Machinery and Magic

Click "...So I just speak into this? ... What for? ... Okay? I guess... H-hello, my name is Johnson Barder, I am currently twenty eight years old, this will be the first of my many recordings as we try and discover a way for the human body to become better than what it already is. What should I say about myself? Uh, oh, I was born in Washington D.C., a place also known as... yeah? What?! Hold on! Don't let him go anywhere! We can't just let him leave! Well stop hi-" Click

"Now the heat's getting to me too."

A moment of silence passed between the three associates. Nobody dared to move, or even cough lightly. All of the silence was broken as the purple mare known as Twilight Sparkle moved forward and asked, "Why did you do that? He gave up!"

"..."

"Well?" Twilight asked as an eyebrow raised.

The creature proceeded to turn and walk towards a tree. "This isn't happening... Need to find water soon, if I don't cool down this is gonna get worse."

"Hey I was asking you a question!"

The creature grabbed at the tree and reared its head back and brought it forward with the eventual thunk of the head meeting the tree. The creature turned its head back to look at the now wide eyed ponies still standing there. "Well, that's it, I'm dead, and I'm in hell as punishment and now I'm stuck with talking animals."

"What did you just say?" Twilight asked, not quite hearing the creature.

"Nothing!" It yelled back.

"Well, since you can talk to me now, why don't you answer my question?"

"Because I don't have to! Those things tried to eat me and I killed them. Where I come from that's pretty normal."

"You better watch your tone buddy! This is a princess you're talkin' to!" Rainbow Dash shouted at the rude creature.

"Oh I'm sorry, forgive me your highness. I wasn't right in the head." The creature bent at the waist in what seemed to be a bow.

"Stop, don't do any of-"

"I didn't know I was in the presence of a princess and her bodyguard; Skittles. Oh I'm just quaking in my boots."

Rainbow Dash gave the creature a glare like no other. It did nothing.

"Can we please stop this? We all got off on the wrong hoof. You said you k-killed the Timberwolf in self defense and I'll believe you." Twilight said, trying to get the two off of each other.

"..."

"..."

"Glad we could come to an agreement. Now, I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is my friend Rainbow Dash. What's your name?" Another moment of silence passed between the three.

"My name is Johnson, Johnson Barder."

"Okay, Johnson, I'm going to need you to come with me, we're going to be heading into town and we'll need you to stay close."

"Can I ask you a question first?"

"Sure."

"Is there a lake around here? I really need to cool off."

"Yes actually, the path we're taking will go past another one of my friends house, she has a pond just outside of her house."

"Okay, lead the way."

SPLASH

"Oh god this feels amazing!" Johnson said as he splashed around in the water. Steam rising off of his suit as he did so.

"So Johnson. What is that you're wearing, is that a suit of armor of sorts?" Twilight looked at Johnson in the water. The suit itself was just a metallic grey, the areas where she could assume where his arms bent were joints like a wind up toys joints. The helmet though, it was the most off putting design of the whole thing. Twilight was unable to see anything inside the helmet for some reason it was like the eye and mouth holes were blocked out. The holes for the mouth and eyes were rectangular, but the mouth was pulled up in a creepy smile, it didn't curve like a regular smile, it was just another carved out portion of the mask.

"Please John is fine, and yes. In a way it is a suit of armor."

"What do you mean by that? If I might ask...?"

"Well, normally, I wouldn't have been able to fight that wolf back in the forest. But this little, allows me to do things I wouldn't be able to do. Mainly speaking, lifting more weight, putting more power to punches and kicks, react quicker, run faster, that sort of thing."

"So the suit is an enhancer of sorts?"

"Of sorts, yes."

"So how fast can you go?" Rainbow Dash asked, her curiosity peaked.

"Uhm, right now I can only go so fast as something like a cheetah, which could hit ninety for a bit. But if I divert some power and give main priority to the legs I could hit two times the speed of sound, but if I do that, I put the arms out of commission for a good three hours. It's all some stuff I haven't gotten the chance to test and make sure it won't break my legs."

"No way that thing can make you do that."

"Again, it's all something I haven't tested yet."

"Wanna race and see?"

"Okay, can you give me a moment to ready myself?"

"Take all the time you need, just delaying my soon to be win." Rainbow Dash said as she started to stretch.

Johnson got out of the water and shook the water off of him and out of the suit.

"Suit, redirect power from the arms and into the legs. Give no priority to the arms and move everything to the locomotion of the suit." Twilight was listening with fascination at what John had been saying. A moment after the commands were given a noise began to sound off from inside the suit. The suit itself began to shrink down as piece by piece the suit shrunk.

"Ah, god that feels weird."

"What did you do?" Twilight asked.

"When the suit goes into this sort of mode, it factors in the resistance it will get if it reaches tops speed in the regular form so it tries to create less surface for the wind to catch on."

"You ready yet? All this egghead talk is boring me."

"Sure."

"We're going to be going all the way to Ponville and back. Just follow the river until you get to a bridge. Once you get to the bridge, cross it and follow the river back. Got it?"

"Yup."

Rainbow Dash and John lined up next to each other as they readied themselves for the race.

"On three. One."

Rainbow Dash gave a smirk as she got lower to the ground.

"Two."

John put his hands to the ground, one leg bent and in front of the other and the other straight back and planted into the ground.

"Three!"

The two were off. Twilight flew up to see everything that was going to happen.

"Damn she's fast..." John thought. As he watched Rainbow next to him he turned his head to look down the path they were heading. The bridge was a good distance away.

"I'm going to have to pick it up on the return." When John turned to look back at Rainbow Dash, she was gone. And there she was again. Zooming past at incredible speeds.

"How the he-"

BOOM

Johns thoughts were cut short as a wave of sound bombarded him as he ran.

"She just broke the sound barrier... Shit, I guess it's now or never."

"Suit, deliver everything we have to the legs, let's win this."

"She just did the sonic rainboom, there isn't any way John can catch up now, she's already halfway through the return and he's just passing the bridge."

All of a sudden, the little grew dot that was John burst forward. In his wake was a giant grey tear. He was doing his own sonic rainboom. All of a sudden John disappeared entirely. Twilight looked around the whole track to where he could be. She then spotted the tear. It was right next to Rainbow Dash and her trail of rainbow. This was going to be close.

"I wonder if I could boost myself even further with the solar flare. If I put a direction on it, it could maybe add half of my speed on top of what I already have... Here goes nothing." John looked over to the rainbow trail that was Rainbow Dash and nodded.

"Technology ain't losing to magic, not now, not ever."

"What is he doing now!?" Twilight yelled to herself.

John leapt up into the air and tucked his legs into his outstretched linking arms. All of a sudden a giant flash of light and fire began to fire from his back and he shot up the trail even further. The fire stopped, John dropped back onto the ground and continued to run. He was already at the finish. He won.

"He won?" Twilight asked in bewilderment. She began to fly down to the area where the race began, and now, had ended.