“Aile. Aile, wake up. Please answer me.” Roadie nervously says while trying to shake Aile out of her trance. After what felt like a life time, she blinks and her eyes return to normal.

“Huh? What happened? Where did the fire go?” Aile shakily looks around.

“It’s okay. You’re safe now. Do you want to go outside?”

“Y-yes please.”

Roadie taps a button on the console and the hatch pops open with hiss, and a clank. Aile stretches her wings, and quickly flies out of the cockpit. Roadie climbs out behind her. Roadie sits down on top of the Centurion watches Aile flies to the ground, and begin talking to the other ponies.

Ponies… freakin’ ponies. Where the hell did that jumpship take us? Roadie shivers and begins to scratch himself. Something’s wrong about this place. It clearly a temperate planet, yet I feel like I just jumped into a tub of fleas. Roadie stops scratching with one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. and now a sinus headache. Maybe I should-

“GET BACK IN YOUR GIANT QUICKLY!” something shouts, snapping Roadie out of his thoughts. Roadie looks in time to see Celestia fly straight at him. “I’LL EXPLAIN AFTER, INSIDE NOW!” She shouts as she grabs Roadie with her magic, and puts him back in the ‘mech.

“What the fuck was that about?” Roadie asks in a furious tone. “I just popped out for a breath of fresh air.”

“Has your headache and itching stopped?” Celestia asks in a tone that reminded Roadie of a concerned mother who caught their child near something dangerous. Roadie’s head twitches as something clicks in his head. He looks back up to Celestia who is laying down on top of the ‘mech poking her head into the cockpit.

“Wait how did you-”

“You appear to have no connection to magic. I’m guessing there’s no such thing as magic where you come from. Would that be true?”

Roadie let’s out an explosive sigh. “Yes, magic is nothing more than either stage illusions or just a fancy word to describe los-tec.”

“I see, that would explain quite a bit. Magic is very real in Equestria, and everything, including the world itself, has some sort of connection to it. I fear that since you have connection to magic, Equestria’s magical flux is harmful to you.”

“Oh, great. Hmm” Roadie says as he begins to pace around the cockpit trying to think of something. “Wait, something doesn't add up. How come I’m not sick right now?”

“A good question. Perhaps it has something to do with how your giant is built. Several teachers who teach and study magic at my school have found certain materials tend to block Equestria's flux. Lead, and concrete for some reason have-”

“OH! Oh why didn't I think of that. Oh you idiot Roadie!” Roadie shouts smacking himself on the forehead. “It’s like radiation. Your magical flux is just like radiation. Might want to move miss...” Roadie pauses. “I never introduced myself or got your name did I?”

Celestia stifles a giggle. “No you didn’t. I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria.”

“I’m Roadie, a sergeant of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns. In any case, I need to move back to my landing zone. There’s something there I need to grab.” Roadie jumps back into the command chair, and begins the power up sequence when there was the thud behind him. Roadie looks back to see Celestia dusting herself off.

“I wish to observe you controlling the giant.” Celestia explains in a formal tone. “I am curious as to how you do so.”

“Alright, but please don’t touch anything. You could do something as simple as turn the lights off or shut off the reactor’s safeties which would end rather badly.”

Celestia nods as the reactor begins to hum beneath their feet and hooves. Roadie turns turns on the flood light attached to the Centurion’s chest, and begins to head back towards his landing zone while trying to not step on anything. Roadie stops as he reaches the edge of the farm he landed on.

“Crap, they're going to be pissed when they wake up.” Roadie mutters. Celestia looks at the farm and flinches internally. A path of destroyed trees, and massive foot prints led from the edge of the farm to where Roadie landed. Countless apples wasted or destroyed. Celestia made a note to compensate the apple family for the damages to their farm.

“What did you need from where you landed?”

“Life support pod. Most ‘mechs are equipped to handle prolonged time in the field, but the pod provides extra shelter and supplies. I have something special that warranted me having the pod. It’s-” Roadie was cut off as Celestia vanished in a golden flash “-something I’ll have to explain when you get back? I really hope she comes back, and didn't just go poof on me.”
A few minutes later Roadie sees Celestia flying back with the life support pod suspended in a golden glow.

“Whoa…” Is all Roadie manages to get out of mouth. Roadie makes the ‘mech get into a crouching/kneeling position, and powers it down. He then climbs out, locks the hatch, and swiftly works his way down as Celestia puts the pod down on the ground. “Perfect, thank you Princess.”

“You’re welcome.” Celestia says with a small smile. “Everypony else has decided to get some rest after what has happened tonight. You should get some rest too. We can discuss what’ll happen later today.”

Roadie replies with a small nod, and enters the life support pod. Despite the interior being slightly bigger than the Centurion’s cockpit, the lack of complex equipment require to move and operate a ‘mech made it feel much larger. A computer system was embedded into the wall. Next to the computer terminal was a foldout chair. Several cabinets full of supplies lined one of the walls. The other wall was taken up by a generator, a foldout toilet, and something that no one would find in a normal pod; a set of power armor.

Roadie smiled as he looked at the armor. It was the whole reason he was issued the pod. He had recovered it during a previous mission, and after the R&D scientists had a blast tearing it apart to see how it worked. Roadie expected to never see it again, but was surprised by a decision from the brass.

*****

“You giving me what?” Roadie asks the Lt. that had summoned him from his barracks.

“A prototype power armor reverse engineered, and built from the Elemental you brought back. The Elemental itself appears to have been designed for some kind of super soldier, so our techs built a new design that should be usable by anyone. It needs to be tested first, and we decided why not the mechwarrior who brought it to us.”

“Why not a soldier on the frontlines? Wouldn’t it get better testing out there?”

“Well yes, and no. We’ve built several types and have distributed them accordingly. this one will ideally replace holdout weapons that are given to pilots for when they have to eject. While the techs figure out how to make it eject with the pilot, we decided to test if a mechwarrior can make effective use of it.”

Roadie snaps to a salute “Sir, I’ll be sure to put it to good use. Without having to eject.”

*****

“Well I kept my word sir. Power armors are usually radiation proof, so it should keep me safe from this place’s… magical… flux…”

Roadie sighs as he rolls out a sleeping bag and settles in for the night.

Seriously? Magic? Just where the hell am I?

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay. Writer's block plus motivation tittered out for a bit. Enjoy!