Starlight: Redshift

by the-pieman


Chapter 32

Making a quick trip through the strangely bright and sunny streets, I head to the pokecenter. I could’ve swore that it was still raining hard when I was heading for the exit of the lab, but now it’s almost too bright and sunny, and there’s very few puddles remaining.

Upon reaching the building, I head inside, and there’s a bunch of worried-looking trainers clustered around an area towards the back. I see Twilight and Rarity only moments before they notice me, and the two of them skip forward to give me a group-hug.

The crushing grips aside, the two seem really happy to see me. Twilight even says I had them worried. When the hugs are finished, and I can breath again, The two say that the crowd is getting announcements from a few police officers and the league champion, but they didn’t get a good look at whoever it was.

“Screw the champion, I’m gonna go find the guy who actually saved my life. Any of you guys seen Xavius around? I’d at least like to get his number. He acts faster than the cops do when trouble goes down.”

“I think I saw him in the crowd, I think it’d be best to just wait here, by the door, and see if he heads out this way.” Rarity says, giving a noncommittal shrug. “There’s little else we could do to track him down. Oh, and this evening, I think I should go over our pokemon. I learned a few things from the breeder’s meet-up, and I think they’ll be useful.”

I think for a moment. “Didn’t they say breeders get homework in the form of trying to specifically breed pokemon in a certain way? I don’t know much about taking care of young pokemon, but I do know that pokemon bred specifically for battle would help Twilight and me a ton.”

“Mmm, I’m not sure I can help with that right now, but I can certainly research it. Oh! I’m also a certified ‘Junior Breeder’ now!”

“Awesome, now all you have to do is win a Contest and we’re all on our way to fulfilling our goals! And you two wanted to leave...

The two look away, and I chuckle. Turning to check, I almost miss seeing Xavius walking towards the front door.

I run up to him. “Hey man, thanks for saving my bacon twice now. I’m a bit of a trouble magnet to be honest.”

He smiles and huffs a laugh. “It’s alright. Just doing my job, after all.” Another man walks up behind Xavius, tall and dark-haired. The guy is smiling, and Xavius waves him towards me. “Oh, this is Zoltan, by the way. Goes by Zoli.”

The tall man offers his hand, smiling and saying “Hey.”

I take his hand and the girls, who have caught up at this point, say their hellos as well. I turn to Zoltan. “So are you a hero too, or what? You guys run around beating the crap out of the Chainers whenever they show up like a game of Whack-a-Diglett?”

Zoli and Xavius laugh at that, but Zoli shakes his head. “Nah, I’m the local Gym leader. Best swimmer on this equatorial landmass.”

“I’m probably gonna try for the gym after a week or so, maybe. I kinda just rushed here and... my Pokemon need a bit of training still.”

“Ah, yeah, that can be a bit of a problem. The level-gap between my Gym and Winston’s is a bit far, but this entire region has fairly high standards.” He leans against a wall, Xavius tipping his hat at us before hurrying off, saying he had to be places.

“I kinda figured that out. Anyhow, I’ll see you later, I need to catch that guy.” I begin to run off, dragging the girls along with me so if we get lost, we’re at least lost together. “Gotta run!” Zoli waves goodbye with a snort, smiling and wandering off as well.

We run through the streets, the sunlight no longer intense, and try to follow Xavius. Several turns later, I see him stopping outside of a shop with a sign over it, bearing a symbol of a crossed wrench and a rifle. Xavius steps into the building after a short glance at the sign. I wonder what he’s doing in there?

I walk quickly towards the building and enter, looking around for my savior twice over. I at least want his phone number for crying out loud. Who knows when that’s gonna happen again?

The man is talking to another guy inside of the shop, making gestures at his gloved hand, and the two look at me as I step in, the little bell-dingle-noise announcing my entrance. The shop is well-maintained, but there’s heaps of mechanical parts, engines, and a collection of what look like prosthetic robo-limbs. On the other side of the shop is a series of very nice-looking rifles, pistols, and other guns I don’t know the names of.

“Hey, I wanted to talk to you a bit. You seem to get around a lot and I’d-” I stop, mid-word as I see his hand and arm just sort of fall out of his sleeve, Xavius only giving a short glance down before looking back up at me. His arm just fell off, and he doesn’t seem to care.

His arm, shiny silvery and all, just fell off. Holy shit, what happened to- Shiny... silvery...

I take a look at the metallic limbs on display, and the realization clicks.

Oh, he just lost his arm and needs a prosthetic... How the heck did he lose his arm!? I go up to Xavius, now with a rather flat sleeve and look at the fake arm he’s holding in his fleshy hand.

“How’d that happen? Your arm got bitten off by something?”

Xavius just stares at me for several seconds. Finally, he blinks, clears his throat, and speaks. “Did... you need something?”

“Uh, well... I figured maybe I could get your number or something. I mean, you’ve saved my life from those freaks two times now and just just kinda leave. I figure if this is going to keep happening, I at least want to know what the hell they’re doing.”

“You know you could just listen to the news on your éTech, right?”

“Well yeah, but... come on man, throw me a bone here! What’s up with those unknown component things? Why do they need a laser that could melt a Tyranitar’s face off!?”

Xavius rolls his eyes and sighs. “Here, I’ll give you my number, but I’m kinda in the middle of getting my arm recalibrated. We can chat in a little while, okay?” He tells me the number, and I type it in.

“Fine, alright. I’ll just... leave then...” I head out the door and... just wait I suppose.

Twilight and Rarity have their faces pressed to the glass, I see, Rarity looking at the prosthetic limbs and Twilight at the engine blocks and mechanical parts.

“Heya guys. He’s in there getting his uh... arm fixed or something.”

“Look at the precision of those parts! And without magic to help mold the metal!” Twilight says, practically... no, literally drooling at the machinery on display. Ugh.

“And see the articulation on those finely detailed limbs! They’re so... elegant!” Rarity breaths, pressed bodily against the entire window.

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, they’re fantastic. Hey, why don’t you get one? All it would take is having your arm chopped off! Twilight, get your face out of the window already, you’re leaving saliva trails!”

Rarity gives me an angry look, then returns to her ‘window shopping’, though Twilight looks visibly embarrassed at her actions. She wipes the drool away, and stands awkwardly off to the side a little, glancing out of the corners of her eyes every now and then at the machines.

“Seriously you guys, I understand everything is super new and all, but you are really making it hard to want to be seen with you in public. Yes Twilight, they don’t use magic. This entire city, super-wall included, was all made by magicless machinery. Now stop gawking at the engines!”

“But... but... I could take these apart! I can’t do that to a wall!”

I facepalm. “Sure, if you had the money to buy it. You already spent at least a hundred bucks on food, now you want to buy an engine block just to take it apart? Tell me exactly where we’re going to keep it.” This is slowly becoming less of an adventure with friends, and more like a cross-country baby-sitting job.

“I could put it back together...” Twilight mutters. I grab her by the wrist, pull her into the store, and drag her up to the first, smallest engine block there. It looks about the size you’d see in a moped or a something. “Here. Pick that up and tell me you can take that apart and know exactly what you’re doing, and put it back together.”

“Alright, give me one moment.” She closes her eyes, and I see the edges of her transformation begin to warp and twist. She’s trying to turn back into a unicorn... in a store... and I can see a camera right there.

“Twilight Sparkle do you even have a brain cell to your name!?” I put my arms against her back and push her out the door. “And you blame me for not being cautious about cultural weirdness in another world.”

“But- but- knowledge!” Twilight says, not really resisting my pushing, though her expression is a touch distressed.

“But- but- doing something totally impossible that could end up with you being cut open to see how you work!

Twilight pouts, giving me her best puppy eyes. It doesn’t work. “You know what, fine. Turn into a pony right in front of a camera, use magic and pull apart an engine block, put it back together, and then spend money on it that should be used to buy food for yourself and your pokemon!”

Twilight looks down. “Sorry... I’ve just never seen anything like it. There’s so much to see, so much to learn. And... I’m not used to worrying about having money.”

“Well here’s a thought. Try and act normal for a change. Yes, everything around here is magicless. I’ve explained that to you at least ten times in Equestria and now five times here. It’s starting to become less of a culture shock and more of a headache.”

“Sorry... it’s just that hearing that everything is magicless is different than seeing and examining and studying the magicless things. There’s so many amazing things that could help ponykind immensely, but I don’t know any of it!” Twilight inhales deeply, then lets out a slow exhale. “I feel like there’s a test right around the corner, and I haven’t even started studying yet. It’s nerve wracking.”

I sigh. “You haven’t once sent a letter to Celestia about your experiences yet, have you? Why don’t you go over to a mart, buy a Pokeball, send that along with an update, and tell them to study it?” I figure a containment device that can hold just about any size of creature and then shrink down to the size of a pebble would be good enough for now.

“Actually, I’ve already sent a few reports. I already got a response, too. That ‘Antidote’ I sent them? they found it works perfectly on ponies! And for virtually anything!”

“Congratulations. You bought something at a corner store, handed it to technological simpletons, and you’re a miracle doctor.”

“Anthony, that Antidote is really easy to replicate. I could make more with a- a- a bathtub and some time! I read about something called a Full Restore. Imagine the applications if it works as well as the Antidote!”

I facepalm. “Of course a Full Restore is better. It cures any status affliction including burns or artificially induced sleep, and restores your general health to perfection. Hence the name Full Restore.”

“Yes, but I checked- Antidotes and Full Restores don’t work on humans. What you think is a great advancement for you isn’t so useful for us; what would we need pokeballs for, anyways? But a perfect cure-all a half-talented hack could create ad infinitum in their own home? And the berries! The base ingredients of most of the Potions and cures for pokemon, they grow in a few weeks here! Imagine if there were Earth Ponies growing them. Sweet Apple acres already has three or four apple crops a year, imagine if we could have dozens of Berry harvests each month?” She’s grinning at me, eyes wide and staring, and I don’t think she’s noticed that she’s taken two steps towards me.

“Then every single doctor in Equestria and elsewhere who worked their entire lives to get a degree in advanced medicine would lose their jobs to a bunch of berry farmers.”

“Well... but... but everypony would be healthy!” Her expression is still bright, but dimmed a bit by confusion.

“And you just took one of the highest paying, most important jobs to your world and told them ‘We don’t need you, so you have no more income. Sorry you went to college and studied this practice for absolutely nothing.’”

“But... what about childbirth? And there’s no indication that Antidotes work on being sick. Or for those who need surgery.”

“Still, advancements come at a cost. Do you know what those engines do if used too much by too many people?”

“Uhm... no? It’s why I want to study them.”

“Well I’ll go right past the fact that overuse poisons the air, and go straight to the fact that they run on a non-renewable resource. There have been wars over the fuel for cars. Sure they aren’t the kind where people die, but if the supplier withholds... then what?”

“I- I didn’t know that... wait, what do they run on? There’s steam engines in equestria, and those run on coal. And dragons can make coal, though you usually need to bribe them.”

“They use gasoline. They burn it like coal to produce energy, but it produces much more energy than simply burning coal. But burning gasoline also expels toxins into the air.”

“Oh...” Twilight looks sadly at the engines once more, sighs, and finds a bench to sit on nearby. She looks really glum, but she really should’ve done more research first.

“Seriously, you are so... weird. You see incredible advancements and never think about the negative consequences. Just because something helps in one way doesn’t mean it’s harmless in every other way. Heck, sometimes the ‘cure’ is just as horrible as the disease. Look up chemotherapy sometime. Anyhow, this has been going on forever, I’m gonna see if Xavius is done in there.”