of the guards, there were also several barricades set up and even a couple of enormous machines that appeared to be Ballistas.

The men approached the building and the guards nodded. “Go on in,” one said. “They’ve been waiting for you.”

“Really?” Frost asked.

“Princess Twilight received word of your return earlier and told the townsponies,” the guard replied. “They needed the good news.”

“Can we head in?” Frost asked hurriedly.

The guard chuckled. “Sure thing,” he said. Frost walked in quickly, leaving Duke outside.

The guard looked to Duke with a smile. “The foreign one likes him,” he said.

“I’m quite aware,” Duke said. “Though of all the humans here, I think I’m the only one.”

“Sounds like he could use some help,” the guard said.

Duke shook his head with a grin. “You can’t even begin to understand.”

When Duke entered, he was greeted with the sight of what could have easily been a hundred ponies, sitting around the main room having hushed conversations about what was going on. Duke could see Frost with Amel and Rarity by the small stage. Amel leaned against him with her eyes barely open, like she was about to fall asleep.

Duke made his way over, carefully stepping past the ponies scattered about. Most of them skittered away as he walked by, trying to stay out of his way. As he got closer, Frost spotted him coming by and waved him down.

“She looks tired,” Duke said as he walked up.

“Poor dear, she’s been doing so much to help these ponies since they took refuge in my shop,” Rarity said, looking admirably at Amel. “She worked hard to help them be comfortable.”

“She’s earned a rest, then,” Duke said. “Is there anywhere more comfortable for her?”

“Upstairs, Sweetie Belle’s room, first on the right,” Rarity said. “Nopony is up there, so she can rest peacefully.”

“Frost, why don’t you take her and your stuff up there,” Duke suggested. “I’ll get a rundown form Miss Rarity.”

“Sounds good,” Frost said. He picked up his gear and gently placed Amel over his shoulder and headed upstairs.

Rarity sighed. “Poor girl couldn’t sleep when the threats came in,” Rarity said. “Everything was happening at once. Ponies in a panic, you two were still gone, the town was in danger… She barely slept. Kept herself occupied by helping the others.”

“A good way to stay busy,” Duke said.

“She was always thinking about the worst case,” Rarity said. “Worked herself up, thinking Frost was gone and you would come back wounded.”

Duke nodded. “I’m glad she cares. I’ll talk to her later, tell her not to worry.”

“You know that won’t stop her,” Rarity said.

“I know,” Duke said. “I’ll try to help out how I can.”

“That’s very nice of you,” Rarity said.

“So how bad is this threat?” Duke asked, done with small talk. “What kind of thing are we looking at? A bomb, an infiltration, what?”

“An assault,” Rarity said.

“What?” Duke asked.

“They said they are going to bring a force to attack Ponyville,” Rarity explained. “That they would take control and declare Ponyville Gryphonville.”

“Well, that isn’t going to happen,” Duke said. “Still, I’d rather evac the townsponies to keep them out of the way. If this attack happens, we need to keep the civilians safe.”

“That’s very noble, but we can’t leave,” Rarity said. “The attack could come at any minute. The guards said we are in the declared time frame as it is; the attack is any time from today to four days from now.”

“So they might be waiting for an evac to hit the civilians,” Duke deduced. “Those bastards.”

“Quite,” Rarity said with a hint of distaste for Duke’s language. “And your friends from Luna aren’t due back for some time. The town is almost as vulnerable as it could be.”

“But now we’re here,” Duke said reassuringly. “Don’t worry. Frost and I will help out with the town’s protection.”

“Thank you,” Rarity said. “But you are also medics, yes?”

“Highly specialized occupation,” Duke said.

“Do you think you could also take a look at some of the ponies here before you help the guards?” Rarity requested. “Some of them were hurt in the panic, and if the attack comes soon, you may be needed after.”

“We’ll probably be needed during, too,” Duke said. “Frost and I will take care of you guys.”

“You truly are angels,” Rarity said graciously.

“The Guardian Angels Weapon System,” Duke said. “That’s what we signed up to do.”

Duke left Rarity in her spot and went upstairs to go tell Frost what he learned and what they were going to do. When he arrived at the room, he knocked lightly and then entered, dropping his stuff at the door as he walked in. Frost had Amel on his lap scratching her ear in a chair toward the wall, away from the window.

“You look comfortable,” Duke said.

“Hardly,” Frost said. “She’s heavier than she looks.”

“At least she isn’t skin and bones,” Duke said.

“That would be terrible,” Frost said. “I never liked bony people. They look strange, and their bones poke you when you touch them.” Frost stopped scratching Amel and put his hands together on her back. “So what’s going on?”

“Well, it looks like we’re joining the guards for defense,” Duke said.

“As expected,” Frost replied.

“We’ll also be acting medics and doctors for the townsponies in case of harm during the attack,” Duke went on. “Rarity asked if we could help some of those already hurt before we do anything tomorrow.”

“How did they already get hurt?” Frost asked incredulously.

“The panic of the threat,” Duke explained. “You know how people get.”

“And I guess that ponies running around is probably more dangerous than people,” Frost reasoned with himself.

“We’re inside the timeframe of attack, so we’ll have to be vigilant.” Duke looked out the window. “They’re probably going to wait until a good moment, like an evacuation, for their assault.”

“I hate these guys,” Frost said. “Do you think we can draw them out before?”

“We’d have to go out and find them, leaving the town more vulnerable while we’re out,” Duke said. “It isn’t worth the risk. We need to outwait them and defend the townsponies. We carry too much firepower to risk ourselves, either physically or by not being around.”

Frost grunted. “I always hated waiting,” he said.

“Me too, but that’s too bad,” Duke said. “So move her to the bed and come downstairs with me. We need to treat who we can now so we can be prepared tomorrow, and ASAP today.”

“Roger that,” Frost replied. He moved Amel to the bed, despite her unconscious protests to his leaving. “Let’s get started.”

Duke and Frost went through their gear for their medical supplies and made their way downstairs to start treating ponies. While they worked, they constantly had their minds on what their response to the assault would be, depending on what it was, and how serious the damage would be. Whatever injuries they were fixing up now, they would be nothing compared to what they could encounter later.

And those were the kinds of injuries that were meant to kill.












> On the Front Lines
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







On the Front Lines





                The men set up their a clinic in Rarity’s shop to boost morale and keep everypony’s spirits up. Duke and Frost sat in spots across the room from each other treating injured ponies to the best of their abilities. Some injuries were basic and simple; a cut, bruise, scrape, maybe a twisted ankle-type joint. A couple of ponies who had illnesses wanted help, but the men were unable to treat their illnesses for lack of safety gear to avoid catching anything, as well as for lack of knowledge of things like “Wobble Horn”.
 
                Frost handled all the little ones and any older ponies who came to him, while Duke just handled adults. It wasn’t that Duke didn’t want to work with the kids, they just went as a group to Frost. Duke was great with kids. Really.
 
                “There you go, nice and patched up,” Frost said, finishing a wrapping on a young filly’s foreleg.
 
                She looked at it and smiled. “Thanks, mister Frost!” she said. She ran along to join the rest of her friends, some of whom Frost had just been assisting.
 
                There were no more ponies at Frost’s spot asking for help, so he moved away and went over to Duke’s area to talk to him and help any remaining ponies there. There were still several ponies left, so Frost plopped down next to Duke and got to work.
 
                “You finished fast,” Duke said.

                “It’s easy to finish fast when everything you’re working with is small,” Frost said.
 
                “You know quite a lot about that, don’tcha?” Duke asked.
 
                Frost laughed. “I’m all about being considerate, brother. I make sure my work suits others, for the others, even if it takes several tries to convince them it works.” The stallion in front of Duke raised his eyebrow at the men, but they didn’t notice.
 
                “I hope Amel doesn’t mind your inability to get it right the first time, then,” Duke said with a grin.
 
                Frost chuckled. “I always satisfy.”
 
                “There’s only a few left,” Duke said, finishing up the stallion in front of him and sending him off. “Once that’s through, let’s grab our weapons and head out for a patrol. It’ll be better to have us out there if everything here is taken care of.”
 
                “Roger that, Duke,” Frost replied.
 
                They took a bit more time with the remaining ponies and then made sure everyone was good. When no one had any complaints that they could deal with, the men grabbed their weapons, ammo, and relevant gear and headed out. Rarity waved goodbye to them as they left, and along with her, everypony else bid them luck, and the men waved back as they left.
 
                “You know, they didn’t much seem to care that everyone wished them luck,” one pony said.
 
                “They don’t do what they do for that,” another said. “They do it so we can continue to wish each other luck.”
 
                Rarity looked at the door as it shut. “Come back, men. More than just your lives and mission are at stake.” She turned around and went up the stairs to make sure Amel was comfortable.
 
                The men looked grossly out of place among the guards, wearing highly advanced gear even compared to the Nighthawks, and looked far more intimidating. However anypony or gryphon looked at it, a grimacing pony just wasn’t as scary as two tall, menacing humans with the same expression.
 
                Duke and Frost started walking arbitrarily and randomly through town. Because of the nature of the threat, there could be gryphons sneaking around and trying to infiltrate the town ahead of time. Thinking of that, the men thought about ways that the gryphons could attack the ponies to weaken them. There was their food supply, their water, and any key infrastructure, like any kind of electricity, plumbing and sanitation, and medical facilities.
 
                The men started off by going to Sweet Apple acres, where they would also be able to talk to the Apple Family for any intel on the town’s structure. A family with history here, as the men assumed the Apple Family did, would be helpful for giving them hard targets the gryphons might go after.
 
                The men made a beeline for the farm, but as they moved through the town, not even able to see it yet, they could already see the increased security there. Multiple flying patrols, extra guards around a nearby roadway, and several traps meant to hinder those who wouldn’t know their presence. The men made a note to ask a guard about the traps set around the town.
 
                When they made it to the roadway, they walked past several patrols of three to four guards, each of which nodded collective approval of their presence. They were allowed past the gates onto the farm without hesitation, and the men could see hidden guards as they walked by. A normal person or pony might not have noticed them, but their trained eyes were good at finding things that were hidden.
 
                When they reached the house, Duke knocked on the door and the men waited. When the door opened, it was Applebloom who answered.
 
                “Hello, can I-” She looked up and saw Duke. With an excited gasp, she rushed forward and grabbed him in a big hug. “Hey! What brings y’all out here?”
 
                Duke patted her on the head and she let go. “We’re just making rounds, checking on everything and making sure town is safe.”
 
                “Gotta do our part,” Frost added.
 
                “Well, we’re sure glad to see ya here,” Applebloom said. “Care to come inside?”
 
                “We can come in for a bit,” Duke said. Applebloom led him and Frost into the house.
 
                Inside, in the main room, were Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Fluttershy, somewhat surprisingly. The men nodded to them and received a very warm welcome in return.
 
                “Glad to see ya here,” Big Mac said, looking toward Frost.
 
                “Glad to be here to help,” Frost replied.
 
                “We figured we’d stop by, ask you a bit about the town,” Duke said.
 
                “Sounds good to me!” Applebloom called out to her friends. “Scoots, Sweetie, come ‘ere, we got more guests!”
 
                Applebloom’s friends and Spike came out of the kitchen to greet the men. Spike had Sweetie protectively under his arm, and he showed a perpetually aggressive fang. Duke raised an eyebrow at the dragon, but Scootaloo came over and briefly explained that Spike was being really protective.
 
                “Ah,” Duke said.
 
                “Yeah. Sweetie certainly seems to be enjoying it, too,” Scootaloo said, nudging her head toward the very content-looking Sweetie Belle.
 
                “So is there anything any of you can tell us about the details of the town?” Frost asked. “Anything that would be particularly helpful to us? Sewer tunnels big enough for us or gryphons to fit inside, caves nearby, anything tactically useful?”
 
                “Ah know that there are caves in the Everfree, but y’all wouldn’t want to go out there even if there were gryphons,” Big Mac said. “Found a collapsed one a couple of years ago following a weird trail into the forest. Looked purposely collapsed, so we don’t know if there might be other hiding places out there.”
 
                “So the Everfree is a point of interest,” Duke said. “Are there guards protecting the town from that area?”
 
                “Most of the guards are protecting infrastructure and homes,” Applejack said. “There are guards everywhere, but concentrated on defending places of importance.”
 
                “Sounds like someone should keep an eye on the forest,” Frost said.
 
                “Y’all don’t want to get out there,” Applebloom said. “It’s real dangerous.”
 
                “We’re real dangerous, when we want to be,” Duke said.
 
                “We can see that,” Scootaloo said. “So those are your fighting outfits?”
 
                “Yes, geared up and ready to fight,” Frost said. “We normally wouldn’t want to be dressed this way around civilians.”
 
                “Have to now, though,” Duke said.
 
                “Y’all look a lot bigger in those outfits,” Applejack said.
 
                “I assure you, Frost is still small,” Duke said.
 
                “Hey!” Frost responded after a moment. Applebloom giggled.
 
                “Well, it’s been good, but we have to go,” Duke said. He and Frost made their way to the door.
 
                “Good luck!” the Apple family said in unison with their guests.
 
                “Please be careful!” Fluttershy said as a last note.
 
                The men made their way back into town and started walking around to the areas where there was a lower presence of guards. Duke and Frost were certainly better equipped than any pony, making them massive force multipliers. On top of all the force multipliers they were carrying, they were deadly on their own, and they knew it. Of course, when it came to it, their first job was going to be pulling the good guys out of harm’s way, but if that meant fighting the bad guys, that was fine.
 
                The men were walking down an empty street, glancing around for anything that could compromise security or making fighting difficult. Duke noted any barrels laying around, as they could be rolled toward them, forcing them to move or jump over them, leaving them vulnerable for a deadly moment. There were also a lot of boxes that could provide them cover from crossbows, but bullets or bombs would tear them apart.
 
                Frost kept an eye out for alleys and ditches they could use. Ditches were risky, as the enemy had a bit of an obsession with chemicals and explosives, so it could be worse for them. Alleys were also a risk, but if they had to make a quick getaway, it would be good to know which ones weren’t dead ends.
 
                Duke looked up and saw two ponies, one in armor, one not. Curious, he squinted at them and noticed one was cyan with a rainbow tail.
 
                “Rainbow!” he shouted.
 
                Both pegasi looked down and then swooped down to meet the men on the street. Rainbow Dash and a guard were flying over town together.
 
                “Hey dude,” Rainbow greeted. “What’s up?”
 
                “You, but you really shouldn’t be,” Duke said.
 
                “It’s okay,” the guard next to her said. “She’s with me.” After stating the affiliation, the guard moved closer to Rainbow and wrapped her hoof around Rainbow’s.
 
                “Ma’am, while I appreciate whatever help we can get, it would be better for only armed and armored ponies to be out and about,” Duke said.
 
                “We’re sorry, but we don’t want the risk up,” Frost said. “If push comes to shove, and we start discharging our weapons, a pony not trained in proper tactics could get between our bullets and the enemy. We don’t want to accidentally shoot anyone.”
 
                Rainbow blinked and swallowed. “That’s a pretty good point,” she said.
 
                “I understand, sirs,” the guard said. “I’ll bring her to Rarity’s.”
 
                “We should walk there together, stay safe,” Frost suggested.
 
                “I agree,” Duke said. “Let’s talk along the way.”
 
                The group started off. “What are you wondering about?” the guard asked.
 
                “Lovely weather,” Frost said jokingly. “Ideal for defending the town.”
 
                “You can thank the weather ponies for that,” Rainbow said proudly.
 
                “We do,” Duke said.
 
                “Can you tell us about the threats Equestria faces? Maybe why?”  Frost asked. “Help us put the picture together.”
 
                “Well, Equestria is a nation unlike any other,” the guard began. “The government is a diarchy now, or triarchy, then you include the Crystal Empire… It’s complicated. But basically, we prosper more than any other nation, despite our system of government that tends to end badly elsewhere.”
 
                “Got lucky with your immortal leaders, eh?” Frost asked.
 
                “We did,” the guard replied. “Most places, like anywhere with gryphons, have mortal leaders. Gryphonstone is one such place. Thankfully, that particular city is very much on our side.”
 
                “Good to know,” Duke said. Maybe they would be able to use that.
 
                “So other nations are jealous?” Frost asked. “Sounds like a stupid reason to me.”
 
                “Well, compared to other places, we don’t have to work as much. We are very lucky with our lands and magics and everything,” the guard said. “No doubt they want a piece of that pie.”
 
                “Money money money money money,” Frost said. “Root of all evil.”
 
                “Anyway,” the guard said. “If they could take some of our better land, they would gain a massive advantage. Other nations have always threatened us, but it was never serious until now.”
 
                Duke leaned into Frost. “How much do you wanna bet the Nighthawks disagree with that?” he asked.
 
                “I’d bet three hundred bucks,” Frost said.
 
                “So that’s what’s going on, really,” the guard said. Soon after, they reached Rarity’s Boutique. “Alright, flygirl, this is your stop.” Rainbow kissed the guard quickly.
 
                “See ya later,” she said. The guard saluted, and Rainbow went inside.
 
                “Well, we’ll let you go off,” Duke said. “We’re gonna head inside for a bit ourselves.”
 
                The guard flew off and the men went inside after Rainbow. She seemed to be interested in showing her gusto to the other ponies to encourage them not to be afraid, but the men could see her real trepidations. Over time, it gets easy to spot someone who’s brave and someone who is trying to fight fear. Maybe she was just courageous, though. She seemed the type.
 
                Duke and Frost walked through the main room to the stairs and ascended up to where they left Amel. As they walked up, they heard whispers and excitement behind them, likely directed at them in full battle dress. It was entertaining to them to hear ponies talking about them like that, but that wasn’t why they were here, and they wouldn’t let it become the reason.
 
                When they got upstairs, they opened up the door to where they left Amel and were greeted with the sight of her and Rarity having a laugh fest about something, doing manes and wearing outfits and being silly. The men hadn’t yet been noticed, so they stood silently and watched for a minute. When Amel finally noticed, she released a high-pitched yelp, drawing Rarity to look the men’s way.
 
                “Don’t you know how to knock?!” Rarity asked. “What if we were indecent?”
 
                “I’m never decent, doesn’t bother you,” Frost said, stepping inside.
 
                “You wouldn’t want to see him truly indecent, it’s not too impressive,” Duke said.
 
                “I bet I’m ‘cleaner’ than you,” Frost said.
 
                “Just because I’m better with women?” Duke said. “Hardly.”
 
                “I don’t get it,” Amel said.
 
                Rarity wore a red flush on her face. “You don’t want to, dear,” she said.
 
                “Anyway!” Frost said, clapping his hands together. “What’s up?”
 
                “Well, if you MUST know,” Rarity said with a huff.
 
                “I MUST,” Frost said.
 
                “We were trying on various dresses and making ourselves up. Just mare things,” Rarity said.
 
                “Sounds fun,” Frost said dismissively. “We should do something actually fun!”
 
                “Like?” Amel asked.
 
                Rarity oohed loudly. “Oh, you could go to Sugarcube Corner!” she exclaimed. “There are some sweets there that you’ll love.” Frost missed it, but Rarity gave a wink when she finished.
 
                “That sounds like a plan to me!” Frost said. “Let’s all go to get sugared up.”
 
                “Actually, I need to work here, and I could use your help, Duke,” Rarity said.
 
                “I want to see whatever show is going to be there, though,” Duke whined.
 
                Rarity smiled and, through gritted teeth, said, “DUKE, it’s important that you help me!”
 
                “Well, Duke, no cake for you,” Frost said.
 
                “Just you wait,” Duke replied. “The cake is a lie!”
 
                Frost and Amel left, one man dressed for war and one mare dressed for prom. Once they were gone, Duke turned to Rarity and smirked at her. Rarity returned the smirk, snickering along with it and shaking her head.
 
                “Maybe he’ll finally learn,” she said.
 
                “Doubtful,” Duke said.
 
                “I’m surprised you’re so okay with it,” Rarity said. “Being on a mission basically all the time, it seems like something you wouldn’t be allowed to do.”
 
                “This entire thing violates every rule of engagement we have,” Duke said. “It violates all precedents. Actually, it simply has no precedent. Honestly, I might just be going crazy. But you know what? I’ll roll with it. Not like there’s anything else I can do until we find OGA.”
 
                “And what will you do?” Rarity asked.
 
                “Go home,” Duke said. “Once we have OGA, we need to bring him back.”
 
                “Are you so sure you want to go home?” Rarity asked. “We know what your world entails. We also know most of what ours does, and frankly, I’d rather live in this one.”
 
                “It doesn’t matter which I’d rather live in,” Duke answered. “It doesn’t really matter what I’d like to see around me every day. The fact of the matter is that I know what my world entails for so many people, I know that there is a lot that needs to be done. However great this world would be, however happy I would be, I need to do what I can for my world. If it were reversed, and I found myself here where your world was so difficult, I would stay.”
 
                “You are most noble that way,” Rarity said.
 
                “Maybe it is,” Duke said. “But that’s just how I was forged.”
 
 
 
 
 
                Frost and Amel walked down the street calmly, though Amel was constantly looking left and right. Frost was as well, but he was inconspicuous about it, stealthily keeping an eye on the goings-on around him. When they eventually reached Sugarcube corner, Amel visibly calmed down and the two of them entered.
 
                Inside, they found Pinkie Pie with other ponies, serving cakes and other treats to anyone there free of charge. There were a lot of little ones in the room who stopped and stared at the couple as they walked in, awestruck by the contrast they were beholden to. Amel squirmed under their scrutiny, but Frost just patted her forward toward the counter.
 
                “Hiya, Frost!” Pinkie Pie greeted cheerfully. “Glad to see you here!”
 
                “Glad to see you’re doing what you can to help,” Frost replied. “I guess the kiddies are feeling better with Pinkie treats?”
 
                “Oh, yeah! I’m the number one baker in Ponyville!” Pinkie Pie replied. “All the fillies and Colts love my treats! Except the few that don’t. And the ones whose parents won’t let them have treats. And the ones who can’t.”
 
                “Well, I think the lady and myself would like some of what you’ve got,” Frost said. “I’m partial to chocolate shakes myself.”
 
                “And for you, madame?” Pinkie asked in a French accent.
 
                “I will have the same, and some chocolate pound cake, I think,” Amel said.
 
                “Should I pour some extra sugar on that?” Pinkie asked with a wiggling eyebrow. Neither Pinkie nor Frost caught it.
 
                “Uhh, I’ll get some of that pound cake too, so I guess?” Frost answered.
 
                “Glad to see you’ve got similar tastes for special treats,” Pinkie said.
 
                “Uhh, right,” Frost said, backing up slowly. “Let’s grab a seat, eh?”
 
                Frost and Amel walked over to a vacant table and took their seats. Frost had to sit on the floor, as the chairs were hardly designed for a man his size, let alone when he was wearing full battle garb. Amel suggested that they go to a shorter table, which Frost agreed was a good idea.
 
                When they were finally situated, they started chatting about whatever came to mind. Amel talked about the weather, which Frost had to ask about. Amel had no idea how the pegasi controlled the weather, simply saying it was magic. Frost lamented how magic was the default answer here, and it was usually right.
 
                Before long, though, some of the little ones around started crowding around the man and his pony. At first, he ignored them, but Amel took notice and gave them attention.
 
                “Hello, little ones,” she said.
 
                “Are you two dating?” one blurted.
 
                Amel blinked and blushed. “Uhh, I- what?” she asked.
 
                “We’re here together,” Frost answered.
 
                “Are you together though? Like, TOGETHER together?” a little one asked.
 
                “I’m on duty right now, kids, so I can’t be getting that at the moment,” Frost answered. While that would originally have deflated Amel, she now knew that he was just dodging the question.
 
                “Come on!” one colt said. “You gotta give us something?”
 
                “How about I give you something else interesting?” Frost asked.
 
                “Like what?” a filly asked.
 
                “I got stories,” Frost said with a shrug.
 
                “Ooooh!” another filly said. “Tell us tell us tell us!”
 
                Amel watched as Frost dazzled the little ones with stories from his life. He mostly went with things that he did prior to joining the US Air Force. He once had a hiking trip where his group had a run-in with a bear. They had to drop their food and run, but they found out the bear followed them after that. When they reached what they called their car, they quickly shut the doors just in time to find out the bear was right behind them. It rammed into their car, and in a flurry of girlish screams and flailing limbs, they drove away.
 
                Amel giggled at Frost’s stories. She didn’t have crazy stories, as her life wasn’t exactly as free as Frost’s growing up. She wished she had gotten a chance like that, that maybe she had been born into his world. Maybe she could have met him before, and they could already be-
 
                “So Amel, you liked my wrestling match with Big Mac, right?” Frost asked, breaking her out of her self-induced trance.
 
                “Hm? Oh, yes! It was a most impressive feat,” she said.
 
                “I totally would have won if we continued,” Frost said.
 
                Amel patted his leg. “I know you would have,” she said as if consoling him.
 
                “You forgot to say honey,” a little colt commented.
 
                Before Frost could ever wittily come back, Pinkie showed up with his and Amel’s treats. Frost shooed the kids away to go eat their own treats so he could speak with Amel alone.
 
                “So,” he began, taking a sip of his shake. “How has everything been? No trouble besides this whole fiasco while we were gone?”
 
                “No, all else was okay,” Amel said. She fidgeted with her hooves.
 
                “You sure?” Frost asked.
 
                Amel sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know, Frost. I’m scared.”
 
                “Of what?” Frost asked.
 
                “Everything,” Amel said. She looked up, and tears looked to be welling up. “I love my freedom. I thank you so much for it. But everything changes so fast, everything is so uncertain… And the way the world is…”
 
                “Amel, change is a natural thing,” Frost said. “You’ll get used to it.”
 
                “That’s not it,” Amel said. “I’m scared of being alone again. I don’t want to… I don’t want to lose you out there. I don’t want to find out I lost you without being able to say goodbye, I don’t want-“ Frost grabbed Amel and pulled her close.
 
                “I won’t,” Frost said. “I won’t let you be alone, Amel, you know that. Me and Duke saved you because you deserved to be free and safe. We won’t let the safe part slip away.”
 
                “But what about you?” Amel asked. “You are hardly safe.”
 
                “I’m trained for this, Amel, and I know the limits of what I can do,” Frost said. “I’m the jack of trades and the king of none. I know what I can and cannot do, and I promise I won’t let myself get caught blindsided by something I cannot do.”
 
                Amel sniffed. “I know, I just… Everything is so confusing.”
 
                Frost rubbed her neck. “Life is that way. It has its ups and downs. People say there are two sides to every coin, but life isn’t like that. Really, there are six sides to every die, and the game of life is played with two. You just have to keep your head high, and press forward to experience the good things. No one who cares about you wants for you to be stuck in a rut.”
 
                Amel smiled. “I suppose you are right,” she said.
 
                “I tend to be that way,” Frost said. Amel shook her head and pressed her face into Frost’s gear-ridden chest.
 
                “I wouldn’t go that far,” she said. Frost scratched her head as she leaned into him, unrealizing of the gaze of a dozen little ones and a poofy pink pony.
 
 
 
 
                When Frost and Amel returned to Rarity’s home, they found that most ponies had been guided to safety and only a few remained. Duke was standing on the stage being fitted with some kind of dress uniform.
 
                “Duke?” Frost said as he walked in.
 
                “Frost,” Duke replied. “Miss Rarity was just fitting me for an Equestrian style dress uniform. We don’t have any here, and if we found ourselves doing something formal, she said we would need them. I tried to tell her to give us our usual dress uniform, but she said they were tacky.”
 
                “Well yeah, but still,” Frost said.
 
                “Oh, posh,” Rarity said, focusing on the uniform. “Besides, you shouldn’t be standing out too harshly.”
 
                “I suppose so?” Frost answered.
 
                “Don’t even try, I couldn’t convince her,” Duke said.
 
                “Yes, well, you tried your best, darling,” Rarity said. “Oh, and I have a little something else for you boys.”
 
                Rarity left Duke on the stage to go upstairs to retrieve something for the men. Frost scrutinized the uniform, but found that it was a really nice outfit. Maybe the Air Force could get Rarity to design something new for them? Probably cheaper than the current one, too.
 
                Rarity returned with a small box in her magic hold. “I made these for you because I knew they would be important for your dress uniforms,” she said. “I made several, as well as commissioned the metalwork.”
 
                Rarity opened the box and pulled out the contents, surprising the men and Amel with her gift. Rarity had ordered a silver and gold Guardian Angel pin for Duke and Frost’s uniforms, as well as made several patches of the American flag for each of them. They were exquisitely done, some of the finest fine metalwork they had ever seen.
 
                “Wow,” Frost said as he and Duke were presented with their new patches and pins. “These are incredible!”
 
                “Truly,” Duke said. “Thank you so much. If there’s anything we-“
 
                “No, you are doing quite a lot already,” Rarity said. “Protecting our town and country like this. We still thank you, and will continue thanking you.”
 
                “Just don’t shower us with too much,” Frost said. “I don’t know how I could accept so much generosity without feeling selfish.”
 
                “Oh, no worries, I’ll be careful,” Rarity said with a smile. “But really. Thank you. And I hope you like the new uniforms. If you ever go to see the princesses again, it might be better to wear dress uniforms. The ‘nobles’ will give you less trouble.”
 
                “Duly noted,” Duke said.
 
                “Alrighty then, all done!” Rarity announced. Duke stepped off the stage. “Now, Frost, if you could strip down and get up on stage…”
 
                “Just let me get into my battle dress first,” Duke said. “Best to have someone fully prepared at all times.”
 
                “Amel, I need you to sit right there and tell me if something looks wrong at any point,” Rarity said with a smirk.
 
                “I will assist you,” Amel said.
 
                “Get a good look at my glorious bod?” Frost said, striking a pose.
 
                “Well, she did say to tell her what was wrong,” Amel answered.
 
                Frost could hear Duke laugh from the other room and shook his head with a chuckle. Amel sat in her spot and watched as Rarity got to work, but her mind soon began to wander. What was going to come in the next few days? When would the gryphons just attack? But the most pressing question of all-
 
                Which dress should she wear the next time she went out?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


> Home Invasion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







Home Invasion






Duke and Frost awoke early to prepare themselves for the day. Before even eating their breakfast, they donned their gear and prepared their weapons, loading in the magazines but not chambering any rounds yet. Safety first, after all.

With Rarity being so generous, she told the men that they could help themselves to the refrigerator if they were hungry at any time. They were happy to take her generous offer and raid the fridge for breakfast foods. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, there was no meat, only vegetables, fruits, and wheat, some of which the men couldn’t even eat. Who refrigerated hay, anyway?

They made themselves large portion breakfasts that would digest easily to energize themselves for the day. As they ate, the men discussed the potential problems they would face with evacuating casualties from the battlefield when they were realistically well behind enemy lines and the only place with medical facilities would be under attack as well. It would be up to them to cover casualties and act as the battlefield medics and even doctors afterwards to keep the injured safe.

While they ate, the men could hear someone creeping down the stairs, but the steps were much larger and heavier than those of ponies. Duke and Frost took one look at each other and smiled, knowing exactly whom it likely was. When the culprit, whom they were correct about, walked down and into the kitchen, they initially pretended not to notice.

“Morning, Spike,” Frost said to surprise the unstealthy dragon.

Spike froze and slowly turned to see the men. He had been trying to make a break for the back door, but to no avail. The men slowly turned as well to meet his gaze.

“So what brings you around these parts?” Duke asked.

“Uhh…” Spike replied dumbly.

“Just checking on the clothes here?” Frost asked. “Making sure no one damages the best fashion place around?”

“..Yes?” Spike replied.

“Really?” Duke asked. He stood up and put his hands behind his back, slowly walking over to Spike. “Who’s the best designer in Equestria?”

“Uhh…” Spike replied, again, most dumbly.

“Who’s the best male model in the industry?” Frost asked.

“He’s, umm, he’s..” Spike was backing away from the advancing Duke.

“Who’s the most aspiring model in the industry?” Duke asked. “The most talented?”

“Sweetie Belle,” Spike replied with relief that he could final answer a question. He was unaware that he was sealing the deal. “She can sing super awesome, and she’s really, really pretty.”

“See now, you just put yourself into a corner,” Frost said. “If we were the types to actually care what you did with your marefriend upstairs, we would know exactly what you did.” Spike’s face went pale. 

“Haha, no worries, dragon boy,” Duke said, patting the dragon on the shoulder. “We won’t say a word.”

Just when Duke said that, none other than Sweetie Belle came down to see her dragon cornered by a man in battle dress. When she laid eyes on the scene, her face turned completely red, drawing big smiles from Duke and Frost.

“Weee, knooow, what youuuu, diiid~,” Frost sang.

“I-I-I can explain!” Sweetie Belle said in a panic. “He was- I needed, uhm, we were just-“

“Relax, kiddo. We won’t say anything,” Duke assured her. “We know what it’s like. You’re a teen, all those raging hormones, sometimes you just gotta-“

“Okay, I get it!” Sweetie Belle shouted, even more embarrassed than before.

The men started laughing, and even Spike joined in on the chuckle fest, getting a big harrumph from Sweetie. Spike went over and pulled her into a hug, assuring her it was just good jesting, like back in the old days with someone whose name the men missed.  

“You know, though, there is someone who will care if she finds out,” Frost said. He and Duke stood up to get ready to head out. “ If she comes down and sees this, it’ll be-“

“WHAT IS ALL THAT RACKET?!” an angry Rarity shouted from the stairs. Spike and Sweetie Belle started to panic, but Duke and Frost simply watched. When Rarity came to the kitchen and saw her little sister and Spike together, the gears started to turn. Slowly, but surely, her face started to grow red, though not from embarrassment.

“Men, take him down!” Rarity ordered.

Duke and Frost blinked, looked at each other, and then looked to Rarity. As if they were about to say something, they took in deep breaths and then spun around for the door.

“EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!” Duke and Frost both shouted.

The men burst out the back door and ran out, leaving behind Spike to be likely castrated by Rarity and Sweetie Belle to be chastised for whatever they were doing. Neither Duke nor Frost ever heard anything, so it couldn’t have been much, but it would still be interesting to hear about it all later.

They made their way to the main road in front of the Boutique and stopped there. Peering into the window from afar, they could see Spike trying to escape Rarity’s wrath and Sweetie Belle trying to calm her sister down. If the attack came right then and there, Spike would probably have been safer.

As they peered, a window up top opened up and Amel poked her head out of it. She tried to get the men’s attention with a wave and a shout, but they didn’t seem to hear it. To get their attention, she opted to toss something at them, like a small rock or empty spool. She managed to get Duke on the helmet with it, drawing both men to look up her way.

“What is going on?” Amel asked. “I can hear much noise from down the stairway.”

“Just family being family,” Duke said. “Spike’s gonna get his ass handed to him in there for being a doofus.”

“What?” Amel asked. “What did he do?”

“We don’t really know,” Frost said. “But it involved his marefriend and what might have been a fun time.”

Amel got it, but she didn’t seem to care that much. “Maybe he should, seeing as he is not even with her officially.”

“That was his mistake,” Frost said. “We ran so we wouldn’t get caught in his crossfire.”

“Smart idea,” Amel said. “I hope I can avoid it as well.”

“Well, you’ll probably get to talk to Rarity about her deviant sister and her evil boyfriend,” Frost replied. “She’ll try to give you advice about males.”

“Advice?” Amel said. “I’d need a book to understand one of you at all.”

“I’m just so deep,” Duke said. “But don’t worry about Frost, he’s simple.”

“I even come with an owner’s manual,” Frost chimed.

“Since we both accept that neither of us is the owner when the time comes,” Duke said. “Is any man truly?”

“No good man,” Amel said with a giggle. “Though I suppose you could both be given some responsibility every now and again.”

“Can I walk the dog?” Frost asked with mock excitement.

“You’re not at that level yet,” Amel said. “I think it’s more of a ‘You can wash the dishes’ kind of responsibility.”

“Aww,” Frost replied.

Duke patted Frost on the back. “It’s okay, I’ll give you responsibility,” he said.

“Thanks Duke,” Frost said. After a second of quiet, everyone broke out laughing, happy that there was something to keep them in a good mood.

But it didn’t last. A moment later, alarms screeched around the town, drawing everyone’s attention.

Duke and Frost spun around with their weapons up and went into their battle mindsets. Amel looked frantically from left to right as the men scanned the sky. Pegasus guards soared into the air and formed a defensive perimeter around town.

“What is happening?!” Amel screamed.

“Shut the window and stay inside NOW!!” Frost ordered from the ground. Amel blinked at the unexpectedly coarse order, but did as Frost said and hid inside.

“Frost, we gotta find the action,” Duke said. The men chambered their weapons and moved out.

Duke and Frost booked it through the town, searching for where the fight was. Alarms blared throughout town, but the movement of pegasi in the sky became particularly intense and massive as they approached the border around where the hospital was. 

Duke and Frost spotted a group of Earth Pony guards protecting a house and ran to them. The guards saw them coming and sent one forward to meet them halfway.

“Where is the attack coming from?” Duke asked.

“It’s next to the hospital, they’re attacking it to take out as many doctors as they can, the twisted terrorist bastards,” the guard said. “We have to defend this site in case they send more forces here, but they really need your help at the hospital.”

“Roger that,” Frost said.

Duke and Frost booked it to the hospital, where they could already hear the clamor of the fighting. As they approached, they saw aerial fights between gryphons and guards, talons scraping against cold steel as they waged a bloody fight to knock each other out of the sky. Some gryphons were throwing small explosives at the ponies on the ground, but crossbow fire keep them erratic and they couldn’t aim.

Duke and Frost stopped at the end of the road and tried to take aim at the gryphons, but there were too many guards in the sky to risk a shot. With a curse, Duke and Frost continued to run forward toward the hospital and met up with a group of Earth Ponies at the entrance.

“What’s the situation?!” Duke asked.

“We need to get the remaining civilians out of the hospital, but there’s too much enemy activity!” the guard said. “We got most of them out earlier, but there are still a few sick ponies left! The gryphons are in the hospital, if we don’t get the civilians out, they will be in serious danger!”

“Got it!” Duke said. “Frost, on me, we’re going in to get them out!”

“Copy that!” Frost shouted back.

Duke and Frost went past the guards and into the hospital. As soon as they entered, they could hear the fighting in various hallways, weapons scratching the walls and floors. Thankfully, there were no explosions to be heard, as it was too close quarters. That meant that the civilians were at least somewhat safe inside.

Duke and Frost started running through, weapons up, in a two man formation that let them aim at anything around them. The first gryphon they came across was dead on the ground, a hole in his armor plate over his chest. Ignoring the body, the men went on and started checking rooms once they reached the chronic patients’ section.

There were very few ponies left at all, some of them being escorted out already by guards as the men passed. One of the guards mentioned that there was still one, hiding somewhere in a section of the building controlled by the gryphons, but they couldn’t get in.

“We’ll get them,” Frost said. The guard nodded and let them go.

Duke and Frost made their way further into the hospital until they reached the final wing, where the cancer patients were kept. They could already hear that the gryphons had full control of this area. There was no fighting, only chatter on the other side of the door into the main hallway, and there were a couple of guards waiting outside.

Duke and Frost ran up to the guards. “You two, wait here for us to come back,” Duke ordered. “When we do, we escort this one out together.” The guards found that to be agreeable.

Duke and Frost took a position on either side of the door. With his fingers, Duke counted down. Three, two, one…

The men kicked the door open and ran through, weapons high and ready for fighting. When they ran through, there were several gryphons in the hallway, but when they saw the men, they panicked and tried to run. Duke and Frost took several shots at them, killing one and knocking two down. The other fled into surrounding rooms.

The men started checking the rooms one by one, searching for this remaining cancer patient. The first few rooms were totally empty and almost untouched, as the gryphons had yet to get to them. As they made it further down the hallway, the rooms were more ravaged and various things were missing; drugs, blades, and other medical equipment mostly. There was no taking those back, as they were likely already gone.

Toward the end of the hallway, the men found more gryphons, but the gryphons ran off as soon as they saw the men. With what appeared to be no more gryphons in the area, the men started searching the building themselves. None of the rooms appeared to have anyone in them, and there was no sign of the cancer patient.

“Frost, I don’t like this,” Duke said. “We might have a hostage situation here.”


“Let’s not jump to that yet,” Frost cautioned. “Let’s check everywhere first.”

The men continued their check, but the rooms were relatively bare to begin with, so there was only so much they could do to look. When they checked all the rooms one last time, they figured that there must have been a kidnapping, and they kicked themselves for not getting there sooner.

Duke sighed and looked up. “Frost, this isn’t good,” he said. “We’re going to… have to…”

“To..?” Frost said, prompting Duke to finish.

Duke pointed up. “The ceiling!” he shouted. Frost had a realization ping in his head, and he moved to give Duke a boost up to the ceiling. These ceilings, like most others in commercial buildings, were hollow to an extent for wires.

When Duke got his boost up, he moved one of the ceiling tiles and started looking around. There were small lights in the sub-ceiling, and without the walls going all the way through most of the time, he could see far. After a bit of looking, he spotted a little colt in the distance, above the last room in the hall.

“I have eyes on patient!” Duke announced.

Frost let him down and the two of them made their way to the patient hiding in the ceiling form below. When they found him, they tried to establish contact, but the little colt appeared to have trouble saying anything. Duke moved to grab him and met no resistance, and when he brought the little pony into the light, he could see why.

“This colt needs meds now!!” Duke shouted urgently.

Duke carried the pony as he and Frost desperately searched for whatever IV equipment they could find that would work for him and his room. He had a name tag, Boulder, so when they found his room, they rushed in and immediately got to work. Duke set him down while Frost found the IV fluid delivery. When Frost found it, indicated by a bloody and hastily removed needle, he set up the IV to get the life-saving meds into the colt. Once the bag of the colt’s meds was in place, Frost administered the needle and the men started rolling him out.

The men rolled him to where they left the guards, and the group left the hospital together. Outside, the fighting had dissipated pretty quickly, giving them the room they needed to transfer the colt to a safe place where he could get his medicine and proper treatment.

“Stay strong, little guy,” Frost said as the colt was taken away. An officer of the guard walked over to the men after the colt was wheeled away.

“Thank you for helping find him,” the officer said. “Without the magical medicine, he would have been lost pretty quickly.”

“Glad to help,” Duke replied. “So was that it?” 

“We think so,” the officer said. “It wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected. We’re going to suit up now to search for runaways and then be ready for-“ Frost cut off the officer by shoving his finger toward the sky.

“Guys,” he said, bringing the others’ attention to where he was pointing. “It ain’t over yet.”

Duke and the officer looked up and saw what was the most terrifying sight they had ever seen; a small army of gryphons, hundreds of them, advancing on the town from the air. The officer seemed to be in shock, but Duke just put his hands to his gun.

The pegasi saw the enemy coming and decided to block the sun with cloud cover. Almost instantly, the battlefield grew dark, lit bright by the occasional gleam of claw and sword, what would inevitably be explosions, and the discharge of firearms.  There was still plenty of light, but the cover of darkness would give the men and ponies an advantage; the men still had their Nightvision on their helmets if they needed it, and the ponies knew the town. Hopefully it would be enough to repel the attack.

“We’re having some fun now,” Duke said darkly.

The entirety of the force at the hospital got up and moved back to town, where they would meet the opposing force and many would meet their untimely fates.







> Homefield Game
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








Homefield Game








Duke and Frost ran down the street into town, weapons at the ready as the defense force shot out ahead. Ponies run faster than humans, and even if the men had the advantage of being able to run longer, speed was still critical.

The men were only seconds behind all the stallions, but before they even made it to the fight, they could already hear metal scraping against metal as the warfighters stabbed and hacked and slashed at each other. Grunts and battle cries dominated every sound in between the bouts of scraping steel, reminding the men of just how much they appreciated their firearms.

When the men came up seconds later, the battle was intense. Fighters were already bruised and bloodied, with half a dozen combatants already sprawled out on the ground. Most were gryphons, but two of them were stallions Duke and Frost had just been fighting alongside.

“Frost, two o’clock!” Duke shouted, pointing at one of the downed stallions. He was still moving, albeit slowly and clearly in excruciating pain.

The men ran forward, eyes on the sky and around them, and grabbed the stallion, dragging him away from the fight. Once they were safely at the side of a building, Frost provided cover while Duke bandaged some of the cuts and scrapes on the stallion’s legs and abdomen. His armor had taken a beating, but he himself was in survivable condition.

“I’m good,” the stallion said, trying to get back up. One of the cuts on his legs was too deep, however, and he couldn’t quite stand. It was possible he would never stand on his own again.

“No, you get inside,” Duke said. Frost locked eyes with Duke and nodded, then went to the door of the building they were next to and kicked it in. After clearing it and making sure no one was there, he ran back out and gave Duke the clear to bring the stallion inside.

“I can fight!” the stallion shouted angrily.

“The Hell you can!” Duke responded, grabbing the stallion and throwing him over his shoulder to carry him inside. Duke and Frost ignored his protests at being taken from battle and left him in the building, shutting the door and running back to the others.

More stallions had fallen by the time they got back, but few were dead, thankfully. Duke and Frost closed on the fight and tackled two gryphons, knocking them to the ground, and then shot them. When the roar of the guns pulsed through the air, the other gryphons realized what was coming and fell back.

There were several injured soldiers in the group, but with the attack no doubt about to recommence in a few moments, the men had little time to provide aid.  They got on it in a heartbeat, administering painkillers and bandages to the injured and instructing the remaining, mostly alright soldiers to take the injured into the house they dropped the other stallion in. That would have to be their makeshift infirmary for the time being.

“Use the furniture inside to provide places to rest the wounded,” Duke instructed. “If there are no bandages and you need more, rip up clothes or curtains or anything.” As much as he didn’t want to have that done, these were stallions’ lives at stake. Plus, if they didn’t win, the house would be burned to the ground anyhow.

Duke and Frost provided cover while the squad of soldiers took their wounded into the house. A few would have to stay behind to protect them and take care of them, but some of the remaining soldiers would be heading back into the fight. Ideally, only the least injured soldiers would go into battle.

When three of the guards exited the house, the men took them and moved into town to set up a defensive area around Rarity’s Boutique at the lead stallion’s recommendation. It was a very high value target, and if word got out that it, and all its inhabitants, were destroyed, Equestrian morale would plummet to unreachable depths.

The gryphons were unseen along the way to the boutique, but it was easy to hear them and the rest of the fight around town. Screams and clashing steel reigned supreme on this day.

As they approached the boutique, the men looked around; houses were destroyed, carts overturned, and fires burned in a couple of places. They couldn’t do much about the flames, but they didn’t look too bad as it was. The priority was in setting up the defensive perimeter around the boutique.

When the boutique came into view, it didn’t look good; the gryphons were already there, engaging the guards who had been stationed on defense. Bodies were all over the place, primarily of gryphons, but there were ponies around, mainly pegasi. It looked like most of the roving patrols in the sky made their way here at the start of the battle.

Duke spotted a pegasus mare trying to crawl away quite a distance from the building, bleeding badly from a wound to her abdomen, when a gryphon landed not too far behind her and went for the kill. Before it could get there, Duke put three bullets right around the gryphon’s center of mass, and it fell to the ground. The shots garnered some attention, but here, the focus on the fight was so strong, that most didn’t notice.

“Stallions, protect the building! Frost, on me!” Duke commanded.

The stallions rushed to aid their comrades in front of the boutique while Duke and Frost made their way to the pegasus mare crawling away. She was quickly slowing down and the blood trail under her was seemingly getting darker, so they double-timed it to her position.

When the men reached her, two gryphons spotted them putting their attention on her and tried to swoop down and take them by surprise. But the men always had one eye on the fight, and Frost quickly turned around and dispatched the oncoming gryphons with several rapid shots from his rifle. When he confirmed that the gryphons were down, and that none of the others were looking their way, he moved closer to the injured guard and Duke.

Duke had her underneath him, and he was checking her already-exposed body for any serious injuries. Besides a few bruises, there was nothing of major concern. He went to turn her over and check her belly, as she was having trouble responding and could not do so herself. Just as he started, he saw a gryphon ahead and above them coming down.

The gryphon was clearly gunning for him, so he side-stepped away from the guard and tried to bring up his MP7, but the gryphon was on him already. It grasped his shoulders, sinking its talons into his left shoulder, and threw him to the ground. When it landed on its feet over him, it started dragging him off and away from the guard.

“Watch her!” Duke shouted to Frost.

Frost brought up his rifle to shoot the gryphon, but it picked Duke up and he couldn’t get a clear shot. Frost knew Duke would be able to handle himself, so, he kept his attention on the guard and keeping her safe. The pool of blood under her was starting to grow in size, and her movements were extremely small and slow, so he moved to provide medical aid.

He slung his rifle over his shoulder and pulled out his handgun in case he needed it and turned the guard over to assess the damage. When he had her on her side, it didn’t look good; there was a gash on her belly that went pretty deep, and it looked like it may have cut into her rib cage a little. With one eye on the sky and one on his patient, Frost pulled out gauze pads and medical tape and started to patch up the pegasus.

In the distance, Duke was fighting it out hand to hand with the gryphon. Before he could grab his MP7 from its sling, the gryphon pulled out its knife and went to slash him. Duke parried it out of the way, but the knife went right through his sling and sent the MP7 flying in a random direction.

With the gryphons knife-wielding talons now to his side, Duke countered by grabbing its other claw with one hand and punching it across the beak with his other. The gryphon was stunned for a moment, and instinctively put its claw to its beak for protection of its only way of eating. Duke took advantage of the moment of weakness and grabbed the gryphon by its throat for an over-the-shoulder throw.

Once on the ground, the gryphon started to scramble to regain its upward position on Duke, but the man was to have no part of it. He dropped his full weight onto the gryphon’s throat in an elbow strike, crushing its windpipe and causing asphyxiation over time. While it wasn’t dead yet, it certainly wasn’t going to be fighting.

Once that was done, Duke drew his handgun and located his MP7 to retrieve it. Once it was back in his hands, he rushed back to Frost and the mare to find Frost dragging her with his left arm and shooting with his right at several gryphons who were taking cover behind a fully laden apple cart.

Duke slid in on his knees and took a firing position, then opened up at the cart. The amount of cargo prevented his bullets from hitting the intended target, but it did keep the gryphons down as suppressive fire.  Once there was cover fire, Frost moved the mare to his shoulder and carried her as Duke moved along behind him, keeping them safe.

Frost aimed his pistol forward at the coming crowd of gryphons and ponies, ready to fire in case he needed to. Luckily, he was able to move through the battle practically unseen, as everyone was focused on their current opponents. Duke refrained from shooting inside the crowd to avoid drawing unwanted attention. The men made it to the door of the boutique and knocked on the door hard.

“It’s Frost, let us in!” Frost shouted.

He turned around to see Duke aiming at a trio of gryphons who were trying to corner the men against the building. Frost quickly trained his pistol on the right-most fighter and dispatched him with a shot to the gut, while Duke shot the other two gryphons three times each, two to take them to the ground, then one while they were there to finish each of them. After all was said and done, Frost holstered his sidearm and carried the mare with both arms.

When the shots rang out, the door burst open, and Frost rushed inside, followed quickly by Duke, who shut the door and went to the windows. Most were boarded up, but one of them had sustained serious damage, and had an open view outside. Duke aimed outside and started taking careful shots at incoming gryphons, letting the stallions focus more on their current fight and make the coming fight easier for them.

Frost rushed the pegasus mare over to the raised stage and set her down, uncaring of the large crowd that was watching. As soon as she was down, he got to work making an IV to get fluids into her body. A couple of ponies started getting close, nearly in the way.

“Give me space!” Frost demanded, scaring the ponies back.

Amel was a little taken aback by the harshness in his voice, but knew from talking with him before that this was him in job-mode. She stepped back like he asked, as he could certainly not have known it was she who was behind him. From a safe distance, she watched him get to work.

“If there’s any blood in the house, I need it now!” Frost said.

“We don’t have that here!” a voice replied.

“Dammit!” Frost cursed through clenched teeth.

He pulled out a small plastic baggie with a cap on it and tore the cap away. Under it was a needle, which he carefully administered into one of the mare’s bulging veins in her rump, While her body looked limp, she did show some signs of tension that immediately went away with whatever Frost administered with the needle. 

He put his hand to her neck.

“No, no, no, stay here!” Frost shouted in vain at the guard.

He frantically started going through a mental checklist of everything he could do. The wounds were gashes, not cuts, so he couldn’t sew them closed. The broken bones were all ribs, so he couldn’t set them. He took away the pain, and an infection was likely and would have to be fought later. But the blood loss was still too much.

“Come on stay with me!” Frost said.

“Frost!” Duke called. “We go a big group of bad guys coming in!”

Frost put his hands on the mare’s bandages and pressed down. Pressure was the only tool he had left to save this mare’s life, and it wasn’t even a permanent solution.  After a few seconds, he looked at her face and knew that it was too late.

Slowly, he stood up, blood on his hands, and shook his head. He clenched his fist and then grabbed his rifle.

“FUCK!” he shouted, starling everypony in the room. Amel blinked at the extraordinary foulness of his chosen words.

“Outside, now!” Duke said. As if breaching a room, Duke opened the door and rushed outside, followed immediately by Frost, and they rushed back into the fray.

Outside, the battle raged, and the men moved quickly to make it to the front where they would be the most useful. With their guns, they could thin out the herd as it came to assault their location. With gryphons coming from the sky and along the ground, every shot counted.

The battle behind them was starting to calm down, as the gryphons were falling and the guards clearly had the advantage with armor and weapons. The gryphons appeared to have numbers, though, as they somehow just kept on coming.

A group of five came running down the street, swords brandished, screaming and in a complete frenzy. The men aimed in their direction and started firing and didn’t stop until they had all fallen to the ground. While they were distracted with that, though, more of them were coming from up high.

The men stopped shooting, and right away, they heard several gryphons land behind them by only yards. With a quick turn, the men trained their weapons on what turned out to be a massive group of ten and opened fire. They were only able to knock down four of them before three were upon them and three were moving toward the guards.

One of the gryphons brought a scimitar down at Frost’s shoulder, which Frost blocked with the plastic hand-guard of his rifle.  He followed it up with a strike from the butt of his gun, dazing the gryphon and sending it staggering back a few steps. Frost went to shoot, but when he pulled the trigger, nothing came out. He knew he hadn’t fired all of the shots from his current magazine yet, which meant that he had a serious problem on his hands.

Instead, he rushed forward and shoved the rifle barrel into the gryphon’s large eye, eliciting a blood-curdling scream, and yanked it down to the ground by its eye socket. Once down, Frost took his foot and stomped on its neck, breaking the spine within. Clear of his opponent, he pulled his handgun and slung his rifle over his shoulder, ready to continue fighting.

Before he moved, though, he noticed something odd. The gryphon appeared to be crumbling away and blowing away as if it were simply dust in the wind. He didn’t have much time to think on it now, though, as the war raged on around him.

Duke had to deal with two enemies. While Frost was fighting the other one, he worked on keeping one gryphon between himself and the other gryphon, forcing them to fight him one on one. He couldn’t get a shot off because the gryphon in front of him was constantly slashing at him, at one point cutting into his already hurting shoulder.

When it went for another strike, though, it did something Duke hadn’t seen coming; it went to peck at his face. Duke just moved his head out of the way, but unfortunately, that meant that his neck and arteries were exposed to the gryphon’s sharp beak. He realized, though, that the same was true of the gryphon, and without thinking too much about what he was doing, he went to bite the gryphon in the neck.

His teeth sank in with all his might and the gryphon screamed, trying to pull back. Duke kept his bite force on hard, and though his teeth didn’t get too far in, the gryphon reeled back and gave him room, allowing him to pull up his MP7 and fire on fully automatic, tearing through the bird in front of him and hitting the gryphon behind. As he felt the bullets riddle his enemy, he let his bite grip go and watched the gryphon fall.

“I always knew you were a bunch of chickens,” Duke said, wiping the blood from his mouth. He spat more out, which may have been a combination of his and the gryphon’s, and continued on.

When he and Frost reunited, Frost noticed the blood on Duke’s face and asked if he was okay. When Duke responded positively, the men continued into the fight, going for the three gryphons who had opted to battle the guards behind them.

One was already dead, one injured, and one cornered. Duke went to the injured one, which had its back to him, and put one bullet into the back of its head. The guards facing it flinched at the sudden explosion of feathers and more before them, and when Duke saw no more gryphons except for Frost’s, he started checking for injuries.

Frost holstered his pistol, as he wanted to save ammo, and pulled his FE9 to finish off the gryphon from behind. The gryphon heard him, though, and suddenly swung around, talons out. Frost just managed to dodge, earning a razor cut on his cheek, and then lunged forward and put the knife in the gryphon’s throat. When the gryphon fell, it, like the one before, faded into dust and blew away. With the sounds of battle far away now, and no gryphons in sight, Frost pondered on it.

“What is that?” he asked to no one in particular.

“Mirror pool,” a guard said.

“What?” Frost asked.

“The mirror pool,” the guard repeated. “They must have found it in the forest. It lets you make infinite copies of yourself”

“So there could just be a gryphon in the forest multiplying himself right now?” Frost asked incredulously.

“Not for long,” another guard said. “Word from the Captain, several groups went out to take care of the pool permanently. Probably gonna destroy it, collapse the cave.”

“Well, at least that’s done, then,” Frost said. “You alright, Duke?”

“Yeah,” Duke replied. “You? Looks like he caught you in the face.”

“I’ll live,” Frost said, wiping away blood. “Come on. Let’s check on who’s still with us.”

With that, the men began the gruesome task of seeing who was still alive on the field and who was KIA. The main portion of the battle was over, and though bitter and bloody and destructive, they had survived. However, how much of them had survived had yet to be seen.




> The Boundaries of War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







The Boundaries of War






Duke and Frost moved back and forth to the wounded warriors outside the boutique, solemnly helping however they could. For the most part, the ponies suffered lacerations and scrapes without much breakage of bone, so the primary issue was blood loss. WIth bandages running low, they had to tear up cloth and rags in order to meet the need.

There weren’t any painkillers to be found, so the groans and moans of the fallen dominated the scene. Duke and Frost ignored it to the best of their ability when working on one fighter, but as soon as they were done, they had to rapidly choose who to treat next. It was never an easy choice.

Frost was exclusively treating the injured, but Duke also had to take command as one of the few ranking officers left. Despite not being in the Equestrian chain of command, the ponies took his word as law for the moment in the hopes that it would maximize the number of lives saved. Duke ordered them to move all the wounded to the train station, where they could be prepped for transport to Canterlot for full hospitalization in a hospital that was undamaged and fully equipped.

Duke did this without a single major thought running through his head. Everything was stream of consciousness, one thing flowing into the next. He only counted the details he needed to know. Frost, however, wasn’t so lucky.

Frost was treating ponies left and right, focusing on exactly who he was treating and what. After a few soldiers, some of the civilians that weren’t able to get to the protected buildings started coming up. Some had been in houses damaged by explosives, and Frost had to remove shrapnel and wooden bits from their bodies. Others had been and barely survived, bleeding severely from several gashes along their sides and necks. Frost tried not to think about the ones that didn’t make it.

The few ponies who had any idea of how to help were doing everything they could, clearing areas to place the seriously wounded or comforting those who were hurt or scared. The fillies and colts were all kept inside to shield them from the imagery of their town in such shape.

“Sir,” a guard said, walking up to Frost. “We have doctors inbound from Canterlot. They should be here within half an hour.”

“Good,” Frost said. “Make sure the most severely wounded receive treatment first, and organize it so the doctors can work efficiently. I’ll keep here and do what I can.”

“Roger,” the guard replied. He turned and ran off.

Frost moved on to the next patient, functioning on autopilot as his hands worked. He had to remove his gloves to be able to do the more delicate work, so his skin was covered in blood and bandage residue. He wanted to clean them, but the urgent nature of the situation didn’t permit. He would just have to hope that nothing went wrong after he treated the ponies.

Back at the boutique, Amel slowly opened the front door and walked outside. The smell of the battle hit her like a brick wall, causing her to gag. While Akhal Teke had smelled bad, it wasn’t the zone of recent death and blood that was around her now.

When she looked up, she saw the enemies’ bodies being stacked in various areas and the bodies of ponies laid out carefully. She had always pictured ponies as being eternally respectful at all times, but in times of war, even the nicest of beings has to do the dirty work.

She tried not to look at the bodies or the ground as she walked away from the boutique to search for Frost. She knew he was working now and she couldn’t do much to help, but inside the boutique just didn’t feel right. She felt like she needed to be by Frost right now, where she knew it was safe and everything would be fine.

She didn’t need much time to find him, kneeling over and fixing up whatever pony came his way. Most ponies didn’t notice it out here, as they were in no state to, but she could see frustration and anger in his expression when she came close. It usually flared up when he was dealing with a body part he didn’t know or had to close a wound that wasn’t as typical to what she assumed a human would experience.

She decided to lean on an undamaged wall nearby and watch Frost do his handiwork. Despite the gruesome nature of it, she could see a certain beauty in how swiftly and efficiently his hands moved to close up a wound or cover a burn. There was a fluidness to it that she had rarely seen anywhere else. This must have been what attracted Frost to the profession in the first place.

When Frost finished up, there were no other ponies nearby, so he stood, stretched his back, and looked around. When he spotted Amel, he looked confused initially, but then stopped caring and walked over.

“What are you doing out here?” Frost asked. “This is no place for a little lady like yourself.”

“I didn’t want to stay in the boutique,” Amel said. “I came out to find you.” Amel looked up at his face and realized that there was a large gash on it. “Oh no!” Frost went rigid, then started frantically looking around.

“What?!” he asked.

Amel ran up to him. “Your face!” she shouted, grabbing his head. “What happened?”

Frost calmed down instantly. “Oh, I just caught one to the face,” he said. “I’ll be alright.”


“You’re bleeding!” Amel said. “Oh, we need to get you a bandage.”

“Amel, I’m fine, really,” Frost tried to calm her down. “It’s just a scratch.”

Amel huffed. “No, we are finding you a bandage to fix your face.”

Frost sighed. “Fine.”

The two of them walked back toward the boutique together, Amel dragging Frost by his hand and Frost still wondering how she gripped him like that. It was like a vice, yet there wasn’t that much force behind it.

When they got there, they started looking for bandages. All the bandages had been used up by now though, and Amel wasn’t willing to use a dirty rag to cover up Frost’s wound. The other guards watched with some amusement as Amel dragged her human around to find him something to cover his face. After a short time, they ran into Duke, who was just returning from commanding a few guards a small distance away.

“Amel?” Duke said.

“Do you have any bandages?” Amel asked.

“No, who needs them?” Duke asked.

“Frost,” Amel answered. “We need a bandage to fix his face.”

Duke cocked his head sideways and looked at Frost. “Sorry, Amel,” he said. “It’ll take more than a bandage to fix that face.”

Amel let out a laugh and Frost a sigh. “Hardy har har,” Frost said.

“You might try the bar, the Salt Lick,” Duke said. “They have alcohol there to clean the wound and anything you find to cover it.”

“That sounds good,” Amel said. “Let’s go!”

Amel and Frost made their way into town, stopping a few times to ask guards for directions to the bar. After a few twists and turns, they eventually came to a building whose sign was mostly destroyed and broken bottles littered the street outside.

“This looks right,” Frost said. The two of them entered the bar and looked around. “Hello?”

“Hello!” a female voice returned. “Come on in, I guess.”

Frost and Amel walked further in and saw a mare to the right cleaning up the floor. She had a broom and dustpan as well as a mop and bucket to get all the broken glass off the floor. Hooves and boots were okay, though.

“You got ransacked,” Frost said.

“You’d better believe it,” the mare said. “What brings you here?”

“We need something we can use as a bandage and alcohol to clean it with,” Amel said.

“Well, if there’s any unbroken bottles, feel free,” the mare said. “I’m restocking the whole place with my insurance plan anyway.”

Frost made his way to the bar. “You mind if I pull up something to drink too?” he asked.

“Have at it,” the mare said. she turned to Amel. “And who might you be?”

“I am Amel,” Amel replied. “This is Frost, the human.”


“Yes, I’ve heard of him and Duke,” the mare said. “I’m Shiba. I used to work here; recently, I came to own the place.”

“Sounds like the previous owner got out in time,” he said.

“Yep. She’s gone off to a new world,” Shiba said.

“I’m sorry,” Frost said.

“She’s not dead,” Shiba clarified with a chuckle. “She just left.”

“Why did she leave?” Amel asked.

“Ah, some guy or something,” Shiba said. “I can’t quite remember who he was. She had to make a trip to the Crystal Empire to get there.”

“I hope it was worth it,” Frost said.

“Me too,” Shiba said. “Though I own the bar now, so it ended fine for me.”

Frost came back to the two mares with two bottles of Applejack Daniel’s, one for a drink and the other for his wound. Without asking first, he went and ripped a curtain from the window and tore it up to cover his face right. When he had that, he poured the hard liquor on it and started wrapping his face, clenching his teeth as the alcohol burned in his gash.

“You’re a tough one,” Shiba said.

“I try to be,” Frost replied.

Shiba looked around and sighed. “I just own a bar,” she said. “I didn’t want to be in this fight. None of us did.”

“War is war,” Frost said. “We like to make up rules. We like to think there are boundaries. Truth is, war has no rules, and it’s all about who wins in the end. It’s just up to each of us to try not to lose ourselves in it, on our own. And we have to be the ones who win, or the world will burn to ash.”

“Seems like the world is already on fire,” Shiba said.

“The world has always been on fire,” Amel said. “It always was, it always is, and always will be.”

“We didn’t start the fire,” Frost sang quietly to himself.

“Are you fixed?” Amel asked him.

“Yeah, I’m good to go,” Frost replied.

“Thank you for your help,” Amel said. She and Frost exited the building and let the new owner get back to her work.

“Don’t mention it!” Shiba said. “And maybe you should take a page from my old boss’s book!” Amel blinked; was it really that obvious to everyone except Frost?

Together, Amel and Frost went back to the boutique to finish up the aftermath of the fight. She stuck close by his side the whole way, and gradually, she felt him leaning on her as the exhaustion set in. She took his weight happily, knowing that she would always be ready to fully support him wherever he went.





> When the Home's Lost
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






When the Home’s Lost







Throughout the rest of that terrible day, Duke and Frost helped administer medical aid and organize the recovery of the town. The guardsponies knew best on that front, so the men let them do their thing, but when it came to the medical infrastructure of the temporary field hospitals, until real doctors showed up, they had to handle it.

At the end of the day, the doctors finally came in from Canterlot. The town was deemed secure enough to bring civilians back in, but only those who were either needed or related to ponies still there. While Duke and Frost disagreed with letting unnecessary civilians into a warzone, the ponies weren’t going to keep the families separated. Even if it was a bit dangerous.

When they were finally done, Duke and Frost were past the point of exhaustion. Along with Amel, they handed over all command to the ponies and started to make their way back to the house. Everypony they passed along the way smiled tiredly at them and waved. Duke and Frost saluted them as they went.

Amel was practically carrying both men as they leaned on her back. Being the strong little pony she was, it didn’t bother her, and even if it did, she still would have helped them. They more than earned it after the battle of the day, followed by the traumatic images of after the battle. The men looked relatively unphased, but Amel knew that a job like that would eventually break down any person.

When they made it back to the house, Duke and Frost got up off Amel and opened up the door. Duke went in first with his sidearm out, just in case a gryphon happened to be hiding inside. No one expected anything like that at this point, but it was worth a check. Frost kept his sidearm holstered, but had his hand on it ready to pull.

There was not a soul in the house. Once the men knew that for certain, the first thing they did was go to the kitchen. Amel followed close behind, careful of where she stepped. There was still blood coming off of the men from taking care of the injured, as well as a few cuts and scrapes of their own. When Frost wen for the fridge, Amel leapt forward and grabbed his arm.

“Wait!” she shouted. Frost blinked and looked at her. “You’re not clean enough to be in here. Neither of you.”

“Not a bad point,” Duke said.

“Clean yourselves up and change,” Amel said. “I will prepare food.”

“Duke, do we actually have other clothes?” Frost asked.

“We do have those dress uniforms Rarity gave us,” Duke replied.

“Guess those’ll have to do,” Frost said.

“Might as well put them on now,” Duke said. He and Frost started heading up to where the bathroom was. “We’ll probably be wearing them later.”

Amel listened to the thumping of the men’s feet as they slowly made their way up. She heard Duke say he would take a bathroom up on the top floor, while Frost could use the one nearest Amel’s room. She listened intently in case one of them fell and needed assistance, as they were incredibly exhausted and could probably use a helping hoof.

Amel decided on something simple and without too much taste to avoid overwhelming the men’s tastes. The sandwiches she decided on consisted of simply bread, lettuce, tomatoes, a dab of onions, and some dressing. When she finished making them, Amel wrapped them in napkins, set them on plates, and set them on the table.

She could hear the water running upstairs now and waited. She could only imagine how tired they must have been, if her own exhaustion was anything to judge by. She had trouble supporting them here, but even without them, she figured she would have had some difficulty walking. Were they having any trouble walking? They hadn’t fallen on the stairs, but if the floor of the bathroom got slippery, Frost could crash to the ground.

Amel wouldn’t want him to hurt himself, of course, so she made her way upstairs to go check on him. As she got closer to the bathroom, she started to slow her step practically to a crawl Eventually, she did make it all the way to the door and knocked several times. When she received no answer, she knocked again much harder.

“Huh?” Amel heard from inside. “Duke?”

“Amel,” Amel answered. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Frost answered with a chuckle. “What makes you think I wouldn’t be?” 

Amel slowly opened the door and walked in. “I wanted to make sure you didn’t fall or anything,” she said.

“Well, thanks for caring,” Frost said.

Amel moved over to the shower stall and sat outside the curtain. Based on where his voice was coming from, he must have been sitting down in the shower stall. Amel could appreciate how good that would feel, to just let the water run over you, flowing down his back and washing away the grime and difficulties of the day.

“I wish I could be water,” Amel said mindlessly.

“Uhh,” Frost responded unsurely. “That sounds… interesting?”

Amel caught herself. “Uh, yes, to flow, and… umm…”

Frost laughed. “You’re a funny one.”

“Are you even doing anything in there?” Amel asked.

“I’m sitting, if that counts,” Frost replied.

“You must have soap, at least,” Amel said.

“It’s all the way up there, though,” Frost complained.

“Must I get it for you?” Amel asked jokingly.

“If you’d be so kind,” Frost answered sincerely.

Amel’s mind was like a plane crash with that one simple statement. She had trouble comprehending what Frost said. She didn’t want to disappoint, though, and say that she was only kidding.

“Okay, I guess I’ll get it down,” she said.

“Just let me move,” Frost said. “Don’t wanna step on me.”

After a moment and some shuffling in the shower, Amel stepped in and kept her eyes on the wall as best she could. The soap was definitely out of Frost’s reach, so she quickly hopped in the air for a very brief moment and knocked it off its shelf. When it landed, Frost quickly grabbed it before it could slide all over the place.

“Thank you,” Frost said.

“You are welcome,” Amel said as she made her way out. On the way out, she couldn’t help but glance at Frost just once. All the blood and grime of the day was just about gone, leaving behind a mostly clean but still bruised body. None of the bruises were too bad, and certainly didn’t take away from Frost’s physical appearance, but-

Amel was out of the shower in a heartbeat and realized how heavily she was breathing. Thankfully, in the shower, Frost couldn’t hear it and wouldn’t have to ask her what had her going like that. Her face was also flushed bright red, and she realized that the only chance she had at recovering required her to leave.

“I will see you downstairs,” Amel said quickly. Frost affirmed, and Amel made her way out.

The ordeal wasn’t about to end, though. As she left, face red and breathing heavy, she ran face first right into Duke’s leg outside the door. When she looked up at his face, and he saw how flustered she was, Duke could only give her the most devious smile, flustering her even more.

“H-hello Duke,” Amel said, trying to go past.

“Enjoyed the show?” Duke asked as she practically ran off. Behind her, Amel could hear Duke explode into laughter.

Amel waited a bit for the men to come down, calming herself the entire time. Everything that just happened was so embarrassing, and she knew Duke would never let her forget. When the men finally came back, Amel did everything she could not to look at Duke at all and to look at Frost as little as possible.

“How you doing there, Amel?” Duke asked, barely containing himself.

“Fine,” Amel answered. “I made sandwiches.”

“Awesome!” Frost shouted as he ran at the table. When he had his sandwich, it only took a moment for it to be totally gone.

“Thank you, Amel,’ Duke said more civilly. “You deserve a little something for taking the time to do that.”

“You are welcome,” Amel said.

“No, really,” Duke said. “Frost! How much energy do you have left in you?”

“A little more now,” Frost answered.

“Well, now I think you should carry Amel for the day,” Duke said. Amel started to blush again. “She was so nice to help us like this, after all.”

“Hmmm…” Frost replied. “Let’s see if I can handle that first.”

Amel stepped back and looked away. “I don’t really think that’s necess- EEEP!”

Frost jogged over and grabbed her and plopped her up onto his shoulder. Amel instinctually grabbed around his head for support and hugged as close as she could. Duke started laughing again, and Frost struggled to keep her up.

“This is a little too much right now,” Frost said.

“Let me down!” Amel said.

“Wait, let me try something else,” Frost said.

“Frost, let me- AH!” Amel shouted as Frost dropped her just a bit and carried her in his arms. “Frost!”

“Mmmmmmy, yeeeeeeeessss?” Frost asked. He now had her in a position of belly-to-belly, with his arms under her and her forelegs around his torso.

Amel snorted. “This is fine,” she conceded. Amel could hear Duke laughing even harder behind her, but now, she didn’t mind so much.

“Better get real used to that,” Duke said. Amel let her head fall onto Frost’s chest, but mostly to hide her face.

“I could do this all day,” Frost said.

Duke shook his head and let his fit of laughter die off. Frost just wasn’t going to get it. But before more shenanigans could ensue, there was a series of knocks at the door. Duke left Frost and Amel in the kitchen to go and check on who it could be.

“Hello?” Duke asked as he opened up the door.

Outside was none other than Princess Celestia, accompanied by two of her personal guards. Duke blinked at the unexpected visit, especially in the context of how messed up the town was.

“Princess,” Duke said.

“Duke,” Celestia said. “May I enter?”

“Sure,” Duke said, stepping back. Celestia and her guards walked in. “Frost, Princess Celestia is here!” Frost walked out of the kitchen with Amel still in his arms and greeted the princess. Princess Celestia giggled at the sight.

“The bells have yet to ring, so such a carry is interesting to see,” she said.

“Bells?” Frost asked.

“He doesn’t get it,” Duke whispered to Celestia.

Princess Celestia shook her head. “Well, you’re a great warrior at least,” Celestia said. Frost was confused by what the princess was saying but didn’t pursue it.

“I imagine this isn’t a casual visit,” Duke said as everyone walked into the living room.

“Certainly no,” Celestia said. “I am here to ensure the citizens are well.”

“Well, the three of us aren’t actually Equestrian citizens, I’m pretty sure,” Frost said.

“Amel is,” Princess Celestia said. “I made sure of it myself.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Amel said.

“But you didn’t come to check on us,” Duke said. “You would’ve heard about it if we were hurt.”

“That is right,” Celestia said. “I come bearing regrettable news.”

“And what might that be?” Frost asked as he sat down with Amel.

“We have information that is extremely time-sensitive,” Celestia explained. “We know where the majority of the gryphons’ chemical weapons are stored and come from. This will not be true for much longer, though.”

“That’s not good,” Duke said.

“There are two sides to this, though,” Celestia said. “I know you are after OGA. The scientists in charge of manufacturing the chemicals are said to have had direct contact with him. They may even know his exact location.”

Duke leaned forward. “Then we would very much like to know more,” he said.

“The scientists are going to move very soon, as they intend to build a newer, more efficient facility for the creation of their weapon. This mission is time sensitive as I said,” Celestia said.

“How time sensitive?” Frost asked.

“We cannot act now, as we must fix what has happened and prepare the mission,” Celestia said. “But we would send you out in two days time.”

“That’s not long,” Duke said. “You’re sure the intel is solid?”

“Absolutely,” Celestia said.

Duke looked at Frost, who nodded. “We’ll definitely be good for it.”

Celestia smiled. “Thank you. The Nighthawks will return tomorrow, and you will all go together.”

“Sounds good to us,” Frost said.

Celestia nodded. “Prepare yourselves; this is going to be a fight much greater than today.”

“Where exactly will we be going” Duke asked.

“The lab is hidden in Dragon territory,” Celestia said. “It’s deep within the mountains, in cave systems. The dragons burn anyone who encroaches on their territory, so stealth is a must.”

“We can do that,” Frost said. Amel started to grip him tighter.

“I know quite well,” Celestia said. “Equestria appreciates all that you have done.”

“And we appreciate the assistance,” Duke said. “Right now, ma’am, we are very tired. If there is more information, please send it to us later so we can get started on resting up for the mission.”

Celestia nodded understandingly. “Very well. I shall give it to the Nighthawks so they can bring it to you tomorrow.” Duke nodded, and Celestia made her way out with her guards.

Amel looked up to Frost. “Why do you have to go so soon?”

“Because it’s a part of the job,” Frost said, leaning back into his seat. He brought his hand up and started scratching Amel on the top of her head. “But don’t worry, we’ll be in and out with the help of the Nighthawks and be home for dinner.”

“I’ll set up a reservation for two,” Duke said.

“Two?” Frost asked.

“The two of you,” Duke said. “Two’s a couple, but three makes it weird.”

Frost laughed, Amel blushed, and Duke chuckled on his way back to the kitchen to make more food. The battle for now was over, but the war for them would restart in just a couple of days. They badly needed to rest up, lest something tragic should occur. But they made it this far, and they were so close now. The journey was almost over.

For some, it was about to come to a rather abrupt end.

> Calm Before the Storm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Calm Before the Storm







After Celestia left, Duke, Frost, and Amel used the remainder of the day to chill out in the house and recover from the exertion and tension of the day. Amel took care of most of the things that had to be done, like preparing food, and refused to let the men help. They had more than earned a solid day or two of pure rest.

The next day, the Nighthawks were set to arrive back in town at around 1300 hours, so the trio had some time to kill. They all woke up earlier than they wanted to at around 0800 hours, but they had gotten a good nine hours of sleep, so they couldn’t complain too much.

They started the day off in the living room to decide what they would do. Amel wouldn’t let the men exert themselves by helping with the rebuilding of the town, so they thought about what they could do for leisure.

“Where can we go out of town for just about four hours?” Frost wondered aloud.

“Well, if it was one hour away, we could spend two hours there and then come back,” Duke offered up. “So something in the forest wouldn’t be so bad.”

“The forest is dangerous,” Amel warned.

“If we have our weapons, we won’t have to exert ourselves to stay safe,” Frost countered.

“True,” Amel conceded.

“So we could easily hit up the Everfree today,” Duke said. “What’s there to find in there?”

“Well, there’s nature and animals to spot,” Frost said. “Chill out and watch the owls.”

“Anything interesting?” Duke deadpanned.

“There’s an old castle that used to belong to the princesses in there,” Amel said. The men perked up. “Yes, an abandoned castle. Somewhat dangerous, but not so bad. We would just have to be careful.”

“Well, I think that sounds like a real interesting idea,” Duke said. “Frost?”

“I like it,” Frost said. “I’ve always wanted to explore abandoned places.”

“Like most of where we operate?” Duke joked.

“So how hard would it be to get there?” Frost asked.

“I think it’s just about forty minutes into the forest,” Amel said.

“Plenty of time!” Duke proclaimed. “I say we go.”

“Is there a path to follow?” Frost asked.

“Yes, I do know the path,” Amel replied.

“How do you know all this?” Frost asked.

“What else am I to do while you men are off saving the world?” Amel asked.

Duke stood up. “Well, let’s get moving! Time’s a-wasting.”

The men retrieved their sidearms, and the trio got up and moved out, intent on staying out of sight of the town to avoid being brought into the hard labor of rebuilding. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to help, but with the potentially most difficult op of their lives coming up in a couple of days, they had to be fully prepared.

They stuck to the edge of town and quietly made their way to the start of the path. Once there, Amel took one look in and Frost could see the nervousness and regret of mentioning the idea on her face.

“Don’t worry,” Frost said giving her a pat on the rump. She instantly looked up at him in surprise. “We’ll be fine.”

“Ok,” Amel said.

“He touched the butt!” Duke said, walking forward and pretending to be the fish from Finding Nemo.

“See, you see that as an accomplishment because you can’t even with your own girl,” Frost said.

Duke feigned being struck. “Agh! He knows too much! “ he shouted.

Amel laughed. “How did you even make it into this job?” she asked.

“By being the ones who don’t take everything too seriously,” Frost said.

The trio started their way into the forest and kept up a relatively fast walking pace. In the forest around them, they could see yellow eyes staring at them, though they never moved, almost like they were painted onto the darkness. The classic hooting of owls echoed through the forest, and it was easily the most stereotypical spooky forest they had ever walked through.

After some time, though not quite forty minutes, they came upon the old castle Amel mentioned. The bridge looked like it had been recently fixed up, which was odd, but it could have been a tourist attraction. From the trench below, though, Duke could swear that he was hearing voices. It sounded like a bunch of gruff men, like the Green Beret he wasn’t able to save so long ago.

“Do you guys hear that?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Frost replied. “Sounds like…”

“Like what?” Amel asked. “I hear some of my old friends from Akhal Teke.”

“No…” Frost said. He took a deep breath. “I hear my mother.”

“I hear the voice of a Green Beret I lost earlier in my career,” Duke said. He was officially getting seriously spooked. “We all hear something different.”

“We all hear something or someone who was close to us,” Amel continued.

“People we couldn’t save,” Frost finished.

“I say we cross and get inside,” Duke said. “The sooner the better.”

“Amen to that,” Frost said.

The trio hurriedly made their way across the bridge and into the castle, where the voices couldn’t reach them any more. Something in that trench wasn’t just magic, it was haunted, and unfortunately, they would have to go back across it when they left.

“So, here we are,” Frost said, slapping the sides of his legs. “Shall we?”

“I’ll take point,” Duke said. “At this point, I’m thinking this place doesn’t actually want us here.”

“I agree,” Amel said timidly. She was shaking, so Frost picked her up the way he held her the day before, just with one arm under her and the other sitting on his pistol.

Duke pulled his pistol out already and led the way through. He figured he was just spooked now and would probably put his gun away soon, but he didn’t have the energy to fight his instincts right now.

They made their way through the castle, and very quickly, when all the spookiness subsided, they started taking in the incredible sights. Duke put his pistol away again to avoid accidentally shooting a silver vase or something, and there were many of those and other valuables present. At first, the group wondered why no one plundered the ruins, but after thinking about the trench for a moment, it was pretty obvious why.

The hallways were long and dark, but with the occasional candle sitting on the side. They didn’t have a lighter with them, but under each candle was a set of three unused matches and the strip to ignite them, so they could still have some light. As they went, Duke lit each candle so they could more easily find their way out. When they left, he would put them out one by one.

The first corridor they went down led them to a huge empty throne room. In the center, the throne sat cold and lonely, asking for someone to sit on it.

“Let’s check it out,” Frost said, looking to the throne.

Duke moved to the throne and started inspecting it for safety. On the back, though, he found, something written there, as well as a small grouping of little bloodstains on the ground. From what he knew of forensics, and he did know a little, he could tell that the blood came from blunt force trauma, probably someone’s head hitting the ground. Or it could have come from blood flying off someone’s head as they went to the ground.

“Something is written here,” Duke said.

“What?” Frost asked.

“Evil lurks in every crevice,” Duke read aloud.

Amel gripped Frost tight. “I don’t like the sound of that,” she said.

“Whatever was here, I think it was gone long ago,” Duke said. He felt the etching and pulled dust out. “This is a deep etch, and it’s filled with dust.”

“As long as we’re good,” Frost said.

Duke rubbed his finger to his thumb. “Alright. Let’s go see what else is around here.”

The trio continued their exploration of the castle in a new direction. Duke continued to light the candles as they passed them, throwing weak but still useful light throughout the corridors and occasional staircase. There was dust everywhere, and it was thickly accumulated, too. The men could see their footprints when they walked past.

Which was what made Duke stop.

“Hey, Frost,” Duke said.

“Yo?” Frost replied.

“We didn’t come this way earlier, right?” Duke said.

“No,” Frost answered, sounding concerned. “Why?”

“Duke knelt down and looked at the ground. Before him, there were two sets of footprints. One was of what looked like running shoes, something nopony would ever need here. The other was of bare feet, and they went in the same direction with no footprints going the other way.

“There’s two sets of people’s footprints here,” Duke said.

“Two?” Frost asked.

“I’ve been hearing about a human who was here long ago,” Duke explained. “But two? Unless OGA is here somewhere, there shouldn’t be two, let along one set of footprints.”

“Weird,” Frost said. He wasn’t too concerned about that, though. If he and Duke were there, there could easily have been more humans around before them.

Duke looked up. “Let’s see where these go,” he said.

“You’re the lead,” Frost said.

The men went up a staircase at the end of the hall and through another hall to a large wooden door. Duke opened it very carefully to avoid breaking it and they found a library contained within. Duke led the way in and made sure it was safe, then Frost carried Amel in.

“Hey can I put you down now?” Frost asked. “My arm is getting tired.”

“You saying she’s fat?” Duke asked jokingly.

Frost bounced Amel up and down, earning a little squeak. “She’s just hefty,” Frost said with a laugh. Amel hopped off of him and walked on her own, feeling comfortable now that they had seen the castle was safe.

“Let’s see what kinds of books are around here,” Duke said. “Maybe something can explain the other human. Or humans.”

“While you do that, I’ll look up animal life and see if I can’t find stuff about gryphons,” Frost said. “Maybe dragons too, in case we run into any.”

“That would be an end-all, I think,” Duke said.

“Dragons?” Amel asked, already terrified.

“No worries, we probably won’t see any anyway,” Frost said dismissively.

Duke went off to research humans in Equestria while Frost and Amel made their way to the taxonomy section to find anything about life forms from around the world. Dragons were Frost’s main concern, but Amel was looking for magical creatures famous from the stories she had heard as a filly. 

Frost went to the D section and Amel just stared from and moved back from there. There was nothing from Z to X that she didn’t already know, but when she hit W, she found something very interesting. When she pulled the book and opened it, she realized this particular book was written in very old Equish, so she couldn’t possibly read it.

“Frost,” she called.

“Heyo?” Frost replied.

“Do you think you could read this?” Amel asked.

Frost walked over and took the book. After one look, he knew it would be hard, especially in the hoofwriting it was in, but he thought he could manage. He flipped back to the first page to see what the book was about, but he couldn’t make out the name. Under its aliases, he was able to read Spirit, Ether, and Wraith.

“Let’s see,” Frost said. He flipped a couple of pages ahead and started trying to read, but many of the words were hard to make out. It didn’t help that they were smudged.

“What is it?” Amel asked. “I am unfamiliar with the strange picture on the front. It’s just a sort of mist.”

“All I can make out is ‘Everyone sees it eventually.’ Later on the page…” Frost squinted. “It says ‘See you soon.’”

“Spooky,” Amel said.

“Spooky indeed,” Frost said. He put the book away. “Let’s just pretend we didn’t read that.”

Frost and Amel decided to forego their own quest for knowledge and go find Duke. It wasn’t hard, as he was making all manner of frustrated little noises. When they came upon him, they found over a dozen books laying on the ground, pages folded and in general disarray.

“Not a fan of books?” Amel asked jokingly.

“Not of books that don’t have what I want,” Duke replied. “I swear, every bizarre creature in this land is basically something normal from back home.”

“Like what?” Frost asked incredulously.

“Apparently, there’s a race of horses in this world that isn’t intelligent like us, and they look exactly like the horses back home,” Duke said. “Same dimensions, same noises, everything. And it’s weird to them.”

“Ha!” Frost laughed with a slap of his knee. “That’s pretty great.”

“And there are things similar to humans or human myths, but no actual humans,” Duke said. “There is supposed to have been a guy here not long ago, but before that, it looks like there never was.”

“It is possible,” Amel said. Duke turned to look at her. “The last two decades have had some of the greatest changes in the world ever seen. Things haven’t changed so much in such a short time since just over a thousand years ago, when Discord, Nightmare Moon, and others came about.”

“Great, so it’s a millennial thing,” Duke said. “And I guess we’re a part of the new one.”

Amel giggle. “Is that really so terrible?” she asked. “Things always get better after these.”

“You say that as if you have over ten thousand years of history to go off of,” Frost said.

Amel shrugged. “One for one, that’s a hundred percent,” she said.

“True enough,” Frost said.

Duke pulled another book off the shelf, opened it, and dropped it to the floor. It was about some sort of creature known as Ahuizotl, and a long line of sentient creatures that shared the name. It wasn’t relevant to humans in any way.

“This is useless,” Duke said. “I say we get on out of here. It’s almost time to leave anyway.”

“Sounds good to me,” Frost replied.

“Okay,” Amel said. Frost picked her up again and the trio made their way out of the castle.

As they walked back across the bridge and through the forest, Duke, Frost, and Amel all thought about what the coming days would bring. There would be laughter, merriment, drinks, and food, followed by shouting, flames, blades, and blood. It was an interesting life, to be sure, but deep down, the men knew it wouldn’t last forever. They knew it all had to stop eventually, by choice of retirement, or force of being relieved of duty.

But for now, thought of war could wait. They all just had to focus on the present and what they were going to do tonight.

> Bonds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Bonds





By the time Duke, Frost, and Amel returned home, the Nighthawks were already there. They could tell on their approach that the stallions were around from the dozens of hoofprints in the ground.

The trio entered the house and saw the Nighthawks hanging out in the living room, discussing the coming mission. When the men entered, they all looked their way and nodded and waited for them to sit down. They opted to just sit on the floor since all the seats were taken.

“Duke, Frost,” Aprotelese greeted.

“Aprotelese,” Duke said back. “What’s up? Celestia said you would have something to tell us.”

“Yeah,” Aprotelese said. “Intel on the next mission.”

“Lay it on us,” Frost said. Amel came and sat partway on his lap.

“The intel doesn’t speak well of the situation,” Aprotelese began. “Everything screams that this mission is nearly impossible.”

“PJs don’t believe in impossible,” Frost said. Amel moved to be fully on his lap, and Frost started scratching the top of her head.

“That’s good,” Aprotelese said. “Neither do we.”

“How bad is this intel?” Duke asked.

“Well, besides hundreds of massive dragons ready to burn us into charcoal, dangerous wildlife, the nature of the enemy stronghold, and the landscape itself, not much,” Aprotelese said. “The dragons are big, but they’re scary fast. They can maneuver in ways that most pegasi can’t.”

“But you guys sure can,” Frost said. The other Nighthawks grinned at the comment

“Sure can,” Aprotelese agreed. “But when you account for winds that they’re used to that we aren’t, it gets much harder. The updrafts are incredibly random with how the mountains are laid out across the landscape. As far as flying in combat, it really isn’t an option for us.”

“But you can fly to extraction point?” Duke asked.

“Not exactly,” Aprotelese said. “We’ll have to get to a designated extraction point at the bottom of the valley and meet an Earth Pony convoy that’ll get us out.”

“Sounds like this is a more favorable place for Earth Ponies,” Frost commented. “Wouldn’t this op be better suited for them?”

“That’s what I said,” Aprotelese said. “But we’re the only ones familiar enough with you to effectively operate together. Plus we’re trained for aerial combat not unlike the gryphons, so we understand the principles of their fighting styles.”

“When we get to the Earth Ponies, what happens then?” Duke asked.

“They’ll pull us out by cart,” Aprotelese answered simply.

“Is there a secondary extract?” Frost asked.

“There is,” Aprotelese said. “If absolutely necessary, we’ll use our comms to call in Wonderbolt support. They’ll have the tools necessary to distract the dragons and stay safe themselves, and they can fly us out by flying carriage. This obviously isn’t ideal…”

“Because if we get made, we’ll be fireballed right out of the sky,” Duke finished.

“Precisely,” Aprotelese said. “The Earth Pony convoy should be safe at the bottom of the valley. We’ll be in contact with them the whole time, so if something goes wrong, we’ll know instantly.”

“So there are lots of backup plans?” Amel asked worriedly. “You’ll be able to come back safe?”

“Always,” Frost said.

“Don’t worry,” Aprotelese said. “I’ll get your men back home.” Amel released a pent up breath in relief.

“And we understand that OGA will be there,” Duke said.

“That’s what Celestia told us,” Aprotelese said. “Everything will be done to secure him. Our first priority, of course, is to hit the scientists and set up explosives on the gas supply, but while we do that, you guys will get your man.”

“Good,” Duke said. “Do we know anything about the caves themselves?”

“Just that there are both narrow and wide corridors, and the cave system is fairly extensive,” Aprotelese said. “The source of our PONINT, or I guess GRYPHINT, in this case, couldn’t find an exact layout, but it looks like it’s mostly one level inside. The mountain is huge, though, so it could easily be way more.”

“Sounds like it may be some work,” Frost said.

“And it needs to be quiet work,” Aprotelese said. “You guys got sound suppressors for those things of yours from Luna, right?”

“We did,” Duke said.

“You’re gonna need them,” Aprotelese said.

“Feels almost like we’re SEALs right now, eh, Duke?” Frost commented.

“Yeah, but we’re Air Force, so I guess we’re just cooler,” Duke said. Both men laughed for a moment at the joke.

“The enemy presence will be significant,” Aprotelese said. “The op shouldn’t take long, so food isn’t a huge priority. Water will be important, since it’s hot and dry in the Dragons’ lands, but anything that isn’t necessary should be replaced with ammunition and weapons.”

“We won’t be taking any grenades,” Duke said. “In such a confined space, it might not be such a great idea to toss one. Especially with OGA there.”

“That won’t stop the gryphons from tossing those orbs,” Mosquito commented from the side.

“If they throw one at you, either run or throw it back,” Frost said. “But don’t try to clear a room with one if you don’t know what’s in there.”

“Understood,” Mosquito replied.

“Anything else we need to know?” Duke asked.

“That should be it,” Aprotelese said. “If anything else comes up, we’ll let you know. We leave tomorrow night.”

Duke slapped his legs and stood up. “Alrighty then. Good stuff, everyone,” he said. “Now, let’s just chill until tomorrow. Gotta rest up for this one.”

“Amen to that,” Aprotelese said. “Alright, boys, let’s clean ourselves up and rest.”

The Nighthawks got up and left the room to recover from their own mission over the last few days. Operators at their level all knew how it felt to be constantly sent out like this, so any time there was a chance to rest, they grabbed it and didn’t let go.

“We’ll assemble our gear tomorrow,” Duke said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Frost replied.

“For now, I’m going to go to Twilight’s castle and find books to read,” Duke said. “You two enjoy yourselves.”

“Will do,” Frost said with a thumbs-up. Duke gave a peace sign and walked out.

Frost and Amel remained in their spot, wondering what they should do. Frost wanted to go do something fun before the mission, but most of the town was pretty wrecked. Ponies were in bad spirits right now.

“You know, I think this town could use something cheerful,” Frost thought aloud.

“What?” Amel replied. “What are you thinking of?”

“I don’t know,” Frost said. “I’m trying to think of something we could easily just do right now. So much damage was done to the town that I don’t know what’s even available.”

“Well, Princess Twilight’s castle is still standing quite strong,” Amel suggested. “There may be something in there.”

“Genius!” Frost shouted, pulling Amel to his chest. “Off we go!” And Frost picked Amel up once again and ran out of the house with her.

He didn’t run for long since Amel was not the easiest to carry, especially when she squirmed like she did, so Frost wound up walking most of the way. Ponies gave them silly looks, many of them shaking their heads at the sight. Word spread about how the two of them tended to be, but it was still funny to see it in reality.

When Frost and Amel arrived at Twilight’s castle, the guards let them pass right away and head up the building. Frost opted for the elevator instead of the stairs and bypassed the throne room where Twilight and her council were no doubt busy. He was more interested in the library and what may be contained within.

When they arrived, there were even more guards outside the library than outside the main door into the castle. They all smiled at Frost as he carried Amel past them into the library, offering a quick nod their way. Their job looked pretty boring, and Frost couldn’t be less jealous of them.

Once inside, Frost set Amel down and let her walk on her own again. He would need her help finding something fun they could do with some townsponies. He wasn’t looking for anything like a book or board game, though. It had to be something everypony could participate in freely, or at least watch and enjoy.

“Amel, what’s something anypony can partake in?” Frost asked, beginning his search.

“Ummmm…” Amel said. She had trouble thinking of something. “I don’t know.”

Frost started toward the left side of the room. “Come on, what did you used to do for fun with your buddies?” he asked. “Me and my guys would tell stories and stuff, but the main story right now isn’t very happy.”

“Well, we had a few things that most Saddle Arabians did,” Amel began. “Every culture has something. We used to dance, sing, weave tales, brush each others’ coats and manes…”

“I liked that first one, dancing, and singing goes along with that really well,” Frost said. “What kind of music did you usually go with?”

“Cultural Saddle Arabian music,” Amel said. “I don’t know exactly how I could describe it in a language not my own. It is very particular.”

“What instruments are used?” Frost asked. He finished searching through his area and had only found books and artifacts of the past. One case had a bunch of random things in it, from a familiar green piece of headwear, to a scarf, and all the way to a hammer. He didn’t spend much time on that exhibit.

“Well, we liked to use drums and strings,” Amel said. “The strings are like the guitars here, but the drums have a more hollow sound. And we have flutes as well.”

“Sounds like old stuff,” Frost said.

“Very,” Amel said. “Before you rescued me, the master liked to get new music, like that of a mare from here known as Coloratura. I always loved listening to it and dancing with it.”

“Coloratura?” Frost asked. “If there was a music section, do you think she’d be in it?”

“For sure,” Amel answered. “She is very popular.”

“Okay, let’s go find a music section,” Frost said commandingly. Amel nodded and followed him through the library.

Finding the music section didn’t take long, since everything was alphabetical. Twilight kept a very well organized library. Frost went straight to the C section and located some CDs of this Coloratura’s music. Now they just needed a boom box or other speaker they could play the music through. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be one in the library.

“Let’s go ask Twilight if she has one,” Amel suggested. Frost agreed, and they took a CD with them down to the council.

The door was guarded, as all of the were, but the guards were reluctant to let them in this time. It took some convincing by Frost to get the guards to let them in. Amel tried to bat her eyelashes at them, but Frost stood in her way. They probably had laser focus anyway.

Eventually, they were allowed in, and they walked in on the council discussing how to best move resources around town to rebuild quickly. The mares didn’t even notice Frost and Amel walk in.

Frost cleared his throat, causing two of them to jump and the rest to whip their heads in their direction.

“I was wondering if you could help me out,” Frost said.

“We’re kinda busy here,” Rainbow Dash said, annoyed. 

“I know, I won’t be long,” Frost answered. “I was wondering if you could get me a big speaker with a CD player.”

“Uh, sure,” Twilight replied. “But why?”

“Well, the ponies are in the dumps right now, and I think a little song and dance could fix it up real good,” Frost reasoned. “Everypony loves song and dance. Add a little rhythm to the rebuilding.”

“That could be enjoyable,” Rarity said. “It would certainly get everypony’s mood up.”

“That’s GREAT!” Pinkie Pie shouted. “I’ll be right back!” With that the pink party pony vanished into nothing.

“What,” Frost said.

“Just ignore it,” Applejack said. “Ain’t worth the thoughts it’ll consume.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Frost said.

Rarity scrutinized the pony and human who entered the room. Frost stood there like a classic guy, scratching himself in various spots and being sort of gross. Even if in a charming way. Amel sat next to him, clearly trying to get closer to him as slowly as possible.

“IDEAAAAA!” Rarity thought. “Frost, would you do me a humongous favor?” she asked with a batting of her eyelashes. Amel twitched at the gesture.

“Shoot,” Frost said.

“I left my brush in Twilight’s room upstairs,” Rarity lied. “Would you mind going and getting it for me?”

Frost shrugged. “Sounds good to me,” he said. He was still waiting on Pinkie to do whatever she was doing, so he might as well do this in the meantime.

Frost left, and Amel went to follow. Before she could, though, she felt a magical force tug on her tail. When she turned to see what it was, she saw Rarity’s horn glowing and she had a mischievous smile on her face.

“Um, what are you doing?” Amel asked.

“The real question is, what are you doing tomorrow night?” Rarity asked.

Amel blinked. “Nothing?”

“And Frost?”

“He won’t be around,” Amel said with a poorly hidden hint of sadness.

Rarity snorted. “Hmm, that throws a wrench in my plans,” she murmured. “But! Time is not of concern, for we can do this after!”

“Do what?” Amel and the rest of the room asked at once.

“Amel, I am setting you up with an official date with the man of your dreams!” Rarity announced loudly.

Amel blushed furiously. “I-I-I-“ She couldn’t even begin a sentence.

“No buts, and no ifs!” Rarity said. She hopped out of her seat and moved over to where Amel was. “No more admiring from afar!”

“I’m never far- I mean, I don’t-“ Amel wasn’t even allowed to finish this time when Rarity put a hoof to her lips.

“Nope! This is finally going to happen!” Rarity said.

Amel looked to Twilight. “Well, Rarity is good at this, and it IS pretty obvious,” she said. Amel blushed some more. “Trust her, she’s good at this.”

“A friend of ours was in love with someone some time ago,” Rarity said. “She took forever to decide she wanted to go to him. I convinced her to, and from what we’ve seen and heard, she’s happier than ever before.”

Amel sighed. “What are you thinking of?”

Rarity whinnied giddily. “I was thinking that you two could-“

Before she could go on, Frost returned with no brush, but Pinkie Pie and a massive stereo. He looked confused, which everyone sort of expected, but otherwise satisfied with his journey.

“I got the stereo,” Frost said simply.

“Ah, good,” Rarity replied. “You should take that CD and go play it for the townsponies. I think the town square is a good place.”

“Sounds good to me,” Frost said. He turned to leave. “Coming, Amel?”

Amel looked to Rarity. “We’ll keep going later,” the alabaster mare said. Amel nodded, then ran after Frost and they left together.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “She needs to just go for it,” she said.

“Oh ho! This, from the one who could hardly stand when she was around the one she felt love for,” Twilight said.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash shouted. All the mares laughed and enjoyed the memories of the past.



Frost carried the large stereo, which was surprisingly light, all the way to the town square with Amel at his side. Ponies were giving him strange looks, which made Amel a little uncomfortable, but he didn’t seem to care. He just kept on walking.

When they arrived at the town square, Frost didn’t even realize that the speaker didn’t need to be plugged in. He just popped the CD in and turned it on. Amel figured Pinkie would have weird stuff like that.

“Excuse me,” some stallion said timidly, walking up to Frost and Amel. “What are you doing?”

“I’m gonna dance,” Frost replied casually. “What’re you up to?”

“Rebuilding my home,” the stallion said sadly and with some frustration.

“Well, everything goes better with music, right?” Frost said. “And besides, if you don’t give your bones a rest every now and again, or at least have some fun, you’ll fall apart.”

“I suppose that’s true,” the stallion said. “Rhythm is fun.” Frost nodded to him and he went back to work.

When the music finally started to play, Amel recognized it instantly. It was that song that signaled the complete turn of Coloratura’s career so long ago, from Pop diva to kind musical artist. When Amel first heard it, it gave her so much hope. It was one of her personal favorites.

“This sounds fun” Frost commented.

“It is,” Amel said.

Frost turned to her and extended his hand out. “Care to dance, then?”

Amel smiled and blushed. “I think I would like to,” she said.

Frost took Amel’s hoof in his hand and walked to the center of the square. With the music at full volume and a human and pony standing in the center of the square, everypony around stopped working and started watching. Frost took each of Amel’s hooves in his hands and kept his hands lower to adjust for her lack of height, even standing on her hind legs.

When the music picked up, he started moving back and forth with her and quickly went to spinning around and lifting her up. Amel laughed all the while, having an absolute blast while she and her man spazzed in the middle of the square. Whenever she landed, she made sure to keep her footing and hold onto Frost as h strongly as possible.

Amel was starting to grow exhausted, but it was just too much fun to stop. Frost was breathing heavily himself, but didn’t seem interested in stopping. As they spun once again, they each looked around a bit and started seeing ponies jumping in on the dancing and signing. All around them, the townsponies started to sing along with the music, even those who were still working instead of dancing, creating a lovely choir effect with their voices. It was interesting to Frost how so many ponies jumped in on the singing before long.

After a good bout of energetic dancing, Frost and Amel calmed it down a bit and started to do a sped up slow dance. The ponies around them were going nuts, having an awesome time. Frost hadn’t even realized how much they needed this.

“This is amazing!” Amel happily shouted over the music.

“I’m loving it!” Frost said back.

Just then Amel tripped and fell forward into Frost. They were having such a great time though that they both just laughed and used each other for support to stand. For a while; it felt like a long time; they just stood there like that.

“I think I need to sit,” Amel said, panting.

“Amen to that,” Frost replied joyously.

The duo moved off to the side to sit down, leaving the music player in the street so the other townsponies could keep dancing. For a minute, they just watched quietly, sharing their joy in the uplifting tone of the music. Amel glanced over at Frost, who wore a silly grin on his face, then found the same grin coming over hers.

“This was a good idea,” Amel said.

“It definitely worked out well,” Frost replied. “But I think I’m a little too tired to keep this up.”

“Me too,” Amel said. “Why don’t we leave it out here for them? They seem to be enjoying it.”

Frost looked out over the group and agreed. The pair decided to go back to the house to just chill out and spend the remainder of the day chatting or just sitting together. Amel was excited for t, much more than Frost really understood.

When they arrived at the house, they walked on in and went up to the room since they figured they might just end up sleeping soon anyway. Once upstairs and in the room, Frost closed the door and plopped onto the bed.

“Oooooh, that’s nice…” he said as he sunk into the mattress.

Amel climbed up next to him. “We certainly do have some nice things,” she said.

“I feel like James Bond,” Frost said, earning a raised eyebrow from a confused Amel. “I get all this nice stuff, and it’s the government that has to pay for it!” Frost and Amel laughed.

“That sounds like quite a life,” Amel said, laying down next to Frost.

“Well, it’s a dangerous life, so I guess it’s only right,” Frost said.

Amel rested her head on Frost. “It is dangerous…” she said.

“But Duke and I have each other’s backs, and the Nighthawks are a solid team,” Frost said, playing down the danger of the job. “No one can beat us, because we are tier one.”

Amel smiled. “You are certainly the best there is,” she said, maneuvering further on top of Frost.

Frost wrapped his arm around Amel. “Well, we try.”

“After you find OGA, what do you plan to do?” Amel asked.

“Return home,” Frost said quickly. “I have to. It’s kind of my duty.”

“Yes…” Amel said, trailing off. “Duty.”

“But hey! I’ll be sure to visit,” Frost said. “I’ll ask Celestia and Luna about how I could come back from time to time.”

Amel smiled. “That would make me very happy.”

“And that makes me happy,” Frost said. He let out a long yawn. “Man, the last few days have been tiring.”

“I know,” Amel said. She hugged Frost close and nuzzled him. “And you’ve earned a rest.”

Frost rubbed Amel’s side. “So have you.”

Amel wanted to say something, something she had been meaning to say for a while. It was hard, and the words were caught in her throat, making her feel like she was choking. But she had to say it.

“Umm, Frost?” Amel said uncertainly. “I was wondering… If, maybe, we could…”

Amel looked up to his face and knew that it wouldn’t work. Frost’s jaw was hanging open with drool slowly oozing out, his head turned to the side. Light snoring came from his mouth, and his eyes were totally shut.

“Be together.” Amel sighed as she finished her question-made-statement. She would have to bring it up another time. Now may not have been the best time anyway, since he was about to go on a daring mission, but it was still frustrating. Still, now she knew she had the courage to ask, and that was the last piece of the puzzle.

But for now, Amel figured it would be best to just sleep along, as hard times were still to come without a doubt. They came with some excitement, though, as she knew that when the hard times were over, the best of times would come.

> No Easy Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






No Easy Day






The next morning, when Amel woke up, she looked over to see Frost sitting on the edge of the bed, stretching himself out. She reached out and set her hoof on his back, drawing his gaze back to her and earning a little smile. He wrapped his fingers around her hoof and squeezed gently, then let go and stood up.

Amel watched as he prepared for his day. He started off with a little workout, just some pushups and situps. She listened intently to his rhythmic breathing, perfectly synced with his movement up and down. When he finished and let out a sigh of relief and readiness for the day, he walked over to her and sat next to her on the bed.

“Morning, sleepy,” Frost said.

Amel put her hoof on his arm. “Good morning,” she said. Frost put his hand to her head and scratched her head, eliciting a contented sigh and warm smile from her.

“Do you have everything you could need for a couple of days?” Frost asked.

“Yes,” Amel answered slowly. She was still sluggish on what felt like it should have been a lazy morning. “And if I don’t, I can ask Rarity to help.”

Frost smiled. “Good,” he said. “We won’t be gone long, but with the state of the town, I didn’t want you to be missing anything.”

“I can worry about that,” Amel said. “Will you have everything you need?”

Frost laughed lightly. “Yeah, I will. And I got a bunch of solid dudes to help out, too.”

Amel pulled on frost. “I wish you didn’t have to go,” she said.

“I know,” Frost said. “I do, too. But someone has to, and that’s why I signed up.”

“If this job wasn’t necessary, would you still want to do it?” Amel asked.

“If PJs were no longer needed, I would find some other way to serve,” Frost said. “Maybe as a doctor or nurse or something.”

“That sounds nice,” Amel replied. When the time came, she could ask him to become a doctor.

“But for now, the job needs to be done and it needs to be done well,” Frost said.

“And you always do it well,” Amel said. “I can personally attest to that.”

Amel got out of bed and the pair went down the stairs to eat some breakfast. When they arrived in the kitchen, they saw Duke and the Nighthawks already eating and discussing various things. Ranging from the princesses and president to their gooberish tales of adventure, the guys were just enjoying their morning. Frost and Amel walked over to join the merriment.

“Morning,” Aprotelese greeted. “Have a fun time last night?”

“We did,” Amel answered faster than Frost would have liked. “We danced and had lots of fun.”

“Not what he meant,” Duke said with a chuckle. Amel understood after a moment. “Don’t worry, he’s just jealous.”

“Well, Amel is a pretty mare,” Aprotelese said, getting a blush from her.

“No, I meant you were jealous OF Amel,” Duke said, jerking his head in Frost’s direction. “Look at that piece of ass.” Aprotelese chuckled.

“Actually, you should look at Duke,” Frost said. “He’s not just a piece of ass, he’s an entire ass.” Everyone one in the room, even Amel, started bellowing laughter.

“You got me that time,” Duke said.

“That time?” Frost asked indignantly. “I’m pretty sure I usually get you.”

“I would happily challenge that assertion,” Duke said.

“Bah, this guy is crazy,” Frost said.

“You’re both nuts,” Aprotelese said. “But the good kind of nuts.”

“Deeze nuts?” Frost asked. Duke had been sipping his water and spat it all out. After one last good laughter session, the men and stallions all became more serious.

“Alright, once we finish eating, we’ll need to start getting our gear together,” Duke said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Aprotelese said. He stood up. “I’m done, so I’ll get started on mine now.” The other Nighthawks agreed and got up with him.

“I’ll try to eat fast,” Frost told Duke. Duke nodded, finished the last bite of his breakfast, and then went off to prepare his gear.

Frost and Amel sat down to eat. Frost made himself a tomato and lettuce sandwich with mayo and honey mustard, while Amel just got a bunch of bread and munched on it. Frost chuckled at the way she nibbled on the bread.

“What?” Amel asked.

“You’re just a funny pony,” Frost answered. Amel smiled and kept on nibbling.

When they finished up, Frost got up from the table, excusing himself, and went upstairs to prepare his gear. Amel followed him to watch as he worked, simply because she wanted to spend time with him before he went off.

In the room, Frost laid all his gear out on the bed. He knew he was taking his guns and ammo and the suppressors Luna gave them. He also intended to take his body armor and med kit. The knife always went with him, as did the helmet. Given that they would be in a cave, his NVGs would be good to have, too.

Amel didn’t understand what some of the gear was, but in her time with the men, came to understand a good portion of it. The funny looking things he mounted on the helmet still boggled her mind, but she left it be. What concerned her was the fact that he needed so many weapons. She understood he was a warrior, but for one or two people or ponies to go into a situation where they needed that much firepower seemed incredibly risky.

But it was like Frost believed; it was a job that had to be done. And only a few men could do it anyhow.

Amel put her hoof up to her mane, where she kept the knife Frost had given her so long ago. It was funny, how giving her a weapon like that had meant so much to them both. Any normal pony would think they were the strangest beings in town, lovingly giving and accepting weaponry as a gift.

Amel supposed that it was just the warrior mindset: a warrior’s weapon is one of the most precious items they have. It makes sense that if a warrior values a weapon and places so much meaning into it, that’s what they would give as a gift to signify how special someone or something else was to them. And given her own history, it came as no surprise that she happily accepted it, especially from Frost.

“So much effort and material put into recovering one person,” Amel commented.

Frost grunted. “We can’t leave anyone behind,” he said. “It isn’t the American way.”

“Nor the Equestrian way, I understand,” Amel said. “It’s very honorable.”

“That’s how we stay above these guys,” Frost said. “Don’t hide behind those who can’t fight. Don’t leave your own people behind. Build where you have destroyed. It’s only right.”

“I like that,” Amel said.

“I think you’d like America,” Frost said, still separating gear into what he would bring. He set the climbing gear aside, as he didn’t expect to need it. “You’d fit well there.”

Amel thought for a moment. She had been thinking of asking him to stay. Of course, while she liked the elements, they were busy with their duties. Maybe…

“Could I come with you when you go home?” Amel asked suddenly.

Frost stopped working and looked up at the wall. He hadn’t thought about that. Truth be told, he hadn’t been thinking much about what would happen with Amel after the mission was done. He felt terrible for not considering it before.

“I don’t see why not,” Frost said. “If you came with us, it would probably help to explain where we’ve been too, so you’d be saving our skins.” Frost laughed. “But I’d love to have you there. You could stay with me, of course.”

Amel whinnied with glee. “Yay!”

Frost smiled at her. “I don’t know what people would think of a pony like yourself in the human world, though.”

“Actually, I heard that when Princess Twilight went to the human world some time ago, she turned into a human there,” Amel said. “I don’t understand how it happened, but she did it, and apparently, she went back another time and was able to be a human or a pony. She still chose to go as a human, of course.”

Frost stopped. “Hold the phone. A pony went to the human world?”

“Yes,” Amel answered. “Though she went to a high school at the time and had to stop Sunset Shimmer from creating a zombie army to take over Equestria.”

Frost was totally confused. “Well. That… I guess that happened?” He shook his head. “Weird. But also good news, I suppose.”

“I wonder what I would look like as a human?” Amel said. “I hope I would be pretty.”

“I bet you would be,” Frost said. He went back to working on his gear. “You’re a pretty pony.” Amel blushed and giggled at the compliment.

This was amazing. She hadn’t expected this development. Now, she wouldn’t have to wait for Frost to come and visit; she would be living with him in his home country! She did like the Elements of Harmony, though, and would certainly arrange to be able to see them every now and again, but this chance was too good to pass up.

It was all falling perfectly into place. When Frost returned, she would ask him her most pressing question, and now, she knew he would at least give her a chance. She felt so happy she could burst!

But for now, she just had to sit still and let Frost focus on his gear. All these things would come in due time, and when they came, Amel would be the happiest mare in the entire world.






Hours later, it was finally time.

Duke, Frost, and the Nighthawks had all their gear together and ready to go. They were sitting in the living room, discussing the mission. Amel initially stayed out because she figured she didn’t need to hear it, but eventually came in anyway to sit with Frost.

Everyone was wearing their full battle rattle. It was a little intimidating to Amel, being surrounded by the deadliest warriors in Equestria wearing all their war gear. At least she knew she was safe, though.

Frost’s face wasn’t the usual happy one he wore. Now, it was pure seriousness, totally iced over with focus on the job. While she preferred happy Frost, she certainly didn’t mind knowing how reliable he clearly was. It spoke volumes about one’s character.

Amel wasn’t listening to the details of the mission, really. The more she knew about the danger, the more she would worry. For now, it was easier to just sit there and be with Frost.

After some time, Duke stood up.

“Alright boys, it’s show time,” he said. Everyone stood up, and Duke led the way out of the house toward the airstrip from which they would leave.

Before Frost left, he turned to Amel. “See you tonight or tomorrow,” he said with one last smile before leaving.

Amel smiled back. “We will do something fun when you get back!” Amel said excitedly. Frost laughed.

“Can’t wait!” he said. Amel waved at him, and with that, Frost went out the door and shut it behind him.

Now, Amel was alone in the house once again. She didn’t usually like doing that, and would go to hang out with Rarity or one of the other girls. She would head off to Rarity’s soon to see what she had planned for her, but for now, Amel wanted to clean a couple of things in the house. Those stallions and men tended to leave things pretty unruly.

Amel got to cleaning, and when she finished up, she headed out to Rarity for a day of fun and planning ahead for more fun.





> Pre-Deployment Training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Pre-Deployment Training







Amel made her way off to Rarity’s to get her take on how everything was meant to go. She seemed like the resident expert on romantic stuff, so it would be unwise to opt out of her invitation.

As she walked along the streets of the wrecked, but quickly recovering, town, she thought that this must have been the type of environment Frost and Duke operated in on a regular basis. A town or city was destroyed, and they were sent in to rescue people, particularly if there were bad guys around. Urban centers seemed like the most likely places they would have to fight to rescue people.

It was nice to see ponies’ spirits up. Frost and Amel never returned the music player, probably to a certain pony’s discontent, so they continued using it to lighten the mood. Many houses were already fixed up, with debris piles sitting outside waiting for disposal. Guard units patrolled the area to ensure there was no trouble. Whenever Amel passed a patrol unit, the guards greeted her with a quick “Ma’am.” It felt nice.

When she arrived at the boutique, Amel knocked three times on the door. Inside, there was a bit of clamoring, and it sounded like a few things fell over, but quickly after the raucous, the door opened up to reveal a glamorous looking Rarity.

“Darling!” she greeted emphatically with a hug. Amel returned it. “Oh, I’m so glad you came. The last time I offered this sort of thing to a someone of another culture, we were sure he wouldn’t come. Rainbow even made a bet on it, but lost.”

“Why wouldn’t he want to come and talk to you?” Amel asked, curious. “You’re one of the best ponies to spend time with.”

“Oh, Harkness was a bit of a character,” Rarity said dismissively. “Anywho, come in!”

Amel walked into the boutique and looked around it was practically spotless; you would never guess it was effectively a small field hospital just days before. The floor was pristine and shining, everything was in order, and the décor was spot on. The only oddity was a fallen lamp, which Amel assumed had just happened.

“What happened there?” Amel asked.

“Oh, Sweetie Belle told me she has to go to the library to ‘rent a book’,” Rarity said, magically grabbing a broom and sweeping up broken glass. “She knocked this lamp over on her way out the back door.”

“Must be an important book,” Amel said. Rarity blinked, then remembered Amel didn’t really know.

“Oh, darling, that’s not it,” Rarity said. “Her dragon-coltfriend lives in the library.”

“Oh,” Amel replied. She hadn’t expected that. “She must be excited.”

“Well, as long as Spike doesn’t get too excited, I don’t mind,” Rarity said. Amel giggled. “But those two are an example of what you should do!”

It appeared that the advice was going to start pretty early. As Rarity swept up, Amel looked around for a place to sit. She found a nice cushion by the stage, probably that Rarity sat on while working, and plopped herself down on it, ready for some mental note taking.

“What do you mean?” Amel asked.

“When Sweetie Belle was old enough to realize she liked a certain colt more than just as a friend, she didn’t know what to do,” Rarity said. “Especially because he had a crush on me.”

“Oh dear,” Amel said.

“Oh, it was no big deal,” Rarity said. “She asked me what she should tell ‘her friend’ to do. I told her, ‘Your friend needs to follow her heart. The longer it sits untouched, the more it will long to be touched, and then, it could make a very poor choice of who gets to touch it.’ She asked me why her friend was so scared, so I told her about the pain of rejection, but that it’s totally normal and fine to happen.”

“Did you ever get rejected growing up?” Amel asked.

“Oh, countless times,” Rarity said. ”Believe it or not, I didn’t always look like this.”

“Oh?” Amel asked.

“Indeed,” Rarity said, still checking for shards of glass. “I had braces, pimples, and my body grew in random proportions during puberty. I was rather freaky looking.” Rarity laughed at the image she remembered of herself from her younger days.

“You sound strong,” Amel said.

“Hardly,” Rarity said. “See, we all have the ability to get back after a rejection. It’s mostly just whether or not you understand that not everyone will be interested in you. Once you realize that, you realize that, just as you have your own tastes, so does everyone else, and that’s just it.”

“A good lesson to learn,” Amel said. 

“Yes, indeed,” Rarity said. “One I don’t expect you will have to learn. But! Back to the story. “Rarity cleared her throat. “When Sweetie Belle took my advice to heart, she decided to ask Spike if he would like to go out on a date. I must admit, she had it easier than I; even through her puberty days, she was a pretty young lady.”

“Some are just that fortunate,” Amel said.

“Yourself included,” Rarity said. Amel blushed. “Don’t think you aren’t! Even with a makeover, you couldn’t look much better. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand…”

Both mares shared a laugh over that. Rainbow just didn’t put effort into her appearance. Maybe her lover liked that rough and tumble look, who knew. Maybe they were into that weird stuff, too. Rainbow was so dominant in public, but no one knew about in her “personal” life.

“Anyway. When Sweetie Belle asked Spike if he’d like to go on a date, he said sure, mostly because he didn’t know what to say,” Rarity continued. “Later, he came to none other than myself for advice on what he should do. I told him he should just give it a shot; if it didn’t seem like it would work, they would still be friends. He liked the idea.”

“Are you sure he didn’t just do it because YOU said he should?” Amel asked with a giggle.

“Ha! I‘m almost positive he did,” Rarity said. “But when they went on that date, they had a fabulous time. Despite never asking me, they even kissed when Spike came to drop her off here. I saw it happen.”

“Ooooh!” Amel said, putting her hooves to her cheeks. “That’s adorable!”

“Not when it’s your little sister with a dragon,” Rarity said. “I let Twilight know what happened, and we interrogated our respective little ones when they returned home. I must say, it was quite fun to embarrass Sweetie Belle when she walked in, and I understand Twilight had an absolute ball with it.”

“What did you do?” Amel asked in amused horror.

“I waited for Sweetie in her room,” Rarity said. “When she walked in, I said, ‘No dragon coming up with you? After that kiss, I wasn’t sure what to expect.’” Amel fell into complete hysterics. “I knew Spike wouldn’t do something like that, but it was not important at the time. My job was to embarrass my little sister, and embarrass her I did.”

“I wish I had grown up like you did here,” Amel said. “It sounds like so much fun.”

“Oh, it certainly had its ups and downs,” Rarity said. She really seemed to be intent on getting all the glass from that lamp. “I was very fortunate growing up. I suppose that’s why I ultimately became the element of generosity.”

“I heard most ponies grow greedy when they grow up with a lot of things,” Amel said.

“That is true,” Rarity said. “I have my fabulous parents to thank for for raising me right!”

Rarity continued telling Amel stories of how she had embarrassed Sweetie Belle in her somewhat older years after she took a liking to colts, and particularly Spike. The jokes originally just started as Sweetie Belle being a classic girl, kissing and skipping class for “library studying”, but eventually grew to be more… mature, jokes. The kind you don’t read about in anything rated T for teen.

All the while, Rarity worked, and Amel tried to think of how to apply Sweetie Belle’s lessons to her own situation. It wasn’t terribly hard, as the lessons were all simple: go for it, and it’ll happen. Even if it somehow doesn’t, you’ll still be friends, and that’s the most important thing. Lovers should be best friends as is.

It got Amel thinking. She really did like being friends with Frost. Sure, he got her heart racing with his antics and personality, but she also felt strangely calm with him, especially lately. He was her best friend, no doubt. Even if he did say no to her being more than just friends, he would still be her best friend in the whole world. As long as their friendship continued after she finally asked him, she didn’t mind so much him saying no any more.

“Ah, all done!” Rarity said. She had taken some time cleaning up the glass. “I had to make sure I got it all. Of course, two months from now, I’m still going to find a piece of glass somehow bigger than the original bulb. That just always happens.”

“I know how you feel there,” Amel said.

“Anyway, since that is done now, I scheduled a spa treatment!” Rarity announced excitedly.

“The spa is open?” Amel asked incredulously.

“It’s actually doing everything for free right now,” Rarity explained. “The work that the townsponies are doing right now is back breaking, and a chance to relax at the spa is good for their health.”

“That actually makes perfect sense,” Amel said with enlightenment.

“So let us go!” Rarity commanded, pushing Amel out the door.

They walked over to the spa through nearly clean streets. With the happy music, and apparently free spa sessions, the townsponies were in good spirits and worked fast. Amel really had to hand it to these ponies, when they wanted to do something, they did it fast and they did it well.

When they arrived at the spa, the spa ponies just looked up, smiled, and told Rarity to go right on in. Rarity walked right past them and brought Amel along to a large mineral bath, where none other than the other elements were awaiting them. Even Rainbow, although there another mare next to her, and they seemed to be getting awfully close to each other.

Amel and Rarity stepped into the bath and relaxed the instant they dipped in. Amel could feel the minerals easing into her skin under her coat, adding to the healthy shine she had started to develop since she left Saddle Arabia. All the impurities started leaving her skin, and she practically wanted to simply fall asleep right there.

“Rainbow! Dusty!” Applejack’s southern voice called out, snapping Amel from her stupor. “Y’all two’re in a bath with us. Please, control yerselves.”

“Heheh, sorry,” Rainbow said.

Amel shook her head and came back to the world around her to be with her good friends, the Elements of Harmony. She wondered at times how her life played out this way; two hero humans came and rescued her, she became friends with the most important ponies in the world, and she had prospects to become a human and go to a whole new world with her new human friends. What were the odds that this would happen to her?

“So Twilight, I was just telling Amel about our first times grilling Spike and Sweetie Belle after their first date,” Rarity said.

“Oh my gosh, that was the most fun ever!” Twilight said in her characteristically un-princess-like demeanor. She was a really casual pony, most of the time. Maybe it had something to do with being Princess of Friendship. “Spike tried to run, but I held him down with my magic and interrogated him. Flash ended up sending me away!” Twilight laughed hard at the memory.

“If I remember correctly, Flash was really rather pleased with how Spike did,” Rarity said.

“Oh, yes, he was,” Twilight said. “He decided to make dad jokes at Spike’s situation, being really the closest thing to a father Spike has. They were so, just, incredibly, hilariously bad.”

“Closest thing to a father?” Amel asked. Twilight explained the story of how she came to be with Spike. “So you are like his mother?”

“Sort of,” Twilight said. “More like a big sister than anything.” 

“Perfect for trolling hard,” Pinkie Pie interjected with a snort.

“Indeed, I am the Momma troll,” Twilight said with a snort of her own.

“You can imagine her parents reactions,” Rainbow said. “They send their daughter off to school, she comes back with a butt tattoo and a baby.” Twilight rolled her eyes at the joke as the mares all laughed.

“So Twilight, as Princess of Friendship, what advice do you have for Amel?” Rarity said, ignoring the classlessness that was Rainbow Dash.

“I think I’d say she just needs to do it,” Twilight said without giving Amel a chance to speak first. Amel wasn’t aware that Twilight knew about all of it. “If you’re friends, you’ll stay friends. Of course, if you want, I can get Cadance down here within the next few hours to make it… ‘Easier’, for him to say yes.”

Amel’s face turned completely red, and she tried to sink down into the water until just her nose was pointing out of it. Her ears and eyes were under the water, but she could still hear everything going on.

“Yes, darling, I’d say to do that,” Rarity said. Amel heard a bizarre noise, and through her eyelids saw a bright purple flash. Moment slater, another flash happened, and Twilight said something Amel didn’t quite catch.

She came up out of the water. “What?” she asked.

“Cadance will be here by tonight,” Twilight announced. Amel immediately went back to where she was in the water. “I hope she knows the only thing she’s lost is the ability to see us,” the princess said to the group.

“If she can’t see us, maybe we aren’t here,” Fluttershy said.

“Ah know that’s how you used to do it,” Applejack teased.

“It was,” Fluttershy said with an evil grin. “But even if I close my eyes, I can TELL when Mac is there.” Applejack’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks, and she turned away and wretched while the other ponies looked at Fluttershy with some surprise.

“That was just savage, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash laughed, getting a hoof bump from her old friend. “Positively savage. Even for you, these days, just… too savage.”

“Why? Why would ya say something like that?” Applejack asked, sickened.

“I thought the Element of Honesty would like me to tell the truth,” Fluttershy teased, earning another wretch from her extended family.

“Because she’s so savage,” Rainbow said.

“Actually, the Apples are the true masters of this ‘savagery’, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said, offering Applejack a look. “Big Mac is a pretty primal stallion-“

“STAHHHP!” Applejack cried, shoving her hooves in he rears. Every other pony in the tub laughed. “Ah came here to relax, not here about Fluttershy taintin’ mah brother with her wicked ways.”

“I just couldn’t help it. I’m sorry,” Fluttershy apologized with a snicker. Amel had no idea she was so “savage”, as Rainbow Dash put it.

After Fluttershy clearly won the short verbal bout, the girls got to chattering away as usual. Normally, the conversation revolved around their respective works, but now, they primarily revolved around how they were helping to rebuild the town. They were all very pleased with Amel for playing the music, save for Twilight, who still wanted the player back. Rainbow Dash offered to take care of it later, and Twilight was more than happy to accept, freeing Amel of the responsibility.

It was nice to have such a casual group of friends to spend time with, even if they were some of the most respected and beloved ponies in Equestria. They never let it get to their heads. Certainly the most respectable ponies around.

They continued with their spa day for a while, then decided to go to the castle to eat delicious food and chill for a while there while they waited for Cadance to show up. Amel wished she had stopped it, but it was too late now. Plus, it was a chance for Twilight to see her family again, so it wasn’t as if it was just for Amel.

They spent several hours in the castle, first eating, then just talking in Twilight’s library. They sat upon the most comfortable cushions Amel had yet sat upon, forcing her to inquire as to what they were made of. It was some material she had never heard of, something Rarity imported from Trottingham or something.

In time, Princess Cadance arrived outside the castle, toting along Shining Armor. Twilight ran out to the balcony and greeted them, flying all the way down to hug her brother and sister-in-law. 

When they walked through the door, Shining Armor nodded to Amel, and she nodded back. Cadance, however, had a different greeting: She ran up to Amel, picked her up in a big bear hug, and squeezed her close.

“Oooh, I’m so happy for you!” Princess Cadance squealed. Amel could barely breathe. “He’s such a nice man, so respectable. I’m sure Frost will be delighted!”

“I can’t wait to see how this plays out,” Shining Armor snickered, remembering his own uncertain attempts at eanring Cadance’s love.

“So, you and me are gonna have one on one girl talk,” Cadance said excitedly. “Shiny will spend some time with Twilight for now and reminisce.”

“That’s most of why I came,” Shining said.

“Most?” Twilight replied.

“I also came to ask the men about their tactical gear,” Shining Armor said. “They have this stun gear that could be really helpful to our guys.”

“Anyway!” Cadance said, releasing Amel from her bear hug onslaught and grabbing her by the hoof. “We’ll see you in a bit.”

“Where are you going?” Twilight asked.

“Secret,” Cadance said with a giggle. “Can’t be interrupted!”

With that, Cadance dragged Amel along through the halls, up numerous staircases, and all the way to a balcony at the top of the castle. Already awaiting them was a tea set and some nice cushions.

“I spoke to some guards on the way up to have them set up some tea for us,” Cadance explained. They sat down. “So. Tell me everything.”

“Well… uh…” Amel wasn’t sure how to start, so she started from when she first saw the men. Cadance was aghast at the life Amel used to live, how brutal it was, but was enamored with how Duke and Frost came in and saved her. Then they were nice enough to let her tag along when they really probably shouldn’t have. Why did they do that? As much as operating in Equestria violated their SOP, that must have just added to it.

“That’s horrifying!” Cadance said. “But that’s soooooooo incredible!”

“You’re awfully excited,” Amel observed.

“Well, I’ve never managed love between a human and a pony,” Cadance said. “Wasn’t exactly there before. Not until very late in the game.” Amel nodded, though she didn’t understand.

“So, I want to be with Frost,” Amel continued. “But I’m not sure how to go about it.”

“Well, I have a few pieces to give,” Cadance said. “Normally, love is between two ponies. Or gryphons. Or dragons. Or combinations. All in this world. I haven’t really dealt with otherworldly love.” Amel deflated.

“So… what?” Amel asked.

“Well, normally, I would say two ponies should try living together before they commit,” Cadance said. She started sipping her tea.

“Frost did say I could go to his world with him,” Amel stated casually.

Cadance spat the tea out to the side. “Hold the phone. He said that?” she asked. Amel nodded. “That changes the game.”

“It does?” Amel asked.

“It does,” Cadance said. “See, Auntie Luna can look into the human world with some pool she has in her basement or something, I don’t know what it is. If you can go back with Frost, live with him, it works perfectly! If it works out, you stay with him there, get married, have kids, and live happily ever after!”

“If not?” Amel asked, nervous.

“Well, with Discord’s help, they can just pull you back into this world,” Cadance said. “They’ve been getting better at precision dropping things into our world.”

“Better?” Amel asked. Cadance put a hoof to her mouth, realizing that Amel wasn’t technically involved in secret stuff. She lived with the human operators and knew about them and some things about their missions, but she wasn't an actual operator or agent.

Cadance looked over Amel for a moment. “Hmmm... I suppose you can know this. You sort of have a right to know, with how everything has been going.” Amel was heavily involved in the whole thing, after all. “ Yes, they weren’t accurate at all before when they brought things in from the human world. How do you think Duke and Frost came here to Equestria in the first place?” Cadance asked casually.

Amel blinked. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. It was the royal sisters who brought Duke and Frost here, with the assistance of the Spirit of Chaos. She was so confused, but it made so much sense. How else would two exceptional human warriors just happen to show up in Equestria during its worst wartime situation in history?

“Wow,” Amel said.

“Wow indeed,” Cadance said. “They tried to bring in something called a SEAL, but first they pulled some kind of spy, this OGA fellow. When they realized someone would be sent to rescue him, after the spy landed in some random place in the dragon lands, they made a bet that it would be a SEAL, and I think they were looking for a particular one they knew about. Unfortunately, he apparently wasn’t tasked, and Duke and Frost came instead. They have been very helpful, though.”

“So… they were brought here specifically to fight for Equestria,” Amel said, still amazed at how it all played together.

“Yes,” Cadance said. “Their skills haven’t been used the way Auntie Celestia wanted, but they have done things that she hadn’t thought of before. Things that definitely changed the tide of the war in our favor.” Amel was agape of mouth. “I can see this is quite a bit for you, so let’s get back to the matter at hand!”

“I… yes, let’s,” Amel agreed.

“So, you can go home with him,” Cadance said. “Is this in a romantic context?”

“No, just to get me to his country because he thinks I would like it,” Amel said.

“Perfect!” Cadance said. “So, here’s my information-driven advice.” Cadance cleared her throat. “If you can go home with him in a friendly context, do it. Right now, he’ll be distracted with getting this spy man back home. When his mission is done, he will likely be given time off because of how crazy this whole adventure was. Talk to him about it then, after you’ve had a chance to really spend time together totally away from his work. For now, keep being friends, and later, after all is said and done, go for it. He will definitely say yes, especially if you opt to be a human.”

Amel thought about the advice. It all made perfect sense; wait until he’s away from work, then go for it. If she’s a human, she will have physical appeal, especially if she’s pretty like Frost said he would expect. Not that that mattered. And he and Duke would help support her, and would no doubt always be her friends, so she would never be alone in America. Especially if she lived with Frost.

“I like that idea,” Amel said definitively. “What should we do for when they get back?

“I’m glad you like the idea,” Cadance said. She sipped some more tea. “I think for tomorrow, just meet them when they land, let them know you care a whole lot. Shiny and I can go with you.” Amel nodded in agreement. “Now, let’s get back to some simple girl talk!”

Cadance and Amel kept chattering away about random girly things, with Amel’s emotional and romantic troubles set at ease. Amel couldn’t wait for the next day when the men would come home, if for no reason other than that it would be interesting to see their reaction to the proverbial bomb Cadance just dropped on her. Maybe she told AMel specifically so Amel would tell the men after all was said and done, so the ponies wouldn’t have to do it. It certainly closed up quite a few holes in her understanding of what was going on. But now Amel had to wonder just how deep this whole ordeal really went.





> Into the Dragon's Den
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 




Into the Dragon’s Den





In the dead of night, the team advanced stealthily into the valley. Duke and Frost took the lead with their suppressed weapons and night vision, ensuring that even if the way wasn’t clear, then clearing it wouldn’t cause too much noise or fuss. No need to wake any sleeping beasts.

When they arrived at the drop zone, the Nighthawks were the first ones out with their wings, followed by the men with parachutes. The men had a much faster freefall, as the Nighthawks flared their wings right off and descended in circles. They had to keep an eye open for any dragons that could be awake. Though in the dead hours of early morning, that wasn’t too likely.

The flight had been long, but it was planned meticulously to evade detection over the dragon lands. The lands weren’t really “dragon lands”, per se. They were just inhabited by dragons. There was no real governance here, no real system. Whoever the biggest and scariest was, that dragon decided how things went. It was lucky that none so far had felt like going after Equestria.

The land was as hostile as its inhabitants. Dragons were clearly the toughest creatures in Equestria; they lived in volcanoes, sulfur pits, and heat all the time. The men were doubtful that they could handle the cold, but that didn’t matter when they could burn you into crispy man-bacon. There was hardly any vegetation anywhere, save for a few crackly bushes and tumbleweeds. The wind was weak, making it even hotter, and everything was a burned-looking red shade.

Why the gryphons chose to be here was obvious. How they were here so effectively was not quite so obvious. They had managed to evade capture, bribe the dragons, or somehow scare them. That last one was not particularly likely, and the dragons, from what the Nighthawks told the men on the way to the op, were not very friendly to any other race, though gryphons especially. They seemed to like the taste of fowl the best.

There were also hundreds of cave systems in the area, and an unknown number of them were connected. The gryphons had a particular one they liked to go in and out of, but it was hard to say just how far it may have gone into the ground. If it was too expansive, and they took OGA and ran with him, they might never be able to find him until he resurfaced.

Frost was in the front of the group, taking careful steps to avoid sending rocks tumbling down the valley to echo all over the place. There was almost no level ground, and most of the mountainsides were pretty steep. The path they were on was one of the only ones they could actually travel safely, save for the bottom of the valley. But that was where their Earth Pony extraction force would be, quite possibly fighting its way to the exfil point.

As the team tip toed along, each member kept one eye on the sky and one eye on the ground. A gryphon ambush would signal the end of the mission if it came too early, and a dragon ambush would signal the end of everyone’s lives. The air was tense around the team, and no one could wait until they finally reached the cave where they would be fighting back against what would try to kill them.

Frost put his hand on a rock as he passed it, then quickly retracted it. It had started to break under his hand, despite the rock being so large. Upon closer inspection by Duke as he passed, it was more of a giant ball of ash. How it formed, he had no idea, but he knew that it would be better not to break it. If any of them started rolling down the mountain, they could create a cloud of dust visible for miles.

Frost put his hand up in front, signaling the group to stop moving, and knelt down. Everyone else followed suit. Duke moved forward and put his hand on Frost’s shoulder, looking ahead to whatever Frost could see.

“I got eyes on,” Frost whispered. Duke looked ahead and spotted what Frost saw; a cave entrance with two gryphons poking their heads out. When the gryphon’s heads went back into the cave, Frost turned around to face Duke. “We’ll want to approached from just above the entrance so they don’t see us coming up on them.”

“Good idea,” Duke said. They were approaching the cave from the side, so getting above it would be easy enough. “This is a cave, though. Don’t shoot unless you have too; no need for a bullet ricochet to make all kinds of noise.”

“Amen,” Frost replied.

Duke turned to the Nighthawks. “Alright, here’s the plan,” he said. The Nighthawks convened around him and leaned in to hear. “Frost and I are gonna get up above the cave entrance, and jump in from there to get the jump on them. You guys-“ Duke pointed to a spot just a little ways away from the cave entrance- “Will be waiting there. When we jump in, fly around and shoot in as fast as you can. If there’s more guards at the entrance, it’ll be your job to take them out.”

“Roger that,” Aprotelese said. He took his Nighthawks and they quietly made their way to their waiting point.

Duke turned to Frost and tapped his shoulder. “Good to go,” he said.

“Aye,” Frost replied.

The men started to climb on a diagonal toward the cave entrance to get above it. Climbing both forward and up at the same time was easier than just climbing up and minimized the distance they actually had to travel. Duke was glad he took so many math classes at the academy, or else he might not have been bothered to remember the Pythagorean theorem. He had never expected to actually use it in real life.

As the men slowly made their way over, they kept their eyes on the entrance to the cave. If the gryphons poked their heads out and spotted them, they would have no choice but to open fire and hope that there were no other guards to see them lose their heads. Of course, if that were to happen, the Nighthawks would no doubt understand that they had to go immediately. They were well-trained soldiers.

Thankfully, the gryphons didn’t poke their heads out again, and the men were able to get just above the entrance without any issue. Once there, they secured their primaries so they wouldn’t rattle around and swing all over the place, then drew their knives. Frost’s FE9 made Duke’s knife look like a needle by comparison. But Duke liked his knife; not too big, not too small. It was easy to move, and it had lots of uses.

Duke and Frost slowly peeked over the edge, ready to drop down if necessary. As they slowly looked over the edge, the enemy gryphons started to slowly appear below. They were so close that the men could make out the individual feathers on their heads, and they had no idea the men were there.

Before the men dropped, though, the gryphons started talking, driving them to pause before going. They listened intently to the conversation below for any important details.

“Latka, what are you doing out here?” one gryphon, an entrance guard, asked of another gryphon. “Aren’t you supposed to be inside helping?”

“Yes, but the fumes in the gas chamber make me edgy,” Latka replied. “I have my suit on, but it still feels too dangerous. We keep them well sealed in the tanks and the room where we work, but I still hate the job.”

“Then why did you volunteer?” Another gryphon asked. That made three.

“Because I want to make it last as long as possible when I detonate one of my bombs in Canterlot,” Latka replied darkly. “I want the ponies to look at me in my safety suit and know that it was I that gave them a five minute death.”

“We must strike at the heart of the ponies,” the first guard said. “But are you sure they won’t be savable when we strike?”

“The gas right now is an instant kill,” Latka said, sounding like he was admitting something. “If I cannot make my gas, I will simply use that.”

“What is the gas called?” the second guard asked. “The one you want to use?”

“I remember the man calling it Phosgene Oxime,” Latka said. “Very slow. Not curable, at least not by any means we have here. If I cannot develop it in time, though, we can use the gas he already gave us, VR.”

“Who could imagine that such a weapon could exist?” the first guard asked. The men above got ready to jump down. “Or that we would be able to use it first to such an effective end.”

That was the last of the conversation as the men fell from above and plunged their knives into the two guards necks from above, severing the spines right around their transformation into the brain stem. The third gryphon, Latka, barely had time to register what happened before Frost’s FE9 found its way into his torso and his neck was crushed by Frost’s powerful, angry grip.

“You won’t be using it,” Frost said, blackness in his eyes. He violently threw Latka against the wall, then pulled his knife out of the gryphon’s torso to slash his throat and let him fall to the ground.

Duke keyed his comms. “Clear,” he said, letting the Nighthawks come up.

Duke and Frost pointed their suppressed weapons down the entrance hall to the cave while they waited for the Nighthawks to show up. When the team was fully gathered behind the men at the entrance, Aprotelese came up and tapped his shoulder and the group advanced into the cave system.

Duke took the front with his MP7, followed by Frost and the Nighthawks. There were dim lights throughout the cave passage, just barely illuminating the room enough that the men couldn’t use their Nightvision. With their camouflaged uniforms and closeness to the wall as they moved, it was exceptionally difficult to see them when they were near the lights, and close to impossible when they hid in the shadows.

They could hear voices chattering off in the distance, but currently, they didn’t know if the hall split up ahead or how far it went. They could see that it went on a steep downward slope up ahead, and as they approached, they saw it split into two halls. The team kept an eye on the walls and ceiling for any other passages or any rooms along the way, but saw none. They had to check everything because the gryphons could fly, so a door in the ceiling was not an unreasonable thing to expect. Pegasi did it all the time.

When they reached the split, Duke stopped and held his position. Frost moved up to him and positioned himself next to Duke. They had to communicate with hand signals for the sake of making as little noise as possible. Frost pointed two fingers forward and separated them to form a “V”, then had his fingers walk toward one and then separately toward another. Duke nodded, then gave the signal that he would go with Moon Moon, Wolf, and Mosquito to the right. Frost would take Aprotelese, Fog, and Comet. Two teams of four, seeing as a team of eight was not ideal for fighting in the confines of a cave, was the ideal way to advance.

Duke advanced first, taking his group down the right passage and leaving Frost to take his down the left. They had a solid couple of teams, and anyone they encountered would be hard pressed to successfully fight against them.

Duke kept as close to the wall as he could and watched the front like an eagle hunting a finch. As he descended through the mountain and through the passage, he felt the pressure changing as the rock loomed overhead. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he could swear he needed to pop his ears a couple of times.

When they finally reached the bottom of the passage, it split into three more directions. All the way to the right looked like a massive stage area, where there might have been speeches and addresses, maybe meetings. Beyond that were what appeared to be some back rooms, covered by curtains to prevent any passersby from looking inside.

Duke motioned to the team to check that area first. It was a godsend that there weren’t any gryphons currently meeting there, but there could be some in the back. They could also be keeping OGA in a cage or something in one of those back rooms. The room had no holes in the ceiling leading anywhere else, but the floor had quite a few, seemingly random, depressions in the rock, some of which had pillows, and some of which didn’t. They certainly didn’t look planned.

There were four rooms in total, two on the left side of the room, one to the right, and one behind a small, raised patch of rock. The team started with the two all the way to the left. It would be better to do it that way because it would mean that, if all the rooms had gryphons, then two guys wouldn’t be leaving a room with gryphons piling out of the doorway immediately next to them. That wasn’t a corner to go around lightly.

Duke and Moon Moon took the right doorway, Mosquito and Wolf on the left. With a countdown of Duke’s fingers, they went from three to one, then each team silently barged through the curtains to clear the rooms. Neither room had any gryphons, only boxes of poorly preserved meat and vegetables.

“Didn’t know they ate veggies,” Duke thought.

They left those two rooms and went to check the next two, only to find them similarly devoid of hostile fighters. They were, in this case, filled with speakers, a microphone, and even some chairs, which perplexed the operators but didn’t stop them. As nice as it was not to encounter hostile gryphons just yet, that meant they were all further in. If there was food and AV type equipment here, it meant they had probably gone down the hall to the living quarters. Hopefully, that meant they wouldn’t run into those tanks they heard about.

The team left the meeting area with haste and looked down each of the next two hallways. They were a little bit smaller in size compared to where they had already been through, encouraging yet smaller fireteams to go hunting within. Duke tapped Wolf on the back to signal they would go together, and sent Mosquito and Moon Moon down the middle hallway. He and Wolf would take the left passage.

Duke took point as he and Wolf advanced through the dark passage. Before long, they came upon a massive room, filled with boxes, weapons, armor, and, somewhat unexpectedly, enemy combatants. Duke and Wolf hugged the wall to say out of sight as they nervously scanned the room.

There were easily ten visible gryphons, possibly more behind some of the stacks of boxes in what could easily be described as an underground warehouse. The gryphons were moving the boxes around, unloading some and loading up others. It was clear that this was some kind of transport and supply hub, where, if what Duke heard was right, they would also be transporting some of the gas. It had massive strategic implications, that they had possession of the area and, more interestingly, how they would choose to keep their ace in the hole of a human. It would seem wiser to keep him away and let him watch from a distance.

That didn’t matter now. For the moment, Duke had to figure out how to advance. Even if none of the gryphons in there were armed, they could just pick up any weapon and fight with it. The amount of noise made by the moving boxes was practically deafening, though, so fighting might not be necessary.

Duke looked to Wolf, then signaled for him to follow Duke when he went. Wolf nodded his understanding and Duke turned back to watch the room. When he saw a chance, he would have to go for it.

After a few minutes of waiting, Duke finally saw his chance. A gryphon stumbled, and it looked like he was carrying quite a bit of heavy metal armor. As it was about to come crashing down, Duke began to move forward, and once it hit the ground and jerked everyone’s attention that way, he really sprinted.

With Wolf right behind, Duke ran into the room and took cover behind some boxes. When Wolf joined him, they could here a whole lot of yelling from the other side and what sounded like a few smacks being given to the gryphon who dropped all their stuff. Duke stood up a little to find a crack in between the boxes on his pile and looked through. Most of the gryphons were already turning away and returning to their duties while one was on the ground, picking everything up and being chewed out. Duke remembered those days back in Air Force basic. Almost made him nostalgic.

The nostalgia didn’t last, though, because one of the gryphons was coming toward their pile of boxes. He wasn’t walking up to it, though, he was moving to the side, like he was going around it on Duke’s side. Duke silently cursed the gryphon and pulled his knife back out of its sheath. When the gryphon came around, just as he expected, Duke grabbed it by the beak, holding it shut, and stabbed the knife into its throat from the side and pulled it out to let the gryphon go out quickly. It tried to struggle, but Duke kept his grip strong, and the somewhat small gryphon rapidly faded from the world.

With nowhere to go but forward in the room, Duke was forced to leave the body there. Unhappy with the situation, he looked around the sides of the boxes before him and checked the walls. There was a hole in the ceiling here leading to another room, but there were only two doorways on the ground. One was where he came through, so the other was his only advance forward. He wasn’t intent on sending anyone anywhere in this place alone, so Wolf would not be flying up to that hole just yet.

That meant getting past up to nine or ten more hostiles, possibly more, without being made. While it was certainly no easy feat, Duke knew it was possible. He had worked with the Special Forces before, and they did understand that sort of thing.

Duke looked forward into the room to check on where the gryphons were. With the massive number of boxes, and now being within the maze of them, he could only spot two, and if he moved to take them out, it could easily mean being seen by two more. That would mean taking out two more, and the cycle could easily just continue from there. He would be better off sneaking past them.

The only two lights that illuminated the room hung from the ceiling, and they were two basic light bulbs with no shades or covers, just bare bulbs. No shadows up high to conceal Wolf, so it was the ground for him as well. Duke could try shooting out the lights, but that would be way too suspicious a thing to try.

He had to run it and hope for the best. Push came to shove, he’d fight, but he preferred not to.

So, with one last scan and determination of who was where and looking at what, Duke made his run. The two gryphons he could see were still busy with the stuff lying all over the floor, and in the relative darkness of the more perimeter areas of the room, it was easy enough to avoid them.

When they hid at the next set of boxes, they could hear a group chatting in the next area of the room. Duke and Wolf were hiding in a shadow made by the box and so could risk a quick peek at whoever was next.

They turned out not to be next, as it were, as there were four of them standing there. They couldn’t take them out silently with knives, and in here, firing the gun would be a stupid idea. Even if he got all four with a single shot each before they managed to alert the others, if the bullets went through and through, they would hit something and make a loud noise, and the blood spatter would certainly not go unnoticed. They would have to find another way.

The group was sitting there, in a circle, playing with their gear, so it was clear they wouldn’t be moving. There wasn’t much of a way of sneaking around the side, and going back wasn’t Duke’s preferred option. What they did have, though, was the boxes.

Duke wasn’t about to climb up on top of them, that would be stupid. But he was more than happy to crash a few of them. He just needed to find a good way to do that.

Duke turned back to the area they came and scanned for any boxes that might satisfy their needs. The two gryphons around the clutter on the floor had finished up and were getting back to moving things around. The funny thing was, the gryphon who dropped all that stuff before was going for another set of heavy looking boxes, and struggled immensely with them.

Duke looked for anything that might drive that gryphon to drop those boxes like he did the first time. He thought of picking up one of the rocks lying around the perimeter to throw at his feet, but there were no loose rocks in the main area, so if they saw it, they’d know something was up. The boxes that the gryphon picked up were armor cases again, though, so that meant if Duke could throw a gauntlet or something, it would work fine.

Duke checked the boxes around him. Some were open and had weapons in them, but Duke wasn’t looking to throw a knife at the gryphon. That was about as obvious as shooting him. Eventually, one of the boxes had a full set of armor, including two gauntlets. Duke picked one up and took aim at the gryphon.

He was clearly a young one, barely able to carry anything, let alone the weight he was given. It was hardly fair, sending what was clearly a child to do an adult’s job in a war. Back home, it was a war crime, and no one knew how to deal with that. Though Duke was taught that you aim at the weapon and address the weapon, not the bearer of said weapon.

With a calculated throw, Duke sent the gauntlet flying at the gryphon and knocked him right in the leg, sending him tumbling and creating yet another massive crash. Before the pair knew it, the other gryphons got up with frustrated looks and went to chew out the young gryphon yet again.

Duke and Wolf took their opportunity and ran. They didn’t have to worry about noise, not with the loudness of the abuse of the young gryphon and metal scraping against stone. They probably just ruined that set of armor, too, which was an added bonus.

Duke and Wolf were able to run through the entire maze of boxes without any issue, weapons raised and eyes forward for trouble. All the gryphons had clearly gone to the crash to see what punishment awaited the young one who kept screwing up. It was war, after all! Failure was not an option, although all these gryphons had done so rather gloriously.

Duke and Wolf went through the door and found a short hall that only had three more doorways, one left, one right, and one on the end. Maybe the rest of the cave was natural, but this area had been dug. It was too smooth, too polished to have been there originally. The duo cleared the left room, a bedroom with a cloth nest for gryphons to sleep in, then the right, where there were more basic bunks. This was where those guys out there lived, to be sure.

They moved to check on the final room, though Duke had little hope left that OGA was there. This room had an actual door, not curtains, so the duo had to stack up and prepare for a rapid breach. It would be noisy, for sure, but if they moved quickly, they could minimize the noise made and buy time by shutting the door behind them.

Duke slowly turned the knob to find it unlocked, then waited. He put up his fingers for one more countdown. Three… Two… One…

Duke threw the door open and added a little kick with his right foot as he entered. As he and Wolf rushed in, they spotted two gryphons, one in bed and the other standing at a table. Duke turned his weapon to the one at the table and put three in it as Wolf rushed the bed and stabbed into the neck of the sleeping one before it could even stir.

The gryphon that Duke shot slumped to the ground after knocking its now useless head on the table. Duke rushed it to check and confirm the kill, and Wolf finished up his dirty work on the bed by cleaning his blade on the gryphon’s feathers. Duke noted that this gryphon looked a little different, had a more rounded head unlike the other ones he saw on the way in, but paid it no mind.

OGA wasn’t there, and Duke shook his head. He had expected no less when he learned what this section of the cave was for. He only hoped that the others were okay.

“Frost, if you can reply, tell me what you’ve found,” Duke said. He waited a moment, but got no response. “Dammit.”

“Well, let’s hope the others found more than we did,” Wolf commented.

“Yeah,” Duke replied. “We can only hope.”





Frost stepped forward into his passage with measured caution. Aprotelese, Fog, and Comet followed in suit, stepping lightly and painfully aware of the world around them. None of them particularly liked being in a cave, as opposed to the open air, but there wasn’t much of a choice in the matter here. They were here, and they had a job to do.

Before long, Frost found that his passage brought him up and higher in the mountain. He kept his rifle pointed forward, ready to put own any gryphon that dared to come near. Behind him, he couldn’t even hear his team breathe, but that was how he liked it. Any noise right now would set him on edge.

The passage leveled off and opened up into a large common room up ahead. There were weapon racks on the wall, a food station filled with raw meat in the very center, and a single passage to the right that went further into the cave. There were also a number of mats covering spots on the floor, though they seemed randomly placed and pinned in place in at least two corners, sometimes three. Suspicious, to be sure.

Frost kept on moving forward through the room that was devoid of combatants. All unknowns were considered hostile here, as risks could not be taken, especially since it was a terrorist militant facility. If they weren’t fighters, they could easily become them in a jiffy, and even if not, they supported the terrorist cause. No different than if a bomb was dropped on them from afar.

Frost crept forward toward the right passage, but something didn’t feel right about this room. It wasn’t a gut feeling, though. Something about the climate of the rom didn’t feel right. Frost couldn’t place it; maybe it was the smell, though that was foul for obvious reasons. The temperature? Frost didn’t know what a cave here should feel like. But there was something, something that kept him on edge.

Frost stepped on the corner of one of the strangely placed rugs and stopped when he saw it move. It didn’t look right, and when he leaned down to poke it, he figured out why. There was a hole underneath it, and probably every one of the carpets in the room. What was on the other side, he couldn’t say, and there was only one way to find out.

Frost slowly removed the pines keeping the rug in its place and found the last thing he wanted. A small space that he couldn’t fit in, extending an unknown distance into the dark. He might have been able to get through if he didn’t have his gear, but that wasn’t what he planned on doing.

“Never thought I’d actually see a rat hole,” Frost thought.

There were too many to worry about at the moment, so he led his team further along into the next passage. The passage was even less of what he had hoped for; from where he stood, he could see it extended a good hundred feet to the end, where it split into an upward passage and a downward passage. Thankfully, there were no real doorways, only curtains keeping the gryphons in the hall from seeing into each room. It meant staying quiet in the rooms, but it also meant no creaking hinges.

They would have to search each room one by one. The Nighthawks had orders to eliminate the facility, so whatever or whoever they found in the rooms, unless it was OGA, it was going to go. Frost kept his knife ready to go in case they found anything.

The first room they checked didn’t have anything in it except an empty little nest. The Nighthawks seemed to be frustrated with the initial lack of finding anything, but immediately left the room and checked the room across the hall. Inside of that room, they found three gryphons sleeping on cots and silently disposed of them. Frost was the last one in the room that time and walked in on them already cleaning their blades.

Frost walked over to Aprotelese. “You don’t go ahead of me,” he said in a very clear whisper.

“We have our own mission here,” Aprotelese bit back. “Nothing’s getting in the way of that.”

“Nothing except my mission,” Frost warned. “If you put OGA’s life on the line for your little extermination mission, it won’t be tolerated, and you will be obstructing a United States rescue operation. Don’t. Do. That.”

Aprotelese breathed in deep then let it out slowly. “Fine.”

“I get that you’re pissed, so am I,” Frost said. “Amel was in danger too. But you have to keep that under lock right now. All of you.”

Frost took the front once again and led the team down the rest of the hall. Each room from that point on had a gryphon or two, which Frost was more than willing to help to put down. As long as he was in the lead, keeping his gun from pointing near his own guys, it didn’t matter if they’re missions were terribly different. They just had to get it all done.

When they hit the end of the hall, Frost looked up and down the passages as they split. The downward passage curved off, but not a lot, and he could see it just led to another hole in the floor. A lot of light was coming from the hole, leading Frost to believe it led to another room somewhere that there could easily be a group of hostiles that he wasn’t too intent on finding right now. Instead of going there, he opted to lead his team up and into the darker area.

At the top of the passage, they found themselves looking at a massive room with three distinct, sealed doors, labeled and locked up tight, and two more passages. There were two gryphons sitting on chairs in the center of the room, both asleep at the wheel. Frost and Aprotelese quietly walked over to them and silenced them for good.

Frost observed the doors that were around him; Detainment, Research and Development, and War. The two guards, if they could even be called that, had keys to two of the rooms, Detainment and War. Frost grabbed the Detainment key and Aprotelese took the War key. They separated for a moment, pursuing their separate objectives. While Frost moved toward the room, he heard Duke call on the comms. In a moment, he would be able to respond and say he found OGA.

Frost quietly slipped the key into the lock, turned it, and started to push the door open. It wasn’t exactly quiet; the door scraped against the ground, right against the stone floor, probably ruining it more than it already was. He decided that it would be better to just shove it open than to prolong the loud noise.

When he kicked the door through, he rushed in with his rifle up and found three targets, standing in the middle of the room with shocked expressions. Before they could respond, Frost put them each down with a single shot, then finished them off with one more shot each on the ground. With the combatants down, he turned his attention to the cages where OGA would be-

Nowhere. Nowhere in sight. OGA wasn’t in the first cage, not the second, not the third, not any of them. Frost had to look twice to make sure he wasn’t missing something. There was nothing else in the room, no passages, no doors besides the cage doors. Frost took a few steps toward the door, then slammed his fist against the cage and keyed his comms.

“Duke, I found the prison area, but no people,” he said.

“What?” Duke replied. “Are you sure that’s it?”

“Well, the big sign might be a little misleading,” Frost replied sarcastically.

“Dammit,” Duke replied. “Celestia said he’d be here.”

“Could they have moved him?” Frost asked.

“…” Duke didn’t respond immediately. “I don’t know.”

“Duke,” Frost said, voice filled with caution. “She did say he was here.”

“I know what she said,” Duke said. Frost heard him sigh on the other end of the comms. “We need to link back up.”

“Copy that,” Frost said.

Duke keyed all comms to speak to the whole team. “Guys, we need to meet back up by the area we inserted. How copy?”

“Aye,” Aprotelese responded. No one else talked.

“Mosquito, Moon Moon, how copy, over?” Duke asked.

The comms keyed in. “Your friends aren’t able to talk,” a gruff voice replied.

Everyone’s hearts sank at the same time. Mosquito and Moon Moon had been made. The entire team was at risk now, and the operation was a complete bust. They had to get out.

“You have your orders, gentlemen,” Duke said into the comms. He and Frost checked their weapons.

“We know where you are,” the voice replied. “You’re not leaving this place alive.”

Duke faced the way he came with Wolf and Frost stared down the door behind him. It had swung shut as he came in, and whatever was on the other side of the door would do its level best to kill him. He had to make sure it failed.

In unknown unison, Frost, Duke, and Aprotelese took in deep breaths and let them out slowly, like they were about to take their last. Then, with a sense of readiness and determination, they looked toward the sounds of chaos.

“Let’s do this.”
 
 
 

> Paradise Lost
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Paradise Lost





        Duke and Wolf rushed to the entrance of their little room and took position at either side of the opening. Duke checked his MP7 and sidearm, making sure they were ready for what was likely to be the single largest battle of his career. 

        He poked his head out and looked down the hall. The gryphons out there were in a tizzy, squawking and flipping out. They had probably found the body after a search urged by whoever contacted the team through their own comms. They would have to be careful what they said to each other until they linked up, since the enemy could hear every shared word over the comms.

        Just as Duke started to retract his head, he could see the gryphons gathering at the end of the hall before him. He didn’t need to keep his head out to know they would all gather there before searching the hall. From where he was, he could hear someone shouting, and they sounded pretty pissed off. Understandably, of course, as Duke and Wolf snuck right past them.

        As long as they were grouped up, it made the best target for Duke to start shooting. With a flick of his finger, he switched his weapon to full automatic, then nodded to Wolf. It was go time.

        They rushed out of their cover and spotted the group of ten plus gryphons at the end of the hall. Duke knelt down and took aim, bracing himself for the rattling of his gun against his shoulder. One of the gryphons spotted him and Wolf and pointed at them. Duke opened fire, starting with him.

        The suppressor made it much quieter, but it could only do so much, and the confined space of the cave left plenty of echo and echoing of the gunshots. The gryphons all flinched and faltered as the bullets started tearing into them. By the time they ran for cover behind the boxes and walls, four of them had gone down.

        Duke and Wolf took their opportunity and rushed forward toward the room. Duke kept his gun aimed forward, ready to open fire again. He had probably fired about thirty rounds of his forty round magazine, so he provided some suppressing fire along the way and reloaded his weapon as soon as he heard the empty click.

        Before they could make it to the end, the gryphons pointed crossbows around the corner an blindly fired at the human and stallion, forcing them to take cover in the rooms to their left and right. Their crossbows must have been specially modified, because they seemed to just keep firing the bolts around the corner. Duke and Wolf couldn’t risk continuing forward into the fire.

        Duke pulled a frag grenade out, his last one, and pulled the pin. After waiting for a moment, he turned the corner and took aim.

        “Frag out!” he shouted. Wolf crouched behind the wall on his side, and Duke did the same.

        The grenade flew through the air and smacked into the boxes within the room. A moment later, a deafening boom blasted through the cave, sending a shockwave past Duke and Wolf. As soon as it was gone, they turned their corners and continued their rush down the hallway.

        When they reached the end, there were two bodies lying still on the floor and two struggling to get up. Duke put one in each of the survivor’s heads in seconds, then turned his attention upward to check for aerial attackers. Instead, he saw gryphons shooting out of the hole he had seen earlier, one by one, until at least eight had come out.

        “Dammit,” Duke cursed.

        “We gotta fight through it,” Wolf said. 
        
        “Let’s get to it,” Duke replied.

        Duke and Wolf stuck together and moved to the right with Wolf on point, going the way they had come earlier. If they could minimize their visual exposure, that would work out perfectly, because it would take extra time for the gryphons to get to them and they could possibly get out without too much fighting.

        That turned out to be a bad idea, as the gryphons were waiting for them and fired a dozen crossbows as soon as Wolf was in sight. The quick stallion flinched back and dodged most of the bolts, but one cut into his front left foreleg, leaving a cut at least half an inch deep. He neighed from the pain, a sound Duke actually had yet to hear from the ponies, and Duke grabbed him and pulled him back.

        Wolf looked at the gash, grimaced, then seemed to stop caring about it a moment later. Duke would offer to fix him up, but the moment called for a little something else. 

        “Can’t believe this,” Wolf said angrily.

        Duke looked up. “I have an idea,” he said.

        They were still taking crossbow fire from the other side, the bolts constantly thunking against the boxes that served as cover. Duke climbed up one box, then grabbed the corner of the top box and pulled it back just enough so the edge was over them, then got under it. With a powerful thrust of his arm, he sent the top box tumbling to the other side, spilling weapons and armor everywhere as it went down.

        In the deafening collection of clangs, Duke and Wolf ran around to the other side. The distraction wouldn’t last very long, so they had to move fast.

        When they reached the other side, Duke took point and leaned around the corner with his weapon pointed forward. There were indeed gryphons on this side, but they had been just distracted enough by the crash of their contraband that Duke was able to put three well-placed shots into three of the five before the other two flew backwards, one simply falling down and tumbling to the floor.

        Wolf rushed out toward the next group of boxes and Duke followed close behind, pointing at where the other gryphons were and putting down suppressing fire. He spotted one gryphon who took a lucky shot to the head, startling the rest of them into moving again.

        Duke rejoined Wolf behind cover and looked him over to make sure he was okay. Wolf was looking angry, but otherwise unaltered from his normal state besides his gash. He had his blades out, but in here, the big room, he would have to take some risk to get up to the enemies to use them.

        But he had something else on his person too.

        “Wolf, you got those explosive orbs?” Duke asked. He already knew he did.

        “Yeah,” Wolf said.

        No other words were needed, and Wolf pulled out an orb, smacked it to arm it, then chucked it overhead toward where the gryphons had just been. They couldn’t be too far, and even if they were, there would undoubtedly be quite a bit of shrapnel with all the metal around the room.

        A massive explosion rang through the room, though Duke and Wolf were shielded by their boxes. The overhead light was blown to bits by the blast, darkening the room fairly completely. In the aftermath of the explosion, only the groans of the wounded could be heard echoing through the cave as they rapidly passed away.

        Duke had his night vision for the darkness and planned to use it well. Wolf was sadly stuck in the dark, but as long as they stayed quiet and in contact, they would be able to simply walk out of the room.

        “Keep close,” Duke whispered.

        “Roger,” Wolf replied.

        Duke led Wolf onward into the darkness with his eyes and weapon forward. He heard some flapping overhead in the front, but when he looked up, he saw a gryphon fly smack into the stone wall and crumple as he fell to the ground. He hit the stone floor below with a sickening crack. That pretty much took care of him.

        Duke heard a few gryphons recovering elsewhere in the room, but when he looked up, he didn’t see them ascending. Instead, he saw more gryphons descending into the room, four in total, from that damn hole up there. They were all sticking together up at the top, and upon closer inspection, Duke saw them fidgeting with some sticks in their hands.

        He realized what they were just in time and looked away when four incredibly bright blue flares illuminated the entire room. Wolf was temporarily blinded, but kept quiet as a church mouse, and Duke raised his night vision off of his face.

        The gryphons tossed the blue flares toward various spaces in the room, then activated a few more and looked around for places to throw them. Wolf recovered quickly, and the duo ran for the entrance as more flares came raining down. As they ran, one of the flares landed right in their path, and they weren’t able to stop before running right over it. 

        There was an exclamation of glee as they ran over the flare, and Duke knew that the gryphons were going to come down on them. He and Wolf moved to press their backs against one of the stacks of boxes and crates and were suddenly greeted by four gryphons brandishing dirks.

        Duke opened fire right away, putting four shots in the one all the way to the left and getting two into the next one before they were upon him and Wolf. The injured gryphon stayed back for a moment, letting his unwounded comrades take the front.

        A big gryphon with darkly painted feathers assaulted Duke with a flurry of movement, made that much harder to track in the dark shade of blue that bathed the room. He ducked to the right and let the dirk strike into the crate, where it didn’t get stuck, but could not advance downward and strike into Duke.

        Unable to raise his MP7 in the limited space, Duke thrust his knee up and caught the gryphon in the belly, knocking the breath clean out of its lungs. It wasn’t about to let that stop it, though, and it threw Duke to the side and knocked away his gun.

        Duke stood up and went to draw his pistol, but the gryphon was on top of him and slashed at his face. Duke moved back just enough that it only caught him slightly on the cheek, and the gryphon had expected that to be the final cut. Duke countered with a spinning elbow strike to the side of the gryphon’s head, sending it crashing into the crates.

        Duke leapt to where his weapon fell, grabbed it, and rolled over to open fire on the gryphon before it could come closer. It was about to land on top of him when he let out a full auto burst into its belly, shredding it from front to back. By the time it landed on top of him, it was already extremely dead.

        Duke shoved the body away and looked to Wolf, who had already killed his opponent and dispatched the wounded gryphon before it could get away. Wolf offered Duke a hoof, which he gladly accepted, and the duo stood to run to the entrance where they would link up with the team.






        Frost ran to the door with his rifle raised scanned the outside room before leaving. There weren’t any hostile gryphons here yet, so it gave him and the stallions some time before they had to move. Even if it was a precious few seconds to link up and make a split-second plan, it was still something.

        Frost sprinted through the large room to where the Nighthawks were and leapt into the room, shutting the door behind him. The Nighthawks were huddled around, discussing a pan of battle, and turned to see him run in. They had their weapons brandished as if Frost were an enemy, as they could easily have been the ones who rushed into the room.

        “Frost,” Aprotelese said.

        “We don’t have a lot of time before they come after us,” Frost said. “We need to move fast.”

        “There’s only one way out that we know of,” Comet said.

        “We have to make a break for it before they can cut us off,” Fog added. 

        “Plan is to run, then?” Frost asked. They all nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

        “I’ll take point,” Fog said.

        “Frost, take the middle,” Aprotelese said. “You have our best fighting asset, and you’ll be most effective with it in a safe spot.”

        “Roger,” Frost said.

        Fog took the front, Frost the middle, and Comet and Aprotelese formed a triangle with Fog so Frost was in the middle. The door would force them to leave out of that formation, but once they were in the hall, they would be able to advance freely, cutting down anyone who stood between them and the exit.

        The group started to exit the room with Fog in front. Immediately as they left, a hail of crossbow bolts pounded against the walls right outside the room and cut into Fog from head to hoof, sending him instantly to the floor.

        “Back! Back!” Aprotelese ordered.

        Frost, Aprotelese, and Comet took cover at either side of the door. Fog was already gone, bolts puncturing his body all over the front. Comet looked down at him, cursed, then looked to Aprotelese.

        “We gotta get him out!” he shouted.

        “No time!” Frost shouted. “He’ll slow us down too much!”

        “We aren’t leaving him behind!” Aprotelese yelled to Frost.

        “We’re already leaving two of your stallions behind, whatever point you’re about to make is moot anyway!” Frost said. “If we try to drag him along, the best he’ll be is a temporary meat shield from the bolts before the gryphons catch us with their talons!”

        Aprotelese looked at Fog’s body. “Dammit!” he shouted. “Dammit, dammit, dammit!”

        “We have to go, NOW!” Frost shouted. He pulled out the last flashbang he and Duke had and pulled the pin to toss it outside. When it went, he waited for a second and braced himself for the loud bang, and when it sounded, he rushed out the door.

        “Go go go!” Frost ordered.

        He, Aprotelese, and Comet filed out of the room and Frost opened fire toward the source of the bolts. What he saw made his heart sink; there were at least ten of them on the opposite side of the room. With the gryphons flashed, though, it would be easy enough to take down most if not all of them with his rifle.

        He was able to do just that, expending his entire magazine in the process, then reloaded while Aprotelese and Comet moved forward to check the hallway. They initially ran right at the entrance, then slid to a halt and rolled sideways. Before Frost could ask what was ahead, several bolts whizzed through the air past his head.

        Frost got as low as he could and moved to the side, then ran to Aprotelese. Aprotelese looked to be pulling one of those explosive orbs out of his side pocket. Frost knew that he would have to open his mouth and cover his ears if they were about to do this, but he couldn’t communicate it to the stallions in time. Hopefully, they already knew.

        Aprotelese had the orb in his hoof, ready to throw, when another volley of bolts came whizzing past. These ones were very different, though; when they struck the wall opposite them in the room, they detonated into small explosions. The small shockwaves startled the tiro, and Aprotelese dropped the orb. Frost watched as it armed itself and went to detonate as it rolled toward the hallway.

        “Crap!” Frost shouted. He pulled Aprotelese back and kicked the orb like a football into the hall. As soon as it was on the other side of the wall, Frost prepared himself for the explosion. Aprotelese saw what he did and imitated it, but Comet was unable to see and simply waited.

        The orb exploded in the hall, but not nearly far enough to kill the gryphons much further down. The volleys of bolts halted for a moment, but that moment was necessary to recover from the botched attempt at blowing up the enemies down the hall. By the time Frost and Aprotelese were good again, the exploding bolts were coming once again.

        “What the hell was that!?” Aprotelese shouted.

        “They must have put their explosives on the end of their bolts!” Frost shouted. “Whatever you do, don’t let them shoot near you!”

        “Roger!” Aprotelese replied. “Comet, you hear that?!” Comet didn’t reply. “COMET!!”

        Frost turned around to see Comet clutching his ears, grimacing. The stallion had not been prepared for the explosion, and the shockwave rattled his head as it blew through. Comet leaned up against the wall and stood, then looked to his teammates.

        Frost was leaning out of cover to return fire on the enemy gryphons while Aprotelese tried to shout to him. Comet couldn’t hear anything, though, only a loud ringing in his ears.

        Aprotelese cursed again. “Frost, we have to move!” he shouted.

        “No shit, Sherlock!” Frost said.

        “We have cover, so let’s make a plan!” Aprotelese said. “We need to have a strategy to move if we’re going to-“

        Just as he was going to formulate a plan, a new round of bolts flew past, but this time, they brought a lot more payload with them. The bolts slammed into the back of the room against the wall and R&D door, creating shockwave after shockwave. None of them on their own were enough to take out eardrums, but they were making the team weaker with every volley.

        Frost was getting a little suspicious, though. None of the bolts were hitting the walls around the hall, except the occasional one that didn’t follow the rest. Most of them were flying past them into the room.

        Frost turned toward the doors to see what exactly they were shooting at. The walls were all cratered and cracked from the onslaught, but that wasn’t what concerned him. A large portion of the bolts had clearly landed on or near the R&D door like they were aiming at it.

        Then it hit him.

        “Aprotelese, they’re blowing open that door!” Frost shouted. He had figured out what was inside. “We need to move NOW!”

        “What?” Aprotelese asked as he turned around.

        Just as he turned, another group of bolts shot into the room and detonated against the door, finally blowing it completely open. This volley had been staggered, too, and more bolts flew into the open door through the dust. On the other side of the dust, the explosions rended a door on the other side of its hinges. The sound of scraping metal landing on a stone floor echoed through the room.

        As soon as the sound was done, Frost and Aprotelese saw a cloud of green gas flowing from the room much more quickly than was safe. With no other choice, they paid no regard to the explosive bolts coming toward them from the other side and went for the run.

        Comet ran with them as soon as he saw them go, and the trio advanced together. Frost kept his rifle up and fired on the gryphons as they ran, keeping them down as much as he could and taking out any that dared stand in the open. As nice as it would have been to take cover, the team couldn’t risk it with a cloud of deadly nerve gas following close behind. Frost didn’t know any green ones, but he wasn’t about to find out what the gas really was.
        
        When they reached the end of the hall, they found two gryphons left alive, reloading their crossbows. Frost jumped on one and slammed the barrel of his rifle into its throat, crushing its windpipe and rumpling it to the floor. Aprotelese pulled his blade on the other, slicing it cleanly on its very thin arm, then spun and bucked it into the wall. From there, he hit it one more time and crushed its ribcage and spine against the wall. It could still breathe, though, but there was no time to finish it. The gas would have to take care of it.

        And the gas would, as it was still advancing extremely quickly. Whatever containment they had of it here, it was clearly not very strong, as massive quantities of the deadly agent were spewing out of the door still. They had to just keep running; it was already halfway down the hall, and if they took too long, it would be on them and in them in no time.

        The trio kept running and entered the cafeteria room they had passed through earlier. There were no gryphons visible in the room, but Frost remembered the ratholes under the carpets from earlier. He took the front this time, with Comet in the center and Aprotelese in the back. Comet had to be kept safer now, as his combat effectiveness was compromised.

        Frost eyed the carpets as he passed them. Upon close inspection, he could see most of the nails and spikes that kept them in place were gone, and they sagged a little more than they did before, betraying what they were hiding. He couldn’t see into them, but he knew what that meant.

        When they were halfway into the room, Frost had the team stop. He was standing right in front of one of the ratholes, and looked down at it resentfully. He knew what was on the other side, and he would be damned if they got the drop on him. Frost pointed his rifle down at the carpet and loosed four rounds into it. Underneath, he could hear the familiar sound of an enemy combatant eating a bullet.

        “GO!” Frost shouted as he sprinted forward. Comet followed suit with Aprotelese right behind, and just as they hit the passage that would take them out of the caves, every carpet in the room exploded upward and gryphons climbed out of every hole.

        Frost stopped and let Aprotelese and Comet run ahead while he stayed in place for a moment to suppress the gryphons as they came, killing enough of them to drive the rest to cover. When he expended his magazine, he turned and kept running, reloading along the way.

        When Frost caught up to Aprotelese and Comet, he saw that they had, in turn, found Duke and Wolf. Their team of eight had been cut to five already, and from what Frost could see, leaving the way they came wasn’t an option. There were dozens of gryphons at the end of the hall, with bodies littering the entrance after Duke’s work with his MP7. Frost ran up to Duke and kept on eye on the rear.

        “Duke!” Frost shouted.

        “Frost, we got a serious problem!” Duke said. 

        “We got a hundred serious problems and they all look the same!” Aprotelese said. “Ugly and feathered!”

        “We can’t get out the front, there’s too many of them!” Duke explained. “They just keep piling in!”

        “We got an unknown number of hostiles coming at us from behind!” Frost said. “We can’t move forward, but if we stay here, we’ll get squished between them!”

        “We have to find another way out!” Aprotelese said.

        “Any ideas on where? I didn’t run past a way out where I went,” Duke said.

        “Neither did we,” Frost said. “But we have to move now!”

        Duke thought hard. The way he and Wolf went was a dead end, and if Frost had run back this way, it was quick to assume that if there was a way out for them, they couldn’t access it. But there had to be a way out. These gryphons weren’t stupid; they must have designed the place with an extra way out. Of course, there was the way that Moon Moon and Mosquito went…

        “Alright, looks like we have to go back into the cave!” Duke announced. He turned from the entrance to see a dozen gryphons pouring down Frosts hall toward them and opened fire, knocking some down and giving the rest pause. “We have to follow Moon Moon and Mosquito’s route! It’s our best chance!”

        “Roger that!” Frost replied.

        Duke took the front of the group, followed by Comet and Wolf, then Frost and Aprotelese. Frost kept an eye on the rear while they ran from the overwhelming enemy force, keeping the gryphons from getting too close with bursts from his rifle. Duke would clear the way ahead as they ran.

        The team went down Duke’s first passage, then followed the path Moon Moon and Mosquito had followed when they split up. As the team started to make its way down the middle passage, more gryphons filed in from behind, and some even came from Duke and Wolf’s original route, forcing Wolf and Aprotelese to pull their blades for a close-in fight. Frost took down one gryphon with a few shots of his rifle, and Aprotelese and Wolf worked together to slice up the other. A few more could be heard down the hall, so the team hauled it down the passage.

        The passage was small and not permitting of such a large group, forcing them to file through such that they would be highly vulnerable as they exited. When they reached the end of the hall, they walked into the last type of room they had expected; an enormous, open-air room that led outside on each side, with one side exiting to the side they originally assaulted from. At least, they thought it did.

        But the surprise room had even more surprises in it. There were dozens upon dozens of enemy gryphons in the room, moving crates and boxes to provide cover from the team they no doubt expected to show up. Duke and Frost immediately opened fire on the enemy gryphons in the hopes of thinning their ranks a bit while the stallions advanced into the room.

        When the stallions were behind cover, the men followed close behind and joined them just as the bolts started to fly. None of these gryphons were using explosive bolts, thankfully, but that didn’t make the job of escaping much easier.

        “Does anyone have an explosive orb?” Duke asked.

        “Negative, all out!” Aprotelese said.

        “Damn!” Duke cursed. He peeked out of cover to shoot back at the enemy gryphons. Next to him, Frost was already opening fire in the opposite direction against enemy forces coming in from behind.

        “We have to move forward!” Frost shouted.

        Without reply, the rest of the team did as Frost said and started moving into the room. The openings up top would be nearly impossible for the men to get to without an aerial pegasus extraction, or at least help from the Nighthawks. That, itself, wasn’t possible, though, not with such an enemy presence in the room. No one was coming to save them in here.

        “Frost, we need to set up a defensible position!” Duke shouted.

        “Copy that!” Frost replied. “If we can get to a side of the room and set up some box walls, we maybe able to-“ Before Frost finished, a loud siren started blaring from the middle of the room, likely audible through most of the valley. “What the heck!?”

        Aprotelese looked to where the siren was sounding from with a look of utter horror. The other Nighthawks shared similar expressions, and even a number of gryphons had paused. Just as the men thought the battle would continue to rage, what must have been twenty gryphons abandoned the fight and flew out of the holes up top, leaving a still large number to contend with.

        “Aprotelese, what’s happening!?” Duke asked.

        “They… They alerted everything in the valley to the presence of this facility…” Aprotelese said. “The dragons…”

        Duke felt a chill go down his spine. “Don’t tell me…”

        “We need to get out of here NOW!” Aprotelese shouted in a complete panic.

        Before they could discuss how to go about that, bolts were flying once more, and the team had to take cover behind some boxes to fire back. The gryphons coming into the room were equipped with explosive bolts, though, so the wooden crates didn’t provide much cover before they were totally obliterated.

        The team ran from cover to cover for protection from the explosive bolts, trying to find a good opportunity to fire back. No such opportunity existed, though, and Duke and Frost were forced to expose themselves to make an attempt at well-placed shots to take out the explosive launching gryphons. Bolts whizzed past their heads every time they stood up, some detonating in the distance behind them.

        “Duke, Frost, I’m gonna contact the extraction teams!” Wolf shouted.

        “Roger that!” Duke replied.

        Wolf keyed his communicator. “Echo One, this is Nighthawk Four, we are taking heavy fire up the mountainside! We might not make the extraction! How copy?” There was no response. “Echo One! Nighthawk Four! We will not make the extraction!”

        “Don’t we have an aerial extract?!” Frost shouted.

        Wolf keyed a new signal. “Whiskey Bravo, this is Nighthawk Four! We can’t make the extraction point at the base of the valley, need an immediate extraction at the top of the mountain!” After a moment of static, the voice of what seemed like an angel played.

        “Nighthawk Four, Earth Pony extract is KIA! Gryphon forces are swarming the valley!” the voice said, making Wolf pause. “We heard the siren and are trying to get to you, but hostile forces are in the way!”

        “How many gryphons?” Wolf asked.

        “Not gryphons!” the voice replied with terror.

        Wolf felt a chill go down his spine. “Copy that,” he said.

        Duke ran over to Wolf. “What’s the word?” he asked.

        “We have to leave this room to get an extract! There’s dragons in the area keeping the extraction team out!”

        “How long until the dragons get here?” Duke asked.

        “They’re already here,” Wolf said, looking past Duke.

        Duke turned around to see the most terrifying thing ever to grace his eyes. Several large dragons, at least ten feet tall each, landed inside the room and made the earth shake. When they landed, Frost, Aprotelese, and Comet all hid behind some boxes, prompting Duke and Wolf to follow suit.

        Duke peeked over the boxes to see the dragons, enraged and ready to kill, turning their attention to the gryphons on the other side of the room. They spewed flames at the unprepared birds like fire hoses, caking the entire wall with flames. Duke saw the opportunity and decided they should take it.

        “Wolf, can you carry me out of here?” Duke asked. Wolf looked up and down, then nodded. “New plan!” Duke grabbed Wolf and the two of them ran to the rest of the team.

        “Duke, this doesn’t look good,” Frost said.

        “Well, we’re leaving!” Duke said. “Aprotelese, you carry Frost! Wolf is carrying me, and Comet will fly on his own. We’re heading out through that hole-“ Duke pointed at the hole the dragons entered through- “And getting to the extraction team!”

        “Sounds good to me!” Aprotelese said. Before Frost could say anything, he was behind the man and had his hooves under Frost’s armpits. “Let’s go!”

        “Wolf, get me up and let’s get moving!” Duke ordered.

        While the plan would work; the Nighthawks were strong enough; it would take them a moment to actually fly to the opening. The men themselves weren’t that massive, but with all the gear they wore, they were incredibly heavy. The Nighthawks had trained to carry a fully laden Earth Pony Juggernaut, though, which was way heavier than any human.

        They were nearly at the top when one of the dragons below looked up to see them making their escape. For a moment, the dragon just looked at them, confused, but quickly alerted its kin to the pony presence. As far as they were concerned, this was just more foreigners encroaching on their territory, and they had to be dealt with.

        They spewed flames up, but thankfully, with gravity and distance, the fire just didn’t reach them. Duke and Frost fired at the dragons with their weapons, but the dense scales were too much for the bullets to get through. The dragons flinched when they were shot, but guns wouldn’t do anything more than that.

        Comet had flown ahead and checked the outside area to find an absolute war zone outside. Enormous dragons, though not many, were around the mountains, roasting anyone they found. The pegasus extraction team was up high in the sky, avoiding the fight, and the bloodcurdling screams of dying gryphons filled the valley. They had to get out of there as soon as possible.

        Comet looked down to the team to see the men uselessly firing their weapons at the dragons, who were already taking flight to knock them and the rest of the team out of the sky. They weren’t that fast, but with the heavy burden of the men, it would be easy to catch them. They were dead if they were caught.

        Comet snarled as he took flight one last time and dove into the hole. Beneath him, he could see Aprotelese and Wolf struggling to carry the men out of the room and the dragons looking excitedly at their next prey. But they wouldn’t be getting a chance at that prey.

        Comet shot past his teammates and slammed into the first of the dragons that was coming after them. He struck it with such a force that he was able to knock the wind right out of its fiery lungs and send it to the floor in a heap of groaning scales. The other dragons saw the pegasus stallion take out their friend and roared their displeasure. With a fierce war cry, Comet pulled out his blades and put everything he had into saving his team.

        Up topside, Aprotelese and Wolf dropped the men onto the mountainside and huffed and panted their exhaustion. Before letting that stop them, though, they both rushed to the edge of the hole.

        “Comet!” Aprotelese shouted as he looked over the edge.

        It was too late, though; Comet was gone. He had knowingly given his life to ensure that his teammates and the men escaped safely. The kind of thing that earns one the Crest of Valor.

        “Comet…” Wolf said quietly.

        “We have to go,” Aprotelese said grimly. The stallions turned away from the hole. “But we won’t forget.”

        They walked back over to the men, who by now had gotten back and surveyed the landscape. Fire and death reigned supreme on this day, with little hope for anyone in the valley. Gryphons still roamed the area, with many of them actually fighting back against the dragons, though it was all in vain.

        “Where to?” Duke asked of Wolf.

        “We have to move south, there’s a plateau that the carriage can land on,” Wolf said.

        “Alright, let’s get moving!” Duke ordered.

        The team ran for it to the south in the hopes of making it to the plateau in time for an extraction. They knew that the dragons would be exiting that cave very quickly behind and giving chase, but with a little luck, they would be able to outrun them, or at least fall down the side of the mountain faster than they could fly.

         They were only a hundred yards from the hole when the dragons emerged and began their scan for the intruding warfighters. They could see plenty of gryphons flying about, and they would be easy enough to take down, but these other ones were cut from a different cloth. They would be way more interesting to face off against. Unfortunately, the dragons had missed their mark, and would have to settle for the gryphons they could find instead of the ponies who would likely get away now.

        That didn’t make the escape much easier for the team. Massive dragons still roamed the valleys and mountains, roasting any living thing that wasn’t a dragon. If one of the big guys saw them, it was game over.

        It was that, plus the gryphons, who were still intent on removing the Nighthawks and men from the picture of this war. The men had to scan the sky while also watching their step and keeping their balance. The entire act was a lot to put on any person, however tough they were, especially when they were at the limits of their endurance, battered and bloodied.

        It didn’t take long for the fight to resume.

        “Frost, twelve o’clock high!” Duke shouted.

        The two men stopped moving and trained their weapons upward toward a group of four gryphons dive bombing toward them, firing crossbow bolts as they approached. The bolts, tipped with more explosives, all missed by a wide margin, shaking the earth around the men and making the shots more difficult. The men, however, were able to fire continuously for thirty and forty rounds, thanks to the thirty round STANAG magazines in Frost’s rifle and forty round MP7 magazines.

        Dust flew up from the detonating bolts, all of which landed a good distance away but shook the men with the explosions, and the men got back on the move. The Nighthawks kept on running ahead, unable to combat the gryphons overhead.

        The explosions, however, attracted the attention of about every combatant in the general vicinity. More gryphons turned their attention to where the team was now, changing whatever direction they were initially heading and swooping in on the team.

        “How many freaking gryphons are there?!” Frost asked.

        “There won’t be any more here by the end of the day either way!” Duke answered. Either they or the dragons would take care of them.

        Duke and Frost had to shoot while running now to avoid being overrun. More than a few times, they had to drop down and slide while shooting to avoid being caught in one place when they shot back at the gryphons. They were still shooting bolts at them, some explosive and some not, but the shots kept on getting closer and closer, despite how many gryphons were dropping out of the sky and slamming into the mountainside.

        Up ahead, the men could see the plateau, and Wolf and Aprotelese in a tight battle against a force that vastly outnumbered them. The exhaustion they were suffering from was visible now, and the gryphons were just biding their time until the Nighthawks fell.

        When Duke and Frost were about one hundred and fifty yards from the stallion’s location, their saving grace came like an angel from Heaven; the aerial extraction carriage descended from the sky with an escort of twelve ponies from the 22nd Rapid Assault… Prosecution… whatever battalion. The best flyers they had.

        The men kept on running downhill toward the extraction. Along the way, more and more bolts rained down on them, most of them missing, but a few hitting home on Frost’s chest plate. Thankfully, the armor they wore was incredibly strong and stopped bullets, so a crossbow bolt couldn’t go through very easily. Frost pulled a couple of the bolts out and dropped them to the ground so they wouldn’t be in the way.

        The men landed on the flat area of rock and bolted for the carriage. Just as they were about to reach it, though, all Hell broke loose; one of those massive dragons that was previously cooking gryphons on one of the other mountains had flown over to the enormous commotion to get the most out of its fire.

        The dragon landed in between the men and the carriage, and, with a ferocious roar that deafened everyone around, began its onslaught. The extraction carriage pulled out with the Nighthawks, but had to leave the men on the plateau to fend for themselves.

        The 22nd stallions formed up and started to fight back against the massive beast, aggressively flying formations around it and hitting it with weapons the men knew nothing about. They were some kind of specialized shock weapon that kept the dragon nice and busy.

        In the meantime, Duke and Frost were hightailing it away from that location and going back toward the slope and keying their comms.

        “Aprotelese, what the hell is going on!?” Duke screamed into his communicator.

        “That dragon is gonna kill us all if we try to get you out here!” Aprotelese responded, clearly more than a little shaken. “We have to get you to a different spot if we’re gonna get you out!”

        “Where the hell do we go?!” Frost asked. “Not like there’s a safe landing pad around here!”

        “You have to make your way up the slope and to the top of the mountain!” Aprotelese said. “There’s a flat top up there we can land on to get you!”

        “Then that’s where we’re heading!” Duke said. “We’ll meet you there!” It was all or nothing now; if this plan failed, the men were on their own.

        “This isn’t exactly how I expected this op to go down!” Frost said as they began the climb. Thankfully, the gryphons were a little busy alongside the 22nd against the fire-breathing beast behind them to notice the men making their exit.

        “I didn’t expect a total shitshow, that’s for sure!” Duke said.

        In spite of how much their bodies were screaming at them to stop, the men pushed onward up the mountainside. With all the adrenaline running through them, they were able to make it back to their initial exit point relatively quickly, and it helped that they had used a good amount of their ammo, lightening the loads they carried. Of course, they still had a ways to go, as it turned out the mountain went quite a bit higher.

        The men kept up the run, but soon, the familiar sound of bolts against stone rang in their ears. The men turned around to see more gryphons chasing them, firing their crossbows at them in an attempt to stop them. At this point, it must have been more for revenge than gaining an actual tactical advantage. How many gryphons had already died trying to kill them?

        Duke and Frost started shooting back as they backed up along the slope, massively slowing their progress. The bolts wouldn’t go through their plates, as they had seen, but if they were caught in the legs, it would take them down for sure.

        It also didn’t help that explosive bolts made yet another appearance.

        “I hate those things,” Frost said as a bolt went off two meters to his right.

        “Frost, run ahead and I’ll cover!” Duke said.

        “Roger!” Frost replied.

        Frost turned around and ran ahead while Duke lay down covering fire, knocking down several gryphons of a seemingly unending number of them. If nothing else, this operation had successfully thinned their numbers by a massive margin. They hadn’t gotten OGA, but the princesses certainly stood to gain from this mission.

        Frost stopped up ahead and started shooting back, and Duke turned around to take his turn to run. The gryphons were getting closer every time they switched, but it was better than the alternative of them closing in on them completely in a matter of minutes.

        Duke could hear the bullets whizzing past, cutting through the air like butter. He almost thought he heard the sound of a bullet colliding with a bolt, but the odds of that happening were extremely slim. 

        When Duke ran past Frost, he tapped him on the shoulder. The top of the mountain was in sight now, and the carriage was just landing up there, away from hostile forces. That was their ticket out.

        Duke stopped and started firing back, and Frost turned around to run and reload his rifle again. When he looked up and saw the carriage, he ran with renewed vigor, eager to leave this hellish place.

        Before he could make it past Duke, an explosive bolt landed just under his legs.

        Frost didn’t have the air in his lungs to respond verbally to the assault, but he did completely lose his footing and his face slammed into the dirt. His rifle hung by its sling by his side.

        “FROST!” Duke shouted.

        With his weapon pointed forward and one hand on the ground to stabilize himself, Duke slid down to where Frost lay. Frost used his arms to turn himself over and cover his face, but right after he did, another explosive bolt, a smaller one, landed on his chest plate, slamming him into the ground again. When Duke stopped at his side, Frost was coughing furiously and gasping for breath.

        “Frost!” Duke said.

        Frost blinked several times a she looked up at Duke. His hearing was damaged, but he could hear Duke shouting his name. He knew the gryphons were still coming at them, so he reached around for his rifle, and when he found it, he used his stronger arm that hadn’t taken a small explosion to aim it at the enemy and open fire.

        Duke grabbed Frost by his vest and started dragging him uphill. It wasn’t looking good; the gryphons were closing on them, and both men were forced to fire their primary weapons with one arm. It didn’t take long for Frost to click empty, and, unable to reload, he let his rifle fall to his side and pulled out his sidearm and started shooting.

        “We’re almost there!” Duke shouted. By now, Frost’s hearing had returned some.

        Frost looked down at his legs; they were hanging in ways he never thought he would see them hang, going in several directions he never thought possible.  He could also feel the pressure of an effectively totaled rib cage under his armor.

        “How am I gonna explain this one to Amel?” Frost sputtered out.

        “I don’t know, man, that’s up to you!” Duke replied.

        The gryphons were still coming. There were so many of them, and Duke had also been forced to pull out his sidearm to fight back. Frost was already clicking empty again and trying to reload with one hand, not an easy thing to do in a state like his. Duke had to make well-placed shots to maximize the use he got from his pistol; as far as he was concerned, right now, he had the rest of his life to make those shots the best he had ever made.

        Just when it looked like they would be overrun, the 22nd boys came screeching through the air, raining hell on the gryphons and taking most of them out in a single wave. The remaining gryphons scattered, leaving Duke enough time to get both his hands on Frost to drag him all the way up to the carriage and get the hell out of there.

        “My legs,” Frost said in between coughs.

        “We’re almost there,” Duke said.

        “How am I gonna keep being a PJ?” Frost asked.

        “The princesses are magical, Frost,” Duke replied. They reached the top. “They’ll keep you going.”

        Aprotelese and Wolf were inside the carriage and opened the rear door for the men to enter through. When Duke dragged Frost through, he dragged him all the way to the other end and set him against the wall, keeping his head up, and immediately went about treating Frost’s legs. There was not a doubt in his mind that they were bleeding severely from the damage they took.

        “I’m glad that’s over,” Aprotelese said.

        “It ain’t over until we’re well out of here,” Duke said.

        Frost chuckled and coughed. “True that,” he said.

        “Doesn’t talking hurt?” Duke asked.

        “Yeah…” Frost said in a long, drawn out reply.

        “Well, don’t worry, I’m gonna patch you up,” Duke said reassuringly. Frost nodded his head down and tried to avoid coughing more. Busted ribs will make you do that.

        “Aprotelese, get into my med kit and give me anything I ask for,” Duke said. Aprotelese obeyed and set himself up as Duke’s assistant, and they set to work.

        “Man, you guys can take a Hell of a beating,” Wolf commented as he watched.

        “Damn right,” Duke answered. “We’re PJs, and the SEALs can kiss my ass. Eh, Frost?”

        No response.

        “Frost?” Duke asked in a worried tone. Frost’s head was hanging low, so he couldn’t see his face. With a single, deft movement, Duke raised Frost’s chin up and saw blood coming from his mouth and his eyes glassed over. He wasn’t breathing.

        “Frost?” Duke asked again. Still no response.

        He shook his partner a bit, but the expression on his face remained the same, as iff it was chiseled from ice. Duke started tearing away at the gear his partner was wearing, removing every last piece of it, until he was able to cut away his shirt underneath. The skin was heavily bruised and pulped from the trauma of the explosion.

        With tears streaming down his face, Duke put his hand on his best friend’s helmet and dragged them down to shut his eyes.

        “Frost…”






> These Things We Do...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





These Things We Do…






        Amel woke up with the beauty and grace of a snoring yak. Throughout the night, she had been tossing and turning under her covers. Rarity had given her this new type of blanket that supposedly kept her coat extra clean and shiny, but it was horribly hot and stuffy, probably because Amel’s coat wasn’t quite the same as rarity’s. Eventually, she fell asleep, but not before ruffling herself up and becoming generally disheveled.

        Amel rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom to prepare for the day. She had been trying to look presentable ever since she was given a home here to stay in. Today was no different, really, not with the plan she had going. She knew no one really cared about the fact that she made herself look decent in the morning, but it felt good to clean up and leave the house feeling fresh.

        She didn’t do the makeup that had been recommended to her. Rarity certainly looked fabulous in it, but Amel didn’t like the idea of putting all that stuff on her face. It seemed uncomfortable to her.

        After cleaning up and brushing her teeth, Amel went down and made herself a breakfast sandwich to start the day off. She was feeling pretty hungry this morning, so she pulled out two thick slices of bread and made a sandwich with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, honey mustard, cauliflower, and broccoli. A strong breakfast makes for a strong pony.

        When she finished eating, Amel left the house and decided on going to the library. She knew the team would return sometime today, as the flight was somewhat long, so she would wait there. She also wanted to speak to this dragon, Spike. She didn’t know much about dragons and he seemed like he would be able to answer her curiosity.

        She trotted out of the house and made her way to the library. Through the town, there were still ponies fixing things up, though a good deal of reconstruction had occurred by now. 
        Amel reached the library and knocked on the door. Not too long after, none other than the dragon himself answered.

        “Oh, Miss Amel,” Spike said. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

        “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Amel apologized.

        “No, no, not at all,” Spike replied. “Though I admit that I wasn’t expecting you here. I thought for sure you’d be waiting elsewhere.”

        “So early?” Amel asked.

        “Not early,” Spike said. “Not by much. Twilight told me that a military air carriage is on the way now.”

        “What?!” Amel shouted, causing Spike to reel. “When is it going to arrive?!”

        “I think it’s set to land in about ten minutes,” Spike said.

        Amel turned around and sprinted for the air strip. She had forgotten which way it was, or if she had ever known, so Cadance told her the previous day. Cadance thought it would be nice for her to be there when they returned so she could congratulate them and meet this OGA who kept her man from her. Cadance and Shining Armor were in Twilight’s castle, awaiting the official debriefing.

        Amel ran like her life depended on it. She didn’t want to be late. It didn’t matter terribly if she was, as they would probably have OGA and nothing was time-dependent any longer.

        The dirt crunched with every thundering step Amel took toward the air strip and the air felt like it tore at her face. The amount of energy she was expending in this run would have to be her exercise for the rest of the week with how she would feel after. 

        She could see the airstrip up ahead, and even as she was running to it, she could hear a carriage touching down on the runway and coming to a screeching halt. It didn’t seem that necessary, but she didn’t know much about flight dynamics.

        She broke through everything in her way and stood next to the airstrip, watching the pegasi who had been pulling the carriage. They looked like they were totally spent, that they had put every bit of their energy into getting back as quickly as possible. They must have had some pretty major news for the princesses.

        Amel could see something happening with the door in the back of the carriage and sat with baited breath for the warrior commuters to exit and display their victory. The door seemed like it took forever to open, hinges creaking like some cliché horror movie.

        When they were final open, she saw Duke walk out. He looked like he had gone to Hell and come back to tell the tale; his gear was damaged, and he had blood on a lot of his gear. His steps were heavy, like he had iron boots on, and his head hung low from exhaustion.

        “Duke!” Amel shouted gleefully.

        Duke’s head snapped up, but the expression was anything but what Amel had expected. He had an expression of pure fear on his face, like he saw someone going through a horrible pain that he couldn’t stop. Amel remembered his story about the Green Beret he couldn’t save; it was exactly the sort of expression he would wear on that dreadful day.

        Amel’s face switched from being full of joy to concern. What had happened? Why did Duke look like that?

        “Duke?” Amel asked.

        Duke started walking over to her with heavy steps and hanging arms. He wasn’t saying anything, but his expression… it spoke, somehow. Something wasn’t right. Maybe OGA wasn’t there, the absence of their target?

        But there was a different absence.

        Amel froze. “Where is Frost?” Amel asked.

        Duke hadn’t made it very far. Behind him, Amel could hear the sounds of stallion struggling with something. Duke’s head spun around, like it was on an axle.

        “Guys, stop!” Duke shouted.

        “Where is Frost!?” Amel demanded.

        Duke turned back to her. “Amel…”

        She took off toward the carriage. Duke was a mere few steps away from the carriage, and quickly rushed forward to intercept her. Before she could get too close, Duke had his forearm out and blocking her way.

        “Frost!?!” Amel screamed.

        “Amel,” Duke said.

        “Where is he!?” Amel demanded once again.

        Duke looked down at her, straight into her eyes. In this moment, they shared their horrid vulnerability. They could see each other’s pain. Now they both knew.

        “Amel…” Duke said. Tears started cascading from his eyes. “Frost… Frost didn’t make it.”

        Amel blinked. Then blinked again. And then one more time. That was impossible. Frost couldn’t be gone.

        “No,” she said.

        “I’m sorry,” Duke said.

        Behind Duke, the stallions were pulling Frost’s body from the carriage. The final confirmation, the undeniable truth.

        “No!” Amel screamed. The stallions hadn’t seen it coming and nearly dropped him at the sudden sound.

        “Amel!” Duke said through gritted, exhausted teeth as he grabbed her. Amel fought and fought, but the human warfighter was too strong. She could see Frost, just beyond her reach. All she wanted to do was go to him, to comfort him, tell him it was alright. But he was gone.

        “Frost!!” Amel screamed and broke into sobs.

        Amel broke down, unable to even stand up. Duke held her close, supporting her and keeping her from wallowing in the dirt. He had to be strong, for the both of them. He had to keep her standing.

        Amel moved her hoof up to Duke’s shoulder to hold herself up and cried. There was nothing else she could do. She couldn’t say goodbye to Frost, tell him it was okay. She couldn’t fix his body, heal his wounds. She couldn’t do anything.

        She couldn’t tell him how much she loved him.

        The man and mare stayed on the runway while the stallions moved the body into a nearby building, just trying to keep it together while the world around them seemed to fall apart piece by piece.

> Never Leave Equestria Alive
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Never Leave Equestria Alive





        Duke held onto Amel for what felt like an eternity. Truth be told, he didn’t want to let go. He needed something soft to hold close right now.

        Amel buried her head into Duke’s shoulder and the tears seemed to be endless. She was totally powerless to the situation, lost the person she cared about most in this world. Duke felt almost similar, though he couldn’t stop thinking about how he might have been able to get Frost out.

        When Duke and Amel at last calmed themselves down, Duke picked Amel up in his arms and carried her to the hangar. Frost’s body was in there, and Duke needed to remove the gear, but he knew she would want to be there. He may have been gone, but she wouldn’t leave him behind just yet, and Duke wouldn’t take that closure from her.

        When they entered the hangar, Duke felt Amel tense up in his arms. He held her a little tighter in his arms to let her know that he was going to support her in this darkest of hours.

        Wolf and Aprotelese were standing next to Frost’s body, unsure of what they should be doing. Duke appreciated that they weren’t touching him. Some of the gear was sensitive, and it was more of a job for Duke anyway to take care of the body. At least, that was how he felt.

        “Nighthawks,” Duke said in a deflated tone.

        “Duke,” Aprotelese answered. Wolf was still having trouble hearing anything.

        Duke didn’t need to say anything as he carried Amel over; the Nighthawks understood perfectly well. Aprotelese tapped on Wolf’s shoulder and led him away from the body and out of the hangar, leaving Duke and Amel alone in the room.

        Amel approached the cold form on the table that resembled her human. Gently, she laid her hoof on his cheek, just barely fighting back another torrent of tears. Frost’s cheek was swollen and bruised from the combat, and his skin was already changing dramatically to match his state. Amel began to feel sick.

        “Amel,” Duke began. Amel cut him off, though.

        “Why?” she asked in a broken voice. “Why did he have to die?” Amel laid her head on the table next to Frost’s and brought her other leg around to hold his head.

        “Amel…” Duke said. He wasn’t sure what to say.

        “What happened?” Amel asked, beginning to sob again. “How did this happen!?” Amel screamed.

        Duke didn’t flinch at the scream, only looked sadly at the pained mare before him. With a deep breath in and a slow exhale, he shook his head and walked over to look down at Frost.

        “Only me, Aprotelese, and Wolf made it out,” Duke explained. “The rest of the Nighthawks, the 22nd, the earth pony extraction team… Frost…” Duke curled his fingers into fists. “Everyone. Lost to those damn dragons and gryphons.”

        “Frost…” Amel said. “I… I wish you were still here…”

        Duke stroked her mane. “Me, too, Amel. Me, too.”

        “Damn those princesses,” Amel muttered. Duke only nodded, hoping that she wouldn’t take out her resentment on their only friends.

        “Amel, Frost came from a culture that dictates that a person be buried within twenty-four hours of death,” Duke said. “We need to make funeral arrangements.”

        Amel swallowed and nodded. “Yes. We should… do that…”

        “Do you want to keep living in Ponyville?” Duke asked. Amel hesitated, and then nodded. “We’ll bring him to the house. Aprotelese, Wolf, and I will dig the hole and get the coffin.”

        “When will we notify the princesses?” Amel asked.

        “I suspect they already know,” Duke replied.

        “I don’t want them at the funeral,” Amel said angrily.

        “Amel-“ Duke began.

        “They lied to us, to you,” Amel said.

        Duke stopped. “What?” he asked.

        “They brought you to this world,” Amel revealed, growing angrier. “They kidnapped that OGA to help them in their war effort and it failed, and he fell into the enemy’s talons. Then, they tried to bring some SEAL here, someone they knew or some stupidity, and you two were brought here instead. And they sought to task you as they would the SEAL.”

        Duke blinked, jaw open wide in disbelief. The princesses had brought them here? But they landed in Saddle Arabia.

        “How do you know this?” Duke asked.

        “Cadance told me,” Amel said. “They were all in on it. They all knew they were sending you to fight their stupid war, advancing their own efforts.”

        “OGA wasn’t in the dragon lands,” Duke said, tightening his fist. Slowly, he bared his teeth, and then, with a sudden explosion, raised his fists into the air and slammed them on the table. “GOD DAMMIT!”

        Amel flinched back. “Duke?” she asked.

        “They knew,” Duke said. “I knew it. They knew OGA wasn’t there. There was a chemical weapons depot there that they wanted destroyed.” Duke shook his head. “But who is this SEAL? What does he have to do with anything?”

        “I don’t know his name,” Amel said.

        “Doesn’t matter now,” Duke said through gritted teeth. “I’m going to get answers.”

        “When will you go?” Amel asked.

        Duke took in several deep breaths and slowed his heart, forcing his body to calm down and let him think. “After we take care of Frost,” he said. “I need to make sure this is done right.”





        Duke stripped the gear from Frost’s body and had Amel carry it while he carried the body away. The gear had to be removed piece by piece, starting with the tactical vest, followed by the plates, and his various other strap-on pieces of equipment. Every piece of equipment Amel had placed on her back burdened her more, threatening to collapse what little was left of her foundation. Aprotelese and Wolf followed close behind and quickly decided to help Amel with her load. She was thankful, but she wasn’t in any mood to express it.

        They had no choice but to go through the town as they carried Frost and his effects to the house to be buried. Ponies who were idling around froze and stared as they saw the man carrying his fallen comrade in a fireman’s carry, some tearing up and others ready to vomit. Duke didn’t care how they felt, though. Celestia could take care of her own subjects.

        When they arrived at the house, Duke brought Frost inside and laid him on the couch. The gear was brought upstairs to Duke’s room and dropped there, while Duke removed his own gear and started a shower. Duke ordered Aprotelese to go find a coffin while Wolf started digging the grave.

        When Duke left the shower, he went to his closet and pulled out a dress uniform Rarity had made him as well as his maroon beret. He stopped to look in the mirror for a minute. Here he was, burying his best friend in a land of tiny horses, in an outfit made by a tiny white horse, trying to console another tiny horse for the loss. Duke was losing faith in his grip on reality, but this was all too real for him to deny it.

        Before he left, Duke went over to Frost’s gear and looked through it. The Nightvision needed to be destroyed so the technology wouldn’t fall into untrustworthy possession. The armor plates could be left. The ammo had to be disposed of, but then again, the princesses had a lot of it already, so that wouldn’t help.

        But there were some things that Duke intended to take back. He grabbed Frost’s rifle and sidearm. Given Amel’s state, she shouldn’t be given access to the guns. She was technically a citizen here and would be arrested. As far as Duke knew.

        Duke spotted Frost’s knife and gingerly picked it up. The FE9, Frost’s favorite fighting knife. His only really personal weapon, the thing he used to make his personal mark. Duke had to take it, so he put it and the guns with the rest of his own gear and left the rest alone.

        As Duke left his room, a thought crossed his mind. Frost’s beret was still in his room, as was his dress uniform. Duke didn’t want him to be buried the way he was, filthy and damaged. He couldn’t clean his friend’s body, but he could at least put him in a nice outfit.

        Duke went to Frost and Amel’s room and grabbed the beret and dress uniform, then went downstairs. Amel was rubbing her face on Frost’s hand, lamenting his loss, but Duke didn’t want to waste time. He tapped her shoulder and showed her the uniform, and she stepped aside to let him work it onto the body.

        By the time Duke finished with that, Aprotelese was back with a coffin and Wolf was done digging a grave. With the coffin ready, and Frost ready to be set into the earth, Duke carried him out back and set him in the coffin Aprotelese left there. Amel followed along, silence now ruling her expression.

        With no music or fanfare, no massive ceremony or wait, Duke and Aprotelese carried the coffin to the hole and slowly lowered it in. It took some time and effort, but when the coffin was gently set to the ground, Wolf got to putting the dirt back over. It was a quick process, and before long, the only trace of Frost left for the world to see was an empty patch of dirt.

        Amel walked forward. She had something in her hooves, some kind of wooden pike with a sign. It read only “Frost”. She must have made it while Duke was showering.

        She set it up and used her hoof to hammer the pike into the ground. While she rhythmically went about marking Frost’s place in the world, the warriors around her saluted one last time to their comrade. Every thud of her hoof seemed to echo in the yard, resonating in the ears of the beloved of the fallen.  When Amel finished, she left her hoof on top of the sign and looked intently at it.

        “I’ll get you a real stone soon,” Amel promised.

        Duke grabbed the moment for one last thing that he thought would finalize this horrid event, put an end to it forever. With slow footsteps, audible to everyone around, he walked up to Amel and knelt down next to her, Frost’s beret in his hand.

        “Amel,” Duke said. She looked to him, eyes bloodshot and tired of everything. “This beret symbolized what Frost did. He may be gone, but his legacy lives on. It lives on in those he saved, the lives he changed. His legacy lives on in you.” Duke lifted the beret and held it before Amel. “He would want you to take this.”

        Amel swallowed hard, fighting back tears once again, and took the beret in her hoof. Duke guided her hoof up to her head and rested it gently on top, moving mane out of the way to make sure it stayed in its proper place.

        “Thank you,” Amel whispered.

        “He loved you, too,” Duke said with certainty.

        Amel bit her lip. “I’ll never forget him. Or you.” Amel leaned forward into Duke and hugged him. “You both changed my life forever.”

        Duke hugged back. “We were more than happy to,” he said. He disconnected from the hug and stepped back. “Aprotelese, Wolf, get to Princess Twilight and report to her that Frost has passed. Tell her that there will be a funeral on the runway.”

        “Why?” Aprotelese asked.

        “Because the only ponies in the world with a right to be here for this are Amel and the two of you,” Duke said. He knew they couldn’t be worthy of blame here.

        Aprotelese nodded. “Understood.”

        “Mislead them as long as you can,” Duke said. “Amel?”

        “I want to be alone for a while,” Amel said. She knew what Duke was doing.

        “Will do,” Aprotelese said. “Come on, Wolf.” He and Wolf walked off, too tired in the wings to fly. When they were gone, Amel looked back to Frost’s grave and lowered her head.

        “How do you plan to get to Canterlot so quickly?” Amel asked.

        “The train,” Duke replied. “I trust those two to keep the ponies distracted long enough. They might show up, but I'll already be there.”

        “The princesses may deny knowing about it,” Amel said.

        “They won’t,” Duke said. “I’ll make sure of that.”

        “They might view you as the enemy if you confront them there,” Amel said with a warning tone.

        “They better be ready for heavy losses, then,” Duke responded coldly. “Will you be alright?”

        “I’ll be fine,” Amel said. She felt her mane; the knife Frost gave her in Saddle Arabia was still there. “I just… I need time to myself.”

        “Alright then,” Duke said. He turned to go back into the house and change again, on last time. “It’s been good, Amel.”

        “It has been,” Amel said back. But Duke was gone, into the house, gathering everything he would need. He was intent on ending this in the coming days, and he would be damned if anyone stopped him.

        Amel sighed. “Why can’t the good times last?”

        And so, Amel was left all alone, with nothing but the grave of the man she loved and silent tears and the biting winds of change to accompany her through the long, hard times to come.




> Those Who Write History
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Those Who Write History





        Duke stepped off the train, the weight of his gear generating a small shockwave on the platform. Other ponies who stepped off were startled by the unexpected shaking, and while normally, they would have felt more comfortable seeing one of the famous humans there, there was something distinctly off about his presence this day.

        Duke made a beeline for the castle. He didn’t stop to greet anypony as he passed, didn’t acknowledge anypony who waved. He made it very clear that he wasn’t here for a friendly purpose, but that he was on a mission. And only he knew what that mission was.

        There were guards patrolling the streets, but they all stepped back when they saw him in his state. They all figured he must be here to talk strategy with the princesses and probably just had bad news. They weren’t about to cross a human in any mood, not with the history their kind had in Equestria.

        Duke reached the path to the castle and looked up at the alabaster walls and amethyst-purple roofs. It made him sick to see it; the decadence of the princesses while they so idly threw lives out the window in an effort to protect what was probably just themselves. It made Duke even angrier to see it.

        As Duke ascended up the path, the royal guards didn’t treat him quite the same as the guards throughout the rest of the city. Most of them looked sideways at him, some with curiosity, and some with concern. Did he plan to see the princesses, unannounced and looking ready to eat somepony? One guard didn’t plan to let that happen.

        “Hey, human!” he shouted, running over to Duke.

        “What?” Duke replied, venom dripping from his voice.

        The guard startled. “You need to relax before you go up there,” the guard said.

        Duke laughed. “Believe me, if you knew the things I knew,” Duke said, shaking his head. Suddenly, he leaned toward the guard and got right up in his face. “You wouldn’t be saying that.”

        “My duty is to protect the princesses,” the guard warned.

        “And their duty is to lead your nation properly, correct?” Duke asked. Confused, the guard nodded. “Then you see? This is a one-way relationship.”

        The guard blinked, but Duke didn’t stay to explain. It would all come out soon enough, and the ponies of Equestria would learn what kinds of ponies ruled over them. It was a shame, really; the populace was fine. Skittish, but hey, they were ponies. Yet their rulers were clearly cut from a very different cloth.

        Duke walked up to the massive double-doors and slammed his fist against them until they finally cracked open. A secretary opened the door and gasped when she saw the unexpected human before her. 

Recovering, she cleared her throat.  “Mister Duke, you weren’t expected.”

        “No, I wasn’t,” Duke replied. The secretary could practically see the anger seething in his words.

        “Uh, h-how can I help you? You should have called ahead,” the secretary said.
        
        “I have to see the princesses NOW,” Duke said. “It’s of vital importance.”

        “What happened?” the secretary asked.

        “You’ll find out when the princesses do,” Duke said.
        
        The secretary hesitated. Clearly, nothing good happened. The man was in his full battle garb, angry, and… the other man was nowhere to be seen. Duke must have decided to handle this on his own as an officer and left his partner at home.

        “O-okay,” the secretary said. Duke yanked the door open and shoved his way past the secretary, getting alarmed looks from the guards.

        Directly ahead, the princesses both sat in front of a group of delegates from far away lands. They all turned when Duke exploded into the room and wore expressions ranging from terror to childish excitement to neutral surprise. The princesses looked surprised but not unhappy at first, but as Duke came closer, their expressions changed to match those in front of them.

        “Duke, we weren’t expecting you,” Luna said. “I’m afraid we’re having an important meeting-”

        “We can do this now in private or in front of everyone,” Duke said.

        Princess Celestia’s eyes widened, and she quickly addressed the group and sent them away. She knew that something went horrifically wrong, given Duke’s demeanor, and she suspected she knew what. There was a good chance he would… be…

        The delegates were gone, leaving Duke and the princesses alone with the guards. Luna looked concernedly at Duke, and Celestia asked the question everyone now had.

        “Where is Frost?” Celestia asked grimly.

        “I think you know the answer,” Duke spat. “Frost was killed in the line of duty on a botched mission to rescue OGA.”

        “I am sorry to hear that-” Celestia began. Duke cut her off.

        “So now you care about us and our mission?” Duke said. “We had a deal.”

        “What are you talking about?” Luna asked, growing angry at Duke’s accusatory tone.

        “Oh, so it just HAPPENS that there’s a chemical plant where you sent us, OGA is nowhere to be found, and we were the best fight for avoiding GOD DAMN DRAGONS?!”

        “Dragons?!” Luna asked. “What- where did you go!?”

        “The dragon lands,” Duke answered.

        Luna blinked. “OGA isn’t there,” Luna said. “What…” Luna suddenly realized something and turned to Celestia. “Sister…”

        Celestia remained silent, looking down at the floor, thinking. Duke grew more and more impatient and angry with every passing moment.

        “What the hell is going on here?!” Duke demanded. “OGA wasn’t in the dragon lands! You gave us false information, and a man DIED for it!”

        “More than just a man died for it,” Celestia said.

        “I do not give half a damn!” Duke shouted. “And what’s this about you pulling us into Equestria to fight your war for you?”

        Luna and Celestia snapped their heads to the man before them, jaws agape. They didn’t know how he had learned that.

        “It’s complicated,” Celestia said.

        Duke was sick of the beating around the bush. He had rapidly grown to hate these princesses. He didn’t care about the fate of their nation any more. In one swift motion, Duke pulled Frost’s rifle up and pointed it forward. On the sidelines, the guards raised their own weapons instantly but did not rush forward for risk of starting the fight and likely losing.

        “You have the rest of your life to explain,” Duke said. “Might as well get into detail.”

        “You don’t want to do that, Duke,” Luna said.

        “Ha!” Duke laughed. “Can I even go home? I have no idea. If you say yes, how do I know you aren’t just lying to save your own asses? I want my answers, and I want them now.”

        Luna looked at Celestia. “Sister, I think you owe him the full explanation.”

        Celestia sighed. “Very well,” she said.

        “This better be good,” Duke muttered.

        “We’ve been involved in a war with the Southern Gryphon Colonies for a very long time,” Celestia began. “We tried to fix the trouble there and then make our way out, but it didn’t work. Everything fell apart after we left. The locals were resentful about what we did, because, at least before, the region had been stable. Now, it was chaos, despite our best intentions.”

        “You may know of a conflict like that,” Luna said. Duke spat at the floor.

        “As the war went on, we began to lose hope. Then, one day, a relationship began that changed the face of Equestria forever,” Celestia went on. “Luna can explain this better than I.”

        “Indeed,” Luna said, casting her sister a look. “I started watching a young human male through a special pool in my basement.”

        “Freaking creepy,” Duke commented. Luna ignored it.

        “He found himself in the hands of Haqqani terrorists. While I watched over him, Discord, the Spirit of Chaos whom you have not met, escaped his prison and went to the human world and watched over him as well,” Luna sighed. “Neither of us knew about the other trying to help the young man, and we pulled him in two separate directions. Ultimately, the young man followed Discord more than I and lost himself to madness. He killed the Agni Narendra character he sought, but was killed in the process.”

        Duke felt a chill up his spine. “I remember that story,” he said. He knew every available detail of that story; it was what inspired him to go into the military as a special missions airman. The young man in question had been taken by human traffickers, somehow escaped, and tore through Southeast Asia to find the people who took him and his friends for revenge. Like everyone else in the world, he thought that the kid died out there.

        “Discord; or rather, another special character who remains very mysterious; pulled the young man into this world, which was when we found out that was possible,” Luna explained. “While here, he recovered from his madness, and ultimately went on a rescue mission to retrieve a special operator from the southern gryphon colonies with a makeshift team. He is the reason we have the Nighthawks today.”

        “I don’t see where this is going,” Duke said. “I had heard of another human before. How does this relate to you pulling us here?”

        “Like I said, this showed us that it was possible,” Luna said. “When the young man went back home, he joined up with a unit known as the Navy SEALs.”

        The princes paused, and Duke took a moment to process what she just said. He knew the story of the young man in Southeast Asia. There had been rumors of an operator somewhere in SOCOM who eerily matched that kid. He had never believed it before, though.

        “No,” Duke said.

        “The goal was to pull HIM in when HE was tasked with a rescue,” Luna said. “At first, we just wanted someone who could help, but when it failed so badly, we saw the opportunity. We tried to pull strings to have him sent, and it nearly worked, but some difficulties came up, and it ended up being the two of you.”

        “So what you’re telling me,” Duke said slowly. “Is that you screwed up your plan and got an American kidnapped by terrorists. Without a care in the world for him, you tried to get an individual SEAL to come fight your war for you, and by some stupid mistake, you pulled Frost and me?”

        “Yes,” Luna said.

        Duke just stared. “This is unbelievable,” he said. “Frost is dead now because YOU made too many stupid mistakes.”

        “Sister, I believe this is where you come in,” Luna said, her own voice taking on an unhappy tone. “ Why weren’t they sent to the western lands to assault the compound with OGA?”

        “Sister, you of all ponies should understand,” Celestia said. “That chemical weapons cache was too well-protected for even our special operations forces to get into. They lacked the proper gear to execute that mission; that’s why I’ve been having our engineers reverse-engineer the rounds for the men’s weapons.”

        “You could have dealt with it yourself,” Duke said. “Mine and Frost’s presence didn’t make a difference.”

        “Duke, I understand that you are angry-” Celestia tried to say.

        “Like Hell you do!” Duke shouted. Celestia flinched. The gun was still pointing her way.

        “We needed that cache destroyed!” Celestia shouted back. “How many ponies would have died if it hadn’t been taken down?”

        “You say that like I care,” Duke spat.

        “I know you do,” Celestia said.

        “Maybe before,” Duke said. “But now? I couldn’t care less about YOUR subjects, because that’s all they are to you. You use them, like you sought to use OGA, to use that SEAL, despite him actually being your FRIEND, and how you used us.”

        “Duke,” Celestia said.

        “Well, it’s done,” Duke said. “You broke your end of the bargain. Now, you’re going to do the only thing you can.”

        “What’s that?” Celestia asked.

        “Tell me where OGA is, get me there and us back, and send us home,” Duke said. “I’m done helping you. You aren’t done helping me.”

        “Duke, arrangements will be made immediately,” Luna said. “What’s happened here is condemnable, I assure you. Justice will be done.”

        “I’m not interested in justice,” Duke said. “There is none, not in your world, not in mine. I’m just trying to save the few people who are good and kill the bad guys whenever I can.”

        “You can do both of those things,” Luna said. Her horn glowed for a moment. “The Nighthawks are on their way now. You will go with them to the runway, fly to OGA, rescue him, and fly back. A replacement team-”

        “I only need Aprotelese,” Duke said. Luna blinked.

        “Duke, the forces may be considerable,” Luna warned.

        “This is a two-man operation,” Duke said. “I’m down one, I only need one other. Aprotelese is the only one coming.”

        “If you are sure, then very well,” Luna said. “You may go to the runway and await Aprotelese. He should arrive within the hour.”

        Duke turned to walk away, but before he left, he had one last thing to say.

        “I hope it was worth it,” he said coldly. With that, he walked away from the princesses and any role he had in Equestria’s well-being for good.

        When he was gone, Luna turned to Celestia. “You’ve gambled and lost, sister,” Luna said. “How great a loss are you willing to risk?”

        “For my little ponies, I will go to many lengths,” Celestia said. “Though now, I am not so sure what I am willing to do.”

        “I’m taking over this war effort,” Luna said sternly. “I am clearly the more fit one to do this.”

        “Perhaps,” Celestia conceded. “You always have had more of a mind for battle than I.”

        “You always had a mind for peace and harmony,” Luna said. She stood up to leave and prepare for Duke’s last mission in Equestria. “Which is why I’m so disappointed in you.”

        Luna and Celestia both decided to take the fast ways out of the room and teleported to their respective destinations. The guards were in a tizzy over it, as they knew not where Celestia was going. She needed time to ponder her actions and grieve so many losses, and there was only one private place she could do that. Hopefully Luna wouldn’t mind the small intrusion of her quarters.

        Her entire plan had failed from the very start, every aspect. It was a massive loss in the end; one Equestria might not fully recover from. She could only hope that things calmed down soon with Duke’s final assault, or it could spell disaster on a scale even Discord wouldn’t muster up.





combine and/or shorten.  As it is, it breaks the flow a little


> That Others May Live
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





That Others May Live





Duke and Aprotelese checked their gear again. During the flight, they both kept going through the full checklist, feeling satisfied, then going through it again because they had nothing else to do while they waited. Neither of them particularly wanted to talk.

Neither of them placed any blame on each other; it was more that they didn’t know what to say. Was Aprotelese supposed to say “Sorry my leader got your best friend killed”? Was Frost supposed to say he was sorry about Aprotelese’s team? Neither knew what exactly to talk about, and so remained in respectful silence.

They were flying up high in the carriage, and before Duke went into the fighting and violence, he wanted one last look at the landscape from up high. It really was a beautiful landscape. The vibrant colors, incredible variance, and vast expanse was something Duke had always loved about nature. Had things not gone the way they did, he might have considered coming here after retiring from the Air Force.

“About fifteen minutes until the drop zone!” the carriage puller announced.

Duke nodded and turned to Aprotelese, who nodded back. Duke prepared his parachute and set it on his back, tethering the rest of his gear to himself, and moved to the rear of the carriage. When they jumped, he would go first, followed by Aprotelese, who would be gliding down to the ground.

The landing zone was going to be a small ways away from the compound where OGA was being held. According to a dossier sent to Duke by Luna at the airstrip, it was a building built into the side of a cliff, although there were only artificial caves contained within. It wasn’t going to have the risk factor that the Dragon Lands had.

The plan was for Duke to enter from the bottom and fight up, while Aprotelese went through the top and closed off any escape routes. Once he was done with that, he would go back through the bottom and rejoin with Duke for the assault. If there was any chance of escape during the attack, OGA could be pulled away.

It was true, a team would have been better for this mission. But the issue was that Duke didn’t trust anyone the princesses may have sent his way. He only trusted Aprotelese and his team, and Aprotelese was the last operationally taskable individual from the group of two survivors. Duke knew that he would do his job, though.

“Five minutes!” the puller announced.

Duke looked down at his gear. He had decided to hang onto Frost’s rifle and weapons for this, and had his own MP7 and sidearm strapped to his back. He didn’t particularly plan to use them here, so they would serve as backups. It was easier than keeping the rifle as a backup because the MP7 was smaller and easier to keep out of the way on his back.

Frost’s knife hung on Duke’s vest, just under his left arm. Duke refused to allow any weapons to remain in the possession of the ponies, but this knife was different. It was Frost’s personal statement, so it only seemed right that Duke should carry it.

“One minute!” the puller shouted.

Duke readied himself mentally. This wasn’t going to be easy, and given that OGA was definitely there, this was guaranteed to be his last fight in Equestria. Unless the princesses had something else in mind.

“Let’s do this,” Aprotelese said.

“Into that wild blue yonder,” Duke said. A light on the side of the carriage turned on to a bright green hue.

“GO GO GO!” the puller shouted.

Duke flipped his Nightvision and ran out the back and leapt into the open air, the dark night sky on one side and the rough terrain of the AO below. With the NVGs, he could see the cliffside where the compound was, even if the building itself was too difficult to see from this distance. 

After a couple of minutes of falling, Duke pulled his chute and glided down to the ground. They hadn’t been terribly high up when they flew overhead, so the journey down wasn’t nearly as long as a standard HAHO. The jump wouldn’t quite qualify as a HALO, but such strict definitions rarely applied in specialized missions.

When Duke hit the ground, he rolled as he was trained to do and got to his knees, scanning the area. Aprotelese was circling up above to provide cover and overwatch so Duke was able to reestablish himself and get all his equipment ready for the assault.

When Duke was ready, he keyed his mic and signaled for Aprotelese to come down. When the Nighthawk swooped in, Duke wasted no time explaining how it was all going to play out.

“We approach from the front,” Duke explained. “We can’t go from the sides because there’s no cover. On the way in we’ll use the occasional trees and large rocks or crevices to hide.”

“I saw some small spotlights on the roof of the building while we were dropping,” Aprotelese said. “They might make things a bit difficult for you.”

“That’s fine; I can handle it. What do you think the odds are that you’ll be seen by them?” Duke asked.

“Not high. My armor is coated to look like the night sky, so it’ll look like I’m just a shadow in the light,” Aprotelese said. “I’m going to go in with a divebomb attack when you give the signal. They won’t be able to stop a vertical assault.”

“Good. Just try not to slam into the cliff wall,” Duke said. “I’m going to approach from the front like I said. You’ll attack first and get their attention, letting me slip in while they’re distracted. You’re only job is to make sure that any topside exists are taken care of.”

“Want me to collapse them?” Aprotelese asked.

“If it doesn’t compromise the mission, do whatever is the most effective,” Duke said. He checked the time. “Let’s go; we have a schedule to keep.”

“Roger that,” Aprotelese replied.

Aprotelese took off into the sky and Duke moved out on foot. The compound wasn’t too far, maybe a kilometer to the west, so it wouldn’t take long for Duke to get there. Aprotelese would be able to inform him of any troubles along the way, though Duke wasn’t expecting any.

As expected, Duke’s journey was uninterrupted and he could see the cliffside building before him. There were very few windows on the face of the building, just about one per floor, and it wasn’t likely that any led directly to OGA. That wouldn’t be a good idea, putting your highly trained spy prisoner in a room with a quick escape. Of course, the way this went, Duke had to question the value of this guy’s training.

Aprotelese was right about the spotlights, and they could make an approach a bit more difficult. Duke wanted to be about fifty yards out when he made the call to attack, but he was three times that distance away now. The spotlights moved rapidly from one side to the other, meaning that he wouldn’t likely get past them without being spotted. 

No matter. No plan is perfect.

“Aprotelese,” Duke said. “Burn ‘em.”

“Copy that,” Aprotelese responded.

Duke looked up and just saw a shadow of a figure started a nose dive toward the compound form up high. When it was about halfway down, it launched several glowing balls, probably explosive orbs, straight at the roof of the compound. Before any gryphons had time to respond, the orbs detonated and sent gryphons and gryphon parts flying off the roof.

Aprotelese landed on the roof just as the alarm sounded. The spotlights went frantic for a moment, then disappeared, and Duke took his chance. While Aprotelese kept the gryphons up top busy and the whole compound’s attention in that general vicinity, Duke rushed to the door.

Of course, gryphons on the first floor were taking the quickest way out in the form of the double doors at ground level. As they came out, Duke unleashed bursts from Frost’s rifle at them, cutting them down and cratering the wall with the projectiles. There were only a few gryphons that came out the front door, though, so the other must have been going up.

Duke ran into the front door of the compound and did a quick sweep to make sure no one was around. To the right, down a hallway, he spotted movement, but it was just several gryphons frantically running up a staircase to get to the roof.

Duke didn’t follow just yet, as he had to clear the floor. Thankfully, while the building was of considerable size, it wasn’t particularly expansive or filled with halls. From the appearance, there were three hallways leading toward the cliff and two hallways adjacent to it, and rooms in each hallway.

Duke started by going left, away from where he saw the movement, keeping Frost’s rifle up and ready to engage. He encountered his first door and kicked it in, finding nothing but a bunch of empty beds inside. The next room was much the same, and he was at the bend in the hall leading hi toward the cliff.

Duke cleared these rooms much the same as the first two, simply kicking the door in and rushing in the sweep and clear. These rooms contained supplies, though, which were of similar worthlessness to Duke, and so he moved on. The next bend led him adjacent to the cliffside again, and these rooms were full of food, mostly hanging meat. 

Duke cleared the next few hallways on the floor and found that they followed a pattern. The hallways leading toward the cliffside all had supplies and stockrooms, the first hallway he entered through was all residential, and the back hallway had food storage. He cursed the wasted time and went to the staircase he saw the gryphons ascending earlier, hoping he could find OGA soon.



Aprotelese landed hard, causing the entire roof to shake even after his explosive assault, and immediately pulled his blades and slashed at any gryphon still alive on the roof. There was still dust in the air, blocking any clear view of who was in front of him. It didn’t matter to him, though, as any living form at this point was an enemy combatant.

He spotted one gryphon trying to get up and rushed it, stabbing it through the back and yanking the blade out at an angle, ensuring death. When he turned away, he saw no other gryphons getting up and so went about his one job.

There were two exits up on the roof, one on each side, facing toward each other as doorways leading to staircases. Taking these down would be a bit more difficult, but Aprotelese would have to find a way if he wanted to join up with Duke inside the compound.

He still had several explosive orbs. He pulled out two, one for each stairwell entrance, and figured he’d take it one at a time. The plan was to go up to each doorway and drop the orb just inside so it would do enough damage to the structure that he could use a second orb to level it, and the rubble would prevent an escape.

When Aprotelese approached the first door, he got a nasty surprise when he opened it in the form of four gryphons responding to the assault. They hadn’t quite expected the door to fly open, so when Aprotelese yanked it wide, they all stumbled back a step. Aprotelese took his opportunity to toss the orb in and shut the door. He heard screaming, a loud boom, and then silence. The door had jolted a good bit, but he held it closed. 

There were cracks in the wall already, and given that there would likely be gryphons coming through the other door in moments, Aprotelese took his opportunity to toss another orb in and leapt away when it went off. The entrance partially exploded behind him, the floor flying off, but the rest collapsed down, with some landing inside the stairwell. Aprotelese ran over and kicked whatever rubble he could into the stairwell, and when he checked after, it was enough to sufficiently block the exit.

Behind him, the other door exploded open and three armed gryphons rushed out to greet him. Aprotelese took to the sky right off the bat to use his superior speed to his advantage.

The gryphons took off to pursue, but Aprotelese was already turning back around for his attack. The first gryphon saw him coming and tried to go for a horizontal slash across Aprotelese’s face as he made his pass, but Aprotelese spun and blocked the blade away in one swift movement, dragging his own blade across the gryphon’s leg in the process.

Aprotelese flipped himself to turn around more quickly and went for the kill this time, slashing the gryphon right across the neck as he turned to face his adversary. His eyes shot wide as the blade struck him, and he fell to the roof in a heap of feathers and blood.

The other two gryphons were together in the air, figuring that two would be better than one for fighting a Nighthawk. Aprotelese was trained for this kind of fighting, though, and so easily dispatched them by flying in between them and stabbing both as they tried to defend. They weren’t willing to make big movement because they were so close to each other, and so Aprotelese was able to use his precision flight abilities to make their discomfort their undoing.

With the gryphons responding taken care of, Aprotelese went back to the roof and set about taking out the second entrance. It was the same matter as the first, throwing on orb in first, then another shortly thereafter to collapse it. When he finished kicking in some rubble, he checked on his work one last time and set about rejoining Duke down below.

Aprotelese flew off the roof and toward the ground, but stopped at about the third floor when he heard the fighting. There was only one window, and it was only just big enough for him to fit through, but through it, he spotted a gryphon with an explosive-tipped crossbow.

Aprotelese steeled himself and flew forth, ready for the most intense fight of his career with the humans.



Duke checked each direction as he exited the staircase up to the second floor. There were all kinds of clattering noises around, probably gryphons arming themselves. Duke wasn’t interested in being caught off guard, and so immediately set about searching the floor. H expected more of the same, given the amount of noise, but he had to be sure.

He ran down the hall to the first door and kicked it in, finding nothing at all in the room. It was totally empty, save for a bit of straw in the corner. The next room was the same, though this time, it had a pillow. Turns out, this floor was a little more rewarding than Duke expected.

“Where are you, OGA?” Duke asked himself aloud.

He kept kicking in doors and sweeping empty prison cells, growing more and more frustrated as he went. The entire left half of the building was empty cells. Some of them had hints that someone had been there recently, though it looked mostly to be pony prisoners and not OGA.

Duke made it to the right half of the building and found the source of all the noise. About five gryphons in the first room, donning their armor and grabbing their swords. Duke didn’t give them time to respond to his barging in and shot them all down like a bunch of skeet discs.  There was no sign of OG here, so Duke moved on.

As he left the room and entered the hallway, he saw movement to his left. When he turned, he could hardly believe it.

OGA was blindfolded and being dragged out of the next room by several gryphons.

“OGA!” Duke shouted.

The gryphons had already seen him, but now that they had been made, they double-timed it away. Duke couldn’t shoot yet with OGA right there, but when he was around the corner and two gryphons had yet to turn, Duke cut them down and spattered the wall with blood.

Duke reloaded the rifle as he sprinted after OGA and the gryphons. He couldn’t afford to let them get away. As he turned the hall to chase, he figured they had to be going for the stairs, and so just ran for that. Going backwards was faster for him given where he was.

He ran and just made it in time to see the gryphons dragging his fellow American upstairs. One gryphon spotted Duke and loosed an explosive crossbow bolt at him, which he just barely managed to dodge. The explosion was just behind him, but he was too driven and focused on his goal to let it stop him.

Duke fire doff three rounds at the gryphon and crumpled him, then gave chase. The next floor was likely to have more gryphons, but if he was lucky, he would be able to just keep going up after OGA.

As fate would have it, that was not what was destined to happen. The gryphon dragging OGA got off at the third floor and ran down the hall. Duke peeked out from the wall to see about seven gryphons down the hall with crossbow of varying types. As he turned to take cover, he spotted two other gryphons on the other side, trying to take him by surprise.

Duke waited a moment for them to get to him, then shot them dead in the blink of an eye. When the others gryphons saw their comrades fall, they opened fire on Duke’s position. At first, a few regular crossbow bolts clanged off the wall and flew to the end of the hall, but then the explosive bolts came. Duke had to take extra cover from those to avoid losing his ears.

When the fire ceased for just a moment, Duke leaned out to shoot. The gryphons were all reloading and failed to keep steady suppression on their foe, giving Duke the chance to open fire on full automatic and cut down every gryphon in the hallway.

When they all lay on the ground, Duke reloaded and stepped out of cover to advance. As he moved, though, another gryphon hopped out from his own cover behind a bend and fired a bolt at Duke. Duke just managed to dodge it and heard an explosion at the end of the hall.

The gryphon was reloading and so Duke rushed at him in an effort to kill him first. He could just make out the gryphon’s face in the light from the open window next to him, but he wasn’t able to make it in time. The gryphon had reloaded his shot and took aim right at Duke’s throat.

Just as the gryphon fired, Aprotelese came crashing through the window and slammed into the gryphon, sending the bolt into the ceiling. Dust and debris cascaded onto Duke while Aprotelese took care of the enemy who had nearly killed him. When Aprotelese was finished; a quick two punches and breaking of the neck; he moved over to Duke and helped him up.

“Thanks,” Duke said.

“Don’t mention it,” Aprotelese said.

“OGA is somewhere on this floor,” Duke said. “Did you take care of the roof?”

“All exits neutralized,” Aprotelese said.

“Then they have nowhere to run,” Duke said. “Pull security here by the stairs and window. I’ll grab OGA.”

“Roger that,” Aprotelese said. “Nice to know this is finally coming to an end.

Duke nodded in agreement and turned to check the floor. He didn’t need to run any more, not with the only ways out blocked. Even if they wanted to use a window, they would no doubt be unable to with OGA a hunk of dead weight. They’d either have to leave him behind; which worked fine for Duke; or stay and fight, in which case, they died.

Duke checked the rooms one at a time, finding nothing in the first or second hallway. The doors were all open, after the resident gryphons left them to join the fight. Either that or they ran. Duke didn’t notice a lot of gryphons in this particular compound.

At long last, Duke found what he was looking for; the only closed door left on the floor. There was only one reason this door would be closed. Duke topped off Frost’s rifle and checked the door for anything that might signify a trap. He was too close to the end of the game now to be tripped up by something small like that.

Duke took a step back and breathed in deep. As he exhaled slowly, time seemed to slow down, and he launched forward and thrust his foot into the door, crashing it open. Just on the other side, there was a single gryphon with a knife, charging at him. Duke didn’t want to risk shooting OGA, so he parried the knife to the side and pointed the rifle upward into the gryphon’s gut and fired two bursts.

With one gryphon down, Duke ran into the room. He spotted OGA as he entered and lowered his rifle to avoid accidentally shooting him or scaring the living hell out of him.

That was a mistake, though, as there was still one gryphon in the room. The gryphon slammed his talons down on the rifle and sent it to the floor, causing Duke to stumble and trip into the room. Duke recovered quickly and pulled his sidearm to fight back.

The gryphon swiped the pistol away and went to slash at Duke’s face. Duke evaded the slashes and rolled away, pulling out Frost’s FE9 as he came up. The gryphon followed him and went for more frantic slashes, each one easy to dodge and tiring the gryphon out.

Duke wasn’t about to let this drag out like it was some kind of movie. He kept on dodging until the opportunity presented itself to take the kill. Eventually, the gryphon grew tired, and his slashes were slower and further from their target. The chance had come.

When the gryphon went for another slash, Duke spun out to the side and slashed up with the knife to the side, connecting perfectly with the gryphon’s claw and severing it cleanly. The claw fell to the floor silently, and the gryphon stumbled backwards from the pain.

When the gryphon recovered, it looked at the cleanly cut stump of what was once it’s claw, then attacked with the other, which Duke cut off with just as much efficiency. With both claws gone, the gryphon could only try to peck at Duke. When it went for it, Duke grabbed it by the beak and pushed its head back and into the wall, then followed through with a thrust of the knife into its gut.

“Bye,” Duke said coldly as the gryphon went limp. He pulled out the knife and let the bird fall to the floor.

Duke observed his handiwork for a moment, then turned to OGA, the object of his entire reason for being here. At least, he wished. There was another reason he was here, another reason Frost had been killed. While OGA was a representation of what drove them in this whole mission, Duke couldn’t help but remember what Amel had told him. All of this, because of some guy from way back when… One man dead, two effectively held captive in a world of magical talking animals.

If only anyone could believe it, it would be quite the tale.

Duke pulled the blindfold off of OGA.

“Wha-“ the man said. He looked at Duke. “You… you’re a human…” he said.

“I’m an American,” Duke said. “I’m here to get you home.”

OGA blinked, and Duke offered his hand. OGA took it and stood up, a bit shaky but otherwise fine.

“I didn’t think anyone was coming,” OGA said.

“No one knew what was going on,” Duke said.

With OGA in American custody and safety again, and his mission complete, Duke was able to walk out with his charge and finally go home. He would have to think up quite a story for this, but he’d manage it in the coming hours before going home. 

For now, though, he was just glad to have another human with him. Being alone wasn’t an experience he wanted to have again.






> Futures
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Duke sipped slowly from his glass and set it down gingerly on the bar. He felt that he had to show some respect to the drink and not just pound it down as he saw so many other operators here do. It was a glass of Macallan 18, a good drink. Duke always preferred quality to quantity.

When Duke returned to the princesses back in Equestria, they immediately showed him the way out. Luna brought him and OGA into her chambers and down some staircase to a special pool that they could see Earth through. All they had to do was hop in and wham; they were teleported back to Afghanistan as if nothing had happened. 

They made their way back to the base and found out it had been several weeks and Duke and Frost were assumed KIA along with OGA. When they walked up to the gates to the base, they were ushered in by a bunch of MPs and rushed to a special building where there were a bunch of CIA guys trying to figure out what to do about the botched mission.

When they went in, Duke ha da whole story planned out, but OGA decided on the honest route. At first, they all thought he went insane as a prisoner, but apparently, OGA had a hidden camera on him, some tiny thing, that took pictures of everything that had been happening. When they saw the pictures, Duke had to relay the entire story to them, from dropping in, to Frost’s death, and to the last rescue. It was a tale that had everyone on the edges of their seats.

Duke was sent back stateside to deal with more CIA officials and other guys, giving them his story and explaining that he didn’t understand magic. Eventually, the Air Force got him back, and he was given a desk job for the time being. They didn’t know anything of what happened, but the official story was that he had evaded capture with Frost and Frost was killed in a last assault that resulted in OGA’s rescue.

And now, here Duke was, two months later, finished with his workday and getting a drink. He knew Frost would have shared it with him, so whenever he took a sip, he did it slow in remembrance of his old friend.

Other PJs had asked him about the mission, but Duke stuck to the official story and it was obvious that he was lying. No one could ever know that there were other beings in other dimensions who could pull people away at will; everyone would panic. Even if that was totally unreasonable.

In the end, Duke just hoped that Amel was doing alright at this point. It was all he could do for her now.

Duke took another sip of his drink and sighed. He wasn’t sure what he was doing any more.

A bell rang by the entrance, signifying that another patron had walked in. Duke turned to see if he could guess what kind of operator walked in. This bar was popular with special operations guys, and he could usually tell when someone walked in whom they were with.

The guy who walked in was tall, not terribly bulky, and had a knowing look on his face. Unfortunately, that was all Duke could gather about him, and so he turned back around and sipped at his drink.

He wondered if it was time for him to pack up and leave the Air Force. Everything was off, now. His fellow PJs looked at him strangely, and they could tell he wasn’t quite right any more. He had other jobs he could take, too; a Combat Rescue Officer had a lot of prospects out of the service.

Before he could continue his thoughts, the chair next to him was pulled out and the man who entered the bar sat down beside him.

“Hey there,” the man said.

“Hey, Duke said. He took another sip. “Just a fair warning, I don’t play for that team.”

“Ha, I had a feeling,” the man said. “Neither do I.”

“What brings you here?” Duke asked. “Most guys come to this bar for one of two reasons, and you’re not partying or mourning, from the looks of it.”

“I’m here to pick up the wife,” the man said. Maybe he wasn’t special ops. “She owns the place.”

“Does she?” Duke said, surprised.

“Yeah. She’s actually running the bar tonight, since the usual gal couldn’t make it. She has someone else coming in in a few minutes though,” the man said.

“Huh,” Duke said. 

“I can see you aren’t here to party it up,” the man said.

“No,” Duke said.

“I hear you,” the man said. “Life can hit us pretty hard sometimes.”

“No kidding,” Duke replied. He was starting to hope the mean would leave soon.

“But the only thing we can do when life knocks us off the horse is get back on,” the man said. “Fight forward and push through life like the stallions we are.”

Duke nodded. “I know,” he said. “I know it well.” The woman who had been serving Duke cam ever.  

“Hey hun,” she said, leaning over the bar and giving her husband a kiss on the cheek. “Just a minute, I’ll be right out.”

“Solid, babe,” the man said.

“You’re a lucky man to have a woman in your life,” Duke commented.

“Yeah,” the man replied. “Especially one who understands the life of a SEAL.”

Duke looked up at him. “Well, I had a feeling you were spec ops when you came in,” Duke said.

“Yep,” the SEAL said.

His wife came out. “Ready to head out?” she asked.

“I’m always waiting on you, Cinny,” the SEAL said. He turned to Duke. “And by the way… some mutual friends wanted me to tell you that Frost’s miss is doing alright.”

Duke stopped dead in his tracks as the SEAL and his wife turned to walk out. Slowly, he turned around to look at the couple walking away. She was holding his hand tight, walking with a strange sway in her step.

“Hang on,” Duke said. The couple turned around. “I never caught your name.”

“My name?” the SEAL replied. “My name isn’t important. But you can call me Harkness.”

No more words needed to be said, and Harkness and Cinny turned and left the bar. Duke held his drink motionlessly in his hand, still with half of it left, and nodded his head slowly.

Before the new bartender came out, Duke set his drink down and pushed it away, left his tab and tip on the bar, and walked out, ready to face whatever awaited him as he took of into that wild blue yonder.



> Fire Eternal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




The run rose slowly on that morning, slowly illuminating all the tiny dewdrops until the ground glistened like polished silver. The air was fresh and clean, as if the sin of the world had been washed away overnight, leaving naught but the purity of nature behind as the darkness receded. Birds chirped their good-morning songs, and all the critters of the night scampered off to sleep away the day.

It was days like this that made life worth living. 

The house had been freshly painted an easy, dark blue tone, and the fences were freshly painted white. The garden was doing very well, roses and tulips and all manner of flowers growing in abundance. They would probably need more fertilizer soon.

In the center of the garden lay a stone, a masterfully carved piece of granite, and in front of it, a tablecloth laid out with a little flower vase and a picnic basket. The basket contained a simple Caesar salad and various dressings, along with a refreshing glass of iced apple cider. It was a perfect little picnic spot.

Out the front door, the young mare walked back to her spot on the cloth. Amel had been waiting all week, as usual, for the day when she could sit quietly and have her lunch, though she was a bit early today. Every Saturday, she sat by Frost’s headstone to eat and reminisce, going through her week as if he were sitting with her, listening.

Amel set herself down gently in front of the headstone and slowly took apart the contents of her picnic basket. When she had everything laid out before her, she took in a deep breath of the fresh morning air and sighed.

“This was an interesting week,” she said.

The wind picked up a little. 

“I heard news in town while I was working the desk,” Amel said. 

She had gotten a job as secretary for Princess Twilight not too long after Duke left. She needed some kind of work to keep her busy and support herself. Whether it was charity or not; Twilight hardly needed a secretary; she was grateful for it.

“The griffons are done fighting,” Amel said. “They have reestablished their economy and put griffons to work to prevent any more from joining with the insurgent groups. Princess Luna helped to change that.”

The wind changed direction, picking up ever so slightly, pushing the trees and rustling the leaves. Amel chuckled.

“They say that if it weren’t for the humans, none of it would have been possible. They did so much damage to their organizations that the fighting griffons couldn’t recover fast enough to recruit more of their own into their hateful ranks.” Amel sighed. “You really did do good work, Frost.”

The wind slowed down.

“I… I wish you were here with me…” Amel said, tears starting to form in her eyes. “Jeeze, even two years later, I can’t seem to stay composed about it.”

The wind stopped for a moment, then picked back up in a new direction.

“Haha, look at me, being all sorry for myself,” Amel said. She looked at the headstone. “I’ve gotten better at your language. I still struggle sometimes, but I have a good grip on it now.”

Some leaves fell off a tree nearby and landed near Amel in the wind.

“Everything is starting to look peaceful again,” Amel said. “I know ponies and others still suffer elsewhere, especially where you saved me from… but I think things are starting to look up. All thanks to you and Duke.”

The wind steadied, and Amel finally took some bites from her food and sipped her cider. She still wasn’t used to the drink, but Frost seemed like he would enjoy it, so she was trying it each week. Anything to remind her of him.

She swallowed. “I would have gone back with you,” she said. “I wanted to be with you. Even if you… maybe, weren’t interested like that… I just wanted to be with you.”

The wind gave a sudden gust, blowing Amel’s mane away from her face.

“Maybe someday, I will go to the human world to say hello to Duke. Do you think that would be a good idea?” Amel asked. The wind changed directions again. “Haha, maybe he would even tell me it would be wise to stay in America.” The wind came in three quick gusts.

“I love you, Frost,” Amel said. “I will count the days before we meet again.

The wind slowly picked up to a steady, easy breeze.

I love you, too.

Amel smiled, packed up her picnic, and brought it back inside. They would meet again someday, when her time was up, but for now, she had to live on. Frost would want her to.