An Old Mare's Tale: Gadgets, Bringer of SCIENCE!

by Forevermore

You do have a plan, right? RIGHT?!

The first thing Minion noticed as they descended through the clouds was the complete absence of motion. Surrounded on all sides by white walls, all sense of time, movement, and awareness of the world itself disappeared. Were it not for the turning of the fans, scattering the mist about the ship and creating a bubble of clear air, Minion was quite certain she might have gone insane.

Even Gadgets, who had set the autopilot and detached himself from the wheel, took note of the stillness and felt it impress upon him. He had busied himself by bringing a number of spare parts out on deck and tinkering with them. Not really building anything, just keeping busy. Minion lay atop the stairs near the wheel, watching him with detached interest, grateful for something to keep her eyes on besides the unmoving whiteness around them.

"How long have we been flying?" she asked for the thirtieth time (she'd been counting). Gadgets glanced at the large clock above the captain's door,

"About thirty-six hours, twenty-seven minutes."

Minion looked at the clock as well, hypnotized by its beauty. Unlike normal clocks, with their mere twelve figures and two hands, this one, built by their father long ago and given to the ship as a farewell present, had no hands and no numbers. Instead, a dozen rings twisted and turned about in the center, each circled in turn by a small representation of a planet and artificial fire burned in the center, changing color depending on the time of day. Red for noon, blue for midnight, purple for dawn, and so on and so forth. It made no sense to anypony but them, but the two knew from experience that the clock was scary accurate.

"Well, that means it won't be too much longer, right? How thick can these clouds be, anyway?"

********

It’s amazing how unequivocally wrong a pony can be about something, Minion mused thoughtfully a week later as the unmoving mist surrounding them refused to change. Were it not for the hourly shows Gadgets had set their crew to performing, boredom threatened to kill them as swiftly as an engine malfunction. Thankfully, there was one thing at least that reminded them they were still moving: air pressure.

Minion had noticed on the second day that the further down they went the thicker, warmer, and moister the air became. Under normal circumstances, these changes indicated a storm was fast approaching, but the duo had learned from books and old legends that this was actually indicative of their approaching that legendary place: the sea. And while the prospect of seeing such a vast body of water was exciting, the ponies had begun seriously contemplating shooting the first thing they saw with a death ray.

Without warning, the clouds broke and The Inconceivable burst out into open air, the endless white mist receding quickly above them and salty wind assailing their senses. The intrepid adventurers barely had a moment to register this sudden change in their senses before a gruff, youthful voice snapped through the air.

"What the motherflam-"

A dark, scaly shape crashed through the port side railing and skidded across the deck, sending automatons flying as they leaped out of its way.

"-ow."

Minion leaped to the deck as the young dragon finally slid to a halt, heavily damaged. A cursory glance with the practiced eye of a field medic told her all she needed to know about their guest.

He was young, barely in his teens for a dragon, though all that meant was that he was anywhere from a few score to a few hundred years old. His right wing was bent at an unnatural angle, his black scales scratched and torn by friction, and his golden spines were chipped and broken. He was small for a dragon, though still several times larger than a pony, and his lithe musculature denounced a powerful blend of strength and agility that would make him quite formidable both in the air and on the ground.

"You okay?" she asked as he sat up, scratching his bruised head and inspecting his broken spines. Gadgets dashed to the helm and leveled out the ship, bringing it to a gentle stop as well.

The dragon glanced at her, the fury in his eyes cooling as he did a quick double-take of his surroundings, and when they finally returned to her, they were alight with curiosity.

"Flame that, what in the hay is this thing? It's amazing!" the dragon clambered to his feet, only to fall heavily back to the deck as his damaged wing snapped menacingly.

"Welcome aboard The Inconceivable, my draconic friend, but before we get into that, lemme get a look at your wing." Gadgets announced, appearing behind the dragon with a traveler’s bag of medical supplies he’d inexplicably acquired.

The dragon grumbled something about the disgrace of being helped by ponies, but another ominous crack ended with him reluctantly allowing the two to inspect his wing. Luckily, they had both had reason to come into contact with dragons in their time, in both peaceful and violent encounters, and the two had spent many an hour studying dragon physiology as a result. So it came as no surprise that in less than an hour they had effectively fixed the young reptile's wing. Snapping it back into the joint, patching up the holes in the membrane, and applying special healing salve to cuts and bruises.

As they worked, they talked, and after a few awkward moments the dragon joined in. His name was Darkfang and he came from a small dragon community further down the World's Spire, as the dragons called the great mountain.

"So what kind of a name is 'Darkfang', anyway?" Gadgets asked as the three grew more comfortable around each other. The dragon in question shrugged noncommittally, earning a swift reprisal in the form of a swat to the head by Minion, reminding him not to move.

"We dragons happen to be an unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things," he snorted. "You should hear some of the others."

"We've got time, impress us."

Darkfang shrugged again, eliciting another swat, and began rattling off the names of dragons he knew or had heard tell of from his fellows. Among the more amusing were Spiteyes, Globula, Old Beardedrump, and That One Guy. Minion, in turn, supplied the dragon with some of the names from Araea, eliciting bursts of fire from the laughing dragon whenever she mentioned one of particular mirth.

"So, what the flame is this thing we're on, anyway? Some kind of skyship?" he asked when the laughter had died down, gesturing vaguely at The Inconceivable.

"You curse alot, you know that?" Minion told him, raising an eyebrow. Mr. and Mrs. Gears had been very strict about appropriate language, despite the latter’s rather frequent use of expletives that would shame a sailor.

"Blame it on my heritage,” the dragon snorted. “More to the point, I believe you owe me an explanation of this-" he searched for the right word, "-monstrosity. Seeing as you crashed into me and all."

"Excuse me," Gadgets piped up from behind the dragon's back, where he was applying generous does of Maxillius's's Special Cure All to a particularly nasty gash, "you crashed into The Inconceivable. If it had been the other way around, there wouldn't be enough of you left to be having this conversation."

Darkfang scratched his chin thoughtfully; the scraping, grinding sound it produced oddly pleasant to a mechanic's practiced ear. "The Inconceivable, eh? Weird name for a ship, since it no doubt was conceivable."

Minion smiled up at him from where she was fixing the bandages, meant to hold the wing in place while they worked on it, across his thick chest. She quickly gave him the short version of who they were and where they came from, as well as a modest explanation of the ship and its functions, carefully leaving out the stupid amounts of firepower on board. Friendly manner aside, she still wasn't sure whether they could trust this stranger. Celestia knew he might just try to take the ship from them if he knew what it could do. Dragons were notorious for their love of destruction, after all.

"So," Darkfang said, staring up at the clouds, "there really is something up there, after all. I'd heard stories of course," he waved a claw in the general direction of his village somewhere to the west. "Old legends the elders would pass around the bonfire or mothers would whisper to hatchlings. Tales of legendary beings that could walk across the stars or fly through space and time on machines of magic, creatures that could shift mountains and shape worlds, beings made entirely of metal and oil but moved like the living. Hard to believe it's just some ponies with a fancy balloon."

Gadgets made an indignant sound and popped the dragon's wing into place without warning, causing the beast to gasp in pain and twist his head around to glare at the pony.

"It's not a balloon, it's a flying machine, and there's other things up there, too." the inventor rudely informed him, meeting the dragon's glare with one of equal fervor.

Darkfang's anger evaporated instantly as his curiosity piqued, "What kinds of things?"

Minion chimed up as Gadgets began unwinding bandages, "Oh, all sorts of things. Ponies, gryphons, parasprites," the dragon blanched noticeably, evidence he'd tangled with the nasty critters before, "manticores, Diamond Dogs, and a bunch of other stuff. Even," she added slyly, "some dragons."

Darkfang stared at her, and then back up at the clouds, "There are dragons up there? What are they like?"

"Probably the same as the ones down here," Gadgets declared, his hoof clicking noticeably as he paced around to the front, rolling gauze around a fetlock as he did, "rude, violent, aggressive, and completely obsessed with treasure."

"Oh." Darkfang sighed wearily, his head slumping forward. It took Minion a moment to recognize the disappointment in his voice.

"What's wrong? I thought you'd be excited at the prospect of dragons you'd never met before."

The beast, creature she stubbornly corrected herself, before her waved a claw disconsolately, "It's not that I don't like learning of their existence. It's just that," he shook his head in a weariness that had nothing to do with their ill-fated meeting, "I don't know. I was hoping that if I ever found other dragon tribes, they'd be...more advanced than mine."

"Advanced how?" Gadgets asked, his smile gone and replaced with a look of genuine concern.

Rather than answering right away, Darkfang looked up once more at the ever shifting mass of clouds, his eyes filled with sadness and regret, "I've always been different from my brothers, sisters, hay, my whole village."

"Different's not always a bad thing," Minion told him, her voice low and comforting.

"It is when you're a dragon, the only thing they understand is power, dominance, rage. No appreciation for anything that isn't rare or valuable, and no respect for anything that isn't stronger than they are."

"So what's different about you?" Gadgets was sizing up the young drake with a disturbing look in his eye, the same look Minion recognized from when he surveyed a particularly dangerous device he was about to take for a test run.

"I want to learn things, travel the world just for the fun of it, not so I can stake out new territory. I want to make friends with ponies, gryphons, Diamond Dogs, and what have you. Not fight them just so I can feel stronger."

"Interesting way of showing it, crashing into our airship like that and scaring everypony half to death."

"Har de har har, you two didn't look all that scared to me, offering to bandage up my wing and all. And that crash wasn't my idea. You hit me."

"Agree to disagree."

"Besides, I was actually on my way to Dragon's Breath before all this happened," he waved a claw around, indicating the airship, the ponies, and the damage his crash had caused, the sight of which caused him to drop whatever he was going to say. "By the light of the moon, the living metals do exist."

Gadgets glanced at the Chief, who was directing a small work crew half-finished with repairs to the damaged railing, having already buffed and cleaned the deck of scorch marks and scratches. "Darkfang, meet the crew."

The Chief gave an extravagant bow, ever the gentlepony, and returned to his duties with slightly more decorum than strictly necessary.

It took a few moments for the dragon to regain his composure, enraptured as he was by the sight of a living legend before his eyes. When he finally shook himself back to causality, Minion and Gadgets were already sharing a secret smile, their minds having reached the same conclusion as to what to do with their guest.

"So," Gadgets asked, idly inspecting his hoof for non-existent dings, "this 'Dragon's Breath', what is it?"

"A great desert, some ways to the East...are those...alive?" the dragon explained absently, ruby eyes riveted on the tiny automatons as they worked.

Gadgets ignored the question, still holding his hoof in front of his face to conceal his smile. "And you were going to fly there on those wings of yours, then go back home after a brief visit and continue butting heads with your relatives over who gets to eat the pony first?"

"What? No! I was actually going there to pick up some supplies, then I was going to go on to Icehoof as part of my journey around the world."

"Really now," the half-metal, half-crazy pony said, smiling at his partner-in-crime, a smile she returned with a grin of her own. "It just so happens that we were going to head that way as well, as part of our trip to Equestria to meet the Princess."

That broke the spell. Darkfang looked down at them sharply (even sitting down his head still towered a good ways above theirs), "Are you," he said slowly, "suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

Gadgets slapped him heartily on the back with his metal hoof, "Welcome aboard The Inconceivable, new friend. Glad to have ya."

With that, he cantered up the stairs and took control of the wheel from the three little machines whose turn it was to pilot. With a whoop, he spun it till the compass said East, the ship responding instantly to his touch. Thrown off balance by the sudden shift in motion, Darkfang was pitched forwards, narrowly missing Minion as she smoothly dodged out of the way.

The dragon came to an abrupt stop against the railing, his rear and head positions now reversed, but even upside down the incredulous smile on his lips shone clear as day, "You're serious, aren't you?! You're flaming serious? You really want a dragon as your friend? A big, scaly, fire-breathing bruiser on what I can only assume is this highly flammable piece of tin and paper?!"

"Why not?!" Gadgets called back, his voice filled with laughter as the wind howled about their ears. "It's not like you're the most dangerous thing I've let into my bedroom!"

Minion blushed furiously as she helped their new friend to his claws, "Come on, Darkfang," she laughed. "I'll introduce you to the ship's crew and find a place for you to sleep. Slop's at dawn, noon, and supper, so no time to be a lazypony!"

Rubbing his head and absolutely giddy with unexpected joy, Darkfang followed the strange red mare into the hold, marveling at the flame-less lamps that lit the roomy interior with even, cozy light. He didn't know what awaited him, and he cared even less, but one thing was certain in his mind: life was about to get a whole lot more interesting from now on.

Comments

[datdamnface]

*clap clap*

[Queen Derpy]

I luv this... PLEASE MKE MORE... PPPLLLEEAASSEEE

[Barrel-of-fun]

Dammit all, you beat me to doing a steampunk story oh well, this is far superior to anything I could ever write

Love the characters, love the idea, moar of this deliciousness plz

[Et Cetera7]

I want to meet 'That One Guy' now. He sounds nice.

[Android]

'Not the most dangerous thing i've let into my bedroom.' Ha ha ha ha, I'll admit, that got me.

I like this story. I've always been facinated with steampunk and things of the sort. Which is a strange condsidering i'm also facinated with the complete opposite end of the sci fi spectrum. Keep up the good work. Off to read the next chapter.

[AppleTank]

419623
Hi, I'm That One Guy's cousin, That Other Guy.

Also, I like their way of thinking: More Gun. More until you can't fit anymore. Then bring a minigun to your bed and call it Sasha.
Hey, how does the tech here compare to the tech in normal Equestria? Much more Adv?

[Msvman]

Love the famous brony reference "It's not like you're the most dangerous thing I've let into my bedroom!" Oh god