Applejack proceeded through the almost dry canals Sweetie Belle told her about, until she reached a part blocked by wreckage of a fallen bridge, and the only other way was back or through a nearby building; she chose the obvious answer. The moment she opened the door, Applejack heard a mare shouting:

"Leave us in peace! We did nothing wrong!"

She pressed herself against the wall and peeked at the corner. She saw a brown pegasus stallion fainted on the floor and two CP unicorns cornering a white unicorn mare, each levitating a baton glowing with electricity.

"Help!!" she shouted.

The CPs levitated their batons and were about to hit the mare, when a couple of orange hindlegs threw the armored ponies against a wall.

"Whooooweee!" Applejack cheered. "Looks like Bucky McGillycuddy and Kicks McGee aren't as rusty as I thought they were!"

"Th-Th-Thank you..." the mare said, crawling toward the fainted stallion. "But you need to get out of here. They will be after you now!"

Applejack nodded, then noticed the metal gadget lying on the floor near the CPs. She picked it up with her teeth.

"What's this?" she asked.

"You really don't know?" the mare asked. "This is a pistol, CPs use it to hurt and kill ponies! You can use it against them."

Applejack dropped the weapon. "Bu-But I don't want to kill anypony!"

"They aren't ponies, they lost their equinity long ago. Inside those uniforms there are only carcasses. It's either kill or be killed now!"

Applejack sighed. "And how do you use it?"

The mare levitated the pistol close to Applejack's face. "See this small lever here? It's called 'trigger'. You pull it and BANG!" she pointed the pistol at the wall and pulled the trigger. A small magical projectile got out of the pistol and opened a small hole on the wall. "Those new models have magical ammunition, so you don't need to worry about having to reload!" she offered the weapon back to Applejack, who grabbed it with her teeth. There was a support conveniently located on the left foreleg of the HEV Suit, which the gun could fit perfectly. She placed the pistol on it.

"Will ya be alright?" she asked.

The mare levitated another pistol from the belt of the other CP. "I know how to shoot a gun, I'll be ok!"

Applejack nodded and went upstairs. When she reached the roof of the building, there was nowhere to run; that's it, until a train stopped right beside it. She smiled and jumped on it, proceeding then to the other side of the gap where the trail was located. CPs blocked the path she was following, and they started shooting at her. The Suit was too powerful for the magical projectiles to penetrate it, but she still received some impact damage. There was nowhere to run, so she crawled through a pipe that lead her back to the sewers. When she left the pipe, she was in a chamber with a fire in the middle of it. Near it there was a blue earth pony stallion and a weird creature: its body was ponylike, but it had no fur, only a green, wrinkly skin. There was a big, red eye in the middle of its face with a smaller one on its forehead. Four pointy teeth were coming out of its mouth and there was some kind of skin tube on each cheek. An extra limb with two claws was coming out of its chest. There were no Cutie Marks on its flanks. She simply froze, not daring to move.

"Hey, are you Applejack?" the stallion asked. She nodded. "Good. We were expecting you to come through here!"

"We must not delay the Apple Mare." the creature said with a raspy voice. "She is a vital part of the project and must arrive in New Ponyville as soon as possible."

"Pardon me, but..." she said. "Who... WHAT are you?"

"He is a Vortigaunt." the stallion said, wrapping a foreleg around him/it. "They appeared here years ago, during the incident. I don't know about the details, since I was a foal when everything happened, but I know that they learned how to speak our language and our species formed an alliance against the Combine!"

"Oh, right. So, yer good guys too?"

"This statement is correct." he/it said. "Now you must go, your quest has just begun, Apple Mare."

The stallion walked toward a boarded tunnel and bucked the wooden planks, shattering them. "Follow this path, it will take you to Station 12. My friends there can help you more than we can. Good luck, Applejack!"

"Be safe, you two!" she said before dashing through the tunnel.

After a few minutes of walking in the sewers, Applejack reached another chamber, this one with provisions, a few simple furniture and a radio.

"Station 12, can you hear me?" came a female voice from the radio. "Station 12, do you read?"

"Uh, howdy?" Applejack said to the microphone near the radio.

"Oh, good, somepony is still alive! Evacuate immediately, we have confirmed reports of Manhacks! Repeat, they are filling the underground with Manhacks!"

"And what the hay are Manhacks?"

"You... Are a member of the Resistance, right?"

"Ah guess so. On mah way to New Ponyville!"

"Wait! That accent... Are-Are you Applejack?"

"Darn tootin'!"

"Oh, my! I'm so sorry, miss Applejack! Doctor Rarity told us about you and asked us to help you in any way that we can."

"Doctor Rarity?" Applejack thought. "It's ok."

"How can we help you?"

"Well, y'all could tell me how to go to New Ponyville!"

"Oh, right. Just follow the canals, you will reach us in less than an hour. Once you arrive, I will send you straight to New Ponyville through a shortcut! But I warn you, it's not an easy route."

"I get ya. Ah'm on mah way! Over!"

"Be careful."

"Ah will!"

Applejack followed the pipes and returned to the canals, except that those ones were flooded.

"Hope this suit isn't too heavy!" she thought, then jumped in the water. As she hoped, the suit wasn't heavy. In fact, it was even more helpful in the water, since a magical bubble appeared around her head, allowing her to breath underwater. Suddenly a message appeared on the magical bubble, right in front of her eyes.

OXYGEN LEVELS: 90%

The message suddenly changed.

OXYGEN LEVELS: 80%

Then it changed again.

OXYGEN LEVELS: 70%

The percentage continued to drop, until it reached 10%. She took a deep breath and held it. When the oxygen levels reached 0%, the bubble popped, allowing the water to touch her face and mane.

When she surfaced and took a deep breath, another message appeared in front of her face, this time floating in the middle of the air:

FILLING OXYGEN TANKS

Then it disappeared. Assuming this meant that the tanks were once again full, she dived.

OXYGEN LEVELS: 40%

"Guess they weren't full yet, but I think that's good enough." she thought. Upon reaching the other side of the canals, she was ambushed by three unicorn CPs, all of them pointing their guns at her.

"It's either kill or be killed now!" the voice of the unicorn mare from before echoed in her head. She grabbed the pistol with her teeth and pointed it at the one in the middle. She pondered if she should shoot or not, but it took her less than a second to decide:

"I need to see my family!" she thought, then pulled the trigger with her tongue. The recoil of the pistol knocked Applejack a few steps backward, but she managed to stand on her four hooves. The projectile penetrated the CP's mask and traspassed its skull. A loud and long beep could be heard and soon faded, indicating that no life signs could be detected coming from the host of the uniform.

The two other CPs completely ignored that and started shooting at the eart pony mare. Fortunately they weren't aiming for her head and the shots either missed or hit her suit. She shot back and soon the CPs fell, dead.

"Ah don't feel good about it..." she said, placing the pistol back in the support and again started running.

She heard a loud sound coming from the sky and looked up; there was a big metal thing with propellers spinning at a high speed flying toward her. Inside it, there was a CP pointing a very big gun at her.

The first thing that came to her mind was "WHAT IN TARNATION IS THAT?" and the second was "RUN, APPLEJACK! RUN!"

She ran as fast as she could, the CP inside the "flying carriage" shooting at her. She finally found a shelter: another pipe. She jumped in there; it was a safe place, since the bullets couldn't reach where she was hiding. Crawling through the pipe, she ended up in another canal, this one completely dry and filled with wreckage. She heard gunshots!

"Headcrabs!!" shouted a stallion. Applejack ran as fast as she could. She remembered Sweetie Belle saying they were dangerous. Upon arriving where the stallion was, she saw the bodies of two creatures that looked exactly like Owlowiscious and an unicorn stallion levitating a weapon very different from the pistol, it was bigger and it had a hoof support; apparently it was too big and heavy to be held with a mouth.

"Hey, you're Applejack, right?" asked the stallion. "We were waiting for you. Welcome to Station 6! Skyla is waiting for you at the port. Grab a weapon and--"

"Incoming!" shouted a mare from not too far away from there.

"They're shelling us!" shouted another stallion.

Suddenly they heard an impact and the ground shook lightly. A cloud of dust rose.

"Shit! More of them!" the stallion said and ran toward the cloud of dust.

Applejack looked at the weapon that looked exactly like the one the stallionwas firing lying on top of a crate. It was labelled "SMG". She lifted it, but it was too heavy to hold it with a single hoof; she needed two hooves to hold it. She tried standing on her rear legs and after finally balancing herself, she held the gun with both forehooves. Since there were no supports for this weapon on her suit, she balanced it on her back and followed the other stallion, only to find him lying on the ground with a headcrab attached to his head. She kicked it away from the stallion, but it was too late and he was already dead. She then was surrounded by headcrabs, who were coming out of a small, black rocket, probably one of the Headcrab Shells her friends told her about and the same thing that made the ground shake a few moments ago.

She balanced herself on her hindlegs, pointed the SMG at the headcrabs and pulled the trigger. One by one they fell to the ground. One jumped at her, but she manage to dodge.

"They only aim for one place, and it's the only part of mah body that is not protected." she said, shooting the headcrab dead. "Ah need a helmet!" after the last headcrab was dead, she noticed her Geiger counter had started to click. She then noticed she was standing on a wooden platform above a green, slimy liquid that spread all over the area, save for a few "islands" and more platforms. "Ah'm not touchin' that!"

More impacts: three Headcrab Shells fell on the area.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap!" Applejack said as she tried to run on her hindlegs toward the port while shooting the new headcrabs while avoiding the toxic water. She then finally managed to reach the port. There she found a cyan pegasus mare with a red mane. Her Cutie Mark was a blue wing. She was filling an airboat with fuel.

"Oh, you made it!" she said, placing the fuel tank on the floor. "I was wondering when you would show up. Hurry, we don't have much time! Follow the river and you will be in New Ponyville in no time. Look out for the Civil Protection, they probably know you're going through that way."

Applejack nodded, dropped the SMG in the airboat and climbed on it.

"And before I forget, I received a transmission from Station 7 a few minutes ago. They want you to stop by there, they have information they'd like to share with you. They are in the big, red barn a less than a mile from here. Don't worry, you won't need to get out of your path from here to New Ponyville, it's just a quick stop.

"I get ya!"

"Good luck out there, Applejack.'

"So many ponies wished me luck already that Ah must be luckiest than a pony with a whole bouquet of four-leaf clovers."

Skyla giggled as she turned the handwheel, lowering the gates.

"And don't worry about the poisonous water, it's only like this around here! They can't afford to poison the whole canal, they need water too."

"Ok! Well, time to leave. You watch out for those nasty headcrabs! They're fallin' from the sky, literally."

"Yes, I already know. I'll be taking shelter in the base, wait for the Overwatch to assume everypony here is already dead and stop shelling us!"

Applejack nodded and accelerated the airboat, leaving Station 6. Next stop, Station 7! Next Chapter: Part 1: Chapter 04 Estimated time remaining: 30 Minutes