"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways."-Buddha

"Um, Mr. Scarecrow." whimpered Fluttershy.

"Yes." replied the masked soldier.

"How old are you and your friends?"

Scarecrow gave out a large chuckle causing Flutter shy to fall back. "That depends Fluttershy. Each planet has a different way to measure time. Humans go by seconds, followed by minutes, then days-"

"Then weeks, months and years right?" interrupted Twilight.

Scarecrow opened his eyes underneath his mask. "That's exactly..right."

X-ray was beginning to get annoyed by all the similarities of the planet. "I'm pretty sure the quantitative measure of time is different though. How many seconds are in a minute?"

"60." answered Twilight.

"Minutes in an hour?"

"60." repeated Applejack.

"Hours in a day?"

"24." replied Rainbow Dash.

"Days in a year?"

"365. Although it's a bit more for leap years." remarked Rarity.

"That is 100% percent like Earth and totally not creepy at all." gritted Scorch. "I swear a better name for your planet would be Earth 2."

"Hey why do we have to be number 2?" whined Rainbow Dash.

"Your planet is thousands of years old. Earth is billions." countered Scorch.

"As for our age." pondered Scarecrow. "I guess it's safe to say we're 24 years old."

"How old are you ponies?" asked X-ray.

"Me, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie are 19." answered Twilight. "Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack are 20."

"Huh, I assumed you were way younger." implied Scorch.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "So."

"We're young adult males. What did you expect?" replied Scarecrow.

"By, the way, I take it that the four of you are stranded with no way out?" asked Rarity.

"More or less." answered X-ray. "Since a dragon took out our VTOL, we can't leave this planet and our simple recon operation has gone FUBAR. Made even worse by accidentally making contact with you ponies under the assumption you weren't intelligent."

"What's so bad if humans and ponies meet? I think this situation is a pinnacle to the development of both our species." defended Twilight.

"It's not humans meeting ponies that's bad, it's 23rd that's meeting ponies." replied Scorch. "We aren't exactly allowed to be socializing with Xenos."

A few minutes of solitude passed. Scarecrow looked up and saw that day time was passing. He staired in awe of the animated sky and admitted how beautiful it looked. Suddenly a pair of hand grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Damn it!" cursed Scarecrow, turning to face Overwatch. "What did you do that for?"

Overwatch pointed below in front of him to reveal a cliff. Scarecrow had almost fallen off.

"Oh." muttered Scarecrow. "Thanks."

Twilight looked down the cliff. It wasn't too big of a drop, but it certainly would kill a pony.

Twilight placed a hoof on her chin. "Hmm, how are we going to get across?" Twilight noticed the 4 humans staring at her.

"You're kidding right?" said X-ray with a hint of concern.

Twilight didn't need X-ray to not be wearing his mask for her to see what he was looking at.

Twilight gave her wings a twitch and blushed. "Oh yeah." she giggled.

"But how the hay are us non flyin' ponies gonna get across?" asked Applejack.

"Don't worry everypony I can make 3 trips to carry you through." gloated Rainbow Dash who flew up.

"What about the humans?" piped up Pinkie Pie.

Scorch looked over the cliff. "It can't be more than a few yards. We'll just jump it."

"Are you kidding? That's suicide!" yelled Rarity.

"Don't worry." assured Scarecrow. "We've done jumps like these on lower gravity environments. If we fall, our shields will just take the damage, and we'll climb back up."

The ponies didn't want to argue. Twilight flew ahead followed by Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash proceeded to lift Rarity and then, Pinkie to the other side.

The humans weren't going to jump until everypony was secure. Dash grabbed Applejack and lifted the cowpony on the other side. Rainbow Dash forgot how much the orange mare weighed however. (It wasn't because she was fat mind you.)

Scorch noticed that Rainbow Dash was struggling with the orange Earth Pony.

Right when Dash was near the tip of the cliff, she lost control of her hooves and Applejack slipped.

"NO!" screamed Scorch. The commando sprinted and jumped across. He grabbed the screaming cowpony with his right arm, and with all his might, threw her up to the other side.

Applejack landed with a thud. She was mildly bruised but unhurt. The ponies desperately looked down the cliff to see if the commando had fallen. To their surprise, Scorch was alive. The demo man had his knife placed deep inside the chasm.

"I'm good." calmly remarked Scorch.

"Gangway!"

The ponies rolled across just in time as Scarecrow rolled onto the other side of the cliff. He looked down at Scorch and offered the demo man his hand.

Scorch used his free arm to grab a hold of Scarecrow's. Using his strength, Scarecrow was able to pick up his friend and secure him on the topside.

Two more 'THUDS!" were heard as Overwatch and X-ray made their jumps.

"You know, I wish I could see things in slow motion. The way you saved Applejack was awesome." chuckled X-ray.

"Thanks fer dat partner." piped up the orange pony.

"It's what we do." nodded Scorch. "You know you're pretty light." Scorch turned to his wrist computer and accessed the file on Applejack.

"Whoah." he beamed.

"Wat?" responded the weary cowpony.

"There is no way, your mass is that small. Any pony on Earth that is your size is twice how much each of you weigh." observed Scorch.

"What do you mean? Our BMIs are in good condition." protested Twilight.

"Let's not dwell on the really technical stuff." ordered Scarecrow. He motioned everybody and everypony to move. Deep down, Scarecrow knew the rest of the squad had probably calculated the answer already.

The humans and ponies continued their treck. Night had fallen upon them. Shadow re holstered their weapons and their visor glowed a bright blue. Twilight and Rarity lit up their up their horns to provide light.

"Say, why do your glasses thingies keep glowing blue?" skipped Pinkie.

"Oh, it's magnetic vision." answered X-ray. "In addition to seeing in the dark, we can also see through walls and analyze body readings. Pretty cool stuff."

"I surely wouldn't mind being able to see through walls." grinned a naughty Rainbow Dash.

Scarecrow froze and shot a fist in the air. "Hold up." he commanded.

The ponies stopped walking but this did not stop Pinkie from bumping into the commander with her skip.

X-ray, Overwatch and Scorch joined their commander and pointed their rifles forward. A series of familiar growls and roars came from the darkness. The pairs of yellow eyes appeared that made everypony step back.

"I don't see what's going on." shook Twilight.

Overwatch took out a sensor grenade, turned it on and threw it across the canopy. Suddenly the outlines of 40, rough quadrupeds became visible.

"Wolves." gritted Scarecrow.

Suddenly the creature came out of the darkness. Rather than being made up of fur and flesh like what Shadow expected. The wolf consisted of twigs, leaves and glowing yellow eyes. It gave out a menacing growl.

"Not just wolves. Fucking timberwolves. I swear I've had it with this planet." tensed Scorch.

"Fluttershy, tell the wolves to stand down." ordered X-ray.

Fluttershy, who was hiding behind a log peeked up. "I can't. I'm sorry. Timberwolves are plants, not animals."

X-ray turned to face the wooden creatures. "Looks like there's only one thing left to do."

Suddenly the wolf and the rest of the pack charged at the humans.

BANG!

Scarecrow's LMG discharged and the bullet struck the wolf, causing it to burst into a rubble of sticks.

The gunfire raged on with Shadow being very selective when firing to conserve ammo. The ponies hid back behind the log Fluttershy was taking cover behind and covered the sound of gunfire with their hooves.

After a few moments the gunfire stopped but the cries of wolves remained. The ponies looked up to see Shadow still killing the wolves, but without bullets.

X-ray slammed his foot down on a wolf charging at him then shot his hand up to break the chest of a wolf to pieces. The commando turned around and Sparta kicked a wolf coming behind him finished by a stab to the eye of a wolf to his right.

Scarecrow picked up two wolves together and slammed them into each other. Pebbles and twigs littered his feet. Scarecrow took out his LMG and used it like a club. He swung far and multiple wolves went down with one blow. He then held up his gun like an ax and slammed it onto a wolf below him. The gun didn't get a scratch.

Scorch picked up a rock and used it to bash a timberwolf's skull open. He then threw the rock like a grenade and smashed a wolf open. The rock flew on and broke down another wolf behind it. Scorch immediately drew out his combat knife and plunged it straight into a wolf leaping at him. He flexed his arm to grab another wolf in the skull and squeezed on it hard, thereby, smashing it to pieces.

The ponies were so busy watching the entire scene that they failed to notice a timberwolf behind them. Said timberwolf grave out a roar and charged straight at the ponies. The Mane 6 turned around and screamed as the wolf approached them. Suddenly, the wolf stopped moving as an invisible force picked it up. The wolf found itself being thrown across the canopy and broke down as it collided with a tree.

The force uncloaked and revealed itself to be Overwatch.

The Marksman leaped ahead of the equines and body slammed a startled wolf. The black clad sniper stood up and found his torso to be covered with wood. A wolf tried to bite the sniper with all its might only for the timberwolf to crush its own skull. Overwatch's shields merely flickered in response.

The ponies observed the humans punch, kick and crush the wooden wolves to deaths. Scarecrow finally picked up the last wolf in a choke hold, place his other hand on the wolf's skull, and ripped it off. The last thing the wolf was his own reflection in the soldier's visor.

Once the battle ended, the ponies slowly and quietly trotted to the humans.

X-ray folded his arms and spoke coldly. The radio made it sound more grim. "Let me guess, you're going to call us monsters for killing those fucked up wolves right?"

"Actually, we see timberwolves getting broken all time." responded Twilight.

"But the way you handled those wolves was incredible!" yelled Pinkie, half amazed, half disturbed.

"How could you kill them like that?" asked Dash.

"How could you not?" countered Scarecrow.

"Those timberwolves are the weakest things we've ever seen. Give them a buck to the face and they'll break open." added Scorch. "I know its our job to protect you and we're properly trained and all, but come on, some back up would have been nice."

The ponies looked down on the ground, ashamed of themselves for chickening out.

"Come on, we'll walk a couple meters before we set up camp." proposed Scarecrow.

The ponies nodded and trotted alongside the humans. Despite it being night, the temperature was relatively warm. Twilight was thinking about how she was going to introduce the humans to the ponies and by extension, Celestia. So far, every trait the humans exhibited was opposite of pony nature. Cruel, cynical, slightly arrogant and somewhat stubborn. But also bravery and rationality.

Eventually the group found themselves in a clearing.

"Alright we'll rest here." said Scarecrow.

"Finally." moaned Rarity. "I have never done so much trotting like that in my life."

"Yeah this forest is 70 kilometers wide. That's freaking huge." laughed Scorch.

"That's because the Everfree forest used to be a city that bordered Equestria." piped up Twilight. "According to legends, it was home to a thriving civilizations that once disappeared."

"Interesting!" replied Scarecrow. The squad leader was setting up a fire using the remains of a timberwolf. He lighted one of his pyro grenades so that it would only emit a small flame. Soon the remains of the wolf set on fire and a huge flame burst. Much to Shadow's surprise, the flame that came up was animated.

"So how do you know there was once a city here?" asked Scorch.

"Well, we're not certain as many ancient records have been lost over time. However, all records from any intelligent civilization on this planet mentions a country where this forest once stood." explained Twilight.

"Sounds like an interesting mystery." complimented Scarecrow.

Twilight nodded. She noticed how she was no longer getting pain in her heads or hearing high pitched frequencies. The alicorn faced Overwatch and saw the sniper was scribbling on a notebook of some sort using a stage writing tool.

"What'cha doing?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Drawing." blankly replied the sniper.

"Oh can I see!" cheered Rainbow Dash.

The marksman pulled down his book away from the prying eyes of the ponies.

"I'm sorry." laughed Scarecrow. "Overwatch won't let you see his drawing until he feels like hit. Normally he'd be drawing on his tablet, but SOME people are smart enough not to bring expensive gadgets we don't need on alien worlds."

The ponies looked at X-ray and Scorch, who had their tablet and laptop turned on respectively. X-ray was reading a book he saved on the thing while Scorch was playing the recently released Half Life 3.

"Hey we need these for research!" defended X-ray.

"Um, we have these wrist computers for a reason dipshit." Scarecrow raised his arm.

Fluttershy and Applejack turned to face Scorch playing his game. The demo man took notice and paused.

"What was dat?" asked Applejack.

"Oh it's a video game. Half Life 3."

"Oh my gosh I love games!" burst Pinkie. "I love playing pin the tail on they pony, it's so random! I really love twister too! And don't get me started on-"

"Pinkie a video game isn't like playing a physical party game. A video game is like a virtual simulation of something." interrupted Scorch.

"But that's no fun!" moaned Pinkie. "If you want to play a game, you should do it yourself."

"Could I give it a try?" asked rainbow Dash.

"Sorry Dash, but to operate this device you're going to need fingers." Scorch raised his hands and gave his fingers a twirl.

Dash crossed her forehooves and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Scorch shrugged and unpaused the game. The ponies watched as Scorch (as Gordon Freeman) drew a shotgun and gunned down a horde of Combine Overwatch soldiers came straight at him.

Fluttershy turned her head away from the violence. "You're killing them! You big meanie."

"Well that's kind of the point." pointed Scorch as he got a double kill with the SMG.

"How do you think they feel right now?" responded Fluttershy.

"They're the Combine, they're the bad guys and their soldiers are programmed not to have emotions."

"So you just kill them!"

"Fluttershy, you need to understand that none of this is real. No one is dying." Scorch re loaded last checkpoint. Much to the awe of Fluttershy, the soldiers Scorch shot in the game were back.

"I don't understand what's the point of playing a game where the only objective is killing." said Twilight.

"It's fun." muttered Scarecrow. "It provides a form of escapism."

Rarity quickly changed the subject. "Say it's pretty warm even if it is night. Why do you have to wear clothes?"

"Humans don't have fur. You might not feel it, but it's cold for what a human considers normal." answered X-ray, eyes still glued to the tablet.

"And what on Epona are you wearing? You're soldiers for crying outloud!" wailed the white Unicorn.

Scarecrow looked down at his armor and looked up. "It's just recon armor."

The unicorn looked revolted. "You call that armor? Armor is supposed to be gleaming, elegant, and heroic. Your armor is just a hood, trousers and vest! Not to mention it makes you look scary."

"Thank you." chanted each member of Shadow squad to the last part of Rarity's rant.

Rarity was taken back by the response.

"Well I'm sorry Rarity, but I'm pretty sure that this armor kicks the shit out of whatever outdated crap your knights wear or something. Plus, recon armor allows us to blend in better with civilians than normal battle wear." beamed Scarecrow.

"Hey I've seen the guards, their armor is pretty good. At least it isn't just winter clothes and shades." countered Twilight.

"Oh our armor is way more than just clothes. The fabric recon armor is made of is pretty absorbent at taking damage and can absorb a non FMJ bullet before ripping. Said material also is one of the only substances that can transfer a kinetic barrier or cloaking field around it. Our bandannas are made of the same material and our shades are bullet proof."

Scarecrow unslung his LMG and fired a round at X-ray. X-ray recoiled back as the bullet struck him and dropped his tablet. X-ray was unharmed and the ponies observed a series of purple hexagons formed where X-ray was shot.

X-ray was growling mad. "WHAT. THE. FUCK!"

The ponies tried to cover their faces. All of a sudden, the mental trauma was returning.

Scarecrow was unbothered. "Calm down X-gay I-"

"HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN? YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!"

"Chill out. I knew you had your barriers on and-"

"WHAT IF I DIDN'T?."

"Then you're not following protocol and your vest would have still been able to take the shot."

X-ray picked up his tablet and raised his middle finger to Scarecrow.

After a few minutes of silence, X-ray was relieved of tension and the mental trauma of the Mane 6 dimmed.

"Anyway," piped or Rarity. "I've noticed there are two symbols on your shoulder pieces. One of them says UTF. What does that mean?"

"UTF stands for United Terran Federation. It's the name of our government." answered Scarecrow. "Terran means Earth and Federation means a system of bodies that respond under one government. For us, each body is a colony."

"Oooh, and what's with the symbol of the other side?" politely questioned Pinkie.

Scarecrow turned to face his right. On that shoulder pad, was a picture of a crimson Greek Omega against a white background.

"This is the symbol of the 23rd." explained Scarecrow. "The letter is that of a greek-"

"Omega?" interrupted Twilight.

Scarecrow took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. Twilight could tell his tolerance was running out.

"Yes...Omega." growled the masked soldier. "Omega is used to represent the end of things. When the 23rd marks you as a target, it will ALWAYS mean your end is near."

The ponies gave out a fake chuckle except for Fluttershy, who just wanted to start crying from terror.
"Say how did you find out about us anyway?" pondered Scorch who closed his laptop.

"Well last night, a group of ponies were able to track your space craft when it landed." explained Twilight. "Then we received a letter from a Griffin asking to send aid because they were going to investigate what was happening."

"And you were going to help them?" beamed Scarecrow.

Twilight shook her head. "No we weren't. Celestia later contacted me the next day to investigate what was going on and why the Griffins and Dragons that were sent after you never came back. Not to help them."

"Is queen Celestia your mom?" asked X-ray.

"What? No." responded Twilight. "And it's princess Celestia."

"But you're a princess." countered Scorch. "Aren't prince's and princesses the children of the King and Queen in power?"

"Well yes. But you can only be a king or queen if you're ruling by yourself or with a spouse. Celestia shares the power with her sister, her niece and me." explained Twilight.

"Is this the first time power was spread like this?" asked X-ray.

Twilight put a hoof on her chin. "Well no, there was once the twin brothers Glacios and Helios a few generations ago."

"How did you get into power if you aren't a blood relative?" questioned Scarecrow.

"Sometimes ponies who prove themselves have acess to royalty." answered Twilight.

"Twilight became princess after discovering the magic of friendship." cheered Pinkie.

Shadow burst into laughter again.

Twilight was hurt by their mockery. Alicornhood and friendship was one of the most important things to her.

X-ray stopped laughing. "But you know what's even better? Telling us what the fuck is in that box."

The eyes of the ponies burst open. They looked at each other nervously.

"Box? There ain't no box in here partner." fibbed Applejack.

"You're a shitty lier AJ." remarked Scarecrow. "We saw you turn a box invisible."

"We didn't bring anything with us." defended Rainbow Dash.

"Then why are we getting a massive energy reading that's not coming from any of you?" questioned X-ray. "Just because we can't see it, doesn't mean it ain't there."

Twilight gave up. She uncloaked the box and used her telekinesis to open it.

The humans shifted their attention to the pieces of jewelry stored within it.

"This is the source of the energy?" said an unconvinced Scarecrow. "This isn't normal jewelry right?"

"Right." responded Twilight. "These are the elements of harmony."

"Come again." said Scorch.

"The elements of harmony. They are the ultimate tool for keeping Equestria safe." explained Twilight. "Each element is represents a trait of goodness. When a pony has that certain trait, they can access the element. Applejack is honesty, Pinkie is laughter, Fluttershy is kindness, Rarity is generosity, Dash is loyalty and I'm magic. When the six elements are gathered, the element of magic will cast a spell and draw energy from the other bearers to increase its power numerous times. We used these elements to protect Equestria from threats like Nightmare Moon and Discord."

"I see it's powered by emotion." nodded Scarecrow.

"That's right." nodded Pinkie. "If stopped laughing, which-will-never-happen, I'll loose access to the element."

"Makes sense." remarks Scorch. "If you have a WMD, give it to someone who'll use it for good."

"What's a WMD?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Weapon of Mass Destruction." chanted Shadow uniformly.

The ponies were shocked at their statement.

"Now see here." began Rarity. "The elements of harmony are a force for good-"

"Twilight you said the element of magic could magnify any spell right?" interrupted Scarecrow.

The alicorn nodded.

"What's going to stop you from creating a massive firestorm or energy blast that could rip apart town?"

The ponies didn't know how to respond to that.

"Just because I can use a knife to cut my food, doesn't mean I can't cut my throat." growled Overwatch.

Before the Mane 6 could ponder this revelation, Scarecrow had an epiphany.

"Say Twilight, why not cast a teleporation spell with the elements? All the extra energy may be enough to teleport us."

"Hey that's a good idea!" cheered Twilight.

"Everypony ready?" piped up Rainbow Dash.

The Mane 6 put on their elements. After a moment of concentration, their elements started to glow and the ponies ascended to the air.

The humans watched with utter awe.

"Aww. They're so cute with they're levitating up like that." admired X-ray.

Right when Twilight could cast her teleportation spell, the elements gave off an ominous red glow. The ponies opened their eyes in shock. They did not expect that to happen at all.

The humans took note of their expressions.

Scarecrow had a bad feeling. "Twilight is something-"

Suddenly, a red blast emerged from the elements, much to the pony's horror.

Before Shadow could react, the blast split into 4 and struck each member of the squad. Once they made contact with the beam, their bodies exploded with pain.

Shadow started limping around as the beam attacked them, slowly depriving them of life. Their bodies glowed purple as their barriers clashed with the elements to repel the damage.

Suddenly there was a sound, similar to that of the power going out. Shadow's barriers failed to repel the elements. The elements got passed Shadow's primary line of defense and directly attacked the commandos.

X-ray screamed hard and fell to the floor. It was as if someone was shoving a thousand hot needles right through him. There was no sign of external damage but on the inside, every part of him was being choked.

Scorch was moaning in pain and tried to clutch his head to relieve the tension, but it was no use. He lost control of his legs and fell down to the ground on his face. His HUD was glowing red was flashing critical.

Overwatch had never been in so much pain throughout the his time in Shadow. He tried to fight back with all of his will power, but it was no use. Suddenly memories, haunting memories of his life were flashing before his eye. He desperately wanted to shoot himself dead to end it all. There was no use however as it pained him just to flex a muscle.

Scarecrow, who was the strongest was the least harmed, but that was like saying you got a D- minus on your test rather than a full F. Scarecrow struggled to stand up and tried to push himself to the accursed elements.

The ponies desperately tried to stop the elements all the while. This was not what they wanted to happen, not at all.

"Twilight what's going on?" screamed Fluttershy.

"I DON'T KNOW!" screeched Twilight. She tried changing spells at first but it only reinforced the blast. Twilight then attempted to stop casting but it did nothing.

The ponies watched in horror has Shadow was screaming for life. No matter how much of a gun crazy, cynical monster they were, nobody deserved to die like that.

"Kill me." weakly groaned X-ray.

The ponies couldn't believe it. The one tool they thought that would be used to protect all life, was also an ender of one. Shadow was going to die a painful death, and it was all their falt.

"Take them off!" yelled Pinkie.

The ponies did so and the elements were removed from their bodies and shoved into their box. Much to the Mane 6's horror, the elements did not stop.

"Darn things have a mind of their own!" awed Applejack.

"Give me that!"

Suddenly Scarecrow materialized in front of the ponies. Using the last of his strength, he picked up the box. If the elements did not stop in a minute, Shadow was as good as dead.

Twilight realized what he intended to do. "Scarecrow wait!" she pleaded.

The barely conscious Scarecrow threw the box a respectable distance. The red beam still was trailing on the squad.

Before passing out, Scarecrow drew a frag grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it. The explosive landed next to the box, facing the elements.

Suddenly the frag exploded, taking the elements with it. The red beam seized to exist before it could deliver the killing blow to Shadow.

Just before the ponies could realize what Scarecrow had done, the elements used the last of it's power to release a white aura that engulfed the critically conditioned soldiers and ponies.

Author's Notes:

Just a quick disclaimer: Half Life is the property Valve and First Contact is a non profit story.

Before I move on to the following chapters, I will edit the previous ones.