//------------------------------// // Chapter two - First impressions say a lot! // Story: The Magic Factory: The begining // by Maple Drop //------------------------------// "This here is Tea Leaf, she's in charge of spells and potions that involve altering the state of food or creating it out of thin air-" Dr. Chrysalis said before a high pitched mares voice cut her off. "We're still working on that part," the unicorn mare turned around to face Dr. Chrysalis and Princess Luna. Her coat was a forest green with deep brown eyes and a black mane that was styled in a sort of Chinese fashion. Her horn was glowing black in a magical aura while it levitated a clip board and pencil. On the work bench in front of her sat multiple test tubes and plates with all kinds of food. Dr. Chrysalis cleared her throat. "Tea Leaf, this is Princess Luna. She will be supervising the whole factory, but will be working here in the lab with us." Tea Leaf didn't bat an eyelash at the news, but instead turned around and went back to her work. Before any of the mares behind her could say anything, Tea Leaf said over her shoulder, "I don't need any more help in this department." Luna looked at Dr. Chrysalis in confusion who just whispered in the Princesses ear "She's not very talkative and prefers to work alone." Leading Luna away from the working anti-social mare, they trotted to many other sections of the laboratory and Luna was introduced to the mares and stallions of the different departments of the lab. Golden blitz was a white stallion with a shining yellow mane who was working on spells and potions that would give unicorns (and earth ponys or pegasus with enough bits to buy the potion) an advantage to sports on the ground or strength boosters for laboring ponys. Golden Blitz called his area of the lab the "Need for Speed" area (1) 'Mamma' Tea Pot (2) work on spells that helped with cleaning faster than doing it yourself. She was on if the oldest ponys in the lab, and with her white mane in a loose bun and half moon glasses that sat on the edge of her nose didn't help hide that fact. "I know that moving a feather duster with your own magic is easy enough, but with this new spell, the feather duster will move on its own!" Dr. Chrysalis steered Luna away from the elderly mare as she continued to ramble on about what her spells would do and how wonderful they would be. "She likes to talk," Dr. Chrysalis said as she looked back at the still talking mare. "A lot." Creepy crawly, or 'bumble bee' as everypony had nicknamed him who is in charge of the more fun and prank playing spells, wasn't as creepy as Luna expected. His yellow coat seemed to glow (3) despite his black mane as he hopped around the corner of the lab he had claimed as his own. Bright mulch-colored streamers where hung from the rocky walls and ceiling, brightening up the place. Unlike all the other ponys lab coats, his was brightly colored and almost seemed to change colors ask he talked. The stallion noticed that Luna's eyes kept wandering towards his lab coat. "In case you were wondering, this is a 'mood coat'. When my mood changes, the colors of the coat change." He said with a grin. "And since I'm really happy right now" Bee leaned in and whispered in Luna's ear "because I'm going to be getting more funds for my party experiments," he than leaned away and raised his voice back to its normal volume "it changes colors at random! I love it!" Bumble Bee started to jump on the spot again. Luna just smiled at his enthusiasm. "Sapphire, this is Princess Luna." Dr. Chrysalis said to the mare concentrating on doing her mane in a new fashion. Sapphire, a blue coated mare with a navy blue mane was working on styling her mane in front of a floating bejeweled hoof mirror. The light blue magical aura that was doing the mares mane disappeared and she turned around. Luna held in a gasp. The mare was defiantly younger than Luna, but she could almost pass as a twin. While Luna has a slightly darker coat and lighter mane, Sapphires was the opposite. "Sapphire here works in the miscellanies department of the lab along with myself and a few other individuals. We work on spell and potion requests as well as our own experiments." Dr. Chrysalis said in a 'matter of fact' tone. Before sapphire of Luna could say anything more, Dr. Chrysalis ushered Luna on to the next area of the lab saying 'its almost time for lunch'. "Oh how nice it is to finally meet you! Word of your arrival has spread like the pledge in the middle of summer all across the lab." A tanned orange stallion with a brown mane greeted Luna as they arrived in at his area in the lab not too far away from Bumble Bees corner. "I am Dr. Stephan Twig Van Cope. Everyone calls me Dr. Stethoscope for short my dear." "That's not the only short thing about you, Twig!!" Sapphire muttered very loudly from the lab area beside Dr. Stethoscope, who started to blush. The sounds of unicorns working on spells and potions was replaced with snickers and some ponys saying 'Ooh'. Bumble Bee pulled his head out of a cannon he was working on with a large grin on his face turned to face Dr. Stethoscope and Sapphire. "Did I just hear a comeback from our little timid gem, Sapphire?!" He yelled. Before anypony could say anything, a loud bang blast through the air, followed by confetti and streamers. "I almost had this potion perfected Bumble Bee!" A scientific stallion yelled. "I just finished cleaning my lab!" Mamma yelled as if she were yelling at a colt that walked through her living room with dirty hoofs. "Just wait till I get my hoofs on you!" A black stallion close to Bumble Bee's lab muttered loudly. Bumble Bee just laughed at everyone's angers shouts before yelling out "What's the fun with all work and no play? You ponys need to unwind a bit!" Before Bee could continue his small speech, Gramma throw a pot that just missed Bee, who had just fell to the ground in a laughing fit. As he rolled around on the ground, a few ninja stars just missed his laughing body by an inch. Everypony turned to see Tea Leaf balanced on one of the dividing walls that didn't touch the roof (4) with a bunch of ninja stars floating around her in her black magical aura. Her face showed only the slightest bit of emotion (5). "Bumble bee..." Upon hearing his nick name, Bee looked up first a sly smile on his face. "You got confetti in my salad spell. Now I have to recreate it!" And with that, she leaped from top of one divider to another while ninja stars flew past her and towards Bee. Jumping up from his fallen position, Bumble Bee started to run around the lab, dodging the ninja stars that Tea Leaf was throwing at him as well as items other scientists hurled his way. "Any way, Dr. Stethoscope here works on spells that doctors, physicians, dentists, and so on can use." Dr. Chrysalis said loud enough that Luna could hear her over the yells and sounds that Bee was causing in his wake. "And as you can see, the lab can be very loud and busy at times." Dr. Chrysalis said as both mares stood outside of large twin metal doors, watching Bee run around the lab. "Dear Queenie, have you forgotten to introduce me?" An amused and cunning voice said from behind them. Dr. Chrysalis sighed as they turned around. Standing in front of two closing metal doors, stood a brown stallion with a white mane. One of the things that seemed to pop out about the stallion before Luna was his horn, It seemed to be bent. A pair of strangely designed goggles rested over his eyes. "Ah, you must be the delightful Princess Luna. I am more than please to make your acquaintance." The stallion said as he did a slight bow towards Luna. "I work alongside my dear Queenie here in the dreadful miscellanies department." The stallion said as he wrapped one of his front legs around Dr. Chrysalis's neck, who was leaning away from the stallion, ignoring the strand of hair that fell in between her eyes again. Pushing away from the stallion, Dr. Chrysalis blew the piece of hair in between her eyes back. "You are in the presence of royalty and you have not yet removed your goggles or introduced yourself." Dr. Chrysalis said as she narrowed her eyes at the stallion. "Oh dear heavens me, I am so sorry. Let me introduce my self properly." The stallion said as his white magical aura pulled the goggles down to the stallions neck. Luna tried not to back away or gasp as she looked into his eyes. His yellow and red yes. "The name my dear, is Discord." The stallion said with a sly grin.