Beneath a Sea of Blood

The moon’s cold light shined through the windows of the bus as it passed through another small town by the coast. From his seat at the back of the bus, Emerald Seas paid no heed to the light as he pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. It was Eight PM, and barring any blown tires or road closures, the bus would arrive in Baltimare in about half an hour.

Slipping the watch back into the breast pocket of his suit, Emerald looked over the bus in search of something to distract him. There wasn’t much: all of the other passengers were at the front, mostly older ponies more interested in reaching their destination than engaging in idle chit chat. The bus driver was older as well, probably staying in the job long past retirement as a way to contribute what little he could to the war effort.

Perhaps, Emerald thought, the driver believed that on one of his drives, he’d carry the pony fated to defeat Nightmare Moon.

Beyond the bus, there wasn’t much to see, especially now as they entered a dense forest that would serve as the backdrop for the remainder of their journey: just a long, lonely road covered in cracks and surrounded by bushes and thick vegetation. While the headlights of the bus allowed the driver to see a far distance ahead, Emerald could see much further: as a thestral, his night vision was three times greater than that of non-thestral ponies. Perhaps, he figured, he could keep himself occupied by looking ahead to spot any deer, broken down cars, or other obstacles and call them out before the driver would see them.

There was movement behind the driver’s seat; two elderly mares sitting there were whispering to each other.

“What do we do if he tries something?” one of the mares asked.

“There’s more than enough of us; we could overpower him.”

“But what if he uses dark magic?!”

“Don’t be dumb. There’s three unicorns here; they’ll be able to stop him.”

The older of the two mares bit her lip. “Damn these batponies. Why can’t they just leave us alone and stick to their own kind? We’d all be better off without them!”

Her companion nodded, unable to resist the temptation to sneak a glance at Emerald.

She was surprised to see him staring back at her, his sensitive ears pivoted in their direction.

Without a word, the pony turned back to the front of the bus. Her companion looked back and realized that their every word had been heard, but she didn’t care. She met Emerald’s gaze, as if daring him to make a scene. Then she, too, turned away.

Emerald just stared at the two a moment longer, then leaned back in his seat.

The other ponies on the bus tried to pretend that nothing had happened.

***

The bus pulled into Baltimare’s main station a half hour later, where the passengers eagerly disembarked. Emerald was last, waiting until everyone was off before gathering his suitcase and leaving, the bus taking off the moment his hooves touched the sidewalk.

The streets around the bus stop were bustling as hundreds of ponies walked about. Though he had never been to Baltimare before, Emerald knew where to go and joined their numbers as he headed down the sidewalk, following the route he had memorized from a city map the day before.

There were no other thestrals on the streets as Emerald hurried along, ignoring the suspicious gazes of the ponies surrounding him.

Ten minutes passed before Emerald reached a large park. Dense and thick with bushes, trees, and vegetation, he hurried down the footpath, grateful that there were fewer ponies here. But even so, he remained on high alert: experience had taught him that bushes and vegetation provided plenty of places for troublemakers and bigoted ruffians to hide, especially this late at night.

It wasn’t long before towering stone walls rose from the grass, marking the boundary of Equestria’s main naval academy. Though there were numerous schools and training centers set up to take in recruits who wanted to enlist in Equestria’s navy, this was the largest and most prestigious, having gained a reputation for producing the best officers and captains. But the way inside was barred by a large, well-armored gate; as an important training base, security here was tight, and no one could just stroll inside as they pleased.

Emerald approached the guard station situation on the left side of the gate. The officer inside barely held his head aloft upon a rested arm, clearly struggling to stay awake. “Hello,” Emerald said. “Can you please direct me to the recruiting office?”

The officer hadn’t expected to see any thestrals during his shift, and he studied Emerald for a few moments. Emerald had no doubt the officer was wondering if he was an agent of Nightmare Moon seeking to infiltrate the navy and inflict untold damage on the brave souls fighting to keep the lunar empress’ forces at bay. (There was little doubt in Emerald’s mind that the officer—like the mares on the bus, and the patrons on the streets—viewed him with contempt; after all, thestrals were creatures of the night, and were unwaveringly loyal to Nightmare Moon.

The officer finally pointed wordlessly to a small door embedded on the far side of the wall on the opposite side of the gate.

“Thank you.”

Ignoring the guard’s stares, Emerald made his way to the indicated door. Opening it, he entered into a recruiting office filled with banners, flags, posters, pamphlets, and brochures, all designed to present the navy in the best possible light, each making life as sea look exciting and fun for anyone who wanted to join up with their friends and go on adventures while serving their country.

There was a suspicious lack of warnings about the hazards any would-be enlistee would face out on the open seas.

There were numerous desks where officers talked with interested recruits. Going to the nearest empty desk, Emerald nodded to the recruiter behind it. “Hello. I’d like to enlist in the Navy, please.”

Like the officer in the guard post, the recruiter was surprised to see a thestral. He was silent for a few moments before gesturing for Emerald to take a seat, which he did.

Taking a pen, the officer pulled up a blank recruitment sheet. “Name?”

“Emerald Seas.”

The recruiter wrote the name down. “Age?”

“Twenty.”

More scribbling. “Family?”

“None.”

“What happened to them?”

“They’re dead.”

A pause, and the recruiter wrote more notes. Emerald thought to ask if the recruiter was wondering if his family had joined up with Nightmare Moon as almost all thestrals did, but decided against it.

“May I see some identification, please?”

Emerald presented his government-issued ID card. The recruiter took it and studied it, taking his sweet time in examining every letter, number, and mark upon the plastic backing.

Emerald waited.

Nearby, another recruiter took a pony’s card, looked it over for a moment, then gave it back.

Emerald’s recruiter turned the card over, studied the back, then finally gave it back and checked a mark on the form. “What division do you want to enter?”

“The submarine service.”

“Any particular reason?”

“My father was a submarine captain. I’d like to follow in his hoofsteps.”

“Was he a thestral?”

“Yes.”

If the recruiter had any snide remarks or suspicious comments, he kept them to himself as he wrote down more information, stamped the form, and tore off a ticket from a nearby reel. “Basic training begins tomorrow at 0800 hours. Arrive here at 0730, present this ticket, and an officer will direct you where to go.”

He gave Emerald the ticket. “Welcome to the navy, Emerald Seas.”

***

Being recruited wasn’t the ecstatic experience Emerald had hoped it would be. While he hadn’t expected to be overflowing with happiness upon being accepted, or that he’d feel a surge of patriotism swelling up within him at taking the most important step of his life, it would have been pleasant to feel something, at least.

He wondered if his father had felt the same way when he had started his own journey so long ago.

With his ticket in hand, Emerald looked up to the moon, cold and pale as bone in the night sky. I’m coming for you, tyrant, he thought.

Putting the ticket into his wallet, Emerald retraced his steps back through the park, keeping to the well-lit pathway. He needed to find a room for the night, and his research had revealed the presence of a nearby hotel that tolerated thestrals. If he hurried, he could—

Emerald stopped. He thought he had heard something in the nearby bushes and quietly listened, his heartbeat racing as his ears swiveled about.

Nothing.

When he felt safe enough to move once more, Emerald started back down the pathway.

The sound came again.

Freezing, Emerald looked around, his body tense and ready to bolt. But no aggressor leapt out at him, nor was there any rustling from the nearby bushes that would suggest someone trying to conceal themselves. Instead, he heard voices. They were distant, muted, and hard to hear, but Emerald could tell they weren’t friendly.

Emerald looked around; there were no police in sight, let alone anyone he could turn to for help. The safest thing to do was to get the hell out of here as fast as he could… and yet, there were other noises mixed with the voices that reminded him of something: someone being bullied, mugged, or worse.

It was a sound Emerald knew all too well.

Stashing his suitcase in a nearby bush, Emerald slipped through the shrubbery, sticking to the shadows as he silently hurried towards the sounds. He didn’t need to go far before a large statue came into view with several ponies clad in cadet uniforms gathered at its base, encircling a lone figure standing in their midst.

“That’s right, fruitsucker,” one of the ponies growled, “keep quiet and you won’t get hurt.”

Emerald instinctively went still, a subconscious scowl forming on his face.

“Me and the boys saw you coming out of the recruitment office last night,” another pony said. “You really think you can come in here and work with us? With our kind?”

A third pony spoke up. “You’re here to spy on us for Nightmare Moon!”

“Oh yeah,” a female voice spat back. “She sent me here to find out how dangerous you all are.”

“And what are you gonna tell her?”

“That if Equestria’s navy is full of morons like you, she has nothing to worry about.”

Flesh hit flesh, and the figure fell against the statue with a thud.

This wasn’t Emerald’s fight. He hadn’t been discovered by the bullies; it’d be easy to sneak back through the bushes, return to the path, and just walk away. He had no stake in this, and plenty to lose if he interfered. Part of him wanted to: childhood experience had taught him that trying to stop bullies always ended painfully… but if his father were here, and if he were watching, he would be disgusted to see his son leave an innocent to get hurt, especially if they were another thestral.

Biting his lip, Emerald turned and looked back towards the path, hoping beyond hope to see some police walking past. There were none.

“You’ve got a big mouth,” the group’s leader said. “And big fangs, too… What do you say, guys?”

Emerald heard something metallic being pulled from a pocket.

“You think a de-fanged fruitsucker’s dangerous?”

The others chuckled.

There was no time to run for help; he had to interfere. The problem was that there were ten cadets at the statue: if Emerald charged in and started swinging, he might catch a few of them off guard and get a few lucky hits in, but he would definitely be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. And when the authorities would eventually get involved, they would give more weight to the words of the cadets, who would no doubt say that two crazed thestrals attacked them for no reason. Talking to the cadets to try and diffuse the situation wouldn’t work either; Emerald knew all too well that bullies never listened to reason when they were in the mood for blood. He couldn’t threaten them, for he had nothing to back up any threat or show of force.

A direct confrontation was obviously out, which meant Emerald was left with only one course of action: divide and conquer.

Looking down, Emerald saw numerous pebbles and small rocks on the grass next to his hooves; none were large enough to cause injury beyond a momentary sting, but that was good; he’d toss one pebble, then dart around and hit another bully from a different angle. They’d break up to try and find who was attacking them, and give Emerald enough time to dart in, grab their victim, and dash to safety.

Taking a pebble, Emerald took aim. He’d have just one chance to pull this off—

His ear twitched at the sound of hoofsteps, this time behind him.

Spinning to face the sound of the approaching steps, Emerald instinctively ducked deeper into the shadows. He squinted, peering through the bushes. There was a small group of uniformed ponies walking down the path: five heavily-armed military police ponies surrounding what looked like a high-ranking officer. The officer was dressed in the white, crisp, clean uniform of an admiral, with fancy shoulder boards and numerous awards decorating his left breast pocket.

An… admiral? Emerald couldn’t believe his luck. Instinctively, Emerald thought to run towards the admiral, but immediately shelved the idea; if he squealed on those cadets, they would see him, remember him, and – assuming they weren’t expelled outright – they would take every opportunity to make Emerald’s time at the academy a living hell.

That left one option. Taking his pebble – and dumbfounded that he was really doing this – Emerald tossed it.

The pebble hit the admiral in the side; though it wasn’t enough to even sting him, the admiral felt the impact and instinctively turned around to spot his assailant. The MPs stopped too, instinctively raising their weapons.

“Admiral?” one asked. “What’s wrong?”

The admiral didn’t answer. He started towards the bushes.

“Admiral—”

Emerald stayed low and went perfectly still as the admiral and his escorts walked past him, and, as Emerald hoped, spotted the cadets.

“What’s going on here?”

The cadets turned to the newcomer, no doubt ready to snap at the interloper to mind their own business. Of course, once they saw who had spoken, their sneers and furrowed brows gave way to panic as they instinctively snapped to attention.

Their leader was very quick to hide a pair of pliers behind his back.

The admiral scowled. “I said, what is going on here?”

None of the cadets spoke, knowing that there was nothing they could say that would make them look good.

One of the cadets was shoved aside as their victim staggered out. She was a thestral like Emerald, dressed in dress pants and a thick, turtleneck sweater that had drops of blood on it from her bloody nose and cuts on her face. But she didn’t seem to mind; she was giddy at realizing the opportunity before her.

“Were these cadets harassing you, ma’am?” the admiral asked.

“Oh yeah,” the thestral said, “and this one—” she snatched the pliers from the hands of the cadets’ leader. “—wanted to pull my fangs out.” She walked over and handed the pliers to the admiral, who looked them over, then glared at the cadets.

“Officers,” the admiral said, “take these cadets to the brig.”

Three of the MPs approached the cadets and pulled them away from the mare. None of the cadets resisted, realizing that they may have just ruined their careers. Their leader, in particular, looked as if he wanted to die.

With the cadets and the MPs gone, the admiral and his remaining escorts turned their attention back to the thestral. “Rest assured, ma’am, these cadets will be punished for this,” the admiral said. “Would you be willing to offer an official testimony for the record?”

“With pleasure.”

“Very well.” The admiral paused, then spoke again without facing his intended audience. “Would the individual who hit me with that pebble please show yourself?”

A cold shiver of dread washed over his body as Emerald realized he had somehow been spotted. There was nothing to be gained by trying to call the admiral’s bluff—if it even was one—so he rose from the bushes and stepped forward, and prepared to accept his fate.

The two remaining MPs – shocked that they had walked past someone in the bushes without realizing he was there – hastily raised their guns, only for the admiral to grab hold and lower them. He was surprised to see another thestral and looked him over, noticing that while his suit had leaves and twigs on it, there were no bruises or blood streaking down his cheeks.

“Were those cadets harassing you?” the admiral asked.

“No, sir,” Emerald responded, unsure if he should stand at attention, salute, or even breathe.

“I assume you wanted to help your companion. Why not just come over and alert me?”

“Trying to stop the cadets myself would have been unwise,” Emerald said, his heart pounding. “I was outnumbered and would probably have been injured. The cadets wouldn’t have dared attack you though, and by remaining hidden, I ensured that they didn’t know who I was, and thus avoided any retaliation by them later on.”

The female thestral was impressed.

The admiral was silent as he studied Emerald.

“What’s your name?” The admiral asked.

“Emerald Seas.”

“Did you come here to apply to the academy?”

“Yes, Sir. I begin training tomorrow.”

“Any aspirations?”

“I’d like to become a submarine captain, sir.”

One of the admiral’s eyebrows raised itself ever so slightly. “I see… Now, normally I would escort this lady to the infirmary myself, but I am urgently needed elsewhere. Please take her there.” He adjusted his cap. “I look forward to seeing you two tomorrow.”

Without another word, the admiral headed back through the bushes, his escorts quickly following him.

Emerald simply stood, dumbfounded at the interaction that had just transpired. As far as first impressions with a high ranking officer went, that certainly could have been worse. Much worse. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, breaking his trance—the female thestral mare was walking up to Emerald.

“You know, if you tossed a rock at that guy, you just technically assaulted an admiral. And not just any admiral, but the top dog. The big one. The head honcho.”

Emerald simply stared at her, puzzled.

The lady laughed. “Did you not seriously recognize him? That was Shining Armor, Fleet Admiral of Equestria’s navy!”

The color drained from Emerald’s face. “You… you’re serious?”

“Boy, you’re not all that bright, are you? I mean, you are if you were able to think all that through, but I thought you would have recognized him.”

Emerald wasn’t laughing. His companion was right: he had technically attacked the commander of Equestria’s navy. In any other situation, he would have been shot on sight or even sent to prison for decades, if not life, due to his species.

“Hey, no need to get so worked up,” The female thestral said, realizing how badly Emerald was taking her revelation. “He understood why you did it. In fact, I think you impressed him. So not only did you assault a fleet admiral, you impressed him by doing so. No one in the world can claim that!” She clapped Emerald on the shoulder. “Just wait until you tell your grandkids about that!”

“Well…” Emerald pondered,. “I guess you’re right.”

“I am right.” She wiped some blood from her snout.

“We’d better get you to the infirmary,” Emerald said.

“Oh, this? It’s nothing; I’ve been through worse.” She pointed to a long-healed scar next to her mouth. “That’s from a guy who wanted to extend my smile. Got plenty more I can show you when we’re not in class.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if we’re both going to enlist in the navy, we’ll have to stick together, being batponies and all. Safety in numbers, you know?”

Emerald nodded; he couldn’t argue against that. And if word of the encounter spread through the base – which it inevitably would – there were bound to be retaliatory attacks by the more impetuous cadets. Staying with a fellow thestral would help reduce the chance of being jumped on the way to classes or when heading back to the barracks at the end of the day.

“And because you came to my rescue here, I look forward to returning the favor someday. Speaking of which, thanks for being my knight in shining armor.” The thestral chuckled. “You know, in addition to the actual Shining Armor.”

“It was the least I could do.”

The thestral smiled as she extended her hand. “I’m Diamond Waters, by the way.”

Emerald took her hand. “Emerald Seas. Pleased to meet you.”

Diamond shook, her grip strong and firm. “Pleased to meet you, Emerald."