The Ocean Above Us

“I understand why they have to be children, but why do they have to be girls? Why doesn’t the procedure work on boys as well? When I asked Fontaine, he told me ‘it’s so we don’t have to build as many bathrooms in the orphanage’. I don’t like him, but he is my employer...”- Twilight Sparkle.

Nimbus examined the security door, finding that there was no way to open it from the outside. Twilight Sparkle approached the door, pressing a button on a small panel to it’s side. A mechanical voice prompted her to speak the password.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Agnus Dei.”

The door opened, revealing a small room that contained nothing more than a small, empty chamber with another metal door at the end of it. The mechanical voice sounded again, alerting the group as they entered the room to prepare for a bio-scan.

“Bio-signatures confirmed,” the voice responded, “Welcome, Ms. Sparkle and Subject Gamma. You have two other protectors, two gatherers, and a guest with you?”

“Yes.” Twilight replied, and the metal door in front of them opened up as the one behind them slid shut.

“Twilight, how did you know to open the tear?” Nimbus asked, the thought just now occurring to him.

“We heard shouting coming from somewhere when we got here, but... we didn’t realize it was coming from the tear until Fluttershy noticed it.”

Oceana trotted up behind Nimbus, and he lifted her up onto his back. She held out his helmet, and he put it back on. The front room of Fontaine Futuristics was an open one, but not remarkably vast, having two mechanized doors on either wall adjacent to the entrance. One door was marked as ‘Testing’ and the other was marked as ‘Development’ by dull metal signs resting above their frames. An elevator was in place along the back wall, leading up past the ceiling. It was not operational, as shown by the half shut door that was crackling with loose electricity.

A screen on the wall near the door marked ‘Development’ suddenly came to life, displaying a video of a pink mare, whose deeper pink mane was straight and void of energy, falling around her ears and face. Her eyes reflected blue, and reflected what little hope her voice held.

“My name...” She began, “Is Pinkamena Diane Pie... and if you are hearing this, my mind is already gone...” It was just a recording, but everyone around Nimbus seemed to be in a state of disbelief, except for Oceana, who watched on with curiosity.

“I am a victim of an ADAM induced sickness, not because I am a Splicer, but because I was trying to find a cure for the very illness I now have. My mind is suffering more and more from unstable thoughts... Assuming you’ve spoken the password and passed the bioscan to get in here, you’re obviously sane enough to help... end me.”

“No...” Twilight desperately whispered, breaking Nimbus’s focus for a few moments.

“Before I arrived in Rapture, I was already diagnosed with a Multiple Personality Disorder. This illness I have has... provoked my other personality to...  hurt others... Please help me, and I will leave my genetic key with you. I’ve left other recordings in different places in an effort to guide you in dealing with me. The next one will be in the development lobby, just past this door. No matter what the current form of me says, don’t listen to her. I wish you luck.”

Twilight shook her head, backing away from the screen as it went dark. Nimbus looked at her, trying to figure out why she was acting so strange. Rainbow Dash leaned in, and gave her a hug, but her cold metal exterior seemed to do very little for her.

Nimus turned to Applejack for answers. “What’s wrong with Twilight? Did she know her?”

“We all knew Pinkie, we were all such good friends... Now, everything’s all messed up, and it’s all thanks to Andrew Ryan...” Applejack shook her head. “If we gotta put Pinkie down, I guess... I guess...” She couldn’t even finish the sentence.

“Twilight, we’ll get through this,” Nimbus could hear Rainbow’s reassurance over Applejack’s failing words.

A loudspeaker suddenly whined to life, signaling that the intercom system was on. The voice that came over it was eerily happy, but the voice was recognized from the recording.

“Somepony came to crash my party? How rude!” It was Pinkamena, or as her friends had given her the nickname ‘Pinkie’, and she took notice of their arrival. Her cheery tone reflected her ADAM driven madness. “Mister Bubbles? Please show them to the exit! They’re not on the VIP list!”

Through a hole in the ceiling, a Big Daddy dropped through. The ground shook as he landed, rising, and removing an odd weapon from his back. It was a tube, similar to the rivet gun, but it had a glowing yellow capsule attached to a chamber on the top of it. Unlike the rivet gun, it fit around his hoof like the drill would, and wasn’t connected to the tank on his back. This Big Daddy was different in appearance as well, having a helmet that resembled a knight’s, and not having a Little Sister with him at all.

When the weapon was fired, it released a continuous beam of energy. Nimbus imagined that it would’ve burned, but Twilight cast a barrier spell in between themselves and the attacker before it hit him. The beam stopped, and Twilight lifted her barrier, allowing Nimbus and Rainbow to attack. Applejack opted to stay back and protect the others, especially her little sister.

The Big Daddy ejected the now dark capsule from his weapon, and replaced it with a fresh, glowing one, but Nimbus had already readied his machine gun and was firing it into him. The bullets did little, and the Big Daddy easily knocked the gun from his hooves and crushed it with a single stomp. Nimbus fell to the ground, his hooves still holding onto his destroyed weapon, and the Big Daddy fired his laser into his back. At first, he felt only a small sting, but then, it mounted into a greater burning sensation spreading across his back.

CLANK!

His burning subsided as Rainbow Dash rammed her back hooves into the Big Daddy’s head, throwing him against the wall. Nimbus got back up, deploying and revving up his drill. The Big Daddy had little time to get away from the drill as it bore through his helmet and skull, killing him instantly. Nimbus retracted his weapon, turning back to Twilight.

“Look, I know your friend's in there, but we need to deal with her if we want to get through here."

Twilight was silent for a moment. One of her closest friends, one that she knew to be so sweet, had just tried to kill her. Granted, she was driven mad with an unfortunate illness, but wasn’t friendship supposed to be stronger than that?

“Yes.” Twilight solemnly nodded, “I agree.”

Past the door marked ‘Development’ there was indeed another screen. Pinkamena was shown through another recording, but she was frantically looking about through the length of it, as if something was chasing her.

“Hello again, I’m assuming you’ve chosen to help me, which is good. You see, I was one of the bright scientists that helped designed some of the Big Daddies here in Rapture. One of which was the experimental Lancer model, which never made it to the production line, unfortunately. As such, I’ve learned to control them, and will most likely try to use them against you. They carry high power Ion Laser cannons, and can emit a blinding flash of light by overcharging them. One flaw is that they don’t have as much armor as the mainstream Big Daddies, so if you can catch one off guard you should be able to dispatch him quite easily.”

This room led to a larger hallway, which split off either to the left or the right. A staircase also led to a second floor, which wrapped around the hallway, leaving space to look down from the side. Below the screen which Pinkamena delivered her message, a small container opened up.

“I’ve included a gift for you underneath this screen that should give you an advantage against the Lancers. It’s a ballistic ordinance weapon that fires high explosive, heat seeking warheads, a few of which I’ve packaged with it. Don’t use it too close to yourself. The first thing you’ll need to do is restore the power to my chamber. I shut it off when I last went up to... ensure nopony else followed me, but I can’t come back down now. Just find the power breaker, flip it back on, and you should be able to use the elevator.”

Nimbus picked up the launcher, shifting the cylindrical weapon on his shoulders. It was so heavy, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to lug it around everywhere. Applejack saw his discomfort and reached out to him.

“Let me take that off your hooves, sugarcube, I think I can handle it.” She took the weapon and hefted it over her shoulder with ease, loading the missiles provided with the package. “I haven’t used one of these before, but it can’t be too hard, right?”

“Just be careful...” Twilight warned.

Nimbus led them around the bottom floor of the development wing, not finding anything remotely similar to a power breaker. A few large lights from the ceiling showed some something resembling a breaker box above them, so Nimbus ascended the stairs and made his way across the upper floor. His advance was halted as Pinkie’s voice was heard over the intercom again.

“You stole my new party cannon! How could you?” She was obviously faking an angry tone, like she was toying with them. “It was gonna be a blast! Heeheehee!” Nimbus rushed to the box, looking over the many switches and levers, not knowing which one to pull.

“Right there!” Oceana pointed out a lever, “It’s the only one that’s not up!”

“Oh, thanks Oceana.” Nimbus briefly nuzzled her and flipped the only switch on the whole board that wasn’t in the on position. He didn’t hear any confirmation, but it had to be it. Turning around, he saw what new obstacle Pinkie had thrown against them.

In the center of the hallway, on the first floor, two Lancer Big Daddies waited. They couldn’t see them, but the stallions quite clearly knew that there were intruders about. As the they patrolled the lower floor, Nimbus motioned to Twilight and Fluttershy.

“This way...” He whispered, guiding them through a doorway into one of the research labs. He shut the door behind them, hoping that the Big Daddies wouldn’t see them. The room they occupied now had a small table with a few beakers on it, as well as a recording device.

“There’s two of them back there?” Apple Bloom shivered in fear. “How are we gonna get both of ‘em?”

“We’ll think of something, don’t you worry,” Her big sister stroked her mane with a hoof in an effort to comfort her. “Why don’t we just use this thing?” She looked to Nimbus, motioning to the rocket launcher she had slung across her back.

“Yeah, that’s some instant beatdown just sitting around,” Rainbow pointed out. “We should probably make use of it.”

“I know, I just... didn’t want the fillies to get hurt somehow.” Nimbus readied his crossbow, the last ranged weapon he still had on him. He only had a few shots left, but with luck he wouldn’t have to use them.

“So what’s the plan?” Twilight asked.

“You stay here.” Nimbus told her, placing Oceana on the ground, “Protect the fillies and Fluttershy, and we’ll deal with the Big Daddies.”

“What if something happens to you?”

“Don’t worry about me, I can handle myself down here. Now, Rainbow Dash, you hit one of them with an Ice Blast, and I’ll hit the other with Electro Bolt. Applejack, you shoot the frozen one with the launcher, and Rainbow and I will focus on the other one. Once you take down the first one, we’ll freeze the other one and you can start working him over. Try to get them separated before we start the attack.”

The door shut as the Protectors left, and Fluttershy let out an exhausted sigh.

“I can’t do this Twilight...”

“Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” The purple unicorn replied.

“What’s wrong? Just look at all of our friends...” Fluttershy began to openly cry, angry and frustrated because she could only sit back and watch as the world she knew collapsed. “Rainbow Dash and Applejack are... monsters... Pinkie is crazy... and Rarity was upset and couldn’t forgive you... and you...” She looked up at Twilight. “You made those fillies into monsters too... It just doesn’t seem right! I’ve just been quiet because I didn’t want to get hurt, but...”

“Fluttershy...” Twilight gave her friend a hug, and Apple Bloom and Oceana came to comfort her as well.

“I came here because I thought I’d get to see you all as friends again, not like this...” Fluttershy whimpered, “And I didn’t want to cry in front of Nimbus because I wanted to be strong for him. I don’t want to be just... somepony to protect.”

Twilight said nothing, she just held her friend until she calmed down, hoping that it would help her release all of this held-in frustration. Fluttershy cried into her coat, and it somehow surprised her that she didn’t break down earlier. As soft and frail as she seemed, she was very, very resilient to have held in the raw emotion that now openly flowed from her eyes.

“I wish... I wish everything would just go back to normal...” Fluttershy’s eyes began to close, and her head slightly tucked in towards her chest. She gently pushed off of Twilight and tried to make herself a pillow with her front hooves, finding a resting spot on the ground.

A glint of light caught Twilight’s eye, as she looked away from Fluttershy and onto the table. It was not a tear as she originally suspected, but it was a plastic recording device.

She pressed the button to start the playback, and her ear to the speaker...

Nimbus stood in the shadow of the upper floor, watching as the Big Daddies still walked around below. Rainbow Dash was in position, standing at the far end of the upper hallway. Applejack was crouched behind the staircase on the lower floor, ready to jump out and fire. Nimbus nodded, giving Rainbow the signal to kick a piece of rubble off onto the floor below. It made a small noise, getting the Big Daddies’ attentions. One shifted his head, telling the other one to go check out the noise. He turned away as the other walked off, and didn’t see him as he was suddenly trapped in a coat of ice.

Vaulting over the ledge to the floor below, Nimbus fired his Electro Bolt at the closer Lancer, as his companion was frozen. Applejack stepped out from behind her cover and fired a rocket at the frozen one, knocking him over with a loud explosion while Rainbow made a diving leap into shocked one. A laser from behind swept over Nimbus’s head, and he ducked before it could hit him. The rocket had broken the ice, but hopefully it weakened him enough for Applejack to take him down. Rainbow latched herself onto the other Big Daddy’s head, attempting to bring her harpoon into his skull the way Nimbus had taken out the other, but he responded much quicker and tossed her off of him. She hit the ground, but Nimbus was already firing his crossbow, loading the next bolt as his opponent stumbled backwards. Another explosion came from behind him, sending bits of debris and dirt bouncing off of his suit.

Applejack was dodging her enemy’s attacks quite readily, despite the heavy weapon setting her off balance. She lifted her hoof and launched a fireball at him, pushing him up against a wall and causing him to drop his weapon. With a push of her powerful back legs, she sprung into the air and aimed for his helmet. Using all of her remaining strength, the heavy launcher was brought down on him, knocking him to the floor and cracking open his helmet entirely. The Big Daddy did not move, as the impact probably busted his head open as well. A stray laser beam caught her in the shoulder, making her shift her attention to the other battle.

The three on one fight proved easy, Applejack didn’t even need to fire the launcher again as the Big Daddy fell to Rainbow’s harpoon nailing him in the back. Nimbus picked himself up off the ground and took a deep breath. It was time to move on. After he gave the all-clear to Twilight, she and the others hiding with her came down and followed Nimbus to the exit. The screen behind him, which once had given Pinkamena’s initial message, now played a new one.

“I’m guessing that you fixed the power? Good, this message wouldn’t be playing if there was a break in the power system. Now, quickly, take the elevator up to my chambers. The rest of my recordings for you are up there.”

The screen went dark, but Pinkie’s voice played over the intercom shortly after.

“Oh, you got past my bouncers? I told you! This party is for VIPs only!”

Nimbus stepped out into the entryway, moving to the damaged elevator shaft and calling it down. The lights above them suddenly went out, causing them to all gasp in unison. The doors leading off to the left and right slammed shut, locking in place, and party streamers and confetti descended from the ceiling in a horrifyingly festive fashion as the lights returned.

“Surprise!” Pinkie cheered, as a quake came from above them. Nimbus looked up through the gaping hole in the ceiling that the Big Daddy descended from earlier. Following the quake was the bone rattling shriek that Nimbus knew all too well.

“It’s the guest of honor!” The crazed mare above them announced, “She’s here!”