Two nights after the bout with RED at Granary, Team EqU has had a touch of bad luck. None of the areas he could transport them to weren't under the Administrator's watchful eye. And so they were camped somewhere outside an area called Gravel Pit. The majority of EqU were inside a large trailer that was soundproof and could house eight ponies, one baby dragon, three humans, and a fair number of contraptions made by one of them. Most of them were asleep, and a few contraptions of Thenam's were activated.
Outside the tent on watch were Tasic, Twilight Sparkle, and Applejack. Accompanying them were three copies of the latter, whose manes were "palette swaps" of the original, and were—for some reason—in colors that reminded Applejack of her family; namely Big Macintosh (red coat, orange mane), Granny Smith (green coat, grey mane), and Apple Bloom (yellow coat, red mane). She shed a single tear as the four of them constructed Dispensers and Sentry Guns (all colored orange) to defend themselves for the night. It was apparent that she missed her family and was trying to be strong.
The copies were constructed by Thenam's "Copyspawn system". As they have experienced in their first training mission at Dustbowl, sometimes there's more than one of a certain 'class'. And after the hectic battle with RED at Granary, Thenam modified his simulation bot-creating machine so that it also created simulation bots of the EqU Team. So as not to be confused with the originals, they are intentionally colored differently from them. However, for some reason, none can be created unless their original is in the battlefield.
While the EqU Engineer clones were upgrading their Sentry Guns, Tasic made a campfire for warmth close to Applejack as she finished constructing hers and was upgrading it to Level 2. Using the metallic attachment on her foreleg, she held the wrench and whacked at the machine as it "folded out".
"Applejack, do you have a minute or two?"
"In a few.", the orange earth pony replied as she whacked her wrench at the Sentry Gun and finished the upgrade. "Okay. What do you want?"
"I was hoping to do our interview right now. You got the script?"
"Now?"
"Yeah."
"……Can't hurt, I guess."
Tasic quickly took out a camera and and made a quick set-up. Once he was ready, he held the clapperboard and said, "Aaand…Action!" A second after the clapstick was slammed, the earth pony began to speak.
"Howdy there. I'm Applejack, and I'm EqU's Engineer. I'll admit that the gadgets I made aren't that different from those of RED and BLU. And yeah, I pretty much ripped off from them and I have them to thank for because unlike them, I don't even have a single 'PhD', whatever that is. As a matter of fact, I am absolutely clueless as to how these things work, only the basics on operatin' them and that they do work."
"Are you sure you should be saying that?", whispered Tasic.
"Can't help being honest. I'm a very bad liar."
"Okay. Anything else you'd like to admit?"
"I'd like to admit that math isn't my strong suits, but I'm learning, especially when you told me those Heavies know more about it than I do."
"Yeah. I remember the look on your face." All of a sudden, a rocket headed their way. Both of them jumped out of where it would hit, stumbling a bit as Twilight then found a BLU Soldier that fired it and took him down with one shot. Miraculously, Tasic's camera was unharmed as he retrieved it. "Darn it." He took out a different handheld contraption from his clothes and spoke to it. "Thenam, I need one more EqU Sniper."
In a few seconds, emerging from the tent was a white unicorn with a mane that had shades of orange, red, and yellow. She donned the Sniper's gear and was clearly a clone of Twilight Sparkle as can be seen by the cutie mark and hairstyle. She moved to the side opposite where her original was and began sniping some other unseen assailants. Soon, more came into view and range of the Sentry Guns and they opened fire.
"Tasic, I think you should get back into the tent and let us handle this. And hopefully last the night."
"Okay. One more question. What do you think of the answer the RED and BLU Engineers give when it comes to solving practical problems?"
"About using a gun, then using 'more gun' if that don't work? Well, I say if it don't work no matter how much 'gun' you use, you can always count on your friends. Or perhaps allies is the more correct term in this case. I remember the time when I tried doin' something hard on my own and refusing help; it ended in a poisoned town and a bunny stampede."
"What?!"
"But that's in the past. You better go inside and get some sleep."
"You too, Applejack. Just don't change out of your gear so that your copies could stick around."
"Okay."
"Sorry the script wasn't good. I'll fix it up soon."
EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2
The next day…
The EqU Team had managed to last the night against BLU.
"For now, your respawn room is here in this trailer.", Tasic said.
The trailer, which was now camouflaged to look like a boulder, was parked a few yards outside an entrance to Gravel Pit. RED and BLU were currently up against each other there. Tasic, Jothicu, and Thenam now faced the EqU Team, who formed a line.
"Okay. Is it clear what your mission is?"
"We force RED out of Gravel Pit, then we follow with BLU.", answered Chronicle. "Or we can force BLU out first, then RED. Whichever is easiest."
"You got it."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes. We have it all figured out and found where their Respawn systems are operating. Once we break that down, they won't be respawning here."
EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2
The EqU Team were now positioned somewhere in the middle of Gravel Pit, where RED and BLU are bound to come shortly.
"All right, everypony.", said Chronicle. "Let's gear up!"
With that, the nine members tapped on their 'cards' and they were in their 'mercenary' gear in less than 10 seconds flat. And about time too as the RED and BLU Scouts were the first to enter their sights. No doubt the rest will follow.
EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2—EF2
And that's it for now. Again.
"'Let's gear up'? Almost sounds a bit like something out of a TV show. Something called "By the Power of Grayskull!""
That's a trope. And yes. I thought it'd better come around eventually. See ya on Third!