> Metal Menace In Equestria > by BronyGuy2014 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Arrival > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The robots are here! Defend Mann Co!" The sound of clanking metal filled the air as the first wave of the metal horde charged over the hill straight at the RED mercenaries. The Engineer's sentry and the heavy mowing them down and the sniper picking off their medics. "TANK!" The Administrator announced loudly over the somehow still working speaker system. As everyone focused fire on it the Demoman lay down his sticky bomb trap to finish it off. KA - BOOM!!!! The tank exploded in a sphere of prismatic colours, sucking the few remaining robots in, one of them yelling "The experimental bomb was too unstable!" The RED team was sucked into the rainbow vortex just before it lost all of it's remaining stability and collapsed in on itself. Sniper awoke in a cave at the edge of a clearing surrounded by trees. His team mates were beginning to stir around him and he heard the Medic ask in his obvious German accent "vere are ve?" The soldier answered "Hippie land!" They all looked to where he was pointing and saw what seemed to be a pack of wolves. But, that wasn't what scared Sniper, what did though, was the fact that they were made of wood.... WAIT WHA....!! They pounced and Sniper pulled out his SMG and emptied a whole clip at them, their wounds just healed. Sniper didn't like unfair advantages when they were against him so he picked up Pyro's flamethrower and set them and some of the surrounding plant life ablaze. The.... creatures, ran yelping back into the forest. CRASH!! Rainbow Dash was flying around and doing some stunts over the Everfree Forest when she heard the voice of a stallion yell "Hippie Land!" followed by BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!! That shocked her so much that she crashed next to the clearing where the sounds had come from. She looked up to see 9 of what seemed to be apes of some kind aiming some weird contraptions at her. The one wearing a balaclava suddenly cried out in pain and fell to the floor with a strangely shaped machete protruding from his back. Behind him was a metal replica of one of the "apes" but coloured blue which lost it's head when one of the things levelled his "stick" at it and a quick flash emitted from it. Now Dash knew that they were weapons that somehow killed with sound. The one that had destroyed the robot thingy laughed and said "Told you that we are in Hippie Land." while pointing at her. "No, you're in Equestria." rainbow Dash replied sharply. "Oh! We're in Canada. Merasmas must want a home front advantage!" The ape sporting a baseball cap told him "Soldier, whenever you are in a strange place you think it's Canada when it's obviously not an-- WAIT!! It just talked!! "I'm Rainbow Dash, a Pegasus, not an It!" she retorted "And what the hay are you things!" "We are humans," said the human in the yellow hard hat with an accent strikingly similar to Applejack's and then pointed to each of his friends in turn telling me the names of: Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Heavy, Medic, Sniper, himself as Engineer and his dead comrade as Spy. "Why aren't you sad for Spy's death?" Rainbow asked. There was a sound of arching electricity and Spy appeared in front of her and told her "Because I'm not dead," THAT was scary. Dash remembered the weapons and asked "What are those things that you fight with?" The Sniper responded with "These are guns, mine's for killing at long range, a Sniper Rifle. Hence the name: Sniper." "Help me!" screamed a voice nearby. Dash's eyes went wide. "Scootaloo!" > Friend or Foe? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sniper watched as Rainbow Dash ran in the direction of the screaming. Him and his team followed her and ran into a second clearing to see a robotic DemoKnight and a robotic Scout towering over a cowering filly with a gash down one side, presumably from the DemoKnight's sword. "How does it feel, wimp?" the metal Scout taunted the child on the ground. "Like you're dead!" Heavy roared as he punched one of his fists through the DemoKnight and used his other hand to crush the Scout's head. "I hate metal men." he muttered. "We have to be careful," the Medic noted, "I think that I saw one more of them get sucked through with us. A Heavy I believe," THUD The robot Heavy's head landed on the floor. "This sword is sharp!" said the RED Demoman, wielding the Eyelander over the headless metal machine he had decapitated. Dash was over the little filly supposedly called Scootaloo with tears in her eyes "Are you ok Scoots?" "I - I think so...." she replied. "I'm going to take her to the hospital, wait here," "Sure thing," Sniper replied as RD flew off in a blur. "Freeze! We have you surrounded!" Sniper grabbed his rifle and jumped up, looking at the platoon of armoured ponies around him. He could see his friends were all doing the same. "Wooee!" said Engie, "Is everything here out to kill us?" "Heavy thinks so," replied Heavy. "Less talk, more fight!" yelled Soldier as he pulled the trigger of his rocket launcher, only hearing a click in return. Sniper tried firing too, to the same result as his comrades. Just clicking. "Looking for these?" a lavender coloured.... unicorn? enquired, her horn glowing a light purple and floating up some items aglow with the same colour. Sniper groaned. They were the vital gun parts for all of their weapons and their melee weapons. "Hudda - hrmf, hud - hrrr!?" Pyro exclaimed. "Yeah, what did we do to deserve this!?" Sniper snapped at the gathered guards, or soldiers or.... whatever.... "Friend or foe?" she asked. > Unarmed and Unsafe > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sniper glared at the floating weapons parts, ignoring the question. This was the last straw. Sniper just wished that-- Wait a second! It didn't seem that any of his rifle's parts had been taken. Sniper checked his precious gun and found a bullet shoved in backwards, as if that'd do anything. Sniper simply reloaded and he was ready for action. As he took aim at the lavender unicorn's head a cyan blur crashed into him, sending his shot wide and hitting a tree trunk. "Don't shoot her!" cried a familiar voice, "They attacked us first. Kinda...." Scout replied for Sniper, "Yeah but she's Princess Celestia's personal protégée," Dash pointed out, "Oh....," BANG! *Splutter - Gurgle* *Thud* Pyro fell to the ground, blood seeping out of a hole in his (Or her) neck. "You mumble - mouth freak!" rang out a robotic voice as a metal Spy uncloaked behind the dying RED mercenary. "Piss!" Sniper muttered as he levelled his Sniper Rifle at the Spy and pulled the trigger, blowing it's chest open and spraying shrapnel out behind the machine. Medic was at Pyro's side in an instant, checking for a pulse. After a few long moments he closed his eyes and shook his head mournfully. Sniper removed his hat and took a moment to remember and respect his fallen friend. Engineer sat back down with his head in his hands and Sniper knew to give him some room as Pyro had been his closest friend. "Stupid, bloody spies....," Sniper murmured under his breath. The gathered ponies seemed to understand the gravity of the situation and gave the team some space. "Twilight, why!?" Rainbow Dash whispered angrily towards her magically skilled purple friend, "You got one of them killed!!" "We didn't know if they were hostile or not, but they sounded like they were!" Twilight Sparkle hissed back, "And they looked like those robots that appeared today too!" "They saved Scoots from a pair of them," "We didn't--" "See the machines destroyed on the floor? You need to stop jumping to conclusions Twi!" "What do you mean by: "Robots that appeared today"?" Sniper interrupted, "Some human - shaped robots that look like you appeared at midday, today," Twilight reported, "Ah.... good thing Engineer fixed up our guns then 'cause it looks like Grey Mann wants to conquer this place too," "Grey Mann?" Dash asked, "The one we've been fighting against for a couple of years," he told them in his Australian accent. "If that's the case I'll get a letter sent to Princess Celestia right away," Twilight said while getting ready to dash off into the forest. "Wait!" Sniper called, "It's too dangerous to go alone, Engie and I will go with you," "Yeah," Engie walked up to them and backed him up. "I'm sure I'll be fine, I'm one of the most magical unicorns in Equestria," "Nope," announced a metallic voice, making Rainbow Dash almost jump out of her skin. She spun around and saw at least 12 bots staring at them, the one at the front was an engineer bot. Everypony jumped up and grabbed their weapons, ready to fight for their lives. > Robotic Guts And Glory > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The robots opened fire, spraying the clearing with bullets. Four of the guards didn't make it to cover and were gunned down while Sniper saw the rest of them get to safety from behind a tree. He quickly jumped out and scoped on the Engineer Bot's head, pulling the trigger and watching it's head explode, moments later he jumped back behind his cover. "FREEDOM!" Demoman yelled as he charged into the fray, smashing a soldier out of his way with his shield and shoving his blade through the head of a Spy. Scout sprinted in to his aid, blasting away with his Scattergun. The rest of the team surrounded the remaining robots and quickly finished them off, only then did the guards peek out of their hiding places. Sniper could feel the ground starting to tremble beneath his feet and he could hear the sound of clanking metal. "Run!" Sniper yelled and started doing so just as another metal battalion burst through the trees with a tank in tow. "Ah, goodnight Irene!" Engineer cursed, placing his Sentry Gun and whipping out his shotgun, "I'll hold 'em off, get going!" Sniper could hear a lot of gunfire as he sprinted for his life which abruptly cut out after a short while to move on to an explosion and then a single shot, most likely marking Engie's defeat. Sniper felt an anger that he'd felt just once before, and that he had hoped never to feel again. He saw red, literally. Images flashed before his eyes, images of his parents being brutally murdered when he was just 14 years old. The anger he felt now was only truly subdued when he'd been adopted by a different family that loved him just as much. Sniper knew that what was coming next wasn't going to be nice as he'd stabbed the murderer to death with a cutlery knife as soon as he got the chance. He was at the back of the group, so when he stopped running no one noticed. Sniper spun on his heel and charged back towards the clearing, not bothering with his weapons. The type of robot didn't matter, all he could see was a target when he saw one. He tore through the robots like they were wet paper. Sniper punched his enemies apart till his fists were bloody, and still he didn't stop. Sniper knew that the tank had to be stopped, so he took one of the de - activated robot soldier's rockets, punched a hole in the tank's bomb cover and threw it in. KA - BOOM!!!! Shrapnel flew in every direction, some pieces cutting into Sniper but he didn't care. All that mattered to him after his one - sided battle was giving Pyro and Engineer a decent burial though his anger had not yet subsided. When Demoman broke out of the tree line he saw what he swore was the strangest town he'd ever seen. There was a giant tree with a door, a balcony and windows, and there was a building that seemed to be made of cake and sweets. One building seemed to be a carousel and there was some kind of cloud formation floating high above too. Demo and the rest of the group slowed to a stop and he looked around him, making sure that the remains of his team were still with him. "Me, Scout, Soldier, Heavy, Medic, Spy and.... Huh? Where's Sniper!?" Demolition-man yelled, about to run back into the robot - infested forest. But, before he could go back in, Heavy grabbed Demoman and restrained him. He looked up at Heavy but only got a shake of the head in response, letting him know that it wasn't a good idea to run back in. Demo had just lost his best friends in under a day and didn't pay attention to anything or anyone as they trudged down the path to the town. Rainbow Dash could feel the oppressive atmosphere as the group walked towards Ponyville. The mercenary known as Demoman was especially sad and kept sending glances back towards the Everfree Forest as if hoping that his friends would all come walking out, alive and fine. She couldn't help but feel like it was partly her fault that the humans had been cut down from 9 to 6 in under a day and vowed to make it up to them somehow. Dash could see everypony going about their daily business in town but they all stopped and stared once they spotted the RED Mercs. She could tell that the mercenaries were quite conscious of the looks that they were getting as they kept casting nervous glances into the crowd. Some ponies were glaring at them spitefully and somepony threw an empty bottle which collided with Demo's head. SMASH!! Demoman was brought out of his stupor when he felt a bottle smash over his head. His sadness was slowly flooded with a rising anger. Images of bloody bar fights he'd been in flashed past his mind's eye, they weren't pretty. Demo could feel a hot sensation in his remaining eye, slowly growing in heat as he got angrier and angrier. From the horrified looks he was getting from ponies and the slightly less horrified looks from his team mates, he could tell what was happening. He could feel his sanity slipping away as his other personality took a hold. Snap!! Demolition-man whirled round just in time to see a tree flying through the air towards him. THUD!! After having buried his dead comrades, Sniper had realised he was completely lost and therefore started to wander the forest, brooding over the deaths of his friends. His thoughts were interrupted by heavy footfalls headed in his direction. He looked up in time to see a giant metal boot leering down on him. Sniper rolled out of the way and then jumped onto the metallic appendage as soon as it hit the ground. The Giant Robot Heavy swung it's leg around in a vain attempt to get Sniper off of it but he still clung on and continued to climb upwards. SNAP!! The leg collided with a tree and snapped it, sending it flying out of the forest. Sniper heard the faint sound of it hitting the ground quite a way away but he still continued to climb. Sniper's still red vision picked out a giant fist heading towards him, he only just jumped out of the way in time, sending the fist straight into the stomach of the Giant Heavy. The giant beast sank to it's knees as Sniper drew his kukri. He took a running jump, latched onto the head of the Giant Robot Heavy and repeatedly stabbed the robot's face with his blade until it deactivated. He hopped off as the dead bot fell down and then sank to his knees, his vision returning to normal. "Ehhh.... It needs to be about 20% cooler," said a robotic voice.