One Race, Many Species

Chrysalis was back in her four-hoofed form. "So, what have you been up to while we were away?"

Grogar smirked viciously in reply. "Gathering supplies and bolstering the forces. It's time to do or die. But there are still things in the way." He pulled down a tab with his magic, revealing a map of the United States, at least the mainland, on the wall. "They are extremely watchful of their borders, to the point of paranoia."

"They let visitors come at all times, any day of the year. But each is examined." He produced a card that belonged to some man from Idaho. "Each has proof that they belong there, or they are sternly rebuffed. A large military force? They'd spot that coming and violently reply. Even with their eyes in the sky disabled, they are watching, always watching." He raised a brow. "They're not Equestria, to put it mildly."

Chrysalis shrugged softly. "So why not take Equestria first? Bunch of soft ponies... I have some revenge to see to in that direction. Win win!"

Grogar waved that off. "The ponies are connected. They get attacked, they will let out a plaintive noise, and the giant will come. They hate when things that belong to them are touched, and they have claimed the ponies as their own. And the ponies seem to like it..." He wrinkled his nose with disgust. "They didn't like it when I reached for them..."

Tirek shrugged at that. "Then let's start taking the rest of it, all of it. Enough tip-toeing around. We have the power to start, right?"

Cozy folded her arms under her chest. "Do I get another part?"

"You've done quite enough." Grogar snorted softly. "And I mean that for a change. You did just fine, but you're also done. The time for subtetly has drawn short. Tirek." Tirek clapped his hands together, arms bulging. "Let's take over the world, hm? One country at a time. I want them overwhelmed, no word getting out. If they have the 'Internet', save them for last. We don't want America hearing about it."

Chrysalis raised a hoof. "I have a map you'll want to see, T-Chan."

"T-chan?!" Tirek scowled at Chrysalis with new fury. "What kind of name is that?!"

"Yours, now." Chrysalis snickered as she led the way. "I had little to do while giving a helping hoof to Cozy Glow, so I got to enjoy some of their media. Fascinating wastes of time."

She brought him to a printer. It wasn't a large printer. It was barely a functional one, but it connected to the phone she pulled out with the magic of wireless. "Now..." She willed taps and swipes at her phone. "I put it... Here..." She triumphantly mashed a button. The printer hummed to fitful life, producing several sheets of paper. "A list of the countries that have a connection. Avoid those."

Tirek snatched the papers and squinted at the writings on them. "That's a lot of them..."

Chrysalis shrugged. "They love their Internet, and sharing it was something they wanted to do. Considering its power, this shouldn't be that surprising."

"I want it." Cozy sauntered into the room. "I have an idea. Chryssie, you up to helping?"

"No." Nice, flat, no room for arguments, or at least she hoped. "One time was too many times."

Cozy patted her insectoid equine friend on the back. "Don't be like that. You'll get to play a part this time, promise. And not just as my assistant. Golly, we'll both be stars!"

Chrysalis raised one brow, but it fell with the other. "You're just saying what I want to hear..." She took a slow breath. "And I hate that it's working. Tirek, do you have what you need?"

"Yeah... Yeah! I'm ready." He stormed off with a meaningful stomping of his hooves. He had battles to participate in, and he looked happy to do it.

Cozy flashed a bright smile. "Now let's make us some stars..."

"She's fleeing the country? Do you know what airport by chance?"

Paul, back to being Paul, shook his head into the burner phone. "Don't have that detail. She didn't order any tickets, at least nothing showed up in her email. She's been chased off, at least."

"At least," agreed the president. "What a mess... Still, you did your part. More than your part." She sighed with tension into the line. "There's not a lot of ways to keep you off the records. It was already a ticking time bomb before you got out."

"Did you have something in mind?" Paul glanced around the single person bathroom. Solitude was still his to enjoy so far. "I'm not up for another election."

"I'm still hoping for another," laughed the female president. "So, thanks, but not what I'm aiming for. You need to get out of the shadows."

"The dark is comfortable enough." That was where changelings hid... "This is all... Looking forward to getting home."

"Sorry to drag you into this, but imagine the harm she could have kept making." She was tapping something on the line. "I'm saying you pick between the FBI or the CIA, depending on if you want to be local or not. I'll put in a good word for you, the best I can."

He was being invited to be an American spy. They didn't use that word, not officially, but that is what he was being offered, sternly. "And if I say no, then I'll be tossed under the bus."

"I hate to put it that way," spoke the president with steel in her voice. "But any given secret is only a secret for so long. I don't want this hanging over either of our heads, so either you step out into the public, or you get pushed out."

What a choice. "Right now, I'm heading home. You know where to find me."

"You deserve a break." She hung up, leaving him there in the bathroom. He wiped the phone back to a factory default and casually tossed it away, like a good spy. It was time to resume his identity. He took out his old phone, but didn't turn it on, not yet. No reason to leave a GPS trail of him in DC. Paul had little reason to be in DC. Go home. Then turn it on...

He had a life to return to.

Hoku swam vigorously through the water. He had been holding his breath a while, but otters were good at that. Tapping at his transponder, he sent a message up above with the beeps and silences of morse code, just the thing for when one's mouth had to stay closed. The communicator buzzed in reply, echoing a message back with its vibrations.

He was not alone. He reached the bottom. Thankfully, they were in the sea, not the ocean. It went far deeper out there, but it was deep enough to be death for most humans to try. Fortunately for Hoku, he was not a human. He was an otter. A proud otter of the army, doing more of a naval exercise. Still, he detected trouble, and he was down there looking for it.

The water was dark and murky, but he had natural goggles, and some artificial ones on top of that to create more space of air between his eyes and the pressing waves. He could still barely see, it was so dark down there. Fortunately, he had not come without tools. He pulled out what was basically a high-powered flashlight and clicked it on. Made for deep sea use, it took real effort to press that switch, and he could feel it thunk into the on position, sending out a thin beam of light that scattered against the water, causing the area around and in front of him to become lighter.

But he could hear it, a strange something. A hippogriff swam across his direction, only mildly taking note of him. They didn't try to share words, which was just as well. Hoku had no words to give back. They didn't seem to care though. Whatever Hoku was feeling, they didn't care. Was it not within their senses? Even he struggled to put a finger on what it was exactly. It was a miracle he had been allowed to make the dive at all.

He hoped he'd find something. Being allowed over and over felt unlikely at best. He almost tripped over it, as much as trip was a word to use in the water. The ground gave way, still there, but softer than the sand around it. He brushed it aside and it became a cloud that he could push further. He couldn't really see, but he pressed down, through the cloudy sand and into the depths.

Until he wasn't in the cloud anymore, the resistance fading. He was underground, in some cave beneath the sands. he tapped busily on his communicator, reporting what he'd seen, then grabbed for a camera dangling from his hip, attached with a strong hook for the water. With bright flashes, he captured images of what he was looking at, though he struggled to put words to it.

It was some kind... of facility? Some kind of structure. Something there in the depths. It needed to be looked at.

Running at about 30% of his internal air supply, lungs burning gently with the reminder to surface, Hoku fled his finding. He had to report in.

"Sir, look." The scaled lamia that once had been a human pointed at a floating image in front of their station.

Grogar had created that image, a way to monitor the outside. "What is it?" Despite his question, he went to see what it was. Something furry swimming rapidly upwards, about to hit the barrier of sand that kept things quiet and secluded. "How...? Catch that! Bring it to me," he roared. "No excuses!"

The lamia didn't move. Others were, more aquatic, or at least uncaring of the watery pressures that awaited them. They emerged with watery battlecries, swimming up after Hoku.

"Too slow," grunted Grogar with a swipe of a hoof, his magic grabbing his minions and hurrying them forward through the water in a greater urgency. "Catch them!"

Hoku's whiskers twitched. He didn't need to turn around to know he was being followed. The trembles of the water were more than enough to tell him that, their magical approach only making them louder to his senses. But he didn't have any way to ascend faster than to just swim as hard as he could, the urgency growing with the need to reach the surface. He kicked and pulled at the water, desperate to get away.

Clawed fingers closed around his left foot. Hoku smashed down his right. A dull thud, and a watery yowl of pain. He wasn't wearing his boots, not as useful in the water, but a sharp kick still had some impact to it. Hoku did his best to put some distance, but more of them were closing in.

A screeching fish lady closed in, biting into his leg with sharp teeth that stained the water with sudden dark blood. Hoku grit his teeth, but he couldn't shout, not underwater. He wrenched out a combat dagger and sliced at her, catching a finger to join his blood. There were too many of them, closing in. They were fresh, and just as aquatic as he was, arguably more so.

It had all grown far too serious serious. Seeing no way to win the battle, he settled for tapping out a quick message instead, "LOSING FIGHT MAY DIE SEND OTHERS. HOSTILE HOSTILE" He barely got the last letter out when a blubbery seal of a thing crashed against him, sending him swirling. His communicator floated off into the water.

He could but hope others would react to his reports.