Hammer & Anvil

Ballpin held the black crystal in place in the core module of the Electric Pentagon, in what looked like a mechanical claw, which was attached to the rotary system below it.

It had been about fifteen minutes since Jackboot woke up and the two stallions were hard at work to get the Pentagon running. Earlier that day, Jackboot revealed to his mother that he gave up his watch to a dragon in order to escape from his cave, and to gain the black crystal. Upon hearing of this, Dive Bomber, an old school bully and now Jackboot’s friend, got the idea of them getting it back, only to get chased out of the cave by the dragon. In the end, Jackboot managed to lead the dragon back into the cave so Ballpin, who had arrived with the Wonderbolts, and seal the cave. At one point, Jackboot was cornered by the dragon, resulting in a sprained hoof, only to be rescued by none other than Princess Celestia herself. When asked, she merely said “Let’s just say I was in the right place at the right time” and had mentioned that Ballpin managed to seal the cave, and saying that she “expected nothing less from one of her students” before returning to Canterlot.

After Celestia left, Ballpin came to Jackboot with an idea with the demonstration of the Electric Pentagon. It involves Octavia and Vinyl’s music and the Wonderbolts. Jackboot was so interested in the idea they got to work immediately.

“Okay, hold it there.” Jackboot told Ballpin.

Ballpin did so as a second claw, encased in Jackboot’s magic, was put over the ball like crystal. Jackboot then brought a screwdriver to the entangled claws and tightened them together, fully encasing the crystal.

“Alright, you can let go of it now.”

Ballpin let go of the crystal from its magic encasement.

“So it done?” Ballpin asked.

“By jingo it is!” Jackboot said with glee. “We finally did it!”

The two stallions then exchange a hoof bump.

“Ballpin I can’t tell you enough how much I thank you for helping me out.” Jackboot said. “Without you I probably would be still working on the core module.”

“It’s not a big deal.” Ballpin said.

“Are you kidding me? Of course it’s a big deal.” Jackboot said, putting a hoof on his shoulder. “You’re my best friend.”

Ballpin blushed and look to the side.

“But we shouldn’t celebrate too much.” Jackboot continued. “Because we still have to test it.”

“How do we do that exactly?” Ballpin asked.

“It’s pretty difficult at first, but don’t worry you’ll get the hang of it.” Jackboot said. He then waved his friend over with his sprained hoof, as he tried to keep weight of off it. “What you got to do, is you that try to get a hold of the rotary assembly and get rotating until you it up to enough speed for to cause the twittermites to get irritated, creating the charge required. The faster the speed, the greater the charge.”

“And since there’s two of us, you want me to hold it at that speed, right?”

“Exactly!” Jackboot said as he putted Ballpin on the shoulder. “And don’t worry, before we left I asked for help.”

“Jackboot, I’m here!”

“And here she is.” Jackboot said. “We’re in here!”

On que, Twilight entered the work room along with her scaly assistant.

“With Twilight having such an interest in this sort of subject, I decided to ask her for assistance.” The gray stallion explained. “Along with Spike, of course.”

“What do you need help with?” Spike asked.

“To test the theory of mine.” Jackboot answered. “If I get the rotary system to rotate to a certain speed, which creates a charge, thanks to the twittermites, and have Ballpin hold it at that speed and charge, it won’t backfire like the original did.”

“I’m not sure if I can do this.” Ballpin said.

“Don’t worry, Ballpin, you can do it.” Jackboot said. “You aren’t one of Celestia’s students for nothing.”

Everypony’s, except Jackboot’s, eyes went wide.

“H-How did you that know?” Ballpin realized his error. “I mean, how did you…?”

“I didn’t.” Jackboot said with a smirk. “But I do now.”

Ballpin lowered his head.

“I’m… …I’m sorry…”

Shame was clear on his face.

“Ballpin, look at me.”

Ballpin looked back up at Jackboot, who, to his surprise, had no anger on his face, but a gentle smile.

“If you were under orders from Celestia, I can understand.” He said. “But there are several questions I want to ask you. Is that alright?”

Ballpin nodded, still with a frown.

“First question, are you really from Ponyville?”

Ballpin nodded.

“Okay. Second question, is you’re name really Ballpin?”

Ballpin nodded.

“Third, is your speech impediment real?”

“Of course is it!” He said. “I mean, it is.”

“Okay, just wondering.” Jackboot said. “Come on, let’s get started.”

Ballpin was confused.

“Wait a minute, what?” He asked. “I’ve been hiding this from you the whole time, and you’re not mad?”

Jackboot turned to Ballpin with a confused look.

“Mad? What for?” He asked. “You didn’t do anything wrong, I’m pretty sure Celestia told you to keep it a secret till a certain time, and you’re pretty much the reason why the Pentagon is completed now. So what is there to get mad about?”

“Well…”

Ballpin couldn’t find an answer.

“I didn’t think so.” Jackboot with a chuckled. “Now come on, I managed to pick up a couple of anti-electricity suits before Rarity and I left Canterlot. What do you say?”

Ballpin looked down at the floor for a couple of moments before looking back up at Jackboot with a smile.

“Let’s do it!”

Jackboot and Ballpin were fully dressed head to hoof in suits made of a combination of canvas and rubber. If the suits were blue and yellow, they’d look like Wonderbolts if unicorns were eligible to join. Unlike the previous anti-electricity suits that Jackboot and is father had used, Jackboot had modified them to have a special glass cones over their horns.

“How do we look?” Ballpin asked.

“Like you’re going to the moon.” Spike said jokingly.

“Funny.” Jackboot said. He then pulled out his watch and floated it over to Spike. “Spike, I want you to keep an eye on the watch.” He said. “If my theory is correct, after five minutes the pentagon will reach a charge of at least one thousand volts. Which is enough to get the all the crystals going. And once five minutes have passed, I want you to signal Ballpin to hold the rotary system at the speed and keep it there, that way the voltage stays the same and the possibility of backfiring.”

“How do I use for signal?” The little dragon asked.

“You can tap me on the shoulder.” Ballpin said. “One tap for go and tap twos for… …I mean two taps for stop. You got it?”

“Got it!”

Ballpin then nodded at Jackboot and the two put on their goggles and got to their positions.

Jackboot used his magic to take hold of the rotary system and began to rotate it, emitting a metallic sounding clicking. The clicking became faster and faster. As the rotation speed increased, the domes of each of the modules began to glow as the crystal within them began to light up.

Spike eyed the watch carefully while observing what the pentagon was doing. When he glanced down again, he saw that three minutes had passed and it was now passed thirty seconds. As planned, Spike scurried over to Ballpin. Once the second hand hit twelve, he tapped Ballpin on the shoulder. Immediately, Ballpin’s horn glowed, and afterward, the clicking of the rotary system continued at a steady pace.

Suddenly, a light blue beam shot from each dome of the outer modules and into the dome of the core module. From there, the beam spread towards the ceiling and, slowly, an image began to form. That image was that of Princess Celestia herself walking with her mane and tail gracefully flowing in the breeze, and, had the image not be almost completely transparent, looked to actually be there. The image then changed to that of a group of birds in flight, a tea cup, an apple, and, to Spike and Twilight’s surprise, or un-surprise, Rarity.

Jackboot’s horn stopped glowing and he opened in eyes and took a breath. He then looked over at Spike and nodded, signaling the little dragon to tap Ballpin on the shoulder twice, telling him to stop.

After his horn stopped glowing, Ballpin let out a sigh.

“How’d it go?” He asked.

“I was about to ask the same question.” Jackboot added.

The two stallions looked over at the Princess of Friendship, who had a look of awe on her face.

“What did you think, Twilight?” Jackboot asked.

Twilight had trouble putting what she thought into words.

“That…” She tried to say. “...that… …was… …AWESOME!”

She then rushed over her put her hooves on Jackboot’s shoulders.

“Jackboot you did it!” She said. “I’m so proud of you!”

Jackboot blushed.

“Well I can’t take all the credit.” He said. “I have Ballpin to thank for the assistance and my father for coming up with the design.”

“I’m sure your dad is proud of you.” Spike said.

Jackboot smiled and closed his eyes as a tear ran down his cheek.

“Yeah.” He said. “He would.”