Between Two Worlds

When the tip of the red projectile, coming from the grayish weapon, made contact with the muzzle of its target, it exploded. The missile's content touched the timberwolf and wounded it, leaving burns and metal pieces in its body. This action created a reaction which killed the creature, instantly. The others wolves saw this and stepped back, even their leader, which was slightly taller and bigger than them. They knew that their enemy was powerful but not that much. Yes, physically, Ethan looked innocent and harmless. But, it should be a fool to judge a book by its cover. The leader of the pack learned it by experience and saw the fire of determination and the will to survive in his icy blue eyes. He shuddered. Never in his life he had seen so much strength. Hopefully, these qualities were guided by a pure heart, little stained, but pure nonetheless. This opponent was so different from the ponies. His pack had to be careful against him. With one little movement of his head, the assault was launched.

All the wolves made of wood sprinted and jumped to the human. Seeing this, the latter knew what he had to do. They were too close to let him aim correctly and kill some of them. He couldn’t jump over his opponents, it left the Princess defenseless. Yes, he was fast but in the end, he was only human. Even him had flaws. For the moment, protecting the Night Goddess was the top priority, nothing else. His life didn’t matter. Quickly, he head-butted the wolf in front of him and took the others in a bone-crushing hug. The poor victims of his hug yelped in pain. Thanks to his armor, it improved his strength. After a few seconds, the young man released his grip. The creatures fell on the ground, dead. Luna was impressed. In two movements, he killed four of them. He was completely right when he said that he was dangerous. What damages could he do if he used all his fighting knowledge and the full capacity of his exoskeleton? She didn’t want to know. Only her and her sister could be able to restrain him. That’s why Celestia limited his use of his weapons, a wise decision in her opinion.

He was blinded by rage. At the beginning, he only wanted to badly beat up the human for the loss of his brothers and sisters. But now, it was different. They died in front of his eyes, it called for revenge! The leader wanted his blood, wanted to tear off his members and let him die slowly and painfully, at all costs. He looked at the right of the human and saw the Lunar Princess. An idea came to his mind. Here was his weakness. If he was capable to harm her then, the two legged armor will make a mistake. What happened next was in slow motion for all of them. In a signal of his head, he gave the authorization at his subordinates to strike.

Quickly, his cannon took the form of a gun and he aimed. Four missiles left it and finished their course in their targets. Acting instinctively, Ethan looked at his left and saw the last timberwolf, rushing at Luna. In a fluid motion, the young Gray moved the upper part of his body and jumped. His torso made contact with the side of the wolf and interrupted him. The two opponents rolled on the side, each trying to harm the other. Finally, the human pushed back his enemy with his legs and get up. His weapon was a few meters away from him. It’ll be too long to take it back and kill the leader. During this time, he would have all the time he want to trying to hurt the Princess. Knowing that his situation didn’t left him much choice, he took the second option: finish the fight with his bare hands.

Ethan used the same technique which almost worked against Luna…his thrusters. The jetpack integrated in his armor took life and propelled him to his opponent who didn’t saw it coming. A black metallic hand made contact with the creature’s maw, sending him flying away. He crashed against a tree, one branch without any leaf, pierced his chest, where his heart was. After a few seconds, the pieces of his body fell on the grass.

The young man sighed.

“It’s over. Can’t say that I enjoyed it.” he said, concentrating to make his armor disappear.

The moment after, he was again in his clothes. The dark blue mare didn’t say a word, only observed him. How could he think, walk straight and fight after the six beers he drinks? Humans were very interesting and intriguing. Such complexity in a tall and slim body like his. No wonder why Twilight Sparkle was so interested by his specie.

“Are you injured Miss Luna?”

Strangely, she blushed. Why did he always put the word “miss” before her name? Was it a mark of respect? He explained why but for her…it was not enough. Did he do this with every mare he talked? Thanks to her coat, he couldn’t see the red on her cheeks.

“No. I’m fine. And thou?”

Ethan shook his head.

“I’m perfectly okay. Thanks for the help. I could have beaten them without my weapons but… it would have been more difficult.”

“It’s nothing. I'm glad to be useful.” She replied, trying to avoid the awkwardness in her voice.

“Good. Personally, I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep after a fight like this one.” said the human, more to himself that to her. “So, continuing to repair the car is the only thing I can do and I’ll gain a few hours or even days if I work fast. But….—”

A violent cough, coming from his lungs, interrupted him in his tracks and his speech. The human felt something against his lips. He put two fingers and stroked it. It was wet and warm. Looking at what he dreaded, his eyes widened. Blood. He raised his head to her. At this moment, Luna saw the fear of dying in his icy blue eyes.

“Stay.*cough*..away from me. It’s not going..*cough*.to be pretty to see.”

The words difficultly left his mouth and each time he coughed, some drops of the red liquid fell on the dirt. He clenched his arms against his ribs, as if he was in pain. The burning sensation in his guts came back. The young man knelled down, his head low. He did his best to stay strong and not let the pain take too much importance. He didn’t want to look weak in front of the Princess. The crisis was as powerful as when he was in the Apple’s house, maybe even more. It didn’t take long for the transparent tears to appear. A loud scream escaped his lips and echoed in the field. Just by hearing this, it gave shivers in Luna’s back. He was in pain, it was obvious. So, why didn’t he do anything to cure it? Or, at least, reduce the pain?

His whole body trembled, exactly the same way when he confessed about his…rape. It was not another mental breakdown, right? Curious, she slowly made a step toward him. He didn’t hear it. She made another, then another, and another. After a few steps, she was in front of him. The Princess Of The Night could clearly see the pain on his face, as well as the whimpers coming from his mouth. Not knowing what to do, she opened her large and long wings and wrapped him with them. His head was now against her chest, he could hear her heartbeat. Along with the whimpers and cry of pain, she hears his sobs. Not two minutes ago, Ethan was in perfect shape and right now, he was broken, weakened from the inside by an incurable disease.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, before throwing up in front of her hooves. What left his mouth was the food he ate at the dinner with large amount of blood.

He pushed her from him and tried to stand up. The illness didn’t give him this opportunity. The Major fell on the floor, yelling in pain. His stomach was on fire, not literally but almost. Not being able to bear the pain any longer, he fainted.

“Ethan!” yelled a voice, coming from Ponyville.

The blue-winged unicorn raised her head to see an orange-coated pony with a hat, running at full speed to her. Luna recognized her as the Element of Honesty, Applejack.

“What in Tartarus is goin’ on?”

She quickly explained to the Earth Pony was happened, except the confession time, of course. Needless to say that Applejack was shocked and slightly panicked. She talked to the Princess about what she knew of the virus.

“Ah think that only Princess Celestia can help him.”

Luna nodded.

“Don’t move. It’ll be quick.”

The second after she say that, they disappeared in a flash and the moment after, they were in Celestia private chambers. The walls were covered in an orange-pink warm color. White tiles were on the ground, covering their hooves from the tar. The latter turned her head on the side, looking at the three intruders, half-asleep. When she saw the human on the floor, blood on his clothes, Celestia knew that something was wrong.

“What happened?”

“He had another crisis, Princess.”

Hearing this, she quickly stepped out of her bed and rushed at his side. Before she could do anything, his exoskeleton reappeared.

“Internal infection detected. Blood toxicity increasing. Please, stay away the subject during the healing.” said a robotic voice, in a monotonous tone.

“Can we do something to help him Tia?”

Her big sister shook her head.

“I’m afraid not. All we can do is waiting.”

The Element of Honesty sighed. A feeling of frustration rose in her. Why him? He saved her life, so why did he have to suffer? Yes, the human was cold, distant from everypony but kind enough to open his heart to those who earned it. Even if the Princess says that there’s nothing she could do to save him, the orange mare wanted to believe that there was a solution.

“I hope you have an explanation to be here, dear Applejack.”

Celestia’s voice snapped her from her thoughts.

“Yes Princess. We invited Ethan for dinner and after it, ah couldn’t sleep. After a few minutes of observing the sky, ah heard a scream. It was his voice, ah recognized it immediately because he had a crisis during the meal.” she half-lied, not wanting to go into details.

“I see. You should go back to your house. Your family will be worried if they don’t see you tomorrow.”

Reluctantly, the hard-worker pony nodded. If it was only for him, she would have stayed but her loved ones needed her. The Sun Goddess horn glowed gold and the moment after, Applejack left.

“You should go back to work Lulu. The doctors will take care of him from now. You’ll see him when I’ll take my shift.”

Without a word, the younger sister walked out of her sister room and closed the door behind her. A sigh escaped her tiny lips. She also, didn’t understand why it happened to him. He did not deserve to suffer. Nopony deserved to be hurt like he was. He had to be saved, despite what Tia said. With that thought in mind, Luna resumed her duty.

Celestia looked at his body, a single tear, coming from her beautiful violet eyes, fell down her muzzle. On her mind, she thought of every solution she had in her hooves but didn't have a lot. She could try to cure him with a spell but highly doubted it had any effect. Another solution, easier to do than the first, came in her brain. If it works, he'll be obliged to stay in this world and never go back on Earth. Yep, he's not going to like it. But first, she needed a crystal. A special kind of crystal. Only Cadance knew how or where find it. Celestia thought it would be a good pretext to give some news.

Ethan opened his eyes slowly, coming from a deep sleep, void of any dream. He felt tired and….old. His muscles were heavy and difficult to move. He yawned loudly, his mouth wide open, and looked at the unfamiliar white ceiling above him. He stared at it for a few moments, not sure where he was, or what was going on. The edges of his field of view were covered by a light red color. He realized that his armor had deployed itself on him. Why? The memories came back. The virus. His armor reappeared because of that, he was sure. He didn’t know where he was but deduced that the best possibility was a hospital.

[Blood toxicity: 69%]

[Estimation of time before total corruption and death: 4 months and half]

“Fuckin’ great” he whispered.

"Good to see you're awake."

Slowly looking at his left, he saw the white winged-unicorn, walking to his bed. Outside, the sun was high in the light blue sky, void of any cloud. He sighed.

"Glad to see you too, Princess. How long?"

"How long what?"

"I was unconscious. How long?"

"One week and half. I'm surprised to see you're still alive. You should be dead after all this time without something to eat or drink."

At this, Ethan smiled and growled.

"I don't have this armor for nothing. It can feed my body for an entire month without any solid food but only a needle with the necessary vitamins."

Celestia remained silent. She observed him. It lasted for a full minute before she broke the silence.

“I need you.” She said, neutrally.

He raised an eyebrow. If Celestia used this tone, emotionless and distant, so, it had to be serious.