31. Lost Empire: Deals
“As you may have seen I’m a bit of a kook from time to time and many of what I say seem outlandish but what I tell you today is the truth. Now tell me what do you think of legends?” Whitmore glanced at the collection of people before him.
“They’re old ma- wives tales.” Vinyl brought up quickly switching her word at the last minute.
“Legends usually aren’t real and embellished due to nop- no one knowing the truth behind such tales.” Octavia brought up.
“Every legend is usually true to some degree.”
My answer cut off a few of the others but I think the reveal of Nightmare Moon did put doubt in them about legends. Whitmore was a very shrewd man as I could see whenever he glanced at me. Every time he spoke there was always an agenda and the one right now seemed to say to me… ‘What type of man are you’? So I spoke what I thought was true.
“A fair answer and one I believe in. A while back my buddy managed to find something very interesting deep in the heart of a glacier along with a very impressive crew that would lead them somewhere unbelievable.” Whitmore shrewdly put out in the open while scratching at his beard.
“So this place is what made you decide on the spot that ‘yeah those strangers can handle this’ then offer them a job.” Spitfire mockingly stated getting a chuckle from Whitmore.
“Yes, to put it bluntly. In more extensive terms the only reason they got out of there was thanks to their quick wits. When they found what was hidden in that glacier they were set upon by a horde of shadow like creatures. Yellow eyes that showed no sign of a soul. Real nightmare in that situation. Supposedly while there, there was mention of weapons shaped like keys managing to ‘purify’ the darkness as they put it. Then I saw all of you wielding key like blades of some sort and put two and two together.” Whitmore put his hands together keeping the sharp look in his eyes while he examined all of us.
“So I take it you want us along in case this darkness decides to be a problem then.” Redheart mentioned as she seemed to be pondering some things.
“You wouldn’t be wrong. There are problems with this trip already and it has to do with the sub that has been prepared for this trip. There have been some hints of monsters haunting the dock house where we are preparing things. Since you agreed to this I won’t mince words that this is probably going to be dangerous. Those monster have been trying to take out most of my men for this trip. While there I need you to meet with two of my best men. Demolitions Expert Vincenzo Santorini and Geologist and Digging Expert Gaetan Moliere will be your contacts there and they have seen the monsters the most. I need them to be safe before things get out of control.” Whitmore seriously state keeping a dour look on his face.
“We can handle that. These monsters won’t know what hit them.” Sunshower smiled which Whitmore returned content now by the positivity.
“What I like to hear. You head there tomorrow and we leave in two days. Be careful while you’re out there. I have some beds set up for you and you can head out in the morning.” Whitmore answered.
Everypony got up and followed the old man to one of the largest bedrooms in the area. Apparently it was like a barracks and had several beds in the area. Apparently Milo got his own room from what I saw since he wasn’t in there.
“Gray, a word before you sleep?” Whitmore whispered to me as the others claimed a bed for themselves.
“Sure… Girls I’ll be right back. I’ll be looking over the maps of the area before I sleep.”
There were a few uncertain nods but everypony did agree with it. I was certain that they wanted to say more on the situation but it was late already and the yawns that followed said a lot on how they felt. We left through the hallway and went into his private study. On the table was a book which I felt I knew based on my memories. What was it… Right, the Shepherd's Journal. Whitmore took a seat in front of the book as I sat opposite to him.
“I know I said the job was to fight against the darkness but I have a more important criteria for your job.” Whitmore solemnly stated.
“Is this about Milo?”
“Yes. He’s naive, foolish, and not suited to be an adventurer but I’m gonna follow my friend’s advice, god bless his soul. He a good kid but I’m not sure if he can handle this. Watch over him. He’s alone right now and needs a friend. I can’t ask you to do that though because he needs to work that out for himself. I do want you to watch out for him so he doesn’t wind up dead.” Whitmore buried his head in his hands.
“I take it there’s more to this story than just worried about things going wrong.”
“I just uplifted his entire life leaving no loose ends behind. He’ll have no one but the people he meets on this voyage. Help him grow. Keep him alive. There’s little more I can do for him but give him a chance to prove his dream.” Whitmore ran his hand across his face in abject fatigue. His age was more apparent than it had ever been.
“I’ll do the best I can but I can’t stop him from doing stupid plans…”
“Don’t I know that… Just like his grandfather, my friend, he is a hard-headed idiot while still having a brilliant mind. Do what you can but don’t risk your lovers.” Whitmore plainly stated with a smug smirk on his face.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t feign ignorance kid. I’ve been around the world many times already. I know but how they stare at you longingly to know there is more than meets the eye.” Whitmore crossed his fingers as he waited for my response.
“I suppose we are… It’s complicated and something I’m still getting used to.”
“I can see that. You are wooden and stiff around them and that wasn’t innuendo. They look like they want more from you. I’ve only seen monogamous relationships work out but you’re sought after by several others. Those situations never work out in the long run.” Whitmore answered.
“It might based on where I live but I can see why that would be weird. Regardless I made them part of my life. Any other concerns?”
“One more thing. Do you have any access to another submersible?” Whitmore sounded out though he didn’t sound serious at all.
“I do have access to one. I feel it would be better for us to be part of that ship. I already planned out enough for that trip.”
“Then we are done. Hopefully these negotiations haven’t pushed you over the edge. Tomorrow we’ll need you at the docks to clear out those monsters and the day after we launch.” Whitmore explained.
“Easy enough. I should go sleep then… I’m more a night owl than the others but I’ve been up all day already.”
“Sleep well then.”
Gray had just left the room to go discuss in more detail what was going on tomorrow but for Sunshower, it was a boring moment of the adventure. It was true that they needed to sleep but she wanted to keep moving, keep fighting. Ever since they had flown in she felt that twinge of desire to keep the adventure alive.
“Does anypony have any idea what we’re going to do here?” Fresh Coat brought up as she curled up on one of the beds.
“Don’t you remember? We’re going to seal the keyhole of this world. You know, to stop the heartless from destroying this place.” Octavia clarified.
“Well I know that much but why are we here in this mansion? This is such a big change from what I’m used to.” Fresh Coat answered.
“Hay yeah. We’re actually being treated pretty well even though we’re strangers. Seriously though is this what it means to be a keyblade wielder?” Vinyl thought aloud.
“Probably. Even Gray seemed very calm throughout all this. Still I’m wondering about keyblades now that we have some time to think. Did everypony notice that he has a new one? It looked kind of scary.” Spitfire commented on the situation.
“And we still have training keyblades. Why don’t we have our own yet?” Redheart mentioned.
“From what I found out while we were still in the Mysterious Tower he’s planning for our training blades to evolve into their own keyblades. He wants us to have something special to call our own.” Sunshower mentioned while sighing in lovelorn attention.
“Does anypony feel weird that we all can use magic now?” Octavia asked nopony in particular.
“It’s a little odd. I didn’t expect that being in a relationship like this opened something far more than any of us could possibly imagine. Seriously we wound up on another world and we all can wield magic while fighting against a creature who could only be described as heartless.” Sunshower slowly spoke as he tone became more reverent of their circumstances.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow as well. We’re going to be doing so many new things that not even being a Wonderbolt could compare to.” Spitfire glossed over her own team.
“Are you saying that being a Wonderbolt doesn’t compare to what we’re doing right now?” Vinyl prodded Spitfire slightly having a bit of fun at her words.
“No I’m not saying that. Being a Wonderbolt is the epitome of being awesome. I’m just saying that this isn’t something that most Wonderbolts would ever experience at all. It’s amazing that we are in this position to handle helping others. Too bad nopony would believe us.” Spitfire sighed.
“Well we do need to keep this secret. Who knows what somepony would do with this kind of juicy info. Thinking back on it, how many ponies could you tell about this and not end up in the nuthouse?” Vinyl rolled her eyes.
“Then we keep this between ourselves. As far as it goes I think we’ve managed to become friends even if it does become strained at certain times…” Octavia trailed off. They all knew exactly what she meant and they all grunted in agreement.
Sunshower eventually got off her bed and looked around at the beds. There were eight beds surprisingly. All of them were too large for each of them. Almost six ponies could fit on one bed and that started giving her many, many ideas.
“Octavia can you help me move these beds together.” Sunshower innocently asked which made warning bells in every other pony’s mind except for Octavia.
“Uh… sure then.” Octavia muttered as the two got to work.
After the beds were put together everypony looked at her handiwork and wondered what exactly she was planning. Once the beds were in place Sunshower got back into her bed and laid down pretending to sleep. Everypony else was also in their beds already when suddenly Gray came into the room.
“You’re all still up? Get some sleep since we’re heading out in the morning.”
Everypony instantly laid back until Gray noticed the beds that were put together. There was a subtle twitch of his head and some grumbling before he laid down on one side of the put together beds. Then Sunshower began to freak out in her own bed as if having a nightmare.
“Sunshower get up.”
“Huh? What?” Sunshower feigned looking around and seeming scared.
“You good?”
“Uh… maybe… I don’t think I can sleep like this can I join you?” Sunshower looked at me hopefully. Everypony else was glaring daggers at her though.
He sighed and nodded getting a cheer from her as she trotted over and made herself comfortable next to him. He laid his head down before he felt more ruffling as more hooves were digging at his back. Octavia had climbed in when he wasn’t looking and grabbed on to him. Gray was forced on his back.
“Does anybody else want to join while this is happening?”
Instantly all the mares climbed into the bed and curled up as close as they possibly could.
“Well… this is unexpected. Nice but unexpected.”
I could feel very snug as there were ponies all around me. We were in a veritable pony pile when we woke up that morning. Sunshower looked a bit disappointed but not much since she was the one closest to me physically at the very least. It took a bit to get out of the pile seeing as Octavia found a way to link on of her back hooves with mine. I still don’t know how that happened at all.
“Where do we go from here?” Vinyl called out from the bathroom.
To say that conversation of how to use the bathrooms of the human world was something I quickly glossed over at least until they could figure out what to do. It was one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever had to talk about with a woman. The other involved insulting someone’s brother which I never want to remember ever again.
“After we get ready Whitmore is going to get us a ride to the dockyards. One of his affiliates.”
“Affiliate? Aren’t they friends?” Fresh Coat brought up.
“It’s… difficult to explain. He is technically their boss but they don’t use the word friend very often. Something about their enemies picking up on those things.”
“Humans sound like griffons.” Vinyl snickered under her breath.
“That’s probably the most apt description of them. I should warn you that most of them do eat meat. They’re omnivorous meaning both meat and plants.”
“That’s not a problem at all.” Spitfire immediately put her hoof down.
From the look on Octavia and Fresh Coat’s faces I could tell that this was a point of contention amongst them. I decided that it was time for me to drop my bombshell before they found out from another source.
“I eat meat ladies. Mostly only fish.”
There were a few gasps but it didn’t end with anything shocking. Spitfire patted me on the back.
“I thought so. Most stallions I know eat some meat since they’ve gone to the Griffon kingdom from time to time.” Spitfire answered.
“I suppose I should get used to that.” Octavia muttered.
“I’ll get over it I suppose.” Fresh Coat added as the two hugged each other for solace.
“Is it that big a deal?”
“Nah. They’re just being a bit melodramatic right now. Octavia has always been one for theatrics sometimes. It’s her only outlet for stress relief.” Vinyl groused out.
“And Fresh Coat?”
“I felt it would be fun for later. I know just what kind of meat to feed ya.” Fresh Coat muttered under her breath. There were several blushes and a cough from me as I nervously looked around for any exit. Whitmore took that opening to immediately open the door. We were still under the effects of the illusion.
“Everything good in here gentleman and ladies?” Whitmore innocently asked as the girls quickly stopped their staring match against each other.
“We’re ready to head out. Lead the way and we’ll get things done.”
“Excellent. I’ll be leaving you under the capable hands of Lieutenant Helga Sinclair. My dear I leave them in your capable hands.” Whitmore said as another woman came into the picture dressed in a large trench coat those it contrasted deeply against her blonde hair.
“So you’re our specialists? Don’t look like much to me.” Helga snarked a bit to the scoffs of some of the girls.
“Seeing is believing I suppose.” Sunshower answered in turn.
“Then follow me and we’ll go take care of these problems.” Helga led on as we all followed her out to a waiting truck.
As we all piled in I sat up front surprisingly with Sunshower at my side. I didn’t show surprise but I was curious about why she was able to be by my side last night and at this point. The others were less than ecstatic but seemed understanding. They all gave me a nod making me mentally shrug. Helga remained quiet while we finally got to the docks undeterred and filed out to a very large ship.
“This is the main ship holding our craft known as the Ulysses. Preston has told me you have your own craft ready and serviced for the trip and will be brought into the dock before tomorrow. We need you to go around looking for these creatures that have been trying to sink the ship. Vinny and Mole should have locations ready for you in where they are. Meet with them then report back to me when you’ve cleared them out.” Helga summarized before pointing us into the docks.
D.C. Dockyard, Ship Dock 3
The seven of us trotted into the drydocks to the amazement of my fellow ponies. The ships here were more intricate and grand than the ships in Equestria from my own predilection back in Baltimare. Luckily, the bile from the horrible pun no longer was coming up so the city didn’t fill me with unreasonable rage.
“Is this how ships are here?” Redheart peered straight up.
“These are just cargo ships. There are bigger ones being made most likely but those are meant for naval combat rather than transportation. The real ship everyone else will be on is inside this ship.”
“What!?” Several ponies cried out which made my ears blanch from the sound.
“There are bigger ships. We probably won’t see any but we will see ships that can go underwater.”
Before anypony could make another sound there was this very loud guttural roar from further in the docks. Several large fish like heartless appeared only known as Aquatanks… and they were floating in mid air. I thought they could only exist in Atlantica though there was that moment back at the End of the World where they could float through the air.
“Mole, hurry up, we gotta get the nitroglycerin out of here! Oh look at that we got new people.” A tall man with a bushy mustache and bored look on his face seemed to keep an eye on the heartless more than us.
“I am hurrying! I won’t let them get my dirt from around the world. The french pile is encroaching on Germany and they never had the spine to do so.” A small man with a fancy cap with a flashlight on it and specialty goggles ran off with a wheelbarrow… most likely filled with explosives.
“Keep the heartless away from those things!”
Spitfire shot forward holding Vinyl as the two went straight into the first Aquatank. As they started their attack several Air Soldiers also popped out. With the keyblades revealed they instantly targeted me. The first one charged immediately as the second Aquatank charged directly at me I held my blade strong and blocked the charge causing it to spin around wildly. Fresh Coat and Sunshower peppered it with thunder spells forcing me to back up as the Air Soldiers took their chance attempting to kick me in the face. Octavia took initiative smacking them before they got close alongside Redheart who shot out blizzard spells.
“Zut alors… It is something grand we are seeing is it now mon ami?” Mole, or so I thought it was, pulled at Vinny’s arm.
“You mean all the acrobatic things? Yeah I could do that to but you know have to keep the explosives safe. Also the paper clips, you know, big ones.” Vinny mused as he kept the explosives out of reach.
“No! No! You fool I mean the women, of course.” Mole wrung his hands together. I immediately too umbrage with his enthusiasm.
“Mine!”
“But- “ Mole brought a finger up to bring up a complaint.
“No.”
Before he could say anything else Vinny forced him to move the cart out of the way while we kept fighting. Another Aquatank charged forward forcing me to roll out of the way as it smashed into a nearby chain link fence. The fence was torn down and nearly rendered beyond repair.
“So… he was enthusiastic.” Redheart chuckled.
“Yeah but I’d rather you not have to deal with that.”
“He did look a little weird.” Sunshower commented before casting a magnet spell a bit farther away from us forcing several of the Air Soldiers to smack into each other even drawing in one of the Aquatanks.
“Fill them full of magic!”
Several spells were slung leaving a large cloud of dust as several of the heartless were dispersed releasing several heart emblems from them. Spitfire and Vinyl were forced back from one of the Aquatanks charging them into us. I lifted my keyblade just as they were flung into me.
“Stop!”
The heartless stopped in place allowing Octavia to charge in with her own combos as Sunshower flew up and smacked it with an overhead chop just as the spell faltered. It immediately hit the ground as every hit it had taken finally took effect forcing the heart emblem out of its body.
We looked around cautiously as the smell of darkness still permeated the area. Spitfire got up first and noticed my look. She urged Octavia to follow me as I looked around trying to focus on where it was at its worst.
“Ladies there are probably still more areas. Need three teams to go out and figure where these heartless are. Spitfire, Octavia, you two are team leaders right now. We’ll alternate as we go through our time here on this world.”
“Understood.” Spitfire saluted.
“Got it.” Octavia nodded.
Octavia picked Fresh Coat to travel with her. Thankfully she knew the importance of getting to know one another while we were here. Spitfire chose Redheart as the two made their way in one of the directions I had scowled in. I pointed Octavia in the opposite direction.
“Vinyl, Sunshower, you two are with me. Vinyl stick to offensive magic and Sunshower stick to defensive magic for now. I’ll be the vanguard and drag them closer into battle.”
Both mares smirked and smiled respectively understanding their roles. I didn’t want to mold them into fighting the same way as I did. They needed to work on their own styles and figure out what it meant to make their own tactical decisions. Spitfire and Redheart seemed to understand that explicitly but the other four didn’t just yet. I briefly wondered if I could figure out if there would be a way to get them a more formal training for their own stances and such but decided to keep it to myself.
It took Octavia only a few moments before the heartless reappeared. Fresh Coat had noticed more of the Air Soldiers popping up above them which was a bit out of their league. Both mares were ground bound and none of them came down long enough to suffer for their attacks.
“I got them. Magnet!” Fresh Coat lifted her training blade up making a rune appear low on the ground dragging a sizeable chunk of the heartless down.
“Good work Fresh. I’ll shake up their life. Quake!” Octavia shouted as a large chunk of earth appeared out of nowhere and smashed into the group of heartless smashing a few out of existence. The few that survived immediately dove down kicking Fresh Coat aside and bowling over Octavia.
Fresh rolled back to her hooves and immediately shot out a gravity spell breaking their wings and forcing them down to the ground. Without flight they could barely fight like regular soldiers. Octavia got back up casting a cure spell healing up the scratches the two received from the assault as they finished up their small group of heartless.
“Shake up their life? Really?” Fresh Coat snickered at a now blushing Octavia.
“It was all I could think up at the time. Shut it.” Octavia glowered as she tried to hide her face from her herd mates chuckles.
Spitfire had been through alot in the past. She thought herself very well traveled around the world. Yes she was now on a new world but for the most part it followed similar pattern to Equestria. The rich made things happen and the scholars tried to prove their point. Then she found out about the heartless and fought against them. The only act which could compare was fighting against a dragon that one time only to suddenly be overwhelmed by a space battle against a giant ship in the sky with rotating wings of death.
“This is probably going to be the highlight of my life…” Spitfire mumbled as she smacked away a charging Air Pirate.
“What do you mean?” Redheart called out as she bucked away another one.
“I mean look at what we are doing here. This is much more extravagant and amazing than anything I could ever do as a Wonderbolt!” Spitfire cried out as she managed to deflect a charging Aquatank into a wall. Her hoof was sore but she was going to be stronger.
“I suppose I get what you mean. To think that we could all learn magic. Things beyond the stars that could very well change everything on Equestria. It’s too bad we need to keep this secret for a while.” Redheart mumbled as she threw her training keyblade as a charging Aquatank stopping it in mid charge before summoning it back to her hoof.
“Why do we have to do that again?” Spitfire growled as she faced the first Aquatank and smashing it back into the wall until it dispersed back into darkness.
“From what Gray said, we need to ease everypony into the idea of there being other worlds and the fact that the princesses have no idea about what happens out here. Equestria from what he told us is so isolated from the rest of the universe that we have never had heartless manage to even find our world.” Redheart mentioned as she shot out a beam of light from her blade stunning the Aquatank before finishing it off in a combo of low strikes.
“Right. I’ve seen how flighty a lot of ponies can be. Does that say something bad about us or that we can sense danger really well?” Spitfire destroyed the last Air Soldier and looked around for any other heartless.
“I’ll go for the second option because the first option is a bit saddening. It makes my job easier since we don’t get many patients. Still something like this would change all of Equestria. When we get back there we should sit down with Gray and try to convince him to talk to the princesses.” Redheart mused as she cast a cure spell making sure that they had no wounds on either of them.
“Maybe we should wait until all of us have our own keyblades. Better proof plus we can impose ourselves as knights or something to that level if we’re lucky. Let’s face it… this is going to be the most epic thing we’ve ever done and I don’t want to be shunted down and let somepony else take over my position.” Spitfire groaned as she stretched herself out.
Redheart just shrugged and led the way back towards the rest of the group. They had spent enough time wasting it on some small fries. It was still really weird to see a floating fish heartless.
It took a few minutes to find a few more heartless closer to the ship but I wasn’t too worried at this point. Everypony was trained up and luckily all the people we’ve met haven’t asked for names throughout our entire time. Vinyl was itching for a fight while Sunshower was getting ready to cast a few aero spells. As we got near the docks another of the crew mates were being attacked by Air Soldiers.
“Puto madre, get the hell away from me!” A small latina woman in an engineer uniform was swinging around a wrench around like a maniac managing to knock a few away.
“Durn freaks floatin ‘round like some kind o’hummingbird.” An old man with a double barreled shotgun fired blasting one of them into mist.
“You know I really should tell Margie about this later.” She took out a large old time camera taking a few pictures which actually stunned some of the heartless.
Instead of calling out I used a magnet spell to drag the Air Soldiers closer to the three of us then peppered the group with multiple spells. I finally finished them off with a gravity spell. Surprisingly they had done well enough even without us helping them out.
“Are you three ok?”
“Yeah, yeah no problema aqui. Quien estoy hablando con?” The small latina woman asked me. Spanish was not my strong point but I did take some high school spanish.
“Gray. This is Vi and Sunny.”
“Yo.” Vinyl answered managing to remember her code name for this world.
“Hi there.” Sunshower smiled
“We were hired by Mr. Whitmore to handle these monsters more permanently. You three are?”
“Audrey. This is Cookie on my left and Ms. Packard on my right.” Audrey pointed as their respective person.
“Hello there… jeez you’re so skinny. Need to fatten ya up a bit more before you waste away to skin ’n’ bones.” Cookie stated as he held me in place and I suppose felt a very skinny pony. These were really good illusions.
“Ha! You’re a rail now Gray!” Vinyl laughed out while I tried to get out of his grip.
“No Margie he probably went out for smokes. Yeah. Yeah I can see that. What happened to Oliver?” Ms. Packard kept speaking into her headset which just confused me. She dropped the cigarette to the ground stomping it out before getting another one ready and walking back onto the ship.
“We have to meet up with the others of our group. Pleasure to meet you all.”
“Yeah. See ya round.” Audrey walked away with Cookie leading him back onto the ship to find the galley.
“Well that was simple enough. Let’s go meet with the others. We need to get the gummi ship ready for the trip.”
“The ship can go underwater?” Sunshower put her hoof to her chin in thought.
“Most likely. Let’s go get things ready.”
“Sounds like we’re gonna have some real fun soon.” Vinyl rubbed her hooves together.
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Cool stuff. I love this chapter
The french pile is encroaching on Germany and they never had the spine to do so.”
My sides 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Glad you're enjoying the story