After Goggles had narrowly managed to escape Tod’s grip thanks to the interference from his friends, all that was left for him to do now was run as fast as his legs could carry him, luckily while Gem Foxes were fast in their own right, Gizmonks were quite the speedsters themselves. However after about 20 minutes of zigzagging through town, hoping to shake the foxes off long enough to make an escape, Goggles soon found himself beginning to run out of breath.
“We got him now boys!” Tod screamed with an evil grin as he noticed Goggles’ discomfort “He can’t keep this up forever!”
Unfortunately that was indeed true, while Gizmonks may be fast they can’t keep up their speed for long, eventually Goggles would have to slow down or risk suffocating under his own gasps. Thankfully there was still a glimmer of hope for him in the form of several fireworks exploding just in front of the foxes, forcing them to come to a complete stop.
“LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!” Trixie screamed as he unleashed another shower of fireworks with her magic.
At that point Goggles could never have asked for a better friend, as he turned his head back to see his brilliant assistant running up in front of the foxes, blocking their path with her magical fireworks, he couldn’t help but smile for she had just given him the chance he needed, with one final glance at his best friend, Goggles sighed and ran for the edge of town.
#
“Which way did he go!?!” one of the Gem Foxes screamed as they finally managed to follow Goggles' scent to the edge of the Everfree Forest.
At this point Goggles was thankful that Trixie had managed to distract the foxes long enough for him to at least get out of their sights, however unfortunately it wasn’t enough to stop them completely, luckily Goggles had managed to get at least some distance before they shoved her out of the way while she was between casting spells. Now Goggles was desperately trying to hold his breath as he hid amongst the foliage on a high branch of one of the trees at the edge of the Everfree Forest, hopefully his scent wouldn’t be able to reach the foxes as they ran beneath the tree he was hiding in.
“Smell him out!” Tod commanded. “He’s out there somewhere!”
And with that the foxes all ran further into the Everfree Forest, disappearing from sight and allowing Goggles to let out a deep sigh of relief. But while the Gem Foxes may be gone for now, Goggles knew that it wouldn’t be long before they came back to retrace their steps in case they missed something, so he knew it was time to make tracks. After climbing down from the tree Goggles took one more look back at the town of Ponyville, as Celestia slowly began to rise the dawn’s sun Goggles couldn’t help but cry as he saw the town he called home in the distance, after everything that has happened he knew that now he can never go back there, not without putting his friends in danger. So wiping his tears away with another heavy sigh Goggles turned to leave, perhaps he can hitch a ride on a train and said his friends a letter once he was at a safe enough distance away, however just as Goggles turned around he suddenly found himself blocked.
“BOO!” Tod screamed as Goggles stumbled onto his back with fright.
Goggles tried to run but after being caught off-guard, it wasn’t difficult for Tod to quickly grab him by the tail and hang him upside down in his grip. As it turned out, Tod and the rest of his followers were smarter than they looked, either that or their sense of smell was better than Goggles knew, either way the Gem Foxes somehow knew about Goggles’ hiding place and managed to surround him in an instant as soon as he was down from the tree. And now Goggles was helplessly caught, not even a quick insult to Tod’s pride would work a second time, as Tod continued to shake him about to display him to his cohorts, Goggles could feel several items fall out of his vest pockets even the goggles upon his head were shaken off with the sheer force of how hard Tod was shaken him. Finally Tod stopped shaking for a brief moment and brought Goggles closer to his face.
“You put up a good chase, little buddy,” he mocked. “But now playtime is over.”
Goggles gulped at that.
“Let’s book it boys!” Tod called out to his comrades. “We head out for Baltimare!”
And with that the foxes turned and began running further away from Ponyville, allowing Goggles one last tearful glance at his beloved town before it disappeared into the distance.
#
About 2 hours had passed since the foxes had devastated Ponyville and many of the residents were still cleaning up the damage. However even with all the devastation, many ponies minds were all still focused on the possible whereabouts of both Goggles and the Gem Foxes who were after him, seven in particular who were gathered just outside Twilight’s library.
“Darn those foxes!” Twilight snapped, stamping her hoof to the ground. “Oh just you wait until I get my hooves on them!”
“Yeah well get in line, Princess!” Trixie retorted, still wiping off the soot from all the fireworks she fired at the Gem Foxes. “I wanna beat the living tar out of them for what they’ve done to Goggles!”
“You and me both!” Rainbow Dash added, pounding her hooves together. “If I see those flea-bitten jerks again, I’ll tear them apart!”
“I just hope Goggles is okay,” Fluttershy said quietly, causing a saddened look to appear on everyone’s face. “No pony has seen him since the foxes chased him out of town.”
“Ah’m sure he’s fine Sugarcube,” Applejack replied, placing a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “After all, he managed to keep out of their clutches before right? Besides, the Diamond Dogs followed those foxes the second they left town, if something happened then they would have told us by now.”
“Yeah, that Gizmonk will be okay,” Rainbow Dash added, suddenly gaining a confident smile. “He’s made of tougher stuff than that, after all, I taught him everything he knows.”
Rarity rolled her eyes at that.
“All you taught him, Rainbow Dash, is just a fancy way to hit someone with a stick,” she pointed out angriy, clearly she was still recovering from the trauma of the night.
“I taught him how to defend himself thank you very much!” Rainbow dash retorted, taking offence to the remark.
“And a fat lot of good it did him!” Rarity snapped in return, shocking everyone before taking a deep calming breath to regain her composure. “I’m Sorry, it’s just that with everything that happened last night…”
However Rarity didn’t even get to finish her sentence as Twilight put a hoof around her shoulder.
“I know Rarity,” she said reassuringly. “We’re ALL a still little shaken up after everything that’s happened.”
“But Rainbow IS right,” Applejack added confidently. “Goggles is tougher than he looks, ah’m positive that he’ll be okay.”
However those were words that she would soon swallow after what happened next, before anyone else could blink a small burst of earth exploded from beneath their hooves, knocking them back and covering them in snow, within moments all seven ponies were met with the terrified faces of the Diamond Dogs.
“TERRIBLE NEWS!!!” Rover screamed as he clambered out of the hole.
“Big Trouble!” Spot added and he and Fido joined him. “REAL big trouble!”
“Rover, what is it? What’s going on!?!” Trixie asked desperately, but judging by the look on the Diamond Dog’s face, she knew instantly what he meant. “Please don’t tell me…”
“We were scouting by the Everfree when we found more fox prints in the snow,” Rover explained sadly before taking something out of his pocket. “…along with these.”
What Rover showed them caused every pony to gasp in shock, what he held in his paw were the items Goggles had dropped, one of which was none other than the goggles belonging to their Gizmonk friend.
“B… but those are…” Fluttershy gasped, not even being able to finish her sentence with the amount of terror welling up inside her.
“But Goggles NEVER takes these off,” Pinkie Pie stated snatching the goggles from the Diamond Dog. “Not even to wash his hair.”
Upon seeing the very objects that Goggles had held dear ever since he came to Ponyville, everyone knew in an instant what this meant.
“But that means that…” Trixie tried to say before suddenly turning angry and lashing out at the Diamond Dogs. “WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP THEM!?!”
Needless to say, this sudden outburst took everyone aback for the moment, however it wasn’t long before Rover retorted with the same amount of ferocity.
“We did what we could!” he retorted. “We ran after them as fast as our legs can carry but Goggles and Gem Foxes are way faster than us, by the time we got to the Everfree it was too late.”
“Well, why did it take you two hours to tell us this then!?!” Applejack snapped, sharing in Trixie’s anger.
“You think we didn’t want to TRY to hunt those foxes down first?” Spot growled in response.
“After they got him, we followed their paw-prints to the train tracks a couple of miles outside of town,” Fido explained.
“By our reckoning, they already hitched a ride out of here about an hour ago,” Rover finished with a heavy sigh.
At those words angry tears began to well up in Trixie’s eyes, there was no amount of praise in the world that could calm to sheer fury she was feeling at that moment, in fact emotions were all over the place between all seven ponies as they tried to absorb what they had just been told. Like Trixie each and every one of them felt angry, just at the foxes but also at themselves for not doing anything more than they did, then there was of course the sheer panic of what’s going to happen next to their little friend now. Needless to say, Rainbow Dash felt the instant desire to let all of these emotions out in a small fit.
“We should have ALL gone after them when they left town!” she snapped. “At least then maybe the little guy would have had a chance!”
“I agree,” Rarity added angrily. “We should have done more than just throw a few snowballs at those mongrels!”
“You think we should have thrown pies instead?” Pinkie asked, raising an eyebrow, instantly causing several eyes to roll.
“Not the point she’s trying to make, Pinkie,” Applejack pointed out, not really in the mood for Pinkie’s antics at the moment.
“Indeed,” Trixie said in agreement. “And I think it’s fair to say than none of us did our fair share of help on Goggles’ part, so kind of friends does that make us!?!”
Everyone was taken aback at that, they didn’t want to believe it but Trixie did have a point.
“Trixie, I know how you feel,” Twilight said, trying to calm her down. “But at the time, there was only so much we could do.”
But those words only seemed to push Trixie’s anger further.
“You’re a Princess aren’t you!?!” she yelled. “You could have done something when those foxes were here! I seem to recall that I was the one who was shooting fireworks at those beasts while you and your friends just stood around doing nothing!”
“It’s not as simple as that!” Twilight retorted angrily. “Just because I’m a Princess doesn’t mean…”
“Will you two knock it off!?!” Applejack screamed, stepping in between the two and cutting them off in their argument. “Fighting with each other ain’t getting us nowhere!”
“AJ’s right,” Rainbow Dash added. “Every minute we waste now is another Goggles loses before those Gem Foxes take him Celestia knows where.”
It took every pony a few minutes to calm down after those words, but soon after Twilight began to tap her chin in thought.
“The foxes’ leader, Tod I think, said to take up our problems with their Queen in Balitmare,” she thought out loud, remembering some of the events of the previous night. “I’ll bet THAT’s where they’re taking him.”
Trixie’s eyes narrowed at that.
“Well, only one way to find out for sure,” she said before snatching something out of Rover’s paw with her magic. “Give me that!”
The item in question that Trixie took was none other than the recording device Goggles had created, obviously he had it with him when the foxes snatched him up.
“Trixie, what are you doing?” Fluttershy asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Getting information,” Trixie replied as she fiddled around with the Recording Box. “And if my suspicion is right then THIS is gonna help me get it.”
However since no pony other than Applejack had even seen this particular gizmo Goggles had created, no pony other than her even knew what it was supposed to be, thus they insantly became confused upon hearing Trixie’s statement.
“What is that doohickey, anyway?” Pinkie Pie asked, curiously leaning in closer with a smile on her face. “It looks pretty.”
“It’s something Goggles made a few weeks ago,” Trixie explained, remembering the time the Gizmonk used it while he had Spike and Applejack locked up in the Cakes’ basement. “If I can just remember how he used it…got it!”
At that point Trixie must have pressed the right button because as soon as she did, the clear sound of inane laughter emanated from the Recording Box, laughter that every pony recognised immediately.
“Is that…?” Rover began, receiving a nod form Trixie in response.
“Whatever we’re hearing now…” she said, eyeing the Recording Box with heated curiosity. “…Is what Goggles is hearing right at this very moment.
#
And where Goggles was hearing this wasn’t exactly what he considered comfortable, in fact in his current state he could barely move. After jumping on the next cargo train heading towards Baltimare, the Gem Foxes felt the need to keep Goggle bound so that he couldn’t escape again. However since they didn’t have any chains or cuffs, they had to make do by stuffing him inside a tiny birdcage they found on the train, one that was barely big enough for him, in fact it was so small that Goggles’ tail and legs had to poke through the bars in order to get him inside, which was all the more amusing for the Gem Foxes since it meant more uncomfortable circumstances for the Gizmonk. Throughout the entire train ride Goggles had felt no need to speak, after all what would he say now? A plea for mercy? Perhaps negotiate a deal? No, he knew that this was a one-way trip, the foxes, and henceforth their Queen, will make sure of that. While the microphone in his pocket continued to receive every sound that was heard in that train car, Goggles wasn’t really aware that the Recording Box plus a few items were missing from his pockets, in fact he didn’t even really care, at this point he was so depressed that he didn’t even bother to complain about losing his treasured goggles that were his namesake. What made his depression worse, however, was the constant gloating and laughter from his captors.
“We fragging pulled it off!” one of the foxes laughed as he guzzled down his mug of cider, undoubtedly stolen from when the foxes raided Ponyville.
“Three cheers for a job well done bros!” Tod called out to his cohorts, raising his own mug.
“CHEERS!” all the other foxes screamed in response, raising their drinks and guzzling them down in a sloppy manner.
It was then that Tod suddenly turned his attention towards the captive Gizmonk hanging from the ceiling in his cage, a large smug grin spread across the Gem Fox’s face.
“Aw, what’s the matter G-man?” he mocked, spinning the cage like a top in an attempt to make Goggles sick. “You don’t like being inside your widdle cage? Oh don’t you worry, you’ll be out of there soon enough. Perhaps the Queen will have you stuffed after she’s done with ya eh?”
But Goggles didn’t even dignify that with an answer, he just sighed and continued to remain silent, and if there was anything Tod hated more than being insulted, it was being ignored, luckily another fox came into the train car before Tod could do anything in another fit of anger.
“Hey boss,” he said, grabbing his Captain’s attention. “Driver says we’re coming into the station.”
Tod smirked at that.
“Looks like you’re number’s up bro,” he said smugly, poking a clawed finger into Goggles’ nose. “Time to reacquaint you with an old friend.”
After roughly carrying Goggles inside his cage off the train and out of the station, the Gizmonk noticed that the foxes seem to be taking him through the woodland of all places. It was then he realized EXACTLY where he was being taken, they weren’t really inside the city of Baltimare itself, but rather the furthest edge of the area, more specifically the part that was further uphill than the rest, the area that resided one specific building, a building known as Baltimare Prison. It was a large stone castle with many turrets and a surrounding wall as high as 6 stories, all of which resided on a small island that rested right in the centre of a large river that flowed right towards a massive waterfall that lead to Baltimare’s harbour, so that if any prisoner were to escape the prison by means of the river, they would easily be swept away by the harsh rapids and fall to their deaths. As Goggles was carried towards the long drawbridge that began to lower from the front gates, he gulped with fear for he knew what was going to come next because Baltimare Prison had appeared in quite a few books that he had read in Twilight’s library. As it turned out, Baltimare Prison also doubled as a courthouse, which apparently made things easier whenever the guilty verdict would be declared since ponies would just be able to throw prisoners in jail straight after their hearing. As he expected, Goggles was taken to the courtroom of the Prison first, there he was met with one of his worst nightmares. Sitting in every seat of the courtroom were even more Gem Foxes, evidently the ones who came to Ponyville were only a small fraction compared to the vast amount in the room at that very moment, but the worst part of the whole situation were the three ponies sitting at the judge’s bench. Since technically speaking, Goggles was being charged with a crime of Kappan, it only made sense that the court would be following Kappanese traditions, thus there were three judges sitting upon the bench instead off one, this was a tradition in Kappan so that the judgement would be fair based on a two-thirds vote between the three judges. However with these particular judges weren’t going to go into Goggles’ favour any time soon. Two of them, Goggles could tell by the mere shady look to them, were only there because they were undoubtedly paid off, no doubt these were the same guys who signed off on Tod’s document to allow him and his pack to ravage Ponyville. However it was the third judge that made Goggles all the more terrified.
“Hello again my little friend,” she said in a cold, feminine voice, one that Tod recognised from the conversation through his gem.
As Goggles’ cage was placed on a pedestal in front of the judge’s bench, he was able to look up and get a better view of who spoke, as he had feared, the third judge was none other than Queen Icicle herself. She was a pure white Unicorn mare with a light blue mane that framed her face like water, she also wore a navy coloured robe trimmed with what appeared to be fur on the collar. She wore no crown but instead wore a jewel studded broach that bore a single red spherical gem right in its centre, the jewel itself pulsating with the same cold magic that filled the room with a cold breeze whenever Icicle’s mere presence was nearby. Admittedly Goggles never would have believed that Icicle would be here, but then again she was petty enough to have Tod and his foxes track him overseas so it would only make sense that she would be there too, undoubtedly to make sure that Tod’s forces didn’t screw things up. As she looked down on Goggles with a narrowed pair of amethyst eyes, she soon found her train of thought interrupted by the other judges, both of them baring a sour look upon their faces.
“THIS is why I was dragged out of bed so early this morning!?!” said the overweight Earth Pony stallion on Icicle’s left, his words muffled by a black, greasy moustache. “You do realise this this is an animal!?!”
“Indeed,” said the more refined Pegasus mare on Icicle’s right. “I did not come all the way from my home in Cloudsdale at the break of dawn just to pass judgement on some… vile beast.”
The Pegasus’ words bore venom upon saying that, the very notion of the idea seemed to disgust her as she flipped back her long blond mane. However Icicle remained composed at the idiocy of her paid-off co-judges.
“I assure you, this is no mere animal,” she said, instantly confusing the two. “He is a highly intelligent being who is also a thief and a traitor to his country. Is there going to be a problem?”
At those words, Icicle shot both of them an extremely hard glare, the very air becoming colder by the second as her irritation grew. Not wanting to anger the Kappanese Queen, the other two judges proceeded with the trial.
“No your highness,” the Earth Pony judge said, clearing his throat and shivering in the cold air. “Please proceed Miss Dawn.”
The Pegasus nodded at that and looked down at Goggles in his cage, her eyes narrowed beneath her think rimmed glasses.
“We are all gathered here in the sight of her Royal Majesty, Queen Icicle of Kappan, to revise the charges placed upon the accused, and to deal the necessary punishment as seen fit by the Queen herself,” she said in a seriously refined tone, trying to keep her composure whilst continuing the struggle beneath the Queen’s cold aura. “While the three judge-rule is a necessity in regular Kappanese court, since the accused had already been sentenced for his crime, the sentence shall be decided by Queen Icicle alone. Therefore I, Red Dawn, and the second judge, Iron Gavel, shall only bear witness for this court.”
Of course it would be that way, Icicle would never go through all the hassle of bringing up the evidence again and risking a two-thirds vote against her, then again even if she did the evidence would still be uncanny and the judges would have probably been paid off just to have him found guilty anyway. If there was one thing Goggles could give Icicle credit for, it was being able to make things quick, at least then his inevitable suffering wouldn’t be dragged out for as long.
“Goggles the Gizmonk,” Iron Gavel stated, adjusting his monocle as he looked down at the documents in front of him. “You have been brought here because you are charged with theft of royal jewels and therefore treason to the crown of Kappan, a crime for which you had been previously found guilty whilst still in Kappan and as such attempted to escape justice by fleeing to Equestria, therefore adding evading arrest to your list of charges.”
Before Iron Gavel could say another word, Queen Icicle rose from her seat.
“And due to recent news to my ears, I understand that you are also capable of speech,” she stated, adding to Iron Gavel’s statement and confusing both the judges along with a few of the foxes in the room upon saying it. “And therefore you are also charged with fraud against the crown due to your lies of being merely a remarkably intelligent animal. Do you have anything to say before I reinstate your sentence?”
But Goggles didn’t answer, he simply sat there in his cage and looked back up at the Queen with a heated glare before looking down at the floor.
“Are you sure he is capable of speech, your grace?” Red Dawn asked, raising an eyebrow at the Gizmonk’s silence.
“My foxes have no reason to lie to me,” Icicle replied coldly. “Perhaps his time with those Earth Pony bumpkins in Ponyville had slowed his mind.”
At those words Goggles looked back up at Icicle and gasped with a shocked expression upon his face, Icicle knew about the Apples? Undoubtedly Tod had informed her of everything he had learnt with that communication’s gem of his.
“I don’t believe there is any need for that kind of talk your majesty,” Iron Gavel debated, being an Earth Pony himself, he felt slightly insulted himself by the Queen’s statement.
“And why not?” Icicle retorted. “You know it’s true, everyone who lives in that vulgar town are nothing more than a bunch of backwater peasants, the whole lot of them.”
(At that point something inside Goggles snapped, he may have been able to accept his own fate but having the Queen insult his friends was just rubbing salt into the wound, and there was no way Goggles was going to let her get away with it.
“How dare you!?!” he snapped, shocking the other two judges while receiving a sinister grin from icicle in response.
“So you ARE able to speak,” she said with a smirk.
At first Goggles didn’t answer, but knowing that he was doomed anyway, Goggles felt the need to get everything off his chest before anything else was said.
“Yes, it’s true, I can speak,” he said, catching the interests of both Red dawn and Iron Gavel. “And I always have been able to, and as such I wish to confess.”
Icicle became intrigued with that statement.
“You wish to confess?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh yes, I confess, I’m guilty,” Goggles replied, his voice filled with spite as he looked up at icicle. “I’m guilty! Is that what you want to hear!?!”
“You admit to being a thief then?” Red Dawn questioned.
“No Miss,” Goggles quickly answered. “Of that I’m innocent, I’m guilty of something far worse. I’m guilty of being a Gizmonk.”
Icicle laughed at that.
“You are not on trial for being a Gizmonk,” she stated.
“Oh but I am!” Goggles retorted, keeping his angry tone. “I’ve been on trial for that my entire life! You made sure of that ever since your parents bought me all those years ago!”
“Have you nothing to say in your defence?” Iron Gavel asked, hoping to get somewhat of a decent answer from the accused Gizmonk.
“Only this, I did not do it,” Goggles said, almost laughing at the sheer irony of the situation while still glaring at Icicle with pure hate in his eyes. “I did NOT steal those jewels but I wish that I had! I wish that everything would be taken away from you Icicle, I wish that every form of misfortune would befall that spoiled hide of yours, because it would bring more relief than building a thousand gizmos!!!”
With every word the Gizmonk spoke, Icicle’s rage slowly began to build, never in her life had anyone ever dared to speak to her with such little respect, this was normally due to fear of what she could do to them, and had this been any other situation Goggles would suffer such a fate in an instant. But Goggles didn’t seem to be scared at all, and because she was in front of two Equestrian officials, there was only so much she could do in response at this time.
“I am not just some beast that you can kill for a petty crime that shouldn’t have such a harsh punishment, Icicle!” Goggles continued. “But I know for a fact that I will get no justice here, nor anywhere else so long as I am what I am. Therefore I say to you these final words before you drag me back to Kappan in chains… Down. With. The. Queen.”
Those were the words that forced the true nature of Queen Icicle explode from her body, in many ways quite literally, for the second the Gizmonk had finished speaking she screamed with fury and her horn burst with the dark blue aura of her magic, covering the entire room with ice, causing several Gem Foxes and both judges to jump back with terror.
“TOD!” she screamed. “Get this filth out of my sight!”
“My pleasure, Icy-baby!” Tod responded, quickly picking himself up and lifting Goggles’ cage off the pedestal.
As Goggles was being carried out of the room, icicle only had one more thing left to say.
“Goggles the Gizmonk,” she stated, her eyes glowing with the same dark blue aura as her magic. “For the crimes of theft and treason, by the laws of Kappan, I once again sentence you to death, a sentence that shall be carried out upon arrival of our home soil!”
And with that she slammed her hoof against the frozen bench, shattering it and ending the trial there and then.