Between Magic and Science

Nexus had everyone gathered. All of his friends; Powerjack, Whirlwind, Burning Star, Trax Dash, Peaceful Pride, Nova Burst, Buttercrust, and a still hurting Killjoy, all of Twilight Sparkle and her friends; Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie all sat somewhere in the crowded living room, be it on one of the two couches or on the floor. They all waited patiently for Nexus to begin.

“Okay, as you may all know-” He began, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. A girl wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans stood behind it, her purple tinted sunglasses and electric blue hair catching Nexus’s eye. With her were two other guys, Nexus recognized as Record Wrex and Cee Flat. Wrex’s long, straight hair seemed to counter the girl’s shorter, slightly curled hair, even though they were a similar tone; his a dull sapphire blue, and hers a bright electric blue. Even their sunglasses were different colours, one orange, and the other purple.

“Hey Nexus,” Cee began, “We got this Vinyl Scratch girl from another universe and-”

“Come on in, all three of you,” he gestured to the newcomers, knowing that they’d be important to his mission. Twilight recognized the girl immediately.

“Vinyl Scratch? You’re here too?” Twilight didn’t seem to expect her, of all ponies, to come here.

“I’m so terribly sorry,” Rarity began, “I must have forgotten about you, Vinyl.”

“It’s cool, so... Whoa, what’s going on in here? We having cookies or something?”

Nexus looked in the living room, there was literally nowhere for them to sit without violating the last shred of personal space everyone had left. He gave them the rundown.

“Our world’s in danger, and so is yours. We’re going to need your help in Equestria to stop an evil spirit working with the changelings... I don’t know what they’re trying to do. Anyway, I’ve gathered my group of friends, whom I’ve saved the world with several times, and Twilight here has gathered hers, whom she’s saved her world with several times. I’m going over our game plan right now. So you’ll have to catch the details later.”

Vinyl seemed cool with this information. “Alright. I guess I’ll just stand here in the doorway.”

Cee Flat tried to form intelligent thought, but failed, just as he failed to process what Nexus had just said on the first time through. Wrex had just stood there, his orange shades concealing his eyes, and a grimace upon his lips that told everyone that he was just going to accept it and get on with life.

“I’m sorry too,” Applejack said, “I didn’t think I’d forget about you coming with us, but... it happened so quickly.” The others started to apologize as well, but she raised a hand.

“Don’t sweat it, guys,” She said with a smile, “It’s cool.”

“If I could get started on the plan here, that’d be nice,” Nexus said, standing in front of the group he had gathered.

“Oh, sorry,” Vinyl said, “Yeah, do that...”

Off in some dimension of darkness, two figures stood, facing each other. One had the figure of a pony, and the other, a human.

“Is this world aware of our presence?” Queen Chrysalis, the queen of the changeling hive mind, had stepped forward, some unworldly light illuminating her features. Long strands of a sickly blue mane hung over her green eyes. Her body was as dark as the realm she was in, but under light one would see her transparent blue wings, and the holes in her legs, the holes in which stemmed from her body craving the affections of sentient life. They were holes that would never be filled, a quest that would never become more than an endless mission.

“Yes. You didn’t specify you wanted a silent entrance. Did you secure the prisoner I asked?” Nightmare’s voice was a low, terrifying growl.

Another figure stepped forth from the shadows, into the light that casted from nowhere in particular. He had a young body, his hair was a perfect blonde colour, and his face seemed almost too perfect. Crystal blue eyes, and a perfect nose, not too long, not too large, and placed evenly between his eyes. His lips were perfectly sized as well, one not being larger than the other. He had a strong body, but wasn’t too tall. He wore something similar to a medieval knight’s armour, without the helmet.  Some would think him to be nobility, others just born with good looks, but none would believe his true story.

“For half a century I waited to see you again, Nightmare,” his voice was like a beacon of calmness, soothing, but at the same time, commanding.

The other figure stepped forwards, being nothing but a shadow, with glowing red orbs where eyes should be.

“The wait has been mutual, Dimensia.” Nightmare replied. Dimensia was a being of time and space. He had spent countless centuries perfecting his body, after he discovered the secret of bending time and space to his will. He worked with Nightmare once, but they were defeated by Nexus and the Elements of Heroism. He hoped that he would not fail whatever he was involved with this time.

“Why have you brought me here, from my holding cell?” Dimensia asked, recalling the decades sent in that infernal prison that negated his powers. Not that he minded the freedom, but he generally owed something of whoever bothered to release him.

“I need you to lead my attack on Iron Core.”

“Again? What makes you think that you can take them a second time?”

“Because,” Nightmare looked over to Chrysalis, “We have her swarm at our disposal.”

“Yes,” Chrysalis replied, “The hive mind in my world should serve as a suitable force for your takeover, given that our terms our met.”

“Terms?” Dimensia didn’t like terms, “What do you mean, terms?”

“Chrysalis is a changeling,” he explained, somewhat annoyed, “She has agreed to let me command the swarm under her control in return for the love and affection of those in Iron Core, which her kind feeds on.”

“That means we won’t be able to rule it, will it?” Dimensia scowled, disappointed.

“Not directly, no, but I have... other plans.”

“We’ll need more than my swarm to take an entire world,” Chrysalis said, “We are powerful, true, but we only gather our strength from numbers.”

“I’ve got that under control,” Nightmare said, raising his shadow hand dismissively, “As we speak, several of Iron Core’s outcasts, known as Raiders, are moving in to attack the country’s capital, Tanktown. Based on the information given to them by your Changeling informants.”

“Tanktown is the capital?” Dimensia asked in disbelief, then burst out into laughter. He’d been there, and it was no more than a simple town.

“The other region’s leaderships gather there in the state of crisis, much like what will be ensuring shortly...”

“So, what do we do as of now?” Chrysalis asked.

“The few changelings I’ve sent in already have drawn attention, so wait until the fighting has started before you have me open a portal. Dimensia, you’ll be in charge of leading both the Raiders and the changelings when they arrive. No doubt Nexus and his friends will be there, so if you see them, let your minions do the work before you take them on yourself.”

“Yes, yes, basic villain strategy, blah, blah, blah. I’ll be good for you,” he said, shooting the shadow a hateful glare.

“Would it be a problem if I returned to Equestria to prepare?” Chrysalis asked.

“It would not. Go ahead.” Nightmare opened a portal to the changeling hive, which Chrysalis walked through.

Dimensia smirked. “She was boring, don’t you think?”

Nightmare didn’t respond to this, he just opened another portal.

“Go,” he commanded.

Dimensia huffed and entered the portal.

“Okay,” Nexus began, “In order to stop the changeling invasion we need launch a two-pronged attack. The first one will be here, in Iron Core, and the other will be in Equestria. Once I fix the flaw in my portal projector, which I think I’ve identified, we’ll have a working portal.” Nexus looked to Peaceful Pride, “Pride, is the armour I requested ready?”

“No, I was going to wait until you told us each what we’re going to do, so I could optimize the efficiency of the equipment I made. You did say it had to be custom built.”

“True. After I’m done explaining you an get to work.” Nexus said.

“I do,” Pride continued, “Have several basic suits ready for enhancements, however, I wasn’t sure of the measurements of the girls, so-”

“I can help you with that,” Rarity told him, “I make dresses for them all the time, but Vinyl...”

“I’ll just come with you,” the DJ in question said.

“Good,” Nexus continued with his plan, “Whirlwind, you’ll lead strike team Alpha into Equestria. Twilight, you’ll be guiding him to the changeling hive, you know where it’s at, right?”

“I believe so,” Twilight said, “But I haven’t been there myself.”

“That’ll have to do. Trax Dash, Rainbow Dash, you two will escort him to his objective.”

The two Dashes nodded and spoke in unison, “Got it.”

“Burning Star will be transporting the weapon that should destroy the changeling hive mind. Based on what you’ve told me, they’re insectoid in nature, so they should respond quite violently to a sonic pulse.” Nexus looked at Burning Star expectantly.

“The sonic pulse emitter is ready, but... it’s rather bulky. We’ll have to carry it on a tank,” she explained, “I’ve also installed a failsafe, in case the pulse fails.”

“What do you mean?” Nexus could only imagine what kind of failsafe his fire loving friend could’ve installed.

“Maybe... a nuclear warhead with enough power to level a city...” she replied sheepishly.

Nexus sighed, “It’ll have to do,” he said, turning to Peaceful Pride, “Pride, you’ll be leading the backup Equestrian team, Bravo. Bravo will consist of Peaceful Pride and Pinkie Pie, who will provide tactical support for Alpha.

Pinkie Pie seemed excited, much to Pride’s annoyance.

“Now, we have the Iron Core team. I’ll be leading Charlie, who will be going in to secure the first cloud picked up on radar. Whirlwind, you did get in touch with the Queen of Raingear, right?”

He nodded, “Aye, she’ll send her boys as soon as ye give the word. She’ll also tell you if anything odd pops up under her watch.”

“Right. What about the Onterran Patriarch?”

Killjoy spoke up, still hurting from being shot, “They’re having some trouble in their government right now, they won’t be able to send support...”

“Alright. Raingear’s all we have, then,” Nexus cleared his throat, and continued, “Charlie team will consist of Powerjack, Fluttershy, Vinyl Scratch, Record Wrex, Cee Flat, and of course myself. Fluttershy, you’ll need to heal the wounded. You’ll stay out of direct combat. Powerjack, you make sure Fluttershy stays safe. Vinyl, Wrex, Cee, I hope you don’t mind combat, ‘cause you’ll be our fighting force.”

“Alright, I guess I should learn how to fight,” Vinyl said, looking to see Cee Flat’s response.

“Yeah, I got you covered. Wrex?”

The mute musician gave a thumbs up.

“Excellent,” Nexus moved on to Killjoy, “Killjoy, you’ll be leading Delta team. Delta is tasked with coutering the inevitable attack on Tanktown. You’ll be taking Buttercrust, Nova Burst, Rarity and Applejack. Buttercrust, you’ll need to supply the rest of us with whatever you have in stock for equipment before we go. Nova Burst, you still have your sentry, right?”

“That I do,” He replied, “I’ll set ‘er up in a place where she can get shootin’ right away.”

“That’d be appreciated. Put it in the center of town, or wherever you think would have a tactical advantage. Now, Rarity, I hope you don’t mind fighting...”

“I’m not fit for action, and you know that Nexus,” she said sternly, “I’ll provide support through your communication network here in Iron Core.”

“Alright, I can accept that, what about you, Applejack?”

“I’m about as ready as I’ll ever be. Get me geared up, and I’ll send ‘em runnin,” the apple farmer said.

“That’s the plan, you’ll all have three days to prepare. I suggest talking with Powerjack about the firing range, or Killjoy about the operation of vehicles if you need more training. If you have any questions for me, I’ll be in my lab preparing the portal.”

He looked over the group, one last time.

“You are dismissed!”