//------------------------------// // Somewhere Waiting for Me // Story: Beyond the Sea // by lordcurly972 //------------------------------// ???, 1958 “It's been several weeks and the patient has yet to awaken Dr. Suchong. “Although the subject's vitals have stabilized and her body appears to adapt well to the Adam slug I fear the worst, if the subject does not wake soon, she will have to be terminated…” Sweetie Belle stirred. Her whole body ached, eye lids slid open a crack to reveal blurred forms and blobs of color. She could make out the shape of ponies directly in front of her. She opened her eye lids more and the world immediately grew brighter. Staring into the light of an overhead lamp, like one in an operating room. This realization suddenly hit Sweetie, I am on an operating table! Fear ignited. The lone crusader sprung up, now wide awake. As she lurched up the IV tagged at her leg, knocking the drip bag over onto surgical tools all ending with a lot of clanking metal and yanking the IV from her leg. Sweetie Belle cringed in pain and yelped. "Aw, it appears the patient has awoken Dr. Suchong," Tenenbaum stated. "It would appear so," Dr. Suchong replied walking towards Sweetie Belle, "now calm down little filly." Sweetie felt as if her heart would burst out of her ribs, she reached up a hoof to place on her chest but felt something scratchy. Looking down she noticed her side was bandaged. A blotch of crimson soaked through. "What did you do to me!" Sweetie Belle screamed, her voice startled her. It came out echoed and distorted. She could hear her normal voice, but it sounded as if someone had layered another atop of it. "Where's Rarity?" Sweetie asked. This seemed to take Suchong by surprise, "Who is Rarity?" "My sister," Sweetie answered, "I'm scared—I want my sister!" Suchong rubbed his chin, "Hmm, and do you perchance know who you are?" Sweetie Belle opened her mouth to answer, but for the strangest reason couldn't remember. Why can't I remember? What had happened to her? Suchong got the idea by the look of fear. "It appears the procedure hasn't completely erased her memory, this could prove troublesome. One more test before the subject is terminated. Tenenbaum, send for Big Daddy." Suchong walked to the far end of the room and picked up a clip board and prepared to take notes. Tenenbaum pressed a button on the wall triggering a loud beep. A loud bellow followed from elsewhere. Sweetie Belle sank lower on the operating table, petrified with fear. Loud thuds grew closer. As the door slid open a huge wave of emotions washed over the little filly. A creature stood in the doorway, she guessed it used to be a stallion by the shape of the helmet atop its neck. But, the creature stood on two legs. A sort of diving suit covering its body with a drill attached to its left hoof. It thundered closer to Sweetie Belle. Although absolutely terrified, something inside her felt a certain attachment to the creature. It groaned as it came to a halt at the foot of the bed and held out its free hoof to Sweetie Belle. Suchong watched in the corner and every so often jotted down something on the clip board. Sweetie stared at the hoof, and then at the creature. Her eyes fixed on the glowing portholes on the thing’s helmet. All of her worries seemed to melt away, as if in some sort of trance. She looked back at the hoof, reaching for it. Stopping just short, wanting so desperately to grab hold of it. She had no idea why, and that is what stopped her. Sweetie didn't know what or who this creature was, but for some strange reason the filly felt safe within its presence. But she just couldn't do it. Sweetie Belle jumped out of the bed and darted for the door. The creature seemed to groan in astonishment. Suchong dropped his clipboard, "After her! She still retains memories, she could expose us all!" An alarm sounded as Sweetie scurried down the hallway, looking for an escape. Her side ignited in pain as the stitches in her side strained. She winced and bit her lip while she pushed on. Darting her head back and forth, looking for any way out. Doors began to swing open as confused doctors and surgeons stepped out to take part in the chase. Sweetie Belle ran past a room with huge glass windows. She noticed inside lay an open vent with a sign that read, “Little Sister Travel System”. Glancing behind her, the doctors were hot on her trail. The lone crusader ran into the room and got a running leap at the vent. Sweetie Belle landed hard just in the mouth of the tube, but began to slide out. She struggled furiously to pull her hind legs in. Finally, as the filly got traction but felt a doctor bite down on her tail, trying to pull her out. She kicked her hind legs wildly, hoping to make contact. She felt her hoof strike hard against his jaw, but still he clung on. Kicking her hoof once more, making contact with a loud thud, the doctor let go. Sweetie Belle lurched forward, tumbling blindly down the dark tube. Bathysphere Dock, 1958 Sweetie Belle continued to slide down the ventilation system, her body jerked back and forth with every twist and turn. Finally coming to a halt when the tube leveled out. Dim light shown through the vent cover directly in front of her. With her heart racing she pressed forwards and crawled out of the vent. She landed on all fours and began glancing around for any of her pursuers…and also to get her bearings and figure out where she was exactly. "The main bathysphere docking station," Sweetie Belle whispered aloud, "maybe I can use one of the bathyspheres to get out of this place." She was just about to walk over to one of the bathyspheres to test her theory when she heard hoof steps coming down the corridor. Sweetie acted fast enough to jump behind a trash bin. She pressed her back against the wall to better reduce her chances of being spotted. The hoofsteps grew louder, there appeared to be two sets of them. "This is where the vent lets out," one of the ponies stated, "search the spheres there, she could be hiding in one of them." "Johnny, that filly's probably long gone now," the other pony responded, "Besides, if the other doctors don't find her, the splicers will. Now that she's pumped full of Adam, won't be long until one of 'em gets a whiff of her and rips her a part like a rabid animal." "I suppose you're right,” Johnny answered, "Hey, did you hear Atlas's crew bombed the Kashmir? Pretty brutal I heard, not many survived." "Sweet Celestia, Rapture's going to hell," the other pony sighed as the hoof steps began in the other direction and soon faded to nothing. Sweetie Belle peeked around the bin and checked just to be sure. She didn't want to be nabbed like last time. But, now had something else to worry about. What one of the ponies said, she was full of Adam? And what are splicers? Sweetie Belle walked over to the bathyspheres and eyed them. She was just about to step inside one when she glanced into the water. And what she saw horrified her. The filly saw her reflection. Her entire face was lined with deep blue veins, and her eyes glowed a bright yellow. Her coat was now more of a light grey instead of white. Besides the one large wound on her side that was bandaged, many more that had begun to heal all over her body. What had they done to me? She was some kind of monster now. Sweetie jerked away from the water and fell onto her haunches and began to sob. The world had fallen down around her in shambles. Rarity had vanished, most of her memories, such as her name and friends in Ponyville appeared to be wiped from her mind. Worst of all she was a freak. Even escaping Rapture, there was no way she could survive on the surface. "I should just give up and lie here," Sweetie Belle said to herself, "that's it, it’s all over" Closing her eyes, she laid down with her head in her hooves. As Sweetie Belle laid there she tried desperately to remember the life she used to have. But the most she got were fuzzy images. She could remember faces of friends, but not names. Couldn't even really remember what life was like on the surface, what the sun even looked like. All she had was Rapture and a few faces. As the little filly lay there, her ears perked up. It sounded like heavy breathing coming from above. She glanced up at the ceiling. All she could make out was the shadow of a figure and a pair of glowing objects. They appeared to be hooks. "The itsy, bitsy spider climbed up the water spout," it began singing in a raspy voice, "when down came the rain and washed the spider out…" The figure then began to skitter along the ceiling using the hooks and hum the verse again. It then vanished into the shadows. "Hello?" Sweetie Belle called out swallowing the lump in her throat. "The...itsy, bitsy spider...climbed up the water spout," the raspy voice sang out from the darkness. Sweetie Belle began to back towards the exit. "Down came the...rain...and washed the spider...," the singing stopped. All Sweetie could hear was the clanking of hooks. They sounded as if they were right above her. She darted towards the door, heart nearly bursting from her chest, tears streaming down her face. She wanted so badly for this to all be a dream, but she knew it wasn't. The hooks clanked louder and faster behind her. She ran as fast as she could, the pain in her side more excruciating than ever—stitches must have opened. She could feel the warm blood against her flank, but there wasn't time to worry about it. Only a few feet away from the door, but the clanking was now directly above her. Just as the portal slid open the thing dropped down from the ceiling. For the first time Sweetie Belle got a good look at who it was. "Rarity?!" Sweetie Belle cried out. Rarity didn't respond, she just reached out her hoof and rubbed her hook along Sweetie's cheek. The elder sister was wearing a broken bunny mask only concealing one side of her face, the visible part was decrepit and sagging. Sweetie Belle could see her mouth open and close as she struggled to breathe. She was wearing her favorite dress, the dress Sweetie last saw her in. Only now tattered and stained. "Rarity, it’s me," Sweetie Belle said rather frightened. "Mmm, sweet Adam," Rarity responded, she then began to hum Itsy, Bitsy Spider again as she swayed her hooks back and forth. There was no communicating with her, Rarity had completely lost it. Sweetie began to back up but soon found that with every step she took, her big sister followed suit. "It appears...I won't have to go far...to get to the Adam," Rarity said sniffing the air, "you're leaking." Sweetie Belle gulped as she began to creep closer. The crusader continued to back up until she reached a wall. This is it, she thought, nowhere left to run. Rarity crept closer, Sweetie could feel her breath. "Rarity, please don't," Sweetie Belle sobbed, "I'm your little sister remember? She continued to hum Itsy, Bitsy Spider. Stroking Sweetie Belle's cheek with the hook. Finally, Rarity raised her hook high above and just before bringing it down, Sweetie Belle let out a high pitched scream. This startled Rarity, causing her to pause. But, soon the hook lifted again. Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and readied for the end. As she braced herself she heard low groan in front of her and then the whir of what sounded like a drill. She opened her eyes just in time to see Rarity's chest burst open as a drill pierced through it, splattering blood over the filly's face. It spun in reverse, pulling back out. Rarity gargled and spat up blood as she glanced down at the hole in her body. She looked back at Sweetie Belle and fell over in a heap on the floor at her feet, revealing Sweetie Belle's savoir. Although, Sweetie was extremely grateful the creature had saved her life, she was still sad it had to end this way. Rapture was their down fall, although Sweetie Belle's fate hadn't been as brutal as Rarity's, she felt she was no better off. She was all alone now with nowhere left to go and no one to turn to. Sweetie looked at her sisters corpse and bent down to close her eyelids. "I'm sorry," she whispered. She stood back up and looked at her savior. His helmet glowed a deep green and he seemed to be waiting for recognition from her. Sweetie Belle smiled. "Thank you," she said. He groaned in response. Sweetie Belle felt content, she supposed this was her life now, with him. She stepped closer to him and stared up at him. She noticed something written on his helmet in crayon. He stood there, towering over her, groaning and waiting for her to join him at his side. He held out his hoof, and she placed hers in it. "Alright, lets go Mr.B."