(STORY EXTRACT)
 
Serene still trotted over to get a closer look at the rifle, levitating it out of my hooves. “Vhere did you find one of zhese? I don’t zhink I’ve ever seen an energy weapon like zhis before!” He turned the rifle over in his hooves, a few of the loose wires jiggling a bit as he lifted it up to peer through the scope. I shrugged as Serene turned the crank on the side of the gun, the arm clicking with each setting.
 
“No clue. I mean, we got it from some mercenaries that were after us, but I don’t know where the heck they got it. I remember my dad has something similar back up north, but this model of Gauss Rifle looks to be pretty heavily modified. Maybe whoever the mercs were working for got a hold of plans from old military tech, or something?” The unicorn wore a smile as he peered through the scope, fiddling with some of the bits and switches. Huh, wonder if unicorns just have a predesposition to energy weapons, or something…
 
“A Gauss Rifle modified for burst-fire abilities, certainly is quite zhe impressive zing. Doesn’t seem to veigh zat much, either… Sharpving, are you sure?…” The pegasus poked her head out from behind the body of the aircraft, passing on a firm glare in response. The unicorn’s shoulders sank as he released a sigh, looking back to the rifle. “Ach, fine. No biodiesel for ze Sturmvalker, no Gauss rifle on ze Storch, take all ze fun away, vhy don’t you?” Laying the modified gauss rifle on a workbench, Serene turned back to the Stork, his magic levitating over the turbocharger system and fitting it in place inside the boxy fuselage, connecting it up.