Together Again

by Bronycommander

Chapter 4 Apple Bloom’s and Tiara’s story

Chapter 4: Apple Bloom’s and Tiara’s story

“Before we came to Equestria, I and my wife worked at Black Mesa, a research facility which was originally a test silo for ICBMs built in 1950 in the cold war.

On 16th May somewhere between 2000 and 2009, I can’t remember exactly, an experiment went wrong causing a Resonance Cascade.”

Karl raised his hand. “What’s that?”

“I’m no scientist but Gordon, a friend of mine, told me that it is a cataclysmic quantum event. He also told me once that every object has a set resonance. When studied, the object will resonate even more, and sometimes even rapidly. If the object resonates too much, it can open dimensional rifts and portals.

I was a security guard back then and my wife an office worker. The experiment opened rifts and portals to Xen, an alien world, so Black Mesa was invaded by Aliens.

I fought my way to the offices with Gordon to save my wife. We heard that troops were coming in to save us.”

Konrad continued for him.

“Yeah. We arrived in the evening. I was a Corporal back then. I was part of Special Forces of US Marines called the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, HECU for short.

Unknown to the personnel, we weren’t here to rescue them, but to eliminate the aliens and to eliminate Black Mesa's civilian personnel to ensure that the incident is covered up. Many Marines disagreed with their orders. I was one of those Marines.”

“Who would order such a terrible thing?” Emily was shocked.

“I don’t know. We even didn’t know why were sent in, only to cover up the incident.

Lucky for me, I got orders to rescue those who had nothing to do with the experiment. Orders were to execute anyone with knowledge of the research project that went awry.

As I moved in, I found Apple Bloom. It turned out that the experiment also opened portals to Equestria causing her to land here. I closed her in my heart and I protected her until we met Jacob and Mia.” He smiled warmly at Apple Bloom who finished her sandwich.

“We teamed up to get out of there alive. I and Apple Bloom got separated from them. We were trapped in a room that filled slowly with toxic waste but in the last moment, a man in a suit saved us.

We teamed up with Gordon who was accidentally responsible for it. As he killed many Marines, he became their priority target and they deployed a great hate for him. I did not as he was only defending himself.

We rejoined my buddies and the Johnsons after Gordon went a separate way. We rested for the night. Apple Bloom deployed a daughter-parent relationship with Jacob and Mia as they wanted to be parents after his shift was over.

The HECU's initial foray into Black Mesa was highly successful: the Marines quickly gained an advantage over the confused and frightened survivors and aliens and established a substantial presence within the facility. Black Mesa's civilian personnel failed to put up any notable resistance, as many personnel mistakenly believed that the Marines were there to rescue them, and those who tried to defend the facility against the HECU were hopelessly outgunned and overwhelmingly outnumbered, having already been weakened by the Xen creatures. The HECU soon took control of Black Mesa's central command areas and issued orders over the public address system for the facility's remaining personnel to cooperate and submit to interrogation.

I saw many dead marines on the way to them. The tide soon turned against the HECU, though, as the Xen aliens continued teleporting into Black Mesa in overwhelming numbers. My squad leader confirmed it to me the next day.

It became a warzone. Tanks and helicopters were called in but it was not enough. The battle turned in favor of the Aliens. Orders came in to retreat to rally- and evacuations points and to pull out, while airstrikes and heavy artillery covered the retreat. We all managed to reach an Osprey and evacuated. But it was shot down.

I survived seriously wounded along with my squad, Apple Bloom, Mia, and Jacob. All others died in the crash.

We were all unconscious until Freeman caught up to us and saved Apple Bloom from a terrible fate.” She trembled but Mia hugged her.

“We found out that the evacuation was woefully incomplete, however, leaving many Marines behind in the facility in the unenviable position of being caught amongst the aliens and a new enemy, the Black Ops. After the initial failure of the HECU's clean-up operation, the Black Ops were sent to cover up the whole incident by destroying the entire facility by detonating a thermonuclear device. They had order to kill anything, human or otherwise, that stand in their way.

But we made it to the North entrance after fighting the Black Ops. As we were about to leave, the man in the suit showed up again and helped Apple Bloom to get home. Gordon went to the Lambda Complex to close the portal. ”

“Sounds like you have been through a nightmare.” Elsa couldn’t believe it.

“This operation had nothing to do with Semper Fi. It was FUBAR from the beginning if not way behind. Anyway, the consequences of the Black Mesa Incident were massive.

Gordon managed to close the portal but it caused Portal Storms. They create a multitude of portals to other dimensions.

The Combine, an immense inter-dimensional empire, got interested in it and took over earth in 7 hours. Survived military personnel were turned into their soldiers with brainwashing, including me. Anyone who was not worth it was killed or turned into a drone, to put it mildly.

“Also, the Combine deployed a Suppression Field, which prevented human procreation. Dr. Breen, the former Administrator of Black Mesa, negotiated a surrender and became the Administrator of Earth. As the USA was almost destroyed, citizens were relocated to Europe.”

Mia continued while patting her daughter.

“I and Jacob got relocated to City 17. A city in Eastern Europe which name I can’t remember. Citizens were granted the minimum of what they needed to survive, such as a standardized diet and home. The Combine founded Civil Protection, their police forces. Jacob joined them as we got better meals, a better home, and life.

20 years passed when we met Apple Bloom again, while in Equestria, only 2 months passed.”

“The more you know,” Aiden commented.

It turned out, that a malfunctioning teleport from Dr. Kleiner, also a survivor of Black Mesa, teleported her here when she was sleeping. My husband found her and brought her home.

He introduced her to Barney Calhoun, also a former security guard and member of Civil Protection.

After that, CP’s found her and took her away but Kleiner's teleport had again a malfunction, saving her. Gordon found her as he heard for Black Mesa East, a resistance base. On the way, Jacob joined them.”

“How did Gordon return?” Ian asked curiously.

“That man in the suit offered him a job and put him into stasis, saying that he was the right man in the wrong place. Gordon told me that he had to travel to foot as Kleiner’s pet interrupted the teleport.”

“Creepy.” Ruby finished her meal.

Jacob told his part.

“At Black Mesa East, we met Eli Vance, his daughter Alyx and Dr. Judith Mossman who were also survivors of Black Mesa. Alyx showed us a weapon invented by the resistance as the Combine attacked. We got separated from Alyx and had to fight our way through Ravenholm. It was a former mining town and later, a Resistance stronghold located in the Wasteland. It was previously inhabited by refugees who escaped from the Combine-controlled City 17 to join the resistance. The Combine discovered years ago and… let’s just say it suffered a similar fate as Sunny Town.”

Mitta saw the fear in Ruby’s eyes and hugged her as Jacob told the rest, his voice steady, but uncomfortable.

“With the help of Father Grigori, the priest of the town, we got outside and to a resistance base called ‘Shorepoint Base.’ Alyx told via radio that her father got captured and brought to Nova Prospekt, an old run-down prison that was, according to Alyx, transformed into ‘something much worse’ by the Combine. Gordon letf with a buggy while we stayed and rested.”

“The Combine attacked the base. I was one of the soldiers who led the attack. During the fight, I got hit in the head. It didn’t kill me but I suffered a head injury.

Overwatch Soldiers also known as Combine Soldiers by Citizens have no previous memories of their human life and that they are incapable of resisting, disobeying orders, and going rogue. Yet, that injury caused some memories to come back.” Konrad explained.

“They didn’t hurt you, have they?” Ruby asked with worry about her friend.

“No, they didn’t hurt me. Breen was very nice to me and sent me home. At the same time, Freeman destroyed Nova Prospekt, starting an Uprising.”

“Shortly after it started, I was sent in with an Elite Soldier who was about to kill her, but when I saw her drawing, I remembered who I really was and saved her. We made our way to Kleiner's lab. They stayed while I was fighting on the streets.” The former Marine finished his part, so Mia could tell her part of the story.

“A week passed. I was trained as a medic. Gordon and Alyx returned. The teleport was very slow but for Gordon and Alyx it was like a few seconds.

Mossman betrayed them and brought Eli to Breen. Alyx wanted to bring Kleiner and Apple Bloom to a safer place but Kleiner refused until he found his pet. Apple Bloom saw it and chased it outside.

With no other option left, we protected her as we were joining the fighting resistance fighters to meet up with Konrad. As Gordon went a separate way, the Combine overwhelmed and captured us.

As Gordon arrived, Mossman freed us as she was a triple agent and Breen was about to kill Alyx and Eli. While Eli and Mossman left, we hunted Breen down.

Gordon and Konrad destroyed the teleport he was about to use. This, however, destabilized the structure of the whole building. I can’t remember what happened after the explosion, only that I, my husband, Gordon, and Alyx were outside while Konrad and Apple Bloom were still inside.

Dr. Kleiner told us that the core of the Citadel was close to collapse and that the explosion could be large enough to level the whole of City 17, and that the only possible way to survive would be to re-enter the Citadel and slow the core's progression toward meltdown. So we went inside to save our friend and daughter and to stabilize the core.

For some reason, the Combine tried to blow the core. Also, Alyx downloaded a message from Mossman. We also met the leaders of the Combine. They’re called ‘Combine Advisors.”’

“Creepy,” Lilly commented, shivering only at the name of it.

“Yes, it was. We even met the drones face to face. The Combine hunted us for the data Alyx took, but we managed to get on a train and escaped.

Unfortunately, the train derailed, forcing us to go on foot. After fighting through dark, deserted, underground parking garages and tunnels, we got to the surface. We saw a looping message from Dr. Kleiner that the destruction of the core damaged the reactors in any other Citadel. That meant that the Combine were cut off and the Suppression field was shut down.

We fought our way to a resistance outpost. On the way, we learned that the data was very important but I, my husband, Apple Bloom, and Konrad were free to go.

Barney told us that he and other survivors were preparing to move to a train station in order to escape City 17. We took another way and moved through a derelict hospital to draw the remaining Combine forces away from the refugees.

The Combine Soldiers were only focused on Gordon and Alyx ignoring us almost completely.

When we reached the train station, Konrad and Gordon escorted the other refugees.

After that was done, Konrad boarded with us the train while Alyx and Gordon stayed behind to lure the Combine away from us.

Exhausted, we fell asleep in the train. While we were sleeping, Princess Celestia and Luna found her and teleported us to Equestria.

As Apple Bloom’s family offered us to be a part of it, we accepted. Celestia even found a spell that made us younger again so we can enjoy every minute.”

Mia hugged her daughter tightly.

“Sounds like you have been through a lot. I had difficulties not to break down when I met Josef.” Tiara explained, taking a deep breath.

“As you know I was the school bully. After I changed, a colt named Night Star became the new bully. After an argument, he fired a spell at me.

I found myself near a destroyed building. I hide in it after I heard an explosion.” Josef patted her.

“Let me tell it for you, okay?” He asked, she nodded.

“Unlike in Helmut’s and Johann’s universe, Germany was close to defeat. In April 1945, the reds were close to Berlin. The defeat was inevitable, but surrendering was not an option for the Führer. He ordered to defend Berlin to the last man and bullet. I was just 20 back then.

Similar to Jacob and Mia, I and my wife wanted to be parents but we decided to wait until the war was over. She tried to get out of Berlin.

“When I found Tiara, I promised to get her out of this warzone, as I cared for children.

We decided to go to the Tiergarten Flak tower but our convoy was ambushed. I escaped with her and stayed the night at a V2-Rocket Facility. We were awoken by sirens and explosion as the Facility was about to blow. We barely escaped with our lives.

We passed out and came to in the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum. A soldier brought us here and explained that Berlin wasn’t a ghost town anymore. The Reds had broken through our lines.

I patrolled through the Museum as an intruder held me at gunpoint. It was the Desert Ghost, a famous Allied sniper known for his work in Africa. He spared me and said I should head west and to go when he detonated the bridge as the reds came.

However, we were stopped by a fanatical officer. He brought us to the Opernplatz for immediate execution. For desertion.

The Sniper saved us. His name was Karl. Together with another man, we fought our way to the library where the shot came.

As we reached it, we noticed that the man was bleeding. We had no time as the Russians came. I helped Karl to hold them off.

We were successful but the man died. But he managed to say one word: Tabun.”

“What’s that?” Lilly asked curiously.

“I’ll come to that later. After we left we arrived in the evening at the Flak tower where we met Elsa and her kids.” They smiled at him.

“Here, Tiara told me about Night Star. Elsa’s husband died in the battle of Stalingrad. Also, I got a message that my wife had not made it.

As I realized that Tiara was everything I had left, I swore that I will get her home safe and sound or die. For some reason, an alarm went off. As we evacuated, the Russians took us prisoner. They took us to their command post in Karlshorst.

A young Russian named Chernov had compassion with us. He told me that his comrades were cold-blooded. Chernov was a pacifist by nature just like me. He stepped in as the Commissar wanted to kill her.

Again, Karl saved us. He found a paper that exclaimed what Tabun was.”

“And what?” Ian asked.

“Tabun is a nerve agent. Powerful and lethal. Breathe it, touch it, even look at it and your body shut down in all sorts of gruesome ways. A chemical weapon specialist named Wolff had a plan. His plan was to fill with the Russians the last of Germany’s V2 rockets with the stuff. Their target was London. The Reds would make it like Germany’s final revenge. I don’t know if he was able to stop them.”

“Makes me wonder if their high command knew about it,” Ford commented, not able to believe that the Reds would do something like this.

“Maybe Konrad, maybe not.

After that, I and Tiara went to Kreuzberg where I used to live. When we arrived, the Battle of Berlin was at its height. There were Close quarters on every street, snipers on every rooftop and tanks on every bridge and square.

Before we could react, the Reds attacked. She was shot in the gut but with the help of a medic, I was able to safe her.

As it couldn’t get any worse, a rocket barrage was aimed where we were, but we escaped into the metro. While we were inside, the metro was flooded.

Even this time we survived. We were on a truck that was en route to Köpenick. As we arrived, the Reds attacked, catching us by surprise. They gunned everyone down without mercy. We survived thanks to Princess Celestia. But we were unconscious.

The shock and Combat stress we all suffered caused us to have a very intensive nightmare. It was similar to what you and Ruby had experienced, Helmut.

As Elsa was similar to my wife and me to her husband, we married and lived happily ever since, right, children?”

“Yes, daddy!” They hugged him.

“We stayed here as we knew how difficult the post-war years would be.”

“Well, that leaves only us.” Silver Spoon started. “My story is similar to Tiara’s but I didn’t land in a warzone.” She also took a deep breath.

Comments

[OfficerBarricade]

wow great chapter and very interesting story alright

[Bronycommander]

9204958
Thank you