Second chance: Noble

(The Forge)

Sitting in her office Cortana was looking over some new medical documents along with an email detailing the upcoming new surgical suites she had designed and developed, they were nearly complete and ready to be put into use. Smiling to herself Cortana deleted the email and purged any evidence it had existed leaning back in her chair Cortana took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Years of preparing her new home to go out into the stars and to traverse the galaxy colonizing hundreds of worlds and hopefully they would avoid all the mistakes that the UNSC had done in the past, but then again all new mistakes could be made as they expanded. Turning to the window Cortana watched as the most recent company to start their training, those fools didn't know what they were getting into just like all recruits but this time they wouldn't be surprised when an alien force attacked, they'd be ready with all the technology she could recreate from her old universe and with the help of magic she could greatly improve upon it. Hearing a buzz coming from the desk she used her magic to answer the phone "Yes?"

"Ma'am Princess Luna is here for you."

"Send her in."

Turning to the door Cortana watched as Luna marched in a determined and furious look on her face glaring at the alicorn waiting for her she stopped a few steps away from the desk. Raising an eyebrow Cortana motioned for the alicorn to take a seat in one of the open chairs in front of her desk, shaking her head Luna replied "I'd prefer to stand."

"Understood, so what did we learn?"

"From the mole I've learned she has been living in Equestria for the last five years she's part of a large operation to locate relics that supposedly crashed to the world during The Cataclysm. She had no knowledge of any other operatives that had been deployed they were very careful at compartmentalizing their agents, she only got her instructions from the last agent from a note left in her house of where they had looked." Luna stated as she started to pace in the room most likely angered with herself at how long the mole had been spying in her nation while she continued "She also didn't know how long her motherland had been looking for the relics which we know has been going on for thousands of years, she was told that the operation only started about ten years ago. Besides that, any and all communication was sporadic on both her bosses' part and her own........the codes used were never changed they never thought that she'd be caught and interrogated by us."

"And what about Stitch."

"She is a wonderful chess piece, looking through her memories she is the niece to one General Sharp Beak one of the two generals who will be at the base we plan on helping the G.R liberate in a month."

"What's the catch Luna? I can feel it from here." Cortana said leaning back in her chair a small frown forming on her face she saw the mare of the moon pause and look at her friend "The meeting is happening in two weeks the generals planned on waiting just long enough for her to arrive and deliver the news about her findings, from what she was told they would only arrive 48 hours before the meet and wait 24 hours for her arrival before departing under the cover of night I also have the meeting date."

"Shit......so we need to move now if we hope to take those two out."

"Yes, I planned on meeting with Commander Hawk to inform her about the findings and mentioning moving the operation up."

"You do that and I will call the SPARTANs in so we can transport them into the nation and get eyes on that base."

"Of course, but are all of them going to be going straight to the base?"

"No, we'll send both Nobles Six and Three will infiltrate and scout the area." Cortana leaned forward setting her elbows onto the table top she continued "We'll send the rest to meet the Commander and strategize, we can't risk anything with this operation."

"I'll inform her tonight about your plan." Luna said turning away from the mare she left the room letting the door click shut behind her once she had left Cortana activated her magic and coated the room in a sound dampening aura and turned to her computer setting up she waited for an encrypted line to be created, once that was done, she chose her contact and waited for Carter to pick up. Almost immediately the stallion picked up his voice showing up on the screen "Yes ma'am?"

"Carter gather the team we're moving now."

"Understood, we'll be ready in fifteen"

(Two weeks later)

Laying in a small ditch Six and Jun watched the base from two kilometers away it was a massive castle that sat in the middle of a valley with mountainous walls on both sides so high and sheer that nothing could go up or down them without being noticed by the guards the castle stretched to both sides of the valley seemingly fusing into the mountains. The land around it had been bombed and burned to the point that the ground was charred and black allowing nothing to grow so it was barren for hundreds of meters. Scanning the walls Six saw dozens of soldiers marching along them or standing next to spot lamps to scan the ground looking for anyone mad enough to do a frontal assault. About a day and a half ago Jun had spotted two generals arrive one of which was General Sharp Beak the other was identified as General Iron Tail, of course both of them would be taken care of when the assault began. The two SPARTANs had snuck up to the walls and hid multiple explosives along the wall while also dropping them atop the roofs of towers, the chumps wouldn't even know what hit them until it was too late it was a shame, they couldn't make it to the barracks then again, the armory was a much better place to put some remote explosives.

Shifting his glance Six spied two guards looking in their direction smirking to himself he thought 'Only if they knew.'

"Wish we could move now." Jun whispered over the comm his voice sounding smaller than a mouses

"Noble One will be here soon."

"Course he will along with a whole regiment of G.R. soldiers to take this place."

"Think it was a good idea to set those explosives?"

"Yes."

"Just one word?"

"All the answer needed in this situation."

"Then again you're just itching to test you Cortana's sniper." Six said looking at the sniper in his peripheral the build was almost the exact same as the old SRS99 but cut down its muzzle was half the length of its distant cousin and was easily foldable and mounted on the back.

"Of course I am." Jun said his smile showing in the voice has he used the scope to scan for the guards ready to open up when Carter gave the go. The two of them had been in this valley gathering all the intel they could and setting up the base to blow when the word was given, but of course they hadn't learned much of anything the grunts at this base seemed to be the outcasts sent there to guard a key staging area but weren't the most trustworthy as the leader of the base had on multiple occasions executed the guards for infringements on something. But of course, they didn't know what rules they broke to deserve execution, then again it wouldn't matter when the base was taken most would be imprisoned or die during the initial assault.

Hearing a hiss come over the comms Six stiffened when a voice broke through "This is Noble One to Nobles Three and Six, do you read?"

"We read you Noble One."

"Are you ready to execute?"

"We are ready to execute Noble One." Jun muttered adjusting his position ready to start taking targets he continued "Give the word and we'll blow the charges."

"The word is given, Noble One out." Carter said going radio silent and, in that moment, Jun chinned a control in his helmet and muttered the activation phrase, causing the base to erupt in orange flames as fireballs filled the air. Holes formed in the wall, towers blew, and debris rained down taking down guards and spreading the fire to the buildings surrounding the base. Chaos soon set in as guards froze staring at the fires unable to move due to the shock Jun was quick to pick them off starting with the ones who controlled the remaining spot lamps, they went down not even realizing what had happened.

As Six spotted the targets Jun took them down soon the wall was clear of targets as they fell back behind the wall or laid dead missing most of their skulls. Seeing the regiment breaching the walls Six made out the shape of MJOLNIR armor leaping up onto the walls and breaking into the base, hearing another hiss this time Kats voice came over the comm "Noble's Six and Three you read?"

"We read you Noble two." Six muttered keeping his eyes on the wall

"Good job at removing the hostiles, if you can adjust without being spotted do so and try to provide cover in the base."

"We can manage that Noble two." Six answered backing away from the edge followed by Jun he continued "We're heading to Bravo point, send acknowledgement when we've reached the point."

"Understood, Noble Two out." as soon as they radio went silent Six and Jun took to the sky silently flying through the clouds using them as cover to carefully make their way over to Bravo point. Which was the opposite side of the valley where a rigged sling was set up for them carefully camouflaged to look like the rock face, the angle would be able to allow the two SPARTANs to see behind the walls while also allowing Six to touch down into the base and join the others in the assault. Due to the assault though both armored figures were unnoticed by any of the combatants and had managed to get to Bravo with their anonymity still intact once Jun was strapped into the cliff and sniper trained into the courtyard scanning the area Jun said "You get down there Six and join the assault, I'll cover you."

"Understood." Six stated pushing off the cliff and dived down toward the battle, pulling out his rifle he set his sites on a small group of griffins that had allies pinned down.

(Below)

Ducking down again one of the G.R. soldiers let out a silent curse the G.C.P had them pinned the armored ponies calling themselves Noble had given them the job of securing the prison. It was unbelievable that they managed to get this far the base had been in enemy hands for the last year and a half, now they were inside the courtyard fighting for their lives while those armored monsters were charging ahead to take out the generals. Peeking over the cover the soldier noticed one of the G.C.P pulling back his arm eyes widening she was about to yell *CRACK*

Blood sprayed from the soldier holding the grenade his head whipping back as his body went limp dropping the explosive the enemies let out a shrill cry of alarm before a small fireball engulfed the group killing them. Staring ahead the G.R. soldier tried to figure out what had happened when an armored figure landed Infront of them sweeping a weapon over area making sure it was clear before it spoke "Noble Six designation Beta 3 1 2, you with the G.R ?"

"We are." a young griffin said looking around the battlefield caught off guard by the figure who only walked up to them scanning the area as he made his way over to them, gulping the leader asked "You here to help us?"

"Affirmative."

"Ok your boss Noble One told us to go liberate the prisoners," the griffin pointed to the west wing of the castle while she continued to explain "Most of them are our own."

"Most?"

"Yes, some are just civilians the G.C.P thinks are helping us."

"We secure the prison," Six said lining up behind the leader he looked around before he continued "But until you can confirm who's who we let no one out.

"What the hell, we let them out and they help us!!"

"Or you let out possible spies to infiltrate your group and report back to the G.C.P to let them know what happened here." Six stated as he fired his weapon killing two more G.C.P soldier causing their bodies to fall from the tower slamming into the ground with a wet crack. Staring down at the griffins they gave the soldier a nod and began to show him to the prison eliminating more G.C.P hostiles as they did. Once they were outside the prison they heard a voice giving out orders "KILL THEM ALL!!!" I DON'T WANT ANY SURVIVORS!!!"

Peeking around the corner Six saw the commander pointing at the prisoners as a few of the guards set up explosives around the jails, he had a mad look on his face as spit dribbled down his beak eyes blood shot and looking around widely. Backing away slowly Six turned to the group and whispered silently "He's about to kill the prisoners we have to hurry."

"What's the plan?"

"I'll go in first and take out the commander you three take out the guards."

"Understood."

"We move on three." Six said as they lined up on the sides of the entrance geared up and ready for the fight, shouldering his weapon Six began to count "One."

"Two."

"Three." and on the final number Six slammed into the door causing it to splinter and explode into the room followed by his allies, he sighted the irate commander and put a bullet between his eyes spraying brain and bone onto the wall behind him. While the group took care of the guards using their weapons which Six eyed quickly taking note they looked like the weapons used in WW1 of course designed for griffin use, seeing him eyeing the weapon the leader smirked and asked "You want one?"

Shaking his head Six motioned to his own weapon and said "This is more my speed."

"You think your team is taking out the generals now?" the youngest griffin asked as he looked to each of the prisoners making sure they were all still alive, looking at the young soldier Six's opaque visor made him uncomfortable as he couldn't see pony inside the helmet. Nodding his head Six motioned for them to leave the area while saying "Of course SPARTANs get the mission done."

(Near Command Center)

Ducking down Carter dodged another barrage of gun fire, both him and Jorge were providing a distraction so that Kat and Emile could flank the gunmen. Once the gunfire subsided Carter popped up and fired a few rounds in his direction, while Jorge fired his heavy machine gun letting loose a small stream of bullets chipping away at the wall they hid behind. Checking their six Carter noticed a couple of G.C.P. soldiers sneaking up on them pulling his AR up he let loose a burst of fire causing them to fall like marionettes who've had their strings cut sliding a couple feet. Hearing gunfire again Jorge asked "How much longer till there in position?"

"Have to be getting close Noble Five."

"Of course," Jorge said while firing a few more rounds into the wall while taking a couple himself he never flinched or wavered keeping up the heat he sent a longer burst towards the gun fire while continuing "Ok so we think the generals are up there?"

"Yes, Jun's been watching the skies and after the prison is secured Six will patrol them."

"So, they don't have anywhere to go?"

"Not necessarily," Carter muttered looking toward the ground he gave a small shake while saying "Commander Light Feather took a small squad into some underground tunnels and their doing a sweep."

"Why weren't we informed about this?"

"Apparently she didn't feel the need to tell me UNTIL she went down into them." Carter said but before he continued, he noticed a lack of returning fire. Peeking over the cover he noticed Kats turquoise colored helmet looking down at them before giving him a nod, nodding back he turned to Jorge pointed his hoof to the distance nodding his head the two SPARTANs continued their advance. The resistance from G.C.P soldiers was tapering off but there were still a few hold outs that believed they could win.

Reaching the command center Carter saw Emile had just finished setting up breach charges on a heavy wood door, looking back toward the commander he spoke over TEAMCOM "Saw at least three retreat into here sir, the stone makes it difficult to make out how many are dug in."

"Then check your ammo and go in expecting at least a dozen." Carter said as he marched toward the door checking his ammo seeing he only had three bullets, ejecting the magazine he placed a fresh one into the slot. Looking to the others he got a confirming nod that they were all ready to breach pointing to the door he said "Noble Two and Four you line up on the left me and Jorge will take the right side, standard entry I go first and will clear center to right, Noble two you enter after me and go center to left, Four I want you to enter next and clear from the left to center and Five you do the same on the right."

"Sir." three voices said in unison as they lined up and took position by the door, once they were lined up and ready to go Carter looked to the door and whispered "We do this on my mark."

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

"Mark." and as the word left his lips the charges blew inward sending pieces of wood, stone and metal flying into the room while creating a small cloud of smoke, bursting into the room Carter quickly sited at least ten hostiles in the room raising the rifle he fired three rounds center mass into the first target, quickly adjusting to the second his next three shots were slightly higher catching the griffin in the throat ripping it open and causing a spray of bright blood to cover its comrades, while the final griffin he charged into flattening him into the wall quite literally crushing his chest. Once Carter entered the room Kat followed right behind him aiming down the sites of her hoof cannon, a distant cousin to the SPARTAN hand cannon, and fired a single shot into the targe left of the one Carter eliminated blowing his head apart sending the left half of his cranium across the room, turning to the next one she saw this griffin was more decoratively dressed then the rest she put two rounds into the griffin one in the shoulder and the other through both wings. Next into the room was Emile taking in the situation he noted that Carter had already taken three and Kat two looking at his targets he saw three griffins trying to rush Kat and protect a very specific griffin, smiling in his helmet he drew his kukri and flung it at the nearest griffin sending the piece of metal spiraling at him for it to only imbed itself into his neck while also slicing down the center of his under beak bisecting it letting out a pained gurgle the body fell, turning to the next two he sighted his shotgun and fired twice killing both as the buckshot tore through them leaving massive holes in their torso. Finally Jorge entered the room sighting the final two targets they were the furthest from the group and were beginning to aim down their rifles when they noticed the massive SPARTAN standing before them, but they couldn't react in time or adjust as he fired his own weapon into them blasting them apart literally.

As the dust settled General Iron Tail stared up in horror and shock as four massive armored ponies eliminated his elite guard in a matter of seconds. Clutching a claw to his shoulder he tried to crawl away thinking about how they could do this Equestria had no military had no teeth! and they surely wouldn't be able to muster a force this ruthless in the years that the civil war was going on it was-"Where do you think your goin general?" a voice suddenly spoke as he was dragged back.

Being flipped over he came face to face with a terrifying demon screaming at him as his face was overlapped with that of a wraith, resisting the urge to beg and scream instead the general spoke with authority and patience "I simply was trying to get medical attention."

"Well I think that looks fine, don't you think so Noble Two?"

"Looking at it I'd be forced to agree." a female voice spoke from the turquoise one tilting her head she seemed to be thinking and after a moment spoke again "But then again I'm not an expert with this type of anatomy."

"Then if I must die for the G.C.P then I will." he snarled back at them his eyes full of fire sighing the demon backed away and walked towards the turquoise one while saying "Shouldn't be surprised by this."

Glaring at each of them General Iron Tail was ready to die for the cause he was one of the first to be recruited by Horus and helped him find those who viewed the Griffin Republic as an overreaching imperialist nation to become a free one. He managed to even turn a few more general decimating the G.R. command structure when the coup began three years ago, but the planning had been going on for nearly a decade. Everything was going on without a problem especially when Horus had struck a deal with the U.P.R and was getting shipments of unknown armor and weapons, but recently those shipments had almost stopped along with the quality of the weapons and armor being shipped to them. Now staring at these monsters Iron Tail wished he had equipped this base with those weapons and armor but Horus had countered that order stating "That base is a key to taking the rest of the nation, I see why you want to arm it to the teeth brother. But we must be patient the weapons are rare in our army and the armor just as so. To equip one base would be suicide so until we are ready to strike one will have to wait."

Laughing to himself Iron thought 'Horus you are always three steps ahead.' hearing the heavy foot falls of armored hooves he looked to see a cobalt blue pony step forward looking down at him. Iron was unable to see anything past the gold visor smirking up at the pony he asked "What can i help you with?"

"General we know we can't break you here but my team has been given two options," the pony stopped and seemed to kneel down over him next to him before continuing "Option One you come with us quietly and give us the intel we need about the G.C.P-"

"And option two?"

"We eliminate you and offer the same options to General Sharp Beak AFTER we show him your corpse."

Staring at the pony Iron Tail began to laugh while shaking his head he leaned back and spat a glob of blood onto the visor's reflective surface while shouting "I'LL NEVER BETRAY HORUS YOU BASTARDS!!! THE G.C.P. WILL LIBERATE OUR GREAT COUNTRY AND THEN WE'LL LIBERATE THIS WORLD FROM YOU EQUESTRIANS, SO KILL ME YOU PATHETIC IMPERIALIST SCUM!!"

Staring down at the general Carter knew this was going to be the answer but had hoped to at least bring both generals back as prisoners, but then again eliminating them would cause a power vacuum that should slow the G.C.P down even if it's only for a moment. Taking aim Carter fired a single round into the general's head killing him instantly he then began looking around the room and noticed an escape hatch Iron Tail and his team must have been guarding it......or about to escape down it when Noble had breached the tower. He knew Light Feather had gone below the castle and was searching the tunnels to see if any of the generals were escaping in them, cursing to himself he couldn't send all of noble down into them but he knew his best options turning he said "Ok Noble it looks like General Sharp Beak may have escaped into the tunnels Me and Noble Four will go down there and secure him while Noble Two and Five you finished securing the rest of the castle."

"Sir, what should we do if we find him up here?" Kat asked as she lined up by the exit keeping a lookout for any more hostile griffins looking at her Carter said "Activate the beacon Cortana gave us and get him out of here, capture or elimination are our options But only capture if you know none of our allies are near you."

"Understood sir," Kat said as she slipped out of the building while being followed by Jorge without even looking back she spoke one last time "Good hunting commander."

"You too." Carter returned while staring down the hole he took a breath and leapt into the abyss with Emile behind him a minute later.

(In the skies)

Scanning the skies Six wasn't finding many hostiles either due to the initial ground attack or the lack of respiratory protection none of the griffins seemed to be taking to the skies. Wheeling away from the north sector he began to head south again he hadn't seen or heard from Light Feather since the start of the operation, Carter had mention something about her going down into some escape tunnels. Zooming in on some fighting Six thought he would need to intervene but it looked to be some hold outs that couldn't hold out much longer as a grenade made its way into the bunker before blowing, hovering over the fight Six waited for a moment longer just to make sure everything was clear and after it was he continued the patrol. Hearing a soft chirp in his ear Six chinned a control in his helmet and heard sounds of gunfire then the voice of Light Feather broke through "This is commander Light Feather of Romeo squad, we have located General Sharp Beak and his guards: Repeat we have located General Sharp Beak and his guards!!"

Stopping the patrol Six quickly scanned the area trying to find any signs of fighting inside or outside the compound but couldn't find any sings of recent fighting. Chinning the control again Six spoke into the comm "This is Noble Six Commander where are you and your team? Over."

"We are about a kilometer outside the castle," the voice spoke but was cut off by more gunfire for a moment she gave out orders before resuming the call "The tunnel system only had one way out and we place a choke point around it........we just didn't think about the weaponry they would use."

"Weaponry?" Six asked taking a moment he opened a one-way signal to Jun, Kat and Jorge while giving them a discrete heads up to his plan he began to speak directly to Light Feather "Commander is this the supposed weaponry we've been hearing about?"

"Yes, at least two individuals are using them.........didn't realize it till they killed my mean."

"Fire a flare commander and I'll head that way with back up." Six stated already heading south to exit the smoke and get a clear line for the flare, after a moment a red fire shot into the air climbing above the trees before arcing down seeing the location of the flare Six marked the area and forwarded it to the rest of Noble before speaking again "I'm heading to you now Commander DO NOT fire on anything air borne."

"Understood lieutenant." the commander said before going comm silent sighing to himself Six flexed his wings and shot forward going as fast as he could to the battlefield while checking his ammo reserves not much left, but if he could get his hands on one of those weapons, this could add a feather into the hat the SPARTANs were already building with the Equestrian government.

Once he was a hundred meters out Six dropped below the tree line and began to hoof it to the battle, as he got closer he saw the flashing of lights from the gunfire. Slowing down Six leveled his rifle and began to take a flanking position near the fight doing his best to get a clear line of sight on the enemies, once in position he began to analyze the fight Commander Light Wing was hunkered down behind some stones pushed into place with three of her men. The squad was barely hanging all around were the deceased bodies of their comrades, but coming from the tunnel system was a steady stream of fire for a moment Six thought she had lied to him when suddenly a beam of energy shot out of the tunnel melting a portion of the rock while familiar blue plasma peppered the rock. At that moment Six double checked to make sure he had recorded that and he had, quickly activating his comm Six connected to Light Feather "I'm in position commander and ready."

"If your ready start firing."

"Negative, I have a plan."

"Am I going to like this plan?"

"No."

(General Sharp Beak)

Peaking from behind his cover the general aimed his weapon and fired a beam at the rocks the traitors were hiding behind, scowling to himself he couldn't help but wonder how such a simple meeting could go wrong. Today his niece should have been back with information on a possible artifact in the Everfree and he was eagerly awaiting her return with Iron Tail, his niece had been a genius and had a theory of how to locate the relics. But Horus and their U.P.R were skeptical about what she had suggested, so a deal had been struck if she found an relic of significance her project and team would be funded for the next five years, and Sharp Beak believed in her she was one of the sharpest minds in the G.C.P, the confidence she exuded only made him fight for the expedition harder. Sighing Sharp Beak looked to his subordinates they were the best and brightest of his command and had been training for the day they would storm the capital and relieve their so called president from the seat of power, now though he wasn't sure they would live to see the rising sun tomorrow looking from behind cover he noticed that the return fire had tapered off.

Smiling to himself Sharp Beak turned and began to move his talon in specific motions to his mean 'They must have run out of ammo, two of you will advance while we provide cover.'

Nodding their heads two guards' self-volunteered by tapping their chest plates nodding his head Sharp Beak planted his weapon on his cover and was about to fire when he saw Light Feather and her group take off into the sky quickly retreating. Seeing his men racing ahead he looked wide eyed at them and began to shout "GET BACK IN POSITION!!"

But as soon as they were out of the tunnel mouth multiple cracks sounded through the night and one by one his men quickly fell dead before they hit the ground, realizing what was about to happen Sharp Beak tossed his weapon out towards the bodies as close as he could get them before he retreated into the tunnels. Doing his best to get as far from the blast radius as he could flashing back he remembered the briefing Horus had given them when they were assigned those weapons "I want you all to inform your guards and elite teams that these weapons have spells attached to them that when their user perishes, they will blow up and take anything within a four-and-a-half-meter radius."

Skidding to a stop Sharp Beak watched as a bright light of green flashed and a small ball of energy blew up expanding till it swallowed everything in reach, but this was a fireball or anything else he had seen from modern weapons instead this seemed to just be magic like energy creating a perfect sphere before it collapsed upon itself in a large WHUMP leaving nothing behind besides glowing red rock perfectly smooth. Backing away he thought 'What on Equis have we gotten ourselves into?'

Now before the General Could form a new plan or even move he found himself going weightless and being slammed into a wall face and stomach first, letting out a groan he looked at his body to see a cobalt aura wrapped around it. Rolling his eyes he tried to struggle but found that he couldn't budge an inch, but he still could look outside the tunnel to see a large armored figure walking by the newly created crate eyeing it suspiciously it tapped the edge only to watch it crumble under the tap. Feeling a chuckle bubbling in his throat Sharp Beak let it out and after a moment he began to talk "So I take it you were trying to acquire our weapons?"

"Very astute General." a voice spoke from behind him as he felt a set of......armored hooves patting him down looking for any weapons he may have had, smiling to himself he continued "Yes well with relics like those it's not hard to imagine that our enemies wouldn't want them."

"What was the explosion?" the voice asked keeping his eyes on the crater Sharp Beak tried to shrug his shoulders but found he couldn't even do that thinking over his next words he said "Must be a failsafe they had built into them; my men haven't had something like this happen."

"Hmmmm well Iron Tail seemed to have another theory about that."

"Iron tail?"

"Yes, he turned real quick when he grabbed him earlier, gave up a lot of info to protect his hide."

"That a lie, Iron Tail was the one of the first to join Horus I doubt he would betray us!"

"That what you think."

"I know," the General snarled Iron Tail was the best he may not be the right hand of Horus, but he was one of the first to join him and had been crucial to turning many of the commanders and recruits. Scowling the general began to think when the voice continued "But then again if he didn't what do you think happened?"

"You eliminated him."

"Bingo."

"So is this my ultimatum? I take his spot as a traitor and you let me live."

"Something like that," the voice said slowly and after a moment a new voice began to speak out an all to familiar voice "My name is Violet Feather, I am the niece of General Sharp Beak of the G.C.P I have been dispatched on a crucial mission to obtain a relic......I uh I don't know what else to say."

"It's okay Ms. Feather," a kind female voice spoke her voice softer than silk and as smooth as a crystal hum the voice continued "What can you tell us?"

"I......I know that my parents are dead and my only family is Uncle Sharp Beak."

"What would you tell your Uncle if he were here?"

"I found the relic Uncle Sharp.......I found it and my science was right, I can't wait to show you and all the other relics found within it will help liberate us from everything, even this planet itself." his nieces voice stopped she sounded tired almost delirious feeling anger welling in his chest he snarled at the ponies and fought against the magic to no avail while shouting "My Niece what did you do to her!?!"

"Nothing General we've just been talking to her." the voice spoke softly as he was pulled from the wall and forced to the ground looking up at the voice he saw the pony talking to him wearing cobalt armor watching his back was another in dull grey armor cocking his head to the side it said "But if you were to......turn traitor as you kindly put it we could start talking to you instead of her."

"You bastards!!" fighting against the aura Sharp Beak tried his best but found his strength was leaving him, but he soon stopped when something was pressed to his skull feeling a bead of sweat going down his neck he stopped moving while the voice continued "But if you don't want to surrender yourself we'll put you down and continue to talk to your niece."

".......you promise to leave her alone if I come with you."

"I promise."

"Then take me." Sharp Beak snarled his voice slightly cracking as he said the words after a moment the pony placed something onto his neck and turned away. It didn't take long but Sharp Beak felt the familiar pull of a teleportation spell when his world warped and he found himself in a slate gray room, slowly standing up he took in his surroundings and after a few moment let out a howl of rage and punched the wall.

(Back at the Castle)

Looking at the spot where General Sharp Beak once sat Carter couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief, at least one thing had gone right with the mission capturing a high-ranking general would help open up options for the E.N.M (Equestria National Military) to move in when the time came. Plus, with the supposed elimination of Sharp Beak and Iron Tail the G.C.P's morale would be low, then again, the one failure of the mission stared at Carter in the form of a four-and-a-half-meter crater. Walking up to it Carter turned to Six and asked "What the hell happened Noble Six?"

"I don't know sir, individuals exited the tunnel system, and I neutralized them.........one of my bullets must have ricocheted and killed a hostile who was holding one of the relics."

"So a failsafe is built into them?"

"Must be because some.......explosion opened up engulfing the bodies and weapons."

"Explosion?"

"If I had to accurately describe it sir, it was more like the slipspace bomb explosion." Six stated looking down at the crater nodding his head Carter remembered watching the recording of said explosion he then turned to Six and said "Well at least you have the encounter recorded maybe we can gleam what the weapons look like."

"Yes sir." Six said looking up into the sky he saw Light Feather and her men returning landing beside the crater she stared at it before turning to the SPARTANs and asking "I take it you killed a relic user?"

"Accidentally."

"It's alright Lieutenant," the Commander looked down at the crater and shook her head while continuing "It's difficult to get our hands on those relics, their only handed to the best of their teams or the generals themselves if they even carry them."

"So, we won't be seeing those again for a while."

"Afraid not with the elimination of two of their generals Horus is sure to become paranoid and keep them close to his chest."

"I see." Carter mumbled to himself internally calculating the best ways to force Horus's hands so he brought them out and used them, turning away from the commander Carter looked around the forest and said "Commander Light Wing we need to start patrolling the perimeter and search for any escapees or G.C.P. hostiles who could report back to command."

"Right with you Noble One," Light Wing said pointing to her men she began to bark orders at them while Carter watched silently opening up TEAMCOM he said "Ok Noble start sweeping the area, we need to eliminate any survivors."

"Understood." five voices spoke in unison looking to Six and Emile Carter motioned for them to fan out so they could get started with the patrol, after all it was going to be a long night for everyone involved. But it was nothing that Noble couldn't handle and the griffins defiantly knew how to clear an area, as Carter marched into the forest he cast a final look at the crater and thought 'We need to figure what those weapons are.'