Hammer & Anvil

“That was very good Jackboot.” Rarity said. “Thank you very much.”

The Rarity and Jackboot left the Clover Café where they had lunch.

“I should be thanking you.” Jackboot said. “I got thirty eight bits out of that sale.”

“How long do you think it’ll take make the Pentagon?” Rarity asked.

Jackboot thought for a moment.

“Well it took me two days at this point to make two of the outer modules.” He explained. “So it’ll take me several more days to complete the next three, and then I have the core module. Then I have to find Twittermites, the proper crystals, and then I have to get the domes. The most difficult part would be the black crystal. It took me and my father I don’t know how long to find the first one.”

“Can’t you just use the previous one, darling?” Rarity asked. “Why do you need a new one?”

“Well the previous one shattered when… …you know.”

Rarity understood.

“Well anyway, I have to get back to work.” Jackboot said.

He then stopped and looked at Rarity.

“If you ever want to come over, please don’t hesitate.”

“Of course, darling.” Rarity said. She then reached out her hooves and pulled Jackboot in a hug. “I’ll see you later, Jackboot.”

“And you as well, Rarity.”

Rarity then gave Jackboot a warm smile and walked away.

As he watched Rarity walk away, Jackboot sighed.

“Such a beautiful mare.”

Ballpin sighed as he sat in the workroom. It seemed that fifteen minutes had passed since his grandfather left to grab some lunch.

“I hope okay he’s.” He said.

He then realized what he had just said.

“I mean, I hope he’s okay.” He corrected himself, with embarrassment in his voice.

He looked around the workroom. As he did so, he saw the notebook on the workbench. It was Jackboot’s notebook. It was opened to the page that had a design that was called the “Electric Pentagon”.

Ballpin picked the notebook up and examined it.

“Such a great design.”

He then turned the page.

“Oh my…”

The next page was a drawing. A drawing of a gray colt hugging a dark gray stallion. Above the image were the words, “I luv you papa”.

Ballpin smiled. Jackboot had told him earlier that his father had long been deceased.

He then looked over at the tarp which covered two of modules. He then looked over at the anvil and then back at the image on the notebook.

“Time to get to work.”

He then set the notebook down and approached then center of the room.

“Okay gentlecolts.” He said aloud. “Let’s get to work.”

“So the hinges weren’t broken?” Blue Collar asked. “The screws were just taken off?”

“Yep, they were.” Jackboot answered. “I must say, if it ended with me spending some time with Rarity, I have no complaints.”

The two had met up after Jackboot was returning from his impromptu lunch with Rarity. Blue Collar had just returned from the Hay Burger with a bag of food.

Blue Collar laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Jackboot asked.

“That little story you told reminded me of a certain somepony I know.” Blue Collar explained. “The same thing happened with him.”

“How did that turn out?”

“How do you think Ballpin came into this world?”

The two stallions then laughed.

“Speaking of Ballpin. I hope I’m not being rude by asking.” Jackboot said. “But is he, well, okay?”

Blue Collar sighed.

“He’s alright, it’s just that he’s a little, well… …slow.” He said. “It’s not that he was born that way, it’s just that he had a pretty bad accident when he was colt.”

“What happened?”

“He was in racing the Ponyville Derby. I remember that day very well.” Blue Collar said. “He asked me to help him build the cart. It was a great cart by the way; we went with a traditional design, Ballpin actually did almost all of the work. Anyway, we were going pretty fast… …a little too fast.”

Blue Collar stopped in his tracks.

“We made this sharp turn and… …well.” He continued. “He slid across the ground pretty fast and banged his head pretty badly on a post. It didn’t help that his helmet was defective.”

Jackboot understood.

“What were the effects of this accident?”

“Well, Ballpin has a tendency to stutter.” Blue Collar explained. “Not only that, he sometimes mixes up his words. Example, if he were to say, ‘Let’s go for a walk’, he would accidentally say, ‘Let’s go walk a for’. It got him a lot of flak from other Colts and Fillies.” Blue Collar then gave a smile. “But other than, that he’s a very dependable stallion to rely on. Give him a job and he’ll get it job, no questions asked.”

“Except to ask on how to do the job, I assume.”

Blue Collar chuckled.

“Yes, that's true.” He said. “Anyway, let’s get back to the shop. Ballpin is probably starving at this point.”

The two stallions entered the shop.

“Ballpin, we’re back!” Jackboot called.

There was no answer.

“Ballpin?”

“Little colt, you there?” Blue Collar asked.

The two stallions looked at one another.

“I hope he’s alright.” Jackboot said. “Let’s go look in the back.”

The two stallions entered the backroom.

“There he is.” Jackboot said, spotting Ballpin with his head down on work table.

Blue Collar approached the young stallion.

“Ballpin, I got lunch.” He said. “Wake up.”

Ballpin stirred.

“Oh, hello Grandpa.” He said. “You’re back.”

“I got lunch, you still hungry?”

Ballpin nodded.

“Jackboot, you want some? I got extra.”

“Not right now.” Jackboot answered. “I’m going to see about the modules.”

He then took hold of the tarp and proceeded to remove it.

“After all, I have a lot of work to…”

Jackboot suddenly went silent.

“Everything okay Jack…?”

Blue Collar saw what made Jackboot go silent. That something were three new outer modules and one new core module.

Jackboot’s jaw was wide open.

“W-where…?”

He was at a loss of words.

He then looked over at Ballpin who had just started his lunch. Jackboot then realized that Ballpin was the only pony here at the shop.

“Ballpin.” He said. “Do you know where these came from?”

Ballpin looked at Jackboot with a mouthful of hay burger. He then swallowed before answering.

“Yeah. I made them.” He answered.

He then returned to his burger, only for Jackboot to grab him and look at him right in the face.

“You made them?!” He asked. “How did do it? You didn’t use duplication, creation, or some other sort of spell?”

Ballpin was surprisingly calm. Mainly because he knew what happened and was not afraid to explain how.

“I used a spell.” He said. “Just not the spells you mentioned.”

Jackboot was confused. If it was a creation or a duplication spell, then what did Ballpin use?

Jackboot then took his hooves off of him.

“In that case, what spell did you use?” He asked.

“Let’s just say it got me some help.”

Jackboot and Blue Collar looked at one another.

“I guess you can say I helped myself.”

Jackboot then put two and two together and let out a loud gasp.

“You don’t mean?”

Ballpin then stood up and trotted to the center of the room.

“Ask them yourself.”

Ballpin’s horn began emitting a bright light, which blinded both Jackboot and Blue Collar, which was followed by the sound of a series of poofs.

The light then faded, and the two stallions found themselves looking at not one, but five Ballpins.

“What do you think?” They all asked at once.

The two stallions looked at each other again.

“Did you make each one from scratch?” He asked.

“Each one.” One of the Ballpins said.

“Although we did have to duplicate the anvil.” Another said.

“After all we couldn’t share the same one.” A third said.

Jackboot looked at the modules and then back at the Ballpins.

“Want to know what I think?” He asked. He then approached one of the Ballpin clones. “My dead line just got much further away!” He then pulled one of the Ballpins into a huge hug. “Thank you!”

“I’m not the real Ballpin.” The Ballpin said. “The real one is right there.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Jackboot the let go of the Ballpin and hugged the real one.

“Thank you so much, Ballpin.” He said. “You’re a good friend.”

There was that word again. But this time, it felt rather good to say it this time.