//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Shadows in the Deep 
// Story: The Ghost of the Coast 
// by Green Hills 
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	The ocean breeze sweeps along the surface of the bright blue ocean, creating waves that are both magnificent and harmless on a lonely sailboat casting in the general direction. The sun shines as bright as ever on another cool and amazing summer day.

On this lone sailboat, a light orange stallion steps out from beneath the deck, taking in a big gulp of the ocean scent. For a good whole minute, he lets his light brown spiked hair flow along the wind, and his ears listen the seagulls and waves crash into each other.
“Thank you Celestia,” he says to himself, “for a beautiful vacation.” He puts on a white hat before making his way to a younger white stallion with a blue mane steering the boat.
“Well, what a pleasant morning to see my son steering the boat all by himself,” he lightly chuckles.
“Thanks father,” the young stallion replies happily at his father’s remark.

The white stallion spins the helm, letting the sails catch the ocean wind, and the boat begins moving along. The father watches his excited son steer the elegant boat all on his own, feeling a sense of proudness after teaching him how to do it since he was young.

“Hey, son,” he calls to his son. “How about we make a stop in Manehattan before we head home?”
The young white stallion’s ears perk up in excitement when he heard his dad’s offer. “Really, dad?”
“Sure. You’ve always wanted to see what the big city looks like.” The father stops for a moment as he searches through a chest nearby and takes out a large hand-held film camera. “Also, I looked at the map. We’re quite close to the city. So, I thought we could stop by for a day before we head home.”
“Oh, that will be great, dad!”

The father chuckles lightly as he twirls the dial on the hand-held device, and begins filming the scenery. He starts pointing the camera towards the bow of the elegant boat, catching a seagull taking off from the deck to meet up with a few others circling around a small area tens of meters away. After a few seconds, he pans the camera over to his son driving the boat through the calm waves as they set their course for home.

“Oh, come on, father!” the son whines jokingly as he sees the camera pointed right at him, unable to stop a giggle from escaping his muzzle.
“Oh, don’t be so shy, White Flag,” the father says. “Your mother wants to see her grown up son steering a boat all by himself.” A faint blush appears on the young stallion, fumbling his four-fingered hands over the helm as he tries to concentrate without having to look embarrassed in front of his father filming.

White Flag turns the helm slightly left, allowing the boat to steer back to its original path with ease. So far, everything is beautifully quiet and peaceful. Another big gust of wind pushes the boat ahead. Still filming, White Flag’s father pans the camera away from his son as soon as he spots a large school of fish swimming towards the surface just underneath them. The colorful reflections on each fish’s scales from Celestia’s sunrays look as if there is a rainbow underwater. Unfortunately, the father’s camera only captures in black and white.

Besides from the downgrade in his camera, something else almost leaves the middle age orange stallion perplexed. The school fish are rather close to the surface, a few almost popping out of the water, then suddenly diving several meters. They could be running away from some predators, he wonders.

“Hey, father,” White Flag calls. When the old stallion turns around, he sees his son with a look of worrisome as he stares out towards the starboard side.
“What is it, White Flag?” the father asks, slowly veering his eyes in the general direction.
“I… I think I see some bubbles.” With a raised eyebrow, the father hops over to the opposite side, the film camera still in his hand. As he peers over the edge, his eyes do spot an incredibly thin layer of foam spread out in tiny chunks a few meters away.
“Do you see it, dad?” his son calls again.
“I do, son,” he replies. “They’re not bubbles, though. Looks like sea foam.”
“Oh… because, from a distance it looked like—”

A sudden rumble rocks the boat in all directions, as if they hit a hard wave. Both earth ponies stumble, nearly falling on their flanks.
“What was that?!” White Flag begins to panic.
“Don’t worry, son,” the father tries to reassure, holding on to the mast as support. “P-probably an underwater quake.”
“How’s there a fault line near Equestria?”
“Um… well…” The stallion stammers as he tries to regain his balance. Though, his son does have a point. There are no fault lines anywhere near Equestria.

The rocking finally subsides after less than a minute. Of course, the father and son are no strangers to rough waves. They have tackled much violent ones. However, for a boat to be rolling around calm waves like it just hit a big one perplexes them. Unless, something just hit their boat.

“Are you okay, White Flag?” the father turns to his son, nearly losing his grip on his camera. He makes his way to him, his free hand keeping close to any solid object incase the boat hits another rough wave.
“Don’t worry. I’m fine.”

The father hops over and begins to take over the helm as his son watches his mentor do his work while holding the camera. Spinning the wheel a hard left, the boat readjusts itself to a slight stable position.
“There we are,” he coos, before turning back to his son with a proud smile on his face. “Nothing too serious. Probably something going on underwater.”
“I hope you’re right, old stallion,” White Flag teases a little.
“Hey, who are you calling old?” the father jokingly argues, before the two break out into a light laugh.

Again, the rumbling from below reappears, abruptly stopping the two. This time, there is no trembling. Looking around to find the source, White Flag suddenly catches several bubbles constantly fizzing on the surface.
“Father,” he points.

Both stallions rush towards the starboard side, White Flag holding up the film camera to catch whatever may be that is causing the bubbling. Peering over the side, the father only sees the dozens of tiny bubbles rising up through the clear crystal blue ocean that goes on without end.
“See anything, father?” White Flag asks filming the ocean.
He shakes his head. “Nothing…”

Then, he sees something. A faint dark smudge just emerging from the deep blue, quickly ascending close to where they are. The rumbling grows with each passing second as the shadow rapidly clears until both stallions feel their boat begin to vibrate. It is then before the father could yell the surface explodes uncomfortably close to the boat, swiping both stallions off their hooves and on the hardwood deck. Seawater splashes all around, and the air quickly turns to a smoldering smell of something burning.

Still holding the film camera firmly in his hand, but drenched in water, White Flag clamps his eyes shut to a terrible roar, as if it were a giant dragon. As he opens both eyes, they quickly dilate as the giant entity splashes down. Another wave, though smaller, shoves the boat away from whatever surfaced, sending the young white stallion sliding and losing his grip on the camera. Quickly smacking it next to a small rope pile, White suddenly slams into the edge, his hind hooves catching him before the young stallion slid overboard. Feeling a painful numb on his legs and side, the White looks up to see what thing blew up the water surface.

It is nothing like any dragon to what he sees. The beast is still screaming that terrible low roar, and White's heart beats like a heavy drum as his eyes catch the immense creature. Its body is sleek and black, and has a long rectangular shaped fin on the top. Struggling to get up, but his entire body feeling like jelly, White can do nothing but lie still, watching in such fear he has never felt before in his young life before slipping away.