//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Preparation // Story: Mane co Mercenaries: The Battles // by Paintpaws //------------------------------// Celestia's sun had just risen over the magical land of Equestria, the land was quite and still, nopony had yet disturbed the fresh new day. In a town, far south from both Canterlot and Ponyville, things were different. Ponies were already awake, some had been for hours, others were still drowsy and needed tea or coffee to keep themselves alert. The reason for them being awake at such ungodly hours, they were preparing. For a fight. Nine creatures stood, sat or floated around a square table in the middle of a large room, the table held a map of all of Equestria and beyond into the known realms, the creatures looking at and discussing the map and some instructions that had been hastily written on parchment. Around the room were more maps, plans, posters and photos depicting various things ranging from celebrities of Equestria, such as the Wonderbolts to pictures of the creatures themselves. Among the creatures, three of them were arguing. One stocky, grey pegasus with a dark blue helmet covering his eyes was barking orders to a changeling wearing a dark red ski mask and a paler red suit, the changeling took a long drag from a cigarette being held in his green magic, glaring angrily at the pegasus while a short, tan coloured unicorn desperately tried to keep the peace between them. The other creatures didn't seem too bothered by the trio, either they were used to the bickering or just didn't care, or maybe both. The only ones who showed any interest was a dragon and a second unicorn. The reptile was relatively small for a dragon, only just being taller than a pony, she itched absent mindedly at the mask she wore over her face while watching the three fight, staring at the short unicorn, her emotions unknown due to the mask. The unicorn was a dark red with a black mane and tail and a patch over one eye, he took a swig from a bottle of scrumpy as he warily kept an eye on the pegasus, ready to stop him if he attacked. At the opposite end of the table sat a giant earth pony, he towered above the the white unicorn he was calmly chatting to in a foreign language. They too were discussing plans, the white unicorn occasionally adjusting his round glasses or flicking his dark curled mane as he spoke, the pale greyish blue earth pony squinting down at the map or some notes every so often. Next to the pair was a griffon, adorned in a brown hat and sun tinted glasses, he sat there, quietly sharpening arrow heads as an energetic young pegasus in a baseball cap told him about a baseball game that had happened the day before, the griffon wasn't really listening to the pegasus rant about unfair scoring and the other team cheating, but nodded his head every now and then as if to show interest. "Listen to me you love eating MAGGOT!" The helmeted pegasus roared, breaking the somewhat calm atmosphere and sending the other creatures into silence, "I don't like you, I don't TRUST you! So when you tell me that we SHOULDN'T attack the hive head on, what in Celestia's mane do you think I will say to that!" "Solly, please!" The tan unicorn pleaded, "Spy has a point, it could be a trap." "It is a trap." The changeling hissed, rubbing his temples, "But if you want to go charging in without a plan, no less, I'm not going to stop you." "We do have a plan!" Solly snapped angrily, "We storm their base, Medic deploys the ubercharge, we drop the bomb, Engie teleports us out and we watch the explosion over cans of beer! It's faultless!" The pegasus insisted, seeming quite proud of his plan. The white unicorn tutted, "Herr Soldier you know I can only uber one pony at a time.", he said with a German ring to his voice. "And laddie, I don't think wiping out an entire species is really what the princess wants us to do." The red, Scottish unicorn added. The dark blue pegasus blinked, as if considering this for the first time, before he could speak however he was interrupted by the door to the room swinging open. A purple unicorn mare stood in the doorway, she wore cateye glasses and had her black mane tied up in a bun. "Sorry I'm late guys." She said briskly as she trotted into the room and set her saddle bag down on the table, "Anything new Spy?" She asked the changeling. Spy shook his head, "Either they know I'm working for you or they are sending instructions differently, I haven't been getting any for a while now." The purple unicorn nodded, "So the attack is still coming as far as we know, alright... we can work with that." "Hey Miss Pauling," The light blue pegasus spoke up, "Doing anything after tonight?" "Not now Scout," Miss Pauling said, "If we don't take care of this first then we won't be able to do anything after tonight." Scout frowned and lent close to the griffin beside him, "Is that a yes?" He whispered, the griffin chuckled but shook his head, the pegasus grumbled. "The hive is here." Spy said, pointing at a black and green area on the main map on the table, "Chrysalis cannot teleport all of her drones and soldiers to Canterlot, from what I heard they will be passing through smaller towns like Ponyville in order to get there." "Because they all so spread out we don't know which way the Queen will go," The tan unicorn chimed in, "Hell, for all we know she could already be in Canterlot." Miss Pauling sighed, "If Engineer is right then this could already be over, changelings have never made contact like this to Equestria in a long time, nopony will know how to react." "Probably why they want to attack now then, if your family member or lover starts acting differently, regular folks aren't gonna think it's a changeling, right?" The griffin said. "Ohh ohh! Tell her my plan." Soldier loudly whispered to Spy. "I am not telling her your plan Soldier." "Wait." The large stallion suddenly spoke, everybody turning to look at him, "All changelings are coming to Canterlot, they surround it, yes?" He said, drawing a circle around Canterlot with his hoof. Spy nodded, "They plan to close in on the capital city, yes." "You onto something, Heavy?" Scout asked. "If you told hive that they were discovered, that tiny sun princess was setting trap and only way past is through Teufort, would they come?" Heavy asked "...Tell them that Teufort was a blind spot to Canterlot" The griffin muttered, catching on to Heavy's plan, "That it's unguarded." "Da, they come here, see no guards think it's safe." Spy thought for a while, "It could work..." Miss Pauling said quietly. "If I tell them what Sniper said, that we are the blind spot, she would likely send her more powerful soldiers through here, their disguises aren't as perfect as the drones or spys but they are more powerful fighters." "Aye, we can take 'em" The Scottish unicorn said. "And those pansy guards can deal with the drones," Soldier added, "and the spys will run away because they are cowards." He said glaring pointedly at Spy, who simply rolled his eyes. "Okay, Spy send that message, I'll update the princess." Miss Pauling said picking up her things and beginning to leave, "And try to come up with a plan that doesn't endanger the town." There were mummers of disappointed agreement in the room as Miss Pauling left, Sniper set out a map of Teufort on the table. "Trukie, if you set me up a teleporter about here," he pointed a claw in the forest surrounding one side of Teufort, "Then I can tell you if I see them." Engineer nodded, "Alright, but don't shoot, we need to get them into town before attacking them, then it's harder for them to retreat." "Can't they just send a message saying that it ain't safe and that it's a trap." Scout piped up. Spy waved him off, "These soldiers are like our Soldier, just dive right in without thinking." "It's the only way to do it." Soldier beamed proudly, Spy facehoofed. "Demo, set up some stickies in the centre of town, I'll hide some turrets there too." Engineer continued, Demo nodding, "Pyro and Solly attack from the air, Heavy and Medic from the ground doc, try to build an uber before they get here." "Already on it." Medic said, a trail of blue magic swirling around his horn and attaching itself to Heavy, the magic having small blue crosses bubbling in it. "Spy, you gotta get them here, me, Demo and Scout will stop them leaving. Sniper, get any that get too close or run too far away. Everyone clear?" The creatures agreed and left the meeting room to begin setting up for the impending attack, Spy, Sniper and Engineer leaving the town and heading into the forest, not before Engineer set up a teleporter. Soldier and Pyro took to the air, Soldier and Pyro hiding behind the thatch roofs of houses, Scout lent on the wall of one of the houses, twirling his baseball bat in his hoof. Demo began enchanting small, spiky orbs, making them sparkle with the same red magic as his horn, after strategically placing the orbs in different places he tossed a saddle bag up to Soldier. "It's fireworks and bombs laddie," The unicorn said in response to the pegasus' confused expression, "Throw em down if they get too clumped up." "Right." Soldier said, attaching the bag to his back and fumbling with some matches, the dragon made a low mumbling sound. "No I do not need your help Pyro." "Well she could light them on the way down laddie." Soldier grumbled and Pyro made a muffled sound as though she was laughing. On the other side of town Medic and Heavy stood together and watched everyone set up, Engineer had just teleported back and had begun setting up sentry guns in hidden places, turning off their sound so their positions wouldn't be given away. Medic tittered to himself. "Oh this is exciting." He muttered. "(What, because this is our is our first fight altogether?)" Heavy asked, speaking better in Russian then he did in English. "(That and these creatures, oh how I would love to get a hold of one just to see what makes it tick.)" Medic responded in German. Heavy laughed, happy to have found someone who could adleast understand his mother tongue and didn't mock him for his poor Equestrian when they first met. Engineer finished setting up a third sentry and then folded them all up into red tool boxes, ready to deploy them at a push of a button. He trotted over to Demo and joined him in pretending to window shop. "I told the shop keepers not to panic if they hear explosions, didn't tell them about the changelings though." Demo said to Engineer in a hush tone. "The Princess will probably want to do that herself," Engineer muttered, "Right now all we need to do is wait." "I always hate this part." Scout said, overhearing the conversation. "Me too boyo," Demo sighed and looked down the path Sniper and Spy had left down, "Me too."