//------------------------------//
// From a Nautical Mile Away 
// Story: Utaan 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	Logan galloped back onto the top deck, followed closely by Ariel, Wildcard, and Bard.

"What in tarnation is goin' on?!" Bard asked, slapping his hat back onto his head.

"That is prrecisely what we arre attempting to find out, goodly Barrd!" Kepler remarked, struggling to keep the Stardust steady.

"Do the girls sense something?" Ariel asked, hovering above the deck.  Wide-eyed.  "Is it the the midnighters?"

"It's something, alright," Rainbow Dash said, pacing from port to starboard, her ruby eyes plastered to the tossing waves.  "Twilight and Rarity sense round structures underwater."

"Round structures?"

"There are ponies as well," Rainbow said.  "Maybe piloting them."

"Round submersibles?!"  Flynn stuck his head out of the cabin, muzzle agape.  "Where?!  This I have got to see—!"

A violet hoof shoved him back as Remna emerged from below.  "You stay inside.  Don't make me ask twice."

"But, this could be the opportunity of a lifeti—"

"You are the only mortal soul on board this ship who's properly equipped to handle that engine!" Remna growled.  "Stay inside or else I'll nail you to the bulkheads!"  She huffed as she came to a stop in the middle of the deck.  "Austraeoh... you should go back down below."

"Like Tartarus, I am!" Rainbow frowned.  "I've got the all-important channel, remember!"

"Speaking of which, Dashieeeeeeee..."  Pinkie Pie gestured to the anchor's neck, wincing.

"Ahem."  With her eyes on the tossing waves, Rainbow slapped a hoof to her pendant and sputtered:  "Princess Celestia?  Are you there?"

Thunder rolled.  Through the tumult, a flicker of silver light kissed the wet sea air.  "Yes, my child?"

"Better wake Luna.  Quick."  Gulping, Rainbow turned about, eyeing the waves.  "I think we're about to have company."

"Dubya?!"  Bard shaded his brow as he squinted skyward.  "Ya see anythang?"

Wildcard hovered a bit higher than Ariel.  The griffon turned around, goggles rattling.  Eventually he shrugged and gestured rapidly.

"Well, if he can't see anything..."  Logan began.

"The waves arre farr too turrbulent forr even the most trrained eye to pierrce, my frriends!" Kepler hollered, struggling with the rudder wheel.  "And they arre getting even wilderr!"

"What's causing that, you think?" Applejack stammered.

"It's more than just the ocean or the weather," Twilight said, breath tense.  "Something's stirring up the liquid from below."

"Oh goodness...!"  Fluttershy squeaked.

"Flynn!"  Rainbow hollered into the cabin door.  "Twilight says that there's a bunch of magic beneath us!  Do you sense it as well?"

"Uh... h-hard to tell while trying to manage the crystalline batteries, Rainbow!" the stallion sputtered.  "One thing's for sure—the leylines are reacting to something!"

"Well, cut the engines, then!" Rainbow commanded.

"What?!"

"You heard the Austraeoh!" Remna barked.  "This is of dire importance!"  As Flynn obeyed, the air—and the ship—grew a little bit calmer.  Thunder boomed to fill the emptiness left behind the dwindling hum of manabatteries.  "Rainbow Dash..."  Remna placed a hoof on the petite pegasus' shoulder.  "I still think that—"

"Well stop thinking," Rainbow said with a frown.  "You suck at it."  She hollered skyward.  "Wildcard!  Ariel!  Anything yet?!"

"Nothing, Rainbow!"  Ariel called back down as she and the griffon flew alternating circles above the craft.  "But Kepler's right!  If there was a coral reef directly beneath us, we couldn't even see through all the choppiness!"

Wildcard gestured.

"Dubya's right!" Bard wheezed.  "It's a total crapshoot!"

"Dammit to Hell..."  Logan gritted his teeth as he galloped back into the cabin.  "Better fetch my axe."  The obese stallion passed by two jittery looking sarosians.

"So... uh..."  Echo blinked.  "Is this the party or what?"

"Trying to figure that out, dude," Rainbow sputtered.

"Johnny?"  Nicole's leafy ears drooped.  "Is everything okay?"

"Just... just stay inside, darlin'," Bard insisted, waving a hoof.  "We gots a lil' mystery to deal with."

"Mystery?!"  Ariel cackled, waving her forelimbs.  "Who do you think is down there?!  The bride of Verlaxion?!  I'm telling you... this is it!"

With a deep breath, Nicole galloped out and clung to Bard's side.  "Alright... let's do this."

"Let's do what?!"  Bard pushed her gently back.  "We ain't even sure what's goin' on!  Go back inside where it's safe—"

"Dang it, Johnny!"  Nicole frowned.  "If these are really the midnighters, then we need Echo and me on the front line!"

The sarosian at the cabin entrance winced.  "We do?!" Echo's voice cracked.

"What we need is the Mother of Nightmares."  Rainbow tapped her pendant again.  "Celestia!  Where's Luna?" she growled.  "Wakey wakey eggs and bakey..."

"Standby," Celestia calmly said.

"Standby?!  Standby for what?!" Rainbow wheezed.  "With all due respect, Your Highness, this is no time for a tea ceremony—!"

"Bodies!" Fluttershy squeaked.  "Bodies, stirring!"

"They're surfacing!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.

"...!"  Rainbow spun.  "Where at?"

"Starboard side!"  Rarity pointed.  "Three structures!"

"Whoahhhhh boy..."  Applejack hugged her hat to her ghostly chest.

"Everypony!"  Rainbow pointed to the right side of the ship.  "Starboard!  Eyes alive—"

Just as she said this, three gnarled shapes appeared through the ocean's surface.  SP-SP-SPLOOOSH!  Sea water sprayed sky high, then settled in a fine mist.  As the moisture faded, the Herald found themselves gawking at three enormous spheres—like buoys—floating listlessly in the water.

"Rrrrgh!"  Logan re-emerged from the cabin, nearly knocking Echo over.  Schiiiiing!  He brandished his axe, holding it high.  "Where are those pirate bastards?!  Let me at 'em—"  He froze in place, blinking at the dull, bobbing spheres.  "...what in the Hell?"

"They... uh..."  Bard scratched his head.  "They appear to be floatin'."

"Yes..."  Ariel nodded, blinking rapidly.  "We can see that."

Wildcard's goggles reflected the trio of spheres.  He nevertheless unsheathed a pair of nightsticks and held them at ready.

Remna squinted—her equine face frozen in confusion.  When Rainbow Dash trotted towards the starboard edge to get a closer look, the bounty hunter was too entranced to stop her.

"What..."  Rainbow's lips slurred.  "...in the buck...?"

"They look like giant seedlings," Applejack remarked, her eyes tracing the gnarled, veined surfaces of the spheres.  "What are them twisty thingies?  Vines?"

"Rarity...?" Rainbow breathed.

"Uhm..."  The unicorn nervously fluffed her spectral mane.  "I'm getting the same sensation from the structures as I am from plants and trees."

"Then..."  Twilight Sparkle blinked.  "They're biological material?"

"At least constructed from such," Rarity said.  "I... I can't tell if any of it is alive."

"It is and yet it isn't," Fluttershy murmured.  "Beyond that..."

"Any ponies?" Rainbow asked.  Silence.  "Fluttershy?"

"I... I can't get a fix," Fluttershy whimpered.  "It's like the entire ocean around us is alive."

"Whelp..."  Pinkie's features sagged.  "That's not good."

"Look..."  Applejack pointed at the floating spheres.  "You see those?"

"See what?" Rainbow murmured.

"Look like sea serpent testicles," Logan droned.

"Shhhhhh!" Rainbow hissed.  "I'm talking to the girls!"  She looked aside.  "What are you pointing at, AJ?"

"Them spots..."  The farm mare's green eyes narrowed.  "Them white glowy spots."

"What white glowy—?"  Rainbow froze in place.  "Holy cow.  I see them now."  Her brow furrowed.  "What are those?"

Each floating structure was peppered with tiny pale rocks that appeared to shimmer with magical luminescence.

"Most fascinating..."  Kepler gaped, adjusting his spectacles from the rearmost deck.  "Most fascinating indeed..."

"Twilight?" Rainbow asked.

"It's... it's the source of all the magic that I was sensing," Twilight remarked.  "I'm not sure if it's what's holding all of the vines and biomatter together... but I think it's what caused the initial propulsion that brought these things here."

"Yes... but about these thingies..."  Pinkie Pie gulped.  "Why are they just... floating there?  Doing nothing?"

"Probably wondering why we've been doin' the same," Applejack remarked.

Rainbow blinked... then blinked again.  Suddenly, with a knowing gasp, she spun to face Echo.  "Psssst!  Echo!"  She motioned at the stallion.

Nervously, the sarosian eventually complied... scurrying over to join her at the starboard.

"You're the former pirate here."  Rainbow pointed at the objects.  "Care to explain just what the heck these things are?"

"Hmmm?"  Echo took one look over the Stardust's side... and he instantly blanched.  "Good Goddess..."  He whimpered, immediately backtrotting.  "We... uh... we gotta get out of here."

Ariel did a double-take.  "Huh?!"

"Why?!"  Nicole asked.  "Echo!  What's wrong?!"

"These are just a distraction!" Echo sputtered, shaking from head to toe.  "Shit!  We're all whale chum!  Flynn!  Walrus Face!  Get us out of here!"

"Now wait just a gul-durn minute—" Bard began.

"Guhhhhhhh!"  Pinkie's nose began wriggling uncontrollably.  "Uh ohhhhhhh!"

"What?!"  Rainbow asked.  "What is it?"

"Hit the deckkkkk!"  Pinkie toppled over in a ghostly splash.

Before Rainbow could comment—

Wildcard could be heard loudly banging his nighsticks together.  He pointed dramatically south.

"Port side!" Ariel hollered.  "Something else is surfacing—"

"Everryone!"  Kepler flailed in his attempt to spin the rudder wheel.  "Brrace yourrselves—"

Just as he said this—

SPLASSSSSSSH!  An enormous gray mass of tangled vines, stone, and driftwood exploded through the ocean's surface on the other side of the Stardust.  The object—whatever it was—dwarfed the Herald's vessel by a factor of five to one.

"Rainbow!" Twilight's voice cracked.  "There are others—"

Rainbow sensed fountains of water in her peripheral vision.  Three more objects just as big as the last one surfaced in the distance.  One of them had a bright white shard in the center that cast a luminescent beacon on the Stardust—like a spotlight.

"Unngh!"  Nicole clung to Bard as the entire ship reeled.  While every other pony squinted from the intense light, her slitted eyes stared into it unfettered.  "Moonlight..."  She murmured.

"Celestia—!" Rainbow hollered once again.

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy yelped, pointing starboard.  "They're emerging—!"

Just as she said this.  P-P-POW!  The spheres' tops exploded, exposing round-hatched doors.  Bursts of steam billowed... and soon gray bodies came soaring out of the enchanted submersibles, streaking in violent arcs towards the Stardust's top deck.  There was the shadow of leather wings—followed by flashes of pale white fangs—and then the sea was awash with sonic shrieks.