//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 - Puzzle 1: Cave In // Story: Portals. Portals Everywhere! // by Piece Bot //------------------------------// “I’m going to need a bigger flashlight.” Joseph said, scratching his head as he moved the light around the darkened interior. The light flashed a few times as it landed on a few computer monitors but other than that, there were dull surfaces all over the place. Waving it around, the light fell on desks, paper, and strewn office supplies. “How did- Huh? What’s that?” Joseph wondered, seeing his light glint against something. Since he returned Luna and her two guests to Equestria, Joseph had been waiting for the princess to bring her wrath down upon him but so far, nothing. And that had been a full week ago. It took that long just to have the courage to tell Twilight and the others about his triumph in re-wiring the lobby of Aperture and for them to go with him. Except for Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who understandably had other duties to attend to. Applejack was able to get some time off and leave her applebucking for a bit. Rainbow was always up for an adventure so of course she said yes, even if it was a bit reluctant considering what Joseph did. Twilight was even more reluctant and even flat out said no. Her scientific and curious mind won out in the end though so she ran after the three of them, catching up to them in the Aperture lobby as they just walked into the elevator. Walking over to the glint, he found that it was a bullet. “It looks like a bullet from one of those turret things.” Twilight spoke up from behind him. He jumped and dropped the bullet, making it roll away. He turned around and stared only for Twilight to blink at him. “What?” “Nothing. Let’s just find a way to get down further.” Joseph sighed and walked towards the back of the room. Twilight nodded and turned to Applejack and Rainbow, who was already scanning the ceiling for … something. She lit up her horn so that they could all see better but it only had a very small radius. “What are you looking for Rainbow?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow. Rainbow stopped her searching and looked down. “Nothing in particular. Thought there would have been a button or switch here.” Rainbow replied. Applejack, meanwhile, had been searching around the different desks, her hoof feeling for her as she blindly searched. Feeling her hoof brush against something hard, she pushed it in and heard a hum as the lights came on. “That was simple.” She said and looked around. She saw Joseph give her a thumbs up as well as Twilight and Rainbow giving a whoop. “Good going AJ. Now all we have to do is-” Joseph was cut short as he stepped on some sort of pressure plate. Looking down, the floor suddenly opened up and a gaping black hole appeared below him. He looked back up and a stupid grin was on his face. “I think I found a way doooooooooooooooown ….” His words trailed off as he fell. Running to the hole, the three ponies looked over the edge. Twilight concentrated and made her light stronger, making a spotlight that marked where Joseph was. Hearing a thud, Twilight shone the light on his location and found him groaning. Joseph put a thumbs up and shouted “I’m … okay!” Even though it was slightly muffled. He put his hand back down and groaned putting his hand on his head to peel his face off the floor. Thanks to Twilight’s light, he found his portal gun near an edge. Slowly getting up, he walked towards it and picked it up. “Careful with that first step. It’s a doozy. You okay Crikey?” “Of course I am. I’m a potato. I don’t feel pain in the slightest but hearing your thud made me cringe mate.” Crikey replied. Hearing a poof, he turned and found Twilight had teleported herself and her friends down there. She shut off the light spell to find that some sort of motion-activated lights had turned on. It looked like Rainbow was going to say something but she was interrupted by some sort of tinny announcement. “Welcome, stallions, to Aperture Science. Nobles, farmers, Wonderbolts--you’re here because we want the best, and you are it. So: who’s ready to make some science?” “Oh no.” Joseph groaned. He then heard the announcer laugh. “You’ve already met one another on the limo ride over, so let me introduce myself.” “Who does this guy think he is?” Rainbow asked loudly, hoping whichever pony was speaking would at least show himself. “I’m Cave Johnson. I own the place.” Cave added. “Oh. Well then.” Rainbow replied. Joseph sighed and walked up to the trio, gesturing for the three of them to look around. “Look around you.” The three of them did. What they saw were white-washed walls with equal squares embedded into them. The walls surround them on all sides and seemed to rise up quite far before meeting the floor above. One one wall was a semicircle door with the image of the front half of a pony. The same door was on the other side except it was the back half of the pony adorning it. Vines seemed to have penetrated the top half of the walls with clumps of dirt here and there on the floor. On one the half of the room they were facing, the floor ended abruptly. Peeking over the edge, the group saw some disgusting brown goo which had a repugnant odour coming off of it. Backing away to get the smell away from them, they saw a post sticking up out of the goo, with a couple of the same white squares resting on top. The squares were tilted slightly, and looking up, they found a tube with a closed hole. Seeing a line of blue squares, they followed it with their eyes and found they connected to a button. Rainbow flew over to it and she pressed it. Hearing a loud beep, the group saw the hole open up and a cube drop, bouncing off of the tilted squares and landing in the goo where they heard a loud splash, accompanied by an equally loud disintegrating sound, sort of like the sound that Joseph’s portals made when he fizzled them out. Applejack walked over to a button that was near them and her eyes followed the line of blue squares. Seeing they ended at another closed up hole, she pressed and another cube dropped, except this one stayed in place and didn’t fizzle like the first one. Looking down, Twilight found a round, red pressure plate. Being extremely cautious, she placed a hoof on the plate and pushed down, hearing something slide out behind her. Taking it off and looking around, she caught the stairs slide back into hiding just in time. “What is this place?” Twilight wondered curiously. “This place is just one of possibly infinite puzzle rooms. And this is just one of the simple ones.” Joseph said proudly. “If you all follow my orders, then we will all be able to get out of this room. Mainly because if we all do one thing each, only one of us will be able to get out. Deal?” Joseph asked. Applejack nodded and walked up to him. “Considering ah have no other choice, it has to be.” Applejack said slowly, nodding again but mostly to reassure herself that this won’t end in disaster. “We won’t need your portal gun to solve this. We could always use magic.” Twilight argued and to demonstrate her point, tried to use her horn. Seeing that she can’t charge it up, her mouth dropped. “What? My horn! Why won’t my horn work!?” Twilight panicked, feeling her horn to see if there was any charge. “There’s a thousand tests performed every day here at Aperture. I can’t personally oversee every one of them, so these pre-recorded messages will cover any questions you might have, and to respond to any incidents that may occur in the course of your science adventure. That being said; magic is prohibited in the test chambers.” Cave’s voice spoke out again only for Twilight to huff and puff. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist, sheila. Seems like these tests were meant for the portal gun in mind.” Joseph said with a cocky grin. “So we can’t use magic. Not everything has to be solved with magic, Twilight. As much as you would like to think otherwise.” Rainbow told Twilight as she landed next to her. “Yeah, well. Friendship and teamwork can be used as well. We’ll follow your orders for this … ‘test chamber’” Twilight relented, agreeing silently with her prismatic friend. Nodding and smiling at their consent, he remembered how this exact test went from playing the games ever since they released. Joseph then went on ahead and started to give orders. Seeing that Applejack had already added a cube in, Joseph fired a portal underneath it and another one on the wall, seeing it fall through and landing with a heavy thud. Rainbow immediately tried to pick it up but found it too heavy to lift. Applejack tried to buck it across the floor but found her back hooves throbbing in pain as she gave it a solid back kick. “Them cubes are heavy. How are we supposed ta move it?” Applejack asked. Joseph smiled and picked the cube up with his portal gun. Lifting it up, he moved over to the button and placed the cube gently onto it. The stairs slid out with a whirr and everypony there except Joseph raced up them, eager to get to the exit. “There’s another button here!” Rainow called out. “That’s simple! Twilight! Press the button closest to the stairs!” Joseph ordered. Twilight did as instructed and found part of the floor rose up to create a temporary wall. “What!? Why does the floor move! Why does ANY OF THIS EXIST!?” Twilight shouted in a panic, backing away from the button. “Look out!” Joseph shouted as Twilight was so panicked, she backed towards the gap and fell, completely misplacing her back hooves. Rainbow reacted quickly and dashed to Twilight’s safety, catching her, only to find part of her tail be submerged in the goo. Quickly flapping her wings to hover, she flapped back up slowly and saw part of Twilight’s tail disintegrate, leaving it extremely uneven. Seeing this happen, Twilight’s mind overloaded and she blacked out. Joseph raced up the stairs and quickly finished the puzzle by firing a couple of portals underneath the cube and on the wall opposite it. He pressed the left button and the cube fell. Timing it, he pressed the right button and the floor rose up, stopping the cube. It fell to the floor and he rushed forward to pick it up. Finally placing it on the button, Joseph looked at the group as the exit opened. “Puzzle’s finished. How’s Twilight holding up?” Joseph asked in concern. Rainbow and Applejack looked at Twilight and found her moving restlessly. “I’ll carry her back and take her home. I’m the only flier able to do it. If you want, you can continue on but Twilight needs to get back home first.” Rainbow said and gently picked Twilight up. She then proceeded to fly out of the hole in roof and out of sight. “What do you think Applejack? Move forward or head back home?” Joseph asked, wanting to give Applejack a choice. “It’s completely up to you.” “Ah’d rather head home and back to mah farm. Ah’ll check on Twilight after Ah finish up a few things there.” Applejack said. Shrugging, Joseph walked over to the hole and taking careful aim, fired a portal out of the hole and onto the ceiling of the room above. Firing the other one onto the wall, he stepped back. “You continue on. I want to see what’s on the other side of the door then I’ll head back out.” Joseph said. Applejack nodded, and taking careful consideration, leaped through portal and onto the edge of the hole. Waving at him to let him know she made it safely, Joseph breathed out and fizzled the portals out. “What’s behind door number 1?” “No idea. Hope it’s pancakes.” Crikey replied.