Between Magic and Science

Trax Dash stood in across from his sparring partner, Ripper Rush. They were in both in Trax Dash’s hotel, which he had bought with the money from his consecutive first place Coliseum winnings. The top two floors were reserved for him, when he was participating in said Coliseum. Through the window, Trax Dash could see the endless sand that made up the Arenus region, past the small cluster of buildings that Skyfall city was.

The sparring room was nothing fancy, just a cleared room with padding on the floor, a punching bag in the corner, and a rack of wooden weapons for practice. He brush a strand of his long, pure white hair away from his face, and looked at his opponent. Ripper Rush was one of his closest friends out in the Arenus region, who was once a childhood bully. He stood about as tall a Trax Dash, and wore a green bandana over his short, dusty brown hair. His tank-top was a navy green, and his shorts were black. Upon his fists were two navy green covers.

Trax Dash wore a similar outfit, consisting of a white tank-top and and cyan shorts, with similar cyan pads over his fists. He could see his green implants flowing through them, and his combat tattoo, a boot, with wings sprouting from behind it. It reminded him of the times he had with Nexus.

Upon his back was a device that had been surgically attached to his nervous system after a terrible accident: a jetpack. Lucky for him, he had cybernetic implants, allowing the surgeons to link them through to the jetpack, saving his entire body from permanent paralysis. Burning Star had since modified the jetpack to run off of the energy his body stored in fat cells, making him able to run it indefinitely, as long as he had the energy to.

There was, however, drawbacks. Although it allowed him to fly anywhere he pleased, he had feeling in the metal device, like it was a part of him, and it reacted to certain stimuli in the same way any other part of his body might...

Ripper Rush wiped sweat off of his forehead. His skin was slightly darker than Trax Dash’s pale white skin.

“You ready?” Rush said.

“Yeah,” Trax Dash had only just said the words when Rush’s arm had shot out, nearly catching him in the cheek, had Trax Dash not raised his arm to block. Neither of them were particularly buff, but Trax Dash used his slim frame and quick reflexes to his advantage when participating in fighting tournaments like the upcoming one. Trax Dash pivoted back, throwing a punch into Rush’s stomach. He followed up with one to the chest, but Rush grabbed his arm and pushed it away, leaving Trax Dash exposed. Rush knocked him back with a hit to the face, and Trax Dash spun and face his partner again.

As the sparring went on, a flash of light had appeared in the sky off in the distance. Trax Dash caught sight of the light, and motioned for his sparring partner to stop.

“Did ya see that?” Trax Dash’s city-boy voice had always struck Ripper Rush as odd. He was the only person in Skyline city that spoke with that accent.

“No, I didn’t. What was it?” Rush looked out the window, trying to see what his friend was seeing.

“It looked like a flash of light in the sky... We should go check it out,” Trax Dash said.

“Do we really have to go and investigate everything out of the ordinary? The tournament is in 3 days, we need to train!” Ripper Rush had a hint of annoyance in his voice, but also was concerned. Trax Dash always love adventure, but it sometimes distracted him from what was important.

“I’m going to go check it out, you can wait here if you want,” Trax Dash said, walking down the hallway and to the staircase. He was going to go up one floor, so he could take off from the balcony there and fly over to the site.

Rush followed him up, “Wait! What if you get hurt? What if you can’t compete?”

Dash laughed at the thought, “Can’t compete? Me? Do you even know who you’re talking to here?”

“Yeah, but...” Rush sighed, unable to convince his friend otherwise, “I guess I’ll come with you, then.”

“I’m taking off from the balcony, you can take the jeep I have in the garage. Keys are on the table in the kitchen,” he said before opening the sliding glass door to the balcony, and stepping out. The wings on his pack slid out, spanning at least a foot past his shoulders on either side, and the propulsion system rumbled as it lifted Dash into the air. He took off, leveling his body parallel to the ground, leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

The army green vehicle that Ripper Rush operated was an uncommon sight for those in the city. Lightly armoured automobiles were normally used by official military, for they were much fast and much more maneuverable in combat. He drove after the speeding figure soaring through the sky, through the endless desert surrounding Skyline city. Hopefully no Raiders would show up.

Trax Dash landed, and Rush pulled up behind him, getting out of the jeep to see what it was he was standing over. He was looking at the collapsed body of a girl. She wore a cyan hoodie, similar to Trax Dash’s Foxtrot Charlie hoodie, but without the print on it, with a plain white t-shirt underneath, and dark blue jean shorts. Her hair was polychromatic, which caught Rush and Dash off guard, but it wasn’t the weirdest thing they’d ever seen. Her skin wasn’t as dark as Ripper Rush’s, but wasn’t as pale as Trax Dash’s either.

“What’s she doing out here?” Rush turned to Trax Dash, who was checking for a pulse.

“I don’t know, but she’s alive,” Dash stood up, “We should get her back to Skyline city before she fries out here.”

“Hold on, she’s moving...” Rush said, and the girl was indeed moving. Her eyes opened, revealing a bright magenta colour. She stared at the two figures standing over her.

“What... where am I?” She looked down at herself, “What am I? Where are the others? Who are you? What’s-”

“Calm down. Get in the jeep here, and we’ll get you caught up. Can you stand?”

She noticed that the others stood on two legs, and when she attempted to, she found it easy. Much easier than when she was a pony. Walking on two legs was easy too, and she easily walked over to the strange green vehicle. Automobiles weren’t exactly common back in Equestria, but they weren’t unheard of. This, however, was unlike anything she had seen before. She sat down, much like she would as a pony, in the back of the vehicle. A figure that looked like her sat across from her, with white hair on his head, and an eye colour of gold.

“So,” he said, a strange accent to his voice, but still understandable, “What were you doing out there in the desert?”

“I... I don’t know...”

“What do you remember happening?”

“I...” she wasn’t sure if she should tell this creature she had just met everything.

“Don’t want to talk? That’s fine. Do you have any questions for me?”

She nodded, “This may sound a bit strange, but what am I?”

He seemed unphased by the unusual question and replied, “You’re a human.”

“A... human..." She repeated.

“Not from this world, are you?”

“What? No, I-”

He raised a claw, or what she thought was a claw, “It’s fine, I have a friend who’s not from this world either. That’s really the only reason I could think you didn’t know what species you were.”

“Yeah... about that...”

“You seem to not as confused as he was, though. Let me start by introducing myself,” he extended the claw, in a friendly gesture, “I’m Trax Dash. Most just call me Dash, though.”

The name was similar to her own. She looked at the claw, wondering if she was supposed to do something like a hoofshake.

“It’s a hand. You shake it,” He said, and she did.

“My name’s Rainbow. Rainbow Dash,” She said, taking the other’s hand. It seemed so natural, like she had used her hands all of her life.

He chuckled, “Never thought I’d hear that someone had that name. Though I’m sure someone else has ‘Dash’ in their name out there. Why don’t I just call you Rainbow, so we don’t get confused.”

“Umm. Okay...” She had friends who only addressed her by her first name.

“Any other questions?”

Nexus was surprised to find that Pride had arrived half-conscious at his door so late, even more so surprised to see who he was with. The young woman who had his arm around her shoulder voiced her concerns rather dramatically, despite being out of breath from carrying him,

“Set him down in the kitchen,” Nexus said.

“Yes... and his armour... is VERY heavy...” she said, laying him down in a room that she had assumed was the kitchen. The architecture of the building was impressive, and beyond what ponies could do, but the concept of a house was similar.

Nexus had returned momentarily with a box that had a red cross on it. A first aid kit, Rarity assumed. Kneeling down, Nexus removed the armour from his friend carefully, revealing nothing more than a few cuts and scratches in the white t-shirt he had on under it. Nothing was broken, that was good. He then brought his attention to the deep cut on his right arm, first removing the scarf wrapped around it.

“This is yours, isn’t it?” Nexus said, holding the scarf and got a nod from her, “That’s very generous of you.”

Rarity tried not to watch, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of him, and Nexus poured something over the cut, which began to foam around the wound. He then wiped the blood around the wound with another cloth, and wrapped it in a thick tan strip that stretched around his arm several times before he secured it. She recognized it as gause.

“Nexus... Thanks...” Pride said, before falling unconscious. Rarity noticed for the first time, that he had red lines running along his arms, as well as what seemed to be a cross cutie mark on his right arm, below the cut, much like Nurse Redheart’s.

“What are those lines on him?” Rarity asked, “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, those are his implants. They’re normal for some of us.”

“He’s so... courageous. I didn’t even get his name...” Rarity looked down on his still body, slowly rising and falling as he breathed.

“His name is Peaceful Prude. I’m Nexus,”

“My name is Rarity, it’s nice to meet you. I do wish it was under... better circumstances, though. He did save my life, though.”

“Right, you said you were attacked by a monster? Could you describe it?”

“It looked almost like a dragon, fearsome and scaly and outright disgusting! It didn’t have wings, though. It had a tremendous fin on it’s head and a patch of scales was missing from it’s body, that brave soul said that he’d battled with the same one before, and it’s smell-” Rarity was about to continue, but Nexus had raised a hand.

“That was the Basilisk, the same one that attacked Twilight...”

Rarity gasped, “You know Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yeah, she arrived here yesterday, the same way you did. She was further in the forest, though.”

Twilight had entered the room, hearing voices, and her name. The first thing she noticed was Pride’s unconscious body.

“I heard voices, is there- Oh my goodness! Is he okay? What happened?” She ran over to his body, not even noticing Rarity standing there.

Rarity saw her. She was one of these humans, but it was undeniably her. “He saved me, Twilight.”

Twilight recognized the voice, and knew instantly who it was.

“Rarity? Is that you? What are you-”

“Princess Celestia sent me and the others to find you here, and bring you back! And that brave soul rescued me from the claws of a ferocious... what did you call it? A Basilisk!” RArity seemed a little bit excited, but Twilight had to admit that it did seem like something out of a storybook that she would have read as a filly.

“Well, it’s good to see you, I guess. This world is surprisingly similar to ours, but...” Twilight thought about the constant conflict, “it’s much different in a way...”

“Princess Celestia said that you were the only one who knew how to do a teleportation spell back to Canterlot from here.”

“I don’t have my alicorn power here... But Nexus is working on a way to get me back.”

“That I am, you’re welcome to stay here with us.” he stopped, thinking for a moment,

“Wait, what do you mean by others?”