Between Magic and Science

Twilight heard the sound of something thumping, then she was being lifted up out of the seat of the armoured vehicle. She still couldn’t move anything, save her eyes. She saw a group of buildings, like she was in a village, but the buildings were closer together, like they were in Canterlot. What she was being carried toward appeared to be called ‘The Forge’, by looking at the sign mounted to the roof. As they went through the glass doors, she saw several suits of armour on display, as well as some items she recognized, like swords, and others that resembled the hand cannons she saw the Raiders with earlier. She didn’t even know what some of them were, but assumed them to be weapons. This made her very uncomfortable.

Powerjack opened the door to The Forge and looked around. A small bell rang out.

“Hello?” He said, in a weak, but audible voice?

“Is someone there?” Another called back.

“Peaceful Pride, are you there?” Powerjack asked.

“Yes, I’m in the back room. Come on back.”

He entered the back room where Pride’s office was located. He was at his desk, looking very surprised to see Powerjack walk in with what appeared to be a dead girl. Twilight just shut her eyes and listened. His voice... it sounded like somepony she knew from her world... Rarity...

“Powerjack... eh... Why are you carrying a dead body?” Pride was confused.

“She’s not dead, she’s... paralyzed. The Raiders did it to her, Nexus said it was a paralysis poison or something.” He almost whispered those last words.

“Oh, I should be able to treat that, put her there on my workbench.” Pride pointed to metal bench that looked big enough to hold Powerjack. He laid the girl down on it as instructed. Pride was now over her, with a small bottle of something she didn’t recognize.

“Where was she injected?” He asked.

“Right there.” Powerjack touched the small tear in her skin, sending pain throughout her body, but she could do nothing about it.

“Now, dear, this may hurt a little. Please excuse me for this,” Pride said before pouring the solution in the bottle over the spot where she had been cut and injected.

Twilight’s arm felt as if it was on fire. She hadn’t had this new body very long, and she knew this feeling wasn’t normal. The solution settled in, and the pain spread to beneath her skin, it spread to her bones, the pain intensifying with every moment. She had to get out of this, she had to...

The girl on the table writhed in pain for a moment, then let out a scream that rivaled that of the Basilisk. She grabbed her arm, feeling the pain leave her with each heavy breath she took. Sitting up, she realized she could move her body, and that it was no longer on fire. The ones called Powerjack and Peaceful Pride stood in front of her, watching her reaction. Her breathing slowed, and she put her hands to her chest. Her heart slowed from its elevated pulse as well.

After a long silence, Pride spoke up. She got a good look at him, too. He had chocolate brown hair, with sky blue highlights, and it was slicked up out of his face. He had green eyes, with small circular glasses over them, and wore a suave looking tuxedo complete with a bow tie, and black dress pants. On his wrist was a cross, with a snake slithering around it. She noticed that he had glowing lines along his arms and neck, as well as noticing them on Powerjack.

“How do you feel, dear?”

“I can... I’m okay... I think... I have so many questions...” Twilight spoke her first words, and found it exactly the same as the Equestrian language.

“Yes, of course, but hold on, you mentioned Nexus was with you? Where is he?”

Nexus was becoming tired, he had spent an hour fighting this Basilisk, and it wasn’t even phased. He rolled to the side, just narrowly avoiding it’s claw swiping out at him. It took a step backwards, splashing in the shallow water of Beaver Creek. Nexus had an idea, he just needed it to take another step backwards. Before he could make another move, it hit him. Not an idea, but the claw of the beast. It sent him flying backwards into a tree, knocking the last of the fight out of him.

Legend said that the Basilisk could kill just by looking at something, but that was obviously not true. What was true, is that it could kill anything it looked at, and Nexus thought that his time was up. He knew, though, that every time he thought he was about to die, something would happen. That seemed to be something that heroes did, being able to cheat death with good timing. The Basilisk walked towards him, closing in for the kill. Everything about it seemed to make it the perfect predator. It’s scales deflected most bullets, it’s claws could rip metal to shreds, and it looked completely fearsome.

His internal analysis of the beast was interrupted by a loud boom, almost like thunder, and the Basilisk stumbling backwards, right into Beaver Creek. he sighed with relief.

Powerjack and Peaceful Pride had driven a tank, Powerjack’s tank, into the Ashfall forest, looking for Nexus near Beaver Creek. This new girl, Twilight Sparkle, she said her name was, had came with them, and didn’t seem to understand what the tank was. She seemed fascinated with it, though. The tank suddenly stopped, and Twilight turned to ask Powerjack, the driver, why, when Peaceful Pride handed her and Powerjack earplugs. She put them in, noticing that her ears were different as well, she hadn’t even noticed until now. Amazing how-

There was a rumbling and a boom, like thunder that came from inside the tank, and Twilight and Powerjack both jumped.

“Was... Was the the cannon?” Twilight asked, shaking a little.

“What’s that? I can’t hear you.” Peaceful Pride removed his ear plugs, and Twilight removed hers as well. Her ears were ringing from the loud noise.

“Was that the cannon?” She was still trembling.

“Oh, yes it was. Impressive piece of work.”

“Why did you fire it?” She asked, a bit hesitantly.

“I saw a monster attacking my friend Nexus, you see, and I didn’t want it to kill him, obviously because he’s my friend, and now the monster is-”

Pride was cut off by a loud noise, as if someone was hitting the tank’s hatch.

“Hey!” Came a muffled voice from the other side, “Let me in!”

Pride leaned over, looking at Powerjack, who was still facing front, with his earplugs in. Pride tapped on his shoulder, and he took the plugs out.

“Could you get the hatch for Nexus?”

The ride back wasn’t eventful, even though Twilight and Nexus had many questions for each other. Nexus glanced over at her, and decided to start small talk.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“I’m... I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She replied, trying to be polite, “You’re Nexus, right?”

“Right... So, Twilight, I... I... uhh, kinda pulled you out of your world by accident, and that’s how you ended up here. I’ll do my best to get you back home.”

“Thank you, I guess... Where am I now?” Twilight wanted to at least know where she was going to be for the moment.

“Right now, you’re in the country of Iron Core, city of Tanktown.”

“Tanktown...” She repeated looking down at her feet, which had nothing on them. She looked back up at Nexus, “What species am I?”

Nexus wasn’t expecting the question, “Well, from what I can tell, you’re a human.”

Human... The word reverberated in her mind. She knew somepony back home who spoke of humans, but they had been long since extinct.

“What, do they not have humans in your world?”

Twilight was surprised by the lack of ‘you’re crazy’ in his voice, “Well, no, where I’m from, ponies are the dominant species.”

Ponies... The word echoed in Nexus’s head. It was so familiar to him, but he couldn’t place a finger on where it had came from.

“May I ask about those... lines on your body?” she pointed to the purple glow beneath Nexus’s skin.

“These are my implants. They allow me to bend the world to my will, well... To a certain point,” he said.

“Bend the world...” Twilight was thinking about that phrase, “Oh, like magic!”

Nexus chuckled a bit, “Yeah, I guess it’s kinda like magic. I can make fire and lightning, as well as move things with my mind.”

She felt better knowing that there was magic in this world. It was something she could relate to.

“I can move objects with my mind, too, see?” She focused on the small black box that Nexus had used to find her, and it was enveloped in a purple glow. It began to rise, and it landed in Nexus’s lap.

“How do you do that, without implants?” Nexus was amazed at her ability.

“Well, where I’m from, everypony can do it. Well, Unicorn ponies, at least.” Twilight felt her forehead, realizing she had no horn. She knew her wings were gone, because she would’ve felt them when she was on the ground, but her horn... she was channeling her magic elsewhere.

“Heh, everypony, eh? That what they say back in...” Nexus hadn’t caught the name of her world.

“Equestria, and yes, that’s the term we use, although I don’t think it would be used here... Because you’re obviously not ponies.”

“We just say ‘everybody’, or ‘everyone’.” Nexus looked up at Pride, who was still in the gunner’s seat and said, “How far are we, Pride?”

“Just a few minutes more, and we’ll be back at the Forge.”

Twilight had another question for Nexus, “What’s with your names in this world?”

“I could ask you the same thing. Names here are given based on what we do. I’m not from this world, believe it or not, but my name is still... fitting,” He knew what he was talking about, but wasn’t about to open up his ultimate power story to a random girl she just met.

“Well... What about the others?”

“Peaceful Pride is... well, rather obvious. He rather calm, and usually shows a general respect for himself. Powerjack was a miner, and he’s super strong.”

“Oh, well what about that cutie mark on your arm?”

“My... what... oh, you mean my combat tatoo? I got it after I formed a combat unit with my friends. The sword is a symbol of leadership.”

“So... they tell you what you do?”

“Yep. Pride’s got a cross, because he’s a Medic. Powerjack’s a Vanguard, nothing stops him when he’s determined. I guess I should introduce you to the rest of my friends...”

“About that... the friends of yours I’ve met so far seem... very similar to my friends back in Equestria.”

“What do you mean?”

In the driver seat, Powerjack looked back at Peaceful Pride. He noticed.

“What’s on your mind, PJ?”

“What are they talking about?”

“Oh, Twilight’s a magical unicorn from another world where ponies are dominant and she has magic powers. Now she’s talking about how we’re like her friends in her world.”

“Oh...”