//------------------------------// // Attack/Defend Mode // Story: Twilight's Experiments: The War of Mann Co. // by MIKEANTHONY321 //------------------------------// Battle Arena #5: Gorge (Attack/Defend) Rainbow Dash stood as far away from Twilight as possible in team RED’s resupply locker as they waited for the next battle to begin. Twilight kept glancing over at her, only to see a look of annoyance and anger plastered on her face. Every time she saw this, she sighed. While this was going on, Red Soldier marched up in front of the group of RED fighters. “Alright men, team BLU is going to seize our base by capturing our two Control Points. All we have to do is prevent them from doing so for ten minutes, and victory is ours!” “Yeah!” They all shouted in reply. Red Soldier turned toward Rainbow Dash, who was standing away from the group. “Come on, private. We all stick together as a team!” “I will not fight alongside Twilight, and there is no way you can make me change my mind!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed defiantly. Red Soldier and the rest of team RED were taken back by this sudden rebellious response. “Oh no… Is not the time for little-babies to have little temper-tantrums!” Red Heavy groaned. “Yeah, mate. It’s either you fight on this team with my colleague, or we put you on spectate.” Red Sniper added. … “What in the hay does it mean to be on spectate?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It means to get taken out of the battle. You’ll be set to only watch the battle, and you won’t be able to fight. Once someone is put into spectate, we have no way to get them back out.” Red Spy explained. “Fine by me. It’s not like Scouts are good defenders anyway.” Red Engineer jeered. “Hey, feelings over here!” Red Scout exclaimed. … Finally, Rainbow Dash cut in. “Okay okay, fine! I’ll fight. Just keep me away from that piss-throwing freak!” “Well then… Bloody piker.” Red Sniper mumbled under his breath. …………………………… After team RED’s little group argument, their resupply doors opened. They were now permitted to run out into the battlefield to prepare their defenses for team BLU’s assault. “Mission begins in sixty seconds!” … Applejack and Red Engineer headed off to the sidelines to erect a few sentry guns. Fluttershy frantically scurried around, overhealing any nearby teammates as much as she could. Rainbow Dash bolted forward toward team BLU’s resupply, ready to take out as many fighters as she could once the alarm rang. Twilight sought out a secluded sniping location alongside Red Sniper. All the while, Zecora, Rarity, Big Mac, Spike, and Pinkie Pie waited in anticipation with the rest of their team in the BLU resupply locker. … Most of team BLU was pushing at the gates for freedom by the time the countdown had begun. “5…4…3…2…1…FIGHT!” … Team BLU busted out of their gates like a herd of hungry rhinos. Rainbow Dash began to shoot wildly at the advancing pack while running back and forth to avoid enemy fire, with little efficiency. She was quickly outnumbered, fourteen to one, and was killed almost instantly. Much to their demise. Secretly, Rainbow Dash’s plan was suicide at the hands of team BLU as a diversion to give Red Spy some cover. He had been hiding with the Cloak and Dagger in a corner, and was given the chance to crank out five backstabs before he was discovered. Now team RED was learning to fight with strategy. The battle was only just beginning. ……………………………………… Playing with Danger ……………………………………… After the massacre at the beginning of the battle, the remainder of team BLU’s forces advanced toward team RED’s first Control Point. A large chunk of them were killed by the strategically-placed sentry guns that lied on its other side. The only ones that remained were Blue Soldier and Zecora. They continued shooting what ammo they still had at a desperate attempt to hold back team RED. In the resulting crossfire, Applejack’s sentry gun was destroyed. Blue Soldier and Zecora stood back-to-back, firing explosives in both directions at team RED’s defenses. Right then, a charged rifle bullet whizzed by, piercing both of their skulls. They both collapsed to the ground. Twilight, the firer of the bullet, smirked to herself. “And Rainbow Dash says I’M the piss-throwing freak.” ……………………………… Team RED had only a moment to catch their breath before team BLU’s forces respawned and advanced toward the Control Point once again. Applejack and Red Engineer frantically worked together to construct another sentry gun. They had also built teleporters at the start of the battle so their team could get back to the scene of the action quickly after respawning. … As Red Engineer helped Applejack upgrade her sentry gun, he noticed that his teleporter had begun to take damage. He quickly sprinted over to it to make repairs, when he was suddenly backstabbed by Blue Spy. Red Sniper had noticed this occurrence through his scope from the distance, and flipped on his headset mic. “Hey, hard-hat recruit? Red Sniper here. Watch your back; we’ve got an enemy Spy!” “Got it, partner. Thanks for the warning!” Applejack responded over the speakers. … Red Sniper observed through the scope as Applejack stopped working, and pulled out a shotgun. When the Spy appeared behind her, she turned around, and shot him until he fell. Red Sniper smiled at the success as he prepared to return to sniping. However, right before he looked away, he noticed that the Spy had returned with the Dead Ringer. “Hey! Hard-hat! The Spy is behind you again!” He exclaimed in panic. Unfortunately, it was too late. The Spy had backstabbed Applejack, and sapped her sentry gun. … Red Sniper sighed, and took his eye from the scope. If only there was a way to counter Spies easier. If only… His thoughts were interrupted as he felt Rarity’s knife get jammed into his back. He fell to the ground, cursing on his way down. … Twilight heard what was going on, and noticed Rarity standing behind Red Sniper’s body. She gasped, and quickly threw a jar of jarate at her. The jar hit Rarity directly, and coated her in a thin layer of the yellow fluid. She gagged. “Oh Twilight, that is absolutely disgusting!” She whined. Twilight ran at her with her kukri, and smashed her with mini-crits until she fell. What was with all the Spies recently? Team BLU had more plans to back up their intrusion than Twilight had imagined. It was time to watch her back, because more Spies could pop in at any moment. ……………………………… While the Spy-uprising was occurring, the bigger brute fighters such as Big Mac, Blue Heavy, and Blue Soldier began to take over team RED’s first Control Point. Red Heavy and Red Soldier tried to stop them, with little efficiency. Spike soon came around, and began to assist in capturing the Point. Everyone who tried to stop them was headshot by Blue Sniper, who was standing slightly further back. With these offenses in order, team BLU eventually managed to capture the first Control Point. Now their job was to intrude the base and take over team RED’s last one. “Alert……the enemy has received additional time…” The announcer mumbled. ……………………………………… Just after the capture, the fighters who were standing on the Point began to advance in toward team RED’s base. However, they were soon fought off by a sentry gun that Applejack had rebuilt inside the base. They weren’t held off for long. The Spies had returned soon after, and were already on their way into the base without withholding the attention of team RED. In the meantime, Blue Scout and Pinkie Pie helped out with the front lines as team BLU steadily made their way in. … As Pinkie Pie jogged into the base behind Blue Scout, she noticed Red Scout coming up behind them. In defense, she opened fire on her flamethrower. Red Scout went up in flames, screaming as he did so. Pinkie noticed an invisible silhouette in the corner that also caught on fire. “Oh, hey Red Spy! You really need to find better hiding places, silly.” Pinkie giggled. She used her flamethrower to finish him off, and then continued into the base. ………………………………… RED forces held back near the final Control Point, ready for the second half of the invasion. After a few short minutes, BLU forces began to flood in, and the second bloodbath began. Fluttershy Ubercharged Red Heavy near the front lines, and a small mass of BLU fighters began to drop like flies. However, it wasn’t that easy. Just as the Ubercharge had run out, Rarity had stopped them both in their tracks with the Conniver’s Kunai. Both of their health supplies were absorbed into Rarity, massively overhealing her. “Quite better than the Spycicle, let me assure you.” She smirked, disappearing once again. … Team BLU’s plan was very well thought-out. Everything team RED tried had failed; team BLU always seemed to have their way around it. Twilight found a ledge off away from the battle that would be a good sniping location. She approached the spot, and kneeled down to assist her team. … Through the scope, she noticed Blue Heavy and Big Mac capturing the Control Point, while being assisted by Blue Medic. If her team ever tried to provoke them, they would surely end up killed. It was up to her to headshot all three of them and assure victory for a precious few-more minutes. She breathed, and took steady aim on Blue Medic’s head. If she was going to stop them, she would have to first take out their Medic. … Just before she pulled the trigger, Rainbow Dash came running by, and ran right into her. “Hey! Watch where you’re going, fat-ass!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “What did you just call me?” Twilight jeered. “Fat-ass. How about next time, you don’t carelessly get into ponies’ way all the time? You could’ve killed me!” “Watch where I was going? I was kneeling down sniping this whole time! You’re the one who came barreling through here like an idiot!” “You think I give a flying feather, Chuckle-nuts?” “Well, Skittles, if you had half a brain in order to actually GIVE a flying feather, I think you probably should.” “Only Scout is allowed to call me Skittles, you useless egghead!” Rainbow Dash flared. With that statement, she gave Twilight a solid punch in the face. Once Twilight had returned from the daze, she returned the favor with her Kukri. Soon, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were head-to-head in a solid grudge-match. … The rest of team RED watched in horror as their two best fighters fought each other on the battlement. The distraction had ultimately won the battle for team BLU, who had been capturing the Control Point the entire time. “You’re a disgrace, team RED! Team BLU won the battle!” The announcer scolded. Team BLU jumped around and cheered while team RED buried their face in their hands. They lost because of a childish fight. …………………………………… Team BLU’s victory ensured that all the recruits would stay in their respective positions. Having Rainbow Dash and Twilight on the same team would be their downfall. … Once the teams had time to reunite for discussion, Twilight and Rainbow Dash got the scolding of a lifetime. “What the hell did you think you were doing?! This is war, privates, and we will not tolerate fighting during war! Wait……not amongst your own team is what I meant to say.” Red Soldier stuttered. “See what I mean? Little baby fighting is very bad for our team!” Red Heavy added. Red Engineer and Red Medic shook their heads. “It’s good to know zat vee have some recruits on our team zat vee can trust.” Red Medic stated, putting his hand on Fluttershy’s head. … “Follow me, mate. There’s something I need to talk to you about.” Red Sniper ordered, pointing to Twilight. Twilight, curious as to why Red Sniper wanted her, reluctantly followed him. … After they were gone, Red Scout laughed. “Oh man, good ol’ Sniper is finally going to get some head, am I right?” Red Soldier slapped him. “Get it together, Scout! You’re embarrassing all of us!” …………………………………. Once they had left, Red Sniper turned to Twilight. “You seriously need to stop fighting with your friend, mate.” “Yeah yeah, I know. It’s just that…” “No, you don’t understand. Remember that ‘near unstoppable force’ I told you about before the Payload battle?” Twilight nodded. “It’s bigger than you think. You and your eight friends will be forced to defend Mann Co. against an army of robots, by yourselves.” “Robots? Shouldn’t be too hard.” “These are not just your average, ‘pick up an object’ kind of robots. These things are hyper-engineered, and are geared for battle. And what’s worse, they possess your mimicked abilities, ten-fold.” “What do you mean by that?” … Red Sniper walked away, and came back a few minutes later with a folder. “The owner of Mann Co, our very own Saxton Hale, managed to swipe this top-secret information from Gray Gravel Co. I think you should look inside.” Twilight opened up the folder, and looked inside. Much to her surprise, a bunch of blueprints were tucked inside, along with a bunch of strikingly-relatable pictures. “W…What the heck is this?!” Twilight exclaimed in exasperation. “These are the metallic clones of you and your friends. They’ve been engineered to possess ten times of your matched abilities.” “Well, how are we supposed to beat them?” “That’s for you and your friends to decide. I will wish you luck, but for now, we should get some much-needed rest for tomorrow’s Special Delivery battle.” … With this, Red Sniper walked off, leaving Twilight to stare in anxiety. To be Continued…