Welcome to Essence

by Element Reading

Chapter 1: Welcome to your doom

In the very beautiful and glamorous Crystal Empire throne room, was Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, oh and Flurry Heart too.

Shining Armor was holding Flurry Heart while ordering some of the guards around, Cadence was using her magic to go over a whole bunch of papers full of boring political stuff that no one really cares about.

Shining Armor walked up to Cadence and said to her, "I gotta ask, where is Sunburst?"

"Oh I forgot, he's very sick, he has the flu. And we wouldn't wanna get our little girl sick do we?"

"Sigh, alright, I just wish I could have somepony else do this sh-" Cadence shoved her hoof in his mouth and said.

"Little pictures." She glanced at Flurry Heart and back at Shining Armor.

"Sorry dear, I've been trying to change all the cursing, or as you call it guard talk, but sometimes stuff just, slips out."

"It's alright, I just don't want our little filly to know every word the royal guard knows by the age of twelve, and you know exactly the words I mean."

"Can we please drop this, I'm trying to do better, hey where are all of the guards?"

"I think they're smarter than you give them credit for, they know to stay out of our kerfuffles." Just as she finished Flurry Heart's horn started to glow as she was about to sneeze, until.

"AAACHHOOO!!!" Flurry Heart sneezed and Shining Armor and Cadence just disappeared. Three guards walked in only to find the prince and princess missing.

In another, unknown location, Shining Armor and Cadence were unconscious inside what seemed like a giant metal pod, the walls were shaped as if they were in a ball with a flat red carpet floor, the metal walls were brass or copper. In the back of the pod was a lever, in the front was a large window that was curved like the walls were.

What was seen out of the window was a very dark corridor, I mean you can't see 1 foot into it.

Shining Armor and Cadence were starting to wake back up, the first thing Cadence asked, "Where are we?"

Shining Armor replied, "I don't know, but it ain't in the Crystal Empire."

"Aw come on, I thought Flurry Heart's magical outbursts were over."

"Um Cadence, I think we need to focus on where we are more than how we got here."

"Alright, I think we should get out of here, but how?" Shining Armor looked behind him and saw the lever.

"I think we need to pull this lever to get out."

"Try it, we have almost no other choice in the matter." Shining Armor pulled the lever and a large "shunk" was heard, they looked around for a sec only to look out the window. They were descending down into water.

They got a little lower only to see a rusty copper sign say "5 fathoms".

"Shining, what does fathoms mean?"

"I'm not sure, but I think Twilight told me, it's how deep you are in water." Just as he finishes the lights dim down and a whitish tarp fell covering the window, a video started to play. A woman in the film said.

"Welcome to Essence, the first, and only human city that has achieved total peace, up above the water humanity wages war against one another. Everyone vs everyone, over 1 billion people have been killed for pathetic resources like gasoline, oil, gold, money. While this is the embodiment of what humanity prays for every night, what every hungry child hopes to find, what humanity should be. This is, Essence, the essence of the good of humanity. When you enter the city you will be assigned a job, if you work hard you're guaranteed a place to sleep, and enough food to feed your family. We are reaching the city limits now, I hope you have a very nice day, and welcome to your new home."

Shining Armor and Cadence looked at each other for a few seconds, and back at the window, the window was opening up again and what they saw was amazing.

"Wow. This place is amazing, a whole city underwater." Said Cadence.

"Ya, I agree ." Just after he said that the pod slowed down and entered a small opening, the pod got all the way in and stopped with a small jerk that made Shining Armor and Cadence fall, with Shining on top.

"Shining, this isn't the time."

"Sorry, it was just how I fell."

The pod started to ascend, after a second it stopped again with little to no jerk, the shaft they just ascended closed up and the water level started to drop until it was all gone.

As soon it emptied the pod started to turn around to view the entrance to the city. Though it wasn't all golden and shiny, but it was dark and dead looking. There was a long, slender hallway with one flickering light right in front of the pod, the floor had a discolored and ripped red carpet that should look welcoming, but it gives more of a dead feeling.

"Cadence, I'm not sure this is the same place the voice told us."

Cadence tried to use a teleporting spell, but all the magic was absorbed into the walls, "What the? My magic is useless, what are we gonna do?"

"Wait, there's something up there." They looked closer at the hallway only to see a figure walking towards them, it was a woman, she had a masquerade party mask on (Like in Bioshock) and she wore a yellow and white poke dot dress. Her arms were stained in blood and there no eyes to be seen in the eye holes of the mask.

She was walking closer, and closer to the pod, Cadence was about to say something, but Shining covered her mouth and whispered into her ear, "Maybe it can't see us, even if it does, I have a small dagger that I hid in my mane."

The woman got right up to the pod and started to sniff, after a couple second she looked right into the glass and said in a very dark voice.

"I can smell something, not quite human, but flesh none the less. Might just be a couple of bodies." She started to walk away allowing Shining Armor an Cadence to take one deep breath, that is until she leaped right at the glass. "I don't buy it! I know something's in there! And I'll find out what!"

As she started to beat on the glass Shining Armor pushed Cadence back and used a bit of magic to pull out the dagger. He was ready to strike first, that is, before some kind of drone flew from the ceiling and pointed it's gun at the lady, "Oh no, not one of those!"

It looked like this.

It started to fire upon her, she started to run away as fast as she could, all while the bot followed her. Shining Armor and Cadence heard nothing for almost exactly one minute, but then they heard a male voice ask.

"Hello, hello? Please respond, I need help, SOS, mayday, please respond if anyone in that pod is alive, please, I need serious help. Please for the love of god respond!" Shining Armor looked over and saw a small microphone connected to a box, he grabbed it with his magic and replied.

"Yes we get you, do you receive us?"

"Yes, yes I do! Thank god, at least somebody is still alive."

"Who are you? And what is going on?"

"Sorry, my name's Otter, and what happened is truly awful. A couple days ago there was a leak in a pipe, okay long story short the pipe let out a whole bunch of creatures that drilled themselves into our heads and ate our brains, while at the same time learning how we work and eventually, they controlled our bodies.

I think I'm one of the last survivors here, mainly because I haven't had anyone or anything reply to my cries of distress. But there is one upside, the location I am in is right at the control panel for the bots like the one you just saw, along with control of the only evacuation sub that will get you two out of here."

"Wow, well mister Otter, how do we get there?"

"First, how many of you are there?"

"Two, me and my wife."

"Good, but the bad part is it's gonna cost you to leave in my sub."

"I don't like this, but what do you want? Money, weapons?"

"None of that, all I want is for you two to go get my wife and my daughter, I received a message from them just a couple hours ago, and sadly I can't go get them, the doors that lead out of here are bolted shut. And the entrance to the evacuation sub area can only be opened remotely, with someone in the room I'm in.

Please, if you two get them, I will be happy to get you two out of this hell-hole."

"Well, do we have any other choice?" Cadence lightly bumped his shoulder.

"Well, the alternative is that you both get your heads drilled by seashells, slowly, and very painfully have your brains sucked out and digested for at least 15 minutes followed by it taking over both of your bodies and you two being stuck down here, forever. So which one is it?"

Cadence gave Shining Armor a look of, you'd better do it or else. "We'll do it, but are there any weapons we could use, this dagger isn't gonna do much."

"There is a small armory near your location, it's probably been looted for everything big, but it might have a couple weapons left, I'll light up the signs so you two will know where to go."

"We are putting a lot of trust into you, if you lead us to our dooms we will come for you."

"Hey, it's my family on the line here, my wife and baby daughter."

Cadence started to think a bit, Shining replied, "Alright, we'll head that way, but how will we talk?"

"Duh, you can pick this thing up and strap it to your back."

"Oh."

Shining Armor used some magic and put the radio on his back and the mic over his ear so he can directly talk with Otter. Cadence ask Shining, "I think this guy might lead us into a trap, we shouldn't trust him."

"Cadence, we have no choice here, our powerful magic doesn't work around here. Now the faster we get out of here the sooner we'll get back to Equestria, what do you say?"

"Sigh, alright, let's go. We just gotta be very careful around here."

The pod doors opened and a nice, fresh smell of ocean water and death raped their noses, making their nostrils flair up, "Elgh, not how I expected it to smell like." Said Cadence.

They slowly got out of the pod and walked into the dark, almost unlit hallway unsure of anything that will come.

Author's Note:

Well what do you all think of it? Tell me in the comments. I'll post chapter 2 in about a week or so, and trust me when I say it gets really good.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Essence is from Bioshock, right? You didn't make it up?

[Element Reading]

7836143
Actually the name is my own, but inspired by the actual name in the games, the name of the city in the games is "Rapture".

wiki link on game here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock)