//------------------------------// // Act II Chapter 4: Flight Lessons and Racing Stripes. // Story: The 7th Element. Season 1: The Magi-Tech Pony // by Rojack79 //------------------------------// Ponyville. Feb, 1, 1000, C.E. 10:00 A.M. Gadget now decked out in his fully functional armor now with a few addition's, was walking with Nightmare to the park. She had mentioned wanting to go there the day before and the two had made a plan to go. Nightmare had been dying to know how well Gadget could fly using his mechanical wing's. She did not understand that he had a jet pack. Not the same thing as wing's but it would allow him to fly nonetheless. The two made there way over the bridge and went to a small open field on the outskirts of the park were they would not be disturbed by anypony else. "So how well can you fly?" Nightmare asked Gadget as he fiddled with his suit's avionics. He looked at Nightmare and then screwed his face up in thought. The mountain of calculation's scrolling across his suits H.U.D. distracted him a little bit but he eventually answered her question. "In all honesty. Not that well." He said as his suit's reading's read green across the board. He did a few warm up's to stretch out his leg muscle's. Nightmare was baffled. "Then how were you able to keep up with me in our fight?" Gadget just laughed. "That was me running on adrenaline. That and my suits A.I. helps me keep track of everything around me and auto corrects my course in millisecond's." Nightmare was curious. "Hud? AI?" " H.U.D. It's short for Head's Up Display." He look off his helmet and handed it to Nightmare. She took held it in her magic and looked at him. "And A.I. Is short for artificial Intelligence." "Go ahead put in on." Nightmare looked at him but did as she was told. The helmet slid over her head and her world was engulfed in darkness. Then a in a flash of light she could see again. But as she squinted her eye's she saw other thing's popping up in her field of view. As she looked at them they came into focus. She saw a little red bar across the top of the display. Her eye's roamed the side's of the screen and she saw other bar's for other things. She had no idea what they were for. "So how is it?" Gadget asked. His voice sounding a little distorted through the helmet. She swiveled her head to him and jumped as his face came into focus but it was bigger than before. In fact Nightmare could see his face so clearly that she could make out scar's. From what she had no idea but then the helmet's screen beeped to life as it began to scan Gadget's face. The scars appeared to be burn scar's according to the helmet. Nightmare was not used to all of the information the helmet was feeding. She ripped it off of her head and handed it to Gadget. "How can you think strait with all of that, chaos going on?" She asked him sucking in lungfuls of air. She was feeling just a little claustrophobic at the moment. Gadget looked at her with a face of pity and amusement. "Lot's of practice." He said chuckling as he put the helmet back on his head. It hissed as the suit reintegrated it back into its frame. Then his wing's sprang to life as they flipped forward locking into place with a magnetic shink sound. Then his engine's flared to life along with his horn. Nightmare was in aww of the pony in front of her. Here was a unicorn who having been robbed of his ability to use magic had not quit. He simply found a new way of doing things. His armor hissed as it readjusted itself to the confine's of his body. Once it was all locked into place he turned toward's her and even tho she couldn't see it he was smiling. "So your majesty shall we see just how good of a flyer you are?" He said not hiding his challenge in the least. Nightmare smirked at him. So the knight think's he can out fly his queen? Well then he shall learn a valuable lesson today. The two of them rocketed into the air laughing as they did so. Nightmare zoomed though the sky deftly turning at sharp angle's as she maneuvered her body in the air like ballerina. She spun, corkscrewed, did loop's and finally settled down on a cloud breathing heavily. "So Knight still think you can best that?" Gadget was silent at first. His suit was scanning Nightmare's routine and adding it to his data of aerial maneuver's. He did a final scan of his own repertoire and took a deep breath. All right. Lets see if i can impress a princess. He revved his engine's and then with a mighty leap took off into the air. With his course set Gadget just sat back and let the suit take over for him. His mind wandered while his suit pulled off some of the same moves as Nightmare even finding the time to display a few other one's she hadn't done. When his routine was through Gadget went and settled down on the same cloud as Nightmare. Just before touching down however Gadget's metallic hooves opened up becoming wider than usual. Then a small electrical current pulsed to life giving off a small humming noise. Gadget stepped onto the cloud and chuckled. "Wow they work." Nightmare was starring at his hooves with curiosity. "Just what are those?" She said pointing to Gadget's buzzing feet. As he looked down at his feet his helmet split apart allowing him to speak to Nightmare more clearly. "These." He said lifting up one of his hooves. "Are a new invention of mine. I call them thunder hooves. In theory they should allow me to effect clouds just like a pegasus." He walked around on the big cloud taking tentative step's just in case the enchantment he put into the boot's failed. They held up pretty well. "Ha well at least i can walk on cloud's." He sat down and before he realized his mistake he was hanging upside down from his feet. "WOW!! WOW!!! PULL ME UP!!!! PULL ME UP!!!!" Nightmare however was to busy laughing at Gadget's misfortune. Just as Nightmare was able to get off of her back and try to help Gadget to get right side up again the last person Gadget had wanted to see him like this chose to appear. Rainbow Dash must have heard his scream's for help because she came zipping through the sky like a rocket. However she stopped when she saw Gadget hanging upside down looking like failed attempt at being a living pinata. Gadget was happy his helmet covered his whole face because he was as red as a tomato right now, tho from embarrassment or blood flow he couldn't tell. "OK how in the hey did this happen?" Rainbow said as she landed on a nearby cloud. "I was testing out a new device. It works really well." He said his voice dripping with sarcasm. Rainbow chuckled at that. Nightmare joined in soon after. "Look girls as funny as this might be i really have to get up. I'm not feeling to hot right now." Gadget was starting to feel light headed. Nightmare used her magic to help bring Gadget back through the cloud and put his right side up. His helmet opened up and he began to suck down lungfuls of air. "OK so at least i know they work. Even a little to well." He said as he closed his eye's trying to concentrate on his beating heart to slow it back down to normal. He got his heart back to normal. He opened his eye's to see the girls starring at him with mirthful smile's on there face's. "What?" He asked as red began to course through his face again. "So." Rainbow said stepping a little closer to Gadget. He stood as still as a statue. "This is the gear you were talking about huh?" She said. He just nodded. She chuckled. "So you still on for that race?" She asked. Gadget nearly face hoofed. He had forgotten about the race. He was so busy trying to make sure Nightmare was adjusted to life here in ponyville. He looked from Nightmare to Dash ans then to his H.U.D. His power level's were good. 95% OK i can do this. He shook his head. "Alright! So Were are we off to?" Rainbow said as she looked around excitedly. Gadget thought about it. "How about the town hall?" He suggested. Rainbow thought about it for a sec and nodded her head. As the two got set up to take off they were interrupted. "Do either of you mind if i join?" Both pony's looked back to see Nightmare looking sheepish. The two thought about it. Gadget didn't have a problem with it. "Ha want payback for me messing with you at the castle?" He said. A smile crept onto Nightmare's face. "You could say that." She said her own competitive fire roaring to life. Rainbow on the other hand had different thought's. Oh she better not slow us down. She noticed that both pony's were now starring at her. She shook her head. "Ya fine she can come along." Nightmare smiled and lined up with the other two, getting between Rainbow and Gadget. Rainbow huffed as they all got ready for take off. Gadget set a timer that counted down from ten to one. "10." Gadget was shaking with adrenaline. "9." Nightmare tensed as she looked from side to side. "8." Rainbow squinted, locking her eye's onto the town hall. "7." All three of them took a deep breath. "6." Then they let it out. "5." And over again. "4." They all bent forward a little bit. "3." They all took one last deep breath. "2." Then exhaled. "1." There wing's all splayed out. "GO!" The cloud they were standing was obliterated as they all launched off of it at the same time. All three pony's shot through the air like missile's. Rainbow left a multi colored contrail in her wake. Gadget left blue exhaust from his engine. Nightmare left behind a trail of star dust. All three of them were neck and neck. However just before they reached the outskirts of ponyville Rainbow put on an extra burst of speed allowing her to easily out pace the two other pony's. Then as Gadget tried to keep up he saw Nightmare beginning to pass him by. As she slid in front of him she gave him a smug smile. He returned it. "OK time to kick this into overdrive!" He poured more magic into his suit. He began to accelerate now. He angled himself so he could get a little higher than Nightmare in the sky. When he was above her he put on another burst of speed shooting past her. He waved as he zipped by. She ground her teeth and put on more speed but wasn't able to catch up. As Gadget revved his engine's he could see rainbow just ahead. He kept up the magic and was soon right behind her. Rainbow hearing a strange noise behind her looked back and nearly lost her course. How in the hey is he able to keep up with me? Gadget was so focused on winning this race and showing Rainbow how cool he was that he was not paying attention to his power meter. With all of the magic he was pouring into his engine he would deplete his battery's in only a few minute's. Right now he was at 50% power and steadily dropping. But he was now neck and neck with rainbow. He could care less right now what his power level was at. He could see the town hall peaking over the rooftop's of ponyville now. Just as Gadget overtook rainbow for the lead a surprised came from above. Nightmare had caught up to the two. "You can't get rid of me that easily." She shouted over the fierce air current's roaring over there ear's. Now all three pony's were once again neck and neck. The town hall was only a few hindered feet away now. Come on just a little more! Gadget shouted to himself. He put on one more burst of magic that sent him sailing past the two mare's and rocketing to word's town hall. "YES!" He screamed. "Power level at 0%. All system's shutting down." "NO!" He whined as one by one his suit's system's began to shut off. As they did so he began to slow down. then his speed began to bleed off. As he went sailing toward's the ground he only had one thought. So close. The mare's passed him by. Rainbow not so much as glancing back but Nightmare slowed down a little. Gadget was so caught up in almost winning that he had not noticed were he was going. His H.U.D. went dark and he was suddenly ejected from his suit in mid air. With his magic drained from boosting his engine's he was unable to catch himself. So he did the only logical thing to do in a free falling situation. He began to scream bloody murder. "AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" He went sailing through t he air at a pretty good clip. Then he felt the hard embrace of the earth as he plowed into the ground at 40 Mph. However it did not hurt as much as he thought it would. He opened his eye's and was greeted with a dark field of vision. He looked around and saw that he was surrounded in a dark blue sphere. He looked around and saw Nightmare who was flapping as fast as she could to get to Gadget. When he finally stopped rolling on the ground he just lied there trying to get his bearing's. He was so dizzy he had to close his eye's and concentrate on not throwing up his breakfast this morning. "Sir Sky Rose are you alright!" Nightmare said as she landed next to Gadget who was huddled in a fetal position trying to stop his body from trembling with all the adrenaline coursing through it. Eventually his queasy stomach won out and he ended up vomiting all over the ground. As he wiped his mouth on a shaking hoof he looked up to see Nightmare starring at him with worry on her face. "O-oh y-y-ya. i-i-i'm j-j-just f-f-f-fine." He said as he passed out. As Nightmare was picking Gadget up from the ground two pony's watched from the shadow's. One of them was Swift Wing who was reporting the other one to his superior's. The other pony who watched the entire race unfold was looking from Nightmare and Gadget to Rainbow who was stumped about were the other two were. Swift Wing watched as the pegasus who was currently watching a shouting match between Nightmare and Rainbow who had found the other two and wondered what had happened. Swift Wing soon got a confirmation on the mystery pegasus. Name: Hot Shot. Age: 23. Race: Pegasus. Color's: Yellow Body, Red Mane, Multicolored Tail. Sable Colored Eye's. Occupation: Professional Racer. History: First entered the Best Young Flyer's competition at the age of 10. Got a Cutie Mark for finishing first of his class. Has since been involved in any kind of race ever since then always managing to win by the shin of his teeth. Personal Profile : N/A. Swift Wing had only one thought. What is he doing in Ponyville?