//------------------------------//
// The Battle Begins 
// Story: Celestia's Sick Day 
// by Smithawits 
//------------------------------//

	There was nothing; no light, no sound, no life. Darkness ruled over everything for several seconds. Suddenly, an entire facility embedded on a frozen mountain appeared out of nowhere. Almost immediately afterwards, a narrative voice shouted:

“Infinity Slayer!”

After the voice spoke, eight ponies wearing different variations of blue MJOLNIR armor spawned in a group, just outside of a building. The entirety of their bodies was covered in armor, except for their cutie marks, which were protected by bulletproof glass, and their tails. One such Spartan had a large, waving, night-like tail and a crescent moon for a cutie mark.

A sudden surge of adrenaline made its way through Princess Luna’s body as her HUD lit up inside her helmet. The top left portion of her visor displayed three grenade slots: one for frag grenades, another for plasma grenades, and the last for pulse grenades. The top middle of her visor held her energy shield meter, which was filled at 100%. The top right displayed her current weapon, which was a standard assault rifle, and the amount of ammo the gun had in the clip. The bottom left of her visor displayed the radar, which had seven green dots surrounding her central dot. Just above the radar was a picture of a pony, whose lower body was faded, surrounded in a circle; this was her current armor ability. Just above the armor ability was a three dimensional cube enclosed in a circle, her ordnance meter. On the bottom right were two bars: one red and one blue with both scores set to zero.

There were three types of armor in the game: an earth pony set, a pegasus set, and a unicorn set. The earth pony armor offered unlimited sprint and slightly better protection, however the heavy armor made the wearer slower than normal. The pegasus armor offered lengthy, yet temporary flight and better agility, but the thin, aerodynamic armor made the wearer more exposed to gunfire. The unicorn armor allowed the wearer to levitate their weapon next to them instead of carrying it on one their right foreleg. This enabled greater mobility, however the use of levitation made the energy shields on the wearer’s armor drain faster. Princess Luna used the unicorn armor almost every time.

For a few seconds, the ponies stood in their spots eager to move, yet unable to do so. Suddenly, several weapons in drop pods fell from the sky and crashed into the ground near the spawn area, and the voice shouted again:

“Eliminate the enemy team!”

After the voice spoke again, everypony could move. Some ran for the weapons drop, trying to improve their firepower; others ran towards the vehicles, itching to go on a splatter spree; while others ran straight to where their enemy spawned, eager to get the “first strike” medal. Luna was one of the ones who ran towards the enemy, except she hung back behind a few of her allies to provide fire support. Luna was in a small group that consisted of three other ponies: one earth and two pegasi. Together, they headed left for a central structure up on a hill; the rest went straight towards the frontline.

As the four made their way towards the building, the battle between the Red Team and the Blue Team violently began as multiple explosions and continuous gunfire echoed throughout the landscape. Suddenly, the score on Luna’s HUD changed. Red Team already had scored twenty points, while they still had zero. Not the best way to start a match. By the time the four reached the building, the score was 100 to 30 with Red Team leading. Just before they entered the building, one of the pegasi deployed their wings; two frames opened up on his back which generated two wings made entirely out of concentrated light. The pegasus effortlessly made his way to the top of the building, grabbed the sniper rifle that was leaning against a wall and opened fire on the Red Team, ducking in cover when needed. The remaining three rushed into the building, only to be met by a member of the Red Team. The score was now 100 to 80, and Red Team was still leading.

The three quickly and effortlessly disposed of the intruder. He was not welcome here, and they made that clear. After they reloaded, the other pegasus glided down the hill to join the battle on the frontline, and the earth pony started heading for the enemies spawn. Luna stayed inside the building and waited for her prize to spawn at the top of a ramp; she was waiting for a gun that would give her and her team a much needed edge in the battle. 

However, while she was waiting, she heard rather close gunfire and noticed that the earth pony’s dot on her radar suddenly vanished. Almost immediately afterwards, she heard a sniper rifle fire and noticed that pegasus’ dot, who was on the roof, vanished as well. She peeked outside and saw at least three Red Spartans, one carrying a smoking sniper rifle, coming straight for her. They opened fire on Luna; several bullets hit her, but the energy shields protected her long enough for her to dash back into the building. In that short amount of gunfire, her energy shields were down 50%, but they soon recharged. The intruders were almost here, and she was all alone. If only her prize would spawn in, she would be able to stand her ground and send the Red Team galloping away. The score was now 120 to 100 with Red Team maintaining the lead.

The three Spartans were so close that Luna could hear their hoofsteps outside. She thought about running outside for a tactical retreat but decided against it, for fear of the Red Team getting the gun. Acting fast, Luna ran to a corner, crouched and activated her armor’s ability: active camouflage. Slowly, Luna’s body began to fade away until all that was left was an abstract outline of her that was very easy to miss, unless one was looking for it. Luna had to stay still, or the active camouflage would fizzle trying to recalibrate, which would reveal her. The three enemies trotted into the building, assuming that their target had run away. All three wore pegasi armor. The score was now 130 to 120; Red Team was still desperately clinging to the lead.

Two of the three pegasi went up the ramp to the roof to provide sniper coverage, while the third pegasus walked over to where Luna’s gun was supposed to spawn. He wanted the gun too. 

“That’s not good,” Luna thought, “if Red Team got this weapon, they will have a huge advantage over us which would put them drastically ahead.” 

Luna could not let this happen. She had to act quickly, as her armor wasn’t exactly suited for one on one battles. The pegasus, still unaware of his audience, crouched by the doorway, ready to strike at whoever dared try to separate him from his goal. His back was turned to Luna.

An excited and sinister expression overtook Luna’s face as she realized that this was the perfect opportunity for an assassination. Quickly, yet silently, Luna made her way to the unsuspecting pegasus and unsheathed her knife. She didn’t get the ranking “Master Assassin” in this game for sitting around doing nothing. She was just a few feet away from the pegasus as she prepared to strike. The score was now 130 to 130; the game was tied.

There was a gentle knock at the door. "Princess Luna?"