“What the hell happened here?!”
I pushed past Bonbon into the tent and knelt next to Jess’ body. I propped her head up and pressed two fingers to the side of her neck. She wasn’t breathing, but thankfully she still has a pulse.
“I don’t know! We were going to look over her Driver, but as soon as she took it off, blood spurted from her eyes and she fell over!”
My gaze drifted over to Jess’ waist, where the Driver was indeed not present.
“Took it off…” I muttered. “Yeah that makes sense. Where is it?”
“Here.”
Lyra levitated the Driver over to me with her magic, and as I grabbed it from her my hand was briefly enveloped in a stabbing pain where the magic touched me. I slapped the driver onto Jess’ waist and it once more secured itself to her.
After a few tense moments, she sat up and gasped for breath.
“Trevor- I… what?” She said between frantic breaths.
“Shh, sh sh sh… Don’t move around too much.” I put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Finally snapping out of her shock, Bonbon came over.
“I can help.” She walked behind Jess and placed a furry ear to her back. “Try to breathe normally.”
Jess, still shaking from what was probably a near-death experience, did her best to comply. After listening to her breathing, Bonbon came back around to Jess’ front and looked into her eyes with a magnifying glass pulled from one of the many pockets in her uniform.
“Wow, you know medical stuff?” Jess asked.
“As an agent of the EUP you sort of need to be everything: soldier, spy, field medic. You’re stable now, but what could have caused… that?”
“Arcanus Toxicosis.” I said.
“Arceus-whatnow?” Both Jess and Lyra asked at the same time.
“Jinx.” Lyra was quick to amend with.
“Arcanus Toxicosis.” I repeated, ignoring the annoyed look Bonbon and Jess were fixing Lyra with. “It’s a term I just cobbled together. Basically, Jessica had an adverse reaction to the Magic in the atmosphere. The Drivers are mitigating the damage, but only when worn.”
“Why couldn’t it have been like the stories where Humans are immune to magic…” Jess muttered.
“So she’s allergic to Magic? That shouldn’t be possible; Magic’s everywhere!” Lyra exclaimed.
“Not where we come from.” I shook my head.
“You come from a magicless world?! Jess, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I sorta thought you already knew.” Jess scratched the back of her neck, grinning sheepishly.
Bonbon facehooved.
“Well, it shouldn’t be a problem unless either of us takes off our Drivers. Hey by the way,” I looked at Jess. “I don’t think I ever got the full story as to what we needed the Drivers for originally.”
“I can answer that.” Lyra spoke up. “So, we -Equestria- are sort of at war with the Crystal Empire. We’ve been at a stalemate for at least a year, and I had this great idea on how to put an end to the war.” Lyra wandered around in her little section of the tent, gesturing with her hooves as she explained. “You see, there’s this story I found while doing research in the Canterlot Archives, about a magic weapon from the time of the Two Sisters. Turns out it’s real, but nopony has the ability to wield it, due to some pure of heart stuff. Being at war sorta negates pureness of heart. And then I had the idea to create a device to allow somepony to wield it regardless!”
She spread her hooves in a “ta-da” gesture. I gave her a blank stare.
“I think you stopped a little short there, Lyra.” Bonbon said, poking her in the side.
“Oh, right! I had all these ideas for how to build such a device, but Equestrian technology isn’t quite there yet. While I was researching, I also came across mention of a Human that came to Equestria in the distant past. When she returned to her own world, she left behind the machine that became the basis of our modern radios. And by a stroke of insane luck, I managed to get ahold of that machine. I used it to contact Jess, and the rest is history.”
“As serviceable an infodump as any other.” I said, shrugging. I stood and walked towards the door. “Now that the current mini-crisis is over, I’m going to go fulfill my lifelong dream of being a Kamen Rider.”
“That… isn’t possible yet.” Jess said before I could push through the door flap.
I turned around so fast I half expected to break my own neck with the whiplash.
“HUH?!?”
[[Kamen Rider Harmony]]
We have moved locations, out to one of the fire pits near the “cafeteria” tent on the other side of the camp. Lyra went inside to grab something to eat, but while she’s gone, Trevor is sitting on a log looking dejected, and Sweetie Drops is staring at me… studying me almost. Though she looked almost apprehensive, with a little curiosity mixed in.
“Jessica,” She finally said. “I believe we’ve been left on a cliffhanger long enough.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I guess we could make this an expository chapter. The Rider System is incomplete; That’s why Trevor’s dream of becoming a Kamen Rider isn’t possible yet. Though that’s a problem for more than just him.” My hands drifted up to rest on the Driver. “The Duo Harmony Drivers are like a lock with no key; The systems that will allow the wearer to wield the Elem- I mean the ancient magic weapon, are fully functional and should work properly, but are locked within the Rider System, which lacks a power source.”
“And I take it there’s no way to bypass the Rider System?
“No, there is, but due to me and Trevor’s Arcanus Toxicosis, doing so isn’t viable.”
“Well, what do you need to construct a “key”?”
I thought about that for a moment. A “key” I might have made back on Earth would have required rare or exotic materials I wouldn’t have had the funds to obtain, but here in Equestria I could probably supplant them all with Magic.
“I’m not sure off the top of my head. I’ll have to talk to Lyra about magical counterparts to the materials I need.”
“Did I hear somepony say my name?”
Turning around I saw Lyra returning to the group holding a quartet of black plastic containers in her magic. She floated one, as well as a set of utensils to me as she passed to sit next to Trevor.
“I remember you telling me Humans are meat-eaters, so I had the chef dig out some of the gryphon rations. That’s what took me so long.”
I ripped off the top of the container and was surprised to find an entire steak, of some kind, and a baked potato. Seeing that Lyra had forgotten to grab a knife for me, I switched the Driver to “Unicorn Mode” -briefly getting some passerbys’ attention with the Driver’s vocalization- and concentrated. After a few moments, and ignoring the slightly painful tingling running up my spine, I managed to form a rudimentary kitchen knife out of magic.
“I’m surprised you ponies know how to prepare a steak,” Trevor commented, attempting to tear his apart with two forks. “Last I checked, equines don’t particularly like meat.”
“We mostly keep it in stock for the non-equine members of the army, like Gryphons.” Lyra explained, before shoving Trevor’s potato into her mouth, ignoring his protests. Chewing then swallowing it, she turned to me. “Anyways, Jess, you were talking about me?”
I nodded. “After we finish here we need to discuss making an ignition key for the Drivers.”
“Key? You mean something like this?” She reached into a pocket and brought out what looked like a slip of paper -though half of it was made of blue crystal. It looked about the right size to fit in the Driver’s top slot. “I made this prototype when I was drafting up the blueprints to send you.”
Trevor reached around her and snatched it out of her magic grasp, much to her surprise. Turnabout’s fair play, I guess.
“So this is our Henshin Trinket? Kinda lame.”
“Hey!”
Before Lyra could yell at him any further, the sound of bells rang throughout the camp.
“That isn’t good…” Sweetie said.