The sight left us speechless, and unwilling to break the eerie silence as we watched destruction fall upon the city. Crankshaft brought us around to his lab, on the outskirts of the city.
A ragtag group of sharkponies had taken shelter there, as the invaders seemed to be concentrating on the city proper. To my great relief, Madame Fog also waited within.
“Just on time,” she said. “I think we should be leaving.”
“I-- We--” I gazed out of a window at the rapid ruin of the city. “I suppose we have no choice.”
Minnow had galloped over to the sharkponies, and was speaking rapidly in the shark language that I could not understand. Crankshaft was standing oddly still, in the center of his workspace.
Minnow rushed back to me. “We’re evacuating,” she said. “You should too. It’s not safe here.”
Crankshaft looked up at us. “Go. I agreed to the deal. You can take the Hippocampus.”
“What about you?” I asked.
“I can’t leave my work behind.” He stomped a hoof down. “I have to protect my research. I’m staying here, no matter what.”
“But--”
My mistress silenced me with a hoof to my withers. “Porter. We must go.”
I reluctantly boarded the Hippocampus, and the sharks flanked us as we traveled away out into the open water. Piloting the submersible was relatively simple, but my mind was still on the strange underwater city as we left it behind. I knew the scene would haunt me for many nights to come.
[ENDING E]