//------------------------------// // Alone Again... Unnaturally. // Story: Half-Life: Pastel Paradise // by I aint no damn brownie //------------------------------// I stared at the wall with a blank look. “What the buck does this mean??” Rainbow yelled, wings flaring. I’m right there with ya, sister. Spike rubbed his forehead with a closed fist, “Uh.. I think we go... that way.” He said, pointing down a nearby hallway. “Ya think or ya know?” I asked. The hallway didn’t look.. intimidating, or anything. I just didn’t wanna be wandering around the castle for hours while the world turns to manure. “I know.” Spike replied, nodding. This map is no good. It’s the worst map I’ve ever laid eyes on. It wasn’t a simple ‘Oh you’re here, your destination is over here’. No. It decided to be special. Everything is color coded (badly), and THIS map isn’t even for THIS floor! Or maybe it is, I don’t know. It doesn’t tell us where we are! It’s like it was designed by a foal. I looked in the corner and saw the nameplate. ‘Map of Canterlot Castle’ Designed by Aqua Marine Jr. Age: 13 Surely they’re bluffing. SURELY... surely the Princess didn’t commission a map from a thirteen-year-old. Or just hang up some fan art.. But.. I respect it. When I was thirteen I was thinking about stallions and bucking apples. And I mean.. I had experience with one of those things. I gotta hoof it to the kid. BUT I AIN’T DOING IT BECAUSE OF HIS GOOD WORK! Nope. Bad work, dummy. I hope your harvest isn’t plentiful this coming fall. That’s harsh. No it isn’t, buck you. Oh wait, they’re leaving without me. “Hey, wait up y’all!” I called out. They slowed down slightly and turned around, waving me over. Rumble.... I froze. A piece of the ceiling fell and landed right next to me. I yelped, and began hauling it down the hallway as more pieces fell. The others had began running too, but they were still looking back at me with concern every now and again. How nice of them. Doesn’t help me too much though! I rolled out of the way of a falling chunk, but then jumped back as a ginormous amount landed right in front of me, blocking the exit and me off from the group. The rumbling ceased, and the ceiling stopped falling. “Applejack! Are you okay?!” I heard Gordon yell from the other side. I also heard several ‘Bang’s so I’m guessing he was trying (and failing) to break it open. “Ah’m fine!” I shouted back. “Just.. gonna have to find another way around. Again.” “Okay.. uh.. we’ll meet up again, right?” Spike asked. “Ah’m darn sure of it!” I yelled. “..yeah. Look, find a way out. Go see if that map is worth a damn. I’ll see you later, AJ. Stay safe.” Gordon finished off. “O’ course.” I said, and turned around. I trotted back to the map and frowned when I saw the state of it. Half of it was scraped off the wall; as if it had been a simple sticker. I.. don’t doubt that it was. “Buck it.” I muttered, and continued on the only path available to me. Down the hall I go. I hopped over a piece of the ceiling but my hoof clipped the edge of it and I slammed face-first into the floor. “Why do Ah even bother?” I asked out loud. I slowly stood back up, shaking my head. I sighed, and began trotting down the hall once more. After rounding a corner, my muzzle touched a rope. I pulled back, but I was stuck. I looked up and gaped in horror at what I saw. It was.. something. It looked like a barnacle, but it had teeth! Sharp, razor sharp, teeth! And it was pulling me up. To.. eat.. Panic started to set in as I turned around to reach my saddlebags. I didn’t even bother with the clips, I just ripped the sides open. My pan fell out, but I caught it before it could fall out of reach. I looked back up at the thing and waited. It kept pulling me up, and I brought my head back. When I got close enough, I let out a grunt as I smashed it as hard as I could. It immediately let go and began choking. I fell to the floor roughly. The thing soon spitting up several.. bones. Of other ponies, I presumed. I swallowed the small amount of puke, and shook my head. It’s just decorations. Nightmare Night decorations. Not real ponies. I nodded slowly. Yeah, yeah. Just decorations. I exhaled as I looked up from the pile. I investigated this new hallway, and found that this one was blocked off too. Great. So.. I’m at a dead end. Nowhere to go. The other way is blocked off, and this way is too. Unless I can find.. another vent. That might work. I took off my hat to get a better view of my surroundings. Darn thing was getting in the way. After searching for a few minutes, I let out a quiet ‘ah-hah!’ As I found exactly what I was looking for. A vent! Hopefully it leads somewhere good. Only problem, however, is that it’s really high on the wall. I can’t reach that thing. But seeing the barnacle rope that hung in front of it gave me an idea. I put my pan in the other (not ripped) saddlebag, and took it off my barrel. I set it down as I walked over to a pile of debris. I picked up a rather large chunk in my hoof and walked (albeit awkwardly) to the vent. Carefully avoiding the barnacle, I chucked it right at the grates. They shattered on impact. I let out a whoop as I grabbed my bags and put them back on. I took the pan back out and jumped right into the barnacle’s rope. Let’s hope this works. I waited until the right time, and at the last moment, I smacked it with the pan. It let me go and I started falling. Come on.. I got one chance. I stuck my hooves inside the vent, grabbing on. I let out a yelp as I felt one of my joints dislocate. A tear rolled out of my eyes as I pulled myself inside, trying my hardest to ignore the pain. “Come on AJ.. be strong.. be strong-!” I yelled, and put the bone back into place. I gasped as the pain hadn’t registered yet. But as soon as it did, I was shrieking. Good mother of Granny-! That hurt like the dickens! I pursed my lips tightly as I held back another squeal. I waved my hoof around, trying (and failing) to quell the pain. It went away quickly, leaving only minor stinging. I wiggled my hoof around, glad to have full motion again. I sighed, and crawled further into the vent. There weren’t any light sources in here, so it was pitch darkness. Great. I relied entirely on my sense of touch to maneuver me through the enclosed space. At least, until something jumped directly into my face and latched on. It was one of those Celestia-damned crabs! I yelled as I banged my head into the floor, hoping to get the gross thing off of me. It was on there tight, and I could feel myself getting weaker. But I couldn’t let this thing win. With one last headbutt, my hardest one yet, it shattered into little giblets. I had killed it. I had saved myself. I breathed deeply as I began to slowly giggle. I did it! I lived! Nopony else could, but I did! So many others fell victim to those things.. but I didn’t! Thank Faust for the close proximity of this vent.. I wouldn’t have made it in any other situation. I rid my eyes of any stray tears, and began to crawl once more. I can’t believe.. Applejack, you crazy pony. You really did that. After crawling for a while longer, I was suddenly stopped. I couldn’t turn, and I couldn’t go forward. A dead end. Lovely! I brought my hoof up, but noticed that I could.. bring my hoof up. I looked up and felt around, noticing that it opened above me. Bingo. I awkwardly shuffled to.. stand, and climbed up into the next part of the shaft. It was.. like the lowercase letter ‘R’, I guess. I wiggled my way through the tighter space and pulled myself up. Once I got myself situated, I took notice of the grate on the other end. With light coming from it. A way out! At speeds I didn’t think achievable while crawling, I moved to get to the grate. I took out my frying pan once I reached it and bashed it to high Tartarus. The bars collapsed and I crawled out and onto the floor, landing on my stomach roughly. But I didn’t care. I was out of the darkness. I could see-! “Get her!” I heard somepony yell, before being grabbed my multiple hooves. “What the hay-!” I yelled and tried to escape, but something blunt hit the side of my head. And all I saw was black. “There we go, that’ll do it.” Captain Golden Shephard said, tossing his spear to the side. “Why do we need her again?” Private Mountain Rush said, holding the orange pony. “Ransom, my boy. This is one of the ponies that was with that ‘Freeman’ fellow. He must care about her, right? The plan is to get him to give himself up by using her as a form of.. bait.” The Captain said. “But.. isn’t that immoral?” The Private said, shuffling awkwardly. She was kinda heavy. “You wanna talk about immoral?” Golden said, taking out the cigar from his mouth and stomping on it. “That ‘Freeman’ guy killed an entire room of my men! With one grenade! We’re lucky to have gotten out of it unscathed, Private. He’s gonna get what’s coming to him.” The Private looked behind himself nervously. “Okay, Sir.” Golden nodded, taking out another cigar and lighting it. “O’ course.” I heard from the other side of the wall. I turned to the group and they seemed to be stunned in shock. “Hey, everyone okay?” I asked, snapping my fingers. Their eyes widened and they both shook their heads. Synchronization, activate! “Y-yeah. I just hope Applejack is gonna be okay.” Spike muttered. “She’ll be fine, she’s tough. Now, let’s get going.” I said, and began walking. But nobody followed. “Why.. why do you not care?” He asked. I perked up and turned around, shocked at his words. “Of course I care.” I replied, raising an eyebrow. “Sure seems like it, Gordon!” He said, voice raising. “‘She’s tough’ Yeah, because one pony can just take on guards, and aliens, and live because THEY’RE TOUGH! I’m sick of you, Gordon. You’re so damn nihilistic!” He yelled. “This whole adventure.. you’ve just been so indifferent to it. Like it’s just another thing you have to deal with. Like this is the average day in the life of Gordon bucking Freeman. You don’t care. You just.. keep cracking jokes! Oh, haha, look at me I’m the funny stallion! Everypony around me is dying, but oh, gotta have commentary!” Voice cracking on that last line, he fell to his knees. “Applejack is going to die. And your first response is ‘Let’s get going.’ What the buck, Gordon?” A tear fell down his face, and Rainbow put a hoof on his shoulder, glaring at me. I sighed. “I’m.. not.. indifferent, to it. Look.. Spike.. I’m fucking terrified.” I chuckled. “Sure seems like it.” Rainbow muttered. “Rainbow.. I’m scared out of my mind. You have no idea how truly scared I am. For us. For the world, for Applejack. For Cheerilee. Because you know, what can one pony do? Or two? Or three or four?” I asked. They were both looking at me now. “They can do a whole fucking lot. But.. that’s besides the point. Look.. I don’t really do the whole ‘emotions’ thing. During my time in Black Mesa.. I didn’t say a word. I was too shocked to do anything except.. live. Survive. I had taken to just cracking jokes in my head. Little comments. They just.. kept me sane. Hey, you know, if I could make a situation funny.. it’s less traumatic, right?” I asked, my own voice cracking. “This is fucked up. All of it. But the best thing to d-do is to just.. move. Keep moving. We’ll get there eventually. It always works out in the end-” A stray tear rolled down my cheek, and I wiped it away. “Right?” I asked. Spike blinked, and wiped his eyes before letting a small smile onto his face. “Yeah.. you’re r-right. It.. it does always work out in the end.” He nodded to himself, standing back up. “Applejack is gonna be okay.” He muttered. “Of course she is.” I said, freezing for dramatic effect. “She’s tough.” I finished. They both grinned. Princess Twilight Sparkle was going mad. She couldn’t find Spike. Nopony could. She didn’t know where he went. Freeman wasn’t in Ponyville anymore, and they couldn’t find Rainbow Dash or Applejack. So Spike, AJ, and RD are all gone.. while a suspicious individual is roaming free. She knows about the plan. The journal Spike kept about what he was going to do on the day of the supposed ‘invasion’ but she didn’t want to believe it. She didn’t want to believe that her baby brother was running off to try and save the world with a.. creepy old man! Was he a creepy old man? How old was Gordon? WHY DOES IT MATTER?! Spike’s gone. So is Rainbow. So is Applejack. She thinks she knows where they went, but she doesn’t want to believe it. As stated previously. She doesn’t want to think about the fact that her friends and brother were.. killing these things. She knows how to take them out. Trust her, she knows. Since the elements aren’t together, and the creatures can’t talk.. measures had to be taken. It was her last resort, and she felt awful about it. She can only imagine what kind of mind poison that Freeman bastard is giving them.. to get them to be okay with KILLING! “Princess!” Somepony yelled, busting through the doors. She stared, bleary-eyed at the new face. “Yes?” She choked out. The stallion sweatdropped. “Uh, Freeman was spotted in Canterlot.. with Spike, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash.” He explained. Twilight scowled. “Did they take him out?” She asked, eye twitching. The stallion shook his head nervously. “Uh, no.. they failed. He got inside the castle.” Twilight growled and punched a nearby wall. The crystal cracked. Her mane turned fiery and she flew out of the window, causing the first ever Sonic Rainboom.. Twilight edition. She was going to save her brother. Her friends. From whatever spell Freeman has them under. She isn’t going to let them fall. Not today.