"Let's move," I said while slowly making my way to the designated area while I shouldered the M110. It plastic frame feeling great as it felt like the grips molded to my hands, but I couldn't use the scope; however, I was able to ask for an offset iron sight from the armory for mid to close range encounters.

I couldn't risk having a fight break out between us and any patrol we may come across. It was for this very reason why I didn't allow shotguns, too loud and too open for any close-range weapons. Medium and long-range weapons we're allowed with the exception of SMGs because they can provide easy covering fire if need be.

"I got your back," Quick Silver said as we slowly made our way through the forested area with slow steady movements. Each step was heavily muffled as we walked without a single crunching leaf – mostly because there wasn't a single leaf on the ground, but that's beside the point.

"Copy, I don't want any surprises." That didn't last long as my right foot sunk into an unseen hole. That wouldn't have been an issue, they used modern military tactics, so I didn't have to worry about traps. Those were mostly used to slow down those who have to use S.E.R.E, but they were a battalion; not a small group. What actually happened was something that would suck for a good long while until the mission is finished. "Son of a bitch," I complained without realizing I was still broadcasting my voice to the rest of the teams.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked as I pulled my foot back up the hole and began back on the path we needed to move.

"My foot sunk in a puddle." My annoyed expression didn't go unnoticed as many either groaned or weren't even going to acknowledge it.

"Really? That's what's happened." Luckily, I wasn't alone on this as Hawkins spoke up in my defense.

"Hey! You don't have to wear socks!" She yelled as those in my team blushed at that but I quickly understood.

"Let me guess, here it's used for lingerie," I said before walking back on the designated route that we planned.

"Y-yes," Spitfire said a little shocked, but also in a defeated tone.

"Hunter... How do you know that?" Hawkins asked as the other three looked at me with confusion and also a slight blush.

"I'm sixteen at the zenith of human puberty, I'll give you three guesses; the first two don't count." That definitely shut everyone up as they got to thinking.

"Jesus!" Hawkins yelled as I held off the growing urge to laugh. "Better be glad I switched up over to a different frequency than the rest."

"Ah, Thanks for letting me know. What frequency should I change to give the assault order?" I said as I checked the radio on my chest, the long cord connecting my helmet connected headset to the radio extending from its curled form. I don't know why I paid attention to that, but I did. Now, "How the fuck do I use this?" I was about to fiddle with it until I got something.

"Don't worry about it. I'll do it remotely, but I want us to finish that conversation later." She said while I swept the area any hostile. It didn't take long for us to move up and continue for a good long-distance.

Actually, I was doing all this while talking with Hawkins and I never realized it. That's really bad. I can't do that again or I may mistake the two mares and griffiness for an enemy. I'd rather not shoot a friend because of my own short sidedness.

"Sure, sure. I promise. Uh... Hey Dash, how far are we?" I don't know what was going on as I held the position in an are with a food amount of trees.

"About a quarter of the first kilometer. Were making great time," Dash said as I walked forward in the direction we were heading, but this time I made sure that I didn't lose focus and work automatically.

"Good, let's keep going. Quick Silver, you got eyes on us?" I asked as I swept the area again for any patrols that may come our way.

"Yup, don't worry. You're still on route. Keep going, but expect heavier enemy presence within the first quarter mark. A fight might be inevitable but get as far as you can. If you do get in a fight, I'll let Hawkins know to give the order," Quick Silver said as I checked the chamber to see if it was properly loaded. Lord knows I've done that at a gun range before.

"Good, you're keeping us alive here. Just keep doing what you're doing." I got off the comms immediately after as she responded to the comment with giddy.

"Copy!" Damn, ponies are easily excitable, but then again; they are mostly innocent in this matter.

I made a few hand gestures indicating for us to keep quiet, move forward, and listen out for anyone who may be near. After that, we moved quietly as we kept our ears open for any bad guys as my ears swiveled in different directions. It got to the point that we were almost completely silent except for the soft noise of boots crushing grass. I will give it to Quick though, there was a hell of a lot more enemies here than originally anticipated.

We needed a miracle to get by undetected, but I believe that we can do so easily. We just needed to be extremely precise in order to move through undetected. Unfortunately, more and more patrols began to appear as I looked through the offset sight. We waited for a few minutes to see if the numbers would thin out before acting. Five were left remaining and all they were doing was talking to one another; seemingly in another language. I shrugged it off and made a few gestures to give a clear message: "pick your target, but leave the last to me."

I unsheathed my knife slowly and silently as a griffin left to do something unknown, but I didn't pay it much mind. I kept the knife out just in case something happened that needed me in close proximity to one of them. I had my target and we made sure that two or more of us didn't have the same target. I released three fingers from the forward grip and made sure they could see it and know what to do.

Three

One finger curled back into its original position and making the gun a little more manageable to keep up. I could feel that anticipation actually began to turn into a want to do so which began to terrify me as I tried to gulp it back down. What would happen if I killed again? Would I enjoy it? Would I go to a desk job? Was there any other way? For the first time since this began, I didn't want to kill?

Two

Another finger fell as I could feel the anticipation growing within me as I actually began to think about killing them. All previous times, I did it without thinking about, without remorse, and sometimes aimed for arms and legs to disable them before going for the kill. My mind still was swayed by the mental thought of killing even more, and the more emotional side wanted to agree with it. My logical side that constantly had control said otherwise. For the first time in years, I was torn.

One

But this needed to be done. Trying to find another way could mean that this opening may close soon and trying to find a nonlethal way could lead to losing a hell of a lot more time. Time we don't have. We could also run the risk of getting caught or getting lost. Luna and who knows how many were depending on use to save them and bring back that lost hope Equestria lost.

The last finger fell.

Pfft!

The quiet noise from our suppressors hangs in the air as the first blood in this mission, from my knowledge, was spilled. All those thoughts that tried to convince me that this was bad died as I felt absolutely nothing once again, yet a small emptiness could be felt where what's left of my innocence. I didn't kill out of hate, rage, or sadness; just a pure cold-blooded kill.

That brief moment of relief was disrupted by that guy who left before we took the shot. His strong grasp gripped me easily as his hands covered my throat. The others took aim, but he pulled me in front of them and used me as a shield.

"Go," I croaked out from the lack of oxygen going through my throat. I didn't have my knife, the blade was a few meters away from me in my current position.

They looked at me with shock as he turned me around into a chokehold to look at them. I was at his mercy and getting out would be a challenge. The snipers couldn't kill him either since it would go right through him and into me; killing us both. More came out with rifles and aimed it at the group as they aimed back at them. Six versus three was bad in this situation.

"Go get the rest and tell them we found a rat." He ordered as another male griffin left. "Look, you failed. No Equestrian can beat a predator nation. Not even a false fox." He paused for a moment as he began to think about what he was going to say. "We never wanted this, but the Equestrians forced our hand."

"But what about humanity? What did we do?" I said, the air coming through my throat making it much easier to speak.

"And how did we "force your hand"?" Rainbow mocked causing the guy behind me to get agitated and pull out a machete. It was placed against my neck as many of them were contemplating.

"Cut the shit, you know what you did!" He yelled as the snipers came on the comms as they were considering what to do.

"We need to do-" That didn't last long as gunfire could be heard as he went silent. Many others meet the same fate as the comms lit up with desperate calls for help.

"We're going to take a little walk. You," he looked at the griffiness holding Alex, "take her with us. That traitor will be persecuted by our commander." We were forced away while the other two were held captive, but I couldn't help but smirk. I've already made the plan if this happened.

(Quick Silver's POV)

I hid as soon as I could, my unicorn spotter was a Ruby Changeling, and now I was hiding from a patrol or was it a strike team. I lifted my rifle as the five Changelings and Griffins searched the area for, what I presumed, was me. How did they find us?

I didn't have time to answer that is moved to a more solid cover. I lifted my new rifle and aimed at one of their heads as a smile grew on my face. I'll show them why I'm nicknamed Quick Silver.

In two seconds, three fell from the controlled burst I shot. The first two were unaware of my presence and the third was taken by surprise. I was able to take down the shields of the other two that remained, but they got behind a tree before I could kill either. Shooting through a tree was almost impossible, not because it won't go through, but because your bullet won't come out on the same path it was fired.

I took the time I bought myself to take off the scope on my sniper in favor of the iron sights. The gun in my arms felt natural compared to other guns, but it was slow. I needed the ability to punch through and the M24 chambered in .338 Lapua was just the gun to do so.

The moment one came out, I was able to put a bullet in her head before she could even comprehend. Quickly loading another round into the chamber, I shot a little prematurely and got him in the leg. The bullet doing a significant amount of damage if the kneecap flying off off him is any indication.

I was about to shoot him, but I got a better look at him as I slowly got closer and kicking his gun away along with throwing away his handgun. I look at him dead in the eyes and I could clearly remember his face. The same one my best friend died too and it wasn't from a bullet.

The Battle of Vanhoover was one of the bloodiest battles we ever had; because both sides ran out of ammo and ran at each other with knives, swords, machetes, or any improvised melee weapons. Many were bludgeoned to death and we kept fighting until our blades dulled. I pull up his shirt to see if it was actually him or a family member. It was him, that scar a little bit of from the heart and lung. He had gotten extremely lucky that I had missed both.

I cut a small incision on his inner thigh, cutting open an artery in the process as he desperately tried to stop it, but failed horribly as he slowly lost his life. That was completely different than every other time I've killed. Was it because I actually got revenge on the bastard that killed her, or because I couldn't care anymore.

"Can anyone hear me?" I asked into the comms as many of the assault teams gave vocal responses.

"This is Talion 1-1, what's the problem?" I let out a sigh of relief since she wasn't shot down yet, but I couldn't tell where the was.

"Switch to a private channel." I could hear the sound of radio static for some time as I waited. Eventually, radio contact was reestablished with Hawkins. "Ma'am, the rescue team has been captured and all snipers have been killed. I'm all that's left." Silence once again and I wasn't liking it one bit.

"Anyone in the rescue team still alive?" She heart ached her scope and saw the Element of Loyalty and the Captain of the Wander bolts were still alive, but at gunpoint by five griffins. The friendly griffin and fox we're being escorted by two griffins.

"I got eyes on the Sargent and the griffin. Both are being escorted with one griffin each and... Holy shit, one had an obsidian machete." This was bad, really bad. One wrong move and the Sargent was a dead... Fox.

"What's so bad about obsidian?" I had to keep reminding myself that they are from a different world. It was still jarring to know that there was life beyond the stars.

"Obsidian is used for preventing magic from being used. An inhibitor ring has little pieces of obsidian in it to prevent magic from being cast without the amount being lethal. Holding onto it for too long in large quantities destroys the magic within the creature. Since you traveled by portal and your bodies adapted to the magic; it will do the same to you." The implications came easy to me as I tried not to think about it too much, but...

"And that's bad why?" She still didn't get it as I watched over the group of four for a little while longer.

"The soul is the body's natural factory for magic so..." I could practically hear the gears turning through the static as she finally began to get it.

"It'll cut through the shield easily and destroy the soul." The horror was clearly evident as the gears began to turn in my head.

"But the soul thing is only theory. We still haven't figured it out if it was true or not, but that fear made weapons composed of obsidian to be illegal worldwide." I looked down the scope and saw his smile. Was he planning something or did he already have a plan? "How is his reaction time?" I asked while planning for a long-range rescue.

"From what I've seen, he thinks quick and reacts quicker. Why?" I smiled as I squeezed the trigger and the soft sound from my sniper was all too familiar now.

My bullet sailed through the air with ease and implanted itself in a griffin's skull. The one holding Alex fell like a bag of rocks as his buddy tried to comprehend what happened but couldn't do much since Hunter's heel connected with his testicles causing the griffin to lose his grip. He practically let him go before Hunter took the machete and rammed it into him his stomach.

Without hesitation, he yanked it out – causing the remaining griffin to fall in his knees from the force – and chopping his head in half. It was a little nauseating to see it, but he took it a step further by giving me a clear view of a decapitation before giving me a two-finger salute. He took the sheath, put the machete back in it, and attached it to his back and over his right shoulder.

"I think I'm scarred for life after watching that," I muttered to myself as I rubbed my temples. I opened communications again and asked for a radio connection between me and the rescue team. "You good?" Static once again and I absolutely hated it. Not because it was loud, but I was unsure of the situation going on on the ground.

"Yup, you saved my ass. I owe you one." Depending on what happens next week, I'll take it.

"Did you know I was watching you after the purge?" How can he even see this far? Did his eyes improve when coming through?

"Your scope doesn't prevent glare." He said as I immediately did my best to cover the scope with what was around me.

"Okay, okay, do you need any more help?" I checked my sniping position and began to move to another vantage point to have a better view of the situation.

"How many are guarding the other two?" My rifle muzzle turned to the captive members and just counted. Their L85A2s we're pointed at the mares heads before she responded.

"Five. L85A2s and standard level 3 armor. That machete should cut through the shielding and armor easily." I kept an eye on them as static once again filled my ears with that annoying sound.

"Keep your eyes on them and inform me of any new developments." I clicked the radio once again to respond, but the one-word response normally given to an order received felt like second nature.

"Copy."

(Third Person – Sugar Cube Corner, Ponyville)

Ponies were filling the confectionery establishment because they all wanted to see what would happen next. Each second felt like an eternity as they went to retrieve the two most talented pegasi Equestria had to offer. A lot of them were blushing after he blatantly admitted to watching porn; many thought he thought they weren't watching him.

As many of their blushes subsided, Rarity began to feel hope about the future of the Princess."They can actually win this fight." Rarity said as she had hoped for future successful battles and a possible recapture of Manehattan

"Wait, you said your sixteen right?" Quick Silver asked before continuing once again. "Are teens allowed in your military, or did you lie about your age?" This grabbed their attention as they all shut up.

"Nope, there's going to be a massive draft. The griffins are about to wipe us out... As in extinction. Where about to hit them back, but we need to cross the Panama Canal to get to the Atlantic Ocean and link up with what's left of humanity there. They may have already started the draft before we lost radio contact. How griffins took out satellites; I'll never know." Some of the stuff be was talking about seemed to go right over their heads; Atlantic Ocean, Panama Canal, satellite... It all didn't seem to be in their dictionary.

"Actually, do you have any formal training?" Was he making mistakes that they weren't seeing or was this something to be between soldiers.

"Of course not. They probably sent me in because I'm expendable with sociopathic tendencies and overthink things. Hell, when we lost the snipers, I just began to wing it." hope pretty much died there, but they kept watching just to see the outcome; however, some were a little sad something so young considered himself expendable.

"You're putting our lives of dumb luck?!" That was the question of many, but it wouldn't be the fox who answered.

"You'd be surprised how lucky he is. Crazy bastard ran into oncoming fire in no man's land without getting hit." The griffin responded as they switched to the fox to see what was happening. Rarity had to agree, he indeed was a crazy bastard.

"I prefer the phrase "That crazy son of a bitch"." Many winced from his excessive swearing but eventually got used to it.

"That wasn't a compliment. You pull stupid shit out you ass all the time." It doesn't matter what language you speak, that wouldn't be a compliment unless you take pride in it.

Growl!!!

That pit the ponies on alarm as they waited to see what beast that was from. They were wanting to see if that'll be the end for the duo or if they'll prevail. The two began to slow down a little with the fox's hands placed on his camo covered stomach.

"Damn it, I shouldn't have skipped breakfast." The anticipation all died within them as it was revealed he was just hungry. Many facepalmed at him neglecting a meal.

"I told you to eat something." There wasn't a response, but they just continued on their way to the two captured mares.

"They're not even worried, are they overconfident?" Twilight mumbled as she got to thinking before magicking in a book and quill.

"Hey you guys wanna hear a question that'll make no sense?" Twilight was just about to facepalm before someone asked what she was thinking.

"What's up with you today. You went from completely serious to childlike in seconds." She may have been a griffin, but Twilight wanted to shake her hand.

"I think I told you this, but I may just have the memory of a potato." That did get a laugh out of some of the ponies. A few chuckled from over the comms and the two captured struggled not to show they heard it. "My mind finally caught up with my body and is awake. I'm so used to getting a few hours of sleep and not seven or eight. The bus for school comes early and is inconsistent so I normally wake up about 5:30 every morning. Eh, don't have to do that shit now. Goodbye normal life!" It may have been quiet, but to those watching; it was loud and all they could do was hope that they weren't discovered.

"Heads up, your almost there," Quick Silver said as he immediately shut up and moved slower. It was like someone flipped a switch and he's something completely different.

Without warning, he sprinted at the group of five with his new scavenged machete in his hands and swung. Much to the observer's surprise and horror, he cleaved through a griffin and stabbed another without remorse.

In the confusion, Dash punched one while he tried to raise his gun, but ultimately failed as he stumbled back; he lost his footing and struggled to reclaim it. He wasn't able to see the mare raise her SMG and pull the trigger. He was dead before he hit the ground.

One fell with a sizable hole in his head as he fell to the ground with a thud as the last guy tried to run away. He was met with a bullet through the back courtesy of their friendly neighborhood sniper watching out for them.

It all happened so fast that no one watching could comprehend what just happened. It was just so unreal in their eyes that the griffins we're actually loosing. Considering that the leader hasn't had any formal training, they were doing really well. All the observers could do was watch and hope that they'll save Luna.

Author's Note

Bad ending? I'm not sure. I wanted to show the observer's perspective of the event. Possibly one last chapter before Operation Lunar Eclipse ends.