Project Eclipse

by Borsuq

3. Blue vs red battles

"Ha! He's alive! You two owe me 100 bits!" E heard Cloud exclaim to Mane and Trot, as he and Filly approached them and Balti, the whole group standing in front of the Simulation Room.

"What are you talking about?" Filly asked Cloudsdale.

"After we found out that the two of you have been partnered, they've made a bet whether you would kill E or not." Balti replied, annoyed.

E glanced at Mane and Trot, hurt a bit that they wanted to make bits of his death. Mane noticed it and laughed.

"Oh, don't frown, it was just a joke! I mean, we don't have bits anyway, right?"

"You still owe me." Cloud grinned.

"Oh, bugger."

E laughed at that, but grew serious as he noticed Filly making her way behind Mane and Trot. Recalling what she threatened to do to him if he wouldn't help her, he regretfully asked, gaining everypony's attention:

"So, um, where all of you've been yesterday? You weren't in the dining hall by the dinner time."

"Oh, right, the four of us and Hoof went... auugh!!!" Mane shouted in pain, as he and Trot were bucked right in the balls by Filly, causing them to fall to the ground. "What the hay was that for?!" he moaned in pain.

"Um... I accidentally told her that you called her..." E was about to say 'bitch', but noticing her gaze, he shrieked instead.

Mane and Trot gave him an exasperated look from the grass, while Cloud and Balti burst into laughter. Filly however, remained calm, and simply flew over to stand between them and E. She glanced at them menacing, causing them to shriek away.

"This is just a warm up." she warned them. "And I hope you're not thinking about taking anything out on E; I like when my prey runs away, so the two of you best be saving your strength."

Mane and Trot both gulped, as Cloud and Balti continued to laugh. Filly snorted and walked away from them.

"Sorry..." E told them, his ears dropping in shame.

"Eh, don't worry about it." Mane groaned as he picked himself from the ground. "Trot pissed off Balti again, and after she putted up with Hoof's non-stop jokes and allusions that he and Cloud should have a moment of privacy... well, I assumed she was going to tell her anyway."

"I was." Balti confirmed his words, bumping her hoof with Filly's.

"So..." Eastin stammered, not sure if everything was aright between him and his friends. "Where were you?"

"There's a lake deeper into the woods beyond the compound, we all went there for some swim."

E noticed that Filly was glancing at him, raising an eyebrow.

Told you.

Eastin turned his attention back to what Mane was saying.

"We wanted to invite the two of you, but by the time we went to your quarters, you were gone. Where were you?"

"We went for some training." Filly answered for him. "I wanted to see what he's capable of."

Cloud glanced at her, frowning.

"You weren't too hard on him, I hope?"

Filly was about to reply, when she was cut off by a loud:

"Bow-chicka-bow-wow!"

Filly growled in anger as she turned her head towards the source of the voice. E followed her gaze and saw Los Pegasus approaching them with another stallion, a unicorn, whose coat was aqua, and his mane and tail black. His face bore a wide grin, and it was clear he was the one responsible for that shout.

"So, this is Hoofington?" thought E as he regarded him, and looked back at his violet-and-gold sister, who had 'disgust' written all over her face. "How are they twins?"

"Los, why haven't you killed him yet?" Filly asked the pegasus, who shrugged in response.

Hoof laughed, putting his foreleg on Los shoulder.

"Who, his best buddy? Not a chance, right, Los?"

The pegasus in question rolled his eyes, but made no attempt to make Hoof stop touching him.

"You know, Los," Balti said, her eyes shooting daggers at her brother, "nopony can be sure where that hoof of his was earlier."

Los eyes widen a bit, but before he could do anything, Hoof moved away from him by himself. He glared at her sister, although he was more amused than offended.

"Why do you always have to be such a kill joy, sis?"

"He didn't deny it..." E heard Mane whisper to Trot, who chuckled.

"Why do you always have to act like an immature foal?!" Balti spat.

"Speaking of foals..." Hoof said, trotting over to E, immediately losing interest at Balti. E noticed his cutie mark: a double edged blade made out some blue substance. "... You must be the foal who stole Filly from me. Nice to meet to meet you little guy!"

"You're not that older than me!" E wanted to scream, but instead just stammered:

"Um... hi. Mind if I ask you something?"

He needed to know.

"Sure, shoot."

"Is it true Filly used to punch you in the face as you slept?"

Hoof raised an eyebrow as he heard his question, but instead of answering him, he turned to Filly, who was smirking.

"Huh, I thought that it was just a recurring dream." he said, not really caring.

E starred at him, terrified.

"So, how is living with Filly?" Hoof inquired, ignoring the look he gave him. "She can be quite a bitch, right?"

Eastin gasped and pressed his hoof to his mouth, moving away from Hoof, expecting Fillydelphia to strike him, but nothing like this happened. He glanced at her, and she shrugged.

"I've heard him call me worse insults, so 'bitch' coming from him doesn't anger me that much anymore."

"What kind of..." Mane started, but trailed off as Filly glared at him. "You know what, never mind. So, how are you two getting along?"

"Fine." E replied. "Filly isn't as bad as she appears. She can be nice when she wants to."

He was rewarded with everypony starring at him with wide eyes. Eastin would probably find it amusing if it didn't made him so nervous.

"Since when YOU can be NICE?" Hoof asked Filly.

Everypony's heads shifted towards her, as she snorted.

"I just don't hit him as often as I did you...

"Bow-chicka-bow-wow."

"... I don't know if that's classifies as 'nice'." she finished, glancing at Hoof. "On an unrelated note, did you happen to have an urge to say that catchphrase of yours around dinner time?"

"Yeah, why?" Hoof asked, grinning.

"No reason." Filly replied.

Before anypony could react, she jumped at Hoof, turned around in the air and bucked him in the chest. He grunted in pain, surprised, as he was thrown flying.

"What was that for?" Mane asked, curious, as Hoof landed on his face.

"Don't ask." Filly answered, looking more annoyed than angry.

"Around dinner time..." thought E, also curious. "Weren't we leaving the infirmary then? Hmm..."

"Soo... any particular reason you don't hit E too often?" Cloud asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Filly asked, as clueless as Eastin.

"Oh, you know." Cloud responded, poking her with an elbow and winking.

"I don't follow."

"Perhaps this can best be explained in the form of a knock-knock joke." Trot interrupted them, coming closer, and before anypony could stop him, he went on: "Knock-knock."

"Who's there?" E asked, curious, and shrinking away a heartbeat later as everypony shot him a glare.

"Knock." Trot went on again.

"Wait, Knock?" Cloud asked, surprised. "Knock who?"

"Knocked up Filly at this rate!" Trot answered, grinning.

E blushed as he understood what that joke was supposed to mean. Filly, on the other hoof, grabbed Trot by his throat and lifted him few meters above the ground, kicking him in the balls.

"Care to repeat that?" she asked, calm fury in her voice, as she prepared to kick him again.

Before she could do that, however, they were both surrounded by a blue magic field that caused them to separate.

"You know, the training hasn't started yet." Crystal said, trotting over to them along with Canterlot.

She released Filly and put Trot gently on the ground.

"Thanks." he rasped as he laid in fetal position, clutching his balls.

"Didn't anypony teach you to mind your own business?" Filly asked as she remained in the air, crossing her forelegs.

"Didn't anypony teach you that acting like a bitch will get you nowhere in life?" Crys answered, smirking.

"That's it, I'm taking you bitch out!" Filly shouted as she prepared to dive at her.

"What is going on here!?" sounded the stern voice of the Director.

Fillydelphia immediately stopped in the air, whispering to Crystal:

"This isn't over, bitch."

Crys just grinned in response.

"Nothing is going on, sir!" Cant quickly reported as they all saw the approaching Director and Counselor.

Everypony, including still pained Trot and dazed Hoof, stood in attention, saluting. The two unicorns stopped in front of them, briefly glancing disapprovingly at Filly, who rolled her eyes; most likely annoyed that they assumed whatever have happened was caused by her, which was a bit unfair as E thought about it.

"It's not her fault that they keep on angering her."

"Everypony," the Director said, regarding them all now, "today's training goal is to improve your skills to work as a team."

Few ponies muttered (E thought he heard Filly, Balti, and Trot, as well as a grunt from Los) muttered something quietly. Noticing, the Director allowed himself to smile.

"But of course, there will still be a competition involved. After all, what better way there is to motivate somepony to do better? You will be divided into two teams: blue and red. You will enter the Simulation Room, which will have two bases on the opposite sides. The bases will have flags inside of them. Your objective will be to steal the flag of the enemy team, and bring it back to your base. If your opponents have your flag, it won't count, until the flag is returned. You're allowed to use your skills and abilities to the maximum, if one of you would be about to receive a strike that could potentially kill him, he will be teleported outside, where medic team awaits. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" all of them responded.

The Director nodded, pleased.

"The Counselor and I will observe from the viewing room. The training will be over when one of the teams wins three times. Soldier Crystal will be the leader of the Blue Team, while soldier Canterlot will be leading the Red Team. Could the two of you chose four teammates?" when the two soldier nodded, he and the Counselor teleported away.

"Balti, Cloud, Filly, and E, you're with me." Crys said after a second.

Cant looked at her, and then rolled his eyes.

"Guess I'll take the rest, then."

"Wow, you're totally whipped." Hoof said, and then turned to E. "And how come E gets all the ladies? Crys, you should take me, the Love Doctor!"

"You do realize she would have sent you on a suicide mission, right?" Mane asked him, chuckling.

"You mean she would ask me get a score with Filly's..."

"Finish that sentence." Filly said, clenching her eyelids threateningly. "Go on."

"Err... no thanks, I think I'll pass."

She snorted and turned to face Crys.

"Afraid to face me?"

"Alright, ponies, let’s get going." Crystal said, ignoring the taunt, and went through the door.

"Um... you're alright?" E whispered to Filly, noticing how agitated (or, more likely, pissed off) she was, as they all followed Crys.

"I'm fine." she answered, closing the door behind them.

They were now surrounded by darkness. E wanted to say something to Filly, to calm her down, but before he could do that, the darkness changed into light, as they found themselves in a boxed canyon.

"What a dump." commented Trot as they all gotten look around. "Where on Earth did they come up with this?"

E must have admitted, the scenery wasn't very presentive.

"Huge space between two bases, that appeared to be made out of stone, can't tell from so far away. Couple of boulders, some grass, and no trees... wait, there is one."

"Alright, enough admiring the views." Crystal said, snapping them all out. "Let’s get to our respective bases and prepare our battle plans. Ten minutes?" she asked Canterlot, raising an eyebrow.

"Ten minutes." he responded, nodding.

"Let’s go, everypony."

"Hey, ladies, does one of you wants me to go easy on her? Bow-chicka-bow-wow."

"We don't need you to go easy, you already are." Balti answered, causing everypony to giggle, as they all began to walk away.

"Okay, true, but my friend Los over here could be persuaded..."

"No." Los rasped, not looking back.

Hoof glanced at him disapprovingly.

"You're the worst wingcolt ever." he declared

"Of all time." Mane added.

E didn't hear whatever else they said after that, the Red Team was too far away by then. He looked at Crys.

"So, um... what’s the plan?"

"I will tell you all once we're inside." she answered, glancing at him. "But if I were you, I would start stretching. There will be a lot of running involved on your part."

"Oh, no..." he sighed, sensing a disaster coming up.

---

"Okay, guys, let’s see how the inside looks like." Cant said as they finally reached the base.

Mane looked around the canyon, as the rest of the 'Red Team' went inside.

"Hey." he called after Trot.

"Yeah?" Trot asked, stopping in the doorway.

Mane turned to look at him.

"You ever wonder why we’re here?"

---

"Round Three, over." sounded the voice the Counselor across the disappearing box canyon. "Point Blue Team. The score is: 3, 0."

"Hehe, you guys suck!" Cloud exclaimed happily to Cant, Los and Mane.

Trot and Hoof were 'killed' during this round, and they were teleported outside. Now they entered, along with the Director and the Counselor. Both of them 'died' in rather comical ways: Hoof was nearly castrated by Filly with his own energy sword, that he could form and extend from his hoof, while Trot was simply about to be kicked in the balls by her.

"I didn't know that kick to the balls could be lethal." Balti said when she saw that, her and E's jaws on the ground.

"That depends on who does the kicking." Filly smirked in response.

E shook his head, returning to the present, as they all stood in attention.

"Great job, Blue Team." the Director told them. "Red Team, I'm disappointed in the lack of teamwork between you."

E glanced at the Red Team. Everypony save Cant didn't seem to care too much, and even he was just frowning.

"Maybe I shouldn't get stressed so much about this..." he thought, but immediately he recalled his position on the Leaderboard.

Still, though, after today he probably earned few points. Like Crystal said, he had to constantly run. From the base up to the enemy base, and back. He's job was to coordinate the efforts of everypony on Blue Team, despite not being a leader. That made his so busy he actually forgot to be nervous. He managed to have few decent fights, and didn't 'die', which besides him could say only Filly, Cant and Los. Crys, despite her all skills, was somehow killed during Round Two when she was supposed to sneak into Reds' base, using her shapeshifting ability to look like recently killed Mane. E made a mental note to ask her what happened.

"Now we'll begin the one-on-one matches." the Director said, and turned to the Counselor.

The other unicorn nodded and shoots out a beam at one of the runes. It coursed the space above it to shimmer and swirl rapidly. E guessed that the rune's magic was causing the names of two soldiers to appear, and changed in split second into names of others. Finally, it stopped.

Manehatten vs. Fillydelphia

"Nooooo!!!" Mane shouted, and looked at the Director, beggingly. "Can I give up?"

E glanced at Filly. She had a terrifying grin on her face.

"No." the Director answered Mane's question.

E turned to look at the magic 'blackboard', wondering with who he would be fighting.

Crystal vs. Canterlot

“If it would be Trot or Cloud, I could win.” E thought, as he looked at the amused Crys and the annoyed Cant. "Their abilities are little tricky, but they can't control them yet that well. Hoof and Balti both have very dangerous abilities, and are better fighters, but I could probably outsmart them."

Eastin vs. Los Pegasus

"Oh, no..." he thought, shrinking away.

Los was an entirely different matter. E would probably have a better chanced against Crystal than against him. The ability he gained from Augmentation Process was incredible physical strength and sturdiness. During Round Three, he was kicked to the balls by Filly (at that point, E decided to ask her why she enjoyed kicking colts there so much), and merely grunted.

E glanced at Los, who was grinning, although not as scarily as Filly. He simply enjoyed fighting, and more importantly, beating his enemies. E knows he wouldn't go easy on him.

"Well, at least he won't kick me in the balls."

Trottingham vs. Baltimare

"Called it!" Trot said.

"I don't know why you're happy about getting your flank kicked," Balti replied, and E thought he saw disappointment on her face.

Cloudsdale vs. Hoofington

"This will be fun." Hoof said, turning towards Could with lust in his eyes. "Just you and me, alone in this room..."

"Everypony besides soldiers Manehatten and Fillydelphia, let’s leave to the viewing room." the Director told them, turning around.

Cloud looked back at Hoof, raising an eyebrow. Hoof shrugged in response.

"I don't mind giving them a little show."

Cloud didn't bother with a response instead, like everypony else, she just followed the Director saying 'good luck' to Mane.

"I'll miss you." Trot told him, grinning.

"Go buck yourself." Mane snapped in response.

E was conflicted: he wanted to wish good luck to Filly, but on the other hoof, he wanted to tell Mane to... well, survive.

"Err... good luck to... both of you?" he finally stammered.

Both of them looked at him annoyed.

"Just go." Mane told him, looking away.

E glanced at Filly and saw something for a brief moment that kind of scared him.

"Did she... smile?"

---

"So E," Cant spoke up they all stood in the viewing room, watching Filly jump at Mane, only to pass right through him, "I heard you and Fillydelphia were scheduled for an Augmentation."

"Really?!" Cloud asked, as she turned her attention away from the fight they all know how would finish. "Why you didn't say anything about it?!"

"I, um... forgot about it." E replied, trying to concentrate on the fight, so he wouldn't need to think about... that.

"Mane can turn himself completely intangible for few seconds, but he needs to make himself normal when he attacks, and if he keeps it up to long, he would need whole ten second to use his ability again." he thought as Filly pressed an attack again.

"So, when are they going through with it?" Cloud asked Cant when it was obvious that E didn't wanted to talk.

"Filly's up tomorrow, and E goes a week later." he answered, and for a moment looked as if he was about to say something else, but he shook his head.

"Great, Filly's going to be Augmented." Trot said, rolling his eyes. "As if our lives weren't endangered enough."

"Stop calling her bitch all the time, then." Crys told him.

"You call her that, too."

"Yes, but I don't have balls for her to kick."

"Kinky." Hoof added with a smirk on his face

"Shut up, Hoof!" Crystal, Cloud and Cant said in unison.

"Oh, um... that reminds me." E stammered. "How did you 'die' in the Round Two, Crystal?"

She sighed.

"I passed by Hoof, and when he was behind me...

"Bow-chicka..."

"... he slashed me with his sword."

"...bow-wow!"

"Shut up and tell us how you know it was her and not Mane." Cant growled at him.

"Dude, look who you're talking to." he smirked. "You really think I wouldn't tell mare from stallion?"

That earned him half-amazed, half-annoyed gazes from everypony, including both Director and Counselor.

"Filly won." E pointed out, noticing Mane disappearing due to the safety spells.

---

"Well, that wasn't too bad." Filly told E, as they left the infirmary.

He, like Mane, was sent here after his fight. He managed to land few hits on Los, and dodge most of his, but when he finally hit him... with just one punch, he broke six of his ribs, and the force caused his foreleg to be dislocated.

"Easy for you to say." E said, a bit bitterly.

"Come now, don't be like that." she replied.

"Sorry."

On they way to the dining hall, they passed the Leaderboard.

1. Crystal 35, 785

2. Canterlot 33, 162

3. Los Pegasus 22, 042

4. Fillydelphia 21, 531

5. Trottingham 19, 010

6. Baltimare 18, 487

7. Manehatten 18, 111

8. Cloudsdale 16, 631

9. Hoofington 15, 211

10. Eastin 11, 105

"I'm getting closer to the others." E thought, feeling better.

They continued to trot alongside each other in silence for few moments.

"So, um..." Filly broke the silence, stammering uncomfortably. "Why did you wish me good luck, anyway?"

E turned his head to her, surprised, but before he could answer, she asked another question:

"And while during the Round Two you warned me about Cant? You could have just run ahead with the flag, instead of saving me, you would get a lot more points then."

E recalled how he and Filly were running towards their base after they managed to steal the flag, which was held by E, with Filly watching from the air if there was anypony coming their way. They were finally near their base, and Filly flew down to him, to tell him that there was nopony in sight, when E noticed air shimmering to the left. He jumped and the invisible Cant as he was about to descend on Fillydelphia, and E throwed the flag towards her.

Now he looked at her, not understanding why she couldn't understand that.

"We're friends, aren't we?" he asked her before he could stop himself.

He watched her as she regarded him, and slowly, he saw a surprise change to badly hidden delight.

"Maybe." Filly said, poking him with her wing playfully.

Comments

[greyyy]

hmmm.... me gusta

[derpyisbestestpony]

"Bow-chicka-bow-wow!" DAMMIT TUCKER
and I'm starting to get it now,
Trot is Grif
Filly is Tex
Hoof is Tucker and I'll get the rest later

[Artfenix]

i have not read this whole yet but i have figured out the identeties of two carachters in: rebirth of the damned. Chrysalis = Crystal and Hoofington = Tucker Out

[NightDancer]

2466179. GL