Author's Note

This chapter, much like the previous one, is a pitch that utilizes Twilight and Gadget as characters. This was actually written first, and the 3k-word chapter second. However, I ran into some mild writer's block after the scene transition when Twilight tells Gadget that they should head home after the sinkhole has opened. I ended up resolving it with the return of the ice cream PE chapter in the 3k-word pitch, although it could've just as easily fit here instead. For that reason, aside from how they open, these two chapters are very much alternate versions of each other.

The previous chapter spends less time building things up, instead being far more straight-to-the-point as it transitions from the opening slice-of-life into the dread-ridden incident that would kick off the rest of the fic. This one by comparison starts off in a similar way to PE#4, with Gadget explaining to Twilight why she's building a flamethrower.

(alternate beginning/scrapped) Twilight, Gadget, and Spike were displaced into an alternate universe? (PE#16.1)

Thunk.

She stuck her tongue out a little, carefully lighting her horn again. She had to be reeeeaaaally slow with this, 'cause if she went too fast, then the whole thing could go boom! Or fall apart. Probably fall apart more than going boom.

Click.

There. That was the final piece. The weird nozzle thingy that--

"Gadget,"

A chill ran up the filly's spine. "Yesssss?" she slowly looked up, her eyes meeting the mare looming behind her.

"Gadget, you know that you should keep the fuel line disconnected when you're working on stuff like this, even if the valve's turned off. One little spark is all it takes for the table, or even the whole room to burst into flames."

Gadget hung her head. "Sorry, Twilight."

"Just be careful, 'kay?" Twilight sat down beside her on the workbench, ruffling her mane before leaning a little closer. "So, whatcha workin' on this time? Usually when you're working on stuff by yourself it's something a lot more mechanical in nature."

Gadget grinned as she slid the contraption over. "My own kind of homemade fire magic! See?" she lit her horn again, flipping the device onto its side. "You already saw the fuel tube and stuff. There's this biiiig long tube here that goes down to the can of hairspray. I took off the actual spray part so that the tube can--"

"Gadget, that's a flamethrower." Twilight pulled Gadget's creation closer. "You made it hoof-mounted? Does it even have a valve in the first place to control--"

"Yeeeeee!"

"Are you sure you should be doing this?"

"Everypony keeps telling me that I'm too old to learn fire magic," Gadget took her flamethrower back. She slid her hoof into the mount. "Miss Cheerilee says that since I didn't learn the basics when I was younger, it's possible that I might not be able to control my magic well enough and make the fire go crazy and stuff. Something about how I have more mana or whatever compared to the magic kindergarteners."

She stared down at the device for a little longer in silence.

Moving around as much as she did sucked.

"Gadget," Twilight placed her own hoof on the device. "I think there'd be more concern over a filly walking around with something like this strapped to her than if she was a little late to learning some basic spells. Did you ask anypony to teach you before you made this?"

"You," Gadget retracted her hoof from beneath Twilight's. "You told me the same thing when I asked. You asked me if I knew about how ignition works and if I knew how to 'regulate my mana output'." she lit her horn, turning a valve on her flamethrower. "Even after I learned all that stuff, you still told me that you couldn't teach me here!"

She twirled her gauntleted hoof in a circle. A series of clicks rung out from the device with each cycle before a small flame flickered to life at the tip of her hoof. "So I took everything I learned, and I built this instead! I promise that this one's extra safe!"

"This one?" Twilight's gaze drifted to the heap of scrap beside the workbench--much of which bore visible singe marks.

Gadget waved her hooves in front of Twilight. "'Inventing and building new things is a process filled with failure', that's another thing that you told me. Even if I can't do magic very well, I still wanna make cool stuff like you!"

"Such as..."

"Book sorting machine," Gadget began, "The weird grass machine thingy, um..." she tapped her free on her desk in thought. "Oh, and the mirror portal that you brought back! I know you didn't build all of it by yourself, but you built a ton of stuff all around it. Anyway, watch this!"

She turned a dial on her gauntleted hoof. The flame shrunk to a dim glow, emitting a quiet buzz that filled the air. She pointed her hoof at a sheet of paper on her desk, grinning at Twilight as it lifted.

"I gave it a mode where I can use it to make stuff move around instead of burn!"

Twilight's eyes followed the sheet as it hovered about. "Gadget," she turned her head. "I told you I couldn't teach you here. Not that I wouldn't teach you at all."

The paper floated back down to the desk's surface.

"Really?" Gadget turned the dial back on her flame gauntlet. "You mean--"

"Got a wide-open field waiting for you," Twilight ruffled her mane again.

"Alright! Especially given your lack of control, I want you to plant your hooves firmly in the ground, got that?"

Gadget nodded, glancing down at the soil beneath her.

"Wider stance!" Twilight shouted from the sidelines. "We don't know how strongly it'll come out on this first time, so you'll want to brace yourself before you get blown away."

Gadget adjusted herself.

"Now, I want you to feel the flow of mana inside you. Normally, you'd do this without really thinking when you're using your magic for, say, telekinesis. But this is where the risk comes into play. Instead of giving yourself a target object to pick up or manipulate, all you do this time is release."

"Does that mean I'm actually burning my mana, then?"

"Something like that. Ready?"

"Ready!"

Twilight stepped back a little more, a faint glow enveloped around her horn.

"Go!"

Gadget shut her eyes. Just like she always did when she was using her horn, she felt a trickle of warmth work its way through her body. It almost felt like she was blushing in a way, except that instead of going to her cheeks, it went to her horn instead.

She didn't have to open her eyes to know that her horn was probably blazing with magic right now.

One last step, ignition.

Gadget clenched her jaw, mentally diverting a portion of the mana collecting at the tip of her horn into a basic light spell. A little bit stronger than what she'd usually do for it--just enough that it'd make things heat up really fast for a split second.

Shoom! A tremble ran through the ground.

Wait.

Gadget opened her eyes, mana still sitting in an unstable aura wrapped around her horn as the shuddering beneath her intensified. "Twilight--" she wavered on her hooves, gaze darting up to her horn.

She had to fire off the spell now before it backfired on her.

"Let it out!" Twilight shouted, her own horn's glow intensifying as her pink aura wrapped around Gadget's legs. "All at once if you have to! I'll pull you over immediately after!"

Gadget did exactly that.

The wave of heat she felt from earlier intensified into an inferno burning from her chest to her horn. For probably the first time ever, she could feel the flow of mana--not just in the metaphorical 'how to control your magic' kind of way that she'd been taught before, but like, physically. It was hard to really describe it, too. Electric feeling, maybe? Bubbling?

Didn't matter right now. She poured all the mana she had out, raw and unrestricted. She clenched her eyes shut again, bracing herself against the rocking ground beneath her as she let a momentary spark erupt from the tip of her horn into the stream of mana.

Another wave of heat, this time external, hit her like a wall as the fireball in front of her burst into existence. At almost the same time, the ground beneath her fell away.

"Gadget!"

"Mmm. Your parents aren't gonna like hearing about this."

Gadget stirred, turning over in Twilight's lap and groaning. Every part of her was sore right now. Like she was run through a shredder and then dunked in hot water.

"You're lucky I was holding onto you already, that's all I'm saying."

She opened her eyes, looking around at their surroundings. She turned her head, staring at the giant pit that'd opened where she was standing earlier.

"I did that?" she pointed a hoof.

Twilight shook her head. "I'd be more than impressed if you did, but no. Not entirely, at least. That sinkhole opened up from a combination of whatever earthquake hit us and the blast from the explosion you made. Just stay still for now. Even though you did release it before any permanent damage can happen, you're still showing some signs of backfire. Being surprised by the earthquake really didn't help, either."

For the second time, Gadget felt herself lift into the air. Twilight stood up beside her, her horn still glowing as she draped the filly over her back.

"Let's head back home."

"Yeah."