Bioshock: The Bond Between Sisters

Chapter 3

The Descent

After the lever was pulled, the glass door sealed shut, and a low monotonous hum began to ring through the small cabin. Before long, the trio could feel their sphere jump and then begin to move down. Everypony remained mute, for they were all preoccupied by what was going on outside their constrictive enclosure.

Only a few seconds past before a loud sloshing sound could be heard, and water could be seen flooding in around the see-through door. It was hard to make out what came next; for a while it was just darkness outside, presumably a wall or some sort of other obstruction. Soon after, a quiet violin tune began to crackle in from a speaker that was somewhere above.

The three ponies then looked at each other, confused and nervous expressions clouding their faces. Only then was it truly sinking in that they had no idea where they were going or why they were trusting the atlas. That small moment of apprehension only added to the overall sense of dread that was polluting the air.

The next thing that became visible was a large yellow sign affixed to a massive archway. The sign read "10 fathoms".
Below the archway was a towering statue of a pony stretched out on it's hind legs. Its front legs were pulled up above his head seemingly bound in an awkward fashion very abnormal for a regular pony. It's hind legs, however, did not exist. The middle of the statue's body simply melted away into its large stone base.

The chamber did not stop; it continued to sink deeper and deeper. Soon another archway could be seen with a similar sign. This one read "18 fathoms". Then after the sign, the water seems to open up from a small elevator tube to a large dome.

Suddenly, just as it seemed the ponies were about to get a larger view of the surrounding area, a tall metal screen moved up from a slot at the bottom of the cabin and in front of the windows. There was a flickering sound, and then a rectangle of light appeared on the golden screen. The girls were perplexed for a moment, quite unsure of what was happening in front of them, but as soon as a grainy picture of the black lighthouse was cast on the projection screen, they all knew they were in for a mid-journey movie.

The group simultaneously jumped as the projector switched from the photo to an ostentatious advertisement for product they didn't understand.

"Fire in your Hoof!" It said overtop a picture of two happy ponies passing a ball of flames back-and-forth. "Incinerate!" Was written in massive font across the middle section. At the very bottom of the advert were the words "Plasmids™ by: Yarn Industries®"

The advertisement was accompanied by a startlingly loud track of old-timey music that seemed more at-home in a fifty-year-old toothpaste commercial than a strange underwater transportation machine.

All of the sensory information they were being bombarded with already had the girls more than a tad confused, and the next section of the video only intensified the feeling. In fact, it probably raised more than twice the amount of questions that it answered.

What appeared to them next was a black-and-white photo of a tall, dark colored pony with a thin black mustache. He was reclined in a cushy chair with one hoof under his chin seemingly contemplating something very important.

"Hello," cracked a confident voice from above. "I am Yarn B. Quark, but since we are all friends here, you may call me Yarn." There was a short pause, and not a single sound could be heard, save from the repetitive "inspirational" music playing in the background.

"I have a question for you. Is a pony not entitled to the sweat of his brow?" The slideshow on the screen then flicked to a picture of a farm and a downtrodden looking pony wiping an excessive amount of sweat from his forehead.

“'No.' says the pony in Manehattan. 'It belongs to the poor." The sideshow clicked once more; this time it was the Statue of Friendship overhanging a pony, its hoof extending to grab the frightened unicorn.

"'No!' says the pony in Canterlot. 'It belongs to the princess!’” The picture then once again switched, this time into that of a colossal Princess Celestia looking down upon a flock of royal guards.

"'NO!' says the pony in Stalliongrad. "It belongs to everypony!" The picture then became one of a pony running away from a large hammer and sickle hovering above him.

"I rejected those answers. Instead I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose… Rapture!"

Just then, the screen on which things were being projected slid back into the ground where it came from revealing the glass door to the outside.

The jaws of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity all dropped, for before them was a city unlike they had ever seen. A sprawling landscape of skyscrapers laid out before them, all of them completely submerged by water. Neon signs adorned every one of the towering buildings, each of which were advertising some sort of product or casino. The only thing connecting these strange facilities was a long tube system that stretched from place to place.

All around the massive metropolis was life. Everywhere the trio looked all they could see were schools of fish, squid, whales, and every other aquatic animal you could possibly think of. It was complete mental overload.

The poor little ponies didn't even have time to think about what they were seeing, for the strange stallion over the intercom was still speaking. "A city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small. And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well." As the stallion was saying this, the small air pod floated its way seemingly unassisted between the buildings and towards some sort of docking bay. The pod then went through a series of neon rings on which were a series of gold phrases.

"All good things," said the first.

"In Equestria," said the second.

"Flow," said the third.

"Into the city," said the final ring just as it's neon exploded and fizzled out.

After that, they approached the docking area. It was a large concrete hole with the words "Rapture Transit Authority" printed on it. As they moved inside they could tell it was another elevator, this one sporting advertisements on every wall.

"Well," said Applejack her voice scratchy and strained. "I guess this is it… This is where we're gonna to find ‘em.”

“I'm not sure if I like this place,” added Rarity, her expression hidden behind her curly mane.

Rainbow Dash considered responding, but before she could speak a word the sphere came to a screeching halt.

"Does this mean we're done? Is it time to get off?” It was Rarity again, this time much louder.

“I reckon so."

“Let me see what's going on outside," added Rainbow Dash as she pulled herself from the velvet bench. “Let me see here." She moved over to the window and pressed her muzzle up against the glass. “Uh… it's pretty dark out there; I don't think I'm going to be—” She stopped. "Do any of you guys hear that?"

"H-hear what?” asked Applejack.

“It's um… Kind of a shuffling sound. Like there’s something out there.”

Rarity cocked her head and tried to listen for the sound, but the only thing she could hear were her heart’s feverish attempts to launch itself out of her chest. “I don't hear anyth—”

“Shhhh!” Rainbow Dash turned backwards and put a hoof in front of her mouth. “Quiet!”

A few moments passed,

Nothing.

A few more moments,

Still nothing.

However, right when Rarity was about to give up, she picked up a small, near-silent scratching sound. The more she listened, the louder it got, and, in turn, the harder her heart convulsed. That wasn't all either; soon she could make out the sound of heavy hoofsteps clacking across a hard surface. And then, out of nowhere, was a great moaning.

“No!” came a weak scream. “Please don't do this!” It was a stallion’s voice, the voice of somepony who was clutching onto the last fibers of their hope. It was the voice of somepony moments away from death. “Take my money! Take my gun! Take anything; just leave me alone!"

The room was then filled with a scream. It was not the scream of poor the stallion but the scream of something else, something much worse. To describe the noise that echoed through their chamber as a voice wouldn’t be accurate. No creature capable of sentience would have ever uttered that beastial howl.

The lights flickered on for a moment then fizzled back out.

“What was that!?” screeched Rarity.

“What was wh—”

“Shhhh!” Applejack shoved her hoof in Rainbow’s mouth. “Hush!”

Did they see it too? Rarity wondered. In that miniscule moment of low light Rarity saw a shadow she couldn't quite make out. It looked like two ponies, but one of them wasn't right. It was long and emaciated, almost beyond the point of recognition. And then there was the splatter. It was quick; somepony with a less discerning eye would probably have missed it entirely, not Rarity. She saw every wild drop shower the ground, all before the lights faded into black.

Time dragged by at the pathetic pace of a maimed animal. Nopony moved a muscle, but the scuffling continued. It got louder and louder until it seemed like it was right outside the door.

“What do we have here?” echoed the guttural drawl of the figure behind the door.

The lights flickered again and through the window they saw it, the thin, almost rotten face of a monstrous pony. It opened its mouth wide and screeched once more. Everypony in the sphere fell to the floor with their hooves smashed over their ears. All thoughts inside their heads shattered and were replaced with the brain-rattling pain of pure dread.

Suddenly the monster pounced onto their prison causing it to quake and tremor. The girls screamed as the beast smashed its hooves against the ceiling of their enclosure. Over and over it banged until the thick metal of the orb began to dent and fracture.

This is the end! thought Rarity, her ears on the verge of bleeding.

However, right as the girls were resigning themselves to death, the cacophony ended. The uproar was replaced with defining silence.

Then...
The door…
Popped…
Open.

Applejack peeled her hooves from over her face. “S-should we g-go out?”

“What else can we do?” Rainbow pointed out.

“Well… Alrighty…” Applejack pulled herself up, her wobbly legs still shaking. “Rarity, are you ready?”

Rarity gave a cursory nod.

“Well, okay then.” Applejack stood near the open door, at the threshold between worlds. “Let's get a move on.”