For a thousand years the two sisters would fight over the silliest of things, and for a thousand years, that is how it always been. Now a new threat had invaded Equestria and it's up to the mercs to save their careers.
Equestria, a place where every creature could come together and be the best of friends. A peaceful country that supported any culture that exists. Sadly, this country has quite a dilemma. Equestria has two rulers.
Princess Celestia and her sister princess Luna had inherited the country from their mother, but their mother had divided Equestria just so her daughters would bicker at each other for eternity.
With the intent of embarrassing the other and to conquer more land, the two sisters devised a plan. And that was to hire other people to do their dirty work. But that did not change anything, especially when a thousand years had passed, and with a new threat just around the corner. It's up to the mercs to save the day by doing what they do best.
It's a beautiful day, the sky was clear and blue. The cool breeze of winter leaves for spring. Flowers were already popping, and the grass was greener than ever. And what better place to spend the season but Ponyville, a lovely town just south of Canterlot. The town holds so many things to offer. The best apples you'd ever eat, the prettiest of flowers, and the home of the most notorious mercenaries in all of Equestria.
And just like shattering glass, the peace of this town crumbled as a wagon barreled through the streets of Ponyville. On top of the wagon was a mare who grinned mischievously as she rode the wagon. Her helmet sat snugly on her cotton-like mane, and her blue military uniform was covered with dirt and confetti. The two party balloons on her bandolier jiggled as the wagon hit a bump on the road as it ran straight through the farmers market. She howled cheerfully as the wagon drove through a stall, sending the vegetables flying.
This was none other than Pinkamena Diane Pie, the soldier. With her trusty Party Launcher by her side, this wagon filled with high explosives will reach its destination. And who better to aid Pinkie in the quest but her good pal Dr. Twilight Sparkles, the mare who quite literally ripped out a pony's skeleton for the glory of science. Quite an accomplishment, wouldn't you say? While Pinkie had the boom, Twilight had their backs with the help of her medigun.
Also in her team was Rainbow Dash, who took on the role of the scout. Her speed and athletics gave her an edge. Always ahead of the rest, always first to the fight.
With the two on the wagon, this gives Rainbow Dash enough freedom to do as she pleases. As the scout of the group, she was entrusted to go on ahead and check the corners for trouble. And as expected, there was indeed danger just around the bend. A level 3 sentry turret nearly clipped Dash's wings as she flew by, bullets and missiles zoomed past her. She cursed at the owner, a small purple dragon wearing a hard hat.
Spike grinned back at the cowering pegasus. He gave his sentry a light pat, knowing full well that his invention halted the progress of his enemies. And seeing that he was discovered, Spike opted to relocate his sentry.
"Hard work does pay off, huh?" Spike chuckled softly as he ran with the large toolbox in his arms.
But this was a grave mistake, a shadow loomed over him, and the young drake failed to react in time as a knife was brought down onto his exposed back.
"I'm truly sorry dearie, but a mare has a job to do." Rarity the spy didn't enjoy killing Spike, but there was work to be done. With one less threat in the way, the wagon continued through the streets.
The Blue team had already cleared so much ground, their destination was just a few points away. It is only a matter of time before they reach their destination, and when they do, the Red team is about to get a hell of a surprise.
At Red base, Spike stomped out of the spawn room, with a displeased look on his face. "I should've seen that one coming." He grumbled as he walked past Big Mac, the heavy.
"Eeyup." The stallion agreed with his signature word. As usual, he was always the strong and silent type. Not much of a conversation could be had with Mac, but boy is he a bulldozer in a fight.
"Right, but what happened to you?" Spike asked his ally.
"Pinkie." Was Mac's answer.
"Guess we'll have to defend the last point." Spiked sighed. "And we had such a good run."
Red base wasn't really a base to be accurate, it was just Twilight's castle redecorated as Red base. The Blue team was tasked to demolish the offending building in Ponyville by princess Luna herself since it was technically on princess Celestia's side. And as expected, Twilight was reluctant to join the Blue team, but by the end of the day, money is power.
Spike stepped outside of the castle and started working with his sentry gun. The teleporter he had previously set up was nothing but rubble now thanks to Rarity's sapper. It was of no use anyways, the wagon had made too much progress.
An explosion ringed from the castle, both Spike and Mac looked towards the entrance where a mare barreled through. Her blonde mane fluttered with the wind, the cold hard steel of her sword glimmered with the light. And a pissed-off look occupied her face with ill intent in her one good eye.
"Hey AJ!" Spike greeted mare.
"That dang Pyro! She better watch her back when Ah find him!" Frustrated, Applejack kicked the dirt beneath her. "What's the stat, Spike!?"
"We lost most of our points, the wagon is so close I can almost lick it."
"That's bad," Applejack hummed. "Ah have an idea! Ah'm bringin' in the Farmer's Resistance! Wait 'ere." Applejack rushed back inside to retrieve her weapon.
Spike turned towards Big Mac. "If you want to switch weapons, now is the time Big Mac."
The stallion did not speak, he only nodded before going after his sister to grab the right weapon for the job.
Left on his own, Spike sprung into action. His first task was setting up his dispenser, a vital invention that will play an important part since the team had no medics. After a few trips back to spawn, Spike had managed to set up a good nest. Now he just needed to place his latest sentry somewhere that could hold a choke point. Just needed to make sure that no spies get anywhere near his guns.
So the best course of action was placing the sentry right on the edge of the castle's balcony. A good clear sight on the final choke, easy to access with a teleporter, and most important part of it all, far from Rarity's pretty little hooves. Hopefully, they can hold the point until their contracts end for the day.
Meanwhile, in the throne room of Canterlot castle, two sisters sat in their respected thrones. A large white line between them stretched towards the entrance. Ever since their mother had passed away, the two sisters had inherited Equestria as the rulers. But the land was divided between the two sisters. In the end, they continued to bicker with each other.
After the first year of their reign, Luna devised a plan to conquer the land that her sister owned not with her personal soldiers, but mercenaries who were not aligned with the crown. This way, it would be under the guise of hired swords with a mysterious benefactor. But Celestia had discovered her plans and hired her own, this began a war that lasted a thousand years. Now, the two sisters were in a stalemate. Nothing had changed at all.
All they have left is some idiots killing each other over and over, and Discord's support. The thing is, thanks to Discord, the idiots they hired were free to kill each other as long as their contracts were still active. No matter how much you died, no matter how much you were maimed. The respawn will just put you back together in one piece. And as a bonus, Discord would broadcast the battle to the sisters no problem.
This way one can mock the other when their side was winning.
"Oh dearest sister," Luna hummed smugly. "Looks like the bomb is nearing the final point, and my team is dominating yours."
Celestia huffed. "I wouldn't gloat so early Luna, even though you hired my own student against me, I can still put my trust on her assistant, Spike."
Luna smirked proudly, she knew she had the upper hand. It was a five on four, Luna had even hired the right mares for the job. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Dash and... that thing... the pyro. It was a good team comp, Twilight was the main healer of the group and Pinkie was the best for a full-on assault. Dash was quick, bullets won't be able to touch her once she reaches the right speed. And like the other scouts that came before, Dash knew how to pick her fights.
When she had learned that Celestia had hired Spike and Applejack, Luna knew she needed Rarity for her skills with the blade. Without Applejack, sentry guns would be a problem. So Rarity was the best choice. To counter the Demomare, Luna had hired the pyro who would just airblast any pipes that comes her way. And in the end, all Luna had left for Celestia was Big Mac and Fluttershy. She knew the stallion was slow and big, and an easy picking for someone as quick as Dash.
And Fluttershy? She was honestly both the weakest and strongest member of the group. She could easily pick off her enemies from the distance, but when it came to close-quarter combat, she was honestly useless. Sure she managed to take down a few spies, but that was sheer luck from what they have seen. Either that or her friends were just giving her free kills.
"Excuse me," Discord popped in from out of thin air. "but there is something that I must inform you two of."
"Not now Discord, the game is about to get to the good part!" Celestia shooed Frankenstein's monster away.
Discord sighed softly, he hovered just above the two sisters. "But this problem concerns both of you. And we must deal with it as soon as possible."
"What is so important that we must miss the destruction of Twilight's castle?" Luna questioned.
"He's right, your highness!" Iron Will boomed into the conversation, he walked into the throne room with his right arm was held by a sling. "We have a bit of a problem due to our... franchise!"
"Iron Will, what has happened to thy arm?" Luna couldn't help but ask.
"That's part of the problem." He answered. "Allow me to introduce the... newest CEO of Mane Co, Saxton Hale."
The two sisters were confused, they did not understand what he had meant by "newest CEO". Soon after, a muffled noise could be heard. Luna and Celestia looked around for the source but found none. Then out of nowhere, something had crashed through the ceiling and let out a triumphant laugh as it landed right in the middle of the throne room.
"Saxton Hale!" The creature who looked like a hairless ape bellowed. Well, he was mostly hairless. This Saxton Hale person stood proudly on the spot right under the light that came from the hole on the roof. He was what many would say as ripped. The creature was the same height as Iron Will, but there was no competition when comparing their muscles. Saxton Hale was just darn beefy. "G'day ladies, I am Saxton Hale, son of Bilious Hale who was the son of Barnabus Hale! And you ladies, have just been served!"
"Iron Will, Discord! What does this... ape?" Luna paused for a second.
"I am a man, your highness. The manliest man you ever met to be perfectly honest." Saxton Hale answered, he was not offended in any way at all.
"I didn't want to assume. Ahem. What does this man mean!? I demand an answer this instant!"
"That's the thing, Lulu." Discord groaned painfully as his body fell apart. "We have lost Mane Co to Saxton Hale due to copyrights."
Iron Will continued. "And for weeks we have been trying to win the case, but sadly the court was not on our side. We ended up losing everything, your highness."
"Why have we not been informed of this...? And what do you mean we lost everything?" Both sisters asked in unison.
"Everything. Mane Co, the factories, our products, and the worse part, our territories." Iron Will explained. "That means the badlands are theirs, your highness."
"Which means we have no way to supply our mercenaries!" Luna ended.
"How is this possible!? What did we even steal!?" Celestia wanted to know just so she could understand what was happening.
Saxton Hale cleared his throat. "Miss Pauling, bring in the guns!"
The doors flew open and in came a woman pushing a trolley filled with numerous weapons. Once it was set up close enough, Saxton Hale swiped one of the guns and presented it to the princesses.
"Do you know what this is?" He asked as he held the double-barreled shotgun in his hand.
"That is the Force-A-Thunder, a favored weapon by many scouts," Celestia answered, knowing what the weapon is and what class uses it the most.
"That is right." Luna agreed.
"No, this gun came straight from Mann Co itself! But we call it the Force-A-Nature! Which serves the same purpose as yours."
"This is ridiculous! Are you saying that we are at fault for having the same gun design by coincidence!?" Luna argued.
"Miss Pauling?" Saxton Hale did not need to say more. The assistant quickly presented a familiar weapon.
"This is called the Backburner sir, and there is a flamethrower with the same purpose called the Flankburner. Manufactured by Mane Co of course. Though the only difference is the head design, which is based on a creature called niriks." Miss Pauling showed off the burning capabilities of the flamethrower by spraying some flames towards Saxton Hale who only shrugged it off. "There is also the Direct Hit, the Panic Attack, and more. All of which are identical in purpose and appearance."
Saxton Hale chuckled. "See ladies? Your products are nothing but stolen designs! So I was forced to put my foot down, and now I own both Mane Co and the badlands."
"You can't just do that! He can't just do that!" Luna whined. "We didn't even design those! We only approved the patent!"
Celestia sighed deeply. "Dearest sister, I do believe we are at wits end. There is nothing we can do, we must concede and surrender Mane Co, we might as well. Perhaps this is the chance for us to bury the hatchet sister. Maybe we can finally unite Equestria and rule it side by-"
"We also lost Luna's side of Equestria to Mann Co." Discord informed them both.
"Ha!" Celestia stood up from her throne, a triumphant smile plastered on her face. "I won! You've lost everything! Defeated by aliens, you have fallen so deeply in the pit dear sister!" She even started dancing right in front of Luna knowing full well that she was victorious. "You've lost, and I won! In your face!"
"I wouldn't relax just yet." Iron Will said awkwardly. "We still haven't settled with your land, princess Celestia."
"W-what?"
"Iron Will is right!" Saxton marched up to the minotaur's side and placed a hand on Iron Will's injured shoulder. "You bunch lost Mane Co and the badlands in an arm wrestling competition! And Luna's territory after I had beaten the pulp out of your administrator! Who knew that our companies shared the same rule, huh?"
Both princesses glanced over to Discord who was attempting to pull himself together but was failing miserably. A literal god of chaos, defeated by an Australian. It was a new low for Discord and he knew he couldn't fix his broken pride. And this caused the sisters to rethink the idea of just banishing Saxton Hale to the moon. And Iron Will's injury is now explained, but that only solidified Hale's reputation.
"That's right, my men and I are aiming for your territory princess!" He chuckled proudly as he cracked his knuckles intimidatingly.
"Sister, I do believe you are what the children of this generation say as "screwed"." Luna poked fun at her, even though she still technically lost.
"P-perhaps we can settle this dispute in a much peaceful way?" Celestia knew not to test the mettle of man, if Saxton Hale could easily pummel Discord, who was to say that she could win the battle without a scratch?
"Peaceful? Like some hippies!?" Celestia paled when Saxton adopted a look of disgust. She thought about just sending him to the sun and see if she could take over Mann Co. But that was honestly unlikely. "Heard you princesses liked to hire some mercenaries to do some dirty work."
Somehow Hale calmed down, now a mischievous smirk was on his face.
"Another thing that you have stolen from us are the classes for your mercenaries." Hale continued. "But I don't mind that at all actually. This honestly gives me a grand idea! Two teams pitted against each other! The best of the best battling it out on the gravel!"
Celestia scoffed, she felt a sense of relief as well. "You wish to settle this through our mercenaries? If I am to put my crown on the line then you must wager the rights to Mane Co and my sister's territory of which I will gladly take for myself!"
"That's the spirit princess! I have already picked my best men for the job! I did the same for you and chose a very interesting group, quite a team you have there. Heard a lot of good things about those ponies." He chuckled proudly.
"Oh, so you know of the BG Alpha team led by the famous Doctor? Well of course they are the best on Equestria, armed and trained by the best. I'm sure your team is no match against his courageous group."
"He? I thought Twilight Sparkle was a female!"
"You chose them!?" Celestia nearly fell out of her throne. Everyone else shared her feeling, even Discord was shocked, so badly that his arm fell off his shoulder. "Saxton Hale I must implore you to reconsider! Twilight and her group are... Our best! Like, they... They had defeated the deranged wizard of the north, Sombra! I do believe if you wish for a chance to win and for a fair battle, you must seek a far weaker team!"
"Defeated a wizard, eh? Now that just makes me want them more!" Saxton Hale laughed. "Couldn't pick any better! My men will be done with the acquaintance party then we'll start this game of ours! Now if you excuse me, there's a hydra that has my name on it! Saxton Haaaaaaale!"
With the strength of his muscular thighs, Saxton Hale propelled himself towards the ceiling. Making another hole to accompany the other. Miss Pauling had also excused herself along with the weapons that Mann Co had manacfacture. Now left on their own, Celestia couldn't help but feel weak.
"Wait, what did he mean..." Luna began but couldn't finish.
Both sisters realized something amiss, their eyes snapped back towards the screen. And there the two teams fought, the Blue and the Red. But the odd thing is, Luna's hired guns now wore the red coats. And the reason for that was because nine men took their place. And these mercenaries were relentless with their assault. Missiles, bullets, pipe bombs. All rained down upon the Red team who fought back just as vicious as the Blues. It was still an even fight, and both sides were just enjoying the chaos.
"Discord," Celestia began. "you have ten seconds before I send you to the sun. So tell me, what the buck happened!?"
This was the first shot that started the war, a battle to decide the fate of Equestria. This was the beginning of Mann Vs Mane.
"So..." Rarity began as she and her friends gathered around a table. "What in Equestria even happened?"
"They came out of nowhere!" Dash slammed her hooves against the table, she was displeased by the results of the previous match. Everyone shared her emotion. They felt as if it was unfair, to begin with. It happened so fast, and they came at them like a freight train.
Fluttershy sighed deeply, she peered through the scope scanning for any signs of the Blues. It had been a few hours since the match started, and the wagon was nearing the base. Soon, a battle would break out on the final point. Then she'd have to... kill her friends. It was the thought that hurts, unlike the rest, she didn't like taking another pony's life. She knows that it is her duty, but she only wished that she didn't have to.
"Fluttershy!"
The pegasus whipped around with her machete, only to realize that it was Spike who called her name and it came from the radio. He was just checking in on her, nothing out of the ordinary.
"H-hello..." She answered back.
"We're gonna defend the final point! It's up to you to pick them off, Fluttershy!" Spike said.
"Okay, I'll do my best..."
"That's the spirit! Twilight is counting on me to keep the bomb away from the castle and she's counting on us Red team. Over and out!"
"Must we always come to blows darling?" Fluttershy tensed up, she glanced over back at the window to find Rarity right next to Fluttershy's rifle. The unicorn was just there, sitting on the windowsill with a lit cigarette. She usually used her pipe rather than smoking with the filter on her lips. Said something about how it easily smudges her lipstick.
"Rarity..." Fluttershy greeted her foe.
"Fluttershy, how are you today?"
"I'm fine. How's your team?"
"As expected, Twilight is reluctant to do her job. But princess Luna is paying her a total of eight manticore kidneys. So do expect another trip to the surgery table dearie." Fluttershy shuddered at the thought of the operation light glaring at her. Sometimes she questioned Twilight's sanity. But just like the rest, she was just another pea in the pod.
"How about Pinkie, is she having fun?" Fluttershy asked.
"More than ever, she always wanted to blow up that castle ever since she laid eyes on it. Oh, how is Spike? I had stabbed him right on the back and I'm sure he was very upset."
"He seems fine. Spike is serious about defending the castle." She said as she took a seat on the floor facing Rarity.
"Right... So how do you want to end this darling?"
Fluttershy's left ear flicked once, a terrifying force loomed over her. She could hear the heavy breathing from behind. The pegasus dared not turn, or else she would scare herself to death. But somehow, Fluttershy had found the courage to stand back and glare at the second intruder of Fluttershy's safe spot.
There stood a mare who wore a gas mask and black sleek boots. She was what the rest had learned was called a kirin. It was evident with the scales on her back and the horn on her head. Every team across Equestria has a pyro, but none seem to be as detached from reality as team HM's/Harmony's. This mare was called Autumn Blaze, a random kirin that had just walked into their base one day and asserted itself into the group. Funny thing is, they were hiring pyros at the time.
Fluttershy stared down the nozzle of Autumn Blaze's flamethrower. The stench of gasoline was strong. The pyro said something, but the words were only muffled noises, the only thing Fluttershy could tell was that she sounded cheerful.
"We can do this any way you like darling, but I do suggest my knife over burning to death." Rarity was practically making the decision already. It was better to die quickly than be in a ball of blazing fire.
But there was another choice, Fluttershy unsheathed her machete and pointed it at Rarity. "T-Twilight is counting on me! Spike needs m-my help! I won't d-die here!" Her grip around the handle was loose, she shook on the spot fearful for her life.
"Courage always fitted you so well Fluttershy," Rarity smirked as she tossed the cigarette aside. She brandished her butterfly knife, clean and sharp, just like how she dressed.
The two mares began to circle each other while Autumn only watched with glee. It was a duel between rival assassins, two professionals who were talented in their crafts. Their eyes locked onto each other and dared one to make a move. Spies were deceptive, so Fluttershy needed to be wary of any feints or slips. It would be a devastating blow if Fluttershy makes a mistake now.
Then, after a split second, both mares lunged at each other with their blades. But just as they were about to connect steel, something unpredictable happened.
"You are now in the Red team! Do not fail." A woman's voice was broadcast through Rarity's mind. The same words had reached Autumn's mind and even she was surprised.
"What!?" Rarity exclaimed.
Even Fluttershy was shocked to see her turn red. Now that she noticed it, Autumn Blaze was on her side as well. "Auto balance?" Fluttershy asked sheepishly.
"How!? There are only nine of us!"
"Hmmph!" Autumn muffled something.
"Fluttershy!" Spike's voice called out from the radio. "We got trouble!"
Rarity swiped the radio before Fluttershy could even get it. "Spike, this is Rarity, Autumn and I have been auto balanced to the Red team. What is going on out there!"
"Blue team got replaced by a different mercenary group! And I- sweet mother of Discord!" There was an explosion that came from the wagon, but it was too small for it to be the bomb. And then it began, guns and bombs started to go off in the distance. "I need help quickly!"
"You've just been liberated! You are now an American citizen, do not resist!" That was the last thing they heard before an explosion was set off again, this time it came from the castle.
"We need to head for the castle now! Autumn, you're with me. Fluttershy, you take the scenic route and take out any mercenaries you find! This has VN team written all over it, those ruffians will pay for stealing our jobs!" With that, the mares jumped into action.
Rarity and Autumn Blaze exited the building as fast as possible and made their way towards the Red base. As for Fluttershy, she took the longer route. She needed the element of surprise if she were to do something for the team, it was about time she started doing her job.
Fluttershy went alley to alley, making sure that she wouldn't get spotted by the enemy. Luckily the ones that did notice her were the ponies of Ponyville and the students of the Friendship School who greeted her as she snuck by them. And just as she reached the second to the last point, there she discovered something terrible. It was the rest of the former Blue team, Pinkie, Twilight, and Dash. All were nursing their wounds and bruises. Twilight was working hard as ever with her Medi Gun.
"Everyone!" Fluttershy called out as she rushed to their side. "What happened?"
"We got jumped, that's what happened! We barely had time to react, much less survive!" Dash said sourly, clearly, she was peeved off by the fact that the wagon got stolen.
"She's right," Twilight said. "they came out of nowhere and we were caught off guard. Especially when we were still registering what had happened with the auto-balance."
"Those darn changelings are to blame, I am sure of it!" Pinkie expressed her anger. "I knew we should've toasted their sourdough from when we had the chance!"
Fluttershy looked at Pinkie quizzically. "What do you mean, who did this? The VN team? BG Alpha? The Pillars?"
"They wouldn't just steal our jobs like that, we mercenaries have rules when it comes to this," Twilight told her something else. The alicorn stared towards the direction of her castle, a curious shine flashed in her eyes as an idea popped into her mind. "No, they weren't even ponies to begin with. I... I wish to meet these creatures..."
"Brace yourselves!" Spike warned his friends as missiles rained down up the castle. "Where is everyone!? We can't take them on like this!" Just then he heard the dreadful noise of a spy decloaking. He snapped around with his wrench, only to come face to face with the end of a revolver. And just when he had dealt with the Soldier.
"You are the Engineer?" The tall man scoffed. "You are quite short and young."
"Who are you!?" Spike demanded to know.
"Classified. But to put it bluntly, we are the men who will end your careers." He pulled back the hammer, Spike was helpless with no way to escape.
Only a miracle could save him now. And that miracle came as a righteous piece of lead that dug into the man's shoulder, his revolver went off course and shot the ground instead. He grunted in pain, his eyes went towards the source to find Fluttershy on top of a nearby building who was accompanied by Pinkie.
"Merde." He cursed just as a bullet went through his skull.
As the body collapsed, Spike couldn't help but hear the set of footsteps growing ever so silent. The Spy was still alive.
Spike made sure to thank Fluttershy before attending to his sentry. This was only the beginning, the Spy will come back and strike when Spike least expects it. But for now, he needed to strengthen the defenses.
Meanwhile, Twilight and Dash were making their way to the castle. A gleeful smile plastered on Twilight's face as the two passed by a man with a rifle, he must be the Sniper of the group. Never had she before seen such a creature. They stood on two feet, almost hairless, thus needing to wear clothes to keep warm. And interestingly enough, they had claws instead of hooves or paws. She grew a fascination for these appendages and wished that she could bring home a few samples.
But sadly she had no time, Twilight needed to get to her castle as soon as possible.
"Comin' through!" A scrawny man tackled Rainbow Dash aside, severing the red beam of Twilight's Medi Gun. Twilight recognized quickly that this was the Scout, he was certainly short, lightweight. It was just plain obvious because of his appearance. And this merc had pinned Dash under him with his stock shotgun right at her face. "Sorry girly, but ya ain't be leaving anytime soon!"
"Get off me or else I punch your teeth out!" Dash threatened.
"Ooh, I'm scared! Listen, I'm just being friendly and helping you get to Red base quicker. Just hold still and eat lead."
Twilight could save Dash, she had uber and they could easily turn this fight around. But just as she connected the beam, Twilight felt a chill run down her back. She caught a glance of a Pyro looming over her who held his axe over his head, and the worst part, it was a Third Degree. As the axe came down, Twilight activated the uber charge, just in time too.
"Uh oh," Scout said before he got decked right in the kisser by an ubered Rainbow Dash.
"Twilight, come on!" Dash sprang up to her hooves and ran. Twilight said nothing and simply followed.
"Mmphn, mmphma!" The Pyro cried out earning the attention of Sniper.
"I see 'em!" Sniper trained his scope on Twilight, he waited for the uber to end so he could plant a bullet. His trigger finger flexed, a deafening bang erupted. Then silence.
"Bang..." Twilight said with a hoof pointed at her own head. Her friends around the table stared at her oddly, which must be because of the crazed grin on her face. She seems so happy, most wouldn't like recalling their deaths, not her though. Twilight cherished her death and she learned from them. "Snipers are efficient mercs, that we know. But I noticed something when I was still amidst my respawn."
"What?" They all asked.
"Their techniques, their style. It's almost identical... to ours." She explained, earning her a few quizzical looks from her team.
"What do you mean?" Spike questioned.
"Gah!" Spike hid behind his sentry as a Soldier blasted his machine with his shotgun. Spike was unable to save the sentry as it was broken beyond repair.
"Sentry down! Oorah!" He holstered his shotgun away and brought out his rocket launcher and used it to retreat from Spike. This was the third time the Soldier came after his sentry.
"Oh come on!" Spike cried out his frustrations as his sentry blew up.
The door behind him suddenly opened and out came Twilight with a Crusader's Crossbow in her hooves. And with it, she rushed over to the balustrade and aimed, thanks to the design of the weapon she was able to heal Fluttershy from the distance. She then turned towards Spike with her Medi Gun and started healing his injuries.
"Spike, status report." She said.
"They aren't any species I know of, but they still have the same classes as us. Nine mercenaries of unknown origin. Big Mac is at the front defending the last point with Applejack. Dash just got here, she's still recovering from a few bruises, she got jumped by their Heavy. Rarity is doing her best to sap any sentries, and our pyro is making sure no spies get near them. The only issue is, he's here instead of the front lines." He reported to Twilight.
And just like he said, the team were at the front door defending with all they've got. It was a literal war zone, empty shells littered the ground, small craters were all over Twilight's lawn, and worse of all, the wagon was right at her doors. All they needed to do was give it a hard push, then boom, the castle is gone.
"I see, and I believe that Soldier is destroying your sentries?"
"He keeps coming back, I tried to fight him off but he just breaks my stuff!" Spike said.
"I'm gonna send Autumn over, she'll keep that Soldier off. But that'll open an opportunity for the Spy." With her wings outstretched, Twilight hopped over the railing and glided over towards her team.
"Twilight!" Applejack couldn't be happier. Even the rest of the team spared a moment to greet her.
"Autumn, Spike needs you up on the balcony!" Autumn nodded before going inside the castle. Twilight turned towards the rest. "We have five minutes on the clock! If our contracts end, so will theirs!"
"You heard her," Applejack grinned, her grenade launcher was fully loaded and she was ready to light the fuse. "Let's show them how we do things around 'ere!"
With a battle roar that could be compared with a tiger's, the Red team stood their ground. Bullet after bullet, bombs after bombs. Both sides fought relentlessly, and both showed no sign of stopping. Just like any day back in Teufort, the casualties were high. Yet it did not discourage Twilight, she knew that her team would make it back in time to hold off the bomb.
As they did their best, so did the Blue team. There were moments when they nearly touched the wagon but thankfully Applejack would activate her sticky bombs and slow down their progress. Rarity was even able to get rid of their dispenser at the cost of her own life. And Pinkie and Dash being the clever mares they are, used Spike's teleporter to sneak behind them. But they didn't take account of a Pyro camping the exit.
It was moments like these when you would truly feel the thrill of combat. When something important is on the line and you know that it was up to the whole team to win the game. So they fought, their surroundings were covered in ash and blood, so much that Dash slipped on a few puddles.
"Come on you rotten oaks!" Applejack yelled as she dodged a meat cleaver that was aiming for her head. "Are y'all ponies or are you a bunch of rats!?"
"I'm a dragon!" Spike answered from the balcony. Even Autumn made a muffled noise to object as well.
Twilight ignored them, she was too busy being focused on the enemy. There was only a minute left, and yet, a few members of the Blue team were missing. Her eyes darted around looking for the others, she needed to know their location. Because there were no signs of the Blue Medic and Heavy, not even the Pyro.
"Los los!" And as she feared, their Medic had came out of hiding and activated their uber charge. Both he and the Heavy charged towards the bomb with all they got.
"I am bulletproof!" Heavy roared as he ran.
The ponies quickly trained their weapons at the charging giant and pelted him with a flurry of bullets. Just to slow him down. But this was a fatal mistake, the Blue Demo and Soldier rushed from the left and Dash was the only one to respond. Fluttershy was only able to take out the rival Sniper giving her team a chance to win. It was up to the rest to seal the deal.
Big Mac discarded his Gatling aside, he gritted his teeth and took a stance just in front of the wagon. And when Heavy had collided with the bomb, the whole thing came down to a competition of strength. Both heavies did all they could, but they both proved to be as strong as the other. And this fact alone impressed Heavy, so much that he cracked a smile.
The uber started to run out, everyone could tell, the Red team saw a glimmer of hope. They just needed to last long enough until the Heavy was vulnerable. But just as victory was an arms reach away, the devil himself came to take it away in the form of a Pyro. All eyes widened and their hearts stopped for a second as the Pyro had snuck up to them with his flamethrower. They expected a painful end by the flames of hell, but the Red team was instead pushed off and away from the wagon with a single airblast.
Spike and Autumn could only watch as the Heavy pushed the bomb into the castle, then boom. An explosion rocked the earth, and the building crumbled down.
"And that was it." Spike sighed. "Blue team won, but instead of killing us like usual, they only vanished. As if they weren't even there to begin with."
"I can't believe that even happened!" Dash slammed her hooves against the table once again. "This blows!"
The stench of gunpowder was still present around them along with the crystal remains of Twilight's castle. Spike was covered in ash and soot, his overalls needed cleaning after this. There were still a few things that were on fire, such as Autumn. All in all, the only thing that survived the blast was the Cutie Map. Which they used only on a few occasions.
"There were only a few seconds left..." Fluttershy pointed out. "If only we..."
"Look on the bright side," Applejack said after downing a bottle of apple cider. "at least we won't be visitin' Twilight's surgery room for awhile. Ah was not lookin' forward to replacing mah kidneys just yet."
Twilight stood up and straightened her glasses. "Back to the point. These creatures were quite talented. And their skills are similar to ours. The way the Soldier fought unpredictably just like Pinkie. How their Demo only has one eye and a drunk. Ring any bells?"
"Freaky," Dash commented.
"Perhaps it's a coincidence?" Rarity suggested. "Berry Punch is a drunk like Applejack, and they are both Demomares."
"But what about their Pyro?" Twilight pointed out. "The way he moved, the way he carried himself. It was like looking at another Autumn Blaze."
"Speaking of Autumn, where is she?" Rarity said as she looked around, but no sign of Autumn could be found.
"You mean where is he." Dash chuckled.
"Hilarious." Rarity rolled her eyes with obvious disappointment. The rest mimicked Rarity, leaving Dash to laugh at her own joke alone.
"Am I interrupting something?" Someone spoke up, the group looked over to where the entrance used to be and found-
"Soarin!" Everyone greeted the pegasus as he walked over to the table.
"Guess the Blues got you good, did they?" He said as he looked at what was left of the castle.
"Oh, hey, Soarin!" Dash leaned back in her seat and posed awesomely. "Didn't... Didn't see ya there."
"It was alright, you guys were kinda busy. But I don't have time to talk, I still need to look for the other mercenaries."
"The others, for what?" Rarity asked with her eyes narrowed.
"Princess Celestia is calling everyone in for a meeting at Canterlot castle. You as well. There is something important that she needs to talk about, so get some rest and be there at nine in the morning." Soarin said. Afterward he gave them a short goodbye and went on his way to the other teams in Ponyville.
"Huh," Twilight hummed. "The princess is hosting a meeting with everyone?"
"Probably about those darn invaders!" Pinkie said. "I bet they're threatening our monarchy with their filthy democracy!"
"Maybe." Spike shrugged his shoulders. "We'll get our answers once we get to Canterlot tomorrow."
Twilight nodded in agreement. "Right, so get some sleep everyone, and see you all at the train station."
With that, the group split apart to head home for a well-deserved rest. It had been a long day and they were all sore after the fight. Of course Twilight and Spike needed to crash at AJ's place thanks to the fact they were homeless now. It'll take a while to fix Twilight's castle and a lot of money.
The ride to Canterlot was a lot more peaceful than the crew expected. When they all had gathered at the train station, they found Autumn waiting for them. At first, they thought she'd start a fire, but she was at her best behavior, especially during her time on the train. Which was odd. She didn't even try and sever Pinkie's hoof the whole trip, not even once.
Even more so as they all head over to the castle. It started to disturb them a little.
As they walked through the streets, the group couldn't help but notice the beautiful city of Canterlot. Ponies just going about their own, guards keeping the peace. Especially the guards, as Twilight and her friends trotted along they received a few looks from the ponies in steel. Made sense, they were mercenaries, everyone knew this. Twilight and her team were in countless newspapers detailing their crimes.
The most interesting part was the fact that her brother was a prince who is married to princess Cadence. This gave Twilight some immunity in a few places, allowing her to do her questionable projects. And the fact that she is Celestia's student gives Twilight even more freedom.
"Gosh I hate Canterlot," Dash said. "these guards just don't give us the respect we deserve."
"If y'all are forgetting, we ain't exactly a group of model citizens." Applejack glared back at the guard as they passed by.
Spike nodded. "She got a point, even back when Twilight and I lived here the guards would always spit in our direction. They can't really touch us, but freedom of speech lets them say what they want."
"I think they started to hate me when I broke into the graveyard that one night and stole a bunch of pony limbs." The group blanched once those words left Twilight's mouth.
"Okay, back to the point!" Dash quickly changed the subject before they learned something far more disturbing. "We literally like, fight a war, what do those tin cans even do?"
"Uphold the law." Said Rarity.
"Keepin' the peace." Added Applejack.
"Mnpha hmm."
"Autumn got you there Dash," Applejack chuckled.
"Oh shut up!" Dash snapped at the demomare.
It wouldn't take long before they arrived at the castle gates. A couple of guards escorted them from the courtyard and towards the throne room. And as they arrived at the entrance, Twilight couldn't help but notice two particular ponies just sitting by the doors who wore the same uniform as her.
"Starlight!" Twilight rushed over to her fellow medics.
"Twilight? Oh, hey!" Starlight greeted the alicorn with a smile.
"Ah, if it isn't Twilight Sparkle!" Greeted the other medic who was quite literally named the Doctor. Or you could use his other alias, Time Turner. "What a wonderful day, wouldn't you say?"
"Doctor, I'm happy to see that you have arrived in one piece!" Twilight said.
"Look," Dash held back a laugh. "the egghead found her flock!"
"Ha!" Pinkie burst into laughter. "Eggheads, it's funny because they have normal heads!"
"Right." The Doctor cleared his throat. "I heard that the Blue team won yesterday. Your castle must be in ruins now."
"What? I didn't know that." Starlight said. "My stuff, did it get blown up as well?"
"Yeah, got burned down along with the rest of the castle," Spike answered. "Sorry Starlight, nothing survived but the Cutie Map."
"What a shame." Starlight sighed.
"Oh, speaking of which!" All eyes focused on Twilight. "What are you two doing out here anyway, you know, alone and stuff? Where are the rest of your teams?"
The Doctor awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, everyone is actually in the throne room as we speak. The only issue is that-"
The doors flew open and out came Berry Punch. And they finally understood why the two medics were just sitting around outside, hundreds of mercenaries were having an all-out brawl in the throne room. And Discord could be seen watching the chaos unfold below him. The team wondered why they didn't hear any explosions or gunshots when the door was closed, they were just outside.
As Berry Punch returned to her senses, a mare with a broken horn came to finish her job and struck Berry with an iron boot. "Twilight."
"Tempest." She greeted back cheerfully. With that out of the way, Tempest Shadow went back inside to continue her onslaught. "Do you guys want to explain?"
"Yeah," Starlight chuckled. "a few ponies just kinda jumped into conclusions and thought we all were gathered for a battle royale, and now you see what happened after."
"Starlight and I then snuck out while everyone else began to slaughter each other. Lucky us, right?" Said the Doctor.
"I think I understand." Twilight nodded. "This way you two can finish off anyone who's still alive! Brilliant! But... Then it'd be just you two. So I think the course of action is-"
"Twilight!" Starlight stopped the alicorn before she could get too deep into her rant. "We left because it's a madhouse in there. We nearly got our heads chopped off by Derpy, who is in fact on the same side as the Doctor."
"She's just a little confused, but the girl has the spirit." The Doctor smiled warmly.
"What is going on here!?" All heads turned towards the newcomer, Iron Will himself. "If Iron Will wanted an all-out brawl, then Iron Will would've started it himself!"
"Sir!" The group made themselves presentable in front of the famous Iron Will, the minotaur who ran the business. It is also worth noting that he was a beast when it came to combat, it was the reason why no one ever got their hands on Mane Co. Though, there was something odd about him today, primarily the sling around his right arm.
"Um, Iron Will?" Fluttershy approached him cautiously. "W-what happened to your arm?"
"Oh, this?" He sighed, his body slumped a bit. "Iron Will will let princess Celestia explain. He is too ashamed to even speak of it. Now if you excuse me, Iron Will has some punching to do, these creatures are lucky I'm currently handicapped or else they'd die from my right punch!"
With that, the minotaur jumped into the fray, then the screams of terror began as countless corpses were punched into the air. The group along with Starlight and the Doctor could only watch as the minotaur pummeled everyone in the room. And just from that, it didn't take long before the whole room became silent. Twilight and friends entered, bodies were scattered around. Many who were still alive would slowly succumb to their injuries. And Iron Will stood on top of a pile of soldiers triumphantly. And he only needed one arm to win, he was a warrior just like his ancestors.
"Aw, you ruined it." Discord said. "Just when it was getting to the good part."
"Discord! Did you start this fight? If so, why did you not inform Iron Will!?" The minotaur demanded.
"I didn't start it, some idiot just shot another idiot, and then the chaos happened. Oh how delicious it was, so sweet and tangy."
"You disgust Iron Will! And you broke my feelings."
"Discord! Why are there corpses in my throne room!?"
All attention looked over at the entrance to find princess Celestia and her sister who wore a long and pointy cone hat with the word "Loser" written on it.
"Discord, clean this all up!"
"Pfft, right away your royal heinie." With a snap of his talons, every creature dead on the floor had risen back to life, healthy and free of any injuries. And as if nothing happened, everyone was back to normal.
With everything cleaned up nice and shiny, the two sisters walked up to the throne. It is throne because there was only one, and it belonged to Celestia. This caused a few murmurs among the mercenaries, confused as to why Luna wore such a fashionable hat and the lack of a throne of her own. As Celestia took a seat on her comfortable chair of high quality, her sister Luna sat on the cold hard floor next to her.
It was a strange sight for everyone, usually, the two would bicker for a short while before addressing any issues with the kingdom or the mercenaries. But here they were, silent, well-mannered, and calm. Celestia even had a prideful smile on her face. Iron Will and Discord took their place between the two sisters with the god of chaos next to Celestia and so on.
"Now, you all must be wondering why I gathered you here today!" Celestia spoke, her soothing voice calmed the hearts of these mercenaries. "Today we gather here for an important announcement, one that would make history in Equestria. Today I, princess Celestia, am here to inform you all that..."
There was a pause, her lips quivered as she fought back her tears. But one slipped through and ran down her cheek. Everyone in the room gasped, whatever news that Celestia brought to them must be something important if it caused her to show weakness. Twilight and everyone else felt something in their chest, a pain that could not be described. They waited, their attention fully on their princess, no one dared to speak a word, or else they risk death as a punishment.
"My dearest subjects... Today on this great day, I have won." With that, the tears she held back flowed freely, she was overtaken by her emotions that she cried tears of joy.
But this caused a different reaction from the mercenaries, confusion went all around. It replaced their previous emotion like a bullet suddenly taking their life.
"You what!?" A scout at the back of the crowd asked.
"It is true," Celestia wiped away her tears as she began explaining. "After today, it will be official that I have won! Luna has lost her land to Mann Co, meaning that I am the remaining ruler of Equestria by default!"
"Wait, Mann Co, what's that!?" Another asked.
"Oh let's forget the details, we must celebrate this day with the biggest party that Canterlot will ever witness!"
"A party!?" Pinkie bounced out of the crowd and towards the princess with a big disturbing smile. "You can count on me princess!"
"That would be unnecessary Pinkie Pie," Celestia pushed the party pony aside. "I plan to ask Cheese Sandwich to do the job."
"B-but..."
"You can count on me princess!" Cheese Sandwich gladly accepted, much to Pinkie's dismay. This sent Pinkie into a fit of rage, what was once a quiet crowd devolved into another brawl, this time Twilight and her crew were caught up in it.
Once again, bullets and bombs started to whiz around. Celestia held up a barrier to protect her and everyone who was near her.
"Um, your highness?" Celestia turned towards Iron Will with an arched brow. "Shouldn't we talk about Mann Co and our problem?"
"Sister, he is right," Luna informed Celestia. "If we do not address the problem now, Mann Co would definitely take advantage of us and attack when we least expect it."
"Ugh, fine." Celestia rolled her eyes at them both. "Listen everyone!" The crowd became silent once more. Pinkie looked over towards Celestia with hope in her eyes and Cheese Sandwich's neck in her arms. "We must inform everyone here how I won against my sister Luna."
Pinkie's mane deflated, she expected that Celestia had a change of heart, so she decided to just snap Cheese's neck like a glow stick. Now the crowd became attentive to the princess. This piqued Twilight's interest, she listened intently to her mentor.
"A few weeks ago, Discord was approached by a man named Saxton Hale accompanied by numerous lawyers. He is the owner of a similar company to Mane Co which is named Mann Co and they come from a different dimension. And for weeks, they battled in the court of justice. But their efforts were fruitless. Mane Co is no longer ours, it is now owned by Saxton Hale."
The whole room gasped, the crowd exploded with chatter. Confusion became denial, then it shifted into anger. Many wanted to know what would happen to them, some asked if they would still receive any supplies from Mane Co and few didn't add anything useful to the conversation.
"My dearest subjects, please! That is not all, I'm afraid. In an attempt to take back what is rightfully ours, Discord had challenged Saxton Hale for the ownership of Mane Co, and he wagered Luna's territory. Which I didn't know that Discord was able to do. After an hour of combat, Discord lost and with it, my sister's crown. And you see now that she wears the cone hat of shame."
"Then what happens next!?" A concerned merc asked. "Is that all!?"
"I wished it was... Not only does Mann Co own half of Equestria, but Saxton Hale had set his eyes on the rest! And with his elite group of mercenaries, he issued a challenge against me for my throne!"
Twilight and her team gasped, somehow their questions were answered thanks to princess Celestia. And now they have an understanding of who the strange creatures were. And somehow, it started to click together in Twilight's head. The idea of another dimension, a whole new reality. This gave Twilight the conclusion that the mercs they fought yesterday were a copy of them, or perhaps it's the other way around.
"What is the challenge?" Tempest Shadow aka the heavy stepped out of the crowd, eyes full of determination. And with her was the rest of her team.
Flim and Flam, the engineers. When one isn't enough, two would definitely do the damage. Or if it's some fine cider you want, they're unicorns you need. Tempest's sniper, the Great and Accurate Trixie, who only took on the role to be better than Twilight just to discover that the author decided Twilight to be the medic. And now Trixie couldn't change her job because it was far too late and it would ruin the whole team dynamic. On the plus side, this gave Trixie countless opportunities to shoot Twilight in the head.
Then there was their spy, Suri Polomare, a master at the art of deception and blackmail. She's the kind of mare who would lie her way out of prison, and she has. Lightning Dust, the scout, fastest mare in the group. The only reason she was a mercenary to begin with was that it gave her a chance to challenge a rival of hers. Blueblood, the unreliable democolt who spams sticky bombs. He was once a prince and the nephew of princess Luna and Celestia. But due to his snobbish personality, Celestia had removed Blueblood from the royal family and forced him to get a job.
The only one willing to accept him was Tempest Shadow, and thanks to her they made him useful. Well, not as much since Blueblood never goes near any objectives. But if the time calls for it, Blueblood isn't afraid to show everyone why he's superior. Sometimes you just need good motivation, like money.
Next was Gilda, a griffon from afar, her role was the soldier. With her ability to soar to the skies, she is a menace with the Air Strike. And just to rub salt in your wounds, she would call you a dweeb. Gilda hurts both your pride and your body. Don't get her started with the Market Gardener. Second to the last was the pyro, and an all too familiar face for Celestia. Sunset Shimmer, hot in several places. Good looks, great hair, and a fiery pain in the flank. Always walking around with a sledgehammer, she's ready to break some bones anywhere and anytime.
The last one was their medic, and it was none other than Starlight Glimmer. Unlike some medics, she favored the use of magic to heal her team, and by god is she great at it. Almost as great as Starswirl the Bearded, or maybe she is superior, she did defeat Twilight that one time.
"Tempest, it is a pleasure to see you again." Celestia smiled.
"I am honored you believe so your highness." Tempest bowed respectively.
"Has my nephew been a nuisance lately?"
Blueblood looked away, cheeks flushed red. Tempest laughed at his reaction. "No your highness, he had been working as hard as ever."
"I am happy to hear that. So to answer your question, the challenge is simple. Mann Co wishes to send their best mercenaries against Mane Co's, and from what we witnessed, they are quite the team." Celestia answered.
"I see," Tempest's eyes flashed with determination. "then I Tempest Shadow along with my team wish- neigh- my team will fight for your honor!"
"Yeah, we'll show them what's what!" Said Flim, his brother Flam nodded his head in agreement.
"Ha!" Trixie laughed. "Trixie will make quick work with Trixie's enemies. Just watch, and you'll be dazzled by my outstanding performance."
"I bet those dweebs got nothing against us," Gilda commented.
"If they're just like any other team here, then I'm sure I can melt down their skin," Sunset said with pride.
No other team would step up, none dared to challenge the VN Omega. They were a team not to be reckoned with despite having a useless demo, they all make up for it with their skills and experience. Tempest especially, a defector of the Storm King's army, now the heavy weapons mare. With her strength and athletic build, she was able to take on three different teams alone all at once. A noteworthy success that skyrocketed her popularity in the business.
"Forgive me Tempest, but it appears they have chosen a team on their own judgment," Celestia said, her voice filled with regret. Regret because she knew that she could've done something if only she had listened to Discord.
"Who have they chosen, your majesty?" The Doctor asked.
"Mann Co had chosen... team Harmony as the representatives of Equestria."
The whole room went silent, for two whole minutes, none would say a single word. Then, they all screamed in terror as they realized who the fate of Equestria depended on. And it was none other than the team who were notorious for having countless collateral damage everywhere they go. Soon, the whole room once again devolved into an all-out brawl with each other.
Discord watched with delight as the mercs killed one another once again. Iron Will could only look on with disappointment, he would've jumped in to kill them all over again, but there was just no point. Luna smirked, she had nothing else to look forward to but her sister's defeat. If Mann Co does win it would mean that Celestia would be brought down to Luna's level.
Celestia groaned loudly as the sound of someone's back breaking filled the air. "One of you call my assistant, I need a cup of soothing tea this instant."
"I can't believe we have to rely on those dolts!" Trixie voiced her frustration as she and her team made their way outside.
They weren't alone, a few other teams walked along with them, especially the BG Alpha. They all shared their feelings about the situation, a lot disliked the fact that team Harmony was fighting for Equestria. They weren't just known for the number of collateral damage they have made, nope, everyone knew about Twilight's projects to create an abomination. A few mercenaries were caught in her operating table, all because they needed a medic and couldn't wait for one.
Lyra shuddered, the last time she talked to Twilight was last week and she left her castle with a pair of wings. Thankfully she got it removed after.
"Twilight and her team might not be perfect, but they are reliable." The Doctor disagreed, he has hope for team Harmony unlike most of his fellow mercenaries. "They are just as skilled as the rest of us, though their sanity is to be questioned, we can still have faith in them."
"He's right," Starlight said. "I have known Twilight for a year now and I'm sure she and her team could handle this."
Sunset smiled. "Yeah, and have any of you guys met the rest of those goofballs? Spike and Fluttershy are really nice once you get to know them, and the best part, they are honestly pretty good at their jobs. Though someone should tell Autumn to take off his mask when he's outside of work, those things are hard to breathe in."
"If Doc says so," Derpy smiled proudly as she walked next to her fellow pyro.
"Those dweebs can't even tell friend from foe, they're the most violent ones in the business. And if you pissed any of them off they wouldn't even hesitate to snap your necks, the pink one especially." Gilda said.
Berry Punch said something, but it came out as gibberish since she was too drunk to form any words correctly. But somehow, her team understood every noise she made. Even Vinyl, the engineer of BG omega, understood Berry Punch. Keep in mind she is always blasting music into her ears, it was a surprise to many that her hearing is fine.
"The drunk is right," Octavia said. She was the heavy of team BG, a mare with sophisticated grace. A cellist in the past, now a six-barrel-wielding angel of death. If looks could kill, then she'd be on a killing spree. "Remember that time Applejack blew up the local school? All because she misplaced her explosive because she drank too much alcohol, at least Berry Punch only carried her bombs when she's at work."
The Doctor's spy, Bon Bon, nodded. An agent of Smile turned to a life of backstabbing and deceit, life used to be simple for her. "Let's not forget about the whole cupcake monster incident, it traumatized so many colts and fillies."
"Though they made the problem in the first place, it was them who cleaned it up." The Doctor argued. "Thanks to them, the town was saved."
"Doc," Colgate, a soldier who isn't afraid of getting up close and personal, she'd beat your teeth in with a shovel and recommend a dentist for you. "they destroyed a kitten orphanage, all because someone told Pinkie that they supported democracy."
Carrot Top, their sniper, sighed deeply. "Right, and it was Rainbow Dash who said that."
"But what would we even do then?" Tempest finally spoke. "We have no power to change anything, we must accept the results as it is. I suggest preparing a resume just in case, the worst-case scenario is that we lose our jobs."
The mercenaries looked away, the idea of losing their jobs was something none wished to experience. Ever since the first group of mercs, the world changed drastically. Instead of peace, there was only chaos. The ponies and other creatures of Equestria adapted and became part of the war. Thus, making generations of mercenaries. It became a tradition for many to take up arms and fight for the crown without the fear of dying. A game for some, a lifestyle for others.
Now Mann Co threatens that tradition, especially when they have their own mercenaries. Humans were bigger and more athletic. As if they have won the race of evolution, and those hands of theirs played a part. Not much else is known since the knowledge of these creatures is still limited, and no weakness has been discovered yet.
Speaking of humans, as the group exited through the front, they came to an unusual sight. Right in the courtyard, several stalls were set up on one side with humans behind them. As for what they are selling, it was all kinds of weapons. Sniper rifles, shotguns, and more. The mercenaries drooled at the sight of magnificent guns.
"Well?" They looked away and stared at the oddest sight ever, a small little girl in green stood in front of them with a prideful smirk. Six men accompanied the child all of which wore similar uniforms as the mercs. "What are you waiting for?"
"I won't let you down princess!" Twilight promised to her mentor.
Celestia smiled weakly and let out a small chuckle. "Y-yes, I know you won't my dear student." Outside she took on a brave face, but on the inside, she was screaming. As Celestia and her group followed by team Harmony made their way to the courtyard, she kept screaming.
"Yeah!" Dash boomed. "We almost had them last time, next game we'll make them run for their money!"
"And seeing as Cheese Sandwich is still dead, I'll be in charge of the party planning, right?" Pinkie said as she invaded Celestia's personal space. Her face pressed against Celestia's cheek, Discord chuckled silently along with Luna as both found it amusing.
"Sorry Pinkie, but I had hired someone else," Celestia admitted.
"Who!?" Pinkie's limbs wrapped around Celestia's neck like a snake constricting its prey. She wouldn't let go, Celestia felt as if the oxygen to her brain was being cut off.
"Pinkie!" Twilight stabbed Pinkie in the back, her Ubersaw pierced Pinkie's back and went out of her chest, coating Celestia's face with some blood. "Bad Pinkie!" Twilight scolded the corpse that hung on Celestia's neck.
"T-thank you Twilight..." Celestia said as she removed Pinkie from her.
"No problem!" Twilight said as Discord resurrected Pinkie.
"Wuh!?" Pinkie bounced back to life, unsure what had happened. "Where am I!?"
"We were just leaving Pinkie," Rarity said tiredly.
"Oh, okay! Lead the way stranger!" Pinkie said joyfully.
"Oh god," Celestia groaned as she felt her brain cells dying just from that. She wished that she could just banish them to the moon, but that would only cause trouble. Right now, she needs them if she wants to keep her crown.
Discord and Luna didn't hold back and filled the halls with their laughter. Iron Will only shook his head in disappointment at how childish the two acted. While the rest minded their own business, speaking to each other as Discord and Luna mocked Celestia. Twilight was busy gushing about human organs and giving her theories on how it'll benefit her team. Pinkie was trying to remember who she was while Spike, Big Mac, and Autumn chatted. Iron Will has excused himself and separated himself away from the group.
Rarity and AJ talked about other things. As for Fluttershy, she simply followed the group in silence.
Just as the group exited the front doors, they came upon the line of stalls selling all kinds of weapons. "What is this?" Celestia asked.
Humans were behind the stall and ponies as well as other creatures spoke to them, inquiring about the weapons on display. There were a few that only sold hats while others were just merchandise. In one stall, Tempest Shadow was holding a car engine with four Force-A-Nature attached to a wheel. How anybody could reload it, no one knows.
"Hmm!" Autumn exclaimed as she pointed a hoof at Derpy holding a trumpet that spewed out bubbles and rainbows, childish and unprofessional by appearance. But the weapon was still able to set a test dummy on fire. Magic? Perhaps, or maybe it is some kind of chemical, who knows.
"Woah," Spike was impressed. Everyone in his team was impressed with all the interesting weapon designs.
"There you are!" They heard coming from their left, all heads turned and found a small little girl just a few feet away. "Where have you been!?" She marched her way towards them.
"Were you looking for me?" Celestia asked.
"I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to your sister!" The girl stated.
"What does thou need of me?" Luna asked with a hint of curiosity.
"You are late for your photoshoot! We must hurry before we make the commercials!"
"Photoshoot?" The group asked.
"Excuse me!?" Luna snapped at the little girl, but she was unfazed, not one bit. "I have not agreed to any photoshoot whatsoever! And who are you even!?"
The little girl huffed and rolled her eyes at Luna, this caused a few "Oh's" from the group.
"I am Olivia Mann! CEO of Gray Gravel Co, and owner of Builders League United as well as Reliable Excavation Demolition. Also, uncle Hale has put me in charge of Mane Co while he is at the badlands." Luna seethed with rage, this literal child was challenging Luna.
"Olivia, was it?" Luna gritted her teeth. "I will give you the count of ten before I erase you from this reality with the might of the moon."
"Sadly you can't," Olivia said blankly. "When Discord wagered your territory, he had also wagered your crown with you attached to it. In the end, you are now an employee of Mann Co whether you like it or not."
"I refuse!"
"Take it up to uncle Hale." She smirked and pointed a thumb towards a cut-out of Saxton Hale. "He has the same policy for quitters."
Luna stared at the cut-out and felt the color on her face fade away. It said "Want a refund? Fight me for it!" and that alone made Luna contemplate her decision.
"Good," Olivia smiled as she grabbed Luna's hoof. "Now follow me, you will be making the company proud, I assure you."
Celestia could only watch as a little girl took her sister away, she was unsure how to react or if she should do something about it. But in the end, she decided it was best to just head back inside and take a long nap. The day had been too much for her, so she'll just be in her room.
Meanwhile, as this was happening, a certain group of mercenaries was just minding their own business among the crowd of ponies. Some stared, others glared, few tried to speak with them only to clear away. Perhaps they were shy, or they would rather not come anywhere near the enemy. Either way, it is understandable. The team stuck out like a sore thumb, no one was able to ignore them.
"I'm tellin' ya! He's really my dad!" Scout said.
"And yes, the fact that he spoke to you as you bled to death makes a lot of sense." Spy was doubtful, of course, he was.
"Spy's right, Scout," Engineer agreed with the Frenchman. "besides, didn't he die a few days before you got to that island?"
"Maybe. Just hear me out. Maybe, he was a ghost!" Scout reasoned.
"Scout is stupid," Heavy said blankly.
"No, you're stupid!" Scout shot back.
"Scout, I have medical evidence zat he is not your father." Medic informed him. "Ve vill speak of this at a later date. Ve have more important things to be done."
"Aw come on! My dad is dead and I'm learning it just now! Can't any of you guys give me a break?" Scout whined.
As the group chatted with each other, Pyro only followed them silently. He/she/it tried to say something just to add to the conversation, but it fell on deaf ears as Scout tried to punch Heavy in the face. Resulting in him having a whole hand wrapped around Scout's face to which he started screaming in agony as Heavy slowly tightened his grip. The Spy sighed while the Demoman laughed, and the Engineer only ignored the two.
Pyro stared at the team, his eyes moved from one merc to another. None of which were paying him any attention. His pace started to become slower than the rest, and soon enough, he just stopped. Something else caught his attention. And being unsupervised by the team, Pyro decided to follow his current object of interest.
He walked by numerous ponies who were also mercenaries, some glared at him while others only gave a glance of curiosity. A few went to speak with Pyro only to find out that he only mumbled. No words could be recognized no matter how hard they tried. And finally, Pyro reached his destination. A stall with a very interesting item, it looked like a trumpet of sorts, and yet it was classified as a flamethrower.
He extended a hand towards the weapon, but just as his fingers made contact with it so did a hoof. His head tilted to the side as he turned to face the owner of the hoof, at first he thought he was staring at some sort of mirror, but then it clicked in Pyro's mind that it was indeed another living creature. And the most interesting part was that it was team Harmony's pyro. The kirin with the mysterious origins.
A similar gas mask stared back at him, her mane was like rainbows that flowed out from the edges of the mask. The sweet smell of strawberries and lollipops complimented his nose. And then there was the song, a cheerful song that came from Autumn. Pyro had not heard of it before, but he wanted to listen to it all day.
"Hmm?" Pyro muffled.
"Eho." Autumn greeted.
Pyro pulled his hand away and motioned for Autumn to take the weapon for herself. Autumn in turn did the same, she tried to convince Pyro to go on ahead. Pyro shook his head and insisted that she takes it. But Autumn wouldn't accept, she would've liked it more if he takes it instead of her. Sadly, Pyro wanted her to have it, as much as he wanted it for himself.
"Aw sweet!" Sunset Shimmer said as she grabbed the Rainblower and held it proudly in her hooves. She didn't notice the two pyromaniacs as she did so. "Finally got one for me!"
"Huhda," Pyro said, this earned him Sunset's attention.
"Oh, hey dude. You're one of those human mercenaries, aren't you? The name is Sunset Shimmer." She introduced herself.
"Mmhmo."
"Pyro, huh? Cool, you guys are so professional." Sunset said. "Hey Autumn didn't see you there. Wait, did you two want this Rainblower?"
Both pyros shook their heads no, and they instead told Sunset to take it. Sunset accepted and moved on, she said goodbye to both pyros before heading towards the owner of the stall. Pyro sighed, he did want the weapon, it called out to him so badly. Autumn felt the same. They then stared at each other for a second before chuckling amongst themselves.
"Hudda?" Pyro suggested.
"Sha!" Autumn agreed.
The two then walked off to look for some snacks. Pyro mentioned that he saw a stall selling apple fritters and other apple stuff. The two chatted with each other as they walked, a few jokes were shared here and there. But just as the two pyros finally ordered their apple fritters, a little filly with a rainbow mane tackled Pyro down.
The little child squeaked something unintelligible. Now that he sees it, it was the young child who was called Rainbow Dash.
Confused, Pyro held the filly by the back of her neck and pulled her away. He scolded her and told her not to tackle random strangers, even Autumn agreed with him. But in reality, Pyro had his hands wrapped around Dash's neck and strangled her while screaming at the scout. Even Autumn was screaming with him, and it was one of the most frightening moments in Dash's life yet.
"Dash!" Twilight said as she and team Harmony noticed Dash's predicament.
"Pyro!" Engineer scolded Pyro, and the team Fortress rushed in to help separate Pyro and Dash.
Once they were far apart, Heavy held Pyro in place while the rest of Twilight's team glared at the humans. Scout and the others glared back, Soldier growled deeply as he unholstered his shovel. Applejack wrapped a hoof around the handle of her sword, her eye moved from one human to another. A crowd started to form around the mercenaries who were fated to meet today. Spy and Rarity moved in sync and brought out their revolvers at the same time.
Demoman downed a whole bottle of scrumpy before flipping it over to use as a weapon. Pinkie took a balloon off her bandolier and held it menacingly over her head. Sniper and Fluttershy moved away from their teams, both had their machetes ready to butcher someone up. The tension was high between the two teams, one dared the other to strike first. Dash, who had recovered, brought out her pistol and trained it on Scout's head.
Both teams stared down each other for a full minute. Each prepared their own way and were ready for a fight. None dared to put a stop to what could be a fight that would be disastrous. Pyro and Autumn could only watch as their teams readied themselves for a bloody slaughter.
Twilight smiled viciously, she was overwhelmed with so much joy. The human mercenaries were just in front of her. Her eyes scanned every single one of them and she could see the similarities between team Fortress and team Harmony. The Soldier screamed like a madman while he slammed his head with his shovel several times. Pinkie was doing the same, trying to out-crazy the war veteran. Engineer and Spike were reluctant, it was obvious that they didn't want any trouble. Oh poor Spike, in this line of work, trouble is your best friend.
Dash and Scout insulted each other back and forth. One after another, the crowd would go "Oh!" whenever a good insult was made. Though, unlike Fluttershy, the Sniper was confident with his skills. He showed no signs of weakness, his face was passive and yet Twilight could see the fire in his eyes right through his shades.
Odd thing was that the pyros were trying to defuse the situation. The Pyro tried his best to convince Heavy not to fight but was failing terribly while Autumn was explaining something to Twilight who was still eyeing up the Medic to even notice.
The Medic really piqued Twilight's interest, their eyes locked onto each other and both smiled in the same way. One that looked like a smile that belonged to a mad scientist. Twilight felt an itch on her hoof, she wanted their organs so badly. She knew that with it, her team would evolve into something above mortal ponies.
"Come on! Do it! Make the first move!" Scout dared them.
"You first pal! Show us why you guys are a bunch of losers!" Dash shot back.
"I'll show ye something alright, they'll have ta bury you in a soup can!" Demoman threatened.
Applejack huffed. "Y'all just a bunch of yellers! Come here so Ah can slice you up like an apple pie!"
"If y'all don't back down, then I'll have to teach you bunch some manners." Engineer said as he hovered his hand over his holstered pistol.
"Hey, you guys started it!" Spike replied.
"Heavy warns little babies, Heavy will not hold back. You as well, da?" The Heavy asked Big Mac.
To which the stallion answered with, "Eeyup."
"Imbeciles, every last one of you." Spy insulted both his allies and his enemies.
"Oh please darling, keep it professional." Rarity smirked.
"P-please, can't we all just get along?" Fluttershy asked.
"Sorry sheila, but you bunch struck first," Sniper said, his eyes trained on Twilight, he chose her as a high priority and must be terminated as soon as the fight starts.
"You little commies won't know what hit you!" Soldier said as he raised his shovel at team Harmony.
"Filthy democracy won't taint our beloved monarchy today you dirty party poopers! We'll stop you silly billies right here right now!" Pinkie promised the crown.
"Mmhmm, hmm!" Both pyros tried to stop them, but they were simply ignored.
"Oh, I can't wait to harvest your organs. They will serve well in my projects." Everyone around the two teams blanched once Twilight spoke. Her reputation scares several creatures, none would ever want to have her as their medic.
"I vould say zat my patients already have equine organs in them, but not magical pony organs. Zat vill definitely increase their potential." The Medic said, earning him several gasps of disgust. The mercenaries around the two teams were appalled to learn that there was another nutcase in Canterlot, one that could be far worse than Twilight.
"What's going on here!" All eyes moved towards a little girl accompanied by several machines. All of which were armed to the teeth, enough to flood the whole city in gunfire.
"Boss!" The Scout straightened himself and saluted with an awkward smile on his face. "Didn't notice ya there!"
Engineer relaxed the moment he saw Olivia. "Just got some problems here, boss. Nothin' you need to be concerned with."
Olivia arched a brow.
Luna entered the scene and took her place next to Olivia. She wore a strange sailor outfit with a skirt that was a bit too short, her mane was styled into pigtails and she had a face that many would compare with the dead. She looked soulless as if she had gone through hell and back. Everyone just chose to ignore Luna and focused on the little girl instead.
"Must I remind you all that you have to be on your best behavior?" Olive asked her mercenaries.
They all looked at each other before putting away their weapons. Surprised, team Harmony was unsure how to react. The tension was defused so quickly, that they felt a little bit disappointed, especially the crowd. Here they expected a fight, not some little girl scolding adult men.
"Uncle Hale had told you all specifically not to cause trouble unless it's a yeti rampaging through the streets. Now, I want you all to tell me what happened, or else."
"The blue one attacked Pyro!" Scout was quick to answer.
"Attacked him!?" Dash exclaimed. "Dude, I ran into him!"
"Really?" Twilight asked.
"Fine, I crashed into him. But that doesn't change a thing!"
"Yeah, that guy strangled Dash without thinking!" Spike said.
Engineer stepped up. "Listen, son, Pyro is not right in the head. Y'all should know that after yesterday. He's just like that pyro of yours, unpredictable. So you can't just blame the boy for acting so violently."
"Why keep him around then?" Applejack questioned.
Spy scoffed. "The same could be asked about your pyro."
"Because she's a god darn Equestrian!" Pinkie boomed. "Unlike you Americans, she has her right to be here right now!"
"Right," Olivia sighed. "Uncle Hale is still building the Mann Co headquarters back at the badlands. It'll take a day or two, and once he is done, we can all proceed to the games. Until then, you all must behave."
"S-sure thing boss!" Scout said.
Olivia nodded her head as she turned on her heel. "Good. Now Luna, we still have a commercial to film, let us go."
"Yessssss." Luna hissed, her tone monotonous and empty of any emotion.
As Olivia leaves with her army of machines, the crowd slowly dissipates until only eighteen spectators remain. They were the team members of both VN Omega and BG Alpha. They stuck around just in case the humans do something unsavory.
An awkward tension replaced the previous one, the mercenaries stared at each other unsure of what they should do now. Even the other teams were caught in this bubble of silence. Scout coughed into his fist as his eyes darted between the Equestrians. Spy just decided to have a smoke, but unlike the rest, he silently offered his fellow spies a cigarette of which they happily accepted. Now they were in a separate group away from the rest.
But this gave Twilight an idea, a light bulb flashed over her head. "Hey, we all got off the wrong hoof. I have a suggestion if you all would like to hear."
"Knowing you," The Medic chuckled. "I already know vhat you are about to offer to everyone."
"Indeed," Twilight smiled. "We must put aside our differences for now until we face off in the future. So that is why I believe that we all should be friends, to do this, I suggest that we split the teams into classes."
"And ve vill either do several activities to help know each other, or ve simply just chat over some fondue."
"Brilliant idea, I know a great place with the best cheese!" Twilight said.
Before Starlight and the Doctor even knew, Medic was already between them, hands clasped on their shoulders. "Vell, ve should hurry along so ve can exchange notes!"
"No thank you, my team and I should get moving. Lots of guns to buy, and many more." Starlight tried to pull away from Medic's hand, but it was secured on her shoulder so well that it felt like a machine had a hold of her.
"You can do that at a later date, frau. I am curious on how you perform in the battlefield vith... magic." An evil grin formed on his face as he turned towards the Doctor. "And I believe that it vas mentioned in your files that you have succeeded in giving yourself a functioning second heart. I vould like to learn more about you."
"We have plenty of time to talk about our notes, Medic. The fondue is waiting." Twilight said as she captured the other medics within her telekinesis, and against their will, carried them towards the exit of the courtyard followed by Medic.
The rest sans the spies only stared at their medics as they leave. There was a second of silence, enough for a random pony to choke on a bullet. No really, a pony accidentally choked on a bullet.
The silence was then broken by Pyro who laughed like a child watching a clown perform. Before anyone could question, he immediately scooped up his fellow pyros, one by one he lifted them and held the mares in a loving hug. Then he ran off with them to do who knows what. Seeing as three out of nine classes were already doing this whole bonding thing, the heavies just agreed on checking out the guns that were displayed. More likely they would mostly check out the machine guns.
The demolitionists went off to look for some drinks to enjoy, though Blueblood was a bit reluctant to go and hang out with drunks since he is a stallion of royal blood, three drunken idiots were enough to convince him. The scouts challenged each other to a race, which Dash claimed that she would win for sure. But Scout thought otherwise. The Sniper was not interested, so was Fluttershy. But the other snipers wanted to show off their marksmanship to the humans, so in the end, the snipers started their own competition to see who was the sharpest in the shooting range.
As for the soldiers, Pinkie and Soldier were locked into an unending argument of which country was better. This ended with them trying to snap each other's necks, but both were failing miserably since their power levels were accurately the same. Gilda and Colgate were caught in their conflict and now a real fight started among the soldiers.
Now the engineers were left, unsure what to do. The twins were silent just like the DJ.
"So," The Engineer began. "Y'all want to see my sentry?"
"So you two don't make sentries?" Engineer asked as he sipped from a bottle of beer.
The engineers being the gadget users they are were showing off their machines just outside the castle walls. Four dispensers, eight teleporters, three sentry guns, and a belt-fed machine gun mounted on a tripod. The last one honestly surprised the Engineer, he expected something similar to his and Spike's. So was Vinyl's, hers is a sentry, but it wasn't two miniguns and a rocket launcher. It was a four-barreled machine gun that chambered high-explosives. It had a slower fire rate than the others.
It could not fire rockets at a target, unlike the two main sentries we all know and love.
The twins and Vinyl noticed the similarities between Spike's and Engineer's sentries. They were identical in appearance and function. The amount of ammo it contained, the four rocket batteries, and the fire rate. Even Spike was curious himself, he had stared at the machine and noticed that it was practically made by him.
"Well, we weren't really good with programming," Flam explained.
Flim nodded. "We had countless problems with a few prototypes. Couldn't get the sentry to shoot the right targets, so Tempest decided to cancel the project since it started to hurt our funds."
Meanwhile, Spike stared at Engi's sentry, his hand ran over the smooth surface of the machine. It was so familiar, every flaw and every edge, it was like a book with Spike's handwriting.
"Ain't she a beaut?" Engineer spoke as he stood next to Spike.
"It is... I mean, wow, this sentry is the same as mine." Spike replied.
"More than you think son," Engineer claimed. "it's the exact same thing. I believe Twilight told you and your team about how we are similar to each other."
"That was a theory she made from an observation," Spike said with disbelief.
"Hold on, am I hearing this right?" Flim scooted over to the two. "You two are identical, how?"
Engineer chuckled as he sipped once more from his BLU Streak beer. "It's about alternate realities and all that hullabaloo. Two worlds would likely have one of the same people, both are identical in appearance and personality. Though Spike here is a whole different person, he's close enough to be my doppelganger."
Vinyl tapped a hoof on Engi's sentry like she was pointing at something.
"Yeah, I actually did check Spike's sentry," Engineer spoke as if he completely understood Vinyl. "our machines are exactly the same. Heck, if he started using mine, no one would even notice! I even checked Spike's files to confirm." He laughed.
"What do you mean you checked?" Flam asked with narrowed eyes.
"I ain't gonna beat around the bush... Ahem, when my team and I were introduced to your world, the big hats in Mann Co gave us information about team HM Delta. Even though Scout can't read. We were told to learn everything about our enemies." Engineer turned to look at Spike. "And from what I've read, you are one outstanding kid."
"Thanks!" Spike smiled.
"There's one issue though. Can I see your right hand?"
Confused and unsure why he had such a request, Spike removed his only glove to reveal his tiny little dragon claws. Engineer frowned, then he sighed. The others looked at him strangely for a second, and their emotions shifted into something else once he removed his glove. Where a normal hand should've been, a metallic skeleton hand was on the end of his limb instead of something fleshy. He then grabbed the barrel of Flim and Flam's turret and twisted it in his fingers with ease.
There was a moment of awkward silence, the twins stared at their own right limb, Vinyl was speechless. And Spike couldn't move his eyes away, he could only stare at the metal hand.
But suddenly, Soldier crashed into the ground just next to the group, the silence was broken by the veteran's pained grunts. They watched as Colgate came down from the sky, a frying pan in her hooves. The pan dinged as it slammed against Soldier's face causing him to spit out some of his blood.
"See?" Colgate smiled. "Your gums are bleeding because you don't floss!"
He spat at her hooves with the blood in his mouth. "Lady you are mistaken! My gums are stronger than steel! My gums are just like me, made in America!" Then he smirked. "And that isn't blood you see, but it is actually tomato juice! Which I drank today!"
The Soldier grabbed Colgate by her leg and tossed her back over the wall. He saluted the Engineer before he went after Colgate.
"Right," Engineer chuckled. "back to business."
"Yeah, the hand... what happened?" Spike asked.
"It's designed by my great grandfather, it helped him in a lot of situations. Helped me as well, let me tell ya." Engineer paused, he was reluctant, but he knew it was for a good cause. "Listen, kid, I know this will sound a bit suspicious of me, but I want you to follow my example and... do as I did. I'll send you a couple of blueprints, for your eyes only."
"Woah, really?"
"It's up to you, son. If you want to saw off your hand or not. I ain't gonna pressure you, but if you want a fighting chance against the team and I, then I suggest the Gunslinger." He sighed. "Expect the blueprint in an hour. This is goodbye for now, Spike, I'll be leaving now. Remember, no one else must see the blueprints, or else I'll have to kill ya."
Every machine Engineer had set up blew up with a push of a button. He tipped his hardhat one last time before he went towards the castle to pick up Soldier and make sure the veteran doesn't lose any more blood.
As Engi leaves, Spike stared at his fleshy hand. He was reminded of the times when he was easily disarmed by bigger and stronger mercenaries. He was small and weak, he relied on his sentry and guns just to fend off attackers. The Gunslinger was honestly tempting. With it, he'd be able to deal more damage with a single punch. Then he remembered what was at stake, if he wanted to fight for his home country and Mane Co, then he'd have to take risks.
It was about time for him to say goodbye to his right hand.
Spike paced back and forth right in front of his workbench with a blueprint neatly spread out for him to see. It was the Gunslinger, a weapon that Engineer used on the battlefield. On another table was his version of the weapon, redesigned to fit his tiny arm. Though he still made a few more blueprints, each bigger than the last. Spike was still a growing boy, he would outgrow most of his stuff one day. Like his favorite overalls. He's not looking forward to that.
But that wasn't why he was pacing around, the claws were ready for him to use. His issue was the fact his right hand was still part of him.
"How am I gonna do this?" He asked himself.
Spike glared at his right hand as if it offended the young drake. Then he looked over to the tools he had on the pegboard, particularly the saw. He sighed as he turned and walked over to the door. He entered the hallway and glanced around a bit. It was still six in the evening, so people were still awake. He had one pony in mind to go to, if Spike wanted to complete the project he would need some help.
His tiny little footsteps echoed through the castle, it was silent compared to the cackling coming from Twilight's lab. It was so loud that Spike was sure Applejack could hear all the way from her farm. She was doing something and it unnerved Spike. But Twilight wasn't the pony Spike had in mind, there was a different mare he would like to speak to.
He stopped right in front of a door and gave it a few knocks. There was a second before the door cracked open, and from the small opening, Starlight stared at Spike.
"Oh, S-Spike!" She chuckled nervously. "Did Twilight w-want something?"
"You okay Starlight? You seem a little shaken." Spike said.
"I-I'm fine. What does Twilight need?"
"Twilight didn't send me." He informed her.
Hearing this, Starlight pushed the door even wider. "She didn't?"
"No, I was gonna ask you to help me with something important."
Finally, Starlight stopped out of her room and sighed in relief. "Thank goodness Twilight isn't asking for me, I rather not meet her after the fondue incident."
"What exactly happened with you and the medics?"
"You don't wanna know." She warned him. "All right then, what do you need help with?"
"Can you buy me some alcohol, enough for me to not feel any pain?" Spike requested.
"What?"
"Just for a project, I can't buy them since I'm still kinda underage and we don't really have anything strong in the castle. So can you teleport to the store and grab me some bottles?"
"Spike, why in the heavens would you want that?"
Spike sighed. "I need it to ease the pain after I saw off my hand."
"Why would you want that!?" She exclaimed.
"Because I have a job to do! My team and I are about to go against the humans soon, and I'll need any advantage I can get. Mr. Engineer told me it would help..." He looked away in shame. "Starlight, I'm small and weak compared to the others. I rely on them and my machines too much, I need to be in the front lines when the time comes and the Gunslinger is what I need to do so."
"Spike, you just don't cut your hand for... whatever this Gunslinger is... And you shouldn't just do it because an enemy told you so."
"He didn't tell me to do it, he just suggested," Spike said.
"That's beside the point. Listen, if I can't convince you, then you should talk to Twilight first. We wouldn't want her to go nuts after you cut your hand without telling her."
"But what if she says no? What if she just throws me on the table and saw my hand off before I could even scream?" Spike panicked a little.
"Spike," Starlight said blankly. "this is Twilight we are talking about, she hoards the anesthetic just for you. Unlike the rest of the team, she would rather die than put you through so much pain."
"Oh, right... Heh, forgot that she smothers me too much sometimes."
Starlight smiled. "It's the perks of being her number 1 assistant."
"Don't forget I'm her adoptive brother." Spike laughed.
"I always thought she was like a mother to you."
Spike shrugged his shoulders. "Probably... Welp, I'm gonna go to Twilight's lab now. Wanna come with?"
"No thank you, I would rather not meet her for a while." Starlight then entered her room and shut the door before Spike could even say goodbye. Whatever the medics did, it definitely scarred Starlight enough for her to cower in her room.
Spike shrugged his shoulders again. He decided it was better to go and ask Twilight about severing his hand. He just hoped that she wouldn't react so harshly and that she'd understand his reason. And he hoped that she wouldn't go after Engi, he was such a nice guy and it would be a shame if he experienced the wrath of an angry Twilight.
Saxton Hale was perplexed, he didn't expect to find a war-torn battlefield today. He didn't expect that is what he saw first just before he went on his evening jog. A few humans were injured, most were still cleaning up the construction site. There were a lot of guns and bodies of strange looking bug ponies.
Of course, he had heard the gunshots and explosion, he just thought the engineers were using bombs and guns to dig a hole or something. He didn't care how they build the headquarters, he just wanted it done as soon as possible.
He stared at the insects and wondered why many of them were in uniforms that looked almost like the classes of Mane Co mercenaries. Honestly, he wanted to meet one that is alive just so he could punch it in the face. Now that he thinks about it, these things reminded him of something that happened in the past. But he can't really put a finger on it.
"Mr. Hale," A spy uncloaked besides the Australian.
"What is it?"
"As you can see here sir, we have a problem."
"Nah, these are just bugs! Get a couple of pest controls and sick 'em at the nasty devils. They don't look as mean as the Australian Spine Snatcher! And I've hunted those to extinction!"
"But sir, these things nearly wiped out several teams with a single wave. I do believe we need to call for reinforcements." The spy suggested.
"And now I'm late for my evening jog, guess I will have to do a rain check and settle this pest as soon as possible." Saxton Hale stretched his body.
Just then, the air was filled with a buzzing noise, both Hale and the spy looked towards the horizon. A black cloud rose in the distance, soon it blotted out the moon, covering the whole construction site in a blanket of shadow.
"Well then, I'm actually impressed that they have so many bugs to throw at us!" Hale laughed. "Do take care of this, lads, I need to make a call before I pummel every single one of those bugs."
"Of course, Mr. Hale." The spy watched as Hale entered the building that was still under construction. He waited for a second before sighing deeply. "I'm not getting paid enough for this."
Applejack listened to some music from the radio as she cleaned her grenade launcher. It helped drown out the noise coming from Twilight's place. The music filled the barn she was currently in, this was the place where she and her family store all the bombs and other explosives. Her sister was also there, Apple Bloom. The little filly sat at her own table and was tinkering with a tiny teleporter. Unlike Applejack, Apple Bloom had opted to be an engineer instead of following her sister's footsteps, or her brother's.
She became quite talented with machinery unlike the rest of the apple family. But still an aspiring mercenary just like everyone else. Spike was even kind enough to help Apple Bloom on building her own sentry.
Applejack's brother was at the house, probably sleeping with his guns like a weirdo. He had fun hanging out with Heavy and the others from what she could tell. Big Mac even brought home a new gun which was given to him by the human. It was honestly a nice gun, but Big Mac had to name it Sugar Belle which was very odd since that was his fiance's name. But to each its own.
Speaking of fellow mercenaries, Applejack noticed something really strange. And it was the lack of fire. Tonight it was her turn to watch over Autumn, but somehow she had forgotten about the pyromaniac. She wasn't anywhere near the lit fuses, not even next to the powder kegs. Applejack scratched her head, thinking about how she managed to lose sight of Autumn.
"Apple Bloom, where's the firebug?" She asked her sister.
"She was outside playing with some stranger the last time I saw him." The filly answered.
"Stranger?" She arched a brow.
Applejack set her weapon aside and stood up before making her way over to the entrance. She pushed the barn doors open and came face to face with Pyro. Applejack yelped in surprise as she recoiled back. The mare and the creature stared at each other for a second. She was too confused as to why Pyro was even at her farm. Her confusion grew even more when Pyro walked towards the door and leaned his face against it.
"Wuh?" She was honestly unsure what was running through his mind at all.
Then he started mumbling something, it sounded as if he was counting. That was when Applejack noticed Autumn over in the distance, hiding right behind a tractor. They were playing hide and seek, the two cruelest creatures in both realities were playing a simple game. She watched as Pyro started looking for Autumn, he chuckled happily as he skipped around. He passed by Heavy who sat on a stump.
"Excuse me, but what y'all doin' in mah property?" Applejack stomped over to Heavy.
Heavy looked at her, stone-faced. "Pyro wanted to play with little pyro, Heavy is here to make sure he does not start a fire." He answered.
"Then why don't y'all take it somewhere else?"
Heavy stared at her, there was something in her voice, he was sure of it. "Do you hate Heavy?" He asked her.
"Uh, Ah don't?" She was unsure why he would ask that.
"Then why is little pony filled with anger?" He pointed out. "You look at Heavy as if Heavy is bad man. Heavy promise little pony, I am good man."
"I don't know what you mean." She scoffed. "Ah'll be honest Heavy, you and the others just rub me the wrong way. Y'all are practically out for my job, Ah have a family to feed and a farm to run." She was straightforward.
"Heavy understands." The giant sighed. "Heavy has three sisters and a mother. Heavy must kill to feed Heavy's family, if not to feed, but to help them. My sisters are currently traveling around the world back at Heavy's universe, two of my sisters wanted to see what it is like to live."
This actually made Applejack a tad bit curious. Her body relaxed, no longer did she feel defensive. Must've been the change of subject, or perhaps it was the fact that she relates with Heavy. "What about the third?" She asked.
"Zhanna?" Heavy chuckled. "She is currently studying back home so she can join Heavy and her husband in battle. Miss Pauling says she will soon be ready to fight once she is an official member of the team."
"Well shucks," Applejack didn't realize that she was already sitting right beside him. "who's the lucky guy?"
That was when Heavy's smile turned into a frown. "Soldier." That was all he said. Defeat laced his voice as he named his brother-in-law.
Applejack actually cringed physically. She knew who he meant, and more importantly, she saw who Soldier really was. The thought of him getting married was impossible, yet Heavy himself was telling her that Soldier has a relationship with Heavy's sister.
"Mah condolences," She said.
"It is not bad," Heavy hummed. "Soldier loves Zhanna with all his heart. He would rather betray America before he would ever hurt Heavy's sister." A small smile formed on his face. "He is not smart, but his heart is in the right place."
"But he's sure darn crazy," Applejack chuckled. "Much more than Pinkie if I'm bein' honest."
"Ha." He laughed. "You are always honest from what Heavy had read. It is something that you are most known for."
"Well yeah, we apples are just honest folks." She said.
Suddenly, the area lit up. Heavy and Applejack turned towards the pyros and noticed that the two flame walkers had set each other on fire. If it weren't for Pyro's suit and Autumn's natural resistance to fire, the two would've hurt themselves. And as the fire brightened up the farm, Autumn and Pyro danced around each other gleefully. They were both singing some song, yet to the two spectators, it was simply just the usual muffled noises.
Heavy sighed. "Heavy is sorry that we must fight. But if it helps, Heavy promises to you little pony that Heavy will speak with Miss Pauling if pony and team are defeated in the future. Heavy will recommend team Harmony, and she will hire you all."
She stared at him, then a small smile cracked. "Thanks, but Ah'll make sure that mah team will win. Y'all can count on that because we apples are a stubborn bunch."
Heavy chuckled deeply. He fished out a sandvich and offered it to the demomare, of course, he had to remove the meat first since she was a pony. And the two then spent the night watching over their pyros and eating sandwiches. Applejack wondered what would happen if Mann Co wins, it was a thought that lingered in her head for a short while. She was determined to take back Mane Co and kick the humans out of their country. But if she and her team were to lose, at least she could sit comfortably knowing that Heavy has her back.
Spike hummed to himself as he washed the dishes, a series of muffled gunfire could be heard coming from outside. "You know, Twilight doesn't exactly have servants in the castle. Turns out she isn't allowed any."
An explosion rocked the whole room before it subsided. A clean plate nearly fell over the edge but Spike caught it in time and placed it back where it belonged.
"It always comes down to me to do the cleaning." He finished the dishes and he hopped off the stool he used to reach the sink.
Spike walked over to a level 1 sentry that was next to the door, a cute little hardhat sat on top of the sentry and it was just Spike's size. He picked it up and placed it on his head, it fitted very nicely on him. He then went over to the dining table with a tray of sandwiches. All of which were cut into small triangle shapes.
A volley of rockets zoomed past the window, an explosion flashed before several limbs rained down.
"Twilight is always so busy with her projects. So I have to keep the place spotless, do the cooking, and make sure that the castle is well defended." He said proudly as he marched out of the kitchen and into the hallway. He looked both ways before he decided to move towards a large door just ahead, another sentry was present just to the left.
The castle shook once more, an ear-piercing scream was heard, but Spike was unfazed. He continued forward, he did his best not to drop any of the sandwiches.
"And the thing is, I'm small and pretty much the second weakest in the team. So the question is: How am I gonna help Twilight? Well," He chuckled. "there are some perks of being the number one assistant to a brainiac with questionable morality, and it's having access to all kinds of information. See that sentry over there? A heavy-caliber tripod-mounted machine gun."
The gun beeped and snapped towards Spike, a few shots echoed through the hall and the body of a Blue spy collapsed behind him. Spike now stood next to his invention, he faced the unlucky spy that was gunned down. He admired the result of his life's work. There were several more gunshots, a random scout crashed through the window injured and barely alive. Only to be finished off by Spike's sentry.
"Designed by me, built by me. And thanks to my sentry, I can help Twilight with anything she needs. Just better hope;" His expression darkened and a smile formed on his face. "She doesn't need test subjects."
With that, Spike kicked the door wide open to reveal a balcony with a dozen level 3 sentries. His team all waited around a table with drinks and snacks, Spike brought more for everyone to enjoy.
Hundreds of corpses littered around the castle, his team was relaxing at the table and simply allowed the sentries to do the work. They enjoyed Spike's sandwiches like it was an apple from Eden. The screams of their enemies were easily drowned out with gunfire and rockets. And he loved nothing more than the satisfied looks of his friends.
Canterlot castle was very busy so early in the morning. Ever since the humans moved into Luna's side the noise of construction did not cease, a lot of ponies that worked the castle had barely enough sleep thanks to the humans. In and out they move hundreds of crates around the castle. Luna felt grief that her home was being refurbished into a storage facility for weapons and other Mann Co products.
It was bad enough that she became a poster mare for the Equestrian branch, and she doesn't want to think about her new boss. Luna is a princess by blood, she is the sister of Celestia, and yet she lost everything. Her title, money, and territory. As well as her dignity. Now look at her, she's nothing but another cog in the machine, a peasant with no support from her people.
What's worse is that tomorrow is the official holiday of "Luna Is A Loser Day", oh how she seethed at the thought of Celestia's ugly face. She'll get back at her one day, Luna promises.
"Maybe I should give in to my dark side?" Luna thought aloud. "I can even call myself Nightmare Moon, it has a good ring to it."
The only good thing left for Luna is that Mann Co allowed her to keep her room, the only place she can retreat to and feel happy. She entered her safe haven, Luna was finally free from her boss and the other humans. Hatred, that was what she felt. She loathes them, especially her sister. But... Luna doesn't mind the humans actually, they respected her even if she was practically a normal pony now. The workers would greet her every time she passed by, always calling her princess though she was no longer in charge.
Just as she was about to take another step, Luna felt an odd presence. Her horn lit up as a spell was prepared, someone was in her room and it wasn't a spy class. No, it is something far more dangerous than your simple mercenary.
"Hello, sister." The shadow in the corner greeted Luna. A spell was discharged and it shot towards the voice. Something leaped out of the corner and now stood in the light where Luna could see better. It was a pegasus filly with a curly mane, a face of innocence and purity. Luna's eye went over the filly's cutie mark, a chess piece, a rook to be in fact. But that wasn't the oddest thing, in her forelegs, she carried a large television screen. And on it was a face Luna would rather not see right now. "Is that any way to greet me, sister?"
"You are not my sister, Chrysalis!" Luna hissed. "And who is this child!? Another one of your disgusting insect spies!?"
"Hey!" The filly whined.
"Shut up Cozy Glow, just hold still so I can see my dear sister properly," Chrysalis said.
"I will ask you this only once, what do you want fiend!?" Luna scowled as her horn lit up again.
"Can't I check on a family member after losing a thousand-year battle?" The queen said smugly.
"Watch your tongue, sister, or else your little bug will suffer for you."
"B-but I'm just a wittle child!"
"Silence!" Chrysalis snapped. "Ahem. I just want to help Luna, I share your resentment for Celestia, I know what you are feeling right now. Believe me, I really do."
"You? I have doubts. Now leave while I am still merciful."
"I think I should do as she says, mom."
Chrysalis growled. "I said don't call me that you welp!" With a heavy sigh, she continued. "Luna, sister, I am in need of your help. That is why I have sent this pony so I can contact you. So I request that you please listen to me for once!"
"Why should I!?" Luna frowned. "Every month you send those disgusting insects to try and take over Canterlot. Do you have any idea how much we spent just to fix the damages by your army? Millions. And not only that, we have to open up three crematoriums just so we could burn the corpses quicker! Now give me a reason why I should even think about helping you, Chrysalis."
"We have the same enemy, sister, and it is Mann Co." This piqued Luna's curiosity, before she knew it, she was now listening to Chrysalis. "Yesterday in the badlands, the CEO of Mann Co had started construction right on top of a sacred changeling burial ground. This angered Beep the god of war, and he demands that I must take back what is ours. And I know that you can help in many ways."
Luna huffed. "And what can I even do? If you have forgotten, I am no longer a princess." She could not believe herself, she was considering helping her evil sister. Perhaps she truly is backed up into a corner thanks to Mann Co. They were to blame for her fate, not Celestia or anyone in Mane Co. Maybe Discord, he could've done something.
"You are a part of the Corporation, my spies cannot infiltrate it because Mann Co security is impossible to avoid. Several of my changelings had fallen, so now I ask for your help in these trying times."
Luna scoffed. "What would be the benefits? You have nothing I want, and I do not want to be caught helping you."
"I have nothing you want, that is correct." Chrysalis grinned. "But I have something to help you, sister. Cozy, give it to her."
Cozy Glow placed down the television on the floor. She flew over to the shadowy corner and pulled something out of the darkness. A silver suitcase with several locks. It took a second for the filly to unlock it before she returned. Once she opened it, Luna was disappointed.
"Gold? No wait, this is not real gold! What games are you playing!?" Luna was not impressed.
Chrysalis chuckled softly. "I suggest that you take a closer look. This my dear sister is the secret to changeling society, in your presence is a magical and powerful mineral called Changelium. And believe me, sister, this ingot will help you with everything you need."
Mesmerized, Luna was stricken by the Changelium. Never before had she seen such a magical ingot, an energy radiating from it, her body welcomed it as if it was a friend. Luna was unsure what this thing could do, but if Chrysalis claimed that it could help her against Mann Co. Then perhaps it is time to form an alliance, just this once.
"Very well," Luna finally accepted.
Chrysalis smiled devilishly, her plan will finally move forward thanks to Luna. "Excellent, you may keep the brat as leverage if you want. Cozy, you shall stay with Luna so we can keep in touch. This is goodbye for now sister, I will speak to you soon."
With that, the screen went black. Now Luna was alone with Cozy, and she was unsure what to do about the filly.
"Wowee!" Cozy smiled. "A vacation with my aunt Luna!"
"Uh, yes, a vacation." Luna felt a bit awkward with her current situation.
"So what should we do, aunt Luna? Oh, I know! Let's go to the dream world and ride the biggest rollercoaster ever!"
"I am not sure what to do with a child and I'm already regretting my decision."
"Too slow blue balls!" Scout mocked his opponent Rainbow Dash as both raced through the town with Scout in the lead.
"You cheated back there, no fair!" Dash complained loudly, she was closing the gap between her and Scout very quickly. It is only a matter of time before she will catch up with him, then it'll be another battle of wits.
Considering the two mercenaries, that would be their hardest battle yet.
Neck and neck they ran, one ran on two legs and the other was on four. No obstacle in their way ever slowed them down as they sprinted through Ponyville, one hurdle after another, the two racers would always come out on top. None of them were showing any weakness, and only a clever trick could ever win this competition.
And Dash has one, her wings unfurled and Scout stared at her with dread written on his face. With one simple stroke, Dash launched herself into the air just above Scout and started flying instead of running. Unburdened by gravity, her speed grew much more than Scout's. But before she could even leave him in the dust, Scout had a different idea.
Smack! A baseball connected to the back of Dash's head and was sent plummeting towards the ground. A cloud of dirt kicked up as she slammed harshly into the ground.
"Hey, no fair!" She shouted as Scout jumped over her.
Scout looked back with the most punchable face in history. "I ain't lettin' you bird brains do that again! This ain't gonna be like last time!"
Before he could gloat even further, Scout ran into something solid face first. A single tooth was lost as he fell onto his rear, a painful groan escaped his lips as he recoiled after his face was struck by a wave of agony. A shadow loomed over Scout, he spared a glance to see what caused the darkness and saw that it was none other than the Engineer. And on his shoulder was a large blue toolbox with Scout's face dent on it.
"Freakin' hardhat! You just cost me a win here!" Scout voiced his anger.
Engineer on the other hand stared at him blankly, then he glanced over to Dash who was still sprawled out on the ground. She flinched when his goggles turned towards her. Then he looked back at Scout. "Son, what're you doin' here? You were specifically told to stand guard back at Tuefort 2, instead you're here playin' with some little girl's dream come true."
"Hey!" Dash whined.
"I was not playing around! I was uh... I was makin' sure that I am better than her, yeah! That's right," Scout snapped his fingers and smiled proudly. "just here being the best and beating blue balls here in a race. That way I can learn from her mistake and have the uh... advertise?"
"Advantage, Scout, the word yer lookin' for is 'advantage'." Engineer sighed. "But your reason is good enough, boy, just don't let Soldier see you here or else hell breaks loose on that skinny neck of yours." That was all he said before he left without another word.
Dash and Scout now stood side by side as they watched Engi moving along to do what was doing before being distracted by Scout's shenanigans. Engineer then stopped just a few feet away from them just to plant down the toolbox which started to unfurl on the spot. The Engineer only watched as the machine transformed into a teleporter, he waited for a second until it finished and was ready to use for his team. He smiled and nodded, satisfied by his work. And now that it was done, he climbed up onto the platform and was gone before Scout could ask any questions.
"What was that about?" Dash asked.
To which Scout shrugged his shoulders. "Guess hardhat wanted a quicker access from here to base, easier that way."
"Alright..." Dash looked at him for a second, and before he even knew, she was already gone.
"Hey, no fair!" Scout complained as he took off, chasing the rainbow scout.
Fluttershy sighed, her scope followed Dash and Scout as both raced through town. She perched herself in the tallest tower in the town hall, Rarity assigned her to keep watch on the human activities and report anything useful.
And honestly, she loved this kind of mission. Most of the time, she gets hired to "pacify" a pony. But here, she could just sit still and spectate. Sometimes she sees a bird and that's where the fun starts. Fluttershy would enjoy watching any wildlife minding their own business. Just now there was a squirrel that buried an acorn, it was so fascinating.
Sadly, that peace she cherished would come to an end as an intruder approached.
"It is I, the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie popped out of nowhere and nearly scared Fluttershy over the guard rails.
"T-Trixie!?" Fluttershy exclaimed, her hoof clutched her chest as her heartbeat was like a thunderous storm.
"Yes, it is I! Trixie, the Great and Powerful!" Glitter and smoke surrounded Trixie as she struck a pose.
In all honesty, Trixie was not an assassin. She was always in it for the show, to dazzle all with her fancy tricks. One moment fireworks pops up in the sky, the next, your brain is all over the pavement. This would always attract spies over to her camp, where the fireworks originated from of course. But being the magician she was, Trixie had some tricks up her sleeves.
"M-may I help you?" Fluttershy wanted to know so she could get rid of Trixie quicker. She didn't want to be rude, but this was Fluttershy's private moment where she relaxed and observed the wildlife.
"No, you aren't going to help Trixie," She smirked. "Trixie is going to help you!"
Fluttershy swallowed down the lump in her throat. "With what?"
"The war of course! Listen, you need guidance. And who better to give it to you than Trixie?"
There were a hundred mercenaries that Fluttershy could name, but being the kind pegasus she is, Fluttershy chose not to speak.
"Be honored, for Trixie shall part with her greatest secret! Are you ready to absorb the forbidden knowledge that could render any opponents to dust!?"
"Why are you doing this!?" She was fearful, her peace shattered into a million pieces all because of Trixie. Fluttershy doesn't know if she should cry or just cower in place. Maybe both.
"Because you are weak!" Trixie struck Fluttershy where it hurts more, her feelings. "But Trixie is here to help you become stronger! Now, are you listening!?"
"Yes!" Fluttershy yelped.
"Listen well and accept my technique as if it is your newborn child! Behold!" From under Trixie's hat, a golden shine came. Fluttershy was overwhelmed with shock, she could not comprehend what she was witnessing. Until she realized that it was just a jar with yellow liquid.
"Is that juice?"
"For the weirdos out there, yes." Trixie waggled her brows. "This my ugly and inferior pegasus is a jar of Trixie's piss."
"What...?"
"Don't worry, you can have this one if you want, and I'll even throw in a 10% discount. Be humble, hundreds of stallions out there would kill for Trixie's piss."
"W-why do you...?"
Trixie pointed her nose high with great pride in her technique. "Because it is a special technique that I have created, and thanks to Mane Co's kidney enlargement pills, Trixie can fill hundreds of jars!"
"I don't..."
"Jarate, it is what I call this trick, a trademark by Trixie Lulamoon. Ahem, as you know, we snipers keep getting snuck up on when we least expect it. My simple solution is this jar, just throw it at your enemy, and while they recoil in disgust, you chop their heads off." Trixie fished out some packets of pills and shoved them into Fluttershy's hooves. "You can have these, drink once a day and you'll be doing business in buckets."
"I..."
"Oh!" More pills were added to Fluttershy's hooves. "Those are special pain pills, always drink those after the kidney ones. You're gonna feel like crap if you don't."
"P-please-"
"Sigh," Trixie sighed. "I hope this does not come off rude, but Trixie is doing this for her career. You are facing those filthy apes and Trixie can only watch. There is nothing I can do about it. As much as I hate to admit, team Harmony is our only hope. So that is why I must help you in any way that I can. Snipers stick together, correct?"
"M-maybe?"
"Welp, that is it for now. Just call Trixie if you need more pills, I can hook you up with my supplier if you wish. This is farewell!"
In a puff of smoke, she was gone. Leaving Fluttershy with a bunch of pills and a jar of you-know-what. She felt slightly disgusted being next to the jar, especially with the idea that she should do as Trixie does. Of course, she heard what Spike did for the upcoming battle. Perhaps she could do something drastic as well? Could this jarate be as effective as Trixie claimed?
She picked up the jar, as gross as it was, she actually considered. Being snuck on by the Spy was something she dreaded. The thought of being killed while her friends suffered without her support. It hurt her. She didn't want to be the one who let her team down just because she couldn't fight a large mammal who was as skinny as a twig. Fluttershy was determined, it was the first.
She hated violence, she couldn't handle it. But her friends need her, and she won't back down that's for sure.
"Fluttershy, how are y-" Rarity stopped just as she decloaked. Her eyes widened as they saw the jar in Fluttershy's hooves. "Oh, excuse me! I did not know that you were busy. Ahem, it is only natural, being cooped up in one place leaves you limited options. I will check again later, carry on."
With that, Rarity vanished.
There was only silence around Fluttershy, she stared at the spot where her friend was. No words could be made as she turned red as Big Mac. She doesn't know if she should explain the situation to Rarity or not.
Twilight began to address her team. They once again gathered around the Friendship Map for another meeting. With them of course was their handler, Soarin. He was there to make sure that team Harmony was ready for the upcoming war, Discord's orders of course.
The group kept their skills as sharp as Rarity's fashion sense. They need it more than ever since they will be facing creatures twice their size. Not only that, but they were equals when it came to war. Team Fortress was like mirrors in terms of skills and techniques.
Both teams were deadly on the same level, just as crafty even. None could predict the outcome of the battle, but the team still felt confident with each other. And right now, they need to figure out their enemies and their weaknesses.
Twilight continued. "As we know, or I know since I did my research, humans are called homo sapiens. Primates or apes to be short. And just like you my precious abominations-"
"I resent that." Rarity voiced.
"-these humans are also augmented with animal organs. Not like the ones I've put in you, but just regular animals like lions or baboons. Though I have seen the Medic purchasing some manticore kidneys."
"Get to the point!" Dash whined.
"Ah'm out of whiskey, don't have time to listen to ya blabber." Applejack sneered.
"Fine," Twilight cleared her throat. "They are tall, that is what we understand. Bigger even, but thanks to my brilliance we have kept our bodies in top shape! We are not ordinary ponies, we are mercenaries! These apes are nothing but hurdles in our path to ultimate evolution!"
"This is not what we are here for," Rarity said. "Soarin, could you be a dear and start the projector?"
"No problem!" Soarin answered.
Seconds after the order was sent, he plunged the whole room into darkness. Then the projector brought back the light, the crew stared at the blank canvas prepared for them. Now that everything was set, Rarity immediately placed on the first slide.
A strange blue structure was shown, which was built somewhere in the Everfree. This was evident with the fact that there was a caption below telling the crew the location. Rarity cycled to the next slide.
To which six out of ten members had recoiled in disgust.
"Next slide! Next slide!" Soarin begged.
"Fascinating." Fluttershy hummed.
Rarity scoffed. "Oh don't be such babies, it is just their Pyro."
"My eyes! My youthful eyes!" The youngest in the group cried as his mind felt psychic damage.
"Just do it already!" Twilight gagged.
"Hmm." At least Autumn felt different. Only a sense of curiosity, not disgust like everyone else. "Oh!" The others could tell that she was turning red after she realized what they were looking at.
"Fine, next slide!" Rarity quickly cycled much to everyone's relief.
Now they were shown the inside facility of the fort, and what looks to be some villain's office. A window oversees a large room just below with hundreds of consoles and computers, and a large map of Equestria was displayed on a screen right across the window. There were numerous blue circles, some tiny, a few large. The largest circle located right on the Badlands was labeled "Mann Co HQ".
"Yo, you got some good shots!" Dash commented.
"Yes, but I was discovered soon after this picture. Though I did manage to get some interesting finds." Rarity said. "Yet I have not seem to find any weakness of sorts."
"Aren't they all males? Just hit them where it really hurts." Dash said proudly.
Another slide showed Heavy crushing Scout's head as he stared into the camera with an arched brow. Next, the projector revealed a large bulletin board filled with various information. It showed them more than what they hoped for. Such as how similar Mane Co is with Mann Co, far more than they believed. Even Fluttershy was shocked to see the kidney enlargement pills being advertised by Saxton Hale, not only that, but he was the inventor of the Jarate in the human world. But here, Trixie claimed to be the creator, which was certainly odd to Fluttershy.
There were countless well-drawn pictures of Spy being killed or doing questionable things with objects and structures, like the Eiffel Tower in Prance.
Some guns they've seen or bought before, an advertisement about some monkey. There was also an ad looking for mercenaries for two research facilities, both of which were insulting each other in their ads.
"'Move your buildings anywhere you want'?" Applejack read aloud. "Y'all think that they didn't even build that fort? That flier is missin' a number."
"Applejack, I don't think it's possible to just move a whole fort," Fluttershy said.
Soarin hummed. "Sure is a lot going on that board... Hey look, there's a propaganda poster about us!"
As he said, there was indeed a poster. A crudely drawn picture of Celestia depicted her devouring human babies with the caption "Ponies eat babies, that's a fact!". The idea that it was made by a child was thrown out the window when they noticed the name "Soldier" written in the corner. Surprisingly, it was well made, and really got its point across.
"Heh," Pinkie chuckled. "I find babies funny."
"Right, we've seen enough." Rarity said as she cycled to the next slide.
Finally, they saw something worth noting. It was several whiteboards with written information. There were names they recognized, many of them were relatives and friends they separately knew in their lives. It would seem that the humans were doing their own research, the worst part was that they were ahead of them by a mile. The humans even got their childhood right. Like how Dash convinced Fluttershy to join the group, or the time Rarity got her cutie mark. All of it was listed on the board, all but Autumn Blaze.
"So," Soarin began, looking at Dash with a curious glint in his eyes. "You hold my wonderbolt figurine very dearly." He said as he eyed the picture of Dash in bed with a figurine of his likeness, it was oddly adorable.
"Wait, how did they get that!?" Dash exclaimed as her cheeks turned red. "Soarin, I can explain!"
"No need! I always knew you were a wonderbolt fan!" He laughed. "If you want, I can get you any new merchandise that comes out the line, straight from the factory."
"Y-yeah... can we move on now?" Dash was too embarrassed to even focus, she buried herself deep in her hat wishing the darkness to consume her.
Pinkie laughed at her pain, but Dash didn't take it lying down, furious, she threw a baseball right at Pinkie's face, knocking the smile off completely. The soldier would've retaliated, but Rarity forced Pinkie into her chair and kept the rocketeer in place.
"Dash's little dolls are the least of our problems." Rarity informed them.
"They're not dolls! They are limited-edition collection figurines." Dash argued.
Rarity chose to ignore her and continued. "These humans know who our friends and family are, they have also been collecting information about our past jobs." She pointed a hoof towards the corner of the screen. "As you can see, they know of Pinkie's attempt in joining the royal guard, not only that, they know that she razed a whole town to ruins after the rejection. This is frightening, we must stay vigilant."
"At least I didn't spend time attacking innocent Germans after World War II." Pinkie commented, to which the others stared at her oddly. Pinkie shrugged her shoulders, unsure of what to say next.
Ignoring the rocket mare, Rarity showed another slide, and this is what really shocked the room. It was a large map of Canterlot with several blue arrows pointing at it, and the word "INVADE" written in all caps.
"Something tells me, this whole thing is more than copyright infringement," Twilight said ominously.
It was unnerving, their goal was unraveled to them and now team Harmony saw what was at stake. Not just their jobs or their way of life, but their home as well. The game just kept gaining more and more risks, were it wasn't for the fact that they were hardened mercenaries, the group would have broken into a panic knowing that the fate of their world lies on their hooves.
But no, this information only inspired them to fight, backing down now would be unacceptable, an insult to their predecessors who fought for the present. Twilight smiled once she saw the determination in everyone's eyes, she couldn't be prouder of them now than ever. Her heart pounded in her chest as excitement filled her soul, she could already taste the blood that would surely be shed on the battlefield. They all knew what to do, their skills must improve if they want to win.
So Twilight ended their meeting early, there was much to do, and it was their final day before the first match. There were bombs to be made, blades to be sharpened, and a cake to bake.
Team Fortress should watch out, these Equestrians are hungry for victory, and they better hope that their end would be quick and painless.
Discord's voice boomed out from the center of the arena, a large structure that was built just a few miles away from Canterlot. Thousands of creatures from every corner of the country came to watch the upcoming battle between Celestia's mercenaries and Saxton Hale's men. Not only are they there to watch the bloody war that would surely be messy, but to also witness the fate of Equestria.
Leaders of all races were seated in the VIP booth along with their representatives who were students in Twilight's School of Mercenary/Friendship. This country is not just home to Ponies, but others as well.
The arena was massive, it could fit a whole city in it. It was even enough for millions of creatures of all races, even humans were present. The crowd drowned out any outside noise, only Discord's voice could be heard with the defeating roar that filled the arena. Many were just itching to witness the battle of the ages, one that they would surely tell their descendants about.
Iron Will sat quietly in his seat as he waited for his co-host to finish the opening, he had nothing better to do ever since he lost his position as CEO of Mane Co. So there he was, just a host for this game that will decide the fate of his home. What's worse was that Discord hogged all the attention, Iron Will could only distract himself with snacks and a spare timberwolf to destroy in case he gets bored.
Back with Discord, he was just done with his opening act, some jokes to get the tears flowing and sides hurting. So now that the crowd was ready, Discord continued on with the show.
"Now that we got that out of the way, let me introduce to you all the players!" Discord grew in size, he towered higher than the arena, and no longer did he have the need to use a mic. "In this corner, representing Equestria, a team both vicious and resourceful, one of the most dangerous teams in the mercenary underworld, and the most infamous of them all! Team, Harmony!"
In a flash of light, seven ponies and two others appeared on one side of the arena, all armed and ready to take on their opponents.
Twilight, the brains of the group, already have several plans for any encounter. Spike, the young and daring drake who was just as intelligent as his adoptive sister, he's ready to show his kind how much of a dragon he is. Rarity, mysterious and decisive, the flash of her knife would be the last thing you'd see before death's embrace.
The strong and silent tank of a pony, Big Mac. Hooves ready to shatter spines and make puny babies cry. The ever so positive, Pinkie Pie, ready spring-out parties full of rockets and balloons. Rainbow Dash, loud as thunder and just as destructive as one.
She who razed a thousand fields and buried many under the fiery blaze of explosions, Applejack the Bomber from Tartarus. Shy as a mouse, yet deadly as a snake, Fluttershy the silent killer, only one crack of thunder warns her victims. And finally, the shame of all kirins, the violent and monstrous Autumn Blaze.
These nine mercenaries will be written down in history as the heroes of Equestria, the ponies -and others- who will stand against Mann Co for their rights to fight under Celestia's name. They all trained for this, even if they were smaller in size, Twilight was sure that she and her team could take on the humans.
Every mercenary present in the arena put their trust in team Harmony, who knows what would happen if the humans win, they could lose their jobs.
"And in this corner, from the world beyond ours, a chaotic yet magical world it is, humans from different corners of the globe! Trained and armed to fight demons to hell and back! From the coldest side of Russia to the hottest part of Australia! These mean, deadly, and outright ridiculous team of good for nothing! Let me introduce to you all, our judge, jury, and executioners! Team Fortress!"
The humans simply walked into the scene, they did not need any fancy entrance, the only things they wanted more were the boos and hisses of the crowds as they walked. They felt a sense of pride knowing that they posed a threat to this world's way of life.
No introduction needed, these men are already known for their skills and power, they are unbeatable in the face of danger. Just like our heroes, these men fought things you would not believe, from other mercenaries to creatures of dark origins, these bastards are ready for any job that comes their way. And you'd best believe that these candy horses won't easily win against them.
"Alright!" Scout was already hungry for victory, he even dared to call his shot and claimed that he'd hit the ball out of the park. Such confidence got him mixed reactions from the audience, and he welcomed both.
"Ugh, I can't stand that jerk." Dash voiced her distaste.
"Don't know, Dash, he reminds me of you." Applejack teased her friend.
"We are nothing alike!"
Celestia watched as Discord went on about the origins of both teams, with her was Luna, the former princess who sat in a chair that looked like a frog just so Luna would feel humiliated, a good combo for her loser hat as well. Though the only issue with Luna was that she was an employee of Mann Co now, and it was worrying that Celestia kept her close. Worse was the fact that the CEO of RED and BLU sat between the two sisters along with some pegasus filly she had never seen before.
Celestia eyed both children, confused as to why they were there and not in the VIP booth along with Saxton Hale and other leaders, though she isn't sure where the filly belonged. These two girls prevented Celestia from teasing her sister, it would make things awkward if Celestia began gloating out of the blue. But it was already awkward to begin with, the lack of any conversation between any of them was just so deafening.
The only sound that was made in the room was from the filly who ordered some snacks and drinks for everyone, the creepiest part of it was the fact that the filly knew what they liked. Though she liked the chocolate banana cake that was ordered for her, Celestia couldn't help but feel suspicious of the filly.
"Do you like the cake, auntie Celestia?" The filly asked cutely.
"A-auntie!?" The princess gasped. "Luna, explain yourself! When did you have a child, and how did you get an heir before me!?"
Luna's frown twitched like an epileptic fit. "Sister, you utter buffoon, if I had a child then I would use them to show my superiority over you and how no stallion would ever bed you even with your reputation."
"That was uncalled for!"
"I am no longer a princess, being respectful is no longer needed of me. So I can say whatever I want without worrying about my own reputation, unlike you, you fat marshmallow."
"I can imprison you, the moon will finally have its first pony on it, and it will be you!" Celestia threatened.
"Refrain from threatening my employee, princess Celestia, or I will report this to uncle Hale." Olivia threatened back. "But I am also curious, and would like to know who this filly is."
"Do you remember that insect that tried to assassinate us? I asked for a cease-fire so that we can focus on this war, and apparently, she had an adoptive daughter and wanted me to take care of her since she is not a pony like us." Luna explained. "Cozy Glow, please introduce yourself."
"Hi! I'm Cozy Glow, I hope we can all be best friends!"
Olivia arched her brow. "There is a third sister?"
"Chrysalis is the queen of the changelings, we did not know of her existence until she first invaded Canterlot during our niece's wedding. She was once a pony just like us, but for an unknown reason, she mutated into a bug-like creature. But before that, our mother wanted to execute her for being too weak compared to us." Celestia explained.
"Then she was kidnapped by some changelings I presumed, and she was raised by the changelings as their own, but once she was old enough she ate her adoptive family." Olivia continued nonchalantly.
The two sisters and Cozy stared at the child with wide eyes. "How did you know?" Luna was flabbergasted.
"Seems like Chrysalis is just like my father, Grey Mann. It would mean that Cozy is my counterpart in this universe, and I am given the reason to be suspicious of her, as I know myself more than anyone."
"Mom just wanted for me to be around other ponies, so you don't have to worry about little ol' me!"
Olivia narrowed her eyes at Cozy. "That gives me more reason to keep an eye on you."
"So that bug decided to be friendly for once?" Celestia scoffed. "I would have never expected her to take in a pony like you, Cozy..."
Then an odd smile grew on Celestia's face, before Cozy even knew, she was pulled into a tight hug by Celestia.
"Oh, you are so adorable! Don't worry, auntie Celestia will be here to keep you company!"
While the two got to know each other better, Luna and Olivia could only watch with the same disgust as Celestia began gushing about cute outfits and other stuff.
Luna began to wonder about team VN Omega who she hired with her remaining funds, with everyone preoccupied with the game, there was a good chance to deal heavy blows against Mann Co. Perhaps they could steal her freedom from their wretched hands.
"What a great day for a game, am I right Iron Will?" Discord finally gave his co-host a chance to speak.
"You're right about that, Discord! Best of all, we got creatures from every corner of Equestria! Gotta say, love the support for team Harmony, a chance to finally fight back after our humiliating defeat!"
"At least you got away with a broken arm, I had the chaos punched out of me like candy from a pinata!"
This earned Discord a few laughs from the audience.
"He was a formidable foe, that Saxton Hale, it was like fighting a god hyped up on sugar. Iron Will nearly won his fight, unlike you." Iron Will teased. "Back to the players, what can you say about them, Discord?"
"Though I have faith in team Harmony, I still must admit that nothing can beat the original! Our world is just an alternate universe of our original one, though it is Team Fortress 2, they are still the foundation for all hero shooters!"
"Iron Will has no idea of what you're talking about, but he has to agree with you there!"
"Now, these are no ordinary men, these are battle-hardened mercenaries! They were the ones who defeated team Classic, those who've defeated Echelon, Citadel, and Vanguard! The best of the best, and yet these nobodies crushed team Classic!"
"But don't forget team Harmony!" Iron Will cut right in. "Though they themselves are as chaotic as you are, which is ironic given the name, these shorties fight with the wrath of ten Iron Wills. Third in the leaderboards, their reputation alone brings fear to other mercenaries below them. They even defeated that annoying wizard in the north, Sombra!"
"Well enough with that! We have a game to watch!"
With a snap of talons, the arena began to change.
Both teams were engulfed by two buildings, Blue team was given a warehouse as the respawn area while a big red barn was made for the Reds. At the center, an old wild west-themed town grew from nothing, railroad tracks unwind itself through town before ending at the entrance of a large bank. From the sky out came Discord's giant paw which held a very large bomb that was then placed on Blue team's side.
It was a payload match, and it would seem that the Red team is on the defensive. It was a large town indeed with six points in total, six important areas to cover. This was it, everything led to this moment where the world will finally witness the might of two warring factions. Beasts, savages, murderers and degenerates. These two teams are out for blood, and by god they will have it.
As the time counted down, the Reds set up around the exit of the Blue team's spawn, Dash wasted no time and taunted the enemy, Spike had his sentry pointed at the exit. Fluttershy hid herself behind cover, Twilight kept the siblings by her side, while she ordered Pinkie to meet the Blues head-on. Rarity opted to keep herself in the blind spot of the spawn with Autumn by her side.
"Begin!"
Sniper was the first one out much to everyone's surprise, bow in hand he disposed of Rarity before anyone else could make a move. The Red team stuttered in their step, allowing the rest of the Blue team to break through Pinkie's defenses. Everything Twilight had planned fell apart all because the Sniper knew where her spy was.
Dash tried her best to steal back the advantage, but she found herself at the other end of Blue team's guns.
The Equestrians in the arena became silent as the Blues pushed the cart with ease, only the cheers of every human can be heard as the battle went on. The Blues forced Twilight and her team back with numbers alone, Spike's sentry didn't even do anything thanks to Soldier and Demo, and Fluttershy couldn't find any chances to shoot as the Pyro obscured her line of sight with bursts of flames that shielded his allies from Fluttershy's deadly gaze.
The oddest part was that he knew where to spit out his flames as if Pyro could see the future... Now that Fluttershy thought of it, the Sniper ran out with his bow ready and shot Rarity before anyone could strike. The thought of them actually cheating came to mind, but she could not believe that was possible. Discord took pride in this game that lasted for years, any form of cheating will not be tolerated by the deity, you are of course allowed to use enhancement drugs. But wallhacks, aimbot, or anti headshots are not allowed. Anyone who is found guilty would be stripped of their license and banned from participating in any more games.
But she wanted to know how.
And before anyone knew, the Blue was already halfway. And what was worse was that Sniper and Scout had completely ignored Twilight and her group just to camp by the Red spawn. The fight was happening so quickly, from nine versus nine to seven versus three. They did not intend on killing Twilight, only to keep her alive so she could not assist the others. She thought she could uber one of the apple siblings, but the Pyro was quick to blast her away from the other two and wasted her uber.
"W-what is this?" Celestia gaped at the ongoing game, her mind could not process how the team she put her faith in was being dominated so easily. "How are they...?"
Luna watched with a careful eye, she recalled that opening scene over and over, how the Sniper shot out of the spawn room and domed Rarity in just a blink. It was a powerful display of skill, so much that the humans were the only ones that could be heard in this arena. She looked over towards the hosts, the booth was just across theirs. Luna could not ignore the fact that the two were just as silent as the local spectators.
She could tell that Discord was seething with rage strong enough to raze down cities, for Iron Will, Luna believed that the minotaur felt grief as the Red team was being destroyed.
Luna could feel the fear in the room beneath her, where the leaders of Equestria are, the proud laughter of Saxton Hale could be heard through the floor. This was a painful blow to Celestia's pride, and Luna knew that the chance of her sister's defeat was just over the horizon.
Down in the VIP booth, the leaders of every race were struck with great despair as they watched their heroes crumble under the power of team Fortress.
"W-who in the world ubers a spy!?" Gallus was frozen along with most of his team, they have seen other mercenaries who were brutal and ferocious, but never before have they witnessed such skills.
Or perhaps they have not seen men like the Blue team; quick, chaotic, and completely insane. Were they even humans to begin with?
Unorganized yet deadly, eight of them wore smiles that oozed with confidence. And one single moment cemented itself in everyone's minds, where the Medic ubered the Spy which ended poorly for the Reds as Spy flashed behind every one of them with a speed that rivaled Scout's, all thanks to his Big Earner. A knife that grants a burst of speed after a kill, and being under the influence of Medic's uber helped the Spy take out four Reds in one go.
If that was only a portion of their best, then the leaders of Equestria could only pray that they would not have to witness the full extent of their power.
It didn't take long, but the bomb reached the final point, the blast was louder than the roar of every human in the arena. The bank was flattened by the explosion, the Reds were further humiliated as the Blues mowed them down with a hail of bullets. This was only the first match, and somehow the Blue came out on top flawlessly.
Discord clutched the microphone with a shaking paw, his teeth clenched tightly as his co-host slowly drowned in despair next to him. This was a crushing blow to their side.
Team Harmony was... surprised to say, they were all tired.
The Equestrians gathered in the break room after two humiliating rounds, both of which were bulldozed by the BLUs faster than Dash could fly.
The humans destroyed them, and now they're down by two points. Heck, they don't even understand how they lost.
One time Rarity managed to find the Soldier fiddling with the BLU dispenser, and just as she was about to strike, Soldier unclipped both his grenades and blew himself up along with Rarity who was in the middle of decloaking.
"Come 'ere cupcake." Those were the words he said to her before the explosion consumed them.
Rarity... Well, Rarity doesn't see any problem with that encounter, Soldier was an utter lunatic and he blew himself up just for fun. Pinkie does that on some occasions.
Now they all sat in the break room, all bothered by their defeat. At this rate, they might as well forfeit. Their hope dwindled, so is their support from their peers. This was one mess that was difficult to clean up. Dash was on the edge of depression while Pinkie was in denial. The party mare kept on going about strange conspiracies that would explain their situation. One of them was about how Pyro and Autumn were secretly Asians and had telepathy. This in turn caused Pinkie to attack Autumn believing that the kirin was a spy for the humans.
This ended badly for Pinkie, of course, Autumn only needed to set the pony ablaze to shut her up.
And Applejack of course drank herself into a coma, buried in empty bottles.
"I just don't get it, they're definitely cheating but Discord isn't doing anything!" Spike complained to the others. "That Sniper knew where Rarity was at the beginning, and she wasn't even in a disguise!"
"Not just that, they knew where we were most of the time," Twilight added. "It just doesn't make any sense to me."
Rarity scoffed, smoke exited her lungs as she did. Like everyone else, she was completely stressed out due to the results of the previous rounds, so much that she smoked her cigarette directly without a pipe. "I thought you two were the brains of this pathetic team, if they were truly cheating then Discord would have disqualified them with a snap of his talons."
"She's right y'all," A bottle shattered as Applejack rose from her slumber. "now Ah don't want ta' admit it, but these rascals are ain't cheatin'. Urp!" She then collapsed back into her coma.
As they conversed, Pinkie still burned as Autumn sat close to her to feel the warmth of the flames.
Suddenly the doors opened, all eyes faced towards the entrance and found the Engineer who stood there with a blank face. He cleared his throat into his gloved fist. "Howdy, y'all,"
Pinkie's charred body shot up with a shovel in her hoof. "Saboteur!"
"Oh, hey Engi," Spike greeted back. "what brings you here?"
"Well it's lunchtime and none of you were in the cafeteria, so I figured that I'd be a good neighbor and bring y'all some food." He said with a smile as he pulled in a trolley filled with food, no meat of any kind.
"Trying to bribe us!?" Pinkie pressed the edge of the shovel against Engineer's throat. "Well you best believe that none of us will fall for your American ways, for we are the final Bastion against the tyrannical tide of Democracy! Know this, we ponies are made of literal steel! We are not made of rainbows and glitter! We may fart rainbows on some occasions, but that does not make us any less intimidating, for you see- wait, are those cupcakes?"
If there were any, then they'd be gone by now as Pinkie swiped every single cupcake on the trolley. It happened so quickly that Engi was still perplexed by the pink menace. Then that confusion subsided as he remembered what he was there for. "Ahem, I know it's kinda early to do this but, Heavy told me somethin' interesting. I would like to offer all of you a place in Mann Co if you were to lose the game of course. I don't mean any ill will, so please forgive my brashness if I offend."
"That is honestly nice of you," Fluttershy thought. "b-but, if we were to lose, I don't think I could ever accept."
"Fluttershy's right!" Dash said with fury in her eyes. "She won't accept because we're gonna win this game, and you know it!" That wasn't what Fluttershy meant, but she couldn't correct her friend.
The Engineer chuckled, amused by Dash's determination. "Just reflect on that offer, I would actually like to fight side by side someday." He then left them to eat their lunch, his words still lingered in the air.
Honestly, they were tempted to just call it quits and join Mann Co. But their pride was too much for them to choose the coward's way. As they gathered around the trolley so they could fill their stomachs, Spike felt Engineer's words echo in his head. It repeated over and over, and he felt the doubt in his heart grow.
"Here Spike, carrot stew." Twilight served him a bowl.
"Jeez, Twilight, I'm not a kid anymore. I kill people on a daily basis."
She tutted. "Don't sass me, I allowed you to have that robotic claw, so you better put up with my smothering. Now here's a spoon made of crystals."
He accepted the utensil with a frown. "Fine, thanks..." He then returned to his side of the room eager to eat(?) his soup. Maybe it's drink? Meh, it isn't his job to figure that out, he was hired to build sentries, not wondering whether you eat soup or drink.
He watched as his team restored their energies for the next round, sadly if they lose once more then their chances to win would be as low as Spike's stature.
"Reflect on that offer..."
Engineer's voice returned, Spike furrowed his brows as he stared into his bowl. Would he really just give up in order to keep his job? Well, that would be up to Twilight whether she accepted the offer or not, where ever she goes, he follows. Spike and Twilight were like two peas in a pod, you can't just separate them so easily, she'd need him to grow up into an upstanding dragon first.
"Wait..." Spike muttered. "Reflect?"
He stared at the spoon-shaped crystal that he planned to snack on, though it glimmered in the light, Spike could see his face in the utensil. It was like a mirror, one that reflected all light.
"That's it..."
Rarity caught his muttering this time, she turned to him with an arched brow. "What is it, Spike?"
"I think I know why we're losing!" He shot up loudly, which startled Applejack back to life.
This caused a few smiles to crack. "Well, don't leave us hanging!" Dash wanted to know, she needed to do so she could finally beat the other scout.
Spike smiled, he felt his brain bulge with how smart he was. This discovery may be what they need to turn the tides.
The blue team was now in defense, Sniper perched himself upon the clock tower which had a good view down the first two points. His rifle rested against his shoulder as he waited patiently.
Discord counted down, the Blue team gathered their forces for one more battle. The previous two were easy, but none were keen to relax.
Though Scout was usually the gloating type, he was for once professional in this round. Heavy and Pyro stood closest to the spawn room. Spy remained by the Engineer, he waited for an opportunity that would surely show itself to the Frenchman.
Soldier had prepared a series of plans to bury his opponents in rubble, while Demoman and Medic took their time to build up Medic's Uber.
"3... 2... 1..." Discord chuckled deeply as if he knew how this round shall go. "Begin!"
The doors opened, Heavy revved up his Gatling while Pyro stared blankly at the spawn room. Scout moistened his lips, truth be told, he felt nervous and was unsure of himself for once.
Sniper glared through his scope and waited for a target to pop out.
Wait, is that... polka?
Pinkie Pie shot out of the spawn room on a large drum, tuba in hoof as she peddled backward. The humans as well as the audience were caught off guard as Pinkie played music, Scout tried to shoot her down but she was too quick for his shotgun. But due to the distraction, none saw Dash entering the field, she flew out and towards the sky.
She scaled higher and higher, just for one reason only. It was too late for Sniper to step in as Dash twisted around to plummet towards the earth, not just any place, but the clock tower Sniper was in. A single boom cracked through the air, Sniper looked up with awe as a rainbow streak shot towards him.
The Medic and the others watched as Rainbow Dash collided with the clock tower which resulted in a massive explosion. This was the cue the others needed, the rest of the Red team flooded out of spawn to face the distracted humans.
Scout saw that he was at a disadvantage so he opted to run back to Engineer, but a lasso caught him by his thin waist and was pulled harshly towards the Red spawn, courtesy of Applejack.
"Woah Nelly! Got me a shrimp!" She taunted as Scout was pulled into a layer of sticky bombs.
Meanwhile, Spy stared slack-jawed, he was shocked that the Red team changed in tactics. "I knew that we could not simply depend on the silly idea, Engineer, move the sentry back to the next point and wait for Scout to spawn, I'll give you some time."
"Aw shucks," The Texan chuckled. "thought this was gonna be a walk in the park!"
"W-what is this!?" Iron Will exclaimed. "There's something different about team Harmony, but Iron Will cannot figure it out!"
Discord's smirk grew into a crescent smile. "My good friend, it would seem that team Harmony had figured out why they lost the first two rounds, and honestly, I am glad that I'm not the only one who knows now!"
"Well spill it out, Discord! The audience is as confused as Iron Will is!"
"You see Iron Will, our universe- the one we are in, not the original MLP:FIM one- we are nothing but a copy of theirs, TF2. Though we have our personalities, our story is written to be the same as TF2. So by default, team Fortress is practically fighting themselves. As said by Engineer in chapter 5: Sentries and Wrenches."
This only caused even greater confusion in the arena as the battle went on.
"The humans are fighting as if they were fighting themselves, that is how Sniper knew where Rarity was at the start of the first round. Team Harmony is the counterpart of team Fortress, their skills are similar in every way, and their experiences are completely identical! Cupcake monster incident, bread monster incident, the list goes on." Discord chuckled.
"Pretend that Iron Will understood all of that, what changed exactly?"
"What changed?" Discord laughed at his question.
Twilight Sparkle used her telekinesis to toss Spike towards the enemy with a toolbox over his shoulder, Soldier felt the metal box on his face as Spike landed with his shotgun ready. A sentry expanded from the toolbox right on top of Soldier's corpse.
Applejack utilized her lasso offensively, anyone who was unlucky enough to get caught was pulled either into her traps or the other members of team Harmony. The chaotic party pony continued with her little musical number, she rolled about with her tuba and was an untouchable target who dodged and weaved around bullets.
Celestia watched as the team she depended on started to make some progress as if the Equestrians were playing a whole different game. Even Olivia was astonished by the development. As for the CEO of Mann Co, he was simply impressed.
"Finally, some action!" The Australian laughed. "Thought this whole thing was going to be boring, glad I was proven wrong!"
Discord eyed both teams carefully, an amused glint within his eyes. "What changed you asked, Iron Will? Well my friend, 'know thyself, know thy enemy' is the saying I am looking for. Team Fortress simply needed to think about themselves to win the first two rounds, they asked themselves what they would've done to defend the points, and with that, they predicted every course of action that team Harmony did. Spy believed it was a perfect idea to wait on top of the spawn exit, so he told the others. The same went for Sniper, Fluttershy's location was practically known to everyone in Blue team."
"I see," Iron Will hummed. "So team Harmony decided to do the same, but instead opted to change their plan to be unpredictable! Iron Will is impressed!"
"Reflect... mirror, we are not the originals." Spike said. "Without our personalities, we are just copycats. That's why they knew how to beat us!"
A missile whizzed over his head, the sound of metal against metal was drowned out by gunfire and explosions. The sentry beeped to life and was ready for relocation.
"Need ammo here!" Dash requested.
Spike smirked as he ran over to his dispenser, though it was a terrible idea, he set a box of ammunition aflame with his magical fire. Usually it only works for paper materials but he had enough experiments with his teleporter in his time which earned him a few tricks.
"Incoming!" Big Mac warned Spike as a rain of pipe bombs approached.
The young dragon showed no signs of cowardice, he simply used his dragon's breath to heat the bombs until they detonated far from his buildings.
"But we are more than team Harmony, we are a diverse group of individuals with different characteristics! Pinkie loves our country, but deep down all she wants to do is have fun and start parties! Fluttershy doesn't like killing, she's the kindest pony ever so her methods are all humane and merciful. Twilight is more than just a mad scientist, she's a powerful mage trained under princess Celestia's wing.
Applejack and Dash are rivals, but those mares work well together like two oiled gears in a clock. Rarity got an eye for detail, she's an artisan who would never overlook even the tiniest of mistakes. An opportunist who'd take advantage of your weakness. Big Mac, silent muscle, not much to say. Autumn? Heh, none of you humans have seen anything yet, she is a real force of nature especially when she's mad.
And me? Heh, if anything, I'm the smartest dragon on the planet."
"I see," Spy muttered in Spike's voice.
The dragon knew that the Frenchman was there all along, which explained his long monologue. "Pretty cool right?"
Spy scoffed, his elbow pressed against the dispenser. "Instead of fighting as mercenaries, you fought as yourselves. Pinkie Pie is out there making herself an even bigger fool than she already is, while the tiny Texan pony is utilizing her lasso skills against us. And from what I can tell, your sniper is somehow stunning my team with a single glare."
"You've seen nothing yet!" Spike said ominously.
"I must admit, you've caught me off guard. It appears this fight will take longer than expected..."
The Spy in disguise vanished from thin air. Spike eyed the spot where Spy was with a curious look. He shrugged his shoulders soon after and returned to his little nest where his allies could seek safety. Somewhere on the battlefield, a man from Texas felt a small tinge of pride, this battle would've ended differently if it were not for Spike's discovery.
Team Harmony is a mirror of team Fortress, but they have their own life and personality. Some similarities could be shared, but many things would set them all apart. Scout has his Tom Jones collection, Dash has her Sapphire Shores.
Applejack had yet to convert her organs into a distillery, while Demo had already learned the ability to change his saliva into liquor. He's just a few steps away from turning his brain fluids into alcohol as well. Twilight had magic and is immortal thanks to her being an alicorn, while Medic simply bargained some souls to the devil just to keep himself alive. Rarity makes her own fancy clothes and Spy had to buy his.
The list goes on and on, but by the end of the day, they were all different in their own special ways. Unique and diverse, one could even distinguish them apart just from their silhouette alone.
A scout looked away from his television, an engineer greeted him. "The Red team is fighting back," He answered the question as the smarter of the two humans sat down. "It started to look like a snooze fest so this change is welcome."
"Hot dang, look at them go!"
"Yeah, those idiots really have a lot of work to do if the Reds keep this up."
"Hey, Applejack and her team are finally fighting back!"
"You're right dear brother of mine, this game is not as one-sided as I had first believed!"
"Hey, did you two hear anything about that disturbance in the minefield?" The scout turned towards the two additions in the room, just to find out that they were two unicorns. "Wait a minute!"
Blood splattered on the television as two shotguns popped. "Aw great, I was watching that!" Flam complained as he could no longer see the game.
"Are you two idiots done?" Tempest entered the room just to check on the twins. "We still have a few more rooms to clear before word gets out that we broke into their headquarters."
"Just clearing up room after room, boss!" Flim told her before he turned towards his brother. "Hey, how long has it been since we actually killed people?"
Flam took a second to think. "Well outside the games, we mostly just swindle other ponies and the last time someone crossed us was about three years ago... Huh, I honestly feel kinda bad killing these humans..."
"Eh, don't worry about it!"
"Pea brains, enough chatter!" Tempest snapped at them, they acted obediently as soon as her voice was raised. "Suri found something!"
The twins followed their leader through the bloody halls, humans scattered all around, nothing but corpses after the successful infiltration of team Villainous. Once inside, the Equestrians launched their surprise attack on anyone in their way. It was bloody, the humans were caught with their pants off and had no chance of fighting back.
They cleared out most of the base without even alerting anyone, and it was all thanks to a small dosage of changelium, a strange substance given to team Villainous to aid them with the job.
The three arrived at a large empty room with an even bigger vault door, locked beyond their power. But it would seem Suri Polomare had already started decoding the door so her team could pass through. That was when Tempest knew that whatever was behind it was vital to their plan of destroying Mann Co. Also to note, this place was so heavily guarded that they could pile up every corpse in a corner, enough to reach the lights.
The rest of the team gathered behind their spy, they waited silently to not disturb Suri as she worked.
"Why are we here again, boss?" Blueblood wondered.
"Luna paid us to seek out the deeds to both her territory and her soul, and return it to her. Also destroy everything along the way, which we already have covered. I gotta say guys, good hustle out there!"
Suddenly, the exit closed on its own, the team took on a defensive stance and the walls started to move. Soon it was revealed that behind it, was thousands of teleporters all neatly placed in several rows. They lit up to life, then something shot through every single teleporter they could see.
Confusion caught them all, unsure of what this had hoped to accomplish.
"What's that? Some sort of weapon?" Gilda inquired about.
"Think it counts as a UFO..." Blueblood commented.
"Suri, how are you doing back there?" Tempest asked as her concern for their safety grew as time went on.
"This thing has so many locks, you'd have enough to feed a hundred orphans!" She snapped at Tempest as she continued her work. "Shut up, I need to focus darn it!"
"Hurry up, I don't like where this thing is going!"
They traced this object through its journey, teleporter after teleporter. When it finally reached from start to finish, the object disappeared entirely. This was not a sign they could trust, nor would it put them at ease.
"Up top!" Trixie warned as the ceiling itself split apart.
And from a secret room above them, came a giant monster of gluten. Though this was their first encounter with this beast, they have seen a variant of such a monster. A giant loaf of bread, teeth so large that it could grind stone to dust, and riddled with tumors. Tentacles whipped about with no discrimination, only the desire to cause pain upon their enemies.
"Suri!" Tempest called out, her Gatling roared to life and was ready to spit out fire made of lead.
"I'm working!"
Team Villainous prepared themselves for the fight of their lives, Discord had no clue of their little project, so dying was not recommended for them. The only pony who'd help them would be Twilight Sparkle, and no one was eager to wake up from the dead with five new heads.
Tempest barked out orders as the beast approached. "Twins, set up a nest, and use the panzerschreck! Gilda, Blueblood, light the fuses and attack it both on the nine and three o'clock! Dust, gun it down!"
"Right, don't choke pretty boy!" Gilda teased as she flew over to a better angle. To which Blueblood only scoffed at her.
"Starlight, you and Sunset are on the front, keep it in place while Trixie and I hose it down with all we've got. And air blast any rockets that go off course if you can!"
"Thought this was gonna be easy!" Sunset grinned wickedly.
Starlight sighed. "It never is..."
The two mares then charged forward with a war cry that could rival thunder. Sunset bathed the bread monster in fire, the beast roared in pain as it slowly toasted. It tried to swipe at its attacker but every tentacle that grew too close to Sunset and Starlight was only shot out of the air by Trixie.
The twins managed to set up their turret faster than a bullet due to pressure, Flim immediately manned the gun after and flooded the monster with waves after waves of bullets. Meanwhile, his brother prepared every rocket launcher in their inventory, those that were given to them to use against targets too strong for their machine gun.
With a mix of explosions, the beast slowly retreated, but not out of fear, it spat out hundreds of eggs onto the floor. Sunset looked on with disgust while Starlight was feeling more curious.
From the eggs came true horror. Hundreds of little bread monsters hatched from the eggs and crawled towards them.
"Who knew weaponizing bread could be so effective!?" Flam laughed as he shot another rocket at the beast.
"You're telling me, dear brother, that just means Pinkie was an actual genius!" Flim pointed out. "A cupcake monster would be great if we can control it!"
"Cut the chit chat ladies, and keep shooting!" Tempest scolded them.
"Ugh, these things are gross!" Lighting Dust commented.
Their wrath continued to fall upon this monster and its brood. The little critters managed to hook onto a human corpse in the room, and fear grew in their hearts as the heavy class they'd killed earlier reanimated in front of them.
The zombie started shooting at them and they were forced to back off. To make matters worse, the little monsters went after the other corpses and used them as puppets.
Tempest smiled as she mowed down the bread, her gun was like a sickle on a wheat field. Trixie was forced to use her machete as the swarm approached them far too quickly. Suri ignored everything just so she could focus, she trusted her friends to protect her.
As the zombies neared, Gilda and Blueblood had to discard their explosive weapons in fear of splash damage, they were on them and it would be unwise to use their primary. Starlight continued to heal her team, she did her best to keep them from death's embrace. Lighting Dust flew over their heads and shot any rocket jumpers out of the air.
This was certainly the greatest time of their lives.
All was silent as Twilight entered the village, she was not alone, her faithful assistant was present along with Big Mac and Dash as well as the elusive mare, Rarity.
Careful eyes scanned the village, they were caught off guard by the peaceful appearance that this settlement had. Kirins everywhere, all minded their business as the sun continued its schedule. A few noticed our heroes but chose not to interact with them, clearly they were fearful of the strangers in their home. Dash and Mac could relate in some way. Of course, one was brave enough to come and speak with them, their leader, Rain Shine.
It was not long before they exchanged introductions and Rain Shine invited the ponies and Spike to her home. One thing Spike noted as they followed the kirin leader was the several remains of houses, clearly victims of some fire. Why they allowed it to remain, he knew not the answer.
"So," Rain Shine began. "What is your purpose for your visit, outsiders?"
Big Mac and Dash looked at each other with uncertain looks, they were spooked by something terrible, and the others could tell what exactly they were just thinking.
Big Mac was the one who spoke first from their side. "Ain't scared of no pony, but that boy ain't right."
Rain Shine cocked her brow. "Who exactly?"
"You know what, I ain't talking about- Gah!" The whole table shook as Dash shot out of her seat. The cause of her action? A random kirin serving them tea. The mere sight of Rain Shine's kind somehow scared the pegasus.
"Sit down you buffoon!" Rarity scolded as she pulled the scout down. "Forgive my colleagues, they are not thinking straight."
Twilight decided that it was best to just cut to the chase. "Miss Rain Shine, we are here to shed some light on a few questions we have concerning one of your kind."
There was a short moment of silence among them, the few other kirins in the room looked as if they had seen a ghost. Rain Shine simply sighed as she brought a cup close to her lips. "I had feared that this day would come..." She motioned the other kirins out of the room. "What has she done?"
"It's not that she had done anything problematic to us, it's just that we are a bit curious about her origins." Said Twilight. "I've been running some tests on her for the past few weeks after she asserted herself into our team, and I've been stuck for far too long, so I've decided to simply just consult you."
"What did you see when you entered our village?"
"It's... weird..." Twilight answered honestly. "Like, it's very much different than what we've seen."
"We are a peaceful community, the influence of Mane Co holds no presence here." Rain Shine explained. "But one of us was so enamored by what the Mane Co provided that she would try to convince the others of why the corporation would benefit our village."
Autumn Blaze felt her tears fall, her body covered in bruises and cuts, darkness was not her only companion in the jungle, hungry eyes glared at her from the thicket.
"Several times she tried to show us, but we continued to ignore her."
Something was broken, she couldn't tell what, all she knew was that she needed help more than ever.
"We banished her after an incident when she tried to use one of Mane Co's weapons as fireworks, a decision that I regret the most."
She limped as quick as she could, her body screamed at her, it begged for Autumn to stop. But she could not, one wrong move and she's done for.
"If only we were there, then perhaps that monster would not have existed..."
Rain Shine was silent as she walked among her kind, the village was just as voiceless as her. Days passed by after the incident, and none were happy with Rain Shine's decision, even she had felt that it was wrong.
Suddenly she heard it, screams shattered the air as the whole village lit alight. Her eyes widened as a figure strolled through the streets wielding a weapon akin to a dragon with how it spewed fiery flames. Though they were far from each other, Rain Shine's eyes met with this figure's. Two empty lenses stared back at her, and that's when she knew who this figure was, the name escaped her lips.
"Rain Shine!" Autumn called out with a joyous smile, she rushed over to her leader with the most magnificent device in her hooves, a machine that spouted rainbows and bubbles. "Rain Shine, you have to see this glorious invention!"
The kirin leader ducked in time as Autumn failed to bathe Rain Shine with flames. Kirins are resistant to fire, but too much could melt them down to nothing but charred bones.
She took off and ran away from the danger, Autumn had attacked Rain Shine out of the blue.
Autumn stared confusedly as she watched her leader run off, so she followed with haste. Just as she ran after Rain Shine, Autumn came upon a sad and woeful sight, a young weeping kirin colt on the dirt, Autumn wished nothing more than to see his smile, so she-
Twisted his head
Turned his frown upside down!
Autumn continued forward, she still needed to convince Rain Shine of the wondrous inventions of Mane Co. She sang as she skipped about like a happy spring, Rain Shine just ahead of her.
But what's this? A poor filly is stuck under a cart!
The kirin burned before she could flee, nothing remained. The kirin sought shelter in the shadows below the cart but instead found her tomb
Autumn Blaze could achieve so much good with her new device! She couldn't understand why Rain Shine was so stubborn.
It was a miracle that could be held in her hooves, just now she helped bring a smile to another sad kirin child using bubbles.
His screams were drowned out by Autumn's song, it played loudly in her skull, so much that she was deaf to their cries
Her onslaught continued as she set the village ablaze, countless kirins tried to fight back but were all dealt with as Autumn simply slaughtered them with an axe
They were weak, unarmed
She need not make any effort as her axe cleaved through her own kind like paper
The fire continued to burn their village, the stench of death filled the air as the charred corpses littered the streets
Autumn paused, she had lost sight of Rain Shine. The kirin leader was not around to see Autumn's amazing work, everything was so colorful and everyone had smiles on their faces. "Oh darn, I can't find her anywhere!"
"That's okay!" Her shadow told her. "If you can't convince her, then you should go out there and convince others! Maybe then she'll listen!" Ah, good old Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands, they were always so clever.
"Great idea! Then I can make friends with others who also use this cool Mane Co stuff, who knows, maybe I can even be friends with a cool mad scientist! Or an awesome inventor, or... You get the picture!"
Her own hoof appeared and hovered next to her face, it had a stick between the cloven hoof and had eyes drawn on them. "But what about the village? We can't just leave them... unsatisfied."
"I can just come back! Not like they'll go anywhere after all the good I've done!" Autumn said. "For now we must venture out of our comfort zone and see what the world holds! And I trust that both of you will be by my side? Perfect!"
"Yeah!" The two entities cheered.
As Autumn strolled through the empty street, she sang a little song in a hushed tone. "Rainbows won't light up the sky, unless you let it rain..."
The crowd was on the edge of their seats, the arena continued to burn as Team Harmony and Team Fortress battled with unrelenting rage. Before, Twilight and her crew were at the bottom of the scoreboard, but now after changing their playstyle, Team Harmony managed to fight back with great determination.
Their might was now known to all, from the smallest creatures of Equestria to the humans of Earth.
The scores were now tied, so the BLU team had to up their ante, by now everything was about trying to outdo each other in a battle of wits. Sadly most of both teams lack that aspect, the dumb ones were too busy killing each other to even think up a plan of attack.
So the brains had to take the initiative, that is why Rarity waited in the shadows, she looked over to the scoreboard displayed on the edge of the arena. The Soldier had recently respawned, which meant he was about to cross her path about...
The Soldier was pulled into the alley by Rarity, with her magic she pressed Soldier against the wall and held her knife at his throat. "Give me the exact location of your allies." She interrogated him.
He spat blood at her. "You won't get anything from me, you little communist!"
Rarity stared at him horrified, she was far more concerned about the fact that he spat blood at her when she had not harmed him yet. And now that she thought of it, she should've waited for someone... saner. Rarity wasted no time and plunged her knife into Soldier's eye.
"Really? A face stab?"
"Just die already you buffoon!"
Twilight trailed behind Applejack, her healing beam tethered on the demomare. The two rushed through the streets with the payload in mind. But Twilight's focus was stolen by something utterly dreadful, her pupils shrunk the moment it came to her attention, and every action she was making came to a stop.
A trail of books, all exposed to the scorching sun above away from the safety of a shelf. Applejack noticed the lack of overheal, her head turned towards Twilight in time to see the alicorn gathering the books.
"Twilight, what you doin'!?"
"These books are just out here where they are exposed to the elements! We cannot just allow them to face the weather like this!"
"Do realize that there is some trap? Ah know one when Ah see one, even y'all ain't that blind Ah'm sure."
"A trap?" Twilight was quizzical towards her friend. "Listen, from what we've seen, and know, these humans are a bunch of morons. No way they'd know of my weakness for books and their safety as well as their proper shelving. Even if they know, I'm sure that it would be one of the dumb ones who'd think that this supposed trap would work."
And just as she rescued another book, Applejack was consumed in fire behind her. Twilight swiveled her head with a loud creak, there stood Pyro who had just barbecued AJ. Nothing remained, only ash and the stench of burnt fruits. Twilight felt absolutely stupid for falling for Pyro's trap.
But fate had other plans because Autumn Blaze swooped in for the rescue. She called for Pyro's attention, once she had it, Autumn revealed a side that many were unaware of. The nirik.
Pyro stared at Autumn with awe, in his eyes he was greeted by a beautiful goddess who had blessed him with her presence. A colorful painting that was crafted by every famous artist of human history, as if the minds of the great had gathered just so they could craft the magnificence that is Autumn Blaze. The two just stood there, eyes locked for so long that Twilight swore she started to hear things. Music, a joyful one at that.
With the two firebugs occupied, Twilight simply slipped away to regroup with the rest of her team... Until she remembered about the books.
"What's happening?" Iron Will questioned his co-host. "These idiots have been fighting for hours!"
"A stalemate," Discord believed. "The two teams once again proved that they are more alike with each other than they thought. Now that the scores are tied, Team Fortress is not holding back anymore. As seen many times throughout our story, they are equal in battle."
"Can't we just do a tie-breaker? One of them is bound to win at one point!"
"Do that, and we might end up here for days!" Discord chuckled as he found the thought amusing. "They are currently trying to distract one another in hopes of breaking this stalemate, but it would seem that the plan itself caused the game to go even longer than we thought."
Iron Will sighed as he straightened himself in his seat. "At least Iron Will isn't bored, that timberwolf is safe for now."
Meanwhile, Luna was honestly glad that the fight was unable to move forward, it meant that it gave time for team Villainous to proceed with their mission without fear of being discovered.
The game had been going for too long which caused her sister to shift focus over to Cozy. Honestly, Luna was disturbed by the amount of affection she was giving to the child. She treated Cozy like a baby, even though she was a toddler at best. Still, though, Luna was honestly jealous of how Celestia treated Cozy.
She glanced over to Olivia and wondered if she should try to butter up with the young human.
"Must I remind you that I am your boss? Please show respect and do not treat me like a child." Olivia told Luna without even looking.
"I was not thinking of such!" Luna shot back.
Celestia chuckled into her hoof. "Aw, is my sister jealous of Cozy and me?" She received a deadly glare from the moon deity. "Oh dear, I understand that you lack a title, but I didn't know you needed my attention now more than ever! Don't worry Luna, though you are a peasant, you are still my sister."
"I'll eat your spine out if you continue to mock me." Luna threatened through clenched teeth.
Spike wondered where half of his team went, he alone fought back any attempts at destroying his little nest. The Scout had set his sights on the dragon and made attempts at killing Spike. While the rest of Scout's team focused more on pushing the cart.
Suddenly, the sentry beeped to life, he turned in time to witness a sapper attached to his sentry. Then he felt the earth taken from him as something pulled the young engineer into the air.
Spy held Spike by the straps of his overalls just to look him in the eyes. "I would say bonjour, but au revoir seems to fit more."
Spike showed no fear, he only crossed his arms and pouted at the same time. "I think déjà vu could be said here."
The Frenchman scoffed. "Indeed, but unlike the first time we've met, there is no yellow pegasus to save you."
"What did you do to Fluttershy!?"
"Nothing, but we've discovered a weakness that we could exploit."
The Demoman emptied his stomach into the toilet, and Fluttershy rubbed his back and forth to help him feel better. "If it doesn't bother you, I think you should drink something else... I have a-"
"Don't you give me anything that doesn't- urp!" He gagged. "Alright, maybe giving my kidney a short break would be a good idea... Only just this once, then I'll kill ya..."
"Oh, well let me just grab the smoothie I have-" Just as Fluttershy opened her bag, Demoman took the initiative and grabbed something for himself, the small sniper could not stop him as he popped the lid and drank the contents. "Oh dear, Mr. DeGroot, that's not something you should drink."
"Eh, what is it?"
Fluttershy turned red as she pulled her eyes away from his. "Well um... It's just that, the thing is... I really don't know how to say this without... I mean..."
"for heaven's sake lass, just spill the beans!"
"Pee..."
"Huh...?"
"It's sheep pee..."
"Louder you wee mice!"
"Ja-jarate... From a sheep..."
There was a moment of silence, the crowd showed their disgust as they learned that Fluttershy was one of the many snipers who utilized urine.
Demoman gave the jar a glance before he faced Fluttershy with a dead look in his eye. "Thought it was mead..." Then he collapsed as if he had given up on life.
Panic filled her head, Fluttershy tried her best to save Demoman but it was pointless as the Scottish cyclops felt himself passing over to the light. Until he was pulled back to the spawn room where he awaited another chance to fight.
"Now, where were we?" Spy asked rhetorically as he held his knife at Spike threateningly.
"I don't know, maybe the part where you lose!"
The man scoffed. "Let's agree to disagree."
"Sure," Spike smirked as he pulled his glove off to reveal his metal claws. Spy could not react in time as Spike plunged his claws into his arm.
Spy recoiled in pain, but Spike didn't allow him to recover. He went straight for his sentry and knocked off the sapper, but Spy was quick, another sapper was tossed into the sentry. The two then clashed, despite being small and weak, Spike held Spy's knife in place just an inch away from his eyes. Spy was impressed, so he rewarded Spike with a gun to the face, of which the young dragon was ungrateful.
Spy jumped back as he emptied his gun at Spike, but the little engineer was slippery, he managed to dodge every shot as he ran for cover.
Once he was safe, Spike returned fire with his pistol, but Spy was not a coward. He ran straight towards Spike bravely as he loaded his weapon.
"What the!?" Spike said aloud as he ducked behind cover, the bullets went over his head as Spy grew closer. "What are you!?"
Everything seemed to slow down as Spy slid into Spike's line of sight, gun trained at Spike's head, Spy had nothing on his face. No smirk or grin, he kept a professional look. Then bang, everything went black for Spike.
Saxton Hale was impressed, the Equestrians managed to fight, all determined to win for their home and country. But there was something wrong, he felt it on his chest hair. And it isn't the fact that he missed his daily grilling, he was doing that as we speak.
"Can I have more steak, Mr. Hale?" Some blue chicken lion requested, and of course, Saxton Hale was feeling generous enough to give the bird-thing some steak.
Honestly, if they weren't civilized, Saxton would've hunted the griffons down. Sadly they were part of Mane Co, and he'd rather not harm his employees and potential buyers, unless of course, they'd give him a reason to. And boy he'd welcome it.
Back to the thing that bothered him.
Well, it had been too long since HQ had contacted him, and he suspected that there was some devious play in the shadows. As he scanned the crowd, he noticed something amiss.
He was out of BBQ sauce.
"Crikey! Bottle is empty! Yous behave now, I'm off to grab some more."
The leaders of Equestria watched as Saxton Hale ventured out in search of some BBQ sauce. Though it was a bit disrespectful to just leave like that, he needed to grab another bottle so he could go back to grilling.
There were a couple of engineers waiting for him, Saxton Hale ordered them both to activate the teleporter back to HQ.
It was just a quick process, one second he was in the arena, and the next he was in the badlands far from Canterlot. What greeted him was an odd sight, the whole facility was empty. The monitors that were used for statistics and surveillance were left unmanned. Bullet casings littered the floor and blood stains ruined the walls.
If Saxton Hale was to guess, this whole base was attacked. And boy was he excited to see the idiots who think they could get away with their crimes.
"Mr. Hale!" The Australian turned to see a survivor, someone he had not seen before. "We have a problem!"
The man was an engineer, someone who was honestly a bit too tall for the job. Anyways he was also scrawny, that much Saxton Hale could tell. Looked a bit sickly as well, so much that there was something wrong in the man's eyes.
"G'day! What seems to be the problem?"
"Equestrian mercenaries sir! They came out of nowhere, killed everybody!"
"Ah," He chuckled. "Well only one problem though."
Saxton Hale turned the man's bones into dust with a single punch.
"I don't remember hiring you." He said in a dark tone.
He ignored the corpse that now decorated the consoles, if he had stayed then Saxton Hale would've discovered the true identity of the man. Sadly there was a bigger problem to deal with. Then he will go look for a bottle of BBQ sauce after. He marched along the halls, the sign of combat was evident and it was going to cost him money just to fill this facility with living people. The dead just can't do work, he'd hire them if they could.
Soon the silence slowly dissipated as he grew closer to his destination, guns and bombs echoed through the halls like a symphony of destruction. It was as he expected, they were attacking the important door and it would seem that the bread monster was activated to attack the intruders.
Once he arrived, Saxton Hale punched in the override code, which was literally punching something with his Australian strength. Then he proceeded to open the door just in time to see the conclusion of an amazing battle. A tired team of equestrian mercenaries stood on the other side of the large room, corpses of both man and bread scattered around all of which were ruined from all the bullets put in them. He could see the terror in their eyes as they took notice of him, and Saxton Hale could tell that they were tired from the fight.
After a long stride, Saxton Hale was upon them, and so far, they were terrified. None said a word as Hale scanned every one of them. He noticed that Suri was attempting to unlock the big giant door that held Mann Co's secret.
"So, would any of you care to explain why you all murdered my men?"
"Classified." Tempest was quick to give him their answer, though she was scared to the core, she showed defiance towards the man before them.
"Brave aren't we? I can respect that."
They waited for the worse as Saxton Hale stepped closer. But what they did not expect was when he pressed a few buttons until the large door opened. The mercenaries stared in disbelief as the man simply allowed them access to whatever it was they were hiding in this facility.
They were more shocked once it was revealed to them, something far grander than they could have ever believed. It was a large room with a teleporter. Not just a simple one, but something built on a greater scale, it was enough for hundreds of mercenaries to use, but only one question remained: Where does it lead to?
"You bunch must be curious about this, aren't you?" He chuckled deeply. "I suppose this is where I should do some big monologue and explain everything. Too bad I don't have time for that."
Saxton Hale took his place right between the giant teleporter and the mercenaries, arms crossed in front of his chest hair shaped like his home country. His muscles bulged as they anticipated a real slaughter that was about to happen.
"Tell me how many of you are in my facility so I can dig a big enough hole for you all to share."
Tempest scoffed. "Sorry to disappoint, but we are all accounted for."
Saxton Hale cocked his brow. "Then who was unfortunate enough to greet me here?"
Then it dawned on him. A smile grew up on his face as he let out a deep chuckle. He then ignored them and simply marched back into the same room despite their confusion. He popped every joint he had, as a manic smile replaced the previous.
"I know you have Australium in you all, best to recover while you can!" He laughed.
"What's going on?" Lightning Dust questioned as she and the rest of the team reloaded, a shared emotion of concern among them.
"These pests finally got through our defenses thanks to you, guess I'll have to clean up your mess."
Tempest scoffed at the man. "What do you mean!?"
As if to clear out any confusion, the entrance was blocked out by a wall of black with eyes that stared at them all with a powerful sense of malice.
"Black Oil Co. They've been trying to break into our headquarters ever since we asserted ourselves in their territory." He explained. "A million dollars each for every ten kills, quite a deal, ain't it?"
"We don't accept jobs from the enemy."
"Well, you bunch are next anyway, once these bugs are dealt with."
Saxton Hale clenched both his fists as he let his voice be heard with a mighty roar, then as expected of him, Saxton Hale rushed towards the wall of insects ready to open skulls. The mercenaries then took action and blasted away at the changelings with whatever ammunition they had left.
As a battle between two races happens in Canterlot, another takes place in the Badlands. Though the mercenaries and the CEO of Mann Co fought like wild beasts trapped in a corner, none of them were able to contain the threat of changelings, they were far too many to handle as some swarms revealed their true intention, the massive teleporter.
Saxton Hale took notice of this, so he went after the changelings that dared to touch his property. But he was too late, as dozens of changeling engineers got through, Saxton Hale scowled as he started to pummel any changeling unfortunate enough to come across his path. His plans were ruined all thanks to the mercenaries, once he was done with these bugs then he'd beat the answers out of them and find out who was dumb enough to hire them to attack his base. For now, he needed to exterminate some pests.
