The Foals of Harmony: Equestrian Rhapsody

by Rainy Meadows

Chapter 2 - Combine Efforts part 1

I’m just a poor boy
I need no sympathy
Cause I’m easy come, easy go
Little high, little low
Any way the wind blows
Doesn’t really matter to me, to me

“You know, I’m really starting to get tired of all these storms,” said Spike. “Do you think maybe the weather ponies have gone on strike?”

“That isn’t what Rainbow Dash said,” replied Twilight Sparkle. “She said that it’s out of their control. It’s almost like the weather has a mind of its own. Like in the Everfree Forest.”

“You think Ponyville is gonna become part of the Everfree Forest?” asked Spike, alarmed.

“Don’t be silly, Spike,” said Twilight. “I mean, look out the window! Do you see any trees growing in the middle of the street? Are Sugarcube Corner and the Carousel Boutique getting covered in vines and moss?”

“No,” said the baby dragon, examining the scene outside, “but there is a very slow lightning bolt.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Twilight. “Everypony knows that lightning strikes take less than a second.”

“Don’t believe me?” Spike asked. “See for yourself!”

A confused Twilight trotted over to the window and was astounded at what she saw.

On the far side of the Everfree Forest a solitary bolt of lightning was lancing down from the clouds, but at a pace which could be compared to a snail hitching a ride on a tortoise. It inched its way to the ground, growing longer and longer as it reached towards the trees before finally touching down, flashing twice and remaining there, twisting and convulsing slowly.

“But that doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight exclaimed, and she started frantically pulling books off shelves and leafing through them. “All lightning bolts disappear once they’ve struck. Why isn’t this one going away?”

“Why are you asking me these questions?” asked Spike.

“Because I don’t know who else to ask!” Twilight shouted.

The purple unicorn would have been surprised to learn that she wasn’t alone in her apparent bafflement. Near the summit of a nearby mountain overlooking the storm cursed village, the glow of the lightning was reflected off two round metal tubes, which were hovering, surrounded by a sheath of telekinesis, before the investigative eyes of a pony who knew just about everything there was to know about lightning.

He had a theory about why this one bolt had been so slow, and he hoped to high heavens that he was wrong.

The lightning bolt was still inexplicably there the next morning, when the storm had finally blown itself out and left Ponyville in an even worse mess than it had done the last time, two weeks ago, when it was raining sideways and a stray rock had broken Rarity’s window.

The mess went largely unnoticed this time, though. Everypony was baffled by the burning stem of electricity which supported the sky above the ground, like a thin, crackling, pulsating pillar, and the clouds that now swirled around the top of it were beginning to emanate a worrying radiance. However, only one pony had plucked up the courage to investigate and find out what was going on.

The Everfree Forest was truly enormous, and it had taken Rainbow Dash from when she first saw the lightning three hours ago until now to fly, even at top speed, from her cloud home over Ponyville to where the bolt touched the ground, and she was so exhausted by the time she got there that she almost crashed into the grassy stretch between the tree line and the mountains.

She sighed and flopped down into the cool greenery.

‘Never realized three straight hours of top speed flying could be so draining,’ she thought. ‘Not surprising though, considering...’

There was no way she wanted to finish that thought.

Once she had regained her energy, Dash fluttered up into the air and cautiously approached the lightning bolt.

When she was ten feet away from it, her world was filled with blinding white light and she recoiled in agony, clutching at her forehead.

“Aww, son of a-“Dash withdrew a reasonable distance, and then blazed towards the lightning bolt at the fastest speed she could manage. Again, her world was filled with pain and bright light, only this time more so, and for far longer. She smelled burning hair – whatever she had hit, it had singed her mane. Dash hastily patted it out with her hooves.

“What the hay?”

She stopped for a moment, and moved slowly forward with a single hoof outstretched.

There was some kind of shield surrounding the lightning bolt. It shimmered and made itself obvious where Rainbow Dash touched it, but she didn’t touch it for long because it burned like crazy. A pony would have to be out of her mind to try to penetrate this shield; clearly it was there for a reason.

However, a combination of frustration and tiredness had temporarily placed Rainbow Dash in a slightly unstable frame of mind. She withdrew as far away as she dared, and dived at the bolt, both hooves in front of her, wings flapping at maximum capacity.

Seconds later she began to consider she might have made the distance a little too large. If she didn’t slow down soon, she was going to cause a sonic rainboom, and she could already see the barrier in front of her.
Still she picked up speed.

The barrier slicked down into a crackling colour-streaked flow of air that surrounded Dash in a haze of speed. Any second now she was going to-

BLAM.

Yep, definitely too far. Rainbow Dash’s assault on the lightning bolt was halted when she crashed into the shield, just a couple MPH short of a sonic rainboom. It felt like hitting the side of a building, only buildings don’t usually propel you screaming at the top of your lungs into the canopy of a forest, where you come to rest in the uppermost branches of a large fig tree, covered in snapped twigs and leaves.

Dash lifted a small branch away from her face and saw a small monkey staring her in the face.

“What’re you looking at?” she asked, and it scampered away with a squeak.

She looked up into the sky. Her collision with the leaves had carved a neat, Rainbow Dash-shaped hole in the canopy, and through it she could see the lightning bolt, and if she didn’t know any better, Dash would have said it was taunting her.

She sighed, and pressed a hoof to the black hook on her ear.

“Hex, it’s me,” she said into the black bud which extended from her ear to her muzzle. “Can you see-“

“Yes, I see it,” said the pony on the other end. “If by it you mean the pulsating lightning bolt on the far side of the Everfree Forest that for some reason won’t go away. Don’t ‘spose you have a clue as to why?”

“I was kinda hoping you could tell me,” said Dash as she detached herself from the tree. “Seeing as you’re such a wiz with lightning and all and that elecrity stuff you keep going on about.”

“I’m presuming you mean ‘electricity’?”

“Isn’t that what I said?”

“No, you said ‘elecrity’. I don’t even think that’s a real word. Or if it is, I’ve never heard of it.”

“That’s beside the point!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

“You work in weather control, right?” asked Hex. “Isn’t it – I dunno, your job to know about lightning and clouds and how they work and all that smeg?”

“I don’t know how they work. I just make sure they’re in the right place at the right time. Only it’s been getting out of control lately and we’ve had storms over Ponyville every week for the past ten weeks. Anyway, like I said, you’re the lightning egghead. Any ideas about this thing?”

“I have a hunch,” said Hex, “and this time I hope to smeg that I’m wrong.”

Rainbow Dash finally dislodged enough broken foliage to fly out of the trees, and she began to make her way back towards Ponyville.

“I don’t really like the sound of that,” she said to her friend. “Because I know you’ll be right. You’re always right! You’re like a guy version of Twilight, only you’re not a librarian and you’re somehow nerdier, and I didn’t even think that was possible.”

“That reminds me,” said Hex, “when do you plan on introducing me to your friends? Especially that Twilight Sparkle you keep going on about.”

“What? No!” said Dash. “They can’t meet you! They’re not even supposed to know about you! The others only found out because Pinkie Pie overheard us talking and went and blabbed about it to everypony. Magic is what goes in Equestria. Without it we wouldn’t even have the sun and the moon! Can you imagine how they’re gonna react if you come up with all this stuff that runs on lightning?”

“I’ll DEAL with it!” Hex shouted, and Rainbow Dash fell silent.

“Look, I grew up an outcast,” he said. “My parents were hardly interested in me, and at school my only friends were my cousin and his buddies, and they weren’t all that interested in me either. If I got bullied, it was only because of something they had done. Even the best friend I ever had constantly called me a nerd, albeit in an affectionate way, and only ever to see the look on my face. What’re five more ponies when you take all of that into consideration?”

Dash sighed. “You’re right,” she said, “as usual.”

“So when can I meet them?”

Rainbow Dash looked back at the lightning bolt and the glow that was beginning to swirl in the clouds.

“I’ll bring them to you,” she said, “but only if the lightning thingy gets worse. Deal?”

“Deal. And Rainbow?”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry I shouted.”

“That’s okay. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t shouted at somepony on at least one occasion. So what’s this theory of yours?”

“Well, let me put it this way,” said Hex. “Have you ever read War of the Worlds?”

“Um, Twilight?”

“Yes, Fluttershy?” said Twilight, looking up from her tenth book of the day.

“Oh, sorry,” said the pegasus. “I didn’t mean to disturb you if you’re busy. I’ll just go.”

“You’re here about the lightning bolt, aren’t you?” asked Twilight as she placed the book back on the shelf.

“Yes,” said Fluttershy. “I was hoping you could tell me if you’ve found a way to get rid of it? Only, my cottage is right near the Everfree Forest and all my animals are frightened by the lightning. But I can see you’re busy reading, so I’ll just be on my way.”

“You want the truth, Fluttershy?” asked Twilight as she stepped out into the street to get a better view. “I have no idea what it’s doing there, or why it won’t go away. I was up almost all night looking through my books, and they all say that lightning usually disappears in less than a second. I’m afraid this is completely new to me.”

“Hey girls.”

Twilight sighed and looked to the newcomer.

“Hi Applejack,” she said. “Please don’t tell me you’re here about the lightning as well?”

“Not really,” said Applejack. “Ah was wond’rin’ if either of you had seen Rainbow Dash anywhere. Ah just thought since she’s a weather pony she might be able to enlighten us as to what’s goin’ on.”

“Sorry,” said Fluttershy. “Haven’t seen her all day.”

Suddenly, there was a tremendous flash of blinding white light. It only lasted for a couple of seconds, and soon everypony’s eyes were back to working order.

“What in tarnation?” exclaimed Applejack. The ponies’ eyes wandered to the sustained lightning bolt, and the translucent wave of blue light which was moving towards them at an alarming pace. Twilight could see straight through it, and the wave of destruction it was leaving in its wake.

“Get down!” she shouted as the wave fell upon them.

She lay on the ground with her hooves over her head and felt as though the world was spinning in every direction possible at the same time. It was like being sealed in a barrel as it fell over a waterfall. She even felt as though she were falling, like the ground had dropped away from her and wasn’t anywhere close.

And then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Twilight cautiously opened one eye, dreading what she might see.
Ponies everywhere were picking themselves and each other up off the ground, and Ponyville hadn’t looked in such a bad state since the parasprite infestation. Massive boughs had been blown off the library and burnt, and a worryingly large section of Sugarcube Corner’s roof had collapsed. Twilight heard creaking above her, and saw a very large branch about to break off the library. She got up and cantered out of the way.

“Fluttershy, you have to move!” she yelled to the yellow pegasus who was still huddled on the ground, shivering with fear.

Twilight looked up: the branch was seconds from snapping and looked far too heavy for her to catch with her magic. And she didn’t dare move forward in case the branch landed on her as well.

She could only watch as the flame-bitten wood finally gave way and plummeted down towards the terrified Fluttershy...

...and as a vivid blue flash ripped through her vision and the branch landed on an empty patch of road.

“You alright, Fluttershy?” asked Rainbow Dash and she clambered to her hooves, having pushed her friend a good ten metres out of danger.

“Thanks to you I am,” said Fluttershy. “I’m sorry I didn’t move. I was just so scared that I didn’t even want to open my eyes. I was worried that there was going to be another one of those – whatever it was. Thank you, Rainbow.”

“What can I say?” said Dash. “It’s what I’m here for!”

“Where have you been, Rainbow Dash?” asked Twilight.

“I was just investigating that lightning over there,” said Dash, pointing. “But I couldn’t really get close enough to have a good look. There was some sort of shield around it, and whenever I tried to get close enough that happened.” She pointed at her singed mane. “Don’t ask me how or why, but it almost felt like it was rejecting me. Like it somehow didn’t want me to go anywhere near it.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight stated, rather unnecessarily.

“Twilight, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but nothing makes any sense any more. That bright flash? No sense. That weird storm thing we just experienced? No sense. The fact that we’ve had storms every week for the past ten weeks? NO SENSE!”

Twilight sighed.

“You’re right,” she said. “Rather than just asking pointless questions, we need to start figuring out what’s going on.”

“Oh no!” cried Fluttershy.

“What is it, Fluttershy?” asked Applejack.

“Look at Sugarcube Corner!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “Do you think Pinkie Pie was in there?”

“No, silly!” squeaked a relievingly familiar voice. “I was just going to your place to see if you had any eggs because I’d run out and Mr and Mrs Cake are in Canterlot and they left me in charge while they were gone.” Pinkie then noticed the hook over Rainbow Dash’s ear and immediately zoomed over to her.

“What is that thing on your ear?” she asked. “Wait a minute, that’s the thing I saw you talking into a couple of weeks ago when you were being all misty mysterious! Have you been talking to Hex again?”

“Who exactly is this Hex you talked about?” Twilight inquired. “And what exactly is that hook?”

“It’s called an earbud,” Dash explained. “It lets me communicate with Hex when we aren’t together. It’s easier than going all the way up to his shop just to ask him a question.”

“Shop?”

“He sells stuff that uses power from lightning. Something he calls ‘electricity’. None of it uses magic, which I think is rather ironic since he’s a unicorn and everything. He lives near the top of that mountain over there.” She pointed at the mountain which they had visited in order to convince a dragon to take a nap somewhere else.

“Why so high up?” asked Twilight.

“It’s so he can catch the lightning,” said Rainbow Dash. “Also, he says that other ponies are less likely to try and steal his inventions if his shop is so difficult to get to.”

“Finally, something that makes sense!” Twilight sighed.

“Exactly,” said Dash. “Which is why I’m kinda concerned.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, see, the thing about Hex is he somehow manages to never be wrong. He’s always right.” She looked over at the lightning.

“He said he had a theory about that lightning,” she said.

“And he also said that he hoped he was wrong.”

“I can’t believe we’re finally going to meet Hex!” Pinkie Pie chirped as she bounced up the mountain with her friends.

“I’m not sure I get this Hex person,” said Spike, who was seated on Twilight’s back. “What’s he like?”

“Well, you know how Twilight’s practically a walking library?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah?”

“Think of that, only times a billion.”

“Okay,” said Spike, “that’s brainy. I didn’t think there was anyone smarter than Twilight.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Twilight.

“I hope we reach the top soon,” said Rarity. “All this walking is going to wreak havoc on my hooves, and I’ve just had a pony pedi.”

“Aren’cha at all concerned about this lightnin’?” asked Applejack.

“What are you talking about?” asked Rarity. “Of course I am! Is there anypony who isn’t? That dreadful light storm or whatever it was made a terrible mess in the Carousel Boutique, there was thread and ribbons and fabric all over the place!”

“I just hope he knows how to make the lightning go away,” said Fluttershy. “I’ve never seen my chickens so terrified. Elizabeak nearly got out of the coop again, she got into such a flap.”

“Such a flap!” Rainbow Dash said. “Good one, Fluttershy!”

“It was?” Fluttershy was baffled for a moment. “Oh, wait, it was, wasn’t it?”

The six ponies and dragon started to laugh.

“We almost missed that one!” giggled Fluttershy.

“Such a flap!” squeaked Pinkie Pie. “Because they’re birds, and birds flap their wings!”

“Thank you Pinkie, that was the joke,” said Twilight.

Despite their good cheer and the occasional light hearted joke, it still took quite a while for them to reach the place where Hex’s shop stood, carved into the rock like a cave.

“Hex’s Gizmoporium, Home of All Things Electrical,” Twilight read on the sign painted above the door.

“Gizmoporium?” Applejack was confused. “What the hay does that mean?”

“Just be glad we’re finally here,” said Twilight. “We’re going to find out what’s going on with this lightning if it’s the last thing we do.”
“It’s so cold up here,” Rarity stated. “Good thing I brought my scarf.” She pulled it out of her saddlebag and draped it daintily around her neck.

“Oh, puh-lease tell me I brought the tiara that goes with this,” she said, and rummaged around in her bag again, before she noticed her friends had gone into the shop without her and quickly hurried into the shop after them.

There was this to be said about the Gizmoporium. It was big. Very big. Perhaps twice the size of the Ponyville library. The space was occupied by shelves, tables, dishes and barrels, and they all contained... stuff. That was the only word to describe it all. Stuff. The barrels mostly contained tiny glass globes, labelled “Light Globes: 5 for a bit“ but there was another which was brimming over with silver sticks that had coloured crystals stuck on the ends. Apparently they were “Sonic screwdrivers, ass. colours, 2 bits”. There was a counter at the far end of the room, and behind it was a sign saying “Free Gift for Every Customer!” and a door, presumably to the back of the shop.

The ceiling was alarmingly high. Hanging out of it was something large and apparently made of metal. It appeared to be an arrangement of tubes and blocks, but here and there was the odd wire and the occasional black panel. A pony wearing a pair of dark goggles hung amongst this jumbled up mess, dangling from a swing and pinning the wires to the tubing and blocks with deadly concentration.

“Wow!” said Spike. “Look at all this stuff!”

“Yep,” said the pony hanging from the ceiling, “that’s the most accurate description I’ve ever heard; stuff.” The voice was strange: it was streaked with an accent unlike anything ever heard in Equestria before.

“Hey Hex, it’s us!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash?” said Hex. He leaned back in the swing to look down at the pegasus, lost his balance and crashed to the floor, where he removed his goggles and they could finally get a good look at him.

Hex was a young unicorn pony, barely older than Twilight or any of the ponies, and he looked a lot scruffier than all of the other unicorns they had ever met. His coat was terracotta, his mane and tail cut short and oddly stringy. It looked like very short dark brown spaghetti, and gave him the appearance of not having washed for a week. His cutie mark was made up of three lightning bolts – one large bolt flanked by two smaller ones – which were blue around the edges, but white in the centre, and his eyes were greener than fresh grass.

And somehow, unexplainably, every pony (and dragon) in the room instantly took a liking to him. It seemed that disliking him would be like kicking Fluttershy. When he saw the group of ponies staring at him, he gave them a nervous smile.

“Let me guess,” said Twilight. “Hex?”

“The very same,” said Hex, pushing himself up off the ground. “You must be the infamous Twilight Sparkle” (pronounced ‘Spahkle) “wielder of the Element” (‘ilimint’) “of Magic and according to my friend Rainbow Dash here, a complete bookworm.”

He deposited his goggles on a nearby table, floated out a pair of rectangular, black framed glasses and placed them upon his face, balancing them carefully on his muzzle.

“And I’m guessing you’re here about that lightning bolt,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind, but do you think you could hang on for a couple of seconds?” He pronounced it ‘sikinds’ and pointed up at the thing hanging from the roof. “It’s just that I was in the middle of pinning the wires to the main body, and I’d kinda like to finish before the day is out.”

Twilight was slightly confused by the way he pronounced the word ‘aeyot‘ and was about to answer when Rainbow Dash cut in with “Sure, we’d be glad to wait.”

“Thanks,” said Hex. He clopped his hooves on the stone floor and the swing dropped back down to him.

“Feel free to browse while you’re here,” he said as he ascended up to the ceiling. “I’m guissing ye don’t heve much money, so because you’re frinds of Rainbow Dash I’ll give ye a 50% diskeyont if ye wanna buy anything. Any frind of Rainbow is frind of mine.”

“That’s very kind of you,” said Twilight. “Rainbow, can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Sure,” said Dash, and she trotted over to where she and Twilight were out of earshot.

“Are you sure we can trust this guy?” asked Twilight.

“Absolutely!” said Dash. “Why, don’t you?”

“Well, I like him,” said Twilight. “I mean, it must be impossible not to like him, but I can’t help but feel like he might be kinda dangerous. Going by what you’re saying he made all the stuff in this shop. What else do you think he might have made? And what’s the deal with that accent of his?”

“Y’know, it’s really rude to talk about people behoind their back.”

The purple unicorn and the blue pegasus stared at the brown colt who was hanging next to them.

“Just thought ye oughta know,” he said cheerfully, and winched his way back up to the ceiling, where he continued to pin loose wires to the dangling mass of metal.

“What is that thing you’re building?” asked Twilight.

“It’s only half finished,” said Hex, “but I’m hoping that when it’s done, I’ll have my very own Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System.”

Twilight rolled the words around in her head. Genetic Lifeform and...

“GLaDOS?”

“That’s the one,” said Hex. “They built one in doymenshin 33, where for some reason they had a fetish for building imminse underground structures of scientific research in unreasonably remote playces. One was in the middle of a desert. A whole load of stuff got smegged up in that place, and I don’t want to go into details. The GLaDOS was in a different one. I’m hoping this one won’t go psycho and try to kill us all with a ‘deadly neurotoxin’.”

“What does this thing do?” asked Pinkie Pie, who was fiddling with a rather complex looking machine. It was a large rectangular box with a sheet of glass over the top, and under the glass was a silvery disc. To the side were two more boxes standing upright, and each had two massive circles in the front, covered by a wire mesh. Pinkie reached out curiously and pressed a button.

“Oh no,” said Hex, “don’t touch that-“

The explosion of noise was so loud it was almost physical. Pinkie screamed and shoved her hooves into her ears.

“WILD THING!!!”

“Somepony turn it off!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“YOU MAKE MY HEART SING!!!”

“I... can’t!” yelled Pinkie Pie over the unbearable din. “Too... loud... can’t... get... close enough!”

“YOU MAKE EVERYTHING GROOVY!!!”

“Can somepony please do something about it?” asked Twilight.

“WILD THI-“

Because of the limits of her telekinesis, Rarity hadn’t been able to turn off the machine. However, she had managed to locate the correct knob and turn it down to a more acceptable volume, although no spell could stop the ringing in everypony’s ears.

“Thank you... Rarity, isn’t it?” asked Hex.

“That is correct,” said Rarity. “What is this contraption, anyway?”

“A very powerful stireo systim,” answered Hex, “capable of sounds up to 150 decibels. I meant to turn it down, I’m afraid. I’ve been hevving some trouble with bats in the back room, and I was hoping if I made enough noise I’d frighten them away. But don’t turn it off – I like a little music while I work.”

“Oh, if it’s bats you’ve got, I’d be delighted to show them the way out,” said Fluttershy.

“Really?” said Hex. “That’d be great! I’d finally be able to restock my shelves without getting covered in guano. Thanks. Fluttershy, right?”

“That’s right,” said Fluttershy, and she disappeared through the door behind the counter and into the back room.

“Oh my, it’s very dark.”

“I’d take a few light globes in there if I was you.”

Spike scooped up a handful of the small glass balls. Each was about the size of a marble, completely clear except for two small circular patches of metal on opposing sides. The baby dragon tapped one on the edge of the barrel, but nothing happened. He tried blowing on it, but that just made the glass too hot to hold.

“How’re you supposed to make them work?” he asked.

“Drop ‘em on the floor and stamp on them,” said Hex. “It usually works best when you have hooves.”

Curious, Applejack pushed one onto the floor and tapped it with the tip of her hoof. Instantly, it sprang into like; a tiny lightning bolt was suspended between the two discs of metal on the sides.

“Well ain’t that somethin’,” said the orange pony.

“You don’t know the half of it,” said Hex. “It took me ages to get the design right. I only developed one; I made the rist with a simple copying spell.”

“Ooh!” Pinkie squeaked in delight. “It’s so pretty!” She pushed several more onto the floor and activated each one with a tap of the hoof.

“Ye use ‘em, ye buy ‘em,” said Hex. “Nah, I’m just kiddin’. You can have a play with them if ye like.” He stamped one final pin into the side of the GLaDOS, then nimbly leapt down from the swing.

“So what can I do for you ladies?” he asked.

“Hey!”

“And lad.”

“We’re worried about the lightning bolt,” said Twilight. “Spike and I saw it strike last night, but I’ve looked through every book I have about storms and for the life of me I have no idea why it’s still there.”

“And I tried flying up to it to get a close look,” said Rainbow Dash, “but I couldn’t get close enough. There was some kind of shield around it, and it felt like it was-“

“Like it was rejecting you,” said Hex. “Tell me, has Ponyville – it is Ponyville, isn’t it? I just want to be sure – experienced a rush of blue light particles which seemed to distort the gravity?”

“That’s one way of putting it,” said Twilight.

“And afterwards, was the area a scene of mass destruction?”

“If by mass destruction you mean several buildings collapsed and some perfectly strong trees dropped some very heavy branches, then yes, it was a scene of mass destruction.”

Hex’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped in horror.

“Oh no,” he said. “That means I’m right, I’m right again!” He started pacing back and forth between the shelves.

“Hex?” said Dash. “Are you alright?”

“Ye know somethin’?” he asked. “Just once, for once in my life, I’d like to be wrong. I would like to have just one day, one single measly little day, where something happens that causes me to be wrong. Is that too much to ask? Too much to ask that Hex is WRONG?”

“Hex, this is important,” said Twilight. “What. Do. You. Know?”

“I can’t tell you,” he said. “I’m sorry, but you have to go. All of you. You don’t have any experience in this kind of thing, so there isn’t anything you can do to help. So please, I’m asking you as politely as I can to leave.”

“Leave?” said Pinkie. “But we only just got here!”

“I know, Pinkie Pie,” said Hex, “and I already sid I’m sorry, but unless any of ye know how to fend off an alien invasion there’s nothin’ you can do. Now go. For your own sake.”

With his head bowed, he opened the door to the back room, and was greeted with a flock of bats which squeaked and flapped around for a few moments before fluttering out a nearby window.

“Um, I got them to leave,” said Fluttershy. “Have I missed anything?”

“Nothing much,” said Spike, “just us being pushed out the door.”

“It’s not being pushed out the door, it’s-“ Hex looked as though he wasn’t quite sure how to finish that sentence. “It’s something too complicated to explain. So go.”

Without another word, he stepped into his back room and closed the door behind him. This convinced the seven friends that it was definitely time to leave.

“Just one more thing,” said Rarity, and she cantered over the back of the shop.

Throwing open the door to the back room she shouted “By the way, you call that ghastly din of yours music?! I’ve heard better tunes coming from hooves scraped across a blackboard!”

“Well, that was rather rude,” said Twilight as they made their way down the mountain. “How did you meet that guy, anyway?”

“I crashed into his shop,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Ha ha, very funny, Rainbow,” Applejack said, “now how did you really meet him?”

“I already said!” Dash insisted. “I got lost in a thick cloud layer and I crashed into his shop! A mountain doesn’t look like a mountain until you get right up close. From a distance, and when you can only just see properly, it looks just like another cloud. Anyway, I helped him fix the place and he gave me the earbud for my trouble. I was on my way back when I found him.”

“Who’s him?” asked Twilight.

“You know who I mean!”

“Oh, him. Te-”

“DON’T SAY HIS NAME!”

“It wasn’t your fault, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity reassuringly. “Besides, it looks like you’re not the only one whose having love troubles.”

“What are you talkin’ ‘bout?” asked Applejack.

“Well,” said Rarity, “I can’t have been the only one who noticed that Twilight never took her eyes off that stallion from the moment we entered his shop.”

“What?!” said Twilight. “You’re being ridiculous! Seriously, stop it!”

“Actually, Twilight,” said Spike, “you were kinda looking at him in a funny way. It was almost like you were checking him out. And you only stopped when he’d gone.”

“Oh. My. Gosh,” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Twilight has a crush on Hex!”

“No I don’t!”

“And Twilight,” Fluttershy added, “you had this funny look in your eyes. Like you’d never even seen a male unicorn before.”

“Aw, come on, guys!” said Twilight. “I admit I was impressed by his intellect-“

“And his flank!”

“Leave it, Spike! But that doesn’t mean I have a crush on him! Aren’t you more worried that he was talking about alien invasion? What the heck does that mean?”

The bulk of the incomplete GLaDOS hung over Hex's head as he wandered through the stacks of junk and memorabilia from his past life, eventually reaching a long glass case which he opened and lifted out what was inside.

It was a two-foot long stick of metal, painted red all over save for the ends, one of which was curved over at a large angle, the other not so much, and both ends were split into two forked prongs.

Hex weighed the tool in his hooves.

He got the feeling he might need it some time in the future.

NEXT TIME: Combine Efforts part 2

“It’s alive! Everypony get back!”

“Spike, what’re you doing? You’ll get yourself killed!”

“I think it was the most beautiful tune I’ve ever heard.”

“Isn’t there anythin’ we can do?”

“You’ll want to be careful; it could wake up at any moment.”

“Like now?”

“LOOK AT ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU, YOU ELEPHANT-FACED GREEN BASTARD!!!”

Author's Note: Let's make this a little competition, shall we? Anybrony who can guess where Hex is originally from wins! Hope you enjoyed this chapter: as you can probably tell, this story is in a sort of episodic format. I may create a better cover image for this story once I've written more of it. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Comments

[clap2times]

I know where he's from: Equestria!

Dimension 33?
I assume he's created the Tardis? There's already the Sonic Screwdriver

[Darkness_take_you]

Det Axsent

[astro gazer]

have either of you guys played hl2 ep 2?
he's Gordon flippin Freeman!
and that alone makes this story EPIC

[BluWinter]

I loved it! Onto the next one now!!!

[Oni]

He's gordon freemon. No shit.