//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: First Contact 
// Story: Mare vs Machine 
// by Slingshot619 
//------------------------------//

Chapter name suggestions are still welcome. Don't be afraid to leave a suggestion or two in the comments below.




Scout woke up. Just another day in Ponyville. He gazed out his window, he watched the ponies frolicking around doing their usual business. Then, Rainbow Dash walked up next to him. And rested her head on his shoulder.

"Sleep well last night?"

Scout had moved in with Rainbow Dash about a month after they got in a relationship. Scout had demolished his cloud mansion, packed his things and moved in with Rainbow. All in all, he still got the good view. And he had a nice mare to spend most of his time with.

Scout nodded. He left the window and grabbed his gear. He put on his earpiece, his black cap and he was ready to roll. Scout thought of what he could do. Oh yea, absolutely nothing. Scout shrugged, there never was anything fun to do here. He had tried anything stupid there was to do. Done every deed there was and saved Ponyville from everything there was to save from.

"See ya later Skittles."

Scout leaped off the porch and headed to Sugarcube Corner to grab a quick bite. He met Pinkie Pie in there. Obviously, he said hi, grabbed his freshly baked cupcakes and flew off. He had his box of cupcakes in his mouth. He sat on a cloud and ate.  

He stared at the blue sky above. Thinking about all the possibilities, he still hadn't completed some of his stunts yet. He could try and perfect them now. But first he'd need to calm himself down and choose the location he was going to do it.

Scout finished his cupcakes and took off. He flew high above the clouds. He was preparing to do his new signature move, "Drop It Like It's Hot". He did this by flying high enough, then flying downward  so fast he would basically turn into a comet, and just before he crashed, he would pull up and slow down. He didn't know how much force it would put on his wings but he didn't mind.

Scout wasn't sure if his wings could handle the pressure. He checked them once more to make sure everything was okay and flew up to his target height, 30,000 feet. He would pull up right in front of town hall, this was sure to grab the attention of everypony.

Scout prepared. He let out deep breaths of air. He calmed himself down and refrained from thinking about crashing into the ground. Medic could fix any injury. But Scout wasn't scared of injuries. He was scared of failure.

Scout muttered a silent prayer and dived. The G force could have torn his face off. Scout kept his wings closed the whole time for maximum speed. He felt fire engulf him, it felt warm instead of burning hot though. He continued, the ground speeding towards him, Scout opened his wings in the last second, he flew through the town, a trail of fire blazing behind him making him look like the DeLorean from Back To The Future. 

Scout slowed down and stopped. His body still felt hot though. He looked at his hooves. They were burning red, Scout touched a plant and it instantly caught fire. A grin started to form on Scout's face as he discovered his new ability. He put his hoof in a pond. The hoof instantly cooled down. Scout jumped in the pond and cooled himself. 

Scout dried off. He saw a pony in the distance. He was blue and was swinging a bat like crazy. Scout raised an eyebrow. He was in the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. Nopony ever came here. Scout approached the pony and heard a robotic voice grow louder as he got closer. When he reached the pony, Scout was shocked.

This pony had blue eyes, as if his eyes were blue light bulbs. Scout observed the pony, it was blue, it had a half-assed paint job, and was swinging a bat like crazy. The robot turned around and saw Scout. He charged at Scout like a bat out of hell. 

Scout leaped out the way and took out his Scattergun. With one shot he blasted the robot to pieces. Scout took as many parts of the robot and walked back to the town. He looked for Spy. The calmest one of them all. 

Spy observed the robotic carcass for a while and made a conclusion.

"It is a robot."

"Ya don't say?"

Spy raised an eyebrow. 

"I mean this is no ordinary robot. This was made to destroy Mann.co."

Spy saw the confused look on Scout's face and explained.

"These blasted machines have been attacking Mann.co recently. They wanted to plant the bomb, but so far the combined efforts of the RED team and BLU team have kept them out."

Scout couldn't believe his ears.

"So, you're saying the reds and blues are working together?"

"Exactly."

Scout didn't care about that. He wanted one answer only.

"Why are they here?"

Spy continued observing the carcass and muttered a simple answer.

"I don't know."

Spy and Scout knew what was coming. Scout thanked Spy and headed off. He went to look for Medic. Medic had way more experience when it came to these things. Medic had faught them before. Medic would know what to do.     

Scout ran to the Hospital where Medic worked. Medic was in the lobby waiting. Scout produced the mutilated robot head. Medic went pale. He took the robot head and stared at it for a few seconds.

"How did you-"

"Found it near the woods."

Medic looked up. He looked kinda scared.

"Let's gather zhe team first."

In a matter of minutes the four of them were at the outskirts of the forest. Spy looked around and tried to find a way that the metal monstrosity might have used to come over.

"I cannot find anything that will be of use to us."

Scout gave up and said goodbye. Before he could walk away, he heard the sound of giant, metal footsteps.