Between Two Worlds

“Synthesizer: Ok. Guitar: Ok. Food….good, fortunately. Weapons: Ok. Weed: intact, same for the beers. Laptop: no damages.”

[Damages identified:

Left front wheel distorted.

Oil leak under the engine.

Leak of coolant.

Dents at the level of the exhaust pipe.

Dysfunction of the electronic equipment.

Estimated time of repair: one to two months.]

A loud and heavy sigh escaped from his lips.

“It could have been worse.”

Then, he turned his head towards the Everfree Forest. The forest was thick, the leaves of trees prevented the sunlight to illuminate the area. His instinct screamed that this was a dangerous place.... and his instinct rarely deceived him. Plus, this forest was the home of the timberwolves. One more reason to be cautious.

He growled. If he was disturbed by these monsters then, the repairs will take more time. But, it was better than having these ponies behind his tail, asking questions he doesn’t want to answer. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a few second to make disappear his armor. He pulling out a jack from the trunk of the car and used it to lift its left side.

The young Gray took a box with him and opened it when he lay under the car. Inside of it were all the tools he needed to repair the Skyline. The leaks of oil and coolant were more serious than he thought. There was a crack along the oil supply towards the engine and a hole in the coolant supply. Even some bolts for the plate which was used as engine mount were weakened.

Again, he sighed.

“Why did I sign up for this experiment, seriously? I could have finished my sixth book or make a song but no…instead of this, I accepted to be a subject for those scientists and I ended sent in another world. When Cyril will hear this story…oh boy, I want to be there to see the look on his face.”

“You already know how he’s going to react!” said a voice.

He looked at his left and saw a human, black skin, measuring 6 feet and covered with a black/dark blue armor which resembled that of Ethan but without the cannon.

“Shut up Ian, I don’t need your opinion….fucking tulpa.” he whispered.

“My, my. I never taught you to talk like that young man. It’s Cyril’s fault, again…but I’ll be nearby if you want to talk.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

In one second, the human disappeared. One second, he is here then, poof, nothing.

Ian was his former superior in the army and an old friend. Ian taught him everything he needed to survive in conditions like this. The person who talked to him was just an illusion of his mind, a simple shade of the real Ian, created by his mind to keep him company.

Then, he began to work. First the bolts needed to be reinforced or replaced in the worst cases. He used another jack to support the weight of the engine the time he replaces the defectives parts. This only operation took him not less than two hours. Many drops of sweat ran down his face. His cheeks took a red hue due to the temperature, the position in which he was and the efforts made for the work. His white shirt, sweaty, was sticking against his torso. His throat was dry and his breathing somewhat labored. The tips of his feet were numb, by dint of not moving.

The sound of footstep reached his ears and immediately, the human stopped working. In less than five seconds, he rolled on his right side and jumped on his feet.

Coming from the Everfree Forest and walking towards him, were three timberwolves. Seeing that their prey was aware of their presence, the leader growled dangerously. Ready to fight for his life, Ethan took a defensive stance.

His left foot was behind the right and his hands clenched into a fist. The right hand was positioned in front and close to his face unlike the left. He cast a glance towards the glove box where his Glock 17 was and sighed before looking again at his opponents. His armor was no use in a fight like this one. He highly doubted that the tranquilizer darts had any effect on the creatures made of wood.

The young Gray was about to dash to them but began to violently cough. He put an opened hand against his mouth and the other hand on his chest, where his heart was. A deep pain emerged from his torso and paralyzed the movements in his ribs, preventing him from breathing properly. He stayed in this position for a few seconds before his body allows him to move correctly. It’s was another of his crisis. This one was rather small compared to others, more violent and painful. But, because it was a little crisis, that did not stop the feeling of pain in his upper body, especially in his lungs.

“Stupid disease….why can’t you leave me in peace the last six months of my life and come back the last day?”

Ethan sighed before taking again his defensive stance.

“Come Get Some!”

__________________

Twilight was on her favorite chair, on the library, reading a book about advanced magic. She paused for a few seconds to relax her tired eyes. A sigh escaped from her lips. It had been a week since Ethan’s arrival in Equestria. Things had not changed much but there were a lot of rumors about him. Celestia formalized his presence by an official statement. The only things she said are that he was tall, walked on two legs and was harmless but wanted to stay away from the cities to not create panic among the populace.

Then, nopony had any news from him. Twilight sent a letter to her teacher to know where he actually was. The latter replied, saying that their guest was near the Everfree Forest, repairing his car. And she received the answer yesterday.

A knot formed in her stomach when she thought about him, alone, confronting the dangers of the dark forest. She knew that he was perfectly capable to protect himself, especially after his fight with the giant timberwolf but still…something was wrong.

Finally, she decided to go after him when somepony knocked on the door. The purple unicorn walked toward the wooden door and opened it. In front of her was Vinyl Scratch, the DJ of Ponyville.

“Hello Twilight.”

“Hello Vinyl, what are you doing here?”

The unicorn with blue electric mane and violet goggles smiled awkwardly.

“W-well, I want to know if you knew where…what his name again? Yeah…where Ethan is?” she said before continuing “Because I wanted to show him my DJ equipment and talk music with him.”

“Actually, he is at Everfree Forest. I was about go see him but, you can come.”

An idea popped from her mind when she closed the door of the library, not before telling Spike about her absence. She could see Pinkie, before looking for Ethan, to make him a welcome party. It was a good idea…better, it was a genius idea. They could do it at the library. And if he wanted to know why he had to go in town, she could pretext that she want him to answer some questions and make experiments.

“Follow me Vinyl, we have something to do before looking for him.”

Then, the duo walked toward a building that looked like a gingerbread house and stepped inside. The pink Earth pony stood at the counter, waiting for new customers. She saw the arrival of her friend and waved a hoof.

“Hi Twilight!”

“Hi Pinkie.” responded the unicorn.

“So, what do you need?”

“A party for Ethan, at my house. It is possible?”

A big smile appeared on her face.

“YAY! PARTY! Of course Twilight, give me one hour to give the invitations and put everything in place.”

The purple mare smiled.

“It’s perfect. See you later Pinkie!”

Then, the two mares walked outside. A cool breeze passed through the streets of the city. The sun was low in the orange sky. The shadows stretched, gradually replacing the light. A few stars appeared in the sky, shining like a small light. Without a sound, they took the road which lead to the dark forest. They admired the landscape for a good twenty minutes when suddenly, the DJ broke the silence.

“So, how is he?”

Twilight turned her head toward her.

“How so?”

“I mean, Ethan. How is he?”

“Physically or mentally?”

Vinyl shrugged.

“Both.”

The librarian hesitated for a few moments before answering.

“Physically, he is tall –you already saw this-, long gray mane, icy blue eyes, a little nose, rounded ears” she listed, before continuing, “he is very polite and formal, clever, respectful, very cautious and brave. But also lonely.”

“Why?” asked the musician, raising an eyebrow.

“It was his decision to stay away from us. When you saw him last time, you only saw his armor. There’s somepony inside of it. He knows how powerful and dangerous he is and didn’t want to hurt anypony.”

“I…see.”

Finally, they reached their destination. Not very far from them, was the Skyline, with something under it. Twilight supposed it was Ethan. The duo also heard a song, echoing through the field. The more the two mares approached the vehicle, the more the song was loud. They also heard a voice, his voice.

So here it is (So here it is)

The planets cry

We'll rip the stellar sky

Make way when worlds collide

I know your heart but still will reconcile your mecha love

You hold your thoughts so tall

You think you've got it all

You won't break the armor

I will never surrender

Take a walk

So this is the last stand

So this is your last chance

So this is your last

Finally, the bearer of the Element of Magic and the DJ reached their destination. They sat and patiently waited the end of the song, which came one minute later.

“Hmmmm, Ethan?”

Hearing his name, the young Gray raised his head hastily and knocked it against the coolant tank. He yelped in pain.

“Ow shit! That’s hurt!” he yelled, putting his head between his two hands.

“I’m so sorry Ethan, I didn’t want to surprise you! I apologize.” said Twilight quickly and panicked.

“It’s….nothing. I've had worse. Who is the bastard that decided to put the coolant here, seriously?”

Then, he rolled on the side and sat on the ground, always with a hand on his head. A grunt escaped from his lips. When the purple unicorn saw his state of his clothes, she gasped. His white t-shirt was covered in grass, dirt, sweat and also….blood? She looked at his left arm and saw a white-red bandage in the middle of his forearm.

“Ethan…what happened?”

“Oh….you means this?” he said, pointing at his torso. “Just a lot of work on the car under the warm sun, a few fights with some timberwolves, rolling on the grass to dodge their bites…nothing really important.”

“B-b-but the blood…where it comes from?”

“It’s mine. One of them had the luck to bite me right in the arm. I was over-confident and I paid the price. That’s all. So, what are you doing here?”

“Well, I wanted you to come with at the library and answer some questions….”

“…And, if it was okay with you to see my DJ stuff and talk music.” added Vinyl.

Reluctance could clearly be seen on his face.

“I-I don’t know if it’s a good idea. The library is in the middle of Ponyville and…—“

“Don’t worry, nopony will see you. It will be night-time when we'll arrive.”

“Okay, if you say so.” he said, sighing.

Ethan put all of his tools in the car and closed it before following the duo.