//------------------------------// // Episode 3 // Story: The one free Colt // by Dementia Ravenmane //------------------------------// Episode 2.5 You took a look at the doorway and was met with the infuriated gaze from a large midnight blue pony. Great, I suppose that is Princess Luna. Hey Ms Goddess! Can't you see that i am making friends here? The large blue pony stormed into the room followed by a dozen guards. They quickly surrounded you. You and Alyx were cuffed and escorted out to a carriage. It was a prison carriage with barred windows and simple seats opposite of each other.  Every pony in Ponyville seemed to have taken the time to watch and you felt them judge you with their looks, some hateful and some fearful. Time Turner followed you and Alyx out and into the carriage. "I'm coming too since I know more about you than the others, save for your companion of course." He took a seat opposite to you and Alyx, next to Princess Luna. You saw how Alyx shifted nervously when the large, midnight blue princess looked at her. “So, why were we arrested? It would be nice if someone could give us an explanation.” Alyx asked in her typical confident voice. You looked a Princess Luna as she seemed to think about the answer for a bit. Is it a difficult question to answer? Maybe Turner was right, she only had a dream about it. Now that wouldn’t be an acceptable excuse, even if it came from a goddess. You felt a small shudder as the carriage started moving, it was probably going to some sort of prison. "We had a dream one month ago about a pony with metal skin and a metal horn. He would be followed by a disaster too devastating even for the royal sisters to handle. We know it may sound far fetched but every time we had a dream like this, it has been a true dream." Alyx and you looked at each other, she didn’t seem too convinced that it was a legit reason. You looked out of the window, you could see how you just passed the library. Twilight Sparkle was looking at you through a window. You looked out through the other window and, wait a second... Twilight Sparkle was looking back at you from across the street. You rubbed your eyes, did you just see two of her? You brought up your chalk board and wrote a question. "Does Twilight Sparkle have a twin sister?" Luna and Turner looked at the question and shook their heads. "Then why did I see two of them?" Turner and Luna looked at the other question and their eyes widened. "Everypony! Take cov-" Luna didn’t get longer before a powerful explosion struck the carriage, green flames surrounded it and you could feel how you were thrown high into the air, you crashed down hard into the ground and the last thing you heard before you fell unconscious was explosions and screams. You grunted as you woke up, you saw Alyx laying next to you. Time Turner and Princess Luna were waking up too. "By our sister's beard, the changelings are back, and the Elements of Harmony are over at Canterlot Castle!" Luna groaned as she recovered. Alyx opened her eyes and stood up on shaking legs. "Princess, remove our cuffs. We can help you." Luna looked at you and Alyx before shaking her head. "Ehm... Princess, I think we should listen to them. We don't have much of a choice." it was Time Turner who spoke up, Luna met his gaze before releasing a small sigh and unlocking the cuffs. You rose and looked at the door of the carriage, it had been bent and could probably not be opened. You stood and jolted it with your horn, the door flew away and landed in the dirt. You climbed out followed by Alyx, Turner and the Princess. The town was almost in ruins, the only building that seemed at least relatively untouched was the library. The streets were deserted, not a single sign of life was present apart from a flicker of light from inside the library's upper floor. As you and your companions made your way towards the library, you noticed that the ground around it was strewn with black, insect-like bodies. At least whoever was inside knew how to defend themselves. You slowly made your way up to the door when you heard a faint, electrical sound. You barely managed to roll away before a purple bolt scorched the ground where you had been standing less than a second ago. You looked up and saw a device sticking out of a window, it looked a lot like the Biological Sterilization Systems from the Black Mesa Advanced Biological Research Lab. You rolled away from another bolt and cursed Twilight for taking your weapons. Why didn’t I try to get them back first? There is no way for me to stop this defensive mechanism... Or is there? You dodged another shot and picked up a nearby rock from the ground with your horn, you launched it at the device and heard the satisfying *CRASH* of delicate equipment meeting the floor. “Good work Gordon! Time, Princess, hurry over to the door!” Alyx and your companions ran across the street and pushed up against the wall of the library, Alyx went up to the door and tugged at it. it didn’t budge. “Damn, the door is locked. I wish I had my EMP-Tool now.” Time reached into a pocket (where the hell did that one come from?) and pulled out Alyx’s tool. You saw how she brightened up as she took it. She activated the antennae and pointed it to the door, a bright white bolt of lightning struck the handle and you heard the door unlock with a click. You walked into the main room slowly, Alyx, Time Turner and Princess Luna followed right after. The room was completely shrouded in darkness, it made you feel uneasy. You turned on the flashlight in your suit and turned around towards the staircase. You walked towards it and heard something from the floor above, it sounded like someone was scribbling on paper. “D-Dear Shiny. If you read this I h-have probably been abducted or k-killed by changelings. I want you to tell mom, dad and Cadence h-how much I love them and that I d-died defending Equestria. - Twilight Sparkle, your little sister forever.” The voice talking as it probably was writing was trembling, the one talking was afraid, sad and had lost all hope. You looked up in the room and saw Twilight Sparkle inclined over a writing desk. She was holding a quill in her aura and she was visibly sobbing. She slowly turned around and met your gaze. "S-So you m-made it inside c-changeling... I w-will not l-let you take E-Equestria!" She launched the quill at you with her magic, you caught it an inch away from your eye with your Gravity Horn. Twilight just stared at you for a second, then her horn began to glow. A purple lightning bolt struck you in the chest and knocked you down the stairs. "Ow, I bet she isn't married... Just what kind of librarian is she?" You rolled away from a purple fireball and dodged into the main room of the library. Twilight was quickly after you and teleported up to you, she let loose a shockwave knocking you away into a corner. "Just die you evil changeling! I will not let you hurt any more ponies!" Twilight walked up to you, her horn was pulsing brightly. "Stop this nonsense now, Twilight Sparkle!" Luna emerged from the shadows with Alyx and Time, they ran up to you and helped you get up on your hoofs. "P-Princess L-Luna? I-Is it r-really you? I-I'm so s-sorry, I d-didn’t know... P-Please don't *gulp* b-banish m-me." You could swear that Twilight’s coat turned multiple shades paler when she met the Princess's gaze. "You are not to be banished today Twilight Sparkle. We need your help." Luna looked at you and you brought up your chalk and board. "We need to get to Time Turner's home, my weapons are there." Twilight read the board and looked at you. "How can I trust you?" "You can't, but it is your only chance" Twilight read the message and nodded slowly. She went over to Luna and they whispered about something. "No, I won't trust them... What do you mean "Only chance"? Time Turner told you? That pony isn't entirely healthy in the head. Well, if you trust him..." Twilight turned around, glaring daggers at you and Alyx. "Okay, me and Luna will defend you on your way there, Time Turner shall lead the way." Twilight walked out the door and motioned for you to follow. "Freemane, you have never met changelings before, right? There is one rule: any pony that nears us is a threat and must be stopped.” You nodded at Luna’s words and walked out on the street, darkness was falling fast over the town as you started to follow Turner. Damn, this feels a lot like Ravenholm, too much like Ravenholm. You looked into a hole in one of the houses, half expecting a zombie to pounce at you, there was nothing there except a green fluorescent goo covering pretty much everything. "H-Help, is a-anyp-pony th-there?" You flinched when you heard the sound, a cream colored pony with a pink and blue mane was crawling towards you through the goo-filled ruin, it was beaten and sported several burns across it's body. You walked closer to the pony and extended a hoof to help it up. Right before you touched it however, a dark blue beam of energy struck the pony in the side. The pony gasped and stopped moving, it had a smoldering hole going through it. You looked at Luna, her horn was still smoking. She nodded towards the dead body and you looked at it in a mix of confusion and shock, it was engulfed in green flames that subsided to reveal a black insect like pony, with a jagged horn and insectoid wings. "That, is a changeling. Now you understand why we told you to be careful, they take the shape of ponies, often replacing the real one, and tries to steal love from others. They are parasites of this world." Princess Luna's voice was cold. You nodded in acknowledgement and began walking again. "Stallion of few words are you? Or is it something else?" You ignored Luna’s question and kept walking. The next half hour or so you spent walking through the empty streets, occasionally meeting a disguised changeling that Luna or Twilight made quick work of. You couldn’t help but to stare at the bodies as they changed from pony to changeling, it was an interesting process. At least until one of the victims of Luna’s magical strikes didn’t change, you realised what it meant and increased your pace. "Here is my lab, hurry in and grab your gear. We have to get out of Ponyville." Time Turner opened a door and almost shoved you and Alyx inside. You turned on your flashlight and searched the dark room, you saw the locker where Time had placed your weapons. You walked over to it and ripped the door off it's hinges with your Gravity Horn. You quickly grabbed all your weapons and equipped the OSIPR. You saw Alyx slide a fresh clip into her pistol, she nodded at you and you walked out to Twilight, Luna and Time. There was a few dead changeling bodies on the ground and Luna and Twilight looked very tired, they were sweating and their horns were smoking. "Luna and Twilight, let me and Gordon do the fighting. You look a bit tired." Luna and Twilight exhaled and powered down their horns. You stepped forward and began walking again, taking the lead. Your goal was the train station, it was probably the safest way out of the town. As you stepped out in a junction, you noticed that ponies were approaching your group from every street. The closest one looked at you with glowing green eyes before pouncing at you with a loud hiss. *DUDUDUDU* The body of the changeling had transformed back before it hit the ground, the automatic reload system of the OSIPR made sure you could take on the next one. I hope these creatures are smarter than Antlions, they should understand what happens if they attack. You relaxed slightly as the other changelings started to back away, they turned around and ran away. Heh, fear the captain of the intergalactic house of pancakes! As you and your "friends" continued through the ruins, you noticed that not a single changeling was to be seen, maybe they had told each other how dangerous you were. You looked out at a plaza, the train station was at the other side of it. "There! The train station! Let's go already!" Twilight exclaimed and started galloping forwards, you held out a hoof and stopped her. This was too easy. You gestured for the others to go into a nearby house, you climbed up on the roof and used the zoom function in your suit to check the station. The train station was being protected by a group of guards in white armor. They were killing changelings with the help of crossbows and lances. What really caught your attention however, was a large unicorn completely covered in white armor. It fired a blue-white beam on a changeling, the changeling slowed down to a crawl before stopping completely, a guard hurled a lance at it and the body was shattered into small frozen chunks of meat. Some sort of cryo-technology? I hope they are friendly, I wouldn’t want to get caught in that. You heard a yell from a house and repositioned your zoom on it, a dark-gray earth pony with a green mane and red eyes charged out towards the train station. "Help me! The changelings are after me! W-Wait, what are you doing? I am a po..." You watched as the armored cryo-pony fired against the mare until she was completely frozen solid, it then activated some sort of jump-pack and smashed the frozen pony with it's hoofs. No! What are they doing? She was an innocent pony! I thought only HECU and the Combine were that cruel! Your stomach turned as you saw the remains of the pony thaw. You brought up your RPG, these soldiers were obviously not trying to save ponies. You launched a rocket into the air and directed it towards the cryo-pony. *BOOOM* The cryo-pony were ripped apart from the explosion and the suit it wore exploded in a cloud of liquid nitrogen, the other guards tried to get away but they were engulfed in the cloud. When the nitrogen subsided you saw the guards frozen solid, you quickly dispatched them with the crossbow. You climbed down from the roof. It seemed like Alyx, Time and Luna had seen everything through a window. They all bore shocked expressions, Luna and Twilight looked like they had been taking a tour in a washing machine. "Umm... Freemane, what was that... freeze-pony-thing? Why did they k-kill her?" Twilight looked at you with questioning eyes, you simply shrugged and looked at Time, he had a very concerned look on his face. "If those are here, then... No, i stopped him... But, Rupert was slippery like an eel... No, he can't be here, not after the Sigma accident... But maybe... No, he was unprotected when he tried to shift..." You couldn’t really make anything out of Time Turner's mumbling so you didn’t give it a second thought. When you stepped out on the plaza in front of the train station you realised what a mistake you had done, changelings appeared in every street, blocking your ways of escape. "Damnit! A trap! Princess, Twilight, Time! Take shelter in the station, I and Gordon will fend them off! Alyx brought out her pistol and aimed it at the nearest changeling, a quick burst from the pistol and the changeling slumped over with some holes in its forehead. You brought up your SMG. "Get ready Gordon, here they come!" You emptied your magazine into one of the clusters of changelings, they collapsed with small holes in their bodies. You turned around just as another group charged at you, this one was bigger than the other. You launched an SMG-Grenade into the group and watched as the bodies were flung away from the blast. Instead of reloading you took your OSIPR and dashed over to Alyx’s side, she was shooting into a really large and compact group of changelings slowly advancing on her, you jumped in between her and the changelings and fired a dark energy ball at them, the entire group disintegrated in an instant. "Now that is what i call fireworks, thanks Gordon." Alyx smiled at you, you didn't return it. That was too easy.  Suddenly, a changeling appeared from one of the alleys. The difference was that this changeling must have been 15 times larger than a regular one. Speak of the devil, a quite ugly devil... The changeling roared and moved out on the plaza, you didn't even think twice before emptying the OSIPR on it. The shots just pinged of the creature's thick chitin without even denting it. The OSIPR clicked empty, you drew the SMG and unloaded the entire clip as well as the grenades in the side of the changeling. Angered by the explosives, the giant changeling spat a green glob at you. You rolled away and heard the street behind you fizzle as the corrosive goo impacted on it. A small splatter of the goo hit your suit and you heard it drip off from the plating. *WARNING* "Hazardous chemicals detected." The soft voice said, you rolled away from a green flame coming from the changeling's horn. You drew the shotgun and took aim at the changeling's wings, it roared in rage and pain as they were ripped to shreds from the shells. The Changeling charged at you and headbutted you, you flew across the plaza and crashed through a house. “Internal bleeding detected. Automatic medical systems engaged.” the suit said as you coughed up a little blood and a small crimson glob. I hope that wasn’t important. You slowly rose, the Changeling had turned away from you. You drew a grenade and threw it across the plaza, the explosion gave you enough time to run over to Alyx on the other side of the plaza. “You okay Gordon?" Alyx asked, concern was filling her voice. You nodded and winced slightly, at least one rib was broken. The changeling turned around when it heard Alyx's voice, it roared at you before an emerald flame engulfed it's horn. You quickly drew the crossbow and fired a bolt into each eye, they burrowed themselves deep into the blue globes and caused the changeling to go completely insane. You threw in Alyx behind a rock as the now blinded changeling began to scorch everything around it with flames from it's horn. *WARNING* "Extreme heat damage detected." The suit said as the flames flushed over your body. No shit HEVlock! Do you think i'm retarded or something? You saw the counter on the suit power drop to 26% as you threw yourself away from the flames and in behind the rock Alyx was crouching behind. "You sure we can take it down?" Alyx yelled, it was hard to hear her over the roaring fire. You nodded and threw a grenade at the other end of the plaza, the explosion caused the changeling to redirect it’s attention away from you. You jumped out with the RPG and fired a rocket, you redirected it so that it impacted on the changelings horn. *CRACK* The horn cracked and unstable energy began to erupt from it, it exploded in a large wave of heat, knocking over you and Alyx, as well as completely knocking out the changeling. The changeling slowly got on it’s feet, howling in rage. It heard you as you fired at it with the Magnum and you saw it open it’s mouth and prepare some corrosive goo to spit at you. You felt the world around you slow down, all sounds were muffled. You took a grenade in your mouth. The mouth of the changeling was wide open and you threw yourself towards it, you flew into the mouth and right into the stomach of the changeling. *WARNING* “Hazardous chemicals detected, immediate user evacuation recommended.” I’m on it! You ignored the continued warnings from the suit and pulled the pin from the grenade. You spat it out of your mouth and curled into a ball so that an armored part of the suit faced the grenade and waited for the explosion. *BOOOOM* You were flung away from the explosion, everything around you got covered in a layer of green changeling intestines. You rose and met Alyx’s relieved face. Luna and Twilight was looking at you from within the station, Twilight was watching in awe. You wiped off some goo from your glasses and walked into the station, Time was standing with his glowing green stick and was moving it across the controls of one of the trains. It was a freight train. The train started to hum as the engine came alive. "Aha! Ahem... The train to Canterlot will be departing shortly. Actually, if you all are aboard, I would like to leave now." Time gestured to you and Alyx to get in the train, you went aboard and took a seat opposite of the entrance, next to Luna. You brought up your blackboard and started writing. "Luna, sorry for what I did against your sister. It was inexcusable. Anyway, who were those soldiers at the station?" Luna read your excuse and your question. "I can't accept your excuse, the reason that you are yet unpunished is the fact that I need your help with repelling the changelings. As for the soldiers, I do not know... Celestia's guards wear golden armor and mine wear dark purple armor, I fear that something has happened at the castle." The train rocked slightly as it started to move. You could feel the tension between Luna and yourself, it was understandable though, you had almost killed her sister in cold blood. The train started to slow down, you felt that the ride had felt much longer than it had actually been. “Okay, we will shortly arrive at Canterlot Train station. Everypony ready? I think I know what we're up against.” Time Turner walked into the wagon and sat down next to you. You reloaded your SMG an extra time just to be sure, you had no idea of how many enemies you would have to face. The train slowed down to a complete stop, you walked up to the door and slowly pulled it open. You were staring into the faceplate of one of those armored cryo-ponies. Oh but for Sandy’s sake... The cryo-pony’s horn powered up with a white glow, the white glow showered over you and everyone inside the wagon. You felt everything go incredibly cold before blacking out. “Careful when you thaw them! The commander wants them alive!” The barking voice was hard to hear because of how groggy you felt. You could feel how your body went numb again after the cryo-freezing. You allowed yourself to slip back into unconsciousness. "Oh, you are awake. Perfect! Harmonykeepers, dismissed." You heard a new voice, it was warm and friendly, yet commanding and calculating. It was the kind of voice you expected a good politician to have. You opened your eyes, you were strapped to a wall in some sort of holder, it reminded you of the one that had given you a tour of the Combine Citadel. "Nnngh, wh-who are y-you?" You heard Luna’s voice next to you, she sounded just as dazed as you. "Oh, hello Your Highness. Have I not introduced myself? I'm sorry, I should have known better. My name is Future Tech."