Between Two Worlds

“Wait! He’s with us!” yelled Twilight, stepping outside of the car, followed by the others.

“Are you sure of that, Miss?”

The purple unicorn nodded before grabbing the letter with her magic and shows it to the guard. Said guard who wore the official uniform: a golden armor with a helmet with the same color. He was a white pegasus with light blue eyes.

He read the letter for a few seconds before looking again at the group.

“It’s okay. You can go inside. The princess should be in the throne room.”

Twilight and her friends passed before Ethan who stayed silent. He followed them very closely, observing his surroundings. The floor was made of stone, covered with white tiles. A red carpet was in the middle of the hallway. At his left were windows, some had large drawing, representing two unicorns with wings. After a few minutes, they stopped in front of two doors, painted in gold. A duo of earth pony, one at each side of the door, watched them coming but said nothing. The pony on the left side on the door opened it and said:

“Princess Celestia is waiting for you.”

They all nodded and stepped inside. A winged unicorn with pure white coat and a colorful mane, almost ethereal was sitting on a large throne, opposite Twilight and her friends. Without a word, they all walked to her and stopped in front of the throne, before bowing, except Ethan.

“At ease, my little ponies. I’m glad to see you came quickly.”

She stopped for a few seconds before clearing her throat and looked at the human.

“I suppose that you are our ‘guest’. Let me present myself, I am Princess Celestia, Goddess of the Sun and co-ruler of Equestria. And you are?”

“Major Ethan Alexandre Gray. Ex-soldier and writer.” He replied.

Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“Interesting. So, can you explain how you ended here and what do you want?”

The young Gray sighed.

“It’s not that simple….I was doing an experiment. Back in my world, there is a physical law which said that if a body, made of flesh or something else, exceeds 300 000 kilometers per seconds (the speed of light), it will turn itself into light. Our scientists have found a way to reach and exceed this speed. They condensed a plasma reactor and used it to do it. My car was the carriage and me the pilot. Needless to say that it didn’t go as expected. According to my assumptions, I think that instead of driving at the light of speed, I created a portal which instantly transported me here. Unfortunately, I only had enough energy to do the trip in one way.”

"I suppose that you want our help to go back. Am I right?"

"Yes and no, for the moment I only need time to think about a way to return at home."

A small and strange smile makes its appearance on the ruler face.

"I'm very curious about your specie and your world. Can I, at least, see the pony behind the armor..."

Slowly, Ethan raised his left arm and touched his helmet. In less than a blink of the eye, everypony could see his true face. They all gasped except Celestia. His light grey hair floated in his back and his icy blue eyes met those of the Alicorn. She smirked and narrowed her eyes.

"That's what I thought. I didn't believe that the humans and their destructive nature would also try to come here and corrupt my subjects. Guards, get him!"

"Princess...wait!"

Suddenly, a group of pegasus, unicorns and earth pony entered in room. The young Gray cursed between his teeth. In a swift motion, he grabbed the gun at his right hips with his hand. The helmet reappeared.

[All systems are online and functional]

[Ice module: activated]

[Tranquilizer darts: activated]

"I'm sorry Twilight but they don't leave me much choice."

Then, two rectangular weapons emerged from his shoulders and aimed at the soldiers. Silently, the projectiles left the weapons and ten guards fell on the floor, asleep. The others didn't step back, on the contrary, they sprinted toward their target. Seeing this, Ethan sighed.

He aimed his cannon and pulled the trigger. White balls left the tip of the weapon and hit their hooves, freezing them on the ground. The bearers of the elements of harmony tried to reason the Sun goddess but in vain. After a few seconds of intense fighting, the human was the only one still standing. Quickly, he turned back and pointed his gun at Celestia.

"You are more powerful and dangerous than I give you credit for."

"I only am when I feel threatened.”

"Try that to somepony else."

A growl escaped from Ethan's lips.

"Why? Why are you so hostile against the humans? We didn't do anything wrong against you or your subjects."

"True. But I have eyes and ears everywhere. I see your world, what your specie is capable and I just want to protect my ponies from you. But we'll talk about that later."

Then, her horn began to glow gold and before he could move just one finger, his world went black.

A deep groan escaped his throat when he regained consciousness. When he opened his eyes, his face was against the floor, protected by the helmet. His arms and legs were numb from the position in which he was. On the stomach, with one arm under him and the other on his back. Suddenly, he rolled on the side and jumped on his feet. The human was in a room made of black stone with a single barred window. Some rays of light entered, slightly illuminating the room. At the other side was a wooden door.

Ethan walked toward it and pushed it. It didn’t move. Then, he tried to find the handle of the door but nothing.

“Fucking great. I’m struck here because of a crazy Alicorn. How could it be worse?”

He thought for a long moment before he facepalmed.

“How could I be so stupid to not use the missiles to get out of here?” he whispered before steeping back from the wooden door.

He aimed at it and pulled the trigger but nothing left the tip of the cannon.

“….the fuck?”

A series of sentences appeared on his screen.

[Thruster: Offline]

[Tranquilizer dart: Offline]

[Assimilation Module: Offline]

[Shield: Offline]

[Missiles: Offline]

[Ice Module: Offline]

[Plasma Module: Offline]

[Electric Module: Offline]

[All survival systems are online and functional]

“No….you joke?” he thought aloud, looking at the dark grey weapon.

He sighed and lowered his arm.

Looking at his left, Ethan spotted a bed, made of hay and on the ground. Knowing that he couldn’t do anything but wait for the ruler or someone else to come see him, he lay down on it and closed his eyes. Two hours later, the sound of the door opening awoke him. He jumped on his feet and looked at the newcomer. It was Celestia. But the look on her face was completely different. He saw sadness and guilty in her violet eyes. She also had bags under it.

“What do you want….Princess?”

The way he said those words was cold and void of any emotion. She shivered.

“My assumptions about you were false. My student and her friends told me the whole story and…I only could feel sorry for the way I treated you. You are now free. To apologize, ask me anything you want and I’ll do it.”

“How….how could you change your mind so quickly? A few hours ago, you tried to kill me and now…”

“It’s been two days since our first encounter. And to answer your question, I read your mind and saw your past life. I'm sorry for doing it but I had to be certain that you were not a danger.”

His eyes widened.

“You….you” At this moment, he sighed before continuing “Listen, I am angry at you because of the way you reacted but I understand why. I’m dangerous, I don’t deny this fact.” He said, sadly.

Celestia raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you think so bad of yourself? I saw the wickedness and bribery of your people and you’re not like them, quite the contrary."

“I don’t care about what you think of me. Anyway, I have one more question. What did you do to my weapons?”

“I know the full extent of your pistol and limited its powers. I trust you when you said that you only want to go back on Earth but I’ll sleep easier if I know that you can’t harm my subjects. Don't worry, I put a spell on you. You can contact me to reactivate your weapons when you'll need it. And when I say 'need', it's only if you are in danger, or somepony else.”

“Yeah but how I defend myself if I’m attacked?”

“Don’t play at this with me…you are completely able to protect yourself without your armor.”

He shrugged.

“Okay. I need two things. The tranquilizer darts and the thrusters.”

“Accorded.”

Her horn glowed gold for a second before regaining her normal color.

[Thruster: Online]

[Tranquilizer dart: Online]

“Now, we can go.”

The human and the Alicorn stepped out of the room and began to walk upstairs. Then, they entered in a corridor leading to the main hallway. When they were there, they took left. Finally, the duo arrived at the front door. With her magic, Celestia opened it. Ethan gasped when he was what was in front of him.

"My car! You destroyed my car!" he yelled.

His Nissan Skyline was a wreck. The roof of the car was dented. All the windows were broken and one of his tires was crooked in a strange way.

"It was polluting the environment, I had to do it."

"Pardon? It worked with solar energy, not fuel! Oh my poor Skyline. Daddy will fix you, I promise." he said, caressing one of the wheels before stood up and pointed a finger at the sun goddess.

"The fact that you want to imprison me is one thing, suppress my powers is another but...destroying my car and reading my memories is something that I don't like at all. I had everything I needed to survive inside of it and you exploded it. One week of food that I can burn. My Skyline was the only way I know to return on Earth and you smashed it like it was a toy! Perfect...just fucking perfect!!!"

The look in her eyes saddened even more. She fought back the need to cry and let her tears flow freely.

"I apologize. If I knew I..."

"It's too late. I don't want to hear it, not now, not ever."

He paused for a few seconds, sighing slowly, before talking again.

"Teleport me and my car at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Tell Twilight and her friends that I thank them for their help. And spread the word that if I see anypony who approach too close from me or my vehicle...I'll feel obligated to get rid of them."

"You wouldn't..."

"I could do it if I feel threatened. One last thing, I don't ever want to see you or anything related to royalty. Am I clear?”

Celestia sighed. She knew she was wrong and only wanted to put this mistake behind them.

"Yes. But there is a chance that our kinds will befriends?"

"After all of that? I wouldn't bet a single dollar on it, especially if you continue to judge a book by its cover."

"....I understand. Have a good trip and stay safe." she said, her horn glowing.

"Yeah, whatever." he replied before disappearing from her sight.

When he reappeared, Ethan saw that he was a few meters away from the dark forest and sighed. From where he was, he could see Apple Sweet Acres and the cottage he admired before the race. A heavy sigh escaped from his lips. It was going to be very long before he could return at home.