CHAPTER 15: THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR
Pinkie lead the group away from the Carrot Room and down the hallway. Eventually they turned down another hallway, leaving the many doors behind. The one they were walking down now was mostly bland.
But halfway down, Pinkie stopped. Apple Bloom looked around, and saw that Pinkie had stopped by a window. At least….it looked like a window. One with a large noticeable line down the middle.
So it was quite a surprise when Pinkie pressed a button next to it and the “window” slid open. On the other side was what looked like a glass box, with hundreds of glass buttons covering three of the walls.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier,” said Pinkie. “The Elevator’s by far the most efficient way to get around the factory”.
She walked through the doorway and motioned for the others to follow. After a few strange looks, they all filled in. Thankfully there was just enough room for the five of them to move around.
“There can’t be this many floors…..can there?” asked Button.
“There can,” replied Pinkie. “For you see this isn’t an ordinary up and down elevator: this elevator can go sideways, longways, slantways, and any other ways you can think off”.
Apple Bloom marveled at the many different buttons that surrounded her. Taking a closer look, she saw rooms like Spewed Dumplings, Whizzdoodles, Chocolate Lip Rookies, and even a few she’s already been to like Inventing Roomand Chocolate Room.
“So how exactly does it work,” asked Love Tap.
“Simple,” said Pinkie. “You just press any button,” Pinkie pressed a random button next to her, “and WHOOSH, you’re off!”
Everypony was thrown to the side as the Elevator zoomed down a passage to the right. When it exited, Apple Bloom say that they were in a HUGE space. Large rooms and walkways were suspended high above a dark casim. Many different areas sat beneath them, and railings criss-crossed from them.
The elevator came to a sudden stop, only for it to shoot forward towards a large circular room. Icicles hung from the bottom, and a strange mist hung around the place.
The elevator moved through a small opening, and when it got to the other side, the outside turned white. Snow was falling and blowing all around them: like the weather outside.
But when Apple Bloom looked down, she gasped in shock. And when the others turned to see what she saw, they gasped as well. Because sitting below them was a large brown mountain. Its peak almost reached the elevator, giving just enough room to pass over.
“Fillies and Gentlecolts, Welcome to Fudge Mountain. We store all of our fudge in this cold environment until it is needed,” said Pinkie. “When we do, it’s chiseled away and sent for packing”.
Apple Bloom scanned the mountain, and saw a lot of Oompa Loompas hooked to climbing ropes. Most were unicorns, and they were using chisels and hammers to break pieces of fudge from the mountain. Some looked up and waved as they passed by. Apple Bloom even saw one dressed in lederhosen and yodeling into a large horn.
“Wow, they really have everything,” she said to herself.
The Elevator passed by a platform that had a stairway leading to the bottom before exiting the room through another opening. Once it was back out in the large void, it turned a corner and headed towards another room.
The elevator passed through a neon-lit entrance, and the group looked around the room. It was fairly small compared to the mountain room. Large tubes filled with what looked like cotton-candy flowed through the room.
But what caught Apple Bloom’s attention (along with the others) was a platform in the center. Two Oompa Loompas stood on either side, with something else in the middle. However something was off.
The two Oompa Loompas had an orange pelt, green manes, white eyebrows, and wore brown shirts with white overalls. The thing in between them looked like a very fluffy pony. It was bright pink, and given the muzzle must have been a mare. It bounced in place as one of the Oompa Loompas took a razor and shaved off all of it’s fluff.
But just as he finished, the fluff grew back in the span of a millisecond. The other Oompa Loompa took a pick fork and began tossing the fluff into a machine. The pink pony looked over at the group, smiled, and waved.
Everypony turned and looked at Pinkie, all with confused looks on their faces. Pinkie looked at the scene and then back at the group, giving an embarrassed smile.
“Uh, I’d rather not talk about this room”.
Thankfully for Pinkie the Elevator passed through an opening and out the room. But instead of the void, they found themselves in another room.
The room was large, and the elevator was moving right along the top. Below it sat a lot of beds, some occupied some not. Oompa Loompas in lab-coats and nursing outfits moved about the room.
“This is our main medical facility: equipped with trained doctors and medical assistants to treat any injuries affecting them”.
“How’d they get their medical degrees,” asked Love Tap.
“Sorry that information is classified,” said Pinkie.
Apple Bloom raised a questionable eyebrow, fairly certain she was happy not to have sustained an injury so far.
The Elevator left the medical center, once more entering the large void. It stopped a few feet out before taking a sudden drop. The tracks spiraled downward, spinning the elevator as it descended.
Apple Bloom looked down and saw they were about to enter another room. The elevator passed through a hole in the roof, and once they were in they looked around. The circular room had many different floors. Each had a few desks, occupied by Oompa Loompas typing away on typewriters.
“Ah the Administration Offices,” said Pinkie. “They do most of the business part of the company: buying ingredients, promoting new products, stopping lawsuits, that sort of thing”.
The elevator stopped on the bottom floor, right in front of a desk larger than the others. A single female Oompa Loompa typed away, not seeming to notice the group.
“Hello Inkwell,” said Pinkie with a smile.
The Oompa Loompa looked up, waved, then went back to typing.
Pinkie continued to wave even as the elevator continued downward and out of the room. Once it was in the void again, it stopped and shot to the right. Apple Bloom looked and saw they were heading for another room. But the outside was covered with burn marks and signs reading “Danger” or “Explosives”.
“Uh, Miss Pinkie,” said Apple Bloom nervously. “Why are those signs there?”
Pinkie turned and looked at the room they were approaching. “Oh yeah….you might want to cover your ears before we pass through”.
The four ponies looked at each other nervously, but did as Pinkie asked. They watched in anticipation as the elevator passed through the opening and into the room. It was fairly long, with large glass tanks lined up on either side.
Apple Bloom didn’t know why they needed to cover their ears for this. She was just about to bring her hooves down when….
BOOM!
Large explosions occurred on either side of the room. Lights flashed around them, and shockwaves reverberated throughout the room. The group cowered in fright, plugging their ears as best they could.
This continued until the elevator passed through the opening on the other side. The group took their hooves away from their ears and looked up at Pinkie. She was smiling down at them, a pair of earmuffs hanging around her neck.
“Sure was exciting wasn’t it”.
“Exciting,” said Granny Smith with a huff, “I almost had a heart attack!”
“Yeah Pinkie, what kind of room was that,” asked Love Tap.
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Testing room for our chocolate covered cherry bombs. Great way to get revenge on your ex if he/she dumps you”.
“Sounds dangerous,” said Apple Bloom.
“That’s why it’s in the testing phase, du”.
“Well I think I need something to calm me down after that,” said Button. “So can I pick a room Miss Pinkie. Can I, Can I!?”
Pinkie thought for a moment. “Well….alright. Go ahead and pick the next room”.
Button scanned the buttons surrounding him, looking for the one he wanted. Soon, the smiled and jumped up to press one near the top. The elevator stopped for a moment, then went down another path to the left.
Apple Bloom looked up to see what room Button had picked. From below, she could just barely make out the words glowing next to the button:
GAMING ROOM.