> Mercenaries > by Raymondash Pie > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sun reflected brightly off Applejack's mug of cider. This mug of cider she brought to Sugar-Cube Corner however, was all business. At precicely 2:20 Pinkie Pie came out of the back room as Rainbow Dash walked through the door. The three ponies sat at a far corner table. "I'm-a guessin y'all heard" said Applejack. "I wonder who it's gonna be." said Rainbow Dash. "Ooooohhhhh... I can't believe we're doing this agian." moaned Pinkie Pie. Applejack paused, then finished. "Look y'all, I reckon we all need some more bits around the house, and so ah figured  we should do this one last job." The trio finished, then headed toward main street. Once there, they walked until they got in between the fourth and fifth house on the left. In that alley there was a beat up trash can, on the outside at least. On the inside it was a high tech hologram projector. But if you want to access that, you must first place a Wonderbolts ticket stub, an apple core, and a deflated party balloon in the bottom of the can. And that's exactly what they did. "Smile for Jeremy guys!" Pinkie Pie said, in her happy demeanor. Jeremy is the name Pinkie gave the A.I. hologram that gives the Merciless Mercenaries information. "Well girls, I am happy to inform you that this is your last mission." Jeremy said. "but, you must take down the entire D.D.W.A. association ."  "Hoo-wee! We got our work cut out for us this time." Applejack replied  " Yeah well I think we can handle it." said Rainbow. "Well Jeremy, asked Pinkie, "details?" "Girls, your boss is a man who runs a competing "organization" that thinks the D.D.W.A. is trouble. He needs them taken out in exactly 2 weeks from tomorrow." "I guess that's not so bad." Pinkie said.  "Yeah, but the D.D.W.A. is a huge organization." Applejack countered. Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie snuck out of the alley in the outer parts of town square. Fortunately for the Merciless Mercenaries it was not a busy day in Ponyville. They went their separate ways. Applejack went to Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow Dash flew up to her cloud home, and Pinkie Pie bounced off to Sugar-Cube Corner. Each of the ponies prepared for the next day. Applejack walked down into her cider cellar and stuck a key into a hidden door. Once inside she flipped a switch. Lightbulbs illuminated rows of guns, and hand explosives. But, in the left corner there was a table with a picture of her family. She gazed at the photo for a while then decided on her weapons.  At the same time Rainbow Dash in her cloud home pressed a button on the underside of her bedside table and her room transformed into an awesome arsenal of weapons. "Aaaaawwwww yeeeaaaahhh!" Rainbow said loudly. On the ground Pinkie Pie walked down the stairs to the basement of Sugar-Cube Corner, turned into the closet under the stairs moved some cans and some boxes, some more cans and boxes, and kept walking down a hallway and there was Pinkie's selection of weapons. It was kind of obvious, but hidden in plain sight.  "Come on Pinks, let's do this." Pinkie said to herself.  The next day the three girls met at an old one of Pinkie Pie's hideouts. In a corner of the room there was a box of cola cans. But when opened after 4 seconds it will violently explode.  "Aaaahhhhhh... Memories." said Rainbow. "A-yup." replied Applejack. "Hey girls? I think we should take out the west sector tonight. Pinkie said, "Because that is where they store their electrical equipment. And I heard that they have a chocolate fountain!" Pinkie's mouth was already drooling at the idea. "Ah reckon' your right Pinkie." Applejack replied in her thick country accent. "Well then what are we standing around here for? Let's go!" said Rainbow, getting ready to fly away. "Oh Dashie, we can't just bound in there! Well get shot silly!" Pinkie openly stated,  "Ohhh I see, we're going ninja style on their flanks." Rainbow Dash now understood.    The Merciless Mercenaries walked up to the west sector just out of the cameras range. Applejack was equipped with a Sniper Rifle with silencer attached, a bandoleer of throwing knives, and a black stealth suit. Rainbow Dash had a long sharp cleaver, and the sheath stretched across he chest for easy access for her mouth. Rainbow also had a dart gun which temporarily paralyzed whoever she shot. She also had a black stealth suit. Pinkie Pie, like Applejack, also had a bandoleer. But instead of throwing knives she had grenades of nitrous oxide, laughing gas. Pinkie Pie also had a M16, if things got hairy and the team had to stop being stealthy. She wore a gas mask with a smiley face painted on it, and a black stealth suit. Pinkie Pie was also packing enough C-4 to make the most structurally sound buildings cringe. "All right i'll draw their attention with my rifle, while y'all sneak inside and take out cameras and necessary guards." Applejack said. "Okay then AJ." Rainbow said.  Pinkie and Rainbow Dash darted to the back of the west sector and took out the camera just after Applejack shot through a window on the other side of the sector drawing attention to that side. Rainbow and Pinkie Pie walked down a hallway with a camera and a washing machine. Rainbow took out the camera with a muffled whoosh-click!  A guard chose that time to walk down that hallway. Rainbow and Pinkie heard him coming and hid in the doorway, and when the guard poked his head through the door there was a swift SWASH! then, the guards head promptly fell off as Rainbow expertly decapitated him.  "Wow Dashie, I see you haven't lost your touch!" commented Pinkie. "Ha! Of course not." Rainbow replied.  Pinkie picked up the guards body, threw it in the washing machine blood already pooling on the floor, where she left his head, and hit start. The duo stealthily made their way toward the camera room while Applejack drew attention by shooting windows, cameras, and a couple of guards.  By the time Pinkie and Rainbow reached the camera room most guards we're taken out, either by being sniped, paralyzed, or gassed by nitrous oxide. Pinkie looked into a room filled with screens, most of which provided nothing but static. But there was also a heavily armored man with a walkie-talkie, and over in the corner of the room, a shotgun. "I don't care if that girl has a tank! GET RID OF HER!!!" the angry captain yelled into the walkie-talkie's microphone.  Pinkie nodded to Rainbow who silently flew across the room.  Pinkie Pie startled the captain by asking, "Hmm… cranky much?"   The captain looked over and saw a frightening pink smiling face painted on a black gas mask protrude out of the shadows. The leader of the west sector said nothing but grabbed his shotgun, or where it should have been. At that moment Rainbow Dash swooped from above and landed directly in front of the guard, shotgun in hooves, aiming right at his muzzle.  "Well, he nervously chuckled, you got me"   And when Rainbow was about to pull the trigger Pinkie stopped her and asked the captain, "Where's  the chocolate fountain, bub? "What? We don't have a chocolate    fountain here." the guard responded  "Oh… okay. Carry on then Dashie." Pinkie sadly said.  Rainbow Dash nodded then pulled the trigger. With a loud, BANG! The captain's previously sweating head was now all over the walls. Blood and brains now peppered the screens and wallpaper in a sickening display of the Merciless Mercenaires business. Pinkie then placed her C-4 explosives and the duo fled into the next room. Which was, thankfully, empty. "Alright! Let's go get Applejack and get the hay out of here!" Rainbow said.  Pinkie took out her M16, there was no need for stealth now, and began shooting, and in Rainbow's case stabbing, their way out of the building. When the trio was reconnected and safely out of range, Pinkie Pie hit a red button on a controller that detonated the C-4. There was an amazing red and orange mushroom cloud, accompanied by an ear-splitting explosion. Without a word the trio left for Ponyville. Each member of the group left for their house.  In the morning a rooster woke up Applejack and she was reminded of what had happened the previous night.  "Ooohhhh…  I reckon' ah haven't felt like this since… a long time. Applejack muttered to herself.  Maybe she could escape the nightmare that was her life, start over in another place. Far far away. No... She couldn't do that to her family or friends, she has to stay. For everyone she cares about.