An idea up for grabs · 5:26pm Sep 11th, 2013
So, guys, I've had this premise for a First Encounter Assault Recon crossover fic running in my head ever since the end of season 2, but I could never bring myself to write it for several reasons, which include fics I already write.
Just a warning: it's based off the Vivendi timeline, so forget anything that came after Perseus Mandate. IMO, starting from Project Origin, the games were terribly dumbed down and lost the eerie factor that the expansions actually kept alive.
The basic premise would be that a royal guard would wake up from his night's rest to a familiar cry of "FUCK HELP ME!" after a setpiece-like nightmare, and open his eyes only to see the ghost of F.E.A.R. Lieutenant Steve Chen staring at him before dissolving to ash.
At around the same time, a changeling arrives openly at the city, exhausted and terrified absolutely shitless. After he gets arrested, he desperately begs for help for his hive, because something horrible has gone down there and he's one of the few (or even the single one) who could escape. This, of course, gets the Princesses very much concerned (after they feel it safe to assume the 'ling is telling nothing but the truth) and they send a guard party to scout out the place where the changelings amassed.
As you'd expect from F.E.A.R., well... liquified corpses and bloody skeletons all around. And one of those harmless corpse apparitions that (this is really important) dissolves into ash. Basically, this sets off the poor sod who Chen contacted, and though his sanity is put into question regarding his active duty or even his functioning in pony society as a whole, he's resolved to find out just what the actual fuck happened, all the time backed by the ghost of a soldier creature the likes of which he's never seen before. Even if he has to go behind the backs of the Princesses and the Elements of Harmony, who are tasked officially with investigating things, and even after our favorite six civilian ponies realize they're in FAR over their combed little heads...
There's a lot more to the story than that, including non-magical paranormal activity, several hallucinations, Alma's dual personality (caring child vs. psycho adult), the second team (Cpt. Raynes and the [Slow-Mo-less] Sergeant protagonist), the Point Man (dead or not, preferably the latter), crossings-over into the devastated human city of Fairport, the Nightcrawlers skulking around with their own hidden agenda, and possibly the most important, Paxton Fettel helping the ponies. Fettel wants nothing with his mother lost in another whole wide world, so he helps kind of in the way he does in F.3.A.R.: seeking his own interests and nothing more, to the point where he's actually a hindrance to the heroes at times.
The real premise about it all is that Chrysalis wanted revenge for the foiled occupation of Canterlot, but realized that she couldn't do it herself, so she tried a summoning ritual to get a beast of attack.
She got Alma Wade instead.
Yeah.
The only thing that developed from this old, old premise is that instead of some random motherfucker suffering from Chen's apparition, it'd be (prepare your thumbs) this motherfucker:
Flash Sentry.
Yes, I know, I quite hate that little personality-less wanker myself, but:
1. Vincent Tong, Flash's VA, is of Asian descent, much like Chen himself, so they could share vaguely similar voiceboxes (ignore that Chen's VA is the decidedly black Keith Ferguson - that's right, believe it or not, Bloo appeared in a horror game 
).
2. Sentry is apparently an officer, going by his "elite" barding in the little while he appeared in pony form in EqG. He does serve under Shining Armor, however, so his rank is at most that of Captain. We could go with Lieutenant, to match Chen's rank.
3. He, in pony form, strikes me as being in the 25-28 years old age bracket, like Chen seems to be.
If you really think on it, these actually make Flash scarily reminiscent of Chen, so it'd make him a bit easier for the ghost to imprint on. Besides, who DOESN'T want to torture Mr. Dreamy Cutebottom, hmm? 
So yeah, here, it's out of my heart. I'm just sad that I can't work on it personally. If you have questions, feel free to ask them.
(BTW, first blog post! Hooray!)
I am sorely tempted to steal this idea. Doing supernatural horror in Crossed Paths was a load of fun, and the FEAR series had so much potential... before the devs just pissed it all down their legs. (Still, there were flashes of brilliance, like the school in 2 and the shopping center in 3.)
-
"Lieutenant Duality! Subdue this creature at once!"
The Lieutenant made it sixteen feet towards where the strange, red-garbed biped stood. He was actually intact for the first ten.
Chrysalis's breath caught in her throat as she stared at the disgusting, green-and-black smear that had just ten seconds ago been her most powerful warrior. Bits of his carapace slid and rattled across the dark floor, leaving trails of viscous goop along the way. That cannot be, was the only thought that could make it through the Changeling Queen's mind. It... evaporated him....
Her eyes flicked back to the abomination she'd summoned- to find it gone. Frantically she looked in every direction, scrambling backwards until her flank hit the wall, her panicked breathing echoing through the chamber. "Where are you, creature?!" she demanded, her voice wavering far more than she would've liked. "Show yourself!"
Look up.
She did so, reflexively, and bit back a scream. The diminutive creature was standing on the ceiling, its dress and mane completely unaffected by gravity... and a pair of baleful, glowing-red eyes stared down at her.
Why did you bring me here?
It wasn't a voice so much as a thought that wasn't hers, invading her mind. It took all of her composure to not recoil in terror. "I, Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, have summoned you," she replied, with all the bearing and sternness she could muster. "You are to be my tool, my weapon for revenge against those damnable Princesses-"
I am not a tool.
Those red eyes narrowed, then vanished- and as Chrysalis watched, the form of the creature dissolved into ash, drifting down onto her. Unnerved, she began sidestepping towards the exit, all thoughts of decorum gone, only fear keeping her from screaming for her guards.
Everyone wants to use me. Control me.
The exit vanished. Chrysalis bit back a yelp as she skidded to a stop, nearly crashing into the solid wall that had just been a wide-open passageway seconds ago. "Stop this!" she demanded, though she couldn't keep her voice from cracking. "I am the Queen of the Changelings! You will obey me!"
No.
There it was again, standing in the center of the room just as it had been when she'd summoned it- but now it was covered in blood, its dress dirty and numerous wounds decorating its strange skin... and yet it looked no less terrifying than before. Her resolve broke. "Wait!" she half-begged. "I release you! Go back to where you came from! Leave this place!"
You need to learn a lesson.
And then the creature moved, faster than sight, faster than thought, and suddenly the short red-clothed form was a tall, gangly, naked thing that looked wrong and moved wrong and bent in ways nature would never have wanted and Chrysalis froze in fear as it stopped right in front of her and bent down, brushing aside its stringy black hair to stare directly into her eyes, the deep red glow of its hellish orbs flickering like the fires of Tartarus.
Welcome to my new playground.
The changeling hive's tunnels extended for miles underground. Chrysalis's scream could be heard in every last corridor.
-
Welp, I'm going to bed. Pleasant dreams!
1421574
AWESOME! 
...
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that... was...
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Though I was thinking of Alma as a little bit more of a semi-conscious force of destruction, your take on her isn't bad, especially considering the "soul ward" at the end of Extraction Point.
Go write it. NAO.
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Also music for the scene (don't worry, the link is perfectly safe, I guarantee it - I downloaded it from there).
1421574 Oh, and just for the record: the word you want is not "evaporated", it's vaporized. Evaporate means vaporize slowly and gradually, like when you hang clothes out to dry.
1424592 In my defense I wrote that in the space of ten minutes at past midnight.
1425460 *sigh*
All right, then.
I'll give you an A for effort.
1426515 Yay!
Also, I understand what you mean about Alma being a more "subtle" force, almost accidentally destructive in ways- but I find her to be even more frightening when she's an active entity, because then your only real hope for not ending up as a very disgusting puddle is that you're either beneath her notice or she needs (or oh dear God, wants) you for something.
And she'd definitely have a sore spot for anyone trying to control her. Just ask dear old Dad- oh wait, you can't; she
evaporatedvaporized him.1426531
I can see where you're coming from. It's kind of what the Monolith sequels did.
It's just that, to me, a perfectly conscious supervillain like that is a somewhat tired trope. Besides, in Extraction Point, she already knows the Point Man is her son, but despite that and her child form defending him from Fettel (which kid Alma probably has as a lesser favorite after the reveal), adult Alma doesn't speak in her own voice (except for the rabid screaming at the phone above) and lets him have it with both barrels. I distinctly remember a hallucination in EP where you have to shoot her just like you did at the finale.
Interestingly enough, in my headcanon, that sums up to adult Alma hating children to the core, for two reasons: one, she didn't have an infancy in life, and two, she doesn't want to be reminded of the child she lost. For that exact reason, she would target, of all Equestrians, one in particular:
Spike.
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Yeah, little guy, you got your days numbered if nothing is done to stop her...
1426581 I envision a duality to her, each expressed by her different appearances. Child Alma- almost obliviously evil, uncomprehending of the destruction she rains down, everything she does childlike... from playing with others like toys to throwing tanrums that could level cities; adult Alma- enraged to the point of near-mindlessness, reflexively hating anything that reminds her of her childhood or her father (who was a huge, if posthumous, presence in FEAR 3; dunno if you played that) and far more directly malevolent than her child self.
And I could definitely run with the Spike scenario- Alma being drawn to Twilight's prodigious magical power, seeing the close, nearly-familial bond they have, and in a fit of jealous rage wanting to make Twi suffer the same way she did.
1426681 Seems like we're radio-ing on the same frequency here!
And yes, I know the Creep's existence is Harlan's full fault. I tend to heavily ignore the "my family will be a pantheon" thing, since it only comes from F.E.A.R. 2 and onwards, and Harlan seemed genuinely regretful when he let Alma loose.
1421574
Good to see you remember Alma's insanely creepy spider-crawl
1437202 She did that in the first game in a really cramped ventilation system and I swear to God I somehow swallowed my own spleen. She definitely studied under Sadako.
Hmm you're just like me when it comes to fic ideas. I have a great idea then I want to write about it, but I want someone else to write it. Co-op story me bro!
2181788 Actually I'm leaving it out there because I already have three FiM crossovers under my belt for a good while, and haven't had the time to mess with any of them. I don't want this idea to be orphaned because I'm not able to write it.