The workshop is now empty with the exception of Gem who now has three tables set up in an angular C around herself, all filled with glassware containing powders and liquids of various colors. Despite its current philosophical conundrum, 36658 can't help being interested, so as it approaches Gem's workspace it grabs a chair and hops on it.
"99111 said you could use some help, Miss Gem. I'm 36658."
"Nice to meet you, 36658. I was told you had some experience with chemistry. I need help with refining a particular substance, and I myself am not sure what exact result I'm looking for," the zebra flashes it only the shortest glance.
36658 looks around, taking in the strange shapes and functions of the surrounding glassware.
"I, umm, I don't think we mean the same thing, Miss. I just eat various things and then check if my goop makes getting smacked hurt less."
"Things such as?"
"It used to be zebra bark but now I use poppies, and I'm experimenting with slimy hoppers, but that's not working as intended yet."
"Standard painkillers, hospital-grade," mumbles Gem while examining the level of liquid in one of the bendy bottles, "...frogs?"
"Not just any slimy hoppers, this is a small yellow kind from the swamp north of my poppy patch. I tried licking other kinds but they were just bleh."
"Hayseed Swamp, got it. What makes the frogs special?"
"Ehhh... they smell different?" 36658 replies hesitantly.
"I mean, what effects do they help you produce? What makes them different from morphine?"
"Mor-what?"
"Poppy-based drugs."
"Ah, you mean tormentannihilators. Well, these new ones kinda make me feel less worried up here," 36658 taps its head, "Smiley helped me once and I swear it kept making happy faces at me all the way from the hive, and 10013 told me it felt a bit more active. I call them sufferingobliterators."
"Less worried... so, a psychoactive substance," Gem pauses, "You just might be what I needed."
"Really? I haven't done anything yet."
That dismissal makes Gem pause what she's doing and lean over the workbench to the drone.
"You seem troubled. Is there a way I can help?"
"Huh? I'm supposed to be helping you, Miss, not the other way around."
"Friends help each other, don't they? Besides, this is going to likely take a lot of time, and sitting here in silence would be a little boring. What's bothering you- wait, first, do you have a sample of that sufferingobliterator?"
36658's jaw drops.
"YOU SAID IT RIGHT!" it regains a little bit of the usual drone enthusiasm. Gem remains looking at it with a questioning look, "Oh, yeah, this... yeah... very experimental," it opens a leg hole and puts a small green chip on the table.
"Thank you," Gem smiles, pulls out a small silvery flask from her saddlebag, takes a swig, swishes it around her mouth, swallows, and then eats the green chip, "Zebra transformation potion. With it, I can copy yours to a degree," she says before pulling three green chips out of her mouth, "Can you analyze these by smell or do you need a taste?"
36658 sniffs the three samples.
"They all smell the same to me, sorry," it shakes its head, "And if they work, I'll kinda be a bit dizzy to properly say which one does what. At home, I experiment only once every few days at most to avoid mixing stuff. What are you trying to make here, anyway?" it points at all the chemistry equipment.
YOU ARE READING
They're... ON HOLIDAY?
Fanfiction[SEQUEL TO: They're EVERYWHERE!] Several years after the changeling invasion of Canterlot, queen Chrysalis gets an invitation to attend a cruise followed by a stay in a luxury holiday resort on an island belonging to the Griffon Empire. Supposedly...
