//------------------------------// // Chapter 0007 Confusion tactics. // Story: For the Good of All of Us. // by Caps_Luna //------------------------------// ============= Hello and welcome, my little test subjects, to the Aperture Science computer Aided enrichment center. ========== “What’s going on!” he thought. There was a glass dome above him, no wait it was two halves of a glass dome sliding open. He was on something soft. It was a bed. No not a bed! “It’s a cryo-sleep pod,” he realized. He reached his hand out to grab the side of the bed, but something was wrong, very very wrong. His whole arm had become a white tube with no hand at the, end. It was a hoof! That was it! he had hooves that much was certain. Now why did he have hooves? He lay back in the bed, no cryo chamber, to recollect his memories. Suddenly he remembered where he was, followed by who he was, and then the memories of the past. And there it was the memory of becoming a pony, it was during the facility transfer, right before he beat…. “Oh my God!” “She’s awake again!” called a new voice. It was a cube with hearts,. “Companion Cube.” No amount of cryo confusion could make him forget that name. The pony struggled to recall the small amount of experience he had with his new body, a process that the cryogenic chemicals didn’t help. He flopped down from the bed and his legs splayed out on the floor. He pushed himself upright on legs unsteady as a newborn foal, if not more, only to flop back down on the floor, getting dirt in his greasy beard and mane. “I have to get away before she finds us.” He pulled himself forward with his forelegs, toward the cube. Suddenly the floor began to shake violently, knocking the off-white stallion off of his shaky legs. --- "Come on Ms.B" Fluttershy, wearing a protective bee keeps outfit, said while peering into a square beehive in a box. "I only need to take some of your colony's honey, so you all don't over eat," She pleaded to Ms.B the queen bee. "BZZZZZZZZ," Buzzed the queen bee crawling atop the box that was her nest. "No? oh but you have so much. What do you plan to do with it? I mean if all of you ate all of it you would get really fat..." "BZZZZZZZZ!" "No no no Ms.B! I'm not calling you fat! I'm sorry if I sounded like I did. I was just speaking preventatively." "BzzzZZ?" "Yes, you look great especially considering how quickly your colony grew. "bzzzzzz." "Oh no. I don't care what all those bees on T.V. look like, I think you look perfectly fine Ms.B" "BZZ!" "No I'm being serious! But I'm being serious, but about the honey..." "BzzZZzz!" "Still no? But why? Don't you want others to enjoy your delicous honey?" "BzzzZZzztzzZZz!" "Well of course ponies eat your honey. What did you think they do with it." "BzzZZZZzzzZZZz. BzzzzzzzZZZz! 'Bz. Bz. Bz. Bz. Bz. Bz. Bz. Bz. Bz' BzzzZzzzBzzz!" Fluttershy's eyes narrowed in shock, at the disturbing scene Ms.B had just vividly described. "Oh.oh my umm where did you hear... that." "Bzzz." "One of your workers saw Lyra and Bon Bon ... Oh I had no idea ... But I'm sure most ponies don't use honey as a... that." Conversation of an even slightly sexual nature was miles above Fluttershy's ability to perform socially, and it was a surprise that the timid Pegasus had not run off screaming by now. "Anyway I'm really careful and I promise I won't damage your hive when I..." Before Fluttershy could finish, there was a violent, but incredibly brief, earthquake, that, had she not been a Pegasus and been able to flap her wings for added support, would have knocked her down. Still, the sudden leap into the air followed by violent awkward flapping did not help prove her case for the whole "careful" point. Even though she was unharmed, butter yellow pegasus mind filled with worry that someone might have gotten hurt. _________ "And so that's the sorry of how I did something else incredibly trivial and meaning less. Oh which reminds me of the other story of how I also did something bloody trivial and meaningless. So it all started when I..." Wheatley was interrupted when a magical golden Aura and levitated upwards. Celestia rose wordlessly and showed no emotion on her regal face and began a slow trot to one of the window in her Canterlot apartment, bringing the annoying core with her. "Hey uh, he he, mind putting me down? You know I bloody don't like being levitated without my permission, so if could just uhhhh put me down, that. would. be. greeat." the moron said nervously. Celestia simply threw open the panes of the widow and dangled Wheatley out still not saying a word. "I should probably mention right now that I'm afraid of heights! And this is Bloody high, " he turned his blue eye to the ground, observing that the drop would likely be down the whole height of the Canterlot mountain. "So if you could just bring me back in...AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Celestia released Wheatley and smiled as she watched him plummet. ------------------- "Tia! Tia! Tia! Wake up!" Luna shouted into her sister's ear. The princess of the sun woke up with a jolt, to find herself sprawled out on the floor of her bedroom. "Oh Praise the heavens Sister! Thou collapsed and we were worried that thou had been injured in some manner." Celestia blinked sleep out of her eyes, "Luna I just had the worst dream that you made friends with a talking beach ball." " Oh that sounds like me she talking about!" Wheatley was perched upon a large opulent throw pillow, which looked like a thrown in comparison to his small spherical body, that such just behind Luna. "Oh crap he's real!" the older sister thought while recalling all of Wheatley's ramblings about himself. Still, she found the dream she had just where she had thrown him out a window a little disturbing. "You know Princes you should get more sleep you looked like were ready to pass out during my entire retelling of my life story, then you actually did kinda pass out. To tell ya the truth, we sort of, maybe, thought you were joking and you may have been unconscious for more than fifteen minutes. by the way, have I every told you how much I like you when you aren't killing me." Wheatley added after the glare Celestia short him. Luna shot him an altogether different criticizing glare that almost shout something along the lines of 'I can't believe you told her that." He Hee Uh He. I shouldn't have mentioned that to her, now should I have? Smooth one Wheatley Well at least the I didn't mention the... HmmmBMMMhHHmmm" The night princess shoved a hoof into Wheatley's eye, which she correctly guessed was also his mouth. "Luna, what was he going to say?" Celestia asked sternly. "He was about to say.... nothing?" the younger princess's lie sounded more like a question than a defense. Her older sister only skeptically raised one eyebrow and turned to face Wheatley. "Are you sure it was nothing?" "Absolutely, we didn't do anything while you were asleep, certainly we didn't accidentally kill you pet bird. The reagent of the sun wiped her head around to find Philomena still fast asleep in her bird cage. "Wheatley why did thoust say that?" "Shhh I'm creating a diversion by using reverse phycology, partner. And also I'm speaking all stealth like by using the accent that should be beyond her range of hearing, ya'll. "I can hear you." "Aw Devil! I guess that didn't work at all now did it!? Bloody Hell, why doesn't tha' ever work!? " "Maybe because it was stupid," The older sister added non-chalantly. "Well then I guess you know all about our secret plans don't you!" Wheatley lowered his upper eye cover in apparent anger at Celestia, his voice taking on a new more menacing tone. " Well guess what, PRINCESS! Did you really think you could stop us from deposing you and taking over all of Equestria! Well guess what? Guess What? You're too late, BECAUSE WE JUST PUSHED THE BUTTON! For a moment, after Wheatley made this final random and triumphant statement, both the royal sisters just stared at him in shock and confusion. "Quick! Wheatley said to Luna in perfectly audible voice that sounded as though he was whispering, "Use the moment of confusion I just created to teleport us out of here! Luna made a timid 'eep' noise then jumped at Wheatley, though in two steps she could have reached his pillow pedestal from where he was standing. The Night princess's leap was far under what that could expect from any winged animal, and her horseshoes just barely touched Wheatley's handles. "HA! I MADE THE WHOLE THING UP! IT WAS ALL APART OF MY BRILLIANT MENTAL TRAP TO DISTRACT YOU, SCORE TWO FOR WHEATLEY AND LUNA He then dropped the evil genious voice and pleaded, "go, go Go, Go, GO, GO,GO!" And with that the pair dissipated in a flash of deep blue light. Celestia just stared at he spot where Wheatley and Luna and had teleported from for a few seconds. She was now genuinely unsure of what to think of Luna's new friend. "That was certainly interesting, The remaining Alicorn reflected. "That was a genuinely clever tactic, lying about doing major things in order create an escape window to evade punishment for a minor offense, certainly never seen that one before ever. True it would have landed the little ball in hotter water had he tried it on any pony less benevolent than the princess, but aside from that it was a good idea. Of course Luna's and his execution was terrible, but that was forgivable. "Hold on what were they running away for? The princess's mental question was answered in the form of her noticing an un-capped black permant marker on the ground where the pranking Duo had been. "Buck" Celestia ran to her nearest mirror, to be greeting by a corrupted version of her reflection with a monocle drawn around her eye and a handle bar mustache scrawled on her snout. "Damn it LUNA!" she yelled aloud. "You still have no idea who you're dealing with do you?!" The ink boiled off the Alicorn's face as her brain came up with a host of revenge pranks; she never even noticed the faint tremor beneath her hooves. ==================== "Man that was great! Wow you should see these pictures that I took with me good old built in camera, well we'd need to invent a monitor first. But provided that does happen, man you should take a look at these pictures, they are hilarious! I'm sure glad we talked each other into doing that, serves her right for falling asleep during my amazing, breath takingly epic story. Although we maybe should have checked if she was alive first, almost ruined the whole thing and all, you know if she had died and we sharpied her corpse," the sphere trailed off as the duo ran through the hedge maze of Canterlot gardens. "Indeed my fine core! Tis was a most fun idea, though I would prefer no to think of my dearest sister dieing, or being able to die." "O.K. yah that last part is a bit of a uh morbid topic. Oh but other than that part this was wonderful idea, you know I spent a good part of my life trying to escape that facility I told you about, then another huge part trying to get out of space. But you know I never thought about what I would actually do once I got out, or down in that last case, rather. I know it sounds mad when I look back on it! But I have to say, that the outside world slash dimension is pretty cool!" "I'm certainly glad to hear that thee likest Equestria, and I know my sister will to she isn't so infuriated," Luna chimed happily while galloping past the entrance to the hedge maze while balancing holding Wheatley in front of her and seeing where she was going. "Yah the look on her face was priceless, when I told her we were trying to take over the country that it. I don't even know where I came up with that, just seemed like something confusing to say, and I was right. It was funny how strongly she reacted though, almost as if she believed it, which is weird because she must trust you immensely, you two being sisters and all. "We'll uhhh thou huh see-est, Oh how should we explain this." "She has reason to doubt you, doesn't she?" the cores mirthful voice was replaced was a more serous deadpan. "Yes, yes she does." Luna stopped running. "I, did sort of, try to take over the kingdom, a little, a thousand and one years or so ago. "We-I became someone who I was not out of pure jealousy, because I thought everypony loved my sister more. So I did something I shouldn't have. I tried too..." the deep blue alicorn's face began to darken "Heeyyy, don't get all twisted up in a not over it, everyone makes mistakes and tries to kill the people they care about sometimes, believe me I would know. The point is you can't keep beating your self blue, well you're already blue but that's entirely irrelevant here, but anyway you just have to forgive yourself. And you don't have to tell me about what you did, if it's hard for you I'm sure I can, uhhhh just you know read about, in one of them books. Because I love books. Because I'm not a moron." "That is actually most helpful, Wheatley." The alicorn then paused to process the rest of Wheatley's sentence, and change the subject away from Nightmare Moon. "Thou hast oft mentioned a love of books, I wonder if thou would care to meet my sisters student Twilight Sparkle, she has a huge passion for books as well." " Oh um. uhhh that sounds great. Yahh, reading buddies. Umm Hooray" the core nervously spewed. "Thou dost no actually like to read, do you?" " Well uhhhm No, to be perfectly honest. " ==== Celestia materialized in the center of Luna's messy room, Immediately noticing that even though Luna was not present her little ball friend was right outside on the balcony, looking away from her. This is perfect, thought the princess, "He'll never even suspect..." The vengeful alicorn dropping into a low crouch then began slinking closer to 'Wheatley', sliding across the floor like a Tiger on the prowl. The princess stealthily, at least in her mind, stocked her prank prey, going unnoticed until she was mere inches from the window. The core rotated it's eye toward her just before she was about to pounce and scare the circuits out of that sphere. There was something wrong though, instead of Wheatley's solid blue eye, this ball had a yellow ring of lines for an eye. The creeping Princess wondered if Wheatley had the ability to change his appearance when the Sphere finally spoke. "Space Pony?" questioned the core. "Damn it there is more than one!" "Oh um no space pony here, sorry." "Space Pony. the new core said dejectedly this time. "Oh my God Wait oh my God what that in your butt, not-space pony? It took Celestia a minute to process that the ball was speaking of her cutie mark. Rather than speaking, She decided to reorient herself so that the new core could get a better view, at the same time popping up out of her 'sneak mode' before the ball took any notice of it. "Oh my gosh it's the sun, which is in space! I love SPACE, Gotta go to SPACE! Whoah Whoah Whoah Space Whoah Whoah Hold on. Space. Hold on. Wait one space second the energetic little ball stopped rapidly moving his eye for one second (or perhaps space second). "I was just talking to the Sun, because the sun is in space." The core turned its internal sphere to the real sun, now high in the pre noon sky, then back to the royal flank. "There are two Suns, When this happen, in space. And Why was I not informed? I'm the president of Space, and co-chair of the sun club. I should know when they the space people decide to build a second sun in space. " "Uhmmm, my cutie mark is not a second sun, you know," Celestia pointed out. "Awwwww" "But I am the ruler of the sun." "HHHHHHHHHH," the Space Core sucked in imaginary air, "That makes you my fourth best friend! "Oh um glad to hear it." Really the princess was slightly appalled by how little true friendship must have meant to a being who considered another being who had said less than a hundred words to him his best friend. "Oh My other best friends are Space, who is also my dad. Then there is the Space pony, then the actual Sun, then you Hmm the sun is higher than the moon on his list of friends,.... waaaaiiiit a minute. Space Pony? "Did this so called space pony have wings and a horn like me, but was slightly smaller and had a blue coat?" "YAH! thats the one! She also had space hair, and said she made space. Gotta go to space. Space is the best. Her name was Luna, and she is my master, besides space." "Master? But why?" "Because SHE. MADE. SPAAAAAAACE. i love space. "I'm think I might just be picking up a pattern here she thought sarcastically, "Do you know where Luna went, by any chance?" "No. Space. But I hope it was the moon, the space moon. "WHAT!? Why would you want her back there I thought you said you liked her?" "SPACE. I do like the space pony, and I like the space moon and....Hey Hey Hey wait space wait whoah you said 'back'." "Luna was imprisoned in the moon for a thousand years." "In SPACE jail?" "No I imprisoned her with the elements of harmony after she tried to take over the kingdom." "Geeze this guy really must have been floating in space this past year not to know that. "So if I did something to make you mad right now, you would send me to the moon?" "Well, not..." "You're fat." "What!?" "You're fat. And you're ugly. and not in space. NOW SEND ME TO THE MOON!" "NO!" "AWWWWwwwwwWWWwww. space." the space core's yellow eye swiveled again, this time falling toward the ground in unimaginable diapointment. "Well at least he was lying about the fat thing," Celestia thought before teleporting away in a golden flash of light to go look for, then subsequently seek prank vengeance upon, Luna and Wheatley. ====== For the second time that day, the cutie mark crusaders were plunged into an inky black void. This time however they also had the additional bonus of an ear splitting 'bang' immediately followed by the floor, and well everything else, shuttering so violently that the tremor tossed them around the circular room like rag dolls. Scootaloo felt herself flying through the air, and logically started to flap her tiny little wings for dear life. She was relived when she landed in a small swamp of soft mud, which swallowed every portion of her body bellow neck level. Conceded getting covered dirty slime was not the best outcome she had hoped for, for it was a better by a long shot than soaring through the hole in the wall the pony trap had made during it's forced exit. The pint sized pegasus clawed at the dirty goop with her fore hooves, trying to crawl/ swim her way out of the equally small indoor quagmire. To her relief her flailing hooves collided with more or less solid ground, firm enough to push her small body up then drag herself out of the muck. After escaping the sludge pit, Scootaloo shook some the thick mud layer from her body like a wet dog, reducing the mess into a slightly thiner layer of mud. "How did all this dirt get in her anyway," she wondered. The lights flickered back on revealing that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were more or less in the same spots they had been before the event. Rick had come to rest against one of the remaining walls left in the chamber, though he likely rolled there. Of corse the machine built into the distant ceiling was unaffected. So I guess I'm the only one who flew across the room, great. "Ok don't panic, the machine said to itself while shifting it's gaze in the general direction of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. So I'm stuck in this dimension until I can find a set of blueprints detailing exactly how the transfer annex was built, which no one bothered to digitize and may be impossible to rebuild. I can still find someway to pull something good out of this situation. Even though the facility is horrendously underpowered and I'm not 100% sure that I can fix that The machines eye snapped to look directly at the pair of crusaders covered in mud, as if it was done talking to the space around them. "You wouldn't just so happen to have a certain awful creature called humans here? "I haven't heard of them before," Sweetie Belle replied in a shaky voice. "Nope!" Apple Bloom replied with enthusiasm. "Hey maybe we got our adventure cutie marks!" The filly trotted around in a tight circle to glanced at her rear, and seeing it was blank her smile collapsed. "Oh come on! The machine looked up at the ceiling, once again speaking to none in particular. "I go through all the trouble of manipulating that stupid core, and I wake up to a dimension where testing is virtually impossible! No power, a half wrecked facility, and no living test subjects!" "It's not imposible to test in this dimension, Mrs. Cheerilee tests us all the time, it's so lame," the mud covered crusader corrected The big white contraption swirled around on its ceiling mount to look at Scootaloo, only to quicly draw what could it's head away in was apparently dread. "Ah bird! Don't let it touch me! "Hey I'm not a bird! I'm a pegasus" Scootaloo leaped forward and flared her wings to illustrate the fact. "Ah, don't know Scootaloo, chickens are a type of bird," Apple Bloom joked slyly. "Hey!' "Oh thank god, those wings really had convinced... never mind what were you saying about horse testing." "Was, a horse? tha' word sounds familiar." the farm filly asked. The machine quickly brought two shutter like slides closer together then as quickly apart, while whirling around to face Apple Bloom again. Even though the slide never fully covered its eye, it was a close analogue of a blink. Are you mentally challenged?" "Hey!" It was the earth ponies time to be affended. "Horses are an extinct primitive form of pony. We had a test about them in Mrs. Cheerilee's class, remember?" "Well then Ah' guess Ah; failed." "Oh, that kind of test. The computer once again reoriented itself, this time glare angrily at an unfortunate patch of dirt on the floor. After a second of thought the devices limited countenance softened and it returned its attention to the crusaders. "Still though that gives me an idea. If ponies are able to test in school than they are smart enough for scientific testing. Maybe this place isn't so absolutely terrible after all; how could a place with sentient murdering plants that can feel pain not be fun?" The large device paused and seemed to think about something. "Oh but where are my manners, my little ponies? I have failed to remember to introduce myself in a situation where protocol requires it. It's voice changed with the last sentence, becoming softer, less mechanical, and more pony-like and, for all the same reasons, creepier. Fortunately she dropped the new voice like as quickly as she had picked it up."My name is the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, but you may call me GLaDOS. I... "Are you sure its not Gladys?" Apple Bloom asked inquisitively "Did you just ask me if I am unsure of the pronunciation of my own name? "Well, yah I guess when you say it like that... but it just sounded..." "I can already tell that you are the most intelligent pony, out of the three of you ponies." "Aww thank ya." "Sarcasm self test complete" "Hey!" "...Anyway I am the central AI of this ancient research facility, I used to run everything around here by myself, after the ponies who built me left me to rust of course." "Aww that;s so sad, they just abandoned you?" "Yes it is the ponies who built me were very cruel, and that part hurts the most because of how horrendously true it is. Anyway I have been of line for quiet a while, so I may not be up to speed with everything on the surface. Oh but enough about me, I really want to hear about you." "Name's Rick I'm an adventure sphere. I'm built for danger. The ball in the corner suddenly called. "Oh that's right! I completely forgot about you" The same long mechanical arm GLaDOS had destroyed the plant with suddenly came to life again and reached across the room. "I have a special reward for you for orchestrating this rescue mission slash adventure to save me." "Are we going to merge our programing gorgeous?" "That's imposible. Rick squinted in suspicion, "MMmmmMM I don't know you like you have a few ports that would fit my prongs mighty nicely, if you don't mind me saying so. "Yes I do mind, and I'm quite sure it's impossible, GLaDOS lied. The arm holding Rick carried the sphere across the room, toward the broken segment of wall panel "no wait there was this other guy who looked like you and that other pretty lady in the orange jump suit plugged me into there just fine. In fact he was exactly like you except he had a spherical head and was a dude which totally sucked. "This isn't. That kind. Of Reward. So just stop. Anyway... here is your reward." The arm swung Rick out of the hole, dangling him over the seemingly bottomless pit. "It's a brand new adventure!Goodbye." The pincers released the core and he plummeted into the inky void below. "YYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," the core yelled happily as he fell. "Why would you do that?" Sweetie Belle asked in shock. "What? He likes adventure, so I gave him one. There are certainty more than enough adventures to satisfy even him at the bottom of this facility. And it's not like he can die from the fall, he has a parachute." "Yah we know all about his parachute," Scootaloo said rolling her eyes at the memory. "See. Oh but back to you three, I want to know everything about you, I already knew him. "My name is Sweetie Belle." "Ah'm Apple Bloom." "And I'm Scootaloo." "AND WE ARE THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" all three exclaimed while each put their hooves together in a three pony version of a high five. "Crusaders? Ar-en't you three a little young to be engaging in genocide? "Genocide?," Sweetie Bell asked "why would ya' assume something like that?" Apple Bloom asked in surprise. "That's not what crusading is all about!" Scootaloo shouted accusingly. "Oh I'm truely sorry, the definition of crusader must have changed while I was asleep. Please explain what it means to be a 'cutie-mark crusader.' "Well basically the three of are, like, best friends..." Scootaloo started. "And every day we try a new thing to try to get our cutie marks..." Sweetie Belle added. "'causewedon'thaveourCutieMarksyet,andeveryponykeepstellingustowaitandletthemcometousbutwedon'twantowaitwewantourcutiemarksrightnow," Apple Bloom spread,while flailing her forhooves. "Define Cutie-Marks." "A cutie mark is a unique picture that every young pony around our age develops on their flank when they discover their special talent is. Cutie marks are usually a rather direct representation of a ponies calling in life but can be metaphorical or symbolic representations of said talent," the unicorn stated. "Yah thanks dictionary." Scootaloo commented. "So yah a cutie mark is a picture of something in some way related to what you're meant to do so we've been trying everything as quickly as possible to try to getting these things cause cutie marks are like the The Big Thing for fillies our age, oh and I guess colts to. But yah every pony has been calling us blank flanks cause we don't have them yet and it's getting really annoying." "andwedon'thaveourcutiemarksyetandwereallywantourcutiemarkssowefollowedtheballdownhersowecangetourcutiemarks..." "That's enough Brainiac! I mean Apple Bloom... i know exactly what you are referring to, now. See back before my big sleep we called Cutie marks flank pictures, anyway..." "Hey why were you off anyway?" the orange Pegasus asked while scrapping a little more mud from her fur. "That's an excellent question. It all started a longlong Long LONG LONG time ago. "Awwwww!," the trio groaned. "Can it not start a long time ago?" the farm filly asked disappointedly "It certainly may," GLaDOS struggled to suppress a chuckle when she found that her tactic had worked. "You see this evil stallion with an incredibly long and boring name, cast an a... sleeping spell on me, after force shutting down all the power reactors in this facility. "Meh sounds he kinda boring," Scootaloo flatly said. "Indeed it was as boring as was painful even at the time and there is absolutely no reason to discuss the fact any further, BBBuuuttt BBBEEEWWWAAARRREEE! the Ai's voice slowed down and dropped and octave or twelve to emphasize this warning, making all three of the fillies gasp. GLaDOS then began to shake and move her bodily jerkily. "The Ghost of said stallion still Haunts this facility, so if you see any adult male pony, especially if they are white, they may be a ghost! But if you listen to me I won't let him harm you! The Ai stopped the possessed rocking and returned to her normal, rather static, self. "Oh well, there is an incredibly small chance that you will see him anyway. All three fillies were hugging each other and, had they worn boots, would be quaking in them. "Anyway, back to Cutie Marks. before you just had to ask that difficult question I was about to mention that this facility is, in part, an ancient Cutie Mark FACTORY! And if I had known they were called cutie marks, would have given them to you as soon as you asked... " "YAAAAAY!" The soon to be ex-Cutie Mark Crusaders jumped up and yelled in celebration. "...that and the factory is broken and I currently lack the power required to fix it, which is a shame because three cutie marks would be the perfect reward for freeing me from the evil pony's spell." "Awwwwwwww," the not soon to be ex-Crusaders groaned as their hopes were dashed away as quickly as they had formed. "But there has to be a way to fix the factory," Sweetie Belle "Well the is but you would have to help me, which I couldn't ask you to do after you have already done so much for me..." "No! We'll do anything you ask!" "Excellent! You know the other major function of this facility is science, so you just might get a cutie mark the new fashioned automatic way. Ohhh! but the are so many fortunate surprises when I do science that there is simply not enough time to list all the infinite possibilities. I'll need to pipe you back to the equipment locker before we get to work though. I would say 'hang on it's going to be a bumpy ride' but in all likelihood hanging on to anything will rip your arms off, so don't actually do it." With that more of the black panels fell away revealing another large glass metal framed tube. Perhaps glass was inaccurate description, as even though the tubes walls looked and felt like glass, they were currently bending and flexing as the tube was pushed, by some unseen mechanism into the room. Like a wet noodle, the pipe flopped down to the crusaders in a slow arc until it's wide mouth was just a few hoof lengnths from the trio. . . . . For several seconds nothing happened, then without warning the tube came to life and began drawing in air like a giant vacuum cleaner. The pneumatic tube sucked up the trio, as well as a good helping of mud, into grand network of similar tubes running throughout the facility. "Good luck. GLaDOS called as the fillies were sucked out of earshot. ============== Hope you liked this chapter I threw it in as a break from the dull drums of plot development, and Luna and Wheatley's relationship (sorry shippers friends only) needed to move on. The new panel transitions are up on my deviant but I need to rearrange them so that they have unique web addresses, so I;ll do that tomorrow. Remember to comment, rate, like and subscribe just kidding this isn't You-tube. could you imagine if we were all like that.