Reach For The "StarCrafts"

Chapter 2: Pony Probelems

Whilst Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash continued to be Derpling Rushed in the Everfree Forest, other, more interesting things were taking place back in Ponyville. One such thing was that one of the local construction ponies, Jack Hammer, was in the process of building the skeletal form of the new wing for the town’s hospital.

As the brown stallion did his job, using the crane to lift a steel beam into the sky, he brooded over the fact that he had come into work late that day. As such, he was forced to work through his lunch break while his co-workers enjoyed their own meals. This was not what should be focused on though, as while he worked, the sound of something unfamiliar made itself known.

While the beam continued to lift into the sky, Jack looked around for the source of the sound, but could not find anything out of the ordinary. Thinking it as only a part of his imagination, the construction worker continued his duties. That only lasted for a few more moments, as not only did those imaginary sounds come back to him, but soon afterwards he felt a sharp pain in his flank.

The feeling of electricity striking him on his right back leg, the stallion yelped in pain as he leaped into the air in response to the unknown agony. As such, the stallion had accidently hit one of the levers holding onto the steel beam, causing the crane to let go of the construction material and the beam crashed into the dirt below. Had it actually destroyed the structure that had been built, many days of hard work would have been ruined.

Once he landed however, he quickly look in the direction of where the bolt of electricity came from, and was surprised. Right there, floating in mid-air, was a small yellow ball that seemed to also have spikes popping out of it. He didn’t know what it was, or how it got here, or even how it hurt him. All he did know was that whatever this thing was, it was going to pay for nearly wrecking all the hard work he and his co-workers had done, before thinking it was not worth his time. He began to shoo it away with one hoof, trying to go back to work. The little ball though, would have none of it, as it began to zap poor Jack even more, getting him to move out of the way of the crane.

Not really understanding what was going on, Jack could yelp in pain some more and begin to run away from the freaky mechanical monster. And as he continued to run away and freak out, the yellow ball would do its own job of pursuing the poor sap while it continued to barrage him with electricity.

Running out of the construction site, Jack had finally begin to feel the pain fade away. Looking around to see if the creature was still chasing him. Much to his relief, it was not, as he could see the little light that he could only assume was its eye watching him from afar, inside the skeletal structure. But now with this mysterious monster on the loose in the construction yard, he could hear the chatter of his fellow workponies as they were coming back from lunch.

When the foreman saw poor Jack outside of the construction yard, he was ready to chew him out once again for slacking on the job. Jack was quick on the uptake though, and began pleading his innocence to the foreman and co-workers. The foreman, and Jack’s co-workers, could only dismiss and chortle at such ridiculous claims that Jack was making. And so they went, back into the construction site, and to no surprise, no such yellow ball were waiting for them when they arrived.

What was there instead, was a giant crystal floating in the air, taunting them as it stored itself inside the foundation of their precious work. What was it? How did it get there? And most important, could they get rid of it? They would perhaps never get the answers… except for now.

A Pylon.

The Probe.

No.