Chapter 9 – Escape?

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Queen Chrysalis was certainly not having an enjoyable day. Her plan had been ruined by that insipid Twilight

Sparkle, she had been captured, and perhaps worst of all, that robot had messed with her magic. "After carefully

studying the magical properties of a unicorn's horn, and being inexplicably drunk, we invented a gas that inhibits

magical ability by shutting down your horn's nervous system." The queen didn't actually care about the lecture,

she cared that she had been in Test Chamber 2 for an hour and still hadn't figured out how to fire the Portal

Device, which the human had said 'was specifically adapted to ponies'. "Would it be alright if I killed myself now?"

she asked, half-jokingly. To her surprise, she received a response. "No, I would like you to actually try doing the

tests. I have no patience for a suicidal Test Subject," the smooth, robotic voice said. Chrysalis noticed a panel on

the wall which looked… odd. She poked it curiously. Meanwhile, LaECOS watched, with growing unease. That

panel looked dangerously unstable, and there was a Subject right next to her.

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Chrysalis picked up on this, of course. She tried bashing the wall in with her body, and to her surprise, it

crumbled. She spilled out into a hallway, a griffin looking at her in surprise. She did not, however, notice the

robotic arm sneaking up behind her. She screamed, and begged for help as the arm pulled her back into her

chamber. The wall panel was quickly replaced, and Chrysalis laid down on the floor, all hope lost once again. Why

couldn't she win, just once?

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LaECOS sighed in irritation. Surely he had better things to do than this. He turned his attention away for a

moment to work on his pet project(s). The first was obviously the most important. Now, where was that

modification protocol? He found it, and selected 'Apply to: Turret Production Facility'. This could get interesting… he

thought.

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A few hours later, Chrysalis was tired. After being hurled through the air by these little oblong black things called

"Aerial Faith Plates" by the robot, and her wings duct-taped together, she felt like just giving up on life. Then she

spotted a small crack in the top-left corner of the chamber. She grinned evilly. How could that omnipotent,

perfectionist 'bot have overlooked this? She quickly transformed into a bee and flew through the gap, exiting the

chamber.

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Meanwhile, Josh was on lunch break, completely ignoring his latest Test Subject. Alarms went off, and he picked

up a headset. "Lockdown, Code 11 – Escaped Subject," he said, almost nonplussed with the fact that one of the

most dangerous Test Subjects had escaped.

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Fluttershy was about to knock on the front door of the Enrichment Center when a loud Klaxon alarm sounded.

She screamed in terror and jumped back, cowering as the alarm continued to peal through the midday sounds.

"Fluttershy? Is that you?" Josh said from an intercom next to the camera above the front door. "Okay, don't move.

This is important." He said as a green beam spread out over her, slowly moving down. There was a beep. "Okay,

thank science. You really are Fluttershy." Fluttershy was now thoroughly confused. "Of course… why wouldn't I

be?" she said to the camera. "Can you go back and tell Twilight Queen Chrysalis has escaped from her chamber?"

he said. Fluttershy paled. "Oh my – Absolutely!" she said, flying as fast as she could.

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Sara, Shane and Trixie also heard the lockdown, being outside the facility on a picnic (Josh had stayed behind to

make sure nothing happened). "What is that? Sounds like the alarm that we had… when something went wrong…

that we stole from Aperture…" Shane didn't even want to finish his sentence, not least due to his admitting to

Black Mesa's little-known patent thievery. Trixie would have lectured him on this, but given that for an experiment

in Aperture to be have gone wrong, it would have had to have gone horribly, HORRIBLY wrong, she decided now

was not the time.

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"Should we head back and help?" she asked. "No, Josh has the machines in case he dies. So, what could've

happened that made Josh panic enough to issue a lockdown?" Sara wondered out loud. "I'd guess an escaped

Test Subject, but who would be so dangerous…" Then, it dawned on Trixie. "Run! We have to warn the others!"

she said, getting up and running at a fast gallop. "Humans don't run this fast!" Shane argued as he struggled to

keep up.

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Josh whistled cheerfully as he walked through the closed-down facility. That queen wasn't getting out of here,

alive or dead. All testing had been suspended, the subjects stuck in their elevators while "Maintenance

Underway" signs flashed at them. It was a common trick to not let subjects know escape was possible. Josh

fingered his weapons. He had brought a fully automatic shotgun, the magic-inhibiting gas which he had forgotten

to fill the last chamber with, and a tranquilizer gun. No taking chances when a threat to Equestria this big was on

the loose. He stepped out onto a corridor and came face-to-face with… himself?

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It was a mirror. Josh would have laughed at the absurdity of it, but concentrated on shooting it first. "Don't let the

mirrors catch you," he muttered to himself. "That's how the man finds you." A bloodcurdling scream was heard in

the next room. Josh, taking his time, walked over. This could only be a trap, after all.

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Opening the door, he saw Shane standing over Sara, a pistol in his hands. "I'm so sorry, man. I thought she was

the escaped queen." Josh rolled his eyes. "One: You two are attached by the feet. I guess you can't split into two

things. Two: I'm not nearly that stupid. The others are on a picnic. Three: I honestly don't care, we can bring the

dead back to life anyway." He sprayed the gas at the queen, and unable to keep her form, she melted back into

her changeling self. "Very well done," she said. "But how are you going to get past me? I have other weapons

besides deception." In response, Josh took aim with his auto-shotgun and shot off her horn. Chrysalis screamed

in pain. "Oh, don't be such a baby. Horns grow back!" Josh said. He shot the tranq-gun at her, and she dropped

like a stone. As she lost consciousness, Josh leaned down and whispered in her ear, "No they don't." He had a

robotic arm escort her to cryosleep, and he watched as her life support slowly came on. "Sweet dreams, you

monster," he said, wondering if deep down, she heard him. Oh well. He turned off the alarm, and wandered off to

continue what he was doing before this annoying setback.

A/N: This chapter was a bit iffy... what do you guys and gals think?