When Two Worlds Collide
The steady wind blew across the field of a bloody war zone. Bodies of the fallen filled the field, painting the once blissful landscape red. The water from a near by river turned pink. Mechanical monsters were amongst the dead. Forever still having been reduced to a broken shattered state. Acting like a blanket, smoke masked the desecrated land, shielding most of the aftermath from sight. Some of the bodies were that of small mythical horses. Ponies to be precise… At least, that’s what they called themselves to the intelligent beings that lied beside them. While the ponies stood on all fours, the tall motionless beings stood on two long legs. Both species wore different types of armor. The ponies armor was made from metallic craftsmanship covering their hooves, chest, back and head. Before the battle started, The tall two-legged creatures thought the small race looked like ancient soldiers from a lost civilization back on their world when they saw the herd marching toward them.
The Tall Hairless Beasts, at least that was the name the ponies had come up with to describe their new enemy. They wore clothes that covered up their entire body. A type of fabric that made it possible for them to blend into their surroundings made them just as dangerous as the massive monsters they arrived in. The large unknown things made the ground shake and crushed anything smaller than them with ease. While the mythical horses had the gift of flight and magic on their side, these strange violent creatures had their own means of fighting. Long sticks they carried sent off a loud crack and flash before their victim crumpled to the ground. The monsters they rode on were just as ferocious. A loud bang like a cannon went off leaving devastating damage wherever it made contact!
Torn flags lay scattered across the battlefield. Spears and swords were either stuck in one of the beasts flesh or dropped to the ground beside their carrier, never tasting the red liquid like their counterparts. The tall creatures deaths were mainly caused by stabbing or being carried to a high enough altitude where their attackers dropped them and they landed with a sickening thud and moved no more. The ponies bodies on the other hand, suffered more damage. While some fell in a pool of their own blood after being shot or having their necks and stomachs sliced by knife; others were missing limbs and torsos from explosions caused by the metallic monsters and small rock like explosives the creatures threw at them. Craters formed by the earth shattering weapons littered the ground where bodies fell awkwardly into them, never to emerge.
The ponies never knew exactly how these strange beings came into their world. All they had ever known was that one quiet day; one of the beasts wondered into one the towns surrounding Canterlot. After being taken care of by one of the friendly colorful ponies, he was taken to Canterlot, where the two Princesses that ruled over the strange new world questioned him. Of course he was shocked to discover that his race wasn’t the only intelligent life form out there and once the shock had worn off, he wanted to learn more. This proved to be the beginning of a nightmare for both sides. After months spent in this strange new realm the being found a way back to his own world where he shared his stories with anyone who would listen. When no one believed him, he took another one of his kind to the spot where he had vanished from before. The two ventured through the unseen portal and reemerged in the land of multicolored unique ponies. After that, nothing but overly extensive curiosity, arguments, fear and war broke out…
Two bodies stirred painfully in one of the craters. The smallest one, one of the ponies, awoke first. Her red eyes opened just enough to see who lied on the other end of the hole. The beast groaned as he too stared directly at her. A red spot where her sword broke through his clothes had formed. He clutched his wound as he made to sit up, but overcome by nausea and exhaustion, he slumped back down.
His injured enemy was a yellow Unicorn. Her matching colored armor was broken from the last explosion that went off next to her. Her helmet had fallen off allowing her violet mane to blow slightly in the quiet breeze. She glanced down at the man’s knife strapped to his waste and tried to control it with magic. Seeing what she was trying to do, the beast made to hold onto his last means of defense! The Unicorn let out a small whimper as a strong surge of pain on her four head was felt. Reaching her hoof up to where her horn was, she felt sharp points of a stump. Her eyes shrunk in horror as she felt blood flow down what was left of her horn to her snout! The man looked at the frightened soldier from another world and frowned. Ignoring the small cries from the small warrior, he made to rise again, this time he was successful and after gathering himself a little, he drew out his knife and limped over to his scared enemy. He crouched down next to her placing the knife to her throat and with his free hand he put his weight down on the armored chest plate! She stopped crying and looked into the man’s eyes. He squeezed the blade tight and readied himself to make the final blow, but when he stared at the mare’s reddened eyes he found himself frozen, unable to act.
“Well,” sniffed the Unicorn. “What are you waiting for?”
The man’s hand shook as he pressed the blade hard against his captives neck, but didn’t dare to proceed any further. He didn’t understand what was happening. He, like the rest of his brothers in arms, had their orders. For whatever reason he couldn't bring himself to carry them out on this last abnormal ‘pony’. With his hand still shaking, he let go of the yellow Unicorn and put his knife away. The yellow Unicorn watched the man attempt to get out of the hole, but he fell to his knees crying out in pain from his injured leg. Looking up at the sky he cursed loudly before lying back down. Turning so he could keep an eye on the mare, the two stared at each other in silence for a while. After what seemed like five minutes of uncomfortable silence, the man unbuttoned his first layer of top clothing with trembling hands and reached for the inside pocket taking out a lighter and package. From the package he drew what looked like a paper tube and lit it. Placing the tiny tube to his mouth, he breathed in deeply, the tip glowed red. As he exhaled smoke came out of his mouth. He groaned again as the wound from the unicorns sword pinched his gut. Tossing the lit tube aside he sighed looking up at the sky again and as he whipped the dirtied sweat from face asking aloud.
“What the hell am I doing here?”
“You’re a strange one,” said the Unicorn.
“Says the talking yellow horse that used to have a horn on its head.” Retorted the man.
The yellow Unicorn snickered at this. She supposed to the creature before her, he must think that she was the odd one. By this time the two wondered if back up would ever arrive or did their sides believe that everyone had died in the fight?
“Do you have a family where you’re from?” she asked.
The words had escaped her before she realized what she had done. The man looked at her carefully as if to make sure he had heard her correctly.
“What am I doing?!” she thought to herself. “He’s the enemy! I mustn’t talk to him as if he’s like me! Once a beast always a beast, he doesn’t have a family!”
“Yes,” said the man sadly. “I do have a family where I’m from. They're waiting for me back home you see. Waiting for the conquering heroes to return.”
“Heroes?” questioned the Unicorn. “Is this what you call acts of heroism?”
The man remained silent. He didn’t know how to answer her.
“You call invading another world an act of honor? Killing my friends and claiming this land as your own even when we were here first! Is that something you to take pride in? Even when it was us who took care of one of your own before more of you showed up… And this is how you repay us?!”
The man only stared at the angered mare. He opened his mouth to say something back, but nothing came out. He sat up feeling his wound sting.
“I… I don’t know what to say.”
“There is nothing to say!” the Unicorn barked. “My friends are dead! Just you wait, when the rest of the Royal Guard show up, I hope they pierce you with every spear they got.”
“Which would be nothing compared to what my back up will do to you if they get her first,” said the man sadly. “They won’t kill you right away! Oh no, believe me, the stories you heard about what my race does to prisoners of war are true and you’ll be lucky if they do decide to kill you on the spot! Maybe that won’t have to happen… Unless...”
He said the last words more to himself than to the Unicorn.
“If I go back in time to tell the rest of the army that the mission was a failure than maybe they will call for a ceasefire. Tell me, do you have a family?”
“Y… Yes, I do.” Replied the yellow Unicorn.
“Of course you do. We’re not so different after all despite the whole different species and abilities thing. We even bleed the same. They told me your kind bleed the same color as your fur. Hah, idiots.”
With that, the man turned his back to the mare and started to crawl out of the hole.
“Wait, what are you…”
“I’m going back before more of my side comes to aid me.”
He looked right into the red eyes again and saw the creature in a way he had never seen any of the others before her.
“Maybe if things were different… If my race wasn’t so scared of you, we could have found a way to coexist.”
“I don’t understand you,” said the mare.
“You probably never will.” said the man before he made the final reach for freedom.
Once he was out of the hole he stood up and got a good look at his surroundings. The battlefield was littered in cadavers from both sides and the tanks his race had brought with them had been reduced to heavy burning piles of junk. Facing to where most of his comrades bodies were, he started to limp back to the portal. The sound of distant galloping drew near and before he could do anything but stop in his tracks and raise his hands up in surrender, an arrow was shot from somewhere in the smoke. He felt the arrow sink into his back and he fell to his knees.
“It’s still alive sir!” shouted a voice.
“Then fire again!” ordered another.
A second arrow came out of the smoke and hit him again, this time it was a little higher than the first. His vision became blurry as blood dripped from his mouth and he fell to the ground and didn’t get back up.
“I got him sir!” said the Armored Unicorn to his commander.
“Good! Now spread out! We might be able to find survivors before…”
“Is somepony there?!” came a weak voice from the hole a couple feet away.
“I found one sir!” said one of the Pegasus picking the injured Unicorn up and placed her on his back.
“Where is he?” asked the yellow Unicorn looking around for the other wounded soldier.
“Don’t worry, we got him!” said the commander proudly. “He can’t hurt you now!”
“Wait, you did what!?” the mare cried.
“What’s your name cadet?”
“But…”
“Your name soldier!”
“Fluff, sir… Banana Fluff.”
The two other guards came back empty handed and recommended that they head back to their base before more of the beasts showed up. The commander agreed and with Banana Fluff on the back of one of the Pegaguards, they galloped away from the battlefield. As Banana Fluff looked back she thought she could see the outline of one of the creatures through the smoke with two fresh arrows in his back.
