Half-Life Preparationsby Spooky ArmaliteChaptersPrologue: The PortalChapter 1: So it BeginsChapter 2: The EncounterChapter 3: Understanding And ConfusionPrologue: The PortalHalf-Life: Preparations “Well shit.” Troy muttered as he eyed the strange machine standing idle in the large room. “Dude, what is that? Collin asked as he approached it, his MP5K hanging from his shoulder, his hood covered his lean face and messy blond hair. “Hell if I know, hey Ally! Come here!” Troy responded, turning and shouting down the dark corridor behind the two befuddled boys. Ally, Troy's girlfriend, and soldier in arms, walked into the room, and surveyed it's dark confines, before her eyes rested on the large machine in front of them. It was roughly ten feet tall, and looked almost like a kind of doorway. She gave Troy a questioning look, “Well well well, is that some kind of prototype teleporter?” She asked, nodding towards the machine. This was why Troy loved her. She was smart, funny, pretty, and damn did she know how to shoot. She was a dead eye with her Overwatch sniper rifle, which was strapped to her back. She pulled her hood down, letting her long golden hair spill over her shoulders and back in a river of gold. Her icy blue eyes examined the Consoles next to the machine. “Zak! Get in here!” She shouted, her eyes never leaving the machine. She calmly started walking towards the console to the right of the machine. “Uh, Allison, do you really thing we should be messing with this thing? Who knows what it can do?” Collin questioned, worry laced his voice, nevertheless, he and Troy stepped aside when Allison reached them, allowing her access to the console. Behind her, Zak ran through the door. His AK74 resting in his hands and his Combine mask pushed onto his head, exposing his hard cut face. Suspicion and hate were all too evident in his eyes... they always were. All four of the resistance fighters in the room were teenagers, being born the year the Combine invaded or, the next year. Troy and Alley were both eighteen, while Zak and Collin were both nineteen. “What's up?” Zak asked, looking around the room. “What the fuck?” He asked pointing towards the machine with his rifle. “Ally thinks it's some kind of prototype teleporter, right?” Troy asked casting a glance back to his girlfriend. She simply grunted in response as she was focusing on the lit up console in front of her, her fingers flying over the controls. “Yeah, she does.” Troy deadpanned. For the first time since she started working with the interface, Allison made a statement more developed than single words and grunt, by saying, “This teleporter can cross universes like the others, but this one's different somehow. If I'm reading this right, and I don't think I'm not, this doesn't just cross universes, it crosses alternate universes.” The boys exchanged glances and without speaking asked each other, “Who's going to sound like an idiot?” The decision was made when Zak and Troy both looked at Collin with expecting looks. Collin sighed and asked question of the day, “I thought all the universes were alternate.” Allison wished she could facepalm, but she was too busy attending to much more important matters. Luckily she didn't need to use her mouth to work the interface, allowing her to properly humiliate Collin. “No, captain dipshit, those are simply other universes. This is an alternate version of Earth! It's astounding! I heard Dr. Kliener talking about this kind of thing, but never did I think it was possible, but if this works, We could go to a version of Earth where the Combine never invaded!” Now all the boys shared expressions similar to Allison's. “I'm downloading the information now, give me a minute.” Allison said with new found determination. The boys were all restless, attempting to find something to do to pass the time, to quench the giddy excitement they all felt “ So are we clear?” Collin asked Zak, leaning against one of the walls, his MP7 hanging loosely from his right hand, he was balling and un-balling his other hand in the pocket of his hoodie. “Yeah, we're clear, and I sealed the door with Sparky too.” Zak replied, before reaching in one of his numerous pockets and withdrawing a small hand held tool, similar to an EMP tool. It was a small mining tool which used extremely high powered concentrated electric bolts, magnified through a tiny field enhancer, the result was like an old taser, except it could slice through rock and bone like it was nothing. On top of that, if used right, it could act as a makeshift welding device as well. Zak tossed Sparky to Collin, who casually reached out and caught it in his hand, then stuffing it into his own pocket. “So how long to you think we have?” Troy asked, worriedly. There objective was to infiltrate and uncover what the Combine were working on. The facility the teenagers were in was deep underground, accessible only by a large freight elevator that brought them down. They were only supposed to investigate, not dig to deep into it. “Uh, like,” Zak was then cut off by a loud floor shaking blast. “Not long!” Zak shouted, reaching up with his left hand and pulling the mask down over his face, and drawing his AK74 “Sonofabitch!” Troy cursed quickly and raised his own weapon, aiming down the corridor the teenagers had emerged from. Collin quickly pushed himself off the wall and raised his MP7. The teleporter was in direct line of sight from the end of the corridor. “Ally we need this door closed. Like, now!” Troy shouted, aiming down the corridor. Combine footfalls echoed down the vacant hallway. Troy could barley make out the voice of the Combine radio saying, “All units is sector seven grid fifteen are to eliminate targets on sight, failure to do so will result in immediate termination.” “Busy!” Allison responded to Troy, furiously typing commands into the console. “Damn-it.” Troy groaned and leaped to the control pad next to the door. “Ally, what do I do?” Troy shouted in panic. “Just shoot it.” Ally said, as if she were explaining it to a slow person. Which she might as well have been. Troy raised his eyebrows and was about to question her, when he remembered what was at stake,and she was the one with the most experience. Troy took a step back and fired a small three round burst into the control panel. It sparked and hissed, causing Troy to take a step back, to avoid getting hit by the arching sparks. The door hissed and slid shut, sealing the four teenagers in the room. Separating the Combine and the teenagers was one ton of solid metal. “That won't keep them out long!” Zak shouted, keeping his weapon trained on the door. Troy, Collin, and Zak all backed up, until they were right in front of the teleporter and Allison. “Ally, are you sure about this?” Troy asked, keeping his weapon on the door. He heard the Combine reach the door and start trying to hack the panel. Would the shot panel be able to keep them out? Troy wasn't sure, but he silently prayed it would. “It's our only chance Troy.” Allison responded, keeping her gaze focused on the interface. Suddenly the teenagers heard the combine start to burn through the door using enhanced ADSSE weaponry. ADSSE was enhanced versions of the old ADS and had the ability to burn metal. Right before his eyes, Troy watched as the ADSSE slowly ate away at the door. “Ally!” Troy moaned, as he saw the metal start to glow red due to the heat. Suddenly, Troy heard a low whirring sound, followed by loud FWASH! As the room was bathed in light. Troy and the other boys whirled around to see the doorway part of the machine glowing green, Allison however, remained focused on her work. “Holy shit.” Troy uttered in astonishment, staring at the green light, which almost seemed to draw him in. “Go through now!” Allison shouted as she set the interface to clear the coordinates in thirty seconds. Without arguing, Troy dashed through the portal and was enveloped in green light. Right behind him, Collin and Zak ran through. Allsion, however, remained at the console for a few more seconds, as a small data drive was ejected from a small slit on the interface. She snatched it out, turned , and leaped into the portal. As soon as all four were through the Combine burned their way through the door. The lead sprinted to the console and slammed its fist down on the button. The portal closed, as the teleporter shut down. The Combine soldier stared at the spot where the portal had been, then down at the screen on the interface which now read two words; which had appeared when it had pressed the button... Coordinates saved. Oh what the fuck? Troy groaned in pain. His whole body ached. The first thing he noticed when he emerged from the green light was the sound of... birds? Troy's eyes flew open, as he quickly sat up, causing him to quickly become nauseous. Troy groaned and fell back to the forest floor. Wait what? There was someone lying on his legs. Ally. Troy reasoned. Troy looked around without sitting up. High above him were dark green treetops with thick lankly vines hanging from the top. “Ally?” Troy groaned, glancing down at his legs for his girlfriend. What he saw made him want to vomit. Instead of Allison on him it was... Zak, sound asleep. “Fuck's sake!” Troy shouted and kicked his leg, causing Zak to roll off him and onto the lush forest soil. “Ugh, what?” Zak mumbled as he woke when his face rolled into the dirt. “Goddamn Zak, now is not a time to be sleeping!” Troy shouted angrily at Zak, who was picking himself up off the ground. “Well, you've been asleep for like ten minuets.” A female voice came from Troy's right. Troy turned and looked, seeing Ally and Collin. Allison was leaning against a tree, while Collin was rooting through his backpack. Allison was grinning, as she saw Troy's shocked expression. “Ally, where the hell are we?” Troy asked, standing up slowly and looking around at the forest surrounding them. “Well, we're at the train depot.” Allison said, looking around herself. “In an alternate universe.” She followed up. “Maybe one where humans in general were never around, which means...” She let that hang. Zak, and Troy however had not heard the explanation she had given to Collin earlier. “Means what?” Troy asked worriedly. “Allison sighed and slowly, choosing her words, said, “Which means, that we... might not be able to get back home.” She was looking at the ground while she talked, when she looked up, she saw Troy and Zak's horrified expressions. “You're fucking joking right? I mean... right?” Zak asked, quickly getting angry. Collin looked up from where he was taking inventory on their supplies. “Nope, she's not.” He said dejectedly. After years of fighting and loosing people they loved, the thought of total isolation from all of humanity was not as hard hitting as it would've been to other people. Nonetheless, the boys were devastated. Troy fell backwards onto his backside, shaking his head and staring at the ground. Zak stood silently fuming until he turned around, cocked his fist back, and punched the nearest tree as hard as he could. The result was a powerful WHAP! Causing his knuckles to bleed. “Zak.” Allison started. But was soon cut off by Zak when he said, “No, Ally!” He said, using Allison's nickname in scorn, “Don't fucking tell me to calm down! I will never see my dad again!” He shouted, rage spewing out of his features. Blood dripped from his knuckles. “Fuck you all!” He screamed and stormed off in a random direction in the forest. “Zak!” Troy shouted and started off after him. Allison and Collin collected their things and followed the fuming teenage boy. “Zak, your just going deeper! C'mon man just come back!” Troy said in a desperate tone. Zak was pushing vines and tree branches out of his way as he stormed through the thicket. “No! Fuck every single one of you I'm done! I'm fucking-” Zak stopped as he stormed into a clearing and was met with a ten foot tall statue. “Oh.” Zak said in astonishment. The other three teenagers soon emerged and saw what Zak was seeing. A ten foot statue of a horse with a horn and wings. It was rearing back in a scream. Stone hair was billowing in standstill. “Woah!” Collin murmured, mouth hung open. “Cool.” “Cool? Who cares if it's cool, this means that there's people here man! We can still get home!” Troy shouted excitedly. Zak stood, mouth agape. “So...” Troy started, “Now what?” Allison was about to answer when a female voice was heard from down a path which lead to the statue. “Come on girls, I'm telling you it was somewhere around here!” The teenager's eyes grew wide. “Scatter!” Troy whispered urgently. The teenagers all, dove into the nearby bushes for cover, and lay there silently, watching the path. A few seconds later a lavender unicorn emerged from the path. Troy looked across the small clearing and saw Allison laying in the bushes, her face hidden from view unless you were looking. He raised his eyebrows, and Allison slowly shook her head. Troy nodded and prayed that Zak and Collin would have enough sense to lay low. The unicorn looked around the clearing, before her eyes rested on something laying in front of the statue. Troy's eyes grew wide with fear as he realized it was Collin's backpack. Collin you dumb son of a bitch! “What's this?” The unicorn questioned. Did... did that horse thing just talk? Allison had heard it too, and was staring at the unicorn with shock. “What is it Twi?” Another voice asked, this one with a southern tang. Behind the first, emerged an orange pony with a stetson hat riding it's head. The situation was just getting more and more fucked up. Troy slowly, ever so slowly, reached down and grasped the handle of his sidearm. Behind the two horses, emerged four more. There was two with wings, one was cyan with a rainbow colored mane, and the other was yellow with a pink flowing mane. Then there was the other unicorn, a marshmallow white with a luscious purple mane, and finally an all pink one with a bouncy fluffy pink mane, this one was hopping up and down restlessly. “Well it looks like a kind of saddlebag, and an extremely unfashionable one at that.” The white unicorn said, eyeballing the pack. On that front Troy had to agree, it was just black and gray to camouflage with the urban environment. It was then that Troy had realized that a unicorn had just made a fashion statement. Okay seriously, what the fuck! Allison must have been thinking the same thing, because she shrugged as if to say, “Just go with it.” Suddenly, the rainbow colored one flew from the back of the group to the bag, before pawing through it with one hoof. “Rainbow! We don't know whose this is! We can't just go digging through it.” The lavender unicorn, Twi, said. In response, the pegasus, Rainbow, reached in with her muzzle and withdrew with something it it's mouth. Troy tried to focus on what it was, but couldn't see it. Whatever it was, it was small. Rainbow set it on the ground and examined it. “Twilight, what is this?” It asked, pawing at the thing on the ground. Before Twi, or Twilight, could respond, Troy almost choked as Allison jumped up from the bushes, confronting the six assorted ponies. She had in her hands, Troy's serrated machete, which he had given to her as a gift. “Back away now.” Allison growled. The six ponies all shook with fear, the yellow one about ready to pass out. They all backed away, closer to Troy, all except Rainbow, who stood her ground against Allison. “And just what the buck are you?” Rainbow shouted, getting in a fighting stance. This just went from bad to worse. Troy had no choice, he drew his sidearm, and stood up from the bushes, aiming at the six ponies. “Don't try it horse girl.” He ordered, aiming straight at her. Seeing Troy do it, Collin and Zak both stood up from where they had been hiding, they both had their weapons drawn. “Back off, now.” Troy ordered again. Rainbow quickly backed away from the object, at which point, Allison quickly leaned forward and snatched it up, before stuffing it into her pocket. “T-T-Twilight?” The yellow one stammered. Twilight just seemed to be in total shock, the pink one was horrified, while the others all stood in confusion. “You're human!” Twilight nearly screamed. Her eyes growing wider. “Yeah, we are, now, you're going to turn around and your going to carry you little horse asses back down that path to wherever you came from, got it?” Zak asked coldly, aiming his AK74 at them. Twilight furiously nodded her head, and started backing down the path, the others right behind her. The four teenagers all formed a line, aiming their weapons at them. When they got far enough down the path, they all turned and ran, screaming down the path. When they were out of sight, Troy commented, not for the first time that day, “Well shit.” Chapter 1: So it Begins“Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! Humans! In the forest! We need to tell Princess Celestia! We need to tell the Royal Guard! We need to warn all of Equestria!” Pinkie Pie shouted, as she bounced around the room in fear. Twilight however, was furiously pulling books off the shelves and discarding the ones she didn't need. There was never anything in these books on those things those humans carried. If only Lyra hadn't moved, I'm sure she would've loved to help. Twilight sighed, there wasn't any time for that. “Pinkie, our books never said anything about humans eating meat.” Twilight assured the uppity pink pony, whilst digging through more of her books. “Will somepony please tell me what ah human is?” Applejack asked from one corner of the room as she watched more and more books float off the shelves. “They're mythical creatures said to have lived long before the Princesses.” Twilight answered, only to be followed up by Pinkie Pie, who said, “They also eat meat! They could come here to Ponyville and eat everypony!” She shrieked, before jumping under a nearby table, and pulling the chair in front of her, doing little to hide her from view. “I'd like to see them try!” Rainbow Dash said, as she bucked the air, “I'll show them!” She said determinedly, before bucking the chair that Pinkie Pie was hiding behind, causing the bouncy pink mare to shriek and dart from under the desk, behind Applejack. “But why would anypony want to eat other animals? It's just wrong.” Fluttershy asked as she watched the spectacle unfold before her timid eyes. “For the last time Pinkie, we have no proof that humans eat meat.” Twilight said, quickly losing her temper. Not only are the very creatures that Lyra had proposed to be real, turned out to be real, but they can speak Equestrian, and they threatened us! This made no sense. The humans they had seen looked more advanced than the ones she and Lyra had read about. “No! My grandmother told me that humans were horrible monsters that would feast on animals flesh!” Pinkie Pie said, leaning from behind Applejack, who sidestepped, allowing Pinkie Pie to be fully seen. At this, Pinkie Pie, squealed and quickly dashed back behind Applejack, who sighed and allowed herself to be used as a shield. “If they do eat other animals, then we have to warn the Princesses about those ruffians.” rarity spoke up for the first time since the discovery of the four humans. “Ah agree with Rarity, They could be ah threat to Ponyville, maybe even all of Equestria! Applejack said. Suddenly, Spike, a young baby dragon, appeared at the top of the stairs, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “What's everypony doing down there? I'm trying to sleep.” He said groggily. “Spike! You'll never believe it! Humans are real! We found four of them in the Everfree Forest! This could change everything! Lyra was right, I have to mail her!” Twilight almost shouted, looking upward at spike with giddy excitement. Spike merely stared stupidly at her for a few seconds, before replying, “Uh, that's great Twilight, really, but uh, what's a human?” He asked innocently. Twilight blushed heavily, “Oh right, I never told you, sorry. Humans are mythological creatures said to have lived long before the rule of the princesses. They were more advanced than us and were extremely smart. They didn't use magic and had to rely on their own creations for the things we can do with magic. It's truly fascinating, and we found four of them in the Everfree Forest.! Granted, they did threaten us, but that was because SOMEPONY, had to go rooting through their belongings.” Twilight explained, casting a glance at Rainbow Dash, who was oblivious doing her pony kung-fu moves. Kicking and smacking the air around her in a frenzy of hoofs. “And they eat meat!” Pinkie cried from behind Applejack. “They eat meat?! Do they eat dragons?” Spike asked fearfully, looking around the room. “Pinkie!” Twilight scolded, facehoofing. “Shouldn't we warn the Princesses?” Spike asked worriedly. “Once we get more information on them, afterall, I never did send my report to Princess Celestia. I'm sure she'd love to hear from and actual human!” Twilight said with excitement. “Now wait just a darn minute here Twi', If'n these humans do eat meat, Ah don't think we should be askin' them questions.” Applejack said sternly. Twilight sighed, “The Princess will know what to do, if I she gives me permission, then will that convince you that they're not dangerous?” She asked. In response, Spike, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy all nodded. Pinkie Pie furiously shook her head back and forth, whipping her puffy pink hair to and fro. And Rainbow Dash simple karate hoofed a chair in half before letting out a loud, “HIYA!” “Alright then, Spike, take a letter.” Twilight began, still ignoring Pinkie Pie's gestures. “Dear Princess Celestia, Tonight at 8:26 PM, a large flash of light was spotted over the Everfree Forest. Upon investigation, myself and the other Elements of Harmony discovered four humans, even though they're said to be extinct. I am asking your permission to further investigate with the Elements, and attempt to make more progressive contact. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle” As Twilight finished, Spike's fire breath enveloped the letter with bright green flames, looking almost like the flash they had seen that night. “Alright girls, we'll just wait for a response and then, oh, here it is now!” Twilight said, with a tiny hint of worry. Why would the princess send a response that quickly? Either she's really excited or really... scared. Spike unfurled the letter and alarmingly read, “No! Myself and my sister are on our way as you read this, do not attempt to make contact with the humans! We will arrive shortly.” Twilight was stunned. Meanwhile... “What the fuck is going on?!” Collin shouted. The four teenage rebels were now roughly half a mile form where they had encountered the six varied ponies. “I mean, talking horses, unicorns, and pegesi? I mean really? What the fucking shit?!” Collin was pacing back and forth in front of the small campfire the teenagers had constructed. They had all packed sleeping bags in their bags, as well as matches and other survival essentials, after all, you never know when you're going to have to get out of dodge. “Ally, do you have any idea where we are?” Troy asked, sitting on his sleeping bag. Allison sat across from him, between them, the flickering fire. Zak stood off to one side, keeping watch. Allison sighed, “Honestly? No. All I know is that we're in some alternate version of the train depot. Other than that... I really can't say.” She answered dejectedly. “So now what?” Collin asked fearfully. “I mean it's not like we can go after those horses again, we pulled automatic weapons on them! They're probably hunting for us right now!” Collin said, burying his face into his hands. “Oh sonofabitch, I knew we shouldn't have tried this and now look!” Collin shouted, indicating to the surrounding forest thicket. “Hey, in case you didn't notice, we didn't have a choice! It was either, we find out what the Combine were up to, or we wait until they used it against us!” Troy said angrily. Collin came to a stop, sighed, and said, “I know, I know, I just need something to be mad at right now.” He said, before eying the campfire. Here it comes. “Why do we have campfire, when we're being hunted?” Collin shouted, waving his hands at the small fire. “Do you want to be captured by pastel colored unicorns, or freeze to death?” Allison replied coolly, which officially shut Collin up for good. “Besides, we don't even know if they're hunting us, I mean they're fucking horses for god's sake! They're probably all still sitting around wondering what the hell happened!” Troy followed up. Collin gave a wry grin before replying, “Yeah... yeah, you're probably right.” Then sitting down in front of the fire. “So, now what?” Back in Ponyville... “And you say that was when she revealed herself?” Princess Celestia asked with interest. “Yes princess, Rainbow Dash removed a strange object from the bag, causing the humans to take action.” Twilight answered. The Elements of Harmony all stood behind Twilight whilst she briefed the princesses. Two royal guards waited outside the door. “I see, and you say that they threatened you with large objects made of wood and metal?” She asked again. “That is also true, they told us to uh, “Carry our little horse asses back to wherever we came from.” Twilight said, recalling the humans odd choice of words. I presume he means our backsides. “Interesting.” Princess Celestia remarked as she broke down the human's sentence. “He doesn't know where Ponyville is, and he probably doesn't know what Ponyville is, you say that they all seemed nervous or shocked?” She asked. “They had good reason to be nervous.” Rainbow Dash muttered from behind Twilight, before she stomped the ground with her hoof. The Princess pretended not to notice, and continued, “It seems to me, that they might not have ever seen a pony before.” She said at last. “B-but how is that possible? Ponies are the dominant species? How could they've never seen one?” Twilight asked, she had presumed that humans had been hiding all theses years, but how could they've never seen a pony? “My little ponies... there is something I must tell you... and Lyra has a role in it.” In the Everfree Forest... “What was that?” Collin whispered in the cold night air. The fire crackled next to him, casting flickering shadows over the tree trunks. Overall the scene was extremely unnerving and played with your senses. “It's nothing, go to sleep.” Zak groaned, and rolled over in his sleeping bag, so he was facing away from the fire. Allison was propped against a tree, her lower half wrapped in the sleeping bag. In her hands, she held Zak's Ak74. Troy was snoring softly, missing the entire conversation. “Naw dude, I swear I heard something. There it is again!” He said, reaching out and grasping his Mp5k. “I swear to god, If you talk again I will fucking- wait... Oh shit I hear it too.” Zak whispered, grabbing his pistol from the bag next to him. Allison quickly stood up and shook Troy awake. She didn't know what they were talking about, she didn't hear a damn thing other than Troy's snoring and the fire. Troy snorted and awoke with a start. “Huh, what is it?” He said, shaking himself awake quickly. Allison grabbed Troy's Ar2 from her bag and handed it to Troy. He propped himself up with the weapon and stood up, fumbling for the safety in the near dark. That's when Allison and Troy heard it... The snap of a branch under a foot, and the low heaves of a large animal taking a breath. The four teenagers all formed a circle next to the fire. For a minuet they heard nothing, then they heard it all at once, or heard them all at once. Out of nowhere, six large wolf like creatures made of wood pounced from the edge of the forest into the teenage rebel's tiny clearing. “The fuck?” Troy shouted, aiming his Ar2 at the nearest and largest one. It reared back and howled to the moon, the others soon followed suit. The situation was quickly getting out of hand. That's when Zak came up with a snap decision that saved them... and doomed them. “Fuck em' up!” He screamed before unloading his pistol clip into the cranium of the nearest wolf creature. It collapsed to the earth... Only to get back up again. The other teenagers soon followed Zak's lead, unloading their clips into the bodies of the deformed wolves. They all were met with the same results. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” Collin screamed as the wolf he had shot was now standing back up, but missing half it's head. That's when it hit Allison. These wolves are made of wood like... like... timber wolves? Allison didn't have time to question it, she quickly reached behind her and grasped the end of a large branch from the camp fire. She swung it towards the wolf in front of her. It collided with it's head, instantly igniting it. Fire danced across it's head, spreading to the rest of it's body as it howled in pain. The other wolves turned and stared at their fallen comrade. Fire licked across it's body and slowly burned away at the outside, working it's way deeper into it's very soul. The others yelped with fear, turned, and dashed back into the thicket, wooden tails between their wooden legs. The rebels all stood their speechless. Until the silence was broken by Troy who commented “Well shit.” Allison cast him a glance, and he ginned like a fool. Ponyville... “So Lyra was... human all along?!” Twilight nearly shouted. The other Elements all shared expressions of shock as well. “And you sent her back to her world?!” Twilight followed up. The princess nodded to both questions. “Do you think those humans are form Lyra's world?” Twilight asked the princess. The princess slowly shook her head. “To be honest, I'm not sure. We don't know how many different worlds there are, these humans could have come from anyone of those.” She said “We need to send them back.” Princess Luna said from behind her older sister. It was the first time Luna had talked the entire time. The Elements hadn't really been paying attention to her, but she had been listening intently the whole time. “Of course sister, but first we must find- wait, did you hear that?” Princess Celestia asked, cocking her head. The Elements all listened closely. Off in the distance, the sound of popping and loud booms could be heard. Followed by howls of pain from Timber Wolves. “The humans?” Twilight asked. “It sound more like machinery to me.” Applejack stated as she listened to the noises. When the suddenly stopped, but the howls continued, then were cut short. “You don't think the humans a-a-ate it do you?” Fluttershy asked from the back of the group, fear was almost seeping out of her face. “I don't know my little pony, but whatever they are doing, we must find them.” Princess Celestia said. “Guards!” She shouted towards the door. Immediately, the two, whom had been posted outside, rushed into the library, then stood at attention. “Guards, prepare the chariot, and retrieve Captain Spear Head, we're going to the Everfree Forest.” Chapter 2: The Encounter“Dude, we got to get to getting!” Zak shouted as he quickly stuffed his sleeping bag into the small fabric cover, tying it to his pack. “Zak's right Troy, those horses are going to hear the gunshots, and probably come investigate.” Allison said as she snuffed the fire out by quickly throwing her blanket on it and quickly pulling it off again, suffocating the flames. “Collin you ready?” Troy asked as he pulled his pack on an strapped the front to keep it from falling. “Yeah, let's go!” Collin said, zipping up his hoodie and drawing up the hood. And with that, the four teenage rebels plunged back into the thicket, going the opposite direction the wolves had gone. “C'mon! Keep up!” Zak shouted as the teenagers' line of sight with each other were broken up by large trees and massive exposed roots. They stumbled through the thicket of the forest, when suddenly, they all broke out of the thicket and into open space. “Oh, finally!” Collin exclaimed, taking in deep breathes. Allison's face grew worrisome, “This isn't good, if we're in the open, they can find us easier.” She said. “Yeah, well it's better than wandering around a forest being hunted by wolves made of... wood.” Collin said. Zak and Troy both nodded their heads in agreement. “Wait, wait, wait! Let's recap what has happened in the past two or three hours shall we? We went through a combine teleporter, which brought us to a world with talking unicorns, horses, and pegasi in it, and wolves made of wood... and we want to keep exploring why?” Allison asked. Troy, Zak, and Collin all traded looks. “I don't know, cause we want to get out of that forest?” Collin replied “Cause I'm bored.” Zak answered. “Cause it's two on one.” Troy deadpanned. “Ugh, boys.” Allison muttered and face palmed, as the four teenagers trekked farther away from the forest and closer to their unknown destination, bathed in moonlight. In the Library... “Captain Spear Head reporting your highness!” Shouted the unicorn, standing at attention before the two princesses. He was a pearl white with a golden yellow mane, hidden by his gold and silver plated helmet. “At ease Captain.” Princess Celestia said calmly. The Captain, ignoring her soothing tone, assumed a more “relaxed” posture. “Captain, you are to take the Elements of Harmony as well as two of your guards. You will be encountering a species I thought to be long extinct.” She said, leaving out the part about her knowing a human, “The species you will be looking for,” She also used the word looking for, as opposed to “Hunting” for. Which, given the circumstances, was probably the word she needed to use. “Is called a human.” She continued. “Humans are bipedal creatures that are strong and extremely intelligent. Expect them to resist, but try to refrain from harming them.” She said. Actually, the Princess wasn't sure if she didn't want them harmed. She still had no idea weather these humans were actively aggressive, or if they were just frightened and confused by being in another world. “They are armed and can be considered dangerous. Try to keep your distance, and protect the Elements at all cost.” She said. “Yes your highness.” Spearhead responded, his gaze fixated on the Princess. “Uh, Princess, why are we going along?” Twilight asked. “You six young mares have the best chance at being able to reason with them. They are probably just scared and lost.” She said in a sad tone. “No being should go through something like this alone, and with your help, I think you six can be able to help them through this.” She said. Applejack nodded, determinedly, along with Twilight and Rarity. However, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, were still skeptical. “You can count on us Princess!” Twilight said determinedly, with a quick nod of her head. “Come on girls!” She said, before rushing out the door, followed by her five friends, and the Captain. Captain Spearhead motioned for the two royal guards, who always stood guard whenever the Princess was visiting, and said “Private Sword, Private Shield, both of you, with me!” The Captain ordered the two guards. “Yes sir!” They chorused, and followed after their captain, who in turn, was following the Elements; watching in every direction for movment, as they made their was out of town, and towards the dark, forbidding, Everfree Forest. Outside the Everfree Forest... “Jesus Christ! Would the two of you please just shut the fuck up for five seconds?!” Allison screamed in rage at Collin and Zak, while her boyfriend cowered in fear of her rage. They had been walking for only five minutes, and already she was pissed. Collin and Zak had been in a heated argument over weather or not an Ar3 existed, and if if did, who used it. Due to Allison's outburst, they had noticeably lowered their voiced to a near whisper. “It doesn't exist, what kind of idiot would believe that?” Collin asked, throwing his hands up. “Yes it does, and me!” Zak retorted, jamming a thumb at his chest. “Okay then, so where is it?” Collin asked, with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “It's in their labs, you know, like the one we found?” Zak said. Collin was about to retort, when he realized, Zak was right. There could be a lab with some kind of prototype Ar3 in development. After what they had done in the last lab, anything was possible. “Fine, you win.” Collin muttered in defeat. “What was that? I couldn't quite hear.” Zak said, putting a hand to his ear. “Could you please speak up?” He asked innocently. “I said you win.” Collin forced out of his mouth, cringing for the inevitable. It came quickly. “Damn straight I win! You just can't take this can you?” Zak asked, indicating himself. He quickly shut up, when he realized that the conversation had once again reached a high note, and Allison was now staring Zak down. Zak didn't fear much, but Allison was and exception. Back to the Mane Six and the three guards...(sounds like a children's story) The captain had briefed the two guards who, while they didn't show, were having a hard time believing. They had been walking for the better part of ten minutes, and were about five from the Everfree Forest. This didn't stop the Captain from keeping full alert. His eyes watched the surrounding countryside, following every movement. Twilight walked in front, followed by: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and finally Captain Spearhead. The group was flanked by Privates Sword, and Shield, who were as much alert as their captain. “I really don't think we should be doing this.” Pinkie Pie said fearfully, from the back of the group. “I mean, I want to help cheer them up, but my grandmother told me that humans were awful creatures.” She continued. Twilight sighed. “Pinkie, we've been over this, the humans were just scared, we don't have anything to worry about. Besides, the humans in Princess Celestia's tale were influenced by Discord.” Twilight said reassuringly. “No, she said that the humans were always like that, Discord just helped them!” Pinkie Pie said, even more frightened now than before. At this point, Fluttershy was starting to shake, and Applejack and Rarity were starting to get unnerved. Rainbow Dash on the other hand (hoof) was just getting more and more pumped up. “I'll show em'!” She muttered. “Give them the one two buck. The old Rainbow flip buck. Yeah, awesome.” She said to herself. Twilight sighed, having given up on the situation. “Girls, it'll be okay, just-” She suddenly stopped talking, as she heard voices arguing on the other side of a small hill ahead of them. “Hide! We want to observe them first.” Twilight said quickly, before they all took up hiding behind various trees and shrubs. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy both gratefully hid behind a small tree, forcing them to get just a little too close for comfort; but to them, it was better than being out there. Twilight had to pull Rarity, on account that she didn't want to mess up her mane, into a small shrub; much like the one Allison had been in. Applejack and Captain Spearhead both dashed behind a small hill next to the tree Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were behind. Sword and Shield both leaped into a small bush, while Rainbow Dash, reluctantly, flew up into the tree Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were behind, and laid on a branch near the top of the tree. Not thirty seconds after they were all hidden, did the four humans appear over the top of the hill. Sword and Shield held back gasps, while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy held back cries. “I'm so sick of hearing you two talk.” The female that had jumped them earlier said in an angry tone, as she marched down the hill. One of the males was walking beside her with a worrisome look on his face as he glanced from the female to the two males behind him. Now Twilight could get a good look at them. They appeared to be young, how old, she couldn't tell, but by their voices she had to guess maybe a little younger than her and her friends. She realized that, that was pretty young, maybe seventeen or nineteen. “It's okay Ally.” One of the males said, using the name “Ally” in a mocking tone. “Maybe a nickname? “Oi, that's my name!” The male next to her said, casting a threatening look at the other. “Whatever Troy, you and your girlfriend can call each other whatever you want to! Just don't say them around me.” The male responded. The male next to the female, Troy, responded by saying, “I'll call her what I want to, wherever the fuck I want to asshole!” He said vehemently. “Maybe if you didn't call her by her nickname EVERY time, I wouldn't use it too!” The one in the back said. “Dude, your pissing her off.” The other male in the back said worriedly. “Yeah, you're treading on thin ice.” Ally responded coldly. By now, they were in the exact spot the group from Ponyville had been standing, and it was at that time, that a large bug fell out of Rarity's mane, and onto her snout. Her eyes went cross eyed as she stared at the bug on her snout. It turned and looked at her with two small beady black eyes. Rarity's crossed eyes grew wide and everything seemed to slowdown. Twilight had been so focused on the humans, she hadn't been paying attention to Rarity, and couldn't stop what came next. Rarity let out a piercing squeal, and leaped out of the shrub and directly in front of the humans, who stopped dead in their tracks and just stared as the snow white pony flailed and squealed. Then she suddenly stopped, with a large bug hanging from the tip of her mane, and stared at the four humans, who in turn, stared right back. Then Rarity suddenly keeled over and passed out. “See Allison can scare the shit out of everything she encounters!” The male from the back said laughing. It was then that the the rest of the Mane Six, and guards, leaped out of their various hiding spots and confronted the humans. The ponies on one side of a passed out Rarity, and the humans on the other. “Oh shit it's them!” Troy shouted, raising the metal thing hanging from his shoulder. “I told you they were hunting us!” The one in the back cried out fearfully, raising his own weapon. Twilight's mind was racing, as the three guards, and Rainbow Dash, were quickly gearing up for a fight. “No wait, it's okay, we're not going to hurt you!” She said quickly. “Yeah? Then why were you hunting for us?” The one in the back asked suspiciously. “Because we want to help you!” Twilight said in a comforting tone. She could tell now. These were just fillies. They were just scared and lost. “Huh? W-what happened?” came a dazed voice from the ground. Everyone (and everypony) looked down to see Rarity groggily raising her head. She quickly gained focus and the first thing she saw was Allison aiming a metal device at her head. Needless to say, Rarity screamed. She leaped up and jumped onto Applejack's back, wrapping her hooves around her neck. Applejack was less than thrilled to be used as a shield yet again. Luckily, Rarity quickly came to her senses and let go of Applejack, fluffed out her mane, and turned to face the humans, along with the rest of her friends. “That didn't happen.” She said nervously. “Yeeeeeah, I'm just going to pretend that I didn't see that.” Troy said, dragging out the “e” in “yeah” “Listen, we just want to help.” Twilight said again. “Or kick your flanks if you try to fight!” Rainbow Dash said aggressively. Applejack leaned over and whispered into her ear, “We're trying tah help em' not fight em' just give em' a chance.” She said, hoping that she could believe her own words. Rainbow huffed and crossed her hoofs. “Fine.” She said like a teenage girl who had just been denied to the prom, much to Troy's amusement. “But one wrong move,” Rainbow quickly followed up, “And I'll buck your flank right outa Ponyville buster!” She said, specifiably to Troy, after seeing his amused expression. “I like this one!” The male in the back said, much to everyone's surprise. Troy sighed. “Well Ally, what do you think?” He asked. Allison waited a long time before answering. In that time, she was sizing up the group. Three soldiers, two cowards, One headstrong, one leader, and two neutral. “Yeah.” She simply said, before lowering her weapon. An awkward silence ensued, which was broken when Twilight asked, “So, what are your names?” Troy was yet again amused by the purple talking horse, asking for his name. “I'm Troy, this is Allison, my girlfriend, Zak, and Collin.” He said indicating to the two males behind him. “How bout' you?” He asked. Twilight breathed a mental sigh of relief. No fighting, no arguments, this was easier than she had expected. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. And this is Captain Spearhead, and privates Sword and Shield.” She said. “Wow, those are some gay ass names.” Zak whispered to Collin, who rolled his eyes. After yet another awkward silence, This time it was Troy who broke the ice. “So... you come here often?” He said jokingly. Twilight face hoofed, and Allison face palmed. Upon seeing this, they started to realize something... they weren't so different after all. Meanwhile... “They say it won't be working for at least another day.” Dr. Boondock said as he stood before administrator, Dr. Conners. Boondock glanced around nervously as Conners bore into him. I don't think you realize how vital it is that we find those rebels.” Conners said coldly. “Sir, I realize what they took, but it's out of my hands! Until the technicians can repair the core, we can't even turn it on.” He said desperately. “If you can't do it, I'll find someone who can, and don't think I can't. Conners replied threateningly. Boondock sighed and replied defeated, “Yes sir.” Before turning and shambling out of the office. As the security door slid shut behind him, Conners turned and stared out the large window which allowed him to view his city. City 64. This was not good. Those rebels had taken the plans for the inter-universe teleporter, a revolutionary device. The only question was, where did they run off to? Chapter 3: Understanding And ConfusionThe two parties stood staring at each other for a few awkward minutes. In that time, Zak had brought his Combine mask out of his pack, and set it on his head, so it was resting on the top of his head. This drew questioning looks from the ponies. Collin, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were all casting suspicious and worried looks. Troy stood, wishing he had a smoke (which were extremely hard to come by as it was, let alone in a world filled with talking ponies) and Allison was eyeballing the three royal guards. “You three.” Allison said, nodding her head towards Captain spearhead and Privates Sword and Shield. “You had ranks, are you soldiers?” She asked suspiciously. After all, her only knowledge of soldiers, was that they liked to kill people, and that Earth's had all been eliminated in under seven hours. Neither of those gave soldiers a good reputation in Allison's mind. “We are enlisted in the royal guard of Equestria. We are not “soldiers”. Captain Spearhead said, trying out the foreign word. Allison picked up on this and asked, “Do you know what a soldier is?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. At this point, everyone was listening to this conversation. “No, we have never heard of a soldier, please, enlighten us.” Spearhead said. “Yes please do. There is so much we can learn.” Twilight said, inching closer to the group, who at this point, had still kept their distance from one another. Troy and Allison glanced at each other. If these things had never heard of soldiers, then there must be no war. Or at least no major wars. Guess it was time to shatter some innocence. “A soldier is someone who, well... kills for a living.” Troy said, trying to recall what he had heard of soldiers before the Combine, and pairing that with what the Combine soldiers did. The expressions of the ponies were shocked to say the least. Rainbow's confidence nearly plummeted at the thought of fighting things that could casually kill another person, or pony. Even the guards stood dumbfounded. Pinkie Pie's Abnormally fluffy pink mane, deflated as she started to tear up. “Great, now you've scared them. Look at this one, she's fucking petrified!” Zak said, indicating Fluttershy, who looked about ready to pass out. Twilight stumbled over thoughts in her head. “B-but how could somepony just kill? I-I mean it's just...” She was at a loss for words. The Princess had mentioned war, but she had said that the other world could have been different. Maybe it wasn't just equestira's humans, maybe all humans are violent. The guard's looks went from shocked to insulted. “No, we are not killers, we are royal guards.” Spearhead said, saying “killers” with disgust. “Look at their armor dude.” Zak whispered to Troy. “It's gold. Gold! And it's a pretty shitty design too. The Combine would decimate these things.” Troy nodded solemnly “So you have no war?” Collin asked with shock. The thought of a world with no war was foreign to him, and the other rebels, as they had grown up fighting to survive under the oppression of the Combine. Twilight stood, remembering how humans had wiped themselves out in Equestria's history. Apparently, the Princess was right when she had assumed the humans from the other world were the same way. I just hope Lyra's okay. Twilight thought to herself, “No, Equestria has never had wars of any kind.” Twilight answered sternly, as if to warn the humans not to start one. Troy chuckled grimly, “No war? Man, this day just gets weirder and weirder.” He said dryly. The ponies picked up on this, but that didn't change the fact that, apparently, war; was a common occurrence for them. Troy, Zak, and Collin didn't notice it, but all the ponies scooted back just a few centimeters away from the humans. Allison saw it though. “Ha! You are scared of us? Just wait until you hear about the Combine!” She said, leaning onto one foot. Twilight shook slightly at the thought of something worse than a soldier. “C-Combine?” She asked. That was when Collin spoke up, “Uh, yeah speaking of, the Combine can't follow us... right?” He asked the group, but mostly directing the question towards Allison. She shook her head, causing her golden hair to wave back and forth. “No, I deleted the coordinates before I went through.” She said, trying to reassure him... and herself. She hadn't even thought of the Combine being able to follow them. Damn talking unicorns, making me lose my focus. Allison's extreme attention to detail, was what made her so good with the sniper rifle, which was slung across her back , her hood resting against it. The ponies tried, and failed, to follow along with what she was saying, but all the terms meant nothing to them; aside from coordinates. “What're these, Com-Bine?” Applejack asked suspiciously. As far as she was concerned, all the humans were bad news, and these Combine, sounded like the worst news. “Do you want the long version, or the short?” Troy asked, crossing his arms. “Long.” Twilight said immediately. “Now hold on here sugarcube, Ah don't think we should be standing in this here field all day.” Applejack said, indicating their surroundings. Twilight blushed, and sheepishly replied, “O-oh yeah, sorry. Short version.” The rebels exchanged looks and turned to Troy. “Oh god-dammit, fine. The Combine are essentially, aliens. But not from space, they're from another universe altogether. Is that right?” Troy asked, turning to Allison, who nodded. “Right, so, they came about 15? 16 years ago? Something like that. Anyway, They started channeling shock troops into our world and decimating almost everything that moved. They wiped out the entire planet's soldiers in under seven hours.” The ponies were horrified. “B-But how can you kill something that can kill so casually?” Twilight asked. “By being a better killer.” Zak replied, and while the other ponies didn't pick up on it, Spearhead couldn't help but think Zak was, in some way, referring to himself. “Right, so anyway, they wiped out our military, which is who the soldiers worked for, and started slaughtering innocent people.” Once again, the ponies shared appalled looks. The guards eyed each other out of the corner of their eyes, and prepared for any trouble. “After they stopped randomly killing everything, they started to... occupy? Dominate? I don't know, they just took over. Now everyone lives in oppressed cities controlled by them. Some of us work in the mines, which is where Zak worked.” Troy explained, pointing at Zak with his thumb. “And we... we are the Resistance.” Troy said with a large amount of pride. “The resistance?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously. “The Resistance. We're the ones who fight back. We use old pre-occupation technology, paired with Combine tech. We're fighting a loosing battle though. Words been circulating that Freeman, some scientist, has been helping the Resistance movement in... Europe I think it was called? Yeah, anyway, from what I've heard, he's REALLY making a difference over there” Troy answered. “I just wish WE had someone like that.” He then muttered to himself. “But, your so young, how can you fight?” Twilight asked. “Because no one else in our city will.” Zak said darkly. “They all just sit around while the Combine look for reasons to kill more people.” Fluttershy heard this and spoke up, “W-w-well, may-maybe the P-P-P-Princess c-could help?” She stammered in a frightened voice, not even liking the thought of these humans meeting the Pricnesses. “Princess?” Troy asked in an amused tone, raising an eyebrow. “Yes, the Princesses of Equestria, the ones who raise the sun and the moon, and you would do well to respect them.” Zak laughed out loud before saying “Bullshit.” Dragging out the “bull”. “They raise the sun and moon? That's such a load of crap.” He followed up. “Hey! Who do you think you are?” Rainbow Dash shouted angrily. “You can't talk about the Princesses like that!” “Hmph, you ruffians need to be taught some manners and proper edict.” Rarity said, looking at Zak in particular. “And your outfits are simply atrocious.” She added. Zak looked himself over, seeing his makeshift armor resting on his black hoodie. “I think we look pretty good, and our armor's better than Sergeant Suck Up's over here.” He said, pointing to Spearhead. “I suggest you seal that attitude before you meet the Princesses.” Spearhead growled angrily. “What are two princesses gonna do that the Combine haven't done already? Kill us? Man, we've been dead since we started this fight. Oh, maybe they could lock us up, because, you know, we've never been locked up before!” Zak retorted, saying the last part with sarcasm seeping out of every pore. Just when Spearhead was about to make a comeback, another voice cut him off. “Not on the moon you haven't.” The voice had come from the right of the two groups. As one, they all turned and gasped. Well, the ponies did, and they bowed too, Zak simply asked, “Who the hell are these?” Indicating the two regal ponies in front of him. One was ivory white, with a billowing multicolored mane swaying the the non-existent breeze, while the other one was a deep shade of purple with a billowing blue and black mane. “You may rise my little ponies.” The white one said warmly. The ponies nodded and rose. “Princess Celestia! How long were you there?” Twilight asked in an anxious tone. She didn't want her mentor to see her fail at first contact with an alien life form. Or, cross universe life form. “Long enough.” She answered warmly, but her eyes said something else as she looked at the four human teenagers. “State your business in our world humans.” Her voice authoritative, which, looking back, might not have been the best choice of tone with teenagers who've been fighting authority their entire lives. “Business? We were running for our lives, and activated a teleporter, not that you know what that is, and it brought us here! State your business, who are you really?” Zak shouted, before anyone else, mainly Allison, could stop him. “Uh oh.” Collin whispered as he saw all the ponies grow EXTREMELY angry. “That's it! Spearhead, Sword, Shield, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack shouted at the same time, before marching up to the humans. “What in the hay gives you the right to mock our princesses and our land?” Spearhead shouted, his years of training crumbling down. Zak threw his hand in the air, then flicked his head forward, making the mask fall over his face. “Bring it horse boy, bring it! C'mon let's see what you got!” Zak shouted from behind his mask, the glowing blue eyes, giving him an extremely intimidating look. “You dare mock our land?!” Spearhead shouted and was just about ready to fly straight at him, when The humans, and the ponies who had marched forward, were blown off their feet, and hooves, by a loud megaphone like voice, courtesey of Princess Luna, which screamed, “ENOUGH!” “Gah! Shit!” Troy shouted as he toppled over. Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all winced as the mass of bodies were all blown into a massive pile. “What the fuck!?” “GET THESE THINGS OFF ME!” “Goddamn stupid armor sucks!” “Hey, who touched my ass?” “Ally, we got to stop meeting up like this.” “What in tarnation?” “Get your royal ASS off of me!” The insults and shouts suddenly ceased as the ponies and humans were enveloped in a pink and blue light, respectively. “Uh, what?” Collin asked in a confused voice as he looked over his body, which glowed pink. “Why does this shit always gotta happen to me?” Troy muttered as he floated upside down over the ground. “The fuck?” Zak shouted, squirming and fighting the invisible bonds which held him. “Incredible, some kind of telekinesis!” Allison exclaimed as she studied her invisible prison. The ponies were set back onto the ground with their group, and three of the humans back on the ground, meanwhile, Celestia turned Zak so he was upright and facing the two the other group of ponies. “Apologize.” She said sternly. “You're fucking joking right?” He deadpanned Celestia's eyes narrowed. “Apologize.” She said even more sternly, which, Troy didn't even think was possible. Zak groaned and said, “I'm sorry that your armor sucks, and that you believe in stupid things.” For a long time, everything was quiet. “A-poll-i-gize.” Celestia said, in an almost deathly tone. Troy busted out laughing. “HA! Making friends over there Zak?” He asked. “Blow me.” Zak muttered. After he didn't apologize, He felt himself being lifted higher in the air... and Zak HATES heights. “Wait, wait, wait, fine.” He sighed. “I apologize.” He deadpanned once more. “There see that wasn't so hard was it?” Celestia asked, her voice welcoming and comforting once more. But Zak could see right through it. He merely grunted in response. Celestia lowered him to the ground, but stopped, a few inches about the ground, and released Zak, who was expecting her to lower him to the ground itself. “Woah!” He shouted, before he fell flat on his ass. The humans and ponies alike giggled, as his picked himself off the ground, and walked back over to his group, mumbling to himself. “Who are you?” Troy asked the Princesses. “I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister, Princess Luna, together we rule Equestria.” “Equestria huh?” Troy asked, before looking around. “How do you use telekinesis? Is it artificial, or is it natural?” Allison questioned in an eager tone. Celestia smiled warmly, and indicated for Twilight to explain. “Well you see, all unicorns and alicorns, such as the Princesses, have the natural born ability to use magic.” Allison didn't say anything she, and the others, simply started laughing. Once they, or at least Allison, had collected themselves, Allison said, “M-Magic? Magic isn't real, it's a form of telekinesis, and psychic abilities, if anything. And raising the sun and moon? C'mon, do you honestly believe that? The earth spins on an axis, causing the sun to rise and set.” While the other ponies were growing angry, including Princess Luna, Celestia merely held a bemused look. “What if I could prove it?” She asked the girl. Allison spread her arms, “Go ahead.” Celestia's horn glowed pink before there was a loud whoosh sound and a bright light. The humans and ponies alike squeezed their eyes closed. After a few seconds, nothing happened. Troy was the first one to crack his eyes open. “Oh shit.” He said in wonder. He was in some kind of round wooden house. Books lined the shelves. They were in Twilight's library. “Teleportation, not bad, but still not magic.” Allison said approvingly. “Wait, what happened?” Zak asked, whipping his head back and forth at his new surroundings. “We're in my library.” Twilight said, and there stood all the ponies and humans. “We call it magic, you can call it whatever you want, all that matters is that it works.” Celestia said, indicating their new surroundings. “And please keep the volume down, it is night after all.” “Okay.” “Whatever.” “Sure.” “Is this a tree?” Troy, Zak, and Collin all turned and stared at Allison, who failed to notice them as she was observing the structure. “Allison, can we focus for more than five seconds, without egg-heading the mood right out of the room?” Troy said jokingly. Twilight suppressed a grin at Troy's choice name. “Yes Allison, this is a tree.” Twilight answered, then giggled at her reaction. “fascinating.” It was then that Spike descended from the upper floor, yawning and rubbing his eyes. “Twilight? What are you doing still up? Did you find-” He halted as he opened his eyes and saw the four humans standing in the library. “H-H-H-Humans!” He stammered. “Damn we're famous.” Zak remarked, seeing the baby dragon's expression. Luckily, Twilight was able to calm Spike down before he panicked. “It's okay Spike, they're friendly, right?” She asked, turning the question into a threat. The humans all vigorously nodded, well, all except Zak, who simply shrugged. This didn't calm Spike down much, but it did keep him from panicking. “I suggest we all get some sleep, and we can continue this conversation tomorrow. The humans will stay here for now. Twilight I believe you have some spare blankets and pillows?” Celestia asked her prodigy, who nodded. “Good, humans, I must ask you to not exit the library, for I believe the ponies outside won't take to kindly to four strange beings showing up out of nowhere.” She said kindly, but the warning was in there. “Sounds like fun.” Zak chuckled before walking up the stairs, and exploring the library. Spearhead, you, Sword, and Shield are to guard the library, and make sure the humans do not cause any trouble.” “Yes your highness.” They chorused. “And Twilight?” Celestia beckoned her over. “Good luck.” She whispered in her ear, before her, and Luna teleported away. Twilight stood for a few seconds, staring at the spot where her mentor had stood, and missing her already, before turning to the humans. “So... bed?” She asked like a babysitter. And like kids being babysat, even if they didn't mean to, they tried to make her life as miserable as possible. “I'm hungry, where's the food?” “I think I need to read every book here.” “If anyone needs me, I'll be cleaning my gun.” “Could be worse. Could be better too, but still, it could be worse.” Twilight sighed. This was going to be a long night.
Prologue: The PortalHalf-Life: Preparations “Well shit.” Troy muttered as he eyed the strange machine standing idle in the large room. “Dude, what is that? Collin asked as he approached it, his MP5K hanging from his shoulder, his hood covered his lean face and messy blond hair. “Hell if I know, hey Ally! Come here!” Troy responded, turning and shouting down the dark corridor behind the two befuddled boys. Ally, Troy's girlfriend, and soldier in arms, walked into the room, and surveyed it's dark confines, before her eyes rested on the large machine in front of them. It was roughly ten feet tall, and looked almost like a kind of doorway. She gave Troy a questioning look, “Well well well, is that some kind of prototype teleporter?” She asked, nodding towards the machine. This was why Troy loved her. She was smart, funny, pretty, and damn did she know how to shoot. She was a dead eye with her Overwatch sniper rifle, which was strapped to her back. She pulled her hood down, letting her long golden hair spill over her shoulders and back in a river of gold. Her icy blue eyes examined the Consoles next to the machine. “Zak! Get in here!” She shouted, her eyes never leaving the machine. She calmly started walking towards the console to the right of the machine. “Uh, Allison, do you really thing we should be messing with this thing? Who knows what it can do?” Collin questioned, worry laced his voice, nevertheless, he and Troy stepped aside when Allison reached them, allowing her access to the console. Behind her, Zak ran through the door. His AK74 resting in his hands and his Combine mask pushed onto his head, exposing his hard cut face. Suspicion and hate were all too evident in his eyes... they always were. All four of the resistance fighters in the room were teenagers, being born the year the Combine invaded or, the next year. Troy and Alley were both eighteen, while Zak and Collin were both nineteen. “What's up?” Zak asked, looking around the room. “What the fuck?” He asked pointing towards the machine with his rifle. “Ally thinks it's some kind of prototype teleporter, right?” Troy asked casting a glance back to his girlfriend. She simply grunted in response as she was focusing on the lit up console in front of her, her fingers flying over the controls. “Yeah, she does.” Troy deadpanned. For the first time since she started working with the interface, Allison made a statement more developed than single words and grunt, by saying, “This teleporter can cross universes like the others, but this one's different somehow. If I'm reading this right, and I don't think I'm not, this doesn't just cross universes, it crosses alternate universes.” The boys exchanged glances and without speaking asked each other, “Who's going to sound like an idiot?” The decision was made when Zak and Troy both looked at Collin with expecting looks. Collin sighed and asked question of the day, “I thought all the universes were alternate.” Allison wished she could facepalm, but she was too busy attending to much more important matters. Luckily she didn't need to use her mouth to work the interface, allowing her to properly humiliate Collin. “No, captain dipshit, those are simply other universes. This is an alternate version of Earth! It's astounding! I heard Dr. Kliener talking about this kind of thing, but never did I think it was possible, but if this works, We could go to a version of Earth where the Combine never invaded!” Now all the boys shared expressions similar to Allison's. “I'm downloading the information now, give me a minute.” Allison said with new found determination. The boys were all restless, attempting to find something to do to pass the time, to quench the giddy excitement they all felt “ So are we clear?” Collin asked Zak, leaning against one of the walls, his MP7 hanging loosely from his right hand, he was balling and un-balling his other hand in the pocket of his hoodie. “Yeah, we're clear, and I sealed the door with Sparky too.” Zak replied, before reaching in one of his numerous pockets and withdrawing a small hand held tool, similar to an EMP tool. It was a small mining tool which used extremely high powered concentrated electric bolts, magnified through a tiny field enhancer, the result was like an old taser, except it could slice through rock and bone like it was nothing. On top of that, if used right, it could act as a makeshift welding device as well. Zak tossed Sparky to Collin, who casually reached out and caught it in his hand, then stuffing it into his own pocket. “So how long to you think we have?” Troy asked, worriedly. There objective was to infiltrate and uncover what the Combine were working on. The facility the teenagers were in was deep underground, accessible only by a large freight elevator that brought them down. They were only supposed to investigate, not dig to deep into it. “Uh, like,” Zak was then cut off by a loud floor shaking blast. “Not long!” Zak shouted, reaching up with his left hand and pulling the mask down over his face, and drawing his AK74 “Sonofabitch!” Troy cursed quickly and raised his own weapon, aiming down the corridor the teenagers had emerged from. Collin quickly pushed himself off the wall and raised his MP7. The teleporter was in direct line of sight from the end of the corridor. “Ally we need this door closed. Like, now!” Troy shouted, aiming down the corridor. Combine footfalls echoed down the vacant hallway. Troy could barley make out the voice of the Combine radio saying, “All units is sector seven grid fifteen are to eliminate targets on sight, failure to do so will result in immediate termination.” “Busy!” Allison responded to Troy, furiously typing commands into the console. “Damn-it.” Troy groaned and leaped to the control pad next to the door. “Ally, what do I do?” Troy shouted in panic. “Just shoot it.” Ally said, as if she were explaining it to a slow person. Which she might as well have been. Troy raised his eyebrows and was about to question her, when he remembered what was at stake,and she was the one with the most experience. Troy took a step back and fired a small three round burst into the control panel. It sparked and hissed, causing Troy to take a step back, to avoid getting hit by the arching sparks. The door hissed and slid shut, sealing the four teenagers in the room. Separating the Combine and the teenagers was one ton of solid metal. “That won't keep them out long!” Zak shouted, keeping his weapon trained on the door. Troy, Collin, and Zak all backed up, until they were right in front of the teleporter and Allison. “Ally, are you sure about this?” Troy asked, keeping his weapon on the door. He heard the Combine reach the door and start trying to hack the panel. Would the shot panel be able to keep them out? Troy wasn't sure, but he silently prayed it would. “It's our only chance Troy.” Allison responded, keeping her gaze focused on the interface. Suddenly the teenagers heard the combine start to burn through the door using enhanced ADSSE weaponry. ADSSE was enhanced versions of the old ADS and had the ability to burn metal. Right before his eyes, Troy watched as the ADSSE slowly ate away at the door. “Ally!” Troy moaned, as he saw the metal start to glow red due to the heat. Suddenly, Troy heard a low whirring sound, followed by loud FWASH! As the room was bathed in light. Troy and the other boys whirled around to see the doorway part of the machine glowing green, Allison however, remained focused on her work. “Holy shit.” Troy uttered in astonishment, staring at the green light, which almost seemed to draw him in. “Go through now!” Allison shouted as she set the interface to clear the coordinates in thirty seconds. Without arguing, Troy dashed through the portal and was enveloped in green light. Right behind him, Collin and Zak ran through. Allsion, however, remained at the console for a few more seconds, as a small data drive was ejected from a small slit on the interface. She snatched it out, turned , and leaped into the portal. As soon as all four were through the Combine burned their way through the door. The lead sprinted to the console and slammed its fist down on the button. The portal closed, as the teleporter shut down. The Combine soldier stared at the spot where the portal had been, then down at the screen on the interface which now read two words; which had appeared when it had pressed the button... Coordinates saved. Oh what the fuck? Troy groaned in pain. His whole body ached. The first thing he noticed when he emerged from the green light was the sound of... birds? Troy's eyes flew open, as he quickly sat up, causing him to quickly become nauseous. Troy groaned and fell back to the forest floor. Wait what? There was someone lying on his legs. Ally. Troy reasoned. Troy looked around without sitting up. High above him were dark green treetops with thick lankly vines hanging from the top. “Ally?” Troy groaned, glancing down at his legs for his girlfriend. What he saw made him want to vomit. Instead of Allison on him it was... Zak, sound asleep. “Fuck's sake!” Troy shouted and kicked his leg, causing Zak to roll off him and onto the lush forest soil. “Ugh, what?” Zak mumbled as he woke when his face rolled into the dirt. “Goddamn Zak, now is not a time to be sleeping!” Troy shouted angrily at Zak, who was picking himself up off the ground. “Well, you've been asleep for like ten minuets.” A female voice came from Troy's right. Troy turned and looked, seeing Ally and Collin. Allison was leaning against a tree, while Collin was rooting through his backpack. Allison was grinning, as she saw Troy's shocked expression. “Ally, where the hell are we?” Troy asked, standing up slowly and looking around at the forest surrounding them. “Well, we're at the train depot.” Allison said, looking around herself. “In an alternate universe.” She followed up. “Maybe one where humans in general were never around, which means...” She let that hang. Zak, and Troy however had not heard the explanation she had given to Collin earlier. “Means what?” Troy asked worriedly. “Allison sighed and slowly, choosing her words, said, “Which means, that we... might not be able to get back home.” She was looking at the ground while she talked, when she looked up, she saw Troy and Zak's horrified expressions. “You're fucking joking right? I mean... right?” Zak asked, quickly getting angry. Collin looked up from where he was taking inventory on their supplies. “Nope, she's not.” He said dejectedly. After years of fighting and loosing people they loved, the thought of total isolation from all of humanity was not as hard hitting as it would've been to other people. Nonetheless, the boys were devastated. Troy fell backwards onto his backside, shaking his head and staring at the ground. Zak stood silently fuming until he turned around, cocked his fist back, and punched the nearest tree as hard as he could. The result was a powerful WHAP! Causing his knuckles to bleed. “Zak.” Allison started. But was soon cut off by Zak when he said, “No, Ally!” He said, using Allison's nickname in scorn, “Don't fucking tell me to calm down! I will never see my dad again!” He shouted, rage spewing out of his features. Blood dripped from his knuckles. “Fuck you all!” He screamed and stormed off in a random direction in the forest. “Zak!” Troy shouted and started off after him. Allison and Collin collected their things and followed the fuming teenage boy. “Zak, your just going deeper! C'mon man just come back!” Troy said in a desperate tone. Zak was pushing vines and tree branches out of his way as he stormed through the thicket. “No! Fuck every single one of you I'm done! I'm fucking-” Zak stopped as he stormed into a clearing and was met with a ten foot tall statue. “Oh.” Zak said in astonishment. The other three teenagers soon emerged and saw what Zak was seeing. A ten foot statue of a horse with a horn and wings. It was rearing back in a scream. Stone hair was billowing in standstill. “Woah!” Collin murmured, mouth hung open. “Cool.” “Cool? Who cares if it's cool, this means that there's people here man! We can still get home!” Troy shouted excitedly. Zak stood, mouth agape. “So...” Troy started, “Now what?” Allison was about to answer when a female voice was heard from down a path which lead to the statue. “Come on girls, I'm telling you it was somewhere around here!” The teenager's eyes grew wide. “Scatter!” Troy whispered urgently. The teenagers all, dove into the nearby bushes for cover, and lay there silently, watching the path. A few seconds later a lavender unicorn emerged from the path. Troy looked across the small clearing and saw Allison laying in the bushes, her face hidden from view unless you were looking. He raised his eyebrows, and Allison slowly shook her head. Troy nodded and prayed that Zak and Collin would have enough sense to lay low. The unicorn looked around the clearing, before her eyes rested on something laying in front of the statue. Troy's eyes grew wide with fear as he realized it was Collin's backpack. Collin you dumb son of a bitch! “What's this?” The unicorn questioned. Did... did that horse thing just talk? Allison had heard it too, and was staring at the unicorn with shock. “What is it Twi?” Another voice asked, this one with a southern tang. Behind the first, emerged an orange pony with a stetson hat riding it's head. The situation was just getting more and more fucked up. Troy slowly, ever so slowly, reached down and grasped the handle of his sidearm. Behind the two horses, emerged four more. There was two with wings, one was cyan with a rainbow colored mane, and the other was yellow with a pink flowing mane. Then there was the other unicorn, a marshmallow white with a luscious purple mane, and finally an all pink one with a bouncy fluffy pink mane, this one was hopping up and down restlessly. “Well it looks like a kind of saddlebag, and an extremely unfashionable one at that.” The white unicorn said, eyeballing the pack. On that front Troy had to agree, it was just black and gray to camouflage with the urban environment. It was then that Troy had realized that a unicorn had just made a fashion statement. Okay seriously, what the fuck! Allison must have been thinking the same thing, because she shrugged as if to say, “Just go with it.” Suddenly, the rainbow colored one flew from the back of the group to the bag, before pawing through it with one hoof. “Rainbow! We don't know whose this is! We can't just go digging through it.” The lavender unicorn, Twi, said. In response, the pegasus, Rainbow, reached in with her muzzle and withdrew with something it it's mouth. Troy tried to focus on what it was, but couldn't see it. Whatever it was, it was small. Rainbow set it on the ground and examined it. “Twilight, what is this?” It asked, pawing at the thing on the ground. Before Twi, or Twilight, could respond, Troy almost choked as Allison jumped up from the bushes, confronting the six assorted ponies. She had in her hands, Troy's serrated machete, which he had given to her as a gift. “Back away now.” Allison growled. The six ponies all shook with fear, the yellow one about ready to pass out. They all backed away, closer to Troy, all except Rainbow, who stood her ground against Allison. “And just what the buck are you?” Rainbow shouted, getting in a fighting stance. This just went from bad to worse. Troy had no choice, he drew his sidearm, and stood up from the bushes, aiming at the six ponies. “Don't try it horse girl.” He ordered, aiming straight at her. Seeing Troy do it, Collin and Zak both stood up from where they had been hiding, they both had their weapons drawn. “Back off, now.” Troy ordered again. Rainbow quickly backed away from the object, at which point, Allison quickly leaned forward and snatched it up, before stuffing it into her pocket. “T-T-Twilight?” The yellow one stammered. Twilight just seemed to be in total shock, the pink one was horrified, while the others all stood in confusion. “You're human!” Twilight nearly screamed. Her eyes growing wider. “Yeah, we are, now, you're going to turn around and your going to carry you little horse asses back down that path to wherever you came from, got it?” Zak asked coldly, aiming his AK74 at them. Twilight furiously nodded her head, and started backing down the path, the others right behind her. The four teenagers all formed a line, aiming their weapons at them. When they got far enough down the path, they all turned and ran, screaming down the path. When they were out of sight, Troy commented, not for the first time that day, “Well shit.”
Chapter 1: So it Begins“Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! Humans! In the forest! We need to tell Princess Celestia! We need to tell the Royal Guard! We need to warn all of Equestria!” Pinkie Pie shouted, as she bounced around the room in fear. Twilight however, was furiously pulling books off the shelves and discarding the ones she didn't need. There was never anything in these books on those things those humans carried. If only Lyra hadn't moved, I'm sure she would've loved to help. Twilight sighed, there wasn't any time for that. “Pinkie, our books never said anything about humans eating meat.” Twilight assured the uppity pink pony, whilst digging through more of her books. “Will somepony please tell me what ah human is?” Applejack asked from one corner of the room as she watched more and more books float off the shelves. “They're mythical creatures said to have lived long before the Princesses.” Twilight answered, only to be followed up by Pinkie Pie, who said, “They also eat meat! They could come here to Ponyville and eat everypony!” She shrieked, before jumping under a nearby table, and pulling the chair in front of her, doing little to hide her from view. “I'd like to see them try!” Rainbow Dash said, as she bucked the air, “I'll show them!” She said determinedly, before bucking the chair that Pinkie Pie was hiding behind, causing the bouncy pink mare to shriek and dart from under the desk, behind Applejack. “But why would anypony want to eat other animals? It's just wrong.” Fluttershy asked as she watched the spectacle unfold before her timid eyes. “For the last time Pinkie, we have no proof that humans eat meat.” Twilight said, quickly losing her temper. Not only are the very creatures that Lyra had proposed to be real, turned out to be real, but they can speak Equestrian, and they threatened us! This made no sense. The humans they had seen looked more advanced than the ones she and Lyra had read about. “No! My grandmother told me that humans were horrible monsters that would feast on animals flesh!” Pinkie Pie said, leaning from behind Applejack, who sidestepped, allowing Pinkie Pie to be fully seen. At this, Pinkie Pie, squealed and quickly dashed back behind Applejack, who sighed and allowed herself to be used as a shield. “If they do eat other animals, then we have to warn the Princesses about those ruffians.” rarity spoke up for the first time since the discovery of the four humans. “Ah agree with Rarity, They could be ah threat to Ponyville, maybe even all of Equestria! Applejack said. Suddenly, Spike, a young baby dragon, appeared at the top of the stairs, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “What's everypony doing down there? I'm trying to sleep.” He said groggily. “Spike! You'll never believe it! Humans are real! We found four of them in the Everfree Forest! This could change everything! Lyra was right, I have to mail her!” Twilight almost shouted, looking upward at spike with giddy excitement. Spike merely stared stupidly at her for a few seconds, before replying, “Uh, that's great Twilight, really, but uh, what's a human?” He asked innocently. Twilight blushed heavily, “Oh right, I never told you, sorry. Humans are mythological creatures said to have lived long before the rule of the princesses. They were more advanced than us and were extremely smart. They didn't use magic and had to rely on their own creations for the things we can do with magic. It's truly fascinating, and we found four of them in the Everfree Forest.! Granted, they did threaten us, but that was because SOMEPONY, had to go rooting through their belongings.” Twilight explained, casting a glance at Rainbow Dash, who was oblivious doing her pony kung-fu moves. Kicking and smacking the air around her in a frenzy of hoofs. “And they eat meat!” Pinkie cried from behind Applejack. “They eat meat?! Do they eat dragons?” Spike asked fearfully, looking around the room. “Pinkie!” Twilight scolded, facehoofing. “Shouldn't we warn the Princesses?” Spike asked worriedly. “Once we get more information on them, afterall, I never did send my report to Princess Celestia. I'm sure she'd love to hear from and actual human!” Twilight said with excitement. “Now wait just a darn minute here Twi', If'n these humans do eat meat, Ah don't think we should be askin' them questions.” Applejack said sternly. Twilight sighed, “The Princess will know what to do, if I she gives me permission, then will that convince you that they're not dangerous?” She asked. In response, Spike, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy all nodded. Pinkie Pie furiously shook her head back and forth, whipping her puffy pink hair to and fro. And Rainbow Dash simple karate hoofed a chair in half before letting out a loud, “HIYA!” “Alright then, Spike, take a letter.” Twilight began, still ignoring Pinkie Pie's gestures. “Dear Princess Celestia, Tonight at 8:26 PM, a large flash of light was spotted over the Everfree Forest. Upon investigation, myself and the other Elements of Harmony discovered four humans, even though they're said to be extinct. I am asking your permission to further investigate with the Elements, and attempt to make more progressive contact. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle” As Twilight finished, Spike's fire breath enveloped the letter with bright green flames, looking almost like the flash they had seen that night. “Alright girls, we'll just wait for a response and then, oh, here it is now!” Twilight said, with a tiny hint of worry. Why would the princess send a response that quickly? Either she's really excited or really... scared. Spike unfurled the letter and alarmingly read, “No! Myself and my sister are on our way as you read this, do not attempt to make contact with the humans! We will arrive shortly.” Twilight was stunned. Meanwhile... “What the fuck is going on?!” Collin shouted. The four teenage rebels were now roughly half a mile form where they had encountered the six varied ponies. “I mean, talking horses, unicorns, and pegesi? I mean really? What the fucking shit?!” Collin was pacing back and forth in front of the small campfire the teenagers had constructed. They had all packed sleeping bags in their bags, as well as matches and other survival essentials, after all, you never know when you're going to have to get out of dodge. “Ally, do you have any idea where we are?” Troy asked, sitting on his sleeping bag. Allison sat across from him, between them, the flickering fire. Zak stood off to one side, keeping watch. Allison sighed, “Honestly? No. All I know is that we're in some alternate version of the train depot. Other than that... I really can't say.” She answered dejectedly. “So now what?” Collin asked fearfully. “I mean it's not like we can go after those horses again, we pulled automatic weapons on them! They're probably hunting for us right now!” Collin said, burying his face into his hands. “Oh sonofabitch, I knew we shouldn't have tried this and now look!” Collin shouted, indicating to the surrounding forest thicket. “Hey, in case you didn't notice, we didn't have a choice! It was either, we find out what the Combine were up to, or we wait until they used it against us!” Troy said angrily. Collin came to a stop, sighed, and said, “I know, I know, I just need something to be mad at right now.” He said, before eying the campfire. Here it comes. “Why do we have campfire, when we're being hunted?” Collin shouted, waving his hands at the small fire. “Do you want to be captured by pastel colored unicorns, or freeze to death?” Allison replied coolly, which officially shut Collin up for good. “Besides, we don't even know if they're hunting us, I mean they're fucking horses for god's sake! They're probably all still sitting around wondering what the hell happened!” Troy followed up. Collin gave a wry grin before replying, “Yeah... yeah, you're probably right.” Then sitting down in front of the fire. “So, now what?” Back in Ponyville... “And you say that was when she revealed herself?” Princess Celestia asked with interest. “Yes princess, Rainbow Dash removed a strange object from the bag, causing the humans to take action.” Twilight answered. The Elements of Harmony all stood behind Twilight whilst she briefed the princesses. Two royal guards waited outside the door. “I see, and you say that they threatened you with large objects made of wood and metal?” She asked again. “That is also true, they told us to uh, “Carry our little horse asses back to wherever we came from.” Twilight said, recalling the humans odd choice of words. I presume he means our backsides. “Interesting.” Princess Celestia remarked as she broke down the human's sentence. “He doesn't know where Ponyville is, and he probably doesn't know what Ponyville is, you say that they all seemed nervous or shocked?” She asked. “They had good reason to be nervous.” Rainbow Dash muttered from behind Twilight, before she stomped the ground with her hoof. The Princess pretended not to notice, and continued, “It seems to me, that they might not have ever seen a pony before.” She said at last. “B-but how is that possible? Ponies are the dominant species? How could they've never seen one?” Twilight asked, she had presumed that humans had been hiding all theses years, but how could they've never seen a pony? “My little ponies... there is something I must tell you... and Lyra has a role in it.” In the Everfree Forest... “What was that?” Collin whispered in the cold night air. The fire crackled next to him, casting flickering shadows over the tree trunks. Overall the scene was extremely unnerving and played with your senses. “It's nothing, go to sleep.” Zak groaned, and rolled over in his sleeping bag, so he was facing away from the fire. Allison was propped against a tree, her lower half wrapped in the sleeping bag. In her hands, she held Zak's Ak74. Troy was snoring softly, missing the entire conversation. “Naw dude, I swear I heard something. There it is again!” He said, reaching out and grasping his Mp5k. “I swear to god, If you talk again I will fucking- wait... Oh shit I hear it too.” Zak whispered, grabbing his pistol from the bag next to him. Allison quickly stood up and shook Troy awake. She didn't know what they were talking about, she didn't hear a damn thing other than Troy's snoring and the fire. Troy snorted and awoke with a start. “Huh, what is it?” He said, shaking himself awake quickly. Allison grabbed Troy's Ar2 from her bag and handed it to Troy. He propped himself up with the weapon and stood up, fumbling for the safety in the near dark. That's when Allison and Troy heard it... The snap of a branch under a foot, and the low heaves of a large animal taking a breath. The four teenagers all formed a circle next to the fire. For a minuet they heard nothing, then they heard it all at once, or heard them all at once. Out of nowhere, six large wolf like creatures made of wood pounced from the edge of the forest into the teenage rebel's tiny clearing. “The fuck?” Troy shouted, aiming his Ar2 at the nearest and largest one. It reared back and howled to the moon, the others soon followed suit. The situation was quickly getting out of hand. That's when Zak came up with a snap decision that saved them... and doomed them. “Fuck em' up!” He screamed before unloading his pistol clip into the cranium of the nearest wolf creature. It collapsed to the earth... Only to get back up again. The other teenagers soon followed Zak's lead, unloading their clips into the bodies of the deformed wolves. They all were met with the same results. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” Collin screamed as the wolf he had shot was now standing back up, but missing half it's head. That's when it hit Allison. These wolves are made of wood like... like... timber wolves? Allison didn't have time to question it, she quickly reached behind her and grasped the end of a large branch from the camp fire. She swung it towards the wolf in front of her. It collided with it's head, instantly igniting it. Fire danced across it's head, spreading to the rest of it's body as it howled in pain. The other wolves turned and stared at their fallen comrade. Fire licked across it's body and slowly burned away at the outside, working it's way deeper into it's very soul. The others yelped with fear, turned, and dashed back into the thicket, wooden tails between their wooden legs. The rebels all stood their speechless. Until the silence was broken by Troy who commented “Well shit.” Allison cast him a glance, and he ginned like a fool. Ponyville... “So Lyra was... human all along?!” Twilight nearly shouted. The other Elements all shared expressions of shock as well. “And you sent her back to her world?!” Twilight followed up. The princess nodded to both questions. “Do you think those humans are form Lyra's world?” Twilight asked the princess. The princess slowly shook her head. “To be honest, I'm not sure. We don't know how many different worlds there are, these humans could have come from anyone of those.” She said “We need to send them back.” Princess Luna said from behind her older sister. It was the first time Luna had talked the entire time. The Elements hadn't really been paying attention to her, but she had been listening intently the whole time. “Of course sister, but first we must find- wait, did you hear that?” Princess Celestia asked, cocking her head. The Elements all listened closely. Off in the distance, the sound of popping and loud booms could be heard. Followed by howls of pain from Timber Wolves. “The humans?” Twilight asked. “It sound more like machinery to me.” Applejack stated as she listened to the noises. When the suddenly stopped, but the howls continued, then were cut short. “You don't think the humans a-a-ate it do you?” Fluttershy asked from the back of the group, fear was almost seeping out of her face. “I don't know my little pony, but whatever they are doing, we must find them.” Princess Celestia said. “Guards!” She shouted towards the door. Immediately, the two, whom had been posted outside, rushed into the library, then stood at attention. “Guards, prepare the chariot, and retrieve Captain Spear Head, we're going to the Everfree Forest.”
Chapter 2: The Encounter“Dude, we got to get to getting!” Zak shouted as he quickly stuffed his sleeping bag into the small fabric cover, tying it to his pack. “Zak's right Troy, those horses are going to hear the gunshots, and probably come investigate.” Allison said as she snuffed the fire out by quickly throwing her blanket on it and quickly pulling it off again, suffocating the flames. “Collin you ready?” Troy asked as he pulled his pack on an strapped the front to keep it from falling. “Yeah, let's go!” Collin said, zipping up his hoodie and drawing up the hood. And with that, the four teenage rebels plunged back into the thicket, going the opposite direction the wolves had gone. “C'mon! Keep up!” Zak shouted as the teenagers' line of sight with each other were broken up by large trees and massive exposed roots. They stumbled through the thicket of the forest, when suddenly, they all broke out of the thicket and into open space. “Oh, finally!” Collin exclaimed, taking in deep breathes. Allison's face grew worrisome, “This isn't good, if we're in the open, they can find us easier.” She said. “Yeah, well it's better than wandering around a forest being hunted by wolves made of... wood.” Collin said. Zak and Troy both nodded their heads in agreement. “Wait, wait, wait! Let's recap what has happened in the past two or three hours shall we? We went through a combine teleporter, which brought us to a world with talking unicorns, horses, and pegasi in it, and wolves made of wood... and we want to keep exploring why?” Allison asked. Troy, Zak, and Collin all traded looks. “I don't know, cause we want to get out of that forest?” Collin replied “Cause I'm bored.” Zak answered. “Cause it's two on one.” Troy deadpanned. “Ugh, boys.” Allison muttered and face palmed, as the four teenagers trekked farther away from the forest and closer to their unknown destination, bathed in moonlight. In the Library... “Captain Spear Head reporting your highness!” Shouted the unicorn, standing at attention before the two princesses. He was a pearl white with a golden yellow mane, hidden by his gold and silver plated helmet. “At ease Captain.” Princess Celestia said calmly. The Captain, ignoring her soothing tone, assumed a more “relaxed” posture. “Captain, you are to take the Elements of Harmony as well as two of your guards. You will be encountering a species I thought to be long extinct.” She said, leaving out the part about her knowing a human, “The species you will be looking for,” She also used the word looking for, as opposed to “Hunting” for. Which, given the circumstances, was probably the word she needed to use. “Is called a human.” She continued. “Humans are bipedal creatures that are strong and extremely intelligent. Expect them to resist, but try to refrain from harming them.” She said. Actually, the Princess wasn't sure if she didn't want them harmed. She still had no idea weather these humans were actively aggressive, or if they were just frightened and confused by being in another world. “They are armed and can be considered dangerous. Try to keep your distance, and protect the Elements at all cost.” She said. “Yes your highness.” Spearhead responded, his gaze fixated on the Princess. “Uh, Princess, why are we going along?” Twilight asked. “You six young mares have the best chance at being able to reason with them. They are probably just scared and lost.” She said in a sad tone. “No being should go through something like this alone, and with your help, I think you six can be able to help them through this.” She said. Applejack nodded, determinedly, along with Twilight and Rarity. However, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, were still skeptical. “You can count on us Princess!” Twilight said determinedly, with a quick nod of her head. “Come on girls!” She said, before rushing out the door, followed by her five friends, and the Captain. Captain Spearhead motioned for the two royal guards, who always stood guard whenever the Princess was visiting, and said “Private Sword, Private Shield, both of you, with me!” The Captain ordered the two guards. “Yes sir!” They chorused, and followed after their captain, who in turn, was following the Elements; watching in every direction for movment, as they made their was out of town, and towards the dark, forbidding, Everfree Forest. Outside the Everfree Forest... “Jesus Christ! Would the two of you please just shut the fuck up for five seconds?!” Allison screamed in rage at Collin and Zak, while her boyfriend cowered in fear of her rage. They had been walking for only five minutes, and already she was pissed. Collin and Zak had been in a heated argument over weather or not an Ar3 existed, and if if did, who used it. Due to Allison's outburst, they had noticeably lowered their voiced to a near whisper. “It doesn't exist, what kind of idiot would believe that?” Collin asked, throwing his hands up. “Yes it does, and me!” Zak retorted, jamming a thumb at his chest. “Okay then, so where is it?” Collin asked, with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “It's in their labs, you know, like the one we found?” Zak said. Collin was about to retort, when he realized, Zak was right. There could be a lab with some kind of prototype Ar3 in development. After what they had done in the last lab, anything was possible. “Fine, you win.” Collin muttered in defeat. “What was that? I couldn't quite hear.” Zak said, putting a hand to his ear. “Could you please speak up?” He asked innocently. “I said you win.” Collin forced out of his mouth, cringing for the inevitable. It came quickly. “Damn straight I win! You just can't take this can you?” Zak asked, indicating himself. He quickly shut up, when he realized that the conversation had once again reached a high note, and Allison was now staring Zak down. Zak didn't fear much, but Allison was and exception. Back to the Mane Six and the three guards...(sounds like a children's story) The captain had briefed the two guards who, while they didn't show, were having a hard time believing. They had been walking for the better part of ten minutes, and were about five from the Everfree Forest. This didn't stop the Captain from keeping full alert. His eyes watched the surrounding countryside, following every movement. Twilight walked in front, followed by: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and finally Captain Spearhead. The group was flanked by Privates Sword, and Shield, who were as much alert as their captain. “I really don't think we should be doing this.” Pinkie Pie said fearfully, from the back of the group. “I mean, I want to help cheer them up, but my grandmother told me that humans were awful creatures.” She continued. Twilight sighed. “Pinkie, we've been over this, the humans were just scared, we don't have anything to worry about. Besides, the humans in Princess Celestia's tale were influenced by Discord.” Twilight said reassuringly. “No, she said that the humans were always like that, Discord just helped them!” Pinkie Pie said, even more frightened now than before. At this point, Fluttershy was starting to shake, and Applejack and Rarity were starting to get unnerved. Rainbow Dash on the other hand (hoof) was just getting more and more pumped up. “I'll show em'!” She muttered. “Give them the one two buck. The old Rainbow flip buck. Yeah, awesome.” She said to herself. Twilight sighed, having given up on the situation. “Girls, it'll be okay, just-” She suddenly stopped talking, as she heard voices arguing on the other side of a small hill ahead of them. “Hide! We want to observe them first.” Twilight said quickly, before they all took up hiding behind various trees and shrubs. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy both gratefully hid behind a small tree, forcing them to get just a little too close for comfort; but to them, it was better than being out there. Twilight had to pull Rarity, on account that she didn't want to mess up her mane, into a small shrub; much like the one Allison had been in. Applejack and Captain Spearhead both dashed behind a small hill next to the tree Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were behind. Sword and Shield both leaped into a small bush, while Rainbow Dash, reluctantly, flew up into the tree Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were behind, and laid on a branch near the top of the tree. Not thirty seconds after they were all hidden, did the four humans appear over the top of the hill. Sword and Shield held back gasps, while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy held back cries. “I'm so sick of hearing you two talk.” The female that had jumped them earlier said in an angry tone, as she marched down the hill. One of the males was walking beside her with a worrisome look on his face as he glanced from the female to the two males behind him. Now Twilight could get a good look at them. They appeared to be young, how old, she couldn't tell, but by their voices she had to guess maybe a little younger than her and her friends. She realized that, that was pretty young, maybe seventeen or nineteen. “It's okay Ally.” One of the males said, using the name “Ally” in a mocking tone. “Maybe a nickname? “Oi, that's my name!” The male next to her said, casting a threatening look at the other. “Whatever Troy, you and your girlfriend can call each other whatever you want to! Just don't say them around me.” The male responded. The male next to the female, Troy, responded by saying, “I'll call her what I want to, wherever the fuck I want to asshole!” He said vehemently. “Maybe if you didn't call her by her nickname EVERY time, I wouldn't use it too!” The one in the back said. “Dude, your pissing her off.” The other male in the back said worriedly. “Yeah, you're treading on thin ice.” Ally responded coldly. By now, they were in the exact spot the group from Ponyville had been standing, and it was at that time, that a large bug fell out of Rarity's mane, and onto her snout. Her eyes went cross eyed as she stared at the bug on her snout. It turned and looked at her with two small beady black eyes. Rarity's crossed eyes grew wide and everything seemed to slowdown. Twilight had been so focused on the humans, she hadn't been paying attention to Rarity, and couldn't stop what came next. Rarity let out a piercing squeal, and leaped out of the shrub and directly in front of the humans, who stopped dead in their tracks and just stared as the snow white pony flailed and squealed. Then she suddenly stopped, with a large bug hanging from the tip of her mane, and stared at the four humans, who in turn, stared right back. Then Rarity suddenly keeled over and passed out. “See Allison can scare the shit out of everything she encounters!” The male from the back said laughing. It was then that the the rest of the Mane Six, and guards, leaped out of their various hiding spots and confronted the humans. The ponies on one side of a passed out Rarity, and the humans on the other. “Oh shit it's them!” Troy shouted, raising the metal thing hanging from his shoulder. “I told you they were hunting us!” The one in the back cried out fearfully, raising his own weapon. Twilight's mind was racing, as the three guards, and Rainbow Dash, were quickly gearing up for a fight. “No wait, it's okay, we're not going to hurt you!” She said quickly. “Yeah? Then why were you hunting for us?” The one in the back asked suspiciously. “Because we want to help you!” Twilight said in a comforting tone. She could tell now. These were just fillies. They were just scared and lost. “Huh? W-what happened?” came a dazed voice from the ground. Everyone (and everypony) looked down to see Rarity groggily raising her head. She quickly gained focus and the first thing she saw was Allison aiming a metal device at her head. Needless to say, Rarity screamed. She leaped up and jumped onto Applejack's back, wrapping her hooves around her neck. Applejack was less than thrilled to be used as a shield yet again. Luckily, Rarity quickly came to her senses and let go of Applejack, fluffed out her mane, and turned to face the humans, along with the rest of her friends. “That didn't happen.” She said nervously. “Yeeeeeah, I'm just going to pretend that I didn't see that.” Troy said, dragging out the “e” in “yeah” “Listen, we just want to help.” Twilight said again. “Or kick your flanks if you try to fight!” Rainbow Dash said aggressively. Applejack leaned over and whispered into her ear, “We're trying tah help em' not fight em' just give em' a chance.” She said, hoping that she could believe her own words. Rainbow huffed and crossed her hoofs. “Fine.” She said like a teenage girl who had just been denied to the prom, much to Troy's amusement. “But one wrong move,” Rainbow quickly followed up, “And I'll buck your flank right outa Ponyville buster!” She said, specifiably to Troy, after seeing his amused expression. “I like this one!” The male in the back said, much to everyone's surprise. Troy sighed. “Well Ally, what do you think?” He asked. Allison waited a long time before answering. In that time, she was sizing up the group. Three soldiers, two cowards, One headstrong, one leader, and two neutral. “Yeah.” She simply said, before lowering her weapon. An awkward silence ensued, which was broken when Twilight asked, “So, what are your names?” Troy was yet again amused by the purple talking horse, asking for his name. “I'm Troy, this is Allison, my girlfriend, Zak, and Collin.” He said indicating to the two males behind him. “How bout' you?” He asked. Twilight breathed a mental sigh of relief. No fighting, no arguments, this was easier than she had expected. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. And this is Captain Spearhead, and privates Sword and Shield.” She said. “Wow, those are some gay ass names.” Zak whispered to Collin, who rolled his eyes. After yet another awkward silence, This time it was Troy who broke the ice. “So... you come here often?” He said jokingly. Twilight face hoofed, and Allison face palmed. Upon seeing this, they started to realize something... they weren't so different after all. Meanwhile... “They say it won't be working for at least another day.” Dr. Boondock said as he stood before administrator, Dr. Conners. Boondock glanced around nervously as Conners bore into him. I don't think you realize how vital it is that we find those rebels.” Conners said coldly. “Sir, I realize what they took, but it's out of my hands! Until the technicians can repair the core, we can't even turn it on.” He said desperately. “If you can't do it, I'll find someone who can, and don't think I can't. Conners replied threateningly. Boondock sighed and replied defeated, “Yes sir.” Before turning and shambling out of the office. As the security door slid shut behind him, Conners turned and stared out the large window which allowed him to view his city. City 64. This was not good. Those rebels had taken the plans for the inter-universe teleporter, a revolutionary device. The only question was, where did they run off to?
Chapter 3: Understanding And ConfusionThe two parties stood staring at each other for a few awkward minutes. In that time, Zak had brought his Combine mask out of his pack, and set it on his head, so it was resting on the top of his head. This drew questioning looks from the ponies. Collin, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were all casting suspicious and worried looks. Troy stood, wishing he had a smoke (which were extremely hard to come by as it was, let alone in a world filled with talking ponies) and Allison was eyeballing the three royal guards. “You three.” Allison said, nodding her head towards Captain spearhead and Privates Sword and Shield. “You had ranks, are you soldiers?” She asked suspiciously. After all, her only knowledge of soldiers, was that they liked to kill people, and that Earth's had all been eliminated in under seven hours. Neither of those gave soldiers a good reputation in Allison's mind. “We are enlisted in the royal guard of Equestria. We are not “soldiers”. Captain Spearhead said, trying out the foreign word. Allison picked up on this and asked, “Do you know what a soldier is?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. At this point, everyone was listening to this conversation. “No, we have never heard of a soldier, please, enlighten us.” Spearhead said. “Yes please do. There is so much we can learn.” Twilight said, inching closer to the group, who at this point, had still kept their distance from one another. Troy and Allison glanced at each other. If these things had never heard of soldiers, then there must be no war. Or at least no major wars. Guess it was time to shatter some innocence. “A soldier is someone who, well... kills for a living.” Troy said, trying to recall what he had heard of soldiers before the Combine, and pairing that with what the Combine soldiers did. The expressions of the ponies were shocked to say the least. Rainbow's confidence nearly plummeted at the thought of fighting things that could casually kill another person, or pony. Even the guards stood dumbfounded. Pinkie Pie's Abnormally fluffy pink mane, deflated as she started to tear up. “Great, now you've scared them. Look at this one, she's fucking petrified!” Zak said, indicating Fluttershy, who looked about ready to pass out. Twilight stumbled over thoughts in her head. “B-but how could somepony just kill? I-I mean it's just...” She was at a loss for words. The Princess had mentioned war, but she had said that the other world could have been different. Maybe it wasn't just equestira's humans, maybe all humans are violent. The guard's looks went from shocked to insulted. “No, we are not killers, we are royal guards.” Spearhead said, saying “killers” with disgust. “Look at their armor dude.” Zak whispered to Troy. “It's gold. Gold! And it's a pretty shitty design too. The Combine would decimate these things.” Troy nodded solemnly “So you have no war?” Collin asked with shock. The thought of a world with no war was foreign to him, and the other rebels, as they had grown up fighting to survive under the oppression of the Combine. Twilight stood, remembering how humans had wiped themselves out in Equestria's history. Apparently, the Princess was right when she had assumed the humans from the other world were the same way. I just hope Lyra's okay. Twilight thought to herself, “No, Equestria has never had wars of any kind.” Twilight answered sternly, as if to warn the humans not to start one. Troy chuckled grimly, “No war? Man, this day just gets weirder and weirder.” He said dryly. The ponies picked up on this, but that didn't change the fact that, apparently, war; was a common occurrence for them. Troy, Zak, and Collin didn't notice it, but all the ponies scooted back just a few centimeters away from the humans. Allison saw it though. “Ha! You are scared of us? Just wait until you hear about the Combine!” She said, leaning onto one foot. Twilight shook slightly at the thought of something worse than a soldier. “C-Combine?” She asked. That was when Collin spoke up, “Uh, yeah speaking of, the Combine can't follow us... right?” He asked the group, but mostly directing the question towards Allison. She shook her head, causing her golden hair to wave back and forth. “No, I deleted the coordinates before I went through.” She said, trying to reassure him... and herself. She hadn't even thought of the Combine being able to follow them. Damn talking unicorns, making me lose my focus. Allison's extreme attention to detail, was what made her so good with the sniper rifle, which was slung across her back , her hood resting against it. The ponies tried, and failed, to follow along with what she was saying, but all the terms meant nothing to them; aside from coordinates. “What're these, Com-Bine?” Applejack asked suspiciously. As far as she was concerned, all the humans were bad news, and these Combine, sounded like the worst news. “Do you want the long version, or the short?” Troy asked, crossing his arms. “Long.” Twilight said immediately. “Now hold on here sugarcube, Ah don't think we should be standing in this here field all day.” Applejack said, indicating their surroundings. Twilight blushed, and sheepishly replied, “O-oh yeah, sorry. Short version.” The rebels exchanged looks and turned to Troy. “Oh god-dammit, fine. The Combine are essentially, aliens. But not from space, they're from another universe altogether. Is that right?” Troy asked, turning to Allison, who nodded. “Right, so, they came about 15? 16 years ago? Something like that. Anyway, They started channeling shock troops into our world and decimating almost everything that moved. They wiped out the entire planet's soldiers in under seven hours.” The ponies were horrified. “B-But how can you kill something that can kill so casually?” Twilight asked. “By being a better killer.” Zak replied, and while the other ponies didn't pick up on it, Spearhead couldn't help but think Zak was, in some way, referring to himself. “Right, so anyway, they wiped out our military, which is who the soldiers worked for, and started slaughtering innocent people.” Once again, the ponies shared appalled looks. The guards eyed each other out of the corner of their eyes, and prepared for any trouble. “After they stopped randomly killing everything, they started to... occupy? Dominate? I don't know, they just took over. Now everyone lives in oppressed cities controlled by them. Some of us work in the mines, which is where Zak worked.” Troy explained, pointing at Zak with his thumb. “And we... we are the Resistance.” Troy said with a large amount of pride. “The resistance?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously. “The Resistance. We're the ones who fight back. We use old pre-occupation technology, paired with Combine tech. We're fighting a loosing battle though. Words been circulating that Freeman, some scientist, has been helping the Resistance movement in... Europe I think it was called? Yeah, anyway, from what I've heard, he's REALLY making a difference over there” Troy answered. “I just wish WE had someone like that.” He then muttered to himself. “But, your so young, how can you fight?” Twilight asked. “Because no one else in our city will.” Zak said darkly. “They all just sit around while the Combine look for reasons to kill more people.” Fluttershy heard this and spoke up, “W-w-well, may-maybe the P-P-P-Princess c-could help?” She stammered in a frightened voice, not even liking the thought of these humans meeting the Pricnesses. “Princess?” Troy asked in an amused tone, raising an eyebrow. “Yes, the Princesses of Equestria, the ones who raise the sun and the moon, and you would do well to respect them.” Zak laughed out loud before saying “Bullshit.” Dragging out the “bull”. “They raise the sun and moon? That's such a load of crap.” He followed up. “Hey! Who do you think you are?” Rainbow Dash shouted angrily. “You can't talk about the Princesses like that!” “Hmph, you ruffians need to be taught some manners and proper edict.” Rarity said, looking at Zak in particular. “And your outfits are simply atrocious.” She added. Zak looked himself over, seeing his makeshift armor resting on his black hoodie. “I think we look pretty good, and our armor's better than Sergeant Suck Up's over here.” He said, pointing to Spearhead. “I suggest you seal that attitude before you meet the Princesses.” Spearhead growled angrily. “What are two princesses gonna do that the Combine haven't done already? Kill us? Man, we've been dead since we started this fight. Oh, maybe they could lock us up, because, you know, we've never been locked up before!” Zak retorted, saying the last part with sarcasm seeping out of every pore. Just when Spearhead was about to make a comeback, another voice cut him off. “Not on the moon you haven't.” The voice had come from the right of the two groups. As one, they all turned and gasped. Well, the ponies did, and they bowed too, Zak simply asked, “Who the hell are these?” Indicating the two regal ponies in front of him. One was ivory white, with a billowing multicolored mane swaying the the non-existent breeze, while the other one was a deep shade of purple with a billowing blue and black mane. “You may rise my little ponies.” The white one said warmly. The ponies nodded and rose. “Princess Celestia! How long were you there?” Twilight asked in an anxious tone. She didn't want her mentor to see her fail at first contact with an alien life form. Or, cross universe life form. “Long enough.” She answered warmly, but her eyes said something else as she looked at the four human teenagers. “State your business in our world humans.” Her voice authoritative, which, looking back, might not have been the best choice of tone with teenagers who've been fighting authority their entire lives. “Business? We were running for our lives, and activated a teleporter, not that you know what that is, and it brought us here! State your business, who are you really?” Zak shouted, before anyone else, mainly Allison, could stop him. “Uh oh.” Collin whispered as he saw all the ponies grow EXTREMELY angry. “That's it! Spearhead, Sword, Shield, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack shouted at the same time, before marching up to the humans. “What in the hay gives you the right to mock our princesses and our land?” Spearhead shouted, his years of training crumbling down. Zak threw his hand in the air, then flicked his head forward, making the mask fall over his face. “Bring it horse boy, bring it! C'mon let's see what you got!” Zak shouted from behind his mask, the glowing blue eyes, giving him an extremely intimidating look. “You dare mock our land?!” Spearhead shouted and was just about ready to fly straight at him, when The humans, and the ponies who had marched forward, were blown off their feet, and hooves, by a loud megaphone like voice, courtesey of Princess Luna, which screamed, “ENOUGH!” “Gah! Shit!” Troy shouted as he toppled over. Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all winced as the mass of bodies were all blown into a massive pile. “What the fuck!?” “GET THESE THINGS OFF ME!” “Goddamn stupid armor sucks!” “Hey, who touched my ass?” “Ally, we got to stop meeting up like this.” “What in tarnation?” “Get your royal ASS off of me!” The insults and shouts suddenly ceased as the ponies and humans were enveloped in a pink and blue light, respectively. “Uh, what?” Collin asked in a confused voice as he looked over his body, which glowed pink. “Why does this shit always gotta happen to me?” Troy muttered as he floated upside down over the ground. “The fuck?” Zak shouted, squirming and fighting the invisible bonds which held him. “Incredible, some kind of telekinesis!” Allison exclaimed as she studied her invisible prison. The ponies were set back onto the ground with their group, and three of the humans back on the ground, meanwhile, Celestia turned Zak so he was upright and facing the two the other group of ponies. “Apologize.” She said sternly. “You're fucking joking right?” He deadpanned Celestia's eyes narrowed. “Apologize.” She said even more sternly, which, Troy didn't even think was possible. Zak groaned and said, “I'm sorry that your armor sucks, and that you believe in stupid things.” For a long time, everything was quiet. “A-poll-i-gize.” Celestia said, in an almost deathly tone. Troy busted out laughing. “HA! Making friends over there Zak?” He asked. “Blow me.” Zak muttered. After he didn't apologize, He felt himself being lifted higher in the air... and Zak HATES heights. “Wait, wait, wait, fine.” He sighed. “I apologize.” He deadpanned once more. “There see that wasn't so hard was it?” Celestia asked, her voice welcoming and comforting once more. But Zak could see right through it. He merely grunted in response. Celestia lowered him to the ground, but stopped, a few inches about the ground, and released Zak, who was expecting her to lower him to the ground itself. “Woah!” He shouted, before he fell flat on his ass. The humans and ponies alike giggled, as his picked himself off the ground, and walked back over to his group, mumbling to himself. “Who are you?” Troy asked the Princesses. “I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister, Princess Luna, together we rule Equestria.” “Equestria huh?” Troy asked, before looking around. “How do you use telekinesis? Is it artificial, or is it natural?” Allison questioned in an eager tone. Celestia smiled warmly, and indicated for Twilight to explain. “Well you see, all unicorns and alicorns, such as the Princesses, have the natural born ability to use magic.” Allison didn't say anything she, and the others, simply started laughing. Once they, or at least Allison, had collected themselves, Allison said, “M-Magic? Magic isn't real, it's a form of telekinesis, and psychic abilities, if anything. And raising the sun and moon? C'mon, do you honestly believe that? The earth spins on an axis, causing the sun to rise and set.” While the other ponies were growing angry, including Princess Luna, Celestia merely held a bemused look. “What if I could prove it?” She asked the girl. Allison spread her arms, “Go ahead.” Celestia's horn glowed pink before there was a loud whoosh sound and a bright light. The humans and ponies alike squeezed their eyes closed. After a few seconds, nothing happened. Troy was the first one to crack his eyes open. “Oh shit.” He said in wonder. He was in some kind of round wooden house. Books lined the shelves. They were in Twilight's library. “Teleportation, not bad, but still not magic.” Allison said approvingly. “Wait, what happened?” Zak asked, whipping his head back and forth at his new surroundings. “We're in my library.” Twilight said, and there stood all the ponies and humans. “We call it magic, you can call it whatever you want, all that matters is that it works.” Celestia said, indicating their new surroundings. “And please keep the volume down, it is night after all.” “Okay.” “Whatever.” “Sure.” “Is this a tree?” Troy, Zak, and Collin all turned and stared at Allison, who failed to notice them as she was observing the structure. “Allison, can we focus for more than five seconds, without egg-heading the mood right out of the room?” Troy said jokingly. Twilight suppressed a grin at Troy's choice name. “Yes Allison, this is a tree.” Twilight answered, then giggled at her reaction. “fascinating.” It was then that Spike descended from the upper floor, yawning and rubbing his eyes. “Twilight? What are you doing still up? Did you find-” He halted as he opened his eyes and saw the four humans standing in the library. “H-H-H-Humans!” He stammered. “Damn we're famous.” Zak remarked, seeing the baby dragon's expression. Luckily, Twilight was able to calm Spike down before he panicked. “It's okay Spike, they're friendly, right?” She asked, turning the question into a threat. The humans all vigorously nodded, well, all except Zak, who simply shrugged. This didn't calm Spike down much, but it did keep him from panicking. “I suggest we all get some sleep, and we can continue this conversation tomorrow. The humans will stay here for now. Twilight I believe you have some spare blankets and pillows?” Celestia asked her prodigy, who nodded. “Good, humans, I must ask you to not exit the library, for I believe the ponies outside won't take to kindly to four strange beings showing up out of nowhere.” She said kindly, but the warning was in there. “Sounds like fun.” Zak chuckled before walking up the stairs, and exploring the library. Spearhead, you, Sword, and Shield are to guard the library, and make sure the humans do not cause any trouble.” “Yes your highness.” They chorused. “And Twilight?” Celestia beckoned her over. “Good luck.” She whispered in her ear, before her, and Luna teleported away. Twilight stood for a few seconds, staring at the spot where her mentor had stood, and missing her already, before turning to the humans. “So... bed?” She asked like a babysitter. And like kids being babysat, even if they didn't mean to, they tried to make her life as miserable as possible. “I'm hungry, where's the food?” “I think I need to read every book here.” “If anyone needs me, I'll be cleaning my gun.” “Could be worse. Could be better too, but still, it could be worse.” Twilight sighed. This was going to be a long night.
