//------------------------------//
// "It Is Only a Model" 
// Story: Utaan 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	"Uhm..."  Ariel hovered low over the bow of the Stardust.  "Can I be the first to say it?"

"Knock yourself out, girl," Rainbow murmured.

Ariel gulped.  "Whoah," she cooed.

Flynn had to reverse the mana-engines of the Stardust, and the Bleakweed escort ships had long detached their tug cables.  The precise reason for this swirled off the bow at about three hundred feet.  An immense whirlpool was circling around and round in the Twilight waters.  The churning surf reflected the silver bodies of sarosians flying in dense counter-clockwise formation overhead.  While the Herald's vessel kept a safe distance, the submersibles that had accompanied them in the northeast glide unabashedly dipped into the foaming waters ahead.  Rainbow was amazed that the ships didn't collide with one another as soon as they crested the dip in the ocean.

"Okay okay..."  Logan paced along the edge of the Stardust's bow, joining Rainbow's side.  He leaned against his axe—which the stallion refused to put away since encountering the pirates.  "It's pretty impressive and all... but the longer we wait here, the more danger we put ourselves in."

"Why would ourr midnighterr frriends lead us to a purre maelstrrom in the firrst place?" Kepler asked, tensely gripping the wheel.

"Beats the heck out of me."  Ariel then frowned over her shoulder.  "And stop calling them 'friends!'  We barely know these fanged freaks!"  She winced, then smiled nervously over at Echo and Nicole.  "No offense."

"Uh huh. Whatever."  Nicole brushed her bangs back as she stood next to Bard.  "Maybe... uhm... it's some sort of chaotic magical event?  This is the edge of the world, after all."

"Princess Luna?"  Rainbow Dash spoke while resting a hoof on her pendant.  "Any idea why Nightmare Moon's great-great-grandfoals would lead us to a big hole in the ocean?"

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," Luna's voice spoke.  "But the actions of my flock over the past thousand years have been mostly a mystery to me.  I am blessed to have you as a means to reconnect with them... but I cannot begin to presume what their purpose in that part of the ocean may be."

"They've led us home," Echo said bluntly.

Rainbow and her ghostly friends looked at him.

"'Home?'" Rainbow sputtered.

Echo nodded.  "That's right."  He pointed into the epicenter of the swirling waters.  "Down there is the next pony you'll want to talk to."

"Pffft..."  Rarity tossed her mane.  "He can't possibly be serious."

"He is," Applejack said.

Rarity blinked at her.  "Ehh?"

She looked back.  "He's tellin' the truth.  There's somethin' down there."

"But... how?"  Fluttershy blinked.  "Unless... they're all living in the bellies of whales?"

"OooOOooh!"  Pinkie Pie bounced in place, phasing through the rusted deckplates.  "That'll be cool!  Please!  I wanna see an Ultimo 2.0!"

"I don't," Rainbow grunted.  She looked at Echo.  "How do the midnighters live down there?"

"Very very moistily."

"Echo..."  Rainbow sighed.

"Eyes front," Remna suddenly said.  "The squadrons are shifting."

Rainbow craned her neck, squinting.

Sure enough, the sarosians were gaining altitude.  A silver streak—Enix's unmistakable figure—flew figure-eights around them, shrieking various commands.  The waters grew more turbulent and the submersibles disappeared entirely beneath a wave of rising bubbles.  Slowly, a new thunder rose from the depths, dwarfing the rumbling noise in the sky.

"Oh jeez..."  Twilight Sparkle rubbed her suddenly-glowing horn.  "Oh wow..."

"Twi, knock it off..."  Rainbow shifted in place.  "I know you're a ghost, but you're a ghost in public—"

"No, it's not that!  I'm sensing a strong surge in magic!"  Twilight glanced at the others.  "It's like the lunar rune charges—but on a grand scale!  From deep below!"

"Where?"

"Everywhere!"

"She's right!"  Rarity blinked, grimacing.  "I'm sensing something now!  It's rising up!"

"I toldja," Applejack said, folding her forelimbs with a smug smirk.

The Stardust rocked as the waves before the point-of-no-return rose in intensity.

"Brace yourselves, everypony!" Logan called out.

"Just relax, y'all," Bard said, gripping the edge of the deck.  "We obviously won their trust.  Wouldn't make a lick of sense if they led us all the way here just to drown."

"What is happening, Rainbow Dash?"  Princess Luna asked.

"Uhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow gulped, stretching her wings to balance herself.  "I'll call you back, Your Highness..."

Just as she finished those words, an immense splash of water fountained upwards—followed by several identical, smaller bursts of moisture.  A twisted black spire emerged from the water—rising gradually upwards with the grace of a melting iceberg in reverse.  This intertwined mess of dense vines and gnarled vegetation was accompanied by more and more spires.  Soon, a veritable briar patch of epic proportions surfaced in the middle of the ocean—with each "thorn" the size of a house and bespeckled with glowing moonstones.  Flopping fish rolled over the exposed onyx surfaces before plummeting back into the bubbling waters below.  Exposed barnacles clung to various wooden struts, and if Rainbow squinted she could spot what appeared to be curved translucent sheets: naturally grown portholes through which she could spot equine shadows trotting to and fro within the hollow spindles of the elaborately twisted structure.  At last, an enormous flat structure emerged from the waves—stretching outward towards the Stardust like a balcony... or a dock.  Only once this last noticeably-level part of the Bleakweed building had emerged did the entire momentum of the rising mess cease.  This produced several waves in the ocean that rippled outward in every direction.  Three blinks later—the multiple vessels that had submerged earlier resurfaced with brilliant splashes, and they were accompanied by even more ships, forming an elaborate armada of naturally-grown ships that glistened in the starlight.

The Herald struggled for balance as the Stardust bobbed in the waves produced by the massive surfacing.

Wildcard whistled, impressed.

"My starrs and garrterrs," Kepler murmured.

"Yeah... sure..."  Echo yawned.  "It's all mesmerizing now.  But then there's the shrieking..."  He gulped.  "...and the blood-sucking."

"Do we... I-I mean..." Nicole gulped.  "Do the midnighters actually live in that thing?"

"Oh, you're just seeing the tip of it."  Echo blinked, then chuckled at his own words.  "Eheh."  Clearing his throat, he gestured down at the rippling waters.  "Most of the building's down below us.  It's... like... physically impossible to surface the entire dayum thing."

"He's right," Rarity said with a nod.  "Now that a good chunk of it has risen, I can sense even more of it stretching down... down..."  She fidgeted.  "To be perfectly honest, I don't quite now how deep it goes."

Rainbow peered straight down.  As the waters gradually settled, she saw—or thought she saw—spiraling black formations of twinkling moonlight.

"Rainbow Dash...?" Luna's voice entreated.

"Just a second, Your Majesty," Rainbow muttered.  "Working reallllllly hard to contain my bladder right about now."

"I sense an alarming amount of feedback in my enchantment," Luna said.  "As if you're surrounded by thousands upon thousands of my own children."

"That's... pretty much the case, yeah."

"Rainbow," Fluttershy remarked, pointing skyward.

Rainbow looked up in time to see a silver shape gliding towards them.  Enix glided smoothely to the Stardust and perched on the bow with a rattle of her bone necklace.  "We have arrived at Bleak's Plummet, Blood of Luna."  She held a hoof out.  "Please.  Grab my hoof, and I shall take you to see the Eldest of the Maria Matriachs."

Before Rainbow could respond, Ariel flew in between them with a frown.

"Whoah there!"  Ariel's eyes narrowed.  "Watch who you're reaching for there, sister—!"

"Ariel..."  Rainbow sighed.

"The infatuated idiot is right."  Remna trotted forward.  "The Austraeoh shall not go anywhere alone."  She shook her head.  "Not without a proper escort."

"Darn tootin'," Bard said with a nod.  "Just hours ago, y'all were a sneeze away from loppin' our heads off."  He folded his forelimbs.  "How can we know yer bein' square with us now?"

Wildcard cocked his head aside, gazing scrutinously.

Enix saw it.  She looked at Rainbow Dash.  "You have many ponies sworn to protect you... a true testament to the honorable nature of your quest."  She waved a scarred fetlock.  "You have my promise as a warrior and a leader... we shall not threaten your livelihood in anyway.  You bring with you truth and enlightenment from the Maiden of the Moon herself.  It is imperative for the good of all our kind that I bring you to the Maria Matriarch right away."

Rainbow looked aside.

Applejack looked back.  She gave a firm nod.

"I believe you," Rainbow said, lifting her gaze again.  "But... I owe my friends the benefit of a doubt.  I'm bringing some of them along."

"Woohoo!"  Pinkie cheered.  "Away team!"

"Very well," Enix replied with a nod.  "But choose sparingly.  The shaft only has room for so many equines."

"Shaft?" Logan dripped.

"Don't put your hopes up," Echo muttered.  "It's not that impressive."

"I'm going with you," Remna said, trotting close to Rainbow.

"Yeah..."  Rainbow groaned.  "I figured."

"Ain't goin' nowhere without the Desperadoes," Bard said.  Wildcard nodded.

"Count me in!" Nicole said.

Bard sighed.  "Nickki..."

"I'm serious!"  Nicole frowned.  "Why did you bring me along if not to help touch base with these ponies at their... b-base?"

Before Bard could protest—

"She could be useful, Bard," Rainbow said.  "We can't be crowding the trip down, and we need to keep the Stardust well-guarded."  She looked at the griffon.  "Wildcard?  Mind sitting this one out?"

Wildcard's feathers rose on end.

"It's okay, Dubya," Bard said with a dismissive wave.  "I'll keep an eye on her.  You make sure Flynn doesn't blow up the ship."

Wildcard sighed and folded his arms.  Nevertheless, he eventually nodded.

"So then..."  Rainbow turned to Enix.  "I'm bringing four friends with me."

"Wait..."  Ariel blinked, then counted between them.  "Remna... Bard... Nicole..."

"...and Echo of course," Rainbow said.

"Pffffft!"  Echo spat up his own saliva.  "Aw Hell no!"  His fangs flashed, and he frowned.  "I didn't put an entire damn ocean between myself and this place just to be brought back for a castration!"

"They're not going to lay a hoof on your pretty little butthead, butthead," Rainbow grunted.  "Not so long as you're sticking close to me.  Got it?"

"No.  I don't got it!"  Echo pouted, forelimbs folded.  "There's no way in the Seven Seas that you're getting me to ride down that shaft!"