Secret Guardian

Pinpoint stepped out onto the cliff side and propped his rifle against his side as he glanced out at the area underneath him. Everything looked as the Princess and general had debriefed them, aside from some minor landscape alterations. He simply dismissed them and common activity for the enemy to somewhat conceal themselves from any of the Princess's scouting parties. There was very little movement beside that of what appeared to be a few roaming guards set up in four parties so as to maintain a full perimeter at all times.

He glanced back to his commanding officer, Striker and nodded. "Everything seems to be in order sir. I should be able to cover all movements from here, assuming you make the western push as planned."

Striker simply let out a sigh and looked up skyward. The old stallion and Pinpoint had been part of Celestia's Secret Strike Force together for quite some time, however he looked much older despite a mere ten year age difference. He had been serving in the force for only five more years than Pinpoint, making for a grand total of ten years, but the times had worn on him quite a bit. Making his way to Pinpoint's side and taking his turn to survey the area ahead, he nodded to Pinpoint before walking back to the other group of stallions behind them.

"Very well then, Pinpoint, you may set up your station here and I will prep the team to push in. And remember by no means are you to harm the bastard in charge of these rebels." Striker said firmly.

Pinpoint couldn’t help but to let out a small chuckle as he smiled at the old stallion. "Why do I feel like I'm the one who should be saying that exact same thing to you sir?"

Striker simply waved off his comment with a single hoof before leading the other stallions down the cliff side. With that Pinpoint rolled his eyes and found himself a good spot to set up. He flattened himself out onto a grassy patch about a foot away from the cliff edge and carefully set his rifle sideways on his leg. The bi-pod was pushed out before the rifle was set in place.

The hefty .50 caliber rifle was done in a black coat which had clearly been redone over the years to keep it looking fresh. The only marking on the rifle were silver engravings on each side, which read, The Reaper .50. The scope began to glow red from his magic while he made his final adjustments while peering down it.

The firearms that CSSF carried were rare across Equestria, and rightfully so as they were something that Princess Celestia liked to keep from public light as much as possible. That also meant out of common civilian possession by any means possible. It made sense to Pinpoint. Against any unarmed ponies, they were far too dangerous. He didn't want to think about the potential catastrophe; however, that made working with CSSF so stressful on some. They were not sent into war by any meaning of the word; with these things, if they were sent in to fix an issue, it was more appropriate to call the act slaughter. That alone made most of them uneasy. It was said that if a pony had the CSSF on their tail, they had made some bad choices somewhere in life.

Pinpoint watched as Striker moved his team into position for the raid and nested down to wait for night fall. The mission was simple as per Celestia's orders. She wanted the rebel commander brought back to her for her own reasons. Interrogation was more than likely, but anything beyond that was none of their concern. It struck interest in Pinpoint's mind on why exactly this team of rebels had even staged their rebellion in the first place. The rumor that had spread as of this point was that these rebels had felt that Equestria's security has been on a steady decline. That things were permitted to carry on for too long before any correction was in place and by that time, there was too much damage for these ponies' comfort. The very idea made Pinpoint smile. If their concern was really security of the nation then they were soon in for a big surprise. After looking up towards the sun, he turned his gaze back to the roaming guards. He figured he had about two hours until they had the proper night cover to make their move. He quickly started working out the guards' patterns and timing so that he could figure out which ones would be cresting the western border as the time fell. He found that breaking down the exact target gave him more time to analyze their exact movements and habits allowing him to better take them out when the moment came.

The sun had finally sunk down below the horizon, giving way for a dark enough night for the task at hand but with just enough light for him to operate against the enemy silhouettes he thought. A small glint of yellow light flashed in the far western border. That was the signal. A smile flashed across Pinpoint's lips. He had figured the pattern out quite well, as the exact two he had expected were just crossing the mid point of the western border. It was not an abnormality for him though, he took pride in his work which was why he remained the absolute best. It was habit that drove him to complete these meticulous task but it was no bother to him all the same.

He wrapped his hoof into the trigger well and braced the rifle into his shoulder as his eye lined up with the scope. Just seconds later the first guard lined up with his cross hairs and the first shot rang out across the area. The guard was thrown back several feet as his chest caved in from the shot. Pinpoint didn't give his partner time to realize what had happened before he followed suit.

Striker's team were already pushing in at this point as they had begun their movement as soon the first shot left the rifle. The operation was to be quick, move in and capture the target then pull out, take out only those that get in the way. As they pushed in, Pinpoint took out the northern and southern guard force. He figured it best not to waste the time and ammunition with the guards now rushing from the eastern borders; however by the time they reached the center of the camp, Striker should have been out. He moved his scope back towards the team, keeping his sight a steady five seconds ahead of them to clean up any mess that may be pushing to close. The camp had sprung to life at this point, with not one of the ponies stumbling about looking aware of what was going on. They all looked hectic, and Pinpoint was well aware as of why. The sounds of the rifle going off was new to them. Even if they had heard stories of the weapons, he doubted it was enough to prepare them for the explosive force behind the situation. He kept a close watch as a few of the rebels slowly got a grasp on themselves and started to react, their attention quickly snapping towards the center. It didn’t take them long from that moment to to get hold of their weapons and move inward so that they could dig into a defensive position. Pinpoint grinned again at the sight of them; they were arming themselves with spears and swords. It seemed so ridiculous in his head, but only him and the rest of CSSF knew what was in store for the fools.

Pinpoint went ahead and slid in a new magazine as the rest of the team approached the target's location. They had still gone unseen by everyone but him. The very idea was almost strange to him. But through his constant practice in the field paired with an already unnatural eye sight it was normal for him to be able to track things that would, by any other standard, be almost invisible. The rebels had formed a standard staggered wall formation around the key points of the camp, something that against a regularly armed force would be rather effective in their numbers. The commander's tent was easy to identify due to its larger guard enforcement as compared to the rest of camp, allowing Pinpoint to line up without a doubt in his mind. He waited till the team was roughly ten feet from the tent before he let his round fly into the target. The bullet devastated the skulls of the first two lined up in the formation and had no issue driving through three more of them, snapping their necks to the side. He was almost certain he could hear the sound of their neck bones cracking from the force. However such ideas were short lived as the muzzle flash and ring of the team's side arms came to life.

By this time the structured formations that once stood in defense were rushing about in a panic. Fear had clutched the rebels it seemed, and they had no idea on how to react. Pinpoint didn’t think twice in what he had to do as he cleared a path to the doorway. He had learned early on that even if they were in a frenzy now, nothing was to stop them from regaining and going after the team. It was the very reason his ear was scarred, after testing his luck in a cocky move of hand to hand combat with an armed enemy he had soon found the feel of cold steel, and it was not something he would do again for sure. After four more shots and what seemed like two magazines from each team member's side arms, the tent was cleared and Striker moved in with two other members.

Pinpoint cleared his now spent magazine and pulled another from his bag, loading it in before cleaning up a couple of stragglers that were making their way to the tent in attempt to save the day. The rest of the camp seemed to have left the effort or stood frozen in fear. It was a moment before Striker and the others pulled out what appeared to be the rebel commander by a couple of ropes. It seemed he was refusing to work with them because Striker quickly pulled on the rope, pulling the commander down onto his face. The very act brought a devious grin to Pinpoint's face. Striker had never been one to play games or take any sort of shit during these missions. After he was dragged a few feet across the ground, they stopped. Once it was apparent to the commander that he didn’t have any choice, he agreed to walking with them.

Pinpoint was waiting for them with his rifle strapped to his back as they made it to the top of the cliff side. Striker's gaze met his as he passed, a look that let him know that things would be okay after they had some time to sit down. Pinpoint could see the pain in his officer's eyes. It was nothing new and as with most things he had already drawn up why. That uneasiness was something that they all felt, to rip through an enemy so helpless, it left a bad taste in their mouths. The stallion in front of him was speckled with blood, as Pinpoint's rifle was known for making a mess, and they were typically the ones to pick up on the bloody showers that were left in its wake. Chances were that this walk back would be much like the rest, silent with Pinpoint at Striker's side the whole time. Despite their reserves about missions like these, there was one thing that was always for sure and that they were a team until the end of things, on and off the field. They quickly made their way to the front of the team with the rebel commander and started the long walk back to the castle.