Twilight smiled viciously, she was overwhelmed with so much joy. The human mercenaries were just in front of her. Her eyes scanned every single one of them and she could see the similarities between team Fortress and team Harmony. The Soldier screamed like a madman while he slammed his head with his shovel several times. Pinkie was doing the same, trying to out-crazy the war veteran. Engineer and Spike were reluctant, it was obvious that they didn't want any trouble. Oh poor Spike, in this line of work, trouble is your best friend.
Dash and Scout insulted each other back and forth. One after another, the crowd would go "Oh!" whenever a good insult was made. Though, unlike Fluttershy, the Sniper was confident with his skills. He showed no signs of weakness, his face was passive and yet Twilight could see the fire in his eyes right through his shades.
Odd thing was that the pyros were trying to defuse the situation. The Pyro tried his best to convince Heavy not to fight but was failing terribly while Autumn was explaining something to Twilight who was still eyeing up the Medic to even notice.
The Medic really piqued Twilight's interest, their eyes locked onto each other and both smiled in the same way. One that looked like a smile that belonged to a mad scientist. Twilight felt an itch on her hoof, she wanted their organs so badly. She knew that with it, her team would evolve into something above mortal ponies.
"Come on! Do it! Make the first move!" Scout dared them.
"You first pal! Show us why you guys are a bunch of losers!" Dash shot back.
"I'll show ye something alright, they'll have ta bury you in a soup can!" Demoman threatened.
Applejack huffed. "Y'all just a bunch of yellers! Come here so Ah can slice you up like an apple pie!"
"If y'all don't back down, then I'll have to teach you bunch some manners." Engineer said as he hovered his hand over his holstered pistol.
"Hey, you guys started it!" Spike replied.
"Heavy warns little babies, Heavy will not hold back. You as well, da?" The Heavy asked Big Mac.
To which the stallion answered with, "Eeyup."
"Imbeciles, every last one of you." Spy insulted both his allies and his enemies.
"Oh please darling, keep it professional." Rarity smirked.
"P-please, can't we all just get along?" Fluttershy asked.
"Sorry sheila, but you bunch struck first," Sniper said, his eyes trained on Twilight, he chose her as a high priority and must be terminated as soon as the fight starts.
"You little commies won't know what hit you!" Soldier said as he raised his shovel at team Harmony.
"Filthy democracy won't taint our beloved monarchy today you dirty party poopers! We'll stop you silly billies right here right now!" Pinkie promised the crown.
"Mmhmm, hmm!" Both pyros tried to stop them, but they were simply ignored.
"Oh, I can't wait to harvest your organs. They will serve well in my projects." Everyone around the two teams blanched once Twilight spoke. Her reputation scares several creatures, none would ever want to have her as their medic.
"I vould say zat my patients already have equine organs in them, but not magical pony organs. Zat vill definitely increase their potential." The Medic said, earning him several gasps of disgust. The mercenaries around the two teams were appalled to learn that there was another nutcase in Canterlot, one that could be far worse than Twilight.
"What's going on here!" All eyes moved towards a little girl accompanied by several machines. All of which were armed to the teeth, enough to flood the whole city in gunfire.
"Boss!" The Scout straightened himself and saluted with an awkward smile on his face. "Didn't notice ya there!"
Engineer relaxed the moment he saw Olivia. "Just got some problems here, boss. Nothin' you need to be concerned with."
Olivia arched a brow.
Luna entered the scene and took her place next to Olivia. She wore a strange sailor outfit with a skirt that was a bit too short, her mane was styled into pigtails and she had a face that many would compare with the dead. She looked soulless as if she had gone through hell and back. Everyone just chose to ignore Luna and focused on the little girl instead.
"Must I remind you all that you have to be on your best behavior?" Olive asked her mercenaries.
They all looked at each other before putting away their weapons. Surprised, team Harmony was unsure how to react. The tension was defused so quickly, that they felt a little bit disappointed, especially the crowd. Here they expected a fight, not some little girl scolding adult men.
"Uncle Hale had told you all specifically not to cause trouble unless it's a yeti rampaging through the streets. Now, I want you all to tell me what happened, or else."
"The blue one attacked Pyro!" Scout was quick to answer.
"Attacked him!?" Dash exclaimed. "Dude, I ran into him!"
"Really?" Twilight asked.
"Fine, I crashed into him. But that doesn't change a thing!"
"Yeah, that guy strangled Dash without thinking!" Spike said.
Engineer stepped up. "Listen, son, Pyro is not right in the head. Y'all should know that after yesterday. He's just like that pyro of yours, unpredictable. So you can't just blame the boy for acting so violently."
"Why keep him around then?" Applejack questioned.
Spy scoffed. "The same could be asked about your pyro."
"Because she's a god darn Equestrian!" Pinkie boomed. "Unlike you Americans, she has her right to be here right now!"
"Right," Olivia sighed. "Uncle Hale is still building the Mann Co headquarters back at the badlands. It'll take a day or two, and once he is done, we can all proceed to the games. Until then, you all must behave."
"S-sure thing boss!" Scout said.
Olivia nodded her head as she turned on her heel. "Good. Now Luna, we still have a commercial to film, let us go."
"Yessssss." Luna hissed, her tone monotonous and empty of any emotion.
As Olivia leaves with her army of machines, the crowd slowly dissipates until only eighteen spectators remain. They were the team members of both VN Omega and BG Alpha. They stuck around just in case the humans do something unsavory.
An awkward tension replaced the previous one, the mercenaries stared at each other unsure of what they should do now. Even the other teams were caught in this bubble of silence. Scout coughed into his fist as his eyes darted between the Equestrians. Spy just decided to have a smoke, but unlike the rest, he silently offered his fellow spies a cigarette of which they happily accepted. Now they were in a separate group away from the rest.
But this gave Twilight an idea, a light bulb flashed over her head. "Hey, we all got off the wrong hoof. I have a suggestion if you all would like to hear."
"Knowing you," The Medic chuckled. "I already know vhat you are about to offer to everyone."
"Indeed," Twilight smiled. "We must put aside our differences for now until we face off in the future. So that is why I believe that we all should be friends, to do this, I suggest that we split the teams into classes."
"And ve vill either do several activities to help know each other, or ve simply just chat over some fondue."
"Brilliant idea, I know a great place with the best cheese!" Twilight said.
Before Starlight and the Doctor even knew, Medic was already between them, hands clasped on their shoulders. "Vell, ve should hurry along so ve can exchange notes!"
"No thank you, my team and I should get moving. Lots of guns to buy, and many more." Starlight tried to pull away from Medic's hand, but it was secured on her shoulder so well that it felt like a machine had a hold of her.
"You can do that at a later date, frau. I am curious on how you perform in the battlefield vith... magic." An evil grin formed on his face as he turned towards the Doctor. "And I believe that it vas mentioned in your files that you have succeeded in giving yourself a functioning second heart. I vould like to learn more about you."
"We have plenty of time to talk about our notes, Medic. The fondue is waiting." Twilight said as she captured the other medics within her telekinesis, and against their will, carried them towards the exit of the courtyard followed by Medic.
The rest sans the spies only stared at their medics as they leave. There was a second of silence, enough for a random pony to choke on a bullet. No really, a pony accidentally choked on a bullet.
The silence was then broken by Pyro who laughed like a child watching a clown perform. Before anyone could question, he immediately scooped up his fellow pyros, one by one he lifted them and held the mares in a loving hug. Then he ran off with them to do who knows what. Seeing as three out of nine classes were already doing this whole bonding thing, the heavies just agreed on checking out the guns that were displayed. More likely they would mostly check out the machine guns.
The demolitionists went off to look for some drinks to enjoy, though Blueblood was a bit reluctant to go and hang out with drunks since he is a stallion of royal blood, three drunken idiots were enough to convince him. The scouts challenged each other to a race, which Dash claimed that she would win for sure. But Scout thought otherwise. The Sniper was not interested, so was Fluttershy. But the other snipers wanted to show off their marksmanship to the humans, so in the end, the snipers started their own competition to see who was the sharpest in the shooting range.
As for the soldiers, Pinkie and Soldier were locked into an unending argument of which country was better. This ended with them trying to snap each other's necks, but both were failing miserably since their power levels were accurately the same. Gilda and Colgate were caught in their conflict and now a real fight started among the soldiers.
Now the engineers were left, unsure what to do. The twins were silent just like the DJ.
"So," The Engineer began. "Y'all want to see my sentry?"
"So you two don't make sentries?" Engineer asked as he sipped from a bottle of beer.
The engineers being the gadget users they are were showing off their machines just outside the castle walls. Four dispensers, eight teleporters, three sentry guns, and a belt-fed machine gun mounted on a tripod. The last one honestly surprised the Engineer, he expected something similar to his and Spike's. So was Vinyl's, hers is a sentry, but it wasn't two miniguns and a rocket launcher. It was a four-barreled machine gun that chambered high-explosives. It had a slower fire rate than the others.
It could not fire rockets at a target, unlike the two main sentries we all know and love.
The twins and Vinyl noticed the similarities between Spike's and Engineer's sentries. They were identical in appearance and function. The amount of ammo it contained, the four rocket batteries, and the fire rate. Even Spike was curious himself, he had stared at the machine and noticed that it was practically made by him.
"Well, we weren't really good with programming," Flam explained.
Flim nodded. "We had countless problems with a few prototypes. Couldn't get the sentry to shoot the right targets, so Tempest decided to cancel the project since it started to hurt our funds."
Meanwhile, Spike stared at Engi's sentry, his hand ran over the smooth surface of the machine. It was so familiar, every flaw and every edge, it was like a book with Spike's handwriting.
"Ain't she a beaut?" Engineer spoke as he stood next to Spike.
"It is... I mean, wow, this sentry is the same as mine." Spike replied.
"More than you think son," Engineer claimed. "it's the exact same thing. I believe Twilight told you and your team about how we are similar to each other."
"That was a theory she made from an observation," Spike said with disbelief.
"Hold on, am I hearing this right?" Flim scooted over to the two. "You two are identical, how?"
Engineer chuckled as he sipped once more from his BLU Streak beer. "It's about alternate realities and all that hullabaloo. Two worlds would likely have one of the same people, both are identical in appearance and personality. Though Spike here is a whole different person, he's close enough to be my doppelganger."
Vinyl tapped a hoof on Engi's sentry like she was pointing at something.
"Yeah, I actually did check Spike's sentry," Engineer spoke as if he completely understood Vinyl. "our machines are exactly the same. Heck, if he started using mine, no one would even notice! I even checked Spike's files to confirm." He laughed.
"What do you mean you checked?" Flam asked with narrowed eyes.
"I ain't gonna beat around the bush... Ahem, when my team and I were introduced to your world, the big hats in Mann Co gave us information about team HM Delta. Even though Scout can't read. We were told to learn everything about our enemies." Engineer turned to look at Spike. "And from what I've read, you are one outstanding kid."
"Thanks!" Spike smiled.
"There's one issue though. Can I see your right hand?"
Confused and unsure why he had such a request, Spike removed his only glove to reveal his tiny little dragon claws. Engineer frowned, then he sighed. The others looked at him strangely for a second, and their emotions shifted into something else once he removed his glove. Where a normal hand should've been, a metallic skeleton hand was on the end of his limb instead of something fleshy. He then grabbed the barrel of Flim and Flam's turret and twisted it in his fingers with ease.
There was a moment of awkward silence, the twins stared at their own right limb, Vinyl was speechless. And Spike couldn't move his eyes away, he could only stare at the metal hand.
But suddenly, Soldier crashed into the ground just next to the group, the silence was broken by the veteran's pained grunts. They watched as Colgate came down from the sky, a frying pan in her hooves. The pan dinged as it slammed against Soldier's face causing him to spit out some of his blood.
"See?" Colgate smiled. "Your gums are bleeding because you don't floss!"
He spat at her hooves with the blood in his mouth. "Lady you are mistaken! My gums are stronger than steel! My gums are just like me, made in America!" Then he smirked. "And that isn't blood you see, but it is actually tomato juice! Which I drank today!"
The Soldier grabbed Colgate by her leg and tossed her back over the wall. He saluted the Engineer before he went after Colgate.
"Right," Engineer chuckled. "back to business."
"Yeah, the hand... what happened?" Spike asked.
"It's designed by my great grandfather, it helped him in a lot of situations. Helped me as well, let me tell ya." Engineer paused, he was reluctant, but he knew it was for a good cause. "Listen, kid, I know this will sound a bit suspicious of me, but I want you to follow my example and... do as I did. I'll send you a couple of blueprints, for your eyes only."
"Woah, really?"
"It's up to you, son. If you want to saw off your hand or not. I ain't gonna pressure you, but if you want a fighting chance against the team and I, then I suggest the Gunslinger." He sighed. "Expect the blueprint in an hour. This is goodbye for now, Spike, I'll be leaving now. Remember, no one else must see the blueprints, or else I'll have to kill ya."
Every machine Engineer had set up blew up with a push of a button. He tipped his hardhat one last time before he went towards the castle to pick up Soldier and make sure the veteran doesn't lose any more blood.
As Engi leaves, Spike stared at his fleshy hand. He was reminded of the times when he was easily disarmed by bigger and stronger mercenaries. He was small and weak, he relied on his sentry and guns just to fend off attackers. The Gunslinger was honestly tempting. With it, he'd be able to deal more damage with a single punch. Then he remembered what was at stake, if he wanted to fight for his home country and Mane Co, then he'd have to take risks.
It was about time for him to say goodbye to his right hand.