//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: The Return of Nightmare Moon, Part 2. // Story: The 7th Element. Season 1: The Magi-Tech Pony // by Rojack79 //------------------------------// Dec, 31st, 999, C.E. Ponyville, Equestria. Gadget made his way home from twilights temporary residence and sighed. He knew pinky was going to throw her a party so he was on his way home to get cleaned up and looking nice. He walked down the dirt road that lead to Fluttershy's cottage and then hung a left at the fork in the road. His own home, The ponyville Clock Tower, stood out like a beacon amid the tree's of the nearby everfree forest. He still didn't know how fluttershy of all pony's could live so close to that place. As the tower came closer into his view gadget had one thing on his mind. I wander if Rainbow Dash will notice me? He had been trying to get up the nerve to talk to her for years now. Now that he finally had her attention albeit in a competitive way he wandered if there could ever be something more between the two. He made his to the front door, took out his key and entered his home. He was greeted with the sight of his uncle running around with his mane on fire. This did not even faze gadget as he simply danced around his uncles flailing hooves, and got today's mail from the basket he had installed. It was a simple thing really. It consisted of a an opening at the top of the clock tower that the mail mare could then drop the mail into. It was then caught in a small basket that was attached to a pulley system that lowered the mail down to ground level thanks to an auto adjusting counter balance. The mail was then picked up by hoof and distributed to the proper pony's. OK lets see. An invitation to Pinky's "Welcome to Ponyville" Party. A letter to uncle about those adult movies he had yet to return to the movie store and--- Gadget nearly dropped all of the mail right then and there. In his hooves was a small box addressed to him. From Mom and Dad. His hooves quickly set the other bit of mail down on the small desk next to the door and he tore open the box with gusto. His hooves were shaking to much to hold onto the small object inside the box and the letter that came with it so he opened the letter with careful application of his magic. He slid the letter out of its envelope and read it to himself. Dear Gadget, Your mom and i hope that this little gift of our's finds you well. We really wanted to be there with you for this years summer sun celebration but i'm afraid that will not be possible at the moment. Your mom and i have stumbled across a great discovery hear in the frozen north. One that will hopefully revolutionize the Crystal Tech Community. But enough about that. Your gift is something very special. We found it while on assignment out here and had to ask special permission from the princess to get this to you. We hope that whenever you feel lonely you look at this gift and know that you are never alone. Our love will always be there to guide you home and warm you on cold night's, just as your's has always been there for us. Love Mom & Dad. Gadget set the letter down and with trembling hooves he opened the box. He nearly broke into tears when he saw what it was. Nestled inside the box on a bed of golden wrapping paper was a silver amulet. Both it and the milky white crystal in the center of it was molded into the shape of a heart. He lifted the gift out of the box with care and herd a soft noise of metal on metal. He looked at the amulet again to see a long silver chain dangling at the top. Then it dawned on him. Its a necklace. He had to admit that he had a soft spot for jewelry. Even if most stallions thought it was to 'girly' to even think about wearing it Gadget didn't much care about other's opinions. As far as he was concerned he was a stallion that was not afraid of his feminine side at all. He actually had a pair of male earring's he wore from time to time. They were a deep ruby red color and reminded him of his mom every time he saw them. He had to sit down on the couch and catch his breath for a little while. He starred at the necklace and chuckled. His parents were always giving him gifts from there dig's but this was the best gift they had ever given him by far. He set the box down and took a closer look at the amulet. he turned it around in his hooves and saw an inscription on the back. For the love and light of our life, Let your light be shinning example, That no matter how deep the darkness, There will always be a light at the end of the road, Let your light guide other's to the truth, Let your love set the world free, For the angel in our life, Who fell from heaven, And became a blessing, Let your light shine on for eternity. Gadget broke down in tears. This was the best gift anyone had ever gotten him. Even the gift's he got on earth paled in comparison to this. He could feel the love that went into this gift and right now that love was overwhelming him. He sat there for awhile and let all of the love out of his system. He sat for a little while afterwards and calmed down even more. "So what's got you all worked up?" The voice made Gadget jump out off the couch with a squeak of surprise. He scrambled to hold onto his gift and as he caught it his uncle let out a chuckle and trotted over to the couch. When Gadget got settled back onto the couch he gave the letter and amulet to his uncle. He read the letter and the inscription on the necklace and chuckled. "So let me guess?" He asked Gadget. "Emotion overload?" Gadget nodded his head in conformation. Apparently changelings were more susceptible to emotional mood swings than normal pony's. This wasn't the first time that this had happened to Gadget. It used to happen a lot when he was in public school. With his strange anatomy he could feel and feed off of the emotions of other's. That wasn't always a good thing. Especially when he would come home angry for no reason or depressed enough to want to kill himself. It got so bad his parents withdrew him from public school and home schooled him for the next ten year's of his life. He was eventually able to control his mood swings but some times the emotion's would be to strong and he would have to let them out. Thinking back to his young days had calmed him down enough to were he could speech again. "So why were you on fire?" He asked through teary eye's and a sore throat. His uncle chuckled at the sudden change of subject. "Well i was in the kitchen..." Meanwhile Across Town At Twilight's Residence. "SURPRISE!!!!!" "GAAAHHHH!!!!" Twilight's scream echoed throughout the library as she jumped back in fright. She had just woken up to get a glass of water. She had been up in her room with a few books looking for anything about the elements of harmony but she couldn't find anything. So she went to sleep. Now she that she was rested a little bit she wanted to hit the books and see what she could find. At least that was her plan. Now here she was on the floor of her temporary home, and soaked thanks to her water spilling all over her. "PINKY PIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HEAR?" She screamed. "Well duh silly. I'm throwing you a WELCOME TO PONYVILLE party!" She said as she through confetti into the air. Twilight would have thrown the intruding mare out the front door, but then to her horror she noticed that pinky wasn't alone. "What in celestias name is going on here!?" She said through a clenched jaw. "Well it wouldn't be a party without a few guest's right?" Pinky said with a smile. Twilight was steaming. "A.. few.. guest's!? A FEW GUEST'S! Pinky this more than 'A Few Guest's.' This is practically the whole town!" Twilight was not impressed, amused, or excited in the least. She was angry to say the least. She had gotten to bed at around 5 P.M. Here it was now-, She looked at the clock on the wall.- 8 P.M. She had only gotten three hours of sleep. She was not in the mood to handle this right now. Her bad mood made her more tired now than before. The fatigue of the day was catching up to her. "Look fine do whatever you want." Twilight said to pinky. "But Keep! It! Down!" She said punctuating each word with a hoof in the air. "Now were is my water glass?" She asked herself. Pinky appeared out of thin air, glass of water in hoof. "Here ya go!" She said excitedly. Twilight jumped about a foot in the air and looked around her. "We--Ho--What!?" She stammered for a little while but her head began to hurt. I can't take this right now. She took the glass of water from Pinky, tentatively, and wen't back to up the stirs. She opened her door went to her balcony and starred at the moon. "I hope the princess was right." She sighed "I hope the legend was just and old mare's tale." She gulped down her water and went back to bed. Over head in the night sky the stars began to move closer to the moon. Nine Hour's Later. "pssss." Shake..shake... "Twilight..." Nudge...nudge... "Hey.. Twilight.. It's time to wake up." Spike said as he shook his sister again. Twilight meanwhile was on the edge of being awake and the land of dreams. She was still grumpy from last night however. "Go away pinky." She had grasped a broom in her sleep and was now trying to beat up spike with the cleaning implement. Smack! "Oh." Spike began to run around the room trying to avoid the impending beat down from the now animate object. 'Ah Twilight!" He screamed. "Wake up!" Twilight began to stir in her sleep. But this wasn't fast enough for spike who was now being hit repeatedly with the bristle's. It didn't hurt so much as it made his trying to talk difficult. So he did the one thing he could think of. He jumped onto twilight's bed and pulled off the cover's. then he opened the balcony doors to let the cold night air in. As soon as the cool breeze reached twilights exposed fur she shot out of the bed like a bolt of electricity had hit her. She was wide awake now frantically looking for the source of the cold. She spotted the open balcony and went to go close it. Huh? I don't remember leaving those doors open? Her pondering of the open doors was brought to a halt as she heard somepony wheezing heavily. She looked around the rood and her eye's fell on spike leaning against a bookshelf, a broom in hand. "Uh spike what is going on?" She asked confusion in her voice. "Well lets see?" He said sarcastically looking deep in thought. "Oh ya. I know." He said chuckling. "I tried to wake you up so we wouldn't miss the summer sun celebration and what do i get for my effort's?" He let that hang in the air for a little while. :A broom to the face." He said with an angry deadpan look. Twilight stood there thinking. Then it all clicked into place and she felt terrible. "Oh spike." She said grabbing the little dragon and hugging him. "I am so sorry." She said now on the verge of tear's. She calmed down tho as she took stalk of her situation. She still had to go to the summer sun celebration to make sure that everything went off without a hitch. "Hey Twilight?" Spike said his voice sounding sad. "I'm sorry for getting upset." His voice now sounding like he was going to cry to. Twilight just hugged him tighter. "No spike if anyone should apologize its me. I haven't been myself lately. I've been to busy doing everything else but be nice to you or even spend time with you." She sighed Her face and voice full of sadness. "I haven't been a very good big sister to you." She said. The silence in the air was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Then Twilight's face went from one of hurt to one of conviction. "Well that stop's today. From now on i'm going to be the best big sister that i can be." She said hugging the drake tighter. "Uh.. Twilight.. Can't,,, Breath...." "Oh.. Sorry." she said letting the dragon go. "So LBBFF. Shall we go to this Celebration we spent all day yesterday overseeing?" "Why yes we shall BSBFF." With a laugh the two set off from Twilights Library to town hall. The two siblings made there way to the Town Hall and got in in record time. The mayor was up on stage and about to start her speech. "Psss. Twilight." She looked around for the source of the voice and didn't have to look long. In fact she was surprised no pony else was looking at this strange stallion. He was decked out from head to hoof in what looked like old pony armor. Except instead of the traditional black guard armor his was white with lots of mechanical looking devices attached to it. He was defiantly eccentric looking to say the least. There was no doubt in her mind who the pony was however. His black coat made that quite obvious. "Hey?" She said starring at Gadget some more. "What in the wide wide world of Equestria are you wearing?" She asked. "Oh this?" Gadget said pointing hoof to his armor. "This is my latest invention. I call it the---" "SHHHH!" Gadget was interrupted by a random pony from the crowd. He quickly shrank back his ear's flat from embarrassment. "i-I'll t-tell y-you l-later T-T-Twilight." He whispered to her. Then he was gone. The Mayor began her speech. "Good dawn to all of you gathered here on this very early mourning." The mayor had to stop for a sec as her speech was briefly put on hold due to the crowds rowdy applause. When all was said and done the cleared her throat and continued her speech. "Now as we all know in a we are only a few moments away from the start of this years Summer Sun Celebration!" More applause fallowed. Twilight began to feel uneasy. She was getting twitchy and her coat fur was standing on end. She looked around to see if anyone else was not feeling right. She saw lots of pony's but only six of them stood out in the crowd. Pinky Pie was shuddering like crazy in a corner all by herself, several pony's regarding her with looks of fear on there face. Apple Jack was leaning against a wall looking all around, scanning her surroundings with stout eye's. Rainbow Dash was in the air, her eye's darting from the stage to the crowd. Rarity was messaging her head, almost like she had a headache. Fluttershy was looking more nervous than ever, her eye's darting around like crazy, searching for some out of place object. And Finally Gadget was fiddling with one of his piece's of equipment. Judging from his constant 'percussion maintenance' the device was not working right at all. Then Twilight looked to the moon and saw four stars circling it before the group of star's and the moon disappeared all together. Even tho none of them knew it all seven of the pony's had the same thought. I have a bad feeling about this night. TO BE CONTINUED.