Hey Guys, I'm sorry this chapter has took so long, I have had a huge wave of writers block for this story, and I have been trying to brainstorm ideas. But, here it is, so let's get this show on the road!

"There will one day spring from the brain of science a machine or force so fearful in its potentialities, so absolutely terrifying, that even man, the fighter, who will dare torture and death in order to inflict torture and death, will be appalled, and so abandon war forever." Thomas A. Edison

Chapter 10: Mann vs. Machine (part 1)

It had been dark days for the team. Ever since the warning from Ghost Mare a week ago, RED had been on guard with the Mane six and the princesses. The Ponies couldn't help the solemn expressions from RED, and they knew what they were thinking. RED thought that ever since they had come here, they had brought only trouble. While they had made bonds and friendships with the ponies, the thought of it was only a shadow in the dark.

Sniper was watching the area with his Machina from Twilight's observatory. Through the Scope, he could see Engineer playing his guitar while he was sitting on top of a level three dispenser by a level three sentry. Applejack was with him, talking to pass the time.

He then saw scout and Rainbow Dash, who were throwing Scout's baseball back and fourth. Sniper still didn't understand how the ponies were able to hold items as if they had fingers.

"Perhaps we're in a cartoon world," he thought. He and Scout sometimes thought of "breaking the fourth wall" as some called it. He then shifted the scope to see Pyro and Pinkie pie having what looked like a picnic, as if the past events had not happened at all.

Twilight walked up to the observatory where Sniper was. "Sniper, I brought some food Pinkie baked for us. Why don't you take a break and eat a bite?" she asked. Sniper had been watching the area or the past hour or two, so he decided to take a small break to eat with Twilight.

"So, heard any more from the princesses?" Sniper asked her.

"Well, they said that the teleportation device is soon to be under construction, but it I taking them a while to find everything needed." Twilight said. She just didn't mention the part of her that didn't want RED, especially Sniper, to leave.

"I just hope that this threat from the Ghost's Shadow will be over soon." Sniper said before he took a bite out of his sandwich. He was used to eating vegetable sandwiches since he made what edible food he could in the outback.

"So do I, but it will be kind of sad when you guys will leave. It's like a having a imaginary friend. They are never there, but you know you are friends," Twilight said.

"I agree," Sniper said. The two talked for a little while as they ate.

"Twilight, Can I ask you something?" Sniper said.

"Sure, what is it?" She responded.

"What did you feel like about me when we first met?" Sniper asked.

"Well, uh, at first, you seemed like a dark figure, because come on, everyone is a little worried when they meet someone new," Twilight said. Sniper chuckled a bit. " But now, you seem like a very nice and serious guy who always has his friend's back." She finished.

"Well, When I first met you, I didn't know what to say. Scared the bloody hell out of me when I first heard you talking, despite the fact I kept my cool. But now I would trust you with my life." Sniper said.

"You know, Despite as weird as this will sound, if you were a pony, I would try to get you to be my special some pony," Twilight said. Sniper paused for a moment.

"Well, if you were human, I would without a doubt try to get you," Sniper said.

"Well, no one is up here, so at we can keep this conversation to ourselves," Twilight said.

"Well, yeah, of course." Sniper replied, chuckling nervously. Twilight did the same.

Sniper looked around, and when he was sure that not even a single animal was watching (after all, Fluttershy could communicate with them.) Sniper grabbed Twilights hoof and held it.

Twilight looked at Sniper, who returned the stare. They then started to move their heads forward, and they closed their eyes as their lips touched, entering a kiss. What seemed like 2 minutes really took only about 5 seconds, and they slowly pulled their heads away.

"Wow," was all that Twilight could say.

"Did you use any of your magic? Cause that seemed magical," Sniper said. As corny as the statement was, it was how he and Twilight felt. Before they said anything else, Sniper's radio went off.

"Sniper, Ah need yah down here this instant, I think we've got trouble," Engineer said.

"Alright, Me and Twilight are on our way," Sniper responded.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Engineer just radioed in. There must be trouble. Let's go." Sniper said. The two got up, Sniper got his weapons of choice, and they left to go back to Engineer and Applejack.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"so are they comin?" Applejack asked.

"Yep, they're on their way." Engineer said. The two turned back to look back at the humongous metal carrying tank that was at the edge of the Everfree forest.

"What do you think it is?" Applejack asked.

"Ah don't know, but Ah don't like it." Engineer said.

"Engie, do ya think this is it?" Applejack asked.

"It could be, but Ah'm gonna stand and fight for as long as ah can." Engineer replied. Applejack looked into his eyes.

"Engie, Ah want at be with ya to the end." She said. The two then embraced in a sudden kiss, the emotion going through both of them. When they pulled away, they were at a loss of words.

"Well darlin, this might as well just stay between us," Engineer said with a smile. Applejack nodded. They then swiftly kissed again before They Saw Sniper and Twilight.

"What's the problem?" Sniper asked they came up to Applejack and Engineer.

"That." Engineer said, pointing to the tank. Sniper took off his shades to make sure he saw this with his own eyes.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Looks like some kinda carrying tank," Engineer replied.

"Well, it wouldn't be a carrying tank if it wasn't carrying something. We better put the town and the princesses on alert. You radio it in to RED." Sniper said. Engineer nodded as he told the RED team.

"Well, looks like this is it." Sniper said.

"Yeah, I'll tell the girls and inform the princesses," Twilight said. The two broke to accomplish this.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Later…

/\/\/\/\/\/\

The royal guard was set up in a line on the outskirts of ponyville, RED in certain defensive positions. The ponies were with the princesses and the Royal Guard.

"Sister, What do you think is in it?" Luna asked Celestia.

"I am not sure, but it cannot be good." She replied. Their was an eerie tension in the air as the guards, mane six, and RED observed the carrying tank. Then, a loud creaking sound came from the tank as it's hatch slowly opened. The Royal guards took defensive stance, weapons and shields drawn (how they held all this was still a mystery to RED) and the guards slowly begin to move forward and moved their shields together o form a tight knit wall.

The guards stopped about 30 yards away from the tank, and waited. As Soldier looked at the tank from Ponyville, he could see figures inside the tank, by hundreds, if possibly thousands.

"That don't look good."

"What the…" Sniper said, looking at the figures from the Scope of his Machina.

A Chorus of the whirring of machines arose as the eyes of all the machines, what looked like endless waves, turned a bright blue. RED and the ponies gasped as they could see that the machines looked like robotic versions of the RED team. The Robots let out battle cries as the first wave charged towards the town. Ponies were panicking and entering and locking their homes and stores.

The royal guard fought most of the first wave, RED supporting from a distance. Engineer's level three sentry took out the last of the first wave as the remaining guards fell back to the town.

"My lady, we lost a lot of ponies to that first wave, we're not sure how long-" one of the guards said but was hi by a bullet before he could finish.

"SNIPER!" Soldier yelled, taking cover. He got his radio and contacted their Sniper. "Sniper, we got an enemy sniper, take him out!" Soldier yelled before firing rockets at the second wave. Pyro was laughing manically as he burned what robots he could. Engineer's sentry was destroying robot after robot, but the waves kept coming.

"Sniper looked through the scope of his machina, and found the robot sniper firing from behind a tree. He took his shot, destroying the sniper's head with one shot.

"That's how we do it in the bush!" Sniper mocked, waving towards the robot remains.

After a few more waves, the onslaught stopped for a while. RED felt uneasy at the silence. The ponies had mainly been defending their homes from what robots slipped past RED.

"Why do you think it's so quiet?" Twilight asked Applejack.

"Ah don't know, but Ah don't like it." she responded. Suddenly, the ground started to shake tremendously. Everyone looked towards the carrying tank to see a giant, rolling bomb coming towards ponyville.

"Stop that bomb! Concentrate fire on it and watch out for other robots!" Soldier ordered his men. Heavy Started to fire at it with Natascha, while medic was healing him, working up his ubercharge. Pyro had tried to set it ablaze, but it would not catch on fire even though it was doing damage. Demoman Fired his pipe bombs at it to add effect.

Engineer and Sniper started to fire at some robots that was coming up. It was easy sailing, until a giant soldier bot came. It had a bombs strapped on it's back, obviously having the same mission as the tank. Engineer's sentry fired at the Giant Soldier bot, dealing damage, but the bot returned fire. Engineer jumped out of the way just in time, but his sentry and dispenser got destroyed

"Damn Dag Nab it!" Engineer yelled, falling back.

"Oorah!" Soldier yelled just as he, pyro, demoman, and heavy destroyed the tank. Engineer then came up to them and told them about the giant soldier.

"Damn," Soldier muttered. "Scout!" He yelled. Scout, who he and Dash hand been running around distracting some of the robots, ran up to soldier, panting.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"You and Rainbow Dash go try to distract that giant soldier. Watch out for his rocket fire. Pyro, Heavy, you shoot at the damn thing while they distract it.

"Mmph mmph!" Pyro said, saluting.

"Da!" Heavy said. He, pyro, scout, and dash then ran off to distract the soldier. It was a tough fight, but they were able to destroy the soldier. They reported back to the princesses, who were working on a spell to put a shield over Ponyville.

"You are all fighting valiantly, but how many more are there?" Princess Celestia asked.

"I'm not sure ma'am. Could still be hundreds." Engineer said. He then got on te radio with sniper. "Sniper, is another wave comin'?" he asked him.

"Yeah, but they're just gearing up. We have time to get ready. Obviously these muppets didn't think we'd last this long." Sniper said. He was then quiet, before he could be heard over the radio, yelling, "Holy Dooley!"

"Sniper, what is it?!" Engineer asked.

"They got bloody spies!" Sniper said.

"Damn.." Engineer muttered.

"Sorry to pop in, but I have an idea." Spy suddenly said. "Maybe my sapper can work on these robots like they do on sentries and dispensers." he suggested.

"It's worth a shot Spy." Engineer said.

"Next wave incoming!" Sniper said over the radio. RED could hear shots from Snipers machina. Heavy ran out to the battlefield, and saw Fluttershy trying to lead animals to a safe place. But a robot demoman was heading towards her.

"I MUST SAVE FLUTTER PONY!" Heavy yelled, charging towards the robot. Fluttershy turned just in time to see Heavy knock down the robot that was chasing her. Heavy then blasted a shot from his shotgun into the robot, destroying it.

"Is little Flutter pony alright?" Heavy asked Fluttershy, getting down on one knee.

"Y-yes. Thank you Heavy." Fluttershy said.

"Heavy is friend to all. And especially you." Heavy said. Fluttershy smiled at this, and wrapped heavy in a hug. Heavy was caught off guard for a moment, but then returned the hug.

After the hug, Fluttershy then continued to do her job, as Heavy did his.

"Come on you walking tin cans! My Grandmother can rocket jump better than your sorry asses can fight!" Soldier taunted as he destroyed tons of robots. Then, Red paused for a moment as they heard war cries coming from the sky. They looked up and saw white and shadow colored creatures of all kind flying towards Ponyville.

"That don't look good." Soldier said to himself. He then fired at the creatures, but his rockets went right through them.

"Guess only magic can destroy them." Demoman said as he came up to Soldier.

"Well then that battle is up to the princesses and the girls." Soldier said. They then heard the whirring of more machines as regular robots and giant ones were coming towards them.

"Mien Comrades, I Zhink we better retreat." Medic suggested as he healed Soldier and Demoman.

"Aye, the doc be right solly." Demoman said. Soldier never liked to fall back, but he knew they were right. He got his radio and contacted Sniper.

"Sniper, We're having to fall back to Ponyville. Provide sniper cover for us the best you can." Soldier said.

"Right on it mate!" Sniper responded.

When they finally got back, they could see a barrage of spells being casted back and forth between the two magical forces. Pegasus ponies were fighting flying creatures, and Earth ponies were helping fight ground creatures. RED could see a magical shield that you could not fire through (on the outside) but can fire through on the inside, and walk through both ways was dwindling. Soldier, Demoman, Medic, Pyro, and Heavy went through the shield, regrouping with Sniper, Scout, Spy, and Engineer.

"Well, My sappers can work on the robots, but it is hell trying to get to them with zhose robot pyros." Spy said.

"And those confounded Demomen robots and soldiers keep destroying my sentries and dispensers before I can set them up." Engineer said.

"And I'm actually getting tired for once!" Scout complained.

"We have to keep fighting. They have to run out eventually!" Soldier said. The mane six then came up to them.

"Guys, our magical shield is almost out of energy, and we are getting too tired to cast another spell to regenerate it. What is the situation on the robots?" Twilight said as the girls came up to them.

"We still don't know how many of those robots are left." Sniper said. "How much longer to we have on the shield?"

"About 5 minutes at best." Twilight said.

"We have to take defensive positions, get dug in." Soldier said. Everyone agreed to this, and Twilight told the princesses, who nodded in agreement. So they all spent the next 5 minutes taking defensive positions.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Sister, They're shield is almost gone." Shadow stallion said. He and Ghost mare were watching from behind their lines.

"Yes, and Deca dance's robotic inventions, along with my multiplying spell, has been wearing down the humans. Soon, we will have the elements of harmony, and then, all equestria!" Ghost mare said. The two laughed evilly as they watched the shield be destroyed by the dark creatures and the robots.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"This is it." Soldier said. RED was in a line in their defensive position (a trench made by the explosion of the tank from earlier.) and preparing for the worst. The Princesses and the mane six were with them.

"So, this is the last stand." Twilight said. Inside, she had nearly excepted defeat.

"Yep." Soldier replied. Twilight looked at him.

"So you know this is suicide?" She asked him.

"Yep." Soldier replied.

"They got us surrounded…the poor bastards."

The Shield dissipated, and the creatures created by the Ghost's Shadow and the robots let out a war cry as they charged. RED and the ponies Let out their own war cry as the attacked as well.

It was completely clear that the end was near.