Author's Note

Happy Veterans Day weekend!

Desert Canyon Border
The Crew
Monday, 7:00 PM
Helena's Point of View

Well, this is my first mission, Drew said that we were just going to stop an illegal drug trade. I wouldn't even want to know how this world has come up with drugs in the first place. When we were at the rocky cliffs of the meeting site, they were not there. Instead, and ambush attacked. We all split up, I was with Drew, while Nick, Kaptn, and Jhon were on the other side of the canyon.

"That escalated quickly." I coughed out the dust from my lungs, it was one helluva fall too. We must've fallen a good 100-200 feet to the very bottom of the canyon, luckily there was so much debris to break our fall.

"Delta 0-2, are you there? Are you with 3 and 4?" Drew asked, Nick responded with a yes over the radio. Since they're referring to callsigns, I guess I'm 0-5. There was a waypoint on our HUD system, and it was coming from the glasses. They're meant to act as safety glasses, and HUD systems, plus it matches well with our combat helmets. I noticed Drew had a limp, but right before I asked him he took a Tic-Tac, he was walking just fine after that.

"My first mission and it already goes south, just great." I muttered, Drew let out a chuckle.

"Shit like this happens all the time. There are some things out there that want us dead, like the Griffons." And I thought they would get along just nicely with Griffons.

"Let me guess, they just want to beat you to get their honor restored?"

"Griffons are very honorable, offend one of them you offend their whole race. That's why most of their government officials have a bounty on our heads. The only thing that stands between them and claiming their bounties is that we're being protected by another country." He explained, we were still walking to our destination, but something was very off about this rocky canyon. I looked around to see if there was any suspicious unknown activity going on, there were shifted boulders, footprints that looked like they belong to lions, and unidentified hoofprints.

"We're being followed, something's not right about this place." I whispered, he looked around, and saw rocks falling on the side of the cliff, and there was no wind or any tremors either. I then scouted ahead, looking at our designated waypoint, there was a clearing with an enemy campsite.

"Enemy encampment, about two clicks from here." I broadcasted over our frequency channel. I fitted my M40A5 with a suppressor, to reduce muzzle flash and noise. I gave the okay for Drew to move ahead, Nick and the rest of them appeared on the east side of the camp, while Drew was south of it. I scoped in and found Drew silently taking out a guard, Jhon on the other hand took out two of them in one go, he is a Ninja in the first place.

"Hey, you got two tangos to the west of you, Jhon." I said, he looked worried, so I had to step in to save the bugger.

"Nevermind, I got them." Two birds with one stone, they both dropped dead, and Jhon hid the bodies. I went over to another sniper spot, looking over the encampment. THere has to be at least over 50 of them, nothing we couldn't handle. There were ponies, and Griffons over here, that tells why there were footprints that didn't belong to us. There was one thing I didn't account for, there was a pony in there that looked a lot like both Drew and the Princesses.

"Another Alicorn? Drew watch out, he could be dangerous." I broadcasted, he acknowledged that fact and snuck around the encampment.

"I wasn't informed about this, but he could be involved in the drug trade." He replied, once their numbers dwindled we confronted them and the unknown Alicorn.

"We've been expecting you Delta. The only thing we didn't expect was that they deployed their best squad." Why is it that they always expect us coming?

"Well, if you didn't know, I'm Black Fire, the last male Alicorn in existence. I've been doing this for years and years." He said, but that isn't true, Drew was a male Alicorn.

"Well, Black Fire, we're putting you under arrest for illegal possession of drugs. You're going to have to come with me." If he puts up any sign of resistance, I'm putting a bullet through his head. Just then, Princess Celestia came over the radio, if it was her talking it must have been pretty important.

"Delta you need to get out of there now! Dark Fire is THE most wanted criminal, and he's very hostile!" Drew heard, but he stood his ground, Nick and the rest of them did as Celestia told, but I stayed behind. I didn't blame the others for pulling out, the only authority above Drew is Princess Celestia and Luna. I stayed behind, because Drew needs someone watching his back, and we're a team. I rappelled off of the cliff to meet Drew, and save his arse from extinction, just then Black Fire cast a spell. I pulled Drew out of the blast zone, but the spell caused major tremors in the ground below.

"Thanks, I owe you one." He coughed, I helped him up, and we looked over to our new enemy. I don't know how or where he came from, but from the princess' reaction, it wasn't good. We were then forced deeper into the canyon, into the wilderness.

"What shall we do now Lord Black Fire?"

"Let them die out there. Nopony can survive a week out there in the wild."

Drew's Point of View

We were stuck here, we can't go out the way we came because of that camp, and we didn't know exactly where in the canyon we were in. The others evacuated out of the canyon, I don't know why but Helena stayed behind. This Black Fire Alicorn must've known Celestia for a long time, because she seems to know who he was.

"Celestia come in, we need the quickest evac route back to the nearest outpost." I walked and talked, she picked up.

"You're in the wilderness aren't you? *Sigh* You're going to have to take this one I'm sending you, it'll take you at least a week to traverse though." She responded, a week in the wilderness doesn't sound that bad. It gives me an opportunity to drink my own piss, but I have a full canteen of water so that won't be necessary. I can see why Black Fire is a strong adversary, he almost blasted me into oblivion.

I don't think Black Fire is going to be like my last opponents, where I can just beat them in one go, because he's an Alicorn, just like me.

"You alright luv?" Helena asked, I waved her off, I'm still tactically thinking of a way to beat this guy.

"Drew, there's a way to beat him. I don't think you'll like it though..." Helena told me, I think I found out what she was getting at. It all happened on that joint operation I last saw Helena, nine years ago.

Nine Years Ago...

One time nine years ago, Drew's brand new team fresh from deployment after old Captain Jack and the rest of them died, they were sent on a counter-terrorist assault with the help of the S.A.S. They barely managed to eradicate them from their hideout, only because of Drew. The Crew got overrun, and all of them were heavily wounded, but Drew felt something building up inside of him, ready to just burst.

Anger.

Sadness.

Rage.

Adrenaline pumping, he got back up and knocked one of the terrorists with one kick to the face. He had that dark aura that replaced his usual one, he had the look of evil in his eyes. The thing is that Helena remembered that his eyes turned from blue, to a grey/amber color. It was like he had a split personality, one that was caring and good, and the other was spiteful and vengeful.

What he was going through, nobody knew, but it tied in with his regrets for not being there when his family, and old team mates died. He took it out on the group who sought out to destroy his new team, and they perished. Nobody really knows what had happened to the terrorist group, they all of a sudden disappeared. The only evidence of them actually being there in the first place is the blood that stained the hallways. Drew ever since that day changed, sometimes he would go out alone at night, just reflecting on what happened that day, even he didn't understand what was going on.

"Well, now I remember quite clearly." Helena muttered, I smirked and kept walking. We just set up camp for the night, and we were still good on supplies, for now. We heard rustling nearby, I quickly put out the fire and we looked over the rocks. There was a little caravan delivering supplies to the drug camp back where we came from, we decided to raid the caravan.

"Alright, we're going to raid it, but don't get caught. Also, don't let any of them live." I said, she acknowledged and we jumped over, I let her do 'the magics,' she was called Black Dust back at home for a reason. The supply caravan wasn't that heavily guarded, there were only two guards, and Helena took them out with ease. We took the supplies without the driver noticing and we headed on our way.

"Good job Helena, this'll last us the whole week." She blushed, but we ain't got no time for dat. We headed towards the waypoint, if we keep moving at night we would be there by half the time. We kept going until four in the morning, but we had to rest by then.

"Alright, here's the game plan. We're gonna go the fuck to sleep. I'll stay awake to keep watch." I said, she just went with it and fell asleep. I could stay awake for a few days tops, but everyone has their limit, even me.

"Y'know Drew, under all that grime and dust, is a very nice man." She laughed, and I smiled, because it's somewhat true. To this day I still don't understand what had happened nine years ago, it's like there was another man living in my mind, a power hungry, bloodthirsty man. I fell asleep a little afterwards, and Helena woke me up a little later, it looks like we had some business to take care of.

"Drew, no time for sleep, we need to get to that outpost ASAP!" Helena kicked me to wake me up, I grabbed my side and got up steadily.

"It's him Drew, he's going to Canterlot Castle to confront your cousins, we have to do something!" She said, this is going way too far.

"Helena grab hold of me, I don't know why I didn't think of this before but just grab really tight." I teleported to my basement armory, where most of my suits and weapons are. I put on my ODST Suit that had a RIG integrated in it, and took a few clips of my special .50 Action Express ammo, the enchanted ones. Helena put on a recently made ODST suit fit just for her, and took extended magazines worth of incendiary ammo for her TMP. She left her Sniper Rifle here and traded it for a Shotgun with Flechette shells.

"I think we're set." We looked at each other, and I did the, 'Not Bad,' face. I don't really know what we're up against, but I do know Nick and the others are probably fighting him as we speak.