//------------------------------// // Sparky and the Formula-- Gone! // Story: G5 Adventures in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water // by ponydog127 //------------------------------// After a little while, the Krusty Krab was as good as new-- just as good as when the ponies first saw it. The ponies were proving to be a huge help in the kitchen too-- prepping the ingredients, cooking, sending the patties out and even helping Squidward take the orders. Squidward didn't mind-- the less he had to do, the better his days seemed to turn out. But... there was still one lingering factor from their battle: Plankton himself. A short few minutes after the said villain left, Sunny and Mr. Krabs looked outside, and the apricot mare found herself frowning at how sad he looked. “He's been out there crying for twenty minutes.” “Pathetic,” Mr. Krabs scoffed and handed SpongeBob his telescope before adjusting his pants. “I'm just gonna go out there and gloat a little.” And just like that, he left to to gloat to his enemy. “Wow. SpongeBob, have Mr. Krabs and Plankton always acted this way?” Zipp asked. “Not always,” SpongeBob shook his head. “Believe it or not, Plankton and Mr. Krabs used to be friends.” “Friends?” Sunny looked confused. “What caused them to not be friends anymore?” “Eh, it's a long story,” SpongeBob shrugged. “But let's just say... it's a brutal story. So, what about you? Do you all have any enemies back where you're from? What did you say it was called again?” “Equestria. And... honestly, we do,” Misty admitted, although a little hesitantly. “An evil alicorn named Opaline is trying to steal all the magic in Equestria, and... I used to actually serve her. In exchange for Sparky, she promised to give me a cutie mark.” “Is that the same thing as a beauty mark?” “Heh heh, no. This is a cutie mark,” Sunny showed SpongeBob the shooting star cutie mark on her fin. “Whenever we do what we really love or are spreading unity, our cutie marks start to glow, and it makes our magic stronger.” “Wooooow... I must know more,” SpongeBob said in an interested tone. “We'd be happy to teach you,” Zipp said, “but you better pull up a chair-- this may take a while.” XXXXXXXXX But meanwhile, in the very vault where Mr. Krabs stored the secret formula, Plankton (the real Plankton, not the one who was outside crying) emerged from the penny Mr. Krabs tossed in the vault before. He laughed wickedly before turning to the headset he was wearing. “Cyclops to Laptop. Come in, Laptop.” “Laptop... you do realize that nickname is demeaning. I have twice the processing power of 'a laptop',” Karen, his computer wife said with an ironical tone. “Never mind. Maintain radio silence,” Plankton threw his headset away and approached the bottle with the secret formula inside... just before he noticed a light beneath it. “A pressure plate, eh, Krabs? Amateur hour.” So, he decided to come up with a non-amatuer solution. He managed to make an exact replica of the Krabby Patty formula bottle and slid it right onto the pressure plate, and wickedly grinned as the pressure plate accepted the weight. “Good enough to fool that idiot Krabs.” Now, it seemed like nothing could ruin this moment. XXXXXXXXX Back out front, SpongeBob and the mares were watching as Mr. Krabs danced circles around the sobbing Plankton, saying 'Plankton’s broke' over and over again. “Look at Mr. Krabs go,” SpongeBob said with a grin. “I've never seen him gloat this hard before.” “Me neither... although we did only meet him a few hours ago, so that makes sense,” Pipp shrugged in agreement. “Hey... guys?” Hitch swam toward them, looking a little worried. “Have any of you seen Sparky? I left him in the kitchen to take a nap while we were talking with SpongeBob, and I can't find him anywhere-- even Squidward hasn't seen him!” “Huh... sorry, Hitch. We haven't seen him either,” ”SpongeBob frowned. But luckily, Sunny came up with an idea and smiled. “Not to worry. I have a way for us to find him.” She swam a little further out before she cleared her throat and began to sing. You hear that sound Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh There was no response for a few moments before Izzy blew on her whistle, prompting everypony and SpongeBob to jump. “Sorry.” Then, all the mares beside Izzy began to sing along with Sunny, hoping Sparky would hear all of their voices. The melody that's ringing out Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh But... the singing did no avail. “Come on, little guy...” Hitch frowned. “Maybe he accidentally swam into Mr. Krabs' office,” Misty tried to reassure. “Come on-- let's go see.” XXXXXXXXX Meanwhile, Mr. Krabs had finally stopped dancing and gloating, and turned to his fast food foe with a smirk. “Hey, well, Plankton, me bunions are telling me it's time to stop gloating.” But as he picked Plankton up, he noticed a loose threat hanging from Plankton’s body. “Huh? Looks like you're falling apart at the seams.” When Mr. Krabs pulled on the thread, Plankton's skin unraveled, revealing metal underneath. It wasn't Plankton he was holding. It was a tiny Plankton robot! “Poor me... sob. Sob.” “A robot?!” XXXXXXXXX SpongeBob led the ponies to Mr. Krabs' office to search for Sparky, but what they saw instead was an open safe that made them gasp. “Plankton!” Startled, Plankton whirled around, knocking the fake formula bottle off the pressure plate with the real formula bottle. “Uh oh... that ain't good.” An alarm began to flash all around the facility, prompting everypony to look around in terror as a warning message boomed out of the sound system. “Initiating lockdown sequence.” XXXXXXXXX “Me formuler!” Mr. Krabs cried from outside, but as he was about to head inside, he found a thick sheet of metal covering the entire building, trapping him outside. “NO!! Squidward! Open up!!” The Plankton robot picked itself up and started to dance while Mr. Krabs tried to push his way inside. “Ha-ha, victory dance. Boo-ya.” XXXXXXXXX “Sunny, Misty, Zipp! Help me get the formula!” SpongeBob shouted, and the four leapt into action, pulling on each other while SpongeBob tried to keep the formula from Plankton's grabby little paws. “Give me that!!” “Come on, SpongeBob, join me!” Plankton urged as the tug-of-war continued. “And we'll be rich and powerful, until I eventually betray you. Er, uh... join me!” “No! Never!” SpongeBob shouted. “I'm on Team Krabs for life!” XXXXXXXXX Mr. Krabs used all the strength he could muster to force the metal shutters open just before he opened the door. “PLANKTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!!” XXXXXXXXX While the others searched desperately for Sparky, SpongeBob and the three mares continued to tug at the formula, trying to get it away from Plankton. They tugged, and tugged and tugged, all until... suddenly, the bottle magically disappeared into thin air. Everyone watched the scene in complete shock, and no one knew where in the world the formula went. But that didn't seem to stop Misty from asking. “W-What? Where'd it go?!” “Wait a minute...” Plankton thought to himself. “Molecular deconstruction? I proved that to be a scientific impossibility seven times!” “Wait a minute...” SpongeBob thought at the same time. “I think I forget to empty Gary's litter box today.” Mr. Krabs then barged in and immediately saw that the safe was open and Plankton was standing there. The REAL Plankton-- not a robot. “Where's me formuler, Plankton?!” “I... I don't know!” Plankton responded honestly. “It just disappeared!” “Why should I believe you, you lying liar?!” “Normally, I'd agree with you, Mr. Krabs,” SpongeBob vouched for Plankton, “but this time he's telling the truth! It just vanished! Along with Sparky!” “It's true!” Plankton shouted, but Mr. Krabs only grabbed him and taped him to his desk. “Mr. Krabs, we're telling you!” Sunny shouted. “He's innocent!” “W-What are you going to do, Krabs?” Plankton trembled. “Pour hot oil on me? Or put bamboo shoots under my nails?” “No...” Mr. Krabs smirked. “Knock knock.” “Knock knock jokes?” Plankton questioned before smirking. “I can do this all day, Krabs.” “Knock, knock. “Oh, boy. Who's there?” “Jimmy.” ”Jimmy who?” “Jimmy back my formuler, Plankton!!” The ponies looked at each other in confusion before turning back to the crab in charge. “Well, it's ridiculous,” Pipp voiced her opinion, “but how exactly is it torture?” Mr. Krabs merely chuckled and handed them all sound proof earmuffs. “You'll see.” He and the ponies then out on their earmuffs at the same time, along with SpongeBob thinking about the previously told joke. “Jimmy... back my formula? Hmm... ohhhhhhhhh!!! I get it!” Then, SpongeBob began to laugh in a high pitched, hysterical voice, causing Plankton to scream in terror and pain. “Oh, make it stop, Krabs! Make it stop!” But the ponies and Mr. Krabs couldn't hear a word. As SpongeBob continued to laugh at the knock-knock joke, Squidward opened the door to the office. Behind him, a throng of angry customers scowled and complained. “Mr. Krabs?! SpongeBob! Zip it!” SpongeBob immediately stopped laughing, and Zipp sighed as they took off their headphones. “Thanks for sparing Plankton, Squidward. Have you seen Sparky by any chance?” “No, but the customers are getting restless!” Squidward answered. “They're asking for... refunds.” To Mr. Krabs, "refund" was such a horrible, terrifying word that he could hear it even through his sound-proof headphones. “Refunds?!” Sure enough, that's what the angry customers were chanting. And Mr. Krabs knew he had to do something fast. “Listen up, boy. Get in there and make some customers some Krabby Patties!” he pushed SpongeBob through the door just before be turned back to the ponies and Plankton. “All right, Plankton--” But when he looked at his desk, he saw that Plankton was GONE!! That was impossible-- he could have sworn he taped him down better than that. As the ponies struggled with the fact that Plankton, the formula and Sparky were missing, SpongeBob suddenly screamed in terror like a little girl, prompting everypony to swim into the kitchen, seeing SpongeBob shaking in front of the open freezer. “SpongeBob!” Izzy cried. “What's the matter?!” That's when Mr. Krabs looked into the freezer himself, screaming like a girl when he saw what was wrong. “We're out of Krabby Patties?!” SpongeBob started to sweat despite the cold air pouring out of the freezer, and twisted his hat repeatedly in his hands. “How can we make more Krabby Patties without the secret formula?!” “You've gotta have that formula memorized by now!” Zipp shrieked, just as SpongeBob put his hat back on. “But if you aren't aware, Zipp, the employee handbook clearly states, and I quote...” SpongeBob took out the employee handbook, put on a pair of glasses and read from it in a quick manner. “No employee may, in part or in whole, commit the Krabby Patty secret formula to any recorded written or visual form, including memories, dreams, and/or needlepoint.” Mr. Krabs wailed at that fact. “Curse you, fine print!!” It was then that the chanting of "refunds" began to get even louder by the minute, and this got the group incredibly nervous. “Mr. Krabs, those customers are getting out of control!” Sunny said in a startled voice. “What are we gonna do?!” Mr. Krabs eventually sighed, putting a claw on her shoulder. “The only I can do, Miss Sunny... get a crowd built up so we can get the Krabby Patty formuler back from that thieving Plankton!” Then he noticed Hitch's desperate face, leading him to sigh. “And ye dragon too, Hitch. Come along-- we have work to do.”