CHAPTER 20

Hey everypony. I'm finally back with chapter twenty. Sorry for the delay, I just had a ton of stuff to do around the house, and family time...and I got a headset for playing Call of Duty. Heheh. But, I finally got it written, and here it is, submitted for your reading pleasure. I know you've all been waiting for this one, so I won't keep you with a long author's note. Enjoy, and please review.

"Not to second guess your plan, but are you sure this is a good idea?" Captain Steele asked. I turned my head toward him. His face expressed how stupid and dangerous he thought this was, but also the desperation of our situation. As we stood in the upstairs hall of Twilight's house, preparing to set our trap, I had to admit to myself that this wasn't the best idea I had ever had, but given our situation, we didn't have much of a choice.

"You got a better one, Captain?" I said, then sighed. The bathroom door opened, and Sergeant Masada stepped out. She had braided her dark brown mane into twin braids, and was wearing a sage green sun dress, her brown sandals, and her shemagh. My sister squeaked, and I gently bumped her, silently telling her to shut up.

"Is this...acceptable?" Masada asked.

"Yeah...you could pass for a random victim." I replied. What kind of life does somepony have to live to be able to say that?

"Thank you...I suppose?" The Bitsraeli soldier said nervously.

"You'll be alright." Shadow stated. "We're gonna be hiding somewhere close. You get in trouble, we'll come kill some assholes."

"I can take care of myself." Masada said tersely. She sighed. "But thanks...I do not want to be alone out there."

"Dashie at the farm with the Elements and the mayor?" I asked, looking at the clock on the hallway wall.

"Roger that, L.T.," Steel answered. "She's there right now with all of the tier one personnel." He nodded. "Don't worry, sir. She'll be okay. We have twenty armed ponies there." I smiled and nodded a silent 'thank you' to Steele.

"Alright, it's getting late. Should be dark in about thirty minutes." I advised. "Let's get into position."

We walked toward the park as the sun began to set. Putting our plan into motion was fairly simple. We had already decided where we would be, and how this would (hopefully) work out. As we got to the park, Steele and two of his commandos, a master sergeant and a weapons sergeant, broke off from our group and quickly took up a pre-scouted position underneath a small bridge. They backed up underneath the bridge, disappearing into the natural crevice where the roadbed met the embankment. The rest of us walked on a short distance. When we got to the center of the park, Masada spotted the lone park bench near a small grove of elm trees that we had decided would be the perfect position for a pony to look like inviting bait. She nodded dutifully, and started to move away.

"Be careful, sergeant." I whispered.

"I will." She replied. "You just come when I need you, Lieutenant."

"We will." My sister replied from beside me. We watched Masada walk away toward the bench, then Budder, Shadow and myself moved on to our position, a small groundskeeper shack about thirty meters from Masada's position. I closed the door behind us, plunging the three of us into darkness.

"All teams, check in." I whispered into my headset.

"Bridge Troll in position." Steele's voice answered.

"Assault team in position." One of the COLT commandos in the police department stated.

"Cheese on the trap." Masada's voice whispered.

"Roger that. Wait for Sergeant Masada's signal, then move in." I said.

"Roger." All parties answered.

"She's gonna be okay, right bub?" Budder asked meekly.

"Yeah." I answered, and we were silent a moment. "What's your deal anyway, sis?"

"What?"

"With the sergeant?" I pressed.

"I dunno." She mumbled.

"Sis?"

"She's cute, okay?" Budder sighed, irritated.

"Ugh...Budder..." I groaned.

"She's got freckles." My sister said, like that explained it all.

"What about Scootaloo?" I asked, hopefully reminding her of her prior obligations and getting her to shut up and get her head in the game.

"She thinks Masada's cute too." Budder answered innocently.

"Ugh...teenagers..." I complained.

"You guys are fucking weird..." Shadow stated.

"Don't lump me in with the hormonal adolescent crowd..." I argued in a low voice. "Damn kids today...running relationships like an amusement park..."

"I do not..." Budder whined.

"Hey, don't look at me, man." Shadow interjected. "I never had a colt friend...even back when I was alive."

"Wow..." I commented.

"Neither did I, until I met Scoots." My sister explained. "You just need to meet the right colt or filly, Shadow."

"For Luna's sake, guys..." I whispered loudly. "This is a stakeout, not a matchmaking circle. Can it!"

"Some of us ain't lucky enough to be able to sleep with a nice pony every night..." Shadow whispered defiantly.

"Hey, me sleeping with Dashie has nothing to do with everypony shutting up and paying attention to the mission."

"Hey L.T., you know your mic's still on..." Steele's voice whispered. I then heard some of the COLT commandos laughing over their headsets. "We hear everything you all are saying."

"Shit..." I cursed. "Sorry." I turned off the transmit button. More laughter.

"Fuck..." My sister squeaked, embarrassed, and I'm sure she was blushing.

"Hey...I see somepony..." Masada's voice whispered. Suddenly all of the laughter was gone, replaced with pure silence as we waited. For what seemed like an eternity, we sat in the dark shed, tensely awaiting what might happen next. Finally, it came. "Need...help...Drake..." Masada's voice crackled over the headset.

"MOVE!" I yelled, and in a matter of seconds, the three of us were out the door of the shed, galloping toward our teammate's position. As we came upon the bench where Sergeant Masada had been sitting, we saw Steele and his two soldiers coming out of the trees, their crossbows at the ready. The Bitsraeli soldier was nowhere to be seen.

"Masada!" I called over the mic, then shook my head. Stupid. "Masada!" I yelled. "Sergeant!" My stomach tightened, fearing the worst.

"Lieutenant!" I heard her voice finally call. We spotted an embankment nearby and hurried over. Down in the stream bed was Masada. She was dripping wet from rolling in the creek, her dress was torn, and she was panting for breath as she held somepony down, their right foreleg twisted behind their back painfully. "Can I have help?! She is very strong!" Our team ran down the slope, and before I could react, Steele's two commandos had practically piled on top of the pony the sergeant had captured. As they used what would have amounted to excessive use of force had they been policeponies and flexcuffed the mare, I turned to Masada.

"You okay?" I queried.

"Yes...I am sorry, I lost my device during the struggle. Like I said, she is very strong." She explained.

"Good work, sergeant." I nodded. I turned back to the commandos, who were now pulling the prisoner into a sitting position. I started to speak, but froze. After seeing two dead Pinkie Pies already, you wouldn't think it would have bothered me that much, but it did. I found myself looking into the face of Pinkamena herself. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to compose myself. No dice. Alright, just go with it. I walked toward the pink pony with the light blue eyes, and stopped just short of her. The killer stared at me, with no sign of recognition on her face. Then she grinned.

"I wasn't expecting a surprise party!" She exclaimed in a happy tone. Then she spat out some blood and a tooth. "You guys are good!"

Didn't see that coming did you? Now that Drake and crew have captured a Pinkie (Scary thought, calling her A Pinkie), what is going to happen next? I will try to have the next chapter up later tonight or sometime tomorrow evening, depending on how bad my writer's block becomes. SO until then, thanks for reading, everypony! -Drake