Saturn Tower, main office
What exactly had happened? Trent Arnold didn't have an answer to that question as he stared out the window of his office in the top floor of Saturn Tower. The last couple days had been very strange indeed. While Albert and Claire had apparently succeeded in developing a new generator for Rapture, he would've preferred if both of them had lived. Rapture was short on capable or even remotely functioning citizens as of late and losing two more lucid subordinates was more than a small inconvenience. He turned his back away from the oddly bright sunlight filtering down from the surface, the light that shouldn't have made him caste a shadow in his office.
Trent sat back at his desk. Not a tall man, the lawyer was originally invited to the city of Rapture decades ago by Andrew Ryan himself. Ryan's dream of a perfect economy required as little law as possible but with similar representation on the surface if only for appearance's sake. Enter Trent Arnold, failed attourney. Arnold's career in practicing law looked promising at first until he actually put what he learned into practice. In school, he'd been at the top of his class, an excellent student. In the courtroom, his lack of presence, shallow mannerisms and tendancy to overlook details led him to lose many cases both as prosecution and defense. Like many, Rapture had been a second chance for Trent arnold.
Rapture, as Ryan envisoned it had been entirely led by the captains of its industries. Business owners made the rules, apart from that it was almost martial law in the streets. Lack of a justice system meant Trent wouldn't find work easily and so, until the city descended into anarchy, Trent had enjoyed the rarest of privelages in Rapture: he didn't have to work.
Ryan had kept Trent Arnold as his personal judicial advisor, a position which required nothing at all. Technically still under Ryan's employ, he happily collected a paycheck and looked over the occaisional claim that came to his office. That is, until the civil war happened.
Trent tapped the intercom switch at his desk and picked up the speaker. "Attention my fellow citizens. I'm pleased to inform you that the new generator is up and running. Adequate power will be supplied to all your homes and repairs to our fair city will commence shortly. Do not be alarmed at the subtle changes in environment, everything is under control." he set the microphone down and flipped a switch on his desk. A row of monitors descended from the cieling by way of a motorized arm. Each one displayed the live feed from a security camera somewhere in the city. Some of the screens showed only static, their cameras being destroyed. Automated security drones would repair them in time, until then he had to settle with the display he had.
One of the security cameras showed a creature hovering outside a hallway. Trent examined the feed for a moment. It appeared to be a seahorse only larger. Strange, perhaps an ADAM-related mutation? This might be something he'd have to look into. It could explain why their environment seemed to be abnormal.
Trent had survived the civil war in Rapture, the vendetta between Fontaine and Ryan and the city's occupation by Dr. Lamb. He'd done so by being cautious and having a plan ahead of time. Now, he was in control of the city's security systems essentially making him the ruler of Rapture. He had plans for the city, big plans and to accomplish them he needed things to hold together a little longer. This meant more ADAM and more materials. Hopefully, his latest project would help him accomplish both those goals. He closed the blinds on his office with a little telekinetic ability of his own. The room became dark and Trent Arnold sat there alone, watching the monitors.
"Albert... Albert..." the voice called out. Claire's voice, Albert just barely recognized her. His head was fuzzy, he felt groggy and cold, like he'd been damp recently and dried off too quickly. He struggled to open his eyes as he lay on his back, trying to remember what happened.
"Albert, wake up." Claire said again. He opened his eyes and saw Claire standing over him.
"Always wanted to wake up to you... not exactly like this though." he said with a grin.
She scoffed. "You're disgusting. Get up, you've seriously got to see this." Claire helped him to his feet. The ground beneath him felt cool, almost unstable. What greeted him when he finally stood made him think he was still dreaming.
"What... what is this? Where are we?" he asked.
"This is Seaquestria." Claire answered. Before them was an enormous valley, an oceanic trench but with something different about it. It didn't stretch high enough, in fact they could see clearly over it and the seafloor was illuminated. The walls of the trench were multi-colored with spaces in between them at different intervals, almost like buildings. All throughout the ravine were brightly-colored creatures that appeared to be giant seahorses. They swam at all levels of the trench and darted in and around the buildings. Luminescent algae, sponges and shells adorned the buildings in a decorative fashion.
"We both nearly drowned when the Stepdaddy brought down that tunnel. The Seaponies rescued us and brought us here. We're in a special pressurized air-pocket they made for us."
Albert was baffled as he watched the creatures. Even from a distance, they seemed to interact with each other in ways that shouldn't be possible.
"Sea... ponies?" he asked.
"Yes, this is their city, a few miles from Rapture. I think... I think that our work with the new generator might've accidentally teleported us here, the whole city." As Claire explained, a green seapony descended from above the bubble in front of them.
"Ah, I see your friend's awake. Welcome to Sequestria! Nice place huh?" the seapony greeted him.
Albert, still baffled, nodded slowly. "Yes... very nice."
"You'll have to excuse us Slipstream, we're not used to seeing... well, anything like this."
Slipstream chuckled. "I can tell. You two are a pretty rare sight yourself but then again, trouble is usually easy to see no matter what form its in so I'm happy we were able to help you both out."
"Oh, Slipstream, this is Albert. Albert, Slipstream and his friends rescued us."
"Thank you..." Albert said, still trying to comprehend the idea of talking undersea life
"No problem. So, you two are from that new complex that showed up past the Everflow Forest?" Slipstream asked.
"Yes, we call it Rapture. It's a city of sorts." Claire explained.
"A city built on the seabed for creatures that filter oxygen from the air? Seems kind of silly to me. How long did it take you to build it?"
"We didn't exactly build it there... it was built on the seafloor of another world, another planet, Earth."
Slipstream quirked an eyebrow. "Another planet? That's amazing. Are there more 'Raptures' out there?"
Albert shook his head. "I really hope not." he said mourfully, thinking back to everything that had happened in Rapture.
Claire quickly picked up his answer. "What he means is, our city is special. It's the only one of its kind."
"I see... my friends and I thought it could be Canterlantis when we first saw it but something told me it was something different. We don't get much contact from the surface dwellers so we figured it could be anything." Slipstream said, looking out into the distance.
There was a long pause. Slipstream seemed to consider something, at least it looked like that to Albert "Well, I suppose you two will want to be getting back now to Rapture?" he finally said.
Claire approached the bubble's edge. "No! No, we don't want to go back."
Albert was shocked to hear her say that. "Claire, what are you talking about? We have to go back."
"Albert, this is our chance to escape Rapture! We can start over right here in Sequestria! Or better yet, the surface of a new world! What if there are people on the surface, a whole new civilization?" Claire asked as she ran over to Albert.
Slipstream got to the edge of the bubble himself. "Not to interrupt but I'm pretty sure nothing like you guys is up on the surface. Not that I'm there all too often but from what we've seen... whatever you guys are, you're kind of exclusive to your 'Rapture' on this world."
Albet held Claire in his arms. "We're humans and we have to get back to our city. Claire, what about saving Rapture? All those people, all those years of research? We can't let it all go down the drain." he said as she looked up at him.
"What about Trent?" she asked.
"Trent doesn't know we're alive. We can get back to the lab, get more CURE made up and get it distributed using the new reactor's power. We stay the course." Albert said.
"Okay. You're right, we have to get back." Claire nodded.
"I was right; you two are in deep trouble. I knew that when I saw that dark-looking monster after you." Slipstream said, looking back at them both.
"The Stepdaddy." Claire said.
"Well, I spread the word about our 'new guests' while you were both out cold. I guess some ponies will be disappointed it's not Canterlantis but I'm sure they'll be interested in your Rapture just the same. There's even some ponies from the surface that are on their way to check it out. We'll get you both back to your city, don't you worry." Slipstream told them, smiling as he did so.