Empty Horizons: Sea of Stars

by Insipidious

XVI - As Brats Investigate

Baltimare was one of the larger islands of Equestria, casting a massive shadow on the ocean most hours of the day. While the surface of Baltimare was decently high in elevation, it was large enough that the bottommost tip almost touched the ocean surface—and it did on particularly stormy days. However, unlike Sanctaphrax, nobody had bothered to install a chain or anchor of any sort. If one wanted into Baltimare proper, where the famous ancient ruins stood, they would have to take an airship all the way up.

The Algol’s crew wasn’t prepared to make the voyage to Baltimare proper, nor did they want to. In the Captain’s words, “the Baltimarians are so far up their own asses they find the idea of ponies smarter than them amusing. Doesn’t matter if you’re talking to an aristocrat or peasant, the arrogance goes right to the bone. Arguing is their favorite pastime.”

The mining operations were a different story, and one the Admiral prefered dealing with, though only barely.

Aside from the Baltimare Crater directly below the floating island, the ocean nearby was extremely shallow with occasional peaks from miniature mountains perhaps more accurately described as large hills. It wasn’t uncommon for a diver to be on the seafloor and still be able to see sunlight, though usually just barely. In the highest of these hills, mines were built. Many made use of tunnels already constructed by the ponies of old, with water pumped out slowly over time. They found vast amounts of raw materials and magic that drove Baltimare’s industry, the largest competitor to Sanctaphrax. They also found bizarre corrupted monsters seen nowhere else, but that was one of the hazards of work.

What Sanctaphrax had in quality, Baltimare made up for in quantity and size. They simply had more ponies and resources. They said their prowess came from their connection to Old Equestria’s heritage, but in reality it mostly came from their larger factories the miners who worked endlessly in a terrible environment until they died.

The Admiral had a hard time empathizing with the miners. Not because their situation wasn’t terrible. But because the miner she dealt with the most was Hailing Fog.

“The docking clamps are ready for your behemoth!” she called over the hijacked radios. “I’ve brought snacks!”

The Captain brought the Algol to the docking clamp, careful to bring the airlocks together perfectly. The Admiral stood with Orange at the airlock in question, waiting for it to open with no small amount of dread.

With a series of pops and hisses, the doors slid open, revealing a teenage filly with the smuggest smile on her face. She was an overly thin unicorn of a white-blue complexion, wearing a black shirt with gold buttons that marked her as a Guardian. There was another half to the uniform, but she had foregone it so she could proudly display her cutie mark: a series of sine waves interacting overtop a drop of water. Strapped to her back was a somewhat large radio, with most of its space devoted to the speaker.

“I’m sooooo glad to see you!” She pulled the Admiral into a very unwanted hug. “And boy, is your lopsided barrel a mess! Did one of the drill-teeth get you? Those are nasty, right?”

The Admiral carefully removed herself from the filly’s death grip. “They are.”

“Chatty as always! Of course, for my favorite bat, I’ll be sure to requisition the highest quality air for your refuelling, no extra cost.” She fixed the Admiral with a knowing glance. “That is the oxygen tank that’s blown out, right?”

“Correct,” the Admiral said, unflinching. She’d learned quickly not to underestimate the mind of Fog. Although a brat, she was a Mine Guardian for a reason, and it wasn’t just because of that special talent of hers.

For instance, while the “highest quality air” sounded like a great gift, it would take a significant amount of time to place an order and ship the tank. Time that Fog would use to snoop around the Algol, and there wasn’t a thing the Admiral could do about it. Fog held the cards here; this was her turf, and the Admiral was her favorite toy.

It took everything the Admiral had to smile instead of biting the filly’s head off.

Fog chuckled. “Anyway, I haven’t seen your ship in a while! Definitely not when it’s banged up like this, oh no. Please, give me a tour! For old time’s sake?”

At least she’s asking for a tour. I can easily avoid Tirek like this. “Right away—I’m assuming payment has already been sorted out?”

“Oh yeah, already sending the bill to Sanctaphrax.”

The Admiral’s smile remained, though now it was genuine. She thinks she’s getting me in trouble. Iota might be upset at first, but once she sees what I’ve got here…

“Why were you going beyond charted waters, anyway?” Fog asked. “Pretty dangerous, if I do say so myself! No maps, no idea where you’re going… You’re not a mapping ship. What were you looking for?”

“There was a lead to undiscovered ruins. Didn’t find anything before we got attacked. Had to turn back.” The Admiral didn’t even need to think: there was no way the filly believed her.

“Not even gonna tell me what you were looking for?”

“An ancient city of gold,” the Admiral said, forcing a chuckle. “Ridiculous, of course, but there might be something down there.”

“There’s always something somewhere. The question is, whose treasure is it?”

“Yours?”

“That depends.” She got a glint in her eye the Admiral couldn't place. She didn’t elaborate.

~~~

The instant the airlock was clear, Sparkler had ran off the Algol and onto the mining station. She didn’t want to spend a minute longer in close proximity to that brat than was absolutely necessary.

She tried not to think about how Hailing Fog probably knew exactly how Sparkler felt and reveled in her rage. Dwelling on it only made Sparkler more angry, which would only give Fog more of what she wanted…

“Why’d they give a kid that high of a position?” Sparkler muttered to herself. “Gifted prodigy or not…”

The area of the mines Sparkler was walking through was actually rather impressive: a miniature town situated in a glass bubble beneath the ocean. The bubble in question was reinforced with a web-like lattice of steel, strong enough to resist a deepfish attack for a short while if such a thing were ever to happen. Which it didn’t—the mining station didn’t move and didn’t make waves, so deepfish never saw it. And the few monsters who stumbled in by accident, well, they were taken care of by the Guardians. She could see one of their submarines drifting outside, armed to the teeth with harpoons, torpedoes, and who knew what else Baltimare gave to them. Probably something explosively dangerous without any safety precautions.

The town itself was composed almost entirely of metal with a few stone supports, since those were the materials they had to work with. They brought the metal out of the rock below, so they used it, giving the station a clean, reflective feel. Ironic, since the miners were basically poor as dirt. For all their shiny houses, every last pony in the place was covered in soot and dust.

Not to mention the air. It was almost unbearably low quality. Even though she lived on a submarine, Sparkler could barely stand it. Air was expensive, and the bigwigs wanted to keep the cost as low as possible.

Sparkler marched into a bar and rammed her face into the countertop.

“...Where did you come from?” the earth pony barkeep asked, noting her shockingly clean appearance.

“South.”

“There’s nothing south,” he responded.

“South. Just smack me with something before I lose my mind.”

“Ahhh, Fog’s newest playmates.” He dropped a glass in front of her and started filling it.

“Not new. Recurring.”

“Recurring?” He stopped pouring. “Wait, that would make you…”

“...Don’t you d—”

He knocked her drink over with a cruel smire. “A Phraxite Gifted! Hey boys, we got ourselves the elite here!”

“C’mon man, I just wanted a drink… I have money! I can pay you double!”

“We might get around to that,” he chuckled as several of the bar’s patrons stood up to surround Sparkler. “After we have a little fun showing a Phraxite what happens when they come to Baltim—”

Sparkler wrapped her hair around the necks of the barkeep and three of the patrons. “Ye ain’t a Guardian. I can snap yer necks without a problem. Don’t even think big daddy Baltimare would care.”

None of them said anything, mostly because she was cutting off their air. The rest of the patrons who’d decided not to get involved in the brawl looked at their food and drink even more intently than they had been before, heads down.

“Now, get me another drink. I’m not payin’ for what ya spilled. Oi?”

The barkeep nodded, and Sparkler released him without a hassle. She got her drink shortly thereafter.

~~~

“I always love this room,” Hailing Fog said, strolling around the center of the Algol and examining the clockwork map carefully. “They let you keep this marvel on your ship. It baffles me. You’re not flying to the moon!”

The Admiral smirked. “Maybe not in your lifetime.”

“And you think you’ll get there in yours?”

The Admiral refused to play her little game.

“I wonder, how long do you bats live?” Fog didn’t look up from the clockwork mechanism. “We don’t see too many of you. I’m only aware of two others in the whole world, right now. You, that mercenary mare I hear does good work, and that crazy guy locked in Riven’s funny farm. Hmm. You bats are really hurting for a gene pool…”

If only.

“Why don’t you ever talk about your past? I talk about mine all the time! I don’t understand what the big deal is with everyone and all these secrets.” Her usually sickeningly innocent face was suddenly replaced with a deep scowl. “I hate secrets.”

“When you’re older, you might have a few, and then you’ll understand.”

“Oh, I understand just fine. You’ve got it alllll in your big heads that ‘we’ve gotta be better’ and ‘we gotta protect our power.’ Pfft. As if keeping secrets does that. You think I don’t see everything fall apart on a daily basis because of some stupid secret a pony thought was a good idea?”

“I’m sure Baltimare is ever-so-thankful for your efforts.”

“They can stuff a sock in it. I’m a Miner. Like my father before me.”

The Admiral stared at her in shock. She found only an innocent smile looking back at her.

The filly’s ears twitched.

Crud.

“Oh, that was interesting…” Fog lit her horn, cocking her head. “That was the first transmission I felt from the Algol itself. You’ve been very quiet ever since I got here, almost like you’re hiding something. You wouldn’t do that to me, would you, Admiral?”

“You know I would.”

“Are you now?”

The Admiral looked her in the eyes. “I am always keeping several secrets from you. Take your pick.”

“Aww, why do you always get so serious every time I come over to visit?” Fog tossed her mane and turned away from the Admiral. “Sparkler’s much more fun than you are.”

“She tried to kill you last time.”

“How’s that burn I gave her doing?” Fog asked, smirking.

“Completely healed.”

“Good. I’d hate to see my favorite seamare permanently scarred.” Fog turned to the Admiral. “Now, you’re going to take me to the torpedo bay.”

The Admiral didn’t move a muscle. Tried to show absolutely no reaction. Fog, apparently, didn’t need one, because she broke out into a grin.

“I don’t know what you were transmitting with, but I still sensed it. Now… are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way? Both are fun, so take your pick!”

~~~

Sparkler was just about done with the terrible mininer beer when the Mine Guardian walked in. Unlike Fog, who never held herself all that professionally, this pegasus stallion walked in such a way that made every motion powerful. His hoofsteps were slightly louder than the average stallion and he moved in a perfect rhythm. He demanded that everyone look at him.

Sparkler covered her cutie mark with her hair, suddenly feeling like she didn’t want to be noticed right now.

The Guardian sat down at the table furthest in the back. He didn’t order anything. He only stared straight ahead, waiting.

The pony he was waiting for arrived later. Not a Guardian, but not a miner either: she wasn’t dusty or grimy. She was foreign, like Sparkler herself.

Interesting.

Sparkler pointed her ears in their direction.

“She’s interfering,” the Guardian said.

“There wasn’t anything you could do about that?”

“She has too much loyalty. Barring her from something seemingly harmless would tip her off.”

“How in the name of the Princesses did you get an honest Guardian?”

“Family connections.”

“She’s a nuisance,” the mare grunted. “If she ruins the Admiral, the deal might fall through.”

Sparkler kept her breathing steady, but inwardly her mind started panicking. What have we walked into?

“We will protect her,” the Guardian insisted.

“You can’t even stop a child,” the mare hissed. “Forgive me if I don’t have much faith in your abilities.”

“We will—” the Guardian stopped short.

Sparkler tensed. I’m not even looking at him, how does he know? Her ears instinctively twitched away from him. Traitors. Trying to look natural, she downed her drink, left some bits on the counter, and trotted toward the exit.

She heard him get out of his chair.

She ran.

In truth, she could probably beat a random pegasus Guardian, but they weren’t like the miners. If one of them got beat up, ponies would notice.

“Stop right th—”

Sparkler grabbed a table in her magic and tossed it at the Guardian, toppling him to the ground. “Sorry!” She waved with her hair and bolted back to the Algol.

Something rotten was ahoof. She had to get to the Admiral quickly.

~~~

Torpedos were huge. Even with Sanctaphrax’s extensive research and development, they still weighed around a ton and, all together, filled up much of the Algol’s inner holds. They were kept deep inside the Algol so they weren’t easy to ignite by an attack. That said, at any given time, three were loaded in the torpedo tubes, ready to be activated and launched.

This was where Hailing Fog marched, the Admiral following her closely. Orange had vanished, no doubt to gather some Algol security, should it be needed.

The Admiral hoped her hiding spot was clever enough. Nopony would try to open a possibly live torpedo.

Fog frowned. “Well… this is a clever little game, hmm?” She turned to the Admiral with an innocent smile. “It’d be a shame if I could return the message. At a hundred times its original strength.”

She lit her horn.

The Admiral winced as she heard Tirek’s grunt from inside the third torpedo.

“There we go! Let’s crack this one open, there’s somepony in it! That can’t be safe for th—”

Tirek punched out of the torpedo’s casing, holding his second hand to his head. “BRAT! You don’t know what you’re messing w—”

There were two radios in the room: the Admiral’s personal one, and the one Fog had strapped to her back. Both shrieked with the loudest rendition of a chalkboard noise Fog could generate, dropping Tirek, the Admiral, and the torpedo crew to the ground. Fog herself remained standing, grinning. “Gotcha.”

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Do not taunt Happy Fun Unicorn.

Note: There are multiple Happy Fun Unicorns.

Wheels within wheels. This should get very interesting in the near future.

[Booster Spice]

Oh good greif. Theres a whole chess board of Cozies, and theyre all playing The Game.

[Gearsmash King]

This is why I never trust the combonation of cute, innocent, smart, and annoying. I knew Fog was irritating, but I had a feeling she was dangerous too.

[Insipidious]

10056780
I just lost The Game.

Thanks for that.

[Thought Prism]

Well, Fog is boned. No way Tirek isn't going to rip all the magic out of her body for that little stunt. And the Admiral certainly won't stop him, LOL.