Chapter 12 – They're on a Boat!

Josh reviewed the Equestrian map they had been given. "According to this, our next checkpoint is the old castle ruins, which should be very close. Do we have a boat?"

Shane shrugged, while Twilight shook her head. "Just as well, we'll find something. Or build a raft." As they walked, the trio came upon a bridge, old and decaying. "I

remember this bridge!" Twilight exclaimed. "This looks unstable," Josh commented. Shane shrugged, and walked halfway out onto the bridge. Josh and Twilight had

chosen that moment to be distracted by something in the forest, but quickly turned back at Shane's urgent cry of "Help me!" He was dangling by one foot from the

bridge; the boards around him had given in. Twilight rushed forward, and with some strain, lifted the entire bridge back onto their side, the ropes at the other end

snapping.

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"Well, that was certainly exciting," Josh said. "Now, how do we get across? The bridge broke." Twilight groaned. "My fault," she said. Josh rummaged in his backpack,

grunting with strain as he pulled out a long, rectangular object with a flat, rounded rectangle on the top. "Calibrate for distance… Twilight, can you tell how far away

the other end of the bridge is?" Twilight squinted at the other end. "About… what's your measurement again? Feet? Well, 20.2 of those." she answered, working out

the math in her head. Josh made some adjustments on the bottom. "Ready. Jump on top, and watch the landing," he said. Shane, knowing what this was, immediately

did so, but messed up the landing, with a cry of pain. "Heal you in a second!" Josh called over, as he jumped, landing perfectly with the use of his Long Fall Boots.

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Twilight hesitated, thinking. The plate had been calibrated to a human's weight, she supposed. She was about half that. So, wouldn't she just fly into the forest? She

couldn't teleport over, as she had used too much magic saving Shane from the falling bridge. She finally decided to put her trust in Josh's technology, and jumped. To

her surprise, she followed the same flight path as the others, and landed with a thump on the grass of the other side. "How-?" she questioned. "Calibrates for any

object's weight, no matter how heavy, so that it always follows the same trajectory," Shane answered. Josh stiffened. "Sorry," Shane said awkwardly. "S' alright, I

guess I'll have to get used to it," Josh replied, grinning.

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As they headed towards the ruins, Josh scanned the area for usable materials for a boat or raft. His eyes alighted on a fallen log that had crushed part of a wall, large

enough to carry the three of them. "Over here," he said. Shane looked up at the log. "How do we move it?" Twilight asked. Shane dug in his own backpack, and after a

second, pulled out a Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator. "I still can't get used to owning one of these," Shane said, almost caressing the so-called 'Gravity Gun'. "Back

at Black Mesa, they said one of these was worth more than the entire facility, and we could only see the blueprints." Josh rolled his eyes. "Funnily enough, we said the

same thing about the Portal Device. It wasn't really true, as we can manufacture a lot of them if we need it. I think most of the cost went into safely manufacturing

them, because it's not easy to enclose a miniature black hole within a carbon-lead tube, and then put a bunch of electronics and heaters in. Making the ingredients was

relatively cheap, though." Shane nodded, and began lifting the log out of the hole in the wall.

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An hour later, they had built a relatively stable raft. Josh had made some fine-tuning adjustments to the boat, and soon they were climbing into the river. "I hate it

when my clothes get wet!" Shane complained. Josh felt much the same way, and groaned as he sloshed his Long Fall Boots into the boat. Twilight laughed as she

stepped in. "You two remind me of Rarity, being so fussy," she said. Shane smiled, while Josh merely focused on the boat. A minute later, they were off! "We might

have to make camp by nightfall, which should be in about three hours." He consulted the map. "Unless anyone wants to make a stop at Baltimare?" Twilight shook her

head. Shane considered saying yes, but realized they needed speed, not comfort on this voyage. No matter how much he wanted to visit more pony cities.

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They passed the time by playing cards, I Spy, whatever they could think of. Eventually, a few minutes after the moon had risen, they passed into a beautifully lit bay.

"Horseshoe Bay," Twilight commented happily. "My parents took me here when I was a foal." Josh looked around, appreciating the sights and smells. He hadn't been

outside for the fifteen years he had been at Aperture, and was still getting used to everything. They steered the boat with makeshift paddles ("Oh, we use these

now?" Shane sarcastically complained) and made camp at a small patch of beach which wasn't public. As they set up their sleeping bags, Josh sketched in a small

notebook. While he went to go find some water to distill for drinking, Twilight took a look at it. It was full of chemical equations, design schematics, and comments on

experiments he had seemingly done. One amused Twilight: "Note to self: Don't flood the lab with chlorine. Feels worse than neurotoxin." She felt a presence behind

her, and looked to see Josh, with a smirk on his face. "Yes, I know, it's a cluttered recollection of my thoughts," he said, misinterpreting the still somewhat amused look

on her face. "No, it's not that, it's this one comment," she said, pointing it out.

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Shane came over and read it. He looked at Josh. "Since when exactly have you smelled neurotoxin?" he said. Josh groaned. "Initiation Day," he replied. "The scientists

were forced to do everything a Test Subject would do, including running all the worst cognitive gauntlets and… well… inhaling neurotoxin at non-lethal concentration."

Shane laughed, and Twilight glared at him. "That's horrible, what did it smell like?" she asked sympathetically. Josh thought for a minute. "Like… as if someone had set

your nose on fire from the inside, and then spread that feeling to your innards. I imagine it gets worse at higher concentrations, some subjects just immediately die

without feeling too much beforehand if the amount of neurotoxin in the room gets high enough." Seeing Twilight's shocked look, Josh backtracked. "That was in the

1980's, it's been twenty years since we've had to use subjects for neurotoxin testing!" Shane shook his head. "Wow. And I thought our department was bad. At least

we were safe," he exclaimed. "Yeah, until you caused a freaking Resonance Cascade and killed eighty percent of the population," Josh retorted, causing the two of

them to begin bickering. "Enough!" Twilight finally shouted. The two stood there, looking sheepish. "Just go to bed, we can argue about who's science company is

better in the morning," she said, climbing into her sleeping bag and rolling over. Shane wanted to argue that technically they were more production facilities than

companies, but didn't feel it was worth it, and sank into his own sleeping bag.

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A/N: Filler. Joy… Sorry for the terrible chapter, but I do have to cover all that time spent between now and GriffinLand. Expect things to get more exciting when

the trio go sailing next chapter.