It was Shining Armor’s birthday. He was born the day after Hearts and Hooves Day, which made his marriage to the goddess of love even more poetic in his opinion. He’d been told that his sister had been melancholy recently, and he’d been planning a visit anyways, so he decided that he wanted to spend the thirtieth anniversary of his own birth with his beautiful wife and his baby sister.

He took a train into town with Cadence, who was happy to get out of the castle, and Canterlot for that matter. Many conservative-minded members of the royal court, which was to say most of them, had given her some form of grief for marrying a commoner. He was born into a wealthy family, but one with no known royal blood. So because all members of the court were nobles, and somepony they saw as below their stature married a goddess, they were quite agitated.

That made their little trip to Ponyville a welcome change of scenery, and the quiet but non-intrusive respect and admiration of the commoners was something they both enjoyed.

A trip through the unpaved streets of the town was soothing in the early morning air. A few clouds were scattered across the sky, and the distance from the horizon to the sun could be measured in the width of the viewer’s hooves.

Approaching Golden Oaks Library was something Shining Armor had looked forward to since his sister first moved there, but he’d never really gotten a chance to visit her before now. He relished the moment as he opened the door quietly.

“Remember, it’s a surprise, be as quiet as you can,” Shining Armor whispered, a mischievious smile on his muzzle. His wife nodded and grinned. They shut the door behind them as soon as they were both in, and Cadence took a seat on a couch downstairs, while her husband crept upstairs.

He moved down the hall until he reached a door clearly labeled as his sister’s room. It was just like her to label her room for ease of navigation. He rotated the doorknob slowly and peeked through the doorway as it became wide enough.

“Surprise!”

He would never have expected what he saw as the word escaped his mouth. His countenance shifted from one of elation to one of disbelief.

His sister was in bed with a human male. She had her head on top of his bare chest, her eyes closed and a smile on her lips. The man with her had his arm draped over her neck. They both stirred and looked at him, startled and embarrassed.

“Twili… W-what is this?”

“Shining!? What are you doing here?” She asked, her cheeks redder than any mere blush should’ve been.

“I wanted to spend my birthday with my little sister because I missed her and heard she was lonely, but instead I find this! There’s scores of stallions in Ponyville, but you decided to try and cure your loneliness with empty sex with the first drifter to breeze through?”

“That’s not what this is!” The mare in question protested.

“And you!” He pointed an accusatory hoof at the human in bed with her. “You filthy ape, what do you think you’re doing taking advantage of my sister!? We settle this downstairs, five minutes.”

***

As Shining Armor exited the room, Twilight Sparkle began to weep. Mark held her to his chest as she sobbed.

“I- I just wanted to- to-” She sputtered.

“It’s okay, Twi." She continued sobbing. "Twi, look at me!” He turned her head to face him. “Everything’s going to be fine. I’ll get dressed, we’ll go downstairs, and your brother and I will settle this like civilized men. Alright?”

“Alright.” She sighed and nodded her head, blinking away tears.

Mark got out of bed and got dressed, pulling on his briefs before putting his fatigues, dog tags and boots on and rolling up his sleeves. He went downstairs and was met with a tackle that sent him to the floor. Shining Armor was now on top of him and seething.

“Shine! Calm down, this isn’t necessary!” Princess Cadence pleaded, trying to pull him off with her magic.

“No, this bastard took advantage of my little sister and I’m not letting that slide!”

Mark pushed him off and got to his feet.

“Taking advantage of her? I hadn’t seen her in four months and I missed her every moment of it. I love her and I wanted to make last night special. I don’t know how long I’ll even be in town-”

“I bet you’re not even a soldier, and your eyes - They look like a predator’s! You’re just some drifter going between towns and seducing vulnerable mares!”

In response, the SPARTAN pulled up his fatigue top and the shirt underneath to show the scars he had on his body, then he ripped off his dog tags and threw them at the stallion.

“My name is Mark Thompson, and I’m a whole different kind of predator, Shining Armor; you just don’t recognize me. I saved you at that reception when the Covies stormed in. I was the one leading the team that rescued you and your wife when the CM alliance made itself known. I’ve known your sister longer than any I have other pony, and I love her.”

“So you're that SPARTAN. You expect me to believe somepony raised to be a killer has any right to a mare’s heart?”

Mark sighed and began to speak at a level tone. “Oh believe me, I know I’m not good enough for Twilight. I know she’s only a bit better than average-looking, but that doesn't matter to me. She’s kind, smart, funny and brave. I think she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I know I don’t deserve her. If someone or somepony came along who could make her happy, love her as much as I do, and give her everything she deserves then I’d try to get her with them. But no-one’s come along, and I’ll damn well do my best to make her as happy as I can.”

“You’re not talking your way out of this with empty words like that. You used my little sister, and-”

“Shining, he means it,” Princess Cadence said.

That snapped him out of his rage, and left him open for a response. Obviously he valued Princess Cadence' advice, at least on this topic.

“Look, I know what it’s like to be the oldest kid, I had a younger brother and sister. We were all adopted, but we were family, and our parents loved us. I know what it’s like to want to protect the ones you love, and not be able to. I watched my brother and sister die in front of me, and I still have nightmares about that day. I never expected a happy ‘Beauty and the Beast’ ending, I always thought that I’d spend all my days living as a beast, a killer with too much blood on my hands. But four months ago, Twilight made me believe I could have a future, that I was more than a killing machine. I realized I was in love with her, and not long after she told me she loved me too.”

“Love means giving somepony the power to destroy you, and trusting them not to use it,” Cadence stated succinctly. “I can tell you’re sincere about this, and I want Shining Armor to apologize for being so overprotective of his sister.”

Shining looked at his wife in disbelief and was met with a stern gaze, then sighed and bowed his head. “Mark, I’m sorry about the way I acted.”

“It’s fine, I understand. I don't know if I’ll never be good enough for your sister, but I sure as Hell can try.”

He felt a set of hooves behind him, and turned to face a tearful, smiling Twilight Sparkle.

“Mark, you’re more than I could ever ask for. If I was half as good as you treat me, then I’d be some kind of royalty.”

***

Two weeks later, Knife Team was geared up and gathered inside a briefing room in Cavalia Joint Service Base. In front of them was a large screen and a holographic projector that was linked to the UNSC Deliverance. The projector finished booting and displayed a life-sized image of Admiral Hunt.

The SPARTANS all saluted, and he nodded in acknowledgement.

“At ease, gentlemen. We’ve got something important for you today, important enough to put our best team on it. First, this is Colonel Nathan Lockhart.”

The image of a stern-looking Caucasian man with rugged features, black-brown hair and hazel eyes appeared on screen.

“This man is a former SPARTAN-I, a graduate of the ORION Project. He’s the leader of the Black Mamba PMC that’s enabled the Changelings and Unikrainians to do so much damage. The same one that you’ve fought, and the man responsible for a lot of the deaths in this damned war. Dagger Team and a platoon of ODSTs conducted a raid on the complex where he was believed to be hiding, and they located and killed Lockhart, and acquired enough intel from the raid to end this war within the week.”

“Sir, this is great news, but where do we fit in?” Mark asked.

“There’s still the matter of the Covenant remnants in orbit above the north pole.”

“Sir, I thought they were inside the atmosphere,” Jason said.

“Not anymore, Major. A small group of ships jumped into the system and joined with the existing remnant fleet, bringing their numbers up to twenty. Our ships and tactics may have come a long way since the war, but they’re still a hell of a match for us. That fleet is moving south, heading straight for Equestria.”

“Shit,” Ethan breathed.

“We can’t put much fire on them from above because of over-penetration risking civilian casualties. We’ve begun to engage them with some of our ships and we’re moving more into battle, but we’ve only slowed them down. We need you three to cut the head off the snake. We’re sending you and Dagger Team with a group of ODSTs, callsign ‘Blade’, to kill their leader: Rolo’Duronee. You’ll lase his ship as a target so we can put a MAC strike on their shields, opening a hole wide enough for a Pelican to slip onboard. You get in there, kill that bastard and his ship, and get out. With their head cut off, they’ll fall apart and we’ll smash what’s left. Emmerich, give them the coordinates to their birds, there’s nukes and ordnance onboard. Dismissed.”

A set of coordinates appeared on their HUDs, and they headed for the airfield. There, they greeted their counterparts in Dagger team and got onto their Pelican. Jason took the pilot’s seat and Svetlana took the co-pilot’s. They shut the hatch behind them, and the passengers, SPARTANs and ODSTs, strapped themselves in.

The engines rumbled, and the craft began to gain altitude. As they flew higher, their helmets began to pick up comm traffic coming from the battle above. It was almost a shame they couldn’t see the battle, but they needed to be as focused as possible for this.

“If we fuck this up…” Ethan trailed off.

“Then the Covies will turn this in their favor. The hinge-heads are using civilian populations against us to stop orbital bombardment, and we have to fight on their terms. We have to pussyfoot because we don’t wanna piss of the locals, and that means potentially losing the whole planet because we couldn’t risk hurting a few thousand,” Alexander finished.

“So we don’t mess up,” Lukas stated.

“Rogue leader, UNSC Andraste is taking heavy fire from those Seraphs! Get these bastards off of us!”

“Copy. Rogues, we’re going hunting.”

“This is Commander Hideo of the UNSC Rushmore, all hands abandon ship! Repeat, all hands abandon ship! Report to the nearest lifeboats!”

“All units be advised, Angel squadron has been deployed and is moving to combat zone.”

The Pelican jerked as it performed a sharp jink, and a Seraph fighter passed by. 20mm cannon fire from the chin-mounted gun did enough damage to disable the craft’s shields, but it moved out of the firing arc before Svetlana could put even a single round on its physical hull.

“Angel squadron, this is Surgeon, I’m standing by to lase target ‘Goliath’ for a precision MAC strike, but I have bandits on my tail and I can’t shake them! Can you assist?”

“Affirmative, Angel squadron moving to assist,” The squadron leader responded. “Give me your ETA to lase distance.”

“ETA is one mike, but the objective of the strike is to blow a hole for our strike team to fly through. Give us an extra thirty seconds after the strike and we’re out of your hair.”

“Copy, Surgeon.”

Comm chatter intensified for minute before anyone on the dropship said anything.

“Surgeon here, lasing target, stand by for MAC strike in five.”

A bolt of yellow shot from above, lighting up the shields of the CCS-class battlecruiser. A dark spot at the point of impact began to fade, and Jason red-lined the engines to get through before the patch was shielded again. The vibration of the engines could be felt by everyone onboard the craft, and when the hum finally died down they breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“Angel squadron, this is Surgeon. We’re inside.”

“Copy. Good luck.”

“Alright,” Mark began. “When we land, I want Valkyrie and Surgeon defending the bird, same with Blade team. We need a ride out and this is all we’ve got. Raider and Archer will take the nukes and plant them in the reactor core two levels below the midship hangar. CCS-class ships have the bridge mounted near the center of the ship for protection, so Maverick and I will fight our way up there and take out the HVT. Questions?”

“If the shields are still up when you get back, how do we get out?” An ODST asked.

“Covie starship shields are a one-way protection. They keep things from getting in, but it’s no problem for a plasma torpedo or a Phantom to get out. Hangar shields are just for protection against high-velocity objects; only ships without the external protection, like corvettes, have lock-out shields,” Jason answered. “Coming in on the midship hangar now. ETA thirty seconds.”

“Alright people, I want this by the book, no heroics. The second we get inside, that hatch is gonna drop and we’re going out guns blazing. There’s enough room inside a Covie hangar for a skilled pilot to do some maneuvering, so Surgeon and Valkyrie are using that twenty-mike-mike chin-gun for CAS.”

“Ten seconds!”

The four SPARTANS and six ODSTs prepared to dash out the hatch..

“Five, four, three, two, one… We’re in! Opening the hatch!”

The ramp at the rear of the aircraft lowered, and the sound of discharging plasma weaponry could be heard coming from outside.

“Bail out!”

The soldiers stormed out and picked targets. Most of the aliens in the hangar were Grunts, loading weapons onto Seraphs and equipment onto Phantoms for the coming invasion. A few Engineers floated about, and were the first ones to fall.

After the squid-like aliens fell to the floor, the Grunts drew their plasma pistols and began to fire wildly towards the humans. Concentrated return fire from them cut the dockhands down in twenty seconds.

An alarm began to sound, a deep wailing that echoed through the hangar. Almost immediately, several teams of Elite Rangers stormed in. They’d likely been preparing for deployment as shock troopers in advance of the main invasion force.

A shot from a needle rifle broke through the chestplate of an ODST, disabling him before he even aimed his weapon. Alexander dragged him to cover as a flurry of plasma bolts scattered the humans, who were now on the defensive.

A burst of fire from the Pelican’s chin gun killed a pair of Elites and drove the rest of that team to cover underneath a Seraph. The dropship’s cannon couldn’t penetrate the thick hull of the craft, forcing it to pick on stragglers that weren’t under the hulls of Covenant vehicles.

The firefight quickly turned to a stalemate as the combatants became entrenched behind cover. The advantage of air support was preventing the Elites from moving and using their own mobility advantage, and their withering suppressive fire kept the boarders from moving on them.

Mark switched from his DMR to his grenade launcher, and fired a grenade at the defenders. The shot bounced off of the bottom of the Seraph’s hull and landed behind a group of Rangers. It detonated just as one of the Elites had primed a plasma grenade. The explosion killed the alien and sent his explosive up towards the lower hull of the ship. It fused with the plating and detonated, igniting a fuel line that ran toward the engine. The craft ceased its hover and crashed down on all the warriors hiding beneath it.

Lukas began to use his sniper rifle’s high-velocity armor-piercing rounds to penetrate the thinner cover some of the defenders used, killing a few and enraging others long enough for concerted fire to bring them down.

“Surgeon, land the bird and give us some assistance,” Mark ordered.

“On it boss,” He responded.

The dropship descended and fired on a few enemies to drive them from cover. As the landing gear unfolded, the weapons fire finally ceased as the boarders finished cleaning up the last of the defenders.

Jason disembarked and administered biofoam to the chest wound of the injured trooper, which put him back in fighting shape, if not peak condition. He then proceeded to a nearby terminal, where he disabled security systems throughout the ship and set off alarms in all the places the teams wouldn’t be. He called two of the ship’s elevators to the hangar to take the two pairs to the appropriate decks.

The elevators were intended to move large quantities of equipment that was too finicky for the rattling and impacts that entailed grav lift transportation. They were separated from each other by a thick transparent surface that acted as a sort of window.

After retrieving their HAVOK tactical nuclear weapons, Alexander and Lukas got on one of the elevators, and Mark and Ethan on the other.

“Raider, Archer, get down there and plant the nukes. Get back here in one piece, alright?”

“Got it.” Their ride began to descend as they hit a series of controls.

Mark and Ethan traveled upwards, readying their weapons for one final targeted killing.

The Colonel found himself thinking of a promise he'd made before leaving Ponyville.

***

As Mark walked out of the door of Twilight's library, clad in his MJOLNIR armor and bound for a Pelican to take him on an urgent trip to Cavalia JSB, he found that he was held up by a violet-red field of energy around his leg. It was the aura of Twilight's magic, and he turned around to see her in the doorway behid him, the sunset creating striking shadows on her face.

"I just wanted to tell you that- That I have a really bad feeling about this," She sputtered. It was clear she meant it though, and that it wasn't just a white lie to get him to say longer.

"Twilight. I'll come back for you. I promise." He made that oath despite sharing the same feeling of dread at whatever was so urgent as to force him out of his leave time. He wanted to think it was because he was worried for whatever consequences his mission would cause her, and that it was just because he had somepony who'd be hurt by his death, but he hadn't felt this same dread in other times it should've applied.

He headed for the area he'd meet Jason and Ethan at and the Pelican would pick them up. As he passed out of her sight, Twilight whispered a belated response.

"Don't make a girl a promise if you know you can't keep it..."

***

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, the lift slowed, and finally stopped. They were now on the same level as the Elite responsible for millions of deaths on Equis, who'd commanded a violent guerilla campaign and used the politics of his intended conquest against the group who could stop him. From there on out it would be the two of them blowing through wave after wave of Covenant remnants, racing to reach their goal.

“Ethan, it’s time we finish this.”

Author's Note

Yes, it's named after that Operation Neptune Spear. I'd have altered the name to fit the S-IIIs being Army (the name refers to the trident on the US Navy's Special Warfare insignia), but then the allusion would've been exponentially harder to detect. Personally, I'm confused as to why the Army Compartmented Elements (formerly known as the 1st SFOD-D) didn't do the operation, since it had no maritime component whatsoever. I think it might've been favoritism, since the commander of JSOC at the time was Navy, but I'm not sure.

Quiz: If the music at the end of this chapter is from Halo 2's ending, what do you think the title of the next chapter will be?