Team Fortress 2: Operation Friendship

(Authors note: These next few chapters all take place at the same time. Also, sorry for the delay, I was playing way too much Fallout again.)

Chapter 7

Celestia walked out of the meeting room. She walked down to the RED bunkroom and found them all waiting. “Is he alright?” she asked with genuine concern.

“We dunno yet.” muttered the Scout darkly.

Just then, the Medic walked in, accompanied by Fluttershy. “Good news! He has made a full recovery, thanks to my little assistant here.”

“Thanks mate.” said the Sniper.

“Yeah, we owe you one.” added the Scout. Fluttershy blushed.

“Yes, we all owe you a great debt. Is he in any state to be up and about?” asked Celestia. The Medic nodded. “Good! In that case, I want you all in the courtyard in twenty minutes. Bring all of your gear with you. Fluttershy, I want you to tell your friends the same.”

Twenty minutes later, everyone was gathered in the courtyard. “Now that everyone’s here, I have an assignment. Due to very fortunate circumstances, we have 3 weeks before the Griffons are fully mobilized. As such, I believe we should take advantage of this by training you to fight like RED. You will each be paired up with one of the team. The pairings shall be : Medic and Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Scout, Soldier and Spike,  Rarity and Spy, Applejack and Engineer, Heavy and Big Macintosh, Pyro and Derpy, Demoman and Pinkie Pie, and Sniper and Twilight Sparkle.”

Some, like Rarity and Applejack were pleased with their pairings, while others looked suspiciously at them, except for Big Mac, who was indifferent, and Spike, who was absolutely terrified. “You may all begin.” said Celestia. As they all trotted off to their teachers, Applejack went over to the Engineer.

“Well look at that! Ah’m guessin’ we’re gonna be work’n together now!” said Applejack brightly.

“Well, I reckon we are. But we gotta leave friendliness aside here. We got a lot to learn, pardner, and we ain’t got a lotta time to do it. Lets start with guns.” The Engineer pulled out a shotgun and a pistol

“Um, how the hay am Ah supposed to use that?”

The Engineer looked at it for a while. “That does present a problem. Lucky for you, its my job to fix problems. Wait here a spell.” He said as he went over to the workbench he set up for the training. After roughly half an hour, he returned with an odd looking device. “Alright, pardner, hook this ‘round your shoulder. Alright, now you put the handle of the gun into this here socket. To fire, bite down on this control.”

“Howd’ya make it so dang fast?”

“Miss, I’ve been doing this for years. If I can erect a sentry in 30 seconds flat, I sure as hell can make a shooting aid for ya. The problem is I don’t have the supplies to make a shotgun support, but I reckon you can make do with the pistol for now. I set up some wooden targets, take a few shots.”

Applejack made a few potshots with the gun. “This is a lot different than our guns”

“And just what is so different about your guns?”

“Well for one, they got mouthgrips instead of handles.”

“Anyways, you’re the worst damn shot I’ve ever seen, but that don’t matter too much. If you can build and maintain yourself a sentry gun, then you shouldn’t need to use it.”

“All that fancy machinery?!? Ah can’t do that!”

“Sure ya can. All it takes is the right know-how. Lets start with the Dispenser.” The Engineer walked over to the table and picked up a large tool box. “This here is relatively complicated to make, so I won’t have you buildin’ one from the ground up just yet. However, I do expect you to be able to set up one of the ones I have already made. Don’t worry, it ain’t rocket science. Darn thing practically builds itself.”

“Alright.” said Applejack, taking the toolbox. “What do Ah do?”

“First, put it on the ground and open it. There should be a little keypad inside, press the numbers 5934 and then Enter. That’s the security code to activate this here dispenser. Now I’m gonna tell you something, and you better listen good, cuz I ain’t gonna repeat it. This keycode unlocks this dispenser and only this dispenser. If you try it with any other device of mine, it ain’t gonna work. After numerous attacks from spys, I have had the devices rigged to explode if you get the key wrong.”

“Alrigh’. Then what?”

“Hit that blue button right there.”

She did so, and before her eyes, the dispenser began to rise from the toolbox. After about 30 seconds, the toolbox became a full-fledged dispensing machine. “That was amazin’! How’d y’all do that?”

“Go ahead, test it out.” Applejack went over to the dispenser, and pushed on the button marked with a red cross. She heard some whirring noises coming from within, then a small bottle of pills popped out of the slot. “Alright, now comes the fun part. We’re gonna make you your very own sentry from scratch.”

“Ah just set up mah first dispenser, which Ah had almost no part in. How d’yall expect me to build a sentry gun from nothing? Ah can’t do it.”

“Yes you can. Trust me, I will guide you through it. Here, take this.” he said as he gave her a wrench.

“Fine, how do I start?”

The Engineer guided her through the construction of the sentry gun. Whenever they needed a part, they went over to the dispenser. As Applejack built it, she began to understand how the whole thing worked. After several long hours of labor, they were finally finished.

“Now that there’s a fine piece of work.” said the Engineer. Applejack said nothing, but merely nodded. “Alright, just two steps left.”

“Whats that?”

“Paint it and give it a name.” With that, the Engineer went over to his supply table and got a crate of spraypaint cans out. Applejack painted it orange, and put 3 apples on the side. “Not bad, but it should have a name, don’t you think. What are you gonna call it?”

Applejack thought for a moment, and said “Apple Blossom.” She looked at the sentry with the same look a mother would give her child.

“I know that feelin’, missy. I felt it too when I first made Irene here. That there is the feelin of accomplishment. One thing to remember about sentry guns is that they are like children. Take care of ‘em and raise ‘em right, and they will be the most reliable things on the planet. But if you abandon and neglect it, its little more than a fancy piece of scrap. Come on, its late, we can work on it more tommorrow.” And with that, they returned to the castle for a good night’s sleep.