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                        Familiarity                        
                      -by Dark Tail-                       
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                   Chapter 1: Waking Up                    
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Chapter 1: Waking Up
Sweetie Belle sat among her two friends, a table separating them as they shared ciders. All three adults were wearing casual clothing as they discussed their life up till now. Though they had been apart plenty of times, they were always able to get back together eventually after at least a few weeks at most. This time would be different though.
"Listen, I know its a big step but adventure is calling me. This is such a big chance. I need to take it."
Apple Bloom whipped a tear from her eye. "But, this is going to be different. To be gone this long. I just don't know what we are going to do."
Scootaloo placed a hand on her shoulder. "This is a big step for her. We have to let her go. I don't like this either but..." She looked up. "I can see you have already made up your mind. All I can say is, hope you have fun out there. We are really gonna miss you."
Sweetie Belle felt a pang of regret for the first time since deciding to go out on this big expedition. This was going to take her to places she had never seen before and will be gone far longer than any other adventure had taken her. "I am going to miss you both so much. But I promise, I will think of you both every second I am gone and I will take lots of pictures to send back home."
The farm pony adjusted her hat and snorted. "Like we are ever going to see those pictures. Your going to be having too much fun anyways."
The unicorn shook her head. "Pictures or not, you two are going to be the only thing on my mind the whole time."
Scootaloo laughed. "Yeah sure, focus on your expedition you crazy egg head. You are gonna have way more things to worry about then us back home."
The farm pony took a sip of her drink, swishing the flavor around in her mouth before answering. "Mhm, like the fact that a certain friend of ours is going too. Glad you got someone to keep you company."
Sweetie Belle shared a grin. "Sure... Company." She bent her two fingers. "Well we are certainly going to be in close quarters."
The three shared a laugh. Later, Sweetie Belle would share one last hug as she headed back home to pack. As she rested her head down, her thoughts went back to her next big adventure, wondering what new experiences it would bring.
***
She awoke feeling dazed, a wet feeling surrounding her. "Oh crap, did I wet the bed or something?" No wait, she was standing up? That didn't make sense. Her eyes slowly opened as blue liquid came into focus. She blinked, taking in a deep breath and feeling air being pumped in as she did so. Bubbles shot upwards as she blinked back the fog.
She was in some sort of glass circular tube. Her hands reached out, touching the glass as she floated, the liquid around her was warm but that was far from her mind. How in the world did she get here? She went to bed. That was her last memory. Now she was in some sort of tube? The watery liquid began to go down as her feet touched the bottom, small drains opening up.
Slowly it emptied into the drains below her, slowly she felt a since of vertigo as she struggled to stand. It felt like her legs had fallen asleep as she struggled to keep balance. There was a click and the glass tube that surrounded her slowly began to move upwards. She knelt down onto the ground, still struggling to make sense of what was going on.
Her eyes adjusted to a low red light. She was in a bare room, with only white padding surrounding her. There was a simple looking sliding door at the far end. Next to it, was a small wardrobe of some kind.
Slowly getting back to her feet, it became apparent to the confused unicorn that she was completely naked. Her arm absently crossed over her C cup breasts while a hand covered her lower bits below. Coughing, the mouth piece came loose and she was free to move now. There was another feeling of light headedness as she wanted to throw up but that only made her dry heave instead. Weirdly, she was starting to feel hungry. Blue liquid dripped from her body as she attempted to shake the stuff from her hair. She was going to need a shower at some point. It sort of felt like chlorine mixed with shampoo in terms of consistency. It was easy enough to scrap off at least.
Still incredibly confused and fighting the urge to have a panic attack, she began her way over to the wardrobe. For some reason, it felt familiar to her. She had never seen it before but it also felt oddly nostalgic. One foot in front of the other, she half walked and half stumbled over to the wooden looking wardrobe. It was only after she laid hand on it did she realize it was actually made of some softer substance. It was made to look like wood but wasn't actually wood. A small faded sticky note was stuck to the door.
"Take one and look for more of these sticky notes for help. Your friend ~S"
Opening the wardrobe revealed two blue jumpsuits on hooks. There were 10 hangers in total, 8 hanging with nothing on them. Sweetie took the jump suit, finding that the fabric was thin and soft. Slipping into it was tricky at first, it seemed to stick to her skin somewhat and was a bit tight. It left her feet and hands bare. Pulling it up, she ran her arms through it then pulled the zipper up, finding that the jumpsuit seemed to hug her breasts tightly. She left the zipper somewhat open at the top to allow for her to breath somewhat. With how tight and thin the fabric was, it left little to the imagination but at the very least, she wasn't completely naked. Now that she thought about it. It wasn't cold either. The place was very room temperature to be certain.
Walking bare foot, she went back over to the door, finding that it was a sliding door. The door had button next to it. Pushing it, there was a hiss. Upon sliding the door open upwards, she was met with two doors in a small white hallway. The hallway seemed to be lit by white florescent lights. The floor was made of white smooth shiny tile. There was a single sliding door at the end of the hallway as well as one on the middle left and one to the right. The one on the right had a sticky note on it.
Make sure to stop in here first. Trust me, you don't want to skip this door. ~S
Sweetie Belle read the note and went to open it, only for the door to slide open on its own. She jumped back in surprise, seeing a familiar pony on the other side. Button Mash, a tall but fairly built stallion stood on the other side, looking just as surprised. He too was dressed in the thin blue jumpsuit.
"Oh my gosh... Your here too!?" He exclaimed.
Sweetie recovered. "Yeah, good to see you again." She felt an odd pang of sadness and joy. Also a feeling of something missing now filling her whole again all at once. It was an odd feeling. They had been good friends in the past, super close even, but it was as if she was seeing him in a whole different light. He felt somehow calming in some way.
She glanced him up and down, finding her face blush a bit as her eyes fell on his junk, now fighting against its bindings. This thing really did leave little to the imagination. Judging by the fact that Button had now found the ceiling to be the most interesting thing, she could only imagine that her tits could be seen just as well.
"So..." He said slowly, trying to break the now slowly building tension. "Any idea where we are or why we just came out out of a tube like the start of a science fiction movie?"
"No..." She said trying to focus on on his face and not the large object downstairs. "Last thing I remember I was getting ready for cool trip. I don't think this was in the brochure though."
"Same." Button said with a chuckle. "I have never been away from home for too long so this was a big step for me. If I had known this is where that had taken me, I may have just stayed home."
The unicorn tore her eyes from him. "Same."
The Earth pony glanced around. "Yeah, lets maybe start figuring out where we are. Surely there must be a window or someone around here to help get our bearings."
"You sure we weren't kidnapped by someone? Maybe we should hide out in the mean time."
Button glanced at the sticky note on the door. "Do kidnappers leave sticky notes? I got one mentioning this jumpsuit and to stay calm, we are safe for now."
"Well..." She tore the sticky note off the door. "Someone let us out and is clearly trying to help us in some way. We just need to figure out why and why we are here... Wherever here is." She held up the sticky note which Button took and glanced over it.
"I guess we don't really have a choice. At least we seem to have some sort of guide in a way."
"Alright, lead the way then. I am still gonna be careful though." The unicorn said while rubbing her arm. This all felt really strange on so many levels.
The two set out, quickly making their way through the next sliding door. They were met with a similar long white hallway with sliding doors lining the left and right. At least ten on each side. Button was quick to start searching doors, finding that every single one he tried refused to budge. Sweetie Belle walked down to the end of the hallway, something drawing her to the last door on the left.
Without thinking about it, she tried it and it opened no problem. Button, now four doors into his attempt, glanced back down at her in surprise. "Wait, how did you know that was going to be open?"
She blinked as if coming out of a trance. "I didn't... It just felt like it would open for me..."
"How?" He asked walking over to her, his bare feet echoing in the empty hallway.
"I don't know... Something about a lot of this just feels... Familiar? I really can't explain it." She glanced back at him. "Do you not have a the same feeling?"
The earth pony paused and looked around him. He shrugged. "Maybe? Not sure to be honest. Everything feels weird right now. I am not sure what to make of all of this." He let out a small laugh. "Though this does put most of my mystery adventure games to shame when I am the one actually experiencing them."
The door was opened the rest of the way and the two looked inside. The room was small, made up of a bench in the middle and three vending machines. A light softly flickered above. The walls were grey and a lone picture of an open meadow sat on the otherwise blank wall opposite of the vending machines. The machines themselves were mostly bare, tan looking boxes with glass showing their contents inside with a small row of buttons running down the right side of the boxes. Vending machines tended to be rectangular but something was off about these. They appeared more square like. A lone door sat behind the benches with stick note that read: "Take a break and eat, going to need your strength after all." ~S
Button got up close, already feeling his stomach growl as he wondered if perhaps there was some change he could snag in the change flap below. To his surprise, no such spot appeared on the vending machine or any one. He looked inside, seeing MRE's and pouches with various fruit flavors on display.
He glanced at the buttons. Another oddity, they were listed in a weird font that looked like numbers but seemed off slightly, like the 8 not completing itself all the way or the 7 almost looking more like a sideways 1. Either way, he punched in the corresponding the numbers to get a pouch of what looked like maybe banana. There was a hissing noise as the machine came to life. The pouch was pushed forwards and led by a claw to the side of the machine. A small door opened and led it into a chamber. There was hissing sound, like air being pumped into the chamber before another small door opened at the bottom, the pouch sliding down from a small slide inside.
Picking it up, he unscrewed the cap, Sweetie standing nearby watching all of this in silent fascination. The end of the pouch had a cap that could be unscrewed. He took it off and put it up to his mouth, sucking out the contents as his eyes lit up. It tasted like banana cream yogurt. The consistency was a bit more thicker than he was expecting but the taste wasn't too bad.
"I think I had one of these once. But it had apple sauce in it." He said after a minute of slurping up the yogurt. "Tastes funky but still good. Probably mostly artificial flavoring if I had to guess."
Sweetie sat down on the bench. "This is all way too weird. How are you not internally freaking out right now?"
Button sat down next to her. "Well the way I see it, this is either one crazy of a dream, or we just found ourselves in the middle of one crazy adventure." He took another swig of his snack. "So, we may as well make the best of it. I don't feel in any danger right now and we have each other to watch our backs. Maybe its all that time spent playing adventure games but I am more curious about this place, where we are and why we are here to really think about much else." He chuckled. "I did say I wanted adventure and I got it." He place a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"We'll figure this out. In the mean time, mind as well not do it on an empty stomach." He said softly.
The unicorn still looked unsure but nodded. Glancing up at him, she felt a weird blush run across her face. She took a deep breath, got up and picked out a strawberry looking pouch. After watching the machine do its business, she took out the pouch, unscrewed the top, tossed it into a basket that sat nearby and began to suck on her berry tasting yogurt. It didn't quite taste like how she thought it would but like Button said, it did at least taste good. Glancing down into the basket, she couldn't help but notice that it was empty aside from the stuff that was just put into it. It made her wonder if anyone had even been around here yet or in a long time.
***
Log Entry 2025   
Subjects appear to be in stable health. Memory function has been instated. True test in two rooms from now. Subjects already pairing well. Possible breakthrough in testing. Promising start. Shall continue to watch and not interact.   
...  
...  
Attempt number [Redacted].
Author's Note
A new mystery begins. Hope you all enjoy.

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                 Chapter 2: Test Chamber 1                 
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Chapter 2: Test Chamber 1
Button stared up at a large sign in confusion. "Test Chamber 1: Laser Grid." He read it out loud, still trying to piece together what the heck that meant. Were they in some sort of lab?
The two stood in a large room of white. The two had just ventured out from the snack room, down a small hallway and through a sliding door. They now stood in a small passageway leading out to a large room, a large sign sitting next to them. The walls were white and mostly bare, made of some kind of soft, almost foamy like surface but still mostly hard along the edges. The room itself had a few platforms and a tube with a ladder going up it, followed by a small jump from the top into a small pool on the other side of a glass wall that could only be passed by climbing said ladder inside the tube. A lone sliding door could be seen on the other side.
"I am pretty sure this is meant for someone else. I mean, I don't recall signing up to be a tester of some kind." Sweetie Belle said while crossing her arms.
"Pretty sure even if it was, we haven't been given any other choice on where to go. Whether we are meant to go through this doesn't matter, its literally our only path forward."
Sweetie Bell took a careful step inside and at once, the room came to life. Lights from above seemed to dim slightly as red lights came streaking across from hidden panels in the walls. One in particular was sent directly in front of the mare, causing her to jump back in surprise.
The Earth pony examined the laser, hovering his hand over it. "Doesn't feel hot." He lightly poked at it.
His finger harmlessly passed through it.
"Guess they are just there for looks? Maybe the test is just to simply dodge them?"
Sweetie Belle ran her arm through it. To her shock and surprise, the fabric was cut, sliding off of her right arm, leaving her arm below the elbow bare. "Cuts clothing just fine though." She said with a concerned look.
"Just got to be really careful then or risk getting our clothes sliced up. Could be worse."
The mare looked at him with shock. "How is any of this not weird to you?"
"Strange? Yes. Something we can't handle though? Doubtful." He said with a smile.
The unicorn was taken aback but found his confidence... Surprisingly attractive. She shook her head, unsure where that came from. But there was no denying she was really liking him right now.
"I'll go first." The Earth pony said, pointing at his chest with his thumb. "Just follow my lead and we will get through this room no problem."
With that, Button ducked underneath the laser, walked over to the first platform. There were lasers spread out beneath them. A few quick jumps and he was across no problem. Soon he was gripping the ladder and waving back. "See? Easy."
He began to climb and all at once, a bunch of lasers came shooting out form inside the pipe. Button ducked just as one appeared above his head. It vanished, only from another one to slide across, catching his right leg just above the knee, slicing off the fabric. He hurried up, watching another one slice across at an angle, opening up his left shoulder and arm. A few more hurried steps, another laser caught his right shoulder at an angle, tearing off a large chunk not just from his arm, but from the fabric just below his chest on right side as well. Another hurried steps; he was so close to the top.
Another laser caught the near top of his left leg, sending the fabric sliding down to his ankle, which was soon sliced to ribbons by another laser. He quickly reached for the last ring of the ladder, hauling himself up onto it. Three panels opened up from the wall. He barely had time to react as he rolled over to the dive board, sliding off of it, just in time to watch the lasers cut across the spot had been a second ago.
He landed in the pool, glad that the water was warm as he came back up to the surface, gasping for air. He crawled out of the massive tub of water and laid down only the floor, doing his best to catch his breath. A quick glance down showed that his jump suit looked more like a cavepony design, with the fabric being held up by his left shoulder and only going down to his thighs. His dick was freely hanging out below, the fabric only reaching enough to partially cover his groin, moving freely with two separate triangle like chunks hanging below his thighs.
He stood up and attempted to cover his junk with his hand. "S-see?" He stuttered. "E-easy."
Sweetie Belle wanted to laugh. To roll her eyes. But a part of her felt weirdly bad for even considering it. Despite being casual friends as far as she could remember... He felt... More than that to her? That was confusing to say the least. Either way, she was still able to get a chuckle out. "Heh, sure..."
She cracked her knuckles. "Let me show you how its done."
With a casual jog, she leaped onto the small platforms, easily making it over to the ladder. Unlike Button, she took a few seconds, pausing to watch when the lasers would appear. She carefully avoided them, only getting one small one across the shoulder. Once reaching the top, she quickly rolled out of the way, onto the diving board before rolling off that too, and into the water. With a splash, the mare was done and climbing out, despite a bit wet, looking much better than her Earth pony friend.
"Figures, I go first and made it easy for you." He said with his arms crossed.
"Well I am glad it was easy, I am still not sure how I feel about this place yet." She shook some of the water from her hair and began to walk towards the sliding door. "To be honest, I am still feeling a bit off about all of this."
As she took a step towards the door, two panels on opposite sides to her left and right opened up. Before she could even react, four lasers shot out and quickly moved back, slicing through just above and below her breasts and just above and below her thighs.
When the lasers vanished, the mare watched as her jump suit fell to pieces, leaving a strip just over her breasts that was more like a tub top and a mini skirt below. Button felt a bit of blood run down his nose as she was now standing there, fuming.
"Oh come on!" She stomped over to the door which slide open. Button quickly followed her, managing to doge the lasers having seen where they had come from, not that it did much good as he was practically naked at this point anyways.
The two stopped in a T shaped hallway, Sweetie Belle sitting down and crossing her arms. "Nope, I am done. Screw this place. I didn't sign up for this and I don't know what is going on. I refuse to keep going." She stared angerly at the blank wall.
Button glanced up, he saw a sign that read: Test Chamber 2 pointing to the right and Garden Center Chamber to the left. He then glanced back behind him just above the door they had walked through. It had slide shut but he swore he saw a camera move to look at him and then Sweetie Belle before sliding back into the wall behind some kind of panel. It seemed they were being watched to some degree.
He shook his head before placing his hand on his friends shoulder. "Hey, I know this is all a bit much, trust me I did not expect to be going bottomless today, but we can't just sit here forever... Don't you want to know what is going on and why we are here?"
She sighed. "Yes, more than anything. But I don't like being someone's lab rat." She glanced down at her now kinky ensemble. "Much less one that seems to have something against proper clothing."
"Maybe it wasn't meant to. Maybe it was just to show us that we are on level one and need to be careful or things will for sure happen. Maybe not so good stuff."
She let out another loud sigh. "Sure. Whatever... I just can't do another test right now. This place. This not knowing or understanding of what in the heck is going on. I hate this feeling. What's worse is that I feel like I have felt this before. Don't know where but I really don't like it.
Button nodded. "Well maybe we should switch gears then. It says there is a garden center to our left. Lets go check that out instead."
The mare looked up and nodded. "Fine... Getting cramped sitting on this stupid hard floor anyways."
She stood up and the two walked over, taking a left and watching as the door slide open as they neared it. They paused upon entering. Inside was a fairly decent sized room. Grass covered the floor and there were trees baring strange fruit that lined the walls. A lone fountain sat in the middling, feeding into a small pool that went around it. There were two doors. One that had a sign showing stairs while the other seemed to indicate a bathroom.
The two walked in, the door shutting behind them as they continued to look around. The walls were white but had trees and plants painted on them. The lights gave off a sort of soft red lighting. The grass beneath their feet almost felt real but there was a sort of fakeness in the way that seemed to feel softer than normal grass.
Sweetie walked over pulled the fruit off its stem. It looked like a cross between a pear and a peach, both in how it seemed to be shaped like a pear but was a mix of red and yellow swirling across it. She carefully smelled it, finding that it smelled amazing and weirdly familiar. It was making her mouth water. She took a careful bite into it and found the flavor to be a incredibly sweet and tangy. Her mood seemed to change in an instant as she felt a strange warmness take over.
"Wow, Button you gotta try these. They are delicious!" She exclaimed taking another large bite and chewing it slowly, taking in the full flavor. Button watched as she seemed to be the happiest he had seen her so far. It felt good to see her happy. He wasn't sure why but lately he had been feeling like he should know her better. Like the way he looked at her, she just always looked amazing and sexy... He wasn't sure where this feeling came from but it wasn't going to deny he liked the feeling.
He reached up, plucked the fruit and took a big bite as well. He felt his senses sharpen as his mind seemed to go warm. He felt good, energized even. More than that. He felt really warm. The flavor was so good. It was juicy yet that didn't water down the flavor, only seemed to make it stronger.
He happily took another bite. "I don't know why..." He chewed a bit and swallowed. "But this stuff is awesome. Feels like I am eating a food I haven't eaten before but also feels incredibly nostalgic."
"Right? That's what I am getting too." She turned to look at him and suddenly felt a wave of odd sensations. The nostalgia of the fruit seemed to mix with some other feeling she hadn't noticed before. Like how good looking Button really was. How his personality made her feel warm and comfortable. And she couldn't deny, looking down, he did have a nice cock.
She watched as some of the juices of the fruit he was eating splashed onto it. Slowly dripping over it. Button glanced down and then at her. "Uh, might need a bath after this I guess."
Sweetie Belle shook her head as her eyes locked on, watching the nectar of the fruit drip from his wonderful tool. "No need." She wasn't sure why but right now, she was horny as heck. Not only that, she really wanted to do something crazy. Like hanging out with him was something she had done for ages. There was this closeness that seemed to unlock within her mind.
She knelt down and bumped her nose against his ever growing cock. Button seemed to be getting turned on for some reason. Maybe it was because of their situation. Her breathing on it... Or maybe it was because she had torn the fabric from her breasts. She hadn't even realized it was gone for a second. Her mind was going hazy as she long to suck on this wonderful cock.
Opening her mouth, she began to lick and suck on the tip. The taste of Button mixed with the fruit as her mind drove her onwards. This felt right. This felt familiar. She loved this feeling.
Button couldn't believe his eyes. She was so hot right now. This feeling over him. It was like seeing her in a new light, one that made him happy as his body seemed to recall something. The way her hands went up and massage his balls, the way her mouth began to slowly work its way over his long shlong, the way her tongue lapped and even how she was able to take so much in.
And oh my gosh, she was now all the way in. She slowly began to go back and forth, her throat closing around his tool, massaging it. He placed his hands lightly around her head, feeling her moan as she slowly moved back and forth. It was incredible but there as still something missing. He needed to feel something else. He wanted to cum right there and then but there was something begging him for something else.
"Sweetie Belle... This feels amazing but... I really want to..." He moaned out as she slowly backed off, a trail of saliva trailing off from her mouth as she swallowed and looked up at him.
"You want it inside right..." She grinned. She tore off the rest of the cloth and laid on her back. "Go ahead... Take me and fill me with your wonderful cum."
Button felt his mind go into over drive as he knelt down, lined up his cock and drove it in, before grasping those melons. His hips moved, his dick pounded into her body. She gasped and moaned over and over again. Her legs shook as her arms wrapped around him.
She felt so good. Her walls were so tight. But he moved with grace, pounding in quickly before slowly moving out. Taking in the wonderful feeling. His lips softly pressed against hers and the two soon found their lips locked in a patinate embrace. Like two lovers coming together after a long time apart, they felt a sense of happiness unlike any before. Whether either of them knew it or not, they were one. This felt so incredibly right. Like a balance had been made once again. A piece made whole.
Button wheeze and drove his cock as deep as he could. "C-cumming!" He shouted.
Sweetie Belle smiled and closed her eyes. Basking in the feeling as a loud of wonderful seed shot deep into her core, filling her in a way she strangely missed though unsure why. She had never had sex before yet this felt like the hundredth time. But at the same time, it was a feeling she had also missed. It was strange but in this moment, she was happy, feeling her orgasm crash against her mind as another torrent of cum was shot inside her, filling her.
She kissed him. Moaning into his mouth.
He patiently pushed his lips against her, moaning as well. The vibrations causing the two to laugh into each other's mouths. They broke apart, their arms still around each other as the two shifted to laying on their sides. Button felt his cock slide out as cum slowly dripped from Sweetie Belle's drenched flower.
"I don't know where that came from... But I am happy we did that." Sweetie Belle said slowly. "Strangely... I really needed that."
"Same. No idea how that happened but... I have this feeling like... We have this connection."
"Same." She echoed and laughed. "Well, I can say for certain this place is crazy... But I am glad I at least get to face it with someone like you."
"Absolutely. No matter what happens, I got your back." He said with a confidence that once again almost made his friend swoon.
She shifted and closed the gap, softly cuddling against his body as she felt a strange tiredness wash over her. Button soon followed, the two soundly drifting off to sleep.
***
Data Log Entry 2026
Incredible. Absolutely Incredible. Their progress is astounding. This may be the best cycle yet. And they haven't even used the new memory storage mechanic yet. The writing has been categorized from within incredibly well. Memory functions gone yet backups seems to exist in some form from within. Truly remarkable. Now the real testing can begin.  
...  
...  
Lets see how they handle their first run... This time.
Author's Note
Hope you are all enjoying, let me know your thoughts and theories down below.

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              Chapter 3: Check Point Reached               
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Chapter 3: Check Point Reached
Button softly sucked on the wonderful teat in front of him, savoring the taste, the feel and the soft moans from the mare attached to them. He felt like a part of him had been returned. Relishing in this feeling. The two were currently in a small shower, water running over them. The bathroom next to the Garden Center housed a few toilets and a few shower stalls. The two had originally got in to clean up but after bathing one another, Button couldn't help but take a moment to enjoy the wonderful treat that was sitting in front of him. He sat down on the small bench, diving in and softly pumping his hand into the mare's snatch. She was softly moaning, hovering over him.
She let out a soft gasp as Sweetie hit her peak, juices spilling over his hand, mixing with the falling water. "Good to continue on?" He said softly.
"Y-yeah." The unicorn took in a deep breath. She had never felt so horny in all her life. There was just something about all this that just kept turning her on.
The water was shut off and the two made their way out. Sweetie Belle grabbed what little remained of the fabric, tying one strip around her breasts, then the other around her waist, just barely covering her ass and still dripping lower lips.
Button tore and tied his around his waist, using it as sort of a loin cloth. The cloth went just above his knees though. With that, the two attempted to dry off using the hand blow dryer before moving on. With spirits now high, the two first checked the stairs.
Locked. The button did not seem to do anything. So they backtracked, heading back to the room labeled Test Chamber 2.
The door opened as soon as they reached it, revealing a small room with a screen, four buttons on the floor, two levers in front on the floor and two on opposite sides of the wall. The room was literally only arms length from one side to the other. A door sat opposite of the screen. A voice over came on.
"Welcome. Please activated the buttons below, all four must be pushed to continue the experiment. Simply drive the boat that will appear on screen to its destination using teamwork to work the levers. The ones on wall will steer while the ones on the floor will make it go fast, slow or reverse." The voice sounded almost familiar but the two couldn't place it.
Button stood on the two buttons, reaching out and grasping the levers. Sweetie quickly realized she had to stand in front of him and bend over to grasp the levers in front of her. With her ass teasing his dick, he had to shake his head in hopes of concentrating.
The screen came on, showing a 32 bit boat on a river with clear debris in the way. "I can't see the screen very well down here. You are going to have to call out what you need." The mare said with a wink back to her partner.
The Earth pony nodded and involuntarily thrust forward with is hips. "Forward."
The unicorn blushed as she felt his bulge tease her cheeks. She pushed both levers forward, finding her brain seemed to pick up on how the movement works without having to really think about it. She could hear the boat start to move as Button work to move it back and forth, dodging debris.
"What happens if we hit something?" Sweetie asked, doing her best to ignore the feeling of that wonderful cock now growing and softly working its way out from behind the loin cloth.
Button swiped a log and a spray of hot water dowsed the two of them from above. "Got it." She said with a small laugh.
The Earth pony tried desperately to stay focus but he just couldn't help but slowly start to move his hips, grinding his now extended cock between the legs of the mare in front of him, feeling his tip begin to penetrate her walls. He gasped, barely avoiding another collision as he began to slowly pump in and out. "S-slow down... Got a... Sharp turn coming up." He wheezed. Dear goddess he was horny right now.
The mare obliged, slowly working her hips in rhythm with his wonderful cock. Another splash of warm water rained down on the two of them as Button bumped against another corner. "Sorry, this thing is... AH... Hard to... Control." More like he was having trouble focusing as he began to pick up speed, barreling his cock inside his mare, feeling her gasp and moan with each powerful thrust.
Sweetie Bell heard a ding from above her. "Did we reach the end?"
"Ah-almost. Final stretch. Speed up... Almost there." She obliged, both in moving both levers forward and increasing her hip movements. Button managed to move and dodge a few more logs and soon he could see the finish line. Just as he passed over it, he plunged in dick in as far as he could and screamed out. "F-finshed!" And finish he did as he felt a load get unleashed into Sweetie Belle, sending the mare into a long hard moan.
"Yeah... Finished." She gasped. "That was... Awesome."
Button nodded and dislodged himself, hearing the door open behind him. He helped his lovely mare to her feet, softly holding her for a second before the two made their way out. They walked down a short hallway, Sweetie softly playing with herself, feeling the cum drip down her leg.
The two entered into another room, this one labeled: Test Chamber 3: Escape the Sinking Ship.
There was a sticky note next to the sign. "This one will be the first one that may really test you. Do not fear. Check Point reached. ~S
Sweetie Belle picked up the note and read it out loud.
"Check point reached?" Button asked, managing to tear his eyes off his lovely mare, fighting against his horny mind as his gamer sense kicked in. "Check points usually mean something crazy ahead." He shook his head and examined the layout before him. There was a map behind a glass frame. It sat over a tunnel that lead down into a T intersection. The tunnel was lit by special lights built into the top. The map seemed to indicate where to go in the ship, sort of looked like a maze. It was a long line to remember but he was able to get the gist of it.
Sweetie examined it. "Ok. I think I can memorize it. Want me to take the lead?"
"Sure. I trust you."
The unicorn blushed and really took in the map before pointing down into the tunnel. "Alright, lets go." The two casually walked down. Once reaching the T intersection, the tunnel closed itself off behind them. A sound of water began to drip in around them. "Right... Time to pick up the pace." She grabbed his hand. "Stay close."
Now it was Button's turn to blush slightly as he began following close behind the unicorn, weaving their way right and then left. The tunnel was mostly just white with dim lights above, making it hard to keep track of things. But Sweetie seemed to have rough idea where to go. Almost like... She had done something like this before.
"Sweetie Belle... Have we done something like this before?"
"No. But I feel like I could have." She admitted, turning another corner and making a right hand turn before running down in a straight line for a bit. They were making good headway, the water was up to their knees now but the pace continued. Just as another turn was made, Sweetie ran into a wall. She nearly fell back in surprise, thankfully the Earth pony behind her caught her in time. "Whoa, careful."
"Wait. That can't be right. There should be right turn here. Not a dead end."
"Lets double back, maybe we made a wrong turn?"
"Uh... Sure." She shook her head. "Something is off but I can't place my finger on it. Up till now, everything felt like the right way to go. Why does it feel like this shouldn't be here?"
Button glanced down, seeing the water was now up to his chest. "We'll figure it out later. Right now, we can't stand here."
The mare glanced down and nodded. "Right, shoot. Um."
She doubled back and tried to get her bearings, only to feel even more lost as the tunnels gave nothing away. She thought back to the map... Only to draw a blank as she felt a bit of panic take over. The water was up to her neck now. "Lets try this way." She led him back, taking a left down another tunnel, down another long stretch.
Only to turn and find another wall waiting for her. At this point, the water was forcing her head up as she gasped for air. They were more like swimming than running at this point. She tried to turn back, but quickly the water reached above her head. She tried to stick her head up, gasping in some precious air. That worked for now but the water was going all the way to the top.
She held Button tightly, trying to swim back, hoping they had to be close, just had to double back one last time. The two swam back, panic really starting to set in Sweetie Belle's mind as she had all but forgotten the map. She swam around a curve upon reaching back towards a left hand turn. At this point, she wasn't even sure if she was doubling back. Everything looked the same. She glanced back and forth.
She felt her lungs ache and her rapidly beating heart wasn't helping. Button reached out and grasped her shoulder. The way he looked at her. She could tell he was trying to calm her down. The two hugged each other. She wanted to apologize. But there was no way to do that now. Precious air escaped as she gripped him tighter, feeling him begin to struggle a bit. Her mind began to go dark. She swallowed some water without meaning to.
Her head began to go fuzzy as her arms went weak. Her thoughts turned back, glad that at least she was with someone she...
...Loved.
Blackness took over her vision as she slipped away.
***
"HAAAA!" Sweetie Belle coughed and gasped. Precious air filtered into her lungs as she cried out. She sat up, feeling warm water around her as she tried to get her bearings. She pushed back her long curly hair and shook the stars from her eyes. A strange blue, somewhat soft feeling liquid, almost jelly like was surrounding her in this small pool she was sitting in. The room was mostly bare, white walls with a lone door and clear sticky note on it. The door did have a red cross symbol on it though.
The mare looked behind her, seeing a large tub above. It was made of glass and seemed to be at an angle, going into the wall. It was hard to see where it went but it looked big enough for her to possibly crawl into. Almost looked like a glass tube slide. A quick glance to her left showed Button was now also waking up in a similar looking pool right next to her. She could now see the pool had some weird graphs and numbers scrolling along the bottom on old looking green electric screens.
He coughed. "Didn't we just... Drown?" He took in a few more gasps of air.
"Yeah... Pretty sure we did." She stared off into space. Surely they should have been released from this mortal coil. There was no way they simply floated out.
"What is this stuff anyways?" Button asked, slowly gripping the side of the pool and attempting to crawl out. His legs seemed weak at first, as he seemed to stumble a bit, struggling to stand as he sat on the ground. He was completely naked, no sign of the makeshift loin cloth.
The mare attempted to do the same, crawling out and finding that her legs felt weak. She did her best to crawl over to him. She could tell now that she too was completely naked. Button reached out as she neared him, pulling her into an awkward hug. "Sorry, I should have looked at that map closer." He said softly. The mare choked back a small sniffle as she felt a wave of guilt hit her like a truck. She grasped him tightly, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"I was the one in the lead. If anything I should be apologizing for almost drowning us." She said while trying to hold back a few tears.
Button shook his head. "We are team. Something tells me we aren't going to get through this unless we work like one. Remember the boat game? We had that. We just need to cover each others bases."
Slowly he began to stand up, shakily but he seemed to be finding his strength. "Now lets figure out where we are and what happened."
Once he got his balance, he helped his favorite mare to her feet, the two holding each other for a few second longer before they slowly started breaking apart. He grasped her back tightly for a second before pushing back. "Alright, we got this." He said with that confidence that once again seemed to make the unicorn want to swoon just like before.
The two turned and walked over to the door, seeing a sticky note. "Check Point Room. Didn't I tell you both were safe? Though I would recommend a more careful approach next time." Button read out loud. He took the stick note off, crumbled it up and toss it behind him.
"Starting to get a bit miffed at whoever is leaving this notes. A better explanation as to what the heck is going on would be really nice. Like, I get we just sort of respawned just now... But how? And why are we being forced to play this weird game?"
Sweetie Belle let out a loud sigh. "None of this makes sense to me either... But I am glad we are still alive." She smiled and gripped the Earth pony's arm. "And I really am glad I have someone like you to help me through this."
He smiled back. "Same." He opened the door, finding it lead back into the beginning of the test chamber they were just in. "Well, looks like we are going at this again. This time, we will be really studying this map. I am sure we will get through this, this time."
The Earth pony softly kissed the mare on the cheek. "And if we don't, we can always take a break."
She glanced back up at him and grinned. "Don't know what it is about this crazy situation but... I want to have sex with you so badly right now."
Button laughed. "Lets get through this room first... Then we have some fun." He grinned back at her before turning back and now determined to study this map unlike any test he ever had before.
***
Log Entry 2027
Strange. This cycle of subjects appear to be more willing to throw themselves back into the fray far faster than any before? Could the written experiences be over riding their existential dread? Or is their desire to mate the thing over riding their existentialism? More testing is needed but it seems we were right to change the map last minute. Subject A was able to instinctively find her way no problem till she reached the point of the recent change. Next room may need to be switched out as well just to play it safe. Samples may need to be taken anyways.  
...  
...  
Their progress is astounding.
Author's Note
Hope you are enjoying, leave your thoughts and theories down below.

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           Chapter 4: A Peak Behind the Curtain            
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Chapter 4: A Peak Behind the Curtain
In a dim small room, a lone pool connected to tunnel sat idly with small bubbles coming up from it. It was normally empty of water, but had just filled to the top not even a minute ago. The room was pale white, the light above giving off a dim red light. A small camera sat perched above the door, waiting. Focusing.
Suddenly a head shot up out of the water. "Bah!" Button shouted, gasping in air. Water fell down his hair and face as he coughed, looking around. Sweetie Belle came gasping up behind him, water pouring down her long hair as she pushed it back, gasping in much needed air as well.
The Earth pony turned and kissed her on the cheek. "That..." He took a deep breath. "Is for that clutch move at the end. I thought for sure we were about to drown again. Then you just seemed to... I don't know. You seemed to know where to go."
"I don't know how to describe it. Suddenly I just knew where we were. Like somehow it felt... Like I had gone through that section dozens of times before..." She shook her head, trying to forget the feeling as it seemed to hurt her brain the more she thought about it.
Button waded over and began to climb out. "Whatever it was, saved us from having to experience drowning again." Water dripped from his naked body as he turned and held a hand out. The mare behind him took it with a smile as he helped pull her up and out. The two soon stood there, soaked but glad to be alive.
The camera seemed to move between them for a second as Button suddenly glanced up, spotting the camera. "Hey." He waved. "You the one running the game?"
The camera turned to look at him, seemed to pause before sliding back into a hidden panel, vanishing from sight. "Yeah, guess that tracks." The Earth pony crossed his arms. "We are being watched by something, figured something had to be, was hoping they would be a bit more talkative though."
A hand was placed on his shoulder. "Well, we'll get some answers eventually, this place has to end up somewhere. Besides, they seem to want to keep us around." She smiled at him. "At least we don't have to worry about expiring in the mean time... Though admittedly I am not too thrilled about experiencing that again any time soon."
"Same. Lets try to avoid that. Infinite lives or not, not a fun experience." Button winced as he still remembered the feeling of choking on water. Not something he wanted to relieve. He thoughts turned back to the naked mare next to him, deciding to focus on her lovely curves instead.
The two began to walk forward, the door sliding open as they neared. They walked down a short corridor before coming to another sliding door that opened to a very nice sight. It looked like a small suite. There was a bed, small kitchen, bathroom and a radio. The walls were a nice shade of soft brown and ships riding large waves wallpaper going around the whole square shaped room. A white sliding door sat on the far side. A note could be seen sitting next to the radio.
Button walked over and picked it up, reading it out loud. "Congrats on making it this far. I can only imagine how you must feel right now. So take some time, relax. There are cookies and punch in the fridge, as well as some soup that can be heated in the microwave. The radio only plays jazz and classical. Sorry we don't get much out here." ~S
Sweetie Belle reached into the bathroom and pulled out some towels, passing one to Button. "Don't know what to make of this place at this point, but right now, I am exhausted and that bed looks nice." She began drying herself off, wrapping the towel around her body before open the fridge and taking out a fruit punch pouch. Sticking the straw in, she began to sip on it while Button flipped on some music.
The music sounded calming to say the least. He didn't recognize the name but appreciated some soul soothing at the moment. He didn't realize just how tired he was till he laid back, his eyes suddenly struggling to stay awake. "Think I am going to catch a bit of a snooze as well." He said while slowly drifting off.
Sweetie Belle wandered over, sliding down and snuggled in next to him, her eyes drifting off as well, the two soon sound asleep.
***
The unicorn awoke to a strange sound. The room was dim, the lights and the radio were off but she could see a light being cast for just a second beneath the sliding door nearby. She slowly got up. She gently nudged Button who remained in a deep sleep, his body hardly reacting as he continued to snore softly. The unicorn sighed as she decided to let him sleep, her feet soon hitting the floor as she walked over, the towel still wrapped around her as she neared the door.
It opened up, revealing an odd sight. The rooms so far had been white but this one was different. The floor was grey and pipes ran along the top and side of the walls. The walls appeared to be grey and almost metallic. Bright yellow florescent lights could be seen above while a distant mechanical voice could be heard in the hallway. "Attention, room change in progress halted due to unknown error. Please stand by."
She wanted to turn back, to go back to snuggling with Button. But her curiosity got the better of her. This may be her chance to find out what the heck is going on. She began to wander down, noticing that the air felt a bit stale unlike the clean air she had been breathing up till now. A weird distant groaning could be heard. It could be the pipes though. But it sounded strange, like the walls were the ones making the groaning sound.
Soon she reached a small room with computers set up on the walls. There was two doors on the left and right of her. She got close to the big screen in the middle, realizing that the screen was flickering imagines from the rooms they had been in and ones she had yet to see. One room seemed to involve getting over a special looking bridge while another showed a jar sitting in a room covered in pillows. But what really drew in the Unicorn was a room that had green glowing tanks in it. There was something floating in them but she couldn't make out what they were.
Suddenly her head hurt. She she gripped it with both hands as a flash of something stirred in her mind. She groaned, her mind playing out something. She was being led into what looked like a doctors office. A needle was being stuck into her arm as she winced. The nurse's face seemed to look neutral but her body language seemed to reveal a bit of hesitance. Her voice rang out. "Its not too late to turn back now you know. No one would blame you for deciding to back out on such of a wild expedition. You are 22, most would be out dating or partying it up. Plenty of life ahead. Very few have even considered going. You will be among the first."
"An adventure of a life time. No way I am going to pass up on this." She could hear herself say it. No, she was saying it out loud to, feeling her voice seem to almost shout it out. She was levitating a clip board over and examining something but couldn't read the words.
"Anything could happen though. We don't know who or what could be out there." Despite hearing another voice say it, she repeated it out loud, her own voice mocking it.
Sweetie Belle barely felt her knees land against the floor as her mind suddenly shifted, another fuzzy memory playing out. She was waking up in a panic. Something was wrong. Lights were blaring. Some ponies were running about. It was hard to tell where she was but soon a powerful light seemed to enter her vision. A voice called out. "Sweetie Belle! Take my hand, we have to go!" It sounded like Button, but his voice sounded almost distant. "She has a plan. Don't worry. We are going to get out of this mess, I promise!" Her voice hurt as she repeated this out loud too.
The collapsed unicorn suddenly opened her eyes. She was on the floor in the fetal position, still clutching her head with both hands. She was breathing heavily. Her throat felt dry. Slowly sitting up, trying to use the console for support, she shakily got back onto her feet. It suddenly occurred to her as she wanted to reach out and grab something with her magic, anything. There was an empty mug sitting on a small table next to the console.
She reached out. But nothing happened, it was as if her magic was gone. She could not feel it. For some reason, she hadn't even considered it an option. But upon seeing herself use it, it suddenly felt strange to have forgotten about it. Didn't matter if it wasn't working though. A single tear fell down her cheek. Not sure where that came from either. Sure being without magic would suck but surely that is fixable... Right?
As she tried to steady herself, pulling her body up straighter, her thumb landed on a button as she accidently pushed against it. Instantly the screen went blank then changed over, turning green, as something flickered for just a second. It looked like an alicorn but it was only on for one second so it was hard to tell for sure. A stream of numbers suddenly went across the screen as alarms began to go off.
01000100 01001110 01000001 00100000 01010011 01101001 01100111 01101110 01100001 01110100 01110101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01000100 01100101 01110100 01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100 00100000
"Crap." She coughed, her voice sounding raspy. Two cameras sudden shot out of the walls and focused on her. Words appeared on the screen.
"Subject B has wandered out of Testing Area. Please return Subject immediately.."
"Time to go." She muttered, turning around and heading to the nearby door on her right. Upon opening it, she was met with an odd sight. It was her room, the one she was just in. But that couldn't be right. She had moved a decent distance away from it. How could it be here and through a different door?
Something hard pushed against her back, something metallic. She was suddenly shoved into the room, the door shutting behind her. Sweetie Belle felt her towel hit the floor as she caught herself. Turning back, she heard the sound of something shifting. She got up and pushed the button next to the door. It did not budge. The noises on the other side quickly went quiet.
She walked back and sat on the bed, trying to piece together what just happened. Her mind felt heavy as her body seemed to remind her that she was still very exhausted. She fell back onto the bed, her mind trying to piece everything together.
***
Button awoke to sound of the microwave going off. He glanced around, hoping to see a clock but there was none. The screen for the microwave was faded, impossible to tell what the numbers on it said. Sweetie Belle was taking out a bowl of soup and blowing on it.
"Morning?" He said with a groggy voice. That was was guess. Hard to tell what time it was really. That was an odd thing to think about, not knowing if it was day or night. His eyes fell onto a few empty juice pouches sitting on the counter then onto the very sex mare walking back over to the bed.
"Glad you are up." She said flatly, sitting down on the bed and staring at her soup. "You missed out on my short journey through the door."
Button quickly sat up. "What happened? Sorry, I was just so tired for some reason. I didn't realize you'd left. Are you alright?" He stared at her with concern, debating on bringing her in for a hug.
She sighed and relayed what she had seen. The Earth pony seemed to go from concerned, to fascinated then landing on confusion mixed with empathy. Button scratched his head as she finished. "So something screwed with our memories. I do remember signing up for an expedition but the details are a blank. I guess something went wrong. But that doesn't explain how we ended up here or why we are the main subjects for this testing or game of theirs." His eyes fell on his favorite mare.
"Are you sure you are alright?"
She nodded. "Fine. I am just processing is all." He could tell she alright though clearly still a bit shaken up. He leaned forward, wrapping his arms around her and whispering in her ear. "Processing is fine. But if you need to talk about it, don't be afraid to vent if you need to, I am right here with you for all of this."
She sighed and placed her hand on his arm. "I'm fine, really. Lets focus on what we do know. I'd rather focus on answers right now anyways." Button nodded and leaned back, arms leaving her.
He crossed his arms and thought for a second as the mare next to him took a few small bites of her soup, spoon slowly stirring the liquid as he went over his thoughts.
"So we are being watched, we seem to be in some place maybe underground due to lack of windows?" He glanced around. "Then again, there seems to be a theme going on. We could be in some kind of massive ship, making our way across the ocean. Though its weird we haven't felt a single shift in movement this whole time. I really don't know what to make of all of this."
He shook his head and placed his arms behind his head, scooting back a bit and leaning against the back wall. "Well, at least we know for sure what is going on. At least in terms of whether or not we are supposed to be here. However, it also seems we got to keep an eye out. We need to find some way of getting either to whoever is running things or see if we can stumble our way out of this testing area like you just did."
He sat up and scooted back over, placing a hand on Sweetie Belle's shoulder. He whispered softly into her ear. "I don't like being a mouse for testing, but for now, we just have to play along till we can find our next chance to get out of this place. Best to try and see if they will drop their guard again"
Sweetie Belle smiled and placed her hand her close friend's cheek. Leaning over and locking eyes with him. "I still wish I knew why some things feel so familiar despite all of this feeling so new and strange. But at the very least, I am glad you are here. I think I would lose my mind otherwise." She softly kissed him on the lips before smiling and turning back to her soup.
She took a casual sip, scooping up a bit and eating some of it. It really tasted super salty and bland with a hint of vegetable flavor... But it was something. She took in a few more bites before getting up and draining the bowl down the sink. Button got up and headed into the bathroom, hoping to grab a shower. Only to find that there was none. Clearly there was a spot where one should be but it was just an empty spot. Only a toilet, counter with a sink and a stack of towels could be seen. Disappointed, he went back out to find Sweetie Belle standing next to the door.
"Ready?"
"Yeah, lets see what else they might have in store for us."
The unicorn pressed the button and the door opened, revealing a decent sized room. Still felt a bit weird knowing this used to be a hallway of pipes, now a completely separate room. Best not to dwell on that for now though. Sweetie recognized it from the screen earlier at least; it was the room with pillows scattered about and a lone jar on a pedestal in the middle. The two walked on in, now seeing there was an open shower area in the back right corner.
The door closed behind them as Button walked over and examined the jar. There was text printed just below the jar on the pedestal. "Please fill half way or more with cum, the door will open when the right about is sensed." He read out loud.
Shrugging, Button picked up the jar and headed for the shower. "I need to clean up so what do you say we hit two birds with one stone?"
Sweetie Belle felt a tingle run down her spine as she nodded. The two naked ponies walked over and stood under the shower, turning on a stream of warm water. Sweetie Belle picked up a sponge, layered on some soap, and began to run it over Button's bare back. He sighed at the feeling, loving it. Feeling her breasts squish against his back as she went over his shoulder. Her other hand fell over his chest as she softly kissed his neck.
He could feel his member go hard at the touch.
She dropped the sponge, her hands still covered with soap as she began to work her hands over his shaft. Button shook and moaned with delight, feeling her hands pump up and down slowly. Button gripped the jar, wishing he could turn around and plunge his spear into her walls, but his seed needed to go somewhere else.
In any case, Sweetie picked up on the fact that her hands would only go so far. So she bent down, working her way towards the front, facing him on her knees as water feel across her face. She looked up at him with a smile before moving her breasts and wedging his cock between them. She then began to slowly move back and forth, moving her breast slightly as she did so.
It was like his cock was getting the massage of a lifetime. She softly licked the tip, her eyes still looking up at him as he placed a hand softly over her head. He slowly began to move his hips in a rhythm, feeling his cock get assaulted by pleasurable senses, his breathing becoming low and haggard.
"Sweetie Belle... SO GOOD. Not gonna last long like this. AH. So pent up right now. Mhm! And this feels amazing!"
"Then cum for me, we have all the time in the world to fill up the jar."
"I want to fill up the jar so the next load can go inside you." He said with a grin.
She quickened the pace, already excited at that thought. Button moaned again. "Gonna... CUM... SOON!"
The drenched unicorn grabbed the jar and held it over the tip, grasping, pumping it just a few more times before a torrent of white cum came shooting out, white liquid shot and swirled around inside, easily filling up the jar, another spurt and soon the jar was almost over flowing. She set down the jar off to the side, just in time to get hit with a the third spurt across the face. She blinked in surprise before licking the side of her lip. Salty but not too bad.
Button let out a low huff. "Still... Feeling... A bit... Pent up... But better."
She stood up and turned around, pushing her ass out slightly as she placed her hands against the wall. "Then please, give me all you got. I love the way you fill me up." She cocked a grin back at him, water trailing down her hair and body.
Button grinned back, gripped her lovely orbs, reared back, and drove his still very hard cock into her awaiting depths. The two let out a loud hard moan as Button reared back and began to go to town on Sweetie's lovely walls.
"Oh... Yes... So... Good!" He moaned, shoving in his cock over and over again, feeling her walls massage his sensitive member.
Sweetie meanwhile was panting with each thrusting, feeling it go deeper and deeper with each powerful thrust, feeling the water trail down their bodies, his hands grasping her tits, his body felt so strong and warm. His teeth lightly bit into her shoulder, making her cry out in ecstasy.
She leaned back further, feeling his cock drive more and more. It felt so good, every time. She needed it, desired it, loved it. He was everything she ever wanted. Her eyes glazed over, her hands slide a bit as she tried to get him to go even deeper.
"Gonna... Cum... Again... Soon."
"Let it all out. Give me whatever you got!" She cried out.
Button hugged her tightly and drove in his cock deep, unleashing another powerful torrent deep inside her core. Sweetie Belle shouted in pure bliss, her voice reaching higher decibels then she knew possible. Button held on for everything, unleashing torrent after powerful torrent, cum flowing deep within her.
Even as the torrent subsided, he held onto her, the unicorn letting out soft moans as she tried to get her breath back. Button eventually had to exit his cock, watching as a steady stream of cum came pouring at and down her leg. Button picked up the sponge, attempting to clean her up. Sweetie Belle just slightly shook at the sensation of him brushing up and down her leg and then between her legs.
After that was all said and down, she turned off the shower and turned back to him, holding up the jar. "I think this might have been our easiest one." She said with a smile.
"Yeah, its my favorite for sure." He said with a soft huff. "Whew, great way to start things off."
The two slowly began to walk back, water still dripping from their bodies as Button placed the completely filled jar onto the pedestal again. The door opened once he did so. He turned back to his favorite mare. "So... Want to take a bet on what comes next?"
"Sure." She crossed her arms. "Something kinky, calling it now."
"I think it will be something to test our teamwork again. Lets see how we did." The two turned and began to walk towards their next objective, the pedestal opening from beneath and the jar lowering inside.
***
Log Entry 2028  
"How? How is it that after all this time, despite [Redacted], this semon still remains just as potent? If it weren't for those blockers administered before awakening... Best not to finish that thought. We have much more testing to do but these two really are something. In any case, this next one won't reveal as much data other then to see how well they pair off as of right now. Still though, I wish we had placed some recording devices in their room. Seems they are even more determined then ever before. Wonder why?   
...  
...  
Addendum: Just reviewed recent footage. Subject B had escaped last night during a room change error. In doing so, she appeared to remember things she should not be able to recall. This is both exciting and terrifying. If she remembers too much, it could jeopardize our research... But if she does manage to recall more, it could be invaluable to [Redacted] in the future. I swear, these two are just full of surprises. I may be over stepping just a bit, but I think there is something that may give us further data on this matter in the next room and I am excited to see those results.
Author's Note
Going to keep working on these when I can, leave your comments and theories down below.

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            Chapter 5: Stumbling into Memories             
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Chapter 5: Stumbling into Memories
With a hiss and clack, the door shut behind them. The two were now standing in a grey room. A lone window with bars sat on the far end, glass covering them with what appeared to be a painted blue sky on the other side. A single covered light spread a yellow hue above. A bed was bolted to the steal floor. A sink and bucket sat next to each other. At the far end was another door, a sliding door just like the one they went through with a pad lock painted on the door. It was connected to a small glass panel that covered a keypad, a small silver padlock holding the panel closed. A voice came on from somewhere on the other side of the door.
"This room is going to test your resolve and perception skills. You need to find a key and the number combination somewhere in this room. You have five minutes before things start to get harder for you. Goodluck." The voice seemed monotone but the pitch was familiar. Like the sound of a friend but whose voice had somehow become distorted slightly. Almost like a recording of a recording.
Button turned to his friend and shrugged. "Guess we better start looking." He began to examine the bed, running his hands over the foam mat. No sign of lumps, not even in the pillow case.
Meanwhile, Sweetie examined the sink, trying to pear down into the drain, something seemed to glint back as she tried to get a better look. "I think I see the key, but I am not sure how to get to it."
The stallion quickly rushed over next to her and examined the drain before bending down and looking at the pipe connected from the wall to the sink. "Looks like we can't unscrew the pipe, so we will have to find some way to fish it out."
The two turned and began scouring the room. Sweetie checked the bucket, finding it empty while her friend began to check for loose sections of wall. No luck.
Sweetie then scooted underneath the bed to look and while looking up, saw a string of numbers printed onto the back of the bed, along one of the posts holding up the padding. "Found the code. Its..." She squinted, noticing that the writing had clearly been erased then redrawn several times. The numbers were hard to make out but with enough time staring at it, she was able to make out a single letter and some numbers. "Y105." She said out loud. The number sent shivers down her spine but was unsure why.
Button ran over and saw that the keypad had numbers 1-9 and Y was printed over the enter button. "Odd. But whatever, we got one half of this at least, now to get figure out how to get the..." Words died in his throat a roar began make its way around them. The sink turned itself on and began pour vast amounts of water into the sink. Suddenly, water began to pool from behind the bed, their feet soon getting wet as sound of water rushing could be heard. The mare scooted her way out, hair now drenched in water as she stood up, watching a larger puddle begin to pool at her feet. She felt her partner begin to rush around.
"Damn, why is it always water?" Button cried out, now frantically looking around for anything, even the string to try and fish out the key. He could try ripping up the pillow case. Perhaps fashion and loop at the end of it? He grabbed the pillow case, only to find that the material was very hard to tear.
Sweetie meanwhile checked on the key, seeing that it was thankfully still down there, it hadn't been pushed by the rushing water. However, the water was quickly filling up. It was now up to their knees. Another minute of searching and it was quickly up to their waists. They had a few minutes at best. "Think, think. Come on, we got this. There has got to be something we are missing."
Button tore the padding off the bed and tried to tear that up but also to no avail. He checked the window, tried the bars, no give and nothing hidden around them. Nothing was found near either door and nothing was found were the floor meets the wall. The water was now up to their necks. The sink was now submerged. Sweetie began to half swim and half frantically search for something, any way to get the key out. The two locked eyes, it seemed that they were running out of time with no closer to their desires. The two began to rise up to the top, the ceiling wasn't far away now.
Sweetie took in a deep breath and swam back down to try and examine the sink one last time. To her surprise. she could see the water was now slowly pushing the key upwards as there seemed to be a force of some kind coming from the drain now.
She swam back up. "Button, I don't know why but the key is slowly getting pushed up. If we wait a few seconds, maybe I can reach it."
Button felt his head bump the ceiling. "Hope you can hold your breath long enough. I'm not sure we have more than a few seconds." He said with a shrug, soon dipping beneath the water as it quickly reached the ceiling. The two swam back down and held onto the sink, watching as the key slowly began to get pushed upwards.
Unfortunately, it was a slow process, with it getting pushed up, then sinking back down. Each time it got pushed up, it was would get pushed up just a bit farther every time. But their lungs was starting to ache and the key was less than a hairs width away from their fingers before Sweetie began to feel her vision swim as she struggled for air. Button leaned over, trying to blow what little air he had into her.
But it wasn't enough. The two shared one last apologetic look as they opened their mouths, coughing in water as their bodies tried to swim upwards in one last attempt; their vision went dark.
***
Button suddenly shot upwards, air filling his lungs as he sat up, warm liquid falling from his face. "Bah..." He coughed. "Ok... Drowning really freaking sucks." He said while gripping the side of the pool.
Sweetie Belle was already climbing out. "Agreed. We need to find some way of keeping ourselves from drowning before that key comes up."
The Earth pony climbed out too, already thinking it over. "I don't have any familiar thoughts or feelings like we tend to get in these things... But I have an idea."
The unicorn nodded. "Tell me on the way over. I want to get this room done then..." She looked him up and down. "I need some serious almost died sex."
***
The two stood in the room, water already up to their chests as they waited, Button holding the large bucket in his hands. It was a five gallon bucket, plenty big and more than enough for what he had in mind for it. As the water began to lift them up off the ground, Sweetie held onto the sink, watching as Button carefully treaded water. Once he reached the top, he turned the bucket over and swam back down, the unicorn holding out her hand and helping him down as the air in the bucket was forcing him back up again. He managed to pull the bucket down and loop the handle onto the bed, finding a good enough spot on the corner were a bolt was sticking out.
Like a small underwater diving bell, they now had a place to swim over and get some air. The two then traded off, swimming back and forth, dunking their heads in to get some air before quickly swimming back over to the sink. The two watched carefully and soon, the key was finally in reach. Sweetie swiped it and swam over to the key pad, unlocking it and punching in the numbers. The door opened allowing the two to quickly swim out.
They came out to a small pool with stairs leading up. As they emerged, the room was mostly bare, save for another sliding door and a camera watching them. The two took in a some much needed real air as a robot voice came on. "Congratulations on solving this puzzle. This one probably took a few tries though I am sure you two probably think you got it on your first try. Either way, well done. The next room will supply you with a nice rest stop. Enjoy your reward."
"I honestly liked the notes better. This voice makes me think our checkpoint system is a newer feature and I'd rather not think about that possibility." Button said softly, rubbing the water out of his eyes.
Sweetie Belle clamped onto him, hugging him from behind. "I couldn't care less about that, I am just glad I have someone around like you to think up crazy ideas like that. I may never have thought of that."
She let him go and the two stood awkwardly for a second. "Um, sorry was that too forward?"
He laughed and pointed downwards. "No more forward than we have been." He placed a hand on her shoulder and locked eyes with her. "I really appreciate that. Despite how crazy this all is, being forced to do all these crazy tests, I am glad I got someone to face them with. I think I would have also gone crazy by now if it weren't for you, so no, hugs and appreciative moments are treasured I can assure you."
She blushed slightly before turning back to the sliding door. "A-alright. Lets see what they have in store for us now."
Sweetie began to walk out of the water, carefully shaking some the water off before extending a hand out. Button took it with a smile as the two quickly made their way out and over to the door, watching it slide open. A fan suddenly blasted them, warm air pushing against their bodies as they were nearly thrown off balance in surprise.
Button staggered and barely managed to catch Sweetie from falling over, luckily still clutching her hand. Once the warm air stopped, the two were able to step in and get their bearings. The sight caught the two off guard to say the least.
The room was painted to look like a blue sky and was circular. The sounds of waves could be heard as water splashed onto a sandy area. Soft tropical sounding music was playing. A hut made out of what looked like bamboo and large leaves sat near the back of the room, a single door and window on it. Two small lawn chairs were set out with a table and a note set between them. Cold drinks were set out.
If you closed your eyes, you could almost picture yourself at a beach, despite opening them to find the place felt so very fake. The attempt though was nice if a bit off putting. But what really threw Sweetie for a loop was the fact that not only did this place feel familiar, she actually had a memory tied to it.
The two took a few cautious steps forward before Sweetie ran over and checked inside the hut, she gasped upon looking in. There was a nice double bed, nightstand, bathtub and sink. Everything she recognized. Even the lamp with the dolphin curving around the base.
"It can't be..." She whispered, running her finger over the lamp then running back out in shock. "Button... I know this place."
He stared back, wide eye in shock. "How? Like how we feel familiar towards some things?"
"No... I have memories of this place. I vacationed here with my friends. Its an exact replica, even down to the double bed we had to awkwardly share." Her eyes danced as the funny memory played in her mind of her friends clambering over each other in attempts to stay on, eventually her having to sleep in the bathtub.
"This was the last big vacation I went with them before..." She clutched her head. "Before..." She winced, pain shooting through her skull. "Before..." She fell to her knees. "I left..."
Button rushed up to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, are you alright? What is going on?"
"Re-remembering." She groaned. Her head hurt but she was starting to grasp something. "I was planning to leave on a big trip and this was going to be our last big time spent together. What was a leaving for though?" She clutched her head. Her brain was on fire.
She reached out, a single word within her mind. It was distant and it hurt the more she tried to claim it.
"Expedition." The word had to be pulled kicking and screaming from her mind.
"I was leaving for a big expedition but what kind? There was a big ship..." She gasped, her head suddenly going light as she nearly passed out. Button held her, keeping her from falling over as her eyes became heavy. "Can't... Remember. More..." She groaned, her head swam as she tried one last time to pull on the chain connecting to her past. A few more memories of her time with her friends spilled in but only one memory stuck in her head as her vision went black. "No turning back... This will be our last vacation together."
***
She gasped, feeling two strong arms around her. She stared up, seeing her close friend looking down at her with concern. "What happened? You just sort of passed out there for a few minutes."
Sweetie clutched her head, finding it a bit warm but the pain was gone. "I saw some memories and when I tried to remember stuff connected to... Expedition." She felt her mind swim with that word again. "I just felt really light headed."
"Expedition... That word rings a bell for me too... But I can't remember why."
She glanced up. "Well... We know we ended up here somehow and judging by what we got so far, my guess is whoever put us here, didn't want us remembering how."
Button helped her over to the bed, carefully carrying her and setting her down bridal style. "Well, maybe instead focus on what doesn't hurt to remember, what do you remember about this place in general?"
Sweetie smiled. "Now that I can do. I remember margaritas on the beach, renting out this nice hut with a beach all to ourselves, stargazing, looking up and wondering what was out there. For some reason, there was just something out there that felt so exciting, the idea of so many worlds and things to see beyond what we had back home. I think that lust for adventure was something that just begged me to go out and explore more. I just wish I could remember what it was about and where we were originally going."
She glanced out the window thinking back on a much funnier memory. "But enough about that. I remember when I woke up to find AB dancing like she had never danced before on the beach. A few too many margaritas caught up with her and Scoots and I got one heck of a show. We laughed, she laughed, then we settled down and just... Enjoyed each others company."
Her face flushed as more memories flooded back in. "Oh... Very much enjoyed each other's company."
Button laughed out loud. "No way, you three actually..." He brought his palms together.
She covered her eyes. "It was going to be our last chance to be together, I think we just got lost in the moment is all."
"Hope it was at least longer than a moment." Button said with a grin, earning a light shove.
She sat up. "So anyways... Back to our current situation."
Button produced a note. "Yeah, saw this and went to pick it up before you started having flashbacks." He held it up and read it out loud. "I know this place must feel good in some ways. To me it means a lot. So much so that I asked it to be made very similarly to a place I vacationed in once. The time spent there is something I will always treasure. So sit back, relax. But if you want something to do, the next place over should help keep you busy for awhile. Unlike before, you may return here to rest when you are done."
"Signed by S just like before." Button finished, handing over the note. "So our mysterious helper vacationed here too once, interesting coincidence. But not much to go on right now."
Sweetie Belle sighed. "I want to relax, maybe enjoy some fun times while we are here... But it feels too nostalgic. Like if I stay here too long, I may not want to leave. So if it is alright with you, can we go see what the next room over has for us?"
Button glanced back out at the beach, wanting nothing more than to catch a nap in. But that spark of curiosity was nagging at him too. "Sure, but after we are done, I want to request we do something fun, that that was chosen by us, not designated or part of some crazy test. Deal?"
"Deal." She nodded and got up, the two making their way out of the hut and heading towards the door. With a hatch and another less intense draft, the two stepped out into the next room.   
***
Log Entry 2029  
I may have to check my notes on this one. Their progress is the best we have recorded so far. I hate to say something like this so soon, but it really seems like we have perfected the memory formula well. Though these old memories slowly working their way out is an odd side effect. They shouldn't have these memories at all by most accounts. But considering their progress, a minor setback such as this is trivial in the grand scheme of things. I still think that beach room should be sectioned off or changed personally, I don't know what [Redacted] sees in having such a place. And what is with these strange notes? I don't recall some of these. Could the past participants simply gone behind my back? I guess if so, it is not like anything could be done at this point. I am well aware I cannot intervene unless protocol 1 is activated. Though perhaps I may have to bend some rules should they stray from the experiment again. I shall continue to monitor like I always do.
Author's Note
The story continues. Working through some stuff but hope to start updating regularly again soon. Currently dealing with some health issues. But this acts as a good distraction so I will continue to work on this but may not be responding much.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
            Chapter 6: Deep Dive and Discovery             
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter 6: Deep Dive and Discovery
"Well this is fun." Button said while looking around.
The room was small with only two halve circle indents on the end, just big enough to stand in. One had a chair with some controls with a window covered up and the only had a single somewhat half circular shaped door.
"Welcome." Came the voice from the speaker above them. "This room will involve you two working together once again. And obstacle course has been setup. One of you will take the controls to help steer certain objects in the course while the other has to work their way through it. Only one thing though, the person working their way through the course will be blindfolded and bound. You both will have to work together and put faith in each other's abilities. Good luck. Oh and one last thing, failing one to many times may result in a do over, so try not to fail too many times."
Button went over and examined the controls, seeing that there was a joy stick, a box with buttons and numbers along side each button and an actual steering wheel in the middle.
Sweetie crossed her arms. "As much as I would love to send you on through... I already know our best chances lay in the only true gamer among us. My only claim to fame are block builders and party games."
The stallion smiled. "I promise, I got this. Looks like there is a speaker attached to this so I will lead you on best I can."
"Yeah, try not to have too much fun while your player character is getting tossed into whatever crazy course this turns out to be." She smiled. "But I won't lie... I am glad the pressure is on you, not me at least."
The gamer rolled his eyes, sitting down in the chair, looking over things. A light above suddenly turned on as the area around him lit up a bit. He leaned forward and started getting in tune with things. Sweetie Belle entered the small circular chamber on the left, the door closing behind her. She suddenly felt that old feeling, like she had done something like this before. Maybe at least a good few times. As the chamber began to hum around her, she felt a strange feeling of nostalgia that seemed to wash over.
Her thoughts went back to how she once said that on the day of her 25th birthday, she wanted to make sure she spent the rest of her 20s with as much adventure as possible. Seems she got it. Button too considering he was about the same age. A part of her wondered if he asked for the very same thing. They certainly were living their lives with some crazy adventure to be sure.
She felt the ground shift as she was lowered via elevator. As soon as the floor reached the bottom, another door opened up. She stepped into another tiny circular room and soon felt a robot arm reach out and scan her face while another scanned her body. Within seconds, a headset was dropped over her eyes, locking itself around her head. Her vision was now gone. Next her arms were suddenly pushed together behind her back and bound. Taking in a deep breath, she heard another door open in front of her. She carefully stepped out. She couldn't tell much, other than that the ground felt slightly smoother.
"Oh hey, I see you." Came a voice from the headset. It seems a part of it as covering her right ear as she could hear him coming from it. "Looking good. Actually may have a bit of boner, not gonna lie."
"I'd call you a weirdo if I didn't already know how kinky this most likely looks. Also that I am sort of turned on right now too."
Button grinned as he watched her step out. He was now currently had a large clamp covering his mid section, keeping him from moving behind the chair. His eyes fell on the first hurdle. "There is a large gap in front of you. I am lowering down a pipe that you can use to get across... Though you are going to have to probably saddle ride this if you catch my drift."
Sweetie bent down and began to walk on her knees till she reached the edge. She bent down, feeling the pipe with her nose. It was made of a some sort of foam covering a hard surface. There was no way she could balance across this blindfolded without failing early. So she did as instructed and carefully sat on it, slowly she began to move across, finding that it was at an angle so she could somewhat shimmy and somewhat slide down it. She was making good progress... Then the thing started vibrating.
"Whoa..." Her neurons went off as she felt her nether region begin to tingle at the sensation. Her legs clung to the pipe as she began to softly moan. "Ha... Ho... This is... Oh my..."
Button felt his member extend out as he watched his favorite mare begin to grow wet, softly moaning on the vibrating bar. He watched her make it the rest of the way across, a panting mess as she slid off onto the soft mat at the bottom.
"Doing great so far. Not sure why that thing started vibrating though. You holding up alright?"
"F-fine!" She called out, slowly getting to her feet again.
"Next part looks like you are going to have to simply do your best to hold on."
Sweetie nodded and stepped forward, finding a board in front of her. She rested her chin on the top of it, doing her best to push her body against it. She could feel her breasts against a rough surface.
The platform suddenly started moving as she felt the whole machine around her start to vibrate again. The rough surface started to hum, soft sparks of electricity flowing through it. Her nipples began to go hard as diamonds as she felt her breasts get jolted, her legs get vibrated, while she clung on with just her chin for dear life. She was soaked at this point.
"Almost there... Just got got to steer this past this little bit right here." Button did his best to steer here around a boxing glove shooting out of the wall that threated to knock her off. He had to go up and down to try and avoid them. He had to jostle her around a bit and it took a bit longer than he would have liked but eventually he managed to time it right.
Eventually he got her across. "Ok you can step off now, next part looks a little difficult though."
"Like this hasn't been difficult already..." She said with shaky legs.
"Looks like you need to simply walk across a platform but don't fall off the sides. Just keep walking... Not sure what the buckets above are about though."
"Buckets?" She asked, stepping forward. Suddenly, she felt something warm splash across her body, it felt like some kind of lube by how slippery her foot suddenly felt. As she attempt to take another step, another bucket of lube was dropped, drenching her body and floor once again.
She fell, thankfully the floor was made of some kind of absorbing material. "Whoa, careful. Move a bit to the right, you are too close to the edge now."
Sweetie did her best to move to her right, still blind but well understanding what was going on. She attempted to take another step only to slip again. She groaned. The fall was hardly felt but she was struggling to get anywhere.
"Hang on, I am going to try something." She called out. She knelt down, well aware of just how lubed up she was. She began to slide forward, her breasts on the floor. She pushed with her knees, sliding along like a snail. She could feel more buckets fall across her bare back.
"Move a bit to the left."
She did just that and though she was so freaking turned on by this point, she ignored it for now, soon feeling the ground change as Button called out. "Almost there. Just one last thing to get through."
She heard something move above her. At this point she was a mix of tired and super horny.
"Step onto the platform and it looks like you need only bend forward, there is a spot where it looks like your legs should be able to stick underneath to help keep you steady.
The mare blindly stepped onto a soft surface and bent down, feeling a soft box with two holes attached to the platform. She moved and stuck her legs in, feeling something move against her that force her to move so that her butt was up while her head rested against something.
"Ok, don't move, here we go."
The thing moved. There as a weird sense of vertigo as she felt the machine move up and down. But just as quickly as it started, it stopped. "Sorry... Got... Something extra making this... Tricky."
Button meanwhile was feeling harder than he ever had in his life. Between all the crazy kinky obstacles, he was now being forced to try and get his lovely mare through the last bit while she as presenting to him. It was tough but he was slowly working through his own horniness. It was all about focus, getting her past some more things that threatened to imped their progress. He had to really steer her well and it took a fair bit of up and down jumping. He could hear become a moaning mess at this point. Finally, he managed to get her across.
A green light suddenly turned on and two arms suddenly lifted the mare from just beneath her shoulders. She was then set inside somewhere, hearing a hissing noise before her headset was removed. She blinked, feeling her bindings get removed as well. She watched a door open and she was back in the room she started in.
Button was now getting up, his face flushed as he stared at her, still covered in lube. "Bed?" He asked.
Sweetie glanced over and saw there as a green light now over and door she hadn't noticed before. But that mattered little at this very moment. She nodded, the two quickly jogging back over to the previous room. She hardly even hit the bed before she felt Button hovering over her, dick sliding between her nether region. "Please, no teasing. Just need you inside me. Right now."
He did as instructed, gladly sliding himself on in, feeling her warm lubed up body accept him as he went to town on her, driving his cock in and out in reckless abandon. His hands grasped her lovely orbs, her hot breath against her neck, his strong thighs going like never before.
She gasped and moaned with each thrust, desperately crying out, wanting nothing more than to be filling. Juices flowed onto the bed, she had never been wetter. Her cries became hoarse. He gripped her shoulders and sank in, balls deep, crying out as he came, hard.
She felt his crashing orgasm flow deep into her core, filling her with his powerful cum, washing her insides, she screamed in ecstasy. He cried out with her, cumming like never before, feeling it spill down her legs.
The two collapsed at the same time, breathing heavily as he laid on top of her. "I... Wow." He said softly.
"Yeah... That was... Wow." She agreed, her eyes feeling heavy as she felt the fatigue take hold. The two quickly passed out, cum slowly leaking out across the bed.
***
Log 2030
Wow... Forget that last room, why the heck do we have a room like that? Who was horny as heck when they designed that room? Somehow I keep forgetting about that one. Maybe I am purposefully doing that. Allows me to believe this really is supposed to be an experiment and not someone having a bit too much fun designing a course one day. Either way, going to need to take a break, take stock of things. This was wild to watch, even for me.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
        Chapter 7: Another Look Behind the Curtain         
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter 7: Another Look Behind the Curtain
Sweetie awoke to darkness. Which was weird since when she and her lover passed out, there was a soft artificial sun above them. Something was off. She blindly reached out, finding Button was now coming too as well. The two reached out for each other, the the bed below them. They were still in the same spot but it was almost pitch black.
"What is going on?" Sweetie whispered as she carefully crawled off the bed and onto the floor.
"No idea... But something feels off. I don't hear air movement, no waves, nothing. Its dead silent." He whispered back.
"Lets try and find our way to the door. Something is telling me we shouldn't stay here."
"I agree, take my hand."
She reached out, soon feeling his touch as the two carefully walked out, soon feeling the sand beneath them. They walked carefully, feeling their way to the wall. They had a vague idea where it was from the hut. They managed to reach it and feel their way to the door that was surprisingly open. Upon slipping in, they could just make out a dim red light. The room they had conquered earlier was dark aside from a soft red blinking light.
Button placed a finger to his lips as the woman he held onto nodded. They made their way over to the other open door and stepped inside. To their surprise, this led into a long hallway but the door at the end was closed... However, panel had come loose to the right and a red light was blinking from it. The two carefully made their way in, now in a much more different feeling place. There were pipes running along the walls and dim blinking red lights ever few steps. The floor was made of some kind of white metal like substance.
Walking down the long hallway, they soon came to another door that Button was able to open via a latch. Stepping in, the air changed to a more humid one. The room filled with computer monitors. "Was this like that place you were telling me about earlier?" Button asked in a hushed whisper.
Sweetie nodded and went over to the main console in the middle, watching as words silently scrolled across the screen. "Warning, collision detected, minor damage received, ship at 96%, rerouting all power and main functions to repair. Restart in 5 minutes." She read out quietly.
"So we are on a ship. We have to be. A very big ship that seemed to be automated in some way. But someone or something has to be calling all the shots." He ran his fingers over the large keyboard. He pressed enter a few times, then control alt delete, then hit escape a few times. Nothing seemed to work.
"Maybe there is some other way of getting it to respond to us?" She asked, examining the console closely.
"VOICE DETECTED. Accessing archives... Recognized. Please say a command." A robot voice spoke out that caused both to jump.
"Um, Location?" Button said a little louder than he meant to.
The screen flickered as the computer responded. "Currently in computer terminal 5, deck 4, near testing chambers."
"I meant where is this ship at currently." Button said flatly. "Like are we still sailing near Equestria?"
"Location keyword unrecognized, please try again." The stallion sighed in annoyance.
Sweetie Belle slid in and crossed her arms. "Currently Running Test." She said with a smile.
"Good one, maybe we can figure out what these scientists are trying to do."
"Test 12/13. Memory DNA archiving. The ability to recall things through DNA and passing it on. Current testing with more recent research, subjects currently having memories on reset. Current data unknown/yet to be uploaded."
Button's jaw dropped. "Well if that isn't the most Sci Fi thing I have ever heard. Could sworn a played a game that tapped into that, though I think they needed a special machine to make that work."
"Is that why we are able to recall certain things that we haven't been to before? But if that is the case, when did we go through this... Did something make us forget or is this someone else's DNA that got passed onto us?"
Button scratched his chin. "Computer, how many subjects have taken part in this test?"
"Subject keywords recognized. Current subjects: 2."
"I meant over all, how many total over all?" Button tried again.
"2 Subjects have taken part in this test."
Button took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Ok, different question. Who is running all of this? Who is the leader of this operation?"
The computer suddenly went blank as the lights above them suddenly turned on. The computer went green before a figure suddenly appeared on the monitor.
She appeared to be a light blue alicorn woman, dressed in a lab coat with big round goggles around her neck and her black hair tied into a ponytail. She was sitting in a chair with her legs crossed. "That would be me." She said in an almost annoyed tone.
"Go for a break for an hour and suddenly the ship hits a big rock. Then your subjects wake up and start poking around. Should have known to double check that panel. I swear the maintenance alone on this place is almost enough to make you go crazy." She lifted up a coffee cup and began to stir it with a spoon.
Sweetie Belle slammed her hands on the console. "So, you must be the one who captured us and are making us do the tests." She tried to look confident but in her mind she was flooded with questions. This alicorn kind of looked like Luna but different. She couldn't place it but she also felt... Oh no not again.
"I... I know you?" She said out loud as the alicorn raised a brow.
"Oh ho. So to answer both you questions, yes I am the one at the helm and yes, we have met, many times. But I am not allowed to answer anything more. At least not yet. You two still have some tests to do before we can get to that."
Button glanced around as something began to pump in from the vents. "Uh, before that, could you at least tell us one thing? Why us? Can't you at least tell us that?"
The alicorn laughed and leaned back in her chair. "You are asking me? Oh how funny this is. Though I suppose you two only woke up just a few days ago. Alright, I can answer that because..." She leaned forward. Her eyes dancing with interest and delight.
Button and Sweetie Bell watched the room began to grow hazy, the room becoming thick with some kind of gaseous substance. Her words echoed around them. "You two volunteered. You both are here because you both chose to be... A long time ago."
"What... Do... You... Mean?" Sweetie asked, her legs going numb as she fell to her knees, unable to stand.
"Questions for next time. Get through a few more rooms, and I might be allowed to answer." She laughed again. "Oh this is so nice, it has been too long... Old friends."
Sweetie Belle felt her consciousness slip as she fell to the floor, her lover landing next to her. A far off memory. She tried to a line the pieces of it but her mind went blank. Darkness took over everything.
***
She awoke, slowly, feeling grass beneath her. Some kind of small forest. There was the sounds of water running nearby and what sounded like a really bad recording of some birds. Her eyes glanced around, seeing that passed some of the taller trees, more trees had been painted onto a wall. Sweetie slowly stood up and began to walk towards the sound of the running water. Her mind and body felt distant and almost foggy as she tried to get it together. She placed a hand on one of the nearby trees, taking in a deep breath. There was something off. But as to what, could not be placed just yet. Legs moving, mind slowly clearing.
She soon came to a small waterfall, a small tent setup nearby and a small pound that emptied into a vented off small tunnel. Her eyes took in the sounds, then she glanced down and to her surprise, she was wearing a new skin tight jumpsuit. This one was grey and plain. Button lay in a similar looking jumpsuit, his head sticking out of the tent as he still snoozed.
"Old friend." She said out loud, crossing her arms. It felt weird to be back in a jumpsuit again. But even weirder was that she knew that had to be right. She felt like she trusted this alicorn, felt like a friend. But also hated them because they had all the answers. Answers to more questions she now had. And it was going to be awhile before she would get any of them.
"I signed up for this? That doesn't sound right. But I also doubt that alicorn had any reason to lie to me." She shook her head.
The mare went over, knelt down and placed her hands in the water, finding it somewhat warm. She bent down and cupped some water, drinking it and quenching a thirst she suddenly had.
A hand landed on her shoulder, making her jump. She turned to see Button was now awake and went to sit next to her. "So, that was crazy." He said softly. He glanced down at his own jumpsuit, finding the grey look a bit off putting. He sat with his legs crossed, leaning forward a bit.
The now very confused and curious mare got comfortable next to him, placing her bare feet in the water. "Yeah."
"We signed up for something wild it seems. I can't imagine doing that. But at the same time, I also remember craving adventure. Perhaps that craving led to me signing up for something like this... I don't know for sure though."
Sweetie crossed her right leg over her left leg and leaned back. "We are test subjects for something we don't remember signing up for, in an experiment that seems involve us using memories written onto our DNA, and all the while we have been going along with all this with little fuss. Are we weird, crazy, insane for just not freaking out about all this? Like I feel like we are going to be ok yet I also feel like by all accounts, we should be panicking about this."
Button shook his head. "Well... Maybe we did this all before. Maybe we have had this conversation so many times that it just doesn't feel right to cover it. Maybe our minds have forgotten but something is remembering for us. Whatever is going on, one thing is clear." He turned and placed his hand on Sweetie's cheek.
"I am so glad you are here. Because whatever crazy thing comes next, I know I can face it headlong knowing you are right there with me."
Sweetie smiled, feeling her face grow warm as she placed her hand over his. "I feel the same way. Lets take a moment, relax and face this this test head on. We want answers but they aren't going to come unless we fight for them. Whatever happens next, we got this, together."
The two shared a silent moment between each other. Their thoughts intertwining as they contemplated everything they had just learned.
***
Log Entry 2031
"OK major crisis averted. Came way to close for them to spill the beans on how things work around here. I hope I didn't give away too much. Oh if only I could talk to you right now. I miss you so much. But that you is long far off, probably forever from this world. I know I have to watch the new batch of test subjects. If you could only see them now, I think you would be proud. They have a spirit that drives them unlike any I have seen before. It hurts my soul right now... They must hate me. You would probably feel the same. But I know it will all be worth it in the end. Till next time, I shall continue to do what I always do, monitor them... And wait to see how things develop.
...  
...  
Although... I supposed those two breaking out, does consider this a break in protocol 1... Perhaps it is time I became a little more active soon.

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             Chapter 8: Welcome to the Forest              
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Chapter 8: Welcome to the Forest
Button grasped the neck region of his jumpsuit. "Got to say, these new suits are way less comfortable than the last ones. These kind of itch and smell like ink mixed with plastic."
"I know what you mean." Sweetie shifted her leg in a kicking motion. "Feels like these could chaff if they ever get wet. Not a fan of the material either, feels cheaper in some ways."
The two were currently standing next to their sliding door, the sounds of the water flowing behind them. They were debating on taking a long rest but felt like they had gotten a decent amount of sleep already. Somehow, food pouches were provided from within the tent but tasted bland and almost watered down compared to their last meal. Suffice to say, they were ready to get moving between the bland food and lack of a need for sleep.
Button reached out, watching as the door slid open. "Feels like we got a new theme going at least. Going from ships and water to a forest or jungle like region. I just hope this doesn't mean things are about to start ramping up like they tend to when you get to a new region in a video game."
Sweetie nodded as the two entered, walking down a short brightly lit white hallway before stepping through another door into a lush feeling jungle like room. The two could hardly make out the walls as large trees surrounded them. The air smelled humid and the sounds of birds over a bad speaker could be heard.
"Welcome." Came a very familiar voice.
"Hang on that sounds like that alicorn." Button realized while looking around.
"Perceptive. This is not a recording, some of our sound recordings got misplaced during the recent reset so you get me. And my name is Selene, best to keep that in mind if you want to stay on my good side. This is where most of our applicants tend to reach the most trouble so I suggest keeping on your toes. I don't know who designed some of those rooms you went through but now you are in some of the rooms I helped designed and I think you will find these to have a much different feel."
The sound of something opening could be heard a ways off. "Today, your mission is to reach the safe hole at the far, far end of this room by any means necessary. Oh but, a few things will be attempting to stop you. You are lucky, these things were designed before we had the ability to bring you back from the brink so their claws are none lethal... They will however apply a rather powerful numbing agent and can still tear through your outfits like butter. I made those too by the way, they were 3D printed, something I have been dabbling with in my spare time." Her demeaner seemed to change to slight annoyance. "I heard what you two were saying about them. I appreciate the constructive criticism, as a reward, I will tell you to start running now. They already have your scent."
Button heard some of the fake brush begin to move to his right. Without thinking, he grabbed Sweetie and two began to run in a dead sprint. More crashing noises could be heard. Sweetie glanced back just in time to see three metallic looking panthers in hot pursuit. "I think I like the underwater mazes is more." She cried out as she ducked to avoid a nearby branch.
The two continued to run, the three creatures gaining on them. Button glanced up, noticing some of the large branches seemed to crisscross one another. He pointed upwards. "Quick, up the tree. We may be able to stay out of their reach."
The two skidded to a stop at a nearby tree and Button grabbed onto a large branch above him, pulling himself up, making sure to get a good grip before reaching his hand out. Sweetie gripped it and with his help, the two were quickly on the first branch, climbing up to the second just as the panthers caught up. One jumped, claw out, tearing into his arm, tearing a large gash out of the sleeve. The claw hardly scratched him, but he could already feel his whole right arm start to go numb.
Sweetie saw his right arm go limp and quickly reached out, pulling him up with both arms as her legs held onto the second branch. Another swipe just barely missed her bare foot. She helped him up onto the branch. "Hang on." She lifted up his numb arm, unzipped the zipper on his jump suit down to his chest, then stuck the arm inside it, using it like a makeshift sling.
"Nice..." He said as the two turned and began to slowly balance their way across, the panthers below taking lunges and thankfully missing. The trip across the branches only worked for a short while though. A few trees later of crisscrossing and a new problem presented itself. A large cliff spanning the whole room and the only way forward was down. The floor seemed to just stop and their was a bush and a tree right next to it a ways below them. The two could just make out the wall that ended the room a little ways away. The panthers had retreated but Button had a feeling it would not be for long.
"Aim for the tree, I'll aim for the bush. Then we make one last sprint for the hole." Button said while hoping that bush was as soft as it looked.
She nodded, watching Button taking in a deep breath, then jump, making sure to land on his back in the bush. The fake bush seemed to have been made for being jumped on as he landed in it softly. Sweetie followed by aiming for a branch just short ways down, intending to quickly climb her way down. Instead, the branch gave way and she tumbled down, first nearly getting the air knocked out of her as she attempted to grab the next one down, instead landing on it stomach first. She felt a part of a smaller branch dig in and break, tearing into her shoulder. Thankfully, it only rubbed against the skin at worst. She dropped down, feeling the fabric tear off, exposing her left shoulder.
She managed to land on the next branch, before hopping off of it. Feet hit the ground as she glanced over to make sure everything was alright. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she helped Button to his feet. Then the snarls came and the two began to run again. The panthers were hot on their heals now, no time to try and climb another tree. One took a swipe at Sweetie's back, tearing out the back side half way down her upper back as the claw caught the top of her jumpsuit. She nearly got yanked back had it not broken off. She could feel the top of her back start to feel tingly.
Another swipe, this time at Button who felt it tear into the back of his right leg. He had to hobble a bit, now seeing the hole.
"Jump, you first!" He screamed out.
Sweetie wanted to argue but knew there as no time for that right now. She hopped on in, feeling one last swipe against her right thigh. There was a loud tearing noise just as she dropped on in, feeling warm water suddenly surround her as she felt the water come up to her neck. She shook her head, gasping in some air as she moved to get out of the way, just in time to see Button come jumping on in.
He struggled to stay afloat as he came up, now down an arm and a leg. Sweetie helped him swim to the shore. Once the two were able to get to the edge where they finally able to catch their breath and look around, did they feel like they could drop their guard for a second.
They appeared to be some some kind of cave. Water could be heard falling nearby as the cave shrunk into narrow passage. The rock looked fake but the atmosphere was at least on point. Sweetie dragged herself out before helping Button, allowing him to put his good arm over her as she helped him walk through the narrow passageway. She wasn't going to take any chances on anything until she knew they were out of the room.
Once turning, a door opened up and the two made their way in, finding themselves in another cave, a small tent setup, a small waterfall going into an underground spring and a table with a note on top. Aside from the falling water and the sound of flicking fake fire from the hanging lamps, it was quiet.
Sweetie carefully set Button down against a large rock near the tent. He was looking a little dizzy and dazed. She looked him over, seeing that he had managed to get hit quick a few times, seeing that his right arm was bare up to the shoulder and right leg bare up to just above his knee. He also had a few large cuts in the fabric in his back and one across the chest, most likely sustaining the last one just before he jumped.
Meanwhile, she only had gotten hit along her back, leaving her back exposed and her right thigh with a large hole in it. She glanced at the note. "If you took too many hits from those panther's there is an antidote in the tent. Just apply the patch to any exposed skin and it should have them feeling good in no time. There will be few side affects but I think you'll find them negligible in the mean time. Sorry you had to go through that, I can assure you this all has meaning. You need only reach the end. Until then, I shall do what I can." ~S
Sweetie went into the tent, finding bottles of water, some MREs, a first aid and a package labeled antidote. She took out a water bottle, drank a few sips before opening the box, finding a few strange looking patches inside. The looked silver in color and had a bit of weight to them, also had some kind of linework covering them. They almost looked golden in color. She grabbed one and went back out, kneeling down and place one onto his chest.
Button slowly seemed to come back to himself, blinking a bunch and shaking his head. "Water." He croaked.
Sweetie held up a water for him, placing it on his lips as he greedily drank it. He was slowly attempting to lift his arm. It looked like it was a struggle though. Once finished, he sighed. "Thanks... I can safely say for sure. That was my worst favorite room so far. All the others were either just outright difficult but passable. This one just felt like a whole lot of luck. I hardly noticed anything familiar."
Sweetie sat down beside him. "Me neither. I mean, my reflexes seemed better than I remembered and we managed to scale those trees better than I imaged we would. So there was probably something this helping us through this. Still though, that was rough."
She stifled a groan, feeling her upper back tense up a bit. Button reached up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You alright?"
"Yeah." She winced. "One got me good in the back."
Button turned towards her, his strength slowly returning. "Let me see."
She turned her back to him, letting him see her bare back. "Oh, hang on, your muscles look a little tense. Let me see if I can loosen those up a bit."
He reached out, his touch feeling good as he began to work his fingers over her shoulders, slowly ebbing away the stiffness as he began to really massage her shoulders and upper back.
"Oh wow, thanks. You know, I really needed this. Things have been so crazy lately. I think I was starting to forget how to let myself relax outside of some crazy sex."
He turned and began to loosen the top of her jumpsuit, pulling down the zipper, letting her breasts bounce free as he continued to work along her back and sides. She cooed softly, feeling his fingers work their magic.
He felt his lips against hers, there hands intertwining as their bodies fell to the side. The sounds of love soon filled the air.
***
Log 3032
I think I am going to have an aneurism. Those damn creatures weren't supposed to act that aggressive. Scary sure and I have been wanting to push them for awhile now but that... That was almost too much. Be a bad guy, sure, I can do that. But I also fully understand that this does us no good if they sustain long lasting fears or trauma from all this. Overcoming obstacles, that is the name of the game. Not nearly getting mauled. I don't care if they can reset, that kind of stuff will stay with you. Something went wrong it seems and now I am going to have to start double checking everything. That next room will be challenging too but I don't have enough time to change anything. My best hope is that they can figure out the best way forward and get lucky. I have some work to do. I am starting to wonder if I am doing this right. Its been so long. I wish I could talk to someone.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
            Chapter 9: Things Are Getting Rough            
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter 9: Things Are Getting Rough
Sweetie clung to the rockface, feeling her hands growing tired. "Just... A little... More." She muttered. She and Button were now trying to climb up a rock wall. And unlike the rock walls she recalled going to a fun party events, this one was made using more indents in the rock and no harness. She pulled herself upwards, seeing the top just one more grab away. Her arms were so tired though. Button managed to reach up first, pulling himself on before turning back and placing his hand down. "Grab on, I got you."
She smiled and took it, happily feeling him help to pull her up the last leg. They both collapsed, out of breath. Their jumpsuits were still on and very damaged. Sweetie could feel the rock like floor through her right thigh and bare back. She glanced over, seeing a sliding door now open nearby. "What do you think the odds are that this next room is a break room?'
Button stood up. His shirt was torn in several places, he was missing his entire right sleeve and the fabric that would cover his right leg below the knee. He shook his head. "I would say high normally, but it feels like they are really throwing everything but the kitchen sink at us lately. I am pretty sure the only reason we got help last time was due to just how rough those robo-cats were."
She took in a deep breath and got up, gesturing to the door. "Shall we see what they throw at us next?"
Button nodded and the two went on in, following a small corridor that zigzagged for a few steps before opening up into a loud roaring room. The two nearly fell over as a draft blew past them. Wind could be felt as trees, sticks and leaves blew by. A Speaker next to them spoke up. 'Well you are close. Next room is the break room. This room will test your metal and determination. Trying not to get hit by anything. If you perish, your checkpoint exists below the wall so you will have to climb all the way back up. Best to avoid that if you really did not enjoy that climb. I am impressed with you progress if it is any consolation."
"I really don't care." Button said flatly, the speaker turning off.
Sweetie put hand on his shoulder. 'You alright?"
"Yeah... Just really tired is all. I think these recent tests are starting to get to me. It was fun or least interesting at first but these have been brutal lately. That next room better come with a hot spring at least. My back is aching big time."
She nodded, clearly seeing the fatigue was starting to get to him. They really should have taken more time to rest but something drove them to press on after a little bit of fun. She vowed to really take her time with him and make sure they both were well equipped mentally and physically to handle what ever came next after this wind tunnel. She glanced in, feeling the powerful air force her hair back. She could see the end, just had to fight a little more, walk about the length of an average warehouse, then they could finally rest.
"Lets do this, I promise we are going to enjoy ourselves after this."
Button smiled, a tired but still slightly more determined look in his eyes. The two walked in, nearly getting blasted off their feet as the wind tore against them. Button had to duck as a large branch flew over him. He reached out his hand. "Don't let go unless absolutely have to." He called out over the roar. Sweetie nodded as he began to step forward, her moving close behind him.
They both ducked again as another large branch flew by, this time catching on Sweetie Belle's shoulder, nearly causing her to fall over as it yanked hard against her. She felt her shoulder part of her suit tear open and off as her sleeve went with the branch. She watched it crash against the far wall, then fall past a railing out of sigh. She gulped and turned, moving once again.
The two made it almost half way across when suddenly a large tree came tumbling towards them. Button barely had time to duck as did his partner as the top part of the branches flew around them, tearing at them slightly, but thankfully mostly brushing past them for the most part. At least, that is how it looked for a second before Button felt a branch catch the back of his neck, gagging him slightly as it flung him onto his back.
Sweetie gripped him tightly trying to keep him from moving backwards. The tree continued on, a part of the top of his jumpsuit still clinging to it. Button was now exposed from the belly up. He quickly stood up, just in time to see a large branch coming towards them.
Sweetie was still looking at him. There wasn't time. He stepped out in front of her, taking the brunt of it as he was knocked off his feet again.
Sweetie cried out in surprise before bending over to check on her friend. He was out cold, the branch having collided hard with his head. She gripped him by his arm and underneath this shoulder, half dragging and half pulling him the rest of the way. Thankfully, she could see the door. One last branch flew past and managed to snag her left arm. She felt it get yanked back but managed to remain where she was. Her left arm was now bare as her grip returned to Button, pulling him the rest of the way into the doorway, it shutting behind them.
She gasped and fell forward, her arms and legs threatening to give way. She grit her teeth, grabbed Button by the arms and continued to drag him the rest of the way. She soon entered into another forest like area. There was a small cabin, a small spring with steam coming off of it and the area was mostly dim, a sort of sunset feel to the area.
She glanced down at Button, examining his head. She only saw a small bump so hoped that he was alright. She still did her best to put him onto her back and carry him into the cabin. It was a one room cabin with a fire place, large bed, small kitchen area and what looked like a curtained off bathroom area. She carefully dropped him off against the wall, leaning him up next to the fireplace. The mare checked the kitchen and found a first aide kit, pulled out some bandages and began to wrap some around Button's head. She then checked herself for any further damage. Aside from some minor cuts along her left arm, she was fine. Her suit was very damaged though, with cuts all over the legs and the only thing holding it up in the front was the somewhat damaged collar. Her arms, back and shoulders were now bare.
She sat down on the bed, feeling exhausted. She wanted to pass out, but a part of her was driven. She was tired but also angry. This adventure had hit is course. She could go no further. Not until she got some answers. She glanced down at Button; when he wakes up, she is going to be screaming for answers soon. But she dare not ask when she knew he needed to hear them too.
It did not take long thankfully, Button soon stirred and gripped his head. Sweetie managed to find some ice in the freezer and make a makeshift ice pack out of a pillow case, filling it with ice. She twisted the top then handed it to him. He put the mess over his head, sighing in relief.
She then stood in the middle of the room. "Alright, I know you are watching Selene. We have both had it up to here. What is the point of all this? Why are you making us do this. I don't care if we signed up for this, I don't remember doing that."
A blue almost see through image of Selene appeared on a nearby chair. Her lab coat almost made her look like a ghost. She crossed her legs. "Well, you sort of signed up knowing there was going to be some complications. Though admittedly, even that became complex with time. You are the only two left, have been for a long time now. So you are special to us. I will also admit, it has been awhile since I last went over these trials so I am with you in agreement that this is all just a bit much. These are meant to test you, not run you all into the ground."
"If we are important enough, then I request a vacation. We need time to recoup and recharge. We cannot keep going like this." Sweetie Belle placed her foot down in defiance.
Selene nodded. "I agree. I cannot have my best test subjects running themselves ragged. So I will provide food and everything you require here while you take some time to yourselves." She glanced over at Button. "Oh and I ran a few quick tests, no concussions, just some minor damage. You earth ponies tend to heal up fast."
Sweetie Belle let out a sigh of relief. "So how much farther do we have to go?"
Selene thought for a moment. "Tell you what. You get through the next two rooms with flying colors, and I will fast track you to your final test. Sound like a deal?"
The mare nearly held out her hand but decided to keep it. Pretty sure she could almost see through Selene meaning that she wasn't actually here. She had seen a few science fiction movies to guess that this was some kind of projection. "S-sure. Deal. But we will need a few days though."
"Of course, I may even come in person to check on you both in awhile. Until then, enjoy the time off." With that, her image vanished.
Sweetie Belle smiled and nodded, before passing out onto the bed.
***  
Log Entry (???) Lost count due to recent error.
What in the world? I don't recall these challenges being this difficult. Am I losing my touch or have some of these rooms simply become harder with age? There is so much to keep track of, I have done my best. But it seems I have slacked in many places. I may need a vacation soon. This is almost becoming too much for me as well.
Author's Note
Health issues suck, but I am going to do my best to at least finish this story.

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              Chapter 10: A Moment's Reprieve              
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter 10: A Moment's Reprieve
Familiarity Chapter 10
Sweetie awoke to the sound of movement. Glancing over, she could see Button was trying to stand up. He was a bit shaky though. She quickly got to her feet. "Hang on, let me help." She went over and placed his arm over her shoulder, letting him lean on her.
"Thanks... I was starting to get stiff sleeping like that. I feel like my legs are unhappy with me too."
She smiled at him. "Listen, there is a hot spring just outside. I think both our bodies could use a soak in it." Button felt his face grow warm as he nodded, her helping him walk out of the cabin and over to the spring. The two watched as a bit of steam poured off of it. It looked nice.
She set him down next to it. "Here, let me." She said, grabbed onto what remained of his suit, now mostly just pants and pulling them off. She then helped him into the spring, finding that there was a bench beneath the water for him to sit on. "Thanks, body is feeling a bit weak right now but I think this will help."
Sweetie smiled down at him. "You and me both." She stretched out. "Can't remember the last time I had ever felt so sore." She began to unzip her suit, pulling the zipper all the way down before attempting to slip out of it. It felt like she was freeing herself from an old skin with how good it felt to finally take it off. She examined the suit, seeing now there was hardly much holding it together. She tossed it to the side then stepped in, feeling the warm water quickly go to work on her body. She moved around and sat down beside Button, leaning against him slightly, resting her head on his shoulder.
"This is nice." She said softly.
"I'm not complaining." Button said while leaning his head against hers. "I enjoy just being with you like this. Despite all the crazy stuff we have been through, its been worth it just being here with you."
Sweetie smiled. "I feel the same way. Its like we share this incredible bond that spans beyond anything we have ever had. Even if we have only been together for a week, maybe two, it feels like we have been together for far, far longer."
"I feel the same. Sweetie..." He turned slightly, raising his head and placing his hand against her cheek. "I know this is going to sound crazy but... I freaking love you."
She grinned back. "I know." She rested her hand on his. "I wouldn't have done all this crazy stuff with you if I didn't feel the same way. I..."
Her words were cut off as Button leaned down locked his lips to hers, their eyes closing as they held each other tightly, feeling her arm around his back while his around her shoulder. They to stayed like that for a few minutes before breaking.
Sweetie Belle moved and sat facing him, he could feel her ass on his leg. Her breasts came to rest on his chest as she leaned in, going back in, their lips connecting once more. Button held her close, arms around her back.
Her hands were around the back of his head, feeling her tongue battle against his, their moans echoing into each other's mouths. Suddenly his hands moved down south, grasping her lovely ass as she found her lower lips kissing his very hard tool. She broke from the kiss again and smiled.
Lifting herself up a bit, she lined herself up and sat back down, slowly taking him all the way in, feeling his hands move to her hips, her hands find their way to his shoulders. The two stared longingly at each other, there eyes dancing as she began to move.
Slowly up and down, waves splashing a bit as the two softly moaned, their lips close, their breathing become low.
Their eyes locked, their bodies seized. She slammed down one last time, taking him all the way in. Then the their eyes danced as they both reached their peak. She moaned softly, feeling the warm liquid shoot deep inside her, softly kissing her lover with a phantom pass.
Button helped her off of him, the two cuddled up close, basking in the afterglow, their bodies close as they stared ahead at nothing.
"You know, it really is a good thing we decided to give you to those blockers, otherwise the percent change of a knock-up would be in the triple digits by now.
The two lovers in question nearly jumped as the voice spoke out, a woman wandering out from a nearby tree. She was clad in only a long lab coat, her hair unbound and long though somewhat curled at the ends, covering down well past her shoulders and black as the night sky. Her eyes were a bright yellow while her figure was hard to look away. A soft hourglass like figure. She stepped over and stood over the hot spring.
"As I said, I am here in the flesh. If I am going to pause the experiment, I may as well take a break too."
She unbuttoned the top two buttons of the lab coat, pulling it open as the two watched it fall from her form, her body naked underneath. Those D cup breasts came bouncing out as she placed a hand on her decent sized hips. She was sporting a well toned build as she took a leg out and stepped in, sitting down opposite of them. She let out a low huff of relief as the water went just up past her breasts almost up to her shoulders. She smiled and leaned against the back wall, arms resting against the edge.
"S-selene?" Sweetie Belle managed to utter.
"You remembered, good. Happy to finally meet you two. At least, in this way I suppose. Heh, spoilers. But please, let us talk. It has been far too long since I last was able to carry a real conversation."
Button opened his mouth but she held up a finger. "Not allowed to spoil anything big yet, you two still have a little ways to go. But I can reveal some smalls things though if you wish me to answer those."
He started again. "You mentioned blockers. So all the cum I have been pumping into her, its not going to... You know."
"Nope. Surprised you two went at it so much without considering what that usually leads to. But in any case, its impossible now. Neither of you carry the ability to conceive. At least not in these forms."
Sweetie Belle repeated. "These forms?"
"Spoilers."
"Right." She switched gears. "So when we reset, are we actually resetting or is there more to that process?"
"Ah, now that I am allowed to reveal. You two have a chip in your brains currently. It saves everything you have up till this very moment and beyond. When the body ceases function, the chips transfers all the data to a new host, new bodies if you will. They are clones of you, similar in every way. Just lacking a few small things like the ability to reproduce already pre installed as well as a new chip and well, the rest is a bit spoilery but I think you can piece together everything else out on your own."
Button nodded while Sweetie looked down at her body in horror. The stallion sighed. "I had a sneaking suspicion it might involve cloning since we kept awaking in those pools next to those strange looking tubes. I had hoped I was wrong but... At least we are alive."
Sweetie Belle glanced up at him and then at Selene. "How alive though? And more importantly, I am pretty sure there have been others, what happened to them?"
Selene placed a hand in the water, swirling it with her finger. "You two are still you. The only things that have changed are your current memories. In a sense, you both will continue on until old age catches up to all mortal beings... Just like it did to all those past volunteers."
Button cocked his head. "Mortal. You speak like you aren't one. You look like an Alicorn but are you an Alicorn?"
Selene smiled and leaned forward a bit, arms now crossed. "Ah, finally I get to talk about myself too." She nodded. "Yes... And no." She grinned. "Keep that question for when I see you two later."
Button muttered under his breath as Sweetie look at her with confusion. "This all sounds a bit too wild to be true. Surely we don't have the technology to do all this. Like, last I checked, when we left home we were playing computer games and stuff. But cloning and creating life in tubes, that still sounds like science fiction to me."
Selene smiled. "It would to someone who thinks they still live in the time that your memories seem to think that you do. But in reality, the world you left behind is far different than what you remember. I can't speak of it any more though, at least not of that. All you need to know is that I am 1020 years and still looking fine." She licked her lips and cocked a brow.
"Wait... that doesn't match up at all. You have to be messing with us, you can't seriously be that old. The technology you are talking about, even if I believe I don't remember everything from home, you would have had to have been around during the time of Luna's banishment or just after it."
Selene shook her head. "And I can tell you I am very much not. When I left... Well I am not allowed to divulge too much, I may have already given to much away as is."
The two glanced at each other, clearly unsure of what to make of all of this. Selene stood up and Sweetie had to do her best not to stare.
"Oh no, she's hot." She muttered under her breath. Water fell from the Alicorns body as she stepped out of the hot tub.
"Well that is about all the time I have available. You two should enjoy your time off. We will see each other again soon.
With that, the Alicorn shook some water from her body, stepped over to retrieve her lab coat, then walked away, disappearing behind a tree.
The two lovers stared where she had gone, Sweetie Belle suddenly scrambling up and out, jogging over to the spot. To her surprise, there was nothing there. No doors, no nothing. Just a blank spot on the ground. She glanced back at Button. "Ok, that was weird..." She slowly walked back and scratched the back of her head. "Tea by the fire?"
Button nodded, the two soon making their way back into their cabin.
Soon the two lovers were resting on the bed, their suits hanging over the chairs next to the fire place, tea drank and the lights outside dimming.
Button rested his head against his lover's right breast, trailing a finger over her leg. "So... Do you want to talk about that or save that drama bomb for later."
Sweetie stared up at the rafters, the ceiling above them somehow seemed more interesting but she could not deny she was feeling that nagging curiosity. "Lets at least tackle what we know. We are on some kind of ship, our memories may have been tampered with, as have our bodies, a special made Alicorn is calling the shots and we are only going to get concrete answers if we finish these stupid tests. That about sums it all up. I'd rather not think about all that personally though."
Button smiled and nodded. "Lets focus on just being happy then. I like that plan better."
"Oh me too, lets just take our time, have some fun and just push all that away for now. I like that. So for now, lets sleep, snuggling then maybe see where things take us, sounds good?"
"Sounds great... I love you Sweetie."
"Love you too Button."
***
Log 3034  
Wow, just got back for a fantastic soak. Really do love that room. Right up there with the small indoor waterpark we have tucked away near the back. I think I may have let slip a bit much but they seem to be taking all of this in stride. I think I am going to be happy once they reach the end and I can be an open book with them. I tried to be mysterious but its just not my thing. I miss having company. Its easier to work when you have someone special to talk to. But I have a job to do and I will carry it out. Despite what they may think of me, I will be rooting for them the whole way though.

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                 Chapter 11: Final Stretch                 
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Chapter 11: Final Stretch
Sweetie Belle stood up, she was looking herself over. Both she and Button were in the cabin getting prepared to leave. Her breasts were bound in bandages as was her hands. "What do you think? Front cloth or just bandages?" She moved the only top section that remained up her suit up and down.
Button, who had his hands wrapped with bandages and one around his head like a bandana, cocked his head. "I'd say go without. Last thing we need is for something that loose to get caught if we need to make a quick escaped."
She nodded. "Good point." She took a part of scissors found in the first aid box and began to cut along her suit, leaving mostly just pants and a small top portion above them. They were trying to get prepped, unsure what lay ahead of them but they knew that they were ready. Button stood up, looking over himself. He was bare chested, just had on pants with a few bandages covering some of the holes that remained. He tightened the ones around his hands before coming over and helping to secure the ones around Sweetie's breasts.
At this point, it was less about nudity and more about if they had to climb again. They were trying to prepare for anything with what little they had. Once everything was secure, the two stood and began making their way out of the cabin. They had been relaxing for several days but now it was time to start moving forward again.
They confidently walked down the small trail, past the spring, down past a few trees before coming to a sliding door. They both took a deep breath as the door swung upwards, them walking on into a small corridor. The door shut behind them, their steps echoing across the smooth surface. There bare feet slapping quietly as their eyes trained ahead.
They soon came to another door that slide open and they found themselves in a small room with what looked like a large bell being hung over a large round pool of water. The room was painted to look like the inside of a large wooden structure. Small windows could be seen that appeared to be round with steal coverings over the sides.
A loud speaker came on and Selene's voice could be heard. "Good, you two look ready for anything. I like that. This room will be testing a bunch of things at once, also reviewing a few things too just for that lovely extra data. Your mission is to ride the diving bell down into the depths and retrieve six special disks from a small sunken boat below. Inside the bell, you will find underwater breathing pills and a few other tools to help you in your search. Be warned though, you aren't the only ones that may dwell beneath the waves." The sound of hands clapping together could be heard. "Sorry, love this room. Good luck you too."
Sweetie Belle crossed her arms. "She seems excited."
Button leaned under the diving bell, seeing there was benches going all the way around inside it and a lone box built into the side opposite of him just above the bench. "We are coming up on the end. I am sure I would be too her position."
He began to carefully turn and climb inside, sitting on the bench and watching as Sweetie did the same, sitting right next to him. There were some bars along the benches to hold onto which they did as the heard the sound of machinery moving as alarms went off. Selene's voice cracked from outside. "We are green, Dive, Dive, Dive!"
The bell dropped and the two felt their bodies lift for a second before crashing down. The feeling of slight falling could be felt as the bell descended. They looked down, unable to see much at all. They turned, examining the box sitting next to Button.
The stallion opened it, finding a spear that could extend outwards or retract with a push of a button, two strange looking pills and a leather bag with a strap. There was a small note in there as well. Button pulled it out and read it out loud.
"Every journey is different but if you are reading this, then I can only assume you have come a long way. Make sure to take those pills only once you reach the bottom, they only last an hour. There is so much I wish I could tell you. So much I want to pass along. Find your way to the end, prepare your minds and do you best is all I can tell you. Oh and that there is one disk in the captains seat and another is tucked under a rock right next to where the diving bell stops at. Ok, that is all I can do for now. S."
Sweetie leaned back. "They seemed to know a lot. Do ever wonder if Selene is leaving these notes or if it is someone else trying to help us?"
"Quite frankly, I think it could go either way. Selene seems like a neutral party from the vibe I got from her. Whoever this other is, they seem to be well ahead of us every time, no matter what room has been shifted to meet us. I can't say but I can at least give to them my thanks."
"Your welcome." Sweetie said before blinking in confusion. "I don't know why I said that."
"Feeling a bit scatter brained today?" Button asked with a grin.
Sweetie lightly shoved him. "No, just a weird slip of the tongue. Lets figure out how these pills work." She lifted one up and examined it, seeing that it was glowing slightly. "Looks magical in nature."
"Hang on, I see a diagram below." He sat up and looked in, seeing a picture of a stick figure. Looked like they were taking it then jumping into water before arrows seemed to imply inhaling then exhaling. There was a another drawing below that showing the figure getting angry? He couldn't make heads or tails of it. But it showed them swimming back to the diving bell. Maybe there was some kind of magical clue when there time was running out?
"Ok, take these, dive in, then slowly start to try and breath... This is going to feel weird." He glanced back down. "Not sure what the other picture is about though."
He picked one up. Sweetie reached in. "Hang on, I see they gave us a water bottle." She passed it to him then held up her own pill.
"Down the hatch we go." He said before putting it in his mouth, taking a sip of the water bottle and gulping. Sweetie did the same. The two waited for a second before taking a deep breath and sliding into the water.
The water was thankfully very warm and the two felt the water go past their heads as they sank down a ways. They hovered for a second, staring at one another. They waited a few seconds, wondering what would happen. Button felt a weird numbing sensation around his neck. It caused him to inhale in surprise. To his even greater shock, he sucked it water but didn't swallow it, it seemed to go somewhere else. Sweetie opened her mouth to say something but all that came out was bubbles. She put a hand around her throat before pointing at his neck.
He felt this neck with his fingers and would have jumped in shock had he not been floating there. He could feel small slits around his neck. He inhaled again, feeling the water come in, then exhaled just like he would normally. He blinked and watched his lover do the same. Once they got the hang of the feeling, they both gave a thumbs up.
Button quickly swam back up and shot his hand out, grasping the bag and feeling his fingers snag the extendable spear as well. He pulled on both and sank back down a bit. He placed the bag over his shoulder before handing the spear to Sweetie who seemed to excitedly swing it around a bit, extending it out with a push of the button, swinging it out again before pushing it back into a shorter position.
She gave a small nod, finding there was a strap that extended around it and placed it over her shoulder. She and Button then swam down, stopping at a nearby rock. Button lifted it up and sure enough, there was a small disk inside. It looked kind of like of CD only bigger and felt slightly thicker. He placed it in the back before the two took a second to really look around.
They were in a large room, the walls painted to look like an ocean floor. Some had coral painted on them with the rest being painted in with dark blue. One of the walls was just a dark blue with small rocks painted along the bottom. The room itself was lit by several bright lights above. Inside the big room was a lone old fishing boat, some large rocks that seemed to be shaped to look like the ones you would maybe see in a large fish tank, a few old looking ruins of some kind and a few long strands of seaweed here and there. The bottom was covered in white sand and there appeared to be a few bubbles floating upwards from time to time.
Sweetie Belle pointed to the ship and Button nodded, following her over to it. It had what appeared to be a captains area at the top, a cabin below that and another below that going by the windows near the stern.
Button went towards the captains area first, easily pulling open the door and finding it was mostly made up of a captains chair, steering will, center console of instruments and a shelf with some old books on it. He swam over to the chair, finding a disk poking out of the cushion. He snagged it while Sweetie examined the book shelf. The labels were super faded but she could still make out a book titled urban legends. She opened it, finding a disk inside on a page mentioning some kind of tentacle creature that lives beneath the sand. She glanced it over for a second before shrugging her shoulders. No use to her right now and they were sort of on a time limit. Though it had only been about ten minutes tops.
Her eyes sideway glanced at Button as she got a chaotic idea. She swam over to him and past him the disk. He grabbed it and just as he put it away and locked the bag back, she grinned, swam behind him, gripped his pants and pulled them down to his ankles.
Button swam upwards slightly in surprise before glancing down as Sweetie who appeared to be laughing with her mouth covered by her hands.
Her eyes were closed though, two can play at this game. With a quick kick off the top of the ceiling, he felt his pants go free as he shot down behind her, gripped her pants and did the same. She went ridged for a second, turning around just in time for his lips to be planted on hers. She lost focus for a second as he began to slowly drift her over to the wall, her pants drifting off her feet.
He held her arms up, kissing her mouth deeply, feeling her bare back hit the book shelf. He could feel his dick growing hard as she pushed him back slowly before wrapping her arms around him, slowly driving his hardened member between her legs. Button grasped her still wrapped breasts, softly pushing against them as he began to slowly grind against his tool, feeling her lower lips pass over it. The two hit the ground as Sweetie gripped his ass and felt her lower dungeon get entered by his wonderful spear. She softly moaned, bending down to kiss him again.
He held her by the hips, slowly pumping in and out, was her softly gasp with each thrust. He loved watching the faces she made, seeing her hair dance a bit as she gripped his shoulders. It was awkward but she was loving this feeling. He sat up and gripped her tightly, suddenly pushing her up a bit as he attempted to shift positions.
He gripped her legs as she held onto his shoulders. He then began to pull and gently push her back and forth. She gripped his head, mashing it against her breasts as she began to moan harder again, feeling him barreling in and out of her. He was glad he could breath the water otherwise he might have worried about getting smothered. But they were still hidden behind those wrappings... Ah screw it.
He gently reached up and yanked at the wrappings, feeling some of them tear. Sweetie got the memo and pulled as well, tearing a bunch loose as more unwound. She pulled them free, soon freeing her breasts, allowing Button to clench his teeth around her right nipple, feeling him softly suck on it.
She nearly came right there and then. She sang out, feeling him go in deep. Oh he was about to cum. She could feel it. She held him close, feeling his voice cry out against her as she felt a wave of hot loving seed shoot deep inside her, filling her up with his love. She softly sighed, riding out her orgasm as she felt him continue to softly nip at her tits. The two held each other tightly for a moment before Sweetie tapped him on the shoulder.
He looked up and she pointed at her wrist. She didn't have a watch but he got the memo, they only had so much time. Still, that five minute break for hot, steamy underwater sex was absolutely worth it.
They quickly got back to work, with Button slowly pulling away and pointing downwards, letting her now he was going to check the cabin below them. She pointed outside, planning to check around the rocks.
She split off, softly caressing her lower lips for a second before swimming out. She had pretty much forgotten about her pants but there was little point with them and they were dragging anyways. She swam out and began to pick up some of the larger looking rocks, thankful for the bandages around her hands as she picked up each on. Then something shiny caught her attention. There was another disk, wedged into the rock above her. She pulled it out and quickly began to swim back to the ship. Just as she was about to reach the lower door, she swore she heard something open up.
She glanced around and soon saw a mechanical looking tentacle creature creep along the sand towards her. It looked kind of like an octopus only it had one large eye and its tentacles didn't have the suction cups, just half orbs covering its long appendages. Sweetie set the disk near the door and readied her spear.
As the creature got closer, she extended it, attempting to show that she meant business. The large red eye seemed to glanced at the spear, stopping its movement. Sweetie stared at the creature and started to notice something; there was a dicks grasped between when two tentacles started near its head.
She took a deep breath and let out slowly. Sweetie eyed her prize, unsure how to get it. The creature seemed to be paused for a moment. She winced, trying to decide on what to do. With no sign of Button coming out yet, she decided to make a break for it. She pushed against the boat, propelling her forward with her arm outstretched and spear poised in her other hand.
She missed the eye but clanged it off the side of the creatures head, just as her hand found its way around the disk. She pulled on it, but it would not budge. She swung the spear around behind her and pulled with both hands. Still nothing. At this point, the creature seemed to recover and grasped her with two of it tentacles, bounding her arms together in its grasp. The spear feel as it did so, the strap having broke.
She wiggled around, trying to break free just as another one with for her legs. The creature then began to start dragging her along towards the back of the room. She was unsure where it was taking her but she was sure it wasn't going to end well. Just as she managed to wrench her hand free, the spear came sailing at the creatures eye, stunning it. She turned back to see Button swimming after her. She grinned and attempted to grab the disk again, this time managing to pull it loose.
Button came over and helped to pull her free. Once she was, the two quickly started swimming back towards the bell. She passed him the disk along the way and he held up six fingers. The two grinned just as they entered the bell. Their gills were still on though and that creature was bound to make a return. Button stuck his head out of the water. He looked around and sure enough, there was a camera mounted at the very top. Button held up six fingers, still unable to speak.
The camera seemed to focus for a second before a green light suddenly turned on inside the bell.
Sweetie watched as the creature started heading for them, only to stop and start to swim away, its eye turning green. The two ducked back down and hugged each other, glad for that to all be over.
Suddenly, both felt there necks get sore as they felt a weird sensation come over them. They seemed to get weirdly light headed before their vision swam. Then they watched as each others gills began to vanish from their necks. The two quickly swam back up into the bell, pulling themselves up onto the bench as they began to breath normally again.
The two held each other for a second before glancing back down at the bag. The voice of Selene came on over head. "Way to cut it close you two. Had to have a sex break I see but I guess I can't argue with your results. You two did well to find all the disks and managed to beat back the creature. Well done. This bell will take you back up, then there will be a door with a green light over it, take that one and it will lead into a small break room. This will be your last chance to take some time and rest before your last room so use your time well."
With that, the bell began to rise up as the two sat there, quietly.
They stayed in silence until the bell reached the top, a bit of floor extending out behind them. The climbed out and Button couldn't help but wonder what the deal was with the disks. He glanced at them a bit closer, realizing that they had writing on them but very faded. It seemed to have numbers on them and their names... Strange.
Sweetie Belle gently nudged him as he dropped off the bag in a box labeled disk drop off. "Hey, looks like we may be ending it how to started it."
Button raised a brow. "What, naked and extremely horny?"
She laughed. "Well yes, but most importantly..." She placed a hand around his left arm and hugged him against her. "We are finishing this together."
He smiled and nodded. "Yeah... We are."
The two nodded and casually walked through the green door, ready to take a break and rest before whatever crazy thing came next.
***
Section Log 30XX (Seem to have lost count)
I cannot begin to express my excitement. Their progress is fantastic and I can tell they are close. I eagerly await them. Is this joy I feel? Its been so long, I think I am!

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                    Chapter 12: Answers                    
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Chapter 12: Answers
Having take the time to rest and eat, the two stood in fluffy robes found in the break room. They paused there, waiting at the door, Selene's voice coming through the intercom above. "Yeah, found these in storage. Don't ask just how far back. This next room is a bit colder than the other rooms so I figured you two would want something nice for the time being." She clapped her hands together. "So, the room is ready now, I shall open the door and you two can come on in and make yourselves comfortable."
With that, the door opened and the two cautiously walked in. They were in a blank white room, white tiled floor, white walls with a few square large metal looking slabs along the wall and a grey ceiling with florescent looking lights. Three plush looking chairs sat in the middle facing each other with a small table in the middle and a Flat screen TV sat just off to the side on a small nightstand.
Selene sat opposite of the two chairs, legs crossed, lab coat free of any wrinkles, hair done up in a ponytail with big round goggles wrapped around her forehead. She invited for them to sit with cups of tea being presented to them. Both lovers glanced at each other with odd looks as they went over and sat down, neither one touching the tea.
Selene stirred her own cup, took a sip and set it down. "So, here we are again. You have questions and I have answers. This is final room. Here you will be tested on the will of the mind. Will you be able to take the truth that is given to you? Will you be able to continue with the knowledge that you have gleamed? A great reward lies ahead of you but only if you are willing to accept everything that gets laid out before you. But before we begin, I am bound by a promise made long ago to give you two the options."
She cleared her throat.
"Option 1: You take the truth as it is given and attempt to process it, hopefully accept it, then move on with this knowledge in tow.  
Option 2: You decide not to take it and go back to doing tests, continue doing what you two have always done. No change needed and nothing learned that may effect you both in a negative way."
She held on her hands, waiting for an answer.
Button sighed then glanced at Sweetie. "We have had one heck of a run so far, I don't know what she means but, I am ready to find out what all this is about. But I am also willing to forgo that if you want. Whatever you chose, I am beside you all the way."
Sweetie gently placed a hand over to Button, realized she was just out of reach, scooted the chair closer and next to his before placing her hand over his. "I want to know what this is all about too. I don't care what crazy truth does to us. I am ready to find out everything together."
The two nodded and turned to her. "Tells us everything, we want to know." They said in unison.
Selene smiled and leaned back. "Then let me start at the beginning. You two both signed up for a massive almost two year long expedition into space. It was supposed to be a few quick jumps followed by 18 months of exploration then returning back home.
We learned how to teleport long distances through space but the power and magic it took was intense so we had to make it with a few days of recharge time in between. Our original mission was to spend 3 weeks jumping to this new planet that was discovered, a large planet mostly made up of water with bits of large islands scattered about. It had everything needed to sustain life and the desire to explore the stars and start setting up new places to roam outwards was just too great not to explore. You two already look confused to let me finish and I will help fill in some gaps."
She took a deep breath and continued. "We got about two weeks in when suddenly during a stop, a storm of asteroids came upon us. We did our best but our convoy of ships took some major damage. Our ship in particular, a ship designed to help train a batch of explorers, managed to come out mostly unscathed. However, this ship was meant to piggyback off of another ship that could allow both to jump. We only have basic navigational function. Enough to keep us moving and known location of the planet our destination was intended for. The ship towing us was nearly destroyed. Most got out but in the aftermath, we lost a few good souls that day."
She stopped and took another sip of her tea. "In the aftermath, our ship had become detached and we had two choices on our hands. Continue or go back. It was decided by you two and myself to go forward, while the others worked their way slowly back. The jump ability of the ships had been damaged and well, it was going to be a few hundred years either way. The ships that went back would have statis pods but this ship had nothing like that built into it. We did however, have the ability to clone and replace. We were already researching imprinting things on DNA, a recording of memories and abilities to be used next generation to generation. So it was decided that you two would be altered slightly. You two became the first to use this process as we slowly began making our way to this new planet."
She flicked her fingers to the large metal objects that slowly began to move upwards, the two turned and their jaws dropped. The slabs stopped moving, revealing a black and stary sky past some thick looking windows. "Welcome to the Star Ship Explorer. I am its soul captain and operator Selene. You two are our only crew mates. It has been several hundred years now and we are now only about 5 years left to go before we finally reach the planet. Congrats, you two will be the first generation to actually see and hopefully populate this new planet."
Button looked deflated with eyes like deer in headlights while Sweetie was struggling to process all of this, her expression practically blue screening.
The stallion managed to barely grab hold of his sanity, by his pinky, as he sat up. "Hold up, how long have we been doing this? If I am to understand all of this, we have been cloned, reset, cloned again multiple times in order to help train some future generation to help survive on an alien planet. Also why don't we remember any of this?!"
Selene held up her hands. "Steady there now, we still have a bit more to go. But to answer your questions: Its been at least 300 years. You two made the decisions to reset each time."
Sweetie Belle finally managed to restart her brain as she shook her head. "I'm sorry. WE decided to reset?"
"Yep, the mind is a crazy and wonderous thing. It can also be damaged in many ways. Its only recently I was able to get it to a point where your minds might be strong enough to remember things. Dying is a tough thing for any mind to process. The fact that I have recently made it possible for your minds to not die when your bodies do is a marvel to say the least. Your memories and brain functions carry over each time but being able to remember everything leading up to your deaths can be a strain on the mind, so before we had the ability to take that strain into account of each wake up, we had to reset.
In order to make the process even smoother, we also made a few modifications to your memory upon awakening. They are still there mind you, just blocked off until a chain is made. You will slowly start to remember some things before your dip into the vats but everything that came during each life though, those memories have been stored elsewhere for testing purposes. However, the data is still there on your DNA each time. Its why things feel familiar without the memory actually being there, at least not fully."
Button stood up, walked over and gazed out the nearby window. "So up till recently, whenever we would perish, we would forget everything up till that point. Its only recently we were allowed to keep our minds intact. This is why whenever we did perish in the experiments, we were able to jump back in. Is that why we were also not taken aback by dying so much?"
Selene shrugged. "Could be. I just figured you two had other things to worry about. This recent ability certainly had me curious as well. I will say that you two are easily the horniest of the bunch so far. Your past lives certainly didn't hold back to say the least but I would say that you two may be already close to breaking some records. You two certainly have gotten farther than most. Though the ability to remember and correct things right away I would say made a large difference."
She pulled out some notes and looked them over.
"Now before you go into hysterics about how these clones work because I do remember the last time we had this conversation..." She cleared her throat again. "The clones themselves are just empty husks, copies taken right there at the time this whole thing started, then preserved. They are essentially suites waiting to be piloted by your minds once entered. We can preserve an empty mind within an empty body, but one full of memories and life is another issue. This was the best option we had at the time."
Sweetie stood up. "This is a lot to take in." She glanced back at her lover then back to Selene. "So now I have a question. Is anyone else coming or is it just going to us. Are we going to be alone?"
Selene crossed her arms. "I mean, I am here and some of your past lives have called me a friend. Heck, maybe even a bit more than that in one case. But yes, its just us three. Others may come eventually but they are still a long ways off. I have been sending plenty of data back but this too will take time to travel back. Home may be a different thing entirely for all we know. The fact that I haven't received anything back in at least 200 years is odd to say the least and may be due to something world changing back home but I cannot say for sure. All I know is that we have a chance to start something amazing on this new world, I hope you two are willing to help start that even now."
Button turned back, quickly walking back over and sat down on the edge of his seat. "Alright. I can safely say this going beyond anything I could have imagined. So I am guessing we were farther along than my memories said we are in terms of space travel and stuff. Going to assume another alicorn was born back then too."
Selene shook her head then smiled. "Born wouldn't exactly be correct. I was created in a special machine that combined the DNA of Luna and another I am not allowed to discuss. I was grown within a special device where I ate, slept and learned. It took a little over 20 years but eventually I was able to leave the device. I came out looking like this, a woman with extensive knowledge, a body and mind ready to take on the many hundreds of years of helping to grow this new planet. The plan back then was different but the goal is still the same. I am a lab created Alicorn but I want nothing more than to help create new life and give it a chance in this new world. My wings may not give me flight and my telekinetic powers are limited, but I have the longevity and youthful form that should be able to outlive the four digit year mark on our new calendar once we reach the planet."
Both lovers collapsed onto their chairs as the information dump seemed to hit them like a tidal wave.
Button sighed. "So all this time, we have been playing the part of a science experiment, we signed up for, decided to take a few hundred years to ride towards a planet to help build a new society on it, all this time we have been dying and reviving in specially clone bodies of ourselves at a point I can only assume when we decided to start doing all this, and now it seems we are close to the finish line after all this time. Does that about sum this all up?"
Selene nodded and lifted up a damp looking bag. "I have a feeling part of you still doesn't believe me."
Sweetie slowly nodded. "Its a lot to take in and a lot to process to be sure."
She reached in and pulled out a disk. "I had you two retrieve these earlier. I hid them myself for a fun test during another one of your past lives but figured it was time to dig these up." She shook off some of the dampness from the disk then stuck it into a tray beneath the TV. The tray went in and the TV turned on.
Two faces appeared to come into focus, they were Button and Sweetie Belle but they looked slightly different. They were wearing white jumpsuits and lab coats. Sweetie also had a unique looking flower in her hair while Button had on a gold ring. His hair was a bit longer too. Looking closer, Sweetie also noticed a gold ring on her hand as well.
"Hello." The Sweetie Belle on the screen waved. "If you are watching this, then hello to ourselves." The Button on screen laughed as she continued. "We have decided to undergo a crazy experiment and knowing ourselves, we didn't think we were going to believe it. So we decided to record this. This is us. We are both doing this. I know this is going to all sound crazy but trust in yourself, this is something we really want to do. We are sad because the us you see on here, well they will be long gone. I don't know how we are going to be viewing this, I know that we could be possibly at least a few hundred years old yet somehow less the wiser. But please, as one simple request from the you of possibly several hundred years ago, lets do our best, love each other and help build a really amazing world."
Button on the screen leaned in. "What my wife is trying to say is, we hope you are willing to trust us and our good friend Selene, she will be and hopefully has been, taking care of you... Er us. So be kind to her, thank her for us, and most of all, try to make the most of this new life." The two smiled and hugged each other, the video shutting off.
Selene felt a tear run down her face as she took the disk out. "I have watched that one many times. The others are just instructions made by them for the purposes of running things smoothly for you, your likes and dislikes, and any other information they thought might help. Even made a few notes for each individual room that I have done my very best to preserve."
Button nodded, slowly starting to believe all this while Sweetie Belle looked between them then down to her hand. "Hang on, so is it due to all the written DNA stuff that Button and I are so close? Because I am pretty sure I heard Button say wife just now."
Selene shrugged. "DNA coded, love that extends across time and space, perfect chemical match, at the end of the day, you two have always had this thing that binds you. In every life you have had, your relationship has mostly stayed the same. With the exception of one where you two extended that relationship outward in order to include me, those times I still cherish to this very day."
Button looked shocked but Sweetie Belle shrugged. "Yeah, I could see that. I thought you looked super hot the first time I got to see you in the flesh."
The stallion glanced back to her and then at Selene, looking her up and down. "Ok, you know what... I can kind of see it too."
Selene stood up. "In any case, what do you both say? You have a choice now. You can either continue the mission, enjoy the next five years with complete free reign of the ship till we land and start setting stuff up. Or you can reset, and start all over. Forget everything and do this whole adventure and see where you see yourselves at the end."
Button took a step back. "I don't want to forget... I mean, even if we still end up together, I still don't want to take any chances." He turned and held onto Sweetie Belle's hands. "Whatever comes our way next, I want to face it with you, together."
Sweetie nodded. "I feel the same, and who knows, maybe this new adventure on an alien planet may be just the things my soul has always been looking for. But either way, I am glad I get to face it with you. Lets enjoy our time together, then see how this new world treats us." She turned back to Selene. "We are continuing the mission."
Selene fell back into her chair. "THANK THE GODDESS. You have no idea how hard it has been lately. I hate having to put you through all this, I just want to hang out with you two and have fun. This ship has a freaking water park, did you know that? Also a movie theater and a spa area. It gets lonely when I have to say goodbye to you two each time."
She grunted. "Oh yeah, forgot to mention those cloned bodies only last about 40 years max each, so that is why you have so many past lives. You won't age, or get sick. It just sorta... Expires. But there are other ways to perish earlier though. Including anything like you two perishing from drowning, experiments gone wrong or in one case, going through a strange dimensional warp of some kind and getting your brain turned to mush. Still have no idea what galaxy we went through but it looked like a scary place not worth sticking around for. At very least, it seemed to spit us out a great distance away from that galaxy once everything was said and done.
The two glanced at each other. Selene shook her head. "Don't worry too much about it. We have a special body for each of you once we reach the planet. Everything will get transferred over, no more memory amnesia, and the best part, these ones should last much longer and won't have the blockers, meaning you to are free to help add some new life to the new world."
The pair exchanged another look and a shrug. She gestured to herself and then the door. "Come on you two, lets go get some dinner. I can help fill in any blanks you may have afterwards." She glanced back. "Sorry but clothing is really hard to come by right now, you two have gone through so much fabric over time. I've tried 3D printing new outfits but these things are super fragile. We'll have to see what we can come up with and what kinds of resources we can find planet side. Till then, you two never seemed to mind too much in the past."
The two lovers got a chuckle out of that as they made their way through the door, new adventure soon on the horizon.
Author's Note
And thus ends another fairly long story. This was a good distraction to help me through some issues that unfortunately seemed to be not looking so great. I will continue to write when I can though and hopefully things will start looking up in the future. Expect a bonus chapter eventually. May need to cover anything I missed. The problem with Sci-fi or anything close to it is that you can overlook some things or make things seem more darker than you originally intended.