Chapter 4: Ponies Phone Home
A few days passed and it had been decided that the ponies would stay in the part of the barn that had managed to stay undamaged by the destruction left by the rocketship, though only for sleep. Or, more importantly yet, to avoid the watchful eyes of the administrator whose lingering presence served to keep everyone, ponies and mercenaries alike, on edge.
Twilight had been taking notes about the Mercs to pass some time: Their weapons and their ways. She was disgusted by some of the things they did, but by now, she expected such behavior from the men.
The pony took a deep sigh as she heard the sounds of a rifle, its chamber opening and closing to accommodate a single new bullet round. “I never believe I'd get bored of seeing someone blow apart,” she solemnly admitted, pencil still scribbling along the surface of a sheet of paper.
A small chuckle. “It's because you’re not the one doing it." The Australian sniper had his eyes trained on his scope, the barrel of his gun rotating slightly to the left as he scanned the fields. "You should leave it to the professionals anyway."
Twilight quickly dodged a flying arm, ducking low as the limb came smacking against the wall behind her. “It probably helps that we know they don’t die," she started, not even bothering to observe the bloody mess behind her; she has grown accustomed to it by now. "But violence like this doesn’t exist in Equestria and I believe it’s better that way.”
Sniper smiled as he squeezed the trigger, knocking an enemy Demo onto the ground. “Your planet sounds like the Garden of Eden.”
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Since Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy proved to be very helpful in assisting the mercs, the three ponies came out onto the battlements more often. Even Engy had plans. Besides setting up his designs of defense in the intel room, Applejack watching out for Spies, the Texan was also busy coming up with ideas to repair the rocketship. During one of his runs, Engineer had discovered a new source for fuel for their return trip back home. The use of gems had proven very difficult to work with, it being such a foreign concept to the engineer, and the process to change the ship to a fossil fuel based rocket had begun. The Pyro was told about the discovery, and, without a second to spare, was happy to offer up his services. What they had in mind was to build a propane tank for them, and the Engineer, quite delighted to receieve such services, thanked Pyro whole-heartedly. Now, since the group had established their new fuel source, Engi had decided it best to sell the precious stones in return for money as to purcahse new parts to repair the ship.
It certainly made the reparing job that much easier.
However, much to the displeasure of the ponies, Engy was busy with Medic’s recent request. Applejack watched the man scribble away at his blueprints, a frown appearng on her face. Curiosity proving to be too much, the young pony picked herself up and wandered over to Engineer. “Why not finish the rocket first?" she asked, a hint of worry in her voice. "I’m sorry if it sounds selfish, but we requested the rocket first, didn't we?”
Picking the point of his pencil from off the paper, Engineer looked up with a reassuring smile. “Let’s say it’s a surprise." Applejack seemed even more curious than ever, causing the man to let out a soft laugh before he continued working on his blueprints. "You guys won’t be able to see if the rocket's done. You'll all want to leave once that happens. But, trust me, it’d be worth it.”
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In Equestria, Princess Celestia had called several meetings to try and find a way to get the ponies back. So far, every meeting came with the same answer: “Pegasus can’t travel trough space. Unfortunately, the task to build a new rocketship for their safe return would take several months." Her elegance unwavered, she spoke these words with unsurpassed clarity. "The pony that was supposed to be launched knew how to land and, if needed, fix the rocket. The ponies who are out in their place are not so fortunate.”
The room had grown thick, heavy with dread and hopelessness. To most of them, the ponies were lost, but that was something the Princess didn’t want to hear. These weren’t regular ponies. They were the Elements of Harmony and one of them was, by far, her favorite student.
Spike had been in the castle, writing out numerous letters in the hope that they would, in some way, reach Twilight. They had, as usual, ended up with Celestia first. When they didn’t land with Celestia, they burned to ashes. Spike had repeatedly written the same letter, and unfortunately, all of them had ended up in one of two outcomes -- burnt to a crisp or delivered to the wrong destination. Spike got help from Celestia whenever she had the time, but even with her powerful abilities, she wasn't able to reach Twilight. Every attempt had ended in failure, that is, until today.
One letter had managed to stay in tact. And, even more surprisingly, able to reach its intended destination.
“It’s gone!" Spike yelled happily, drawing the attention of everyone around him. "There must be a friendly dragon near her! It's gone, it's gone!” In unison, the group cheered, utterly distraught, but relieved nonetheless.
Help was finally on its way.
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Back at the base, the mercs and ponies alike all decided to take a well deserved break and had left to grab a meal. Rarity decided not to eat that much unlike everyone else, settling with a simple snack. She was scared and missed home too much, her feelings quelling her appetite.
Deep in her worries and thoughts, the pony nearly jumped when the spy uncloaked behind her. A stream of smoke surrounded his skinny, lean frame, hs body slowly becoming more clear as the smoke faded away.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Rarity shouted, heart still beating quickly in her chest.
“Pardon me," the man aplogized as politely and, yet, as strictly and coldly professional as was made possible, "but I overheard you were quite the designer back in your world.”
“Oh," the pony replied with much awe in her voice. She perked up and made herself more presentable, a smile on her face. "I’m not just any designer. I’m the best designer there is!” she exlaimed proudly.
“I see," the spy replied with not a hint of excitement in his tone. He took another drag from his cigarette and tipped the end, ashes falling off slowly to drift to the floors. "Well, would you be so kind as to create some fine headwear and perhaps maybe even a new suit?”
Rarity gave a curt nod. “That sounds like something I can do. Though I might need to find a new design and make it fitting for your shape.”
“Not a problem. Perhaps we can put together what we already have and see if you can improve it?” Spy had his arms crossed over his chest, fingers playing with the cigarette clamped between his lips.
“Yeah! Maybe we can use some of the gems to pay for it!”
As the two continued to discuss the possible designs, Rarity couldn't help but to feel a burst of excitement bubble through his veins. The sooner they started on the outfits, the better.
While both Spy and Rarity were busying themselves with fashion and appearances, the other members of RED team had decided to continue on with their daily lives. Working, of course, was the bulk of their time, and with the knowledge that the ponies had to return back home, it seemed as though the days have dragged on even longer.
Pyro had taken out the Backburner for that day, tinkering with the weapon when, unfortunately, it started acting up on him. Disgruntled though, ever the optimist, Pyro had sought out to fix the problem as there was always a solution at hand. Pyro grabbed the Backburner and gave it a few shakes, an unprofessional way to hear for any loose bolts, but a method that worked nonetheless. Without warning however, a scroll came flying out of one of its opening, smacking right into the Pyro's mask. After shaking his head and rubbing the lenses of his mask, he bent down to pick the piece of parchment up, eyes concentrated on the printed text sprawled against it.
“Oi lassie have ya seen my sticky jumper?!”
Pyro didn't shift his gaze and, instead of replying to the Demo directly, shook his head no.
The Demo swore under his breath, his footsteps drawing nearer. “I’m pretty sure that pink pony took it," he said, coming to his own conclusions rather quickly. "She’s been messin' with the explosives ever since she saw soldier rocket jump.” Demoman eventually sighed, a look of contempt and exhaustion worn into his features. However, when his one eye landed on the scroll in Pyro's grip, his expression changed to that of intrigue and curiosty. “'Ey, what have you got there?”
The Pyro answered but, as expected, in his usual fumbled wording. Wearing a mask never did well with the clearity of his answers, so Demo stood there trying hard to decipher what the fellow had just said. But before he could pester the Pyro to repeat his reply, the sounds of Sniper and Twilight's voices came bustling down the hallway to interrupt their little discussion.
"So, in theory, these other guys could be clones?”
"Mhm. The chances are high if you count in the story where we had to fight a horde of soldiers. I suspect they overspawned us using the spawnrooms," Sniper answered as the pony trotted beside him.
The two continued talking before Demoman opened his mouth to speak, drawing both of their attention towards him without a question. “Hey, you, purple pony!” the man wailed out.
"The name’s Twilight." Her voice came out a lot more agitated than normal. She glared over at the Scotsman, hooves clicking along the floor underneath them.
Demo scoffed. “Whatever! Where's your pink friend?"
Twilight calmed herself down, stressing the important of manners even in the face of such a rude man. "You mean Pinkie Pie? I saw her at the bridge." Her words were now laced with suspicion. "Why?"
"She’s been touching my explosives, that's why!” Demoman spat out. Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but it seemed as though the man had gotten exactly what he wanted and bolted out of the room. The purple pony watched Demo leave, his figure shrinking with each step he took towards the bridge.
As Twilight's eyes remained trained on the still sprinting Demoman, Sniper had calmly waltzed his way over Pyro's shoulder, gaze lingering on the parchement in the man's hands. “What’s that?” the sharpshooter asked pointing at the scroll.
Pyro, tired of trying to explain what happened, merely shrugged and tossed it over to Sniper. The Australian accepted it though, with some hesitation, before opening the scroll. He read the first few lines to himself as the other man beside him went to continue working on his Backburner.
"Ahh," Sniper started, giving a flick to the sheet of paper. "Twilight, it’s for you."
Hearing her name, the pony tore her attention away from Demo, now making her way over to the man. "Huh? For me? What do you mean?" She looked up at Sniper who had gestured over to his hand and, the moment Twilight's eyes landed on the scroll, her heart lit up.
In an instant, she jumped up to grab the scroll away from the sniper's grip, a little squeal of excitement just barely suppressed. "It’s from Princess Celestia!" She happily exclaimed before opening the letter over to read what was on it herself. "Wow! How did it get here?”
Mumbling a little, Pyro turned around to the two, stopping his little maintenience with his weapon. The firebug motioned over to the Backburner before giving a small curt nod, words just barely made out to say 'from this'.
Sniper, after peicing the puzzle together, widened his eyes. "You mean to tell me that this piece of paper flew out of your Backburner?"
The Pyro nodded in response, gloved hand patting the gas tank of the flamethrower.
Twilight, unable to contain her excitement any longer, jumped up and down repeatedly, eyes bright. "Yes! Yes! This is great! Now we can use your backburner to tell everyone back home that we’re safe!"
Sniper put a hand on the pony's back, a gesture that told her to calm herself down. "Only one problem. Pyro’s backburner isn’t magical. We’re lucky we received that message to begin with."
Twilight, upon hearing this, remained optimistic and ever thinking. "Well, what if we channel my magic trough the backburner and attempt to send it to Princess Celestia?"
Hearing the suggestion, both Pyro and Sniper turned to look at each other, each giving their own thoughts about the issue on glances alone. After a few quick seconds, Pyro gave the pony a thumbs up followed by a 'I guess we can try' from a still wary Sniper.
For their first try, Pyro aimed the Backburner at a scroll Twilight had written, his hand steady on the flamethrower. To make sure no one would get hurt in this experiment, the group had brought it upon themselves to place the scroll on a chair. With Twilight's command, the Pyro aqueezed the trigger to bring about a burst of red hot flames. The note caught on fire immediately, the fire scorching through the parchement quickly and effortlessly before smoldering into a pile of charcoal ash.
The sniper brought one hand up to rub at the back of his neck. "So, did it work?"
Twilight walked to the chair before sifting through the mess. "I don’t think so. The letter isn't supposed to be burnt if I'm sending it," she replied in a discouraged voice.
Hearing that tone, Pyro began to mumble in which Sniper had, as he was accustomed to, began to translate. “Right," he nodded, one hand under his chin as he further broke down what the man had said to him. "Pyro said that it didn’t feel any different from the usual flame."
Leaving Twilight to mull over with what had just been said to her, both Spy and Rarity decided to drop into the room, the two heavy in conversation. The Frenchman was holding his fedora in his gloved hand, explaining carefully how they could improve the headpiece. But, with the smell of smoke drifting in the room, the spy had to snap himself out of the topic and shift gears. His critical eyes scanned the surroundings before landing upon the trio in front of him who were staring right back to meet his gaze. "Are we burning files?" He asked in a harsh tone, a flicker of ash falling off the end of his cigarette. "I’m pretty sure the administrator won’t like that when she gets back."
Sniper, with a sigh, began to explain to him what they were trying to do with the letter. With a small scoff and a roll of the eyes, Spy replied, “you should use the copier downstairs to duplicate the letter a couple times. That way you wouldn't need to rewrite it all the time. Simple enough, oui?"
"Ah, right. Great idea," the sniper admitted with a snap of his fingers. "How about you give me a letter and I'll go ahead and copy it for you, Twilight?”
Twilight, with a nod, wrote the Australian up a new letter, as requested, before placing it into his hands.
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Down in the intel room, Applejack and Engineer were enjoying their lunch in blissfull silence. Engineer had brought a box of apples for the ponies to enjoy, much to all of their surprise.
“Thanks a lot for bringing these apples to us!” exclaimed Applejack in wide-eyed amazement.
“You’re welcome, partner," Engineer replied with a tip of his hardhat. "I know you can get pretty sick of eating the same thing after a while, so I decided to change it up a 'lil.”
While the two continued munching down on the food, Sniper entered the room without a decent greeting. The engineer didn't seem to bothered by his presence and went on with his meal. After opening a glass sliding door to where some machinery was located, the Australian peeked his head through and scanned the room. “Engy," he called out, fingers tapping along the door frame, "how’s progress on figuring out that rocket?”
A little shrug. "We can recover the engines and retool them to use regular fuel, but we need a place where we can work on them correctly. I’m good but I can’t just build a rocket without some kind of lab to work in."
"I think we both know a place for that,” Sniper said, looking over at the Texan with a small grin.
The Engineer wagged his finger at him, catching on to what the Sniper was hinting at. "Ah, you see, I thought of that too, but, can we use it? That's the question here."
"Well, it’s not like the rockets in there are actually in use."
"Yes, but it’s also on the other side of the Badlands, in case you forgot."
Applejack, sick of being left out of the conversation, practically yelled her way into the topic. "Woah! Hold on! What are you two even talkin' about?!"
Sniper and Engineer were both equally startled as they had completely forgotten that the pony was in the room with them. Sniper started to explain, gesturing his hands as his words came out. “The Well’s is the place that we’re talking about.”
Applejack squinted, ears flickering side to side. "Well, why on earth would you talk about an old water-pit?"
Engineer jumped in, explaining calmly, "No, partner. The Well is how we call one of the factories where we fight. The Well in particular is a rocket factory." It was just one of their many bases, and Engineer was not surprised in the least that Applejack had been confused about the name. Hell, he had been too, when he’d first joined, all those years ago.
"Then why is there any trouble getting there?" Applejack asked, assuming that the place was just a trip away, or something of the like. It couldn’t be so difficult, now could it? After all, these people had so many tools at their disposals, they had to be able to do just about anything!
Engineer put up his hand, raising three fingers. He began to tick them off, explaining these problems. "First, we need to be able to move the engines of the original rocket." This first one seemed more fixable than the other problems, though it was still an obstacle they had to overcome.
Sniper solved that quickly by saying, "I think we can rent a truck for that."
"Second, the gems are too valuable to leave behind," Engineer went on. Of course, if they were renting a truck, well, perhaps they could find room. Hopefully.
Applejack frowned, confused. "They’re not that valuable in Equestria." But then, really, nothing material was all that valuable where they came from. Not like here. Here it seemed like everything material was all that mattered. It bothered Applejack, to a certain level, to see these men care so little for other things, more important things. Things like friendship.
"Maybe not. But here these things are worth very much and make working on the rocket easy. In fact, I’ve designed a way you guys can easily control the rocket. Heck, even a kid could do it when I’m done with it." Engineer grinned proudly, pleased with himself for having figured out just what he could do to fix up this rocket. It shouldn’t be too hard, and especially so since he had his trusty wrench.
"The gems, Engy?" Applejack prodded gently, looking at him curiously. She didn’t quite see how they fit into all of this, and if they were really all that valuable, then they should give them to someone who needed them. It wasn’t like the ponies couldn’t get along without them, after all.
"Yeah, I’m getting there...in short, we need them close as funding," Engineer explained, moving faster to the point he had been trying to get to. He got the idea that the pony did not like long explanations and beating around the bush.
"They can come with the truck," Sniper said, putting the topic to rest.
"And the third?" asked Applejack, thinking that the final problem must be easy to solve too, if the others had been so simple.
"We need to officially be fighting there." Engineer frowned, scratching underneath his helmet, confounded. He didn’t see how they could get around this one other than waiting to be reassigned there. And who knew how long that could take?
"I think I can have Miss Pauling place us there but once the administrator is back..." Sniper trailed off, looking out into the distance, contemplating the boss’s return.
"Hiding the ponies will be a problem there, too," Engineer added, considering the fact that there was no convenient barn there.
Just then, the copier finished the last piece of paper. Sniper picked up the big stack of papers, muttering, "We’ll find a way to deal with the administrator once she’s back. Her leverage covers us not questioning her authority but these ponies just tipped things in our favor."
"How so?" Engineer questioned, looking up at the Australian, pondering.
"She uses that leverage because she fears us. Even she doesn’t dare to touch Heavy’s gun. If we like these ponies it won’t prevent her from trying something but it will prevent her from taking direct actions." Sniper shrugged, looking back over to the ponies.
Applejack realized that this was serious, but she found Sniper’s last line amusing, "Aaaw I didn’t knew you guys liked us so much," she laughed.
Sniper couldn’t help but smile, saying, "Hey I can survive on my own but it doesn’t mean I don’t like someone to talk to once in a while."
"What’s with those papers anyway?" Engineer asked, pointing to the stack in Sniper’s arms.
"Twilight thinks she can send a message home," Sniper explained, a knowing glint in his eye.
Applejack and Engineer looked at each other. The message didn’t need words to be understood, and Engineer grinned, asking, "Wanna’ go see how that works out?"
"Duh!" said Applejack, and they followed Sniper up to the others.
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Twilight and the others had moved outside on the suggestions of Scout and Rainbow Dash, each who thought it might improve their chances of successfully sending a message, slim as they may be.
“So to say it again, the less there’s in your way, the more chance you have of having connection,” Scout reiterated, using hand gestures to emphasize his point, waving up at the sky.
“It’s not like cell signal, you halfwit,” Rainbow Dash quipped, rolling her eyes. Ever since she had found out about phones and the like, she’d been awed and intrigued. She thought she had the idea down, now, though. And she couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if Equestria ever got these things. Probably a bunch of decreases in ever really hanging out as friends do. Yeah, it wouldn’t be fun. And it would take out all the meaning in her daily trips from Cloudsdale down to Ponyville!
“I was thinking about bullets,” Scout quipped, scowling teasingly.
“What is team doing?” Heavy asked from where he stood atop the balcony with Medic and Fluttershy.
After the others explained what they were attempting to do – and failing – the three shared their ideas.
“Maybe she should try sending it to someone who’s closely connected to her,” Medic provided, looking thoughtfully at the stack of burnt papers.
“Maybe she could try sending it to Spike,” whispered Fluttershy.
“Da! Close relative is good!” exclaimed Heavy, his expression lighting up joyfully.
Before Fluttershy could inform Heavy of exactly who Spike was, a loud BOOM came from the BLU base.
“What’s going on in there?” asked Medic, frowning. He did not like it when the peace was disturbed. If you could call it peace. It was rare enough, anyway.
Spy answered with a short quip, saying, “Eugh. The Demo and Soldier have been chasing the pink one.”
Rainbow Dash, who knew firsthand what damage Soldier could do, became worried about Pinkie and asked, “Why are they chasing her?” It sounded as if they wanted to hurt her, and she couldn’t stand for that, not as a true friend!
“She’s been using their explosives. I think she’s trying to use the explosions to jump like Soldier and Demoman.” Spy shrugged, appearing totally at ease with this fact.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Rainbow Dash asked, skeptical. How, in any way, could that be safe?
“Knowing how thick-skinned you ponies are I think it would have the same effect as when Soldier wears his boots,” explained Spy, flicking out a cigarette and lighting it, taking a long drag of the nicotine-laced smoke.
“Is that good?” she queried, pressing the Frenchman.
“I am certain she is fine,” Spy muttered, exasperated.
And just then, Pinkie Pie landed in the center of the group with a squeal of excitement.
“Wheee that was fun I want to do it again!” She exclaimed, jumping around in a circle within the group.
Medic asked Fluttershy, frowning in confusion, “Does she even know any pain?”
“I don't know. I hope not,” murmured Fluttershy in response, pawing anxiously at the dirt.
Soldier and Demoman came to join the bunch soon after, talking amongst themselves before seeing Pinkie Pie.
“Is the lassie fine?” Demoman asked, scrutinizing her, the shock plainly written on his face a few moments later.
“Of course she is!” shouted the Soldier, puffing his chest out as if he was the reason she was alright.
“You should be at least a little worried. She launched herself using six stickies and three rockets!” Demoman said, frustrated, swinging his arms down as he did so.
The two got into an argument and ignored the others, who began to converse. Twilight asked the other RED team members, “Is something going on between those two?”
“We used to mix up our original selves between RED and BLU until it got difficult to keep track of who the real ones were. They had a big friendship going on,” Spy explained, looking at the two with an expression of vague disappointment.
“What happened?” asked Twilight, looking over at Spy, before her gaze snapped back to the two arguing men.
“Well during that time Soldier was on BLU and Demoman was on RED. The Announcer doesn’t like friendships and cross-company ones make her panic.” The Frenchman shrugged, looking at the two men as well.
Dash let out a short laugh. “So? What was she going to do about it?”
“She told them something that started a war between them and offered new weapons as a bonus.” Spy shook his head disapprovingly, glancing sidelong at the rest of the team.
That quieted the ponies instantly. The very idea that something so material could ruin a friendship was saddening. Spy continued the explanation.
“Demoman easily tells us what she told him after a few drinks. Though, it’s hard to make it out among the ranting. Something about ‘Soldier had agreed first,’ some cursed weapons, and a voice calling out ‘heads’. That last one bothers me.”
“And Soldier?” Twilight asked, focusing especially on the American.
“He refuses to say anything.” Spy seemed unbothered by this, exhaling in a puff of smoke.
“They should be fine now! They’re on the same team,” exclaimed Pinkie as she shook off the dust from the earlier explosion.
“True, but they haven’t really seen eye to eye since the war.”
“War?” asked Pinkie Pie, frowning in confusion.
“Long story short they had a fight and blew, shot, and chopped each other to bits something over six million times.” The Frenchman shrugged, shaking the ashes off of his cigarette.
The ponies were disquieted, thinking about how the battlements must’ve looked like after so much bloodshed. Probably terrible.
"So, can’t we help in any way?" asked Twilight, looking dejectedly at the pair.
"You can try. But first the matter of telling your home that you’re safe and planning on a way back is our top priority,” Spy gently reminded them, turning their attention away from the arguing men.
All together, they said, “Right!” However, Pinkie still worried about the two explosive experts. When Sniper, Engineer, and Applejack arrived, though, they returned to the attempts of sending a note home.
After thirty attempts, Soldier came up with a different idea. "Why don’t we try Pyro’s taunt-kill? It seems closer relevant to this magical stuff than his backburner." He was actually surprised that it had taken him that many tries to figure it out, but now it seemed obvious.
"What are taunt-kills?" Twilight asked, looking over thoughtfully.
"Special moves we have. They are powerful but require a few seconds to prepare," Medic explained helpfully.
"Why Pyro’s in particular?" asked Twilight, studying the pyromaniac with a rather baffeled demeanor.
To answer Twilight’s question Pyro simply displayed his taunt-kill. The fireball that came from Pyro’s hand was strangely, uniquely green.
"That wasn’t supposed to happen," murmured an awed Demoman.
"Yeah! Now that was a fireball!" yelled Dash excitedly, eyes wide, glinting with amazement.
"The fireball is supposed to happen. It's the color that was off," explained the Spy, rubbing his chin with his gloved hand.
Twilight jumped with joy, crying in her sheer excitement. "It means that’s where the sending magic is!” She squealed, her mane bouncing along with her.
They set up for the next try, but before they sent the note, Twilight felt need to add a second note for Spike. The two notes where bound together with a piece of rope. Pyro decided to toss it up as he prepared his taunt-kill and pulled it forward into a green ball of fire, burning the note as it came down. The note dissolved into a purple smoke and headed to the sky. In that same moment, Twilight exclaimed with much shock, "It worked!"
Scout jumped and yelled triumphantly in her wake, fists high up above him. "Aha! I told ya’ outside would be better!"
Soldier shoved him, huffing. "I think my hint gave the edge needed."
When they started arguing, Twilight asked, "Shouldn’t we stop them? I mean, everyone’s suggestions helped."
"Nah. Something like this ends and will be forgotten when the match starts," assured Sniper, shrugging, unimpressed.
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Back in Equestria, Spike had returned to Ponyville still hoping that Twilight and all her friends were okay. After a while, he started feeling something that he had hoped for and coughed up the messages from Twilight. He removed the first note, which happened to be for himself asking if he was alright.
“Am I ok?" A small sigh. "She’s the one that got launched into space and she's asking if I'm okay?"
The note, after addressing him with the usual formal greeting, told him that she and the others were all safe. As Spike read on, he had also found out that that they had made some strange looking friends, and, if everything went well, that they’d be returning home very soon. Towards the end of the letter, she had noted that the second letter was intended for Princess Celestia. After Spike's eyes had went down to the very bottom of the scholl, he sent the second one off to the Princess.
He re-read his own several times when he was alone, happy in his knowledge that Twilight and her friends were all well and fine. It would only be some time before all the ponies would be back home where they belong.
Suddenly, in the middle of his thoughts, a feeling rippled through Spike's system. After a few moments of coughing and hacking desperatly, a blue fez managed to wedge itself out of him.
"Huh?" He started, a curious expression on his face. "What is going on out there?”
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Back in TF Industries, Miss Pauling was watching over the match with her skillfull, trained eyed. While she was humoring herself after watching a blue spy lose his hat to the enemy Pyro’s tauntkill - who was still sending things to Equestria - she heard a low, grumbling, rough tone behind her that caused her to jump violently.
"You can give me my seat back now," the voice began, causing Miss Pauling to look over her shoulders with a look of grave concern etched deeply into her expression. "I have a lot of questions, and you are going to answer them."