There is something lurking within the waters along the east coast of Equestria. When Twilight and her friends are tasked for an investigation, they find something more than they bargain for hiding in the deep waters.
For over a week, the east coast of Equestria has been haunted by something lurking in the waters. There have been reports by merchant ships, coastal cities and towns, even pirates, that there is a beast hiding under the waves. Those who have witness the dark beast, say it appears when Luna's moon is high, then disappears beneath the waves when Celestia's sun rises with complete silence.
When Twilight Sparkle and her friends are tasked by Princess Celestia to search for the monster, and hopefully, ask it to leave, they will soon find out that the beast hiding in the shadows is not what they expected, nor is it a beast at all.
NOTICE: *Rated for some violence and some language *My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro Studios & Lauren Faust *"The Ghost of the Coast" is a nickname for Los Angeles-class USS Asheville (SSN-758)
(November 13, 2014) Made it to the popular box!! Amazing!
The ocean breeze sweeps along the surface of the bright blue ocean, creating waves that are both magnificent and harmless on a lonely sailboat casting in the general direction. The sun shines as bright as ever on another cool and amazing summer day.
On this lone sailboat, a light orange stallion steps out from beneath the deck, taking in a big gulp of the ocean scent. For a good whole minute, he lets his light brown spiked hair flow along the wind, and his ears listen the seagulls and waves crash into each other.
“Thank you Celestia,” he says to himself, “for a beautiful vacation.” He puts on a white hat before making his way to a younger white stallion with a blue mane steering the boat.
“Well, what a pleasant morning to see my son steering the boat all by himself,” he lightly chuckles.
“Thanks father,” the young stallion replies happily at his father’s remark.
The white stallion spins the helm, letting the sails catch the ocean wind, and the boat begins moving along. The father watches his excited son steer the elegant boat all on his own, feeling a sense of proudness after teaching him how to do it since he was young.
“Hey, son,” he calls to his son. “How about we make a stop in Manehattan before we head home?”
The young white stallion’s ears perk up in excitement when he heard his dad’s offer. “Really, dad?”
“Sure. You’ve always wanted to see what the big city looks like.” The father stops for a moment as he searches through a chest nearby and takes out a large hand-held film camera. “Also, I looked at the map. We’re quite close to the city. So, I thought we could stop by for a day before we head home.”
“Oh, that will be great, dad!”
The father chuckles lightly as he twirls the dial on the hand-held device, and begins filming the scenery. He starts pointing the camera towards the bow of the elegant boat, catching a seagull taking off from the deck to meet up with a few others circling around a small area tens of meters away. After a few seconds, he pans the camera over to his son driving the boat through the calm waves as they set their course for home.
“Oh, come on, father!” the son whines jokingly as he sees the camera pointed right at him, unable to stop a giggle from escaping his muzzle.
“Oh, don’t be so shy, White Flag,” the father says. “Your mother wants to see her grown up son steering a boat all by himself.” A faint blush appears on the young stallion, fumbling his four-fingered hands over the helm as he tries to concentrate without having to look embarrassed in front of his father filming.
White Flag turns the helm slightly left, allowing the boat to steer back to its original path with ease. So far, everything is beautifully quiet and peaceful. Another big gust of wind pushes the boat ahead. Still filming, White Flag’s father pans the camera away from his son as soon as he spots a large school of fish swimming towards the surface just underneath them. The colorful reflections on each fish’s scales from Celestia’s sunrays look as if there is a rainbow underwater. Unfortunately, the father’s camera only captures in black and white.
Besides from the downgrade in his camera, something else almost leaves the middle age orange stallion perplexed. The school fish are rather close to the surface, a few almost popping out of the water, then suddenly diving several meters. They could be running away from some predators, he wonders.
“Hey, father,” White Flag calls. When the old stallion turns around, he sees his son with a look of worrisome as he stares out towards the starboard side.
“What is it, White Flag?” the father asks, slowly veering his eyes in the general direction.
“I… I think I see some bubbles.” With a raised eyebrow, the father hops over to the opposite side, the film camera still in his hand. As he peers over the edge, his eyes do spot an incredibly thin layer of foam spread out in tiny chunks a few meters away.
“Do you see it, dad?” his son calls again.
“I do, son,” he replies. “They’re not bubbles, though. Looks like sea foam.”
“Oh… because, from a distance it looked like—”
A sudden rumble rocks the boat in all directions, as if they hit a hard wave. Both earth ponies stumble, nearly falling on their flanks.
“What was that?!” White Flag begins to panic.
“Don’t worry, son,” the father tries to reassure, holding on to the mast as support. “P-probably an underwater quake.”
“How’s there a fault line near Equestria?”
“Um… well…” The stallion stammers as he tries to regain his balance. Though, his son does have a point. There are no fault lines anywhere near Equestria.
The rocking finally subsides after less than a minute. Of course, the father and son are no strangers to rough waves. They have tackled much violent ones. However, for a boat to be rolling around calm waves like it just hit a big one perplexes them. Unless, something just hit their boat.
“Are you okay, White Flag?” the father turns to his son, nearly losing his grip on his camera. He makes his way to him, his free hand keeping close to any solid object incase the boat hits another rough wave.
“Don’t worry. I’m fine.”
The father hops over and begins to take over the helm as his son watches his mentor do his work while holding the camera. Spinning the wheel a hard left, the boat readjusts itself to a slight stable position.
“There we are,” he coos, before turning back to his son with a proud smile on his face. “Nothing too serious. Probably something going on underwater.”
“I hope you’re right, old stallion,” White Flag teases a little.
“Hey, who are you calling old?” the father jokingly argues, before the two break out into a light laugh.
Again, the rumbling from below reappears, abruptly stopping the two. This time, there is no trembling. Looking around to find the source, White Flag suddenly catches several bubbles constantly fizzing on the surface.
“Father,” he points.
Both stallions rush towards the starboard side, White Flag holding up the film camera to catch whatever may be that is causing the bubbling. Peering over the side, the father only sees the dozens of tiny bubbles rising up through the clear crystal blue ocean that goes on without end.
“See anything, father?” White Flag asks filming the ocean.
He shakes his head. “Nothing…”
Then, he sees something. A faint dark smudge just emerging from the deep blue, quickly ascending close to where they are. The rumbling grows with each passing second as the shadow rapidly clears until both stallions feel their boat begin to vibrate. It is then before the father could yell the surface explodes uncomfortably close to the boat, swiping both stallions off their hooves and on the hardwood deck. Seawater splashes all around, and the air quickly turns to a smoldering smell of something burning.
Still holding the film camera firmly in his hand, but drenched in water, White Flag clamps his eyes shut to a terrible roar, as if it were a giant dragon. As he opens both eyes, they quickly dilate as the giant entity splashes down. Another wave, though smaller, shoves the boat away from whatever surfaced, sending the young white stallion sliding and losing his grip on the camera. Quickly smacking it next to a small rope pile, White suddenly slams into the edge, his hind hooves catching him before the young stallion slid overboard. Feeling a painful numb on his legs and side, the White looks up to see what thing blew up the water surface.
It is nothing like any dragon to what he sees. The beast is still screaming that terrible low roar, and White's heart beats like a heavy drum as his eyes catch the immense creature. Its body is sleek and black, and has a long rectangular shaped fin on the top. Struggling to get up, but his entire body feeling like jelly, White can do nothing but lie still, watching in such fear he has never felt before in his young life before slipping away.
The sudden thump and familiar yell from downstairs jolts Spike awake from his sleep. Grumbling from under his blanket, he reaches his claw out for his clock, already having a feeling that it is way too early for something that he is supposed to get used to.
As he pulls the ticking clock under the blanket, he is surprised that it is a quarter past eight. Normally, Spike would hear Twilight’s random curses a couple hours earlier. Either he is a deep sleeper, or Twilight is finally changing her sleep schedule. It doesn’t really matter to him. At least he got a couple more hours of beauty rest.
‘Thud’!
“Ow! My flank!”
With a deep annoyed sigh, knowing this will not end until he shows up, the little dragon crawls out of the comfort of his old basket, and makes his way downstairs. A thought runs through his mind, telling him he should ask Twilight to get a bigger basket, or perhaps his own bed. Maybe even a room if ever given the chance.
The thought soon disappears the moment Spike reaches the main library floor. On one side of the library sits a pile of books that surround the alicorn princess rubbing her hindquarters as she stands back up. A tiny stack of a few books lies on the table in the center of the room.
“Ugh, stupid… stupid…” Twilight grumbles as she stands back up. “How can anypony walk in these jeans? They’re frickin’ tight as Tartarus!” Strangely enough, Spike is slightly surprised that Twilight is wearing these particular skinny jeans for the first time, along with a simple white T-shirt. He has seen her wear pants before, only the loose and comfortable type. Perhaps, she is doing another one of those tests she likes to call ‘Things that are Trendy in Society’ experiments.
“Um, Twilight?” Spike yawns while rubbing his eyes, almost forgetting the topic he wants to say.
“Oh! Morning Spike,” Twilight turns around to the waking dragon. With a flicker of her horn, she teleports herself right in front of him, startling Spike. “Glad you’re awake. Can you go upstairs and check for any books on marine biology?”
A perplexed look appears on Spike’s face after a quick headshake. “Wha’?”
“Can you go upstairs and find some books on marine biology?” Twilight repeats.
“Uh, why would you want books on that?” Spike confusedly scratches the side of his face.
“Apparently, there’s an article in the morning paper saying that a new sea creature has been discovered near Baltimare. And I really want to look into it.”
Spike sighs the moment he hears that. It is not uncommon whenever Twilight finds a new subject she would spend hours on learning, whether it is for her interests or if it is assigned by Princess Celestia.
“I’ll go get it,” he disgruntledly says, walking back up the stairs with his shoulders slumped. It is way too early to be doing something like this.
Over a quarter of an hour later of searching, the little dragon returns with only one book in hand, still seeing the alicorn talking on her own and reading the newspaper.
“Hey Twilight,” Spike calls, lifting the book over his head. “I only found one upstairs…” Before he can finish, the book is snatched from him in Twilight’s aura, and levitates in front of the surprised mare.
“Only one?!” Twilight gasps. “I thought we had more books on marine biology!”
“Well, I guess we don’t,” Spike deadpans, and heads to the kitchen to get breakfast.
“How can that be?” Twilight rubs her chin, and opens another book next to her. “Let’s see…”
Spike returns with two small plates, each with a muffin on top, and two separate cups: one with coffee, and the other with apple juice. Settling them down and preparing to eat, Spike watches Twilight stiffly walk over to the table and sit down hard on the seat with a grunt. She picks up a book with her magic and resumes her studying.
“So, what’s so special about this sea serpent-thing, anyway?” he curiously asks, trying to avoid some awkwardness about the skinny jeans situation.
“Well, according to the papers, they spotted it in Horseshoe Bay close to Baltimare a few days ago in the morning,” Twilight explains. “They said it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen.”
“Well, it’s the ocean,” Spike says before taking a bite of his muffin. “There are a lo' o' sth'ran' thin's there, righ'?”
“True. But marine biologists said that this sea serpent is very different compared to others.”
Spike stops chewing, and grabs the newspaper from across the table. Wondering what Twilight is even talking about, he decides to read it for himself. Before he opens the paper, he first reads the title of the topic printed in big bold caps.
SPOTTED AGAIN! SEA SERPENT IN BALTIMARE
Spike ponders as he looks at the large picture below the title. It is a blurry black and white photo of what appears to be the known Horseshoe Bay, but Spike immediately notices something strange poking out of the water. It appears to be a long dark shadow almost blending in with the water with a rectangular-shaped back fin, and a couple of odd-shaped probes sticking out from it. A giant blob sits just behind the weirdly shaped fin.
(1) The sea serpent is seen about a few hundred meters from the nearest pier at Baltimare’s seaport. (Picture taken by Sea Side)
Spike opens the paper to the page of the article, and begins reading.
In the early morning of September 18 in Horseshoe Bay, just a week after Sail and his son White Flag first encountered the beast, citizens of Baltimare were struck with awe and fear when the sea serpent was spotted floating close to the harbor. As they all started running to get a look with their cameras, the serpent once again escaped out of the harbor and disappeared.
The dragon skims through the rest of the article, as most of them are quotes from interviews, before coming down to the second image. The second photo is an aerial view of the serpent, no doubt taken by a pegasus. The only thing Spike can make out from the photo is the small amount of reflections from the animal’s skin, and the long water trail being left behind.
(2) The sea serpent making a break for it before disappearing beneath the waters. (Picture taken by Sky View)
Spike continues reading the article until it ends. Not surprisingly, it is just a quote interview from the mayor.
“I don’t get it,” he says with an arched eyebrow. “Why is everypony so worked up about this? And how long has this been going?”
“A week, I think,” Twilight replies from her book, not even noticing her breakfast is sitting in front of her. “It’s interesting that biologists have never seen something like this before.”
Spike rolls his eyes before closing up the newspaper and placing it back where it belongs. After finishing up his juice, he puts away the dishes and makes his way to the front door, leaving Twilight’s food on the table.
“I’ll be hanging out with the Crusaders,” the dragon calls as he is about to exit.
“Okay,” Twilight waves a hand, still immersed with her research. “Don’t forget, we’ll be meeting with the girls at Fluttershy’s at six.”
“Got it.” Spike takes a step out before turning around once more. “Oh, and don’t forget your breakfast. It’s been sitting there.” With that, he closes the door just as soon as Twilight shows her face from behind the book. Looking down is the muffin and coffee just a foot away.
“O-oh! Thanks!” she calls back, knowing her assistant is already gone, and returns her focus to the book. “Now, let’s see…”
With her studying in motion, Twilight blindly extends her arm to find her food. Instead of finding a soft muffin, her hand accidentally dips in the piping hot beverage, causing her to jump and yowl that will make Princess Luna impressed. She grumbles in annoyance as well as weep, gripping her wrist and stares at her hand looking shriveled and soaked in coffee. Her gaze then turns down back to the book, now partially in a puddle of her morning drink she spilled that covers a quarter of the table. She sighs. Perhaps Spike is right. She needs to extend her sleeping schedule, or perhaps go to bed earlier.
The little dragon inhales the warm sweet air with a hint of cool wind flowing by, indicating the end of summer approaching. As he begins his routine walk to meet up with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, his eyes catch a few ponies with a newspaper in their hands.
“Huh, that’s strange,” Spike says to himself. He hasn’t seen almost the entire town with a newspaper since nearly two years ago with the gossiping from the Crusaders. Unless…
Spike vigorously shakes his head. It can’t be them, anyway. It’s obviously about that new sea serpent Twilight explained earlier. If the story about this strange animal has been going on for a week (possibly making the headlines like wildfire), almost all of Equestria must know it by now. The question is, why this particular creature? Spike has seen many weird animals in his young life, and the ocean is equivalent to the Everfree Forest. Except, the ocean is far vaster, and has way more weird-looking creatures.
“Howdy Spike!” A familiar southern-accented voice yanks Spike back to reality. He looks around, and spots Applejack behind her usual apple stand in the corner of the Ponyville open market with Pinkie Pie and Rarity just beside.
“Morning guys.” Spike waves, and makes his way over to the group.
“Morning Spike!” Pinkie cries with a frantic wave.
“Good morning, Spike,” Rarity greets, her soft elegant voice ringing into the dragon’s ears.
“What’s up?” Spike asks as he finally approaches them.
“Eh, the usual,” Applejack answers.
“Say, haven’t you grown a bit?” Rarity asks, immediately catching Spike’s attention.
“You really think so?” he asks excitedly, comparing his height to Rarity’s, which is just above her knee hidden under her long black skirt.
“I think you grew a couple more inches,” Pinkie comments.
“Well, I guess,” Spike agrees, looking up at the beautiful white unicorn when his eyes suddenly lay on the newspaper tucked under her arm.
Spike turns around to have a look at the market. He has been in deep thought since he left the Golden Oaks Library he hasn’t been paying attention to his surroundings. Upon looking at the scenery, his guesses have been correct. Over half of the citizens in the open market, including the sellers behind the stalls, have a newspaper in their hands. He can even hear conversations going on about the sea serpent.
“Gee, is this sea serpent really that popular?” he asks out loud.
“Wha’ wa’th tha’?” Pinkie muffles. When Spike turns back, he sees the pink pony eating a cupcake. How did she manage to get one, he will never know.
“Something wrong, Spike?” Rarity asks with concern.
“Well…” Spike replies, still looking at the scenery. Then, he and the girls capture a cranky-looking mare heading in their direction: cream-colored fur, and a dual-colored mane of dark blue and pink. The only difference is she looks like the Cakes after pulling off an all-nighter with the baby twins.
“Mornin’ there, Bon Bon.” Applejack tips her Stetson as Bon Bon approaches the stand. Rarity, Spike and Pinkie quickly slide to the side.
Bon Bon merely grunts. “Hey… can I get the usual?”
Applejack looks at her quizzically. “Uh, what now?”
“You know. The usual. Two tomatoes, a bag of carrots and lettuce.” The tone in Bon Bon’s voice is seemingly demanding.
Applejack pulls her head back as if she was offended. “Uh… I only sell apples, Bon Bon. I think you meant that fella' over there.” The farm pony points over to the vegetable stand next to hers.
“Wh-what…?” Bon Bon rubs her baggy eyes, looking in the same direction. “O-oh… sorry. M-my bad…”
“Are you okay, dear?” Rarity asks with a hand over her chest. “You, uh… you look like you’ve been, uh… well…”
“You look like Twilight who’s pulled off an all-nighter trying to get a twenty-page essay done,” Pinkie finishes Rarity’s comment. Bon Bon, however, shoots a glare and growls in her throat, earning a surprised and shocked look from the two mares and dragon.
Bon Bon lets out a deep sigh. “S-sorry… I-I just had a rough night.”
“Oh~” Pinkie slowly nods once. “It’s that time of the month, huh?”
“Wh-what?!” Bon Bon shrieks, her eyes popping wide open and her cheeks flustering. “N-no! It’s not that! It’s Lyra!”
“What ‘bout her?” Applejack asks raising an eyebrow.
Bon Bon sighs again. “I don’t know… it’s about this stupid sea serpent everypony's been talking about lately. She’s been nonstop blabbering about it I couldn’t sleep!”
“Even Lyra is into what’s happening lately?” Spike asks, earning a nod from the moody mare.
“I don’t know… she’s like everypony else. Except worse. All day, everyday, I hear her talking about this particular sea serpent in the papers is not like any of the others. That she has a feeling there's something about it. And it drove the Tartarus out of me!” Bon Bon grits her teeth after venting out her frustration, heavy breathing finally settling in.
“Woah, woah, woah. Easy there, Sugarcube,” Applejack raises her hands to settle the raging pony. “Take a breather.”
“Wait, so where is Lyra?” Rarity asks.
“Where do you think?!” Bon Bon snaps to the fashionista. “She went to go look for it! I don’t know where, but I know she left early in the morning with a bunch of ponies! Probably to Baltimare or Fillydelphia, for all I care!”
With a big huff through her nostrils, Bon Bon releases a frustrated groan. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike look at her with confused and surprised looks. To them, she sure has vented out a lot, probably too much.
“I-I’m… I’m gonna go get my stuff,” she mumbles with a slump of her shoulders. “S-sorry about all the yelling. It’s been frustrating for the past week.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it, Bon Bon,” Applejack waves a hand. “We all have our bad days.”
Bon Bon gives them a small smile before she leaves the mares to the correct stand, followed by a wave.
After nearly a minute of awkward silence, the group lets out a sigh of relief, finally glad it is over.
“You really think she’s having it?” Pinkie interrupts the quietness.
“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity turns to the party pony with a glare. “Please, not in front of Spike! He’s still young!”
“What?” Pinkie turns to Rarity and takes the final bite of her cupcake. “I’m just asking if she’s under stress from her candy shop. It’s really the busiest time of the month for her. Wait…” Pinkie stops midway through her chewing and stares at Rarity covering Spike’s ears slightly flustered. “You really thought I was talking about her per—”
“That’s enough o’ that, Sugarcube,” Applejack interrupts the pink pony. “Now, don’t ya’ have those cupcakes to make fo’ tonight?”
Pinkie gasps the moment Applejack mentions that peculiar word, nearly choking on her food. Her neck suddenly outstretches several inches, and her curly mane and tail rattles. “Oh my gosh! The Super-dazzler-rainbow-sprinkled-daisy Cupcakes! I almost forgot!!” Her legs kick into high gear as she begins running in place before finally sprinting away that will make even Rainbow Dash impressed, leaving a small cloud of dust in her shape before disintegrating.
“At least you reminded her,” Spike coughs, waving away the excess dust.
“Yeah,” Applejack replies.
“Well, I’ll be meeting up with the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” the dragon announces, beginning to walk away. “I’ll see you a—” He suddenly pauses in his tracks, feeling something wrench in his stomach.
“You ‘kay Spike?” Applejack asks. Spike belches loudly a split second later, and a letter forms out of his green flames. The two mares flinch a little from the sudden action, and Spike takes the letter just as it is about to touch the ground.
“A letter?” Rarity tilts her head.
“From the princess?” Applejack adds.
“Yeah,” Spike nods as he opens the scroll. “Wonder what it could be.” He starts reading the first few lines, when his eyes suddenly enlarge and he freezes like a statue.
He looks up to the two concerned mares. “Uh, you know about that sea serpent thing that’s going on lately?” The girls nod their heads. “I have a feeling this is no ordinary sea serpent we’re dealing with.” The dragon spins the paper around and shows Rarity and Applejack the letter. The girls lean closer to have a look.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
As of now, I am sure you are aware of the news about the sea serpent along the east coast. Gather your friends and head to Canterlot as soon as possible. I will wait for your arrival.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
Princess Celestia sits in her throne, eyes closed as she rests her mind with an open letter floating in front of her. She rereads the somewhat hasty and slightly poor writing from Twilight Sparkle. Laying her chin on her hand, she patiently waits for her student’s arrival with her friends, judging by how frantic the handwriting is when she received the response letter less than half an hour after she sent hers.
However, the princess is not waiting only for Twilight. She is waiting for a small team of Royal Guards to return soon from a small mission she tasked them. She knows Twilight can handle things perfectly, and Celestia has seen how she and her friends are capable on missions they are assigned with. But, to speed things up, the princess sent a small task force to the areas where this unknown sea serpent has been spotted more often a few days ago.
Her mind is once again interrupted by the sound of the grand doors ahead of her opening. The bright orange light of her sun setting enters first, before the Celestia can make out Twilight bursting through next. Her wings hang halfway open underneath a rather large backpack she has seen before. Behind Twilight enter Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy with Spike piggybacking on her shoulders as they all race down the red decorated carpet to the princess sitting in her throne.
“W-we came… a-as soon as we c-could, princess,” Twilight wheezes, gasping for air as if she just ran a marathon.
“Twilight, everypony,” Celestia announces, rising up from her throne and putting the letter aside with her magic. “I am so glad you all could come upon short notice.”
“What seems t' be the problem, Your Highness?” Applejack first asks as the rest of the girls finally reaches where Twilight stopped.
The princess steps down the small stairs from her throne, approaching the group. “I deeply apologize for calling you so suddenly, my girls,” she speaks.
“Does this have to do with this sea serpent?” Rarity asks.
“Unfortunately, yes,” the princess nods, her warm smile turns to a serious look.
“Is this another ancient monster you battled a thousand years ago?” Rainbow asks hovering above the girls’ heads. “If so, we’ll buck it back to the abyss.” She punches her fists together with a faint crack, while Twilight shoots a look up at the pegasus.
Celestia chuckles. “I admire your courage, Rainbow Dash.” She takes a quick moment to gain her composure. “However, this is not an ancient monster I faced a long time ago.” All the mares’ eyes blink a few times in confusion.
“So...” Twilight speaks. “It’s just some… animal, then?”
Princess Celestia calmly walks past the group with her arms crossed until she stops in front of the immense stained glass window. “You are correct, partially.”
“’Partially’?” Rainbow tilts her head to the side as she floats back down to the ground.
Celestia turns around. “To tell you the truth, I do not know.” The mares give each other a perplexed look before turning back to the princess slowly walking past them, her attention on one of the glass pane artworks. It is such a random sentence the princess said, yet, they have a gnawing feeling something is definitely bothering her.
“What do you mean?” Twilight takes a step forward.
“According to a report sent by a biologist,” Celestia explains, stopping several feet from the mares. “There has been a strange pattern on the sea serpent. It visits coastal cities around nighttime, and disappears in the morning.”
“Y-you mean…” Twilight hesitantly takes another step. “Is this... not a sea serpent?”
“Or another of Discord’s tricks?” Applejack speaks out.
The princess looks down on the floor away from the girls’ glances, appearing to be in deep thought. “I have my doubts Discord is involved in this type of situation.”
“Then, what is?” Fluttershy asks in her soft voice.
Eerie quietness settles in the grand hall, including Celestia. She has no answer. As if the air has turned incredibly thin, Twilight feels every breath she makes more difficult the longer she waits for the princess to say a word. But, nothing. The reality bears down on Twilight. This is something that is not only unknown to them, but to the princess. Celestia, ruler of Equestria who has lived for generations has no clue what animal that is wreaking havoc across the entire eastern coast of the country. It could be anything! Something from a faraway land, something that was once thought extinct now returning, or worse, something completely alien.
“So, basically,” Rainbow breaks the silence scratching her head. Twilight rapidly blinks a few times to get her mind out of trance. “We’re dealing with something we never met?”
“Not entirely,” Princess Celestia turns around to face the group, after remaining silent for what appears to be an eternity to Twilight. “A few days ago, I sent a task force to gather as much intelligence about the sea serpent before I called upon you…”
As soon as the princess finishes, the massive doors creak loudly, catching everyone’s attention. A group of nine Royal Guards march in two rows, with one leading in the middle. Unlike the typical Royal Guard, all of whom wear golden armor, their armor is dark grey and appears to be a smaller size. At the rear are two guards carrying a medium-sized chest.
The girls quickly step to the side as the squad continues to march until they halt a few meters from the princess. The leading Royal Guard takes several more steps before he kneels before her. He is a black pegasus with a white stripe running down the middle of the muzzle, and eyes an emerald green.
“Ah, commander,” Princess Celestia announces. “Welcome back. I hope your mission was successful?”
The pegasus rises. “Of course, Your Highness. I apologize for the tardiness, though.” His voice sounds rather young, but husk.
“Not to worry, you are just in time.” The princess turns to Twilight and her friends. “Girls, this is Commander Cirrus, acting leader of the Royal Special Task Force, and one of my most trusted advisors in the military branch.”
Twilight tries to hide her surprised look, which instead makes her look like she is preventing a giggle. She remembers studying a portion about the Equestrian military, but never had the interest. The only branches she knows are the Royal Day Guards of Princess Celestia, and the Canter Night Guards of Princess Luna. Seeing this special task force right in front of her makes her want to know more. But, now is not the time.
Twilight’s train of thought once again puts her back in reality when Commander Cirrus bows before her.
“An honor to meet you, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight’s cheeks fluster a little. She still has to get used to ponies bowing to her now that she is a princess.
“A-A pleasure to meet you too,” she returns the bow, not even knowing her wings start twitching.
“She so has a crush on him,” Rainbow Dash snickers under her breath. “Just like that orange dude back at—” She is quickly cut off when Applejack slams her fist on top of her head.
“And these are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” Princess Celestia presents to Twilight’s friends.
“An honor to meet you all,” the commander and his squad bow to Twilight’s friends. It feels as though this introduction is taking forever, as Twilight inspects their unique armor design and the team.
“Commander,” Princess Celestia begins. “What intelligence have you gathered?”
Commander Cirrus turns to the princess in one quick motion. “We gathered as much information as possible around every coastal city and town. Interviews, notes, photos and film.”
“Excellent,” the princess smiles, then turns to the mares. “Girls, in order to gain some leverage, I have tasked this squad to the eastern coast to gather as much information as possible relating to the sea serpent. Your task is to find out what this is.”
“Wait,” Rainbow raises a hand like she is in class. “Isn’t that the job for, well, you know, scientists?” Twilight wants to shoot another glare at the pegasus to correct her, but thinks for a minute. She does have a point. Why are they tasked to find out what this sea serpent is, when the biologists have more experience than they do? Or, is there something else about this that no one knows?
“You are correct, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia answers, her eyes veering down and away from the mares again. “However… I feel there is something else about this sea creature.”
The girls turn to the princess all puzzled, noticing a look of concern on Celestia’s face. “This is why I have tasked you girls to solve this mystery,” she continues. “I fear entrusting biologists and scientists is too risky, in case…” She pauses for a moment, not looking at either faces. It makes Twilight feel uncomfortable to what the princess has to say next. “In case the sea creature turns out to be a major threat, I cannot send scientists alone.”
Twilight feels the dread dawning on her. What turns out to be a discovery in the papers is something much worse she ever anticipated. This is perhaps a case like the return of Sombra, or Discord.
“But, I know you all can do it.” Celestia lifts her head to the girls, a smile forming on her. “You girls have dealt similarities like this.”
“Oh, oh~ I remember!” Pinkie springs in the air unexpectedly with a hand up. “It was that dragon, right?”
Celestia nods. “That's correct.”
“Wh-what?” Fluttershy panics, unfazed by the conversation. “B-but, I… n-never dealt w-with… sea creatures…. b-before…” She hides half of her face behind her long hair as she twiddles her fingers.
“Fluttershy, you pretty much told a dragon to get out of Ponyville,” Rainbow reasons to the pegasus, shooting her arm out into the air. “I’m pretty sure a measly sea snake is no different.”
“Actually… sea snakes and sea serpents are different,” Fluttershy whimpers, earning a groan from Rainbow.
“Whatever...” the cyan pegasus crosses her arms and turns back to the princess.
Twilight never realized she has been silent looking like a ghost after Celestia told them the risks about this unknown sea creature, the potential it could bring if it were an enemy. But, that one smile and encouragement is all she needs to know that her mentor trusts they can complete the task, like the many times she has before.
“We can do it,” Twilight declares with a deep breath. “We’ll find this sea serpent.” It feels like a spark just ignited within. She now realizes whatever this serpent could be, they can do it. They handled Nightmare Moon, Discord, the Changelings and Sombra in the past. She is sure a sea serpent is no big trouble, despite the limited knowledge they are presented.
“I know you can, my faithful student.” Celestia’s smiles grows bigger as she looks over Twilight’s friends already starting to plan out their idea, particularly Rainbow Dash.
“We’ll kick it back to abyss!” the pegasus cries triumphantly with a punch of her two hands again.
“How ‘bout we figure out what it is?” Applejack reminds, crossing her arms. “And let Flutters talk t' it, before kickin’ it’s flank.”
“Geez, mood killer...” Rainbow drops her arms and gives the farm pony an irritated look.
Looking at the group who are all entranced with how they will execute the mission, Princess Celestia never felt more proud to see how far these girls have come. Her eyes turn to Commander Cirrus and his squad standing off to the side, awkwardly staring at the girls.
“Commander Cirrus,” Celestia announces the special task force, giving their full attention. The girls quickly silence their chattering. “I’m reassigning your team to Twilight Sparkle.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Cirrus salutes. Twilight flinches a little. Never would she have thought her mentor would assign some Royal Guards to her, especially a special task force. She had never done something like this before in her life since her rise to be a princess. Then again, this could be another test of how well she can handle the military.
“Twilight,” Celestia says her name, and the alicorn snaps her attention to her. “Good luck, princess.”
“Of course,” Twilight replies confidently. “We'll do it.“
“You are free to use the Royal Library and stay here,” Celestia offers. “I have rooms prepared in the next tower.” After finishing her sentence, she turns around and walks off to the side through an open door, escorted by two regular guards.
Twilight gulps as soon as the grand doors close. She remains quiet for a moment, thinking about the task they are assigned. This is not an uncommon mission she and her friends had before, but something is pulling her mind that there is more to this. The princess seemed more concerned about this sea serpent since they arrived. She never mentioned about what the biologists are doing, only what they did. There were other points the princess made that didn’t sound right to Twilight. What did she mean when Twilight was ‘partially correct’, or when she claimed that there is ‘something else about this sea creature’? Plus, Celestia sounded hesitant on certain topics when asked what this serpent could be. She even looked like she was in a hurry when she left.
“So,” Rainbow Dash breaks the stillness. “What’re we gonna do now?” Twilight ceases her deep thinking, and turns around to her friends and the task force all staring at her. Calculating the steps in her head, it feels as though they’ll be spending some time with this case. First, they have to figure out what sea serpent it is. Then, it is looking for it. However, this is a lot more strenuous than finding a needle in a haystack. This is searching miles and miles of ocean along the east coast. Even if they do find it, they need to figure out if it is friend or foe.
It may sound impossible, but Twilight knows she has her friends. And with Celestia providing the information gathered by her special task force, they will have a good lead to figure out what this creature is.
“Orders, Your Highness?” Commander Cirrus asks the princess again.
Twilight smiles. “We’re gonna make a discovery. We’re heading to the library.”
“Woo!” Pinkie cheers again, pulling out a detective hat, a bubble pipe and a magnifying glass from behind. “Time to solve a mystery!”
The ocean. Vast, deep and unexplored. The perfect place for something like the sea serpent to hide. Every sailor knows the tales. Every story told from their ancestors of mysterious sea creatures lurking thousands of feet below the surface, preying on boats like sharks on fish. And the girls have a chilling feeling tugging on the back of their minds.
The water surface bubbles hundreds of meters from the bustling city Manehattan. Rumbling appears as the water boils in one spot, and the entire city seems to halt all activity to witness the event. Everything trembles as the bubbling intensifies, the ponies preparing to flee fearing the worse.
The sea bursts like a geyser, showering everything within a hundred meters and shoving nearby boats like they are toys as it slowly turns into a whirlpool. Everyone eyeing from the city’s edges and piers flee in terror as something rises from the opening. Its lengthy body dark grey and the underside much lighter, covered from head to tail in battle scars and patches of barnacle. Its eyes are a deep sea green as large as a carriage, and glow as bright as Celestia’s sun. And below them is an massive mouth presenting several rows of abnormally shaped teeth.
The sea serpent releases a screeching roar. Ponies run as the scream blasts windows from the nearest skyscrapers. Keeping its mouth wide open, a sphere of energy forms within the serpent, growing bigger as it aims right at Manehattan. The beast fires, an intense beam of energy hitting a nearby building. The skyscraper topples over like a tree, dispersing quantities of dust and debris in its wake.
“No!!” Rarity screams in terror. Yanking on her mane and collapsing on her knees in the middle of a city park, she watches the massive dust cloud blanket part of the city.
“It’s ruined!!” she cries. “The fashion show! I’m ruined!!” She crawls under a bench in a fetal position, bawling while watching the chaos unwrap as the screams are drowned in the sea serpent’s cry.
The serpent opens its mouth again, the ball of powerful energy charging within as it aims at the city. A sudden burst of magic knocks the beast to the side, halting its attack briefly as it figures out where the blast came from.
“Now!” Twilight descends from above, her horn blazing magic and strafing the sea serpent as she swoops just over it. As the sea serpent lets out another roar and prepares to fire at the retreating alicorn, it is met with a barrage of confetti exploding around. Standing right on the bow of her boat loaded with her signature party cannons, Pinkie Pie raises her arm and points towards the sea serpent.
“Fire!” she yells. The dozens of cannons fire with a ‘boom’, confetti bursting in midair over and around the beast as it tries regain its stance. The cannons fire again, knocking it off balance once more.
Applejack appears from behind Pinkie, and launches off the boat as it nears the serpent, a rope held tightly in her hands. Like being in a rodeo, she lands on the serpent’s back, whipping her rope around the upper jaw and head. The beast cries tremendously, squirming around to get the farm pony off, but Applejack clings on. She wraps the rope around its tail before swinging around in its mouth and pulling back again. As she tightly swings the rope around many times, the more the sea serpent struggles to get free. After a moment, Applejack ties a knot, and stands victoriously on its back.
“Way da’ go, AJ!” Pinkie cheers as her boat slows to a stop as it approaches to the detained beast.
“Nice going, Applejack,” Twilight congratulates as she floats down several feet above.
“Ah, it was nothin’,” Applejack tips her Stetson. “Jus’ like ridin’ a bull.”
“Good.” Twilight turns to the city partially blanketed in dust. “First, we’ll figure out what to do with this sea serpent, then help out Fluttershy and Rarity in the city.”
Pinkie Pie hops down on the starboard side of her boat to get a closer look of the sea serpent. “Aw~” she pouts her lips as she examines the beast. “He’s not so tough when you look at him.” She pats the serpent lightly, when it suddenly growls and wiggles its body. Pinkie quickly pulls back her hand.
“Careful, Pinkie,” Twilight warns as she and Applejack regain their balance. “We still don’t know how dangerous this thing could be.”
“Pfft~ Oh, don’t worry, Twilight,” Pinkie waves her hand. “Applejack’s homemade ropes are the toughest in Equestria. Even I can’t get outta’ them.” She bends over the edge of her boat again, and flicks the rope with her finger.
‘Snap’!
Pinkie startledly opens her eyes, and looks down at the rope to see it broken in two. “Uh oh…” The serpent’s sea green eyes grow brighter than ever, nearly blinding the pink pony. It releases a menacing growl as it makes an attempt to wriggle free. Water splashes around, pushing Pinkie’s boat away while Twilight and Applejack suddenly lose balance and slip on the beast’s skin. Twilight grabs hold of Applejack, both of them lifting off in time before more of the rope breaks, and the beast frees itself with its ear-piercing roar.
With one swift move, the serpent slaps its tail right on the bow of Pinkie’s boat. Pinkie launches out like she is in a catapult with a scream, flying over and across the Manehattan Harbor until Twilight and Applejack spot a tiny ‘poof’ near the shoreline across.
Their attention quickly turns back to the sea serpent roaring back at them. Twilight struggles to stay in the air while holding the farm pony in her arms.
“Twi’!” Applejack urges to get the princess moving as the serpent swims closer. “Ya’ better move it!”
“I-I’m trying!” Twilight struggles to flap her wings with all her might to get away. The serpent screams at the two again, preparing to fire another energy orb in its mouth. Twilight readies her horn. The beast screams as it fires a powerful beam. Instantly, Twilight deploys a magic shield as soon as the beam hits. The entire sky trembles, before suddenly exploding in a teeth-shattering ‘bang’. Twilight and Applejack soar through the sky over the Manhattan Harbor, trailing smoke as they land hard on the beach with a ‘thud’.
“M-my head…” Twilight moans, attempting to get up to find herself and Applejack in a small crater. Just off to their left, they spot Pinkie Pie, with half of her upper body buried in the sand as she struggles to get out.
“Woo~!” she inhales after popping out of the sand. “Wow! Didn’t expect that…” She turns her sand-covered head to the two mares giving her a frightening glare.
“S-sorry about that,” she whimpers with a nervous laugh and a scratch behind her head.
“Great, now what?” Twilight turns her attention to the sea serpent in the distance, and helps Applejack stand back up.
The sea creature bellows again. More windows shatter and the walls crack from its awe powerful voice as the ponies escape to safety. Rarity, still hiding under the park bench through the thick dust cloud, continues to jabber under her breath of the fashion show ruined by the beast.
“U-um… excuse me?” The serpent halts its scream when the quiet voice of Fluttershy enters its ears from behind. As it turns around, its glowing eyes meet the timid pegasus floating several meters away. Her pink hair covers majority of her face; the only features visible are left her eye and a glimpse of her snout. The serpent snarls, earning a silent yelp from Fluttershy.
“U-um…” Fluttershy hesitantly begins. She cannot let go of her gaze at the many scars and barnacle that don the sea serpent. “I-if you, uh, don’t mind… um, I understand you might be cranky after a long sleep. Um, if it’s alright… maybe I can clean you up, make you feel better with some lovely—”
The beast interrupts her with a deafening howl. Fluttershy floats still as a statue as the screaming continues for a terrifyingly five seconds. Her eyes unwittingly examine the crooked teeth as it sprays out bits of ocean remains. Its breath reeks of nothing but rotten bits.
Fluttershy floats still in midair. Her eyes are the size of large bowls, and her pupils are dots. In a split second, her entire body turns pure white, and she dashes away at breakneck speeds to the opposite end of the harbor where Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie watch.
“Never again, never again, never again, never again…” she murmurs rapidly as she hides behind a startled Applejack.
“Great…” Twilight groans under her breath. “Where’s Rainbow Dash when we need her?”
A loud ‘boom’ interrupts them all. When the girls look to the sky, they notice a rainbow streaking from above the city heading straight down towards the sea serpent.
Rainbow Dash descends rapidly after a quick performance of her Sonic Rainboom, her outstretched arms aiming right at the sea serpent.
“Hi’ya!!” she hollers. She slams a fist right against the beast’s body, sending it flying a few meters away with a painful cry until splashing down. The beast roars back and immediately fires a beam. Rainbow dashes to the side, the beam missing her by mere feet. As she recovers and prepares to make another strike, her body is suddenly met with a horrific force that sends her flying close to one of the piers at the city.
“O-oh… that… is… it!” She clenches her teeth full of rage. With a strong flap of her wings, Rainbow Dash shoots into the air, climbing at an impressive one hundred meters in a matter of seconds. She hovers in the air, looking down at the roaring beast preparing to fire its energy beam once more.
“Bring it,” she mutters with a smile. She dives with another strong beat of her wings. Gaining speed until she can barely hear the sound, and her eyes narrowing down to the faint glowing dot of the serpent about to release its awesome power. With an ear-piercing howl, the serpent unleashes its power. Rainbow Dash concentrates as she continues to dive right at the incoming beam. At the last second, she dodges to the right. The beam whizzes passes her by mere feet. She can feel the intense energy, like she is in a hurricane. But, it doesn’t slow her down. She keeps diving down, building up speed until her ears cannot catch anything except for the rushing wind.
Rainbow Dash comes down like a meteorite. She can barely hear herself let out her triumphant war cry as she stares right at the bright eyes of a worried sea serpent. She can imagine the thing whimpering at the last second. Everything violently shakes like an earthquake as Rainbow Dash clashes with the serpent with an epic ‘boom’. The air bursts, shattering almost all the windows within Manehattan, as Rainbow’s signature Sonic Rainboom erupts in the harbor.
Everything falls eerily silent as the colorful clouds are whisked away by the wind. Everyone cautiously returns to the edges and piers from hiding, holding their breaths to see if the battle is truly over. The thick clouds and debris are finally cleared. Destroyed boats are strewn around in the Manehattan Harbor. Right in the middle, Rainbow Dash stands with her arms crossed and showing a triumphant grin on top of the defeated sea serpent.
Silence immediately turns into cheers, as all the citizens cry out and blow whistles. Boats suddenly appear, launching confetti around the victorious pegasus.
“That was awesome Applejack!” Rainbow Dash turns to see Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy standing on a boat. “You saved the city!” Twilight congratulates.
“Eh, it was no big deal,” Rainbow shrugs.
“That was the best thing ever!” Pinkie springs in the air.
“Yep,” Applejack nods. “Couldn’t said better.”
“Oh really?” Rainbow raises an eyebrow, glancing at the farmpony.
“Fine.” Applejack rolls her eyes. “What you did was awesome, ‘n was better than me.”
Rainbow crossed her arms again with a smirk. “Oh yeah, I was.”
“Hey, Rainbow Dash,” a familiar voice enters the pegasus’ ears through the deafening cheering. As Rainbow whips her head to the left, her eyes meet Daring Do hovering just feet from her.
“D-D-Da… Da-” she stumbles on her words as her idol floats towards her.
“That was some stuff you showed, girl,” Daring compliments. “Didn’t know you had it in ya’.”
“O-oh… oh!” Rainbow continues to stutter. “O-of course! I… I always do it for Equestria!”
Daring nods. “Hey, I’ve been thinking…” Rainbow’s ears twitch. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, since you really got that skill, how about you join me. You can be my sidekick in my next stories.”
Rainbow’s cheeks flushed bright red. This is the moment she has been waiting to hear all along! Without hesitating a second, she wraps her arm around Daring Do, and pulls her in close as if the two were about to dance. The crowd woos at the same time.
“Oh, do I ever,” Rainbow coos. She twirls the adventurer around her, letting her ears once again listen to the many citizens cheering and chanting her name. When she opens her eyes to see her idol, her heart stops the moment she looks down at a certain dark blue mare.
“Dost thou have an assignment to complete?” Princess Luna says in a monotone voice.
“What the fu—?!”
‘Wham’!
“D’ah!!” Rainbow Dash yelps when Applejack’s hand smacks against a book, springing out of her comfy chair before collapsing on the hardwood floor with a ‘thud’. As she makes an attempt to figure out what happened, a book hits her on the head.
“Nice dream?” Applejack remarks as she stands over the waking pegasus. Rainbow Dash rubs her head to ease the pain. The first thing she does is snapping her head upward to the cowpony towering over her with her arms crossed.
“Seriously?!” Rainbow’s wings flare and she jumps back up to her hooves. “A simple tap or a ‘wake up’ would’ve been nice!”
“Ya’ always keep wakin’ me up with ya’ thundercloud, so I’m gettin’ ya’ back,” Applejack back talks. “Now, ya’ can help out by sortin’ these papers.” She bends down behind her to lift a stack of papers and shove it in Rainbow’s arms before proceeding back to the rest of the girls in the middle of the library.
Twilight Sparkle is standing off to the right examining a section of an immense whiteboard hanging on the wall with Commander Cirrus. Rarity is close to the middle of the library around a large round table cluttered with papers and folders from the chest, looking through what Rainbow thinks to be are photos in a small pile. Pinkie Pie is, according to Rainbow, being Pinkie. She is sitting on the opposite end from Rarity making paper airplanes from blank pieces sheets.
Rainbow grumbles under her own breath, and shuffles her hooves to her friends. When she reaches the center of the room, she drops the stack of papers on the table on purpose, hoping she can grab some attention. Unfortunately, none of the girls or that Special Ops guard paid any attention, except for a certain ‘eep’ coming from the far end of the library, obviously Fluttershy. Rainbow pulls out a chair and plops down before slouching until her chin is resting on the table. Again, she looks around to see if anyone paid has grabbed her attention. She sighs out loud, and stares at Rarity sitting across from her. The unicorn is wearing her working glasses while looking over at a photograph with a tea set just by her side.
Rainbow averts her eyes back to the stack of papers that tower over her head, the dread returning to her mind. She grabs the top page, and pulls it to her face. The moment her eyes lay on the page, she immediately regrets it. Tiny printed words are all she can see that cover the entire paper. Dates, analysis, reports and complicated reports. Rainbow looks back up to the stack next to her. There are hundreds of papers just like the one she is holding in her hand, and she has to go through all of them!
Everything around Rainbow, except for Twilight’s constant chatter with Commander Cirrus, feels incredibly quiet. It burrows in her mind how dead her surroundings are, and it annoys her. She looks down at the piece of document almost crumpled in her hand, then back at Rarity writing on the back of the same photograph with a quill. She’s curious as to what she is writing. Before Rainbow can speak a word, Rarity interrupts her.
“Not now, dear.”
Rainbow closes her hand into a fist, and takes a deep breath. “What? You didn’t know what I was gonna say,” she asks as if she has no idea what Rarity is talking about.
“I know you want to talk to me to distract yourself instead of doing your part,” Rarity says without looking up.
Rainbow drops her arms on the tabletop, her expression switches to irritate. Without hesitating, she groans loudly and pulls on her hair.
“Ugh! This is annoying!” she yells, finally catching the attention of everyone. “I’m sick of doing these type of things!”
“Calm down, Rainbow,” Twilight says. “We’re almost done figuring this out.”
“You’ve been saying that for the past two days!” the pegasus snaps. “And we’ve been here for almost a week! A week!” Rainbow pulls on her hair again. “You’re lucky I haven’t gone insane from this!”
“Uh huh, sure,” Applejack deadpans while checking on one of the documents from the chest. “ ‘N we’ve been doin’ all the work while ya’ sittin’ on your flank secretly readin’ Darin’ Do books.”
“Th-that was when we were on break!”
“Says the mare who sleeps on a cloud all day, everyday.” A vein appears on Rainbow’s forehead. She stammers a little trying to get back at Applejack, but can barely make up anything in her head. Instead, she groans again and stomps towards the door.
“Where are you going now?” Twilight asks.
“The bathroom, of course!” the pegasus snaps, and marches out of the library.
The door slams as soon as Rainbow Dash exits, leaving everyone staring at it for quite a while.
“She ain’t goin’ to the bathroom,” Applejack snickers, and returns to looking over at the documents.
“Is she always like that?” Commander Cirrus asks curiously to the princess.
“Unfortunately,” Twilight replies.
The commander giggles for a bit. “Heh, and I heard many great stories about the Bearers.”
“Let her blow off some steam,” Rarity adds. “She’s always brash and energetic. She can’t even stay still for a minute. Literally.”
Commander Cirrus shakes his head, unable to contain his giggling. He always thought the bearers of the Elements of Harmony would be stern and fearless. Instead, it feels as though he is babysitting a bunch of teenagers, one of them a princess.
“Okay, let’s get back to where we were,” Twilight announces with a deep breath. Commander Cirrus returns to looking back at the large white board. On the right side is an entire section of photographs of the sea serpent taken from almost every angle and distance. Close to the center of the board is a map of the entire eastern seaboard of Equestria. Four pins are placed each with small sticky notes, indicating the dates where the sea serpent has been spotted: one off the coast, one in Manehattan, two in Fillydelphia and one in the Horseshoe Bay close to Baltimare. A set of strings is attached to each pin to track the serpent’s movement.
“The latest sighting we got was last week on a Friday many miles southeast out of Fillydelphia,” Commander Cirrus explains, and grabs a photograph to hand over to Twilight. “My team and I managed to snap this just before it dove under.” Twilight takes a brief look at the photograph. The image is blurry, but she can clearly make out the serpent’s two back fins with Celestia’s sunrays in the background. A pin and a sticky note surrounded in her magic floats next to her, and she writes the date before placing it on the map where Cirrus explained the location. A string flows by in Twilight’s aura, and ties between the newly placed pin and another marked with second most recent date.
“Hmm,” Twilight taps her chin as she and Cirrus examine the updated map. “No doubt the sea serpent has turned around after it reached the Horseshoe Bay. Any theories on why?”
“I’m not sure, Your Highness,” the commander shakes his head. “Perhaps it’s heading back to where it came from?”
“I was thinking of that also… but, I have a feeling that’s not it.” She further examines at the map and the path the sea serpent is heading. Commander Cirrus might be right; the serpent could be turning back. But, she has a feeling it’s not the answer. There is a reason Princess Celestia specifically assigned them for this task. And almost a week of research did not go in vain just to find out the creature decided to turn tail and run.
“Twilight?” the soft voice of Fluttershy grabs Twilight’s attention, and she turns her head to see the pegasus hovering with a few books in her arms. “Um, I looked through every book I could find about marine life. I couldn’t find anything related to the sea serpent…”
Twilight swears she just felt an eye twitch. “Seriously?!” she almost yelps, startling Fluttershy. Never would she thought something like this would happen. The Royal Library has all the knowledge about Equestria and everything Twilight knew since she was Princess Celestia’s student. Or, at least she thought until now. She hurries back to the large table, with Fluttershy and Commander Cirrus following suit, and digs through the remains of the chest. She pulls out the last remains of documents while Fluttershy lays the books in place.
“That’s impossible,” she denies. “I visited this library my whole life. How come they don’t have anything about sea serpents?”
“W-well…” Fluttershy slides to the side a few feet from Commander Cirrus. “I, uh… I did find some references.” Twilight steps over to see what Fluttershy obtained. As she looks at each book, the more her face becomes frustrated.
“Ugh, these are folktales!” she grinds her teeth, and shakes the papers by her head. “I need facts!”
Commander Cirrus looks down at one of the books, and examines it closely.
“I’m not so sure,” he intervenes. “My grandfather told me a lot of stories passed down from generations. This was actually one of them.” He turns a page, revealing a picture of a giant eel attacking a merchant ship. Its black body coils around the ship, and reveals an open mouth of razor sharp teeth like a snake’s. Fluttershy squeaks and pulls herself behind Twilight who stood still as a statue.
My great-great-great-grandfather was one of the first ponies to seal a trade route with the Griffon Kingdom,” Cirrus tells. “I still remember even the way my father explained it. On their way back to Equestria, they were attacked. Eyes that glow like a Changeling. Teeth so sharp it can cut through the strongest armor. Hide so tough a cannon ball cannot breach through. Fins were as large as sails, and could slice a boat in half.” The pegasus looks up, noticing all the girls stopped what they were doing and stare at him while he was telling his story. He turns back to Twilight, ignoring Fluttershy behind gnawing her fingernails and shivering as if she just caught a cold.
“That is why trade routes on the Middle Sea is becoming scarce,” he concludes with a serious look on his face. “Nopony refuses to go out at sea without getting eaten by a giant sea monster.”
“And with the sea serpent out there, almost all seaports have been shut down,” Twilight adds in as she looks down at several cut out newspaper articles about the sea serpent.
The room has suddenly become silent after Commander Cirrus’ story. Twilight has studied a lot about Equestria’s history, including the first trade route with the Griffon Kingdom. What Cirrus said was true; hundreds of stories and reports were told about giant sea monsters attacking ships, that nopony wanted to go out at sea anymore. However, Twilight could have sworn she studied about marine life, even in today’s time.
“Have you ever been out to sea?” Rarity asks curiously from across the table.
The commander shakes his head with a smirk. “No, ma’am. My grandpa told me so many stories about these things, I even got scared going into a pond.” He chuckles a little.
“I heard today the sailors get good pay,” Applejack comments across the room. “Jus’ one trade ‘n they get somethin’ like a thousand bits. Now I know why…” She returns to reading the few reports in her hands before muttering, “Glad I’m a farmer…”
Twilight turns around back at the large whiteboard, staring at the map and columns of photos each with a short description. She can feel a headache coming up the longer she stares at the organized mess they made. She rubs her sore eyes in frustration as she makes her way back to the board.
“Twilight, maybe you should take some shut-eye,” Rarity insists. “We’ve been at it for a while. And, unfortunately I have to say, Rainbow Dash might be right. Every time we make a theory on what this thing is we seem to hit a wall.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie in the background tiredly agrees. “Reading all these papers with big words and no pictures isn’t doing my brain anything good…”
Twilight continues to stare at the photos for a while, before finally making up her mind and takes a deep breath. “Alright. Let’s take a quick break.”
Before the girls can finally drop on what they’re doing, the door knocks three times.
“Come in!” Twilight calls. The door quickly opens, and enters one of Commander Cirrus’ troops.
“Commander,” the trooper, surprisingly a mare unicorn, salutes.
“Sergeant Aegis,” the commander stands at attention. “What is it?”
Aegis pulls out a wrapped up newspaper from behind, and hands it to Cirrus. “Morning newspaper came in. Think you guys need to look at it.”
“Thank you, sergeant,” he says as he takes the newspaper and unfolds it. Twilight quickly slides in to read the title.
TERROR IN FILLYDELPHIA!
The mysterious sea serpent has once again struck awe and terror into the hearts of citizens in the early morning of September 25 just off of Fillydelphia. Pegasi and boats quickly took to the sea the moment the serpent was spotted to capture the sheer beautiness of sea creature. Unfortunately, as per usual, the sea monster quickly dove under the water and vanished almost half an hour after citizens managed to snap a few pictures.
“This is becoming a serious situation for the coastline, and must be dealt with,” Mayor Nutter says during a speech. “This creature is stalking the eastern seaboard, possibly threatening the lives of not only local cities, but to all of Equestria.”
“Um, well?” Fluttershy leans in. “I-if that’s alright… what does it say?” Twilight rushes back to the board without hesitation, uses her magic to add another pin to the map with a written sticky note, and ties a string to map out its course in one stroke.
“Uh, Twi?” Applejack calls for her, slightly surprised at Twilight’s quick work. Twilight is unable to reply as she picks up several documents and mumbles to herself for a while. Her friends, Commander Cirrus and Sergeant Aegis stand and watch with a perplexed and concerned looks.
“She okay?” Aegis whispers to the commander, who nods in reply.
“It’s no doubt,” the alicorn finally answers. Her friends look at each other funnily.
“Um, we’re not following, dear,” Rarity shrugs.
“See the pattern?” Twilight points to the map. “It’s circling back. First showing up in Manhattan, heading south into Horseshoe Bay before turning around and heading back up north. Now that it’s been spotted in Fillydelphia, I have a feeling it’s next stop will be Manehattan.”
“But, it’s a theory,” Applejack says. “It could be what Captain Cirrus said earlier. Jus’ turn tailin’ and runnin’ back where it first appeared.”
“It’s Commander,” Cirrus corrects, before clearing his throat. “But with all do respect, Miss Applejack. Princess Twilight Sparkle may have a point.”
“I know, I know. It’s jus’ it doesn’t make a lick of sense. Why a sea serpent wanna go up ‘n down the east coast?”
“That’s the point,” Twilight says, stepping forward. “For all we know, it maybe just an animal wandering around… or worse, something as bad as Discord, or King Sombra. Something spying on Equestria, waiting for the right time to attack. We can’t take any chances. It’s probably why Princess Celestia wants us to investigate.”
“Don’t know if you fellas saw it in the files, but we noticed some strange behavior in it,” Sergeant Aegis adds as she crosses her arms.
“Yeah, we got it,” Applejack says with a hint of sass in her voice. “All we got was the same ol’ stuff.” Aegis turns around, making eye contact with the farmpony.
“We did,” Twilight interrupts the two. “The reports we got was that it appears at nighttime, and disappears when morning comes.”
“The perfect time for anything to happen,” Aegis says. “You may never know what’s going to happen in the dark.” Applejack squints her eyes at the trooper in annoyance.
“Okay, so, if we kind of know where the sea serpent will be heading,” Rarity rocks her head to the side. “How are we going to do it? Like, are we going to ask it and leave? We have no idea what this thing does, except, stalk the waters.”
“Honestly, I really don’t know,” Twilight rests her chin on her hand, feeling stumped. She turns her head to the map. “We can camp out at a cliff where we have a good view of the Manehattan Harbor and the sea.”
“ ‘N how are we gonna spot it at night?” Applejack asks.
“Leave that to us, vaquera,” Sergeant Aegis replies with a quick wink. Applejack’s cheeks suddenly fluster.
“What’d ya’ call me?!” the farmpony bursts.
“We have special training in nighttime operations,” the trooper explains while ignoring Applejack. “So spotting a giant sea snake shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Alright,” Twilight nods. “Pinkie Pie, go get Rainbow Dash. We’re leaving as soon as possible.”
The door behind them bursts with a crash, startling everyone in the room. As they turn around to the source, they spot Rainbow Dash wheezing with a partially crumpled newspaper in her hands.
“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asks.
“G-guys…” the pegasus heaves. “Need… see… th-this…” She shakily raises her sweaty arm with the same newspaper Sergeant Aegis brought in not too long ago.
“Sorry, Sugarcube,” Applejack says. “We already figured it out.” Rainbow raises her head to see Commander Cirrus with the paper in his hands.
“Ugh, are you kidding me?!” she drops her head and newspaper. “I flew all the way from the newspaper stand for nothing?!”
“The castle receives newspapers daily,” Aegis informs. Rainbow straightens herself, staring at the trooper.
“Well, it’s good that you’re back,” Twilight smiles as she steps forward and pats Rainbow on the shoulder. “We’re heading to Manehattan.”
“Everypony, get some camping equipment,” Twilight announces.
“We’ll escort you, Your Highness,” Commander Cirrus steps up. “We’ll get a carriage ready for you.”
“Don’t worry.” Twilight waves a hand. “We’ll take the train. That way, it won’t create a commotion when we get to where we’re needed. Besides, I think having a Royal Special Task Force would have a similar result. You can hang back while we do a little searching.”
“I insist, Your Highness,” Commander Cirrus. “It is also our duty to protect you, as instructed by Princess Celestia.”
Twilight arches back a little. “Wait, what? Did… did Princess Celestia order you guys to guard us? Why?”
“It was under her orders, Your Highness.” Why would Princess Celestia task guards to protect her and her friends. Twilight has dealt with many missions that are at least, or more dangerous than the one they are currently taking by her mentor. Is there more to this sea serpent?
“Hey! Captain Cloud!” Rainbow Dash wings twitch as she stomps towards the commander before Twilight can stop her. “We can take care of ourselves! What’s the big deal, anyway?! Got something hiding?!”
“Watch it, chica,” Sergeant Aegis steps forward in front of the commander. “You don’t wanna mess with the likes of us.”
“Sergeant, stand down,” Cirrus sternly orders. The mare shoots a rapid glare at him, before stepping back next to him. He looks at Twilight. “Alright, Your Highness. We'll do it your way. But, allow us to closely tail behind.”
“That will be fine,” Twilight agrees, and crosses her arms.
