The gentle doldrums of the radar pinging filled the bridge where Scootaloo sat bolt upright in a high-backed chair and issued orders to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. Right now, though, she was merely watching with detached interest the underwater landscape pass by before her eyes. Fish approached the undersea vessel, saw the lights, and then scurried away like rats. Except… rats didn’t live underwater.
“First Mate Belle!” Scootaloo shouted.
Sweetie Belle swiveled in her chair to face Scootaloo. “Yes, Captain?”
Scootaloo pointed to a school of fish that swam up to the viewport on the bridge, and then, just as quickly, swam away. “These fish. How would you describe their scurrying? Like what?”
Sweetie Belle glanced over to the viewport. “Um, like fish,Captain.”
“Mm, like fish,” mused Scootaloo, stroking her chin. She nodded, putting her hooves on the armrests of the chair and thrusting herself up. “Yes, that will have to do.” She turned to Apple Bloom. “Officer Bloom, any sign yet of the city?”
Apple Bloom scratched her head. “What exactly are we lookin’ for again?”
Scootaloo sighed, rolling her eyes. “Remember? We’re trying to get our explorer cutie marks, so we have to find the lost city of Atlaslantis.”
Sweetie Belle frowned, furrowing her brow. “I don’t think that’s right.”
Jerking her head towards Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo’s eyes went wide. She jabbed a hoof into her chest and said, “Who’s the captain here? Don’t answer that. I am. I’m the captain. We decided it when we started, so now you have to do what I say.”
“Actually, pretty sure we decided that Sweetie was gonna be captain,” said Apple Bloom. “But then she said she didn’t want to be.”
“Right,” said Scootaloo wagging her hoof. “And when I took over as captain, I called no take-backsies, so now I’m captain for life. Or at least until we get bored.”
Sweetie Belle turned her chair away from Scootaloo, mumbling, “I’m already bored.”
“I heard that!” Scootaloo shouted, pointing an accusing hoof at Sweetie Belle. “I won’t tolerate insubordination on my vessel! Officer Bloom, escort First Mate Sweetie Belle to the brig post haste.”
“We don’t really have a brig,” said Apple Bloom.
“Well, what do we have?”
Sweetie Belle sighed. “Nothing. We have nothing. This isn’t even a real ship. We’re just pretending.” Sweetie Belle waved her hoof around at the plank of wood they were floating on. “We’re not even underwater.”
Scootaloo threw her hooves into the air. “Well, great. Fantastic. You ruined our Submarine of the Imagination, Sweetie Belle. I hope you’re happy. Now the Naughtylus will never reach the lost city of Atlaslantis,” she groaned.
“Okay, now I’m definitely sure that’s not right,” said Sweetie Belle.
“Hey, guys,” said Apple Bloom, pointing her hoof past Sweetie and Scootaloo. “I know we’re supposed to be imagining things, but is that made up too?”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo slowly turned around. Their eyes went wide as they saw a massive squid flailing its tentacles at them and hissing, which Sweetie Belle was fairly certain squids didn’t actually do.
Scootaloo whipped back around. “Okay, which one of you went inside the sphere?”
Sweetie Belle shrugged. “Don’t look at me.”
“I don’t even know what a sphere is,” said Apple Bloom.
Scootaloo massaged her temple, then said, “Well, either way, I guess we better ABANDON SHIP!” She suddenly threw herself over the side and into the lake, kicking her legs furiously as she tried to swim away. “Everypony for themselves!”
Sweetie Belle was about to warn Scootaloo that the squid was right behind her, but by the time she opened her mouth, it was too late. She stopped, her hoof half-raised. “Well, shoot.”
“Shouldn’t we, y’know, help her?” asked Apple Bloom, her eyebrow raised.
Scootaloo was gesticulating wildly, throwing her body left and right as the squid wrapped its tentacles around her. “Oh, sweet Celestia! It’s eating my legs! Help!”
Sweetie Belle considered the situation for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I think Captain Scootaloo would’ve wanted it this way. The captain always goes down with the squid.”
“I don’t think—”
Sweetie Belle threw her hooves into the air in a dramatic display that even Rarity would’ve been proud of. “Oh, it was her own ambition that got the best of her in the end.” She shook her hoof angrily. “Damn you, Squid Dick—Wait, Moby Squid! Damn you to hell!” Sweetie Belle fell to her hooves and pounded the plank of wood like she’d just washed up on a beach.
Apple Bloom watched as Scootaloo, her cries now silenced by the tentacle covering her mouth, slowly sunk beneath the lake’s surface. She then looked over to Sweetie Belle and frowned. “What the heck’s goin’ on with everypony today?”