//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 - Wolf-i-fied // Story: A Gizmonk in Ponyville // by Moheart7 //------------------------------// Needless to say, Nightmare Night had to have been one of the most interesting things Goggles had ever experienced. When he, Trixie and the CMC made it to the town square, the entire area was bristling with excitement, everywhere one looked, ponies were either dancing to music, playing carnival games or gorging themselves on heaps upon heaps of delicious foods, mostly sweet things like candy and other confectionaries, Sugarcube Corner must have been sold out of everything by the afternoon. Not only that, but every single pony was dressed up in costume, some were dressed up as scary as they could possibly be, others dressed up as the cutest thing they could think of, and some were dressed up in something that made absolutely no sense, one of which was Ditzy Doo wearing what appeared to be a bunch of paper shopping bags, Goggles could only assume that she was trying to dress up a groceries, either that or she had finally lost it. Another interesting costume was Pinkie Pie’s, as she walked along with a group of younger ponies on their usual Trick-or-Treat route, Goggles couldn’t help but giggle at the weird mouse costume she was wearing, never in his life had he seen a large black mouse wearing white gloves and red shorts. “How much longer until the play starts?” Silver Spoon asked as the group walked further towards the stage area. “Well Cheerilee said that the plays starts at around 8,” Scootaloo answered. “So we got a good half an hour to get ready. “Well Trixie has other things to do from this moment forward,” Trixie said, taking a turn away from the group and walking towards a different direction. “Perhaps I’ll see you guys from the dance floor.” And with that Trixie walked away and disappeared into the crowd. “Well she was certainly in a good mood,” Apple Bloom commented. “Yeah it’s like she’s forgotten that most ponies still hate her,” Scootaloo added, only to receive and angry glare from everyone else. “What? It’s true.” “No it is not,” Goggles retorted, straightening his costume. “And as soon as Trixie’s done with tonight, she will see that for herself.” “Well at least someone has confidence in that,” Sweetie Belle commented. “She’s actually lucky to have a friend like you Goggles.” Goggles merely smiled at that. “Well whatever,” Scootaloo said trying to change the subject. “We better get to the stage and put on our costumes, there’s no way I’m missing this.” With a nod in unison between them, the other fillies began to follow Scootaloo as she walked away, however Goggles remained standing where he was. “You coming Goggles?” Silver Spoon asked. “Oh you girls go on,” Goggles said, waving a paw. “I just want to take a little browse around first.” “Okay, but don’t be late,” Apple Bloom said with a shrug before she and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders disappeared into the crowd, leaving Goggles alone with his thoughts. Goggles then spent the next few minutes having a little wonder around the festivities. After passing by a few of the games being played, he realised that he was feeling a little peckish so he decided to make his way towards the nearest snack table. When he arrived, he jumped up onto the table to get a better look at what delicious treats he could have before rushing off, after scanning over the mounds of sweets and cakes he finally found what appeared to be a delicious looking jelly, and not just any jelly, but BANANA jelly. “Yummy,” Goggles moaned happily, his mouth watering upon seeing the delicious desert. “It may not be Camomile but it…” Suddenly he noticed something strange about the jelly, naturally it was normal for such a desert to wobble but not when it was still stationed on a table, in fact the jelly was shaking so violently that it looked more like it was vibrating. In fact not that he had realised it, the whole table seemed to be shaking along with it. “What the…?” Goggles exclaimed, scratching his head under his helmet as he jumped down from the table. Hoping to get to the bottom of this weird phenomenon, Goggles instantly lifted up the white sheet covering the table and peered under it, what he saw certainly gave him surprise. “Fluttershy?” he exclaimed, his eyes widened. “What the heck are you doing under there?” Indeed it was Fluttershy, just like she said she would, she had left the safety of her cottage and came outside on Nightmare Night. As Goggles looked upon her he noticed the lovely white Bunny costume she was wearing, no doubt specially designed by Rarity to tribute her own pet, Angel, however he also couldn’t help but noticed that she seemed to be shivering like a leaf as she hid under the snack table, causing it to noticeably shake. “I said I would come out of my cottage,” she explained, turning her head towards the Gizmonk. “I never said I would stay out in the open for long.” At those words Goggles couldn’t help but face-palm, he understood that Fluttershy was extremely timid but even he knew that this was a little strange. Well at least she was out of her cottage, so at least it was SOME improvement. However there was one thing that Goggles still had to point out. “But how are you planning to watch the play if you’re cowering under the snack table?” he asked. At those words, Fluttershy revealed a long metal tube from behind her “Pinkie Pie let me borrow her periscope,” she explained. “I’ll be able to see everything just fine from where I am.” “Of course,” Goggles replied, rolling his eyes. “Well enjoy the evening, not that you’ll experience much under there. That last part, of course, Goggles had muttered under his breath so that Fluttershy couldn’t hear him. Leaving the Pegasus under the table, Goggles quickly grabbed a piece of jelly and walked away from the snack table. After another 10 minutes of walking around the festivities, Goggles was suddenly met with the sounds of ponies in awe. “What the heck?” Goggles said confusingly as he h=turned his head towards where everyone else was looking. There up in the night sky, shrouded by the gentle glow of the full moon was a pair of dark grey Pegasi with bat-like wings pulling a dark blue chariot, within the chariot was a dark blue pony covered in a dark cloak. As Goggles looked around him, wondering what all the fuss was about, he distinctively heard the sounds of the ponies around him. “It’s Princess Luna!” one said. “She’s here!” said another. Princess Luna? The Princess of the Night herself!?! This he needed to have a better look at, as though on his very instinct, Goggles ran towards the nearest tree and climbed up it, ran across its lowest branch and jumped onto the nearest rooftop. Looking down onto the street Goggles could definitely see why every pony was so entranced, as she stepped out of the chariot and allowed her cloak to dissolve into a flock of bats that flew off into the night-sky, there she was, a picture of beauty. She was, of course, an Alicorn like Twilight, had a dark blue coat, wore black and silver jewellery and her mane flowed and sparkled with the stars themselves. She certainly was a beautiful sight, her luminescent radiance was so astounding that even Goggles felt his own jaw drop at the sight of her. “She’s even prettier than she is in her pictures,” Goggles admitted to himself, remembering all the images he had seen of her lately around town. Out of all the stories he had heard about her from many ponies around town, Goggles felt like none of them had seem to do her any justice judging from the way she began to mingle amongst the ponies, it was as though she was just as regular as any other pony. Suddenly Goggles noticed a distinctive sound of something smashing coming from the street below him. # “I am so sorry, Miss Applejack!” a white Earth Pony mare with a red and violet mane apologised as she cleaned up the mess of shattered glass and ice-cream off the floor. “I’ll get you another one, on the house!” “Hey, don’t worry about it Garcia,” Applejack chuckled, wiping the splats of pink ice-cream off her Scarecrow costume. “It could happen to any pony.” “But this is the third time I dropped an order today,” the mare moaned. “If I don’t straighten up my act soon, my boss is gonna fire me. I can’t go back to Dodge Junction a failure, my Aunt Jubilee will kill me!” Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle at those words, it had been over a week since this Cherry Garcia had moved to Ponyville and she was still as nervous as ever. While it was true that Pinkie Pie would be the first one to welcome new ponies to Ponyville, Applejack had the luck of meeting her first since she had been a relative of a pony she had used to work for a while ago. After she had moved here a week ago, Applejack was the first one to help her find a job at the ice-cream parlour, however it seems that she was a close-second to Fluttershy when it comes to timidity. “Now don’t y’all be silly Garcia,” Applejack reassured her. “You’re just stressed because it’s the busiest night of the year for y’all sweet-makers. Heck, Ah’m surprised you guys are even open tonight.” “Well Rocky Road says that it’s supposed to be the most profitable time of year for the shop,” Garcia replied sheepishly, before turning away. “I’ll just go get your ice-cream.” And with that, Garcia walked back into the shop, leaving Applejack alone with her thoughts. As she sat there at the table outside of Rocky Road’s ice cream shop, Applejack couldn’t help but sigh, the evening for her had begun just like another other Nightmare Night, she dressed up in her usual Scarecrow costume, made her way into town early so she could prepare her stall, and had spent the first chunk of the evening over-seeing the Bobbing for Apples. However that was before Twilight and Spike came over to say hello, Twilight was of course dressed up as another accurate historic figure, at least she claims the costume it was accurate, and Spike was, of course, back in his dragon costume, which Applejack had to admit looked adorable on him. At first she was happy to interact with the little guy, the conversation was pleasant and she loved every second of it, but then a certain Unicorn by the name of Rarity just happened to walk by and he had forgotten about Applejack in an instant, as he ran off after the Unicorn who had his heart, Spike literally had left Applejack in the dust as she stood there coughing on the cloud he had left behind due to running so fast. Saddened with the whole situation Applejack decided to take her break early and left her stall in the care of one of the helpers, now all she wanted to do was sit down at her table and gorge herself on a bowl of strawberry Ice cream. As she looked over towards her far right, she spotted Spike talking to Rarity, who was dressed up in what appeared to a jewel studded dress, something she no doubt made herself, upon seeing him go all giddy over the Unicorn, Applejack couldn’t help but grit her teeth. What she didn’t know, however was the fact that a certain Gizmonk had been watching her from the rooftop above her. “Cherry Garcia really needs to work on her balance eh?” he said, suddenly jumping down onto the table and making her scream in shock. “Ahhh! Goggles don’t do that!” Applejack snapped, clutching her chest and breathing heavily. “Y’all trying to give me a heart-attack!?!” “Sorry,” Goggles said sheepishly. “Not a bad night eh?” “Ah guess,” Applejack answered, not really paying any attention to the Gizmonk. Goggles, of course, noticed Applejack’s distant look in an instant. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked gently. “Oh nothing,” Applejack answered, suddenly realising how she must have looked and putting on a fake smile. “Really ah’m fine.” However Goggles wasn’t buying it. “AJ please,” he said. “I know that look all too well. It is the look of a broken heart.” Needless to say, those words had taken Applejack aback, she had almost forgotten how perceptive this Gizmonk can be. “How can you tell?” she asked. “Believe me my friend, I too have spent many restless nights trying to drown my sorrows in ice-cream,” Goggles answered, taking a seat across the table from her. “So come on, tell Goggles your troubles.” Knowing full well that Goggles would probably only spy on her until he had figured it out, Applejack realised that she couldn’t keep her secret from him for long. With a heavy sigh, she proceeded to explain. “Have ya ever had feelings for someone even though they don’t like you that way back?” she asked with a saddened look on her face. “Can’t say that I have,” Goggles answered with a shrug. “But then again I’m not usually one to fall head over hooves for a dragon.” If Applejack’s ice-cream hadn’t been dropped then she would have spat it out from the shock. “What? How’d you…” she stuttered before reading the sly look upon Goggles’ face. “You DID read my journal didn’t you!?!” Goggles however remained unphased by Applejack’s angry tone, in fact he merely shrugged again with understanding. “Not read per say, just skimmed over it really, and it was only the first week I was here,” he explained. “But that doesn’t matter now, so it’s true then? You have feelings for Spike?” Realising that Goggles pretty much knew most of the details already, Applejack felt no need to hide anything from him. “Yeah,” she admitted. “But don’t tell any pony will ya? I don’t think I can be open about it just yet.” Goggles chuckled at that. “Hey if there’s one thing I know how to do better than inventing, it’s keeping my mouth shut,” she said with a smirk. “After all, how long have you known me compared to how long you’ve heard me speak?” “Hehe, yeah I guess you have a point there,” Applejack replied, sharing a small chuckle of her own. “Although if it makes you feel any better…” Goggles said before doing something with his paws. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Seeing that Goggles was serious enough to even learn what a Pinkie Promise was, yet alone make one, Applejack relaxed a little bit. “Thanks Goggles,” she said. “So…” Goggles began, leaning into the table towards her. “How long has this been going on?” “Well… there was this incident a while ago,” Applejack said, begging to explain the situation. “He got himself tangled up in a hot-air balloon and landed somewhere in the Everfree forest, where I saved him from a bunch of Timberwolves. After that he sort of clung onto me, thinking that he owed me big time.” Hearing his Goggles rolled his eyes. “Oh it’s one of THOSE scenarios,” he said, giving a small face-palm. “I swear that sort of thing gets more cliché every time. Let me guess, the only way you could get rid of the dragon was to make him think he saved YOUR life, right? Applejack chuckled at that. “Basically yeah,” she answered. “But that sort of backfired when REAL Timberwolves showed up and he ended up saving me for real. Since then ah haven’t been able to get him out of my mind, every time ah think about him I get all bubbly inside.” Seeing the giddy look upon Applejack’s face, Goggles smiled. “Oh yeah,” he sighed. “That’s love alright.” However that’s when Applejack’s face turned from giddiness to one of pure anger. “But ah can’t do anything about it because he’s so deep in love with Rarity that has no idea how ah’m feeling!” she snapped, banging her hoof against the table. At those words Goggles was at a loss for words, he can build machines, he can concoct potions, but whenever there is an emotional problem, then even the brain of a Gizmonk is useless. No matter how much he thought of what to say, his tail wasn’t going to light up this time. “Well… I can’t tell you the best plan of action from here,” he admitted. “After all the heart is something far too complex for even a Gizmonk to figure out. But I can tell you this, no matter what does or does not happen, you’ll always have your family backing you up the whole way, right?” Applejack couldn’t help but smile at that, he may have been clueless with what he was saying but at least Goggles was TRYING to be supportive of how she’s feeling. “Ah know that,” she said. “Ah guess you’d be there too huh?” At those words, another smug look spread across Goggles face and he laughed. “Hey, I’m one of the family pets AJ,” he said. “Heck, I’m the cutest of the family pets so you’re stuck with me.” Hearing this Applejack couldn’t help but join in the laugh. “You ain’t no pet Goggles,” she said, trying to regain herself. “More of a crazy uncle with a weird tea addiction.” “Weird tea addiction?” Goggles replied playfully. “Dear lady I am shocked that you would even consider such I thing. I can quit any time I want.” “Three days ago, you drank tea from my hat because you couldn’t find a cup.” Applejack pointed out. “It’s not my fault Granny Smith wouldn’t let me anywhere near the good China.” Goggles retorted. The two then laughed to themselves for a short while, she may not have liked Goggles when he had first arrived, but Applejack had to admit that she had grown fond of the little guy. It was almost like having a second brother. Suddenly the moment was interrupted when Silver Spoon ran up to them with a panic-stricken face. “Goggles!” she yelled, breathing heavily as she finally reach up to the table. “You gotta come quickly! Something’s happened with the stage!” At those words, goggles eyes widened with terror. “I gotta rush,” he said jumping down from his seat. “I’ll see you later AJ.” And with that he and Silver Spoon ran off into the crowd, leaving Applejack alone at the ice-cream shop. # When the two had finally arrived, they noticed that a small group of fillies and colts were gathered around where the control console stood. As he pushed his way to the front of the group, Goggles interest and fear grew. “What’s going on with…?” he began, before his eyes widened with terror upon seeing what every pony was looking at. “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! MY BABY!!!” Needless to say, Goggles outburst was completely justified. As he looked over the smoking remains of what used to be the control console, he felt like he had just lost a child since this was part of one of his greatest creations. Suddenly his look of shock turned into one of fierce rage, at that moment he had become so angry that steam was literally spurting out of his nostrils. “What happened here?” Sweetie Belle asked, her mind filled with as much anger and confusion as Goggles’ was. “It looks as though some pony took a sledgehammer to this thing… several times.” Scootaloo added. “Sabotage is what happened here!” Goggles growled, stroking the remains of his invention. “My creations are literally built to last, if anything breaks then someone is responsible for putting it that way.” “And I’ll bet I know who did it.” Silver Spoon muttered under her breath, the same thought echoed through the rest of the CMC’s head. “Maybe we can do the play without the special effects?” Pipsqueak suggested. At those words Goggles sighed. It’s not just the effects,” he explained. “The entire stage is wired up to this thing, from the music to the basic mechanisms. If this thing stays broken then we wouldn’t even be able to open the curtain.” Hearing this every pony gasped in terror, this situation only seemed to be getting worse and worse. However Apple Bloom remained calm. “Y’all think you can fix it?” she asked. Goggles felt like he had heard the sound of an angel when Apple Bloom said that, it was enough to make him snap out of his anger and put his head into full-on inventor mode. If he built it, then he can put it back together again. “Well whoever did this certainly did a number on it, but they have also underestimated the brains and speed of a Gizmonk,” he said with a confident look upon his face. “Twist, tell Snips and Snails to get ready to go on, I should be able to get all this done by curtain time.” At those words, every pony cheered and a cream filly with curly red hair, purple glasses and a Candy Cane Cutie Mark gave him a quick salute before rushing off to the changing rooms. As the group disbanded and walked away to leave the Gizmonk to do his work, Goggles reached in from under his helmet and pulled down his signature eye-wear over his eyes, clearly this Gizmonk didn’t even take his goggles off even when in costume. # As the time drew nearer Goggles began to feel the pressure of the situation at hand, he had already managed to fix most of the console with what little time he had, which was impressive since most ponies would probably take hours, even days to fix something this complicated, yet alone a few minutes. However the console was still not working and curtain time was nearing fast, every filly and colt was already in costume and the audience was beginning to form outside, including Princess Luna who had decided to watch the show, for the first time in his life Goggles actually found himself sweating out of the fear of failure. The console was almost complete, however Goggles noticed something when he checked underneath the main power-grid. “A missing piece!?! They’ve stolen from me too!?! Oh when I get my paws on…” he growled angrily, picturing strangling the very life out of the saboteur who messed with his baby before regaining his composure. “Focus Goggles, you have to fix this.” And with that Goggles took a deep cleansing breath and tried once again to focus. “Okay I need something to replace this part,” he said. “But what can I use?” Suddenly he noticed something glittering at the corner of his eye, he then looked down and recognised what metal the sleeves of his costume were made of. In seconds, Goggles’ tail lit up and a smile spread across his face. As Goggles quickly tried to re-shape his sleeve into a spare part, the fillies and colts were already taking their places, ready to go on. “Come on Goggles,” Apple Bloom whispered, biting her lip nervously. As he jammed in his make-shift part into its place, Goggles began to feel the tension eating away at him, he knew that ponies in the audience must be getting impatient by now and no doubt were going to end up leaving. After three failed attempts of trying to get the console to turn on, Goggles could feel his temper beginning to boil over. “Come on you stupid piece of junk!” he snapped, giving the console a good hard kick. The second his foot impacted with the console, a small explosion of electric energy blasted its way out of it and sent Goggles flying back several feet and startling the ponies in the audience. Luckily getting shocked wasn’t a new experience for Goggles and he recovered instantly, as he walked up to the console, his face blackened with soot, he noticed that to his relief and joy that the lights on it were on, meaning that it was finally working again. “Alright!” he yelled with joy as he pulled up a stool and sat at the console. “That’s what I’m talking about baby! It’s ShowTime!” At those words, Goggles gave a thumbs-up to the fillies and colts who were standing on the other side of the stage, indicating that everything was fine and allowing them to sigh with relief. Finally Goggles began working his magic on the console and started up the music, as the audience listened with awe, Goggles spoke into his microphone and began the first musical number. GOGGLES: The night is getting darker, And the full moon is in the sky, In the distance you hear a howl, And a blood-curdling cry, You think it's probably just the wind, But then something else happens, Something that makes you think again. As Goggles finished that eerie sentence, he pulled a level on the console and opened the curtain, allowing the audience to see Snip and Snails on stage, all dressed up in what appeared to be peasant costumes, who proceeded to sing the first song of the play: SNIPS: There's something moving, Out through the night, You've got that sickly sinking feeling, That something isn't right, SNAILS: You run to find a shelter, Locking the door, But behind you there's a shadow, Crawling 'cross the floor, SNIPS: You turn to scream, It seems a little mean, Knees are shaking, cold sweat, And your heart's a-racing, SNAILS Those claws, those teeth, Who's that underneath? Is that a Pony? Your eyes can't believe… Suddenly the filly from earlier, Twist, jumped out onto the stage, dressed up as what looked like a ferocious wolf costume, and proceeded to act a chase scene between her and the two colts. BOTH: She's been wolf-i-fied! You better fly, Cause there's no one here to save you, And you cannot deny, She's been wolf-i-fied! Just say goodbye, Cause there's no place left to run to, There's no place left to hi-ide, As the two continued to sing to the audience, despite their slight lack of tune, Goggles made up for it by allowing them great music and sound effects via his console, allowing them to sound fantastic. With every lever he pulled and button he pushed, Goggles was giving every filly and colt every good chance they deserved while they were on stage. As he activated the fog effect and ushered the other fillies and colts to come on stage, the next verse of the song began. SNIPS: You think you made it, Running out the back, But you better think again, Because something's on your track, SNAILS: You run into a corner Turn to see who's there Now there's almost half a dozen That seems a bit unfair! SNIPS: You turn to scream, Get something in between, Knees are shaking, cold sweat, And your heart's a-racing, SNAILS: Those claws, those teeth, Who's that underneath? Are those your friends there? Your eyes can't believe… It was then that Apple Bloom, Silver Spoon, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and another filly, Dinky Doo, burst out of the fog, all dressed up in wolf costumes and joined Twist in her hunting scene. After which they all joined in the finale of the song. ALL: They've been wolf-i-fied! No need to try, Cause there's no one here to save you, And you cannot deny, We've been wolf-i-fied! Just say goodbye, Cause there's no place left to run to, There's no place left to hi-ide, Wolf-i, wolf-i-fied! As the song finale began to draw to a close and the last few repeated words echoed into the night, Goggles could hear the happy cheers from the audience. With a smile, he began to close the curtain to get ready for the next scene. ALL: Wolf-i, wolf-i-fied! Wolf-i, wolf-i-fied! Wolf-i, wolf-i-fied! Finally the curtain closed and the music ended, all that was left to hear during the next few minutes was the loud cheers from a happy audience. “Thank Celestia!” Goggles sighed with relief before plummeting his face into the console, happy and relieved that everything had actually turned out right tonight.