Rainbow's feathers vibrated, crackling with static energy that streamed off her in a contrail that sparked and buzzed with lightning. Now all she had to do was figure out how to gather all that energy from behind her, and direct it into something coherent in front of her. That was where things usually fell apart.

Rainbow slowed, letting the contrail catch up to her and gathering the energy on her wings. Tiny arcs of lightning jumped from feather to feather, then exploded off in random directions as she failed to direct it anywhere. "Damn it!"

"At least you didn't electrocute yourself this time," Lightning said as she watched from a outcropping of rocks nearby, along with hers and Rainbow's wing mates.

"But we're not getting anywhere! Argh, this is so frustrating! We've been trying this for over a week now, and we're no closer than when we started!"

"We just gotta keep trying," Lightning said soothingly. "One of us is bound to work out the key to this soon."

"Speak for yourself," said Sky Stinger as he brushed a hoof over patch of blackened hair on his leg. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty fed up of getting shocked by lightning... uh, Lightning."

"Alright, alright, let's call it there for now," Lightning sighed. "It's probably time we were heading back to HQ anyway."

"Good job we got our squadron leader to give us permission to do this," said Thunderlane. "I hate to think what Spitfire does to ponies that go awol."

"Do you think whips and chains are involved?" Cloud Chaser gasped. "That almost sounds like fun!" She smirked at Thunderlane, her eyes half lidded.

"I'm not sure whether to be terrified or aroused you thought of that," Thunderlane said back.

"Why not both?"

"Okay!" Rainbow said loudly before they could go any further. "What you do in the showers tonight is your business, and yours alone," she emphasized. "I do agree we should be getting back though, before Spitfire starts getting creative with her punishments. And I do not mean fun ones Cloud."

"I can dream."

"As long as I'm in those dreams as well," Thunderlane said, faking being offended.

Cloud pecked Thunderlane on the cheek, "Of course you are sweety, of course you are."

"Maybe we should head to the showers when we get back as well," Vapor said to Sky, a hint of longing in her voice.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, you can help me scrub this soot out of my coat."

"I-uh, I can do more than that."

Sky shrugged, "Alright, but I don't see the excitement you'll get from brushing the knots out of my tail."

Thunderlane laughed at Sky, "At this rate dude, you are dying a virgin."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"What indeed?"

"Alright guys, that's enough." Lightning stretched her wings and took flight, "Let's get back to HQ before we end up in trouble."

The Wonderbolts HQ was in chaos when they got back there, with ponies, both Wonderbolts and the Air Corps, flying back and forth carrying crates of gear that were being packed almost as fast as they were getting taken away. The six of them flew through it all, wondering what exactly it was that was happening.

"About time you six got back!" Spitfire yelled at them as soon as she saw them. "Get to the barracks and pack your belongings pronto!"

"What's going on Captain?" Lightning asked, looking around at everything that was happening. "It looks like we're leaving."

"We've received orders to abandon the headquarters," Spitfire explained, looking none too happy about it. "When the Air Corps returns to their usual posting, there'll only be us here, and that makes us a prime target for the griffons still fighting for Mareitania."

"But I thought they'd gone," said Cloud.

"We've had confirmed sightings all along western Equestria, ranging from the Smokey Mountains to Las Pegasus, so they are very much still within Equestria, and if they attack us here we are incredibly screwed. That's why we'll be joining up with the rest of Equestria's forces in Las Pegasus."

"Las Pegasus?" Rainbow said, confused. "Why there?"

"Because that's where Princess Luna believes Faust will be going next, judging by the griffons scouting around the area. We intend to work with that."

"But what about Tall Tale? Shouldn't we be trying to hold them there to stop Faust heading south?"

"The train line doesn't go through Tall Tale Rainbow, and Faust is almost definitely going to be moving her forces by train if she can. Thanks to the griffons in the area we haven't been able to sabotage the lines without making it a major operation, which is why we're heading straight to her destination, to stop her there rather than try and slow her down. I hate to say it Rainbow, but if they take Las Pegasus, the west is hers, including Tall Tale, without having to fight for it. Honestly I'm surprised she hasn't taken it already since it's undefended."

"But why is it undefended?"

"Because of its proximity to Vanhoover," Spitfire said patiently. "It was deemed too costly to defend with the Mareitanians breathing right down their necks. It also has no strategic value-"

"That's bullshit!" Rainbow yelled. "Ponies live there! Our ponies! We can't just leave them to Faust!"

"And we haven't. Refugees have been leaving the city all week. The thing is Rainbow, we can't keep evacuating cities before Faust turns up. It's just not feasible. We need to draw a line in the sand somewhere, and right now that line is in Las Pegasus."

"And what's so special in Los Pegasus that we have to hold them there?"

"Ship yards mainly. If they take the ship yards, they can use ships to attack Manehatten, Baltimare, and Fillydelphia, which are right now fuelling our war effort. They've removed the ships from the harbour there, but as we've seen, the Mareitanians are fully capable of building their own."

"I don't see why they'd bother," said Thunderlane. "From Vanhoover they could go through the Unicorn Range and attack just about anywhere in the heartlands; Canterlot, Cloudsdale, Ponyville... Why waste effort attacking these other places when they could go straight for the throat at Canterlot?"

"Cloudsdale is being relocated to near Manehatten, and Ponyville has nothing the Mareitanians want or need, except to deny us food supplies, but we can get those from at lot of other places. Canterlot is a target, yes, but that place is far too defensible for them to take without serious losses, which is why they need to eliminate our ability to fight first, meaning capturing Manehatten, Baltimare, and Fillydelphia. Thankfully using trains to move around stops them heading straight to the east coast through the north, as most of the trains go through Canterlot, and they ruined their own ability to go up through by the Empire. On hoof wouldn't work for them either as that's a lot of open ground for us to attack them over."

"But-" Rainbow began, only to get cut off by Spitfire.

"No, that's enough. I told you to go pack your gear, so I really suggest you start doing that." Spitfire sighed and softened her stance, "Look, I know you want to think we can stop Faust in her tracks, but it really doesn't work like that. If we can hold Las Pegasus, it forces Faust to either go through the north, which is prime territory for us to ambush her forces, or she has to go through Canterlot, which is our strongest position. If we don't hold it, she can build ships, or move through into Somnambula, Appleloosa, and Dodge Junction, which puts our refugees in danger. Las Pegasus is important."

"And what about Ponyville?" Cloud asked.

"We'll splitting our forces to protect Ponyville if it comes to it, but its closeness to Canterlot should keep it safe for now," said Spitfire, knowing full well that three of them called the town their home. "Now get on. We're moving out in the hour, so you better be ready to go. It's going to be a long time before you can come back here to get anything you forgot."

Rainbow sat on her bed, holding her helmet in her hooves as she looked at the scratches the griffon in Vanhoover had given it, then rubbed a hoof over her eye, feeling the scar he'd given her as well. "This is bullshit."

"As you keep reminding us," Thunderlane said as she zipped himself into his flight suit. "You have to admit that a lot of what Spitfire said made sense though."

"I don't care if it makes sense! What I care about is us abandoning a load of Equestria because it doesn't have 'strategic value,'" Rainbow said with air quotes.

"But most of western Equestria is empty," Lightning pointed out. "If Faust wants to waste time discovering the undiscovered west, then all the better for us, right?"

"But it doesn't feel right."

Thunderlane shrugged at Rainbow's words, "I hate to say it, but how we feel about it doesn't mean shit."

Rainbow sighed and dropped her helmet onto her bed, "I know. The thing is, we're trusting these decisions on one of the ponies responsible for getting us into this mess in the first place. That doesn't exactly suggest a good history of decision making." Rainbow picked up her bag and gripped the zipper in her teeth, dragging it closed. "In fact, it kinda says the opposite. What if holding Las Pegasus isn't the best idea?"

"And I suppose you have a better one?" said Thunderlane.

"...No," Rainbow admitted after a long moment. "I just- I don't fucking know, alright? I'm just... annoyed."

Lightning smiled sideways at Rainbow. "I'm afraid that speaking as your squadron leader, I have to tell you to suck it up. If I'm honest though, if I was speaking as a friend I'd probably have said that anyway."

"You're all so nice to me," Rainbow joked. She stood and put on her flight suit, taking time to do it up and strap on her blades. Then she sighed and patted her bed, "Goodbye bed, who managed to be lumpy in all the wrong places. Goodbye barracks, where we often had to overhear naughty stuff between Soarin and Spitfire. And goodbye Wonderbolts HQ, where I learnt that Lightning both is, and isn't, a jerk."

"You old romantic," Lightning snickered. "Anyway, I have five other members of a now incomplete squadron to track down, so I guess we better do that and get out of here if you're all ready to go?"

Rainbow flipped her helmet up into the air with a wing and dropped it onto her head. "Ready to go, Squadron Leader."

"And the rest of you?" Lightning waited until she had confirmations from the rest of them. "Alright, let's find the others and get moving before Spitfire has a fit."

"A sexy fit?" asked Cloud.

"Nah, just the regular kind. Seriously though Cloud, I know you've been denied your alone time with Thunder so you're all frustrated, but get your mind out of the gutter before you destroy Sky's innocence."

The rest of the squadron was waiting outside for them. Fast Clip looked forlorn, as the only original member of his wing left, having lost both Fire Streak and Lime Jelly. Lime Jelly had been replaced with a former Royal Guard called High Rise, but Fire Streak's space was still empty.

Pizzelle's wing was still full after the loss of Meadow Flower, having been replaced weeks ago with a pony from E squadron, Roller, who hadn't quite got over the loss of most of his squadron in the ambush at Stalliongrad. All of them were feeling the losses, and Lightning was proud of them that they were all determined to keep going.

"Hey guys," she said to them, saluting them with a wing. Lightning tried to keep it informal, mostly because formal wasn't her style, but also because she was worried about what Fast Clip, who was a Wonderbolt before this all began, thought of her taking the position of Squadron Leader. Having Fire Streak pass straight over him to name Lightning as lead must have annoyed him.

Lightning dropped the salute as they returned it. "I'm guessing you're all ready to go?"

"Yes ma'am," said Fast Clip, who was showing no sign of being miffed at Lightning if he was.

"Good. I would give you orders, but I have no idea what it is that Spitfire's planning."

"We're waiting for an airship," Fast Clip told her. "All our stuff is going on the airship, then we'll be escorting it to Las Pegasus."

"Aww man," Rainbow groaned. "Airships are really fricking slow."

"What about this place?" Thunderlane asked. "Are we really just leaving it here?"

"We can't exactly bring it with us," said Cloud, smacking him with a wing.

"I know that, but what if the griffons come here and take it over? Are we really going to let them do that? What if they destroy it?"

Rainbow stepped between them and pulled them into an embrace with her wings. "So what if they do? It's just a bunch of buildings. We're the Wonderbolts, and we'll still be here even if they do take this place over. Then we get the fun of kicking them back out."

Lightning smiled at Rainbow's show of optimism, "Exactly, the important thing is that the Wonderbolts go on." Lightning looked up as a horn blared, and a airship rose up through the clouds. "And there's our ride. Get your stuff over to the dock, and Rainbow? Ask Spitfire what she wants you to do while I have a chat with Fast Clip."

Rainbow waved a wing in answer and trotted off with the others in tow, leaving Lightning with Fast Clip. "What do you want ma'am?"

"Please, call me Lightning."

"Going for that informal thing again huh?"

"Is that wrong?"

"Ponies respect the chain of command. They also tend to dislike getting ordered around by their friends. It's up to you how you want to lead, Lightning, but even Soarin calls Spitfire Captain, or ma'am, when they're on duty."

Lightning nodded at the idea, but had issues with it because half her squadron was actually her friends, while the rest were still friends to a lesser degree. Having them call her by an honorific felt wrong. "I'll think about it," she said, meaning to at least consider the idea. "I was actually hoping to ask you if you're alright with me being made Squadron Leader?"

Fast Clip snorted loudly, "I'm not sure when it came down to Fire Streak to decide who his replacement was. That should have been the Captain's call, but she's not arguing with it, so neither will I. Why? Afraid I might have issues with it?"

"I was as surprised as anypony that he picked me," said Lightning. "As you said, it should have been Spitfire's call, and I'd bet my bottom bit she'd have picked you as the only other senior Wonderbolt in the squadron. I just want to make sure there's not going to be any issues between us because of how this was done."

Fast Clip paused, then pulled the corner of his mouth up in a smile. "No ma'am. The fact that this worries you tells me enough that you're a decent pony, and I'll be honoured to follow you. Just don't forget to look outside your little bubble you have around yours and Rainbow's wings now and then."

Lightning sighed with relief, "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. Seriously though, don't be afraid to tell me when I'm screwing things up."

"Never even crossed my mind not to."

Las Pegasus was an oddity compared to other cities in Equestria, at least by Equestrian standards. Besides being a both a cloud city, and a land based city, with one floating directly above the other, the entire place seemed to be devoted to entertainment. A fallacy of course, but as they flew towards the brightly lit city, you could almost believe it.

"They must be mad," Thunderlane muttered. "The city's in danger, but it's still lit up like a Hearths Warming tree."

"Clearly you've never been to Las Pegasus before," Pizzelle said from behind him. "The lights never go out in this city."

"You're from here aren't you?" Rainbow asked, drifting aside to make room for Pizzelle and her wing. "Anything you can tell us about this place?"

"Alcohol, gambling, sex, and other... debauchery. This place has it all! The cloud section is mostly just a giant theme park owned by an asshole of a pony called Gladmane, while the ground city is where most of everypony lives. It's not as nice as it looks, believe me. Still, there's also Applewood, as you can tell by the giant sign on the hill." Pizzelle pointed at the large white letters spelling out Applewood on a hill overlooking the city. "If it wasn't for the film industry here, the ground city would probably be forgotten about in favour of Gladmane's big shiny atrocity."

"You don't exactly sound like you're very fond of this place," said Cloud.

"A lot of bad things get swept under the rug here, just to maintain its friendly reputation, instead of making efforts to make that reputation a reality." Pizzelle shrugged, "I can appreciate this place being fun to visit, but living here is a very different story. I was glad to leave when I could."

"Anything strategic you want to add?"

"Not really. The entire place is dedicated to separating ponies from their bits, not strategic defence. I'm guessing we won't actually be fighting in the city if we can help it."

"I'd say not," said Rainbow. She gestured to a large clump of lights outside the city, sitting across the railway that led there from up north. "I'm guessing that's where we're making our stand."

"I'm lacking the experience of a pony that lives on the ground," said Fast Clip, "but that looks like a terrible place to stage a defence. There's no cover, or anything really. It's just open ground."

"It's probably just our camp," Lightning said before the debate got going. "I imagine we'll actually be fighting elsewhere. We passed over the Canterhorn river a couple miles back, and that seemed like a good place to me."

"And what's stopping Faust from driving a train straight through the middle of the camp?" Rainbow pointed out. "They better have been sabotaging the lines up ahead, or I'm not going to be very happy."

"Actually, that's job number one," Spitfire said, having overheard them as she flew up to them from the camp. "Princess Luna wants us to rig the bridge over the river to blow while the Night Guard fly cover for us. We'll be doing it at night though, so the Mareitanians hopefully won't know about it. They'll also be lifting the rails from the camp to the bridge, but that's ground pounder work."

"What about for now though?" Lightning asked, since it was still a few hours until night fell.

"For now you can unload the airship and get settled in. It won't have the comforts of the HQ, but it beats waking up at night with a griffon halfway through cutting your throat."

"What the heck are those supposed to be?" Lightning asked as she and her squadron looked at a dozen things they had found shortly after making camp. They consisting of large, thick steel tubes bolted into a wooden frame on wheels, and were closed at one end, while the other bore a stylised dragons' head. Nearby sat piles of black iron balls.

"They remind me of Pinkie's party cannon," Rainbow said in a low voice. "Y'know, if she fed it a bunch of steroids and made it look scary as all hell, then made it shoot metal balls instead of confetti. I get the feeling we should be afraid of these."

"But they'll be pointed at the enemy, won't they?"

"I guess?" Rainbow shrugged, "At least, I really hope so."

"Of course they will silly!"

Rainbow immediately brightened up at the voice behind her, but didn't even have the chance to turn around before she was sent sprawling onto the ground with a pink pony latched onto her. "Pinkie!"

"I know, I'm so happy to see you as well!"

Rainbow twisted so she could see Pinkie, and tried to pry the pink pony off her, but with poor results as Pinkie refused to budge even an inch. "Pinkie, get off me."

"Okay!" Pinkie sprang up off Rainbow and waited until she stood and brushed herself off. "Your eye looks better," she observed.

Rainbow felt her scar and sighed, not sharing Pinkie's thoughts on it. "Yeah, sure. So I'm guessing you got deployed here as well Pinkie?"

"Not just me Rainbow, but everypony! The entire Equestrian army is here, except the crystal ponies and Mustangians. They're sabotaging the railway that leads towards Ponyville, along with a bunch of those Exile ponies, in case Faust decides to go that way instead. Then ponies are watching them to make sure they don't try to sneak around anywhere else."

"Oh thank goodness," Rainbow breathed, releasing a sigh of relief she hadn't known she was holding. Ponyville was closer to Vanhoover than Las Pegasus by a long way, so having Ponyville protected was good.

"And now you're here," Pinkie continued, "so we're bound to win! Well, with the cannons and Luna's plan we will."

"Luna's plan didn't work so well last time," Rainbow said flatly. "Vanhoover was a massive screw up."

"This time will be different! Pinkie promise!"

Rainbow wasn't about to hold Pinkie to that, and she really hoped that Pinkie didn't hold herself to it either. Promising positive results out of the bloodbath this could always end up as didn't seem like something to bet on. "I don't suppose you know what Luna's plan is do you? We haven't been briefed yet, apart from orders to rig the bridge here to blow."

"Sure! Luna's setting a trap for the Mareitanians at the bridge. It involves the cannons and everything, so it's going to be awesome!"

"What?" Rainbow's face screwed up as she thought about what Pinkie was alluding to. Did Luna plan to blow the bridge as the Mareitanians were crossing it? Then blow the crap out of them with the cannons? If so that was one violent sounding plan. "Damn... Luna's not messing around here."

"It gets better!" Pinkie sang. "Or worse, y'know, if you really think about it," she finished in a quiet voice. She led them over to a pile covered with a tarpaulin, and pulled the corner of it up to reveal a stack of the bombs pegasi used.

"Fucking hell," Rainbow swore. "There's not going to be enough of the Mareitanians left to fill a jam jar at this rate. Where's Luna getting all this stuff from?"

"Heck if I know," said Pinkie, "but this is a lot of boom. Too bad I'm not going to get to play with any of it."

"Why? Where are you going to be?"

"The Hard Corps have their own little mission to complete the trap, so we won't be anywhere near the explosions." Rainbow found it hard to gauge just how upset by that Pinkie really was. "Anyway, the plan should work out just fine."

Seeing the amount of ordinance that Luna had brought to throw at the enemy, Rainbow was inclined to believe her. She glanced at Lightning, but only got a shrug in return, and none of the others had anything to say to it either. They all just fervently hoped that Luna was on the ball this time.

The bridge over the Canterhorn river, named for the mountain it originated from, wasn't an impressive piece of engineering. Sure it was well built, but despite the river being reasonably wide, and fairly deep, it was calm by where they were, and thanks to meticulous management by the weather teams it pretty much never flooded either, so the bridge wasn't exactly awe inspiring as it didn't need to be.

What it was though, was the only bridge for miles around. There was another one was just south of the Everfree, and another in Ponyville, and if they destroyed both of the other bridges, it suddenly became a lot harder for Faust to attack the south. As she wired the explosives underneath the bridge, Rainbow couldn't help but think they were only going to force Faust to go through Ponyville instead, which she really didn't want to happen.

"You almost done Rainbow?"

Rainbow spat the little torch she was holding in her mouth into her hoof to answer Spitfire. "Just another minute."

"Alright, just be sure that the sticks are hidden from view."

"Yes Captain." Rainbow placed the end of the torch back between her teeth and resumed wiring the explosives, finishing by linking it up to the main cable that led back to the plunger on their side of the bridge. That done, she pocketed the torch and rolled off the diagonal beam she was laying on as she worked, and flew back up to the top of the bridge.

"All done Captain."

"We're still waiting on some of the others yet," said Spitfire. "Captain Greywhisker reports no griffon activity in the area, so we're staying put a bit longer while the Earth Corps bring the cannons up into position and hide them."

"Is blowing up the bridge really the best idea Captain?" Rainbow asked, voicing a question that had been brewing for a while in her head. "If we destroy the bridge, and Faust decides to attack somewhere else, we're kinda screwed."

"Not entirely. Most of us can fly, and we aren't using the same heavy machinery as the Mareitanians. That's their biggest problem here, because as effective and deadly as those tanks are, they're slow, which is why they use trains to transport them. We don't have that same burden. It's also why it makes crossing the areas north of Canterlot extra dangerous for them, because of the tanks. They'd have to transport all the fuel they need, and the tanks themselves, across open land at a snails pace. A good night raid or two would do some serious damage to them in that scenario."

"And if they go through Ponyville?"

"Then we stop them at Ponyville," Spitfire said bluntly, like it wasn't obvious. She wasn't unsympathetic to Rainbow's worries, but nowhere got to be immune to the war, and Ponyville less so as it was a direct route through to the east coast of Equestria. She couldn't deny that she'd be just as worried if Cloudsdale was in the firing line, but she couldn't actually say that.

"But that's the problem! I want to stop them before they get to Ponyville!"

"Rainbow, you want to stop them going everywhere. You know that isn't possible though, especially when they outnumber us like this."

"But Ponyville wouldn't stand a chance against the Mareitanians!"

Spitfire sighed and patted Rainbow on the shoulder, "I know Rainbow, but that doesn't change anything. Now get back in the air and keep an eye out for griffons. The last thing we need is our surprise for the Mareitanians getting ruined."

Rainbow raised her hoof to salute, then remembered they weren't really meant to do that out in the field, and dropped her hoof again. "Yes ma'am," she said half-heartedly.

The skies were quiet above the bridge, save for the occasional flapping of wings. Say what you want about thestrals, they were not the best at flying quietly. Gliding yes, but flapping made more noise than a feathered wing. At the very least Rainbow could assume they were doing their job, as not a sound could be heard from the griffons. Not a screech, or cry, or anything. With luck they might actually pull this plan off.

She was joined a few minutes later by the other members of her squadron, with orders from Spitfire. "She wants us to push ahead north of Ponyville," said Lightning. "Griffons have been spotted up there, and she wants us to give the impression that we're operating around Ponyville, instead of down around here. Make them think here's the less defended place."

"On our own?" said Pizzelle? "Is she crazy?"

"Watch it Pizzelle," Fast Clip warned.

"We're joining up with a squadron from the Night Guard," Lightning said before Pizzelle could retort, giving Fast Clip a dirty look as well. "We also have permission to engage any griffons we find, just to make a point. That's where the Night Guard come in, because we'll be pretty fucked in the dark if we're attacked, because griffons can see in the dark. Obviously we can't."

"This sounds like a great idea," Thunderlane muttered.

"Mostly we're just making a show of this," Lightning explained. Spitfire thinks that seeing regular Equestrian forces up around Ponyville will sell the idea that's where we plan to hold them off, and steer them down here instead. Any questions?"

Sky Stinger held up a hoof, getting a nod from Lightning. "Why do farmers raise pigs when we get absolutely nothing from them? Cows, Sheep, and chickens make sense, but why they raise pigs is beyond me."

"Any helpful questions?" Lightning said flatly, although she had no idea what the answer was to Sky's query now he'd asked it. "No? Alright then, let's move out."

The entire journey was conducted in silence, each of them carefully listening out for any sounds that might lead to an attack, even at the high altitude they were using to evade detection. There was no sign of any trouble though, which was both a relief and a disappointment, depending on who you asked.

"Where's those Night Guards?" Rainbow asked as they flew past the route to Ponyville. She could see the campfires of the soldiers protecting the town a couple of miles outside it at the entrance to the tunnel through the hills to the village, and she could only guess at how worried the towns' inhabitants were about their apparent need to be protected.

Almost as if in answer to Rainbow's question, a shrill squeak came from the woods below, and a collection of dark figures flew up to them, their eyes shining in the moonlight. Their leader winked at Rainbow, making her roll her eyes. "Hey Shadow. Funny how I keep running into you."

The grey thestral shrugged at Rainbow, "Eh, divine providence. That, and the Captain always picks me for things like this. Anyway, you ready to help us hunt some griffons?"

Lightning looked around, unsure. "Nopony said anything about hunting griffons. We were supposed to do a fly-by up past Ponyville so the Mareitanians think this is where we're operating."

"And we will," Shadow reassured her. "First though we got some griffons to hunt. There's an encampment in the White Tail Woods, which is where they've been performing their recon from. Captain Greywhisker wants us to take them out and destroy their intelligence."

"Wouldn't the griffons be out doing that recon though?" said Rainbow.

"Some of them, yeah. There should be a dozen griffons at the camp right now, while the rest are out and about. Other members of the Night Guard will be taking on the ones out scouting south of the camp, while we're taking out their encampment because we're the only ones in the area that can."

"Isn't wiping them out the complete opposite of what we're supposed to be doing?" Fast Clip said sceptically.

Shadow pulled the skin under her eyes down in frustration, "Good grief, I never knew Wonderbolts were so fussy. We're taking out the ones south from the camp, and we'll make a show of looking for the ones north of it, which we'll count as your fly-by. Is that alright by your highnesses?"

"I'm starting to suspect none of these orders actually came from Luna," Lightning said flatly. "I doubt she likes to contradict herself that much. But yeah, if we can defer all responsibility onto you and Spitfire by claiming to simply be following orders, I guess we're in."

"Great! Come on, the camp's this way." Shadow gestured for them all to follow her, and led them out over the woods. In the distance was a shady clearing in the trees, darker than the rest of the woods. There was no light coming from it, but under the light of the moon they could just about make out some tents set up in the clearing. Apparently the griffons had thought there wouldn't be any ponies coming out this far, and had made no attempt to properly camouflage their encampment.

"There it is," Shadow whispered. "We'll stay up here and make sure no griffons come back. You guys take out the encampment."

"Shouldn't that be the other way around?" Lightning pointed out.

"Can you see the griffons coming in the dark?"

"No, but we can't see down there either."

Shadow sighed quietly, "Fussy and whiny. Fine, we'll split our squadrons fifty-fifty. Misty and Echo, your wings stay up here while I take the rest down."

Lightning nodded, liking this plan slightly better. "Fast Clip, Pizzelle, your wings are staying up here. The rest of you, with me," she said before letting Shadow lead the way down.

They dropped to tree level, then below it a hundred yards from the camp, choosing to cautiously approach on hoof to avoid being spotted. It also gave the Wonderbolts' eyes a chance to adapt to the darker surroundings, allowing them to see much better by the time they reached the edge of the camp.

There was three tents in all, two much larger than the other one, leading them to suspect that the two bigger ones were where the griffons slept, while the other one was where they collected their intelligence. Two griffons were stood inside that tent, chatting quietly to each other as they studied something under the light of a lamp.

The thestrals didn't waste time listening to them. Two of them skirted around the edge of the camp and in through the open tent flaps. A second later there was some muffled cries that quickly ended, and the two thestrals waved to the rest of them.

"Move in," Shadow ordered in a whisper. All of them kept low as they crept into the camp, eyes and ears alert for the sound of any griffons they might have missed. They split up, the thestrals going left to the one tent, leaving the Wonderbolts to go right to the other. "Make sure they don't make a sound," were Shadow's parting words.

Gripping the zipper in her teeth, Rainbow gingerly opened the tent, doing it slowly to minimize the sound made, then slipped inside, the others close behind her. Six sleeping bags were set out in a row, filled with five griffons and a pony, much to her surprise. She hesitated a second, then went to the pony, deciding to spare the others from having to kill him. Rainbow knew it shouldn't be different to killing a griffon, but she also knew that on some level it was. They were a lot more used to fighting griffons at this point.

Rainbow drew her right blade, and pointed it down at the pony's throat. She wasn't even sure if he was a Mareitanian. He could have been an Equestrian that was taken prisoner, even if that seemed unlikely as a prisoner would probably be tied up or something. Either way, that lack of surety was making this harder, because the last thing she wanted to do was kill an innocent.

Rainbow chose to not think about it, and looked sideways at the others. None of them seemed happy about this, killing people in their sleep. This was not what the Wonderbolts were about as far as they were concerned. This wasn't fighting a war. It was cold blooded murder.

"On three," Lightning whispered, barely loud enough to hear. "One, two, three." All of them thrust their blades down and grabbed the beaks of the griffons to keep them quiet as the struggled. Rainbow did the same for her target, wrapping a leg around his muzzle as she stabbed him. He struggled, his eyes wide in fear, pain, and surprise as he gurgled beneath her grip.

Rainbow turned her head away, unable to look in his eyes as the life drained out of him. The most she allowed herself to think, for her own sake, was how much easier that was to do without there being feathers in the way. To think of anything more than that was to think about what she'd just done.

After an incredibly long few seconds the stallion stopped struggling, and when Rainbow released him he was still, his eyes glassy and unseeing. She wiped her blade clean on his bedding and sheathed it, then left the tent before the others, refusing to look back at what she'd just done.

Vapor was the next out, fumbling with her strap on her helmet as she fought to tear it off. She tripped over her hooves, Rainbow catching her and holding her until she calmed down enough to listen. "Hold it in until we're back to camp," Rainbow said quietly, lifting Vapor into a sitting position.

"B-but that was horrible! We... we just killed them. They were asleep, and couldn't even fight back and we just killed them!"

"I know Vapor, but we have a job to do, and we can't let what we think and feel get in the way of that." Rainbow caught her reflection in Vapor's goggles, seeing her own tired eyes reflected back at her. She hated herself a little for making Vapor more like herself. "I'm sorry Vapor."

Vapor sighed and pulled her goggles up to wipe her eyes. "No, you're right. I really don't think I could do that again though."

"Hopefully you'll won't have to," Rainbow said as the others left the tent behind Vapor, all of them appearing to be disgusted as she was about what they'd done. To their left the thestrals left their tent, seemingly no different for having killed a bunch of griffons in a vile and unmerciful way. It made Rainbow wonder just what kind of training they received to be able to do that, and why they'd need that kind of ability in the first place.

"All clear?" Shadow asked, getting a nod back from Lightning. "Good. Now let's see what these birds with cats' asses have been digging up on us."

"Hopefully they haven't caught wind of what we're up to in Las Pegasus," Lightning said, walking beside Shadow to the third tent. "Last thing we need is them anticipating our ambush."

"I think we're in luck," Shadow said with a grin, poring over a map of the local area. There were annotations on it mentioning the build-up of Equestrian forces by the train tunnel leading to Ponyville, and that the Night Guard were patrolling further south, but that was it. The military build-up north of Las Pegasus was unmentioned.

"Perfect," Shadow purred with a toothy grin. "All we need to do now is to make a show of operating around Ponyville, and the trap is as good as set." Shadow stopped and twitched and ear, "Shit, we have incoming griffons from the south. Seems like Greywhisker's getting sloppy in his dotage. Get your ponies back into the woods and we'll ambush them."

Lightning ran back out of the tent, whispering as loud as she dared for her Wonderbolts to get back into the trees. They'd only just made it when a quartet of griffons came in to land.

"What the fuck 'appened 'ere?" One of the griffons shouted, finding the two dead bodies of the griffons in the intelligence tent. "Check the other tents, quick!" Two of the other griffons ran to the other tents, pulling them open to reveal the grizzly scenes within.

"They... they're all dead!" a griffon hen cried, recoiling from the smell of the blood. "Even the Shade!"

"Shit... We need to get this info back to Faust now! If they catch her forces in that ambush, it'll be a massacre. We'll split up, give ourselves a better chance of one of us getting a warning back to 'er." The griffon spread his wings to take off, only to have a thestral drop onto his back from above, killing him with a single thrust of her weapon.

"Now!" Shadow shouted as the other griffons tried to take off in shock. One was quickly cut down by Lightning, being quicker off the mark than even Rainbow. The other two took off, but one was intercepted by the ponies in the air, and quickly fell back to the ground, as lifeless as the rest of them. The last one evaded his attackers though, and took off as fast as he could.

"Rainbow!" Lightning shouted, taking off after him.

"On it!" Rainbow jumped into the air, pumping her wings as fast as she could. She caught up with Lightning after a moment, but the griffon had a head start over them, and was still building up speed. "Damn he's fast for a griffon!"

"We have to catch him or the trap in Pegasus is fucked! I don't care if you have to do a Rainboom! Just catch him!"

"I don't know if I can wearing this armour!" Rainbow shouted back. The helmet alone created enough drag to slow her down, let alone the rest of her gear.

"Just try!"

Rainbow nodded, putting her all into speed. The other disadvantage was that she wasn't using gravity for this either. Sure she didn't need to be flying downwards to do a Sonic Rainboom, but it made it a lot easier, and might even have overcome the drag from her armour.

"Winners never quit Rainbow! Come on!" Rainbow shouted at herself pushing herself harder, the wind whistling off the tips of her blades as a cone of air started to form around them. She pushed even harder, knowing she was going to feel it later, but knowing it was worth it as the air around her flashed as she came close to breaking that unseen barrier. She pushed even harder, and the world exploded with colour around her as she broke that barrier and created a Sonic Rainboom, which she shot out of the other side of like a cork out of a champagne bottle, wind resistance no longer a factor.

The griffon was easily caught up with after that, and she was suddenly presented with a new issue after that, of how to attack the griffon at such a speed. She wasn't given much time to think about it, and she swept her right leg down across his back as she rapidly approached him on his left. The attack was successful, almost tearing the griffon in half, but at the same time she screamed as the bones in her leg shattered from the high speed attack.

She tumbled through the air as the laws of physics reasserted themselves upon her, and she wobbled down to a landing on a tree, howling in agony from her broken leg, distant parts of her mind watching the remnants of her Sonic Rainboom dissipate.

Slowly her leg went numb, burning with distant sensation of being both hot and cold as adrenaline coursed through her. By the time Lightning caught up to her she was no longer howling, but sat quietly as she clutched her leg.

"Holy shit Rainbow! We wanted them to know we were here, and I think that mig-" Lightning cocked her head as Rainbow rocked back and forth, her right leg protectively held in her left, the blade still attached to it. "Rainbow? What's wrong?"

"My leg... it's broken."

"Aw shit. Here, let me have a look." Lightning gently eased Rainbow's left leg away from her right, and immediately pulled a face at the way it bent. "Yeah, that's broken. Here, let me get that blade off." Lightning nudged her hip up against Rainbow's right hoof, using her holster to ease the blade off as Rainbow hissed, catching it before it fell to the ground and sliding it back into its sheath.

"Come on Rainbow, let's go before griffons come looking for us. Hopefully they can get you fixed up back at camp. After all, it might be a busy day tomorrow."

Author's Notes:

Seven paragraphs of exposition? (Probably more.)

That's an academy record!