Between Magic and Science

“You want me to what?” Trax Dash said, into his cell phone. He had just received a call from Nexus, saying that he needed to go to Tanktown with this random chick he just picked up a few days ago. This was the day of the tournament, and Trax Dash was the returning champion! He’d prepared for weeks, and now he’d have to quit right before it started? Nexus had hung up, assuming Trax Dash would come.

“What’d he say?” Rainbow sat at the table across from him, and beside Ripper Rush.

“We gotta go meet Nexus, he says that Nightmare’s returned, and he’s getting his friends together to fight him. I gotta compete today, though!"

Rush looked to his friend, “You should go. Nexus doesn’t usually screw around about things like this.”

“Yeah, but...”

“I’ll fill in for you, don’t worry,” Rush reassured him, “I’ll tell them all that you couldn’t make it, they’ll understand.”

“You know, they’re your friends, right?” Rainbow asked, but it seemed more like she was telling him.

“Yeah, my very best friends.”

“Don’t you think that you should stick with them when they need you?” Rainbow obviously knew a thing or two about friendship, from what Trax Dash could tell from the stories of her adventures. He had told her his own, but they were wildly exaggerated to made him look as cool as possible, and it was obvious.

“I guess...”

“We should go to them, then. It’s what I would do. Plus, he said he needs me too, right?” Rainbow had to force these next words out,  “And who’s better show me how to get there then someone as... awesome... as you?”

“You really mean that?” Trax Dash looked very excited that someone had acknowledged just how grand his epicness level was.

“No, but it made you feel better for a few seconds!”

The toast dealer looked at his haul as the sun dipped out of sight. Selling random stuff actually paid off, when he did the math. Also, that Pinkie Pie character seemed to know how to talk to people. He followed her down the empty sidewalk, bouncing about as he strode through whatever city he happened to be in. Snow coated the streetlights, but it melted as it hit the ground. They came to a stop in the light of a streetlight, and he showed her a handful of strange golden objects, hexagonal in shape, and with a hole in the middle.

“What’s that?” she asked, inspecting the objects with interest.

“It’s our currency in this world. They’re called ‘bolts’. Golden ones are worth 10 bronze bolts, and silver ones are worth 8 bronze bolts,” he explained.

“How much are the bronze ones worth?”

“Umm. They’re worth one bronze one.”

“Oh, that makes sense! I can be so silly sometimes.”

“Right... well this is for all your help in these past few days. You’re good at talking to people, you know?”

“Oh, thank you!” She took the 7 or so golden bolts and put them in the pocket of her sweatpants, which he had gotten her along with the pink winter jacket she was wearing, “I’m really good at making ponies laugh! Or... people laugh!”

“Are you still okay after... well, after what happened?” He was talking about the small gunfight that had occurred a day ago, over an antique silver lined toilet. He didn’t question how he kept it in his trench coat, nor did he question any of the other merchandise he sold besides toast. One guy had offered to buy it for 120 bolts, and then this other guy had raised the price to 150, they’d started arguing, and then had pulled their guns out. They were about to shoot each other, but Buttercrust had shot them both in the knees, accepting the price at 150 bolts. This had horrified Pinkie, but she seemed to get over it as the day went on.

It could’ve been worse, he could’ve just killed them. He then had to explain how this world worked to her, and that seemed to make things even worse. Her normally curly, poofy hair had seemed to droop down a little, until he had mentioned how it was friendship that got them through it. It perked right back up again and she was back to her normal self.

“It’s fine, really! They were being meanies anyway!”

“Well, I’ll probably have to teach you how to defend yourself out here. Now that I think about it-”

“I can defend myself perfectly fine! I’ve got my party cannon!” She was suddenly standing over a large, blue cannon that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

“Your, umm... what?” He was puzzled.

“My party cannon of course!” she pulled back the firing mechanism, and streamers and balloons suddenly shot out of it.

“How can you defend yourself with that?” Was this some sort of joke? Suddenly, he was knocked back by some invisible force as balloons and streamers exited the cannon. He landed on his back, somehow bouncing on the concrete several times before coming to a rest. “I stand corrected.”

There was a ringing coming from inside his trench coat. Standing up, he reached his arm inside, and removed an expensive looking vase. Not what he was looking for, he tossed it aside. It landed with a smash. He reached in again, pulling out a highly explosive missile. Nope. He tossed it aside, and it landed with an explosion. One last time, he reached in and found his cell phone. He flipped it open.

“Hello?” He casually greeted whoever was on the other side.

It was Nexus. “Buttercrust, we need you to get back to Tanktown as soon as you can.”

“I’m on it! I got this strange girl with me who says her name is Pinkie Pie. She also says-”

“Yeah, yeah, she’s from another world, I know, where are you at?”

“Somewhere in Crystalline. I’ll be there in a jiffy, friend of mine!”

“Good, good.” Nexus hung up the phone.

Five minutes later, there was a knock at his door. Nexus opened it to find Buttercrust and the one he knew as Pinkie Pie at his door.

“How’d you get here so quickly? You said you were out in Crystalline...”

“Yes, and you said you needed me to get here as soon as I could! So what’s up?”

Being a pony DJ was not so different from being a human one. It was Vinyl Scratch’s third day here, and she was already having a good time. They both had similar music, and similar ways of mixing it. She was living in the company of a somewhat famous DJ named Record Wrex, and his roommate Cee Flat. She was getting along well with them, since they were all musicians, and they even gave her a small set up to perform DJ battles alongside Wrex.

For a famous DJ, he still lived in an apartment. Cee had said that Wrex had other things to spend his money on. Cee himself played a hybrid of a keytar and a bass guitar. The strange instrument had the shape and strings of a regular bass guitar, but along it’s neck also were several keys, and they worked the same way a keytar would.

“So,” Cee Flat said, taking a seat on the large, comfy looking chair across from the couch, which Vinyl laid upon. Not only was it a couch, it doubled as her bed for the duration of her stay, “You said that you were from another dimension, huh? It’s not a big surprise, this guy who was said to save the world came from another dimension. Lucky we found you out in the street, you might have gotten ran over by a tank.”

Vinyl remembered the fearsome green vehicle the residents of this world drove. They also were all heavily armed, as if expecting an invasion from something.

“Do you know him? Like, personally, I mean.” The room was dark, she assumed that it was night, but she wasn’t quite sure. What she was sure of, is that these creatures knew how to throw a party.

“Yeah, he’s a nice guy, I guess. He lives here in town, too. I could take you to him tomorrow, when it’s morning.” He said. So it was nighttime.

“Okay. Could I ask you something?”

“Sure, go ahead.” He leaned forward in his seat, the moonlight illuminating his features. He had shoulder length dusty brown hair, that wasn’t very well kept. He had green eyes that seemed to almost glow like neon lights under the moon. Of course, all of this was tinted purple under her sunglasses.

“Why’d you take me in?”

“Well, I don’t think I could’ve let you stay out there, you were unconscious. I don’t think Wrex would’ve let me leave you there either.”

She looked down at her own body, which was covered only with a white t-shirt and blue jean pants. Her hair was still electric blue, with streaks of a brighter blue among them. Being clothed like this felt normal to her, like she had worn clothes like this her entire life. She didn’t even know where they came from, they were just suddenly there.

“Well, thanks.”

“Could I ask you something?”

“Well, sure, go ahead,” he hadn’t seemed to have many questions, after they had gotten each other caught up with the world.

“Why do you wear those sunglasses all the time? I know that Wrex wears his because he likes the way they look, but what about you?”

“Well...” Vinyl began, thinking of how she would tell him the reason, “You can tell alot about someone by their eyes,” she paused, as Cee Flat just nodded, “You can even see what they’re going to do, or what they’re thinking.”

“So you wear them to hide your eyes?”

“Yeah, I guess so...”

Cee Flat had wanted to know what colour her eyes were, but didn’t wish to make her feel uncomfortable. He said nothing.

“I’ve been enjoying myself, hanging out with you guys, but how are we going to find Twilight?”

“I’ll take you to Nexus in the morning. Hopefully he’s not busy. For now, you should get some sleep. You sure do know how to party.”

“Alright, I’ve found the location of the rest of your friends, they’re on their way,” Nexus said, pacing back in forth in front of the two couches in his living room. On one sat Buttercrust, Peaceful Pride, and Powerjack, and on the other sat Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle.

“You did?” Rarity said, excited, “That’s simply wonderful!”

Twilight nodded. “We still have the whole Changelings situation to worry about, though.”

Peaceful Pride looked over to Nexus and said, “You mentioned what they were, but how are we going to stop them?”

“We’re going to have to get the Queen and the Patriarch to help us on this one. I’d get the other regions’ support, but they haven’t had enough time to form a powerful enough military.” Nexus thought of the plan for a moment, thinking of how they might have to alter it. “Nightmare’s obviously letting them though to this world, so we need to stop them in Equestria.”

“And... how are we going to do that?” Pride asked, not convinced that it was a solid plan.

“We’ll... I don’t know yet, I need more time to think of a plan. For now, we need to get ready. Burning Star’s already working on our tank. Powerjack, do you still have that Neuroshock exosuit?”

Powerjack nodded, “It’s at my house.”

“Get that ready. Talk to Killjoy and Nova Burst when they get here about upgrades and weapon attachments. Pride, I need you to make a suit of power armour and a set of equipment specially designed for each of us, including the girls.”

Twilight was shocked, “You don’t expect us to.... fight, do you?”

“No, but you’ll have to help us. We can’t do this alone, and you know the most about the Changelings.”

“They’re meanies that only want to... be mean!” Pinkie shouted, jumping out of her seat “I’ll fight ‘em! I’ve got my party cannon!”

Nexus was confused, “Your... what?”

“My party cannon! I never leave home without it!” There was suddenly a large cannon in front of her, with a shiny blue finish, and a flower near the base of it.

“I’m not even going to ask...”