Jan, 22, 1000, C.E.
10:00 A.M. Canterlot.
Gadget was summoned to canterlot at the request of the princess's. For what he had no idea. He was at home resting up from a hard days work on helping to fix up the town. After he got home he went to work on fixing up the clock tower. It's gears were thrown out of alignment with all of the explosions and earthquakes Nightmare had caused. After that he went to bed. The next day he declared to himself that he would take a break. However he looked at his mail. There in the stack of papers was an official summons from the princess, well princess's now. He griped it with his magic, he was getting better at using it now, tore it open and read it.
Dear Gadget,
We the princess's of equestria would like to seek a special audience with you about a troubling matter of great importance. We would like to request you presence in our royal chamber's in canterlot no later than the 25th of January.
Your Loving Princess's Celestia & Luna.
Gadget was puzzled. Why would they need my help? With anything? He sat the letter down and sighed.
"When am i ever going to have a normal day?" He mumbled to himself. He sat there and thought about it. He could take the 9:00 A.M. train to Canterlot and depending on the urgency of the "troubling matter" he could hopefully get back home by midnight. He got up from his couch and went upstairs to pack a few things. The next day he got up early had a quick breakfast and made his way to the train. An hour later and he was stepping onto the platform to Canterlot.
"Sister doth thou think this is wise?" Luna asked Celestia as they walked through the castle to the throne room were they were to meet Gadget. Celestia looked at her sister as they passed by some construction pony's putting in the new stain glass windows. Her look was one of compassion but at the same time she was conflicted. She shook her head.
"Truly Luna i do not know." She looked off in the distance. She used her magic to open the side door to the throne room as they came closer to there destination.
"But this is something that i believe he should be apart of. After all he did have the most contact with her out of you or any other pony." She hung her head with guilt as she sat on a plush cushion. Her throne had to be specialty ordered and that would take awhile.
"And i am afraid that i am to biased to make an honest decision in this particular matter." She said sadness choking her voice. Luna went and nuzzled her sister sitting next to her on an equally plushy cushion.
"This we understand sister." She said her face full of sadness and joy.
"After our banishment we had plenty of time to realize our mistake and think of many ways to rectify it." She looked away in shame, as she remembered being nearly all alone on the moon.
"Sadly when the time came for us to return we have yet again how do you say 'botched it'?" The strange words felt odd to Luna's tongue. Celestia chuckled at her sisters attempt to use the current vernacular of the era.
"Well non-the less Luna i am deeply glad to have you back." Celestia sat there cuddling her sister like a like she would a doll. The two sister's sat there for awhile in silence. Until there little escape from the days stress was interrupted by a certain black unicorn busting through the big double door's clearly out of breath. He wobbled up to the throne and fell out onto the floor, his armor making a soft clang as it impacted the ground. He lifted up a hoof to signal that he needed a moment. The two sister's laughed at the poor stallion but soon he caught his breath and got up from the floor.
"Your majesty's." He said bowing to the diarchy. They in return bowed there head's and all raised at once.
"So whatcha need Princess's?" Gadget asked all sense of formality gone. He was certain that if Rarity was her she would have knocked him upside the head. He snickered at the thought but soon gave his attention back to the princess's. Celestia had a soft smile on her face while Luna was bewildered.
"Um sister doth he not know how to address thee?" She asked her sister who was stifling her own laughter at Gadget's informality.
"No dear sister he know's. He just doesn't care to much for being formal." While Celestia would never admit it out loud to anyone but her close friends and her sister, she rather enjoyed when pony's weren't so formal. It made life more interesting and lent it a feeling of normality.
"Now Gadget." Celestia said catching his undivided attention. "The reason we have called you hear is to address an issue which we ourselves could not come to an agreement on." She said her face turning serious now.
"For this situation we needed the help of someone with your unique talent's and insight's." She looked at him and he starred at them. Gadget was usually one to take risk's when it came to just about anything but pissing off the princess's by refusing whatever it was they needed help on was not a risk he was willing to take.
"Of course your majesty's." He said with a bow. Now he was a little nervous. What could they possibly need my help with? He was glad he brought his armor with him. If this was going were he thought it was going he was going to need it by the end of the day.
A little while later the trio was trotting down the steps of a staircase to one of the castle's many underground dungeons. Gadget stuck close by the princess for fear of getting lost down there. He had heard tales of pony's getting lost in the dark confines of the castle walls never to be heard from again. Then he thought about it. If no pony ever got out then how were there any tale's to begin with?
He was brought back to the present by the sound of some pony screaming. "Get away from me you cur! I am a queen i will not be forced to---!" Gadget had a feeling he knew who that was and he was now really confused.
"Um Princess's?" He asked. The diarch's arced there ear's back to signal they were listening.
"Is that who i think it is?"
They both nodded there head's.
"Yes Sr Gadget. That is exactly who you think it is." Princess Luna said. He pondered that for awhile. Sr?
"She is the reason we called you here." Princess Celestia added. Gadget was both confused and afraid now. As the group got closer to Nightmare's cell her screaming got louder.
"How dare you! Get your filthy hooves off of me!" She shouted. Gadget did not know why but that made him go just a little bit faster than he would have liked. As eager as he was to just get this over with he could not help but be concerned for both Nightmare and whoever was with her. As they rounded the corner they saw a group of guard's all gathered around a cell door. That in and of itself was strange. Why is the door open? Gadget voiced his thought's.
"I do not know?" Celestia responded her face looking flushed with anger. The group of guard's was so focused on whatever was going on that they didn't notice the Princess approaching. Judging by what the group was hearing as they went down the hall the guards were not going to get out of this unscathed.
"Come on Search Light you can do this!" One guard egged on.
"Ya that's it! Just pin her down and force her!" That got the small group's blood boiling but Gadget was furious. He rushed ahead of the princess's cutting them off as he went around them. Dear god please forgive me princess's. he thought.
"HEY KNOCK IT OFF!" He shouted at the group. The princess's were shocked, at both the guards and Gadget.
"Sister,-" Celestia whispered to Luna.-"Let us see how this play's out." Luna looked from her sister to Gadget and then to the guard's. She then noticed a field around them.
"When didst thou cast this?"
"When you have a thousand years to rule you pick up a few tricks along the way." Celestia winked at her sister. There attention was brought back to Gadget as the group of guard's all began to laugh at him.
"And just what do we have here?" A big earth pony stallion said as he made his way to the front of the 'pack'.
Gadget looked at the guards then behind him. The Princess's were nowhere to be found. His blood ran cold for a sec but his confidence built itself up. Well that just means i get to cut loose. He was certain that they were still there but he focused on the task at hand. He looked back at the group. There were six guards in front of him that he could see. The same earth pony looked at Gadget with a critical eye.
"Ain't it a little early to be playing dress up?" He asked Gadget, a snare appearing on his face as his little group began to laugh. Gadget began to laugh as well. This confused the guards who stopped laughing. Gadget did as well.
"What?" He said a smile on his face. He had his suit on standby so his vizier wasn't shut. "I thought we all laughing at his bad taste in joke's? I mean really? He's one to talk about dress up when i can smell his perfume from here." He smirked. The guards all gawked at there leader who was red in the face. "Just what are you saying?" He shouted.
"Well i can see the panties your wearing from here bud." Gadget said as he pointed to the head guard. The earth pony however looked back and saw that he was indeed wearing pantie's.
"How in the hey did--" He was fuming now. His eye's blazed with hatred at this stupid unicorns magic.
"You little shit! I'm going to rip your horn off and shove it up your plot!" He said walking toward Gadget. He just yawned.
"Eh you can try all you want." He said motioning egging the stallion on with a hoof. His horn flared to life and his armor snapped shut. With his now blue glowing eye's on set on the stallion he could feel a twinge of fear roll off of him. But the stallion's men soon fallowed there commander down the small two pony hallway. Well time to end this before it even begin's. With the patience of a monk Gadget waited until all of the guards were in the hallway, and away from Nightmare's cell. And 3..2..1! Revving his engine's Gadget's wing's sprang out, barley clearing the width of the hallway. This made the guards stop in there track's.
"what in Celestia's green earth is that?" One of the guards shouted. Some of them turned to run away. Oh No you don't! Gadget slammed a hoof into the ground. when he pulled it up a piece of his leg armor detached from his fore hoof and was firmly planted into the ground. He then leapt into the air and darted foreword to cut off the guards escape. He landed just in front of them. They all stumbled over one another as they all tried to stop. As he landed Gadget brought his magic to bare. His horn lit up and then turned into a lance of pure light. He then waved his lance downward splitting the group of guards down the middle. They all evaded the attack by clinging to the side's of the wall's.
Then the leader of the group pipped up.
"Huh you missed!" He screamed in triumph. Gadget just smiled. He brought his lance down to the floor and touched the piece of armor he had left embedded into the ground. As soon as his horn touched the object a screen of green light formed around the walls of the hallway sealing off any chance of escape. The guards saw this and turned to face Gadget.
"Sister what kind of magic is this?" Luna asked. Celestia just stared at Gadget's equipment in wander.
"That my dear sister is more than magic. It is the future of our guard in the making."
Gadget saw the group of guards looking around in terror. He smiled at there fear. Now the grand finally. With a flash gadget's horn went from being a lance of magic to a wall of green light. He then charged up his engines to full power and roared towards the group of guard's. He sandwiched them between the two solid walls of force and with a satisfying crunch he stopped his engines and land to the ground dissipating his magic. The guards all fell in a tangled heap in to much to to do anything else but lay there. With the main force of guards taken care of Gadget ran to Nightmare's cell. He go to the end of the sell block and found her, standing over the beaten body of the guard known as Search Light.
"Nightmare?" Gadget called out to the weary looking mare. She did not respond. Gadget opened the cell door which let out an eerie creaking noise. He stepped into the cell and went over to Nightmare. He could feel her anger, fear and confusion.
"Nightmare?" He asked again. This caused the mare to flinch and look at him with teary eye's.
"K-k-knight?" She trembled a little at the sight of Gadget.
"H-h-he - - t--tried -t-t-to." Gadget looked at the incapacitated pegasus on the floor. He was out cold a huge welt on his head and bruises marking his body. He then lent a wing to Nightmare. She looked at it, then to him.
"It's ok." He said a look of grim confidence on his face. Tentatively Nightmare grasped his wing in her own and together the two trotted out of the cell, but not before Nightmare kicked Search Light in his nether region's. He let out a pained grown from his blunt force induced coma.
The two made there way down the hall were they found Princess's Celestia and Luna waiting for them.
"Princess? What just happened?" Gadget asked in both anger and confusion.
"It would seem that not even my own royal guard is immune to corruption." Celestia shook her head. Then she looked at Nightmare. she looked like she was in a trance, like nothing was real and she was trying to figure out a way back to reality. Gadget was having a hard time digesting what had just transpired as well. He was coping better than Nightmare was but he was still shocked that Celestia's own guard would stoop so low as to try and rape a prisoner. Even one as evil as Nightmare moon. However right now Gadget could not bring himself to say anything about her past. Not even she deserved to have this done to her.
Gadget looked up to the princess's.
"Princess what exactly was the reason for me being here?" Celestia and Luna thought back to the reason they wanted him here and sighed.
"It is best that we discuss this in a more private location." Celestia said. Gadget held up a hoof.
"What about them?" He said venom very evident in his voice as he pointed to the group of passed out guard's. Celestia looked upon them in disgust.
"They will be severely punished for there transgressions. You have my word on that." She gave gadget a stern look. One that he repaid with a nod of approval. With a wave of her horn the guard's were quickly locked away in a group of cell's off down the hall. Then with another wave and a flash of light the group now including Nightmare Moon was teleported to Celestia's Royal chamber's. Gadget looked around the room and saw thing he thought would better fit into a foals nursery. He saw little plushy s of the sun and moon as well as a big fluffy cloud bed.
He went to go and sit down on a group of pillow's but was weighed down by something on clinging to him. He looked to his left to see that Nightmare had fallen asleep. Using his telekinesis he levitated the disheveled alicorn to a group of pillow's strewn about on the floor and gently laid her down on them to rest.
After Nightmare was soundly asleep Gadget turned to the Princess's who both had smile's on there face's.
"What?" Gadget asked a nervous look on his face.
"You handle her well for all the effort she put into trying to kill you." Celestia said. Gadget looked from her to Nightmare. He smiled.
"Yah well i just can't really bring myself to hate her. That's just not the per-pony that i am." He was glad he caught his slip up. He just hoped the princess's hadn't. If ether of them noticed they did not say word. They just continued about there business. Celestia cleared her throat.
"Well now that all of that is taken care of i think it is time we get down to why you are here." Gadget was all ear's. Princess Luna scooched closer to her sister.
"Both Princess Luna and i have been discussing just what to do with Nightmare Moon these past few week's since her return here seems to be permanent." Celestia sighed.
"I just never thought my own guard's would stoop to that level of savagery." she hissed through clenched teeth. She looked at Nightmare and continued.
"How ever in light of your recent heroic's."-Gadget blushed at this.-" I will still ask of you what we have proposed." She then looked at Gadget. "You of all pony's can tell us what Nightmare Moon is like." Gadget was taken back by this.
"ME?" He shouted then clamped his hooves over his mouth. He looked to Nightmare Moon and saw that she was still asleep.
"Uh um i mean why me princess?" He asked. Celestia's face hardened and she continued her explanation.
"I will not lie young one. When i healed you i felt something different bout you." That made Gadget's blood freeze.
"Something different?" He asked. Please don't be what i think it is.
"In all honesty i cannot tell what is is that is different about you but you have demonstrated a remarkable skill set."
"Well i-"
"Including the ability to read body language like know one else i have ever come across."
"Oh that." Celestia perched an eyebrow but moved on.
"Yes that. That is what we want you to help us with." She looked at Nightmare once more.
"We need you to see if Nightmare moon is still a threat to our little pony's." Princess Luna chimed in. Gadget looked from princess to princess.
"So that's it?" He asked.
"There may well be some other detail's we would like to discuss with you, but those can wait for another time."
"So as for now will thou help us?" Gadget looked from the Princess's to Nightmare.
"OK what have i got to loose." He said with a shrug.
! week later.
Gadget was laying down taking a break from working on his latest little gizmo when he heard a knock on his door. Well who could that be? He went to the door and opened it to find himself staring at two wooden box's one quite large as big as him in fact. The other was small only four feet long and about five inches across. OK? He went and grabbed a magic amplifying crystal ring and slid it over his horn. He then lifted both box's into his home and put them on the ground in front of his couch. Wander whats inside of them? He looked all over the box's and finally found a note affixed to the small one. He yanked it off and began to read it.
Dear, Sr Gadget.
What is with the Sr?
My sister and i would like to thank you on with your help in fixing our little dilemma. In order to show our gratitude we have commissioned a smith to forge you a gift of the highest praise we can afford. It is packaged inside the crate with which this note is affixed to. And in order to double the fun we have enclosed an additional surprise to arrive in anther box to be sent to you with this one.
Your Princess of The Night, Luna.
Gadget looked at the back of the note and saw more writing.
P.S. Be sure to play gently.
OK what does that mean?
Gadget looked at the box that the letter had come with. He shrugged his shoulder's and went down to the basement to grab a crowbar. He came back and jammed the crowbar into the box and with a heave he ripped the wooden lid off. As he looked inside the box his excitement went up a few notch's. After he had grabbed the object with his magic he slid it out of the box in astonishment.
It was a sword. And a nice looking one at that. He had seen some of them at a few of the fair's his parent's had taken him to as a child but he had rarely ever held one. This one was by far the best looking piece of art he had ever seen. It was a simple long sword, a three foot double edged blade with a broad fuller tapering just an inch before the point. The cross guard was a single strait piece of steel coated in a layer of copper. The handle was a foot long and wrapped in black leather. Man he really wished he was a human now so he could feel the weapon with his hand's.
Then an idea hit him. He thought about it really hard and use his magic... Nothing. Not even a spark. Oh well it was worth a shot. As cool as this was he was curious as to what the other gift was. So he got his crowbar and jimmied the big crate open. And was shocked to have a pony fall out on top of him.
"What the hay?" He shouted. He struggled to get the other pony off of him and when he finally caught his breath he looked at the new arrival with dread and confusion.
"Nightmare?" upon hearing her name her eye's shot open and looked around. As they settled upon Gadget her look went from one of confusion to one of anger.
"YOU!" She screamed.
"ME?" Gadget squeaked. Nightmare got to her hooves and grabbed the discarded crowbar from the floor. Gadget was to shocked to do anything but scream and run she ran after him with the improvised weapon.
"Come back here!"
"No!"
THE END?????