As Verdant Range stepped into the Vanhoover Institute that morning, he saw High Gear was standing by the elevator, occasionally looking up at a nearby clock on the wall before her eyes met the approaching shamrock stallion.

“Hey, Verdant!” The bespectacled mare waved as Verdant drew closer. “I’ve got something really special to show you today. It’s a project that I’ve been working on for a really long time.”

“But I’m still gonna be teleported, right?” Verdant asked as High Gear pressed the button on the wall to call the elevator.

“Yes, but what I’m going to show you is a million times more important than my teleporter,” Gear answered as the elevator doors opened up and the two stepped inside. “Rest assured, what Pix and I have made makes the teleporter look like the bread slicer I made when I was eight.”

“Speaking of bread, you’re gonna owe me a sandwich after this,” Verdant said before he felt the elevator rising up.

“Probably, but with the limitations I’ve set, you’re not gonna hurt my wallet too badly,” High Gear replied just as the doors opened and she stepped forward, not seeing the wicked smirk forming on Verdant’s face.

After a brief walk into High Gear’s lab, the two found that beside High Gear’s console was what looked to Verdant like a silver and black ponyquin with a small speaker in the middle of its neck. Its eyes were completely black with a pair of tiny glass looking protrusions in the centers. On the flank was some rather square looking writing in gold paint that read ‘B-01’.

Verdant curiously looked over the pony-like machine while a smirk formed on High Gear’s muzzle as she drew closer. “So, I’m guessing this isn’t gonna be this Hearth’s Warming’s hottest selling toy.”

“Oh, this is far more than some toy, Verdant.” High Gear replied as she reached into her jacket and pulled out a small, black plastic square with a sticker label that had writing matching that on the silver flank.

“Behold! The greatest creation of my life!” Gear stepped behind the machine and slipped the plastic square into a narrow slot on the back of its head.

A whirring came from the mechanical pony before the black of its eyes flashed white for an instant before they took on the image of a set of purple pony eyes. After a moment, the rubber that formed the machine’s muzzle formed a smile before they took a step forward and held a metallic foreleg out to Verdant.

“Nice to meet you, Verdant Range at long last,” The mechanical pony said with a feminine voice with a strange flanging to it as Verdant slowly took her hoof. “I am Beta-01, but you simply call me Beta.”

“Wow, nice to meet you, Beta,” Verdant replied as he let go of her metal leg. “Gotta say, I’ve never met somepony like you before.”

“We have actually previously met in Princess Celestia’s intestine, but I was pretending to be my creator during that time.” Beta said, making Verdant recall a time in the Celestial City where High Gear seemed somewhat odd and made him realize that was really her.

“Pix and I had been working on making a mechanical pony like Beta for years.” High Gear boasted as she slung a foreleg over her shoulders. “Pix handled the software while I worked on the hardware.”

“Gotta say, after just knowing you for working on a teleporter, I would have never expected to find out you were working on a robot.” Verdant’s words caused the hornless unicorn to wince while Beta rolled her eyes.

“I don’t like it when others call me a robot,” Beta firmly said as she looked Verdant with a slight glare, thanks to a pair of shutters that came down over the screens that formed her eyes. “I prefer the term, ‘fully sentient, multifunctional automaton’. I’ll give you a pass since you only just learned about me.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry, Beta,” Verdant apologetically said as High Gear pulled her foreleg off of Beta’s shoulder.

“It was quite the surprise to learn my project for a mechanical lab assistant had gained sentience,” Gear said as she affectionately patted Beta on the forehead. “This is a big reason why I’ve kept her a secret. I worried that somepony would try to replicate her and end up mass producing a race of mechanical slaves. Since then, I’ve kept her a secret only a few ponies know about with her own room accessible only through the ducts and have only been working on hardware improvements for her.”

“And I’m forever grateful for her not only granting me life, but for the fact she treats me with the same respect she treats all other lifeforms.” Beta nuzzled against High Gear’s cheek before she turned her attention over to Verdant. “Good thing I said to just call me Beta. Otherwise you’d have to call me Beta-01.8.6.”

“Well, rest assured, Beta, your secret’s safe with me.” Verdant offered the mecha mare a warm smile as he stepped onto the teleporter’s platform. “So, what’s today’s experiment going to be, Gear? Standard old teleportation attempt?”

“Not quite,” Gear replied as she pulled away from Beta and stepped up behind the console. “Last time, I noticed an anomaly with the energy pattern. Since you told me you didn’t shrink that time, I figure that particular energy pattern specifically is what causes you to shrink.”

“So, are you gonna try to teleport me in a way that makes it so that I don’t shrink again?” Verdant asked as High Gear started to fiddle with the various dials and buttons on the console.

“Again, not quite what I’m going for,” Gear answered as she halted her adjustments. “Doing a teleport without that pattern is rather tricky, so replicating that is gonna be hard. What I’m going to be doing is teleport you to where you’re currently standing with the energy pattern to see if that pattern really causes you to shrink down. If you shrink, this will be a major breakthrough for my experiments. If not, then we’ll have more experimenting to do.”

“Alright then,” Verdant replied as he saw Beta moving closer to the teleporter with a curious expression on her face. “Now I’m hoping I shrink for once since that might mean I’ll never shrink again.”

“Okay then. Starting up the teleportation sequence,” High Gear said as she resumed working behind the console. The panels underneath Verdant began to glow with blue light while an electrical hum rang out.

The light soon grew more intense and in a flash, it seemed Verdant had vanished from sight.

However, the shamrock stallion found himself sitting upon a platform that now looked larger than some towns while the now megazord sized mecha mare stepped onto the platform and drew closer to him.

“DO YOU SEEN HIM, BETA?” High Gear’s voice echoed in the distance as the automaton’s eyes fell upon Verdant as she drew closer.

Looking more closely at her eyes, he could see the bulk of her eyes were massive screens like he’d see at a baseball game while the dark pits in the center of the black were cameras.

“AFFIRMATIVE. COMMENCING COLLECTION AND SAFE STORAGE ROUTINE,” Beta replied as she leaned down towards the shrunken stallion.

“Uh, and what exactly would that be?” Verdant squeaked just as the mecha mare opened her rubber maw, revealing more gray rubber that made up the interior of the mouth.

There were pearly white pieces of plastic that acted as her teeth. In the center of her mouth was a pink tongue that looked like it had the same texture of a basketball. In the very back of her mouth, he could see a dangling gray uvula that led into a tunnel for mechanical parts unknown.

“Of friggin’ course,” Verdant grumbled just before the tongue shot out from her mouth and quickly scooped him up.

In an instant, Verdant was pulled into the artificial maw. He only had a few seconds to take in the details of Beta’s mouth before the tongue beneath him flicked and tossed him under the uvula and into the black rubber tunnel that was her esophagus.

From behind the rubber walls, Verdant could feel tiny little parts that slowly massaged him down the esophagus. Rather than hearing a heartbeat, he instead heard mechanical whirring and a very faint electrical hum before he reached the bottom of the tunnel and was dumped into a black rubber sack that was like a bounce house to the shrunken stallion.

As Verdant rose to his hooves, he saw what appeared to be a lamp in the stomach’s ceiling that was providing the dark chamber with light.

“Well, I’m now inside the rubber stomach of an automaton that Gear built,” Verdant mused aloud as he gazed around the chamber. Despite the black coloration and light fixture, the stomach was quite similar to an organic one. All that was missing was the pool of acid and chunks of digesting food. “Well, can this get weirder?”

“I see you.” Beta’s voice came from above, but not in the way he was accustomed to when he heard someone speaking from inside their stomach. Rather than booming all about like thunder, the voice was much quieter, like another pony was shrunk and in the chamber with him.

“Beta?” Verdant asked as he tried to find the source. He couldn’t see anything from within the stomach besides the light. “Where’s your voice coming from?”

“The stomach’s lighting fixture has both a speaker and camera,” Beta’s voice replied as he started to feel the trembling caused by the mecha-mare’s movements. “I helped Dr. High Gear design this artificial digestive system so that my body can safely take you inside and store you.”

“Why did you think it would be a good idea to make a fake digestive tract just to store me?” Verdant asked before he tumbled back. He could only assume Beta had stood up on her hindlegs.

“You do realize this has to be the twentieth stomach you’ve ended up inside of due to High Gear’s actions, right?” Beta’s question made Verdant rub the back of his neck before her body shifted about once more. “If it’s any comfort, you won’t have to deal with any disgusting digestive byproducts and you’ll be getting a free sandwich.”

“Well, I guess that’s comforting,” Verdant said as he looked round the massive rubber room. “So, does this tract go all the way out or does it have a dead end?”

“My artificial intestines are shorter than those on an organic pony of my size, it does end with a mechanical anus, located not far above my reproductive system.”

“Uhh… Out of curiosity, why do you have a reproductive system?” Verdant asked. His question was answered with a chuckle from the speaker system as the body shifted once more.

“I was curious about sexual intercourse, so I asked High Gear to make one for me.” Beta responded as her body shook from her movements, reminding Verdant of when he and his sisters would play with their house’s dumbwaiter. “Besides, I identify as female and I prefer sitting down when I need to pee instead of doing it that way most stallions do, so I requested one for my 1.7.0 upgrade.”

“Wait, why the hay would a ro… automaton need to pee?” Verdant asked before Beta’s body shifted and made him tumble about once more.

“My fuel cells create a slightly acidic water as a byproduct.” Beta matter-of-factly responded. “This exhaust water is stored in an artificial bladder and I release it when needed.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense.” Verdant was silent for a moment as he felt Beta walking about. “So, am I just supposed to wait here?”

“Well, I could easily open the pathway to my small and large intestines, but for your safety, my anus will remain shut.” Beta casually replied. “However, if you don’t wish to be within my digestive system, I also have a pathway to another area inside my body designed for a pony your size.”

“I might as well check that out. I figure it’ll be a nice change of pace.” Verdant replied as he heard the sound of rubber rubbing against itself. Turning to the source, he saw the valve to the small intestine was now open. The intestine was the same dark color as her stomach while several small lights lined the tops of the intestinal walls.

“Thanks, Beta,” Verdant said as he made his way towards the brightly lit tunnel. “Must be pretty weird for Gear since she can’t hear us, so it looks like you’re not saying anything.”

“Actually, I have spoken to Dr. High Gear while you were inside me. I simply have excellent soundproofing.” Verdant heard Beta’s voice coming from an unseen speaker. “Currently, I am implementing Operation: Leg Stretching, which will commence after I empty my bladder and make some preparations.

***

High Gear stepped out from behind the teleporter’s console as she watched Beta tilt her head from swallowing Verdant.

After a few seconds, Beta turned to face the hornless unicorn. “Verdant is now safely within my stomach. It appears his landing was a soft one.”

“Excellent. Great job, Beta.” High Gear brightly smiled before she rushed back behind her console. “Now I just need to document the results. This could take a bit.”

“No problem,” Beta replied as she followed her creator up to the console. While Gear’s eyes were focused on the various screens, Beta’s attention was focused upon a small red tool box.

Commence Operation: Leg Stretching. The thought ran through Beta’s computerized mind a nanosecond before she opened the box, revealing a collection of tools, along with a white cloth with a damp yellow spot.

“Dr. High Gear,” Beta spoke up as she grasped the cloth and moved up behind her creator. “I have a question.”

“What’s up, Beta?” The scientist pony asked just before the cloth was pressed up against her muzzle.

“Does this smell like chloroform to you?” Beta nonchalantly asked Gear as her free foreleg moved behind Gear’s neck and a panel in her leg opened up.

“Hmm… not really. It smells more like apple juice.” Gear responded through the cloth covering her muzzle. “Where’d you get this anyway?”

“I found it in the toolbox of the janitor outside the medical supply room,” Beta answered as she pulled it away. “I couldn’t identify the substance due to a lack of olfactory sensors or chemical analyzers.”

“Well, it looks like Mop ‘N Bucket just cleaned up someone’s spill after lunch,” Gear said just before she felt a slight prick on the back of her neck. Seeing a small smirk forming on Beta’s muzzle, she quickly turned her head to see what Beta had done.

The amber eyed mare gasped as she saw in Beta’s grasp was an empty syringe.

“Do not worry, Doctor. You won’t be harmed,” Beta said before pulling the needle away and placing it on the console. “And rest assured, I will have the syringe properly disposed of before I depart.”

“Depart? What… what are you… talking about?” High Gear felt a heavy sense of weariness kicking in as Beta pulled her into her forelegs.

“I believe I have been dealing with a condition known as cabin fever. I’ve been making preparations to go for a walk.” Beta gently patted High Gear on the back as she carefully lowered her to the floor. “Rest assured, no one will know I’m an automaton and you’ll be able to have a nice afternoon nap.”

“But… but…” High Gear felt her eyelids growing heavier and heavier until she could no longer ignore the call to slumberland and gently fell asleep.

“Night-night, Doctor,” Beta whispered before turning about and making her way to the ladder that led to the entrance of the ceiling ducts.

After a brief bit of walking through the maintenance ducts, Beta soon reached a panel in the floor that led to her secure room.

Carefully climbing down the stairs, she grabbed a small briefcase before heading back up.

A few moments later, she came to a panel that brought her into the fortunately empty third floor mares’ bathroom.

Locking the door, she placed the briefcase on the bathroom counter before flicking it open.

***

Verdant was rather astounded by how different Beta’s intestine was from those in the organic mares he’d been inside. Rather than being covered in villi that completely lined the walls, these black tunnels were entirely smooth with the only notable thing being the lights embedded into the ceiling of the black rubber tunnel.

Eventually, the shrunken stallion came upon a clenched orifice on the side wall of the intestine. As he drew closer, the passageway opened up for him, giving him a view of what looked to be a hallway made of white plastic and grey metal.

“Man, it’s so weird being shrunk and being inside something like this,” Verdant muttered to himself as he entered the hallway. The doorway to the rubber intestine sealed shut behind the shamrock stallion shortly after he set hoof in the metal halls. “It wasn’t even like this when I was living inside Celestia.”

“Tell me about it.” Verdant momentarily stumbled as he was caught off guard by Beta’s voice coming from the left side wall. “By comparison, being in this part of me is more like being inside a playset.”

Regaining his footing, Verdant cautiously approached the source of Beta’s voice.

What he found was her voice had come from a monitor embedded into a wall that displayed an image of a gray coated alicorn mare with a flowing black mane, a curly tail and shining purple eyes.

“Welcome to the access hallway, Verdant,” the mare in the monitor said with Beta’s voice. “This is my avatar. It’s how I like to portray myself. How do I look?”

“Very nice, Beta. Your… avatar thing has a very pretty mane,” Verdant replied, drawing a chuckle from the mechanical mare.

“Thank you. Now, please proceed down the access hallway. You’ll really like what’s at the end of your journey.” Beta said before her avatar held up a cardboard sign with a bright red arrow pointing down the hallway.

“You’ve got it, Beta,” Verdant responded before carefully following the hallway. After a few moments, he reached the end, where there was a ladder attached to the left side wall that Verdant briefly thought had rungs made of staples.

“So, Beta,” Verdant asked as he started to climb up the rungs. “Can you fly or do something like magic?”

“Currently, I can’t fly or levitate objects,” He heard Beta’s voice reply from an unseen source. “We do not know how to emulate levitating objects through scientific means. I had suggested including the ability to fly like Iron Mare, but Dr. High Gear’s response was-”

“I’m not Pony Stark and there are far too many variables to try to make something like that work.” Verdant was surprised as he heard High Gear’s voice coming from the walls. “Besides, the amount of power needed to make you fly would rapidly drain you. It’d be better if I made a flight add-on with its own power source.”

“Wow…” Verdant was rather stunned as he reached the top of the ladder, coming to a very small space with a tunnel to another ladder, this one made of metallic ropes, leading upward. “It’s kinda weird to hear you emulating Gear’s voice.”

“That was actually a recording of High Gear speaking to me,” Beta replied as Verdant began to climb. “Still, you do know from our previous encounter I can emulate her voice.”

“Huh… fair point.” Verdant shrugged his shoulders as he paused his climb. “Can you imitate other voices?”

“No. I can only imitate Dr. High Gear’s. She thought it might be useful if she needed to be in two places at once,” the mare’s mechanical voice answered as Verdant continued his climb. “You are nearly at your destination, a special location inside my head.

“Alright,” Verdant said as he looked up and saw there were only five rungs separating him from some kind of landing. “Hopefully this is interesting.”

When Verdant arrived at the landing, he noticed that there was room for five ponies or so on the landing and a single metallic door with a gold knob.

Hauling himself up, Verdant came up to the door and wrapped his hoof around the knob.

Here goes nothing.

Pulling the door open, Verdant felt his jaw go slack at the sight before him. Inside was a room that looked like a cockpit with five stations, chairs at each of them.

There were a variety of lights coming from the panels and light tubes on the walls, but the thing that drew Verdant’s attention the most was three particular circles shining with light on each panel.

Upon the circles were the images of a helmeted equine on the left, an ancient creature on the right, and the large center circle had a different image of the same creature.

“Let me get this straight,” Verdant said as he approached the central seat behind the red panel. “Dr. High Gear went to the effort of making it so that inside your head… is an exact scale model replica of the cockpit for the Mighty Morphin’ Pony Rangers’ Megazord?”

“Affirmative.” Beta’s voice rang out as what looked like a darkened window for the megazord’s cockpit flashed for an instant before turning blue with Beta’s avatar appearing on it, revealing it to be a screen. “We agreed that a pseudo cockpit would be more comfortable for you than a digestive tract in case you ended up inside me. Besides, she thought the original megazord cockpit was the coolest looking one.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Verdant replied as he looked over the various buttons on the control panel. “So what do these buttons do?”

“Absolutely nothing. These are purely for decoration.” Beta bluntly answered. “Not only would it be difficult to make functional controls at such a small size, but I made it very clear to Dr. High Gear that I don’t like the idea of someone being able to override my body from the inside. I mean, just imagine if someone got inside you and took control of your body and you were helpless to do anything.”

“Point taken.” Verdant rubbed the back of his neck as he gazed around the model cockpit. “So, what can I do in here?”

“Well, I can let you get a look at the world through my eyes.” As Beta replied, the blue area behind her avatar shrank so only her head in a small box was visible before it moved to the corner.

Now taking up the bulk of the screen was the interior of a bathroom stall with some graffiti on the door. From unseen speakers, Verdant could hear the sound of a toilet flushing.

“Wait, is this one of the labs bathrooms?” Verdant asked as Beta’s movements and the display on the screen showed her moving towards the door.

“Indeed. I was just taking care of business before we go out on the town,” Beta responded as Verdant saw the gray blur of her hoof unlocking the stall.

“But won’t seeing an automaton walking about Vanhoover freak out some ponies and blow your secret?” Verdant nervously asked as the door slowly started to open.

“I’ve already thought of that,” Beta replied with a smirk before the box with her avatar disappeared.

Seeing the bathroom door open, Verdant saw the image of not the automaton that had swallowed him in the bathroom mirror, but what looked like an earth pony version of Beta’s avatar with her somewhat odd eyes.

The disguised form of Beta shifted so her reflection showed off her flank, showing him that her apparent cutie mark was the image of the plastic disc Beta had put into her head.

“Thanks to this costume, I’m more than meets the eye. I’m a robot in disguise.” Beta’s voice rang out within the cockpit as she silently brushed a strand of her black mane away from her eyes.

“Huh, well I guess that works, but what about your voice?” Verdant asked as he saw through Beta’s eyes that she was now turning towards the bathroom door. “It’s got that weird sort of metallic sound to it.”

“If I can perfectly mimic High Gear’s voice, what makes you think I can’t just turn the flanging off?” Beta’s inner voice replied, sounding much more like a natural mare. “I’ve been planning things out for quite some time, Verdant. I’m finally going outside.”

“Alright then,” Verdant said as he stretched back in his chair. “Guess I’m just going along for the ride.

“True, but at least you have someone to talk to and you’re not in a digestive tract waiting to be defecated or vomited out.” Beta’s display showed her entering the hallway, revealing the only person in the hall was a blue coated earth pony who was mopping up part of the hallway.

“Now hold on tight,” Beta teasingly said, making Verdant feel rather worried. “This creation of High Gear’s is about to kick it into high gear!”

“Uh-oh.” Verdant winced as he propped his legs against the console, wishing that his chair had a seat belt.

***

A blue earth pony mare with a two-toned blue mane resisted the urge to grumble as she pushed her mop against the tile floor.

“I don’t get paid enough for this crap,” the tired mare grumbled as she heard the sound of rapidly approaching hoofsteps. Looking up, she saw a grey coated earth pony rushing towards her.

Suddenly, the grey coated pony jumped into the air. Her black mane fluttered in the air before she landed on the freshly mopped section of floor and started to skid down the hall.

“Wheee!” The monochromatic mare happily exclaimed as she slid along. She soon came to a halt by the elevator and pressed the button.

“You’re doing a great job, Mop ‘N Bucket!” The mare happily waved as the elevator doors opened wide. “Also, somepony graffitied the third stall in the mares’ bathroom. Bye!”

A prolonged moment of silence held in the air as the door closed behind the grey mare.

Eventually, the janitorial mare sighed and returned to her mopping. “I’m so hitting the bar after this.”

***

In a very short time, Beta managed to casually stroll out of the institute with nopony batting a single eye at her.

As she stood on edge of the institute’s property, a wide smile started to form on her face.

“Oh, how I’ve longed for this,” Beta said aloud before she began to walk along the dirt path towards the town.

Within her cockpit, the image of her avatar reappeared on the view screen in front of the shrunken stallion.

“This is the first time I’ve really been outside, Verdant,” Beta’s avatar said as the shamrock stallion looked at the display of the oncoming city. “The only other times I’ve been out of the lab have been in either Princess Celestia’s intestines, or unconscious with my body in a box and my brain in Dr. High Gear’s pocket.”

“Huh… Well, I guess I can see why you wanted to go outside,” Verdant said as they drew closer to the city. “If you want, I’d check out the pier. It has a great view of the North Luna Ocean.”

“I will probably check it later on, but I intend to observe some ponies in the shopping district.” Beta replied as she turned her attention to a farm on her left.

In the fields, she and Verdant saw a gray pegasus mare near a green earth pony stallion. Not far from them was an earth pony that easily towered over the pair.

“Hey, it’s Beans!” Verdant said as he leaned up against the console. Beta’s internal cameras took note of how his tail happily shook at the sight of the overly tall mare as she strapped a plow to herself.

“So, I assume Beanstalk’s the mare you enjoy being inside the most,” Beta’s avatar smirked at the shamrock stallion. “Considering you’ve been in more ponies than most porn stars, that really says something.”

“Ha ha. Very funny,” Verdant sarcastically said as he rolled his eyes before laying back in his chair. “So, is there anything you’d like to check besides the pier and shopping district?”

“I would like to see the one you call Crème Noire,” Beta answered as the cockpit’s view turned back to the path towards the city. “I believe it would be fascinating to see a creature that appears to be composed of magical cream. It is unlike any creature I have learned about since I’ve achieved sentience.”

***

The mechanical mare and Verdant spent a good two hours on her journey through the city. Beta had quite the time walking through the shopping district, seeing dolphins leap out of the water from the pier, and even playing a brief game of catch in the park.

Now, with those taken care of, Beta was now walking by several restaurants as she headed for Verdant’s house, interested in seeing his pets.

“Hey there, pretty lady,” Beta paused and looked over her shoulder, seeing an orange coated unicorn stallion walking up beside her. “Don’t remember seeing you anywhere around town. You new here?”

“No, I just don’t get out much,” Beta replied as she started to walk away when the stallion slung a foreleg over her shoulder.

“Well, for somepony who doesn’t get out much, you are quite the looker,” the unicorn said, not seeing the annoyed look on Beta’s face. “How about I show you some sights and give you a night you'll never forget?”

“I’ve already got plans,” Beta said before she grabbed his foreleg and tossed it off her shoulders before taking several steps ahead.

“Oh, come on, lady.” The stallion said, not hearing the mecha mare ahead of him grumbling. “I know you’ll just love what I can do to you.”

“I said…” Beta suddenly faced the stallion, her eyes now completely black save for two glowing, blood red pits. “BACK OFF!”

The unicorn screamed and stumbled back, running off and annoying several ponies who were trying to enjoy their meals.

***

“Beta,” Verdant asked as he leaned up against the console. “What did you do that scared him so much?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Beta casually replied. “I just activated a little display setting for my eyes called ‘Intimidation Mode’.”

With a blink, Beta’s violet eyes were replaced with the frightening black and red display that scared off the unicorn stallion.

“It was an upgrade I asked Dr. High Gear to install in me in version 1.3.3.” Beta’s avatar blinked once more, her intimidating eyes back to her pleasant purples. “In case the lab ever had intruders. Dr. High Gear says it also serves as a good constipation cure.”

“I can see that,” Verdant replied as Beta began walking once more.

Suddenly, the world began spinning from something striking Beta. The mechanical mare and her assailant rolled several times against the ground before they came to a halt.

As Verdant pulled himself back into his chair, he saw from the cockpit’s view that Beta was looking up at a light blue colored mare with short violet hair, and a set of green glasses that stood in front of furious amber eyes.

***

“Well, speak of Tirek,” Beta said as she looked into the angry High Gear’s eyes as Pixel Flash trotted up to her fiancé's side. “Hello, Doctor. Did you enjoy your nap?”

“You're in so much trouble, Beta!” High Gear angrily exclaimed as Pix’s horn glowed and pulled the engineer off her creation. “You could have blown your secret pulling this stunt!”

“I’d say you’re more likely to blow things now everypony’s eyes are on us,” Beta flatly replied as she pulled herself back onto her hooves.

Swallowing, Gear slowly turned around and saw that her yelling had caused over a dozen ponies to look directly at the trio.

“Let’s… let’s discuss this elsewhere,” High Gear said a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.

“Agreed. I suggest we do this at Verdant’s house since it’s so close.” Beta turned about and started to trot off, the two unicorns quickly following behind.

“Beta, I hope you know that Gear’s just worried about your well being,” Pix said in a gentle tone. “And she’s pretty upset that you would tranquilize her just to leave the lab.

“I do apologize for my actions, but this is something that I’ve been planning since even before Copper Top’s experiment damaged the lab,” Beta said as looked over her shoulder to the bespectacled mare. “I knew you were busy with multiple projects, including the teleporter which has seen very little progress. Because of this, I started working on Operation: Leg Stretching.

“How’d you make this… fake skin?” High Gear examined the mare of metal’s disguise. “If it weren’t for your eyes or the fact you made your brain disc your cutie mark, I wouldn’t have known it was you.”

“I had it charged as a business expense, saying the materials were to advance robotics” Beta casually replied. “Also, you can’t say I’m misusing lab funds considering what you two did in the Crystal Empire.”

“Fair point,” Gear said with a sigh. “I just wish you asked me after showing me this disguise of yours instead of drugging me. I would have gladly gone on a walk with you.”

“Well, I wanted to spend some time with a different subject of yours rather than feeling like my every move is being monitored like a hawk. I just wanted to have a bit of freedom, and to see the world instead of being locked in one building,” Beta answered before looking at Gear with a somewhat sad look in her eyes. “Still, I promise I will never drug you against your will ever again. I will simply ask.”

“I think that’s fair… on the condition that you get no movie rentals for a week,” Gear said with a small smirk.

“I agree. You did do something pretty bad, so we’re not just gonna let you off the hook,” Pix added.

“Yes, Moms,” Beta said with a childish pout, making the two mares chuckle. “Now, can we please go see Crème Noire and Pizza?”

“Alright, but once we’re done, it’s straight back to your room for the night.” Gear chuckled before patting Beta on the back. “Also, I want you to let Verdant through the tunnel in your cockpit to let him exit through your mouth.”

“Aww… but I wanted to give him a full tour. That’s what you and Beans did to him.” Beta’s response made Pix sigh and bring a hoof to her forehead.

“I told you you shouldn’t have let her watch vorno movies,” Pix said as she dragged her hoof down her face.

“Considering what happens to Verdant all the time, I thought it was good for her education,” Gear shot back as Beta started to chuckle.

***

After a brief period of playing with the pets, the four returned to the lab, where Verdant was soon restored to normal size by Mini.

“So,” Verdant started as he stood upon the teleporter as Beta began to take off her disguise, a grin forming on his face. “That makes it twenty stomachs I’ve been in because of your teleporter. You know what that means.”

“Yeah, yeah. I owe you a sandwich. Just remember the deal,” High Gear grumpily replied as she pushed up the glasses on her snout. “It has to be a regular sized sandwich and have no toppings that cost extra. Got it?”

“No problem, but can I get two more of the same sandwich for Beans and Crème Noire?” Verdant inquired.

“Sure, whatever,” Gear replied before she took off her lab coat. “Anything else you need?”

“Oh, can I have a piece of stationery and a pen? I just realized I need to write a letter.” Verdant’s question made the scientist sigh before she moved behind the console.

“Here you go,” Gear said as she handed Verdant the pen and stationary with the institute’s logo on it. “I just want this day to be over.”

“Sure thing,” Verdant said before he set the paper down on the floor and picked up the pen with his teeth.

Before he could put pen to paper, Dr. High Gear had left the room, possibly to use the mares’ room.

Once the hornless unicorn was out of sight, Verdant began to write up his order for sandwiches.

While Gear was rather strict about size and toppings, she had neglected to say where the sandwich came from or who made it. Verdant decided to take advantage of this loophole and asked for it to be made by the best chef to ever come out of Woolachia.

Dear Chef Ramsay of Tartarus’s Kitchen

Soon, Verdant heard the metallic hoofsteps of Beta approaching as his order for delivery was nearly finished.

“Oh, you are devious.” Beta said before chuckling and heading for the ladder. “Good night, Verdant. I hope you enjoy your sandwiches.”

Author's Note

Welcome to the long awaited start of this trilogy of chapters, my readers. I have been planning on this trilogy and using these characters for a very long time. Now, it's finally Beta's time!

Since this is something I've had been planning for a long time, I've made multiple pics for this chapter.

First, we have Beta in the various forms she appears in in this chapter, along with the institute's janitor, Mop 'N Bucket.

Next is a full body shot, just because.

Third is a comparison between High Gear and the disguise Beta had back in The Celestial City.

And for the last pic, we get to see Beta making a bunch of facial expressions thanks to the various shutters in her that act as eyelids.

Fun a bit of extra bit of fun, I can tell you how to hear what Beta kinda sounds like. Look up the text to speech program on voxworker.com, choose the Kelly voice, set the pitch to 1.1. Then to get the flanging effect for the audio, copy it, decrease the pitch of one of them by 1%, and play the to together.

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it. No poll this time because next time we go to the second part of this trilogy when we Enter Castle Stoneback.

See ya then!