In The Deepby TunalockChaptersChapter I: Welcome to RaptureChapter II: The Big DaddyChapter III: The Medical PavilionChapter I: Welcome to RaptureJust my fucking luck. I knew that I shouldn't of have had taken that flight. I never trusted flying at all. Oh no, I'd rather stay on the ground, where I can manipulate solid things with my magic. Now, I'm swimming in the middle of the ocean, my airship falling into the water in flaming pieces. Luckily, I seemed to of have crashed next to some sort of tower in the ocean. I managed to swim over to it, climbing up the steps as best I could with my wet pink mane in my face. As I finally made it to the top, I looked up and was taken by surprise at the awe-inspiring picture in front of me. The dark skies above made the tower in front of me seem like the base of operations for a Saturday morning cartoon's villain. As if on cue with my thoughts, a lone lightning bolt flashed behind the tower, showing me the dark entrance. Wanting to escape the rain, I fled indoors, where I was met with a mostly empty room. Mostly. In the center was an odd looking sphere that had a glass door that was open, as if it were waiting for me. Being the curious colt I am, I stepped inside, where I was awestruck yet again. The two sides of the sphere had a red fleece couch lining the side, and in front of me was a golden lever. I trotted up to it and pulled it, which was the biggest mistake of my life. THWHAM! I turned around to see the water rising above the glass door. This wasn't any random machine, this was a bathysphere! As I made this realization, a light outside caught my attention. A golden set of numbers reflected off of the bathysphere's light. 10 fathoms deep. Another sign signaled that I was 15 fathoms deep. More time passed by, and a third sign said I was 20 fathoms deep. However, before I could see any more signs, a projector screen rolled down in front of the window, playing what felt like an in-flight movie. There was an advertisement that read, "Fire at your hooves! Incinerate! Plasmids by Sparkle Industries." A second slide popped up not long after. It showed a picture of a mare leaning back in a large sofa chair. To the right of the screen read, "From the Desk of Sparkle." The screen switched yet again, but it was accompanied by a mare's voice. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a pony not entitled to the sweat of their brow? No, says the mare in Manehatten, it belongs to the poor. No, says the mare in Canterlot, it belongs to Celestia. No, says the mare in Hooviet Russia, it belongs to everypony. I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose Rapture." The movie stopped and the screen rolled up to show the most shocking thing my eyes would most likely ever see. A giant underwater city sat right in front of me. Whales swam around the tall skyscrapers (or were they waterscrapers?) and between the glass tubes that connected each of the buildings. The mare's voice continued on, saying, "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." Suddenly, the bathysphere turned towards a glass tunnel, where words lit up along to read, "All good things of this world flows into the city." When it reached the end, it stopped for a moment before rising up into a large room, where two ponies already stood. One of them was backing away from the other, who had two hooks fused to their front hooves. The first pony said in a voice on the edge of weeping, "P-please, just… just l-let me go! I have a f-family! D-don't… no… nonononoNONON- AAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH!" The second pony decided to lunge forward and shove both hooks into the chest cavity of the first, who was currently giving off a bloodcurdling scream. He continued to scream as the second pony drew one of the hooks up his body, and was finally silenced with a gurgle when the hook reached his jugular and ripped straight through it, exiting his lifeless husk through his bottom jaw. I backed away. What the fuck had I gotten myself into? I should have never pulled the lever! However, backing away did nothing, as I heard a raspy mare's voice say, "Ooooohhhh… is there somepony new to play with?" She had found me, and it was even clearer as the ceiling of the bathysphere started to have holes punctured in it by the pony's impromptu claws. This was it. This was how I was going to die. The scraping and ripping suddenly stopped. Maybe it was gone? My suspicions were confirmed as a mare's voice came from almost nowhere. "Could you kindly pick up that shortwave radio on the wall?" it asked, and I obliged. I levitated the radio to my mouth and said with a voice that betrayed my fear moments ago, "What… what happened?" "Well…" started the voice, "you somehow survived that airship crash. I don't know how you did it, but I've never been one to question luck. My name is Princess Cadence, and it's my goal to keep you surviving." Cadence. I had heard that name somewhere before, but where? Nevertheless, I put the radio to my mouth again and said, "Name's Sharp Shot, now can you please tell me what the hell happened here?" "No time to talk, you have to keep moving. We need to get you to higher ground. Now, just take a deep breath and take a step out of the bathysphere." The door to the bathysphere opened, and I quickly ran outside. The door shut behind me, and the vessel sunk back underwater. A chilling thought hit me: What if the pony wasn't gone? What if it was here, ready to kill me? Again, Cadence chimed in at just the right time. "We need to draw that splicer out, but you absolutely have to trust me. Understand?" I nodded and said, "Yep. So, where do I go?" "Take a left. You should find the rest of the way by yourself." I did as I was told, which led me to enter what looked like a baggage claim area. I didn't stroll very far before a bright spotlit turned on, centering on the splicer from earlier. It hissed and started to climb up the wall as Cadence shouted, "Hah! How do you like that, splicer!?" I also gave a victory shout before the mare said to me, "Alright, would you kindly find something like a crowbar to fight with? These damn splicers are everywhere…" "Sure thing." I replied. I hopped over a fallen pillar and found a large, red wrench. Good, this'll keep me alive. I grabbed the wrench with my magic and swung it as hard as I could in front of me, accidentally hitting a piece of a pillar stuck under a door. The wrench fell with a loud CLANG! as I jumped back and quickly yelled, "Holy shit!" Eventually, I figured out what I had done, and I climbed underneath the door just in time to see a flaming couch barrel down the stairs. I yelled again and jumped out of the way, just barely missing the couch. After I had caught my breath, I slowly walked up the stairs, not knowing what was up there. When I reached the top, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were windows poking out into the ocean as if it were an everyday thing. Above the giant door in front of me read, "Welcome to Rapture". So, this place was called Rapture. Seems kind of fitting. My train of thought was derailed as a stallion from behind me yelled, "I'm not a bad pony!", which was accompanied by a sharp pain to the back of my head. "Ow! That fucking hurt!" I yelled back as I swung around to face my assailant. All I could notice was the rage in his eyes before he swung at me again. I was prepared for this, though. I ducked underneath him and swung my wrench around, smashing it into the side of his head. I heard his skull crack as he fell limply to the ground. I bent down and look around his body for anything of use, which I did. The first two things were large hypodermics, one red and one blue. I stashed them inside the third thing I took off him, a belt to carry multiple tools with. Suddenly, I heard a filly's voice come from upstairs. It was hard to make out due to the blow to the head I had earned, but it was saying something about her daddy. I went up to the balcony to find a machine that looked like it was called "Gatherer's Garden". On the little table in front sat another red hypodermic, this one being a bit longer. I picked it up and took a look at it. Seeing nothing wrong with it, I jabbed it into my hoof and pressed on the plunger. Pain erupted throughout my body like no pain I had ever felt before. Veins of electricity ran up and down my front legs as I started backing up. Cadence's voice came on the radio, saying, "Calm down! Your genetic code is just being rewritten, everything will be fine!" Ironically, at that moment, I backed up against the railing of the balcony and keeled over the edge, letting out a loud scream the short way down. My world turned black before I even hit the ground. Chapter II: The Big DaddyI could finally open my eyes. My vision was blurry, and my body unresponsive, but I could at least see. The problem was, the thing that I saw in front of me were two splicers, both with lead pipes on their backs. One of them, the one who I attacked before, bent down in front of my face and said, "Well, well, well… looks like the little fishy had his cherry popped! Hopefully he still has some ADAM on him…" My vision went dark for a moment. It was then that I heard a long, deep wail coming from somewhere else in Rapture. As my sight returned, I saw the second splicer leave my field of vision as he said, "You hear that? Let's bugger off!" The splicer I could still see turned to his friend and yelled, "Weak! You're a weak little splicer, I don't know how you survived!" "This little fishy isn't worth tangling with a Big Daddy! That's how I survived!" argued the unseen splicer. I heard him run off as the first one said, "Yellow! Always have been and always will!" He then turned to me and said, "You're no better off with a metal daddy. See you floating around, fishy…" As the splicer ran off, my vision went again. When it came back, I heard a loud, rhythmic THOOM! of hoofsteps coming closer, as if the pony walking was wearing some sort of gear. Eventually, a monster beyond my greatest nightmares entered my view. The pony (if I could call it one) was at least three times bigger than any normal stallion. It wore a large helmet with eight portholes, all shining a bright yellow. It stopped halfway across the room and brought up its right front leg, the bottom half of it ending in a stumped drill. A hole opened up in the bottom of the drill, and the top half quickly popped out. It then looked around the room just as another pony walked into view. She was a yellow filly who wore a pink bow and a periwinkle dress with white frills, the dress being stained with blood. Her eyes slightly glowed a sickly green-yellow, and she held a giant needle in a bare mechanism attached to her leg. The mechanism has a tube going from the needle to a vial that held a pure red substance. The filly bent down to my level and said in a childish whisper, "Look, Mr. Bubbles, an angel! There's a ligh' comin' from his belly…" I took a deep breath and held it, keeping my eyes trained on the needle. The yellow filly stood back up and said, "Wait a sec… he's breathin'. Aw well. Don' worry, Mr. Bubbles, I know he'll be an angel soon…" The beast known as Mr. Bubbles gave a low growl as my vision faded into black and I slipped back into unconsciousness. When I came to, I could finally move my whole body, and my vision was clearer. The radio on the belt I "borrowed" from the splicer gave a whine, and I heard Cadence say, "Are you alright? The first plasmid is always as strong as a buck from an apple farmer, but it's worth it. Nothing's better than a hoof of lightning!" "A hoof of lightning?" I asked as I looked at the hoof I injected the hypodermic into. Sure enough, blue electricity ran up and down it. I picked the radio up and said, "How the hell do I work this thing?" There was another whine as Cadence told me, "Just aim at your target and will the bolt out of your hoof. Basically, think about firing it, and it will be fired. Now, would you kindly try firing at that switch on the wall." I looked back up and saw the broken control switch next to the door. I rose my hoof up, aiming as best as I could, and thought of the word fire. Instantly, my leg lit up and a bolt of electricity shot out. Sadly, I missed. I tried again and again, missing both times. However, on my fourth try, nothing happened. I looked back at my hoof to find that it had returned to normal. "Hey Cadence, where'd the stuff go?" I shouted, hoping my voice would reach the radio. Luckily, it did, as my friend called back, "Alright, do you have any EVE hypos?" I cocked my head. EVE hypo? Cadence took my silence as confusion, for she said, "It's a large blue vial with a hypodermic needle." I perked up and yelled, "Oh! Yeah, I have one of those! What do I do?" "First, stop yelling, I can hear you fine." said Cadence. "Alright, using an EVE hypo is simple. Stab it in and inject it." I was hoping that wasn't the answer. Yeah, I might have jabbed myself with the hypo (as they seem to be called) earlier, but that was different. Somehow. Nevertheless, I did what I was supposed to do. Truth be told, it wasn't that painful. I aimed at the panel once more and fired, hitting it this time. Electricity sparked around the switch, and the door opened into a glass tube. I trotted into the tunnel, looking around at the amazing sea life around me. However, there was one thing that looked eerily familiar… "Oh my Celestia, it's the airship…" I said aloud, and Cadence screamed back at me, "Would you kindly get out of there! The ship's going to crash into the tunnel!" I didn't need for her to speak twice. I ran as fast as I could down the tunnel, but the blimp was faster. It crashed right in front of me, letting the water pour in from the gaping hole. The water level started to rise as I took a deep breath and dived under the water. I swam through the cockpit of the blimp and came up gasping for air on the other side. "Damnit!" I yelled as I swam through the water, realizing my radio had now short circuited and was useless. However, the radio was the least of my problems. One of the doors exiting the tube made a loud BANG! as the rushing water beat against it. My only way out was the door in front of me. Using all the energy I had left, I swam hard to the door, making it inside the building just before the whole tube collapsed. "Well, I'm not going out that way…" I said to myself. Surprisingly, I heard Cadence say, "No, you aren't. Now, would you kindly pick up the radio to your left? You'll be needing it." I looked to the wall at my left and, sure enough, found a shortwave radio. At least I got my radio back. THUNK! A searing pain came from the back of my head as I felt cold steel connect with my skin. A splicer had managed to sneak up behind me and whack me with his pipe. I spun around as best I could and started to swing my wrench at him, missing each time. Cadence's voice yelled at me, "Zap him! Give him a one two punch! Zap him, then smack him!" I quickly raised my hoof up and screamed "Fire!" in my head. The electricity arced out and, at the moment of contact, it jumped all around the splicer's body. Not wasting a moment, I fluidly picked up his pipe and smacked him across the face with it. I cringed as his head flew off and his blood splattered everywhere. I had just killed a pony for the first time in my life. I dropped the pipe and said out loud, "Oh Celestia, what have I done…" My thoughts were ruined by the pain going all throughout my body and my vision dimming, the edges tiring fuzzy. I was dying. Looking to my right, I saw a few bottles of Applejack Daniel's. I grabbed them and chugged them all down. It made me feel better, but not by much. I grabbed one of the health packs on me and jabbed it into me. My world became brighter and sharper. I even heard a splicer yell out in the next room over, "Tell Sparkle… tell her that I'm sorry!" A flaming elevator suddenly dropped from the top of its shaft and crashed into the ground. What is it with things being on fire in here? I had no time to think about it. The same splicer that I heard from before had ran from the elevator room, on fire, straight at me. "You crazy fuck!" I yelled as I brought my hoof up again, aiming it at the fiery foe. I willed the lightning out of me, and… nothing happened. What the hell? It wasn't working! Time was up to think. The splicer jumped at me with his pipe, and I dodged out of the way just in time. I threw a volley of hits at him, landing each one of them. I have to admit, these splicers are tough when not stunned. He drew back from my last hit and charged again. I readied my wrench, but before he could reach me, the splicer crumpled to the ground. He had burned to death. The radio that was at my side whined, "Would you kindly take the elevator, Sharp Shot." I silently replied and trotted into the elevator, clicking the button with my hoof. The doors closed and the machine moved up to the shaft. I gave a sigh and slid to the floor, taking an EVE hypo and jabbing it in my leg. "Why are you helping me, Cadence? I mean, really. Where are you sending me?" I asked aloud. Cadence sighed and said, "I have a family. I really need to get them out of Rapture, but the splicers won't let me. I'm too weak on my own. They're in Neptune's Bounty. If you could reach them…" I sighed again. "Goddamnit, I knew you were using me for something…" "Listen," started my companion, "I know you feel like the unluckiest pony in Equestria, but you're the only hope of me being able to see my family. Please help me… just… please…" Great, now she made me feel guilty. I huffed as the elevator doors opened and said, "Fine. But, as soon as I help you get your family back, I want to get out of here." Cadence gave a cheer and said, "Deal! Now, head over to your right and kill that splicer." I stepped out and turned to my right to see a pink mare with a pink braided mane singing a lullaby to a carriage next to her. She had a foal! I couldn't kill her! I trotted closer and said, "Erm… excuse me, are you alright? It's really dangerous…" The mare turned to me to show the crazed expression in her scarlet eyes. I looked down to her carriage to see her hoof slide over a gun, which she quickly picked up and fired at me. "FUCK!" I shouted, dodging out of the way. I took my hoof and expertly fired a few bolts at her. Each one of them landed, sending her into serious convulsions. Eventually, the amount of electricity running through her shut her heart down, and she fell to the ground. I quietly trotted over to her, picking up the pistol and seeing it had six chambers for six rounds, all of the chambers filled. I looked back at my electric hoof and said, "Cadence, what more can you tell me about the plasmids?" "They changed everything." she said, "We couldn't handle the power, it destroyed us both physically and mentally. Best friends turned on one another. Foals were butchered in their cribs. Rapture went to hell." I looked back at my hoof. Was I going to turn corrupt as well? Nevertheless, I continued on my way. I had entered what seemed to be a restaurant of some sorts. To my left was a large sign that read, "Happy New Year 1959!" I ignored it and continued on, coming to a bathroom. There were two ways to go: Either the little colt's room or the little filly's room. I was about to head to the colt's room when my vision started to go staticky. A mare's voice from the filly's room whimpered, "I'm too spliced up… too spliced up… nopony wants me…" I headed over to the voice and saw the unbelievable. A ghost of a mare stood not even five feet from me, bending over the very real sink. She had no color, and her body was transparent. This couldn't be real. Then again, I've also seen a huge pony with a drill for a leg and my own hoof shoot lightning. As she faded away, I noticed a blinking red light. I walked over to it and saw a recording device just sitting there. My radio turned on and said, "If you give me some time, I can tell you who made it and what it's about, then play the message." "Alright, do your magic…" I joked, and Cadence set off on her work. It was a good five minutes before she said, "Aha! Got it!" I stood up quickly and said, "Well, play it!" My friend gave a little hum, and the radio gave a click. "This audio diary was made by a stallion named Concerto. It is entitled, 'Hole in the Bathroom Wall'. Message follows: 'Hey, Cherry Berry! You care to tell me why you've had a hole in the wall the size of a manticore coming out of your crapper going on three weeks now? Now, I ain't saying I'm Neighspeare, but I'm trying to run a respectable theater. I got working folk coming in from Port Neptune trying to catch a little diversion... and all they can think about is the stink coming out your shitter. Get it fixed.' Message end." "Hmmmm…" said Cadence, "maybe you should go check that out." I agreed and walked over to the other bathroom. Lo and behold, there was a giant hole where one of the toilets should have been. I climbed through it and found myself on top of a theater. Below was the yellow filly I had seen before. She was taking the needle on her leg and stabbing it into a corpse as the vial filled with red fluid. Cadence's voice, full of caution, whispered from the radio, "Would you kindly put away your pistol?" I did as I was told and argued, "But it's just a filly!" "You think that's a filly down there?" said Cadence, "Don't get tricked, she's a Little Sister. Somepony turned a sweet filly into a monster. Whatever you thought about right and wrong from home… it doesn't matter in this hellhole. The Little Sisters carry ADAM, which is that red stuff. It's the genetic material that pretty much runs this city. Everypony needs it, and everypony wants it…" Cadence was cut off by the door to the theater bursting open. A splicer stood there, a pistol in his mouth. He advanced onto the sister and was about to pistol whip her when she let out an ear piercing shriek. Cadence chuckled and said, "Daddy's coming home…" A low but menacing roar echoed throughout the room as the monster I had seen earlier, Mr. Bubbles, jumped down to the theater floor. However, the portholes on his helmet glowed a blood red. He took a desk and threw it at the splicer, who dodged it and returned fire, hitting Mr. Bubbles with a few bullets. It wasn't enough to stop him, however, as he charged at the splicer and grabbed him with his normal hoof, slamming him into the wall. He then lifted up his drill hoof, which was already fully extended, and drilled into the splicer's stomach. The splicer gave a shout as his innards twisted and turned until he was too weak to do anything but barely live. Mr. Bubbles then took the splicer and started smashing him against the glass, punching through it on the third hit. As the Little Sister and Mr. Bubbles walked away, Cadence said, "That right there is a Big Daddy. He protects her as she collects the ADAM from the dead bodies. I had just stared at the dead splicer and quietly said, "Holy shit, that was scary…" Chapter III: The Medical PavilionCHINK! The lock fell to the ground with a clatter as I put my wrench back on my utility belt. It's surprising how useful everyday items can be. I threw open the metal grate and took a right down to a short hallway, where I saw the shadow of a splicer projected against the wall. I peeked around the corner and saw the spliced mare looking in my direction. I quickly hid before she could notice I was there. Well, so much for useful… I injected myself with my last EVE hypo, which ensured three Electro Bolt shots. Quietly, I counted, "One, two, three!" before turning the corner and firing a bolt at the mare, hitting her directly in the back. She spasmed in her place as I ran up to her and ensured her death with a quick hit of my wrench. I didn't have much time to revel in my victory as a trash can flew by my face. There was another splicer! I turned to him and fired another bolt of electricity, missing him and hitting the wall behind him. I groaned and yelled out, "Oh, come on, this is fucking bullshit!" I couldn't take the chance of firing again in case there were more splicers ahead. As I tried to get my wrench, my magic accidentally grabbed the pistol. I swung it a few times in the air before realizing that it had a second, much better function. I brought it in front of me and aimed the iron sights right at the middle of the charging splicer's head. BANG! Blood splattered the wall behind him as I put a hole right in the middle of his forehead. I brought the barrel of the smoking weapon to my muzzle, blew on it, and said in my best cowboy accent, "This town here ain't big enough fer tha two of us!" My radio must've been on, because the next thing I heard was Cadence laughing hard. Once she had calmed down, she said, "That was, by far, the worst cowboy accent I have ever heard." I grumbled and looted the body, getting went on my way, going down the stairs in front of me. It wasn't long before I reached a two splicers looting a corpse, both of them standing in a river of water that came from a hole in the wall. An idea struck me. I raised my left hoof, and with my last shot of Electro Bolt, fired at the water. The effect was instantaneous. Both splicers convulsed in the stream, which had electric streaks jumping in and out of it. It wasn't long before they both died from the electrocution. As I stared at the two dead splicers with a wicked grin across my face, a realization hit me. Was I getting corrupted? I had just killed four ponies in a row, and I hadn't even hesitated in doing it! No, I thought to myself, they were going to kill me. Cadence's voice rang in my head. "…whatever you thought about right and wrong from home…it doesn't matter in this hellhole…" I shook the thoughts out of my head and trotted down the stairs, looting both the bodies. I got 7 pistol rounds from one splicer, an EVE hypo from both, and a net total of 28 bits. I reloaded my pistol, giving me six rounds in the chamber and six rounds for later, then injected my body with an EVE hypo. Jumping down the waterfall that was where the rest of the stairs were supposed to be, my radio suddenly yelled, "Look! On your right!" I looked to my right and saw one of the best sights I had seen in this city. A giant neon sign read, "Neptune's Bounty" in large, yellow letters. My quest was finally over. I could go home. I cantered over to the archway that led to my destination, but as soon as I got there, a metal grate slammed shut before me. Klaxons blared and red lights flashed as a mare's voice echoed, "Security alert in progress." I jumped back as something rose from the ground in front of me, and I yelped as my tail was singed by a burst of flame coming from the machine. "Damnit, Twilight cut us off from Neptune's Bounty!" yelled Cadence. "You've got no other choice, you have to get to Medical!" Well, looks like I'm not going to get home early… "Kill him!" yelled a pony from behind me. I quickly turned around to see four splicers running at me, two of them with pistols. I dived behind a nearby pillar just as one of the splicers fired his weapon off, hitting the pillar and sending bits of cement flying everywhere. Goddamn, the splicers don't give up. I sprinted from the pillar to behind the Vita Chamber in the room as a jet of fire nearly turned me into a cooked meal. CRASH! One of the splicers fired again, this time shattering the glass of the Vita Chamber. These splicers may not aim well, but they're getting better. I levitated my pistol from my belt and brought my hoof up, ready to kill again. I turned around the curved door of the Vita Chamber and emptied my pistol, killing three of the splicers and injuring the fourth, downing him. Damn, I was getting good at this. I walked up to the fourth splicer, who held his wounded shoulder as he whimpered. I grabbed him with my magic and yelled, "WHO SENT YOU!?" The splicer just cried some more and said, "JUST KILL ME! I CAN'T TAKE THIS PAIN!" "Tell me who sent you, and then I'll kill you. Wasn't gonna work any other way." I growled, dropping him. He looked around frantically before grabbing a shard of glass from the Vita Chamber. The splicer looked into my eyes and whispered, "Tell her… Sparkle… that I'm sorry…" before dragging the shard across his throat and ripping open his jugular. There was nothing I could've done. All these ponies keep dying without me doing anything, and it all seems to be connected to this Sparkle mare. I went to the other bodies and looted them, getting a total of two health hypos, 15 pistol rounds, bringing me up to 21 rounds, and 34 bits, which brought me up to 62 bits. I didn't dare touch the last splicer's body, though. I felt that he deserved his privacy. "What're you waiting for, get the hell out of there!" whined the radio. I took a moment to close the splicer's eyes, then ran off down the hallway that led to Medical. When I got there, the door had already been open. All I needed to do is get in, close the first bulkhead door, then open the second to Medical. SLAM! The door slammed shut before I could get inside. Was this going to be a theme for today? "Oh Luna," said Cadence, "you're trapped! I'm gonna try to override the door from here, just gimme a minute!" Behind me, a large TV screen flickered on behind three windows, showing a picture of the face of the mare who I saw in the bathysphere on they way here. She seemed a lot more angry this time, and it was prevalent in her voice. "So tell me, good stallion, which one of the bitches sent you? Was it the Hooviet timberwolves, or the Canterlot parasprites?" she droned. I stood up at the windows and said, "Wouldn't you like to know?" The mare chuckled and said, "Well, here's a little fact for you: Rapture isn't something for you to plunder, and I, Twilight Sparkle, am not one who can be slapped around by government muscle. On that note, goodbye. Forever." The TV shut off as splicers coming from every which way started to slam against the glass. With each blow, the glass and my mental stability cracked a little bit more. I backed up to the bulkhead and said, "C'mon, Cadence… open the door…" I heard her working away as she replied, "Just give me one more second…" CRASH! The windows shattered, and splicers started spilling into the room. I grabbed my wrench and yelled, "I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING SECOND, CADENCE!" The bulkhead finally opened, and I climbed inside and slammed it shut. I took a moment to catch my breath before opening the second bulkhead and entering into Medical. "You've finally met Twilight, the queen of Rapture. Isn't she a crazy bitch? Now, would you kindly find your way to an emergency exit?" I trotted across they foyer to behind the desk and found five bits, a health and EVE hypo, three pistol rounds, and an audio diary. This time, Cadence didn't need to do anything. The radio immediately picked up the frequency and began to speak to me. "This audio diary was made by a mare named Pinkie Pie. It is entitled, 'Released Today'. Message follows: 'Nurse Tenderheart said she'd release me today. Twilight didn't come to see me since the New Year's attack. Not once. But Tenderheart was very attentive. She told me that once the scar tissue was gone, she was going to fix me right up. Make me prettier than any girl I've ever seen. She's sweet all right… and so interested in my case.' Message end." So, Twilight had some connection with this Pinkie Pie mare… interesting. I went on my way, stopping at the nearby vending machine and emptying my wallet to fill up a stock of both hypos. As I finished shopping, Cadence came on the radio and said, "There's a door to your right that leads to the nearest emergency exit." I looked over and saw a broken security bot wedged between the door, stopping it from closing. I sighed and said, "Let's see how good I am at hacking…" After a few minutes, I had a working security bot flying by my side. I went into the room that the twisting hall led to and saw my prize ahead: an emergency exit. However, my troubles weren't over yet. A splicer from above me shouted, "Keep away from my patients!" followed by a gunshot. A mare toppled over the balcony and landed on the floor with a THUMP! My security bot flew up and fire its turret at the splicer, killing him. I followed the bot up the stairs, arriving at the emergency access switch. I gave it a magical tug, which rewarded me with another set of Klaxons and flashing red lights. The same mare's voice from earlier echoed, "Security alert in progress. Access limited for the time being. We appreciate your support." "Looks like you'll be needing Nurse Tenderheart's key if you're to use the emergency exit." Cadence calmly stated. "She runs the Medical Pavilion. Don't expect her to just give it to you like a good pony, though. She's not as nice as her name suggests. Doubt she's still a pony…" The door behind me opened, and I ran inside. How could she be calm?! The alarms would certainly attract the attention of splicers all around! THUNK! A splicer managed to hit me across the face while I was in thought. I quickly reacted, stunning him with an electric bolt and whacking him with my wrench. After looting his body and finding 8 bits, I ran down to the room at the end of the hall and, in one fluid motion, picked up the machine gun lying against the wall and slammed on the electric override switch. The Klaxons and lights shut off and the metal grate on the balcony slid open. I slid down the wall, let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding, and said to Cadence, "I'm never gonna go home, am I?"
Chapter I: Welcome to RaptureJust my fucking luck. I knew that I shouldn't of have had taken that flight. I never trusted flying at all. Oh no, I'd rather stay on the ground, where I can manipulate solid things with my magic. Now, I'm swimming in the middle of the ocean, my airship falling into the water in flaming pieces. Luckily, I seemed to of have crashed next to some sort of tower in the ocean. I managed to swim over to it, climbing up the steps as best I could with my wet pink mane in my face. As I finally made it to the top, I looked up and was taken by surprise at the awe-inspiring picture in front of me. The dark skies above made the tower in front of me seem like the base of operations for a Saturday morning cartoon's villain. As if on cue with my thoughts, a lone lightning bolt flashed behind the tower, showing me the dark entrance. Wanting to escape the rain, I fled indoors, where I was met with a mostly empty room. Mostly. In the center was an odd looking sphere that had a glass door that was open, as if it were waiting for me. Being the curious colt I am, I stepped inside, where I was awestruck yet again. The two sides of the sphere had a red fleece couch lining the side, and in front of me was a golden lever. I trotted up to it and pulled it, which was the biggest mistake of my life. THWHAM! I turned around to see the water rising above the glass door. This wasn't any random machine, this was a bathysphere! As I made this realization, a light outside caught my attention. A golden set of numbers reflected off of the bathysphere's light. 10 fathoms deep. Another sign signaled that I was 15 fathoms deep. More time passed by, and a third sign said I was 20 fathoms deep. However, before I could see any more signs, a projector screen rolled down in front of the window, playing what felt like an in-flight movie. There was an advertisement that read, "Fire at your hooves! Incinerate! Plasmids by Sparkle Industries." A second slide popped up not long after. It showed a picture of a mare leaning back in a large sofa chair. To the right of the screen read, "From the Desk of Sparkle." The screen switched yet again, but it was accompanied by a mare's voice. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a pony not entitled to the sweat of their brow? No, says the mare in Manehatten, it belongs to the poor. No, says the mare in Canterlot, it belongs to Celestia. No, says the mare in Hooviet Russia, it belongs to everypony. I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose Rapture." The movie stopped and the screen rolled up to show the most shocking thing my eyes would most likely ever see. A giant underwater city sat right in front of me. Whales swam around the tall skyscrapers (or were they waterscrapers?) and between the glass tubes that connected each of the buildings. The mare's voice continued on, saying, "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." Suddenly, the bathysphere turned towards a glass tunnel, where words lit up along to read, "All good things of this world flows into the city." When it reached the end, it stopped for a moment before rising up into a large room, where two ponies already stood. One of them was backing away from the other, who had two hooks fused to their front hooves. The first pony said in a voice on the edge of weeping, "P-please, just… just l-let me go! I have a f-family! D-don't… no… nonononoNONON- AAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH!" The second pony decided to lunge forward and shove both hooks into the chest cavity of the first, who was currently giving off a bloodcurdling scream. He continued to scream as the second pony drew one of the hooks up his body, and was finally silenced with a gurgle when the hook reached his jugular and ripped straight through it, exiting his lifeless husk through his bottom jaw. I backed away. What the fuck had I gotten myself into? I should have never pulled the lever! However, backing away did nothing, as I heard a raspy mare's voice say, "Ooooohhhh… is there somepony new to play with?" She had found me, and it was even clearer as the ceiling of the bathysphere started to have holes punctured in it by the pony's impromptu claws. This was it. This was how I was going to die. The scraping and ripping suddenly stopped. Maybe it was gone? My suspicions were confirmed as a mare's voice came from almost nowhere. "Could you kindly pick up that shortwave radio on the wall?" it asked, and I obliged. I levitated the radio to my mouth and said with a voice that betrayed my fear moments ago, "What… what happened?" "Well…" started the voice, "you somehow survived that airship crash. I don't know how you did it, but I've never been one to question luck. My name is Princess Cadence, and it's my goal to keep you surviving." Cadence. I had heard that name somewhere before, but where? Nevertheless, I put the radio to my mouth again and said, "Name's Sharp Shot, now can you please tell me what the hell happened here?" "No time to talk, you have to keep moving. We need to get you to higher ground. Now, just take a deep breath and take a step out of the bathysphere." The door to the bathysphere opened, and I quickly ran outside. The door shut behind me, and the vessel sunk back underwater. A chilling thought hit me: What if the pony wasn't gone? What if it was here, ready to kill me? Again, Cadence chimed in at just the right time. "We need to draw that splicer out, but you absolutely have to trust me. Understand?" I nodded and said, "Yep. So, where do I go?" "Take a left. You should find the rest of the way by yourself." I did as I was told, which led me to enter what looked like a baggage claim area. I didn't stroll very far before a bright spotlit turned on, centering on the splicer from earlier. It hissed and started to climb up the wall as Cadence shouted, "Hah! How do you like that, splicer!?" I also gave a victory shout before the mare said to me, "Alright, would you kindly find something like a crowbar to fight with? These damn splicers are everywhere…" "Sure thing." I replied. I hopped over a fallen pillar and found a large, red wrench. Good, this'll keep me alive. I grabbed the wrench with my magic and swung it as hard as I could in front of me, accidentally hitting a piece of a pillar stuck under a door. The wrench fell with a loud CLANG! as I jumped back and quickly yelled, "Holy shit!" Eventually, I figured out what I had done, and I climbed underneath the door just in time to see a flaming couch barrel down the stairs. I yelled again and jumped out of the way, just barely missing the couch. After I had caught my breath, I slowly walked up the stairs, not knowing what was up there. When I reached the top, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were windows poking out into the ocean as if it were an everyday thing. Above the giant door in front of me read, "Welcome to Rapture". So, this place was called Rapture. Seems kind of fitting. My train of thought was derailed as a stallion from behind me yelled, "I'm not a bad pony!", which was accompanied by a sharp pain to the back of my head. "Ow! That fucking hurt!" I yelled back as I swung around to face my assailant. All I could notice was the rage in his eyes before he swung at me again. I was prepared for this, though. I ducked underneath him and swung my wrench around, smashing it into the side of his head. I heard his skull crack as he fell limply to the ground. I bent down and look around his body for anything of use, which I did. The first two things were large hypodermics, one red and one blue. I stashed them inside the third thing I took off him, a belt to carry multiple tools with. Suddenly, I heard a filly's voice come from upstairs. It was hard to make out due to the blow to the head I had earned, but it was saying something about her daddy. I went up to the balcony to find a machine that looked like it was called "Gatherer's Garden". On the little table in front sat another red hypodermic, this one being a bit longer. I picked it up and took a look at it. Seeing nothing wrong with it, I jabbed it into my hoof and pressed on the plunger. Pain erupted throughout my body like no pain I had ever felt before. Veins of electricity ran up and down my front legs as I started backing up. Cadence's voice came on the radio, saying, "Calm down! Your genetic code is just being rewritten, everything will be fine!" Ironically, at that moment, I backed up against the railing of the balcony and keeled over the edge, letting out a loud scream the short way down. My world turned black before I even hit the ground.
Chapter II: The Big DaddyI could finally open my eyes. My vision was blurry, and my body unresponsive, but I could at least see. The problem was, the thing that I saw in front of me were two splicers, both with lead pipes on their backs. One of them, the one who I attacked before, bent down in front of my face and said, "Well, well, well… looks like the little fishy had his cherry popped! Hopefully he still has some ADAM on him…" My vision went dark for a moment. It was then that I heard a long, deep wail coming from somewhere else in Rapture. As my sight returned, I saw the second splicer leave my field of vision as he said, "You hear that? Let's bugger off!" The splicer I could still see turned to his friend and yelled, "Weak! You're a weak little splicer, I don't know how you survived!" "This little fishy isn't worth tangling with a Big Daddy! That's how I survived!" argued the unseen splicer. I heard him run off as the first one said, "Yellow! Always have been and always will!" He then turned to me and said, "You're no better off with a metal daddy. See you floating around, fishy…" As the splicer ran off, my vision went again. When it came back, I heard a loud, rhythmic THOOM! of hoofsteps coming closer, as if the pony walking was wearing some sort of gear. Eventually, a monster beyond my greatest nightmares entered my view. The pony (if I could call it one) was at least three times bigger than any normal stallion. It wore a large helmet with eight portholes, all shining a bright yellow. It stopped halfway across the room and brought up its right front leg, the bottom half of it ending in a stumped drill. A hole opened up in the bottom of the drill, and the top half quickly popped out. It then looked around the room just as another pony walked into view. She was a yellow filly who wore a pink bow and a periwinkle dress with white frills, the dress being stained with blood. Her eyes slightly glowed a sickly green-yellow, and she held a giant needle in a bare mechanism attached to her leg. The mechanism has a tube going from the needle to a vial that held a pure red substance. The filly bent down to my level and said in a childish whisper, "Look, Mr. Bubbles, an angel! There's a ligh' comin' from his belly…" I took a deep breath and held it, keeping my eyes trained on the needle. The yellow filly stood back up and said, "Wait a sec… he's breathin'. Aw well. Don' worry, Mr. Bubbles, I know he'll be an angel soon…" The beast known as Mr. Bubbles gave a low growl as my vision faded into black and I slipped back into unconsciousness. When I came to, I could finally move my whole body, and my vision was clearer. The radio on the belt I "borrowed" from the splicer gave a whine, and I heard Cadence say, "Are you alright? The first plasmid is always as strong as a buck from an apple farmer, but it's worth it. Nothing's better than a hoof of lightning!" "A hoof of lightning?" I asked as I looked at the hoof I injected the hypodermic into. Sure enough, blue electricity ran up and down it. I picked the radio up and said, "How the hell do I work this thing?" There was another whine as Cadence told me, "Just aim at your target and will the bolt out of your hoof. Basically, think about firing it, and it will be fired. Now, would you kindly try firing at that switch on the wall." I looked back up and saw the broken control switch next to the door. I rose my hoof up, aiming as best as I could, and thought of the word fire. Instantly, my leg lit up and a bolt of electricity shot out. Sadly, I missed. I tried again and again, missing both times. However, on my fourth try, nothing happened. I looked back at my hoof to find that it had returned to normal. "Hey Cadence, where'd the stuff go?" I shouted, hoping my voice would reach the radio. Luckily, it did, as my friend called back, "Alright, do you have any EVE hypos?" I cocked my head. EVE hypo? Cadence took my silence as confusion, for she said, "It's a large blue vial with a hypodermic needle." I perked up and yelled, "Oh! Yeah, I have one of those! What do I do?" "First, stop yelling, I can hear you fine." said Cadence. "Alright, using an EVE hypo is simple. Stab it in and inject it." I was hoping that wasn't the answer. Yeah, I might have jabbed myself with the hypo (as they seem to be called) earlier, but that was different. Somehow. Nevertheless, I did what I was supposed to do. Truth be told, it wasn't that painful. I aimed at the panel once more and fired, hitting it this time. Electricity sparked around the switch, and the door opened into a glass tube. I trotted into the tunnel, looking around at the amazing sea life around me. However, there was one thing that looked eerily familiar… "Oh my Celestia, it's the airship…" I said aloud, and Cadence screamed back at me, "Would you kindly get out of there! The ship's going to crash into the tunnel!" I didn't need for her to speak twice. I ran as fast as I could down the tunnel, but the blimp was faster. It crashed right in front of me, letting the water pour in from the gaping hole. The water level started to rise as I took a deep breath and dived under the water. I swam through the cockpit of the blimp and came up gasping for air on the other side. "Damnit!" I yelled as I swam through the water, realizing my radio had now short circuited and was useless. However, the radio was the least of my problems. One of the doors exiting the tube made a loud BANG! as the rushing water beat against it. My only way out was the door in front of me. Using all the energy I had left, I swam hard to the door, making it inside the building just before the whole tube collapsed. "Well, I'm not going out that way…" I said to myself. Surprisingly, I heard Cadence say, "No, you aren't. Now, would you kindly pick up the radio to your left? You'll be needing it." I looked to the wall at my left and, sure enough, found a shortwave radio. At least I got my radio back. THUNK! A searing pain came from the back of my head as I felt cold steel connect with my skin. A splicer had managed to sneak up behind me and whack me with his pipe. I spun around as best I could and started to swing my wrench at him, missing each time. Cadence's voice yelled at me, "Zap him! Give him a one two punch! Zap him, then smack him!" I quickly raised my hoof up and screamed "Fire!" in my head. The electricity arced out and, at the moment of contact, it jumped all around the splicer's body. Not wasting a moment, I fluidly picked up his pipe and smacked him across the face with it. I cringed as his head flew off and his blood splattered everywhere. I had just killed a pony for the first time in my life. I dropped the pipe and said out loud, "Oh Celestia, what have I done…" My thoughts were ruined by the pain going all throughout my body and my vision dimming, the edges tiring fuzzy. I was dying. Looking to my right, I saw a few bottles of Applejack Daniel's. I grabbed them and chugged them all down. It made me feel better, but not by much. I grabbed one of the health packs on me and jabbed it into me. My world became brighter and sharper. I even heard a splicer yell out in the next room over, "Tell Sparkle… tell her that I'm sorry!" A flaming elevator suddenly dropped from the top of its shaft and crashed into the ground. What is it with things being on fire in here? I had no time to think about it. The same splicer that I heard from before had ran from the elevator room, on fire, straight at me. "You crazy fuck!" I yelled as I brought my hoof up again, aiming it at the fiery foe. I willed the lightning out of me, and… nothing happened. What the hell? It wasn't working! Time was up to think. The splicer jumped at me with his pipe, and I dodged out of the way just in time. I threw a volley of hits at him, landing each one of them. I have to admit, these splicers are tough when not stunned. He drew back from my last hit and charged again. I readied my wrench, but before he could reach me, the splicer crumpled to the ground. He had burned to death. The radio that was at my side whined, "Would you kindly take the elevator, Sharp Shot." I silently replied and trotted into the elevator, clicking the button with my hoof. The doors closed and the machine moved up to the shaft. I gave a sigh and slid to the floor, taking an EVE hypo and jabbing it in my leg. "Why are you helping me, Cadence? I mean, really. Where are you sending me?" I asked aloud. Cadence sighed and said, "I have a family. I really need to get them out of Rapture, but the splicers won't let me. I'm too weak on my own. They're in Neptune's Bounty. If you could reach them…" I sighed again. "Goddamnit, I knew you were using me for something…" "Listen," started my companion, "I know you feel like the unluckiest pony in Equestria, but you're the only hope of me being able to see my family. Please help me… just… please…" Great, now she made me feel guilty. I huffed as the elevator doors opened and said, "Fine. But, as soon as I help you get your family back, I want to get out of here." Cadence gave a cheer and said, "Deal! Now, head over to your right and kill that splicer." I stepped out and turned to my right to see a pink mare with a pink braided mane singing a lullaby to a carriage next to her. She had a foal! I couldn't kill her! I trotted closer and said, "Erm… excuse me, are you alright? It's really dangerous…" The mare turned to me to show the crazed expression in her scarlet eyes. I looked down to her carriage to see her hoof slide over a gun, which she quickly picked up and fired at me. "FUCK!" I shouted, dodging out of the way. I took my hoof and expertly fired a few bolts at her. Each one of them landed, sending her into serious convulsions. Eventually, the amount of electricity running through her shut her heart down, and she fell to the ground. I quietly trotted over to her, picking up the pistol and seeing it had six chambers for six rounds, all of the chambers filled. I looked back at my electric hoof and said, "Cadence, what more can you tell me about the plasmids?" "They changed everything." she said, "We couldn't handle the power, it destroyed us both physically and mentally. Best friends turned on one another. Foals were butchered in their cribs. Rapture went to hell." I looked back at my hoof. Was I going to turn corrupt as well? Nevertheless, I continued on my way. I had entered what seemed to be a restaurant of some sorts. To my left was a large sign that read, "Happy New Year 1959!" I ignored it and continued on, coming to a bathroom. There were two ways to go: Either the little colt's room or the little filly's room. I was about to head to the colt's room when my vision started to go staticky. A mare's voice from the filly's room whimpered, "I'm too spliced up… too spliced up… nopony wants me…" I headed over to the voice and saw the unbelievable. A ghost of a mare stood not even five feet from me, bending over the very real sink. She had no color, and her body was transparent. This couldn't be real. Then again, I've also seen a huge pony with a drill for a leg and my own hoof shoot lightning. As she faded away, I noticed a blinking red light. I walked over to it and saw a recording device just sitting there. My radio turned on and said, "If you give me some time, I can tell you who made it and what it's about, then play the message." "Alright, do your magic…" I joked, and Cadence set off on her work. It was a good five minutes before she said, "Aha! Got it!" I stood up quickly and said, "Well, play it!" My friend gave a little hum, and the radio gave a click. "This audio diary was made by a stallion named Concerto. It is entitled, 'Hole in the Bathroom Wall'. Message follows: 'Hey, Cherry Berry! You care to tell me why you've had a hole in the wall the size of a manticore coming out of your crapper going on three weeks now? Now, I ain't saying I'm Neighspeare, but I'm trying to run a respectable theater. I got working folk coming in from Port Neptune trying to catch a little diversion... and all they can think about is the stink coming out your shitter. Get it fixed.' Message end." "Hmmmm…" said Cadence, "maybe you should go check that out." I agreed and walked over to the other bathroom. Lo and behold, there was a giant hole where one of the toilets should have been. I climbed through it and found myself on top of a theater. Below was the yellow filly I had seen before. She was taking the needle on her leg and stabbing it into a corpse as the vial filled with red fluid. Cadence's voice, full of caution, whispered from the radio, "Would you kindly put away your pistol?" I did as I was told and argued, "But it's just a filly!" "You think that's a filly down there?" said Cadence, "Don't get tricked, she's a Little Sister. Somepony turned a sweet filly into a monster. Whatever you thought about right and wrong from home… it doesn't matter in this hellhole. The Little Sisters carry ADAM, which is that red stuff. It's the genetic material that pretty much runs this city. Everypony needs it, and everypony wants it…" Cadence was cut off by the door to the theater bursting open. A splicer stood there, a pistol in his mouth. He advanced onto the sister and was about to pistol whip her when she let out an ear piercing shriek. Cadence chuckled and said, "Daddy's coming home…" A low but menacing roar echoed throughout the room as the monster I had seen earlier, Mr. Bubbles, jumped down to the theater floor. However, the portholes on his helmet glowed a blood red. He took a desk and threw it at the splicer, who dodged it and returned fire, hitting Mr. Bubbles with a few bullets. It wasn't enough to stop him, however, as he charged at the splicer and grabbed him with his normal hoof, slamming him into the wall. He then lifted up his drill hoof, which was already fully extended, and drilled into the splicer's stomach. The splicer gave a shout as his innards twisted and turned until he was too weak to do anything but barely live. Mr. Bubbles then took the splicer and started smashing him against the glass, punching through it on the third hit. As the Little Sister and Mr. Bubbles walked away, Cadence said, "That right there is a Big Daddy. He protects her as she collects the ADAM from the dead bodies. I had just stared at the dead splicer and quietly said, "Holy shit, that was scary…"
Chapter III: The Medical PavilionCHINK! The lock fell to the ground with a clatter as I put my wrench back on my utility belt. It's surprising how useful everyday items can be. I threw open the metal grate and took a right down to a short hallway, where I saw the shadow of a splicer projected against the wall. I peeked around the corner and saw the spliced mare looking in my direction. I quickly hid before she could notice I was there. Well, so much for useful… I injected myself with my last EVE hypo, which ensured three Electro Bolt shots. Quietly, I counted, "One, two, three!" before turning the corner and firing a bolt at the mare, hitting her directly in the back. She spasmed in her place as I ran up to her and ensured her death with a quick hit of my wrench. I didn't have much time to revel in my victory as a trash can flew by my face. There was another splicer! I turned to him and fired another bolt of electricity, missing him and hitting the wall behind him. I groaned and yelled out, "Oh, come on, this is fucking bullshit!" I couldn't take the chance of firing again in case there were more splicers ahead. As I tried to get my wrench, my magic accidentally grabbed the pistol. I swung it a few times in the air before realizing that it had a second, much better function. I brought it in front of me and aimed the iron sights right at the middle of the charging splicer's head. BANG! Blood splattered the wall behind him as I put a hole right in the middle of his forehead. I brought the barrel of the smoking weapon to my muzzle, blew on it, and said in my best cowboy accent, "This town here ain't big enough fer tha two of us!" My radio must've been on, because the next thing I heard was Cadence laughing hard. Once she had calmed down, she said, "That was, by far, the worst cowboy accent I have ever heard." I grumbled and looted the body, getting went on my way, going down the stairs in front of me. It wasn't long before I reached a two splicers looting a corpse, both of them standing in a river of water that came from a hole in the wall. An idea struck me. I raised my left hoof, and with my last shot of Electro Bolt, fired at the water. The effect was instantaneous. Both splicers convulsed in the stream, which had electric streaks jumping in and out of it. It wasn't long before they both died from the electrocution. As I stared at the two dead splicers with a wicked grin across my face, a realization hit me. Was I getting corrupted? I had just killed four ponies in a row, and I hadn't even hesitated in doing it! No, I thought to myself, they were going to kill me. Cadence's voice rang in my head. "…whatever you thought about right and wrong from home…it doesn't matter in this hellhole…" I shook the thoughts out of my head and trotted down the stairs, looting both the bodies. I got 7 pistol rounds from one splicer, an EVE hypo from both, and a net total of 28 bits. I reloaded my pistol, giving me six rounds in the chamber and six rounds for later, then injected my body with an EVE hypo. Jumping down the waterfall that was where the rest of the stairs were supposed to be, my radio suddenly yelled, "Look! On your right!" I looked to my right and saw one of the best sights I had seen in this city. A giant neon sign read, "Neptune's Bounty" in large, yellow letters. My quest was finally over. I could go home. I cantered over to the archway that led to my destination, but as soon as I got there, a metal grate slammed shut before me. Klaxons blared and red lights flashed as a mare's voice echoed, "Security alert in progress." I jumped back as something rose from the ground in front of me, and I yelped as my tail was singed by a burst of flame coming from the machine. "Damnit, Twilight cut us off from Neptune's Bounty!" yelled Cadence. "You've got no other choice, you have to get to Medical!" Well, looks like I'm not going to get home early… "Kill him!" yelled a pony from behind me. I quickly turned around to see four splicers running at me, two of them with pistols. I dived behind a nearby pillar just as one of the splicers fired his weapon off, hitting the pillar and sending bits of cement flying everywhere. Goddamn, the splicers don't give up. I sprinted from the pillar to behind the Vita Chamber in the room as a jet of fire nearly turned me into a cooked meal. CRASH! One of the splicers fired again, this time shattering the glass of the Vita Chamber. These splicers may not aim well, but they're getting better. I levitated my pistol from my belt and brought my hoof up, ready to kill again. I turned around the curved door of the Vita Chamber and emptied my pistol, killing three of the splicers and injuring the fourth, downing him. Damn, I was getting good at this. I walked up to the fourth splicer, who held his wounded shoulder as he whimpered. I grabbed him with my magic and yelled, "WHO SENT YOU!?" The splicer just cried some more and said, "JUST KILL ME! I CAN'T TAKE THIS PAIN!" "Tell me who sent you, and then I'll kill you. Wasn't gonna work any other way." I growled, dropping him. He looked around frantically before grabbing a shard of glass from the Vita Chamber. The splicer looked into my eyes and whispered, "Tell her… Sparkle… that I'm sorry…" before dragging the shard across his throat and ripping open his jugular. There was nothing I could've done. All these ponies keep dying without me doing anything, and it all seems to be connected to this Sparkle mare. I went to the other bodies and looted them, getting a total of two health hypos, 15 pistol rounds, bringing me up to 21 rounds, and 34 bits, which brought me up to 62 bits. I didn't dare touch the last splicer's body, though. I felt that he deserved his privacy. "What're you waiting for, get the hell out of there!" whined the radio. I took a moment to close the splicer's eyes, then ran off down the hallway that led to Medical. When I got there, the door had already been open. All I needed to do is get in, close the first bulkhead door, then open the second to Medical. SLAM! The door slammed shut before I could get inside. Was this going to be a theme for today? "Oh Luna," said Cadence, "you're trapped! I'm gonna try to override the door from here, just gimme a minute!" Behind me, a large TV screen flickered on behind three windows, showing a picture of the face of the mare who I saw in the bathysphere on they way here. She seemed a lot more angry this time, and it was prevalent in her voice. "So tell me, good stallion, which one of the bitches sent you? Was it the Hooviet timberwolves, or the Canterlot parasprites?" she droned. I stood up at the windows and said, "Wouldn't you like to know?" The mare chuckled and said, "Well, here's a little fact for you: Rapture isn't something for you to plunder, and I, Twilight Sparkle, am not one who can be slapped around by government muscle. On that note, goodbye. Forever." The TV shut off as splicers coming from every which way started to slam against the glass. With each blow, the glass and my mental stability cracked a little bit more. I backed up to the bulkhead and said, "C'mon, Cadence… open the door…" I heard her working away as she replied, "Just give me one more second…" CRASH! The windows shattered, and splicers started spilling into the room. I grabbed my wrench and yelled, "I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING SECOND, CADENCE!" The bulkhead finally opened, and I climbed inside and slammed it shut. I took a moment to catch my breath before opening the second bulkhead and entering into Medical. "You've finally met Twilight, the queen of Rapture. Isn't she a crazy bitch? Now, would you kindly find your way to an emergency exit?" I trotted across they foyer to behind the desk and found five bits, a health and EVE hypo, three pistol rounds, and an audio diary. This time, Cadence didn't need to do anything. The radio immediately picked up the frequency and began to speak to me. "This audio diary was made by a mare named Pinkie Pie. It is entitled, 'Released Today'. Message follows: 'Nurse Tenderheart said she'd release me today. Twilight didn't come to see me since the New Year's attack. Not once. But Tenderheart was very attentive. She told me that once the scar tissue was gone, she was going to fix me right up. Make me prettier than any girl I've ever seen. She's sweet all right… and so interested in my case.' Message end." So, Twilight had some connection with this Pinkie Pie mare… interesting. I went on my way, stopping at the nearby vending machine and emptying my wallet to fill up a stock of both hypos. As I finished shopping, Cadence came on the radio and said, "There's a door to your right that leads to the nearest emergency exit." I looked over and saw a broken security bot wedged between the door, stopping it from closing. I sighed and said, "Let's see how good I am at hacking…" After a few minutes, I had a working security bot flying by my side. I went into the room that the twisting hall led to and saw my prize ahead: an emergency exit. However, my troubles weren't over yet. A splicer from above me shouted, "Keep away from my patients!" followed by a gunshot. A mare toppled over the balcony and landed on the floor with a THUMP! My security bot flew up and fire its turret at the splicer, killing him. I followed the bot up the stairs, arriving at the emergency access switch. I gave it a magical tug, which rewarded me with another set of Klaxons and flashing red lights. The same mare's voice from earlier echoed, "Security alert in progress. Access limited for the time being. We appreciate your support." "Looks like you'll be needing Nurse Tenderheart's key if you're to use the emergency exit." Cadence calmly stated. "She runs the Medical Pavilion. Don't expect her to just give it to you like a good pony, though. She's not as nice as her name suggests. Doubt she's still a pony…" The door behind me opened, and I ran inside. How could she be calm?! The alarms would certainly attract the attention of splicers all around! THUNK! A splicer managed to hit me across the face while I was in thought. I quickly reacted, stunning him with an electric bolt and whacking him with my wrench. After looting his body and finding 8 bits, I ran down to the room at the end of the hall and, in one fluid motion, picked up the machine gun lying against the wall and slammed on the electric override switch. The Klaxons and lights shut off and the metal grate on the balcony slid open. I slid down the wall, let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding, and said to Cadence, "I'm never gonna go home, am I?"
