INTERLUDE
5
Thursday morning, the day after the fifth trial…
Ponies ran to and fro on the docks, moving boxes of food, ammunition, and equipment on board the ship in a hurry. It was a chaotic throng of dozens of ponies everywhere, unicorn auras interspersed with earth ponies and pegasi flitting about in the air above. The cold autumn weather brought with it a thick fog, which the few weather pegasi that could be spared did their best to clear out of the way enough to allow ponies to work. The occasional motorized vehicle driving by on rubber wheels only added to the cacophony with their combustion engines belching smoke. The petrol fumes mixed with sea salt air, cordite, and the tang of metals to create a decidedly offensive odor, unpleasant to the senses.
It was industry, militarized industry, on a scale rarely seen anywhere in Equestria. A scale that prior to Princess Twilight’s reign had never been seen. Princess Celestia had maintained peace in her time through force of will, through her people being so harmonious, so friendship oriented that no one dared attack the nation responsible for the movement of the sun and moon. But that was before the changeling invasion. Before Sombra’s return. Before Tirek’s first attack, before the Storm King, before Tirek’s return with Cozy and Chrysalis.
Twilight learned lessons, harsh lessons, during her travels and adventures. She’d seen what happened when military powers met Equestrian resolve, and found Equestria lacking. She’d studied military strategy and tactics in the human world, discovering, amongst other things, that the idea of an invader casually strolling into the nation's capital the way the Storm King’s forces did was not only unacceptable, it was beyond foolish. And so she took those lessons to heart.
Twilight maintained the level of harmony and friendship that Equestria was known for. She was the Princess of Friendship, after all. But she was also smart. She knew Equestria had faced an unbelievable amount of threats in the past ten or so years, and more could always show themselves. She also knew Earth itself was a potential threat, with the wild portals and the rampaging Equestrian magic threatening to reveal to that world the existence of her own. While she hoped that when that inevitable discovery occurred she could maintain peace and friendship with the nations of Earth, she didn’t want to expect it without the ability to defend her people.
So she had the Equestrian military reformed, from a ragtag assortment of royal guards and special divisions such as the Wonderbolts, into a full and proper modern military, with branches of Army, Air Force, and Navy. In the five years since she’d begun her reign the Equestrian military’s forces had risen from a paltry five thousand guards armed with spears and other melee weapons to twenty-five thousand soldiers, sailors, and airhooves armed with a variety of small arms redesigned both technologically and ergonomically for pony use. Metal-clad steamships using massive boilers took the place of wooden sailing ships. Large gun carriages and proper artillery replaced basic cannons. Proper army and naval bases were being continuously constructed around the nation. Development workshops had debuted motorized vehicles and developed heavier than air flight, with planes rapidly replacing airships as the standard method of vehicular air transport. Passenger planes were already flying in the skies between major Equestrian cities, and cars, typically in the form of cargo trucks, had just started to appear in the streets of larger cities like Manehattan and Fillydelphia.
But the pride and joy of her military development was the Bronco Research Laboratories, which worked on a variety of top secret projects, ranging from magical adaptation of technology to the device currently on its way, transported by rail and protected by the most elite forces Equestria had to offer. Which, she knew, wasn’t much when compared to Earth’s militaries. As much as they’d made ridiculously fast and furious improvements, at a pace far exceeding her wildest hopes, they would still be torn to ribbons like the proverbial paper tiger by even a small Earth nation, let alone its larger military powers like the AU. But she also didn’t want to turn her country into a military-industrial state. She didn’t want to destroy the soul of Equestria in the cause of protecting it.
And yet, as she watched her ponies work, she felt the emptiness inside her heart yawn ever wider, threatening to swallow her whole. It all seemed so pointless now, so barren of purpose. All this military might, all these resources, an entire nation at her back, and she was helpless to protect a group of her friends from being forced to murder each other. Worse, the last she’d heard, Sunset Shimmer was missing, presumed dead. Without Sunset, the others were lost, forced to depend upon Diamond Tiara. And Tiara, for all her strengths, wasn’t a quarter of the leader Sunset was.
“Twilight!”
The alicorn turned to see Spike and Detective Shining riding up in the back of one of the trucks. The truck came to a halt with a squealing of brakes as Spike and Shining hopped off. They walked up to her, Spike giving her a quick half hug with one arm while Shining gave her a respectful nod. The haunted look in his eyes told her all she needed to explain his keeping his distance. He wasn’t doing any better than she was in coping.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” she said. “Is Starswirl on his way?”
“Yeah, he was working on some last minute touches to the spell matrix,” Spike answered. He surveyed the port around them and whistled. “We really have changed this place over the last few years, huh?”
“We certainly have,” Twilight said, turning back to face her ship and the ponies at work, or at least what she could see of it past the fog. “Baltimare used to be a sleepy port town. Now it features the largest naval base in Equestria.”
Shining took a few steps forward, staring impassively at the ship, which towered over the port to such a degree the ponies milling about seemed more like ants by comparison. Its four great smokestacks belched fumes even at a standstill, noticeable by how the black smoke colored the fog. “I’m impressed,” he said. “When you said we were going to use a steamship, I was picturing something more like a paddleboat. Not a First Great War era cruiser.”
A small grin briefly graced Twilight’s muzzle. “It helps that we got to skip a few steps in the invention and design process thanks to your world.” She took a moment to engage her mind, then rattled off some facts. ”Five hundred feet long with a seventy foot beam, displacing over fifteen thousand tons, boilers able to put out seventeen thousand kilowatts of power, two eight-inch guns, six four inch-guns, a plethora of others, two seaplanes, and a top speed of twenty-two knots.”
“Damn,” Shining muttered, his eyes widening. “That’s incredible. I thought you didn’t have tech that came close to this.”
“Like I said, we took a lot from your world,” Twilight said. Her muzzle curled into a frown. “If I could have, I would’ve skipped even more steps, and had them design something from the Second Great War or even the Cold War, but that was just a bit too beyond our capabilities. We’re going to get there though. I’m hoping within another fifteen or twenty years, we’ll be much closer to par.”
“Well let’s hope it turns out not to be necessary,” Shining replied. “Last thing I’d want to see is a war between Equestria and Earth. From what I’ve seen of your world so far, and all its magic… I don’t think my world would win.”
Twilight looked at him and gave him a false smile. “Oh yes you would. A single missile cruiser from your country’s navy would wipe out the entire Equestrian military without even breaking a sweat. If your world invades, we’ll fall, and there won’t be anything we can do about it.” She sighed, her fake smile vanishing. “The whole point is to avoid something like that ever happening to begin with.”
Shining’s cheeks flushed with pink momentarily. “Maybe you’re right.” Then he frowned. "Did you mention seaplanes?"
"I did, why?"
He momentarily paled, a slight touch of green touching his cheeks. "I, uh, I don't know if your Shining Armor gets this way, but I get pretty airsick. I'm not going to have to go up in one of those, am I?"
Twilight wanted to laugh about that. She did. But she wasn't feeling it. "No, you shouldn't, not unless something goes wrong. We use them for reconnaissance. They're capable of vertical take off and landing too."
"Wow, how'd you manage that with First Great War tech?" Shining asked.
She gave him another false smile. "Magic. Built in levitation charms, like what we use for airships. Gets the plane up high in the air then airspeed does the rest."
He shook his head softly. "Like I said, your magic... wow. Just wow."
She reached out to pat him on the shoulder with the tip of one wing, then turned to her other, actual brother. “Spike, has there been any news?”
Spike gave her a sorrowful look. “Nothing good. Last I heard, they’re going to trial again.”
One more piece of Twilight’s soul cracked off and faded into dust. “But, without Sunset, how will they… it’s not Adagio leading them, is it?”
“No,” Spike huffed. “She’s the victim. It’s Trixie.”
“TRIXIE?!” Twilight roared at full Royal Canterlot Voice volume. All activity on the port ceased momentarily to gape at their Princess, with a few sailors on guard duty pulling out their weapons and searching for the threat. Then Twilight took a deep breath, uttered a quick “Sorry, as you were,” to the crowd and continued in a quieter voice, “Are you serious?”
“Uh-huh,” Spike answered, his draconic eyes narrowed in anger. “Don’t know where she gets off doing it.
“Damn it. With Sunset missing and Adagio dead, that only leaves five alive on the ship,” Shining said, his voice betraying a hint of sorrow and frustration. “Five. Out of sixteen. Not a lot left to save.”
Twilight’s heart sank. “Four. If there’s a trial, there’s an execution.”
That pronouncement left them silent for a good while. “Well,” Twilight said eventually, “Shining, we’d better get aboard the ship. Starswirl can meet us aboard before we depart. It’s been about seventy-two hours, so we should be getting word from Starlight and Moondancer anytime now. Spike, you’re staying here to meet him.”
“I know, I know,” Spike said, raising his paws in surrender as she and Shining made their way towards the gangway
As they reached the top, just before boarding the ship, an ashen grey pegasus mare with a seaweed colored mane cropped short wearing an Equestrian naval officers uniform, a black vest with white undershirt and tie, stopped them. “Princess,” she said in a clipped, professional voice.
“Captain Swiftwater,” Twilight greeted, hoof raised in proper military salute, “request permission to come aboard.”
Swiftwater’s muzzle crinkled slightly in amusement as she saluted back. “Granted. Welcome aboard the Avenger.” She extended one wing to beckon them forward. “Respectfully, Princess, you know you don’t have to salute me. You’re the leader of our nation.”
“I instituted the protocol, I can follow it too,” Twilight said as she stepped aboard. Her hooves clonked against the metal deck plates, and she felt a gentle rocking motion take hold. She’d forget about it soon enough.
“As you wish,” Swiftwater said with a single arched eyebrow. She took a few steps forward then glanced towards one of the deckhooves walking about. “Seahoof Waterwing!”
Waterwing, a baby blue coated unicorn stallion with a cutie mark of life preservers halted. “Yes, Captain?”
Swiftwater extended a wing to Shining. “Would you please escort Detective Armor to his quarters?”
“Aye, sir.”
Shining raised a hoof. “Actually, Captain, if it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer to stay with you and Tw--I mean, the Princess.” Then he looked aside at Twilight. “Seahoof? Not Seapony?”
“When there are actual seaponies swimming in the ocean, you have to be a bit more creative with the terminology,” she answered. “Shining, I need to speak with the Captain privately. We’ll call you back up before we get underway, I promise.”
He raised both eyebrows. “I thought I was supposed to be your liaison.”
“And you are, but that doesn’t mean you’re privy to every aspect of Equestrian policy,” Twilight replied coolly. “Surely you can understand that.”
That, if anything, made him raise his eyebrows even higher. “Okay then. Waterwing, was it? Lead the way.”
“Right this way, please,” Waterwing said, before making his way down the deck of the ship, Shining following right behind.
Swiftwater rustled her wings as she watched her crewpony depart before eyeing the Princess. “He’s a lot like Prince Armor, isn’t he?”
“And just as stubborn, yes,” Twilight answered. She surveyed the deck of the ship, taking a moment to recall the plans before locating the bridge. “Shall we?”
Captain Swiftwater led the Princess to the bridge, which laid at the bow of the ship, a smaller stubby protrusion sticking up just ahead of the first of the four smokestacks. Several crewponies worked their stations, which lined the front of the bridge just below a series of windows, allowing the crew full view of everything to the fore. “Captain on deck,” announced one maroon colored earth pony mare with a mulberry mane, clad in a uniform similar to Swiftwater’s, save for silver rank insignia where hers were gold.
“Commander Boysenberry, clear the bridge,” Swiftwater ordered smoothly. “The Princess and I require privacy.”
“Aye captain,” replied Boysenberry. She turned to her fellow crewponies and in a louder voice said, “You heard the Captain! Clear the bridge! Out!”
With moments the two of them were left alone, with the bridge doors closed, cutting the sounds of the port from a loud constant roar to a dull distant rumble. “That’s better,” Swiftwater said, her demeanor relaxing a tad.
Twilight nodded her agreement, though she couldn’t relax. Too much tension, too much worry over what was to come. “The prototype should be arriving shortly,” she said without preamble.
“We’re ready for it,” Swiftwater said with a nod. “I’ve already briefed my XO. We’ve distributed some emergency orders throughout the ship.” She briefly went into detail on that. “Just to be safe.”
“Good idea. I didn’t think of that.” She smiled slightly. “I knew there was a reason I put you in command of this ship.”
Swiftwater’s muzzle spread in a genuine smile. “And here I thought that was just because of my speech I gave at the opening ceremonies for the naval academy a few years ago.”
“Not just because of that,” Twilight answers, her smile growing. Then it just as swiftly vanished. “I’m hoping we won’t have to use it. I’m hoping I can defeat Monoponi on my own.”
“You’re not the only one, Princess,” Swiftwater said bluntly. Her ears flattened against her skull, the only outward betrayal of the emotions leaking into her voice. “I don’t like it. Neither does Berry. She was shouting at me for hours after I told her what it was. Said this could turn into a suicide mission. Said it wasn’t worth it.” Her gaze rose to fix upon Twilight. “Is it?”
Twilight took in a sharp breath as Swiftwater’s coral eyes met hers, and she found herself temporarily spellbound before she was able to look away. “Yes,” Twilight managed to answer. “Monoponi is a threat to our world’s security. He could potentially reveal us to the humans, in exactly the wrong way. The hostages he’s taken, the people he’s killed, they were our best chance for a good result from the humans discovering we exist. We can’t allow him to run free. We have to stop him, whatever it takes.”
“I can agree with that, to a point,” Swiftwater said, her voice dropping in tone. “But we’re talking about something that could just as easily give us away. And to be blunt, Princess? I have eight hundred sailors aboard this ship. Most of them are practically foals, barely older than sixteen. I don’t want to tell them they’re going to die just because their Princess couldn’t stop a measly villain.”
Twilight looked away from the pegasus, her heart sinking further and further by the second. “I don’t want you to have to do that either, Captain. So I’m going to do everything I can to ensure it won’t happen. I promise you that.”
“Good.” Swiftwater stepped closer to the Princess, and briefly extended a wing to cover her shoulder. “And as your friend, Twilight? I don’t want you to die either. And don’t you lie to me. I know it might happen. I know what we’re going into.”
“I know,” Twilight said, looking back down at Swiftwater with a grateful expression. “I… I’m going to do my best, Swifty. I promise.” She gave the older mare a brief hug, and then retreated, reschooling her features to a more regal demeanor. “How’s the crew’s two-legged training been going?”
Swiftwater took the hint, any trace of congeniality dropping from her face, replaced by her cool professionalism. “Perfectly, Princess. They’ll be ready for the switchover. It’s a shame we can’t keep our usual forms when crossing over, however.”
“Not possible, I’m afraid,” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “Whatever natural magics persist in these portals that causes that transformation, no one’s been able to figure out how to prevent it. It was hard enough for Starswirl to devise a way to let me keep some of my magical capabilities, and to keep the portal from changing around the ship itself too much. We still won’t know if the journey over will break any of the equipment until we actually do it.”
Swiftwater, nodded. “Begging your pardon then, Princess, but if that’s the case, how is Monoponi able to maintain a pony form?”
“That’s what I still don’t know,” Twilight answered sincerely. “But my best guess is, it’s an illusion of some sort. Or a golem. Whatever or whoever he is, he’s not actually the alicorn they’ve been interacting with, but someone wearing it as a disguise.”
“That’s a relief,” Swiftwater quipped. “We already have five. We didn’t need a sixth.”
Twilight’s mouth turned down. “No. We didn’t.”
The bridge’s radio system squawked. Swiftwater let out a small sigh as she walked over and held her hoof down on a button. “Bridge. This is the Captain.”
“Sir, the train has arrived. They’re bringing aboard the package now.”
“Good,” Swiftwater answered. “See to it it’s stowed away immediately.”
“Aye sir. There’s something else. Starswirl the Bearded is aboard. He’s requesting to speak with the Princess.”
“Then have him brought here. Bridge out.” She released the button, then gave Twilight a wan grin. “Seems like perfect timing.”
As soon as Starswirl arrived, he rushed up to Twilight, his face spread in a mixture of joy and concern. “Twilight, I have news from Canterlot. They’ve found them. They’re in the south Pacific ocean. Thirty nine degrees, fifty seven minutes south, one hundred thirty degrees fifty minutes west. Approximately one thousand miles south of some place called the Gravestone islands.”
Twilight’s heart soared. “It’s about time! What about the portal? How close is the nearest portal?”
“I’ve been working on that on my way here,” Starswirl said. His horn lit and pulled out a device from his saddlebags. It was a detector similar to the ones they were using for the signal, but calibrated differently, Twilight could see, with more gold, less platinum, and an odd focus on citrines for the gemstones. “I’ve already located several portals within one hundred miles of Baltimare, focusing on the ones in the sea, as we already determined from experimentation that portals lead to similar conditions on the far side. So, land to land, sea to sea, air to air. An equilibrium between dimensions, no doubt.”
“Certainly,” Swiftwater said flatly, showing a lack of comprehension. “So what does that mean for us?”
“It means I just need to find one that gets us close. These portals vary wildly in where precisely on each world the destination lies. The mirror portal in Canterlot, after all, leads to some place several thousand miles further along the curvature of the planet on Earth. Our two planets do not line up perfectly either. So I’ve set up this detector to send a signal to our array in their Canterlot, and am using the distance to calculate the position accordingly. The signal moves at lightspeed so it only takes a few seconds to get a response--”
“Starswirl, you know me, usually I’d love the details but can we hurry this up?” Twilight said impatiently.
Starswirl grunted and rolled his eyes in exasperation, then nodded. “Yes, well, I’ve found a couple that get us somewhere in their general vicinity. One of them so far leads to somewhere a couple hundred miles away, the other slightly further.”
“That’s not good enough,” Swiftwater said, shaking her head. “According to intelligence we already received from Earth, the cruise ship they’re aboard can potentially match us in speed. We can maybe push the Avenger faster if we absolutely have to, but we’ll risk damaging the ship. We start too far out and we’ll never catch up.”
“Yes, that is a problem. I’m working on it,” Starswirl replied. He held up the detector. “It turns out there’s far more portals than we ever realized. Most are small, too, hardly large enough for a single pony, let alone a ship like this. Our two dimensions are far more interconnected than we thought possible. Most probably because of the incident a few years ago concerning Mid--”
“Starswirl!” Twilight said sharply, her eyes flashing, her nostrils flaring. “Don’t. Say. That name. Please.”
Starswirl nodded in contrition. “My apologies.” He glared down at his detector, arched his eyebrows, then floated out a notepad and pen and jotted down some calculations. “Hmm, hmm… well now,” he said, his muzzle splitting in a toothy grin. “How does one less than thirty miles from the ship sound to you, Captain?”
“That’s perfect!” Twilight declared. She turned to Swiftwater. “How soon can we depart?”
In answer, Swiftwater moved over to the radio. “Bridge to Boysenberry.”
“Yes, Captain?” came the response a moment later.
“Is the package aboard?”
“Secured, sir.”
“What about our supplies and crew?”
“All aboard, sir. We can depart at any time.”
“Perfect. Bridge out.” Swiftwater released the button then nodded to the Princess. “There’s your answer. Starswirl, we need a heading for the portal.”
“Aaah, yes… yes… that’s…” Starswirl ran some numbers, then tore off a piece of paper and floated it to the Captain. “Here. Follow that. Twilight, you will need to take this with you to locate it once you arrive. Do you recall the spell I showed you for opening the portal?”
“Of course I do,” Twilight replied with a glare as she took the detector.
“Good, good. I also have this for you,” he said, his magic levitating a large necklace with twin gems of amethyst and jasper. The necklace sang with its enchantments, letting out a low keening noise whenever it was touched by magic. “This is what will allow you to preserve your magic on the other side. Don’t. Lose it. It is vital you keep this, or else you might not be able to get the ship back to Equestria.”
“I’ll be more worried about defeating Monoponi first, but thank you,” Twilight said, taking the necklace and slipping it on. She focused on it with her magic, surrounding it in her lavender glow until it tuned itself to her. A small part of her was touched by the use of amethyst and jasper specifically, her birthstones. It was unusual for Starswirl to put personal touches like that in his enchanted items. Perhaps it was his personal way of wishing for her safety.
“Captain, you will want to have some of your unicorns spread these around the ship, to help better preserve the magic used in its own construction,” Starswirl said, pulling out a smaller cloth bag and levitating it over to her. “They should affix to the hull or to equipment without issue. Just be sure they’re laid in a proper matrix.”
Swiftwater took the bag. “I’ll return shortly,” she said, leaving the bridge.
“Twilight,” Starswirl said as soon as she was gone, “I didn’t want to say this until she left, but I have other news as well. It’s regarding Sunset Shimmer.”
Her blood froze in her veins. “Is… is she…”
“She’s alive.”
Letting out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, Twilight felt all four knees go weak, threatening to knock the alicorn to the floor. “Oh thank Celestia. What happened to her?”
“It seems her siren lover betrayed her after all.” He went into the details, then shuddered. “When I first read in the transcripts that she’d become romantically attached to that siren, I was horrified. I knew this would happen sooner or later. You cannot trust sirens.”
Twilight shook her head violently. “No, Starswirl, you don’t understand. Adagio Dazzle really had changed, prior to this killing game. She wasn’t… I’d never call her a good friend, but she wasn’t Sunset’s enemy either. If she still had all her memories, she wouldn’t have done this.”
“Well that may be,” Starswirl said, substantial doubt lacing every word he spoke, “but it’s also beside the point. She didn’t have them, she tried to kill Sunset, and now she’s dead.”
“But who killed her, then?”
When he gave her the details, Twilight was at first stunned, then disbelieving, then she didn’t know what to think or feel. “Trixie…” she whispered. Ever since Trixie had killed Pinkie Pie, she’d found a deep seated loathing take hold in her heart for that woman. Some of it, she knew, was from leftover dislike of her own Trixie that still occasionally popped up, despite the years of knowing her having caused it to subside substantially. But the rest was… it was perhaps, her own hatred of herself being turned on an easy target.
Twilight was an expert at hating herself by now, after everything that had happened with this killing game. Monoponi had targeted her. He’d had these people kill each other because of her. He did all of this because of her. None of them would be dead if they hadn’t befriended her. To use their lives to get at her like this was a sin beyond compare, but it was one he delved into with such casual aplomb that he delighted in it. Every fresh bit of cruelty he indulged in, every bit of torture used, it was all added to the list of his crimes.
So it was easy to hate Trixie too, for killing Pinkie Pie. For getting away with it. For surviving. It was easy, but… was it wrong? Was Twilight wrong to hate Trixie, who’d only done what she had because circumstances forced her hand, because she was trying to save her best friend? Had Trixie redeemed herself through this act of self-sacrifice?
She didn’t know the answer. She might not know the answer for a long time, if ever. But, she realized, this wasn’t the time to worry about that. Now was a time for action. She had to save those who were left. Sunset Shimmer, Rarity, Applejack, Diamond Tiara, Scootaloo… they were counting on her to save them.
She couldn’t fail them now.
“Thank you, Starswirl,” said Twilight, schooling her features into grim determination. “For everything.”
Starswirl closed his eyes and nodded once, then, to her utter shock, took a few steps forward and embraced her with both forelegs. “Twilight, I’ve come to know you fairly well these past few years, even since you released the Pillars and myself from Limbo. You are a dear friend to me, and I wish you nothing but success. I… don’t want to lose you.”
For a moment, the little fanfilly in her mind that always bounced around in glee whenever Starswirl was around passed out from sheer overload before she dismissed that thought entirely, and focused on what mattered. She hugged him back. “I’ll come back. I promise.”
Releasing his embrace, Starswirl eyed her before chuckling. “You’d better, young mare.”
As Swiftwater returned to the bridge, alongside her crew, Starswirl departed the ship. Soon after Shining arrived back on the bridge, standing together with Twilight. “So, we’re going,” he said.
She nodded once as Swiftwater stepped over to the radio, and hit a different button this time. “Attention all hooves,” she said, her voice echoing over every intercom and speaker aboard the ship. “Prepare to embark.”
The port’s buzzing activity withdrew as the mooring lines were retracted, and the H.E.M.S. Avenger slowly eased its way out past the clearing fog onto the ocean proper. “Engine room, I want all ahead full as soon as we clear the bay,” Swiftwater ordered. She turned to Twilight. “How far out is this portal?”
Twilight consulted the detector Starswirl gave her. “Looks like it’s a good fifty or so miles out to sea. I’ll know better once we get nearer.”
“That’ll take us a good couple hours or so then,” Swiftwater replied. “You two might want to head below decks for a bit, get something from the mess.”
Twilight acquiesced, despite her nerves making her lack a proper appetite. She and Shining took some time down there, and she got to inform him of the events of the game. “Damn,” he muttered after she finished. “I guess I’d better take back some of what I said about her.”
“Trixie, you mean?”
“Yeah,” he answered as he poked at his food. Not for the first time she got a bit of amusement out of watching the human version of her brother turn his face up at pony cuisine, only to find out it tasted pretty good to his transformed palate. “I knew her. Sort of. I didn’t talk to her that much, since she was more Sunset’s friend than… than Twily’s.”
“She did the right thing, in the end,” Twilight said, perhaps the only thing she could admit to, when it came to her feelings about Trixie.
Shining nodded, and they sat in silence for a few moments. Then he said, “Look, can you level with me for a minute? What’re the chances we’re making it out of this?”
She took one final bite of her food before responding. “I don’t know. Not… not as good as I’d like.”
“That’s what I thought.” Shining squinted, crossing his eyes at his plate before his horn managed to light long enough to raise a fork to his mouth. “Least I’m finally getting the hang of this. I’ll be glad to have my hands back.”
“Shining… If… if we don’t… if I fail--”
“Hey,” Shining interrupted, raising a hoof. “You don’t gotta apologize to me. I’m a cop. I knew when I signed up for the job I’d be risking my life every day. This is no different. I’m okay with dying here, if that’s what happens. I… I’d rather not, because I don’t want to leave Cadance and Flurry alone, but… if I do, I do. I’m prepared for that.” He fixed her with a stern, brotherly glare. “What I’m not going to accept is if you give up. Remember our talk. I don’t want to see you give in without a proper fight.”
“I won’t,” she declared, and she meant it. She meant it with her whole heart. Now that they were on their way, that they had an actual chance of acting and actually doing something she was finding that old determined side of her taking hold once more. She was distraught, depressed, and in some ways more ready for death than she’d ever been in her old adventuring days, but she wouldn’t give up just because of that.
“Okay. That’s all I’m asking.”
“Princess Twilight, Detective Armor, please report to the bridge.”
“Welp, guess this is it,” Shining said, his magic dropping his fork to his plate.
They arrived back on the bridge in a hurry, finding Swiftwater waiting for them. “We’re a few miles out from the position you gave us, Princess,” she said. “We’ll need a more precise location.”
Twilight nodded, pulling the detector out of her bag and giving it a whirl. Then she blinked, and checked it again. And again. And one more time for good measure. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.”
“What is it?” Swiftwater inquired, arching an eyebrow.
“It’s…” Twilight glared down at the detector and then sighed. “The portal’s underwater. By about three hundred feet. The other end’s on the surface, but…”
“Damn,” Commander Boysenberry muttered from her nearby post. “Captain, what’re we supposed to do about that? This isn’t a submersible.”
The Captain gave her XO a stern look before turning to Twilight.“Princess? Is there any chance you can get us down there, safely?”
Twilight considered that, going over her knowledge of spellcraft. She certainly had the power and ability, that wasn’t in question. The problem was focus. They’d need to maintain a shield around the ship, long enough that once they crossed, the water they took with them dispersed, before she could risk dropping it. While on the other side. In her human form. How am I going to… wait, wait, the ship! “Yes, I think so, but I need to know where your unicorns placed the gems around the ship.”
Swiftwater nodded, and dispatched an ensign to bring over the ship plans, then used a feather to point to each one. “In this pattern,” she said at the end. “Will you need support from my unicorns?”
“Yes, it’ll help. If you can station one at each gem and have them focus their magic into it, and link into a chain, then on me, then we can get this done,” Twilight said.
“Commander, get to it,” Swiftwater ordered.
“Yes sir.”
The Captain gave her sailors a chance to get in position, and when they reported ready, she nodded to Twilight. “They’re prepared.” Then she pushed the signal all button on the radio. “Attention all hooves. We’re preparing to cross the portal to the other side. The portal is located underwater, so Princess Twilight is going to envelop the ship in a shield. Fasten yourselves down and prepare for a rough ride.”
“Hoo boy,” Shining muttered as he went and found a place on the bridge to sit down at.
Twilight, meanwhile, stepped off the bridge and out onto the deck. Her horn lit up in lavender magic as she received the beams from each of the other unicorns, uniting in a shared spell. She took a moment to savor the sea air and the Equestrian sun shining down before she focused her mind on her spell. Her horn’s aura grew by the second, engulfing into a secondary and then tertiary overglow as her eyes turned solid white. A great purple oval surrounded the ship, slicing through the water beneath and around, hugging the ship and fixing it and a small amount of seawater in which to float in place, then carefully, slowly, lowered it down.
The ocean beneath sizzled as the shield parted it, the ship descending into the depths rapidly, cutting through without a care, focused on the portal, which she now sensed easily. She wrapped on a second layer of magic to open it up, spreading it wide enough to allow the ship passage. Her magic strained horribly so as the pressure of the ocean built up. Two hundred feet down and the pressure began to buckle the shield. A few minute cracks formed. Two hundred fifty and a major crack began to run along the bottom, belowdecks where it couldn’t be seen.
Three hundred and the shield threatened to split open entirely. But the portal was there. The ship edged its way inside, and everything went chaotic. The sensation of passing through this portal was far different than usual, not the smooth journey she was used to. Every millisecond inside stretched till it felt like eons, pulling at her magic, trying to tear it away, rip it apart, transform her into the weak ponied up human it always had before.
But she refused. She used up the power of the unicorn sailors and kept going, keeping the ship intact, its mechanisms functional, her own power still as strong even as her limbs mutated and shifted, hooves becoming fingers and toes, muzzle contorting into a human nose and mouth, her mane shifting to her human hairstyle, clothes appearing in place on her body. She could hear the distorted cries of those around her as they too mutated, their bodies changing in unfamiliar ways.
Then the ship emerged, and time resumed its normal pace as it crashed into the sea with a mighty roar, splitting the waves apart as the shield was slowly fizzled, faded, and shattered into shards. Dozens of gallons of seawater and a few unfortunate sea creatures flooded the top deck, nearly washing a couple of seahooves overboard as they struggled to cling with their newly obtained hands.
Twilight fell to her hands and knees, exhaustion roiling through her body. Her muscles ached, her bones ached, and her head was killing her. Residue from the ship stained her evening gloves as she spread out her hands on the deck plates before managing to push herself back up to her feet. She brushed off some of the residue from her gown, then held a hand up to her necklace.
It was intact. As was her magic. It was duller. Still far less powerful than she was in Equestria. But compared to how she usually felt when she crossed the portal, it was power like she’d never dreamed of. A single wave of her hand and she casually lifted everything out of her bag and danced them around herself in intricate patterns before settling them back in. And just like it would’ve been in Equestria, even with her exhaustion, the act was effortless.
Starswirl’s enchantments had done their job well.
She heard the sound of boots on the deck and looked to see a woman in a naval captain’s uniform approaching her unsteadily, every so often reaching out with her arms to catch herself. “Captain Swiftwater, how’s it feel to stand on two legs?” she found herself quipping.
“Strange. Very, very strange,” Swiftwater answered. She raised a hand up to her face and dangled her fingers, her mouth twisting in disgust. “I didn’t realize how… ugly these little tendril things would be.”
“Fingers. They’re called fingers,” Twilight said with an amused grin.
“Hmm.” Swiftwater sighed, took both hands to adjust her uniform, then spun on her heel. Twilight followed her to the bridge as the Captain called out, “Report.”
Boysenberry looked up from her post. “All decks reporting in. Minimal damage, Captain. Looks like the Princess’s shield held. A bit of flooding on deck, but that’s it.”
“Excellent. What about the seaplanes? Can we get them in the air?"
Boysenberry frowned and barked a question into her headset, then looked back up again. "Yes sir, but it's going to take a while. One of them had its engine flooded, the other needs its charm replaced. We should have them running within a couple of hours."
Swiftwater sighed and faced Twilight. "Well we don't have time for that. Princess Twilight, we need a heading.”
Twilight took a moment to look over to where Shining was standing, holding his hands up and rubbing them together with a satisfied smile before she pulled out the detector and keyed it into the array in Canterlot. Then she called out a heading. “They’re about thirty miles that way. Looks like they’re in a holding pattern.”
“He’s waiting for us?” Shining asked, looking up in confusion.
“He must be,” Twilight answered. Then she gasped, and looked out at the sea in the direction she pointed. She’d felt something touch her magic, just for a second. A dark frown pulled at her face, her eyes flashing with ire. “He knows we’re here. I can feel it.”
“Then we’d better not waste time. Helm, all ahead full! We have to catch that cruise ship!” Swiftwater ordered. "All hooves! Battlestations!"
As they got underway, Twilight crossed her arms over her chest. We’re coming, Sunset.
We’re coming.
Hang in there, just a little longer.
