A Pink Cupcake Day (Part I)
(4/9/11: Part II was accidentally deleted, so a double update is not possible at the moment. Please be patient and wait for me to rewrite Part II. So that makes this chapter a bit short, so please excuse me for that. Thank you for understanding)
“…Okay, so let me understand one last time; Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, is that correct?” Eli asked one more time. He kept on getting the names mixed up before, but this time, after much memorization of color and their Cutie Mark symbols, he finally nailed it.
“There we go Eli! You finally got it!” Twilight congratulated him, giving a small pat on the back.”
“Thanks Twilight. My old mind just doesn’t remember things just like they used to…” Eli commented, scratching his gray, balding head.
“Okay, so we finally got dem’ names covered n’ all, so can we get onto the questions! I am dying to know what in the bloody hay this place is, and for extra measure, what you exactly are and where you be comin’ from!” Applejack couldn’t take sitting in the stiff chair anymore. She exclaimed her statement and pointed a stiff hoof in Eli’s direction; Apple Bloom jumped off just in time before she snapped. The other ponies were actually surprised at AJ’s outburst, because it was just not normal for her to do this in the face of company!
Looking around, she saw all their faces and jaws gapping, all staring at her. Applejack started to blush and awkwardly smile,” Hehe, sorry everypony, I just got a little…tense…that’s all…just want some questions answered…” She then sank into her chair, trying to hide her face which was just as red as a cherry at this point.
“Please excuse my friend’s little outburst, but I must admit, we are all very eager to have some very pressing questions to be answered” Twilight talked to Eli and Kleiner when she said this.
“No matters. I can totally understand the tense nature acted upon your friend” Dr. Kleiner waved a hand in front of Twilight,” I can’t blame her though, because we did have a sort of rude introduction, with us pointing our weapons at you and all. Well anyways, let’s get straight to the point; We have questions that need to be answered, so can we start? You can ask your questions afterwards.”
“Well, I guess that seems appropriate enough” Twilight Sparkle let them take the reign of the moment for now,” Ask away…:
“Ok, so our first question is, where are we anyways? Doesn’t look like home at all. In fact, I don’t remember seeing this place at all on any maps.” Eli Vance asked the very first question.
“Well, you are in the land of Equestria, of course.” Twi’ dug through her pack until she found a map of Equestria and placed it in front of her. “We are right…here…in the Everfree Forest. Over there is Ponyville, and there is the main capitol of Equestria, Canterlot.”
Dr. Isaac Kleiner snatched the map up and studied it ever so carefully,” Ponyville? Phillydelphia? Appleloosa? Why, these are all just plays on the names of different horse breeds!”
“Pfft, well of course silly-willy!” Pinkie flicked her hoof in the air,” Ponies, unicorns, and pegasi are the most abundant species on this planet! It wouldn’t be right to name a city after a lesser species, now wouldn’t it?”
“You know, I have always been wondering, what do ponies, unicorns, and pegasi do in this world, because in our world, all we ever had were ponies and horses, and all they did was haul goods from one place to another.” Alyx asked curiously.
Twilight answered the question immediately,” Well, the term ‘ponies’ actually refers to any of the three. An Earth pony is the one without a horn or wings. They can do many miscellaneous tasks on the ground. Unicorns are magical creatures and use their horns to do a variety of tasks…”
“Interesting…” Eli stroked his short beard,” Can you demonstrate this for us, because our world is not rules by this…magic…so we never really know the real power”
“I’d be glad to” Twilight focused her attention to a stack of books lying on top of a cabinet. Focusing her energy on it, Twi’s horn glowed a slight purple and the books started to have a purple haze form around them. The books then lifted up off the cabinet and gracefully landed on the table. “We can also teleport and do other types of magical tricks.
“Incredible…” Isaac closely examined the now still books, We have designed something like this before, but it is very heavy and bulky. Gordon has it in fact. Can you show us, Gordon?”
Freeman obliged and took out his Gravity Gun. It was, indeed, heavy and very clunky to move around. The crystal inside powering the gun glowed “This is the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator, also known as the Gravity Gun.” Eli explained,” We do not have the power of telekinesis like you, Twilight, so I invented this device to lift up objects that we normally could not. Demonstrate it for us on that chair over there, will you Gordon?”
Gordon Freeman carefully pointed his Gravity Gun at one of the empty chairs, and pulling the secondary trigger, the gun hummed a bit and the glow strengthened. The empty chair immediately zoomed in front of Gordon. Pulling the secondary trigger again, the Gravity Gun hum stopped and the glow weakened. The chair fell to the ground.
Twilight got up and examined the gun,” Well, very interesting, I must say, although the design is very bulky. I am impressed…”
“Uh, I have one more question, Twilight” Alyx called out.
“Sure, go ahead…”
“Well, I now know what Earth ponies and unicorns, do, but what do Pegasus ponies do besides fly?”
Rainbow Dash zipped right up into the air and explained,” Well, we Pegasus ponies are the most important of them all, because we control the weather and are able to lay on clouds!”
“Wait a second here…are you saying that…nature doesn’t control the clouds, but you Pegasus ponies do?” Alyx was very puzzled at this.
“Why…yes. We do control the weather. Why? Got a problem with that?”
“Well, it just doesn’t seem…normal to us…”
“N…not normal? How is that not normal! Those are the basic rules of our universe!”
“In YOUR universe, that is. In our world, nature takes its own course.”
“But that just ain’t natural!” Applejack countered,” In our world, we take care of the animals! The only place where they roam all free and dandy on their own is in the Everfree Forest, and that is where we are right now!”
Twilight put a hoof in front of AJ to quiet her down,” Now Applejack, they come from somewhere where things are not the same, so expect that to happen. So, anymore questions from you?”
“No, we are fine. You may ask us your questions now” Dr. Kleiner replied.
“Ooh! OOH! PICK ME! PICK ME!” Pinkie Pie squealed in delight. She bounced down the long conference table and shoved her face into Dr. Kleiner’s. Her big eyes popped out a bit and a huge smile grew on her face. Kleiner started to break out into an awkward sweat…
“Oh, well, erm…sure…g-go ahead Pinkie…can you just get out of my face please, those eyes are starting to creep me out!” Kleiner’s head was just about soaked at this point. Those bulging eyes were physically impossible, or at least, in the human’s eyes, to do.
“Okey-dokey artichokie!” Her eyes receded back into their sockets and she happily bounced back to her seat and then asked her question,” Well, anypony could immediately recognize that you are not from around here, or even from our world! It’s too easy to figure out! Can you pretty-please tell us where you guys came from?” Her pupils got big and filled up most of her eyes. Pinkie Pie also gave off a cute little lip curl.
“Yea, we can all tell that you are not from here, judging by your looks…” Rarity added, noting the polygonal shaped bodies with very natural tones,” You stick out like a sore hoof out here!”
“Well, I guess there is no hiding it since it is so obvious” Eli said in despair, shaking his head, pinching the bridge of his nose,” Izzy, would you kindly get me a whiteboard and marker? I need to get the newspapers I saved.” They both scurried off in different directions and coming back with their objects.
Dr. Kleiner rolled the white board to the end of the table where everyone and everypony had a good view. Eli took the marker and drew a straight line with arrows pointed on both ends. “This is a timeline of the major events that brought us here. Let us start at the very beginning…”
Eli then drew the Black Mesa Symbol at the very left of the timeline,” This is where it all started, at the Black Mesa Research Facility. It was a secret scientific compound where we did and ran various experiments for a variety of subjects. Gordon, Kleiner, and I worked there in the Anomalous Materials section…”
Twilight raised her hoof over her head,” So wait, you guys are…scientists? I thought that you worked for the medical divisions due to that ‘doctor’ title you were given”
“Yes, my dear Twilight” Dr. Kleiner replied,” We are in fact scientists. Well educated and well rounded, we were entirely fit for the job!”
“Oh my gosh…squee…” Twi’ put her hooves up to her mouth and squealed in excitement,” I am actually very well read myself and I have a very passionate love for science! Oh, this will be soooooo exciting to learn about a different culture’s take on science!” She squealed some more and her face got all scrunched up. It was too cute and funny at the same time, it would be difficult not to giggle, even a little bit.
Alyx laughed seeing the look on Twilight’s face and the sounds of delight she made,” HAHAHA! You and dad could carry out a conversation forever with that type of attitude!”
Eli smiled,” Yes, I guess we could carry out a conversation, but let’s get back to the main point” He directed his marker back onto the board,” We were doing experiments with teleportation…”
“Really?” Twilight interrupted again,” We unicorns here can teleport anywhere we want, as long as we focus hard enough that is. I’ve done it on a couple of occasions myself…”
“That type of teleporting, Twilight” Eli corrected her,” Is only done within your world, meaning you can only teleport anywhere on your globe. In Black Mesa, we were doing research into inter-dimensional teleportation, which proved to be quite successful. Our first ever home world was Xen, a strange alien planet. We sent science expeditions into that world, but most never returned. Then our man, Gordon Freeman joined our team. We sent him into a test chamber to get a sample of one of the purest crystals we have ever retrieved from Xen. The results were completely disastrous, causing the Resonance Cascade, which, in Laymen’s Terms, shit hit the fan…”
“Indeed it did…” Dr. Kleiner continued where Eli had just left off,” Luckily, Gordon survived the Cascade, even though he was at ground zero, all thanks to his Hazardous Environmental Suit, or HEV Suits as they are referred to. Well anyways, the Resonance Cascade caused an inter-dimensional rift between our universe and Xen’s. Aliens poured into our base and we were all goners. The military came to ‘rescue’ us, but turned out to be a cleanup mission, eradicating all aliens and scientists in the facility to quiet the incident down. They had to pull out, leaving us to die.
Luckily, thanks to Gordon’s heroic efforts, he traveled into Xen and closed off the portal. He suddenly disappeared for nearly 20 years, and we were all left worrying for him. Although the portal was closed off on Xen’s side, the portal on our side was still raging. It sent frequent Portal storms into our universe, and then an evil alien race saw the opportunity, because on their side, they saw the portal and used it to invade our globe. It soon led to the Seven Hour War, where all of our forces were defeated in seven hours!”
Everypony’s jaw was gaping,” Seven hours! And that was with all the military power of your world combined!?” Rarity exclaimed in a frightened tone.
“Yes Rarity, Seven Hours!” Eli continued from there,” We surrendered very quickly. The Combine race took over the entire globe, turning most of us into Combine Soldiers. The remaining was then sent to Combine controlled cities. They were over watched and controlled by these giant Citadels located in the heart of the cities. Life in the cities was crude and dangerous, so naturally, an underground rebellion was formed, and we, Isaac and I, led the rebellion.”
“Yes, and the consequences were felt far and wide. After completely destroying our city’s citadel, which was ironically the main hub of all other Combine activity in the world, a massive Superportal formed. The remaining rebels, including us, traveled here to White Forest and launched a rocket at the Superportal. Our main intention was to destroy it, but somehow, the Superportal grew and swallowed us whole, and thus, we ended up here…” Isaac Kleiner ended the timeline. The whiteboard was now strewn with crudely drawn pictures of Black Mesa, the Xen Aliens, the Combine, City 17, and the Superportal.
Rainbow Dash hovered over to the whiteboard, examining the sketching of the Combine’s military force. She gasped and stumbled onto the conference table, gapping and pointing at the pictures.
“Th…th…the C…Combine! I…It’s s…sa…” She couldn’t quite say what she had on her mind. Applejack jumped onto the table and put her hooves on Dash’s shoulders and shook hard,” Dagnabit Dash! Spit what ya want to say out right now!”
“Th…the Combine! I saw the Combine here in Equestria! Remember what I told you back in Ponyville? That is what I saw! Those pictures of those machines is what I saw!!!” Rainbow blurted these words out with extreme force. Gordon who was sipping some coffee from a mug spit out the steaming brew and the mug fell to the floor and shattered into millions of pieces and gapped in fear at the statement.
“The Combine…here!?!?” Eli exclaimed, slamming his fists onto the table,” Damnit! To think we had left our troubles away!” He quickly turned to Kleiner. His face was very pale and Isaac’s expression was very somber and scared. “Isaac! We are doomed! We could barely survive with backup in our home world! Now we are left alone with no one to help us! What do we do? What do we do!?!?” He shook Issac hard on the shoulders.
“The Combine, here? How is that possible?” Twilight asked curiously.
“Well, when the Superportal swallowed us whole, part of the Combine military must have been transported here also. We are in deep trouble, because even in small numbers, the Combine is ruthless and immediately take an iron fist and grasp the land hard. If my predictions are correct, they will try to establish connection with their home world and then take over this planet. No pony or human life may be spared…” Dr. Kleiner responded in an exasperated tone.
A cold chill ran through her mind,” H…how cruel can they be?”
“Just imagine seeing your family put on the steak and burned; imagine your friends being ruthlessly tortured for fun; just imagine barely getting by in life on small food rations and terrible housing conditions. It will be that ruthless, Twilight…”
Pained expressions lay upon everyone’s and everypony’s face at the thought.
“We MUST inform the princess immediately!” Twilight exclaimed, shoving her body away from the table and hurried towards the door.”
“But how do can you contact the princess?” Alyx questioned in a hurried tone, knowing ever second was now precious.
“Don’t worry, we have close relationships…” She looks down at her hooves,” Blast, I may not be able to get to Canterlot in time…” Twilight then looked towards Alyx,” Do you have any faster mode of transportation?”
Dr. Kleiner waved a finger in the air in triumph,” Not to worry, we should still have the Muscle Car. Alyx, care to take them to the garage? And step to it!”
“Sure thing doc! Gordon, Twilight, and the rest of you, follow me quickly!” She gestured her hand for them to follow her.
Apple Bloom started to follow her bigger sister when she stopped her,” Sorry Apple Bloom, I know ya just want to be a big pony, but now is just not the time…” She looked up and spotted Kleiner pacing around the room,” Hey Doc! Mind if you look after my sister while I help Twi’ with her duties?”
“Certainly Applejack! I will act like a father with her!”
“Thanks Dr. Kleiner. I don’t know how can repay you…” AJ then sped off with her friends out of the conference room and to the garage.
All of them hurried down many more corridors and stairwells when suddenly, a red light started to flash and the alarm broke out…
“ATTENTION! ATTENTION! INCOMING ATTACK AT 0800 HOURS! ALL MEMBERS, PLEASE PROCEED TO BATTLE POSITIONS…”
“Shit man…” Alyx whispered under her breath,” It may be too late…”