User: Lunar Captain Prowler (Ret.)
Date: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y5R5-\
Location: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y5R6-\
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/-BEGIN AUDIO LOG-\
I am former Lunar Captain Prowler, also known by many other names acquired during my service to the Republic.
Service...
Such a simple word if you think about it. Service could mean so many things. The service of a waitress, service of a taxi, service of a tailor.
Yet... when applied to conflict, it means so much more. Training, change, obedience, brotherhood, infantryponies, blood, death... sacrifice.
What exactly is sacrifice? Is it going without your daily coffee because you are low on bits and want to treat your marefriend to a movie? Is it giving up one's life to protect what you think is right? Is it the ability to know when you must die so that others might live?
Is it knowing when to quit? When to finally, remove your helmet, set down your rifle, and say "enough"?
...I don't know. I may never know.
All I know is my story. My story of the end times of the war. See, I was a soldier, that much is obvious. However, I wasn't just any random infantrypony. I was something else, something better.
I was the Republic's first and last line of defense. Luna's sword and shield.
I was a Night Shadow, a bane to the Solar Empire.
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/-END AUDIO LOG-\
Prowler looked around him at the five other ponies that stood in the metal compartment. They all wore the lightweight, navy blue body armor with a black undersuit that covered them from neck to tail. Even their hooves were covered. Hoods attached to the undersuit came up over their heads and a navy blue facemask covered their faces. Over their non-dominant eye was a black screen with white text.
Each of them were looking over the LPW-3 they had been equipped with. The Lunar Personal Weapon-Three was a sub-machine gun and, even by SMG standards, it was small. The clip, which ran along it's left side, was the entire length of the gun. The suppressor equipped to the end lengthened the black gun by a few more inches. For the unicorns in the squad, the bit had been removed since it would just get in their way. The rest of the squad had to grab the gun with their mouths and trigger it with their tongues.
Diffucult? Yes, but when that was the only way to do it and your life was on the line, you adapted fast.
Prowler didn't have to worry though as he was a unicorn himself, his dark blue horn poking from his hood. He had his SMG floating next to him in a dark blue field of magic. He was ready to go.
"Alright," Prowler began as he got the squad's attention, "Surprise, you know where we're going right?"
Surprise nodded, "Yeah Cap. Just make sure you guys cover my flank when we get there. This is going to take a lot out of me."
Prowler nodded before lifting a hoof to his ear, "Falling Star is a go. Repeat, Falling Star is a go."
"Hard copy Meteor. Good luck, hope to see you at daybreak."
Prowler lowered his hoof after their transport's pilot was finished talking, "Alright mares, get ready for the jump."
With that, five of the members of the squad (Prowler included) backed into a circle around Surprise. Each member had their tail resting on the unicorn and their guns pointed outward.
"Safeties off Meteor, we're likely to be going in hot. Remember, we go in, grab the target, and get the buck out," Prowler ordered. The clicking of safeties sounding through the group before Prowler brushed Surprise's horn with his tail. The signal to begin.
Surprise's horn began to glow the same dark blue as Prowler's did. It wasn't all that surprising since Luna's spell made them all the same colors for uniformity.
"Jumping in three...two...one..."
A blinding, blue flash overtook the squad. Luckily, they had closed their eyes so that when the light faded, they could see clearly. When the light did fade, the five squad members opened their eyes to see an empty, white metal room. Bright lights overhead lit up the room with a dazzling frenzy.
"Why the buck does every SE base have to be so bucking bright?" asked one of the mares in the squad, pronouncing 'SE' as 'see'.
"Because they worship the sun," answered one of the squad's other mare members.
"Quiet you two," Prowler hissed as he looked around the room. Finally, he saw a door and approached it, hearing one set of hoofsteps following him. Good. There should only be one, he thought to himself as he reached the door. Opening it, he poked his head and SMG out and swept the hallway outside. Seeing no Imperial troops, Prowler looked back at his squad to see Surprise laying on the ground on the verge of unconsciousness. The Captain couldn't blame him as he did just teleport five full-grown ponies almost sixty miles.
"Alright. Bale, you stay with Surprise. Make sure nopony gets to him, got it?" Prowler asked for confirmation. When he got a nod back from the Earth pony mare, Prowler nodded before continuing with, "Rest of you, on me."
With that, Prowler turned and entered the hallway. It only went to the left so that's where Prowler went, his SMG leading the way. The hallway, though, seemed endless as Prowler and the squad walked and walked and walked. He didn't dare run as the hoofsteps would give them away.
After what felt like an eternity, Prowler finally came upon a three-way intersection. Stopping, the Captain used both blinks and his more passive magic to get the HUD to open a map of the compound they were in. After manipulating it for a bit, the Captain continued again, going down the hallway to the right after scanning the hallway to the left. All that was to the left was a slipping Imperial guard, which Prowler hoped to avoid.
The squad trekked down this new hallway for a couple minutes before they came upon a metal door blocking their route. There was gap underneath the door and a keypad next to it. Perfect.
"Gazer," Prowler whispered, "you're up."
Without a response, the mare known as Gazer moved up to the door and pulled out a snake-like device. Sliding one end under the door, she connected the other end to a pad on the wrist of her left foreleg. Looking at the pad, she moved the device back and forth. Silently, she unfurled one wing and curled all her feathers but one. Then, after a second, she closed her wing, retrieved the device, and stepped back.
"Cable, get it open," Prowler whispered again, "Quietly."
"Rog'," replied the stallion in a muffled whisper as he moved up to the door's keypad. Sitting, he let Prowler's magic take his SMG from his mouth before he grabbed the tools off his harness with his newly freed mouth. Using hooves and mouth, he unscrewed the keypad's casing to reveal the wires beneath it. Within seconds of that, there was a soft 'click'.
"Easy," Cable whispered after returning his tools before retrieving his gun. Prowler nodded to him before moving to the door and swinging it open as quietly as he could. Lucky for me, the Imperials hate squeaky doors, he thought to himself as the door was fully opened without a squeak. Seeing the Imperial guard in front of him, Prowler levitated his SMG to where it was barely a foot away from the guard's head. Then, without second thought, he pulled the trigger, allowing a burst of suppressed rounds to pass through the white pony's head and into the wall in front of her. Now dead, the pony collapsed to the floor, his blood spreading like a crimson pool.
"Alright Cable, get the data. Everypony else, secure the room," Prowler ordered as he stepped up to the corpse. Nudging the body with his hoof, Prowler looked at the holes in the back of her head. Satisfied that she was dead, he looked back at the door they had entered through to see the two mares flanking it. He took this as a sign that, that door was the only way in or out of this communications room.
Looking to the station, Prowler saw Cable typing away at the controls as a wire was connected from the station to the storage device on Cable's side. Seeing that he was busy, Prowler moved to the mares by the door and put a hoof to his ear.
"Bale, Prowler. How's Surprise?" he asked in a whisper.
"Prowler, Surprise. I'm charged and ready to roll when you get back," came the reply.
"Surprise, Prowler. Good, we're about done here. One Imp KIA on our end."
"Prowler, Bale. Two KIA on our end. Love birds trying to sneak off for a quick buck."
Prowler couldn't help but smile as he heard the soft chuckles in the room, "Bale, Prowler. Roger that. See you in a few. Out."
After the conversation, Prowler looked at Cable to see him standing by the station, shifting side to side.
"Cable?" Prowler asked. The tech pony looked back at him before looking at the station.
"It's downloading Cap," he whispered, "Forty seconds, tops."
Prowler nodded before taking a peek out the doorway. Down the hall, he could barely see the sleeping guard on the other side of the intersection. If two fraternizing Solars could get past him, he shouldn't be on guard duty. He thought to himself as he heard things being disconnected behind him.
"Done," he finally heard from Cable.
"Gazer, take point," he ordered. The mare nodded and stepped out, quickly followed by her wingpony. Prowler and Cable followed behind them, alternating on who walked backwards to cover their rear.
The walk back wasn't as long as the walk there. Reaching the intersection, the four turned and continued on the last part back. When they got to the storage room, they walked inside to find the mare and stallion dead in the middle of the room, their hooves wrapped around each other.
"Hey Cap," Surprise whispered as he and Bale walked from behind a pile of crates, his SMG lowering.
Prowler ignored the stallion as he sat down and put a hoof to his ear, "Raven, Meteor. Falling Star complete. Prepare to receive. Over."
"Meteor, Raven. Ready to receive. Out."
Prowler nodded to Surprise as everypony in the squad made contact with him in some form. Another blue flash and they were back in the metal compartment.
"Welcome back colts and fillies," remarked the pilot over the intercom as the 'compartment' began to tilt and noticeably accelerate. The clicking of safeties and harnesses sounded as the squad attached their SMGs to their armor so they didn't have to hold them themselves.
"So," spoke Jagged, the sixth member of the team, "beers on Surprise?"
"Ha," weakly laughed said unicorn before he collapsed onto the floor in sleep. Prowler watched as Bale, who had removed her hood and facemask, rolled her eyes before marehandling Surprise onto a seat and strapped him in.
"Alright passengers, welcome to Flight 43, aka Raven, on a non-stop flight to Onyx Base from Hell. We do thank you for flying with us and hope you do so again in the future. Approximate flight time is two and a half hours. Some turbulence is to be expected. Otherwise, sit back, and enjoy the flight."
Prowler smirked at the pilot's antics and let out a chuckle when 'Nopony Gets Left Behind' by One Hoof Death Punch began to play over the speakers. Sitting down, Prowler removed his own hood and facemask. Closing his eyes, he let himself drift to sleep.
Can't wait to get back, was his last thought before succumbing to his exhaustion.
A/N: There we go. The beginning of my new story, The Third Faction. I thank you all who voted in the polls for voting.
Questions, comments, concerns? Please leave a review.
Oh! Before I forget. I am accepting a couple OC's for this story. If you got a pony OC (civvie or military) that you think can fit into the story, don't be afraid to send it my way by review or PM. I'll try my best to put them in.
Information needed for OC: Name, Age, Species, Gender, Appearance (to include cutie mark), History (a paragraph at least please), Personality, and Allegiance (New Lunar Republic, Solar Empire, or Neutral).