//------------------------------//
// The Real Deal 
// Story: Innavedr 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	Several stallions murmured as they strolled through the underbrush of the forest's edge.  Before them, glistening in the dying glow of the sunset, was a bulbous cigar of a metal manaship, its rear thrusters still glowing from the full day of flight that had brought the bounty hunter's vehicle there.  Many of the Aurum residents shook in their horseshoes, giving each other nervous glances.

Crimson, however—with Tweak's shoulder to lean on—strolled forward through the high grass and bushes.  Once they were both ten paces from the craft, he raised a hoof.  Tweak let go and Crimson limped a few lonely steps until he stood a safe ten feet from the foreboding, slender vehicle.

"Spark alive," he grumbled.  "From the way they build their flying machines, I can tell just how much they secretly miss stallions."

"Huh?"  Tweak did a double-take.

"Never mind," Crimson muttered, then sighed.  "Sometimes, I really do miss Zenith."

"Who?"  The farm stallion stood beside him.  "You've still lost me, friend."

"That's quite alright," Crimson said.  "We are all lost in the shadow of Ledo, until we make our own light."  He turned about.  "That said, some are more gifted than others."  He broke a slight smile.  "Tell me, in all the times that Aeterna assaulted your humble village, did she ever attempt tackling an entire group of you?"

Tweak blinked.  He looked back at the dozen fellow farmhooves and they all shrugged in crystalline complexity.  "Actually, no," Tweak said, clearing his throat as he glanced back at Crimson.  "We all held back for safety's sake.  Besides, that metal mare was always pulling us out one at a time.  Her visits rarely lasted more than a few minutes."

Crimson nodded slowly.  "And that's how the likes of stallions such as Lucky Strike were taken..."

Tweak's answer was to hang his head in somber fashion.

Crimson gulped and glanced again at the ship.  "Well, I think there's a more complicated reason for that."

"Oh?"

"Seems like most souls foreign to Aurum have an issue with crystal ponies in general.  I don't know exactly what type of power you equines possess, but it doesn't exactly seem friendly to diamond dogs, Searonese, and even unicorns such as myself."

"It's an unpredictable world that we live in, Mr. Crimson," Tweak said.  "Unicorns aren't the only creatures capable of harboring magic."

"Oh, I quite well know that," Crimson said.  "The Council of Ledo has been... mmm..."  He shifted uncomfortably in the grass.  "...fond of tapping into the metaphysical abilities of buffalo, rams, deer, anteloupes... you name it."

"That's all rather interesting," Tweak droned, glancing behind him shiftily.  "Now will you kindly tell us what we're doing out here?"

"What if the magic of crystal ponies can overwhelm more than just the bodies of metal mares?"  Crimson narrowed his gaze.  "What if it can affect their technology as well?"

"Huh...?"

"Mr. Tweak, I think we both know that there's more to the abduction of Aurum stallions than just big game and breeding," Crimson said in a serious tone.

The ponies behind Tweak murmured amongst themselves in contemplation of that.  Tweak took a deep breath and said, "So what are you suggesting we do?"

"This morning at the breakfast table," Crimson said.  "You and your family were glowing like the sun.  Just what brings that about?"

"Quite frankly, Mr. Crimson, it's our natural state," Tweak said.  "Crystal ponies are accustomed to stifling it.  After all, Aurum gets plenty of merchants travelling through here.  Not everypony who visits our town are attempting to abduct or enslave the populace."

"Could you revert back to that state right now?" Crimson asked, then motioned with his skull towards the manacraft.  "Meanwhile, getting close to the metal mare's ship?  Within reason, of course..."

Tweak blinked at the aircraft, then squinted at Tweak.  "To what end?"

"I think we'll all find out."

Tweak glanced back at the other stallions.  They muttered calmly and nodded in approval.  He looked again at Crimson.  "And what of you?"

Crimson gulped and found a tall tree to lean against.  "I'll take my chances."  He raised his right stub of a forelimb.  "I-I think we both know that I've been through worse."

Tweak inhaled slowly, his crystal nostrils flaring.  "Well, alright."  He motioned towards the other stallions.  The herd trotted forward in one accord, and soon the gathered farmhooves of Aurum were standing in a half-circle before the slender Searonese vessel.  They planted their limbs firmly against the ground and took on meditative expressions.  Then—like a beam of light was bouncing through them—they concentrated.

A flickering glow wafted across the forested clearing as—one by one—the crystal ponies lit up like the bulbs of a Hearth's Warming Tree.  Crimson shuddered instantly, gripping to the tree for support.  He watched in a dizzied haze as the phalanx of stallions pulsed in succession, their manes glittering like copper filaments heated to the burning point.

Soon, the luminescent aura was rivaling the sunset.  The blades of grass swayed under sudden vibrance, as if errant sprites were shooting up from the ground.  A spark of something bright—like lightning—darted across the nearby row of trees.

Crimson gasped.  He flung a glance towards the manaship.  In his blurry vision, he saw another spark—this time running across the body of the ship.  Finally, after several more bright flashes, a whirring noise emanated from deep within.  The glowing stallions stumbled back, watching in shock as a door to the side of the vessel slid open, its motorized servos making ugly noises—like a metal cat hacking up a furball.

"Alright!  That's enough!" Tweak exclaimed, waving a hoof up high.  "We did it!  For our friend's sake, let's simmer down!"

One by one, the bodies of the crystal ponies went dull.  The glow faded away, and shadows returned to the forest clearing on the fringe of the dying day.  Every stallion muttered in amazement at the sight of the opened aircraft.

Crimson was struggling to walk upright, still wrought with dizziness.

"Are you okay?" Tweak asked, helping him stand up straight.

"Yes.  I do believe so," Crimson murmured, stumbling for a brief moment.  "Whew... the technology really doesn't stand a chance against you, does it?  No wonder these 'Killas' don't want to get close to Aurum."

"I feel so utterly foolish," Tweak muttered, shaking his head.  "If I had known that gathering in our purest state would have stopped Aeterna from the get-go..."

"She never gave you the chance to know," Crimson remarked, patting Tweak's shoulder.  "That's the thing about oppressors.  Their power is not in their weaponry or in their technology, but in their ability to intimidate.  She preyed upon you in small numbers because that's all that she could afford to do.  The rest was an illusion that she projected... and also depended on."

Tweak gritted his teeth while punching a nearby tree.  "Nnnngh... Lucky Strike!"  He sighed and hung his head.  "It's all my fault."  At the sound of hooves trotting against metal, he glanced aside.  His eyes narrowed.  "What are you doing?"

"Investigating," Crimson said, having entered the interior of the vessel.  He snooped around, slowly gazing through the darklit cockpit and bounty hold.  A whistle escaped his lips.  "This is intricate stuff.  I've seen hovercraft manufactured by the Council of Ledo with less refinement than this.  The Searonese have a talent—that much can't be denied."

"Earth ponies are known for their ambition," Tweak said as he and a few other stallions gathered at the entrance to the dormant vessel.  They peered nervously inside as he said, "Especially when they're bloodthirsty, violent, radical matriarchs—"

"They're all punks," Crimson muttered, leaning over the controls of the cockpit.  "Even the crafty ones—like the mare that took my friend south."  He thought aloud, glancing at a blinking diode located in the center of the controls.  "Hmmm... The thing still has power.  I'm willing to bet that there's a backup mana battery."

"And?" Tweak remarked, suddenly standing behind Crimson.  "What does that mean?"

Crimson gave him a double-take.  "Uhm... Simply that it'll recover from the energy you and your friends put out soon enough."  He cleared his throat.  "What... are you doing in here?"

"I could ask the same of you," Tweak said.

"I'm figuring out the controls of this thing so that I might activate the security override," Crimson said.  "I have every intention of flying this thing south."

"I figured as much," the farm stallion said.  "And what then?"

"Huh?"

"Do you plan on storming into the headquarters of the metal mares on three limbs and a prayer?"  Tweak's crystal brow furrowed.  "You've done far too many heroic things to end it in a single charge, no matter how glorious."

Crimson sighed.  "I was fortunate to have landed in your good hospitality, but this has been my personal quest from the start."

"It's been your personal quest for a while now, but then you made the silly mistake of showing us how to stand up to the likes of Aeterna."

Crimson blinked.  "What... are you getting at?"

"Would you truly wish to know?"  Tweak sat back on his haunches and folded his forelimbs with a smirk.  "Very well.  Let me fill you in, soldier..."