//------------------------------// // Arena Mode // Story: Twilight's Experiments: The War of Mann Co. // by MIKEANTHONY321 //------------------------------// It is recommended that you listen to a specific song while reading this chapter, and all the chapters that come after it. The link to the music will be posted right at the moment where the music should be listened to. You'll find the link pasted in this chapter where it should be listened to. If the music stops playing, just replay it in the new tab. Of course, all of this is optional. Battle Arena #1: Well (Arena) The first thing the split group of ponies expected was a long walk from the DoubleCross to the Well. In reality, it took almost no time at all. The Engineers could somehow build teleporters, so apparently that’s how these humans get around. Anyway, this whole ‘RED vs. BLU’ thing was really making Twilight nervous. Before they had left, Sniper went to the resupply box, and gave her a giant sniper rifle. He also gave her a machete-looking thing, and a few empty jars. Lastly, they all got fitted into authentic Builders’ League United uniforms. Now she was standing with the rest of team BLU in the resupply lockers at the Well, waiting for the Arena battle to start. A grown man had just given her a sniper rifle, so this was not going to end well. “By the way Mr. Sniper, I never got to ask you. What are these empty jars for?” She asked. Blue Sniper looked down at her. “Well mate, as a Sniper, you’re going to be camping out for a bloody long time. If you ever need to use the bathroom, you use those jars. And then, later on, you can throw them at enemies to deal mini-crits!” He replied. Great, so now blood isn’t the only thing that’s going to be spilled all over the battlefield. That’s just lovely. Twilight turned toward Rainbow Dash. “How are you doing over there?” She saw Rainbow Dash jogging in place next to Blue Scout, holding a scattergun and looking happier than when she performed her first Sonic Rainboom. “Are you kidding? This is the best thing to ever happen to me! I’m going to have so much fun blowing dudes’ heads off with this gun!” Rainbow Dash eagerly replied. Twilight turned toward Applejack, who seemed to be getting a long explanation lecture from the Blue Engineer. “Everything going good for you so far?” She asked. Applejack glanced over at her. “Oh, just a minute sugarcube. I’m trying to understand what this nice man is telling me.” There were a lot of ups and downs to being an Engineer, so Blue Engineer was trying everything he could to make Applejack understand the concept of sentry guns and dispensers. Lastly, Twilight turned to Spike. She couldn’t exactly see his face, because it was covered with an army helmet that looked like a big iron bowl. She also never thought she’d get a view of the baby dragon holding a rocket launcher. “Are you sure you can handle this, Spike?” Spike pushed the helmet up a little bit so he could see Twilight’s face. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, if we respawn, it can’t be that bad, can it?” … Blue Soldier turned toward them. “Actually, there’ll be no instant respawning in Arena Mode. Everyone who dies stays dead until the round is over.” “…We do respawn though, right?” Spike asked. “Yes, after the round.” Blue Soldier replied. … Suddenly, a woman’s voice came over the loudspeaker. “Mission begins in ten seconds.” Twilight and her three friends tensed up, ready for battle. The other standard team BLU members let out battle cries. “5…4…3…2…1……FIGHT!” The woman on the loudspeaker announced. The main doors to the resupply room opened, and everyone on both teams ran out into the open battlefield. ……………………………………… Playing with Danger .................................................... The first thing Twilight did was look for Blue Sniper. When she found him standing not far from resupply, she heard him tell her to follow him. So that’s just what she did. Blue Sniper led her to a spot that got a perfect view of the action, but was secluded enough so they won’t get noticed. At least she hoped. After she got into position and knelt down, she put the scope of the rifle up to her eye. What she saw was a magnified view of the battlefield many yards away. A crosshair centered the rifle’s target. “Okay mate, now I want you to…” … Twilight waited patiently for Blue Sniper to finish his sentence. After a few seconds, when she still didn’t hear anything, she looked away from the scope to see his limp body lying dead on the ground. A bullet hole was clearly visible in his forehead, and blood leaked out of it. Apparently the Blue Sniper just got sniped. Once Twilight remembered that you don’t respawn in Arena Mode, she began to panic for a second. “Okay, calm down. He’ll come back after the round. Just focus on doing my job.” She whispered. She put her eye back up to the scope. In the crosshair, she noticed the Red Sniper standing off in a far corner on the other side of the battlefield. “He must’ve been the one that sniped the Blue Sniper…” She thought. She breathed slowly, and took steady aim. When she got the center of the crosshair steadily locked onto Red Sniper’s head, she pulled the trigger. Suddenly, in her view, she saw Red Sniper’s head explode in a fine mist of red that sailed through the air for a solid five feet. She had killed him, and now he wouldn’t respawn until the end of the round. … She breathed again. “That’s one down…” Suddenly, she felt a white-hot pain shoot up through her spine and all over her body. Right before she could scream at the sudden sensation of pain, she fell forward, dead in a matter of seconds. Shortly after, Rarity appeared behind her from thin air, wearing a red suit and mask. She casually removed the blade from Twilight’s back. “My my darling, you’re going to have to be quicker than that.” Rarity chuckled, disappearing into an invisible state once again. ………………………………………… Big Mac was finally beginning to get the hang of using the big heavy minigun that he possessed. Although it was extremely oversized and overweight, he felt that he was the only one of his team besides the other Heavy that could handle it. He ran as fast as he could without dropping the minigun into the center building. He figured that’s where the most players were, so he’d have more targets to shoot. He entered the main doors, and turned a corner, and started getting peppered with bullets and rockets from a blue sentry gun. He noticed Applejack standing next to it, wearing a hardhat and a pair of overalls. He also noticed her laughing. He quickly hid behind the corner in which he had entered, breathing heavily. If he got hit with one more bullet, he’d surely be out of the round. “Yeehaw! I bet those bullets sting, don’t they brother?” He heard Applejack taunt. He grunted angrily under his breath. Soon after, he heard Applejack cry out in pain, and then the sound of a thud on the ground. Confused, he stepped back into the main building to see what it came from. He saw Applejack lying dead on the ground with a knife in her back. Red Spy stood behind her, destroying the sentry gun with an Electro Sapper. Once his work was done, he glanced up at Big Mac, and disappeared. … Before Big Mac could do anything else, he was shot hard through his hip by a scattergun bullet. He took the shot like a colt, and didn’t even cry out. He just fell to the ground, and dropped the minigun. Rainbow Dash, the firer of the bullet that killed off the brunt farmer, howled like a hyena. “Yeah, take that farmboy!” She yelled. ……………………………………… Unfortunately, team RED’s only professional Medic was killed a few seconds prior by Blue Soldier’s rocket launcher. Now, team RED’s entire healing force relied on Fluttershy alone. She stood awkwardly next to the resupply locker, quivering in fear, holding a syringe gun that she didn’t plan on using. That’s how she spent most of the round so far. Suddenly, she heard that strange woman announce something over the loudspeaker. “Alert! The Control Point is now available for capture!” She didn’t exactly know what a Control Point was, but it didn’t matter at the moment. She heard a voice calling for a Medic. She pulled out The Vaccinator, a special medi-gun that had been granted to her by the Red Medic. Hunting out the voice, she spotted Red Soldier, who appeared to be in need of help. She quickly flew over to him, and pulled the lever on The Vaccinator. A steady stream of red smoke was emitted from the tool, focusing on Red Soldier. Immediately, his wounds seemed to disappear, and he was back on his feet like nothing had happened. “You deserve a medal, doc!” Red Soldier exclaimed. Fluttershy smiled at his compliment. “Now come on, follow me!” He added. Red Soldier ran off toward the center building, with Fluttershy overhealing him from behind. … By the time they had actually reached the building, two of Fluttershy’s four Ubercharges were ready for use. “Um…I’m fully charged, if you want to…” She began. “I’m ready! Charge me, doc!” Red Soldier exclaimed. Fluttershy pulled the lever on her power pack, and both of them began to glow very bright red. Miniature bolts of red lightning flew off of both her and Red Soldier as they stormed the main building, killing off a barrage of BLU fighters with rockets before they could capture the Control Point. “Whoa! Fluttershy, how are you doing that?!” Rainbow Dash asked. She got out her scattergun, and started desperately shooting at both of them, with no effect. While this was going on, she quickly flew back and forth, dodging all of Red Soldier’s rockets. … Right when Red Soldier had to reload, Fluttershy’s Ubercharge had run out. However, Rainbow Dash also had to reload at that exact moment. Red Soldier had finished reloading right before Rainbow Dash, because he had less ammo to put in his launcher. He shot a rocket at Rainbow Dash, which hit her directly in the gut, blowing her to pieces. Blood flew in all directions, pelting Fluttershy and Red Soldier. “Thanks for the aid, doc! But we still have one more to kill…” Red Soldier said. “Are we the only ones left on team RED?” Fluttershy asked. “Yes. But there’s only one fighter left on team BLU, and I think we can take them. Are you ready?” Fluttershy’s recent Ubercharge had pumped her up. She had never felt so confident in her life. “I’m ready.” She replied. … Red Soldier ran for the Control Point with Fluttershy overhealing him in the meantime. The Control Point activated, and steadily began to turn red. “Come on…come on…almost there…” Suddenly, Red Soldier was headshot by an Ambassador bullet. He cried out, and fell to the ground. Fluttershy gasped loudly, and tried to heal him back to life, with no avail. The Control Point was still turning red, and had seconds to go before team RED won the Arena battle. However, Fluttershy’s confidence had completely vanished. A Spy was among her, and she needed to stay alive for just a few more seconds if her team was going to win the battle. She began to quiver violently again, and made little yelping noises out of pure terror. She pulled out her syringe gun, and aimed it at thin air, hoping to kill anyone who walked into its range. Suddenly, she was assaulted by a paralyzing pain that surged through all of her veins. She yelped loudly, and collapsed to the ground. … Blue Spy, who was standing behind her, removed the blade from her back, and brushed his shoulders. “What a shame. You got blood on my suit.” He mumbled. ……………………………………… Everyone on the battle field instantly respawned in their resupply lockers. The woman on the loudspeaker announced, “Victory goes to team BLU!” Everyone from team BLU and team RED walked out of their resupply lockers toward the main building where Blue Spy had made the final kill. Even Fluttershy respawned, and got a glimpse of her dead body. Team BLU lined up on one side of the building, while team RED lined up on the other side. Blue Spy, who got the final kill, got to begin with the choices for team BLU. “As the winners of the first Arena battle, I would like to begin our choices for team BLU’s recruits during the Badlands Control Points battle.” Blue Spy announced. Everyone in the building nodded. “To start, I would like Ms. Rarity to fight as Spy for team BLU. She has proven herself to be stealthy, cunning, and strategic during the battle that took place this evening.” Blue Spy ordered. Rarity, basking in the sunlight of the compliment that she had just received, walked over to the BLU side. Her red suit was to be changed over to blue for the next battle. … This procedure went on for the next ten minutes. All of the ponies kept their classes, but some moved teams. Team BLU now consists of Zecora, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Team RED now consists of Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Big Mac, and Spike. “So now we meet tomorrow at the Badlands for a Control Points battle!” Red Soldier exclaimed. After everyone agreed, the two teams walked off in their own separate directions. To be Continued…