//------------------------------// // 9: The Derelict Part 1 // Story: Friendship: Beyond Equestria // by law abiding pony //------------------------------// Prism and Silver rode along inside the cramped cockpit of the Deep Diver submarine. As with most of Pathfinder vehicles, the vessel was much larger than a normal two person submarine due to needing to be independent of supply drops for long stretches of time. At present, Silver was torn between watching over the instrument readings telling him that the submarine was running smoothly, and watching the sensor screens. Cameras, sonar, and other scanners gave both pathfinder and engineer a comprehensive view of the sea as they descended deeper into the darkening water. Silver kept fighting with himself between watching the colorful schools of fish that seemed to twist and dance around the submarine as it cruised just above the ocean floor, and keeping his eyes on the controls. Prism on the other hand couldn’t shake the isolation and crushing weight of the ocean all around her, yet she couldn’t help but to grin at Silver’s childlike wonder. “Enjoying the view?” “This place is amazing!” Silver exhaled in awe as a particularly spiny fish flittered past the camera. A small orca looking creature started swimming along the submarine in a clear sign of curiosity at the new strange metal fish. “It feels so… peaceful down here, even with all the fish. Thanks for letting me come along.” “Ahhh, it’s your birthday,” Prism replied with a jovial tone and a clap on his shoulder, “besides I needed an engineer to help run this thing anyway.” Silver peeled his eyes away from the curious creature outside. It was following along the submarine, and glancing at it any time it could spare a moment. “So what do you think we might find at the site? The readings said the alloy concentration was massive.” Prism shrugged while mostly ignoring the fish. “Who knows. Could be a storehouse for metal, a factory, or maybe a yacht.” “Ha! I doubt anything in the minibar would be edible anymore.” Silver turned towards a minor alert on the ceiling control board, and expertly dealt with the issue. “Strange.” He continuing working on the instrument panel, drawing Prism’s attentive eye. “What is it? A bigger fish?” “Well… Our plotted course puts us right through a… a something.” Prism lifted a dubious eyebrow. “Is that a technical term, Mr. Engineer?” Silver grumbled to himself at the slip. “I’d say it was a small island if we weren’t so deep.” His breath caught as he studied the myriad of sensor consoles. “And moving.” Had it not been for her fur, Prism would have been white as a sheet. “A m-moving island?” Silver, not being quite as petrified at massive marine live moved over to the navigation controls. “How about we just plot us around it and hope whatever that thing is, doesn’t come after us?” “Sounds fine by me.” Prism shook as a chill ran down her spine and set her feathers on edge. That fear was not enough to keep her from looking at the sensors to size up the living island. Trapped in a tiny tin can with monsters that size outside? Noooo thank you. Once his course correction was complete, Silver promptly returned his gaze to the scanners to get a better look at the leviathan. “By Twilight’s holy flank that thing is awesome! It’s got four tentacles the size of skyscrapers!” The expletive was just what Prism needed to focus on something other than the looming death that surely awaited her. “It sounds really weird to hear that kinda thing about my mom, you know that?” Silver ignored her comment and dragged the screen over to her. “Forget that, look!” Prism shot him a scowl before turning her gaze towards the screen. I’m not going to look like a scaredy filly to him, no way! The sonar imaging screen revealed the island sized mass was just fifteen kilometers away, but virtually empty ocean directly beneath it. Dozens of small moving stalactites moved and churned against a whale sized object held in close. Yet above it all were four gigantic tentacles that were enormously thick, and were long enough to drag across the sea floor. As the scanners worked to paint a more complete picture, the ponies saw bits and pieces of flesh fell away from the leviathan as it gorged itself on a whale-sized meal. Smaller fish swarmed below, scavenging off the falling scraps. “Wooow... Okay, well next time we see a giant sea monster that could eat the colony in a single bite, you can curse in mom’s name all you want. How da ‘ell does something get that big?!” Silver punched in a series of course corrections that just about lurched the submarine away from the leviathan. “How should I know, you’re the explorer here.” Prism all but plastered her face to the cameras. Fear was giving way to morbid curiosity, like staring into the eyes of a film killer and being unable to turn away. She drank in the sheer size of the behemoth looming in the distance. “It’s like Tartarus dropped a monster in our world just to screw with us.” “I hope you’re not planning to get a closer look,” Silver gave her a deeply concerned look as her robotic hand seemed to drift towards the controls. “Please tell me you don’t want to get a closer look.” Prism snapped out of her trance and jerked her hand away from the controls and deactivated it. Embarrassment flooded her, making Prism turn her seat away from Silver. “N-no! I hate sealife, remember?” Prism’s embarrassment was as plain as black paint on pristine snow. At this moment, a nugget of Firefly’s advice rang in Silver’s head. It’s perfectly fine to tease a girl a little. Get her to laugh, or fuss a bit and she’ll think you’re playful. A mare like Prism? She’ll drop you in a second if she thinks you’re dull. Well, here goes. Taking on a slight tone of mockery, Silver teased a button with the tip of his hoof. "You know, the submarine is equipped to take bio samples from local wildlife.” Silver pressed the button to extend a ten meter long pole with a snapper at the end. “I'm sure the guy wouldn't miss a chunk missing out of that big tentacle over there.” Silver ever so slightly pulled right on the controls, making the submarine slowly turn towards the leviathan. Prism’s heart ran ice cold at the thought of it. Just before she turned around, the tone of voice smacked her of Firefly. That stupid idiot. He’s gotta be joking, so play it cool. Got my reputation to uphold and all Doing her best to keep the fear out of her voice, Prism leaned back in her chair and slowly spun it around to face him. “Sounds cool to me. Why not just use one of the torpedoes to blow off a sample first?” Silver’s playful smirk threatened to burst into snickering at Firefly’s advice striking another win in his eyes. He turned the sub back on course, much to Prism’s profound relief. “Well that would certainly be an interesting way to do it, but sadly I think we’ll have to pass. Ruby would have my ass on a platter if we used a torpedo for that.” Prism released the breath she’d been holding and went about recording the sensor readings on the living island. Whew, crisis averted. I swear, when I get my hooves on Firefly, we’re going to have words about Silver. With the cabin falling into silence, Silver double checked the new course and the destination waypoint. “Anyway, it looks like we’ll be there in a few hours.” And hopefully avoid anymore living islands along the way, Prism mused worriedly. Twilight Sparkle stepped into the sterile white lab on the same ring as the med-bay. The laboratory itself was a small affair, roughly the size of a garage with most of the space being crammed with equipment to the point where she worried her larger size might cause her to bump into something. “Doctor Theorem?” she called to announce herself as she stepped fully inside. A clatter of falling plastic cups heralded the clumsy arrival of a crystal stallion and bat pony mare from behind one of the rows of machines. “Ah, Princess!” the doctor casually kicked some of the coffee stained cups back out of sight of Twilight and bowed with the mare quickly following suit. “Thank you for coming. I can imagine how busy you are.” “I make it a point to visit my subjects when I can.” Twilight gestured for them to rise while looking at the mare. “Your highness, I am Doctor Blue Shift,” the mare said with a thick Trottingham accent. “A pleasure to have you with us.” Twilight nodded kindly before returning her attention to the stallion. “Now, I trust you called me down here because you have news on Prism’s... filter.” “I most certainly do, your highness, and most exciting news it is! Please, this way!” He beckoned her towards the back with Blue Shift stepping out of the way to allow Twilight to go before her. “I trust that it’s harmless then?” Twilight walked carefully, avoiding discarded coffee cups and the occasional wrapper. Her inner neat-freak went on autopilot and she started levitating all the pieces of trash and refuse before tossing them into the wall mounted receptacle. Being so focused on his findings, Theorem scarcely noticed her activity while Blue Shift was beet red in embarrassment. “Oh most assuredly,” Theorem said proudly as he readied his findings on five different screens for Twilight’s preview. He pressed one last button causing a bright overhead light to spring to life. He turned to address Twilight with a slightly louder tone. “Just a heads up, your highness, I’m recording this conversation so that I can re-experience the historic brilliance of today’s reveal in full glory later.” Twilight gave him a sardonic look while Blue Shift’s embarrassed blush only intensified. “How about you tell me what this is about before making claims of historic grandeur.” Honestly. How long is it going to take before ponies stop thinking every discovery they do will get them five minutes of fame in a history class? Theorem’s ego never wavered as he spoke with a hint of fond memory. “A great stallion once said, ‘If you want a better deal with evolution, cut out the middlemare’.” “Gene Splice,” Twilight rattled off without missing a beat. “He founded DNAdvance if I recall correctly.” Theorem chuckled and waggled a knowing hoof at her. “You never cease to amaze me, Princess. That’s exactly right.” He waved a hoof at the desk mounted screens, causing the first monitor to display a section of Prism’s throat with her alien filter being highlighted. “As you know, princess, Doctor Sawbones gave me the task of analyzing and studying this biological filter your daughter acquired roughly three months ago.” “Wait, he gave it to you?” Twilight asked with genuine surprise. Blue Shift ruffled her wings nervously. “Y-yes, your highness. Since he was getting swamped making sure the one thousand one hundred and eighty new mothers are receiving the proper maternity care, not to mention military casualties. Both he and his staff have been too busy to deal with this.” Wow… Right. He must have sent a memo about it or something. “I remember now. So what did you find?” “I was hoping you’d ask me that.” Theorem waved again, causing the second screen to reveal a long gene sequence. “We mapped out and isolated the genes involved with Prism’s filter. And for the past several weeks Voyager’s been running millions of simulations matching that same DNA as if it had been spliced into the colonists.” Twilight raised a worried eyebrow as Theorem continued. “And not just those currently here, but I plan on finishing a complete simulation for every possible offspring any of us could have for the next four generations.” Realization dawned on Twilight, and she wasn’t exactly sure if that was a good thing. “You’re testing to see if this is safe for us all, aren’t you?” Blue Shift remained tight-lipped while Theorem looked at Twilight as if she’d grown a second head. “Isn’t that what we should be doing anyway? Gene therapy to give everypony this filter, I mean.” Twilight took a moment to process this. “I’m sure you’ve run into plenty of genetic incompatibilities though.” Blue Shift spoke up before Theorem. “We did, actually. This is after all quite alien to our physiology, even if Prism’s alicorn magic cleaned up the code considerably for us.” “I already accounted for that too, your highness,” Theorem exclaimed with no lost enthusiasm. “But I firmly believe that when provided with adequate data, anypony can predict the future. Coming from a gene pool of barely two and a half thousand ponies, Voyager has already nearly finished compiling everything.” Blue Shift stepped in when Theorem took a breath. “I’ve gone over his work with a nano-sized comb, your highness. So far, it’s airtight. The risks are minuscule while our population is currently so small. Less chance for a negative reaction to be missed and all that. Additionally, catching any incompatibilities now would allow future generations to be free of them.” Blue Shift gestured at her personal display and sent Twilight the relevant data, which even by Twilight’s standards was exhaustively extensive. As interested as Twilight was in diving into a mountain of fascinating data, her duty as ruler and the safety of her people came first. “Alright. Let’s say for the sake of argument that this is airtight. My daughter’s… filter lets her breath easily enough, but she still has to protect her eyes and ears, from the outside air or else she gets poisoned. Not a pretty sight let me tell you.” Blue Shift interposed herself between Twilight and Theorem, much to his chagrin. “Actually, Princess, I’ve been working on a counter plan that could address just that.” “You’ve been working against yourself?” Twilight asked with a confused ear flopping down. “Not quite,” Theorem explained with a proud nod at his assistant. “I fully believe in tackling the same problem at different angles. While Blue here has been instrumental in my genetic work, a good deal of that time was spent waiting around for the computer to finish the latest experiment.” He gave a ‘go ahead’ nod towards Blue Shift who shifted nervously and cleared her throat. “Right, well, you see, I haven’t had the same amount of time to really iron out a plan B, much less a C or D, but I was thinking that we could instead modify the trees and crop seeds we’ve brought with us to filter out the biological particles in the air. It would admittedly take a long time, and vast stretches of land to have any appreciable results, but we could start some low level terraforming by doing so.” “That’s not exactly a project we have the resources or personnel to enact any time soon, doctor.” “My thoughts exactly, your highness.” Theorem waved at another screen revealing a few bar graphs which Twilight quickly inferred represented resource and power consumption both present and in the future. “I had a mathematician friend of mine come up with the numbers on how much we expend on keeping our colony completely isolated from the native atmosphere. I may not be an accountant, your majesty, but the costs will only skyrocket the longer we stay here if we want to grow beyond what we currently have. We can come up with different solutions for protecting our eyes and ears from the dust later, but I think our current helmets do a fine enough job of that for the time being. After all, we have to talk baby steps, right?” Twilight mulled over the idea carefully. “Pause the recording for a bit.” As Theorem obeyed, Twilight turned away to contemplate not just the idea in of itself, but the side effects it would cause. I don’t know for sure how many ponies would be comfortable with this. Prizzy gets a pass because it was an accident, but this would have to be compulsory. It wouldn’t be worth it to have only some of the colonists accept the filter while others didn’t. The two scientists waited pensively as their monarch debated with herself. At last, Twilight turned back to the scientists. “Tell you what, doctors. This is without a doubt, a monumental decision that I can't consciously impose on the colony without live testing.” She was quick to wave off Theorem’s coming objection. “I know you have complete faith in your simulator, but there are somethings that will always need real life tests to satisfy the public. “Round up a dozen or so volunteers of all tribes and as diverse of a genetic background as you can manage. If all goes well, I will make the procedure an elective for the rest of the year before it becomes compulsory.” Theorem didn’t even bother trying to hide his muzzle splitting grin while Blue Shift was more or less satisfied. “Never fear, your highness! I’ll have the procedure perfected long before then.” “P-provided we get more personnel on the project,” Blue Shift interjected quickly. “After all, Voyager can’t replace a full staff.” “We’re already pressed thin as it is,” Twilight replied sternly. “I can maybe shift over two more ponies your way, but there are other critical projects ongoing.” Before Blue Shift could make any further pleas for more help, Theorem draped a foreleg around her, silencing Blue Shift. “We’ll be more than able to work with that. Thank you for your generosity, your highness.” I’ve seen his kind before. They get so focused on their work, they don’t seem to grasp that other teams have just as equally important work. Twilight maintained a stern yet friendly regal posture. “Just remain diligent and honest, doctors. Every hurdle to this must be ironed out before the gene therapy becomes compulsory. I am willing to accept delays, not accidents in this matter.” “We’ll give it our all, your highness, you can be assured of that.” Theorem bowed, prompting Blue Shift to rapidly do the same. Satisfied, Twilight gestured for them to rise before she teleported back to her office. Deep under the waves, Prism’s submarine steamed ahead without rest. Silver’s curiosity of the smaller sea life was back with a vengeance while Prism couldn’t help but to passively admire the beauty of it all. Their path had taken them towards a strangely large mesa that brought the seafloor up high enough for sunlight to barely reach the bottom. Coral reefs teemed with color and fish alike, the clear blue water with the diminished light from above giving the somewhat deep waters a mysterious appeal. A short series of beeps brought Prism’s attention to the control console. “We’re coming up on it now. Switch on the exterior lights.” Silver complied, casting twin circular beams of light out and across the ocean floor. By now, most of the sealife had either lost interest, fled; or in the case of a shark-like creature, been driven off with a few doses of stinging mana bolts. After a few more moments, the drab grey plain of mostly empty ocean floor gave way to what looked like a tall mass of coral easily reaching five stories tall. The ponies brought the submarine to a halt and panned the lights up to reveal the rest of the lumpy coral reef that was completely blanketed in various kinds of colorful filter feeders, darting fish, and brown-green seaweed that swayed to the slow ocean current. Silver and Prism took some time to observe the spectacle before he turned to the readouts. “Well this is certainly the place. The scanner says that alloy… wait, this can’t be right.” “What can’t be?” Prism leaned over to look at his console. “Whole areas in the reef have long stretches of the alloy in artificial patterns.” He turned to her with a growing grin. “I think we found a ship of some kind!” “Whoa! Like a spaceship?!” “Ahh…” Silver checked a few more sensor readings and furrowed his brow in concentration. “I can’t tell. There’s no active artificial power source, magic or otherwise. There is a large amount of other materials and alloys present, but there’s so much water damage I couldn’t tell you if this was an actual starship or just a big yacht.” Prism kept a watchful eye on the marine life, making sure nothing decided they were a snack. “Can’t you just search for an engine, or powerplant?” Silver shook shrugged helplessly. “Even if either one of those are in anything close to their original shape, I’d probably be unable to tell what it was, and I don’t think those sci-fi VRs would give any decent hint to the shape either. So I don’t… what the-” As Silver ran his survey, Prism had been eyeing a large orca sized creature suspiciously, but she was still pulled in by Sliver’s gasp. “Find something?” “Maybe.” He tweaked and adjusted the sensors only to grumble in frustration. “There’s a large air pocket on the far side, but about a quarter meter into the air pocket, it goes completely blank.” “What do you mean blank?” Prism halfway climbed over the dividing console to look at Silver’s screen. “How does that happen?” “Not a clue. I’m still not reading a power source, so I’d imagine it’s just trapped air.” “That’s wouldn’t explain the blank spot.” Prism sat back down and started pressing controls along the top of the cockpit. “You keep trying to figure out what it is. I need to radio this to command.” After a few brief moments, a loud clank was heard off the side of the submarine as a radio buoy detached. Like a torpedo, it raced to the seafloor and anchored itself in place, kicking up a plume of silt. The second part of it inflated and shot towards the surface like a rocket, trailing a thin cable along with it. Prism leaned back in her chair and turned on some music. “Now we wait for it to surface and make contact with command.” Silver climbed out of his chair and shifted around one of the wall mounted lockers for a pair of packages. “Why don’t we go ahead and eat while we wait?” Twilight Sparkle stepped into a busy sickbay with patients sitting or lying down on every bed. Nurses tended to some while others waited their turn. Doctor Sawbones was currently in the isolation room at the far end administering a few shots to a pegasus stallion. Given the sheer number of patients, even that room had been taken up by a non-critical patient. As a standing rule Twilight had among doctors and hospitals, if they were on the job, none them had to bow or otherwise acknowledge her rank upon her arrival. Even so, every pony she passed at least dipped their heads in reverence. All it took was Twilight's security clearance on the network to see that the current patients were all here for immunity adjustment treatments instead of any injuries or illnesses. Just one more step towards surviving outside. Twilight reached Sawbones right as he finished with his current patient. “I have to say, It’s nice to see no pony is injured in here for once,” she announced in a cheery voice. Sawbones turned and smiled broadly at Twilight. “Ah, punctual as ever, and yes, it is a nice change of pace isn’t it? Just a moment more, if you please.” With an affirmative nod from Twilight, Sawbones returned to his original patient. “That should cover you for the next three weeks.” “Thanks, doc. Ah - um - your majesty.” Not knowing the unwritten rules of the hospital the stallion bowed before extraditing himself. Letting it slide, Twilight gave the stallion a reassuring nod before sitting down on the patient bed. “I take it I’ll need four more as well?” “Right you are. But that’s not the only reason for your appointment today. Nurse, go prep the inter-scanner would you?” After waiting for the nurse to acknowledge, he started moving a ceiling mounted scanner over towards Twilight with his magic. “Now, let’s have a look at you two.” Having experienced such examinations many times in the past, Twilight laid on her side as the machine hummed to life. With the moderate privacy of the isolation ward, Twilight brooked conversation as Sawbones worked the probulator. “I had a good time last night. You have an excellent choice in movies.” Sawbones gave a side grin. “Well it’s hard to go wrong with any of Cut Scene’s work. But I’m glad you liked it. His movies have always inspired me.” He hummed at the picture the scanner was giving him. “The fetus looks healthy, and your body is taking to the pregnancy well. Do you want to know the gender now or leave it as a surprise?” Twilight’s small smile faded to a more neutral, if not downtrodden, expression. “I already know it’s a filly.” That got a surprised reaction out of Sawbones. “I know you’re an accomplished spellweaver, but I didn’t think you could detect DNA.” A ghost of Twilight’s good mood returned. “I appreciate the vote of confidence, but not even I am that powerful. I know simply because I can’t have sons.” Sawbones saw the nurse was about to return and quickly sent him a text message to fetch the immune boosters so Twilight could have privacy for a bit longer. “I don’t understand. Is it a political thing, or personal reason?” Twilight snorted derisively and sat up now that Sawbones had removed the scanner from her belly. “I wish it was that simple, but it has to do with my alicorn magic.” She noticed the still perplexed look on his face. “Had I been born a stallion, or at least been one when I ascended, I would only be capable of siring sons. And before you ask, no I can’t even become male if I wanted to for the same reason.” “...Interesting. I have to admit, that sounds like a rather strange side effect to your magic.” “Yes well, eternal youth has it’s price.” If only that was the only price.. Twilight said nothing more, leaving Sawbones with the distinct impression he should change the subject. With a curt message from Sawbones, the nurse stepped over with the vaccines. “Ah here we are. Thank you, nurse, I’ll handle it from here.” The nurse placed the tray of shots on a rollable instrument platform and made his way out to the main room to continue administering to the rest of the patients. Sawbones grabbed the first of the vaccines in his magic and made his way towards Twilight’s nearest wing. “I suppose you’ve heard this a lot in your time,” he said with an attempt at good humor, “but this will only sting for a moment.” While Twilight finished her doctor’s visit, Prism and Silver instinctively stood rigidly upright as Spike spoke them over the radio. His tone was that of curiosity tempered heavily by caution. “So you’re saying you can’t make heads or tails of what’s inside that blank spot?” “No sir,” Silver replied. “After doing some checking, it seems like the scans are getting absorbed rather than being reflected away. I can’t really say one way or another as to the cause though.” “Something that can negate a scanner array as powerful as that submarine’s could be extremely useful when the griffins and minotaurs arrive.” Prism smirked at the idea of new cloaking technology. “I was thinking that too. You want me to EVA and scout it out?” “Yes, but be exceptionally careful, Prism. I don’t want a repeat of last time, understand.” “Believe me, Commander, neither do I.” Prism left her seat and moved towards the back where the airlock and deep sea suits were located. Silver spoke both to Spike and Prism as he started giving the submarine a series of commands. The prospect of finding the unknown made adrenaline rush through his veins, filling him with equal parts excitement and nervousness. “Moving towards the opening. I’ll keep an hourly update schedule from here on, Commander.” “Excellent, Command out.” Spike ended the radio broadcast, leaving Silver to his work. Silver began to move the submarine into position and Prism reached for her suit’s locker. She pulled the lever to unseal the locker and was about to pull her suit out when black spiny fish screeched like a banshee and bounced out at her from inside the locker. “A Gillrana?!” Prism slammed back against the far wall, her heart racing at the attacking monster. She scrabbled against the wall until she saw the fish started bouncing up and down erratically from inside the locker. Silver cried out to her and managed to barrel past the hatch to find Prism only just starting to recover. “What happened!? I heard you screaming like oh-.” He noticed the venomous looking Gillrana fish, but from his angle he could see it was only half a fish suspended on a spring. “Oh boy…” Prism snarled and jumped up to smack the Nightmare Night’s prop away, only for it to bounce even more on the spring. “Stupid fish!” She turned a harsh accusing glare at Silver. “Did Firefly put you up to this!?” “Ummm… Yes.” Silver started sweating bullets and wilted under Prism’s fiery gaze. “H-He said you like a good prank every now and again to... You know, keep things lively and spontaneous.” With a spiteful growl that could peel the feathers off a griffin, Prism grabbed hold of the fish and ripped it away with ease. However, her vengeance was short-lived as a small speaker hidden in the corner of the locker started playing ‘Under the Sea’ with Firefly singing ear-grindingly off key. “Oh that is it!” Prism sent her hoof inside and easily found the player and yanked it out. It didn’t take long to find the off button and switch it. “I am so getting him back for this, you watch!” “I believe you, totally.” He backed up a step when Prism threw the player back in the locker with a satisfying crack of plastic. Silver cringed at her mounting ire and started backing through the hatch only to stop when Prism jabbed a hoof at him. “And when we’re done here, you’re going to help.” “I am?” Silver gulped at the prospect of a prank war. Tradition or not, I want no part of any of that. Prism grinned evilly at the taunting fish in her clutches. “After going along with this? Damn straight you are. This will have to be a prank war for the ages!” Sitting on her hindlegs, Prism cackled madly at her forehooves, imaging the sweet vindictive pranks that were forming in her mind. Silver’s terror only mounted at the no-argument stone cold look in her eyes when she looked back up at him. Tradition it is then. “I’ll -ah- just go finish prepping my end of things.” Silver bid a hasty retreat while Prism contemplated righteous justice as she donned her suit without further incident. Why do I always listen to him?