Starskater

Two colts trotted away from the village as the sky darkened. Kip looked up towards the growing clouds.

"I think now might be a bad time," he said, "the storm is getting worse."

The other colt didn't seem to care.

"It's fine," he responded, "It'll only take a minute. You have to see this."

Kip jumped as lightning struck nearby.

"Streey, we should go."

The other colt didn't respond. He just stopped at the top of the hill.

"What is that?" Kip asked.

They looked down into a crater where a large purple column sat surrounded by stone spikes, all pointed towards the center.

"I found it yesterday," Streey said, "I have no idea what it is."

They approached the base of the crater. Lightning struck right in front of them, and the column lit up with strange characters. The two stared in terror as a strange shape began to form on the side. Glowing gears began to slide into place, assembling a holographic mechanism. The glowing text that covered the spire faded and the gears started to move. It was counting. Streey and Kip glanced at each other. When they looked back to the counter, its large hand jumped. Kip's horn immediately started to glow. But not with regular magic. It was much more powerful- it was supercharging. Streey, who was an Earth-Pony and had no horn, only watched in awe. Then he realized that Kip was in pain. He couldn't make it stop. As he stared, he felt something strange- he didn't want it to stop. Streey wanted to understand this thing. He wanted it to keep going.

The large hand moved again and the sparks ceased. Kip was gasping for breath.

"Are you alright?" Streey asked.

"What is that thing?" Kip exclaimed.

Streey's eyes grew wide. "You know who else should see this?"