"Daddy, look!" I heard my Little Sister, Beatrice, tell me. I stopped walking and looked to her, wondering what reason she could possibly want to stop. We were on a schedule after all, and she had only gathered from three bodies today. If she was going to be healthy, she'd need more.

Instead though, she was standing in front of a glass display window, looking through the glass casing and staring happily at some sort of stuffed animal. I didn't recall ever seeing anything like that before. It was as slender as it was brown and furry, with four legs that ended in hooved stumps rather than feet or paws. Its tail went straight down, and its back was adorned by what seemed like a straight line of hair.

"A pony, Daddy! A pony!" Pony? I wasn't too sure what this was, but it was impeding our progress. I let out a groan and gestured for the Little Sister to follow me so that we can go on our business. She didn't move though, preferring to stay and watch the stuffed creature, humming one of the little tunes she had made up about gathering. We weren't going to be going anywhere without that toy, I could tell. So, with a heavy sigh, I opened the door to the store as carefully as possible, thankful that shops were told to design bigger doorways for Big Daddies.

The moment I looked towards the shopkeeper, who seemed to be an Asian man, no less than 50, he ducked under his desk. There was a rule of thumb down in Rapture. If a Big Daddy came into your store because he wanted something, you let them have it. Detrimental for a store's health? Yes, but would you prefer it being detrimental to a person's health?

I ignored the hiding shopkeeper and made my way to the window that Beatrice was still looking into, as if she hadn't noticed me leave her. When she noticed me in there, she giggled and waved, her ADAM hypo swinging in the air with her small pale hand. I smiled behind my helmet at this, as I grabbed hold of the stuffed animal and lifted it for her to see. She was ecstatic, jumping up and down giddily while clapping her hands and screaming 'yay'. She reached out her hands, as if asking me to give it to her as soon as possible. I nodded through my helmet as I made my way towards the shop door once more, prepared to give my 'daughter' her toy.

When I opened the door though, she was gone, her hypo needle being all that was left. "Where were you, Mr.Bubbles?"

********************************************

I shot up in my suit, breathing rapidly while I looked around the room. I was still in my apartment building, sitting on the couch. That was why I couldn't sleep. Every time I would doze off, I would be bombarded by these damned nightmares that always seemed to focus on reminding me of my mistakes. Big Daddies didn't need sleep, which I was grateful for, but the person inside the suit could only go so long without rest before beginning to go mad. At this point though, I wasn't sure if I had already gone mad or not.

I sighed. One thing at a time, one thing at a time. I glanced towards the mattresses that laid in the center of the room, noticing the winged pony from the other day was still asleep, the bandaging on her head being a sharp contrast with her yellow fur and pink mane. The white pony, though, wasn't there. Suddenly, I heard the sound of water hitting the hard ground coming from the bathroom. Had a water pipe burst?

Shrugging my shoulders, I stood from my less than ideal seat and began to make my way to the bathroom, shuffling my feet rather than actually taking steps so I didn't wake up the resting pony. After a few more large shuffles, I eventually reached the bathroom door, noticing small hints of steam coming though its cracks. A hot water leak? Dammit, that always causes rust.

I opened the door and slowly made my way inside, steam fogging up the porthole to my helmet and the floor slippery from being wet. I glanced around me, not noticing the leak until I glanced towards the bathtub. A metal pipe looked like it was leaking water, but in an odd way. Most leaks either drip or pour, but through the flowery curtains, this leak seemed to be sprinkling. Let alone the fact that I heard an odd humming sound, rather than that of streaming water. "What the-" I reached for the curtain and quickly pulled it aside, revealing a now-soaking wet white pony, who seemed shocked to see me. The two of us shared a moment of silence, simply looking at each other, before Rarity blushed and let out a scream, throwing a nearby towel on my face, covering my helmet.

"Can't a mare shower in peace?!?" She said as I heard her close the curtains again. Shower? Is that what that thing is called? I've seen it before, but I had always thought it was just an easy leak to fix. After all, all you had to do was turn a handle. Well, now I knew that it was apparently made like that on purpose.

I took the towel off of my helmet and placed it on a nearby counter before making my way out of the room, slightly confused as to what just happened.

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Fluttershy's eyes flickered open, as she was awoken by the sound of a scream, followed by heavy footsteps. At first, she was worried, recognizing the scream to be Rarity's. She looked towards the source of the sound, seeing one of the doors down the hallway open, Omega standing in front of the door with a towel over his face.

"Can't a mare shower in peace?!?" She harrumphed, followed by the sound of closing shower curtains. Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle as Omega took the towel of of his head and headed out of the room.

Omega seemed to hear her as he looked directly towards her and made his way over. Fluttershy was a little nervous of course, but she wasn't nearly as afraid of him as she had originally been. He stopped walking just short of the mattresses that she laid on before carefully kneeling down on one knee to be more at eye level with her. She flinched slightly as his green eyed helmet shined upon her, but other than that, she didn't react too badly.

"H-hello, Omega." She greeted in her usual, quiet manner, smiling shyly as she did so. Omega groaned in return, being that it was the only answer he could give. Omega then began to slowly reach to her, to Fluttershy's slight chagrin. Having expected the hard and cold touch of Omega's gloves, she was surprised when he gently grabbed her by her chin and turned her head, inspecting the bandaging that she wore. He let out another groan as he did so, pointing to the bandaging she wore.

Fluttershy hazarded a guess at what he was saying.

"M-my head?" Omega nodded, slowly releasing Fluttershy's chin from his grip. "U-um. I-it's better than before." She told him. "M-my head still hurts though, if that's okay." Omega nodded once more, before standing up once again. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow in confusion. Pointing towards himself, then the door outside, Fluttershy hazarded another guess towards Omega's meaning. "You're going out?" Omega then pointed towards her and the bathroom where Rarity was currently showering, before pointing towards the floor. She got that message that he wanted them to stay put loud and clear, as she nodded to Omega in confirmation.

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When Fluttershy nodded her head, I could tell that she had understood what I had meant. I didn't really want to leave the two of them alone, quite the opposite really, but there were some things that I had to do around Apollo Square, otherwise, it wouldn't stay as safe as it currently was. It was an annoying process, having to constantly perform maintenance on every turret and camera in the area, but it was necessary. Besides, if I had learned anything from caring for Little Sisters, the two would need food and water, and maybe some pain pills to help Fluttershy.

As I nodded my head one last time, I turned away from the injured pony and made my way out the door, leaving the apartment and entering the much better lit Apollo Square. I reopened one of my mental checklists and headed out towards the tram system. First, the cameras.

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Rarity exited the showed with a sigh, a towel wrapped around her mane as she contently walked down the hallway... only to step in more dust.

"Wha- I- Ugh!" She groaned in annoyance, having soiled her hooves after just getting cleaned. "Honestly, how hard is it for somepony to do something as simple as dusting!?!" As she grumbled to herself of the ill conditions of the apartment, she glanced towards the center of the room, seeing a bedded Fluttershy watching her from afar, an small yet amused smile on her face.

Rarity quickly forgot about her now dirtied hooves as she trotted over to her friend with a smile.

"Fluttershy, darling!" She said happily as she hugged her with one of her forearms, watching her placement so that she wouldn't accidentally irritate her friend's head injury again. Fluttershy happily received the hug as she returned the gesture. "How are you feeling, dear?" Rarity asked Fluttershy, separating from the hug she had held her in.

"I'm fine, my head just hurts a bit." She replied as she sat herself up on the mattress to be able to talk to her friend more easily. She quickly grew to regret it though as she began to feel as if the room was spinning, barely catching herself from falling. "...and I'm a little dizzy." Rarity frowned at this, not used to seeing her friend in such bad condition. Of course, had it not been for the Big Daddy from before, Omega, as Fluttershy had previously called it, she would probably have been in even worse condition, or beyond. Speaking of which...

"Fluttershy, where is 'Omega'?" Rarity asked as she looked around the mostly empty apartment.

"Oh, he went out." Rarity looked back to her friend with a raised eyebrow.

"Out?" Fluttershy nodded before pointing towards the door that he had left through. "Well, what about us?" She continued, slightly perturbed by the fact that he would simply leave like this.

"I-I think he wanted us to stay here." She answered. Rarity looked towards the door Omega had apparently left through, putting a hoof to her chin in thought.

"What could he possibly be doing?"

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Alright, what else is left? I'd cleaned the camera lenses, greased the turret gears, cleaned out the hole the security bots usually came from, and cleaned up the more recent mess that was made by the splicer remains. All of my usual chores were done. Now I had to move onto my caretaker duties.

"Now, where to find food?"

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While Omega was out, Rarity had begun to fix the issue of cleanliness as soon as she could. Having found a nearby cloth, she used what she could to clean the room to the best of her ability without her magic. Needless to say, it didn't go that well.

"Ugh, blech! I'm covered in dust and grime!" Fluttershy giggled, rolling her eyes at her friend's antics. "He had better be thankful for this! I ruined my clean coat!"

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"Welcome to the Circus of Valuuuees!" I hated that machine so much. Seriously, out of all the horrors in the underwater hell of Rapture, there was none greater than hearing that creepy clown voice in the dark. "At least it has its uses."

I looked over the buttons on the machine as I moved the several loose bills I had found around in my hands. Finally deciding to press the button with a picture of canned peaches on its side, I inserted the bills into the machine and listened as the cans fell through. I bought several just to be sure. I still had enough for three more things from the machine, so I also bought two bottles of water, and one container of aspirin for Fluttershy.

"Tell your friends about the Circus of Valuuuees!" The machine said as I finished my purchases. Believe me, I'd prefer nobody else get nightmares because of this thing.

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Exhaustion could not begin to describe how Rarity felt at this point. Her mane was frazzled, her coat was wrinkled and gray from the dust and grime of the room, and she could feel herself begin to sweat, but as she looked around the now clean room, she knew it was worth it. One day with a filthy mane was not as bad as one moment within a filthy room... but it was close.

Suddenly, the sounds of heavy footsteps echoed through the door.

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All together, I'd say that I had gotten off easy this time. All I had to do was clean and oil some things, along with using the nightmare clown for supplies. Usually, I would have to clean out blood and guts from the gears, or wipe down the walls. Besides, there was only one body to clean... what was left of it at least.

I shuddered as I thought back to it, opening the door with my right hand, since my left was holding onto the supplies I had gotten for my two new housemates. To my surprise, the room was utterly darkened. At first, I was worried, but when my helmet's green light cast over a pink mane that poked out of the blue sheets on the bed, I calmed down.

Closing the door behind me, I turned on the lights in the room on and groaned to let the two know it was me. The lump in the bed twitched ever so slightly, before raising and uncovering a yellow pony hiding beneath. Rarity peeked her head over the back of the couch as well, though I couldn't help but notice how her mane looked much more messy. Maybe I just imagined it. I was actually kind of glad that they were hiding. At least they knew what to do if a splicer ever came by and I wasn't around.

"S-sorry we were hiding. We didn't know it was you." I groaned again, hoping she would understand that it wasn't a problem, before I walked past the two and towards the metal stove. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Rarity pull herself up over the couch and onto the cushions.

I placed the 'groceries' onto the metal stove, beginning to organize the items into the two cabinets that were attached to the stove. It wasn't that hard really. EVE and medicine on the right, food and water on the left. I kept the canned peaches and water bottles out, along with one of the aspirin pills from the container, and quickly opened the containers using metal straps that were attached to them from the top.

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While Fluttershy was resting on the mattress, watching Omega from afar, she picked up an odd yet irresistible smell that filled the room. Rarity noticed the same scent as she stood up in her seat on the couch. Glancing towards the Big Daddy, the two were surprised to see him holding two cans of, what seemed to be, peaches, alongside two water bottles. Both of their stomachs growled at the prospect of food, causing the two of them to turn an odd hue of red from embarrassment. The Big Daddy saw this, but rather than laugh, or even chuckle, he finished opening the cans and offered the two of them the food.

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Another advantage that this suit has: it recycles nutrients in my body and replenishes any inner acids and calories that I would ever need. In other words, I didn't need to eat or drink. Though, I was probably covered in tubes of all sorts inside of this suit. The two charges in front of me though were obviously the opposite. Though the two of them ate at a fairly normal speed, the amount of second servings they had asked for had the tendency of seeming unreal.

It was after they had finished eating and Fluttershy reached for her given water bottle that I offered her the aspirin. She seemed confused by the pill, as if she had never seen one before. Nevertheless, I managed to gesture her through the process with little to no issue, her friend, Rarity, watching from her position on the couch.

"Well, while it has been nice, I'm afraid we must be going Omega. After all, my sister, Sweetie Belle, and my other friends must be worried sick." She stood herself from her seat on the couch and made her way next to her friend, Fluttershy. "Now if you would so kindly show us how to leave this place, it would be most appreciated."

I looked at her as if she had grown another head. She was joking, right? Leaving Rapture, that was possible. Taking her back home? I wasn't so sure. Was she able to do the same thing that the larger ponies had done? What were their names again? Celestia and Luna?

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For the longest time, Omega just looked towards the two, not even making the slightest sound and appearing to be in thought. This worried Fluttershy, and this was not missed by Rarity. "You are able to get us back... right?" Rarity asked. The Big Daddy stood stock still for a moment, before moving his large metal head left and right. No.

Rarity's eyes widened, before slowly narrowing in anger. Fluttershy looked at her friend with a look of concern. She had already known of the chance of this occurring, and Rarity likely did as well. She likely just hadn't come to accept it yet.

"What do you mean you don't know? How could you not know!?! You've been here for much longer than anypony else has, so you must know of a way! I can't stay in such a horrible and disgusting place like this! There has to be a way out! There... there..."

Her anger subsiding, Rarity's eyes began to fill with tears threatening to surface. After everything she had gone through, watching several lives be extinguished, her friend suffer because of her, and now being told that she had no way of returning home so she could attempt to at least blur the memories... she broke down.

Fluttershy held onto her friend caringly, cooing her as she continued to cry, silently repeating 'there has to be' as she did so.

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... Wow. Never in my life, never had I felt so useless. Unable to do anything to calm her, or at least not knowing how, I made my way over to the couch and took a seat, much like I had done previously. If there was a hint of doubt before, it was gone now. These two are stuck in Rapture, and I'd sooner take off my suit and give myself over to the splicers than watch them die.

Author's Notes:

Sorry this chapter took so long to make. I've been really busy as of late, and had to cut some of my writing time to make up for it. Aside from that though, I have to say, I'm surprised the story is doing so well. We're reaching the 100 like mark ^~^. Thanks for all the support everyone, and I'll post the next chapter as soon as its ready!