AN: I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively.

Lay of the Land

Spartan-B312, fringes of Ponyville. 0905 Hours, March 12, 2552 (Military Calendar)

The town of Ponyville is spread out before you, a mile or so distant but through the scope of your rifle, it looks like it's within touching distance.

You sweep the scope over the town again, memorising where the streets are, the likely escape routes, which points would make good ambush spots, all the while a small part of your mind is displeased with this mission.

Once the Luna had finished speaking with you and the Helljumpers, you were escorted to a separate room to confer with Fontaine.

She tells you to ignore Luna's commands, kill her if necessary, and find a way to get the Tempest back into space.

You concur, as do the ODSTs, and all of you check your weapons over.

Magazines full, safeties off, grenades at the ready. Everything needed to take down this Princess Luna by force.

The five ODSTs follow you back into the throne room but fail to see Luna, or the griffin king, but the jet black pony is present, a scroll lying on the seat next to him.

You look around the room but still fail to see anyone else.

The stallion gestured with his head to the scroll and you move to pick it up, unfurling the heavy parchment to read the contents.

I expect that your ruler, the one in charge of the ship, will no doubt tell you to remove me, it read. But if you were to do that, then all of the griffins here, the dragons, Diamond Dogs, every sentient creature on this planet who isn't a pony, will be hunted down and exterminated.

I cannot allow that.

So, as to ensure your cooperation in this vile business, I have relocated to a secure area none of you will find or be able to reach.

Those six ponies must die if any of us on this planet are to have even the slightest chance at living in harmony.

The pony with this message, Shadow, will act as my envoy to you. He can communicate with me and relay messages. Whatever you need, write it down for him to deliver to me and I shall see about meeting your requirements, but be warned.

My capabilities are limited, as are those of the ponies loyal to me in Equestria. I cannot offer much. Be wise in your requests.

With deepest regrets,

Luna.

You read and reread the message twice before scrunching it up and throwing the whole thing away, Shadow silently watching you throughout.

The ODSTs shifted nervously from foot to foot, and your displeasure at the mission began to grow.

Fontaine wasn't pleased, either, but had begrudgingly accepted the terms Luna had put forward and made the decision to send you and you alone to the continent where the six targets lived, giving you free reign in deciding how each of the ponies died so long as they conformed to Luna's requirement of it looking natural or accidental, and occurring every two weeks or so.

You objected but went, and now find yourself set up on the edge of Ponyville atop a hill, a rough blanket thrown over you and your sniper rifle in an effort to conceal your effort from anything flying overhead.

The insertion was by Pelican at night, attracting no attention, and your nest was set up within the hour.

Once it was complete, you and your sniper rifle became one and the observation of Ponyville began.

There are six primary targets, six ponies you need to kill, and over the course of the morning you spotted all of them as they went about was passed for daily life in an alien world governed by equines.

The first target you spot is the orange Earth pony, Applejack, as she hauled a cart full of apples into town from her farm.

Second is the blue Pegasi, Rainbow Dash, speeding overhead with the force of a jet. You swear you heard a faint sonic boom as she goes, and a faint rainbow coloured contrail. According to a dossier Luna made containing all the information she felt necessary for the assassinations states the Pegasus helps organise the weather.

You find that slightly baffling, but are simply stumped to see her and several other Pegasus ponies physically herding clouds into one spot.

Up next is the white unicorn, Rarity, who runs a fashion shop within town and sells dresses all over Equestria. Luna's intelligence mentions there are several fashion shows coming up soon, and that the unicorn may leave Ponyville to attend them.

You left a request with Shadow to find out which, if any, of the shows she'll be going to require train travel and of those, which go over bridges that span large drops.

It wouldn't be too hard to rig a bridge to collapse just as a train goes over it.

Your next target, the one Luna asked you to kill first, comes into view.

The dossier says that Fluttershy is timid, lives on the outskirts of Ponyville well away from prying eyes, and is a vet.

Briefly, you wonder if it might be possible to provoke a dangerous animal from attacking the yellow Pegasus but decide against it.

From what you gleaned, Fluttershy has the ability to calm even the most dangerous of beasts with something called the Stare so she may be able to stop any marauding animal before it can harm her, providing you can actually get one to attack her in the first place.

No, you'll have to plan something else to make her death look anything but suspicious.

The next target is Twilight Sparkle, a fellow princess like Luna but purple where Celestia's rouge sister is midnight blue. Her abode is an impressive castle that rises above most structures in Ponyville and glints in the sun.

Luna wants her to die last for some reason, and you guess she'll tell you when the time draws nearer.

Your last target, Pinkie Pie, makes an appearance heading to Applejack's home, a white box tied to her back.

A baker, according to Luna.

You make a mental note to ask her what kinds of stoves are used in her place of work. Electric, or gas?

Until that time, you go back to observing the town and lamenting the strict rules Luna has given you.

One primary death every two weeks, rather than all at once. Madness.

From your initial observations alone, you can already come up with at least two methods of killing all six ponies in one fell swoop.

Method one involves only a single brick of C12, hidden beneath dirt and packed with shrapnel to inflict maximum damage, placed at a spot of your choosing.

Then, using one of Luna's spies within Ponyville, deliver an invitation to the six targets asking them to all be in the prearranged spot at the exact same time.

Once they're all in place, detonate and turn them all into a fine red mist.

Method two is similar to method one but in lieu of explosives, the sniper rifle in your arms is the weapon of choice.

Upon luring all six ponies to a location with clear lines of sight, preferably less than one kilometre away, and then open fire.

Rainbow Dash first because of her high speed, then Twilight Sparkle due to her ability to use magic, and then Rarity and Fluttershy. Reload, then place a bullet into Applejack and Pinkie Pie before they can run away even though a moving target is hardly a challenge to you, not at under a kilometre with a round that travels nearly 1500 metres a second.

All in all, you expect that the second scenario would take a total of four seconds, end to end, to complete including reloads.

Afterwards, you would pick up your spent brass and magazines and just walk away.

Quick, clean, efficient with minimal collateral damage.

On the other hand, if collateral damage was of no concern, then you could call in an orbital MAC strike from the Tempest, wipe away all of Ponyville with the impact of a 600 ton metal slug.

Or, if you really weren't bothered about collateral, a Shiva Nuke.

Ponyville is barely two miles in any direction, nestled close together around a small stream that runs through town.

The fireball given off by the detonation by a Shiva, a fifty megaton device, is five miles across, meaning a direct strike in the centre of town would leave nothing behind, to say nothing of the follow up shockwave, the vacuum, or the flash fires caused by the sheer intensity of the light and heat given off by the initial explosion.

Not only would Ponyville cease to be, everything within a hundred miles would suffer complete and utter destruction.

But no, to appease the being that was all but blackmailing you, you have to make the deaths look accidental, and spread them out.

You shake your head, knowing that to truly make the deaths look like freak accidents, other ponies, ones not targeted for death, would have to die to help cover the six main deaths up.

No matter how good you make it look, no matter how random the deaths may be, killing just those six ponies would raise flags regardless of how long the deaths were spread apart.

That means at least another six unassuming ponies, possibly more, will have to die to cover your tracks.

You shake your head again as your mind begins devising a method to kill Fluttershy with, wondering if Equestria has a police force of any kind and if so, would they look into the death, even going so far as to perform an autopsy on the body?

Again, you make a mental note to ask Princess Luna what the answer to your questions is as your sniper scope zeroes in on your first target, Fluttershy, as she goes about her business, completely unaware you're watching her or that her days will abruptly come to a close.

Soon, you think. Soon.