Heroes for Friendshipby King-Mac-13ChaptersMission BriefingFirst TeamSecond RoundUnexpected ClimaxMission BriefingGrimoire sat in a chair he set up next to his tent in the human world. He had returned to the human world after Starlight Glimmer returned and talked up the benefits of friendship studies with the human counterparts. Although, that was just an excuse to visit the human dimension for fun. Now, he was just sitting back with a can of soda and enjoying his day. “Should really learn how to make stuff back home…” The bell for Canterlot High sounded, signaling the end of the school day. He looked over toward the entrance way to watch as the students flooded out. It was always interesting to watch them leave. You get a real idea of their personality by how they exit the building. What really caught his eye, however, was a rainbow streak that seemed to come out of the doors and disappear as quickly as it had. “‘Sup?” The voice seemed to come out of nowhere. Grimoire jumped in his chair and spun around to see a blue face with pair of lavender eyes and rainbow hair. He clutched his chest as he spoke, “Rainbow Dash… don’t do that again… You nearly gave me a heart attack!” “Jumpy… Just wanted to say hi and ask why you’re here.” “Leisure trip. Wanted to get away from Equestria for a while and thought, ‘why not visit the human world for a bit?’” He returned to a normal sitting position, “I’m just here to relax.” “I get that…” Rainbow moved to stand in front of Grimoire, “Hey, quick question.” “Go ahead.” “Do you still have that game from before?” “Nightmare? I just make the games with magic. It’s easier that way.” “Think you could set that up again?” Grimoire paused mid-sip. He placed his can down and looked Rainbow in the eyes, “Really?” “Yeah!” “Easily… but I have to ask what the occasion is.” Rainbow cleared her throat and glanced to the side, “No occasion.” “Really… You might have enjoyed the last one, but I get the feeling there’s more than just fun on the mind for this request.” “Okay, look. I thought it might help… transition some of our old enemies to, you know, not be enemies anymore.” “Alright.” “Really?!” “I’ll help, but I think a different game is in order. The last game worked best when all the players were already acquainted, that way the competitive side of the game doesn’t sting any emotions. I think a cooperative game is best for what you’re asking for.” “So, you’ll help?” “Sure, why not?” “Awesome! When will it be ready?” “I’ve already got the base idea, so it should be done by tomorrow. Stop by then with all the appropriate individuals.” “Alright! See you then!” Rainbow disappeared in a rainbow of speed, leaving Grimoire alone again. Grimoire finished his drink and stood up, “Alright then, let’s get to work.” \/ Grimoire sat outside his tent and enjoyed his soda as the Saturday sun rose in the sky. He was waiting for Rainbow to bring her friends for the game and had a moment to himself to think. “I wonder if I should make some of that stuff real… It would be fascinating to try.” As he waited, he started to get bored, leading to his singing to fill the space. Even here I feel an outcast… I still have much to learn / See the world through the Dragon’s eyes… and watch it burn. His thoughts were cut off when most of the group walked up toward his tent. The Humane Seven, minus Rainbow Dash, were making their way up the path as he stood. Sunset was the first to speak up, “So, what’s the game today?” Grimoire wagged his finger in front of her, “Not until Dash the rest of our players arrive. Until then, kick back and enjoy the morning.” “You hate mornings.” “Aw… you remembered. How sweet.” Grimoire feigned appreciation before returning to his usual demeanor. “True. I’m not the biggest fan of mornings, but I’m just too excited. So, I’ll live.” He leaned to the side and glanced over Sunset’s shoulder, speaking with a devilish smile, “So, these are your surprise guests?” The group turned to see Rainbow Dash walking up toward the tent with Sonata at her side and the rest of the Dazzlings lagging a few feet behind. Most of the Rainbooms were overcome with a multitude of emotions. All of them were confused, but each were flooded by other emotions. Apple Jack looked to the Dazzlings with a level of resentment, thinking that Dash better have a good reason for bringing them here. Fluttershy was concerned and scared of the former sirens, moving behind her friends for safety. Rarity, while not happy to see the Dazzlings, had to admit that they had retained their fashion sense. This gave her new ideas for a line, but it came from the Dazzlings. So… difficult to process those emotions. Pinkie Pie… was Pinkie Pie. Happy for new friends and willing to give the second chance, but she knew the Dazzlings were going to test her resolve on this ideology. Sunset was uncertain about the situation. She wanted to give the Dazzlings the chance, to say otherwise would make her a hypocrite. But she knew it would be a difficult process. Twilight was the most grounded on an emotional scale for one reason: she never met the Dazzlings. She heard stories from the group, but they were rather disjointed in their focuses. She tried to shrink into the background and avoid the tension before her. The first person to speak up was Apple Jack, “Dash… why are the Dazzlings behind you?” Dash smiled somewhat nervously, but was interrupted before she could reply when Grimoire clapped to get their attention, “That’s something you can discuss inside. You’re not the only ones here to play a game.” Before they could react to what he said, he moved behind the Dazzlings and pushed them into the rest of the group, herding them all inside the tent. Inside wasn’t his mobile lab or experiments, but rather a large room akin to a command center in a futuristic spy or war movie. Holographic projectors and multiple computer screens for each position. Sitting/standing in the back were a few familiar faces: Big Mac, Lyra Heartstrings, Vinyl Scratch, Flash Sentry, Timber Sprouse, and (more surprising than all the others) Vice Principle Luna. When Twilight saw Timber, she was going to walk over (escaping the tension from the group), but was stopped by Grimoire raising his hand in front of her. “I’ll have to ask that you keep any public displays of affection until after I explain the rules.” Twilight blushed, but didn’t raise an argument or denial. After she nodded, Grimoire lowered his arm and allowed her to stand next to Timber for the presentation. Meanwhile, the tension between the Rainbooms and Dazzlings was starting to boil with Rainbow and Sonata in the middle. Before it could burst, Grimoire cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Right then. Now that everyone is here, let’s get started.” He tapped one of the holograms by the entrance and a projection appeared in the center of the room. “Today’s game is an adaptation of a popular video game I learned about the other day.” With a swipe of his hand, a symbol appeared in the central hologram: it looked a bit like a stylized combination of the letters O and W with the top section of the symbol being orange. Luna raised an eyebrow, “We’re playing Overwatch?” “In a way.” Grimoire reached into the hologram and pulled out an image of a clip board. “I’ve mixed a few things around for this.” He ‘pushed’ a button on his hologram and the symbol became a set of screens, each showing the same images. As he spoke, the screens showed corresponding images without showing any specific details. “First, you’ve all been placed into teams of four. Your teams were deliberately chosen, so don’t bother trying to beg for me to change them. I don’t care if your best friend is on the other team or if you don’t like your teammates, they’re final. That said, the character or hero you’ll be given for use will be randomly selected before your missions. Now, for said mission. You’ll be sent into the area of operation, which will change with each group. While there, you’re tasked with surviving, at minimum, five waves of a robotic enemy army. After that, you can either escape the combat area or attempt to hunt down the robot leader. Either will result in a success overall. That said, this is also a competition against your fellow teams. Fastest time and most effective team wins.” “And what do we get if we win?” Aria remained nonchalant in her speech. “Pardon?” “Last time we played one of your games, you said the winner got whatever they wanted. That still valid?” “Hmm… not necessarily, given that the competition is between teams… I guess bragging rights would be too little as well… Alright! How about this, the winning team will receive fully detailed, but non-functioning, replicas of their heroes’ uniforms and weapon kits. I stress the ‘non-functioning’ part of that. That work?” “Seriously? Your prize is a costume?” “You will literally be the only people with a uniform to made exactly like the original. That’d be worth money, if that’s what you’re after. Not the point!” He took a deep breath before returning to his speech. “Point is, you’ll need to work together if you want to win. Now, for the teams.” He pressed a button and the screens showed four columns of the teams in question. [Team 1: Twilight Sparkle, Timber Sprouse, Sunset Shimmer, Lyra Heartstrings] [Team 2: Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Luna, Aria Blaze] [Team 3: Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack, Sonata Dusk, Big Macintosh] [Team 4: Fluttershy, Flash Sentry, Adagio Dazzle, Vinyl Scratch] “I’ll give you some time to acquaint yourselves with one another. The first team deploys in fifteen minutes. Good luck out there.” Author's Note King: If you thought my uploading schedule was bad before, you've seen nothing yet! Seriously, though, with classes in session, it might take even longer to get chapters out. Keep that in mind. By the by, the song he sings is "Hanzo vs Genji Rap Battle" from JT Machinima on YouTube. First TeamFifteen minutes came and went, but the groups remained separated as they had been. No division into the teams, save for Twilight, Timber and Lyra. As the tension built again, Grimoire walked back toward the middle area. He waved his hand to reactivate the screens and cleared his throat. “Alright, let’s get started. The first team to enter the field will be Team 3: Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack, Sonata, and Big Mac.” A section of the wall opened up and showed a high-ceiling platform to the side of the room. “Load onto the pedestal one at a time, please, as your hero kits are distributed. Each of your kits have three special abilities with can be activated by your thought and acted on as thought you possessed the corresponding muscle memory.” “Awesome!” Rainbow jumped up and moved toward the platform. “I’ll go first!” She stepped up onto the platform, where the symbol from before appeared over her head. After a second it started to cycle through other symbols, landing on a solid red hourglass. “What happens now?” Her question was answered as her attire started to glow and replace itself with the hero kit. She now stood in a purple, skin-tight jumpsuit with armor covering her lower legs. On her head, her rainbow hair was tied back into a ponytail and wore a strange apparatus on her head. She was granted the use of a multi-fire sniper rifle and an odd gauntlet on her arm. “Crazy…” “Your selected hero… if you can call her that… is the Widowmaker…” “That sounds awesome!” “…a cold-blooded assassin and member of the Talon terrorist organization.” “Less awesome.” “Your kit has equipped you with a sniper rifle with fires as a fully automatic rifle when not directly aimed. Using this kit, you will be the eyes for your team and keeping the enemies at bay at long range. Your automatic mode on your gun is inefficient and unreliable when compared to the sniper rifle. Keep this in mind. Next up…” “I’ll go~!” Sonata ran up to the pedestal and bounced around in excitement. The Symbol started to cycle over her head landing on a V with a small rhombus above letter. “Ooh~ Who’s that one?” Her attire began to change in a similar fashion to Dash. Her style changed to a sort of corporate style with wedge heels and a strange visor over her eyes. In her hand was a strange device with three ‘hooks’. “What’s this?” “You have been given the kit of Symmetra. Specifically, the Viskar variant, lucky you. You are an architect of hard light. You specialize in controlling the battlefield through your creations. Your weapon locks onto your opponents and builds damage output over time. You are not a frontline soldier, keep this in mind.” “This should be fun!” “Next!” “I guess I’ll go…” Apple Jack walked up to the pedestal and stood next to Rainbow Dash, but away from Sonata. Her symbol stopped on a skull with a plus in place of one of the eyes. Her attire changed to look like it came out of a futuristic western (don’t question it). Her Stetson remained on her head (something she was grateful for), she now wore a style of poncho, a pair of chaps, and spurred boots. Another item of note was her belt buckle which read BAMF. “The heck is BAMF?” “Something I’m not allowed to explain at this time. You have been granted the kit of the vigilante from Santa Fe, Jessie McCree. Former outlaw turned hero, he returned to his home as a hired gun with principles. Very much the stereotypical cowboy, you wield the peacekeeper revolver, which you can fire single shot or become a fan of the hammer and fire all remaining shots in quick succession. Your damage decreases over distance, so keep this in mind. Alright, one more. Big Mac?” He silently made his way to the pedestal and stood, watching the symbol. It landed on a picture of a snowflake. He raised an eyebrow and waited for his kit to granted. His attire became something akin to red and orange arctic gear. He had a large canister on his back and a connected gun in his hand. The top of the canister popped off and revealed itself to be a hovering robot. “You have been given the kit of Mei-Ling Zhou, renowned climatologist. Your specialty is controlling the movement of your opponents, using your endothermic blaster.” Big Mac raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Your gun shoots ice.” “Ah…” “Now, with everyone set, it’s time for your mission. Good luck!” The wall closed off, leaving the four in the small room. After a moment, the door opened again and the four stepped out onto the ground before them. Stretching out before them was a futuristic city with a holographic clock. A speaker from the room informed them saying, “Welcome to King’s Row”. Rainbow smiled and held her gun up a bit to be ready, “Alright! Let’s do this!” “Rainbow,” Apple Jack tried to reign her friend’s enthusiasm back a bit, “Do you even know where you’re going?” “Duh~!” Sonata walked passed AJ and next to Rainbow, “It’s basically a hoard mode. We go where ever we want and the robots will try to beat us with numbers. We just fight them off until it’s decided we win.” “You play stuff like this often?” “Nope, but Aria’s a fan of games with modes like this, so I hear about it pretty often.” “Alright. So, where should we start?” She got her answer when a bullet hole appeared in the wall next to her. She ducked to the side and grabbed her revolver. “Guess we’re starting here.” Rainbow Dash brought her gun to aim and the mode changed to a sniper rifle. She watched as the charge grew and took aim toward the offending gunshot. Only to have to lower her gun to dodge incoming fire. She needed to move to cover quickly. Her arm raised and a grappling hook shot out, grabbed a nearby wall, and pulled her off to safety. When she landed, she looked down to the apparatus that spirited her to her destination in shock, “How did I do that?!” Sonata had jumped into a house close by. When the bullets started to fly toward her, she made a motion with her hand and created a barrier that moved forward to protect herself. “Oh wow!” Rainbow tried to make sense of the situation, “We need to hold them back and get to a better position!” Big Mac looked to his gun and smiled. The bottom section of the gun opened and he aimed the gun toward the enemies. With a rising motion of his hand, he created a wall of ice between the group and the robots. Rainbow stood in surprise for a moment, “That’ll work. Alright, let’s move!” The group ran away from the area to find a better locale. \/ Deep into wave 2, the group had become accustomed to their basic abilities and how to use them. Granted, the muscle memory effect helped that process develop quickly. Rainbow was kneeling on a tall balcony overlooking the courtyard. After a moment, she spoke, “No sign of any robots.” During their adventure, they accidently learned that they had a line of communication at all times. “Sonata, are we still clear in the lobby?” Sonata’s voice seemed to come from nowhere, “All clear so far. All of my turrets are still operational. Though, no one’s been through here, so that’s not surprising…” “You’re welcome.” Apple Jack joined the chat with a slightly annoyed tone. While they were technically working together, she was still if-y about the situation that is Sonata. AJ looked out from her cover and spotted a set of robots approaching. “We’ve got robots coming in from the west side.” Rainbow adjusted her position, “How many?” After a moment, AJ responded, “Six. “Those must be the last bots in the wave.” “Let’s hope so…” *beep beep beep* The small robot on Big Mac’s back flew upward with [100%] on its screen. “What’s the 100 for, Big Mac?” “It’s saying I can use something called ‘the Blizzard.’ Says it can freeze multiple enemies at once.” “That sounds helpful.” The six robots started to walk down the streets toward the hotel. Dash tried to snipe them, but that proved… difficult. She wasn’t exactly a marksman and had difficulty getting anything more than a body shot. Unfortunately, the robot health pools practically demanded headshots be necessary to be helpful. Every shot just made her angry as her shots would either barely hit the body or fly so close to the head only to miss. Big Mac looked to his robot and shrugged. “Alright…” The robot moved toward Big Mac’s hand and he tossed the bot among the robots, “Freeze! Don’t move!” The bot created a blizzard that started to slow the robots’ movements. After a moment, they were frozen solid. “They’ll be stuck for a couple seconds. Best hit ‘em now.” Apple Jack wanted to hit them all as quickly as possible. She knew she couldn’t destroy more than one, possibly two, of the bots in the time she had. But how could she do this? Something in the back of her mind told her she could destroy all of them. She might as while try, right? Suddenly her vision became a sepia tone and a bright glow appeared behind her. A tumble weed bounced across her vision, her revolver was placed in her holster, and she couldn’t help but say, “Step right up…” After a moment, she saw the symbol from before appeared on the heads of each of the frozen bots and she drew her pistol. “Draw!” Six shots fired, six bot kills. Round 2: complete! “Alright!” Rainbow cheered. “That was awesome!” Apple Jack gave in impressed whistle. “How did I do that?” Round 3: Commencing… Heavy steps told them they had incoming enemies and they prepared for a fight. What they saw was a large war robot, a Bastian unit. It moved into position and transformed into its turret form. “The heck?” The Bastian unit unloaded toward AJ and Big Mac, eating away a lot of their health before Bic Mac could put up an ice wall. A section fell away and the bullets continued to fly. “What the hell is that thing?!” “Doesn’t matter! Move!” The two made a b-line for the hotel as the bullets flew passed. As they approached, a projected shield from Sonata gave them a respite from the bullets and gave them the chance to duck inside. AJ grabbed the health pack in the back of the room and Big Mac ducked inside his ice barrier to heal up. Once AJ was healed up, she turned to Sonata, “Where’s Rainbow?” “Still on the balcony.” Rainbow answered her while still firing. “Get in here! That thing’ll kill you!” “It’s not firing at me. I might be out of its range. That said… it’s healing all the damage I deal.” Rainbow fired another shot and gave an exasperated sigh as the enemy health refilled again. When it’s health was full again, it repositioned and looked upward toward Rainbow. “What the…?” It then opened fire, most of its shots missing due to the distance. Rainbow ducked behind the low wall surrounding the balcony. “Guys! I think that thing can’t heal and fire at the same time!” “So? If its healing, we aren’t really hurting it too much.” “True, but we can use that to our advantage! If I lower its health enough, it’ll heal, leaving it open for you guys to get close enough to deal with it.” Apple Jack thought for a moment, “Oh! Big Mac can freeze him and I have a stun grenade!” “Right! And Sonata’s weapon builds damage over time. If you three get close enough, it won’t be able to move long enough for us to take that thing down!” Sonata smiled and added, “And if it aims at one of us on the way, I can use the barrier to protect us!” “Okay! Are we all clear on the plan?” “Let’s go!” After a moment of silence over the streets, Rainbow started to unload her sniper rifle into the Bastian unit. Bic Mac, AJ, and Sonata burst out from the hotel and started to charge forward as the unit tried to heal its damage. As they approached, the unit stopped healing and pointed toward the group. Sonata projected her barrier, stopping the bullets long enough for them to reach the Bastian. Big Mac ran to its left and started to freeze the unit’s movements as AJ and Sonata dealt damage. When it broke free, AJ used her stun grenade to halt it again, allowing Big Mac and Sonata to strike. Sonata had never let go of her trigger and her damage output had reached its maximum. Working together, the group destroyed the Bastian unit in no time. As the unit collapsed into junk, the group celebrated their victory over the tough opponent. Rainbow looked to her gauntlet as it started flashing with [100% Visor Ready]. She pressed a button on her visor system, “You can’t hide anymore.” What she saw nearly gave her a heart attack. “Guys! We have more of those things incoming from the north!” “Then we’ll just do this again.” AJ reloaded her gun and looked northward. When she saw the red outlines from Rainbow’s ability, she became less sure. Two Bastian units were approaching just behind the wall. When they rounded the corner, the group tried to reinitiate the strategy, but two units proved a different beast altogether. Rainbow used her rifle to keep one of the units pinned and healing while the other was dealt with. When the first unit was down, they heard the ‘charge’ tune come from the other. They turned to see the surviving unit drop into a lower position and transform into something resembling a small tank. It aimed upward toward Rainbow and fired a shell clean to the balcony, devastating Rainbow’s health pool. Friendly operative down! Revive needed! Sonata used a barrier before turning to the Apple siblings, “Can you two deal with this thing?! I’m going to get Rainbow!” Big Mac nodded, but AJ wasn’t as sure. The two of them could handle the Bastian, that wasn’t an issue. But she still didn’t really trust the former siren. After a moment, she relented. It was the better option since she and Big Mac could hold the robot at bay better than if Sonata were in either of their places. “Fine. We can handle this! Get moving!” Sonata nodded and turned, running toward the hotel. She practically flew up the stairway to her friend, who was lying on the ground as a timer ticked downward. “Rainbow! I’m here, I can…” Unfortunately, the distance was too great between the group and Rainbow. The timer ticked to zero. Ally down. Mission failed. Prepare for medical evac! \/ The team were greeted with the inside of the command tent again, their kits removed and attire returned to normal. Everyone was looking toward them; but one, in particular, drew their attention. Grimoire stood in front of them, hands behind his back and a blank, unreadable look on his face. “Can any of you tell me where you went wrong?” AJ’s gaze moved toward the ground. “I didn’t trust everyone on my team.” After a pause, she continued. “When Rainbow was hit and Sonata offered to get her, I hesitated because I didn’t trust her. In a way, I still don’t.” Sonata shrunk away a bit from AJ. “That said… She and Rainbow seem to be friends. If Rainbow can trust her… I guess I can at least give her a chance.” Sonata started smiling from ear to ear and moved closer to hug AJ. Until she was cut off by an accusing finger from said farmgirl, “But if I find out this is all some elaborate trick to turn our friend against us I will snap you in half like a toothpick. Understand?” Sonata froze before taking a step away from AJ. “Yeah. Got it…” Grimoire looked down toward his projected clipboard. “That is true, but there was something else.” “There was?” “You left Rainbow alone, far away from the group. When she was picked off, you were too far away to effectively reach her. A crucial part of teamwork is staying together. Since you four went first and didn’t have the lesson everyone else just learned, I’m giving you another shot once the other teams have gone. Speaking of which,” he turned toward the larger group, “Next team.” Author's Note Round 1 complete. As always, hope you enjoyed. Second RoundGrimoire looked down to his clipboard. “Alright next team is Team 4: Fluttershy, Flash, Adagio, and Vinyl. So, who’ll be first up to the plate?” After no one moved, Vinyl stood up and walked silently to the platform. When she stood there, the symbol appeared above her head and started to spin. When it stopped, the symbol above her head looked like an 8-bit skull of some kind. Her attire changed like the last group. When it was done, she stood with a sort-of cybernetic style. Her white cyber body was accented by glowing blue and a long braid to one side of her head. “You’ve been given the kit of the master hacker known only as Sombra; specifically, the Cyberspace variant. You specialize in messing with the enemy and taking away their abilities with your skills. All the while, you break down their HP with your SMG.” Vinyl examined her equipment. After a while, she smiled and stepped to the side. Grimoire looked back to his clipboard. “Next!” After a look from Sonata, Adagio leaned back a bit and sighed. She stood up and walked toward the platform. “Let’s get this over with.” She stood with arms crossed. The symbol started to spin above her. When it stopped, the symbol above her head resembled a dragon. Her attire became a sleek cybernetic chaise. Her face was covered by a similarly sleek mask. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail, hanging out the bottom of her helmet. “You’ve been given the kit of the cybernetic ninja Genji Shimada. You specialize in damaging the enemy and escaping conflict. You are a hit and run hero. As a result, you have little health. Keep this in mind as you fight.” When she stepped away, Flash stepped up to the platform. When his symbol stopped spinning, it landed on a symbol akin to a pair of wings with a halo above them. He smiled, “Guessing I’m the healer.” His attire changed to become like a set of white and gold, winged body armor. He held up a staff in his hand. “You’ve been given the kit of Angela Ziegler, commonly referred to as Mercy. Your job is to keep your team alive, even if you have to bring them back from the dead. You also possess a plasma pistol in the event that you need to defend yourself.” Flash gave an impressed whistle, “Nice.” Grimoire turned to find Fluttershy hesitating to step onto the platform. “Is something wrong?” Fluttershy took a few deep breathes before looking back to the platform. “No. I can do this.” She stepped onto the platform and watched as her symbol appeared and started to spin. She recoiled for a moment when a strange, elongated skull appeared as her symbol. “W-w-what’s that one?” Her attire shifted to a long white coat with metal accenting. Her face was covered by a skull mask and her gauntlet’s fingertips were coated in red. “W-w-what is all this?!” Grimoire was trying to hold back his laughter. “You’ve been given… the kit of… Gabriel Reyes. Commonly referred to as Reaper. Specifically, the Wight variant. You… You’re a close-range combatant using your Hellfire shotguns.” “Eep! I-I-I… don’t think I can…” “Sorry. Too late for that.” “What?” The doors closed on the group and they were sent off to their mission. When the doors reopened, they stood before a tower that extended into the sky. To many, it made them feel small and insignificant… In the group, only one felt this. Welcome to Lijiang Tower. Flash looked up the tower before them, “Wow…” After a moment to take in the area, he took a deep breath and turned to the group. “Okay, we should try to find somewhere safe in the first round. That way we can better defend ourselves later.” Fluttershy was having difficulties adjusting to her situation and didn’t really hear what was said. She could feel her muscles tightening against her will. Her hands gripping a pair of shotguns and her fingers wrapped instinctively around the triggers. It took all her mental fortitude to move her fingers away. During this, Flash had noticed Fluttershy’s plight and wanted to make sure she was alright. “Hey, Fluttershy. Are you…” Before he could finish, he placed his hand on her shoulder to console her only to have his hand pass through her. When he tried to get Fluttershy’s attention, she was focused elsewhere and was shocked by the contact. She jumped slightly as her body turned into a vapor, her eyes glowing a bright, neon blue beneath her mask. This only made her situation worse, however. Her heartrate was sky rocketing as her body started to return to a physical form. When she was solid again, she brought her hand over her heart and she took deep breaths to try to calm herself. Flashed moved around to face her and placed his hand on her shoulders. “Fluttershy… It’s okay. None of this is actually real.” He tried to put on a calming face and help her down. “When we leave, everything will be normal again. It’s just a game.” After a while, Fluttershy was starting to calm down. She still felt weird about her abilities and the weaponry, but she was no longer panicking. Baby steps… Though, baby steps didn’t help when they were shot at. A group of robots had found them and started shooting. Flash turned and drew his plasma pistol, unloading into the enemies. Vinyl tried to shoot them with her gun, but they were far enough away that her accuracy was terrible. Adagio tried to use her sword but it was locked down. She angrily swung her fist and launched a trio of shuriken into the robots. Fluttershy… was having difficulties. She wanted to help, but when she fired the shot gun… the noise and kickback from the blast caused her to drop her weapon. She was shaken, but didn’t want to give up. She fired her other shotgun, but dropped this one all the same. She shrunk away as one of the robots got close to her. “G… GET AWAY!” She pulled another pair of shotguns out of her cloak and unloaded into her robotic attacker. Eight shots later (four each) she stood over the wreckage of the robot, breathing heavily. She dropped her guns again before materializing another pair from her coat. The team was stunned by the display. Sort of… they were still trying to focus on staying alive, so it didn’t really last very long. But it was there, and it shocked them to their cores. Vinyl dodged an attack using her teleportation device and hacked one of the robots, stopping it from moving. When she noticed exactly what her ability did, she tried to get the attention of the others to let them know. Unfortunately, the robot started to move before anyone else saw it, so she had to shoot it and deal with the rest later. After a while, the coast was clear, and the robots stopped coming. Round 1: Complete. Flash let out a quick chuckle and smiled, “Nice. One down.” Round 2: Protect the two control points. Capture of one of the points results in failure. “Well that hardly seems fair.” Adagio spoke for the first time since getting her kit. Her voice was given a robotic reverb, making her sound like a combination of organic and artificial. You are granted three minutes to prepare. “Well then, never mind.” Flash clapped his hands to get the group’s attention. “Alright. To defend two points at the same time, we’ll need to split into teams of two. Vinyl, you’re able to hack opponents and medical packs. You can act as a pseudo-support class. And Fluttershy, I noticed during the first round that you can heal yourself when you hit your opponent. The two of you will form the first team and head to the point on the eastern side of the tower. That leaves Adagio and I to deal with the western point. Does that sound alright to everyone?” Vinyl nodded with a smile, recognizing that Flash had the best plan for the situation. Fluttershy nodded nervously, “I think that sounds okay.” Adagio just stood there with her arms crossed. She wasn’t a fan of Flash’s attempt to take charge of the group. After all, the position of leadership is where she belonged. However, she couldn’t fault his logic, either. Adagio knew if she spoke up now, it would be clear she was just trying to take charge for the sake of it. She had to build up to a position of power. “Fine…” Flash gave a quick nod, “Alright then. Let’s move.” \/ As Vinyl and Fluttershy arrived at the eastern point, they were met with a few robots. Not too many, mind, but enough that they both had to deal with the threat to defend the point. Vinyl would hack the enemy bots and Fluttershy, would attack with her shotguns. After a while, Fluttershy was getting used to the guns in her hands and her actions became less shaky and nervous. Of course, there still some difficulties. The phasing in and out of existence still felt weird and she learned she could use it to teleport, though it also left her vulnerable. Vinyl adapted to her abilities much faster and made use of everything she had to control the enemy units. Together, the two were able to accomplish their objective and push the robotic forces back for the moment. Off to the west, Adagio and Flash were having… difficulties of their own. Adagio used every opportunity to get under Flash’s skin, whether intentional or not. She would charge forward, take out a bunch of robots, then return to demand he heal her wounds. It was starting to get grating for Flash. He would try to say something only for her to rush off ahead and force him to follow and keep her alive. He was on his last nerve after only two minutes passed and she forced them away from the defense point, which he had to quickly return to and deal with the intrusion only to get yelled at for leaving Adagio without a healer. In a lull during the fighting, Adagio was going on a rant about Flash having to do his job. Flash kept his composure for as long as he could. He simply sat there as Adagio went on a minute on long rant about how a healer should act like a healer. He could tell it wasn’t really about him being the team healer. Time as the oldest of his brothers helped train him to recognize when rants weren’t really about the subject of the rant. Adagio’s rant eventually turned into an angry tirade about being stuck in the human world. Her and her fellow Dazzlings being from Equestria has become common knowledge among the Canterlot High students after Twilight ripped open portals, pulling away the curtain that the other world existed. “If not for that annoying little princess, we’d run this miserable world! Damn that princess Twilight Sparkle…” “No wonder you lost.” Flash spoke just above a whisper, but still loud enough for the former siren to hear. She turned to Flash with a glare. “What?” “It’s clear you heard me.” “Let’s make sure. Humor me.” “I said ‘no wonder you lost.’ After all, you can’t keep track of your opponents. Sunset was the factor that pushed the Rainbooms over the edge to beat you. Not to mention that fact that you don’t understand teamwork.” “Is that right?” Adagio glared toward him, insulted by his words. It’s not necessarily about what he said. Rather it’s from the fact that he said anything at all. Adagio was not accustomed to having others talk back to her so openly. Even without her powers, she held an aura of command and a demand for others to fall in line. Of course, she knew others would talk about her behind her back. Trying to stop that would be a fruitless effort. This, however, was new. She had caught others in similar, lone volume statements only to have them retract when confronted. “Damn right it is. It’s honestly surprising you got as far as you did when you had your powers.” Now Adagio was insulted by his specific words. “Oh?! Then pray tell! How exactly do I not understand teamwork? How were we just lucky when we had our powers?! We could have brought this place to its knees! We had only a single failure! We were able to sew chaos among you humans for years before that failure! We had to work as a team to…” “Did you?!” Adagio stopped her questions. She was taken aback by Flash’s tone. She knew his reputation as mister nice guy and how he never got angry. Thus, his yelling was a surprise. “I want you to think long and hard about how you worked that magic. Was it really as a team or were Sonata and Aria just told to follow your lead and fall in line?!” “Wait. How do you…?” “Know their names? Because they recognize they lost and tried to move forward after it. I knew about Sonata and Rainbow Dash’s friendship before this because I saw their interactions in the school. Aria actually made friends with one of my bandmates and has actually helped critique our sound, allowing us to improve! They’ve made more of an impact on this school than you did!” Now Adagio was pissed, “That’s it! You can just…!” “No! You had your chance! You’re just trying to rush ahead, making everyone have to try to keep up with you!” “So, that’s where the outburst came from. You’re just tired and can’t keep going at this pace.” Her tone was mocking. She wanted to hit what nerves remain, ready to tear him down again. “Besides, Sonata, Aria, and I had to work together to activate our powers. I’d say I understand teamwork.” “Oh? Do tell. When did Sonata get the chance to make a suggestion? Did you know that Aria is actually a good drummer? If you three had actually worked together, rather than forcing them to step in line behind you, you’d have been unstoppable. But no. You rushed ahead and made them try to pick up the slack! You wouldn’t know teamwork if it shot you between the eyes!” Adagio had enough. What he said may have been true, but she didn’t care about that. She was going to make him suffer for talking to her like that. Her hand reached for her wakizashi, ready to make him hurt. She was caught off guard a moment later at the realization that he appeared to have the same idea. A plasma pistol was aimed squarely at her chest. As he pulled the trigger, Adagio’s preparation for an attack became a reflection, sending the bolt back at it’s firer. Flash moved a foot to the side, turning his body, and dodging the bolt to hit a nearby, damaged robot slowly approaching them. Western Point: Locked Down! Flash’s face shifted as he replaced his pistol with his staff. “There, see? Teamwork.” There was no spite. No anger. Nothing. There was no hint of the aggravation from only a moment ago. Saying Adagio was confused would have been quite the understatement. “Wait! What?!” “We should get back to the others. Sounds like they still need help.” “Hold it! What the hell just happened?” “I saw a robot limping around and wanted to eliminate it. However, your running around earlier made me pretty mad, so I decided to use it to make a point instead.” “You tried to shoot me!” “Did I?” “I’d think so!” He chuckled before turning to her with a smile on his face. “Did you know that your deflect ability has an 8 second cool down time?” “What?” “After using your deflect, you can’t use it again for 8 seconds. I knew you had your ability ready and that you’d be able to send it back at me.” “I… What?” Adagio eventually got her act back together. “I get it. Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes is one of those borderline obsessive gamers, right? That’s why you took charge earlier.” “Not really. I grew up the oldest of four brothers and as a part of a set of triplets. I grew up having to be observant and that I would need to know how best to get a point across.” He smirked at her and turned to walk off toward the Eastern Point. Adagio stood a moment before catching up with him. “Wait, so all of that before was just trying to get me to understand the ‘power of friendship’ stuff?” She emphasized with a mocking tone. “Nope. Everything I said was real. You’ve certainly been frustrating so far. Not to mention that you tried to take over the world by brainwashing all of us… However, I feel it’s possible that even you can turn things around and act like, at minimum, a functioning human being.” “And to do that, you got me mad to make me try to kill you?” “Lesson 4: when properly channeled, anger gets stuff done.” She was taken aback by his use of the word ‘shit.’ She’d heard he couldn’t hurt a fly and never cursed, unlike many in high schools… “Lesson 4?” “Yep. According to my dad, anyway.” They kept walking for a while in silence after that and Adagio couldn’t stand it. “What are the other 3 lessons?” “Pardon?” “You mentioned other lessons according to your dad. What are the others?” Flash smiled as he spoke. “Lesson 1: Humanity is inherently incapable of doing everything and must work together to thrive. Lesson 2: Don’t be a jerk. Lesson 3: Always have an ambition, it’ll keep you moving forward. There are other rules, obviously, but those are the first three. If you want, I can get you a written version.” “Out of curiosity, how many lessons are there?” “Depends on how you choose to live… It’s weird. Really, though, it all boils down to two big rules. The first is treat others with basic human decency until they give you a reason not to.” “And the second?” As they spoke, Adagio had slowly moved to be behind Flash. She was still pissed at him for using her to make his point. What’s more, she wanted to be done with this stupid game. She could kill two birds with one stone right now. End the annoying nuisance, let the timer run, and she’d be gone. She slowly and silently readied her shuriken for a swift strike. “Keep improving, be it mind or body.” Flash stopped a moment and stood in silence. Adagio halted as well, remaining behind him. She wanted to get this over with, ready to strike and she almost got her chance. However, he turned around to face her. “Well?” Adagio quickly hid her weapons, “Well, what?” “I believe you were about to stab me in the back.” “What? No, I wasn’t!” A half-lie. Figuratively speaking, that’s exactly what she planned. In a literal sense, she planned to shoot him in the back… sort of. “Good to hear. I knew you were more the type to look them in the eye. So, go ahead.” He made an x mark over his heart. “Get it over with.” “What? Why are you…” “Don’t try to lie to me. I know a lot about you thanks to Aria’s friendship with my bandmate. I know you’re the vindictive type. So, go ahead. Hit me.” She primed her blades again and raised her arm to end him, but she stalled. Why? Why would she stall now? Why not end the stupid game like she planned? What was stopping her? Something felt off, something in the corner of her eye… She finally got her nerves back and sent the blades flying, only to have them fly passed Flash and into a roaming robot. Flash turned and smiled. “Nice shot.” Adagio, however, was confused. The blades were too precise in the robot to be a mistaken miss. She had aimed at Flash, hadn’t she? “Come on. Let’s keep moving.” As they walked, Adagio was left to her own thoughts. She couldn’t make sense of what just happened. However, she didn’t really have the time to think about it. They soon arrived at the eastern point. The point was overrun by bots when they arrived. They saw Vinyl, currently invisible to her enemies, running through them to reach their center. She jumped, became visible, and unleashed a powerful EMP, shutting down the robot attackers. After that, they saw Fluttershy jump down from a balcony. She spun around, shooting around herself and decimating the robotic presence shouting, “Die! Die!! DIE!!!” Flash and Adagio were frozen in shock at what they had witnessed. The first to gather themselves was Flash, “Huh… Would you look at that. Teamwork.” Adagio still couldn’t believe what she had seen the past few minutes, and that would leave her with things to think about. \/ Round 5: commencing… The team had made their way to the last round before they technically won the game. They just needed to beat one last mission. Standby for details… A large energy spike was detected nearby. Investigate the situation. With their mission set, they made for the site. Adagio took the forward position, defeating more than a few robots, but never strayed too far from the group should something happen. They eventually arrived and found a large device in the center of the area. “The heck is that thing?” Adagio destroyed another robot as she asked. Scanning… “Guess we’ll find out.” Flash said as he healed Vinyl’s injuries. Shit! Device is nuclear! Repeat! DEVICE IS NUCLEAR! “What?!” Defuse the device immediately! “Vinyl!” Vinyl quickly moved next to the device and started to hack into the core to defuse the bomb. As she did, the others made sure she stayed safe. The robots were starting to decrease in numbers. However, to compensate, their robotic soldiers started to come in equipped with grenade launchers. The group did what they could to fight back without Vinyl’s help. They took sustained damage throughout the fight. Flash had to use his revival ability and ultimate to keep them all alive during it all. They repelled the robotic threat and were able to breath calmly. One robot, however, was broken, but not defeated. It aimed its launcher and fired two shots. The first was aimed squarely at the healer, Flash Sentry. Before it could hit, before any of them could react, Adagio had jumped between them and deflected the grenade back, ending the robot. Adagio returned to her usual posture, a bit surprised by her actions. “Teamwork… huh?” The second shot’s timer could be heard going off. When it ended, all they saw was a bright white light. \/ All four tumbled out of the simulator as the doors opened. “What happened?” Flash asked as he stood. “Well…” Grimoire rewound the events on screen to show the second grenade wedging behind the device, setting it off when it exploded. “The device was compromised and detonated. The city was decimated, and all four operatives were killed in the explosion. Mission failed.” “Crap…” Flash hung his head a bit hearing that. Taking in a deep breath, he sighed. “This was fun, but I need to go. I’ll see you guys around.” He waved and left the tent. Adagio followed him to the exit, “I didn’t plan to stick around either. If we win, give my prize to Sonata.” Sonata was confused for a bit given what she just heard. “Adagio?” Adagio left the tent to find Flash making his way to the school building. She followed him and tapped his shoulder. “I have something I have to ask you.” Flash took out his phone as he spoke, “No you don’t.” “Pardon?” “You have something to ask Flash. Here’s the reveal: I’m not Flash.” Adagio raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You expect me to believe that?” “Remember the triplet remark? My name is Grey Hat, the middle triplet. Flash has had a lot on his plate the past couple of days but didn’t want to say no to the invite given the reasoning. He wanted to help, and I had nothing better to do. So, I took his place for the game. Even had to shave my goatee for that…” “Your brother means that much to you?” “Well, no shit. That’s family. Also,” he sighed, “that false outburst thing from before is something he would do to get a point across. He could get Bastian and I to do whatever he asks of us… Now, is there a reason you’re following me around? The truth is revealed. You can go now.” “I still have questions.” “Seems more like a thing for that Grimoire guy, doesn’t it?” “I want to know how no one noticed you weren’t Flash and how you knew so much about us.” “No one noticed because I know my brother very well. As for the other part…” He looked at this phone, “… Adagio Dazzle. No known criminal record. No established home region. Not much information until recent events of a Canterlot High Battle of the Bands. You live six blocks from here with your former band members Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze.” “Okay… And why do you know that? You a stalker?” “No. You leave a lot of information on your phone. I simply grabbed it from there.” “You’re a hacker?” “A damn good one, too. Now, I need to find Flash so I can go home…” He opened the doors to the auditorium and looked around, simultaneously dialing something on his phone. Honey, what ‘cha waiting for? Welcome to my candy store~ “There he is.” Grey made his way to a sleeping Flash, slouched to be invisible from the entrance. “That sounded familiar…” Adagio tried to remember the tune. It was somewhere in the back of her mind, but couldn’t place it in that moment. Flash yawned as he stood back up, addressing his brother, “How was the game?” “Interesting,” Grey adjusted his hair to a style more his own and handed Flash his signature jacket. “By the way, acting like you got us a fan girl.” Flash drowsily looked to the subject in question. “Adagio Dazzle, right?” “Yes. It’s… Oh! Now I remember! Candy Store!” “Pardon?” “Your ringtone.” “Oh, that. I didn’t think anyone else at this school knew that song.” Grey rolled his eyes. He knew how this went. Flash could discuss performance for a long time and the new face seemed to be in a similar boat. After about ten minutes of discussing performances and music, Grey decided to sit back and listen to music instead of their conversation. Grey sat back in a nearby chair, put in his ear buds, and let the time fly. Author's Note Hello again! Were you expecting a Holiday special? Not today! My gift to you all is a completed chapter. A lot has been going on the passed months, so this took longer than I wanted... Still, I hope you enjoy it. By the way, the song here was Candy Store from the Heathers Musical. Unexpected ClimaxAuthor's Note Time was not this story's ally. I have ideas I want to do but couldn't until this one was finished. Also, I couldn't motivate myself to make the other rounds... I hope you've enjoyed yourselves, though. Unexpected Climax The players were given a five-minute break for the magic to reset the simulation room. During that time, a few of the people had started to mingle. Twilight had moved next to Timber and the two were enjoying a discussion on local flora. Fluttershy had taken the chance to sample some of Vinyl’s music. She knew she wasn’t a fan, but she wanted to be nice. During this time, Sonata turned to Aria. “What do you think happened in there?” “What are you talking about?” Aria replied, her voice ripe with annoyance, “We saw everything that happened on the screens.” “That’s not what I meant. We didn’t hear what was going on in there and something happened between Adagio and that guy… what was his name?” “Flash.” “Right! Anyway, we say some kind of fight, but they made up and everything seemed to work out. Not to mention she saved him during the fight at the end! And she decided to give me her prize if she won? Adagio’s never done stuff like that before.” “You complaining?” “No… Not necessarily. But it’s weird, right?” “Yeah. I guess it is. So what?” “It’s just… I’m not sure what to think about it. Do you think this is working? That she made a friend?” “I really don’t care.” “You never do…” Grimoire clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Okay… next up will be…” Grimoire looked at his hologram. “Team 2: Rarity, Pinkie, Luna, and Aria. Step up and get your kits.” “Weee!” Pinkie shot up toward the platform. She bounced up and down, waiting for the kit to arrive. “Pinkie… Please stop bouncing. You need to stand still for the scanner to work. “Okie doki loki!” Pinkie stopped bouncing and the symbol appeared above her head at last. The symbol began to spin until it landed on a gear-like symbol. “Ooh! What’s that one?” Her attire shifted to an armored, engineer-like style with on arm replaced with a claw similar to the gear symbol. Her hair was tied in a knot that wrapped over her shoulders, almost like a necklace. “You’ve been granted the kit of Torbjorn Lindolm, master engineer and founding member of the Overwatch task force. You specialize in area control with your turret and defense by giving your teammates armor created from collected scrap.” Pinkie giggled. “That sounds fun~!” Grimoire rolled his eyes. “Next.” The next one to stand up was Rarity. “I suppose I’ll go next. I do hope I get something fabulous.” Her symbol spun and landed on a stylized grinning bunny. Rarity soon found herself in a peach and purple body suit akin to a flight suit. At her side was a plasma pistol. Rarity began to examine the attire. “How quaint. It’s actually very comfortable but I feel it isn’t quite as fabulous as I was hoping.” “You were granted the kit of Hana Song, better known as D.Va.” “A diva?” She placed her hand to her chest in insult. “How dare!” “No. Not a diva. D-period-V-a. D.Va. She’s a professional gamer turned mech pilot and movie star.” “A movie star, you say?” “Also… your primary weapon is… that.” He pointed behind her. Sitting in the room was a large, white mechanized walker. “That is your weapon. The White Bunny, a mech created by the Mobilized Exo-Force of the Korean Army.” “Oh my.” “You’re a tank type with the focus on fire power and defense when needed.” Rarity walked over and found herself deep in thought, new ideas for a dress line coming to mind. “Next up.” Vice Principal Luna was the third to make her way to the platform. Her symbol spun, landing on a pair of twisting dragons. Luna’s normal attire shifted to a padded, hunter’s attire. Her dark hair hidden beneath a white wolf pelt. A bow and quiver of arrows were on her back as well. “You’ve been given the kit of Hanzo Shimada, eldest son of the Shimada. Specifically, the Okami variant. You are the sniper and master of the bow. With a single shot and not effective close-range alternative, you must be warry of your surroundings.” As Luna moved to the side he turned back to the group. “Next.” After a few seconds, she raised an eyebrow. “Aria?” Said former siren was sleeping in her chair. “Of course…” He walked over toward Aria and Vinyl tossed him her headphones as he passed. Grimoire lined the headphones up on Aria’s ears and counted down, pointing to Vinyl as a signal. One burst of a bass drop later, Aria jumped from her chair and fell onto the floor. “What the hell?!” “Wakey wakey~” Grimoire smiled and helped her up. “It’s your turn.” Grimoire tossed Vinyl her headphones back. “Prick…” Aria walked over to the platform and waited for the symbol to select something for her. It eventually landed on a biohazard symbol. Her style shifted to a long, dark purple coat with a scientific bend. “You’ve been given the power of Moira O’Deorain, a controversial scientist of dubious ethical standards. With your left hand, you can heal your allies. With your right, you drain that life force from your enemies.” Aria smirked hearing that, “Sounds good to me.” Grimoire pushed a button and sent them on to their game. \/ The group’s pod opened, and they found themselves in a futuristic city. Beyond the bounds of city was an expansive grassland. There were a number of banners and posters advertising a museum exhibit with someone named Efi. Welcome to Numbani. “Woah! This is awesome!” Pinkie jumped up in excitement. Round 1: Begin. As the robotic wave began, the group started to get a feel for their powers. Aria primarily focused on hurting as many robots as she could before begrudgingly healing her team. Pinkie found out how to set up her turret, keeping it at high HP while attacking with her molten gun. Rarity… had some difficulties. It took her time to adjust to her position and how her mech actually worked. She was the slowest of the group to learn how to work her abilities, but she got their eventually. Luna, on the other hand, was a natural with her bow. Head shot after head shot, she broke the wave with little effort. “Oh wow!” Pinkie jumped over toward her. “You’re really good!” “Thank you. Archery was always a favorite hobby of mine. And this is certainly easier than in real life. Of course,” she smiled, “I can’t usually do something like this in life either.” She readied an arrow and it began to glow. “Okami yo, waga teki wo kurae!” From her arrow, a pair of energy wolves erupted from the air and began to twist around one another. The wolves broke the robotic presence in front of Luna. A few minutes later, the round ended and everyone had gotten better with their abilities. They were set to start the next round when something odd happened. R-r-r-round 1: C-c-complete. “What’s going on?” Pinkie looked up to the sky, as if it would answer her. Round- Round- Round- 2… Com…en…sing… Daisy. Daisy… The group found themselves outside the game and back in the main room. Grimoire was fiddling with a console to the side shouting to himself. “No! No! No! NO! Damn it!” “What’s going on?” Sunset walked over, placing a hand on his shoulder. Vinyl raised an eyebrow at this. Grimoire sighed. “Seems I overestimated the machine’s abilities…” “So, we just have to wait longer. That should be fine.” Luna took the events in stride. “Not quite…” “What do you mean?” “Well…” He pressed a button to shut the system down for recharge only to have it spark and break a screen. “Yikes.” Rainbow jumped at a realization. “Aw man! We won’t get our second chance!” “Well, this sucks.” Timber sighed, but didn’t seem too terribly affected. He would have enjoyed the game and getting to play it with Twilight, but he was able to go with the flow. Grimoire tried to fix the machine for around half an hour, getting Sunset and Vinyl to help him. Sunset understood the magical systems and tried to get things to work. However, she was surprised to see Vinyl helping. It was odd. Vinyl seemed to be keeping up with the technical side of the magic console. Sunset wasn’t sure how to take that. She knew Vinyl had enough technical knowledge to fix her headphones or DJ deck, but not about any magical tech. Thirty minutes of sparks and magical feedback later, Grimoire hit his head on the console in defeat. He took a deep breath and turned to the remaining group. “So… I’m sorry about this… but the machine is shot and it’s not getting fixed any time soon.” “So, what do we do about the prize?” Aria asked with a hint of disappointed anger. “Well… We can either reconvene and you’ll all have to start over, whenever that would be… Or I can go with plan B and hand them out to one person per team. It would have been the MVP, but one team didn’t get to go. So…” “One per team is fine.” Aria leaned back in her chair. “I don’t feel like coming back here anyway.” Grimoire shook his head and opened the issue to the group. They ultimately decided on the one per team as a fair way to decide the issue. “Okay,” Grimoire pulled out a note pad and a pen, “Who’s getting the stuff?” “Ooh! Ooh!” Pinkie jumped up and down with her hand raised. “Yes, Pinkie?” “I vote to give our teams prize thing to Vice Principal Luna!” “Just trying to butter up your teacher…” Luna was about to give the prize back, but was cut off. “You said you liked archery, right? So why not take it?!” “Well, what about your friends?” Rarity was sketching something down, “I can make my own suit if I want. But I think I’d prefer to put my own spin on it.” Aria waved from her chair, “I really don’t care.” Pinkie smiled, “There you go!” Luna sighed and smiled. “Alright then. I guess I accept.” Grimoire wrote something down and tore the paper. He placed it on the table and it began to shift into a parcel. “There you go. One Okami attire for the Vice Principal. Wear it in good health.” Luna wasn’t sure how that just worked, so she opened the parcel to see what’s actually in the box, and it was indeed the attire she wore in the game. It was an amazing material and felt very comfortable. “Impressive.” Grimoire prepared the next page. “Okay, who gets it from Team 4?” Thing was, there was only two members of that team still there. Fluttershy made it clear that she didn’t want the Reaper’s attire. Vinyl shrugged in indifference. “Okay… I guess Vinyl gets this one.” He created another parcel and handed it to Vinyl. “Now, Team 3.” Sonata thought a moment before answering. “I’m okay without the costume.” “You sure?” “Yeah. I’m good!” “Alright then. That leaves Rainbow with Widowmaker, AJ with McCree, and Big Mac with Mei.” Rainbow chuckled a little. “I’ll pass. That’s not really my style.” AJ shrugged. “I’m okay with giving the costume to Big Mac. He needs a new coat anyway.” Grimoire created another parcel and passed it to Big Mac. “Your new coat. Good for subzero temperatures too negative 70 degrees Fahrenheit.” “Thank you.” Big Mac opened the parcel and even found a backpack designed like the tank on the character’s back, complete with detachable robotic drone. “Not bad there, Big Mac.” AJ let out an impressed whistle. Grimoire turned to the remaining four. “Now… whoever gets it, I’ll have to run a randomizer again for your kit. So… who wants the prize?” Lyra thought for a while. “I don’t know… I’m not sure this stuff is for me, really.” Twilight and Timber were distracted in each other’s company. Grimoire rolled his eyes and turned to Sunset. “Well? What do you say?” Sunset looked over to the two and back to Grimoire. “Okay. I’ll take it.” “Alright then.” Grimoire used his paper to spoof the randomizer system. The symbol appeared, showing the number 76. The parcel appeared and he handed it to Sunset. “You’ve been given the kit of Soldier:76. Formerly known as Jack Morrison. Once the leader of the Overwatch strike team, Soldier: 76 is now a vigilante and international criminal. Still working to make the world a better place, but working outside the law.” Sunset smiled and took the package. She opened it to reveal a long, blue coat with matching armor. Grimoire looked over her shoulder. “Looks like you got the Strike Commander Morrison version.” Grimoire clapped his hands again, “I want to thank you all for coming. I’m sorry not all of you got the chance to play. I’ll do what I can, if we ever decide to do something like this again, to fix the issues so everyone gets a chance. Seriously, I am very sorry about that.” Lyra stood and smiled. “It’s fine. Anyway, I’ll see you guys at school on Monday.” The groups started to leave after that. Twilight and Timber left to go on an impromptu date (Timber’s idea). Sonata and Rainbow Dash left with Applejack, showing the progress made even if it was minimal. Aria and Lyra left on their own in two separate directions. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie left as a group as well. Sunset was about to leave before she saw Vinyl still sitting in the tent, “Vinyl? It’s time to go.” Vinyl stretched and gave a motion that said I know that, but she didn’t move. “Um… Then why are you…?” “Okay. This machine turned out to be a bust…” Grimoire was only paying partial attention to the world around him, likely unaware Sunset was still there. “Still, some new friends were made and the barriers for others are breaking down. So, good work all around I think. Should probably get back to Equestria for a while, though. Vinyl you ready to… Sunset? You’re still here?” “Wait. You’re taking Vinyl to Equestria? Why?” “Um… She lives there.” “Oh. Oh… Okay. Hold on. You brought her from Equestria to play this game?” “Octavia, her roommate, said it was better than leaving her alone at their home and Vinyl said she had nothing better to do.” “That makes sense… I guess. Anyway, I’ll see you next time.” Sunset walked off, parcel in tow under her arm. Vinyl looked over the back of her chair toward Grimoire. “What’s with the look?” Vinyl didn’t say anything, but was able to convey her words. “She’s an old classmate. Remember, making friends isn’t exactly easy for me, but what friends I do make I stick with for as long as possible.” Grimoire pulled the plug and the tent returned to its normal interior. “Now, let’s get moving.” Vinyl stood up and walked out with Grimoire. The tent behind them shrunk into a small satchel, which Grimoire picked up before they walked over to the portal. Grimoire and Vinyl had returned to Equestria. \/ An hour after Grimoire and Vinyl left and a few miles down the road, Sonata and Rainbow were watching an old wrestling tape Sonata kept from the heyday of her favorite wrestler, Commander Solaris. In the middle of a less impressive match, Sonata turned to Rainbow, “Do you think the game really worked? You know, helping everyone become friends?” “I don’t know,” Rainbow was uncharacteristically melancholy about the issue. “AJ is willing to give you the chance at least, and that’s improvement. I don’t know what will happen next, but at least we have the chance to patch things up with everyone.” “I guess that’s all we can ask for.” “Still kind of stinks about the machine breaking down.” “Yeah. No kidding.” Sonata looked back to the recording. “Oh! This is a great part!” The two enjoyed the remainder of their day watching old wrestling matches.
Mission BriefingGrimoire sat in a chair he set up next to his tent in the human world. He had returned to the human world after Starlight Glimmer returned and talked up the benefits of friendship studies with the human counterparts. Although, that was just an excuse to visit the human dimension for fun. Now, he was just sitting back with a can of soda and enjoying his day. “Should really learn how to make stuff back home…” The bell for Canterlot High sounded, signaling the end of the school day. He looked over toward the entrance way to watch as the students flooded out. It was always interesting to watch them leave. You get a real idea of their personality by how they exit the building. What really caught his eye, however, was a rainbow streak that seemed to come out of the doors and disappear as quickly as it had. “‘Sup?” The voice seemed to come out of nowhere. Grimoire jumped in his chair and spun around to see a blue face with pair of lavender eyes and rainbow hair. He clutched his chest as he spoke, “Rainbow Dash… don’t do that again… You nearly gave me a heart attack!” “Jumpy… Just wanted to say hi and ask why you’re here.” “Leisure trip. Wanted to get away from Equestria for a while and thought, ‘why not visit the human world for a bit?’” He returned to a normal sitting position, “I’m just here to relax.” “I get that…” Rainbow moved to stand in front of Grimoire, “Hey, quick question.” “Go ahead.” “Do you still have that game from before?” “Nightmare? I just make the games with magic. It’s easier that way.” “Think you could set that up again?” Grimoire paused mid-sip. He placed his can down and looked Rainbow in the eyes, “Really?” “Yeah!” “Easily… but I have to ask what the occasion is.” Rainbow cleared her throat and glanced to the side, “No occasion.” “Really… You might have enjoyed the last one, but I get the feeling there’s more than just fun on the mind for this request.” “Okay, look. I thought it might help… transition some of our old enemies to, you know, not be enemies anymore.” “Alright.” “Really?!” “I’ll help, but I think a different game is in order. The last game worked best when all the players were already acquainted, that way the competitive side of the game doesn’t sting any emotions. I think a cooperative game is best for what you’re asking for.” “So, you’ll help?” “Sure, why not?” “Awesome! When will it be ready?” “I’ve already got the base idea, so it should be done by tomorrow. Stop by then with all the appropriate individuals.” “Alright! See you then!” Rainbow disappeared in a rainbow of speed, leaving Grimoire alone again. Grimoire finished his drink and stood up, “Alright then, let’s get to work.” \/ Grimoire sat outside his tent and enjoyed his soda as the Saturday sun rose in the sky. He was waiting for Rainbow to bring her friends for the game and had a moment to himself to think. “I wonder if I should make some of that stuff real… It would be fascinating to try.” As he waited, he started to get bored, leading to his singing to fill the space. Even here I feel an outcast… I still have much to learn / See the world through the Dragon’s eyes… and watch it burn. His thoughts were cut off when most of the group walked up toward his tent. The Humane Seven, minus Rainbow Dash, were making their way up the path as he stood. Sunset was the first to speak up, “So, what’s the game today?” Grimoire wagged his finger in front of her, “Not until Dash the rest of our players arrive. Until then, kick back and enjoy the morning.” “You hate mornings.” “Aw… you remembered. How sweet.” Grimoire feigned appreciation before returning to his usual demeanor. “True. I’m not the biggest fan of mornings, but I’m just too excited. So, I’ll live.” He leaned to the side and glanced over Sunset’s shoulder, speaking with a devilish smile, “So, these are your surprise guests?” The group turned to see Rainbow Dash walking up toward the tent with Sonata at her side and the rest of the Dazzlings lagging a few feet behind. Most of the Rainbooms were overcome with a multitude of emotions. All of them were confused, but each were flooded by other emotions. Apple Jack looked to the Dazzlings with a level of resentment, thinking that Dash better have a good reason for bringing them here. Fluttershy was concerned and scared of the former sirens, moving behind her friends for safety. Rarity, while not happy to see the Dazzlings, had to admit that they had retained their fashion sense. This gave her new ideas for a line, but it came from the Dazzlings. So… difficult to process those emotions. Pinkie Pie… was Pinkie Pie. Happy for new friends and willing to give the second chance, but she knew the Dazzlings were going to test her resolve on this ideology. Sunset was uncertain about the situation. She wanted to give the Dazzlings the chance, to say otherwise would make her a hypocrite. But she knew it would be a difficult process. Twilight was the most grounded on an emotional scale for one reason: she never met the Dazzlings. She heard stories from the group, but they were rather disjointed in their focuses. She tried to shrink into the background and avoid the tension before her. The first person to speak up was Apple Jack, “Dash… why are the Dazzlings behind you?” Dash smiled somewhat nervously, but was interrupted before she could reply when Grimoire clapped to get their attention, “That’s something you can discuss inside. You’re not the only ones here to play a game.” Before they could react to what he said, he moved behind the Dazzlings and pushed them into the rest of the group, herding them all inside the tent. Inside wasn’t his mobile lab or experiments, but rather a large room akin to a command center in a futuristic spy or war movie. Holographic projectors and multiple computer screens for each position. Sitting/standing in the back were a few familiar faces: Big Mac, Lyra Heartstrings, Vinyl Scratch, Flash Sentry, Timber Sprouse, and (more surprising than all the others) Vice Principle Luna. When Twilight saw Timber, she was going to walk over (escaping the tension from the group), but was stopped by Grimoire raising his hand in front of her. “I’ll have to ask that you keep any public displays of affection until after I explain the rules.” Twilight blushed, but didn’t raise an argument or denial. After she nodded, Grimoire lowered his arm and allowed her to stand next to Timber for the presentation. Meanwhile, the tension between the Rainbooms and Dazzlings was starting to boil with Rainbow and Sonata in the middle. Before it could burst, Grimoire cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Right then. Now that everyone is here, let’s get started.” He tapped one of the holograms by the entrance and a projection appeared in the center of the room. “Today’s game is an adaptation of a popular video game I learned about the other day.” With a swipe of his hand, a symbol appeared in the central hologram: it looked a bit like a stylized combination of the letters O and W with the top section of the symbol being orange. Luna raised an eyebrow, “We’re playing Overwatch?” “In a way.” Grimoire reached into the hologram and pulled out an image of a clip board. “I’ve mixed a few things around for this.” He ‘pushed’ a button on his hologram and the symbol became a set of screens, each showing the same images. As he spoke, the screens showed corresponding images without showing any specific details. “First, you’ve all been placed into teams of four. Your teams were deliberately chosen, so don’t bother trying to beg for me to change them. I don’t care if your best friend is on the other team or if you don’t like your teammates, they’re final. That said, the character or hero you’ll be given for use will be randomly selected before your missions. Now, for said mission. You’ll be sent into the area of operation, which will change with each group. While there, you’re tasked with surviving, at minimum, five waves of a robotic enemy army. After that, you can either escape the combat area or attempt to hunt down the robot leader. Either will result in a success overall. That said, this is also a competition against your fellow teams. Fastest time and most effective team wins.” “And what do we get if we win?” Aria remained nonchalant in her speech. “Pardon?” “Last time we played one of your games, you said the winner got whatever they wanted. That still valid?” “Hmm… not necessarily, given that the competition is between teams… I guess bragging rights would be too little as well… Alright! How about this, the winning team will receive fully detailed, but non-functioning, replicas of their heroes’ uniforms and weapon kits. I stress the ‘non-functioning’ part of that. That work?” “Seriously? Your prize is a costume?” “You will literally be the only people with a uniform to made exactly like the original. That’d be worth money, if that’s what you’re after. Not the point!” He took a deep breath before returning to his speech. “Point is, you’ll need to work together if you want to win. Now, for the teams.” He pressed a button and the screens showed four columns of the teams in question. [Team 1: Twilight Sparkle, Timber Sprouse, Sunset Shimmer, Lyra Heartstrings] [Team 2: Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Luna, Aria Blaze] [Team 3: Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack, Sonata Dusk, Big Macintosh] [Team 4: Fluttershy, Flash Sentry, Adagio Dazzle, Vinyl Scratch] “I’ll give you some time to acquaint yourselves with one another. The first team deploys in fifteen minutes. Good luck out there.” Author's Note King: If you thought my uploading schedule was bad before, you've seen nothing yet! Seriously, though, with classes in session, it might take even longer to get chapters out. Keep that in mind. By the by, the song he sings is "Hanzo vs Genji Rap Battle" from JT Machinima on YouTube.
First TeamFifteen minutes came and went, but the groups remained separated as they had been. No division into the teams, save for Twilight, Timber and Lyra. As the tension built again, Grimoire walked back toward the middle area. He waved his hand to reactivate the screens and cleared his throat. “Alright, let’s get started. The first team to enter the field will be Team 3: Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack, Sonata, and Big Mac.” A section of the wall opened up and showed a high-ceiling platform to the side of the room. “Load onto the pedestal one at a time, please, as your hero kits are distributed. Each of your kits have three special abilities with can be activated by your thought and acted on as thought you possessed the corresponding muscle memory.” “Awesome!” Rainbow jumped up and moved toward the platform. “I’ll go first!” She stepped up onto the platform, where the symbol from before appeared over her head. After a second it started to cycle through other symbols, landing on a solid red hourglass. “What happens now?” Her question was answered as her attire started to glow and replace itself with the hero kit. She now stood in a purple, skin-tight jumpsuit with armor covering her lower legs. On her head, her rainbow hair was tied back into a ponytail and wore a strange apparatus on her head. She was granted the use of a multi-fire sniper rifle and an odd gauntlet on her arm. “Crazy…” “Your selected hero… if you can call her that… is the Widowmaker…” “That sounds awesome!” “…a cold-blooded assassin and member of the Talon terrorist organization.” “Less awesome.” “Your kit has equipped you with a sniper rifle with fires as a fully automatic rifle when not directly aimed. Using this kit, you will be the eyes for your team and keeping the enemies at bay at long range. Your automatic mode on your gun is inefficient and unreliable when compared to the sniper rifle. Keep this in mind. Next up…” “I’ll go~!” Sonata ran up to the pedestal and bounced around in excitement. The Symbol started to cycle over her head landing on a V with a small rhombus above letter. “Ooh~ Who’s that one?” Her attire began to change in a similar fashion to Dash. Her style changed to a sort of corporate style with wedge heels and a strange visor over her eyes. In her hand was a strange device with three ‘hooks’. “What’s this?” “You have been given the kit of Symmetra. Specifically, the Viskar variant, lucky you. You are an architect of hard light. You specialize in controlling the battlefield through your creations. Your weapon locks onto your opponents and builds damage output over time. You are not a frontline soldier, keep this in mind.” “This should be fun!” “Next!” “I guess I’ll go…” Apple Jack walked up to the pedestal and stood next to Rainbow Dash, but away from Sonata. Her symbol stopped on a skull with a plus in place of one of the eyes. Her attire changed to look like it came out of a futuristic western (don’t question it). Her Stetson remained on her head (something she was grateful for), she now wore a style of poncho, a pair of chaps, and spurred boots. Another item of note was her belt buckle which read BAMF. “The heck is BAMF?” “Something I’m not allowed to explain at this time. You have been granted the kit of the vigilante from Santa Fe, Jessie McCree. Former outlaw turned hero, he returned to his home as a hired gun with principles. Very much the stereotypical cowboy, you wield the peacekeeper revolver, which you can fire single shot or become a fan of the hammer and fire all remaining shots in quick succession. Your damage decreases over distance, so keep this in mind. Alright, one more. Big Mac?” He silently made his way to the pedestal and stood, watching the symbol. It landed on a picture of a snowflake. He raised an eyebrow and waited for his kit to granted. His attire became something akin to red and orange arctic gear. He had a large canister on his back and a connected gun in his hand. The top of the canister popped off and revealed itself to be a hovering robot. “You have been given the kit of Mei-Ling Zhou, renowned climatologist. Your specialty is controlling the movement of your opponents, using your endothermic blaster.” Big Mac raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Your gun shoots ice.” “Ah…” “Now, with everyone set, it’s time for your mission. Good luck!” The wall closed off, leaving the four in the small room. After a moment, the door opened again and the four stepped out onto the ground before them. Stretching out before them was a futuristic city with a holographic clock. A speaker from the room informed them saying, “Welcome to King’s Row”. Rainbow smiled and held her gun up a bit to be ready, “Alright! Let’s do this!” “Rainbow,” Apple Jack tried to reign her friend’s enthusiasm back a bit, “Do you even know where you’re going?” “Duh~!” Sonata walked passed AJ and next to Rainbow, “It’s basically a hoard mode. We go where ever we want and the robots will try to beat us with numbers. We just fight them off until it’s decided we win.” “You play stuff like this often?” “Nope, but Aria’s a fan of games with modes like this, so I hear about it pretty often.” “Alright. So, where should we start?” She got her answer when a bullet hole appeared in the wall next to her. She ducked to the side and grabbed her revolver. “Guess we’re starting here.” Rainbow Dash brought her gun to aim and the mode changed to a sniper rifle. She watched as the charge grew and took aim toward the offending gunshot. Only to have to lower her gun to dodge incoming fire. She needed to move to cover quickly. Her arm raised and a grappling hook shot out, grabbed a nearby wall, and pulled her off to safety. When she landed, she looked down to the apparatus that spirited her to her destination in shock, “How did I do that?!” Sonata had jumped into a house close by. When the bullets started to fly toward her, she made a motion with her hand and created a barrier that moved forward to protect herself. “Oh wow!” Rainbow tried to make sense of the situation, “We need to hold them back and get to a better position!” Big Mac looked to his gun and smiled. The bottom section of the gun opened and he aimed the gun toward the enemies. With a rising motion of his hand, he created a wall of ice between the group and the robots. Rainbow stood in surprise for a moment, “That’ll work. Alright, let’s move!” The group ran away from the area to find a better locale. \/ Deep into wave 2, the group had become accustomed to their basic abilities and how to use them. Granted, the muscle memory effect helped that process develop quickly. Rainbow was kneeling on a tall balcony overlooking the courtyard. After a moment, she spoke, “No sign of any robots.” During their adventure, they accidently learned that they had a line of communication at all times. “Sonata, are we still clear in the lobby?” Sonata’s voice seemed to come from nowhere, “All clear so far. All of my turrets are still operational. Though, no one’s been through here, so that’s not surprising…” “You’re welcome.” Apple Jack joined the chat with a slightly annoyed tone. While they were technically working together, she was still if-y about the situation that is Sonata. AJ looked out from her cover and spotted a set of robots approaching. “We’ve got robots coming in from the west side.” Rainbow adjusted her position, “How many?” After a moment, AJ responded, “Six. “Those must be the last bots in the wave.” “Let’s hope so…” *beep beep beep* The small robot on Big Mac’s back flew upward with [100%] on its screen. “What’s the 100 for, Big Mac?” “It’s saying I can use something called ‘the Blizzard.’ Says it can freeze multiple enemies at once.” “That sounds helpful.” The six robots started to walk down the streets toward the hotel. Dash tried to snipe them, but that proved… difficult. She wasn’t exactly a marksman and had difficulty getting anything more than a body shot. Unfortunately, the robot health pools practically demanded headshots be necessary to be helpful. Every shot just made her angry as her shots would either barely hit the body or fly so close to the head only to miss. Big Mac looked to his robot and shrugged. “Alright…” The robot moved toward Big Mac’s hand and he tossed the bot among the robots, “Freeze! Don’t move!” The bot created a blizzard that started to slow the robots’ movements. After a moment, they were frozen solid. “They’ll be stuck for a couple seconds. Best hit ‘em now.” Apple Jack wanted to hit them all as quickly as possible. She knew she couldn’t destroy more than one, possibly two, of the bots in the time she had. But how could she do this? Something in the back of her mind told her she could destroy all of them. She might as while try, right? Suddenly her vision became a sepia tone and a bright glow appeared behind her. A tumble weed bounced across her vision, her revolver was placed in her holster, and she couldn’t help but say, “Step right up…” After a moment, she saw the symbol from before appeared on the heads of each of the frozen bots and she drew her pistol. “Draw!” Six shots fired, six bot kills. Round 2: complete! “Alright!” Rainbow cheered. “That was awesome!” Apple Jack gave in impressed whistle. “How did I do that?” Round 3: Commencing… Heavy steps told them they had incoming enemies and they prepared for a fight. What they saw was a large war robot, a Bastian unit. It moved into position and transformed into its turret form. “The heck?” The Bastian unit unloaded toward AJ and Big Mac, eating away a lot of their health before Bic Mac could put up an ice wall. A section fell away and the bullets continued to fly. “What the hell is that thing?!” “Doesn’t matter! Move!” The two made a b-line for the hotel as the bullets flew passed. As they approached, a projected shield from Sonata gave them a respite from the bullets and gave them the chance to duck inside. AJ grabbed the health pack in the back of the room and Big Mac ducked inside his ice barrier to heal up. Once AJ was healed up, she turned to Sonata, “Where’s Rainbow?” “Still on the balcony.” Rainbow answered her while still firing. “Get in here! That thing’ll kill you!” “It’s not firing at me. I might be out of its range. That said… it’s healing all the damage I deal.” Rainbow fired another shot and gave an exasperated sigh as the enemy health refilled again. When it’s health was full again, it repositioned and looked upward toward Rainbow. “What the…?” It then opened fire, most of its shots missing due to the distance. Rainbow ducked behind the low wall surrounding the balcony. “Guys! I think that thing can’t heal and fire at the same time!” “So? If its healing, we aren’t really hurting it too much.” “True, but we can use that to our advantage! If I lower its health enough, it’ll heal, leaving it open for you guys to get close enough to deal with it.” Apple Jack thought for a moment, “Oh! Big Mac can freeze him and I have a stun grenade!” “Right! And Sonata’s weapon builds damage over time. If you three get close enough, it won’t be able to move long enough for us to take that thing down!” Sonata smiled and added, “And if it aims at one of us on the way, I can use the barrier to protect us!” “Okay! Are we all clear on the plan?” “Let’s go!” After a moment of silence over the streets, Rainbow started to unload her sniper rifle into the Bastian unit. Bic Mac, AJ, and Sonata burst out from the hotel and started to charge forward as the unit tried to heal its damage. As they approached, the unit stopped healing and pointed toward the group. Sonata projected her barrier, stopping the bullets long enough for them to reach the Bastian. Big Mac ran to its left and started to freeze the unit’s movements as AJ and Sonata dealt damage. When it broke free, AJ used her stun grenade to halt it again, allowing Big Mac and Sonata to strike. Sonata had never let go of her trigger and her damage output had reached its maximum. Working together, the group destroyed the Bastian unit in no time. As the unit collapsed into junk, the group celebrated their victory over the tough opponent. Rainbow looked to her gauntlet as it started flashing with [100% Visor Ready]. She pressed a button on her visor system, “You can’t hide anymore.” What she saw nearly gave her a heart attack. “Guys! We have more of those things incoming from the north!” “Then we’ll just do this again.” AJ reloaded her gun and looked northward. When she saw the red outlines from Rainbow’s ability, she became less sure. Two Bastian units were approaching just behind the wall. When they rounded the corner, the group tried to reinitiate the strategy, but two units proved a different beast altogether. Rainbow used her rifle to keep one of the units pinned and healing while the other was dealt with. When the first unit was down, they heard the ‘charge’ tune come from the other. They turned to see the surviving unit drop into a lower position and transform into something resembling a small tank. It aimed upward toward Rainbow and fired a shell clean to the balcony, devastating Rainbow’s health pool. Friendly operative down! Revive needed! Sonata used a barrier before turning to the Apple siblings, “Can you two deal with this thing?! I’m going to get Rainbow!” Big Mac nodded, but AJ wasn’t as sure. The two of them could handle the Bastian, that wasn’t an issue. But she still didn’t really trust the former siren. After a moment, she relented. It was the better option since she and Big Mac could hold the robot at bay better than if Sonata were in either of their places. “Fine. We can handle this! Get moving!” Sonata nodded and turned, running toward the hotel. She practically flew up the stairway to her friend, who was lying on the ground as a timer ticked downward. “Rainbow! I’m here, I can…” Unfortunately, the distance was too great between the group and Rainbow. The timer ticked to zero. Ally down. Mission failed. Prepare for medical evac! \/ The team were greeted with the inside of the command tent again, their kits removed and attire returned to normal. Everyone was looking toward them; but one, in particular, drew their attention. Grimoire stood in front of them, hands behind his back and a blank, unreadable look on his face. “Can any of you tell me where you went wrong?” AJ’s gaze moved toward the ground. “I didn’t trust everyone on my team.” After a pause, she continued. “When Rainbow was hit and Sonata offered to get her, I hesitated because I didn’t trust her. In a way, I still don’t.” Sonata shrunk away a bit from AJ. “That said… She and Rainbow seem to be friends. If Rainbow can trust her… I guess I can at least give her a chance.” Sonata started smiling from ear to ear and moved closer to hug AJ. Until she was cut off by an accusing finger from said farmgirl, “But if I find out this is all some elaborate trick to turn our friend against us I will snap you in half like a toothpick. Understand?” Sonata froze before taking a step away from AJ. “Yeah. Got it…” Grimoire looked down toward his projected clipboard. “That is true, but there was something else.” “There was?” “You left Rainbow alone, far away from the group. When she was picked off, you were too far away to effectively reach her. A crucial part of teamwork is staying together. Since you four went first and didn’t have the lesson everyone else just learned, I’m giving you another shot once the other teams have gone. Speaking of which,” he turned toward the larger group, “Next team.” Author's Note Round 1 complete. As always, hope you enjoyed.
Second RoundGrimoire looked down to his clipboard. “Alright next team is Team 4: Fluttershy, Flash, Adagio, and Vinyl. So, who’ll be first up to the plate?” After no one moved, Vinyl stood up and walked silently to the platform. When she stood there, the symbol appeared above her head and started to spin. When it stopped, the symbol above her head looked like an 8-bit skull of some kind. Her attire changed like the last group. When it was done, she stood with a sort-of cybernetic style. Her white cyber body was accented by glowing blue and a long braid to one side of her head. “You’ve been given the kit of the master hacker known only as Sombra; specifically, the Cyberspace variant. You specialize in messing with the enemy and taking away their abilities with your skills. All the while, you break down their HP with your SMG.” Vinyl examined her equipment. After a while, she smiled and stepped to the side. Grimoire looked back to his clipboard. “Next!” After a look from Sonata, Adagio leaned back a bit and sighed. She stood up and walked toward the platform. “Let’s get this over with.” She stood with arms crossed. The symbol started to spin above her. When it stopped, the symbol above her head resembled a dragon. Her attire became a sleek cybernetic chaise. Her face was covered by a similarly sleek mask. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail, hanging out the bottom of her helmet. “You’ve been given the kit of the cybernetic ninja Genji Shimada. You specialize in damaging the enemy and escaping conflict. You are a hit and run hero. As a result, you have little health. Keep this in mind as you fight.” When she stepped away, Flash stepped up to the platform. When his symbol stopped spinning, it landed on a symbol akin to a pair of wings with a halo above them. He smiled, “Guessing I’m the healer.” His attire changed to become like a set of white and gold, winged body armor. He held up a staff in his hand. “You’ve been given the kit of Angela Ziegler, commonly referred to as Mercy. Your job is to keep your team alive, even if you have to bring them back from the dead. You also possess a plasma pistol in the event that you need to defend yourself.” Flash gave an impressed whistle, “Nice.” Grimoire turned to find Fluttershy hesitating to step onto the platform. “Is something wrong?” Fluttershy took a few deep breathes before looking back to the platform. “No. I can do this.” She stepped onto the platform and watched as her symbol appeared and started to spin. She recoiled for a moment when a strange, elongated skull appeared as her symbol. “W-w-what’s that one?” Her attire shifted to a long white coat with metal accenting. Her face was covered by a skull mask and her gauntlet’s fingertips were coated in red. “W-w-what is all this?!” Grimoire was trying to hold back his laughter. “You’ve been given… the kit of… Gabriel Reyes. Commonly referred to as Reaper. Specifically, the Wight variant. You… You’re a close-range combatant using your Hellfire shotguns.” “Eep! I-I-I… don’t think I can…” “Sorry. Too late for that.” “What?” The doors closed on the group and they were sent off to their mission. When the doors reopened, they stood before a tower that extended into the sky. To many, it made them feel small and insignificant… In the group, only one felt this. Welcome to Lijiang Tower. Flash looked up the tower before them, “Wow…” After a moment to take in the area, he took a deep breath and turned to the group. “Okay, we should try to find somewhere safe in the first round. That way we can better defend ourselves later.” Fluttershy was having difficulties adjusting to her situation and didn’t really hear what was said. She could feel her muscles tightening against her will. Her hands gripping a pair of shotguns and her fingers wrapped instinctively around the triggers. It took all her mental fortitude to move her fingers away. During this, Flash had noticed Fluttershy’s plight and wanted to make sure she was alright. “Hey, Fluttershy. Are you…” Before he could finish, he placed his hand on her shoulder to console her only to have his hand pass through her. When he tried to get Fluttershy’s attention, she was focused elsewhere and was shocked by the contact. She jumped slightly as her body turned into a vapor, her eyes glowing a bright, neon blue beneath her mask. This only made her situation worse, however. Her heartrate was sky rocketing as her body started to return to a physical form. When she was solid again, she brought her hand over her heart and she took deep breaths to try to calm herself. Flashed moved around to face her and placed his hand on her shoulders. “Fluttershy… It’s okay. None of this is actually real.” He tried to put on a calming face and help her down. “When we leave, everything will be normal again. It’s just a game.” After a while, Fluttershy was starting to calm down. She still felt weird about her abilities and the weaponry, but she was no longer panicking. Baby steps… Though, baby steps didn’t help when they were shot at. A group of robots had found them and started shooting. Flash turned and drew his plasma pistol, unloading into the enemies. Vinyl tried to shoot them with her gun, but they were far enough away that her accuracy was terrible. Adagio tried to use her sword but it was locked down. She angrily swung her fist and launched a trio of shuriken into the robots. Fluttershy… was having difficulties. She wanted to help, but when she fired the shot gun… the noise and kickback from the blast caused her to drop her weapon. She was shaken, but didn’t want to give up. She fired her other shotgun, but dropped this one all the same. She shrunk away as one of the robots got close to her. “G… GET AWAY!” She pulled another pair of shotguns out of her cloak and unloaded into her robotic attacker. Eight shots later (four each) she stood over the wreckage of the robot, breathing heavily. She dropped her guns again before materializing another pair from her coat. The team was stunned by the display. Sort of… they were still trying to focus on staying alive, so it didn’t really last very long. But it was there, and it shocked them to their cores. Vinyl dodged an attack using her teleportation device and hacked one of the robots, stopping it from moving. When she noticed exactly what her ability did, she tried to get the attention of the others to let them know. Unfortunately, the robot started to move before anyone else saw it, so she had to shoot it and deal with the rest later. After a while, the coast was clear, and the robots stopped coming. Round 1: Complete. Flash let out a quick chuckle and smiled, “Nice. One down.” Round 2: Protect the two control points. Capture of one of the points results in failure. “Well that hardly seems fair.” Adagio spoke for the first time since getting her kit. Her voice was given a robotic reverb, making her sound like a combination of organic and artificial. You are granted three minutes to prepare. “Well then, never mind.” Flash clapped his hands to get the group’s attention. “Alright. To defend two points at the same time, we’ll need to split into teams of two. Vinyl, you’re able to hack opponents and medical packs. You can act as a pseudo-support class. And Fluttershy, I noticed during the first round that you can heal yourself when you hit your opponent. The two of you will form the first team and head to the point on the eastern side of the tower. That leaves Adagio and I to deal with the western point. Does that sound alright to everyone?” Vinyl nodded with a smile, recognizing that Flash had the best plan for the situation. Fluttershy nodded nervously, “I think that sounds okay.” Adagio just stood there with her arms crossed. She wasn’t a fan of Flash’s attempt to take charge of the group. After all, the position of leadership is where she belonged. However, she couldn’t fault his logic, either. Adagio knew if she spoke up now, it would be clear she was just trying to take charge for the sake of it. She had to build up to a position of power. “Fine…” Flash gave a quick nod, “Alright then. Let’s move.” \/ As Vinyl and Fluttershy arrived at the eastern point, they were met with a few robots. Not too many, mind, but enough that they both had to deal with the threat to defend the point. Vinyl would hack the enemy bots and Fluttershy, would attack with her shotguns. After a while, Fluttershy was getting used to the guns in her hands and her actions became less shaky and nervous. Of course, there still some difficulties. The phasing in and out of existence still felt weird and she learned she could use it to teleport, though it also left her vulnerable. Vinyl adapted to her abilities much faster and made use of everything she had to control the enemy units. Together, the two were able to accomplish their objective and push the robotic forces back for the moment. Off to the west, Adagio and Flash were having… difficulties of their own. Adagio used every opportunity to get under Flash’s skin, whether intentional or not. She would charge forward, take out a bunch of robots, then return to demand he heal her wounds. It was starting to get grating for Flash. He would try to say something only for her to rush off ahead and force him to follow and keep her alive. He was on his last nerve after only two minutes passed and she forced them away from the defense point, which he had to quickly return to and deal with the intrusion only to get yelled at for leaving Adagio without a healer. In a lull during the fighting, Adagio was going on a rant about Flash having to do his job. Flash kept his composure for as long as he could. He simply sat there as Adagio went on a minute on long rant about how a healer should act like a healer. He could tell it wasn’t really about him being the team healer. Time as the oldest of his brothers helped train him to recognize when rants weren’t really about the subject of the rant. Adagio’s rant eventually turned into an angry tirade about being stuck in the human world. Her and her fellow Dazzlings being from Equestria has become common knowledge among the Canterlot High students after Twilight ripped open portals, pulling away the curtain that the other world existed. “If not for that annoying little princess, we’d run this miserable world! Damn that princess Twilight Sparkle…” “No wonder you lost.” Flash spoke just above a whisper, but still loud enough for the former siren to hear. She turned to Flash with a glare. “What?” “It’s clear you heard me.” “Let’s make sure. Humor me.” “I said ‘no wonder you lost.’ After all, you can’t keep track of your opponents. Sunset was the factor that pushed the Rainbooms over the edge to beat you. Not to mention that fact that you don’t understand teamwork.” “Is that right?” Adagio glared toward him, insulted by his words. It’s not necessarily about what he said. Rather it’s from the fact that he said anything at all. Adagio was not accustomed to having others talk back to her so openly. Even without her powers, she held an aura of command and a demand for others to fall in line. Of course, she knew others would talk about her behind her back. Trying to stop that would be a fruitless effort. This, however, was new. She had caught others in similar, lone volume statements only to have them retract when confronted. “Damn right it is. It’s honestly surprising you got as far as you did when you had your powers.” Now Adagio was insulted by his specific words. “Oh?! Then pray tell! How exactly do I not understand teamwork? How were we just lucky when we had our powers?! We could have brought this place to its knees! We had only a single failure! We were able to sew chaos among you humans for years before that failure! We had to work as a team to…” “Did you?!” Adagio stopped her questions. She was taken aback by Flash’s tone. She knew his reputation as mister nice guy and how he never got angry. Thus, his yelling was a surprise. “I want you to think long and hard about how you worked that magic. Was it really as a team or were Sonata and Aria just told to follow your lead and fall in line?!” “Wait. How do you…?” “Know their names? Because they recognize they lost and tried to move forward after it. I knew about Sonata and Rainbow Dash’s friendship before this because I saw their interactions in the school. Aria actually made friends with one of my bandmates and has actually helped critique our sound, allowing us to improve! They’ve made more of an impact on this school than you did!” Now Adagio was pissed, “That’s it! You can just…!” “No! You had your chance! You’re just trying to rush ahead, making everyone have to try to keep up with you!” “So, that’s where the outburst came from. You’re just tired and can’t keep going at this pace.” Her tone was mocking. She wanted to hit what nerves remain, ready to tear him down again. “Besides, Sonata, Aria, and I had to work together to activate our powers. I’d say I understand teamwork.” “Oh? Do tell. When did Sonata get the chance to make a suggestion? Did you know that Aria is actually a good drummer? If you three had actually worked together, rather than forcing them to step in line behind you, you’d have been unstoppable. But no. You rushed ahead and made them try to pick up the slack! You wouldn’t know teamwork if it shot you between the eyes!” Adagio had enough. What he said may have been true, but she didn’t care about that. She was going to make him suffer for talking to her like that. Her hand reached for her wakizashi, ready to make him hurt. She was caught off guard a moment later at the realization that he appeared to have the same idea. A plasma pistol was aimed squarely at her chest. As he pulled the trigger, Adagio’s preparation for an attack became a reflection, sending the bolt back at it’s firer. Flash moved a foot to the side, turning his body, and dodging the bolt to hit a nearby, damaged robot slowly approaching them. Western Point: Locked Down! Flash’s face shifted as he replaced his pistol with his staff. “There, see? Teamwork.” There was no spite. No anger. Nothing. There was no hint of the aggravation from only a moment ago. Saying Adagio was confused would have been quite the understatement. “Wait! What?!” “We should get back to the others. Sounds like they still need help.” “Hold it! What the hell just happened?” “I saw a robot limping around and wanted to eliminate it. However, your running around earlier made me pretty mad, so I decided to use it to make a point instead.” “You tried to shoot me!” “Did I?” “I’d think so!” He chuckled before turning to her with a smile on his face. “Did you know that your deflect ability has an 8 second cool down time?” “What?” “After using your deflect, you can’t use it again for 8 seconds. I knew you had your ability ready and that you’d be able to send it back at me.” “I… What?” Adagio eventually got her act back together. “I get it. Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes is one of those borderline obsessive gamers, right? That’s why you took charge earlier.” “Not really. I grew up the oldest of four brothers and as a part of a set of triplets. I grew up having to be observant and that I would need to know how best to get a point across.” He smirked at her and turned to walk off toward the Eastern Point. Adagio stood a moment before catching up with him. “Wait, so all of that before was just trying to get me to understand the ‘power of friendship’ stuff?” She emphasized with a mocking tone. “Nope. Everything I said was real. You’ve certainly been frustrating so far. Not to mention that you tried to take over the world by brainwashing all of us… However, I feel it’s possible that even you can turn things around and act like, at minimum, a functioning human being.” “And to do that, you got me mad to make me try to kill you?” “Lesson 4: when properly channeled, anger gets stuff done.” She was taken aback by his use of the word ‘shit.’ She’d heard he couldn’t hurt a fly and never cursed, unlike many in high schools… “Lesson 4?” “Yep. According to my dad, anyway.” They kept walking for a while in silence after that and Adagio couldn’t stand it. “What are the other 3 lessons?” “Pardon?” “You mentioned other lessons according to your dad. What are the others?” Flash smiled as he spoke. “Lesson 1: Humanity is inherently incapable of doing everything and must work together to thrive. Lesson 2: Don’t be a jerk. Lesson 3: Always have an ambition, it’ll keep you moving forward. There are other rules, obviously, but those are the first three. If you want, I can get you a written version.” “Out of curiosity, how many lessons are there?” “Depends on how you choose to live… It’s weird. Really, though, it all boils down to two big rules. The first is treat others with basic human decency until they give you a reason not to.” “And the second?” As they spoke, Adagio had slowly moved to be behind Flash. She was still pissed at him for using her to make his point. What’s more, she wanted to be done with this stupid game. She could kill two birds with one stone right now. End the annoying nuisance, let the timer run, and she’d be gone. She slowly and silently readied her shuriken for a swift strike. “Keep improving, be it mind or body.” Flash stopped a moment and stood in silence. Adagio halted as well, remaining behind him. She wanted to get this over with, ready to strike and she almost got her chance. However, he turned around to face her. “Well?” Adagio quickly hid her weapons, “Well, what?” “I believe you were about to stab me in the back.” “What? No, I wasn’t!” A half-lie. Figuratively speaking, that’s exactly what she planned. In a literal sense, she planned to shoot him in the back… sort of. “Good to hear. I knew you were more the type to look them in the eye. So, go ahead.” He made an x mark over his heart. “Get it over with.” “What? Why are you…” “Don’t try to lie to me. I know a lot about you thanks to Aria’s friendship with my bandmate. I know you’re the vindictive type. So, go ahead. Hit me.” She primed her blades again and raised her arm to end him, but she stalled. Why? Why would she stall now? Why not end the stupid game like she planned? What was stopping her? Something felt off, something in the corner of her eye… She finally got her nerves back and sent the blades flying, only to have them fly passed Flash and into a roaming robot. Flash turned and smiled. “Nice shot.” Adagio, however, was confused. The blades were too precise in the robot to be a mistaken miss. She had aimed at Flash, hadn’t she? “Come on. Let’s keep moving.” As they walked, Adagio was left to her own thoughts. She couldn’t make sense of what just happened. However, she didn’t really have the time to think about it. They soon arrived at the eastern point. The point was overrun by bots when they arrived. They saw Vinyl, currently invisible to her enemies, running through them to reach their center. She jumped, became visible, and unleashed a powerful EMP, shutting down the robot attackers. After that, they saw Fluttershy jump down from a balcony. She spun around, shooting around herself and decimating the robotic presence shouting, “Die! Die!! DIE!!!” Flash and Adagio were frozen in shock at what they had witnessed. The first to gather themselves was Flash, “Huh… Would you look at that. Teamwork.” Adagio still couldn’t believe what she had seen the past few minutes, and that would leave her with things to think about. \/ Round 5: commencing… The team had made their way to the last round before they technically won the game. They just needed to beat one last mission. Standby for details… A large energy spike was detected nearby. Investigate the situation. With their mission set, they made for the site. Adagio took the forward position, defeating more than a few robots, but never strayed too far from the group should something happen. They eventually arrived and found a large device in the center of the area. “The heck is that thing?” Adagio destroyed another robot as she asked. Scanning… “Guess we’ll find out.” Flash said as he healed Vinyl’s injuries. Shit! Device is nuclear! Repeat! DEVICE IS NUCLEAR! “What?!” Defuse the device immediately! “Vinyl!” Vinyl quickly moved next to the device and started to hack into the core to defuse the bomb. As she did, the others made sure she stayed safe. The robots were starting to decrease in numbers. However, to compensate, their robotic soldiers started to come in equipped with grenade launchers. The group did what they could to fight back without Vinyl’s help. They took sustained damage throughout the fight. Flash had to use his revival ability and ultimate to keep them all alive during it all. They repelled the robotic threat and were able to breath calmly. One robot, however, was broken, but not defeated. It aimed its launcher and fired two shots. The first was aimed squarely at the healer, Flash Sentry. Before it could hit, before any of them could react, Adagio had jumped between them and deflected the grenade back, ending the robot. Adagio returned to her usual posture, a bit surprised by her actions. “Teamwork… huh?” The second shot’s timer could be heard going off. When it ended, all they saw was a bright white light. \/ All four tumbled out of the simulator as the doors opened. “What happened?” Flash asked as he stood. “Well…” Grimoire rewound the events on screen to show the second grenade wedging behind the device, setting it off when it exploded. “The device was compromised and detonated. The city was decimated, and all four operatives were killed in the explosion. Mission failed.” “Crap…” Flash hung his head a bit hearing that. Taking in a deep breath, he sighed. “This was fun, but I need to go. I’ll see you guys around.” He waved and left the tent. Adagio followed him to the exit, “I didn’t plan to stick around either. If we win, give my prize to Sonata.” Sonata was confused for a bit given what she just heard. “Adagio?” Adagio left the tent to find Flash making his way to the school building. She followed him and tapped his shoulder. “I have something I have to ask you.” Flash took out his phone as he spoke, “No you don’t.” “Pardon?” “You have something to ask Flash. Here’s the reveal: I’m not Flash.” Adagio raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You expect me to believe that?” “Remember the triplet remark? My name is Grey Hat, the middle triplet. Flash has had a lot on his plate the past couple of days but didn’t want to say no to the invite given the reasoning. He wanted to help, and I had nothing better to do. So, I took his place for the game. Even had to shave my goatee for that…” “Your brother means that much to you?” “Well, no shit. That’s family. Also,” he sighed, “that false outburst thing from before is something he would do to get a point across. He could get Bastian and I to do whatever he asks of us… Now, is there a reason you’re following me around? The truth is revealed. You can go now.” “I still have questions.” “Seems more like a thing for that Grimoire guy, doesn’t it?” “I want to know how no one noticed you weren’t Flash and how you knew so much about us.” “No one noticed because I know my brother very well. As for the other part…” He looked at this phone, “… Adagio Dazzle. No known criminal record. No established home region. Not much information until recent events of a Canterlot High Battle of the Bands. You live six blocks from here with your former band members Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze.” “Okay… And why do you know that? You a stalker?” “No. You leave a lot of information on your phone. I simply grabbed it from there.” “You’re a hacker?” “A damn good one, too. Now, I need to find Flash so I can go home…” He opened the doors to the auditorium and looked around, simultaneously dialing something on his phone. Honey, what ‘cha waiting for? Welcome to my candy store~ “There he is.” Grey made his way to a sleeping Flash, slouched to be invisible from the entrance. “That sounded familiar…” Adagio tried to remember the tune. It was somewhere in the back of her mind, but couldn’t place it in that moment. Flash yawned as he stood back up, addressing his brother, “How was the game?” “Interesting,” Grey adjusted his hair to a style more his own and handed Flash his signature jacket. “By the way, acting like you got us a fan girl.” Flash drowsily looked to the subject in question. “Adagio Dazzle, right?” “Yes. It’s… Oh! Now I remember! Candy Store!” “Pardon?” “Your ringtone.” “Oh, that. I didn’t think anyone else at this school knew that song.” Grey rolled his eyes. He knew how this went. Flash could discuss performance for a long time and the new face seemed to be in a similar boat. After about ten minutes of discussing performances and music, Grey decided to sit back and listen to music instead of their conversation. Grey sat back in a nearby chair, put in his ear buds, and let the time fly. Author's Note Hello again! Were you expecting a Holiday special? Not today! My gift to you all is a completed chapter. A lot has been going on the passed months, so this took longer than I wanted... Still, I hope you enjoy it. By the way, the song here was Candy Store from the Heathers Musical.
Unexpected ClimaxAuthor's Note Time was not this story's ally. I have ideas I want to do but couldn't until this one was finished. Also, I couldn't motivate myself to make the other rounds... I hope you've enjoyed yourselves, though. Unexpected Climax The players were given a five-minute break for the magic to reset the simulation room. During that time, a few of the people had started to mingle. Twilight had moved next to Timber and the two were enjoying a discussion on local flora. Fluttershy had taken the chance to sample some of Vinyl’s music. She knew she wasn’t a fan, but she wanted to be nice. During this time, Sonata turned to Aria. “What do you think happened in there?” “What are you talking about?” Aria replied, her voice ripe with annoyance, “We saw everything that happened on the screens.” “That’s not what I meant. We didn’t hear what was going on in there and something happened between Adagio and that guy… what was his name?” “Flash.” “Right! Anyway, we say some kind of fight, but they made up and everything seemed to work out. Not to mention she saved him during the fight at the end! And she decided to give me her prize if she won? Adagio’s never done stuff like that before.” “You complaining?” “No… Not necessarily. But it’s weird, right?” “Yeah. I guess it is. So what?” “It’s just… I’m not sure what to think about it. Do you think this is working? That she made a friend?” “I really don’t care.” “You never do…” Grimoire clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Okay… next up will be…” Grimoire looked at his hologram. “Team 2: Rarity, Pinkie, Luna, and Aria. Step up and get your kits.” “Weee!” Pinkie shot up toward the platform. She bounced up and down, waiting for the kit to arrive. “Pinkie… Please stop bouncing. You need to stand still for the scanner to work. “Okie doki loki!” Pinkie stopped bouncing and the symbol appeared above her head at last. The symbol began to spin until it landed on a gear-like symbol. “Ooh! What’s that one?” Her attire shifted to an armored, engineer-like style with on arm replaced with a claw similar to the gear symbol. Her hair was tied in a knot that wrapped over her shoulders, almost like a necklace. “You’ve been granted the kit of Torbjorn Lindolm, master engineer and founding member of the Overwatch task force. You specialize in area control with your turret and defense by giving your teammates armor created from collected scrap.” Pinkie giggled. “That sounds fun~!” Grimoire rolled his eyes. “Next.” The next one to stand up was Rarity. “I suppose I’ll go next. I do hope I get something fabulous.” Her symbol spun and landed on a stylized grinning bunny. Rarity soon found herself in a peach and purple body suit akin to a flight suit. At her side was a plasma pistol. Rarity began to examine the attire. “How quaint. It’s actually very comfortable but I feel it isn’t quite as fabulous as I was hoping.” “You were granted the kit of Hana Song, better known as D.Va.” “A diva?” She placed her hand to her chest in insult. “How dare!” “No. Not a diva. D-period-V-a. D.Va. She’s a professional gamer turned mech pilot and movie star.” “A movie star, you say?” “Also… your primary weapon is… that.” He pointed behind her. Sitting in the room was a large, white mechanized walker. “That is your weapon. The White Bunny, a mech created by the Mobilized Exo-Force of the Korean Army.” “Oh my.” “You’re a tank type with the focus on fire power and defense when needed.” Rarity walked over and found herself deep in thought, new ideas for a dress line coming to mind. “Next up.” Vice Principal Luna was the third to make her way to the platform. Her symbol spun, landing on a pair of twisting dragons. Luna’s normal attire shifted to a padded, hunter’s attire. Her dark hair hidden beneath a white wolf pelt. A bow and quiver of arrows were on her back as well. “You’ve been given the kit of Hanzo Shimada, eldest son of the Shimada. Specifically, the Okami variant. You are the sniper and master of the bow. With a single shot and not effective close-range alternative, you must be warry of your surroundings.” As Luna moved to the side he turned back to the group. “Next.” After a few seconds, she raised an eyebrow. “Aria?” Said former siren was sleeping in her chair. “Of course…” He walked over toward Aria and Vinyl tossed him her headphones as he passed. Grimoire lined the headphones up on Aria’s ears and counted down, pointing to Vinyl as a signal. One burst of a bass drop later, Aria jumped from her chair and fell onto the floor. “What the hell?!” “Wakey wakey~” Grimoire smiled and helped her up. “It’s your turn.” Grimoire tossed Vinyl her headphones back. “Prick…” Aria walked over to the platform and waited for the symbol to select something for her. It eventually landed on a biohazard symbol. Her style shifted to a long, dark purple coat with a scientific bend. “You’ve been given the power of Moira O’Deorain, a controversial scientist of dubious ethical standards. With your left hand, you can heal your allies. With your right, you drain that life force from your enemies.” Aria smirked hearing that, “Sounds good to me.” Grimoire pushed a button and sent them on to their game. \/ The group’s pod opened, and they found themselves in a futuristic city. Beyond the bounds of city was an expansive grassland. There were a number of banners and posters advertising a museum exhibit with someone named Efi. Welcome to Numbani. “Woah! This is awesome!” Pinkie jumped up in excitement. Round 1: Begin. As the robotic wave began, the group started to get a feel for their powers. Aria primarily focused on hurting as many robots as she could before begrudgingly healing her team. Pinkie found out how to set up her turret, keeping it at high HP while attacking with her molten gun. Rarity… had some difficulties. It took her time to adjust to her position and how her mech actually worked. She was the slowest of the group to learn how to work her abilities, but she got their eventually. Luna, on the other hand, was a natural with her bow. Head shot after head shot, she broke the wave with little effort. “Oh wow!” Pinkie jumped over toward her. “You’re really good!” “Thank you. Archery was always a favorite hobby of mine. And this is certainly easier than in real life. Of course,” she smiled, “I can’t usually do something like this in life either.” She readied an arrow and it began to glow. “Okami yo, waga teki wo kurae!” From her arrow, a pair of energy wolves erupted from the air and began to twist around one another. The wolves broke the robotic presence in front of Luna. A few minutes later, the round ended and everyone had gotten better with their abilities. They were set to start the next round when something odd happened. R-r-r-round 1: C-c-complete. “What’s going on?” Pinkie looked up to the sky, as if it would answer her. Round- Round- Round- 2… Com…en…sing… Daisy. Daisy… The group found themselves outside the game and back in the main room. Grimoire was fiddling with a console to the side shouting to himself. “No! No! No! NO! Damn it!” “What’s going on?” Sunset walked over, placing a hand on his shoulder. Vinyl raised an eyebrow at this. Grimoire sighed. “Seems I overestimated the machine’s abilities…” “So, we just have to wait longer. That should be fine.” Luna took the events in stride. “Not quite…” “What do you mean?” “Well…” He pressed a button to shut the system down for recharge only to have it spark and break a screen. “Yikes.” Rainbow jumped at a realization. “Aw man! We won’t get our second chance!” “Well, this sucks.” Timber sighed, but didn’t seem too terribly affected. He would have enjoyed the game and getting to play it with Twilight, but he was able to go with the flow. Grimoire tried to fix the machine for around half an hour, getting Sunset and Vinyl to help him. Sunset understood the magical systems and tried to get things to work. However, she was surprised to see Vinyl helping. It was odd. Vinyl seemed to be keeping up with the technical side of the magic console. Sunset wasn’t sure how to take that. She knew Vinyl had enough technical knowledge to fix her headphones or DJ deck, but not about any magical tech. Thirty minutes of sparks and magical feedback later, Grimoire hit his head on the console in defeat. He took a deep breath and turned to the remaining group. “So… I’m sorry about this… but the machine is shot and it’s not getting fixed any time soon.” “So, what do we do about the prize?” Aria asked with a hint of disappointed anger. “Well… We can either reconvene and you’ll all have to start over, whenever that would be… Or I can go with plan B and hand them out to one person per team. It would have been the MVP, but one team didn’t get to go. So…” “One per team is fine.” Aria leaned back in her chair. “I don’t feel like coming back here anyway.” Grimoire shook his head and opened the issue to the group. They ultimately decided on the one per team as a fair way to decide the issue. “Okay,” Grimoire pulled out a note pad and a pen, “Who’s getting the stuff?” “Ooh! Ooh!” Pinkie jumped up and down with her hand raised. “Yes, Pinkie?” “I vote to give our teams prize thing to Vice Principal Luna!” “Just trying to butter up your teacher…” Luna was about to give the prize back, but was cut off. “You said you liked archery, right? So why not take it?!” “Well, what about your friends?” Rarity was sketching something down, “I can make my own suit if I want. But I think I’d prefer to put my own spin on it.” Aria waved from her chair, “I really don’t care.” Pinkie smiled, “There you go!” Luna sighed and smiled. “Alright then. I guess I accept.” Grimoire wrote something down and tore the paper. He placed it on the table and it began to shift into a parcel. “There you go. One Okami attire for the Vice Principal. Wear it in good health.” Luna wasn’t sure how that just worked, so she opened the parcel to see what’s actually in the box, and it was indeed the attire she wore in the game. It was an amazing material and felt very comfortable. “Impressive.” Grimoire prepared the next page. “Okay, who gets it from Team 4?” Thing was, there was only two members of that team still there. Fluttershy made it clear that she didn’t want the Reaper’s attire. Vinyl shrugged in indifference. “Okay… I guess Vinyl gets this one.” He created another parcel and handed it to Vinyl. “Now, Team 3.” Sonata thought a moment before answering. “I’m okay without the costume.” “You sure?” “Yeah. I’m good!” “Alright then. That leaves Rainbow with Widowmaker, AJ with McCree, and Big Mac with Mei.” Rainbow chuckled a little. “I’ll pass. That’s not really my style.” AJ shrugged. “I’m okay with giving the costume to Big Mac. He needs a new coat anyway.” Grimoire created another parcel and passed it to Big Mac. “Your new coat. Good for subzero temperatures too negative 70 degrees Fahrenheit.” “Thank you.” Big Mac opened the parcel and even found a backpack designed like the tank on the character’s back, complete with detachable robotic drone. “Not bad there, Big Mac.” AJ let out an impressed whistle. Grimoire turned to the remaining four. “Now… whoever gets it, I’ll have to run a randomizer again for your kit. So… who wants the prize?” Lyra thought for a while. “I don’t know… I’m not sure this stuff is for me, really.” Twilight and Timber were distracted in each other’s company. Grimoire rolled his eyes and turned to Sunset. “Well? What do you say?” Sunset looked over to the two and back to Grimoire. “Okay. I’ll take it.” “Alright then.” Grimoire used his paper to spoof the randomizer system. The symbol appeared, showing the number 76. The parcel appeared and he handed it to Sunset. “You’ve been given the kit of Soldier:76. Formerly known as Jack Morrison. Once the leader of the Overwatch strike team, Soldier: 76 is now a vigilante and international criminal. Still working to make the world a better place, but working outside the law.” Sunset smiled and took the package. She opened it to reveal a long, blue coat with matching armor. Grimoire looked over her shoulder. “Looks like you got the Strike Commander Morrison version.” Grimoire clapped his hands again, “I want to thank you all for coming. I’m sorry not all of you got the chance to play. I’ll do what I can, if we ever decide to do something like this again, to fix the issues so everyone gets a chance. Seriously, I am very sorry about that.” Lyra stood and smiled. “It’s fine. Anyway, I’ll see you guys at school on Monday.” The groups started to leave after that. Twilight and Timber left to go on an impromptu date (Timber’s idea). Sonata and Rainbow Dash left with Applejack, showing the progress made even if it was minimal. Aria and Lyra left on their own in two separate directions. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie left as a group as well. Sunset was about to leave before she saw Vinyl still sitting in the tent, “Vinyl? It’s time to go.” Vinyl stretched and gave a motion that said I know that, but she didn’t move. “Um… Then why are you…?” “Okay. This machine turned out to be a bust…” Grimoire was only paying partial attention to the world around him, likely unaware Sunset was still there. “Still, some new friends were made and the barriers for others are breaking down. So, good work all around I think. Should probably get back to Equestria for a while, though. Vinyl you ready to… Sunset? You’re still here?” “Wait. You’re taking Vinyl to Equestria? Why?” “Um… She lives there.” “Oh. Oh… Okay. Hold on. You brought her from Equestria to play this game?” “Octavia, her roommate, said it was better than leaving her alone at their home and Vinyl said she had nothing better to do.” “That makes sense… I guess. Anyway, I’ll see you next time.” Sunset walked off, parcel in tow under her arm. Vinyl looked over the back of her chair toward Grimoire. “What’s with the look?” Vinyl didn’t say anything, but was able to convey her words. “She’s an old classmate. Remember, making friends isn’t exactly easy for me, but what friends I do make I stick with for as long as possible.” Grimoire pulled the plug and the tent returned to its normal interior. “Now, let’s get moving.” Vinyl stood up and walked out with Grimoire. The tent behind them shrunk into a small satchel, which Grimoire picked up before they walked over to the portal. Grimoire and Vinyl had returned to Equestria. \/ An hour after Grimoire and Vinyl left and a few miles down the road, Sonata and Rainbow were watching an old wrestling tape Sonata kept from the heyday of her favorite wrestler, Commander Solaris. In the middle of a less impressive match, Sonata turned to Rainbow, “Do you think the game really worked? You know, helping everyone become friends?” “I don’t know,” Rainbow was uncharacteristically melancholy about the issue. “AJ is willing to give you the chance at least, and that’s improvement. I don’t know what will happen next, but at least we have the chance to patch things up with everyone.” “I guess that’s all we can ask for.” “Still kind of stinks about the machine breaking down.” “Yeah. No kidding.” Sonata looked back to the recording. “Oh! This is a great part!” The two enjoyed the remainder of their day watching old wrestling matches.
