//------------------------------//
// Chapter 34 - Breaking and Entering 
// Story: A Gizmonk in Ponyville 
// by Moheart7 
//------------------------------//

As the night began to blanket the snow covered land of Baltimare, inside its prison a certain Kappanese Queen was staring up at the setting sun with a sinister look upon her face as she graciously paced about in her chambers, blissfully counting down the few hours remaining until she can finally go back to Kappan on the next ship. Suddenly her train of thought was interrupted by a loud knocking upon her door.

“Enter!” she announced.

Upon those words the door opened and none other than Captain Tod entered, he did not bother to bow but instead casually strolled up to Queen Icicle with a smug grin upon his face.

“The ship is almost ready, as per your instruction.” he said. “We’ll be ready to set sail by morning.”

Icicle smiled at that.

“Excellent,” she said. “I knew having a little… conversation with the Captain would move things along that much quicker.”

But Tod knew exactly what she meant by “conversation”, in other words Icicle had threatened the Captain so that he would move up the pace on getting the next ship ready, she had always managed to get want she wants that way. 

“Indeed,” Tod remarked, sharing in Icicle’s enthusiasm. “Soon that little punk downstairs will be stuffed and mounted on your wall.

At those words Icicle’s smile grew even wider.

“You have done well Tod,” she remarked, turning back towards her window. “You should be proud of your accomplishment of bringing that piece of filth back here.”

“No problem Icy-baby,” Tod chuckled in response.

However at those words Icicles smile suddenly turned into a look of anger, gritting her teeth she quickly snapped her head back towards the Gem Fox.

“Tod, how many times must I tell you not to call me that!?!” she snapped. “Keep in mind who you are working for.”

Upon hearing that Tod too put on a look of anger, since they were no longer in public he didn’t feel any need to keep up pretences.

“Why don’t YOU keep in mind that the only reason me and my bros do your dirty work is because you have something we want!” he retorted.

Those were words Tod soon regretted saying after Icicle instantly blasted him with a beam of ice magic upon hearing that, instantly knocking him back and freezing him to the wall.

“And it shall stay that way until such time as I decide when to give it to you,” Icicle growled, leaning in towards Tod’s face with a threatening glare. “And until such time, you shall treat me with the respect I deserve. Is that clear?”

At first Tod said nothing, he just looked back at her from his frozen prison with a look of burning anger from his red eyes peeking over his crooked sunglasses. Finally, with a sigh he spoke.

“Yes… Your Majesty,” he growled with defeat.

Icicle’s gaze softened at that.

“Good,” she said, using her magic to melt the ice, allowing Tod to slump to the floor. “Now get out of my sight before I do something I WON’T regret.”

Readjusting his sunglasses, Tod felt no more need to argue with the one who can turn him into a fox-sicle, so with one final growl he left the room. As soon as the Gem Fox had gone, Icicle stroked the Polaris Star around her neck as though it were her child.

“Like I would ever part with you over some mongrel’s greed,” she said, somewhat pretending that the Polaris Star could hear her. “No creature is going to take you from me. NO CREATURE!”


#


Meanwhile as the train continued to travel across Equestria towards the dark structure of Baltimare Prison, a certain group of individuals were just finishing the final details of their plan to free Goggles.

“Alright,” Trixie said confidently. “Does everyone remember the plan?”

“Yep,” Rover answered, sharing her confidence. 

“Darn-tootin!” Applejack added.

“Yes-indeedily! Pinkie Pie finished with a cheerful smile, clearly excited about what was going to happen soon.

However that’s when Applejack grew concerned.

“There’s only thing I don’t get though,” she said. “If you can use a Teleportation Spell then why not just go in there and teleport Goggles out?”

Trixie rolled her eyes at that.

“Three reasons,” she replied. “First off, I need an exact location to focus on before teleporting, and I don’t know why exactly Goggles is in there. Second, my magic is only strong enough to carry two at a time, and no doubt that Goggles will most likely want to break his friend out too. And thirdly, even if I can teleport in, there’s no way I’m going to be able to teleport out.”

“Why not?” Spot asked, scratching his head with confusion, trying to absorb the basics of what Trixie had explained.

“Baltimare Prison is supposed to be one of the best prisons in all of Equestria,” she replied. “The very walls are supposed to be lined with Magic-Dampening Stones to stop unicorns from trying any spells to break themselves out.”

Applejack sighed at that. 

“Yeah,” she said. “Though ah highly doubt that they will have any effect on someone wearing a Polaris Star around her neck.”

Everyone cringed upon hearing that, the very mention of the Queen that had Goggles framed made them sick to their very stomachs. Suddenly Rover’s eyes widened with realisation.

“Speaking of which,” he said. “What exactly are we supposed to do if run into the Queen?”

At those words Trixie began to look nervous, clearly this was a subject that she didn’t really like, still she knew she had to say something.

“I DO have a plan,” she said. “But it’s risky. You’ll probably think I’m insane for considering it.”

As soon as she had finished speaking, Trixie then placed a hoof inside one of her saddlebags and pulled something out, and the item she revealed gave every pony in the room quite a shock.

“Is that…” Applejack tried to say, but found herself being cut off by Pinkie Pie’s scream.

“Holey-Moley!” she yelled.

The item that Trixie held was what appeared to be a metallic necklace, one that had an Alicorn’s head and wings at its front that was imbedded with a large red jewel, an item that Applejack and Pinkie Pie recognised as the Alicorn Amulet.

“You were right!” Applejack snapped with anger. “Ah DO think you’re crazy! There ain’t no way, ah’m letting ya put that rock around your neck again!”

However at those words, Rover scratched his head.

“Rock?” he said confusingly, snatching the Amulet from Trixie to get a closer look. “This ain’t no rock, its glass.”

Now it was Applejack’s turn to be confused.

“It’s what now?” she said, raising an eyebrow.

After hearing what their leader had to say about the amulet in his paw, both Fido and Spot took a closer look themselves, just to see if he was right.

“Yep it’s glass alright,” Spot confirmed.

“This thing ain’t nothing but costume jewellery,” Fido added.

As Applejack looked at the Alicorn Amulet more closely, she could definitely take notice to what Rover and his comrades were talking about. The Amulet she remembered Trixie wearing was a lot shinier than this, in fact now that she could see it more clearly, she could definitely see the cracks in the glass gem and the metal was in fact just painted plastic. Needless to say, Applejack wanted answers upon seeing this.

“What the hay are you playing at Trixie?” she demanded.

At first Trixie said nothing, but within moments her eyes narrowed.

“If tricking me worked back in Ponyville, then maybe I can do the same in this situation,” she answered, before suddenly turning angry. “You really think I’d be stupid enough to put that thing back on again!?! I don’t even know where it is after the last time!”

Applejack was taken aback by that.

“Trixie ah…” she tried to say.

However before she could get another word out, Applejack noticed something, while they may have been narrowed, there was definitely clear signs of tears in Trixie’s eyes. 

“Besides,” the Unicorn said through gritted teeth. “What would Goggles think of me if he ever found out that I would do such a thing on his behalf? He gave me a chance when no pony else would, he gave me a job, he became the best friend I ever had. You really think I would throw everything he did for me away like that!?!”

That last part, Trixie practically screamed, before long she ended up breaking down in tears. Applejack however, smiled gently and placed a hoof around her shoulder.

“Not anymore,” she admitted, earning a light smile from Pinkie Pie and the Diamond Dogs in response.

But while Applejack’s answer did make her feel slightly better, that didn’t stop the tears from running down Trixie’s cheeks.

“I just can’t stand it Applejack,” she said. “After everything Goggles had done for us since he came to Ponyville, all his good deeds, THIS is how he’s rewarded.”

At those words, Trixie couldn’t help but collapse to her haunches with a depressed look upon her face, her eyes still drowning in tears. Unable to bear the sight of her all depressed like this, Applejack sat down next to Trixie and held her close in a comforting embrace.

“Ah know Sugarcube,” she said gently. “It’s just not fair.”

Those were words that everyone on the train agreed upon, there were no other words to describe how bad the situation was for their dear friend. Finally after a few minutes of crying, Trixie finally managed to muster up a look of confidence.

“When this is all over, I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure Goggles is kept safe,” she said assertively. “I swear it.”

Applejack couldn’t help but share Trixie’s enthusiasm upon hearing that, in fact everyone did. As soon as Trixie’s words reached their ears a huge confident smile spread across their faces.

“Same here Trixie,” Applejack finally said.

“Oh yeah!” Rover added with the same eagerness.

At those words Trixie smiled, at this point she was glad to have such good friends with her on that train.

“But just out of curiosity,” Pinkie Pie chipped in. “How did you make such a good replica of the Alicorn Amulet? I mean, it looks just as super-scary as the real one did.”

Trixie couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“Hey, I used to be a Showpony, remember?” she said smugly, taking back the fake amulet from Rover and putting in back in her saddlebag. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has always made her own jewellery that would fool any pony!”

Now that’s the Trixie Applejack knows and loves, upon hearing her say that, Applejack shared in her laughter.

“But not any Diamond Dog eh?” she joked.

“Oh shut up!” Trixie retorted, playfully nudging Applejack away.

As the group all chuckled at Applejack’s joke, they were all suddenly interrupted by Spot’s voice.

“Hey guys,” he said. “We’re here!”

Instantly reacting, everyone then turned to wear Spot was pointing, sure enough Baltimare Prison was only a short few yards away in the distance. Seeing that the time has now come, everyone nodded to each other with determination and began gathering their things. When the train finally reached their destination, Rover opened the sliding door of the train car.

“Y’all ready?” Applejack asked confidently, receiving a nod from everyone in response.

“As I’ll ever be,” Trixie answered. “Come on.”

And that final word, they all then jumped off the train just as it began to slow down to pull into the station.

#

Back in Ponyville, Applejack’s sudden disappearance was soon noticed by more of the citizens, as did Trixie and Pinkie Pie’s. Needless to say, worry was the core emotion that everyone was feeling at that point.

“And you’re sure you haven’t seen her anywhere Big Mac?” Fluttershy asked as she, Spike, and the remaining members of the Mane Six came to Sweet Apple Acres to look for her.

“Nnope,” Big Mac responded sadly, clearly he too was worried about his little sister.

“Oh well thanks anyway,” Fluttershy replied disappointedly.

And with that Big Macintosh walked away to continue with his evening work, he may have been just as worried about Goggles and Applejack as much as anyone else but he also knew that Applejack would kill him if he slacked off on his work. As soon as the large Earth Pony was gone, the remaining Mane Six groaned with annoyance.

“I can’t believe Applejack would just run off like that!” Rarity complained. “I mean, Pinkie Pie and Trixie in understand, but Applejack always seemed to be the most level-headed out of all of us.”

“Level-headed, my flank!” Rainbow Dash snapped. “You know what she’s like when it comes to her family, and you know darn-well that she sees that Gizmonk as family!  Let’s face it girls, we all know where she, Trixie and Pinkie Pie had run off to, we just don’t want to believe it!”

Everyone cringed at that, though did have to admit that Rainbow Dash did have a point. However due to the respect she felt for her friend, Twilight still wanted to believe that Applejack wouldn’t do anything reckless.

“Now let’s not jump to any conclusions,” she said calmly. “We don’t know for sure that AJ’s gone after Goggles.”

“Yeah, for all we know, she could just be hiding somewhere, trying to cool her head.” Spike added.

Rarity sighed at that.

“I hope you’re right,” she admitted. “Things are bad enough as it is, the last thing we need is any MORE drama.”

However it would seem that irony had an interesting sense of timing, because as soon as Rarity had finished saying her piece, the whole of Sweet Apple Acres was shaken up by a loud explosion.

“What the hay!?!” Rainbow Dash yelled confusingly.

Sharing in Rainbow Dash’s shock, everyone then turned to look at the source of the explosion, to their shock and terror, the entire front half of the Apple’s barn had been blown apart in a burst of blue fire. Before anyone could even venture a guess as to what happened, something emerged from the flames, something large, metal and with manically spinning propeller driving it out of the inferno. However what they didn’t know at the time, was the fact that four fillies were inside of it, completely protected by the heat of the flames by the sealed glass protective windows, and trying desperately to figure out how to control the vehicle properly.

“You were only supposed to blow the frigging doors off!” Sweetie Belle complained from the backseat of the P.L.A.N.E. 

“Hey it’s not my fault this thing packs a punch!” Scootaloo retorted as she took her hoof of the energy blaster controls.

“Just get this thing moving already!” Silver Spoon snapped, looking out of the window to see the mane six running towards the P.L.A.N.E. “We got company!”

Turning their heads towards where Silver Spoon was point, the Cutie Mark Crusaders all gasped in shock, they just couldn’t afford to be stopped now.

“Okay,” Scootaloo said with a nervous nod. “Come on Goggles, let’s see how easy you made these controls.”

At those words, Scootaloo began following the instructions Apple Bloom had taped to the side of the window, after fiddling about with certain controls, Scootaloo was finally apple to get the contraption moving again, only with greater speed. However as they zoomed passed the Mane Six, who had narrowly dodged out of the way in time, they didn’t realise that some of them had managed to catch a glimpse of them through the window as they passed by.

“Was that…?” Fluttershy gasped before being cut off by Rarity’s scream.

“SWEETIE BELLE!!!” she screamed, fainting in the snow, not even being able to summon her fainting couch with the amount of shock she was feeling.

Needless to say, everyone shared in Rarity’s horror, however what made it worse was when they noticed the contraption the girls were in was beginning to lift itself of the ground.

“Here. We. GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!” the Crusaders all screamed as Scootaloo pushed hard on one particular lever.

Before anyone knew it, the P.L.A.N.E. and all those inside it lifted off the ground and began climbing up into the air, in a matter of seconds all four fillies were flying. However so was a certain Rainbow-maned Pegasus who had decided to follow them.

“HEY!” she yelled, banging her hoof against the glass and giving the Crusaders a massive shock. “What do you girls think you’re doing!?!”

Now the Crusaders really began to panic, in Rainbow Dash was able to catch up to them then chances are that she’ll probably find some way to force the P.L.A.N.E. to land, and the chance to save Goggles would be lost to the girls forever.

“What do we do now!?!” Sweetie Belles asked fearfully.

That was when Scootaloo noticed a big red button on the dashboard, a button with a label that made the young Pegasus beam with delight.

“We go TURBO!!!” she screamed, slamming her hoof on the button.

The second Scootaloo’s hoof pushed the button down, a sudden blast of acceleration drove the P.L.A.N.E. faster than ever before, so much so that Rainbow Dash was knocked back by the sudden force of air and ended up plummeting into a nearby tree. After emerging dizzily from the foliage, all Rainbow Dash could see of the plane now, was the blue trail of smoke it left behind that faded as quickly as it was created. Meanwhile inside the plane, the Crusaders were cheering.

“Woohoo!” Apple Bloom screamed. “Hang Goggles! We’re coming!!!”

Suddenly Scootaloo stopped cheering and put on a concerned look.

“Okay, so which way to Balitmare?” she asked.

At those words everyone grew silent, they had been so wrapped up in getting out of Ponyville to save Goggles that they had completely forgotten the fact that neither of them knew where Baltimare was since they had never been there before, and the fact that is was now night-time didn’t make things any easier even if the plane did have headlights.

“Aw Ponyfeathers!” Apple Bloom deadpanned. 

#

Back in Baltimare Prison, things were not looking any better for Goggles, he had been there almost an entire day and the conditions he was in were certainly unsuitable for a Gizmonk to be in. With the constant water splashing outside the barred windows, the cells were never dry and what’s worse, the hay that Goggles was forced to rest on absorbed the water like a sponge, so he was constantly cold with the damp. However now that it was night –time it was even colder, which in turn caused Goggles to shiver when the evening meal was brought to his cell.

“Meal time!” the Gem Fox sneered as he threw the small scrap of slop through the bars of Goggles and Jinx’s cells. “Hope you guys like table-scraps. And don’t worry, I’m pretty sure the hairs can be picked right out.”

Jinx couldn’t help but growl when the Gem Fox laughed at that, however all of a sudden another noise drew their attention. Turning their heads towards the source of the noise, Goggles, Jinx and the Gem Fox saw another creature walking into the room, a pony wearing deep black robes topped with a hood that covered her face, and was carrying a large, sharp axe. Upon seeing this pony, Goggles backed up against the wall of his cell, gripping his neck with terror, while the Gem Fox merely chuckled.

“Well, well, it looks like the Queen’s decided not to waste any more time,” he said mockingly. “Right this way miss.”

As the executioner pony made her way closer towards the cells, Goggles was beginning to feel more and more like his heart was gonna stop before she could even swing the axe, suddenly, the executioner did something that no one had expected. With all the water pooling up on the floor it was common sense for one to be careful when walking amongst the cells, however the executioner wasn’t being careful, if anything she was being careless. As she skipped merrily towards Goggles’ cell, all it took was one little slip and in a matter of moments, the executioner fell flat on her face and the axe she was holding went flying straight at the Gem Fox’s head. Luckily with a loud scream, the fox managed to dive out of the way in time as the Axe missed him by inches and imbedded itself right into the wall behind him, needless to say the fox wasn’t happy about what had just happed.

“HEY!” he snapped. “What’s the big idea!?!”

But while both the Gem Fox and Goggles was expecting the executioner to come up with something a bit more aggressive in response, her reply was in somewhat of a ditsy tone.

“Oopsie!” she said, picking herself up and walking towards the embedded axe. “So super-sorry about that.”

Upon hearing that, both Jinx and Goggles raised their eyebrows with confusion, they had never known anyone to sound so chipper when working for a prison, however there was something about the pony’s voice that Goggles found very familiar. At that moment something else suddenly occurred, when the executioner was trying to pry the axe out of the wall, the Gem Fox was unlucky enough to be standing right her when the handle broke off the blade. With one hard swing, the pony threw the handle over her head, striking the Gem Fox square on centre of the head.

“Darn it!” the pony exclaimed, seeing the damage to her axe before turning back to the Gem Fox. “Excuse me sir, you wouldn’t happen to have a spare axe I could borrow, would ya?”

However with the blow he received to the head, the Gem Fox was in no state to give a straight answer.

“Thank you,” he goofily said, kissing the pony on the forehead in a dizzy manner. “I had a lovely evening.”

With that final word, the Fox then slumped face-down to the floor, knocked out from the blow.

“Oops,” the executioner said sheepishly, before taking off her hood.

As soon as the pony revealed her face Goggles heart skipped a beat, for the one who had just knock out the Gem Fox was none other than one of his closest friends.

“Pinkie Pie!?!” he gasped, clutching onto the bars of his cell with disbelief.

“You know this pony?” Jinx asked confusingly.

However at that moment Pinkie pie was so excited that she didn’t give Goggles a chance to answer due to the fact that she was embracing him through the bars of his cell. 

“Goggles! You’re safe!” she squealed. “Well, maybe not yet, but then again that’s why I’ve come to…”

“PINKIE!!!” Goggles screamed, cutting her ff before she could start on her usual rants.

“Oh sorry, got a little carried away,” she said sheepishly before releasing the Gizmonk from her embrace. “Don’t worry, you’re Auntie Pinkie Pie will have you both outta there in a jiffy!”

Goggles deadpanned at that.

“I’m 3 years older than you,” he said bluntly.

However Pinkie Pie choose to ignore that statement and took something out of her robe pockets

“Stand back,” she said.

Doing what he was told, Goggles stepped further back into his cell, after which Pinkie Pie did her work. With once quick series of movements Pinkie used the Laser-cutter in her hoof to playfully slice a smiley face into the bars, allowing Goggles to graciously walk out of the cell through the widened gap. Before the Gizmonk could ask the hyperactive Pony what she was doing here in Baltimare, he soon found himself hearing another familiar voice.

“Wow, you were right,” it said, “It really IS a dandy cutting tool.”

Goggles eyes widened at that, turning towards the source of the voice, he became flabbergasted at who he saw standing right next to the door. It was though the heavens themselves had sent a pair of angels in the form of two of the most important ponies in his life, to come to him in his hour of darkness.

“Trixie!?!” he exclaimed. “Applejack!?! What the heck are you all doing here!?!”

“What do you think we’re doing?” Applejack remarked, squeezing the Gizmonk in a tight embrace. “We’re bust y’all out of here.” 

“But you can’t be here,” Goggles argued, pulling away from the hug. “I can’t let you just risk yourselves for my sake.”

“Hey, do you really think we were just gonna let them execute you!?!” Trixie retorted, poking him hard with her hoof. “Listen, Luna has proof about Icicle framing you, but we can’t just wait around and risk her shipping you back to Kappan. So we’re getting you out of here.”

“But…” Goggles tried to say, only to be cut off by Applejack putting a hoof to his mouth.

“No buts Goggles,” she said. “We care about you too much just to let y’all slip away.”

“Yeah, we love you Goggles,” Pinkie Pie finished.

At those words Goggles was rendered silent, the only noise that he managed to utter was the slight whimpers that came with his tears. These ponies were risking everything to save him? Even after everything that has happened, they would still help? Goggles could never have been more grateful to have such great friends.

“Come on y’all,” Applejack announced. “Let get the heck out of this hole.”

“But how did you even get in?” Goggles asked curiously, wiping away his tears. “It’s not like it’s easy to break INTO prison, yet alone out.”

“We’ll explain on the way,” Trixie said, suddenly reaching into her saddlebags “Oh and you might want these back.

At those words, Trixie gave the Gizmonk his signature goggles back, he had never had been more grateful to have his most treasured item back. However before either of them could leave, everyone suddenly found themselves interrupted by another voice.

“Hey!” Jinx snapped. “Aren’t you forgetting someone!?!”