They grew more impatient by the hour. Their prison was failing, crumbling, but so slowly. The ripples of light that pierced into their dark domain faded just as quickly, and the sliver of the exterior they could see was far too slim to allow escape.
They began arguing with one another, as usual. Arguments over rather petty things. The clutz of the group never even seemed to realise she was driving them mad, too, with her innocent, do-no-harm line of thought. The most simple concepts were obscure to her, it seemed, which was at times intriguing to the other two, but usually just an infuriatingly annoying fact of life that they had had to deal with for a long time now.
She was the youngest of the three, too. Too young, in a way. Or perhaps young enough, that depended on one's point of view. Too young at the time to consciously witness the...
No. No, they didn't want to even think back to those times of horror. Far, far before they were banished to this awful place. Something even more terrifying and unjust, yet. It was best forgotten.
Their Leader moaned, impatient and uneasy. She had been betting on those pathetic mortals to do their bidding, after all. They were the key to unleashing a snowball effect that would, in no time at all, unleash them from their prison. Enough magic and food to weaken their prison whilst empowering them, and allowing certain escape.
Just as another argument was due to break out, they heard the faint noise of creatures approaching. They all darted towards the crack in their 'cell', listening attentively. Someone was swimming, approaching. A fish? No, there were multiple... and then they heard voices.
Ah. So she hadn't banked on mortals that were entirely useless, after all. What a relief that was.
They witnessed muffled screams and exclamations, entirely incomprehensible. Perhaps the pony was gagged or otherwise shut up. Another voice, a scruffy, male one, spoke up and told him to shut up. A female appeared to approach their prison further, if the sound of her swimming and voice gradually increasing in volume was any indication.
"Relax. Just relax, and listen to your saviours. Even someone like you will understand."
A hint of hostility and strife was in her speech. They all smiled. Even this small hostile intent fed them a tiny little bit due to the proximity. The stallion, meanwhile, appeared to ignore her advice. He probably jottled back in forth, perhaps he was tied up, as well? It certainly seemed he was held against his will. Well, he wouldn't mind, soon enough.
All three of them closed their eyes, and opened their mouths all at once. A quiet, smooth serenade crept out of the tiny crack in their dark prison to the outside. They briefly heard the stallion's fear and muffled exclamations increasing as his panic mounted further. The mare holding him, they imagined, was probably grinning.
The volume increased gently but remained soft. A chorus of three, in perfect harmony with one another, called out to the stallion. Not even a song, merely holding a note or two was sufficient for this simple, isolated seapony. The harmonic sound surrounded him, he felt. Ensnared his body, left him motionless. He couldn't move, now, he thought. He had to stay. Had to listen to this more. He would always want more of this... this angelic choir.
His resistance faded just as his movements did. His eyes had a sort of glare in them. Not quite empty, but... not really normal either. It was surely odd, if not outright creepy to the outsider. To the mare holding him, though, it was satisfying.
"Do you understand, now?" she asked the stallion, removing the gag to allow him to speak. The three of them listened as attentively as the captor did. They knew the answer. Obviously.
"Yeah. Yeah, I... wow, I didn't ever realise how blind I was until now."
The mare grinned. There was a sudden cutting noise as a knife ran through the stallion's binds, releasing him.
"I'd always thought that... if I just pressed on and ignored the tiny things I hated that... it would all be alright. The Queen... she always said we should make friends, and then we'd be free and at peace."
He shook his head as the mare, and the stallion a little further up, watched and listened.
"That damned Queen lied... friendship has only ever caused us harm! How are we supposed to rely on one another when one pony is worse than the next!? All that idle talk of friendship and harmony... and what has it ever done for us? First the Storm King, then the Communists and Nationalists duking it out on the streets, and now Hippogriffs and Seaponies aren't even able to work along with one another anymore, stupid as they are."
"But you know how to save Hippogriffs and Seaponies now."
The Stallion perked up, and spun in place to face the mare. He gulped, but found himself nodding.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do. If everypony heard... this then... well, I think a lot of our issues would be dealt with in an instant."
The mare nodded, this time, and waved for him to follow her along as she was heard swimming back upwards where her partner was waiting, still.
"Come on, then. We're already working to get rid of that despicable Queen. As much as I hate asking for 'help', I think you will find that you could be of assistance."
The banished trio grinned and chuckled. Their ploy had caught on, and was now progressing quickly, it seemed. How delightful, indeed.
Queen Novo was unusually nervous, sitting upon her throne like so many other days. But this wasn't just any other day. She wished it was, but frankly the situation in Seaquestria was... deteriorating, and rather quickly, too.
"Violet. What can your agents report regarding all of this?"
The throne room was cleared of all guards for this special meeting, as even guardsponies could not be entirely ruled out of participating in these... odd activities, anymore. It had to be kept secret. Specifically, a secret between Queen Novo, Princess Skystar who was seated besides her mother's throne on a near identical, albeit smaller version of said throne, Violet Facade of the AHAC, Sandy Breeze, Violet's deputy, Coral Fin who served as the Speaker of Government for Novo, and, most unusually, Silverstream, a friend of the Princess whom she had convinced her mother to draw in for advice also, given her experiences and education in Equestria after the fall of the Storm King.
Violet, for her part, spoke up. She held a brown folder in her hooves, on top of which a classified document was laid out for her to read.
"Intelligence reports are... varying greatly. It's hard to make a concrete picture of what is true and what isn't due to that."
"Go on, please," the Royal pressed. Violet nodded her head at the request.
"Of course. As I said, reports vary. Some of our agents report eavesdropping in on secret meetings, during which members frequently insult and others growl at one another, but are ultimately drawn together for the purpose of helping along their 'saviours' and 'masters', whoever those may be."
Coral stroked his greasy beard, running a hoof across it.
"Forgive the question, Missus, but what do you mean by 'members' in this context, exactly? I suppose I might be out of touch a little bit in this regard - a lot of government priority has been on Aris First in recent times."
Sandy Breeze spoke up before her superior could: "Members of what we suspect to be... well, we don't know what they stand for exactly. They're certainly an organised group that is looking for members, but pinpointing exactly what they want is much harder to say. Members seem to be drawn from... well, nowhere in particular, seemingly. Anyone from minimum wage labourer to higher-class CEOs are a part of them from what we suspect or have confirmed. Even members of the Royal Guard are a part - including the very ponies originally sent to the Mareiana Trench weeks ago, as you may recall."
Coral Fin nodded twice over, but remained silent.
"So what's the big deal with them?" asked a dumbfounded Silverstream into the group. "If they're all, well, so different, what's really the point of them all coming together like this?"
The Friendship student looked specifically over towards the Princess for advice and counsel. There was... little to give.
"I can't say I know, Silverstream. At least the communists all stem from the working class in some form. Makes sense in a way. The Nationalists from Aris First? Hmm, I suppose they're mostly from disenfranchised groups. Maybe they were, or feel like they were, wronged in the past by the government, and by our foreign friends. This though...? I... don't see a real connection."
The Queen had looked over her shoulder, down and over towards her daughter right by her side. Skystar noticed and met her eyes directly. They both bore a worried frown. Uncertainty hung thick and heavy in the room. Once again, all eyes turned to Violet Facade.
"Violet, please go on. Surely you must have an answer?" Novo insisted.
"I err... well, as you wish, majesty," hesitated the purple-scaled seapony. "Besides the aforementioned possible aim to bring about the revelation of their 'masters', as it were, those same agents also reported conspiracies against your person specifically, majesty. Usually also in conjunction with your daughter, and a defininite desire to destroy your Royal Line and the Monarchy."
Novo remained steadfast and focused, though her daughter and Silverstream, both much younger and less prepared for these topics and situations, looked rather terrified.
"But... it's not as simple as that. What I presented to you then was merely the most egregious, threatening reports from but a handful of operatives. Most of them seem to report nothing of the sort relating to conspiracy or active rebellion. Others again make this organisation look more like a simple gang of thugs than terrorists or political extremists."
She drew a deep breath before moving on.
"And... further others, again, claim that these people are actually a charity organisation, of sorts. That they're helping ponies in need. Coincidentally, the agents who reported these types of findings, or lack thereof I suppose, have become uncharacteristically hostile towards both me and all their coworkers, and likewise anyone around them. Similar indeed to how the original 8 squad ponies reacted to our interviews after the Mareiana Trench investigation, and similar to how other agents pictured the members of this organisation constantly arguing with one another... despite seemingly following the same goal."
"You believe they're infiltrators, then?" Novo asked her, straight to the point.
"We... can't be too certain. Suspected, yes, but since there is no psychological change that doctors can make out, they're certainly mentally fine from what ordinary medicine can attest. These are skilled mares and stallions and... frankly, the AHAC can not afford to just cast them aside so easily."
"We are keeping them on stand-by and low-risk assignments, for the time being, to be sure," Deputy Chief Sandy added on. Violet gave him a reaffirming nod.
"This is most worrisome..." the Queen remarked quietly, resting her chin on her left hoof. She appeared to ponder, drowning in her own thoughts for but a moment.
"Sorry but," she snapped back to reality at the familiar and ecstatic voice of her daughter besides her, "if I'm gonna be real? This... is starting to act kind of creepy, you know? People leave for home one day, and by the next morning they're all grumpy and hate everyone? That doesn't sound like some mental disorder, Violet."
"Skystar is right! This doesn't seem natural, anymore. There has to be some foul magic in play here!" Silverstream added onto her friend's statement. Skystar seemed at least a little bit relieved, in a way, that Silverstream was in agreement. In her mind, her friend probably had the best idea of evil, dark magics in the entire room. Ironically not because she was some powerful mage herself, but because Equestria had been rather riddled with villainous mages throughout the previous decade. If anyone knew bad guys and bad magic when they saw it, it was someone who had spent at least a few years living in Equestria.
"Foul magic...?" Violet, Sandy and Coral each returned with raised eyebrows.
"You don't seriously mean to imply that there is magic in play in Seaquestria itself, right under her majesty's nose, and that we are totally oblivious to it?" Sandy Breeze put out, giving Silverstream a frown and stare.
"Well, actually, that's basically what I did mean to say!" reaffirmed the friendship student with usual ecstaticness. Sandy Breeze almost seemed to deflate a little.
"She makes a valid point," Coral Fin remarked for his part. He cleared his throat, and looked up towards his Queen. "I find it unlikely, no, dare I say, impossible that anypony could change so drastically in such short time through natural causes. I find myself leaning in favour of the notion that something vile is at work, your majesty."
"Noted. Thank you." The Queen ran her right hoof along her chin and pondered on things further. People suddenly becoming hostile, but... also, all this inconclusiveness from the AHAC. Just who were these people, anyway? And what did they want? And why such vastly different 'flavours' of people, also? And how did they recruit people, anyway, if all they did was argue with one another? Were they even a threat if they seemingly argued not just with others, but even among one another?
"Violet."
The mare in purple scales straightened out at the mention. "M-Majesty?"
"What records do you have on this organisation regarding crimes? How much of a criminal threat are they according to police records?"
Violet gulped. "Their... yes. Well, majesty, actually they..."
She cleared her throat, pretending to be coughing as she turned her head away from the Queen right before her. A brief glance towards Sandy floating right beside her showed he was just as nervous, all of a sudden, as she was. If she said the wrong thing now, they would both....
"Sorry, your majesty. Had something stuck in my throat there, I think," the mare apologised nervously as she reestablished eye contact.
"Please go on." The Queen always did have a focused, deliberate appearance and stare of a sort, but right now that really bore down on Violet, she felt.
"Their... crime records are..." she paused for a second, "there's nothing. Majesty."
"Come again?" Novo replied hastily in seeming disbelief.
"Huh?" Skystar likewise uttered, even more confused and unbelieving than her mother was.
"Yes, well, beyond crimes current confirmed or suspected members have committed before membership in this group, there is... basically nothing to show. When it comes to actual crime, they seem comparatively... harmless."
Violet seemed unusually careful with her wording, if not a little weak on her feet from a glance.
"Miss, are you feeling quite alright?" Coral asked her politely.
"I'm just fine. Thank you."
"Err, well, I don't want to say you're a liar buuuut..." Silverstream started.
"But?" Sandy Breeze asked her back.
"But isn't that, like, really unlikely, though? Plus, if these folks are really so harmless, why are we here? I thought these guys were dangerous! And given the magical stuff going on, they probably are!"
"You're inflating the problem beyond what it actually is," Sandy countered sternly. "The AHAC keeps tabs on these people because of their unusual... mannerisms, and because they cropped up so suddenly. That does not automatically mean everypony in these clubs is a criminal. Or that any of them are. We are meant to defend Harmony, not arrest anyone we don't like."
"Ehh? But Skystar told me you already do plenty of tha-"
"Thank you, Silverstream, I think that's quite enough!" Skystar interjected quickly, waving her hands at her to somehow motion her to shut up. "Ahem, I do however think it is indeed odd to think these people never commit crimes. Are you sure, Violet?"
"I am. Regardless of agent or method of investigation, no crimes are on record, thus far." Violet was adamant in her stance.
All eyes turned to the Queen one after another, seemingly searching for a decision or arbitration in favour of one way or the other. Such was the fate of an absolute monarch.
"If you are absolutely sure, then that at least means they aren't an immediate threat..." Novo considered, speaking out loud for all to hear.
"But... mum, if this really is the work of magic, then we can't just shrug this off," Skystar insisted.
"We can't, but we must look at the greater picture right now. Remember, Skystar, this is not an isolated issue. There are communists rallying on the streets and nationalists inciting friction between our citizens. And unlike this... mysterious collective, those two groups are very much violent at turns, and people like the communists are openly against our royalty status, as well."
Skystar's ears drooped. Novo sighed, not intending to accidentally hurt her daughter's feelings with her reply. It was... more so a lesson in governance. Eventually, after all, it would be her turn up here on the throne, when she was gone.
"What I mean is that we can't do everything all at once. We just don't have the means, right now. And since this is a comparatively unthreatening issue, at least right now, we simply have to put it on the back of our minds until the more important things are dealt with. Ok?"
Skystar nodded slowly. Silverstream, though, had more to say.
"Queen Novo, why don't we ask Equestria for help? The Elements could-"
"We do not need the Elements or Equestria over here, right now," Sandy Breeze quickly interfered.
"Huh? Why? They're our friends, aren't they? Did I miss something?" Silverstream innocently returned.
"Friends? Of course. But we are quite literally already dealing with nationalists who claim her majesty's government is too weak to rule. That she can't get things done on her own. What do you think will happen if we ask Equestria for help in policing, now? When we call over the damned elements here?"
"You sound like a small little nationalist yourself right now, Mister Breeze," Skystar commented in favour of her friend.
"Princess.... majesty," Sandy continued, eyeing Skystar and then Novo herself. "You must understand this. If we seriously did as she wanted, we would all be seen as... weak, at best, and traitors at worst. It would only fuel the fire further and Aris First would grow exponentially from that point. It would be concrete evidence anyone could understand and see that they are 'right' in their rhetoric."
He bowed his head to further signify the significance of what he was asking for.
"Please, I believe your majesty and our government are capable of handling these things ourselves, in due time. We need not call for Equestrian help that would solve one problem but drastically enlarge another."
"I don't think Aris First is really going to thi-"
"Thank you, Deputy Chief," Novo spoke, interrupting her daughter. "I will refrain from as doing as much, for the time being. As far as Equestria, our neighbours, and the world at large is concerned, Hippogriffia is capable of handling its own affairs perfectly well. We are a proud, independent people, and need not the assistance of foreigners to help keep our own people in line. If there really is a threat, and right now those threats are identified, I believe, then we will act accordingly. Until then, we cannot and shall not act on rumors alone. With the extremist Batponies in Chiropterra, and the Zebras in Colthage both eyeing our lands on the mainland with desire, we must not look weak, now."
Skystar quietly sighed and frowned. Violet and Coral both joined Sandy Breeze in bowing their heads before their sovereign, something Silverstream did a few seconds later when she caught on. Etiquette was never her strongest suit.
"Very well, your majesty. I will keep observations ongoing and inform you if anything does change."
"Please do, and thank you. You may consider yourselves dismissed for the day."
The Queen waved for them to vacate the room, and their four guests did as ordered.
On their way out of the place, back onto the open streets of Seaquestria, Sandy Breeze tugged on Violet's fin, getting her to stop. He looked her eye to eye.
"Violet..." he said weakly.
"Don't worry about it now. We'll do our job, as told, and worry about those guys later."
"Violet, dammit, you... you know this stuff is not normal! Dammit, we literally have confirmed reports of ponies being kidnapped!" Sandy wanted to scream, but he knew to keep his voice down as best as possible. Out here, the walls had ears. "Ever since that stupid expedition this crap has been going down, and you just used the only chance we realistically had to tell the Queen-"
"Tell her what, Sandy!?" Violet snapped back at him. Sandy seemed taken aback, moving back a pace from his superior. "Tell her what, huh? Tell her we're all a bunch of incompetent idiots? Tell her the Committee failed to quell another extremist, pseudo-religious nutjob cult while it was in infancy, and now they're abducting ponies at will? Is that what you wanna tell her?"
Sandy barely had time to react before Violet grabbed him around the torso, and quickly shoved him around the corner they'd just passed, where she pressed him up against the wall.
"If you asshole want to destroy everything this Committee has done so far, if you want to lose your job, if you want to potentially lose your head because you're a stupid, incompetent little traitor that failed to defend her majesty and her rule from extremists as you were tasked to do, then go ahead and fucking do it!"
She sneered at him, breathing loudly. He did too. Both of them were loaded with adrenaline by that point, and it seemed as though either of them were about to throw a first punch at any point.
"Do it, but I won't. I saw what Communism did to countries abroad. Countries that were once flourishing and beautiful, now authoritarian dystopias. Think of Stalliongrad. Think of Brodfeld, who are literally trying to fight for their own King right now against the red menace. And what about Aris First? Look me in my damn eyes and tell me they aren't just a bunch of fascists, like the blackwings that destroyed all that was right and good in Wingbardy just north of us in Griffonia. Do you honestly expect me to sit around idly and ignore this? To tackle a bunch of lunatic cultists or whatever the hell they are instead, who aren't actually causing material harm right now?"
She lifted her right hoof, and Sandy closed his eyes expecting a hefty punch but... she relented. He felt himself released from her grab, as Violet looked around quickly to make sure nopony in the palace had seen them just then.
"I will not allow myself to be sacked before I stomp out that menace, no matter if I must gun down Posada myself. Until then..." She drew a deep breath, and gave him a stern nod. "Until then, we'll just pretend those people are fine and a non-issue. I can live with cultists that are mad at me all-day but otherwise don't harm anyone. What I can't live with is Communists trying to destroy our entire culture."
She distanced herself from him.
"If you wanna go back there and tell her, be my guest but, I won't. I'm in too dep, friend. And I don't think they would think twice about you if this came out, either. If I was sacked, you'd go along with me as my right-hoof stallion."
Finally, the Deputy Chief gathered enough composure to sound something back at her.
"Violet, are you really thinking this is... a good idea? What if Skystar is right, and there's magic at work?"
"We'll worry about that when we get to it. For now? There are bigger fish to fry."