The Five Year Struggle...

I awoke to the sounds of crashing items and cries of surprise. A fearful silence followed after. I sat up quickly, remembering I had newcomers to my world in my apartment. As I sat up, pain shot through my torso. My face cringed harshly at the sensation and I looked down to see two, almost perfect horseshoe shaped bruises planted on my chest. They were a sickening blue, black, and even light green from where the nerves had died in some places from the shock from impact.  I brief flash of last night skittered across my mind and I grumbled. Getting bucked not only hurt, but it left nasty bruises. Sitting up slowly now, I grabbed a Halo shirt, put it on, then left my bedroom. Walking down the hall, I entered the living room to see the six ponies sitting on my couch, all attempting to look like nothing had happened. I stood there and crossed my arms, but the pain shot through again and I let them drop. Instead, I raised an eyebrow.

"Alright. What happened?" I asked. They lightly shook their heads and shrugged.

"Why, whatever do you mean, darling?" Rarity asked, batting her eyelashes at me. "She better not be flirting..."

"I could hear something crash and break. One of you cried out. Now what happened?" I asked. Uncomfortable silence filled the space above us and soon Fluttershy started breaking into a nervous sweat. I looked at her and she tried to hide behind her mane. I smirked.

"Weakest link."

Now, that was just down right terrible of me to call Fluttershy that. But in the current situation, it was kind of necessary. I slowly walked over and knelt in front of Fluttershy, giving a warm smile. She tried to pull away a bit more by pressing herself into the couch. The others watched me as I looked at the nervous pony, ready in case I tried anything.

"Now Fluttershy," I started nicely. "In order to find out what happened, I need you to come clean with me. Can you do that for me?" I asked. One of her teal eyes came around from her mane and it shrunk down. I could hear her letting out little whines of nervousness.

I had to admit, the whines were cute.

I tilted my head to the side a bit. In the corner of my eye, I could see the others waiting with baited breath. The tension rapidly grew in the atmosphere. It became too unbearable for Fluttershy and she suddenly inhaled sharply through her mouth.

"We all woke up and started looking around your home for something to do and I found this white box then I poked it and it let out a scary noise and I got scared and crashedintoapictureanditbrokepleasedon'tbemad!" She said, running the words together at the end. She shrunk and her chin went to her breast, her teals eyes looking up at me. I smiled and patted her head. She flinched a bit at my movement as I patted her.

"See, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" I asked. I looked at the others and they were glaring at me.

"Uh oh, already on bad terms..." I thought to myself.

"Alright, where's the picture?" I asked standing up. Rainbow Dash pulled out the broken frame from behind her, her glare still piercing me. I took the frame and looked at the picture. It was just a couple photo of my parents. I chuckled a bit and shook my head.

"I'm not mad at you Fluttershy. I can easily replace the frame. The photo wasn't damaged in anyway, so it's still salvageable." I told her giving a warm smile. This seemed to somewhat take her off nerves and she visibly relaxed a bit. The others, however were still a tad bit pissed at me. I turned my head to see what 'white box' Fluttershy was talking about and found it. She was talking about my XBox. It currently sat there on it's end, the green lights glowing happily as the console waited for a command.

"And the white box, was my game console." I told the nervous pony.

"Yer what now?" I heard Applejack ask. I smirked, knowing they were about to be in for one hell of a ride. I spun around with the fashion of a Ring Master at a circus.

"That, my chest bruising friend, is a device I use for entertainment. It allows me to play something called video games." I said picking up one of the controllers from a table nearby. The ponies were still glaring, but a spark of curiosity was present in their eyes. I held down on the silver button on the controller and it too came to life. I turned on the TV, which was already on the XBox input, and scrolled over to my avatar. The character floated there in his Aliens: Colonial Marines Marine armor and spun as I selected it. I could hear the sounds of hooves hitting the hardwood floor as Rainbow Dash stood next to me.

"So, what does this do?" She asked. The main menu of the console came up and I immediately selected the current game that was inside. A black screen showed up, followed by a group of pulsating logos. I skipped the small cutscene and up came the menu for Battlefield 3.

"This is a video game. The console allows me to play the game on the disc." I said as Rainbow Dash sat there with her head tilted with curiosity. Soon the others had joined me and they stared at the screen. I did the usual server search in multiplayer and soon I got put into a match on Caspian Boarder.

"Prepare to be blown away." I told them. I sat down on a chair and the ponies still stood. I spawned as the Assault Class next to an F-18 Super Hornet, and the ponies gasped in amazement of the virtual world on the screen before them. I slowly panned around, letting them see the environment and its life-likeness.

"Wow..." I heard Twilight mutter. I could see her inner gears coming up with endless questions for me. I stood next to the fighter jet and exited to third person view. The engines revved and I did a pre-flight check. I knew that sort of thing wasn't needed in multiplayer, but it's still fun to do.

"Alright girls, prepare for takeoff." I said. At this, Rainbow Dash turned to me quickly, then back to the screen. I floored the throttle of the fighter jet and it started to roll down the long runway. Soon, I was in the air and banking right to go and fight. I heard Rainbow Dash let out a snort.

"What?" I asked.

"I bet I could fly faster than whatever this is." She said, her ego slipping in.

"I don't know Dash. These things have been known to clock in a one-thousand and one-hundred eighty-one miles per hour. They even break the sound barrier." I told her, a smug smile coming onto my features. Her head slowly turned, her jaw dropped in surprise.

"So...I'm slower...?" She asked. Applejack put a hoof onto the speedsters shoulder and chuckled.

"It would seem so sugarcube." She said looking to me. "Ya'll have some pretty nifty gadgets. We got nothin' like this in Equestria." She said looking back to the screen.

At this time, I was in the middle of an attack run. I flew low and slow, firing my machine gun at an enemy T-90A as it fired at my teammates. A couple missiles later, and the tank exploded as I flew over head, preforming a barrel roll over an enemy fighter that was taking off. On my headset, I could hear the enemy pilot yelling at my sudden stunt as he took off. Fluttershy tapped me on the arm and I looked at her.

"Um...there isn't, um, any killing, is there?" She asked shyly. I frowned a bit and shook my head.

"This is a war game Fluttershy. Of course there is going to be killing." I saw her pale, and gulp.

"You kill...each other...?" She asked. This is where a chuckle came to me.

"Yes, we kill each other. But, it's not real fighting. This is all fake fighting. The people I'm killing aren't actually dying in their chairs or sofas in their homes. They just yell and cuss and respawn to try again." I told her. She still didn't understand and she started to shake.

"But...you're still..." She started, but that was all she said, and her eyes were staring straight ahead.

"Uh...I think I broke her..." I said to the others. The girls turned to see their friend with a solid stare.

"Fluttershy!?" Twilight asked as she waved a hoof in front of the pegasus' face. Fluttershy didn't respond.

"What did you do?" Rarity asked.

"Told her there was massive amounts of death in this game." I said simply. Rarity looked aghast and raised a hoof slightly.

"How barbaric!" She said with distaste. "And I was beginning to think that world was beautiful!" She said. I gave a deadpanned look.

"You saw me take out that tank." I said.

"Well..." She began, but she huffed and turned back to Fluttershy. I paused the game and though. Then an idea came to mind. Going to the home menu, I pulled out my laptop, stood up, and hooked it into my TV. I started the PC version of Minecraft and it came up on the screen.

"Hey Fluttershy, I have a better game." I said poking her. I saw her eyes dart up to the screen and widen as the green, cubed landscape of Minecraft came onto the screen. The nature portrayed made Fluttershy start towards the TV and place a hoof on it, as if she were trying to enter the game. I chuckled a bit. "See, I told you." She turned to me, a smile on her face.

"No killing?" She asked. I shook my head, and Fluttershy seemed to shift into her old, timid self. "Oh thank goodness!"

And so, it was like this for the rest of the day. They watched me play Minecraft for the day.

~Washington DC, the White House~

The President sat at his Oval Office desk, working on some sort of new oil bill that had been placed on his desk the day before. It, like many other bills, were piling up on his desk, and this only added to his stress. Running a country wasn't at it was cracked up to be. Sure, there were certain perks, but there was only so little time for those perks. As he passed the thirty-eight page of the oil bill, his office door opened and a head poked in.

"Uh, Mister President? A word?" The agent asked. The President looked up from the paper with tired eyes.

"Yes, what is it Agent Grey?" He asked. Agent Grey walked into the room holding a manilla folder and he placed it on the President's desk.

"Sir, reports have been coming in from Saint Louis. Apparently, there have been massive fluctuations of an unknown energy being measured near a power plant." Grey explained. The President raised an eyebrow.

"Is it possibly from the plant itself?" He asked. Grey shook his head.

"No sir. They've sent a crew to scan these readings." Grey said, his tone becoming a bit unsure.

"Well spill it Grey." The President ordered.

"Well, sir, the readings are far higher than anything we've seen. They don't even relate to any radiation, even at its' highest point. Sir, this is not earthly." Grey said. He motioned for the folder and the President opened it. In a small stack was a pile of photos. They showed a sickly green hue that sat close to the ground. The President sifted through the photos until one caught his eye. He lifted it and turned it to Agent Grey.

"Mind telling me what this is?" He asked. The photo showed a blurred, circular object hovering near the ground.

"Sir, the crews say that it looks like some sort of...portal." Grey said, his tone becoming nervous. The President picked up on this.

"Why so nervous, Agent Grey?" He asked smirking. Agent Grey gulped.

"Sir, what if it's aliens?" He asked simply. The President gave him a deadpan look. Agent Grey shrugged.

"Agent Grey, the only aliens we've encountered are currently in Area Fifty-One." He said.

"Yes, but sir, what if there's more out there?" He asked. The President sighed and rubbed his tired eyes with the palms of his hands.

"What do you suggest I do? Send a military task force and have it checked out?" The President asked. Agent Grey seemed to relax a bit.

"Protocol would suggest you do." He replied. The President let out an exasperated sigh and leaned back in his chair. His back popped in many places from him being hunched over for so long.

"Alright, send some Army and Marines to the phenomenon and have it check out. If anything does come out of there, then by all means, engage." He said waving his hand off as he finished. Agent Grey nodded, gathered the folder, and prepared to leave. He was stopped when the President cleared his throat.

"Sir?"

"Leave that folder here. I wish to look it over." The President said pointing to his desk. Agent Grey nodded and placed the folder on the desk, then left the office.

The President was alone once again and he opened the folder back up.