Ocean of Shadows

The Black Sea

(The Hero's point of view)

I chuckled as I sat back with my friends. 3 days have passed since the attack by the Brotherhood of Shadows. A few ponies have died, but most of them survived. I met a couple more prisoners, one of whom was from Canterlot. She was named Dawn and was from some royal family that was imprisoned for treason. I always thought it to be odd that all the prisoners were mere foals. Why were we banished or exiled while our parents were imprisoned or executed? When I voiced my concerns to my friends, they didnt think much of it. Then, we heard some weird knocks below deck. After some investigating, we went to the bottom floor and the knocks grew louder.

"What the hell is that noise? Bilge rats?" asked Greyson

Frost leaned forward and knocked. His knock was repeated. He knocked five times in a pattern. Whatever or whoever was below deck responded in kind in the same way. "More ponies I bet..." I then proceeded to snoop around. There didn't seem to be a way down. "Hey Frost? Can I borrow your hammer?"

"Sure." he said as he tossed it to me. I grabbed it and knocked around more. It echoed a bunch around a wall. I checked the floor there. The floorboards were unusually loose....

Hawke pushed me out of the way and wedged a lance part in there. "Hup-two-three-four!'" he shouted as he jumped up and pushed down on the lance. The lance broke, but the floorboards popped up. "Who's first?" he asked. Glade rushed past us and dove in. "Whoa! It's so dark down here!"

Frost's horn lit up and he poked his head in and looked around. "A hidden room...Can someone get me some rope or a ladder? It's a long way down..."

I left for the upper deck to get some. I ran into Scorch on the way up. "Hmm? What're you doing." he grunted

"Um, I'm just getting a ladder or something..." I said nonchalantly. Upon hearing my "request" he threw a ladder at me which knocked me down and sent me tumbling down the stairs. He then cackled and walked away. I groaned as I hit the bottom, my back was very stiff from my accident last week so it was a bit hard to walk so it took me a while.

"What's down there, Glade?" asked Frost.

"Can't tell! Too dark..."

"Agh, where the hell is ___!?" raged Frost until he saw me stumbling down the pathway.

"Hey guys" I groaned as a I dropped the ladder down there and attached it to the floor. Sierra nailed it down to make sure it wouldn't fall. Frost climbed down first. We heard him whistle. "Come down here guys. Check this stuff out..." We slowly followed him downward.

When I got to the floor last, I was stunned. Inside was what resembled a large prison. We walked on through. Several of the prisons were empty, but the more recent ones up ahead had ponies in there. They were sickly looking and very skinny and tired. They looked like they haven't left this place in over a month.

Sierra looked to be in shock. She was stunned, what was happening down here was sickening to her. She tried opening the cells, but they wouldn't budge. Hawke pulled her aside and began working on the locks.

"What was happening down here..." whispered Sierra. I looked from her back to the room. It was medium sized, and fairly long. No torches or lamps were down here excluding the one Greyson set. It was weary and reminded me of Canterlot's dungeon

"Additional prison. Probably used around six months ago, then the prisoners were forgotten about." replied Frost. His voice pulled me out my zoning.

"Huh? What?" I said, obviously distracted.

Frost sighed, but said nothing. Hawke finally cracked open the cell and helped the foals out. "Don't worry, we've got ya. You'll be fine..."

The older one coughed some blood on the floor. It was all blobby and dark. "Thank you..." she rasped. Her voice was dry and painful to listen to. Sierra put the older one near the lantern and called Frost over. "Shine some light in her eyes please." she said. Frost obliged. Misty examined the mare.

"Eyes are very red and crusty. Pupils are fine. Some hair loss, mane is dry and flaky. She looks very dehydrated. She probably hasn't ate or drank in two months..." she murmured softly. "We need to help them. Now." Sky, Glade, and Hawke then helped ferry out any of the survivors up top to feed them and give them water.

"Why were they down here and not up there?" I asked.

Sierra shook her head. "I don't want to even know..."

An hour later

We were talking with the survivors after helping them out. There were 9 mares, 6 Colts, and 4 foals. One didn't make it on the way up as his heart gave out, sadly enough. Most of them were sick enough were they couldn't talk, but the mare who Sierra checked first was good enough. Her name was Amber.

"So, Amber, what happened?" asked Sierra curiously. She had been helping Amber out for a while and Amber trusted Sierra more than anyone else here...Excluding her little sister

Amber sighed and sat on the floor. "It was four months ago I think. My sister and I were just resting. Sitting around at home when all of a sudden, some Canterlot guards in blue and black bashed our door in and began looking everywhere. It was all so weird...They were very thorough. Looking behind our cooler, behind the shelves, below the couch...Even after not finding anything, they just turned on us. They beat us down and kept questioning us. Asking "Where is it!?" we didn't know what they were talking about, so they just arrested us and shoved us in the dungeon. A few days later, they come back and drag us off to some ship and put us inside it. We stayed there for a long time and every so often, more ponies would come. It was terrible, the place was so dark and if we were lucky, some water would flood in so we could drink it. Then much later, the ship started moving and rocking back and forth. A lot of noises happened outside, but no one came for us..." she said sadly and began crying. Frost pat her on her shoulder. "Don't worry, it will be fine."

I watched and shook my head. 'What the hell is going on?' I questioned myself. I looked back to Sierra consoling Amber, and I was a bit hopeful in the fact that we managed to save someone. I fell forward though as the ship lurched and stopped. "What just happened?"

"We must have hit a reef or something..." muttered Frost.

Hawke pushed past us and opened the door. "That's no Reef. That's a Ship!"