Hey.
Oh, hi Ranell. It's been a while, hasn't it?
Yeah. We've been pretty busy here.
With?
Building the next iteration of the portal. We've already sent some guys through to test it, and from the looks of it, it no longer changes your physical makeup when you pass through!
Um... great?
Why the hesitation, Gadget?
Do you by any chance still have the old portal?
No. Why would we? We used it as the base for the third model's prototype.
Maybe at least put some sort of toggle on it to let it continue to work like it did before?
Why?
Oh, I don't know, maybe a certain duo are still species swapped? I do still prefer being a tiny horse, y'know. And no doubt Delmar probably misses hands.
...Oh. Oh yeah.
Lemme guess, you and the entire team forgot entirely about the fact that we're both here in Equestria?
...Maybe.
Well then. Maybe just disable the new features of the portal or something until we get back through. Or at least use the old portal's blueprints to build a second portal or something.
We don't exactly... uh, have the budget for either of those options at the moment...
Oh.
So, how's trade talks going?
Celestia and I have been talking for a bit. She wants to see Earth for herself.
Well that's good. When's she coming over?
Probably by tomorrow or something. Idunno.
Ok. Well, sorry that you're kinda stuck as a human, I guess... I'll see what I can do when I have the time.
See ya.
Bye.
WELL THEN.
Wait, what? Why would they destroy a multi-million-dollar device within weeks of its completion? Literally nobody would do that! Something fishy is going on...
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Not destroyed... Modded beyond recognition... By using it as the PROTOTYPE for the 3rd iteration of the project...
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and that is why you don't smoke and work at the same time
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Nah. It's just what you get when the majority of the build team is under the command of a kid with a bit too much hype.
But bowl worries, there's still the first portal...
In a big project... you just don't discard or modify the prototype, because sometimes, in a later version, in case of something that doesn't work so well as the prototype version
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Yup. Ranell learned that the hard way, but like I said, at least there's the original portal that sent the two to space. Gadget could probably work out the old additions from before.