> A fortress of friendship
>  by Midnight Page
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> An unexpected Teleportation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warning, I in no way shape or form claim any ownership or anything of the sort to My Little Pony Friendship is Magic or Team Fortress 2. They belong to their creators and please support their official release. Thank You.
A Fortress of Friendship
Chapter 1: An unexpected teleportation 
Twilight Sparkle had called her friends together to show them a strange object she had found while using a divining spell. The spell had been meant to track a precious artifact that had been lost on its way to the Canterlot royal treasury. Twilight did not think that whatever this…thing was is what Princess Luna had asked her to retrieve for her. Luna had said she had found it on moon during her imprisonment there. And though she disliked thinking about anything that she encountered when she had been Nightmare moon, the mysterious object had always baffled her and before she fully took her place at Celestia’s side, she wanted to learn what it really was. Applejack had been kind enough to allow her to examine the object in her barn, so that she did not have to draw unnecessary attention to it and herself. Unfortunately, word spread rather quickly and soon her all of her friends had arrived, eager to find out what the odd item could be. Spike had come along to help her record her findings and though at first he had been bored, he immediately perked up at the sight of Rarity. Typical Spike she thought to herself. Never missing a chance to show off in front of the fashion pony. She had been surprised however to find Zecora, a usually secretive zebra that lived in the Everfree forest, there as well. She explained that Applejack had sought her out for a remedy for Granny Smith’s hip. Zecora was intrigued by the bizarre object and asked if she could stay and find out what it was. Seeing no reason to decline, Twilight agreed and together they went inside the barn where the others were waiting. Rainbow Dash was tapping her hoof impatiently in the corner as she watched Applejack entertain the Cutie Mark Crusaders with tricks using her rope. Spike had seemingly floated over to Rarity’s side gazing at the white coated unicorn as she fussed over an embarrassed Fluttershy’s mane. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around the room ranting ideas of what the object could be to a very irritated looking Big Macintosh. 
“So what do you think it could be huh? Maybe a magical space/time machine or oh maybe something that makes it rain chocolate like Discord did or oh, oh, oh maybe it’s a magical machine that makes it rain chocolate throughout space and time! We could make it rain chocolate in Ponyville FOREVER, would that just be super awesome?”
Big Mac let out (and probably not for the first time) an aggravated sigh “Eeyup” was all he said. Twilight used her magic to slightly amplify her voice as she announced, 
“Hey everyone I am about to start to study this thing, so if you all give me some room I would appreciate it.” 
The others nodded and made a space in the center for her. She then turned to Spike, only to find him deep inside a day dream, and if she knew Spike, it would be one about Rarity. After rapping him on the head, he grumbled a reply saying he was ready to get started. Twilight had tried to find any references to the foreign object in the library but had been unsuccessful. She was both excited and nervous as to what she was about to discover. Channeling her magic, she started to slowly examine the surface and was surprised to find it absorbing some of the magic’s power. Curiosity got the better of her and she pumped even more magic into the device. Suddenly there was a bright white-blue flash and several things happened at once. Everypony else in the room gasped as they were enveloped in the odd light with a red sphere at the center. The young fillies that had joined them jumped toward it saying, “Maybe we will get a time traveling cutie mark….” 
Applejack and Rainbow Dash tried to stop them but were too late. Twilight attempted to gain control over what ever this thing was that was causing this chaos, but only fed it more power. Then without warning, the ponies, zebra and baby dragon felt a strange pulling sensation and were yanked toward the epicenter of the light, now completely blue. They felt weightless and giddy, Pinkie Pie laughing out loud despite the predicament. Or it could just be Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. The last thing the purple unicorn remembered was standing in front of strange looking creatures that looked as shocked as they were for their sudden teleportation. Then Twilight surrendered to unconsciousness… 
When Twilight came to, she found herself huddled near Fluttershy, who despite trying to comfort her, was more or less hiding behind her. Rainbow Dash was staring down a scrawny looking creature that seemed still fazed by her appearance. And if she wasn’t mistaken, Twilight swore she could see…tears forming in his eyes. Coughing, Twilight managed to say “W-what’s going on everypony?” 
Her friends gave her a group hug, relived that she was ok. One of the creatures stepped forward. 
“Well mate, you seemed to have stumbled into our base, and unless you have a real good reason why you are here, I am afraid a… interrogation will be in order.” 
Dash’s eye’s narrowed as she shouted “Why, it’s not like we meant to come here, and it sounds like you are hiding something and don’t want us to know about it.” 
The one with sun glasses shook his head. 
“No mate, if anything, we are protecting you from all this, trust me you do not want in on what we are doing…” 
Rainbow Dash flew up next to him so they were standing eye to eye. 
“Oh yea?” She asked challengingly. 
He frowned and said “If you are so set on finding out what we are up to, we will tell you, but in return you will all take our places…” 
Dash looked confused. 
“Wait so you’re telling me that you will let us in on what you are doing and then let us be in charge of it?” 
He nodded.
“Wow, if that’s the case then you are the worst spy ever.” 
Suddenly a voice called out from across the room.
“That may be because he is not a spy that is my career, madam.” 
The speaker appeared out of nowhere and was stylishly dressed with a mask covering most of his face. Before Dash could comment a reply, a slurred voice rang out from a distant hallway. 
“Aye lads, what are ye all standing around fo-” 
His one eye widened in shock as he rubbed at it trying to make sense of the scene before him. 
“Ah, I supposed I might of wee over did it a bit too much today on the drinking today eh Scout?” 
Scout mumbled as he blinked away tears that had been falling without his knowledge, “N-no Demo, we are all seeing the same thing, Spy and Sniper have been chatting these horses up for a while…” 
Applejack walked over and stood in front of Scout saying “And just who are ya calling a stallion?”
Scout hadn’t had much look with girls back in Brooklyn, and seemed to be having only worse luck with the other worldly pony variety. 
“Umm… no one just that loud mouthed one with the rainbow mane, that’s all”. 
Dash instantly flew over to him and slammed him against the wall. With eyes burning with outrage, she said in a whisper barely loud enough for the others to hear “Say that again…” 
He flinched and mumbled “Never knew a broad could move so fast.” 
Before Dash could proceed to pound him into pulp on the wall, Applejack intervened. 
“All right sugarcube, he didn’t mean anything by it, now why don’t you come back over here, you know how fighting always freaks Fluttershy out…” 
Dash glared daggers at Scout before turning to her friend. 
“B-but Applejack he called me a-” 
Applejack held up a hoof. 
“Come on now Dash, all you’re doing is making a filly of yourself, now come on back over to the others, and don’t make meh have to hog tie you up now, ya hear?”
Dash and Applejack stared at each other for a moment until Dash gave in and sighed.
“Alright fine but I am warning you, next one who calls me a stallion gets it…” 
She grumbled before floating back over near Applejack. Sniper chuckled, and jested “I guess rainbows really do make Scout cry” and then turned to Dash, “So do we have a deal?” 
With a nod of agreement from the others she turned to him. 
“Yea, so spill.” 
Over the next few hours, Sniper, Spy, Demo, and a slightly bruised Scout explained to them their situation and how they were fighting their rival, the RED team.
“Alright mates, now you all get to pick your classes.” 
Dash called scout, saying that anything Scout did she could do, and do it at least 20% cooler. Applejack took engineer, saying her experience with farm equipment would give her an advantage. Big Mac picked the heavy class, since he was the only one that could lift Heavy’s weapon with ease. Fluttershy selected the medic class naturally as healing others was what she enjoyed most. Twilight Sparkle decided on sniper because she didn’t really have much actual combat skills and this way she would be as far away as possible from battle. Rarity became a spy in admiration of his good fashion choice. Spike was a solider due to his surprising fortitude and his stories of impressing women. Pinkie Pie jumped (or in her case bounced) at being a pyro saying the flame thrower could be used to bake a lot of cupcakes at once(despite the others telling her that wasn’t what it was for). Zecora, who until this time had remained a silent observer, claimed the Demoman class, as it allowed her to experiment with her more explosive brews. That all being decided, their new mentors led them out to learn the basics of their jobs. Twilight could tell that it was going to be a long week…    

> Twilight's Sniper training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Twilight’s Sniper training
The Sniper turned to Twilight, and after handing her a book titled Snipin’ for dummies, A Derpy Guide left her to take a nap. Though Twilight was curious about the similarly named Derpy to the one they knew in Ponyville, she pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the task at hoof. The first chapter was the professional’s rules that governed any good snipers judgment. The standards were to be polite, be efficient and to have a plan to kill every pony you meet. Twilight was not sure about the last tenant but the rest were an easy policy to fallow. The remainder of the book listed in detail the importance of keeping her rifle in good repair, and to always try and find a good vantage point that overlooked the area, without being in the direct path of something like rocket launchers range. Twilight then found her surprising lazy teacher asleep in his bed. After pushing him off the bed and waking him up, they proceeded outside to the battlements for practice. 
In the distance Twilight could see a RED Heavy and Pyro deep in a game of chess. The Sniper easily took the Pyro with hardly a moment of concentration. Twilight, while fully studied on how to maintain her weapon, had no idea how to actually fire said weapon. Thus she was rather surprised when a sniper round pierced her shoulder. 
“Bah, the bullets come out of the slim end.”
Twilight wincing in pain looked over at him. 
“No really?” 
After taking Twilight over to Fluttershy to get healed, she continued with the Sniper out to the archery range. After getting 5 bull’s eyes in one shot, he handed the bow over to her. The shot went wild, though somehow caused the Pyro in the building behind them to meet his end, much to the Sniper’s amusement as he fell over laughing. Twilight found that she was no better in dealing with a knife. Later, after resorting to the use of a rocket launcher to destroy a practice dummy, he left her saying 
“One sniper to another mate, give up”! 
A few hours later, Twilight had just finished pinning the RED spy to the wall with her knife when she heard clapping behind her. The Sniper stood there and nodded approvingly as he had witnessed her single hoofidly take out the entire RED team. 
“See, I told you snipin’ was a good job…” 
After cleaning off her knife and closing the eyes of her latest kill out of respect, she fallowed Sniper back home. Twilight wondered how the others were doing…   

> Rainbow Dash: Scout training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash fallowed Scout out to the practice field behind the base, eager to get started. Though she was still not entirely comfortable with her new teacher, she was sure whatever he would teach her would be mastered quickly and so she wouldn’t have to deal with him for long. Still she may have been a little too hard on him. Granted, should it happen again, she wouldn’t hold back for Applejack or anypony. Dash was not about to love and tolerate someone who considered her a stallion, especially if Applejack was there… Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she continued until they reached the batting cage. 
“Ok, first things first, let’s see how good you can swing” the Scout said as he tossed her a rusted bat, slightly modified by the Engineer so that she could wield it with her hoofs and not have to use her teeth. 
“Swing at what?” she started when suddenly a wave of base balls launch toward her from the machine in the corner.
After a few bad hits by the onslaught of sports equipment (Causing Scout to laugh at her in revenge for what she had done earlier), but Dash got the hang of it eventually. Soon she was batting the balls back faster than it could pitch to her, even at max speed. Scout, who was disappointed his pupil had learned so early on and spoiling his fun, turned off the machine and led her to the firing range. Dash soon grew frustrated as could not she squeezed the trigger and was about to turn her rage onto Scout when Applejack arrived. 
“Hey there sugarcube, how are you?” 
Dash jumped at the arrival of her friend. 
“Hey Applejack… I am ok I guess, I just wish I could figure out how to fire these things!” 
The earth pony leaned over to her and repositioned her arms and weapon.
“Here try holding it like this, so you can aim easier and the recoil doesn’t hit you so hard.” 
Dash nodded and focused on her task. She checked that she was still in the position that Applejack set her in to improve her accuracy, and slowly pulled the trigger… BANG, the scattergun fired and all three targets instantly lost their heads.  
Dash smiled and said, “Hey thanks AJ, now I can show him that anything he can do, I can do but way more awesome!” 
She then tried out the pistol using AJ’s tips to guide her. She found the pistol proved to be far more effective at shooting long range than the scattergun, and in no time (though not exactly 10 seconds flat) she had mastered all of her weapons. She had just lined up another shot when she felt Applejack nuzzling her, and proceeded to drop the gun and freeze in place.  She felt Applejack lean close and whisper in her ear, “Sure thing Dashie, glad ah could help you.” 
Rainbow Dash surprised by the sudden display of affection turned away embarrassed and blushing slightly. 
“A-applejack stop, I don’t want to give Scout any ideas that he could use to endlessly tease me…” 
Her friend nodded and moved away towards her own mentor. 
A swirl of confusing emotions hit Dash and before she realized what she was doing she called out, “Oh and AJ… thanks for that…” 
Applejack gave her what looked like a knowing smile and winked at her before continuing on her way. The blue pegasus stood there for a moment before clearing her head. She then decided that it was time to tell Scout the good news. 
Scout had left earlier saying, “I got better things to do than watch a rookie play T-ball” and had not said where he was going. 
Fortunately after a quick scan of the battlements from the sky, Dash finally found him. Unfortunately, he was not alone. The RED Heavy had tossed him against the wall and was laughing as he attempted to pick himself up off the ground. Rainbow Dash was enraged. She was fine with knocking him up a bit for calling her a stallion, but this was NOT cool. She dashed over to the Heavy, and after tapping him on the back of the head with her bat, she said as casual as possible, 
“Hey… what’s up?” 
The RED Heavy rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out what he was seeing and if it was really real. Rainbow Dash took advantage of this moment and slammed him over his head with her bat. The Heavy reflexively punched forward, knocking the air out of Dash’s lungs, but not before she could hit him again. After a few more swings and a narrowly dodged fatal punch, he fell over and was groaning in pain. On the final strike, Rainbow Dash could not help but whisper just loud enough for Scout to hear, his signature catch phrase, 
“Bonk…”
Scout had just managed to get up and lean against the wall when he shouted “Look out!”
Dash turned around and fired to clips of her scattergun into the surprisingly stealthy solider behind her. In the distance, Dash could see the RED Scout dashing away towards his base. A few rounds of her pistol finished him off before he went five feet. That done, and their immediate safety secured, Dash looked over at Scout. He was bruised badly and was holding an arm that was twisted at an impossible angle. Lending him a hoof so he could rise, she heard him say, “Thanks palie” before sinking into unconsciousness. 
Dash dragged him over to a nearby heal kit and started to applied the bandages. 
“A scout’s best friend” he called them, explaining that since the Medic was usually busy with the Heavy or Pyro, and the Engineer didn’t share his dispenser very often because he didn’t like “varmints that only brought trouble”, the health kits were the only reliable way for a Scout to get healed quickly. Scout looked up at his unexpected savor and said, 
“Hey um… thanks for helping me out back there, I appreciate it really…” 
Dash smiled. 
“Hey, no problem, besides, I am the Element of loyalty, I could never leave my friends hanging.” “Element of loyalty?” 
Scout asked looking confused. Dash quickly explained how she and her friends were the Elements of Harmony and how they helped save Equestria from Nightmare Moon and Discord… Scout nodded in understanding before he froze. 
“Wait, wait, wait friend?” 
Dash shrugged. 
“Sure, we can be friends, if you promise to stop calling me a stallion that is…” 
Scout beamed. 
“Alright, sure, I promise.” 
Dash wished Pinkie Pie was there to instruct him in how to do the swear that was her namesake. As if summoned from thought, Pinkie appeared next to scout and guided him through the steps. That finished, she said ominously,
“And remember, breaking a promise is the fastest way to lose a friend, FOREVER!” 
Pinkie suddenly disappeared without a trace. Scout glanced over to his new friend. 
“Does…does she do that often?” 
Dash was about to reply when “FOREVER!” suddenly rang out from behind them. They could just see a pink blob in the distance. Both knew that the figures eyes were staring deeply into their souls, searching for signs of any promises broken. Rainbow Dash turned around.
“A-anyway Scout, what is it like back home where you live?” 
Scout chuckled. 
“Well I got my Ma and my brothers and ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to play in the big leagues…” 
When his story was done, Dash responded with one of her own, telling about her dream of joining the Wonderbolts, and her first Sonic Rainboom… 
Once their stories were done, the headed back to the base for some relaxation, chatting and laughing like old friends reunited. Dash still was not sure of what to make of all this, but she at least she had her friends, old and new to stand by her. And Rainbow Dash never leaves a friend hanging in the time of need…  

> Applejack's Engineer Training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  	Applejack followed the Engineer to the firing range. She asked why they did not go to the shop first and he replied, 
“You don’t deserve to build until you can protect yourself and those around you first.” 
Accepting this, they traveled down to the range. Applejack found the guns to be a bit tricky to use at first, even after they had been modified for her. Rainbow Dash had come up to the Engineer soon after they she had started firing and requested that she could get modified weapons as well. Applejack wanted to chat with her friend for a bit and see how she was doing, but as usual Dash was in too much of a hurry, trying to wipe the smug smirk off Scout’s face as she tried to learn how to fire her guns. Without realizing it, Applejack had finished off her targets and was now staring out in space. The Engineer walked over and said “Well, that was mighty impressive AJ, now how about we go on to the work shop?” 
Applejack turned to him, “Hang on, ah need a moment with my friend if you don’t mind…” 
He nodded and watched as she walked over to her frustrated friend.
“Hey there sugarcube, how are you?” 
Dash jumped into the air before turning to her friend. 
“Hey Applejack… I am ok I guess, I just wish I could figure out how to fire these things!” 
Applejack leaned over and adjusted the cyan pegasus’s grip on her gun. “Here try holding it like this, so you can aim easier and the recoil doesn’t hit you so hard.” 
She nodded and after a few breaths pulled the trigger. She had finally hit the target! She smiled and said, 
“Hey thanks AJ, now I can show him that anything he can do, I can do but way more awesome!” 
Applejack nuzzled her friend and replied 
“Sure thing Dashie, glad ta help you.” 
Rainbow Dash surprised by the display of affection turned away embarrassed. 
“A-applejack stop, I don’t want to give Scout any ideas he could use against me…” Applejack nodded and started to head over to her waiting teacher when Dash called out, 
“Oh and AJ… thanks for that…” 
Applejack smiled, she had a feeling she was not just still talking about her help with aim. With a wink she started towards her mentor. He had no comment about her somewhat open display of affection to her friend and simply led her to his shop. Turning to her he said,
“So…what are your skills in engineering so far?” 
Applejack looked away slightly embarrassed. 
“Well ah have worked with the various machines at meh farm as well as the odd contraption that sometimes people bring to me to fix…” 
The Engineer looked up from his work bench. 
“You have a farm? Mind if you tell me about it?” 
Applejack readily agreed. 
“Yes, but why do you want to know about meh farm?” 
Engineer looked away with a pained expression. 
“Well you see, I used to have a farm, though after all this time it has probably been overgrown, I am just curious to see how farming in this…uh Ponyville of yours is similar to farming back on Earth.” 
Applejack nodded and began. 
“Well sure, ah live on my farm, Sweet Apple Acers, with my brother Big Mac and meh little sister Applebloom…” 
The Engineer listening attentively as he worked, modifying his team’s weapons and gear so their new pony replacements could use them without having to hold them in their mouths. He then told Applejack about his farm back in Texas, or at least the memories of his old home.
“Alright, it looks like all your friends basic equipment is done, let’s just send them on their way and get to your training.” 
With that he dropped the box of gear into a teleporter that teleported the gear back to the resupply center for the others. Applejacks eyes widened as she viewed the teleporter. 
“That is the thing that sent us here, it was in pretty bad repair, but ah am sure it was one of those.” 
Then a horrifying thought crossed her mind. 
“Engi, did ya happen to see three fillies come through the portal before we came?” 
He shook his head. 
“No, and I recon if what you described is right there is only one place they could be… the RED team base.” 
Applejack froze in shock.
“Y-you mean that those fillies are ALONE with them?” 
He looked away with a pained expression. 
“Yea and I reckon they have probably been…“recruited” by the RED team as well…” 
“We have to save them, we can’t leave Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo, and mah little sis, Applebloom to them!” 
The Engineer looked over at her, his eyes fixed with determination.
“And we will, don’t you doubt.” 
He gathered some tools together and after placing them in an orange tool box, placed it before her. 
“But, if we are going to save them, you and the others need to have the skills to do it, so… are you ready to learn?”
Applejack nodded. He smiled slightly. 
“Ok, so first let’s start with the dispenser, it is one of the most valuable tools available to you. Not only does it supply you with metal and ammo and resupplies the ammo of yer team, it heals you and your teammates as well.” 
He paused to make sure she was keeping up before continuing. 
“A key thing about dispensers is that you need to build them in a place where you and the others can reach it easily, but not somewhere that is heavily under fire as that can risk it being destroyed.” 
Moving over to the example of a dispenser in each of its varying levels, he gestured to her to examine them. Applejack took in the device, amazed at all the things it could do. Moving over to the set of sentries, the Engineer began once again. 
“This is a sentry, the main source of firepower that you have at your disposal, and with every upgrade, its range and lethality increases.” 
As Applejack studied the weapon, the Engineer set up the finial tool. 
“And this is the teleporter, which I am sure you are familiar with.” 
He gave it a few whacks with his wrench, and it started to glow more brightly. 
“The more you upgrade it, the faster the power will return, and the best thing of all, is that when you repair or upgrade one teleporter, it affects them both, but be careful, as damage affects both teleporters as well.” 
Impressed by this, Applejack moved close to it, but not too close to be affected by it and teleported. The Engineer smirked at his student’s amazement. Over the next few hours, they went over how to build the devices and the best place an area to build each item. Once Applejack was able to effectively build everything, the Engineer broke out into a huge smile and said 
“And now we get to the fun part.” 
Applejack looked confused. 
“What do ya mean fun part?” 
He laughed and pointed at a few buckets of paint and other crafting supplies in the corner. 
“Now you get to personalize your buildings however you like, it’s the mark of a professional ta take something, and improve it in their own way.” 
Applejack pondered what she should do to put her own spin on the buildings when it came to her. 
“Ah will just make it inspired by Sweet Apple Acers!” 
She soon drew out her plans and got to work. In no time she had all but her sentry finished. The dispenser had become the Applespencer, and she had customized the teleporter to resemble a half of an apple. She even figured out a way to make the teleporter close and resemble a full apple, which not only increased its armor rating, but made it immune to a spy’s sappers as well. She had adorned the sentry gun with apple designs and painted it (as well as the other buildings) an orange that resembled her own coat color. But it needed… something. She thought back on the last few hours searching for a clue. It was only until she recalled her time at the firing range that she had her answer. Diving through her bags she finally found the thing that completed her sentry. It was a picture of Rainbow Dash and herself. Applejack thought back on the day that the picture had been taken. At the time, fame had gone to Dash’s head and she took that picture with Applejack as a way for Applejack to “immortalize” a moment with her “famous” friend. Though she had been mad at Dash that day and was frowning in annoyance in the picture, Applejack had a feeling that something… more had been driving her friend to feel the need to take that picture than just arrogance. After all, if she had simply been so arrogant, why not have a picture with all of her best friends, instead of only her. She quickly made copies of the memory and placed the original back with her other things. She put one of the copies inside a bullet proof casing and merged it to the outer top casing of the sentry. She placed it there so even if Rainbow Dash had been flying over her, she could view and remember that moment they had shared together. It was of course rigged to explode if somepony tried to remove it so that the RED team could not steal such a precious memory of them together, even if it was just a copy of the original picture. She also similarly copied another picture and placed it on the back of the sentry. It was of her farm, her family all gathered together, laughing happily. It was a reminder that even in this strange new world, there was still a home to go back to, and a reason to keep on fighting. Blinking away tears that formed in her eyes, she yawned, 
“Well, ah am done.” 
Her teacher smiled. 
“Great job little missy, now go on back to yer cot now ya hear, you have a big day tomorrow…”      

> Big Mac's Heavy training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Big Macintosh followed the Heavy to a large pile of creates in the storage area. The Heavy pulled out a large gun, spinning its barrel in awed reference. 
“I am Heavy Weapons Guy. And this...is my weapon.”
Big Mac glanced at the imposing weapon. Disappointed that he was not very impressed, he continued. 
“Her name is Sasha and weighs 150 kilograms and fires $200 custom tooled cartridges at 10,000 rounds per minute. It costs $400,000 to fire this weapon... for twelve seconds.” 
He paused expecting to see shock on the face of the red earth pony, only to find him staring back with slight disinterest. Angered, he all but growled, 
“Some people think they can outsmart me, maybe…maybe… But I've yet to meet one that can outsmart bullet.” 
He peered closely. 
“Do you think your tiny baby head can outsmart the bullet?” 
Big Mac smiled. 
“Well, ah reckon ah can, see’ in how bullets cannot think…” 
Barley holding back his rage and striking out at the pony, Heavy gestured at the fridge and pulled out his sandvich. 
“This is sandvich, it shall heal your wounds and best of all, it is delicious!” 
Big Macintosh nodded in agreement, mostly because he did not want to frustrate his angry mentor any further. However there was one problem… 
“Much obliged, but ah have meh own comfort.” 
He pulled one of his most prized positions. His Smarty Pants doll. Heavy took in his students preferred item for a moment before bursting out laughing.
“Ha, ha, ha you really are just a tiny baby, with a tiny baby doll.” 
Big Mac’s eyes narrowed, and replied, 
“Ah think we should get along to the part where you train meh how to use everything.” 
The Heavy calmed down and a few hours later, Big Mac had mastered the use of the somewhat ridiculously powered weapons. It was only until he had accidently knocked over the Heavy’s gun Sasha and ended up scratching it, did things go wrong. Heavy’s eyes widened in shock. 
“Oh my god… you… YOU touched my gun!” 
Macintosh reassured quickly, “N-now hold on, it’s just a scratch, it won’t hurt it none.” 
“NO, we practice melee now!”
With that he punched out at his misfortunate student. Big Mac tried to block the punch but even then, the force pushed him over. He quickly jumped up and turned around. 
“Ha are you running away little baby pony?”  
The Heavy was answered with a back hoof to the face. Normally he could shrug off the force of such an attack. But Big Macintosh’s kick, strengthen from years of bucking trees, overpowered the Heavy’s fortitude and knocked him onto his back. Big Mac then left to rest after a long day of training, giving a finial thank you for the help. The Heavy hated to admit it as he picked himself up from the floor, but he had a good replacement. At least now he could catch up on his classic Russian folk tale collection…

> Rarity's Spy training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Before the BLU Spy could do anything, including starting to train his new apprentice, he first had to have a cup of coffee. He smiled as he sipped it and glanced over at the picture in the next room. It was in fact a picture of his student, taken by the security camera in the base at the time of the ponies’ arrival. The strikingly glamorous unicorn Rarity had been oddly familiar to him, as if he had seen her before from somewhere and so the Spy had hacked the security camera in the room and used her picture to try and match her up with some of his recent enemies and their agents. Unfortunately, the Spy had no luck and so all he had gained from his endeavor was her picture. Not a terrible tradeoff he thought to himself as he gazed at the lovely white pony in the picture. 
“Ah, Mon petit chou-fleur…” 
With a sigh, he grabbed his hat and coat. 
“Well, off to visit my dear friend.” 
He finally reached Rarity’s room only to find it locked. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer…
Rarity sat on her couch, completely board, flipped the channels on her television with nothing remotely interesting to watch. There seemed to be nothing on but terrible rock music and substandard comedy acting. How she longed to get the next shipment of supplies so she could outfit herself and her friends properly. At one point she could have sworn she heard a knock at her door. But paid it no mind as a rather interesting Spy movie started…
The Spy had had it. He had been knocking on her door for hours, and even with the assistance of a sledge hammer, nothing seemed to capture Rarity’s attention and get her to open the door. Without thinking, he strapped a large amount of dynamite to the door and lit the fuse. However, being only two feet away caused him to get thrown forward through the doorway and into Rarity’s home.
This had better be good she thought as she turned around at the sound of the explosion. “Whoever you are, I demand you be quiet NOW!” 
Rarity froze as she realized who her noisy intruder was. 
“Oh darling, you must not enter my home like that, you could scratch up the floor and even destroy one of my dresses, not to mention the door and-” 
She stopped as the Spy all but shoved a newspaper headline in her face. 
“Breaking News: There is a super cool briefcase in 2Fort with stuff in it or whatever. And in other news, the Pyro was found dead at his birthday party.” 
Rarity looked up at the Spy in confusion. He grinned wildly and proclaimed, 
“Let’s steal the briefcase!” 
It took only a moment for Rarity to begin to fantasize about the large amount of money and other riches that could be inside. 
“Yes!” She screamed with glee at the chance to make a quick fortune. He chuckled and led her upstairs to the chalk board so they could plan their heist. There was one problem however; Rarity did not know a thing about infiltrating somepony’s home. The Spy sighed. 
“Ok we are going to start here, and make our way through the RED idiots until we reach the brief case that is our objective.” 
Rarity smiled in understanding. This was much easier to understand than his other plan involving crows that caw at midnight (especially because staying up that late interfered with her beauty sleep) and doing other peculiar and rather obscure tasks. He then gave a quick tutorial on the use of each weapon and device at their disposal. The Spy then displayed his wide array of weapons and other devices. After testing the various items out, she decided it on taking the kunai knife, a stylishly designed and modified electro-sapper, the gun labeled Ambassador (as she was an excellent diplomat) and a makeup/disguise kit that she personalized to double as her mobile sewing machine. Smiling at each other, the realized they were ready.
They made their way to 2Fort without incident and before continuing on decided to take a break, and leaned against the wall for a time. 
“You remember the plan?” 
Rarity nodded as they started to walk toward the RED base.
“And remember, the most important thing is to-” 
He was cut off as a sniper round went straight through his head. Rarity could swear that she heard the Sniper’s laugh, even from here.  Suddenly the Sniper’s voice rang out on the intercom, “Stupid, bloody spy, you had best keep lying down.” 
Dragging her unfortunate companion back over to a medical kit where she healed his fatal wounds, she wondered aloud, 
“What ever shall we do?” 
The now healed Spy turned to her, “Simple, we kill the Snipers…” 
Rarity looked fearfully at the area where the Spy had almost died. 
“But how?” 
“With this,” he replied, tossing her a watch. 
“This watch shall make you invisible for a short time.” 
“Alright, are you ready Spy?” 
He nodded and smiled. Then quickly pressed a button on his watch and disappeared.
The Spy uncloaked and after backstabbing the sniper, kicked off the roof for good measure. He wondered how darling Rarity was doing… 
Rarity was having a very difficult time in comparison to her teacher’s effortless feat. Not only had she gotten lost, but she had forgotten where the sniper even was. Suddenly a loose plank gave way under her instantly wrapped her legs around another one. She found herself hanging upside down. And not five feet away from her was the Sniper! She slowly aimed her gun at his head and was about to pull the trigger when it slipped out of her hoofs and fell to the ground. She followed soon after as the plank that had been supporting her gave way. Rarity yelped in surprise as she decided then froze and cursed herself for not keeping quiet. Somehow the sniper had not heard her and she remained undetected. Inch by inch she reclaimed her gun and once again aimed at his head. Rarity was nervous, as this was the first time she had ever killed anypony. Granted, this Sniper was not a pony but still… Her mind panicked and turned to the only thing it knew better than anything else, fashion. The Sniper wore a sweat stained red shirt and a patchwork vest that looked several sizes too small for him. Glaring in disgust, the unicorn pulled the trigger. As she tossed the body out the window, she whispered to herself, 
“Some of us DO have standards.” 
The Spy soon found her and together they proceeded deeper into the RED base. Up ahead they saw the RED Heavy, Demoman, and Solider. Rarity thought for a moment before exclaiming 
“Ideeaaa!” 
She pulled out two throwing daggers and said, 
“Darling I have a plan, how about we throw these daggers at the Demoman and Solider and then they will think the Heavy attacked them.” 
Spy grinned impishly.
“And while they are busy fighting, we can slip away into their inner base, excellent!” 
They silently launched the knifes, each hitting their target’s side and making them jump. At the moment, the Heavy had just reached for his sandvich, but to the others, he had been recoiling from hitting them both. They leaned in closely and nodded in silent alliance. The Heavy looked nervously between the two, wondering what was going on. They leaned closer and smiled wickedly and raised their fists into a fighting position. Finally realizing their intent, the Heavy called out in surprise, 
“Oh Nooo!”
But it was too late and they all collided into a massive brawl. Rarity could not help but giggle at the spectacle as they entered the RED base. The Spy stopped when he noticed the rambling cheers of the RED Engineer, guarding the briefcase just ahead. 
“Be careful my dear, there is a sentry ahead.” 
Rarity rolled her eyes as she applied her disguise. 
“Please, you make like it sound as if it is going to be hard…” 
She slowly walked in to the room, disguised as the RED Spy, tripped and fell onto the ground and silently slipped her modified sapper (which had an override that disabled the alert message to the Engineer, giving the illusion that it was not being sapped) under the sentry. 
The RED Engineer blinked, for a second, he thought he had seen a white unicorn, but when he looked again, it was just his team mate, the RED Spy. 
“Well, howdy there Spy, something ya need?” 
The Spy nodded, and walked over to the briefcase. 
“Yes, I just need to examine the briefcase to make sure that the intelligence is still intact, and then I will be out of your hair.” 
The Engineer suddenly took in his comrade again, scrutinizing over every detail. It looked like the Spy… but the accent was slightly off, almost like it was being forced to occur. And there was a slight… way that the spy moved around the room that was distinctly feminine. The spy had also taken a regal pose, like that of a noble. But the thing that really did not click was the way that he seemed to want to use his hands to help him walk. He currently was leaning against a table to hide this, but the Engineer could tell the desire was still there to use his hands to support himself more. The Spy edged closer, 
“You wouldn’t mind that would you? After all, we are the best of friends are we not?” 
He thought for a moment, and answered, “Nope.”
And fired his pistol at the false RED spy. 
Rarity was able to dodge the shot, but it forced her to fling herself against the wall, at least the sapper did its job, she thought as she noticed the nearly destroyed building across the room. Turning back toward the Engineer, she announced with a determined look, 
“It is on!” 
As Photo Finish would say, it is time to make the magics! She focused on her magic and produced six spinning kunai knifes, which randomly teleported around her in a circle. Grasping three she readied herself to throw the knifes. 
“Nope.” 
The Engineer said again as he directed his sentry to fire one last time before it exploded. The shot only glazed the side of her head, but it was enough to break her concentration. Rarity felt very weak as the fatigue of using powerful magic far beyond what she was used to doing over take her. Now she could barely raise her head, and could only watch as the Engineer moved toward her. 
“Sorry ma’am…” he began with a gentlemanly tone. 
Rarity smiled and put on the most desperate expression she could muster. Then the Engineer had a dark look on his face. 
“I’m gonna blow that stupid look right off your-” 
He froze and fell forward, with a knife sticking from his back. The BLU Spy stood behind him scowling.
“I think not…” 
Then he turned and smiled at Rarity and offered her his hand. 
“You have done well, Mon petit chou-fleur.” 
She took his offered hand with a grateful smile and they slowly made their way over to the briefcase. The Spy opened the briefcase and smiled with glee. Rarity was however, not very happy about the find. Inside the brief case was a recording of what the broken teleporter’s camera had taken before and after Twilight had discovered it. She grew enraged at the notion that she had risked her life for footage of what she had already experienced in life. 
“Nooo!” 
She screamed. The Spy chuckled. 
“Come Rarity. Let us return to the base.”
Rarity followed, fully disappointed at the lack of the funding she could have used for her next clothing line…    

> Fluttershy's Medic training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy followed her new teacher, the Medic to the medical wing of the base. She was excited to learn new things that she could use to help not only her friends, but all the animals in this strange world as well. But… her mentor seemed to get angry and yell a lot. Maybe she should just ask Twilight to see if she could find a book on the subject. Before she could turn and back out of the room, the Medic turned on her and made her freeze in place. 
“What, you’re leaving already? We have not even started yet!” 
Fluttershy looked down, shielded from his gaze by her mane. 
“Oh well… um… if you don’t mind I think I will just get a book about it… if that is ok.” 
The Medic frowned. 
“Bah, the only books you will find are moldy cook books and Heavy’s classic Russian novels.” Desperately, she little more than whispered, “Oh ok… well I could try-” 
The Medic slammed his hand down onto the table he was standing next to, Fluttershy flinched, backing away from him and into to wall. 
“No, you shall be MY student and learn from ME, understand?” 
Fluttershy shrunk back as far as possible. 
“O-ok…” 
His eyes narrowed.
“And you will do everything I say, and learn whatever I teach you without complaint.”
Fluttershy shut her eyes tight.
“Ok…” 
The Medic walked over to her shaking form.
“And you will LOOK at me when I speak to you.” 
Fluttershy swallowed and forced her eyes open, to find him scowling at her disapprovingly. 
“Ok…
” He turned away from her and walked back to the table, which now displayed the variety of healing tools at the medic’s disposal. 
“Good, now this is the medigun, it is your best way to heal your team mates and keep them alive as they protect you…” 
He stopped when he realized that Fluttershy had not come with him to the table.
“Come over here,” he said and gestured with his finger. Fluttershy slowly got up and went over to the table. 
“There, now we can continue.” 
Fluttershy shook her head, as her eyes widened at the impressive display of tools. 
“The medigun shoots out a beam of light that will heal your companions on the battlefield. And, should you keep the ray on them after they are fully healed, their bodies will have sharper reflexes and become a bit more resilient to attack for a short time.” 
Fluttershy nodded. 
“And now we shall discus your most potent ability to use, the ÜberCharge.”
Fluttershy cocked her head to the side.
“But…um… what does it do?” 
He smiled. 
“For a time, both you and your patient become temporarily invulnerable to all attack.” 
Fluttershy gasped. The only ponies she knew of that could do something like that was Princess Celestia and Luna… and maybe Twilight Sparkle. 
“Now you have to other items for you to use, should you wish, a bone saw and a syringe gun.” 
Fluttershy, after a little practice with the items, was soon comfortable with them and wondered what she was going to learn next. 
“And remember, you are a common target from snipers and back stabbing spies, so be careful.” 
Fluttershy was not happy to hear this, but was surprised when the Medic said in an almost comforting tone, 
“Do not worry, if you stay with the Heavy and the Pyro, they will protect you from the brunt of the attackers. The Pyro is also an excellent spy detector.”
Reassured by this knowledge, Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief. 
“Well… if it is ok… I am going to head back to my room now…” 
The Medic waved his hand dismissively and said, 
“Go on, you should get some rest for the days ahead.”
Fluttershy nodded and after a finial whisper of thanks, slipped out to return to her room…      

> Spike's Solider training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Spike followed the Soldier dutifully as they marched toward the Soldier’s private “Boot Camp” as he called it. 
“All right maggot, are you ready to find out what separates the boys from the men, and prove yourself on the field of battle?”
“Yes sir!” 
Spike replied. 
“What is your name recruit?” 
The Solider leaned down to be eye level with him. 
“It’s uh Spike sir.”
The Soldier scratched his chin and then continued. 
“I don’t like that name, so for now on you are called… private Scaly-Toes, understand?” 
Spike swallowed and nodded. I hope the girls to hear about this… he thought. 
“So what do we learn first sir?” 
The Soldier turned and picked up a rocket launcher. 
“You learn how to fire this.” 
Spikes’ muscles groaned in protest as he lifted the heavy weapon onto his right shoulder. He fired a rocket at a distant target, only to find that he had pointed the weapon the wrong way and caused a number of trees to burst into flame on contact with the rocket. 
“Oh, man, Fluttershy is going to kill me if she finds out about this, worse she might even use the STARE on me…” 
After putting out the fire and moving to another location without any wildlife or trees nearby, he tried again. After a while, he got the hang of it. The shotgun proved even easier to master and the shovel felt like second nature when he tied it to his tail. The Soldier then came up to him with an oriental box. Inside was a military star and… a heart shaped locket? 
“What is this sir?” 
The Soldier smiled. 
“This is your graduation, son.”
“The medal is to prove that you were trained in the noble art of war and battle, and the locket is for you to keep those who are close to you near your heart, to remind you what is worth fighting for…”
He looked away into the distance and Spike could have sworn there were tears in his eyes. Spike didn’t even have to think about who he would put in the locket. On the left side was Twilight Sparkle, his best friend, and at times kind of like his annoying older sister or even mother. On the right side was Rarity, his most beloved pony who he would do ANYTHING for… The locket was set with the gem that Rarity had given to him as a gift so long ago. The Soldier came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. 
“Remember this, it does not matter who you fight or who side you are on, as long as you know who you fight FOR, and are fighting to make a better place for them in the future…” 
Spike nodded, swearing to keep that advice to heart. 
“Alright, private Scaly-Toes, go on and get some sleep, and when you go out there, do me proud!” 
Spike nodded and ran out the door, hoping to find Rarity and show off his newfound medal and skills…



> Zecora's Demoman training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Zecora trailed behind her Scottish mentor as he led them to a closed off area, filled with dozens of targets. 
“Aye, you’re so silent, are ya sure you should be learning the art of demolition instead of Spying?”
Zecora regarded him with a smile. 
“Trained I am in stealth that is true, but do not mock the power of my deadly brews.”
He nodded. 
“Ok lassie, I was just wondering is all.” 
He picked up a grenade launcher and smiled. 
“Now this is a grenade launcher, and you use it to blow up the stuff that is in your team’s way, like those sentries that the RED Engineer is always building.” 
Zecora nodded. A bit unnerved by the Zebra’s eerie silence, he continued. 
“You can bounce the grenades off the walls to get a surprise too.” 
Zecora nodded, taking in the information and memorizing it for later. The Demoman could not take it anymore. 
“Why are ya so silent, huh?” 
Zecora looked away. 
“Forgive me if I speak little to your face, for long I have been scorned and feared for my race…” 
The man’s one eye widened in understanding.
“I know what you mean lassie, many dislike me for my own race, and my Scottish heritage ta boot.” They sat in silence for a while, before he continued. 
“Aye then, on with the lesson, you also have a sticky bomb launcher, which lets you place these lovely little bombs around the base as traps.” 
Zecora nodded, but asked, 
“And how do you prevent your own team from triggering these mines, however clever they are in design?” 
“A sensor of some sort, no one on your team can trigger them, but the other team is not so lucky, however, remember a spy disguised as one of your team will not trigger them either.” 
Zecora pondered this but wondered aloud,
“And how do we see a spy disguised in the crowd, for stealth is something in which they are most proud?” 
The Demoman laughed, 
“I don’t think you will be having much of a hard time with him, as long as you have a moment to double check them. Not only is the Spy more used to acting like one of us instead of you, your preference ta walking with all your legs will be a good thing to watch for as well.” 
Zecora accepted this and asked what she should use if melee combat was required. 
“You use a good bottle; I can lend you ah… one if you need it.” 
Zecora laughed quietly at the spectacle of the one eyed man distressed at the notion of losing one of his bottles, even a broken one. 
“Do not fear for your liquid belly’s fire, I have created my own brew of which I desire.” 
He let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. 
“Thank you lass, now how about we practice with these weapons for a wee bit eh?”
Zecora nodded and they practiced in the use of her new weapons for the remainder of the day. At sunset, bowed and pleaded, 
“Forgive but I fear I must leave, there are several herbs that I require, and may only be found in twilight’s eve.” 
The Demoman nodded and replied, 
“If you ever need to practice or just come by for a chat, I will be here…”
He looked over at the now empty training room, and then back at the zebra, only to find she was already gone, having left the old creaky warehouse without a sound…

> Pinkie Pie's Pyro training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Pinkie Pie bounced with a seemingly endless amount of energy around the Pyro. The Pyro held up one hand and signaled to the student that the training would now begin. Pinkie Pie froze in mid jump, suspended in midair for longer than the Pyro thought was naturally possible before falling down. 
“Oh ok so what do we started with first?” 
The Pyro muffled several noises, all the while Pinkie listened attentively. When the Pyro finished, Pinkie laughed and said chuckling slightly, 
“Oh Pyro, you’re so random.” 
Rolling her eyes, she picked up a customized flame thrower. 
“Oooh what does this thing do?” 
She tested it experimentally, and almost lit the Pyro ablaze! After hearing an angry rant from her teacher, she held up a hoof.
“Hang on I can’t understand you here, this should do the trick.” 
With that she grabbed one of her party hats and placed it over her mouth. 
“Muph muph muph?” 
The Pyro answered. 
“Muph muph- take that off, I know you are trying to make fun of me. Oh why do even bother; it is not like you understand me…” 
The Pyro looked away. Pinkie Pie smiled and laughed beneath her party hat. 
“Of course I can understand you silly, so how about you show me how to really work this thing?” 
Taken aback by the sudden realization that someone could actually understand them, the Pyro was silent for a moment.
“How is that even possible, it’s just a regular old party hat?”  
Pinkie just bounced around her confused teacher. 
“Finally, I get someone I can actually talk to, and they just bounce around me like a maniac?” 

Pyro sighed, “I should have known…” 
“Ok, ok enough of that, it is time that I teach you how to use the flame thrower, so you don’t burn me ok?” 
Pinkie turned toward her teacher with a huge grin. 
“Okie dokie lokie.” 
The Pyro stopped and cocked their head in confusion. 
“What?” 
Pinkie Pie was about to reply when the RED scout appeared and smacked the Pyro in the head with his bat. The Pyro hit the ground with the thud and the Scout ran off toward an abandoned house. Pinkie Pie was suddenly very angry. No one hurts her friends, especially if she had not even thrown them a welcome party yet. Granted, they were the ones coming to a new place, but Pinkie didn’t care. She just loved to throw parties for everypony (as well as any other living creature) that she met. She scooped up the flame thrower and approached the home. The Scout had worked quickly and nailed up the door leading in, but Pinkie saw another way in… Letting out a giggle, she started to climb up to the roof.
The RED Scout had just finished sealing up the door and begun planning his escape route, when he heard a giggle and a loud “Weeeee” coming from… the fire place? He approached the fire pit carefully, and jumped back when the pink pony with a party cone on her face appeared before him, hanging upside down and slightly covered in soot. 
“H-how did you get in here?” 
The pony giggled,
“I can think outside the box, which means I can also think inside the chimney…” 
The Scout scratched his head. 
“Umm… ok?” 
Then the pony’s eyes narrowed.
“Can you think inside the chimney?” 
“Wha-”
“Can you think inside the chimney?”  
Pinkie asked before she pulled out her flame thrower and ignited her opponent. After she stamped out the ashes, she noticed something shiny from inside the Scout’s forgotten bag. Inside it were three Katanas and a pistol. These might come in handy, she thought to herself. Though I will need to get a especially modified mask to hold the third blade. With that, she shimmied back up the chimney and went over to check up on the Pyro. She found the Pyro leaning against the wall, with the trademark mask off. With HER trademark mask off. 
“Well, I knew my Pinkie senses were on to something.” 
She said and cheerfully bounced over to her friend. The Pyro glanced up, and realized her secret was blown.
“Please Pinkie Pie, don’t tell anyone, I am not sure how the others would feel, knowing I am a girl and all…” 
“I won’t tell, I promise.” 
The Pyro looked up.
“Really?” 
Pinkie made her well-practiced, patented hoof motions.
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” 
The Pyro stared at her friend for a moment.
“Right, well I trust you Pinkie Pie; say what do you have there?”
The soon to be pyro party pony smiled. 
“Just my secondary weapon (lifting out the pistol) for when my flames won’t do the trick and my melee weapons for when they (or I) get to close,” and showed her the set of Katanas. 
“How did you know you would need those?” Pyro asked, dumbfounded.
Pinkie Pie laughed and began to bounce toward the mess hall. 
“Well duh, this was what I was using in the Mane 6 video, it only made sense.” 
The Pyro scratched her head, 
“The what now?” 
But Pinkie ignored her and asked, “You want to go make cupcakes with me?”
The Pyro sighed, seeing that she was not going to get an answer anytime soon. 
“Alright sure, but I’m not much of a cook, I don’t know how to make cupcakes …” 
Pinkie just laughed as she opened the door for them. 
“Oh that is easy to fix…” 
And burst into song as she led the way into the kitchen. 
“All you got to do is take a cup of flour…”          

> The Switch: Rainbow Dash and Applejack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The switch: Applejack and Rainbow Dash
Applejack quickly found a strategically placed building in the center of the main path leading to the control point. After building a dispenser and setting up a sentry and teleporter, there was little else to do but wait for the mission to start. Sighing she mumbled to herself, 
“Well ahem not doing anypony any good just standing around, ah might as well see how Rainbow and the others are doing.” 
With that she teleported back over near the supply point for the BLU team to check up on everyone.
Rainbow Dash circled the perimeter of the base eager for the start of the oncoming action. She was just about to start swing at the fence blocking her path to the RED team when Applejack appeared out of the teleporter. 
“Well howdy Dash, how’s it going?” 
Dash struggled to keep her increasing temper out of her voice 
“I CAN’T take all this waiting around while the other team builds a stronger defense force.”
“Well sugar cube, that’s just how these battles are set up, sides, if it was set up like that, we would have less of a chance to set up a good fightin force if we were defending against them.” 
Dash groaned with frustration, 
“I know that but I still want to attack now!”, hitting the fence angrily for emphases.
“Come on Dash, it will start soon enough, and if you keep hitting that fence you will be too tuckered out to help when it does start.”
After a pause she continued, 
“Now how about you come along with me and-” 
At that moment the siren rang signaling that the mission had started. Dash immediately perked up at this and turned to Applejack. 
“Sorry AJ but I got to go and check out how they set stuff up for the others.”
Applejack gave her an understanding, if disappointed nod. 
“That’s…fine Rainbow, yawl go on and do what you do best and ah will be here if ya need anything.” 
Rainbow Dash looked over to her friend with concern. 
“AJ is something-” 
Whatever she was going to say was lost as she let out a pained scream. A bullet had shot into her foreleg and another one was lodged in her wing. She soon blacked out as a shocked Applejack rushed over to her. Scooping her up onto her back, she whispered franticly more for herself than Dash, 
“N-n-now don’t you worry none, ah will just get you over to meh applespencer and it’ll fix you right up…” 
Rainbow Dash only let out a weak moan as they rushed back to AJ’s small base. She gasped as the medical scanner on the applespencer registered a heavy dose of poison from the snipers bullets, but sighed with relief as the applespencer slowly mended Dash’s wounds and began to purge the poison from her body. Applejack held her close trying to give her some comfort as she healed. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and leaned close to Applejacks ear and in a delusional voice whispered 
“H-hey AJ, why do I always have to get hurt like this for you to hold me?” 
Applejack blushed and looked away mumbling to herself about how she could if Dash wouldn’t get hurt so often, all the while still fixated on her dying friend. Dash laughed and started to get up.
“Well thanks and all, but I have to-”
Applejack firmly pushed her back down. 
“Oh no you don’t, you’re going to stay right here until ah am certain that yer ready to go back out there again.” 
Dash looked at her friend with a confused expression. 
“But who is going to scout for us? We can’t just charge in there and hope for the best…”
Applejack considered this and with a determined look, took off Rainbow Dash’s headset and put it on her own head. 
“Well, I reckon ah will.” 
Now Rainbow Dash looked back at her friend with equal determination. 
“Come on, we both know that I am way faster than you-” 
She cut her off. 
“In the air you are, but ah recall that ah could keep with you just fine on the ground at the Running of the Leaves, and now should be no different.”  
Dash couldn’t keep the frustration out of her voice, 
“Yea, well even if that was true, which it’s not, who would take care of your sentry and stuff when you’re gone?” 
AJ turned to her with a sparkle in her eye. 
“Well ah was thinkin you could sugarcube.” 
Dash’s eyes widened. 
“What, Applejack, in case you haven’t noticed, I don’t know anything about mechanics or stuff like that, there is a reason I choose to take Scout’s job you know.” 
Shaking her head, Applejack collected the various items from the still weakened and poisoned Dash. After equipping Dash with the standard engineer gear and going over the basics of what everything did, she nuzzled Dash’s check affectionately and reminded her,
“Remember, all you have to do is whack whatever is damaged a couple a times with the wrench and the repair matrix of the applespencer and the matrix of the wrench will do the rest.” 
Rainbow Dash, still slightly overwhelmed, muttered 
“How in the hay do you expect me to remember all of that?” 
Applejack smiled and gestured over to a small radio in the corner. 
“You can use that if you forget something… now ah suppose you should give me a How to be a good Scout guide or something…” she murmured looking away. 
“Aw that’s easy, you just run in, see what’s what, maybe cause some chaos and then get out of there.” 
Applejack blinked, “That’s it? Ah was sure there was more to it than that.” 
Dash smiled and waved her hoof at the radio, “I guess if you need any tips being a scout, just radio me, and who knows, I might be better at your job then you are.”
AJ chuckled at this and with a sigh stared for the entry way. 
“Well sugar cube, ahem off to go buck that sniper into next winter wrap up, ah will see you soon…” Applejack trailed off as a thought came to her head. 
“Oh and Dashie, don’t even think about trying to multitask as a scout while ahem gone.” 
Dash shrugged and said “Don’t worry I’m not going anywhere till this poison stops making my blood boil.” 
A wave of pained guilt crashed over Applejack as she realized she could not help her friend any further or make what she was going through more bearable. 
“Now Dash ah mean it, you try ANYTHING; ah will get Fluttershy to use the Stare on you.” 
Dash rolled her eyes, “Yea right, she is way too busy healing Big Mac and Pinkie Pie on the front lines right now to-” 
She stopped as Applejack collided with her in a hug. AJ leaned close.
“Please just promise me you will be careful, ah don’t know what ah would do if you got hurt again…” 
Tears started to form in AJ’s eyes. Dash’s own eyes started to water and she returned the hug, 
“I will, I promise now go on and get that Intel for the rest of the team,” she whispered encouragingly. Applejack nodded and with a deep breath, sprinted out the doorway into the battle beyond. 
Rainbow Dash had expected that the seemingly complex building would be too hard for her to fix without assistance from Applejack via radio. However, it appeared that Applejack was right. All it needs are a few good whacks from her wrench and it repairs itself. Swiftly forming a pattern in a routine of constant mending, she became a blur of restoration, much to the late RED Demoman’s frustration. 
“Let’s see Applejack beat this” 
Dash whispered as she waited for all of the approaching RED members to fall from the sentry’s hail of bullets. Just as Dash stated to smile and get cocky, she got an instant message that warned her a Spy was sapping the sentry! She saw a figure next to her sentry and gave it a hard whack on the head. The RED Spy’s carcass was now limp against the turret. Only after she had moved the body and dragged it away into a ditch did she notice the pictures. One was of Applejack’s family, cheerfully laughing and enjoying one of their famous reunions. The other picture was of Applejack and herself. It was when she had “immortalized” her with the honor of taking a picture with the “famous” pegasus. She felt tears in her eyes as she clearly saw the annoyed frown on the earth pony’s face. Suddenly, she had a deeper, darker fear arise from her heart that was more horrifying than the threat of dying from the poison. 
“What if Applejack still views me like that even now…” 
No she thought, if that was true, AJ would never have helped her out in the shooting range. She certainly would not have… Trying to focus on the immediate threat, she realized that Applejack had not said what to do in this situation, and rather than try and disarm the thing by herself, she would much rather have AJ walking her through it. She then sent out a call to AJ’s headset, praying to Celestia that she was safe enough to help her with this…
Applejack darted forward out of the building, weaving though obstacles and enemies alike. She soon found her target. The RED sniper was scowling as he tried to no avail to take out the sentry that was preventing his team from easy access to the BLU control point. 
“You bloody pony, a round in your head will get you out of my hair...”
The Sniper mumbled as he aimed for Dash’s head and began to zoom in. Applejack infuriated by this ran up and hit him over the head with her bat. Screaming at him in outrage,
“Why…why would you shoot her in the leg and wing, and even poison her instead of giving her a clean painless death? I thought you Snipers were supposed to be polite and professional.” 
Grimacing with pain he slowly got up. 
“Because that rainbow colored wanker has been nothing but trouble for us from the start. It was the only way I could keep her out of the way so we could stop you from getting to the bloody check point.” 
After spitting out some of his blood he continued, 
“Now then, I am going to go and kill your bloody little pony friends, starting with your precious little rainbow one over there, and if you try anything, I might just have to give her another dose of poison before I end it…” 
Applejack’s eyes narrowed.
“Oh hay no; you ain’t touching one hair on her mane!” 
With that she spun around bucked him in the head, causing him to fall out of the window and land limply on the ground below. 
“Now ah just need to avoid the RED team and get back to-” 
Suddenly her headset rang with an emergency call. She just put it through when Rainbow Dash seemed to scream in her ear, 
“APPLEJACK!”
Dropping the headset with surprise, she quickly scooped it up and adjusted the volume accordantly before answering. 
“Dash is something wrong?” 
There was a pause and the sound of a wrench desperately beating against metal before she replied. “There was a Spy sapping the sentry, and I don’t know how to get the sapper to stop. I took out the Spy so I can’t get him to disarm it and I’m going to get overrun soon if I cannot figure this out.” 
Racking her brain, Applejack relayed the tips that the Engineer had given her when dealing with spies. “Just cut the wire connecting the sapper to the sentry and get is as far away from you as possible before it explodes, you could even try tossing it at the RED team if you like.”
After a long pause, Rainbow Dash said,
“Alright it worked, and the dispenser says that all the poison is out of my system so I can have my job back now,…oh and hurry back AJ, I can see why you were getting so lonely just sitting around here…”
Applejack silently cursed herself for not checking to see if she had told Dash how to deal with a Spy in the first place. Soon she finally returned to where her friend was erratically dancing between the machines, repairing them not completely but enough to keep them standing and allow her to balance her repair time so everything could stay standing against yet another onslaught of Demo charges. Applejack fired a few rounds from her pistol in quick succession and the angry Scottish man finally fell. Applejack whistled, 
“Well sugarcube, ah don’t know if ah could have stood that long against that Demoman without having to respawn and start over.” 
Dash as usual soaked up the praise. 
“Yea well when you’re as awesome as me, everything is just a piece of cake.” 
After they had laughed a bit Rainbow Dash continued, 
“But even I am not sure how long I could have lasted with that psycho poisoning Sniper on the loose…” she trailed off and looked away. 
Applejack was surprised that her normally proud friend would give up a compliment stating that Applejack had actually beaten her at something so easily. 
“Thanks again for doing this for me AJ, I know we could just respawn and all but I really want to see what cool reward Mann co. is going to give us if we don’t die till the next weapon shipment comes around.” 
Applejack smiled warmly at her best friend. 
“No problem Dashie, and remember to head back over here if you need to catch your breath or… just want to talk to me…” 
The cyan Pegasus hugged her friend and said, 
“Hey Applejack… about that picture on your sentry…” 
Applejack froze.
“Is… is that what you really think of me, just an arrogant pony who pushes away her friends and common sense for fame?” 
Tears welled up in Applejacks eyes. 
“No sugarcube I don’t, you know that. The only reason that ah put it up there is to show that ah am thinking of you down here, that’s all…” 
She trailed off. 
“If… if you want me to take the picture down ah-” 
She stopped as Rainbow Dash tackled her in a hug. 
“No Applejack I am sorry, I just saw that picture and assumed the worst. And that was wrong of me and if anypony should apologize, it should be me.” 
Applejack stared deeply into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. 
“No you don’t need to ah just… ah… ” 
She turned away. Dash saddened by the turn of events, tried to cheer her friend up.
“You know AJ, I think you handled scouting for the day, how about I just stay here and help you out, I mean if I won’t be in the way or anything…” 
Applejack perked up at this but replied, “Dash you don’t have to do that, ah can deal with it and ah know how much you hate having to stay in one place all day.” 
Dash just smiled. 
“It’s ok really, and besides, since I am on the move so much, I get kind of lonely to, so how do you set up one of these dispenser things?” 
Applejack chuckled and began to instruct her surprisingly eager friend.
After an entire day of setting up and repairing the various machines, they were finial victorious. Applejack started a camp fire out of the remains of a RED team teleporter, and neither was quite ready to return to the base for the night. They just sat together gazing up at the stars peacefully. 
“You think we will ever get home to Ponyville AJ?” 
Applejack looked away and sighed. 
“Ah hope so, Applebloom is still missing, ah hope she and the others stayed in Ponyville, ah don’t want ‘em to see this. Though, she is a bit too young to be bucking apples by herself, and with me and Big Mac here, ah don’t know how we are going to get the harvest done in time for winter…” 
Not wanting her friends despair to grow, Dash whispered in her ear, 
“Don’t worry, when we get back, I will come on over to the farm and help you out. With my help I bet we will get that harvest done in ten seconds flat”, and gave her a trademark smile. 
“Thank you Dash, it means a lot to meh.” 
Her friend just smiled and leaned in close to her. Applejack blushed slightly but leaned in to until they met in a soft kiss that lasted until they drifted off to sleep. The last thought that Applejack had was tasting the distinct flavor of skittles.
Dash awoke the next morning in a haze of disorientation to the sound of an alarm clock, which she quickly smashed in aggravation of being woken up so early. The last thing she remembered was snuggling closely to Applejack in the cool night. Was it all just a dream then? She wondered. Suddenly she realized that there was something covering her face. It was Applejack’s hat! What was it doing on her and more importantly, where was Applejack? She wasn’t in bed with her so maybe she just carried her back to the base and went off to her bed? Annoyed that Applejack hadn’t just stayed with her that night, she set off to find her friend. On her way to Applejack’s room, she ran into Scout. 
“Hey Dash good morning, how are you do-” 
He blinked when he saw Applejack’s trademark hat on her head and smirked. 
“Well, well, well Dashie it seems you have been scouting out more than just the RED base huh?” 
Dash gave him a look and he quickly got a hint and scampered off. Sighing she continued on her way to Applejack’s room. At that moment she collided with Rarity who had been carrying a large assortment of fabrics which scattered everywhere. 
“Oh watch where you’re going you-” 
She then realized it was Dash and began to apologize when she noticed Applejack’s hat on her friend’s head. Here we go again, Dash thought to herself. Rarity let out an exaggerated gasp and proclaimed, 
“Dash darling, whatever are you doing with that…that thing on your head, it totally clashes with your mane and is a crime to all of fashion.” 
Rainbow Dash looked surprised. She was about to answer when Rarity cut her off. 
“Honestly Dash, I expected as much from Applejack, but surely you know that it’s not even the right season for something of such a brutishly plain color, I shall not allow you to embarrass yourself further and demand you take that off and find a hat with more elegance and-” 
Dash cut her off, “Rarity, this isn’t even my hat, it is Applejack’s and I was just returning it to her.”
Now Rarity looked confused. 
“But why would you have her hat so early in the morning, is this one of your pranks?” 
Dash blushed and not wanting to answer the awkward question nodded quickly and ran past her saying 
“No-I mean yea that’s it you caught me, don’t tell AJ bye,” and ducked into Applejack’s room. 
A still confused Rarity huffed in annoyance.
“Well I never…” and collected her things and continued on her way to her own room. 
Applejack had just gotten up when Rainbow Dash seemed to all but throw herself into the room, falling on top of her. 
“Oh you got me meh hat, thank you kindly Dash.” 
Applejack said with a yawn nuzzling her affectionately.
“I…but you…why did I have your hat on my face this morning?” 
Applejack blinked in surprise, 
“Don’t you remember sugarcube?” 
Dash just shook her head. 
“Well you looked so peaceful when you were asleep that ah didn’t want to wake you up, and ah gave you meh hat so the sun wouldn’t wake you up when ah carried you back into your room at dawn.” 
Dash blushed at the thought of being carried all the way to her room after spending the whole day and most of the night together with Applejack. Hopefully the others will not jump to conclusions or anything she thought, at least not to soon... 
“So umm… do you want to do the same thing again today?” 
Applejack smiled at her friend. 
“Sure thing just let me grab meh things and we can head out there.” 
With that the two friends left the building and headed out to start the seemingly never ending battle that suddenly didn’t seem as terrible now that they had each other...          

> Dash's 20 % cooler new style
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLP tf2 crossover: Dash’s new weapon and style
Rainbow Dash had just captured the last control point and was heading inside from the battlements when she saw the others gathered around a pile of creates and… Derpy? What was she doing here? Flying over to them she noticed they were pulling out new gear. Ditzy Doo flew up to her carrying what appeared to be one of Heavy’s guns. 
“I got you a package” she said one eye focused on her while the other drifted into a different direction.
“Umm Derpy I don’t think that’s my mine…” 
She looked down at the large weapon and then back up at Dash then back down at the weapon again. Nodding she pulled out a small box decorated like a present. 
“Here you go.”
Unfortunately this caused her to drop the heavy weapon. There was a scream of “Oh no!” from the weapon’s true owner as it plummeted downward and fell on top of him. Dash winced at the sound of the crash and quickly went to another corner of the base to see what she got. It was a strange looking gun similar to her scattershot one designed to look like a movie camera. It was called The Frenchie’s Friend and had two buttons on the side. One was labeled fast forward in blue and the other slow motion mode in red. The instructions said (rather unnecessarily) that if she fired it at her team mates she would speed up their movements and adversely slow down the RED team’s motion if that setting was on. Dash smiled to herself with the thought of running circles around the RED team especially their scout. Not that she couldn’t do that already of course, but now she wouldn’t even have to try. And the speed boast to the others will be very useful to, like when Pinkie Pie charges in with her flaming Katanas. Down on the ground Dash saw that Big Macintosh had managed to heave the large weapon off Heavy and was now testing it to become more accustomed to its different weight. On the far corner of the resupply area, Twilight was inspecting her new rifle with an upgraded scope, not unlike a telescope, much to her satisfaction. Though Dash was worried Twilight might spend more time moon gazing or day dreaming about Luna than performing her job as a Sniper. Pinkie Pie was as usual bouncing all over the room celebrating her new flame thrower that in a rather disturbing way resembled Gummy. Applejack had a new pistol which she named Little Macintosh. Zecora had a blueprint for a new sticky grenade that was hallow inside so she could put one of her more deadly brews inside. Spike was trying to show off to Rarity his new rocket launcher as she applied her new disguise kit and admiring its new found effectiveness. Fluttershy was attempting to coax an injured mouse out of his home, wanting to try out her new healing device that caused any injured animals in the immediate area of the healing to be healed whenever she healed someone on her team. Dash was sure these new weapons would give them a good edge over the Red team. 
As the usual day started and they all got a chance to test out their new items, Dash could not help but feel…aggravated. Like she was missing out on something and it kept nagging her until it started to drive her crazy. At one point she came to the conclusion that her hat needed to be 20% cooler to go with her new gun. 
“Wait, why do I care about my fashion?” 
Then a terrible thought entered her head. Ohmygosh am I turning into Rarity or something? Shaking her head to clear her mind she could not help but still feel like she still needed a change for her hat. Dash started to wonder about why her new and improved scatter gun looked like a movie camera when she heard a strange popping noise. Dash reflexively dove for cover and when nothing happened she looked around to see what had made her jump. As her eyes drifted over her reflection she gasped. Instead of the classic hat of the scout, she now had a black french beret. Inside it on the rim was sewed Maxime’s Best. Who is that? Dash wondered. 
“I must say, you have wonderful taste in fashion Dash.”
Dash jumped into the air in surprise as the Spy uncloaked next to her. 
“I would never have pegged you as a lover of Maxime’s films, but it is a small universe no?”
Dash stared at him with a look of confusion. 
“But I don’t even know how this is…” 
Spy’s eyes widened. 
Strange that you would imitate so closely one you are not familiar with, though I suppose the same could be said for when I disguise. Nevertheless, Maxime is a renowned creator of the finest of classics, as well as some of the more recent titles.”
He then recounted several movies that were directed by the famous director’s genius. Dash shook her head unfamiliar with any of the titles. The Spy simply shrugged and offered that she could join him and Rarity later that night should she wish to experience their wonder. Dash, though she had been slightly intrigued, declined saying that she would be busy. 
“If you ever change your mind, express your interest to myself or dear Rarity and we shall fetch you once we can arrange a time to view Maxime’s epics. I fear that you would find it rather difficult to find us on your own…” 
With that he bowed and cloaked. Dash with nothing else to do, she started back toward the practice room when she suddenly realized that her new found hat and gun must be part of a set of some sort. And maybe if she had the full set, she could figure out why her new gear was attributed to whoever this Maxime was. 
“It will at least give me something to look forward to, besides finding a way back home that is…”
Her new mission now set in her mind; she flew up to her favorite napping spot for some much needed rest.                                   
                                            
        
> Applebloom and her mark on the world
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applebloom’s mark on the world…
Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, and Applebloom jumped toward the strange ball of RED light. There was a bright flash of light, and the three fillies found themselves in a large, cold room. It was almost as large as Applejack’s barn and everything in the room had a red tint to it, similar to the shade of blood. 
“W-where are we?” Applebloom wondered aloud. 
Sweetie Bell glanced around. 
“There does not seem to be anypony here, maybe we went into an alternate dimension where ponies do not exist?” 
Applebloom shrugged and went to catch up to Scootaloo, who had meanwhile gone in search of an exit.  Scootaloo scouted ahead, trying to find some kind of door out of this room which started to feel like a prison. Applebloom followed her Pegasus friend and started to wonder if something was wrong. 
“Are ya ok Scoot?”
She turned around and quickly regarded the earth pony, 
“Yea I’m fine but this place is giving me the creeps, all this red is making me dizzy…” 
Applebloom nodded and continued on her way. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied a tool box abandoned in the corner of the room behind some creates. Curious to learn what it was doing there, she approached it. 
“Applebloom, what are you doing?” 
Sweetie Bell called after her.  Applebloom ignored her, transfixed on the box in front of her. She opened the box and picked up the wrench inside. There was a boom and a flash of light, Applebloom frightened by this, hid in a corner with the others until the light had faded. Applebloom felt an odd, burning feeling on her flank. 
“Applebloom, you got-” Scootaloo began before the three fillies fainted after being exposed to a sedative gas that had leaked into the room without them noticing.
Applebloom woke up in a dark, damp cell. Sweetie Bell lay in a corner, snoring softly and shivering. Scootaloo was attempting to buck through the rusty iron bars, with little success.  Applebloom turned to her flank, already expecting to see what was usually there, nothing. She gasped in surprise when she saw it. 
”I got mah cutie mark!” she exclaimed with unmatched glee. 
She had finial done it, and without the help of anything like heart’s desire ether. It was a wrench, set in front of a dark red apple.  Applebloom could not hold in her joy. She rushed over to Scootaloo, who was still struggling to force the door open. 
“Look Scoot, I got mah cutie mark, isn’t this great?” 
Scootaloo paused and said between heavy breaths, 
“That’s great… Applebloom now help me with…this…” 
“Sure thing Scoot,” and with a few kicks from the now no longer blank flanked filly, the bars were knocked off their hinges and they were free. Scootaloo’s eyes widened. 
“Whoa Applebloom, since when are you able to buck so hard?” 
Applebloom flushed with embarrassment, 
“Well maybe, when you get your cutie mark, anything your good at you suddenly get a lot better at?” 
Scoot nodded and accepted this. 
“Hey you two what’s with all the racket?” Sweetie Bell asked suddenly, yawning.
“Sweetie Bell look, I got mah cutie mark!” 
The young unicorn yawned, 
“Oh that’s nice… wait what?”
Applebloom proudly showed off her new mark to her friends. Soon they all were laughing and congratulating in a group hug.
“Aw, now isn’t this cute,” said a voice behind them. 
The figure stepped forward, and was staring down at them. 
“W-who are you?” Scootaloo challenged.  
He smiled. 
“I am the RED Sniper, and unless you tell me who you are and why you are here… well let’s just say you will become mighty acquainted with my barbeque grill.” 
The fillies’ eyes widened. 
“You mean you will EAT us?” 
The Sniper chuckled darkly. 
“I have eaten worse looking things than you when I was stranded in the desert wasteland of the Outback for a year…” 
He trailed off, lost in a seemingly painful memory.
“Now then who are you?” 
He glared at them menacingly and produced a large knife from his back. 
“My name is Scootaloo, this is Sweetie Bell and that is Applebloom,” Scootaloo said with a gulp. 
“Aye, and what are you doing here?” 
They looked at each other. 
“We don’t know, we got teleported to that room and-” 
He cut her off. 
“To the room that just happened to be where our respawning machine was, all that damage you caused it and that big scorch mark where you “teleported” seems to suggest you were sabotaging it.” 
Applebloom cocked her head. 
“What is a respawning machine?” 
The Sniper stared enter her eyes, looking for some sign that she was hiding something. He waved his hand annoyed. 
“Ok never mind that, now then what to do with you… you have seen too much by now, so now you have two choices, join us…” 
And then leaned down at them, licking his lips, “Or join Dinner…” 
Scootaloo looked back at the others, they nodded sadly and she turned to him.
“Ok we will join you, now what do we do?” 
He gestured them to fallow him into a bunk house where other red coated men rested or did various other activities. 
“All right mates, looks like we have some new recruits.” 
They all laughed at the frightened fillies and three of them approached the crusaders. 
“Uh, I’ll take the one with the purple hair I under my wing, I could use a little servant to carry my junk around for me,” said a chuckling boy with a bat.
“And I shall instruct this one in the ways of stealth…” proclaimed a man behind them whose face was mostly covered in a mask. 
He pointed at Sweetie Bell and started to drag her away. 
“And ah reckon ah could use an assistant to carry scraps and the like.” 
A man with a hard hat and thick work gloves said, and motioned Applebloom to come over to him.  The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other, they silently agreed to meet back near the cell they had been in earlier, when it was safe and the cost was clear. That is, if they survived whatever their captors had in store for them… 

> Rainbow Dash vs. Scootabuse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Scootaloo was half dragged by the RED Scout as they made their way to her new “room”. The room was really little more than a small cage that has a thin scrap of cloth meant to be a blanket and an old flour sack as a pillow. The cage reeked of decay and other things that Scootaloo would rather not think about.  She turned to her new “teacher” and asked, 
“Is…is this where I really have to sleep?” 
He grinned and said
“You’re gonna sleep where ever I tell you to, got it? Good, now go to bed.” 
She swallowed. 
“Yes…” 
Scootaloo was unfortunately used to this kind of treatment. Her Father would usually beat her on a regular basis, and do other even crueler things to her when he was drunk. Shivering in memory, she examined him closely. He did not look drunk or have that dark look in his eye as her father did, so that was good. But her hesitation to get into her bed earned her a sharp crack on the head with his bat. 
“I said GO TO BED, you brat.” 
She whimpered and crawled into the space, lightly touching the new welt on her back gingerly. Scootaloo just hoped the others, if they managed to get away from their new owners that they would not wait up for her long or worse, get in more trouble while doing so… 
Scootaloo woke up the next morning aching all over. The beating she had suffered last night had kept her up all night and the wound had now swollen into a large purple-black lump on her head, making it look deformed. She had hoped to get out of bed before the RED Scout woke up to check on her friends, but the Scout was waiting for her at the door of her cage. 
“Alright, alright get up already, we have a long day today and you have a lot of work to do…” 
He dropped a large bag at her feet as she walked out of her prison. 
“You need to deliver all these messages by sundown or else…” 
He gazed at her threateningly. She nodded quickly, eager to have the freedom of walking around the base. As if sensing her hope, he crushed it saying, 
“And don’t get any ideas about seeing your friends, they are busy doing stuff for the others, now get going!” 
With that he smacked his bat against her back leg and laughed as she stumbled. Scoot rose and ran out of the room, tears threating to fall from her eyes. She blinked hard and pulled out the first message. It was for the RED Spy. Scootaloo hoped she could find him, the invisibility watch he had was going to make him difficult to track down. After a few hours, Scootaloo had all but given up on the mission. Strangely all the letters were for the Spy, and after a mere moment of second thoughts, she opened it. It said, 
“Hey Spy, do me a favor and beat some manners into this runt for me, she has no respect. I owe ya one, Scout” 
After a quick check, she found all the letters said the same thing. 
“Why would he go to so much trouble just to have me beaten?” 
Suddenly a fist contacted with her skull, breaking the train of thought. 
“Why have you not delivered the message yet? Are you-” 
The enraged Scout paused noticing the open letter in her hoof. 
“You… you read the letter? Oh you are SO going to get it.” 
He started to hit her repeatedly with is bat, and Scootaloo could only gasp in pain. 
“Now-” 
The Scout suddenly jumped to the side, and Scootaloo felt a sharp burning pain enflame her chest. A baseball had struck her in the chest, and now Scootaloo was completely still. The last thing she saw before slipping into unconsciousness was her idol Rainbow Dash, rushing forward at full speed. Knowing that she would be in good hoofs soon, Scootaloo embraced the darkness that clouded her mind…
Rainbow Dash had been making her usual rounds when she spotted her. Scootaloo, covered in bruises and welts was standing limply as the RED Scout started to beat her with a blood stained bat. And that blood had to be her blood… Rage clouded Dash’s mind as she viewed the horrible scene. Scootaloo had suffered enough from her father, who beat her and abused her so often, some days when she came to watch Dash practice, she would be more black and blue from the bruises than she would be orange, her natural coat color. Without thinking, Dash launched a ball up in the air and swung. And to this day, what happened after that swing haunted Rainbow Dash’s darkest nightmares. The RED Scout side steeped the incoming ball, as if knowing it was coming. And the ball kept going until it made contact with the nearest RED team member. Scootaloo. Scootaloo’s eyes seemed to widen, and recognize that Rainbow Dash was there, before rolling to the back of her head as she collapsed on the ground, completely still. Dash was frozen in shock. Did she just HIT Scootaloo, while she was already receiving a beating. And after years of beatings from her father, Rainbow Dash, her friend and idol, who had sworn never to hurt a hair on her mane and protect Scootaloo from ponies who would try to hurt her. Ponies like that pig of a father of hers… And her eyes… those eyes had recognized her. Did she know that it was her idol that had stunned her and possibly… No, she thought, the ball is meant to stun not kill she said to herself. The ball is MENT for somepony much older than her… whispered a dark voice inside her head. 
“What am I doing, I need to get down there and save her, and make things right…” 
She rushed down to Scootaloo at top speed, ignoring the taunts the RED Scout was throwing at her. Once she reached the ground, she ran over to Scootaloo and checked her pulse. It was very faint, but there. 
“Thank Celestia…” She whispered. 
Then she turned around, anger spiking,
“YOU, HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO HER, AFTER ALL THAT SHE HAS SUFFERED THROUGH!” 
She ran over to him, and before he could react, slammed him into the wall with her bat. 
“Don’t EVER touch her or her friends again, understand?” 
He nodded weakly. Then without warning, Dash hit him again, so hard that his body was flung into the air and over the wall. Dash then ran back over to Scootaloo and after checking her pulse, gently picked her up and started to run. Dash just hoped she could get ether to Fluttershy or Applejack in time…
Applejack was closer so Dash choose to take her dying number one fan to her base.
“Applejack! Help me please!”  
Applejack rushed over to her. 
“Hang on Dash, what is wrong-” 
She froze and paled at the sight of a still Scootaloo being cradled by Rainbow Dash, with tears flowing from her eyes. Applejack worked quickly and cleared off Dash’s napping cot near the Applespencer for the injured filly. Together, they laid her down and watched as the medical matrix of the Applespencer began to slowly heal the wounds of her beatings.  Dash couldn’t take it anymore. 
“I…I am the reason she is like that AJ, I-I-I saw the RED Scout beating her and I tried to stun him with a ball, but he dodged it and it...it hit her… oh Applejack.” 
She sobbed and buried her face in her friend’s mane. 
Applejack held her emotionally hurt friend tightly and whispered calmly, 
“I-it’s alright sugar cube, you didn’t mean for that ball to hit her. Ah am sure once she wakes up and you explain she will-”
Rainbow Dash cut her off. 
“And what if she doesn’t wake up AJ, I may have just killed my…” 
She continued to sob as Applejack brushed her mane and whispered in her ear, 
“Remember when you got poisoned Dash, and ah carried you back here?” 
Dash nodded. 
“Well, if the Applespencer can heal you when you were so weak, it should have no problem healing Scootaloo.” 
“But-” 
Dash began.
“Now come on Dash, your worrying an’t gonna help anypony, and ah want you to calm down now, you need to be strong for Scootaloo you here?”
Dash nodded, tears still in her eyes. 
“Thanks Applejack, I needed that…” 
Applejack smiled and nuzzled her affectionately.
“Don’t mention it sugar cube.” 
After giving Dash a quick kiss, she turned and said in a determined voice, 
“Well, let’s see what we can do to speed up her recovery.” 
Dash rose and together they got to work on the upgrades. When they finished, Dash silently crawled into bed to share her warmth with the shivering hurt filly…

Scootaloo head pounded as she came to and tried to figure out what happened.  She was getting beaten by the RED Scout, and then Rainbow Dash appeared. Dash did… something, and then Scootaloo had felt that awful pain slam into her chest. Had Rainbow Dash hit her? No, the Scout jumped out of the way, and the ball hit her instead. Dash had not meant to hit her, Dash would NEVER hurt her. They were practically sisters. Scootaloo was suddenly aware of some other pony in the bed curled up with her in the bed. Opening her eyes, she found Rainbow Dash, who was snoring silently, had wrapped herself protectively around the young filly. Scootaloo smiled, and though it was slightly bittersweet since she was free while the others were still captive at the RED base, right now Scootaloo could not be more continent or happier. Her idol had saved her, and protected her as she healed. 
“Thank you Rainbow Dash...” she whispered. 
Dash slowly opened her eyes.
“Sure thing kid, you know I would never sit by if I saw that you were hurt, I could never leave you hanging…” 
She trailed off and closed her eyes before opened them again wide in shock.
“Scootaloo! Are you all right? I am so sorry I did not mean to hit you, I saw what the RED Scout was doing to you and I got so angry… I never thought to stop and check if he saw me…” 
She trailed off. Scootaloo smiled, tears shined in her eyes. 
“I don’t blame you Rainbow Dash, I know you would never hurt me, and if you had not come when you did, I don’t know if I would still be alive by now…” 
She shivered. Dash looked at her concerned. 
“Was he as bad as…?” 
Scoot stopped her. 
“No, not as bad as…him. But he was close Dash, really close.” 
Dash held her closer. “I am just glad you are ok Scootaloo, if something happened to you because of me, I…” 
Scootaloo returned the hug. 
“It’s fine really, I am just sorry you had to rescue me, we will save Applebloom and Sweetie Bell right?” 
Dash hugged her tighter. 
“Of course kid, of course we will…” 
Scootaloo sighed, relived.
“You know what Dash…?” 
She asked.
“What Scoot?” She smiled.
“You’re a totally awesome sister!” 
As she snuggled close to her idol, Rainbow Dash smiled, and a tear slowly fell from her eye.
“Not nearly as awesome as you kid…” 
And slowly closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep…

> Twilight's death and Luna's blessing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle gazed out into a great expanse of swirling darkness. The entire area around her was pitch black, save for small area above her, alit with a blood red moon. 
“So… this is death?”
Suddenly her last moments overcame her in a sudden current that was too strong for here to hold back…
It had started out as an average day, she took up one of her usual spots on a roof overlooking the RED base and got to work taking out as many RED team members as she could. She had just nailed the RED Medic to the adjacent wall with her bow when a sharp, icy pain swelled from the small of her back. 
“I finial found you, you impudent pony…” 
The RED Spy chuckled as he dragged the dying unicorn’s body over to the edge of the roof. 
“Enjoy death my dear,” he whispered in her ear as he kicked her off the roof’s edge. 
Twilight could only let out a silent scream of fear as she fell. Her mind flashed back to the time where she had fallen in the Everfree forest. But then she had had Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy there to catch her. There would be no chance ether of them could save her this time though. Fluttershy was busy healing on the front lines and Dash was undoubtedly scouting the RED base or otherwise… distracted by Applejack, or she could even be watching over poor Scootaloo. No, there was nopony to save her now. With a heavy, grieved sigh, she tilted her head back just enough to view the ground, just in time to see it rushing to meet her. Twilight let out a single tear, regretting that she could no longer help her friends and how her death would hurt them, especially Spike. Twilight had been doubting insider herself from the beginning that this was all her fault, and maybe Princess Celestia’s punishment had finally come. Then she hit the ground and felt a sharp, agonizing crack in her neck and another at the base of her spine. And then there was nothing but darkness…  
Twilight had begun to weep in her sadness when a voice rang out from the empty void around her. 
“I am sorry Twilight, I never meant to cause this suffering onto you or the others, forgive me please…” 
Twilight’s head shot up and peered in the direction of the voice. 
“Princess… Princess Luna?” 
A dark, be shadowed form rose from the innermost darkness. It was indeed Princess Luna, but in the form of Nightmare Moon. Twilight was both shocked and relived. 
“Princess Luna… w-what happened to you?”
Luna/Nightmare Moon looked away. In a grieved voice filled with regret she answered. 
“After what happened to you and your friends, I could not but blame myself… I withdrew from Tia’s side despite her protests and waited…” 
Twilight moved closer to her depressed Princess and whispered, 
“I don’t blame for what happened, none of us do, if it is anypony’s fault, it should be mine, if I had been more careful…” 
She trailed off and jumped back as Luna wiped around to her. 
“And if I had not sent you on that quest, none of this would have happened…” 
Luna hung her head in self-pity and looked away. 
“Perhaps the Elements of Harmony have not truly banished Nightmare Moon after all, and I am still under its influence even now…” 
Twilight suddenly pulled Luna closer as she began to weep. 
“Luna please don’t blame yourself, it was just a mistake. Just because it forced us to join this war doesn’t mean you are evil inside, you did not intend for us to go there.” 
Luna looked from Twilight’s shoulder with a confused expression on her face. 
“But how can you-” 
Twilight cut her off. 
“I can because you are my friend and I… I care about you too much to see you like this…” 
She trailed off, blushing with embarrassment at how forward she had been with Luna, both with her supportive insistence and with her inner most feelings. Luna’s eyes widened in surprise as the revelations of what Twilight had said and meant became clear. Luna ceased her crying and drew the dead unicorn close in a tight embrace. 
“Is… is that what you truly…” 
Twilight nodded and held her breath, expecting to her the Princess scold her for admitting her hidden feelings so openly to her. Instead she felt Luna nuzzle her affectionately and whisper in her ear, 
“I care for you too, Twilight Sparkle.” 
Twilight gasped and felt suddenly start beating wildly at the news. Luna leaned in and kissed her softly for a time before slowly leaning away and sighing. 
“I fear now is the time for you to make a choice, though I am sure of your answer in any case…” 
Twilight blushing and slightly out of breath asked,
“W-what is it Luna?” 
Luna’s eyes were mirrors of sorrow. 
“I can take you with me and you could join Tia and I and have a place at our side in Canterlot, you would become the Princess of the time of Twilight…” 
Twilight’s eyes widened. 
“You… you can do that?” 
She smiled. 
“Of course, I can Twilight, with Celestia’s approval which she would gladly give; you would be the first pony to be given the honor to become a Princess, you may even be changed into an alicorn should you wish it as well.”
Luna laughed briefly at Twilight’s expression before continuing. 
“Why so surprised Twilight, surly you would know that being the lover of a Princess has its advantages…” 
Luna winked at her and Twilight nearly fainted as her heart seemed to leap out of her chest. But before she could get her head together, Luna added in a pained voice, 
“But know that I can also return you to your friends in the world of which you are currently trapped upon…”  
A swirl of conflicting emotions battled fiercely in Twilight’s heart. On one side was her love for Luna, new blossomed in full with the knowledge that she returned those feelings. But on the other side was the thought of betrayal that it would mean to her friends. They needed her now more than ever; she couldn’t just forsake them for an offer of paradise with Luna. Twilight swallowed heavily. 
“Luna I cannot thank you enough for your offer, and would love to join you and Celestia and… and be your lover but-” 
Princess Luna held up her hoof.  
“Say no more Twilight, I knew that this would be your choice, I could not love if you had chosen to abandon your friends for me, but I still had to offer the alternative…”
Twilight Sparkle nodded in understanding. 
“And so, before you return to your friends, I shall bestow my blessing onto you.” 
Twilight gasped as Luna touched her horn against her own. 
“Your magic shall now be much stronger at the night, and be tenfold as magnified whenever you are under the full gaze of my moon. And your body’s reflexes have now been honed to a much sharper level, which should prevent that accursed Spy from backstabbing you from now on.” 
Twilight hugged Luna close, she could not find word to express her gratitude. 
“And I am also sending to you two… friends I met while imprisoned on the Moon. They may need some convincing, especially the…” 
She paused a moment in thought before continuing. 
“The Sagely, Industrious, Illustrious, and Incomparable Ben.”
Luna rolled her eyes at the lengthily and most likely exaggerated title. Twilight giggled. 
“Wow, even Trixie’s title was not that long.” 
Luna chuckled before leaning close and kissing her lover again. As the broke away a time later, she whispered. 
“Are you ready to join your friends once more Twilight Sparkle?” 
Twilight nodded, still out of breath. “
And if you ever get lonely, a death under the full moon will return you to my side…” 
Twilight nodded and blushed slightly at the implications. Luna simply gazed at her for a time. Then, with her horn aglow, kissed her once more. Twilight’s eyes suddenly became alit with a shining white light and she started to hover above the ground. The blood red moon above them, which had before illumined the two of them in a red haze, was now a brilliant and pure white. Without breaking contact from Twilight, Luna extended her wings and together they rose until they eclipsed the moon’s light. With a sorrowful heart, Luna pushed Twilight’s spirit away from her and toward the rising warmth that was her sister’s sun. Luna felt weak and fatigued from the strength of the resurrection spell she had cast, but her gaze stayed affixed on Twilight and the sparkling trail she left as she drew close to the sun and then faded. 
“The kiss of life is very taxing…” Luna whispered to herself. 
She was now once again the normal form of Princess Luna, the spell not only rejuvenating Twilight, but also reviving Luna’s faith in herself, reverting her back to her true appearance. 
“… but more than worth it…” She continued, with a small smile on her lips…
Twilight Sparkle slowly opened her eyes.  Gathered all around her were her friends as well as the ones in the blue team, each wearing a concerned look on their face. 
“Twilight, can you hear me?” 
whispered Fluttershy, as she bandaged Twilight’s side. Twilight yawned. 
“Yes, Fluttershy I can hear yo-” 
Fluttershy abruptly hugged her, silencing the tired unicorn.
“We were so worried you were not going to wake up and…” 
She started to cry softly and Twilight comforted her and assured her everything was fine. Her friends all cheered at the news that she was going to be ok and after wishing her a speedy recovery, filed out of the room, leaving her to rest for now. Rainbow Dash stopped at the door, 
“Hey Twilight, what is death like?” 
Twilight paused and considered it a moment. 
“Death is… nice.” 
She soon blushed in thought as her mind recalled what had occurred after she had died. Dash raised her eye brow when she noticed this, but just rolled her eyes and said, 
“Well Twi, I am glad you had fun with the grim reaper, I just hope wherever I end up when I die, Applejack is there to…” 
She trailed off before remembering they were still talking. 
“… um anyway I hope you get well soon Twilight.” 
With that she left the room, leaving Twilight to rest. Twilight laughed to herself. 
“Yea, death was nice…” She gazed out at the rising sun above the horizon.
“But life… life is a blessing.” 
Twilight slowly closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep…


> The Sagely, Industrious, Illustrious, and Incomparable BEN
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight yawned and slowly got out of her bed, wincing in pain as she did so. Though her muscles were still a bit stiff, both Fluttershy and the Medic had checked her out and said she was ready to go back out into the battlefield again. Twilight had thought for a long time over what had happened to her and had come to the conclusion that though if she did die, Luna would most likely be there to save her again. But that was no reason to throw caution to the wind and risk everything just to get caught by her safety net at death. Blushing at the memories of her death, she whispered to herself.
“Still, I wouldn’t mind getting rescued by her every now and again…” 
Stretching, Twilight forced herself to get moving again, as she started to get ready for another day of sniping.
Twilight Sparkle had just 	lined up her next shot to take out a bothersome RED Pyro when a large crash from the center of 2fort knocked her down and sent her sprawling against the large crate she was using for cover. Fearing something bad had happened, she tapped into her now increased power and teleported back to the BLU briefing room. Her friends were all gathered around a large, spherical object just outside of the room. Running over to her curious friends, she asked panting, 
“W-what’s going on girls?” 
Rainbow Dash answered her, though she did not take her eyes of the strange object.
“Nopony knows, but I have a bad feeling about this, what if the RED team sent this thing, and it’s a bomb or something?”
Twilight turned back to the sphere and was about to express her doubt when a flash of light emitted from it and temporarily blinded the gathered ponies. Blinking back tears, Twilight could just make out something separating from the object. Was it a… stage? After a moment, her vision cleared and saw that it was indeed a stage, with two figures standing at the center. The first was what appeared to be a large Dragon of some kind, with maroon scales and a ruby red glow that seemed to shine with an impossibly bright haze over the scales and black tipped spikes on his head and wings. The other figure beside the dragon was an odd looking pale coated earth pony with a microphone cutie mark. His mane and beard was a shaggy mess of brown hair, but contrary to his unkempt hair, he was dressed sharply in a dark tuxedo.  The pony’s yellow eyes seemed to dart around as he eyed the group, as if expecting them to disappear in an instant. The dragon stepped forward as a large podium rose from the floor. Reaching it, he proclaimed to the gathered ponies, 
“Behold, it is I the Sagely, Industrious, Illustrious, and Incomparable BEN!”
He paused and waited, as if he expected shocked gasps or thundering applause. When nothing was seen or heard, he glanced at them with an annoyed expression. After a moment, Dash leaned over to Twilight and whispered aloud, 
“Wow, even Trixie’s title wasn’t that long…” 
Twilight could not help but giggle at this, but soon regretted it as an overwhelming force yanked her into the air and pulled her up to be eye level with the now enraged dragon. “You… you dare mock the Illustrious Ben?” Twilight was about to reply when he cut her off.
“No…no wait I know you, your Twilight Sparkle, the pony that the wretched rebel Luna requested we safe guard while you are in this world.”
Twilight’s eyes widened as she recalled that Luna had promised to send them to help her. Though they sure aren’t being very helpful at the moment, she thought to herself.
“Oh, so you’re the one Princess Luna sent to help us! Ok so first you should-”
The dragon’s eyes were alight with fury as he growled darkly, “You do NOT command me, I shall do as I wish, for I am the Sagely, Industrious, Illustrious, and Incomparable BEN!” 
Twilight, not wanting to anger the dragon to the point of his ensuing rampage, nodded in appeasement as he released his magical hold on her and dropped her to the ground, causing her to yelp in surprise. Ben smirked in amusement at her misfortune as she tripped while starting to get up before turning back to the crowd.
“I have chosen to take control of this world to ease the boredom that I face while under Luna’s debt, and I will now take control of this world, should you have any questions about your new ruler, direct your attention to my head servant Silver Speech.” 
With that he disappeared in a large flash of light, dazing the ponies once more.
Silver Speech waited for a moment until he was sure the ponies could see again before he hesitantly began.
“Ok, I know this looks bad, but Ben won’t eat your anything like that… probably.”
Dash flew up next to him and glared at him in fury.
“What do you mean probably? And why are you helping him, huh? Does he give you control over some of the land?” He was about to answer when she leaned closer. 
“Or does he give us to you as slaves?”
Silver Speech swallowed and hurriedly assured her.
“NO, nothing like that at all, he just employs me as his butler, to take care of cleaning and other things that he deems unnecessary that a being as powerful as him should have to do…”
Dash stared into his eyes questioningly, but after a moment decided that it was true, or at least his explanation would do for the moment.
Silver Speech sighed in relief and turned to Twilight with a pleading look.
“So can everypony just calm down so I can explain the changes that Ben will make?”
Twilight nodded egger to hear what the strange stallion was going to say.
“Ok, so from what I have gathered, Ben is currently taking over Mann co. and most likely scoping out the RED team for anypony that he deems worthy of being a servant to him. Meanwhile, I am supposed to similarly examine you all for the qualities he is looking for.” He paused and looked over them for a moment.
“I don’t see what he wants in any of you, so you are safe there, now all I have to do is replace the announcer for the battles that you fight in and everything should basically turn back to normal for you, more or less.”
Twilight glanced back over to the others and the nodded in agreement to listen to him. Twilight was pretty sure Ben’s title was exaggerated; still she could tell he was powerful, and even if she was fully recovered from her near death experience, she doubted she could take him on and win. She suddenly jumped back as a swirling dark portal appeared next to her and a unicorn with onyx colored coat stepped out, wearing simple dark purple beret. His long black hair that had a blue strip running down the middle covered half his face, and his striped tail was styled into points in such a way that it resembled a razor. His cutie mark was an open book, perhaps he owned a library? She thought to herself, hoping to find a wider selection of books, as the BLU's library mainly consisted of classical Russian folk tales. He was levitating a pile of books with him as he approached Silver Speech. Silver Speech smiled and introduced him to the others.
“Ah yes, this is Midnight Page, a fellow servant to Ben, and a good friend of mine.” 
The unicorn bowed respectively at the ponies gathered around him. As he turned his gaze to Twilight Sparkle and flipped back his hair to get a better look at her, she gasped.  His left eye was a dark, blood red and his right was a pristine green that seemed to glow eerily in contrast. He smiled at her, showing a flash of fang-like teeth, before beginning. 
“I am tasked with recording your names and positions as well as gathering a general summery of your backgrounds.”
Applejack raised her hoof in confusion.
“And why does that dragon need ta know about us?”
Midnight turned to AJ and said matter-of-factly,
“He simply wants to know more about his new subjects.”
Applejack frowned but accepted this. Silver Speech cleared his throat.
“All right everypony, let’s get started!”
As the ponies started to form a line for the registration, Midnight page whispered quietly,
“I wonder what Ben is doing…”

> Ben and the Cutie Mark Cultists
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The Sagely, Industrious, Illustrious, and Incomparable BEN was indeed having a splendid time. Not only had he slain both the bothersome Administrator and Announcer in five seconds, he had gained access to all of the Mann. Co. resources. After promptly renaming the company Benn co, and setting up Silver Speech as the announcer, he paused to collect his thoughts and to ponder what he would do next. He finally decided on examing the RED team for potential servants, and teleported to the RED base.
Applebloom and Sweetie Bell’s lives had been absolutely miserable the last few days. After Scootaloo’s escape, the RED team no longer held back in their beatings and taunts. Applebloom quickly glanced over to Sweetie Bell to see how she was holding up, and instantly regretted it. Sweetie’s normally snow white coat was darkened and swollen from nasty bruises and she had several large cuts on her flank and along her back. Applebloom wanted to comfort her friend, but her own injuries, mainly her now broken right fore hoof ( thanks to the beating the RED Engineer’s wrench gave her when she had accidently dropped a collection of metal scraps in his work shop) and the fact that she was locked in a cage awaiting further punishment. 
“Ah wish Scootaloo was here, she was always bragging about how Dash had teached her how ta pick locks, and ah miss her just being here at all…”   

Applebloom found it difficult not to be a little jealous of Scootaloo; here they were stuck in the RED base, getting beaten to the point of death until the RED Medic healed them, just to begin the beatings again. Meanwhile, Scootaloo was with her sister and the other ponies, getting to relax and have a full night sleep. But ah shouldn’t be thinkin that, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are friends forever and stick with each other no matter what… right? Applebloom scolded herself again for thinking such thoughts, but still she could feel that if they weren’t rescued soon, she might give in to the RED team’s will in exchange for peace. She wanted to be strong and never give in to anything, like her big sister Applejack or Big Mac, but everypony had their limits, and Applebloom was still only a filly. Applebloom was awoken from her dark thoughts when she heard a loud boom from somewhere further inside the base. Had Applejack, Scootaloo and the others finally come to save them?
Ben was very disappointed, and was losing his patience very quickly. He had arrived in a spectacular show of lights and music, and announced his intentions of looking for recruits to join his esteemed and legendary Army of Honorary Companions. Of course, no servant would ever rise in power and favor enough to become a true companion, as it was the ever sagely Ben’s policy that none were worthy of that tile unless they could at least match his power single handedly. Only the accursed rebel Luna had ever been close, and she was blinded by greed and foolishness. Luna had tried to convince Ben that the Moon belonged to her! Needless to say, that argument sparked the war that lasted a thousand years, until she cowardly fled back to Equestria. But in any case, the RED team had the gull to attempt to attack Ben, had they no idea who they were dealing with? After dispatching them in their feeble attempt to slay him, Ben decided to explore the rest of the base in search of more RED team members to crush. It was then that he discovered the two beaten and nearly broken fillies in the cage. Ben was even surprised how after recovering from the initial viewing of such an Omni powerful being as himself, the filly with a red mane glared at him challengingly. This may be because they are on the brink of death he guessed, still, seeing how two fillies had proved to be more intelligent than the entire RED team combined; Ben was willing to give them a chance.
‘Um… just who are ya Mr. Dragon?”
Ben smiled and gave her a view of his fangs, still stained with blood after snacking on the RED Heavy.
“I am the Sagely, Industrious, Illustrious, and Incomparable BEN! And I have a proposition for you…”
The fillies glanced at each other. 
“And what would that be?” asked the white coated filly beside her, though her body was covered in so many dark welts that even Ben had trouble discerning her true color.
“It is simple really; you shall have the esteemed honor of becoming one of my servants and shall do whatever I wish until a time comes to pass when I no longer require your services any longer.”
The young fillies whispered to each other through their cages and after a moment, the nodded and turned back to the waiting dragon.
“Well, ah suppose serving you can’t be any worse than living with the RED team, so we will join you I guess…”
Ben grinned, pleased at the thought of having new recruits, albeit young ones.
“Well then young ponies, what are your names?”
“My name is Sweetie Bell, and my friend over there is Applebloom, we are part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, questing to-”
Suddenly she froze in mid-sentence, a small knife was sticking out of her back and she slowly started to bleed what little blood remaining in her body. An injured RED Spy laughed as he uncloaked. 
“That is what you get for not being loyal, you brat!”
At that moment the Spy was engulfed in a fiery vortex. As his body disappeared, all that remained was a scorch mark and the smell of brimstone. An enraged Ben screamed, 
“How dare you harm those under my employ and protection!”
Ben quickly muttered a few words and Sweetie Bell’s body jolted as life was restored to her. Ben then spoke another spell silently and both fillies were surrounded by a swirling red light. When it faded, the fillies discovered that all their wounds had been healed. With shocked expressions on their faces, they both started to endlessly thank and compliment Ben. After a moment of ego inflation, he stopped them with a raised claw and pronounced,
“Now then my Cutie Mark Cultists, you shall join me as we go and see how your fellow servants are doing with their tasks.”
Applebloom and Sweetie Bell looked at each other. They briefly pondered the idea of telling the dragon their correct name, but soon realized that such defiance might anger him, and neither wished to share the fate of the RED Spy or the rest of his team. They nodded to each other in agreement and followed Ben into the portal to take them Celestia knows where, happy to finally leave the accursed base. And throughout the brief journey that took place as they traveled between worlds to his other servants, Ben couldn’t stop smiling. The young fillies already knew not to challenge his will. They would soon be able to be appointed to tasks and take on the responsibilities required of them, and best of all, they were learning fast…

> Ben's Challenge
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Ben and his newly appointed cultist finally reached the BLU base after 1 hour of teleportation. Normally, Ben could easily transport thousands of servants between worlds instantly, but most servants are not two young fillies who have to ask about EVERY SINGLE THING that he does and how he came to power. Ben would of course oblige and rant on for a time about his many epic feats and how his power was beyond their comprehension.  But at last they had finally made it. The sagely dragon was not at all surprised to view the shocked but hopeful faces of the BLU team ponies as they saw the very fillies they were questing for appear before them. Applejack stepped forward.
“A-applebloom? Is that really you sis?”
The red manned filly smiled and embraced her older sister.
“Yep it’s me sis, and look ah finally got my cutie mark!”
Tears of joy fell down her face as Applejack hugged Applebloom all the tighter. Rarity had similarly embraced Sweetie bell, though she recoiled slightly at the sight of the filly’s dirty unkempt coat.
“Oh Sweetie Bell, you MUST let me bath you get all of that filth out of your mane!”
Sweetie started to reply but stopped as Scootaloo suddenly burst through the crowed of ponies to hug her friends. 
“Applebloom, Sweetie Bell I am so sorry I didn’t try to rescue you, so much happened and-” 
Applebloom held up a hoof.
“It’s fine Scoot, ah know you did everything you could, we aren’t mad right Sweetie Bell?”
Sweetie nodded, “Of course not, Cutie Mark Cultist- I mean Crusaders stick together no matter what.”
Scootaloo cocked her head in confusion.
“Why did you say Cultists? Did we change our name after I left or something?”
Ben choose this moment to intervene, they had rejoiced long enough. 
“That is the organization’s name while under my employ; you are a member are you not? You are of course welcome to join them, otherwise we will return to my base without you…”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes as she looked up at the dragon. 
“So you saved these fillies from the RED team just to kidnap them?”
Ben simply chuckled at the infuriated Pegasus.
“Of course, they were valuable recruits for my cause, and it was an act of kindness granting them the honor to serve me in the first place. I doubt they would have survived much longer had I left them in their cages.”
Twilight approached Ben and asked with a determined look in her eyes,
“Well we are defiantly grateful, but could you release them from service please?”
Ben glared at her as a smirk slowly formed. 
“I may, if you prove to be worthy of the servants that I handpicked to serve me…”
He paused in thought before continuing,
“Defeat the RED team in various locations of my choice and if you are successful, I may consider releasing them to you, do we have a deal?”
Twilight gasped. How could she let him take the fillies away after they had just been reunited? But there was no way short of the assistance of one of the Princess showing up that they could defeat him and escape.  She glanced around and saw that her friends all had grieved looks on their faces. They knew what she would choose, it was the only choice they had.
“O-0k, we have a deal…”
Ben smiled and bared his fangs at the ponies.
“Wonderful, I will begin preparing immediately, farewell and good luck.”
He then whispered a string of incompressible words and he along with Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, Silver Speech, and Midnight Page was gone in a poof of dark smoke.
Applejack burst into enraged tears at the disappearance of her young sister as Rainbow Dash slowly guided her and a wailing Scootaloo away to their room. Rarity had also stated to cry as Fluttershy attempted to comfort her. Twilight felt her own tears fall at the thought of what she may have condemned the young fillies to. She just hoped that she had made the right choice…
  

> Tank 2.0
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Scootaloo felt a swirl of emotions overtake her as she followed Applejack and her idol back to the room they now shared. She knew that she should not feel bad about not saving her best friends, and that she should rejoice that they were out of the RED base. But there was a deep feeling of guilt. Guilt caused by the knowledge that while she had spent time with her idol safe and sound, they were suffering. Even though the other fillies had forgiven her, Scootaloo still hadn’t completely forgiven herself just yet. And now they were kidnaped by that powerful dragon that convinced them to work for him.
“I… I should be there with them, not relaxing here, it is not fair…” 
As Dash led Applejack to their bed for the night, Scootaloo curled up in a corner and wept, wishing that she could figure out a way to support her friends.
Rainbow Dash was worried about Scootaloo. It had been two days now after the Ben incident, and Scootaloo still seem to be in a haze of guilty suffering. If she didn’t change soon, she might do something drastic. 
“And even if she does not do anything crazy, I cannot watch her tail all the time, if only she had somepony to hide behind or something…”
But they all had a job to do; she knew nopony could be spared to shadow the junior BLU team member. And then an idea crossed her mind. She doesn’t need a chaperone, she just needs something to help protect her and even hide behind if the RED team makes a grab for her again.  What Scoot needed was…
“Tank…or at least the next best thing.”
Dash flew over to the BLU Engi’s workshop, knowing that he and AJ were most likely there, talking about their past farm life. And she guessed right, crashing in a rather unceremonious, though not in the least bit unpleasant way, on Applejack. Applejack’s eyes widened as she noticed the awkward position that she and Rainbow Dash were in, and in front of the BLU Engi no less. Blushing she asked her friend,
“Um sugarcube, what is so mighty important that ya have ta charge in here and crash on me?”
Dash blushed as the Engi began to chuckle at the scene before him.
“I need your help, both of your help if you can spare the time Engi.”
After calming down, he replied “Sure I can, what’s the problem?”
Dash sighed in relief and told them her idea, watching them closely as they pondered her notion.
“Ok, so I was thinking about making a robotic sentry in the form of my pet turtle, Tank to protect Scootaloo. I am worried that she might do something crazy to try and see her friends again…”
Applejack raised a hoof awkwardly, as Dash was leaning across her body that left her little options in the way of movement. Though the element of Honesty would be lying if she said she did not enjoy every second of it. 
“Well, ah am proud of you for wanting to protect Scootaloo, and ah will help you anyway ah can Dashie.”
Dash smiled and hugged her and turned to Engi. He nodded and said, “It is a good idea, we should be able to build it in a day if we work together.”
The three sketched out a design and after a few modifications by Dash to make everything 20% cooler, they were finished. It was a relatively simple process converting a sentry into a robot, and the turtle modification had even increased its armor capabilities. As the made the finishing touches on the creation, Dash had to admit it looked pretty awesome. Outwardly, it appeared to be nothing more than a metallic looking turtle. But the RED team would be in for a surprise if they got to close to Scootaloo with him around, as his head concealed a mini sentry turret, which he fired through his mouth and a small rocket launcher that was built into his shell. Best of all, it was immune to spy sappers. But even with all this, it was missing something. It was not until Fluttershy had visited them did Dash realize what was missing. Though Scootaloo did need more protection, there was something even more important. Now more than ever, Scootaloo needed something to share her troubles with, a friend. And Dash was sure that if anypony could get the bot to act realistic enough to pass as a lifelike turtle, it would be Fluttershy. Fluttershy, after a bit of convincing to overlook the more violent parts of the robotic creation, was happy to help Scootaloo have a wonderful future pet. Dash had just settled down onto Applejack, using her as a living bed, for a quick nap when Fluttershy returned. 
“Oh…um… Rainbow Dash I have taught this robotic turtle everything about what it means to be a turtle, and the local wildlife has more or less accepted him. And now I really need to get back to the forest and make sure the RED team is not poaching them…if that’s ok…”
Dash nodded and Fluttershy left the workshop. The BLU engineer, realizing his work was done for the day left to go play his guitar. After taking a small nap with Applejack, Dash collected Tank 2.0 and together they went to find Scootaloo.
Scootaloo had just begun planning her next way to sneak out of the BLU base to find Ben’s castle when she noticed her sister and idol approaching her. Dash smiled and said, “Hey kid, guess what? I have a surprise!” 
Scootaloo felt her heart accelerate; she loved it when Dash showed off her moves.
“Is it a new trick Dash?”
Dash shuck her head.
“Nah, it’s something way cooler than that.”
Scoot’s eyes widened. “What is it?”
Dash gestured at the turtle by her side and Scootaloo just cocked her head in confusion. 
“This is your new pet and friend, Tank 2.0! And he is not just your average turtle either; he can also protect you as a walking sentry.”
Scootaloo could not believe that Dash had gone to so much trouble to make her happy and tackled Rainbow Dash in a hug, tears of joy falling from her eyes.
Dash chuckled.
“Ok, ok kid your welcome, now how about you go play with your new pet?” 
Scootaloo nodded and rain off into the distance, turtle in toe. Dash smiled; glad that she could cheer Scootaloo up and prayed to Celestia and Luna that the protection it offered would never necessary... 

> Life Changing Sparks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight approached the BLU Sniper with a concerned expression on her face. He had been strangely distant lately and would often be seen moping about the BLU base instead of his usual routine of relaxing with the Demo and Scout. Twilight tapped his shoulder and whispered to him softly,
“Hey um Sniper… is everything all right?”
The Sniper sighed and turned to face her.
“Aye Twilight, everything is just fine, today… today is just a rough day for me, that’s all…”
“What’s wrong is there anything I can do to help?”
The Sniper looked away.
“No, there is nothing you can do, thanks anyway but I would rather just be left alone.”
Twilight gazed into his eyes with a determined expression.
“Sniper, I know something is bugging you, and I want to know what it is so I can help you.”
The Sniper sighed and gave in to her demand.
“Did I ever tell you WHY I always hunted targets alone, instead of working with a team, or at least another Sniper?”
Twilight mumbled, “Because they would give away your position?”
The Sniper shook his head sadly.
“Today is the anniversary of the day I lost my best friend Eissen Dargwell in the Outback, and he died because of my stubbornness to accept and use new tactics and weapons that were different from the regular standard.”
Twilight’s ears flattened as she patted him soothingly.
“Hey come on, I am sure it isn’t your fault, what happened?”
“Well, we were both on a mission to take out a few smugglers that betrayed our current employer of the time, the job went without a hitch, but when we were escaping we got cornered, dozens of guards were going to swarm us any minute…”
He paused, overwhelmed by the memories.
“Eissen wanted to try out his new prototype sniper rifle he created, he called it The Machina, and it was able to fire through a bunch of those wankers at once, at the cost of it being so inaccurate that you can’t fire the bloody thing unless it is scoped. I refused to use it, wanting to use my faithful slandered rifle.”
The Sniper sighed and in a grief filled voice whispered, 
“We were slowly overrun, and Eissen was captured, right after he tossed me his rifle, so it wouldn’t fall in the hands of the smugglers, and from that day on, I always hunted targets alone. Not because I enjoyed the solitude, but because I did not want another one of my friends to die because I was to bloody argent and stubborn to listen to reason…” 
Tears formed in his eyes as the finial memories of his friend flashed before his eyes, right until he was dragged behind a wall of brutish thugs, never to be seen again.
“And now he is dead… say Twilight, the other ponies said you had an interesting near death experience, what was it like?”
Twilight Sparkle blushed at the new topic as the memories of her time with Luna were still fresh in her mind, as well as heart.
Twilight took a deep breath and slowly described what had happened. Normally, she would leave out the more… romantic details, but after hearing the sad Sniper’s tale, she felt that she owed it to him. And she couldn’t help but grin slightly at the Sniper’s wide eyed reaction as she went in detail.
“Well Twi, that was a… interesting tale, but surely that wasn’t just out of the blue, where did all of… that begin?”
Twilight paused in consideration, pondering his question.
“I guess it started a year ago, Princess Luna was still having trouble adjusting to life back in Canterlot, and was very reclusive to any company. Her older sister and my mentor, Princess Celestia was worried about her and started to search for a friend that she could spend time with. It wasn’t until she noticed my fascination with the stars and all the other wonderful things in the night sky that she realized I was a good candidate.” 
Twilight smiled as she remembered how awkward those first few meetings had been with Luna, until she finally started to open up more. And over all the other memories, the one that was closest to her heart was their most recent trip to the observatory… 
They had settled down for a quick nap, and Twilight had just closed her eyes when she felt Luna gently stroke her back.  She blushed and was about to turn over and question the surprising (but far from unwanted) caress when she heard Luna whisper in her ear softly, 
“Twilight Sparkle, I beg that you never leave my side, without you I fear the nightmare would overtake me once more… And because you are very dear to me, only with you do my stars truly sparkle. Only with you am I complete…” 
Twilight turned to her and whispered back, “I would never leave you Luna, I am your friend and nothing you have done or will do will ever change that…”
Luna smiled and wrapped her wing closer around Twilight to share her warmth in the chilly room they shared for times when exhaustion overwhelmed them. Twilight slowly drifted off to sleep curling up to the lunar princess’s side. Luna felt joyful warmth spread across her body and she pondered silently what else she had missed while exiled on the Moon.
“Well Twilight, thanks for giving me someone to talk to, and I hope you get to return to your home and girl soon.”
Twilight smiled and replied, “Thank you, and I hope someday you find that friend of yours…”
The Sniper glanced down at his old friend’s greatest achievement.
“Aye Twilight, so do I… so do I…”
Authors note: Just as a small note, I recently have recruited some editors, so even though the chapters my be published slower, they should be a higher quality than before. Thank you for your understanding :) 
> The Derp has been Doubled
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Derpy was having a rough day as the newly created Benn Co.‘s mailmare. Not only had her new employer put her through a bunch or random strenuous tasks before  deeming her “worthy” of being the deliverer of whatever Ben decided to supply the teams in order to add more challenges, she wasn’t even able to be paid in muffins anymore. The Sagely, Industrious, Illustrious, and Incomparable Ben may be a powerful dragon overlord, but a fine muffin chief he was not. And his servants were only slightly more successful than their master. The best thing about working though was that she could check up on the cutie mark crusaders that were imprisoned in Ben’s fortress. However, no matter what she did, her thoughts would always return to her poor daughter Dinky, who would be starving by now. Hopefully her good friend Carrot Top would come by to take care of Dinky in her absence. She would often watch over her while Derpy was busy with delivering mail all over Ponyville. Derpy had just finished her muffin brake when she felt a sharp pain exploded in her side. She glanced around quickly, trying to figure out what had caused her such pain, but it was no use. The last thing Derpy saw was the RED Sniper tipping his hat and flashing her a strange gesture with his hand…
Slowly, Derpy’s consciousness returned. She could just barely make out the conversation around her as she came into focus.
“-and all I am saying is it seems stupid to go after the post pony instead of one of the more valuable ones, like their Heavy or Scout.” 
“No Scout, this is the best option, they will never think to examine this accident prone mail pony, where as one of the others would attract more attention if discovered doing something out of ordinary.”
“But Spy, I still don’t see-”
The RED Spy waved his hand dismissively and turned to his team’s medic. “Medic, was the experiment successful?”
The RED Medic adjusted his glasses and after smiling at the pony on the table replied, “Yes the procedure went perfectly, but now…” He paused to strap on his rubber gloves and gave the group a mad grin. “I must make a few necessary improvements to our new member’s sight and vocal abilities.” 
The others left to go about their daily routine and left the Medic alone. He laughed with cruel satisfaction as he examined his new creation. It was an exact clone of the mare that lay strapped to a nearby table, but modified to be faster, stronger, and most importantly more open to the RED team’s less savory ideals. As he finished the final corrections to the pony’s eyes and vocal cords, his mind drifted back to when those fools dared to steal HIS medical license.  
“Well let them see the genius they turned their backs on now…” He scowled and retired to his room for the night.
Derpy was frozen in shock. The RED team had cloned her? And what were they going to do to the original Derpy Hooves, just kill her? But if so, why hadn’t they done so already? Derpy wasn’t sure what was going on, but she knew she had to escape and warn the other ponies. Derpy struggled for a moment, but soon gave in. The rope was too strong to brake without some kind of help. Just as she was about to surrender to the despair inside of her, she heard a familiar voice from across the dim lite room.
“Oh my, just where has the TARDIS landed me this time? Perhaps I should go and recalibrate the- oh my Ditzy Do, is that you?”
It was her good friend Dr. Whooves, she was saved! Derpy quickly gnawed through the gag and whispered silently, “Doctor, is that you?”
“Derpy where are you? I cannot see in this dark hallway.”
Eventually, after a few minutes of wondering the dark trying to find Derpy by listening to her voice, Doctor Whooves finally found her.
“Derpy, how are you my number one assistant?” He paused and examined her more closely, gasping as he noticed her restraints. The Doctor silently approached her with his trademark Sonic Screwdriver, smiling at her, though there was a concerned look in his eyes. He quickly cut her loose and caught her as she stumbled forward.
“What are you doing here, who did this to you?”
“It… It was the RED team, but that is not important, look you need to see this.”
Derpy lead him to the adjacent table and flinched when he gasped.
“Oh my, it’s a clone!”
Derpy glanced around franticly at the dim lit corridors around them.
“Doctor be careful, somepony might hear us!”
The Doctor ignored her, lost in thought as he studied his assistant’s look alike.  “It seems that they have made some modifications to your clone, her eyes are… not as unique as yours.” He paused then added, “Not that your eyes are not pleasant to view as well, they are very fetching in fact…” He trailed off, blushing slightly.  Derpy blushed and looked away.
“Thanks Doctor, but we REALLY need to get out of here, I don’t know how long until the RED team returns and I don’t want to find out what they have planned for us if they catch us.”
He nodded and activated his sonic screw drivers tracking device to guide them back to the TARDIS. They silently started off on the long trip back to the TARDIS, though they had a feeling like somepony or something was fallowing them…
Once they reached the TARDIS and the Doctor had calibrated the TARDIS to transport them to the BLU base, they ponies let out a sigh of relief. Wasting no time, Derpy grabbed some muffins from her stash on the TARDIS and after sitting down with the Doctor, began to describe the situation that the unfortunate ponies were faced with. 
Doctor Whooves listened as Derpy explained to him the seemingly never ending conflict between the BLU team and the RED team. He could not resist shuddering at the description of the cruel RED team and their actions compared to the BLU team. After examining Derpy for any unknown injuries, he leaned close, a concerned look on his face. “I am sorry Derpy; I never should have left you alone to study this world by yourself. If I had known that-” Derpy held up her hoof. 
“It is ok Doctor, really I am fine…”
“Are you sure that you ok Derpy?” Derpy nodded and suddenly leaned forward and hugged him. “Thank you for rescuing me Doctor, I don’t want to know what the RED team was going to do to me now that they cloned me.” 
Doctor Whooves smiled and simply held her. “Now then my lovely assistant, how about we venture forth to the BLU base and find out what they are up to?”
Derpy nodded and together they left the TARDIS, and started to move toward the BLU territory. “So Derpy, do you enjoy your job here?” Derpy nodded and asked, “So what have you been up to Doctor after you left me to examine this world and everything?” 
The Doctor did not answer and Derpy whipped around, her eyes widening in shock at what she saw. The Doctor was lying on the ground a knife was sticking out of his back and a pool of blood was slowly forming. The RED spy stood behind him, and with a wicked grin flicked a cigarette onto Doctor Whooves’ still forum and said “Cheers Doctor.” Blind rage swarmed Derpy’s mind and she started to run toward the spy. But before she could reach him, she noticed Doctor Whooves raise his head slightly and begin to cough up blood, causing her to freeze in place. She quickly knelt down to her friend and cradled his head, leaning close to try and make out what he was saying. 
“Di…Ditzy Do… I think I lo-”
Suddenly his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he was completely still. Derpy’s heart froze in grief and pain. He had called her Ditzy Do, a nickname he had given her when they had first met in the forest so long ago…  “No… Doctor please no…” But he did not react. 
“No, no, no, NO!”
She lunged at the RED spy, who had been watching her with a bored expression as he viewed the scene before him. He tried to cloak, but Derpy was able to guess his location and swiftly buck him in the head, causing his body to crumple limply. Though Derpy wanted to pound the Spy’s body into pulp, if she was going to have any chance of saving the Doctor, she needed to get help immediately.  She called out desperately, 
“Help, some pony help me!” 
A rainbow blur flew past her and stopped right before she would have collided with a nearby tree. “He Derpy, what’s-”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened and she froze. After a moment she swallowed and said quickly, “I’ll go get Fluttershy and the Medic.” She flew off in a frantic flap of her wings. And in 10 seconds flat she returned, Fluttershy in tow with the BLU Medic and Scout following close behind. “Oh, oh my goodness!” Fluttershy and the Medic quickly trained their mediguns on Doctor Whooves. Slowly the wound closed and he started to breathe again softly. Derpy gasped, surprised that her dear friend was alive once again. The Medic shouldered the Doctor in a practiced motion and nodded to Fluttershy. He started to sprint at an even pace that would not disrupt the pony in his arms, Fluttershy followed close behind him. Derpy never left his side; she kept one eye on him and the other on everything else. When they reached the Medic’s operating room, Derpy nervously tapped the Medic on the shoulder.
“Will… will he be ok?”
The Medic adjusted his glasses and responded after a pause.
“Yes, though he must not be disturbed so his body has time to heal….”  
Derpy’s ears fell in sadness. “I… I understand, can you send for me when he is awake?”
The Medic nodded and turned to begin examining her friend for any injuries that the mediguns had not healed. Derpy gazed at her wounded friend one last time before leaving the room. Derpy was not sure what she was going to do but one thing was clear. The RED Spy would pay for what he did to the Doctor. Derpy decided that the best way to punish the Spy was to beat him at his own game…
“Are you sure you want to learn how to be a spy” The BLU Spy asked, confused at Derpy’s sudden request. Derpy hung her head and said, “Please I…I need to do something to show that spy that he can’t get away with what he did.” The Spy nodded and motioned for Rarity to approach the Pegasus. Rarity immediately set to work measuring her for her new gear as the Spy began to explain all the tools at the Spy’s disposal. “Well, let us begin with one of the most essential weapons, the butterfly knife…”
Derpy was surprised how relatively simple learning to be a spy was. The only thing she had to worry about was make sure she kept her watch cloak fully charged (which would recharge whenever she stopped moving) and to always stay on the move when disguised to avoid suspicion. Once she had mastered the basics, she thanked them and returned to the Doctor. He was still asleep and Derpy was warned by Fluttershy that any visits could cause a lot of unnecessary strain on him. Derpy sighed as she looked down upon her friend. With a deep breath she tuned and trotted to the door. It was time to get to work…
The RED Heavy tapped one large foot as he waited for the Spy to finish whatever he was doing and join him. “Spy, you must come over here and help us or you shall no longer be credit to team!”
The RED Spy grimaced and uncloaked beside him. “Very well, shall we go?” They started forward, slowly making their way into the BLU territory until they were stopped by a level 3 sentry gun. Luckily (for the spy) the Heavy took the brunt of the initial attack as they ran for cover. The Heavy sat down to eat his sandvich and glanced up at the Spy beside him. “Spy, go and sap that sentry so we can keep moving.” The Spy nodded and cloaked. Suddenly the Heavy fell over, a bullet piercing his skull. The Spy uncloaked and looked down at him. “Oh my, I guess I will go get the Medic…” 
After a few shouts, the Medic finally found the impatient RED Spy, and began to heal him of his minor wounds. When he finished, he turned to the Spy and said, “Go and get the Demoman to take out the sentry Spy…” He nodded and moved to cloak. “Thank you for your assistance doctor.” The Medic nodded and moved to examine the Heavy for the small chance he was still alive, so he would not have to wait for him to respawn. He paused as he heard the Spy uncloak beside him and lean over to whisper to him. 
“FYI I’m Derpy”
And then stabbed him in the back. Derpy growled in announce as her she glanced down at her muffin flavor kit (disguise kit). “Aw, you got blood on my muffins…” After retrieving her knife, The Bubble Popper, she grabbed more paper bags from the kit. She placed one on her head to give her the appearance of the RED Medic and slipped on two bags over her hooves to disguise her Spy weapons as the Medic’s gear. She paused as she turned to head back into the RED base, glancing down at the RED team members she had just killed. With a dark grimace she moved on. The RED team more than deserved what happened to them. And this was only the beginning…
Derpy continued through the RED base weary of any interactions with the other team members, as it would look odd for the RED medic to be wondering the RED base without another team member. The RED Scout’s laugh echoed though the hall beyond her. She leaned over and peered into the passage and gasped. The RED Scout had pinned down Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash by using a bat which seemed to cause the bonk ball to bounce off the walls and hit them both at once repetitively. Every time they took a step forward the bonk ball pushed them three steps back. Derpy discarded her useless disguise and rushed forward passed her friends. She saw the ball coming toward her but didn’t slow down. Keeping one eye on the bouncing and the other eye on her surroundings she was able to dodge the onslaught of the bonk ball.
”Hey Scout!”  She called out as she moved closer. Once he looked up in confusion she knew this was her chance, after a quick summersault she got into rage she smirked as she held up her revolver (the enforcer) The Special Delivery. “I brought you a letter!” Two quick shots in the chest and he was out. Derpy grabbed his bat, ‘Dash would probably find a good use for this…’ Behind her Rainbow Dash whistled. 
“Wow Derpy good job, I bet you could give Rarity a run for her money, and she has been a spy for weeks!” Derpy smiled in gratitude and offered the RED Scout’s strange bonk bat. Rainbow Dash smiled and took it from her before glancing back at Fluttershy. 
“Come on Fluttershy; let’s head back to the base. I have an idea for a modification to improve this bat, besides it’s about time for me and AJ to switch classes again and I need to check on Scootaloo.”
Fluttershy turned to her and smiled. “Thank you for helping us Derpy.”
Derpy smiled and waved as they started back for the haven of the BLU base. 
“Hmm, it seems like I am not the only mailmare around here…” murmured a strangely high pitched voice behind her. 
Derpy jumped and turned to see her clone standing in front of her. It was like looking at a twisted mirror. Her eyes unlike Derpy’s were completely focused on the pony in front of her. And the most disturbing thing was as she gazed into her copy’s eyes, all she saw was a cold void of scorn and disgust. An involuntary shiver ran down Derpy’s back as the clone moved closer. The clone abruptly lashed out and slammed Derpy’s head against the wall. The clone scowled down at her and whispered in her ear, “Is that all you got, I must be more of an improvement then the RED team suspected.”
Derpy tried to get up and counter attack but her clone was just too fast and agile. The clone launched into the air and started to fly toward the BLU base, pausing to call out, “But don’t take my word for it, let’s see if your friends enjoy the new and improved Derpy Hooves!”
Derpy jumped up and started to give chase, but the pain in her head clouded in her vision. Derpy screamed in frustration as her body refused to listen to her. And Derpy knew that she would never forgive herself if her friends got hurt because of her double…
Doctor Whooves paced outside the Medics operating room, awaiting the return of his friend. ‘I hope I did not scare her away by admitting my feelings to her so suddenly….’ And then over the horizon he spotted the blur of a gray Pegasus with a blond mane. His heart raced as she slowly landed on the ground next to him. He smiled at her and began to ask, “Derpy, what have you been up to-“and was silenced as Derpy lunged forward and embraced him with a kiss…
Ditzy Do had a terrible feeling that she was too late to stop whatever chaos her clone was unleashing on her friends. If she could just get there before her clone could. She had just passed over the fence into the BLU base when she witnessed her worst nightmare. Beneath her, Doctor Whooves and her clone were lost in a kiss. Derpy’s eyes clouded once more, this time with tears that caused her more agony than anything she had felt before. Unable to watch, she turned and flew to the one place she doubted anypony would guess to find her…

Ditzy collapsed against the rotting wall of the abandoned warehouse. She felt so alone and miserable. It seemed that her clone was right; everypony liked the “New Derpy” now, even Doctor Whooves. Maybe she should just- she then felt a strange looking rat run into her weeping form. It had a thick gray coat, and except for an oddly receding hairline appeared to be just an average rat. Ditzy fished out a few muffins and set one down by the rat. The rat moved toward the muffin with a squeak of approval, but somehow managed to run into the wall instead. Ditzy chuckled softly as she moved the muffin so it was directly in front of the unfortunate rat. “He-he don’t worry, that happens to me a lot. I can get a little clumsy at times…” The rat squeaked and started to eat, curling up to her again affectionately. 
“Would you like to be friends?”
The rat nodded as it continued to eat the meal given to it. 
“Hmm, you need a name…how about Sam?”
The Rat squeaked happily at the new identity. After a few moments, they had finished the muffins at sat quietly with nothing to do. Ditzy idly gazed around the area until she saw something that started to make her heart race. The RED Spy was leaning against the wall of the ally in front of her, with his backed turned. Ditzy moved forward, using the shadows to conceal her movement. Just as she was about to move in for the kill, the RED spy flinched and cried out in pain. 
“Stupid rat, get away from me!”
Sam, who had decided to bite at the Spy’s ankles started to run in fear of the oncoming kick of the Spy. Ditzy wasted no time and quickly stabbed the unsuspecting spy.
“Don’t you dare hurt my friends again you monster!”
Derpy grimaced at the Spy’s dead body before turning to her new friend. She gasped slightly as she noticed the rat was actually female as she cradled the scared rat against her. 
“It’s ok Sam, you are safe with me.”
Ditzy looked at the tall walls of the BLU base, and sighed.
“Come on Sam, let’s go meet some other friends, or at least I hope they still are my friends…”
Ditzy flew over the wall of the BLU base and found her target. With a deep breath, she dove down and knocked her clone out of the arms of the Doctor. The Doctor gasped as the new Derpy started to attack the pony he had just been kissing. The Doctor looked into the eyes of the intruder and after noticing the trademark wondering of her eyes. The realization hit him without warning and he turned to the new bloody Derpy on the ground across from him. 
“B-but if you’re my Ditzy, who is… the CLONE!” 
The now revealed clone scowled.
“Come on Doctor, you know that I am the one you really want. Has SHE ever done what we did?”
The Doctor blushed and answered softly. 
“No, but that does not mean you are any better than her, and how DARE you impersonate my Ditzy!”
He lunged forward and punched her in the jaw, knocking her out cold. Ditzy wrapped her hooves around her friend and cried. 
“I am sorry I doubted you Doctor…” 
The Doctor smiled and held her close. 
“It’s ok Ditzy; if anypony should be ashamed it would be me for not seeing though her cover. Now how about we move her to a dimension that would better suit her hmm?” 
Ditzy smiled but asked. “And where would that be?”
“I noticed when I checked the list of “improvements” the RED medic made upon your clone that it would have an exceptionally captivating singing voice. And I know of a particular musical dimension, Ituneis that would be a perfect new home for her.”
Ditzy nodded and leaned close to him. 
“Alright Doctor but there is one thing we need to do first…”
The Doctor scratched his head in confusion.
“Alright, but what did I miss?”
Ditzy leaned even closer. 
“This…” and pulled him into a kiss. 
The Doctor was glad to have his friend back, and no matter how many “improvements” they made to the clone, the kiss that he and his Ditzy shared blow them all away…