Canterlot Aerodrome, City Outskirts
994 C. E.
Docking Bay 24
"Never... again..." Sweetie choked out as she stumbled down the gangplank to the Canterlot Aerodrome arrival docks. Her rucksack and saddlebags felt as if they were stuffed full of rocks, and every step she took sent her head spinning. She stumbled on shaky legs, the weight on her back threatening to send her tumbling head-over-hooves down the narrow walkway. The airship Eagle Eye bobbed gently in the mountain winds, rocking Sweetie to and fro as she tried to disembark. She felt her stomach do a few backflips and siezed the guardrail with a fetlock for support. She leaned her weight against the railing, breathing rapidly through her nostrils, eyes squeezed tightly shut. Directly below the dock, crowds of ponies bustled to and fro along the suspended walkways of Canterlot's lower tier. Below them, the city's structural supports quickly gave way to a sheer rock face and a terrifyingly long drop into the Everfree Forest. A breathtaking panorama, but not one to take in while suffering from airsickness, vertigo, and a Eyrish whiskey hangover.
"Jeez, are you okay?" Flash asked from behind her, unsure of what to do. He hadn't been on the flight out to Trot to see Sweetie's impressive display of motion sickness.
"I'll be fine, just give me a sec..." Sweetie managed to choke out.
"Can you at least make it down to the dock, ma'am?" Night Glider asked as she fluttered over to help. "You'll feel a lot better with solid ground under your hooves. Just, uhh, don't look down." The dock was only a few feet further, if Sweetie could just make it a few more seconds...
*Uurkk*
*splash*
"Sweet CELESTIA! THIS WAS A FIVE-HUNDRED-BIT HAT!"
Too late. Night Glider hooved Sweetie's mane back as the she shakily wiped vomit from her muzzle. "Nice aim, ma'am. You should've become a Shadowbolt instead of a field agent. We could use a bombadier with your skills."
"Right, because flying and I get along soooo well," Sweetie replied weakly. She waved sheepishly to the unlucky pony below as she regained her equilibrium. The airship hadn't been that bad, but on the last night of the voyage the ship's first mate had convinced the ponies to celebrate their good fortune in Trot. One toast turned into many, and now the same first mate was clucking with laughter at the airship's passenger hatch, mocking Sweetie's misfortune with his crewmates. "I am going to kill Gaoth." She put on an exaggerated Eyrish brogue, mocking the griffon's accent. "'Come now, lass, a bit o' drink won't hurt ye! Helps steady the nerves and put feathers on ya chest!' I don't care if we're allies, that turkey is dead."
"Isn't he half turkey vulture?" Flash mused as Night Glider guided Sweetie down onto the docks.
"Sentry, you still have a broken wing and it's a very--"*urp* "--very long fall off the side of the city. Just ask Hat Guy down there." Sweetie shook a hoof at where she assumed Flash was standing, being too busy dry heaving to actually check.
"Okay, okay, not the point," Flash groused. He didn't take the threat too seriously. Even if Sweetie meant it, (which she absolutely did) she wasn't in any condition to be throwing Flash anywhere. "Does your secret ninja headquarters have a clinic or something? I'd like to get this wing checked out."
"We do, but wouldn't it be easier to go to the Guard hospital at the garrison?" Night Glider raised an eyebrow at the guardspony as she eased Sweetie off the guardrail and back on all fours, guiding her down the gangplank.
"Sweetie said your boss wanted to meet with me." The miserable earthpony nodded in agreement. "Besides, Canterlot isn't my favorite city in Equestria. Once we're done at Spook Central, I'm stopping by the Headquarters building to let my dad know I'm okay, then I'm on the next flight back west."
Night Glider blinked in suprise as she let go of Sweetie. With stone beneath her hooves again, Sweetie breathed a sigh of relief. Now she had nothing to worry about except multiple bruises, broken ribs, and exhaustion setting in from her little round-the-world vacation. Oh, and the hangover. Can't forget that.
Intrigued, Night Glider gave Sweetie one last pat on the back and continued her questioning. "What do you have against Canterlot? It's the best posting in the Guard, most ponies would kill to be stationed there. You'd rather live in a hole in the middle of the San Palomino Desert?"
"I like hiking," Flash answered, his evasive tone suggesting that he was more interested in ending the conversation than the great outdoors. "Why does he want to talk to me anyway?"
"He wants to hear your side of things," Night Glider told him as the three ponies came to a stop a short distance from the airship's ramp. Their respective superiors were still aboard, gathering belongings and saying goodbyes to various friends and aquaintances among the griffon crew.
"Nothing to worry about," Sweetie added. A few deep breaths and a swig of water did wonders for her disposition. While moments earlier she was planning violent, bloody revenge on everypony surrounding her in her distressed state, the urges faded as quickly as her motion sickness. Now it was simply a fond memory. Maybe a nice project for a rainy day... "It's not like we can just make you forget everything you saw, right?"
Flash shifted uneasily.
"...Maybe one of the stormtroopers knows a Neuralyzer spell..." Sweetie continued, lost in thought. "Or I guess Dr. Clef could just lock you up in a containment cell. Same result, really."
Flash was mostly sure she was joking. "You ponies are all crazy, you know that?"
"Yeah yeah, we've all heard that one before," Double Cross remarked as he and Cover Story trotted over from the rear of the airship. Both ponies were laden down with overstuffed saddlebags, rucksacks, and miscellaneous pieces of spy equipment and survival gear. "Flash Sentry, yer about to enter a world few ponies know exist. Th' Office of Clandestine Support are the thin line between these here ponies' happy lives and the monsters lurkin' in the shadows, blah blah blah sworn to serve at th' behest of Her Majesty Princess Celestia and so on. The full spiel takes forever and we all spent three days cooped up inna stinky flyin' soupcan."
"What my partner is saying," Cover Story interjected, "is that we need to swear you in on our operations before we can bring you into the Canter Mount facility."
"What he said," Double held up a a copy of the Equi Carta towards Flash. "Ya know the drill, guardpony."
Flash rolled his eyes, placed his right forehoof on the document, and intoned from memory. "I, LCpl. Flash Sentry, swear to never speak of any confidential information I am entrused with, in the interest of the safety and security of the Kingdom of Equestria and her citizens. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Now can we go see Doctor Von Doomsday?" He gave a lopsided grin in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Clef. His name's Dr. Treble Clef," Cover corrected with an exasperated sigh. He began trotting towards the Equestrian Revenue Service building in downtown which served as the surface entrance to OCS headquarters. The others followed, Flash slowing his pace to match Sweetie's. He lowered his voice to a whisper for a private conversation with his... friend? Was 'friend' a good word for a pony that beat him up and stuffed him into a torpedo tube? Only one way to find out.
*psst* "Sweetie! Hey, Sweetie!"
Sweetie perked an ear. "What!?" She hissed back at him from the corner of her mouth.
"Your boss isn't like, actually a mad scientist is he?"
Sweetie snorted at the ridiculous idea. "Of course not, featherbrain! He's just the pony who runs the base! Not everpony with an advanced degree in the espionage community is automatically a supervillian!"
"Thanks. That makes me feel a lot better."
An evil grin spread slowly across Sweetie's muzzle. "Unless you count all the ethically dubious experiments he conducts. Or the paramilitary force he commands with virtually zero oversight. But besides those, nope. Not a supervillian at all..."
"Oh, horsefeathers..."
* * * * *
"Don't forget, Agent Drops; bed rest is mandatory. Twenty-four hours, and light duty for the next week! If you re-fracture those bones in the sparring ring, you have nopony to blame but yourself!" The nurse called out at Sweetie's retreating backside. She waved a hoof at the concerned medical pony to show that she had, at least, heard the advisement. Too many OCS agents wound up at the Canter Mount medical clinic due to the physical nature and inherent danger of the job. Too many of those wound up back at the clinic after being released due to their tendency to ignore the equine body's need for a proper healing period. The doctors' spells could heal burns and breaks, but no magic could erase the stress and fatigue field ponies put themselves through on a regular basis.
Sweetie trotted down the brightly-lit hallway towards the bachelor agents' dorms. For the first time since she escaped the Sorena, she felt good. Her barrel no longer hurt and she wasn't being shot at. The clinic staff had even been nice enough to set her up with an IV that kicked her hangover. I need to get their recipe. She even had week off, doctor's orders, in which she could catch up with Octavia! Sweetie upped her trot to a gallop, quickening her pace through the winding caverns. The sooner she dropped her belongings off at her room, the sooner she could head topside to the city and meet her oldest friend. As she rounded a corner after the Anomalous Artifacts/Pre-Celestial Era vault, she suddenly tripped over a hoof. Her vision swam as she stumbled, barely staying on her hooves. She shook her head and blinked, trying to straighen out the hallway in front of her.
Okay, maybe bed rest wasn't such a bad idea.
"Hey, ma'am!"
Sweetie whirled around, startled. She braced a hoof against the wall to steady herself as the base wobbled around her again. Yep, nap first, then Octie. She pressed her eyes shut for a second, then opened them to spot a midnight-blue pegasus trotting out of one of the briefing halls. "Hey, Night Glider. How was the debrief?"
"It went fine. Dr. Treble congratulated all of us. Asked everypony to keep it quieter next time, though." She ran a hoof through her permanently-windswept mane. "I got the impression this happens a lot? This is my first year in the Shadowbolts."
"You could say that," Sweetie smiled. "I've only done smaller missions before now, but from what I can tell, nothing goes as smoothly as it does on a chalkboard. Or in a lab. As long as we stay out of the papers, he's happy. C'mon, let's walk. I'm heading to my dorm." She motioned for Night Glider to follow her.
"Sure, mine's that way too." Night Glider trotted alongside Sweetie. "The doc also gave us our next assignments. Once your promotion goes through, I'm assigned to your team. Looks like we'll be working together again."
"Really? What about Evening Mist?"
"She's training a new squadron, Mr. Cross and Mr. Story are heading to the Amarezon Basin next week. Looks like it's you and me. And Flash," she added as they trotted past the entrance to the Tartarans and Sapient Threats cellblock.
"Sentry??" Sweetie stopped and stared at Night Glider.
"Y-yeah, they're making him a liason or something. Doc seemed pretty impressed with him."
"Great," Sweetie muttered. "They're promoting me to babysitter."
"He didn't seem any happier about it than you are, ma'am. He wasn't bad for a guardspony, you said yourself he held his own on the Sorena. Didn't he save your life?"
"Yeah, once." Sweetie admitted. "Maybe twice. That's not the issue, he's just so clueless and annoying. It was like a Colt Scout following me around."
"He'll get better with time, ma'am." Night Glider rolled her eyes as they reached the base's dormitories. "We all do."
"I suppose I should lay off the dummy a bit. And please, Night Glider, I think we can skip formalities after the week we've had." Sweetie found she rather liked the flyer. She spoke her mind and wasn't aloof around the field agents the way most Shadowbolts were. Or... whatever Eve was. "Call me Sweetie. Or Drops, if you'd prefer."
"I think I'll go with Drops. Calling you 'Sweetie' sounds like we're special someponies." Night Glider grinned.
"Fair enough," Sweetie said as they turned the corner to her dorm's hallway. "Were you in the Guard, if you don't mind me asking? You seemed to know a lot about them before."
Night Glider shook her head. "Wonderbolts. I served in a rescue flyer squadron for a few years; rode around on carrier airships, found lost campers, that sort of thing. Didn't quite have the speed for the airshow team, though, they turned me down after my second time through the Academy. I met Bossmare a little while after that, and the rest is history."
"Oh," Sweetie replied, unsure of what to say. "Well... their loss. Wind Rider doesn't know what he missed out on."
"Thanks," Night Glider gave her a small smile. "Is this you?" She asked as they came to a stop near a plain numbered door in the dormitory hall. Sweetie nodded. "Guess I'll let you get some shut-eye then. Soooooo... friends?" She held up a hoof to Sweetie.
"Friends." Sweetie bumped it.
"Cool! Anyway, I'm looking foward to-- oh, for moon's sake..." She stared across the hall. Sweetie turned to see what captured her attention.
It was Eve, pink eyes pink...er and puffy as she sobbed and wailed. She made her way over to the two ponies, blowing her nose on a wing as she went. "I-I-I thought we'd have more time!" She wailed, throwing the same wing around Night Glider and pulling her close for a hug. "I'm gonna miss you, wingmare!" She buried her face into the crook of Night Glider's neck, nuzzling her and depositing more mucus across the younger mare's coat.
"Aah! Bossmare, it'll be okay, I promise! We'll still do missions together and I'll see you around the base and everything!" Night Glider tried futilely to squirm out of Eve's crushing grip. Eve eventually let go on her own, ruffling Night Glider's mane with a wing.
She then turned to Sweetie, holding a small slip of paper in her fangs. "Here, thish ish for you." Sweetie took the paper from her and she retreated, heading for the hall's exit. "Take care of her!"
"What does it say?" Night Glider asked. Sweetie unfolded the paper. She skipped the OCS memo letterhead and started reading the mouthwriting below.
YOUR NEW SHADOWBOLT AND YOU
Feeding and Care Instructions
1. Three meals a day. I try and mix kibble with wet food
2. Take them for regular walks. They get anxious without enough exercise.
3. Preening is not strictly necessary, they can do it themselves. But if you do, TAKE PICTURES.
-Eve
"You... really don't want to know..." Sweetie replied.
"That doesn't suprise me as much as it should," Night Glider nodded in understanding. Her relatively short career with the Service had already imprinted quite a few lessons, Lesson One being that there were some questions better left unanswered. "Want to grab drinks tomorrow? I'd say today, but you look like you're about to fall asleep on your hooves."
"Thanks, but I have to take a rain check. There's somepony I've been meaning to visit..."
* * * * *
Celestia's sun shone brightly on the Canterlot Academy quad. Ponies milled about, enjoying their lunch hour and the beautiful cloudless sky. A small circle of unicorns played a game of Magic Hackeysack, bouncing a glowing ball of energy to and fro. A few ponies from the Student Activities Committee tacked up flyers on posterboards detailing the upcoming Friendship Games events. The CA Arts and Drama Clubs sat in their usual spot near the front steps, eating lunch and chatting about the latest school gossip.
Suddenly, a pair of high-pitched shrieks shattered the peace and quiet, along with several windows facing the courtyard.
"OCTIE!!!"
"SWEETHEART!!"
A gray streak galloped out from the gaggle of ponies, leaving her friends to rub their pained ears. It hurtled towards the other side of the courtyard, whipping ponies manes and scattering picnic spreads in its wake. The pony projectile then collided with a cream-coated mare on the far side of the quad with the force of a meteor impact. Students dove for cover as the resulting ball of momentum rolled through and eventually came to rest outside the dining hall. The dust slowly settled to reveal Sweetie sprawled across the grass, trapped in a viselike hug courtesy of one Octavia Clef.
"Octie... need air..."
"Ooh! Sorry!" Octavia instantly released Sweetie, who promptly went limp. This is soft grass. I'm going to stay here for a while. "Sweetie, I've missed you so much! It's been almost two years! Two! Years! We have so much to catch up on!"
"I--ow--I missed you too, Octie! I never meant for it to be so long! Things just got so crazy after I finished agent training, and then you got so busy here..."
"Sweetheart, don't worry about a thing. You're here now, that's all that matters," Octavia reassured Sweetie as she offered her a hoof. Sweetie took it, and Octavia pulled her oldest friend back up on all fours. "So, the homecoming celebration isn't until tonight, what shall we do in the meantime? I can show you around campus? Or we can explore the city like old times? Perhaps see a play?"
Sweetie said nothing, smiling expectantly at her old friend.
"...Top of the mountain?"
"You know me so well, Octie."
* * * * *
"This... is... much steeper than I remember..." Octavia wheezed as she pulled herself up the slope towards the mountain's craggy peak.
"C'mooooooooooon slowpoke!" Sweetie called out from somewhere above her.
"I am going as fast as I can!" Octavia cried back indignantly. She looked up at Sweetie. Her friend was already at the top of the slope, standing high on the ridge leading to Canter Mount's summit. She stared off into the horizon, one hoof raised, the mountian winds whipping her mane and tail around her. Octavia was sure she'd seen that exact pose on quite a few adventure novel covers. "A little help, if you wouldn't mind?"
"Oh! Sorry, just enjoying the view, it's been a while." Sweetie extended a foreleg down towards Octavia. Octavia hooked it with a fetlock and found herself suddenly pulled up the last few paces. Sweetie had always outpaced her on their little hikes, but now she was practically channelling Daring Do. Privately, Octavia preferred to take the elevator from her father's lab.
"You've gotten quite adept at this, I must say," she said as she found her footing atop the ridge, pausing for a second to catch her breath. "Didn't you break a rib a few days ago?"
"Three, actually. The clinic patched me up. Nothing a little magic, bed rest, and drugs couldn't fix!"
"How in Equestria did you manage that?!" Octavia asked as they trotted up the ridgeline to the summit. They didn't have too long before the Princess set the sun and Canterlot Academy's Homecoming Weekend officially began.
"Fought a crazy mare in a super suit."
"My word, it's quite the exciting life you've made for yourself. Let me guess, she had found Anubis's Scepter and was about raise an army of mummies?"
"You're not too far off," Sweetie replied as they reached the peak of Canter Mount. Both ponies paused to lay down for a moment on the cool rock. It wasn't quite as Sweetie remembered it; the late-fall sun was setting further south, casting the Crystal Mountains into shadow instead of painting the range in sherbert light. "All my other assignments were... easier? Less intense, maybe? The stakes were much lower, that's for sure. I was really worried about this one."
"And yet you pulled through with flying colors, Sweetheart. Look at you! Mission accomplished and no... mostly no worse for wear!"
"It was more dumb luck than anything else. I still have no idea who was behind it, or if they'll try again." Sweetie's ears flattened, feeling worry for the first time since she arrived yesterday. The more she thought about the mission, the more questions started popping up.
"And if they do, I'm sure you'll be there to properly show them what for, hmm?" Octavia reassured her. "I think the ponies of the Trotjan Islands are eternally grateful for your help."
"True," Sweetie agreed. Octie did have a point there.
...
"Wait, how did you know where I went? Did Double Cross tell you?"
"Tell my father he needs to update his tricks, dear. He uses Prince Blueblood as a distraction for the press far too often for his own good. The prince may be spoiled, but he's far too shrewd a politican to commit such diplomatic bungles," Octavia smirked. She didn't get to boast of her own deviousness too often. "Once I saw that on the front page of Equestria Daily, I hunted around in the international section until I found a little blurb about a skirmish between some pirates and a griffon zeppelin. That same zeppelin just happened to be the only private flight into Canterlot the day you arrived."
"...You sure you don't want to join the Service too? Sounds like you're better at this than I am."
"Hardly. Look at me, I was dead on my hooves from this climb and you're hardly breaking a sweat! When did you become such an athlete?"
"Heh, yeah they put me through the guantlet in training. But don't you get plenty of cardio shaking your pom-poms around cheering 'Go Dragons!'?"
Octavia made a face at Sweetie's mockery. "Ugh, like I'd cheer for those louts on the polo team. I'm in the university program now! Surrounded by ponies of culture, who share my passion for the arts!"
"Sounds a little frou-frou to me. Actually, you're sounding a little frou-frou too!" Sweetie giggled as she ducked Octavia's swing.
"Sweetie, you take that back this instant! Don't you think for a second I won't take you down!"
Sweetie dodged and twisted as her friend attempted to tackle her, careful to avoid the mountain's edge. "What, no 'callenge to hooficuffs, my dear lady'? Need a minute to put your monocle away?"
"Ugh, you are awful, you know that?"
"I try my best."
"You certianly do. The music and theater schools are thankfully bereft of most of those spoiled children. Only ponies with a real interest in the subject matter bother continuing their education to this level. I still don't know why they don't let us drop the gen-ed courses once we get our Cutie Marks."
"That sounds nice," Sweetie only had a vauge idea of what Octavia meant, having left school for the Service as soon as she was legally allowed to. her Cutie Mark didn't require much in the way of higher learning. "So no more Upper Crust or Fleur De Lis then?"
"Dis Lee, her name's Fleur Dis Lee. She's still there, believe it or not. She's a very talented actress, and quite pleasant to be around once she's removed from those toxic groupies."
"Well it's good you're making new friends, I suppose." Octavia had never grown particularly close to anypony during her earlier years at the Academy. Her beauty, manners, and musical talent earned her respect from the school's ruling cliques, but as the daughter of educators and civil servants, she secretly detested their sense of entitlement.
"It is wonderful being around ponies that share my interests." Octavia smiled as she sun slowly sink towards the distant horizon. "Want to meet them? We were planning to go to the celebration as a group!"
"Octie, I'm a spy. I can't exactly chat up everypony like I'm running for Princess of the Fall Formal."
"Oh dear, I'd hope not!" Octavia giggled. "Fleur would not like that at all. It's the first year where she isn't running against an actual Princess. Can't you can use your alias if you're not comfortable using your real name? What's she called again, Gumdrop Smiles?"
"Octieeee," Sweetie sighed. "Gumdrop Smiles is an international criminal. I use that name for all my dirty work! She has five warrants in Equestria alone, I can't be her around your school friends!"
"So use another one! If you create a new identity, she can be my dearest childhood friend! That way, nopony will now who you really are and you can keep everypony here distanced from the more... uncouth aspects of your work life."
"Well... I suppose it couldn't hurt to socialize a bit," Sweetie said. "Hmm, a new identity..." She racked her brain for ideas. "How about 'Taffy'?"
"Doesn't go with your cutie mark, dear."
Sweetie glanced back at the three hard candies on her flank, as if it was their fault. "Gumball?"
"That's more of a stallion's name, isn't it?"
"Sour Sweet?"
"I'm afraid there's already a mare at the Academy with that name. You do not want to be mistaken for her, trust me."
Sweetie rolled her eyes. "Bon-Bon?"
"Hm... well, I suppose it will have to do. You only need to use it for a few hours. Come now, 'Bon-Bon'! Let's head to the homecoming celebration and introduce you to everypony! I'm sure you and Vinyl will get along, she's a little rough around the edges but she's accomplished some amazing work with digital audio production..." Octavia continued to speak of her schoolmate's many accomplishments as they both began the downhill trot back to the city.
Sweetie cringed. Octavia nonwithstanding, she wasn't used to socializing with ponies outside of work. She didn't exactly have much in common with these ponies. What do they even talk about? Classes? Who's shacking up with whom? Probably not the latest innovations in urban combat or how to properly track and tag a tatzlwurm. "Maybe we could just hit a bar instead? There's a saloon over by the castle district, the Crazy Horse, where all the government workers go. They've got pretty good specials!"
"Sweetie Malory Drops, a proper mare does not get inebriated before the sun has even set!"
Sweetie stared, dumbstruck. Canterlot Academy's prim and proper atmosphere must've changed Octavia more than she realized. What had happened to her friend?
Her fears were unfounded, as a second later Octavia leaned over to her, raising a hoof to her mouth and putting on a stage whisper. "She waits until the stars come out! Unless it's... I believe the term is 'Sunday Funday'?"
Sweetie laughed and threw a foreleg around Octavia as the two made their way down the ridge towards the gravel path below. "There's the Octie I know!"
"Well I'd hope I hadn't changed that much. Speaking of, still haven't gotten over your airsickness?"
"I--wait, what?"
"I may have heard about an 'incident' at the aerodrome yesterday morning," Octavia expained, quickly slipping out from under Sweetie's forehoof. She held up a hoof to cover her laughter as Sweetie's mind clicked.
"Double Cross did tell you, you JERKS!" She lunged at Octavia, but her friend was ready. She ducked Sweetie's tackle and took off along the mountain trail at a dead sprint. She reached the bottom of the ridge ahead of Sweetie, and quickly pulled the cover off the fake boulder concealing the elevator down to her father's facility. The gate doors clanged shut a split second before Sweetie reached them, leaving her to glare down her friend as the elevator slowly decended into the mountain. "I am going to make you regret this, Octavia Clef! The both of you!"
"Yes, yes, you're very scary," Octavia assured her in what was likely a disengenuous manner, playfully blowing a raspberry at her angry friend. "LetsmeetupinhalfanhourI'minPlatinumHallRoom413SeeyousoonSweetheart!" She spoke quickly as her head dipped below ground level, leaving Sweetie to fume as the sun gently dipped below the horizon.
* * * * *
Elsewhere...
Trot Harbor was a beehive of nautical activity. In the few days since the Sorena sunk, ships and airships swarmed the ordinarily sleepy little port, most bearing the colors of the Griffon Empire or the Earth-Unicorn-Pegasus Royal Navy. A select few in the center of the commotion flew no flag at all, their matte-black paint jobs allowing to blend in perfectly to any environment without raising suspicion. While no residents of Trot were allowed to take their own boats too close, anypony standing on the shoreline easily see the cranes pulling up pieces of wrecked submarine from the bottom of the harbor. Most paid it only a passing interest, then continued on with their lives, happy to be out from under the jackboots of a group of lowlife killers.
A few local fisherponies were annoyed at the dredging operation, as it forced them to cast their lines further out, in choppier waters away from the harbor and its easy fishing. Too much heavy machinery spooked the wildlife and made their lives that much more inconvenienced. One such pony, about to reel in and give up after an afternoon of zero luck, suddenly felt a tug on his line. It caught him by surprise for a second; he hadn't gone into the day with high expectations. He grabbed his pole and began to reel in the slack.
After a second, the line wouldn't reel in anymore. Frowning, he pulled back, trying to play whatever he had hooked. It wouldn't budge. Must be stuck on something. Suddenly, he felt a second tug, much harsher than before. He let out a yelp and began pulling back with all his strength as he tried to out-muscle whatever behemoth he had snagged.
He cried out in shock as whatever was on the other end yanked back, sending him tumbling out of his boat and into the water. He splashed and struggled as he attempted to swim back to his boat, but it was already puttering away.
Onboard, a multi-ton monstrosity pulled herself up onto the deck. She slowly examined the rig she wore for damage. The customized diving rig was hardened, plate armor woven into the many layers of fabric. Hydraulic actuators gave her fifty times the strength of the toughest earth pony. It bristled with various oceanographic and geologic attachments, most of which also could be used as melee weapons. Oxygen tanks and life support gems allowed her to survive on the ocean floor indefinitely.
They were also the only things keeping her alive. The Sorena's violent demise had damaged both the suit and her body to near the breaking point. The enchantments in the gems were now the only things that kept her going. Well, that and blinding rage at a certian snarky earth pony who caused this whole mess.
Professor Marié Bathysphere sighed as she removed her hemet, now the only piece of the rig she could. She would wear this suit for the rest of her life.
"Not looking so good there, eh?" A voice from behind her remarked. A yellow unicorn with a burgundy mane clambered down off her back, another survivor of the Sorena. She pulled off the scuba tank and regulator she wore. Their escape had been twofold, Bathysphere had the mass and raw strength to pull them out of the wreck and plod across the seafloor away from the salvage ships, while this crewmember's magic had pulled them both up to the water's surface.
"No. It's damaged, fused shut," Bathysphere replied, hoofing her diving helmet over to the crewmate. "I could say the same to you. How did you manage to survive, Miss..."
"Fire Lily," the unicorn said. She shivered suddenly. "Brr! It's a bit nippy out for the tropics, don't you think?" She lit a spell, a warm glow surrounding her body. "There was an air pocket on my deck, it lasted me long enough."
"That's not what I meant." Bathysphere pointed an armored foreleg at Fire Lily's flank, where three crossbow bolts were sunk into her hindquarters.
"Oh! Those! Right. Magic helped too." Lily shrugged. "Air pocket and magic. Anyway, you didn't happen to see if Captian Gideon made it out, did you?"
"I did not."
"Damn."
"I imagine you are seeking payment for your time on Gideon's crew. I'm sorry Mate Lily, but I can't help you at the moment. I already transferred the funds to Gideon for your company's services. We will need to make our way back to shore, then find transportation off this island." Bathysphere plodded over to the small boat's wheel. "The Equestrian mainland would be best, but Minos will also suffice. Once we arrive, I can contact my financiers, arrange for resources to start again, and this time, i guarantee that, should Sweetie Drops try to interfere, she will meet a swift and painful mmpf!--" She couldn't finish her thought. It suddenly felt as if hot iron tongs clamped around her muzzle. She tried to rear up, but something rooted her firmly to the deck. Out of the corners of her eyes, she could see translucent streaks of orange shimmering over her divesuit, steam wafting off where they touched.
"Yeah, I don't think so."
Fire Lily walked back into her field of view, horn glowing. Her spell's intensity flared for a moment, and the crossbow bolts in her flank suddenly flared up and crumbled into ash. As the light and heat subsided, Bathysphere could see no wounds where they had been.
"First, I'm not leaving here with you," she told the stunned professor. "We can't exactly buy a ticket, and how am I going to stow away when you're with me? You look like that robot from The Day Equus Stood Still. Second, and trust me, nopony's more embarrased about this than me, I may have led you on juuuust a little." She gave Bathysphere a sheepish smile, her eyes shining with a predatory gleam.
"I'm not really on Gideon's crew. Management sent me to keep an eye on their investment. And wow-ee, the boys downstairs are not happy with the returns they're seeing."
Bathysphere gulped audibly.
"I mean, they bankrolled you to the tune of millions. Millions! Payroll. Equipment. Planning. Bribes. The whole shebang! And all they asked for was one measelly little hole in the ocean bedrock! Hell, they even let you pick where! Personally, I don't understand your whole beef against the seaponies or that 'poetic justice' thing you got going. Just let the hippocampi... hippocamp, y'know?" Her grin slowly turned from 'sheepish' to 'evil'.
"Anyway, point is you wasted those bits. You don't get another shot. In case you didn't get the memo while you were turning this project into a complete clusterfuck, you've been let go."
She levitated Bathysphere up a few feet, hardly breaking a sweat. The professor let out a few hepless mmphs. "Ooh, right! Here, take my card if you need a referral." A small white business card floated over to Bathysphere.
TM&D LLC
LILITH
Senior VP, Mergers and Expansions
"...but in the meantime, enjoy the ocean floor." Her magic winked out. Bathysphere didn't even get a sound out before she plunged back into the water, her heavy suit dragging her down like a stone. "Y'know, for as long as you can. Probably hard to breathe down there without this sucker." She tossed the suit's helmet overboard, where it bobbed with the ocean swells.
Fire Lily turned to the boat's wheel, taking it and steering the craft back towards Trot's shoreline. She hummed as she sailed, fairly happy with how the day had gone.