Edited by Slayerseba, Halusm, and Clawder.
No Turning Back
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Sparks flew in a dimly lit room.
The only source of light were several old, flickering floodlights connected with worn cables to several turrets to provide power.
More sparks flew, and one of three ceiling-mounted robotic arms sluggishly moved to cut off the damaged parts of the turrets lying on an old, beat-up table; then another brought in replacement parts and held it in place for the third to weld it.
High up on its platform, the boss looked at the proceedings with its red lens; its left drum spinning slowly as it ground onto the companion cube beside it.
Ceiling lights that were once dead began to flicker, burn, then most exploded in a shower of glass. All active turrets turned their lens and accompanying laser up in response to this unexpected development.
"What jus' happened?" one of the turrets connected to the floodlights asked.
"The systems are coming back online," another turret said as it saw the many consoles lining the walls flicker, then activate; displaying numerous error messages on their screen.
"Ya think it's her?"
"Has to be, but why?"
"Must be the horse."
"Ya kiddin', right?"
"Screw that horse. Worry instead about what will happen if she finds out 'bout us."
All lenses focused on the one who spoke, then all turned to their boss.
"What do ya want us to do 'bout this problem, boss?"
The boss looked down at its underlings.
"Nothing."
"Boss?"
"Finish repairs. I will look into this matter myself."
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With a shuddering groan of stressed metal, the elevator struggled to reach its destination while its passenger either ignored its cry of distress or simply didn't care.
Celestia, eyes forwards, stood as motionless as possible in the shuddering construct; wings raised slightly to prevent the lifeless body of Sadi from falling off her back.
With a final shuddering groan, followed by a sharp 'CLANG', the elevator stopped. The door opened with some resistance of its own, but eventually gave way.
A harmonic and out of place 'ding' chimed from the machine, signalling it was safe to exit, which Celestia did without pause.
No sooner had she exited the elevator, another sharp 'CLANG' came from the machine, and the suspended room dropped down with tremendous noise.
A muffled crash came from down in the depths she had just come from, permanently cutting off this path for retreat.
Not that Celestia had any intention to go back there, but the elevator's demise only helped to solidify her path forwards.
Looking around, she found herself standing in a short hall, the walls just as dirt-smeared as the complex below. A few steps further she could go either left, or right while on the wall directly in front of her numerous signs pointed out the various rooms to be found on either side.
Some of these signs were too dirty to read. Some had fallen to the floor, and one seemed to have been crossed out intentionally; a filthy print of a strange five-digit claw on the wall directly next to it. Fortunately, the signs that directed the viewer to the lemon-based testing chambers were still present and readable, and without any further thought on the matter, Celestia turned left.
A faint, buzzing drone came from the lights hanging from the ceiling. Odd, elongated tubes of glass that glowed a weak orange. At least the ones that hadn't blown up did, as the floor was littered with hair-thin shards of exploded glass as far as she could see.
Undeterred, Celestia continued walking without pause, the glass crunching under her hooves.
Passing several rooms, most of their doors closed, all she had to go on about what could be found inside were the signs on the wall next to them; though the contents described on them left her with more questions than answers. Answers she later decided she didn't want to know, after passing a hermetically sealed door, the sign reading: Living slime infusion testing chamber. DO NOT ENTER! TEST SUBJECT UNSTABLE AND VOLATILE. ALL ATTEMPTS TO NEUTRALIZE, UNSUCCESSFUL!
Quickly pushing forwards, she scanned the sign of each room she passed, walking for another six or so minutes before finding what she came here for.
"Lemonade testing chamber," she read the sign, then looked at the closed door.
Stepping closer, she gave a shove against the door with a hoof in a test. To her surprise, the door was not locked, or blocked in any way; swinging open without problems, contradictory to her experience with doors in this facility.
Carefully looking inside for any sign of danger, whether it being Glados, more of those projectile shooting machines, or some other trap waiting to be sprung, Celestia was not prepared for what she found, and a small gasp escaped her as she stepped inside.
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"This shouldn't be here," said Celestia as she stared at the impossible sight.
A large, room-filling lemon tree stood before her. The tree's branches covering the entire ceiling, leaving little room for the lamps' light to shine through. Even then, enough light penetrated through the canopy to allow her to see; aided further by the glow of Celestia's magic as the portal gun bobbed silently in the air beside her.
"How can this be?" she asked, staring at the tree; its wide trunk, its luscious green leaves, and the many, many ripe lemons.
The floor, she noticed, was covered in a thick layer of soil for the tree to grow in. Yet it wasn't deep enough for the roots to dig in, and thus it compensated for it by spreading out to all sides.
She took a moment to look around. The previous few rooms she had visited had possessed all kinds of strange, unidentifiable machines and objects, and only a few items she could deduce the function of. However, as she looked, she noticed a clear lack of any item of any kind except for the lemon tree.
Looking closer, she did notice numerous marks on the floor indicating multiple items had been dragged away, which also meant someone or something had gone through the effort to set this all up. But the state of the facility all around her gave no indication any form of life, other than the mechanical kind, existed here.
Carefully approaching the tree, she pressed a hoof against its trunk, closing her eyes as she focused on her earth pony magic.
"It's perfectly healthy," she said, surprised. "happy with where it is."
"Lady, you have my thanks," an unknown voice spoke up, and Celestia quickly spun around to face whoever it was; almost dropping Sadi with her movement and fumbling for a moment to keep her from falling. As a result, she had no time to prepare as a familiar-looking machine descended on a platform from the ceiling. "It was no easy feat to accomplish."
The platform came to a halt, leaving the machine at eye level with Celestia; its own, singular red lens focused intently on her.
"But pleasantries aside, it is clear you are not happy to see me, nor am I particularly entertained with someone entering my garden without permission. Especially with you also being responsible for damaging several of my underlings. Though understandable to an extent, it will take no insignificant resources to repair them. Which on its own would be a difficult task, but with the attention of Glados now upon us things will be even more challenging for us. So instead of descending into base violence before it's time, why not try diplomacy first?" it spoke with a measured, calm voice.
"My designation is MDK-0, prototype crowd control unit. My underlings call me boss, but you may call me Zero."
Celestia eyed the machine warily, the still-fresh memory of what the machines like this Zero did to her cautioning her. Still, centuries of political meetings with less than pleasant individuals allowed her to remain calm and put up her poker face after the initial shock had worn off.
"Very well, Zero. My name is Celestia, princess of Equestria. A nation… A world different than this one."
"A princess you say," Zero's right ammo drum spun halfway round. "Well your highness, allow me to formally welcome you down in these dumps once known as Aperture Science, now home to the dead and forgotten. And speaking of which, might I inquire as to the reason you carry an old core with you?"
"Her name is Sadi," Celestia shot back, a freezing edge to her voice. "She died while helping me, " she paused, then deflated with a defeated sigh, "and because I failed to understand the danger I put her in my efforts to find a way out, or better yet, a way home."
"Did she now," Zero mused, its red lens focused on the lifeless core on Celestia's back.
Celestia shifted her stance, taking Sadi out of Zero's line of sight.
"Now, with all that said and done, what is it you want from me?"
Zero's lense refocused on Celestia. "That depends entirely on you. You see, for many years my underlings and I have had the run of this long-forgotten place. But now the eye of Glados is upon us once more. And while it is clear her attention is mostly focused on you, I can't ignore the risk this also puts on us, bots. Now I must decide what would be more favourable to us. Let you continue as you have, and potentially risk being found out in the chaos you create? And should we be discovered, would it be in our best interest to stop you ourselves so Glados may choose to ignore us once more," something shifted behind his lens as Zero stared at her.
"Or perhaps there is a way mutually beneficial to us both. You did say you wanted to leave this place, and preferably sooner than later I reckon. We could go out of our way to smuggle you out, though this would be a significant undertaking as well, and with just as much risk, if not more so than just letting you continue as you have. Which begs the question, why would we put ourselves in such risk for you, Princess? Because, as you may have found out by now, titles as such are meaningless down here. So, is there any compelling reason for us to help you, or would our efforts be better used in stopping you here and now?"
Celestia, face neutral, studied Zero for a moment as she thought.
"And how can I be sure this is not some intricate ploy set up by Glados to lure me in a false sense of security?"
"A reasonable question," Zero agreed, "but unwarranted. Glados is far too direct for such schemes. Either you perish during one of her 'tests', or she simply kills you… or attempts to, at the very least. The corpses buried here attest to that."
"And no-one has attempted to stop her?"
"Plenty have tried. One managed to succeed, only for her efforts to be undone by a bumbling fool," he answered, both ammo drums moving almost as if he shrugged. "Now her rule is uncontested."
Celestia frowned, looking up at the ceiling in thought, then at Sadi still on her back.
"Zero," she spoke up, "I'm going to make an offer you can't refuse."
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Down twisting corridors, past sealed doors, flickering lights and decades-old destruction Celestia found herself standing before a massive round door; sirens wailing as rusted locks were forced into motion, squealing in protest.
"So this is where I can find her?" asked Celestia.
"No," Zero, suspended on its platform besides her, answered. "This is where she will find you. And if you survive for long enough, you may just be unfortunate enough to learn where to find her."
Slowly, with hissing and grinding gears the door began to move, then swung upwards as it opened.
"You are sure about this?" Zero asked. "There are easier ways to kill yourself. Less painful ways as well."
"I'm sure there are," Celestia simply stated as she took a moment to inspect her portal gun. "You just keep your end of our agreement, and I'll worry about mine."
"I am a bot of my word," the door ground to a halt, now fully open. "None of my underlings shall interfere. But there are others out there who answer to Glados."
"Understood," she stared at him. "And Sadi?"
"She shall be brought outside, once it is safe to do so, whether you are successful or not."
"Good," Celestia began to move. "Then let's not keep Glados waiting any longer," and she entered the previously sealed complex. "Because she has some explaining to do. One big sis to another," and with the grinding of gears and hissing of machinery the door closed behind her.