Expanding Horizons

by mechafone

27 - What Came From Sohl

Wind whipped through the sails of the Sea Pearl. There was a foul wind blowing in the breeze, something that Vasha would know anywhere. She had smelled it many times when she still lived in Breen. It was everywhere over there, and she knew what it was. She looked out portside and spotted that blue pegasus on the water, like he was just waiting for something. Well, she wasn't waiting around for this. Wordlessly she headed to the main cabin. It was time to move the ship.

---

Trixie paused where she was on the beach, even as a beach ball bounced off her head and rolled into the water. She glanced at Russet as he came over, an inquiring look in his eyes. "Russet, do you...hear that?"

Russet tilted his head, an ear upturned to the sky. "Um...I don't know? I think maybe I smell something more than hear."

"Well, what do you smell?"

"It smells...like a storm. But there's something being carried in the wind, too, something...that doesn't feel right."

About half a mile down the beach, five figures laying in the sand began twitching and straining to move. Echo, nearest the water, stared at the waves for a moment before sending out a rippling signal from his horn, directed into the water. He gasped and immediately started straining harder, his efforts coated in panic.

---

Beneath the waves, Lusus fumed as he paced the waters underneath the island. His efforts to capitalize on Mimosa's weakness (and apparent death) had ended in abysmal failure. Sure, it wasn't absolutely necessary to kill the dry-landers for his underwater coup to work, but the fact that his every attempt to do so had failed irked him. To be bested by both father and daughter was inexcusable! He hadn't been commanded to kill the interlopers, but it was implied. He could not fail, especially with having been thwarted twice. Perhaps the mortals would be easier. He turned to face the island, intending on locating Seaweed Cyanide, but something stopped him. There were whispers all around him, and a sickly light coming from below.

"The beast..."

"He cowers..."

"He has met defeat..."

"Look at him sulk..."

Lusus' great mouth turned in a sneer as dozens of small, black-skinned figures swam around and past him, headed into Mimosa's underwater entrance. He let them pass; he wasn't interested in them. Into his view swam a creature he had only seen twice. Queen Lomiphora was a sight to behold; while she wasn't very big, she was larger than the average pony and boasted an eerie beauty with the green phosphorescent lights that her grey body gave off. She wore a golden crown with an enormous red jewel in the center. Her body resembled a pony's front end and tapered off into a thin, delicate tail.

"Lusus...heard you were running into trouble."

"News travels quickly...too quickly," he snorted, loathe to think that a creature this small could get away with talking to him like this. He wouldn't have put up with it if King North Wind himself didn't recognize her officially as Queen of the Deep. Her kingdom laid at the bottom of the ocean. Not at the upcoming King and Queen's depth, no, nothing so paltry. Her kingdom was miles and miles beneath that level, and her kingdom stretched in many directions, even going so far as to cover some of the new kingdom's territory. It had finally been made legal to take that territory over, and that was as good a reason as any for the Queen to take offense.

"And what are you planning on doing? More of your people does not equate to being equal to the task. There are powerful creatures that have come here. Mimosa's own daughter has proven that she carries his strength."

"You're behind the times, Lusus," the queen said with a giggle, her back half wriggling in mirth. "I have word from lord North Wind that Mimosa has fallen. He is dead, having wandered into that wonderful wasteland our king calls home. What a fool. And...your quarry has slipped past you. Hah...you!...and has sought Mimosa out for counsel. You might feel like chasing her, but don't you think it's about time for others to take over...I mean, help?"

Lusus stared at the queen as she drifted upwards without waiting for a response. Mimosa? Dead? By King North Wind's own hooves?? That must mean that the biodome came equipped with portals. He tucked this information away quietly as he swam past the queen into the underwater tunnel entrance into Mimosa's tomb.

---

Spark Storm and the three griffons approached the place where Sohl had been. They could hear the sounds of struggle, grunting and quiet swearing. There was some kind of powdery mist floating around, and it smelled...like a pony? Spark frowned as he shifted the weight on his shoulders. Those two angry orbs he had created were just as heavy as they were last time against Shimmering Oasis and Shadow Heart.

"Uhhh..." Twig uttered as the four came upon a strange sight. The three harpies were entwined, each holding or being held against their will. Shrike held Sohl's neck in her long toe talons, Sohl held down Aves on the back of her neck, and Aves pitifully held one of Sohl's legs. All three turned to look at the four, and the two enormous balls of electricity.

"Tricks!" Shrike squawked. "Where is Belaff?"

"Banana beak?" Spark shrugged and cocked his head behind him. "She might be alive. You can take whatever's left of her when you leave."

"They can't leave, Spark, we have to kill them!" Sohl yelled. Had Spark done it? Had he really unlocked his powers? Those orbs he held over his head looked new. She could feel the hairs on her body standing up from their power from here. But the look in his eyes was soft and the inky power from that night wasn't present.

"Why is that necessary?" Spark insisted. "I understand they're dangerous, but I've got it...handled..." He paused as a fourth figure entered his peripheral vision. It looked like a pony, but it had fangs that protruded from it's mouth, and it's sclera were jet black with pink irises. It's body was blue, it's feet were claws, and it's head, wings and tail were yellow and pink...like Sohl's. "...what the hell? Sohl??"

"Now the moment of truth!" Shrike announced. "Sohl, your judgement is at hand!!"

Sohl growled and grabbed Shrike's knees, bending her close so she could grab her neck and shut her up. "Kill it, Spark Storm! Kill it now!!"

Spark frowned as the creature resembling Sohl jumped up to Spark Storm's perch. While it definitely resembled a harpy in pony form, nothing about this thing made him think it was dangerous, especially when it smiled happily and hopped closer to him, then planted herself up against him and nuzzled under his chin.

"Aaaaah!!" Shrike gurgled with triumph, though she strained just to breathe under Sohl's grasp. "Sh-she has chosen death! Sohl, you have gone soft, and you will be-" Sohl squeezed Shrike's throat harder, resounding in a muffled, sickening crack as the smaller harpy's neck was snapped.

Aves gasped at the revelation. "Sohl! Sohl, you will be torn apart by the Council Of Hatred when they hear about this!" Aves leapt up, barely avoiding Sohl's claws. She screamed as she was met with a bolt of lightning far stronger than anything she'd felt before and went sailing into a mossy boulder, where she collapsed with unconsciousness.

"If you make it out of here alive..." Sohl said with finality, then turned to Spark Storm, completely enraged. "You idiot!! I told you to kill that thing!!"

The griffons wisely stepped aside as Sohl leapt up to Spark Storm, claws bared. The creature squeaked and leapt behind the pegasus fearfully. "No." He said with a glare, stepping forward with a challenging stance. "What is she? Why does she look like you?"

Sohl huffed and glared at the creature. "She's...she's me, if I had the intelligence of a turtle. She's meant to embody my deepest emotions. The mimics are used to expose a harpy's heart. You can't lie to a mimic, no matter how hard you-"

Spark let out a yelp and lurched forward, having been bitten on the butt. The creature giggled and buzzed it's wings playfully. "What the crap! Sohl!" he glared up at the harpy accusingly.

"I did tell you to kill it..." She sighed. "If you want to take care of it and deal with that, that's your call."

Sohl turned and leapt over to the prone Aves, a claw held over the smaller harpy's heart. "Sohl..." Spark said, some small hope in his eyes.

"You wanna do this again? With a hundred harpies instead of three? You think either one of us will survive that?"

"Yeah I'd just as soon jump over to Breen than be present for that..." Twig whispered.

Spark sighed and turned his back to Sohl, finding himself staring into the other Sohl's eyes. As he tried to ignore the sound of claws rending flesh, he tried to work out the pros and cons of keeping this creature around. For all he could tell, it just looked like Sohl and possessed her playful nature and...affection for him? It cuddled him, nuzzled him and bit his ass...he turned to Sohl as she approached and fixed her with an incredulous stare. She grinned and licked at the blood running down her claws. "Mmm...in about five years..."

Spark Storm had nothing to say as Callie's voice called down from above. Spark sighed with relief, actually quite glad he wouldn't need to come up with a response to that. Suddenly aware that he felt much lighter, he glanced above him to see his orbs had likely dissipated. He chalked this up to good luck. "Daddy!" Orea called from her perch in between the griffon's wings. She hopped off and was suddenly tackled by the mimic mimicking Sohl.

Sohl growled at the scene as Orea let out peals of joyful laughter. That happiness coming from Orea should've been coming from her...

"Right, so she's not dangerous, then," Havet commented. "All right there, Callie? Did ye miss all the action?"

"No, I actually saw a bit," she told her friend and greeted Twig with a head scratch. "Jorden, you're being uncharacteristically quiet..."

The cardinal/tiger griffon huffed and smoothed her crest down her neck. "Yeah, guess I'm just not really used to seeing a pony knock around a couple'a harpies like that, like they're not impossible to hurt without 20 griffons attacking at once."

"He is unique," Bombyx told them as she approached. She looked quite rough, having spent the last few minutes trying to escape the gravity trap she'd been caught in. "Please remember this. If you can, protect him. He is important."

Spark Storm frowned. Was he? He realized he had quite a bit of power, but...important? Mimosa certainly seemed to think so. And Sohl...she was hiding something - again. He could tell by the way she was looking at him. And what was the deal with Orea - without a moment to gather his thoughts, Frankie's voice cut in through the intercom.

"Uh, guys, I know we've just gotten through, like, three or four jams, but I think we're about to run into a few more."

"Ugh...now what?" came more than a few voices.

"I'm picking up multiple life forms inside the compound. And I didn't see any of them come through the front doors. One of them is right on top of you!"

Sohl turned her back to the others, the snapping of branches alerting the group. Whoever it was didn't seem to have a care in the world, the way they were pushing aside branches. "Uh...hello?" a lone voice called from the brush. Sohl frowned, but untensed. She reached forward and pulled the branches back, revealing a tall earth pony, with a sky blue body, and a massive, long-flowing blonde mane that trailed off into deep blue colors, almost green at the tips, the same for her tail. The circlet around her forehead somewhat resembled a royal crown, with a large blue gem situated above and between her blue eyes.

Bombyx let out a gasp and cantered over to her, taking the branches from Sohl to let the mare into the clearing. "Thank you, Bombyx. I wanted to...t-" she faltered, seeing the carnage. Sohl sighed and took a seat on the ground, followed by mimic Sohl and Orea. "What is going on?" The mare's eyes trailed over the four griffons, and then on Spark Storm. They lingered there longer than he was comfortable with.

"Not that I don't always cherish your visits, your grace, but what are you doing here now? It is mere hours before your coronation tonight."

Coronation? Spark thought. He was already identifying several of the creatures that Frankie had just warned them of. As of a few weeks ago, Spark Storm had improved his electric webs. It took very little effort to activate them and spread them out in an area, and he had learned to do it subconsciously. He liked to know about a new area as much as possible, and he hadn't used all of his webs to shock the harpies. These creatures were wet, soaking wet, like they had just crawled out of the ocean.

There was no time for further thought as perhaps a dozen of the creatures leapt out of the trees. None of Spark's comrades were ready as light erupted all around them, shocking every last of the creatures, who fell to the ground, twitching with their last breaths. Whatever they were, they weren't nearly as resilient as the harpies, probably because they were soaking wet.

The princess didn't even have time to recoil in horror at the creatures, or at their deaths. One fell at her hooves, and it was with shock that she recognized them. But that pegasus! She looked up at him, even as the griffons and the nymph let out yells of shock. Again, though, Sohl smirked with admiration at her friend, and with great pleasure that Orea had leapt into her arms. "What are those things?!" Orea cried.

"They're from the deep, much, much deeper than our kingdom," Pearl Depth offered breathlessly. "They must have followed me here, but...I thought it was just Lusus who was following me...Bombyx, this is getting terrifying. Please, where is Mimosa? How are the bird demons and Lomi's cretins getting into his dome so easily?"

"Spark...get on..."

"I-I'm sorry, your grace," Bombyx stated, trying not to stare in Spark's direction. She felt a deep blush rush through her body when she did glance over at the pegasus. "Mimosa is...has..."

Spark blinked when he felt all eyes in the area on him, then suddenly became aware of the Sohl impressionist huddled before him, her rump in the air in invitation. "Spark, get on..."

The pegasus started as if he himself had been shocked. He looked from Sohl to the griffons for help. Was this really happening? He glanced at the tall earth pony who apparently was a princess from the ocean and felt his ears burning. "Uhh...this...she isn't...I'm not with her."

"Mimosa's biodome has come under attack by harpies, griffons and denizens of the deep, and you wish to fornicate in my presence?! Bombyx, please walk with me away from this den of filthy passion and tell me what's going on!" Bombyx trailed behind the princess, casting Spark Storm a look half of disdain and half of curiosity before rushing ahead to catch the princess up on everything that had happened.

"Am I going to have to find you a frickin' muzzle?!" Spark hissed furiously down at the mimic as Sohl snickered at the pegasi's humiliation.

The creature's ears pinned back, lightly pawing at Spark's hooves imploringly. "I just want to have a good time..."

"You're...intelligent?" Spark felt a burning sense of guilt at even having asked that question. Of course she was intelligent. She was, in essence, based off of Sohl.

"That's a dumb thing to ask," she responded. "Now, can we-"

"Not done with the encounters!" Frankie's voice boomed overhead, thoroughly annoyed. Spark Storm growled at the constant action. When was he going to get a break and have a moment to breathe?!

---

"Yeah, so...this isn't helping my decision not to completely fry you," Flash Fire said with annoyance. She had just been whisked away, once again in the coils of this monstrous eel pony that seemed Tartarus-bound to speak to her. The unicorn found herself delicately deposited onto the sandy ground, where she spun to her hooves, still slightly unsteady from the poison, feeling nothing more than dust under herself. Dry dust; no mud this time. She held a good bit of fire magic at the ready, though Seaweed seemed more apologetic in her body language.

"Hey...I'm sorry," the seapony began with a winning smile. "I had orders to kill all of you with poisons that would've turned you inside out, but you're all so strong! I...wanted to ask you some questions first."

"First??" Flash Fire yelled, nearly coughing from the abundance of dust swirling around her. She thought the seapony had brought her to some random point on the island, but she seemed to have a good bit of advantage in picking where to confront her in this dry, sandy area.

"Can we stay focused?" Seaweed asked, looking genuinely hurt. "Look, you're all way too interesting to kill! You generate fire, I believe you're running with a nymph, and the dark pegasus...I can tell that he's putting out a power he's even barely aware of himself. Being an eel," she gestured to herself," I can feel a lot of electricity flowing through his body. I felt it when you all came off the ship earlier. And that other unicorn, the laughably cute stallion. He's...got something in him, as well. I've never felt anything like when your group came here. Who are you?"

The unicorn frowned, suspicion stretching her features. Was this creature here to kill them or not? Her words betrayed her actions, and her actions betrayed her words. How was she expected to have a civil conversation with somepony that had just tried, and very nearly succeeded, to kill her?

"We're...hunters. Monster hunters."

Seaweed frowned, a hoof dabbing at her chin thoughtfully. "Yes, I've definitely heard that term before, but only above water. It's...isn't that a..." she paused, giving Flash Fire a look of pained understanding. "...A slur?"

The unicorn felt her heart drop at the look in the sea pony's eyes. She knew, she understood. "Yeah. Sometimes...ponies can be really cruel if they don't understand something. Especially if that something can be really dangerous."

"Dangerous," Cyanide parroted with a nod of understanding. "Yes, you are...we are dangerous..."

Flash Fire sighed. She knew all too well the pain of being different, of the looks that others gave her when she discovered that she had greater control over fire than any other unicorn she'd grown up with. She remembered her family's looks of disgust and fear when she burned up that group of timberwolves to ashes. She remembered being ostracized just for being stronger and born equipped with stronger spells than most. Seaweed Cyanide undoubtedly had gone through similar experiences, being told she was nothing more than a monster. How much did she have to go through to become...like this?

"...A fire can be dangerous," the unicorn began slowly. "But it can also save lives. With the right amount of heat, it can keep a cold pony alive. It can cook food to feed hungry ponies and...other things. It can keep the truly dangerous creatures at hoof's length." Cyanide gave Flash Fire a hurt look. "...And it can be a beacon in the dark, to help those who have lost their way, find their way in the dark again, and come back to the light."

Seaweed presented such a pained, yet hopeful look in her eyes for just a brief moment that Flash Fire thought the eel was going to hug her.

She might have, had the ground not begun to shake, stirring up dust. Both girls looked around in alarm until roots began to erupt from the ground. Seaweed darted to Flash Fire's side, coughing as the dust traveled up her nose. The unicorn beside her flared up her horn, ready to release a fire spell when a familiar blue eye formed along the top of one of the roots to stare at the two of them.

"Oh please tell me that's not...Ampelus??"

The eye stared angrily up at the unicorn, glancing between her and Seaweed Cyanide. "And here I was thinking you'd gotten yourself hurt, and what do I find? What the hell are you doing with that thing?!" Flash Fire and Seaweed Cyanide stared at the vine eye. Where was the voice coming from??

"I'm not doing anything! She's just - we're just talking! And...and what the hell is this??" Flash Fire countered, gesturing to the bizarre sight in front of her. "Why are you an eye, and where's the rest of you?"

"'Talking', eh? Maybe you can 'talk' about why a hundred different things are happening all at once around the island, and under it! I can feel things crawling up onto my island from under the ocean, Spark Storm is throwing a fucking storm around in the biodome, and...this one might just be because I'm hungry, but I'm feeling some nasty stuff in the air, like...a storm made of nasty stuff is approaching from the north. I'm kinda freakin' out because I have no idea how I know all this stuff, and I'm...well, doing this! Find Spark Storm and get some answers before things get even weirder, please!"

Ampelus because to sink back into the ground before what was able to be seen of her rose again, the eye appearing angry. "And do something about this. Spark Storm might have successfully adopted a few friends, but I don't think this one is going to go so well for you."

Even before Ampelus' eye had disappeared into the ground, Seaweed turned to Flash Fire and tilted her head in a way that almost made the unicorn forget about the eel's homicidal intentions. "I'm not up for adoption, by the way."

Flash Fire adopted a grim smile instead. "Look. You heard, I have to get going. If you're not going to kill me, I'd appreciate it if you left the others alone, too. I'm assuming you're not just here working by yourself, I heard you mention 'Lusus' earlier. Maybe you could take this Lusus character and swim off somewhere for a while. We've got work to do." Having turned to go, Flash Fire glanced back at the eel, not entirely convinced that she had gotten Seaweed to leave well enough alone. "I mean...if you can behave yourself and not attack my friends, I'd be willing to let you tag along..."

Seaweed Cyanide tilted her head at the unicorn, her expression unreadable. "I...forgot about Lusus for a minute," she said with a chuckle. "Ah well, it was nice while it lasted."

Flash Fire was ready this time as Seaweed Cyanide slithered into her eel form. Apparently she had not been thinking clearly when she brought the unicorn to this place as Flash Fire clearly had the environmental advantage. It was dusty, the dried pebbles on the ground made it unsteady ground, rolling her long, thick coils and making it difficult to propel herself forward. Seaweed was battered by waves of heat from Flash Fire's magic, just enough to keep her from getting close.

Flash Fire kept this up for several failed maneuvers on Seaweed's part, until the eel pony had to pause and catch her breath. The unicorn backed up slowly, her horn aimed at Seaweed's chest. "Sorry, eel girl. I think maybe you want to be friends, but this Lusus guy is in the way. Either you want friends or you don't, 'cause it sounds like he's just using you. I hope you figure it out." With that, she turned and dropped a spell on the ground that ignited a four foot wall of fire behind her. When Seaweed tried to follow, it burned her and didn't disappear until Flash Fire had returned to the trees and escaped.

---

Princess Pearl Depth nodded her head as Bombyx relayed the events of the last few hours to her: Deep Surf's visit and warning, Mimosa's glee at the smell in the air, Ampelus' visit, and finally Spark Storm's visit, leaving out the really juicy bits that Mimosa tended to keep to himself (though he always had a habit of talking to himself and spoiling secrets). Finally, she told the princess about what had happened with Lusus.

"This is...unprecedented," Pearl Depth murmured. "Things are happening so fast. Too fast! Just an hour ago or so I was visited by pirates from the surface. And...a siren. She claimed that Lusus has been planning an assassination on the new kingdom. And yet, he seems to be struggling to deal with interlopers here on the surface. And dear, sweet Bombyx," she said, turning to the nymph and reaching to rub her friend's cheek with a hoof. "...it feels like you're hiding something, as well."

Bombyx had not been looking forward to saying this part out loud, not to anyone, and not to herself. She heaved a big quivering sigh and said, "Princess, Mimosa has..."

"DEAAATH!" a voice cried as a dark form leapt out from the bushes, teeth aiming for the princess's throat. Pearl Depth turned just in time to see a flurry of black and white rush in front of her.

"Judo chop!" a female voice announced as a hoof found the back of the neck of the offending mouth, slamming it shut and costing it several teeth. The princess gasped as the body of a deep sea pony dropped at her hooves, and standing before her was a young zebra with a grey and purple toned mane with violet eyes look down at her victim before turning with her back to the sea mare in a defensive position.

"Goodness!" Bombyx exclaimed in shock. She glanced down at the prone sea creature. "This is...this is Lomiphora's, if I'm not mistaken. With Lusus swimming around and trying to mess with things, I think it's a safe bet that he's working with the Queen of the Deep..."

"Thank you," Pearl Depth said quietly with a hoof on the zebra's back. The younger mare let out a combat yell and kicked another attacker back into the bushes, startling the princess.

"Maybe run and find shelter, big lady?" Ramani offered. She let out a gasp as a third creature darted out in her blind spot, an attack that was thwarted big a big blue and tan blur. The dimunitive creature let out a snarl, then a yelp as much bigger claws than it's own threw it headfirst into a tree and remained on the ground. "Oh, Callie! You are saving my behind!"

The griffin gave her new friend a wink as she landed and peered up Pearl Depth, nearly half a head taller than her newest rescuer. "Oh, h'llo!" she announced. Pearl Depth smiled politely, for once quite glad to meet new creatures that didn't know she was a princess, or at least didn't seem to.

"Bombyx, I've never seen nothin' like these guys," Callie told the nymph she examined the small black pony-like creatures from the deep.

"They're from deep in the ocean," Pearl Depth said quietly, a frown plastered upon her face. "Queen Lomiphora maintains a vast empire down there under the crushing blackness at the very bottom. She was very upset at the thought of us expanding our borders, but to think they would rise all this way to try to kill me -" she paused, her eyes widening. "A...all the way up here? Why would they come here when-"

Princess Pearl Depth suddenly looked and sounded like she was choking on something, her breath stuck in her throat. A light shone on her face, a peculiar blueish green light from over Callie's shoulder. "Wha?" The griffon turned with wide eyes to see the aforementioned queen. She stood nearly as tall as Pearl Depth, skin grey and mottled, though her beauty was undeniable. Also undeniable was the light coming from the tip of the bulbous appendage that grew out of her head, flanked by flowing muted teal hair.

Callie tried to make sense of what she was seeing, but her head had become fuzzy. She could feel her mind trying to shut down, her breath catching in her chest. She shook her head and looked to Bombyx to help, but the nymph was taken in as easily as the other three. Little Ramani was asleep sitting up, a line of drool escaping her mouth. "Interesting that of the company present, you're the last to succumb," Lomiphora mused as she approached the griffin. "A natural resistance, perhaps? I've never met a creature like you. Don't come to the surface that often."

Callie shook her head again, trying to get that feeling out of her head, and found that shutting her eyes blocked it out. After a moment of silence, she dared to open her eyes once more, casting her gaze to the ground. Finding the light unable to control her from this angle, she raised her eyes until she could see the creature's feet. "Ahh, you are intelligent, and resourceful, too. This might help you escape, if I wasn't alone." The griffon felt new fear rise in her throat as heavy hoof-falls approaching could be heard nearby. "Anyway, it's a shame things must end for you now. Lusus, they're all yours."