At some EqU-claimed area, a day after the "Capture The Flag" at Teufort…
The EqU Team were trying out some new stuff. Most were acquired from RED and BLU thanks to Thenam's drones, and a few were modified from them so that they were now EqU-themed. For instance…
Based on the Soldier's Buff Banner, and with knowledge of Equestria from its natives, Thenam created the "Royal Canterlot Hallmark", a flag mounted on a small midnight blue backpack and accompanied by a simple megaphone. The flag depicted a head shot of Equestria's other diarch; Princess Luna. Derpy Hooves was currently equipping this as she put her rocket launcher aside.
When you speak through that megaphone, you and any nearby allies are granted a special…buff that halves the effectiveness of your enemies' attacks., Thenam's words echoed in her head. However, you have to first fill up a meter in the backpack by inflicting a certain amount of damage before the effects of the banner can be used. You can still shout through the megaphone, but it will do nothing. Also, should you get sent away, this meter will empty, resulting in the need to fill it again. You will know it's full when you hear the word "Muffin".
(A/N: In a way, the Royal Canterlot Hallmark is like the Battalion's Backup, but the Hallmark shields from more damage and lacks the critical hit immunity the Backup has.)
Just after blasting a BLU simulation Pyro to bits, the then heard "Muffin" resound in her head. Knowing this was the time, Derpy took a deep breath, then shouted through the megaphone "EQU IS BEST TEAM!!!!!" At the end of that sentence, colored rings of light were emitted from the shadows of Derpy and her affected teammates.
At a section below, Applejack—one of those affected by Derpy's new 'weapon'—was aiming a new something at her Level 3 Sentry Gun. She was 'holding' what seemed to be a wooden pistol grip implemented under a single-button style orange joystick, with a small, rectangular radar dish protruding from the front. There was also a small screen which showed what the Sentry Gun was looking at.
Using this improved "Wrangler", Applejack aimed the Sentry Gun at a BLU Heavy being ÜberCharged by a BLU Medic, both of them headed for a control point defended by a dodging but injured Rainbow Dash (without the Hallmark's effects, she would've been 'sent' to the limbo room by now). She had it open fire and launch rockets right in between them. The rockets exploded on the ground and blew the two away from each other, breaking the ÜberCharge beam and rendering them vulnerable once more.
Once the Heavy was broken off from the Medic, Rainbow flew over the former, took out a nondescript bottle of white liquid. "Catch this!", she then yelled as she tossed the "Mad Milk" at the Medic. Shoot the medic first. Gotta remember that. The bottle broke upon contact, dousing him in the white liquid. She then proceeded to blast away with her "scattergun", eventually killing him and—thanks to some strange effects of the milk—recover from her injuries.
Once he was dealt with, she then switched to a large metallic fan that had the generic shape of a butterfly, just like in Fluttershy's cutie mark. This was what Thenam called the "Fan O'War", which 'marks for death' anyone it hits, and is much, much weaker than the Sandman as expected from a fan. She slammed the fan on the Heavy's head, then she yelled, "Over here!"
Immediately, Applejack's Wrangler-controlled Sentry Gun fired away and so did Chronicle from the other side as he was continuously healed up by Fluttershy while he was being pelted by a Wrangler-controlled Sentry's rockets. Both of them were under the Hallmark's effects as well, although that was about to fade soon. The BLU Heavy was downed shortly.
After then taking out the BLU Sentry Gun, just as the two of them were about to proceed further, a sputter of flames touched their bodies…but it did not burn them. They both turned around to see Pinkie Pie aiming her flamethrower at them as she joined them.
"Pinkie Pie," Chronicle began. "I appreciate the fact that you proved our cards' FFPS—Friendly Fire Protection System—to be working and I also thank you for spy-checking us. But as far as Tasic and Thenam know, while the disguises of the RED and BLU Spies can make them look like us, they still easily give themselves away by the way they walk."
"What about Spike?", Pinkie asked. "He walks on two legs just like them."
"But he's much shorter than even their Engineer. And remember that one time?"
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In a battle against RED…
As Pinkie was making her way to their control point to defend it, she saw Spike headed her way. Just as the point entered her sights, she saw Spike there as well. This confused her as neither of them was an EqU Demoman clone since both of them bore the same colors. And she knew every copy Thenam's machine made for all of them.
Suddenly, she felt her tail twitch wildly. Immediately, she did a 180 to see a knife floating mid-air ready to stab her, and Spike below it posed as if he were holding the knife. Immediately after, Spike's image melted to form the RED Spy as he brought down the knife on her.
However, as Pinkie had turned around, the to-be-backstab became a frontal attack, not killing her, but still hurting. A second later, Derpy came out of nowhere and crashed on top of him.
"Oops.", she apologized. "My bad."
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Back in the present…
"Yeah!", Pinkie replied. "The twitchy tail didn't warn me of his knife. It warned me about Derpy falling on him."
Elsewhere, Applejack had left her Sentry and was just finished propping up the exit end of a Teleporter when she sensed something was wrong. Thanks to her 'card', she has intel on any of her buildings at all times. "Spy's sappin' mah Sentry! And mah Dispenser!", she said as she immediately made her way to it. Just as she made it to where her Sentry was, it exploded and fell apart. "Mah Sentry's destroyed!"
Immediately, she switched to her shotgun, a pump-action coach gun-styled one with a wooden stock and ornate engravings on the metal receiver, to which an orange cylindrical capacitor with an antenna was attached. The Frontier Justice.
As she rounded her currently-being-sapped Dispenser, she saw…another EqU Engineer (currently bearing the colors of her cousin Braeburn; yellow coat and orange hair). Although her position seemed a little…off. Quickly, with the FFPS and Spy-checking strategies in mind, Applejack fired at the EqU Engineer—blowing off his head as the Engineer turned back into a BLU Spy.
"Intruder Alert!", Tasic called throughout the P.A. system. "Intruder Alert! BLU is on the attack and are making their way here!"
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Later…
Just like in Granary with RED, the invasion of BLU has turned the simulation battle into the real deal. This time, not only was EqU prepared, they also had another trick up their non-existent sleeves, something they also learned from RED and BLU; sprays. At first, only Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Spike had a field day with this, but soon everypony else was in it as well.
Aside from just for fun, the sprays were used for advertisements, comical purposes, griefing others (like a spray of a rainbow to spite the Scout), leaving their mark, entertainment, or even deception and distraction.
At a corridor somewhere, Pinkie was having fun spraying random stuff when she saw a plate of cupcakes on a table. Ignoring the question as to why something like that was there in the first place, she immediately hopped her way to it, not watching where she was going. Because of that, she did not realize the table and plate of cupcakes was nothing more but a spray until she collided into it.
"Hey!", she complained as she got up. "That isn't a plate of cupcakes!" She then looked around herself…and saw a formation of carefully placed stickybombs, then saw an awaiting BLU Demoman on the left. "Oh, muf—" Her unusual curse was cut short as she was blown up and 'sent away'.
"Go home, lassie.", he mocked. "MEN are fightin' here!" He then went on his way to continue in BLU's attempt to retake the area. Just as he rounded another corner, he glimpsed a dropped Sandvich. As he was a bit damaged from all the fighting, he ran towards it. However, just as he was two feet from it, Chronicle jumped into view, minigun spinning right in front. "Oh, bloody—" The Demoman was immediately torn to pieces by a hail of minigun fire.
"Sucker.", Chronicle said with a chuckle as his minigun slowed in its rotation. Behind him was an EqU Medic clone, who bore an arctic blue coat, baby blue eyes, and dark teal hair (colors of a Ponyville pegasus citizen named Medley). He turned to her. "Come on, let's go."
Just as he was about to go on, the Medic's healing beam stopped. He paused, turned around, then saw a spray on the wall. Ignoring the Medic, he went over and read it.
"FYI I am a spy." It then dawned on him as he saw a trace of pink hair in his peripheral vision. "Oh, f—" He was cut off as he felt a knife hit his back and he was 'sent away' to the limbo room, where he realized what had happened. The BLU Spy was wielding the "Your Eternal Reward", which allows the user to rapidly disguise themselves as the ones they backstabbed.
The BLU Spy had stabbed the Medic, put the spray for Chronicle to read, then stabbed him while he was doing so. As for the hint of (Fluttershy's) pink hair, the masks of the RED and BLU Spies' Disguise Kits only contained masks that disguised them as each other (RED for BLU, BLU for RED) and the original EqU members. That meant, for example, someone disguising as an EqU Scout would take in the appearance of Rainbow Dash and not any of her "palette swaps".
With this in mind, as well as the fact that the Spies seem to be improving (either by skill or by tech) in their disguising as EqU mercs, using the communications system in the limbo room, he informed the others that a BLU Spy was disguising as him. After that, all he could do was wait until he 'respawns'.
Back in the fight, the BLU Spy—still disguised as Chronicle—was running amongst the EqUs, successfully avoiding their spy-checking methods without raising too much suspicion when he then saw a rather blatant target. It was the EqU Sniper, the original one, the one addressed as Twilight Sparkle.
As he made his way to her, he took a few seconds to ponder on why they (with the exception of Spike) were named they way they were, then pushed it aside as he reached the Sniper Deck he saw her nested at. Just as he crossed the small doorway however, he was met with a burst of flames, which removed his disguise as well as naturally set him on fire.
Hearing the sound of flames, Twilight turned around, cast the memory spell on the BLU Spy, and said, "Just as planned." before finishing him off with a couple of bullets from her submachine gun assisted by the EqU Pyro (bearing a grayish-purple coat and gray hair) standing by with her, who assisted by blasting with her shotgun.
"I had doubts whether this kind of trap would work."
"Gvuuh jovhh.", said the EqU Pyro through her mask. For some reason, only Pinkie Pie could speak through her mask unmuffled. How this was possible Twilight could never understand and decided to not ever ask.
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And that's it for now. As you can see, kills from Your Eternal Reward don't put up a notification in the kill feed. See ya on Third!