"More heat, moar!!!"
"'Moar heat'? The hay is wrong with you?! The ship's on fire!"
"That means it's working!"
********
Minion stepped back, drawing a leg across her brow to clear it of sweat, and admired the result of two year's hard work. The Inconceivable, as Gadgets had taken to calling it, was massive, deadly, and above all, totally awesome. Five-hundred hooves from stem to stern and a hundred from port to starboard, it was the single largest airship ever created in Araea, having been designed to brave dangers nopony had ever imagined and armed to the bloody teeth with state-of-the-art weaponry.
The Inconceivable was comprised of four decks. The lowest served as a cargo bay, stocked to the brim with spare parts, medical supplies, and various heavy machinery and automatons. The second was devoted to a cutting-edge medical bay, galley, workshop, and recreation center. Then there came the crew quarters, comfortable sized cabins running down the entire length of the ship's starboard side, providing room and board for quite a number of ponies. Room enough for the friends Gadgets expected to gather over the course of their journey. The top deck was mysteriously devoid of clutter, it’s only real decoration the guard rail running along the edge.
The ship itself was shallow-bottomed and based off the designs of old sailing vessels they'd found in the Great Library rather than the compact, rectangular cabins hanging beneath gasbags that were so common these days. Said gasbags were conspicuously absent from this vessel, whose steel sides gleamed bright as the moon. Instead, the ship was held aloft by half-a-dozen gargantuan fans running up either side at regular intervals, and propelled by two larger fans attached to the rear. Numerous machine cannons and death rays covered the spaces between, allowing the ship to fire in any direction. A necessity should they ever be attacked by swarms of something. "Swarming. Is. Bad", as the old saying went.
The last fifty-hooves gave home to the raised captain's cabin, which housed the primary wheel, com station, back-up firing system, a command station that tracked the ship's many various systems (engines, targeting arrays, etc.) and a snack bar atop its roof. At the center of this cabin deckside was the stairway which led to to the interior, the cabin's actual door some ways to the right. An open space passing through all four decks, creating a giant hole in the ship, ran through the center. Just over a hundred feet long and fifty-hooves wide, its purpose was a mystery to her, but Gadgets insisted it was a vital part of the ship's design.
"But what if we have to land on the sea? Won't that sink the whole ship?"
"Got it covered."
And that was that. Still, the rest of the ship was impressive enough that Minion had no doubts as to the validity of Gadgets' confidence. Now all that remained was the greatest problem of all: convincing Mom and Dad to let them go on a perilous journey which was more than likely to kill them horribly...she should probably work on her phrasing before she told them that.
Her musings were interrupted as Gadgets' goggled head popped over the railing, face split in a smile so bright it banished the shadows of doubt from her mind and set her heart to soaring. With a completely unnecessary flip, he leaped over the side, gliding smoothly down to the cave's floor on his wings of gold, hooves clicking loudly against stone polished smooth by liquid flame (of which he was the source).
Gadgets had changed over the years, growing taller, more muscular (a result of the harsh training he and Minion had been subjecting themselves to) in preparation for the dangers they would face and the potentially fatal change in air pressure as they descended to the surface. His mane longer, his eyes sharper and more determined than ever before, though thankfully they had lost none of their childish excitement.
His outfit had changed as well. He still wore the same coat he'd always loved, though Mrs. Gears had had to readjust the size several times to keep up with his growth, but the rest had undergone a drastic makeover. His aviator's vest had been replaced by black chainmail, and he now wore even more belts, dripping with tools and weapons, slung across his shoulders and around his chest and gut. A small Gatling gun was mounted on his left shoulder, belt-fed with irradiated shells by one of his mysterious pockets, and his mechanical limb had been upgraded with a retractable buzz sword, coursing with electricity just for the hay of it.
Minion had undergone some not-so-minor changes herself. In addition to growing taller and stronger, her already athletic build had shaped out into a far more feminine shape, giving her the appearance of, as Gadgets had put it, a "sexy death goddess." Not that she minded, of course. She'd also trimmed her pink mane so that it would not obscure her vision in a fight or catch on protruding branches should they need to run away. Her cherry-red coat was now covered in black, complicated symbols of protection and courage her zebra friends had insisted she wear.
Her own outfit was, though thankfully less complicated than her friend's, still something to be proud of. A short white jacket covered her back and forelegs, two belts, one around her midsection, the other slung diagonally from shoulder to hip, held her tools and weapons, and a single buzz sword was sheathed down her left side. She had also obtained her own pair of extravagant goggles, currently hanging around her neck above the locket Gadgets had made for her, containing the only known picture of him with his parents.
"Oh Gadgets, I can't accept this, it's your most precious possession."
"No, I want you to have it, because you've given me something much more precious to hold on to."
And then he'd kissed her for the first, but certainly not the last, time. That had been last year, and the two had been happily dating ever since, though their romantic evenings did have a habit of ending with something on fire, frozen in ice, or flying through the air. It kept things interesting, to say the least and it wasn't like she could blame all their shenanigans on the colt. Minion had her own, well-deserved reputation for mischief.
"Wellp, she's ready. Time for the hard part," Gadgets voice broke through her thoughts, as he sidled up to her, his eyes already turned towards the early morning light seeping through the cave's entrance.
Minion's smile matched his as she cuddled up next to him and they began the trek towards home, stopping only for the briefest of moments to watch the sunrise, side-by-side, partners in everything from the day they met. The time had finally come to put their friendship to its greatest test.
********
"Okay."
"Now really, Mom, you need to accept that - wait, what?"
"I said okay."
Minion stared dumbfounded at her mother. The young couple had returned home not half an hour past to find that Mrs. Gears had prepared a veritable smorgasbord of breakfast for them, containing everything from seventeen different fruit dishes to stacks of pancakes a pony high.
The family now sat around the kitchen table, Minion and Gadget so close they were almost touching, Mr. and Mrs. Gears facing them, both looking oddly calm and resigned in the morning light seeping in from the windows. Mrs. Gears turned to address Gadgets, though Minion was certain she was speaking to both of them.
"When we were young, Jackies and Marith would always talk about finally leaving home and traveling the world aboard their own airship. When we grew up, that passion had only grown with the passing of time, and I have no illusions about how they must have planned to leave the second they could."
She shook her head sadly, blinking away tears. Mr. Gears placed a comforting hoof around her shoulders, drawing her close even as Minion did the same to Gadgets, who was staring at his adopted mother with utmost attention.
"But then Marith got pregnant and derailed their plans entirely. Jackies was forced to sell the airship they'd been building to cover the cost of raising a foal, but oh, they were both so happy when you were born! It was like their own dreams ceased to matter when they looked at you, like your happiness was the whole world to them."
Gadgets was sitting on the edge of his seat now, eyes shining like two little lamps in the night, and Mrs. Gears smiled at him through her tears.
"But I'd always suspected they'd never fully given up hope of going beyond Araea's borders, they were just waiting until you were grown enough to go with them. But then that terrible night happened and you came to us in the rain and I swore to do everything in my power to protect you, to keep you safe and happy until you were ready."
"Ready for what?" Gadgets whispered softly.
"Ready for this," Mrs. Gears slid from her husband's embrace and clopped softly up the stairs, returning moments later with a battered old shoebox sealed by an extraordinarily complicated, though clearly ancient, lock. Mrs. Gears removed a key from her jewelry box on the kitchen counter and the lock clicked open, its sound reverberating about the still room as if she'd struck a gong.
From the box she removed a journal, nearly identical to the one Gadgets possessed, though far more heavily damaged by age and the side-effects of science. Mrs. Gears carefully handed the tome to her son, who hastily cleared his place of dishes, knocking several to the floor where their built-in rotors easily righted themselves and set gently to the tiles, spilling nothing.
"This book once belonged to your father," she told him, opening it to display yellowed pages crammed with notes and diagrams. "He used it to copy down everything he'd ever thought of, including all of his plans for the future."
She pointed a hoof towards a small paragraph crammed in one corner; Minion leaned over her coltfriend's shoulder to read it:
Gadgets,
I write this to you knowing that if I never achieve my dream, you will. Life is complicated, life is harsh, and we frequently find ourselves having to choose between what we need and what we want. I wanted to go to the surface, I wanted to be an adventurer, I wanted it more than I've ever wanted anything, and I know your mother felt the same way. But then she got pregnant, and for a terrifying moment I believed that all my hopes were shattered. And then you were born.
I love you, Gadgets, and I know that no matter what happens to me, or to Marith, you'll grow up to be the greatest pony I could ever hope you to be. I will ask only one thing of you, my son, one thing that I want you to do. Go to the surface. Fulfill what I could not. Not for me, never for me, but for you. The world down there is a beautiful place and it's so very worth seeing, even if I've never been there.
There's more to the Event than we know, and I task you with the quest of finding out what. Find the Rainbow Bridge, Gadgets, find it and bring our ponies home; back to where we started and closer to where we began.
Gadgets stared in dazed wonder at his father's writing, so very like his own, too afraid or too reverent to touch the weathered pages, his tears now spilling unashamedly down his cheeks.
"I kept this from you, not out of fear, but so that you could grow up to make your own choices,” Mrs. Gears told him, closing the weathered pages. “I didn't want you to feel like you owed anything to your parents, like you had to complete their journey. I wanted you to live your life, just like they would have. I -"
Whatever else she might have said was cut-off as Gadgets hugged her, weeping into her flowery apron like a little foal. Mrs. Gears smiled and stroked his mane gently with a hoof, meeting her daughter's tear-stained eyes as she did. It was then that Minion understood. Her parents, being the brilliant ponies they were, had always known Gadgets would follow in his parents' hoofprints, and they'd fully expected her to go with him when he did. They'd known she'd love him even before she had.
"Your mother left you a gift, too, you know." Mrs. Gears said after a few moments, when Gadgets sobs had finally subsided. The young stallion blinked up at her, his goggles, to which his "mother" was now indicating, perched precariously on his forehead.
"We gave them to you early because we knew your father's spirit ran strong in you, and we owed it to him to help you nurture that gift as best we could, though we certainly didn't expect you to spend so much energy trying to fly."
Gadgets raised a hoof to gently touch the ruby-red lenses, the sharp clang of metal meeting metal echoing through the room as he bumped a dial. Mr. Gears, who had been watching the goings-on with a blend of sadness and fatherly pride, suddenly turned to address his daughter. He'd grown a thick mustache in recent years, but his sad little smile was clearly visible all the same.
"You see now why we accepted your declaration so promptly,” he told her, his voice wearied and scratchy with age but filled with warmth and compassion. “We've always known someday you two'd set out for the world and we've had time to prepare ourselves accordingly. The Princess's visit only helped speed things along."
Minion felt fit to burst with pride and affection for her little family as he continued.
"I won't pretend that we won't be sad to see you go, and I'll pretend even less that I don't think it's a stupid, crazy idea that's going to get the two of you killed before you so much as reach that ground we've never seen.
But," his own tears finally broke the dam of masculinity, "that's what it is to be a Gears, to be a pony of Punkstill. Being stupid and crazy and never letting anything get between you and your dreams, and to Tartarus with anypony who says not to shoot for the impossible!"
Minion shot around the table to embrace her father and within moments Mrs. Gears had pulled them into her own hug, squeezing the two brave, brave foals between their parents, wishing she could never let go.
"When are you leaving?" she found herself asking, even though she did not want to know the answer.
"The ship is ready, everything's packed; we'll leave as soon as we've said our goodbyes." Gadgets whispered into the stillness.
His tears had stopped, the time for crying was long past; he'd made his decision, and he would follow it through to the end. Wait for me, Equestria, he thought. I'm coming, and nothing in the world can stop me. My wish will come true. I will make it so, with these hooves of metal and bone, I will make it so.
********
It took almost a week to finish saying their goodbyes, and the better part of another for their friends (and more than half the population of Araea) to arrive. There to wave their final farewells and witness the maiden voyage of that legendary airship, The Inconceivable.
There was not a town in the land that had not contributed in some way to its construction, everypony more than willing to turn out their pockets to that crazy little foal who'd captured their hearts with his boundless enthusiasm and selfless actions. Some had donated large amounts of raw materials such as bronze, steel, wood, and the like. Others had sent labor automatons for the building itself. Not to mention the finest food, drink, and fabrics that had been flown in from the farthest edges of the country. Every inventor, farmer, or factory worker worth his hooves wanting to be able to say, "See that there, on The Inconceivable? I sent him that."
But even as they cheered its building, and beggared themselves to be a part of it, everypony felt, deep inside their hearts, the cold nugget of fear. Fear for the friend they loved, fear that his dream would fail, fear that he would never return. But no matter how afraid for him and his marefriend, they might be, everypony turned out to see him leave. With a smile on their face and hoof in the air they watched that great ship drift on rails of iron from the depths of the cave, and out into the bright noonday sun.
"All systems green, we are ready for launch, Captain." Minion reported, her eyes roving the dials of her command station, triple-checking everything. Gadgets smirked at her from the wheel, his forehooves resting gently on its spokes, his back locked tightly into the braces that would keep him steady.
"Alright then, we've done everything we can think of. Everything's ready, it's time to set sail. Celestia I hope this doesn't blow up."
"Wait, that can happen?"
Gadgets didn't respond, instead he barked an order at the Chief, the automaton he'd designated as being in charge of the crew, to raise the sails. The tiny machine, shaped oddly like a ball with stubby arms and legs, saluted smartly and rattled off to inform the others, snapping out its own orders in the curious, buzzing language of machines to its fellows.
Since the ship was without masts, Gadgets had designed a clever system of specially designed runners which pulled the sails across the length of the ship, before anchoring them down along its sides.
The sails themselves were a marvel of engineering fit to rival that of The Inconceivable itself. Massive, triangular pieces of canvas wide enough to stretch port-to-starboard across the ship, there were six in total running aft-to-bow, forming a sort of canopy. Orange-gold in color and designed to absorb sunlight, transferring the power down below to the engines providing a vast, renewable source of fuel. Rattling filled the air as they were raised, accompanied by the cheers of the spectatorponies.
Due to their shape, the sails were angled slightly to catch the wind, serving both to push the ship forward and hold it aloft, though despite their size their contribution was negligible, given the vast weight they were supporting. No, the ship's real flying power was held by the massive fans Minion had been admiring earlier. Though the science behind the devices baffled her, she had the utmost confidence in Gadgets technical know-how.
"Full speed ahead, Lieutenant." Gadgets called, “Let’s make history!”
Minion shivered in anticipation as she punched in keys, the sounds of her love's mad laughter filling the air about her ears. With a lurch smoother than she'd had any right to expect, the engines came to life and the dull thrum of a dozen gargantuan fans filled the air. The ship shot forward from its runway, speeding over the heads of its onlookers at a rate many, including her, would have thought impossible for a vessel of its size.
Minion thought she caught one last glimpse of her parents waving madly from the depths of the crowd before the town of Punkstill began to fade from sight. A number of smaller airships had flown up around them, their occupants waving frantically even as The Inconceivable easily outstripped them, racing ever onwards through the valley towards the cliffs, and the sea of clouds beyond and below.
Gadgets had chosen this route deliberately and Minion gazed with wonder as they passed over the same outcrop of rock where, just two years prior, Gadgets had learned to fly. She turned to see the colt grinning at her, which she returned with equal vigor. They'd done it! It had taken two years of their lives and a thousand years of their hearts, but they'd done it! They'd built themselves a flying machine and were even now heading out into the new world that awaited them!
"Where to, Captain?" Minion called over the wind, her voice high with joy and shaking with laughter.
"Forward and down," he called back, punching a few buttons on the wheel, "forward and down until we reach the sea!"
On cue, the nose of their great ship began to gently, but noticeably, point down. Down to the perpetual sea of clouds that surrounded their mountain home, obscuring the ground from its peak, and the peak from the ground. The sea none but Celestia herself, the most powerful pony in the world, had ever been able to safely navigate since the Event and the loss of the magical Rainbow Bridge.
"Aye, my love, beyond the sea and below the sky!"