Secret Agent Dinky
Chapter 4
by Rixizu
“Alright class, calm down.” Miss Cheerilee called over the chatter of excited fillies and colts. They stood in front of the schoolhouse and their teacher’s giant robot loomed over it. Their teacher was the Libra Ranger so her Zord took on the appearance of a scale. Not as cool as Trixie’s bear Zord or her mom’s centaur Zord, but not bad, thought Dinky.
“I want everypony to form a line. We will take off soon,” Miss Cheerilee said in her Ranger Armor. “Yes, that means you too Rumble in the back, thank you.” She unmorphed and began to herd her students inside the Zord’s airlock.
"Woah." Apple Bloom stared up at the Zord in wide-eyed awe.
"Come on Bloom," Dinky whispered as Cheerilee listed off instructions, "it's only Miss Cheerilee's Zord. Nothing all that special."
“Right,” Apple Bloom replied, not taking her eyes off the robot.
Hadn’t Bloom seen it a million times? I wasn’t that interesting. Again, the filly had been acting strangely. What in Equestria was going on at her home? While walking to school yesterday, Dinky once again saw Applejack yelling at Bloom and being a grade-A jerk. She should tell Miss Cheerilee about it. If Bloom wasn’t being treated well at home, somepony needed to know about it. Could their teacher stop a bullying older sister? It was worth a try she supposed.
Like before, the inside of the Scale Zord awed her like something out of a sci-fi novel with metal corridors and panels with blinking lights. She enjoyed the comfort of the seats in the Zord’s lounge and bounced on them.
"Today class we will go to somewhere few ponies have ever seen," Cheerilee said, "though much of the world is still unexplored by pony eyes, the oceans are even more a mystery. It contains hundreds of thousands of creatures many of which have only been recently discovered. Scientists speculate we've only scratched the surface of the amount of life in it."
“Like seaponies?” Scootaloo asked.
"Well, I suppose it is possible," Cheerilee replied, "but nopony has ever made any official record of them. They only exist in legend as far as we know."
“Hey, maybe we’ll find some!” A filly in their class said.
The class broke out into a fight about the existence of seaponies with Silver Spoon being the most adamant about them not existing.
"Come on," Dinky said, "if vamponies exist, why can't seaponies?"
Everypony in the class gave her a blank look. Dinky mentally hit herself. Why did she say that? Some secret agent she was. She was meant to keep that one a secret. Diamond opened her mouth to reply, no doubt ready for an insult, but Dinky beat her to the punch.
"Just kidding of course," she said her voice a little too high, "but we do live in a world with superheroes and monsters, so why not?" She forced a grin.
“Right sure, whatever.” Diamond Tiara replied.
"Ahem, as I was saying," Cheerilee said, "today we will explore the bottom of the Western Luna Ocean.”
“Will we be going outside?” Scootaloo asked her eyes eager and excited. No filly enjoyed an adventure as much as she did.
"I've checked and yes our suits can withstand the pressure that far down, so I think it will be alright if we when out for a little while, but I am putting a rope on each of you. I don't want anypony getting lost. You will only be able to go out a few dozen hooves or so."
There was more excited chatter from the class and Cheerilee went over several safety procedures before they took off. They would arrive at the Western Luna Ocean in about an hour. In the meantime, they could play around in the Zord, but most stayed close to the windows enjoying the view as they flew through the sky.
Dinky jumped up and down with eager anticipation as they arrived at a place she had only ever read about and many of the other foals chattered in excitement. Below them was Applewood, Coltifornia, the place where stars were born and the birthplace of the best plays and music. It was just like the pictures with its architecture from all over Equestria blended together in a myriad of color and lights. The Applewood sign itself on Mount Lun standing tall and proud in bleached white. As they flew over, nopony seemed to pay them much mind probably assuming they were part of a show or something. The entire class crammed into the cockpit and bombarded their teacher with questions and comments.
“So cool!” Sweetie Belle said. “Miss Cheerilee, can we stop and look around?”
“Great idea, I haven’t been here in ages.” Diamond Tiara said. “I can introduce you to all the stars father introduced me to.”
“Yeah right.” Scootaloo scoffed.
“Shows what you know rocket brain, just last month daddy and I had dinner with Glittergold.”
“No way!”
“Oh my gosh really?”
“No way, the writer of ‘A Princess and I’?!”
“Yeah right!”
“It’s true.” Diamond Tiara looked at her hoof and polished it on her chest. “Having money has its advantages.”
“Now class.” Miss Cheerilee said stopping another argument “That isn’t why we are here. We’re here to see the wonders of the sea!”
"Yes, Miss Cheerilee." The class replied, disappointed.
“Well, I suppose we could have dinner there tonight.” Cheerilee relented, and the class exploded into cheers.
“Great!” Diamond Tiara said. “I see if I can get a hold of Glittergold and he can have dinner with us.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Sweetie Belle whispered and Dinky laughed.
Ten minutes later and they were over open ocean. Dinky loved how blue it was and how it seemed to go on forever and ever. Seagulls soared past them and she waved at them. They flew on for another hour before Cheerilee stopped her Zord and floated it over the ocean its thrusters keeping it in place.
"Alright, class," Cheerilee said, "right now, we are over the Mareana Trench, the deepest part of the sea floor, as far as we know, it goes down 36,070 hooves. This crescent-shaped trough averages about 1,580 miles long and 43 miles wide. The only known successful expedition to the bottom was by a Lord Petard and Wash in 960.”
“What makes going down so challenging is it has water pressure equal to 15,750 psi which is 1000 times more than the standard air pressure of the sea level. This makes exploring it difficult for scientists, except we can cheat a bit.” Her eyes sparkled. “The Mareana Trench is so deep that even if you were to put the highest mountain in the world ,Mount Everhay, inside it there would still be more than a mile of water under it.”
“The deepest part of the trench is called the Challenger Deep which is almost 7 miles deep. Sadly, we won’t be exploring that part today, but we will go to the entrance to it at least. It’s a little too dangerous for us to go in now. As of now, we don’t know why the trench even exists, but this little jaunt might shed some light on the matter.”
“But first, I will introduce our special guest.” Everypony chattered in excitement at this revelation.
“Is it Miss Trixie?” Snails asked perking up.
Cheerilee’s eye twitched in irritation. “No, no. Not Trixie, remember I made her promise not to come. This time I asked a leading scientist in the field of marine biology to join us. Doctor Blacktip.”
Out of a corridor, a middle-aged mare walking into view. She was a portly mare whose stomach almost touched the floor. She had a rust-colored mane and a pale white coat and wore a light blue cardigan over a black and grey striped shirt with a white hoof bag over her shoulder. Her cheeks were red, and she greeted them warmly. Her cutie mark was a fossil of fish.
"Hello, class." Doctor Blacktip gave them a toothy grin. “I am so glad to join you on this little adventure.”
Dinky and the rest of the class sagged in disappointment. They had expected somepony cool to join them, not some boring scientist type. Their lack of excitement put Doctor Blacktip off somewhat, and she forced a cheerful smile.
"I thought this time I would bring along a scientist for our momentous trip," Cheerilee said, "it would be a little greedy to hog the glory all for ourselves. She will be teaching you facts about the wonders of the ocean while I steer us down the depths below.”
Dinky groaned. She wanted Miss Cheerilee the one to be telling them this but decided to humor the situation. Maybe Doctor Blacktip would have all sorts of interesting facts. She had studied the ocean her life after all. Still, the mare reminded Dinky too much of one of her great aunts. The one that smelled too much like cats and peppermint and told long boring stories about not that interesting misadventures in her life.
“Okay class gather around.” Doctor Blacktip said. “We are about to enter the exciting and unknown world of the sea!”
The Zord lurched and falling and with a crash so loud it made the whole cabin shake, plummeted into the depths below. Dinky put a hoof on the glass and stared in wide-eyed fascination.
If she thought the ocean was blue from the surface, well it didn’t even compare down here. She watched in fascination as fish swam around them together in schools, more than DInky could ever count. What struck her the most was how alive it was. This place thrived with life and was a stark contrast to the moon and its bleak pale beauty. She watched the fish in open fascination as Doctor Blacktip pointed out the various species and gave out a factoid nopony really cared about. It was easy to zone out the doctor and Dinky engrossed herself in the beauty around her. No sharks sadly, but still pretty cool.
The deeper they fell, the darker the world around them became. It didn’t take long for the whole world around them to become pitch black and it surrounded them like a cloak. Dinky had never seen anything like it and not even the lights of the Zord pierced the blackness. Yet, there was some light there. There were small fluorescent lights danced through the water in bright neon colors.
“Ah, you see them, do you?” Doctor Blacktip said. “Despite the darkness and coldness of below, life thrives. These animals use biofluorescence to absorb light and emit it in a different color. And not just fish and animals too. Scientists have discovered coral with it too. As we get deeper, we should be able to see some of it as well.”
Dinky could hardly hold back her enthusiasm. That sounded so pretty. It boggled the mind that anything could live down here at all considering the pressure at work not to mention such wonders as those in front of her. Dinky squinted in the darkness. If she strained her eyes enough, she thought she saw something like a ridge.
"Hey, guys I think we are about to get to the trench," Scootaloo said.
The class gathered around and they all were in awe of the giant cavern they were entering. On both sides were jagged rocks and it felt as if they were entering the mouth of a giant beast. The ridge expanded on as far as the light could touch and Dinky tried to imagine it as a scar on the face of the planet. Down they went, and they saw all sorts of bizarre creatures. The entire class screamed when a fish with a bulbous head passed them. It had a light attached to an antenna that floated over its head. What horrified Dinky was the number of teeth in its gaping jaw. Huge and long with a mouth almost big enough to swallow a filly or colt whole. Dinky had doubts about going outside if more creatures like that were out there.
“Lovely, aren’t they? And this is only the start of what we will find down here.” Doctor Blacktip watched the creature with a glee that made Dinky take a few steps away from her. Instead of fearing the thing with terrifying looking teeth, the marine biologist watched it like it was the only thing in the world. Dinky took another step away from her.
As they descended other odd creatures came into view some more odd than the last. They weren't even close to as numerous as the sealife above, but this place was still very much alive. What struck Dinky was how prehistoric they all were like something out of a textbook that had dinosaurs in it. Many of them vicious predators with sharp teeth or other sharp appendages. Other odder creatures appeared in front of them with wide mouths and bulbous eyes. It surprised her the stark difference between the life up above and the creatures living down here. Maybe looks didn’t matter as much down here. Despite her revulsion at some of them, Dinky had an odd fascination for them.
"Alright, class," Cheerilee said, "who's ready to explore outside?"
The class gave each other a look, nopony seemed too eager to go outside anymore especially when this bizarre shark-like creature with too many teeth passed by.
“Um, sorry Miss Cheerilee, I think we are pretty cool just looking out the window.” Dinky gave her teacher a weak smile.
“Yeah, could we just stay here, maybe?” Apple Bloom said.
"I suppose you're right," Cheerilee said dejectedly, "it doesn't appear to be all that safe out there. I'll admit, it wasn't exactly what I expected either. Still, they are interesting creatures. I'll be sure to get plenty of pictures of them." She thrust a small camera forward for emphasis.
“Uh, Miss Cheerilee.” Snail said. “Where is Doctor Blacktip?”
Dinky looked around in alarm and saw the marine biologist nowhere in sight. How did such a large mare sneak away without being seen? An alarm sounded throughout the room and Dinky recognized it as the warning system for the airlock. Somepony was trying to go outside. What the hey? Everypony ran towards the airlock and saw Doctor Blacktip inside wearing one of the spacesuits and the room already filled with water.
“What are you doing?” Cheerilee asked. “It might be dangerous out there. The class and I have agreed that it might be for the best if we stay inside.”
“Nonsense.” Doctor Blacktip waved a dismissive hoof. "This is my chance to see previously undiscovered aquatic life up-close. Won't be long." Was it Dinky's imagination, or did the older mare have a smug look on her face?
“You aren’t going to leave her out there alone, are you?” Sweetie Belle asked in concern.
“No, as soon as the airlock is clear, I’m going after her.” Cheerilee rubbed her temples. “Dinky, you are in charge while I’m gone. Nopony is to follow me. I’m trusting you with a big responsibility.”
This sudden thrust of leadership took Dinky aback, but she nodded in understanding. It was up to her to keep things straight.
“Ugh, this is what we get for not bringing Trixie along.” Snips complained and all the other foals nodded in agreement.
“No, it’s fine! I got this.” Cheerilee with a little too much enthusiasm. “I can handle this problem on my own. Trixie doesn’t always have to steal the show.”
They watched the door with worried anticipation and Dinky prayed Miss Cheerilee would be alright out there. She made sure nopony got close to the airlock controls just like their teacher had ordered. Minutes seemed like an eternity and Dinky’s gut told her something was wrong. She dismissed this as paranoia when Miss Cheerilee and Doctor Blacktip walked back in the airlock. She was hanging around Trixie for too long and tried to laugh away her growing dread.
“You wouldn’t believe what I found!” Doctor Blacktip said as she took off the helmet of her suit.
“Yes, we are all very happy for you.” Miss Cheerilee said dryly.
“Miss Cheerilee, you’re safe!” The class hurtled around their teacher glad to see she was ok.
"It was a little touch and go for a minute there," Cheerilee said and the whole class gasped when they saw a crack in the glass of her helmet, "some of the wildlife out there wasn't all that friendly and I miscalculated about the pressure. My suit barely withstood it."
Dinky was super glad they all decided not to leave the Zord. She shuddered at the thought of what might have happened.
“And what was so great that you had to risk everypony’s life?” Diamond Tiara put a hoof on her hip not amused in the slightest.
Tears gathered around Doctor Blacktip’s eyes. “I thought he’d had been lost forever, our King!”
“Doctor Blacktip?” Dinky asked confused by this sudden outburst of emotion, then she saw what was in the doctor’s hooves. It was the skull of a pony and Dinky cried out in fright.
“That Moon Princess thought if she hid him down here, nopony would ever find him. I almost didn’t believe we’d ever find him.” Doctor Blacktip broke out into manic laughter. "And now her own knight has doomed her and all of Equestria!"
“Um, Doctor Blacktip, what are you talking about?” Cheerilee said with trepidation. She screamed when a bolt of energy struck her from Blacktip’s hoof and threw her painfully into a wall. Though a little bruised up, she stood up without much difficulty.
“You survived that one?” Doctor Blacktip tilted her head and then broke out into a grin. “I never imagined you Rangers were that strong. Once I kill you, you’ll serve us well, immortal and unstoppable.”
In a flash, Doctor Blacktip changed. Her body became sleeker and more muscled. Bonelike armor formed over her body jagged and tough looking and the skull of a prehistoric shark formed over her head like a helmet and a sharp horn protruded over her forehead. A sword made of bone formed in her hooves.
"Call me Kragolark." The mare said and gave them all a wide toothy grin.
“Well, I didn’t this one coming,” said Cheerilee and pulled out her morpher.
“Not so fast.” Kragolark disappeared and grabbed Dinky by the throat and pointed her sword at her chest. “Transform, and this little one dies.”