The Story of Aperture

The camp sat, mesmerised by Kestrel’s story. The only sound was a pop as a marshmallow dropped off Aperture’s toasting fork into the fire.

“I’ve got a story too” piped up Zayelx. “I’ll tell you how I got to be here”

“It was a long time ago, far away from these parts, in a small mountain settlement that my story begins. I was born in Phobos, a little town on the Macintosh Mountains. You won’t find it on any map, because technically, it doesn’t exist. It was a trading port for raiders and pirates to meet and exchange spoils of their battles. I was lived above a tavern called the horses head owned by my father and my mother, before she disappeared, and being the kind of place it was, I grew up pretty tough. I always loved it when a new band of pirates came through, they’d normally run out of rum, so they were fairly sober, and they’d tell tales of their adventures on the seas or on the lonely mountain roads. I heard tales of ships riding on waves 100ft high, ponies swallowed whole by krakens and leviathans, sea battles with magic and cannon fire blasting at each other, but most of all, the tales of islands with hoards of treasure, gold, diamonds, rubies and emeralds. I fancied myself as a pirate captain, and I thought when I turned 16, I was going to join a crew as they set out to sea. That’s how I got so handy with that butterfly knife. However, one night, a terrible storm took hold on the town, the like of which I’ve never seen since. A tornado swept through the town, destroying some of the outer buildings, but more importantly, causing a huge landslide. The whole town was buried beneath 10,000 tons of rock. Fortunately, my Pa and I got to the hatch in the back of our tavern. It was in case things ever got really dangerous, and we had to leave in a hurry. The tunnel led to the forest. We fled through the trees because of what we knew would follow. You see, inside the mountain lived a dragon. He had slept for 500 years, guarding the loot he’d ‘liberated’ from some unfortunate pirate folk. The noise of the landslide was enough to wake him up. He burst from the mountain with a deafening screech, showering the surrounding area with dust and ash. We watched as he burned what was left of our town to smouldering timbers and piles of stone. Then we ran. Destroying the town wouldn’t keep him long, and his next port of call would be to destroy the forest. Unfortunately for us, that was where we happened to be, so we kept running towards the nearest town, Mare-Burg. It was a long journey, and we had no food. I had a sword, but that’s not much help, besides clearing brambles. We were nearly dead when we reached Mare-Burg. The dragon had got there first. All that remained of the once noble town was dust and echoes. We managed to find a few scraps of food, and set out once again. After days of exhaustion and starvation we made it to Appleloosa. That very night, the dragon razed the forest, and that area is now known as the badlands, as nothing ever grows on the burnt scorched plains. With no tree’s to keep the water, the whole area became a desert, and the few towns there faded quickly from memory. We worked for a living in Appleloosa, farming the orchards. The town and its orchards were very young back then, but it was still no small task to water a thousand trees. The dragon moved on, taking his hoard from the Macintosh Mountains to the Smokey Mountain range, and laid down to sleep in what is often now called ‘Dragon Mountain’, though I doubt even Celestia knows why. We lived in Appleloosa for a few months, but then my Pa fell ill. They said it was the drink, getting to his liver. The best place to treat it was in Canterlot. We boarded a train and took the long journey to Canterlot. All the time my Pa’s condition deteriorated. We finally arrived and I rushed him to hospital, but it was too late to help him. On his death bed, he made me promise to seek revenge on the dragon, because he believed it had caused his condition and the disappearance of my mother, long ago. I swore to him I would, and then he passed away.

I tried to find work in various places, the last being in the Canterlot royal guard. And here I am.”

“Well” said Kestrel “I’ll be dammed” “Nice story”.