The Ocean Above Us

”If you are hearing this... my mind is already gone...”- P. D. Pie.

The backup generators kicked on, allowing the Bathysphere station to carry Nimbus as his followers to the forest of Arcadia. When they arrived, Nimbus instantly noticed the extensive lack of plant life. It was as if the fire had burned down the majority of the forest... No time to worry about that, though, they were headed back to the Ravine. They followed the pathway they had taken, until Nimbus saw a familiar opening, leading to a room with valves and pipes running along the walls, and a multitude of displays and panels beneath a window overlooking Arcadia. It was the Oxygen control station. Dusk Shine led the others through, but Nimbus stopped to observe the room. His eyes focused on one thing in particular, and he gasped.

On the ground, laying in a decaying heap, was the remains of a charcoal grey stallion, one with a black mane, and a treble clef cutie mark. The remains were gruesome, for plants had bursted from every opening on his face and were making new openings throughout his body. His mouth was open, as if screaming, but the only thing coming out was a group of flowers, with petals eerily colored the same tone as his fur. Veins running along his hooves and neck sprouted into flowers as well, but those ones were colored red, coated with dried blood. Some of the vines spread out and climbed up the wall, wrapping around pipes and valves to form a small net of green between them and the unfortunate victim.

Nimbus saw that his eyes were not covered by flowers, but they had been forcibly pushed out of his skull by them. This is what would’ve became of him, had Octavia not brought him to safety... The remnants of Green Hoof in his own foreleg suddenly came to the forefront of his mind, much like a healing wound did. Dusk Shine met Nimbus’s gaze as the concerned pegasus turned his head back, as if looking for answers. There were none spoken, though, but Nimbus solemnly drew the conclusion in his mind. Altos had taken the cure, and left this world’s Octavia to die.

They didn’t pass the bar on their way through, so Nimbus could only imagine what his alter had done to Vinyl’s alter. From what he could tell, Vinyl had been very fond of Octavia, even though the latter wouldn’t accept it. If they were friends, or had been friends at one point, how would she react if Nimbus had killed Octavia? He visualized her going beast mode on him and trying to smash his head in with a broken liquor bottle.

As they approached the Bathysphere leading back to the Sunhoof Performance Hall, a few of the smaller lights and vending machines suddenly flickered back to life.

“Altos must’ve turned the main generator back on...” Dusk muttered, looking around for any danger. Nothing came, so he coaxed his group into the Bathysphere and let it drop into the water below and propel itself to the next location.

Sunhoof Performance Hall was drastically different than Nimbus remembered. There were so many more bodies of deformed and mutilated Splicers strung all across the upturned seating, but the one thing that seemed to be the biggest change was the large armored body that lay in the center aisle, and the dead colt laying next to it. The small pony had a blonde mane and tail, and light purple coat. A horn parted his mane, allowing Nimbus a glimpse at the lifeless eyes that waited behind it.

On the stage, Nimbus saw more of what his alter had done. There was the body of a blue unicorn stallion, with a short white mane, and a wand for a cutie mark hanging from the backstage wall on a single crossbow bolt going straight through his neck. On another bolt below him was a wizard’s hat, blue with white stars printed about it. A camera mounted on a tripod was pointed up at him, as if some cruel joke was being played. Nimbus felt anger surge through him, much like he did when he first saw what Andrew Ryan had done to Rainbow Dash.

Altos would pay for what she had done.

”You’re one of them.”

”But, I’m free...”

”No, you will never be free...”

In the wreckage of the train in Rapture Metro, an armored hoof pried itself freedom. A stallion emerged from the metal scrap pile, his head still throbbing from several painful memories. The stallion wore an armored diver’s suit, one that allowed him to be quick and agile like he always was. Altos had killed him, or so she thought, but he wouldn’t let her take what she came here for. Family was too important to him, even if he had once considered Altos family.

The stallion fumbled about through the wreck for his helmet, which he found to still be wearable, despite it’s torn up condition. He was built to last, and he knew it. A grin formed on his face as he looked at his reflection in his helmet’s visor. Magenta eyes, blue fur, and a polychromatic mane looked back at him. Rainbow Blitz donned his helmet, and sprung into the air with a kick of his legs.

The door of the Ravine swung open, granting safety to Nimbus, but more importantly, the ones he protected. Dusk Shine led him into a basement, explaining his plans on the way down.

“You’ll have to go to the Little Brother’s orphanage, that’s where your sister's alter will be. But the only way you’ll get in there is if you become... a Guardian. Altos will be stronger than ever with Rapture in her hoof. The current Guardians are her slaves, but you...” Dusk looked at Nimbus as they reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped into a small, grey laboratory. “You will be Rapture’s liberator.”

Nimbus nodded, wondering if he could really fix all that happened. Dusk Shine gave him a helmet with his magic. It looked almost exactly like the Big Sister helmet. Nimbus put it on, looking at the world through the beveled glass. He could see the smile of the purple unicorn.

“I was going to perform this on myself, but then you came along...” Dusk gave him what he could only identify as a Big Sister suit, with metal boots and horseshoes welded to the leggings. Space for oxygen tanks were on the back, one of said spaces already occupied with one. Nimbus put it on, noting that the suit would probably give him a nice buffer between bullets and himself. He figured he’d need it. Also, a hole in the left foreleg allowed ADAM to be injected, and an opening at the end of his left hoof allowed his Plasmids to exit his suit so they could actually reach his enemies.

“We’ll make a proper guardian out of you yet,” Dusk said, magically lifting the final component that Nimbus would need before going to find his sibling.

“What’s that?” Nimbus asked, eyeing the unusually shaped object. It was an elongated cylinder, roughly about the width of half his hoof. It was much longer though, extending to at least 3 feet. At the base of it was a small grip, where it would attach to his foreleg and he could operate it’s control lever. It was not a Big Sister needle, like he had expected, for the weapon was not thin or smooth. Instead, the length had a curved indent running from the base to the tip. The tip was flattened into four flat bits, almost like a screwdriver... Or a drill.

“This weapon is what I had wanted the Guardians to carry,” Dusk explained, “But the larger, cone shaped drill won the popular vote. This drill is the only working model I ever made.”

Nimbus took the weapon and secured it to his right foreleg. As he examined it, Dusk described more of it’s features.

“The drill bit is retractable, much like the needles you may have seen on other Guardians. However, unlike the needle, it cannot absorb ADAM.” Nimbus pulled on the lever, watching the drill as it begin to spin violently. When he pushed the lever out, the drill retracted, allowing his hoof to touch the ground.

“Anything else?” Nimbus looked at himself. He was truly a Big Brother now.

“One more thing, yes. I have another Plasmid for you. I designed it in case I needed to use it against Andrea Ryan, but with her out of the way, Altos should be a perfectly fine replacement.” Dusk’s magic floated a Plasmid jar to him, one with a purple liquid inside of it. “It’s called ‘Silence’. It will disrupt the Plasmids of others, as well as most forms of magic. I’m guessing that Altos is splicing herself up right about now, so this should prove useful.”

As Nimbus injected himself with the Plasmid, he felt his body begin to quiver and shake. He began to feel very cold, and his hooves began to shiver out of control, much like a drug addict’s would. A small, lavender polyp began to form on the opening of his armor, but he caught it and managed to absorb it before it bursted all over Dusk Shine and himself. The coldness left him. And, like after every other Plasmid he had taken, he was back to normal.

“There’s a radio and a camera inside your helmet, so I’ll be able to keep in touch with you.” Dusk took the empty Plasmid syringe. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, I am.”

Altos removed the syringe from her foreleg. Ryan’s laboratories had enough ADAM to sedate a whale... and more. There was no way she could use it all in one lifetime, but she was more than powerful enough now. Best part of it all, Dusk Shine’s absorption Plasmid prevented it for messing with her head. She passed through the door leading out into Hephaestus, walking up a set of stairs to the database that held the location of her little brother. He was in the Little Brother’s orphanage. That bitch Ryan must’ve put him there to keep her from getting to him... It wasn’t too far away, so hopefully she could get to him before anything too bad happened.

She didn’t notice that a Splicer had approached her from behind until he shouted some nonsense, but he was engulfed in flames and tossed up into the ceiling before he could do anything else. She smirked as she turned to go to the Little Brother’s orphanage, absolutely sure that nothing could stop her.

A figure briefly made a quick movement behind her, seeing her destination and planning to get there before she could.

His wings were constrained by his suit, but Rainbow Blitz was still as agile as ever. He galloped through the maintenance tunnels, swiftly knocking over the Splicers he passed, but not stopping to actually fight them. There was no way he’d let Altos get there first. He had to protect his little brother, even if he wasn’t actually his brother. Altos wasn’t really his sister either, but she was evil, she wouldn’t think twice about offing a member of her family if she benefitted somehow.

Rainbow lifted his foreleg as he approached a destroyed portion of the floor, letting his harpoon fire into the ceiling and swinging on the wire over the water below, which he noticed was electrified.

“Just like Dashing Dare...” He thought to himself, retracting his harpoon without even breaking his stride. If he remembered correctly, the Little Brother’s orphanage was just to his left, just beyond Fontaine Futuristics. Rainbow Blitz opened the door at the end of the tunnel, hoping nopony would be in the research facility, considering that Francine Fontaine had disappeared not too long ago, but became enraged when he saw a grey pegasus with a mechanical wing already there, trying to get past the security door. He came through the maintenance door, which was on the opposite side of the lobby, and charged up the set of stairs leading to his foe. She turned, hearing his heavy hooves clanging on the floor, and struck him with a fireball. The impact knocked him off of his hooves and he went tumbling back down the flight of stairs.

Altos glared at the suited stallion. She didn’t recognize him at first, but when he fired his harpoon at her, she knew him to be Rainbow Blitz. The harpoon was caught by her Telekinesis Plasmid, and sent hurtling back at him. He jumped to the side, and the projectile hit the centerpiece of a marble fountain.

“You...” Altos seethed, approaching the stallion as splashed about in the fountain, trying to recover his weapon. “I killed you.”

“Like you could kill me!” Blitz shot back, readying his weapon.

“Stubborn as ever, Rainbow Blitz.”

Blitz grabbed an upturned trash can using his own Telekinesis, but he found that it was ripped from his grasp by Altos’s. All of her Plasmids were stronger than his. He used his Winter Blast, freezing Altos’s hooves to the ground as he jumped on top of the fountain’s centerpiece. She quickly melted the ice and pulled out her machine gun to get an edge on Rainbow. Bullets missed him by an inch as he pushed himself off of the fountain and lunged for Altos. His harpoon was extended, and fired out, but his drop was suddenly stopped as Altos sidestepped the projectile and reached out with a hoof.

She was holding him in Telekinesis.

Blitz growled, unable to move. “How... How are you...”

“New and improved Telekinesis,” Altos told him, “Pick up large objects, including enemies, and throw them with your mind...” She grinned maliciously. “What more do you need to know?”

“Let.. Let me go!”

“Okay...” Altos flicked her hoof, and Rainbow Blitz was flung through the air, crashing into the ceiling and bringing a few chunks of concrete down with him. The rubble trapped Blitz’s back half, leaving his front half exposed. He defiantly looked up at Altos as she stood over him.

“Why...” Blitz managed, “Why are you like this? We were friends...”

“Friends?” Altos laughed, striking Rainbow’s emotions into shock. “Friends don’t throw one another into grinders...”

“What?”

“You remember... At the Rainbow Factory... the accident...” Altos recalled the ‘accident’ that left her wing mangled, and she in turn would eventually lose her job because of it. “It wasn’t an accident!”

“I... didn’t...”

“You know what you did!” Altos brought her hoof down on Rainbow’s head, smashing it against the ground. She ripped the helmet off of him and struck him again, breaking a few teeth in his mouth and splattering his blood on the ground. Her hoof turned bright red, and she brought it down on his face, singing him with an intense heat.

“Raagh!” He screamed, “I’m sorry!”

“Sorry won’t undo the damage!” She punched him with her burning hoof again. The fur on his cheek was burned black, and his charred grey skin showed beneath it. Altos threw a fireball at him as he attempted to pull himself out of the rubble, striking his left eye and leaving another burn mark on it. Blitz opened his right eye, finding that his left eye would only slightly open. What he saw was Altos, standing over him and preparing to end his life, but she was struck in the head by a flying object before she could. It bursted on impact, covering her in a lavender mist. The fire around her hooves died down, and she cried out in frustration when she couldn’t reignite them.

Blitz turned his head, seeing the source of the attack. Another armored stallion stood in the entrance of Fontaine Futuristics, wielding a long industrial drill along his right foreleg. A small blue unicorn filly clung to his back.

“Nimbus,” Dusk Shine said, reaching the pony in question’s ears through the radio in his helmet, “Altos should be unable to use her Plasmids! Hit her now!”

The stallion jumped forward, his drill spinning up, and thrust the weapon at the crazed pegasus. She stepped back, pointing her machine gun at him and firing it. Her bullets knocked him back, but the armor kept him relatively unharmed. During a break in her fire, the stallion struck Altos with the side of his drill, knocking her into the fountain with a splash. His left hoof crackled with electricity, and a thunderbolt jumped into the water, frying her like a toaster in a bathtub.

The filly on his back cheered happily. “Look Brother, she’s dancing!”

Altos collapsed, her head hitting the rim of the fountain. Rainbow Blitz reached out, hoping this Guardian had come to help him.

Nimbus looked down on the pinned stallion, helping him get out from under the rubble.

“You’re... ” Nimbus whispered, “I thought Altos killed you...”

“I thought she killed me too...” Rainbow replied, weakly rising to his hooves and looking at his saviour. “She would’ve, too, if you hadn’t stopped her.”

“No, I meant... nevermind.” He didn’t feel like explaining how he knew about the events at the train station, obviously Altos hadn’t been thorough in her execution of Rainbow.

“Well, thanks. Name’s Rainbow Blitz.”

“I’m Nimbus,” He replied, noticing the burns on his face, “Are you going to be okay? Those burns look like they need medical attention...”

“Oh, yeah, definitely...” Rainbow said, trying his best to suppress his pain as he walked to the fountain and cooled his burns with water. It helped, but touching the wounds caused him to gasp in pain. The entire left side of his face was deformed, missing fur and even skin in some places. His eye probably wouldn’t completely recover, even if his skin managed to. Even some of his rainbow mane was charred along the blue and green portions.

“I wish I had a medkit to give you.”

“No, it’s alright... I just gotta...” Blitz looked at something behind Nimbus, in front of the pile of concrete. It was a tiny sparkle of light... Nimbus saw it as well, and realized that it was growing, opening to form a window into another universe. He saw the face of a lavender unicorn mare, her horn glowing as she held the tear open.

“Twilight?” Nimbus knew that mare. “It’s me, Nimbus!”

“Nimbus... Quick, get through here, we’ve found your sister!”

“What?” Rainbow Blitz was confused, but didn’t try to make sense of the situation as Nimbus took a step forward.

“Nimbus...” Dusk Shine’s voice told him through the radio, “Go back through the tear, we’ll handle everything here.”

“But...”

“You’ve dealt with Altos, we can get your sister’s alter out of here and-”

“Nimbus!” Twilight shouted, “Behind you!”

Rainbow Blitz looked back in time to get pushed aside as Altos rose from the water and tackled Nimbus into the tear. It opened up completely, and they both were caught in it’s radius as it closed. Blitz shook his head, heading for the security door of Fontaine Futuristics. At least there was nothing standing in the way of his little brother now.

Twilight Sparkle leapt back in fright as the two ponies tumbled through the tear, punching and kicking and doing their best to kill the other. Nimbus was on his back, slamming his helmet into Altos’s head after being punched there several times. Altos leaned back, finding that her Plasmids were returning once more. She set her hoof ablaze and prepared to bring it down on Nimbus, but he raised his own hoof in defense and unleashed his Steam Jet Plasmid. She coughed, not expecting the sudden rush of steam to enter her lungs, giving Nimbus the perfect opportunity to kick her off of him.

Altos rolled into the wall, quickly recovering and facing the threat. She saw the Guardian, the one with the drill, being helped up by another, and a third thrusting a Guardian’s needle in her direction.

“Applejack,” Nimbus sputtered, as Rainbow Dash helped him to his hooves, “She’s too strong, you can’t beat her...”

“Like hay, we’re not letting her kill you!”

Altos knew that she couldn’t beat all three of them, but they didn’t know that, and she wasn’t about to let them know either. She lifted a hoof to ready a new Plasmid, one that had been marked as an “Unstable Teleport Plasmid”. The end of her hoof began to glow brightly, and a bright beam of light came forth from it, blinding everypony around her. There was no trace of her when the light dispersed.

Nimbus looked back at Twilight, finding that she had brought Fluttershy and Apple Bloom. He was relieved to see that Oceana had made it through the tear as well, he would’ve felt terrible if he had left her in that other world without him.

“Nimbus,” Twilight began, “Who was that? She looked almost exactly like you...”

“Yeah, and what’s with the new look?” Rainbow Dash knocked on his helmet playfully, “I'm liking it.”

Applejack sighed. “Rainbow, quit it. Let him talk.”

“It’s alright.” Nimbus removed his helmet, taking a deep breath and parting his mane from his eyes. “That mare, her name is Altos. She’s me, from the dimension that I was sent to when the tear closed on me. Dusk Shine, who is your equivalent there, Twilight, gave me this armor-”

“I know,” Twilight interrupted him, putting the pieces together in her mind, “I was going to give it to you, but we never made it back to the Ravine...”

“But Altos... Altos is evil, she’s not like me,” Nimbus said, not going into the details of what she had done, “And my sister is in an orphanage, just past Fontaine Futuristics.”

“Yes,” Twilight continued, “Rainbow Dash found a recording of Andrew Ryan shortly after we left Hephaestus, saying how he had put your little sister in the Little Sister’s orphanage just before we arrived.”

“What about Altos,” Applejack asked, looking around for the dangerous mare, “Where’d she go?”

“I don’t know, but she’ll find us again.” Nimbus looked up at the entrance to the research facility. It was the last place standing between him and his sister.