"And here we go: Three sailor suits that should fit," Sea Swirl said as she levitated the three uniforms over to the crusaders.
It had taken Sea Swirl some time to find them, but she had insisted that they were necessary. "Anything worth doing is worth doing right," she had said, which made sense to Apple Bloom, as she had heard it often enough from Applejack, and to Sweetie Belle, who had often heard a slight variation, with "in style" replacing the "right" from her sister. Sea Swirl herself wore a dark blue coat with a dual row of buttons and golden epaulets. A bright red sash and admiral's hat completed the look.
Sea Swirl gave herself a once over in a mirror, then nodded approvingly. She gave a sharp whistle, and Fruity swooped down, latching onto the sash. "Someday, I'll manage to train him to perch on my shoulder, but so far, he resists all my efforts. Don't you, Tootie-Fruity?" she said, as she rubbed the bat's head.
"Anyway, now that we're all properly dressed, let's get the Mark V in the water. Then we can load up the supplies," Sea Swirl said. She pointed to a pair of large wheels. "Horn, bow, turn those to right." Due to her name related memory issues and the lack of cutie marks on the crusaders, Sea Swirl had resorted to calling each crusader by a distinguishing feature. Sweetie Belle had become 'horn', Apple Bloom 'bow', and Scootaloo was 'wings'.
The two fillies strained against the wheels, slowly turning them, which in turn reeled in the chains, lifting the Mark V slightly off the blocks, swinging gently.
"Okay, wings. Help me get these blocks out of the way," Sea Swirl commanded. Scootaloo grunted and groaned while she manipulated one of the large blocks to the side of the room, while Sea Swirl moved the other three. The blocks moved away, Sea Swirl used her magic to pull a lever. With a loud clang, the metal plates on the floor dropped open, revealing a bay filled with water underneath.
"Okay, now lower him down! Slowly now!" Sea Swirl called out.
"Aye-aye, Captain!" Sweetie Belle called back, as she and Apple Bloom released the brakes and slowly lowered the Mark V. "This... is... hard... work," Sweetie Belle gasped.
"Easy compared... to... apple bucking," Apple Bloom gasped back.
But with the last word, her grip slipped and the wheel spun freely. As the Mark V tilted and the extra weight shifted onto the chain Sweetie Belle was controlling, she cried out and leaped backwards. The chains whirred through their pulleys, and the Mark V hit the water with a thunderous crash, sending water splashing over the edge. Both fillies rushed to the edge, worried expressions on their faces.
"We're so sorry, Miss Sea Swirl," Apple Bloom apologized.
"That wasn't slowly, guys" Scootaloo said.
"Like you know what slow is. We've seen how you drive through town," Apple Bloom replied, sticking her tongue out at Scootaloo.
"We've experienced how you drive through town," Sweetie Belle said.
"Well, I do know what it is, and that definitely wasn't it. Next time, do try to take it a bit slower," Sea Swirl said, as the fillies nodded apologetically in return. "Wait here." Her horn glowed and she dropped the gangplank into place. Quickly, she strode down to the Mark V and checked what she could from the outside, before entering a hatch on top. A couple of minutes later, she climbed back out and gave the hatch an affectionate tap.
"He's a stout boat, no leaks, so let's get the supplies on board." Sea Swirl climbed back up the gangplank and pointed out several boxes. "We'll want the box of fruit, that barrel of drinking water, the rum, the blue one over there, the hydra repellent, that crate of bread, and those charts." She herself levitated a small camera case. Turning to the fillies, she said, "Well, get going. Those things aren't going to load themselves."
"Could be worse," Sweetie Belle said, as she and Scootaloo struggled to move the water barrel.
"Yeah, could be going camping with Rarity," Apple Bloom said, causing all three fillies to giggle.
The joke restored the crusaders' spirits and with some teamwork and only a few minor mishaps, they got the requested items stowed aboard in the locations Sea Swirl wanted them. Fruit hung in nets dangling from the ceiling, the charts were stored in a small cabinet, and so on. What was already a limited space became even more crowded with all the goods stowed aboard.
Sea Swirl looked it all over and nodded approvingly. "Okay then, let's get you three to your posts, and we'll be good to go."
Scootaloo looked around the inside of the submarine and tentatively raised a hoof in the air.
"Yes?" Sea Swirl asked.
"I don't see any posts in here. Or even poles. Are they on the outside of ship?" Scootaloo asked.
"Posts means where we'll be working, silly," Sweetie Belle said.
"That's correct," Sea Swirl said. "Also, this is a boat, not a ship. I know because I get terribly seasick on ships, but not on boats, which is sort of strange, what with boats being smaller than ships and all, but that's how it is. There's no way I want to get sick inside my submarine, so I've decreed that it is a boat. Smart way to avoid the problem, huh?"
"How does that even make sense?" Apple Bloom asked. Her fellow crusaders shrugged in reply.
"Just roll with it," suggested Scootaloo.
"And speaking of rolling, you must be the propulsion specialist, right?" Sea Swirl asked Scootaloo, who looked blankly back at her. "Well, of course you must be. Fact: I built the propulsion unit to be controlled by a pegasus. Fact: I specified I needed a pegasus for that job. Fact: you are the only pegasus. Conclusion: you must be the propulsion engineer."
"Um... okay," Scootaloo said.
"Excellent! Let's get you situated then. Stand here and hold out your wings please," Sea Swirl asked.
Scootaloo stood where Sea Swirl indicated and tentatively held out her wings. Metal tubes and fixtures attached themselves from above, below, and both side, fastened by straps. Padding covered them, Scootaloo noted thankfully. Sea Swirl spend a bit of time fussing with them, adjusting them to fit properly and comfortably.
"There. All done. Running on the treadmill will move the tail, driving us forward or backward. Your wings control the flippers, allowing you to turn the boat. And you can move this lever with your mouth to switch between ahead, full speed ahead, and reverse. Pretty good design, huh?" Sea Swirl asked. "I worked on it for a whole twenty minutes. Should be just like I imagine flying would be." She looked at Scootaloo's wings for a second. "You can fly right?"
"Um, yeah. Of course! I'm a pegasus. All pegasi fly," Scootaloo said, with her best convincing look on her face. Behind Sea Swirl, her two friends waited anxiously to see if their captain would see through it.
"Groovy! Then you'll find it easy as memorizing the periodic table of elements," Sea Swirl said. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sighed in relief, then gave each other a quick high hoof. "Now, who is going to man the FRUBAR device?"
"Does that mean working with Fruity?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Yes."
"Dibs!" called Sweetie Belle, waving one forehoof enthusiastically while shoving the other into Apple Bloom's mouth.
"Okay, horn, you'll be sitting here," Sea Swirl said, pointing to a chair at the front of the boat.
"Dafftp nauff faium!" Apple Bloom mumbled. She pulled Sweetie's hoof out of her mouth. "Ah wanted tah do that!"
Sweetie Belle stuck her tongue out at Apple Bloom. "You snooze, you lose," she said, sliding into the seat. She listened intently as Sea Swirl rattled off things about how the FRUBAR device worked.
"And you'll be reading the depth gauge as well, whenever we change depth. Just call out our depth every ten feet," Sea Swirl finished. "Got all that?"
Sweetie shook her head.
"Excellent! You'll do great," Sea Swirl said, ignoring Sweetie's reply and turning to Apple Bloom. "And that leaves you, Bow. You'll be chief engineer and dive officer." In rapid order, she proceeded to explain how to work the dive controls, as well as Apple Bloom's duties as chief engineer. "And that's all there is to it. Easy as washing cats."
Sea Swirl floated a clipboard over, marking a few boxes with check marks. "Okay, now let's get going. For science!"
"For science!" the crusaders dutifully cheered.
"Science sure is boring," Apple Bloom said, stifling a yawn. "Ah'm almost fallin' asleep."
The crusaders' excitement of leaving the dock had faded with the reality of the slow cruise down the river toward the lake. Sea Swirl, well, for her it was a different story. She dashed around the ship, from port to port, peering out into the water. She jotted down notes and chattered non-stop about what she saw, mostly ignoring the conversations of the crusaders and being ignored by them in return.
"At least you got it easy," Scootaloo replied, wiping some perspiration away. "All you have to do is sit. Me, I feel like I've been scooting uphill all day. Except with somepony giving directions to me in a foreign language."
"Not mah fault you don't know your aft end from your bow," Apple Bloom said. "Though, to be honest, repeating that stuff is all that's keeping me awake."
"I'm having fun," Sweetie Belle said, as she scratched Fruity behind his ear, earning a satisfied croon from the fruit bat. Both of her fellow crusaders glared at her.
"Don't worry, maties," Sea Swirl said encouragingly, taking a quick break from what she writing in her notebook. "The lake is just ahead, and then we can take him under! Ah, the wonders we'll see. Why, we'll be the first ponies to go down this deep and probably return. Ooh, that's a big one." She rushed to the starboard bow port and started to write furiously. "Sorry about that. Just very rare to see one of those anywhere but deep in the lake." She set down her notepad. "Wonder what had him so riled up? Oh well, suppose it doesn't really matter right at this moment."
"Ten degrees starboard," Sea Swirl ordered.
"Bit to the right," Apple Bloom translated for Scootaloo's benefit. Scootaloo nodded, adjusting her wings, and the boat turned to its new heading.
"Well, I suppose it is time to take him under. Dive officer, batten the hatch," Sea Swirl ordered.
"Roger!" Apple Bloom said, happy to have something to do. She clambered up the ladder and slammed the hatch shut, spinning the handle to seal it tight. "Hatch secure, captain."
"Okay, take him down. Thirty feet."
"Aye-aye, thirty feet!" Apple Bloom spun some levers and the boat began to submerge.
"Ten feet. Twenty feet. And thirty!" Sweetie Belle said, as Apple Bloom quickly shut the valves.
"Holding steady, Captain," Apple Bloom reported.
"Let's keep him at this depth for a while and see how it goes." Sea Swirl checked a few gauges. Nodding, she said, "Looking good. And speaking of looking, what do you say we put those windows to use?"
"Alright!" the three fillies cheered.
Sea Swirl rested her hoof on Scootaloo, putting a stop to her attempts to unbuckle herself. "Not you, wings. We need propulsion."
"Bah. This job just keeps getting worse."
"Look, an octopus!" Sweetie Belle said, holding Fruity up to the window so he could see as well.
"Wow, that one sure has lots of arms," Apple Bloom said.
"That's because that isn't an octopus," Sea Swirl said. "That's a dodecapus. See? It has twelve tentacles."
"I wanna see," Scootaloo said, straining against the straps. The movement threw her off balance, and she instinctively threw up one of her wings. The Mark V rolled to the left in response, sending the dodecapus racing off in a cloud of ink.
"Aww. You scared it off," Sweetie Belle said.
"I just wanted to see it," Scootaloo muttered. "This job sucks."
"Don't worry. There's plenty more to see, and surely some of it will be where you can see it," Sea Swirl reassured Scootaloo. "Let's go deeper. Dive Officer, take him down to one hundred and fifty feet."
"Aye-aye, Captain," Apple Bloom said, settling back into her station. The bow of the submarine shifted downwards, and the submarine dropped down to the desired depth.
"Okay, now let's test the active FRUBAR. Ready, horn?"
"Just a sec," Sweetie Belle said, as she worked on fastening Fruity into the device. The bat nipped at her leg when she got one padded clamp in the wrong location, but otherwise sat still. Once the headphones were in place, Sweetie Belle gave the bat one final checkover and nodded her approval. "Okay, Captain, ready!"
"Let's try out a full spectrum ping!" Sea Swirl said. "Intensity setting eleven. That's the red knob, the one by your right hoof. And turn that blue to three-sixty. Flip the lever to full angle."
"Why's it called a ping?" Sweetie Belle asked, as she made the necessary adjustments..
"Tell Fruity to ping and you'll see," Sea Swirl said. "Well, actually hear, I guess. Though I did have an aunt who could see sounds. She spent her life trying to turn the stain glass murals in Canterlot's palace into operas. They weren't very popular, I'm afraid, though she insisted the sounds were colored just right. But I digress, we're here to science. Give me a ping!"
"Fruity, ping!"
The bat squeaked into the microphone. The boat vibrated slightly as the amplification system on the outside of the boat projected the squeak out into the water. Some of the sound could be heard inside. It was weirdly metallic sounding, sort of like a metal rod being struck by a ball peen hammer, but not quite. With a shrug, Sweetie Belle decided that 'ping' was as good of a name for the sound as any.
"See how he's sweeping both his wings wide and flat, not point in any particular direction? That means there's nothing big nearby. No obstacles to avoid, in other words. If he'd heard something, he'd have flapped his wings and pointed in the appropriate direction. All quite ingenious, if I do say so myself. Now, adjust the intensity down to three. We wouldn't want to scare everything off with a huge racket, now would we? And turn the blue one to zero degrees. Lever down to three. And ping!"
"Aye-aye, Captain. Fruity, ping!"
This time, the ping was barely audible inside the boat. Fruity held up his wings out, as if looking for a hug. "That's the angle we pinged," Sea Swirl explained. Next, Fruity shifted the wings flat, and crossed them back and forth. "And that means there's nothing there."
Sea Swirl rested her hoof on Sweetie's shoulder. "Now, horn, you should be able to handle it, right? Just slowly adjust the blue knob to ping in different directions, and let me know if FRUBAR reports anything of interest. And reward him with a bit of fruit from time to time. Easy as eating pancakes."
"Okay, Captain," Sweetie Belle said, earning a soft squeak from Fruity as she stopped rubbing his ears. "Let's do this, Fruity!"
Apple Bloom was definitely wrong, she decided. Science wasn't boring at all. She smiled contentedly as Fruity took a piece of fruit from her hooves and gulped it down.
Sweetie Belle changed her mind. Science was boring after all. With one hoof she supported her head, while the other mechanically alternated between adjusting the dial and feeding Fruity the occasional piece of fruit every ten or so pings. Even Apple Bloom, who had nothing to do but look out the windows and relay the occasional order, had gotten bored, she noted. There just wasn't much interesting about brown fish, grey fish, and underwater plants that looked slimier than Flim and Flam.
She held up the next fruit offering, a piece a pear, waiting for the almost ticklish contact with Fruity's tongue as he took the offering. When it didn't come, she broke out of her near catatonic state.
"Um, Captain Sea Swirl? What's it mean when Fruity wraps his wings completely around him and tries to scrunch up into a little ball, while shivering and mewling in terror?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Sea Swirl's notebook and pencil clattered to the floor as her eyes shot wide. She rushed from port to port, staring out into the water. Complete her check of all the ports, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Probably nothing. Just a false alarm. Absolutely nothing to worry about."
"Ah, good," said Scootaloo. "I thought it might have something to do with this large eye looking at me."
"Ah got one looking at me too," Apple Bloom said.
"Me three! And four!" Sweetie Belle added, pointing at both forward view ports.
Sea Swirl's head swung from port to port. "H-h-hydra!" Sea Swirl shouted, running around the boat in a panic. It was an impressive feat, given the small size of the boat and how cluttered it was inside, but she managed it somehow.
"Hydra?" all the fillies said in alarm.
Sea Swirl slid to a stop. "Gigas Lacus Hydracus. Native to lakes throughout the continent. Extremely territorial during mating season," she calmly lectured, her panic from moments before forgotten.
One of the heads stared in through port, then pulled away, before slamming full force against the submarine. Objects flew from their shelves, the ponies stumbled, trying to stay afoot, and the hull creaked ominously as the Mark V shook from the collision. A second later, the submarine shook again, as the hydra slammed another head against the intruder.
"Let me guess: It's mating season?" Apple Bloom asked, bracing herself against the hull.
Sea Swirl nodded, as the Mark V shook from another impact. "Oh-oh." Again the hull creaked, and this time, a stream of water started shooting out of a pipe. "Oh boy, this is bad. He wasn't designed to take this sort of a pounding! We've got to get out of here. Flank speed!" Sea Swirl shouted.
"Go fast!" Apple Bloom dutifully translated.
"I figured that one out for myself," Scootaloo yelled, as she shifted to the highest gear and started running on the treadmill as fast as she could. The submarine lurched forward, slowly at first, but rapidly picking up speed as its tail fin thrashed back and forth.
"We're losing him! I think he's losing interest!" Apple Bloom shouted, as she glanced out one of the rear ports, before returning to her work fixing the leaky pipe.
Sea Swirl shouted. "Keep going! Horn, FRUBAR reading! We don't want to run into anything. Bow, keep lookout."
"Okay," Sweetie Belle squeaked, quickly adjusting the controls and holding Fruity up to the microphone. It took a bit of coaxing to calm the fruit bat enough so he could do his job, but she managed it. "All clear ahead!"
"He's back!" Apple Bloom shouted, her head now pressed against one of the rearward facing view ports.
"All hooves, brace for impact!" Sea Swirl commanded.
The boat shuddered as the hydra smashed into it. Another pipe sprung, dousing Sweetie Belle and Fruity in an icy spray of water. The fearful fruit bat tried to break free, screeching loudly, Sweetie Belle's previous efforts undone. Almost immediately, the hull reverberated from another impact, and then another, sending Apple Bloom and Sea Swirl flying, while even more water entered the boat through new leaks.
"More speed," Sea Swirl ordered.
"Can't, Captain! Something's jammed. Propulsion is down!" Scootaloo shouted, as the bat screeched again. Another hard blow slammed into the submarine.
"The sound! The soundy thingy is making it angry!" Scootaloo yelled. "Shut it off!" Sweetie Belle quickly flipped the power switch.
Sea Swirl scrambled to her feet and fished for her notebook off the floor. "Horseapples!" she cursed. "The paper is all wet. How can I take notes now?"
"Can we worry about staying alive first and take notes later?" Sweetie Belle yelled.
"But how can I remember to add hydra repellent to the next model if I don't write it down?" Sea Swirl asked, as another blow hit home. "Oh, and probably some sort of passive FRUBAR might be a good idea, at least during hydra mating season."
"Hydra repellent! We loaded that, didn't we? How do we use it?" Apple Bloom asked.
"We did? Oh. That was smart of me." The boat shuddered under another impact. "Now let's see, how would a genius such as myself release hydra repellent. It'd have to be a button, located just about… there." Sea Swirl pointed to a panel near Apple Bloom. "The big red button. Or maybe the green one. Definitely one of the two. Most likely."
Apple Bloom slammed hooves down on both buttons. The submarine lurched as two compartment dropped off its sides, tinting the water around the submarine green. The hydra slammed into the boat once more, and then it stopped.
"It's backing off," Sweetie Belle called, looking out one of the forward ports. "I think it's swimming away. Yes, it's leaving!"
The crusaders whooped and cheered with joy. Sea Swirl did not join in, instead scanning the interior of the boat.
"Quiet. We're not out of this yet," Sea Swirl said. "Horn, check our depth! Chief, get those leaks plugged." She glanced at Scootaloo, who was busy working to extract herself from the harnesses that tied her to the propulsion system.
"Two hundred feet!" Sweetie Belle reported. "No, wait, two-ten." She stared at the gauge. "Two-twenty." With each report, her voice got quieter. "Two-thirty."
"Fix those leaks, engineering!" Sea Swirl ordered. She herself rushed to one of the depth control pumps and began pumping.
"Two-forty," Sweetie Belle whispered. "Two-fifty. It's not slowing. We're not slowing." Her eyes were wide with fear. "Two-sixty."
With a curse, Sea Swirl quit using the pumps and moved to assist Apple Bloom with fixing the leaks, quickly joined by Scootaloo, who had worked her way free.
"Two-seventy."
The hull screeched and popped ominously.
"What was the max depth on this here coffin again?" Apple Bloom shouted, as she wrestled with a pipe wrench.
"Two-eighty."
"Just under three hundred. In theory," Sea Swirl replied, pounding a seal home on another leak.
"Two-nighty."
"Don't worry, he'll hold together," Sea Swirl said, doing her best to reassure her crew.
A particular loud pop sounded right as Sweetie announced that they had hit three hundred.
"Come on, laddie, hold together," Sea Swirl pleaded, gently stroking the side of her boat with a hoof.
"Three-ten."
The crew collectively held their breaths and prayed to the princesses.
"Three-twenty."
The Mark V shook as it hit bottom, the lights inside flickering, and settled.
"Steady at three hundred and twenty-five," Sweetie Belle reported, her feet standing in water. Water that continued to rise.