XI: The Serpent
Gava had visited Leviathan Wakes only once before, as a fledgling still tugging on her father’s tailfeathers. It had left a good impression on her, and she had to admit that even now she was enjoying the oceanborne city. The neverending demand for fish to feed and guide the city’s patron leviathans had led the residents to develop their own taste for meat, and it was nice to be able to walk into a store and ask for lunch without nearby mares ushering their foals outside.
Besides the friendly diet and lingering scent of fish blood, Wakes was also home to a strong culture of exploration and independence. It was the perfect home for the wandering soul too poor for an airship, and the closest thing the city had to an official government was a fat sack of bits. Anarchy and capitalism at its finest, Gava thought. As the citizens were prone to saying: “Bits, wits, and nothing else.”
She landed on the deck of her ship, beak glistening with the fresh remains of an unfortunate fish. She had picked up a few extra hooves in Heighton, and offered the ones loitering on the deck a bloody smile. Most of them flinched back, but one was brave enough to respond with a shaky salute.
“Welcome back, ma’am,” he said. “Any orders?”
Gava dipped her head. “Thank you. Find Topgallant and tell him to push off.”
The sailor hesitated, eyes flicking back to his comrades. “We still have hooves on leave, ma’am.”
Gava’s smile faltered. “Did I stutter?” she snapped, causing him to stumble into the railing behind him. “Do you think I’m some kind of moron that leaves what she pays for behind in sheer absent-mindedness? We’ll be back soon, you idiot! Question me again and it’ll be your blood on my beak.”
She walked past him without waiting for a response, confident in his obedience. Ponies were always scared of being eaten. She knew for a fact that she had given subordinates recurring nightmares in the past.
Making her way to the ship’s bottom level, Gava was pleased to hear her lieutenants shouting orders at the hired hooves on deck. She could already feel the ship rising by the time she arrived at the brig. The cells were all empty save for one at the very back, a heavy curtain draped across its inside, and Gava was sure to let her just-sharpened talons click against the wood at a steady pace as she approached.
A quiet whimper leaked past the curtain as she opened the door, not bothering to close it. She was confident in her ability to catch her prisoner again, and wouldn’t even mind the opportunity for an exciting chase. She drew the curtain back sharply, pulling it back behind her and casting the cell into shadow. The only light came from a tiny round window on the far wall. A pony would be able to make out little more than hazy shapes, but to Gava’s eagle eyes the room was illuminated as if in broad daylight. She had no trouble seeing every squirm and struggle of the blindfolded unicorn mare tied to the chair before her.
“Hello?” the mare called. “Somepony there?”
“Mmm.” Gava leaned forwards, looking the mare in the eyes as she sliced the blindfold off with a talon. “Don’t you think that term is a little exclusive?”
The mare flinched, blinking as her eyes focused. A glint of recognition flickered over her face, followed quickly by fear—until it settled on stony defiance. “Gava. You have to know this is a terrible idea.”
“My reputation precedes me?” Gava smiled. She circled behind the mare with a few slow, measured steps. “I’ve heard of you too, Jester. Owner of the Laughing Cap. I’ve heard that every rumor in Leviathan Wakes passes through your bar with every bit close behind.”
Jester began to grunt in exertion as she struggled harder against her bonds. “Did they also—urgh!—mention what happened to the dozen ponies that—argh!—tried this shtick before you?”
“They did.” Gava came to a stop behind Jester. “You’re everybody’s friend, the master of the house! Hurt one hair on your head and all of Wakes will rise up to protect you. But those are just friends, and I’m in the business of bits and wits. Besides, I don’t have to hurt you. You know Sea Sabre, right?”
Jester didn’t offer any response, only continuing to strain against the thick ropes holding her back. Gava clicked her talons against the floor for a few seconds while she waited.
“The silent treatment, huh?” Gava mused. “Well, I’m sure you know her. Everybody that’s heard of me sure as hell has heard of her.” She circled back to the front of the mare, catching her gaze. “I know that she’s been through lately. Tell me where she went.”
Jester paused her struggles just long enough to laugh. “You know I can’t do that. We all have our reputations to uphold. I’ve never betrayed a patron before, and I’m not planning on starting now.”
Gava cocked her head. “I don’t think you want to go down this road with me.”
“What the hay are you gonna do, eat me?” Jester spat in Gava’s face before renewing her struggles. “This isn’t my first rodeo, featherhead. Urgh! As soon as I get out of these I’ll—”
She yelped, nearly falling out of the chair as Gava flashed a talon out and cut clean through the ropes holding her down. She looked up at the griffon, frowning.
“I’m sorry, were you saying something?” Gava quipped. “Well, you’re out. What happens now? Do you fight? Scream? Run? I do love a good hunt, although—”
Jester lunged forwards, aiming her horn like a spear at Gava’s eye. Gava opened her beak—dodging the clumsy stab—and clamped it down hard on the makeshift weapon.
Jester shrieked as a thick crack raced up her horn. For a solid ten seconds the two remained still like some macabre statue, the unicorn shaking and sobbing in pain as fish blood dripped down Gava’s beak and onto the cracked horn. She opened her beak, and Jester collapsed onto the cold floor in a shivering pile.
Gava took her time, pinning her prey under her bulk and leaning in close to unleash a piercing eagle cry. Jester shied away, her crying cutting out as she tried to raise her hooves to her ears.
“Look at me,” Gava said.
Jester didn’t move, and so Gava grabbed her by the throat and squeezed, forcing the unicorn to face her. The defiance that had once filled her bulging eyes had now been replaced with the same primal fear that Gava was so familiar with.
“Y’know,” Gava said, her talons starting to draw beads of blood from the pony’s neck, “I’ve heard before that cracking a unicorn’s horn will kill them, but you’re still alive.”
Jester tried to whimper, but the pressure on her throat kept her from pushing out anything more than a few choked sobs.
“This is what we’re doing now, alright? You chose this. I’m going to let you breathe, and you’re going to tell me everything you know about Sea Sabre’s visit here. I’ve got a lot riding on this, and I’m not in the mood for games. Well—” Gava shrugged. “—At least not this kind of game. You understand?”
Jester twitched her head in a weak approximation of a nod.
“Of course you do. So you tell me what I want, I’ll drop you on some roof somewhere, if you really still want to you can get some buddies together and see about carrying hell to my doorstep. If you deny me—” Gava’s beak twisted into a hawkish grin as she leaned closer. “—We’ll see just how many cracks it actually takes to shatter a unicorn’s skull.”
She gave her words some time to sink in while Jester began to buck and heave beneath her, face turning an off-blue. At last Gava released her grip, allowing the mare to draw great heaving lungfuls of breath.
Gava waited patiently for Jester to recover. After a few seconds of staring the mare down, she arched a brow.
“I’m waiting.”
“So you said there used to be a lot of monsters down here?”
Twilight blinked, the voice rousing her from her malaise. She at least had the presence of mind to click her transmitter back on. “What?”
Trails voice repeated itself in her helmet. “Didn’t you say this forest was full of monsters or something?”
“Oh, right.” Twilight took a quick glance around. They’d been diving for over half an hour now, with only the quiet ticking of the sub and rumble of the ocean currents to fill the void. Rainbow Dash had by then lost interest in the unflinching darkness of the viewport and was leaning against a corner next to Fluttershy. The tinny voices of Flint and Applejack talking off the radio could be heard faintly from the rear. Sea Sabre was staying steady at the controls, and Trails was looking at her expectantly from her terminal.
“Should we be talking about this over the radio?” Twilight asked.
Sea Sabre’s voice chimed in to answer. “It’s fine. I’m not going to chastise you for telling us more about what we’re going into.”
There was a click, followed by Flint’s voice. “You ever seen one of ‘em get shot before?”
“What?” Twilight shook her head. “We didn’t have guns in our time. And we didn’t kill things, either.”
“Why not?” Flint grunted. “Sounds like a good way t’get eaten if ye ask me.”
A shrill mumble floated into her helmet, and Twilight turned to see Fluttershy pushing herself further into Rainbow’s side.
“Hold,” Sabre said. “Trails, start scanning.”
“Roger that,” Trails said. The soft tinkling of magic became audible as her aura wrapped around the now-replaced control sphere. “Is there something wrong with her?” she asked. “I swear it seems she hasn’t spoken a word since I met her.”
“That’s cause she hasn’t,” Flint said. “Damn filly has been blubberin’ after Rainbow like a lost foal.”
“Hey!” Rainbow snapped. “Don’t talk about her like that!”
“Cut it for a sec, guys,” Trails said. “I’ve got… well—there’s some busy water out there. Feels like we’re coming up on a wreck. Three hundred degrees, Sabre.”
“Copy, adjusting.” Sabre’s hooves ran over the controls in a smooth curve, and a gentle rock passed through the sub. It was impossible to tell from looking at the darkness in the viewport, but Twilight had learned to recognize the feeling as a turn.
The sub’s lamps outlined a round shadow floating in the water. As they came closer, the shadow gained texture and depth, its color almost washed away by the powerful lights.
Twilight gasped. She could hear her friends letting out similar sounds of shock over the radio. “Is that—”
“Flint, head midships,” Sabre said. “I need torpedoes ready in case of hostiles.”
“Aye, boss.”
Another submarine was drifting past the viewport, its hull covered with dents and scrapes. There was a gaping hole torn into the side amidst a trio of deep gouges that could only be claw marks. The sub’s lights played over the armored legs of a pony. Twilight whimpered as she saw the fleshless spine that was all that remained of the legs’ original owner.
“What—what happened?” Rainbow choked out.
“Something breached that boat’s hull,” Sabre said. “Looks like at least one of the ballast tanks is still whole, if it’s floating here.”
Flint’s voice cut into Twilight’s helmet. “Ack, poor souls.” The sound of scraping metal was audible in the background. “Here’s t’hopin’ we don’t end up the same way.”
Rainbow leaned closer to the viewport, failing to keep her voice from wavering. “Th-those legs are armored. Do you think they saw whatever did that coming?”
“I’m getting nervous, Sabre,” Trails said. “I don’t want to be stuck down here with nothing but my suit, the oxygen inside, and whatever beast ate that pony’s barrel to keep me company.”
“Don’t be that way, Traily!” Flint chuckled. He let out a hefty grunt as he lifted something. “Ye’ll have all of us t’keep ye company, after all!”
“Quiet,” Sabre said. “Stay on your toes. Where are my torpedoes, Flint?”
There was a scraping sound, and then a deep click shook through the hull. “I’ve got two armed fer ye, boss.”
“Twilight?” Sabre’s voice was still the same stony calm as she eased the sub past the wreck and deeper into the darkness. “Any idea what did that?”
“I—” Twilight licked her dry lips and swallowed. “I don’t know. The Everfree never had any flying creatures in it and we knew next to nothing about what lived in its waters. It could be anything.”
“Well that’s helpful,” Trails muttered.
“What are you seeing, Trails?” Sabre asked.
“I hate to say it, Sabre, but I’m not even sure.” Trails scratched an armored hoof against the floor, snorting. “There’s this big field all over the seafloor. It’s eating up all my signals and keeps shooting out little bits of gibberish every which way. Maybe if I had some more time to figure it I could—”
“Let me look.” Twilight blinked in surprise as she realized she was standing up. The image of the half-eaten skeleton had burned itself into her mind, alongside far too many others.
Even with the armor, the skepticism on Trails’ face was clear. “You sure? You aren’t gonna blow my terminal up again, are you?”
“No, I—I know what happened last time,” Twilight said. “It won’t happen again.
“Let her on,” Sabre said. “See what she can do.”
Trails backed away from the terminal, gesturing with a hoof. “Be my guest, then, magic mare.”
Twilight took the few uncertain steps necessary to place herself before the pale white sphere. Hornbane. The ground up horns of her fellow Equestrians waited before her with all the patience of death. She took a deep breath to steady herself, then closed her eyes and reached out with her magic.
She sent a wide pulse out using her modified version of Trails’ spell, and her mind exploded with information. A thick field of ambient magic was splayed out on the ocean floor below them, which Twilight was quick to recognize as the Everfree. It felt different from her time—more sinister, somehow—but the core of it was the same as always. “We’re above the Everfree. That’s what you were feeling, Trails.”
“What else can you tell me?” Sabre asked.
Twilight’s muzzle screwed up as she sent out more focused spotlights of magic, fitting the returning flashes of data together in her mind. The forest was littered with wrecks. She sensed a dozen different metal alloys in hundreds of different places. Some were small like the submarine they had passed, but others were much larger—as large as airships. One particularly large shape even seemed to be made of dirt, stone, and minerals like a small island that had fallen into the ocean and become lodged into the trees. And as she looked, Twilight realized that the trees were somehow still alive. Even with no sunlight, with the pressure of miles of water above them, with the soil worn away by the ocean currents, the Everfree Forest had survived where so much of Equestria hadn’t. She made an on-the-fly modification to the spell matrix based on how it recognized the plant life, and couldn’t help but smile when her makeshift life-detection spell worked as expected. There was living fauna as well as flora in the forest, darting about beneath the cover of tree and ship alike, yet their movements were strange. As if they were hiding from something.
“There are shipwrecks everywhere, airships and submarines too. I think there’s even an island down here, somehow. The forest is still alive, too. Both the flora and fauna.”
“What?” Rainbow exclaimed. “How could an island be underwater?”
“Don’t ye fillies ever read th’ broadsheets?” Flint asked.
“Why would I do that?” Rainbow shot back. “Newspapers are boring.”
“Wait.” Twilight frowned, sending out another ping of magic. There was something else, moving swiftly above the bulk of the forest. It was twisting about like a snake as it moved, and wherever it went the forest beneath it grew silent and still. A shiver ran down her spine as the shape stopped suddenly, pivoting in their direction. “There’s something out there. Something big. Everything in the forest hides when it passes by, and it was just looking right at us.”
Trails laid a hoof on her shoulder, pulling her off the terminal with gentle urgency. “Give me a bearing.”
“Fifty degrees,” Twilight said. She took a few steps back to give the other unicorn room to work.
A few seconds passed as the glow of Trails’ magic wrapped around the terminal. Her body stiffened, and she shouted, “Evasive maneuvers! Sea serpent!”
Twilight yelped in alarm as the sub rocked to one side. She stumbled across the room, catching herself on Fluttershy and bowling the shivering mare over. “Sorry, sorry!”
She looked up just in time to catch the flash of a long, sinuous body twisting past the viewport. Barbed spines and sickle-like claws danced before the sub’s lights with a lunging, erratic rhythm, and then it was gone.
“Oh hay, that thing’s big!” Rainbow yelled, picking herself up off the floor.
“Quiet!” Sabre barked, her hooves flying over the controls. The sub twisted in place as the serpent’s movement shoved it aside—again throwing Twilight and her friends against the wall—before finally coming to a stop with nothing but darkness in front. “Trails?”
“Right in front of us, a hundred meters!”
“Flint!”
“Torpedo away!”
There was a dull thunk from the hull, then the whoosh of a propeller. A trail of bubbles marked the torpedo’s path as it swam into the darkness. Twilight held her breath as the crew watched and waited for the impact.
The explosion was little more than a low thud, but the following shockwave caused Twilight’s teeth to rattle in her skull. She was quick to catch herself on a wall this time, holding tight while the hull shook.
“Trails?” Sabre asked.
“It’s still coming!”
The serpent darted out of the darkness, giving Twilight her first clear look at the thing. Even in the whitewashed glow of the sub’s lights, the purple of its scales was visible, and a flowing gold-streaked orange mane and moustache draped from its head. Its eyes were sunken deep into its skull, with red trails stained into its cheeks like tears of blood. The scales on one side were torn and bloody, but it showed no sign of slowing as it opened its maw to reveal a set of pony-length fangs.
That was all Twilight saw before Sabre jerked the sub into motion, giving commands in a clean, crisp drone. “Flint, give me two proximity warheads, light fuse! We’re going down into the wrecks.”
“Right, boss.” The sounds of exertion and sliding metal leaked over the radio.
“There’s an opening thirty meters ahead and down!” Trails yelled, lacking Sabre’s calm. “Cracked airship hull!”
“Acknowledged.”
Rainbow looked from face to face as she clung onto the wall with two hooves. “What do we do?”
“Exactly nothin’ until yer told, little mare,” Flint said. “Torpedo ready, boss!”
Twilight screamed as the sub was shoved violently to one side, an ear-piercing, metallic screech echoing through the vehicle as the serpent tried to get to the ponies inside.
Again Sabre wrestled with the controls, bringing them into a slow spin. “Flint, on my mark!”
“Ready!”
“Three, two, one, mark!”
Another two thunks, and Twilight caught only a brief glimpse of the serpent and the two torpedoes sailing forth before they spun out of sight. She shut her eyes tight as the shockwaves rattled through the hull, fighting to keep her breathing controlled. Gravity shifted as the sub pulled into a steep dive, and she opened her eyes to see the gaping maw of a cracked airship before them.
Trails was hanging onto a bracket next to her terminal with both hooves. “Too fast, too fast!”
Twilight heard Sabre shout a strained, “Brace!” An instant later her ears were filled with the screams of twisting metal as the walls lurched and tossed her into the air. She flinched as her visor smacked against the roof, winced as the back of her helmeted head banged against the floor, and tried to blink the stars away as she listened to her own shaky breathing.
“Are we okay?” she asked.
She jumped at a distant metal bang, shortly followed by several more. With a groan she rolled onto her hooves and looked around. Her friends were lying dazed against the wall—Fluttershy cowering on top of Rainbow Dash—while Sabre and Trails were leaned into the braces set into their respective positions.
“Hull check,” Sabre said.
Trails’ magic hummed softly as she channeled it into her terminal. “I don’t see any breaches.”
“Nothin’ from visual inspection,” Flint said, stepping into the control room. “Where the hell are we?”
“In the wrecks,” Trails said. “What’s the plan, Sabre?”
“We’ll have to stick to the cover of the wrecks as long as that serpent is hunting us,” Sabre said. A trio of bangs and the deep crack of breaking wood sounded in the distance. She turned to Twilight. “Any bearing on that castle?”
Twilight grimaced at the mention of the dive’s primary objective. There had been some debate during the planning of the dive on what exactly to do once the forest was reached. Everypony had been reluctant to search it at random, but the notes they had found hadn’t offered any details on the potential location of Luna’s expedition. None of her friends were confident in their ability to find Zecora’s hut, and that left the Castle of the Two Sisters as the only notable landmark that anybody felt they could find.
Twilight tried to ignore the distant pounding from outside as she peered through the viewport. The lights were shining on a solid wall of aged wood, giving no hint as to their location. “If I could get my horn outside I could probably find it, but I can’t from here.”
“Very well, then,” Sabre said. “Flint, go outside with her.”
Flint’s hesitation was clear even over the radio. “I’m feelin’ a spot of unease at our continuin’ this dive, boss.”
“You have something to say?” Sabre asked. She didn’t look away from her controls, but there was a challenge to her voice that Twilight hadn’t heard from the normally impassive mare.
Despite the armor, Twilight could make out Flint’s body stiffen. “I just want t’make sure that our best interests are kept in mind, ma’am.”
Sabre paused in her motions. She turned to look at Flint, head cocked to one side. “How long have you been with me, Flint?”
Flint sighed, relaxing his posture. “Sorry, boss.”
Sabre nodded, turning back to her controls. “Your concern is noted. Twilight, are you ready to go outside?”
No. Twilight wasn’t sure if she would ever be ready to leave the safety of the sub. That sea serpent was still hunting them—the sounds of its search hadn’t lessened at all—and that was just the first creature they’d come across. Who knew what other monsters might be crawling around among the wrecks? But like so many other things since she’d woken up, it had to be done. She was the best pony for the job.
Rainbow gave Twilight a friendly bump. “Hey, don’t worry, filly! I’ll come along and watch your flank.”
“Negative,” Sabre said. “I’m not sending more than two ponies out, and one of them has to be someone I can trust to handle themselves in a fight.”
“What?” Rainbow scraped a hoof against the floor. “C’mon! I hate all this sitting around!”
Flint snorted. “I s’pose it’s a good thing nobody asked about yer feelings, then.”
“It’s okay, Rainbow.” Twilight was quick to put a hoof on the feisty pegasus before she could launch into an argument. “These ponies know what they’re doing, and we should trust them. I’ll go with Flint.”
“Good t’hear that at least one of ye has some smarts,” Flint said as he stepped out of the control room. “I’ll be waitin’ for ye in the lock, little mare.”
Twilight paused to speak with her friends before following him towards the aft. “I’ll see you girls soon.”
Rainbow’s answer came a couple of seconds late. “Just be careful, Twi.” The disappointment was clear in her voice, even with the metallic tinge lent to it by the helmet.
Twilight offered a weak smile, only to remember that her face was hidden behind the helmet. She settled for pulling them both into a quick, clunky hug instead. Fluttershy let out a quiet squeak as she was pulled in, but Rainbow returned the hug with surprising force.
Releasing her friends, Twilight joined Flint in the airlock and waited for him to close the inner hatch. She saw that the burly stallion had already fastened a pair of large guns to the flank hardpoints on his armor, though she didn’t recognize either one.
“Are those new?” she asked, pointing. She couldn’t help but steal a nervous peek downwards as the water level began to rise, her mind drifting to the nightmare of drowning. She was glad not to be going out alone this time.
“Neh. I’ve been haulin’ these ol’ gals about ever since me n’ Sabre took up divin’,” Flint said. He rolled his shoulders, adjusting the weight of the weapons. “That fancy repeater ye saw when we dug ye up is older—doesn’t work so well underwater. Sure was a treat t’feel that thump on my sides again…”
He trailed off as the airlock filled, leaving Twilight’s mind to toy with the new information. I wonder how long they’ve stuck together?
Bubbles rushed out of the airlock as the outer hatch opened, leaving the two divers poised on the edge of infinity. Sabre’s voice crackled into their helmets soon after. “Stick to redlight and magic only for sight, and keep an eye out for movement. Keep quiet and don’t delay. That serpent’s still out there.”
“Roger that, boss,” Flint said. “Alrighty, little mare, let me hop down first n’then—Ah, hell.”
Twilight wasn’t sure where it came from, but she had been overtaken by a sudden call—an urge to leap forth into the darkness and witness its furthest corners. She barely registered the expletive as her hooves made contact with the wreck beneath them. The dull thud of metal striking metal was a thing she felt more than heard, and a tentative grin inched onto her face. A thick cloud of sand was tossed up by the impact. She was outside.
A dull red light shone down onto her from above. She looked up to see the sub silhouetted by the colored spotlight cast from Flint’s shoulder. His voice barked into her helmet not half a second after.
“Head down!”
Twilight’s grin vanished as she rushed to comply with the command. The surrounding ocean muted the sound of a series of impacts to her side, but did little to quiet the bubbling screech that followed. She looked up, and caught sight of Flint wrestling with something in the middle of a thick cloud of raised sand.
“Oof!” A heavy weight smacked into Twilight’s side and sent her sprawling to the floor. She shrieked as the weight pinned her face down into the sand, smashing her visor up against a long-buried bone, and a hideous scraping echoed through her helmet. With a frenzied buck she shoved the thing off, and just managed to roll onto her back as it leapt back on top of her.
Jagged teeth flashed before her, snapping just inches away from her visor as she struggled to push her attacker away. All she could see was snapping teeth and sightless, milky-white eyes. Get away, get away! Adrenaline flowed through her veins as her instincts poured energy into her horn, shoving the beast away with a powerful pulse of magic.
For a brief instant the combination of motion and magic pushed the sand aside, giving Twilight a glimpse of her attacker’s appearance. The head was distinctly equine, with large eyes—filled with the milky white fog of blindness—and a short mare’s muzzle full of jagged, chipped teeth. Its mane was little more than a few wispy white cords, and its coat was a patchy collection of pale blue splashes against the ragged hide of its body.
The moment of clarity vanished as the monster lunged for her. She screamed, and as she shut her eyes in panic the heart-stopping sound of cracking glass rang in her ears.
Twilight’s blood ran cold as she felt cold water dripping onto her muzzle.
Her fears were confirmed when she opened her eyes to see the cracks in her visor. The beast was banging its head against her helmet, causing the cracks to thicken and spread. Water dripped down from where a single broken tooth had pierced the hardened glass just above her right eye. She heard voices shouting in her ear, but couldn’t focus enough to make out any words. “Just another unicorn that died alone and worthless.”
Twilight’s scream cut off abruptly as the drops began to run into her mouth. Again she pushed the creature away, and she caught sight of the fish-like tail that formed its rear end. With a twist of its fins the thing barreled itself headfirst into Twilight’s visor, causing a chip of glass to shatter onto her face.
The water was spraying onto her face like a broken faucet. A fierce yell passed through Twilight’s radio as Flint’s bulk crashed into the monster and carried it off of her. Twilight scrambled to her hooves, torn between the opposing impulses to suck in great heaving breaths and to clamp her mouth shut to keep out the water.
“Flint!” Twilight pressed her hooves up to her visor, keeping her head pointed down. “Do you—Help! What do I do?”
Sabre’s voice was the one to answer her. “Twilight! What’s happening?”
“Monsters!” Twilight choked out. “Visor’s broken! Water!”
“That’s it!” Rainbow said. “Hang on, Twi! I’m coming!”
“Hold her back, Trails,” Sabre said with unnatural calm. “Twilight, do you remember where the patch kit is on the suit?”
Twilight nodded, not even realizing that Sabre wouldn’t be able to see it. She shut her eyes tight and thought back to when she’d first tried the suit on. There had been a manual. She’d read it front-to-back. Patch kit! Patch kit is—right shoulder!
Her horn glowed as she tore the appropriate pocket open, ripping the small square of metal and adhesive out of its case. She spent precious seconds fumbling with the thing in her magic, trying to align it properly with her helmet, and finally slapped it into place. She curled up into a whimpering ball, her eyes glued to the spot of darkness on her visor. She didn’t feel the water sprinkling through the crack anymore, but she couldn’t stop the violent shudders wracking her body.
She heard a series of dull thuds from in front of her, and took a tentative look up to see Flint wrestling with the creature that had attacked her. His deep-voiced roar fed into Twilight’s helmet as he bore down upon the beast with all his weight. It was eerily silent as it struggled, the only sign of its panic being the thin stream of bubbles escaping from between its thrashing teeth.
Rainbow’s voice cut into the radio. “Let go of me, chump! Twilight! What’s happening?”
“I’m okay! I’m okay!” Twilight stumbled to her hooves, summoning a ball of light at the tip of her horn. She caught a quick glimpse of the inside of a collapsed airship hull, bulky debris ensuring plenty of space for anything to hide. A pair of the hideous creatures were laying still beside her, bodies bent at awkward angles. Her heart quickened as she saw the flash of movement—there were more of them, pulling back into the shadows. “There’s monsters! They’re all around us!”
“Stay close, Twilight!” Sabre said. “Keep your light on!”
There was a deep, wrenching crack from behind Twilight that sent a shiver down her spine. She risked a glance back to see Flint standing over the now still form of her attacker, his heavy breathing clear over the radio. “Fuckin’ seaponies.”
“Report, Flint.”
“Just what it sounds like, boss. Looks like seaponies lurkin’ about these wrecks. Twilight’s a little banged up, but she’ll live.”
“Roger that,” Sabre said. “Keep your eyes open and carry on.”
Twilight was standing frozen in front of the corpse, her eyes locked to the unseeing whiteness of its own gaze. “Sea… pony?”
“Well ye didn’t think everypony died or escaped, did ye?” Flint let out a ragged laugh as he caught his breath. “Worse than death, if ye ask me. Poor sons of cows.”
Twilight barely heard the exchange, her eyes still locked onto the corpse before her. Its patchwork fur was a pale aquamarine, but the second was a deep green, and the third a light beige. The slightest hint of a curving golden cutie mark was visible on the flank of the first body, the missing fur making it impossible to discern what the full mark might have been. An Everfree monster wouldn’t be born with a cutie mark, would it? Twilight felt her body trembling as a far more grim alternative came to mind. Did I know this pony?
Trails’ voice crackled into the radio. “C’mon, Flint, show some damn respect!”
“I don’t get paid for respect, Traily.” Flint did a slow turn, scanning the surrounding shadows with the barrels of his guns. The wreck once again looked as if it hadn’t been disturbed for hundreds of years. “I do get paid to shoot my gun, but it seems that ain’t much an option right now.”
“Shut up!” Twilight winced at her own words, feeling the tears as they clogged her vision. She jabbed a hoof at her face, voice rising. “My visor is cracked! There’s water in my helmet and more of those… things out there!” As she said this, she remembered that the suit had a drainage valve for just that purpose. She breathed a shaky sigh of relief as she drained the water that had pooled around her neck. “We should go back!”
“What the hell for?” Flint asked. “Ye want a new helmet? We didn’t have any room fer spares, so ye’d have to switch out with one of yer friends. Is that yer plan?”
Twilight opened her mouth for a sharp response, only to come to the infuriating realization that the big stallion was right. She knew she wouldn’t be able to bring herself to leave one of her friends with a cracked helmet, especially with the nearby threat of a sea serpent that might snap the sub in half if it found them. They might become like these horrible seaponies if they died down here. Of them all, she was best suited to survive without a helmet anyways—a bubble shield would serve as a substitute for a short time if necessary. She bit down on her tongue to hold back a frustrated groan.
“Fine!” she spat, her dark thoughts shoved aside by a swell of bitterness. “I’m fine. Let’s go, then.”
“Don’t ye worry, little mare,” Flint said, shining his light around as he walked into the shadows. “Those swimmin’ creeps ain’t comin’ anywhere near us. We showed ‘em what’s for. Just keep that horn of yers glowin’ and we’ll be fine.”
Is it too much to ask to at least use my name? Twilight followed after Flint with narrowed eyes, growing more and more irritated as she failed to still the shivers that wracked her body. Get a hold of yourself, Twilight! You’re not some weak little filly that needs to be led by hoof!
They made their way through the cracked ship in relative silence, with only the faraway bangs of the hunting serpent and the half-heard rush of watching creatures to keep them company. Flint led with confidence down waterlogged halls and up collapsed stairways until they came to a surprisingly solid wooden door.
“This should do,” Flint said, jabbing a hoof at the latticework window in the frame as his light clicked off. “Stick yer horn through there and let’s see what we’ve got.”
Twilight nodded, pushing past Flint without waiting for the larger stallion to make way. She dimmed her horn before stealing a peek through the lattice, but all she saw was darkness beyond it. “Are you sure that’s open ocean?”
“What’s it matter if it ain’t? Either I’m right or yer stuck with me ten more seconds. It’s a win-win.”
“Sounds like a lose-lose,” Twilight grumbled, but complied nonetheless. She closed her eyes, waiting to hear the sounds of the searching serpent in the distance before lighting her horn and sending out the necessary pings. She rushed herself—well aware of how her glowing horn would stick out in the pitch-darkness of the ocean floor—and was thankful that the castle’s massive stone form was easy to pick out among the bed of twisted metal and ancient wood. “Alright, I’ve got it. It’s southwest of here, on a short mesa. It can’t be more than an hour away.” Her report finished, Twilight was quick to pull her horn back into the safety of the wreck.
Trails was the first to respond. “That serpent will be on us the instant we hit open water.”
“We shouldn’t have to,” Sabre said. “We can use the wrecks for cover, and there’s a forest beneath if they aren’t sufficient.”
“A bit tight down here for a sub,” Flint commented, his heavy hoofsteps already starting on the return path.
Twilight lit her horn again and followed, glad to put some distance between herself and the open ocean once more. “I’m sure we can find a path. All these ships are barely holding together after so long.”
“I might have found one already,” Trails said. “You two will have to guide the sub by hoof for some of it, though. It’ll be a real squeeze.”
“By hoof?” Twilight glanced behind her and eyed the bobbing shadows cast by her hornlight as they walked through a windowless hall just wide enough for three stallions to step abreast. “You’re sure there won’t be any issue with the, uh… seaponies?”
“Weren’t we just over that?” Flint grumbled. He glanced back at her, and she could clearly hear the smirk in his voice. “Think ye’ll actually be of some use if they try us again?”
Twilight couldn’t help but gnash her teeth at the prodding. “I’d rather not get blood on my hooves, Flint.”
“Yer wrong in the head, girl,” Flint said, looking forwards again and pushing through the remains of a dilapidated door. “They ain’t even pony. Not anymore at least. Ye do ‘em a favor when ye cave their skull in. Ye didn’t have any issue when ye squashed that changeling back in Ol’ Canterlot.”
Twilight winced, vividly recalling the memory of warm blood on her face as she and her friends fled from the mutated changelings. She hadn’t killed that drone, had she? The details were hazy in her mind, and she could only remember the panic when it reared up before her and the rush of magic when she shut her eyes.
A flash of movement caught her gaze. She and Flint drew back as a group of four seaponies twisted down out of a hole in the ceiling. They formed into a snarling wall that left no space to squeeze past.
“We got more seaponies, Sabre,” Flint reported, squaring his stance.
“Roger that. Any issue?”
“S’ just four of ‘em. Stay back if ye ain’t gonna help, little mare.”
Five more seaponies crawled into the light behind them. “Flint, there’s more!” Twilight called as she pushed herself against his back.
The stallion glanced behind him, catching sight of the flanking predators. “Hmph. Clever girls.”
The seaponies charged, fanged muzzles open wide in silent snarls, only for the leading members to slam headfirst into the lavender barrier that Twilight erected around herself and Flint. The shield gave only a brief respite before the seaponies set into it with earnest, smashing head, hoof, and tail against the glowing surface in an attempt to get at their prey.
“Twilight?” Rainbow’s shout was loud enough to make Twilight flinch. “What’s going—”
Her voice cut out with a burst of static, replaced by Sabre’s calm tone an instant later. “Comm discipline! Situation, Flint?”
Flint grunted, his combat stance unchanged as the monsters continued to bang against the shield. “Looks like th’ magic mare’s summoned a shield fer us. I dunno how long it’ll last, but we’re safe for now.” He nudged Twilight with a hind leg. “Can ye keep this up n’ still move?”
Twilight answered with a few frantic nods. “We should be fine like this. I think I can hold it until we get back to the sub.”
“What about yer fancy teleport?”
Twilight grimaced. “I don’t know if I remember the sub’s exact location relative to us correctly. There’s no telling where we might end up, at least until I can see it.”
“Guess we’re hoofin’ it, then.”
Flint started forwards at a casual gait that would have been a better fit for a leisurely Sunday stroll than a hallway full of ponies mutated into ravenous predators. Twilight nearly fell onto her back as he pulled away from her, and was forced to scramble backwards a few steps before finally turning and catching herself.
“Some warning would be nice!” she hissed, keeping her head down as if it would make any difference.
“What, are ye afraid I’m gonna bump into yer shield and crack it?” Flint chuckled. “Sure seems to be holdin’ up well enough.”
The seaponies were growing more and more agitated as the shield pushed them further back into the hallway, and yet still they remained silent. Twilight felt like she was trapped inside some horrible painting, watching the monsters twist their bodies and roll their eyes and gnash their mangled teeth while the only sounds that reached her ears were the groans of the ship and her hoofs against the floor.
Until one of the seaponies, frothing at the mouth with its frustration, reared back and let out a shrill, keening wail that sliced like an arrow through the water.
There was a brief moment where everything was still, even the seaponies freezing up, their eyes bulging out of their skulls as—
—A trio of claws bigger than Flint burst through one wall, slicing down the hall and ripping a pair of seaponies in two. Two others narrowly dodged the bloodied claw, only to vanish in a cloud of blood as the sea serpent’s jaws snapped shut around them. A forked tongue slipped out and curled around the serpent’s lips as it turned one red-rimmed eye onto the shielded ponies.
Twilight screamed.
The serpent’s head slammed into her shield, sending both ponies tumbling backwards as the barrier shattered. A sharp pain lanced through Twilight’s mind as her horn tried and failed to keep the shield in one piece. Voices shouted into the radio, but she couldn’t make out any words through the haze of agony that hung over her.
Twilight coughed as she stumbled to her hooves, looking up just in time to see the flash of Flint’s guns. They were strangely quiet compared to his old repeater, but the furious roar of the serpent blasted clearly into her helmet as it pulled out of the hall.
Flint grabbed Twilight with a rough hoof, bringing his armored face up to hers even as he shouted over the radio, “Let’s move, little mare! Follow me if ye value yer life!”
She wasn’t sure if she answered the question, but the meaning got through to her. Follow or die. She gnashed her teeth and pushed herself into motion, stumbling behind as fast as she could as he galloped down what remained of the hall.
The pain in Twilight’s horn began to subside, and she caught the tail end of Flint shouting into the radio. “—found us and we’re comin’ in hot! Thirty seconds, Sabre!”
“Roger that! Trails, give me two torpedoes—Flint, Twilight, be ready to brace as soon as you board!”
They reached the end of the hall, coming out into a wide room filled with the shattered remains of benches and tables. An ear-splitting crack rang through the room as the serpent tore its claws through the ceiling. Its head came down right in front of Twilight, and she shrieked as she ducked under its snapping jaws.
Flint spared only a moment to glance back and ensure she was okay. “Keep up, little mare! We’re almost there now!”
Almost there, almost there! Twilight clung onto the words like a drowning sailor as she recovered from the last-second dodge. She followed Flint as he jumped down a ladder without hesitation, using her suit’s jets to slow the fall enough for her to land running. Another roar shook through the wreck, dislodging a crate somewhere above her. She was too slow to dodge, and the crate crashed into her helmet with a solid thunk.
For the second time in an hour, Twilight felt water spraying on her face. The patch had broken free of her helmet, leaving a breach even wider than the one it had covered. Within seconds the water was lapping at her muzzle, and Twilight was forced to hold her breath as she continued to sprint after Flint.
At last they came into the broken open room where the sub had taken refuge. It was positioned in front of a crack in the hull that looked just barely too small for it to fit through. Flint’s voice was muted by the water filling her helmet, but still clear. “Open th’ lock!”
No time for that! Flint came to an earnest stop under the sub, and Twilight barreled into him at full speed as her horn ignited. The searing pain returned as a blinding flash of purple ignited around them, and the two ponies collapsed into the mercifully dry aft section of the submarine.
“Ack, what the—” Flint rolled to his hooves, spending a precious second to take in his surroundings. “—We’re on, Sabre! Go, go!”
Twilight sucked in a deep breath of air as the water poured out of her helmet and pooled on the sub’s floor. Once she had blinked the water out of her eyes enough to see clearly, she looked up to see Rainbow Dash leaning over her.
“Twilight, are you alright?” Her voice was tinged with the metallic tone that indicated she was using the suit’s speakers instead of the radio. “That featherhead Sabre turned off my radio! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Twilight choked out, seeing Fluttershy watching from a short distance. “What—are we safe?”
Another serpent roar passed through the sub, and Twilight found herself rolling into a corner as it rocked to one side. She winced at the impact, thankful for the armor’s protection, only for Rainbow to fall on top of her. “Ow!”
“Heh, not safe enough, right?” Rainbow said, her voice cracking.
“Outta th’ way!” Flint said, pushing past where Fluttershy stood and rushing into the torpedo bay. “Get up front, Traily! I’ve got this!”
The rush of moving water was audible outside the hull, followed shortly by a bone-shaking boom and the challenging roar of the serpent. Star Trails stumbled into the room with a supporting hoof on the wall, her gaze locking onto where Twilight and her friends were piled up in a corner. “Oh, hey! Glad you could make it! Gotta go!”
The mare was gone as quick as she arrived, somehow keeping her stance as the sub rocked once more. Twilight clung desperately to a bulkhead as she clambered to her hooves, and Sabre’s terse voice came over the radio. “Brace!”
“C’mon!” Twilight said to her friends. “Let’s get to the front!”
The submarine couldn’t have been more than twenty meters long, but the tumbling journey to the control room felt like a mile. Twilight and her friends formed a pony chain for support, leaning against the walls whenever another vibration shook the hull. Small breaches in the hull sprayed water into a growing pool at their hooves, and Twilight was granted the terrifying image of she and her friends being found by some future salvagers, little more than bloated and half-eaten bodies.
At last they came out into the control room, giving Twilight a view of the sub’s surroundings. They were racing through what looked like the inside of a building tilted onto its side, weaving above and below chipped stone columns and dodging falling chunks of architecture. The sub was tossed into a sudden spin as a wayward block clipped them, only coming to rest when it impacted the far wall.
Sabre yanked at the controls, and bursts of steam jetted out of the sub, but it was lodged tight between the scenery. “Fuck!” She slammed her hooves against the wall in the first emotional display that Twilight had ever seen from the mare.
Trails was clinging onto the brace next to her terminal. “Are we stuck? Please don’t tell me we’re stuck!”
Rainbow leveled a hoof on the viewport, pushing herself back against the wall. “It’s coming, it’s coming!”
True to her word, the serpent was barreling towards them with hunger in its eyes, its forked tongue hanging loose as it began to open its bloody maw. With the sub stuck on one side, there was no angle to fire a torpedo. They’d been caught at last.
“Boss, what’s goin’ on?” Flint asked over the radio. “Give me a target, Sabre!”
Sabre continued to jerk at the controls, yelling her fury at the ship. Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she pushed herself up next to Rainbow Dash. I’m sorry, Princess.
She had failed. Her magic was too drained for any attempt at another barrier or an exhaustive teleportation to the surface, and the serpent had already proven it could break through her defenses. Here would be the end of Twilight Sparkle. And with her, the Equestria that she had known. She whimpered at the sound of a quiet thud besides her, and tried not to imagine how she would die.
“Stop!”
Twilight blinked, a confused frown coming to her face. Was that—
Fluttershy stood before the viewport, her helmet lying on the ground beneath her as she glared at the sea serpent frozen before her. It had halted just a pony’s length away from the glass, and even as its body trembled with hunger it seemed unable to pull itself away from the quiet mare’s disapproving stare.
“Just who do you think you are, mister?” Fluttershy demanded, leveling a hoof on the serpent. She launched into a harsh tirade without waiting for an answer, and Twilight was so busy watching her in wide-eyed shock that she didn’t even notice Flint coming up to her side.
“What th’ fuck?” Flint said, causing Twilight to yelp in alarm. “Is she lecturin’ that thing?”
“I don’t care if she’s seducing it!” Sabre spat, still wrestling with the controls. “We need to move!”
Twilight’s eyes flitted from Sabre, to Flint, to Fluttershy, and to the serpent still wrestling with its own body. It won’t hold for long. Fluttershy’s stare was a powerful thing, but Twilight could already see the serpent’s body twitch more and more as it began to break free. It was going to take more than a scathing lecture to save them.
She didn’t have much magic left, but it would have to do. Twilight lunged to where Trails was still watching dumbfounded as Fluttershy held the serpent in her grip, shoving her to the side.
“Hey, what gives?” Trails protested, coming out of her daze as she was thrown to the floor.
“No time, shut up!” Twilight shot back, throwing her magic into the terminal. She closed her eyes and sent a quick pulse out into the room around them. It was indeed a land building—perhaps a bank, if the thick cube of metal they’d gotten lodged in was any indication. Beyond the building she could sense the aged dirt and stone of the small island she had seen before, but she had no attention to spare on the question of its past.
Her focus honed in on the heavy marble columns that had remained steadfast within the old bank’s lobby for so long. The serpent’s twitching form was stretched out between four of them, lined up in the center of the room. Twilight clenched her jaw as she called on the dregs of her magic, shaping them into four chisels of telekinetic energy.
With a mourning shout, she released the spells. The whole building shook as the impacts sent deep cracks through the columns, tossing the sub free at the same time. Fluttershy let out a shrill yelp, and Twilight opened her eyes to see that the demure pegasus had fallen with the vibration, releasing the serpent from her gaze.
The serpent blinked, shaking itself as it asserted its dominance over its own body once more. It drew back like a spring, releasing a blood-curdling roar as it launched itself at the now free-floating sub, only to be crushed beneath the bulk of the two marble columns that fell from above.
A hesitant silence smothered the room.
“Is it dead?” Trails asked.
With one hoof Sabre angled the sub down. The serpent’s body lay still, sandwiched between the rubble of the two columns and the hard floor below. For several long seconds nopony said anything, and then Fluttershy broke down into tears.
“Oh, no! I didn’t mean to kill him!” she sobbed, burying her face in her hooves. “I just wanted him to leave us alone!”
Rainbow was quick to pull the other mare into a hug. “Hey, now, you did what you had to do.”
Flint stomped a hoof against the floor. “Is this Tartarus? Have I just gone fuckin’ insane? Is she mournin’ the damn beast after starin’ it down?”
Sabre took a deep breath, leaning back against the wall. She raised her hooves and gingerly removed her helmet, dropping it in the small pool of water that had covered the floor. A tired smile adorned her face. “Trails, damage report.”
Trails hesitated before climbing back to her hooves. “Well, uh…” She glanced around. “There’s at least a half-dozen leaks in the hull, the paintjob is probably completely ruined, and one of the torpedo tubes has collapsed. But we’re alive.”
Sabre nodded, her hooves returning to the controls. “Begin emergency repairs. Flint, go with her. Let’s find that castle.”
The sub gently rocked into motion, drifting away from the wall, over the still form of the sea serpent, and out into the open ocean. Trails and Flint both hesitated at the command, but stepped out of the control room after a brief exchange of glances.
Twilight stepped up to Sabre’s side, eyeing the mare warily. A small trail of blood was dripping down her face from some earlier impact, but the steel in her eyes was as hard as ever. “Are you sure we should keep going?”
“Why not?” Sabre asked as the sub’s lights illuminated the broken rope bridge that led up to the castle. “We have an objective. There was an obstacle in our way, and we removed it. The sub is operational and with repairs will be at no risk of critical damage.” She paused, fixing Twilight with her gaze. “Would you fight so hard, only to turn back within a hoof’s reach of your goal?”
“Are you kidding me?” Rainbow exclaimed, still holding the now quietly shivering Fluttershy. “What if there’s another one of those serpents out there? Or something worse?”
“Unlikely,” Sabre said. “That serpent wouldn’t tolerate anything else like it around here. It’s probably some relic of Old Equestria that’s been killing and eating anything it can find for centuries. An apex predator.” As she spoke, she eased the sub up to the yawning darkness beyond the shattered doors of the castle. “If there’s anything in that castle, it’s probably just more seaponies. We can handle those.”
“Don’t hurt them!” Fluttershy sobbed. “They can’t control themselves!”
Twilight grimaced as she watched Rainbow soothe the other mare. It was good to hear her communicating again, but Twilight wasn’t sure if it was worth the price.
Not sure what to say, Twilight settled for merely watching the castle interior as the sub drifted deeper into its depths. There was a part of her that wanted to go and comfort Fluttershy, to pull her and Rainbow into a hug and apologize for everything that happened until she ran out of breath, but she couldn’t bring herself to approach her fragile friend. Fluttershy was crying because she had hurt that serpent. She didn’t understand that it was something she had needed to do. Trying to explain it would just cause her more anguish.
The castle was in unusually good condition compared to everything else she had seen, but then it had already been a millennia old ruin in Twilight’s time. There were more holes in the walls, the tapestries had been worn down to rags, and in some places the roof had fallen in completely, but the halls were still recognizable.
“Any idea where to go?” Sabre asked.
“I’m not sure… wait!” Twilight had felt something, a barely perceptible tug at the edge of her senses, buried beneath the budding headache of mana depletion. She pointed towards the collapsed remains of a vaulted doorway that—if she remembered correctly—led to the throne room. “I think there’s something back there.”
Sabre nodded, guiding the sub closer to the pile of stone. “There’s no room for the sub to fit through there… we could probably blast a path through with the torpedoes.”
“No torpedoes!” Twilight shook her head. “There might be something fragile behind that rubble. I’ll use my magic to form a path.”
“Flint will go with you,” Sabre said. Her tone brooked no argument, and Twilight saw no reason to offer one. “You’ll need a new helmet.”
Twilight pulled her helmet off, turning it over in her hooves and examining the sizable gap in the visor. “We don’t have any spares.”
Rainbow raised a hoof. “You can use mine. Not like I really need it anyways…”
Twilight smiled as she accepted the offered helmet and locked it onto her armor. “Thank you, Rainbow. And don’t worry, there’s plenty of ruins left to explore.” Her smile faltered as the words left her mouth, and Twilight was thankful to have the helmet to hide her expression. Too many ruins left to explore.
Rainbow didn’t seem to share her thoughts, or at least she did a better job of hiding it. She waved Twilight off with a hoof, grinning. “I’ll be sure to take you up on that offer, egghead.”
Twilight nodded, turning to leave. She hesitated as she considered pulling Fluttershy into a tight hug, but again decided it would be better not to. Water splashed around her hooves as she marched to the airlock. “Did you get all that, Flint?”
“Ye, I’m on my way, Twilight. Hold yer horses.”
Twilight blinked. Did he just use my name? She shook her head, filing the thought away for later as she stepped into the airlock. Flint joined her soon after, helmet clipped onto his side.
He grinned at her as he grabbed the helmet and fastened it to his armor. “Am I weapons free, Sabre?”
“Weapons free,” Sabre confirmed.
“Alrighty then! What’re we waitin’ fer? Let’s find some salvage!”
“Is that all you think about?” Twilight asked, shooting him a sideways glare as water poured into the little chamber.
Trails’ voice cut into the radio. “He also thinks about shooting things.”
“Ye know me so well, Traily!”
Twilight couldn’t help but smile at the banter as the outer hatch spun open. “Just follow me, Flint.”
She jumped down to the stone floor below, bending her knees to help absorb the impact. Flint landed behind her not a second after, and the two waited a few moments to let the dust cloud disperse.
With her vision clear, Twilight wasted no time in approaching the blocked pathway. She could feel that tug again, just as small but now far more persistent. It was egging her on, calling to her like the final question on a timed test. After a cursory examination of the rubble and a few pings, she lit her horn. The ache that sprouted in her head was just short of painful, but she clenched her teeth and shoved it aside as she magically lifted the broken bulk of a pillar high enough to make a path. A pulsing pain drove itself into her skull as she strained to keep the pillar from falling back into place.
“Let me go first n’ check it out,” Flint said. Twilight nodded, but he was already pressing forth into the darkness beyond.
Twilight waited for the expected all-clear, but after thirty seconds it still hadn’t come.
Sabre’s voice crackled into the radio. “Flint, report.”
Twilight frowned, unease creeping up her spine. Had something happened to him? She never imagined Flint to be the type of pony that would ever go down so quietly. Any creature on the other side of the rubble would no doubt have been met by the flash of his guns and the roar of his fury the instant he saw it.
“Flint isn’t responding,” she said, straining to hold the spell. “It’s been nearly a minute now.”
Sabre’s reply was quick and curt. “Stay put. I’m coming down to investigate.”
“I don’t know if I can hold the path much longer.” Twilight flinched as a spike of pain raced through her. She was pushing herself too hard, she knew. She had overloaded herself when the serpent first broke her barrier, and then nearly again when she crushed it beneath the pillars. Her body needed time to recover and replenish its magic reserves, but that could take hours. She didn’t want to leave Flint stranded for so long if she wasn’t able to hold the tunnel long enough for Sabre to go through. “I’m going in.”
“You hold your position, Twilight!” Sabre barked. “There could be anything in there. Wait for me!”
The command in Sabre’s voice froze Twilight in place, but only for a moment. The pull was still calling at her, and made all the stronger by her desire to help Flint. There was a push as well, deep inside her, urging her to set caution aside and take a leap of faith. In a burst of motion, she broke into a gallop and passed through the makeshift tunnel just as the pillar fell down behind her.
Darkness. She was in total darkness, underwater. Her horn was still glowing, but the water seemed to swallow up the light not even a meter away. “I’m on the other side. I couldn’t hold the tunnel.”
“Damnit, Twilight! Trails, how are the repairs coming?”
“Almost done here, boss.”
“Horseapples!” Sabre cursed. “Step away from the rubble! I’m going to blast a way through.”
The sounds of exertion leaked over the radio just a moment before cutting out. She must be loading torpedoes herself. Not wanting to be caught in the blast, Twilight began to take tentative steps deeper into the room, following the persistent tugging on her mind.
Never in Twilight’s life had she experienced such suffocating darkness. It was oddly calming to her, and Twilight found her breathing becoming slow and rhythmic even as the darkness came closer. Was her hornlight dimming as she pushed herself further? It was hard to say, and Twilight found herself unable to care even as complete darkness overtook her.
She walked for nearly a minute like this, in the pitch black with only her breathing and the sound of her hooves to keep her company. Soon even they drifted into nothingness. Where was Flint? And where was the end of this room?
Twilight opened her eyes. She was laying in bed at the Golden Oaks Library, the dawn sunlight streaming in through the window. She let out a fearsome yawn as she crawled out of bed, levitating her brush to her mane and straightening the unruly hairs. She did this for several seconds, and then she remembered.
A terrible shiver ran down her spine. Wow, what a nightmare. All of Equestria at the bottom of the ocean, and in such detail! She shook her head as she set the brush aside. She would have to talk to Princess Luna about that. Or maybe she would write a letter to Celestia.
“Spike!” she called, poking her head out to look for her assistant. “Spike, I need you to take a letter!”
No response came. He wasn’t in his bed, either. “Ugh, where did that little dragon get off to?” she grumbled, starting down the stairs.
Pinkie Pie would probably know. And I can grab some breakfast, too! She yawned again as she stepped outside, a wide smile gracing her face as the warmth of the sun settled on her back. It was a beautiful day in Ponyville.
Humming a little tune to herself, Twilight Sparkle made for Sugarcube Corner at a lazy walk. She had all the time in the world.
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"Roses are red
my heart is black
Steven Magnet returns
and gets fucking rekt"
Woah. It's like Sombra's secret doorway, but in reverse. How will our plucky purple protagonist prevail over this perilous predicament?
Why do I get the feeling that Twilight is getting monsterized?
F*ck.
Fish blood? Do I even want to know?
8010062
Just leftovers from lunch! Silly bird.
8009990
Hey now, that festival went damn smooth after they tore everything down and built a new barn!
Oh, the irony,
8009630 This is beautiful.
8011315 Right? I proposed it as the chapter title; sadly, it got rejected.
Hi Steven and Lyra
Luna survived a thousand years on the moon; she can handle the same under the sea. I'm sure she hasn't morphed into some hideous monster that tranquilizes her prey with wonderful dreams while she scoops their eyes out with a melon-baller.
An apex predator? I do remember there being all kinds of beasties that would be far more dangerous, an Ursa Major for one. Don't think for even a second that was the worst you could face little ponies...
For some reason I had forgotten how claustrophobic your underwater chapters feel. Even at the best of times the pressure is palpable. Still, not enough to keep me from diving down into this great work of yours!
Dream? Ya in her dreams
Oh shit, Luna's magic? They already killed Steve Magnet, I don't want Luna to die too.
8013334
Hey now! Just because an infernal corrupted sea serpent stops chasing you doesn't mean it's dead!
8011945
brb writing Ursa Major chapter
8011632
I mean the whole story has just been shown to be nothing more than a dream anyways so there's nothing to worry about!
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I don't know! I'm on the edge of my seat trying to figure it out before the author does!
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Either it's dead or it is going to live long enough for Fluttershy to wipe it clean of its own will.
Poor Mustache. I suspected it might be him from the chapter title. I quite like your Underwater Everfree. As if things weren't bad enough before, now there are "flying" monsters to contend with.
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Sorry, I just get a little worked up sometimes.
I consider this to also be sloppy writing, so we'll just have to disagree. Failing to establish rules is equally problematic.
Admittedly HiE stories do not generally really work for me either, but that's a tangent.
OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE TWILIGHT YOU DON'T JUST FOLLOW THE MAGIC PSYCHIC PULL!
Well, nothing left for it now but the monstrous dream Ponyville with nopony in it, and maybe heavy soul corruption.
And this chapter is just as interesting as before.
for Fluttershy finally being more than just The Load!
I hope that whatever is affecting Equestria didn't turn Luna into Nightmare Moon again or something like that. Twilight, wake up!
A few errors slipped through, though:
Delete the comma.
hooves
her and her friends
was all the remained of the legs’ original owner
1. That.
I can't hear that song and not thing of the Yung Gravy version.
Aww, not Steven Magnet too.
That's even worse. Bon Bon and Lura and some pony who I can't recognize.
So, when is it going to turn into a nightmare?
Wait! It might be a memory enchantment left by Princess Luna so that all those who go there will learn the truth of Equestria's end.
Anyone else get subnodica vibes
</3 poor Mr Magnet ;-;
Oh, please don't tell me that wasn't Lyra Heartstrings that was the dead seapony monster.
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Now that you've put cold-blooded torture and murder on the table, I'm starting to doubt the viability of a Gava redemption arc. But I don't make the rules! You've got eight chapters!
In other news, the undersea segments in this story have all been amazing. The variety of settings and threats totally sells the wild & alien aspect of the ocean. Ponies do not own the seas - they are unwelcome guests at best, and more commonly, easy prey.
Don't think I didn't notice Lyra and Bonbon as two of the three seaponies that first attacked Twilight. "Did I know this pony?" Well, Twilight, maybe you did. A pony simply mutating (or whatever) into a seapony on prolonged exposure to the sea reminds me of Green Eyes from Pact, a poor human condemned to drown in a black pool but for another. The other could not save her, but gave her the ability to swim and breathe in water in exchange for her humanity, which was gradually lost. Even so, Green Eyes retained a level of rationality and kindness that it seems the seaponies in this story lack. One wonders if any part of them remains.
One more generally wonders what will happen with Twilight's apparent quest to find out what went wrong with everything, and, somehow, fix it. As if this was some children's story where everything went back to normal at the end and everypony lived happily ever after. My impression is that nobody's going to fundamentally un-fuck this world, but I guess we'll see!