A Gizmonk in Ponyville

by Moheart7

Chapter 36 - Courtroom Drama

The sun had not even began to rise during the extremely early hours of the morning sky above Equestria, and yet there was something other than the early birds who were making a lot of noise. Still flying in Goggles’ P.L.A.N.E. the Cutie Mark Crusaders were still trying to figure out where in Equestria they were.

“This is ridiculous!” Scootaloo complained as she kept the aircraft up in the sky. “I can’t see a darn thing!”

“You sure the map is right?” Silver Spoon asked.

“Ah don’t know, ah’m not a navigator,” Apple Bloom snapped as she looked over the large piece of paper she found under the backseat. “Ah can’t even tell whether we’re even ON the map anymore.”

“Well we better do something soon,” Scootaloo said worryingly. “I don’t know how much juice this thing has left.”

Needless to say that was a concern all four fillies had shared, while they may have figured out how to operate Goggles’ P.L.A.N.E. thanks to his instructions, the only thing it didn’t say was how long it could stay airborne with the amount of power it had since he had never tested it before. Suddenly something else grabbed the Crusader’s concern in the form of a sudden jerk from the plane.

“What was that!?” Sweetie Belle asked fearfully.

“Ah’ll check the bottom,” Apple Bloom said reassuringly.

Being the only pony other than Trixie to spend a great deal of time in the lab with Goggles, she felt like it was her responsibility to study the very structure of the P.L.A.N.E. before they even took off, as such she knew about one of the mechanisms that opened up a small hatch in the floor. As she opened up the hatch she was met with a horrifying sight, where she should have seen a bunch of machinery that connected the landing gear to the P.L.A.N.E. was nothing more than the snow-covered ground only a few stories below them.

“Uh-oh,” Apple Bloom gasped.

“Uh-oh?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, not liking what she was hearing in the slightest. “No uh-oh! Never say uh-oh!!!”

But Apple Bloom had to ignore Sweetie Belle’s dramatic outburst, since she had terrible news to say.

“Scoot, we’re flying too low!” she yelled frighteningly. “Y’all must have hit something, the landing gear’s gone!!!”

But that was just the tip of the ice-berg as more bad news began occurring in the form of a flashing red light on the dashboard.

“And so is the power!!!” Scootaloo screamed.

No wonder the P.L.A.N.E. was flying low, the only reason the Crusaders didn’t notice at first was because of how dark it was, but the machine’s power was now indeed depleted, after all, they had been in the air all night. Realising that this could only mean one thing, Scootaloo abandoned the controls and began rummaging under the seat, pulling out four sets of backpacks.

“You guys know how to use a parachute?” she asked, tossing one to each of her friends

“NO!!!” they all screamed simultaneously.

Scootaloo couldn’t help but rolled her eyes at that.

“Well now’s a great time to learn cause we’re going down!!!” she screamed.

At those words all the Crusaders strapped themselves’ into a parachute out of sheer panic, once they were all set, Scootaloo opened up the cover of another big button on the dashboard.

“Just pull the cord on my lead!” she yelled, slamming her hoof on the button. “HANG ON!!!”

That scream echoed right into the sky as the P.L.A.N.E.’s cockpit opened up and all four fillies were shot up into the air from their seats. Within moments the Cutie Mark Crusaders were all falling in mid-air, and while Scootaloo may have been able to walk on clouds since she was a Pegasus, at this moment she found it difficult to move since Sweetie Belle was wrapping her hooves around her tightly during the free-fall.

“Hey let go of me!” Scootaloo screamed as she and Sweetie Belle began to spin out of control.

However Sweetie Belle was too panic-stricken to even take notice of any sense anymore.

“I want my Mommy!!!” she screamed.

#

Meanwhile back in the courtroom of Baltimare Prison, Goggles, Applejack and those Icicle had frozen to the wall all stared in fear as the Queen herself, along with Captain Tod and the rest of the Gem Foxes as well as several of the Baltimare Prison guards all surrounded them, crossbows at the ready.

“I should have known that you would try escaping again, Gizmonk,” Icicle said with a disgusted look upon her face. “After all, your filthy species would do anything to survive wouldn’t it? In many ways you’re like cockroaches, difficult to crush and just as disgusting.”

Applejack growled at that.

“Why you heartless piece off…!” she tried to say, only to be rudely interrupted by Icicled continued rant.

“And what’s worse, you’ve corrupted the minds of innocent ponies that should have known better to leave you to your deserved fate!” she said cruelly. “Then again they were probably easy to fool, they come from that backwater town, Ponyville I assume?”

However Goggles didn’t dignify that remark with an answer, instead he merely narrowed his eyes and said his piece, after all, what was the pint in holding back now?

“It’s called having friends Icicle,” he said boldly, obviously proud of being in the company of such good ponies. “Maybe you should try getting some.”

But Icicle only laughed at that.

“Friends!?! Don’t make me laugh,” she chuckled. “You really think that you and a punch of peasants can stop me from getting what I want? I ALWAYS get what I want!”

At those words everyone looked at Icicle with fire in their eyes, even Pinkie Pie was twitching an eye with fury from her imprisonment in the ice, which was basically the only thing she could do since she along with Jinx and the three Diamond Dogs only had their heads and tails being the only part of their bodies not encased in the frozen prison. But their fury aside, there was still nothing the group could do at this point, most of them were frozen to the wall, Trixie was still out cold from her Teleportation Spell and Applejack and Goggles were easily outnumbered at least 20 to 1 against all the Gem Foxes and Prison guards in the room. Needless to say Icicle was relishing in every moment of the situation.

“Face it Goggles,” she sneered, leaning in towards him, the Polaris Star still pulsating around her neck. “You’ve lost.”

At first it seemed like icicle was indeed right, the situation did seem hopeless, however that was when something happened that no one would ever come to expect in the slightest. While Icicle was distracted with Goggles, the Captain of the Gem Foxes stepped forward and stod right behind her

“Actually…” he said shrewdly, pointing his crossbow directly at Queen Icicle’s head. “YOU have!”

Needless to say, this action took everyone by surprise, especially Goggles and Icicle, what made it even weirder was the fact the rest of the Gem Foxes were doing the same thing by pointing their own crossbows at the closest Baltimare Prison Guard.

“Sorry Your Highness,” Tod chuckled. “But me and my bros have indulged you long enough.”

Icicle’s eye twitched with fury upon hearing that, she didn’t even dare to turn around with the tip of Tod’ arrow pointing to the base of her head.

“Tod!?!” she growled. “You back-stabbing piece of…”

“Well I learnt from the best!” Tod snapped, almost losing his cool with the amount of anger he put into that remark. “And as much fun as it was doing a little damage on your behalf, Icy-baby, the offer Miss Trixie made was far too tempting to resist.”

At those words Goggles eyes widened with shock, TRIXIE had something to do with this?

“What offer?” he asked nervously.

Tod slyly smiled at that.

“It’s quite simple really,” he explained. “The mare promised to get us the Polaris Star provided we let her along with few ponies and a couple of Diamond Dogs into the prison with the supplies they needed to break their little Gizmonk buddy out.”

However Goggles did not take that explanation well.

“She did WHAT!?!” he gasped.

Trixie made a deal with TOD!?! And she offered him something impossible to even try to acquire in exchange? She must have lied out of desperation, there could be no other reason, right? Finding the whole thing too much to absorb, Goggles looked to Applejack for some form of rational thought.

“The varmint caught us trying to sneak in through the Guard’s Entrance,” she admitted, explaining the full story at last. “Before he could take us to the Queen, Trixie offered him a deal there and then and he was more than willing to take us up on it.”

Goggles raised an eyebrow at that.

“Why?” Goggles asked, staring at the Gem Fox accusingly.

“Distant cousins of Diamond Dogs yo,” Tod answered, adjusting his sunglasses. “Our obsession over gems is a trait that both species share save for one small difference, while Diamond Dogs are attracted to any ordinary gem, we Gem Foxes only go for the rarest and most magical of stones.”

So Goggles’ suspicion WAS right, Tod and his goons did only follow Icicle for their own selfish ends.

“The only reason that me and my bros followed you Icy-baby is because you promised it to us after we served you for a period of time,” Tod continued, confirming Goggles’ thoughts on the matter. “Ain’t that right?”

Icicle growled at that, putting on a small smile.

“And you were dumb enough to fall for it,” she said mockingly, causing the gem Fox to further drive the tip of his arrow into her neck. “But tell me Tod, why disobey now?”

“What can I say?” Tod growled before leaning in order to whisper something into Icicle’s ear. “A mongrel’s gotta give into his greed somehow.”

Icicle’s eyes widened at that, Tod must have heard her rant just after he left her chamber’s earlier, she always did have the habit of talking to herself when she believed she was alone, only now it seemed like it backfired on her greatly.

“And since the little escape plan isn’t doing the Gizmonk and his buddies’ any favours at the moment,” Tod continued. “It would appear that WE will have to take action ourselves.”

However at those words, Icicle merely laughed again, much to the confusion of everyone else.

“You really think that I would be stupid enough to let you mongrels anywhere near me without regarding my own safety?” she asked playfully.

At first, no one knew what she meant, however upon seeing the Polaris Star around her neck glow even more violently, Applejack and Goggles knew what Icicle was about to do. Before Tod and his pack could even blink, Icicle then raised her head high and stomped down her right forehoof hard against the floor, after which a massive white shockwave erupted from the tip of her horn and blasted Tod and his pack right into the wall, encased in a frozen prison just like Pinkie Pie, Jinx and the Diamond Dogs. Unfortunately for the Prison Guards, they too were encased in ice for Icicle didn’t really care about them, Goggles Applejack and Trixie would have suffered the same fate had Trixie were not still lying on the floor out cold, and Applejack and Goggles were not able to duck to the floor just in the nick of time. After casting her spell, Icicle looked proud as she casually blew off the steam from her horn, she then decided to look up to Tod with a mocking smirk.

“I guess I’ll just have to execute you and your followers too Tod,” she said cruelly as the blue Gem Fox struggled beneath the ice. “Shame really, you DID have your uses despite your vulgar smell.”

Tod snapped his jaws at that, if Goggles insulting him was bad enough, Icicle rubbing everything in his face was even worse.

“As for YOU!” Icicle snapped, turning her head towards the cowering Gizmonk, her horn pulsating with her magical aura. “Any last words before I turn you into a Popsicle?”

This was it, he was done for, not even Applejack could do anything to stop Icicle now, Goggles was literally only a few seconds from death. However just as his life was about to flash before his eyes, the Gizmonk was suddenly distracted by a loud whirring sound reaching his ears.

“What the heck is that noise?” he thought aloud.

Icicle raised an eyebrow at that.

“Strange choice of words,” she said confusingly, before regaining herself and putting more energy into her horn.

However before Icicle could even use her spell, another voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Twitchy Tail!” Pinkie Pie screamed from her frozen Prison. “TWITCHY TAIL!!!”

Instantly reacting, both Applejack and Goggles looked up at Pinkie Pie, her body was still frozen to the wall but her tail was indeed twitching, in fact it was shaking so violently that it looked more like it was vibrating. Upon seeing this Goggles and Applejack looked at each other with horror, because both of them knew enough about Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense to know that a twitchy tail only meant one thing. In a matter of seconds, Applejack and Goggles dashed towards Trixie and pulled her with them as they took cover underneath one of the benches that wasn’t damaged during the Goggles’ fight with the other Gem Foxes, needless to say, this action confused Icicle so much that she was at a loss for words, yet alone actions.

“What are you…” she tried to say, before her ears perked up.

As it turned out, Goggles was right about seeing a strange sound, however it would have seemed that he was able to hear it before Icicle did. But the noise itself was as much of a problem as was the source of it, it was lucky that Pinkie’s tail had warned Applejack and goggles about the upcoming event because at that moment, something large and metal burst through the front wall of the courtroom in an explosion of fire and stone. When the dust finally began to settle, Applejack had to push several pieces of broken timber and rubble away from the bench she, Trixie and Goggles were hiding under, but aside from a few scratches they were otherwise okay.

“Is that… my P.L.A.N.E.!?!” Goggles gasped as he was finally able to get a look at what was left of the scrap of metal that had just burst through the wall and was now just lying in piece in the centre of the room.

However before he could get a better look at his now scrapped invention, he was interrupted by the panicked voice of Applejack

“Goggles, let’s get out of here!” she cried, carrying Trixie on her back. “Now’s our chance to get going!”

Applejack did have a very good point, it didn’t matter what state his invention was in now or how it got here, what mattered was the fact that it had just provided the perfect opportunity to escape while everyone else was either knocked out or confused. However before anything else, the first thing to do was to get everyone else free from the ice, luckily all it took was a few strong bucks from Applejack to make that happen.

“COME ON!!!” she screamed as everyone collapsed to the floor, finally free from their icy prison.

It may have taken them all a few moments for them all to regain themselves after being frozen to the wall, but eventually Jinx, Pinkie and the Diamond Dogs were finally able to shake some of the cold off. However the escape wasn’t going to be easy for them, especially since there was snow outside, but despite their chills they knew that they had no choice but to run right there and then, following Applejack’s lead, all of them followed Rover towards the now destroyed Judge’s bench and started to make their way down the hole he and the other Diamond Dogs had made. However being at the back of the group, Goggles took one last look around the room,as more of the dust began to settle he saw a lot more of the damage in detail, with what’s left of the P.L.A.N.E. lying in pieces in the centre of the room, the damage it created upon its impact looked devastating, a massive hole remained in the wall about ten feet off the ground and the rubble that fell from it littered the entire courtroom, shattering almost everything in sight, luckily those who had been frozen to the wall suffered little more than a few bruises. However that was when Goggles noticed the one creature he had hoped had sustained an even worse injury, laying barely unconscious underneath a pile of broken timber was none other than Queen Icicle herself, Goggles could only guess that she must have dove out of the mater mere seconds before the P.L.A.N.E. crashed, getting knocked out it the process. Upon seeing her Goggles’ face lit up, as did the orb at the end of his tail.

#

At the other end of the Diamond Dogs’ tunnel, Jinx was the last one to climb out into the snow before Goggles came out right behind her. As Rover and his comrades had been instructed, they had dug the tunnel as close to the prison’s boards as close as they possibly could, it was just a small measurement from the river’s edge and dug so deep that the dogs were able to dig underneath the bed of the river to avoid any collapse from the weight of the water. After leaving the tunnel, the group found themselves at the bank of the river right next to a tree-line that grew a short distance away from the prison drawbridge.

“I can’t remember the last time I felt snow beneath my paws,” Jinx said with a sigh, clearly enjoying the taste of freedom she had been longing to experience again for so long.

“Yeah, yeah, we can admire the scenery later,” Goggles scoffed. “How long before we make it to the tracks?”

“It should be a few yards ahead!” Rover said confidently, pointing towards the tree-line.

However before they could all make a run for it, Goggles stopped upon hearing another voice just a few yards to his left.

“Remind me again why we let Scootaloo drive!” it said.

“Hey, it’s not my fault the controls are way different than a scooter!” said another.

As soon as those words reached the ears of everyone else apart from Jinx, they all widened their eyes in shock for they knew who those voices belonged to. Instantly reacting, they all followed the voices along the tree line, as they had suspected they found the Cutie Mark Crusaders hanging upside down from a tree by a tangled mass of parachutes, the fortuitous result from what happened after they shot themselves out of a crashing aircraft. In many ways they were lucky to be alive.

“What the…!?!” Applejack gasped, completely astounded at what she was seeing.

At those words, the four fillies stopped arguing and looked at the older pony with fear in their eyes.

“Oh uh… Hey Applejack,” Apple Bloom said nervously, “How’s it hanging?”

However Applejack was not in the mood for jokes.

“Apple Bloom!?!” she yelled “What in tarnation are y’all doing here!?!”

That was when the Crusaders’ look of fear changed to a look of determination.

“We came to save Goggles!” Apple Bloom said proudly.

“Yeah, we want to get him out too!” Scootaloo added.

Goggles didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that, it was just so touching that these four fillies were also willing to risk everything for him, and what’s more, now he knew how his P.L.A.N.E. got from the Apples’ barn to Baltimare Prison.

“Sorry to disappoint you kiddo,” he chuckled, stepping out from behind Applejack and allowing the fillies to see him clearly. “But your sister kinda beat you too it.”

Upon seeing their mascot, all four fillies gasped with joy.

“Goggles!” Apple Bloom squealed.

“You’re alright!!!” Silver Spoon added.

Before another word could be spoken, Rover took the liberty of hanking the four fillies free from their bonds, with one quick pull he managed to snap the robes holding them to the tree and lowered them to the ground, once free the Crusaders didn’t hesitate to pull Goggles into a group hug.

“We thought we’d never see you again,” Sweetie Belle said, shedding a few small tears.

“Speak for yourself,” Scootaloo said, trying to sound tough but unconvincingly so as she too began to cry.

“Oh girls,” Goggles sighed, blissfully enjoying every second of this moment. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“And neither can ah!” Applejack said sternly, causing all five of them to nervously pull away from the hug. “Ah told y’all this is too dangerous! And how did you girls even get here anyway?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Goggles pointed out. “They gave my new gizmo a much-needed test run,”

“Yeah put I think you should have juiced it up a little more,” Scootaloo said, scratching her head. “We ran out of power about 5 minutes before we crashed.”

“That would explain the little explosion in the courtroom just now,” Pinkie Pie said, earning a nod from Jinx and the Diamond Dogs in response.

However Applejack had a different response to hearing that her little sister and her friends not only risked their lives by stealing an aircraft and crashing it.

“Wait,” she said, her eye twitching with anger and confusion. “You did WHAT!?!”

But while Applejack’s concerned anger was understandable, Goggles chose to ignore it for now.

“Guess using artificial lightning was a bit too small,” he admitted. “Knew I should have used Twittermites instead.”

However as touching as this moment was, there was still the matter of everyone trying to get as far away from the prison as possible before someone decided to come after the group. Luckily Jinx was the first to regain her common sense.

“Never mind all that,” she said urgently. “We gotta get out of here before…”

“LOOK OUT!” Rover screamed, cutting her off as he pushed her out of the way just as a blast of ice-magic narrowly missed them and hit one of the trees behind them.

Turning their heads towards the source of the magic, the group stared in horror as they saw another figure walking towards them with a furious glare burning into her face.

“You are NOT escaping again!!!” Icicle screamed as she edged her way closer towards them.

Comments

[Tatsurou]

And now we see why Goggles' tail lit up.