My Little Planetside

Twilight rather enjoyed her job. It was very relaxing to sit at 500 meters away from a base, stare through her scope, and every so often turn a pony’s head into paste. Whenever a few bullets strayed her way, she cloaked and took cover behind the massive crystal spire while her opponent realized the futility of their efforts and went back to getting shot by her. The snowy field between her hill and the huddled cluster of buildings was an easy firing range for those that foolishly decided to chase her. Three ponies had tried that. Their bodies lay as warnings to the rest. Off in the distance, a snowstorm brewed. Esamir was a wild beast, but with the tools gifted to her by Luna, the unicorn made the most of the hostile landscape.

Unfortunately, Rarity could not log on today. She- Oh, pause that thought for a moment.

Twilight held her breath. Within the base, a foolish Conglomareate soldier paused on a walkway. The unicorn pulled the trigger, and unleashed a supercharged bolt of plasma at 700 meters-per-second. It landed into her target’s helmet in .71 seconds and atomized their head. In 1.4 seconds she heard the echo from the nearby mountain. She pushed the battery back into the rifle once it finished venting heat.

As I was saying, Rarity could not log in. Twilight could not wait for her to play together; Game Update 1 had launched, with a plethora of new features. It was too thrilling, and so the lavender unicorn opted to play alone for now. She had already purchased one of the new weapons: A silenced Cerberus pistol hung attached to her belt.

Off in the distance, a strange plume of dust raced towards her. She tried to decipher what it was, but the snow was too bright for her to notice the telltale shimmering. Only once the mysterious cloud had gotten too close did she hear the sound of the cloaked Flash. She pulled out her Cerberus and sent three shots toward it before diving out of the way. It decloaked, revealing two Conglomareate Snipers out to assassinate her. They hopped off, brandishing Cyclone SMGs. She opened fire, downing one with just a couple headshots. The other Sniper aimed and fired, grazing Twilight as she cloaked and fled. Hiding in between two crystals, she decloaked long enough to fire a Sensor Dart. She watched as her opponent slowly followed her path. Eventually the pony passed in front of her right before her cloak ran out of energy. She stepped out behind the NC soldier and put them down with a flurry of shots from her Cerberus.

She decided her position was compromised. Just as she looked on the map for a new position to set up shop, a bitter wind blew from her headphones. The snowstorm arrived, and her visibility was dropped tenfold. She decided the best course of action was to set up inside the base she was just assaulting rather than risk getting lost and frozen in the blizzard. She carefully made her way in towards the buildings and eventually found an entrance. Inside was an Infantry Terminal, which she quickly uploaded an override code to. The display changed from Blue to Purple, and she switched classes to a Mechanic. With Proximity Mines, Ammunition, and a Turret, she found a defensible location in a nearby building and set up a camp. Nearly immediately, a small group of soldiers began entering the building. Their friendly conversation was cut short by the mine around the door sending a volatile explosive into the air and blasting them back outside. Two of the four soldiers died, and the other two ran for help.

Twilight heard various shouts outside before another group of Conglomareates entered, ready for whatever awaited them inside. What they found was a MANA turret pointed at them, opening fire and shredding them apart. Twilight massacred them without mercy. A slow trickle of soldiers ran in, getting cut down faster than they entered. A grenade rolled in and began billowing smoke, but her HUD allowed her to see her targets beyond. Just when the smoke cleared, she eyed a target on the other side of the room. An NC Alicorn, bearing down on her. She opened fire, only for her rounds to be simply absorbed. Its wings flared as it activated the new Aegis Shield, and marched forward unharmed. Twilight quickly abandoned the turret and ran past the Alicorn before it could deactivate the shield and open fire. Shotgun rounds slammed into the side of the doorway as she sprinted into the blinding snow.

Twilight cloaked and ducked into a nearby building, believing she was safe. Over her speakers, a familiar voice called out to her over Proximity Chat.

“Come on out, Twi. Ah know yer here somewhere. Ah promise to make yer death swift.”

“Applejack? Is that you?” Applejack's voice was slightly roboticized by the mechanical Alicorn suit she was wearing.

“Yes’m. I reckon you think Ah’ll spare ya on account of ya bein’ mah friend.”

“I know you wouldn’t. I’m simply trying to distract you long enough to hack a ride out of here.”

Twilight finished uploading the override code to the Transport Terminal. She slammed her hoof down on the green button and assembled a Harasser. The buggy dropped onto the vehicle pad and sped off down the road. Applejack galloped to the spawn room and back, switching to a Mechanic and fabricating a Flash to give chase. With her Racer Chassis upgraded all the way, it was a simple task of following the road until she found Twilight calmly driving through the snowy hills. Her hoof slid over to the red button on the handlebar and activated the Basilisk .50 cal mounted on the ATV, and began sending armor-piercing rounds into the back of the heretic’s Harasser.

Twilight did the only sensible thing: slamming on the brakes and reversing as fast as she could. Applejack couldn’t react to the familiar maneuver in time and crashed into the back of the Harasser before being smashed to pieces and killed.

Applejack slammed her hooves on her desk in frustration. “Ah should’ve seen that comin’! Curse that rotten no-good tech-lovin’ purple heretic! Ah’ll git her…”

Connected.

Rarity logged onto Herdspeak and Planetside just as Twilight returned to the Warpgate.

“Darling, you play this game far too much. The update launched at midnight, and you’ve been playing since it did! It’s now eight in the morning. I implore you to get some rest. This war isn’t going to end while you’re asleep, I assure you.”

Nothing came from Twilight’s end of the channel. After a short pause, a thud played through Rarity’s designer headphones, followed by light snoring.

Surprisingly, Spike responded in the librarian’s stead. “There’s a spot just behind her ear that, when pushed ever so gently, puts her to sleep immediately. I’ll log her off and get her into bed. Oh, and you’re welcome, by the way.”

User left your channel.