//------------------------------// // The Seafloor (Empty Horizons, Part 1) // Story: The League of Sweetie Belles // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// “It’s like you’re paranoid about becoming your sister or something.” Founder Allure “Sweetie” Belle looked up from the saddlebags she was trying to pack all her vacation supplies into. For once, she was glad she wasn’t a human—didn’t have to bother with any sort of clothing whatsoever. However, all her toiletries, magic bars, books, and artificial horn polishers were straining the capacity of her bags. Currently, she was trying to decide if she could fit her hairbrush in or if she should go without it.  “Just get a bigger bag.” Allure smirked and turned to her helium-voiced friend—a taller, muscular mare with a silver earring and a hoofband indicating her membership within the Merodi Military. “Belongings will grow to fill available space,” Allure retorted. Squeaky Belle raised an eyebrow. “Where’d you hear that?” “Renee. I think. Memory’s a bit fuzzy, I suppose it could have been another Rarity.” Allure shrugged, tossing her brush to the side unceremoniously. “The point is, we Sweeties have to deal with packing our belongings a lot. We know how to do it.”  “Your bag is enchanted with durability and I can still see the threads stretching at the seams.” Allure rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get going, hmm? Vacation isn’t going to take itself!” Squeaky took out her phone.  “Squeaky…” “There are seven-thousand and three confirmed instances of ponies named Vacation.” Allure chuckled. “Fine, let’s go kidnap him then. Should be fun!” “I know seventeen different chokeholds!” “Not nineteen?” “I must leave some slots open for the perfect techniques, right?” With an amused smile, Allure zipped up her saddlebags and levitated them onto her back. “Right. Zod’s got everything handled?” Squeaky nodded. “She and Jade have it covered. We can go hit the exotic multiversal beaches!”  “Then what are we waiting for?” Allure tapped her metal horn, prompting magic sparks to fly out of it. She forced magic into her artificial appendage, causing the etched circles to glow a soft green. Entering a state of deep concentration, she performed the dimensional portal spell, ripping a small tear in reality to another world.  It collapsed instantly.  Allure sat down and sighed. “Aw… I was hoping to be… dramatic…” “You and I are not wizards, and never have been,” Squeaky offered. “Our skills lie elsewhere, Knight of Heart.” “Heh,” Allure rubbed the back of her head. “Right. Well, might as well do it the old-fashioned way.” She took out her dimensional device and set the destination. The device had to process her request for a few minutes since there wasn’t a direct universal connection available, but it eventually found a simple route. It tore a hole in reality that punctured through three separate universes, creating a tunnel of portals that collapsed into one with a noise not unlike a sword sliding into a sheath. Allure and Squeaky hopped through the ring, arriving in the lounge of none other than Swip, everypony’s favorite Sweetie spaceship. As expected, Suzie was waiting for them. The human captain saluted Squeaky when she arrived. “Marshall.” “Colonel,” Squeaky said, saluting as well. Suzie dropped the salute. “O’Neill’s still refusing to promote you?” “He has his reasons,” Squeaky reminded her. “I’m a League Founder, my loyalties are here before the Military Division.”  “He doesn’t know what he’s missing. You’d be the best High Commander ever.” “And you could stand to get back onto standard military assignments, but that’s not happening either.” With a childish grin, Suzie took Squeaky’s hoof in her hand and pulled tight. “Behold, the military bros!” Burgerbelle shouted, dropping from the ceiling with a metallic clatter. “Watch as they engage in the traditional greeting of their species…” She was suddenly wearing a safari hat and snapping pictures of the two of them like they were rare, exotic animals. “Perhaps one of them will initiate the secondary greeting to me…” “Hey, Burger, how’s it been?” Allure asked, trotting over to her. “Enjoying life on the edge?”  The Flat pulled out a bad-pun-o-meter. The readout showed an angry Kirby. “You’re learning the ways of the pun, grasshopper. One day you may even be as good as me.” “You didn’t even put a pun in that sentence!” “Neither did you!” “You both suck!” Squiddy called from the other side of the room, flinging her tentacles back. “End of discussion!” Burgerbelle produced a vacuum and ran after the white inkling. Squiddy yelped in surprise, ducking behind one of the couches before Burgerbelle could set upon her with the Vengeance of Cleaning.  “That didn’t take long,” Squeaky observed. “I thought you said she was mellowing out?” Suzie rolled her hand in the air. “Eh… she seems to identify with people a lot more. But her antics never end.” “And we like it that way!” a small unicorn said—one Allure easily identified as the young Cinder. As always, Allure was glad to run into a pony that wasn’t clearly taller than her, though this satisfaction was mitigated by the fact that Cinder was clearly still growing. “Hi, Allure!” Allure grinned. “Oh, Cinder!” She tousled the mare’s mane. “How’s my favorite little adventurer?” “F-favorite?” Cinder’s eyes sparkled.  “She has many favorites,” Squeaky supplemented.  “Well, yeah, duh,” Cinder said. “I bet you all have a lot of favorites!” “Everyone does,” a small alicorn said, trotting by. “All people and ponies subconsciously rate others if they intend to or not.” Squeaky coughed. “Sweetaloo, while I’m on vacation, would you kindly refrain from psychoanalyzing me?” “No promises~!” Sweetaloo sang.  Squeaky rolled her eyes.  “By the way…” Sweetaloo turned to Suzie. “Nira and Seren are in engineering making what they insist are ‘cookies’. I don’t believe them. You might want to check in on them before something gets out of hand.” Suzie frowned. “Swip, can you get Celia on that?” Swip’s voice came from all directions. “Suuuure, you get to hang out with your old friends while I call Celia. Shirking your responsibilities, hmm, Captain?” “Don’t worry, I heard everything,” Celia said. A moment later, Blink dropped the Void aura surrounding herself and Celia, revealing the two of them to the group.  “We totally weren't recording everything hoping for internet meme points,” Blink said, expecting absolutely no one to believe her. Celia nodded to Suzie. “Enjoy your day off, I can ‘captain’ the rascals for a while.” “Nira? A rascal?” Cinder shook her head. “She’s too ominous to be a rascal.” “Once you see her cursed with a baby-spell you can never look at her the same way again.” Celia trotted away before Cinder could press for details.  “I… but… what?” Cinder turned to Blink. “Do you have that on file?” “I do!” Swip declared. “And nobody is ever going to see it. Nira gets enough flak from all of you.” “Giving flak to each other is a national pastime,” Blink pointed out.  “The clinical term is ‘banter’,” Sweetaloo said.  “You’re full of crap,” Blink counterd. “Yes. Definitely. Absolutely.” “Every crew and team I see…” Allure chuckled to herself. “It doesn’t matter where it is or who’s on it, the dynamics are always so colorful. I’m almost envious of Renee, dealing with nothing but teams all the time.” “You’d get bored of it quick,” Squeaky pointed out. “Maybe. Maybe not. Can’t really know unless I try. Which I can’t, given… a lot of things.”  Squeaky turned to one of Swip’s digital screens. “Swip, take us to an exotic beach.” “I’ve already plotted a course that leads to several different amazing beaches!” Swip laughed like a madman. “Behold, the tour of multiversal Oceania in three! Two! On—” Something exploded in the back of Swip’s engines.  “...I am going to kill those cookie chefs…” Swip growled.  ~~~ After a half-hour delay that involved cleaning up dark-magic infused cookies bent on dominating the kitchen, the Sweetie vacation began on a bright red beach overlooking a blue sun setting into iridescent yellow-orange waves that smelled faintly of popcorn and jellybeans.  Chalcedony Celia had seen many thousands of different sunsets in her long lifetime and she had to admit, this one was easily in the top hundred. The colors were just so jarring and unconventional—it tickled the half of her that was a Rarity at heart. She wasn’t sure if she was looking at fashion genius or disaster, and that fascinated her.   Already the other Sweeties were laughing and enjoying themselves. Blink was surfing on the brilliant waves with only one hoof on the board at a time. Seren was playing with Cinder in the shallows, tossing a comically oversized beach ball back and forth with their magic. Squiddy had opted to remain in Swip, far away from the ‘deadly water’ despite having been offered a hydrophobic enchantment. She wouldn’t trust the stuff. Speaking of Swip, she was physically in the universe, landed on the beach with her entry ramp open. Nira was sitting on the ramp, talking with the ship rather than engaging in any festivities. That poor, joy-stifled mare of darkness. Sometimes Celia couldn’t help but pity her. It was possible for her to enjoy things, but she rarely sought such experiences out.  Celia tore her attention away from the dark mage and focused on the four Founders, who had congregated together like the old friends they were. Already they were playing some weird combination of volleyball and buckball without baskets or a net. Even though she’d been watching for ten minutes, Celia wasn’t entirely clear on the rules.  Considering that Burgerbelle was playing, there may not have been rules for all she knew. Each team had a pony and a humanoid: Allure and Suzie versus Burgerbelle and Squeaky. However, their build didn’t seem to determine their role on the team, since Suzie and Squeaky were the ones aggressively hitting the ball while Allure and Burgerbelle hung back to react only when the ball went too far to one side or the other. Squeaky and Burgerbelle’s team was clearly winning from the consistent “oh come on!” both Allure and Suzie were spouting every few minutes.  Suzie had changed into beach attire for the encounter, a bright white one-piece swimsuit that had a few frills on the edges that made Celia think it was probably part of one of the captain’s ‘anime’ outfits, likely altered to be significantly more modest. Burgerbelle kept changing into different outfits every few seconds for the sake of ball-spiking.  “And the crowd goes wild!” Burgerbelle shouted, donning the suit of a sports announcer and spiking the ball with her elbow. It flew through the air and hit Suzie in the face, prompting several cartoonish ‘impact swirls’ to spiral off her head. Suzie fell back, eyes replaced with the whirling images of a slot machine that eventually settled on returning her pupils to her. Allure ran forward, reaching out with her inner Heart and slapping the ball away with an invisible extension of herself.  “Hey, cheat!” Burgerbelle called, blowing a whistle. “You can only hit the ball with your limbs!” “I had my spirit shaped into a hoof,” Allure countered.  “That doe—” The ball hit her in the face, making a sound not unlike an anvil.  “...I’m going to let you two have that one,” Squeaky chuckled. “Serve!” “Wait a min—” Suzie received a ball to the face once more, though this one didn’t come with any cartoony effects.  They really are such good friends, Celia thought.  “Penny for your thoughts?” Celia looked to the pony laying in the sun next to her: Sweetaloo. “We don’t use pennies.” “Bit? Quid? Work with me here.” Celia smirked. “I just found myself appreciating how good friends they are. You’d think Suzie and Burger would be cut out of the group since they spend most of their time elsewhere… but that just hasn’t happened.” Celia frowned. “I hear it happens so much with various friend groups. I was just talking to Flutterfree about it the other day. She commented that she hadn’t spoken to her Applejack in over a month.” “Sometimes things happen,” Sweetaloo admitted. “I haven’t been back to my home universe in years due to the awkwardness of talking to my sisters. We’ve resolved our differences and are on good terms, but we haven’t made much effort to stay connected. They have.” She pointed at the Founders as they all hit the ball at the same time, triggering a small explosion. “They actively meet up regularly, confide in each other, and… well, they’ve built an entire organization around themselves. Their lives are each other.” Celia looked up at her cracked gemstone. “Like sisters coming together.” “Yeah, it is a bit like you. I bet if they were Gems they’d spend most of their time as a super-Sweetie.” “I’m not sure a fusion could handle that much internal banter,” Celia chuckled.  “You’ve told me your halves will talk to each other.” Celia nodded. “That generally only happens in moments of emotional duress where the fusion is in danger of collapsing. My mind is generally one-track, though the internal debate isn’t exactly uncommon. All I was trying to say is that their relationship is heavily dependent on banter. If they fused, they wouldn’t precisely have that communication aspect.” “Different strokes for different folks.” “Precisely.” “So. Question. Why aren’t you out there having fun?” Celia frowned. “What do you mean?” “You’re just sitting here. You’re not sunning yourself like me, you’re a Gem. I know you like playing. Go join the game, or something.” “I wouldn't want to intrude—the Founders have something special.” Sweetaloo rolled her eyes. “Cinder or Blink then. They’re both enjoying their vacation and would love for you to drop in.” Celia didn’t have a response ready. “Hey. It’s okay if you don’t know everything about yourself. Celestia knows I don’t. Just consider it a suggestion from a friend—loosen up a bit. There’s something to be said for putting yourself out there. You know you’ll enjoy it.” Celia pursed her lips for a moment, considering what Sweetaloo said. She did enjoy a good chaotic romp through the wilderness every so often, but she always kept herself back. After all, she had an image to maintain as an authority on the crew, it wouldn’t do to be as crazy as all the others—somebody had to be the consistent voice of reason.  But today? Everyone was on vacation. Until some crisis came crashing down and ruined their fun, she was off the clock. Screw that image of hers. She lit her gemstone and summoned a surfboard from the aether. “Hey, Blink! I bet you wipe out first!” “You’re on!” Blink called—promptly turning invisible the moment Celia took to the waves.  “Wh… hey!” Celia climbed onto her surfboard with a disgruntled expression. “Blink, I have to be able to see you wipe o-OUUUU—” The invisible Blink tipped Celia’s surfboard over, dunking her into the water. Being a Gem, Celia didn’t exactly need air to survive, so she wasn’t in any rush to swim back to the surface. She started to cast a spell intended to find the water Blink was disturbing but she never got to finish casting.  She was overtaken by the sight of thousands of brightly colored fish swimming around under her in complex kaleidoscope-like patterns, mesmerizing her with their intricate interplay. No matter where she looked, it appeared as though the lines of fish were fixated onto her and for her. And that wasn’t even counting the coral beneath the fish, rolling with shifting colors and threads that swirled in the current.  Celia quickly pulled her head out of the water. “Blink! Why didn’t you tell us about all the stuff down there?” Blink appeared on her surfboard, riding a wave. “I didn’t think it was that interesting?” Celia let the wave crash over her, surfacing again to call out to the others. “Hey! Girls! You have to see this!” ~~~ What had started as a simple ‘check out the fish under the sea’ had turned into a ‘let’s explore the oceans of the multiverse’. Every Sweetie had piled into Swip and set off into the water, diving past the colorful fish and coral reefs until they arrived at the dark depths of the sea. They never ran out of sights to gawk over, ranging from fish longer than their field of view to floating bundles of moss that rippled in reaction to Swip’s presence.  Simply exploring one universe hadn’t been enough. Swip had taken to opening underwater portals to find the depths of other oceans, at one point drifting through a thick syrup of honey filled with slow moving fish.  It was an endless aquarium. “And on your left you will see what I just named the ‘Stupiflippers’,” Swip announced as she brought up an image of a school of fish that were constantly swimming in loops. “Do not be fooled by their drifting across the screen, they are not moving anywhere. At all.” “Stupid fish,” Squiddy muttered, glaring at them. Most of the other Sweeties ignored her griping and continued looking out the many various screens at all the aquatic life surrounding Swip at the moment.  “You… okay?” Blink asked Squiddy. “Need I remind you that inklings explode on contact with water? I don’t like the ocean!”  Blink shook her head. “No. But we’re safe inside Swip.” “I know. Still don’t like it. Why is ‘beach’ the default place to go for a vacation? Why can’t it be… mountains? Camping. I like camping.” “Tell you what. We can tour some gas giants or something after this—I’ll push for it. No oceans for miles around.” Squiddy smirked. “Thanks.” “Though, strictly speaking, gas giants are more dangerous than an ocean…” A massive sea serpent the color of a cactus erupted from the dark depths, charging right into Swip. With a laugh, Swip pointed her main turret at the beast and sent a lance of white energy right into its face. The water between the weapon and the destination was converted to a rippling current of steam that culminated in a large explosion of bubbles on the serpent’s nose. With a roar of agony, it slid away. “Yes. Safe.” Squiddy shuddered. “Surely you’ve heard of sky squids?” Blink asked.  “Yes, I know about sky squids.” She lifted her tentacles in the air and started making ghost-like noises. Blink facehooved. “Really?” Squiddy grinned. “Yes. Really.” Swip changed universes, this time arriving in pinkish water.  “...Swip, is that pink lemonade?” Squiddy asked. “Analysis says no,” Swip answered.  “Then why is it pink?” “Salt.” “Salt?” “Salt.” Seren cleared her throat. “Certain molecules—in this case, salt—have particular shapes that interact with light waves in such a way that they appear a certain color. In this case, pink—at least to Swip’s lights. The color might be different at the surface.” “Why don’t we check it out?” Allure suggested. “Assuming this place isn’t an endless expanse of pink water.” Swip’s avatar winked. “Let’s make a discovery! UP UP AND AWA—” A creature made of blue electricity teleported behind them. A single tooth of the monstrosity’s immense maw filled up Swip’s primary screen, rippling with massive amounts of energy. The lightning flashed a deep red color and surged toward Swip, ramming headfirst into her shields. Swip’s avatar vanished from the main screen, indicating she was focusing most of her processing power on dealing with the creature. Squiddy saw a few of their weapons fire at the beast, doing little-to-no damage to the rippling electricity.  “Get us out of here!” Suzie ordered.  “Working on it!” Swip said, opening a portal to a darker, bluer sea. She pushed her engines to leave.  The sea monster crunched the back of Swip’s shield between two of its teeth. The barrier sustained itself for a whole second before giving out, allowing the teeth to crunch down on Swip’s engines.  Every light on the bridge flashed red and alarms started blaring. “BREACH. BREACH. BREACH.” Squiddy felt all sensation leave her legs. A breach. At the bottom of the ocean.  The rest was a blur to her.  ~~~ Cinder didn’t get a good look at the monster. She had seen what looked like a tooth made out of electricity, then the back of Swip had exploded. At that point, Swip’s inertial dampeners had failed and everyone had been knocked to the ground by the jostling. Cinder’s lunch left her stomach as Swip entered a tailspin through the waves.  Cinder forced her eyes open, ignoring the half-digested contents of her stomach flattened against the wall next to her. She heard some vague yelling and saw a few sparks of magic go off as they continued their descent into the waters. There was a great, partially synthetic roar from behind them that was cut off abruptly. Cinder had enough of her wits about her to deduce that they had shifted universes and left the monster behind.  “Report!” Suzie and Squeaky barked at the same time.  “Incoming!” was Swip’s only response. Everything shook from an impact, tossing Cinder off the wall and onto the floor. She felt water starting to pool under her chin. Uh-oh.  Swip was no longer spiraling through the ocean—she was settling down on something solid, perhaps the seafloor. Whatever it was, Cinder was glad it was there because now she could stand up without feeling like she had two ponies piled onto her chest.  Suzie and Squeaky didn’t wait for Swip to completely settle. “Report!” They barked again. Suzie flinched, looking away from Squeaky.  Swip beeped. “Good news, we escaped the monster. Bad news, my engines are completely busted and we’ve got several leaks. At the bottom of the ocean.” “Any immediate threats?” Squeaky asked.  “Besides the weight of millions of tons of water above us? Not that I can tell, but I’m half broken.” “Right, Suzie?” Squeaky turned to her. “We need to ensure survivability first.” Suzie pointed at Seren. “Get on that.” Seren nodded, teleporting elsewhere in Swip. Cinder tapped the water on the ground. It was only about a centimeter deep at this point, but they’d been down here for just barely a minute. “...Squiddy, are you—” “I’m fine!” Squiddy shouted, standing on top of one of the bridge’s chairs, glaring at the rising water. “Long as I’m not doused with the stuff, I’ll be good.” She flicked a drop of water off her wrist, hissing. “Just get it fixed before it becomes a problem!” Nira touched her horn to the water, freezing it solid. “Solved.” Cinder pulled her hooves out of the sheet of ice in an attempt to stand tall. Instead, the slight slope of the floor made her slide all the way to the front of the bridge, next to Blink.  “Nira, freeze any breaks you can find,” Squeaky ordered. “Swip, do you have a damage report?” “My back half is flooded, as are several rooms,” Swip admitted. “They’re all sealed off with emergency bulkheads. What we’re experiencing here is a microfracture in the main hall.” Nira nodded, teleporting to the main hall. She was back in a second. “Sealing complete. We are now air-tight.”  “Eh…” Swip sighed. “I may be industrial and state-of-the-art, but without my shields I can’t survive these kinds of pressures for very long.” There was a metallic groan from all around as Swip’s hull began to buckle. “See? That’s a… problem.”  “Seren’s on that,” Suzie said. “...How is she faring in Engineering?” Cinder’s eyes widened. “Engineering’s in the back!” “She has enough magic to keep the localized pressure at bay,” Swip reported. “...barely.” “I’ll assist, I don’t need to protect myself,” Celia offered, teleporting away. Squeaky looked up at Swip’s hull. “Do we have any way to temporarily bolster your durability?” Swip grunted. “Basic durability spell won’t cut it, so no.” “It’ll buy us time,” Nira countered, casting the spell.  “About five seconds worth.” “It’s worth something.” “...It’s the thought that counts, I guess.”  Now that the immediate danger had people working on it, Squeaky turned to everyone. “Do we have any injuries?” “My wing,” Sweetaloo said, pointing at her left side. “Broken. Again.” “My head is ringing and I’m hungry,” Cinder offered.  “Anything more serious than that?” Squeaky asked. Receiving no answer, she indicated Allure should see to Cinder with a point, giving herself the job of seeing to Sweetaloo’s wing. Allure put a hoof on Cinder’s head. “How’s your head feel?” “Like we didn’t stop spinning…” Cinder grunted.  “Can you see?” Cinder squinted. “Actually, everything’s a little fuzzy…” Allure sighed, and Cinder felt something tug at her spirit—probably something related to Allure’s powers of Heart. “You might have a concussion. We’ll need to have Nira look at you closer.” “Oh boy, concussion… I can take a beating from a supervillain but the moment Swip crashes…” Cinder groaned, putting a hoof to her head as she felt the world start spinning. She decided it was a good idea to sit down and try not to move.  “Shields up!” Swip reported. The groaning of the hull stopped, allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.  Celia teleported back to the bridge, carrying an exhausted looking Seren on her back. The Gem set the child down in a chair, frowning. “She gave her all to get those shields back up. She won’t be doing anything for a while.” “Are the shields in danger of falling?” Squeaky asked.  “Nope,” Swip said. “They’re not in peak condition, but they’re operating like they were before. We’re safe. My backup energy reserves are basically untouched, I could power that for an eternity if you wanted.” “Hopefully we won’t need that long. Can you move?” “Engines are completely toast. Dimensional drive works, but none of my tests have shown an adjacent universe that isn’t either underwater or deep underground.” “Call for help.” “Ah, see, here’s the problem with that…”  Squiddy groaned. “We have radio spells and communication devices! If your communications are down we have options!” “Oh no, communication systems are up and running just fine.” “Then what’s the problem? Get us out of this mess!” Swip sighed. “We’re not in a well-established area of the dimensional network. They’re not going to hear a transmission sent through several miles of water or rock. Every adjacent universe has something in the way. Any distress call is just going to get eaten up in the waves.” “Transmit anyway!” “Already am. Have been ever since that monster ate my butt.” Squiddy’s anger melted away from her face. “N-no response?” “None.” Cinder gulped. “We’re stuck down here, aren’t we?” “Looks like it,” Allure grunted. “Okay, first, survivability. I know we can easily purify the water around us, but food?” Nira tapped her horn and summoned a sandwich.  “The food replicators are in the lounge, too,” Blink reported. “They probably still work, so long as we can power them from the ambient magic.” Nira nodded. “There is a magic network within the waters. Slightly dark in nature—I might be able to use it.” “Oxygen?” Allure asked. “Easily synthesized from the water itself,” Celia said. “There are several spells to do such.” “So, we could survive down here as long as we need to.” Allure nodded slowly. “Eventually, they’ll realize we haven’t returned from our vacation and come looking for us. They’ll be able to trace the dimensional portals and rescue us.” “That could take days,” Squeaky pointed out. “That’s not even taking into account possible time dilation.” “Days. At the bottom. Of the ocean!?” Squiddy jumped out of her chair, prepared to go on an angry rant—however she slipped on the icy floor and fell onto her back.  “With luck they’ll find us sooner rather than later,” Allure said. “Or we find a way to save ourselves. Swip, how deep are we?” “No idea,” Swip admitted. “Sensors were rather scrambled by being crushed a few minutes ago. Deep enough that it’s pitch black out there.” “Well, if we could make it to the surface, we’d probably be able to make a call…” Allure scratched her chin.  Squeaky cleared her throat. “Let’s make sure everything’s definitely stabilized before we try to swim straight up. Everyone, we need to take inventory just in case we have something that can get us out of this. Check every room that isn’t flooded. Anyone who can survive underwater should check the flooded rooms. Swip, is there anything nearby?” “A lot of dusty seafloor and a normal shark skeleton,” Swip reported. “Can’t see further clearly.” Squeaky nodded. “Thank you. Everyone else, get to work.” ~~~ Blink sat on the seafloor, looking out into the dark, murky abyss. There was no point of sight, no sensation beyond that which touched her essence directly. The seafloor itself was sandy, but her flanks did not itch due to the ever-present water keeping the grains loose and flowing. She could feel the cold, uncaring currents of the ocean flowing through her ghostly body, telling her of a world beyond her senses far larger than she could ever comprehend. A world hidden, just out of reach, but still within her.  Here, she was in her element. At the bottom of the ocean, all was Void.  Places like this filled her with comfort. If it weren't for the tense situation this location was forcing upon her friends, she could have been at peace here. As it was, all she had to do was turn around and she would be able to see Swip’s wreckage glowing like a lost firefly in a deep cavern. Her friends were in there. Some would be panicking. All of them would be tense. It had taken them all of half an hour to take inventory, but none of them could stop after that. They all had to be doing something to solve their predicament.  It had not taken long for the cramped space to drive Blink out. As a ghost, she could survive in the ocean depths without a problem so long as she remained intangible to the pressure. Might as well come out here to get some peace and quiet.  She so rarely got to enjoy places like this.  She was more than a little annoyed when Celia’s teleport flash ruined the ambiance of her retreat.  Blink sighed. “What do you want?”  Celia was not blessed with Blink’s ability to project her voice anywhere, so she had to resort to spell-based telepathic communication, a method that required her gemstone constantly be aglow with a soft light. I came to check on you.  “I’m fine.” Cinder was asking for you.  Blink frowned. “She… she’s fine.” Yes, she’s fine, but she’s worried about you. She said something about storming off to brood being a bad sign. “Me? Brooding?” Blink laughed. “Celia, you know me. I don’t do ‘brooding’.” Celia snorted, an action that blew a rush of water into Blink’s body.  “Fine, I brood sometimes. Not here. I just needed to get out of there. Your collective panic was getting to me.” Aside from Squiddy, I don’t believe any of us are panicking. We’re simply brainstorming solutions.  “We can’t swim up, since we have no idea how the universe works or how far down we are. Traveling to another universe doesn’t solve anything since it’s all water. So we’re just going to have to wait and see.” She laid down, pressing her back into the seafloor. “I’m going to sit out here until you all realize we just have to wait.” I think it’s a bit unrealistic to think that will happen. “What, have you had any luck coming up with ideas?” Nira has detected a magic network in the water and has been using it to probe beyond Swip’s sensors. She’s found a railroad running along the seafloor in that direction. She illuminated the water around her hoof to ensure Blink saw it.  “So either there’s an underwater civilization or this place didn’t use to be underwater.” Blink groaned. “And that means we might be able to get some help from the locals or get information… Fine, fine, you win, maybe Nira’s got something.”  It’s nothing to be ashamed of, not really.  “I’m going to stay out here until they want to do something, though. It’s… nice.” ...Nira did say the magic network was a dark one with a minor curse.  “...What?” She said it’s nothing to worry about, since she could easily remove something so weak, but I figured you’d want to know you are soaking in cursed currents. Blink sat up with a groan. “Aight, guess we’re going back then. No use tempting fate.” “Did someone say tempting fate?!” Burgerbelle shouted, jumping out of the seafloor. As a being whose hold on physics was tenuous at best, she didn’t care that she was being crushed by thirty thousand elephants worth of water pressure on every square inch of her body. “Oh, I know what that means!” “What?” “Monster attack!” Burgerbelle rubbed her hands together. “Oh, I can’t wait to see wh—” There was a rush of water and Burgerbelle wasn’t standing in front of them anymore.  “...Crud,” Blink said.  ~~~ “We need to assign rooms,” Squeaky said, tapping her hoof on the central table of the Lounge to grab everyone’s attention. “Only four are currently dry and easily accessible.” Cinder looked to Suzie to see if she would say anything—but as had been the pattern ever since the crash, Suzie just nodded in automatic agreement to everything Squeaky said. Cinder understood that Suzie was respecting the chain of military command, and there wasn't anything wrong with what Squeaky was saying… But could it hurt to at least discuss other options a bit? This wasn’t a military ship. They weren’t in danger of dying anymore.  “Me, Allure, Suzie, and Burger will take one,” Squeaky continued.  Oh, sure, just take Suzie away why don’t you.  “Rest of you have any preference?” Cinder shot her hoof up. “Blink.” “All right. Since she’s not here, you’re her vote.” Oh, sure, be reasonable. Be… Cinder caught herself. ...Am I really being that petty? “I’ll go with them, too!” Seren said, grinning.  Squeaky nodded. “That means Nira, Sweetaloo, and Celia get the third room, seeing as the Squiddy’s currently locked herself in the fourth one.” Cinder looked to Squeaky, grimacing. Well, now I feel terrible. That’s Founder Squeaky Belle. We should do what she says. Even Suzie. That was… “Hey,” Allure said, putting a hoof on Cinder. “You doing okay in there?” “Enough,” Cinder said, legitimately unsure if it was a lie or not.  Allure nodded in what Cinder assumed was understanding, though she wasn’t sure how the small mare could understand something Cinder hadn’t broadcasted. Cinder barely knew what she was thinking or why she was thinking it, how could Allure possibly kn- Oh. Right. They were both standard Equis Sweeties, more or less.  Allure’s smile told of a mare who’d just watched a series of facial expressions cross Cinder’s face in the exact way she’d predicted.  “Oh, come on! That’s not fair!” “And every standard Sweetie in existence knows about the tree sap incident. The multiverse isn’t fair.” Cinder shivered. “N-never bring that up again.” “You’ll find that it gets your point across really well soon enough.” Cinder wanted to argue but got the distinct impression that it would be pointless. She was basically looking at an adult version of herself… an inexplicably short one, to be sure, but that probably didn’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things.  “Soo…” Allure continued. “Getting jealous, are we?” “Jealous?” Allure glanced at Suzie and then at Squeaky. The human was following the unicorn around like some kind of butler.  “...I guess that could be jealousy…” “You know it is. Think back to your Rarity, for a moment. What was her name, again?” “Xenium.” “Right. Do you remember when you tried to replace her with Applejack at the Sisterhooves Social?” “Yep. That was a… ‘fun’ day. Though seeing Big Mac in a dress was much more f—” “Cinder, focus.” Cinder blushed. “R-right. Yeah, I remember.” “You remember why you tried to do that?” “Clearly, since you do.” Allure raised an eyebrow. “Sorry. She didn’t want to do it, something about her work and her dresses? I was little, I don’t remember it very well.” “And you thought she cared more about her work than you.” “I mean I—” Cinder stopped herself. Then she turned to look at Suzie giving Squeaky her rapt attention. “Ah. You know, you think I would have learned that lesson…” “Nobody learns a lesson completely the first time.” “Barring ka-weirdness.” Allure rolled her eyes. “Yes, barring that. My point here is to show you that you’re close to falling into the same trap again so you can start to see it yourself.” “Huh. Thanks.” She frowned. “...You know Suzie. Does she…?” “She respects her rank and authorities a lot, yes. But…” Allure scratched her chin. “Her compassion overrules that. If it came down to it, she’d choose her crew over the Military. Squeaky would too, and she knows full well that’s why O’Neill won’t promote her any higher. She cares more about the League.” Cinder nodded slowly, proceeding to sigh. “...I’m sorry.” “Cinder, you didn’t actually do anything. You were just stewing.” Cinder opened her mouth to respond, shut it when she saw Allure’s smug but understanding expression and decided an exasperated groan was the best response.  “You can’t escape the understanding of somepony who’s been through most of the things you have.” “Cheap,” Cinder said—though she was smiling. “So, what, we’re the same then? And when another small Sweetie comes along I get to enjoy messing with them?” Allure chuckled. “You’ll definitely get to mess with younger Sweeties, guaranteed. Buuuuuuut, well, we’re not the same. Take our talents, for instance.” Cinder glanced from her flank to Allure’s. “The same. Helping ponies find their destiny.” “But it manifests differently, doesn’t it? Out in the multiverse, I specialise in helping Sweeties find their destinies, and have awoken the ability to fight with my very soul—a destiny of my own, you could say. Meanwhile, you? You have a knack for predicting things, almost like you can see destiny. It doesn’t manifest in the same way.” Cinder cocked her head. “You think that’s… an interpretation of my talent?” “Almost certain.” “Huh. Cool! I thought it was just some weird random protagonist-effect thing, but hey, looks like it has an explanation! How could I never have thought about it like that before?” “It’s called the Idiot Ball,” Swip offered. “Thank you for insultingly intruding in a private conversation, Swip,” Cinder deadpanned.  “Intruding? Girls, everybody who’s in the lounge who cares to listen can hear you, and almost everyone’s in the lounge.” Cinder looked up to notice Nira, Sweetaloo, and Seren watching them. “Wh- hey!” “This is part of my job,” Sweetaloo coughed.  “I’m just a kid and don’t know better!” Seren blurted. Cinder glanced at Nira. “What’s your excuse?” “Needing an excuse. What an alien concept.” Nira snorted.  “Nira…” “...Blink’s being attacked.” Cinder facehooved. “Nira, do you really expect me t—” “I’m being serious, something’s attacking them. Swip! I'm going out!” Swip gasped. “Nira that’s stu- and she’s gone. Of course.” “Can you help them?” Cinder asked. “I can shoot and vaporize everyone. I don’t think that qualifies.” “Who else can go out there safely?” Squeaky demanded. Suzie ganced at Seren. “...Seren’s too weak. The rest of us…” “Great. They have all the help they’re going to get.” Squeaky tapped her hoof on the ground. “Seren, think you can get the teleporter working?” “Uh... no, sorry.” Squeaky let out a swear that was so high pitched nobody could figure out what word it was supposed to be.  ~~~ Blink didn’t know what was attacking them, but she didn’t need to. She could feel the current flowing through her body from the thing’s movement, telling her exactly where it was. All she had to do was wait for the right moment.  A torrent of water brushed her front—it saw her, thinking her a prime target for attack. It was going to be in for a surprise. Blink stood her ground and smirked. “Come and get me, fishy.” The creature obeyed, charging her and passing right through her ghostly essence. Blink felt ragged fur, teeth, flesh, and bones in the transition, telling her the creature was more-or-less in the shape of a pony, albeit covered in algae and with a tail instead of hind legs. A sort of seapony, if she had to name it.  A seapony that was currently very confused at the lack of pony meat in its jaws. It started turning in confusion, giving Blink the opportunity she needed. She threw her hoof forward, removing its intangibility to sock the seapony in the side. She made contact, crunching a seapony rib in the process, but she didn’t register this.  Instead, she was reminded of why she had been intangible. The moment she solidified her hoof she felt the oppressive pressure of the ocean enact itself upon her hoof. The immense pain of unfathomable weight crushing her from all sides almost made her lose focus, which would have given her entire body over to the might of the sea.  As it was, she managed to hold enough of her awareness to shift back to full intangibility, though she lost the reality bracelet on that hoof with a sharp crack. The pain remained, sending throbbing screams to her soul. Knowing her ethereal body was indestructible did not help her convince herself the pain wasn’t real. She could only scream and fixate on keeping just enough wits about her to keep the ocean flowing through her.  There was a flash of light as Celia summoned her weapon, drawing the components out of her gemstone and fusing them together into the razor-top so many Sweeties were familiar with. The light from the action was more than enough to reveal the seapony’s true appearance.  It looked dead. Eyes of white nothingness with red tear streaks along the bottom were frozen permanently open, oblivious to their uselessness. The teeth were jagged and predatory, protruding out of the jaw at odd angles, one of which had eaten away at its cheek. The mane still existed, somehow, as little more than ethereal wisps than something a pony would wear on their head.  There were also seven of them.  Through her pain, Blink managed to wonder how something built so much like a pony could survive at these depths, monster or otherwise.  The seaponies charged Celia as one, sending garbled screeches through the water. Celia planted her razor-top into the ground and used her magic to rotate it as fast as she possibly could. From outside, it appeared as though she was doing little more than kicking up some dust under her top.  The seaponies bought this and charged, oblivious to the whirlpool spell Celia had created until they were already in the midst of it. Three of the monsters were caught up in the invisible current, thrown around like useless ragdolls. For the four that were smart enough to put on the brakes, Celia had another plan: lasers. Beams of arcane energy shot from her crystal, evaporating the pressurized water between her and the seapony, filling the distance with unnatural bubbles that quickly collapsed in the underwater equivalent of an explosion. The literal shockwave sent both the Gem and seaponies flying. On land, that may have been a fight ender.  Underwater, however, it did little more than shake everyone up and create some distance. Had the seaponies been nothing more than animals, they likely would have fled at this point. When they charged, they proved themselves to be relentless monsters.  Celia hefted her razor-top over her shoulder, standing on her hind hooves. She swung the rotating armament wide, knocking three seaponies back with a simple wave. The fourth seapony’s neck made contact with the edge of the top, severing its head clean from its body.  The other three did not relent, charging in again, teeth bared. Through sheer luck, they were coming at different angles, and Celia had slightly overextended her reach to make her previous kill. She swung back, firing off another laser spell. As she hoped, the resultant steam created a shockwave that tossed her back. Unfortunately, one of the seaponies had been tossed the same direction she had, giving it easy access to her leg. It opened its jaw wider than any pony should have been able to and bit down.  A deep, blood-red spike shifting with the power of ancient, forbidden magic punctured the seapony’s skull before it finished the act. The back of the spike was affixed to a deep red chain that led back to a dark forcefield that contained Nira with two more chains branched off to the last remaining seaponies, neither of which survived the impact. “GET BACK INTO SWIP!” Nira shouted in a dark tongue that made Blink wince. She’d heard the voice many times before, usually reserved for when Nira was angry or under extreme stress. Given her expression, it was probably the latter this time.  Blink had enough of her wits about her to start swimming back, an action that Celia mimicked despite being able to teleport back. Blink smiled. How could she not? The Gem was staying behind to make sure she was safe.  All her comfort dissipated the instant Nira belted out a swear in a long-dead language that made Blink’s hairs stand on end. For a moment, she considered turning around to see what had her all worked up. That desire ended the moment Blink felt a massive wave blow through her body.  Whatever made that, it was bigger than most whales.  She started swimming faster, pushing both her hooves and her natural ability to float to their limit. Now that she was paying attention to the currents flowing through her, she could feel a smaller wave interlaced with the bigger one. Another monster? No… this was far too regular. It was either something like a seapony swimming around in perfect circles next to the behemoth, or it was the behemoth’s heartbeat. Blink knew she was safe. She was a ghost.  Swip and everyone inside were not.  “Swip! Shoot it! Shoot it!” Blink shouted, hoping in vain the ship could hear this far.  Blink felt the familiar buzz of Nira’s magic fill the waters, tearing at her soul like some rabid animal. There was a flash of red from behind her, and for a split second the light from Swip went out, returning all too slowly.  Whatever Nira had done, it must have made the monster angry, since it let out a screech that shifted the sand of the seafloor.  Swip’s targeting, Celia told Blink telepathically. Hold on tight. Blink translated ‘hold on tight’ to mean ‘go true Void’. She all but erased herself from existence, allowing her body to become truly invisible and intangible, all but undetectable.  One of Swip’s turrets folded out of a banged up side panel, aiming directly at Blink. A brilliant ball of pink energy formed at the tip, orbited by three smaller points of blue energy. The three points affixed themselves to the central core, creating an energy bolt that resembled a fat ballistic missile. It launched, passing right through Blink without so much as tickling her, going right for the behemoth.  Blink only saw it in the light of the missile for a split second. It was truly a deep sea fish with glassy eyes the size of boulders and a gaunt jaw lined with precise, predatory teeth that came dangerously close to puncturing the eyes they were supposed to protect. It thought the missile was food, so it unfolded its mouth like its cheeks were made of origami, swallowing the attack whole.  The missile exploded into dozens of hot-pink needles, puncturing the skeletal beast’s skin from the inside out, tearing it to shreds. The beginnings of a quaking growl of pain were cut short as the massive head was severed from the rest of the fish’s body, floating dead in the water.  When the light of the missile died and the sea returned to darkness, Blink turned back to Swip and swam as fast as she could go back to Swip’s lounge. She returned to her normal, tangible self and flopped onto one of the chairs, letting out a soft laugh. “Okay… that was too close for comfort…” Cinder ran up to her and pulled her into a hug. “Blink!” Blink chuckled. “What, did you think some sea monster was going to get me?” With a flash of light, Celia and Nira appeared in the lounge as well. Nira took one look at Blink, growled, and promptly passed out from overexhaustion. “I told her going out there was stupid,” Swip said, bringing her avatar up and shaking her finger disapprovingly. “But did she listen? No, never does. By the way, you’re welcome.” Celia smiled weakly. “Thanks, Swip. I’m not sure we could’ve turned that around given the environment. It… hold on, where’s Burgerbelle?” “Here,” Burgerbelle said, eating popcorn out of a bag.  “...I’ll let Suzie yell at you for vanishing later,” Celia sighed.  “Let’s forget about that,” Squeaky said, trotting into the center of the room. “What matters is that everyone is alive and well, and that the creature is dead. We now know that there are monsters out there in the depths that want to kill us—Swip, keep your weapons armed at all times.  Swip’s avatar nodded. “Already done, marshall.” Squeaky frowned at Swip’s tone but didn’t comment on it. “As for the rest of us…” she glanced at Nira. “I believe we all need some rest. I’m declaring the day over. Suzie and I will sleep in shifts, the rest of you get as much as you can.” “Sleeping at a time like this…” Cinder laughed nervously. “Sure.” Squeaky’s tough exterior broke for a moment as a grimace crossed her face. “...Just try, okay? If you can get any, it will help.” “...Okay.” ~~~ Cinder had no idea how long she’d slept. Sure, she could look at the clock and know it was technically tomorrow afternoon at this point, but she had spent a fair amount of time last night arguing with Blink over blankets, staring at the ceiling contemplating how much water was above them, or contemplating how she never knew Seren was such a loud snorer.  She certainly didn’t feel rested.  She pulled herself out of the bed and rubbed her eyes, ignoring the loud snore that came from Seren’s bundle of blankets right next to her. At least she was getting sleep, and Cinder wasn’t about to interrupt one of their strongest mages to complain about snoring. She’d do that when Seren woke up naturally.  With a soft grunt, Cinder trotted out of the bedroom—a tad annoyed to find Blink sleeping on the ceiling right above the door. There was a nonzero chance Blink was simply pretending to be asleep and was waiting to fall on whoever walked through the door first. Well, Cinder wasn’t going to fall for that. She opened the door with her magic and pressed herself to the wall at the edge of the doorframe. Taking a breath, she rolled through the doorway at an oblique angle, occupying the space under Blink for only a fraction of a second.  Blink remained asleep on the ceiling, giving her not so much as a twitch.  Cinder sighed as the door slid shut. That had been pointless. At least she was awake and alert now. That was something, she supposed.  She trotted into the lounge, finding four Sweeties within. Nira stood in the center of the room, symbols of magic floating around her as she worked. Sweetaloo and Suzie were sitting at one of the tables, talking over a few sandwiches. To Cinder’s shock, Squiddy was out of her room, curled up on the couch with her legs tucked to her chest. She stared straight ahead, intentionally fixating on a cartoon playing on the main screen.  “Morning, Nira,” Cinder said as she passed by. “Wait… actually...” “I do not care if it is really morning or not, the greeting itself suffices without correction,” Nira responded, keeping her eyes closed and horn shrouded in dark magic.  “Oh. Okay. What’cha doing?” “Increasing our understanding of the surrounding area. I have used the dark magic field to see several miles distant. I have determined the area used to be above the water, but otherwise I have found nothing of much interest beyond a few broken houses and extended railroad. Now let me return to my work, it requires focus and I’m low on magic reserves as it is.” “Oh. Okay.” Cinder was used to this sort of treatment by Nira at this point so she didn’t let it bother her. She made her way to Squiddy’s position on the couch and sat next to her.  “I’m fine,” Squiddy muttered before Cinder could say anything. “Well, you did come out of your room…”  Squiddy made no response aside from a grunt, refusing to take her eyes off the screen. It was a cartoon about some kind of white bird flying high in the sky. Not an ocean in sight.  Cinder decided to just sit and watch with Squiddy. The inkling would talk when she felt like it, pushing her wouldn’t get anywhere unless you were Sweetaloo, and Cinder did not have that mare’s skills.  Celia teleported into the lounge long before the moment came. She cast a dry spell on herself, collecting all the water clinging to her body into one orb and dropped it on the ground with a splash. The noise made Squiddy jump onto the top of the couch and point one of her ink guns at Celia. “Water is death!” Celia stared at her in shock, having not expected her presence. “G-get it out of here!” Squiddy stammered.  “I—” “I SAID GET IT OUT OF HERE!” Celia coalesced the deposited water into a ball and teleported it out of Swip. She held up her hooves in surrender.  Squiddy put her gun away. “G-good…” She turned back to the screen, fixating on it once more.  Sweetaloo slid her chair back and made her way to Squiddy.  “If you so much as say a damn word I will ink you,” Squiddy hissed.  Sweetaloo said nothing. She sat next to Squiddy and watched the bird on-screen like Cinder. Silence reigned for a moment.  Celia cleared her throat, though she wasn’t addressing any of the ponies at the couch. “The protective enchantments have been laid outside. We’ll be able to detect them coming from further away and eliminate some automatically.”  Suzie nodded. “Good work. Swip?” Swip beeped in confirmation. “Interface complete. Senses extended slightly. Now I’ll be able to see the massive monster coming before it sends an earthquake into our bones.” “You don’t have bones,” Nira deadpanned. “Metal skeletons resonate better. Which means worse.” “You don’t have to experience pain.” “I… Nira, you’re not focusing completely on your magic.” Swip’s avatar grinned. “You found something.” Nira allowed herself to smile. “You know me too well. I’m not sure of what it is, yet, but… I’m liking what I’m sensing.”  “Come on, the anticipation is killing me!” “Patience, my artificial friend… patience.” “Can’t you at last give a hint? Please…?” Swip fluttered her eyes. “No.”  Swip glared. “You already finished scanning it, didn’t you?” “Yep.” “You’re evil.” Nira’s smile turned into a grin. “Thanks for noticing.” She coughed. “Anyway, yes, I have found a source of immense magic power. Completely neutral, as far as I can tell. It’s a cave several miles to the northeast.” Suzie frowned. “That’s a long ways away.” “That’s what we’re here for!” Blink called, sliding into the lounge with a cocky smile. “Some of us can just walk through the ocean, no problem.” Celia nodded. “The two of us can investig—” “Me too!” Burgerbelle shouted, appearing between them with an explosion Cinder swore was made out of ‘oof’ noises. “The three of us can investigate,” Celia said. “Nira, do you believe the cave can help us escape?” “Assuming I’m not being duped, I assume so.” Nira tapped her hoof on the ground. “If you can gather the source of magic—I’m thinking it’s the crystals in the cavern, but I can’t be certain at this distance—I believe I could extend my perceptions to a planetary scale. With that kind of influence I could teleport to the surface and send out a distress signal.” “Right! Looks like we’ve got a mission!” Blink jumped over to Cinder and tapped her on the back. “Sorry, looks like your pal’s gotta vanish again. Make sure not to worry about me this time, got it?” “I’ll.. try!” Cinder smiled awkwardly. “How long are you going to be gone?” Blink turned to Celia. “Got an estimate?” Celia furrowed her brow. “I suspect a little under a day to get there, and the same back. Depending on how long it takes to obtain the magic, it could take significantly more than two days.” Suzie frowned. “I’m hesitant to split up the group for such a long time.” “We’ll be fine,” Blink said dismissively. “Nothing out there can even touch me, and if we get into an emergency I can make everyone else intangible.” “What about when you need to sleep? Your Void requires focus.” “I can provide her with energy,” Celia offered. “The spells of Generosity are not beyond me, you understand.” Suzie nodded. “In that case… I’ll check with Squeaky, but otherwise you’re free to go.” Cinder frowned. “You… have to check with her?” Suzie’s expression was unreadable. “It’s not a need, but I prefer to have everyone on the same page.” “It’s a plan, at least,” Squeaky said, walking out of her room and rubbing her eyes. “I didn’t hear everything, but for the most part I like it. My only question is how are we going to know if you get in trouble?” “I will be able to detect Celia through the water,” NIra offered. “If she wishes to make her distress known, she will be able to.” “And then you won’t be able to do anything to help her,” Squiddy grunted. “They’ll be cut off.” “It’s a risk we’re willing to take!” Blink said, holding her hoof high. “Who’s with me?” Burgerbelle and Celia touched her hoof, turning to Squeaky expectantly.  “Oh, all right, you can go.” Cinder jumped off the couch to give Blink a goodbye hug. “Take care of yourself.” Blink smirked. “Cinder, this is Blink you’re talking about. She’ll take care of herself, everyone else, and probably even the enemy. Then she’ll come back riding a royal sea serpent and carrying a boatload of legendary magic loot!” Cinder rolled her eyes, breaking off the embrace. “Looks like I don’t have to tell you to have fun.” “I always have fun! Celia, prepare for endless stupid smalltalk!” Celia smirked. “You will find your words inadequate to face my vocabulary.” “Psh, who needs words?” She laughed, jumping through one of Swip’s walls. “AWAAAY!” She vanished into the ocean. Burgerbelle folded herself up until she was nothing, and Celia teleported outside.  Swip was down three crew members.  “So…” Cinder said. “Can we do anything?” Nira frowned. “Not that I’m aware of.” “...Great…” She went back to watching cartoons with Squiddy.  ~~~ Celia and the others were already gone when Seren woke up. It took her a good half-hour to figure this out since Cinder apparently needed to have a talk with her about her snoring. Naturally, Cinder must have been delusional, Seren didn’t snore. Cinder had promised to create recorded tapes of the impossible act for tomorrow. This was fine with Seren—let her make a fool of herself.  After that… nothing had happened.  Then nothing had happened.  Then more nothing had happened.  Sure, she had tried to get involved with what Squiddy, Sweetaloo, and Cinder were watching, but she had no idea what was going on and after about ten minutes she bailed. Allure, Squeaky, and Suzie had been playing cards for a bit, but the moment Seren joined she trounced them all with her probability analyses. Her victory was so absolute it was boring. Most recently, she had asked Swip to give her a puzzle game to mess with. She had already beaten it with little effort.  The problems of being an absolute genius.  She would have loved to go to Engineering and tinker with some of her gadgets, but that was impossible. The place was flooded and she still wasn’t fully recovered from expending all her magic in fixing the shields. There wasn’t really a place to workshop at the moment, so her primary hobby was gone.  Nothing that could be fixed even needed to be fixed. She was an engineer without a job.  “Uuuuugh!” Seren whined, ramming her head into the table. “I. Am. So. BORED!” Allure smirked. “We could try some video ga—” “BORED!?” Squiddy shouted at the top of her lungs. “BORED!?” Everyone stared at her in shock.  “How can you be BORED!?” Squiddy marched right up to Seren and pointed an accusatory finger in her face. “We are at the bottom of the ocean! There is god knows how much water stacked on top of us spending every moment of its existence trying to flatten us into pancakes! There are monstrous creatures out there just waiting to devour us whole! All that’s keeping us from instant death are a couple spells, a hull that’s been patched back together more times than I can count, and a shield system powered by a fucking child!” “Squiddy!” Suzie shouted. “That’s enou—” Seren burst into tears. The fire in Squiddy’s eyes went out in that moment. “D-dammit.” She ran to her room Sweetaoo called out. “Squiddy, no! We c—” Squiddy shut the door in her face and locked it. A thud could be heard from the other side of the room, indicating that something large had just been propped up against the door.  “...She knows the doors slide open, right?” Swip asked. “Not the time,” Sweetaloo hissed. She walked up to the door and knocked. “Squiddy?” There was no response.  “Squiddy, there’s nothing to be afraid of out here. It’s just us.” “N-nothing to be afraid of? You’re a bunch of morons.” There was a crash as Squiddy threw something breakable against the door. Sweetaloo sighed, turning away from the door. “She’s not going to be open to gentle words right now. I don’t think we should strain her by taking the other option, so everyone, please give her some space unless I say otherwise. Okay?” Everyone nodded—even Seren, through her blubbering tears.  Though, she couldn’t understand why Squiddy was so angry and scared. They dealt with worse things than water all the time…  ~~~ Celia knew Blink was in her element when surrounded by darkness. It was one of the closest physical sensations to Void itself. Celia also knew full well that the light she cast around them prevented Blink from fully enjoying the black murk surrounding them. There may have been beauty in darkness, but there wasn’t any usefulness. To be fair, the visible seafloor wasn’t much better than darkness. Most of it was rock or sand devoid of life, and it was impossible to get a general lay of the land with the small light Celia offered. Everything that swam by—be it random fish or monster—didn’t provide much of anything either. At most they’d spend a few seconds trying to figure out where the light was coming from before giving up when nothing tangible presented itself to them. All Celia had discovered was that the seaponies had cutie marks, which, while disturbing, didn’t provide any insight. She had seen many animalistic ponies in her time.  However, Celia was a creature of light, and she needed to see to get anything done—even if the sight of the seafloor didn’t provide all that much of an advantage beyond footing. She wasn’t about to allow the darkness to overtake them just because Blink appreciated it. They had a mission to complete and all three of them needed to be at peak performance to take care of anything unexpected. Just because Blink was great at hiding them didn’t mean she was perfect.  To her credit, Blink was doing a pretty good job of hiding her disappointment.  “Hey, check this out!” Blink said, swimming over to the remnants of a railroad. The metal rails had rusted completely away long ago and the wooden planks that had kept them together were rotted to almost nothing. “An old rail line…” Burgerbelle produced a handcar and dropped it on the rails. She placed her hands on the lever and grinned. “All aboard!” Celia chuckled. Dear, the rail goes the wrong direction and is broken in numerous places. We cannot ride it to our destination.  Burgerbelle pushed down on the handcar’s lever and moved along the rail anyway. She hit a bump so small Celia hadn’t noticed it, prompting the cart to tip onto its side in an exaggerated fashion. A sound not unlike a car horn played upon the crash’s completion.  Burgerbelle peeled herself off the seafloor like a sticker. “Point taken.” Is there anything of use here? Celia asked. “Nothing really,” Blink said, floating past a bunch of deep sea kelp. “Got rails, a pony skeleton, and a bunch of sea weeds.” Mildly interesting, since there’s no sun for the kelp down here, but not particularly useful. Blink brushed a hoof against the kelp. “Maybe there’s a vent nearby, or something.” Celia’s eyes widened. Blink… Did you just touch that kelp? “Yeah, I guess I did.” Blink blinked. “Huh, guess the kelp has some sort of ethereal component to it. Scan it for magi—” The kelp lashed out and wrapped itself around the ‘intangible’ Blink, squeezing her tight. She let out a squeak of surprise as the tangled strand of plant matter dragged her deeper into the grasp of the rest of the kelp.  Celia summoned her razor-top and Burgerbelle produced some hedge clippers. “Snip snip!” Burgerbelle called, cutting the strand of kelp at the base. Unfortunately, the kelp didn’t die when severed from its anchor. It was now free to completely wrap around Blink, creating a coiled ball of plant matter squeezing the ghost for all it was worth. The remaining anchored kelp latched onto Blink, keeping her orb steady. Celia rushed into the fray with her top, cutting a few strands of kelp loose in the process. “Gh…!” Blink gagged. “They’re getting pretty tight!” Working on it, Celia responded, encasing the kelp ball with her magic and pulling with all her might.  “Ow ow ow! OW!” Celia ignored Blink’s cries of pain—so long as she was being indignant about it, she was fine. She focused her attention on the loose pieces of kelp that were trying to wrap around her hooves. While her magic was focused on Blink, she used her razor-top to beat the snaking plants away from her.  Burgerbelle let out an unusually manly “EN GARDE!” and replaced her hedge clippers with a rapier, poking ineffectively att the tangled mess.  “Burger!” Blink complained.  Burgerbelle smirked—and then started swinging the rapier wild. She didn’t cut any of the kelp, but she did manage to tie the majority of the strands together into a confused, gnarled knot. Celia jumped up into the air, severing the kelp ball from the knot with one fell swoop of her razor-top.  “Batter up!” Burgerbelle called, smacking the kelp ball with a hockey stick. “TOUCHDOWN!” Celia teleported to the loose ball of dark kelp that was still trying to suffocate Blink despite its distance from the kelp patch.  “Get me out of here…” Blink wheezed.  Celia got to work. It wasn’t exactly easy, tearing the murderous plants off Blink. Had she been made of flesh and bone—or even the light construct Celia herself was—Blink would have been in danger of being crushed. As it was, Celia took her time carefully working Blink out of her leafy prison, careful not to give any of the kelp opportunity to entangle anyone else.  Soon, Blink was free, stomping angrily on the remnants of the kelp. “Stupid plants!” Celia focused her magic onto the remaining kelp in the distance. They do have an arcane component to them. A sort of enchantment that allows them to attack. I have my doubts they were intended to assault you, we were just unlucky. Blink twitched. She fired a laser at the remaining kelp, triggering an explosion of compressed water vapor. The kelp patch was reduced to loose flotsam. “There. Now no other ghosts will be tormented by super-grabbing kelp.”  Celia smirked. Ego bruised a bit much there? “Shut up,” Blink said with a laugh. “C’mon, cave’s this way, right?” Burgerbelle pulled out a ‘map’ that looked more like the board for Settlers of Catan than the bottom of the ocean. “Yep! This way!” The three of them set off, giving little thought to the dark kelp that had assaulted them.  ~~~ Swip fired one of her smaller laser turrets at a seapony, vaporizing it instantly. “Bam! Another one bites the dust!” “How many is that now?” Nira asked.  “Hmm…” Swip checked her data banks. It only took a fraction of a second, and she had the answer long before her ‘hmm’ was complete, but who was she if not a ship with a sense of dramatic timing? Awesome, incredible, yes, but significantly lesser. “Twelve!” “Nice work. Are Celia’s spells holding up?” “Like a charm!” Swip checked their strength. The ring of enchantments had lost some magic over the course of the day, but it was still operating at 100% efficiency. The bubble would detect any disturbance in the current and direct Swip’s attention to it. So far it had only seen seaponies. Swip was holding out for another giant sea monster to blow up. That would be far more impressive. “...Swip, how’s Squiddy doing?” Sweetaloo asked. Swip changed her focus to Squiddy’s room. There was a pillow placed in front of the internal camera, naturally, but Squiddy should know full well that Swip didn’t need to rely on purely visual stimuli. She switched to sonar, pinging everything in the room. “Well, she decided to move the bed away from the door so she could rest in it. She’s not sleeping, though. Staring right at the ceiling. She’s also broken every screen in the room.” Sweetaloo bit her lip, unsure of what to do. Swip brought up the ‘counselor’s handbook’ file and scanned it for pertinent information. Sweetaloo was likely trying to gauge how much of a liability Squiddy was like this, determining if she should forego the usual treatment for something that would act on the inkling’s mind quicker, if unpleasantly. Swip did not envy her job.  Evidentially, Sweetaloo settled on ‘just leave her for now’ and returned to her game of cards with Squeaky and Suzie. Allure, Cinder, and Seren were playing a racing game on the lounge’s main screen. Currently, Seren was winning, but her victory was not guaranteed in this game.  “Wh, no nonono!” Seren waved her controller frantically. “Not the blue shell! Come on, drift, drift, back back…” She tried to dodge the incoming assault but failed to input the complex series of buttons that would allow her to escape the hands of defeat. The explosion flipped her cart and Allure passed her.  “See you later!” Allure laughed. “This is inadequate!” Seren said with a giggle. “BEWARE THE RESURGENCE OF YOSHI!” “It’s even worse in real life,” Allure said, skidding around a corner. “The Mushroom World has these kart races sometimes. Your head feels like it’s going to explode when one of those things hits.” “How does it not kill you?” Cinder asked. Allure shrugged, focusing on taking a sharp corner.  There was a loud metallic thunk from a door in the back of the lounge—a door that led to a flooded room. Before Suzie could finish asking “what was that?” Swip had already activated her sensors in that room. The camera was completely busted, but the devices she usually used to scan outside herself could be turned inward. She pinged the room, finding that a lifeform roughly twice the size of a pony had entered. How did that get here? Subsequent scans revealed the answer—a recently dug tunnel that went deep into the ground. It bypassed Celia’s spells by going under. Oldest trick in the book.  “Something’s dug up from below,” Swip reported. “Don’t worry, it’s stuck behind the door. I—” The thing smashed into the door as hard as it could, sending a loud ring into Swip’s interior. The door dented ever-so-slightly.  “Nevermind, it’s not stuck, it’ll eventually break through.”  Seren nodded. “I’ve got it!” She focused her magic, prodding the other side of the door for the creature. Finding it, she teleported the creature in front of her, careful to encase it in a tight telekinetic bond.  It was a vaguely doglike creature riddled with matted fur and barbed, rippled claws. Angled fins ran along its legs and back, coming to a point at the base of its doglike head where the skin was split and dripping a viscous black ooze. Like the seaponies, its eyes were a blank, useless, white caked with red tears. Quite unlike them, the dog was rippled with grotesque, pulsating muscles that actively ripped skin with every enraged breath the beast took, making it a wonder that the mongrel hadn’t bled out long ago. It snarled and screeched, unharmed by being brought out of the water.  “How can it survive such a pressure differential…?” Seren wondered, tightening her grip around its claws as she moved closer.  “A mutant diamond dog of some sort,” Suzie observed, keeping her gun trained on it despite its imprisoned state. “A seadog.”  “Mutated to live in the depths of the sea,” Nira mused, beginning to scan it with her magic. “Curious. It seems to have a condensed version of the curse I found. Possibly what happens when you spend your entire life near the water.” “I wonder what we can learn from it…” Seren thought, getting close enough to tap the dog with her scepter. “It might ha—” Squiddy charged out of her room, gun spraying ink. “Get it OUT OF HERE!” Seren was already shocked enough when Squiddy came charging out—the ink splatting her in the face and burning her eyes was more than enough to make her lose concentration. The seadog saw an opportunity and took it, biting down hard on Seren’s shoulder. She cried out in agony as blood sprayed from her shoulder.  Suzie pulled the trigger, blowing a hole in the seadog’s chest. It did not let go. Nira’s spell was much more effective. The beast’s very essence boiled with pain until it’s body liquefied, exploding dark sludge everywhere. The room itself was coated in ugly, disgusting darkness.  Nira wiped it from her face, trotting up to the now-unconscious Seren and mending her wound. The moment everyone confirmed that Seren was still breathing, their eyes turned to Squiddy.  White tears were rolling down her face. She was gripping her gun tight enough to cause a leak of her internal ink in her clenched fists. Her legs looked as though they were barely holding her up. “Why did she… what did she… I didn’t. I—” Nira shot her in the head with a sleep spell, prompting her to flop onto the ground awkwardly. “NIRA!” Suzie shouted. “You don—” “She’s a liability and I don’t want to deal with her right now,” Nira spat. “Sweetaloo can do her thing when she wakes up. Right now we have bigger problems.” “You destroyed the seadog! We’re fine!” “No, we’re not.” Nira pointed at the pile of sludge on the ground. “When I liquefied the dog, its curse interfaced with my magic and tried to spread into me. I rejected it, naturally, but the rest of you didn’t even realize it was there. It’s definitely infected Seren and it might be in the rest of you too. I haven’t checked.” “Can you cure it?” Squeaky asked. “Of course. Easily. That’s not the problem.” She pointed at the door the seadog had been punching. “Celia, Blink, and Burgerbelle are out there. They could get infected without knowing it. And as of right this moment I have no idea what the full effects of the curse are.” Cinder gulped. “We… we can’t help them, can we?” “We can only hope they’re smart enough to not get infected.” ~~~ The cave was completely sealed off from the seafloor, under several meters of solid rock. The good news was that this meant the caves weren’t flooded. The bad news was that Celia now needed to perform a semi-blind teleport into an unknown territory. This at least gave the others a chance to take a break, she supposed. It had been four hours since the last serious rest, and none of them had slept since they’d left Swip. Maybe the cavern could provide a convenient site for Blink to sleep, get all of them back to peak performance.  Currently, Celia was sitting carefully on the seafloor, prodding the area below with her magic. She had identified a large cavern that would easily be able to hold the three of them, but she was unsure if she trusted herself to teleport them directly to the ground—for all she knew there were things moving down there, and botched teleports were always a pain. Just ask Sweetaloo.  Her plan was to teleport in the middle of the cave and levitate herself for a few seconds while she gauged the situation. She was never excellent at self-levitation, but she believed she could manage for a second or two.  “Are you done yet?” Blink asked for the umpteenth time. Yes, Blink, I have completed the spell. Tell Burgerbell to stop losing tic-tac-toe with a guppy and get over here. Burgerbelle didn’t even need to be told—she was getting really tired of losing to a dumb fish she was making the moves for. Grumpily, she sat herself next to Celia and Blink, gnawing angrily on a piece of jerky.  Celia executed the teleport. The three of them appeared in the center of an open-air cavern. There was nothing all that special about the caverns as far as Celia could tell from a glance—they were made of metamorphic rock and had all the usual cave features like tunnes, stalactites, stalagmites, and annoyingly loud water drops.  It also had a diamond-dog like fish monster at the bottom. It stopped snuffling the ground the moment they arrived, replacing the noise with a haunted, strained gasp that quickly turned into a screeching roar. It jumped, oblong teeth tearing at the skin of its mouth, creating a trail of black sludge behind it.  Celia, having already strained herself in her self-levitation, decided she didn’t have time for any finesse here. She dropped the telekinesis and unleashed a high-powered beam spell at the seadog as she fell into it. The dog swallowed the spell, exploding as expected. What Celia had not expected was the dog to splatter all over the cave in a thick, black liquid.  “...Ew…” Celia said, wiping the tar-like substance from her face, feeling chunks of the seadog’s bones within. “Well, this sure ruins the experience of being able to speak properly again…” “I let myself be tangible!” Blink complained, shaking the goo off herself. “I thought ‘ah, finally, I am allowed to feel again! But nope, the moment I drop it, dog residue.” “Heh. Dog residue.” Burgerbelle didn’t wipe the goo off herself. Instead, she pulled a white, annoying dog out of nowhere and started smearing the goo all over. Celia didn’t even try to hide her revulsion. “Egh…” “It’s good for the skin!” “I very much doubt that.” Celia shook her head. “Regardless, we’re here, let’s try to find that magic source. Be on the lookout for more dogs. Let’s try not to get covered in their remains again, hmm?”