//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The Ice Cream Pony Awakes 
// by in10secondsflat 
//------------------------------//

        The syrup was... strange. It felt like it didn’t belong on them. It tried to attach and begin the transformation process but ended up just rolling off. It was like sitting in something that was trying to get away from you in all directions... making it bounce back towards you again. They shifted around in it for awhile, letting it run over their hooves.
“So now we’re sitting in a tub of syrup?”
“mmhmm”
“Should we get out?”
“NEVER!” A nasal voice shrieked.
“I guess so.”
They walked down the handy set of stairs marked “EXIT” to their left and examined their surroundings. It looked more or less like a bulk food store. With strange objects up on the shelves in place of apples and hay... "Ok, so the eggs should be under aisle...” Bon Bon started...
“What? they aren’t marked.”
Well why would they be marked?
“For ease of finding things of course. Oh, maybe it’s in some kind of code.”
Ah see what ya mean, they must have written reverse morse code in tiny print on the top of these aisles...
“Maybe we should look in the pet department.” Derpy chimed in, nodding to her left, towards the leftern most aisle of the stone warehouse.
“That makes sense.” They trotted off down the aisles towards the pet department. 

===

“Nice work.”
“What?”
“You let the ponies get away!” He spun around in his chair facing his henchmen for the first time. Sitting in his dark office... Well it wasn’t what he looked like. It was the way he was sitting. He was sitting like a human. “Well... at least that the test revealed what we wanted it to. Strum Awesomeposture was, in fact, replaced by a robot properly. You see, the only ponies that would get transformed into glue would be me and Strum Awesomeposture, at this time. After the gates were open to let humans into Equestria, back in the eighties. We are part of a very long and annoying habit of sitting like this, after Megan first came here. It gives us just enough human to be affected by the syrup. She was given this key from some idiot to let a gate to Equestria open. She didn’t even share it either. Greedy little kid if you ask me.”
“What happened to her?” This was the first time he had every been told this. He was proud of himself for keeping this job for so long though. Longer than the others at least.
“She aged very quickly. Compared to us, at least. They are on a very different system of time where she came from. She almost deserved it in my opinion.”
“Always like your optimism sir!”
“I’m glad!”
“So where is Strum Awesomeposture now?”
A wild grin stretched across Krastos’s face. “With Pinkie Pie. My most trusted agent.”

===

“Mmk then,” Derpy started. She was peering into a large cage hanging from the ceiling. “well here are the shutterflies over here... they are kind of creepy aren’t they...”
Bon Bon peered over her shoulder. “What the... anyways,” she stepped back to where she was earlier. “ok, remember! Purple polka dotted mane! Six legs!”
“We would forget?” said the purple polka dotted one.
“Well maybe you wouldn’t, but you’re the thing’s sister.”
“But that doesn’t mean... oh whatever.”
So where exactly would this six legged pony be since you seem to know it?
“I dunno, but I would think they’d be organized in some sort of way... I think purple polka dots usually follow wings doesn’t it?”
Ah think... hmm...
They wondered on for a little longer through the aisle oohing and what the-ing. By now Strum was more or less being dragged by Bon Bon. Derpy then had the great idea to stick her hoof in a light socket. “I electricuted myself!”
Suddenly there was a call from the opposite end of the long aisle, about eighty feet away.
“I’m a good guy!” 
“Isn’t that the same pony who tried to turn us into glue earlier?”
“Well... kind of,” he replied, hesitant, slowly walking towards them. “I used the wrong kind of syrup to make sure that you wouldn’t be turned into glue. I’m not like my dad, I don’t like to turn ponies into glue.”
What’re you talkin’ bout Krastos?
“What? You think I’m Krastos? I’m just his henchmen I mean son.”
*Gasp*
“Are not!” Bon Bon shouted in response.
“Are too!”
“Are not!”
“Are too!”
“Are not!”
“Are too!”
“Are not!”
“Look! I think Applejack has been saying too many things directly through plot lately.”
Has not!
“Has too!”
“Fine...“ Applejack’s ears pulled back and she apologized, “Sorry, guess ah got carried away... Ah’ll go ahead and try usin’ more dialogue...”
“Great! ok, now if you will just follow me around the corner of this aisle here I can get you out of here... Don’t worry, we also have some puppies and candy in the vehicle we will be driving in...”
They all sighed in relief. “But what about the magic sparkly eggs?”
“Eh... I guess we could could buy some before we leave... the register’s right over here…”
Rainbow Dash grabbed a package of the eggs off the shelf next to her. 
And how exactly did you know where those were? “Uh... Ah’m mighty sorry... Habit ya know...” she added when Derpy shot her a glance.
“Because otherwise the ‘author’ of this would have to be more creative with how we found these.”
“Ah see. Well let’s get goin’ then!”

===

“Ok, you got the eggs? Good... Now we can get going..." They stepped through a hallway and into the open air. They could now see that they were standing on a structure built out from the side of a massive canyon. In front of them lay a pegasus drawn limosuine. 
They started walking towards it. Strum Awesomeposture was actually walking again. The purple polka dotted pony casually slipped behind her. As they neared the limousine the not Rainbow Dash suddenly shoved her as hard as she could into it.
Strum Awesomeposture never had a chance to sit down. She plummeted into the bottomed pit.
“What? What are you looking at me like that for? She was a robot you know. Kind of obvious.”

===

“Twitchy tip of third eyelash! Twitchy tip of third eyelash! You know what this means...”
“Actually no,” Strum Awesomeposture responded in her place behind the door.
“Oh fine, I’ll let you out. The others might need you anyways.” She grabbed a key out of another dimension and unlocked the door.
“Finally! And what does it mean again?”
“It means obviously that Rainbow Dash pushed a robot off the edge of a cliff inside of a canyon, to save her friends but really somepony specifically, and that she was wearing a disguise at the time.”
“Obviously.”
“And now you have to go find them and help them with your mastery of disguises.”
“...No.”
“What? Why not?”
She thought for a second. “Well, now I guess I could do it. What could it hurt.”
“Years of never wanting anything to do with any of this again and now you’d like to?”
“Yeah. Pretty much. I mean that ice cream wasn’t bad.”
“Now we just need to get you there...”
“Two disguises coming up, eh?” she said. Now she was ready, her indecisiveness skills primed. 

===

“So you knew about this then?” Bon Bon asked.
“Well yeah.”
“And you didn’t say anything...?”
“Well did you see any handy cliffs around before then?”
“Ok, I can see the logic in that. But how exactly are we going to get home now?” Behind her Derpy was peering over the edge and looking at their giant snow mobile.
“How far did we even go to get here?” She eventually camed up and asked them.
“Well ah don’t know about y’all, but ah’m certainly not counting the paragraphs.”
“No not that... anyways, I guess we can always look through Krastos’s layer for something. Do you have your muffins Derpy?”
“Nope! That syrup was nasty...”
“Your apples?” She was optimistic at times.
“Ah’m dead certain ah don’t!”
“And of course Twixie won’t have anything.”
“Hay!”
“Well ya never know... Ah guess...“
“Either way, I guess we’ll be fine. Let’s get going then."

===