//------------------------------//
// Cluck 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

"What now?" asked Twilight. The light was dimmer there, the last source of it a bit behind them. The tunnel ended in a wall. The whole thing had an almost metallic, or at least artificial appearance throughout. It wasn't made out of rock or dirt, and it was perfectly squared. The way the lights shone from inside the walls themselves, their texture, and the off-white colour all reminded Twilight of some sort of animal. Maybe a bug of some strange kind, like the tunnel was made out of chitin. But of course that made no sense. The entrance had been different, that staircase was definitely carved out of stone. The tree had closed behind them.
"I am working on it." The stallion was looking at the wall in front of them. "I think I've almost figured it out."
"Do you need help?" Pinkie was far more cheerful about the whole situation than Twilight, whose patience was beginning to wear thin knowing there were still lives on the line.
"No, I think I got it." The stallion put a hoof on a spot on the wall, then traced some lines around with it. There was a clicking sound. The entire wall at the end of the tunnel slid down, revealing another staircase illuminated by a different set of lights.
Twilight walked forward behind the other two. The stairs were larger than the ones they'd used to enter the tunnel, more blocky, the steps themselves were bigger too. As she stepped on them she noticed they were made out of crystal, purplish in colour. The wall closed again behind them. At the end of the staircase was another wall, crystal too. The light there seemed to come from somewhere far above them, too far from them to see, as upon looking upwards Twilight saw only the walls around them stretching into the darkness.
They reached the top wall. The stallion gave it a single tap and it opened by sliding to the side, and the light from outside was almost blinding. It was a mostly clear white space, or so it looked as Twilight stepped out into it and her eyes adjusted to the sudden shift. She heard the gasps before she could see properly again. As the wall slid closed behind her, she looked around the main laboratory at the ponies staring at her in surprise.
"So where's this cube thing?" the stallion asked, uncaring of everything around himself. He spotted it on a table, being examined by a couple of ponies in labcoats, and trotted towards it. Twilight gave a weak, barely noticeable nod to them to let him take hold of it. He stared at it intently as everyone stared at him. "Oh." He sounded sad.
Twilight snapped out of her stupor and walked up to him. "What is it?"
"That's disappointing," he said, frowning. "It's not complicated at all. Just gotta push this peg inside it in its hole over here." He tilted the cube slightly. It clicked.