//------------------------------// // de_ponyville // Story: Equestria: Global Offensive // by Material Defender //------------------------------// CT: 0 - T: 0 The hapless citizens of Ponyville went about their day as usual. There was a minor commotion, however, over the topic of seeing something new around, most likely chalked up to pranksters, or perhaps the Cutie Mark Crusaders again. There had been a huge 'A' spray-painted on the outside of the Ponyville Town Hall, while there was a 'B' that stood starkly out of place on Twilight Sparkle's library treehouse. The trio of fillies had denied any wrongdoing, however, so the origin of this strange new occurrence was left up to the ponies to contemplate. Attempts to remove the letters using magic or water had proved to do absolutely nothing, so Mayor Mare merely decided to order a heavy-duty cleanup crew from Canterlot to visit the town next week, hopefully providing the solution to this weird problem. Much to their shock, blue-clad beings began stalking through down, running down side alleys and hopping on boxes, pretending to knife them in almost comical fashion. The ponies, however, simply began screaming and running in terror as no sooner had the blue-clad run into a group of tan-clad right outside Roseluck's flower stand, they had begun firing their guns at each other, destroying the stand and the precious flowers in the process. Daisy had to break Roseluck out of her stupor, as her red-maned friend merely stared on in horror as the strange beings exchanged fire over the remains of her flower stand. "Come on, Rose, we have to get out of here!" "Wuh--buh--but... my... stand..." Roseluck meekly said. "Just get out!" Daisy pulled Roseluck down to an alley, where another group of ponies sat watching the spectacle unfurl. The blue-clad had engaged the tan-clad using strange black objects that made terrifying noises. The general consensus among those in the alley was that it was best to wait until Celestia and her royal guards could show up. If they did, that is. Before long, the firefight had died down to a simmer as a blue-clad and a tan-clad were the only remaining. They had taken up shelter in various places, though from what the ponies could see, the blue-clad had taken to hiding in Sugarcube Corner, while the tan-clad proceeded into Ponyville Town Hall. Mayor Mare's shriek could be heard for blocks around. The bomb has been planted! The ponies gave each other continued looks of shock. A bomb? Where was the bomb? Even more important, just what was this voice? They could see the blue-clad quickly exiting the gingerbread house, making his way towards the Town Hall. He stood by the open door and seemingly played a game of hide-and-peek with the tan-clad, taking potshots at each other while the ponies close to the Town Hall could hear the sound of beeping growing faster and faster. Mayor Mare had cleared out the area around Town Hall for quite a distance as the continued standoff between the two beings seemed to go nowhere. Soon, though, they noticed the blue-clad pull out his knife and begin running quickly away from the Town Hall, shortly followed by the tan-clad. The beeping stopped, and then produced a single three-tone beep. And then the Town Hall exploded. Mayor Mare fainted. Terrorists Win! CT: 0 - T: 1 Twilight Sparkle had been reading in her library, minding her own business while reading the latest on magical theory straight from the University of Canterlot, until Spike burst in through the door, huffing and puffing, and trying to futilely gasp out a few words. He wildly gesticulated his arms in an incoherent manner, until Twilight forced him to settle down. "Things! Two legs! Explosion! Town Hall!" he said, taking in huge gulps of air in between. "Oh, dear! Has anypony been hurt?" "No! There's... things! The two-legged things blew up the Town Hall!" Twilight stood for a moment, her eyes barely moving. Somepony blew up town hall? "Really, Spike?" she nervously laughed. "That sounds a bit... outlandish." "Twilight! Didn't you hear that loud voice saying 'the bomb has been planted'?" "No, I didn't! Is that what that was? Sorry, Spike, I was reading a book, so I wasn't exactly paying attention..." "It doesn't matter now, we have to get a letter to Princess Celestia before they--" The two heard the sound of doors opening, and quickly ran downstairs. When they burst into the living room, several of the tan-clad beings were looking around the library. "B. Area's clear." Then one of them walked up to one of many pile of books around the ground floor of the library, leaning down, and dropped a small green box on the floor. The group of tan-clad then took up positions around the room, most likely to watch for possible intruders on the small parcel. The bomb has been planted! Twilight looked to Spike quickly. A bomb?! In the library?! They heard Owloysius fly down the stairs, landing in front of the bomb and trying to peck at it to no effect. Spike swiped at it with his claws: they also had no effect. Then Twilight tried using her magic: still no effect! So she used her hooves to try to push or knock over the bomb: unsurprisingly, no effect. "Uh, Twilight? What do we do?!" Spike shouted. "I--I don't know! Quickly, just grab a scroll and quill and write up a letter to--" The sound of gunfire erupted as the first of the counter-terrorists ran into the room. He managed to down one of the terrorists sitting in the corner, leaving only two left to defend the bomb. The sound of more gunfire coming from outside indicated that the other two terrorists had run into the blue-clad somewhere in Ponyville. Screaming ponies could be barely heard over the din of the bullets flying through the air. Unfortunately, much like the incident with Town Hall, the prolonged gunfight prevented the blue-clad from being able to disable the bomb. Twilight realized that if the bomb was beeping faster, that was probably a good idea to grab everything and get out as soon as possible. Her assumptions were confirmed as the two tan-clad quickly changed to knives and ran out the door behind her. They had run a suitable distance from the treehouse before the tan-clad pulled out their weapons again, firing over a group of huddling ponies in an alley at an awaiting blue-clad on the other side. The kill was quick, but left the ponies mentally scarred over seeing the biped die. That, of course, and the following subsequent explosion as Twilight watched her precious archive of books go up in flames. The smoke rising into the air was tantamount to the worst crime or pain imaginable to the young lavender unicorn. Terrorists Win! CT: 0 - T: 2 Zecora had immediately expected the worst when she heard the sounds of explosions coming from Ponyville. Did more of those strange beings enter Ponyville now, too, of all places? She quickly galloped out of the Everfree alongside Trixie. The sight that befell their eyes was more than anything they could have imagined: the beings were freely running through the streets of Ponyville, engaging each other at first sight! The ponies of the town, at least those who were completely hapless to these new arrivals, were in a mixture between cowering in places where they hoped the beings would not find them, while others were running through the streets screaming at the top of their lungs. Zecora could notice several plumes of smoke around various parts of town. The situation was beyond bad. "Quickly, Zecora!" Trixie said. "We must find Twilight! You have told me that she is the Princess's student, yes? Then perhaps she can help!" They nodded at each other and began running for the treehouse. "B. Need backup!" One of the blue-clad seemingly ran through Zecora, falling back as the group of tan-clad aimed their weapons down the streets at the two ponies as a few of them entered the treehouse. They quickly shielded themselves with their hooves, hoping that their projectiles wouldn't hit them, and preparing for eventual death... ...only to have it never arrive. Trixie quickly opened her eyes to see a bullet zing through her body as if it wasn't even there. She was shocked! So it was clear that the weapons these beings used were to only be used against each other. It had no effect on ponies! "Look! They can't hurt us!" Trixie said. Zecora nearly had to do a double-take when she saw another round fly through Trixie's head. That shot would have most definitely have been fatal. So the extent of their magic only applied to a great voice in the sky that could only be heard within a specific radius, and on top of that, their rounds were only capable of hurting each other? Did the beings treat this as if it were some sort of game? The thought of such brutal acts being enjoyed as a pastime sent chills down Zecora's spine. "Trixie, let us not tarry long! To Twilight, before they plant the bomb!" she said. The bomb has been planted! Curses! She'd thought the old Zebrican tales about being jinxed were just a hoax! Nonetheless, they needed to find Twilight, and quickly! A quick stare through the window only revealed nothing but more of the tan-clad sitting in the corners of the library again, and it was evident that the purple unicorn was not present, else she would have certainly attempted to do something to these intruders. "Zecora? Where is Twilight? Where is she?!" Trixie shouted. "I do not know to where she has fled! Now let us make haste, before we are dead!" They quickly ran away from the treehouse, passing several alleys with cowering ponies and headed straight for Town Hall. If Twilight would be anywhere in the town, she would most certainly be with Mayor Mare planning to make some order out of this madness. They quickly found a group of ponies in front of the Town Hall, all circled around something... or somepony. "Mayor Mare!" they heard Twilight shout. "Wake up! Oh, where's Spike with that water?!" There was the sound of some groaning as Mayor Mare came to her senses. "Oh... what...?" Her eyes quickly widened as she recalled what had happened just mere moments before. "My Town Hall!" She looked up at the multi-floored building. "Oh, thank Celestia, it's... it's okay..." "Twilight Sparkle!" Trixie shouted. Twilight had a look of confusion until she saw that Trixie was with Zecora. "You must help the ponies! We have to send word to Canterlot about this!" "I know, but Mayor Mare here fainted, and I thought she needed medical attention!" "Make way, make way, nurse coming through!" Nurse Redheart quickly pushed through the crowd of ponies, only to breath a sigh of relief when she saw Mayor Mare. "Oh, thank goodness. We've had a huge influx of patients recently, all delirious and out of their mind! What in Equestria has been going on out here?!" Trixie decided to fill them in. "It's those things! We saw them in the Everfree only hours ago! They were doing the same thing there, as well!" "Doing what sorts of things?" Twilight asked. The sounds of gunfire could be heard in the background, but abruptly stopped. The ponies paid it no heed, but Trixie and Zecora already knew that if gunfire stopped and no victor was announced, that could only mean... "They were doing--" An explosion rocked the background as another huge plume of smoke rose into the air. Twilight knew what had just happened, and nearly turned into a sobbing mess, almost going insane, but was calmed with the help of Spike, who had returned dragging a bucket of water. Twilight immediately returned to her senses after being drenched, but it didn't help much. Terrorists Win! CT: 0 - T: 3 "Look! Look, Bonbon! I knew it! I knew it! HUMANS!" Lyra whispered loudly. The pair of ponies sat at the window of their second story bedroom, observing the humans as they fought tooth-and-nail against each other in the town streets. "Can't you be serious about this, Lyra?" Bonbon hissed. "They're destroying the town!" "I know, I know, but it's just so... so exciting to actually be able to see a human! I want to touch their hands!" Lyra began to turn for the door, her mind practically filled to the brim with imaginative glee. "Lyra, no!" Bonbon forcefully dragged Lyra as the aquamarine unicorn attempted to bolt for the stairs. "You're staying here with me! We are not going out there until Celestia tells me herself that this problem has been dealt with! You've heard the explosions! And those things that they're holding, those are just horrible!" "I know, aren't those things so amazing? They use their hands to operate them!" Lyra exclaimed, completely ignoring Bonbon's warnings. Bonbon sighed. "Lyra.... please, just promise me that you'll stay... okay?" She stared deeply into Lyra's eyes, pleading for her to remain with her special somepony. The cracking sound of gunfire and the shrill wails of ponies screaming continued uninterrupted in the background. The bomb has been planted! "You hear that, Bonbon? They have bombs! Bombs! Made by humans!" "Lyra! Please, I don't want to lose my special somepony to something as... as stupid as this!" Lyra's mad smile merely faded to a soft one, and she closed her eyes, nodding her head. "Okay... I'll... I'll stay with you, Bonbon. I won't leave my special somepony alone..." She snuggled up against her, and they both turned their heads to watch the carnage outside unfold like spectators in this insane game of bullets and death. They had heard the shots being traded before, but Lyra nearly squealed with glee when she noticed one of the blue-clad emerge directly in front of the home. "Look! Look, Bonbon! It's a--!" "A human!" Bonbon whined. "Yes, I know already! Now get down, before he--she--it sees us!" She hid her head beneath the windowsill, but Lyra wasn't so keen to do the same, her face frozen in ecstasy. Bonbon rolled her eyes when she noticed a unattended drop of drool fall out of the smiling unicorn's mouth. "Lyra, get down!" "Huh? Oh, yeah!" Lyra quickly huddled down next to her. "Isn't this so exciting?" She stared at Bonbon, expectant for an answer, as gunfire loudly erupted just outside their window. "It's so intense, like those Daring Do books!" They could hear the sound of the projectiles pinging off of metal, as they heard several screams of humans dying. "This isn't funny, Lyra! This is one hundred percent serious! Those humans could possibly harm ponies! Harm us!" A rogue bullet smashed through their window. "See?!" Bonbon looked on in confusion as Lyra quickly jumped across the bed, landing squarely on top of the nightstand, looking into the wall where the bullet had impacted. "Whoa... a real human... uh, object... but it's so awesome..." "Lyra! Get down!" The bullets were haphazardly flying through the streets now. Screams of several ponies nearby alerted Bonbon to their precarious situation; their screams had been much too loud, and that meant that they were close. Too close. "Lyra! Please!" "Okay, okay!" Lyra dived off the nightstand and slided up next to Bonbon. "Isn't this day amazing?!" The gunfire quickly stopped as the voice in the sky declared a victor for all ponies to hear. The bomb has been defused! Counter-Terrorists Win! CT: 1 - T: 3 Rarity had heard the beginning of the panic when a herd of ponies had zoomed by Carousel Boutique. Curious, she wandered outside, only to hear terrible crackling noises like when a precious gem was broken in half, and then, much to her horror, an explosion! Her immediate reaction was to immediate fortify herself within her shop, and deter all intruders from ever attempting to enter, but she knew her friends were in danger. She had to find them! She quickly made for the bridge nearby, until she saw a group of five bipedal beings materialize out of thin air. "I--! Uh... oh, dear... what is this?" The five were merely standing around, completely ignoring the gaze of the white unicorn. "Um... excuse me? What are you doing?" Their hooves, or whatever a pony could call those appendages, seemingly shifted as they were replaced with objects that fit to their digits. She had a curious idea that they were most likely weapons, but that wasn't what interested her: what interested her was how they were dressed. She'd never seen another sentient race wear clothing like these strangers, and the way they wore them was as if they had form and function bred into one. The deep blue of their dress, covered with a thick matte black padding, most likely for protection, she assumed. "Hello, darlings?" she repeated. "Can you hear me?" The masked and helmeted beings ignored her again. "Excuse me! Over here!" "Lock and load." Some of the group pulled out knives, while others pulled out small cylindrical objects, unknown to Rarity. They quickly bounded over the bridge and headed into town proper, leaving Rarity to ponder just what exactly these things were. She was broken out of her thoughts, however, as the gunfire again erupted, this time sounding extremely close to Town Hall. It came back to her: her friends! She had to find her friends! They would need her help! With a new resolve, she charged over the bridge, heading for the Town Hall, only to see a purple hoof grab her body and pull her out of the street. "Twilight?" she whispered. "What's going--" Twilight put a hoof over her mouth. "Those beings are here to destroy Ponyville!" "Actually..." Rarity turned and gave a frown at seeing Trixie. The showpony ignored her and continued. "...they are here to enact some sort of... invasion, you could put it. Zecora and I have seen them before, in similar numbers, in the Everfree Forest." "So? What do they want? Why are they here?" Rarity asked. "The objective of the blue ones is to stop the tan ones from either killing them all off, or blowing up one of two key locations in the area. It would appear that the locations in this case just so happened to be Twilight Sparkle's library... and the Ponyville Town Hall." "That's awful! I... I heard the explosions earlier, but I could tell from a distance that Town Hall was fine..." "The magic they bring, I have never seen," Zecora said. "Yes," Trixie said. "Zecora is correct. Whatever these strange new things are, they have the ability to appear out of nowhere every single time, after one of the prior conditions explained have been met. They seem to go on about this endlessly, with a very loud and annoying voice in the sky broadcasting their main actions, it would seem." "Can't we stop them?" Twilight shook her head. "We can't. Zecora and Trixie say that we can't do anything to them, or their bomb. Our hooves just go straight through them!" "Indeed," Trixie nodded. "I had the firsthoof experience of having those strange projectiles of their fly straight through me, but I was left completely unharmed. It is unlike any magic I've ever seen before." "But... Twilight!" Rarity said, looking to Spike. "Can't you send a letter to Celestia?" The bomb has been planted! "As expected of these strange tan beings and their strange new game, they have planted a bomb, one the blue ones must tame," Zecora said. The occasional bouts of small explosions, no doubt from the strange hand objects that they threw, was present, before more gunfire erupted again. "Anyway," Twilight said. "I can't send a letter to Celestia! I can't use my magic, either, it's like they... they can stop ponies from using magic!" "And stop pegasi from flying!" shouted one from the back of the group. "It's like I completely forgot how to use my wings!" "Oh... dear Celestia..." Rarity muttered, facehoofing. "So... what do we do Twilight?" "We must wait until this madness ends," Trixie said. "How so?" "They only go about doing this for ten times, it seems," she shrugged. "We noticed that after the sounds stopped coming from the Everfree. They must have made their way here... but how they did so before we even arrived is beyond the Great and Magnificent Trixie." "I know the answer to that one," Rarity said. "They have the power to teleport!" "So they can do some extremely powerful magic," Twilight thoughtfully said. The gunfire had stopped, but they could hear the chatter from the beings in the distance, no doubt reporting in on their searches or otherwise commenting on the lack of enemy presence. "I'll have to research this... when it's safe, of course." The bomb has been defused! Counter-Terrorists Win! CT: 2 - T: 3 Just who... or what were these things? Derpy had been hiding behind the counter in the lobby of the Ponyville Post Office, terrified as these strange tan beings that appeared right in front of her! At first, they seemed harmless, just standing there as if she didn't exist, but not a single moment longer than they had began for the door, one of them turned around and fired its weapon at her box of muffins! Oh, the horror of that moment. Her sweet, delicious muffins had been all but obliterated in a single moment, forever lost to the dirty ground. She could still see the bits and parts of the box and its contents strewn across the floor in front of her eyes. But... she couldn't stay here. She had to find help! Surely, the news must be relaying to Canterlot right now, but they would need a firsthoof account in order to believe anything! She looked at herself at a large vertical mirror that lay across from her: she was dirty, covered with minor bruises in her scuffle to dodge the being's fire, and her eyes were bloodshot. That would do. She had to avenge her muffins! Poking her head over the table to make sure they weren't there, she quickly hopped across the counter, opening her wings and preparing to fly. She could make it to Canterlot in good time as a mailpony, so she could... she tried to flap her wings, but they didn't flap... it was like she was trying to randomly flail them. That was not how flying worked. She tried again. Same results. Damn those strange beings! Did they somehow have the means to stop magic from working? Was that why Celestia's royal guards had not shown up in a timely fashion? She could understand how Twilight Sparkle from down at the library wouldn't be able to notify Celestia if magic was completely nullified. Derpy would have to deliver the message herself... how fitting for a mailpony. The bomb has been planted! She'd heard that said several times before. Most likely, it had something to do with the strange green box the tan beings kept protecting, as if it were some sort of sacred treasure of theirs. If they kept blowing things up in Ponyville, it would only be a matter of time until there was nothing left! Bolting out the door, she began to proceed up to Canterlot by hoof, running through the center of town and passing by the beings as they were fighting each other. Her pace quickened as she reminded herself that everypony's lives hinged on her being able to deliver the message to Canterlot. She was thankful that the sun was still high in the sky: traveling during nighttime could be quite hazardous, especially to a pony who needed to get somewhere quickly and couldn't be bothered with watching her hooves. The sound was terrible. It was so alien, so unfamiliar to everypony's ears, sharp and ringing. That sound permeated Ponyville for as long as the beings--aliens--whatever they were had been here, and it meant that they were shooting each other. They could end up hurting a pony, and that couldn't be allowed. She had to warn the Princesses! The trek, however, was a long and grueling one, going up the mountain in a spiraling road. It would take her the better part of an entire day just to make the trek, but if she made good time, she could be there as early as sundown, given her pegasi endurance. She just had to hope that Ponyville wouldn't already be dust and ashes by the time she arrived. Her focus shifted more and more towards her journey, however, as the thoughts of the town and the pillars of smoke that arose from it was quickly pushed out of her mind. Her sentimentality would only serve to hinder her in this instance, and she could not risk wanting to go back to help as many other ponies as she could. She needed to do this. The bomb has been defused! Counter-Terrorists Win! CT: 3 - T: 3 The kitchen at Sugarcube Corner was a complete mess. Not by the mayhem that had been going on, though; no, Pinkie Pie had not one, not two, but ten new guests in town, and she had to make a really big party for them! They seemed to like going to Twilight's library or the Town Hall, so she decided to cook up one of the biggest parties she'd had yet! If only they could just keep that racket going on outside just down a little bit more, then she could actually concentrate on making the pies, cakes, and cupcakes she needed for this party! Quickly stirring the batter into the molds, she quickly grabbed the tray and pushed it into the oven. Her party cannon sat in the corner of the room, locked, loaded, and ready to deliver unfiltered party goodness to any unsuspecting arrival in town. It was only by chance that her Pinkie Sense only went absolutely haywire that it nearly left her in a vegetable state, so she couldn't appear immediately to greet the new arrivals, though it did amuse her that they seemed to have strange objects that worked a lot like her party cannon did. Well, she could only hear them, she'd been too busy in the kitchen to do anything else. "Pinkie? Pinkie!" Mr. Cake poked his head in through the door. "What are you doing here? Don't you realize Ponyville's being attacked?" Okay, that was new... "Uh... really?" She said, her normally peppy responses ill-equipped with this new turn of events. "Wh--where's everypony at?" "They're all hiding around the town! I managed to speak with Mayor Mare, and she said that the strange new beings seemed to be going after Town Hall or the library!" "What about Twilight? My friends? Have you seen them?" She quickly trotted up to Mr. Cake with pleading eyes. He nodded. "Yes, they're safe. They're hiding in some alleys near by Town Hall with Mayor Mare. I've been told that the strange new beings have some sort of ability to negate magic! Can you believe that? Negate magic! Pegasi can't fly and unicorns can't use their magic, and Twilight can't seem to send her letters to the Princess! We're stuck here!" Mr. Cake turned his head towards the back door of the kitchen, and then his face nearly twisted in shock. Pinkie turned to see a group of the blue-clad beings running towards them, passing through the kitchen and running out the front door of Sugarcube Corner. The screams had subsided by this point as the ponies realized that the beings were only out for each other's blood... though that did not calm them down much. "Well, I guess they don't want to hurt ponies?" Pinkie nervously laughed. They continued looking on at one of the blue-clad who had returned to the lobby, and was now looking out through the window. He fired his weapon several times, only to receive a burst returned to him, his helmet making a loud clanking noise as a headshot found its mark. The two looked on in horror as his body crumpled to the floor. "Upstairs!" Mr. Cake shouted. "Get upstairs, Pinkie!" He grabbed a nearby frying pan and brought it upstairs with him, just in case, even though Trixie had already explained to the group that they couldn't hurt the beings... but he had to try. Nobody would hurt his loved ones on his watch. Terrorists Win! CT: 3 - T: 4 Fluttershy had been in the park, lounging with her songbirds until the carnage happened. Her birds scattered to the winds, fleeing for parts unknown, and she was left alone on the bench, absolutely dreading what had happened in town. Her thoughts were only further amplified as she heard the screams of ponies, and seeing several of them run down the park lane. "Fluttershy!" said Colgate, nearly skidding to a halt as she stopped by her. "What are you doing here? You have to find somewhere to hide!" Fluttershy noticed that Snowflake was within the group. "Um... c-can't he protect us?" she asked. Colgate nodded. "That's why we're with him! Snowflake received an honorable discharge from the royal guard before coming to Ponyville, so he still has his armor, and some of the other stallions and mares are heading along with him to see if we can bring back anything to help!" She noticed that Cheerilee, Cloudchaser, Flitter, and Thunderlane were among the group. "Come on!" Thunderlane said. "We don't have all day! Pony lives are at stake here!" "Oh, dear, I hope nothing bad has happened to the children... if only today wasn't a weekend!" Cheerilee groaned. "I hope they're all safe." "It's our job to keep them safe, Cheerilee!" Thunderlane responded. "Come with us, Fluttershy!" The bomb has been planted! "There it is again!" Flitter said. "We have to hurry!" "Yeah!" Snowflake said, but this time with more seriousness and less gusto. "Wh-what about Twilight? Or the other ponies?" Fluttershy nervously asked. "Are they safe?" "Yes, they're with Mayor Mare, but they can't really do anything! But there are fires all over the town from stoves left unattended by ponies! We have to put them out before they burn Ponyville to the ground!" Colgate said. "But... the bomb?" Flitter said. "Oh, right, you and Cloudchaser were working at the clouds when this all started. Mayor Mare said that we can't actually touch them or hurt them or the bomb, and the same vice-versa. It's like they're... ghosts, or something. So all we can do is help put out the other fires. For some really weird reason, anything they blow up just turns back to normal afterwards, so we can just leave the strange things to do... whatever it is they're doing." "Will they leave soon?" Cloudchaser asked. Colgate nodded, waving her hoof in the air. "Yeah, they'll leave eventually. Zecora said something about them only doing this ten times, and then they just disappear. It's really weird." "So... this is all some sort of prank? A really shocking prank?" Cheerilee said. Colgate sighed. "Yes. Zecora said they'll go away on their own, and it seems Twilight Sparkle agrees with her. Now come on, let's put out those fires before every roof in Ponyville is burning!" They quickly ran off as Fluttershy galloped behind them, trying to make sense of Colgate's explanation. When they got to Snowflake's home, they grabbed anything and everything that could hold large amounts of water, and it seemed that Snowflake had several buckets laying around his home. Snowflake himself had agreed with Mayor Mare to help keep the populace calm and direct them to the outskirts of town away from all the chaos. "Let's get to the river! Quickly now!" Cheerilee said. The ground rocked again as the Town Hall's roof exploded into a million pieces. They had to hide under the shadow of a tree as the bits of cloth and roof tiling scattered in their direction. Terrorists Win! CT: 3 - T: 5 "Quickly! Douse the fire!" Daisy and Rose quickly gathered buckets of water from the Ponyville well, handing them down a line as they quickly tried to put out a fire that had erupted right outside of the abode of Lyra and Bonbon. Following Mayor Mare's no-harm-from-humans declaration, it was quickly decided that preserving the town was far more important. A greater number of ponies had been redirected to Sugarcube Corner because Pinkie had apparently left her tray of cupcakes unattended in the oven, producing a catastrophic firestorm that pegasi were now struggling to put out with rainclouds. "Ugh, I hate those beings. I know they can't hurt ponies, but look at all the damage they caused..." Daisy said. "Human!" Lyra repeated. "They're humans!" "Whatever!" Roseluck shouted. "Those humans destroyed my flower stand!" "It's just some flowers," Lyra said backhandedly. "You can just grow them again. But these guys, the humans, who knows how long they'll be here?" "They've been here long enough!" The argument erupted into pointed shouts as Mayor Mare quickly stepped in on the scene, having gotten over her shock of seeing Town Hall explode. Twilight, Trixie, Zecora, and Rarity followed behind her. "Please, please, ponies! Now is not the time to argue! We must focus on saving the town first! Roseluck, I know what happened to your stand. We'll talk to some ponies around town about getting a new one for you, and perhaps ask Applejack about helping you get new seeds for your flowers." "I... thank you, Mayor." "Good. Then let us quickly put out these fires before all of Ponyville goes up in smoke!" Bonbon said. There was some commotion as the group heard other ponies shouting from down the street. "Look out! Here they come again!" "Ignore them! Put out the fire!" "Water! I need more water here!" "Oh, Celestia..." Mayor Mare said. "This is a disaster..." "Lyra! Water!" Bonbon shouted. "Huh? Oh, right!" Lyra had again fallen into a staring smile as she saw a whole bunch of the blue-clad run past her, admiring their forms, their clothing, their armor, their weapons, and... well, just about everything about them, really. Then they heard the sound of footsteps and out appeared the tan-clad just down the street. Lyra liked everything about them, too, but quickly turned away to give a bucket swirling with water to Bonbon, before turning back to watch the fight unfold. The skies thundered as the first shot came out of a green weapon held by one of the blue-clad, tearing immediately through a tan-clad and throwing his limp body to the floor. Then the actual fight began in earnest, as the two sides quickly ran to corners and objects to hide behind, exchanging shots with each other as the ponies tried their best to continue their firefighting efforts in the street. "Look out! They're going into the Town Hall again!" Attention was drawn to a tan-clad entering a building, retreating from the onslaught from the blue-clad. His plan was not to succeed, however, as a blue-clad quickly rounded the corner from Town Hall from the other direction, carrying two of the smaller handheld L-shaped objects, and walked inside behind him. The sound of gunfire could be heard, but the fight was not to be, as it seemed the tan-clad seemed to hold the advantage with a really loud pipe-shaped weapon that made a huge boom. The bomb has been planted! The rest of the blue-clad ran down the street now towards the Town Hall entrance, passing by the bodies of the now-dead tan-clad they had engaged with. Numbering only three now, the blue-clad walked up to the entrance, tossing in several of their hand objects into the lobby, before storming inside. The fight was short-lived as a quick burst of fire without a declared victor indicated to all that the final tan-clad had died. Before long, the small bush fire had been put out, and Mayor Mare had redirected the rest of the pony task force to putting out the Sugarcube Corner firestorm, and the blue-clad had achieved their mission. The bomb has been defused! "Four to five!" Lyra shouted. "I was keeping track of it! Four to five!" Counter-Terrorists Win! CT: 4 - T: 5 Twilight, Rarity, Spike and Mayor Mare stood before a single map in Carousel Boutique, now fixed to be a temporary command room. They were joined shortly by Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, both of which had been off fighting against the now-rampant fires across the town. Sugarcube Corner had been thankfully preserved, since it appeared that only the aesthetic parts on the outside and the roof had caught fire. Fluttershy had to return to her home momentarily to calm down her animals, assuring Angel that she would be returning after they'd saved the town. "Just where is Rainbow Dash? And Applejack, for that matter?" Twilight said. "Dash had to help with Applejack on her farm, darling. It's a weekend, so that means that they're not selling apples today, but actually preparing for the upcoming harvest." "Do they even know about what's happening here?" "It's not unwise to say they don't, but their problem lies with protecting the farm and Granny Smith," Mayor Mare said. "They can't just leave the farm attended. Even Big Macintosh would have trouble trying to save Sweet Apple Acres if the entire crop caught fire or those beings headed their way intending to make trouble." "The beings can only temporarily destroy buildings, Mayor," Twilight pointed out. "The resulting chaos was because ponies left their stoves and other devices unattended, and that was what caused the fires. Now that we know that they're incapable of hurting us, we can ignore them and stay away from the marked buildings so they can finish up... whatever it is they're doing, and then leave." "I agree," Rarity said. "The best we can do now is to actually ignore them. Let everypony go about their day, and perhaps keep breakable objects out of reach of the humans, as Lyra called them." They'd seen the supposedly last teleportation of the strange beings, or at least the blue-clad ones, right outside the Boutique. Several eyewitness accounts from across town had indicated that the tan-clad ones appeared within the Post Office, before both sides marched out to fight on the field of battle. "Well, Trixie, Zecora," Twilight said. "You two have had the most exposure to these humans. What do you think they'll do next?" "They seem to be moving all over the place attempting to cause chaos," Trixie said. "Where they will strike next, Trixie does not know. Their motives seem to be entirely random, aside from destroying very important looking buildings and shooting at each other." Snowflake had taken to maintaining the order in the center of Ponyville, just a stone's throw away from Town Hall, while Colgate, Cloudchaser, and Flitter had taken to leading the de-facto Ponyville Fire Brigade in putting out as many fires as possible. By this time, however, most of the carnage had died down, and most ponies simply waited in their homes for the situation to blow over. "Can... can you send a letter to the Princess, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight sighed. "No, and it still won't work. The only thing I hear about getting help is that Derpy left on hoof to contact Canterlot for assistance." That produced a murmur among the ponies within the room. "Oh, my. It's such a long distance to Canterlot from Ponyville..." Fluttershy said. "Especially on hoof." "They only stayed in the forest till dawn, so it won't be long until these humans are gone," Zecora noted. "Yes, then we'd have to figure out where they would show up next," Twilight mused. "They came from the Everfree to here, so I'd assume they'd probably visit somewhere else with important things... like Cloudsdale, or Canterlot. Usually they seem to be within range, unless I'm wrong... which I usually am not." "Well, what do we do now?" Spike asked. "No magic, no flying, no letters... seems like we're in a bad place here." "I still haven't thrown them a party yet!" Pinkie shouted. "I even had my party cannon all ready to go until it got damaged by the fire... now the only thing it shoots out is icky ash and smoke!" "Okay... so the only thing we can do is wait... let's head on over to Sweet Apple Acres and see if they need any help." Twilight and the group began for the door, leaving Trixie, Zecora, and Mayor Mare with the map. "Mayor Mare, I hope you can take over from here." A nod from the Mayor, and then they were off. The last cracks of gunfire from the library had slowed to a single pop, and eventually, silence, as the final and decisive round had been won. In the street before the treehouse, the bodies of blue-clad and tan-clad lay across the dirt, their weapons strewn across the field. The lone human victor, a single tan-clad took this moment of glory and spent it running between the bodies and firing randomly at them. The match finally ended, and the streets of Ponyville returned to peace once more. Terrorists Win! END MATCH SCORE: Counter-Terrorists: 4 Terrorists: 6 MATCH RESULT: Terrorists Win! MAP ROTATION: Current Map: de_ponyville Next Map: de_apple