de_apple
CT: 0 - T: 0
"Big Mac, hurry up with those carts already, will ya?" Rainbow Dash whined. "Applejack's been waiting for new ones for the longest time now! I thought you Apples were all serious about this applebucking business."
"Eeyup, we are," Big Mac strained, pushing in the last of the apple carts into the barn before hitching another train of empty ones on himself. "But it's mighty hard to just work with just the few of us. It's good to have some help on the farm every now and then."
"Don't sweat it, big guy," Dash said, floating alongside him. "But I think... hey, when did that show up?" Dash flew up to the barn and examined the orange stenciled 'A' in a circle marked on it. "I don't remember this being here. Do you?"
"Eenope." Big Macintosh paid it no mind as he hauled the carts full of apples into the barn, carefully lining them up to ensure minimal effort would be required when the time came to retrieve them for the market stalls or to make delicious foods from them.
"Huh. Maybe the fillies are up to something again. I don't know," Dash shrugged. "Got those new carts hooked up yet?"
There was the sound of metal clanking, and then the high-pitched squeal of moving wooden wheels. "Eeyup."
The sound of thundering hooves broke through the dirt path leading through the orchard up to the red-painted barn and house, as Twilight and the others quickly hurried to bring their warning to the Apple family before disaster struck them.
"Dash!" Twilight shouted. "Big Mac! Are you okay?" They all quickly stopped before the confused pair of ponies, unsure as to what had put Twilight in such a crazed state. "You're not hurt, are you? Where's Applejack? You've seen her around, haven't you?!"
"Whoa, whoa, Twi, just calm down a minute," Dash said, casually floating over to her. "You're a total mess right now, you know that? I was just helping Big Mac and AJ here with the farm, bring in the apple harvest, you know? There's nothing bad going on here, but we've been hearing some strange stuff coming from Ponyville. Did you do something crazy with your magic again?"
Twilight rapidly shook her head. "No, it's nothing with magic, sort of harmless, except to buildings, but--oh! You need to move all the carts out as soon as possible!"
"Twilight! Look!" Rarity said, pointing her hoof at the stencil. "The letters!"
"Oh, Celestia, no!" Twilight shouted. "Big Mac, Dash, we need to move the carts out of here now!"
"Huh? What's going on?" Dash said, rubbing her head. "Don't tell me that you're all scared of a giant orange letter now?"
"No time to explain, have to move the carts!" was the reply, as Twilight quickly used her magic to move the carts out of barn, placing them down near a line of trees a distance away from the bomb site. The carts were still strangely in formation, as Twilight's attentiveness to organization still pulled through even when she was manic. Even more stranger was the fact that their magic was still entirely intact. The nullification field seemed to only come into play when the rounds had proceeded further enough, Twilight noticed.
"Dash!" Pinkie said, hopping up to her. "You should have seen it earlier in Ponyville! There were these strange two-legged guys, and they came into town and tried to blow things up, but nopony got hurt, so I thought they were all fine, but then I was making cupcakes, and then I completely forgot about them when Mr. Cake told me to hide upstairs when they came into Sugarcube Corner, so it ended up lighting the roof on fire, and, wow, was that an amazing fire! It took so many buckets of water before we actually put it out, but the cupcakes were all burnt, so the party I wanted to have was totally ruined, and I--"
"Pinkie!" Rarity interrupted. "Not now!" She used her magic and pulled out a number of apple-filled buckets, leaving them next to the carts as Twilight told Fluttershy to search through Sweet Apple Acres for any sign of Applejack.
"Whoa, whoa, do you realize how much work it took to move those in there?" Dash said. "Sheesh, you know, now that I think about it, having all that unicorn magic to help would wrap this thing up a lot faster than just the three of us, you--"
"Twilight, are there any signs of those humans?" Rarity said, peeking around a corner of the barn. "It would appear that they haven't shown up yet, but perhaps they must be at the alternate location..."
"Well..." Twilight thought. "...the barn's practically the most important place on the farm! Where else could it be?"
There were loud and intermittent popping sounds coming from the orchard, in the more heavily dense area of apple trees towards Ponyville... and where the Cutie Mark Crusaders kept their clubhouse.
"Uh... Big Mac? Isn't that where Applebloom and her friends were playing at?" Dash asked.
"Eeyup!" Big Mac said, breaking into a full-speed gallop for the clubhouse.
"No, wait! Big Mac!" Twilight shouted, but was ignored as Dash quickly followed suit, taking to the skies as she traveled parallel to the red stallion's direction of travel. "Oh, this is just so... argh!" she said, voicing her frustration into the air. "Quickly, girls, follow them!"
Before long, the small firefight in the orchard had died down, as was now becoming obvious for the humans' early round antics, before things began to get serious, and the more powerful weapons and useful equipment began to come into play.
Counter-Terrorists Win!
CT: 1 - T: 0
"Hey, move it! I'm trying to see!" Scootaloo said, pushing Sweetie Belle away from the window in an attempt to get a better look.
"What's goin' on?" Applebloom asked. "There's a lot of loud noises comin' from outside, and--"
"Shh!" the other two Crusaders responded.
"I think... they're playing some sort of game!" Sweetie Belle said.
"What kind of game?" Applebloom said, sneaking over to the other window to get a look. "I don't think they're--" A pinging noise resounded throughout the tiny clubhouse as a bullet smashed through the window, pelting Applebloom with glass pieces. "Agh! Girls, get back!"
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle quickly jumped back from the window, checking up on Applebloom to make sure she hadn't been hurt: she wasn't, but the glass window was now broken, and would require replacing. It had been fortunate that she hadn't been cut by the pieces.
"Wh--what do we do?" Scootaloo asked. "They're all out there... do you think Applejack and Rainbow Dash noticed?"
"Aw, I hope so," Applebloom said. "If they're still out there... just what are those things, anyway?"
There was the sound of rapid beeps as they heard something hit the ground outside.
The bomb has been planted!
"What?" Sweetie said, exchanging looks of shock with her friends. "Bomb? A bomb?! They're--they're going to blow up our clubhouse!" She quickly moved up to the mirror and noticed the beings running off in various directions, holding their strange noise-making devices.
"I'm gonna hold up here." The tan-clad had successfully driven off a small group of blue-clad as they moved to positions behind various trees to protect the explosive package.
"Those meanies!" Sweetie Belle said. "They're protecting that weird bomb thingy! We need to get rid of it!" She tried to focus her magic on trying to levitate the small green block, but it seemed to have no effect on it. "Aw, horsefeathers..."
"We can't go out there, anyway!" Scootaloo asked. "It's not like we can fight them. We're just fillies, Sweetie Belle! We should just wait and let Rainbow Dash come and save us!"
"Yeah! And my sister will come and together, they'll send those creatures packin', and then everybody'll be happy!" Applebloom happily smiled.
"The bomb's at B--whoa, need backup!" came a voice from outside, followed by more gunfire.
"You mean there's more of those things?" Scootaloo said, pulling her Crusader cape over her back.
"Maybe those ones aren't meanies," Applebloom said. "Maybe they're here to stop the actual meanies from using the bomb?"
"It doesn't matter! We need to find a way out of here! Okay, seriously, next time, we need a Cutie Mark Crusaders escape hatch for our clubhouse," Scootaloo said, looking around the clubhouse for possible escape hatch hiding spots.
"Hey... do you hear that?" Sweetie Belle said. There was nothing, save for the quickening beeps of the bomb. "I think they're all gone!"
"So... what do we do then?" Applebloom kicked away some pieces of glass near her hooves.
"Let's try to find Applejack and Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo said, hopping towards the door.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah! I don't see any more of them. Maybe we can make a run for the farm!"
"Better than waiting for that bomb!" Scootaloo slowly cracked the door open a bit, her eyes scanning the grassy clearing and surrounding apple trees. There were a number of bodies strewn about, weapons on the ground, with small blotches of their blood in small pools across the calm clearing.
"Are they all gone?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Yeah!" Scootaloo opened the door a bit further, walking out on to the balcony that sat outside the small raised treehouse. "Oh, wait, there's one!" She stared down at the base of the tree, where a blue-clad crouched over the bomb, staring at it.
"Who cares, let's get out of here before the bomb blows up!" Sweetie Belle said, running down the stairs. Applebloom and Scootaloo quickly followed suit, as they hit the ground and bolted for the trees.
The bomb has been defused!
"Huh?" They all turned around to see the blue-clad stand up, taking out his small rapid-firing weapon, and shooting into the base of the tree. They could see chips of wood and bark fly off of it as the human claimed his dominance over this early second round of defusal.
"Applebloom!" The Crusaders turned to see Applejack standing off at a distance, with a nearby Fluttershy cowering behind a tree. "Get over here!"
"AJ!" Dash burst through the trees, floating momentarily before her wings sputtered out and she fell to the ground. "What in the hay just happened?" she said, trying to will her wings to move, but receiving no response. "I... I can't fly!"
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight huffed, quickly catching up as she came in hot on the heels of Big Macintosh, who charged for the blue-clad. "No, wait! Big Mac--" The red workpony slammed his head into the tree as his charge went through the blue-clad and sent him into an impromptu greeting with the treehouse's sturdy support at full force. "...ouch. That's what I was trying to tell you! We can't hurt them! And their magic nullification field just kicked into effect!"
Counter-Terrorists Win!
"And there's that voice in the sky again!" Rarity said, casually walking up behind them. "It would seem that their shenanigans transfer from location to location. On my stroll here, I heard absolutely no noise whatsoever coming from Ponyville!"
"Well, that's not--wait, he's gone!" Twilight said, walking over to where the blue-clad had once been standing. The bodies, blood, and guns had all but completely disappeared, but remaining was the blue-clad's bullet-carved inscription into the side of the tree.
"Uh... Twilight..." Applejack said, walking past her and examining the strange decor.
"I know, Applejack. Do you think they're trying to tell us something?"
"Shucks if I know. 'Sides, what does 'YOLO' mean, anyway?"
CT: 2 - T: 0
"Okay, aside from that, how are these beings even showing up all over the place?" Dash asked.
"From what Lyra has told us, Dash, they're called humans, and for some reason, they only ever seem to appear in specific areas, usually within a small span traversable on hoof. And they always seem to alter two buildings to be some sort of point of contention in what appears to be a recurring mock battle in some show of superiority," Twilight said.
"A mock battle?" Dash said, her wings folded back to her torso after their new-found uselessness. "They just tried to blow up the fillies' clubhouse!"
Twilight nodded. "Yes, but it seems that after every single battle, the buildings always restore themselves to pristine conditions with all contents intact. So far, the majority of explosions have been devoid of ponies, and I hope it stays that way. I'm actually kind of curious as to the nature of this so-called 'game', as well."
"Well, they ain't tryin' to talk to ponies or even play nice!" Applejack said. "It's like they know we're here, but they completely ignore us!"
"That may actually be a part of what they're doing in their battle. Their objective is to prove dominance to the other side through a series of victories eventually resulting in one side having a number higher than their opponents. Zecora and Trixie told me that they only persist for a total number of ten times before they move somewhere else."
"You mean they're gonna do this all across Equestria?" Applejack shook her head. "That's a load of horseapples! And they just appear out of thin air?"
"It would seem so. The humans utilize some of the strangest teleportation magic I've ever seen... most likely because it's not actually magic. It's like it just... I... I'm not sure how to explain it... it just happens. I'm pretty sure that they don't have a unicorn helping them with all this because... well, the magic nullification field that just seemingly appears out of nowhere around the time they begin immediately rules that out... it's just... so strange! I have to learn more about this!"
"They have... w-weapons..." Fluttershy commented, before shrinking back behind her tree.
"Yeah!" Applejack said, pulling Applebloom close to her. "We need to buck 'em to the moon! Nopony hurts my sister!"
"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed, nodding confidently.
"I already told you, we can't hurt them!" Twilight repeated. "All we have to do is wait for them, and they'll go away on their--"
The bomb has been planted!
"Now just wait a moment, Twi," Applejack said. "Since they're not here, that means that they're at the..." Her face contorted in shock as she quickly galloped off. "Mac! We gotta hurry, they're at the barn!" The rest of them, as well as the Crusaders, followed as the cracks of gunfire in the distance could be heard. When they broke the treeline and looked to the barn, the humans could be seen engaging in combat on the horizon, some of them falling as shots found their mark.
"The bomb! Where the bomb?!" Applejack said, looking over her shoulder at Twilight for an answer.
"It's obviously at the barn! But the humans are protecting it, and we can't actually do anything to the bomb! Zecora and Trixie told me!" The group stopped near a fence a stone's throw away from the barn, watching as the humans fired at each other from behind objects, either outside the barn like hay bales or the trees, or within the barn itself, like the second story window or the barn doors.
"I--but--agh, horseapples! So am I just supposed to sit back and wait 'till they just blow up our barn again?"
"Um... yes?" Twilight nervously smiled. "But don't worry! We moved all the apples out before they got there, so your harvest should be safe."
"Yeah, and now we can't finish the rest of the harvest!"
"It's okay, darling," Rarity said. "We moved the empty wagons into a orderly line near the filled ones. You can still complete your harvest, even with this... madness going on. We already know that they can't hurt us, so why not just make the best of it and just continue with what you were doing before?"
"Defusing the bomb now." The blue-clad soldiers walked past the bodies of the tan-clad, taking up defensive positions as one of their own quickly began his defusal of the bomb. The air was tense as the ponies looked on into the barn, seeing the crouched human work his mind magic.
"So..." Applejack said. "You're sayin' that one o' the group tries to plant a bomb, and another one tries to stop 'em?"
Twilight nodded, arching her head higher to try to get a better look at them. "Yes, it would seem as if there are two, and only two, groups involved in this battle."
"Well, that's just fine, just keep my sister away from 'em. Applebloom, where are--" Applejack looked around quickly, noticing that none of the three fillies were in sight. "Applebloom! Where'd you go?!" She looked at Big Mac, who merely shook his head, having not noticed the trio's sneaky disappearance, either.
Rarity gasped. "Look! There they are!" She pointed a hoof at the large red building, as the group watched as the fillies quickly ran into the barn, their small capes flowing on their backs.
The bomb has been defused!
"Oh, thank goodness," Fluttershy breathed out. "W-we should probably keep the fillies safe."
"No doubts about that, Flutters," Dash said, jumping to fly but only hitting the ground instead. "Aw, dang it. I keep forgetting I couldn't fly. These hew-mans have some pretty tough magic if it can stop unicorns from using magic and pegasi from flying."
Counter-Terrorists Win!
"Applebloom!" Applejack shouted, running towards the barn. "Get back here!"
CT: 3 - T: 0
"Aw, shucks, they disappeared!" Applebloom said, stomping her hoof into the ground. "I wanted to ask 'em a few questions..."
"Who knows, maybe they might show up again!" Scootaloo said. "You heard what Twilight said. They'll show up either here, or at the clubhouse!"
"Uh, isn't it kind of dangerous?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I know it's cool to try to protect our homes like those blue... humans are sort of doing for us, but we could get hurt!"
"Nah, weren't you paying attention?" Scootaloo said, hopping towards her. "Twilight said that their weapons can't hurt ponies! And she's a real egghead, from what Dash said, so we can totally trust her word on this!"
"I'm still not sure..."
"Come on, don't you want your cutie mark?" Scootaloo teased. "It'll be fine, just trust me!"
Sweetie Belle sighed. "Alright... but we should probably let our sisters know first--"
"Sweetie Belle!" they heard Rarity shout from outside. "Come out here this instant!"
"And you, too, Applebloom! Don't make me go in there!" Applejack said.
"Hey, Scoots? You there? Get out here!" Dash finished.
All three fillies gave each other worried looks before walking outside with tense looks. The mares and the red stallion watched as the children dispersed to their sisters and mentor.
"Really, darling, what's gotten into you?" Rarity asked Sweetie Belle, straightening out her cape. "You could have gotten hurt, and that would just be the worst possible thing! You should do well to stay away from those humans and their barbaric little game." She brushed off a bit of dirt at the corner before giving a smile of approval.
"But--!"
"No 'buts'! You are to stay away from them, and that's final! Now, let us distance ourselves from this place before they return!"
"--no, sis, I want to help them!" they heard Applebloom shout. Applejack held a stern face as her sister tried to argue their point. "If they want to protect our farm and clubhouse, then I say we should help them!"
"Listen 'ere, Applebloom. Those humans don't need no help doing... whatever it is that they're tryin' to do. The main point is that we still have an apple harvest to buck, and I don't want any of you puttin' yourselves in danger!" Big Mac walked up behind Applejack, nodding.
Applebloom's face scrunched in concentration, before she used her secret weapon: the pleading look. She returned her sister's gaze with googly eyes, trying her darndest to be heart-breakingly cute. "Please, sis...? This is for our cutie marks..."
Unfortunately, it didn't work. Applejack slammed her hoof down. "No! And that's final! Now, come on! We have apples to buck!" She walked off back to the orchard, leaving Big Mac to tend to the filly's crushed aspirations. He put a hoof on her shoulder, but was shrugged off as Applebloom huffed and followed Applejack.
Their attention was momentarily broken as they saw a single blue-clad appear from down the dusty road, observing his strange helmet and faceplate as he carried his strange weapon, a green-colored blocky-looking one with a long barrel. He walked inside the barn and looked around, before speaking.
"There's nobody at A." The being took a quick look at the rafters of the barn, ensuring that there was no sneaky tan-clad waiting for him to turn his back, before leaving the barn, hopping a wooden fence and running through the grass fields in the orchard on his way back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse. Applejack gave a calculating glance at the being as he passed by her.
"Shucks, there they go again!" Applebloom said. A ripe red apple plopped down on to her head as her sister bucked the tree she was standing under, which she promptly tossed into the wagon that Big Macintosh had just brought over. "I wanted to go see what they were doin'..."
The bomb has been planted!
The other ponies had gathered outside the barn, conversing on how to get rid of this strange and harmless, yet increasingly annoying group of troublemakers. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo merely deigned to sit underneath the shade of an apple tree--apples already bucked, of course--and allowing the grown-ups to speak.
"Well, if anything," Rarity said, "that voice is a fantastic indicator for how their battle is proceeding. I know Derpy had set off for Canterlot, but the amount of time it would take would be enormous! Is she even capable of using her flight? Will she even remember that at all? She might be too caught up in moment to actually realize that this confounded nullification field only applies within the scope of the battle!"
"Probably. If we're lucky, Celestia will be here by the day's end," Twilight said. "Otherwise, we'll just have to deal with them as they keep moving around, and--Pinkie, just what are you doing?" Upon Twilight's inquiry, the group turned their heads to see Pinkie standing on top of a ladder, trying to hang a banner down from atop the barn doors.
"I'm trying to put up a party banner, silly!" Pinkie giggled. "I still haven't thrown that party yet, remember?"
"Aren't you worried that they might just... blow it up?"
"Then that means I can put up another banner for a congratulations-for-blowing-up-the-barn party!"
Twilight rolled her eyes; there was no arguing with this mare. "Okay, then..." she said, turning back to the group. "Right, so it's all agreed that we'll keep an eye on the humans, and try to contain any mayhem that they may cause?" All the ponies nodded. "Alright, then. When this is all over and we get our magic back, we'll have Dash patrol the region around here, and have Fluttershy and her animal friends keep an eye out in the Everfree. Rarity and I will teleport at a moment's notice when they're spotted to try and contain them. We don't want a repeat of Ponyville, after all."
"And Applejack will need to stay here and collect the harvest before it all goes up in flames," Rarity said, nodding sagely. "Very well. We shall stand ready to counter these brutish humans--as beautiful as the blue on some of their uniforms are--wherever they may strike!"
The ground on which they stood shook with a small shock of seismic force, as they looked towards the treehouse. The Crusaders all walked forward a few steps, their mouths agape, as Twilight's group merely shook their heads, mourning the temporary loss of the clubhouse.
Terrorists Win!
CT: 3 - T: 1
"Ugh, this is just stupid!" Applebloom whined, sitting down next to her friends. "Those brown-wearin' varmints just done blown up our clubhouse!"
"Yeah!" Scootaloo said. "We should fight back against them, kick their flanks to the moon!"
They looked to the Elements of Harmony, minus Pinkie--who was busy turning the barn into a party barn--and Applejack--who was busy finishing the harvest--and collectively sighed. Their capes were mostly intact, save a few cuts and scrapes on Applebloom's when the window shattered in their clubhouse.
Sweetie Belle brought a hoof to her chin in thought for a moment, before putting on an angry face. "You know what? Let's do it!"
"Do what, Sweetie Belle? Finish the apple harvest?" Applebloom asked.
"No! Come on!" She got to her hooves and began running for their clubhouse. Applebloom and Scootaloo merely looked at each other, worried as to what sort of half-cooked plan Sweetie Belle had come up with, and followed her; though the idea of a plan that could help them get their cutie marks was nice, they were simply more worried that their friend might be hurt.
"What do you have in mind?" Scootaloo asked, quickly catching up alongside her. "You heard what the adults said, we aren't supposed to help those humans at all!"
"We aren't going to help them, at least not directly," Sweetie Belle said. "We're going to protect our clubhouse!"
"And that way, we can help those friendly blue guys, too!" Applebloom shouted. They gave proud smiles at each other as they continued over the ridge to their clubhouse, ready to defend their prized abode in tandem with their human compatriots.
"Cutie Mark Crusader Counter-Terrorists, yay!"
"Wait, what in the hay's a 'counter-terrorist', anyway?" Applebloom asked.
"Well..." Sweetie said, motioning for the group to hide behind a tree just outside the clearing. "...terror is a word that means fear, right? So terrorists must mean ponies that try to cause fear! Like what those other guys are doing by trying to blow up our buildings! And counter means 'in opposite' of, so that means that those blue guys are trying to stop them!"
"Oh!" Applebloom said, nodding. "So they're the good guys! Alright, I agree with that!"
Scootaloo laughed. "You're like a walking dictionary, Sweetie Belle!"
"Am not!" she retorted.
Scootaloo face-hoofed. "Okay, fine, whatever! I don't want to start arguing about that all over again! Now, quiet down, I see a one of them over there!" She pointed at a clearing, where a tan-clad carefully stepped in, scanning the clearing with his weapon, before breaking out into a jog to the tree when he was sure that there were no sneaky blue-clads waiting for him to turn his back. He quickly jumped on top of the lunch table they had sitting in the clearing, and pulled out his green box.
"Look! It's the--"
The bomb has been planted!
"Aw, hay! We need to find some tomatoes or rotten apples we can throw at 'em!" Applebloom said, giving a shifty look at the tan-clad as he bounded over to the stairs adjoining their treehouse and crouching down in anticipation of the incoming assault.
"Yep!" Scootaloo looked around and found a bruised apple sitting on the floor, one that had been knocked down from the tree and with only slight decomposition. She hefted the smooth and slightly-mushy weathered red object in her hoof, before flinging it with all of her filly might towards the tan-clad. She missed; it flew over his shoulder and slammed into the side of their tree, sliding down with oozing slime. The human, however, wasn't even fazed.
"Horseapples!" Applebloom said, throwing a rock, only to have it slam into the stairway railing. "Horseapples again!"
Sweetie Belle, aware of the fact that magic didn't work when these strange beings enacted their battle of skill and combat, picked up a stick--small, but with weight--and threw it towards the tan-clad. It landed just short of his feet, and the weight of the matter was quickly increased as more tan-clad took up position around bomb site B.
The sound of what appeared to be somepony ripping paper so loud it could shatter your ears could be heard, and a large number of yellow bolts broke into the clearing, killing one of the tan-clad. A group of blue-clad burst into the clearing, picking their targets and initiating the firefight, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders observed from the sidelines.
"Look! There they are!" Applebloom whispered, holding another rock in her foreleg.
Scootaloo hopped back to their tree, landing down next to them as she threw another partially-rotting apple on to her sizeable ammunition pile. "You girls ready?"
"Hold on!" Applebloom's pile was a small mound of tiny to medium sized pebbles and rocks, and she quickly dug in the ground around the tree for a few more, rolling them all into the pile before leaning against the tree again. "Alright! Let's do this! Sweetie, go find more rocks and apples for us while we hold down the fort!"
"Right!" Sweetie Belle quickly ran off into the orchard again as the fight intensified, as both blue-clad and tan-clad took up positions behind cover and trees, determined to outlast the other. The blue-clad with the loud paper-shredder gun took up position behind the tree to the left of the Crusaders, bringing his weapon up and bringing a earth-shaking roar throughout the area.
"Wow..." Scootaloo said, her hoof slick with the decomposing battle fluid of combat apples. "That's so cool! You could totally tear apart a cloud with something like that!" She observed the human reloading the weapon, removing a huge blocky box and inserting another one in its place, pulling a string of yellow dart-like object into the weapon and slamming the lid on it closed, drawing back a small lever with a clack. He looked momentarily in their direction, his expression obscured by his mask, before returning to his delivery of lead-based death upon the tan-clad.
"Defuse the bomb!" one of them shouted before receiving a blast to the face, as the numbers of both sides dwindled down to a single hoof. The only pair remaining was the paper-shredder blue-clad, and a wily shotgun-armed tan-clad, who hid behind the stairs, as if daring the blue-clad to try and defuse the bomb.
Sweetie Belle returned, heaping on a pile of rocks and apples to their stockpiles. "What's going on?"
"Shh!" Applebloom said. "There's only one of them left!" She grabbed one of Scootaloo's apples and flung it at the tan-clad, who mistook the red object for an incendiary grenade, and immediately bailed from his position. The blue-clad took the liberty of mowing him down without a second thought, before brandishing his knife and charging full speed for the quickly-beeping bomb.
"I don't think that beeping's a good thing!" Sweetie Belle said. "Let's get out of here!" Scootaloo didn't need to be told twice, and immediately ran, only turning to wait when she noticed her friends didn't come with him.
"No!" Applebloom said. "I know he can do it! He has to!" The blue-clad began his work, but the bomb was already beeping at an alarmingly fast pace.
"You heard what Twilight said, Applebloom! Nopony's ever been caught when that thing blew up, and I don't want us to be the first! Let's go!" Sweetie Belle tugged at Applebloom's cape, waving Scootaloo away when she tried to return.
Applebloom shook her head. "He can do it! I know it!" The beeping was now going as fast as her heart rate.
"We don't have time, Applebloom, now let's--"
The bomb has been defused!
They all breathed a sigh of relief, sharing post-jitter laughs when they saw the human hop on the table and fire his weapon, spinning crazily, but the situation took a rather ludicrous turn as the human became seemingly insane as ran off into the woods firing his weapons haphazardly.
Counter-Terrorists Win!
"Maybe we're just not cut out for this stuff," Scootaloo pondered.
CT: 4 - T: 1
"APPLEBLOOM!" Applejack shouted, as the three fillies sat in front of her outside the barn. "All you fillies done worried us sick, you know that?! What in tarnation did you think you were doing?"
"Well, it sort of worked..." Scootaloo said.
"What was that?" Applejack shot at her, the anger in her voice plainly obvious.
"We threw an apple at one of them and it helped! We stopped them from blowing up our clubhouse!"
Twilight walked forward, Spike sitting on her back as a scribe. "Ah, so that's very interesting. They might seem to ignore us, but when it comes to actual stimuli, they seem to react to it normally like anypony would. I believe when you threw the apple, judging by the type of armaments they've used in the past, it might have recognized it as one of those strange hand-held explosive objects, and instinctually reacted to it in an attempt of self-preservation." Spike looked up from his paper when Twilight stopped speaking. "So what happened after that?"
Scootaloo blinked a few times, trying to recall what had happened. "Uh... he ran out from his hiding spot and the blue-wearing one sort of... shot him? It was pretty much a standoff until we threw that apple, and then he went and 'defused' the bomb, whatever that means."
"Hmm, that's about the most blatant reaction to external stimuli if I ever saw it," she said, looking over her shoulder at Spike to make sure he was taking notes. "Was there anything else you could tell?" she asked excitedly. "Well, aside from their appearance and method of engaging each other in combat, of course."
"Yeah... they're... kinda crazy..."
"Oh, yes, I believe Zecora said something about that," Twilight confirmed. "It's our greatest indication that, aside from their continued appearance even after being... uh, killed, that they treat this as some sort of game. Normally, battles in the past, especially in Equestrian history, seem to indicate that fighting is treated as an extremely serious business, with lots of aftermath to contend with. However, it seems like these humans don't even consider it in the slightest, most likely owing to their continued appearance." She thought for a moment. "If they really are immortal, then it's actually a good possibility based on their actions that they might actually be insane."
"Immortal?" Applejack asked. "You mean, like the Princesses or Discord or something? And insane? Like, when Discord used all his magic stuff on us and turned Ponyville upside down?"
"Well, they aren't all powerful, but they seem to have the ability to materialize their new weapons out of thin air, or at least it appears like that. Every single time they reappear, they seem to be even better armed than before, but at the beginning of each of what I have labeled as a 'match', they start anew with only what appears to be the most basic of their equipment. And, yes, insane in that sort of sense, Applejack."
"So-so you-you're saying that... they can just pull out something that can blow up all of Equestria?" Fluttershy asked meekly. When eyes turned towards her, she quickly shrunk behind Dash. "Oh, uh, I was... just wondering... that would actually... be... really... bad..." she said, her voice becoming nearly silent by the time she finished.
Twilight contemplated. "It seems possible, but it appears that their current ongoing feud is much too important for them to deal with other things. After all, you all saw what happened in Ponyville. Any actual damage was caused by panicking ponies, not them."
"Hey, look!" Pinkie shouted from her ladder, standing on one hoof and dangling at an angle that seemed impossible. She pointed towards the horizon. "Here they come!"
At first, it seemed that the two groups exited their starting zones completely oblivious to the other as they broke into the road. It didn't take long as they ran by the apple trees before realizing that a group of something didn't fit in with hills of foliage and before long, they broke into an advancing firefight, trying to pick off each other as they advanced towards the barn.
The blue-clad naturally levitated towards more defensive tactics, using the trees as cover and stonewalling the tan-clad advance with their weapons, scoring the skies with sounds of booms and staccato gunfire. The tan-clad simply tried to play with feints and tactical retreats, but unfortunately exposing themselves to fire every single time they attempted to relocate. The proficiency of the blue-clad proved too much for them, and before long, the tan-clad were down to a single man, the lone carrier of the bomb.
"Wow, that was fast!" Pinkie said. "I sure hope they can make it here for the party!"
"I hope those blue guys kick that tan one's flank!" Applejack cheered. "Ain't no way, no how that any explosives are gonna get into the barn!"
The air sat silent as the blue-clad quickly closed in on the sheltered tan-clad, waiting for the terrorist to slip so that they could end him. Several shots taken by the blue-clad snipers missed as the tan-clad adopted what best appeared to them as a rather unorthodox method of movement, zigzagging in a variety of moments in an attempt to throw off the blue-clads' aim.
Unfortunately, he moved far too slow for his own good, and a single fatal shot found his way through his head, sending him, his blood, his gun, and the bomb tumbling to the floor.
Counter-Terrorists Win!
"Aw..." Pinkie said sadly. "Now they'll just go poof like they usually do and I'll have to wait until they try to get to the party again..."
CT: 5 - T: 1
"Wait a moment," Twilight said. "Spike, read off to me the exact number of times they attempt this before the match ends."
"Uh, ten. Why?" he asked.
"They only play to ten if and only if the numbers are equal or somewhere near as such. That means that since those 'counter-terrorists' hold the greater amount in terms of victories, and if they're going for out of ten, then they only need one more to claim complete victory!"
"So we should just be rootin' that they succeed, right?" Applejack asked.
"Um... don't you have a harvest to tend to?" Spike asked.
"Oh, shoot!" Applejack said. "Keep an eye on those humans, Twi! Big Mac, grab another wagon and get to the west side, quickly! Applebloom, just stay here, and don't do anything!"
"Okay..." Applebloom gloomily consented. The recent stint with trying to protect their clubhouse, while successful, had left them a little shellshocked. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle simply sat next to them, with Fluttershy, just waiting for the whole situation to blow over.
"I... just what is going on out there?" Rarity said. "I can see them, but they don't seem to be brandishing weapons of any sort!"
Dash's eyes, however, proved more sharper than Rarity's. "They're holding something sharp... they look like knives or something. And they're charging right at each other!"
Rarity raised an eyebrow. "They're settling the match with a proper duel? Such strange customs these humans have."
Spike began scribbling down any and all visual notes he could see from the imminent battle, ensuring that Twilight would have decent research material, as she oftentimes bemoaned her lack of such.
"I have a feeling that this is going to be one really short battle..." Twilight said, her mouth twisting into a grimace as the two sides collided with each other in the middle of the orchard, jumping and circling each other. The sound of metal clanking could be heard as hit matched hit and their armor was torn through, resulting in two deaths at the beginning, one from each side.
"Wow, totally brutal," Dash said. "Why the knives all of a sudden?"
"Perhaps they're simply trying to settle things with a simple and straight match that'll either finish that one side off, or allow the aforementioned another chance at victory," Twilight said. "Either way, this is something that definitely needs to be recorded, since it's never happened ever in the entire history of Equestria!"
"Seriously, Twi, your egghead is totally showing right now."
"What? This is some prime research material! There's so much we can learn from them, especially for a race never before seen in Equestria! Well, aside from how Lyra knows about them, anyway..."
"Okay, and--hey, they're running!" The groups dispersed: the tan-clads quickly running towards the barn as the blue-clad chased, swinging their knives through the air as if it were some sort of ritual that would help them run faster. They numbered four total now, two from each side. One of the tan-clad peeled away, circling right and attempting to flank the blue-clad, while his comrade wheeled out the bomb, hopping over the fence which the ponies stood at and running for the barn.
"Oh, hey!" Pinkie said, waving down at him from atop her ladder. "You finally made it!"
The ponies looked at the tan-clad crouching in the barn, when they heard the sound of a metal clank and a moan associated with the humans' deaths. Turning their heads, they saw the tan-clad's body splayed out not two tree length's away from the fence, and quickly stepped aside as the two blue-clad hopped over.
There was no chance for victory by bomb since the blue-clad held the advantage in numbers; the only choice was to die with honor... or play dirty. So play dirty the tan-clad did, wheeling out his weapon and loading one of the approaching blue-clad with a volley of fire.
"Whoa!" Pinkie said. "I did not see that coming! And I'd hate to only have a party with only one of them, that's just so boring!"
The next single event occurred as if in slow motion. The single tan-clad, unable to plan the bomb without turning into a pincushion, used his rifle to even the odds. He slowly turned to the right, bringing the final and eventual death of the blue-clad ever more closer, and granting his own group another chance at victory, and perhaps a chance to turn this match around and win.
But the blue-clad had other ideas. Immediately dropping into a crouch, he brought his own weapon: a shining L-shaped weapon, coated with a glorious reflective metal, huge in caliber and seemingly enormous in his bare hands. The lone and brave soldier carefully brought his aim to bear, trying to ensure all possibilities that he would be the one to deal the one concluding shot.
The two men stared each other down.
And fired.
The shots from the tan-clad weapon pinged off of the blue-clad's armor, smacking the rounds into the dirt with recoil, as the blue-clad responded with a decisive and final pull of the trigger. The bullet exited the barrel of the weapon with explosive force, roaring through the air like an infuriated dragon, closing the distance faster than any one of them, human or pony, could blink, and bearing down upon the head of its poor hapless target like the fist of an angry god, tearing into it with a unchained force as if the dogs of war themselves were let loose upon this poor soul's very being.
The tan-clad fell to the ground dead.
Counter-Terrorists Win!
The blue-clad simply stood up and turned around to look at the ponies, and the busybody Spike, uttering only a single phrase:
"And that's how it's done."
END MATCH SCORE:
Counter-Terrorists: 6
Terrorists: 1
MATCH RESULTS: Counter-Terrorists Win!
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imfdb.org/w/images/thumb/e/ea/DesertEagle50AE.jpg/450px-DesertEagle50AE.jpg
Fear it.
Why did you not have one of them 'attack' the apples like the fruit in cs_italy? You know, the war against fruit or somethin'?
YES! I LOVE THIS! XD I can't wait for the next chapter.
801478 Shucks, that did not occur to me during the time of writing.
First thing when I think of when it comes to cs_italy is the Scootaloos/chickens.
801483 Thanks.
It'll be along in due time, don't worry.
I can only imagine how much Twilights gonna freak out at him "speaking" to them
801490 GH0ST PEEPL G4Y FAGG NAZI!!
801489 (T sees apple carts) T:
(T proceeds to unload around 60 7.62 rounds into the apple carts) T: 
Ahhh, the Magic of Deagle.
801499 O...kay (Edges away)
Gotta love the deagle.
No! Canterlot! Canterlot!
Hmm can't wait till they blow up Canterlot.
another brilliant chapter
The One Commandment- You shall fear the dreaded Deagle
I want a gambling circle based on the matches created by the ponies
ah! arms race is next! can't wait for the ar_appleloosa
im assuming from this that the CTs/Ts can see the ponies but the only real interaction is using the radio commands (and the things the bots say if you make an offline match)
I wonder how the battle of Canterlot is going to be. Celestia is going to get a hell of a surprise.
after appleloosa it should be canterlot
we don't do that here
accurate representation
The negev's now just a laser-guided stapler gun, forshame