My Little Paintball: Warfare is Magic

Chapter 10: Reallocating Resources

-Canterlot-

"Wow." Midnight Blade said in a shocked tone. I'd never seen anypony crash into a wall so spectacularly before. He thought, recounting the events that unfolded mere moments ago.

He thought back to when Handicap was charging the red-eyed Lunar Eclipse only to get shot in the visor. Midnight assumed that the paint splotch on her visor blinded the poor pony. There was no other plausible explanation as to why the crazed equine would charge straight passed her foe, stumble on a tin can someone left in the street, and slump to the ground after colliding face-first into a brick wall.

Midnight looked to see that even the dark blue-masked pony ahead of him had paused to watch the short spectacle.

Is she alright? Midnight wondered, concern growing in his mind as he saw one of her hooves twitch.

The Solar Flare breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the mare slowly stand back up on her hooves. His breath hitched again as he saw Handicap's head turn in multiple directions, as if trying to find something. Oh boy. She isn't blind is she? He thought, a feeling of concern creeping up on him. That wouldn't be the best last thing to see. A paintball shot on the visor, a brick wall, and then everything goes black.

"Um, excuse me. My vision seems to be obstructed." Handicap said, her tone no longer insane but rather sophisticated.

Both Brick's and Midnight's jaws dropped.

"Hello?" Handicap asked, her hoof wandering around in front of her, trying to feel her way around. "Can anypony hear me?"

"Um… yeah." Brick responded, his mind trying to make anything of what he was seeing.

Handicap's head snapped in Brick's direction. "Ah. My dear sir, would you be a proper gentlecolt and please escort me from this battleground?"

Brick's mouth tried to create a response, but his mind's confused state held him back. "Uh…"

A smile grew on Handicap's face. "Excellent!" She exclaimed, holding out her hoof for Brick to hang on to. "I cannot wait to depart from this ghastly place.

I have no idea what's going on, but she's beaten and if she's asking to be helped to a safe place, then I shall oblige. Brick thought, trotting over to Handicap and held out his hoof's elbow for Handicap to hold onto.

Handicap giggled as the two walked away from the paint-splattered street. "Ooh what big muscles you have. If it weren't for this infernal mask I'd be admiring your surly handsome face." Handicap swooned.

Brick's red eyes rolled. It's not like she'd see me doing it with that paint on her visor anyway. He thought. "Well let's just get you out of here, Miss…"

"Handicap." The mare responded. "And yes. Let us leave this dedication to multihued brutality."

Midnight watched as the Solar Flare and Lunar Eclipse leave the battlefield, her arm hooked over his. The shadow-dweller could only stare in disbelief. What the buck did I just watch?

Meanwhile

"Get to cover!" Twilight shouted as she dove behind a mound of dirt, paintballs exploding against the mound mere seconds later.

"Some pony needs take out those snipers on the wall!" A chocolate brown furred pony shouted behind Twilight from inside the trench, the golden armor making moot the fact his fur could camouflage him in the dirt.

"No kidding, Sprocket!" Spade shouted, trying to get a look at the wall, but ducking back every few seconds to avoid the shots from the snipers on the wall. "Can anypony get Celestia on the radio?"

"Ah got it!" Applejack shouted from in the trench. She pressed her hoof to a button on the side of her golden mask. "Command! This is Applejack! Please respond, over!"

Meanwhile

Celestia sat in her bunker and watched the battle unfold. It was going so well. She thought. What could have caused them to see our forces?

"Command! This is Applejack! Please respond, over!" The radio on a table next to the thin window of the bunker sounded. Celestia's ears perked up. Celestia levitated the radio to her mouth and pressed the button with her magic.

"This is command. Go ahead, Applejack." The princess said in the calmest tone she could muster at the moment.

"We're pinned down by snipers and could use some help!" Applejack sounded through the radio. "Are there any available snipers of our own that we have that could fight back?"

Celestia thought for a moment. "The majority of our forces are waiting in Ponyville for the bulk of the Eclipses. But I should be able to pull a few out of there and reassign them here."

"Thanks, Princess!" Applejack responded. "Over and- whoa! That was close." She said, the sound of a few paintballs hitting a hard surface cutting her off.

The solar princess put down the radio and turned behind her address a certain draconequus but couldn't see him. "Discord?" Celestia called, looking around the bunker.

Suddenly, her ears perked at a snoozing sound above her. Her purple eyes travelled up to see Discord laying belly down on the ceiling, sleeping like a cat.

"Discord!" Celestia shouted.

"Gah!" Discord cried, his eyes shooting open to see a rather miffed princess looking up at him. "Celestia, you know how fragile my heart is. You can't go scaring me like that."

"Cut it, Discord." Celestia said with a huff. "I need you to do something for me."

"And that is?" Discord wondered, sliding onto the wall and back onto the floor in front of the white alicorn.

"Can you teleport a couple snipers from Ponyville here? Preferrably some pegasus." Celestia ordered.

Discord stroked his chin. "I believe so. Why? Did one of your dependable troops blow their cover like I knew they would?" He asked snidely.

Celestia glared at the chaos spirit. "It doesn't matter. Can you get me what I need?" She asked, urgency and venom dripping from her words.

"Of course I can." Discord said, snapping his fingers. A bright white flash later and one pegasus and an earth pony appeared in the bunker, each looking down the scopes of their rifles. The light brown with a darker hued mane while the other was tan-furred with a short yellow mane, a red stripe running through it.

"Whoa. What?" The sand-brown one asked, looking up from his scope and scanning his surroundings.

"Dude. What happened? One second we're sniping Eclipses in Ponyville and the next we're in some room." The tan one wondered, looking up from his scope as well.

"That would be me." Discord said, giving them a wave as they looked up at him.

"Discord?" The sandy one asked, waveringly.

"The one and only." The draconequus said, taking a bow.

Celestia rolled her eyes. "Enough, Discord. You're dismissed."

Discord gave Celestia a pout. "Fine. Ruin my fun why don't you?" He said, vanishing in a white flash.

The princess of the sun shook her head and turned to the two snipers. "What are your names?"

The pegasus spoke up first. "Rough Rider, your Highness." He said with a quick bow.

"And I'm Sandstorm Scope." The earth pony said, giving a bow of his own.

"Excellent. Forget your previous orders. You'll be taking them from me now." Celestia said sternly, the two stallions waiting for their orders. "You two are now tasked with providing sniper support for the team that's storming the castle."

Rough's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, we're trying to take back the castle?"

Celestia nodded. "That's exactly what's going on right now, Rough. Commanders Twilight Sparkle and Applejack are spearheading the attack and they've just been-"

"Excuse me, Princess." Sandstorm interrupted, his ears perking up. "But did you say that Applejack is in the attack?" Sandstorm asked.

"Yes I did." Celestia replied. "On the front lines, as a matter of fact."

Sandstorm took up his rifle and slid the bolt back and pulled the paintball magazine from the top of the rifle. He opened the hopper to see a decent amount of paintballs still left inside it.

"There's enough to split if you're low." Sandstorm said to Rough.

Rough gave his fellow sniper a nod. "I shoot conservatively, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Sandstorm placed the hopper back on the top of the rifle and slid the bolt back forward, chambering a paintball. "Well then, Princess. Shall we be on our way?" He asked.

"You shall. Good luck, Solar Flares." Princess Celestia said earnestly, her horn lighting up bright yellow, the two ponies vanishing in a flash.

The princess turned around to look outside at the battle that was unfolding in the courtyard of the castle. Her eyes turned to a paintball pistol that lay on the table next to a map of the castle. Celestia's purple eyes darted back and forth between the battle she saw out the window and the paint gun.

I can't just let them go out there while I sit here and do nothing. She thought, her horn lighting up as a gold paintball vest levitated onto her torso and a similarly colored mask adorned her head. A yellow aura levitated the pistol off the table and up to the princess's eye level. Today I help my subjects in this battle. The pistol's slide was pulled back by the alicorn's magic, a paint magazine and a CO2 canister inserting themselves into the grip. The pistol's slide lurched forward with a chik and slid into a holster on the side of Celestia's vest.

Celestia looked out the window, a determined look on her face. This ends tonight.

-Ponyville-

Fear crouched behind the flower cart, its frame now covered with multiple hues of paint. Jeez. We can't push up at all! He thought, gritting his razor teeth as he began to think of options to get away from the wall of paintballs that were being shot at him and his squad. Well the worst they could do is flank us from this position. He thought, his eyes darting to the left towards an alley. His heart stopped as he saw a golden armored stallion aiming a marker at one of his squad mates who was hiding behind behind a large dumpster.

"Lazer! Watch your left!" Fear shouted, pointing at the golden-clad pony.

His dark blue pegasus squad mate heard his shout and turned her head sharply, her marker following her eyes. Quick as a flash, Lazer Beam aimed her marker and covered the unfortunate Solar Flare from hoof to head in paint.

"Ah crud!" Fear heard from the Flare as he galloped away to get from the battle.

Lazer turned to give a thankful wave to her squad leader. "Nice call, Fear!"

"Hey Fear!" A familiar voice shouted. The alicorn squad leader turned his dark purple head to see a yellow earth pony with his back up against an alley wall.

"What's up, Ratchet?" Fear called back.

Ratchet tapped the side of his dark blue helmet. "You have a radio to any of our boys in the sky right now? We could use some air support right about now, don't ya think?"

Fear ran this tactic through his head. Well based on what I've seen up there, any air support would be intercepted pretty quick. What if…? "Why not just weld some pieces of metal together and make a shield?"

Ratchet's eyes darted to a trash can that sat next to him in the alley. Suddenly, an idea found its way into his mind.

"I got it!" he shouted, grabbing a blowtorch off his paintball vest.

Fear's eyebrows rose. "Do you always carry one of those around?" He shouted, ducking as a paintball zipped over his head, barely missing his horn.

"Yep!" Ratchet called back with a smile on his face. Activating the torch, he took to the trash bin and went to work.

Sparks flew from the alley as Ratchet worked, his squad mates looking in confusion amidst the paintball fire.

"Just let him do what he does best!" Fear shouted to the rest of his squad, snapping them out of their confused state. "I'm gonna move up to that stand on the right! Lazer, can you give me suppressing fire?"

Lazer looked over her cover for a brief moment before ducking right back behind it. "I wouldn't advise it, Fear! I can't get my head up for more than a few seconds at a time against these guys!"

"No need to fear!" Ratchet's voice bellowed.

Lazer and Fear both looked to their right, their jaws dropping simultaneously. Before them was Ratchet with a massive metal shield strapped to his forehoof. Weld marks covered the makeshift shield.

A large fanged smile grew on Fear's face. "Ha! Go, Ratchet, go! We'll cover you!"

Ratchet nodded. "Trash can welding powers, GO!" He shouted, charging from his cover and began storming the enemy positions.

Meanwhile

Rainbow Dash stood above the cover assembled from wooden beams, firing her paint gun into the Lunar Eclipses before her.

"Man they can't move at all! We got 'em guys! Move in and take 'em out!" She shouted, her squad mates rising up from their cover and charging the Eclipses' positions.

Suddenly, a large metal sheet came out from behind one of the alleyways.

"What the heck is that?" One of Rainbow's squad mates cried.

"Who cares?" Another shouted. "Just shoot it!" He shouted spraying his paintball marker at the approaching shield-wielding pony.

Within seconds the shield was caked with paint, but it still advanced. Suddenly, two other Eclipses jumped from cover and began shooting, the shield-bearing pony taking out his marker and firing at the gold-wearing ponies.

Rainbow Dash blinked in shock as she watched her squad get slathered with paint from the advancing Eclipses. Then she saw the barrels of the Eclipses' markers point at her.

"Nope. Buck that." She said, extending her wings and shooting into the sky, paintballs showering where she was only seconds before.

-Las Pegasus-

"Come out, come out, Solar Flares." Swift Shadow mumbled, gritting his teeth. He was so close to getting their squad leader before vanishing in a flash. I call royal shenanigans on that. He thought. There's no way that couldn't have been one of the princesses.

He zoomed his sniper scope in on a barrel he saw one of the Solar Eclipses go behind. Like lambs to the slaughter, though. He licked his lips. Just as easy a target even without royal intervention.

"Excuse me." A meek voice behind Swift said.

Swift turned around to see a yellow pegasus mare with a long pink mane and butterflies for a cutie mark. On her body was a set of dark blue armor. Wait. I know this pony.

"Um, could you stop shooting my teammates? If that's fine with you." The mare asked in a soft voice.

Fluttershy? What's she doing here? Swift wondered, shaking the thought from his mind. Wait wait. She's an Eclipse. Why'd she ask me to stop shooting? Unless she's been hit with the idiot stick or something.

"Uh, Flutters. You're on my team remember? So no, I won't stop shooting those gold-wearing suckers." He said, putting his eye back to his scope.

"Well that's too bad." The voice was different this time. It was deeper. Way deeper.

"What are you talking abou-" Swift began to say but his voice stopped at seeing what was in front of him.

Before Swift was a red-eyed changeling, a fanged grin across his face. Gold armor adorned the shape-shifter, a paintball marker strapped to his perforated hoof. Swift's eyes shrank at seeing the inside of the marker barrel through his mask.

"Uh. Hehe." Swift chuckled nervously. "Can we make a deal or something or…" he said, slowly taking another smoke bomb out of his pack.

"Nope. I shoot you and I go do another job. It's how it works." The changeling said.

"And what's your name?" Swift asked, readying the bomb.

The changeling's eyebrows rose. "Informant. Thanks for the courtesy. And what's yours?"

"My name is-" Swift began to say but immediately slammed the bomb on the ground, a cloud of smoke covering his position.

Informant fired blindly into the cloud, his shots hitting nothing as the cloud dissipated. "Ah jeez. Where'd he go?"

"Right behind you." Swift's voice said behind the changeling.

Informant turned around to see the barrel of a paintball pistol.

"And the name's Swift Shadow. Thanks for the courtesy." He said, pulling the trigger.

Hallo, thar, Fanfiction! Man I can't believe winter break is over. Oh well. Treasure the good times, as fleeting as they may be. I hope you guys liked this chapter because there's not gonna be a whole lot of them left! So while the time for submitting OCs is soon coming to a close, I'd like to thank these users for their contributions:

-Cynder fan

-Dark Sector

-LazaPie

-Shadowofdarkness

-TheSupremeSlurpinator

-Trail Blaze

Again, thanks so much for the support y'all give me just by reading this. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and keep those OCs coming!