Straps were clicked, pants and jackets were on and tightened, and fingerless gloves with a little padding were added. And at last, Flash Sentry stepped out of his bedroom, ready to go.
"Alright, I'm ready to go," Flash declared. "Thanks again Dad."
"No problem kiddo," Steadfast nodded. "Now remember, it'll hurt a lot, so..."
"I know," Flash said.
A knock came to the door. Walking over, he opened it up, showing Aria Blaze, all dressed up in military gear, and a pair of sunglasses.
"Hey Flash. Ya ready?"
"Bet I am," Flash winked.
"Alright, well you two have fun now, alright?" Steadfast said.
"We will, Dad!"
Starry shyly waved, "Have fun... try not to get shot..."
Aria chuckled. "Heh. Don't worry, I'll keep your brother safe. Promise."
The car ride was surprisingly quiet, even for the two of them. Both of them were excited to go, but they were still surprisingly quiet.
"Flash? You okay?"
"Mmm? Oh yeah, yeah, I'm okay," Flash said, genuinely.
"Are you sure? Because, oh, geez I'm bad at this... I've been told that it's okay to say no to activities, and if you don't want to do this, it's fine," Aria said, cringing a little bit at how poorly worded she said it.
"Aria, it's fine. I'm actually excited to do this, I think it'll be fun," Flash said.
"Great!" Another pause of silence passed in between them. "Alright so before we go out there, I want to give you a little bit of advice, if that's okay," Aria said.
"Fine by me, sure," Flash said, keeping his eye on the road.
"Okay, great! So first thing's first, when you get hit by a paintball, it is going to hurt; a lot."
"I am expecting it," Flash nodded. "Continue."
Flash parked the car, and turned off the engine. The two of them stepped out of the car, while Aria continued to talk.
"Rule number two; we work together as a team. When I served in the war (in secret mind you, cause women were not allowed to fight in the front lines of World War II) I made sure to work with my comrades as a team. We were stronger united as one, just like all friends in confrontational situations are."
"Of course," Flash acknowledged.
As Aria continued to ramble on with rules of fighting and surviving, the two of them signed up for the course they wanted (Aria wanted them to get some practice first), given instructions on the usage of weapons and walked into the training field. Their suits were on, tightened, and they got the armor and padding they needed. And not only that, but they also bumped into some friends from CHS who were a part of the team they all signed on for; Mystery Mint, Thunderbass, a few others included. And as soon as they were dressed, the team walked together into the training field.
"... Rule number forty-six, always and I mean ALWAYS, conserve your ammo. It's fun to get tons of unlimited ammo in video games, but I'm just going to tell you right now, we're not going to find small boxes containing shells or rounds lying about. I wasted a lot of good ammo, and that bit me in the butt."
Flash smiled under the mask. "Understood."
"Great!" Aria grinned. "So really, just stand on guard, listen for every little sound you hear. It could be anythi--" she heard some rocks fall off a rock just a few feet from where they were standing. Aria whipped around with a battle ready face, her face turning bleak at a very out of nowhere memory kicked into her brain. And suddenly, she screamed as loud as she could.
"CONTAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCT!"
Jolting around, she started to held her grip on the trigger of the gun, firing it multiple times towards the sound that had been created. Paintballs bounced off the rocks and were slamming into the metal plating that formed the walls. And she didn't let go of the trigger, she just kept her finger on it!
Seeing that she was out of paintballs, she quickly opened up the cap and poured in more paintballs into the collection tank, and resumed firing like crazy. Unsure, but still following her logic, Flash too joined in and started firing at the area Aria was shooting. Paintballs were shooting out like crazy, bouncing and slamming into everything within the area.
Mystery Mint charged in and shot like crazy as well, with Thunderbass and Curly Winds joining in the sudden gunfire.
The guns echoed into the air, making birds run away from the trees they were sitting in, to escape the noise. And people outside of the playing arena players stopped to watch the people in the training arena shoot at nothing like a couple of lunatics.
Aria still screamed like a madwoman, but it finally hit the point where her gun had run out of paintball rounds, and so did Flash's. Aria's screaming slowly died, and she panted. She may not have shot anything in particular, but she and Flash did a heck of a job painting the barrier walls. Mystery and the others looked at her with disturbed faces, and Flash's head tilted as he looked at Aria with confusion. Aria admittedly blushed under the protective mask.
"Are you okay?" Thunderbass asked, honestly wondering if maybe she needed a therapist.
"... I didn't say I always followed my advice."
After getting a little bit of practice in (after Flash had to calm Aria down and confirm that there wasn't anyone there to shoot her) they were ready to start playing. And luckily for them, the rest of the team that signed up was already here. Canterlot Wondercolts were here to play; Thunderbass, Curly Winds, Cloudy Kicks, and Mystery Mint.
A few other teams had assembled as well. Some teenagers from CPA had arrived, and some Everfree Timberwolves as well. Once they were released to go compete, everyone went into the fields to begin the tournament. In no time at all, Flash and Aria were dashing across the field, dodging the storm of paintballs as they ran for cover. They jumped right into a shed, and Flash slammed the door behind him, panting heavily.
Aria sighed with a scary grin on her face. "I love the sounds of war in the morning..." she blew non-existent smoke away from the barrel of her gun while Flash just looked at her, admittedly scared.
"... How much war have you been in before you settled into a regular life?" Flash asked.
Aria shrugged. "I participated in a few here and there, mostly tried to avoid them," Aria admitted. "I did sneak in some wins during World War II though; do NOT tell your parents that."
"But I thought women weren't allowed to fight on the front-lines in World War II," Flash said.
"And you're right. But with a little disguises, some gear, and some extensive planning and sneaking, we were able to help participate in battle," Aria nodded.
"HEY! LET US IN! WE'RE GETTING SLAUGHTERED OUT HERE!"
"Oh, sorry!"
Flash opened the door, and running inside were Thunderbass and Mystery Mint.
"Okay, no way we're getting through, Crystal Prep's completely cut us off," Thunderbass said, almost out of breath.
"What about taking refuge behind the small mountain ridge?" Aria asked.
"Can't, the Everfree Timberwolves have taken that spot, they own the mountains and the woods apparently," Mystery grimaced.
"Greaaaaat," Aria snarled. "... Wait where's Curly Winds and Cloudy Kicks?"
"Ambushed," Curly replied.
"Joy..." Aria rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, they've never done this before."
"Um... no."
"Of course not. Remind me again, why couldn't Valhallen join us, I thought he was into this," Aria asked.
Mystery was about to reply but not til after she jumped in fright as several paintballs struck against the other side of the wall she was leaning against.
"Jeez, guys," she said, calming down.
"Well I'm not staying in here. Come on, let's go kick some butt! On three!"
Everyone flipped their masks down.
"On three, one, two, three, GO!"
Aria kicked the door open and charged out into the field, shooting at the incoming enemies. With a triple shot, Aria hit shoulder, chest, and other shoulder, and watched as her target fell. Turning around, she focused on another guy running at her, and shot at him like a madman.
"Alright, alright, you got me, cool it!"
"One shot doesn't do!"
Around the corner, Aria failed to see a CPA member running at her ready to shoot. It wasn't until Flash Sentry ran out and fired two shots at his armor, taking him out and saving Aria's life.
"Aria, look out!"
Aria turned just in time, taking out another Crystal Prepper with a single shot. Looking back at Flash, she grinned under the helmet, giving a soft salute over to him.
"Come on, let's go kick some butt!"
As time went on, the group was continuing to push forward and stand strong in every match they could. For the most part, they seemed to win a few, although they had a few hiccups here and there and did lose quite a few matches. But they were still standing. And Flash had to admit it, this was actually a lot of fun. Not only did he get some workouts in there, but he was just having plain fun, playing paintball. To him, it felt like being in a video game, although in his girlfriend's case, it was more like war.
And the experience only was only made better with Aria by his side, fighting alongside him. Now if he was ever in a situation like this (not that he planned any career choices that would involve it) he would gladly have Aria by his side.
Though now they were going to get ready for the final tournament. One that neither of them had tried before; in which all teams would be placed on the biggest arena and would have to fight each other; and it wasn't two-against-two, it was one against three, for all three teams. Needless to say, Team CHS was a bit worried. But Aria? No way.
Once their guns were completely reloaded, and the team was all gathered up, they were ready to fight. But Aria had a few words to say...
"Alright boys and girls, listen up.We make one final stand. We will defend our nation!" Aria declared, still keeping up the drill seargent act. "Let's make our mamas proud! ... Correction, let's make all of your mamas proud, I don't have one, so, um... yeah. Let's, let's just do this," Aria said, turning around.
"You know none of this is real, right?" Mystery asked. "Because, you're kind of worrying me with how serious you're taking this--"
"--I take war very seriously, soldier!" Aria screamed, getting up in Mystery's face.
"Um, you're a little close, uhh--"
"--I was also up close and personal with Adolf Hitler. ... Let that sink into your brain."
Mystery gulped.
"Now you listen to me close, sweetheart. War has consequences, and I take it very seriously. We're going to win, and we'll kick their butts! I've spent ten years in special forces, you think I went out there thinking it was going to be a light breeze? You're in this now, rock punk!"
Mystery was practically quivering, until Aria finally quieted her voice and whispered.
"I'm only yelling just to mess with the other guys. I know it's a game, I just take it way too seriously. Now just relax and have fun, okay?"
"Y-Yes."
"Good. Alright boys, let's get into positions!"
All of them stood together, into positions. Plenty of cover for them to hide behind, and a few vantage points for them to win, at least, they thought.
The Timberwolves were closing in, marching together for their final stand. And with her gun cocked, Aria let out the cry.
"For the Alliance! For Canterlot! For the Wondercolts!!!!" Aria yelled like a gorilla.
The Wondercolt team popped out of their corners and began to fire at the incoming Timberwolves.
Curly Winds, Tennis Match, and Thunderbass moved on top of their covers, and started to fire from their cover. But the Timberwolves slowly marched, holding their stance and fought back. A few of them dropped, but they still kept going. The inside of the battle was sounding something straight out of a war movie, people yelling, guns ablazing, running, it had everything excluding explosions of heavy artillery.
Mystery Mint charged out in the open, until Timberwolf eyes focused on her and shot at her with all they had. Curly Winds was next to go, taking a shot to the shoulder and stomach, dropping to the ground. Aria didn't even notice; she was too busy shooting to pay attention. One, two, three, they went down! Paintballs hailing like rain launched out of the turret in rapid fire.
Three more moved themselves closer to her position, and on one knee, she gripped the gun with one arm and pulled the trigger on the first boy, then hitting the second boy, and then finishing the last girl that approached this close. All of them eventually wandered off to exit the arena (the defeated ones at least) but Aria saw more just up ahead. The Timberwolves, or what was left of them, were approaching; they outnumbered her.
The siren looked all around her, no one was left. Mystery, Curly, Flash, they were all dead (figuratively speaking). Only two options were left; either fight off whatever she can, or surrender. But then she remembered something that Adagio had said long ago...
We make the end memorable.
Aria still found herself surrounded, the end was drawing near. But just as another guy was about to shoot her--bam! A paintball hit his armor, and he threw up his arms in frustration, defeated. Aria looked behind for a brief second, seeing Flash Sentry, stiffly approach with his gun still pumped and ready.
"Flash!"
"I'm not finished yet," Flash said, getting back up. "We can do this!"
The rest of the team was still moving forward, and they continued to fire on sight. But the two of them could still see the probability of them winning was less than likely, as they slowly started to surround them.
"Well Flash... let's make the end memorable!" Aria declared.
The two of them fired as many as they could, a few more adversaries falling, bodies piling up. But it wasn't enough; Flash was soon hit, and he had fallen as a victory to the enemy. Aria wasn't about to let him die in vain, and she fired the last bit of ammo she got.
She was slowly getting surrounded. A player shot her in the back, and multiple shots hit her chest, shoulders, behind, almost everywhere until she slowly dropped, time slowing down as her weapon fell out of her hand, slamming onto the ground, and her body finally collapsing to the ground.
"Til all... are... one..." Aria said with dramatics, acting as if she was slowly dying before laying limp and making weird gargling sounds.
The Timberwolves tilted their heads.
"You know, I think you can leave now."
"Give me a minute, I wanna let this settle in for dramatic effect..." Aria said, raising a finger.
"... You are weird."
Everyone left the arena and began putting away the weapons and armor (if anyone had borrowed any) while Aria and Flash were taking a moment to just sit and relax for a moment while they caught their breaths. Their faces were red, hot, and sweaty from wearing the helmets, but they were still smiling at each other.
"Hey uh, Aria?"
Aria looked back at her embarrassed boyfriend. "Sorry I got my butt kicked out there."
"Hey, it's fine," Aria smiled, patting his shoulder. "You didn't do so bad for your first time being out on a paintball course."
"Well you had more experience, you've been in war before."
"Eeyup," Aria said proudly, blowing the non-existent steam out of the turret of her gun. "Proud to have been a fighter." She looked back at Flash softly. "But you still did good. And that last stand-off when it was just us? I got my butt kicked early, and you were still standing, I think that's pretty cool."
Flash smiled. "If I wasn't so sweaty, I'd give you a kiss."
Aria still leaned over and gave him a kiss on the lips. "It's fine. Now what do you say you and I go get cleaned up and we get some ice cream?"
Flash smiled. "I'd like that."
Aria and Flash got up from the bench, but both were still a bit stiff from the wounds they received.
"Oof, ow..." Aria grunted.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just now feeling the paintball marks on my legs. ... And my butt, they hit me hard back there. I think I might need some ointment when we get back," Aria said, still walking funny.
After getting cleaned up and patched up, Aria and Flash were sitting on a bench in the Canterlot Mall, licking away at the ice cream cones they had purchased. Sure they didn't end up winning any trophy, but Aria had to admit. This was a win.
"How's the ice cream?" Aria asked.
"Delicious. Though you didn't have to buy it for me, I would have been happy to pay," Flash replied.
"Flash. You said yes to doing something fun that I like to do. The least I could do was pay for your food," Aria smiled.
Flash smiled back at her, and gave her a peck on her cheek. "You really are the best."
The Dazzling blushed. "Flash..."
"Come on..." Flash scooted closer to her and held her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers.
"... Dang it, why can't I say no," Aria whined before resting her head on her boyfriend's shoulder.
Flash chuckled a bit, smiling back at her. And Aria did not flinch when Flash stroked her cheek. Actually, the way Aria leaned slightly into his palm was kind of adorable.
"Though I have to ask, how come you bought a second cone?"
Aria shrugged. "I thought I'd do something nice for Starry. If I still wanna win her over, I'm going to be like that super rich uncle who spoils everyone."
Flash chuckled. "I'm sure she'll appreciate it, but I think you two are okay."
"Yeah, but I dunno. Your family seems to like me okay from what you described, but I still wanna show I'm serious and actually a good girlfriend. ... I am good to you, aren't I?"
"Babe, of course you are," Flash smiled. "What are you so worried about?"
"I dunno. I guess I never thought I had to worry about something like this before."
"Aria, listen to me. The last time I talked to my mom and dad, they were still okay with you and like you. You have nothing to worry about. Okay?"
Aria softly smiled and laid her head back on his shoulder again. And so the couple just sat peacefully, enjoying the sweet cold flavor of ice cream, and relaxing from a day of battle.
"... What if they start asking about having kids?"