Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

*The Wargames
Mode: Capture the flag
Location: Well
Time: 1:20pm

The sounds of raging battle echoed through the corridors, blood could be seen on some of the walls, it dripped down so slowly and maleficently. Most of it was red, although there were many beings within these walls and not all of them possesed the same blood colour. The splashes stayed on the walls for few seconds and then vanished, as if they never existed. Not a big surprise for the locals, they all knew the effects of the respawn machines and what it meant to be connected to such unnatural gadget. Not a pleasant experience, going through the process, but it was something most could get used to. So what drew all these creatures into such great battle? Maybe it was the thirst for blood, maybe they did it for money, maybe it was the fear of loosing and thus recieving probably the worst punishment one can get...

They all knew they have to follow the rules. Kill enemies, follow the objective, have no mercy, give it everything. Death would probably be a relief for most of them, better than having to fight almost every day, dying over and over again... then coming back to life, whether you want it or not. RED team has been doing this for years, not a big deal by now, just another battle for the intelligence. Capture the enemy’s intel and you win, pretty simple. But loose and the enemies will destroy you with the sounds of lightning crawling around their glowing weapons. You will come back as always of course, but at a much higher price...
Throughout the years, there hasn’t been anyone, who would get used to the afterbattle respawn. Once you are in this mess for some time, it becomes almost normal part of the day, but it remains the most painful and unpleasant experience of your life.

RED Sniper was sitting at his usual spot, up in the window of the RED base, scanning the battlefield all mercenaries knew as ‘The Well’ with his sharp eyesight. The sun sometimes made it a bit difficult, that is why the large unicorn wore his yellow shades and brown leather hat. They went quite well with the red uniform and dark brown vest, the back of his body left uncovered, revealing a cutie mark in form of a single bullet surrounded by purple magical aura along with 3 sparks. There was another piece of equipment he almost never left out, a wrist watch around his left hoof. It didn’t just show the time, it showed the battle time, the exact milliseconds of how long the fight lasts, if of course there is a time limit.

There was a reason for why Sniper wore them, he lived through the fights with one simple rule: Professionals have standards. Meaning that he would never ever kill somepony if he didn’t have to. Quite simple for the wargames, Sniper would never kill his enemies during timeoffs or the humiliation phase (short time period after battle when the winning team gets a chance to massacre the team that lost, without any chance of the defeated to protect themselves and thus in most cases sending them through the afterbattle respawn). The idea of killing others for somebody’s enjoyment was enough bulls**t for one like him to handle. That is why he wore the watch, to make sure he never slips and breaks the promise he gave himself years ago.

From the looks of it, there wasn’t much time left in this match, RED was ahead of BLU by 1 point, making the score 2:1 and it looked like they are gonna win. Finally, the bloodbath will be over for the day. In the corner of the eye he spotted a teammate Spy heading back to the base, devilish grin on his face, probably stabbed someone on the way, typical. They have been good friends for a long time now, Sniper would trust him with his life, quite ironic to trust a Spy, but these two had a long enough history.

“Mission ends in sixty seconds!”

For God’s sake how much hated there was against that arrogant voice. The voice he heard every day coming from the speakers around every base, they voice commanding almost every step of their lives ...

The thoughts carried Sniper a bit too far this time, if a spy approached him right now he would be dead on spot! Lucky for him, the pony approaching at that moment wasn’t as sneaky. The dark red unicorn snapped from his thoughts at a last second and dodged just soon enough to avoid the baseball bat that ended up hitting a wall instead of his head. Sniper turned around to see the attacker. It was the BLU Scout, young light purple pegasus with short dark brown mane covered by a black baseball cap. Shiny blue eyes matched his T-shirt. There was also a pair of dogtags hanging around his neck. The cutie mark on the side portaied a single bullet, similair to Sniper’s, but unlike his, this one had a purple wing attached to it.

“Nice dodge knucklehead, tho you ain’t as fast as you may think!”
Scout said with a smirk, trying to hide his nervousness.
Sniper had no problem keeping his calm, Scout was much younger compared to him and not as skilled in the art of war. The unicorn felt a bit sorry for this young pegasus. He stood up straight and spoke in a deep calm voice.

“You shouldn’t be here boy, you know what will happen in few seconds. Now return to your team!”

Sniper’s voice shifted into a bit sharper tone with the last sentence, he didn’t want to get into such an unnecessary fight right before the round ends. Unfortunatelly it didn’t look like Scout shared his sympathies.

“Ya really think Imma leave like nothin’? Are ya freakin’ scared or what dumbass?”

Scout said with a smug and didn’t hesitate more to take the next swing. This time Sniper didn’t manage to dodge this time so at least he covered his head with his large hoof. The hit would have probably caused him serious injury, if not knock him out completely. This way the only thing that got cracked was Sniper’s wrist watch. Despite how calm the unicorn usually was, at this moment it was the one little drop to bring up anger. As an answer to the attack he delivered a swing of his other hoof, of course the Scout dodged and leaped right back into the next attack in a hope to hit the target on a critical spot.

There were few more tries like this, each time they ended up the same, Sniper got hit few times, but it was usually a non critical that a strong body like his could take without a bigger problem. Even though the BLU was quite determined, Sniper refused to take out his kukri, that would simply be a bit too much. He hoped that if he manages to avoid the hits a bit longer, timer would put the fight to the end.
The string of thoughts was cut yet again, even Scout knew the time wasn’t on his side so he decided to try attacking with all he got. Another leap forward towards the RED’s head, stronger and more determined than those before, but that also made him desparate and thus less careful. He missed the attack, Sniper managed to make a full 360 turn and in a hope to push Scout away kicked hard with his back hooves, but Scout wasn’t the only one who miscalculated his attack ...

“Victory! Well done RED team ....... You failed BLU, do not dare to loose like this again...”

The venomous voice coming from the speakers filled the battlefield again, the battle was over, RED team’s weapons started glowing and the time has come again, the time that means it’s over. But this time it was different, Sniper has made a mistake ...

The attack was indeed effective, maybe a bit too much. That powerfull kick got Scout right into the side, hitting his flank and wing. It was so strong it sent the purple pony flying right through the window, shattering the glass into pieces. Scout tried to recover and take flight, but a sharp pain in his wing took him by surprise. The poor pegasus ended up making a flip in mid-air, maybe if he didn’t try to do so, he would walk away almost unharmed. But this way Scout only ended up hitting the back of his head on the hard concrete edge before hopelessly falling into the deep water canal covering a large area in front of each base. The water swallowed him and just like that, RED battlegrounds went quiet again with just one sound left - a loud heartbeat of a single mercenary.

Sniper stood like stunned, processing what just happened in the past few seconds. Finally he gathered enough conciousness to step closer to the broken window. With some of the shattered glass cracking under his weight he looked outside at the water that was now as clear as a mirror. What came next was a shock ... where is Scout? Why hasn’t he emerged yet? What is taking him so long? Sniper froze in fear after a single thought crossed his mind.

“Did I just...”

The sharpshooter whispered to himself, swarm of thoughts suddenly arrived like a loud train.

/I couldn’t have just ... I didn’t ... he is alive.
/He is still down there, the time ran out, it happened AFTER the the time ran out!
/It was an accident ... right?
/Nobody saw that, it was just an accident, I didn’t do it on purpose. Nobody saw me ...
/Nobody saw me ...
/It was an accident ...
/It isn’t my fault ...
/I didn’t mean to ...
/But now the respawn ...
/The respawn ...

All the sentences, all the questins inside were like a tornado of feelings and emotions, but they were mostly the same, just repeating over and over again while the purple eyes were still fixed on the clear water surface. With each thought coming back he was loosing time and there was still no sign of the pegasus being alive. At this point it’s impossible Scout is just hiding underwater, this didn’t look good.

A choice had to be made, quickly. Sure nobody saw what happened, it was just an accident and after all, Sniper would still be known as the one who never kills outside duty...
That thought has immediately brought a wave of rage, no way he would accept such dirty move as pretending like nothing happened! This unicorn is stubborn, proud. It was not the bad selfish pride, but a genuine proud mind and good heart. He isn’t doing this for others, years ago he gave himself a promise and he is not planning to break it, not today ...

/That’s it!

That was the last drop, with that Sniper threw everything else aside and jumped into action, literally. He took a leap through the broken window right into the water below.
Quite a professional jump for somepony his size, it made almost no sound. Once underwater and opening his purple eyes, he started searching. It didn’t take long to spot the helpless light body floating at the bottom. Sniper swam closer, he wasn’t as skilled at this kind of magic so trying to levitate Scout to the surface wasn’t an option. He instead grabbed him by the collar of the blue T-shirt and swam right back up as quickly as both bodies let him.
Once they emerged, Sniper first threw Scout onto a solid ground before climbing out as well. The body was moveless, no sign of conciousness. The unicorn tried shaking him few times.

“Hey! Hey rabbit, wake up!”

No response.
No matter what it was dangerous to stay out in the open like this, even though the fight is over. Sniper grabbed the blue collar again and dragged the helpless Scout through an automatic door right into the RED base. There he hid behind a corner bellow the stairs right by the enterance, it was very unlikely somepony would find them in there.
Sniper tried to shake the pegasus again, this time he had to be more quiet, there was a huge trust in his teammates, but nopony had to know about this. Again was left with no response. Scout didn’t seem to have any major injuries other than a broken wing and probably a light concussion, nothing life threatening, yet he still wasn’t waking up. After a closer check, it was clear that water was the cause to blame... Scout wasn’t breathing.
This whole situation seemed hopeless, but Sniper refuses to give up that easily. Professionals have standards. And a professional doesn’t leave a job half done. He already went too far with this. He caused this, it was time to face the consequences. And sure hell Sniper is one stubborn pony.

Sniper checked behind the corners one more time to make sure no one is nearby, his team is probably still at the BLU base. That works for him, but there is still the time pressuring him. He tried to recall every bit of memory from Medic’s first aid trainings, but it happened a long time ago so all left to do was more or less improvise. The frustrated sharpshooter carefully turned the breathless body on it’s back and tilted the head back a bit as he remembered from Medic’s lessons. One hoof placed under Scout’s neck, the other on his nose, Sniper stopped for one last second.

/Bloody hell why am I even doing this ...
/What am I doing ...

Few more thoughts before he shoved everything away. Without more thinking he took a deep breath, moved one hoof under Scout’s chin, pressed their lips together and exhaled slowly. He could feel Scout’s chest rising and once pressure could be felt he pulled away and watched the chest fall again as the air escaped the purple pony’s lungs.
Nothing.
Sniper tried again.
Nothing.
RED moved his hooves onto the BLU’s chest and started pressing down rhytmically. It wasn’t very effective though, Sniper’s large hooves covered almost the whole chest area which made it almost impossible to hit the right spot without accidentally breaking the poor pegasus’ ribs.
The now desperate unicorn moved his hooves back into the original position. He had to take few deep breaths to calm down before trying to get some air into Scout’s body again.
One breath, two breaths.
Nothing.

Sniper refused to give up, after all of this, he simply wouldn’t accept the fact that he failed.

“Come on ya bloody rabbit, you’re always so full of energy so use it for f*ck sake!”

Feelings began to get overflown by anger again. Another deep inhale, mouth pressed to mouth and then long exhale. Sniper kept his eyes closed, as if he wished that by some miracle once he opens them, this will all be just a dream. The pony who’s life now lied in his hooves was just so young, how could somepony his age enter for the Mannco contract. The ponies in charge were monsters, cold-hearted and cruel. Now it was sadness that started crawling in.
Suddenly Sniper felt something. A bit of pressure, but different one than before, like a small movement. The RED backed off a bit and watched closely. It was working, Scout started to move, but the fight wasn’t over yet. More than breathing the speedster was desparately gasping for air, as if he somehow couldn’t get it into his body. Medic had told them about this effect, it was called dry or secondary drowning. It happens when a creature is trying to breathe but their own body doesn’t let them inhale in order to prevent fluid from entering the lungs.

“Come on mate, you got this!”

Sniper saw a spark of hope, but Scout was still struggling, trying to break the barrier between life and death, or in their case: the painfull respawn. Out of pure desparate action Sniper tried to help Scout by breathing some air into him again...

‘It was quiet and cold, last thing Scout remembers is a sharp pain in his wing, then a wave of cold water swallowing it all. All there was left on his mind before falling asleep was hopelessness. If he swims back up, he’s gonna die, if he stays, he’s gonna drown. So why bother? The pain that awaits no matter what. The cold feeling slowly turned into warmth, Scout felt so tired all of a sudden and before he knew it, his eyes closed shut and his mind drifted away into deep sleep.
Strange, no pain yet, where is the respawn process? How is it possible Scout is able to think again? Something was off. Another wave of warmth arrived, filling his body, only this time the waves kept coming back, like electricity shocks. They were getting stronger and harder to avoid, he couldn’t take it anymore.’

Before Sniper broke the connection between them again to observe the state, the pegasus suddenly swung his eyes open and instinctively as a first thing kicked the RED away before turning to the side and coughing up the water that was left in his lungs.

Finally. A wave of relief filled the sharpshooter, it was such a strong feeling it even turned his usually battle cold expression into a small smile along with a light chuckle. It was followed by a sigh and a look back at Scout who was trying to pull himself back together. For one short second Sniper forgot there were any War Games. He forgot about respawn, enemies, the administrator, the contracts ... he felt happiness and relief for he just saved somepony’s life.
That feeling however didn’t last long, everything came back like a boomerang and the RED was back at his usual cold face.

Scout sat up, rubbing his head before trying to look around a bit. It took a second for him to realise where they are and who the pony beside him is.

“Huh ... w ... what...”

The pegasus jumped up, trying to get into a battle ready position to defend himself, but his body was still too weak for such quick movements. Plus a sharp pain in the right wing didn’t help much. Even through the pain and weakness, he tried to look and behave as tough as he could.

“What is this!? What do you want moron!? What did you do to me!?”

Sniper frowned at that, so much for a thank you. The situation turned quite awkward for both of them, what should happen now? It was clear that the RED had to take a lead of the situation.

“Shut up and listen! I have my job, I have my reasons, it is nothing personal. Now return to your team before somepony finds you here.”

At first it wasn’t, but something at the back of Sniper’s mind kept saying that there in fact was a sort of protective feeling towards this boy. And in all honesty, he didn’t like that one bit. Enemies should be defeated and not befriended, rules of the Wargames spoke clearly.

Scout stared at him with a still angry, but now more of a confused look, trying to process what just happened.
Sharp voice of the taller pony snapped him back into reality.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said? GO!”

Poor pegasus freaked and stumbled a bit, but this time managed to stay up. The whole situation was too much, Scout was confused and there wasn’t really anything he could do at that moment, so he just turned around without a word and ran as fast as he could, headed for the BLU base.

Sniper felt relieved the speedster left, finally, time to return to the home RED base and celebrate victory with the others, just like if nothing happened. Little did he know this tiny incident had a witness...
Before finally leaving, a familiar sound could be heard followed by a flash of red magic and a bit of smoke. A pair of light shady yellow eyes appeared just few steps behind Sniper, who opened his eyes widely in shock, but tried to keep his calm immediately, acting like everything is normal.

“What are ya doing here mate? Shouldn’t you be on a killing spree with the others?”

Sniper chuckled and turned around to see his teammate. It was the Spy, an old friend of his. Dark blue-gray changeling body, red wings and 3 red gems shining on the chest went well along with simple black cosmetics - hat and a mask.
The changeling looked at him with honest eyes, it was like he was staring right into Sniper’s soul. That made the nervousness even worse.

“Or have ya just returned?”

Last hope for Sniper.

“I have returned ... few moments before the round ended.”

Sniper stood still, not moving a muscle, not saying a thing, he still hoped Spy didn’t see what happened, but it was already clear that was not the case. Spy looked at the ground and then right back at Sniper.

“I know why you did it. No matter how it may have seemed ... I understand.”

Spy knew about the promise, he knew Sniper for way too long and he respected the unicorn’s decissions. Sniper felt almost guilty at this point, hiding the true feelings away from his best friend, but it was too soon.
They both stood in silence for few seconds, Spy then let out a sigh and began to walk away. As he was passing by, the unicorn finally spoke up.

“You know what I’m about to ask for, right?”

Spy stopped for a moment and smiled.

“Don’t worry mon ami, I won’t tell anypony.”

And with that, they parted ways again.

Sniper took the rest of the day off, he didn’t really feel like celebrating with the team. Instead he decided to take a long walk around the local rock formations. That usually cleared his head, but not today. It was the right choice, he decided and succeeded, now he could return to his normal daily routine, but there were still things troubling him.
Spy could be trusted for sure, but what if Scout tells somepony? It was an unlikely scenario, but if somehow the administrator knew about this, it could not only cause them trouble, but also both their teams. His conscience told him he did right, but from the mercenary point of view, this was a straight up stupid move. And why was there such a protective feeling towards an enemy?

The thoughts wouldn’t leave Sniper’s head for hours, the sun started going down and the sky turned into a fascinating shade of dark purple. Tonight was gonna be cold, yet the unicorn decided to stay out until morning not even going to his camper van. The cold air actually helped to clear his head. Down next to one of the giant rocks he just rested and watched the sky turn darker, until his brain got tired of his own thinking and carried the unicorn into the sweet unconscious realm of dreams.

Meanwhile in the BLU base Scout got his wing and head fixed by their Medic. He didn’t say a word about what happened to any of his teammates and rather decided to spend the rest of the day thinking. It wouldn’t let him rest, he had to know the truth, they were mercenaries, they were supposed to kill each other, that is what kept them alive, so why ... why did he get saved? There was a respawn anyway so why?
Scout has decided, the feelings were too strong to just look past ... the next day, he would find RED Sniper and reveal the truth behind all this mess. After a while even his head got tired, it came so suddenly the pegasus fell asleep on the floor and let the dream spirits ease his mind and take away all his worries for at least a while.

The peacefull sleep however didn’t last long, it got disturbed by an agressive knock on the room’s door. It took a moment for Scout to answer the door, he was still half asleep and rather annoyed by the unexpected guest. But the thing that came as soon as the door opened was enough to snap anyone out of their dreams. A large machette flew right past the pegasus’ head and pinned the poor boy to the wall by the collar of his T-shirt. Scout yelped in surprise as two turquoise eyes shined from the dark hallway outside the door. A dark figure stepped closer maleficently, hooves covered with holes, dark blue cloak with a hood, light elytras and two pale white fangs sharpening a frown on the pony’s face. The BLU Sniper.
Scout struggled but it wasn’t for much as the changeling pinned the boy down with his own hoof and took back the kukri.

“Greetings Scout, having a nice rest after today’s hard fight huh?”

The dark creature spoke in a poisonous voice. The two didn’t really like each other, but for all that Scout knew, this guy hated everypony.

“Cut it Sniper, what’s the point of this?”

Scout replied with an annoyed frown.

“Oh you know, just a friendly evening visit. I wanted to ask how today’s battle went, I noticed you came back from outside, did the REDs not catch you on your way?”

The changeling’s tone was almost taunting.

“What do you mean? I simply hid and ran past them, what’s wrong with that?”

“So nopony saw you ...”

Scout hesitated for a moment.

“... Of course not.”

Sniper nodded and put his hoof down, looking aside for a moment before striking even harder and shouting.

“No? Then explain the drama of you falling out of the window, into the water and then magically coming out of the RED base all okay while the enemy Sniper just stood there and watched you leave!!!”

Scout froze, somepony saw him and to his bad luck it was probably the worst witness there ever was. How is he supposed to explain that it has nothing to do with him, it wasn’t a choice. Before he got an opportunity to speak up, the dark pony sliced his kukri left and right, leaving cuts all around the pegasus’ hooves. All that just to show he is slowly coming for the neck. An attempt to struggle only got repayed by a punch to the face that sent the boy flying to the ground, leaving blood stains on the wooden floor.
“I’m gonna ask one more time, traitor... Nopony saw you?”

Scout filled with frustration tried to hold back the tears.

“The RED Sniper saw me... but he didn’t kill me, I don’t know why, I have nothing to do with it so why don’t you go ask him yourself!?”

The shiny eyes stared at him for a few seconds without a move, before any words were spoken.

“You know, I don’t care about any of this, let’s just pretend it was really an accident that you had nothing to do with, hm? But you better take my words Speedy, if I see you around that pony one more time without one of you dying, you shall face the consequences. Get that into that little feathered brain of yours.”

Sniper took his kukri, turned around and walked out of the door, adding few last words.

“I’m gonna be nice and not tell anypony about this. And you better do the same boy, you don’t want them to think you’re a traitor now would you?”

And just like that, the dark pony disappeared in the shadows of the BLU base, leaving Scout beaten up on the ground. The purple pony managed to get up and find few bandages for his wounded hoofs, nothing too serious, but it will definitelly leave some scars. Crawling up on his bed the pegasus started revaluating his decissions. The main question was simple: Should he still try to take the risk and seek the truth behind what happened that day?

Chapter Text

*Location: RED base
Time: 7:30am

Morning routine at RED’s looked more or less the same every time, Heavy, a kirin pegasus, got up first to prepare breakfast for the team along with Pyro, a bright phoenix-like griffon, who loved to help with cooking. Sniper usually came right after them, then Spy with Medic and after some time even others. The one to always get up last was Scout, a zebra boy with high temper and a bit crazed mind, always refusing to take off that green dinosaur hat of his, covering most of the face and back. That guy even slept in it!

Today’s morning however started differently. Heavy and Pyro did get up first, yes, and then the others, but one pony was missing from the group. Demo was the first to finally point it out.

“Ay ladds, has anypony seen Sniper? Ey dun’t even recall ‘em comin’ back to his room last night...”

None of the others knew where the sharpshooter could be, except for one of them ...

“You do not need to worry about him gentlemen, he just went for a walk, you know his love for long night walks. I’m sure he will be back in no time.”

Spy knew exactly why Sniper left that night, but his calm deep voice gave nothing away to the rest of the team, a master liar indeed. Others knew their unicorn teammate enough to believe Spy, after all Sniper could disappear for days in his little camper van just to come back few days later as if nothing happened.

After breakfast everybody went off to do their daily out of battle routine, including Scout, it was his turn to do the dishes that morning and he didn’t like that one bit.

“Stupid freakin plates ‘n all the stuff, why can’t there be an outbreak or an emergency? Definitelly would be way more fun. Or I could just smash everythin’ and say the enemy did it! Can somepony please at least give me a light earthquake!?”

Scout got so carried away in his mumbling, he didn’t even notice a figure approaching from the side.

“Oi thought you are a scout and not a spy to lie like that.”

The zebra yelped and jumped in surprise.

“AAAH!!! ... Oh ... it’s just you fancy mane. Where the hell were you? Don’t ya know we have a schedule here?”

Of course the zebra couldn’t leave out such an opportunity to poke into Sniper like that. The whole team knew their Scout was the last creature on Earth to follow set schedules.

“Watch your language Stripes. I was just out for a walk, it is a day off today so no worries.”

“Maybe for you! I gotta freakin’ stay here and do these stupid dishes. Ya know what? You weren’t here and now you gotta eat last so you finish the job, I’m out!”

Scout replied angrily, threw the plate he was holding back into the sink and was just about to run off before a large hoof caught the collar of his red T-shirt. A pair of large orange wings casted a shadow over the startled zebra and a deep voice spoke.

“Finish your task Racing Stripes, we all have our own, I can assure you every chore in our base is distributed righteously.”

It was Heavy, a kirin pegasus with light orange coat, bright orange scales and a dark brown mane. The strongest member and also leader of RED team Frontfort. He was a smart, kind leader, respected by (almost) the whole team.

“Aww come ooon maaan! This sucks!”

Scout tried to object but just one look from the much larger pony was enough for him to assume the original position back at the kitchen sink. Heavy then turned around to face the newcomer.

“We missed you at breakfast Aim.”

Sniper saluted and replied.

“I’m sorry sir. I went for a walk outside and I must’ve fallen asleep while stargazing. It won’t happen again sir!”

Heavy tilted his head a bit, then smiled widely and laughed.

“Hehe, no need to apologize Aim, I completely understand, we were just worried about you. Also how many times do I have to tell you not to call me ‘sir’, you don’t need to salute every time you see me, the fact that I’m your new leader doesn’t affect our friendship.”

Heavy smiled the whole way through their talk. Sniper on the other hand felt a bit awkward.

“Heh, sorry Hardhoof. I still can’t get used to you being in this position... it is so new compared to ... you know ...the last one.”

The kirin wrapped a wing around his teammate.

“Yea, but I don’t want to be like him. Your team should be like your family and a leader is there to protect family, not to command it around with harsh words and threats.”

A vawe of relief filled Sniper, Heavy was a nice change after their last leader. There used to be a soldier, who looked like he knows nothing about team spirit or care, all he could do was really just boss everypony around and act like an ahole. Weird how well karma works. Sure respawn failure is never a nice thing, but they all felt a bit relieved that the tyrany was over and a new, strong and kind heart could take the lead. Besides the fact Soldier caused it all by himself, one should never be this reckless while rocket jumping, it almost cost more lives than just one... Thank God for a good medic. Ever since Heavy took over the position things started turning brighter for the team, they even started winning more and could finally be themselves again. Unfortunatelly it wasn’t for the best in all cases...

“Yeayea one biiig happy family... Yo if things are so rainbowy and perfect then why do I still have to do all this crap!?”

Heavy had to take a deep breath to calm down, he was a calm spirit, but this scout could drive anypony crazy over anything he disliked.

“Scout, finish your task, then you have the rest of the day off, okay?”

Hardhoof said to which Aim added cheekily with a smirk.

“Or is few plates too much for you to handle zebra boy?”

This drove Stripes even more mad and the work tempo suddenly greatly increased. Heavy and Sniper just looked at each other trying not to start laughing.

The rest of the day passed with no trouble occuring in the RED base. The same however could not be stated about the BLU base. Brain of a certain young pegasus was full of questions, it barely gave him any rest that night, the thoughts were loud and painful, at least it kept him distracted from the pain of the cuts hiding under his bandages. Scout refused to go for a check to their medic. Even if she was mostly nice to him, how would he explain such specific injuries without mentioning what happened at night? He knew Sniper wasn’t joking when saying he would turn his life into a nightmare. Scout couldn’t think clearly, not while knowing there could be a threat around any corner. Around midday the pegasus disappeared without a word, taking off the blue uniform and running through the base. He took flight as soon as he saw the sky, finally a bit of freedom. For a pegasus his size, he had really large wings, it gave him certain advantages including a higher speed and agility when flying. Flying high above the clouds, enjoying the cold wind along with sunlight still keeping him warm, it felt refreshing, but not enough to wash it all away. It took few hours of flying and still, the curiosity and confusion stayed.

/My life is already enough of a hell, what possibly can that guy do to me?
/He is watching almost my every step now, like that ain’t a nightmare itself.
/Aw man, screw it!

With that it was set, Scout made sure nopony was following him and made a final decission... he is finding the RED Sniper.

*Location: Outlands near Frontfort RED base
Time: 7:00pm

Not too far away in the meantime, one lonely unicorn lost in his thoughts is walking around, collecting wood for a nice evening campfire. So far he only got few sticks and a busy mind when suddenly a weird shadow casted by something above caught his attention. He immediatelly assumed a battle ready position and levitated one of the sticks with his purple magic, ready to launch it in high speed towards whoever or whatever is approaching. To his surprise he saw a very familiar silhouette that landed nearby. Sniper layed the stick down, it was certain this situation won’t lead into a fight. The unicorn put on a poker face.

“You are far from your home base mate, if my team spots you here you are as good as dead.”

Scout stayed silent for a while, somehow hesitantly approached the RED and once reassured by his own head he won’t get killed, he finally began to talk. At first quietly, but with each word the voice got louder and more desparate.

“I must know the truth. Tell me, for the sake of my life tell me ... WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKIN’ YOU MORON!? We are enemies, we stay alive because we kill each other! This is what we do! WHY DID YOU SAVE ME?!!!”

Scout was almost crying at this point, so frustrated and confused, scared of what the next seconds will throw his way, but he wanted to face it, he had to know.
Sniper quietly took a step forward and told the first thing that came to his mind, not a 100% honest one, but at least it was logical enough to maybe work. Not like the BLU was any threat in that moment.

“You really wanna know, huh? Well then. I can assure you it is nothing personal, kid. I simply do my job as a true professional, not for fun, not for self-satisfaction, I just do what I must and that’s where it ends.”

That didn’t explain one bit to the pegasus, he just stood there looking like a tired confused puppy.

“Look mate, I honestly hate killin’ just because some purple lady or a spoiled rich old guy said so, but it is my job and my job is done as soon as that venomous voice shouts it’s over for the day. I have never even once killed a person outta the battle time... At least until yesterday. The battle was over, I got too carried away with our fight and made a mistake. It all happened too quickly. I hoped you would emerge from the water and run away, but you didn’t. So I did what I had to do.”

Scout’s expression turned from confused to a slightly annoyed frown. This really was’t the answer he wanted to hear.

“So that’s it? You did all of that just to keep your perfect score? I honestly expected more from you than just that!”

Scout stomped his hoof but hissed quietly from the pain of the still rather fresh wounds.
Sniper considered continuing the explanation, but decided it would be the best for both of them to leave it as it is. Although Scout was not buying it.

“Oh nonono pall, I don’t believe that. I didn’t fly all the way here just to find out ya ... blegh ... did that thing to me just to keep some perfect number on ya score board or whatever!”

Sniper still tried to play it cool.

“Well, sorry to let you down then, but I’m telling the truth.”

Trying to pull such a lie off looked so much easier when Spy did it. Scout still didn’t want to take it, darn that stubborn pegasus didn’t make it easy.

“... God damn it man just spit it out! I didn’t go through all this just to get some dry ‘it’s my perfect score’ thing!”

The BLU slightly pointed at the white bandages, but it was more for himself as he didn’t need to bring the attention to how he got them.
Meanwhile Sniper’s thick crust started cracking. Looks like this annoying pony won’t give up that easily and that drove him to the edge.

“You wanna know? Fine!”

He took a deep breath to calm down and finally spoke in more honesty.

“I think you are too young to be here rabbit.”

Scout didn’t really understand, he stood there in silence and listened as Sniper continued.

“Honestly ... so far you are probably the youngest mercenary I have met through my years of workin’ for Redmond. I remember myself during my first months all the years back, respawn was one hell of a pain for me back then, not even mentioning the humiliation phase and the after battle respawn ... and I was even older than you are now. How is it possible these twisted rich bastards are even able to bring a kid to war!?”

The RED looked down and sighed, his tone suddenly going more quiet and deep.

“I cannot imagine what you must be going through boy.”

This took Scout by surprise. So it was true, the respawn did affect him more than the others, at least now he knows he isn’t just a crybaby as he got called by his teammates sometimes. The youngest mercenary, it felt both degrading and special that a boy can kick a butt of trained and much older mercenaries.

“So ... you felt bad for making me go through it when it wasn’t necessary, because you caused it and you also know how it feels?”

Sniper nodded in agreement. The breeze they felt before suddenly stopped, making the moment a bit too quiet for their comfort. Now there they were, standing silently on a dry rocky land, both just unsure what to do. Finally the RED grabbed his fire wood and turned around to head back to his camp.

“Now you know, happy? Now go back to your team before somepony sees you here, not all REDs are as mercyful as I am. Goodbye Scout.”

He added in a grumpy voice and without another word disappeared between the rocks. There was a slight feeling of regret and a bit of pitty that would be even able to make the unicorn turn around and ask if Scout wants to join for an evening fire, but he still had to remember they are enemies. In some different reality, different place, different time... maybe, but this is not a normal world they are living in.

Scout took another minute of just staring in Sniper’s direction before finally leaving himself.

“Goodbye Sniper.”

He felt sad, which was weird considering who he has just talked to. It was almost like talking to a friend or a family member, but it’s time to brush the feeling off and return to what was supposed to be a home. The flight didn’t take long, the wind got a bit stronger and few more clouds appeared, but a pegasus worth his kind knows how to handle any type of weather. Scout finally entered the BLU airspace and before he knew it, the Crossbridge base came to sight. He began slowly gliding down, ready to land on the top. Unfortunatelly, he no longer was alone. Right before touching the roof, something hit Scout hard from the side and tackled him down to the ground. A vawe of fear washed over the boy when he saw the attacker, although on second thought, it was not that big of a surprise. Of course the dark figure belonged to the BLU Sniper, like that would be something new to expect, it felt almost annoying now. Scout screamed out angrily.

“Gaaah! What the hell do you want ya freak!? I was out for a flight, am I not even allowed to do that anymore!?”

Fang wore the look of a killer, there definitelly wasn’t anything good inside that creature’s brain at this moment. Still holding Scout down, he shouted right in his face.

“Just a flight huh?! You are probably forgetting who you’re talking to! I am a changeling you bloody idiot, I can sense your emotions! And what’s even worse for you Featherbrain ... I can smell that pesky unicorn from ya.”

Scout’s heart skipped a beat, this situation didn’t look good for him at all. Sniper is furious right now, but that might just be the aspect to give the pegasus an advantage. The only chance now is to flee, it is now or never. Scout tried to hide all the fear under his battle cheeky grin and even decided to risk and anger the dark creature even more.

“Yeah? What kind of a changeling are you when ya can’t even change!”

Right before Sniper could burst into more anger, Scout made a quick sudden move and kicked him right off with his back hooves. That took the changeling by surprise, but he didn’t take too long to recover. Scout almost made it out but got bitten in his back leg by the sharp fangs of a non-reform. He yelped in pain and tried to hit his opponent again, but missed and ended up getting too close. Sniper let go of Scout’s leg and tried to go for the neck. The boy managed to dodge and the bite ended right in his left shoulder. This time Scout screamed from the pain, but got silenced quickly by a dark holey hoof.

“SILENCE TRAITOR!!!”

The changeling shouted. Scout needs to think fast, at this point he is at least trying to free himself from the grip so he can flee to safety ... somewhere. He took few more hits before even managing to get in the air, but the wounds kept him from flying at full speed. The battle continued even in the skies, a chase was on between the clouds, screams followed by tiny drops of blood hitting the ground like rain. Sniper was stubborn, he was determined to chase and eliminate the one he considered a traitor. Scout gathered his last bits of strength and flew faster, making sharp turns and flips to get rid of the chaser. Finally he managed to cut the sight between them for long enough to hide inside one of the dark purple clouds. He stayed quiet, not moving an inch, trying to hide his emotions deep inside.
Sniper stopped in mid air and looked around, no sign of the purple pony. He flew past few more clouds, but found nothing. The clouds were thick, moist in the air made it hard to smell anything from distance longer than few meters. It was a game of time, and clearly Scout did not have an advantage there.

“You can’t hide out here forever you little f*ck! You have to come back sooner or later and once you do, you will get what you deserve.”

The words were shouted angrily between the clouds, Sniper then looked around one more time and when spotting nothing, made his way back to the BLU base.
Scout was left there alone, scared, tired and hurt badly. Bruises were one thing, but his bleeding shoulder and leg were not looking good. Returning to the base clearly wasn’t an option. In this state and this situation, he only got one idea where to go.

*Location: Outlands near Frontfort RED base
Time: 8:00pm

With enough fire wood gathered RED Sniper returned to his little camp. It wasn’t much, just a small fireplace with some barbecue equipment, a van to sleep in standing nearby. The whole area was mostly rock formations, small fields of grass and sand and very few trees here and there, the nearest forest being about an hour long walk from there and RED base about a 15 minute walk.

Everything was set for a perfect night out, this time a planned one. Fire with enough wood for a couple hours, can of beans to cook with few pieces of bacon and a pack of bottles with fine apple cider. The sun began to slowly disappear behind the horizon and the sky finally started turning dark. Air got colder, but the fire warmed up the place quite nicely, rocks around casted shadows of the weirdest shapes and the setting sun added a nice purple colour tone. Sniper was in the middle of preparing dinner, when suddenly a sound of something hitting the ground in the distance disturbed his evening idyll. Survival instincts kicked in immediately, he grabbed a weapon in form of a survival knife, climbed onto one of the rocks and looked in the direction of the weird sounds that now continued as if some creature was approaching. But the sight the unicorn got was surely something he didn’t expect.

To his horror he saw almost half dead purple pegasus covered in wounds, trying to walk on three hooves. It seemed his left shoulder and even right back leg were bleeding badly, not to mention all the other cuts, bruises and injuries he couldn’t see.

/It has only been an hour since I last saw him, what the hell happened to him during that time!?

Sniper layed down his weapon and ran towards the barely walking Scout. Screw some enemy rivalry, this pony needed help, fast. At first sight Scout got startled by the approaching figure, even when he distinguished it was the RED Sniper, it took him a second to realise the unicorn means no harm.

“Hey rabbit, relax. It’s me, I’ve gotcha now. Come on, just few more steps.”

Sniper carefully slipped his head under Scout’s front hooves to lift him up and help him walk to the camp. Scout didn’t resist, he was breathing heavily from the exhaustion and didn’t have much strength. They both slowly made it to the fire, no words spoken, Sniper sat Scout down next to the fire and hopped inside his van to grab something to fix the boy up. Meanwhile Scout lied down and just blankly stared at the fire, the dancing flames had a pleasant numbing effect on both body and mind. Sniper came back with few bandages, desinfection and a scarf, to the BLU’s discomfort he had to get lifted up from the ground which hurt like hell.

“Aghhh, ouch, watch it!”

“Am sorry, would you rather bleed out?”

Scout snorted for the RED had a point. Surprisingly Sniper was more gentle than he seemed. Unfortunatelly that didn’t change the fact that cleaning and desinfecting the opened wounds felt like getting burned by a pyro. It took a moment of hissing in pain, but soon all the bigger cuts and bites were covered by bandages. Sniper wrapped Scout’s left hoof into a scarf and hung it around his neck. Then finally the thick tensed atmosphere got cracked.

“Not really my bussiness, but these don’t look like wrong landing injuries. Wanna tell me what happened?”

Scout stayed silent for a moment, could he really tell such thing to an enemy?

“It’s a long story...”

Sniper stood up and got into the van again. A second later he came back with a blanket and a mug. He threw the blanket around Scout’s back to cover him from the cold breeze and handed him the mug he filled with herbs and hot water from a kettle hanging above the fire.

“We have whole night.”

Sniper couldn’t help it and smiled lightly.
Scout was hesitating, but considering the fact an enemy treats him about 100 times better than a teammate, he probably has nothing to lose.
So the BLU told him everything, how the changeling saw them together during humiliation roud, all about the threats, fights and both physical and mental torture his teammate made him go through, how he would assign him the title of a traitor if he dares to tell anypony on their team.

The RED Sniper sat by and listened in disgust, already knowing that partially he is the one to blame for this. He held a promise, saved one life from one painful experience ... just to make him go through another maybe even worse one. Could this still be counted as a victory? As he always said: he did what he did and now he has to face the consequences. But what if there is somepony else facing them instead of him? He cannot possibly leave it like that, even if it would cause an avalanche, get him bannished or killed, he cannot just sit here and watch the poor boy get bullied by a member of his team. They already were in a war after all, what is the worst thing that could happen? This surely isn’t over, as a plan already started sprouting in Sniper’s head. First thing’s first, taking care of Scout.

“That bloody bastard. I knew he is an Ahole on the battlefield, but even then? To his teammates? That person is not worthy of the title ‘assassin’. Heck he ain’t even a person...”

“Ye man, now what do I do? If I come back he will do this to me again! Or he will simply wait for another respawn maintenance and get me killed for good! I cannot tell anypony there cuz then he would tell them all he saw me with you!”

“They wouln’t believe ya?”

“Do I look like a pony that can lie well? Besides my team ain’t very ... opened. They take this war nonsense super seriously, plus our Snipes is known to be the most loyal one. Maybe they would believe me, but I don’t wanna really count on it.”

“... Understandable. I guess not all teams can be like Frontfort.”

Scout looked at him in confusion.

“Your team ... would believe you if you were me?”

“Heh, believe it or not mate, we are not just a team of randoms put together, we are more like a family at this point. Well... almost all of us.”

“Wow... I wish I could have a team like that.”

It felt a bit sad and unfair, Frontforts are so close and trust each other, while Crossbridges never really had the guts to open up to each other.

“Tho it wasn’t always like that. We have known each other for years and yet it took us some time and our former leader to ... retire ... before we could fully be ourselves and open up.”

“Still, better then what I have to deal with.”

Scout pointed at his wounds and hissed a bit from the pain.

“Careful, you still have some healing in front of you rabbit. Ya know, for a Scout you are very polite.”

“Ya think?”

“Trust me. I am talking from experience.”

Sniper chuckled a bit to which he only earned another confused look from the pegasus.

The conversation went like this for a while, they exchanged stories and experiences not only from the battlefield. Who would have guessed that Scout was a half crystal pony. And it sure was weird to find out that Sniper’s big hobby was photographing. It was nice o forget about the war for a moment, but Sniper still remembered his plan.

“Hey, that annoying bug pony of yours... is there at least somepony on your team that doesn’t take him seriously?”

Scout didn’t have to think long to answer.

“Spy. Trust me, that bug hates our Spy more than anything ... excluding me now.”

Sniper became curious.

“How so?”

“You have met our Spy, right? The tall blue parrot guy with a freakin’ snake for a tail.”

“Heh, yeah. That bloody bird has annoyed me in my nest more than once. More than a backstab I fear that he will stun me, drag me somewhere and do his ‘seducing magic’.”

“Yeah! Now imagine this but like ... a 100 times worse! That’s what he does to our Sniper and if he tries to resist or fight or whatever, Spy will just say something like ‘Oh I already know you love me so much darling, maybe we could continue this in our love nest.’ And then Fang just gives up and leaves super pissed.”

Sniper had to start laughing. The talk was originally supposed to bring up different information, but this just gave him an idea for a new plan.

“Hahaha! I knew he is a pain to deal with on the battlefield, but holy smokes I wouldn’t want to deal with this all the time at my base!”

Scout began to laugh as well.

“Hahahahaaa! Man I gotta admit it is so funny to watch.”

“Hehehe, is that guy really serious?”

“Ooooh trust me when I say that Spy loves to show off anytime he gets somepony into bed... whether it’s a gal’ or a dude.”

This was even better than what Sniper could have hoped for.
They chatted some more, but it didn’t take long for Scout to start yawning. No wonder, that boy must have been dead tired from what he went through.

“Ya should hit the hay mate, it’s pretty late and you had a rough day. Don’t worry, you can stay here for the night if you wanna, I have a bed in the van.”

“What about you tho?”

“Hehe, trust me rabbit, I have my experience with sleeping outside. Plus I still have some stuff to do around here, Imma go snatch a medkit from our base so we can get you back on your hoves.”

“You know it is gonna rain tonight, right?”

Scout objected, it amused Sniper that even here in this hellhole, the pegasi always knew what weather is gonna come.

“Don’t worry about me mate, okay?”

Scout looked at him for a bit but then agreed. Sniper helped him up and took him inside the van, it was pretty clean and well organised inside, lot of pictures on the walls, mostly photos of wild animals. The bed was in the far right corner, Scout carefully lied down and let himself get covered with an extra blanket. The unicorn put a glass of water next to the bed and asked if his guest needed anything more for the night. Scout shook his head and smiled. Sniper nodded in agreement, but before he left the door, Scout had one more thing on his mind.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

Sniper stopped and turned his head.

“Ye?”

“What’s your name?”

This was a rather unexpected question for the RED but he didn’t object.

“I’m Aim Shot.”

“Chm. Heh, is that your real name? Or just one of those Mannco battle nicks?”

“It’s a battle name ye heh. My... my real name is Merlot, Merlot Mane.”

“That’s ... way better actually.”

“Thanks rabbit. And may I know yours in exchange?”

“I’m Speeding Bullet, tho back home they used to call me Crystal Wind.”

“Well... nice to meet you Crystal Wind.”

“Nice to meet you too Merlot Mane.”

After that the two wished each other a goodnight, Scout curled up under the blanket and fell asleep almost immediately while Sniper headed for the RED base. It was time to get things moving.

Chapter Text

As the clouds finally closed the last gap in otherwise stary night, familiar shadow arrived to the destination of his base. Purple magic grabbed the door handle and quietly opened it, few turns and hallways away entered the medbay to grab a medkit and continue his way down the hall towards the team’s rooms. He stopped in front of one door, no magic opening this time, instead he politely knocked and waited for an answer of the creature on the other side. Steps could be heard from inside and shortly after the door with a knife emblem on top opened.
Behind it stood a well known grey changeling in a dark mask, first just looking tired, before a smirk played on his face.

“I don’t need my emotion detector to know this isn’t just a friendly late night visit, is it mon ami?”

Sniper couldn’t get mad at Spy, he cannot expect to keep a secret from a best friend, especially when they are a literal walking lie detector.

*Location: Outlands near Frontfort RED base
Time: 5:00am

Time went deeper into the night, almost reaching sunrise, raindrpos dancing around both bases including one lonely camp. Scout was resting peacefully inside the warm van, the drops created a whitenoise perfect for sleeping. Most nights were dreamless, but sometimes he saw a soft light followed by a soothing voice. Scout didn’t know what it was saying, but it felt so warm and calming. He has never had such dreams before he joined Mannco, but he was glad that even in these tough times, he had something so pure to ease his pain. Yet something caused the stream of dreams to brake and the colt woke up. First thing he noticed was a battle medkit sitting on the table beside him. The moment he touched it, it turned into a cloud of magic dust that soaked into every inch of his injured skin, immediatelly almost completely closing his wounds. That felt a lot better. The pegasus stood up and took another look around only to find out he is alone.

“Sniper?” Scout called out quietly. “Merlot? Are you here?” He carefully unlocked the door and followed the noise outside, no sight of his RED friend. Scout could swear he heard voices, or at least one, the other sounded more like mumbling.
/What if it’s one of the pyros?
/Our Pyro can talk it out but what about the RED!? I don’t wanna meet the mumbling freak out here in this situation.

Scou stayed low, hiding behind rocks and covering his body with his wings to avoid the rain. After few steps he found a nice dry place under a tree. The voices were almost recognizable now, for at least a better view Scout decided to carefully hop up and hide in the half dry tree. From there he finally grasped a visual of what was going on and it surelly wasn’t something he would expect.

/Merlot? Who is he talking to?
/What is he doing with all the ropes?
/He has somepony tied up, maybe a target he got paid for?
/You are overthinking it Wind, he is a professional assassin, what did you expect? Of course this is probably his daily routine, nothing unusual.

Scout nodded to himself, he almost forgot that regardless of all he heard last night, Sniper was still a mercenary with many years of experience and hard work. He was still a killer. The pegasus was about to sneak his way out back into the van when another familiar and loud voice caught his attention. His eyes opened wide and the BLU froze in shock.

“I AM GONNA KILL YOU FOR THIS!!! YOU STUPID RED ARE GONNA BEG FOR SOMETHING AS SWEET AS PAIN AFTER I GET MY HOOVES ON YOUR THROAT!”

The RED Sniper hissed back before his foe could continue.

“SILENCE CHANGELING! I am not done with you yet.”

Scout stared dumbfounded at the whole scene, not believing his senses. RED Sniper, enemy of his team, target of his job… having a member of BLUs, Scout’s own teammate Sniper held hostage in ropes like a wild boar.

“Scream all you want, nopony will hear you here. You heard what I said, let it be and I will let you return to your base.”

The BLU struggled to get out of the ropes, but the knots were not a beginner’s work. He hissed and showed off his pale sharp fangs along with a slick tongue. The RED paid no attention to these signs of menace and simply continued.

“You were hired for Mannco to do your job, kill enemies on the battlefield. Oi’m sick of creatures like you, thinking that a slight sidestep allows you to treat your own teammate loike a piece o’ piss.”

“YOU! I KNEW HE WAS WITH YOU THE WHOLE TIME! YOU AND THAT F*CKIN FEATHERBRAIN ARE WORKING TOGETHER TO DESTROY US! But I got you now, I found out your plan, I KNEW HE WAS GONNA BETRAY OUR HIVE EVER SINCE HE JOINED!!!”

The unicorn stomped in silent rage.

“You don’t get it, do you non-reform? This is not a bloody hive, this is not a betrayal, we all are creatures with souls, no matter how tough the crust is. The actions of the pegasus have nothing to do with this, oi was the one who chose to interact with him and oi had my OWN reasons to do so. Nothing changes, I won’t hesitate to kill him during the battle as well as he won’t hesitate to kill me. No information sharing, no secrets revealed, no nothin. What other happens out of battle is none of your business.”

“And I am supposed to believe such bullsh*t?! He came back to you, didn’t he? I can smell him. Of course such rat would do that, just wait until the supervisor hears about this! You both are gonna get disconnected! After that they will exterminate you from this world like you never existed.”

“You are not gonna tell Miss Noteworthy anything. There is nothing that would affect the flow of battle, so I am warning you one last time… LEAVE IT BE!”

The changeling snapped in anger and struggled even harder. Clearly these two wouldn’t reach an agreement this way, just like Aim predicted.

“Fine, I see this isn’t quite your way of doing business. I am honestly disgusted by these means, but so be it!”

Aim lit up his horn and pulled a paper file out of his vest. The file opened and three photos flew out right in front of Fang’s face. The changeling’s expression suddenly jumped from angry to shocked, then even more angry.

“These… THESE ARE NOT REAL! THEY ARE FAKE!”

RED Sniper smirked and took a look at the rather lewd photos of BLU Sniper and BLU Spy enjoying certain socially unacceptable activities together.

“Really BLU? Oi don’t know, they seem real to me, the light and shades are pretty legit. I mean oi should know, oi know a thing or two about photographing.”

To that the unicorn smirked even harder and added a little wink. The changeling didn’t appreciate that one bit.

“You moron, you think the rest of BLUs will believe you? A RED? Keep dreaming, these photos are a blackmailing fake ass scam and that’s a fact. You have nothing against me.”

At this moment BLU was the one with a smirk on his dark face, but his foe wasn’t done with the plan just yet.

“Riiiight…” the RED nodded and continued with a sarcastic tone “…and I am sure your dear Spy teammate will be sooo thrilled to prove that they are fake, right?”

Fang suddenly froze. As much as he didn’t want the other to know, it was clear that the RED threw pretty much a log into his escape plan. Aim was well aware of that, so he went on.

“Now listen to me very carefully, your teammate will return to your home base after an evening outside, he will go to his room, prepare for the battle and proceed to work as any other mercenary. Nopony getting hurt, no spreading fake news about betrayal or creating bad atmosphere inside the ‘hive’. We will continue to fight as any other day on the battlefield and out of it ya shall mind your own hoofsteps! That all of course if you wouldn’t want these and many more to fly around yer base.”

The unicorn waved the photos one last time and them hid them back into the pocket of his vest. They both looked at each other with disgust and anger in their eyes, not saying a word, both soaking wet from the rain and mud they fought in. Given the silence, surely the BLU didn’t want to loose his dignity over something like this and Aim didn’t have to be an emotion detector like his foe to figure it out. He grabbed the still tied up changeling and moved closer to the hill’s edge. It wasn’t too far down, easily survivable, but the mud puddles at the bottom worked both as a safety pillow and a death trap. Aim held Fang right above the cliff with a stone cold expression.

“Think about it Sniper”

Aim said before dropping the changeling down from the edge. The fall made a splash sound as Fang managed to call back after him for the last time.

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS!!!”

The RED looked down, not moving a muscle of his face, then without any words he turned around and left into the rainy sunrise.

It took about 10 minutes of walking to get back to the van, screams of the changeling vanished in the sound of water flowing all around long ago. Back at the van, Sniper noticed something was off, the door was unlocked and slightly opened. He didn’t need to turn around to put two plus two together.

“You are pretty sneaky for a Scout, ya know?”

Scout stood right behind him in the mud, not bothered by hiding from the rain, letting his pelt get soaked by the cold drops. He had a desparate face on, confused what words to choose to ask the correct questions. Luckily Sniper broke the silence for him.

“You don’t need to be scared to return back to ye’r base now mate. I think your Sniper may have already calmed down and … changed his mind.”

Scout looked down, water covering the tear in his eye.

“I … I saw you.”

Sniper’s eyes opened a bit wider. Not the scenario he wished for, but nothing he couldn’t work with.

“Does it matter? You can return now and everything can go back to as it used to be.”

“So the talk we had… was to only get info from me?”

“Trust me, it will be safer this way.”

“But… I just …”

Sniper walked closer and put a hoof on Scout’s shoulder, then he spoke softly.

“Scout… Wind… You are a good pony, don’t let this war ruin you.”

Scout was confused, he had an urge to hug the unicorn, but resisted. It felt like he had a big brother protecting him, taking care of him. It was something he hasn’t felt ever since leaving home.

“… Merlot… Why did you do it? Didn’t you ruin your perfect score? I thought professionals like you don’t kill ponies out of battle?”

Sniper put his hoof back down and turned back to his stone cold pose, he spoke without a hesitation.

“Monsters don’t count.”

The pegasus stopped and thought about it for a second, it made him chuckle slightly. It warmed Sniper’s heart to see the boy smile, it helped him melt a bit as well.

“Nopony worth his kind would do such thing to a teammate, he barely got what he deserved. … Besides, I didn’t kill him. If he is as tough as he acts, he will get out of it, the knots weren’t too complicated.”

“Yeah sure if you say so heh. … But I still on’t understand one thing… where did you get those photos? I know photo manipulation exists but how did you manage to get the pictures of them so quickly? Have you had them already? Cuz not gonna lie that would be kinda creepy. Or is it some sort of digital drawing?”

“Hehehe, well mate let’s just say that having a willing changeling friend can be useful sometimes.”

Scout started laughing loud at this point.

“Aw man you are truly something.”

Sniper nodded and laughed as well.

“Hehehe, thanks rabbit. Now come on, let’s get you clean so you can fly home before the day starts off.”

Scout gladly followed Sniper inside, a bit sad that has to go, but he could at least enjoy the few last moments. Few towels and a bit of warm water got the job done pretty well. By the time they were done the rain has already stopped and the sun has began to peak out almost halfway. The door of the van opened and a cleaned kinda fluffy pegasus walked out followed by the much larger unicorn. Scout took a deep breath and looked up to the sky, it was time for him to go back. Not like he really wanted to, he felt good in the unicorn’s company, like he had a family member close by again. The string of his thoughts got cut by the RED asking.

“What’s the matter rabbit?”

“… Can I stop by sometime in the future? Just for and a bit of your awesome bushman food and few more stories? You’re just a really good story teller and nopony at BLU cooks as well as you do. So, may I come back tomorrow?”

“No.”

“Aww man, why not? What’s the problem?”

“Under different circumstances maybe, but the problem is we are at war, so do yourself a favour and don’t come back ‘ere again. If the supervisor found out, we would end up in serious trouble. Hard to admit but your so called teammate was probably correct on that one.”

It took another few seconds of thinking, but of course Scout managed to figure out a different plan of his and there was no way he would let the other pony know so he tried to play it cool.

“Okay, I see what you mean … so I guess this is goodbye?”

“Yes. And don’t be surprise if I shoot you on the battlefield without hesitation, you better do the same. And do not try to approach in a friendly way, I will kill you if you do.”

“Yeye I get it Snipes, I know. Don’t worry, you won’t even see me comin’ before you get a baseball bat in the face!”

Scout said excitingly with a smirk, almost as if he took it as a friendly competition between them. Sniper however didn’t share the excitement, to him the war was no fun. But at least he could be sure that the BLU will play by the rules and do his job.

“Good. Now go so you aren’t late.”

“Okay, … so … goodbye Sniper?”

“Goodbye Scout.”

“See you soon.”

Scout muttered for himself with a smile and took off in the direction of the BLU base.

*Location: BLU Crossbridge base
Time: 7:00 am

First one on their claws that morning was as usually Medic, a bright white abyssinian lady of high intelligence and manners, her slightly blue-ish hair brushed into a soft curl on her forehead, she almost seemed to be too noble for such place. The only odd thing about her was a genetical disorder creatures of her class call ‘Heterochromia iridis’, behind the round glasses, each of her eyes bared a different colour. One was blue, while the other shined in bright green.
She was quickly followed by Demo and Soldier. Soldier, tall blue abada went for a morning run as usually and Demo the changeling team captain joined Medic in her lab for a morning check-up. These two have been friends ever since joining Mannco, shortly after Demo became a leader of their team and he owes a lot of his successes to his abyssinian friend. These two were a very coordinated duo not only on the battlefield, but all of this doesn’t come for free. The Crossbridge leader is probably the only demoman out there fighting and living 100% sober and that is not a coincidence.

“Good morning Doc, ready for the day I see, your hair looks especially devine today.”

“Hello Demo. Thanks for zhe compliment but zhat won’t save you from zhe check-up.”

She smirked and took a slight look in her teammate’s way before continuing.

“How is your eye doing? Zhe scar doesn’t seem to get much better after the last procedure. Gaaah! Zhis is so frustrating, how do zhey expect me to do my job with zheir stupid machines malfunctioning every few moons!”

“Because regarding all of this, they still offer the best tech around for you to play with?”

“It’z called research and if you want it done right then ya better stop talkin’.”

Medic said jokingly and turned around to Demo already sitting in the medical chair. His left eye winking slightly from the pain. Huge scar covered almost half of his face, going from his forehead right across his left eye all the way down his face. It was only few days old, recieved due to the last respawn malfunction. The scar was still a lucky catch, there were way worse outcomes out of a malfunctioning respawn than a simple injury.

The lab door remained closed for next few minutes, letting the just arrived purple pegasus sneak by into the gathering room. To Scout’s luck, he arrived first. Just like nothing he sat at the table and pretended to mind his own stuff. The room started filling up with the rest of his team soon after. Pyro was the first to arrive, a rather creepy looking hydra with a personality depending on which of the three heads you decided to talk to, funny, serious or grumpy. Spy and Engineer right behind them. Engie the thick wooled ram with large horns sat next to Scout and greeted him with a good morning. A bit after that he couldn’t help his curiosity and asked.

“Ya weren’t in your room last night. And ya look pretty beaten up son, I was just curious where wer…”

“Shush, leave him alone Engie. Isn’t it obvious? Look how beat up and tired he looks. Young man probably scored an allnighter for the first time in his life and you just have to ruin it with your stupid questions. The thing you should be asking is: Was she pretty? Or he? No worries, I don’t judge.”

Spy nudged in Scout’s way while he took a seat by the boy, supported his head by his claws and winked. Scout was honestly nervous from both of them, but more disgusted by Spy.

“What?! Ew no, what the hell man? I just … I went for a flight and … I overlooked a thundercloud okay?”

“Yea suuuure.”

Engie chuckled at the story and nodded towards the door.

“Had a crash huh? Hehe well maybe you should go see Doc after she’s done with Demo.”

“See me about what?”

All three turned around at the sudden voice coming from the door behind them. Medic stood there while Demo already walked inside to help prepare the breakfast. The doctor noticed immediatelly what they were on about and stepped closer to take a look at Scout’s injuries.

“Zhey seem to be mostly healed. Since we don’t have any larger medkits left you’ll need a little patching up from the medigun, but that schtupid thing refuzes to properly work lately. Am afraid you may end up with few scars Scout.”

“What? We are all out of medkits? How?”

Scout asked confused.

“Ask Pyro over zhere.”

Medic gave Pyro an angry glare to which the three heads lowered down. Then the middle one answered.

“It was an accident, we didn’t mean it!”

The pegasus looked at both of them, but rather didn’t ask further questions and walked up to Demo to help him with the preparations. The team leader was a very kind pony, but he sometimes seemed sad for no apparent reason, he could disappear for hours and come back looking like he got beaten up … but with no bruises. It was a bit worrying. Even tho he looked fragile, Demo was a tough and smart fighter, he could use his body advantages very well. He was not an ordinary changeling, he was a moth changeling, which means he can be impossibly quiet when sneaking around. The only disadvantage was the fact he was missing a horn, but that didn’t trouble him at all. His wings were pale purple with dark markings, light blue body covered in white fluff and two dark blue antenas and ears helping him detect any nearby movement. One could say he would be better fitting for a job of a spy, but their employers decided to give him status of a demoman instead, god knows why.

Demo paused his work for a second and looked at Scout with concern.

“Are you alright Scout? You look like you didn’t sleep at all.”

“Ye … ye am okay I just … went for an evening flight and got into some trouble with a moronic black storm cloud…”

“Heh, funny use of words, but okay. Still please rather visit Medic’s office once you’ve finished eating.”

“Ye okay Demo, I will.”

Scout didn’t dare to look at Demo, he didn’t like lying to his captain, especially when that captain was such a kind pony. His head was still in a mess and his thoughts were far away from where he was standing at that moment. What if Fang still tells his team? What if he will get disconnected and killed like snipers said? He was so lost in all the ifs that he didn’t even notice the rest of the team arrived for breakfast. Soldier rushed in from outside after finishing his morning routine with a loud battle cry and Heavy the wingless large hippogriff walked out of his room with headphones on, blasting metal music as usually, but he was polite enough to take them off during together times, otherwise he was a very chill guy. The only mercenary missing at this point was…

The door from outside swung open with a loud bang making the whole team turn around. Muddy drops splashed any time the arrived pony took a step. Whole body covered in dirt, soaking wet, cold and not one bit happy.
The look made Scout gulp in fear and take a small step back. Spy was the first to dare to say something, as usually.

“Wooow am so proud of you hon! You learned how to change colour from black to brown!”

Some of the mercs couldn’t hold the chuckle in at that remark. At this point Sniper didn’t even bother by lashing out at Spy, which was pretty unusual. He walked past the table and right towards the doorms. Demo stepped in front of him and covered the way by his wing right before he managed to leave.

“Sniper, what happened?”

The changeling didn’t reply and just avoided the question. Demo frowned and raised his voice.

“I’m only trying to help. I am asking you both as your friend and your captain. What happened to you?”

Sniper looked Demo’s way. Scout was still standing behind the moth pony with a rather scared look. Fang almost bursted out and screamed at the boy, but stopped himself as he saw Spy blowing kisses his way. That made him growl and mumble something for himself before giving an annoyed answer.

“I spent the night outside and got caught in a storm, the rest is nonya bloody business.”

“Fine, but at least clean after yourself.”

The captain realised he probably wouldn’t get a better answer and let the changeling pass to his room. Scout on the other hoof let out a huge sigh of relief, he was shaking as adrenalin rushed through his body, but at least his worst nightmare didn’t prove to become reality. Still he would rather not provke the changeling.

Rest of the morning went without any more trouble. Scout got himself fixed up by Medic, he was left with only few cuts scattered over his hooves, but nothing major. The mission of the day was set for late afternoon so they still had plenty of time for their own activities. For the pegasus, it was a party of poker to which he got invited by Engineer, it could at least let the colt relax for a bit. It was him along with Engie as the card dealer and Heavy, Spy and Soldier as the other players. The games were pretty friendly, rather than money the guys played for ammo or snacks, of course Spy tried to cheat everytime but was usually caught by Engie who counted the cards very well.

Game went well and the rest of the group even managed ro get a few laughs from Scout, it felt like a huge relief, he really needed this.
At one point Spy tried to flirt his way out of another cheaty trick of his. Heck he probably even let himself get caught on purpose just for the fun.

“C’mon darlin’ I bet I have one more ace up my sleeve that may change your mind. Let me show you and send your stomach butterflies flying sky high.”

Engie had none of that so all Spy achieved was a full-on headbut from the hardhorned ram, sending Spy down right at the table, taking it down with him and making cards and ammo fly everywhere.
The whole group started laughing even harder when Engie stroke a victorious pose and added:

“Sorry pall, I prefer queens over aces.”

Spy layed on his stomach, supported his head and roled his eyes commenting in an annoyed tone:

“Touché.”

Heavy still laughing helped get the table back up and the rest began to pick up the scattered cards and ammo. Scout strategically followed Spy into one of the further corners of the room, making sure the others wouldn’t hear them.

“Psst, hey Spook, may I ask you something?”

“Well of course mon ami, what is it that your heart desires?”

“May I borrow some of your spy equipment? It would be just for a day. After today’s battle of course.”

“My equipment? I wonder why is that dear?”

Luckily at this point Scout already came up with a clever lie.

“Okay, I will tell you, but it is like … super secret. Nopony must know, okay?”

Spy handsigned as if he zipped his beak and smiled at the boy.

“I am all ears.”

Scout began to whisper.

“I met a really cool girl, but her father is a total Ahole and will kill me if I try to visit her again. She is locked in her room and I really wanna see her without him noticing, you know what I’m sayin’? That’s where I was last night, that idiot caught me tho, that’s why I looked that way.”

Spy clenched his talons together and stared at Scout with a wide smile and almost a tear in his eye. He then grabbed the pegasus into a tight hug.

“My sweet sweet boy, I was waiting so long for you to say something like that, you have no idea how happy I am!”

Scout struggled to get out of the parrot’s arms.

“Okay okay thanks but please let go!”

“Fine. But are you sure you don’t want me taking care of him?”

Spy’s viper tail raised in curiosity flicked it’s tongue as if preparing to eat it’s pray. Scout looked at the snake a bit freaked out, he was never sure if it is Spy actually controling it or it has a mind of it’s own.

“Nonono, that’s fine. I really need to do this on my own…”

“Aaah I see, classic young romance, how sweet. And don’t worry about finding arguments for why you’re leaving the base, I will cover up for you.”

“Wow… really? T…thanks Spy. It means a lot. Just remember, this is between you and me, okay?”

“Well of course mon ami. Stop by at my locker after today’s match, I know exactly what you need.”

Spy added one last wink towards Scout and went back to the table with pockets full of collected bullets. Scout just smiled at the thought that his cheeky plan so far worked perfectly. He returned to the game with others like if nothing happened and continued playing. After all they still had a bit of time before they had to move to the next battle location.

Today’s stop: Doublecross