Gadget Rust and Twilight Sparkle entered the Carousel Boutique, Gadget being completely mesmerized by the various clothes and materials around the shop. He wondered what the various materials were for. Were they required for, obviously, clothing? Or possibly blankets, bed sheets, or curtains?

“Wow… This looks very high class. These clothes and threads look like something only customers from Canterlot buy. I couldn’t possibly afford these if I sold all my inventions! Simply a marvel, these items…” Gadget said, looking around the store with a slack jawed expression. Twilight was fairly surprised that Gadget had a fascination for clothing. Then again, it was his first time outside of his workshop in maybe weeks or months.

Gadget looked at his own self through the mirror and admired his looks. It was much cleaner than the one he had in his house, which was a bonus. He grinned with confidence, but looked at Twilight to see she was looking in the other direction, possibly waiting for the owner of the shop to appear. He began to make faces in the mirror to himself and he giggled.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked which Gadget immediately stopped goofing around and turned to Twilight with an innocent smile. Soon, he heard hoof steps and he saw the owner of the store come towards them. She had a purple mane and white body. A cutie mark with three diamonds on her flank accompanied with her.

“Twilight, what brings you here? Oh, and I see you’ve brought a new pony to the store.” The white pony said. Twilight smiled and looked at Gadget and nodded. She stepped forward by a step and cleared her throat.

“Rarity, this is my new friend Gadget Rust. He’s an inventor in that barn near the Everfree Forest. He was the pony that made a loud machine rumble the ground, remember?” Twilight said, introducing Gadget as he bowed lightly in respect. Unfortunately, Rarity didn’t acknowledge his bow and instead, she circled around him, which made Gadget very uncomfortable.

“U-Um… What are you doing?” Gadget asked as Rarity inspected every inch of him such as his tail, mane, and eyes. She smiled and nodded, answering with “You have a unique physique and very excellent mane! Please wait right there, I have to get you something.”

His face gave off confusion and worry about what might happen. Twilight looked at Gadget and said “Don’t worry. She’s just going to make you try on some clothes. Believe me, this happened to me too.” Soon, Rarity returned with many different articles of clothing and Gadget began to back away slowly, not really wanting to volunteer.

It was a losing battle for him. Rarity immediately pulled him to a mirror and practically forced him to try on various clothes, which Gadget always looked at himself when wearing them with disbelief. “I wouldn’t wear this. I’m not this… Hip.” Gadget thought as he was going through the “torture”.

When it was finally over minutes later, Gadget shook off a hat and looked at Rarity with anger. “So which one do you fancy the most?” Rarity asked, smiling away at him with Twilight watching from the side. Gadget huffed and walked out of the Carousel Boutique to take his stress outside.

Rarity looked at Twilight and asked “What’s wrong with him?” which Twilight sighed and explained to Rarity that it was his first time being outside for a long time, which Rarity soon felt pretty bad for making Gadget try on so many clothes without his permission.

“I should really apologize…” Rarity suggested, walking outside of the Carousel Boutique with Twilight and seeing Gadget pace around in frustration, muttering. Rarity and Twilight trotted slowly to Gadget, which he noticed them and breathed in deeply and exhaled. “I’m sorry Gadget Rust. I shouldn’t have been so careless about what you thought. Please accept my apology.” Rarity stated, looking regretful.

Gadget smiled a little and said “I-It’s okay Rarity. I understand why you did it. You wanted me to look my best and of course, I wasn’t really ready for it and you should’ve really asked first. It’s not your fault though. I-I was just so nervous to speak to you.” Rarity smiled back at him, and Twilight nodded to Gadget.

“Well, we should really be going Rarity. I have to introduce him to everypony else. Do you want to meet Applejack, Rainbow Dash, or Fluttershy?” Twilight said, looking at Gadget with a smile. Gadget began to think about the three names and which one would interest him the most.

“I think maybe Applejack. Name sounds pretty self-explanatory.” Gadget decided which Twilight nodded once again and began to trot away to Sweet Apple Acres, with Gadget following along. As they began their journey to Sweet Apple Acres, Gadget wondered what Applejack looked like. Possibly a tough looking farmer that is always serious about picking apples.

“S-So… This Applejack fellow… Does his life revolve around apples all the time, similar to how my life revolves around inventions? I mean, my name is Gadget Rust and his name is Applejack, so…” Gadget said, looking at Twilight with question, but even she looked back at him with question.

“You think Applejack is a he? What makes you think that?” Twilight asked with curiosity. Gadget shrugged and didn’t answer, but he would soon know who Applejack was and it was going to surprise him.

Moments later, they entered Sweet Apple Acres, Gadget looked at the barn, very surprised at how colourful it was and he wondered if Applejack would approve of that color. Gadget turned his head to the right, to see a red pony pulling a plough, which he assumed right away that the pony was Applejack.

“Wow. Applejack must be a hard worker, doing all of this by himself. That’s very fascinating!” Gadget said, expressing awe towards the red pony, Twilight looking at the pony as well.

“Uh… Gadget, that’s not Applejack. That’s her brother Big Macintosh.” Twilight said in a matter-of-fact tone. Gadget tilted his head and suddenly, his eyes widened in shock.

“A-Applejack’s a girl?!? She did all this?” Gadget said, his voice expressing disbelief. Twilight shook her head lightly and giggled at his sudden outburst.

“No. She has a family that helps her with the farm sometimes. Big Macintosh does all the hard work though.” Twilight said with a smile, which Gadget slowly calmed down and became collected.

“I-I see. So, should we look for her?” Gadget suggested which Twilight nodded in agreement and trotted off to a field of apple trees and soon Gadget followed. It was a strange farm to him. So many apple trees and it was pretty big by what he saw.

“I wonder if they make a lot of pies with these apples…” Gadget thought, but stopped pondering as soon as he heard a thump not too far away. Gadget looked to where he heard the sound to see an orange pony with a yellow mane and hat, bucking apples off the trees. Immediately, he assumed that pony to be Applejack because of her unique appearance and nice hat. Although, he was surprised that Applejack could actually buck apples off a tree without even the thought of just picking them.

“Applejack! Over here!” Twilight yelled, smiling at her and Applejack stopped, smiling back and looking at Gadget.

“Well, howdy there stranger! What’s your name?” Applejack said, approaching the two with baskets on her side, filled with apples. Gadget smiled wide, showing his teeth in nervousness.

“M-My name is uh, Gadget Rust. I-I’m an inventor who lives in that house near the Everfree Forest. Perhaps you’ve seen it? I-It’s nothing special, really.” Gadget introduced himself, which Applejack was impressed that there was an inventor in Equestria.

“No kidding? You make inventions? Well shoot, maybe you can make some things to help with the farm!” Applejack suggested with a smile, but Gadget was a bit off-put out by her accent and wondered why all the ponies he’s met so far, why Rarity and Applejack are the ones with odd accents.

“Oh… Maybe I will. I’ll put it on the list. Not that there’s much on the list anyway that will work.” Gadget said, chuckling awkwardly and accidentally causing a moment of silence until Twilight spoke up.

“Well, we should be going. He has to meet Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, so we’ll leave you back to your work.” Twilight stated, heading off to find Fluttershy and almost pulling Gadget along, so he wouldn’t be so distracted and ask Applejack a lot of questions about apples. If he ever asked her, he would have been stuck for a while.

-----

Eternal Rain grinned as Gadget’s anger with Rarity gave him plenty of power and he laughed to himself. Slowly, he stood up and looked at the sky with a dark smile.

“Finally… I have enough power to escape from the shackles of this forest. Be ready ‘Princess’. I will be coming for you soon enough. For now, I will need to visit Ponyville for a little bit. I have some… things I need to get.” Eternal Rain spoke to himself and galloped out of the Everfree Forest, jumping up into the sky, spreading his dark gray Pegasus wings and flying across the sky, his hood being pulled back by the wind to show his helmet and red eyes. As he flew, he laughed loudly, making it echo across Ponyville and possibly reached all the way to Canterlot.

“Now it begins. I, Eternal Rain, shall rule all of Equestria with my power!” Eternal Rain shouted, flying down to Ponyville and landing in the town square with a stomp, which caught the attention of everypony in the vicinity.

Next Chapter: Chapter 4: Eternal Reign Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 12 Minutes