Secondo

by Lil Penpusher


Piano

"Violet, are you really certain this is a good investment of time and effort?"

Queen Novo half-floated above her throne in the aquatic medium of the throne room in the depths of her Palace in Seaquestria. She looked down at a fellow seapony floating before her throne, her fishy scales a mix of pink with violet stripes around her head.

"Absolutely, your majesty," the seapony replied. "The Anti-Harmony Activities Commission takes the threat of Aris First very serious, as you know, and with their recent outspokeness against your governance and our harmonic policies, we highly suspect them to be establishing secret meetings, or even stockpiles of weapons for a later date, in the Mareiana trench."

The Queen sighed. Gently, she massaged her temple with her right hoof.

"Are there any actual leads to indicate as much?" asked the royal, but she already knew the answer.

"No concrete information, no. However, given Crack Lightning's past in the military, it's safe to assume he has contacts that can deliver such weaponry. He only needs a far-away place to put them while stockpiling. If your majesty does not cave to his outrageous ideology, then we suspect it won't be long until his followers take more radical action."

The room fell silent as the Queen tapped her forehead with that same hoof a few times over. She'd trusted Violet Facade to safeguard Harmony, something her government and family had always aimed to preserve and uphold. But by this point, Violet's AHAC was derailing fast, reaching for pettiness and complete outlandishness. The Mareiana trench was miles away from Aris. Did she really think the Phalangists would stockpile weapons that deep underwater, in international waters?

"Fine. Yes, fine then. Just get on with it please. I won't hear the end of it until I let you do it, I suspect, knowing you. Just please keep an eye on Posada and her red gangsters while you waste your time on things like... This. I don't want you trivialising your powers for things like this on a regular basis."

Violet looked like she was about to be spurred into an argument, to defend her actions, but her mouth remained shut just at the last moment. She'd probably remembered whom it was she was talking to.

"Of course, your majesty. Thank you."

The pink seapony bowed her head out of respect for her sovereign and made way to leave the way she came. What a bother, Novo thought. That pony's suspicions were growing more and more ludicrous. She could only hope her warning, this time, held meaning to her.


A week had passed since the Queen agreed to Violet Facade's request. A Patrol of the Mareiana trench, the deepest depths of all the oceans in existence. Never before had anyone gone all the way down there - or, at least, nobody had written as much, so it may as well not have happened at all.

Coldbeak and his squad of 8 were on their way back after that patrol, now. They were supplied with a free meal and drink once they reached the coast at the port of the City of Howlington, northwest of Mount Aris. After that, they were ferried over by truck to Aris itself, to HQ so they could report in person about what they'd seen.

They began to argue and bicker on their journey there. Petty arguments, too. One private snarled at another for their loud munching during lunch minutes prior, and felt obscenely annoyed and infuriated by it seemingly. Another called out that their neighbour smelled horrible, and desperately needed a bath. Even Coldbeak complained, citing that his team had been far too loud during patrol, always whispering and talking amongst one another when they were on duty. They were childish and, yes, stupid.

The Truck stopped, and two hippogriffs came up and opened up the rear where the squad was seated. The two of them greeted them with smiles, glad to see everyone was still in one piece.

"Glad to see you folks back again so soon!" one of them remarked.

"Chief's waiting for you in the conference room inside, upstairs. We'll take you there and..." the second griff pondered, cocking his head a little as he noticed how nogriff was actually bothering to even look at him. They all seemed like they were deeply insulted, or annoyed, or both, with crossed claws as they looked the other way. "Hey, uh, are you folks alright?"

"Pfft. Yeah? Why shouldn't we be?" Coldbeak snarled back, looking at the soldier with a deadly glare. His squad all seemed to follow along and did the exact same thing. "You expected us to die? Huh? Think we're trash and couldn't handle things, huh??"

"Woah, woah, woah, alright," the other griff intervened, gesturing for calmed tempers. "Let's settle down. We're just happy to see you. That's all."

The other griffon turned away, giving out a defiant 'hmph' as he did.

"Why don't you just come on out and we can move along, yeah?"

Coldbeak rolled his eyes but complied. It was gonna be far less taxing on his mental state if he just followed along for the moment. These stallions were clearly not the brightest either, much like his squad.

"Right, uh, follow me, please!"

Trying to put on the best, nicest smile he could in the situation, after that odd outbreak of hostility, the group was led across the backyard they found themselves in. With only dirt under their claws, it was not the most premium of sites. A stone wall encircled the yard, and several other vehicles were parked up next to the walls as a sort of makeshift parking lot. Gods forbid it rained out here, on all this dirt and mud.

The squad followed along into the AHAC headquarters. A relatively innocent, civilian-grade building made of red brick, and a neat, black-tiled gable roof.

"Please stomp and clear your claws before moving along, they're probably-"

Their host watched as the group entirely ignored him, walking over a wide welcome mat and onto the wooden floor inside, their clawed extremities leaving behind what dirt they'd picked up along their short way here. What bothered him even more so was how none of them even seemed to be bothered that they'd just ignored his request.

"Why d- never mind. Ugh," he groaned. "Just, follow along, please."

He took them further inside, passing through a busy office-like complex where hippogriffs worked at their work stations while compiling, deciphering and otherwise sorting information and files. A simple flight of stairs connected to the first floor.

"Right in here. Violet should already be waiting for you there."

The group of soldiers was pointed at a set of wooden double doors. After a brief glare at their guide from Coldbeak, and a press of the door handle, they entered.

The meeting room was comparatively dimly lit. Enough to read and write without issue, but certainly not as fully lit as the other rooms. Perhaps that was a byproduct of lacking windows. A sole hippogriff appeared sat inside, at the tail end of a long, otherwise rectangular wooden table. Violet Facade, the Chief of the AHAC, was looking over some documents she'd seemingly retrieved from a folder that was also right next to her. There was also a notebook and an otherwise empty folder that appeared labeled 'Mareiana Trench'.

"Ah, good. Finally. Take a seat, please."

The squad entered, grumbling and moaning as it did, and the doors were closed behind them. As they each took a seat, the hippogriffs looked anything from bored and disinterested to openly grudgeful and annoyed. Violet didn't really care.

"Alright. It's good to know you're all well. Nopony knew just what lurked down there. I assume, though, you have the answers we-"

"Nothing."

Violet looked up from the paper she was reading out loud, her own sort of to-do list for this, and looked over towards Coldbeak.

"I... Beg your pardon?"

"We saw nothing. There's nothing down there."

"Ahah... Well, I think we should go through everything one after another and-"

"Don't believe us, do you?" another squaddie spoke up with a hateful frown.

"Think we're a bunch of liars, huh?" another groaned likewise, stomping one hoof on the table.

"I... What?" Violet gave out in relative shock and disbelief. Had she not asked these people to be selected for the mission for their discipline and integrity? Someone was gonna be fired for this...

"No, I- look. I had you go down there to explore what's to be found. I'm just saying I want to go through various things one by one so I can take a note of it. I'm not calling anyone a liar."

"There is nothing down there, you clown, and I mean it," Coldbeak reiterated, crossing his claws defiantly as he sat. "I'm not sure what you want us to say or what you mean to imply unless it's to make us look like liars and idiots."

"Hmph. Ironic, isn't it?" one of them remarked, followed by a snickering laugh by two of the squaddies.

"Would you please settle down and actually listen to me!" Violet demanded, bashing a fist against the table in rapidly mounting anger.

"Would you?" Coldbeak countered. "Pfft. Don't think we'll come out as liars just because you want us to. We found squat down there, and that's that. Tell that to the Queen, and press, and whomever else, so they can stop crying about nonexistant monsters there."

He laughed. Laughed directly into her face, and gave her a triumphant, smug grin.

"What's wrong? Expected a big, scary story to present to the Queen? Awwww..."

The room erupted into a cocophony of smug laughter. Cackling, all directed at the woman who was supposed to be in charge. Their superior. Violet felt her right eye twitching just at the audacity of it all, but knew she couldn't just charge at Coldbeak or any of the others and... No.

She bashed both her fists against the table and silenced her 'subordinates', though right now it felt more like handling a kindergarten of sorts.

"Fine! You know what, fine! I think you're all unwell from that deep pressure down there, even if none of us had predicted as much until now."

"Yeah right, we-"

"Therefore-" she continued quickly and loudly to not even give these folks a chance to have another try at infuriating her, "I will be postponing this conference to a later date. I will keep your... Current 'report' close to heart, that being 'nothing', of course. Until then," she rose from her seat and quickly sorted her things, "goodbye. And please, shut up now. Thank you."

She stomped out of the room, barging through the unlocked door and surprising the soldier that had led the squad there in the first place.

"You!" she exclaimed, pointing at him from point-blank. "Make sure they clear their damned minds. This is both infuriating and undignified. Get them to a psychiatrist if need be. I'm damn-well done with them until then."

"Y-Yes, ma'am..!" he replied haphazardly, but Violet was already on her way down the hallway. He turned his head the other way, towards the open door to the room, where he could already hear the choir of voices inside. Arguing, this time with one another.


CLASSIFIED

Anti-Harmony Activities Committee

Mareiana Trench Report

Date of Writing: 24th of September, 1007

The Anti-Harmony Activities Committee, spearheaded premierely by Chief Violet Facade, had jointly decided that certain 'dangerous or suspicious organisations' [See Addendum 1-1 through 1-5] are of great concern regarding the stability and longevity of Hippogriffia's longlasting traditions and morality, upheld through generations by the Royal Line of Novo.

To combat this threat, AHAC had requested, among many other measures, an expedition into the Mareiana trench with armed forces. The soldiers would be able to map out the deepest part of the oceans currently known to griffon- and ponykind, and disspell both rumors of vile monsters lurking there, as well as secure the area from any potential malicious activities. Specifically, Chief Facade had had her eyes on the area due to the suspicion of it being far and elusive enough to be used by the political movement of 'Aris First' [See Addendum 1-2], specifically for extremist, isolated rallies and meetings to organise dissent, as well as a possible storage area for illegal weaponry, to be used at a later date when and if the Queen did not give in to their demands for an abolishment of harmony as we know it.

Under the advisory of Miss Facade, therefore, her majesty agreed and supported such an expedition, donating a squadron of soldiers from her royal guard personally to the effort, the exact members of which were handpicked by the Chief according to their service record and resumé. A total of 8 ponies were selected and sent to the Mareiana Trench [For full roster of expedition members, see Addendum 1-7].

Operations began at 0930 hours on the 17th of September, 1007. Destroyer RHS Pearl sailed to the location of the Mareiana Trench in International Waters. The warship had been disarmed before setting sail, with ammunition stores being emptied and removed from the ship. From aboard the ship, the 8 guardsponies were set off into the waters below, and moved down towards the depths of the trench.

Each pony was equipped with a camera around their neck for purposes of taking pictures of any noteworthy discovery, as well as standard-issue military gear, including a standard-issue M1 Cloudfall semi-automatic rifle in possession of each of them. The Squad was under the leadership of the highest-ranking member, that being 1st Lieutenant Coldbeak.

Following disembarking from RHS Pearl, the team was underwater and on-duty for the next 10 hours. AHAC agents were about to alert Chief Violet of this development, and the start of a possible rescue operation, when the operatives returned to the surface. They were secured aboard RHS Pearl once again, and shipped back to the port of Howlington where they were given food and drink to regain their strength. Afterwards, they were taken to AHAC HQ on Mount Aris for debriefing with the Chief.

The Squad displayed a sudden, outwardly negative outlook towards the Chief, other AHAC colleagues, and even one another. They were observed constantly bickering and arguing with one another, though so far none of these arguments became open fights. Initial debriefing had to be rescheduled to a date 3 days later (20th of September) because the Squad, including 1st Lieutenant Coldbeak, proved too rebellious and defiant to properly answer the Chief, instead choosing to insult her, and implying that they were being called 'liars' and 'no-do-wells'.

A second conference for debrief was held on the previously mentioned date, but held short. The Soldiers had been given psychiatric evaluation but were said to be perfectly stable and healthy by licensed professionals. Even so, their hostile attitudes remained. Subjects were ultimately separated and interviewed one-by-one, after which interviewing staff concluded the debrief and dismissed the soldiers to their regular duties.

During interview, the squad unanimously claimed to 'not have seen anything' during their mission, and that there was 'nothing down there'. This unanimous opinion was likewise fiercely defended whenever interviewers poked them for further details, or showed any doubt in this statement, at which point the soldiers claimed they were being called into question as liars among other things. Often times, they began pestering the interviewers with insults or tried to bully them otherwise, implying that, rather than them, the interviewing staff were the liars and no-do-goods.

No damage could be detected upon any of the equipment worn by the squad after an intense examination by AHAC staff. Their weapons were all loaded, and not a single round spent. None of their clothing appeared damaged or showed any signs of combat of any kind. Dismissal was issued following the final approval by local Psychiatrist [See Addendum 2-7].

Violet Facade has requested the soldiers to be monitored closely for the time being due to their uncharacteristically hostile behaviour towards others and one another. However, decision was overruled by Princess Skystar directly when she learned of this request using royal prerogative, citing that 'everyone is down or frustrated sometimes' and that 'they are probably super frustrated, as much as some of you are, that they couldn't make the big catch down there. Give them some time and space'. Detailed log of Princess Skystar and Chief's discussion available via Addendum 3-2, see below. Queen Novo has not seen fit to overrule her daughter on the matter by time of writing.

Expedition of Mareiana Trench is deemed complete with no inordinary sightings or threats discovered. Mission is officially designated a success with no casualties or harm done.

Signed,
Sandy Breeze, AHAC Deputy Chief.