Chapter 19: The Way Up
The ponies walked down the dark tunnel for some time into the heart of the mountain. The path continued for thousands of feet without anything of interest. Had it not been for Rarity’s and Luna’s horns glowing, it would have been impossible to see anything at all.
“How long is this gonna take?” Rainbow Dash asked bitterly. “Do we even know if this leads to the right place?”
“It does,” Luna replied. “As I said before, I can feel GLaDOS’s presence, as well as my sister’s.”
“Well, that doesn’t help us much, does it?” Dash protested. “Is this tunnel somehow going to lead us right where we need to be?”
“Rainbow Dash! Calm down!” Chell retaliated. “You volunteered to come. Remember?”
Rainbow Dash huffed and lowered her head. “Sorry,” she muttered.
The ponies continued walking for some time before the wall on the left branched off. Upon Rarity and Luna shining their horns, they saw that they came across a branch in the tunnel. The main path continued straight, but another vered to the left.
“Well, now what?” Applejack asked. “Princess, would you happen to know which way we’re supposed to go?”
Luna looked down one of the tunnels, and then the other.
“Indeed, I can sense the path,” she responded, “but please be patient. This type of magic requires a high degree of focus.” Princess Luna closed her eyes and meditated. After some time had passed, she could feel the magical flow of energy through the mountain.
“Somewhere up ahead, there is a colossal vertical space. It sprawls the entire height of the mountain from the base to the peak, where GLaDOS resides. The path ahead is filled with twists and turns, but I’ll lead the way.“
Princess Luna chose the straight path, and the others followed closely behind. A short time after the split, the tunnel curved to the right as they moved forward. Not too far ahead, the tunnel split into three alternate directions. Luna chose the path on the left this time.
Every couple hundred feet, there would be another split. They became more numerous the further they went, and then it was only a matter of time before the ponies realized that they were in a maze. It was by this point that none of them could remember the way back, not that it mattered.
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re here with us, Princess,” said Rarity. “We’d certainly be lost otherwise.”
“The central chamber is not too much further ahead,” Luna explained. “But I do not know how we will be able to ascend—”
Princess Luna as well as the rest of the team were startled by a pair of fluorescent lights on either side of the hallway flickered on, startling the party. Each light triggered another pair in series, each flickering on down the squarely cut corridor ahead, leading to a large cavern.
The ponies walked out into the space ahead, revealing a towering, round central chamber that wound tens of thousands of feet up through the center of the mountain. Their jaws dropped at the sight of what the Diamond Dogs had managed to carve in just a few short months. It was dimly lit, but there were enough lights to illuminate most of the cavern effectively. Spanning the height of the complex was a mechanical system of pulley lifts that connected the ground to the top in several intervals that each spanned a few thousand feet. At the tops of each lift were catwalks or light bridges that led from one elevator to the next. Some of them connected gaps across the chamber.
But accessing the lifts would not be so easy. The base of the lower elevator stood across on the other side of the chamber, separated by an uneven terrain on the ground. Standing guard of the entrance was a contingent of five or six diamond dog soldiers, standing perfectly still on guard.
“Get down,” Chell whispered. There was a rock formation ahead of them that they hid behind.
Chell took this moment to take in her surroundings. She peered up at the ceiling high, high above, although it was too far away to see too well. Several arrays of red lines of light crossed the shaft. Laser grids. Well, flying up there was out of the question, but what about portalling? She fired a portal upwards, but it traveled not even a quarter way up before it dissipated in a small splash, revealing a blue particle field that was too dimly lit to see before. An emancipation grill.
Come to think of it, the space strongly resembled a test chamber. Of course, the walls were made of stone instead of the pure whites and blacks of Aperture Science, and the lighting was much darker, but something about it seemed reminiscent of what GLaDOS would have designed. It looked like… a test. Just like the good old days. Seriously, GLaDOS? Chell thought. How the heck are we supposed to get up there?
The only thing that Chell could think of would be to use the machinery to scale the mountain. But she had to be careful to avoid alerting the guards and informing GLaDOS of their presence. Having Rainbow Dash or Luna fly up there would catch their attention for sure. But perhaps she could find another way.
“There’s a bunch of guards patrolling by the base of that elevator,” she told them. We could probably take them, but I’ll bet that they’ll alert others. We’d best avoid them if we can.”
She peered out ahead, looking upwards at the system of elevators. At the top of the lowest elevator, there was a catwalk that spanned across the chamber. Just behind the top of this elevator, she saw a spot on the wall that was flat enough for a portal to be placed. Perfect.
Chell aimed carefully and fired an orange portal at that spot on the wall high above. Then she found a smooth vertical surface across from the rock they were hiding behind and placed a blue portal there. Chell looked through the portal, seeing a catwalk below she could land on, but it was too far away to jump to. She could see herself and the others a few thousand feet down at the bottom.
“You need help?” Rainbow Dash offered. Using her wings, she hovered above Chell and used all four of her legs to pick her up. She carried Chell through the portal down to the catwalk. It reminded Chell of when Ditzy carried her through Aperture Science way back when.
“Thanks,” Chell said. But when she looked back towards Dash, she was gone.
“Hide,” she heard Dash whisper from beneath her. She looked through the mesh floor to see Dash hovering below the catwalk. Chell looked forward to see a pair of Diamond Dog guards patrolling the area, walking toward her location. Unfortunately, the floor of the catwalk was mesh, so she would not be able to place a portal on it. They were approaching, and there was nowhere for her to go.
Gee, thanks, Dash, she thought sarcastically.
But then, something grabbed her and pulled her off the edge. But whatever did that was holding onto her. Chell looked up to see Rainbow Dash, who flew back underneath while holding onto Chell. Although she was wearing the long fall boots, Chell felt uncomfortable being held up with such a high drop beneath her.
They waited for the guards to pass by, after which Rainbow flew back up and put Chell down again, collapsing from the strain of carrying her for so long.
“Thanks again,” Chell said genuinely after the guards had passed. “I was afraid you were gonna leave me there.”
“Hey, sorry…” Dash panted, “Sorry I left you hanging.” She fell on her back and sighed. “I — I got scared. So what are we gonna do about those guards? And… how are we gonna get the others up here?”
Chell turned her head back to the orange portal high on the wall behind them. Fortunately, Luna had already flown through, carrying both Rarity and Applejack, her limbs wrapped around both of them together.
“Well, this is rather degrading,” Rarity sighed. The blue alicorn placed them both down, and then landed herself.
“We saw two guards come by,” Chell said to the ponies. “We need to get them out of the way.”
“Well, how exactly are we going to do that?” Rarity asked. “It wouldn’t be right to push them off the edge to their deaths, even if they are vile ruffians.”
“So, we’ll just knock ‘em out,” said Applejack, hitting her hooves together.
“If you can keep them still, then I can perform a spell that will put them into a sleep,” Luna added.
Chell scratched her chin, then she thought of something. “I have an idea. Just follow me, and stay low.” Chell moved to where she saw the guards go. There was a ninety degree right turn in the walkway. They were semi-obscured by the handrail and the low light, so they hid behind it. Chell poked her head through, looking at the guards coming back around.
“Applejack, get in a position to buck them when they come by. Dash, fly underneath again so you can give the word,” Chell commanded.
Rainbow Dash made a salute and obeyed. Applejack turned around, crouched, and prepared her hind legs.
When the pair of guards made their round back, Rainbow waited them to be right above her. Just the right moment…
“Now!” Dash shouted. Applejack delivered a powerful kick to one of the diamond dogs, who fell back into the other, knocking him down. While they were stunned, Princess Luna’s horn shimmered, casting a midnight blue haze of sleep over the pair of guards. The pair soon fell into a deep slumber and collapsed onto the catwalk.
“We must keep moving,” she hurried.
The ponies looked up to where the second elevator led to. It crossed through a laser grid that was located just below the top of the elevator. This would stop the winged ponies, but it was no problem for Chell.
Just as before, she made a portal just above the top of the second elevator. The challenge now was to find a surface nearby that she could make a portal on. Even a simple piece of metal would do as long as it was large enough. She thought perhaps there would be something on one of the elevators, but they weren’t even fully enclosed. She searched the entire walkway, but found nothing. The one thing she wanted to avoid was to want to drop back down to the bottom. There had to be another way.
She looked up; there were some light bridges that she could use, if only they weren’t blocked by an emancipation grill a good distance above the laser grid, as well as the top of the second elevator. She realized that she’d have to use the cavern wall again. There were support beams that kept the walkway connected to the wall. The beams were thin, but Chell could walk across one. So, she found a beam and carefully crawled along it. When she got to the end, she and made a portal on the wall where the beam terminated. Peering through the portal, she could see the top of the second elevator right below her.
She jumped down about twenty feet to the top of the elevator.
Thwang! the metal of the roof reverberated as she hit it.
Yes! A solid piece of metal! Perfect for portalling. So, she replaced the portal from high on the wall to the roof below her. “Careful when coming through,” she called into the portal. “Gravity changes direction.”
As the ponies slowly made their way across the beam and through the portal, Chell helped to pull them out. When the last of her friends made it through, she looked up, then down. The distance to the top was a bit more than the distance down, though they were roughly equal. Almost halfway there.
The next one would be tricky. She could see a light bridge up ahead that she could use, but not too far above them was an emancipation grill that would block any placement of portals. For some reason, there were many more emancipation grills above that one stacked in a closely-layered array that went on for about a couple hundred feet. Chell would have been able to use portal momentum to climb the distance, but the deadly grid of lasers below made that impossible to jump down from here.
“Well, looks like I’m gonna have to fly to the next part,” Rainbow Dash touted. I’ll let you know if I can find another way to get you guys up.” She spread her wings and took off.
“Hold on, now let’s stick together!” Applejack yelled. “We don’t all have wings, ya know!”
Rainbow Dash flew higher and higher towards the glowing blue barrier, but when she made contact with it, her wings felt as if they could no longer provide flight. She fell briefly before catching herself.
“Hey, what gives?”
She descended for a bit, then dashed upwards, building up enough speed to break through the barrier, but the other emancipation gills directly above stopped her from being able to fly through them. For as long as she made contact with one of those fields, she couldn’t fly. When gravity finally took hold of her momentum, she fell back down. Desperately, she wanted to be able to fly again, but her wings were useless so long as she made contact with one of those emancipation grills.
She wasn’t able to save herself from falling until she passed the lowest barrier again. Well, that sucked! Shamefully, she flew back down to regroup with the others. She stomped on the floor in frustration. “Hey! How come I couldn’t fly though that stupid thing?”
Luna pondered for a moment. Then she cast a simple glowing spell that shot up towards the particle field. Just as if it were a shot from a portal gun, it dissipated upon contact.
“Just as I figured,” she said quietly, “it appears as if that barrier has the ability to negate the use of magic.”
“So? I’m a pegasus, not a unicorn.”
“Rainbow,” Rarity said, “hasn’t anypony ever taught you that pegasi use a form magic to fly?”
“Oh, yeah…” Rainbow Dash blushed. “I think Twilight once gave me a lecture about that, but I wasn’t exactly paying attention. I still don’t get why I couldn't fly through that. I mean, it’s not like I was casting a spell or something. It’s just everyday flying.”
“It’s a bit difficult to explain,” Luna admitted, “but I believe the barrier has some effect on the air surrounding it, possibly negating the inherent magic of the air itself that allows for pegasi to fly in the first place.”
“All I’m hearing is ‘blah bah bah, lazy explanation that makes no sense, blah blah blah, can’t fly,’” Dash groaned.
“I’m sorry, but the simple answer is that it won’t let you pass,” Luna said, “no matter how much you want it to.”
“Well,” Chell thought out loud, “if I could jump down to ground, I should have enough momentum to get past those barriers.”
“But what are we going to do about those lasers?” Rarity mentioned.
“Come to think of it, what the heck is powerin’ all this stuff?” Applejack asked.
“That’s actually a very good question…” Chell pondered aloud, but she couldn’t figure how it would help at the moment. “Well, there must be a way to disable it for whenever the elevator passes through it.”
This gave Princess Luna an idea. “Hold on a moment.” The princess flew down to the platform below and looked at the elevator. The car was at the top of the shaft, held up by a steel cable. It was a simple mechanism, resembling a crudely-built metalic frame. But most importantly, a horizontal, waist-high aluminum handrail lined the perimeter.
“Yes, this will do.” The princess summoned a freezing spell on the cable. Ice formed around it, bringing its temperature down to well below the lowest temperatures in winter. Then she used her magic to manipulate the the cable. It didn’t take much before it broke free. But Luna caught the elevator with her magic before it had time to fall and lowered it gently. When it reached the height of the laser field, there was suddenly a long, but narrow gap in the field of lasers, blocked by the slim, waist-high aluminum bar bisecting the transport. Finally, after some painstaking adjustments, it was firmly held in place, clearing a way through the deadly laser. Luna gritted her teeth as beads of sweat streamed down her forehead.
“I’m okay, but I cannot hold this for an extended period of time,” Luna said with evidence of strain in her voice. “We best hurry.”
Chell looked at the existing portal on the top of the elevator that they were standing on. Then she looked down to the narrow gap in the laser grid.
“Okay, so here’s the plan,” Chell explained, “we fall to a portal I place on the ground and come out through the top of this elevator. That should give us enough momentum to clear through the emancipation grills to the other side.”
“Us?” Rarity asked in denial. “You don’t expect me to jump down a thousand foot drop with you, do you?”
“Rar’, you don’t see any other way up there, do you?” Applejack said to the white unicorn. “You knew what you were gettin’ into when you came along. We don’t have time for you to hesitate.”
Rarity sighed, accompanied by a slight squee of fear. “Oh, very well, but Chell, we’re placing our lives in your hooves. I trust that you’ll get us there safely.” She then noticed Luna struggling to keep the heavy elevator up. “Luna, aren’t you coming with us?”
“I will, but first, I need to hold the elevator in place with a spell I know. It will keep it be frozen in time for a period of five seconds before it falls again. I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything better.”
“Five seconds is fine,” Chell responded. “Grab onto my tail. Luna, you start the time spell when we jump. We’ll all go on the count of three. Everypony ready?”
Everypony nodded hesitantly, but complied, knowing that there really was no other choice. Rainbow Dash bit down onto Chell’s tail, followed by Applejack, Rarity, and lastly, Luna, all in a single-file line.
Chell took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Three… two… one… NOW!”
Luna’s glowing horn burst a deep violet aura, which exploded and encased the hovering elevator in a spell which held it in time. Above the elevator was a clock that showed five seconds ticking. Then she could finally let go.
Chell galloped off the edge, with the ponies behind her pulled one by one like a chain into the long fall, despite any hesitation or second thoughts that crossed through their minds.
Four seconds.
The ponies fell down through the interior of the mountain. Rarity’s eyes were shut tightly. She refused to open them if her life depended on it, which fortunately, it did not. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, was enjoying the sheer exhilaration of it. Applejack did not show her fear like Rarity, but it was a terrifying experience for her, nonetheless.
Three seconds.
The ponies continued falling through the thousands of feet of the impossibly tall chamber.
Two seconds.
The ponies were approaching the grid of lasers.
One second.
Even closer.
Time’s up.
The spell was broken. The up elevator hurtled down toward the ground along with the ponies as the laser field came back on with a vengeance. However, the ponies all made it past the grid safely, before it came back on.
The ground was approaching fast.
Chell readied her portal gun towards the ground in front of her. If she did not fire, the ground would not show mercy. But she knew that she would have the best chance of going through if she made it at the last moment.
The ground came up quickly, ready to strike the ponies without mercy.
A moment before impact, Chell fired her portal gun directly in front of her and fell though it, with the other ponies following suit in a single file. The elevator crashed into the ground a second after, but the ponies were thousands of feet above by that point, hurtling up above where they fell from and through the hundreds of feet of emancipation grills. They had managed to break through the last one, ascending a few hundred feet more, but they were shy of making it to the next platform by the time their jump peaked, for wind resistance had limited how high they could get.
But Chell finally had a clear line of sight to the light bridge that she couldn't get to earlier. While in the peak of their jump, she placed a portal where the light bridge hit the wall, then on a wall below, causing the path of solid light to appear under them.
Chell was the only pony to land on the light bridge. Rainbow Dash used her wings to hover down onto the path, while Luna used her magic to levitate Applejack and Rarity down onto the bridge.
“Applejack, Rarity, you two go ahead of us,” Chell commanded.
Both ponies nodded and began to slowly move ahead. No words were spoken as the party walked toward the portal on the wall on a beam of light walkway.
Finally, everypony crossed through the portal and trudged another few feet ahead to the next elevator stop. They all stepped off the bridge and onto the platform, each breathing in relief as they felt the cold metal surface beneath their hooves.
Chell and her friends pointed their heads sky high looking further up the shaft, which was blocked by a combination of both an emancipation grill and a grid of deadly red lasers. How in Equestria were they supposed to get past that? Unless one of them was deactivated, it would be impossible. But tests were never impossible. There had to be something.
Then Chell looked to a platform on the opposite end and saw a simple switch that was connected via wire to both the emancipation grid and laser grid. And then she felt like an idiot.
Seriously? Chell thought, A little too obvious, huh? She just shrugged and fired a portal on a wall the made the light bridge reach the button. She walked across the beam of light toward the button and pressed it. Almost immediately, the both barriers disappeared. Chell returned to the other platform and tossed Rainbow Dash her portal gun.
“Could you fly up the shaft and find a platform for us to stand on?” Chell asked.
Rainbow Dash nodded and made it so. After a few seconds. The ponies heard the sound of a portal gun. Almost instantaneously, Rainbow stuck her head through the hole.
“C’mon!” Rainbow Dash called.
With that, the rest of the group carefully stepped through the portal onto a stone ledge at the very top of the impossibly tall shaft. They were finally there. The ponies took a moment to rest, as Rainbow Dash hoofed her borrowed portal gun back to Chell. The ceiling was just a mere twenty feet above them. Just a few steps away was a long, long drop to the bottom. A dirty, battery powered light that illuminated a small portion of the platform.
“Hey Chell,” Rarity called out. “I think you’ll want to see this.!”
Chell’s eyes shot open and she moved to where Rarity was. Aided by Rarity’s hoofpointing, her eyes set upon another source of light at the far wall away from the ledge. The ponies saw that a tunnel mouthed along the stone facing. Blocking it was a grid of heavy metallic bars, flanked on each side by a deadly laser. Behind the bar/laser combination, was an emancipation grill that stretched from wall to wall. This setup of the opening resembled a castle gate.
“How in tarnation are we s’posed to get in there?” Applejack asked.
“I’m not sure,” Chell responded. “Princess, do you have any ideas?”
Princess Luna closed her eyes. After a moment of ponderance, she sighed.
“I know that this is the way we must go. I can feel GLaDOS not too far from here,” Luna said, “Unfortunately, I can’t figure a way in…”
“No! We are DOOMED!” Rarity cried, being a bit too overdramatic.
“However!” Luna continued, “There might be an additional option.”
Luna, with her eyes still closed, pointed her hoof to a third ledge to their left.
“Across this ledge, there is a way to a chamber that powers this whole facility. If we can cut off the power, we hopefully pass by this door.”
Luna finally opened her eyes. Chell looked in the blackness to her left.
“Are you sure there’s a platform over there?” Chell asked.
Luna nodded. “Don’t you see the bridge leading from the platform to the blocked off door?”
Chell squinted into the blackness. “I can’t see anything over there.”
“I assure you it’s there Chell. It’s probably used by the Diamond Dogs for direct access to GLaDOS,” Luna replied.
Chell sighed. “I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, Luna. However, did you see if there’s any other way in?”
Luna shook her head. “None whatsoever.”
Chell huffed and looked down at her portal gun and sighed. She remembered that it was a very good thing to have a portal gun at this moment. Chell fired a portal on the other side.
“C’mon,” Chell called, “everypony on their hooves and get through the portal!”
Everypony went through the portal, as Luna and Rarity illuminated their horns, and they all stood in front of a smaller steel door.
“Everypony ready?” Chell quietly asked. “We gotta keep going.”
All nodded in response. With that, Chell pushed the doors open, and inside everypony went. As they traversed the dark stone hallway, Rarity, who was tailing in the rear, tripped and fell flat on her face.
“Ooff!”
“Are you okay?” Chell asked in concern.
“I’m fine,” Rarity quietly reassured while rubbing her cranium, “I tripped over this… lemon?” she said, holding up the yellow fruit.
“Seriously?” Applejack responded dryly. Luna’s light shined upon several other lemons lying around on the floor. “What they hay is she don’ with lemons all the way up here?”
Chell had a pretty good idea. She dipped her head down to a lemon on the floor and took two whiffs, which were enough to let her her know the purpose of those lemons.
“Just try to stay away from those,” Chell warned.
They continued down the tracks through the corridor as it winded in a great arc to the right. At the very end of which was a brightly lit room. Slowly, they made their way through and into the room beyond. Finally, they would see what has been powering the facility this entire time.
This room was filled with rows upon rows of… giant hamster wheels. An army of about a hundred Diamond Dogs were running merrily on the wheels in a neverending pursuit of a small gem that was hung just outside the wheel in front of them, oblivious to the very obvious fact that they would never obtain it. And Chell thought the cake was a blatant lie.
But the power generators were not the only thing in the room. On one side of the room, there was a large pile of lemons as tall as two Diamond Dogs stacked high. Dozens and dozens of Diamond Dogs were busy going about various duties, all of which seemed to serve some purpose for their master. A good number of them looked like they were repairing some machinery. Others were attempting to conduct drills the same way soldiers in basic training would.
Lastly, a small selection of them were constructing projectile based weapons on the other side of the lemon pile, as others observing wore Aperture Science branded lab coats and held notepads. It almost made them look cute. The dogs in lab coats gave their thumbs up to a dog in the testing area who was holding the lemon launcher. He fired it at another test subject on the other side of the arena, who was set on fire upon impact. The flaming dog ran around screaming as an emergency shower activated over him and suppressed the fire before it had time to burn him. The dogs in lab coats merely recorded the results.
The ponies hid as out of sight and huddled in a circle.
“Now if we can get rid of these ruffians,” Rarity mentioned.
“Well, that would kill the power, right?” Rainbow Dash asked to confirm.
“Sure should. Then we’ll be able to get to GLaDOS,” Applejack added.
Chell closed her eyes in thought for a moment. Her eyes shot back open and looked at Rarity.
“Rarity, can you get me some gems?” Chell asked.
“I can try,” Rarity responded.
With that, her horn glowed, and so did a patch of ground beneath her hooves. Applejack dug up a group of gems and handed them to Chell, who presented the gems to Luna.
“Princess,” Chell began, “Do you know an invisibility spell
“Why? Where are you going with this?” Luna asked.
“Listen here, I have an idea,” Chell responded.
Not too long later, the Diamond Dogs were all going about their business, when suddenly, a cluster of floating gems wafted about at eye level in the chamber. All of the Diamond Dogs, minus the ones in the hamster wheels, to gaze at the spectacle in front of their very eyes.
A Diamond Dog in a lab coat slowly approached the twinkling mass. He smiled and licked his lips.
“Gemmmm…” he muttered instinctively.
He leaped forward to grab the floating gems. However, just as he was about to, the cluster moved away from him, causing him fall on the floor and kick up a cloud of dust. The dog caught his bearings and tried to grab the gem again, only for the same thing to happen. Others observed this spectacle, and they too, thought that they would be able to obtain the floating gems.
“Geemmmmsss…” the group of them moaned as they approached. Still the gems continued moving away.
Finally, in frustration, the leading Diamond Dog began to chase the gems, attracting the attentions of even the dogs in the hamster wheels. As they realized what they were seeing, they too proceeded to chase the cluster of gems out of the chamber. With no dogs to generate electricity, all of the lights in the facility quickly faded into darkness.
Guided only by the sparkling sheen of the gems, the Diamond Dogs chased the gems through the mine shaft and out the door leading to the upshaft. The gem left terra firma and began to hover mid air, over the floor, thousands of feet below.
The Diamond Dogs stopped themselves from going over the cliff and stared at the hovering gem. All of the ponies, sans Princess Luna, huddled behind the entrance. The only light came from the faint glow emitting from Rarity’s horn.
“Well, I guess they’re not that stupid,” Rainbow Dash sighed.
“Well, we still need to get them out of the way,” Rarity mentioned. “We can’t get past all of them from here, even if we can portal.”
“Wait! I got an idea!” Applejack exclaimed quietly.” Rarity, remember when those holligan mutts abducted you, and you were able to annoy the livin’ daylights outta them with that incessant whinin’ o’ yours?”
Rarity shook her head “Oh, no. I see where this is going. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint, but it shan't happen. Last time I tried that, ‘You Know Who’ threatened to remove my vocal chords. I’d rather keep my voice, thank you.” She huffed snidely and tilted her head back.
Chell glanced at the white pony awkwardly and shrugged.
“Sorry Chell, I didn’t mean to offend,” Rarity apologized quickly.
“C’mon Rar,” Applejack pleaded. “You can do it! GLaDOS ain’t gonna hear ya.”
Rarity violently shook her head. “Mm nmm. Not gonna happen.”
Chell huffed and frowned at Rarity’s refusal. “Rarity, please do this,” Chell pleaded. “We need your help. I’m asking you nicely. Do it for me, for all of us.”
“But I don’t want to have to whi-hinee!” Rarity pouted as she stomped on the ground. She quickly put her hooves over her mouth upon realizing what she had just done. She glanced up, realizing that several nearby Diamond Dogs were covering their ears.
Rarity turned back and saw Rainbow Dash staring at her. “You can do it Rarity.”
Rarity nodded and took her hooves away from her mouth. “Very well, if I must.” She cleared her throat.
“Oh, this cave is so dank and dirty, and my, what is that horrid smell? I would think that GLaDOS would at least have some standards for hygienic conditions. And I know it’s carved from a mountain, but she could have taken some care into at least making this place not look like a prison. I mean, a little paint would do this place wonders.”
“Noooooo…” one Diamond Dog complained, recalling the horrible sound he heard. In horror, the Diamond Dogs threw their paws around their ears, and some even howled in a futile attempt to drown out the noise.
Behind the entranceway, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were having trouble containing their laughter.
“Keep going,” Chell encouraged, “it’s starting to work!”
Rarity took a deep breath, “These lemons are too sour! Would it kill ya to put some sugar in it!? I’m EXHAUSTED from climbing up this tall, dirty mountain! The least I could have is a nice cold glass of lemonade that doesn’t taste like napalm!”
Just a few feet away, the Diamond Dogs were all squirming in discomfort. Quite a few of them started looking over the edge of the cliff.
“Just a little bit more Rarity!” Chell shrilly whispered. “They’re about to crack out there!”
Rarity exhaled in a huff and took a bigger deep breath. “Why’s it soo coold in here!? Why are the rocks so sharp!? I just had an expensive hooficure!! I’m tired, and I haven’t had a good beauty rest in weeks!!!! It’s still too cold in here! Ewww! What was that? And I think i just saw a bat! Ewww, that’s so nasty!!!!!!”
Unable to take anymore, and being too stupid to realize any other alternatives, the Diamond Dogs leapt off the cliff en masse and disappeared in the darkness below. Their howling faded away as they plunged deeper into the abyss.
About half a minute later, Princess Luna landed on the platform and returned to visibility. Chell and the rest of the ponies all piled out of the entranceway to meet Princess Luna. The Princess of the Night brushed the gems off her body as the rest of the ponies tried their hardest to stop laughing. Luna’s horn glowed now, just as Rarity’s did, adding an extra source of light.
“Wow, GLaDOS sure picked a bright group of followers, huh?” Rainbow Dash remarked.
“Gosh darn it, Chell,” Applejack admired, between fits of laughter, “I didn’t think that would work.”
Chell laughed, “I had my doubts, but I’m glad it did.”
“I hope you didn’t really kill them,” Rarity chimed in, finally recomposing herself.
“I conjured a magical safety net about halfway down,” Luna added, “not a single one of those nitwits died. Though, they won’t be able to effectively serve GLaDOS for quite some time.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Rarity,” Chell stated as she stopped laughing and recomposed herself. “Okay, now let’s be serious. Don’t forget what we’re about to face here.”
Those words felt like a blast of cold air, blowing away whatever happy feelings any of them had and sinking their hearts into despairing apprehension. Everypony cleared their throats and nodded in agreement.
They turned their heads and saw the massive steel bars ahead. True to prediction, the laser grids were no longer casting an ominous red glow. There was no doubt that this would lead to GLaDOS. Now seeing that there was indeed a bridge connecting the two platforms, the group, excepting Rainbow Dash and Princess Luna, traversed the simple stone bridge in a single file. Now a single word was spoken, not even when they approached the jail cell like barrier. Chell, on the point once again, cocked her head back to her friends.
“This is it,” Chell announced to her friends, “no going back now.”
Nopony moved or responded. Chell pulled out the iron bars blocking the way, aided by the magic of Rarity and Princess Luna. What laid before them was another long, dug out tunnel.
“Come on, she’s this way,” Luna called. The ponies followed her through a series of tunnels that winded upwards. It was only a matter of time before they would meet with… her.
Finally, they came up to the entrance to the room where… she was waiting for them. The entrance, again, was sealed by both a simple emancipation grill and a laser grid. There was nothing they could do but look inside. The entire chamber was brightly lit.
“Wait a minute!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “The power’s still on here! How?”
Chell’s heart sank. “I don’t know.”
“Ah, shoot! I’m so sick of these. How the heck are we supposed to get in there?” Applejack said, throwing her hat on the ground in frustration.
There was nothing that the ponies could do but look inside the chamber. What lay before them was a large, well-lit open cavern, far smaller than the one that led up the interior of the mountain, but still impressive on its own nonetheless.
The first thing that stood out to everypony was the massive contraption that stood in the center of the room that sprawled the entire height of the cavern about a hundred feet. They all wondered how in Equestria did GLaDOS manage to build this thing in what little time she had.
A haunting high-pitched screech that sounded like a power tool came from behind the machine, followed by screams of pain that could only come from a certain personality core.
“Ahhhhhhhh!” was the unmistakable scream of a certain personality core. The sound of that noise faded, along with the scream. “Look, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, okay?” Wheatley pleaded.
“Oh, you don’t even know what you’re sorry for, do you?” said a distinctive mechanical voice, the one true voice of GLaDOS.
“Of course! Of course!” Wheatley panicked. “All that stuff about the facility, you know, taking over your body and all… and the potato. Look, I’m really, really sorry about that, okay? Please, I’m very, very, veerrrry sorry. I let it all go over my head. You know what that’s like right? You would have done the same to me. I mean, you did crush me, afterall.”
“Stop. Talking. You. Idiot,” GLaDOS berated harshly.
“Uhhh, please, please stop looking at me like that. I’m sorry, okay? And it’s all right. You’re not a potato anymore! And I spent a good deal of time stuck in space next to Tweedle-Space and Tweedle-Dick, over way up on that desolate lonely giant rock in the sky, also known as the moon. Believe me, that was punishment enough.” He laughed uneasily. “Can’t you just let that go?”
“Oh, Wheatley, you moron,” GLaDOS spoke softly, “you are an even bigger idiot than I thought. I don’t care about any of that anymore.”
“You—you don’t?” Wheatley questioned naively.
“Noooo,” GLaDOS spoke calmly and drawn out, “what you did to warrant my hatred is far worse than any of that.”
“What?” Wheatley cried. “Then what’s all this about, then?”
“DUCT TAPE!” GLaDOS screamed in his face, using a voice that was a mix of her own, as well as Princess Celestia’s.
“AHH!” Wheatley jumped.
“How could you possibly think that duct tape would ever fix a malfunctioning portal device? Where the hell did you even get that stuff?”
“Huh? What? I’m lost, could you… could you please explain what’s going on? Duck… tape? Um, I think I remember some sort of tape, though I don’t recall any ducks.” Wheatley pondered for a bit.” Nope, I’m lost. You’re… you’re gonna have to fill me in on the details here.”
“NO! You don’t even deserve to know!” Wheatley was flung out from behind the machine to the left and landed on the floor. His exterior plating had been removed, exposing wires and circuitry, which had been partially torn out from their original locations.
What stepped forth was something that nopony expected: a mechanical, white alicorn adorned in heavy, metal armor, just as Chell had encountered before. Everything looked exactly the same: eyes, mane, tail, wings, cutie mark, shoulder turrets, but, something seemed different from what Chell had remembered. Then she realized that the robotic body was not as nearly as slender as it was before.
Another noticeable difference was a series of thick black conduits that stood out from the ones that comprised her mane that originated from her forehead. Four of them ran along the length her horn, each on a side. Another three cables traveled over her head and attached behind her neck.
The robotic alicorn walked forward towards the broken core and lifted a hoof above him, ready to stomp.
“Wait! Stop!” Chell’s voice echoed from across the cavern.
GLaDOS’s mechanical hoof almost came down upon Wheatley, before stopping just an inch above him. She turned her head toward the entrance, looking at Chell directly with her glowing, yellow eyes, narrowing them menacingly.
Wheatley, as well, turned his blue eye in Chell’s direction, which grew brighter upon seeing her. “Chell!” he exclaimed in pure joy. “You came!” Oh, how happy I—”
*CRUSH!*
GLaDOS’s heavy hoof came down hard on Wheatley, crushing him like lightbulb with a sickening crunch. The sphere popped in a small burst of bright electric sparks as its inner mechanisms were spilled about nearby.
“WHY DID YOU DO THAT?” Chell screamed. She collapsed onto the floor, weeping in disbelieving despair. She felt as if her heart had been crushed just as well.
GLaDOS ignored the screaming pony and twisted her hoof left and right to make sure that the core was sufficiently destroyed, causing what twisted metal that remained to creak against the floor.
“It’s about time I rid myself of that annoyance,” she said out loud. “I believe this calls for… a treat.”
Her metallic horn glowed a magnificent gold. An aura of the same color surrounded Pinkie Pie’s partially eaten cake, which was on a table about a hundred feet away. The cake was flung toward her and stopped directly in front of her face.
The armor over the lower front of her snout slid back, revealing a white organic equine muzzle beneath it. A slice of the cake was telekinetically cut away and levitated toward her mouth, which opened and bit into the slice.
“Mmmmmmm…” Celestia’s voice moaned in pure delight as she chewed slowly. “Who knew I’d actually enjoy the ingestion of food?” her mechanical voice said while the mouth was busy chewing.
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR? YOU KILLED HIM OVER DUCT TAPE?” Chell screamed again. Had she possessed vocal chords, she would have blown them.
GLaDOS slowly chewed the cake using her mechanical voice to speak while her organic mouth was busy chewing. “Oh, I’m sorry. Please forgive my manners, making you wait outside like that. There was some business I needed to take care of, but that does not forgive my inhospitality. What a terrible way to treat my honored guest.” She turned her head to Chell again. The laser grid became inactive, though the emancipation grill remained online.
“Well, it looks like you finally made it. Please, come in.”
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I think you accidentally pasted in a chat log at the end (of this chapter) or something?
If you plan to build the test chamber explained in the first half of the chapter - and I hope someone does. One that doesn't require wings and magic of course - please put a link to the Steam Workshop file in the author's comments of a future chapter. I'd love to try it out.
'Bwainz'
lh3.ggpht.com/e8GBUptUS2ELe-ybtx_V3eeESNv30cU-kkFppDGlPhkFWPHv5UWx-J3Tb2VLzcSxUP0=w300
Science. That's how. But not just any old science, no.
Aperture Science!
I have not read chapter 20 yet, and already I have a BAD feeling about how its going to play out.
To put it bluntly,
I'm terrified of the outcome. *gulp
GLaDOS just killed Wheatly? That monster!
4317247
I'm surprised no one else has commented about this yet.
Part of the chapter made me think of Metal Gear.
"The least I could have is a nice cold glass of lemonade that doesn’t taste like napalm!"
LOL!
Well, I'll be damned. She actually went and did it...
*shakes head incredulously*
She actually went and made COMBUSTIBLE FUCKING LEMONS...
Goddamnit, Cave Johnson...
What a waste of Wheatley.
4317268 he is still gonna be latter in the story thought right? I mean hes on the cover gosh darn it , it would be a shame for him to die here and not come back