//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 - The Beginning of the Night // Story: A Gizmonk in Ponyville // by Moheart7 //------------------------------// Another week had passed since the big Poker game against Applejack, and finally the day of Nightmare Night had arrived, and needless to say Goggles was as excited as he could ever be. Not only was this his first ever Nightmare Night, but it was only the night that one of his greatest inventions yet was about to be used to entertain a massive audience. As he had promised the CMC, Goggles had spared no time or effort to complete a massive stage fitted with all the latest features Goggles could possibly come up with. However while he was proud of the stage itself, Goggles also had to take in the fact that a play is nothing without an audience, so as an extra favour to the girls, he had been having small chats with many ponies all over town to help expand the audience as much as he could. One particular pony however, was not as easily persuaded to come along since she didn’t normally go out on Nightmare Night, however Goggles wasn’t going to let the Cutie mark Crusaders’ favourite Foal Sitter simply hide away while every pony else enjoys the fun. “Please Fluttershy,” he said, taking and other sip of tea. “You know it’s not really so bad from what I hear.” Goggles had been pleading with the timid Pegasus for about half an hour now. At first his visit to her cottage had started out as one of their usual tea parties, however when the subject of Nightmare night had come up in conversation, Goggles had found himself in his most challenging conversation yet. “I’m sorry Goggles,” Fluttershy retorted fearfully, looking down at her own cup of tea. “But I just can’t” However Goggles wasn’t going to give up so easily. “Oh come on, Flutters,” he said. “It’s not that scary. Heck, from what I’ve heard, a lot of ponies don’t even dress up like anything scary, I think Pinkie told me she dressed up like a chicken one year.” “That may be true, but there are still so many scary things on that night,” Fluttershy argued, her eyes swishing left to right as she began thinking about all the scary things about tonight. “Like the darkness, or the scary stories Zecora tells, even those horrible Nightmare Night Pranks!” At those words Goggles sighed. “You know, I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice,” he said, leaning in closer to her from his seat. “I’m going to have to do… the Face.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened with terror upon hearing that, her mind knowing full well what that would mean. “You wouldn’t!” she pleaded. “You know I can’t resist the Face, that’s not fair!” However Goggles simply remained composed as he spoke again. “Sorry, but I promised the Crusaders that I’d get you to that play,” he said, placing a paw over his heart. “And as their mascot and a Gentle-monk I indent to keep that promise.” “No please!” Fluttershy pleaded. However it was too late, within seconds, Goggles turned his head away, only to turn it back towards the Pegasus with the most wide-eyed, cutesy face he could pull. The pupils in his eyes grew large, his lower lip quivered and his paws were lifted up to his chin like a begging dog. Fluttershy tried to look away but her caring nature wouldn’t let her, upon the first glace Fluttershy couldn’t help but melt like butter on a bagel as she saw the cute little face of the Gizmonk. Finally Goggles’ efforts were rewarded in full. “Oh…. Oh alright, I’ll come out,” Fluttershy sighed in defeat, much to the Gizmonk’s joy. “But I don’t have a costume.” Goggles merely smiled at that. “Not to worry dear,” he said, giving her a thumbs-up. “Rarity has already been cooking up several spare costumes in her shop in case such a thing happens, I’ll tell her to drop by later, okay?” Fluttershy nodded at that, she may not have liked the idea of going out tonight but even she couldn’t help but give a slight smile at Goggles’ devotion to his friends. “Alright then,” Goggles said cheerfully, jumping down from his seat. “Listen I gotta go, lots of things to do before tonight.” Fluttershy then smile again and led him to the door. “Okay then,” she said, letting him out. “Bye Goggles.” As he ran down the road, leading away from Fluttershy’s cottage, Goggles couldn’t help but jump for joy after another successful job done. Now he had convinced a great number of ponies to watch the show tonight, some even volunteered to help make preparations, this was definitely going to be one Nightmare Night that the CMC will never forget. After Goggles made his way through the busy streets of Ponyville, he finally arrived at the town square where a great number of ponies were setting everything up for Nightmare Night, including the stage area where the school would be playing. As he walked by every pony, Goggles, being the polite Gizmonk that he was, made an effort to compliment the jobs that they were doing. “Looking good Lyra!” he said, passing by the Unicorn setting up one of the game stalls. “Keep up the good work Fiddlesticks!” After passing the Earth Pony helping out with the instruments for the party, Goggles almost found himself bumping into a dark-blue Unicorn with sharp teeth, working on a banner for tonight’s events. Thankfully Goggles managed to jump out of the way before he could step in anything or otherwise mess up anything the Unicorn was doing. “Ah Frenzy,” he said, catching the Unicorn’s attention. “How’s the banner coming along?” The Unicorn, Frenzy, smiled in response, showing the points of his teeth. “It’s going great Goggles,” he said. “Take a look.” Frenzy then used his magic to raise the banner in front of him, upon it was a painted image of Princess Luna, as well as a few Nightmare Night markings. Goggles had never met Princess Luna before, but if this is what she looked like in real life then the stallions must have been lining up all the way from the shore to offer themselves to her. Either that, or this Unicorn really likes to fanaticise. “By the time that play starts, those fillies and colts are gonna…” Frenzy began before turning his head towards a loud noise that had suddenly reached his ears. “Picasso! NO Bad Chameleon!” And with that, Frenzy ran off after what Goggles couldn’t only assume was hi pet, dropping the banner in the process. Giving a slight shrug Goggles made his way towards the stage area, the structure itself was huge, at least a several meters tall and at least twice as wide, the wooden frames sanded and polished to perfection along with the imported curtain Silver lining had shipped in for the event. Stepping up onto the stage and going behind the curtain, Goggles was greeted with the happy faces of all four of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who have been rehearsing their parts for tonight’s play. “Hey girls,” Goggles said, gaining their attention. “You all set for tonight?” “Oh absolutely,” Sweetie Belle responded with a smile. “Yeah, and thanks for building us this awesome stage Goggles,” Scootaloo added. “It looks great.” Goggles couldn’t help but put on a smug look at that, if there was another thing he loved more than inventing it was getting praised for his accomplishments. “You bet it does,” he said, causing Apple Bloom to giggle slightly as he began his latest ramble over his new creation. “Not only is it fairly big, but I’ve also added a few extras to add special effects from a control panel I set towards the side. All it takes is one flip of the switch and then…” “Well, well, if it isn’t the Cutie Mark Rejects and their equally ridiculous pet,” said an unseen, but all too familiar voice, cutting Goggles off during mid-sentence. Turning their heads towards the voice, both the CMC and Goggles couldn’t help but groan with irritation as Diamond Tiara emerged from the other side of the stage. However the angriest look came from Silver Spoon, who glared at her with fire in her eyes “Oh great, THIS chumpette again,” Goggles moaned under his breath. “What do you want, Diamond Tiara?” Apple Bloom said, rolling her eyes with hope that this encounter with her bully wouldn’t last long. However Diamond Tiara only scoffed at her in response. “Oh nothing much,” she said, literally pointing her noise in the air. “Just thought I’d warn you losers to watch your step tonight, after all you don’t want some pony stabbing you in the back.” That last part was of course directed at Diamond Tiara’s former lackey, who has been her new target for bullying for quite some time now. Ever Since Silver Spoon had revealed herself to be a Blank-Flank and stood up to Diamond Tiara, her former friend had made it her first priority to make her life as miserable as she did the other Cutie Mark Crusaders, thankfully Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Goggles were always there to provide comfort and support. However today it seemed that Diamond Tiara wasn’t only going for Silver Spoon this time. “Plus, let’s not forget the dreadful mistake you girls have made by letting that animal work on the stage,” looking towards the clearly irritated Gizmonk. “He shouldn’t even be allowed to hold a tool, much less run his own business.” Seriously, did this filly have nothing better to do with her time? Goggles could only help but think that this pony has to be to most petty, stuck-up, obnoxious equine that he had ever had the misfortune to come across… and he works with Trixie. While usually, he would try to let insults like this slide by him, Goggles had a few stubborn bones in his body that wouldn’t just let things go whenever it came to Diamond Tiara. “Oh don’t even go there missy!” he snapped, pointing a finger at her. “I may be small but I’m still over twice your age.” “Oh and what are you gonna do about it, hmm?” Diamond Tiara retorted with a laugh, completely unphased at the Gizmonk’s attitude. “Throw a banana in my face?” If this pony were only a few years older then Goggles would have wasted no time in giving her a slap across the face for that insult, while it was true that he would normally run away from confrontation, there was a limit to how far his anger could be pushed. Luckily Silver Spoon managed to step in before anything else crossed his mind. “That’s enough Tiara!” she snapped. “You’ve had you fun!” However Diamond Tiara merely scoffed again and pushed her back. “Oh don’t even think that YOU of all ponies have the right to even speak to me after the way you treated me,” she said, much to the shock of everyone else. “The way I treated YOU!?!” Silver Spoon growled. Was there no end to this filly’s stuck-up nature? “Yeah,” Diamond Tiara continued, once again lifting her nose up. “But then again what else can I expect from a rich wannabe, whose family comes from a long line of dirt-eating peasants.” Now Diamond Tiara had gone too far, Silver Spoon could handle being picked on for not having a Cutie Mark, she could handle getting the occasional scold for being a former bully, she could even handle being the prime target of hard bullying from her former friend, but there was no way that she was going to let her get away with insulting her family. With tears of anger swelling up in her eyes, Silver Spoon suddenly felt the urge to run up to the pink filly and smack that tiara off her head, however as she moved closer towards Diamond Tiara, she found herself being held back by Apple bloom and Scootaloo. “Why you…!” she growled, as Apple Bloom continued to pull her tail to keep her in place. “Don’t bother Silver!” Scootaloo pleaded as she moved in front of her. “She ain’t worth it.” However those words fell upon deaf ears as Silver Spoon continued to break free from her friends’ grip and lash of at Diamond Tiara, however the said bully merely scoffed again at Scootaloo’s statement. “Oh I’m not worth it?” she laughed. “I’m worth more than any of you pathetic dorks put together, in fact I…” “DIAMOND TIARA!” Those two words echoes throughout everyone’s ears as they turned towards the direction of the other familiar voice, as expected Cheerilee had been the one to speak as she pushed her way through the curtain. Needless to say, the snobbish attitude Diamond Tiara had was instantly replaced with a sense of fear. “M… Miss Cheerilee?” she said nervously. However Cheerilee continued to look down at her with a furious glare. “Don’t ‘Miss Cheerilee’ me young filly,” she scolded. “I heard every single word you said.” “But… but…” Diamond Tiara tried to speak, only to be silenced by Cheerilee’s raised hoof. “Go home Diamond Tiara,” she said. “You’re out of the play.” Needless to say this caught everyone by surprise, however neither was more shocked to hear it than Diamond Tiara. “WHAT!?!” she gasped in shock. “You can’t do that!” At this point Goggles had to measure up all the strength and willpower he had to force himself not to laugh. “I believe I just did,” Cheerilee retorted. “Now go home!” At those words, Diamond Tiara growled with fury and stomped away, as she pushed herself through the curtains, Goggles could have sworn that she was muttering a threat from her father under her breath, however he knew full well that this was probably another one of her empty threats. Turning back towards Silver Spoon, Goggles couldn’t help but sigh with discomfort as Cheerilee and the others tried to cheer her up. “Are you okay dear?” Cheerilee asked, lifting up Silver Spoon’s chin with her hoof. “Yeah,” Silver Spoon sniffed, wiping away her tears. “I’m… I’m fine.” However that didn’t stop Goggles from speaking his mind. “Darn it, that was completely too low for my liking!” he snapped angrily, crossing his arms in aggravation. “If there is one thing I hate more than a bully, it’s a bully who goes for family ties.” “Ah hear that,” Apple Bloom added in agreement. The same response came from Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, any one of them would have felt the same way if a bully had spoken about THEIR families like that. “You sure you’re okay Silver?” Sweetie Belle asked, wanting to make sure that her friend was indeed alright. “Yeah, I’m okay,” Silver Spoon responded, trying to force a smile. “I guess I sort of had it coming after what I did to you guys huh?” However that statement did not sit well with a certain Gizmonk. “Oh no way, nuh-uh! Do NOT say stuff like that!” he said, pointing a finger towards the filly. “I don’t care what you have done, no one, I repeat no one deserves to be spoken to like that.” Those were words Cheerilee definitely agreed with. “Goggles is right Silver,” she said, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “She shouldn’t have said those things. And you can rest assured that she won’t be bothering you tonight, there is no way I am going to let such disrespectful behaviour go unpunished, especially when it comes to my students being hurt in the process. I suppose the play will just have to have one less singer than intended.” At that point, Goggles’ respect for the school teacher had increased dramatically. “You certainly are a true diamond Miss Cheerilee,” he said, bowing his head with respect. “I only wish that more ponies I have known were like you.” Cheerilee smiled at that. “And what about you Goggles?” she asked him gently. “Are you okay after what she said?” Goggles merely sighed in response “Oh trust me, I’ve heard worse from older ponies in my lifetime,” he said, dismissing the thought. “That filly may get under my skin at times, but ponies like Diamond Tiara always get their just deserts in the end.” Suddenly, out of nowhere Pinkie Pie’s head popped up over his shoulder. “Did someone say desert!?!” she squeaked in delight “Figure of speech, Pinkie!” Goggles deadpanned as he jumped of her back How Pinkie Pie had managed to get Goggles on her back without him even realising was simply something even HE could figure out, never mind how she was able to come backstage without anyone noticing her. The randomness of this pink pony simply made Goggles’ head hurt. # Later on, as Celestia began to lower the sun and Luna’s night began to blanket all of Ponyville, the Celebrations for Nightmare Night had officially begun. After the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had finally managed to calm Silver Spoon down, all four of them had decided to meet Goggles at his lab an hour before their play started, since he was the only one who knew how to work the controls of the stage, they had to make sure that he would be there. As they all waited outside the barn for their mascot, each filly couldn’t help but shiver with excitement. At this point in time they weren’t wearing any costumes since they would be dressing up backstage before the play started, however Cheerilee was kind enough to let the girls keep the costumes afterward so that they could use them to go trick-or-treating when the play is finished. Goggles on the other hand was getting into costume already, and needless to say he was excited as ever to wear it since he had never taken part in such an event before. When the barn doors finally opened Goggles emerged with Trixie at his side, both of whom were in full costume. Trixie wore a long, flowing, black cape tipped with red edges, tied at her neck with a ruby studded broach, her mane was styled with stripes of dark blue dye and she wore a pair of fake fangs in her teeth, the whole costume making her look like a Vampony Queen. Goggles on the other hand wore what looked like royal Canterlot armour, however it was definitely designed more for a Gizmonk rather than a pony and it was clearly welded together from scrap metal since one could clearly see the patchwork, there was no doubt this costume was something goggles had made himself in his lab. “Looking good guys!” Scootaloo complimented. “I’ll say,” Silver Spoon added with a smile. “Well obviously,” Trixie said raising her nose in the air. “The Great and Powerful Trixie, looks good in just about anything.” “Yeah well that’s not what you said when that potion exploded in your face this morning.” Goggles remarked, causing a few giggles from the CMC. “It wasn’t Trixie’s fault that one of your potions went haywire.” Trixie argued. “It went haywire because you dropped it!” Goggles retorted. However Trixie couldn’t be bothered to argue any further. “Look, let’s just agree to disagree for the night and we can pick this up tomorrow,” she said. “Deal?” At those words, Goggles smiled. “Deal,” he replied with a slight chuckle. “Now, if you would care to escort a lovely lady to the party?” Trixie said, giving Goggles her hoof. “Sure,” Goggles replied, giving her hoof a small kiss. “Do you know where I can find one?” With that, Trixie gave Goggles a small slap on the cheek and stomped off towards the centre of town, the CMC trying desperately to hold back their laughter as she passed them. “Oh come on Trixie, have a sense of humour!” Goggles laughed as he ran off after her.