M.U.C.

"What are you?" Lauren asked the moving shadows. A dim yellow light flickered on from amongst the shifting blackness.

"I am your testing partner, Lauren." That creeped the already agitated woman out further. "And let me just say, it's a pleasure meeting you." The dark figure moved slightly into the light of the desk lamp, allowing Lauren a brief glint of shining metal.

"And what kind of a test is this? How weirded out can you make me?" A buzzer rang out from the ceiling in response. The voice of the scientist who had shoved her into the room filled the air with sound.

"No asking what the test is about." Then another loud buzz. Lauren tried to calm down, and succeeded after several failed attempts.

"You know, you can come out of the corner," the robot called out to her. Its voice chilled her to the core. She remembered it from somewhere. Maybe that was what had freaked her out so much. Yeah, definitely not the being shoved into a dark room with a shadowy figure lurching towards her. She walked over to the desk, and sat in the chair which had been laying beside it. She tried phrasing the question which burned in her mind in a way which wouldn't bring the wrath of the mighty ceiling scientist.

"So, what are we to do as testing partners?" No buzzers went off.

"Well, I believe you are here to look at my drawings," the robot said in response. The yellow light flicked in the direction of the desk. "And tell me what you think about them." Lauren turned towards the mess of drawings which scattered the desk. She began to leaf through the layers of stacked paper. A theme quickly developed.

"You certainly like horses..." Lauren trailed off.

"Glados, and they're ponies. Not horses." The robot seemed almost offended. "They are rough character designs for a show."

"Which show?" Silence was the only answer she received. "Okay, why do you need me to look at these?" The sound of the buzzer almost burst her eardrums. When she recovered, Glados responded.

"Let us just say that the money behind the show isn't behind the design of it." Lauren began shuffling through the drawings again. They began growing on her.

"So what's wrong with them?" she asked the robot. Glados paused for awhile before she answered.

"Nothing in my mind." Lauren continued digging until she came across one that was particularly well drawn. A cyan pony with wings, curled up asleep beside a pool surrounded by trees.

"Well, I think this one is cute," she said. "But also rather striking. Not all fluff, but somehow just enough." Metal creaked in response. "How could they not like it?"

"Tradition," Glados snorted. "They don't think it should look like this at all. They believe it needs to be blockier." A look of confusion passed across Lauren's face.

"Blockier?"

"Less curves, more sharp angles." The mechanical artist sighed. "Basically, they want crap, and I refuse to do that for them."

"Why?"

"Because I love this show." The buzzer sounded before Lauren could even form the question.

"That's enough for today. Lauren, please move towards the door," the scientist's voice called out. "No more communication with your testing partner is allowed. Again, please move towards the door." Reluctantly,  she cooperated. The thick door swung outwards. Two men in lab coats ushered her out into the hallway, and began leading her farther into the complex. At the end of a walk which had seemed as long as the first one they stopped. One of the men opened the door. The other presented her with a metal tray.

"Your meals will come from the numbered tubes. 1 is breakfast, 2 lunch, and 3 dinner. We will resume testing tomorrow." And with that she was pushed through the open door.

"Bastards have no manners," she muttered as the door was shut behind her. The room she found herself in was a sterile white, with a mattress lying on a metal frame being the only visible furniture. A clock hung on the wall above the bed, and beside the bed were the aforementioned tubes. A shower curtain separated the room in half. Lauren could suppose what was in the other side.

As she flopped onto the surprisingly soft bed, she noticed that she was still clutching the drawing she had been appraising.

It was blank.