Twilight's Experiments: The War of Mann Co. 2

by MIKEANTHONY321


The Gravity of Mortality

Darkness. First there was light, and then there was darkness. A quick strain of the eye, and everything fell into…darkness. Was this death? There was no way of telling.

Twilight’s mind was swirling with these thoughts as she made a conscious effort to feel her own body. A brief surge of energy, and the disoriented unicorn was able to put one hoof in front of the other. Groggily, she opened her sealed eyelids.

Blurriness. First there was light, then there was darkness, and now there was blurriness. Twilight shook her head a few times in an attempt to rid herself of her hangover.

She appeared to be in some kind of small garage. Bright, fluorescent lights beamed wisdom of their surroundings into Twilight’s squinting eyes. Due to her body position, she felt like she was lying on a floor.

As her senses became sharper and clearer, Twilight groaned in an effort to sit herself up. She apparently resided on some sort of white linoleum tiling, alongside her eight unconscious friends. None of their mercenary companions were within sight.

This was all too familiar to her. A long time ago, longer than she could remember, she was in a similar situation of fear and confusion. A situation where she awoke softly in a world unknown and uncharted. A world where her former companions were lost in a realm no longer reachable. A world greeted to them by the darkened horizon of Doublecross.

Twilight looked around in all directions to get a survey of her whereabouts. The floor was clustered with seven unconscious ponies, one unconscious dragon, and a pile of dropped weapons. Two large stands stood against the wall on both sides of the room, each one marked, “UPGRADES”. Out the front window, a sprawling city extended past the horizon.

Memories of Twilight’s first experience at Mannworks began to hit her like lightning. The small garage, the city expanse, the UPGRADE stations…it was all making sense to her now.

Her amnesia completely eradicated, Twilight jogged over to the weapons pile to grab the weapons that she had dropped earlier. Then, in a patient manner, she began to wake everyone else up from their slumber.

Applejack was the first one to be awoken. She groaned lazily for a few seconds before sitting up slowly, just as Twilight had done. Once Applejack was aware of her surroundings, Twilight moved on to the next unconscious companion.

Fluttershy was the last one to be awoken. She lay close to the weapons pile, next to Zecora and Big Mac. Before Twilight could even kneel down to wake up her friend, Pinkie Pie nudged Fluttershy in the hip. The startled pegasus jerked awake with a sudden blink.

“Oh! I didn’t think you would awake so quickly. How are you feeling?” Twilight asked.

“Wh…where’s Red Medic…?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight raised her hoof to answer, but Big Mac cut her off. “Gone. Every one of our human friends is gone.”

“Do you know where we are?” Fluttershy asked.

“Nope.” Big Mac finished. He stood up, trudged over to the weapons pile, and yanked his minigun out from the bottom of the pile.

Zecora raised her hoof. Twilight and Big Mac both turned to her to see what she needed.

“Dear Twilight, I must know. What are these watches of which they bestowed?” She asked, holding up her left hoof for the unicorn to see.

Twilight looked down at her own left hoof, and found a similar device attached to her arm just above the tip of her hoof. She tapped it lightly.

“I don’t know what these things are. They weren’t there before we got here.” She marveled.

Pinkie Pie jumped up behind Twilight, making her flinch. “Twilight, mine’s got a neat-looking flame on the wristband!”

Twilight glanced at Pinkie Pie’s watch in confusion, then looked back down at her own again. On the back of the wristband, a sniper scope icon reflected back into her eyes. Zecora’s showed an icon of a bomb.

“They seem to match our class symbols. They must have some kind of purpose.” Twilight muttered.

While Twilight was trying to figure out the function of the ponies’ mysterious hoof-devices, the other groggy fighters got up to go claim their weapons. As Fluttershy was reaching toward the top of the pile to grab her syringe gun, Rainbow Dash caught a glimpse of her hoof-device.

“Horse-feathers; look at Fluttershy’s watch!” The cyan pegasus interjected.

Everyone who heard Rainbow Dash’s cry turned in Fluttershy’s direction. Fluttershy even looked down herself to see what everyone was freaking out about.

Fluttershy's watch wasn’t even much of a watch at all. A strange, robotic device was clasped to the bicep of her lab coat, and ran down like a prosthetic arm to the tip of her hoof. Various small buttons and monitors covered its exterior. Over the bicep, where her patch would normally be, was a large, glowing plus sign that indicated her class assignment. Her Quick-Fix was decked out with all sorts of lights and attachments.

“Holy hell…I bet Engineer would get a kick outta that……” Applejack muttered audibly.

“We’re so screwed…” Spike whispered, shaking his head.

“Damn, Flutters, you look like an android! I wish I could have all of that cool stuff!” Rainbow Dash gaped.

“Wha…what does this stuff do?” Fluttershy asked with worry.

Twilight and Applejack both walked up to Fluttershy’s bionic arm, and tried to study it for a few minutes. Meanwhile, the other fighters galloped over to the UPGRADE stations to start improving their defenses. This operation was already carried out once, so there was no doubt that they could do it again.

When Zecora was finished, she walked back to where Fluttershy and the observers were standing. “I don’t mean to interrupt with needs, but shouldn’t Fluttershy be using the Kritzkrieg?”

Big Mac trudged up behind her. “Eeyup. The Kritzkrieg is what got us through last time.”

Twilight turned to look at Fluttershy. “I’m afraid I have to agree. I think the Kritzkrieg would be a smarter choice for this kind of mission. The extra damage it causes would really aid us with whatever comes to harm us.”

Fluttershy looked at the three of them with a defiant glare. She grabbed her Quick Fix with both hooves, and held it close to her chest. “This is the thing Red Medic taught me to use. This is the thing Red Medic gave me as a gift. If I never see his beautiful face again, I’m at least going to use the one thing that reminds me of him.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes from a few feet away. “Fluttershy, that’s not even the same Quick Fix that Red Medic gave you. That one’s back at the testing facility.”

“I don’t care! This one still holds meaning to me!” Fluttershy snapped.

The four of them backed up a foot, their eyes wide. Fluttershy was getting unusually hostile towards them. If something held relevance to Red Medic, then it seemed that it wouldn’t be pried away from the shaken pegasus.

Just then, an alarming announcement made it over the PA. The ponies stopped in their tracks, and listened closely.

“Ponies, you must be warned. Our respawn algorithms are not reaching your location. From our base in Australia, we can only keep the servers running as far as India. We will keep on trying to fix the issue, but until something is figured out, deaths will be permanent!”

Everyone gasped. Everyone. If one silly move was made, a grave would have to be dug. For the first time since their arrival, a death would hold an immediate, lasting effect on the remaining ponies’ souls. Losing loved ones seemed too unbearable.

“What? What are we supposed to do, then?” Spike yelled. No response came over the PA.

“Applejack, PLEASE tell me that there’s something we can do about this.” Rarity pleaded, swinging her knife around anxiously.

“’Course there is. All those doohickeys covering Fluttershy have a purpose, you know. She can revive dead teammates if she catches them within ten seconds.” Applejack replied with a twitch of the straw in her mouth.

“Well…what happens if Fluttershy dies?” Rarity asked.

That one held a bit more meaning. The essence of the room seemed to dissipate for a few moments as the question escaped Rarity’s mouth. Applejack was silent for those few moments. She glanced up at Rarity from the ground, and sighed. “Life will go on.”

Rarity shook her head, and looked at the ground. “Dear Celestia……we’re screwed……”

…………………………………………………………………
Music: The Calm (It's best if you don't repeat this one.)
…………………………………………………………………

Once the ponies were finished with their initial upgrades, they stepped out of the garage to explore their surroundings. Massive skyscrapers dotted the horizon as far as the eye could see. Nearby, about three hundred yards ahead, a large mill with a neon “Mhanko” sign on the top cast its shadow.

The sun was setting over the entire backdrop. Off in the distance, car horns and engines could be heard buzzing through the streets of the busy city. The moderately-sized plot of land that they were defending, however, was completely deserted.

Over a few unreachable ledges to the right side, the familiar blue ship that caused all of their problems was parked at the entrance of a big gate that led into the mill. The garage that the ponies woke up in was tucked under the roof of a giant Mann Co. base that sprawled out for another fifty feet before giving way to the open environment of their defense plane. The hatch, the unmistakable metal door on the ground that they were assigned to defend, sat just before the edge of the roof in front of the garage.

“This is pretty incredible…” Spike gawked.

“Yeah…hard to believe that Mann Co. has bases like this all over the world…” Twilight added.

“Eh, whatever. I’m not much of a city pony. Let’s just start settin’ up before those robots come out to melt our brains.” Applejack ordered.

Fluttershy shivered. The ponies all stopped their walk to begin sprinting into the mill where their first line of defense would be set up. The back side of the mill to the right of the entrance displayed a massive entranceway to the ship, where the robots were apt to exit through. Above it was a high-risen railing that led to a second robot exit. The rail traveled off behind a wall to a staircase that led down to a side ledge right next to the mill entrance. Down below sat a gas tanker with a health and ammo pack sitting behind it. Way off behind everything to the left side was another staircase leading up to a second gate with a large “A” printed on the front.

“Let’s get this over with. Those golden weapons are calling my name.” Rainbow Dash smirked.

“They’re made of Australium, Rainbow Dash, not gold.” Twilight corrected.

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Australium, gold, plastic, whatever. If they’re valuable, I want ‘em.”

“You take off of me perfectly, Skittles.” A voice interrupted.

The ponies raised an eyebrow. What did that come from? It sounded like Red Scout, but he wasn’t with them at the mill. They all looked around, confused.

“Down here, bonehead.” Red Scout chuckled. Rainbow Dash looked down at her wrist, and found Red Scout on the monitor of her special watch. He flashed a thumbs-up, and grinned.

Rainbow Dash gasped. “Scout! How are you contacting me like this? Aren’t we like…really far away from each other?”

“You bet your ass we are. It doesn’t matter, though. Mann Co.’s got the technology other companies WISH they had. Our invasion hasn’t started yet. How about yours?”

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her neck. “Yeah, we’re not quite there yet either. Still tryin’ to figure this place out. ‘Think we got Applejack settin’ up buildings already.”

Red Scout leaned in close to the watch, and began to whisper. “Hey, uh, Skittles…how’s the yellow one doin’? We got Red Medic over here, and he’s decked up with robotics like he’s some sort of android.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled at the little coincidence of the Scout’s statement. Then, her face turned serious. “I’m not sure. We’ve kind of grown accustomed to the sound of metal rattling due to her constant shivering. I’m worried about her, man.”

Red Scout nodded. “Did you receive the warning PA from the creepy lady?”

“Sure did. Our LIVES depend on that little filly. It’s drivin’ my heart-rate up.” Rainbow Dash said with a shake of her head.

“I feel bad for you, though. I feel lucky to have my life entrusted to Red Medic, who’s a professional. All you have keeping Death off your front porch is a little pony who can’t even look at her own shadow.” Red Scout mentioned.

“Don’t remind me.” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“Well, I think I gotta take off. Haven’t even upgraded yet, and you never know when the robots are going to start kickin’.” Red Scout said.

“Alright then. Take care.” Rainbow Dash replied, preparing to turn off her watch.

“Oh, wait! Before you go, I just wanted to say something.”

“Yeah?”

Red Scout looked like he was about to say something, but stopped for a moment to take a breath. He looked down at the ground, and sighed a few times while scratching his nose. Rainbow Dash watched the monitor intently, waiting for him to say something of importance.

“…I love ya, Skittles. I really do.” He paused for a moment, kissed his fingers, and pressed them to the screen. “Just in case either of us doesn’t make it, I want you to know that.”

Well...that certainly was a statement of importance. The pegasus blinked a few times in surprise, and began to stutter.

It was only a matter of time before Rainbow Dash started fighting the devil to keep herself from crying. She sniffled once, and did the same thing with her hoof.

Applejack poked her head out from behind a crate, and gestured her hoof. “C’mon, Rainbow! I got my stuff put together, and we’re waitin’ on you! Time’s ‘a wasting!”

Red Scout and Rainbow Dash smiled at each other from over the watch transmission. Then, Red Scout cut the signal. Rainbow Dash’s screen went black.

To be Continued…