//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: First day of class // Story: Augmented Love // by Silentpegasus //------------------------------// Chapter 2 First day of class. Rainbow Dash woke up with a yawn and to the sound of her alarm clock blaring. She quickly hit the snooze button and fell back to sleep. The young flyer was then awoken by a hard knock at the door. “Time to get up Rainbow. First day of Senior year.” A masculine voice said. “Yeah, yeah.” She said with a groan. The girl said with a yawn. She threw on a simple cyan T-shirt with a pair of dark blue jeans. She quickly flew out the door and made her way towards school. As the large tan colored building came into view she saw a familiar Unicorn man walking to school. She flew up beside him and smiled. “Sup dude?” “Not much you?” He asked as he looked at the flyer. “Same. Looking forward to your first day?” “I guess.” He said with a yawn. “Well, I’ll catch you later.” She said before zooming off. Crank shook his head and made his way up the stone steps of the school and headed towards the administration office. A woman with a blonde mane and a red horn sprouting from her head was at the desk. “Hello, how can I help you?” “I’m the transfer student, Crank Shaft.” “Oh, yes the principle told me that you were starting today.” She said as she got up. She was wearing a crimson jacket with a matching skirt and look earrings. “Um who is the Principle anyway?” “That would be us.” The teenager turned and looked in surprise to see Princess Luna wearing a blue blazer and a knee length navy blue skirt. “So good to see you again Crank.” She said with a warm smile. “You as well Luna.” He said as he shook her hand.”Why are you the Principle? I thought that you’d be too busy ruling with Tia.” “This is only a clone." She said as she gestured to her body. "My sister insisted that I learn about our subjects by overseeing the youth in this school.” She said with a sigh. “Since I am friends with a few members of Ponyville, she figured that it would be easier for me to start here.” “I guess that makes sense.” He said with a shrug. “Your tour guide should be arriving any moment.” She said as a familiar girl with cyan wings flew up to the two. “Hey Princess.” She then noticed the Unicorn. “What are you doing here Crank?” “He is the new student and you will show him where everything is.” Dash’s jaw dropped. “S-so he’s-” “The dweeb you’re showing around.” He said with a smug grin. “I’ll catch you later Lu.” He said with a nod. Luna smiled and walked back into her office. Dash then frowned at the man and punched him in the left arm. “Ow! What was that for?” “Jerk! Why didn’t you tell me that you were the new student?” She stammered. “You didn’t ask.” Dash pouted and let out a sigh. “So where’s your locker?” “The number is 117.” He said with a shrug. Dash then led the newcomer through the hallways until they reached it. “Let me see your schedule.” She said as he held it out. The girl skimmed it and grinned. “Cool, we’ve got history and gym together.” She said with a smile. “Lucky me.” He said in a sarcastic tone. The girl teased and stuck her tongue out at him. “Where’s B14?” “Down the hall, second door on the left.” The two then heard the bell ring. “I gotta go. See ya in Gym.” She said before running off in the opposite direction. Crank followed the directions and walked into the room to see several different people chatting with one another. He then spotted a spare desk next to a girl with long red hair and green eyes. Crank shrugged and took the empty desk. The girl looked to her right and smiled at the newcomer. Soon a maroon dressed woman with light red hair entered the room. “Okay everyone, lets settle down.” She said as she put her books down. “I am Ms. Cherilee and this is Literature 101.” She said as the students all quieted down. “When I call your name I’d like you to stand up and tell us something about yourself.” Damn it. Crank thought. The teacher started to call out names and students hesitantly stood up. “Crank Shaft?” She asked. The man hesitantly rose from his seat and nodded. “Why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?” “Um, not much to tell really.” He said as he clapped his hands together. “I’m from Manehattan. I’m obviously a Unicorn.” A Pegasus stallion with grey wings and a white mohawk raised his hand. “Yes?” “What kind of magic can you do?” “I'm a mechromancer." The group all had a look of confusion on their faces. "Electric and robotic.” The students then nodded. “Care to demonstrate?” Cherilee asked. “Um, okay.” He said as he pulled out his phone. He set it on the desk and started rubbing his hands together as arcs of electricity formed around them. He placed his left hand over the device and a bright bolt of blue electricity struck it. The phone started to change and shift. Soon the object disassembled itself and reassembled as a small robotic man. “Wow.” One student said. The small robotic man then started to walk around the desk. “Very interesting.” Cherilee said. The devise soon fell apart in a pile of metal shards. Crank snapped his fingers and the pieces reorganized themselves back into the phone. Crank then turned the device back on and several people clapped for him. Crank took his seat next to the girl. Halfway through the class he felt something tap his shoulder. He slowly shifted his eyes down and saw a note on his desk. The man carefully looked down and unfolded the paper. My name is Rose by the way. The man looked up and gave her a nod. The red haired girl gave him a small wink as the bell sounded. Crank gulped and gathered his books. He looked at his schedule and saw that he had gym next. He walked into the locker room and saw a man with light blue wings and dark blue hair. “Coach Soarin?” He asked. The man turned around in his chair and looked at the man. The Pegasus looked like he was in his mid twenties and was in fantastic shape. “What can I do for ya?” “I’m the new student. Crank Shaft.” “Oh right, I heard that you would be joining my class.” He said as he stood up. “Got gym clothes?” Crank nodded and pulled out a pair of baggy shorts and a loose fitting T-shirt. The man found a spare locked and put his books and bag inside. He put his shirt on first making sure no one saw the scar on his right shoulder blade from his fake limb. The man put his clothes in the locker room and followed the rest of the group out onto the court. He looked around to see several different people in their groups talking to one another. The man was then approached by a familiar rainbow haired flyer and emerald eyed farmer. “Sup dude?” She asked with a smile. She was donning a cyan tank top with rainbow short shorts. The farmer was wearing a light orange T-shirt and denim jeans cut off at her mid thighs. “Howdy partner.” Crank gave them each a smile and a nod. “How are you liking the place so far?” The farmer asked. “Seems okay.” The group then heard a whistle blow and turned their attention towards the two coaches. Crank thought the coach looked familiar and now it was certain. Spitfire and Soarin of the Wonderbolts were the coaches. “Alright listen up. Soarin and I are going to be teaching you all during our off season.” Spitfire said. “We’re also in the process of recruiting for Wonderbolt Training.” Dash squealed like a fan girl. “If you think you got what it takes then stop by one of our offices. Keep in mind you must maintain at least a C average or higher in all your classes to be considered for the position.” The cyan flyer then grunted. The class started out with a quick jog around the gym and a few stretches. Crank was in relative good shape and had formed a good muscular build. He had developed good core muscles when he got his new arm. A small six pack was visible against his skin. Near the end of the class the students saw Soarin rolling out a chart filled with red rubber balls. “Okay, today we’re going to be playing an old favorite of mine.” Soarin said as he spun one of the balls on the end of his finger. “Dodgeball.” Most people grinned. “New guy,” He said as he tossed Crank a ball. “you’re captain of team A.” Buck. Crank thought with a gulp. “Blueblood, team B.” Crank looked and saw a student with long blonde hair and a white horn sticking out of his head. “If any of you fly or use magic then you’re out.” He stated. The class broke into their teams. Fortunately, Applejack and Dash seemed to not like the other magic user and sided with Crank. The next five minutes were filled with flying red rubbery death. Little by little the teams were worn down. Dash and AJ managed to hold out until the end but soon fell to the other team. Crank gulped as he looked across the court and saw Blueblood along with two Pegasi grinning. Soarin blew his whistle. “Since Crank Shaft is the only remaining player on his team, he can either bring in one person for support or use magic.” The unicorn weighed his options and looked over at the side lines and saw Dash begging to be put in. He crossed his arms and thought for a moment. “I’ll take magic.” “Very well, just no shield spells.” Soarin said as the group got into position. Crank’s right pupil glowed a faint green color. The man’s vision shifted to a light green and a targeting indicator highlighted the three opponents. As the whistle flared, Crank used a spell to quickly get a ball in his hand. He looked ahead and quickly dodged two incoming balls. He used the ball in his right hand to deflect them and slammed the ball forward. The rubber ball collided with one of the flyer’s arms and left to sit down. The next one to fall was the other Pegasus, leaving only the two Unicorns. “Learn your place commoner.” The white horned man stated. “Bring it on blue balls.” Crank said in a mocking tone. A collective ‘ooohhh’ echoed through the crowd. Blueblood grunted and levitated three balls and spun them around, creating a circular shield. One by one he launched them at an alarming speed. Crank dodged the two balls with ease as his tracker picked them up one by one. His right eye turned red as the last ball was flung at him. Crank charged towards the projectile and turned so the right side of his body was facing it. The man flung the red ball out of his left hand and hurdled it towards the jock. Blueblood quickly side stepped it and grinned. His smile faded away as he saw the man jump in a cartwheel fashion and grip the flying ball in his right hand in mid air. As both feet landed on the ground, Crank used his momentum to give his arm extra force. The ball made a zooming sound as it flew through the air and collided with the man’s face sending him back a good five feet before falling to the ground. Everyone cheered as Soarin blew the whistle signaling the end of the game. Some looked at Blueblood who had a bloody nose. Dash and Applejack rushed up to Crank and patted him on the back. “Dude that was awesome!” Dash yelled. Crank’s right eye then shifted back to it’s electric green color. “Peasant!” Blueblood yelled. “Do you know who I am?” “Yeah, Tia and Lu’s stuck up nephew.” He said with a sigh. The group looked at him in surprise at how he addressed the Princesses so friendly. “How dare you address the royal family in such a manner.” “If they have a problem with it then I’ll take it up with them.” He said as he turned around and walked back over to the locker room. A red rubber ball then hit him on the right side of the face. “Blueblood!” Soarin yelled. “My office, after class.” Crank shook off the blow and shrugged. Blueblood grunted and made his way inside. Crank went into the locker room and quickly got changed. As he exited he saw Soarin starting to collect the red rubber balls off the floor and put them in the basket. One rolled near Crank’s foot. “Hey new guy pass that one over here.” He said as he motioned to the ball Crank picked it up in his right hand and got ready to toss it to the coach. As he recoiled his arm his right eye twitched and switched to red as it targeted the teacher. “What? No!” Crank said as he fired the ball at the coach. Even though Soarin was across the room, the ball hit him with enough force to knock him on his ass. Spitfire’s jaw dropped as she and Crank hurried over to him. “I am so sorry! My hand slipped and-” “Don’t be.” Soarin said as he got up. A small dribble of blood was coming from his nose. “You’ve got one hell of an arm! How’d you like to be on our football team?” Crank looked at Spitfire who was just as shocked as he was. Soarin pulled out a tissue and stuffed it in his bleeding nostril. “Um...I’m not too good at sports and I already have a job.” Soarin sighed. “How about I put you down as an alternate?” Soarin asked. “Sorry coach, but my job is-” “Come on! We need someone with your talent.” Crank sighed and held his head low. “I’ll think about it, but no promises.” He said with a sigh. “I guess I can accept that.” The three then heard the second bell ring. “Need a pass?” He asked as he pulled out a pen. The unicorn nodded. Soarin pulled out some paper and a pen before scribbled a note on the sheet. “There ya go and if you change your mind, you know where to find me.” Crank nodded and made his way out of the gym and down the hall. The man quickly stopped inside a janitor’s closet and looked in the small mirror that was hanging on the wall. He saw his right eye shifting from green to red in rapid succession. “Shit.” He said with a groan. “I hate this part.” The man placed the silver cylinder in front of his eye and pressed the button making a low buzzing noise. He heard a small hiss and a clink. Crank gripped and slowly removed the robotic eye from it’s socket. He then pointed the silver rod at the machine. “C’mon you little.” The man heard a faint beep noise and looked with his left eye to see the iris was green again. He carefully inserted the false eye back into his head and blinked. “I’ll have to run a full check when I get home.” The man hid the sonic device inside his jacket and made his way to class. He pulled out his schedule and read it over. Math. Room C56. Crank found the room and quietly opened the door in the back of the class. Hoping not to make too much noise he closed it slowly. When he turned back around he saw everyone in the room staring at him. The teacher looked fairly older and had a grey mustache and horn. “Late arrival?” He said with a groan. “Yeah, sorry.” Crank said as he rubbed his head. “I have a pass from Coach Soarin.” He said as he walked up to the professor. The man took the piece of paper and had a sceptic look on his face. “Very well then, have a seat next to Ms. Sparkle.” He said as he pointed to the seat that was next to the indigo haired girl. Crank nodded and took his seat. Twilight gave him a small smile. The class seemed to drag on forever and the man soon found himself bored. “Okay, Mr. Late, let’s see how boring you find this problem.” The teacher then wrote a massive problem on the board that even made the purple clad scholar gulp. Crank yawned and pulled out his reading glasses. They were black, rectangular wire rim and were considered stylish. He put his right hand over his fake eye and rested his head on his hand. While Crank had the advantage of having robotic implants he mostly used it from a study aspect. “Mr Late, we’re waiting.” “It’s impossible.” “Maybe you should study more instead of-” “Hold up there Professor.” The class looked at him in shock. “It’s a trick question.” The teacher bit his lip. Crank then spent the next five minutes explaining his answer in full detail. By the end, the teacher looked like he was about to blow a blood vessel. “Is that correct?” Crank said as he put his hands behind his head and smirked. “C-correct.” The man said as he bit his lip. The bell rang and the students collected their books as they stood up. Crank looked at Twilight who’s right eye was twitching. “How did you do that?” “Did I forget to mention that I’m a genius?” He said with a nervous laugh. “You didn’t even use a calculator!” She said as the two exited the class room. “What do you have next?” “Lunch. You?” “Same.” He said as he followed the girl into the lunch room. The scholar led the man towards a table where the other five girls were sitting. “Hey what did you talk with Soarin about?” Dash asked. “He wanted me on the football team.” The girls looked at him in surprise. “Well congratulations.” Applejack said. “I’m not gonna join.” He shrugged. “Say what?” Dash yelled. “Why would you say no?” “Sports aren’t my thing.” “Considering what you did to Blueblood’s face ah find that hard to believe.” Applejack said as she ate an apple. “What are you talking about?” Rarity asked. “Crank totally creamed Blueblood today in dodgeball.” Dash said with a smile. “Look.” She said as she pointed across the room. The girls followed her finger and saw that the blonde haired man had a large bruise on the side of his face. The Prince then shot the group a look and the girls quickly turned back around. “I’ve got a good arm.” Crank said with a shrug. “Serves him right.” Dash said. She then felt something hit the back of her head. Crank saw an apple core bounce off her head and land on the floor. The group turned and saw Blueblood with a small grin on his face. “Why that-” Crank put a hand on her shoulder. “Easy Dash.” He said with a smile. “How are you okay with that?” She yelled. “I have one rule.” He said as he pulled out the silver rod and discretely pointed it at the jock. “Karma’s a bitch.” Crank pressed the button and ten-seconds later, Blueblood’s drink exploded just as he was opening it. The posh student was covered head to toe in the sticky soda. The girls all chuckled at the spectacle. “That’s it!” The man yelled as he ran towards Crank. “And that’s my cue.” He said as he ran out of the room with a grin on his face. Blueblood fired a series of magical bolts at the man who dodged them. He ran into the music room and blocked the door with a chair. He turned around to see a girl with shoulder length electric blue hair, a white horn and piercing red eyes. She had a pair of magenta tinted sunglasses resting just above her horn. “Who the hell are you?” Crank noticed that she had a turntable and a few speakers set up. “Idea!” He yelled as he ran over and unscrewed the back of one of the speakers. “Hey what are you doing?” She yelled as the man stuck his right hand inside the mess of wires. “I’m going to use this speaker as a type of amplifier for my magic.” He said as he jammed his fingers inside a few ports. One bight side to his arm being cybernetic is the ability to plug into other machines. The two then heard a series of loud bangs coming from the door. “By the way, what’s your name?” He asked as he turned the speaker towards the door. “V-Vinyl Scratch.” She said as she looked at the speaker. “Nice to meet you Vinyl. Run for your life!” He said as the door burst open to reveal the drenched Prince. “You are so dead!” “Heads up, cuz am about to,” Crank quickly levitated the musician’s glasses over his eyes. “drop the bass!” A bright blue beam accompanied by electronic beats erupted from the speaker and slammed the Unicorn against the wall of lockers. Blueblood slowly got to his feet and glared at the man. “Shit.” He said as the speaker died. As Blueblood was about to fire a bolt of magic when a bright flash of blue light filled the room. “What is going on here?” Luna yelled in her royal Canterlot voice. The sound wave was loud enough to blow some papers that were resting on the floor down the hallway. Crank quickly walked over to Blueblood, helped him up and put an arm around his shoulder. “Just an accident Lu-,” The woman scowled at him. “Ma’am.” He said with a weak grin. “You see, Blueblood here was being a pal and agreed to help me test my theory of turning sound waves into the visible spectrum and concentrated form.” Crank lied with a smile. The athlete looked at him in confusion. Vinyl was about to interject, but the man cut her off. “Ms. Scratch here was kind enough to lend me the use of her speakers.” The Principle then looked at the ruined mechanical devise. “I must have put the feedback up to high and Blueblood here accidentally got caught in the blast.” He said as he lightly slapped the man’s back. “Sorry about the speakers Vinyl, I’ll be sure to replace them.” Luna cocked an eyebrow and looked at the three students. “Is this correct?” She asked as she looked at Blueblood. The Unicorn weighed his options and knew that the lunchroom and gym scene would come into play. “Y-yes.” Blueblood said with a grunt. “Ms. Scratch?” Vinyl darted her red eyes at the other Unicorn who had a nervous look on his face. “Yup. That’s what happened.” She said in a flat tone. Crank let out a sigh of relief. “I see.” Luna said as she looked at the group. “Try to be more careful in the future.” She said as she walked down the hallway. “Wait.” Crank said as he whispered to Blueblood. “Wait.” The Princess rounded the corner. Crank’s ear twitched as he heard her foot steps fade. “Okay, we’re good.” “Get your hand off me commoner.” He said as he shook off the man’s arm. “I only did that to spare myself the disgrace of admitting that I had to deal with you myself.” “You’re welcome.” He said as he started to make his way back down the hallway. “Hey!” Vinyl yelled as she charged after the man. “Yes?” He said as he turned back around. Vinyl outstretched her arm and opened her palm. “What?” “My shades.” The man then realized that he was still wearing the woman’s glasses. “Oh right, sorry.” He said as he carefully gave them back to her. “You still owe me a new sound system.” She said as she frowned. “I know. Sorry.” He said as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. “Those were brand new X22’s!” She said as her red eyes bore holes through his. “I noticed.” He said with a shrug. “Still, the feedback is nothing compared to the X23 model.” Vinyl scoffed. “Please, those aren’t supposed to come out for another week and they cost four hundred bits a piece. I can’t afford that on my salary.” “Good thing you won’t have to.” He said as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. He rested it against his ear and heard a voice. “Gizmo, you there?” “Hey my main man Crank.” A voice said over the phone. “What’s up?”
 “I need a pair of X23’s delivered to.” He put his hand on the speaker part of the phone. “What’s your address?” “Eleven West Mane Street, Ponyville.” Vinyl said in confusion. “Eleven West Main Street, Ponyville.” Crank repeated. “Oh and overnight it if it’s possible.” “Done and done. Should be there by tomorrow afternoon.” He said with a grin. “Whoops, boss is coming. Gotta go.” “Peace.” He said as the conversation ended. He turned back to the DJ who was staring at him in awe. “Done. Should be there by tomorrow.” Vinyl snatched his phone away and typed a few keys. “What are you doing?” “Heres my number.” She said as she tossed it back to him. “Just incase it doesn’t come, I’ll know how to reach you.” The woman said with a small wink. Crank blushed as the bell rang. Crank grabbed his bag and made his way to his classes. He had Cooking with Pinkie. Biology with Fluttershy. Metal working class with Applejack and Rarity, who was whining practically the entire class. The final period of the day was history. Crank immediately spotted the rainbow haired flyer who was waving him to the back of the class. “Why do you have metal shavings in your hair?” She asked as Crank shook his head and the metal shavings tumbled out. “I just came from shop class with AJ and Rarity.” “Rarity in shop class?” She said as she barreled over in laughter. “Yeah, she has to take some kind of shop class in order to graduate.” He said with a sigh. The door opened to show a man with dark brown hair and a brown horn protruding from his forehead. “Good afternoon class, my name is Mr. Quill and I’ll be your history professor for the rest of the school year.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the man. Class went fairly quickly and soon the final bell rang. “Ugh finally. That last class took forever!” The girl complained as the two walked through the hallways. “Didn’t seem that long and the discussion was interesting.” Dash shot him a look and face palmed. “Ugh, egghead.” Crank rolled his eyes and shrugged off the comment. “Hey some of the girls are meeting up at Sugar Cube Corner. You want in?” “Sorry, I have work to do.” He said with a nod. “See ya.” He said before vanishing in a flash of light. Rainbow shrugged and took off towards the center of town. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Crank teleported inside his home and yawned. The image of the small blue woman appeared on the coffee table. “How was your first day?” The A.I. asked. “Oh you know, got asked to join the football team, told off a teacher, got in a fight.” “So the usual?” The image said as she rolled her eyes. “Yep.” He said as he sat down on the couch and started his homework. After an hour of non stop working the man heard someone ring the doorbell. Crank got to his feet and saw the indigo haired scholar standing at his door with her arms crossed and a blank look on her face. “Hey Twilight, what’s up?” “I looked up that problem today after school,” She started as she walked into his home. “and it took Equestria’s greatest minds five minutes to figure it out.” “So?” “You did it in three. That’s impossible.” “I’m a genius remember?” “True, or your cybernetic implants helped.” The room fell silent as Crank clammed up. The man relaxed and let out a sigh. “Okay, I think that someone has been watching too much anime.” He said as he chuckled. “First, there’s no such thing as too much anime,” She said in a flat tone. “and second, I’m not an idiot.” “How can you possibly think that-” “Celestia told me.” Crank’s facade shattered. “I am her personal student after all.” Crank narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “She didn’t tell me what happened, just that you lost your right arm in an explosion.” “Okay Sparkle, I’ve played this game before.” He said in a flat tone. “How much?” “Hm?” Twilight coked her head in confusion at the words. “How much do I have to pay you to keep you quiet about this?” “What are you.....Oh no, no, no.” The woman said in a panic filled voice. “I’m not blackmailing you.” “So why are you here?” Twilight bit her lip and looked for the right words. “Can I....see it?” Crank let out a sigh and extended his right arm and his horn flared. The flesh like material started to rip revealing the sleek metal framework. “Wow!” Twilight said as her eyes grew to the size of saucers. “One downside to it is that I can’t cast with it.” He said as he looked over the arm. “I have to make physical contact with something if I need to focus my magic through it, but I'm working on that part.” “What illusion charm do you use?” “I don’t use one.” He said in a flat tone. “I have a machine that encases my arm in skin.” “I don’t get it.” “Ever see the Terminator movies?” “Yeah.” “Kinda like that. Its living tissue stretched like a glove over the metal.” Crank explained. “Its still a prototype, but it’s working.” “What else got....replaced.” “My right eye.” He said as he pointed to the electric green iris. “It can switch from analysis, targeting, thermal, night vision and a few others.” The man then grinned. “My personal favorite is X-ray vision.” Twilight’s face blushed and quickly covered her chest. “Relax Twilight, that last one was a joke.” The scholar sighed and rolled her eyes. “How do you even see with it?” “I have a chip in my brain that is connected to my right optic nerve. The camera in the eye sends the image back in bits of code. The chip translated it and sends the image back to my brain.” Twilight was awe struck at the information. “The chip also has an interface with any kind of tech I use.” “Wow! Wait, so you cheated!” The woman said with a frown. “No, I did the calculations myself. Did you see me cover my right eye?” The woman thought back to the class and nodded. “I may have these upgrades but I don’t use them to cheat.” “I’m sorry.” The woman said as she held her head. “I just assumed that you did that to impress some students.” “Who would I try to impress?” Twilight gulped. “I don’t know.” She said as she lightly tapped the toe of her foot. “Well, I’d better get going.” Twilight said. “Alright see ya. Oh and Twilight.” He said as the woman turned around. “Keep in mind that I help write security protocols for major companies.” “Huh?” “I’m talking banking, social security, academic records. All that stuff.” “What are you saying?”
 “This, if you don’t keep my secret then what reason would I have to keep yours?” “I don’t have any-” “Magic kindergarden.” The woman tensed up and a bead of sweat formed on her brow. “So we have a deal?” He asked as he extended his fake limb. Twilight shook it and smiled. “Thank you.” “Don’t worry, I always keep my promises.” She said with a smile. “For both our sakes, I hope you’re right.” Twilight nodded and left the man alone in his house. The small image appeared on the coffee table and sighed and shook her head. “Why do you scare people like that?” “Its fun.” “Would you really do that? Expose her secrets?” “Of course not.” He said as he rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m off to work.” He said as he walked down stairs into his basement. He switched on the light and walked over to the skin machine. The man stuck his right arm inside and felt the flesh coating wrap around the arm. He flexed his arm and walked over to his work bench. He spent the next few hours toiling away at his workbench. Crank stopped three hours in to make himself dinner. Nothing like some Ramen to warm the body. He thought as he sat down in front of his T.V. After he did his dishes he popped in a game disk. He booted up Halo 4 and saw that Dash had sent him a party invite. He accepted it and was surprised to see five other female Spartans. One was lavender, another was white, a pink one was jumping up and down while an orange and light yellow one were standing still. “Oh hey Crank.” Dash’s character said in a happy voice. “We’re about to go into big team battle. You want in?” “Sure.” “I didn’t know you played this game.” Crank recognized the voice of the pastry chef. “I could say the same thing about you girls.” “What is that supposed to mean?” Applejack asked as he character swapped her rifle with a gravity hammer. “Just cause we’re girls doesn’t mean we can’t play video games?” “No, I just didn’t know that you guys played.” He said as he took a pistol, DMR, two plasma grenades and cloaking. “I have nothing against girl gamers. Hell, I know plenty of-” LunarPrincess17 has joined the party. “Greetings Crank we are here to cap some noobs.” The group looked and saw a dark blue Spartan. “Hey Luna.” Crank said. “Princess Luna?” Twilight yelled over the mic. “Yes, we are here to dominate.” She said in a voice brimming with confidence. The eight played together for an hour before Luna logged off to raise the moon. “How do you know the Princess?” Twilight asked. “My dad’s company designs new types of weapons and other things for the Royal Guard. When I found out Princess Luna was a gamer, she became one of our go to beta testers for some of our new video game products.” “Video game products? You said it was a military company.” “Black Hawk Technologies have a hand in everything. From gaming to medical equipment and military weaponry.” He said as he took out an enemy sniper. “We’ve got labs stationed all around the world researching different things.” “So what exactly do you research?” Dash asked. “I just test the stuff and see if needs to be improved.” He said as he threw a grenade at an oncoming tank. “I do play around with it before they need it for production though. So that’s always fun.” He started to chuckle. “One time they wanted me to test this military jeep’s automatic parallel parking function.” “Now why in the hay would a guard jeep need an automatic parallel parking function?” The farmer asked as she slammed someone with the gravity hammer. “You never know when you’re gonna need to parallel park your way out of a situation.” He said with a snicker. “After I tested it I did what anybody would do with a jeep.” “Drive the shit out of it?” Dash asked. “Bingo.” He said as he picked up the sniper rifle and scored a double kill ending the match. “Dash shouldn’t you be studying? We have a history quiz on Monday.” “I know! I just wanted to get a few matches in before I study.” “Right.” He said in a sarcastic tone. “Hey what about you huh?” “I already finished my work.” “Your parents don’t nag you?” “They’re not here and won’t be for at least two weeks. “Yeah, yeah egghead.” Dash said with a laugh. “Wait your parents are gone?” “Yeah, they’re on vacation. Why?” A silence fell over the party of players. “Hangout at Crank’s place tomorrow!” Dash yelled before logging off. “Wait what?” “I do wish to see your mansion darling.” Rarity said in an elegant voice. Before Crank could protest a familiar A.I. jumped into his mic and copied his voice. “Sure sounds like fun. I’ll be home all day.” The A.I. said. “Cool see ya then!” Pinkie said before quitting. The other girls followed suit and the man was alone in the party. He turned off his console and frowned at the hologram who regained her normal image. “Why in the name of Celestia did you just do that?” He yelled. “Oh calm down. You should be thanking me. I just got six girls to come over to your house tomorrow.” The image giggled. “What if they see something they’re not supposed to see?” “Oh quit being paranoid.” She said before she flickered away. The man grunted and looked at the clock. He’d been playing for almost four hours and it was now midnight. Crank yawned and decided to head off to bed.