Squiddy woke up with a terrible feeling in her stomach. She had no idea if it was hunger, inescapable guilt, or oppressive fear. Probably a mixture of all the above but she wasn't in the mental state to deal with that right now.
She sat up. She was in her room, alone, and everything had been cleaned up from the tantrum she vaguely remembered throwing. Checking the clock, her jaw dropped.
I’ve been out for more than a DAY!?
She’d taken a hit from one of Nira’s spells before; she’d never been out that long. She… really must have been exhausted. Come to think of it, that spell had been the first sleep she’d gotten since they’d crashed on the bottom of this god-forsaken ocean.
A small part of her thought of thanking Nira for that. The rest of Squiddy wanted to pick up an ink grenade and ram it down Nira’s gullet for being such an arrogant prick.
She chose a middle course of action. She picked up her primary gun and prepared to douse Nira with all the ink she could muster. Let her feel how suffocating it is. Give her some shadow of what Squiddy was currently experiencing.
The door slid open and Squiddy marched out angrily. “NIRA!”
Nira wasn’t in the lounge—which meant she was probably on the bridge.
But Seren was in the lounge. Instantly, she dropped her controller and ran up to Squiddy. “Are you okay?”
Squiddy’s rage vanished. “F-fine?”
“Yeah, you weren’t doing so good, and I was just a little… worried, is all.”
“Worried,” Squiddy deadpanned.
“Well, yeah, you were all angry and scared and Nira had t—”
“You got bitten by a monster!” Squiddy shouted, throwing her gun to the ground. “I should be asking you if you’re okay!”
Seren took a step back. “W-well, I’m fine,” she stammered. “Been f-fine for a while.”
Squiddy clenched her fists. “Why… why aren’t you mad? I did that to you!”
“You d-didn’t know what you were doi—”
“I still did it!” Squiddy wailed. “I still lost control and a dog ate part of you! I—”
Sweetaloo slapped Squiddy from behind. “Stop it. Now.”
Squiddy whirled around to face the alicorn. “I don’t have t—”
Sweetaloo slapped her again. “I don’t care what you do or don’t have to do. You’ve become a liability. So we are having this conversation and we are having it now before you transmit your emotional dysfunction to Seren. Kapeesh?”
“I—”
“She’s done nothing but be forgiving and understanding and you hate her for it.” Sweetaloo pushed Squiddy back into her room and forced the door shut.
Squiddy snarled. “What are you gonna do? Talk for me for an hour until I ‘magically’ come to some sort of realization?”
Sweetaloo aggressively sat in a chair, fixing Squiddy with a steeled galre. “No. I’m just going to tell you. You’re insecure and believe you don’t deserve forgiveness. You aren’t the sort to beat yourself up consciously, so you want other people to do it for you. Well guess what? You’re in a supportive community full of understanding, caring people akin to family! You get forgiven. You messed up, but we all understand why you messed up. So everyone but you wants to move on.”
“You’re not being very forgiving, hypocrite.”
“Oh, I’ve forgiven you. I just have another job, and that is making sure everyone here is psychologically stable. You are not. You’re so bad that it’s starting to drag the others down, people who otherwise wouldn’t be having much of an issue. They were able to be bored, Squiddy. That was a good sign.”
“So, what, shouting at me is going to fix it?”
“Nope!” Sweetaloo said—her hard mask broke for a moment, allowing a small cry of desperation through. “Not you, anyway. This is going to damage you. This is going to tear you down. I’m sorry, but I don’t have a choice.”
“Don’t have a choice? Sweetaloo, listen to y—”
“You are a danger to this crew,” Sweetaloo interrupted. “Nobody wants to admit it. You’re their friend. Suzie refused to take any action against you, and Squeaky deferred to her judgement. They’re just going to let you walk around and make things worse.”
“You’re delusional.”
“Let’s think about what you’ve done since we arrived. Caused unrest. Instilled panic. Threatened other members of the crew. Caused an injury. Plotted taking revenge on Nira.”
Squiddy blanked. “H-how cou—”
“It’s my job.” Sweetaloo stood up, flaring her wings. “You have lost it, Squiddy. The oppressive water is too much for you.”
“You can shut up!”
“Tell me you don’t feel it crushing you right now! Look me in the eye and say it! Tell me you feel nothing about the water outside.”
Squiddy ground her teeth and looked away.
“It’s not something you can fix.”
“Isn’t that your job that you’re supposedly so good at?”
“A deep-seated phobia does not go away in a few hours. It’d be like me trying to cure your war flashbacks with a pep-talk.”
“Then what are you trying to do?”
Sweetaloo ignored the question. “Squiddy. Are you a danger to us?”
Squiddy growled. “You think so.”
“What do you think?”
“I…” Squiddy turned around punching her bed. “I don’t know. I’m not the thinker!”
“It doesn’t take much. A simple yes or no will do.”
Squiddy was silent.
“Squiddy…” Sweetaloo pushed. “Are you a danger?”
Squiddy’s fists began to tremble.
“Squiddy! Are you a—”
Squiddy whirled around, fist aiming for Sweetaloo’s head. Sweetaloo let out a panicked, shocked scream. She shrunk back to the ground, holding her wings over her face as a tear crawled out from her eye.
Squiddy stopped short, staring at her fist in disbelief.
The alicorn at her mercy didn’t say anything—she just let the tears fall.
Swallowing hard, Squiddy lowered her fist. “Y-yes. I’m… I’m a danger.” Now, more than ever, she could feel it. The water. The endless death pounding on the walls seeking to do her in. “W-what do we do?”
Sweetaloo sniffed. “I-if you want, I can have Nira freeze you. You’ll wake up after all this is over. There’ll be no ocean, no panic… and everyone will be ready to welcome you back.”
Squiddy nodded to herself slowly. She’d just… sleep it off. She hadn’t felt any fear while she was out… Hadn’t felt much of anything, really.
“Is… is that what you’d like?”
“Y-yes…” Squiddy said, flopping down onto her bed. “Just… get me out of here.”
Sweetaloo nodded. “Swip, call Nira.”
Swip responded with a small beep. A second later, Nira teleported in. “You called?”
“Freeze me before I change my mind and decide I need to punch your face in,” Squiddy muttered.
“Done,” Nira said. She lit her horn, weaving a spell of dark ice around Squiddy, seeing to it that she fell asleep before the cold embrace of the freeze got to her skin. The pressurized ink within Squiddy ceased moving—not as ice, but as though time itself had ceased operating. Dark ice grew around her body, surrounding every part of her until Squiddy was barely visible through the dark prism.
“Good work,” Nira told Sweetaloo.
Sweetaloo dropped the crocodile tears, stuttering, and cowering immediately. “Good? I just emotionally manipulated a patient and heavily damaged her psychological profile. I’m supposed to make people feel better, Nira, not worse.”
“Seems better to me,” Nira said, teleporting away.
Sweetaloo sighed, laying a hoof on Squiddy’s bed. “...I’m sorry. I’m going to do whatever I can to undo this damage when you get out.” After a pause, she grimaced. “Great going, Crusader, tormenting your most emotionally vulnerable patient…”
She trotted out, leaving Squiddy alone. She locked the door.
~~~
Celia tapped her hoof impatiently as the three of them waited for a pack of seadogs. This had become a common occurrence over the past few hours—every time they heard the seadogs coming Blink would hide all of them. They’d wait for the mongrels to pass before continuing.
As time went on, Celia had less and less patience for this. She much preferred the seadogs when they were screaming, angry monsters. They at least made sense when they attacked. Seeing them wander around in packs as if they were some kind of normal animal? It was disgusting. They continually leaked black ooze through the cracks in their skin, leaving trails of the stuff all over their caverns, giving everything the smell of rotting death—though they themselves overpowered this stench through their own repugnant body odor. Even when relatively dry, they smelled of chopped up fish, wet dog, and burning oil.
Then there was the noise they made. It was not the call of a ravenous monster, but a beast in eternal suffering. Each breath came with it a haggard wheeze occasionally punctuated by a bile-filled cough. The snuffling never ended—between the breaths, they smelled, searching for something to eat.
Celia was convinced they didn’t need to eat, since they had an infinite supply of ooze. All this made Celia want to kill every last one of the mongrels; get them out of her way and put an end to their misery. It’d take less time than hiding everywhere, it’s keep the three of them from sitting in leg-cramping positions all the time… but it would make an absolutely dreadful mess.
She filed the idea away for later, though she had a nagging feeling she’d end up choosing it eventually.
Fusion destabilizing already? Being down here must be harder than I thought… She resolved to keep her mind focused. It simply wouldn't do to fall apart at the seams when the rest of the Sweeties were counting on them to find a way out.
The seadogs passed about the time Celia came to this conclusion. Blink dropped the cloak. “There we are. Where to?”
Celia lit her gemstone. “I’m pretty sure the magic is this way.”
Burgerbelle took out a scoresheet. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is her eleventh guess. Will she be wrong like all the other times? My money is on yes.”
Celia rolled her eyes. “One way or another we’ll find the magic. It might just take time.”
Blink raised an eyebrow. “I don’t exactly have a watch on me, but I’m pretty sure we’ve been down here several hours. We even slept!”
“You slept,” Burgerbelle countered.
“You did too.”
“Did not!”
“Di—” Blink stopped herself. “No, not falling into that one today, nope.”
“What’s the matter? Scared?” Burgerbelle poked her. “C’mon, joust with the meme-meister.”
“You’re being confrontational today,” Blink observed.
Burgerbelle gasped by saying the word ‘gasp’. “Confrontational? Me? No, really?”
Celia smirked to herself, walking forward. The other two noticed she was moving and broke off their round of banter to follow. They entered a corkscrew-shaped tunnel that went deeper and deeper into the earth until it came out at a large, circular cavern with seven different exits.
In the center of the cavern was a small, white crystal. Celia would have said it was quartz, but it had grown in far too perfect of a tetrahedral shape to be natural quartz at the very least. It wasn’t even attached to the floor—it was just sitting there, as if left behind carelessly.
Celia frowned. The crystal was giving off magic, yes, but not as much as she had detected earlier. This was a small, insignificant percentage of what they needed. Where did the rest of it go?
It was taken.
We have no evidence of th-
A seadog erupted out of the ground. Instead of turning to them and attacking like Celia was expecting, it ate the crystal and dove back into the ground.
Burgerbelle acted first. “Superhero landing!” She jumped into the air and punched the ground, causing several cracks in the stone upon impact. The force launched a very shocked seadog out of the ground. It scrambled to gain footing in the air, but Burgerbelle held out her hand, grabbing its neck in an invisible telekinetic hold.
She squeezed, choking the dog. It tried to bark at her, but all it could cough up was more noxious ooze. Smirking, Burgerbelle held up another hand and pointed at the seadog’s stomach. There was an explosion and the crystal shot out of the dog’s ripped stomach, flying right into Burgerbelle’s hand.
The flayed dog dropped to the ground, dead.
“That was… uncharacteristically brutal,” Blink observed.
Burgerbelle turned around and held up the crystal like she’d just gotten it from a video game chest. “Da-na-naaaaa!”
“...And you flip right back around.” Blink rolled her eyes. “Of course…”
Celia glanced at the dog. “It appears they still have a hoard protection instinct. Their gems are theirs, and whatever’s different about their forms has not been able to fully override their idea of property.”
We’ll have to hunt them down to get all the crystals.
“We need all the crystals,” Celia continued. “Since they’re clearly moving them around to confuse us, there’s really only one option.”
“Get clever?” Blink suggested.
“Exterminate them.”
~~~
“Day four…” Cinder muttered to herself, glancing at the locked door to Squiddy’s room forlornly. “Still nothing.”
“Not the usual adventure, is it?” Squeaky said, taking a seat next to Cinder.
Cinder tensed, but quickly chided herself for doing so. “Yeah… no. You have ones like this before?”
“Occasionally.” Squeaky put a hoof to her chin. “I can remember a few times where we were stranded without help. Most of those times we just got rescued after waiting long enough, though.”
“And how long did that take?”
“In the universe with massive time dilation? Two years on our end. Fifteen minutes by the standard Merodi Clock.”
“...We’re not in a time dilated universe, are we?”
“Swip’s readings don’t say so, but that doesn’t rule it out.”
“...I don’t want to spend years at the bottom of the ocean.”
“Neither do I,” Squeaky admitted. “It’s unfair to my family, in a way.”
“Oh, your Rarity?”
Squeaky shook her head. “Charity’s great, but she’s not actually my sister. ...Though we might as well be family. However, she’s part of this madness. Goes and tries to sell dresses in the most extreme locations.” She giggled, a shrill noise that made Cinder wince slightly. “No, I was referring to my kids.”
“You have kids? But… I read your file a—”
“I keep them out of the spotlight as much as possible,” Squeaky said, gaining a wistful expression. “My job is… extremely dangerous, and I’m lucky to be alive. People around me die and suffer all the time.”
“So you keep them separate. I… think I understand.”
“And I always come home,” Squeaky said. “But… well, if I’m gone for too long, they change, and I change. Every time one of those happens, there’s a rocky period of readjustment to each other. I think that’s why Allure maintains the unspoken ‘leadership’ of the League rather than me—I have to vanish every so often to tend to my family. Her only family is Renee and Minna. Those two are heavily involved in the excitement, so they become part of it, and…” Squeaky shook her head. “Whoops! Got off track.”
Cinder smiled. “You had a track?”
“I… don’t remember exactly what my point was. Oh well, at least we had a nice conversation.” She grinned and scratched Cinder behind her ears. “I’m not so bad.”
Cinder’s stomach dropped. “Ah… heard about that, did you?”
“Allure’s my best friend, I don’t think she could hide something from me even if she wanted to. ...Plus, virtually everyone in the ship heard that little rant of yours.”
“Heheh…” Cinder drooped. “I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted. Don’t think you hurt me or anything—I’m used to it. Soldiers aren’t a fan of the annoying squeaking unicorn jumping into their command structure from another agency and giving orders. If it wasn’t for my reputation, I don’t think it’d even be possible for me to get respect. I mean, listen to me. This is either adorable, or annoying.”
“Both.”
Squeaky smiled knowingly. “I see you understand.”
“Heh…” Cinder directed her gaze back at Squiddy’s door. “...You think she’ll be fine?”
Squeaky frowned. “I’ve worked with her before. She’s a good soldier, excellent at what she does. She has the strength to keep marching onward no matter what. But… I am uncertain if that’s good for her.”
“It isn’t,” Sweetaloo said, having overheard the conversation. “She needs to be taken off active duty. But the last time I tried that, she deteriorated from a misplaced feeling of uselessness.” She tapped her wing nervously against a wall. “Being out here with her friends works well until she ends up in a warzone or in a situation like this.”
“How can we help her?” Cinder asked.
“You let me worry about that,” Sweetaloo said. “Right now, all you need to do is be her friend.”
“...You mean when she gets out. Right now we’re doing nothing.”
“Er… yes.” Sweetaloo admitted.
“Nothing…” Cinder sighed. “...I don’t like the nothing.”
“Boredom?” Squeaky asked.
“Not right now.” Cinder looked up at the ceiling and grimaced. “Nothing’s happening here. Which means something’s happening somewhere else—or we’re waiting for something to happen here. I’m afraid the other shoe’s about to drop…”
~~~
Celia had learned two things about the seadogs.
First, they had no fear or sense of self-preservation. They cared only about two things—their possessions and brutally killing anything that wasn’t another seadog. The only times they ever ran away was when they thought doing so would keep their crystals away from Celia and the Sweeties, and even then they would occasionally lose the battle of wills to the senseless violence and attack anyway. The longer the Sweeties remained, the more often the dogs would attack rather than retreat.
Second, seadogs got more disgusting every time Celia landed a kill.
At first they had just been standard horrors of the deep. Yet, it seemed that with every slice she made with her razor-top, they revealed more of their abhorrent nature. First, the ooze—it didn’t just get everywhere, it grew everywhere. Every single cell within the blood substitute must have been undergoing massive division, since every stain that got on her widened the longer she left it there. It fed off her magic, and no doubt would have found a way to consume her had she not taken to clearing herself of all disgust every moment she had.
Celia had seen many ponies and other creatures cut open in her time, sometimes in alarmingly grotesque ways. These seadogs were worse. Beneath the ooze were bones and organs that had no real pattern to them. Some hearts were duplicated while others kept beating despite having a rib puncturing them. No two seadogs were the same—every one was a fresh nightmare.
At least they liquefied when in contact with powerful direct magic. That made the mess a little more bearable.
Barely.
For this reason Celia had taken to scoring kills with her laser spells. At the moment, she had blasted a hole through a seadog’s chest. As it fell to the ground in a puddle, she allowed herself to smile—at least that was somewhat satisfying.
To her left, Blink was invisible and punching a seadog senseless. It was taking a few more punches than usual, but they were tired. Every time they had laid down to rest since they’d begun their onslaught the seadogs had never left them alone for more than two hours. Naturally, Blink would be tired.
Burgerbelle, on the other hoof…
Celia was getting mildly concerned about her.
“Inside each of us, there are two wolves,” Burgerbelle said, nonchalantly slapping a seadog to the side. “The first one has depression.” A white wolf with sad eyes appeared next to her. “The other one has depression.” A black wolf with haunted eyes appeared on the other side. “You have depression.”
The seadog managed to look confused as the two wolves lunged, flattening the beast against the wall like a pancake before digging in.
“Literally~!” Burgerbelle sang. The black wolf eventually removed a set of three crystals out of the seadog’s stomach, offering them to her. She reached out to grab them—but a smaller seadog jumped out of the ground and began to run off with the crystals.
“Welp,” Burgerbelle said, summoning a noose. “Guess I’ll die.”
Celia swiped the noose with her magic and threw it around the fleeing seadog’s neck, pulling it with enough force that the dog’s head was severed from its body. The crystals fell unceremoniously to the ground.
Celia dropped the noose. “You won’t be needing that. W—” She was shocked to see Burgerbelle hanging limp from the ceiling. “Wh…”
“Kidding!” Burgerbelle said, laughing. She snapped her neck sideways and popped out of the noose before eating it. It was made of licorice.
Blink and Celia stared at her in horror. She knows that isn’t funny...
“...You sure you’re doing all right?” Blink asked.
Burgerbelle got in Blink’s face. “Stay out of my shed.” Blink backed away very quickly.
“Burger!” Celia chided. “We do not need to bring up memories of that universe!”
“Need? No. Want? Yes.”
She’s losing it.
Or is she doing what’s needed?
Not in the case of Blink.
Celia shook her head, trying to balance the fusion again. “Look, I understand that we’re undertaking an extermination here, but do you have to go in with all the depression memes?”
“I’m just in the mood.” Burgerbelle slapped the cry-laugh emoji sticker on Celia’s gemstone. “Try it, you might like it!”
“It’s a terrible place to be.” She tossed the crystals to Burgerbelle, who put them in her ravenous Bag of Holding.
“I mean, we have been down here for a few days,” Blink pointed out. “It’s only natural that we start getting in a darker mood.”
Celia frowned. “True. I suppose I’ve been going down that route as well, though not as… excessively as Burger. I don’t see much of a change in you, Blink.
“I’m a ghost. The whole ‘moping about being dead’ thing got old real quick, from my perspective.”
Celia nodded to herself. “Well… hopefully we’ll be done soon and be able to get back to the others.”
We’re not leaving until every last one of those dogs is ground to dust.
It’ll be a favor to the world.
Blink frowned. “We should hurry. They’re probably getting worried.”
“Then speed is paramount,” Celia declared—getting a sinking feeling in her stomach as she did so. “Burgerbelle, have anything to make this go faster?”
The Flat picked up the black depression wolf. “I can cure this baby’s depression and turn it into insanity. That’ll help!”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely!”
I actually kind of want to see this… “Go ahead.”
~~~
“Today in the great Multiversal Heroes championship, we are down to our two finalists!” Seren declared, using her scepter as a microphone. “Playing for the home team is Suzie, the captain of Swip and self-proclaimed fighting game expert! What do you have to say for the kids at home?” She pointed her scepter at Suzie’s mouth.
“Well, first of all, hurry and come save us please,” Suzie laughed. She was currently wearing her outrageous ‘I’m totally an anime supervillain’ outfit. “But in all seriousness—” that got a few laughs “—I just want to send a shout out to my supportive fans for getting me this far!”
“Woohoo!” Suzie’s ‘fans’ shouted—which was to say only Cinder. She had an origami foam finger on her front hoof and was waving it around excitedly. “Go Suzie, go Suzie, you can DOOO IT!”
Seren twirled around. “And now our challenger. Nobody thought she could do it, thought she would lose to the legendary magic of Marshall Squeaky yesterday, but against all odds none other than Allure Belle herself has pulled through to the finals! What do you have to say to your fans?”
“Why does everyone always think I’m the weakest Founder?” Allure wondered aloud.
“Oooh, a diss on her fans! A true villain!”
Suzie crossed her arms. “I’m the one in the villain outfit…”
“Then we’ll let the crowd choose their favorites for the final match!” Seren declared. “For those who don’t know, Multiversal Heroes is a fighting platformer th—”
“We know, get on with it,” Swip beeped.
Seren put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “Well, guess I’m out of a job. Are you two are going with your mains?”
“Yep!” the competitors said in unison.
Seren winked to the collected group of Sweeties. “As we all know, Allure mains the multi-moveset League of Sweetie Belles fighter, which includes several people you know well! Suzie, on the other hand…” She gestured at the area of the screen that contained Suzie’s fighter—Jotaro Kujo. “Showing her anime favoritism. Her secondary is Nanoha, by the way.”
“I prefer punches to magic,” Suzie grinned.
Seren nodded. “And now… usually we’d randomize the stages, but for the finals, it must be Final Destination! Loading…” She clapped her hands. “Here we are! GET READY! THREE! TWO! ONE! G—”
Nira teleported in front of them, ruining the game.
“Oh, come on!” Cinder whined.
Nira glared at them all. “Something’s happening with Celia.”
Suzie dropped her controller. “What is it?”
“I detected another magic flare of hers. I wasn’t sure during the previous ones, but I am now—she’s using the death spell.”
“How… unlike her.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Aren’t the monsters out there brutal and animalistic?” Allure asked. “It might just be a case of simplicity.”
Nira shook her head. “Celia prefers to keep herself from the dark arts, actively using the reverse or lesser spells. Or she has me deal with it. Given how often I’m sensing her magic flare up, I have my doubts she’s using it out of necessity.” Her grimace deepened.
“What does it mean?” Cinder asked.
“Chances are good she’s been infected by that curse we found in the seadog. I have no way to know what its true effects are, but if one of them is brutal savagery…”
“What can we do?”
“Nothing,” Nira said. “Neither Seren nor I have enough magic to make it that far. Help has not arrived yet.”
Sweetaloo frowned. “...Then why are you telling everyone something that’ll just make them panic?”
“You keep them from panicking. I tell them how screwed things are.”
Sweetaloo twitched. “I’m commandeering one of the rooms to have a chat with Nira, everyone. We’ll be out shortly… Squeaky, you should ask her any questions you have now.”
Squeaky frowned. “I’ll want a full report from her within a few hours. But her assessment is that we cannot do anything at this time, so you may take her.”
“Thank you, Marshall.” Sweetaloo tugged on Nira’s ear with her magic, shoving the two of them into a room for a ‘counseling’ session.
Seren sighed. “I take it that means the final is off?”
“At least for a few hours,” Suzie said, putting her hand on Seren’s shoulder. “We’ll get to it eventually. I promise.”
“Yay!”
Cinder couldn’t bring herself to cheer with Seren. She stared into space, wondering what kind of horrors Celia was experiencing.
~~~
“HEY KIDS!” Burgerbelle shouted, mouth full of razor sharp teeth. “LET’S DO THE CINNAMON CHALLENGE WITH COCAINE!”
The seadogs could not experience fear, but they didn’t exactly like pain and knew it was a good idea to avoid it if possible. The one Burgerbelle’s Insanity Wolf currently had pinned to the ground attempted to wriggle free in what appeared to be panic.
It did not work. Burgerbelle shoved the white powder into the seadog’s jaws, creating a froth that made it look like it had rabies.
“And you fail!” Burgerbelle smacked the seadog with a stick, flipping it over like a pancake. She summoned several dozen eggs and pelted the seadog with them until it stopped moving.
Then she turned to the rest of the dogs that Celia and Blink hadn’t killed yet. She had no face and viscous black tentacles had erupted from her back. Instead of speaking, a haunting static screech came from her that made all the seadogs freeze in their attack. She drove the back-tentacles into them, tearing flesh from bone and throwing the crystals within to the ground.
Several black spikes shot out of each of the seadogs, sending their innards everywhere, coating the cavern in darkness. Using this as a backdrop, Burgerbelle removed her faceless mask and took a victory pose. VICTORY! RANK: S+. “You’re too weak!”
Celia wiped the ooze off her face with a sigh. “That’s the fifth time in a row you’ve coated us, Burger.”
“Not me,” Blink said, revealing herself and smirking. “Passed right through.”
With an uncharacteristically dramatic groan, Celia cast the clean spell once more. She picked up the crystals they had freed this time. It was the largest haul yet—they must have been whittling the seadogs’ population down so much that few of them weren’t hiding crystals. When the shards were pressed together, they made up a glimmering ball larger than Celia’s head.
Feel the power coming off these darlings…
This’ll be able to get us out for sure.
Think of how much could be destroyed!
Too much.
Celia took a moment to organize her thoughts. During her self-distraction, a small seadog erupted from the ground, grabbed the ball of crystals, and disappeared into the earth.
“Damn the tiny ones!” Celia shrieked—she was getting really tired of this trick! How did they always know the right time to nab them? “You’re not getting away this time!” She summoned her razor-top and altered it slightly to become a drill. Slamming it into the ground, she pursued the tiny seadog.
As far as she knew, she was alone in the pursuit. She didn’t mind. These tiny dogs had been driving her mad ever since they’d started nabbing the crystals from under her nose. As she approached, she weighed the different options for dismembering the unfortunate creature.
Death spell?
Too quick.
Would be, if it wasn’t liquefying them.
Do something that’s supposed to be agonizing.
No, last time that happened one of others snuck by.
How can these mongrels be so smart!?
Could be any number of things…
Celia was mildly surprised that she was able to think in two distinct voices for this long without de-fusing. They really did need to get this job done quickly. Good thing that was what they were doing.
Why was this cave influencing her stability, though? She’d been in worse situations. She was a nearly ageless being who had gone multiple years in tough situations back home. This was a little concerni—
She broke through to a flooded tunnel, mildly surprised by the sudden presence of water. After so long in the caves it took her a moment to get her sea legs.
Unfortunately for the seadog, the death spell didn’t require any use of her legs. A dark red beam came out of her gemstone and hit the tiny mongrel, liquefying it instantly—giving her easy access to the ball of crystals.
She grinned. Bingo.
Below the light of the crystal, she saw a monster surge forth. Not a seadog—a seapony. With a soft smile, Celia readied another death spell for the latest flavor of aquatic nightmare.
She stopped when she saw it more clearly. The green eyes screamed out to her soul, begging for her attention. The coat, while noxious and disgusting, had clearly been white at once point. Its broken horn sparked with soft green energy, and Celia could clearly make out a cutie mark on it.
This was no real surprise—she’d seen cutie marks on some of the other seaponies before. Some of them had even looked familiar. But none as familiar as this. It was the emblem hoisted high above the main doors to the League of Sweetie Belles.
The Sweetie Crusader Shield.
The part of her that was Goshenite screamed.
The part of her that was Moganite fought to keep control of their magic and survive the encounter.
A third part said kill it kill it kill it before it kills us!
The parts that were Goshenite and Moganite were so shocked by the presence of the third voice that it was able to wrestle control from them for all of a second—launching the death spell right at the Sweetie seapony.
It liquefied in an instant.
No! Goshenite’s mind screamed.
You will explain yourself, Invader, Moganite’s mind demanded.
Later! You’re destabilizing! the third voice retorted.
Desta- Out in the ocean, Celia began to glow a bright white as her two halves entered direct mental conflict.
Goshenite! Keep it together! Moganite called.
It’s scary I don’t want it in here it…
We must face it together, not alone. Think of what will happen if we split it.
It killed me!
It killed a monstrous pony in self-defense.
It’s not us!
It will be if we do not face it. Come. Stand by my side, as we always have.
Celia stopped glowing as her body’s cohesion re-asserted itself. Her mind became one again. ...Though perhaps it was more accurate to say two.
Hello, Invader, Celia addressed her subconscious, a soft smile crawing up her face. Welcome to the experience that is Celia. How are you doing this fine day?
There was no response.
There’s no use hiding now, Celia thought, packing up the ball of crystals and crawling back up the tunnel she dug a few minutes ago. You revealed yourself. Attacked when we could not. I will have to thank you—regenerating down here would have been unpleasant.
Still nothing, even as Celia continued rising through the earth.
Let’s see… you are likely something native to this world. If I had to make a guess, you are a manifestation of the curse Nira told us about? Perhaps the effect is something akin to a slow, gradual change into some kind of ocean-going monster? Seadogs… Seaponies… A curse of mutations.
She sensed something in the back of her mind twitch.
There you are. She stopped ascending the tunnel and focused on her interior. Hello, Invader… how do you like the dream section? Pleasant, I hope?
It looked back at her. In the mental projection, it took the form of a black version of herself, though notably its gemstone wasn’t cracked down the middle. I believe the term you would use is ‘adequate’.
Really? Celia raised an eyebrow. I got the impression you were dissatisfied. Do not lie to me.
I am not. It serves my purposes.
Which are?
Live.
And brutally kill everything.
Only that which stands in our way.
Celia nodded slowly. So you can be reasoned with… I do wonder why the end result of this curse is mindless animalism.
Have you seen Burgerbelle?
Good point, she really does seem to be heading that way. I suppose we are a bit of an odd case. ...Though we have gotten decidedly more violent over the last few… Celia paused. How long had they been down here? She couldn’t be sure anymore… Why hadn’t she ever checked the time?
Because it doesn’t matter. You were doing what needed to be done how it needed to be done. These dogs were between us and the goal. I simply nudged you to work more effectively. Another thing to thank me for.
I suppose I should be thanking you for the distasteful enjoyment of the act as well?
Was it really distasteful?
Not really, no... She frowned. I think I see how this would turn the average pony into a ranting mongrel.
How so?
I have seen much death, war, destruction, and have made many hard choices. The average citizen of Ponyville would have a mental breakdown from merely thinking about killing something. A beast such as yourself would have to break them completely before any sort of true dialogue could be made.
I think you’re jumping to conclusions.
Likely. But isn’t in our best interests to brainstorm and see how this may be resolved? We are both like-minded mares in some ways, perhaps we can come to an agreement.
We keep killing seadogs until they’re all gone and we have all the crystals.
Then what?
Get out of here and return to better missions that don’t involve sitting on the bottom of the fucking ocean?
I do not believe this particular ocean can engage in ‘fucking’.
And in a strict sense, neither can we, and yet I will still say ‘fuck you’ to your pedantic nitpick.
She said, with a pedantic nitpick.
The Invader let out an angry, screeching ‘noise’ through Celia’s subconscious. We don’t have time for this.
You are quite correct. Look at us, bicker bicker bicker… Celia chuckled. Another sister in the group, I suppose.
You lie to yourself with your tone.
I need to remain calm and ordered for everyone’s sake.
Do you? What about your sake? I know you, you want to scream at me, to destroy me for so much as daring to enter your precious sisterly bond…
Quite. And yet the right thing to do here is get this all resolved, remove you from my head, and place you in a new body so you may live on your own.
Sounds like a plan! Can’t wait to be rid of you. All your walls, masks, and political correctness… disgusting.
And you are a literal black smudge on my mind. Think about that for a moment before you start lecturing me on disgust.
Sensing the complex conversation was over, Celia returned to the others. “I have an announcement!”
Wait, no, what are you doing? the Invader shouted. Don-
Celia dropped the pile of gems on the ground. “Got them all!”
“LOOT!” Burgerbelle shouted, shoveling it all into her Bag of Holding. “We are gluttons of crystals…”
“I also encountered a seapony Sweetie down there,” Celia continued. “It occurs to me that Burgerbelle may be suffering from the curse of the waves.”
“What? Me?” Burgerbelle put on an innocent halo. The halo quickly turned into demonic termites. “...Uh…”
“Just be on the lookout in yourselves for possible corruption and guard against it. One thing we should avoid is becoming more animalistic. Maintain your wits, everyone.”
Blink turned to Burgerbelle. “You really are cursed, huh?”
Burgerbelle put on a sad puppy mask and nodded. The mask lit on fire and reduced her to a skeleton with two skulls. “Two heads are better than one!”
Blink shook her head. “Yeesh. We should get back to Nira.”
“Currently, she seems enough in control of herself that I think we can continue,” Celia said. “We still need to finish our job here before we have enough magic for Nira. As a bonus, we will rid the world of these pesky mongrels.”
“...You know, you’ve gotten pretty violent too. Maybe you’re cursed?”
“It’s possible,” Celia admitted. “You should watch me regardless. You seem to have been affected by all this the least.”
“Ghostly immunity, baby!” Blink laughed. “Yeah, I’ll watch you two. Don’t try to murder each other or I will have to knock you out with the mind-scrambling punch!”
“Good. Regardless, crystals are…” Celia cast a quick spell. “This way!” She marched forward.
...What was that? the Invader asked.
You did save my life back there in a tense situation, consider this returning the favor. We are sharing the same headspace for the moment, it wouldn’t do to antagonize you.
I would say you’re giving up too much of yourself, but I know your ploy. You’re establishing a connection you hope to cash in later.
A mutually beneficial relationship for both parties. A building up of trust. I have no reason to trust you whatsoever, and yet I extend the olive branch anyway. A powerful gesture.
If the recipient doesn't know what your plan is.
I have found that understanding the game often increases the impact of a gesture. Celia smirked. And I’m sure you do too.
Perhaps, perhaps not. I’m not an open book. Regardless, there are some dogs that need killing, and if you really are dead-set on this whole ‘olive branch’ business, I have some suggestions…
Suggest away, darling!
~~~
“Marshall’s log, day six,” Squeaky spoke to the empty bridge. Only Swip could hear her, and that was the point. “There’s no discernible change in… anything since yesterday’s report. Morale has held relatively steady since Specialist Nira announced the possible corruption of the away team. It is a testament to Counselor Sweetaloo’s skills that she has been able to maintain unity on board during this trying time. Nira has learned nothing new about Celia’s condition through her scrying. On our end, no new suggestions have been put forward. A sea monster passed by and was shot down yesterday. Suzie won the video game championship the crew held, which provided a much-needed excuse to celebrate. I have nothing else to report.”
“Saved,” Swip said. Her avatar leaned on a virtual countertop. “Why do you even make these? You’re not on assignment, I record all the necessary data for a report myself.”
“Organization and management, Swip. Gets me in the right headspace.”
“I can’t imagine the higher-ups are thrilled to hear your voice in reports.”
Squeaky smirked. “O’Neill has a program designed specifically to lower my pitch so he can bear it.”
“...Sounds like him.”
A soft rumble not unlike an earthquake ran through the ground, shaking Swip’s interior.
Squeaky sighed. “Another one of those sea monsters?”
“Actually… the mini-sonar isn’t picking any up…” Swip paused for a moment, processing. “Okay. Uh. A giant boulder just fell out of the… sky? It fell from above. And hit the ground.”
Squeaky blinked. “Interesting. What else do you see?”
“Well, looks like there are a few that haven’t hit yet. Three… two… one…” There was another tremor, this one larger than the previous. “They’re pretty close.”
“Close enough to be dangerous?”
“Not sure.”
Nira ran through the doors to the bridge in a panic. “There is a boulder the size of a small town bearing down on our position!”
Squeaky ran to the captain’s station before Suzie could get on the bridge. “Everyone, we have a situation! Get to the bridge! Nira, how long do we have?”
“Five minutes.” She let out some untranslatable curse. “Why wasn't I looking up?”
“Happens to the best of us,” Allure encouraged. “What can we do? Can we move Swip?”
“Not in five minutes,” Swip said. “...And I don’t want to figure out what some of my planetary-bombardment style weapons do at the bottom of the ocean.”
Squeaky nodded. “Nira! Seren! Do you think you have enough power to cut a hole the size of Swip in the incoming boulder?”
Seren nodded. “Definitely! Shaving away some rock is easy-peasy!”
“I am at adequate power levels as well,” Nira said.
“Good. Get out there. Swip, can you guide them to the proper location?”
“I can’t see th—” Swip paused. “Nevermind, it just appeared on the mini-sonar. Yes, I can. Nira, telepathic communication, you can do it at that range.”
Nira nodded in confirmation. She teleported herself and Seren out into the ocean, just above Swip. Seren focused on maintaining a bubble of air against the immense pressure while Nira propelled them upward. A hologram of their progress appeared in the middle of the bridge.
“You can do this!” Cinder cheered.
Nira’s voice came over Swip’s speakers. “Swip, transmit only yourself and orders over this mental frequency, okay? I need to focus.”
“Sorry Cinder!” Seren called.
Cinder frowned. “...I was just trying to be encouraging. I’m good at it.”
They watched as the dots representing Nira and Seren approached the massive boulder that was soon filling up almost the entire screen.
“Geez…” Sweealoo wiped her brow. “There weren’t any mountains nearby. Where could this have come from?”
“Something to figure out later,” Allure suggested.
“Good idea.”
“Arrived!” Nira said as their bubble pushed into the edge of the falling boulder. “Beginning cutting now! Swip, direct—Seren, calculate. I cut.”
Swip’s sonar pings hit the boulder in the point she calculated it would come down on her. Seren performed some magic math at the surface of the boulder, determining how structurally sound it would be once much of it was cut up. “There’s a lot of odd stuff up here…”
“Survive now, deal with that later,” Nira grunted. “Will it stabilize?”
“Yep!” Seren reported. “Cut!”
Nira cut. A dark blade of magic ten times her size appeared in the water and cut precisely where Seren indicated, creating a cone-shaped depression in the boulder easily large enough to hold Swip.
“Still on course?” Squeaky asked.
“Not quite…” Swip said. “Something tilted it sideways ever-so-slightly. Maybe a chunk fell off higher up?”
“How far do we need to adjust?” Nira asked.
“A few meters to the northwest.”
“Which direction is that?”
Swip indicated it with her mini-sonar.
Nira took a breath. “Seren, hope you’re ready for some water magic…”
“Yep!”
“On three. One. Two. Three!”
Both of them cast water spells in the indicated direction. The force of massive ocean waves pounded into the falling boulder. From the perspective on the seafloor, it looked as though nothing had happened.
But it was enough. The boulder crashed into the ground, encasing Swip in a cone cavern. The edges of the cone sunk several meters into the soft seafloor, turning what had been a cave several times larger than Swip into one barely large enough to hold her. As Seren had predicted, the cave held—for the most part. One smaller rock about the size of a pony dislodged from the ceiling and hit Swip’s front.
“Ow,” Swip muttered.
“You’re fine,” Nira commented. “In other news, so are the rest of you. Mission success. Heading b—”
“Wait!” Seren called. “I just thought of something!”
“What?” Squeaky asked, dreading the answer.
“We’re in a mostly sealed cave now! I can clear the water out!”
“Clear th—”
Seren didn’t wait for permission. She cast a double spell—a simple storage spell to suck up all the water paired with an enhanced bubble spell to produce air. The entire cavern began to empty of all its water, draining almost like a sink—if the drain for the sink were in the middle of the air and sparkling like a star.
Without water, there was no longer pressure keeping the walls held together. A few loose rocks and clods of dirt fell to the ground, but for the most part the cave was made of solid metamorphic rock so the pressure difference did virtually nothing. A few holes in the ceiling started spewing seawater like sprinklers, but the drain caught those too.
Seren made the drain spell permanent to ensure the cavern wouldn't fill up with water anytime soon. Breathing heavily, she gave a thumbs up. “All good!”
“...That was highly dangerous,” Squeaky said.
“But it’s all fine now! And you can stretch your legs!” Seren clapped her hands. “Come on out! The air’s great!”
Cinder gasped. “Swip. I want you to open your hatch.”
“Right, right…”
Swip de-sealed her exterior hatch, opening it up. Several hundred gallons of water poured out of the storage bay, quickly dissipating along the marshy ground. All other flooded rooms were subsequently opened, draining all the water in a similarly nonchalant fashion.
Cinder scrambled to the exit, grinning. “Yeah! Freedom!” She jumped down the ramp and planted her four hooves into the squishy ground. Starting to dance, she wondered if she was going to break into song.
Then she kicked a body.
Freezing, she looked down. It wasn’t a seapony. It was a pony. One who hadn’t been dead for all that long, at that—he still had hair in some places and she could identify his pegasus wings, though one was half-eaten. Two of his hooves were missing, showing only jutting pieces of bone mixed with dead, fishy flesh. A mossy substance clung to him in numerous places, festering the most around the open wounds.
The smell hit her all at once. She had used all her willpower to keep from screaming, so there was little effort put into keeping her lunch down. Hurling all over the body, all she could think was sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t mean to…
Managing to get control of herself, she wiped her mouth and looked up.
There were several bodies, strewn about everywhere. Mostly ponies, but there were a few seapony carcasses as well. She found herself focusing on the seaponies—they didn’t make her stomach churn as much as the other bodies. They were monsters. They were things she saw killed all the time. She might even burn one, were she able to.
Eventually, she felt something other than disgust and fear. Her eyes flicked over to something shiny—a helmet. Round, bronze, and industrial strength with a front of thick glass, it was clearly something used for diving. The pony it was attached to had a suit made of hard, bronze shell as well, though this wasn’t in good condition, having been torn and smashed to pieces in various places.
“A diving suit…”
Seren teleported next to the suit. “We could use this. Make suits for ourselves from them.” Cinder was more than a little shocked that the child was completely unaffected by all the gore.
“And do what?” Nira asked. “Even if we have suits, it’s not safe to travel all the way to Celia or however far up the surface is.” She gestured at one of the corpses. “These have been falling for weeks. This ocean is deep.”
Suzie walked out and placed a comforting hand on Cinder’s shoulder—but addressed Nira’s concerns. “If there are diving suits of that caliber, there are probably other diving materials. Boats. Processed metal. Seren could probably make a sub.”
Seren grinned. “You bet I can!” She popped the helmet off the corpse, revealing a pony with half her skull visible. “Just gotta cannibalize everything.”
Suzie glared at her, holding Cinder close. “Bad word choice.”
“Oh. Uh. Sorry!” Seren rubbed the back of her head.
“It’s… fine.” Cinder shook her head, forcing herself to a collected state. “...These ponies lived on a surface. Maybe on this rock.”
“Probably,” Suzie admitted.
“Then their home just fell into the ocean.” Cinder grimaced. “...Taking everything with it…”
Suzie had nothing to say to this.
Seren threw three helmets on the ground, making a clattering sound. “...Man, Celia would be able to help with this, she knows a lot of outfit spells…”
~~~
Blink punched the last seadog to the ground. It was probably the pack leader, or something, seeing as it was about four times larger than all the other seadogs and had a jaw that was so large it extended to part of the neck. But even it went down easily, this time from a little ghostly filly rather than deadly depressing memes or precise Gem magic.
Burgerbelle folded her arms angrily. “Kill stealer!”
“Hey, you two have been having a slaughterfest, I saved the best for myself.” Blink kicked the monster’s stomach, spewing several dozen crystals onto the ground. “There you go, that’s the last of them.”
Celia levitated them into Burgerbelle’s bag. “Take these back to Nira or Seren and… we’re home free.”
Feeling a little nervous? Pensive? the Invader asked.
I suspect that’s your influence. Though your influence is not all that reliable. It promised satisfaction from exterminating all the dogs. I am feeling a distinct lack of satisfaction.
You just haven’t given in yet.
May I remind you that ‘giving in’ involves slaughtering anything I lay my eyes on, hmm?
Not necessarily, and you know it.
Celia had to struggle not to roll her eyes. We must return regardless. No path leads away from them forever.
Unfortunately true.
“I’ll teleport us back to the seafloor. Give me a moment…” Celia focused her mental energy into her crystal. Want to help?
And get us back to a bunch of scrutinizing eyes quicker?
Yes. The offer still stands.
Fine.
Both Celia and the Invader focused on the teleport spell, completing it in half the time. Burgerbelle, Blink, and Celia were out of the caves and on the seafloor once more.
“Wow. Fast,” Blink said.
I try my best, Celia told her. Then, addressing the Invader, she said, it is probably best you don’t attempt to speak on the public channel.
I’m not a moron.
Of course not.
There was a soft rumble that spread through the seafloor.
“...Earthquake?” Blink asked.
“TREMORS OF RAGNAROK!” Burgerbelle bellowed. A miniature volcano erupted behind her.
Celia let out a ‘tsk’. She sent out a scrying spell, finding that there were some giant rocks falling nearby. Curious. Blink, Burger, there appear to be rocks falling over that way.
Blink scratched her chin, making a noise of deep thought.
Something to investigate.
We already have the crystals.
Would they be falling at this time in this moment if they didn’t mean something?
No, actually… Celia turned her communication to the others. We should investigate. The rocks may have something important.
“How can we know for sure?” Blink asked. “H—” she stopped mid-word, frowning. “Wait. What’s that?”
“Is it a bird!?” Burgerbelle asked.
“IS IT A PLANE!?” the Insanity Wolf spoke from Burgerbelle’s shoulder. “CHARGE THE ENGINES!”
If there was ever any doubt… the Invader mumbled.
Do you like your colleague?
Too forward and brazen for my tastes.
Celia shook her head, focusing on what Blink had noticed. There were lights above them, and not the sort that came from a bioluminescent fish, either. They were artificial, and moving.
A submarine, Celia told her companions. That… may make all these crystals we gathered useless.
Take it. That sub is all we need. TAKE IT!
We should at least ask first.
What kinds of ponies have you seen living in these waters without a suit? That’s right, seaponies. What do you think their reaction is going to be to us?
Good point. We may need to make a ploy. Pretend to be lost, hide in one of the rocks…
“We should steal it,” Blink blurted.
Celia stared at her in disbelief.
“FUCK YEAH!” Burgerbelle shouted, suddenly wearing a fantasy thief getup. “That sub is ours!”
“STEAL THEIR LIVES!” the Wolf shouted. “THROW THE SUB AWAY!”
“What, no, we need the sub,” Burgerbelle pouted.
“DIVE WITHOUT A SUB!”
This is just embarrassing, the Invader groaned.
Celia smirked. Well then… I guess we’re stealing a sub. Not the standard course of action, but you know what? We’ve been at the bottom of the ocean for Diamonds know how long, buried in dog goo. Might as well get a submarine out of the deal. But Burgerbelle?
“What?”
Do keep that wolf of yours under control. I’d rather not have to explain to Suzie why you massacred a submarine.
“I’LL LEASH YOU!” the Wolf shouted.
That’s nice, Celia dismissed. To the Invader, she asked, can you deal with it if we need to?
That depends on a few things. My desire to do so and my ability to contend with a reality-warping wolf.
It’ll probably destroy the sub if we just let it run wild.
Idiot probably would, wouldn’t she? Fine. We can keep the wolf down. But we’re going to do this my way.
Assuming Blink doesn’t declare me unfit for duty, I’ll at least hear your plan out. The end result will most likely be a synthesis of ideas, however.
I’ll take what I can get. First, we need the element of surprise…
~~~
Allure placed a diving helmet in front of Cinder.
Cinder swallowed a piece of her daisy sandwich, managing to keep it down without too much struggle. “Cool! You got it to work?”
“We’ve got three working suits,” Allure said. “Pony-shaped only, though.”
“Guess that limits who can be an explorer, huh?”
Allure smirked. “Yep. I’ve already selected the team too. Me, Nira…” She plopped the helmet onto Cinder. “And you!”
“Me?” Cinder felt a powerful mixture of dread and excitement enter her all at once.
“You want to come?”
Cinder thought about this for the moment. On one hoof, there were dead bodies out there by the dozen. On the other, she had been cooped up in this enclosed space for almost a week and hadn’t gotten a real adventure in a while. Waiting around and playing video games was not a real adventure.
“Sure!” Cinder beamed adjusting the heavy helmet until it was as comfortable as she could get it “How do we suit up?”
Allure gestured for her to follow them to the cargo hold. Seren was currently opening boxes of supplies to see which ones were salvageable. Most weren’t, but a few things had been set out for use, such as backup metal sheets for repairs. Many of these materials had been cannibalized to fix the suits, fused together with magic afterward. This made the bulky suits themselves look like swirling, warped alloys of multiple metals. Ugly, but effective. The standard ‘white’ alloy of Merodi construction—Allure had recently learned it was called ‘orichalcum’—might have improved the suits in certain areas.
The only parts of the suits that looked proper were the helmets—shiny, one piece hunks of metal that would keep out even the worst of pressures.
Allure tossed Cinder her suit. “Here. Seal’s on the back, should be easy with your magic. Make sure to lock the hard bits together on the back.”
She was right—Cinder was easily able to slip into the suit. The interior was dry, but filled with a myriad of uneven textures that made her itch slightly. That would be annoying. She forced herself to ignore the sensation, she wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it while out in the ocean. The weight of the suit made her movements stiff and awkward, but she suspected that would be counteracted by the buoyancy of the water when she was out there. With a twist of her helmet, it locked into place, sealing the interior.
Allure laid two heavy tanks of air on her back, saying something Cinder couldn't hear through the walls of the helmet.
“Can’t hear you!” Cinder called. She pointed at what she hoped was her ear just to make sure Allure understood.
Allure’s eyes opened wide with realization. She put on her own helmet. “Check!” she said, her voice coming through a speaker in the back of Cinder’s helmet.
“Sweet! Radio?”
“Yep. Won’t transmit too far, but we should be together out there anyway.”
“Good. What were you trying to tell me?”
“I was saying the oxygen tanks are going to be really, really heavy in the air. You won’t really feel them in the water, though. Just don’t try to dance around right now.”
“You’ve done this before?”
Allure’s nod looked really silly with the helmet. “Though, when I did this, we used the Merodi suits. Skin tight, full glass helmets, and a nice holographic display. This is low-tech, but it works.”
“You two ready?” Nira asked, levitating herself over to them. Evidently walking around with all that weight was too much of a hassle.
Cinder nodded. “I think so. Anything I should know about the suit?”
“If you get separated from me you have two hours of air, otherwise I can just keep making more. If you get punctured with something, don’t remove it, the pressure will kill you. If you get a crack in your helmet, remain calm, it shouldn’t allow the pressure to crush your skull until long after you’ve run out of breath.”
Cinder rolled her eyes. “Geez, thanks…”
“And be careful with magic. You’ll have to experiment to see how yours works underwater. Allure, I assume you know how yours works?”
Allure tipped a nearby box with some invisible power. “Knight of Heart works great, the rest doesn’t work underwater all that well.”
“Casting fire underwater…” Cinder frowned. “How does that work?”
“It’s a treat,” Allure said. “Just be careful when you try it.”
Nira checked herself over. “I’m teleporting us to the top of the boulder. It’s only the size of a town, not too difficult. I’m aiming for a several meters above the surface, so expect to fall for a bit before we hit solid ground.”
Cinder saluted. “Got it! What are we looking for?”
“Anything that can help us go for a longer journey,” Nira said. “Sub, material to make a sub, anything.”
“Right.”
Nira lifted her head. Even though Cinder couldn’t see her horn through the helmet, she still felt Nira’s dark aura spread out. It sent a chill through her spine.
With a flash of darkness, they were in the water. Cinder could see Allure and Nira easily, due to the lights on their helmets. Other than that, she could see nothing—all was dark. Directing her gaze downward, she thought that maybe her helmet light was showing her the ground, but it was hard to tell.
She kicked her legs, finding that she could move around without too much effort, though she got the impression trying to go up was an exercise in futility.
“Everyone good?” Allure asked.
“Yes,” Nira grunted.
“Yep!” Cinder chirped. “I’m going to try the fire now.”
“Just be careful,” Allure said.
Cinder nodded—and quickly decided never to do that again. Celestia, was it hard to move her head quickly… She focused her energy into her horn and cast fireball in the water.
There was a brilliant light surrounded by a curdling sphere of bubbles. She laughed. “I got i—” she dropped focus on the spell, removing the flame. At a normal depth, this wouldn’t have caused much more than a small whoosh of water.
Here, the pressure was so immense the bubble of steam collapsed in on itself in a minor explosion, sending the three divers to the side.
“Haha!” Cinder laughed. “Looks like I’m an explosion wizard now!”
“Be careful with that!” Nira hissed. “You don’t know where it could throw us!”
Cinder shrugged, focusing on holding a fire spell this time. The flame ignited, turning the water around it into steam with ease. While she held it, the water couldn't implode on the steam pocket. The bubble started to deform from a perfect circle into an oval as the mist tried to rise due to its lesser density, but the further it got from the flame the less energized it became, becoming one with the ocean calmly. The explosion only happened when she cut off the heat source completely.
Which she did again, but not before moving it. She found that moving it quickly created a lesser shockwave, while moving it slowly didn’t alter the flow of current much at all. Shoving the flame to the distance, she let it flicker out. They felt the rush of water run into them, but it was nothing as startling as the first time.
“That’s going to be useful,” Allure noted.
“Nothing I can’t do already,” Nira countered. “Regardless, be on the lookout for anything.”
“...I see something!” Cinder called, pointing down. “It looks like… a dead bird.”
There was, in fact, a bird drifting in the sea, coming closer to them as they sank. Further down Cinder could make out chunks of a statue that might have been a pony at one point. The bird didn’t look like it had been dead long—none of the flesh had been ripped and there was no sign of rotting, though there was evidence of the dark mutation the seadogs and seaponies had. It’s beak was long and pointed, its claws split into multiple thorny protrusions, and it looked almost skeletal.
“Dead bird,” Nira snorted. “Good. What are we going to do with a dead bird?” She picked the thing up with her magic. “It’s just a—”
The bird proved itself to be very alive by lighting itself on brilliant white fire, becoming a massive star of brilliant power surrounded by a churning cloud of steam. It opened its beak to roar, but nothing could be heard over the massive rolling boil at the bottom of the ocean.
Cinder took one look at the swirling star of fire—and grinned.
“Hey, phoenix!” Cinder created two smaller flames in front of her. “You and I are going to have some fun!”
~~~
Star Shooter had already been having a terrible last few days when they showed up. She had been the proud owner of an experimental all-terrain ship that could pull off both flight and undersea voyages. She had it for all of two weeks when some pirate stole the thing. Her replacement ship had to be taken out on a ridiculously unfair lease. An entire day had been spent hunting down the ship thief.
He, conveniently, had vanished off the face of Equestria.
Now, short on funds from the whole fiasco, Star had decided to head to the sinking ruins of Fellis. Sure, a large chunk of the place had been picked clean already, but her salvager’s intuition told her that new things would be revealed when the rocks hit seafloor and cracked open like little geodes. Fellis hadn’t been known for major tunnels like some of the other islands, but there had to be some.
They had found nothing so far. They watched a larger chunk hit the seafloor and split not five minutes ago and there had been nothing inside.
This was not how the life of a Gifted was supposed to go, she would keep telling herself. She was a unicorn and had magic. She could shoot fireworks out her horn for crying out loud! She should be rich, famous, and living on a private island or something, not salvaging for scrap at the bottom of the ocean with a layabout crew that had no idea what they were doing.
Maybe I should have stayed in the entertainment business…
She shook her head—no use dwelling on that. She needed to get something off the seafloor here or she was going to be out of funds to go on another expedition. At that point, she could think about throwing fireworks shows. Until then, she was going to build her own torpedoes. Even though Turnfin insisted mechanical ones were better. Screw him and his ‘engineering know-how’.
“Uh, captain?”
Star sighed. “What is it?”
“We’re losing air pressure.”
She glared at the green mare, Minty, weighing her response options. Star settled on ‘tranquil fury’. “Minty… why are we losing air pressure?”
“We don’t know.”
“We. Don’t. Know!?”
“Yeah. Haven’t detected any leaks anywhere… but the air pressure is still going down…”
“Minty. Minty…” Star growled. “Turnfin’s already on this, right?”
“Y-yes.”
“Then what am I going to do? Throw a firework into the wall and hope it creates a reverse leak?”
Minty frowned. “Wait, what?”
Star facehooved. “Nevermind. Just… keep me posted. Tell me if it becomes a threat.”
“Can-do Capt—”
There was a massive boom behind them. The door to the command center fell inward, allowing steam to pour through the opening. What walked through was the most beautiful mare Star had ever seen—sharp, blue eyes under a glamorous purple-pink mane done in an extravagant coiled style fit for a noble. Her coat seemed too smooth to be real and her height was so impressive Star likened her to one of the Princesses of old. How could one so brilliant not be Gifted?
Scratch that, what even was she? A wyrd? No… there weren’t any clear mutations. That wasn’t a horn in her head, either—that was a crystal. And yet it was glowing very much like a horn...
The mare smiled. “Hello, Captain Star Shooter.”
She knows my name. Uh…
“I am Celia, Chalcedony. I will be commandeering your sub. You don’t really have a choice in the matter, but trust me, you would much rather come quietly.” Something dark sparkled in the back of her eyes. For a moment, Star thought she saw fangs in the mare’s mouth.
Star Shooter may have been completely smitten at this point but she was not about to give up her sub. She opened her mouth to object.
Minty didn’t give her the chance. The loyal crewmember jumped Celia, attempting to drive her heavy, bladed shoes into Celia’s side. A dark red laser fired out of Celia’s gemstone, hitting Minty in the chest moments before she would have landed her attack. The life went out of the pony’s eyes in an instant and she slumped to the ground, dead.
For the briefest of moments, Celia looked shocked at what had just transpired, but she quickly returned to her calm, serene smile.
A crazy mare… Star gulped. With powerful magic… Probably some ancient sea-demon…
Celia tore her eyes off the dead mare and trotted forward to Star. “Are you ready to cooperate?”
Star nodded slowly.
“Good. I didn’t want to have to let Burger have her way.”
Star really didn’t want to know what that sentence meant.
“Now, don’t panic, but there’s an invisible mare with a leg around your neck right now.”
Now that’s ridiculous, Star thought, a second before she felt an invisible hoof pressed to her neck. W-w-what?
“Let’s make this simple,” Celia said, smiling with such serenity that Star already felt calmer. “This ship is ours now. We are going to use it to rescue our crew. Then we will bring it to the surface. After that, we will discuss the possibility of you getting it back. Not a moment before. Understood?”
Star nodded once more.
“Good. Now, I have a very specific heading in mind.” Celia’s smirk widened. “I do hope you’ll take us to it without a fuss. It… wouldn’t be pleasant if you attempted to cross me.”
“Engineer taken care of!” A strange creature that existed like paper said, holding a rabid wolf tightly in her arms.
The wolf glanced at Minty. “THAT GIRL DIDN’T DIE PROPERLY. REVIVE HER AND TRY AGAIN!”
Star decided now was the time to stop thinking. Expression blank, she moved to chart a course as Celia instructed.
“Good girl,” Celia said.