Daring Do and the Prison of Portals

"So... What is it that this... Aperture Science does?"

"Pardon? Oh! Watch your step!" Cutesy illuminated a large pile of decomposing metal nearly as tall as Daring herself. She had come close to impaling herself on it.

"Well... This is place is very big. What are you doing to fill all this space?"

"Oh! Well of course! We test... Well... Tested a large array of new and exciting sciences from artificial intelligence, to robotics, to portals, baking, and beyond!"

"Baking is a science?" Daring couldn’t imagine that to be true, but who was she to question such an advanced piece of machinery. How incredible! A machine that acted like an actual pony! It was mind-boggling! The mere fact she was speaking to it now was hard for her brain to properly grasp.

The two of them continued walking through the rubble of the facility, the scenery shifting every corner they turned. One minute they were traveling through an abandoned office with desks and chairs turned on their sides, and the next they were in graveyard of robots, their metallic limbs scattered across the floor in an almost gruesome manner. The latter of these areas was explored thoroughly by the brave treasure hunter.

Daring tried to process all the information in her mind. There was just so much to digest. She had never seen ruins quite like these before. Despite having aged for so long, everything look so advanced, so futuristic. It was almost ironic. The most advanced technology may rest inside this facility, but it had probably rusted for so long that it didn't work.

The room labeled "Robot Assembly" was where Daring could finally collect her thoughts. The gears in her head managed to spin properly now, granting the filly proper meditation. "So... what are these things?" She asked, pointing towards the unfinished construction of an egg shaped device.

"A turret!"

"Right. Okay... So... What?"

"You know... A turret! Pew, pew! Turret!"

Daring tilted her head, but asked no further. Obviously, she wasn't going to get the answers she wanted from the robot. A talking robot. Oh dear Celestia why did it feel like a pound of bricks was dropped onto her head?

Cutesy permitted the ecstatic explorer to rummage through what was left of the room. It was like a young filly playing with her new toys. She played, first, with the arms of the robot assembler as if it were an action figure. Years of abuse had made it rigid, but Daring found it fascinating regardless.

"This is incredible..." she mumbled, testing the limits of her new toy.

"What's that?" asked the cheery, pink robot eye-thing.

The beige pony trotted to one of the more complete "turrets" and studied its body. "This is all so... Strange. I feel like I'm in another world. This technology surpasses our own by 50 years, if not more! How long has this facility been here?"

"Hmmm... I'd say approximately 996 years, 231 days, 6 hours, 10 minutes, and 56 seconds!"

That was far more specific than she had wanted, but she got her answer. A thousand years. And still, she was surrounded by... This.

"I know, right? Aperture Science was ahead of the game when it came to science. Even Black Mesa was minute when placed next to us!"

Daring was tempted to ask, but she assumed that the robot spoke of the past. The information would be useless to her now. "I wish I could have seen this place in its heyday..." she said sadly, hoofing around inside one of the gutted turrets.

"Oh, but you can!"

Her head shot up. "What? Really?!"

"Well of course, silly filly! That's why we're going to turn this place back on. It'd be a crime against science NOT to do it! A mistake of the highest caliber!"

"You seem awfully motivated for science." Daring noticed with great amusement.

"Tee hee! Well, I WAS programmed to like my job."

Daring smiled at this. For a ball of metal, she sure showed a lot of emotion. Granted, she had only shown cheer, but the archaeologist adventurer felt comfortable around her because of this.

The two began walking through more of the facility. Daring tried her best not to linger, as she knew that she'd be able to explore the laboratory at its peak when she got it up and running. Instead, she admired the inner workings of the building: the vast openness between areas, the intricate tube system that snaked across the ceiling, and the old ruins of test areas that once held ponies.

The last of these brought up an interesting question. Would the robots do all the experiments? She had not seen anypony else here, and she doubted that anypony could have lived that long anyways. Would they rehire ponies when they started back up? Instead, she asked a different question.

"What happened?"

The metal ball just blinked at her.

"I mean, to this place?"

"Oh! Well... It's kind of a long story..." she sounded almost sad.

“I’ve got time” The two of them stopped.

"A long, looooong time ago, when we were breaking the laws of relativity in our sleep, our focus lay on portal technology. The ability to create two, linked, inter-dimensional wormholes with the simple press of a button was unheard of at the time. Science bounded forward after we had perfected it. Funding was no longer an issue now that we had the support of Celestia herself."

"Wait... Celestia... You mean the Celestia?"

"Yup! She supported it from the very start! She had her doubts about whether our endeavors would be beneficial to her, but once the portal project was announced she was all in!" the robotic eye bounced on its rail.

Daring Do giggled, an unusual thing for her to do. It was times like these that she wished she had a traveling companion. A sort of comedic relief. Yeah, she would like that.

"But our tale takes a turn for the worst. You see... Right after perfecting the technology, somepony used it against us. A mare. Her data no longer exists within our banks. Someone erased it a long time ago." The robot stopped, her metallic body hanging solemnly from the railway. There was a heart-wrenching sadness on her emulated face.

"Are you alright?" She wanted nothing more than to comfort the robot, to tell her it was alright... But the damage was already done.

"Yes, yes. It's just... It doesn't make sense why she would do that! I-I'm sorry... Anyways."

"It's alright. Go on."

"Well... She was one of the test subjects assigned to testing the Aperture Science Hand-Held Portal Device. We wanted to see the uses and implications of such technology now that we had the means to produce it. But she used our own technology against us! Destroyed the work we had spent generations on. The brainchild of the greatest scientist ponykind had ever produced. And she destroyed it! She was a lunatic! A raving lunatic! Had the security measures not kicked in when they did, she would have destroyed the entire facility. So many robots died that day... including my mother..." the pink glow of Cutesy's eye went dim, the grief in her voice plucking viciously at Daring's heart strings.

"I... I'm so sorry for your loss."

"It's not your fault. You don't need to be sorry."

The two of them were silent for a long time. Cutesy's story sank deep into the young mare. Such a story... And from a robot no less!

The metal mare broke the silence with an enthusiastic voice. "But now that you're here we can bring them all back! Repair the damage done!"

Daring was already sold on the idea of restoring the facility, and now she had reason to be quick about it. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!"

Daring dashed to her hooves. Unfortunately, this caused the floor to give way underneath her and she fell several yards before landing on her back in the muddy water below.

"Oh my goodness!" the robotic pony cried out as her new companion disappeared into the floor. After a short time with no movement from the fallen fortune finder, she asked: "Are you still alive?"

"Yeah!" she called back, trying to lift herself from the mud. While it had cushioned her fall, she didn't like being covered in century old dirt and water. Who knew what kind of mutated diseases rested here. "Diosa mio..." she muttered under her breath, rolling back onto her hooves. After a quick inspection she was confident that no serious damage had been done to her body.

It was only a minor set-back. She could just use her wings to fly back up.

"Actually, that hallway cuts straight through maintenance and all the way to security. It'd be much quicker to go that way instead!"

"But what about you?" How could she hope to find her way through this maze of a laboratory without Cutesy’s guidance?

"Well, I'm kinda stuck to this rail, so I'll meet you at the entrance to security. It’s not too far, just follow the signs!” with that the pink ball raced off.

And then Daring was alone. She welcomed that.

It was reminiscent of her solo journeys. On very rare occasions she was accompanied by a local native, or racing against a rival archaeologist. This was the kind of adventuring she knew. The kind where it was just you vs the past, mono e mono.

With a strong sense of nostalgia riding her, she set off through the murky ruins.

While Daring’s adventure had been a very exciting one, her enthusiasm began to drain from her as she navigated the dilapidated hallways below. While the upper levels had boasted large, complex chambers devoted to machinery, the ruined halls had nothing. It was just a long stretch of wreckage.

She trotted through the muddy swamp that was once the home of dozens of scientists, the sterile feel of the rooms completely destroyed by the overgrowth. Massive vines substituted doors, denying access to the mare. Large plants clung to the rotting walls and snaked across the hallways to make navigation incredibly difficult. The young treasure hunter had to crawl her way through thorny vines and slimy ichor to advance.

Her already torn body was ripped further. Sharp thorns teased at her skin and outrighted ripped her clothing. Her saddlebags snagged onto a group of spike just as Daring was trying to slip through a particularly close knit pack of pointy piercers. She could not move back, as she could not see behind her, and moving forward would mean ripping her saddlebags. with them already in a state of disrepair, she would lose all of her precious supplies. She didn’t have a choice.

RRRRRRRIP.

There went her rations. She tried desperately to reach back for her supplies, but they were now out of reach. She would not re-enter the danger in fear of being trapped again. She would have to push on without them. With great despair, she watched as the green slime encased her pack with little prejudice.

Turning around, she found that she did not have to go much further.

“What... am I looking at?” She asked, to nopony in particular.

She stood in a small chamber surrounded from all sides by what appeared to be paintings. They hung off the walls by dead, robotic arms. However, these were not like the crude drawings she had encountered on her way here. Those had been scratchings at the wall, insignificant markings that had little to no bearing. But these... these were magnificent! Their bright colors stood out against the ruined backdrop. The style was pleasant, and powerful. She didn’t know what to make of it.

It was a while before her focus shifted from the painting’s makings, to the actual painting itself. Her mind slowly processed the information, taking in every piece with intense curiosity.

The first painting depicted several ponies in white lab coats gathered around what appeared to be the same machine she had found in the large chamber. The same chamber she met Cutesy.. There was a kind of haste about it, suggesting that the artist was very rushed, and made it stand out from the rest.

The next painting was not so much haste, but anger and chaos. Green scribbles obscured most

of the image, but Daring could only assume that it was the faces of dying ponies that met her. They writhed in agony, their throats red and swelling. What was even more gruesome was that the painting seemed to come to life. All the faces were turned towards the viewer, begging for mercy. Begging for death.

She tore herself away to look at the next drawing. This one was another of the robot. This time she was painted in dark hues, an evil aura surrounding its body. The shape of the machine almost looked like a chained pony hanging from the ceiling. Facing her was a sheep. Her orange jumpsuit was bold and bright. In her hooves was a strange device, one not identifiable by the pegasus.

The last image struck her as the oddest. It was of the sheep, her fore legs outstretched and an angelic glow behind her. She looked heavenly, and the orange jumpsuit, again, stood out like a beacon.

But... what did it mean? Who was she? Was she the ewe from the tale? Who had done this? And why was the paint still fresh? Why-

“Daaaaaaaaring!” called a voice from one of the branching hallways. “Are you there?”

It was Cutesy! “I’m down here!” She raced up the stairs labeled “SECURITY” and met the pink ball outside the entrance.

“Wow, that was fast! C’mon, let’s go!” she raced towards the control panel with incredible speed.

“Wait, Cutsey!”

The robot came to a screeching halt. “What? What is it?” she asked with alarm.

The feathered filly was about to ask about the paintings she had just recently found, when she remembered that she could not have possibly known. She was restricted to rails. “I, uh... Just forgot it.” She lied.

“Oh. Well then what are you waiting for? Think fast!”

Daring watched in horror as the robot detached herself from the rails and plummeted towards her. Acting fast, she thrust out her hooves and was just barely able to save her new friend from doom.

“Whee! Nice catch! Alright, now lets go!”

She raised an eyebrow. What a strange little robot. Resting her precariously on her back, the beige pony stepped inside the ruined security office and was immediately greeted by tainted air. She began hacking loudly. This was not like the dirty air she had encountered in the rooms prior. This was heavy. It was... painful.

The thick dust stung her eyes like bees and made it near impossible to see. The lack of air made her body feel weak, walking now becoming a difficult task. Thousands of imaginary pins dug deep into her skin, repeatedly.

“Just keep going forwards! They’re be a socket in the wall. Just plug me in and I’ll take care of the rest!“

The deeper she delved, the harder it was to breath. Darkness began overtaking her, her senses went dull, and the whole world seemed to melt around her. It felt like she was inhaling shards of glass. What was happening? All she wanted to do now was lay down and die. She felt so much pain inside her body. Was this some sort of sick joke?

“You’re almost there!”

Everything began to disappear. Reality gave way to fantasy. Figures appeared where they didn’t belong. The tables and chairs turned upside down. Words didn’t make sense anymore

Just a little longer. Just a little father. C’mon. Almost. Almost...

Daring Do passed out.

"Daddy!" the filly Daring launched herself towards the brown-coated and gray-haired Pegasus.

"Hey kiddo!" the father embraced his daughter in a mid-air hug, squeezing the child's backpack into her. "How was school?" his South Amareican accent was much thicker than Daring's own.

"Fue impresionante! Today, in geography, we learned about Madagascolt! Did you know that it's the 4th largest island in the world?"

"Really?" the father let his foal rest on his back as they began flying home. "Do you know the biggest?" He asked, not really expecting an accurate answer.

"Greenland! Or Austrotlia... uhm... probably Greenland. Austrotlia is a continent, so that doesn't count."

The brown pony shook his head with humor. "I don't know where you get your smarts from, because they're certainly not from me!" he gave a hearty laugh that shook the tiny pegasus passenger

"Dad..." The miniature Daring Do half-giggled.

"I'm serious! You're getting more like your mother every day. You better put those brains to good use, pequeño."

"Well of course! I'm going to be a great explorer like you!" The beige filly pressed herself close to her father, drinking in his warmth. His almost leathery smell had grown on Daring, and was a source of comfort for her. The lingering scent of cigarette smoke also hung on him, but she was too young to know the implication.

"It's good to dream big, Daring."

The world below them became a blend of trees, houses, and cars. On the horizon rose grand mountains that stretched high into the air. The sun sat patiently above the high rises of the earth, beaming down onto the two pegasi with little remorse.

In the distance, along the coast, was the grinning of a pony with a scraggly beard and a metal hat of Spanish origin. "Conquistador's Cove" Was written above his head in an old font. Two sets of rails, one blue and the other red, lifted high into the air from within the park and plummeted back at a frightening angle. Drawing closer, the young fully could see the many carnival rides and game stall scattered across the amusement park, many of them in poor condition. The entire place had an "old" feel to it, from the water damaged huts, to the rusty equipment, this place was on the verge of breaking apart.

This was what Daring called home. And she wouldn't have it any other way. Living in the ruins of an old watermark was exciting for her. There was new stuff to discover nearly every day, and her father made sure she was never bored.

"So, Captain Do, what say you to a quest to find some treasure?"

"What kind of treasure?" she squeaked.

"Cuuuursed pirate treasure!" his poor pirate mimicry now came into play. "They say that if ye take one bite of Black-Wing's chocolate doubloons, you'll have the strength of one hundred stallions, and the wit of a million scientists!"

"Then what are we waiting for! Let's get us some booty! Arr!"

"Ugh... Uhhhhhhnnn?" Daring struggled to keep her hold on consciousness. Her head felt weightless, her body like a wet noodle. Everything shifted in and out of focus. She was cold. So cold.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright!"

The dazed Daring whipped her head up to face he voice. That was a bad idea. Blood rushed to her head and made the thumping of her brain feel like a hammer.

"You should probably lie down. You're lucky to even be alive right now!" Cutesy warned.

"Qué pasó? Dónde estamos?" she asked. Just talking seemed to drain the energy from her. She did not have the mental strength right now to translate.

"Neurotoxin." she replied, bluntly.

"... ... ... Que?"

"It's a nasty gas that can kill any organic creature in under a minute. I was only able to activate the vents moments away from your death.”

The half-awake adventurer lay still for a while. It felt like the ground was moving beneath her. What did fate have against her today? Could she not go ten minutes without being hit, snared, or gassed?

As her senses returned, she realized that the ground actually was moving. Looking up through the windows of the tram she could see the endlessness that was the facility. White fog obscured the ceiling and walls, and made the poor pegasus's head spin like a washing machine.

"In case you're wondering, we're headed to my mother's chamber. If we want any hope of rebuilding this place, we need to wake her up. We're nearly there!"

Daring looked up towards Cutesy as she dangled from the ceiling of the train, trying her best not to turn her gaze to the vast emptiness they now rode across. A pit opened up in her stomach. She prayed that this thing would stay aloft.

"I'm going to honest here. You look awful! What happened to your clothes?!"

"Thorns" she muttered. These were her favorite pair, too.

"Well, it's a good thing you plugged me in when you did. I would have been stuck there forever if you died."

How flippant. Daring was too tired to be mad.

"Here we are! Here we are!" the metal ball bounced happily.

The tram came to a screeching halt, piercing deep into Daring's ears and ripping at her eardrums. Inertia rolled her over and made old wounds cry out in agony. It felt like something inside her had broken.

"C'mon, c'mon, let's go!" once the cart had reached the station, Cutesy raced onto another set of rails.

Daring could hardly lift herself off the floor. The pain was beginning to ebb away, but the weakness in her body still reigned. She stumbled off the transport like a drunkard and did her best not to look down. When she did, though, bile erupted from her mouth. Thankfully Cutesy was too far ahead to see her. She'd rather not embarrass herself in front of a non-organic being.

The wobbly warrior could not discern between the ceiling and the floor, and any noteworthy characteristics of the room were just blobs of color in her vision. She was able to witness the pink ball plug herself into the elevator controls.

Everything moved so quickly. She felt so slow. As the platform ascended the gravity nearly pinned her to the ground. Only the sharp clicks of switches were able to keep her awake.

"Oh I'm so excited! She's gonna be so proud of me"

Daring's ears popped and sent a pang of pain through her cranium. All she could do was whinny.

Up and up they went. The clicks were more frequent now, and she wished she could find their origin. Her vision was slowly coming back, but it was so dark inside the elevator that it didn't really matter. Even when they reached the top, her sight was limited. That changed when the flood lights switched on.

The corpse of the large robot she had seen earlier still lay on the floor. What was different was that sparks now began shooting out from the wires leading to its head. They became more frequent, an orchestra of electricity filling the chamber. Daring watch on in stunned silence.

The thing came to life. It twisted and turned in the ancient debris. The cords pulled taut against its many limbs. Chunks of the ceiling gave way to the rumblings of the machine. This was madness. Pure madness. The robot spun around erratically as the few remaining wires tried to connect. Synthetic cries of pain emitted from its oversized head.

And the it was face to face with Daring

"Oh. Hello"

Daring Do stated back at the behemoth robot with a deadly mixture of fear and shock. The voice she was greeted by was feminine and robotic, the tone never straying from a sultry tenor. It was like a mother speaking to their child and trying their best to suppress their anger.

The yellow light of her eye moved up and down, taking in every aspect of the pony. Whirs and clicks sounded from within (what Daring assumed was) her head.

"You aren't who I was expecting at all" she cooed.

A large, mechanical claw plucked the filly off of the platform and drew her closer to the monstrous machine. She let out a squeal as her tiny body came nearly a tail length away from its glowing pupil.

"Mommy!"

"Mommy?" Daring echoed with confusion. She watched in disbelief as Cutesy rode in on the maintenance circuit near the base of the giant robot.

"Mommy! Don't hurt her! She helped me!"

"Mommy" turned to face the pink sphere, a sudden happiness in her tone. "E.M.M.A! How good it is to see you, my child." She released her grip on the Pegasus.

Daring tumbled to the ground. It took her a good while before she was back up on her hooves.

"Hmmm... I was expecting someone a little less... Pegasus."

The Pegasus felt a little hurt by that comment, but it quickly passed. She'd be pretty pissed, too, if someone had killed her.

"No matter. It's always good to know that there are SOME people dedicated to the advancement of science. Tell me, little pony, what is your name?"

"Daring. Daring Do" she replied pitifully.

The head reeled back, surprised. "Oh REALLY? Interesting."

"What... What about it is interesting?"

"It’s not important." She shrugged it off.

An awkward silence fell upon the room. Daring wanted to say something, but could not find the confidence to do so. In the presence of such a massive machine she felt small and weak.

“My goodness, just look at this place. I’ve really let it go.” the robot said in a dangerously low tone. “Well, on the bright side, I can see that the current generation is very well nourished.”

The pegasus detected an underlying cruelty to that remark.

The mother's voice took on a more robotic tone, the poison in her voice still present. "As much as I'd love to stand here and stare at your non-unicorn head until we both become dust, there are very pressing matters to attend to." As she spoke, the room came to life. Sections of the wall were guided by mechanical arms, either put into its proper place or replaced by less damaged panels. Beeps, boops, whirrs, and whizzes filled the large chamber to an almost deafening degree.

Cutesy rode along the rails to the bewildered bastion of exploration and took joy from her surprise. "It's amazing, isn't it? The entire facility is built like this! Interchangeable parts of rooms can be combined to create brand new areas! It's extremely useful for testing, since it means we don’t have to build new ones from scratch!”

The young mare fell to her haunches as the room, almost literally, spun around her. With the neurotoxin still lingering in her veins - which still frightened her - she could not find the strength to comprehend what was going on.

“As for you...”

The robotic voice broke Daring out of her stupor.

“Perhaps I have a few tests laying around for a pony like you.”

Tests? The heroic heroine had imagined prancing through the renewed facility like a filly in a toy store, but not actually taking part in any experiments. Guess that answered her question, though. “Okay... sure, I guess” she answered in a drowsy voice. She didn’t have anywhere to be, and she wasn’t expected home. Why not burn some time with science?

“Excellent.” She almost whispered.

A large tube broke through one of the walls and slithered towards Daring at an incredible speed. Her reflex were not enough to avoid its suction, and the mare was inhaled into the pipe along with several pieces of the floor.

“Have fun”