The floor of the Phantom troop bay shuddered beneath Gunnar's hooves as the group of craft broke atmosphere, heading for the enemy Supercruiser. He looked around. He was on the lead Phantom with Palmer, Majestic, Twilight, Dash, and AJ. They were all clad in full body armor and ready for a fight. Twilight, Dash, and AJ had armor similar to Gunnar's since he had allowed the UNSC to replicate and adjust the armor for their use. A few customization inputs from the individual users made each one unique as well.
Each of the mares were equipped with plasma weaponry based on the technology of Gunnar's Phalanx Plasma DMR that was built to their specific preferences along with other modified weaponry from the UNSC and Covenant. Twilight chose to have her own Phalanx Plasma DMR, and a modified Covenant Type-25 Directed Energy Plasma Pistol, courtesy of Thel's weapon techs. Dash preferred being able to switch between full auto and burst fire at will so Gunnar developed the Rictor-48 Plasma Assault Rifle for her, she also chose a modified UNSC M45D Tactical Shotgun. AJ was more close quarters and she wanted a shotgun based off of Gunnar's weapons tech, so he used the model of the M45D to help create the M45P Plasma Tactical Shotgun with the UNSC's weapons technicians aboard the Infinity. It would more than suffice according to the tests. She also chose a modified UNSC M363 Remote Projectile Detonator as her secondary weapon. Everyone and everypony was equipped with a set of three UNSC M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenades, and three Covenant Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenades each.
They all had energy shields emitted from their armor and were all more than ready for combat.
"Thirty seconds to landing, get ready!" a Spec Ops Sangheili Pilot called back in practiced English.
Every single soldier in the room checked weapons status and armor functionality. Gunnar made sure to check the Hardlight Shield he had. Twilight had been given Active Camo so she tested that real quick. Dash had been given the Agility Enhancement Module that would allow her to run or fly faster for longer periods of time so she made sure that was working. AJ had been given Armor Lock as her armor ability, which permitted her to lock down her armor and overcharge her shields. They were almost practically Spartan Ponies now. Three of them just lacked the extensive years of training and had to settle for the mere two months training sessions. They would follow Gunnar's lead and example though, without question. Their bonds of friendship and trust in one-another made sure of that.
"We're ready to follow you Gunnar," DeMarco said to the stallion.
Gunnar nodded to him and ten seconds later, the doors opened to reveal the Covenant hangar bay and all hell broke loose.
"TOUCHDOWN, HIT IT WARRIORS!!!" the pilot yelled back, and the soldiers in the trooper bay obliged, raining hell on the enemy as they jumped and landed beneath their dropship. There were Jiralhanae among the enemy of all things now. Gunnar and the others recognized them from the briefings.
"Guess they decided to get along with the Covenant again!" Gunnar yelled as he and the others took cover behind crates and other nonexplosive containers.
"So it would seem!" Hoya laughed before moving from cover real quick to pop one of the Brutes in the head with his shotgun, dropping the beastly alien. "They still bleed the same!"
"Let's make 'em bleed then!" DeMarco yelled out before breaking cover and laying down fire that put the enemy behind cover of their own.
The rest of the squad followed suit and opened fire, making sure the hostile units stayed down. AJ and Grant tossed out a pair of UNSC Frag Grenades that both landed among the enemy. The resulting explosion obliterated the immediate threat.
"More hostiles! ELEVEN O'CLOCK!" Palmer called out before turning and laying down fire with her dual wielded M6 Magnums. Three Grunts dropped under the fire and the two Brutes, three enemy Elites, and four Jackals took cover.
"AJ, hit 'em with the detonator!" Gunnar ordered.
The armored mare complied, drawing the weapon, firing off a round that stuck to the wall next to the door the enemy was clustered around, and set it off. The enemy was blown to meaty bits.
"Good hit!" Gunnar congratulated. "All clear!"
"All clear!" another soldier yelled.
"All clear!" and ODST piped up.
Their Phantoms fell still and the soldiers all gathered after making sure the hangar really was clear, ensuring the enemy couldn't vent atmosphere from it along the way.
"Alright, Fireteams Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie, take your ODST charges and set up a perimeter!" Palmer ordered.
The three Spartan Fireteams complied Immediately.
"Everyone... and everypony... else, you have your objectives. Let's move out!" the Commander finished.
They all set out.
===================================================================
Ten minutes later, halfway to the objective, Gunnar and team.
"Ten minutes and no contacts... ah don't like it....," AJ admitted quietly as she kept sweeping back and forth with her plasma shotgun.
"You think any of us feel different?" Madsen joked, just as quietly.
"Keep it down guys, stay focused," Gunnar whispered. He suddenly heard a clattering up ahead and held up a hoof. They all stopped.
"What is it?" DeMarco asked.
Gunnar listened for a brief moment and heard a familiar clunking sound. "Hunters..." the stallion groaned quietly before giving an order, "Everyone to cover now."
Cover was in surprisingly high supply thanks to the architecture of the hallway. They all took positions right away, moving out of sight till the hulking forms of two hunters started to pass them, moving perpendicular to their path and down the other hallway at the crossroad. When Gunnar heard a door open and close and the clunking fall silent, he motioned for them to move forward.
"How come we haven't seen more patrols than this?" Twilight asked.
"Maybe it's a skeleton crew?" Thorne suggested.
"I'm not taking that chance. Stay alert at all times and assume they have a full crew," Gunnar whispered.
It was a few minutes before they came to a large chamber that appeared to be a cargo bay. As they advanced, slow and cautious, a set of blue plasma bolts whizzed passed, narrowly missing Gunnar's head, and DeMarco grabbed the stallion to pull him out of harm's way.
"CONTACT RIGHT!!!" Madsen called as he turned to face the enemy to their right and opened fire, taking cover as he did so while forcing the enemy to do the same.
"HUNTER ON THE LEFT!!!"
"AH GOT HIM!" AJ yelled as she pulled her sticky detonator out and hit the hunter, sticking its head before setting the explosive off. The Hunter was forced by the harsh blast to turn and expose its back, which Gunnar, Twilight, and Thorne exploited with a barrage of plasma and bullets. The hulking creature dropped, killed by the hail of death.
"GOOD KILL!" Thorne yelled before moving to engage the enemy on the right.
A Brute went berserk when Madsen sniped the one next to it between the eyes, spattering blood and brain matter over the first. The berserk Brute charged, but was unable to resist the sheer number of bullets and plasma rounds hitting it. It dropped dead before Gunnar pulled a plasma grenade and got ready to throw at the remaining enemies.
"GRENADE OUT!" he yelled as he loosed the now active blue explosive at the enemy. The explosion finished off all but two of the grunts, who tried to flee only for one to take a headshot from Twilight and the other to take a headshot from Dash when she hit it in burst fire mode.
"All clear, hostiles eliminated," DeMarco stated as he lowered his weapon, keeping his eye on the fallen enemy position for a little longer.
The rest of the trek was uneventful but extremely uncomfortable because of constant fear of a hostile jumping out from the shadows. They then reached the door to the generator room and stacked evenly on either side of the door.
"BREECH!" Gunnar yelled as he hit the controls to the door and opened it, and they filed in, sweeping weapons around.
Twilight was the third to step in before she cried out in pain, taking a hit to the back right thigh from a Type-50 Sniper Beam Rifle System wielded by a Jackal Sniper on a balcony a floor above them. Gunnar instantly retaliated by getting the creature with a headshot from his plasma DMR before the team was forced to cover by a sudden barrage of plasma and needles from hostile forces.
"SOLDIER DOWN!!!!" He called, his voice cracking slightly, before he broke cover and took some more vengeful shots at the enemy, downing a series of five grunts and three jackals with headshots.
The rest of the team broke cover with him and opened fire. A Brute jumped from the balcony above them and landed just in front of their cover, wielding what could only be recognized as a Ceremonial Chieftain's Gravity Hammer. It went down before it could trigger its overshields when it was hit by two shotguns simultaneously in a hail of hot lead and plasma thanks to AJ and Hoya.
DeMarco and Thorne both took cover when they started taking hits, their shields nearly dropping before they took said cover.
"THEY JUST KEEP COMING!" Grant cried out.
"DeMarco Thorne, move to take cover on the left flank, Dash and Grant, you take right! We'll cover you, GO!" Gunnar yelled, barking orders like no tomorrow.
He broke cover with Hoya, Madsen, and Applejack to lay down covering fire, forcing most of the enemy to take cover themselves and allowing the team to follow their orders. Now they had angles on the enemy and quickly dispatched them with carefully aimed headshots and bursts of automatic fire. Soon only Majestic and their allies were left standing.
"Hoya, Grant, get on that bomb!" Gunnar yelled, prompting DeMarco to toss them the Havok Warhead. They got straight to work.
Gunnar and Thorne went straight to Twilight, who was groaning in pain now, and bleeding out.
"Hurry, don't you have any biofoam!?" Gunnar cried out, now starting to panic, scared for Twilight's very life.
"Right here." Thorne said calmly as he pulled a canister of the medical implement from a hardcase on his armor.
He quickly applied it, the brief but agonizing stinging sensation it created causing her to cry out in pain. Then the numbing agents in the biofoam went to work, getting rid of the pain and the foam stopped the bleeding. She passed out though, the pain having been too much for her. Gunnar checked her vitals frantically, and let out a sigh of relief when he found she was still breathing normally and her heart rate and pulse were back down to normal too.
"Thanks Thorne... I... I was frightened there for a minute..." Gunnar admitted.
"Hey don't mention it. We're a team, and besides, what are friends for?" the Spartan IV replied, trying to cheer Gunnar up.
"You're a real friend you know that?"
"I try my best."
The two of them shared a moment to laugh before Gunnar hoisted Twilight up on his back.
"We ready to go!?" the stallion called out.
"Bomb's planted and hidden!" Grant called as she jogged over, the rest of the team following suit, "Ready to go."
"Will Twilight be okay?" Dash asked, the worry in her voice obvious.
"She'll be fine thanks to Thorne and the biofoam he had," Gunnar answered, causing both AJ and Dash to sigh with relief.
"We aren't out of the shit yet," DeMarco reminded them, "We need to get back to the hangar."
"Alright then. LET'S MOVE TEAM!" Gunnar ordered, and they started making their way back.
Dash and Thorne took point, Hoya and AJ covered rear, and DeMarco, Grant, and Madsen covered the sides while keeping Gunnar and Twilight safe so they could reach the Phantoms and Twilight's needed medical support.
The journey was mostly uneventful except for the Hunter that had nearly crushed Dash. Her agility enhancing armor ability along with her reflexes caused the creature to miss though, and it was promptly dropped dead when Thorne filled its back with bullets.
They reached the hangar. The other teams were waiting for them.
"Welcome back," Palmer said, the smile on her face given away by the tone of her voice. "Glad to see everyone and everypony back safe and sound... more or less. Everyone aboard the Phantoms! Buckle up cause this one is gonna be bumpy!"
They all boarded the Phantoms and the ships shot out of the hangar, this time dodging fire from plasma turrets on the enemy supercruiser's hull. One of the escaping phantoms, full of ODST's and friendly Spec Ops Elites, took a hit and started trailing smoke. But otherwise, it was fine.
When they reached the minimum safe distance, Palmer hit the detonator...
===================================================================
Infinity Bridge, above Canterlot, Equestria
Celestia was looking at the footage being transmitted by the ships in the friendly fleet. She witnessed small specs flying from the enemy ship that had to be the escaping teams in their Phantoms. Moments later, she, Lasky, and the whole crew witnessed the ship blow up from the inside in a spectacular display of destructive power. The enemy Supercruiser was no more. The bridge erupted in cheers as the enemy vessel crumbled under the immense amount of unleashed power.
"This is Gunnar to Infinity control, how copy?" the stallion's voice appeared.
"This is Infinity control, Lasky here, go ahead Gunnar," Lasky spoke into the comms to respond.
"Mission was successful, enemy apparently had a near skeleton crew but the security detail was still extreme enough. Twilight took a hit and nearly bled out. She's unconscious, but alive. Requesting medical teams be standing by in hangar bay twelve when we arrive."
Celestia frowned, hearing that her beloved student had been injured in such a manner made her heart sink. But to know that Twilight was still alive allowed her to hold to hope. She let out a relieved sigh. Some of the crew seemed to follow suit.
"Copy that Gunnar," Lasky responded as he sent a signal to medbay to send a team down, "Come on home."
"Roger that, Gunnar out."
The transmission ended. Lasky let out a sigh of relief. He had feared a much more horrible result. He was glad to be wrong.
"I think those soldiers deserve a reward for the risk they took and the bravery they displayed," Celestia said to him.
"I couldn't agree more... when this is over, I'll give them damn medals. For now.... I'll let them have shore leave back in Ponyville."
"That seems to be the best course."
They stood in silence as they watched the battle in space take a turn for the better through the holodisplay. The enemy was now retreating to the nearby moon, and soon they were gone, retreating into Slipspace.