//------------------------------//
// 25 - A Personal Tour 
// Story: An Undertale of Equestria 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

A metal grabbing claw fell down on Sweet suddenly, closing around her barrel as she squealed.

"You're in luck! You get to have a personal tour of our facilities."

"Don't forget to tell them what they win."

"Oh yes! As part of the tour, you get to be part of the future!" 

The claw lifted from the ground with Sweet in tow. I jumped up and got ahold of one of her hooves, just to slip off as she was hauled away deeper into the factory.

"Ah ah ah, be patient. One at a time." The mustached one smiled at me, green flashing out of the shadows in his eyes. "We'll get to everypony in due order."

Trixie huffed, glancing aside at me and speaking quietly, "Trixie admits she can't overpower both of them at once. We can't let them hurt Sweet Tooth. Do you have any suggestions, Clever and Resourceful familiar?"

I did! Just then, it came to me. "I hope you're careful with her. It is her house you're delivering your first sale to."

The two brothers glanced at each other, going still a moment. "Oh, of course!"

"Without doubt."

"We wouldn't dream of harming one of our cherished--"

"--adored--"

"--essential customers!" One leaned in towards the other, whispering, "Leave out the last part." 

The other nodded quickly then stepped forward with a grin. "Now then, direct your eyes above to see the factory in action!"

Lights clicked on, spotlights that shone on Sweet as she was deposited on one of the conveyor belts. "First, our sweet things are dropped here."

"That's a pun."

"That it is, dear brother. They're picked clean of any debris." Smaller claws reached out for the shaking Sweet Tooth and grabbed at her cape and hat, plucking them right off and exposing her still tarry back. She squealed with dismay, trying to grab her clothes back, but they were taken away far too quickly for her to get at. "Oh what's this?"

"Dirt? Well good thing we have the next step! Our patented--"

"--innovative--"

"--thoroughly tested--"

"--and one hundred percent tested sudsomatic!"

Sweet was nudged along by the belt between two stands that sprayed her down with water, quickly making her entire pelt soaked as she sputtered and tried to wave off the water to little effect. The goop on her back began to run down along her sides, to the brother's annoyance. "What a stubborn stain, but what water alone can't manage, we have the cleaning properties--"

"--of our exclusive--"

"--cleansing detergent!" Sweet was carried by the belt only a foot along to new pillars that began spraying her down in bubbles, losing her to sight entirely in almost the blink of an eye as she was submerged in a pony-sized hill of suds. "If this doesn't get her clean, nothing can!"

Trixie cleared her throat. "Trixie does not mean to question your methods." They looked at her with a frown. "Yes, well, our friend has certain... allergies." Their expressions changed instantly to that of horror. The belt yanked Sweet back to the first pillars, spraying her down with fresh water to clean away the suds, revealing Sweet, shivering and miserable looking. Her black coat was run over with countless lines of her tar and she called out to us, though we couldn't hear what she was saying.

One of the brothers waved a hoof. "We had no idea--"

"--terribly sorry--"

"--it was never our intention." The claw returned and grabbed up Sweet, bringing her back towards us quickly.

As one they tipped their heads. "Our apologies."

Set just before us, Sweet flopped on the ground, weeping and shivering. I cringed at the sight. "Do you have a towel?"

"Oh... certainly." He tossed his head, and a towel came flying in to land in my hands. I hurried to Sweet and began toweling her off. "I, uh... we..."

"We've done it again, brother of mine."

"I thought we had all the variables accounted for."

"I did too, but here we are."

The mustached one stepped forward, hesitant and quiet a moment. "So... out of one to ten, how would you rate things?" He smiled with nervousness and shame.

Sweet looked up at him, blinking at him before looking to me. "I don't understand..."

I worked down one of her legs, getting her dry as quickly as I could. "They want to know what you thought of their factory."

She recoiled a little. "It was frightening! I'm not a berry..."

The one without a mustache slapped himself in the face. "Of course! You most certainly aren't."

"But besides that?" They were both leaning forward, eyes shinning with reluctant hope."

Trixie shook her head. "Leaving aside the fact that you put a pony where produce belongs... it seemed... adequate to Trixie."

"Spellbinding?"

"Efficient?"

One turned to the other. "Wait, she hasn't experienced it yet."

The other nodded. "Too right." He looked to Trixie as the claw came for her. "Do you have any allergies?"

Trixie scrambled out of the way of the claw as it clanged against the ground. "Keep that away from Trixie! She thought you learned your lesson. Trixie is not a berry either."

"You have the same color as a berry."

"Very observant, brother."

"And you're neither our client--"

"or our customer. We're in the clear!"

I left the towel draped over the still recovering Sweet and looked to the brothers. "How did you ever come up with the idea for this?"

Their attention slid off of Trixie quick as lightning. "What an excellent question!"

"Quite astute. Our customer proves he has quite the intellect."

"As anyone smart enough to buy from us would have to be."

"Too right. You see, we're always on the lookout for needs not being met--"

"--demands without a supply--"

"--and that brought us here. You see, the Crystal Empire has a bit of an infrastructure issue."

"They have a lot of issues, truth be told."

"Being locked away for a millennia will do that to anypony. They only just got their farming in order, but who's going to get all those berries ready for market?"

"Not the farmers."

"Certainly not! They're already too busy. They can sell to us instead. We take them--"

"--Leaves and stems included--"

"--and we clean and process the whole lot, ready for consumption--"

"--by eager crystal ponies! Ingenious--"

"--is it not?"

I felt we were getting closer to the root of things. "I have a question, as a potential investor." I put up my hands. "No pressure."

They glanced at one another. There was definitely pressure.

"Why was the factory shut down?"

They turned to one another entirely and began whispering urgently back and forth. Trixie settled beside me, speaking quietly, "Thank you for distracting them, familiar."

Sweet lifted a hoof at them, still shaking if a little less so. "Can I have my clothes back, please? I have to make sure they get back to a good friend of mine."

"Oh?"

"Certainly!" The small claws descended, carrying Trixie's cloak and hat. With a relieved smile, Sweet pulled them both on. Trixie tied off the cloak for her without asking and Sweet finally stopped shaking.

Trixie shook her head. "We are going to have to get you your own clothes."

"Can we?" Sweet looked at Trixie hopefully.

One of the brothers turned to look at me. "The circumstances of the factory's closure was entirely beyond our ability to predict or prevent."

I raised a brow at him. "What was it?"

The other ran a hoof up and down his leg. "Well there we were--"

"--ready to open for all the world to see--"

"--when the hoses malfunctioned--"

"--And began spraying black gunk everywhere. We tried to repair it but try as we might, it wouldn't stop. We stopped everything and went up there--"

The other brother pointed up at the hoses. "--We were working on it when it turned itself on--"

"--drenched us in that black concoction."

Together they spoke. "We're proud to say it no longer does that."

"So... where are your workers?" I looked around the abandoned building.

"Funny thing about that--"

"--They were gone when we woke up."

The sequence of events felt clear enough. "Well, I'll say this, I think you do have a viable thing here." They smiled. "But you have to get your workers back." They stopped smiling.

"We don't need them--"

"--entirely unnecessary. Nopony understands our true genius anyway."

Their eyes flashed dark purple. "You don't doubt us--"

"--do you?"

I waved off the comment like it was nothing. "Two smart stallions such as yourselves?" They looked happy to hear that, chests puffed out. "No, I don't doubt you at all. I want to see you succeed. Flim and Flam should be the talk of the city."

"Too right!" They leaned forward. "Why isn't it already?"

"Because genius isn't enough." They tilted their heads at me. "Hold on, I'm explaining. You have the genius, but you need some oversight. Another set of eyes that isn't invested in the creation process. Someone impartial to see the boring details you don't have time for, before they become issues."

They looked to each other before the one without the mustache took a timid step forward. "Is it really that simple?"

Trixie put a hoof to her chest. "Trixie's spells may not be her own making, but that is only because safe spells have been reviewed and tried and vetted by countless other magicians. A pony or two to look over your designs couldn't hurt."

The mustached one frowned. "What if they steal our invention before it's put to market?!"

"That'd be awful--"

"--terrible!"

Sweet sat up and cleared her throat. "I... uh... if you brought your things to my house, I'd be glad to look at them. I'm not a crystal pony, or a normal pony at all. I won't steal your things. Looking is enough for me." She smiled a little. "So long as you don't put me where the berries go."

"You would do that?"

"After what we did?"

"That's--"

"--quite generous..."

"Maybe we should take them up on their offer."

"But they could take it!"

They began whispering harshly to one another as the shadows in their eyes swirled with wild shapes of green and purple.

Suddenly, they turned back to us. "We accept!" The shadows in their eyes suddenly rushed free, becoming a looming shape of those dark colors before it fled into the machinery itself. With a loud crunch, the machines began working in ways they shouldn't. A claw grabbed one of the brothers where he stood.

"Give me back my brother!" cried the other, firing magic at it, to no effect. There were no words beside any of the machines, we'd have to subdue it, somehow.