Of Magic and Steel
The Interview
"So you want to know my story Ms…?" I asked the mare that was sitting in front of the fireplace in my den.
"Inkwell sir, and yes I would like to know your story, as would most of Equestria. The Princesses have been quite vague on the details concerning your arrival in our world." She replied as she levitated her pen and notepad in a telekinetic field. "They insist that it is not their story to tell."
"Well, Ms Inkwell they would be correct." I respond as I make my way into the seating area with a tray of tea as I chuckle about the Princesses' response to any inquiries about my past. Hard to believe that the elder one dislikes me something fierce. Hopefully this interview will keep most of the curious away and I can have some peace and quiet outside of the occasional rouge beastie from the Everfree. I set the tray down on the table between the two chairs in front of the fire as I inform her, "All I have is jasmine, I do hope that's alright with you."
She gave a charming smile. "It is. Jasmine happens to be one of my favorites. Helps me relax after a long day."
"That's good, because there will be parts of my story that are…quite disturbing truthfully. Even for all of their millennia of experience the Princesses were pretty shaken by the history of my people. Most of it, I think that Celestia would prefer to forget." I reply as I pour a cup for the beige unicorn anthro across from me.
"Why is that?" Inkwell asked as she took the cup and saucer in her hands while her pen danced across the page in the grip of her blue-tinted magic.
"Well for starters my species, humankind, was rather violent. There was hardly a bit of the planet that hadn't been stained by blood or scarred by war for some reason or another. First, and probably the most forgivable of humanities many sins, was merely for survival. As you can see I don't have a fur coat like you Equestrians do so you can imagine how even a mild winter could cause problems. Also we don't have magic. My entire home world was like the Everfree, not for our lack of trying to control the weather. But I digress. Most humans stayed in small familial groups for the early part of our history before growing into larger tribal groups that lived a nomadic lifestyle. Then, once the ice sheets that covered most of the planet began to recede, we started to set up permanent settlements. Shortly after this is when war first started to become perfected." I explained before pausing to take a drink.
"Perfect war?" Inkwell asked with a look of disbelief on her face.
"Yes, up until that point, it was wait till they go to sleep, then run up, kill all their men, steal their food, weapons, women and children." I chuckle a bit at the look of shock on her face. "What? In truth there are only five things that any sentient species requires to survive: food, water, shelter, clothing of some sort, and a way to procreate. But as we became less nomadic, the need to find and keep fertile areas was paramount to the different tribes and clans. Still at this time it was a fight for survival. Then things like precious gems and metals began to be discovered. This caused the fighting to move towards controlling those resources." I replied as I moved to stoke the fire.
"How bad did it get?" Inkwell asked as I returned to my chair.
"Pretty bad when it was just greed fueling the fires of war. Cities were sacked, villages burned, those were some rough times to live in. Then came the one thing that has caused more wars than money, land and love. By far they were the worst of all the wars that have ever been wage with one or two exceptions." I replied.
"What could be a worse reason for killing another living thing? I thought that-" Inkwell asked.
"All wars are horrible? They are, trust me I served in one. But the reason that these wars were fought was because of the one thing that no two people could ever agree on. Religion." I reply.
"You mean like what those oddball ponies that are part of the Church of Luna? Inkwell inquired.
I laughed at that. "Similar, but frankly I find the Luna's Witnesses just plain adorable. But for humans Miss Inkwell, we had no living goddesses to advise us, to guide us. Thus numerous religions sprang up. First there were the polytheistic one which had whole pantheons of gods and goddesses for just about everything you could think of. Then eventually those gave way to the various monotheistic religions with one omnipotent, omnipresent, all powerful divine being. The funny thing is, most religions boil down to the same basic ideas. Being a decent, kind, and considerate human being. Yet it is the scriptures used to pass this message on are so different and easily interpreted in ways that can incite the masses into conflict, that the basic message is lost." I replied as I took another sip of tea and sighed. I hated discussing religion when I was on Earth, but having to try and explain it to someone who had never heard of something that could incite rebellion was hell.
"Please just call me Ink. So how is all this relevant to how you came to be in our world?" Ink asked with a light blush on her cheeks.
"Of course, please call me Talisman then. As to why it is relevant, it helps to explain why my world was so chaotic and violent. This brings us to the day that everything in my life changed." I replied.
"Why do you refer to your world in the past tense? Did something happen to it the day that you came here?" Ink asked as she added notes to her now second notepad of the day.
I leaned back into my chair and stared into the fire as I gathered my thoughts.
"The day that I came to Equestria is the day that the Earth burned in nuclear hellfire." I replied finally.
Ink's magic faltered at this dropping her quill and notepad as her teacup and saucer slipped from her hands, thanks to my enhanced reflexes I was able to prevent them from shattering on the floor.
"You-your world burned? How is that possible?" Ink asked with a clearly shaken voice.
"Another thing that you need to understand about humans is that we constantly found new and inventive ways to injure, maim, and kill each other. The greatest and most terrifying of the weapons is the nuclear bomb. A weapon so powerful, it could level nearly all of Manehattan and continue to kill ponies and months for years after the fact." I replied.
"How is that possible?" Ink asked, fear evident in her eyes even if her professionalism stopped the quaver in her voice.
"The nuclear bomb has three main effects. First is the wave of intense heat. The reaction that occurs upon detonation of the device is the same that fuels a star, so you can imagine that it is very, very hot. The ponies from ground zero to a mile or so out, depending upon whether or not there is anything in between them and the blast will be vaporized instantly. They wouldn't even know what happened. Then the massive shockwave of displaced air will first throw anything in its path away from the blast before it all that air comes rushing back towards ground zero, causing the iconic mushroom cloud to form as ash, smoke, and other debris is sucked high into the air. Of course if you managed to survive all that, your life expectancy will have been reduced to hours if you are very, very lucky." I said explaining the effects of those weapons the best I could remember.
"And if you aren't?"
"Then you spend the next few days in excruciating pain as your skin sloughs off and your organs slowly breakdown and fail as your lungs begin to fill with liquid. Radiation is the true killer in these weapons because it lingers for years after the fact and the areas are unsafe for habitation for at least a century. The further away from ground zero you are the better your chances for survival. It is a weapon of terrible power and prior to the day my world was destroyed; it had only been used in anger on two occasions, each within days of the other. The effects gave the world's leaders pause from using them, eventually all testing was banned worldwide." I replied before drink some tea to soothe my throat.
"And the day that you came here, what happened exactly?" Ink inquired her demeanor steady once more.
I smiled. "I remember it clearly. It was a cold and grey January day and I had gone to town to pick up some school supplies for the upcoming term…"
A/N: Alright, here is the first chapter of what I hope to be a really good story. Before I get any complaints about the whole HiE thing, I know that these stories are a dime a dozen. I hope that I can set this one apart from the rest. Also if Talisman appears overpowered, it is because he will be slightly. Let's just say that Fate took pity on him and gave him some abilities that could help him protect those that he will come to care for. I look forward to reading the comments section to see some feedback. I will do my best to answer any questions, in an author's note, a reply in the comments section, or in my blog.