//------------------------------// // Escape... (Chapter 1) // Story: Subject Delta - Rapturous for Equestria // by TheMightyT //------------------------------// Subject Delta – Rapturous For Equestria *TheMightyT* -\Edited by Reiver/- Chapter 1: Escape… “Love… love is just a chemical, no matter the origin. We give it a meaning by choice.” -Eleanor Lamb *** He needed to defend her, his Daughter. It’s was the last stand, and after that they were going to be free. Leaving Rapture, it was deemed impossible, but it was anything but that. He thought about Subject Omega; no, he thought about the man he once knew as Augustus Sinclair, the man who gave him a way out. Augustus’ last words were words of thanks, before giving him the key he needed to finally leave Persephone, to leave Rapture. Augustus’ death was necessary in many ways, but Delta had hoped he didn’t have to kill the man who had helped him along his journey. But he would not let Augustus’ death be in vain. They were going to escape this madhouse... Augustus Sinclair may have been the favorite of Andrew Ryan, as they were both shrewd businessmen, but Sinclair was not stupid. He always had a plan B for everything he had done in his life, evidenced by the escape pod he had placed in Persephone. Like Augustus once had said: “Technically, Utopia shouldn’t have much use for a detention facility…”, but if Andrew Ryan thought he needed a prison in his Utopia, then Sinclair would built one... for the right price, of course. Augustus was a man of hollow morals, the only reason he came to Rapture was one of monetary gain. But, even a man without any kind a morals or ethics can become an ally, so long as he regains his investment in the end. Augustus Sinclair would not escape his own prison, but at least the one he helped get this far would have a chance. Eleanor just needed more time. The words of Sofia Lamb, Eleanor's mother, resonated through the room: “You would rip my only daughter from her home and family and feed her to a world without hope. Though Utopia may die with her, I would sooner see us fall. Goodbye, Eleanor. Mother will be waiting for you.” Subject Delta didn’t have to much time to ponder upon the words of Sofia Lamb, the voice of his daughter stopping his thoughts: “Here they come, Father! Hold them off until I can bring it to a boil!” It seemed the fighting wasn’t done yet. Just some more time, that was all they needed. Death was waiting on his doorstep, already raising his scythe in the air. He couldn’t go much farther, everything was becoming a burden too much to carry. But he had done it, the last of Sofia’s Family laid dead, their blood spilled on the floor of the once beautiful city. Eleanor called out to him: “I’ve done it, Father! The ballast water is gone! Release the docking mechanism!” His job was never truly done. Some more members of the Family jumped down, seemingly coming out of nowhere. He didn’t care anymore, making quick work of the Splicers with his drill and plasmids. Nothing could stop him. Not now. The screeching sound of the locking mechanisms brought a feeling of relief. They were going to make it. “The elevator to the lifeboat is flooded, Father! We have to equalize the pressure in there or the door won’t open!”, Eleanor yelled out to him, “Destroy those glass tubes to flood the room!” Destruction was all Delta had know of late, and without thinking he destroyed the glass tubes overhead. The familiar feeling of the water pressure against his suit told him he could stop shooting, his vision being blurred by the murky water. He dropped his Rivet Gun, he would not need it where they were going. “We… we’ve done it, Father. We’re launching! Get to the elevator!”, Eleanor said. He moved through the water, to his Daughter. They were leaving… The elevator was going up. His Daughter was standing next to him, in the Big Sister suit he got for her. He wanted to hug her, but before he could do anything the elevator shook violently, bringing him to his knees. His body was giving up, the Pairbond broken and the his injuries from the fight before catching up with him. A muffled voice shook him out of his thoughts, hands helping him on his feet: “The bombs, Father! We’re falling! Run!” And with those words the elevator door opened, and they ran. His Daughter was faster than him, and rounding the corner of the hallway leading to the escape pod he saw her… stopping. Her way was blocked by a pile of bombs, and as she turned around, looking at him and reaching her hand out to him, the bombs exploded. The last thing he saw was the bombs going off, his Daughter and a purple flash. And then darkness devoured him. *** “The Rapture dream is over…” *** “Come on, Twilight, you can do this,” said the purple and green scaled, dragon-like creature to the purple mare. “Long distance teleportation is not an easy feat, Spike,” said Twilight to her enthusiastic assistant. She was reading a scroll, a check list of sorts, double checking everything she needed to do to make this work. “You’ve been preparing for this for weeks, reading every book you could find about teleportation. Princess Celestia herself gave you advice on how to do this!”, said Spike, who saw that the mare was beyond being nervous. But she was always like this, especially when learning a new feat of magic. Although, technically speaking it wasn’t a new feat of magic, as Twilight already had mastered teleportation some time ago. But long distance teleportation was known to be incredibly difficult, as the only ones who were able to pull of this feat were the Alicorn Sisters themselves. Even though Twilight was very powerful, as magic was her Element, she kept on doubting herself. “This isn’t something you can learn out of a book, Spike,” Twilight said, not even looking up from the scroll she was levitating in front of her, “Teleportation isn’t hard for short distances, however how longer the distance, how more difficult it gets. It needs more focus and precision to attempt such a thing.” Spike decided to stop trying to cheer her up, there was no use. He actually didn’t really knew why Twilight so desperately wanted to do this. But she had her reasons for it, he was sure of it. From Canterlot to Ponyville, it was the perfect trajectory to try. No to far, and not to close. Now she just needed to focus. Everything was triple checked: Spike was standing far enough away from her so she didn’t accidentally teleport him with her, her friends were waiting for her at Applejack’s farm –there was a nice pasture there she could aim for- and she was prepared. Nothing could go wrong now, and then she could now finally know if she was really proficient in every kind of magic. Yes, she could teleport short distances fine, but long distance teleportation was one of the things nopony was capable of, except Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of course. Twilight closed her eyes, focusing her magic as she pictured her target, the pasture behind Applejack’s barn. As her horn began to shine a bright purple, she could feel the grass of the pasture below her feet - despite she was standing on a rock in one of the gardens of Canterlot Castle. She could smell apples, she could hear the wind blow through the apple trees, moving the grass slightly as it danced in front of her. Spike could see the sweat beadles rolling of her forehead, as she was focusing her magic. And suddenly, Twilight released her magic causing her to vanish. Spike closed his eyes to shield them from the bright purple light, when he opened them again Twilight was gone. “She did it… she did it,” Spike yelled out to no one in particular. He quickly ran to the barracks, where Princess Celestia had provided him with a chariot to Ponyville. He ran up and jumped on the chariot, surprising the two Pegasi guards in front of it, and they quickly took off to Ponyville. Spike was so thrilled that Twilight had done it, that he had to stop himself from yelling at the guards to hurry up. But there was no need for that, as Twilight would already be back at the library by the time he got there. He still couldn’t believe that she did it! But little did Spike know, as the chariot soared through the darkening sky, that Twilight had done much more than just teleport… *** “… and in waking, I’m alone.” *** Author's Note: Did Twilight mess up her teleportation? Oh, who knows ... oh, yes of course, I know. Well, you guys just have to find that out in the next chapter... Some random trivia about this chapter: *Original idea for Chapter 1 made into three separate chapters. *During writing the official soundtrack for Bioshock 2 was used. To be more specific: Sounds from the Lighthouse; name of the song used: 'Pairbond'. *Three bathroom breaks were taking during the writing part of this chapter, another one during the posting part. *Approximately 1 hour to write it. 2 additional hours were needed for the short rewrite, splicing Chapter 1 into three separate chapters, editing and coming up with the name for this chapter. *You receive the right to ask for a spoiler for Chapter 2 when you read all of this.