Between Magic and Science

“Y’all sure you’re gonna be okay here, brother?” Nova Burst said, as he climbed the side of his tank, to the hatch.

“Yeah, I can finish up the harvest! Nexus said you had to go, right?” His little brother had wanted very badly to go with him, but knew that the potatoes were important too. He had volunteered to stay behind while Nova Burst went off on his adventure.

“That’s right. Now, if anything happens you call Uncle Buckshot, he’ll be down here faster than a mob boss with the cops at his door.”

“Okay! Have fun!”

Nova Burst had climbed in the tank, taking a seat next to Applejack. The tank had no cannon, like traditional tanks would, instead, the area where it would be was flat, making the tank move a bit faster. For weapons, Nova Burst had taped several rifles to the tank and hotwired them to be fired from the drivers seat. The drivers seat itself had a cup holder installed, and a passenger seat next to it. Where the gunner’s seat would be, there was a mini-fridge running off the tank’s battery.

Nexus needed the both of them in Tanktown so they could stop Nightmare again, so he took off down the dirt path that headed north as soon as he was in. Neither of them said a word for several miles.

“So,” Applejack broke the awkward silence, “What do you do with all them spuds after harvestin’ them?”

“Well, we make different food out of ‘em, potato chips, potato fries, different kinds of soup, stuff like that. We sell most of them.”

“What about the ones you can’t sell?”

“Well,” Nova Burst smiled, “I make ‘em into different gadgets. Notice the lighting in the house? That’s powered by potatoes. This tank is running on a potato battery, too.”

Applejack stared at him in surprise. “You can’t be serious, powered with potatoes?”

“Yup, they don’t have very much of a charge, so you need a whole bunch of them. And that’s just what I got.”

“Well, that sure is mighty resourceful of ya.”

“You hungry? I’ve got some snacks here.”

“I could use a bite to eat.”

“Want some potato chips?” He offered her a bag, which he had produced from behind the seat.

“Sure, thanks.” She found that opening the bag required ripping it at the top. Putting one in her mouth, she took note of the taste. A bit saltier than the ones back home.

“I’ve also got some beef jerky here if you want some,” he reached into another bag and took a bite out of the dehydrated cow meat.

“Some uhh... what?”

“It’s dried... beef... I just realized that you probably don’t eat meat as a pony.”

Peaceful Pride entered the office of his armoury. Business was slow today, and he had just received a rather large request. Flipping a switch near his door had opened a concealed door on the wall opposite him. Two portions of it slid back in the center, revealing a long room that held very powerful looking equipment. 20 or so suits of power armour were on racks on the walls, and countless weapons were on racks next to them.

His storage room usually held most of the materials he needed to craft armour on his own, though he had been getting shipments lately, but the secret room held only the greatest and most powerful equipment he had. He entered, and the doors slid shut behind him. He already had the power armour, and the weapons, but the tricky part was tuning them to fit each of the wearer’s abilities.

He approached his heating bench, a wide table that was used to heat large pieces of metal for molding in a nontraditional way. His implants glowed, creating a small fire in the fire pit beneath. It burned yellow, and then quickly intensified into a bright white as it consumed the coal inside. As his implants died down, the colour settled on orange. This was good, he could still control the temperature of the flame.

He picked up one of the suits of power armour, placed it over the heating bench, and began to work.

Powerjack lifted his garage door open. There was a large, tan tank inside, with a short barreled cannon and two sets of machine guns on its front. This wasn’t what he had came for, though. Off beside it, hanging on the wall, he saw a large suit of metal, and a helmet that resembled a diver’s helmet next to it. There were two oxygen tanks on the ground below it, as well as big steel boots. This suit, which he had been dubbed the “Neuroshock Exosuit” was the suit that saved his life when the strange virus that only affected those with implants had torn the town apart. In this suit, he was safe from the infected outside air, and was able to deliver the cure to the town.

The only problem with it was that it was powered by his cybernetic implants, which weren’t something that Powerjack had liked to use. Being cybernetic meant that he could control virtual data and different types of electronics, meaning that he could control things that he probably shouldn’t be controlling. When the suit connected with his implants, he had to use them constantly, which made him uncomfortable.

He couldn’t be bothered with that now, the fate of two worlds was at stake. Closing the garage door, he pulled the metal bodysuit off the rack, pulling the separate pieces that made it up apart. There was a torso piece, which he put on first. It included two slots on the back that held oxygen tanks that he easily switch off between by securing the connection to the helmet on either side. Next, he stepped into the leggings, feeling them connect with the torso piece. Powerjack felt a prick at the base of his neck as the suit connected with his implants.

The shoulder pieces came next, securing either arm and covering all the way to his hands. He felt the armour moving with him as he put on each one. The boots were the simplest part, just locking in place on each heel, requiring very little neural connection. Lastly, he picked up the helmet, seeing his reflection in it’s shiny, domed surface, and put it over his head.

All the pieces of armour were secured, and he connected a large oxygen tank to the slot on his back, holding the spare in the other one. As he put the tube that extended from his helmet into the valve of the oxygen tank, he heard a loud hissing noise as the armour had sealed itself. It was done, Powerjack had put on the suit. It added an impressive 2 feet to his height, making him stand somewhere around 8 or 9 feet tall.

There was one other item on the ground near the rack that he’d overlooked. It was a glove of sorts, and it had a large, cone shaped object on one end. It was the icon of the suit, it’s pinnacle, it’s greatest weapon, but Powerjack had hated using it. The drill was a fearsome weapon indeed, it’s tip inspiring fear in all who saw it pointed their way. The first time Powerjack had used it, it was to break a cluster of rocks to get to his friends, but he had soon used it to... No, the thought of him weaponizing it almost made him throw up.

Sighing, he picked it up and placed it on his waist, where the small clamp on the drill’s grip let it hang from a small indent in his armour without falling. He walked through his garage, shaking the ground with a thunder-like rumble with each step, and lifted up his garage door. The suit did most of the work, lifting the large piece of metal with ease.

Time to return to Nexus, and he’d have to go on foot. His armour was too bulky to fit in the tank.

The jeep sped across the desert, Trax Dash at the wheel, with his foot slammed on the gas pedal. Rainbow Dash sat next to him in the passenger seat, thrilled to the core by the speed at which they were going. The ride was bumpy,  and it wasn’t as fast as she could go herself, but she didn’t care. At least she didn’t have to strain herself.

She thought back to the small discussion they had earlier, when she had convinced him to go. He seemed frustrated then, but after she had made that joke about his awesomeness he had seemed to be venting on her, making comments here and there, and criticizing her every action.

“So, uh, how long until we get there?” Rainbow asked, impatiently. It grew boring quickly.

Trax Dash gritted his teeth in frustration, and replied in the least angry tone he could manage. “Well, unless you want to get out and push, we’ll be there in about an hour. As long as we don’t get arrested for speeding.”

Rainbow Dash hated his sarcasm, but she was no stranger to using it herself.

“You know, if there’s something bothering you, you can tell me.” She told him.

There was something bothering him. He had just been told by someone that he couldn’t compete in the fighting tournament he had trained so long to win, and he had to go 150 miles per hour through a desert to get to said someone. He said nothing.

“We’re friends, right?” She asked, with a hopeful smile on her face. The car had slowed down a little, then suddenly screeched to a halt, sending them both forward in their seats.

“What?” he replied, looking over at her in disbelief.

“We’re friends, right? You helped me when I first got here, and now you’re helping me find my friends. If you came into my world so suddenly like that, I probably would’ve called you crazy.”

Trax Dash was silent for a moment, in thought. She was actually being serious. “I’ve seen a lot of crazy things. I don’t know if we’re friends or not. It’s not really just a matter of saying yes or no.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Anyone can say, ‘Oh yeah, we’re friends,’ but it doesn’t really mean anything until you do something for the other person.”

“But you’ve done everything for me! I didn’t know where I was, what I was supposed to do...”

“I’m a nice guy, I would have done it for anyone.”

“So... that would make you friends with a lot of people then. As for me, just let me know if there’s something you need.” Her smile had gone from nervous, to rather friendly, as if she could tell that his view had been changed.

“That’s a good point... I’ll have to think about that...”

“Let’s get going then,” She casually put her feet up on the dashboard, and leaned back in her seat, hands behind her head.

Trax Dash slammed on the gas. He didn’t feel any better at the moment, but at least he knew she cared.