Sea

Cross waited in the main room for Twilight. She sat against the wall, holding a small pebble in her magic and turning it in all directions. It reflected the red light with a dull sheen, occasionally shining directly into Cross' eye. She squinted as she turned it around, examining the smooth surface. She brought it closer to her eye and further away, watching it split into two images then reform into one.

She was bored, she knew she was trapped, and there was nothing she could do about it.

She sighed as she threw the pebble away, watching it clatter along the floor before coming to rest about fifeen feet ahead of her. She ran her hoof through her hair, straightening it, before slowly getting to her hooves. Janiss looked at her with an unreadable expression; she simply ignored him. She looked towards the ground. It was dusty, but completely flat where she sat. That essentially described the majority of the Scarlet Dawn's architecture: dusty, but completely -

She was broken away from her thoughts by a loud boom in the room directly behind her. She jumped away, turning midair to face the wall and almost falling over when she landed. She looked at the wall curiously, wondering what had happened. She thought she heard something screaming, but chalked it up to her imagination. Most of the other members of the Scarlet Dawn, however, were not so quick to dismiss things. At least two-thirds of the ponies in the room lined up in neat rows in front of the door to the other room. It was a fairly sizable slab of stone cut into the wall, about six feet on a side. It swung out on rusty hinges, supported on the bottom by small, squeaking wheels.

Janiss opened the door and disappeared into the darkness. He returned about thirty seconds later with a perfectly calm face. "The Seer does not wish to be disturbed at the moment." He turned to Cross. "His session with your friend will take longer than planned. You are free to leave at any time, as long as you promise to honor the code."

Cross nodded eagerly, excited at the chance to get out. For a moment, she completely forgot about Twilight. Just as she was about to exit the massive double doors under the watchful gaze of two massive ponies holding muskets, she turned to face Janiss. "The Seer is going to let Twilight go after everything's done, right?"

"Of course!" Janiss shouted. "Your friend will be returned to the surface unharmed."

With resignation and a bit of hesitation, Cross turned and walked up the dark steps.

"So, tell me. Did you ever catch that pirate brig?"

"The Rathouse? No, but we got pretty close. Severed one of her masts with the chasers, but we lost her in a squall about three months ago. She hasn't turned up since."

"Say, did you ever see any more action after the South Horn?"

"Yeah. They were considering turning the Valiant into a razee, but I guess they figured they had more use for a third-rate than an over-gunned fifth-rate. Honestly, I'm rather glad. They'd have cut my quarters off, that's almost certain."

Somerset chuckled. "So, any other reason you've come to Sunsport?"

Hendrick's expression instantly became rather steely. "I have some other business to conduct concerning you, but it'll have to wait until this operation is over."

Somerset and Hendrick talked as they and about twenty other ponies, armed with muskets and wearing navy-blue uniforms, marched through a series of alleyways. There were a number of intersections with two or three paths to take, and every time the group reached one Somerset would pause for a second before pointing the right direction. It was fairly slow progress, but it was progress nonetheless. Silently, Somerset cursed whoever designed Sunsport's roads; they must've decided that having huge amounts of thin, barely-paved roads connecting buildings to each other was a good idea.

Nonetheless, they made steady progress, and earned a number of praises and jeers from ponies as they walked by. Windows were opened above them, and ponies were shouting down - mostly cheering on the soldiers, but a few voices throwing slurs and general dissatisfaction. The sound of hooves hitting the cobblestone drowned out many of the voices, and a number more were drowned out by the sound of Hendrick yelling at his ponies during breaks in the conversation.

"Wait here." Somerset raised his hoof, and the column stopped. He advanced forward around a corner, checking to make sure he was going the right direction. He ducked back as he saw a white blur dart into his field of vision. "Something's coming! Ready your weapons!"

The soldiers formed up into three neat rows within seconds, covering the entire alley in their arc of fire and all aiming down the street. The air filled with clicks as the soldiers primed their muskets to fire, putting their hooves on the trigger buttons. The sound of a single set of hooves galloping became louder and louder as something approached.

Cross darted into the middle of the intersection, and almost had a heart attack when she saw the soldiers. She raised her hooves, but then noticed that Somerset was there.

The captain coughed unceremoniously. "Uh. Hi, Cross. What are you doing here?"

Cross walked up to Somerset. "What are these soldiers here for?"

Somerset put his hoof on Cross' head. "They're here to raid the Scarlet Dawn's underground base. Somepony tipped the Admiralty off about it, and they want it gone. Apparently, the Dawn's been kidnapping ponies and draining their blood."

Cross' face went pale, becoming even whiter than usual.

"What's wrong?" Somerset asked. "Have you seen Twilight?"

Cross gulped. "She's still down there."

Somerset looked at Hendrick, who just nodded. "Lead us there, as fast as you can."

As Cross took off, Hendrick yelled, "Break formation! Follow them as closely as you can! You can reform once you're down inside the building!'

Soon, the entire alley was filled with the sound of hoof on stone.