Shining Gears

by Space Wizard Novablast

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Romance, Original Character, Comedy
Length: 12337

The story of the inventor Gearhead, his troubles in Trottingham, his love in Trottingham, and his departure from Trottingham.

Being an inventor, isn't easy.

Being an inventor that's an earth pony, is even harder.

Being and inventor, that's an earth pony, and who also happens to live in Trottingham, would seem impossible.

But somehow Gearhead managed to pull it off.

Let the story of how his life became what it was today, what he faced, what he overcame, and what he gained as an inventor gone teacher unfold before you.

Published 2013-11-29 23:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-01-14 08:48:26 UTC

Chapter one: Life in the state of W

Trottingham

One of the most magnificient cities in all of equestria, its glory and lights creating pleasure not only for the eyes, but the magnificient music, be it blues in the Inner City States, be it classical music in the central theatres, or be it dubstep resided over by Dj pon3 or her fans and colleagues, created pleasure for the ears.

The City itself was art, proof of how pegasi and earth ponies had worked together and overcome their differences, that they could truly be United in a common goal. Celestia her self had praised the masonworkers for their excellent, she had named the city: home of sky and earth.

So therefore the beautiful ironi of a unicorn noble as mayor rubbed a great many people off the wrong way.

Flare, a unicorn with a great many contacts had been personally chosen for the job as mayor by Celestia, at least that was the story that covered up the herendous truth. The unicorn nobles wanted influence in every single city on the earth. So they had pressured Celestia to make one of the nobles mayor of the new city.

If you were to ask any pegasus or earth pony in the entirety of Trottingham, they would tell you that Flare was an oppressive and cruel tyrant with no compassion, they would say that they wished for a pegasus or an earth pony mayor.

That is, except one.

Gearhead, like the majority of Trottingham's population, was an earth pony. He had an incredibly light brown coat, with a slightly darker brown mane, he had a cutie mark which resembled a wrench crossed with a screwdriver, for some giving off the illusion that he was a mechanic. But for those who knew him, which wasn't exactly a lot, he was something much more.

Gearhead, was a special case for an earth pony, because while most earth ponies never got into the refined arts of music or writing, some special cases did. But as far as he knew, Gearhead was the only living earth pony inventor.

He had found out at an early age, when he had made his night lamp into a flashlight for reading daring doo without his parents noticing. The next morning he had woken up with a wrench and a screwdriver on his bum, and he had gotten a scolding from his parents at the same time.

Ever since then he had worked to better his skills as an engineer. He had a doctorate in advanced electronics. His main study course had been demolitions, mainly for when things went wrong. And he was even the man behind the magic storage unit, something he had chosen to name 'Batteries'.

But none of this helped with his current jobless state.

He hadn't been in the mood to do anything after the automatic cleaner has exploded and left his cellar in a pretty poor state. So the bits he got from the batteries selling we're getting fewer and fewer. He had finally gotten into the mood to actually find a job. But before that, he had to get a drink.

Currently he was with Samuel, friend and esteemed colleague.

"Look here Gearhead, I've recently been fired." He took a small moment to burp from the beer before continuing, "and I think you would love it. It's a job as a teacher at a university."

Gearhead took another swig of the whiskey. "Heh, I'll take a look at it Sam, but I dunno if it's gonna do anything for me, I've never tried teaching before."

"It ain't hard, you just have to tell them what to do, and if they're ever doing it wrong, correct them, it's easy peasy." He said, chugging down on the glass until it was empty.

"Alright, alright, I'll take a look at it. But for now let's just relax." He said, emptying his glass and started walking towards the door. "I'm gonna go home, see ya later Sam."

Although Sam heard absolutely nothing, he was sleeping ever so peacefully lying over the table snoring.

Luckily, for Gearhead at any rate, the bar was one the exact same street as him. But in his current state, even getting home was a challenge best faced sober.

He immediately rammed into one of the lamp posts wrapping his forelegs around it, holding on for dear life. Until he heard a voice call out to him.

"Oh my Celestia, are you alright?" Said a cute and definitely feminine voice.

Gearhead looked in her direction, he couldn't see her all too clearly, but it was definitely a mare. However, more subtle features, or even blatant features like colour, was kind of hard to differentiate when your eyes see everything in a Grey haze.

"Yes, I'm fine." He stammered, "I've just had a bit too much to drink."

"Can I help you?" She asked worried.

"If you will that'd be great. My house is the big one at the end of the street just down there." He said, pointing a hoof towards the familiar destination.

"Okay, you can support yourself on me." She said, motioning closer towards him.

"Luna bless you." He said, letting go of the lamp post and clinging to the mare.

They started walking down the street, every time the light of a lamp post passed by Gearhead found his eyes becoming slightly more focused, but then the light of yet another lamp would almost blind him again.

Finally they reached the door of his house, it was quite a bit bigger than most of the houses on discord avenue, but it was still not the biggest in Trottingham.

"Thank you," he said as his hoof reached the doorknob, "I don't know if I would've made it without you."

"Not a problem." She said, even through the grey haze, Gearhead could still see her smiling.

"May I know the name or my savior?" He asked, still not able to see her face properly.

"I'm Sun Spring, nice to meet you." She said.

"We'll Sun Spring, hopefully we meet at a later time under more pleasant circumstances." He said, smiling coyly at her, he tried to wink, but his muscles wouldn't cooperate.

"See you around." He said as he closed the door slowly, allowing her time of speech.

"Likewise." She said as she started to walk off.

Gearhead closed the door, he leaned against the wall, trying desperately to find his bed. This was one of the many reasons why he had bed on the ground floor.

He finally felt his forelegs smacking into the bed frame. He fell forwards, both hearing and feeling his body smacking down onto the mattress.

And soon all that was heard in house number 113 was snoring.

The first thing Gearhead found out when he woke up was the fact that he needed some of his patent pills.

"Jasper, anti migraine." He said, rubbing his temples slowly, trying to get the pain to recede slightly.

"Certainly master." Came the robotic answer at the end. The sound of gears moving and the scraping of metal against metal reassured Gearhead that Jasper still worked.

A robotic arm came down from the ceiling, in the hand was a small bottle of pills. Gearhead took hold of the lid with his teeth and twisted it slightly, it came off with a small pop, allowing a single pills to drop into his mouth.

He could feel the pain receding immediately. "That's another one for the patent." He said as he removed the sheet.

"What do you wish for breakfast master?" Asked the robotic voice of Jasper.

"Just coffee today James, I have important business to take care off, so I'm eating on the way." He said, as he got dressed, a dark red top hat was all he needed to wear.

"Understood sir." James said as the sound of the coffee machine started.

The inventor walked towards the door, trying his best to lose the nervousness he was experiencing. He had never tried being a teacher before, would they even take him?

"Here's your coffee sir." James said as a small canteen of coffee was brought by the same hand as the one with the pills.

"Thank you James, remember that the cellar needs to be cleaned after last weeks accident." He said as he stepped out the door.

"The one that involved the playmare magazine or the explosion?" James asked.

"Which one do you think you smug ass robot?" Gearhead growled slightly at the personality of his robot butler. He would need to reprogram him at some point....... Maybe.

He knew the way to the university, he had gone there himself. Although back then it had looked more like a church. Now it looked more like a huge library.

He found the huge glass doors that created the portal into the university to be a bit overkill. Personally, he thought he would've chosen something with silver outlines.

The door was opened by a pegasus in a suit, he glared daggers at the earth pony as he stepped in.

"Hats are not allowed within these walls sir." He said with obvious malice in his voice, "I need to ask you to deliver it immediately or leave."

"Hmm, yes I can see that, but I think I'll keep my hat on and keep going. How does that sound?" He said while tapping the chest of the guard.

"It's sounds absolutely credulo-"

"Great," he was cut short by Gearhead, "then I'll just keep going alright?"

He didn't even let the guard answer, he just motioned towards the principles office with a confident walk, letting students marvel, or chuckle, whatever they wished to do.

He knocked lightly on the door, causing a loud moan from the other side of the door. "Yes, yes, I'm coming." Came an exasperated voice from the supposed principal.

The door opened to reveal a dark grey pegasus  stallion with half closed eyes standing in the doorway.

"What do you want?" He said in a voice that sounded like it had been dipped in venom, "we don't take any more students this year."

"No actually, I'm here for a job." Gearhead said as he tipped his hat.

Immediately the tiredness or the pegasus left, his eyes brightened up and a smile creeped up on his lips. "Yes of course, please, do come in."

"Thank you," Gearhead said, pleased by the sudden change of mood.

"Now if you would just sit down right here." He said, pointing at a large armchair.

Gearhead sat down, inspecting the room of, who he supposed was the principal, he couldn't really know, the pegasus had informed him of nothing as of yet, not name, not his job. But that was hopefully going to change pretty soon.

"Now first or all," the pegasus said as he pushed some papers off the table and onto the floor, where they hit with a large thump, "how did you learn of this job? It only became available a few days ago, and we haven't put anything in the paper, as far as I know anyways."

Gearhead took the hat off, placed it in his lap and rested his hooves on it. He found it easier to talk with someone when he was sitting like this.

"Well, a colleague and friend of mine was the person who got fired from here." Gearhead said.

"Samuel! Really? You're friends with that flank chaser?" He asked raising a suspicious eyebrow.

Gearhead frowned slightly at the description of his friend and associate, but was determined not to fumble this up. He kept his mouth shut and simply nodded.

"We'll, hopefully you know why he was fired?" He said, once again shifting some papers.

"No, he never told me, although he did bring it up only yesterday." Gearhead said, casually looking around.

"We'll, I'm gonna put this straight mister.....?" He said curiously

"Gearhead."

"Mister Gearhead, your friend Samuel was, and is still having, an affair with one of the students." He said, scoffing slightly as he said it.

"Phew." Gearhead said in a fake whistle, "I knew Samuel was of the romantic sort, but I never imagined him having an affair with a student of his."

"I trust this will not be a problem with you, mister Gearhead?" He said, one again raising his eyebrow.

"Of course not, I wouldn't dare." He said, a bit too quickly if he was to be honest, but it seemed to convince the pegasus.

"Fantastic. Now tell me, what do you think qualifies you to work here?" He said, clapping his hooves together in an audible smack.

"We'll, I've studied advanced electronics to the point of a doctorate, my main study course was demolitions, on this very university might I add." He said, but for dramatic effects sake, "oh, and I am also an inventor, previous full time job, but I guess that's going to become more of a hobby now."

The pegasus whistled slightly once Gearhead was finished, "well, you have the qualifications. Have you worked as a teacher before?" He asked.

"No, this Is my first time." Gearhead replied.

"Well, I guess you need the job to learn and experience, you're hired." He said, smacking a form down onto the table. "Just sign this and I'll get one of the other teachers to show you around."

Gearhead quickly scribbled his name onto the form, quickly handing it to the pegasus who placed it in a basket with the word 'furnace' on it. He turned to a small pipe where he plopped a roll of paper into, before he shut the tube and pulled a lever, Gearhead could actually hear the scroll fly off.

"You called for me mister cloud runner?" Said a feminine, and for some reason Gearhead thought, familiar.

"Ah yes, come in."

And in stepped a yellow mare, she had a bright orange mane and a cutie mark of a scroll with a music note on, she had clear blue eyes and a very cute smile.

"Miss Sun Springs, this is mister Gearhead, he's going to be teaching in advanced electronics." Said the pegasus, whom Gearhead now knew as cloud runner.

"Ahh, I believe we're already acquainted." She said, smiling happily at him.

Gearhead could do nothing but just chuckle awkwardly, he had never even expected to meet the mare from yesterday again. Yet she was right in front of him.

"Well, mister Gearhead, why don't it show you around." She asked, still smiling.

"Of course miss Sun springs." He said, jumping to his hooves and following her out

"Now then, let me give you a tour of Trottingham university

Chapter two: work in a state of ?

"How come your aren't suffering from a hangover?"

The question startled Gearhead slightly, he had been walking with sun springs through the cafeteria. Having been explained not to touch the food right after he had touched it. The question had come out of nowhere.

"Uhh, pills." He uncomfortably stammered, looking at her with his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"That's total horseapples Gear, I'm a biology teacher, so I would probably know if there was pills capable of curing Luna damned hangovers." She said, chuckling slightly.

"Gear, huh?" He said, smiling a pushing his hat a little back, "interesting nickname, although not the first time I've heard it."

He said, returning her kind smile.

"I'm glad you at the least like it. But please, when I met you yesterday you were drunk as all Tartarus, there is no way you shouldn't be suffering from a severe migraine. So either you're really good at hiding it...... Or you're really good at hiding it, so whats your secret?"

"I told you already," he said, dragging out the glass of pills from earlier, "pills."

Her horn, how did I not notice she was a unicorn? started flaring and the pills were covered in a golden aura, not much unlike that of Celestias, but less glowy.

"Anti migraine," she read, her eyes scanning the marker, seemingly looking for something specific, when she didn't find it she turned to Gear. "There is no marker of security on this, it's not authorised. In other words it's illegal, who did you buy it from?" Her tone suddenly turning serious, her eyes steel like.

"Yeah, I haven't gotten them authorised yet. I only tested them this morning, evidently they worked." He said, his smile now turning from warm affection to smarmy smugness.

"You..... Made these?" She asked, her voice going from seriousness to confusion in a matter of heartbeats, she stared at him for the longest time, "you're a chemist?"

"No, not exactly, I'm an inventor, previously full time job, but now that I'm here it's gonna become a hobby more so than anything else." He said, calmly shrugging.

"And you've made pills that cure hangovers?" She said, her mouth staying open in between sentences. "And they actually work?"

He nodded casually. "It's not a big deal."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" She yelled, drawing the attention of the cafeteria ladies who were currently stirring what smelled like mashed potatoes. "You have made pills that cure hangovers and harsh migraines! You're saying that's not a big deal, so you've probably made even cooler stuff."

He had been taken aback by the sudden outburst, his hat was currently lying on the floor gathering dust, but he was quite scared by his new friend, at least he thought they were now friends, so for now he did nothing more than nod.

"So why are you here?" She asked, exasperated by her colleagues lack of understanding, "you've probably got more money than Celestia herself. So I ask again, why are you here?"

He looked up at her, trying his best to smile, "I, really just needed to do something, lately I've grown into a state of depression, I was guided by my best friend to this place. And I think I understand why now."

"And what exactly would said reason be?" She said, raising a mock eyebrow.

"Now that would be telling, wouldn't it?" He said, imitating her mock eyebrow, and for good measure adding on a mock smile.

"You're terrible," she said, sighing and looking up at him with those damned cute eyes

"Oh you don't even know." He said, getting both happy and horrid memories because of his own words.

"But anyways, your classroom is in here. You'll probably notice that things seem different from standard university classes." She said, indicating at a door marked 'classroom 113'.

"We'll  it's the same number as my house, can't be all bad then." He said, being slightly annoyed that the mare didn't find it funny in the slightest.

"Don't get your hopes high." She said, she sighed and put a hoof on his shoulder. "I have to go, I have a class of my own to attend to. See you around Gear." She handed him his hat before walking away

He put the hat on his head as the mare turned away, being slightly hypnotized by her swaying. He finally shook his head, and raised a hoof to open the door.

It was certainly not like any university classroom.

In truth it seemed like it was 3rd grade.

There were colts currently in the middle of harrassing a filly by throwing pencils at her, someone was blasting music from their horn so loudly that the vibrations were making the wall shake, and a couple was making out in the corner of the class.

He walked up to the desk, acting quite nonchalant even though he felt the urge to slap every single one of these ponies. He drew out the supplies he had brought with him and placed them carefully on the table, this included three pencils, an eraser, a notebook, and his 'boomwave'.

When finally he had gotten enough, he grabbed the boom wave, it was only slightly smaller than a pencil, it had a small microphone at the tip, he brought this to his mouth, knowing the effect it would have on the students.

"Greetings class," he said as all the noise immediately stopped, the fillies and colts started looking around for the source of the voice in their heads.

"I am your new teacher," he said, and all heads were immediately turned to his desk, everyone seemed to focus on the boom wave rather than him, which was slightly annoying.

"Good," he said as he placed the tool on the table, "now that I have your attention, let's begin. I am professor Gearhead, I'm going to be taking over now that Samuel has been fired. I hope you are going to be welcoming." He said, ending his short monologue.

A light blue pegasus raised her hoof in the air, she looked at him with a mix of awe and a desperate need for attention.

"Yes miss....?"

"Vinnie," she answered, "is Gearhead your real name?"

"We'll miss Vinnie, it is, although I do quite like the nickname 'Gear', so it's possible to call me that if you wish." He said, smiling warmly at the students attention.

Yet another hoof was raised, this time by an orange earth pony with a couple of apples on her flank.

"Yes miss....?"

"Appleyard, although people call me Ay. I'd like to know what that thing you used was, it seemed a mighty bit interesting."

"What, this old thing," he said, indicating a hoof at the boomwave, "it's something I flicked together to use as a substitute for unicorn magic, but it had some rather unusual results, as you can clearly see."

"Wait, y'all made that yerself?" She said, cocking an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yes, I did, albeit by luck, I tried to make something completely different. But in the grand scheme of things, I guess that I did make it." He said, shrugging.

"But that's amazing." She said, smiling with her mouth open in awe, "are you an inventor? Like the guy who made batteries?"

He smiled a little, people always got quite the shock when he told them this, "well, miss Ay, I am the guy who made batteries, albeit they had a different name back then."

Now he had the attention of the entire class, they seemed to eye him like hungry predators, ironic really. But there was still one pony in the back. He was sitting with a magazine and flipping through it, looking even more excited by each page he turned.

Gear was over him immediately, he took his hat off and pulled out a device that looked quite similar to the boomwave, although this one was broader and thinner, it also had a small yellow ball on the tip.

He pointed it directly at the magazine the colt was holding, a beam of glowing white energy encompassed the magazine and lifted it into the air. The colt looked as if he had just seen Cerberus himself. All around him, Gear could hear the either terrified or excited whispers of his students.

"That's magic, but he's an earth pony." He heard someone say.

"That's so cool." He heard another one say.

"I wonder if he can fly as we'll." said a third.

Gear immediately identified the magazine as being one of the new Daring Doo comics they had only just started releasing. He looked at the student whom by now was cowering.

"I dont want anyone reading in my classes. Understood?" He said, almost to the point of yelling the last word.

"Y-yes sir." Replied the colt nervously nodding as he said it.

Gear sighed slightly, this wasn't what he wanted.

"Hey, champ." He said, catching the attention of the frightened colt yet again, "it was not okay of me to react that way, and I'm sorry about that, but remember. No. More. Reading. In . My . Classes." He said, putting extra emphasis on the last word.

"No sir." The colt replied, now less scared by his teacher, which didn't say much.

"Good," he said, handing the magazine back to the colt who was still shaking slightly, "what's your name kid?"

"Fleetfeather," he said, flapping his wings slightly as he did.

"Okay then,"he turned around to face the class, instead of a single pegasus in a corner, "any more question?"

A hoof was raised, this time by the male of the couple he had noticed when walking in.

"Yes mr......?" He said, rotating his hoof around in a sort of hypnotic motion.

"Shadow, sir. I'd like to know, would it be possible for you to demonstrate engineering?" The black colt finished.

"What exactly do you propose?"  Gear asked curiously.

"We'll, maybe you could make a robot, and it should be centered around our suggestions." Shadow said, looking around the classroom for approval, of which he got a lot.

"That is not a bad idea Shadow. You know what? Let's make a deal, if you are able to solve a riddle made by me by tomorrow, then I will build a robot, with a custom a.i no less, based of the suggestions of the class. How does that sound?" Gear said enthusiastically.

"Okay, I'm down," shadow said, "I'm pretty good with riddles.

"Okay, here it comes." Gear said, pausing for dramatic effect and to catch his breath after the previous monologue.

"I'm a word no one should use, your mothers soul I will bruise, yet everyone uses me all the time, and when you're in distress I'm in my prime." He finished, being quite proud of his ability to rhyme.

Shadow was lightly tapping his chin with his hoof, thinking of what exactly the word could be.

"You have until tomorrow Shadow, so I advice you to think carefully." Gear said, smiling and being incredibly proud of himself. "For now, class dismissed." He said, and every pony started getting up and walked to the door.

And as his class had left, all he could think was:

that wasn't so bad

Chapter three: bullies in a state of E

"This can't seriously be mashed potatoes?"

Gear had been astonished by the poor state of the cafeteria food when he had been shown around by Sun Springs. She had assured him that I was even worse when you actually tasted it, of course he hadn't believed her, nothing could be that bad.

But at the moment tears were welling up in his eyes because of the taste, it didn't taste like mashed potatoes, more like low quality whiskey in lumps. Which in itself was an uncomfortable thought.

"I'm afraid it is," Sun Springs answered, she had been so kind as to join him at his table, something he quickly found out only meant that he was much more awkward than usually.

"Never mind," Gear said, pushing his plate away while shaking his head. "I'd much rather ask some question."

"Oh really?" Sun said  pushing her plate away as well, although much more relaxed than Gear, "what questions exactly?"

Gear placed his hat in his lap, placing his hooves on it and biting his lower lip, he had been thinking about this ever since he had gotten out of his classroom.

"Why did you warn me about my class?" He asked, eyebrows now raised as he simultaneously tapped the flat top of his hat.

"You mean you didn't notice him?" She said as she almost spit out some of her carrot juice, "a unicorn with and orange coat and fiery red mane?"

"Now, I think I would've noticed if Flare, mayor of the damn town, had been in my class." He said, now frowning, growing concerned for his colleague and friend's sanity.

"He must not have arrived yet," she said, letting to of her breath, before noticing something that made her gasp and hold in just like before, "crap, he's here, try not to make eye contact unless he tells you to."

Gear however, was in need of getting his curiosity sated, he looked around.

And found a group of purely unicorns standing by the entrance of the cafeteria, with a younger version of

Flare standing in the front

"Hey there bitches!" He yelled in an incredibly high pitched voice, "Firetail is here!"

Gear, unfortunately, was always pretty straight forward with everyone, be it mare, stallion, colt, filly, he had no problem stating whatever crossed his mind at the time, and at this point it was:

"My Celestia, your voice is like sandpaper to the ears you brat."

Everyone turned to look at him as if he had just insulted god him self, although how he acted made him seem more like the devil, Sun Springs had her mouth agape, before  she turned to look at the table.

The unicorn, whom was apparently named Firetail, looked as if he was one the edge of popping Gears head off with his bare hooves.

"Excuse me?" The orange colt said, obviously angered, "but what did you just say?"

Gear raised a mock eyebrow as he prepared to retort. "So that's why you sound like a bat pony foal, you can't hear."

The unicorn was by now shaking with anger, his muscles had visibly tensed and foam started to fleck his lips.

"You filthy earth pony, do you even know who I am? I'm Firetail, son of Flare, the mayor, so you'd do well to pay me some respect." The goons around him nodded quickly, trying their best to please their leader.

"Look, it doesn't matter to me, you could be the son of Blueblood, and I still wouldn't give a shit. You're an arrogant brat, and right now you're offending a teacher. And if I've understood this correctly, I'm YOUR teacher, so if you truly wish not to fail my class, you will pay me some Lunda damned respect. Gears voice rose in a steady pace, he was getting more and more worked up because of this entitled little shit.

Suddenly a small smile crossed the unicorns lips, a gesture far removed from what Gear had thought would happen.

"Oh my, so you're a teacher huh? I have to ask you guys," he said, turning to his small army of goons, "has this filth gone through the initiation process?"

All the goons hastily shook their heads, anticipating what was to come.

"He hasn't?" He said with mock surprise, "my my, then we'll have to fix that, won't we?" He said, his smile growing into something similar to madness.

Two of the goons moved up next to him.

"Trix, sleeze, grab him!" He yelled at the goons standing by his sides

The two unicorns grabbed him by his shoulders, forcing him from the chair, Firetails horn started flaring, making the tip shine brightly.

"You ever got a burn mark because of magic teach?" Firetail said, his eyes now gleaming madly, "it's said that the pain never recedes."

The horn touched right on the sensitive skin between the shoulder and the chest, Gear was practically screaming his lungs off as the burning in his shoulder continued for a few agonising seconds. Once the pain stopped he was dropped limply to the floor. He looked up at the fiery unicorn, whose smiled had gone from madness to pure unbridled insanity.

"Never again, shall you disrespect me."

And then Gears world went black.

"Is he gonna be okay?"

Gear could hear voices, who was it?

"I'm not sure mi'lady, I've never seen the master in such a poor condition."

Was that jasper?

"He has to be alive, he needs to be."

Was that Sun?

The sunlight blinded him as his eyelids slit open, at first he thought he was still in the cafeteria, but the surface which he was lying on was much too soft to be linoleum.

His eyes finally adjusted to the intense light levels and he was greeted with the comforting sight of his own ceiling, he sighed lightly, knowing it must've been a bad dream.

Until a searing pain shot through his shoulder.

He looked first to his right, where the pain had initially come from. A black hole had covered his entire right shoulder, and it ached whenever he tried to move it.

But to his right sat Sun Springs.

Had she carried him here? Why did she help him? And in his current mindset the important question was: how did she get past jasper?

She had been looking at the floor, sobbing slightly when he first saw her, but apparently she caught the motion and she immediately looked at him.

Her eyes were swollen and red, there were marks of tears running down her cheeks, her mane was messy and uncoordinated, a stark contrast from her usual style. But her eyes at that point shun with glee only rivalled by a mother seeing her newborn foal for the first time.

"Thank Celestia you're okay." She said, lunging at him and hugging him tightly.

"Yaeow!" He yelped when she touched the burn mark, it didn't hurt nearly as much as he had expected, and he new why.

These were third grade burns.

He had gotten them countless times, as well as first and second grade burns. In first grade, your skin will turn red, like if you were in the sun for too long. In second grade, the skin would peel off, quite literally dying because of the intense heat. All of them hurt immensely.

Except grade three.

In grade three your flesh got burned away, searing nerve endings, making sure that whatever pain you felt upon getting the burn, would not harm you anymore. In truth the wound would never heal completely, it would continue to look like you got burned by an iron.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She said, jumping back and shaking when she realised what had happened, it took her a few seconds to get her breathing under control, but afterwards she seemed okay.

"Not your fault," Gear stammered. "Where's James?"

"I'm right here sir." The small robot dropping down from the ceiling, awaiting orders.

"Get me the salve for 3rd grade burns please." Gear said, the pain slowly starting to creep in again.

"Of course master." James said, mechanical voice sounding unnaturally neutral.

A mere second later a small bottle dropped onto the bed, it had a weird white liquid in it, and a mark on it saying 'burns'.

"Could you smear this onto the wound?" He said, holding the bottle up at her with a pleading look, "James did it last time when I was incapable, and it caused more harm than it fixed."

"Please do restrain from smothering my good reputation sir." Said the robot, now hidden above the ceiling, awaiting further orders.

"Of course," she said, her horn started to flare.

"Nononono." He said, waving his good leg at her with an almost terrified look in his eyes. "It has to be applied by hoof, it evaporates if it comes into contact with magic."

"Really?" She asked, looking suspiciously at the bottle. "That seems mighty contrived."

He sighed, dreading what he was about to say. "The person who sells the junk I make is INCREDIBLY anti-unicorn, he won't sell it if unicorns can use it. Don't ask me why, he's just a real dick." He said, finishing the explanation.

She rolled her eyes exasperatedly, "alright then, but if I found out it was some cruel scheme to get a beautiful mare to touch you, then I'm gonna kick your flank."

"Good to know," he said before biting his lower lip, knowing what was about to happen.

He started smearing on the liquid, and suddenly pulled her hoof away when Gear started screaming wildly.

"What is happening?" She said, almost screaming, "did I do something wrong?"

Once gear finally started screaming he was able to get her an answer. "No," he said through fast breaths, "it's a natural part of this."

"How can this be natural?" She said, her voice now as high pitched as Firetails.

"I removes the seared flesh and allows it to regenerate, the pain is caused because of the removal." He said, his breathing now finally under control.

"So, should I smear more of it on?" She said, her voice going from high pitched to questioning.

"If you'd like for me to lose my foreleg, then by all means keep going." He said, smiling tiredly at her.

"Master, continue the standard procedure?" Came the robotic voice of Jasper.

"Yes Jasper, please. Chamber fourteen should be all that's needed." He said, the liquid starting to recede, revealing a hole in his shoulder the size of Sun's hoof.

A metal pod came dropping down from the ceiling, it had pipes running along the edges, weird wires running from the ceiling and into it.

"Sun, I'm just going to request this, you don't have to do it if you don't want to." He said, being carefully lifted by Jasper and carried towards the pod.

"What is it Gear?" She said, looking at the pod with growing curiosity.

"I'm in need of someone to watch for me, when I come out I'm going to be in a seriously drowsy state. Normally I would call Samuel, but I don't know if he'll be available." Ending his request.

"What about Jasper?"

"Jasper has been known as many things, carful is not one of them." Gear was now in the pod, lying carefully on a soft mattress like surface.

"As I said previously master, please don't sully my good name." The robotic voice still carried no emotion, making it sound all the more weird.

Sun smiled at the currently crippled Gearhead, he was pretty far removed from his cocky and distracted self.

"Of course, I'll stay and watch."

"Great," he said as the door to the pod closed, "there's food in the cabinet and money in the bedside drawer." He wanted to say more, but he was muffled by the sound tight door of the pod.

A mask dropped down and landed in front of Gear, the same hand that had given him the pills earlier today came down and placed the mask on his face, allowing him to breathe.

Afterwards, the tank started filling with liquid similar to the first, although this one wasn't white, rather it was a deep purple colour. So deep in fact, that after a while Sun couldn't even see Gear.

"Sleep tight doc." She said, and patted the pod.

"See ya later."

Chapter four: pupils In a state of C

this place is insane

Sun had been guided downstairs by James, she had been interested in seeing his workplace. What she expected was a small table, maybe some tools and a chemistry set.

What she surely didn't expect was bottles upon bottles with different liquids and powders on shelves, perfectly marked with their contents and how dangerous. Different machines was standing in the corners, or in the misc. box. In the middle there was a metal desk, from the ceiling of the cellar there was a pair of weird gloves hanging down. What exactly was those for?

She started examining them closer, finding each of them with a small marker with a letter on. Either E, W, or C. She thought about what those meant, she guessed E was the lowest possible 'rank' in this system, especially because there was a sign saying 'watch our for grade E experiments.'

She could suddenly hear a small beeping, kind of the same sound as the fire alarm in her house.

So naturally, the only rational thing to do was to get the buck out of the house.

She found the staircase and ran up it quickly, stumbling slightly because of her urgency. She swung the door open, trying to remember where the exit was.

"Miss Sun, what is with the sudden urgency?"

The robotic voice of Jasper sounded awfully calm, as if nothing had happened. But she had heard it, it had to have been the fire alarm.

"What do you mean?" Her voice sounded frantic, as if her neck had been caught in a vice, "the place is about to burn down to the ground!"

The small eye chuckled slightly, can a robot laugh?, and said in the same calm tone, "no, it's merely because the master is 'finished.' "

She could hear the steam build up and let go, it sounded as if a dragon had just breathed out, after eating mint tablets.

She headed for the bedroom of the inventor, finding the pod standing wide open....

....and a purple earth pony standing in front of it.

He looked oddly familiar, the mane was oddly reminiscent of Gear, but she knew one thing for sure about Gear. He wasn't purple.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" She said, horn flaring as she prepared to chase the trespasser off and possibly drag him to the police.

"Umm," the trespasser said, "what exactly are you doing Sun?"

"You are trespassing sir, leave right now or I'll be forced to take action." As she said this her horns glow became brighter, almost to the point of blinding her adversary.

"What are you talking abo-" the purple stallion cut his speech short as he looked down at his coat, and afterwards his hoof met his face.

"So that was why you couldn't recognise me," he said, wiping his forehead, "look." He said, pointing towards his flank.

Where a screwdriver and a wrench were crossed, Gears cutie mark.

"Gear?" Sun said, raising a suspicious eyebrow, "why in Luna's name are you purple?"

Sun had before seen magic gone wrong, a lot more than she wished she had. Of course she wasn't really familiar with mechanics, but it had to be at least driven by magic, and so far her brain failed her in remembering a spell that made you purple.

"Yes," he said, cheery smile returning, "don't worry about it, it's just a defect with the liquid, it wears off in a few minutes."

"What kind of liquid would make you purple?" She asked, now frowning slightly.

"Well, an extract of poison joke should have that effect." He said,shrugging a little.

"Why would you use poison joke as medicine?" She asked, only now noticing the hole in his shoulder had completely vanished. "And why is it so effective?"

"Well, you do know that poison joke was made by discord right?" He asked, now sitting down on the bed and sitting in his standard thinking position.

"No, I actually didn't." She said  finding this information curiously intriguing.

"Well,he did, and as all of the 'gods' in this world," Gear scoffed slightly as he said the word of religion, "he has immense magical prowess. Therefore, poison joke has quite a bit of magic punch in it, allowing it to be a perfect catalyst for the

Heal-0-pod."

"Heal-0-pod?" Sun said, smiling and chuckling slightly, "Heal-0-pod," she said again, now breaking into all out deafening laughter, acting very unlike her usual self.

"Shut up," Gear said, looking down at the floor, "I was very drunk when I came up with the name."

"Celestia be damned," Sun said, wiping tears away from her eyes while still chuckling under her breath, "if nothing else Gear, the name of the machine is bucking amazing."

"I'm happy that you find my technological marvel entertaining, now if you'll excuse me I'll go and take a bath, get this crap cleaned off." He said, making a face most ponies would describe as a 'poop face'.

She smiled and nodded, rubbing her eyes to get the last of the salty liquid out of her eyes.

"If you're interested then there's food in my fridge, just don't take anything that has either the letter E, or W on it." He said, pointing towards the kitchen.

"Have any cider?" She asked, sounding hopeful.

"I don't know, but I think I should go and get cleaned off." He said as he started walking towards the bathroom.

Sun was barely listening, she had found that the inventor had a large variety of beverages, ranging from sodas to heavy alcohol, with the alcohol funnily enough being largely untouched.

She found herself an ice cold bottle of apple family cider 'imported straight from ponyville' it said underneath the brand name, on the bottle there was a small filly with red hair and a bow. Apparently greatly enjoying the bottle of cider she was chugging.

Sun decided to follow her lead, she popped the cap off with a small magic blast, leaving it slightly charred on one side. She bottomed up and found the drink to be fizzy and sweet, but a bit sour, altogether it tasted amazing.

She could hear the water running from above, the copper pipes above her head were suddenly rumbling slightly as the water rushed through them. But there was another sound that stuck out.

A bell, or rather a doorbell.

Once again tried to find the exit, made much easier by the constant noise emitting from the doorbell.

"Yeah yeah, I'm on my way." She said, sighing slightly. She hated ponies who just kept hitting the button when they didn't get an answer.

When she opened the door she prepared to shout down whoever it was that had interrupted her consuming of apple cider. She prepared.

But she could hardly bring herself to shout at Gears students.

"Hey there miss springs," Appleyard said cheerfully, "we heard that Mr. Gear had gotten himself into a bit of a pickle, so we thought we'd come cheer him up."

Sun couldn't help but smile, Gear had only been at the university for a day, and already he had gathered a small following. Most teachers couldn't manage such in months, even years.

But he'd pulled it off.

"Well," Shadow started, "that's not the only reason."

Vinnie however just planted a hoof directly in his sides, causing a small yelp of pain and a gasp for breath.

"Can we come in?" Fleetfeather asked, wanting his friends to stop the arguing and the fighting.

"Sure, although he is taking a bath right now, you can just sit around and wait." She said, moving back to allow them entry.

The four of them walked in and immediately started sucking in the visuals, the paintings, the decor, Shadow even picked up a small vase and started rotating it between his hooves.

Then the sound of rushing water stopped.

"I guess he's done." Fleetfeather said.

Sure enough, the brown stallion came walking into the living room, completely dry and without a single spec of purple on his coat.

"Well, looks like we have company?" He said, eyeing his students.

"You sure do," Shadow said, "and you also have a robot to make."

Gear smiled at the dark colt, "well first, what is the answer to the riddle."

This time it was the black colts turn to smile, "I'm a word no one should use, your mothers soul I will bruise, yet people use me all the time, when you are in distress I'm in my prime." He paused for a second for the dramatic effect.

"The answer is 'horse apples"

The inventor smiled at his student, it had been a pretty hard riddle, but Shadow had succeded.

"Well then, let me hear one word from you four each, and then I will base the robot off that." He said.

"It has to be cute," Vinnie said

"Practical," Ay said

"Cool." Shadow said

"Lasers," Fleetfeather said, not entirely unexpected.

"Alright," Gear said once he had heard their suggestions, "shadow, I think you've deserved to see me work. Fleetwing, if you'd like to you can join me aswell."

He turned to the two fillies, "I don't suppose you would like to join us?"

Both Vinnie and Ay shook their heads, "well just sit here and wait."

Lastly he turned to Sun, who quickly shook her head as well.

He turned back towards his lab, grabbing his goggles and his lab coat as he did.

"Well then boys," he said, smiling maniacally, "let's make wonders."

Chapter five: weirdness in a state of C

The basement.

So far Gear hadn't invited anyone down here, of course unbeknownst to him, Sun had already visited the place, and made a few discoveries. But for the first intentional time, somepony other than Gear himself, was visiting his lab.

should I feel violated or excited? he thought to himself, tapping his chin.

He decided to go with the latter.

"Dude, this place is sick."

Shadow was excited beyond belief. He had picked up a broken prototype from the garbage bin, it had small wings on either side. It was designed as an automatic Gardner, but unfortunately Gear couldn't get it to work.

If Shadow was excited, then Fleetfeather was in ecstasy. He was clumsily looking through prototypes, the garbage bin, everything that didn't seem off limits.

"Now if both of you could come here for a second then I have some instructions for you." Gear said.

Fleetfeather was there immediately, it seemed uncanny, almost like he had warped through time and space. Shadow was much more relaxed, yet he still retained that glee when you are introduced to something new and exciting.

"Good," Gear said as he coughed a little, "I'm gonna need Shadow," he paused to point at the black stallion, "to find some copper plates."

Shadow nodded, and headed in the direction of the materials. A small shelf with an assortment of boxes, ranging from small, to big, to just downright huge.

"Fleetfeather, you're gonna go and look in the garbage bin for a robotic eye about the size of a hoof," he said, stretching his own hoof out so his student could see what size he was referring to.

"On it," Fleetfeather said, saluting in a very serious manner, which was ruined by the giddy smile that had torn his face completely in two.

Gear himself needed to find the most important component, which was located in a small metal case on the material shelf. He needed to handle one of these himself. He held great trust in his students, but he didn't want them to get hurt.

The item in question was a small gem, it had five flat surfaces and was incredibly light.

He went to his work table, placing the gem off to the side. A few seconds later both of his students arrived with the materials he had been asking for. Shadow had a few plates in his mouth, even though he looked terribly uncomfortable while holding them. Fleetfeather had the robot eye in his hoof, it was slightly smaller than he could've wished for, but it would have to do.

"Just dump it here fellas." He said, indicating a hoof at the table.

They dropped their precious cargo, the plates landing with and audible clang, and the eye merrily rolling around before spinning slightly and laying still.

Gear was putting his goggles on, they were clear glass with some crystal outlines, just to make them a bit more sturdy. The weird gloves than sun had seen earlier was looming overhead, he placed one hoof in each, hearing the satisfying click as they caught onto his nerve system.

"Now guys, you may want to step back slightly."

"What's tha deal with you and Gear?"

Sun had been caught slightly off guard by Appleyards question. She and Vinnie had been in the middle of a conversation. So Appleyards question had literally come out of nowhere.

"I don't think I really understand?" She said, doing her best to look confused rather than startled.

"Oh please miss sun-"

"Sun is fine Ay, no need to call me miss outside of school." Sun said, smiling gently.

The earth pony smiled back before continuing, "it's clear as day that you like him, and don't tell me no, cause I know it ain't true."

If Sun had been startled before then now she was absolutely bewildered. What was Appleyards saying? She couldn't 'like' Gear, they were colleagues for ponies sake! Colleagues couldn't form relationships.

Right?

"I- I don't know what you're talking about Appleyard. Gear is just a friend." Sun said, smiling awkwardly.

"Look here Sun, It may not seem like it, but I've seen plenty of relationships go by in my time, some of em my own, some of em not." Ay paused slightly for dramatic effect, and to catch her breath. The cider she had been drinker had taken it toll, and she was slightly red headed, as well as sounding incredibly exhausted.

"So I can recognize a mare in love when I see one."

Sun had to take some time to let that sink in. Ay really thought that she loved Gear. Did she?

no, no, he-he's just a colleague she thought to herself, seeking to dismiss that annoying voice inside of her head

then why did you help him? Why did you stay at his house while he was recovering?

I couldn't just leave him there. He was hurt! she told herself again

you do realize that the medical team would've helped him even if you didn't right, he would've been perfectly fine.

but, he's my friend!

The voice of Vinnie thankfully broke her inner discussion.

"Whenever I'm in love," she said, looking dreamingly out of one of the few windows, "I always think about it too much, in stead of doing something about it."

Ay nodded sage like, "it's clear for both of us that you like him, but you need to realize that yourself too."

Sun nodded weakly, she looked down at the floor.

She needed something to drink.

"Why do we need to 'step back?" Fleetfeather asked disappointed

Shadow looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "you of all people should know how dangerous engineering is, especially when you aren't a unicorn."

Fleetfeather looked down, not wishing to remembering that burn mark.

"Just stand back." Gear said, clamping the fingers of his robotic gloves onto the small crystal. The tip of the pointer finger opened up, almost like a lid, revealing another small crystal, similar to the one on the table.

A small beam shot out, hitting the crystal on the table, searing into the delicate stone and charring where the beam hit. Gear moved the beam carefully above the surface of the gem, inscribing one of the sides with a small letter.

"What exactly are you doing?" Fleetfeather asked

Gear stopped the beam, leaving half an inscription on the surface of the gem. "I'm inscribing a griffin crystal." He said, seemingly he deemed this to be enough information.

"What in Luna's name is that?" Shadow asked, apparently taken aback.

Gear rolled his eyes, when he had first decided to invite them into his laboratory it was not so they could ask questions for him to answer.

"A griffin gem is, as the name would imply, a gem imported from the griffin kingdom. It's only unique use is its usefulness in programming, by inscribing certain 'words' into one of its surfaces. The more sides it has, the pricier it is." He said, ending the explanation by pointing at the gem.

"Oh," Shadow replied, "carry on then."

Gear nodded and turned the laser back on, occasionally looking at an opened book to his right which was labelled 'Equestrian to griffin.'

"Fleetfeather," Gear said, seeking to get the attention of the awed pegasus, Fleetfeather immediately snapped out of his trance and looked expectantly at his teacher.

"I need you to find the word cute in the guide." He said, nodding towards the book.

Fleetfeather was obviously disappointed, he had hoped for some sort of cool assignment, nothing particular, just something exciting. Nevertheless he complied, and started flipping through the huge book until he found the word 'cute.'

"Thank you," Gear said, now breathing heavily, he started searing the new letter into a new side of the gem.

This continued on for a while, once a letter was done Gear would ask either one of his students to flip to the next word.

"Okay, now for the last one," at this point, gears body was heavily shaking. An empty shell made of copper plates with a small robotic eye in the middle and rotor blades on top was lying next to the gem. All that Gear needed to do was inscribe his own name, and he would be done.

So on the top of the gem, he inscribed a small circle, with a wavery x in the middle.

His griffin name.

He carefully inserted the gem into the robotic eye, he heard the soft woom as the crystal clicked into place. He put the glass lid on, hearing it clicking he smiled satisfyingly.

"It's done." He said, his hooves detaching from the gloves. They were incredibly red, as if all his blood had been gathered there.

The eye of the small robot began blinking, the rotor blades on the top began spinning madly, and not long after that, the small contraption came flying towards its creator, eyeing him expectantly before moving in and nuzzling his metallic exterior against his chest.

"He's so cool!" Fleetfeather and Shadow said in unison, although shadow asked the next question on his own, "what should we call him?"

The inventor started tapping his chin and looking around the room. He found that robot names should always be named after objects, specifically those that dealt with scientific engineering. Finally his eye caught sight of a particular part, one that was located in quite a few steampunk robots, but actually hadn't been necessary to make this one.

"How about," Gear said, pausing for effect, "Gizmo?"

Appleyard and Vinnie had jumped from their seats as the stallions came back up from the cellar, a small metal ball curled up in Shadows magic aura.

"Is that what ah think it is?" Appleyard said, smiling at her teacher.

"It sure is," Fleetfeather answered before Gear could get a word out.

Gear grabbed the small metallic construct. Shadow got the message and his magic aura retreated from gizmo. The ball dropped lightly into the calm hoof of the inventor. He pressed his nose against a small button on the top, the two mares could hear spinning and whirring as the rotor blades on the top started churning.

Gizmos single red eye started flashing. He took flight, immediately noticing unknown ponies in front of him. His eyes started glowing an orange color as a scanner beam passed over them. As it found nothing of threat, the eye returned to its previous red state.

"This, is Gizmo," Gear said, the small robot currently making strange noises as he ruffled around in Vinnies mane.

"He's adorable!" Vinnie squealed, she was trying her best to control her fit of giggles.

"I've gotta admit mr. Gear, that's mighty impressive." Appleyard said, trying her best not to laugh at her friends giddiness.

Gear smiled lightly. They all liked it, everypony had seen it.

Except one.

"Where's sun?" Gear asked, if there was one pony who had to see it, it was her.

"She went to the bathroom half an hour ago." Vinnie said, looking slightly disgusted.

Now, Gear was many things, confused, easily distracted, slightly maniacal. But there was one thing he knew like his own hooves.

No pony could be in a bathroom for 30 minutes, not even a mare.

He ran quickly out to the door leading to his bathroom, the door wasn't locked so he opened up, and just as he had expected, it was empty.

And then he heard a small burp.

The sound had clearly come from his kitchen, so he went there to find out who was there.

As expected, sun.

What wasn't expected however, was her being surrounded in bottles upon bottles of alcohol, most of them empty.

"Sun, what in the name of Celestias revered flank did you do?" Gear almost shouted, he restrained himself however, not wishing to draw the attention of his students.

That wish was broken when sun saw him, her face lit up in a drunken and slightly cocky smile, "hey there Gear, I found yer liquor cabinet."

"Oh really?" He said, trying not to sound pissed, "do you know how much this stuff costs? Most of it is imported from all over the world!"

She rolled her eyes, "oh please, as if money matters anything to a bit sexy stallion like you." She was inching closer and closer, dragging herself by the kitchen counter.

Gear had to blink twice. Or was it thrice? To not lose his calm, and still his drunken colleague inched closer.

"C'mere," she yelled as she let go of the counter and pounced him. Her legs caught around his neck, her hind legs apparently not working properly.

Gear was knocked down, he wasn't exactly the strongest stallion, so a full grown mare latching onto his neck was more than enough to drag him to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Gear screamed loudly, not knowing how else to respond.

He got no answer.

In stead she just kissed him.

It lasted for all of five seconds, five horribly long and terrifying seconds. And just long enough for the others to walk in on it.

"Well well," Appleyard said, flashing a cocky smile, "look at the two lovebirds."

"Shut up Appleyard, she's drunk off her flank." Gear said, finally detaching his lips from Suns, "do any of you know where she lives?"

The four students shook their heads in unison, looking to each other for any ideas, and apparently Fleetfeather was the first to get one.

"Why doesn't she just sleep here?"

Everyone mentally facehoofed, except Sun, who greeted the idea with a seductive, "I'd love to," while making her best sexy face for the stunned inventor.

"Well, if there's no other options," gear said, pushing the drunk mare off of him, to her greatly vocal discouraging, "then I guess she'll have to sleep here."

He finally got back up, now it was his turn to lean against the counter, wiping his eyebrows he started thinking about the situation.

"Can you guys get her upstairs? The guest room is on the right when you reach the end of the stairs." Gear almost begged.

They all nodded at him again, Appleyard moving in and dragging the teacher to her hooves.

As his five friends finally walked upstairs, Gear went to bed, with one question plaguing his mind.

What about tomorrow?

Chapter six: I'd prefer hell

Ahh, my head

Sun springs could only complain in her thoughts. Firstly because she had an overpowering migraine that she knew would be even more painful if she started doing anything more physical than laying still.

Secondly, she didn't recognize where she was.

It was obviously a stylish place, the walls were clean shaven oak wood with carvings that looked like branches with leaves. The bed she was lying on was considerably more comfortable than her own. Hell, even the bedside lamp looked more pricy than her entire dining set.

ok sun, you've got to think. What happened last night? I found Gear's liquor cabinet, and then what? Oh god I don't remember! What should I do? Ahh, my head!

She pushed herself out of bed, much to her strained muscles protest. But eventually she managed to actually stand upon her incredibly wobbly legs.

And then she heard voices.

She couldn't hear them clearly. They were mostly muffled by the large door, and her migraine. But she could hear them, which meant that she probably hadn't gotten here by herself.

She looked around for something to defend herself with. Eventually her eyes caught onto a nearby vase with roses and various other flowers painted on it.

She heard a small click as the doorknob was turned, she raised the vase high over her head, preparing to hit whomever was walking in right on the head.

But hangovers don't do ponies well.

Her magic suddenly evaporated in mid swing, leaving her adversaries looking at her with weird eyes.

She toppled over herself, feeling weary from the exertion that came when unicorns used magic during a hangover. Imagine having to hold a car with each arm while simultaneously riding a bike. That's the kind of weariness you're looking for.

"Sun, what exactly are you doing?"

Was that Gear? She thought, while turning her head towards the voice. At the moment it was nothing more than a big brown blob. But after her eyes adjusted she could finally she him clearly.

And of course it was Gear.

So many thoughts were buzzing through Sun's head at that moment. am I at Gears house? What happened yesterday? Have I slept here? *have I slept WITH him here?***

"Hi Gear," she said while smiling awkwardly at her colleague. His brow rising even higher before he sighed and shook his head, as if he was disappointed at his little foal or something.

"Master, if I may come with a suggestion," Jasper's voice was still sounding calculating and cold, "I think miss Springs might be suffering from a severe migraine, if the tells are anything to go by. Might I suggest medication #43?"

"Yes Jasper, please do, and afterwards contact Samuel, I need to speak with him." Gear said as his eyes darted around, looking at anything else than sun.

"Will do master," Jasper said, then the small robotic eye retreated into the ceiling.

And thus began the awkward silence.

That went on for about two minutes, before Gear finally had enough waiting. "Can you remember anything from last night?" Gear asked.

"No, it's all such a blurry haze of nothingness," she said as she rubbed her forehead, "I don't think I've ever gotten this drunk."

"Well, you've tried something new then," Gear said before putting on a smile that was both smug and kind at the same time, "and have drank for about 500 bits worth of alcohol."

"500 BITS?!" Sun screamed, moments later her hoof hurried back to her forehead, forgetting how much sound actually hurt when you had a headache, "how can you even spend that much on beverages?"

"What's worth owning is worth paying for. But I hadn't imagined my pristine Applelosa whiskey would disappear after one day."

Sun's eyes found themselves unnaturally attracted by the floor. "I'm sorry," she said, not feeling in the mood to face a bill this large.

"Hey, nothing to worry about, everyone makes poor choices. Especially me." Gear said, sitting down next to her and patting her on the back, "if anything you should be lucky you got so drunk here and not while out on the town."

"But 500 bits Gear!" Sun said with force behind her words, "I can't even pay that back with a months worth of allowance."

"Then don't."

Sun had to blink twice before looking at him again, she had to blink a few more times as she saw that there was no smug smile on his face, there was no playful spark in his eyes. He just said it, sounding normal about it.

"B-but 500 bits..."

"Is not as big a worry for me as it is for you," Gear finished her sentence, although it might not be what she had wanted to say, "I may have to buy less expensive food, but that doesn't matter to me so much."

Sun was looking down at the floor again, trying to hold the tears back. What she had done would have ruined every other pony's economic balance and turned it to the shit. Even those who could survive it would have craved she payed back. But not him, he just took his problems others had caused and shrugged them off.

"I-I don't know what to say," Sun said, her eyes glistening over as a few droplets formed around her eyelids and slowly slid down her cheek.

"Thank you, that's usually a good place to start." Gear said, his joyful demeanor returning in full form, "now if you'll excuse me, you have a job to attend."

At the same moment Jasper came wizzing back into the room, a small package of pills was held in the robotic hand, "medication #43 sir." The robot said as he handed Gear the pills. He popped the lid off and offered Sun one. She greedily took one and gulped it down without and afterthought. Not long after she felt the migraine retreat, she could think, hear, and see clearly again.

"And you don't work at the university anymore?" Sun asked curiously, raising an eyebrow and wiping away the remaining moisture on her eyelids.

"Of course I do, but I have a meeting with a friend I don't wanna miss out on." Gear said.

"Sir Jasper is ready to meet you at the Shining Feather inn. Would you like me to find a map for you sir?" Jasper asked.

"Perfect, I'll get going," Gear said enthusiastically, completely ignoring the question the robot had asked mere seconds ago.

Sun sighed as she saw Gear hurry downstairs, she heard something that sounded an awful lot like him tripping over something, afterwards she heard cursing, and then lastly she heard the door slam shut.

She eventually decided that lying in bed would serve her no good. She had a job she needed to take care of, whether she wanted to or not was a matter of debate for her right now.

She made her way downstairs, catching a glimpse of the kitchen before she headed out the door. Safe to say, it wasn't a pretty sight.

For some reason the walk to the university seemed so much more cheerful than usual. She found herself skipping casually along, humming different songs, be it the winter wrap up melody, or something more close to home, like Flank Sinatra.

She eventually made it to the university, marveled at how much cleaner it looked than usual. Normally Firetail and his goons would have pelted it with random crap at this hour.

When the revolving doors opened up for her she saw that the group of students Gear had acquired as fanbase was sitting on a nearby bench. With one new member, a mare whom Shadow was currently making out with. Fleetfeather ironically was the first to notice her.

"Hey Miss suns!" He shouted and waved his hoof at her, making Shadow and his marefriend break the kissing and in stead look rather awkwardly at the teacher. Vinnie couldn't help but giggle, and even Appleyard was cracking a friendly smile at the twos bewilderment.

"Hey guys," she greeted them like she would any other friend, right now they actually had lunch break, so she wouldn't have to worry about them addressing her, or vice versa.

"So, how did it go after we left you?" Vinnie asked, now smiling deviously in a manner only a school filly could. "Did anything 'special' happen?"

Sun rolled her eyes exasperatedly, but still smiling, "no, nothing has happened, so you can stop hoping for a detailed description."

"Hi, I'm Still six," said the mare whom Shadow had been kissing vigorously with beforehand, "I'm, Shadows marefriend, if that wasn't obvious." She grinned nervously, pushing her dark green and black mane out from her eyes. Her cutie mark was what looked to be a hoof full of cards.

"I can't help it Six, you're just too sexy," Shadow said, he sounded restrained in his breathing, as if having her sitting on his lap was actually hurting him.

"Oh you," Six said  pecking him carefully on his nose.

"If you guys do not stop I will literally puke all over your sorry arses," Fleetfeather said, peeking up from his comic book.

"What do you have against romance?" Six asked, sounding offended. Mind you it's the kind of offended where you have the worlds largest grin placed on your face before asking, so it's kinda hard to keep up the act.

"Nothing, I have something against Vamponies who have confused someone's mouth for their throat, but I've got nothing against romance."

Appleyard spit her juice onto the floor, some of it dripping  out her nose, "you son of a bitch," she laughed as she jabbed at him, "you made me me spittake my Discord damn juice."

Soon the entire six of them were laughing maniacally, drawing the attention of some of the other students, others joined in with them. Taking in the contagious nature of laughter and just rolling with it.

Yet there was only one thought going through Suns head.

if only Gear was here too.

"So then, what exactly is the problem?"

Gear was sitting opposite Samuel, or rather Sam, he preferred that. Unusually he wasn't there with a beer or hard alcohol. In stead he was holding a soda, not something he usually indulged in, but getting drunk wasn't really something he wanted right now.

Especially not after last nights ordeal.

"It's a mare," Gear answered and took another swig of his soda. The sweet taste doing him good.

"Ahh, romance problems," Sam said and took a sip of the beer he had chosen. Usually a place like the Shining Feather inn wouldn't sell soda, unless somepony payed twice the price, and Gear seriously didn't want to look for an establishment that sold soda at this hour.

"You could call it that."

"Well, do tell," Sam said and downed the rest of the beer.

"What exactly should I do to garner the attention of a mare who's already made the first move?"

Sam tapped the table for a while, nodding sagely once a while when he thought up something good. Finally he reached a conclusion.

"Ask her out."

Gear sighed, that was pretty much the answer he had expected. But still It felt weird, he had only known Sun for a few days, and she..... Seemed charming enough. So he wanted to ask her out, to find out whether or not this was a real thing

"What, not gonna thank me for the advice?"

"I'll thank you if it works." Gear said as he walked towards the exit, grabbing his hat off the table as he did.

"Good luck!" Sam yelled as he called the waiter over.

yeah, im gonna need it