The Story of Aperture

“YOU DID WHAT!?” shouted Bowdler “YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR AN ENTITY! DO YOU REALISE HOW MUCH EXTRA WORK WE ARE GOING TO HAVE DO BECAUSE OF YOUR INCOMPETANCE! IF YOU WERE BACK AT THE BASE I’D-I’D…I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’D DO. BUT IT WOULD BE EXCRUCIATING!” There was a crashing sound as Bowdler collapsed from his excursion on the other end of the data pad. Aperture was with Lightning back at camp, as he had delivered the mission report to the newly awoken Commander Bowdler.

“Well” said Lightning “He took that better than I expected”

The Mic crackled as Matrix picked it up. “Right, I can see now that there IS an alternative rough into the facility. There are also some interesting passages off the control hub, so I’m gonna send a team out later. It’s funny how their only on the hub. Anyway, you’re gonna have to back track a little, to a Y junction in the tunnel. You went right before, but this time you need to go left. It’ll be a much longer journey, so ration your supplies to make ‘em last”

Lightning plotted the quickest rough through the caves, and they packed the tents and set off.  The deeper tunnels were pitch black, so Kestrel and Lightning took it in turns to carry a touch ahead to light the way. The first day drew to a close, and Delta Squad entered a large chamber. Through the centre was a deep channel carved by the now dammed river. There was one small rock bridge over the channel, and Kestrel pitched the tents against the wall. Zayelx used a white compound from his bag to start a reasonable sized pit fire. The squad mates sat round it, eating their provisions.

“Does anypony have marshmallows?” asked Kestrel. The others simply stared at him.

“I was only asking…” Kestrel seemed hurt. At that moment, Zayelx opened his mess tin and handed Kestrel 3 marshmallows. A beam spread across his face, and he stabbed it with his sword and held it over the fire, before taking it off and eating in one bite.

“You do realise that sword has been through somepony, don’t you?” asked Matrix through his earpiece. Kestrel looked at the sword for a moment, then began spitting and wiping his tongue with his hooves.

“Dumbass” Chided Bowdler through the earpiece.

“I know, let’s tell stories, get to know each other better” Suggested Zayelx. “I barely know any of you, plus, if anyone were writing this down as a work of literacy genius, they’d need somewhere do the as of yet unexplored backstory of most of us.”

“I prefer the first one” said Aperture

“Documenting these events sounds like hard work” chipped in Kestrel. “I’ll start”

Kestrel’s Story- Briefly

“Well, I was born in a rural town called Fiador. Most ponies there were earth ponies who made pottery, and there was huge demand for Fiador branded pots. I never quite fitted in as a pegasus, not my style. My parents both worked in a pottery mill, producing beautiful vases and jugs, and many other wonderful things. As soon as I could, I tried to make things just like them. The other foals in my school could easily form whatever they wanted, but like hell I could. I just wasn’t cut out for that kind of work. I’d enjoyed my studies at school, and wanted to take them further. I had heard that there was a university, like a big school in Manehatten. After that I left a note for my family, and stowed away on a waggon heading the right way with a bag of bits and head of dreams. I slept most of the way, but found myself tipped from the waggon as it was unloaded in Manehatten. I enrolled in their university to study maths, and lived on their campus for two years. I made some friends, and got known for being a skilled mathematician, amongst other things... Anyway, I got a job as a bartender, but it wasn’t for me. One day I was in the bar and a pony staggered in in a lab coat. Remember, this was before Princess Luna returned and back then science was banned. I let him lie low for a while, because secretly I sympathised with scientist. Then one day he told me he’d come to my bar in particular because he heard I was ‘a numbers man’. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a shady pony, but it would be a lie to say I wasn’t interested. The idea gnawed at me for a few days, and on a whim, I decided to go ahead. If I never took risks, I’d never have got anywhere. He introduced me to The Great Lakes Research Facility, and I must say, I never regretted it. I had vastly better pay, better accommodation, and a job that I could take pride in. I was helping with distances and vectors for the teleportation experiments they were secretly performing in their facility. I felt needed, and more so, wanted. The danger also gave me an adrenaline rush. I worked there for 3 years, rising through the ranks until I was able to run my own experiments unsupervised. We had two goals, Firstly, to create short range teleports, up to 50 miles, accurate to a couple of centimetres with my calculations, Secondly, to create large portals to other worlds to test mineral samples and potentially even make first contact. One night I’d finished a set of particularly difficult vectors, and I couldn’t wait to test the portal. Standard procedure meant I should wait till morning, but I was blinded by the glory, and the desire to be the first to test my hard work. I assembled the equipment, and powered up the portal. A huge halo like device fitted with resonators around the dish to create a sort of ‘slipspace hole’ to wherever the vectors pointed. I powered it up and put on a Hazardous Environment Suit to traverse the dangerous journey. However, it seemed that at this moment things were about to get complicated. Somepony had found out what we were doing, and snitched to the Equestrian Guard. They struck our main base with force. We did not have time to arm ourselves. The Guards swarmed in and killed our scientists with vicious abandon. One Guard fired a stray shot into the portal’s fusion reactor, and it exploded. The containment protocols were breached and the halo exploded.

Now, to explain the next bit, you need to understand how Great Lakes’ portal’s worked. Imagine a spring in the air. As you let go of one end, the elastic energy keeps the other end still for a moment until all the elastic energy is gone, then it falls. The same applied to the portal. Though I had pointed it at an alien world, as the spring contracted, my end stayed open.

I jumped through and held onto my side until I could see equestria bellow me. I jumped. The spring contraction caused the portal to fall through itself, and it imploded, taking the base, the guards, the scientists and a reasonable chunk of the Saddle Arabian desert. I landed in the centre of Canterlot in the dead of night, and the Seventh Sanctum were running rampant for the first time. I had no food, no bits and no home. I did the only thing I could think, joined the Royal Guard. There I got food, water, shelter and 6 bits in my hooves at the end of every week.  I drift from this to that, my motto is if you want to win big, you’ve gotta risk it all. There’s no half way or second measures, you win or lose, live or die. THAT is the code I live by.”

The other’s looked dumbfounded. They had certainly not expected that.

“My turn” Said Zayelx, after a moment’s thought.