V: The Deep
The dining room was larger than Twilight’s old library all on its own.
Twilight was only growing more and more impressed by Mr. Rich’s estate. She’d seen many lavish towers and verdant gardens amongst the High Canterlot nobility in her youth, but the network of expansive chambers and well-lit tunnels within Mr. Rich’s island rivaled even the old spell crypts Twilight had perused beneath the Starswirl Wing in the Canterlot Library.
I wonder how common these are? Twilight thought, thinking of the floating islands she’d seen so far. Many of them had seemed thoroughly tunneled out. Perhaps the lack of land had spurred the development of advanced tunneling techniques?
Twilight shook her head, mentally filing the question away with the hundreds of others in the back of her mind. She pointedly ignored the carefully assembled model airships along the sides of the dining room, averted her gaze from the star chart painted on the vaulted ceiling, and forced herself to look only at the table before her.
It was a huge wooden affair, with space enough for two dozen and food to feed them. Crystal bowls of fruit lined up in the middle of the table between steaming pots of soup. A heady aroma filled the air as each soup radiated its own alluring smell. Exotic garnishes and samples of small pastries took up what little room remained. It was a dinner fit for royalty, and Twilight might have spent hours deciding where to start if an attendant unicorn mare hadn’t helpfully poured some soup into her bowl with a mouth-held ladle. Twilight leaned forwards, letting out an appreciative hum as she took a sniff. Mmm. Smells like cucumber.
“Thank you,” Twilight said as the mare silently drew back.
“And thank you, Mr. Rich,” Rarity said, “for inviting us to dine with you!”
“Please, call me Crazy,” the stallion said. “You all may feel free to as much food as you desire. I have many questions for you, but I’m sure you have even more for me! So, as my guests: Ask away.”
Ask away. The words raced through Twilight’s mind in much the same way that a spark traveled up a lit fuse. In an instant she had tossed her mental filing cabinets to the floor, greedily plucking her most pressing questions from the pile—too slow.
Rarity, ever the social climber, had beaten her to it. “I was curious, Crazy, darling. What exactly do you do?”
Crazy Rich smiled the smile of a stallion getting ready to answer his favorite question. “I am an entrepreneur and a business pony, like my fathers before me. I invest in prospects that catch my eye and reap the rewards of their success. I believe you all have already become familiar with one of my more recent investments: Long Haul Salvage.”
Rainbow Dash snorted, gulping down the rest of her soup before speaking. “You mean those goons you had watching us? Real great investment there, pal. They don’t look like they’ve had a customer in weeks!” She paused, adding in a quieter voice to the closest attendant, “Can I get some more of this?”
Crazy smiled as the attendant poured Rainbow another serving. “I don’t invest my money with profits in mind, my friend. I have plenty of staff charged with ensuring that the Rich Family fortune remains healthy. I’m more in the business of curiosity. And in my business, even a single one of you mares would be worth a thousand times the money I’ve spent.”
Twilight frowned as she raised her muzzle out of her bowl. She couldn’t help but be reminded of what Flint had said when they’d first left Canterlot. “No salvage.” She forced herself to remember that she and her friends had accepted the dinner invitation of their own volition, and not dragged along in chains. Then again, it’s not like we had any better options.
Twilight was just swallowing her mouthful of soup when Crazy’s other guest, who had been listening quietly over his half-empty bowl of broth, leaned forwards. “Crazy, who exactly are these mares?”
“I’m glad you asked, Whitehorn,” Crazy said. He grinned, waving a hoof and raising his voice with a theatrical flourish. “Behold my latest and greatest discovery! Six Gifted mares, found frozen in stasis in the deepest halls of Old Canterlot!”
He has that look again, Twilight thought. Are we anything but prizes to be shown off to him?
Whitehorn gagged mid-drink, spitting a torrent of grape-apple cider into his soup. “What? Gifted? Six Gifted?”
Crazy nodded enthusiastically, though he didn’t respond right away. Perhaps he wanted to let the question hang in the air for some time, but that didn’t matter to Twilight. Seeing her chance, she slammed both hooves onto the table and shouted the first question on her list.
“What happened to Equestria?”
Twilight’s ears drooped briefly as all eyes turned onto her. She hadn’t meant to be quite so loud, or to cause several soup pots to slosh their contents onto the fine wooden surface of the table. Either way, she’d satisfied the urge that had been triggered by the prompt to “Ask away.” A little bit, anyways.
She cleared her throat, recovering her composure. “I mean, uh, sorry. We’re all just very confused about what’s… happened. The last thing I remember is changelings attacking Canterlot and then… all this. Everypony just keeps telling us that it isn’t the time to answer questions, but I think that this is the time. So…” Twilight paused to take a hasty gulp of water. For some reason her tongue felt suddenly dry. “Could you please tell us what happened to Equestria? Where all of these floating islands came from? The water? The Gifted? Just—”
Twilight stopped herself as Crazy lifted a hoof kindly. She took a deep breath. One question at a time.
“Don’t worry, my dear. I can answer your questions, or try, if nothing else. But just one last thing, first. It strikes me that I still don’t know any of your names.”
Twilight blinked, slightly taken aback yet also relieved. If he was asking for names, then at the very least he recognized they were, on some level, individual ponies and not purely relics. Still, she didn’t think it would be wise to reveal her relationship with the Princess just yet. “Certainly. My name is Twilight Sparkle.”
“Ah, yes. The protege of Princess Celestia herself, wasn’t it?” Crazy smiled knowingly.
In retrospect, Twilight thought, I suppose it was silly to think Sabre wouldn’t have told him about that. She smiled back, wondering what the strange stallion was thinking. Had he realized that she’d been actively withholding, or did he even care at all?
“And I am Rarity,” Rarity said. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintances.”
“Ah’m Applejack. This here is Fluttershy.” Applejack pointed to the seat next to her, where Fluttershy was slumped over in her deep sleep. “Ah hope Sabre told y’all ‘bout her, uh, issue.”
“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie said. “I’m friends with, well… everyone at the table, I guess…” She trailed off, mane drooping.
Rainbow was the last to answer, rolling her eyes as she finished off her third bowl of soup. “Rainbow Dash.”
“And I, as you know, am Crazy Rich.” Crazy waved a hoof to his other guest, who was sitting to his right. “This is my associate, Whitehorn. We were just discussing a possible investment before your arrival, though I’m afraid that discussion will have to be postponed.”
“I understand entirely,” Whitehorn said. “I certainly wouldn’t want to get in the way of such a miraculous discovery.” His demeanor had a made a complete turnaround. Where before he had seemed offended by the interruption of his meeting, now he was all smiles. Twilight didn’t think the smile quite reached his eyes, however.
“Excellent.” Crazy cleared his throat and pushed his barely touched bowl aside. An attendant swiftly replaced it with a fresh dish bearing a tall, gold-frosted pastry. “Down to business, then! I can assure you all that your friend Fluttershy will receive the best care in Heighton, with my blessing. I would in fact like to extend an invitation for you all to stay here with me, as long as you like.” He smiled as Rarity let out an excited squeal. “But you don’t have to answer just yet. I think you’ve waited long enough already for your explanations.”
He paused, taking a thoughtful bite of his dessert. “The core of the matter, unfortunately, is that we know little more than yourselves about what happened. We know that most Equestrian knowledge was stored in either The Royal Canterlot Library or its sister project, The Grand Marshal’s Almanac in Cloudsdale. That said, none of the few expeditions that have braved Old Canterlot’s ruins have ever found the library, and Cloudsdale is just one of the many pegasus cities that nopony has ever found.”
“Hey! I know where Cloudsdale is,” Rainbow said. “I was born there. I don’t care if anyone else wants to come, but I’m definitely going home when I get the chance.”
And I know the Canterlot libraries inside and out, Twilight thought. She decided not to say anything just yet.
Crazy’s ears had perked up at Rainbow’s announcement, and he shared an excited glance with Whitehorn. “I had hoped one of you might say something like that. Our knowledge of the world before the flood is little more than half-truths at best, or lost amongst myth at worst. We know that alicorns were once real beings that guided Equestrian history and controlled the skies, and that ponykind lived on the surface in harmony alongside a dozen other races. We know next to nothing about whatever calamity befell the world, but our legends tell of a great disaster only narrowly avoided through the sacrifice of the princesses.
“Everything else is just bits and pieces put together by ancient historians, mythologists, and archaeological salvage crews over hundreds of years.
“This is where you mares come in,” Crazy said. He paused to take a sip of cider. “You say you were alive before the floods. That makes you priceless sources of information. It’s next to impossible for us to discover new ruins without detailed maps or records found at an old one, and paper doesn’t last long underwater. But with your help, we could discover dozens of a new sites in a month, where any other crew might only find a single one after a decade of careful study!”
He stopped to take a breath and another long pull of cider. He was practically shaking now, his ears flicking about as he beamed at each of the mares in turn. “I admit that I hadn’t expected to find much when I sent Sea Sabre and her crew into Old Canterlot, but she has brought me you, and you are the greatest breakthrough in Equestrian archaeology since—well, since the start of the modern Equestria! I can give you all anything that you need or want. I can give you grand rooms to stay in and meals cooked by the greatest of chefs. And, perhaps most important of all—” He drained the last of his cider. “—I can give you the tools to find the answers you seek yourself. There is nopony alive who could tell you what you want, but with my crew, my money, and your knowledge of pre-flood Equestria, you could solve the mystery yourselves.” He leaned back in his seat and took a deep breath, as if he had just ran a marathon. An attendant silently refilled his glass. “So then, what do you say?”
Yes, yes, yes! Twilight just barely stopped herself from shouting her agreement right there. The offer truly did sound like exactly what they needed—or at least the next best thing. With the Argo and its crew at their disposal, she and her friends could dive down into the sunken ruins of their old home and piece together the broken past themselves. She could return to her library and perhaps find the books she would need to pull Fluttershy from her magically induced coma. She could discover what happened to Equestria, and what had happened to the Princesses.
And maybe, just maybe, she could even bring them back. Make things how they had been before.
But it wasn’t her decision to make alone. She looked to her friends, locking eyes with each of them in turn. She could read them just as well as they could read the barely restrained “Yes!” in her eyes. Applejack trusted her to unearth the necessary means to return things to how they should be. Pinkie Pie trusted her to discover what had happened to all of her friends. Rarity trusted her to lead them into the new future. Rainbow was uncertain still, but would remain steadfast at her side whatever she chose. Fluttershy had no choice but to rely on her to cure her of her mysterious ailment.
Twilight smiled. She had her friend’s support. The decision was made.
“We accept.”
“Alright, are you ready?” The deep roar of the Argo’s engines had forced Sea Sabre to shout the question as they stood atop the deck of the crew’s submarine.
Twilight took a deep breath, glancing to Applejack and Rainbow Dash besides her before giving a shaky nod.
It had only been a little over twenty hours since the dinner with Crazy Rich. After talking with her friends they had all agreed that there was no reason to delay, and made plans for an expedition the next morning. Rarity and Pinkie had stayed behind to watch Fluttershy, and also to attend the ball Crazy had planned for that evening. Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack had set out for the Argo. Surprisingly enough, the vessel and its crew had already been completely resupplied, waiting only for their arrival.
And now here she was, teeth chattering from the vibration as the Argo lowered itself into the propeller-churned waters. They had made for Canterlot Mountain first, with Rainbow Dash using it as a reference and guiding the pilot to a patch of indistinct ocean that “just felt about right.”
It wasn’t a precise art, but it was something.
Sabre beckoned for the open hatch. “Get in!” Twilight nodded, careful to keep her balance as waves sloshed over the deck, and climbed down the ladder. She sighed in relief as she stepped off the last rung and onto the relatively dry safety of the sub floor. Trails and Flint had already boarded, and Sea Sabre closed the hatch behind her as she followed Rainbow and Applejack through.
Sabre shimmied past Twilight, calling ahead to the cockpit. “We’re on! Drop the clamps!”
Star Trails voice sounded back from ahead. “Clamps off!”
A metallic groan passed through the ship, and Twilight braced herself on a bulkhead to keep from falling as the sub gave a fearsome lurch. Steadying herself, she followed after Sea Sabre.
“Engines!” Sabre yelled.
Flint’s voice echoed back. “Revving up!”
Bursts of steam puffed from pipes above and below. The ticking of gears and clockwork machinery sprung into life, quiet at first, but quickly growing into a steady rattle throughout the hull.
Finally they arrived at the cockpit, Sabre taking her position at the front of the room while Twilight and her friends fanned out at the back. Star Trails and Flintlock were waiting at their stations to the left and right sides, respectively.
“Alright, let’s dive,” Sabre said, tugging at a lever. “We’ll do a spiral down, then a search grid if we still haven’t found anything.”
“Sounds good to me,” Rainbow said. She leaned against the wall casually, smoothing down her drab gray-green uniform. “How long is this gonna take?”
“Hard to say,” Trails said. The waves began to lap higher up on the viewing port as the sub dipped under the surface. “It could take anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour just getting within scan range of the surface. Who knows how long it might take to actually find anything. It would probably take us… what, ten hours to sweep the whole area? Then there’s the question of actually searching it.” She shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time we spent a few days on a dive.”
“Days?” Rainbow tossed her hooves up as she slumped over. “Days in this little boat! Why did I even come?”
“Don’t y’all worry none, sugar cube.” Applejack sat against the doorframe, pulling her hat down over her eyes. “Twilight’ll just need to grab some books from her library and we’re done. We’ll be in and out in a jiffy.”
Flint turned away from his station, arching a brow. “Books? Y’mean to tell me we’re comin’ down here to collect a buncha soakin’ wet paper?”
“Dry books, actually,” Twilight quipped. “The library was my home. I had enchantments which will have kept it dry.” I hope.
“Wow, really?” Trails shook her head incredulously. “You really are Gifted. Levitation, magic blasts, and an enchantment too? Alright, we’re at scanning level.” The quiet tinkling of magic joined the cacophony of gears as her horn began to glow.
“I’m pretty gifted myself, actually,” Rainbow Dash said. She fluffed her wings up proudly. “Fastest flier in all of Equestria.”
Rainbow continued to brag to the room in general, but Twilight quickly tuned her out. She was more interested in what Trails was doing. The mare had her eyes closed, horn glowing and channeling magic into a pale white sphere, roughly the size of a hoof, set into the terminal before her.
Curious, Twilight closed her own eyes and reached out with her arcane senses. She felt the leylines in the water around her, and was perturbed to realize that they weren’t much like those she remembered around Ponyville. They were weaker and more disordered. Then again, hundreds of years must have passed since she last came here. Leylines had been observed drifting before.
Setting the question aside for now, she instead focused on the orb in Trails’ terminal. It was magically conductive—very much so. Twilight didn’t recognize the material, but its resonance did seem familiar to her, almost like the taste of childhood meal long forgotten. She sent an experimental ping of magic into it, and discovered a trio of matching orbs lining the bottom of the submarine. Each one was connected to the others via a vein-like network of the strange material, all laid into the hull of the sub.
Hrm. Twilight turned her attention to Trails herself. The other unicorn was channeling a spell, although weakly. It seemed to function similarly to echolocation, albeit only with a narrow cone of magical pings instead of spherical sound waves.
The spell itself—like most cutie mark spells—was needlessly obtuse. It was a creature of instinct rather than design, full of loose ends and pointless redundancy. Still, it only took Twilight a few minutes of observation and a half-dozen tries to get it right. She clopped her hooves against the floor in satisfaction as she used the spell to make a mental map of the sub interior.
Amazing! With a few modifications this spell could have limitless practical application. She couldn’t wait to send a paper to—
Twilight cut the thought off in an instant.
She understood now what Trails was doing. She was using her spell as spotlight on the seafloor, searching for irregularities in shape and material. No wonder it takes so long! But with the proper adjustments…
Twilight sent a burst of magic into Trail’s terminal. It took only a few seconds for the pulse to return, bringing with it a mental map of the seafloor over a kilometer around, as well as its material—
A thrill of fear raced through her mind. Her eyes shot wide open as she fell out of her trance, her horn surging in an instinctive reaction—
A sharp crack like the snapping of bone filled the cramped confines of the sub as the pale white sphere before Trails suddenly shattered. Glowing white, razor-sharp pieces of shrapnel bounced around the cockpit, eliciting shouts of alarm from the ponies assembled within.
“What the hay! Status report!” Sabre shouted.
Rainbow Dash had bounced to her hooves in an instant, wings flared. “Did something hit us?”
Flint was already standing, glaring at Twilight. “No. It was her,” he growled.
Trails had fallen away from the blast in a clumsy dodge. Her face and forelegs were marred by a series of shallow cuts, and a few pieces of shrapnel had embedded themselves in her legs. “What the buck was that, Twilight?”
“Sorry! Sorry!” Twilight backed towards the door, her friends forming a protective line in front of her. “It was an accident, I was just trying to help!”
“Some help,” Trails muttered, picking herself up off the floor. She sighed as she looked over her tattered uniform and fresh cuts.
“What were ye tryin’, eh?” Flint asked, advancing on Twilight. “Tryin’ t’take us out? Take our gear?”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash were quick to block his way, the cowpony speaking first. “C’mon now, partner. Ah’m sure it’s just some simple misunderstandin’. Ain’t no need to get all rough ‘n tumble-like.”
Sea Sabre stomped a hoof, cutting off Flint’s rebuttal. “Stand down, Flint!” Her voice quieted slightly, but it didn’t lose its edge. “Trails, go patch yourself up. There was no real harm done; it’s just a shattered focus. We’ll just have to head back home and fit a replacement before we can continue scanning.”
“Yes ma’am.” Flint flicked his tail, but offered no protest. “I’ll go n’ help Trails.”
Sea Sabre let out a heavy sigh as she returned to her controls. “You’ll have to excuse him. He’s not very trusting of strangers, and he isn’t happy about them telling us where to go.”
Applejack cocked her head. “And what about y’all, Sabre?”
Sabre’s face remained expressionless. The sub rocked gently as she began to reverse the dive. “It’s not my job to judge the chain of command.”
Twilight took a series of deep breaths, allowing her heartbeat to return to normal. “We don’t have to resurface, Sabre. I was mimicking Trails’ spell when I… well, you know. Ponyville starts just eight hundred meters southwest of here.”
Sabre looked back, arching a brow. “Really? Hrm. Quite impressive, though I’d appreciate it if you warned me before trying that again.” The sub began to dive once more, rocking slightly to one side as it turned.
Twilight sat against the door frame, still shaky. Looking around the room she saw Applejack watching her intently. The question was obvious on the mare’s face. Twilight locked eyes with her and gave a subtle shake of her head. Not now. Later. Applejack nodded in response.
In retrospect, it was lucky that Twilight had accidentally shattered the focus. It gave her an excuse for the erratic behavior.
The spell had worked perfectly, of course. The modified arcane pulse had traveled forth from the foci beneath the sub to the seafloor in a much wider cone than Trails’ original version, returning with data on what it hit and where. It only took a few seconds afterwards for the spell to translate what it found to Twilight’s subconscious. It gave her an instinctive familiarity with the seafloor, but the pulse had also told her about the pale white material of the focus itself. In that instant, Twilight had realized why the thing had felt so familiar. It had become clear to her like a trick painting, the image coming to light only from the proper angle.
It was the dismembered horns of unicorns, ground up and then smelted together.
The remainder of the dive was made in near total silence. The accident had left behind a tension braved only by the creaking of the hull and the dull roar of the ocean, and it only grew once Trails and Flint returned to the room. The former had white bandages wrapped around her worst cuts, and the latter was just as leery as when he’d left. And so, Twilight was left to her thoughts.
Twilight was well aware of the multitude of horror stories surrounding hornbane. Pegasus sorcerers and earth pony druids would dig up dead unicorns—or simply abduct living off the streets—and use the severed horns for their own brand of magic. Even some unicorn warlocks had used the horns of their enemies to amplify their own power. The art had been outlawed for a thousand years, and taboo for even longer. Stumbling upon it—even using it herself—had been an alarming surprise, like suddenly discovering that one’s blanket was actually a hissing viper. Alarming enough that Twilight’s first instinct was to cast the thing away, shattering it with a powerful dose of pure mana.
On the other hoof, there was a possible benign explanation. Of the three substances known to conduct magic—the other two being dragonbone and moondust—horn was far easier to obtain. Everything Twilight had seen so far suggested that magic was growing weaker, and the floods would have drastically increased the ease of… acquiring unicorn horn. Perhaps hornbane was just a regular commodity now, dug up by salvage crews and sold to the few ponies even capable of using it.
Twilight was pulled from her thoughts by a shift in the steady rocking of the submarine. She blinked, looking up to see a pile of algae-bound wooden beams illuminated by the sub’s powerful headlights.
“Looks like you were right,” Sabre said. She glanced back at Twilight. “Where’s this library of yours?”
“Uh, turn to the left a little,” Twilight said. She and her friends stepped closer to the viewport as Sabre complied, and the rubble drifted out of sight. “Alright, we’re on the main thoroughfare. Just go straight.”
The sub drifted forwards at a glacial pace under Sea Sabre’s guidance. The oppressive darkness made it impossible to see anything that wasn’t directly in front of the submarine, and if it wasn’t for the occasional rotten wagon, collapsed home, or weathered skull upon the path it would have been easy to pass right through the town none the wiser of its existence.
“Woah. This is some find,” Trails said, peering out the view port. “We’ve gotta mark this place for later.”
“Why?” Rainbow asked accusingly. “So you can loot it for all it’s worth and never come back again?” She was watching the viewport as well, though with an entirely different expression.
Flint snorted, grinning. “That’s what we do, little mare.”
It’s a strange thing, Twilight thought, Seeing your home so long after its destruction has already come and gone. Even to her, the town was unrecognizable. The immense pressure of the ocean above had torn down all but the sturdiest structures over time, and the powerful current had scattered the lighter pieces far and wide, leaving only the heavy wooden skeletons of the town behind. She would’ve been lost without Trails’ spell. Even as her conscious mind searched futilely for any recognizable landmark, her subconscious continued to feed her directions to relay to Sabre. Even with its aid, however, she still couldn’t pick out a single familiar sight.
Finally the sub’s twin beams alighted on the distinctive tree-shape of Twilight’s library, its branches lying shattered around its base but the trunk still standing tall.
“That’s it,” Twilight said, throat tightening. “There’s my home.”
“Ye lived in a tree?” Flint grunted. “Ye some kinda faerie or somethin’?”
“Woodsong is a relatively common talent,” Twilight breathed, placing a hoof softly against the viewport. The old tree looked so different with its branches broken and its neighbors collapsed around it. The ocean-filtered headlights cast a cold blue pallor over it, like moonlight shining on a gravestone.
“You actually lived in a magic treehouse.” Trails shook her head, mumbling, “The stories are all turning true.”
“Alright Flint, suit up,” Sabre said. “Let’s blow our way in and grab what we need.”
“No!” Twilight turned to Sabre, eyes wide. “We can’t interrupt the superstructure, or the spell will break! It won’t be able to withstand the water pressure without the enchantment.”
Sabre frowned. “So what’s your plan, then?”
“Simple enough,” Twilight said. “I’ll teleport inside, then come back with the books I need.”
“Really? Teleportation?” Trails tossed her hooves up and slumped down in her seat. “Does it ever end?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Not really.”
“I’ll trust that you know your limitations,” Sabre said. She turned back to Flint. “Grab the spare dive suit.”
Twilight waved a hoof dismissively, horn already charging. “It’s fine, Sabre. This is my area of expertise! I’ll be in and out in a few minutes.”
Twilight flinched as one of Sabre’s hooves flashed out, grabbing tight onto her horn and fizzling the magic. “And my area of expertise is getting us to the bottom of the ocean and back in one piece. You will follow Flint, don a suit, and exit through the airlock before teleporting.”
“Okay!” Twilight buckled quickly under the fierce gaze. Those steely red eyes could rival Luna herself in ferocity. “Sorry, sorry!”
Tearing herself away from the view of her library, Twilight headed for the back of the sub. Two sets of hoofsteps followed, and she glanced back to see her friends behind her.
“That Sea Sabre mare is so rude,” Rainbow muttered.
“Shucks, Rainbow, she’s just doin’ her job,” Applejack said. “I know y’all want to get back at whoever done all this, but ya can’t be harrassin’ everypony that disagrees with ya.”
“Whatever, AJ.”
They arrived at the crew quarters of the sub, a tiny room squashed between the storeroom and the engine room. Two bunks were stacked against the port wall, with a series of four lockers opposite. Flint was already there, setting out a bulky suit of armor on the lower bed.
“Hey Flint, grab me one of those too,” Rainbow said. She flapped her wings, alighting on the top bunk. “I’m going out with Twilight.”
Flint laughed, shutting the locker with a rear leg. “Sorry, but ye’re outta luck, little mare. We only carry one spare.”
Rainbow fluffed her wings, frowning. “Well can’t I just borrow one of yours? You guys aren’t using them.”
Flint snorted. “Nopony touches Sabre’s gear but Sabre, and Trails’ has all sorts’a doohickeys and complicated bits in it. As for mine, I jus’ don’t feel like sharin’.” He beckoned to Twilight. “C’mon here, magic filly. Let me get this on ye.”
“It’s okay, Rainbow,” Twilight said. She walked over to Flint, who held up a thick metallic chestpiece for her to step into.
Rainbow seemed to be searching for some clever rebuttal, but Applejack spoke first. “Don’t let ‘em bother y’all none, RD. Ain’t nothing we can do about stubborn lack of hospitality.”
“Watch yerself, cowfilly.” Flint began to clamp segmented metal barding over Twilight’s legs, attaching them to the barrelpiece. “Traily might like t’make friendly, but far as I’m concerned yer jus’ another job.”
“And what about Sea Sabre, huh?” Rainbow asked. “What’s up with her?”
“Hah!” Flint let out a single baritone guffaw as he secured an oxygen tank to each of Twilight’s flanks. “There ain’t nothin’ wrong with her, little mare. Sabre brings everypony home, and she don’t like it when anypony gets in the way of that, no matter who it is. Ye just have t’excuse her if she gets a bit rough. She never learned how t’drop her sergeant voice.”
The only piece left of the armor was the helmet, which Flint lowered carefully over Twilight’s head. She suppressed a whimper as she was enveloped in near-total darkness, her vision focused only through a pair of iron-banded glass eyeholes. She felt the armor tighten around her as he fastened the helmet, causing a series of metallic dings to echo in her ears. Flint stepped to the side of her, out of view, and she stood there for a few seconds with only her own nervous breathing to keep her company. She had never been one for claustrophobia, but the armor was enough to make her heart race ever so slightly. For a moment she had a fantasy of the cold metal clamping around her neck, draining the life out of her.
Twilight yelped as a loud whirring burst into being by her ear.
Flint’s laugh sounded tinny and distant as he stepped into view before her. “Alright, magic filly, ye’re ready to dive. The helmet is connected t’the sub by radio, so we’ll hear anything ye say. There’s a little pedal in each hoof, too. Just push down with yer hooftip and it’ll activate a little airjet for mobility. Go ahead ‘n try it out.”
Twilight gave an experimental push with a hooftip. The whirring in her ear accelerated, and she stumbled to one side as a valve near her hoof jettisoned hot steam.
“That’s really all ye need t’know for a simple suit like that,” Flint said. He turned for the door. “Let’s get ye in the lock, then.”
Twilight followed him clumsily, her body heavy and unresponsive within the hard shell of armor. The eyeholes were so narrow that she couldn’t see where she was stepping and where she was going at the same time. Flint stopped next to the ladder in the center of the sub, spinning a hefty wheel set into a hatch beside it. The hatch creaked open with a high squeal, revealing a small chamber with another hatch set into the far wall.
“Get in, if ye would,” Flint said.
Twilight took a deep breath, looking to her friends. She could clearly see the worry in their eyes even as they tried to hide it, so she made an attempt at putting a confident smile on. Then she realized they couldn’t even see her face. Probably for the better. “Don’t worry about me, girls. I’ll be back soon.”
“Y’all just be careful, Twi,” Applejack said. “A lot of time has passed. Y’all don’t know what might be waitin’ for ya.”
“Pfft.” Rainbow Dash gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “She could zap anything down there in 10 seconds flat. Don’t take too long, alright, Twilight?”
“Sure thing.” With a nod, Twilight stepped into the airlock. The hatch shut behind her with a groan, and Twilight looked back to see the wheel spinning round with a loud clicking. For several seconds, she stood alone with nothing but her breathing and the steady whirring of the suit to keep her company.
“Flooding in five seconds.”
Twilight jumped as she heard Sea Sabre’s voice, distorted by static yet still clear. It sounded as if it had come from right between her ears.
There was a loud clank, and then the hiss of steam as water began to fill the room. Twilight shifted side-to-side uneasily as the water level rose past her knees, then her legs, barrel and neck. A shiver ran down her spine as she was submerged completely, and for a brief moment she was back in the changeling pod, drowning in the darkness.
Trails’ voice reached her ears, quieter than Sabre’s, as if she was shouting from a distance. “Hey now, don’t forget to breathe!”
Oh, right. She hadn’t even realized that she’d been holding her breath. She finally exhaled, mind returning to the present as the room finished flooding. A trail of bubbles began to float from her muzzle, up past her eyeholes.
“Open the hatch, Twilight,” Sabre’s voice said. “That suit doesn’t have any buoyancy controls, but it’s set to keep you from sinking too fast. Step outside.”
“Alright, then,” Twilight muttered, more to herself than anyone else. Although the armor blocked the glow of her horn, she still took some comfort in the familiar purple light of her magic as it embraced the wheel and pushed the hatch open. A torrent of bubbles flooded out of the airlock as Twilight stepped up to the open hatch. She peered down over the edge, and she was surprised to see a flashlight following her gaze. There must be a lamp on the helmet. What had turned it on, though? Was it water sensitive?
With a mental shrug, Twilight stepped out of the sub. All at once she was consumed with a terrible feeling of isolation, falling near-weightlessly through the oppressive darkness. Finally she hit the seafloor, knees bending against the impact, and let out a sigh of relief at its solidity. Looking up, the sub was nearly invisible above her. Its dark silhouette was outlined only by its own headlights.
“I’m on the ground,” she said, turning towards her home. “Heading for my library now."
“Roger that.”
As clumsy as the armor was inside of the sub, it was even more cumbersome outside. The heavy water resisted her every motion and made every step a challenge. After a few meters, Twilight began to move in leaps instead, jumping with the assistance of the airjets on her legs.
She wasn’t even halfway there and she was already getting tired. Her breathing beat a heavy rhythm within the confines of the helmet, only momentarily drowned out when she triggered her airjets and the suit’s quiet whirring grew louder.
Was it possible for anything to live down here, with only the freezing cold and the oppressive darkness for sustenance? Twilight made a jet-assisted leap over a pile of half-buried, cracked bones. Her light didn’t illuminate the thick wooden beam embedded in the sand until she was almost upon it, and she cried out as it struck her legs, throwing her into a dizzying forwards spin. She landed on her back with a loud grunt, kicking up a cloud of loose sand around her.
“Twilight!” Rainbow’s voice sounded far too close in her helmet. “Twilight, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I just… tripped is all,” Twilight said, coughing as she recovered her breath.
There was the sound of a brief scuffle over the radio, and Sabre’s voice spoke to her next. “Any damage?”
“No, I’m fine.” She counted to ten, slowing her pounding heart. “I’m just going to take a little break.”
“Acknowledged.”
She lay there for perhaps another minute, watching the bubbles drip upwards into the darkness. It was strangely peaceful, the nothingness. For a moment she wished that she knew how to turn the light off on her armor, so she could simply embrace the darkness, embrace the emptiness and fall into the trance-like in and out of her breath.
But she didn’t have the luxury of time. She carefully heaved herself to her hooves. She made the rest of the journey at more careful pace, making sure to take shorter jumps and watch carefully for obstacles.
She couldn’t have been outside of the sub for ten minutes total, yet it felt like hours had passed when she finally arrived at the wooden door to her library. She raised a hoof and ran it gently over the wood, sheltered from an ocean’s worth of erosion by the powerful enchantment she had placed on it so long ago. A preservation spell, one of a magnitude powerful enough to resist the apocalypse itself. Just in case.
The spell was strong, but it wasn’t a shield. It would only resist natural weathering and decay, and so the tree must not have been hit by any form of direct attack. Many of the outer branches, out of range of the spell, had been broken away, and the leaves were far too weak to survive even with its protection, but the spell had done its job.
The one peculiarity was that the spell acted, in some ways, like a sealed plastic bag. To open a door or window or even blow a hole into the side would destroy the seal, and after so long it would collapse spectacularly. The tree would almost definitely buckle under the full weight of the ocean, flooding as the windows and doors cracked and shattered. Opening the door wasn’t an option.
Luckily, Twilight was adept at teleportation. The heavy armor would impede her accuracy, but from this range the risk was negligible. She fixed her gaze on the candle image emblazoned on the door, and wished that she could feel it just one more time. But she had no way to remove the armor, and she needed it to survive here in the depths. She was so close, close enough to touch it, and yet she would never truly be able to return home again.
With a heavy sigh, she lit her horn and cast the spell. For a split instant her world was purple, and then back to the same darkness pierced only by her flashlight. She seemed to have missed slightly, coming back out a half a meter or so above the floor.
She landed heavily on something round. A sickening crunch like the shattering of bones echoed throughout the tree.
Twilight shone her light forwards, and she screamed.
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Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
OH, YES. NEW CHAPTER.
7591313
I just pictured mettaton saying that.
Awesome. I bet she crushed Somepony's bones.
poor owl
So glad to see this getting some updates.
This story is still the most entertaining and well thought out story I have read and now I'm just going to say my thoughts I have had about the storyline of what might have happened, and in case somepony doesn't want to see it I will hide it.
1. How has the elements of harmony/tree of harmony withstood the time passing? since the tree of harmony is now possibly damaged and maybe at the bottom of a new ocean (assuming its still there) has that had some sort of affect on the world? Perhaps it has something to do with why magic seems to slowly be fading away and why they are there now, possibly so they can restore harmony to the world? and will the elements of harmony be found? As I'm assuming the physical elements are required for the mane 6 to use them at this time, and as far as I remember the last place they were at was either at Twilight's library or at Canterlot Castle (can't quite recall that detail) or have they been lost over time?
2. Will we be hearing from Spike at some point (I'm not sure about the final outcome of the battle) as he may be able to give a detailed explanation of what has happened to Equestria while they were away because he had to live through whatever happened, or is Spike sadly no longer himself?
3. Since cloudsdale is made of clouds and is in the air shouldn't it have survived the disaster? As it would be about the flood line wouldn't it? Unless the magic that kept Cloudsdale together has faded and so it has fallen apart into the ocean or perhaps it was low enough so that it also was caught in the flood though saying that I don't believe there will be much left of Cloudsdale except perhaps a few things left behind because all the clouds would have mixed with the water
There are my thought that came to mind while I was reading this and I'm so excited for the next chapter that I'm at at the edge of my chair to see how things go from here.
Oh, lovely, a new chapter.
Honestly not a terrible lot to comment on here for my conspiracy theories, but I will say it was a very wonderfully executed chapter with some nice buildup to the end. I'm guessing Twilight discovered a large mass of ponies who took refuge in her library and subsequently starved to death after the flood, and all that remains are their skeletons.
Either she landed on Spike's skeleton, or a hibernating Spike.
Was Spike mentioned before in this story? Don't remember, but he would be my first guess for the pile of bones Twilight teleported onto if he hasn't been mentioned before.
7591788 I think he was mentioned in Chapter 1 with red eyes and breathing fire during that escapade from Old Canterlot?
7591488
this fic is Pre Magical Mystery Cure/Twilight's Kingdom; the Tree of Harmony doesn't exist. the tree Twilight just entered is the Golden Oaks Treebrary; my theory is that someone in Ponyville knew about Twilight's enchantment and tried to save as many Ponyville residents as possible by holing up in Golden Oaks when the flooding started. my guess everyone in the Golden Oaks Treebrary likely starved to death or likely killed everyone from cabin fever.
7591818 Oh...yeah..he was. It's been a while since the last couple of chapters were released. Forgot that detail. Never mind, then
Where you come up with these ideas...
7591867 Oh, oops
I completely forgot that they wouldn't have discovered that the tree of harmony existed until later on, well I thank you for correcting me without being rude about it, and that seems like a likely theory as the only other thing it could probably be would be Owlicious.
Oh good, I was worried that another ongoing epic had been left by the wayside! This is an imaginative scenario, and I've always had a softspot for sea-based adventures. I'm very glad to see this still going.
Also, I was heavily reminded of this.
My first reflex was also Spike, but then I had a much more morbid thougth: the library was protected from the flood, what if Ponyville took refuge there and died trapped inside the treebrary?
Things are moving along more quickly than I'd dared hope.
But to what...
"Do you have any idea how long the Great and Powerful Undead Trixie has been waiting for you to show up, Sparkle?!" That's my guess.
7592034 Like the survivors of Erabor in Desolation of Smaug?
7592988 Maybe? I don't know? I never watched the movie and the book is a bit far in my memory?
Capitalize that Dash!
Well played.
Oh gods, now I can't wait for the next chapter. Glad your update didn't take 6 months though!
7594809
This is what happens when one of my editors gets sick.
7592283 7592034 7591761 7591501 7591390
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Chapter Six draft is nearly done.
7595415 That was the only error I actually noticed, so you're doing pretty well.
its crew
That should be a question mark at the end, not a period.
a hefty wheel
You need another comma before "alright".
the sub was nearly invisible
7597197
I'll be sure to remove my editors' sick days.
Let me start off by saying that this is one of the deepest, most-well thought out stories I've read here. I have never read anything on My Little Pony so feverishly in my life, this story is riveting.
The lore and worldbuilding is phenomenal. The pacing and use of tone is excellent. Twilight's thoughts and behaviors are evocative and true to character. You capture the dread, hope, curiosity, and loneliness of this departure from an Equestria centuries gone.
I beg of you, when can I get more?
7598844
I agree completely. This story keeps you in the dark, hungry for more information. But at the same time it gives you enough to maintain your interest. These latest two chapters were worth the long wait, and I greatly look forward to the coming updates.
7598844
Probably Friday?
Depends on my editors as far as Chapter Six is concerned.
7599459
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>mfw definitely not flattered
It's rarely that I get this excited over a fic these days. This seems to be just what I needed: a slightly dark adventure story going the full AU route by kicking off from the season two canon and then add its own backstory and worldbuilding. It's like I've been transported back to early 2012 when it seemed like authors were all trying to top each other in levels of epicness.
(No pressure or anything.) I suddenly realise how much I miss reading about little ponies being dragged out of their sheltered kingdom into the big and dangerous unknown where they have to fight evil and solve the mysteries of the world against overwhelming odds. Much of that suspense was lost with alicorn Twilight. Now it's seldom a question of whether she'll make it but rather what type of convoluted spell the author will come up with. Anyway, can't wait for the next chapter. Keep up the good work! 
7601470
And I thought I did so well
7592795 that would be hilarious. And epic. Grand and Powerfully epic
But unfortunately there's no comedy tag, so either Goldenwing has an miraculous plan to make it work or not happening. Although...
The thing is, this fic' start date is the marriage. Everything after that can exist, such as the Alicorn Amulet. Indeed, we can say that the divergent point was the girls being captured. Without Twilight becoming a princess, rainbow rocks wouldn't go as it did. Oh, sunset did come back... Most likely to an occupied canterlot. Maybe she got some magical doohickey back to human land. The sirens then sniffed out the equestrian magic, but there was one to stop then. They came back, beat the princesses - most likely weakened by sombra's return - and all this happened. I bet you Luna sacrificed herself to stop two of them and/or make the islands. Or maybe she's still alive, keeping them in the sky.
Trixie is not an improbability, though. She would have gotten the Alicorn Amulet before that. She could have become a crazy undead abomination... Or the curse of violence might have counterbalanced the corruption and she's a sane lich. One mad with solitude, maybe, but she could still be around. And she could give them answers.
Of course that'd be too easy, so not happening
Either way, I like this prompt a lot. Do keep the updates coming please, this fic rocks.
Missing word.
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/794/698/475.png
I get it.
I also just it funny. The world has been through the apocalypse, there is extreme social division, and living conditions don't seem very enjoyable. Yet they're still called something as innocuous as "cutie marks." I guess we don't think about it because we've become jaded to the sorta childish term but when you think about these rough and gruff swearing scavengers say, "cutie mark" it's kind of odd.
"have"
9611661
Oi vey, even all this time later another one slipped through.
I would have liked to see more of their interactions with Crazy Rich. I was all prepared to gauge his reactions to the answers they gave his quesitons. Ah well.
Hard to move through water, ain't it? (I'm loving the descriptions.)
-GM, master of (())(())
9756474
The dives are definitely the highlights of the story. I've put a lot of effort into making them immersive and unique.
Omigoshomigoshomigosh! It's getting sooo good!
Oh man I can’t wait!
Ok so RD is turning to be a bitch about everything
Oh no
Theory - Since most unicorns don't have magic anymore, this isn't quite as horrific as it sounds.