//------------------------------//
// Welcome to the Core 
// Story: Dawn of the Harmony Corps 
// by MarkOfKhorne 
//------------------------------//

Nexus couldn't help but chuckle silently to himself at his "guest". Twilight's eyes had been glued to the window since take-off, and she looked completely mesmerized as the hovercraft whizzed past the gigantic high-rises en route to the Monolith. The city skyline glistened for as far as the eye could see, and below her, hundreds of flying carriages formed long lines like ant trails. She didn't want to admit it, but this city looked more spectacular than Canterlot itself and she loved every minute of it. The soothing sight of the infinite skyline relieved her stressful mind, and the mesmerizing view made her oblivious to the deep silence that fell upon the carriage.

"So... you seem to be taking this all lightly?" Nexus asked.

"Hmm... yeah," Twilight said, still staring outside, "although I'm kinda sixty-forty on the whole 'this is a dream' thing. I mean, I don't know why I'm here. I'm flying in this magical 'chariot'. And I can't say that I've ever seen a species like you before."

"I'm sorry, but I can answer any question that you may have to the best of my abilities."

"Well," she nervously chuckled, "what am I doing here?"

Nexus shrugged. "I can't answer that."

Twilight's eye twitched. "What do you mean?"

"You see," he said with a shrug, "I don't really know myself. Armistice told me to pick you up from the train station. I was alerted of new lines in the Core's command list, so I bolted towards the anomaly. Glad I got there in time. Barrage isn't exactly known for his friendliness, especially since he refers to 'guests' as 'foreign contaminants'.

"You don't say?" Twilight muttered. "Anyhoo, what exactly are you if you don't mind me asking?"

Nexus put a hoof on his chin before he bluntly responded. "You want the long or short explanation?"

"Well normally, I'd take the long explanation, but since I've sort of hit a brick wall on determining what the hay is going on right now, I think I'm a bit out of my league. And trust me, that's saying a lot."

"I understand," he said. "I can't really go into detail about what I am. I just can't explain it. I guess you could say I'm a golem of sorts. It's truly the closest word I can think of, but not an exact answer. I'm made of these tiny, itty-bitty "particles"--I like to call them "pixels. They let me do all sorts of wonders. Holograms. Technomagic. You name it, I can probably do it."

"Really..." Twilight said in disbelief, "well then, show me."

Nexus smirked. He was up to the challenge. In fact, the small, devious curl in his smile said it all.

With a wave of the hoof, the carriage came to a stop in front of a colossal tower.

"Is that it?" Twilight asked.

"Oh... you have no idea." Nexus tapped his hoof on the wall and the walls and floor slid outward. The entire starboard window Twilight had been peering out of expanded into a full panoramic view. In seconds, half of the hovercraft was see-through, and Twilight instinctively leapt out of her seat towards Nexus' side. The pixel pony laughed, much to her chagrin.

"Ha, ha, ha! Do you believe me now?"

Twilight was definitely flustered at his remark, sitting right on the edge of her seat. "So you can control a flying carriage. That's not a big deal."

"Oh, Miss Twilight," he said, still chuckling, "That's not even the tip of the iceberg." The gears in his head came into motion, and a crap-eating grin crept onto his face. "In fact, I'll show you my full power. If you could be kind, just sit down, strap yourself in, and watch the magic happen."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, a little vexed to comply. She softly rapped on the thick glass pane that was now the floor, making sure that it was really there. Although she was skeptical that anything he'd do could be good, she reluctantly humored him. Twilight sat comfortably in her seat and she stared straight outside the window at the towering skyscraper, mentally preparing herself for his next "feat of magic". It's just a building. He can't do anything that I haven't seen before.

She couldn't be more wrong.

Nexus slammed his hoof hard on the armrest of his seat, and Twilight saw nothing at first. A smug smile crept on her face as she thought she caught Nexus on his bullcrap. However, she squinted as something caught her attention. Although they were barely visible, little dots glimmered around the building.

Twilight's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. What the-- Twilight thought, while Nexus raised his hands.

The tiny dots became thousands as several specks of golden light swarmed the tower. Nexus brought his arms closer, and a whirlwind of energy broke out, fully engulfing the skyscraper. Intense 'flames' of golden energy exploded out of the enormous building.

As the gust died down, Twilight flinched in fear as the twisted metal that was once the building came crashing down and became one with the ground.

Fear gripped her to the core.

Nexus, on the other hand, thrashed about his seat, clutching at his sides. His roar of laughter boomed about the cabin for ages, violently shaking the windowpanes. He literally muted his voice, saving his guest from his deafening chortles, and pixelated tears streamed down his eyes.

For a full thirty seconds, he continued to laugh. That is until he... felt something: a simmering sensation on his left side. Not enough to cause him pain, but just enough to be noticed.

His laughter died down as his head slowly turned towards that direction. At the single glance at the mare beside him, his laughter dropped dead in its tracks, was buried six feet under and given a good service.

Thick plumes of steam radiated from Twilight's scarlet head while her burning stare bored sharp daggers deep into his soul.

Nexus' eyes shifted nervously from side to side, and he hoped that somehow pony magic couldn't hurt him.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat. "M-may we c-continue?" he asked, offering her one of those cheesy, carriage salesman smiles.

"Please..." Twilight growled, gritting her teeth.

Nexus smacked his hoof forward, and the hover taxi spent no time at reaching full speed.




 A FEW MINUTES LATER 

Nexus and Twilight sat in complete silence, each of them looking outside opposite windows. Although Twilight's coat had returned to its original color, the expression she wore wasn't exactly warming. It was more like a furnace... in the middle of a forest fire... on the sun.

He tried to break the ice, or beat the heat, so to speak. "S-so..." he nervously murmured. "As my 'demonstration' showed, I'm in complete control of this entire city, from the giant buildings to each individual hover taxi."

Twilight gave him the cold shoulder.

Nexus pointed outside. "That's my body... making me the mind and soul."

Nothing.

Nexus sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry for what I did. I'm always one for dramatic reveals, but I can get carried away. Plus, I've never seen anyone outside the Core before."

Twilight peeled her eyes away, "you haven't?"

"Nope." Nexus said. "I've lived here for as long as I can remember, although Armistice has told me much of the outside world.

Twilight's expression softened. She sighed and then sat back facing Nexus. "You keep saying that name. Lord Armistice. What can you tell me about him?"

"Well, he's been my mentor since I was born, but I can't really say that I know much about him. I mean, he's been like a father figure for me, teaching me almost everything I know. But recently, he spends his days in his den while I spend mine refining designs in my Holoforge. I barely hear from him anymore..."

The pony drifted off into thought, but a light tap on his "shoulder" brought him back to reality. He shook his head.

"Anyways. All I know about Armistice is that it was urgent to meet with you. Can you think about why? Nothing wrong has happened here, so has anything happened to you?"

All of a sudden, memories rushed into Twilight's mind. The scorching heat, the blinding light, the deafening shriek. The flood of stress brought her down onto her knees, and Nexus sprung up from his seat to help her.

"Hey. Are you okay? Do you need a medic?" Nexus frantically asked.

"Nuh-nuh-no. I-I think I'm fine," she barely murmured as she went misty-eyed. "It's just... a lot has changed in these past few days, and everything's just come back at me."

Nexus helped her back onto her hooves and led her to her seat.

"Before I arrived at the station, my mentor was attacked. Last time I saw her, she was in a hospital bed strapped to several dreadful machines, and I just want to see her well again."

"My condolences," Nexus replied. "She sounds pretty important to you."

"She is. She's important to all of us."

"Well, that might be why he summoned you."

The hover-taxi's intercom interrupted them. "ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL: 30 SECONDS".

"Ah," Nexus said, "I think you'll like the Monolith. It's the largest building in the city..."

He waved his hoof and the roof of the hover-taxi opened up. He wasn't kidding when he said the Monolith was large. Twilight was once again stupefied at the building's majestic yet intimidating nature. The titanic, trapezoidal building had a spherical gap in the middle, emitting a bright beacon of neon blue straight towards the sky.

As the minuscule carriage entered its airspace, the Monolith cast a long shadow of complete darkness upon them. Nexus's golden light illuminated the taxi, and he opened his arms outward. A clamorous rumble then enveloped the craft as the blast doors opened. The ship swiftly flew inside into a hangar of sorts, and landed in a form of metal shaft. Twilight then felt a rush in her hooves as the makeshift elevator levitated upward into the Monolith.

"Now," Nexus said. "Although I can't say much about Armistice's past, I do need to tell you a few things before we meet him. First, he might be a little 'overwhelming', considering he's who-knows-how-many years old, so bear with him if he comes across a little more... dramatic than usual."

"After everything you've shown me, I think I can now handle anything you throw at me," Twilight said with a cocky smirk.

"I certainly hope so," Nexus muttered to himself.

The elevator stopped with a ding. As the doors slowly opened, a large, shadowy figure stood on the other side.

Twilight's smile disappeared as her jaw dropped.

"Miss Sparkle," a deep voice came from the being.

Twilight blinked once, turned towards Nexus, and then promptly fainted.