An Old Mare's Tale: Gadgets, Bringer of SCIENCE!

by Forevermore

The Wind of Destiny

Firestarter woke in a bed that was not her own in a place she did not recognize. The walls were made of polished wood and covered in bronze pipes that hissed and clattered as steam ran through them, the floor polished steel, numerous lanterns covered the walls, though no discernible light source (such as a flame) could be seen within. The unnatural devices fascinated her, even as they disturbed her inner heart. This place was definitely not the orphanage.

Her "bed" itself was a commodity she'd never imagined before: a crimson hammock strung from the ceiling by hooks shaped like dragons and chains instead of the usual ropes, who woulda thunk it? Even if it was the only thing of interest in the otherwise bare room, it was still the nicest place she could ever remember waking up in. At least there were no rats gnawing on her mane.

The filly blinked as she got her bearings, the memories of the day before flooding back through her mind. The city she'd called home in flames, the orphanage where she'd learned to survive being torn apart by a rampaging garbage monster, and the horrible figure of a massive dragon extending the hoof of friendship to her.

Firestarter shook her head and sat up, causing the hammock to sway wildly and dump her to the floor. The pegasus yelped and screwed her eyes shut tight in preparation for the pain of face-to-floor contact... which, seconds later, didn't come. She opened her eyes and discovered that she was floating safely in a purple energy bubble several feet from the unforgiving steel.

"Landing on your hooves is better than landing on your face," said a familiar voice, "but I like your initiative."

The unicorn magic flipped the little filly right side up so she could face her savior. Minion's face bore a knowing smile as she deposited the younger pony gently on her hooves.

"Hi, Minion," Firestarter greeted her friend. "I guess I'm still not used to my room moving."

The mare shrugged and indicated for the filly to follow her out into the hall, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it soon enough."

"Ah guess so," she murmured, her tiny attention span already abandoning this topic to gaze at the wonders surrounding her.

The hallways of the massive airship were paneled in dark wood and lined with more of the pipes and flameless lanterns she'd seen in her room. The floors were made from steel and covered in elaborately decorated rugs, except for a pair of tracks running along either side; their purpose eluded her but she had the sneaking suspicion she'd find out sooner than she'd like.

The spacious area was far from empty, as buzzbots scurried up and down alongside massive machines that defied description and carts laden with supplies which moved under their own power Firestarter found herself playing a continuous game of Chicken-Chaser just to keep pace with the older mare. These wonders of technology amazed the little filly; she had always loved tech and the gizmos pervaded by traveling fairs had always been a prime target of pick-pocketing. These small treasures had been well worth the severe beatings she received upon the caretaker's discovery of her actions; he didn't like them stealing without permission, after all; especially not "worthless junk" he could not sell on the black market.

To her surprise, Minion did not lead her out on deck but instead continued on deeper into the ship, down towards the hold. They descended via a number of stair cases, moving platforms, and once even a steel pole poking upwards through a series of small holes. Large as the ship was, it could be traversed rather quickly, and so it was that it took them not more than ten minutes to reach their destination: the cavernous chamber that housed the airship's larger machinery as well as Gadgets' laboratory.

The hold was curiously devoid of inhabitants, which the filly attributed to the crew spending most of their time on deck as they watched the world moving beneath them.

"Why'd ya bring me down here?" The filly asked, throwing a questioning glance at Minion, who smiled and waved her over to a complicated chest wedged between several tons of machinery, which hissed steam at random intervals.

"Since you're going to be traveling with us," the older mare informed her, popping open the chest and digging through its contents, "You need an outfit worthy of The Inconceivable!"

With that, she set to her work with a will, tossing items over her shoulder as she dug, sending Firestarter scurrying as she dodged the rain of heavy clocks, outlandish weapons, and the occasional plushie.

"Do I really need an outfit?" The filly asked, eyeing a particularly fearsome stuffed bear nervously. "I mean, isn't some of this stuff kinda...dangerous?"

"Don't be a baby," Minion quipped, closely inspecting a large rifle covered in blades before tossing it aside, causing the weapon to discharge and very nearly decapitate the younger pony. Luckily she managed to duck in time. "You're a rough-and-tumble street pony, I'm sure you're no stranger to a bit of danger."

"Oh I've been in my share of scrapes, that's for certain," Firestarter responded, "It's just I'm not entirely certain what a lot of these things do."

Minion made a noncommittal sound in her throat as she inspected a deceptively-innocent looking alarm clock, which promptly exploded upon contact with the ground. It then proceeded to reassemble itself, broken parts crawling across the ground to fit themselves back into place.

"Pish, posh, applesauce, silly filly," she murmured, inspecting a miniaturized cannon that was spouting purple bubbles. "Nothing here can hurt you unless you let it hurt you."

With that, she tossed the contraption over her shoulder, where it cracked on the ground and promptly exploded.

********

Minion had finally managed to remove the last of the jelly from Firestarter's mane and the filly was now snoozing restfully on deck with the crew. Things were as quiet and peaceful as they ever got on The Inconceivable; what with Gadgets' constant tinkering, Crimson's ceaseless training with her new weapons, and the ever-present buzzbots hovering around Feathers, but that peace was about to be shattered. Not ten feet away from the filly's nose, the air shimmered and the strangest thing she had ever seen stepped forth.

The creature walked on two legs, had four arms, a long cat-like tail, and vaguely feline features. Her (for it was obviously a she) entire body was covered by light-brown fur bedecked with swirling black tattoos. Her tangled hair was ruby, however, and her belly and chin were a clean white. She was tall, slightly bigger than a griffon, though still fairly tiny in comparison to a dragon.

Firestarter shivered with fear as the creature's green eyes roved around the deck, her predatory gaze freezing the filly's limbs and making it all but impossible for her to move.

"Two things," it said, her voice an odd blend of sultry seduction and icy lethality. "First, this is The Inconceivable as belonging to the pony Gadgets, correct?"

"Yep," the pony in question told her, smiling brightly.

"Excellent. Second," her expression suddenly turned pleading as two of her hands grabbed her stomach and she began squirming where she stood, "can I use your bathroom?"

"Uh, sure?" Minion answered, perplexed, "It's down the stairs, third door on your left."

"Thank you," the creature said, rushing into the airship's interior faster than Firestarter's eyes could follow.

"Well that was weird," the filly noted, raising an eyebrow at the trail of dust the figure had left in her wake.

"Actually, for us, that was pretty normal," Darkfang told her, striding up to get a closer look from where he had been lounging in the sunlight.

"Still though."

The dragon shrugged and motioned for the little filly to be quiet as the furry creature waltzed back on deck, looking vastly relieved.

"Oh you have no idea how good that felt," she said airily, "I swear I've been holding it in for three days. Ever since I got the contract to kill all of you over in Guasta I have been traveling non-stop; you would not believe how hard it is to travel half-way around the world, even when you can teleport."

"You've been hired to kill us?" Minion raised an eyebrow.

The assassin shrugged, "Yep, pretty standard procedure for the Black Hoof. Somepony with more money than sense wants a rival or an enemy taken out all quiet-like and bam! the next thing you know the Dreamer shows up and within the week an agent gets sent out. You guys must've pissed off somepony really important; they don't call me for just any country bumpkin."

"So who hired you?"

"No idea!" She waved a paw breezily, "The big dogs don't tell us little cats the why, just the who and the where."

"An assassin seems an odd career choice for one of your kind," Darkfang cut in, gesturing at the furry creature.

"One of my what now?"

The dragon raised an eyebrow, "Brownies. Nature spirits...are you telling me you don't know what you are?"

The...brownie... shrugged again, "Not a clue. I was raised by the Black Hoof to be a killing machine since birth; my species wasn't exactly high on their list of teaching materials."

"So you've been doing this a long time than?" Gadgets asked, strolling down to face the killer.

"Ever since I was seven, yeah."

"And do you enjoy it?"

"Not particularly. There's not much satisfaction (or fun) to be had killing ponies you've never even met."

"So what do you do for fun?" Darkfang asked.

"Drink, whore, gamble, drugs, brawls. You know, rampant hedonism, that kinda stuff."

"Sounds like an empty existence."

"It's not like we get a choice in what we do."

"What makes you say that?"

The assassin looked to the sky, "Destiny is written from the moment of our birth. Our actions are preordained. We are all but puppets, on the master's strings."

"I don't believe that," Gadgets told her, his expression suddenly becoming serious.

"It doesn't matter, we all must die someday."

"Before we go any further," Minion cut in, "where are your clothes?"

The assassin raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

"Clothes. You know, those things we wear so we're not running around naked?"

"Well obviously they're right --- Celestia's burning hindquarters!" The brownie screeched as she looked down and saw that she was, in fact, quite in the buff. "What in Discord's name happened to my stuff?!" She paused as her eyes slid away in thought.

"The brothel!" She exclaimed, pounding two fists into two palms, and promptly disappearing in a flash of light.

"Well," Firestarter murmured, "that was...odd."

The brownie popped back into existence moments later, her arms filled with a variety of items. Grumbling incoherently about whores, fungus, and...chocolate sauce? She dressed quickly in a simple black robe, brown trousers, and a pearl-studded leather belt.

"So who are you, anyway?" Minion asked, settling down comfortably on the stairs.

"Calamity, or Cal to my friends," she replied. "Well, if I had any friends. Also, none of you appear to be taking me seriously, why is that?"

Firestarter looked around at the crew, all of whom were in varying states of lazing about or idly cleaning weapons. Gadgets was the only one who appeared attentive; his gaze had not shifted from "Cal" since she had re-appeared. The stillness of the normally tornado-like Earth Pony disturbed the filly in ways she could not explain.

Darkfang shrugged, "We've fought an entire tribe of jackal cannibals, been crushed by a mountain, and escaped the clutches of the finest military in the world."

"And we destroyed Moon's Eye," Crimson chimed in, smiling grimly as she ran a whetstone down her spearhead.

"That too," the dragon acknowledged with a nod of his head; turning back to the assassin: "We're pretty confident about our survivability. Also, you're not exactly at your most threatening when you show up completely naked and asking for the bathroom."

"Huh," Cal blinked, "that's a pretty impressive list."

"Thank you."

"But...I'm afraid I'm a little better than you give me credit for."

"How so?"

The brownie drew four swords from within the depths of her robe. The blades were of an Eastern style Firestarter had once seen in a book...katana she thought they were called. Single-edged and made for slicing, the swords had been crafted from a strange, crystal-like material that glowed with white light. The swords were undecorated with handles made from ebony and bound in wire.

"Arcanium," Darkfang said darkly, "never thought I'd see it outside of the stories."

"Arca-what-now?" Firestarter raised an eyebrow at her giant friend, who nodded.

"It's a legendary material that's said to be able to cut through anything," Crimson informed her; her eyes were glued to the mysterious weapons as well, her expression grim. "But that's not the worst of it."

"Than what is?"

"They absorb magic," Cal cut in, "and what's more, they can redirect it."

Gadgets whistled in appreciation. The brownie simply shrugged and flourished her blades.

"So," she asked, "who's first?"

"We're taking turns?" Minion raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"Sure, why not? I'm not exactly opposed to you all coming at once, either. But I like the idea of an epic duel."

"Weird hobby."

"I normally just shoot my targets from a distance with my rifle," she gestured to an elaborately jeweled weapon in the pile of her stuff, "but since even I can't hit a target this fast and this far away, I'm stuck doing paw-to-paw combat. So I figured, 'why not make it more interesting'?"

"So what happens if we beat you in this duel of yours?"

"You won't."

"Interesting!" Gadgets cried out, striding towards the assassin, "Care to bet on that?"

Cal's ears pricked up, "I should warn you, I'm not exactly a bad gambler."

"Neither am I."

"Alright then, what are the stakes?"

"If I win, you inform the Black Hoof to tell whoever hired you he can shove a pineapple up his glory hole."

"Hmm, and if I win?"

"Than you'll have fulfilled your contract on my life and you allow the rest of my friends to disappear."

The assassin's eyes flickered briefly to Firestarter, then to Minion, and finally back to Gadgets; it was worth noting that for the second they'd rested on the filly her expression had softened considerably.

"Deal," she said, after a moment.

"Why so sudden?" Darkfang asked, his expression indiscernible as he looked their potential killer up and down.

"I don't kill children, and I like killing their mothers in front of them even less," her eyes flickered between the two female ponies on deck.

Firestarter looked at her "mother", the older mare looked remarkably flustered as she met the filly's gaze. Minion gave her a blushing smile before turning away.

"Then why did you accept the contract in the first place?," Darkfang leaned against the railing, crossing his arms, making sure his weapons were in plain sight. Firestarter even thought he was flexing a little.

"They neglected to inform me there would be children involved. I was told I'd be fighting a group of seasoned warriors only."

"Fair enough."

"So...me and you...eh, Cal?" Gadgets grinned, leading the brownie out away from the command deck where they would have more room. The brownie shrugged noncommittally.

"Actually, it's just me. Your destiny was written the moment I arrived on-board."

"I never cared much for destiny," the Deathsmith's eyes glittered gold and red in the dwindling light as storm clouds began to gather overhead.

A fierce wind blew crossways on the deck, completely at odds with the airship's trajectory. Firestarter noted with fear that the brownie's eyes were beginning to glow, her fur standing on end. She was performing magic, powerful magic, even the filly's untrained senses could not mistake the waves of power rolling off her.

"Destiny is written from the moment we were born; nopony can change that."

Cal took a deep breath and began to wave her swords in a lazy, complex pattern, their light leaving shining trails in the unnatural dark.

"Where have all the good colts gone and...where are all the gods?"

Her patterns picked up speed as she continued to sing; Gadgets unsheathed his buzzblade and the two began to circle each other.

"Late at night, I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need..."

The two leaped forward simultaneously, meeting in a clash of sparks.

"I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero till the end of the night!"

They battled fiercely across the deck, their paw and hoof strikes beating out a staccato rhythm on the polished steel. Ducking, weaving, dodging, neither able to lay a blow on the other.

"He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight. I need a hero!"

The two moved across the deck as if they were dancing, blows coming within a hairsbreadth only to be turned aside at the last second.

"Somewhere after midnight, in my wildest fantasy. Somewhere just beyond my reach, somepony's reaching back for me."

The battle slowed down as the two separated, still slowly circling each other; Cal backed away, nearer to the railing, her fur singed and her face lit up in a predatory grin.

"Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat, it's gonna take a supercolt to sweep me off my paws!"

The brownie began waving her swords once more in that ghostly pattern, so fast as to be a blur in the air. The wind became even fiercer, threatening to blow Firestarter straight off deck and into empty void below had she not found herself nestled safely in Darkfang's arms.

"But where the mountains meet the heavens above and where the lightning splits the sea!"

Cal crossed her swords over her head; a bolt of lightning cracked down from the sky and struck the blades, sending electricity ricocheting across the deck, scouring trenches in the steel and snapping away a number of heavy cables as if they were made of string. Her blades now coursing with the purest power there is, the brownie charged and the two began their conflict anew, the tempo rising with renewed intensity.

"Through the wind and the chill and the rain...and the storm and the flood! I can feel his approach like a fire in my blood! (Like a fire in my blood, like a fire in my blood, like a fire in my blood!)"

The combatants were beginning to falter: Cal lost part of an ear to a blow she should have been able to dodge and it appeared as if her lower right arm was broken, Gadgets was bleeding from a dozen small cuts, his fur singed and burned by electricity. His expression was one Firestarter had never expected to see before; it was a kind of mix between pity and self-loathing.

"I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero till the end of the night! Oh he's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be larger than life! Larger than life."

The two sprung back simultaneously and glared at each other over about ten hooves of open space.

"Nothing can stop destiny, Gadgets!" Cal shouted, speaking for the first time since the battle began, "Not even you!"

"Destiny is a toothless, dying hag!" The pony responded, his red eye shut tight against the pain.

The brownie screeched, her eyes mad with rage, "Why should you get to live your life the way you want to?! Why should I be wrapped in chains while you get to be free?! Tell me!"

Gadgets charged, his golden eye blazing with resolve, "We make our own destinies! We define ourselves! You're the only one who ever made you a slave!"

The two met with a clash of blades too fast for the filly's eyes to follow, though the sound nearly deafened her. They continued past each other for a ways, finally grinding to a halt at the opposite position of where they'd been.

Cal looked up at the sky as the rain began to fall, the blades she carried in her lower arms shattering with the tinkling of glass. Ignoring this, or possibly not even aware of it, she stabbed her remaining swords into the deck, where they stood quivering from the force of the blow.

"I understand," she murmured into the wind, so quietly the filly wasn't even sure she'd heard it at all. The sad figure fell to her knees, a mortal wound erupting across her chest from shoulder to hip in a fountain of more blood than Firestarter had ever seen in her entire life until today.

"I wish...I'd met you...sooner..." she fell to her back, no longer breathing. A single tear, red with the sins of a life of misery and bondage, rolled down her cheek, untouched as the rain drove down with ever greater force. Nature itself mourning the passing of its lost child.

Comments

[Zero Moment]

Damn. You made me like and then killed lil' Cal in the space of a single chapter.
You bastard.

[Liqwidice]

Dead.... Dead is temporary for there is SCIENCE!!!!!

[TacoTown]

death. there's a lunatic genious with too much time on his hooves on board. death is for th' weak!

[Forevermore]

542241 Clearly somepony doesn't keep up with my ever-changing description OR my blog.

542922 That line is fantastic, can I use that?

[Formed_Zeus]

Great chapter!!!! Loved this so much! I imagine gadgets is going to save Cal, right? RIGHT?!

[datdamnface]

Well then mr. Gadgets.

...I don't think I can brain right now, that chapter was too awesome.

[Liqwidice]

543096
Of course you can use it.... I would be honored if you found it good enough.

[Liqwidice]

I mean honestly you think Gadgets is gonna let her welch out on a bet just because of a little thing like DEATH... HAHAHHAHHAAHHAHAHAHHAH!!!!

[EXbronymaster]

stand back there's science in this shit

[Forevermore]

551388 Yes, Minion is roughly the same size as the Mane 6 while Gadgets is slightly smaller, not significantly smaller but he's noticeably shorter by a few inches.

Thanks for your help, I'll look into a way to make the transition make more sense. I was really trying to go for the movie feel where it cuts to short, poignant flashbacks while a character is experiencing stirring emotion but I can see where it might get confusing, I'll re-edit it and see if it can't be more distinct

[Law]

There isn't one thing I don't love about this story or this chapter.
Awesome song is Awesome, that is one of my favorite songs and you used it to its fullest extent, you are a wordsmith of epic proportions.