CHAPTER 1: SPLASH

995 ANM (After Nightmare Moon)

Middle of the Celestial sea.

Torrent Tide gazed out at the dark purple water from the deck of the S.S. Whirlpool, watching as the stars danced and swooned in the lapping waves.

The unmistakable smell of the sea overpowered by the ever beautiful night’s sky, and the smooth rocking of the boat nearly putting her to sleep.

But Tide was suddenly jolted back to wakefulness at the sound of hoofsteps approaching behind her.

“Shouldn't you be in your bunk, Private?” Asked the gruff no-nonsense voice of Tide’s commanding officer, sergeant Intimidating Presence.

“Sorry Sergeant, couldn't sleep.” Tide responded hurriedly, turning to face the sergeant.

“Why not?” Sergeant Presence questioned, his one raised brow telling Tide she was already on thin ice.

“It’s nothing, really,” Tide tried, but the look from her superior told her he wasn't buying it.

“Just… some personal matters, I probably shouldn’t have let it bother me anyway.” Tide finished, she was hoping to weasel her way out of the situation as quickly as possible.

“Hold on a second Private,” the Sergeant ordered. Tide winced, and swiftly debated if it would be better to stay, or just gallop for her life.

“If something is bothering you it would be better to just let it out, bottling it up will get you or somepony else hurt.”

Tide looked up to the gray furred face of the older stallion, she could see the hint of pain in his eyes, and she knew he was speaking from first hoof experience. She realized then and there, there was no way to get out of this.

“I’m.. just bored, Sergeant. We’ve only been on this tub for a few days now, but my entire career it's just been ‘stand there’ or ‘keep watch’ here, nothing ever actually happens.”

Tide could see the Sergeant think over her words, but she wasn’t quite done.

“I hoped when our unit got signed up for this trip to Griffonstone, it would be… y’know, exciting? But, then I learned we weren’t going to be allowed to leave the docks for the whole trip, so there goes that, and I dunno… I guess it's just getting to me.”

Sergeant Presence stared Tide down for a long moment, before looking away and letting out a loud sigh. He turned back to Tide and spoke again.

“Private, I understand how you feel. When I first joined the guard I thought it would all be fighting with glory and honor to defend my home and country, when I realized that all those things were nothing but quotes in the sign up posters… it crushed me.”

Tide stood silently, allowing her commanding officer to continue.

“But, if I've learned something during the 20 years I’ve been in service for Equestria it’s that what we do for our country may not be glorious, or exciting, but it’s what needs to be done.”

It was Tide’s turn to raise a brow now, causing her Superior to chuckle lightly, a rare sound from the old Pegasus.

“The royal guard’s duty is to protect and serve, when you help an old mare cross the street, or get a cat out of a tree, they might seem like small things to you, but they mean the world to the ponies you do them for.”

Tide took a long moment to think over the sergeant's words, she had never really thought about it that way, but it made sense, and it made Tide feel a little bit better.

“Thanks, Sarge,” she said after a long moment of silence.

“Think nothing of it, now how about we get back to bed eh? Still got a long day ahead of us.”

As the two ponies turned to walk back to their quarters, they were rocked by the roar of an explosion underhoof.

Looking around, Tide could see deckhooves begin running across the boat, some heading for the lifeboats, others heading into the bowels of the ship to the sound of screaming and shouting.

Sergeant Presence didn’t hesitate to go into action, grabbing one of the passing crew members by the tail to get his attention.

“What's going on!” he questioned.

“Looks like somepony didn’t pack the black powder away right and it went off!”

"Anything we can do to help?" The lieutenant asked.

"If you can, see about getting ponies out from the lower deck and over to the lifeboats."

With nothing else to say, the crew member ran over to said lifeboats and began helping others in taking them down. Sergeant Presence swiftly turned to Tide.

"I'll go get Ponies to the boats. You go help get the boats ready" He ordered, before swiftly galloping below deck.

As Tide ran up to the rack where the boats were stacked She took notice of how much they seemed to be struggling, and quickly located the problem, a knot tied at the top of the boat rack, nearly impossible to reach for an earth pony, but easy to fly to for a Pegasus.

Without a second thought, Torrent Tide unfurled her ivory white wings, flapping once to get herself into the air, and again to prevent the weight of her armor from dragging her back to the ground.

She soared to the top of the rack, landing right on top of the knot, unsheathing the utility knife from her left leg guard, she pushed it underneath the rope and cut through it in one swift, clean motion, quickly slipping the blade back into its holster and gliding back down to the deck below. She wasted no time in helping the crew unload lifeboats.

Before even the first boat could be unloaded, there was another ghastly roar of black powder below deck, and Tide could feel the side of the ship beginning to give way.

Thinking quickly, she grabbed one of the ropes that had been undone from the rack, and tied it to the ends of two lifeboats, then, tugging the middle of the lead with her teeth, began flying out over the water, pulling the boats with her. When they finally cleared the last of the deck, they landed in the waiting sea with a loud splash.

Sergeant Presence had reappeared and was aiding the crew members in ushering ponies into the dinghies, some of the crew began tying boats together, and Tide was joined by more Pegasi in repeating the process of dragging boats off the ship allowing Ponies to jump in.

Once Tide was confident there were no more passengers on the vessel, she landed down on the deck just above where the lifeboats were being unloaded, she was just about to board the last boat when a rumble from below caught her attention.

Before she could even react, Tide was launched into the air by the biggest explosion she’d ever seen. Tide desperately tried to fight against the weight of her armor, trying in vain to splay her wings and ease into a glide, but before she could gain enough surface for air resistance, she felt herself be enveloped in the dark, cold, abyss of the Celestial ocean.

***

Torrent Tide did everything in her power not to open her mouth, lest she let in the thousands of gallons of water that surrounded her as she fought with every ounce of her being to swim upwards.

But she couldn’t, the weight of her armor kept her held deep beneath the surface of the waves.

Wait, Her armor! Tide reached to her head quickly lifting off her helmet, she tapped the magic sigil inscribed just above the face opening.

Tide could feel the helmet begin to lift upward as it's buoyancy enchantment took effect, grasping on to it with all her strength, the magic inscribed in it began pulling her up. She held on for what felt like an eternity before she finally felt herself break the surface.

Taking a deep breath as she rose above the ocean waves, Tide began to take in her surroundings.

Destruction.

All around her were the shattered flaming remains of the S.S. Whirlpool, but Tide’s attention was quickly pulled away from the ship itself, doing a quick once over of the area but what she found shook her to her very core.

Bodies of ponies floated about the dark purple waters, many charred or dismembered, clearly killed in the explosion.

Tide could feel the bile fighting to escape her stomach, but with a heaving gag and every ounce of willpower she could muster, she managed to keep it down.

If there was anypony still alive she needed to find them, but she couldn’t do it in her current state. She scanned her surroundings for a flotation device with more area then her helmet. To her relief she caught sight of a somewhat still intact dinghy.

Eventually she managed to paddle over to the boat, climbing inside she shook off the majority of the frigid sea water. Setting her helmet in the crook behind her, she took hold of the paddles and slowly began to row.

“Hello!?” Tide called out, the lack of a response adding to her already growing terror.

“HELLO!?” This time she outright screamed. She but the only sound that met her was the crackling of the flaming wreckage, painting a horrible picture in her head.

The idea that maybe, she was the only one who survived.

No! She couldn’t be the only one alive! She just couldn’t!

Despite her trepidation's she was running out of options, she began to scan the bodies around her. Hoping for some sign of life, any life.

Finally Tide caught sight of a coat of familiar gray fur, broken up by the unmistakable gold plated armor of the royal guard.

“Sergeant Presence!” Tide called out hoping to catch her superiors attention. But, as she drew closer she saw it. The Sergeant’s entire bottom half was gone, what was left of his intestines caught on a jagged piece of the ship’s remains.

Tide couldn’t fight it this time. Leaning over the side of her boat Tide emptied the contents of her belly into the Celestial sea.

Tide couldn’t look at it, she couldn’t let the last sight of her leader to be him torn in half floating in the middle of the cold merciless ocean. With no other option, she stared up. She stared up at the dark night sky, quickly her eyes found something to focus on.

The moon, she stared at the moon, adorned with the black silhouette of a unicorns head, she stared at the moon for what felt like years.

As Tide sat there losing herself in the faint moonlight, she felt herself collapse. It was all too much for her, she couldn’t handle it, pulling her legs tight against her chest, she curled up at the bottom of the small lifeboat, she felt cramped, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t bring herself to care as she slipped into merciful unconsciousness.

Tide awoke slowly. The soft moonlight of the night’s sky shone down on her as her eyes slowly opened.

As Tide stirred to full wakefulness, she quickly realized that the soft rocking of the boat in the waves had stopped.

Taking in her surroundings Tide realized she had beached. Shooting up in alarm Tide looked to the small island in front of her, consisting of nothing but a large stone lighthouse.

Tide couldn’t believe what she was looking at She swiftly rubbed her eyes, just to make sure this wasn't a trick of the light. As she looked again her vision was still filled with the looming form of the art deco structure. Quickly hopping out of the boat, she made a bee-line for the stone giant in front of her.

As Tide approached the large brass double doors built firmly into the base of the building, she noticed that one of them was slightly ajar.

Pushing on the open door she found that it resisted more than she thought it would. Undeterred, she pushed harder, forcing it to swing wider and swiftly slipping inside.

Tide realized she hadn’t thought this all the way through when the door swung back on its own weight, slamming shut with a loud thud.

Tide stood frozen in the pitch black darkness for a long moment, then without warning there was a click from somewhere above her. To her shock, the room was suddenly bathed in light.

Tide blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the abrupt change, but as her eyes adjusted she nearly wished they hadn’t.

There, built into the very walls of the lighthouse, was a humongous gold statue of a creature Tide had never seen before.

It looked vaguely similar to a monkey, but lacking any fur or hair, except what seemed to be a short mane on its head, and a small pencil thin mustache.

Below the monument was a crimson banner embroidered with golden letters.

NO GODS OR KINGS.

ONLY MAN.

Tide swallowed the lump in her throat, turning her gaze as she noticed a small plaque at the base of the statue.

In what country is there a place for men like me? -Andrew Ryan

Tide was already starting to paint a picture in her head of this Andrew Ryan character. Large gold statue. Propaganda. Ornate lighthouse. Clearly he was some sort of ruler, she just hoped he was half as benevolent as Princess Celestia.

Tide scanned the rest of the room, setting her eyes on two identical doorways, stepping up to the one on the right, she took notice that it, (as well as the door on the left) led to a single stairway.

With nowhere else to go, she took a moment to ready herself, and descended the stairs.

As Tide made her way down the steps she found herself led into a large chamber, along the ornate rounded stone walls were three inscribed gold plaques. SCIENCE, INDUSTRY, and ART.

So this ruler worshiped science industry and art? Well Tide supposed there were worse things to deify.

Making her way around the room, she took notice of what seemed to be the centerpiece.

A large bubble made almost completely of brass except a glass window on the front. Through it she could see two long velvet benches, and in the middle a large podium. On the top sat a bright red lever.

As Tide approached, the glass front of the bubble swung open, allowing her entrance.

Tide assumed this to be some sort of elevator, reluctantly stepping inside, she grasped the lever in her mouth and pulled.

Author's Note

This used to be two chapters, but i deleted the original chapter 2 and just added it to this chapter sense it made more sense that way.

EDIT: Was a complete doof and mixed up the ranks, Not sure how THAT happened but I fixed it!