Equestria Fortress 2

by nightelf37

An Awkward Situation (a.k.a. Prelude to the "Baby Scout" Incident)

In the base Teufort (henceforth 2Fort))…

Tasic, Jothicu, and Chronicle were conversing with one another in the BLU Intelligence room when a voice came from behind them. They turned to see Rarity at the main entrance. "Gentlemen." There were a few seconds of silence before the two humans burst into laughter, leaving the two ponies confused.

"Oh, sorry.", apologized Tasic. "It's just that you still don't pull it off like the Spy does."

"By the way, what brings you here?", queried Jothicu.

"It's about the suspicious thing Thenam heard at RED base, so he asked me to investigate."

"Alone?", asked Chronicle.

"Of course not. He created a clone to accompany me, although it was a bit unnerving to be with her, since she bore the same colors as my dear Sweetie Belle…"

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Rarity stayed to the wall of the building Thenam had guessed to be the RED 2Fort barracks, which was situated next to their side of 2Fort itself. Under the midday sun, she normally would've stayed in the shade and do something else, but Thenam had different plans. Something was going on in RED, and he wanted to find out. She considered bringing a parasol with her, but the shadow it would've cast would've given away her position, even if she were to go invisible and it with her.

Last Friday (night), after BLU left for another base to fight off LUNA, EqU occupied their side of 2Fort. At Saturday evening, while glancing over at the RED base, Thenam and Spike saw it shaking. Needless to say, they were surprised and frankly quite startled. And so Thenam decided that the REDs needed to be spied on. And the only one who could do that was Rarity.

A Spy clone accompanied her, which took the color scheme of Sweetie Belle, and was under Thenam's control. It felt a bit nostalgic, but she remembered that this was not her sister, who was clumsy, annoying, a bit snarky, and a lethal chef, but still nice and adorable. She would have to ask Thenam later on why the clones were colored so that they reminded them of ponies (and some non-ponies) they knew back home.

As the two turned a corner, they saw the RED Sniper finishing a cup of coffee, admiring the noontime sun as he did so. From what she could see as they quickly cloaked themselves with the Cloak and Dagger, she also noticed a few hints of bruises that most likely came from a scuffle. Since the BLUs were away and none of her friends have been in a fight with them recently, it can only be assumed he had an argument with one of his teammates.

As the two EqU Spies moved closer, they both heard a crash from inside. "Stupid machines!", the Soldier's voice could be heard.

"Solly, how many times do I have to tell you?!" The next one was the Engineer. "The toaster ain't gonna kill us!"

Rarity heard the Sniper heave a heavy sigh and start for the door leading inside. Just as she went to follow as he opened it, he froze after one step indoors, then slowly turned…to right where she was standing. Rarity instantly felt nervous as she stopped in her step. The Spy clone did likewise. From what Rarity was told about him, he was a tracker of dangerous game, a hunter, and thus he would have better hearing than the average human. And the sounds of guns blazing in his current career apparently hadn't dulled them in the slightest. It didn't help either that hoofsteps are slightly louder than footsteps.

She did her best not to hyperventilate even as the Sniper stepped back and curled his hand into a fist.

"Goddammit Sol, we need the toaster!", the Engineer was saying.

The Sniper glanced over his shoulder, looked back to where Rarity happened to be (not that he knew it), then over his shoulder again. Slowly, carefully, he eased back to the base. Deciding now would be a good time to get inside, the cool indoor air beckoning to her, she quickly closed the distance as the Sniper stepped through the threshold, getting inside and slowing in her step as he shut the door, which pushed at and pinned part of her tail outside, irking her as she was forced to wait, still breathing hard but quietly. The other Spy waited outside patiently.

Once the door was shut, the Sniper took another deep breath. "M'just imagining things.", he muttered to himself. "Too many spooks." He then slunk off down one of the corridors, thankfully not making any accidental contact with her.

Once she was certain nobody was in the area, Rarity deactivated her cloak, 'took hold' of the doorknob, creaked it open enough to get the rest of her tail as well as the Spy clone in, then closed it again. "That was close. Way too close.", she muttered as the Spy clone uncloaked as well. I'm going have to fix this when I get back., she then thought as she looked at her tail.

The shouts of the Soldier and Engineer covered both Spies' movements as they crept down the corridor, butterfly knives 'drawn'. They tapped the button on their watches with the back of their knives, disappearing just in time as the RED Demoman thundered down a nearby staircase to join the fray.

And then they saw something unexpected. They saw the RED Spy carrying a young child into another doorway. Thenam identified it to be only a few years old. Now Rarity was interested. As well as a bit distressed by the fact that a baby was among these affable killers. Thenam had the same thoughts as well.

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Rarity told them more on what she and Thenam learned while they were in the RED barracks, which had slowly begun to sound like a confession. Once she paused to give them time to process this, Tasic spoke up.

"Let me get this straight.", he said. "The baby is actually the RED Scout, that the Respawn system had something to do with his 'age regression', and that the Engineer theorized that this might've removed his 'protection'? And you and Thenam thought it was a good idea to kidnap him?!"

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Later that night…

The Sweetie Belle-colored clone was listening in on the rest of the REDs as they sat around a campfire near the Sniper's van. From what she (and Thenam through her) heard, they were wondering where to hide the baby Scout for their upcoming fight with EqU, whom they discovered were in the BLU base, but didn't attack because the Administrator had put them on ceasefire until Monday tomorrow. The Respawn Room was not an option, and neither were the infirmary, the van, or the Engineer's workplace.

Meanwhile, Rarity had followed the RED Spy as he took the baby Scout, who was dragging along a Teddy Roosebelt accessory to a room. She remained outside, remaining invisible and still thanks to the Cloak and Dagger watch.

As she waited, Thenam told him what he heard from the other REDs and the news concerned her. She began to worry about Scout's safety and while it pained her to do this, she thought it would be best to have her in the care of less…psychopathic people. Even though they certainly looked nice enough outside the battlefield, the fact still stands that they have no place for the Scout to remain safe in the meantime.

He would be in better hooves if he was with EqU for the time being.

She voiced her opinion to Thenam, who agreed with her decision. Just then, the RED Spy left the room. Once she was sure he was gone, she opened the door and entered the room, and took a gander at the sight.

The walls were painted red, plastered with baseball memorabilia and pictures torn from magazines depicting beautiful female humans with little clothing. There was a full bookshelf pushed up against one wall and the bed was made neatly, where the baby Scout slept. There was an organized dresser next to the bed, the odds and ends on it in pristine condition. The floor was also free of litter. Even when she saw the trashcan was filled to the brim with Bonk! Atomic Punch, she was quite impressed with the Scout's cleanliness, although the many cans of potential radioactive drink unsettled her. While she also noticed a comb on the dresser, she deemed it unsuitable for fixing her tail.

She uncloaked at the foot of the bed, staring at the sleeping Scout. Using a spell she picked up from one of the LUNA ponies (Lyra or Lulamoon, she didn't want to call her Trixie so she can differentiate her from the one in her world), she 'summoned' a piece of paper and a pen. She still needed work on operating those writing materials as the one she had was the "push-pop" ones. Once she got that ready, she began to write.

To the members of Reliable Excavation and Demolition:

I sincerely apologize for this, but I have taken the Scout. I know you will be engaging us in battle tomorrow and you do not have a place for him to stay safe for the time being from our oncoming fight. I'm certain this will be a decision I will probably regret, but the idea of leaving a child at risk just doesn't sit well with me, nor would it to the rest of my team. Rest assured, we shall return him after the fight so your teammates can resolve this issue somehow, if we can't solve it ourselves, that is.

Sincerely,

Rarity, Spy of the Equestria Union

She still felt a bit unsatisfied with the letter, but with time running short, it will have to do. Carefully, quietly, she rolled up the paper, put it down on the bed, and 'picked up' the Scout. The teddy bear he was holding fell to the floor. "Shhh," she whispered as she lay him on her back. "Shhh, there there." She 'placed' the teddy bear back on the bed and 'moved' the letter into its arms before leaving.

As she began to walk down the stairs she had climbed to reach his room, the Scout stirred, opening one bleary eye at whatever was carrying him. It seemed to be a small white horse with a beautiful purple mane. He figured he was dreaming; this pony was too beautiful to be real.

"Pweety…", he muttered as he brushed the pony's mane with his fingers. Rarity noticed, stopped, turned around to look at him, then cast a little sleep spell she often used on Sweetie Belle whenever she tucked her to bed. It wasn't strong enough to put to sleep those who are normally awake, but it worked on those who are on the verge of slumber.

Speaking of which, the clone of her that bore her sister's colors met up with her. "Do you have him?", she said in her voice, but with the "fancy" accent of the Spy. Rarity could only nod. "Let's go."

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"I'm sorry! But we didn't feel it would be safe for him to stay with them! Thenam heard the others arguing on the issue."

"I can't believe you didn't learn your lesson.", Chronicle groaned. Technically, it was Fluttershy's lesson, when she kidnapped Princess Celestia's pet phoenix Philomena without asking because she wanted to help her get better."

"Wait. Why did she kidnap a phoenix?", asked Jothicu.

"We didn't know that she was one at the time, okay? Philomena didn't look even remotely like any phoenix I was familiar with, not to mention she was pretending to be sick. She was nearing her reincarnation phase."

"Ah. I see."

Just then, Thenam came in, looking sullen and about to confess something as the other three Story Crew members gave him a harsh stare.

"Thenam Kintobor, you have a lot of explaining to do.", said Tasic.

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Elsewhere in the BLU base, in an area usually inaccessible during the "war games" and visible from the Intelligence room, the ponies (and dragon) there either had their ears covered due to the baby Scout's crying in the middle of the room or were running along the rows of terminals in panic in an attempt to find a way to calm him down. Fluttershy, Derpy Hooves, and Pinkie Pie were not in the room for some reason.

"Why did nopony tell us about this?!", Twilight Sparkle asked herself as she tried to figure out what to do.

"I'm getting Pinkie Pie!", Spike said as he ran out of the room.

"I think you should leave.", Applejack suggested as the Scout turned purple. Not a good sign.

"Why? Is it because of that 'Rainbows make Scout cry' thing?", retorted Rainbow Dash.

"YES!", chorused everypony in the room. Meanwhile, the little human boy sucked in another breath between gulping sobs and a gross mixture of snot and tears dribbled down his chin.

"Fine." Once she was out of the room, Spike came back with Pinkie Pie, who bounced in with a baseball in her mouth. Upon noticing the baby, she immediately went over to him and gave him the ball.

Once she did that, she jumped onto the terminal the baby was on, sat down on her rump and hoisted him up with her front hooves. "Isa ball.", he said. "Isa nice ball!"

"Thanks!", said Pinkie. "I knew you'd like it!" The baby Scout nodded, then Pinkie took out a hankie out of nowhere, wiped his face with it, then put it away back to nowhere.

"Thank Celestia that's over.", sighed Applejack.

"Thanks, Pinkie Pie.", Twilight said as she and the rest calmed down or got up. "I'm gonna have a talk with Thenam about what we should do. In the meantime, how would you like to babysit him?"

"Oh boy! I've never babysat a human baby before! Of course, I don't sit on them 'cause that would be painful. Not to mention mean."

"Good! I knew we can count on you. And I'm sorry for what I said to you when I offered to babysit the Cakes for you."

"Come on, Twilight. You already apologized before and I accepted, remember?"

"R-Right."

Just then, Derpy and Fluttershy came over, having went for a quiet walk around the base, although the crying caught their attention and they had come over as quickly as they could, getting lost in the corridors before finding the place. They hadn't been in 2Fort long enough to be familiar with it. Upon seeing the baby Scout…

"Umm, what's going on?", the gray pegasus asked.

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The two of them were filled in on what was going on. One the RED Scout had been turned into a baby. Two, Thenam and Rarity decided to kidnap him to protect him from tomorrow's fight. As the mentioned two along with the other members of EqU arrived, there was a heated argument involving how the situation could've been planned out more properly. Pinkie decided to leave so she can take care of the baby Scout in peace, saying all the arguing is bad for his ears.

Suddenly, something in Thenam's pockets beeped. He took it out, and looked at it, then paled. "Uh oh.", he said. "Somebody's headed here."

"Should we hide?", asked Fluttershy.

"No. We should.", he corrected. "It's one of the Administrator's messengers. He'll be looking for you guys. They don't know humans are helping you. Not the Administrator and her messengers anyway." As it was, the BLU team did know after their Spy once stole one of their cases, which had contained "Nightmare Night Masks", prior to their battle in Mann Manor. And since the REDs also obtained these masks, it was assumed they knew as well. And before all that, there was Saxton Hale. And none of them had considered revealing this to Helen.

With that, Thenam pulled back a sleeve, revealing one of the watches the Spies use and disappeared from view. Tasic and Jothicu promptly revealed similar watches and did the same and the three hustled over behind one of the many terminals. From the other entryway came a man in a trench coat, who seemed to fit the description the Equestrians had been given of him sometime after the Saxton Hale incident.

He stopped a few steps after entering and then opened his trench coat, revealing a miniature television screen. It then showed the face of the Administrator. "We meet at last, Equestria Union.", she said, inciting the anger of some of the ponies. "To think that a band of colored equines and a small fire-breathing reptile could pose a threat to Mann Co."

"Hey!", Spike took offense to what the Administrator said.

"No matter. Where's the one in charge?"

"That would be me.", Chronicle stepped forward and jumped onto one of the terminals so he can be seen.

The Administrator then seemed to turn away to cough once before turning back. "Sorry. Wrong terms. Who is the one who hired you? The RED team is under the employ of Redmond Mann while the BLU team is under Blutarch."

"I'm sorry, but we are not allowed to divulge that information." He then gave the others stares so that they would play along before turning back to the screen. He decided not to reveal the fact that they know Blutarch and Redmond are brothers. "Might I ask why you sent a messenger here?"

"I'm here to give you a fair warning. I know everything that's going on in the bases, including DeGroot Keep. I know someone is doing something in them whenever you do battle with BLU or RED, and I don't like it. You know that in here, fire goes away after a while and doesn't burn wood, and the buildings stay intact no matter how many explosives or bullets hit them, things like that right?" The present members of EqU nodded. "Well, it's thanks to a little something I have planted in all the bases, what it is I will not tell."

"Okay…", said Twilight.

"I will be activating something else that will nullify all that, and I believe you know what will happen when I do. Just in case you don't, my messenger has a note that will describe the effects." The messenger took out an envelope and held it out in front of them. Chronicle 'took' the envelope from him and brought it over to himself. "From what little my agents have discovered about you, you aren't trained killers."

"And you're thinking the deactivation of this something will scare us off, huh?", guessed Rainbow as she bent down, ready to charge.

"It never hurts to try. I always have other methods. And I certainly trust you won't shoot my messenger."

"Now why would we do such a thing?", asked Spike. "Unless…the other teams do it a lot of times. Right?"

"Correct, EqU Demoman. Another thing. I also know about the baby RED Scout. And while I'm not absolutely certain if he's with you, I know for sure he is not with the other REDs. And since he was still here when the BLUs left, I'm assuming he's in your base."

"And if he is?"

"Here's something else I'll let you know. I control the Respawn machines that the teams use and I know you use your own. If I find out the baby Scout is outside the base during the fight, I will set it so that if he dies, he dies for real. And I'm certain the REDs will be really angry if they find out it's your fault they lost him." Rarity looked especially guilty, but the Administrator didn't see it. "Well, I think I've wasted enough time conversing with you equines and little reptile. Enjoy your evening, ladies and gentlemen." With that, the messenger closed his trench coat as his television closed and left. To the surprise of some, Rainbow didn't go after him and beat him into a bloody pulp, not that she'd go that far.

Once they were sure he was gone, the three Story Crew humans uncloaked and walked to Chronicle, who 'gave' the envelope to Tasic. Incidentally, Pinkie Pie returned with the baby Scout fast asleep on her back.

"Okay. Let's see what our dear messenger's got for us.", Tasic said as everybody approached him. He opened the envelope, took out the letter, and started to read it. Thenam and Jothicu leaned over his shoulder to read as well. Their backs weren't to any of the terminals, so none of the ponies or Spike could jump onto one to look as well. None of the pegasi were interested in hovering behind their shoulders and finding out what the letter said and even if they did, the writing was so small and in cursive they couldn't have read it.

Once Tasic was done, he pulled the letter away and it was evident that there was shock in his face. The other two humans also had similar expressions.

"What is it?", asked Derpy.

Jothicu gulped, then answered, "Let's head to the trailer."

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Inside the EqU trailer, which was parked right next to the buildings of 2Fort, everybody was gathered at the improved 'cockpit' (after their meetup with LUNA), which was where Tasic and the others do 'mission control' during the "war games" as well as drive.

"Tomorrow's battle will be…gorier than usual.", announced Tasic.

"What?!", gasped Spike.

"We've seen blood and body parts fly before.", Applejack said, eliciting a look of fright from Fluttershy. "What could be 'gorier' than that?"

"Do you know what it's like to be burnt?", asked Jothicu. "And I don't mean the way the Pyro's flamethrowers or any of the other flame-inducing weapons burn you."

"You know, I noticed something different from the way fire burns on me compared to some of my accidents with Spike.", Twilight pointed out. The young dragon put a hand to his back and rubbed it while making a guilty face. "I'm not sure about the difference, but even when my entire body's on fire thanks to the Pyro or any other burning weapon, I'm still able to focus enough to fight for a while." All the other ponies murmured in agreement. At one point or another, they had at least one fire-related accident, not all of them involving Spike.

"Well, that's partly thanks to your cards, which protects your fur and hair from burning up." Jothicu turned to Rarity, who felt grateful. "The something the Administrator talked about already protects skin and clothes. Well, with the something else activating, that protection might disappear." Just as he said that, an invisible wave seemed to wash over them all, making them all shudder a bit.

"What was that?", yelped Spike.

"I'm not sure.", replied Thenam as he put a finger to his chin. "But if I were to hazard an educated guess, it would be that something else the Administrator told you about." He then noticed something wrong with the technology around them. "Oh no!"

"What's wrong?", asked Tasic.

"Our tech's affected by that wave as well!" He frantically went for a nearby keyboard and started typing frantically.

Tasic turned to the others and said, "Another thing. You noticed that the buildings remain intact no matter how many things explode on them, right? Well, concrete will now crumble and wood will burn and splinter. And then after the fight, they will be inexplicably restored the same way the teams' Respawn does to the mercenaries."

"There's more.", said Thenam as he broke away from the keyboard he was typing on. "Your Customizers are out of whack. You won't be able to select weapons for the time being and are stuck with the default loadouts. No hats or miscellaneous items either. It's also easier to get disarmed of your weapons, whereas that usually doesn't happen."

"Other stuff will happen as well, like the Jarate and Mad Milk leaving shards from their shattered bottles, you guys being able to pick up your own intelligence, wounds appearing and bleeding when you're hit, simultaneous use of two weapons, and so on."

"Guys, I need you all to keep focused as always. Don't let this new 'mode' freak you out. Even if the respawn time has now become fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes?!", gasped Pinkie.

"Yes. In exchange, Engineers can set up more than one of each building AND be able to build mini-sentries along with the standard ones."

"Well that's an upside.", commented Applejack. "Are we keeping the baby in the trailer, then?"

"No.", argued Fluttershy. "You heard what she said. If the baby Scout's outside 2Fort during the fight, he'll lose his Respawn protection and…" She gave aloud gulp. "His death will be final."

"And RED will be onto us with a greater vengeance than they will tomorrow.", the farmpony finished.

"Well, at least we can still deploy clones.", said Thenam, then gave a sigh. "This'll probably be our toughest fight yet."

"Tougher than Saxton Hale?", asked Pinkie.

"LUNA was there to help.", Tasic pointed out. "And in the Halloween fights, we had temporary alliances with BLU or RED. This time, we're fighting RED under a different set of rules. And I fear only Chronicle will be able to stomach all of this once it's over."

He then gave a sigh as he looked up to the ceiling, wondering how they got themselves into another unusual bind.

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And that's it for now. The baby Scout and all scenes involving him is a shout-out to ChaosAndMayhem's "Eight Mercenaries and a Toddler". Except the part with the rest of EqU, which only has a minor basis on "One Scout, To Scout, RED Scout, BLU Scout", also by ChaosAndMayhem. Thankfully, she granted me permission to use the idea. I know I didn't apply the term "prelude" correctly, but this is how EqU first got involved in the "baby Scout" incident. See ya on Third!