CODE ORCHID

I stepped out of the shower, the clean geometric look of the room was a constant reminder of just how deep I was. I dried my head off and found a jumpsuit. I walked out of my bathroom and into the main room. I walked up to the solid grey wall and found a small set of buttons into one of the struts that ran up and down the wall every two meters. I pressed the button and the metal shutters that blocked off Orchid's area slowly slid up into the polished titanium frame of the facility. Orchid sat staring at me, the light off all I could see was the massive set of bio luminescent eyes twitch and lock onto my. Her eyes narrowed as she opened her mouth to a ghastly glow. She sat on her haunches and reached up to lick my window.

"Hi Orchid, good morning." I pressed another button and the lights in her room slowly came on, going from a dim blue to a nice sunny color. Orchid's eyes went back to their usual bright blue as she sat there, braced on the wall to my overwatch.

She let out a long chruling groan and pressed her tongue against the glass and kissed my window. "Hi...." Her voice was still as deep as ever, if only because of her size. Given her pitch and tone, if she was a more manageable size she'd sound like an absolute sweetheart. But, it didn't make much difference to me, she was always a sweetheart in my book. "Morning."

I watched as a crushed crab slid down the glass. "Orchid, I'm gonna have to clean that." I leaned against the glass and watched her trot in place. She was absolutely restless, left to trot and wiggle around as I stood over her. "Orchid, calm down."

Orchid shook her head. "You went away too long. I wanna play."

I laughed and pressed the button on the shutters. "Sure, just give me a bit." Orchid ducked her head down and watched me throw the narrowing slit in the window. I shook my head and hurried off down through my single large room. I walked to the door and grabbed my boots. A small single slit window by the wall was banging on. I pulled my boots on and opened the window. Orchid was staring in with one giant eye. I could see the glowing fibers that made up her iris contract as she spotted me.

She lifted her head up and kissed the window. It left a massive greasy smear as she dragged her lips down across the glass. She churled and groaned before pressing her throat up against the glass. She growled and groan, sending a heavy rumble through my cabin. "I wanna play...."

I glared at her. Either she felt it or my silence spoke louder than I could. She pulled her head back down and peered into the window. "Orchid...stop."

Orchid groaned loudly. She pouted softly and frowned. The deep groan in her throat reverberated through her room. "Okay."

I closed the window and stepped out into the hall. My boss was waiting there, staring at my door. She looked up to me immediately. "Chris, we need to talk."

I nodded. "You told me."

Sparkler shot a few sparks off her horn. "Don't be smart--"

"No, you literally told me when I got here." I walked out and closed the door. "You told me about the suit and said we needed to talk."

Sparkler looked me up and down, then with a deep huff she shook her head. "I did, didn't I...." She rubbed her head with her hoof. "I-- We're replacing Orchid."

I felt my skin grow cold. "What?"

Sparkler shrugged. "I'm sorry to have to tell you like this, but we're phasing her out for a model that's a bit more compact."

I stared at her. "Okay.... So what does that mean to me and her?"

Sparkler pursed her lips. "Well, she's a budding mare...she's about the size of a building, and she thinks you're her dad." Sparkler scratched the floor. "Now...normally I would have euthanized her and been done with it, but I figured you'd want a say."

I felt the underside of my eyes start to burn. "...I really want to punch you right now." I crossed my arms and looked down. "What exactly are you telling me?"

Sparkler cocked her head. "I thought I was pretty clear."

I shook my head. "It sounds like you're planning to murder my baby girl, and replace her."

Sparkler shook her head. "Sorry...." She rubbed her head, her horn sparked yet again. The dark bags under her eyes were growing more noticeable as I adjusted to the light. "It has been...insanely hard dealing with her without you." She dragged a hoof down over her face. "She's growing up, she thinks you're the big daddy, and you being gone nearly drove her crazy." She tapped the ground with her hooves. "How's your arm?"

I flexed my arm. My stomach settled and my heart sat heavy in my chest. "It's alright. A little weak."

Sparkler nodded. "Good...good. Now please, tell me you can take care of that--" She stopped herself and snorted. She gritted her teeth and ground them left and right. "Celestia damned bitch in training."

I felt my chest heat up as she spoke. "Uh...excuse--"

Sparkler shook her head. "Chris, she ripped open three corridors and a research pod! She chewed on a submarine until the propulsion was broken! She has been a devil since you left! And if we're right, she's about to hit adolescence, so you're just about the only thing standing between a meltdown, a mare, and me burning this entire facility to ash! Underwater! I'll light the fucking water on fire!"

I licked my upper lip. "You haven't been sleeping well, have you?"

Sparkler cringed and turned away. "Chris...can you take care of her?"

I scratched my neck. "Look, it's never been about can I. It's been about me getting fucking ruined while I'm doing it." I held my arm up. "This was bad, but there's been a few times I nearly just bit the bullet."

Sparkler nodded. "The suit should fix it...please, please, if the suit fixes it you have to promise you'll take her away for a while!" Sparkler pressed her hooves into my midsection. "The old lands, if you can survive the old lands, I know that giant will too! You can take back the continent! I'm sure she'd work on land too!"

I shrugged. "Alright...."

"So you'll do it!?" Sparkler grew an extremely wide smile.

"Sure." I set her hooves back onto the ground. "One condition besides the suit."

"What?"

I looked back to the windows into Orchid's pen. "This scaled down version, I raise those too."

Sparkler locked up. "...Chris--"

"They're ponies too." I put my hands on my hips. "You can't just chip them and pretend they're not."

Sparkler's eyes watered slightly. "They're not even born yet. They're going to be the size of ponies, they'd be so easy to handle--"

"Still fillies and colts." I shook my head. "Do we have a deal or not?"

Sparkler stared deep into my right eye. "...Why? What do you--"

"Fillies and colts to play with." I scratched my back. "Generations of monster ponies to raise. Eugenics to secretly practice." I rubbed my chin. "Look, I'll take care of it. I just need details later, but I'll handle it."

Sparkler looked to the window. "They're really just Orchid but smaller. They'll be about as durable, about as jumpy and--"

I shook my head. "So basically you just made them smaller? Same everything else? Same power, same--"

"It's all scaled. But yes, they'll survive like her, and our projections say they should be able to chew through Sea Titan skin."

I nodded swiftly and put my hands in my pockets. "Then yeah, I can handle that. I got here, raised her, and only got a broken arm once! I--have--got--this." I turned to the window and pressed a button. The metal shutters flew up and Orchid turned to face us. "Orchid! You're gonna have some brothers and sisters!"

Orchid's eyes grew wide. She stood up and beat her hooves against the floor of her pen. "Really?! Really you're not lying!?" She bucked her legs and punctured her home. Seawater streamed in and started to fill up her room. Orchid spun around, her body glowing slightly as the water filled up and the lights shut off. She turned back around to face us, the blue was starting to show in her cheeks.

I pressed the button and locked down the shutters. "Hmm...yeah, making them smaller is probably a step in the right direction."

Sparkler stared at the metal shutters. "She really needs to go to the surface, she just doesn't fit anymore."

I nodded. "So...probably don't even bother fixing that then."

Sparkler nodded. "Get your suit, go run with your filly, I'll tell you when the new batch is done."

I nodded. "Yeah. You should probably get some sleep too."