Better Living Through Science and Ponies

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Better Living Through Science and Ponies is a cross-over fanfic between My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Portal.

The story picks up where the single-player campaign of Portal 2 ends, with Chell on the surface wondering what comes next and GLaDOS prepping Atlas and P-Body for co-op testing. Unfortunately, a malfunctioning portal gun (which Wheatley had previously "repaired" with duct tape) creates an "uber-portal" that pulls the entire Enrichment Center, Chell included, into another dimension... namely, Equestria.

Chell, now transformed into a pony, manages to meet up and befriend some of the locals, and quickly settles into life in Ponyville. But her new home is threatened when GLaDOS turns her cyclopic eye on studying the ponies, and using them as test subjects...

It can be read here.

Now getting its own Portal 2 mod. You should see the work on how the people managed to piece together the basic layout of Ponyville. It's really quite amazing.

Tropes used in Better Living Through Science and Ponies include:

Now the subject was asking her questions. Not the usual kind, either . . . “Where am I?” or “What are you doing to me?” or “Why would you take my leg?”

  • Break the Cutie: GLaDOS manages to do this to most of the main cast.
  • Berserk Button: Ditzy Doo (aka Derpy) is the only test pony to not break under GLaDOS's taunts, until GLaDOS insults her daughter Dinky.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Chell's working portal cutie marks.
  • Dark Reprise: After breaking the girls down, GlaDOS sings a mocking version of the theme song.

Fear of failure,
 Psychotic break,
 An ugly old mare,
 Moronic and dumb,
 Murdering pegasus
 It's an easy feat
 Doesn't all this madness make life complete?

  • Deadpan Snarker: GLaDOS, naturally.
  • Dual-Wielding: Or rather, Quad Wielding. GLaDOS develops portal guns modified to be used on pony legs that also double as long-fall boots. Chell equips herself with one on each leg when she goes to rescue the ponies from the Enrichment Center.
  • Duct Tape for Everything: Wheatley repaired one of the portal guns with duct tape. Naturally, it fails spectacularly.
  • Fisher Kingdom: Anything that is sufficiently intelligent is turned into a pony upon entering Equestria, even GLaDOS, Atlas and P-Body, who aren't human-like at all.
"Wa..war....warning. Warning, destination universe imposing critical changes to basic structure of both organic and inorganic systems. Changes occurring primarily in hardware, minor changes detected in data... physical change is resulting in... oh you’ve got to be kidding me."
—GLaDOS
  • Gravity Sucks: Possible example at the end where Caroline causes a black hole to form and destroys the facility
  • Hannibal Lecture: GLaDOS uses her brain-scanning technology to pick up on the ponies' insecurities (such as Rainbow Dash's fear of failure, Rarity's obession with her appearance, and Pinkie Pie's fears of being abandoned by her friends) and prey on them, in the name of "psychological stress-testing".
  • Harsher in Hindsight: GLaDOS's statements that everypony else thinks Ditzy/Derpy's retarded is lent support after the negative reactions to her appearance in "The Last Roundup".
  • Heroic Sacrifice/Taking You with Me: Caroline, blowing up the facility to end GLaDOS once and for all and help Chell escape. It doesn't completely work, as a small part of GLaDOS survives.
  • Hope Spot: Pony Chell getting to enjoy freedom as a pony.
  • Insult Backfire: GLaDOS's designation of Pinkie Pie as "Special but not in a good way" is met with enthusiasm.
  • I Was Told There Would Be Cake: GLaDOS once again promises a cake and party to test subjects as a reward for surviving her tests. For once this works as Pinkie Pie resolves to finish her test extra quick to get some.
  • Jossed: The first chapter now has a note explaining how it was written before Derpy became canon.
  • Kick the Dog: GLaDOS' taunts are quite harsh, but her round with Fluttershy was so brutal, that one could argue that she crossed the Moral Event Horizon. It calls to mind her beta characterization, where she wasn't merely sarcastic and spiteful, but actively trying to murder Chell.
    • GLaDOS had no reason to test Pinkie Pie in particular. Her usual promise of cake would've made her the best test subject ever, but GLaDOS just wouldn't be GLaDOS if she didn't totally break her spirit.
  • Mythology Gag: While Celestia systematically trolls GlaDOS, GlaDOS shows her 'body' to her... And, in a fit of comic irony, Celestia calls the computer fat. Yes, one of the two most common insults used by GlaDOS against Chell is fired back at her. GlaDOS's response is glorious, and it only gets better from there.
  • Noodle Implements: You never find out what GLaDOS did or said to Luna.
  • One-Winged Angel: GLaDOS pulls this when Chell confronts her, using a robotic body based off of Celestia's. She was going to make it human, but she said she realized 'she doesn't like them very much', and when in Equestria...
  • Pity the Kidnapper: Celestia realizes, after her first conversation with GLaDOS, that righteous indignation only amuses the evil AI. She immediately changes tack and verbally judo-masters GLaDOS into leaving her alone in her test chamber -- GLaDOS has a great deal of trouble dealing with perceptive test subjects, especially those who can talk back.
    • Villainous Breakdown: "SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT UP. UP THE SHUT. I WILL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP."
  • Power Limiter: GLaDOS designs devices that inhibit unicorns' magical abilities and prevents pegasi from using their wings. The first of these is apparently powerful enough to render even Celestia and Luna (mostly) helpless.
  • Promoted Fanboy: One of the team members of the Portal Mod team came on board this way. You can tell from the comments he left before he joined...
  • Psychic Block Defense: Luna and Celestia in the side story are revealed to be able to resist GLaDOS's mind probes.
  • Reason You Suck Speech: In a side story, Celestia has a nice friendly chat with Gladys.
  • Sequel Hook: Atlas and P-body pulling GLaDOS' custom-made body out of the destroyed Enrichment Center, with her claiming there is more testing to do and that she was still alive.
    • Word of God states that this is because GLaDOS never dies.
  • Shout-Out: When GLaDOS was giving Pinkie Pie her Break the Cutie moment, she states that the only reason her friends were there was because they were worried she is only a few steps away from becoming a serial killer. One who bakes her victims into Cupcakes.
    • She also claims Pinkie's diet is going to give her diabetes, which is from Bittersweet.
    • She also accuses Fluttershy of being the kind of person who could snap and burn someone's house down, a nod to a fanfic called "Hell Hath No Fury" where Fluttershy does just that.
  • Silent Protagonist: Chell, naturally. Given more of an explanation that she has no vocal cords as they were removed, most likely by GLaDOS, for "science". This gets averted at the end, thanks to a gift from Luna - a necklace that turns Chell's thoughts into speech.
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