Chapter VII: Old Friends, New Friends
The improvised hideaway/security hub was crammed full of humming machinery, along with enough clusters of glowing crystals to power them. Though it may have been an unused storage unit when she found it, Twilight had turned the inconspicuous space into a fully functional, completely undetectable safe house. It wasn’t a huge room, but it was a great deal bigger than her cell had been.
“And this place even has a real bed!” Twilight said to herself cheerfully, concluding the unwelcome reminisce of her time as a prisoner. The busy mare didn’t have time to linger on the skant amounts of good luck she came by. She squeezed her way across the packed room to its primary source of light; a series of floating display holograms. The projected images gave Twilight eyes all over Rapture, and a quick scan was all it took to check the progress of her old Ponyville friends.
They were a big part of Twilight’s recent fortunes, too. She knew it well, and felt a deep guilt for being happy they were stuck in such an awful place, but she also knew it was necessary if she wanted to fix things. Whether they’d forgive her was yet to be seen.
“Let’s see, what is everypony up to?” Twilight said, speaking out loud again. It was a known habit of Twilight’s to speak to herself, ever since she was a filly. Spending the better part of a year alone, however, had only encouraged the compulsion's return. “Oh! Looks like Fluttershy is finally up and moving... and Rarity’s drawing close to the first Element!” Her hooves clicked together excitedly while she watched her friends success eagerly.
On the glowing display, Twilight could see the white unicorn was well on her way to the shopping district. Rarity would have the Element hidden there in no time. “If she can resist her urge to shop, anyway, hehe!” Twilight giggled manically, already scanning the other displays for the rest of her friends and spotting an orange mare sleeping beneath an overgrown bush. “Hmm, Applejack is still passed out... good thing Pinkie positioned her foreleg away from her body; don't want any accidental burns! Wait, where is Pinkie Pie anyway?”
Twilight channeled her magic into the crystals below the floating images and flicked through all the cameras in the area, but found no sign of the pink party animal. “That’s odd, but I can’t say I’m surprised.” She giggled again, fondly recalling the whole ‘Pinkie Sense’ debacle from back in Ponyville.
Her laughter ended abruptly when her gaze fell on another display, and her remaining friend. Rainbow Dash had not moved since zapping those Splicers. And since they had not either, Twilight formulated a guess as to why that was.
“Oh Rainbow, I really hoped this wouldn’t happen...” Twilight hung her head low. Rainbow may have done the deed, but a large portion of the guilt fell on Twilight’s shoulders. It was because of her that Dash was here, and had the plasmid at all. It was because of her Dash would carry a weight in her soul for the rest of her life.
When it first happened, Twilight had bolted to the sealed exit of her hideaway. She was ready to rush to her troubled friend's side, but she couldn’t. Rain was looking for her; scouring Rapture from top to bottom, and the only reason she remained free was because she stayed in her fortress, where she couldn’t be found.
Twilight sighed in exasperation. “It may be a bigger and have a proper bed, but a cell is still a cell.” She left the master console, turning as she had done many times before to the hub’s main energy source, and the linchpin of all her planning.
In the center of her room, encased in magic-resistant glass, sat a plain tiara made of polished bronze and a large, azure crystal embedded in its band. A pale blue aura emanated from deep within the trillion gem, signifying an incredible, yet mostly dormant power. Even in this state, it generated enough magical energies to be easily detected by a perceptive unicorn, but the enchanted glass containing it masked the signal enough to be inconspicuous.
Twilight pressed her hooves on the glass and looked in at the artificial Element of Magic she had helped create. To Rain, it was a weapon to be used against her enemies on the surface, but to Twilight, it was a beacon of hope; for her, her friends and all of Rapture.
“If we can just get all the Elements together, I can fix everything,” Twilight said, the blue glow reflecting back in her sad, purple eyes. “Everything they did, everything I did...”
Even in the dim room, Twilight could feel her aberrant form. She shuddered at the slightest touch; blocking out horrendous images of being strapped to a table. She could see the faces above her again, working away at their vile task.
Dr. Hoofhardt held the scalpel, going about his depraved surgery with robotic, clinical detachment. The sociopathic stag had been banished by his herd for his experimentation, and for good reason. He did not see a pony on the table before him, he saw meat, with the promise of being a successful trial in medical science.
There was another face, lurking behind the mad deer. An earth pony, grinning at the villainous acts unfolding before him. Chicane was his name. He'd been Rain’s second in command, and he was suspicious of Twilight from the moment she’d arrived in the underwater city. She was positive he’d convinced Summer to turn her into a lab rat.
Twilight whisked the unwanted memories away. What did they matter? Dr. Hoofhardt and Chicane were both dead now. She had seen them die; the pony was exiled for insubordination, but Rain blew up his Bathysphere as it left for the surface. The deer had been fittingly killed by his own horrid creations. Knowing this brought Twilight more relief than she felt comfortable with.
“No. They made their mistakes without remorse and got what they deserved.” She tried to force the thoughts back into the recesses of her mind where they belonged, but the feel of metal on her skin was impossible to ignore. “...And so did I.”
Many changes had been made to Twilight’s body, first to reduce her magic capacity and keep her locked up. She found a way around that though; by channeling what she could into objects for storage. It was how she had escaped in the first place, slowly enchanting a soiled rag with enough energy to teleport out of her cell. The other changes were harder to deal with. The iron clicking together behind her was a constant reminder of what she was.
Chicane had a cruel sense of irony, it seemed. It was his idea to give Twilight iron wings, a task Hoofhardt was more than willing to attempt. Together, they transformed her into a mockery of the alicorn Princesses she worshiped so much.
The hub was kept dark of a reason. The hideous things jutted out of her back like she had been stabbed, then left to die. The good doctor was more ambitious than that though. His little experiment had left her with full control of the vile parodies, and forwarded implant tech by leaps and bounds. At least that was what he told her.
For an instant, she remembered his face as she’d last seen it. Split between his eyes, through his nose and muzzle, and out down his chin.
Twilight opened her eyes, unaware she had closed them. She was sweating and breathing deep, struggling to focus. “Th-That was months ago. Dead is dead, and I've still got work to do.” She panted. Leaving her precious Element, Twilight made her way back to the displays. Her eyes did a quick sweep on her friends' positions and fell on the last panel. The one she never flipped away from.
The projection was of a large scientific lab, with a huge cylindrical vat in its center. Tubing ran out along its bottom, hooking it to pumping machines. Inside was a hulking, grotesque shape, obscured by the red liquid it floated in.
Twilight stared at the form in the tank. Fighting the tears trying to force their way out of her tired eyes, she smiled just a little. “Well, things aren’t going exactly as we planned, Spike, but with the girls split up, they should gather the Elements even faster than I hoped! Rarity’s almost got the first one already! We’ll have you out of there and back to normal in no time, I promise.”
With a slight sniffle, she approached the floating image of her number one assistant. “Just... hang in there a little longer, okay? I’m going to make this right.” She extended a trembling hoof to caress him, as if he could somehow feel the loving touch through the hologram. It merely passed through to the other side, as it always did.
“Ummm, hello? T-Twilight? Are you there?” A small voice came from the master control console’s speaker.
Twilight jumped at the sudden sound, then with one last mournful glance back at Spike, she galloped over to the console and pressed the button to reply, automatically engaging the protocol to scramble her signal and keep her position a mystery.
“I read you, Fluttershy, what happened back there?”
Fluttershy sighed with relief. Hearing a friendly voice in such an unfriendly place calmed her strained nerves by a considerable degree. “Oh, back there, I- I was... just resting.” She lied. The last thing Fluttershy wanted to think about was those monsters, and what they had done to other ponies. She didn’t like lying, especially to her friends, but this way was just... easier. For now, at least.
“Thank goodness! I was trying to remotely hack some security bots to help you, but I couldn’t crack them in time. It’s a good thing that Big Stag scared off those Splicers! How’d you manage to distract them that long?” Twilight eagerly asked over the Talk-box.
Fluttershy shot an unsure look at the spot she assumed her zebra ally was, then back at the glowing device, “Ummm, I said... I politely asked them to leave me alone, and they did.”
From her right, Fluttershy heard the distinct sound of a hoof hitting forehead. She had agreed not to tell the others about the spy helping her, at his insistence, but unfortunately she wasn’t much of a liar.
“Really? And that worked?”
“It sure did!” Fluttershy said in a hurry, then no-so-subtly changed the subject. “So, uhh, you need me to find an Element for you, right?”
“Right! Hmmm, let’s see...” the distorted voice of her friend replied. “You’re at the main elevator of apartment complex 7-A. If I can get the elevator working, it will take you right down to maintenance, where you'll find the closest Element. Give me a minute.” The voice hissed out, leaving Fluttershy seemingly alone in the derelict shaft. Above her, the gilded lift continued to spark every few seconds.
“You asked them to leave? Politely? That’s not how I remember it...” An unseen voice with a thick accent replaced Twilight’s static-y one.
“Y-Yes. That’s how ponies are supposed to deal with their problems. With words and kindness, not v-violence,” she said in her defense. “Not that monsters like them would ever listen.”
There was a brief silence, punctuated by the malfunctioning elevator a floor above.
“You believe those things to be monsters?”
The animal lover was taken aback. “Of course! Ponies don’t go around k-kill... hurting one another. What else could they be?” she retorted, turning away from the disembodied voice.
“Ponies are capable of much that would surprise you, little pony,” it said, moving closer to the pegasus. “I have seen many things, yes. Many monsters. The creatures here? These, Splicers? They are simply ponies set loose, free of any morality or consequence. They are what lies at the heart of all creatures.”
“No! Ponies are good on the inside!” Fluttershy wheeled around and bore down on the invisible spy. “Every creature can be good if they try! Even the God of Chaos chose good over evil in the end!”
“And what of those unable to choose?”
Fluttershy’s answer caught in her throat, “Wh-What do you mean? Everypony has a choice...”
“Not always. ADAM has taken everything these ponies had. Their thoughts, their memories, their guilt. I watched it happen; couples turning on each other as their minds turned to mush. SIblings, friends... Families. As I say, they are not monsters, just... very unfortunate.”
Fluttershy let that sink in as she thought up her response. “What about those deer-things? And that filly! Those must have been monsters. I’ve never seen anything so scary!” She said the words, but wasn’t sure if she believed them herself. If Rapture was anything, it was complicated, and she didn’t understand any of it.
“Do not be so quick to judge, little pony. The tale behind those creatures is tragic, and they are more deserving of your pity than fear. They were betrayed by one of their own kind, signing away their very souls without realizing it until it was far too late. And the Fillies? They weren’t even given a choice. Now, they scavenge Rapture and collect ADAM for Rain. The Stags protect them. They have no choice, it was taken from them. So tell me, does this sound like any monster you know?”
There was another heavy pause while Fluttershy digested the information. It wasn’t like her to label something as evil outright; her approach was always with kindness, it was her Element of Harmony, after all.
At least, it had been.
There was an evening years ago, right after the Elements had left her friends, that she was approached by Applejack. The depressed farmer was worried that she had lost a part of herself, that somehow, not being the Element of Honesty anymore made her honesty less genuine. Fluttershy told her what she felt; that they would always represent their Elements, but it wasn’t until new Bearers were chosen that Applejack truly began dealing with the notion.
What if AJ was right? What if I’m not as kind as I used to be? The implication hung heavy in her mind. Her questions had no answers, so they circled back to where they started and repeated over and over in a vicious loop.
Before they had a chance to drive her crazy, Fluttershy was pulled from her deep thoughts by her new friend’s deep voice. “Also, you are scared of everything, little pony.”
“I am not!” Fluttershy huffed back, her uncertainty shifting easily to annoyance.
Suddenly, the elevator jerked to life with a sharp squeal that caused Fluttershy to nearly jump out of her skin. A high pitched “Eeep!” escaped her pursed lips before she could smother it.
“Got it!” Twilight said through the Talk-box. “Take this lift down to the bottom floor and head for Maintenance, I’ll contact you when you get there. I gotta go help the others now, are you sure you’ll be okay?”
Fluttershy could hear the muffled laughed of her companion as she relaxed her clenched jaw and steeled her resolve, “Y-Yes. I’ll be fine. Fl-Fluttershy, out.”
“Okay, I’ll be watching just in case. Good luck.” The box powered down as the elevator arrived and its tarnished, gold doors opened.
“You are funny, little pony.” The zebra said, following the jumpy mare on board.
“My name is Fluttershy,” she said, hitting the lowest button before her as fearlessly as she could. “I know you won’t tell me your real name, but there must be something I can call you?”
The lift began to descend, lowering into the dying city, but the yellow pegasus found she was not as scared as she should have be. There was a solid confidence welling up inside her; a feeling that what she was doing would truly help make things better, for everypony.
“You may refer to me as Galt, if you like," he said, several floors later. "It is a pleasure to formally meet you, Fluttershy.”
“Alight then, Galt. I want to help those Fillies, and the Big Stags too. You know this place better than I do; is there any way...?” She asked hopefully. I’m not going to lose my kindness, just as Applejack never lost her honesty!
Galt grunted. "You're kidding?"
At Fluttershy's resolute response, Galt hummed thoughtfully for a moment. “Well, okay then. There may be one way.” He shuffled around in the tight elevator, and suddenly, a floating patch of black and white, striped fur appeared. From within, a red syringe floated out, and the fur quickly disappeared again. “I found this in an abandoned lab. It is a plasmid. From what I gathered, it gives the one who uses it the power to cure Little Fillies, and release them from their torment.”
The syringe floated closer, and Fluttershy plucked it out of the air with a steady hoof. “What about the deer?”
“...There is only one way to end their suffering. Leave them to me.”
“No!” Fluttershy gasped, almost dropping the needle between the thin bars of the lift, “No, you c-can’t! I won’t let you!”
“Fluttershy,” Galt was close, holding her steady in his unseen forelegs. “The process that births Big Stags is irreversible. I have seen it done. Trust me when I say death is a kindness to them. This is the only way to get close to Filly in one piece.”
Tears were already flowing when Galt let her go. The lift reached the bottom floor; stopping with a slight jolt and a metallic ding.
Fluttershy looked down at the glowing syringe in her hoof warily, “Will it h-hurt?”
Galt made no reply. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Fluttershy positioned the point of the long needle on her foreleg and closed her eyes.
Its okay, it's just like getting a shot at the doctor’s office, she told herself, even though getting shots at the doctor’s had always terrified her.
The point pierced her skin, and Fluttershy cried out in pain.
Rarity froze over the door controls the instant the metal shutter slid into place. For good measure, she also levitated a nearby bench over and stuffed it under the door jam.
She slumped against it and let out a sigh of exhausted relief. A heartbeat later, there came a thunderous pounding from the other side which made Rarity spring away from her makeshift barrier. She had just learned the hard way that natural body heat meant frozen ponies don’t stay that way for extended periods of time.
Thanks again for the heads up, Twilight, she thought, sticking a fresh EVE hypo into her leg and replenishing the frost encasing it. Ouchouchouch! Oh, I hope all these needles don’t leave me covered in hideous scars.
Once the syringe was empty, the middle-aged mare tossed it aside and checked her supplies. She had ample stock; the transit terminal she emerged from had proven to be a cornucopia of hypos and snacks, despite the murderous efforts of a certain Splicer who refused to remain an ice sculpture.
“Oh, and that awful dress she wore! I mean really, anypony caught wearing that shade of green must be well and truly out of their minds.” Rarity shuddered as she trotted—at a brisk gait—away from the wedged bench. “You’d think a city this elegant would at least have a decent spot for-”
As she exited the narrow passageway leading away from the terminal, she gasped in awe. She was standing in a massive concourse, lined along its edges were a slew of abandoned shops of all kinds. Wide staircases led up to another two levels, and even more stores.
“...shopping.”
The beauty of Rapture’s shopping district took Rarity’s breath away. It was like Canterlot’s outdoor plaza, only she had the whole place to herself and unlimited bits. Checking for hostile Splicers never even crossed her mind as she walked down the empty street, looking with eager eyes at what each store had to offer, and wondering which she should visit first.
Deciding on a nice little dress shop to her right, she trotted merrily over, feeling like a filly in a candy store. She spotted a white, silk dress with a red floral print and accompanying ribbon on a pony-quin out front. Suddenly, this vacation doesn’t seem so dreadfully awful.
Halfway to the unattended boutique, Rarity stopped, her smile fading. Something was nagging at her from the back of her mind. It was Pinkie’s voice, accusing her of saving her clothes instead of helping Fluttershy. The voice was accompanied by a look of utter disappointment from Applejack, and the rest of her friends behind her. The looks cut through her heart, filling it with disappointment in herself.
“I... suppose I mustn't. I’m on a mission here, and there’s just no time to shop.” Rarity breathed a sigh, amazed at her own restraint as she trotted away from the store with only one or two backwards glances at the lovely dress. She wasn’t happy with the decision, but perusing a mall while her friends were out there trying to save Spike and Twilight was something she couldn't bring herself to do.
The glowing lights above flickered slightly as she continued through the mall of her dreams, trying not to look at all the pretty things she couldn’t have, while still keeping an eye out for anything useful. It was quite the juggling act, but the fashionista had a very discerning eye.
“Rarity! You made it!” A voice echoed in the open shopping center.
“Twilight! Where are you?" she asked the empty mall, looking around the concourse for the source of her voice—and ignoring the beautiful display in a hat shop to her left. "I mean, where is the... Talk-box, was it?”
“It’s in the back of the liquor store, just to your right.”
Rarity shifted her gaze one hundred and eighty degrees, and easily located the alcohol distributor. ‘Booze and More Booze’, a sign above its awning dubbed the shop.
How clever... With a roll of her sapphire eyes, the unicorn entered the ransacked store. The sparse light filling the rest of the mall was soon blocked out by a green canopy hanging above the entrance, leaving the place in near blackness only a few steps in. Rarity carefully stepped over the broken bottles that littered the barely visible floor, looking for the telltale glow of the nearby Talk-box.
“Twilight? Am I getting warmer here?” Rarity asked sardonically. Denying herself a shopping spree had really put a damper on her mood.
“Back here! In the manager’s office,” Twilight said from beyond the veil of darkness.
What do you know, another situation that calls for a light spell, Rarity thought stoically. She passed the store’s counter and moved into the area behind it. I wonder if there’s a plasmid for that?
Feeling around with a hoof—the one that wasn’t completely numb—Rarity stumbled upon an open doorway and pinpointed the glowing box on the far wall. It lit up just enough of the office that she could make out a large desk covered in empty bottles.
“Found it! Don’t any of the light’s work in here?” Rarity said with a little more scorn than what was called for. Huh... Maybe Noisette was right; I am a shopaholic!
“I’m sorry Rarity... I think the power grid in that area is failing, I’m getting some odd readings from the surveillance tech.”
“That’s... quite alright, dear,” Rarity answered, exhaling away her frustration. “So, where shall I go next then? I must be near by now.”
“Yes, you’re very close to the Element, but you have to make sure nopony else is around when I tell you exactly where it is. We can't risk losing a single one to Rain.” Her voice bounced around the dim office, creating a reverberating echo. Rarity glanced warily over her shoulder, then back at the box. It was silly, but the full-grown mare found standing there alone in an abandoned office suddenly very unnerving.
“That shouldn’t be a problem; as far as I can tell, this place is a veritable ghost town.” The poor choice in phrasing only increased Rarity's anxiety, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. In her head, images of wandering spirits and ghoulish monsters swirled around, and she swore she could feel a cold breeze flowing through the store. Nonsense, just my mind playing tricks... Or possibly my frozen leg...
“A ghost town? Really?” Twilight asked, regaining Rarity’s somewhat divided attention. “I knew these readings were off. I was monitoring movement in the mall earlier, so I could warn you if there were any Splicers waiting in ambush, but the signals I saw kept blinking in and out. Isn’t that odd?... Rarity?”
Rarity had gone completely quiet. Outside, in the darkness of the liquor store, she was positive she had heard a small chink, like a glass bottle lightly tapping another. She peered out the indistinct entrance to the office for several tense seconds, listening for any other sound. The cold breeze around her suddenly vanished.
“Twilight,” Rarity said as quietly as she could, “Are you still watching for movement here?”
There was a brief pause, “Ummm, yes?”
The cold air and accompanying breeze returned, chilling the dark office. A new noise reached Rarity’s anxious ears, the soft, rhythmic sound of air moving in, and out.
“A-Am I alone?”
“What do you mean?... I’m looking at-” The Talk-box went dark, plunging the room into total blackness.
“Hello, beautiful.”
A voice from inside the office broke the deathly silence that enveloped it, sending a chill down the entire length of Rarity’s spine.
Before she allowed the crippling fear to set in, icicles burst out of her foreleg. She whirled around and blindly let loose a torrent on icy magic where the snarky voice had arisen. Without waiting, she darted around the wooden desk and slammed into a black wall before bolting out of the office, back towards the light of the concourse.
“Hey! I Just wanna talk!” Another voice said from one of the levels above.
“Where are you going? Hahahahah!” A third voice echoed, coming from somewhere behind.
Rarity cursed herself for letting shopping distract her enough to blunder into an ambush. Drat! I should have been more careful! Wandering in here like a foal, mesmerized by all the pretty things... Why does my secretary have to be right all the time?
“Run, run as fast as you can! Hahahaha!” The taunting voices were everywhere, bouncing around the cavernous mall. It was hard to tell where the assailants were; they all sounded strikingly similar.
Suddenly, a masked pony stepped out of a flower shop up ahead, and Rarity screeched to a halt. Unlike the white animal masks the Splicers from the welcome center wore, this one seemed to be made of interwoven twigs with crude antlers on top.
“Hello again.” He sneered, tilting his head back and rising to his hind legs. Standing tall above his terrified prey, the Splicer held his hooves out to his sides and all four burst into blood-red flames. With a vicious cackle, he set his gaze upon the unicorn, then thrust his burning forelegs in her direction, sending a series of fireballs her way.
Great, more fire. Rarity thought, realizing shortly after she should have moved out of the way instead of making sarcastic quips. She dove into a flower bed of wilting tulips, dodging the searing ball’s heat by a fraction of a hair.
That fraction, however, was closer than she was willing to allow. What does this rotten place have against my FABULOUS HAIR?! Rarity sprang from the dead plants, spotting her attacker sprinting for another shop to hide in. "Oh no you don’t!"
Ice flew from her spiked hoof again, aimed right at the fleeing Splicer... but he was no longer there.
“Gone? But... how?” Rarity pondered out loud, frantically scanning around with her icy hoof. He was just there...
“Close, but no cigar!” the same Splicer taunted, peeking his masked face over the railing one floor up.
It is the same voice! Rarity realized, There’s only one of them... He must be teleporting!
Of all the unicorns she had ever meet, Twilight Sparkle was the only one she knew who could do that with such ease. And at least when she did it, there was a flash of light. This Splicer had vanished between the blinking of Rarity’s eyes.
Hacking laughter echoed around her. “Are you scared, little pony? 'Cause you should be. I haven’t had fresh meat in ages. And you look tender.”
Rarity did her best to ignore the boorish comment, concentrating on the resounding voice and trying to pinpoint its location.
”Oh, I am enjoying this," The voice went on. "Ha!I could be aaaaanywhere; above you, below you, or even right behind you-”
A chill arose in the air, and Rarity spun around and cast her ice, hitting the teleporter as he tried to catch her by surprise. He was frozen solid two seconds later.
“Yes!” Rarity hoof pumped and whooped, then trotted victoriously towards her captured attacker. “Nice try, lover-boy, but Ms. Rarity is not one to fall for the same trick twice.” She finished with a flick of her tail, mocking the pony popsicle with a dismissive humpf!
Turning to head back to the liquor store to continue her oh-so-rudely interrupted conversation, Rarity heard another mortifying sound. Cracking ice.
“Shoot, that's right! The ice melts!” Cursing cruel irony, she galloped back to the Splicer, ready to tip him over and smash him on the ground.
From this close, Rarity could see the cracks forming. If she waited a moment longer, the Splicer would break free and continue his avid attempts to burn her to death. She had no choice, fear and instinct was telling her what to do now. It was either him, or her.
Placing both hooves on the icy surface, Rarity readied to push... but faltered.
“No! I won’t do it! I just can’t!” She backed away on the verge of tears. She knew what was at stake, but she could not bring herself to kill the maniacal teleporter. Any second now he would be free. Rarity wasn’t sure what she’d do when that happened.
A buzzing noise rose above the chipping ice, followed by a loud bang and what sounded like shattering of glass an instant later. The Splicer broke apart, frozen chunks spilling around Rarity’s hooves.
“Got him! That was a close one!” Twilight said, speaking from above over the growing buzzing sound.
Rarity tore her eyes off the morbid sight before her towards it, finding a peculiar machine with a spinning fan and a smoking barrel hovering in the air.
“Twilight? Is that... you... you just...”
“No need to thank me!” her voice was so chipper, it made Rarity feel sick to her stomach. Or maybe it was the thawing pieces of pony strewn across the floor.
“Now, let’s go find that Element!”
“Jackie? Are you still sleeping?”
Applejack groaned out loud. “Dangit Harvey... Gimme five more minutes, would ya?” She rolled onto her side and curled up.
“Oh, Applejack...” She felt him lean in to kiss her cheek like he always did in the morning... but he missed, going for her ear instead for some reason. “WAKE UP!”
“AHH!” Applejack shot awake with a start, flinging the hat off her head and into a bush that was definitely not her bed.
“AHHHH!” Pinkie Pie screamed as well, leaping back away from the startled farmer.
“Pinkie?! What in tarnation was that fer!” Applejack demanded, clutching at her chest to slow her racing heart before it burst out of her rib cage. As it began to resume a normal tempo, AJ rose her other hoof to wipe her blonde mane out of her eyes and found her brow as feverishly hot.
That’s odd ah don’t feel like Ah gott....”AHHHH!” She screamed again upon seeing her foreleg.
Within her orange hoof, a bright, yellow light was glowing, and emitting a heat so intense it distorted the air around `it. Despite the searing temperature, Applejack’s fur was unburnt. There weren’t even any blisters, which anypony dumb enough to touch something this hot would undoubtedly receive.
“I know, right! Now you can totally shoot fire and stuff! Isn’t that cool?” Pinkie said, imitating the act with her own hooves. “Actually, I guess it’s the complete opposite of cool... So, can I see you do it!?" she asked excitedly, unslinging a full bag from her pink shoulder. "Pleeease!”
Applejack fought to stay calm. There was a lot of crazy going on at the moment, and having Pinkie around only served to compound the effect. Focusing on even breathing, AJ placed her smoldering leg on the ground, which immediately turned the long blades of grass nearby black.
That’s... gonna take some gettin’ used to, she thought, turning to her wide eyed companion. “What happened? Last thing Ah... Quit staring will ya? This is strange enough as it is.” She placed her hot hoof out of sight. “So, what happened? Last Ah remember... Ah shot up that plasmid. Ah'm guessing it worked.”
Pinkie tore her gaze from Applejack’s leg and met her green eyes as the farmer trailed off. “Yep! And then you fell asleep! I guess you were reeeally tired, because you wouldn’t wake up, and I was really, reeeeeally loud when I tried to wake you up. Then I remembered I had to be quiet, so I hid you under this bush, but you still wouldn't wake up, so I went to get some food and stuff!” She emptied her bag then, pouring out various snacks and even a few EVE hypos like the one the Splicers had used.
Applejack strained to pay attention and shake off the last of her substance-induced power nap while Pinkie spoke a mile a minute. It proved very difficult; dealing with Pinkie was something that required delicate conditioning, and AJ was sorely out of practice. “Slow down, girl! I just woke up, and that ADAM junk’s got mah head all woozy.”
“Sorry, AJ! I’m just super pumped right now! While I was scavenging I drank some coffee I found in a trash can and I-”
“You what?”
“Oh! Here, let me get your hat...” Pinkie pointed a hoof at the stetson and giggled again; at what, Applejack had no clue.
AJ placed a hoof on the bridge of her orange snout. “Pinkie... ya really shouldn’t eat or drink stuff ya find in the trash. You could get... What the-?” Applejack’s sanitation lecture was cut short when her vision was suddenly obscured by brown fabric. “Hey!” She wrestled her hat off her face and fixed it properly atop her blonde mane, “Pinkie, what’s the big idea... Woah!”
Pinkie Pie stood before the amazed mare, the supplies from her pack floating in the air around her. “Ta-Da!” She boasted with a wide grin, “Isn’t this AWESOME?!”
Applejack fell back on her haunches, her jaw wide open as she slowed pieced things together. “Pinkie! Did you inject yourself with a dangerous, never-seen before substance.... From a needle you found in the dang trash?!”
“Of course not!” Pinkie scoffed, crossing her arms and setting the various floating items to orbit around her. “I found the syringe behind a toilet!”
Failing to come up with any sort of intelligent reply, Applejack sat fuming on the unkempt grass. She wanted to shout at the pony before her; get her to take things as seriously as they were, but she was too angry to speak.
“Uhm, are you okay, Applejack?” the infuriating mare asked.
At that moment, AJ’s glowing foreleg erupted in flames, setting the overgrown bush she had slept under ablaze.
“Woah! AJ, watch it!” Pinkie cried, dropping all her supplies and grabbing hold of the fiery farmer.
Rage took a back seat to surprise, and Applejack leaped from the burning bush with Pinkie, landing on a patch of daisies and setting them on fire as well. Applejack shoved Pinkie out of the inferno and rolled off the other side, immediately blowing on her foreleg in a vain attempt to put out the flames engulfing it.
Once clear of the flames, anger made a valiant comeback. “Darnit, Pinkie! What the hay is the matter with you!?” Applejack exploded, breaking her own ‘indoor voice’ rule. “Do ya think this is a game or somethin’? What part of this is fun to you? Maybe when we almost drowned, or got attacked by those Splicers? Can’t you take things seriously fer once in yer life!”
On the other side of the flaming flowers, Pinkie looked dejectedly at her telekinetically-empowered hoof. “I- I’m sorry AJ...”
“Well, that’s just dandy, but it won’t stop us from gettin’ killed down here. Is that what you want?” Applejack swung her arm around in another gesture, sending a ball of fire onto a wooden bench and reducing it to ashes in seconds. “Dang it all!”
Pinkie looked up at the flailing mare with tears in her big, blue eyes, “O-Of course not! I’m scared, okay! When you passed out, I didn’t know what to do! I went to get something to help protect us and I found that plasmid thingy and I...I just wanted to help!”
“You just... wha-?” Applejack stopped waving her leg around and met Pinkie’s sad eyes. She was trembling, AJ realized. She uses humor to deal with fear, ya thick-headed meanie, her subconscious berated her. Or did ya forget?
Closing her own eyes, Applejack counted backwards from ten in her head, bringing her breathing under control in the process. She was the one yelling at a friend; what the hay was the matter with her? Once her temper was back under control, she noticed the heat in her leg wane, then the flames went out by themselves leaving only an inner, yellow glow.
Relieved to not be on fire anymore, she tracked over to Pinkie’s slumped, sobbing form. Applejack wrapped her non-altered leg around in a loving hug. “You’re right, I’m acting like a grade-A moron. Ah’m sure that unicorn magic ya got will be useful...”
“Really?” Pinkie sniffled.
“Yeah, and I'm sorry Ah said ya don't take things seriously. Ya got a whole business goin' in Manehattan, after all. Just, try to be more careful from now on, okay? Ah’d hate ta see something bad happen to ya.” With one last squeeze, she let go of the pink mare.
“Thanks Applejack, I will... But you have to be careful too. No offense, but you don’t look so good.” Pinkie replied.
“Ta be honest, Ah don’t fell so good either. I thought it might be from the ADAM, but you seem fine...”
“And I ate cake from the garbage can, too!” Pinkie laughed, receiving a disapproving glare from AJ.
“Ah thought you said ya drank coffee from the garbage.”
“Well, I had to wash it down with something.” She smiled sheepishly.
Ignoring the writhing feeling in her stomach and fighting the urge to vomit, Applejack smiled at her friend, “No more eating from the trash either. Now c’mon, we got an Element ta find.”
The two ponies walked away from the smoldering portion of the gardens Applejack had inadvertently scorched and headed back towards the vine-covered entrance to the irrigation control room.
“Oh! I almost forgot,” Pinkie’s sang, digging into her bag once again. “I also found this thingy. Don’t worry! It’s not food or dangerous drugs or anything.” She spoke mostly in response to AJ’s glare, pulling out a some sort of miniature phonograph.
“What is it?” asked Applejack, reading the name written on the record it contained. “And who’s ‘Chicane’?”
‘The Folly Of Rain’
By: Chicane
I may have been no more than a lowly magician when I came to Rapture, but even I can see Rain is running this place into the ground. I warned her! That Twilight Sparkle is no good, I said! How can we trust our enemy’s personal protege? It’s insanity! Turns out the little snitch was reporting back to her mentor the whole time, just as I suspected. So, what does Rain do? She places her under supervision and has me write up fake reports to avoid arousing the Princess’ suspicion. Seriously!? Place her under lock and key? That's how you choose to use her? I believe in Rain’s vision for Equestria, it's a dream come true for an outcast like me... Ever since I was small, all I wanted was to do magic, but without a horn, I had to settle for cheap tricks and illusions. I was the laughing stock of a proud family. But, this place changed my life. I finally got what I wanted. Plasmids were my brainchild, and with Dr. Hoofhardt’s help, they were made a reality and I was able to fulfill all my wildest dreams. All but one. We have everything we need to go back to the surface and carve out a glorious, new Equestria. What exactly are we waiting for?
You need to move. NOW.
The nagging voice in Rainbow’s head said again, vying for her attention. She had lost track of how long she’d been sitting in the cold puddle, staring at three floating bodies. Judging by the numbness of her backside, it had been some time.
Move!
“I can’t,” Dash choked out in a weak whisper. “I... killed them. I didn’t even know who they were. I’m a murderer!” Around her, several hypos floated lazily in the freezing waters. Her leg had gone dark after the thunderous discharge that killed the Splicers, but she wouldn’t touch the full vials of plasmid fuel.
This isn’t just about you. Your friends are still in trouble! While you sit here feeling sorry for yourself, they’re out there fighting, probably in danger!
Dash couldn’t ignore her grating subconscious anymore, not when it was being all logical. It was time to go. She lifted her foreleg and looked at it with contempt. There was no way she was using the electro-bolt thing again.
Pulling her cold behind out of the seawater, she splashed across the flooded welcome center, leaving Noir’s unused hypos where they were. She tried not to look back at his charred body as she did, reminding herself of the promise she’d made Fluttershy.
I... I did what I had to, she told herself, focusing on placing one hoof in front of the other until she reached the stairs down to the docking bay. That’s all there is to it. There’s no time to feel bad. I still gotta find Fluttershy... and Twilight's fake Elements. She glanced around at the ruined stairwell that had been her battleground. But how do I get out of here?
All the exits from the welcome center were blocked or destroyed, and she didn’t remember seeing any downstairs. Wait... But, then how did those ponies- I mean, Splicers- how’d those no-good murderers get in?
Taking careful steps down the wet stairs, she cast one last guilt-ridden look back at the motionless forms lying in the puddle. But am I any better? The thought weighed heavily on her mind as she turned her back and continued on her way.
Back in the hallway above the docks, Rainbow had a clear view of the ruinous terminal and busted Bathysphere. It was oddly calming to see; a simple reminder that not long ago, she had been laughing and catching up with old friends.
“We’re finishing that reunion,” she decided on the spot. “Once we fix things here, all six of us are spending quality time together. Spike too! I don’t care how many shows I have to miss...”
Rainbow’s eyes went wide at that; she had completely forgotten about the Fillydelphia show. She also had no clue how long she’d been in the accursed city. An few hours? Maybe more? It hardly seemed to matter any longer.
I’m not leaving until my friends are safe.
Returning to the spot where she’d first engaged the Splicers—it was easy to find, the carpeting was covered in scorch marks—Rainbow looked around. They must have been trying to go back the way they came. There were no doors leading away, but leaning against a peeling wall on the floor was a metal vent cover sitting next to a hole just large enough for a pony to squeeze through.
“Bingo!” Dash exclaimed, kneeling down and inspecting the small opening. “It won’t be comfy, but it’ll have to do.” She folded her wings in tight and entered the small vent, trying not to dwell on the last ponies who had done so.
“One hoof in front of the other, keep going, don’t look back. Move,” she chanted out loud to herself.
On and on Rainbow crawled through the black tunnel, repeating the mantra to keep her mind preoccupied. She continued this way for what felt like a long time, scraping up her knees and elbows until they felt raw.
“Don’t look back. Move. Move. Move...”
When a light finally appeared up ahead, Rainbow was a panting, bloodied mess. She pushed through the pain for the last dozen feet and stuck her rainbow-maned head out of another vent, gasping for fresher air.
“...Huhh... Piece of cake,” she heaved, dragging the rest of her body out into the open and rolling onto her back. “Now I... huhh... just gotta get in touch with...”
Off to Rainbow’s side, noticed something strangely familiar, disrupting her orated plan of action. Plastered all around a large, turn-stiled entranceway hung posters she instantly recognized. Still breathing hard, she flipped onto her stomach and up to her hooves with a grunt, moving in to get a better view.
The posters were nearly identical to the ones the Wonderbolts sold. She must have stamped thousands of them with her hoof-mark during her time with the stunt team. These ones were coloured all wrong though, painted in black and red instead of blue and gold.
Rainbow approached the nearest one, lifting a dog-eared corner, and read the poster out loud. “‘Come see the amazing, death-defying aerial stunts of the Plunderbolts’?” The confusing advert was written beneath an image of silhouetted pegasi decked out in pirate gear. “This weekend at the Plunder Dome. The best fliers in all the seven seas’?!” Rainbow stood gaping at the counterfeit poster in disbelief. “Of all the- who do these chumps think they are?”
Uh, aren’t you supposed to be doing something? Rainbow's conscious sighed. Like, I dunno, something important?
“Oh right, Talk-box...” Rainbow remembered, putting a lid on her temper before it got too hot to control. “No time for these posers, gotta talk to Twilight and figure out where I am... Oh, this must be the Plunder Dome.” Letting the poster fold back over itself, she looked around at the cavernous room again, then at the glass ceiling above and the top of a huge dome. On just the other side was the murky green of the ocean water.
Well, that’s one mystery solved... Still, I should contact Twi’. A quick sweep of the massive arena’s lobby yielded no communicative fruits, and Rainbow felt the pangs of depression in the face of defeat welling up inside her.
“Now what? How can I find the Element if I don’t know where it is!” Things weren’t looking so good. Rainbow was hopelessly lost and had no way to contact Twilight. Not to mention the crushing guilt she felt every time she let her mind start to wander.
“Gahhh! I hate this stupid city!” Dash cried out, stretching her cramped wings and staring at the posters once again. “What kind of pegasus would want to live underwater anyway? There isn’t even anywhere to fly around down here...”
Looking back up at the glass dome outside, she realized that wasn’t entirely true. “You know, I bet there’s a Talk-box in there somewhere... And if I could fly around just a little bit, I bet that would help clear my head.”
Even as she spoke, Rainbow found herself moving towards the grandiose dome’s entrance and hopping over the turnstile. The very notion of working her wings in an open space was enough to lift her spirits.
Passing abandoned ticket booths, Rainbow found herself at the entrance to a wide walkway. Its walls were covered with more posters advertising other shows happening around Rapture, various plasmids and the copycat flight team. Despite what was going on, Dash couldn’t help but be annoyed at the blatant display of plagiarism.
Task at hoof, Dashie, she reminded herself again as she entered the dome proper. What she saw before her made her jaw drop.
The dome interior was huge, and its ceiling made of clear glass panels let in a blue-green light, giving an astounding, panoramic view of Rapture. The best part, however, was sitting in the middle of the dome, surrounded by rows and rows of plush seating. At the bottom in a pool of water was a full scale pirate ship, complete with numerous rings, tunnels and other obstacles. Black sails hung from a tall mast that almost reached to top of the dome, and a jolly roger flew menacingly far above.
It was a stunt flier’s dream come true; a pirate-themed playground with unlimited options for tricks and combos.
Rainbow eyed the structure intently, already subconsciously planning her first maneuver. “I bet I could dive off the crow’s nest, circle the mast, and hit all three loops before pulling up and skimming that deck...” Her wings opened and she prepared to take off.
Uh, ‘scuse me, lil' Ms. Hot-shot? It was her pesky subconscious again. Weren’t you finding a Talk-box? Ya know, to help your friends?
“...Horsefeathers...” Rainbow sighed, folding her wings to her sides dejectedly. “I wonder if everypony has a subconscious as bossy as mine?”
Beats me, the voice in her head answered.
Turning away from the spectacle sitting in the dome—just waiting for her to tear it up—Rainbow followed the circular ring around the arena. She passed concession stands, merch tables, stray hypos—which she ignored—and more of those shameful, offensive posters, but no Talk-box.
Anxiety began to take hold once again, the high stress of the last few hours was bearing down on the blue pegasus. What do I do? What do I do!? Uuugghh, is nothing easy here?
Rainbow sat heavily on the dirty flooring. She hated not being in control, even feeling like she wasn’t in control bothered her. She needed to take action; to make a choice and have it bring instant gratification. Unfortunately, being lost in a strange place she didn’t understand, Dash was left feeling unsure of herself, and the image of face-down bodies was still fresh in her mind.
“That’s it!” Rainbow decided, standing up and flaring out her wings. "Just a few laps, it’ll help clear my head, and maybe I’ll see one of those boxes from above?" It wasn’t much, but to her, any action felt better than none. If the voice in her head had any objections, they were drowned out but rushing air.
With a flap of her wings, Dash took to the underwater skies, soaring straight to the top of the ship at an altitude she hadn’t reached in what felt like an eternity. She closed her eyes and let the air blow over her dirty feathers. A calming breath finally released itself from her, then she dropped into a sharp, vertical dive.
Speeding down the height of the ship, she easily passed through the three bronze rings jutting out of the main mast and skidded across the deck, brushing it with a wing.
“YahooooOOOOOO!” she cried, banking hard to the left into a tight barrel roll that brought her along the ship’s side. She then went straight up and tucked her wings, slowing to stop at the height of the climb and letting the momentary feeling of weightlessness wash away the rest of her fear and doubt.
“Hey! You!” a voice cried out angrily.
Rainbow’s revelry was shattered by the gruff voice. She reopened her wings to catch herself before gravity started pulling her down, but a sudden gust of gale-force wind knocked her out of the air.
“Woah!” the stunt mare cried as she spiraled towards the ground, unable to break out of the violent tailspin before hitting the water. She splashed into the pool, flailing her limbs wildly and kicking her way back to the surface. Rainbow burst out of the drink coughing and sputtering, ready to pulverize whoever hit her with such a cheap shot.
“Well, what do ya know...” the voice said again.
Treading in the cold water, Rainbow’s hostile glare shot up to the ship’s deck where four forms had appeared.. They were all pegasi, wearing black and red flight suits adorned with pirate paraphernalia.
“...Ain’t it a small world after all.” One of them stepped forward, a mare. She removed the goggles and black bandana from her head and let loose a long, golden-yellow mane. The mare spread her light green wings and glowered down at Rainbow with contempt.
“No way...” Dash gasped, realizing who it was under the pirate get-up, “Lightning Dust?! I-Is that really you?”
“The one and only,” Lightning replied, laughing to her squad mates. She stamped her front hoof on the deck and it lit up with crackling blue energy, then was aimed down at the bobbing pegasus below. “And here I thought I would never get a chance for a little payback.”
