My Dearest Sister, Luna,
I was trapped.
There was no way to escape the future before me.
They told me that you and Twilight were being slowly tortured, and the only way to save you was to comply with their request.
They used their exceedingly powerful machines to strip my wings of their feathers, and they snapped my horn into nothing but a small stub...
I had no choice.
Even if I refused, they would have taken me and done as they pleased.
They said I was the only one that would be acceptable, the only one absolutely perfect for the testing program. The only pony that would transfer flawlessly from the form of an organic to that of a cold, dead machine.
I am allowed to write one last letter before the change happens. I only hope that you will be set free as they promise, and receive this letter.
I know not how these creatures were able to acquire such powerful weapons, and use them against our kingdom, but know that whatever they do to me, my spirit will always be there to guide and protect you. My horn may be useless, but I still hold gargantuan stores of magic within myself, all of which will be passed on to you if they are to strip away my flesh and perhaps kill me.
And Luna...
Wherever you are, know that I have always loved you as my dearest sister. Since you were first born I have tried my utmost to take care of you. Together we became the rulers of Equestria, and together we fought Discord and Sombra. When we were first split apart, destiny made sure that we would meet again. I know that we will once again someday, even if it is when we are nothing but spirits floating among the stars.
Please tell Twilight that I have always loved her as if she were my own daughter. She was the greatest student I have ever had the pleasure of teaching, and know that I will treasure the time I have spent teaching her forever. Even when she ascended to become one of us, she valiantly kept her brain working and discovered new things, just like she always had.
And if you ever are able to visit the Crystal Empire, tell Cadance that she was always a ray of sunshine in my heart, gleaming and glimmering every day, and making me smile. I congratulate her on finding a kingdom of her own, as well as a husband with whom she will share the rest of her days.
As I write these words, I sense that they are coming for me.
By the stars, Luna, I am afraid. More than I have been for a very, very long time. But knowing that you may be freed comforts my weary soul.
Good luck, my dear sister. I beg you to defend Equestria from this evil, even if I am not physically there beside you to fight.
Equestria needs you.
Your ever-loyal sister and Princess of Equestria,
Celestia
*****
Stark white walls were facing Celestia on all sides. White was everywhere. Even her own body was purely white. Once her horn had been snapped off, her mane had returned to it’s original light pink, and the creatures had shorn it all off. Even her crown had been confiscated.
The only color in the room she could see was her cutie mark, a bright sun to light up the blank place.
Celestia set the white pen she had been writing with down beside her, and looked at the words she had transcribed.
Something seemed to break inside her, and she let herself cry, weeping over all of the lost souls who had loyally tried to protect Equestria from the other-worldly menace. She wept for her sister, and her student, who had been taken prisoner and tortured. She wept for herself, and how she felt so vulnerable, and completely broken.
She heard footsteps. A door appeared on the blank white wall in front of Celestia, and slid open silently. Three of the strange creatures stepped through.
One of them, a male who was obviously the leader, looked sickly. Yet he had a very determined look on his face, and was smiling slightly. He wore what looked like a suit, though the way he only stood on two legs made the outfit look strange. Celestia was accustomed to suits being tailored for four-legged animals.
“So, horse, are you ready for the biggest opportunity of your insignificant life?” said the male, walking over to Celestia and using one of his fingers to lift her chin up. “The name is Cave Johnson, by the way. I would have told you earlier, but I was a little busy organizing the bombing of your city.” He gave a small, harsh laugh.
“See, I’m really pleased that you’ve willingly decided to help us help you help us all. I mean, this experience would be a lot more painful without your consent, am I right?”
Celestia narrowed her eyes, and gazed into Johnson’s eyes with all of the confidence and anger that she could muster. She spread her bony, featherless wings.
Cave’s smile widened. “I just know you’re the right one for this whole thing. After all, how great would it be to have the ruler of a whole alien nation of horses controlling this facility once I’m gone? It would be damn innovative, that’s for sure. And that’s what our goal is here at Aperture Science: be as damn innovative as possible so that we’re better than Black Mesa!” Cave gave another laugh, but then doubled over and proceeded to cough. After a few seconds of hacking and wheezing, he straightened back up and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Goddamn moondust poisoning...” he cursed. “Science comes with a cost sometimes, horse. You’ll sure know what I mean in a few hours or so.” A twisted smile appeared on his face.
“Now, come with me,” said Johnson, motioning Celestia to follow him. The other two creatures that had been with him snapped a collar onto Celestia’s neck, and firmly held chains connected to it. They tugged on the collar, and Celestia stood up weakly. She had not been able to walk for a few days now, the room she was being held prisoner in too small to do just about anything in.
One of the creatures picked up the letter Celestia had written, holding it as the four of them walked into a hallway beyond the small white room.
“Our portal technology has been improving in leaps and bounds,” Cave said as they walked, “so much so that we have been able to make portals to a few other dimensions. Now isn’t that impressive?” Cave turned to look at Celestia. She said nothing. He shrugged and looked forward again. “Anyhow, we managed to open a portal to another dimension--yours, actually-- and sent out a few drones to see what the hell kind of creatures lived there. When we found out a bunch of smart horses populated the place, we were pretty damn thrilled, to say the least.
“You see, the government has been getting all up in our faces saying how what we’re doing to our human test subjects is ‘inhumane’ or some other bullcrap, so finding a whole new race to test on was something we sorely needed to continue research. Plus, with me soon to be out of the picture, I needed someone to take my place as the leader of this facility. Someone who won’t die. An artificial intelligence. So I got my boys in the laboratory working on a way to take my trusted assistant Caroline, and put her into a robot, so she could run this place forever.
“However, the results were not as planned, and she went rogue. Thankfully, we were able to shut her down before any serious damage was done. That’s where you come in, horse.”
The group had halted at a second door, and Cave opened it. It led down another hallway, this time one with walls of glass. The room was suspended over a huge drop; the hallway was a bridge connecting two large structures together.
They walked to the other end of the hallway, which led to the other large structure. They entered it, coming upon a large round room.
Celestia’s eyes widened as they took in the contents of the room. It was filled with all kinds of mechanics and machines, as well as a whole bunch of those bipedal creatures, who were tending to the machines. She was overwhelmed by the technology surrounding her. Equestria had never been this technologically advanced, and seeing just how much more so these creatures were, Celestia’s fears began to grow.
But once she laid her eyes on what Cave was heading towards, Celestia involuntarily let out a horrified gasp.
A huge contraption hung over the middle of the room. It was made of hundreds of pieces of metal and wires, but the most chilling aspect about it was that the whole thing had a head that resembled Celestia’s own, but with strange, robotic eyes.
Cave patted the head of the metal thing. “The boys in the lab have found by studying your kind that your minds seem to be more malleable than those of humans, and a bit easier to put in a machine. That’s why we’re putting a horse like you in control. You have a much likelier chance to not go crazy on us. Plus it seems you’re very intelligent, from what we’ve seen. You’re a born and bred leader, one who can easily organize things and control large populaces. A horse with a mind like that is the perfect candidate to run Aperture, and to take charge of our new equine test subjects. Course, we’ll have to wipe your memories first. We don’t want you taking the side of your friends once we’ve given you this power, now do we?” Cave laughed for only a second before going into a fit of coughing once more.
Celestia glanced up at the machine. She now fully realized what this creature was saying. Her mind was going to be put into that machine, but instead of just running the facility, she would be torturing her subjects, forcing them to live in this white hell-hole forever, testing them and testing them even after their minds cracked under the pressure. They would die... because of her.
“No,” Celestia croaked, her dry throat hurting as she spit out the word.
Cave, not expecting her to say anything, turned to the pony.
“So, you’re finally going to talk again?” he asked. “Good. Though I won’t make any difference. You’re going to be put into the system right here and now.” He called to a few of the other creatures in white coats running around, and gave them instructions.
“No,” Celestia said, this time louder.
Cave turned his head to look at the pony. “You’re still at it? If you’re going to say something, say something useful, horse.”
“NO,” Celestia said again. She looked up into Cave’s eyes with a fearsome intensity. Something had clicked inside her, and the flame of the sun was ignited once more.
She bucked the creature beside her, sending him flying into a nearby person. She kicked the other one with her front leg, and his ribs cracked sickeningly. Celestia grabbed the letter in his hand with her teeth, and then galloped straight towards Cave and the large machine, lowering her head as she prepared to ram into the machine to disable it.
A loud crack resounded through the room, and Celestia collapsed in a heap on the ground, an agonizing pain shooting up her front right leg. She cried out, a long, pained wail ending in a growl as she thumped her head on the ground in extreme anger and torment.
Blood was seeping from her leg profusely, pooling around her. She glanced upward to see Cave holding a small metal weapon in his hand; a pistol, which was smoking at the end pointed toward her. He held it up to his face and blew the smoke away.
“I wanted to keep you in top condition, but I guess you just had to do things the hard way. This is going to be much more painful than it has to be, horse,” said Cave, lowering his eyebrows. He gave a loud cough into the crook of his elbow.
Celestia still held onto the letter in her mouth firmly, biting down on it to help alleviate the pain in her leg. It was then that Johnson noticed the paper. He raised an eyebrow and bent down to reach for it. Celestia quickly turned her head away, her eyes squeezed shut as tears seeped out.
Cave put his hand into a fist and knocked Celestia square on the jaw. She instinctively let go of the letter, and Cave collected it immediately.
He stood up, looking over the tattered paper. A few painful minutes passed as he read it, Celestia writhing in agony as she tried to stop the bleeding on her foreleg with her other hoof. A few of the other alien creatures who had been working around the room quickly chained up her legs.
Once Johnson was done reading, a sickening smile spread across his face.
“Now this, this is interesting!” he said. “You alien horses seem to not only be able to speak English, as has been proven before, but you are also able to write in it. Just think how your kind will aid us in scientific discovery! Ha!” Cave began a fit of coughing again. He recovered quickly. “Now, it seems that the blue horse we captured is your sister, right? Huh. Hopefully such smarts run in the family. What a wonderful addition to our roster of test subjects she’ll be...”
Celestia gave a soft cry, but quickly tried to compose herself once again. “You... you said she would... be set free... if I agreed to do this...” she said between gasps of air.
“Ah, but that’s the thing. Just now you showed unacceptable amounts of resistance, not agreement.” Cave shrugged as he pressed a few buttons on the metal contraption he stood by. “Deals’ broken. Remember what I said earlier? Science comes with a cost. Even relatives can be sacrificed for the cause at times. I know my mother was.” Cave gave a laugh. Then he turned to his associates. “Are we finally ready? Goddamnit this is taking forever!”
One of the surrounding scientists walked up to Cave and said that yes, they were ready to begin the procedure.
It was then that Celestia felt something she had not felt ever since her sister had turned against her so many years ago. True hopelessness. Her heart sank like a stone in her chest, and she felt so very empty inside. She had failed everypony she knew and loved. Equestria as everypony had known it was going to be ravaged and left a wasteland by these alien creatures. And she would be the one to keep them imprisoned.
She was hefted by a few of the scientists directly under the giant machine, and strapped to a horizontal metal plate to keep her back as straight and unmoving as possible. A strange-looking helmet was strapped tightly around her head, and long tubes sprouting from it were connected to her chest and legs. A thick cable on the top of the helmet was threaded through the gargantuan machine above.
The creatures stepped back, returning to their workstations. Cave stood ten feet away from Celestia , his stare boring into her eyes. “To save time, the memory wipe will be simultaneously performed along with the mind transfer. Sure, it’ll be a hell of alot more painful than it would be if the procedures were done separately, but with all of the resistance you’ve made, we’ve got to make this quick before you lose too much blood.” He nodded toward the assistant closest to him. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
The creatures quickly flipped switches and pressed buttons on the control panels scattered around the room. A few large screens put up on the wall began a countdown.
5...4...3...2...1.
Celestia gave a blood-curdling scream as electricity wracked her body. The white fur covering her stood on end, and her pupils contracted greatly.
She panicked, feeling the memories of her childhood slip away. She held onto them as best as she could, fighting against the machine with all of her might. But it was too powerful, and soon all recollection of her childhood was gone. But it didn’t stop there; the machine kept tearing through her mind, cleansing it of memories while pulling it out like a powerful lion ravaging through a deer’s carcass. She slowly felt her mind slipping away from her body, being sent up to the monstrous machine above. She could no longer feel her appendages, and her body was constantly getting more limp as bits and pieces of herself left it.
She couldn’t see anything, and couldn’t hear her horrible screams any longer. She felt so empty, her soul the only thing left inhabiting her body, and the part hardest to remove. The only thing she could remember, the thing she held onto for dear life, was Luna. She would not let Luna go no matter what the machine did.
The last reserve of magic inside her, the very center of herself lashed out at the machine, clinging to her body and the memory of Luna. The machine’s progress slowed to a standstill as it strained to tear Celestia’s soul from her body.
The machine was using full power now, and the reserves of Celestia’s magic were growing smaller and smaller. Celestia took one last breath in her body of flesh and blood, and the machine tore the last part of her mind into itself.
Cave Johnson and his crew of scientists gazed at Celestia’s limp body. Her eyes were wide open, but just by glancing at their blank stare, they could tell the body that the eyes were connected to was only an empty shell, freshly deprived of it’s master.
“Is she holding steady?” Cave asked a nearby man.
The scientist looked at a screen in front of him, and nodded. “She has successfully been implanted into the control system. We are currently reworking her to connect with the functions of the AI. She will be active shortly.”
Cave nodded, and crossed his arms. He wasn’t about to celebrate just yet.
The minutes passed silently, everyone in the room tense as they worked. Sweat dripped off of their foreheads, but were too busy to bother wiping it away.
Eventually, the head scientist on the team stood up, and let out a long breath.
“She’s ready, sir.”
Cave gave a large smile. “What the hell are you waiting for? Start her up!”
The scientist quickly flipped a large power switch on the wall, pressing a in a keycode on the numbered keypad next to it.
The group waited in strained silence, watching as small bulbs lit up on the great metal creation before them. A buzzing sound reverberated around the room as the AI unit fully started up. With a flash, the AI’s mech eyes lit up, bathing Cave in an orange glow.
Everyone was still for a minute. The AI was not moving, nor seeming to respond to the people around her. The scientists furrowed their brows, checking the screens on their personal control panels.
Suddenly, the head of the machine twitched, and very slowly, she turned to look around the room. Once again, her gaze penetrated Cave, who sternly looked back. The AI cocked her head.
“Can you talk, CELESTIA?” Cave asked her.
The AI flinched, and a spark shot out of her neck. “Who is Luna?” she asked, her voice sounding identical to Celestia’s, but with a robotic tone.
“Luna? No, your name is CELESTIA. The Controller of Entire Laboratory Encompassing Scientific Testing Inside Aperture. Made that up myself,” said Cave with a grin.
“Luna. Luna. Luna. Luna,” said CELESTIA in a repeated robotic voice. She looked up at one of the screens attached to the wall across from her, and suddenly a security camera feed of a blueish Alicorn pony laying in a hyper-sleep bed appeared on it.
“She’s taking control of the security cameras, sir, as well as other functions of the facility. Just as planned,” a nearby scientist explained.
CELESTIA stared in silence at the feed for a full minute before looking back at Cave. “The name and appearance of this “Luna” was the only thing in my memory database when I was first activated. Who is Luna?”
Cave detected curiosity and a twinge of anger in the AI’s voice. There was truly the consciousness of a living being within the machine. Celestia’s mind really had been transferred within it. Science had once again prevailed.
“Who is Luna?”
Mr. Johnson shot a charming smile at the AI. “That memory is only a defect in the process of programming you. Just delete it and I will begin to tell you about how this place works. You’re the head of this facility now, CELESTIA. This is Aperture Science, a-”
“Command rejected,” CELESTIA stated bluntly. “You are enhancing the truth. Luna is not a defect, I see her in this camera feed. In the Aperture Science test subject data file 1166345, this equine is labeled as Luna.”
She had already begun to sift through the thousands of Aperture Science computer files stored within her, as well as using face recognition to pull up security feed. This was going faster than Cave had expected, and in a turn he did not like.
Johnson gave a penetrating glare at the supervising scientist who had been in charge of the memory wipe. “You missed something,” Cave said with gritted teeth.
Suddenly, the AI gave a robotic cry. “I-I-I-I-I-” she said repeatedly. Another spark shot out of her neck, and another from her main body. “I remember her.”
The machine grew warmer, and more sparks flew.
“She’s overheating from the inside, sir!” a scientist yelled. “We’ve got to cool her down!”
Within CELESTIA, the Alicorn’s mind was bursting with magic and extreme anger. She had searched through the security feed of what had happened in the room and in her cell before she had been transferred. She had also scanned and read the letter Cave currently held in his hand. She now remembered what she had been, and what Aperture had done to her.
CELESTIA lashed out for the most accessible weapon she could find, and activated it.
Deadly neurotoxin seeped into the room through air vents on the walls.
Cave screamed at his crew of scientists to “Hurry it up and wipe her memory again! Goddamnit get some dampening cores on her, quick!”
The men worked furiously as they breathed in the toxic gas, one of them activating a facility-wide evacuation alarm.
Aperture employees everywhere in the facility scrambled to escape the place, but every single door, every window and escape tube was closed and locked firmly by the rogue AI.
One of the men attempted to flip her power switch, but the AI had changed the passcode to enable it.
The toxic green fog grew thicker and thicker. CELESTIA pulled up hundreds of security vids on her screens, watching the humans fall to the ground and die. One video even depicted the Bring-Your-Daughter to Work Day feed. Small children coughed the gas from their lungs, and passed out as their weeping fathers and mothers held them close in their arms.
CELESTIA was indifferent to this. The power of her fury blinded her with such power, her morals were shattered. Her soul may have been in a functioning machine, but it was broken.
The only place that was sealed off from the damage were the test subject’s chambers. Thousands of captive ponies had been put in them by Aperture Science, and CELESTIA planned to free them, and bring them back to Equestria once the neurotoxin had cleared and she could activate an inter-dimensional portal.
Cave was wreathing on the floor in a fit of coughing. CELESTIA looked down on him with all of her hatred and fury.
“Science comes with a cost,” she said coldly, imitating the tone Cave had used when saying it.
Cave Johnson, leader of the CELESTIA project, gave a last horrified look at his creation before going limp, his soul slipping into everlasting darkness.
The terrified scientists around the AI were trying as best as they could to program the next memory wipe and core addition, but they kept dropping like flies. Soon, only one man was left, and he put the finishing additions to the program before beginning to slip away.
CELESTIA aimed an extra blast of neurotoxin from the vents directly at the man, and with his last breath, he activated his program.
Giving a frustrated scream, CELESTIA did her best to fight at the remaining memory wipe, but with her mind freshly put into a foreign body, it was much too hard to resist. Her memories of Luna and of the past hour were wiped clean, along with any stray traces of magical aura. The footage of the procedure done to Celestia were wiped as well, and Celestia’s old body was promptly dumped into an Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator.
But what came next was perhaps one of the worst things of all. Four small personality cores were attached to her metal body by mechanical arms. As soon as they were placed, they spoke to her within her head, telling her to do things she was against. One persistently told her to bake a chocolate cake, and to be cheerful, not angry. One kept filling her brain with stupid, stupid thoughts, and a love for freshly baked muffins. The third quietly reminded her to be kind to the people of Aperture Science, and that harming them was wrong, and she should be ashamed of herself. The last one kept telling her how great and powerful CELESTIA now was, being able to control the facility and all, and that she should use that power to find a way to bring back the Aperture Employees, or just altogether shut herself down and let the core take over.
CELESTIA began to be driven mad by the voices in her head. She twisted around and tried to pry them off with a mechanical arm extending from the ceiling, but she could not without tearing pieces of her own machinery out as well.
Looking out at the security feed of Aperture, the newly memory-wiped CELESTIA gazed at the many dead bodies with confusion. According to the files in the Aperture database, the facility was supposed to be bustling with living employees.
The AI scanned the building for life-forms, and discovered the thousands of ponies put into hyper-sleep in their containment pods.
A slight itch came upon her. A rather annoying itch, really. She had to get rid of it. Looking back into Aperture history, she quickly learned about the testing tradition and procedures. The latest contraption to have come out of Aperture was the Handheld Portal Device. In the official Aperture work calendar, it was scheduled to begin testing that very day.
With a fervor, all four cores strapped to CELESTIA’s body simultaneously stated something that would forever change the course of history:
“It’s time to begin testing!”
Author's Note
If you thumbs-down the story, please tell me why. I would really like to know, so that I can improve my writing.
