Half-Life : A World Beyond

by Random Gamer

7 - Inconsistent

We parked the airboat just outside the dam entrance and had a look around. On first look, the dam was an enormous abandoned building, with a non-working entrance and rusty machinery powering it from the outside. But if you took another look, like Trixie did, you could easily find a side entrance bigger and more fortified then the non-functional one. The blast door closed behind us as walked in and all the lights shut down too. Then, two cameras emerged from the walls and pierced us with their white, luminescent light.

"I'm picking up something." said some unknown voice. "Okay, it's pony. Hello? Don't worry, you're safe now." The voice started to sound more and more familiar the more I heard of it. Soon after, the lights were brought back on, the cameras slided back into the walls and the other blast door opened. I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw who was spoke to us. It was Twilight!

"Twilight?" I asked. "Is that really you?"

"Of course it is, Random. Who else did you think it was?" she said and looked at me oddly. Somehow, I felt a fuzzy feeling, because I knew that there was a possibility that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony existed here as well, even if they were scattered all across Equestria.

"Ah, Twilight, good to see you again." said Trixie and they shared a friendly hug, something which I though would never happen after Trixie's failure as a travelling magician. "We found Rarity and revived her thanks to Random."

"Rarity? Wasn't she stuck in Canterlot?" she asked us.

"No, Twilight." Trixie answered. "She was kidnapped and her magic powers were used to power their devious machinery or worse." Rarity, who stood behind us, approached Twilight.

"This way Rarity, I think we still have room and food." Rarity followed her without saying a single word and we walked across the hallway, walking past every door.

"Well, where are we going now?" I asked. "To the lab?"

"Yeah." she uttured and we stepped inside the elevator. Afterwards, she pressed a button labeled as minus one, the lowest possible point the elevator would take us. At first, the elevator produced a chirp and moved very slow but then it moved it moderate speed.

During the elevator ride, I saw the kitchen where all sorts of dishes were prepared. But it mostly appeared they were using roast headcrabs as their main form of food since vegatables and fruit were extremely rare. The next floor appeared to be a huge living room where I saw ponies read books and laugh. It was a rare sight, since the situation outside seemed to take every piece of happiness away. The third floor appeared to be a hallway full of generators which were powered by either flight power provided by the pegasi or short blast of magic provided by numerous unicorns. The last floor before the lab was a hospital wing, in which I saw numerous ponies in beds, healing from their wounds. Then, I saw something that made me stop the train.

"Random, what are you-" said Trixie after I manually stopped the train.

"That's... that's Rainbow Dash." I said and tried to manually separate the railing which served as door for the elevator. Eventually, my stallion strengh opened it and I sprinted to her.

"Sir, you're not supposed to be here. These patients need rest." said the nurse. "You should leave."

"It's okay." said Trixie as she herself approached me from the behind. "He's here with me."

"Dash... " I said as I saw a part of her face and both of her wings covered with bandages.

"She... she tried to escape a hunter-chopper by flight but was shot down. She hasn't woken up yet from the medically-induced coma but she's out of harm's reach... for now." proclaimed the nurse.

"Don't worry, I'm a doctor." I looked at Dash and gave a menacing stare at the nurse, who took a few steps back and then gave me a sample of every medical supply they had. It wasn't much, but it was just enough to improve her health. Using my knowledge and skills as a doctor, even though I was surgeon, I managed to help her more than any other nurse in this world possibly could. She slowly opened her eyes and I knew that what I did was right.

"Did... Did I make it?" she asked. "Where are the others?"

"I'm afraid you're the only one that survived. We're still trying to find the rest of your team." said the nurse. "Thanks to this doctor, we didn't lose you." Dash looked at me.

"Why?" she asked me. "Why did you save me?"

"Because I believe the bearers of the Elements of Harmony should stay alive and well." I answered. "In my world, you're the fastest flier in Equestria."

"Doc... Will I ever fly again?" she asked the nurse. The nurse shook her head. The nurse's eyes widened after I gave her another menacing look and I decided I'll speak to her in private.

"Nurse... what's your name again?" I uttered.

"Mary."

"Mary, I think we should speak in private." We went to the corner of the hospital and I started a doctor-esque conversation.

"What exactly do you think you're doing, ruining the life of a rainbow-colored pegasus?" I uttered with the same menacing look I gave her before.

"Excuse me?" she said.

"How many pegasi have lost wings or hope thanks to your stupidity and pessimism?" I gave her a devious question. "Be honest." But she didn't answer and instead became silent.

"Now, listen very carefully to what I say, Mary. Don't lie to your patients. Health is not just physical but also metnal and with every lie, it gets a hit. I have been a doctor for a long time and I know that the well being of a patient is dictated by both of them. After all this gets through that thick skull of yours, go to Rainbow Dash and tell her that there is still chance that she'll fly and you'll do everything you can to make it happen. Don't take this as a threat, but rather as a tip of how to be a better doctor. I hope I won't have to tell you again." The nurse opened her mouth as if she wanted to counter my lecture but closed it shortly after, realizing I was right.

"Y-yes sir..." she replied. In the meantime, Trixie was talking with Dash and were planning another recon mission just as I returned back to them. Some ponies just don't know where to stop.

"Had a little talk with the nurse. Dash, you're gonna fly again." I said and a smile appeared on her face. "It won't be tomorrow, it won't be the next neek but you will soar the skies once more."

"Thanks." she said. "I... I don't even know your name."

"Random." I replied. Dash smiled at me again and I left the hospital wing together with Trixie. The elevator once again produced a chirp and then went normally. Seconds later, we finally arrived at the lab.

It was an enormous room with three hallways connected to it, as well numerous rooms. It's interior was filled with all sorts of machinery, more advanced and bigger than the one at Dot's lab. Euclid Vans was standing near one of them and greeted us as he turned around. We didn't hesitate and greeted him too as we stepped out of the elevator.

"Trixie, Random!" he said. "How glad am I to see you!"

"The pleasure's all on our side." said Trixie and smiled. I took a small look around, while still listening to their conversation.

"Not that I'm sending you away, but weren't you supposed to be at Novum Prospectu?" he asked, ignoring the fact that I'm messing with one of his computers. Out of complete boredom, I was trying to close every window and look for any games. Unfortunately, there were none and I was forced to listen to their conversation.

"We were supposed to, but Trixie though we should stop here." I uttered. "No idea why."

"Ah, she must of heard of the new invention I'm working on." Euclid went to one of his many contraptions and after writing something into it via a keyboard, a part of it opened, revealing an unknown device with two gauges and two triggers underneath. He pulled it off of its rack and offered it to us.

"The Zero-Point Energy Manipulator or gravity gun for short. It was designed for use in handling hazardous materials but recon teams have also found it handy for clearing minefield. It's all yours now." I wasn't sure who was supposed to take it but it became clear after he looked at me. I have to admit, it was quite heavy but I got used to it's weight rather quickly.

"Heavy, huh? I don't know myself what's made of but I think you should try it out." said Trixie after she noticed me struggling with the device's weight. I tried to press one of the triggers but Trixie interrupted me. "A bit trigger-happy aren't you? I'd go somewhere more remote if I wanted to test that thing. Come on Random , let's have some fun."

Trixie led me through the hallway on the very left and instead of going all the way, she turned right. Unfortunately, I didn't and was staring at a sealed part of the hallway, blocked by a heavy-duty sliding door with a small holes that one could use to see what's on the other side.

"That's the old passage to Ravenholm. We don't go there anymore." said Trixie after catching up on me. Instead of going with her, however, I approached the sliding door and tried to open it but failed.

"Ravenholm used to be a home for escapees from City 7 but now, it's something much worse. Believe me, the way is sealed for a reason."

"What reason?" I asked but got no asnwer. Trixie and I then went back and turned left, to some "remote location". Instead of a normal door or elevator, it was another room with two sets of blast doors. The first one was opened and we went inside.

"Well, it isn't exactly remote. Just used for all sorts of junk." she said and the door behind us closed. Shortly after, the second set of blast doors opened and I saw a large junkyard with all sorts of scrap in it.

"A scrapyard?" I asked. "Whoa. This place is big."

"It sure is." We entered the first area of the scrapyard, full of wooden boxes but no way through. Trixie smiled at me and jumped up, near what appeared to be a one-way drop to a larger part of the junkyard.

"Hey, what about me?" I said. "I don't have ninja moves." Trixie laughed at me.

"See if you can stack some boxes to get up here." she replied. "Come on, it's not that hard." I looked around me and started thinking of a way to stack them. Instead of using the gravity gun, which I conveniently placed on the ground, I attempted to grab one of the boxes and stack them until I could reach Trixie. Unfortunately, I couldn't move with them and got laughed at by Trixie again.

"Hey, this ain't funny." I uttered. "I'm not that strong."

"Obviously not, but you have gravity gun, why didn't you use it?" she asked. "Did you think I was trying to make you compete in a lifting competition.?" I picked the gravity gun from the ground and aimed it at one of boxes.

"The secondary trigger lets you grab things. Then, you can either sent them flying by pressing the primary or gently let go by pressing the secondary again." explained Trixie. I followed her instructions and made stairs to get up using the boxes.

"Alright." Trixie looked at a bunch of barrels held from falling by a single piece of wood. "You can also pull stuff over from a distance. Give it a try." I pulled the wood out and the barrels fell.

"Well, what do you think?" asked Trixie. "Was this thing worth a visit to the lab?"

"This thing is awesome." I said. "I mean, all the stuff it can do and it even shines orange and does cute sounds when I sent something flying."

"Good." replied Trixie. "Now, I'm going to test your reflexes." She entered the bigger area by jumping through the one-way drop and I followed her.

The area we were in now was full of junk but also had a lot of space. Trixie ran to the other side of it and took something from the rubbish. It was some sort of device which she put on her hoove and gave out a faint glow.

"What is that?" I asked her by shouting.

"An early prototype." she shouted. "Only has enough juice for a couple of throws, through."

"Throws?" What do you mean by-" I didn't finish and caught a big wooden crate she threw at me, just a mere second before it would hit me.

"Good lord, you almost hit me!" I shouted.

"You're supposed to catch them." she replied. "You have good reflexes." I put the crate down and she threw another one at me. I caught that one too and she did this s total of five times before stopping.

"Did you hear that?" she said. I heard something crash into the ground and Trixie started running. Instinctively, I did the same and I followe her.

"What's happening?" I asked her, as we both reached a one-way gate that led to the first area of the junkyard.

"They found us!" I saw something tripedal emerge from the now-destroyed side wall of the scrapyad as Trixie answered my question. I had no idea what it was, but it started to shoot at us and this, we ran back to the entrance. The doors closed shut but instead of the other ones opening, the lights went out and an alarm started. Moments later, the room was lit up by a reddish light, quite possibly the backup lights. Trixie, instead of standing in place like I did, approached a console on a wall near the doors and started typing something into it.

"Trixie? Where are you? Is Random still with you?" A small screen lit up and Euclid Vans was on it. Restistance members could be seen fighting CPs behind him.

"We're in the scrapyard, stuck in a full auto cycle." she said. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Get out of there anyway you can! But don't go through Raven-" he was cut off as the power went off for a couple of seconds and then went back on.

"...and then go to Novum Prospect. Did you get all of that?"

"Yes we did, Vans. We'll meet up with you soon." Trixie grabbed the gravity gun from me and started hitting the door with small jolts of energy. Afte minutes worth of spamming, the door was bent enough for us to get through. Then she gave me the gravity gun back and we started running across the hallway to get back to the lab. We were just about to get to the lab, but more problems surfaced. The ceiling collapsed near the door to it, separating me from Trixie.

"Random!" she shouted and tried to move away the debris. After managing to move a small part of it away, she looked through it at me.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked her. "There's no way around."

"You'll... You'll have to go through Ravenholm. I'm sorry, but there isn't another way." I chill went down my spine as she finished that sentance but I knew wasting time trying to find another way wouldn't help.

"I'll return, I promise." I said and went to the sealed hallway which led to Ravenholm. The sliding doors were half-broken by the impact and a few hits by the gravity gun were enough the knock the damaged parts away and get me across. I felt fear after getting to the other side, as if something told me I wouldn't survive. But instead of doubting myself, I continued along the hallway, ready to face any threats.