The Ocean Above Us

“I’m so sorry... I didn’t want this to happen to you!” -Lady Rarity.

“As you surely know, I make the finest dresses in Rapture,” Rarity said, as Nimbus quietly exited her shop, “but some of these dresses take certain materials, ones that I just can’t get my hooves on. Would you be a dear and search around for some diamonds?”

“Diamonds?” Nimbus repeated in disbelief.

“Yes, diamonds. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen a diamond before.”

“Yeah, I have, but, where am I going to find one?”

“Well,” Rarity began, pausing to think herself, “If I’m correct, Big Daddies should have diamonds on their drill tips.”

“I don’t suppose you know any that would lend me his drill?”

“Unfortunately not. I do know a place that you might be able to find some weapons powerful enough to bring one down, though. A good friend of mine, Firebrand, owns a gun store in the plaza across from mine. Normally, I’d let you just go out of the back door of my Boutique, but a particularly Brutish Splicer dumped a large pile of rubble in the hallway leading out, and I don’t think you could get through.”

“Is there a way around?”

“Hmm... not one that would get you there anytime soon, but it’s the only way. Head back through Artemis Central and go around to the south side of Celestia Square.”

Nimbus grumbled at the thought of having to creep and sneak all around Rapture. There was a dead Big Daddy back at Sparkle Simplicity, but who knows what else could be down there? He couldn't take a Big Daddy on, especially not with a bunch of Splicers at his throat.

“Hold on, I think there is a way to move that rubble. You’re going to have to trick a Big Daddy into smashing it aside somehow. There’s a Plasmid called Hypnotize here, and also one called Decoy. Either one will work, by you’re going to need ADAM to get it, so come on back into the Boutique, I’ll lend you some.”

Shaking his head, Nimbus re-entered the Boutique. He saw no sign of anypony there.

“Where is it?”

“Just a moment.” She said, and then a soft click came from behind Nimbus. “Check the Pneumo Tube.”

“The...” Turning around, Nimbus saw what looked like a trash can with its lid sealed shut, and the word ‘Pneumo’ printed along the rim. When he unsealed the lid, he found a jar containing a strange yellow liquid, in a container with markings that measure how much liquid was in it. It must be ADAM, and there was 120 units of the stuff.

“I can trust you to use that, right?”

“Of course, why?”

“Because I expect you to repay me after we’re through here.”

“Sure.”

Now that he had the ADAM, he needed to find the Gatherer’s Garden. Scanning the room, he noticed the familiar pink glow near the signs for the restrooms. The machine was exactly the same as the one in Artemis Central, but it had no gift waiting for him below. Instead, there was a dial, and a small glass window that had portraits of the products it sold. He turned the dial, searching for what he wanted. He could use either Decoy or Hypnotize, and with Rarity’s extra ADAM, he could easily afford Hypnotise. Placing the container Rarity had given him into the slot, he confirmed his selection.

A needle shot down from inside the slot, draining the ADAM from it’s container. When it was empty, the machine buzzed, indicating that it only had 120 units, and it required 160. Nimbus remembered what Twilight had said about using the ADAM that he got from the Little Sister, and replaced the empty container with his left foreleg, and confirmed his selection again. The needle came down into him, draining and extracting the ADAM from his blood before cleaning and returning it to his system, and then retracting. A moment later, it came down again, this time injecting him with the Plasmid purchased.

It made a dinging noise, much like a microwave oven, or a wind-up timer, and the needle retracted once more. Nimbus removed his hoof from the machine, and felt his body overcoming with pain again. Looking at his hooves, he saw what seemed to be a green tomato forming from beneath his fur, and it fell to the floor and exploded in a splash of green mist. He coughed to expel the mist from his lungs, and suddenly got the urge to help himself... Was that how the Plasmid was supposed to work? If so, he had just used it on himself, meaning that he was now his own ally? Wasn’t he his own ally before?

Whatever the case, Nimbus took up his radio and reported back to Rarity.

“I got the Plasmid. What now?”

“Oh, good. Now, you’re going to want to find a Big Daddy. I saw a lone one walking around outside, but he doesn’t have a Little Sister with him, so he should be easy to get the jump on.”

“Alright. So I just hit him with this tomato thing, right?”

“Right. The polyp should make him follow you, and he should obey most of your commands.”

A sly smile grew on Nimbus’s face, “If I told him to kill himself, would he obey?”

“Probably not. The polyp is designed to make the target your friend, not your slave.”

Nimbus looked out into the plaza, and indeed did see a metal clad stallion. This one however looked different. His helmet wasn’t as rounded as the first one he had seen. It was more a head fitting helmet, and sported a smaller visor. Also, this Big Daddy wielded a large tube-like weapon of sorts, with a hose connecting to one of his oxygen tanks on his back. It was held in a single hoof as the Big Daddy cantered about idly.

He approached slowly, as not to gather unwanted attention, and readied the green polyp in his hoof. With a solid swing of his foreleg, the polyp went soaring, quickly clearing the large space between him and the Big Daddy. For a moment, he thought it didn’t work, for the Big Daddy became very still. Then, he turned around, the normally yellow light in his visor glowing green. Green was good.

“It worked, now tell me where the rubble is.”

“Just head to the back of my shop. Take the hallway behind the reception desk, and it should lead to the back door.”

The door in question was easy enough to get through, but Nimbus’s Big Daddy companion was too bulky to fit through. The stallion backed up, and tried to squeeze through the gap. His front hooves made it, but he got stuck while trying to fit the bulkiest part of his middle through. The Big Daddy growled in frustration.

“Oh, come on... Here, push with your back hooves,” Nimbus said, grabbing the Big Daddy’s front hooves as the Big Daddy complied with his advice. Nimbus pulled with all of his strength, and heard a creaking in the doorframe. The Big Daddy slowly inched forward, and caused the sides of the doorway to push out, crushing the concrete with a loud crack. The Big Daddy slid through, apparently happy to be free.

“What was that?” Rarity asked, worriedly.

“It’s nothing... Big Daddy was just having some... trouble.”

“What? That brute didn’t destroy anything in my shop, did he?”

Nimbus looked at the already ruined interior of the shop.

“No.”

Outside of the shop, a small alleyway lead to a high perched sign that read ‘Firebrand Firearms’. On the ground, though, a large pile of rubble was blocking the path, and a large piece of the building could be seen missing from the building’s top floor. Through the hole, a large unicorn stallion, one with hulking muscles, appeared.

“Ey! Dat Big Daddy’s got a little friend that wants to get in ‘ere!” he called out to somepony behind him. “Dees are OUR guns! Get ‘em, boys!”

Using his brute strength, the stallion broke of piece of the wall out, and using his magic he flung it down at the two below. Big Daddy jumped in front of Nimbus and swatted it aside, sending debris and dust everywhere. The Brute walked away, and several Splicers appeared in his place, wielding assorted guns.

“Big Daddy, I need you to move this rubble!” Nimbus said, as gunfire rained down around him. They both took cover behind the pile.

Big Daddy nodded his head, and held out his weapon, motioning for Nimbus to take it.

“You... want me to hold this for you?” Nimbus asked. The Big Daddy nodded. Nimbus took the gun, and watched his companion proceed to steady himself on his front hooves, and kick out against the rubble with his back ones. The pile began to scatter, and he bucked again. Nimbus raised the heavy weapon, still connected the Big Daddy’s oxygen tank, and did his best to aim it at the Splicers above.

He wrapped his hoof around what he thought was the trigger, and was knocked back by the blast from the gun. It spat out a round that nicked one of the Splicers above in the shoulder, but knocked Nimbus to the ground. Surprised by his sudden failure, the Splicers on the top floor stopped their attack and burst out in hysterical laughter.

With a final buck, the Big Daddy smashed the pile of rubble aside and ran to Nimbus’s side. As he helped him up, he also took up his weapon in one hoof and nailed each three of the Splicers during their howls of laughter. Before the others could resume their attack, they too suffered the same fate.

The duo entered the back door of Firebrand Firearms, hoping that the owner was still home.

“Rarity? We’re in, but Firebrand seems to have a Splicer problem.”

“Yes, the poor dear has been harassed by them ever since he opened up, but I’m sure he knew it was coming. He owns a gun store after all.”

“I’ll bet. What am I looking for?” Nimbus asked, looking about the racks and display cases that had all been looted. Broken glass and dead bodies littered the floor. “The place has been cleaned out.”

“Keep looking, there has to be something in there.”

As he turned the corner to the front room, he considered giving up. There didn’t seem to be anything in the shop. Then he remember that there were multiple floors, and found the stairs to take to the next floor. There were three stories, and the second one was a storage floor. Still, as Nimbus and his Big Daddy friend walked through the halls, they found that they had all been picked clean.

As they approached the next set of stairs, Nimbus turned to Big Daddy.

“Stay on this floor, make sure that no one comes up behind me.”

The Big Daddy nodded his compliance, and Nimbus ascended once more. The third floor was Firebrand’s living quarters. There was a kitchen, a bedroom, a living room, and even a den, but none of them had anything useful. Nimbus spotted the hole that the Brute had made in the living room, and looked down onto where he had entered from. Three Splicers ran down the hallway, entering the shop.

Turning around to go warn Big Daddy, he came face to face with a unicorn stallion, with muscles strong enough to break buildings. The hulk of a pony grinned, and a two of his minions stepped out from behind him, both of them with machine guns in hoof.

“I told ya, buddy, you’re ain’t gonna get any o’ our guns!”

Nimbus said nothing, but tried to focus on forming a polyp in his hoof. He then realized that in the time it would take to form and throw it, he would’ve been taken out by the two Splicers with the guns. Spotting a bottle of fresh water on an upturned stand, he remembered his Electro Bolt Plasmid.

“Any last words, ya chump?” The Brute sneered.

“Can I just get one last drink?” Nimbus asked, nodding to the water bottle.

“Eh, whatever. Just don’t try anything funny.”

Nimbus slowly walked over to the bottle, picking it up and unscrewing the cap. He lifted his head back, and took a sip. The Brute was about to say something, but Nimbus suddenly jumped forward and splashed some water in his face, drenching what little bit of mane he had and soaking his sickly orange coat.

“What da ‘ell? I’ve ‘ad enough of this bull-” the rest of his words came out as a stutter as his body suddenly coursed with electricity. Steam rose from his body and mouth, as the water on his coat and in his body began to evaporate. The two Splicers next to him looked at each other in sheer shock, before they too were electrocuted and struck in the face with a heavy pipe.

Nimbus recovered a machine gun, and put a bullet into each of the Splicer’s skulls with their own weapons, ending their electrified torture. He had fired a gun before, but never had he taken a life with one. The worst part was, it felt so natural. As he looked at the machine gun, with a long barrel and cylindrical clip, he knew this was going to be the best he could get. A roar of pain and gunfire urged Nimbus to hurry back down the stairs, where he found that Big Daddy had started to fight the three Splicers from before.

One Splicer was sent into a wall right in front of Nimbus, before his corpse was held in place by three nails that shot out of the Big Daddy’s gun. No, not nails, they were rivets. The weapon that he was using was a rivet gun, a tool normally used in construction. The drill was also used in construction, so did that mean that the Big Daddies help build the city?

He couldn’t think about that as the scream of a Splicer being slammed headfirst into a wall rattled his thoughts. Nimbus ran up behind Big Daddy, who had the last Splicer in his sights. The Splicer looked different somehow. Sure, his face was mangled, and his mind was unstable, but something about the iron helmet that covered his head, and the saddlebag he carried gave Nimbus a bad feeling.

Suddenly he reached into his saddlebag and produced a small red cylinder. There was some writing in white letters on it’s red body, but Nimbus couldn’t make it out as it was lobbed towards them, and the Splicer took off down the hallway. There was a hissing noise, and Nimbus felt himself suddenly being lifted and thrown back towards the stairs as an explosion rocked the building.

Nimbus opened his eyes, and saw the face of Big Daddy over him, helping him up with a hoof. He had thrown him out of the way and took the blast from the bomb for him. His saviour’s armor was dented and charred, but Big Daddy seemed to be fine as he gave Nimbus his machine gun and followed him to the bottom floor.

“Oh, I hear explosions over there, is everything alright?” Rarity asked through the radio.

“Yeah, there’s a guy throwing bombs around here, but we’ll be alright... I think...”

On the bottom floor, Nimbus caught a glimpse of the bomb-thrower running down the hallway to the exit.

“Come on, let’s get him!”

Nimbus would’ve bet money that the poor sucker was scared out of his mind when he heard the stomping and felt the ground shaking. He turned around in the alley, and saw an unamused grey pegasus and a stoic Big Daddy standing behind him. There was no way he could win, and he knew it, but there was still one option for him. He took stick of dynamite from his saddlebag and lit the fuse.

Before Nimbus could do anything, the Splicer lunged forward, a bomb in one hoof. He was committing suicide. Nimbus pulled the trigger of his gun, and held it down. The bullets tore through the Splicer, causing him to fall forward at their hooves. His saddlebag’s contents spilled out onto the ground, revealing a dozen more bombs that had been lit. Nimbus was frozen in shock, but Big Daddy acted.

There was a feeling of lightness, and suddenly Nimbus found himself in the air. He tried to flap his wings to steady himself, but he still crashed into the ground. Rubbing his head, he looked back at Big Daddy, who was now being consumed in a fiery explosion. The sound was deafening, and caused another portion of Firebrand’s Firearms to collapse- right on top of him.

A feeling of sadness had began to well up inside of Nimbus. That Big Daddy had just saved his life. Sure, their friendship was artificial, but it was still strong enough to make that Big Daddy sacrifice himself, and for some reason, Nimbus believed he would do the same for him. He shed a single tear and smiled, not because his friend was gone, but because their friendship had once been. He then realized that it wasn’t the Plasmid that created the friendship, it was the fact that they had just opened up to each other. Maybe that’s all the Plasmid did, it caused the target to have an open mind. Whether friendship or fighting was suggested, the target would listen. Maybe their friendship was real after all.

“Are you there?” Rarity’s voice cut off his moment of mourning.

“Yeah,” he replied calmly.

“I heard another explosion, are you okay?”

Nimbus took a moment. “Yeah,” he repeated, his sadness just barely showing in his voice.

“Return here, quickly! There’s a Big Daddy with a drill out in front of the Boutique. I assume you have a gun?”

Nimbus’s resolve strengthened as he took up his weapon. “I do. Let’s get to it.”

He walked back through Carousel Boutique after taking one last look at his Big Daddy friend. The back half of his body was crushed under the destroyed building, the upper half of his body reaching out, as if trying to escape. The light in his helmet was flickering.

“Rest in peace, pal,” Nimbus said, before turning to walk away.