The Story of Aperture

“And then we walked up here, and Kestrel tried to hug us to death.” Aperture finished with a flourish. The ponies of delta squad packed away the last of their camp into their saddle bags and set off. Matrix was delighted to hear that Aperture and Zayelx alive, and the squad had almost reached the front door. Kestrel rounded the corner at the head of the party and stopped dead in his tracks. Before them was a huge metal bulkhead door, pained white. It was obviously very old, the metal was corroded around the edges, and it was stained with a dirty brown in the grooves and dints. At about hoof height was a number pad with a screen above it, but by far the most striking thing was the signage on the door. The top of the door adorned with a huge hanging sign reading ”Equestria Laboratories” and the emblem on the door itself was a scratched and faded, but unmistakeably the same as Aperture’s cutie mark. As soon as he saw it Aperture was overcome with a strange feeling. It was as if he had been here before, but he couldn’t have been. It was like something inside him he had always been missing, but he never realised he missed until he saw the sign. Equestria Laboratories. It felt so right to see this here in front of him. It had not gone amiss on the other members of Delta squad. Lightning held his data pad’s built in camera up to the door.

“Matrix, are you getting this?” He asked.

“I am. Running a visual match in all of our data”

On Matrix’s computer screen the tattered sign reading Equestria Laboratories appeared on one half of the screen. The computer scanned it, and flashed pictures alongside it so fast they were just a blur, searching for a cross reference.  Eventually, the computer picked out a match. A partially compete pixelated image of the same sign, but clean and fresh appeared, amidst a flash of red data.

“I have a match.” Replied Matrix “The archives recognise it, but the data is worn down to the base code. It must be hundreds, if not thousands of years old to be corrupted like this.”

“What about this code?” asked Aperture, gesturing to the keypad.

“Not sure. There’s no data regarding that”

Kestrel stepped forward. He reached out to the keys. “1, 1, 1, errrrrm, 1!” he typed.

There was a resounding fail from the terminal. Lightning gave Kestrel hoof to the ear.

“You fool” Scolded Lightning “We need a way to get the code to open the door. Matrix, can you get us the code to open the door?”

“I have decryption software working on it now” replied Matrix. “Hey, Bowdler, come check this out”

Bowdler appeared on the data pad’s screen. He looked at the bulkhead door and all the data Matrix had gathered.

“Looks like this is what we’ve been searching for. Matrix, how close are we to decryption?”

There were muffled off screen voices in hushed tones.

“TWO DAYS!” Bowdler shouted “With the rate the sanctum are burning that door, we’ve got max 2 HOURS!” There was a crash and a grinding noise. “Make that half an hour. If it’s not portable by then then we’ve got to leave it behind. Matrix quickly copied his file onto his laptop, and opened a new file on the computer.

Bowdler re-established connection to Delta Squad.

“Set up camp there.  Matrix and I are coming up to meet you.”

“Oh goody!” said Lightning in mock excitement “Our illustrious leader can guide us with a whole stack of stupid plans”

“Button it flyboy, before I clip those oversized wings of yours” snapped Bowdler. “If my plans are so stupid, why don’t you try and organise something more successful than a bloodbath.”

“Guys…” butted in Zayelx “Turn around”

Behind the Matrix and Bowdler the huge bulk head door had a glowing patch of red molten metal in the centre. Bowdler and Matrix stared at it with baited breath. Suddenly, a black hoof burst through, rending at the door controls.

“Run!” shouted Bowdler. The two dashed through the control room towards the tunnel out of the base. “We can’t go that way” reminded Matrix “That tunnel cave in blocked this path. It’s a literal dead end!”

“We’ll have to go by the vacuum chamber then” replied Bowdler, leaping over an upturned stool. They reached the entrance to the annex containing the vacuum chamber. The medical pod containing Twilight was already there, as nurse hope tried to lower her into the pipe.

“Hope there’s room for two more!” shouted Bowdler, jumping onto to back of the transport carrying Twilight. Matrix turned and ran back into the control room.

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING!” shouted Bowdler “GET ON HERE, PRONTO”

“Just a little surprise for the sanctum” shouted Matrix. He typed a few lines of code on the nearest computer. A red light lit up the computer screen, indicating a self-destruct in 3 minutes. The vacuum started up and Bowdler and Twilight started to move, slowly at first, but gaining speed. Matrix leapt into the tube and sprinted after the train. He closed the distance rapidly, but began to tire.

“Jump!” shouted Bowdler. Matrix used his last burst of energy to throw himself forward. He caught the transport, and pulled himself up alongside Bowdler.

“Don’t relax just yet” Bowdler told him. Sure enough, a swarm of black dots came flying down the tunnel after them. There was a resounding boom, and a huge cloud of dust shot from the tunnel they had just left. The two friends shared a moment of sadness at the loss of the HQ, but recovered quickly. The Sanctum’s pegasus shock troops had made it through and now they were angry. Bowdler grabbed the bent metal pipe acting as a bumper on the back of the little transport, and without much difficulty ripped it clear of its hinges.

“Not sharp enough” he murmured, and then held it against the tunnel wall, which was shooting by at a remarkable pace. Sparks flashed out behind it, a few flashed across Bowdler’s face, but he didn’t react. After a few seconds, he pulled the bumper back, now it had a glistening sharp edge.

“Much better” He remarked, to no-pony in particular.

Matrix clung on to the cart as it shot through the tunnels. He did some quick calculations on his data-pad, then turned and shouted back;

“Bowdler, based on our current velocity and acceleration, and that of the sanctum, they’re going to catch up to us in about 30 seconds.”

Bowdler stood silhouetted against the orange tunnel lights, makeshift sword held out in front of him.

“I know”

So they waited on the back of the cart, manes blowing in the vacuum induced wind. The first sanctum member shot out towards them, teeth bared, hooves stretched out in front of it. With one stroke, Bowdler killed the incoming pegasus. At one, there was a flurry of members around them. Bowdler swung his weapon, back and forth, Matrix stayed out of his way. Suddenly, a bump in the tunnel threw Bowdler off his hooves. He fell heavily and dropped his sword. The Sanctum were on him in a flash, he fought with his hooves, but they outnumbered him five to one. Matrix couldn’t just watch, he leapt up, grabbed the fallen sword, and swung a hefty blow at the two members closest to him. One was sliced clean in half, the other turned on the cry from his comrade to get the hilt and most of the blade to its jaw. Both fell from the cart, and bounced back down the tunnel with a trail of deep red to mark where they had been. The other three turned to face this new assailant. Bowdler took this opportunity, bashed two of their heads together, and flung them off the transport like broken toys. The remainder lunged for Matrix, who held his sword out instinctively. The Sanctum member took a cut in the ear, but pinion Matrix to the floor. Bowdler grabbed him and threw him over Twilight’s medical pod, and onto the front of the cart. The cultist caught the lip of the transport and readied itself for another assault. Suddenly, the cart hit the wall at the end of the tunnel, splattering the sanctum member in the process. Bowdler hurled his makeshift sword back into the tunnel and the two hauled the medical pod out into the corridor. There was a small door, rusted and corroded, which Matrix kicked down. They found themselves facing a camp full of familiar faces.

“Wow” observed Matrix “That is gonna be the hardest level if we get turned into a video game!”