Chapter 5 – The Return

Josh was still sound asleep. Sara had tended to his many wounds, and she thought he must have done something

incredibly stupid to escape his apparent captors. Speaking of which, what the hell? Why was he kidnapped in the

first place? Sara kept agonizing over this, with no end. Josh sat up in his bed, and looked around confusedly. "…

Where am I now?" he muttered. Sara placed a tray of food on his bed. "Here," she said. "Eat. We've got a world to

go to, right?" Josh smiled warmly. "Last meal on Earth. I'm starving." He ate, and Sara packed her things. Josh had

nothing to pack but his portal device, which the g-men had thankfully forgotten to take. He swung out of bed, and

placed the tray in the dishwasher.

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"What happens if the gateway doesn't work?" Sara hesitantly asked. "Then we die," Josh answered simply. Sara

swallowed nervously. Josh looked at her. "You did build it exactly according to specification, right? Nothing left out?

Sara nodded; this was true. She had taken extra caution for this. Josh grinned. "Let's finish it up, then." With an

energy that surprised even him, he bounded over to the mostly finished door and surveyed it. "You know, you are

really good at this for someone who's never done an interdimensional portal before," he remarked. Sara blushed.

"Thanks."

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Josh's gaze drifted upward, and he saw something that surprised him: The circuitry inside the door was done. All of

it. He turned to Sara, eye twitching. "I swear, someday I'm going to find out how you managed to finish so fast," he

joked. Sara was about to respond when she heard a knock from the door. Josh's smile quickly turned to an ugly

grimace. "Allow me," he said, pushing past Sara. He opened the door to reveal the same suited workers as before,

complete with tasers and pistols. Before they could say anything, he shut the door and locked it. "It's them! Try to

work on it before they get inside!" There was a loud thumping on the door, and Josh knew that the two were trying

to break it down. "That only works in movies, idiots," Josh laughed at them. "Five parts to go!" said Sara, welding as

fast as she could. Josh steeled himself. Suddenly, sparks flew from the other side. "You're welding a DOOR open?

How incompetent are you people!" Josh yelled at them. "Three parts!" Sara shouted. Josh was nervous. They were

running out of time. The second those two burst in here, and saw his Portal Device laying on the table, they were

done for. The door was about to give way, and Josh decided on a retreat, grabbing his ASHPD and Sara's suitcase of

stuff. He retreated to the basement door, locking it.

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"What happened?" Sara asked, still welding. "They got in," Josh answered grimly. Sara was furious. Josh,

meanwhile, was taking all the heavy objects in the room and piling them against the door. On his way, he saw a

cabinet marked 'EXPLOSIVES'. He opened it, and was surprised to find quite a lot of trinitrotoluene (known to laymen

as TNT). "Hey, Sara. What would happen if we set off this whole thing at once?" he said, gesturing to the large

blocks of the white compound. Sara blushed. "It would probably destroy the whole house," she said. "Wanna do it?"

Josh grinned. Sara was about to laugh when she realized Josh was serious. And for a good reason: If those two, or

anyone for that matter, got into Equestria… it would be the end of harmony, and the beginning of something far

worse. Equestria would probably be strip-mined of its resources, and the magic of the ponies inhabiting it would be

put to more sinister work. Such as killing. She nodded grimly. She had just welded the last part on, and Josh

immediately flicked the switch. The gateway roared to life, and they ran through.

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It was nighttime in Ponyville. Trixie was asleep, and Shane was hoping for a peek at the Test Chambers. Sure, it was

a stupid idea, but he had heard that only prisoners of war could be tested, in an ironic cycle of being forced to help

their enemies improve their weapons. But no Black Mesa scientist had even seen a Test Chamber, so Shane had no

idea what to expect. He reached the entrance, and considered his next move to get inside the building.

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Josh and Sara came out into the Main AI Chamber, with Sara looking around in wonder. It was exactly like the one in

Portal 2, minus the Stalemate Associate Button and with a smaller, pony-shaped GLaDOS-like figure next to the

larger one, still far smaller than GLaDOS herself was. Josh walked over and touched a wall, tears coming to his eyes.

"It took so long," he whispered. Then he remembered the 1-foot cubes of TNT he had brought along. He quickly

tapped into the database, having a fuse and lighter delivered in seconds. He ran over to the portal, still active, and

stepped through again. He placed the cubes of TNT all around the gateway, and threaded the fuse through each

one.

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The door had almost given way, and the two lackeys had nearly made their way through. "We cannot let him get

away!" one spoke, and Josh was surprised at how deep the voice was. He stepped back through the portal, and lit

the fuse. He opened a link, and he could now see the room, full of white cubes. He turned off the actual portal,

keeping the viewing link open. He could see every minute detail as the two burst into the room, only to find their

white, cubic fate meeting them. The light became blinding, and Josh shut off the video link, retinas burning. He heard

something at the front door, and set off to find out 'just who in Equestria would come calling to the Equestrian

Enrichment Center at this time of night'.

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Trixie had also heard, and her alarm had woken her up. She angrily pulled herself out of bed, and walked over to the

front door.

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Shane had just opened the door (to his surprise, it was unlocked) and walked forward. Straight into two turrets on

either side of the door. "Target acquired," said one in its cheerily deadly voice. "Hi!" the other said at the same time.

In the seconds before they fired on him, Shane felt like a complete failure. He had risked his life, for what? To cast a

guilty glance at yet another thing he could not have done back in his universe? How could he have been so stupid?

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Shane opened his eyes. Nothing continued to happen. The turrets were

gazing at something in front of him, eyes shrinking in shock. "Stand down, turrets. He's a friend. …I think." Josh said,

gazing down upon the terrified figure.

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Trixie, meanwhile, had just entered the room. "Who is i-" she said grumpily, but stopped when she saw Josh

standing in front of her, a grin on his face. Her jaw dropped in pure shock, then she ran forward and hugged him.

"Now that's the greeting I was hoping for," Josh laughed. "Josh! You're back, I can't believe it, you're here!" Trixie

was both laughing and crying for joy. Her exclamations were soon stifled by a huge squee from Sara, who had just

laid eyes on her. "TRIXIE!" she yelled as she ran up. They stared into eachother's eyes. "Do I know you?" Trixie

cautiously asked. Josh laughed. "Another viewer of the show. From the other Earth, too. Seems like our adventure

paid off." Sara was stumped. Adventure? This she had to hear about.

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…After hugging as many ponies as humanly possible.