Chapters Half Life: Path to The Borealis
Note: This chapter takes place in Episode 2, right after the defeat of the striders.
"Hey! Gordon Freeman!"
"Good job Gordon!"
"Woo hoo!"
"Wow!"
"Thanks Freeman!" The rebels cheered as Gordon Freeman returned to the base of White Forest. Gordon has a slightly messy haircut, a goatee, glasses and wears a suit known as the HEV suit. HEV stands for Hazardous Environment suit, its orange at the legs, orange at the chest. It has gray shoulders, black arms and gloves, and on the chest is the Greek symbol, lambda. He walked through the passage way when he head his name called.
"Hey Gordon." He looked and saw that is was Alyx. She wore a head band, a brown jacket with a hood. She wears fingerless gloves, bandages on her right arm, a necklace and a grey t-shirt. She also wears jeens, a belt loosely and brown shoes. "Wow Gordon, you were amazing out there! Come on, we have a rocket to launch." She said as she headed back into the hallway were she came out of. "We are at the final stage of the launch. The portal is almost open, but Dr. Magnusson said we should still have time." She said as she punched in a code on a number pad, the door opened and they headed through. They passed by some civilians, Alyx puched in another code at a different door.
"Hold on a minute Kleiner." They heard a voice from the other side of the door. When it opened, they met up with an aged man with a sky blue suit with a red tie. He was wearing a name tag and had three different colored pens in his pocket. He has brown pants with black shoes. "Ah, Freeman. I see that the Magnusson device worked flawlessly. I feel that I must... thank you for saving my rocket. If it was not for you, we would be at a severe disadvantage. So... thank you. Well that was enough chitchat, now hurry along, I have a portal to close." He said as he walked back into the room and closed the door, he then started to talk with someone else over the rocket.
"Wow, for a second, I thought Magnusson was going to give you a hug." Alyx said with a smile. "We'll, let's get going. Let's head to the control room, we can get a great view of the launch from there." She said as she headed for the elevator. Gordon mentally laughed at the thought of Dr. Magnusson giving anyone a hug. He followed Alyx to the elevator and headed inside. "Well, here we go." She said as she set the elevator for the control room floor. "Well, while you were having your fun, I found an old helicopter and fixed it up. It's packed up and ready to go. There is never a dull moment, is there?" She asked. Gordon simply shook his head with a smirk.
"Wait a moment, I'm receiving a payload anomaly of approximately eight and a half pounds." A voice said. Gordon thought about this, and remembered how the scientist's pet got into the rocket. He again, laughed in his head.
"Well... that's within tollorance level, certainly not worth worrying about. Now lets- " Dr. Magnusson said, but was cut off by Alyx.
"We're back." She said happily.
"At last." A scientist in a white lab coat said. He wore glasses and has a bald head.
"Ah, Gordon." A dark man said. He wore a green jacket, kakis and a brown shoe. His left leg is an artificial running leg. "Hell of a job you did out there son." He complimented Gordon, who smiled in return.
"Let us not forget Eli, that with those Magnusson devices, those striders practically destroyed themselves. " Dr. Magnusson said.
"Yes, well, I'm sure Gordon had something to do with their success." Dr. Kleiner said. Magnusson grumbled something under his breath.
"Well, I suggest we adjourn this meeting of mutual admiration society until after we have launched our rocket! " Dr. Magnusson said. "I believe we're ready to start the auto sequence. "
"I believe Gordon should have the honor." Eli said.
"You here no objection from me Gordon." Kleiner said as he open the button to start the sequence.
"It's all yours Gordon." Alyx said. Gordon looked at the red button that stood before him, he brought his hand down on it and pressed it. The numbers on the top of the machine stated to count down.
"Silo doors open. " Dr. Magnusson said. Gordon moved to the front of the room to get as close as he could to see the rocket. "Stations everyone. Power to main thrusters. Steady on. "
"T minus ten, nine..." Dr. Kleiner started to count down.
"We are launching. "
"eight, seven, six, five..."
"Steady, steady. "
"four, three, two.."
"We... "
"one..."
"We have lift-off! " Dr. Magnusson cheered. The three stared in wordless awe, Gordon silently cheered. "Lift-off! Oh it worked... it worked!
"Yeah!" Eli cheered.
"We did it!" Kleiner cheered.
"Oh, oh, I must get control over myself. Oh, deep breaths, deep breaths. " Magnusson said to himself.
"Whoa..." Was all that Alyx could force out.
"We sure did it." Eli said.
"Yes." Dr. Kleiner said.
"Excellent! Heh."
"Now... now, it's to early to celebrate. We still need to reach altitude and transmit the signal. " Dr. Magnusson said.
"Too right, the clock is ticking." Kleiner said.
"We could not have cut it any closer if that was our intentions. "
"It's going to work, right?" Alyx asked a little worried.
"It has to work." Eli said.
"Once the rocket is in range of the portal, we shall switch on the xenium resonator." Kleiner said.
"Well then, let's go outside, I want a better view of the fireworks." Eli said as he headed for the door.
"It shall be quite a show. Regrettably, I can't come with you." Kleiner said sadly. "Magnusson and I will need to keep an eye on the rockets trajectory."
"Aren't you going to see us off?" Alyx asked.
"As soon as things are wrapped up here. I wouldn't dream of sending you off without a proper good bye."
"Okay, I'll hold you to that. You too Dr. Magnusson."
"Indeed. " Was his only reply. Eli punched in a code on the number pad that opened a door to the outside.
"We'll catch up with you in a minute sweetheart." He said to Alyx, who in response kissed him as she went out side.
"DOG! there you are!" She said as she ran out. Gordon was about to follow, but he was stopped by Eli.
"Gordon, hold up a second. The more I think about that warning from our friend, the more I am convinced it has to do with Borealis. Don't be deceived, that ship must never be used. It must be destroyed, whatever the cost."
"Where are you two, you're gonna miss it." Alyx asked around the corner.
"Be right there Alyx. Gordon... thanks for everything you've done, for Alyx, for all of us. I couldn't be prouder if you were my own son. Now when you get back, we have a lot of talk about." He said as he headed outside, with Gordon following.
"Come on!"Alyx said. They all gathered outside and looked at the portal.
"Eli! Gordon! Alyx! Look at the portal! " Dr. Kleiner said.
"Dear god, this has to work." Eli said under his breath.
"We've activated the resonator! " Kleiner said. The portal began to shrink. "This is it! "
"Whoa..." Alyx uttered.
"My goodness...
"Yes. Yes! Yes!" Alyx said, excited.
"It's working! Eli said. The portal fully closed, an explosion followed the portal closing.
"The portal as been neutralized! " Kleiner said.
"We did it!" Alyx said as he hugged her farther.
"Oh my rocket! My rocket worked! Ah... " Magnusson said.
"We did it Gordon!" She said as she turned to Gordon.
"We sure as hell did it!" Eli said. "And not a moment too soon."
"I told you it would work! I knew it would work! " Magnusson said. "I'm a genius! "
"Now, Magnusson... " Dr. Kleiner said, trying to calm him down.
"I'll bet the combine aren't too happy right now." Alyx said.
"You got that right sweetheart, but we have plenty to celebrate." Eli said. "I wish you didn't have to head head off so soon. If only it weren't so critical."
"It's okay dad, we'll find Judith and bring her back." Alyx said. They heard DOG start to climb over the building." DOG? DOG! Where are you... What a nut." She said as they proceeded inside. "Don't go to far." She called out to him. Gordon had a bad feeling about something. All this seemed... too easy. But he pushed the thought aside and followed them inside. "Well, this is it, all gassed up and ready to go." Alyx said, pointing to the helicopter.
"Remember to keep in contact." Eli said. "We have no idea what to expect."
"Don't worry dad, we'll be alright." Alyx said reassuringly.
"I know, I just wish this all didn't have to fall on you, Alyx. Your mother would be so proud." He said as he kissed Alyx on the forehead.
"Dad..." She said, after a moment she turned to Gordon. "Come on Gordon, the chopper's waiting for us." She said as they all headed for the lift.
"Are you sure you have everything you need." Eli asked.
"I think so, Dr. Kleiner gave us the coordinates to Borealis. We'll keep the hailing frequency open on the chopper radio, incase Judith tries to reach us."
"Good idea, she might make another attempt." They we than all blinded by a bright light.
"Oh no, dad! Gordon! Help!" She said as they were all pushed back, Eli grunted in pain. Gordon looked up and saw that an Advisor had come through the building. They have a olive green body with a white face, two eyes on one side and two mechanical limbs used as arms.
"Alyx!" Eli said, reaching for his daughter. The Advisor took a hold of her using telekisesis. It also grabbed Gordon and pinned them on the wall.
"Dad!" She yelled. "Get away from him!" Eli reached for a loose pipe on the ground and pushed himself up.
"Listen to me! Destroy that ship! Whatever it takes! Destroy it!" He yelled as he headed for the Advisor.
"Don't!" Alyx yelled. Eli whacked it with the pipe, it flinched at the attack. It proceded to take his pipe and throw it away, it used its arm to pin him to the ground. Gordon saw another advisor come in from the back, tearing apart the building. The first one let go of Eli as the second one took hold of him, bringing him to its face. "No! Dad! Let go of him!"
"I love you sweetheart. Close your eyes honey!"
"I love you dad."
"Don't look." Was his final words as the advisor penetrated the back of his skull with its tongue.
"NO!" Alyx yelled. The other advisor grabbed her and Gordon and brought them up to its face. "Gordon!" She tried to resist the advisor but to no success. She looked up and saw DOG about to attack. "DOG!" She said as the robot jumped from the roof and landed on the advisor. It started to shriek in panic as DOG started to hit it. It got away and hurriedly crawled away before taking flight. The other advisor saw this and threw the corpse of Eli away is it flew away. "Dad!" Alyx yelled as she ran to the corpse. "Oh god, dad? Dad! Dad please, dad. Oh my god, no..." She said as she began to cry into her fathers chest. "No, dad, oh my god. Dad... don't leave me." She continued to sob.
"What is going on here!?" Dr. Kleiner asked as he entered the building. "I just saw two advisors flee from... oh my, Eli!" He said as he came down the lift. He ran to the corpse and got on his knees. "My god, not Eli." He silently said as he tried to comfort Alyx.
Half Life: Path to The Borealis
"Alyx, I'm sorry for your loss, but we can't just stay here and mourn about it. We have to push on and stop the combine, you know your dad would want that." Kleiner said.
"I-I know." She choked out. She had tears running down her face still as she still held her fathers corpse.
"Now come with me so we can get you cleaned up. Come along Gordon, we have a lot to discuss." He said as he helped Alyx up. Gordon got up and followed them, DOG picked up the corpse and took it with him to burry. Alyx looked back one last time at her father before he was out of sight.
Gordon, Dr. Kleiner and Dr. Magnusson sat in the control room, discussing the events that had transpired. Gordon just sat there and listened, occasionally nodding. Alyx was by herself, look for where DOG had buried her dad.
"It still doesn't make sense," Kleiner said. "Why would an advisor just go out and kill someone? It only attacks in self defense, or if it is hungry. But even if it was hungry, it wouldn't come all this way just to eat."
"Well maybe it came here just to try and kill Eli, Alyx and Gordon, and it one it got one of them." Magnusson said.
"Maybe, but that's also doubtful, advisors are not the kind to hunt out a specific target. There has to be a different reason for its motives." They were all cut off by the sound of an opening door. They looked and saw Alyx standing at it.
"I'm ready." She simply said.
"A-are you sure Alyx? We can wait a bit longer if you want to." Dr. Kleiner asked.
"Kleiner, if she says she's ready, than she's ready. Now lets hurry, the faster we get this over with, the faster we can stop the combine." Dr. Magnusson said as he got up and headed outside with Alyx. Kleiner was the second to leave and Gordon was the last. But as he was about to leave, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He looked at one of the screens and saw that mysterious man again. He wore a blue business suit and was holding a briefcase. He adjusted his tie before the screen went back to normal and he was no longer there. Gordon looked at the screen a moment longer before he was called by Alyx.
When Gordon arrived in the hanger, Alyx was waiting for him in the chopper. The roof was open, making way for the chopper to fly through. Dr. Kleiner and Dr. Magnusson were standing at the lift.
"Are you ready Freeman?" Magnusson asked, Gordon simply nodded.
"Do you have your weapons?" Kleiner asked. Gordon nodded again. He headed for the chopper and got in. As soon as Gordon was in, Alyx started the engine. The blades started to spin and pick up in speed. "Be safe you two, and good luck!" Kleiner yelled over the engine. The chopper started to descended off the ground and into the sky. As soon as it was above the hanger, Alyx took off towards Borealis, wanting to end this.
Meanwhile in a different universe, in a country known as Equestria, a blue creature was sneaking around in a castle. She was a pony with rainbow hair and tail, magenta eyeris', wings and a rainbow lightning cloud on her flank. She was currently looking for her friend, the new princess of this world. She ran fast and flew to the ceiling every time she heard someone approach, once they were out of sight, she would fly to the ground again and keep searching. She checked every room she could think her freind was in, but she was nowhere to be seen. She was about to check the throne room when the door started to open, surprised, she flew back up into the ceiling.
She watched whoever it was come out of the room and, to her surprise, her friend came out. She was saying something to someone in the room, but she didn't bother to listen. The door than closed as her friend started to walk away. She was light purple in color, she has violet hair with one pinkish stripe. She was wearing a crown that was shaped in a purple star. She had a horn and wings, she has purple eyeris' and a star surrounded with five smaller white stars. The rainbow maned pony flew back down and quietly followed her, where ever she was going.
She eventually came to a stop at a pair of doors and opened them with her magic. She trotted inside while the blue pony flew inside without her noticing. She turned around and closed the doors, when she turned back around, she was greeted with the face of her friend.
"Hey Twilight!" She said. Twilight screamed and flew towards the ceiling. Her friend looked up at her and tried to stifle her laughter, tearing up in the process. She couldn't hold it in anymore and fell to the floor laughing her head off. Twilight looked down at her with an annoyed expression.
"Rainbow, that's not funny." She said, annoyance evident in her tone.
"Yes it is!" She gasped out between laughs. "You're like Raity's cat!" Twilight graoned before she felt her grip loosening as she fell towards the floor. Causing Rainbow to laugh harder, once Twilight regained her footing, she gave Rainbow a glare.
"What are you doing here Rainbow?" She asked after Rainbow had calmed down.
"Oh, Twilight, can you teleport me to the wonderbolt stadium? I don't have enough bits at the moment." She asked with a smile.
"Don't you get in free because you're in wonderbolt training?"
"No, we only get a discount."
"We'll I'm sorry Rainbow, but I'm not going to do it."
"Oh come on! Please?"
"No Rainbow."
"Please?"
"No."
"Come on Twilight!"
"No!"
"Just this once!"
"Ugh, fine!" She said as she charged her horn. Rainbow closed her eyes, ready to be teleported. Twilight was about to teleport her, but a creature gently touched her horn at the last second. Instead of teleporting just Rainbow, it teleported them both and not to the stadium.
"Have fun, Ms. Sparkle and Ms. Dash." A raspy voice said.
Half Life: Path to The Borealis
Gordon was beginning to worry about Alyx, she has not said a word for the entire flight. They have been flying for ten minute now, she would have said something by now. He guessed that she has not fully recovered from her fathers death. He was about to get her attention, but something had hit the helicopter. Alyx cursed as the plain jerked to the left due to the force. When she steadied the helicopter, she looked out to see what had hit them, she saw a squad of combine, accompanied by a strider.The strider started to shoot at the helicopter with its pulse cannon, the combine did the same, shooting their pulse rifles at the helicopter.
Though the combine units weren't doing much, the strider was causing significant damage to it. Alyx tried to avoid the striders attack, but was unable to do so. Gordon was hanging on to anything he could, trying to keep his balance. After a minute, the strider stopped attacking, Alyx looked to see why it had stopped and saw it was charging up its warp cannon. She tried to turn out of the way, but was unable to fully dodge it. The attack took out the tail of the helicopter, it started to spin down towards the ground. As soon as it hit the ground, Alyx and Gordon blacked out.
"Ugh, my head." Rainbow Dash said as she regained consciousness. She sat up as she rubbed her head, she opened her eyes and immediately noticed something was wrong. she was not in the wonderbolt stadium, in fact, she did not know where she was. She was in some small village, said village seemed to be abandoned, after looking around, she slowly got to her hooves. 'Where am I?' She thought. "Hello?" She called out. The only response she got in return was a moan. She looked around, trying to locate the source of the sound. But as she was doing so, there was a scream as she was tackled to the ground.
"Holy crap!" Rainbow exclaimed. She looked to see who the attacker was. It was a badly decayed biped, the bones were visible and the stomach was open. There was also some strange round object on its head. It started to scratch at her chest with its boney claws. She yelped in pain as she kicked the creature off, it growled as it ran back towards her. She immediately took towards the air and looked down at the creature. "Ha! Bet you can't fly!" She taunted the creature. The creature reared up and jumped towards her. It grabbed on to her legs and began to claw at them. She started to shake it off, it started to loose its grip as it finally fell. There was a sickening crunch as its head hit the ground.
Rainbow slowly flew to the ground, her coat is slightly red with blood from the creatures attacks. She heard the moans of other creature coming for her. 'I need to find Twilight.' She thought as she took for the skies, in search for her friend.
Twilight groaned as she regained consciousness. Her head ached, and she did not know why. She opened her eyes, but quickly closed them due to the sun penetrating her vision. After her eyes adjusted to the sudden light, she opened them again and looked around. She was in some sandy area with patches of grass and a cliff.. She slowly got to her hooves, she stretched out her wings and legs.
"Hello? Rainbow?" She called out, she then heard a rattle like noise from behind her. She instantly froze up, she thought it was a snake, and she was terrified of snakes. She slowly turned around, but then she saw the creature. It almost looked like a giant ant with sharp teeth in the front. "Uh, hello?" She asked, the creature responded by charging towards her. It swung its claw at her and cut her leg. She yelped in pain as she ran back, but the creatures shell opened up as wings spread out and it took flight. It landed right in front of her and bit her leg, she yelped on pain as she turned around and bucked it. The creature landed on its back and struggled to flip back over.
Twilight charged her horn, getting ready to attack the creature, but it flickered as sparks came out. Her horn then powered down, she tried to call on her magic reserves again, but her horn was not responding. She then realized that she had no more magic, the creature flipped back over and charged at Twilight again. She jumped out of the way as it swung, she turned around and bucked it in the head. Yellow blood covered Twilights legs as the creature stumbled back in pain. It quickly recovered and took to the air again. Twilight waited for the perfect moment, she then bucked it in the bottom of its head. It fell over, no longer alive, Twilight just stood there and looked at the corpse. She had just killed a living thing, even if it was attacking her, she has just experienced the feeling of killing something, and she did not like it.
She heard more of these creature, she turned around and saw these creatures coming out of a cave in the cliff. A larger creature came charging out of the cave and rammed into Twilight. She yelled in pain as her wing broke due to the force of the attack. She was sent tumbling, adding to the pain she was experiencing, once she stopped, she slowly got up. She gave one last glance at the hoard and took off running. There was no way she would survive against those things.
Gordon slowly came to, his body ached from the crash, he wanted to know why he was able to survive these catastrophic events. He assumed it was because of his 'mutual friend' saving his life. He looked around the wreckage of the helicopter and spotted his Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator, also known as the Gravity Gun. He reached for it and grabbed it, he then checked it. It looked fine to him, he pointed towards a loose helicopter blade and activated it. The blade zoomed towards Gordon and stopped right in front of the Gravity gun. He then pointed it off into the distance and launched it. It was still working fine. He looked around a little more but could not find Alyx. He assumed that the combine got their hands on her. He looked around to see if he could find any of his other weapons, but there was no such luck. He then proceeded towards the direction that they were headed in the helicopter, hoping to find Alyx.
Half Life: Path to The Borealis
'These damn things won't let up, will they?' Rainbow thought to herself. Some of the same creatures were fallowing her, every now and then, they would leap at her, trying to catch her. At first she found it funny, when they would lunge at her, she would simply move to the side slightly. But now it was getting annoying, another creature tried again, that was it. She stopped and waited for the next creature. Said next creature reared up and jumped, this was her chance, she turned around and bucked the creature. What happened next was unexpected, the round thing jumped off the creature and and landed on Rainbow Dash. It jumped towards her head and bit down, she yelped in pain. Suddenly, her left wing closed against her will, sending her towards the ground.
She landed on her right wing, breaking the bone, she got up and started to pry the creature off her head. After some pain and struggling, she managed to pry it off, she then threw it against the ground, where it immediately died due to the force. Small streams of blood started to run down Rainbow's head, that thing had a tight grip on her head. She heard the moans of the other creatures coming for her. She had not time to waste, she was about to fly, but an intense pain in her right wing reminded her that she couldn't. She settled with just sprinting for her life, not knowing where she was going.
Twilight was running for her life, these creatures were not giving up on their chase. She had blotches of blood all over her body, she realized that this was not an act of invading territory, these things were looking for food, and she was the food. Every now and then, one would jump in front of her, trying to block her path, but she moved out of the way before it landed. She would receive cuts from the attacks, but it was either that or being stopped and maimed to death. She kept running forward, dodging the creatures trying to block her path. She never looked back, afraid of what she might see, she could hear the roars of the larger creature.
She kept running, then she saw it, a small village was at the end of this sandy area. She pushed on, her legs feeling like they could give on her at any moment. But as she got closer, she saw a bipedal creature come into view with, what Twilight could only assume was, a weapon of some sort.
Gordon has been walking for quite some time now, he has not encountered any thing yet. He knew he was going to run into something eventually, that was his luck, whether it be good or bad. He was happy to see no sight of the combine forces, meaning he did not need to fight them... yet. He knew Alyx would be in a secured place, so it would be a while before he saw her. He came across a small, abandoned village, which was no surprise to him that it was abandon. Their were some barrels, flammable barrels and saw blades lying around, at least he had some potential projectiles. He looked around for a while, hoping to find a loose weapon, but he was cut off by a sound that was all too familiar.
Antlions. He could tell by how frequent the sound was that their was many, they were also accompanied by the antlion guard, judging by the roars. He located the source of the sound, it was coming from Antlion Vally, one of the biggest antlion hives on the planet. He saw a pack of antlions chasing a purple... horse like creature. Said creature stopped as soon as it saw Gordon, it looked at him with fear in its eyes. He knew that this creature needed help. He took out his Gravity Gun and brought one of the barrels to him, he then launched it at one of the aliens. As soon as the barrel made contact, the antlion exploded into yellow blood and giblets. The horse sprinted past Gordon and hid in one of the abandoned houses.
One antlion lunged at him, but he simply blasted it away with his Gravity Gun, flipping it onto its back. Gordon took the flammable barrel and shot it at the charging guard, it exploded on contact, dazing the guard. He took a blade and shot it a the flipped antlion, cutting it in half. There were a small pack of antloins coming for him, he took a flammable barrel and shot it at the group, killing them. He turned back to the guard, only to be rammed in the chest, knocking him to the ground forcefully. He slowly got up, looking for a way to kill the antlion, he saw a pack of flammable barrels. The antlion charged again but he dodged out of the way, the antlion guard was were he wanted it to be. He picked up a stray barrel and launched it at the group, causing a chain reaction. The guard swayed from side to side, giving one final roar before collapsing.
Gordon smiled at this, he was not going to die today, he looked back at the town, wondering where that purple horse went.
Rainbow was finally able to escape from the monster horde. She slowed to a trot after tiring herself out from running. Where ever she was, she hated it, all she wanted to do now was find Twilight and be teleported home. She then remembered Twilight, she hoped she was alright. Rainbow wouldn't be able to live with herself if she let anything happen to one of her best friends. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she did not notice herself ending up in the ruins of a city. She was distracted from her thoughts when she heard a deep howl, she dove into a building looking for what produced the sound.
She saw a group of new creatures, one was huge, possibly twenty feet tall, it had three legs and was brown in color. It had two cannons, one at the front of the 'head' and one on the underside of the creature. Under it were two similar, smaller creatures, roughly her size, they were a blue green color and had two eye like spheres in the front. There were three bipedaled creatures in dark clothing holding some kind of weapons. Lastly, traveling behind the group, was a dark brown creature. It has two fins at its side, two small propellers at the back. It has jet parts on its under side, on the top, there was an opening covered in a translucent substance containing green liquid. There was an opening in the front, which Rainbow thought was its mouth.
Suddenly, the creature stopped and looked around, giving electronic groans. It started to fly near the buildings, searching for something. It soon came to the building Rainbow was hiding in, she gulped, hoping the creature did not find her. But her hope was crushed as it shot something at her, hitting her in the leg. She yelped as she felt something being injected into her, no doubt the liquid in the creature. She suddenly felt light headed, her vision was becoming blurry as her body was going numb. She tried to stay up, but soon was unable to resist it and fell unconscious. The last thing she heard was the bipedaled creatures saying something.
Half Life: Path to The Borealis
Rainbow woke up to the sound of somepony yelling. Her head was hurting, just like when she appeared in this world. She tried to move, but something was restraining her. She slowly opened her eyes, seeing her surroundings. The fist thing she noticed was the grub like creature at the edge of her vision. She turned her head to it and to see it, it seemed to be inspecting a bipedaled creature. The grub creature saw that she was awake and turned its attention to her, Rainbow tried to mask her fear, but she had no idea what this thing was going to do to her. A claw came from behind its back and reached for her chin. It lifted her head up to inspect her, after it was done, it dropped her head and flew off.
Rainbow felt a chill go down her spine, whatever that thing was, it had some kind of energy that she could feel.
"What are you?" Rainbow heard the biped ask, she turned to her. She had a confused look on her face.
"Me? I'm a pony. Names Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria!" She responded with a smile, the biped smiled in return.
"Alyx."
Gordon had checked almost every house in looks for that horse creature. Whatever it was, it was good at hiding, he was starting to come up to the end of the houses. He was starting to wonder if this thing had just run off. As he opened the next door, he found it. There it was, in the corner, tears stained its face. It saw Gordon and tried to look for a way to escape. He slowly approached it, making sure not to scare it off, he could see that it was shaking. He slowly reached out with his hand and started to pet it. He smiled when he saw it start to calm down, this always seemed to work.
Twilight didn't know what this creature was doing, but whatever it was, she felt at ease. This action went on for a couple of seconds longer before the creature stopped. She looked back at it, wondering what to do next.
"Who-what are you?" She asked, it looked like the humans in the other world she went too. But not like the ones she has seen.
Gordon was not surprised that it could talk, he has dealt with enough aliens. He pointed to his throat and shook his head, it took a while for the creature to catch on, but it eventually did.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know your were mute." She, judging by its voice, said. "Well, I'm Twilight Sparkle, a pony, and the new co-princess of Equestria." When she said she was a pony, that surprised him. She was kind of big to be a pony, he would call her a horse if she had not said. Then there was the princess part, that sounded like something a little girl would say, but he decided not to question it. He motioned for her to follow, and she did, he was sure he could trust Twilight, maybe she could even help him rid of the Combine.
Twilight followed the human, unsure of where he was taking her. She was not able to know, since he was mute and could only answer yes or no questions. At least he was friendly, unlike those creatures that were chasing her. She looked back at the human, who had a strait face, she noticed that she was a bit taller than him, since she had to look down a bit. She tried to think of something to ask, something that may be able to help her.
"So... are we going to someplace?" She asked, the human nodded his head. She tried to think of another question. 'This is harder then I thought. Maybe he can show me what that weapon of his is.' "What does that weapon do?" She asked. The human stopped and lifted it up. He pointed it towards a nearby stone and activated to device. The stone slowly rolled towards them, then shot up, flying. Twilight closed her eyes, and put her hoof over her face. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes, and saw that the rock was floating about a hoof (foot) away from the device. The human was looking back at her, he turned back to the rock, pointed his weapon up, and launched the rock into the air.
'Amazing.' Twilight thought. She looked back at the human, who made a motion with his hand, telling her to keep moving. Twilight did so. She thought about her friends back at Equestria, how they must be worried about her. She then remembered Rainbow. 'What if she is here too? What if she's in danger? I need to find her, and try to get us both out of here.' She looked up, and saw another human, but this one was carrying what looked like a suitcase, and had a blue suit. He was on the mountain, looking to nothing specific. He adjusted his tie and walked out of sight.
'Something was weird about that human.' Twilight thought to herself.
Alyx learned that the pony, Rainbow dash, came from another world filled with magic. She learned that she was sent here when her friend Twilight tried to teleport her to a stadium, but was sent here instead. She turned her attention to the combine who were guarding them. It was obvious that they had some sort of plan.
"What do you think they are planning?" She asked Rainbow.
"Don't know." She responded.
"Keep it down!" One combine said, hitting Alyx's capsule.
"You think you're so tough. Just wait till Gordon comes!" Alyx said, the Combine units turned to her, looking at her for awhile, before bursting out into laughter. "What's so funny?"
"We are prepared for Freeman." One said.
"Affirmative. Show them our surprise!" The other said. A large door opened, reviling the 'surprise' for Gordon. Alyx's and Rainbow's jaw dropped.
"Whoa..." Rainbow uttered.
Half Life: Path to The Borealis
Twilight and Gordon reached a sewage pipe in the side of a mountain. Twilight held her hoof against her nose, obviously not liking the stench. Gordon however, was use to it, he had to swim in it once.
"Do we have to go in there?" Twilight asked, Gordon simply nodded, and headed in. Twilight shook her head. 'Well, he seems to know what he is doing.' So, hoof over nose, she headed in. Gordon was leading the way, making sure that Twilight was still behind him. He came across some dead combine units and a dead hunter, plus some zombies that were killed once more. This worried Gordon, the Combine had no problem with zombies, especially when pared up with a hunter. What was down there that could have killed them all? He took a pulse rifle and some ammo for it, he was able to find two combine balls. He put them into the rifle, adding on to the charges.
Gordon looked back at Twilight, who was disgusted by the sight. He motioned for her to follow, which she did. Gordon held his rifle at the ready, waiting to shoot anything that was dead but moved. He soon heard the moan a one nearby, he followed the sound to its source, Twilight close by. He rounded the corner, and saw a burnt body, complete with a burnt headcrab. He was about to bypass it, unit he saw it move. He quickly faced it, but it was no longer moving. Twilight looked back at it to, but met the same thing Gordon did.
"What was it?" She asked, Gordon shot her a deadpanned look. "Right, yes or no questions, sorry." She gave a sheepish smile. They were about to proceed, until the body moved again, when they turned back to it, it didn't stop moving. It kept twitching, slowly getting to its feet. It raised its claws into the air, never seizing its twitching. Gordon started to shoot at it, while Twilight ran and stayed behind him. Gordon unloaded an entire clip into the zombie, but it didn't even seem fazed. Gordon's eyes widened as he shot a pulse ball at it. It hit the zombie directly, but it didn't vaporize. It started to come towards them, Gordon made a motion for Twilight to run, which she happily did. Gordon backed up as fast as he could, firing more rounds into Nightmare, but it was still coming.
It reached him and clawed into his chest. Gordon took out his gravity gun, took a saw blade that was lying on the ground and shot it at Nightmare. It stumbled back, the blade didn't even cut its flesh. That's when Gordon decided to run, it was not like him to run, but this was a situation that he could not win. He turned back to shoot at the Nightmare, unloading another clip, but it would not die. He loaded another clip into his rifle and started to shoot again. He soon reached Twilight, who was at a dead end.
"It's blocked!" She yelled. Gordon turned back to the closing Nightmare, and shot another pulse ball. Twilight could feel the energy of the pulse ball as it hit Nightmare. That's when she got an idea. "Shoot me with that!" Gordon looked at her confused. "Trust me." She said. Gordon hesitated, but then turned and shot her with it. Twilight lowered her head, the pulse ball hit her horn, where a magical blast took place.
Gordon covered his eyes as the blast blinded him. He was fearing the worst, he thought Twilight was vaporized, and Nightmare was still coming. He turned away from the cloud of dust and was about to shoot at nightmare, until a purple bolt shot past him, hitting Nightmare. He turned back, seeing Twilight was perfectly fine, she shot another bolt at Nightmare.
"I've got this." She said as she shot Nightmare again. It stumbled back as it was assaulted by Twilight, it tried to get close, but Twilight continued to attack. She soon stopped to take a breather, and Nightmare took this opportunity to attack. It brought its claws up and was about to bring them down, but Gordon moved in and shot it with a barrel, knocking it back. This gave Twilight the opportunity to finish it, she charged up her horn and shot a powerful blast.
The magic tore through the decaying corpse, shredding Nightmare. The headcrab jumped off and headed towards them, but Gordon simply kicked it away. It died almost immediately, proving that it was next to nothing without a body. Twilight turned back to the blockade of rubble and lit her horn. She grabbed the rubble with her magic and cleared the path. Gordon watched this happen, looked at Twilight, then looked at his gravity gun, wishing it was that powerful.
"There... we go." She said, trying to catch her breath. Gordon nodded and looked back at the rubble, finding that there was a crowbar sticking out. He reached for it and pulled it out, the rocks moved, reveling the face of the previous owner of the crowbar, it was the corpse of a worker. Gordon looked at the corpse one last time then turned to Twilight. He motioned her to follow and headed off.
Twilight followed thinking to herself about what they just faced. She hoped there is nothing else like that monster. She was not paying attention and ran into Gordon hand. She looked at him confused.
"What is it?" She asked. Gordon pointed, and Twilight saw a base of sorts, guarded by bipedal creatures in masks with weapons like Gordon's. They were at a Combine base, Gordon begun to move again, but more slowly, out of the Combines vision. He got up behind them and beat them to death with his crowbar, the alarms sounded as he motioned for Twilight to follow.
Half Life: Path to The Borealis
"FREEMAN IS IN THE BASE! REPEAT, FREEMAN IS IN THE BASE!" The speaker said as Gordon and Twilight ran through the base, shooting and blasting any and all combine in sight. Hunters began to come after them, Gordon shot and dodged, while as Twilight was easily able to kill them off, thanks to her regained magic. There was a deep howl, Gordon looked up and saw a strider, and it was charging up its warp cannon. He ran to Twilight and pushed her out of the way as the warp cannon fired, tearing through the ground.
"Thanks." She said as she focused her fire on the strider, dodging its own line of fire. Gordon took out the last of the hunter and turned back to Twilight and the strider, with the strider wining. Twilight looked back at Gordon and saw that he was running under the strider. She did the same as the strider was focusing on him, they were able to get away and stopped to catch their breath. Gordon pushed Twilight into the shadows. "What is-" She tried to ask but Gordon put his hand over her mouth, quieting her. There was the sound of something mechanical passing them.
They waited there a moment longer before proceeding, they came across more combine, quickly killing them off. They were now at the back of the base, in a large room.
"Twilight!" Yelled an unmistakable voice, Twilight looked back and saw Rainbow.
"Rainbow! Thank Celestia you're okay!" There was another creature in the room that looked towards Gordon.
"Gordon!" Alyx yelled.
"So that's your name." Twilight commented. There was a crash from behind them, they turned around seeing a large robot with immense firepower.
"Careful Gordon! That's a Combine Mech!" Alyx said.
"FREEMAN, YOU HAVE FOILED OUR OPERATIONS FOR THE LAST TIME!" The combine in the mech suit said as it pointed a weapon at them. it shot out four grenades. They dodged out of the way as Gordon took one and shot it back at it. There wasn't even a scratch as it readied another weapon, a missile shot out. Twilight acted quickly, grabbing the missile with her magic, barely making it wiz by Gordon's hair. She kept controlling it, making it do a 180 degrees turn, back to the mech. Once it hit, there was slight moment when an over shield appeared.
"It has a shield." Twilight whispered to herself. An energy ball appeared behind the mech, it shot straight up and soon came down above Twilight. She screamed in pain as her ears were filled with a constant shriek. She did not notice that the Combine Mech was readying its turret, it started to unload on her. Luckily it was not very accurate, but Twilight was still hit by some. She screamed at the top of her lungs as the pain was to much, soon passing out.
"Twilight!" Rainbow yelled, trying desperately to escape her prison. She kept rocking back an forward, loosening the screws of the capsule. She soon broke out, rushing to Twilight, luckily the screamer had all ready disappeared. She picked up Twilight and brought her to the edge of the room, she gave a glare to the mech that would make Fluttershy proud.
"You bastard." She whispered, she then dashed to the mech.
"Rainbow, no!" Alyx yelled, but to no use. The Combine Mech launched a gravity field, but missed. Once she was close, the mech tried to crush her, but thanks to her agility, she dodged out of the way. While the mech was unbalanced, she bucked the leg with all her might. The mech toppled over, at the cost of her fracturing her leg. Gordon then moved in, whacking the mech with his crowbar, trying to deactivate the shield. It launched another gravity field, catching Gordon and smashing him against the roof. He launched a pulse ball at the mech, it exploded on impact, deactivating the shields. Gordon fell to the ground as the gravity field deactivated. The mech was now back on its feet as it turned towards Rainbow, who was limping away. It brought it leg up and was about to bring it down on Rainbow, until a missile hit it, again, throwing it off balance. Gordon looked towards the source of the missile and smiled.
"Looks like I got here just in time!" Barney said as he loaded another missile. "Gordon! Think fast!" He said as he tossed the RPG to Gordon with some extra missiles. Gordon picked it up and shot another missile at the mech, taking off the grenade launcher. While Gordon was loading another missile, the Combine Mech stood up and activated its missile storm. fifteen missile shot out into the air, taking a turn and headed for Gordon's location. He quickly dodged out of the way, letting the missiles hit nothing but solid ground. He shot another missile, this time taking out one of the legs. It fell to its side and struggled to get up. Gordon loaded his last missile and fired at the body of the mech.
As soon as it hit, the entire mech shut down and begun to explode, with one final explosion, the mech was no more and now just a giant bonfire.
"Nice work you did there Gordon." Barney said as he started to walk up to him, only then did he notice the newcomer. "Uh, Gordon? I'm not imagining things right?" He said as he pointed to the injured Rainbow Dash. Gordon shook his head, Barney stood there dumfounded.
"Uh, hello?! I'm still here!" Alyx yelled, gaining everyone's attention.
"Oh, hey Alyx, sorry, didn't notice you there." Barney said, causing Alyx to let out a sigh. He then went to help her out. Gordon meanwhile went to check on Rainbow, who was trying to stand, but even that was a major challenge. Rainbow saw him coming and stopped moving, he kneeled down to check her leg. He checked the right, then the left, which caused Rainbow to yelp. He waited for her awhile, made a motion for her to stay as he headed back into the base to look for a health-kit to heal Rainbow's leg.
Half Life: Path to The Borealis
"Still nothing princess?" Rarity asked Princess Celestia. Celestia shook her head sadly.
"I am sorry Rarity, but I can not sense their presence anywhere in Equestria. But do not worry, I will keep trying. But I fear that they may not be in Equestria anymore, maybe not even in the same realm." She said, causing Everypony to become sadder. Pinkie Pie was the most affected of the group, ever since she heard that Rainbow and Twilight had disappeared, she was not herself. Her hair was strait and dull instead of its normal puffy and bright nature, the same could be said for her coat, as it was dull as well. Next was Fluttershy, she had tears in her eyes, it was hard for her to hear the news of her friends disappearance.
Rarity and Applejack were not as badly affected by the news, but they still worried for their friends.
"Well, thanks again princess." Applejack said as they started to leave, Celestia nodded her head. She waited for them to leave so she could try once more. Once they were gone, she activated her magic again, only to be interrupted by a raspy voice.
"Why don't you just stop Celestia? You know they are no longer here, just face the truth." Celestia tried to ignore the voice, but it kept persisting. "I know you can here me, you always try to block me out, but it just doesn't work." Celestia sighed and looked to the voice's source. Time had stopped around her, and standing in front of her was a biped in a suit and holding a suitcase.
"What do you want?" She asked with hate in her voice.
"Celestia, is that anyway to talk to an old... acquaintance?" It asked.
"I'm not here to chat G-man, why are you here?" She asked, growing impatient and more angry by the second.
"Just here to check on this old place, though it has not been long since I did." G-man responded calmly.
"What do you mean 'it has not been long since I did'?"
"Let's just say... I was here with two certain ponies..."
"Two ponies?..." That's when Celestia Realized. "YOU! You sent Twilight and Rainbow away!" She yelled, though the G-man was unfazed, he simply adjusted his tie. "Where did you send them?!"
"Let's just say... to a place they are not prepared."
"Not prepared for what?"
"...For unforeseen consequences." That's when the G-man vanished and time resumed once more. Celestia sighed, she never fully understood the G-man. He was always vague... just like a certain spirit of chaos. Celestia suddenly got an idea, she may not know much about the G-man, but maybe her old fiend does. She got up from her throne and headed to the spirit of chaos' room.
Ever since Fluttershy had reformed him, he has been either living with her or staying at the castle. She opened the door to his room with her magic. She peered inside, but there was no sight of him.
"Discord?" Celestia called out, not in the mood for his games. Suddenly everything went dark for a minute before the lights went back on. There was an assortment of games, bowling, hockey, tennis and many other.
"Why hello Celestia! How is my favorite princess doing? Did you finally decide to loosen up and play a few games?" Discord asked as he appeared next to Celestia. She was about to respond, but found her self standing in front of a bowling ally. "What about some bowling?" He asked while he rolled an eye towards the pins, scoring a strike. Celestia just looked at him with a deadpanned expression.
"No? Okay." He snapped his talons and they were at a ping pong table. "Ping pong?" He asked as he played with a floating paddle.
"Discord, now's not the time for your games." She said, causing Discord to frown. He snapped his paw and all the games were gone in a flash.
"Oh alright you party pooper. Just make it quick, I've got bok choy to fight." He said appearing with boxing gloves on. Celestia looked to her right and saw a bok choy throwing punches into the air, readying up. She sighed.
"Discord, I need you to tell me how much you know about the G-man." As soon as the words left her lips, Discord visibly shuddered. He looked around him, he went to close the window and to close the door. He then put a spell on the room so that no sound escaped.
"You really want to know?" He asked, and Celestia nodded. "Okay then." He snapped his talons and a transparent image of the G-man appeared. "The G-man is a very mysterious creature, he has disguised himself as a human. Though he has powers that can not be recognized. The beings that he uses for his intentions he calls his clients. He currently has two, one named Gordon Freeman that is currently away from his control, and one named Adrian Shepard , though his status is unknown. His previous "Client" is unknown, but it is though that when he found out the G-man's plans, he tried to fight back.
"But his power proved to be to great, he was then turned into a monster named Nihilanth that was to Fight Gordon. This was Gordon's test to see of he was to be G-man's next client. Once he has no current use for his clients, he puts them into stasis, which is what is thought to have happened to Shepherd. It is not known if the G-man works for good, or for evil, all that is know is that he has a plan of some sort. The only creatures that have been able to detain him were aliens known as vortigaunts." He snapped his paw and the image was gone.
"That is all I know about the G-man, why did you need to know?"
"Because he is the one that sent Twilight and Rainbow Dash away." Discords eyes widened at this.
"Then you need to find a way to get them back as soon as possible!"
