Through the portal

Through the Portal

Chapter 1

Alliances

What would you do....?

What would you do if a creature that was rated dangerous, kneeled before you, pleading for your help, while crying it's heart out? What would you do if you got the order to restrain that creature, and bring it to a research facility? I hope you will never have to find out, because that is the exact situation that I was in once.

I was standing in a field, not too far from my home town. All around me artificial light-sources were directed at one single point. My comrades aimed their guns at that spot, as did I. There, in the bright artificial light that cut through the darkness, stood a horse. Not any horse however. This one was purple, had a horn and wings, and was pleading for us to help it. But maybe I am getting ahead of myself. Maybe I should tell you how my comrades and I ended up there in the first place.

It all happened two days before. I was on leave to visit my family, having just returned from a mission in Iraq. You might have guessed by now, but I was a soldier. Never wanted to be one, but it seemed like the best choice at the time.

I was just strolling through the city to get some Christmas presents for my family, when I stopped in front of a Toy store. In the window I saw several My little Pony toys and even some other merchandise. My fellow soldiers always mocked me for it, but I had actually put a Twilight Sparkle sticker inside of my helmet. I did it, so I had at least something peaceful with me when I was on a mission. Otherwise I think I would have gone insane.

Contemplating if I should buy myself an official plushier, I stood there for a while. Some people looked at me strangely, but I was used to that by then. I think it must have been quite the odd sight, seeing me in my white tanktop and a thick jacket over that. I never bothered to close my jacket, unless it was a bulletproof one. What really must have been the center of attention was the image of Twilight Sparkle with sunglasses on my chest. Beneath it stood:

I'm a Brony, deal with it!

I had no problems saying and showing others what I liked. If they had a problem with it, they didn't have to look at me. Well, I don't exactly know how long I have been standing there, but suddenly everything went silent. The mumbling of passing people, doing their Christmas shopping suddenly came to a halt. At first I didn't even notice it, for I was checking my wallet. It had happened to me once before that I wanted to pay my goods, and just then noticed I didn't have enough cash on me. That's why I made it a habit to check the amount each time before I enter a store. I was not easily embarrassed, but standing at the cash register, unable to pay, was definitely one of the few things that could make me blush.

When I finally noticed the eerie silence around me, my training kicked it. I turned around, half expecting some terrorist. Yeah, six months in a country were you had to watch one of your best friends being blown up by a suicide bomber does some strange things to you. What I got however, was not the terrorist that my imagination anticipated, but it was still quite shocking. Not dangerous in any way, mind you. The giant screens on some of the skyscrapers had changed. That was nothing strange really, since the advertisement they displayed changed every so often. I never paid any attention to them. But this time I couldn't take my eyes off of a especially big screen, that was on a building across the street.

Only once before had that happened to me, and that had been on the 11th of September 2001, when those planes crashed into the world trade center. What I saw before me now however, was not a news-feed about some horrific event. Instead I got the face of a Pony. Not just any Pony either. It was her royal highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria herself.

As I looked around, I saw that each and every advertisement screen, and even the TVs that were on display in the next shop, showed the exact same image. At first I had thought it was some kind of advertisement, until her neutral expression changed to one of disappointment.

"Humans.... My name is Princess Celestia, and I am one of the rules of Equestria. For quite some time now we Equestrians have had a contract with one of your companies. We traded our stories, and some of our secrets with you, in exchange for technology. Part of aforementioned contract was also that both parties, meaning we and you, agreed to help one another, should the need for military assistance arise. We Equestrians are Ponies of our word, and would not have hesitated to help you, should you have needed our assistance. Your leaders, however, have broken that pact. We are facing an enemy we can not hope to defeat. I still believe in the good in every living being. My student ,and fellow Princess, Twilight Sparkle, will come to your world in two days time. The exact location of her arrival will be relayed to you tomorrow. Should there be those amongst you that wish to honor our alliance, they are free to return to Equestria with her. I also address your leaders with this. Please hear her out, for she will once more give you the chance to reconsider, and help us after all.", she said in a disappointed tone of voice.

I wasn't even home yet when my cellphone rang. After witnessing Celestias speech I was kinda anticipating it actually. My orders were simple. Report to the base, meet up with the rest of my team and wait for further instructions. The guy on the other end said I was to come immediately, but this wasn't the first time I "bend" my orders to my own liking. So I went home first, said my goodbyes to my father, grandfather and my goldfish, before packing a few things and heading out. They weren't even surprised that I had to go, since they had seen the speech themselves. Apparently Celestia had broad casted over every channel, worldwide. Even the cable had been her speech only. I could only imagine that those guys in Washington were not too happy with having all frequencies hacked by Ponies.

When I arrived at the base, my mood was somewhere between sour and excited. On one hand I was angry that my well deserved holidays had been canceled, on the other I fought hard to contain my inner Pegasister. The rest of my team arrived shortly after, and our commanding officer told us right to the face, that we were not here because of our skill or reliability. The only reason for our presence was that the only other quick response team, that was usually stationed at the base, had gone missing in Iraq. So basically we were the only ones he could call.

Terribly dry briefings followed. We all had to sign an agreement, not to reveal any of that information to the public. After having our potential "invaders", as he called the Ponies, had already made a statement over every Frequency on the planet, I really didn't think that was necessary, but whatever.

We were informed, by a "scientist" that looked more like a Brony then me when I was at Brony-con last year, about what we were up against. We would join forces with other teams from other bases and secure the area. My team was to stay at the presidents side at all times, and keep him safe while he spoke to their ambassador. The other teams, which were way better equipped then us, would guard the perimeter and keep the civilian populous away.

But then came the real bummer. If the president were to fail and convince the "ambassador" to come peacefully, we were authorized to use violence. Apparently the top brass really wanted that Pony for research...

As the "scientist" explained to us, magic was theoretically possible in our world as well. The required energy was all around us, but we humans had just forgotten how to channel it. It was also said, that Equestria actually was a parallel Universe, on which our "scientists" had stumbled quite some years ago. A pact was formed soon after, just as Celestia had said. In my CO's version however, the president back then had not been pleased with it. We had apparently delivered quite some technology to the Ponies, but they were not willing to meet our demands. Our top brass at the time had wanted to study Unicorn magic, but needed a test subject. Celestia had refused to agree with that. She would not allow that any of her little Ponies was experimented on. Instead they had settled on stories and goods that the Ponies produced with their magic. In exchange for that, our side supplied them with technology that was more then outdated. Like 80's outdated...

Being a person that is not only thinking about herself, that did in no way sit well with me. The Ponies had been trusting enough to share their goods, and their history with us. Our leaders however had betrayed them, when the time came to uphold the slightly uncomfortable side of the deal. I myself was surprised how honest they were with us, but I could already see where this was going and I didn't like it in the slightest.

Why would you tell someone something that is supposedly top secret? It's only because you can be sure they won't be able to tell anyone... Either we would be locked up after this outing, forced to stay with Twilight at that "research facility" or outright liquidated. Whatever the case, I didn't like it. From the tensed expressions on my comrades faces, I saw that they maybe still thought someone was pulling their legs, but they didn't like it either.

Then came the absolute blow that really kicked my honor in the gut. At 0800 that morning Princess Luna had opened a magical Portal right into the oval office. She had asked for help, describing that their world was being attacked by beings from outer space, that were way more technologically advanced then the Ponies. They were slaughtering them left and right, while the Ponies magic seemed to have barely any effect. Most of their lands had fallen already, and they were now only defending the last few settlements that remained in their control. The Aliens seemed to be unable to break the magical shields the Princesses had erected around those, but Luna was unsure of how long they would last.

Not even thinking about it, the president had refused to help. Instead his bodyguards had tried to restrain her. At that point I had no doubt that they had wanted to experiment on her as well. Having soldiers that were able to do magic would surely be an advantage in any conflict. They failed to do so however, and two of the bodyguards had to be hospitalized.

After an exceptionally dry speech about multi-verse theory, we were informed that our quarters had been searched, and all our electronic devices had been confiscated. From that moment on, we were on lock down. No one of us was allowed off base anymore, and all communication lines had been cut.

That evening I sat in our quarters and watched Wall-E with my comrades for what seemed like the hundreds time. Michael, the Medic of my Squad was absentmindedly staring at the screen, while Jane, the Units Sniper, was tapping her knee with an index finger. The only quiet one was our loudmouth, Frank. He was my squads communications officer, always carrying a big backpack with a satellite radio in it. It took quite a while until Jane finally broke the heavy silence.

"Ponies, eh? Seems like the joke was on us there Selina.", she said, smiling a tad.

"The whole thing doesn't sit well with me. I mean... we promised to help them, and now we chicken out of a deal that we persuaded them of in the first place?", Michael added, before I could have my say.

"I know exactly what you mean. True, until this morning I thought our Captain here was just watching a show designed for kids less then half her age. Now however, I am not too sure anymore.", Frank said, scratching his head while lighting up a cigarette.

"So tell us boss, what do you think of all of this? What our government is doing here just feels wrong. First we form an alliance with them, and then we bug out of it just because it could be dangerous.", Jane asked me.

I thought for a moment. Sure I loved the Ponies, and knew about quite some stuff about them and everything that involved them. That this knowledge applied to the actual Ponies however, I could not be sure of.

"I don't like it one single bit. If this were to leak out into the world, and seeing how Celestias speech was broad-casted worldwide, this makes us look like backstabbing cowards! I can understand why they want to capture the envoy, since magic could give us an edge in Iraq, but this is just plain wrong! They come to us and ask for help, and we take their ambassador prisoner... Not only that but turn her into a guinea pig?", I finally voiced my opinion on the matter.

I was not worried about cameras or bugs that would record me, since my team was very well trained. We had disabled all of then five minutes after our arrival here. Sure, the top brass would not like that they were deaf and blind to our conversations, but they couldn't really punish us for it, since that would involve admitting spying on their own soldiers.

"So what do you suggest we do? It's quite obvious we don't want this.", Jane stated.

"There is nothing we can do, I fear. We have our orders, and if we refuse to follow them at this point, would most likely let them dig something out of our records and courtmarshall us on the spot. We are expandable, and they really want to get their hands on an Alicorn, since they are the most powerful magic-users amongst them. What is one quick response team in comparison to that?", I sighed heavily.

The discussion went on for quite a while, but we went in circles really. It all came to the point that we agreed on one point. We didn't want to do this. It was downright treachery. There was no honor in it, and certainly nothing that one could be proud of. Sadly it all came back to the looming threat of being courtmarshalled. We all had dark spots in our records, that could earn us a lifetime sentence in jail. No one of us wanted to take the risk, so after a few hours we went to bed. Even so we all looked cheery by that time, I could tell that my comrades felt as crestfallen and disgusted as I did. That was when I reached a life-changing decision. Should I not be liquidated after this mission, I would retire for good. A few years back I had retired for a year or so, but I soon missed my military life. Took only two years for me to sign up for active duty again....

The next morning we were briefed on a new set of weapons. We still were to carry our usual ones, but were told only to use them if our lives were in danger. The stuff they showed us that morning looked like metal pipes with a trigger on them. After we were through with the briefing however, I knew that it was a Taser-Net-Launcher. It would shoot off a net that had several hundred metal spikes on it. Once the target was wrapped inside of it, we simply had to pull the trigger again to release the charge that was held in the handles battery. According to the Sergeant that briefed us, the net was big and sturdy enough to capture an elephant, and the charge strong enough to knock it out good.

That worried me a bit to be honest, since Ponies were much smaller then an elephant so the charge might actually kill them. When I asked about this, the woman laughed at me and told me that this was no problem. We were only on use the net. The charge was only to be used if the net was not enough. In that case, or so she said, we were to fry it good and crispy. I couldn't believe my ears, but then I remembered who we were escorting. The president himself was to speak to the envoy and try to persuade her to come peacefully...

The rest of the day we trained using the TNL on vaguely pony-shaped dummies. That we even had this kind of weaponry and those dummies, made me think that our government had planned something like this from the very beginning. Maybe they had even planned to invade Equestria and abduct one of the Princesses. I just wasn't sure anymore. I had some pretty secret missions in the past. Some of them including assassinating terrorist leaders, but this seemed just too well planned out. There was just no way that this was an operation they had thrown together on the fly...

That evening our networks were breached once again. Celestia informed us where her student/envoy/fellow Princess was to come through. The exact coordinates stunned me a little, since it was only about ten miles from my home by air, but I tried my best not to let it show. She was scheduled to come through at 2200, which was why we were stationed there the next morning. Sure enough there was a flood of people, including the media, that wanted to get to the field, but the other teams did a good job and kept them away. My team was to wait close to where the portal would open. It was hours until the planned arrival of the president and Twilight but the top brass was obviously worried that something might still go deadly wrong. I overhead two NSA agents that were discussing the possibility that the president might be abducted, to force us to help them. I couldn't help but frown at the thought alone.

If the actual Ponies were only a little like the ones on the show, then they wouldn't even think of such a thing. Their society was build upon trust, love and friendship after all. Anyone at Hasbro could have told you that, not to forget any Brony. That's why I was not really worried for my safety. I was more worried for Twilight, since I knew Snipers had been positioned all over the place. They were really using any trick in the book here...

At 2130 the president arrived and saluted all of us for our willingness to carry out this operation. I nearly puked, since his words made me sick to the core. He told us that Equestria was a potential threat to our world, and that this was the reason we were to capture their envoy for questioning on the matter. He expressed his feelings that it would be a great danger to the USA, were magical creatures to attack us. Which furthermore led into an explanation of to why we would also to conduct experiments on the envoy. We would need any advantage we could get, should a conflict arise. He sounded to me much more like he was trying to convince himself, rather then us. The big man actually allowed us to ask questions after his monologue, which surprised me even more.

" You say you fear a conflict with Equestria, but so far they have not done anything hostile. If we are to take their envoy prisoner, then we would be he aggressors here. Wouldn't it be better to support them like we promised?", I asked bluntly. When this was over I'd be either dead or retired anyway so I didn't fear any punishment.

"We never promised them anything. It was Hasbro who made a deal with them. Once we had found out we simply took over the whole trading business with them. The contract however was not made by us.", he responded.

That didn't fit with what our commanding officer at the base had told us at all. According to him, Hasbro and DHX were only brought into the deal so the government could get something out of it, by getting some of the money they made with the merchandise. To me it sounded more and more like he was lying to us...

Exactly at 2200 the darkness in the middle of the field was interrupted by a small lavender glow. At first it was only a ball of light, not much bigger then an egg. Soon however it grew to the size of a medium sized truck. It was a lavender circle of energy that encased a hole in reality. I could actually see the inside of what looked like a bedroom through it, before a well known purple Pony stepped into view. I could see her look around through the portal for a moment, before stepping through. The portal did nor close behind her, but stayed open. I assumed that was her fail safe, should something go wrong.

As soon as she had fully emerged from it, the lights all around us were turned on and the president stepped forward. We had orders, directly from him, not to follow him when he first approached. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but it became apparent pretty quickly that these negotiations were going south. Twilight was shaking her head, and I could hear a frustrated neigh from her, when she stomped her hooves onto the ground. That was when the president decided to retreat, and come back to us. Twilight was still standing, but even from this distance I could see the tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"I told her someone higher ranking then me would come to speak to, captain. It's your turn now. Restrain it and let's get this night over with.", he told me when he reached us.

I nodded and waved for my team to follow me. Safety was off and our weapons held low, but ready to fire if we had to. The TNL's were heavy, so it took us a moment to get over there. It was only a distance of about a hundred feet, but still...

When we stood in front of her, she looked up at me with expectation in her eyes. She had obviously believed the president. I raised my TNL and aimed it at her. I think that's when she finally understood that we were not here to negotiate.

"Please... please don't do this. We need your help. Why are you not helping us like you promised?", she started to plead. Her voice sounded a little different from the show, but not much. Tara Strong obviously did a good job imitating her.

When I didn't respond, and didn't give the order to fire either, she continued her pleading. She explained everything. How many Ponies had already died and that their invaders cared not for prisoners. In fact, they were devouring the fallen Ponies as they moved on. I was horror struck.

And that is where I was standing now. My TNL raised and aimed at her head, my superiors already shouting at me through the radio, and my squad-mates growing anxious. I sighed heavily, as I blink away the tears that had formed in the corners of my eyes. I seriously did not want to do this.

After a short while, that seemed like an eternity to me, I came to a decision. Orders are orders...

...but conscience is more important. My father had always told me that. Whatever your superior tells you, never do something that prevents you from looking yourself into the eyes ever again. I had always followed my orders. Not always to the letter, but I had always carried them out.

Lowering my TNL I took off my helmet and took out the Twilight Sparkle Sticker I kept there. As her eyes fell upon it, they widened in surprise. Suddenly all around us hell broke loose. Bullets hit the ground, and I could tell the Snipers had been ordered to take us out. Out of pure instinct I grabbed Twilight and ordered my team to follow. She obviously was not used to being carried, but then again she was barely any bigger then a Bernardina, and I could carry one of those with ease. As I looked over my shoulder, I saw that all of my squad-mates followed my lead.

All except one. My brother Michael. I know I never mentioned that, but we hadn't been on good terms ever since I got promoted instead of him. He had thrown his big medical bag aside, and thrown himself into the dirt, raising his M4.  I called out to him to not play the hero, but he called back one single sentence, that I don't think I will ever forget as long as I live.

"Nah, I'm just the sidekick, covering a heroes ass!", he called out as he began to return the fire. With that he forced the snipers to concentrate on him, rather then us. As I stepped through the portal, I threw one final glance back at him. I wish I had not, for in that moment his head was blown apart by several bullets at once....