• Published 7th Nov 2013
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Augmented Love - Silentpegasus



After losing his right arm and eye, Crank Shaft, and his parents move to Ponyville to get away from the busy city and enroll him in the local high school.

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Chapter 3: Home Early

Chapter 3

Home Early

Crank’s eyes shot open and he moved a large I-beam off his body. The smell of blood and burning metal filled the man’s nose. The man felt his ribs crack as he sat up. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and groaned. He tried to move his arms. Crank attempted to get to his feet and walk towards the door. His broken legs gave under his weight and the ma cried in pain. The man attempted to stand. His right eye wasn’t working.

Am I blind? No, I can see my left hand. He thought as he flexed his burnt arm. He turned to look at his right arm and gasped. Wh-where’s my arm? He slowly turned his head and saw a the bleeding stub that once could be described as his right arm. Crank’s still good eye shrank to the size of a pin tip and he screamed in agony as he felt the pain ensnare his body.
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Crank shot up in his bed covered in sweat. Crank was shaking and he looked at his right arm. He clenched his metallic fist and grunted as the small A.I. appeared on his nightstand.

“You okay?”

“Yeah I’m-”

“Don’t bullshit me.” The A.I. frowned. “You had the nightmare again didn’t you?” Crank hung his head.

“So what?”

“You need to talk to someone about it.”

“Like who? Mom and dad are out of the question. Twilight would probably go all analytical on me, plus I don’t even know her or any of her friends that well.” He grunted. “They’d probably look at me like I’m some sort of freak.” He said as he looked down at his arm. The small see through woman frowned as he got dressed. A simple green collared shirt and a pair of blue jeans sufficed.

The man looked at his right arm and made the false skin dissolve. “That feels better.” He said as he stretched his right arm. “That stuff always makes me feel I’m shrink wrapped.”

“Well, you sort of are with that thing on.” The A.I. said. The man made his way downstairs and fixed himself a bowl of cereal. After eating and dispatching with the dishes the man walked down to his work station and cracked his neck.

“D, start up the training program.” He said as the lights dimmed and three rows of green circles circled around the man.

“Begin.” The A.I. said. As the man hit the hologram with his fist it turned red. He did a series of kicks and punches. Soon the green circles were all red. “I measured an 8% increase from last time.”

“Run it again.”

“Are you s-”

“Run. It. Again.” He said in a serious tone. He walked over to the sound system and plugged in his iPony and selected a song. After an hour he heard a small buzzing noise. A battery symbol that was close to being empty blinked in his field of vision. “Time to recharge.” He said with a sigh. He walked over to a wall outlet and groaned. “I hate doing this.”

He forced his right finger into the outlet and felt the electricity rip through his arm. He gritted his teeth and grunted in pain. The small battery then filled and turned green. The man pulled out his finger and sighed.

“This new model eats away at the battery and mana doesn’t it.” He said at the A.I.

“You know what they say, nothing is perfect.” The small woman’s image then blinked twice. “Looks like your friends are here.”

“Keep them busy while I suit up.” He said as he stuck his hand in the machine.

Outside, Rainbow and the other five girls waited patiently. Dash kept her eyes on the metal hawk head on the door and sighed.

“Maybe he’s still sleeping.” Fluttershy asked.

“Its almost noon! Who sleeps till noon on a Saturday?” Dash complained.

“You.” Twilight and Applejack said with a chuckle.

“Hey I don’t sleep. I nap. There’s a difference.” She said with a pout. The group heard the door click and swing open on its own. The group looked at one another before shrugging and entering the house. Rarity’s eyes grew to the size of saucers as she saw the amazing decor.

“This is marvelous!” She chimed.

“Hey where’s Crank?” Dash asked.

“He’ll be up in a few minutes.” The group looked around as they heard a voice echo through the house.

“Who’s there?” Twilight asked. The small blue woman then appeared on the glass coffee table.

“Sorry.” She said with a small smile. The group instantly surrounded the A.I. and looked at her in confusion.

“I didn’t know Cortana had a sister.” Dash yelled.

“That’s not Cortana.” The group jumped in surprise as they heard a familiar voice say. “That is D. An AI I created.”

“AI?” Pinkie said. “What does the A stand for?”

“Artificial.”

“Oh and what about the-”

“Intelligence.” Crank groaned. “She’s kinda like Cortana in a way, only real.”

“Who’s Cortana?” Applejack asked.

“You’ve played the Halo series. She’s one of the main characters.” Crank said in surprise.

“Sorry partner. Dash brought that fancy gizmo of her’s over to mah house last night and we played a few rounds with ya. Never touched the game before then.” Crank blinked and looked at the other members of the group.

“Um, I was there too. Sorry.” Fluttershy said in a weak tone.

“I only tried it because Spike was hanging out with the CMC and a few kids from school last night.” Twilight said.

“I take it that Spike is your little brother or something?” Crank said.

“Yeah I guess you can call him that.” Twilight shrugged.

“I was also in attendance at Applejack’s house, that allowed me to join in last night’s festivities.” Rarity said. “Though I won’t be doing it again. I mean honestly. People running around in such horrid outfits shooting at one another?” She said with a scoff. “Its completely barbaric in my opinion.”

“I thought it was super duper fun.” Pinkie chimed. “but the cannon I picked up wasn’t like my party cannon. It just shot rockets.”

“Party cannon?” Crank said.

“Yup I can show you how it-”

“No!” The other five girls yelled.

“It took me five days to get all that glitter out of my hair Pinkie!” Twilight yelled. “Do you remember that?”

“Oh I sure do Twilight Sparkler.” Dash said with a laugh. Twilight frowned as she looked at the cyan flyer. Crank stood looking at the group and shook his head.

“You guys have the craziest stories.” He said as he shook his head. “So what do you guys want to do?”

“How about a tour?” Rarity asked. “The decor is gorgeous!”

“Yeah, my mom has good taste.” He said as he showed them around. He skipped his room due to the fact that it was messy. Pinkie then walked up to the basement door. “Whoa easy there Pinkie. That’s my office.”

“You have an office?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, I do work for one of the biggest tech companies in Equestria.” He said with a sigh.

“Can we see it?” Dash asked.

“I don’t know. There’s a lot of valuable equipment stored in here and-” The cyan flyer made a pouting face. Crank sighed.

Damn you Dash. Why do you use that look on me?

“Fine. Just don’t touch anything.” He said as he led them down the steps. The girls gulped as they saw a door that belonged to a bank vault sunk into the wall. Crank put his left hand on the scanner and opened his left eye as a red line went over it. He then leaned down towards a microphone. “Rising Dawn.” The girls heard a loud metallic hiss and the door swung open.

Jaws dropped as they saw a massive room filled with different machine parts and tools. “Sorry about the mess.” He said in a nervous tone. “I usually don’t have a lot of visitors so I keep it the way it is.”

“Wow and I thought my room was messy.” Dash said.

“I think of it as controlled chaos.” Crank shrugged. Twilight then noticed a cot set up in the corner. “I’m sometimes too tired from working to walk upstairs. So I just crash here.”

“So this is where you make all your gizmos?” AJ asked as she looked at his desk.

“Yup, this is where the magic happens.” He said with a shrug.

“Hey what’s this thing?” Dash asked as she put on a glove.

“Dash don’t-” His warning came too late as a bright blue beam shot out from the palm and hit the wall. The cyan flyer was caught off guard from the blast and fell on her back.

“That was awesome!” Dash yelled. Her smile faded as she saw the man frowning at her. “Heh, heh, sorry.”

“Don’t. Touch. Anything!” He said as he took the glove away from her. “Seriously, if something goes wrong then there’s enough volatile stuff in here to blast us all the way to the Crystal Empire.” The group gulped and each put down the metal object they were holding. Crank rubbed his face and sighed. “Sorry for snapping at you like that.” Something caught Twilight’s eye and looked at the odd devise.

“Um, Crank is this what I think it is?” She asked as she levitated the item.

“Nice to see somebody recognizes something from Attack on Titan.” He said as he walked over to the machine. “It’s still in the prototype stage, but it works to an extent.”

“Can I test it?” Twilight asked as her eyes lit up.

“Hell no. This thing still needs work and I won’t have it blowing up on someone.” He said with a sigh. The girls all gulped. "That reminds me, how did you get into anime Twilight? You don't seem like the person who watches it."

"Fluttershy actually introduced me to it." crank then looked at the timid Pegasus girl who was hiding behind her pink bangs. "I only recently got into it and I started on Attack on Titan." Crank shrugged and saw that several of the girls were starting to look bored. D then appeared on the table beside the man.

“Well, if you girls feel so inclined you could go to the pool.” Crank glared at the AI.

“Oh I haven’t been swimming in ages.” Rarity said.

“Wait, it’s like fifty degrees outside.” Dash said.

“Its an indoor pool.” The AI clarified.

“Um, I didn’t bring-” The yellow flyer was cut off as Rarity snapped her fingers and a bag of swim suits appeared in her hand. The group all raised an eyebrow.

“What? I’m always prepared in case of fashion emergency.” Crank sighed in defeat.

“Okay, there are three bathrooms you guys can change in. I’ll meet you all back in the kitchen.” He said as the girls all left. He glared at the AI who was grinning ear to ear. “I hate you sometimes, ya know that?”

“Love ya too Cranky.” She teased. The man grunted and removed the skin on his fake arm. “Hydro sealer?”

“Duh.” He said as he stuck his hand inside the machine. The metal frame was once again coated in the skin like structure. The man walked over to a closet and pulled out a pair of swim trunks and a surf shirt. As he walked out of the basement door he saw Twilight waiting for him. “Sup Twilight?”

“I’m just worried about you....in the pool....with that arm.” She said in a hushed tone. “Are we gonna get electrocuted?”

“No, hydro sealed.” He said as he held up his arm. The girl was sporting a lavender one piece. The two were then joined by the other girls. The farmer just had a pair of short jeans that cut off at her mid thigh and was donning an orange tank top. Pinkie was donning a frilly bottom with a bikini top.

Fluttershy was wearing a one piece similar to Twilight’s only it looked a bit too small for her. Rarity was donning a white bikini with a metal ring in the center. Rainbow’s was similar only a light blue and the ring had rainbow paint on it. Crank silently thanked Celestia that he wasn't in an anime because he would have probably done one of those crazy nose bleed cannons. Foreign animation aside, he turned back to the girls as he saw Pinkie jump into the pool in a cannon ball fashion.

“Yay!” She yelled. Rarity laid down on a lounge chair and looked towards the ceiling that was made of glass. She summoned a pair of sunglasses.

“I must say Crank this place is simply marvelous.”

“Thanks.” He said with a shrug.

“So why did you move from Manehattan anyway?” Dash asked as she floated on her back. Crank gulped.

“My folks always wanted to move to a small town. They both were raised in the city and wanted to find a nice town to live in when they got enough money.” He said with a sigh.

“Did you leave behind any friends there?” Twilight asked.

“Only a few and they’ve drifted. I still keep in touch with my best friend. I was never a social person back in the city.” He said as he sat down in a chair. “I was usually too busy working.”

“How long have you worked for your dad?” Dash asked. As she stuck her head out of the water.

“Since I was ten.” The girls looked at him in surprise. “My payment at the time was knowledge.”

“Knowledge?” Dash asked.

“I was given almost unlimited access to the information collected from around the world.” The group looked at him in surprise. “Although my body doesn’t have the magical capacity for most of the spells I read about.”

“How come?” Twilight asked. Crank let out a sigh and looked at the girls.

“Every living thing in this world has a some amount of magic in it. Unicorns and Pegasi just have a better time of manifesting it.” Crank said.

“How? Pegasi can’t use magic.” Dash asked.

“Let me explain.” Twilight said. “The three tribes do have magic, its just expressed in different ways. Pegasi have control over the weather and flight, Earth ponies like Applejack and Pinkie are more in tuned with the earth and Unicorns are able to project our magic outward to form spells.” She said as she pointed to her horn. “Unicorn horns are our focal point that allows us to manifest our magic.”

“Correct.” Crank said. “Your magic or mana, as it’s sometimes known as, is essentially your energy.” He said with a sigh. “When someone like Twilight, Rarity or I use a spell, we spend some of that energy. Using too much can result in complete exhaustion or even death.” The group gulped.

“But we’ve seen Twilight tire herself out before.” Applejack said. “A good night’s rest and she’s good as new.” Crank nodded.

“True. Almost everyone has the ability to naturally replenish their mana supply. This usually works when one rests the body and the mana has time to recharge.” He said. “It’s like a self filling glass of water and as you learn more magic, that glass becomes bigger, as the glass becomes bigger the more advanced spells you are able to use.”

“So why can’t you use advanced magic?” Twilight asked.

“I was born with a defect to my DNA.” Twilight cocked her head in confusion. “My body can’t replenish its mana reserve naturally.” The group looked at him in shock. “If I go too long without replenishing it then my body will begin to shut down and I’ll eventually die.” The girls all gasped.

“So how do you replenish it?” Dash asked. Crank grinned.

“I’m a Mechromancer. I can feed off of electricity to replenish it.”

“Mechromancer?” Pinkie asked.

“I can control machines through the electricity in their circuits.” He said as he waved his left hand. A small grey electric bolt shot out of his finger tip and zapped Rarity’s phone. The device started to shake and change. It then broke apart and changed into a small robot figure and started to walk around.

“Awesome!” Dash said in a fan-girl-like voice. The man snapped his fingers and the phone turned back to normal.

“Small things like that don’t use too much mana.”

“Wait, I’ve seen you teleport. Even for me, teleporting takes a good amount of power.” Crank grinned and shook his head.

“I know. Since I’ve been in town I’ve gone around and set up beacons.” He stated.

“Beacons?” Pinkie asked.

“I set up a small little beacons that I can teleport to without using too much magic.”

“Oh! Like checkpoints!” Dash said.

“Exactly. The beacons are made up of isolated bits of my magic that I’ve stationed around town, like the school and the town square.”

“Amazing!” Twilight said. “So anywhere you set up these waypoints you can teleport to?”

“In theory yes, but the farther I am to the waypoint the more mana I have to use.” He said with a shrug. “I’ve tested it with a few inanimate objects and the tests went.....less than exceptional.”

“How so?”

“I teleported an apple to the center of town and only half of it went through. Not sure where the other half went.” He said as he scratched his head. The scholar gulped. “For some reason it only seemed to work on me due to having the same mana. When I was first experimenting with it around the house I started small. From one room to another, down the hall and so forth. More times than I’d like to admit my clothes didn’t make it through.” He said with a small blush on his face. “Now I can do it with ease.”

“Awesome! Can you teleport with someone?” Crank froze at the question.

“Not at the moment. Using a normal amount of magic, I can teleport myself and a small object. Even something as big as a soccer ball puts a massive strain on my mana reserve.” He said with a sigh. Dash got out and laid on a lounge chair.

“So how exactly do you absorb electricity?” She asked as she looked at Crank.

“I stick my finger into an electrical outlet or through any kind of physical contact.”

“Doesn’t that hurt?” Dash asked. Crank walked over to her and put his right hand on her head. “What are you-?” She was cut off as she felt a massive shock go through her body. The flyer’s hair stood on end which made the others giggle.

“Its kinda like that.” Dash looked into the pool and saw her reflection.

“You are so dead!” She yelled before she gave chase.Crank quickly teleported out into the hallway with the flyer in hot pursuit. He heard a gust of wind and looked behind him to see a rainbow blur close in on him. The blur then tackled him to the ground. Crank gulped as he stared into the deep magenta eyes of his assailant.

He tried to stifle his chuckles at her hair. As he tried to escape the flyer she grabbed his wrists and sat on his chest. “You are gonna die!”

“Well, what have we here?” Crank’s eyes shrank as he heard a familiar voice coming from the doorway. He tilted his head back and gulped as he saw a woman with brown hair and a red horn sticking out of her head. “This is certainly a surprise.”

“Mom? What are you doing back here?” He said in sock. He then saw a familiar red haired man stumble through the door clutching his stomach.

“Your idiot father decided to eat raw fish...again.” Crank face palmed.

“Dad! You know what seafood does to you!”

“I can’t help it. It tastes so good!” He groaned. He then noticed the flyer sitting on top of his son. He was soon grinning ear to ear. “Nice to see you took my advice.” Crank raised his eyebrow and looked back at the flyer. His face turned bright red as he connected the dots. Crank quickly teleported out of her grip and got to his feet.

“Its not what you think dad!” Crank yelled. The two adults just grinned.

“I say, what is all this shouting?” An accented voice yelled. The adults looked to see the other five swimsuit clad girls. The man’s jaw dropped and his mother was awestruck. Crank face palmed with his right hand. He groaned not only in pain, but at the situation.

“Worst timing ever. Of all time.” He groaned.

“Crank, why are there six girls here?” The woman asked as her eye twitched. Crank sighed.

“Mom, dad, these are some friends I know from school.” He said as he gestured to the group.

“Well, I’ll be damned. My son is a player.” The woman then elbowed her husband in the gut. “I mean....what your mother said.”

“I was giving them a tour.” Crank groaned. He turned back to the group of girls and gestured towards the adults. “Guys this is my mom, Nova Dust. She’s chief of surgery at Ponyville General.” He said as he pointed to the woman. “This is my dad. Vermillion Nighthawk, founder and Chairman of Black Hawk Technologies.”

“Nice to meet all of you.” Nova said with a smile. The man just groaned. “Please forgive my husband he’s usually much more lively.”

“Its no problem.” Twilight said with a smile. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.” The two adults blinked.

“So you’re Celestia’s pupil.” Vermillion said as he looked at her. “I recall her mentioning you last time we were discussing our contract. Nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise.” The rest of the girls introduced themselves and quickly left to change back into their normal clothes. Vermillion was grinning ear to ear as he looked at his son who changed into a green T-shirt and black jeans.

“Here I thought you weren’t into the dating scene.”

“Dad! We were just talking.” He said as the two walked down the hall. “So why did you two really come back?” Vermillion’s face grew stagnant and sighed.

“Mire wanted to propose another weapons deal to me.” Crimson shivered at the name. He had met the Vice Chairman of the company a few times and always felt creeped out by him. “I swear that man never gives up.”

“Well, he's been after your position for years and he only cares about making money. No matter the way.” Crank shrugged.

“True. I’ll have to keep a better eye on him.” He said as the two walked into the kitchen. “So these friends of yours, do they know about.” The man then pointed to his own arm.

“Only Twilight. Before you say anything I didn’t tell her.” Vermillion looked at his son in shock. “Celestia.” Vermillion gritted his teeth and let out a sigh. “Dad don’t get angry. I’ll talk to her myself.”

“I specifically told her that you were off limits.”

“I can handle this.” Crank said as he put his hand on his father’s shoulder. “Its my burden to bear.” He said as the scholar came down from the upstairs.

“Ms. Sparkle.” Vermillion said as he waved her in. “A word please.”

“How can I help you sir?” Vermillion held up a hand and chuckled.

“I get sir enough at the office. Vermillion or Hawk will do.” Twilight gave a nod. “Crank here tells me that you know about our little...secret.” Twilight gulped and nodded. “Now I’m usually a very good judge of character. You seem like a nice, smart girl, so I’m hoping that you can keep it to yourself?”

“Of course. I don’t know the full story, but I can see that its a very sensitive topic.” She said with a smile. “Your secret is safe with me.” Twilight nodded.

“Thank you.” Vermillion nodded. “So tell me, how do you know my son?”

“Well, we’re in Calculus together.” She said as they rejoined the rest of the group in the living room. “He also saved Rainbow’s life.” Crank rolled his eyes.

“Really now?” Nova said with a smile.

“She triggered the ADS and got zapped. I took her inside and bandaged her wing.” He said with a shrug.

“Still you did something.” Dash smiled. Crank shrugged off the gesture and sighed. He heard an electronic beeping and looked at Rainbow’s watch. “Ah! Sorry, but I gotta go to work. See ya round Crank!” Dash said before she zoomed out the door and took flight.

“Shoot, ah promised Applebloom ah’d take her fishing.” The farmer said as she stood up. “Nice to meet ya.” She tipped her hat to the adults.

“I must get back to the boutique. Celestia knows when Sweetie Belle will come by.” Rarity said with a smile. “Ta-ta~” She said with a small wave.

“I still have a report to write for the Princess. See you in class.” Twilight said with a smile.

“Oh my, I’d better get home and feed Angel.” Fluttershy said with a smile. The timid woman then quickly made herself scarce. Pinkie then gasped.

“Ugh! I was supposed to watch the twins. See ya Cranky!”

“Don’t call me-” Before the words left his lips the pastry chef was gone. Crank sighed and got up.

“They seem nice.” Nova said.

“Not to mention cute.”

“Oh don’t start with that again!” Crank groaned as he walked down to his workshop.