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Morning Star Cove: Equestria.
Three Days Later.
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Captain Shields looked over the rest of his platoon, they were rookies given but this was just a recon mission. No need to break out the big guns just yet. They were standing on the cliffs overlooking the cove. The wind howled around them as they prepared for the jump. Captain shields and the rest of his platoon were the true face of the pegasus guard. Dyed white coats and blue manes, Shields prided himself on making sure no recruit under his power broke that image. But today, taking into account the sub-marine nature of their mission, they forsook the gold-stained plating in favor of tightly woven cotton armor, with an enchanted silver medallion tucked under the collar.
"Alright you maggots, you know the drill! We get in, we get out, nopony gets hurt!"
"Sir, yes sir!" The twelve recruits hollered back at him.
"The medallions you have been given are enchanted to allow you to breath and see properly once we're in, but I don't want anypony getting careless down there. Got it?"
"Sir, yes sir!" Captain Shields turned around to face the cliff's edge.
"Alright, let's do Cloudsdale proud!" He charged off the rock face, tucking his wings in close to speed his descent. "Geronimo!" The recruits dove after him. The wind whistled in their ears as they got closer and closer to the surface of the water.
They broke the water's surface in a flurry of sound and pressure, their sleeked forms not stopping for another good twenty feet. The black water had cleared in the last few days, treating the soldiers to a truly breathtaking sight. The water seemed to go on forever, anywhere but up. Above them the surface of the water was like a mirror, only broken by the bright circle of the sun. The area back towards the cliffs was pockmarked with caves and tunnels, many of which appeared to have been carved into the rock. Beneath them the murky bottom was still, not so much a flow or an eddy to disturb the silt that clung to the sand. In fact, there was no movement anywhere, no fish or anything else that would have been considered an animal. There was a patch of kelp off towards one of the cove walls, but other than that the water was devoid of life. Even in a place as mindbogglingly massive as the open ocean there was always some sign of life. Captain Shields filed this away in his mind as proof that something big had gone down.
"Okay, Burns, Thunderhead, check out the seafloor." Two pegusi to his left nodded. They spread their wings, rowing through the water in the same way as they would in flight. As the duo sunk, Shields saw something flick on the wall to his right. "Snowflake, Blizzard, check the walls. Something's not right here." The two on his right streaked off to follow his commands. "Tumble, go up towards topside, if things go pear shaped we need somepony to get out of here. The rest of you with me, we're checking out the caves."
This didn't seem right, it was just too quiet. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind when he saw something again, a glint of red, just barely moving fast enough to be considered mobile. He stopped in the water, staring down at it, it stopped moving. "Burns, Thunderhead, there's something there, get on it." He pointed down at the red object.
"Captain!" Shields recognized the voice as Blizzard's, he turned about to look over to the wall he and Snowflake had reached. "It's rays sir, the walls are coated in rays." Blizzard and Snowflake swam over to join the rest of the party. "They appear to be asleep."
"Or waiting for something." Snowflake muttered. Shields really looked at the walls now, the rays were almost perfectly molded to their resting places, now and again one of them would flutter their fins but other than that they were still. He got the distinct feeling that Snowflake was right.
"Captain!" Thunderhead yelled up at him. "It's some kind of ray, a weird one, but still a ray. I think it's dead." Shields looked down at the two soldiers and wilfed, his shoulders sagging and eyes going wide. (Wilf, wilfed or wilfing is a word used in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series, meaning to slim down one's feathers in an instinctive fear display designed to make the subject appear less appetizing.) Burns and Thunderhead had their backs turned to their discovery, and it was taking avantage. A black tentacle rose from the shining black expanse of the rest of the creature, positioning itself directly behind Burns.
"Boys, get away from it!" The tentacle struck forward, a barb revealing itself just before it impacted the unsuspecting pegasus. Red billowed out from his chest as the barb erupted out, Burns choked, more blood leaking from his mouth as he stared down at the glistening harpoon that had been rammed through him. He didn't scream, he didn't call for help, he just stared at it.
"O-oh my." He choked out, going limp on top of his attacker.
Thunderhead panicked, attempting to swim up towards the rest of his platoon, a black arm erupted from the muck beneath him, grabbing onto one of his hind legs and pulling him back down. The rest of the creature rose from the murk, looking for all the world like something Discord had slapped together one day when some poor, stupid soul had asked him what death looked like. It was twice any of their height. Its shoulders were massive expanses of mottled black and silver armor, the tentacle was revealed to be a tail, Burns still hung limply from it like some kind of grotesque flag.
The sleek, black arm that held Thunderhead had a feathery tentacle that sprouted from directly underneath its shoulders and a four fingered hand, two fore-fingers and two thumbs. The other arm held, instead of a hand, a silver pincer. Its head held two ruby-red spikes, no doubt these were what had caught Shields' eye, two tentacles that were long enough to stretch across the expanse of its hunched back and burning red eyes. Its legs were thick and heavily armored like the rest of its body, ending in a pair of wide feet, that seemed to be re-purposed flippers. But most disturbing was its jaw, a pair of grotesque, silver mandibles extended from the midway point on its head, slowly flexing, and on its actual mouth the bottom jaw was split in two.
The halves of its bottom jaw chittered furiously as it reached up with its pincer, grabbing Thunderhead around the waist and dragging him to face the monstrosity.
"Thunderhead!" Captain Shields dove towards the creature, hoping to distract it from its target long enough for Thunderhead to break loose. The creature didn't even look up, instead it whipped Burns off its tail, and lashed it out into the water. A hollow booming filled the water, the shockwave kicked up the silt around the creature. The walls suddenly came alive, the rays answering their master's call. They came swooping down, encircling the rest of the squad, menacing them with lashes of their barbed tails.
Thunderhead lashed out with a kick, scoring a hit on the monster's upper arm and only gaining the dull thunk of metal in return.
"Wh-what are you?" He stuttered, struggling against the pincer. The creature's eyes blazed stronger.
"Barraki." It growled, opening all four of its mandibles wide.
"No! No! Please Celestia no!" Thunderhead screamed as it descended on him, he kicked and beat at it furiously with his wings but to no effect. With a single crushing bite the barraki took off his head, releasing a torrent of red into the water and dropping Thunderhead's body to twitch on the sea floor. The rest of the rays closed in, egged on by their master's kill. They lashed at the soldiers, the cotton armor did its job as well as it could, preventing the stingers from skewering the pegusi but not from opening up wounds all over their bodies. The squad fought back valiantly, kicking and biting at their opponents.
"Boys, blades out!" The squad pressed their front hooves together, unsheathing the short blades on their horseshoes. Lightning Tumble started swimming down towards them, hoping to help protect the rest of his group. "Lightning Tumble, go! We'll be fine!" Tumble hesitated for a moment, staring down at them with worry before turning back to the surface. Even as Captain Shields tore through the first of the rays, he knew he had been lying.