Dust Walker stood atop the hill, looking down on the community before him, Ponyville. A quaint yet pristine little town, simplistic, rural, and charming.
My kind of place, Dust thought and chuckling to himself. He was of medium build yet you could easily see the fine muscles beneath his light-brown coat, with his legs banded in dark brown, the fetlocks black, his mane the same dark brown, and his cutie-mark was of a hammer breaking a rock.
Dust had recently left his job working at a rock farm for the Pie Family. At first unsure of what to do next, his former boss, Igneous, told him he’d sent his daughter in Ponyville a letter and she’d suggested a construction job that had recently opened, and she’d put in a good word for him.
Dust was grateful a complete stranger would be so kind, and Igneous told him his daughter, Pinkamena Diane Pie, was a beautiful soul unlike any other in Equestria, and he’d know her when he saw her but was warned to expect the unexpected.
Dust had no idea what he’d meant but perhaps it was a hint that this Pinkamena was the oddball of the Pie Family.
“Well, I’ll find out for myself!” Dust shook his mane confidently and started making his way down to town.
Somewhere on the Apply Family property, a large shed opened as out walked Midnight Blaze, levitating something he’d been working on as of late.
“Finally, it’s ready for its first test-run, I gotta go see Blueblood and the guys!”
Making his way through Ponyville, Midnight ignored the ponies eyeballing the covered object he was levitating. He was just in too excited a mood for anypony to ruin it for him. Well… almost anypony.
“Hey Blazy!”
Midnight screeched to a halt, a cold unforgiving grip latching his heart, as he saw Pinkie Pie bouncing over to see him. Thinking quickly, Midnight stowed his covered object behind the Flower Stand co-owned by Lily Valley, Roseluck, and Daisy, and leaned against a lamppost, casually whistling.
“What’cha doin’?”
He regarded Pinkie as if he hadn’t seen her earlier, and said, “Oh hey, Pink, just enjoying the day.”
“Didn’t you have something with you earlier?” Pinkie asked.
“Uh… no?” Midnight smiled innocently, hoping she’d buy it.
“Hmm…” Pinkie scrunched her eyes inquisitively at him, Midnight’s eyes getting shifty. Then she perked, “Okay! I gotta go, I’m expecting somepony today. La-la-la-la-la…”
As she bounced away, Midnight ‘phew’ed in relief and retrieved his concealed object.
Sure enough, he found the guys at Pepper Pony’s. Since coming to Ponyville, Blueblood had developed a taste for pizza, having only tried gourmet flatbreads back in Canterlot, and he’d become quite taken with them. It almost got to the point where Rarity had to threaten to put Blueblood on a diet unless he eased up on them. So the guys agreed to a weekly get-together at Pepper Pony’s.
But as he arrived, after getting through the heys, hellos, and what’s ups, he noticed somepony missing.
“Hey, where’s Soarin?”
“Studying with Twilight,” Thunderlane answered. “Said he has an open-note quiz coming up and he wants to ace it.”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac confirmed.
“I take it you have something to show us?” Blueblood inquired, regarding the concealed object Midnight was levitating.
“I do indeed!” Midnight smirked as he set the object down. “Gentlecolts, feast your eyes on… this!”
With the finesse of a stage magician, Midnight pulled off the cover, revealing… something. The guys regarded the strange object closely, having no idea of what they were looking at.
It was up to a stallion’s shoulder, composed of brass pieces and gemstones with a wooden frame and what looked to be some kind of antennae, a dial-readout, a panel with a horseshoe symbol on it, and another that had a few buttons and switches.
“Um, it’s…” Thunderlane couldn’t find the right words.
“It’s…” Neither could Mac.
“It’s… it’s really something,” Blueblood offered.
“If you don’t know what to call it, just say so,” Midnight deadpanned.
“We don’t know what to call it!” the guys said together in deadpanned response.
Midnight sighed and shook his head.
“It’s a device designed to allow the pony using it to perform Telekinesis. By placing one’s hoof on the horseshoe panel the device responds to the user’s magic, which is tied to their willpower. The machine then draws on ambient mana surrounding it, and sucks it into these gemstones, which function as something like batteries, to provide the power! In other words, with this device, anypony, not just unicorns, could theoretically perform Telekinesis!”
The guys’ curiosity was instantly piqued as they regarded this strange contrivance.
“So, what you’re saying is,” Thunderlane gathered, “with this doohickey of yours, even Mac and I could move stuff with our minds?”
“Well…” Midnight hesitated. “Like I said, theoretically.”
“Care to explain?” Blueblood invited with a raised brow.
“Well, this is just a prototype, I haven’t really tested it yet,” Midnight admitted. “I mean, if I used it myself, I wouldn’t be sure if it was working or if it was my own magic doing the telekinesis, would I?”
The guys regarded each other and shrugged.
“Listen, I’ve been working on this since last week,” Midnight pressed, “I went over the designs and the research, I’m sure I’ve got it down! …Well, maybe not a hundred-percent sure… But now that it’s ready for its first test, I need an earth pony or pegasus to ascertain if it works or not! Please?”
Seeing their friend making a pleading gesture with his hooves, Big Mac and Thunderlane regarded each other, and held up their hooves.
“Rock, paper, pencil!” They both called. “Again! Again! Again!”
“Heh!” Thunderlane cheered, “I win, so you get to test it, Mackie ol’ pal!”
Big Mac grumped for a moment but sighed. After all, Midnight was his brother, it only made sense he help him out. Even if helping him out meant trying an untested invention with no real cause for hesitation that might be grounds for an odd feeling that something could go very wrong.
As Dust Walker walked through town, he recalled the instructions Igneous had given him, to meet Pinkamena at a bakery called Sugarcube Corner. After getting directions from a local, he arrived and was a little surprised. Sugarcube Corner was a little too… Well, not exactly what he’d expected as a meeting-place with a member of the Pie Family, having worked for them the past couple months.
To each his own, he thought with a shrug and entered.
A bell rang as he entered and he saw a tall gangly yellow earth pony stallion with a large underjaw standing at the counter. He saw Dust and welcomed, “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, where life is always sweet! What can I get’cha?”
“Um, lemme think,” Dust looked up at the menu, and was quickly smitten with the listed treats to be had!
“Uh, how `bout…”
“Hi!”
Dust yelped and startled as a pink pony popped out of literal nowhere, her eyes a bright blue and as wide as dinner plates as she said, “My name’s Pinkie Pie, I work here at Sugarcube Corner! Well, I also live here too, cuz’ the Cakes let me use the loft upstairs, and it’s so really nice of them! I help them makes all kinds of super dee-licious goodies and treats all day long! And I can tell, you’re new here in Ponyville, aren’cha?”
Dust was blown – She’d said her name was Pinkie Pie. Pinkamena Diane Pie, mentioned to be something of an oddball in her family. This could only be her, but she was a little more than what he’d been expecting.
“Uh… yes, I am new to town,” Dust composed himself. “So you’re… Pinkie Pie? I believe your dad told you about me, Dust Walker?”
“Oh! So you’re Dusty!” Pinkie cheered, “That means you’re here for that job, right? My dad told me so much about you, how you’ve helped him `round the rock farm, and so good with your hooves, and-”
“Uh, Pinkie Pie?”
She looked to Carrot Cake, who said, “I think you’re kinda… intimidating the boy.”
Pinkie regarded Dust, who looked like he wanted to bolt. Realizing she’d done it again, she reeled back, and said, “Hey, do you wanna go see the forestallion about that job opening?”
“Uh, yeah!” Dust wanted to get out of there. “Just tell me where to go and-”
“Oh silly!” Pinkie booped him on the nose, making him gape at her. “I’m gonna take you there, let’s skedaddle!”
She ‘la-la-la-la-la’ed out the door, Dust giving Carrot Cake an incredulous look.
“You get used to her,” Carrot Cake chuckled, leaving Dust Walker to sigh and reluctantly follow after the pink pony.
The guys relocated to a vacant lot not too far from a nearby construction site.
“Is this really the ideal place to test this device of yours, Midnight?” Blueblood was wary of the nearby construction.
“Relax, if something goes wrong I’ll use my own telekinesis to get things under control,” Midnight waved off his concern and placed the device in front of Big Mac.
“Okay, bro, just place your hoof on the panel with the horseshoe symbol.”
Big Mac did as he was instructed, his hoof almost completely covering the panel. Midnight concentrated on the controls, switching on the power and turning a knob to a specific setting.
“Okay, it’s set to Level 5, perfectly enough to…”
He trailed the ‘to’ as he looked around their surroundings and perked as he said, “To move that!”
He pointed to a nearby rock as big as Spike. He turned to Big Mac and said, “Alright, Mac, the machine’s readings are confirmed, it’s drawing in ambient mana around us! Now, concentrate on that rock. Imagine it rising a couple hooves off the ground but be sure to keep your hoof on the panel!”
Big Mac nodded and looked to the rock.
At that moment, Dust walked out of the forestallion’s work-station, saying, “See you tomorrow sir!”
He trotted towards the exit of the construction yard, feeling good, when Pinkie popped up, saying, “So you got the job?”
“Uh, yeah!” Dust said with a smile. “Thanks for putting in a good word for em, Pinkamena!”
“Oh please, call me Pinkie!” she insisted. “All my friends do!”
“Well, thanks again, but I gotta-”
“LOOK OUT!!”
They both looked up and saw a rock hurtle out of nowhere, engulfed in a green aura, as it hit a plank jutting out from high up on the half-completed building, knocking off a bucket of bricks. Unfortunately, Dust was right beneath it, muttering, “Oh buck me…”