Solar Conquest II: A Trip to a New... World? Book 1: First Contact

Chapter 3

The team had seen something. Alpha had told the thing to stop whatever it was doing and come to them. Obviously, it didn't speak Velondian. It seemed to have gotten scared, and ran back inside the barn. "Guys, that wasn't just me, right? You guys saw it on your IR goggles too?"
"Yeah, I think we all did. Even if that... thing that attacked me was anomalous, this doesn't seem like it is."
"Keep your guard up, team." As they followed their leader through the door of the barn, Echo saw something. It was a flicker of light coming from his IR goggles. "You guys see that on your IR?" he asked.
"Maybe. Might be an anomaly," replied Alpha.
"Hold it right there, buckaroos!" said Apple Bloom bursting out of the cupboard.
"Fuck! It speaks Havaluan!? We gotta get outta here before another war happens!"
"Hold it, Charlie. We know no Havaluan looks like that."
"I would find it very kind if you three could leave my house, thank you very much. But before you do, what's a Havaluan?"
"Probably a trap. Shoo- scratch that."
"Apple Bloom, what in tarnation are you doing down there? Who is that with you?" asked a voice that sounded like Applejack's from upstairs. "What the- what are these monsters doing here?!" The Cothranian team burst out the door, running as fast as they could back into the Everfree Forest. The only problem was, the portal was shrinking.
"Overwatch, can you keep the warp open for enough time for us to get through? Fuck! Come on guys, we gotta make it!" Charlie slammed into a tree, damaging his arm and stunning him momentarily. Echo, the fastest of the team, had barely been able to dive through the portal before closing. Alpha might have made it, but didn't want to risk getting sliced in half or losing his feet.
Alpha and Charlie were stuck somewhere on an undiscovered part of Havalu.