"Does anypony else find it weird that they are actually lettin' us have a vacation?" Applebloom asked, barely audible over the whine of their pelicans thrusters.

"Don't jinx it." Surprise stated coldly. Despite her typical hyperactive personality, she always seemed to get this way when it came to the supernatural. She had always been a deep believer in the supernatural.

Applebloom shrugged it off. "Come on! Yall gotta be thinking the same thing. ONI would never allow it."

Firefly nodded in agreement. "Why would we have all this equipment if we were just going on vacation?" She asked, nodding to the three large crates in the center of the pelican, containing prototype MJOLNIR Markose VII P Variant Power Armor, as well as various small arms, all personally chosen and customized by the Spartans.

Artemis's signature smile spread across her face. "Vacation my flank. We're being deployed!" She exclaimed, rubbing her hooves together in anticipation.

"And judging by the type of ammunation we are hauling, this isn't one of Mendez's traps. This is the real deal!" Scootaloo pointed out, a smile almost as wide as Artemis's spread across her face.

"It would appear your problem solving skills are also more advanced than the other Spartans, as I have predicted." An angelic, familiar voice said, coming seemingly out of no where. "My name is Solstice, though I have gone by other names in the past. I am the eighth generation A.I. that is in charge of helping manage the Spartan IV program, and I am also Princess Luna's personal A.I."

"Don't you mean Admiral Luna?" Oscar inquired.

"Not in my eyes." Solstice stated. "I knew her for the majority of my life as Princess Luna. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle , Scootaloo, it is very nice to see you again. My, my, you three little fillies have grown a lot in the past couple years."

"Princess Celestia...?" Sweetie Belle asked, confused.

"Correct. Though, my name is Solstice now. The original Celestia died when Canterlot was glassed." As Solstice said this, a holoimage popped up in front of them, showing a Covenant cruiser glassing the iconic castle that the Princesses used to dwell in. In the background, several pelican dropships were flying away, narrowly escaping getting blown out of the sky by the Cruisers plasma turrets. "Princess Celestia stayed behind to distract the Covenant with a much more important target than the citizens who were being evacuated, herself. Her ploy was successful, as none of the evac flights were shot down. A year later, they attempted to resurrect her using unicorn magic, and human technology. While it did work with other clones, the alicorn was much too powerful to be cloned. So we cloned her brain, and after dozens of failed attempts, we were successful. They used this brain for an eighth generation Smart A.I., aka, me."

"Your mission, Spartans, is to find and kill Insurrectionist leader Robert Watts. Back in 2525, he was captured by the Spartan-II team, Grey Team. For the past forty years, he spent his time in a UNSC detention center in Europe. A few months ago, a large Insurrectionist force attacked the detention center and busted him out. He disappeared without a trace, until three weeks ago, where he was spotted in a village in the Himalayas. Several ONI surveillance teams were deployed and confirmed he was held up in a large Insurrectionist stronghold. Due to the large amounts of armor, infantry, and fortifications, a large ground operation is out of the question. Too many lives would be at risk. You will be sent in with Mark VII [P] prototype power armor, where its abilities will be very useful in a stealth mission. You will be further briefed by your ONI adviser when you arrive. Spartan Zero Five Three, you will be in charge of this op. Any questions?"

"So, what about taking him alive?" Oscar asked.

"Negative, Spartan. It's too risky. ONI doesn't want to risk taking him alive. Anymore questions?"

None of the Spartans spoke.

"None? Good. We will arrive in 20 minutes. Get suited up, Spartans."

"Dismount!" Oscar called out, as the pelican bay door lowered. The Spartans rolled out of the pelican one by one, the snow crunching under each of their armored boots as they landed.

"Sierra's are on the ground, sir!" Sweetie Belle announced over the COM.

"Roger that, Sierra Zero Five Three. You know your mission, get it done. Your armor system has a new advanced active camouflage device that is just as advanced, if not more, than the active camouflage systems the Covenant uses. However, keep in mind this is a prototype, so be ready to go hot if your active camouflage fails."

"Well no shit..." Artemis muttered to no one in particular.

"Acknowledged command, I'm guessing this is a stealth mission?" Sweetie Belle asked

"Correct," their adviser confirmed after a short pause, "Insurrectionists have at least a brigade of infantry in and around the stronghold, as well as plenty of armor support, both light and heavy. The HVT also has plenty of protection. Intel suggests his bodyguards are all made up of former ODST's.

"Well, that makes things more interesting." Firefly stated, overhearing this.

"As for entering the stronghold, wait until the dark until you move out. Make sure to use suppressors, and do NOT take them off unless you are compromised. Recommend you position sharpshooters on the hills overlooking the stronghold."

"Wait, what about seeing each other when we are all using our active camouflage?" Shooting Star inquired.

"We got that covered. Your helmets have been upgraded with a VISR system. You will be able to see friendlies no matter what with it, even when they are using active camouflage. Your VISR system will also be effective for navigating through the dark and seeing enemies."

"Acknowledged. Anything else we need to know, command?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Negative, Sierra Lead. Good luck. I need you guys to maintain radio silence from now on, except for when you guys are using your COM channels. No one can penetrate those channels. When you need extraction, or need the Calvary, give me a call. Command, out." And with the end of that sentence, the COM channel fell deathly silent.

"Suppressors on." Oscar whispered, before placing her SMG's aside and pulling out two suppressors out of her rucksack, before twisting a suppressor onto the SMG's barrels. The other Spartans quickly did the same with their firearms.

"Pull up the map of the area on your HUD." Sweetie Belle whispered. Everyones acknowledgement lights blinked green as they pulled up their maps. "Okay, Firefly, Artemis, I'm designating you two Sniper Team Alpha. I want you guys to camp out on the hill to the south." Sweetie Belle set up a marker for them on a hill about two kilometers away. "Star, Surprise, I'm designating you two Sniper Team Bravo. You want you two to camp out on the hill to the east." As she said this, she set up a marker for them on a hill about a kilometer and a half away. "The rest of you, I'm splitting you up into two assault teams, designated Charlie and Delta. Oscar, Emily, Pip, Zephyr, Scootaloo, you guys are Charlie team. Oscar, I'm placing you in charge of Charlie. Applebloom, R.D., and... uh..." Sweetie Belle looked over the mare in front of her. She was easily twice her size, taller than even Applebloom. There was a gold stripe running diagonally down her chestplate, marking her as a member of Spartan Gold Team. On her right shoulder, there were three red apples. There was also an orange stripe running down the middle of her helmet as well, probably a little customization the Spartan added to it.

"AJ, ma'am. Ya can call me AJ." She stated.

"Pardon?" Applebloom inquired. She swore she knew that voice from somewhere.

"AJ." AJ repeated.

"Sorry, didn't recognize you, Spartan." Sweetie Belle stated, rubbing the back of her helmet. AJ shrugged it off. "I want you three to be with me. Now, let's get some rest. We're going to need it for tonight."

Sweetie Belle awoke to find someone shaking her awake. However, she couldn't tell who it was. A heavy snow storm must have rolled in while they were asleep. She could barely make out the armored hoof shaking her.

"Activate your VISR," the Spartan shaking her stated, who Sweetie Belle was able to identify as Scootaloo from the tone of her voice, "you want be able to see a foot in front of you without it in this soup."

Not even a second later, her VISR featured clicked on. Unlike the Mark V's and Mark VI's helmet, where you actually had to press buttons INSIDE your helmet to activate its features, the Mark VII's helmet was literally linked to the wearers mind. If Sweetie Belle wanted to use one of the armors various features, all she had to do was think about it.

"In front of her stood eight lime green outlines of her fellow Spartans, the green marking them as friendlies. In the distance, she could see the outlines of the two sniper teams, though they looked more like dots from this distance. They must have moved out while they were resting. The stronghold that they were assaulting was outlined in orange, marking it as their objective. Inside it was hundreds of small red dots, as was as a few red outlines of Innie scorpion main battle tanks.

"Charlie, I want you guys to enter through the western entrance. Sniper Team Alpha will cover you while you advance. Delta, we're going in through the eastern entrance, with Sniper Team Bravo performing overwatch. Remember to use your active camouflage, VISR, and suppressors. If we do this right, this should go off without a hitch. Let's get a move on."

In a seemingly simultaneous manner, the Spartans activated their active camouflage and split up into two groups. Sweetie Belle slid down a nearby hill and came to a stop about a hundred feet away from the stronghold. Two guards stood there, talking idly and holding their MA5's like recruits in boot. Completely suspecting of the face there was four Spartans standing right in front of them. Sweetie Belle cautiously clipped her SMG's to her waist and pulled her two magnums out from their holsters. She aimed them at both of the guards heads, before putting a round into both of their temples.

"Tango down... move up..." Sweetie Belle whispered. Delta Team slowly crept up to the strongholds eastern entrance and crouched low to the ground.

"Delta is in position." Sweetie Belle announced over the COM.

"Took you long enough," Oscar's voice responded in a hushed tone, "Charlie arrived about five minutes ago."

"What type of opposition are you looking at?" RD inquired.

"Twenty plus infantry, two- no, three warthogs, and a scorpion. Bout' an even match if you ask me." Oscar commented.

"This is a stealth op, Oscar. You give away your position, you're all dead. And our chances of taking out the HVT will become slim to none." Zephyr stated, agitation clear in his voice.

"Chill man, you don't have to worry about a thing. We're ready to move whenever you are, Delta Lead." Oscar assured.

"Good. Snipers, you guys ready?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Always." Artemis grunted.

"Yes ma'am." Shooting Star replied calmly.

"Good. Take out any rebels that are on their lonesome. The less there are, the better." Sweetie Belle stated.

"Fun." Stay heard Artemis say over the COM.

"Affirmative. Leave some of them for us, Delta Lead." Star said, before glancing at the pegasus beside her. Like her, Surprise was suited up with the sniper variant of the Mark VII [P] Power Armor. Instead of the active camouflage the regular Mark VII and the Mark VII [P] uses, the sniper variant uses an older cloaking device originally fielded right before the Fall of Reach. While it isn't nearly as effective when you're moving, you are literally invisible when you stand still. Right now, however, it wasn't necessary. Star could barely see Surprise, who was lying down right beside her. The rebels would have no chance of spotting them almost a mile away.

"Got the shot?" Surprise asked. Star nodded, adjusting her scope and zooming in on the head of a lone Insurrectionist patrolling outside the stronghold.

"Take him out." Surprise ordered.

"How do you know it's a guy?" Star inquired, putting a little more pressure on the trigger.

"Just take the shot." Surprise stated coldly. Star took a deep breath and press down on the trigger, the round rocketing out of the barrel of her sniper rifle. It streaked across the sky and passed right through the rebels head, who fell limp onto the snow covered ground.

"Tango down." Star whispered.

"New target, Innie sniper on the eastern end of the stronghold wall." Surprise said.

"Got him." Star stated, shifting her sniper rifle rifle ever so slightly and firing, scoring another headshot.

"Enemy sniper down." Surprise confirmed. "New targets. Enemy patrol a kilometer east from the first target. Five contacts. I got the two trailing behind, you get the three up front."

Surprise opened up a large, metal briefcase lying beside her. Inside was a compact variant of the standard model UNSC sniper rifle, the SRS99D-S2 AM[CQ]. She assembled it with deft precision and set it up on its bipod.

"Ready?" Star asked. Surprise nodded, chambering a round into her sniper rifle and zooming in on the farthest rebel to the right.

"On three..." Surprise whispered, "one... two..."

As Surprise reach the number three, two shots rang out simultaneously.

"Direct hit!" Surprise called out, as she aimed at the rebel next to the body of her previous target, who was staring down at the the headless body of his comrade, frozen in shock. The stock of her sniper rifle shot back into Surprise's shoulder as another round shot out of its barrel. The round swayed a little to the left and ripped through the rebels right arm, blowing it clean off. Surprise rotated her rifle to the right slightly, in time to see Star blow off the head of one of the two remaining rebels. The last one raised his MA5 and fired wildly in all directions, before Star silenced him with a round to the chest.

AJ held her hoof up, signalling the rest of Delta Team to come to a halt. They were within 500 feet from the manor that the HVT was held up in. Sweetie Belle scanned the perimeter and spotted two guards in old Marine BDU's, armed with M7 SMG's.

"Gunfire..." AJ whispered, "sounds like an MA5B... ah think we maybe compromised."

"We need to do this quickly, then. Applebloom, RD, take out those two guards. The rest of you, get ready to breach." Sweetie Belle ordered.

The rest of the Spartans nodded, as Applebloom and RD slowly stalked up to the two guards, who were stationed outside the large, iron doors that led inside the manor. RD pulled her combat knife out of its sheath, walked up to the nearest guard, and pulled him down to the ground, slamming its blade into the base of his spine. The other guard jumped as he saw the other guard go down, and caught the shimmer of the Spartans active camouflage.

"Covenant!" The guard called out, likely mistaking the Spartan for a brute stalker or a stealth elite. He raised his SMG up to his shoulder, but before he had the chance to fire a single round, he was tackled and had his throat slit open by the blade of Applebloom combat knife.

RD nodded at her respectfully. "I owe ya one, kid." She stated, before crouching next to one of the guards and started rolling up the sleeves of his BDU.

"What're ya doin?" Applebloom inquired.

"Comfirming intel. Look." RD stated. On the mans left bicep was a tattoo of the ODST emblem. It was a custom that an ODST would get this tattoo, normally on their left or right biceps.

"Well, things just got more interesting." Applebloom said.

"Guys, ONI was dead on. Guards are confirmed to be former ODST's. Be extra cautious, guys." RD announced over the Spartans COM channel.

"Charlie copies. We're almost in position. You guys alright? We heard gunshots earlier." Oscar asked.

"We're fine. We heard the shots earlier as well. Might want to get this done quickly. Sweetie Belle stated.

"Right. We'll be there ASAP." Oscar replied. Not even a minute later, the five green outlines of Charlie Team rounded the corner of a nearby building and jogged up to where Delta was waiting.

"What's the plan, boss?" Oscar asked.

"A very simple one. First, I want Emily and Pip to go take out their electricity." She nodded to the two and pointed a few generators outside the manor. "Once they do that, we will wait ten seconds and then breach. Sniper teams, are you getting this?" Sweetie Belle inquired.

"Affirmative." Star voice responded over the Spartans COM channel.

"I'm already liking the sound of this." Artemis's voice stated.

"Good, I want the sniper teams to reposition themselves so they can cover the east and west sides of the manor."

"Got it." Artemis responded.

"Yes ma'am." Star replied.

"But, don't start shooting until we're engaged. They won't even notice it, and when they do, they will have no time to get to cover." Sweetie Belle said. "Pip, Emily, try to catch up with us. Just follow the piles of bodies. When we find the HVT, kill him immediately."

"Why can't we take him alive?" Oscar inquired.

"As much as I would like to, ONI determined it would be too risky, remember?"

"And then what?" Scootaloo asked.

"We get the hell out of there and kill anything in our way." Sweetie Belle stated coldly. "Spartans, stack up! Emily, make sure Pip doesn't get hurt. And Pip?" Pip looked up at her as she tossed him a timed EMP charge. "You know what to do."

Pip nodded and ran off with Emily in tow. Emily looked back to see the other Spartans get in positions around the door.

"Snipers are in position." Stars voice announced over the COM. The two Spartans pumped their legs faster and faster, not wanting to waste a precious second. There was no way that those gunshots went unnoticed. And that's when it hit them. Not the realization that something went completely wrong. That came afterward, when five rebels in old ODST armor stepped out of the shadows, all armed with the modern UNSC assault rifle, the MA5C.

"Take out those alien bastards!" One ODST shouted, as the rest of the ODST's opened fire, several rounds managing to strike Pip before his active camo faltered and flashed out of existence. Emily pulled Pip behind cover, firing a few short bursts blindly at the rebels.

"Shit! Spartans!" Another ODST shouted.

"This is Zulu Two, we have Spartans inside the base!" The lead ODST shouted.

"Shite..." Pip muttered to himself.

"Delta lead, we've been engaged!" Star shouted into her helmets radio. "They know we're here."

"Roger that." Sweetie Belle's voice responded. "I'll have Zephyr come and back you up." After a couple seconds, Sweetie Belles voice was heard over the main COM channel.

"Command, this is Aqua Lead, we have been compromised."

"Affirmative. What is your current position?" Their adviser asked.

"We're right outside the HVT's manor and are preparing the breach." Sweetie Belle stated.

"Roger that, Sierra Lead, I need you to-" their adviser began, before a new voice interrupted him.

"Sorry to interrupt!" Artemis announced over the COM. "We have a bit of a problem."

"Elaborate, Crimson Two." Their adviser demanded.

"Gladly, we- get down!" Artemis called out in the background, shortly before a large explosion was heard. "We need to pull back! We're coming to you, Delta Lead."

"We're on our way as well," Star began, "the Innies must have sent two entire platoons after us. Be advised, Delta Lead, you have a buck load of enemy contacts heading your way."

"How many?!" Sweetie Belle demanded.

"The ENTIRE base is coming after you!" Star shouted. "We will be there in five."

"Good. Sniper Teams, Pip, Emily, I want you guys to take positions outside the manor. Make sure no one comes behind us. Spartans, stack up!" Sweetie Belle ordered.