//------------------------------// // Act III Chapter 3: Through The Fire and The Flame's. // Story: The 7th Element. Season 1: The Magi-Tech Pony // by Rojack79 //------------------------------// 4, 10, 1000, C.E. Ponyville, 7:00 P.M. Gadget yawned as he pulled himself up to the table to eat dinner with his family. He was having trouble keeping his eye's open. He closed them for a little while. Soon he was snoring at the table. "Sweety are you ok?" Ruby asked as Gadget began to wobble in his seat. Then to the family's surprise Gadget face planted in his bowl of soup. He did not move. "Oh dear." His mother said. Then he began to sputter. His head shot out of the bowl as he began to cough and choke on carrot's. Nightmare came down the stairs and looked at the family with curious eye's. "What's wrong?" She asked. They all pointed at Gadget. She stared at his soup soaked face and and tried not to laugh. She let a few giggle's get through her hoof. Gadget looked at her then he turned to his bowl of soup. He saw his messy hair and began to smile. Soon he was laughing right along with her. Then the whole family joined in. Soon however Gadget's laughing led to crying. He held his head in his hooves. "What is wrong with me?" He asked sobbing. His parent's came to him and held him in a tight hug. "There there little light." His mother said holding his head in her own hooves, brushing his mane to calm him down. "There is nothing wrong you son." His dad said as he embraced them both in his strong arm's. "How can you say that?" He said through his sob's. "I black out just before the race and wake up in the hospital." He looked off into space. "I'm having these horrible nightmare's." He sighed "I can't sleep worth a crap." He looked down to his trembling hooves. "Why?" "Why what darling?" "Why is this happening to me?" No pony had an answer. The room was quite for awhile. Then Midnight spoke up. "Maybe i could help." She tentatively walked to the group. Gadget looked at her hesitate. "How?" He asked his voice neutral. "I can aid you in your sleep. Maybe that will help give you some comfort?" She looked sheepish. Gadget thought about it. He just shrugged his shoulder's and huffed. "I guess its worth a shot." He pushed away from the table then went to a medicine cabinet. He grabbed a bottle entitled sleeping pill's. I hope these stupid things work now. He opened the bottle took out two of them and popped them in his mouth. He then got a glass of water and chugged it. He then went and flopped onto the couch. In a few minute's he was snoring away. "Well...that was easy?" Midnight said. She looked at his parents as they went and sat with there son. Soon however his restful sleep was disturbed by fit's of thrashing. "Shhh Shhh its ok baby. Mamas here." Ruby said softly stroking her sons back. Midnight went and curled up next to Gadget on the couch. She positioned herself so there horns were just barely touching. Then she cast her spell and the world went dark. ?,??,???? ????????. Midnight awoke in a dark room. She looked around and fumbled about. She found a light switch on one of the wall's and pushed it. The dark room was lit up by a dim bulb hanging from the ceiling. It gave the already eerie room a more oppressive atmosphere. She saw that the door was gone, in its place a long dark hallway that lead somewhere. "Hello?" She called down the long corridor. She didn't get a reply. She focused on her magic and soon her horn was alight with a blue aura. Slowly she made her way down the hallway looking to and fro. There were no other door's just an endless void. She kept on trotting. Something was driving her friend to madness. She was going to get to the bottom of this no matter what. Outside, In the real world. Ruby watched as Gadget began to settle down. It seemed that Midnight's very presence had a calming effect on him like nothing she had ever seen before. Oh those two really are going to make a cute couple. She thought to herself with a smile. She looked over at her husband who had a content look on his face. He was her rock. Sturdy in the hard wind's of life and firm support to cling to when the need arose. Right now she held her husband in her hooves as her son was being tended to the Princess of Dream's. ?,??,???? ???????? Midnight was getting closer to...something. She could feel it. It felt..cold, lifeless and cruel. "How could he possibly have these feeling buried away like this?" She jumped as she began to hear an evil laughter. It pervaded the hall's of Gadget's mind and echoed all over. "You were a fool to come here." It said. Suddenly Midnight found herself surrounded on all side's by strange beast's. They seemed to flicker in and out of reality, like living shadow's. "What dark magic is this Fiend!" She shouted at the evil. It laughed. "Come now Nightmare! Is that any way to talk to your future master?" Midnight was furious. "I have no master you cowered! Now i will not tell this twice! Release My Knight at once or face my wrath!" The voice just laughed even harder than before. "As you wish!" The shadow beast's were gone. In there place a door materialized out of thin air. Midnight hesitantly made her way to the door. She brought a shaky hoof to it but was unable to knock. Suddenly a flash of light appeared and before her stood, "Gadget!" But he did not respond. In fact he didn't look all that real. When she squinted Midnight could see that the Gadget in front of her was nothing more than a faint shadow. "A memory?" The Shadow Gadget place his hoof on the door and then just stood there. He then looked back and smiled at Midnight. She gasped. "C-c-can y--y-you see me?" She asked pointing to herself. He nodded and then beckoned her to come forward. She did so stepping up next to Gadget. He motioned to the door. She hesitated at first but he just smiled at her and nodded his head. Slowly she reached for the door. As she did so to did Gadget. There hooves both grasped the door at the same time, her's going though Gadget's phantasmal form. He just laughed. She smiled up at him and together they both turned the doorknob. Ponyville, 10:00 P.M. For three hours Ruby and Sky sat at the foot of the sofa watching there son and his marefriend sleep. They would both twitch occasionally but other than that they were still and silent. "How do you think there doing?" Ruby asked as she brushed a stray strand of hair off of Midnight's face. She twitched and reached out for ruby's hoof. She let the mare grab a hold of it and slowly Midnight brought it down to her head and used it as a pillow. Sky smiled and laughed. "Well i think you have your answer." As the two pony's sat there a small flash caught there attention. They looked over to a desk at the front door and saw the necklace that they had sent him. Sky trotted over and grabbed it. He smiled as he held it in his magic. He brought it over to the couch and just held it for awhile. "I remember when we found that." Ruby said as she to looked at the necklace. "Yes. I never thought such a small trinket could ever have such a big impact on our live's." He said as he looked over to Midnight. He looked back to the necklace. It began to glow softly as if sensing that something was wrong. He chuckled to himself. "Magic works in mysterious way's." He muttered to himself. "What was that?" His wife said. "I have a feeling that our son is going to need our help." Slowly he sent the necklace down on the couch between Midnight and Gadget. It began to glow even bright than before. "Honey what is going on?" Ruby asked as she shielded her eye's from the light. "Just trust me on this one." He said a goofy smile on his face. Soon the light engulfed the whole living room. When the light had faded the two adults were out like light's resting there heads on the couch as well. The necklace was now glowing a faint pink color. ?,??,???? ???????? Midnight fallowed Gadget into the very recesses of his mind. If she hadn't she would have been wandering around his brain for who know's how long. His pace quickened and then stopped. The whole dream world began to shimmer and shake. Midnight had to brace herself just to keep her hoofing, When all was said and done Midnight breathed a sigh of relief and Gadget kept on walking as if nothing had happened. "So do you talk or do you only do mime?" She asked as they walked on. No response. "Well this suck's." "Tell me about it." Came a voice from behind Midnight. She screamed and spun around to see a very unfamiliar looking creature. It had the head of a pony and a body made up of all sort's of other creature's. It really freaked her out. "Ok who in the hell are you!" Midnight shouted as she charged up her horn. The creature just laughed at her. "Oh my dear you are to funny. I really wander why the creator's never decided to make you a full on character?" The creature said as it scratched it's chin. Midnight's was stumped. Creator's? Make me a full what? "You haven't answered my question? Who are you? And another thing what are you doing here?" She demanded. The creature just bowed. "Oh my dear i am so sorry. Where are my manner's?" His manner's came running to him and tackled him to the ground and began to lick his face. "Oh here they are. Now down boy. Be good." Midnight had had enough of this strange creature. instead of wasting her magic on it she simply turned around and began to walk away. "Oh wait now young Missy. I have some new's to tell you." Midnight ignored him. She kept on walking away until she was pulled into the air by a strange form of magic. She was face to face with the strange creature once more. "Now now young lady is that any way to treat your elder's?" The creature said as it tapped one of it's hand's on its hip's. "Unhand me you brute!" Midnight screamed as she began to flail around. The she remembered her magic. Her horn lit up. "Listen to me. I have important information about your little friend." Midnight's horn fizzled but did not go out. "Keep talking." Midnight ordered. "My pleasure." The creature said as it sat her down on the ground and began to talk. Sky and Ruby were wandering around there son's mind searching for him. "Gadget!" "Honey!" "Son!" "Sweetey Pie!?" They got no response. They continued walking until they came to a dead end. "Well that's just great!" Sky huffed. "Now what?" Ruby asked. Sky had had enough. He ran up to the wall spun around in mid gallop and bucked the wall as hard as he could. when that had no effect he ran up to the wall and began to punch it. "Give me back my son!" He screamed each word as he hit the wall with all of his might. He stopped when he heard laughter behind him. He spun around only to see his wife starring in the same direction. At nothing. He turned around and jumped back as he saw a strange creature before him. "Hello Mr and Ms's!" It said with glee as it scooped them up and dragged them through a door the two screaming and flailing the entire way. ?,??,???? ???????? Gadget awoke to nothing. He looked around and only was darkness before him and behind. He lit up his horn. He saw that he was on a dirt road. He followed it. A little while later he came across something he never thought he would see again. "No way!" He said as he studied the all to familiar object. He ran up to his little beat up Subaru. This one however was burn free. He hopped in and started the engine's. "Hey wait a minute?" He looked down to see that he had his hand's once more. He looked into the rear view mirror and saw his face. His normal human face. How is this even possible? "It's not." Came a voice beside him. Axle looked over to see a strange creature sitting next to him. He scrambled to get out of the car but his seat belt got even tighter restricting his movement. "Who the hell are you!?" He screamed at the top of his lung's. "Let's just say that i'm a friend." It said with a sly grin. Axle did not like this thing one bit. He continued to try and squirm out of the car but to no avail. Then the car started up and was now moving all on it's own. "What the hell is this?" Axle shouted. He looked over at the creature which was just leaning back kicking its feet up on the dash board. How it was able to do so in such a tiny vehicle was a mystery to Axle. He didn't have long to think about this however as he looked out the windshield and saw a roaring wall of flame's. "Oh shit!" He yelled as he covered his eye's. He felt a surge of heat come over him and he looked around. His car was gone and so was the creature. He looked around to see that he was now standing in a large dome shaped building. Suddenly flame's shot up all round him. "Ahhh." He jumped back as the flame's licked at his body. His body felt strange. He looked at it again to see that he was some kind of furry quadruped. "What the hell is going on here?" He asked himself. The wall of flame's had now engulfed the only exit he could see. "Oh no." He said as he desperately looked for away out. ?,??,???? ???????? Midnight just sat there as this. "Discord was it?" He bowed. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance lady Moon or should i say lady Midnight now?" Midnight starred dagger's at him. "It's Midnight. Now get on with your explanation." Discord just sighed. "Oh ba you pony's are no fun." Midnight was at her wits end. She used her magic to wrench Discord's head down to her level. "I. Don't. Have. Time. For. FUN! Now tell em what you came here to say!" She said letting him go. He screwed hie head back to it's original position. He held up his hand's. "All right, all right, you win." He took a deep breath. "Would you believe me if i said i was from the future?" Midnight just starred at him, deadpan look on her face. "Of course not. well then moving on. Long story short. I'm here to help Gadget get through a tough time." "He already has all the help he need's." Midnight said as she got up and continued to walk in any direction away from Discord. He popped up right beside her. "Well then would you like me to take you to him?" She stopped in her track's. "Were is he?" She said in a low voice. "Well he could be any--" "WERE IS HE!" She shouted using her magic to pin the creature down to the floor. Discord was truly afraid right now. Never had he had to go up against such raw emotion and magical power before. He was glad that she was a lot nicer in the future. He also made a mental note to never ever make her angry again. He held up his hoof in surrender. The pressure on his chest dissipated. Ho got to his feet a little shaky after nearly having been crushed by this alicorn's awesome and scary display of magic. He cleared his throat. "Right this way madam." He said as he lead Midnight through a doorway. Gadget's parent's were deposited out of a portal onto a balcony. They got up out of there tangled heap and inspected each other for any injury's. When they were done they looked around. They saw no way off the balcony so they looked out over a great hall. Then Ruby gasped and lunged toward the railing. She was stopped from going over the railing by a force field. "Honey what's---" "Sky look!" She said pointing her hoof toward's the great hall's main entrance. Sky looked and saw Gadget running for his life. He to jumped at the force field now intent on breaking it down. He pounded on the field but to no avail. He heard a whooshing noise behind him and turned around to see Midnight appear out of a door. "Midnight!" they both screamed as the ran to her and embraced her. "Wha--How are you two here?" She asked to shocked to give a hug back. "It was Gadget's element." Midnight was lost. "What?" "No time to explain." Sky stated. "Can you help us?" He said pointing a hoof to the railing. He ran over to it and began to punch it. the shield flared to life and Midnight understood what he wanted. "All right, stand back." She charged up her horn as the two got behind her. She let her magical beam fly at the barrier. It shined a bright red at it resisted her attempts to breach it. She put more power into her energy wave. "Hear." She heard Gadget's parents both say as they to added there own magic to the attack. Two more beam's, one a rose hew the other the color of the blue sky mixed with Midnight's fuchsia colored barrage. "And one more for the win!" Discord said as he to added his own purple and gold chaotic cocktail to the magical mix. With there combined power's they were finally able to overpower the shield. "NOOOO!!!!" The evil voice shouted in defeat as the shield evaporated into this air. "Yes!" the group cried out in victory. Discord did the honer's of lowering everypony to ground level. Gadget heard the yell from someplace up high. He looked around and spotted his parent's on a balcony. Then he saw them and the strange creature from before as the floated down to ground level. "Gadget!" He heard them yell. "Mom! Dad! Midnight!" He yelled. He ran to them all. But the evil voice had one last obstacle for him to face. A giant wall of fire erupted from the earth right in front of Gadget blocking his way to his family. "No! No! NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO!" He hated fire. Ever since his "death" he had hated fire of any kind. He was never in the kitchen when mom cooked because of the stove. He never went on camping trip's. He never really wanted to have anything to do with fire. The only exception was his invention's. He could control the fire then. He could contain it. But here, here someone else was in control. "NO!" He shouted as he stomped his hoof's into the ground. "TO HELL WITH THIS!" He shouted. He was sick an tired of being afraid. The fire's began to receded. He was sick of not taking any risk's with his love life. The flame dwindled again. He was tired of being alone. The flame's were now little flicker's. He was not going to let his fear and anger control him. The flame's vanished, the only trace's being a few wisp's of smoke. "Gadget?" He looked up to see Midnight standing before him concern on her face. He looked at her and his parent's. He ran up to them but the first thing he did was scoop Midnight up in his hooves. "Gadget what are---" She never got her sentence out as she was silenced by Gadget pressing his lip's to her's in a passionate kiss. Midnight was shocked at first. But then she melted into it. The two held the kiss for a while before breaking apart for air. "Wow." Gadget said as he tried to stop his head from spinning. "That...was..new?" Midnight still reeling from the afterglow. Ruby and Sky were grinning like a couple of clown's. There smile's ware as wide as a mile and they were both "awwww"ing over the new couple's first intimate moment. It however did not last as the world started to vanish around them. They all looked ad Discord. "Wait what about you?" Gadget asked worry in his voice. "Oh don't worry about me." He said waving a claw. "Trust me when i say we will meet again." He said. And in a flash he was gone. And so was the dream world.