A/N This internet problem is KILLING me! I literally have an online connection for three hours in the morning, then at 11:00 at night... I am so sorry guys. PS: If you didn't know, I'm accepting OC requests for this story. If you have an idea for one, just send it in a PM. NOT the reviews.

Cloudsdale, Equestrian Air Force Launch Base

10:42 Hours

Technical Sergeant Darkstar, 52nd Airborne Division

March 24th

Darkstar reared down and opened his wings preparing for takeoff. The SGTD had been called in for an attack on Changeling controlled Prance, and he was serving with three other pegasi as air support. He was leading the op, as he was the highest rank of the team. As the leader, he was also carrying the chemical weapon that would be used in air strikes if requested by the SGTD. The ponies assisting him stand next to his sides, ready to take off. Airman First Class Hay Bark, a grey, well built stallion was to his right, and his fire orange eyes carried a fierce determination. Senior Airman Blue Hope, a smaller mare who could fly faster than anypony in the sky (with the exception of Rainbow Dash) , had a blue coat like Darkstar, but had also had a light blue mane, as opposed to his black one. To her left was AFC Jack Niles, a red stallion with a brown mane.

"Tower this is Air Unit 1509, requesting permission to launch, over." He said into his radio. Darkstar had been on these kinds of missions before, and it was basically just a routine attack by now. Move in, provide aerial recon, pick off airborne threats, go home. This was his fourth "Seize and dominate" mission in three weeks, and he was almost sick of them. Still, he had made a promise to his dead father to win back Equestria, and if this was how he was going to do it, so be it.

"Roger, Air Unit 1509, you are clear for take off, over." He heard from his radio. He looked over to his soldiers, and nodded. With a mighty push, he launched himself off of the clouds making his home, and soared high into the sky. His troops quickly followed his lead, keeping in a steady V formation as they traveled higher and higher into the sky. Darkstar did a half flip in mid air, making him upside down. He twisted, bringing back to right side up, and pumped his wings behind him. The extra push of air allowed him to shoot right past the flight tower, where he saw two pegasi surrounded by several screens. These were connected to a wireless antenna, which received video feed from special goggles that Air Force operators wore.

"Sky is clear tower, moving into rally point Alpha, meeting up with the SGTD team in an approximate time of 12:10 hours, over." Darkstar said as he flapped his wings against the wind. Looking behind him, he sees Blue Hope to his right, and nods at her. She nods back and checks a map in her headset. Beside her, Niles checked a radar, checking on SGTD progress. All while Hay bark just keeps his eyes straight, forcing himself farther ahead of his two other teammates.

"Copy that Air Unit 1509, keep us posted once you get there, out." Darkstar heard.

"Sir, the SGTD team will be arriving in about one hour, we're going to be a bit late to the party." Niles said as he brought his hoofs to his front, like most athletes do.

"We'll let them know once we receive radio contact with them, they're out of our radio range for now." He said as he made a quick barrel rolling motion over a large cloud. The white puff gently touches his left hoof, which quickly evaporates on his touch.

"Tech Sarge, we got a situation. The Changelings have set up an air base near the outskirts of the town. I believe they have units in the air right now, our guys will be sitting ducks." Hope says as she lifts herself over a mass gathering of clouds. She gently descends, returning to the formation. Darkstar turns back to his front, darting forward using his wings to propel him.

"Then we need to hurry. Go as fast as you can, we gotta make the playing field balanced."

...

Prance Border, Outskirts

11:50 Hours (Eastern Time)

Sergeant Evergreen, SGTD

March 24th

Green stared blankly at the gas mask that lay in his hooves. The carrier gently moved up as they came along a bump. Looking up, he sees that Major Tiffon has already placed his mask on his head, as has Lieutenant Long Bow. Rook, Grace, Mason, and Flare, however, have not placed their masks on yet. Something about not needing them until the mission began. Green wasn't a fan of gas masks in general, so he didn't have his on either. The whole team had on the same black jumpsuits, which blended in with the dark. It was night time in Prance, so the masks had been outfitted with night vision.

"Prance, the city of love." Flare said as he looked up to the ceiling of the carrier. Rook just scoffed and crossed his forelegs, shaking his head. Green rose his eyebrow, and placed his mask to his side, and turned to face Rook. Something about this stallion just pushed him the wrong way. Then again, that could be because his first encounter with him ended in a fight.

"Hey ain't these seize and dominate missions supposed to be for the marines or the army?" Grace asks. Green looks over to him.

"I think there's some sort of command post here that we need to take over before the big guns roll in." He says as he checks his weapons. Usually, that was how it worked. The Garrison sent spec ops crews into hazardous areas, with almost nopony knowing what they were up too, save for command and the actual team sent in.

"Cut the chatter, we're on sight in less than a minute." Tiffon says as he straps his wrist gun on. Green looks over to Mason, who slowly begins to place the mask over his head. Green observes his for a moment, then places it over his head. The world goes black for a brief second, then he can see the inside of the carrier through the goggles. Just like every other time he wears one, it squeezes his snout, and pinches his left cheek for a moment. He groans, annoyed with the mask already.

"Night vision on." Tiffon says, as he places his hoof to his head. Green nods and reaches to the side of his own head, and flips a dial connected to the goggles. The room flashes bright green for a moment, then descends into the middle of his vision, leaving nothing but a greenish tint over his team. He looks to his right, and sees Mason leap up, and move near the center of the door.

"I'm ready sir. Just say when." He says as he crouches behind the opening of the door. Tiffon nods, ordering the rest of the stallions to stack up behind Mason, and be ready to charge out. Green nearly questions this, but decides to leave it alone. He really didn't feel like asking "pixie" questions, and give Mason and Rook the pleasure of making fun of him for it. He carefully loads a spike into the first chamber of his wrist gun, then slowly trots behind Flare, with Grace stacked up behind him. Tiffon counts backwards from three, then pumps his hoof. Mason nods, and rams the door open with his shoulder. The door blasts open, and Green quickly follows Rook outside.

"Stay close." Tiffon says as he throws his hoof up, telling the group to halt. Green skids, and has to beat against the ground to gain his footing. Mason looks back to him, shakes his head, and leans over to Rook.

"Freakin' Pixies dude." He says with a disgusted tone. Green frowns, although nopony can see it from his mask. What did these guys have against him? Seriously, they couldn't be this angry with him just because he was new... Could they? Rook looks over to him, and shakes his head.

"Don't even get me started. Not while we're on a mission." He says as he turns back around, facing the front of the group. Green sighs, and looks down to the ground. He was honestly starting to feel more like a burden than an addition to the squad. Then again, maybe he was. He feels a hoof on his shoulder, and looks behind him. Staring back at him is Grace, who is patting his shoulder.

"Happens to the best of us. Don't let it get you down." He says with a slight nod. Green nods and turns back to the front, where Tiffon is observing a changeling. He shakes his head.

"No... That's not right... There shouldn't be activity yet..." He says. Green carefully moves forward, and observes the changeling, seeing him patrolling the border of the town. It has a couple of changelings behind it, each with pouches along it's midsection. Fire bombs no doubt. Ever since the war began, the changelings were working on getting fire into the smallest possible form, since it was so destructive. Green is taken aback, and steps back slightly. This didn't make any sense, wasn't the Air Force supposed to have caught these guys? They would have told them right?

"Where's that air support we were promised?" Long Bow asks as he looks over to the Major. Green looks over to him, and sees him shake his head.

"I don't know, I'll try reaching them on the radio." Tiffon brings his hoof to his ear and calls for a response from the air unit. He lowers his hoof and waits a few seconds. Aggravated, he calls them up again, this time nearing a regular volume, instead of just a whisper. Green looks to the sky, and sees flying ponies. He nearly gives a sigh of relief, but he freezes. The ponies weren't brightly colored, they were all black. No... Changeling air support? But... They didn't even have an airbase here! How could this be happening?

"Uh... Sir... We have a problem... It's not our guys in the sky..." He says. Tiffon turns to him, and asks him what he's talking about. Green lifts a hoof and points it up into the sky, and Tiffon observes it. Almost instantaneously, he gives an annoyed groan, and slams his hoof into one of the nearby trees. This was bad, their air support was nowhere to be seen, and now the enemy had eyes in sky to pin point their location. Green shifts himself, placing his back against the tree line. He had to think... The command post was in the center of the city, and there was a lot of ground between here and there.

"Sir, what's our next move?" He asks. Tiffon looks over to the changelings briefly, then turns back to the troops.

"Wait for the ground patrol to move on, then we sneak into the city." He says as he watches the enemy. Green nods and looks to the hostiles, seeing two of the changelings speaking to one another. This could take a while, and they weren't exactly on a loose schedule. The Army would be on it's way in about an hour, with the Marines moving in about five minutes after that. They couldn't just wait for every battalion to pass, otherwise the rest of the military would be walking into a trap.

"We're on the clock Major, we don't have time for this." Long Bow says.

"Then we make time! I'm not losing my troops just because some of you don't have any patience." Tiffon said as he crouched down. Long Bow shakes his head and follows his lead. All while Green watches a changeling enter a building, while an airborne one lands on one of the roof tops. Were they taking a break? This could be an opening. Green carefully positions himself, becoming ready to launch if Tiffon gives the order.

"Hold..." He says as he raises a hoof. Green holds his breath as the two changelings turn away, appearing to be walking back into the city. They wait for a few more minutes, and sit without making a noise. Still, the changelings have not moved. Rook shakes his head.

"This is ridiculous. We're running out of time, and you're not doing anything about it!" He whispers to the Major. Tiffon looks back over to him, although Green can't really tell what emotion he has thanks to the mask. That was another thing he hated about the masks. No matter how hard you tried, you could never be sure of how the pony behind it was feeling, except by the indication of the voice. And usually, by then, it was too late to do anything if they were in a bad mood.

"Will you relax Rook? I have this under control." He says with a harsh tone. Green shakes his head and looks back to the town. The last thing he wanted was to be involved in an argument between these guys. He watches the changelings look around the buildings for a moment, then retreat inside. Green looks back over to the Major, and throws his hoof over to the city.

"It's clear!" He says. Tiffon nods and looks into the town, and holds up a hoof. Green prepares himself to be ready to pounce, and rears back onto his hind legs.

"Ok... Go!" The Major says as he rushes from cover. He is quickly followed by Long Bow, who is followed by Flare. Green is just about to get going, but is pushed down by Rook.

"Order of rank rookie." He says as he pushes off of a tree. Green groans and rubs his head as Mason glares at him and runs off. He was starting to get sick and tired of Rook just pushing him around like he didn't even matter. He had earned his right to be on this team, and therefore, Rook had no right to be pushing him around like this. Shaking his head, he ran off, following behind Mason, and Grace following behind him. Green pumps his legs as fast as he can, and slides down, trying to stop himself as he reaches the first building. Several rocks and dust are thrown into the air as he skids to a halt in front of the building, and quickly turns. He faces Grace and throws out his hoof, motioning for him to hurry. Grace manages to make it to the building, and turns behind him, making sure the air support didn't see him.

"We're good, move in." Tiffon says as he gently opens a door. He places his back to the side of it, and Long Bow leads Flare inside. He, Rook, Mason, Green and Grace wait a few moments, waiting for the all clear.

"What'cha waiting for mates? Come join the party." They hear Flare say with a sarcastic tone. Grace chuckles while Rook just shakes his head. Tiffon leads the way inside, with Rook and Mason right behind him.

"You head in first, I got this area secure for now." Grace says as he raises his wrist, aiming it towards the streets of the town. Green nods, although the young Sergeant can't see it. He enters the door with his wrist pointed forward, just in case there are hostiles inside. Instead, what he sees inside is a bright green room, to the point where it's almost blinding. He groans, and reaches up to his goggles, turning off night vision. The light died down, and the room revealed a cradle, with several couches. Several of the couches had been flipped over, and a refrigerator lay open on the floor. Blood stains mark the room, and several areas have chipped wallpaper. There must have been one hack of a fight in this home. There was a family portrait of two grown ponies, and a newborn foal in their forelegs. Green freezes for a moment, and observes the picture. This was a house, and it used to belong to a family.

"You never get over how bad the blokes made it huh?" He hears from behind. He can tell from the voice that it's flare, and turns around to face him. The Master Sergeant stands there, waiting for the answer from Green. Green sighs and shakes his head.

"No. It's hard to believe there was a time before this, seeing the world the way it is now." He says with a sigh. Green was never one to be a downer, but it really did seem pointless. They had been fighting the changelings non-stop for over a little over eight years, and they had almost nothing to show for it. The changelings still had control over some of the towns, and the ponies had only taken three towns that were possessed by changelings before the war began. He sighs and looks away. He was so sick of all the fighting and bloodshed. He had been doing this for three years, and was already getting tired of it all. Flare places a hoof on his shoulder, and gives him a reassuring pat.

"I don't know how long it'll take, but things will go back to normal. I promise." He says with a nod. Green nods back, and looks over to a set of stairs leading up. Grace enters the room, and is equally shocked by the room.

"Come on. We still have a war to fight." Flare says as he nods to the two Sergeants. He raises his wrist gun and slowly ascends the stairs, making sure not to leave one area unchecked. Green quickly follows his lead, and raises his weapon.

"Stay down! Contacts!" He hears in a hushed whisper. He instantly goes prone, desperate to not be spotted by whatever it is that has been seen. Flare looks down to him, and raises a hoof to his mouth. After giving him a shushing noise, he motions for him to do as he does. He crawls slowly up the stairs, making as little noise as possible. Green's hoof shakes slightly from anxiety, but he's able to keep it under enough control to the point it doesn't make any noise. He reaches the top of the stairs, and sees Mason lying beneath a window, although he's looking up at it. Long Bow and Tiffon on the sides of the window, backs pressed against it. Rook is right behind Long Bow, checking his weapon. Outside the window is darkness, so Green turns his night vision back on. Outside is five changeling air units, so there had to be ground troops nearby. Carefully, he crawls over to the side of the window, and places his back right beside Tiffon. Flare stacks up behind him, while Grace moves behind Rook.

"This is definitely more resistance then we expected, our intel must have been off." Tiffon says as he brings his hoof to his radio.

"Command, this is Alpha, we have a situation, over."

"Roger that Alpha, go ahead."

"Our info was misleading, the changelings have air support, and a lot of it. And there's gotta be at least twice as many ground troops as we though there were. Do we abort?" Green looks out the window, and sees at least twenty ground changelings, all with fire bombs in hoof. Leaning back inside, he places the back of his head against the wall, and looks back over to Tiffon.

"Negative Alpha you are to stay put. We can NOT let that command post stand. The Army and Marines can take over once your finished in there but you are not stepping a HOOF out of line until that moment. Do you copy, Over?" Tiffon sighs as he shakes his head.

"Roger that Command, where's our air support? They were supposed to be here. Over."

"Uh, they made a slight error in calculations, and they won't be arriving for a little while longer. I can establish a long range connection so you can talk to them now if you want. Over."

"Yes Command, get that long range connection up. We need to know what their plan is from here, over." Green hears chatter from outside, and looks over to the window. Carefully, he peaks out as a changeling points at the window, shouting something to his allies. Green quickly pulls back before the changeling can see him.

"This is Major Tiffon, can you hear me, over?" He hears Tiffon say. More chattering comes from outside, and Green starts to get a knot in his stomach.

"Technical Sergeant Darkstar, 52nd Airborne Division. Are you the SGTD team we're being sent in to assist?" He hears. Again there is chatter from the window, and Green hears a hissing. His eyes widen.

"WATCH OUT!" He shouts as he grabs Tiffon and pulls him away from the window. Just when it sounds like he's about to shout at him, an orange trail appears and lands on the middle of the floor. The trail bursts out, throwing fire all over the room, including where Tiffon was standing. Mason stands and fires his wrist gun, the screeching of a changeling confirming his hit.

"Crap! What the heck happened?" Long Bow shouts as Mason ducks down, dodging another bomb. Rook steps in front of the Lieutenant, and leans out towards the window, firing his gun.

"The bloody dirtbags must have tapped into our comms somehow! We've lost the element of surprise!" Flare shouts as he readies his weapon. Green helps the Major to his hooves, and places a hoof on his shoulder.

"You okay?"

"Fine, thanks for pulling me out of the way." Tiffon says while out of breath.

"Hello? What just happened? Somepony come in over!" Green hears over the radio. He carefully ducks behind the window, and takes Mason's place in the window when he needs to reload. Quickly, he adjusts his sights to a flying changeling, who has a fire bomb in hoof, ready to throw. He pulls down on the small lever attached to the side of the gun, and watches as the spikes fly into the hostile. It gives a shout of pain and drops the bomb, which falls onto the ground and detonates on another changeling.

"Tech Sergeant! They tapped into the comms, they know we're here! Get your flanks over here and assist when you can! Out!" Tiffon shouts. Quickly, he takes his radio and shuts it off, and orders his men to do the same. Green pulls away from the window and reaches to his own radio, turning the dial on it to the off position. He watches as Mason takes over at the window, firing with pinpoint accuracy.

"We need a way out of here! We're sitting ducks in this room!"

...

Just Outside Prance Air Space

12:06 Hours (Eastern Time)

Technical Sergeant Darkstar, 52nd Airborne Division

March 24th

"Major, come in dang it! Where the heck are you exactly?" Darkstar shouts as he flies faster and faster. The wind is howling in his ears, and is nearly deafening, but he doesn't care. He groans in anger and pumps his wings down even harder, attempting to get as much speed as he can.

"They must have disconnected their radios." Hope says as she barrel rolls away from another set of clouds. She looks down to her watch, and gives an estimated time of two minutes until they reach the city. Hay Bark shakes his head and pumps himself over a large cloud, running along it until he reaches the end. He pushes off of the end of it and launches himself with his wings, trying to gain more momentum and speed as he rushes along.

"Sir, if they tapped into the comms, then they have to know we're on our way, this could be a trap." Niles says as he dives underneath a cirrus cloud, making sure not to charge through it. It didn't hurt or anything, but it did slow you down to charge right through a cloud. And they had to get to the town as fast as they could. Darkstar barrel rolls to the side again, and pushes himself with both wings again.

"We have to risk it. The Army has been notified, and they're on the move right now. Marines will be right behind them, ETA is thirty minutes. Now step on it!" He shouts as he dives underneath a set of clouds. He readies his wrist gun, which carried larger, heavier spikes, but in smaller magazines. These could carry the chemical weapons, or could just be fired regularly, depending on the situation. He dives underneath another set of clouds, and sees the town in view. An alarm has been raised, and he can already see more changeling air support being sent in from the east. He squints and activates his goggles, which give him infrared vision. This degree of infrared could also pick up allies, which would have a flashing green light in it's center. He quickly darts his head around, and sees a group of seven ponies inside a building. All seven have flashing green lights, and he determines this to be the SGTD team.

"Over there! Get to that location and provide air support!" He shouts as he readies a chemical spike into his launcher.

"Roger, I'm going in hot!" Bark shouts as he launches in ahead of the others, both wrist guns pointed forward. Darkstar quickly dives lower, going just above the rooftops. He orders Hope to back up Bark, and has Niles back him up. With haste, he pulls up, going higher into the sky. The team reaches the front of the city, and watch as several changelings go into battle. Darkstar aims his first spike at a group of ground changelings, and fires. As the spike comes into contact with the ground, it expands, giving way to an inner area. A green vapor quickly leaks out of the chamber, bathing the changelings in a poisonous gas. The changelings cough and gag, trying to get the gas out of their lungs. Within seconds, a few drop dead to the ground, while others fall down and begin to have seizure like episodes.

"I got em'! They're in the first building to the right! Get our support over there!" He hears Hope shout from across the way. Darkstar quickly launches himself, and spots spikes coming from a small window on the top floor of a large, eroding brick building. He quickly darts over and launches another poison filled spike at the ground in front of the building. As the gas leaks out, Bark fires both of his wrist guns at the changelings in the air, picking them off one by one. Blood drops to the ground as the changelings find themselves falling into the poisonous gas. The vapor leaks into the window, although it doesn't go any higher. Darkstar holds his breath for a moment, hoping that the SGTD team really did have gas masks.

"The air support! Celestia are we happy to see you guys!" He hears from his radio. He sighs and brings his hoof to his radio, firing off another spike in the meantime.

"We got the air locked down, but there's too many civilians on the ground to keep using the chemical weapons, you have to clear the area out!" He shouts as he fires a regular spike at an air unit. It groans in pain and falls down to the ground, giving an audible smack as it slams into a roof top first. Screams erupt from several buildings, causing Darkstar to look over to several areas. Civilians are being thrown out into the streets, and others are being used as meat shields.

"Blasted things are using the civvies as meat shields! We can't just kill them!" He hears Niles shout. Looking back to AFC, he growls and orders him to find any changelings using the civilians in such a manner, and shoot them from the back. Niles salutes and shoots off, firing at an airborne changeling that was charging at Darkstar. He looks over to the building with the SGTD soldiers, and flies up next to Hope. The mare fires off both wrist guns, picking off several changelings. He fires off yet another poisoned spike, and this time, it lands inside of a building that the changelings are using as a base of sorts.

"Tech Sergeant, this is Major Tiffon, we're heading out there, watch you fire."

...

Prance, Southern Housing

12:12 Hours (Eastern Time)

Sergeant Evergreen, SGTD

March 24th

Green uses his strength to bust down the door in front of the building, afterwards raising his hoof and firing at a group of hostiles outside. He rolls off to the side, and fires three more shots before looking back over to the door and seeing the rest of his team sprint out. The green mist around them has no effect on them, thanks to the gas masks. As much as Green hated them sometimes, they did save his life on more than one occasion. Up in the air, he can see four ponies, each carrying a different type of weapon, and all firing everything they have at the changelings.

"The command post is just a little north of us! Let's get moving!" He hears Tiffon shout, who is firing his weapon at a group of hiding changelings. A fire bomb goes off next to Rook, who is thrown to the ground. His suit catches fire, and he gives panicked grunts as he tries to extinguish the flames. Green quickly rushes over, and tells Rook to hold still.

"Go without us! We'll catch up!" He shouts as he tries to get one of the small fires out. Tiffon looks back at him, and shakes his head.

"No! A good soldier never leaves a pony behind!" He shouts as he dives behind cover, barely avoiding the fire of one of the bombs. Mason pops up from an overturned cart and tries to fire at the changelings, but they are hiding behind cover. Another firebomb is thrown, and hits the very front of the cart Mason is behind. He covers his eyes as the cart bursts into flames, nearly hitting him. Green puts out one of the fires on Rooks foreleg, and sees that he has a bad burn on it. Quickly, he drags him over to the Lieutenant, all while Rook fires away at a hostile. He has no luck in hitting it, but his shooting does keep the changelings from coming out of their cover. Civilians are being held behind the changelings, so the air support can't risk taking them out. Rook groans in pain as the fires go out on his foreleg and lower stomach, but leave badly burned flesh, devoid of any fur.

"Just patch me up! Get me back in this!" He shouts as Long Bow begins to take a look at him. To the right of them, Flare searches a dead changeling, and takes one of their fire bombs. He tosses it into the air before catching it again. He observes it for a second before finding a pin. It begins to hiss, and Flare tosses it over to the changelings. Green ducks behind cover as another fire bomb is thrown at them. The fire just barely misses his face, but he can still feel the heat as it rushes past his snout. He breathes heavily as he tries to remain calm, and fires his wrist gun again.

"Moving up!" He hears Tiffon shout as he sprints forward, diving to cover after about twenty steps. Green looks over to Long Bow, who has just finished wrapping bandages around Rook's ankles and mid section.

"Can you still walk?"

"I wouldn't be where I am today if I couldn't take a couple burn wounds here and there." Rook says as he shakily stands up. Green nods and sprints away, leaping once he gets over to where Grace is. The team continues to push on for about ten minutes, until Grace sees a strange building with a corrupted horn as a flag.

"I see it! That must be the command post!" He shouts as he fires off a few more spikes. Green looks over to the direction he is shooting, and sees a large, oval shaped building with a changeling flag on it.

"Well what are we waiting for? Get the air support to poison it!" Mason shouts as he ducks behind a building, dodging a burst of flames from a fire bomb.

"Negative! That building could have civilians inside! And the changelings that are falling back still have those hostages from before!" Tiffon shouts as he pops up and fires three more spikes. A clicking is heard, and the Major ducks back down, throwing the empty roll off of his wrist.

"Tech Sergeant! Do you have any infrared optics you could use to check for civvies in the building, over?" Tiffon shouts as he switches out the empty roll for a fresh one.

"Roger Major, I have such optics. I'll use them on the building and report back to you, over." Green hears. He pops up, and tries to fire his weapon, but hears a clicking. He's out of ammo. He gives an annoyed groan and ducks back down, trying to reload his gun. Carefully, he strips away the empty roll of spike holders, and reaches into a pocket along his black suit for a new one. He slams it into place as he hears the Technical Sergeant give his report. The building is clear of civilians except on the third floor, where the main control room was. All three floors have windows, but the one on the first floor is reinforced with planks of wood, making it impossible to shoot through. Tiffon pushes forward again, and the changelings burst into the building, throwing open the doors with the civilians in front of them as meat shields. One throws a fire bomb, which detonates near Tiffon. He's mostly unscathed, but his leg has caught fire.

"No good pony rip off!" He shouts as he extinguishes the flame. While he luckily has no severe burn, this distraction has given the changelings enough time to shut the door.

"Dang it! We're stuck out here!" Long Bow shouts as he leaps from cover. Green leaps over his cover as well, making sure the Rook is behind him. Grace follows beside him, and sprints over as more changelings begin to close in from the sides. Darkstar fires a poison spike, which prevents them from getting closer.

"Use the firebombs you collected Flare! See if those can weaken it enough to get us in!" Tiffon shouts as he pounds on the door, which seems to be reinforced. Flare nods and grabs one of the fire bombs from his pocket, and pulls a pin on it. Tiffon and the rest of team back away from the door, as the hissing from the bomb screams as it sails through the air, and eventually onto the door. The bomb causes the door to give a severe cracking sound, and it starts to fall over.

"Alright! Way to go SF!" Green shouts as he slams his hooves into the door, denting it severely. He hits it a few more times, and it gives a loud creaking noise as it falls down. The changelings inside are taken aback, and have let go of the hostages. Green quickly fires a spike at a changeling, who falls dead to the floor as it penetrates his skull with a red mist. Rook and Mason fire their weapons as well, killing the other changelings in the room. One of the civilians panics and runs around the room. Another, a child, begins to cry and runs for a mare to the right of the room. The mother cries as she embraces her foal, saying words of relief to the kid.

"Stay here." Long Bow says as he rushes up a group of stairs. Green looks up to the mare, and recognizes it as the one from the photo. He could only imagine what kind of torture their family must have gone through. He nods at them and charges up the stairs as Tiffon orders Darkstar to fire a poison spike into the second floor. As Green reaches the top of the stairs, he sees a green mist, with gasping and writhing changelings desperate for air. He shoves one gasping one aside as he heads for the next set of stairs. Grace comes along with him, with Flare right behind them. A door is at the top of the stair well, and Green shoves it open with his shoulder. A large group of changelings waits for them, ready with fire bombs. A group of spikes flies in from the windows, striking down the changelings with immediate firebombs. The Air Force sure did come in handy. Rook and Long Bow come in from behind the others and begin firing, assisting Grace and Flare. A changeling tries to take cover, but Mason comes out and fires at it before it can. Tiffon finally manages to reach the floor, and sees the several bound and gagged ponies in chairs.

"Easy, you're safe now." He says as he unties one. The pony gasps for fresh air, and breathing loudly and quickly. He gulps, and sighs in relief as he sees the other ponies become freed. Green looks over to a large monitor, which contains the radio conversations from earlier in bold, red letters.

"So that's how they knew we were here." He says as he steps closer. He sees a orange tail fling towards it, and burst into flames once it detonates. Feeling the intense heat from the fire, he jumps back, and looks behind him to Flare. The stallion shrugs, and tosses another one at what looks like a hard drive. Green sighs with relief, bringing his hoof to his head to relieve sweat.

"Command, this is Alpha. Command Post is secure, send in the big guns, out." He hears Tiffon say. Green feels a tap on his shoulder, and turns behind him to see Rook standing there. The Staff Sergeant looks around the room with an angry expression, appearing to be embarrassed. Just as Green is about to open his mouth, Rook speaks.

"Thanks for saving my flank back at the building back there. They might have gotten me if you hadn't." He looks left to right, then leans in to Green.

"Don't tell anypony I said that." He says with a hint of aggravation in his voice. Green smiles.

"Sure thing, and don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." He says. Rook nods and walks away, and Green looks around to the rest of his team. For the first time, he felt like he really did contribute to this effort. Sure, some things went wrong, but he had managed to win the day at the very least.

"Alright boys, pack up your gear and get moving, we're going home." Tiffon says as he takes off his gas mask and escorts the civilians down stairs. The gas has worn off by now, and has been dissolved by the fresh air particles. Not fast enough to prevent changelings from dying, but enough to allow the civvies safe passage. Green sighs with satisfaction and heads down the stairs, ready to get back to the shooting range.

OCs in this chapter:

Technical Sergeant Darkstar - Eddie201