Earthside

The large shop was brightly lit, the shelves neatly stocked. Two people sat behind the counter: a clerk and the shift manager.

“I'll be in the back for a bit, Sam. This time, you deal with the customers.” The manager stood up and pushed open the door to the break room. Settling down into an armchair, he picked up the remote and flipped on the television. Several of the programs were reports of robberies and other crimes committed by people wearing ski masks. Some were pointless and boring sitcoms. Others were action movies, or science fiction. One caught his eye, a speech which had been repeated constantly. The President of the Western Alliance had the most stone cold face anyone could muster.

“Man itself is in a state of peace. The one evil we must fear comes from beyond Earth itself. Extraterrestrials. Invaders. Each person on Earth must do his or her part to protect themselves from imminent threats. Anyone who witnesses a friend, neighbor, or stranger should call the local authorities to call it in. If we do not keep our world free, then—” He turned the television off.

“Political propaganda, all of it.” He got up, and walked to the door in the break room that led outside. Opening it, he watched strangers walk by from his position at the top of a long flight of stairs. Sam pushed through the door to the break room, panting heavily.

“You wouldn't believe the guy that just came in! He asked for me to repair his console, and wouldn't even tell me what was wrong with it. The guy was downright rude, Victor!” Victor glanced at him, waving his hand.

“Sam, calm down. We've gotten rude customers before, so don't sweat it.” He stared out the door as Sam returned to the front counter. A scene occurring outside the door caught his eye. Two agents in grey uniforms were dragging a tinfoil hat-wearing man, a Tinny, as they were called, out of his residence. He was kicking and screaming, flailing his legs around as the two agents pushed him inside an unmarked, black van. The agents hopped in and drove away. Sam stormed through the door, fuming in anger.

“That guy's system is broken, and yet he refuses to buy a new one! 'If you can't fix it, then I'm done with this system!' Idiot!” Victor was half-listening to him as he watched the night sky. The clouds were rolling in, obscuring the night sky. Sam jabbed him in the side, eliciting a groan from Victor.

“You're not even listening at all! Seriously! Gah!” Sam stomped out of the break room, back to the counter, and immediately went quiet. Victor, sensing a problem, shut the outside door, and opened the break room door slowly.

“Hello, and welcome to Thor's Games. How may I—” He stopped. The exact same agents he had seen through the window were in front of the counter, as still as marble statues, their grey uniforms sharp and straight. The one on the right wore a gold chain around his neck. The agent to Victor’s left had a gold ring on his finger .A wave of fear and awe spread through Victor. Swallowing hard, he walked out with a nervous smile. He looked to the right, where Sam was cowering in fear.

“W-welcome, agents! M-may I h-help you with anything?” The agent standing on the right flipped a pre-order card onto the counter for Borderlands 2. Victor sighed in relief, and picked up the card.

“A-alright then. That will be sixty-one dollars and ninety-three cents.” The agent on the left whipped out a government credit card. He swiped it through, and took the receipt. As they left with huge smiles, Victor took a step back and leaned against the wall. Sam stared at him.

“Victor? Y-you seem about as scared as I am.” Sam gulped with fright, while Victor looked down at the floor, his eyes wide.

“I was scared to death, but it's much better to try not to let it show. A customer's a customer, Sam, no matter if they scare you to death.” Victor looked at him, a spark of fear still in his eyes. He slid his keys out of his pocket, and flipped to the key shaped like a hammer.

“It's about time we closed, anyways. It's getting late.” Sam nodded, and bolted into the back room, only to reappear a minute later, hurriedly putting on his jacket as he sprinted through the front door. Victor shook his head. Sam was still in high school, just a bit younger than himself, but only Victor actually bothered to talk to him at all.

“Makes me think of a little kid, sometimes.” He shook his head in wonderment. He flipped off the lights inside the shop. Sliding his jacket over his work shirt, he walked through the front doors of Thor's Games, and locked them.

Walking at a steady pace, Victor watched the night around him. Three more Tinnies were being taken in for “questioning”, whatever that meant. He turned the corner at the end of the street, and walked right into a situation. Two agents were dragging his neighbor, elderly Mrs. Gimsley, out of her home, and forcing her into a van parked near the curb. She kept trying to keep her tinfoil helmet on.

“I'm not one of those 'Tinnies'! Let me go!” One of the agents whipped the back of her head and tossed her unconscious body into the van. Skirting the scene, Victor walked down the sidewalk, whistling a game theme. The agents seemed to buy that he hadn't seen anything, so they drove away.

Sighing in relief, Victor stopped to look around. His neighbors were repairing damage from the wave of robberies from the previous week. He shook his head in amazement.

Destructive. Not good at all. He resumed walking, arriving at his house quickly. It was one of the older homes on the block: a two story, six-bedroom house. The paint was peeling on the outside, and many of the windows were smudged, but it was a well-built house nonetheless. Pulling out his keys, he flipped to his house key, and slid it in.

As he entered, he was greeted by the warm scent of chocolate chip cookies. Something was off. Throwing off his jacket, he marched into the kitchen, his suspicions confirmed. A tall, blonde-haired woman was standing there, in his mother's apron, holding a baking tray full of cookies. He lowered his head and sighed. Ever since his parents had introduced her to him a year ago, she had been completely infatuated with him, to the point of being a stalker. He stared at her. She smiled.

“Hello, Vicky! I made cookies for you! Here, try one!” Refusing the cookie, he grabbed the tray, and slammed it down on the table.

“Ms. Goman, you're not allowed within a solid city block of my home! What gives you the right to just barge in here? I know you were a friend of my parents, but this is overstepping your bounds!” She walked up to him and slid her hand across his chin seductively.

“I just can't stay away from you.” Gripping her wrist, he pushed her away and picked up the wireless phone sitting on the kitchen counter.

“Ms. Goman, if you are not out of here within one minute, I will call the police, citing you on a charge of direct violation of a restraining order!” She went white and pulled off the apron. She ran to the door and threw it open.

“T-there's no need for that. I-I'll go. But remember, Vicky, I'll never stop lov—” He slammed the door in her face. The scent of the cookies returned, and he drifted over to them. Lifting one up, he examined the “chocolate chip.” As he scraped away with his fingernail, a small pill popped out.

“Thought so.” Tossing the cookie back on the tray, he dumped the entire batch into the trash. He grabbed a sponge, and scrubbed the tray until it shone. He didn't want any trace of that woman in his home. Putting the tray away, he ascended the stairs to the second floor, and walked to his bedroom. Opening his door, he found a small package on his bed, with a USB drive taped to it. A message attached caught his attention.

“‘To Victor Hernandez. I trust you will keep this safe. Anon.’ Huh, well this is interesting. Let's see what's on it.” He turned on his desktop, watching the computer quickly boot up. It was a joy for him to see the machine start up, since he had built the computer himself. The Windows 7 logo appeared, and the computer was running. He plugged in the USB drive, and waited for it to load. When it had finished, a strange video began playing. The name “Shadow Protocol” flashed across the screen.

“Record Five of our research. The government commissioned us to create a way to find a new world for humanity. Well, through our research, we did. We can't reach it though. A key component, a specific program, is missing, and without it, we cannot stabilize the portal. A defector, Goman, took the program with her, and disappeared without a trace.” He stopped the video, unable to completely process what he had just been told.

“No. No! They can't mean Ms. Goman. They mean someone else, that has to be it.” The video ended, with an installation notice for a strange program called “3-qu35t-R14.exe.” The data on it made it out to be another game, one to add to his mighty collection.

“Doesn't seem to be a virus. AVG seems strangely quiet about this.” He initiated the installation, when a loud voice came over his speakers.

“This is the Hand of Nod, reaching for you.” He nearly had a heart attack. Picking up the headset lying on his desk, he slid it on, and sighed.

“John, you idiot. You could have killed me that time.” Laughter on the other end followed.

“That was kind of the point, Vic. Anyways, 8r1nk needs you on. Obviously, I can't join you because of obligations to my dad. You know how it is.” Victor nodded.

“Yeah, no. No I don't, John.” He turned off the voice chat to stare at the ceiling in silence. He and John had created the clan a while ago, but other players had taken control of it away from them, specifically a member named J4ck455. It had made John ready to hunt them down and inflict grievous injury on them, but Victor had been more levelheaded in the matter. He had suggested to let them have control, and silently watch. Their clan became the most hated of all gaming clans.

“I guess I'll play with them.” He started up the server chat, and checked which game the match was in. That day, it was on Team Fortress 2.

“Great, just great. Well, I can't abandon them.”

About six hours, sixteen grudge matches, and eighteen sodas later, Victor finally got away from his clan. That had been the worst group of matches he had ever had. As usual, 4Tank had destroyed his clan, 8r1nk. He sent an email to the leader of the clan, asking for the leader to boot Victor.

“Your clan just isn’t fun anymore. Most of these idiots wouldn’t know a space bar from a Hershey Bar!” He sent the message, and closed out the game. He checked on the status of the install. It was half-finished. Starting up his browser, he checked his email, and logged into Youtube.

“Ah, finally. Someone uploaded that Stargate Atlantis episode. Awesome.” He had come to love that kind of show, where people from Earth go out among the stars, and kill aliens who are only good when dead. He started up the episode, the nostalgia of his memories of the first episode of Stargate Atlantis kicking in.

After the hour of the episode was up, he sat there with a huge smile on his face.

“Nothing beats nostalgia, hands down. I’m still happy they added Ronon Dex. That guy’s awesome!” The speakers emitted a sound like a ding, signifying that the installation was complete. Opening up the program, the logo “Shadow Protocol” came up again, followed by a black screen, with one word in blazing white. Equestria.

“Wait a second! 3-qu35t-R14.exe? That's—” His sentence was cut short by a blinding light that emanated from the computer monitor. He could barely see anything.

“What's going on?! This isn't physically possible!” He attempted to reach his computer, but as he got close, small bolts of static electricity zapped him, forcing him back. He stared at the screen. A “hole” of sorts had inexplicably appeared in the middle of his screen.

“Okay, I have got to be dreaming! How—” A flash of lightning shot from his computer monitor, catching him in the shoulder. He flipped backwards, slamming against the wall. He slid to the floor, and coughed up some blood. As he pulled himself to his knees, he watched as the “hole” expanded more and more. Another bolt of lightning arced out, and slammed him to the floor, knocking him out.

“What do you mean, you lost the Shadow Protocol? How can you lose something that important?!” The general at the end of the table was flustered. The scientists in front of him bowed their heads in shame.

“General Gettysburg, the defector must have taken it with her.” All of the scientists froze. Even Gettysburg was shocked.

“You assured me she could not have taken it before! What made you change your mind?! Speak, or you will be shot as a traitor!” The scientist backed up, fear in her eyes.

“It was accessed using Dr. Goman's pass-code, sir. There is no other way. She has the Shadow Protocol, and with it, the key to Project Homeworld.” Gettysburg stared her down, then sat up. He waved them out. Pressing a button on his desk, he summoned in two agents.

“Agents One and Two, reporting, Director.” Gettysburg stood up from his chair, and walked towards the office window. He sighed, watching the construction of Project Homeworld. Flipping around, he pointed at the two agents.

“You are tasked with tracking down and finding the Shadow Protocol! Use any means necessary, just find that program! Power surges, illegal activities, anything could be evidence of use of the Shadow Protocol! Now get going! We don't have much time!” The two agents bowed, saluted, and sprinted out of his office. Returning to his desk, he opened up the top drawer, pulling out a bottle of whiskey. Popping the top, he took a long gulp of the liquid, coughing afterwards.

“If we don't get that Protocol back, we're all doomed.”

The two agents gathered up seven fellow agents, and handed them each a fully armed and loaded prototype pulse rifle.

“We have our orders, Agents. We are to hunt down the Shadow Protocol, and retrieve it by any means necessary. Do not hold back! If a civilian gets in our way, do not hesitate!” The seven agents saluted, and ran off in separate directions. Agent One pulled off his sunglasses, and rubbed his forehead.

“I wonder if we're doing the right thing, with what we've been ordered to do.” Agent Two glared at him.

“You're not getting cold feet, after all these years, are you?” Agent One stared at Two.

“No. I just wonder, what is it all for?”

Victor slowly awoke from the pain. There was a little blood on the floor; he guessed it probably dribbled out of his mouth when he was unconscious. Pushing himself up, his body tensed with the pain from his shoulder. He wiped his mouth, and stood up slowly, shaking a bit.

“Gah! What was that?!” He looked around, his vision blurry. He could barely see.

“This is just great.” As he stood there, his vision began to clear. He could make out his computer monitor, and a rippling, shiny mass behind his desk. His vision almost fully clear, he saw what it extended from. His monitor was missing. He assumed it to be part of the rippling mass. The rest of his computer materials were safe, at least.

“This isn't possible. What am I supposed to do?!” The mass began rippling, colours rolling through the shapeless mass.. As he stared at the mass, an image appeared in the centre, rapidly expanding. He could barely make out something seemingly familiar in the image. As it continued to expand, it hit him. It wasn't an image; the mass was similar to a window into another world, but the world was somewhere new, somewhere alien.

“No, that’s impossible. It can't be real!” There were six creatures one the other side like he’d never seen before. The form they seemed to resemble was strange, and somewhat blurred. They were all staring at something, as if they were looking straight at him.

“Hmm. Let's try something.” He picked up a pen from the floor near his desk. Winding up like a pitcher, he threw it straight at the mass. Instead of it bouncing off, as he believed it would, it flew straight through, and smacked one of the creatures in the face.

“That's new.” As he sat there, he watched one creature trot up to the “portal” and wave. Victor tentatively raised his hand and waved. The reaction on the other side was delayed, but the creature was apparently shocked to see that he could see it. He backed up, away from the “portal”.

“This is just like that Stargate Atlantis episode. The one where Sheppard got pulled through that portal, and couldn't break free!” He backed further away, and tripped over his bed. Falling head-over-heels, he stared at the “portal”, as the creature was testing it. The creature attempted to cause something to occur, which was unclear to Victor. A surge went down his spine as the creature put a limb into the portal

“It’s going to get dragged through! It’s going to get dragged through!” It tried pulling its appendage out, but it went in farther. Two creatures tried their hardest, one pulling hard, the other trying to lift the one away from the portal. The strong forces of the portal dragged it through even faster when its friends let go. Victor tried to stand, but was knocked over by a gust of wind. The creature was coming through the portal, and part of it was coming through on his side. He crawled over his bed. He wasn't prepared for what happened next.

“No! Don't let it drag me through!” The creature was screaming as it came through, and its momentum transferred from the other side. It landed on Victor, sliding on him for a fair distance. When they stopped, it hopped off of him, quivering in fear.

“Just what are you? You're not a pony!” Victor stood back. He had no idea what was going on. He looked behind the creature, and, with a stunned look on his face, stared as the “portal” closed. He sat down, and glared at the creature sitting in front of him. He couldn’t think of anything to say. No creature like it existed, though it did seem similar to an actual pony, besides the fact it was vivid lavender. He just sat there, his mind blank. Eventually, his attention drifted towards his desktop computer. It was a smoking husk of what it had been. The hardware that had been plugged in was fine. He yanked the USB drive out, examining it closely

“Well, I doubt that the 'Shadow Protocol', or whatever that was, will open that 'portal' again, or whatever that was. Computer’s completely fried.” He walked slowly to his bed, and sat down, resting his head in his hands. The pony looked at him with a sideways glance.

“It looks like I'm stuck here. Introductions are proper in this predicament, right?” The pony held out its hoof as a gesture of peace.

“I'm Twilight Sparkle, and you are?”

Agent Two stood outside a large, six-bedroom house, holding a report for One.

“There was a power surge a few moments ago, from this very location. It could indicate a use of the Shadow Protocol.” One nodded.

“Get any men we need. We're going in, and we'll take that individual in for 'questioning.'” Two stared at him.

“One, are you sure? It's just one teenager. Victor Hernandez is his name. Shift manager at Thor's Games?” Agent One froze. He pulled out the pre-order card for Borderlands 2. He held it in front of him, and tore it in two.

“Terrorist.” He radioed nearby military units, sending them coordinates. Victor would be taken in, whether or not he wanted to.