Battle Arena #6: Doomsday (Special Delivery)
As time passed, Twilight found herself getting more and more affiliated with Red Sniper. He has been helping her out tremendously over the past few days, ranging from giving her little hints and tips to advising her on plain social skills in this world of warfare. She hated to admit it, but she didn’t really want to leave team RED.
Sometimes between battles, she would have thoughts that she would quickly discard, due to their sheer magnitude. Thoughts about not leaving the Team Fortress 2 world.
Regardless of all the blood and killing, there was no death. These eighteen men, even though they kill each other on a regular basis, seem to get along like a family. They’re all that they have. Twilight kind of wanted to be a part of that peace, without bearing the weight of the Elements of Harmony.
………………………………..
She was snapped out of her thoughts, however, when she saw Red Scout and Rainbow Dash bickering about her in a different corner. She rolled her eyes, and sighed.
Red Sniper approached her.
“Ah, forget about them, mate. At least you know you have me and your other friends to back you up.”
He put his hand on Twilight’s shoulder. She looked up at him, and smiled.
“Now what do you say we go kick some BLU ass?” He suggested.
“Sounds like a plan!” Twilight responded.
………………………………………
“Okay Fluttershy, zee point of Special Delivery is to getz a briefcase called zee Australium to zee rocket warhead without letting zee other team do zee same. Scouts are usually zee best ones to do this, so I want you to heal them as much as you can.” Red Medic explained.
“Okay, I will.” Fluttershy replied.
Just as the countdown began, Red Medic and Fluttershy began to carry out their plan by overhealing Red Scout and Rainbow Dash.
“Hey thanks, pally!” Red Scout exclaimed.
…
“5…4…3…2…1…FIGHT!”
The resupply locker doors opened, and both teams barreled out, heading straight for the location of the Australium. Sirens went off as the battle began.
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Playing with Danger
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“Gentlemen, today we make history!” The announcer rasped over the intercom.
…
Chaos erupted as both teams reached the drop site. The Australium sat on a plank at the bottom of both teams’ ledge, unable to be obtained for another thirty seconds. Shots rang out through the atmosphere as both teams fought for premature dominance.
However, there seemed to be a troubling lack of Engineers at the drop site. Everyone else was present, but Blue Engineer, Red Engineer, and Applejack were not.
“Where are our Engineers?” Rainbow Dash anxiously asked Red Scout.
“Probably out near the rocket building sentry guns. Them hard-hats sure know how to stay prepared.” Red Scout answered.
…
“The Australium will be available for pickup in 3…2…1…” The announcer started. Immediately after, she had another announcement. “The enemy has picked up the Australium! Stop them!”
Red Spy, answering the call, pursued the carrier of the Australium, determined to stop them with his knife.
He turned a sewer corner, and saw the carrier. Before he could sneak up to establish a backstab, the carrier turned around, noticing him.
To his surprise, Red Spy was greeted with Pinkie Pie’s face.
“Oh crap! A Pyro! Time to retreat!” Were the thoughts that ran through Red Spy’s head at that very moment.
“Wait monsieur, no!” He pleaded. Pinkie ignored him, opening fire on her deadly flamethrower. Red Spy cried out in agony, and fell to the ground as a burning crisp. At this point, Pinkie Pie was dominating him.
Pinkie laughed. “Silly Spy, this is our Australium!” She laughed again. “Hey, that sounds funny! Australium, Australium, Australium, Australium……”
She continued to babble that word over and over again as she trotted off, in pursuit of the rocket.
She hadn’t noticed that Red Spy had reappeared in the sewer with the Dead Ringer moments later. His decoy cadaver continued to burn, yet he did not.
“Sorry madam, but this is the end of the line for you.” He grumbled, following her toward the rocket.
……………………………….
Pinkie Pie left the sewer, and was now out into the open battlefield. The Australium was beginning to get rather heavy on her back, making her walk rather slowly. Blue Medic noticed that she was carrying the Australium, and jumped down off of the ledge to assist her with his built-up Ubercharge.
“I am fully charged, Pyro! Ready ven you are!”
“Okey-dokey-lokey! Show me what you’ve got!”
…
A mere fraction of a second before Blue Medic pulled the trigger on his power pack, Red Spy sprinted forward and backstabbed him in a swift motion. Blue Medic barely got the word “Spy” out of his mouth before he fell silent on the ground.
Red Spy then turned around and headshot Pinkie with the Ambassador before she could react. A spray of blood streamed out of her head as she fell, along with the Australium.
“You see Pinkie; maniacs like you always have bad things happen to them when they play with fire. Also when you play around with me.” Red Spy taunted, throwing a cigarette onto her corpse.
“The enemy has dropped the Australium! Red Spy has earned the achievement: Dr. Nooooo!” The announcer exclaimed.
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Team BLU now had forty-five seconds to recover the Australium before it would once again become open to all teams. Applejack noticed it sitting around, and jogged over to it.
She knelt down, and quickly built a disposable sentry gun to keep a temporary guard of the Australium before they would steal it at the drop site. She turned around, and noticed Red Engineer giving her a thumbs-up from his location at the rocket. She returned the favor.
…
Just as planned, anyone from team BLU who attempted to approach the Australium got shot to death by Applejack’s sentry gun. The long span of time between respawns left enough time for the Australium to return to the drop site, where Rainbow Dash hastily picked it up.
“We have the Australium!” The announcer anxiously exclaimed.
“That lady needs to find a hobby…” Rainbow Dash mumbled as she sprinted toward the rocket with the Australium on her back. She pulled out the Force a Nature, and prepared to inject bullets into anyone who got in her way.
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Red Spy had been stealthily slinking around in the meantime, managing to backstab and sap the buildings of Blue Engineer. This closed off a chunk of team BLU’s defense, allowing Rainbow Dash more clearance to reach the rocket.
Using her speed as her main ally, she bolted to the lift that lied at the base of the rocket, and began to get elevated up to the rocket warhead.
“We are on the lift!” The announcer interjected once again.
…
Red Heavy and Red Pyro leapt up onto the lift to assist Rainbow Dash in the delivery. At the same time, fighters from team BLU began to pour into the battlefield, led by Blue Heavy, Big Mac, Blue Pyro, and Pinkie Pie.
Big Mac and Blue Heavy opened fire, mowing down the lift until Red Pyro fell. Red Heavy remained strong for a few more seconds, but was also eventually killed from the assault. Rainbow Dash’s speed allowed her to remain untouched.
The lift continued to elevate. Loud sirens began to blare as Rainbow Dash was lifted ever higher toward the rocket warhead with the Australium. More BLU fighters desperately kept flooding into the battlefield to stop them, with little efficiency.
…
Twilight climbed the ramps off to the side to reach Rainbow Dash’s height. Once she was granted clearance, she leapt across the gap and onto the lift to assist Rainbow Dash in fending off the barrage of BLU fighters. The sirens blared with increasing volume and frequency, as the lift was seconds away from maximum height.
“Hey, I don’t need your help, egghead!” Rainbow Dash defiantly exclaimed.
Rainbow Dash stomped over to Twilight, and shoved her off the lift. She yelped as she toppled over the edge, and fell all the way to the bottom.
She hit the ground hard on her back. An audible cracking noise could be heard from several of Twilight’s bones.
Twilight writhed in agony on the ground, unable to breathe with the wind knocked out of her. She coughed up a small splash of blood.
…
Red Sniper noticed the incident from his sniping location a little further back. He gasped, and ran for Twilight’s aid as fast as he could.
…
Rainbow Dash laughed evilly as she witnessed Twilight’s excruciating impact on the unforgiving ground below. She continued to laugh as the lift reached maximum height. The rocket warhead opened, and Rainbow Dash secured the Australium inside. Once she had it strapped in, the rocket took off.
“Yes! Team RED has delivered the Australium!”
Much to all of the ponies’ surprise, the rocket made it about fifty feet into the air, and fell off to the side, crashing into and obliterating a nearby control tower.
“Oh no… Gentlemen, this never happened.” The announcer stuttered.
The massive explosion secured the victory for team RED. As the lift retreated back to its original position, many team RED fighters approached Rainbow Dash to cheer and congratulate her. They never noticed the dastardly deed that she had just performed.
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Team RED’s victory was the last thing on Red Sniper’s mind at that very moment. He knelt over Twilight’s broken body, and lifted her head up. Her eyes were rolled back in her head, and a stream of blood poured out of her mouth.
“Medic! I need a Medic over here!” He cried out.
Fluttershy heard his call, and came running over to him with her medi-gun ready.
“Oh my, what happened to Twilight?” She asked.
“It doesn’t matter now, just heal her!” Red Sniper demanded.
…
Fluttershy aimed the medi-gun at Twilight, and pulled the lever. A steady stream of red smoke was emitted from the instrument, focusing on Twilight’s body. Twilight’s wounds slowly began to vanish.
Twilight sat up, and rubbed her head. “What just happened? Am I dead?”
“Far from it, mate. I understand that you respawn in this world, but I couldn’t bear to see you suffer on your way down.” Red Sniper explained, smiling.
…
The rest of team RED stopped congratulating Rainbow Dash for a moment to see what was going on with Twilight. They all walked over to where she lied with Red Sniper and Fluttershy.
“Gosh partner, what happened?” Red Engineer worriedly asked.
“It was nothing, mate. Rainbow Dash pushed Twily off the lift right before we won the battle. She would’ve died, if it weren’t for Fluttershy. If it were me, I’d have hated to respawn after suffering pain like that!” Red Sniper explained.
Twilight’s eyes widened. Did Red Sniper just call her ‘Twily’? Only her brother Shining Armor had ever called her that. Does he actually care about her?
…
At this news, all of team RED gave Rainbow Dash a dirty look. She smiled sheepishly.
“Come on guys, at least I helped us win the battle!” She suggested.
Red Heavy shook his head. “Once a little baby, always a little baby. You are not credit to team!”
With this, he turned his back on Rainbow Dash, and walked off. The rest of team RED did the same. Rainbow Dash went from being praised to shunned in ten seconds flat.
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As team RED prepared to walk off the battlefield, they were stopped by Blue Soldier.
“I don’t mean to interrupt or anything, but aren’t we going to scramble the teams?” He asked.
…
Team RED admitted to forgetting this. The teams lined up, and the trade began. To start, team RED selected Rarity to be on their team. Now it was team BLU’s turn.
…
Blue Sniper stepped forward.
“Um…I’ll take Twilight.” He announced.
Twilight reluctantly began to walk to the other side to join team BLU as instructed. However, she was stopped by Red Sniper before she could do so.
“Hold on a second, mate! What if I want Twilight to stay on my team?” He defiantly ordered.
“Well, I don’t think you get a choice, mate. I selected her, so she’s mine.” Blue Sniper objected.
“Over my dead body.”
With this, Red Sniper drew his Machina, and headshot Blue Sniper to the ground without saying anything else. Both teams watched in shock as Blue Sniper fell to Red Sniper’s knees.
“There. Now she’s mine.” Red Sniper stated.
On the outside, Twilight simply shrugged, and walked back to team RED’s side. On the inside, she was thrilled that Red Sniper actually killed someone to keep her on his team. Was she just valuable, or did Red Sniper actually have a liking for her?
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The team scramble continued. The teams are now oriented as follows: Twilight, Rarity, Big Mac, Zecora, and Spike are now on team RED. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy are now on team BLU.
It was no surprise that team RED was quick to get rid of Rainbow Dash after what had happened earlier.
…
“Alright men, now we show up tomorrow at 2fort for a Capture the Flag battle!” Red Soldier announced.
“And after that, our recruits are left to fight the robot army!” Blue Soldier added.
The teams agreed on the terms, and walked off in their separate directions.
…
All of the ponies except Twilight were shocked and frightened by what Blue Soldier had said. Why weren’t they informed about having to fight by themselves to defend Mann Co?
To be Continued…