It was time. Your suit was activating. Something was wrong, or it was finally time for you to do your part for Rapture. Well, what was left of it. Whoever commissioned you needed ADAM, which caused them to need a little sister by proxy. And you were to protect them at all costs. You shook your head as best you could, and opened your eyes.
This wasn't how you remembered Rapture. Rapture didn't have caves, it was a city. How long have you been in stasis? You look around to examine your cave, activating the helmet lights to see better in the darkness. This is not good.
You have a job to do; you'd better get to it. Who knows how desperately you're needed if part of the city has collapsed! Checking your drill as you make your way out of the cave, you cause a bit of noise. Something else made noise back at you. You stopped your heavy walk and turned around to find... Well, you don't know what you'd call it.
It looked like a lion had gotten the bitter end of a splicer. On top of having the major features of a lion, it had a scorpion's tail and wings. Is it going to cause you any trouble? Was this its nest? Doesn't matter. You've got to find a little sister.
If you're protecting a little sister, you're doing Rapture good. You turned to head out of the cave, only to hear the beast growl. Ignore and carry on. You've done it no-- The solid thud of it attempting to tackle you startled you, but didn't do much in terms of damage. It obviously didn't know what you were or what you were capable of.
You turned around to face it once more. It was backing up and shaking its head, growling the entire time. After it had regained focus, it charged at you again. This time however, it stopped right before you and started jabbing at your suit with its tail. The tail did nothing against your armor of course.
Dancing with this dumb beast was getting old; you needed to get to a little sister and find what had become of Rapture. You reared back with your fist and gave the beast a good strike to the head. Shouldn't be lethal and should get the message through its thick skull.
Maybe you hit it a little hard. It was still breathing, but you'd knocked it the fuck out. You don't need to kill, it was just an animal. So long as it doesn't get up and try something again, it'll be fine. You resumed your trek to the outside world.
It was nighttime, and you appeared to be in a valley of some kind. Looking around, you spotted a city etched into the side of a mountain. Strange. You recalled Rapture being underwater. No matter, the city must be what has become of Rapture. Logical enough. As you started your journey towards the city, you noticed the distinct lack of splicers coming after you.
Sure they knew not to mess with a Big Daddy, but there was always one that would try. Killing splicers would protect other little sisters, so if you found any, they'd get a swift drill to the skull. That was something else that seemed odd to you. Aside from Rapture being moved to a mountain. The distinct lack of other Big Daddies.
You were stored in a case along with five other Big Daddies, so where were they? Why was your pod alone? Too many questions. Find a little sister, and you'll need not worry about silly questions like that.
Eventually, you happened upon what looked to be a shack of some kind. It looked like a barn, but after volunteering to be a Big Daddy, you weren't too clear on anything non-Rapture. You decided that it would be a suitable place to inspect your suit. After securing the wooden structure, you began the simple task of banging your drill against your metallic suit.
Anything that sounded off needed to be mended or replaced. Luckily though, everything seemed fine. These things were built to last, that was for sure. You probably should've checked as soon as you came out of stasis. Oh well, everything was fine anyway.
You found a little cubby to settle down in and let your suit charge. It wouldn't take terribly long to do so, but your body needed to re-adjust to the suit after being in stasis. Maybe a four hour nap or so? After that, you wouldn't need to sleep again for another 36 hours. Miracles of modern science.
You were awoken by the sounds of a little sister playing. A little sister! You rose to your feet to find the girl. As you stepped out of your cubby, you realized that the sounds were of three little sisters, all playing together. Great joy! Perhaps there's another Big Daddy around? As you moved towards the sounds, they ceased. Oh?
Was something wrong? You opened the doors you'd shut previously to find... three little horses? What is this? There was an orange horse, a white horse, and a yellow horse. All of them about the size of a little sister, but shared no similarities beyond that. Have you really been in stasis for so long that evolution had taken such a drastic shift?
That would explain why Rapture didn't appear as you recalled... Guess these must be the little sisters of this new species. At least one was wearing a bow similar to a little sister, so you directed your attention to it. None of the sisters made any sort of movement, they only stared at you. What was wrong? Had they not been taught of their roles for Rapture?
No matter, they need to be back in the city anyway. What if a splicer had followed them? You let out the standard gentle low growl to let them know you were here to help. Then they all screamed and ran in different directions. Was it something you did? The yellow one with the bow ran to the barn behind you, the other two running off towards the forest.
If you can protect the yellow one from whatever scared them, maybe you can find the others later. You turned to find the barn door had been shut after the sister ran inside. Was she wanting to play a game perhaps? This was neither the time nor the place! There was no time for fooling around; a splicer might be on the prowl. You tried to open the door, only to find it locked. Okay then.
You spun your drill up and smashed through the feeble barricade. The yellow sister was on the other side, brandishing a horrified expression. After she saw you break through the door, she screamed again and ran off to a cubby. Once again, she repeated the process of locking the little door that served as an entrance to the cubby.
Once more, you promptly disassembled it. Game over little one, it's time for you to get back to Rapture. She was cowering in a corner; something obviously terrifying her. Don't worry little one, you're safe now. Why didn't these suits have speakers? You began reaching for the little sister, and she cried out.
"Please don't hurt me! I won't never come near your barn again, just please don't hurt me!" Hurt you?
You were here to protect her! Whatever startled this poor girl had confused her beyond reason. You picked up the trembling sister, and she began crying profusely. After you adjusted her carefully in your gloved arm, you looked down at her. Letting out the gentle growl again, you did your best to assure her she was safe with you.
This only seemed to encourage her to cry more. Poor thing, best get her back to Rapture and calm her down. You resumed your journey to the city once more, this time with a little sister to protect. Eventually, the terrified girl ceased crying, and was shivering in your arm. Don't worry child, all will be well soon.
"Wha--where are you taking me?" You wished you could answer. She should know though, it was the only city for miles. Last you heard, at any rate. You looked down to her, and then gazed back to Rapture. She apparently followed your gaze and questioned "Canterlot?"
Canterlot? No no, this was Rapture. She ceased her shivering and questioning after she figured out you were taking her home. It would be safer there, you knew it. Quite a few hours later, night was falling once more. Your newly acquired little sister was squirming in your arm, presumably trying to get out and lay down.
Sorry little one, you'll have to make due where you are. No time to slow down right now. The journey was taking long enough as is. She was resisting sleeping quite a bit, squirming as much as possible. Eventually though, she gave up and ceased her escape attempts. Good. Maybe when she wakes up she'll calm down a little.
A few more uneventful hours later, and the sun was once more rising. Just in time too, you were almost to Rapture! You could see the streets from here! Strange though, there appeared to be some sort of pinkish barrier around the city. Something you hadn't noticed before. After you were close enough, you tried to walk through it only to startle your delicate sister awake.
"Aaah! What're you tryin' ta do? Listen, why don't you just--" Silly girl, thinking you didn't know how to get into Rapture. Some things never change, little one. You revved up your drill, and began piercing the barrier. Sure enough, it began to give away and you slipped through the small opening. Took a bit more effort than you'd expected, but you made it through. Must be some new technology that had been created while you were in stasis.
Looking around, you must be at the rear of the city. No sign of other Big Daddies or sisters. But there was activity. You moved out to the streets to find more horses. Strange that humanity would turn to an equestrian species, but whatever. You didn't know how long you'd been in stasis. Spotting a castle gate a short distance away, you started heading for it.
Must be the city center, right? Why else would it have extra defenses? That would be where you would find other Big Daddies. Find out what was going on. And finally let this poor thing rest where she belongs. As you made your way towards the gate, you noticed other horses on the streets. All of them gawking at you. You must be an outdated model or something.
Not long after you started walking towards the gatehouse, did they start screaming and running off the streets. Good. You didn't know if they were splicers or not, and you didn't want to find out. You just wanted your little yellow sister to be safe. She would be safe in the city center. Things are not always so simple though, as new horses appeared wearing what appeared to be armor. At least, it was metallic like armor; didn't look sturdy though.
"STOP WHERE YOU ARE. RELEASE THE FILLY, AND BACK AWAY." What was the meaning of this? They should know you only take orders from City Central... Maybe that wasn't armor. Maybe they were splicers. You let out a warning growl, and slowly continued your walk towards Central.
"STOP NOW OR WE WILL TAKE ACTION." You growled again, but did not stop moving.
"Please! Just lemme go!" You knew little ones were eager, but you held onto her more securely than ever. You wouldn't feel comfortable until she was looked at by Central. She needed a doctor or a psychologist perhaps. As you continued your march, the metallic clad horses began shooting at you with... Their horns?
They must be splicers! You let out a roar, revved your drill, and charged full speed towards Central. Any splicer stupid enough to get in your way would get a nasty surprise. They seemed to figure that out and ran from your path. Good. Little Sister first, splicers later.
You finally made it to the gate, and stopped your drill to knock. It was only then that you realized the yellow sister was shivering and clutching your arm tightly. Don't worry little one, you're safe. You'd make sure of that.
You turned around and saw that the splicers were regrouping and heading for you once more. This was going to get messy. You banged your drill against the gate once more in hopes of a response, but none came. Of course! They must want you to dispose of the splicers before the open the gates!
Makes sense. You placed the yellow sister down between you and the gate, and held up your hand motioning her to stay put. She only curled up in a ball and started crying. Oooohh, these stupid splicers were going to get it for scaring her.
You turned to face the group of splicer horses that were giving you trouble. There were six in total; four that had horns and two that were flying above them. You flipped your suit into aggressive mode. You drill was now constantly running, and you could run faster. You'd need to recharge if you stayed aggressive too long, but you weren't too concerned about that. One more warning you fucking splicers, then it's all or nothing.
The bellow of your roar made the aggressors falter a bit. Clearly Rapture was in desperate need of Big Daddies, the splicers had grown too accustom to getting away with whatever they wanted. No worry, you would teach them a lesson. The group did falter, but they did not leave as they should've. Sometimes you just have to do things the hard way. You roared again and charged full speed at one of the splicers on the ground.
"OPEN FIRE!" As if they didn't try that already? The shots from their horns were bouncing off of your suit, just as they did last time. Oddly enough... It seemed your suit was absorbing the shots. Your energy cells were being rapidly recharged. Oooohhh goody. These foolish splicers didn't know about the hell they'd just unleashed.
You barreled into the left most splicer, knocking him a great distance down the street. No time to finish him; you turned to find the next closest splicer. A flying horse was close, so you jumped as best you could; damn thing flew just a bit higher than you could jump though. Alright, it needs to get down on your level.
You looked around to find another of the ground splicers. Ah! There we are! You rushed towards this one and plowed it into the side of a building. It wasn't moving much after that, so you picked it up with your gloved hand and turned to find the airborne horse. Just as you thought, the 'armor' that these things were wearing crumpled like tin foil under your grip.
"H-hey... wait a mi--" The shocked splicer didn't have time to beg as you reared back and threw it as hard as your suit would allow towards its flying comrade.
That had the desired effect. The airborne fool just hovered in shock as his ally came flying at him. It was just before impact that the flying horse realized what you did, but it was too late. The clank and crunch of metal against metal, combined with the expression on the flying horses face just before impact was priceless. Wish you had a camera.
Well, that took care of one horned splicer and one flying splicer, where were the other four? You turned to find your little yellow sister still curled in a ball and crying, but the other aerial splicer had decided it would try to approach your little sister. That was the last mistake it ever made.
Your anger towards those that would dare approach your little sister fueled a spectacular amount of speed. Yellow sister heard you approaching and looked around to see what was going on.
When she spotted the flying splicer, she screamed "Look out!" What a good sister, trying to help identify the splicers for you.
As you approached, you heard the splicer ask "what?"
That was the last word the idiotic splicer ever uttered, as you plowed your drill into its skull. A short scream and quick shower of blood later, and the splicer was gone. You shoved the body away from your little sister with your foot, and turned to face her again. She was absolutely horrified!
Poor thing. This must be the first time she's seen a splicer. That would explain why she was so disobedient when you tried to adopt her initially. She was crying and shaking again. There there little one, you're safe again. You looked around to check for the other splicers. The remaining three horned splicers were... retreating? What?
Splicers weren't supposed to be organized. You'd been taught they would attack whenever the opportunity arose, and they would never let the chance slip by to try and kidnap a sister. The times, they'd been changing. Just to be safe, you picked up the body of the dead splicer and took aim towards the retreating group.
With one final roar, you hurled the body towards the triad of horses. The strike was almost comical as the body crunched in various painful directions and spewed its blood onto the remaining horses. The one you hit screamed as it was suddenly propelled forward, causing the other two to stop dead in their tracks.
They looked back at you, probably trying to figure out if you were pursuing them or not. You were still in aggressive mode, so you gave one good stomp to the ground and growled loudly at them. They seemed to get the message, collecting the horse you'd hit and retreating faster now.
Good. You switched your suit back to normal and headed back to your poor sister. She was screaming as loud as she could between sobs. It was sad, yes, but she would have to learn about the outside world sooner or later. You collected her in your arm as you had previously, and let out your gentle protective growl.
The growl system had its ups and downs. On the plus side, you could convey basic warnings, greetings, and other tidbits of information easily to those who understood the system. It was also pretty easy to learn, as the growls were fairly basic, lest you were conversing with another Big Daddy. On the down side, you couldn't speak to anyone normally. It was growl system or mute.
Good news was yellow sister seemed to be getting a basic understanding of the system; as your lower, gentler growl had done the trick and gotten her to stop screaming and crying. She was still scared stiff, but she knew she was safe with you. Excellent. You banged on the gate once more with your drill. There weren't any splicers; it was safe for you to enter now, right?
Peering through the bars, your hopes were crushed. There were splicers in Central! No. No No No! Okay, focus. Think. You have a simple objective now: secure Central. Sorry little one, but it looks like you're going to see a bit more action today. You spun your drill up and smashed it into the gate.
The metal used for it was flimsy against your powerful drill, giving away after a few seconds of contact with it. What was with the pathetic construction? If the splicers had Central, they had access to much better metals than this garbage. Though, they were splicers. You shouldn't give them too much credit when it comes to intelligence.
You shoved your way through the gate, holding yellow sister close as you did. An a slightly brighter note, shearing your way through the gate did clean the bits of bone, brain and blood off of your drill. Always a silver lining!
The splicers in here were probably better trained. Or at least tougher. One would assume that was the case if they were in Central and the others weren't. The splicer that caught your eye wasn't wearing as much armor as the one's you'd fought previously. Not even a helmet! What is it, stupid?
"Stop where you are! There is no need for bloodshed!" Maybe he's not so stupid. Let's find out. You stopped and cast your piercing yellow gaze upon the poorly armored horned horse. "What is it you want?" Nope. He's an idiot.
Might as well try and avoid killing for the sake of yellow sister. She'd been through enough already. Being outside of Rapture was horrifying enough for a new sister, but having to witness splicers being killed? Poor girl would take at least a week of recovery before she could harvest ADAM without crying.
You looked down to check on her. She was doing much better now. No more shivering or clutching your arm. She was actually looking at the not too bright splicer.
"Shinin Armor! Help!"
"Don't worry Apple Bloom; we'll get you to safety. Are you hurt?" Dumb question.
"I wanna go home!" Then that is where you would go, little one.
You started moving towards Central's main structure, the group of splicers jumping at your apparently unexpected movement. Don't do anything stupid, splicer, and you won't get hurt. Yet. You made sure to make your first step a heavy one; that should keep the splicers out of your way. One actually fell over from the little shockwave. Feeble little splicers. You continued heading towards the door to the main building.
"No wait! Don't do anything aggressive or it'll attack."
"Then what are your orders commander?"
"Stay out of its way, but stay close. We need to find some way of stopping it without killing anypony."
"Understood."
Good. They got the message. You'd kill if you had to, but it was just messy. There would be time for play later anyway. You approached the door and raised your drill to knock. There was no way this door was enforced as it should be. As soon as you struck the door, it splintered into pieces. Might as well not have been a door there.
You made your way into the hall, being careful to keep yellow sister close. Apple Bloom? Was that what the splicer had called her? Strange that a splicer would name a sister. Looking around, you realized that a new Rapture must've been built. That would explain why your pod was in a cave and not here as it should be. Must've gotten mixed up or lost during construction.
That or the lion scorpion splicer thing had stolen your pod while you were in stasis. You shuddered at the thought of that beast trying to... couple with your pod. No matter. You're here now and you have a lost sister to protect. You looked around and spotted a larger door with golden emblems on it.
That must be the main office! Surely the mayor would know what to do! If it wasn't overridden with splicers already. You rose to knock on the door with your drill, making sure to be much gentler than you'd been previously. The mayor would probably be pissed if you broke this door. A gentle rap of your drill against the wood had the desired effect.
The knock was followed shortly with a loud "Enter!"
You pushed the doors open to find, much to your dismay, three more splicers. These were different though. They were all horned and winged.
"What is the meaning of this intrusion!"
"Shining Armor, what is going on?"
"Shiny, dear, what's going on?"
"Princesses! Please leave the room immediately! We don't know what this thing wants, but we're having a hard time stopping it!"
Princesses? Honor among splicers? A system at all? What is this bullshit?
"What, doesn't it speak?"
"Cadance please, this thing has already killed one of my guards."
"What?!" The white and blue splicers both took up what looked to be a defensive stance, both emanating light form their horns.
"Be gone demon! Lest thou be undone!" Blue splicer obviously didn't know jack shit.
"Luna wait! Look! It's holding a filly."
"Ha! Seriously girls? Just take the little foal from the dumb--" You switched back to aggressive mode as soon as the pink splicer started moving towards you. "Don't you try anything you stupid hunk of metal, you may have taken out a guard, but--" Your aggressive growl shut the damn thing up. "Fine then, we do this the hard way."
Why is it always the hard way? Your drill was spinning at a low RPM now. You made no move towards the pink horse, you didn't start fights, but you'd finish them. Suddenly, you were temporarily blinded by a flash of light. When you could see again, you looked around to find the pink horse standing over yellow sister. Wrong move, bitch. You charged full speed towards the pink horse, gripping its throat tightly as soon as you could.
"Gah!"
"CADANCE!"
Before any of the horses had time to react, you hurled the pink fiend into the wall to your left. Quickly scooping up yellow sister into your protection, you looked over her for any signs of injury. Seems you were just in time to stop the pink one from doing anything.
"FOUL BEAST!"
Suddenly, your suit was encased in a blue aura that was lifting you from the floor. Not much, maybe a foot or two, but you were definitely being lifted. It could lift you all it wanted, you weren't letting go of yellow sister.
"Luna wait!"
"Sister, did you not see what this demon just did to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?!"
"That isn't Cadance!"
You looked towards the pink horse to see that it was no longer pink. Apparently, you'd shaken off some kind of disguise. What you saw standing up in the small crater was... A black cheese horse? With bug wings? Okay, that had to be a splicer. It had fangs and everything.
The other horses were standing around talking about something, but you paid them no mind. There was a splicer in the same room as your little sister. Time was of the essence. This damned blue horse still had you immobilized though. There wasn't much you could do to get out of it either.
Maybe if you broke its concentration... You overcharged your suit and let out the loudest roar you could. If there was another big daddy within five miles of you, he knew where to go now. You did manage to break the blue horse's grip on you though.
As you fell the mere inches you were being held from the ground, you tackled the blue horse into the white horse. No more interruptions. While they gathered their bearings, you were charging the bug horse, full speed. It saw you coming though, and jumped out of the way at the last second.
"WRETCHED BEAST!" You yanked your drill out of the wall, and turned to face the bug once more. It had taken up a stance in the middle of the room, eyeing you angrily. "How DARE you assault me, Chrysalis, QUEEN OF THE--"
You cut it off with another full speed charge. Horse isn't very good at fighting. Talks too much. Though it did manage to dodge you twice in a row... Time for a new strategy. Looking around, there wasn't much you could-- a ha! Your sister was helping you once more!
She was hiding behind a golden chair of some form, obviously knowing exactly what you needed! Sure, the metal was weak, but it would do. You made your way towards the chair quick as you could. Yellow sister saw you approach, and ducked back behind the pedestal the chair was atop. Good. She knows to stay safe and out of sight while you take care of business. With the chair in your hand, you turned to find the bug.
"Oh? A lust for the throne? You really must be dense to even think--" She was cut off by a swift chair to the head. Dodge that, bitch. Queen or not, you don't mess with a little sister. She was standing up once more, apparently shaking off the blow. You heard movement behind you and turned to find your little sister approaching the still dazed blue and white horses.
"Princess Luna! Princess Celestia! You gotta get up!"
"Little foal, hide! You're in danger here; you've got to go now!"
"Come with me my little pony, Luna will handle this while I get you to safety."
...Was the white pony the mother? You'd never met the mother of a little sister before. It made sense. Yellow sister at least looked more like the white horse than the bug horse. Alright, go with mother yellow sister. You'll be wither her again soon enough. The blue horse was speaking to you now.
"Demon, let the filly go or we will have words."
Yellow sister was with mother, so she was safe for now. Now you protect the mother from bug horse. What blue horse does is of no concern to you. You turned to see that the bug had gotten up once more, and was none too happy with you. She'd learned to keep her mouth shut now, and had taken to making her horn glow.
She was about to fire something at you, you could sense it. Time for action. You charged again, but she chose to fly upwards this time. Fucking wings. You looked around for your crumpled chair from earlier, only to find it hurling towards you at an alarming rate. You barely had time to raise your drill as a shield before impact.
"So, you have feelings for the foal do you?" Dumb splicer. Didn't know shi-- There was a flash of green light, and then the bug was holding yellow sister.
The roar that followed likely shattered windows. You switched your suit to overdrive. Doesn't matter what, you protect your sister at all costs. Even if it means your damned life.
"Don't even think about it demon! I've got the foal, you do as I--" She didn't finish her sentence. Your drill was spinning well above what was considered 'safe' as it sliced through one of her wings. You'd missed her head, but you'd gotten the bitch down on the ground.
Speeding towards the bug at a bone crushing rate, you barely registered the mighty flash of blue light. In the instant of time just before you impacted the bug, you moved your hand and threw yellow sister away from the coming violence. Then, you'd plowed into the wall. The bug effectively trapped between you and the wall, there was nowhere for it to go now. You backed off enough to grip the splicer's throat, and smashed its body into the ground. The thing was still alive though, so you readied your drill.
"ENOUGH!" You didn't stop though. "I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU DEMON!" Not before you beg for something sweet as death. You plowed the drill into the splicer's chest and it let out an ear-splitting scream. Taking your time, you made sure to rupture as many organs as you could when you began dragging the drill up towards the head.
There was a defiant rage in her eyes as her horn glowed green once again, and you felt a sharp pain in your chest.
"WE--" You shoved the drill up harder. "DIE--" You ripped the drill out of her chest and brought it down towards her face. "TOGETHER!" Her dying breath was followed by a drill straight through the head. After the deed was done, you collapsed. There, to your left, was your heart.
It let out one final beat, and your brain began to register what'd happened. With your last moment of life, you did the only thing you could do. Hope that yellow sister would be safe with mother. At least you'd gotten the splicer.
*****
Elsewhere in Equestria, there were five big daddy pods, all of which had registered your warning roar. As the night set upon the land, five distinct bangs could be heard as the pods de-pressurized: One in the forest; another in the mountains; one near a small town; the fourth near a lonely barn; and the fifth in a field full of holes. Your brethren had survived just as you had. And they would be the reckoning that Rapture so desperately needed.
