A Gizmonk in Ponyville

by Moheart7

Chapter 15 - Poker Night

“Oh yeah, baby!” Goggles screamed with joy. “Now we’re cooking!”

This had to have been one of Goggles’ more excitable moments in recent days, ever since he basically blurted out the fact that he was able to speak in front of almost the entire town, the ponies of Ponyville have been flocking him with questions. Some he was able to answer with ease, such as when one pony asked him whether he enjoyed it in Ponyville, then of course came the more difficult questions, some of which he found too personal to even answer. Soon enough ponies all over town had begun flocking towards Sweet Apple Acres just to ask another question, eventually it got so out of hoof that Goggles eventually demanded that unless they wanted to buy something then they should leave him to his work, of course this only led most ponies into buying Goggles inventions just so they could ask him another question in the meantime, even if they didn’t need the invention in the first place. Either way, it lead to a massive rise in supply and demand for Goggles’ business, soon enough Goggles found himself building more machines than he could keep track of, and he loved every minute of it. A month had now past since the day he spoke to the town, and this was usually the time of day when Goggles would be in his laboratory cooking up something new. And needless to say, he was really excited about this newest creation.

“What y’all excited about Goggles?” Apple Bloom asked as she walked into the barn that afternoon.

“Only my greatest creation yet, kiddo!” Goggles answered playfully as he threw a dustsheet over it. “However I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait a while for the big reveal, it still needs a bit of work.”

“I would have thought you would have finished it by now,” Trixie said, rolling her eyes as she helped lift Goggles of the new machine. “After all you seem to build everything else with a lot of speed.”

Goggles merely chuckled at that.

“Well that’s because with those inventions I knew exactly what I was doing,” he explained. “When it comes to new things, I need to take my time and research every variable.”

“A bit like that Growing Potion you made?” Apple Bloom asked inquisitively.

“Yes, exactly,” Goggles said with a smile. “When I first made that, I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing. Now two weeks later, I got Silver Lining trading heaps of the stuff to the Gem Mines in Canterlot.”

“Impressive,” Trixie stated, nodding with approval.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said in agreement. “Oh by the way, Sweetie Belle asked me to remind you that we still need your help for the Nightmare Night Show, do y’all think you can still make it?”

Apple Bloom was of course speaking about Goggles’ duties as the CMC Mascot, he may have been a Gizmonk of Business now, but he always remembered that he was their mascot first, after all it was Silver Spoon’s dad who got him in business in the first place so he feels like he still owes the young filly for that. As such, about a week earlier the Cutie Mark Crusaders came up to Goggles one afternoon saying that their school was putting on a show for an upcoming pony holiday called Nightmare Night. At the time Goggles didn’t know what Nightmare Night was since they didn’t celebrate it back in Kappan, but after Scootaloo had explained everything about it to him, he was more than willing to take part in the festivities. Thus as the CMC’s mascot, Goggles had promised to help out with the show in any way he can, duties such as setting up the stage, building the special effects etc. and all done without charging a single bit since he was doing it more as a favour than business transaction. Since then, the four fillies had been coming into his lab now and then to give him small reminders.

“Hey don’t you worry kiddo,” the Gizmonk chuckled, patting Apple Bloom on the head. “Your pal, Goggles, will have everything ready by the day.”

Apple Bloom couldn’t help but smile at that.

“Thanks Goggles,” she said, giving him a small hug. “Ah’ll see ya later okay?”

And with that Apple Bloom left the barn, leaving Goggles to get back to work.

“Sweet kid,” he mused. “Kinda makes your heart melt, don’t she?”

“I guess,” Trixie answered, not really knowing how to respond as she began packing away a few of Goggles’ smaller inventions. “You two are pretty close huh?”

Goggles was taken slightly aback at those words, though he quickly straightened himself up and turned back towards his assistant.

“Close?” he pondered. “You can say that I suppose, after all I wouldn’t even be alive right now if it weren’t for her. I guess you can say we have a mutual care for one another, me being her first pet and all.”

“Pet?” Trixie said, letting out a small laugh in the process. “If you two were the same species, I would have mistaken you for her dad.”

If he had been drinking his morning cup of tea, Goggles would have spat it out in comedic shock, not once had he ever thought of his and Apple bloom’s relationship like that. Although now that he thought about it… no, he needed to get that idea out of his head right now! Clearing his throat, Goggles tried to change the subject.

“So…” he said, trying to find the right thing to say. “What were you thinking of dressing up as for Nightmare Night?”

“Pardon?” Trixie said, looking up from her work.

“Nightmare night,” Goggles repeated. “What’s your costume gonna be?

Now it was Trixie’s turn to be taken aback, which confused Goggles since it was a simple question to answer.

“Oh well…” Trixie said nervously. “I wasn’t really thinking of going out that night actually. I figure I’d probably stay in and read a book or something.”

Now Goggles KNEW that something was up, he had known this Unicorn for well over a month now and not once has she ever been one to just stay in and read, the only time he ever saw Trixie read at all was when she was looking over his shoulder while he was trying to figure out how to mix magic with technology.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Goggles asked plainly, cutting straight to the chase.

“W… whatever do you mean?” Trixie said nervously. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has absolutely nothing to…

But all it took was one stern glare from the Gizmonk to make her stop mid-sentence, she may have known that lying to him wasn’t a sure way to get herself fired, especially since he had been nothing but nice to her and since she came back to town, but she still didn’t want to risk losing her job over a trivial matter.

“Alright,” she sighed. “I’ll tell you. The truth is that I don’t want to go because I think every pony still hates me.”

To say Goggles was shocked to hear such a thing would be accurate, but he kept his face neutral for Trixie as he let her finish speaking.

“I know a month ago, you tried to help me with the folks around town but I don’t really think it worked that well,” Trixie continued. “Granted I’m not getting as many angry looks as I did before but some still give me a cold glare every now and then. I guess I’m still the most unpopular pony in town.”

“Oh come on, it can’t be that bad,” Goggles said, trying to reassure his assistant.

“Well I think it is,” Trixie retorted. “You know just once I would like to have adoring fans again, or at least a cheerful smile in my direction every now and then. The reason I don’t want to go out on Nightmare Night is because I’m afraid that I’ll be the only mare out there who every pony else would try to avoid rather than ask to dance.”

Now Goggles was starting to understand, he had been hearing stories about Trixie ever since she arrived back in town, not only from the ponies around town but from the mare herself, all of which seemed to revolve around the terrible things she has done. Some ponies even tried to convince Goggles to fire Trixie at certain points due to the belief that she hasn’t changed in the slightest. But to Goggles, the stories he had heard did not seem to feature the Unicorn standing before him now, at least not in his opinion. And he believed that it was high-time other ponies knew that, including Trixie herself.

“Hey come on,” Goggles said, lifting her chin up with his finger. “Who wouldn’t want to ask you to dance? You’re smart, you’re pretty, you certainly know who to stand your ground, heck if you don’t get asked to dance even once, I will go out onto that dance floor wearing nothing but a tutu.”

Hearing these words, Trixie couldn’t help but blush, it certainly was nice to receive such a complement after what she had been through, and the last part of Goggles’ sentence, did make her giggle a bit. Seeing that his words have made his blue friend feel at least a little better, Goggles turned away and got back to work, but not before looking over his shoulder to say one more thing.

“Oh by the way,” he said. “You got everything ready for tonight?”

“Would Trixie be such a smart and pretty assistant if she didn’t?” Trixie answered playfully, batting her eyelashes and running a hoof through her mane.

At that Goggles merely chuckled.

“Still as humble as ever I see,” he said sarcastically.

#

Later that night, while the rest of the Apple Family were sound asleep in their beds, Applejack awoke from her slumber, her throat parched as she struggled to get back to sleep. After throwing back her bed sheets, she quietly opened her door and made her way downstairs, towards the kitchen, hoping to pour herself a small glass of water to help her get back to sleep. After getting a glass and allowing a small gush out of the kitchen faucet, Applejack downed everything in a single gulp, however before she could go back upstairs, she noticed something at the corner of her eye. Staring through the kitchen window, Applejack looked towards the barn, a dim light creeping out of the slightly ajar door.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack exclaimed, raising an eyebrow.

Was Goggles working late? Granted he had a few extra orders to fill as of late but he was never one to stay up, even Apple Bloom said he went to bed just before she did. Deciding that this required investigation, Applejack quietly made her way towards the front door and stepped outside. Upon reaching the barn, she slowly crept towards the gap in the door, several voices echoing from inside as she leaned in to get a look at what was going on in there. What she saw next took her by surprise a little bit, beneath a hanging oil lamp, a large, round table had been set up in the middle of Goggles’ lab, a green velvet sheet spread out over it’s top as several individuals had taken a seat around it, all of which Applejack seemed to recognise. First there was Goggles, next to him was Applejack’s friend Pinkie Pie, next to her a light bronze Pegasus with a light brown mane topped with a Klein Blue beret, whom Applejack recognised as the mare who worked at the local tavern, next to her was Trixie, sitting on her side was another Unicorn, Lyra if Applejack remembered right, and finally next to her were… the Diamond Dogs!?! Applejack had the right mind to bust in there and beat some sense into those three, however the Diamond Dogs didn’t seem to be doing anything wrong at the moment, in fact everyone at that table seemed to be… having fun? As Applejack continued to look through the gap, she noticed that all eight of them seem to be in the middle of a card game, a small pile of gems and bits in the middle of the table as they all held up a set of cards in their hooves and paws.

“So what do ya say guys?” Goggles said, peering over his cards, his head topped with a green visor hat, much like the ones normally seen in Los Pegasus.

“I’m all in,” Trixie smirked as she pushed whatever bits she had left in the middle of the table.

“Not me,” Lyra huffed as she placed her cards face-down on the table. “I would rather lose my hooves to a Timberwolf than stay in THIS pot.”

The same reaction came from Pinkie Pie and two of the Diamond Dogs, however the large one, Fido merely grinned and pushed his small pile of sapphires into the pot, indicating that he was all in too. It was then that everyone’s head turned towards the Pegasus, who merely shrugged in response.

“What the heck,” she said calmly. “I’ll try my luck.”

She then pushed her bits into the pot, leaving everyone to turn towards Goggles, who did the same thing.

“I call,” he said, his remaining bits shimmering against the dull lamp-light as he pushed the last one into the pile.

Upon those words everyone revealed their cards, the bronze Pegasus had a two-pair, Fido only had a single pair, Trixie however trumped both of them with a three-of-a-kind.

“YES!” she cheered, reaching in for the pot. “The Great and Powerful Trixie always wins in the end!”

However Goggles had yet to reveal his cards, and thus blocked Trixie’s path with a paw.

“Ah-ah,” he said waving a finger. “Not this time kiddo.”

He then slammed his cards onto the table, revealing what he had.

“Four-of-a-kind!” he announced, much to everyone else’s dismay. “Sorry folks, I win again.”

“Oh come on!” Fido groaned, astounded that he had once again lost to the Gizmonk for a third time.

“Well there goes my wages for this week,” the bronze Pegasus added, slamming her face into the table after seeing that she had been cleaned out.

“Sorry DF,” Goggles chuckled as he pulled in his winnings. “But if you can’t afford to pay, then you shouldn’t play.”

“Ooh nice one!” Pinkie Pie giggled, pulling out a small notebook out of her mane and writing something down. “That’s another great rhyme for the burn book.”

Witnessing everything from where she was, Applejack simply let her jaw drop upon seeing what she did, especially since it seemed that the Diamond Dogs were having as much fun as everyone else was, even though Fido seemed to be crying a little bit while his two comrades couldn’t help but hold back a laugh.

“I have to say monkey-boy, this is starting to turn into one of the best games I ever played,” Rover said, slapping his paw against the Gizmonk’s back.

“Yeah,” Spot chuckled. “Not every day we get to play for our gems.”

“But I lost everything!!!” Fido sobbed, his head buried in his paws out of sheer embarrassment.

“Oh quit your whining Fido!” Rover snapped, turning towards the larger Diamond Dog. “We got plenty more gems back home thanks to Goggles here, besides I plan on winning THESE babies back right now.”

Seeing this as a friendly challenge, Goggles merely smirked.

“Oh I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” he said. “But if you want to keep going, I wouldn’t mind winning the rest of your loot. How’re bout the rest of you guys? You still in?”

“Not me,” the Pegasus, DF, replied. “Got nothing left to bet.”

“Same here,” Trixie moaned. “And I was so sure I was going to win this time!”

Goggles tried to hide a smirk at that, after all the money Trixie had just lost are the wages he had paid her that very morning.

“Well I’m still in for a few more hooves,” Lyra stated, reshuffling the cards. “Although personally I think there should be a better name...”

It was midway through that last sentence that Applejack had decided that she had seen enough and now believed that it was time to stop watching and start intervening. With one push of the barn door she had caused every head to turn in her direction.

“What in Tarnation is going on in here!?!” she demanded.

For a few brief moments there was nothing but silence from everyone, but of course being the most eccentric pony that she was, Pinkie decided to end the silence by over-reacting.

“SCATTER!!!” she screamed.

Instantly reacting to those words, almost everyone around the poker table instantly jumped from their seats and bolted for it. Lyra and DF ran out past Applejack through the barn door, Pinkie somehow managed to drive herself through the wall, leaving a Pinkie Pie-shaped hole, and the Diamond Dogs simply flipped the Poker table over and dove into the hole that was under it. After that few seconds of excitement, only Trixie and Goggles were left. However upon seeing Applejack’s glare, Trixie wasn’t planning on staying around long either.

“Uh… I’ll be in my caravan!” she said nervously, before running out through the barn door, leaving her boss alone with Applejack.

“Oh great,” Goggles groaned jumping out of his seat and picking up cards of the floor. “Thanks AJ, do you have any idea, how much cash you just cost me?”

Ignoring that last comment, Applejack began talking back.

“Goggles, what the hay was all that about!?!” she asked.

“It’s my weekly poker night,” Goggles answered simply, not even bothering to hide it. “Ever since I showed every pony that I was able to speak, me and Silver Lining got a few ponies together and began hosting a weekly game. We figured it would be a good way to get to know ponies in town, socially. Plus it’s been helping Trixie out a little too.”

However while Applejack was more-or-less fine with Goggles having a card game or two, there were a few certain players that she most definitely didn’t approve of.

“And the Diamond Dogs!?!” she snapped. “Have y’all forgotten what they did to Apple Bloom!?!”

However that was when Goggles suddenly got defensive.

“Hey they’re not so bad once you get to know them,” he retorted. “Besides ever since that whole kidnapping incident those three have become great customers and you can also say friends of mine.”

Applejack was flabbergasted that Goggles would even say such a thing, but regardless she decided to give the Gizmonk a chance to explain himself.

“And besides Apple Bloom already knows about it,” Goggles continued, much to Applejack’s surprise. “About a fortnight ago, Apple Bloom was helping me and Trixie with one of my jobs, until all of a sudden all three of them dug beneath the floor of my lab, looking for more Growth Potion.”

“That does explain the hole,” Applejack pointed out.

“Anyways we got to talking and we came to a deal,” Goggles explained. “I make them some new Growth Potion along with some new mining tools and they agree to give me a small fraction of the gems they dig out. After a while of sneaking in the goods via that tunnel there, we all came to learn that The Diamond Dogs are pretty decent guys, a little rough around the edges and downright greedy, sure, but still decent enough for Apple Bloom to forgive and forget. The only reason me and Apple Bloom agreed to keep it a secret from you is because we knew you’d freak out like you are now.”

At those words, Applejack didn’t know what to say in response. She knew what those Diamond Dogs were like but so far Goggles had been a somewhat good judge of character, not to mention that he also had a way of connecting with many different kinds of individuals, after all he did give Trixie of all ponies a job. Plus Apple Bloom was definitely one pony who was an expert on character, after all Zecora wouldn’t have ended up being on of Applejack’s closest friends if it weren’t for her. With Goggles and Apple Boom’s judge of character working together on this then there might be something here after all, after all if someone like Discord, if somewhat lightly, can be reformed, then maybe it might be possible to give the dogs a chance. Seeing this look of thought upon AJ’s face, Goggles spoke up again.

“Look,” he said. “Why don’t you join our game next week, perhaps you’ll be able to see what I mean.”

Applejack pondered for a moment at that, finally a small smile appeared on her face.

“Alright Goggles,” she said. “Ah’ll play along. But if something goes wrong, ah’ll be booting them dogs to the curb, got it?”

“Got it,” Goggles responded, giving a large toothy grin.

Author's Note:

The character DF (bronze Pegasuss) is the Brony OC by disneyfanatic23
http://www.fimfiction.net/user/DisneyFanatic23

Image of DF: http://disneyfanatic2364.deviantart.com/art/DF-Ready-for-Take-Off-441497319

Comments

[Velvet-Fresh]

and so begins AJ's losing streak, Heh