Twilight's Castle of Friendship
"Y'know, Castle of Friendship is a pretty dumb name."
Gordon simply couldn't help himself from making that statement as they slowly through ponyville.
"I mean seriously, that's like calling... Oh I dunno, the Rhombus of Infinite Subjugation!"
"I dunno, Mr Freeman, that sounds kinda cool!" Tommy stated, genuinely believing it was a good name.
"Tommy, no it does not, it sounds horrible!"
"It's pretty cool, Gordon." Coomer plain and simply said, not caring for Gordon's opinion as he shot it down.
"I- Ugh, I give up, you win."
"Yay!" Applejack couldn't help but chuckle at the little conversation the humans had with each other. Sure, it sounded more like an argument, but she could tell it was just petty little bickering between friends. Of course, she had to keep herself from bursting out laughing as Coomer broke out into a victory dance.
"I have demonstrated the superiority of my opinion, and as such, have claimed victory!" Gordon simply facepalmed as Tommy joined in, while Bubby just sighed.
"For a scientist, he doesn't act scientific."
"Neither do you, Bubby."
"Fair point." As the group continued to walk, the massive crystal castle came into view, it's bright shimmering material bouncing off sunlight, which beamed right into Gordon's eyes. "AH FUCK- My eyes!" Applejack just simply chuckled.
"Yeah, it has a tendency to do that alot, but don't worry, it gets better the closer you are."
"I don't think that's how it works, but okay." Bubby's jaw proceeded to completely gape as he looked at the large castle in front of him.
"Is that entire damn thing made out of crystals?"
"Yeperoni!"
"Fuck, must've been expensive to build, plus it looks like it's build on top of a tree."
"Well, it wasn't exactly built, and it was based off Twilight's old tree house library!" Pinkie pie happily exclaimed, as Tommy made a noise of pure fascination.
"Aw man, living in a tree house must be cool."
"Yeah, too bad it got blown up." The humans all made a noise of confusion.
"The fuck you mean blown up? I thought this land was all peaceful and shit." Gordon said, visibly confused.
"Well, you see, there was this big centaur named Tirek, and he was a real meany head, and tried to steal all our magic, then he blew up Twilight's house, but she managed to make a brand new castle using her magic!"
"... You know what? That explanation ain't so bad when I compare it to the shit I saw back in black mesa." Coomer nodded.
"Indeed, the horrors we witnessed were beyond explanation or reason!" Bubby visibly shivered at remembering the many dangerous lifeforms they had fought. The peeper puppies, the zombies, the squid things, vorti-somethings, and those damn alien soldiers. And don't even get him started on that weird tentacle monster in the rocket testing lab, that thing was nightmare fuel. Plus, there was that big ol mommy spider thing they fought in the alien dimension, which he was pretty was called Xen, but yeah, not a fun experience, AT ALL.
"Yeah, but just like the military, we wiped those fuckers out!"
"Indeed, the entirety of the united states military was brought to it's knees!" Applejack could only nervously chuckle, still nervous from hearing how these humans were somehow powerful enough to destroy an entire nation's military. At least they were friendly enough to be trusted. As they got closer to the crystal castle, Coomer let out a confused hum as he inspected it's size.
"Hmm, looks a bit smaller than I thought!" Pinkie Pie happily giggled in response.
"Don't worry, it's bigger on the inside!" Bubby was utterly confused when he heard that one.
"Is it a damn TARDIS?" A certain Doctor slightly looked up confused when he heard that statement. Simply sighing, Gordon slowly walked up the steps with the rest of the gang, as Fluttershy walked up to the large door and rang the doorbell.
"Huh, didn't expect it to have a doorbell for some reason." Gordon then turned to his 'human' friends. "Alright guys, be on your best behavior, don't shoot anything, don't blow shit up, don't punch anything, and- For god sake Tommy what are you doing?" Tommy, who was currently sniffing Pinkie's mane, looked up from his important duty.
"But she smells like candy!" Pinkie lightly giggled while Gordon facepalmed, turning back to the door just in time to see it open, and out popped the head of a tiny little purple dragon with green spines, as they smiled. "Oh hey girls-" Spike froze upon the sight of the strange tall figures standing with the mares, especially the one sniffing Pinkie's hair, to which she did not even object. "Uhhhhh... Who are they?"
"Spike, these fine folks are humans, as ya could probably tell." Instantly, Spike's eyes lit up in fascination, as he approached and quickly inspected the humans, before nodding.
"Yep, they are indeed human, but how did they get here without using the mirror?" Applejack simply shrugged, while Gordon had a confused look on his face, before deciding not to question it, deciding to simply introduce himself.
"Well, my names Gordon Freeman, then there's Coomer, Bubby, and Tommy. And you are?"
"Names Spike, nice to meet you Mr Freeman!" Spike said as he happily shook Gordon's hand.
"Heh, I'm shaking a baby dragon's hand... Not the weirdest thing i've seen, but still weird." Spike chortled a bit, as he turned to Applejack.
"I'm guessing your all here to see Twilight?" Applejack nodded, as did Fluttershy. "Well alright then, c'mon in!" Spike gestured for the group to follow him inside the castle, which they did, and instantly Bubby understood what Pinkie meant by 'Bigger on the inside'.
"Holy crap, this place is huge!"
"Yep, it's pretty big! Anyways, c'mon, Twi should be in the library." After a bit of walking through the long winding crystal corridors, with Tommy accidentally getting lost several times, Coomer resisting the urge to punch anything breakable he saw into dust, and Bubby still baffled by the utter size of the castle's interior, the gang finally reached the library, as they saw the purple alicorn herself sitting at a table, reading through a book titled 'Daring Do, And The Titular Tirade of the Tyrannical Tirek'. Hearing footsteps, Twilight looked up from her book, smiling as she saw Spike and her friends, before looking to the humans behind them and her eyes widening.
"Ummmm... Why are there humans here?" Applejack nervously chuckled.
"It's a long story..."
Tartarus.
"And that's how I wound up here in Tartarus!" As Cozy Glow finished her long dramatic presentation on the events leading to her imprisonment, both Benry and Tirke clapped, applauding the young filly's dramatic performance, as she bowed. However, as he clapped, Benry soon came to a realization, as he asked the two a question.
"Wow, so, you guys both tried to steal all the magic in this place called Equestria, right?" They both nodded. "Alright, and with this magic, you could theoretically do anything, right?"
"I suppose so..."
"Could you give me another month of Playstation plus?"
"Uhhhhh... Sure?" Benry's eyes lit up, as he proceeded to pull out a rocket launcher, and as the two villains took a step back, Benry proceeded to blow both cages open, and as the two villains stepped out, Benry simply smiled a maniacal grin.
"It's time for a break out."