20,000 Legumes Under The Sea

“Sunset! Hey, come on man, wake up! You’re way tougher than this.”

“Fuck off,” Sunset mumbled, the noise a pounding hammer in her skull.

A stinging slap connected with her cheeks.

Sunset’s eye snapped open, and she lashed out, her fingers closing around something soft and blue.

“Grrkh! Oh, hey Sunset! Glad you’re awake!” Rainbow Dash choked out, her voice getting shriller as Sunset tightened her grip. “Wow, you sure have, uh, gotten strong!” She clawed at Sunset’s wrist ineffectually, her face turning red. “R-really strong, actually, could you um, stop? Please?”

The situation slowly started to reach her conscious brain, and Sunset looked around. Wet carpet squished against Sunset’s back, and soft lighting shone from a curved ceiling above. Everything smelled like saltwater and fish. This was the goddamned bean park.

Sunset released her grip and Rainbow Dash collapsed on top of her, wheezing. “Geez,” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing at her throat. “Guess that’s not the right way to wake you up.”

“Sorry,” Sunset mumbled. She rubbed at her forehead, then pushed herself into a sitting position. “Well, we’re alive, apparently. And I hope you’ve learned a valuable lesson about flashing your dick at Cthulhu.” The distant sound of something mechanical—pipes, or a boiler, or maybe a door somewhere—echoed down the hall, and Sunset shivered. Hopefully, that was the last they’d seen of that monster.

Rainbow Dash grimaced. “Look, that was a fluke and you know it.”

Sunset stood up, then helped Rainbow Dash to her feet as well. “Have you heard from Skystar at all?”

“Nah, nothing. Not that I’ve really looked.” Rainbow Dash jabbed a thumb behind her at a heavy looking door. “When the elevator crashed, we got washed down somewhere, and that ended up closing behind us.” She wiped her own dripping bangs out of her eyes, then wrung out the hem of her t-shirt.

“Fucking hell,” Sunset muttered. She mimicked Rainbow Dash’s motion, then spotted her duffel bag overturned in a corner. Soaking wet, but still there. A smile crept onto her face, and she picked it up, slinging it over her shoulder. The bat was gone, but it wasn’t like it was anything special. A bat was just a bat.

“I guess there’s only one way to go,” Sunset said, and started down the hall, her feet squishing with every step.

The hallway way hit an intersection after a minute, where a large map was set up on the wall, complete with a handy dandy ‘you are here.’ Before Sunset could manage to get her bearings, a monitor flickered online, revealing Skystar.

“Oh my gosh, you guys are okay! I was sooo worried about you!” Skystar bounced up and down, looking like she wanted nothing more than to reach through the screen and hug them.

“Hey, Skystar,” Sunset said. She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. “Glad to see you’re okay too. I’d be more angry, but quite frankly I don’t know how you guys could have possibly accounted for freaking Jaws, so I won’t hold it against you. Still. Tell me we have a way to get out of this mess.”

Skystar pumped her fist into the air. “We definitely have a way out of this mess!”

Several moments passed in silence. Rainbow Dash coughed. “Uh, what is it?”

“Oh, right!” Skystar’s image vanished, replaced by an electronic map. Several areas on it up in red. “We have escape submersibles here, here, here, and here. Bad news, the elevator is shot. On top of that, our communications to the outside world are down too. This area here is compromised due to the flooding, but overall, the damage isn’t too bad, and the structural integrity of everything is fine.”

“That’s good to hear.” Sunset tapped at the closest market. “Looks like this one is close. Let’s just get here and get out.”

“Um…” Skystar scratched at her chin. “About that. I’d really like it if you guys can, well, come get me first?”

Sunset frowned. “Where are you at?”

“Here, in the control room.”

Well that was a hike and a half. “Can’t you just meet us at one of the escape pods?”

“Not… exactly? It’s a bit complicated.” Skystar moved closer to the camera, her eyes wide and glistening. “Please, please please please take me with you! I don’t wanna be stuck down here!”

Sunset held her hands up. “Alright, alright, fine. Which way do we go first?”

“To the left! You should pass right by the gift shop.”

Rainbow Dash perked up. “Oooh, can we stop there?”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? Is now really the time?”

“What?” Rainbow Dash scowled, and shuffled uncomfortably. “Fluttershy asked me to pick up a souvenir for Little T.”