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Hλlf-Life|Hλlf-Pony|ALL Freeman

A very strange crossover between Valve’s Hλlf-Life 2 and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

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IMPORTANT NOTE: Being a FanFiction, the story is completely non-canon. What I WILL tell you however is that it takes place in the events right after HL2:E2 after the rocket launch.. Plus, being a crossover, some things may not make sense. Bear that in mind.

(Ex: [SPOILER] In most other ‘Human in Equestria’ Fics, the human(s) are turned into ponies. In my opinion, this has been disproved by the HL series, because it literally shows humans going to other universes and still retaining their shape. SO yes, humans are once again in Equestria)

Also, throughout the FanFiction, I will give links to some appropriate music and information as you read.

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Prologue

The sun was setting fast and the bright day was soon giving way to a light dusk. The sky was dotted with clouds that streaked the skies like lightning. Quietly settled in a calming valley lay an aging Russian Cold War bunker named White Forest, one of the last remaining Resistance research facilities out there.

Just a few mere hours ago, the Combine have just made a full on assault on White Forest, complete with attack teams of Elite Combine soldiers, Swift Hunters, and Towering Striders. Their main intention was to halt the launch of a missile that was housed in one of two missile silos at White Forest. The Resistance planned on using this missile to close off a portal between their universe and the Combine’s universe.

The portal was caused after a massive explosion of the Citadel’s Dark Matter core collapsed in on itself. From the implosion came the so-called “Superportal”. Luckily, thanks to the heroic efforts of Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance, the attack was subdued, the missile was untouched, and the plans to destroy the Super Portal had once again gone underway.

Dr. Kleiner, Eli, Alyx, and Gordon were all huddled inside the missile launch room with a giant window of glass pointed towards the missile silo for viewing. Dr. Magnusson on a nearby screen was ordering everyone around, trying to make sure everything was perfect, or at least perfect in his way. Everyone in both the control room and around the base were very eager to see the launch of the rocket and finally end the Combine onslaught once and for all.

“…I suggest we adjourn this meeting of the ‘Mutual Admiration Society’ until we have launched our rocket!!!” Magnusson ordered quickly due to Kleiner’s, Eli’s, and Alyx’s nonstop comments on how Gordon had singlehandedly stopped the invasion of the combine soldiers. “Now I believe that we are ready to start the launch sequence.”

“I believe that Gordon should have the honor.” Eli turned her head in the direction of Gordon’s.

“You’ll hear no objections from me” Dr. Kleiner said agreeing. He proceeded to the launch button and pulled the glass case open for him.

“Well, it’s all yours Gordon” Alyx commented as she walked over to the giant window to get a better view of the launch.

Gordon slowly walked over to the big red button. His heart was beating fast and his head was breaking out with bullets of sweat…for once again, the fate of the world rested in his hands. Pushing down on the button, a click sounded a timer nearby started counting down from 30:00. The launch alarm rang out through the entire base.

“Silo doors open…” Dr. Magnusson said on his side of the television

monitor. A rumble shook the base a bit as the rusty silo doors opened with a loud creeeaaaakkkk. A flock of crows that were resting near the silo flew away, squawking loudly at the doors. The timer read 17:54. “Power to main thrusters…” Magnusson said. He himself was also breaking out into a cold and nervous sweat. The creaks and shaking kept on going with no stop. “Steady on…were launching!”

Dr. Kleiner had his eyes glued to a nearby computer screen and the missile silo whose doors were now completely open, exposing the tip of the rocket.                                 

“T-minus…10…9…8…7…6…5…4…”

“Steady…steady!” cried a nervous Magnusson. He was shaking all over in anticipation.

“…3…2…1…”

At the count of two, an ear splitting rumble could be heard and the bunker swayed to and fro. All of a sudden, a loud bang echoed throughout the base and valley. A tower of smoke rose from the missile silo. Soon following, a rocket burst out at top speeds. Long jets of fire came out of the huge thrusters at the bottom. The launch room was filled with the bright light and the rocket quickly sped off into the sky, soon coming out of view.

“Lift off! Lift off! A-hahahaha!!!” Dr. Magnusson exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. A great feeling of joy swept over everybody in the facility.

“We did it!” Kleiner celebrated enthusiastically.

“Wow…” was all that Alyx could utter while staring at the giant rocket as it went past the atmosphere.

“Great! That was just fantastic!” Eli remarked with a great smile across his face.

“Ok, ok…deep breath…deep breath” Dr. Magnusson was trying to calm himself down,”…now, it’s still a bit too early to celebrate. We need to reach altitude and transmit the signal! “

“Too right, for clock is ticking!” Dr. Kleiner agreed as we waved a finger into the air.

“We couldn’t have cut it any closer if that was our intention.” Magnusson then stiffly replied.

“It…is…going to work, right?” Alyx asked with much uncertainty.

“It has to…” Eli told her daughter.

“Once the rocket is in range of the portal, we will be able to switch on the Xenium Resonator.” Kleiner added as he walked over to another computer monitor and read the data carefully.

“Let’s get outside. I want a better view of the fireworks.” Eli said as Eli, Alyx, and Gordon walked through a door to the outside.

“It will be quite a show!” Dr. Kleiner enthusiastically exclaimed. “Regrettably, I cannot go with you for Dr. Magnusson and I will need to keep a close eye on the rocket’s trajectory.”

“Aren’t you going to see us off?” Alyx begged.

“Just as soon as this is wrapped up. I wouldn’t dream of letting you go without a proper goodbye. “

“Okay, I’ll hold you to that…you too Doctor Magnusson!” Alyx exclaimed to both of them.

“Indeed” Magnusson replied as he got back to work on the panels on his side of the screen.

Alyx, Gordon, and Eli went through a couple of doors until they reached the outside. Alyx saw DOG waiting for them as the door slid open. “DOG! There you are!”

“You go on ahead sweetie…” Eli told Alyx. She obeyed and hurried forward to DOG.         

“Hold on a sec there Gordon” He put a hand out and Gordon stopped in his tracks.

“The more I think about that warning from our friend, the more I’m convinced that it has to do with the Borealis. Don’t be deceived. That ship must never be used!” He then slammed a fist into his other hand to emphasize that statement. “You have got to destroy it, whatever the cost…”

Alyx then called the two of them over,” Where are you two! You’re going to miss it!”

“Be right there Alyx!” Eli yelled out,” Gordon, thanks for everything you’ve done. For Alyx…for everyone. I couldn’t be prouder if you were my own son. Now when you get back, we got a lot to talk about.” With that said, he walked outside to get to Alyx and DOG. Gordon followed suit.

They found themselves in what appeared to be a space for helicopters to take off and land from. In the distance, the giant, blue portal was spinning madly. Its bright blue glow seemed to illuminate the darkening sky.

“Oh my, Gordon, Alyx…look at the portal!” Dr. Kleiner yelled with excitement over a loudspeaker.

“This has to work…” Eli told himself under his breath.

“We’ve activated the Resonator!” Kleiner’s voice echoed through the valley,” This is it!!!”

The whole entire valley shook hard. The base rumbled and the trees swung to and fro. Gordon almost lost his balance from all the shaking.

“My goodness…” Kleiner exclaimed, holding his breath in anticipation

“”Yes…YES!” Alyx yelled. Out in the distance, if one looked close enough, they could see a small dot that was the rocket finally made contact with the portal. It exploded with a loud BOOM and the portal shattered into a million little dust-like blue particles. The land lit up in the immense light that was emitted from the explosion. Soon, no portal was in sight ever again. All that was left was the still swirling portal cloud.

“YES! The portal has been neutralized!” Kleiner exclaimed with a happy tone in his voice. Alyx and Eli hugged each other, and Gordon could hear the war cries of rebels inside the base.

“Oh my rocket, Oh my rocket worked! Oh, I told you it would work! HAHAHAHA” Dr. Magnusson could be heard from the speaker.

“Hey Gordon, I bet’cha the Combine sure aren’t happy right now!” Alyx yelled mockingly.

\/ [BEGIN CLEAN-UP PROCESS HERE] \/

Eli was jumping to see the portal vanish happy it was all over. DOG came over and pulled Gordon, Alyx, and Eli into a compassionate hug. Suddenly, DOG dropped them all and stared at the portal cloud.

Alyx had a very concerned look on her face,” What is it DOG? Something wro…” Her mouth gapped open when she looked into DOG’s direction. “Dad! Gordon! Look over there!” She quickly pointed into the direction of the portal clod. Somehow, the portal materialized once again, but this time, instead of going back to its normal size, it was expanding…bigger…bigger…bigger…

Dr. Kleiner could still be heard cheering over the speaker, but then his cheering stopped. All that was heard over the speaker was Magnusson’s and the Rebel’s cheers,” Dr. Magnusson, look over there! Look at the portal! Its back, but its rapidly growing bigger and bigger!” Kleiner yelled. Magnusson and the rebels stopped cheering an ran to the closest window they could find to check it out.

“Oh my…oh dear God!” Magnusson cried over the speaker. The portal was now pulsing…bigger…smaller…bigger…smaller…suddenly, another portal storm emerged from the now big portal…then another! Another one followed it! Seemed like a never ending wave of portal storms!

Magnusson hit the alarm button and a siren was heard all throughout the base,” Oh dear God…Attention! Attention everyone…” Dr Magnusson yelled over the alarm system,” This is not a drill; repeat, this is not a drill! Everyone please proceed into the safe house areas inside the bunker! This is not a drill! We are in immediate danger!” The multiple portal storms started to cascade down upon the base. Chunks of the building started to come down.

“Alyx! Sweetie, we need to get inside, now!” Eli yelled. All of them, including DOG, tried to hurry inside, but DOG was cut off by a mountain of rubble that decided to come down. Alyx peaked her head through a hole to talk to DOG,” DOG! I need you to find some safety! Stay within the boundaries of White Forest! Got it! Good!”

The three of them hurried back into the launching room. In there, Dr. Kleiner was madly talking with Dr. Magnusson who was still on screen. “Isaac! You have to get out of there and get down here this instant! I do not want to lose any more scientists from our science division! That is an order!” Before hanging up, something exploded behind Magnusson and rebels were seen running in all different directions.

Kleiner turned around and noticed the very frightened Gordon, Alyx, and Eli,” Thank GOD you guys are alright! We need to get into the safe houses! From what I can gather, some passageways have already collapsed, and others may collapse soon also. We must hurry!” With that said, he opened a door and proceeded down a long hallway and a couple flights of stairs. “Hurry! We need to get moving!

The four of them started to sprint down corridors and stairwells. They were soon greeted by a group of four rebel soldiers.

“Doctor Freeman? Thank god you are alive! Look, we have been down that passageway, and it is blocked by fallen debris. I suggest we take the South-West route. I heard that the tunnel there is still holding up”

Dr. Kleiner then stepped up to the plate,” Dear me, I only know of this route because I memorized it by mind. I cannot read Russian…” He then pointed to the many original painted signs with arrows that were in Russian,”…so can you be so kind and lead the way?”

“Sure thing doc! Just stay close, we do not want to lose anyone, right?” The rebel then led the group of now 7 people down a corridor and took a sharp right at the first intersection. This led to another corridor, except wider. It appeared to be a vehicle tunnel. Looking around, the rebel took some time to think. Finally making his direction, he yelled,” This way!” Taking the left way, they passed by many crates, rusty barrels, and even the occasional dead guy under some fallen concrete.

After reaching the end of the passageway, they came up to what appeared to be a garage door. “It’s through here! The safe house is right through here!” He ran forward to push a big red button near the door when another portal storm passed through. White Forest rattled down to its very foundations. Pipes were heard snapping and hissing, and clumps of concrete started to rain down from the sky. Suddenly, the lights went out and the tunnel was left completely dark.

“ARGH!” The rebel who went to push the button yelled out in pain,” My leg! A chunk of concrete fell on my leg! OW!” He screamed in the darkness.

Out of a corner in the wall, what looked like a portal storm, started to pass through, except this time, it was colored like a portal.

“Shit! What is that thing?!” Alyx cried out, backing as far away from it as possible.

“It’s the portal, Alyx! It grew and now it’s enveloping us!” Eli also backed off into a corner. Gordon tried to back off when he tripped over a dead combine soldier left from the battle that ensued a few hours ago. He could not get up in time, and the portal soon swallowed Gordon, then a rebel, then the rest, then the room! White Forest shook and rattled so much it was like riding a bucking horse. A bright flash and a bang later, the rattling stopped, everything grew quiet and the room was once again plunged into a discomforting darkness…

/\ [END CLEAN-UP PROCESS HERE] /\

Crossover Inbound

                The night had fallen upon the mystic land of Equestria. Princess Luna’s moon cast long, beautiful shadows everywhere, and the stars shinned magnificently in the sky. A few shooting stars could even be seen flying across the dark and endless blue. All the ponies had been tucked away soundly in bed with the calming night sounds accompanying them. All of them wrapped up snugly and tight under their thick bed sheets, cuddling up with the super soft pillows. Tonight was just a night of sleep and relaxation…except for one pony.

Down in the town of Ponyville, all the lights have died out in every window and everypony was sleeping soundly. Yet, noise and lights could still be seen and heard in the library. Twilight Sparkle was busily tending to her studies. She flipped through pages and pages of advanced magic books, history books, and anatomy books. Twilight just had the feeling of studying in her head, so she stayed up way past her bed time.

“Twilight?” Yawned a very tired Spike as he entered the room,” Don’t’cha think it’s time to sleep? You’ve been working all day and now into the night!” He rubbed his eyes a bit and stared groggily at the busy unicorn.

“No Spike. If one has the opportunity to study, one must take it. When the sun fell behind the horizon and the moon came up, I did not feel tired. Not wanting to waste my precious energy on sleep, I decided to study some more.” Twilight quickly answered as she read more articles and flipped through more pages.

Spike turned his attention towards a clock that hung on a nearby wall,” Look at the time! Its 1:47…A.M.! You need some rest Twi’!”

“Spike…” Twilight turned her head towards his direction,” I told you before. I do not feel a tad bit tired at the moment. Plus, I need more studying to do.”

“Well, can you at least keep the noise level down and dim the lights a bit?” Spike scratched his head a bit while saying this.

Twilight’s horned glowed and two cotton balls zoomed up to Spike and magically stuffed themselves inside his ears. “Here Spike. Just keep those in and close the door.”

Spike just grumbled and slowly walked towards his bed in Twilight’s room. His head was drooped all the way down. He closed the door behind him and in a few minutes, Twilight could head heavy snoring from behind the door. Rolling her eyes, she got back to reading. After finishing up the last paragraph on a book about star gazing, she then got out a new book, Everfree Forest: Mysterious Happenings – A book on the many unexplained occurrences that happened in the last 1,000 years! By Robert Bagley

“Huh, since when have I had this book?” Twilight questioned herself. She never believed any paranormal or unexplained mumbo-jumbo ever thrown at her. Twilight only believed these occurrences when there was solid evidence behind it or when it happens right in front of her; like with Pinkie Pie’s uncontrollable tail twitching.

“Ah well, I guess I could study how different ponies have different views on things. Like these ponies for example; they always take something they saw in the Everfree Forest as an unnatural occurrence…as if that doesn’t happen every day…”

She flipped the book open to the table of contents…

“Table of Contents…Fantastic Beasts…Strange Flora…pfft, as if that stuff really existed…Paranormal Anomalies…oooh…Forbidden Lands…sounds interesting enough…page 822…”

Twilight flipped the pages of the book until she reached page 822,” Forbidden Lands: A compilation of strange natural disasters recorded in the Everfree Forest…”

Twilight read every single paragraph in the book and took extensive notes. She read ever paragraph of the chapter, writing down facts about The Great Windstorm, The Unexplained Hurricane, and The Horrifying Drought…”Man!” Twilight laughed to herself “Some of these titles and descriptions are just so made up, I sometimes wonder how they even got written onto paper and shipped out into stores!” Even with that, she continued to dissect every chapter until she yawned.

Looking at the clock, she read 3:12. Closing her book and stretching a bit, Twilight proceeded to put away the books she got out. After organizing them all and getting a quick drink, she proceeded to bed. Just as she reached the door to her room, Twilight heard static in her ear accompanied by a slow trumpet tune and then a few loud beeps that made the hair on her back stand straight up.

She stopped and paused at the sound. Twilight never heard static in her ear before, or even in all of Ponyville! Backing away from the door to her room, Twilight looked around the library. Everything seemed normal…except for one thing. While looking around, she peaked through a window and saw her lonely balcony staring off into the distance, but this time however, the balcony was occupied.

Standing there was a steel blue stallion  with a dark brown mane and small silver streaked flowing through it. She could guess that he was about a middle aged pony by the wrinkles in his face. He was wearing a purplish-blue-gray business suit with a dark business pack lying on his back. All he ever did was stare off into the distance with his tired looking green eyes, towards the Everfree Forest. After a small smirk came across his face, he turned around and proceeded to the door leading inside. The static in her ear suddenly stopped.

“Oh no you don’t!” Twilight thought hard in her mind. She raced upstairs to the only door that led to the balcony. Knowing she had cornered this mysterious stallion, she raced forward and swung the door open…nopony was there! In fact, there was no evidence that there was even anypony up here at all! She looked around the balcony to investigate even more. Her horn had a strange itch in it as she searched the balcony. Suddenly, her eyes drifted beyond the railing on her balcony. Off in the distance, somewhere in the Everfree

Forest was a giant lightning blue dome, about a mile wide in diameter. The blue dome kept pulsing…bigger, smaller, bigger, smaller, always emitting that frightening yet enticing blue glow.

Twilight gazed in awe at the site, staring at it in an almost surreal stare. A slight gust of wind which rattled the library a bit got her out of the trance. Knowing that this was an unknown anomaly, she quickly summoned a pencil, a note pad, and that Everfree Forest: Mysterious Happenings book. They zoomed in front of her immediately.

She took note of everything she saw for the next thirty seconds. Just as she was about to write down another note, the blue dome suddenly got super small and the light emitting from it dimmed. Twilight put down her pencil and walked over to the railing, looking off into the distance. Suddenly, with great force, the blue dome expanded quickly and stopped. From the stop, a giant visible shockwave started cascading away from the dome and in all directions, with Ponyville in its path!

Twilight, whose heart was racing every second for she did not know what to do, curled up into a ball and braced herself, closing her eyes shut. She could feel the ground rumble beneath her and the tree rattled like the dead as the shockwave approached. The wave finally hit Twilight’s house. The branches rocked so much that some broke off; the windows rattled and shattered; and she could hear the distinct sound of books falling off of shelves.

Somehow, the shockwave passed through Twilight without harm. Sadly, the rest could not be said for the town. As the shockwave came through, Twilight could hear frantic and frightened cries from fellow ponies waking up from their slumber, trees falling and cracking, and could also make out the sound of the town hall’s bell tower coming down with a crash. Thinking the wave was over, she got up and opened her eyes. Twilight then saw three more shockwaves approaching her at a fast pace.

“T-T-Twilight! H-Help!!!” Spike cried from the inside of the house.

“”Don’t worry Spike! I’m coming!” Twilight then hurried in, trying not to fall over from the other shockwave’s trembles as they approached. She quickly got inside but accidentally tripped over a stack of fallen books. Instead of gracefully running down, she fell down the stairwell, hitting every inch of her body. She reached the bottom with a loud *THUD*. Twilight landed on her world started spinning.

“Twilight! Help me!” Spike cried once more. Twilight quickly regained her composure and proceeded to her room. She heard pounding on the other side and some ceiling rubble collapsed in front of the door.

“Hang on Spike!” She yelled reassuringly,” Stand back! I will try to remove this rubble!” It was kind of hard for her to concentrate on the rubble with the constant shaking, but she did. Twilight kicked down the door and ran inside. Spike immediately came over and hugged her around the neck.

“Come on Spike, we need to get out of here!” Spike jumped onto Twilight’s back and they rode off to the exit, narrowly avoiding falling debris and trying not to trip over any fallen objects while keeping their balance as the shaking continued. Twilight opened the door and ran outside into the cold, dark night.

The rumbling had just about stopped and the full extent of the damage had just been revealed; shattered windows, broken shingles, fallen debris, and many heartbroken and scared ponies everywhere. Spike collapsed from fright and exhaustion and landed in the grass where he was knocked out and proceeded to snore loudly. Twilight dragged him over to a bench where she then placed his blanket he took with him outside onto him.

“Twilight, darling! Thank goodness you’re all right!” Rarity came up from behind and put a hoof around her friend’s neck and hugged it dearly.

Twilight hugged Rarity back,” Thanks Rarity. Seems like you are safe and sound too, right?”

“Not necessarily my dear, for part of my ceiling caved in and ruined my shop and home! It will take ages to repair, and no doubly my business will suffer too! Plus, the second floor and above are now too weak to support anymore weight, so I had to rush out as quickly as I could. Luckily, I got the essentials, such as Opal here…” The finely combed cat was just lying right next to Rarity’s leg, not giving at all the slightest bit of attention to her grief stricken owner.

“Oh, I am so sorry for your loss Rarity.” Twilight said. She really did feel bad for her because her shop was also her home. “Hey, listen. My house sustained less damage and has enough room for another pony to move in. You can stay until your house has been repaired and is deemed livable again.”

Rarity’s face lightened up with joy. She bounced up and down with delight,” Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Twilight! You don’t know how much it means to me and Opal! We had nowhere to go, nowhere to run, and you generously lent me lodging in your house!” Rarity gave Twilight a sort of ‘thank-you’ hug.

Twilight started to slightly blush. She turned her head away and said,” Well, that’s what friends are for, right? You would do the same for us, so I thought that I should repay you in a way.”

“Thanks again Twilight! Let me just get my bags, for I left them back at the boutique! Be right back!” Rarity then ran off to her shop with Opal desperately trying to hang on for dear life. Pinkie Pie then came over to Twilight with Applejack and Fluttershy accompanying her.

“Well, I think I can just go an’ thank the heavens now tha’ I see that you, Twi’, is now safe from harm!” Applejack rooted, seeing one of her closest friends safe and not injured in any way.

“Yea! I totally agree with AJ there!” Pinkie bounced around in a cheerful tone while pronouncing this,” I would throw a super-special-extra-riffic party to celebrate, but…” She then looked over at the Sugarcube Corner. Its windows were cracked, sweets and cupcakes littered the floor, and the ‘Sugarcube Corner’ sign that usually hung near the entrance was now smashed on the ground,”…it seems like the Sugarcube is a teensy-weensy bit busy right now.”

Twilight smiled reassuringly at Pinkie,” Hey, don’t worry. Once the corner is fixed up, we will all throw the best party Ponyville has ever seen in a long time! Everyone here looks forward to your parties! I will also help you clean up once things have settled”

“Oh thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyoutha…” Pinkie was now bouncing around Ponyville. Twilight just followed her instincts and put her hoof out in the air. She somehow caught Pinkie in the mouth and stopped her from bouncing and blabbering. “A simple nod will do Pinkie” Twilight laughed. Pinkie then nodded and stopped blabbering on.

Rainbow Dash soon came zooming over to Ponyville. Her heart rate was pumping and sweat was rolling down her face. Hovering over the scene of destruction a bit, she swooped down to where her friends were. Instead of gracefully landing, she came down hard. Her eyes spun a bit and she was left dazed and confused. Dash’s normally straightened hair was all frazzled and messed up; it was much more frazzled than normal, even after doing tricks in the air!

“Rainbow, my words, what happened to you!?” Rarity exclaimed. She came forward and pulled Dash up and tried to fix her hair a bit with her hooves.

“Yea Rainbow, you aren’t usually this dazed and confused” Twilight was wondering what was happening with Dash. She isn’t this crazy.

“Twi…Twi...s…somet…something…ha…” Rainbow was sputtering but her mouth was too dry to make out anything and she was too tuckered out to say anything. She collapsed onto the ground. Twilight, frightened by this, made a glass of water appear out of thin air and put some up to her lips to sip. She then dumped the rest on Rainbow’s head. She immediately got back up, shaking the water off of her head.

“Ok Rainbow, tell us everything.” Twilight asked very sternly, yet also concerned for her friend.

She was gasping for breath, but then resumed her talk,” W…well, I was at home, asl…asleep of course, when suddenly, m…my house just started shaking! It was strange because o…only a strong storm could shake a pegasus’ house like that, but I remember distinctly that the Cloud Factory did not have any storms planned this week, and that news was given out the same day the shaking happened! Well, anyways, I got up and then I noticed…this creature…this horrifying creature flying past my window! I…its hard to explain what it looked like, but it was giving off a loud humming noise and wa…was carrying what appeared to be a metal house with no windows…and there wasn’t just one, but an entire fleet of them, dozens of them flying through the sky! They were also accompanied by the…these black things with spinning blades. They made a sort of chopping sound as they pa…passed by. I got scared because, ya know, I have never seen theme before, so…so I hurried over to Ponyville as fast as I could without leaving behind a Rainbow trail for them to follow me. A…and to add to that, while flying over here, I saw the…these little creatures carrying these black sticks, a…and they seemed to be escorting these giant white eggs…also accompanied by these weird shaped black th…things on wheels, and they were mo…mobilizing fast…and they were heading out in a…all directions…” Rainbow talked so fast and so quick that she was left breathless again and fell to the ground and started panting.

This time, Twilight conjured up a bucket of water and a thick blanket to put onto the shivering and obviously frightened Rainbow Dash. After having she drank a couple of gulps of water from the bucket and tucking the blanket tightly around Dash’s back which was as cold as ice, Twilight put a sympathetic arm over her body and said,” I think you need some rest Dash. You’ve been through a lot. Come to my house. Its still holding together and safe enough to stay in. Rest in my bed, I won’t be needing it for the night.” She then led the nervous and tuckered out pegasus to her bedroom.

“Wow…and to think I was random!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, for she never knew that Rainbow Dash could get more random than Pinkie herself!

After tucking in a very tired Rainbow Dash, Twilight came back outside with her friends to talk about their friend’s little rant. “Strange…Dash has never acted that way before? Yet, somehow, all her words seemed reliable…”

“Ya Twi’, but she seemed a little more…eccentric…in her wording” AJ counter acted,” When a pony don’t act like she usually do, then somethin’ strange is running amuck.”

“Yes AJ, I know she wasn’t acting normal, but I believe her. Its because I saw…well, I saw…”

“What Twilight? What did you see?” Pinkie asked curiously

But before Twilight could respond, the mayor of Ponyville came towards the town square’s fountain and, with a loud speaker, talked to everypony that stood out there,” Excuse me! Excuse me everypony! I would like an unexpected town meeting in the Town Pavilion at this moment!” Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and the rest of the ponies then proceeded towards the remains of the Town Hall. A large crowd gathered around the Mayor and her podium which was set up on stage so that everypony could see her. If one were to look closely, that pony could defiantly see strain marks in her face and see a very stiff, stern look.

Twilight and the rest of the gang were huddled near the stage around the podium.

“Citizens of Ponyville, we have been struck by an unnatural force that has shaken this town to its very foundations! We do not know what it is at the moment, but word has been sent to Canterlot at this moment to relay on this disaster.”

The crowd buzzed with talk, all of them coming up with strange answers to why this happened.

“I think that Celestia conjured this up so that we will have to pay double the tax so that she can ‘repair’ the damage.”

“Well, I say that that zebra, Zecora did this! Her evil spells have plagued this town since the start!”

“Oh yea, well I say that it is some sort of evil, dark magic that came from an unknown monster that did this!”

The stories got crazier and crazier until out of the sky, a Royal Pegasus dressed in gold armor came swooping down with a scroll in his mouth. He flew down to the mayor, gave her the scroll, and in a deep male voice said,” It’s from the Princess” He then flew away into the distance.

The mayor unraveled the scroll and read it aloud,” I received your message, and you are not the only ones to have felt it. It could be felt all the way here in Canterlot, and even as far as the borders of Equestria!...”

The crowd gasped at this. What could have been so powerful that it could of reached the very far borders of Equestria!?

“…I have detected something has entered this land, but it is not natural. It is something strange and new, and it is what caused this to happen. My powers have detected the strongest source could be found in the Everfree Forest. Your town happened to be the closest one to the source. I ask that you create a search team, find it and report back on your findings, for I have more important business to attend to.

-           Princess Celestia”

The mayor rolled the scroll and spoke to the crowd,” Well, you heard her. Princess Celestia has detected the source to be in the Everfree Forest, and we are the closest ones! We need to have a search team set up in 10 minutes! Anypony willing to venture into the Everfree Forest at this hour, please meet neck here at the podium in 10 minutes!” She then left the podium and the crowd started to depart.

Twilight turned to her remaining four friends and told them,” Look, this has to do with everything that I was about to say and might be about what Rainbow Dash was blabbering about. Meet you all back here in 10 minutes. Just pack the necessary items like what we packed when we were going to face the dragon…” Seeing a small frightened look on Fluttershy’s face, she added,”…and don’t worry, I defiantly know this is not a dragon situation!” With that said, Fluttershy relaxed a bit.

“Okay girls, pack up and meet back here in 10 minutes…let’s go!” Twilight yelled enthusiastically. They all ran back to their homes and got their supplies ready; Rarity packed clothes, Applejack packed the hardest apples she had, Pinkie Pie packed party supplies, Fluttershy packed up food and medical supplies, and Twilight packed up maps and books to help them along their journey. As for Rainbow Dash, she woke up early and heard the mayor’s talk. Rejecting Twilight’s objections, she packed up some extra stuff that Twilight couldn’t carry. They all set off into the direction of the Town Pavilion.

Once they all gathered at the podium, the mayor was there waiting for them. It appeared to be that only the gang was going voluntarily.

“Well, I would like to thank you girls for, once again, helping this town when it is needed in a dire situation.” The mayor told all of them. She then got out a map and pointed at a location on the map,” From what we could gather, this is where the shaking started, and this is where you are right now. Its about a forty five minute journey through the densest parts of the Everfree Forest. I wish I could help, but the others who are staying behind need to help fix this place up…” She then looked in the direction of the Town Hall’s broken bell tower which lay shattered on the ground. “All I can do is wish you girls the best of luck…” She then walked to her office and left the gang of six to fend for themselves.

The six of them proceeded to the edge of the Everfree Forest. A pang of fear ran through their back, for they did not know what they were about to meet out there.

“Well, it’s now or never…we better get moving…” Twilight told them all as she got out her map with their destination marked on it.

“So…Twi’, you said something about what you saw has to do with this disaster and Dash’s rant?” Pinkie then asked as the group penetrated the outer layer of the woods.

“Oh yea…let me explain…” Twilight then recalled everything she saw that night; from the strange stallion on her balcony to the large blue dome in the direction that they were heading. The other five listened intensively and they dived deeper into the forest…

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Gordon stumbled around in the darkness, sometimes bumping into rebel soldiers who just said,” Sorry Doc didn’t mean to get in your way.”

A female voice then rang out of the speakers,” Power outage detected. Emergency Generators will start in 3…2…1…”

The lights in the tunnel flickered a bit and then turned on completely. The full damage of the portal storm was revealed; the passage they just went through collapsed and the rebel who was hit in the leg was shown; a chunk of concrete had shattered all of his right leg and he was moaning in pain. Blood was all over the floor and concrete. A doctor was tending to the rebels wound. All the rebel could say was,” Argh…someone, please hit the…ack…red button. It will open up the door…” Gordon obeyed and pushed the button on the wall. The doorway slowly creaked open and revealed the garage work area. Sitting there was Dr. Magnusson, some scientists walking around, making sure the machines were still functioning a few Vortigaunts talking to each other in their strange alien language, and many, many Rebels, all of them with stern or scared expressions on their faces.

“Freeman! Thank GOD you are alive! We all thought you, Alyx, Eli, and Kleiner were dead!” Dr. Magnusson exclaimed happily, almost hugging Freeman in the process, but then stopped himself.

A nearby rebel came up to Freeman holding an SMG and told him,” Hey Doc, we have some grave news to tell you…” He pointed in the direction of a Vortigaunt.

The Vortigaunt came forward and said in his gravelly voice,” Freeman, we appear to be in a predicament of sorts...”

The other Vortigaunt stepped forward and continued the other’s conversation,” When the missile made contact with the super portal, the portal expanded and engulfed the all of White Forest…”

“Except instead of being teleported into the Combine’s universe…”

“We were transported into this new, unknown universe. No human, Combine, or Vortigaunt foot has come here before…”

“We do not know what to expect from this land. We do not know if its inhabitants are peaceful or aggressive.”

“So we suggest you proceed with extreme caution while exploring the outside world.”

“But we do detect intelligent life living in this world, so it is vital that we make contact as soon as possible.” The two Vortigaunts then stepped back and continued their conversation with each other.

Magnusson came forward and put a hand on Gordon’s shoulder,” My boy, you know what this means? The portal expanded and transported us to an unknown universe. We now have no contact with anyone else; no more back up support when we are in a jam, nowhere else to go to, and defiantly nowhere to get more supplies from when we run out. This is a dangerous world, and we are stuck in the middle with no life support. Once our supplies dwindle, we might as well light candles to count the days we live until extinction.” He then shook his head in pain and went to lean against a wall.

“Well, that is most troubling indeed” Dr. Kleiner heard the entire conversation between Gordon, the Vortigaunts, and Dr. Magnusson,” We must ensure that our supplies lasts, dividing it equally amongst our remaining members. Certainly, since this atmosphere houses oxygen, flora must exists in this world, so food is not much of a problem. It’s more of power and ammunition as our problem. Once we run out of ammo, all our guns can serve us as very unreliable blunt weaponry. We must take immediate action!”

Alyx came up and asked Magnusson,” Hey doctor, mind if I request something?”

“Sure, go ahead. Just make it quick because I have to think of what to do next…” Dr. Magnusson waved his hand in Alyx’s direction.

“Well Doc, since food will be the main issue, I was thinking of Gordon and I leading a small expedition into the lands around us to see if the plants around here are edible…”

Magnusson looked surprised at this statement,” Are you out of your mind! We only have a limited amount of people to spare here! Sure, we may have thousands in this base, but even losing one life could mean the difference between life and death for all of us!”

“But doc, if we run out of food, we will still lose lives due to starvation!”

“Well…but…I…OH FINE! I grant you permission to go onto this…expedition…into the world to find food for us! While I admire your sacrifice you are willing to take for the rest of the team, all I can say is that I wish you the best of luck…” Magnusson then pointed to three rebels and one rebel medic,” You four! You will follow Freeman and Alyx here on an expedition to study the surrounding flora to see if it is edible!”

“Sure thing doc!” The medic yelled, assembling the other three together. Alyx led them all to a doorway that led outside. Magnusson stopped her just to say a few words,” Alyx, promise me…you will not have anyone killed, will you?”

“Don’t worry about them. You know Gordon, he always protects his squad with all his heart.” With that said, Alyx led the group to a giant room with closed blast doors that went outside. “Well, here goes nothing…” She said as she started to turn a handle. A pair of blast doors closed behind the group. A siren blared above them, signaling that a blast door was being opened. With a great tug, the doors creaked apart. A blast of the cool air came in and fell upon everyone. A cold chill ran down everyone’s spine. The group of six slowly came out, guns drawn, all members of the team cautiously surveying their surroundings.

“What the hell…is that!?” A rebel yelled. She pointed at the entire world; everything was very different! The plants, the sky, everything had a very bright color, even in the night’s moon, and they were all outlined with thick lines. Alyx went forward and touched the grass,” Well, this grass sure does feel different than our home world grass. Have a feel for yourself a Gordon!”

Gordon knelt forward, took off his HEV Suit’s gloves, and felt the grass. Dew had just started to form and the grass was defiantly softer than Earth’s grass.

The group walked off the White Forest property and into the dark forest. Everyone in the group stared in awe at this new world; it was heavily stylized and pastel looking colors. Looking back at the base and at everyone else, they had retained their original composures, shape, form, and color compared to their new world.

Walking deeper into the woods, the group soon lost White Forest through the thick trees and brush.

“Hey doc?” One of the rebels asked,” What will we do if we get lost? How will we get back?” Gordon thought and thought, and finally came up with a solution. Getting his crowbar out and proceeded to mark X’s into the tree trunks, marking a trail behind them.

“Good idea Freeman!” He remarked. With that situation handled, they continued down the path they chose…

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“So what you’re saying, Twilight, is that the blue orb you saw in the Everfree forest and those strange things Rainbow saw…are connected?” Pinkie Pie asked curiously.

“Exactly! If my calculations are correct, I saw the dome and Dash saw the creatures at exactly the same time! Surely they must be connected with each other!” Twilight exclaimed. She then put her attention back onto her map,” Okay, we should be nearing the site very soon…”

Rarity felt exhausted,” Thank Celestia! This trip is really ruining my manicure I just got this morning!” She looked down at her muddy and worn down hooves.

“Don’t worry Rarity, we should be heading home as soon as possible” Twilight tried to comfort her, for she knew how much Rarity cared about her looks.

“So what will happen when we meet these things? Shall I give them the one-two punch?” Rainbow Dash asked as she threw a few punched into the air.

“No Dash. If we aggravate whatever is out there, we may be putting our lives at risk here. If they do show signs of aggravation, everypony get down into an offensive position.” Twilight added,” Plus, since these creatures look like they do not belong here, I think Fluttershy may not be able to do anything since she does not know the habits of these things…”

After a few minutes of hiking, a thick bush stood in their path. “Stay here” Twilight told the rest of the gang. She probed her head into the bush, for she sensed something was inside. Suddenly, Pinkie got a funny feeling in her hair. She alerted Twilight of it,” Twi’! Twi’! My hair! It goes a-twitching again! It goes twitch-twitch!!! Although I don’t know what it even means…”

Twilight ignored it and kept moving through the bush. After moving forward, her face came into contact with a creature. She looked into its four eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs. Her mane stuck straight up into the air. Twilight immediately got out of the bush and the creature receded from the bush also with a very frightened expression. Twilight then stumbled into her friends and they collapsed into a pile…

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Gordon reacted to the creature that he had just landed a face in. Stumbling backwards, he fell into the group of rebels and Alyx too. All of them felt dazed and confused.

“Hey Gordon, what was that for!?” Alyx asked. All Gordon could do was gape and point at the bush he was just in. The group noticed the bush rustle and they all got onto their feet, all raising their weapons, all aiming at the bush,” Steady now…” Alyx told the group in a quiet voice.

The bush rustled even more and more. Noises could be heard in the leaves. The rebels raised their weapons a little bit when a purple hoof stepped out of the bush. Everyone was just about ready to pull their triggers when its head came into view; it looked so innocent and scared, and those eyes…those damn eyes looks too cute to shoot at…NO! No rebel should lower their weapon in front of a strange new creature! They kept their weapons raised and pointed them at the creature.

The purple creature soon came into view; it was a pony, except in the shape, form, and color of this universe! Ponies have gone extinct on Earth ever since the Combine rule, so seeing a pony, even if it was not of their world, was just incredible for everyone. The body was of a purple color and the pony’s mane was a darker shade of purple with a pink streak running through it. A horn stuck out through the head…so that made it a unicorn...and the unicorn had a tattoo of a star surrounded by five other stars on her rump…fascinating.

The unicorn was soon followed by a blue flying pony with wings…a pegasus? Impossible…and had a rainbow colored hair. It hovered very close to the ground and had soon landed to get a better view of the group. Soon, a pink pony, a yellow pegasus, and an orange pony wearing a straw hat came into view also. Six pony-like-creatures…six human beings…all of them stared attentively into each other’s eyes, waiting for the first one to make the move.

The purple one turned its head to the other ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, and then finally back to the rebels, saying in plain English,

” By Celestia, we found them…”

Alyx stared in awe,” My God Gordon…they talk!”

Anomalous Interactions

The rebels intensified their grip on their weapons once again when the other ponies came out of the bush; and the ponies all got into an offensive stance, lowering their heads and scrapping their hooves on the ground, every once and a while making threatening snorting sounds through their noses. The scene was very tense, for both teams did not know who was going to make the first move.

The same thoughts kept running through everyone’s mind; should we talk, or should we attack? Talk? Attack? Both thoughts bounced around. Some lowered their stance a bit while others intensified them. Alyx was the first one to break the tension;

“So…we both know we can speak each other’s language, so I will throw this question out to you; Are you friend, or are you foe?” She shifted her legs a bit and aimed her pistol towards the purple unicorn.

“Well, depends…who ever makes the first move shall decide the fate of the rest!” She replied out. All the ponies then took a slight step forward, and all the rebels were about to pull the trigger, when another rustle came in the bush. Everyone, including the ponies, jumped at this and put all their attention on the bush. The rebels were becoming a nervous wreck of,” Should I shoot or not!?”

Suddenly, popping out of the bush was a small yellow pony with a big red bowtie. She jumped in front of the group and acted as a small barrier between the rebels and the ponies. Shouting out in a squeaky voice,” Don’ you dare hurt mah sister’s friends, ya hear, or I may have’tuh do something I may regret!” She got into the offensive position too and was about to attack.

“Apple Bloom! What in tarnation are ya doin’ all the way out here! Have you been followin’ us all this time!? You know it’s mighty dangerous out here in these parts, even for us grown up ponies!” The orange pony with the straw hat came forward and pulled her little sister under her arm and gave an affectionate nuzzle. She then put a menacing glare on the rebels,” Don’ you dare even think o’ tryin’ to hurt my sister here or things may get pretty ugly…”

Alyx stared in all of the ponies eyes; all of them threatening and menacing yet very frightened at the same time. She then looked over at the older/younger sister pair. The older one had a protective arm over the small one, and the little sister had those big eyes and small frown on her face that just said,” Please don’t hurt her…she is the closest thing to a mother that I have…”

Protective sisters…sisterly love…very close to motherly love…a mother’s love…a mother…it was something that Alyx would never get back ever since the Black Mesa incident. She remembered it clearly…

Their family lived on the Black Mesa property in housing lodges for families. It was a hot day on the facility, and her mother was cooking in the kitchen and Alyx was coloring in the living room when the Resonance Cascade happened. It shook their house to its foundations and those aliens from Xen teleported into their household and took her mother’s life away. Eli burst into their household and fended off Alyx and then fled to safety.

Not only did she loose her house and ways of life in that single day, but she also lost her one and only mother. True, her father was like a mother to her, but there was no denying that no one could replace her mother…not even her dad…

She looked at the duo. Alyx was about to pull the trigger. The little one noticed this and buried her face into her orange sister’s body for protection…Alyx tried and tried, but she couldn’t do it…she couldn’t defend herself due to the mother-like sister love these two shared.

“God damnit!” Alyx yelled in frustration. She threw her pistol to the ground and yelled to her group,” I can’t do it! I can’t bring myself to shoot them, even in self defense! Confound these ponies! Confound their mother like love! Confound the loss…of my mother!” She fell on her knees and pounded the ground with her fists. Memories of her mother came flooding back, and she could not pull herself into separating someone’s (Or somepony’s in this case) love apart just because she didn’t have one.

Alyx quickly turned her head to the rebels, then to Gordon, then back to the rebels. All of them still had their weapons drawn and fingers ready to pull their triggers,” Drop your weapons!” All the rebels were surprised at this outburst.

“But Alyx, what if those things attack us?” One of them yelled.

“Just drop your weapons!!!” All the rebels, including Gordon, dropped their weapons,” Look at what we have become!” She pointed at the lowered guns,” We have just entered an entire new universe, and what is the first thing we were about to do?” She then pointed at the ponies, especially the little one who was cuddling her sister affectionately,” Kill something so innocent and pure that has done nothing wrong to us! Who’s the evil alien race now!?” Alyx screamed, comparing their actions to the Combine’s. One could literally hear the distaste and hate in her voice.

A pang of guilt washed over all the rebels. One of them dropped their gun, letting it fall onto the soft earth below. Another rebel leaned against a tree and stared fruitlessly at the ground, trying to hide what he just hid. The medic dropped her gun too, stared at the ponies with the scared expressions, and then took off her gloves and stared at her cold, dry, and bruised hands, whispering to herself,” What have we become…” She then buried her face in her hands and began to weep.

Freeman put a comforting arm around the now weeping Alyx. “Gordon…why must we be so cruel? We were so close to ending an unnecessary life…What has this war done to us? Has it turned us into evil monsters that give no rational thought or reason?” Alyx buried her face onto his HEV Suit chest plate, shedding tears onto the painted lambda mark.

Twilight just stood there, taking it all in. She had heard the entire conversation, and a thought raced through her mind,” These creatures mean no harm…they are just dazed and confused. Maybe I can talk to them to calm them down…”

She approached Alyx steadily with her head still raised down. Her friends tried to stop her; “Twi’! Get back here! What are you doing!? You could get hurt!” Twilight ignored her friend’s pleas and continued anyways. Nearing Alyx, she opened her mouth and began to speak;

“E…excuse me? I know we got off on the wrong footing, but is there a problem here?” She asked cautiously. Alyx’s depressing sobs pierced Twilight’s heart. She now defiantly knew that they did not mean harm, because if they did, by now, she and her friends would all be dead.

Alyx raised her head slowly from the chest plate, wiped the tears from her face, and replied,” I h…hate to be a problem, but I just feel so dep…depressed” Her sobbing started to lighten up a bit, but her eyes still watered and her nose was still stuffed,” We got lost and we need help. There are more of us nearby and we…desperately need some help. This may sound a bit cra…crazy, with both of us barely even knowing each other, but can you help us?”

Twilight really didn’t know what to think, or even say at that point! She just met these things that nearly tried to kill her, but they are now asking for some assistance? They did seem very lost and confused, but still! She backed up and bit back to her friends to talk about it.

“Girls, I know you won’t believe me when I say this; you may not bear to imagine it, but they need our help…” She pointed towards the group of depressed rebels,”…we need to help them.”

“Uh, but Twi’, don’t it seem strange to be helpin’ the very same things tha’ tried to kill ya a few moments ago?” Applejack asked. She pulled her little sister in closer to her body.

“I must agree with AJ there Twilight” Rarity added,” It seems a bit odd to assist the ones who were going to kill you. I don’t know why, but it just doesn’t seem right to me. I think we should turn around and alert Princess Celestia immediately about this predicament. Surely, she would know what to do. “

Rainbow Dash, however, rejected both Applejack’s and Rarity’s objections,” Yea, but just because something wants to kill you in the first place doesn’t mean it can’t be reasoned with. Take that dragon and the Manticore Fluttershy handled. She didn’t handle them with brute force like the rest of us; she handled it with her words! Well…what I’m trying to say here is that maybe we can just talk our way out of this so that nopony will get hurt.”

“Pfft…yea…” AJ replied mockingly,” Maybe Flutter here can remove a splinter from under each and every stubby toe and give them the stare, then everythin’ will be alright!” She slapped her knee and laughed at her own remark. Rarity even chuckled a bit at this.

“Oh yea, well…um…meep…” Fluttershy was about to defend Dash and Twilight, but suddenly backed down in fright.

“What is it Fluttershy? What were you going to say?” Twi’ asked curiously,” If you need to say something, now would be the best time because frankly, we need to decide quickly right now...” She could see shadows move quickly and silently through the dense woods.

“Well…okay, if you insist Twilight” Fluttershy continued off,” These, so-called ‘creatures’ resemble the monkeys and apes I have seen at the Equestrian Zoo and in animal books that I have read. I have studied their habits and they tend to come off the friendlier side, and they are quite social, so I can say that if we could talk and help them, they may in return, help us with something. Plus, since they speak our language, communication shouldn’t be a problem.”

“So I guess it is settled then” Twilight ended the conversation,” They might yield the information to our predicament back in Ponyville, so we might as well submit to their demands.” She then walked over to Alyx. She had recomposed herself and had stopped weeping, although her eyes were just a little puffy.

“After a small discussion with my friends, we have decided to assist you with whatever you need.” Her friends soon followed and stopped short of Twi’. All of them nervous and anxious on what will happen to them. Apple Bloom was holding on tight to Applejack.

Alyx cracked a small smile,” Thanks. You don’t know how much it means to all of us. We are desperate for some assistance. Gordon, lead the way…”

Dr. Freeman quickly got up and looked for the nearest X that he marked into a tree…over there…Gordon went to the X and made a hand gesture that signaled the rest to follow.

“Okay Gordon, whatever you say!” A rebel yelled out and followed swiftly. The ponies just kept a steady pace and Alyx walked beside them. With the relationship between the two groups improved, she started to strike a conversation;

“Look, I can never thank you enough for the help. We are sincerely desperate, for now our crew and supplies are now limited. I am also kind of sorry for that small…outburst…I had earlier. I don’t know what got over me…it just took over and had a mind of its own…” Alyx blushed a little bit in embarrassment and turned her head away.

“Don’t worry about it. I could hear the rage and sorrow in your voice and could immediately tell that you all have been through a lot of stressful times. I know that feeling, and when it is bottled up inside you, it can explode with a force that is just uncontrollable.” Twilight responded thoughtfully. This made Alyx feel a whole lot better.

“Yea, you could say that. It’s a long and complex story to explain, so I will save that for when we reach base. I don’t think we properly introduced ourselves. I’m Alyx, Alyx Vance, and over there is Gordon Freeman.” She pointed towards the HEV Suit crowbar wielding bearded man leading the way,” If you looked into what he did for us, you could call him our savior, because frankly, he has saved us multiple times in a row before.”

“Alyx and Gordon…those are some nice names you got there. It’s nice to meet you. As for me, I am Twilight Sparkle, although most of my friends just call me Twilight, or just Twi’ to shorten it up. Over there is Applejack with her little sister Apple Bloom…there is Fluttershy who really has a way with animals…right there is Rarity, the best fashion designer around…that is Rainbow Dash, fastest flier I have ever seen, and Pinkie Pie. She is quite hyper and tends to defy the laws of physics somehow. She also likes to be random and often breaks out into songs…”

“Songs???” Alyx was very confused.

“Yes. She does break into constant songs. While they leave you completely puzzled and annoyed at first, you tend to either like them or ignore them.”

“Now that is very strange indeed. So, what are you things exactly anyways? I have been asking that question to myself for quite some time since I saw you.”

“Us? Well, we are ponies, unicorns, and pegasi.”

“Unicorns? Pegasi? Impossible! Well, I thought about that when I first laid eyes upon all of you, but I still find that hard to believe…”

“How is that hard to believe? What, you have never seen them before? Now I find that hard to believe because they are pretty common around here…or…you are not from around here, are you?”

Alyx just shook her head and said,” Like I said before, all the explaining will be done once we reach base camp…and speaking of which…”

Their group had just stopped outside of White Forest. Its gray concrete walls were cracked in a few places due to the portal storm tsunami that just ensued a few hours ago. The fading ‘White Forest’ symbol lay quietly painted near the blast doors the group had just came out of.

“Wow…it looks so…different…” Pinkie Pie remarked, looking at the style of the base. It was full of very natural colors and distinctly had no dark edges surrounding it. It was also defiantly darker than the surrounding forest’s colors and tone.

“Yes Pinkie, it sure does look different…and an eye sore to add to that. Look at the walls! So drab and dirty! How could anypony live in such conditions?!” Rarity added after a quick look at the place.

“Yea Rarity, I must agree, it ain’t the prettiest thing to lay eyes on, bu’ I must admit it does look pretty sturdy, even though it does have its wear n’ tear” Applejack told her.

“This is just amazing…” Twilight stared in awe,” It looks completely different than our world! In fact, it wasn’t until now did I realize that you all look completely different compared to the rest of us, and I am not talking about your shape.” She turned her head into the direction of Alyx,” You are defiantly not from around here, are you?”

Alyx shook her head,” Like I said before, it’s a long and complex story that will be told later…”

“Yea, we had the same reaction when we saw your world for the first time! It looks so strange and unreal to us!” The medic of the team laughed after hearing Twilight’s remarks on the style of the rebels and White Forest.

One of the rebels walked up to the blast door and pressed an intercom speaker located near the entrance,” Dr. Magnusson! Dr. Kleiner! Dr. Vance! Let us in! We have returned from our expedition!”

Static was heard through the intercom when Magnusson’s voice rang out through it,” Well, took you long enough! What took you so long anyways? What am I saying; did you find the surrounding plant life edible or not?” He demanded these questions to be answered in a stern tone.

“Well…err, about that…we haven’t tested the plant life yet to see if it is edible, or more importantly, dangerous…”

“WHAT!?!? You mean you wasted our precious time and supplies for no reason!”

“Not exactly doc, because we encountered some of the native wildlife…”

“Oh good, we can have a roast tonight to save up our rations for desperate times…”

“Well, not exactly again Doctor. You see, we…kind of led them here to White Forest. They are standing next to Alyx right now.”

“So what…are we going to breed them and then eat them? Splendid idea! Waste even more time and supply off our hands just to get a few snacks to bite!”

“Uh, no doc. They are intelligent and actually speak our language. We actually talked them into leading them here…”

“YOU SIR ARE CRAZY!” Dr. Magnusson could even be heard from within the concrete walls of the bunker from this remark,” They could be deceiving you! Once they get inside, they might kill us all! They might even have a disease that could kill us! That is what happened with early explorers exploring new lands; they got diseases from the natives! That’s what! GET RID OF THEM!”

Alyx, hearing all the commotion at the intercom, politely told Twilight,” Hold on, I have some business to handle with.” Walking over to the speaker, she started to talk,” Hey Dr. Magnusson, I cross my heart that these natives are not at all a threat or a danger! If they were, Gordon’s HEV Suit would have detected it!”

“That doesn’t matter girl!” Girl…how rude of him…Alyx has a name you know,” You don’t know what type of shit Gordon has been trudging through in that suit of his! For all we know, it could have malfunctioned and read any diseases out there as non-threatening! I am not permitting any of you to enter until we get hard evidence that you have not infected yourselves and may soon infect the rest of us!!!”

Suddenly through the intercom, a small scuffle could be heard, along with the muffled cries of Magnusson yelling,” Left mphf gofffph!! Left gophff!!!”. Soon enough, Dr. Kleiner’s voice could be heard through the intercom;

” Err, sorry Dr. Magnusson! It was a necessary measure we had to take! Oh yes, um, Alyx, I have overheard what was being said and my scanners detect no diseases from the outside for sure, and my scanners are defiantly fully functional. Just for safety precautions, I would like your friends to please step into the airlock. We will do a quick scan and then let you all in.” The intercom had static again and then turned off.

Turning to the ponies, Alyx remarked to them,” Well, all I can say is…” A red alarm outside of the blast doors started to spin and a siren could be heard. The doors slowly creaked open and led to the dark scanning chamber,”…welcome to White Forest…” The sirens slowly died down and the entire group traveled inside. The blast doors closed tightly shut behind them. Fluttershy gave a small whimper of fear. In fact, all the ponies had a slight pang of fear chilling them down the bones as they lay in the dark room. Some even regretted from even coming over to this place.

One of the rebels noticed this and said in a very calming tone,” I know this may be a lot to take in, but this place is safe. Nothing is going to harm you, although a few surprises may wait inside…” His mind flew back to the dead bodies that lay under some concrete and the many bullet holes that riddled the corridors from the previous battle taken there.

In the darkness, a small pale light turned on, dimly illuminating the entire room. Dr. Kleiner’s voice could be heard over another intercom hanging on the wall,” Just hang on in there. The desterilizing and scanning will be over very soon. Oh, and to our new guests’ native to this world we have landed in, we here at White Forest happily welcome you here. It’s a little bit dirty and dank, but has shone through thick and thin with flying colors! So, welcome to White Forest.” The intercom turned off.

A few panels incorporated into the walls slid back and nozzles protruded from the cavities concealed inside. Although Gordon, Alyx, and the rest acted normally and just looked around, the ponies all huddled into the center of the room, eyes fixed at the nozzles. They then emitted a sterilization spray that engulfed the whole room. Rarity coughed and sputtered at this,” Well, that was a little more than necessary! One or two puffs are all that is needed!”

One of the female rebels smiled and exclaimed,” This isn’t fancy perfume you know! It has to cover your entire body to make sure we don’t transfer anything from the outside into the inside!”

The nozzles then receded back into their cavities and their panels closed shut. Four flat discs then came out of the very sides of the wall and formed a slightly translucent wall that scanned the room from top to bottom very slowly. Fluttershy cowered in fear, covering her head as the wall came down closer and closer.

“There is nothing to fear Fluttershy. It’s completely harmless…” Alyx added as the wall passed through her body, then the pony’s, and finally through Fluttershy’s, and did the scan from bottom to top. Once it was all over, she sighed relief and got back up.

“Okay, everything seems to be a go!” Dr. Kleiner’s voice was heard once again through the intercom,” You’re all green lighted. Please stand back from the doors as they open.”

The doors in front of them slowly slid open and stopped with a large, grinding halt. Gordon, Alyx, the rebels, and the ponies all proceeded into the large safe house chamber. All eyes in the room lay upon Twilight, Applejack, Apple Bloom, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. Jaws could be seen wide open and many astonished remarks came from the crowd;

“Wow Gordon! Nice find out there! Wish I traveled with you more often!”

“They are absolutely adorable! So what if I am a man? I have to admit; I could just snuggle with one right now!”

“Agreed”

“Amen bro’!”

“They look so fluffy!”

“What’s with all the tattoos on their asses?”

“They’re normal Frank. I could show you mine if you wanted…”

Eli came running forward and hugged her daughter tightly,” Oh sweetie, thank God you are alright. Anything interesting happen besides meeting the natives?” Alyx described everything to him, except she left out the uncontrollable rage she had felt earlier.

“The Freeman has done extraordinarily well out there.” One of the Vortigaunts called out,” No fire had been exchanged between you and the natives. You, Mr. Freeman truly do know the ways of negotiation now; through peace and through war, although our type usually forego the latter and are more in favor with the first…”

Dr. Isaac Kleiner came up to talk with Gordon and Alyx,” Well, what turned out to be a scouting mission for food turns out to be an unexpected visit from our neighbors? Care to explain yourselves?” He had a small smile curve near the tips of his lips.

“Well, I would like to explain, but maybe somewhere in privacy…” Alyx eyed the many rebels standing around them who were, all in turn, staring at the ponies. They all were cowering a bit behind Twilight due to all this unwanted attention; Apple Bloom and Fluttershy seemed to be doing it the most out of the group,”…seems like our friends are a bit uncomfortable around all these people. You got a small room to stay in? A closet perhaps? Got somewhere private doc?”

“No need to fear Alyx!” Dr. Kleiner waved a triumphant finger into the air,” The conference room is still intact, and luckily, all the shelves and other pieces of furniture have stayed in place as well. Hold on a second there Alyx…” Kleiner then yelled out into the group,” Eli! Can you meet us up in the conference room in five minutes?”

“Sure thing Izzy, I’ll be right there!” Eli yelled out. He proceeded to open a door that led to the room.

“Why must we always have this constant parade of interruptions?” Dr. Magnusson was shaking his head in regret,” I should have never let those two go out there…now everyone in this base is obsessed with hugging those things…” He muttered under his breath.

“C’mon guys, we need to get going…” Alyx waved a hand in the direction of the ponies, Gordon, and the rebels that had ventured outside to follow her. The other rebels called out objections to this;

“NO! Alyx, take me with you!”

“I haven’t even had the chance to hug one of them yet!”

“Too cute to let go!”

“UGH! Why did you have to show me Marci!?”

“What Frank? You were curious to know…”

Alyx led their group through a small door and called out to the ponies,” Stay close, these hallways can get a little cramped, and especially with the amount of people…and ponies…we have to deal with!” She jumped over a small hunk of fallen concrete that lay in their path. The others followed suit.

After going down a couple more corridors and through a few more doors, they all finally got to the conference room, which was about a modest size. It had a long table in the middle with seats that could sit about 20 people. Along the sides of the wall were shelves of books; most of them in Russian; along with maps and other stuff. At the opposite end along the far wall was a large pane of glass. It used to have a view over the valley, except now it has a view of the Everfree Forest. Off in the distance, you could see Ponyville and Canterlot, and if one were to take a strong pair of binoculars or a telescope, they could see pegasus ponies flying all over, trying to clean up the mess that the portal storms have caused.

“Well, would you all kindly take a seat? The meeting is now adjourned.” Eli politely asked them all. After everyone and everypony found a seat; Apple Bloom just sat on her sister’s lap; Dr Kleiner started their conversation,” Well, I would like to thank you Gordon, Alyx, and the rest of you rebels, on helping us gain the upper hand on knowing the natives.” He turned his head over to the purple unicorn,” From what I have gathered, you seem to be the leader of your group, is that correct?”

Twilight looked up and responded,” Well, I guess you could say that…” An awkward silence then fell upon the group.

“Well, I came here expectin’ answers n’ questions that need to be asked and answered! What I see, however, is not that!” Applejack hollered up. She could not take this small talk anymore and wanted her questions answered right away.

“Err…quite right. First of all, I think we should introduce ourselves. Do you agree Eli?”

“I fully agree with you Isaac. In order to maintain a good relationship, we must know each other first.” He turned his head towards Twilight’s direction,” Well, since you are the leader, I guess you can start…”

Twilight got up from her chair and positioned herself in between Isaac and Eli,” Well then, if you want to know, we will tell...” She started to point and name all the ponies, unicorns, and pegasi in the room.

Downstairs, however, a rebel manning the radar station was sipping his coffee when he heard some bleeping on the screen. Turning around, he saw a red dot heading towards the base; then another dot, and then another! Soon, almost twenty five dots were closing in on their target; White Forest!

“Oh shit!” He yelled, dropping his coffee in fright which smashed on the hard floor below. Moving forward, his fist smashed a giant, red button, and then an ear splitting alarm rang throughout White Forest, with a male voice accompanying it,” ATTENTION! ATTENTION! INCOMING ATTACK AT 0800 HOURS! ALL MEMBERS, PLEASE PROCEED TO BATTLE POSITIONS...”

A Pink Cupcake Day (Part I)

(4/9/11: Part II was accidentally deleted, so a double update is not possible at the moment. Please be patient and wait for me to rewrite Part II. So that makes this chapter a bit short, so please excuse me for that. Thank you for understanding)

“…Okay, so let me understand one last time; Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, is that correct?” Eli asked one more time. He kept on getting the names mixed up before, but this time, after much memorization of color and their Cutie Mark symbols, he finally nailed it.

“There we go Eli! You finally got it!” Twilight congratulated him, giving a small pat on the back.”

“Thanks Twilight. My old mind just doesn’t remember things just like they used to…” Eli commented, scratching his gray, balding head.

“Okay, so we finally got dem’ names covered n’ all, so can we get onto the questions! I am dying to know what in the bloody hay this place is, and for extra measure, what you exactly are and where you be comin’ from!” Applejack couldn’t take sitting in the stiff chair anymore. She exclaimed her statement and pointed a stiff hoof in Eli’s direction; Apple Bloom jumped off just in time before she snapped. The other ponies were actually surprised at AJ’s outburst, because it was just not normal for her to do this in the face of company!

Looking around, she saw all their faces and jaws gapping, all staring at her. Applejack started to blush and awkwardly smile,” Hehe, sorry everypony, I just got a little…tense…that’s all…just want some questions answered…” She then sank into her chair, trying to hide her face which was just as red as a cherry at this point.

“Please excuse my friend’s little outburst, but I must admit, we are all very eager to have some very pressing questions to be answered” Twilight talked to Eli and Kleiner when she said this.

“No matters. I can totally understand the tense nature acted upon your friend” Dr. Kleiner waved a hand in front of Twilight,” I can’t blame her though, because we did have a sort of rude introduction, with us pointing our weapons at you and all. Well anyways, let’s get straight to the point; We have questions that need to be answered, so can we start? You can ask your questions afterwards.”

“Well, I guess that seems appropriate enough” Twilight Sparkle let them take the reign of the moment for now,” Ask away…:

“Ok, so our first question is, where are we anyways? Doesn’t look like home at all. In fact, I don’t remember seeing this place at all on any maps.” Eli Vance asked the very first question.

“Well, you are in the land of Equestria, of course.” Twi’ dug through her pack until she found a map of Equestria and placed it in front of her. “We are right…here…in the Everfree Forest. Over there is Ponyville, and there is the main capitol of Equestria, Canterlot.”

Dr. Isaac Kleiner snatched the map up and studied it ever so carefully,” Ponyville? Phillydelphia? Appleloosa? Why, these are all just plays on the names of different horse breeds!”

“Pfft, well of course silly-willy!” Pinkie flicked her hoof in the air,” Ponies, unicorns, and pegasi are the most abundant species on this planet! It wouldn’t be right to name a city after a lesser species, now wouldn’t it?”

“You know, I have always been wondering, what do ponies, unicorns, and pegasi do in this world, because in our world, all we ever had were ponies and horses, and all they did was haul goods from one place to another.” Alyx asked curiously.

Twilight answered the question immediately,” Well, the term ‘ponies’ actually refers to any of the three. An Earth pony is the one without a horn or wings. They can do many miscellaneous tasks on the ground. Unicorns are magical creatures and use their horns to do a variety of tasks…”

“Interesting…” Eli stroked his short beard,” Can you demonstrate this for us, because our world is not rules by this…magic…so we never really know the real power”

“I’d be glad to” Twilight focused her attention to a stack of books lying on top of a cabinet. Focusing her energy on it, Twi’s horn glowed a slight purple and the books started to have a purple haze form around them. The books then lifted up off the cabinet and gracefully landed on the table. “We can also teleport and do other types of magical tricks.

“Incredible…” Isaac closely examined the now still books, We have designed something like this before, but it is very heavy and bulky. Gordon has it in fact. Can you show us, Gordon?”

Freeman obliged and took out his Gravity Gun. It was, indeed, heavy and very clunky to move around. The crystal inside powering the gun glowed “This is the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator, also known as the Gravity Gun.” Eli explained,” We do not have the power of telekinesis like you, Twilight, so I invented this device to lift up objects that we normally could not. Demonstrate it for us on that chair over there, will you Gordon?”

Gordon Freeman carefully pointed his Gravity Gun at one of the empty chairs, and pulling the secondary trigger, the gun hummed a bit and the glow strengthened. The empty chair immediately zoomed in front of Gordon. Pulling the secondary trigger again, the Gravity Gun hum stopped and the glow weakened. The chair fell to the ground.

Twilight got up and examined the gun,” Well, very interesting, I must say, although the design is very bulky. I am impressed…”

“Uh, I have one more question, Twilight” Alyx called out.

“Sure, go ahead…”

“Well, I now know what Earth ponies and unicorns, do, but what do Pegasus ponies do besides fly?”

Rainbow Dash zipped right up into the air and explained,” Well, we Pegasus ponies are the most important of them all, because we control the weather and are able to lay on clouds!”

“Wait a second here…are you saying that…nature doesn’t control the clouds, but you Pegasus ponies do?” Alyx was very puzzled at this.

“Why…yes. We do control the weather. Why? Got a problem with that?”

“Well, it just doesn’t seem…normal to us…”

“N…not normal? How is that not normal! Those are the basic rules of our universe!”

“In YOUR universe, that is. In our world, nature takes its own course.”

“But that just ain’t natural!” Applejack countered,” In our world, we take care of the animals! The only place where they roam all free and dandy on their own is in the Everfree Forest, and that is where we are right now!”

Twilight put a hoof in front of AJ to quiet her down,” Now Applejack, they come from somewhere where things are not the same, so expect that to happen. So, anymore questions from you?”

“No, we are fine. You may ask us your questions now” Dr. Kleiner replied.

“Ooh! OOH! PICK ME! PICK ME!” Pinkie Pie squealed in delight. She bounced down the long conference table and shoved her face into Dr. Kleiner’s. Her big eyes popped out a bit and a huge smile grew on her face. Kleiner started to break out into an awkward sweat…

“Oh, well, erm…sure…g-go ahead Pinkie…can you just get out of my face please, those eyes are starting to creep me out!” Kleiner’s head was just about soaked at this point. Those bulging eyes were physically impossible, or at least, in the human’s eyes, to do.

“Okey-dokey artichokie!” Her eyes receded back into their sockets and she happily bounced back to her seat and then asked her question,” Well, anypony could immediately recognize that you are not from around here, or even from our world! It’s too easy to figure out! Can you pretty-please tell us where you guys came from?” Her pupils got big and filled up most of her eyes. Pinkie Pie also gave off a cute little lip curl.

“Yea, we can all tell that you are not from here, judging by your looks…” Rarity added, noting the polygonal shaped bodies with very natural tones,” You stick out like a sore hoof out here!”

“Well, I guess there is no hiding it since it is so obvious” Eli said in despair, shaking his head, pinching the bridge of his nose,” Izzy, would you kindly get me a whiteboard and marker? I need to get the newspapers I saved.” They both scurried off in different directions and coming back with their objects.

Dr. Kleiner rolled the white board to the end of the table where everyone and everypony had a good view. Eli took the marker and drew a straight line with arrows pointed on both ends. “This is a timeline of the major events that brought us here. Let us start at the very beginning…”

Eli then drew the Black Mesa Symbol at the very left of the timeline,” This is where it all started, at the Black Mesa Research Facility. It was a secret scientific compound where we did and ran various experiments for a variety of subjects. Gordon, Kleiner, and I worked there in the Anomalous Materials section…”

Twilight raised her hoof over her head,” So wait, you guys are…scientists? I thought that you worked for the medical divisions due to that ‘doctor’ title you were given”

“Yes, my dear Twilight” Dr. Kleiner replied,” We are in fact scientists. Well educated and well rounded, we were entirely fit for the job!”

“Oh my gosh…squee…” Twi’ put her hooves up to her mouth and squealed in excitement,” I am actually very well read myself and I have a very passionate love for science! Oh, this will be soooooo exciting to learn about a different culture’s take on science!” She squealed some more and her face got all scrunched up. It was too cute and funny at the same time, it would be difficult not to giggle, even a little bit.

Alyx laughed seeing the look on Twilight’s face and the sounds of delight she made,” HAHAHA! You and dad could carry out a conversation forever with that type of attitude!”

Eli smiled,” Yes, I guess we could carry out a conversation, but let’s get back to the main point” He directed his marker back onto the board,” We were doing experiments with teleportation…”

“Really?” Twilight interrupted again,” We unicorns here can teleport anywhere we want, as long as we focus hard enough that is. I’ve done it on a couple of occasions myself…”

“That type of teleporting, Twilight” Eli corrected her,” Is only done within your world, meaning you can only teleport anywhere on your globe. In Black Mesa, we were doing research into inter-dimensional teleportation, which proved to be quite successful. Our first ever home world was Xen, a strange alien planet. We sent science expeditions into that world, but most never returned. Then our man, Gordon Freeman joined our team. We sent him into a test chamber to get a sample of one of the purest crystals we have ever retrieved from Xen. The results were completely disastrous, causing the Resonance Cascade, which, in Laymen’s Terms, shit hit the fan…”

“Indeed it did…” Dr. Kleiner continued where Eli had just left off,” Luckily, Gordon survived the Cascade, even though he was at ground zero, all thanks to his Hazardous Environmental Suit, or HEV Suits as they are referred to. Well anyways, the Resonance Cascade caused an inter-dimensional rift between our universe and Xen’s. Aliens poured into our base and we were all goners. The military came to ‘rescue’ us, but turned out to be a cleanup mission, eradicating all aliens and scientists in the facility to quiet the incident down. They had to pull out, leaving us to die.

Luckily, thanks to Gordon’s heroic efforts, he traveled into Xen and closed off the portal. He suddenly disappeared for nearly 20 years, and we were all left worrying for him. Although the portal was closed off on Xen’s side, the portal on our side was still raging. It sent frequent Portal storms into our universe, and then an evil alien race saw the opportunity, because on their side, they saw the portal and used it to invade our globe. It soon led to the Seven Hour War, where all of our forces were defeated in seven hours!”

Everypony’s jaw was gaping,” Seven hours! And that was with all the military power of your world combined!?” Rarity exclaimed in a frightened tone.

“Yes Rarity, Seven Hours!”  Eli continued from there,” We surrendered very quickly. The Combine race took over the entire globe, turning most of us into Combine Soldiers. The remaining was then sent to Combine controlled cities. They were over watched and controlled by these giant Citadels located in the heart of the cities. Life in the cities was crude and dangerous, so naturally, an underground rebellion was formed, and we, Isaac and I, led the rebellion.”

“Yes, and the consequences were felt far and wide. After completely destroying our city’s citadel, which was ironically the main hub of all other Combine activity in the world, a massive Superportal formed. The remaining rebels, including us, traveled here to White Forest and launched a rocket at the Superportal. Our main intention was to destroy it, but somehow, the Superportal grew and swallowed us whole, and thus, we ended up here…” Isaac Kleiner ended the timeline. The whiteboard was now strewn with crudely drawn pictures of Black Mesa, the Xen Aliens, the Combine, City 17, and the Superportal.

Rainbow Dash hovered over to the whiteboard, examining the sketching of the Combine’s military force. She gasped and stumbled onto the conference table, gapping and pointing at the pictures.

“Th…th…the C…Combine! I…It’s s…sa…” She couldn’t quite say what she had on her mind. Applejack jumped onto the table and put her hooves on Dash’s shoulders and shook hard,” Dagnabit Dash! Spit what ya want to say out right now!”

“Th…the Combine! I saw the Combine here in Equestria! Remember what I told you back in Ponyville? That is what I saw! Those pictures of those machines is what I saw!!!” Rainbow blurted these words out with extreme force. Gordon who was sipping some coffee from a mug spit out the steaming brew and the mug fell to the floor and shattered into millions of pieces and gapped in fear at the statement.

“The Combine…here!?!?” Eli exclaimed, slamming his fists onto the table,” Damnit! To think we had left our troubles away!” He quickly turned to Kleiner. His face was very pale and Isaac’s expression was very somber and scared. “Isaac! We are doomed! We could barely survive with backup in our home world! Now we are left alone with no one to help us! What do we do? What do we do!?!?” He shook Issac hard on the shoulders.

“The Combine, here? How is that possible?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Well, when the Superportal swallowed us whole, part of the Combine military must have been transported here also. We are in deep trouble, because even in small numbers, the Combine is ruthless and immediately take an iron fist and grasp the land hard. If my predictions are correct, they will try to establish connection with their home world and then take over this planet. No pony or human life may be spared…” Dr. Kleiner responded in an exasperated tone.

A cold chill ran through her mind,” H…how cruel can they be?”

“Just imagine seeing your family put on the steak and burned; imagine your friends being ruthlessly tortured for fun; just imagine barely getting by in life on small food rations and terrible housing conditions. It will be that ruthless, Twilight…”

Pained expressions lay upon everyone’s and everypony’s face at the thought.

“We MUST inform the princess immediately!” Twilight exclaimed, shoving her body away from the table and hurried towards the door.”

“But how do can you contact the princess?” Alyx questioned in a hurried tone, knowing ever second was now precious.

“Don’t worry, we have close relationships…” She looks down at her hooves,” Blast, I may not be able to get to Canterlot in time…” Twilight then looked towards Alyx,” Do you have any faster mode of transportation?”

Dr. Kleiner waved a finger in the air in triumph,” Not to worry, we should still have the Muscle Car. Alyx, care to take them to the garage? And step to it!”

“Sure thing doc! Gordon, Twilight, and the rest of you, follow me quickly!” She gestured her hand for them to follow her.

Apple Bloom started to follow her bigger sister when she stopped her,” Sorry Apple Bloom, I know ya just want to be a big pony, but now is just not the time…” She looked up and spotted Kleiner pacing around the room,” Hey Doc! Mind if you look after my sister while I help Twi’ with her duties?”

“Certainly Applejack! I will act like a father with her!”

“Thanks Dr. Kleiner. I don’t know how  can repay you…” AJ then sped off with her friends out of the conference room and to the garage.

All of them hurried down many more corridors and stairwells when suddenly, a red light started to flash and the alarm broke out…

“ATTENTION! ATTENTION! INCOMING ATTACK AT 0800 HOURS! ALL MEMBERS, PLEASE PROCEED TO BATTLE POSITIONS…”

“Shit man…” Alyx whispered under her breath,” It may be too late…”