Between Magic and Science

“FLUTTERSHY, REPORT! How are those men holding?” A man with his brown hair in a buzz cut shouted. His red uniform reflected a high rank, and he addressed her quite angrily. His dark brown eyes fell upon her. The vehicle, a truck, it was called, carried several soldiers who had been injured in battle, the same soldiers that saved her from a group of vicious people called Raiders.

“I’m... They’re going to be... okay... I think...” The pink haired girl squeaked, startled by the other human’s shouting, and covering her face with her hair. She had only been a human herself for about an hour, and she had already treated the whole group of 5 soldiers. Their leader, whose uniform read ‘Commander Killjoy’, barked at her again.

“You think? You said you could treat wounds! Our other medic is too hurt to treat the others, and you’re telling me that you think they’re going to be okay? These are my men!”

“I’m so sorry...” she was shaking, on her knees in the truck’s back, “They said they felt better, but I’ve... I’ve never had to treat those kind of injuries before... I’m so sorry... Please forgive me!”

Killjoy sighed, she was new, and obviously fragile. She had mentioned something about another universe, and he had a friend back in Tanktown who was from another universe as well. Maybe he’d know what to do, but for now, he had to get the wounded soldiers back to Fort Switchback, where the his Onterran military unit was stationed. They were out on patrol when they were attacked by Raiders, who had been chasing after a young girl. She was obviously frightened, said her name was Fluttershy, and was taken in by Killjoy’s men as they fled the area.

She was wearing a yellow dress for some reason, and said she knew how to treat injuries. To Killjoy’s amazement, she was able to remove the bullets from the wounds, clean them, and stitch them together. The words “I’m sorry” came out of her mouth every time they winced or cried out in pain.

“You said you were from another world?” He inquired, being a bit gentler this time.

“Ye-y-yes, Commander!” She said.

“No need for formalities, just call me Killjoy.”

“Umm... Okay..” It was such an odd name, combining two words that seemed to oppose each other, “I’m from a place called Equestria, normally, I’m a pegasus pony, but I came here with my friends looking for my friend Twilight...”

This made a few of the conscious soldiers chuckle, but they suddenly stopped when Killoy turned his eyes to them.

“Don’t mind them, I’ve seen so much, I don’t really find it odd that there’s somewhere else out there.”

Fluttershy looked at the soldiers, in their tattered olive green uniforms, and their similarly coloured helmets. They all looked identical behind the red lenses. She began to shake again. If this was the world that Twilight was in, she couldn’t assure herself that she was safe. She sat back against the truck’s inner wall and began to cry, but felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.”

“Sorry... you what?” The infamous toast salesman known only as Buttercrust was confused. It didn’t happen very often, until he heard the story of the strange, pink-haired girl that seemed to bounce up and down in front of him. From what he could see of her, she wore only a pink shirt and tan jeans, and they were in the middle of the Crystalline icelands. He thought he’d investigate the large flash of light that he saw while doing his daily sales pitch in the nearby town, and this is what he found.

So many words came forth from her mouth, about another world, and ponies, and magic, and finding someone named Twilight Sparkle. He knew that Nexus was from another world, he saw the rift open himself.

“... andthenthePrincessteleportedmehere!” she finished, out of breath.

“Did you say that you had friends with you?”

“Yes, but they’re obviously not here. Have you seen them?” the strange girl asked.

“No, I just saw you here. I’ll have to see if my friend Nexus knows anything about your friend. He’s probably the only one I know that studies other universes.” Buttercrust straightened out his black fedora over his slicked back blonde hair, which had been almost blown off of his head by the sheer amount of air coming out of the girl’s mouth. He closed his trench coat around him to keep himself warm.

“Aren’t you cold?” He asked.

“Well, yeah, I am. I had a coat of fur when I was a pony, and now it’s all on my head for some reason!” She said with a silly grin on her face.

“If you’re from another world, you’re probably going to need a way to go back, aren’t you?”

“The Princess said that Twilight could do it.”

“That’s odd, don’t you think that she would’ve done it before you were sent to find her?”

“Yeah... that is a bit strange...” She put a hand on her chin, and then curiously inspected the fingers.

“Well, I guess you don’t have anywhere else to go, so... you can come with me. Hop in my tank.” He gestured to the large land vehicle, that she had somehow missed before. Was it even there a few seconds ago?

“Oooh, that looks like fun! Let’s go!”

He climbed up on the top of the vehicle, and opened the hatch inside. The girl watched him climb in and get in the driver’s seat, and got in herself, in the gunners seat. He started up the tank, and began to make his way back to the city.

“So...” Buttercrust glanced back at the odd girl, who was sitting patiently in the seat behind him, “What’s your name?”

She got all excited again, “My name's Pinkie Pie! What's your's?”

“Hmm. I'm Buttercrust: Toast Salesman, although I sell a large sel-”

“Are you going to throw me a party? I love parties! I always throw a party every time I meet somepony new! Or... whatever we are, we’re obviously not ponies.”

Buttercrust chuckled a little. Maybe this is what the world needed; a little more fun.

“No, I’m sorry. We don’t do that too much around here... And we’re humans. We use the term ‘somebody’.”

“Well, okay! I’ve got some many questions to ask you! Like this thing here, what is it? And why do we walk on two legs instead of four? Do you have cupcakes in this world? I love cupcakes!”

He liked this weird, crazy girl already, but he could tell that his was going to be a long ride.

Rarity put a hand to her head. This was all too much for her. Apparently conflict was a commonplace here. Sure there were the monsters that lurked in this ‘Ashfall Forest’, but there were other groups of humans that fought each other? She understood why Nexus’s people fought back, but it was still so much. She was sitting on the couch in their living room, across from a large flat screen.

Nexus walked in the room. It was early in the morning, and Twilight had tried to go to sleep again. Peaceful Pride had gotten up, and then fell asleep 5 minutes later on another couch next to the one Rarity sat on. She sighed.

“I know this can be a lot. Twilight had the same problem, but I’ll tell her what I told you. This isn’t about fighting because they have something we want, it’s because they’re forcing us to fight back. I’m going to keep you and Twilight safe until we can get you back to your world.” Nexus offered her the glass of water in his hand.

“Yes, thank you,” She levitated the glass with her magic, a blue glow surrounding it as she took a sip without touching the glass. She went to set it down, but could only put it in her own hands.

“You can do that too?” Nexus looked a bit surprised.

“Excuse me, I’m not used to using these... hands.”

“You seemed to wrap Pride’s wound fine earlier.”

“Yes...” she started, “I didn’t think though, I just did it.”

“You’ll adjust. Twilight already has,” Nexus looked out the window that let the moonlight stream in.

“Who controls the sun and moon in this world?”

“Hmm? Oh, no one, they move on their own. Well, actually, it’s the planet that’s moving around the sun, and the moon that’s moving around the planet.” He could see Rarity was puzzled with this answer, so he continued, “I didn’t make the rules, that’s just how it works here.”

“Twilight told me that this world was similar to our own. So far, the only thing I’ve seen that’s the same is your hospitality.”

“I think that’s what she meant, actually,” Nexus recalled their conversation in the tank, “She also said that my group of friends were similar to hers. What do you think?”

“Well, this... what’s the word you use? Gentleman?” Nexus nodded, and she continued, “Well this fine gentleman is clearly shown courage I’ve only seen from a few ponies I know back home. He jumped in front of that beast, to save somep- somebody he didn’t even know!”

Nexus smiled, “Yeah, he’s saved me before as well. That’s what friends do, you know? Help you out when you need it the most.”

Rarity looked as if she was deep in thought.

“At least there is friendship in this world.”

In the southernmost region of Winterra, a potato farmer by the name of Nova Burst worked on one of his latest projects with his younger brother, Nova Blast. Nova Burst had his signature red bandana over his mouth, like he always did. His messy blonde hair fell over his eyes sometimes, but he just brushed it aside. He wore a white t-shirt, and worn out blue jeans that had patches of duct tape holding them together in some places. His 12 year old brother stood beside him, and looked almost exactly the same, except with younger features. Nova Blast’s hair wasn’t as long, nor did his clothes fit the same way his brother’s did, but he didn’t mind. On his head was the cowboy hat that his brother had given to him when he was little, and it still didn’t fit him.

The project in question was a device that Nova Burst had called a ‘Sentry’, an device that protected wherever it was put down. Some would call it a turret, but he had always said a turret didn’t know what it was shooting at, and this sentry did. It had a smart targeting system that assessed the target before deciding if it should fire or not. He had the panel open, and wired a few things here, and drilled a few things there.

“Duct tape,” he said, in his unmistakable southern accent, and his brother passed him a roll of duct tape, which he used to fasten the firing mechanism to the actual gun. He set the tape aside.

“Drill,” his brother gave him a drill, with which he drilled the ammunition box to the side of body.

“Duct tape,” he used the tape again to tape the gun assembly to the main body.

“Wrench,” when his brother handed him the wrench, he slammed the tool down on the side of the turret assembly. He slammed it down again, and then the turret made a beeping noise.

“Is it done, Nova Burst?” his little brother said, with the same accent as the brother he had lived with his whole life.

“I’d reckon so, little brother of mine,” he said with a smile, but it wasn’t visible under his bandana.

In the cellar, Nova Burst flipped the light on and put his sentry down.

“Placing the sentry!” he said, turning the dial to the ‘Shoot first, ask questions later’ setting.

“How are we going to make sure it works?” Nova Blast asked him.

“Watch,” His older brother casually stepped in front of the sentry, and a beeping noise was heard, followed by a series of clicking noises. He walked back, the sentry’s barrel following him until it couldn’t turn any more, and then turned the dial to the ‘Think before shooting’ setting. He walked out in front of it again, and nothing happened. He pretended to make a gun with his fingers, and pointed them at the sentry. Nothing. He drew the revolver he kept tucked in his boots and pointed it directly at the sentry’s motion sensor. Nothing. Not until he fired would it try to fire back, but he wouldn’t do that with his little brother in the room.

“It works! You finally got it to work!” Nova Burst cheered, as his older brother picked the sentry up and carried it back upstairs.

He placed the sentry on his porch, and took a seat on the ground, looking out over his field. It was just him and his brother out here, ever since his Grandma-pa Shaq passed away during the zombie attack. It was hard for the little one to take, but he wasn’t so little anymore, and seemed to understand that she had put an end to the whole zombie situation. They hadn’t known their parents much, Nova Burst was told they died during the first space station catastrophe. He had only told Nova Blast at the time that their Grandma-pa had passed.

“When’re we gonna go see big sister Starburst again? Or Uncle Buckshot and cousin Redeye?” Nova Blast had sat down next to Nova Burst.

“I dunno, guess we could try and head out to see Uncle Buckshot, not sure 'bout big sis though. It'd have to wait 'til after we get all these ‘tatoes harvested and replanted.”

The potatoes in question stretched for a few acres in front of the house, and a few out behind the house. It wasn’t the biggest plantation he’d ever seen, but he still considered it a plantation, and he and Nova Burst had to harvest them all. The Harvester had broken down, and he didn’t have enough money or duct tape to fix it, so they were on their own, doing things the old fashioned way.

“When’re we gonna have to start?”

“A few days now... They don’t look quite ready yet. You think you’re up for it?”

“Yeah, I know I can do it!” Nova Burst smiled under his bandanna. His little brother was a hard worker, just like him.

A flash of light appeared in the sky near their home, and the two brothers looked up to see what it was.

“Is that an alien?” Nova Blast asked.

“I’m not sure, stay here, I’m going to go get our guns.” Nova Burst went back inside and fetched his 12 gauge shotgun, double barrelled and sawn-off, out from under the kitchen sink. He loaded it, and got Nova Blast’s .45 handgun from the gun case by their refrigerator. He didn't know if it was an alien or not, but it was better to be safe then sorry.

When he came back out, he handed his brother his gun, and two magazines.

“Don’t use it unless you don’t have to, ya hear?”

“Okay,” Nova Blast said with a serious expression on his face. He loaded the weapon, and put the spare magazine underneath his oversized hat. He knew how to use a gun, Nova Burst taught him how to when he was 10, and he had plenty of experience using them since the zombie attack.

They both moved out into the potato field, closer to where the flash had came from. They couldn’t find anything at first, but Nova Blast had tripped over something on the ground.

“Oof!” He coughed, as he hit ground with a thud. His hat fell off, as well as the magazine under it.

Nova Burst looked back, helping his brother up, “You okay, cowboy?”

“Yeah, but I tripped over somethin’...” he recovered his hat and ammunition.

“What the...” Nova Burst had seen what it was that he’d tripped over. He was speechless, but he heard his brother say something.

“Now why’d aliens go and drop a dead girl in our potato field?”