"Gadget!" Delmar stated flatly as he was ushered back into the dungeon, "Your turn."
Welp. Here goes nothing.
Wait...
"What were you asked?" I began, standing up from my little corner of loneliness.
"Flim-Flam stuff." he replied, "Nothing else."
I guess that shouldn't be too hard to answer then. Anyways, it's my turn for interrogation again.
Boy, does history repeat itself or what?!
And no, I'm not being interrogated this time by some science dude who would later become my friend and help me build a portal. I'm just saying that I'm being interrogated pointlessly again.
So, from the looks of it, I'm being interrogated by some "Sunny Skies" unicorn mare with what's probably one of the most unamused faces I've ever seen.
"Okay," she began, setting down her clipboard, "Your friend back there, "Professor" Delmar, claims to have had nothing to do with the Flim-Flam Corporation. Now, let me ask you the same thing; are you affiliated in any way with the Flim-Flam Corporation?
"No?" I responded quietly, "Why do you suspect us of any of this?"
Sunny Skies sighed. "I saw you two staring at the flyer earlier today, and given the recent reports of ponies and people emerging out of nowhere onto land owned by the Apple Family, I became suspicious, and followed you and your friend."
I frowned. "What gave you the idea to knock us out and drag us into this dump?"
Sunny Skies shrugged. "I must've gotten into the heat of the moment. I'm still pretty new at this."
"Isn't there someone else who could do it better then? We're kinda trying to find Celestia."
For a moment, I saw Sunny flinch. "Well..." she began, "My mother used to be the one who would go out on missions, and up until a few years ago before she died, I rarely every paid attention to her lessons."
Okaaaay... this is getting a bit weird now.
"And?" I continued, "Why did you suspect us aside from pure suspicion?"
"I--I was originally supposed to do a quick inspection of the site when I arrived, but I saw you and Delmar walking into the trees, and one thing led to another, so I--"
"Woah, woah..." I said calmly, cutting her off, "From what you're saying, and from what I can tell right now as well as how you mentioned Delmar multiple times without ever actually asking his name, I'm guessing that you're Celestia?"
Sunny Skies sulked, dropping her disguise with a flash of her horn. "Yeah," she mumbled, "I'm still far too young for these duties."
...
...
"How old are you?" I suddenly asked, catching Celestia off guard.
"Seventeen, going on eighteen soon."
Aaaaaaaand now I know why she said she's too young for this.
"So," I continued, "Your mother was Celestia, and same goes for her mother, her mother's mother, and so on all the way down the line?"
Sunny Skies--Celestia nodded nervously. I'm pretty sure that at this point, I'm the one doing the interrogating.
"How did your mom die when you're at such a young age?" I asked curiously, looking into the (Alicorn?)'s eyes.
Not that she's visibly not an alicorn. It's just that I never suspected that alicorns were so different from the show's representation of them...
"Warring factions." Celestia replied, "A few years ago, my mother left without a word to fend off an invading force somewhere along the border. All I know is that a few days later, I ended up being coronated as the new Queen."
"...Ouch..." I mumbled, "So, about the method that you used for Delmar getting into Equestria..." I continued, changing the topic.
"Oh, that?" Celestia replied, "I already knew that there was a ton of paperwork to handle when it came to immigration, so I thought that it would be a good idea to just... y'know, stare at them until they tell me about themselves. Equestria doesn't really seem to get very many immigrants, anyways."
"So you replaced the paperwork with staring." I deadpanned.
"Yes?" Celestia replied meekly, "I mean, the biggest threat that I've encountered so far is the Flim-Flam investigation."
"But what about the Lunar Republic?" I asked, "I thought you passed those new ID laws to protect Equestria from attack?"
"Lunar Republic?" Celestia mumbled, furrowing her brow, "I... I don't know really anything about them besides that they were allied with the invaders that killed my mom."
I paused for a moment to let it sink in.
"So you didn't pass the laws to prevent invasion."
"No," Celestia replied, "I already said that I did it to get rid of the horrid piles of paperwork."
...
...
...
OH WAIT. WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING?! I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR CELESTIA ALL THIS TIME, AND I'M SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER!
...
...
"Okay..." I finally began, breaking the silence, "So what if I told you that I've been living in another universe for the past eleven or so years?"
So.
Is this even Gadget's Equestria?
Is this Equestia an offshoot of Startard Glimtard's stupidity?
I'm getting so confused, so much that I'm losing interest.
8513379
It's still Gadget's Equestria. The Celestia I'm referencing was mentioned in one of the earliest chapters of the story.
As for Equestria itself, it's in no way related to Starlight Glimmer's screwup. It's just me trying to do some decent worldbuilding.
Sorry if you're losing interest. I'll see what I can do to make the next few chapters a bit less confusing to understand.
My brain turned into melted jello at this point. I have no Idea what is going on anymore...
8513389
Any suggestions on making it clearer then?
'Cause seriously. All I wanted to do in this chapter was toss in a plot twist on Celestia. I really didn't think that this would happen...
8513390
Well, this development in her character explains an awful lot about decisions that were made... I'd like to ask how, if you plan on it, you might incorporate Limbo, the Pillars of Equestria, and Stygian/the Shadow; these things have suddenly interested me.
8513456
I'd like to incorporate those at some point, but I haven't been able to read the comics that they're from. The last MLP comic I read was I think issue #35 of the main series.
EDIT: The last I read was main series issue #53, not #35.
Either way, I think I could at least do something about the Limbo realm between worlds...
8513481
"From the comics..."? "Realm between worlds"?! I was talking about the season seven finale!
8513503
...oh. I thought you were talking about the Legends of Magic comics.
Well, you probably know where Gadget's scattermindedness comes from.
8513509
To be entirely fair, they're the same characters, if memory serves; either way, we know what happened to Starswirl, finally.
8513513
Who's the same characters? I was referring to how Gadget's slight absentmindedness was based off of myself from elementary school.
Ok, so this AU implements the Celestia recursion method. And she's untrained? Well, things are getting interesting again.
Better not let the stiffs back home know she's just a teenager, that would not end well...
Keep going! ;)
8513518
"So you're saying that the leading figure of the country we want to establish trade with isn't even of legal age?!"
"...yes?"
"..."
8513520
Not only that, but the more shrewd would abuse that inexperience and take harsh advantage of the situation, almost like a plane full of candies.
8513528
Exactly.
8513516
The Pillars, actually.
8513834
Oh. Okay.