Between Two Worlds

Ethan stepped on the gas, pushing the engine at 8000 rpm, and passed the third gear. In response, the engine roared and the car climbed near 90 mph. Everything around him became blurry, colors were mixed together, the sensation of speed and adrenaline spread quickly in his body. He was familiar with those feelings. Street racing was his domain, his world, when he was young…younger than now. A small smile appeared on his face. He had fond memories of that time. But, like everything else, good things have an end.

With time, he learned to survive the hard way. No family, a few friends, nothing else. He called himself a lone wolf. The young man was nothing more than a cold being, logical and devoid of any feeling. Life has taught him that whatever the situation, nobody would be there for him. Ethan could only rely on his purpose, his objective, to stay alive.

But, seriously...a world with talking horses…or ponies, whatever. How stupid it sounded for him. What now? Dragons, magic or even unicorns? Ethan laughed. Whatever was here, he wasn't going to stay much longer than necessary. Not that someone waited for him to go back but...still, he preferred the Earth at this strange planet. He continued to drive for a few minutes when some orange dots appeared on the windshield of his car.

[Analyzing…. Unknown life forms detected. One big and seven little detected. ETOA: one minute]

The view before him zoomed and Ethan saw a pony with orange fur, blond mane and three apples on the flank. His/her opponent was a big creature which looked like a wolf but made of different pieces of wood. The orange pony tried to escape from her/his aggressor but had a hoof struck under a rock. Whatever was this thing, it didn’t look very friendly.

___________

Applejack tried, for the fifth time, to free her hoof but again, it didn’t work. She looked at the timberwolf, without any fear and ready to accept her fate. The wolf was about to bite her in the left side when something grey and red touched his shoulder and exploded. Thick smoke hid the farm pony from the monster. She heard the howl of pain of the creature but nothing else. She coughed and opened her eyes to see a black thing between her and the wolf of wood. The head of the armor turned itself to her.

Applejack thought she saw two eyes behind the red screen but wasn't sure. The grey gun, in his right arm, lowered at the level of her blocked hoof and fired. A white ball escaped from the tip of the weapon and destroyed the rock, leaving her hoof free and unharmed. Finally, the smoke disappeared.

Then, it spoke.

“If you understand me: go to your friends, close your eyes, count to thirty. Then, it will be over.”

She barely nodded, shocked to have been saved by a creature on two legs, and obeyed. He saw the horse ran toward a little group of other ponies. Slowly, Ethan looked again at the big wolf which recovered from the blow and gave him a death glare.

“Good. Let's have some fun.” he said, a faint smile on his lips.

[All systems are online and functional]

[Analyzing….Warning! Unknown creature! To have further information on this being, please fill your database. In this case, the use of the weapons at their maximal capacity is highly recommended]

[Plasma module: activated]

The timberwolf opened his mouth wide, showing his long and sharpened canines, and striked. Ethan raised his left arm, to protect himself from the blow. Seeing this, the creature bite right in the arm. The seconds passed and finally they heard the sound of wood cracking. The timberwolf fangs broke into several pieces. Again, the creature howled in pain. Quickly, the young man raised his pistol and pressed the trigger.

A red ball of energy and heat flew toward its target and finished its course on his chest, leaving a black hole, with marks and some sparks. The wolf grunted from the injury. He tried to hit the human with his paw but the latter dodged with a backflip.

[Warning! Unknown energy source detected around the target! This mysterious energy reduces all types of injuries on him. Only the attacks on the inside could destroy it]

“Oh, you want to play the tough one? I see. Well, a bit of challenge can’t be that bad.”

Without any hesitation, he jumped above the wolf and aimed at his back. The tip of his weapon opened itself in two and the end of a red projectile appeared.

[Missiles: activated]

The red “thing” launched itself and exploded where the cannon aimed. Ethan did this four times, one after another. Then, he gracefully landed on the ground. The wolf made of wood turned around and opened his muzzle, ready to eat or kill his prey. The pilot of the armor used this opportunity to finish the fight. In a matter of seconds, he launched five missiles, right in the mouth of the monster.

Some of the projectiles exploded in the chest and other in the trachea. Finally, the wolf fell on the floor, in tiny bits. Slowly, he lowered his weapon, a faint trail of white smoke escaped from it.

He smiled.

“Rest in pieces.”

Looking at the fallen monster, Ethan put the weapon against his right hips. The magnetic system prevented it to fall from its position. While this, he didn’t hear the sound of hoofsteps, approaching quickly.

“Did he… destroyed it?” asked a female voice, unsure.

Then, he looked up and saw the group of ponies, with many colors. Even one who have each color of the rainbow. The ponies on Earth never had those kind of coat, very strange indeed. Ethan spotted the orange pony, walked toward it and kneeled down, ignoring the glares of the others. She looked at his red visor with her emerald orbs. Her fear of him was obvious.

“Are you injured?” he asked, nicely.

She shook her head.

“Good. He’s gone now. There’s nothing to be afraid now….you're safe.”

Even if she was the brave type, AppleJack feared this red and black thing. True, he saved her life but…he could always hurt her or her friends. She didn't know he saw this in her eyes and smiled, even if he was the only one to know it.

“Do not fear me, I don’t want any harm to you or your friends. I come from somewhere else and I search someone.” repeated the young man, like he said to Big Mac.

The earth pony slowly nodded before asking, hesitantly.

“And who do ya search?”

“The sister of a red stallion that I met not long ago, named Big Macintosh, or something like that.”

Her eyes widened.

“It’s mah brother. Why did he send ya to me?”

“Well, I explained my situation to him and he said that you could maybe help me.”

“But how…—“

“If there's somepony who can help you, it's the Princesses.” interrupted another voice, coming from a lavender unicorn who walked toward them.

Ethan turned his head to origin of the voice. He moved his right hand to his gun, ready to use it.

“A unicorn!? No fucking way!”

Twilight tilted her head on the side, confused.

“Something’s wrong?”

“Yes, well not really…just that I’m not used to see a purple horse with a horn. In fact, unicorns and Pegasus are only fairytales in my world.” he said, nervously.

“Pony. We prefer the term pony than horse. And, where did you come from mister….”

“Gray. Major Ethan Gray. To answer your question, I come from a world called Earth.”

“I see. Are you the only creature who walk on two legs or...?"

"No, there's plenty of us. 9,5 billion, exactly."

She blinked, astonished by his answer. She had a lot of question to ask but it was not the moment to this.

"And what you specie is called?"

"Humans."

"Human", she repeated, before continuing. "Well, you introduced yourself so, it’s our turn to do the same. My name is Twilight Sparkle, protégé of Princess Celestia and librarian of Ponyville.”

“This is Applejack, the mare you saved from the claws of the timberwolf. She work at the Sweet Apple Acres with her brother, which you already met.”

The earth pony extended her right hoof and the human shake it.

“Thanks for savin' me. Ah' could give him a piece of mah mind but….Ah’m glad you kicked his butt."

"No problem, Miss. It was a pleasure to blow his ass."

Strangely, the orange pony blushed.

“Then, is Pinkie Pie. Our….”

Twilight was interrupted in her speech by a pink blur with blue eyes, three balloons on the flank and curly mane, bouncing up and down in front of the newcomer.

“Hi!I’mPinkiePie!InevermeetyoubeforeandIknoweveryponyintown.Youknowwhatthiscallfor?Aparty!Maybewe’llcouldbebestfriendforever!”

Then, she was stopped in her talk by a hoof in her mouth but continued to speak, even if it wasn’t understandable.

“Sorry. Pinkie can be a little too strange and random, even for us so, don’t care about it.”

“O…kay.” whispered Ethan, slowly nodding.

Another mare walked to him. She was the one with the rainbow mane. Her fur was bright cyan and had wings.

“So, you’re an…h-hu…man” she said, with difficulty to say the name of his specie. “I saw how fast you move. We can do a race to see which is the fastest. It could be so awesome! By the way, my name is Rainbow Dash.”

The pilot of the armor felt obligated to smile. Someone who share his love of speed and seemed very tomboyish, very interesting.

“I’m okay with this. Whenever you want.”

Then, a white unicorn with a beautiful purple mane and dark blue eyes presented herself.

“My name is Rarity. Darling, what is the purpose of those clothes? They are very awful and dirty. You should come at the Boutique to see what I can do for you. And like you saved AppleJack life, I make it free for you."

"Thanks Miss Rarity for the offer but I feel obliged to refuse. What I wear is not clothes but an armor. And I don't need it, I have all I need with me."

The white unicorn nodded.

Finally, a yellow pegasus with pink mane, light blue-green eyes and three butterflies in the flank approached him, shyly. She also was a Pegasus.

"H-hi, I-I'm Fluttershy, nice to meet you." she whispered, her mane covered half of her face and looking at the ground. Her voice was so low that he was the only one to hear it, thank to the hearing amplifier of the armor.

Very slowly, Ethan presented his right hand in front of her eyes. Understanding what he wanted, she quickly shook it and stepped back. At the same speed, he stood up. Seeing this, Fluttershy smiled. This 'human' really wanted her to be at ease around him, even if he had to do things in slow motion to not scare her. He was about to speak when a little purple reptile with green eyes and light green spikes on the back appeared in front of him.

“Hello, my name’s Spike.”

Surprised, Ethan jumped back and put a hand on his gun, ready to unsheathe it.

“What the heck are you?”

Spike raised an eyebrow.

“I’m a baby dragon, something’s wrong with it?”

The human calmed down and lowered his right arm.

“No….fuckin…..way. I’m think I become crazy.” he whispered, unsure of what to do. “Sorry, but I’m not accustomed to see someone like you everyday. So, what do we do now?”

“We have to go back to Ponyville to send a letter to Princess Celestia, only her know what we should do.” answered Twilight.

He nodded.

“Okay, where is Ponyville?”

Rainbow Dash pointed toward the east. From where they were, they only saw the outlines of the city.

“So far? And I suppose we have to walk?”

Twilight nodded.

“We can maybe use a teleportation spell but I don’t know what it could do on you.”

“Don’t worry. Go the city the way you want. I'll join you there.”

“Okay, see you later.”

In a matter of seconds, Twilight’s horn glowed and all the ponies vanished. Ethan smiled.

“Fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a fast ride.”