//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 Part 1 // Story: The Ink Machine // by Falconwolf1116 //------------------------------// Alright Joey, I’m here.Let’s see if we can find what you wanted me to see. Chapter 4: Colassal Wonders Falcon saw a light. At the end of an inky tunnel he saw the most beautiful light anyone has ever seen. He was moving toward it. Slowly, carefully, he felt... safe. But the whispers made the tunnel feel rather eerie. He could find where they were coming from. It was all around him. Finally, he reached the light at the end of the inky womb. The world finally came back into view. To his surprise, he wasn’t dead. Despite falling many stories, he survived. But he felt like he was forgetting somepony. He looked around, nopony was there. Then he remembered. Boris and Twilight fell with him. And the ink demon... well he had escaped. “Lucky Bastard” Falcon thought. “Where is Twilight?” Falcon saw the hallway in front of him. He was careful walking down as to make sure nothing unexpected would pop out of nowhere. He then came to a crossroads. To the left were the company archives. To the right, Grant Cohen’s Office. Grant had been the accountant and had been the one to make sure the company didn’t go over budget. His failure at his job was the reason the company had so many budget cuts. He did well don’t get him wrong, he was really good at his job, but he never actually succeeded. Falcon turned left to find a vault door. “Typical,” he said, “There’s always something blocking my path!” With no other choice he took the right path. He came across two doors. One was locked so he opened the other. He wished he hadn’t. There were so many words on the wall that Falcon could barely make them out. He knew for sure that Grant had gone insane. “Probably like everyone else in this wretched place. And I need to find my friends and get out of here before the same thing happens to us.“ He turned a small corner and found something that scared the living daylights out of him. He saw Twilight being suffocated by inky tentacles. The had wrapped around her as if it were a cacoon. Falcon quickly grabbed a board with his hoof, and with a swing, a loud splatter was heard. The tentacles retreated into a nearby drain releasing their prisoner. “Twilight!” Falcon exclaimed, “Twilight, are you okay?! Speak to me!” To his luck Twilight’s eyes shot open and she gulped down all the air she could. Then to Falcon’s surprise, she started tearing up. She buried her face in her hooves and slowly let her emotions release. “W-what h-happened, Falcon?” She asked, “I just remember a burning sensation, and then a lot of pain and... and... I JUST CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!” She bawled into her hooves and wings. Falcon hugged her for what felt like hours. Finally Twilight stopped crying. “W-where’s Boris?” She asked. Falcon had been wondering that as well. Until it hit him. “Falcon! Falcon! H-Henry? Please get up! Twilight help me! ”Falcon get up hurry! Alice could get here soon!” “T-twilight?” Yaaagh!!! FALCON! HELP! “A-Alice...” he started. But Twilight had fully understood. “We need to save him. Then, I’m gonna kill her. We need to end the angel. After finding the vault wheel, they opened the door and stepped into the archives. What came next shocked them. In the room was what appeared to be like a library. In the middle was a Bendy statue, what looked like humans in pain, and a banner that stated, He Will Set Us Free. “I’m getting kind of sick of seeing that.” Falcon stated. Choosing to ignore that weird area, Twilight and Falcon pressed on, coming to a library, most definitely the archives. The room was surrounded in books and shelves. In the center was more bookshelves and a table with an audio player on it. "Hey Twi, come look at this! Twi?" Falcon found Twilight speeding around the room reading almost every book in sight. "SO MANY BOOKS! SO MUCH MORE KNOWLEDGE!" She yelled. "And very little time!" Falcon replied. Twilight blushed and returned to the center. "Even in the face of danger, your love for books never falters." "Just... just play the recording." She said, still blushing. Falcon played the recording: Voice of Susie Cambell They told me I was perfect for the role. Absolutely perfect. Now Joey's going around saying things behind closed doors. I can always tell. Now he wants to meet again tomorrow, says he has an "opportunity" for me. I'll hear him out. But if that smooth talker thinks he can double cross an angel and get away with it, well, oh he's got another thing coming. Alice, ooh she doesn't like liars. "Susie's taking her voice acting role a bit too far. Dontcha think?" Twilight asked. "You saw her on Level K right? She was crazy. That doesn't matter now. We need to find a way to Boris." Falcon walked up to a door and attempted to open it. "Locked. We need to find another way Twilight." The two walked back to the vault door only to find it shut. "What?! But how?!" Twilight yelled. "I guess we need to find a way through that door then." The walked back to the door, examining it, trying to find a way to unlock it. "There's gotta be some way to- don't you dare Twi." Falcon, without turning around, stopped Twilight from reading another book. "Just one?" She asked. Falcon sighed. "Fine. Just one!" Twilight happily pulled on the book, only for it to get stuck. "What the?" She pushed it in, about to pull again, until a light flickered on above the door. Falcon saw above the door and saw six light bulbs. One of which turned on when Twilight pushed a book inwards. "Twilight push in another book... I want to test something." Twilight did as she was told and found another book sticking out. She pushed it inwards and another light turned on. "We have to find all six books!" Falcon saw another one. "I got it!" He pushed it in and turned around. Twilight was gone. "Twilight?" The door opened unexpectedly but led to an odd place. The world went orange and the lights flickered. A large gust of wind blew against him. Through the door was a long passage way, leading to what appeared to be a throne. It was an old chair with horns, surrounded by ink, gears and screens with cartoons playing on them. Next to the throne was an audio recorder. He pressed play and only warbled speech came out. "uhF%^ETCUBY... Henry...IGYOUGo... THE END." Henry looked at the reel on the seat and turned it over. It read... "The End..." "What?" Twilight asked. Falcon looked around. He was back in the archives. Whatever that was, it was a vision. Nothing more. "Urm... nothing." Twilight hadn't bought it, but ignored the issue. They found the books and entered a large cavern with a chasm that appeared to go down into eternity. They walked across a bridge to what appeared to be a lift. "Looks like it's missing some parts" He said while looking at the spot where a gear should have been. "We could just fly over?" Twilight asked. "Your wings are busted up from that fall." "What about yours?" She asked. Miraculously, his wings were fine. In fact he woke up without any injuries. "Fine, but I can't carry you. You're a bit too heavy." "Wait... did you just call me fat?" Twilight asked. "W-what?! NO! Nonononono. I would never! I mean, you did grow in the past years and I um, might not be strong enough to carry you?" Twilight smirked at him. She loved it when Falcon was flustered. "You managed to push the ink demon into an elevator and you can't carry the smallest princess to safety?" "H-hey! You helped!" "Whatever helps you sleep at night!" She said happily trotting to the next room. "Get back here!" Falcon said as he chased her. They reached the next room which had a valve, lever, and pipe. Falcon pulled the lever nervously and the pipe rose to reveal a boiling ink bath. It reeked of old socks. "Peeyew! That is very unpleasant!" Twilight exclaimed. Falcon nodded in agreement and turned the valve. A swollen searcher appeared from the ink bath and turned towards them. Twilight yelped in surprise and hid behind Falcon, who got into a fighting position. The searcher didn't attack however. It simply pulled off some ink from its back and held it out for them to take. "W-we need to use this?" Falcon asked the searcher, who nodded in response. Falcon took the thick ink from the searcher. "For what?" But the searcher disappeared before his question was answered. Twilight and Falcon shrugged at each other and walked away. "So what do we do with it?" Twilight asked. "I'm not sure. But we need to think about this. We collected this stuff for Susie so she could keep herself together..." "So maybe we could turn this into a gear! The only question is... how?" Twilight asked. They turned towards a contraption that looked like a special dispenser. "Maybe that?" "It's possible." He put the ink inside a tray and turned the handle. It shook and after a small *ding*, a cup appeared. "Well, obviously we're on the right track..." "We need more ink." Twilight said quickly. They nodded at each other and repeated the process to summon the swollen searcher. It turned to them and tilted it's head. "Good day sir! Or madam? Or..." "Let me handle this instead of assuming it's gender Twi." "Okay." "You wouldn't mind sparing some more ink? Would you?" The searcher grabbed the ink from its back and handed it to Falcon. Then it sank into the depths of the ink. Returning to the machine, Twilight looked around it until she found a gauge with a cup on it. She used her hoof to spin it once and the symbol of a gear appeared. "Falcon! Try it again!" Falcon put the ink in and pulled the lever. It shuddered and the ink morphed into a gear. "Bingo!" He placed the gear into the slot and pulled the lever for the lift. It took awhile for it to get there but they managed to hop on. It was rickety but it began moving. "So what's the plan for fighting Susie? She must have a whole army prepared for us?" Twilight asked. "She hates ink creatures. I doubt she'd use them as her army." Falcon said. "Then why..." She stopped as they both heard a creak. The lift stopped and began to shake. The track holding it up was snapping and was about to collapse. Thinking fast, Falcon grabbed Twilight and flapped his wings to get to the other side with her. They barely made it, but they survived. Just as they jumped, the track snapped, and the lift fell into the abyss. "Y-you saved my life." Twilight said catching her breath. "Just returning the favor." Falcon said as they both got up. The walked through a partially opened door to meet a long corridor. As they began to walk, Falcon saw hands appear from the walls and the world went orange and windy. "Sweet Celestia!" "What? What's wrong?" Twilight asked. "The hands!" "What hands?" She asked. "Y-you don't see them?" Henry asked. "No?" Twilight said worried. "Are you okay Fal?" The vision stopped and everything went back to normal. "Y-yeah I'm... I'm fine." Falcon said. "Okay?" Twilight asked unsure. It was only then they caught a glimpse of the ink machine, lowering deeper and deeper down into the studio.