//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: The Mysterious Serpent 
// Story: The Ghost of the Coast 
// by Green Hills 
//------------------------------//

	The ocean. Vast, deep and unexplored. The perfect place for something like the sea serpent to hide. Every sailor knows the tales. Every story told from their ancestors of mysterious sea creatures lurking thousands of feet below the surface, preying on boats like sharks on fish. And the girls have a chilling feeling tugging on the back of their minds.

The water surface bubbles hundreds of meters from the bustling city Manehattan. Rumbling appears as the water boils in one spot, and the entire city seems to halt all activity to witness the event. Everything trembles as the bubbling intensifies, the ponies preparing to flee fearing the worse.

The sea bursts like a geyser, showering everything within a hundred meters and shoving nearby boats like they are toys as it slowly turns into a whirlpool. Everyone eyeing from the city’s edges and piers flee in terror as something rises from the opening. Its lengthy body dark grey and the underside much lighter, covered from head to tail in battle scars and patches of barnacle. Its eyes are a deep sea green as large as a carriage, and glow as bright as Celestia’s sun. And below them is an massive mouth presenting several rows of abnormally shaped teeth.

The sea serpent releases a screeching roar. Ponies run as the scream blasts windows from the nearest skyscrapers. Keeping its mouth wide open, a sphere of energy forms within the serpent, growing bigger as it aims right at Manehattan. The beast fires, an intense beam of energy hitting a nearby building. The skyscraper topples over like a tree, dispersing quantities of dust and debris in its wake.

“No!!” Rarity screams in terror. Yanking on her mane and collapsing on her knees in the middle of a city park, she watches the massive dust cloud blanket part of the city.
“It’s ruined!!” she cries. “The fashion show! I’m ruined!!” She crawls under a bench in a fetal position, bawling while watching the chaos unwrap as the screams are drowned in the sea serpent’s cry.

The serpent opens its mouth again, the ball of powerful energy charging within as it aims at the city. A sudden burst of magic knocks the beast to the side, halting its attack briefly as it figures out where the blast came from.
“Now!” Twilight descends from above, her horn blazing magic and strafing the sea serpent as she swoops just over it. As the sea serpent lets out another roar and prepares to fire at the retreating alicorn, it is met with a barrage of confetti exploding around. Standing right on the bow of her boat loaded with her signature party cannons, Pinkie Pie raises her arm and points towards the sea serpent.
“Fire!” she yells. The dozens of cannons fire with a ‘boom’, confetti bursting in midair over and around the beast as it tries regain its stance. The cannons fire again, knocking it off balance once more.

Applejack appears from behind Pinkie, and launches off the boat as it nears the serpent, a rope held tightly in her hands. Like being in a rodeo, she lands on the serpent’s back, whipping her rope around the upper jaw and head. The beast cries tremendously, squirming around to get the farm pony off, but Applejack clings on. She wraps the rope around its tail before swinging around in its mouth and pulling back again. As she tightly swings the rope around many times, the more the sea serpent struggles to get free. After a moment, Applejack ties a knot, and stands victoriously on its back.

“Way da’ go, AJ!” Pinkie cheers as her boat slows to a stop as it approaches to the detained beast.
“Nice going, Applejack,” Twilight congratulates as she floats down several feet above.
“Ah, it was nothin’,” Applejack tips her Stetson. “Jus’ like ridin’ a bull.”
“Good.” Twilight turns to the city partially blanketed in dust. “First, we’ll figure out what to do with this sea serpent, then help out Fluttershy and Rarity in the city.”
Pinkie Pie hops down on the starboard side of her boat to get a closer look of the sea serpent. “Aw~” she pouts her lips as she examines the beast. “He’s not so tough when you look at him.” She pats the serpent lightly, when it suddenly growls and wiggles its body. Pinkie quickly pulls back her hand.
“Careful, Pinkie,” Twilight warns as she and Applejack regain their balance. “We still don’t know how dangerous this thing could be.”
“Pfft~ Oh, don’t worry, Twilight,” Pinkie waves her hand. “Applejack’s homemade ropes are the toughest in Equestria. Even I can’t get outta’ them.” She bends over the edge of her boat again, and flicks the rope with her finger.

‘Snap’!

Pinkie startledly opens her eyes, and looks down at the rope to see it broken in two. “Uh oh…” The serpent’s sea green eyes grow brighter than ever, nearly blinding the pink pony. It releases a menacing growl as it makes an attempt to wriggle free. Water splashes around, pushing Pinkie’s boat away while Twilight and Applejack suddenly lose balance and slip on the beast’s skin. Twilight grabs hold of Applejack, both of them lifting off in time before more of the rope breaks, and the beast frees itself with its ear-piercing roar.

With one swift move, the serpent slaps its tail right on the bow of Pinkie’s boat. Pinkie launches out like she is in a catapult with a scream, flying over and across the Manehattan Harbor until Twilight and Applejack spot a tiny ‘poof’ near the shoreline across.

Their attention quickly turns back to the sea serpent roaring back at them. Twilight struggles to stay in the air while holding the farm pony in her arms.
“Twi’!” Applejack urges to get the princess moving as the serpent swims closer. “Ya’ better move it!”
“I-I’m trying!” Twilight struggles to flap her wings with all her might to get away. The serpent screams at the two again, preparing to fire another energy orb in its mouth. Twilight readies her horn. The beast screams as it fires a powerful beam. Instantly, Twilight deploys a magic shield as soon as the beam hits. The entire sky trembles, before suddenly exploding in a teeth-shattering ‘bang’. Twilight and Applejack soar through the sky over the Manhattan Harbor, trailing smoke as they land hard on the beach with a ‘thud’.

“M-my head…” Twilight moans, attempting to get up to find herself and Applejack in a small crater. Just off to their left, they spot Pinkie Pie, with half of her upper body buried in the sand as she struggles to get out.
“Woo~!” she inhales after popping out of the sand. “Wow! Didn’t expect that…” She turns her sand-covered head to the two mares giving her a frightening glare.
“S-sorry about that,” she whimpers with a nervous laugh and a scratch behind her head.
“Great, now what?” Twilight turns her attention to the sea serpent in the distance, and helps Applejack stand back up.

The sea creature bellows again. More windows shatter and the walls crack from its awe powerful voice as the ponies escape to safety. Rarity, still hiding under the park bench through the thick dust cloud, continues to jabber under her breath of the fashion show ruined by the beast.

“U-um… excuse me?” The serpent halts its scream when the quiet voice of Fluttershy enters its ears from behind. As it turns around, its glowing eyes meet the timid pegasus floating several meters away. Her pink hair covers majority of her face; the only features visible are left her eye and a glimpse of her snout. The serpent snarls, earning a silent yelp from Fluttershy.
“U-um…” Fluttershy hesitantly begins. She cannot let go of her gaze at the many scars and barnacle that don the sea serpent. “I-if you, uh, don’t mind… um, I understand you might be cranky after a long sleep. Um, if it’s alright… maybe I can clean you up, make you feel better with some lovely—”
The beast interrupts her with a deafening howl. Fluttershy floats still as a statue as the screaming continues for a terrifyingly five seconds. Her eyes unwittingly examine the crooked teeth as it sprays out bits of ocean remains. Its breath reeks of nothing but rotten bits.
Fluttershy floats still in midair. Her eyes are the size of large bowls, and her pupils are dots. In a split second, her entire body turns pure white, and she dashes away at breakneck speeds to the opposite end of the harbor where Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie watch.
“Never again, never again, never again, never again…” she murmurs rapidly as she hides behind a startled Applejack.
“Great…” Twilight groans under her breath. “Where’s Rainbow Dash when we need her?”

A loud ‘boom’ interrupts them all. When the girls look to the sky, they notice a rainbow streaking from above the city heading straight down towards the sea serpent.

Rainbow Dash descends rapidly after a quick performance of her Sonic Rainboom, her outstretched arms aiming right at the sea serpent.
“Hi’ya!!” she hollers. She slams a fist right against the beast’s body, sending it flying a few meters away with a painful cry until splashing down. The beast roars back and immediately fires a beam. Rainbow dashes to the side, the beam missing her by mere feet. As she recovers and prepares to make another strike, her body is suddenly met with a horrific force that sends her flying close to one of the piers at the city. 

“O-oh… that… is… it!” She clenches her teeth full of rage. With a strong flap of her wings, Rainbow Dash shoots into the air, climbing at an impressive one hundred meters in a matter of seconds. She hovers in the air, looking down at the roaring beast preparing to fire its energy beam once more.
“Bring it,” she mutters with a smile. She dives with another strong beat of her wings. Gaining speed until she can barely hear the sound, and her eyes narrowing down to the faint glowing dot of the serpent about to release its awesome power. With an ear-piercing howl, the serpent unleashes its power. Rainbow Dash concentrates as she continues to dive right at the incoming beam. At the last second, she dodges to the right. The beam whizzes passes her by mere feet. She can feel the intense energy, like she is in a hurricane. But, it doesn’t slow her down. She keeps diving down, building up speed until her ears cannot catch anything except for  the rushing wind.

Rainbow Dash comes down like a meteorite. She can barely hear herself let out her triumphant war cry as she stares right at the bright eyes of a worried sea serpent. She can imagine the thing whimpering at the last second. Everything violently shakes like an earthquake as Rainbow Dash clashes with the serpent with an epic ‘boom’. The air bursts, shattering almost all the windows within Manehattan, as Rainbow’s signature Sonic Rainboom erupts in the harbor.

Everything falls eerily silent as the colorful clouds are whisked away by the wind. Everyone cautiously returns to the edges and piers from hiding, holding their breaths to see if the battle is truly over. The thick clouds and debris are finally cleared. Destroyed boats are strewn around in the Manehattan Harbor. Right in the middle, Rainbow Dash stands with her arms crossed and showing a triumphant grin on top of the defeated sea serpent.

Silence immediately turns into cheers, as all the citizens cry out and blow whistles. Boats suddenly appear, launching confetti around the victorious pegasus.
“That was awesome Applejack!” Rainbow Dash turns to see Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy standing on a boat. “You saved the city!” Twilight congratulates.
“Eh, it was no big deal,” Rainbow shrugs.
“That was the best thing ever!” Pinkie springs in the air.
“Yep,” Applejack nods. “Couldn’t said better.”
“Oh really?” Rainbow raises an eyebrow, glancing at the farmpony.
“Fine.” Applejack rolls her eyes. “What you did was awesome, ‘n was better than me.”
Rainbow crossed her arms again with a smirk. “Oh yeah, I was.”

“Hey, Rainbow Dash,” a familiar voice enters the pegasus’ ears through the deafening cheering. As Rainbow whips her head to the left, her eyes meet Daring Do hovering just feet from her.
“D-D-Da… Da-” she stumbles on her words as her idol floats towards her.
“That was some stuff you showed, girl,” Daring compliments. “Didn’t know you had it in ya’.”
“O-oh… oh!” Rainbow continues to stutter. “O-of course! I… I always do it for Equestria!”
Daring nods. “Hey, I’ve been thinking…” Rainbow’s ears twitch. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, since you really got that skill, how about you join me. You can be my sidekick in my next stories.”
Rainbow’s cheeks flushed bright red. This is the moment she has been waiting to hear all along! Without hesitating a second, she wraps her arm around Daring Do, and pulls her in close as if the two were about to dance. The crowd woos at the same time.
“Oh, do I ever,” Rainbow coos. She twirls the adventurer around her, letting her ears once again listen to the many citizens cheering and chanting her name. When she opens her eyes to see her idol, her heart stops the moment she looks down at a certain dark blue mare.
“Dost thou have an assignment to complete?” Princess Luna says in a monotone voice.
“What the fu—?!”



‘Wham’!

“D’ah!!” Rainbow Dash yelps when Applejack’s hand smacks against a book, springing out of her comfy chair before collapsing on the hardwood floor with a ‘thud’. As she makes an attempt to figure out what happened, a book hits her on the head.
“Nice dream?” Applejack remarks as she stands over the waking pegasus. Rainbow Dash rubs her head to ease the pain. The first thing she does is snapping her head upward to the cowpony towering over her with her arms crossed.
“Seriously?!” Rainbow’s wings flare and she jumps back up to her hooves. “A simple tap or a ‘wake up’ would’ve been nice!”
“Ya’ always keep wakin’ me up with ya’ thundercloud, so I’m gettin’ ya’ back,” Applejack back talks. “Now, ya’ can help out by sortin’ these papers.” She bends down behind her to lift a stack of papers and shove it in Rainbow’s arms before proceeding back to the rest of the girls in the middle of the library.

Twilight Sparkle is standing off to the right examining a section of an immense whiteboard hanging on the wall with Commander Cirrus. Rarity is close to the middle of the library around a large round table cluttered with papers and folders from the chest, looking through what Rainbow thinks to be are photos in a small pile. Pinkie Pie is, according to Rainbow, being Pinkie. She is sitting on the opposite end from Rarity making paper airplanes from blank pieces sheets.

Rainbow grumbles under her own breath, and shuffles her hooves to her friends. When she reaches the center of the room, she drops the stack of papers on the table on purpose, hoping she can grab some attention. Unfortunately, none of the girls or that Special Ops guard paid any attention, except for a certain ‘eep’ coming from the far end of the library, obviously Fluttershy. Rainbow pulls out a chair and plops down before slouching until her chin is resting on the table. Again, she looks around to see if anyone paid has grabbed her attention. She sighs out loud, and stares at Rarity sitting across from her. The unicorn is wearing her working glasses while looking over at a photograph with a tea set just by her side.

Rainbow averts her eyes back to the stack of papers that tower over her head, the dread returning to her mind. She grabs the top page, and pulls it to her face. The moment her eyes lay on the page, she immediately regrets it. Tiny printed words are all she can see that cover the entire paper. Dates, analysis, reports and complicated reports. Rainbow looks back up to the stack next to her. There are hundreds of papers just like the one she is holding in her hand, and she has to go through all of them!

Everything around Rainbow, except for Twilight’s constant chatter with Commander Cirrus, feels incredibly quiet. It burrows in her mind how dead her surroundings are, and it annoys her. She looks down at the piece of document almost crumpled in her hand, then back at Rarity writing on the back of the same photograph with a quill. She’s curious as to what she is writing. Before Rainbow can speak a word, Rarity interrupts her.
“Not now, dear.”
Rainbow closes her hand into a fist, and takes a deep breath. “What? You didn’t know what I was gonna say,” she asks as if she has no idea what Rarity is talking about.
“I know you want to talk to me to distract yourself instead of doing your part,” Rarity says without looking up.

Rainbow drops her arms on the tabletop, her expression switches to irritate. Without hesitating, she groans loudly and pulls on her hair.
“Ugh! This is annoying!” she yells, finally catching the attention of everyone. “I’m sick of doing these type of things!”
“Calm down, Rainbow,” Twilight says. “We’re almost done figuring this out.”
“You’ve been saying that for the past two days!” the pegasus snaps. “And we’ve been here for almost a week! A week!” Rainbow pulls on her hair again. “You’re lucky I haven’t gone insane from this!”
“Uh huh, sure,” Applejack deadpans while checking on one of the documents from the chest. “ ‘N we’ve been doin’ all the work while ya’ sittin’ on your flank secretly readin’ Darin’ Do books.”
“Th-that was when we were on break!”
“Says the mare who sleeps on a cloud all day, everyday.” A vein appears on Rainbow’s forehead. She stammers a little trying to get back at Applejack, but can barely make up anything in her head. Instead, she groans again and stomps towards the door.
“Where are you going now?” Twilight asks.
“The bathroom, of course!” the pegasus snaps, and marches out of the library.

The door slams as soon as Rainbow Dash exits, leaving everyone staring at it for quite a while.
“She ain’t goin’ to the bathroom,” Applejack snickers, and returns to looking over at the documents.
“Is she always like that?” Commander Cirrus asks curiously to the princess.
“Unfortunately,” Twilight replies.
The commander giggles for a bit. “Heh, and I heard many great stories about the Bearers.”
“Let her blow off some steam,” Rarity adds. “She’s always brash and energetic. She can’t even stay still for a minute. Literally.”

Commander Cirrus shakes his head, unable to contain his giggling. He always thought the bearers of the Elements of Harmony would be stern and fearless. Instead, it feels as though he is babysitting a bunch of teenagers, one of them a princess.

“Okay, let’s get back to where we were,” Twilight announces with a deep breath. Commander Cirrus returns to looking back at the large white board. On the right side is an entire section of photographs of the sea serpent taken from almost every angle and distance. Close to the center of the board is a map of the entire eastern seaboard of Equestria. Four pins are placed each with small sticky notes, indicating the dates where the sea serpent has been spotted: one off the coast, one in Manehattan, two in Fillydelphia and one in the Horseshoe Bay close to Baltimare. A set of strings is attached to each pin to track the serpent’s movement.

“The latest sighting we got was last week on a Friday many miles southeast out of Fillydelphia,” Commander Cirrus explains, and grabs a photograph to hand over to Twilight. “My team and I managed to snap this just before it dove under.” Twilight takes a brief look at the photograph. The image is blurry, but she can clearly make out the serpent’s two back fins with Celestia’s sunrays in the background. A pin and a sticky note surrounded in her magic floats next to her, and she writes the date before placing it on the map where Cirrus explained the location. A string flows by in Twilight’s aura, and ties between the newly placed pin and another marked with second most recent date.
“Hmm,” Twilight taps her chin as she and Cirrus examine the updated map. “No doubt the sea serpent has turned around after it reached the Horseshoe Bay. Any theories on why?”
“I’m not sure, Your Highness,” the commander shakes his head. “Perhaps it’s heading back to where it came from?”
“I was thinking of that also… but, I have a feeling that’s not it.” She further examines at the map and the path the sea serpent is heading. Commander Cirrus might be right; the serpent could be turning back. But, she has a feeling it’s not the answer. There is a reason Princess Celestia specifically assigned them for this task. And almost a week of research did not go in vain just to find out the creature decided to turn tail and run.

“Twilight?” the soft voice of Fluttershy grabs Twilight’s attention, and she turns her head to see the pegasus hovering with a few books in her arms. “Um, I looked through every book I could find about marine life. I couldn’t find anything related to the sea serpent…”
Twilight swears she just felt an eye twitch. “Seriously?!” she almost yelps, startling Fluttershy. Never would she thought something like this would happen. The Royal Library has all the knowledge about Equestria and everything Twilight knew since she was Princess Celestia’s student. Or, at least she thought until now. She hurries back to the large table, with Fluttershy and Commander Cirrus following suit, and digs through the remains of the chest. She pulls out the last remains of documents while Fluttershy lays the books in place.
“That’s impossible,” she denies. “I visited this library my whole life. How come they don’t have anything about sea serpents?”
“W-well…” Fluttershy slides to the side a few feet from Commander Cirrus. “I, uh… I did find some references.” Twilight steps over to see what Fluttershy obtained. As she looks at each book, the more her face becomes frustrated.
“Ugh, these are folktales!” she grinds her teeth, and shakes the papers by her head. “I need facts!”

Commander Cirrus looks down at one of the books, and examines it closely.
“I’m not so sure,” he intervenes. “My grandfather told me a lot of stories passed down from generations. This was actually one of them.” He turns a page, revealing a picture of a giant eel attacking a merchant ship. Its black body coils around the ship, and reveals an open mouth of razor sharp teeth like a snake’s. Fluttershy squeaks and pulls herself behind Twilight who stood still as a statue.
My great-great-great-grandfather was one of the first ponies to seal a trade route with the Griffon Kingdom,” Cirrus tells. “I still remember even the way my father explained it. On their way back to Equestria, they were attacked. Eyes that glow like a Changeling. Teeth so sharp it can cut through the strongest armor. Hide so tough a cannon ball cannot breach through. Fins were as large as sails, and could slice a boat in half.” The pegasus looks up, noticing all the girls stopped what they were doing and stare at him while he was telling his story. He turns back to Twilight, ignoring Fluttershy behind gnawing her fingernails and shivering as if she just caught a cold.
“That is why trade routes on the Middle Sea is becoming scarce,” he concludes with a serious look on his face. “Nopony refuses to go out at sea without getting eaten by a giant sea monster.”
“And with the sea serpent out there, almost all seaports have been shut down,” Twilight adds in as she looks down at several cut out newspaper articles about the sea serpent.

The room has suddenly become silent after Commander Cirrus’ story. Twilight has studied a lot about Equestria’s history, including the first trade route with the Griffon Kingdom. What Cirrus said was true; hundreds of stories and reports were told about giant sea monsters attacking ships, that nopony wanted to go out at sea anymore. However, Twilight could have sworn she studied about marine life, even in today’s time.

“Have you ever been out to sea?” Rarity asks curiously from across the table.
The commander shakes his head with a smirk. “No, ma’am. My grandpa told me so many stories about these things, I even got scared going into a pond.” He chuckles a little.
“I heard today the sailors get good pay,” Applejack comments across the room. “Jus’ one trade ‘n they get somethin’ like a thousand bits. Now I know why…” She returns to reading the few reports in her hands before muttering, “Glad I’m a farmer…”

Twilight turns around back at the large whiteboard, staring at the map and columns of photos each with a short description. She can feel a headache coming up the longer she stares at the organized mess they made. She rubs her sore eyes in frustration as she makes her way back to the board.
“Twilight, maybe you should take some shut-eye,” Rarity insists. “We’ve been at it for a while. And, unfortunately I have to say, Rainbow Dash might be right. Every time we make a theory on what this thing is we seem to hit a wall.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie in the background tiredly agrees. “Reading all these papers with big words and no pictures isn’t doing my brain anything good…”
Twilight continues to stare at the photos for a while, before finally making up her mind and takes a deep breath. “Alright. Let’s take a quick break.”

Before the girls can finally drop on what they’re doing, the door knocks three times.
“Come in!” Twilight calls. The door quickly opens, and enters one of Commander Cirrus’ troops.
“Commander,” the trooper, surprisingly a mare unicorn, salutes.
“Sergeant Aegis,” the commander stands at attention. “What is it?”
Aegis pulls out a wrapped up newspaper from behind, and hands it to Cirrus. “Morning newspaper came in. Think you guys need to look at it.”
“Thank you, sergeant,” he says as he takes the newspaper and unfolds it. Twilight quickly slides in to read the title. 





TERROR IN FILLYDELPHIA!

The mysterious sea serpent has once again struck awe and terror into the hearts of citizens in the early morning of September 25 just off of Fillydelphia. Pegasi and boats quickly took to the sea the moment the serpent was spotted to capture the sheer beautiness of sea creature. Unfortunately, as per usual, the sea monster quickly dove under the water and vanished almost half an hour after citizens managed to snap a few pictures.

“This is becoming a serious situation for the coastline, and must be dealt with,” Mayor Nutter says during a speech. “This creature is stalking the eastern seaboard, possibly threatening the lives of not only local cities, but to all of Equestria.”




“Um, well?” Fluttershy leans in. “I-if that’s alright… what does it say?” Twilight rushes back to the board without hesitation, uses her magic to add another pin to the map with a written sticky note, and ties a string to map out its course in one stroke.
“Uh, Twi?” Applejack calls for her, slightly surprised at Twilight’s quick work. Twilight is unable to reply as she picks up several documents and mumbles to herself for a while. Her friends, Commander Cirrus and Sergeant Aegis stand and watch with a perplexed and concerned looks.
“She okay?” Aegis whispers to the commander, who nods in reply.
“It’s no doubt,” the alicorn finally answers. Her friends look at each other funnily.
“Um, we’re not following, dear,” Rarity shrugs.
“See the pattern?” Twilight points to the map. “It’s circling back. First showing up in Manhattan, heading south into Horseshoe Bay before turning around and heading back up north. Now that it’s been spotted in Fillydelphia, I have a feeling it’s next stop will be Manehattan.”
“But, it’s a theory,” Applejack says. “It could be what Captain Cirrus said earlier. Jus’ turn tailin’ and runnin’ back where it first appeared.”
“It’s Commander,” Cirrus corrects, before clearing his throat. “But with all do respect, Miss Applejack. Princess Twilight Sparkle may have a point.”
“I know, I know. It’s jus’ it doesn’t make a lick of sense. Why a sea serpent wanna go up ‘n down the east coast?”
“That’s the point,” Twilight says, stepping forward. “For all we know, it maybe just an animal wandering around… or worse, something as bad as Discord, or King Sombra. Something spying on Equestria, waiting for the right time to attack. We can’t take any chances. It’s probably why Princess Celestia wants us to investigate.”
“Don’t know if you fellas saw it in the files, but we noticed some strange behavior in it,” Sergeant Aegis adds as she crosses her arms.
“Yeah, we got it,” Applejack says with a hint of sass in her voice. “All we got was the same ol’ stuff.” Aegis turns around, making eye contact with the farmpony.
“We did,” Twilight interrupts the two. “The reports we got was that it appears at nighttime, and disappears when morning comes.”
“The perfect time for anything to happen,” Aegis says. “You may never know what’s going to happen in the dark.” Applejack squints her eyes at the trooper in annoyance.
“Okay, so, if we kind of know where the sea serpent will be heading,” Rarity rocks her head to the side. “How are we going to do it? Like, are we going to ask it and leave? We have no idea what this thing does, except, stalk the waters.”
“Honestly, I really don’t know,” Twilight rests her chin on her hand, feeling stumped. She turns her head to the map. “We can camp out at a cliff where we have a good view of the Manehattan Harbor and the sea.”
“ ‘N how are we gonna spot it at night?” Applejack asks.
“Leave that to us, vaquera,” Sergeant Aegis replies with a quick wink. Applejack’s cheeks suddenly fluster.
“What’d ya’ call me?!” the farmpony bursts.
“We have special training in nighttime operations,” the trooper explains while ignoring Applejack. “So spotting a giant sea snake shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Alright,” Twilight nods. “Pinkie Pie, go get Rainbow Dash. We’re leaving as soon as possible.”

The door behind them bursts with a crash, startling everyone in the room. As they turn around to the source, they spot Rainbow Dash wheezing with a partially crumpled newspaper in her hands.
“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asks.
“G-guys…” the pegasus heaves. “Need… see… th-this…” She shakily raises her sweaty arm with the same newspaper Sergeant Aegis brought in not too long ago.
“Sorry, Sugarcube,” Applejack says. “We already figured it out.” Rainbow raises her head to see Commander Cirrus with the paper in his hands.
“Ugh, are you kidding me?!” she drops her head and newspaper. “I flew all the way from the newspaper stand for nothing?!”
“The castle receives newspapers daily,” Aegis informs. Rainbow straightens herself, staring at the trooper.

“Well, it’s good that you’re back,” Twilight smiles as she steps forward and pats Rainbow on the shoulder. “We’re heading to Manehattan.”
“Woah, really?!” Rainbow’s attention quickly changes.
“Everypony, get some camping equipment,” Twilight announces.
“We’ll escort you, Your Highness,” Commander Cirrus steps up. “We’ll get a carriage ready for you.”
“Don’t worry.” Twilight waves a hand. “We’ll take the train. That way, it won’t create a commotion when we get to where we’re needed. Besides, I think having a Royal Special Task Force would have a similar result. You can hang back while we do a little searching.”
“I insist, Your Highness,” Commander Cirrus. “It is also our duty to protect you, as instructed by Princess Celestia.”
Twilight arches back a little. “Wait, what? Did… did Princess Celestia order you guys to guard us? Why?”
“It was under her orders, Your Highness.” Why would Princess Celestia task guards to protect her and her friends. Twilight has dealt with many missions that are at least, or more dangerous than the one they are currently taking by her mentor. Is there more to this sea serpent?
“Hey! Captain Cloud!” Rainbow Dash wings twitch as she stomps towards the commander before Twilight can stop her. “We can take care of ourselves! What’s the big deal, anyway?! Got something hiding?!”
“Watch it, chica,” Sergeant Aegis steps forward in front of the commander. “You don’t wanna mess with the likes of us.”
“Sergeant, stand down,” Cirrus sternly orders. The mare shoots a rapid glare at him, before stepping back next to him. He looks at Twilight. “Alright, Your Highness. We'll do it your way. But, allow us to closely tail behind.”
“That will be fine,” Twilight agrees, and crosses her arms.