The Next-Gen Nine

Chapter II: Meet The Mercs

"Didn't ya hear me, Spy?" a man with a decidedly Australian accent asked. "My rifle can blow yer brains out before ya even get close enough to use that little knife o' yours!"

"That is true," Spy retorted, "but how will you know if I am a doctor or a killer? I can simply disguise myself as someone else, and you will never see me coming. Who knows? Any single one of us could be that insipid RED Spy!"

"Man, I hate that guy."

"Listen to me, Scout," Spy sneered, brandishing his knife, "have you ever even seen another Spy like me? We are a deadly race, one of both brains and brawn. We can kill you before anyone sees us, then slip back into the shadows unnoticed, leaving behind only your body for your teammates to ponder the death of while we pick them off one by one."

"Whatever. Those Spies're nothin' but dime-a-dozen, backstabbin', lowdown scumbags. No offense."

"Do you not remember what the RED Spy did to your mother?"

"I told ya t' never bring that up again! I can already barely deal wit' Soldier and Heavy talkin' 'bout it all the time!"

"Once we die, you won't have a care in the-" a massive boom cut off Soldier's reply, forcing the nine of them to gather their weapons.

"Nine enemies have entered the base!"

"Where are we?" Rainbow Dash stumbled to her hooves, trying to make sense of where she and her friends had landed. Directly above her, she noticed a holographic sign with the word "BLU" printed on it.

Wow, whoever lives here really doesn't know how to spell.

"... Five more minutes..." Spike wearily stood up beside her, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

Two explosions echoed on both sides of them, sending two men onto the ground. One of them wore a blue jacket and held a rocket launcher on his shoulder, while the other was dressed in red, waving an empty bottle at the man in blue.

"Looks like we meet again, Tavish."

"Yer gonna regret ever callin' me that, ya bleedin' idiot!"

"What the heck is going on here?" Rainbow stared blankly at the BLU Soldier, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

"Who the hell're you?" a seemingly teenaged boy in red bolted to the Demoman's side, grasping a baseball bat in his hand.

"I'm Rainbow Dash. Who are you?"

"They call me Scout. Do you even know who you're talkin' to? Basically, kind of a big deal."

"You look pretty fast. Care for a race?"

"Oh, you're on!"

"Wait!" the Demoman's shout went unheard. They ditched the other two mercenaries, leaving the Soldier and Demoman facing each other down. The BLU Soldier looked over the eight creatures that had been dropped into their territory, almost expecting them to do something. Instead, they just stood there, trying to figure out what was happening. Finally, he noticed the two unicorns in the crowd.

"Look, you two, no matter what, stay away from either one of our Pyros."

"What's a Pyro?" Twilight levitated a scroll and quill in front of her, waiting for his explanation.

"You better put that down before I do it for you." he pulled out a shotgun, pumping it once and aiming at her head.

"Sure. So, what's a Pyro?"

"You really don't wanna-"

"MMPH, MMPH, MMPH!" a strange humanoid figure in a blue flame-retardant suit charged towards them, burning the RED Demoman to a crisp with a flamethrower. It nearly turned its weapon on the others, but the Soldier stopped it.

"Pyro, don't! They haven't done anything yet!"

"I am fully charged!" a voice rang out from nearby, holding an apparently German affectation. In a few moments, two men stepped out from around the corner, one of them a hulking beast of a human winding the barrels of a gigantic minigun, while the German who stood behind him trained a laser-like object on his body. Both of them dressed in red. Immediately, the Medic pulled a switch on his Medigun, giving his body a bright red sheen. Before he could realize what was happening, the Heavy's clothing turned blue. He quickly stepped behind the Medic, disappearing while he looked around for the Spy. Finally, the ÜberCharge dissipated, allowing the Spy to stab him in the back with a small knife.

"Smooth." Soldier remarked, twirling the shotgun around on his finger.

"Not exactly. I have blood on my suit."

"Speaking of your suit," Rarity interrupted, "where did you get it? I must know!"

"Who are you?"he drew his revolver, holding it to her forehead.

"My name is Rarity. There is no need for such a violent reaction!"

"Why would you say that? There is a chance that you could be another Spy, or an enemy period. To quote my mortal nemesis, "Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.". Despite his underhanded tactics, he is quite wise. You would do well to follow his wisdom."

"Another Spy? Who's the other one?"

"Me, you insipid horse!" Rarity's eyes flashed with pure rage.

"What... did you just call me!?"

"A horse. You are clearly a horse, therefore I called you one."

Rarity pulled the Spy's gun from his hand, blowing a hole through his head with a single round.

"Don't call me a whorse, or you will rue the day you were born."

"That's some skill right there." the Soldier commented. "How'd you like to work for the Builders League United, little lady?"

"No, thank you. I will not have anything to do with the place that he came from."

"Fine. Any of you maggots wanna work for the side that's tryin' to save all our sorry asses?" three hooves rose into the air at once.

"Looks like we've got three new recruits!"

"Eeyup!" Big Macintosh and Applejack replied simultaneously.

"Blue is my favorite color!" Pinkie announced, bouncing around his feet.

"I have a feeling that you and Pyro are gonna get along real well.

Now," he cracked his knuckles while the Pyro hefted his flamethrower and cheered, "I'm givin' the rest of you worthless bastards ten seconds before we blow you to bits, or in his case, force you to die a horrible, flaming death."

"Hang on!" Spike cried. "I'll join you!"

"Good choice, kid."

"Do I get one of those?" he pointed at the Soldier's rocket launcher.

"I've got three little weapons with your name on 'em back at the base. For now, take this." he chuckled, passing the young dragon his shovel and shotgun.

"Wow, thanks!"

"Don't mention it, bud. As for you five, get the hell outta here unless you want your friends here to tear ya apart limb from limb."