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Prologue: Arrival965 words
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Royal Meeting2,222 words
Meeting the Teams1,881 words
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I Solve Practical Problems2,575 words
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Meeting the Teams

The large chariot, pulled by four guardsponies, sailed through the air from Ponyville. The occupants, six mares and a stallion, were all talking about just what was happening.

“So why are we doing this?” a loud, brash rainbow-maned pegasus asked.

“I have no idea, Rainbow.” The purple unicorn replied, a worried expression creasing her features. “We’re not warriors. The closest we’ve been to fighting is against Nightmare Moon and Discord, and that was completely different.”

“That’s probably somethin’ ta do with it,” an orange pony wearing a stetson said. “Think about it, Twi. We use tha Elements of Harmony. Din’t the letter say somethin’ about these fellas being a team? Ain’t that what we were when we fought Nightmare Moon and Discord?”

“Yeah, the best team in all Eqeustria!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed loudly.

“Please, Rainbow, calm down,” a white unicorn said as she brushed her violet mane out of her eyes. “You’re rocking the chariot.”

“Oh, quit your whining, Rarity!” Rainbow replied with an eyeroll.

“Yeah! This is gonna be fun!” Pinkie Pie, her cotton-candy mane bouncing as she sat still which, for her, was an astounding feat.

“But... but we’re going to be fighting,” a small voice said. This sixth voice belonged to Fluttershy, a pegasus with a butter-yellow coat and pink mane. “I’m not sure I can do that.”

“The letter said that one of the instructors specialises in healing the rest of his team,” Twilight said in an attempt to reassure her timid friend. “Maybe you should pair with him?”

“What I don’t get is how I got dragged into all this,” a deep voice said. The six mares turned to the lone stallion, Applejack’s brother Big Macintosh. “I know just as little as you do! And I’m not even that special.”

“Maybe they need somepony really strong?” Rainbow suggested.

“Hey! What about me?” Applejack asked, the farmer unhappy with what her friend had said.

“Oh come on, AJ, you gotta admit that your big brother is stronger than you are!” Big Macintosh smiled at Rainbow’s defense of him and turned to his sister who groaned, knowing that she had lost this.

“Dangit Rainbow, didja have ta go and do that?”

Before the speedster pegasus could answer, one of the stallions pulling the chariot turned around. “We’ve almost arrived, fillies and gentlecolt.”

All seven occupants leaned over the sides to get a quick look at the building before they touched down. “That’s... strange.”

“That... looks a lot like the barn back home.”

“Not much room to fly, is there?”

“It doesn’t look like much, does it?”

“They must really like the colour red!”

There was a small number of guards inside the main courtyard of the RED base. Each of them were of Luna’s Night Guard, their curved purple armour intentionally designed to instill a small degree of fear into those who saw them. It didn’t have this affect on the Team, but it was clear that a few members found it much more appropriate than the bright shiny armour worn by Celestia’s Day Guard.

Each of them were unicorns and three had long since given up on the idea of trying to maintain the facade of apathy that the Guard was famed for. Instead, they had begun to socialize with a number of members of the Team after both sides got over the initial weirdness of their conversation partners.

All except one. This particular stallion may as well have been a statue for the complete lack of movement he showed. Most of the Team had long since given up on trying to get him to talk. Demoman had yet to try, and was kneeling in front of the unicorn, staring intently into his face.

After close to five minutes of complete silence, the one-eyed Scotsman belched loudly. There was a pause before the unicorn recoiled and gagged. “What have you been drinking?” he asked in a very deep voice. “Paint thinner?”

Demoman let out a hearty laugh. “Ah knew Ah could get ya ta talk!”

“Yes, congratulation,” the unicorn replied sarcasticaly. “Now leave me alone.”

“Did ya really think I was just gonna walk away?” Demoman took a quick swig from his bottle. He laughed again before letting out another small burp. “Anyway, I’ve been wantin’ ta know. Do ya all look like that?”

“If you mean my coat, then no, our armour is enchanted.”

“Well if yer armour makes ya look like that, what do ya look like without it?”

The guard let out a snort. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Are ya pink?”

“No,” the unicorn replied. “Be easier if I was...” he muttered to himself.

“Oh would it now?” Demoman asked, standing up. “So what, that mean yer covered in spots?”

“No.”

“Stripes, then?”

The guard paused for a fraction of a second too long. “No.”

“So ya do have stripes, then?”

“No!” the guard insisted.

“Nyota,” one of the others said from across the courtyard, “for the last time, it doesn’t matter that your mother was a zebra.”

“It does to me!”

“A zebra?” Demoman asked, a little confused. “You got them here too?”

Before he or Nyota could get any further in their conversation they were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Captain Storm Surge. “Quiet, Corporal. The Elements are meant to be arriving soon.”

Nyota the Night Guard blinked. “Sorry, Captain, do you mean the Elements of Harmony themselves are coming?”

“That’s right, Corporal, so I suggest that you get that dirt off your armour.”

“‘Scuse me fer askin’, but what are these ‘Elements’ yer talkin’ about?” Demoman asked, suddenly having gotten lost in the guards’ talk.

Captain Storm Surge turned to the human. “It’s a little hard to explain, but simply put the six mares in the chariot are capable of utilizing the six most powerful magical artifacts in existence. Together they’ve saved Equestria from eternal night and never-ending chaos,” the pegasus explained.

“Really?” All three looked up to see Scout sitting on the small windowsill of the courtyard. “Eternal night and never-ending chaos?” He let out a derisive snort. “Yeah, right.”

“That’s no way to talk about national heroes,” Nyota replied.

“National heroes my ass,” Scout replied. He pushed himself off the ledge and, before he could land hard enough to break a few bones, performed a double jump and landed deftly next to Demoman. Ironically, it was the ponies that stared at his defiance of physics. “I mean, it’s just a bunch of girls. And they’re ponies! What are they gonna do?” he asked loudly, wearing a cocky smile.

“How ‘bout I show ya?” a new voice asked. Scout turned around just in time for his face to meet a cyan hoof travelling at near-fatal speeds. Scout sailed through the air and landed heavily on his face. As he rolled onto his back and groaned, he was dimly aware of a rainbow-coloured blob floating above him. “What’s the matter?” it taunted. “You gonna cry?”

Scout wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up. “I swear, I will beat the crap outta you if its the last thing I do,” he answered as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Then he realised just what he yelling at.

It was certainly female, that much was obvious. And she was hovering. Her mane was every colour of the rainbow. In every way, that should have been the defining picture of ‘ridiculously cute and girly’. The expression it was wearing, on the other hand, was a match for Soldier’s war-face. Whoever this was, she did not like being insulted.

“Oh yeah?” the rainbow-maned pony asked, jabbing him with a hoof. “Let’s see you try.”

“Rainbow!” Scout looked around the pony and saw another one, this one orange and wearing what looked like one of Engineer’s hats.

“Scout!” Demoman yelled. “Bloody hell, lad, are ya tryin’ ta get yerself killed?”

“Pfft, like it really matters. We got the respawn.”

“Rainbow, what in tarnation is wrong with ya?” Both humans turned to look at the orange pony. Her accent was incredibly familiar to Engineer’s, which they both found a little odd.

“Did you hear what he was saying?” Rainbow asked back, pointing a hoof at Scout.

“Please, if everyone could calm down.” Captain Storm Surge chose that moment to intervene. “Scout, Demoman, please inform the rest of the Team that they are wanted here as soon as possible. Ladies, sir,” he said as the rest of the ponies that had just disembarked from the chariot appeared, “if you would kindly wait here, we should be able to get introductions over with shortly.” Scout made an obscene gesture at Rainbow as he was dragged away by Demoman. Inwardly, Storm Surge performed a facehoof that could shatter diamond. Things were destined to only get worse, it seemed.

So far, the captain’s prediction of impending disaster had proven wrong. The rest of the team, with the exception of Soldier, didn’t seem to mind the fact that two thirds of their roles would be performed by females. Heavy’s reaction had been incredibly loud and blunt (“They are so tiny!”), Medic’s had been worrying (“Three sub-species?”) and Soldier had been rather vocal in his protestations, even if they were surprisingly logical for the seemingly stupid man. (“The battlefield is no place for a woman! The dangers are incredible and would scar them for life! They would end up like us!”). When he was told that they were in fact national heroes that had faced both an insane goddess and a deranged reality warping tyrant his tone had changed. While it was still clear that that he didn’t particularly approve of the girls’ presence, he knew that they at least had the mental fortitude to cope with what they would be doing.

Scout refused to believe any of this and stayed as sullen as when Demoman had dragged him away. The rest of the Team was far from happy with his attitude and they made it abundantly clear. The ponies were sure they heard Soldier mutter several violent threats.

Engineer made a valiant attempt at pushing through the general awkwardness that had arisen, introducing the whole Team to the ponies. There was general snickering amongst the humans when they heard the ponies’ names, which was quickly silenced when Twilight pointed out that the names they had been given were nothing more than job titles. It was around then that both groups realised that they were one representative short. They were all a little surprised when Corporal Nyota of the Night Guard stepped forward and volunteered himself.

It wasn’t long after that they all paired off with their ‘instructors’ and were led to different parts of the base to start their training. There was only three weeks before the wargames started. They would need all the training they could get.

Author's Note:

I'm sorry, did you think I'd tell you who's doing what?

And yes, Nyota is a unicorn zony. His name means "Star" in Swahili, which is kinda fitting for a member of the Night Guard.

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