When Ponies Come To Badlands.

by Lucy_Marigold

Chapter 2 - The Battle Of Wits

Author's Note:

A new chapter! Yay! And yes I'm gonna keep writing this story. Cya next time guys.

The old building stood there. Opposite a red building that looked the same. Large wire fence blocked outsiders from entering. A large, wooden bridge connected the two bases while underneath that bridge was a large body of water. They all entered through a back entry. Up a few stairs onto the landing. Miss Pauling motioned to a door next to a sign that had battlement written across it. Each pony went in. Fluttershy sneezed.

“Achoo.”

“Bless you, Darling.”

“Thank you, Rar-”

Miss Pauling glared at Fluttershy which caused the shy pegasus to shut herself up.

“You all have read the rules, correct?”

They all murmured in anger. Miss Pauling held another door open for them.

“Goodbye. I’ll leave you here. The Administrator shall announce when your first battle is.” She left the group alone in the large new base. Everyone went off to their own rooms or to the training room. Luna wandered down the hall Celestia by her side.

“Celes-..Pyro. How are you?”

“Mpfh. Mhhmhpf mmh Hudda.” Celestia mumbled as she turned the corner towards the mess hall.

“Why can’t you take that mask off.”

“Mhmh Mfp Mmn Mmpf Mmh?” Celestia said in reply to her sister’s question. Luna just sighed before heading off and leaving Celestia.

“HOLY CELESTIA! WHY DO I HAVE TO SLEEP IN A VAN?!” The shout had came from down the hall near the bulletin board that hung in the corner.

“Haha! Good luck, Snipes.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew by. Twilight grumbled at the fact that Rainbow Dash had adjusted quicker than she had herself.

“Twil- Sniper. Sniper, what is it?” Luna said as she walked down the hall.

“Well, only the fact that the previous Sniper lived in a van outside and I’m supposed to sleep in it.” She grumbled.

“You don’t have to,” Luna said as she took out her disguise kit.

“True. Anyway. I’m off to unpack some items.” Twilight nodded and left while heading further down the hall.

“WHO STOLE MY BLUEPRINTS?!”

“WHO STOLE MY ALCOHOL!?”

“WHO KNOWS! NOW SHUT THE HAY UP”

“IS THIS A SHOUTING PARTY?”

The yelling continued for the rest of the day till it came to dinner time. Everyone was in the mess hall. Applejack and Rarity played pool in the corner while Rainbow Dash threw a ball at the wall. Pinkie, Twilight and Celestia cooked dinner while Derpy sat with Fluttershy talking about something. Luna entered the room and dropped the cigarette she had taken out. Everyone turned and saw her.

“I had not expected this,” Luna said with a tinge of embarrassment in her voice.

“Yal get used to it.” Applejack said as she chopped up a couple carrots and onions.

“Hey, Demo! What’s for dinner?” Rainbow Dash said as she picked up her bat.

“Food. Now yal gonna deal with it Scout.”

Rainbow Dash grumbled the fact that she didn’t know bugged her.

“Hey, Darlings. Does anyone else find the fact that we can’t call each other by name but by class anymore strange?”

“I’m finding it weird too. But it’s one of the ways we're going get home. I truly do miss Spike.” Twilight said as she carried a tray of vegetables out to the table. Celestia carried out the rest of the food with AJ. Everyone sat down. Luna poked at the carrot on her plate.

“Maybe we should say what we miss? Maybe that will make things better.” Pinkie said as she plopped a potato in her mouth.

“Great idea,” Derpy said as a grin formed. “So who’s first?”

“I miss mah family,” AJ said as she grabbed a bread roll with her hoof.

“My sister and Spike.” Rarity answered.

“My animals. And Angel.”

“The Cakes. And my family. And Ponyville.” Pinkie rapidly said while stuffing her mouth full of oats.

“Starlight and Spike,” Twilight said as she poked a pile of peas on her plate. When it came to the Princesses they didn’t say anything they just kept poking the array of vegetables on their plates. Silence took hold of the group of ponies. For the rest of dinner, the only sound was of people eating food and the occasional scraping of across a plate. After dinner, Luna carried all the dishes back to the sink for washing. Twilight helped with the washing up, bubbles filled the sink as they scrubbed fried hay off the plates.

“you're very quiet. I’m wondering what’s going on in your head.” Luna looked up Twilight who was trying to cheer the alicorn up.

“I should say the same for thyself.” Twilight shrugged before leaving Luna to dry the rest of the dishes.

Luna lay on the large bed that sat in her room. She had taken off her outfit and it lay in a pile on the floor near the door. She looked over that the calendar that hung on the wall. The date said December 3rd, 1969. She groaned as she rolled over onto her side. The fact that Heart’s Warming Eve was soon bugged her. She had left most of her stuff that she had behind in Equestria and was unsure what to do anymore. Using her magic she grabbed an old photo album. She opened it up onto an old page. On it was an old news clipping of Nightmare Moon. Part of her wanted to toss it but the other part of her wanted to keep it. Over 2 years ago that had happened. She still lived with the pain of her past. She flicked past more pages and landed on the most recent page.

“Mission begins in 5 minutes!” The speakers in the hall blared causing Luna to knock the photo album onto the floor. She grabbed her suit and balaclava to put them on before she grabbed her gear and heading out of her room. Everyone rushed down the hall to the Resupply room. She pulled out her disguise kit.

“3”

“2”

“1”

“Fight!”

Everyone rushed outside. Twilight walked towards the Battlements, her sniper rifle by her side. She sat down and aimed, looking through her scope her saw the enemy Sniper. She ducked out of the way as a bullet shot past her.

“Holy Celestia that was close.” She gulped as she re-aimed and shot the RED Scout who was running across the roof of the bridge. Blood splatted out of his head and onto the surface below. His dead body crumpled to the ground. Did I just? Holy Celestia, I did. Nononnono. I did not sign up for this. Before she could get back up their was a cold stabbing feeling in the back of her spine. She tried to scream but nothing came out of her mouth.