private Adventure to Atlantis

[Nightfall 3,950]

Cascade shrugged. "I guess we'll find out when and if we find the place what we do there." She flicked her tail lazily towards the colt, and turned to walk to lunch. Why was Nightfall even humoring the possibility? Nothing was going to be there. It simply wasn't possible for there to be something at the bottom of the ocean.

He chuckled. And since he had no questions, he shook his head and left for lunch as well. Without realizing it, he was eventually again next to Cascade.

"Hey. I don't know if you know, but honestly, I don't-"

He looked over and realized he was talking to Cascade and not another member of the crew.

"- I don't care for Atlantis. I know it isn't there, so I'm honestly just here to expand my work experience."

[Count Paradox 3,548]

Dox sat next to Moon and smiled back at Feather. "Well, I'm Paradox. Dox for short." He looked at his plate of food. "Geez, I'm starving. How about we all dig in now?" He levitated his fork and scooped up some pasta, taking a tentative bite. "Dang, I'm suprised, I actually did a good job on this."

[The-Master 1,176]

((Sorry about the wait, I had tryouts today.))

 

Fuse's ear had picked up to some pony stuttering before him. He turned, seeing... A rather familiar pony. Where had he seen him before?

 

"Hello... You look familiar by a tremendous amount... Have we met somewhere by any chance?"

 

Star Keeper puzzled over it for a second, but didn't really come up with anything conclusive. "I don't really remember, so I guess no. There must be a thousand other stallions who look like me." He stuck out a straight yet nervous hoof. "My names Star Keeper, I'm the historian on this expedition. And what do they call you?"

[Miss Light Diamond 2,801]

((Scamps has dropped from the RP))

 

Ocean was just finishing packing up the stuff from the presentation when a crew member walked over. "Miss Ocean...I think you may want to come here this." He said.
Ocean nodded and followed him over to a small radar system.
She put on a pair of headphones and flicked a switch.
She frowned at the sound...it was something like a wale...but it almost sounded more...electronic. "Keep listening. If anything changes, get me." She said. The crew member nodded and took the headphones, sitting down and listening.

She grabbed her bags and set out to the mess hall where she grabbed some food and sat at an empty table in the corner of the room...assuming that whoever she sat with would just talk about how Atlantis didn't exist...

[Steel Accord 6,658]

Steel Accord was lounging in his bunk brainstorming ideas for a book in his journal.

 

"The mess hall is open for all off duty ponyel." Came the dry, bored voice of Mrs. Pack Rat; the elderly comm officer. Steel got up and headed for the mess.

 

Steel loved the idea of this adventure. Already he had gotten used to the subtle roll of the ship through the currents, the soft clanking of his hooves against the deck, and the ever present comfort of his loaded scabbards hugging his barrel while tucked safely under his wings. Whether they found Atlantis or not, this was going to be something to write home about!

 

The mess was fairly crowded but not too packed. Steel sat in relative silence eating his hay fries while still scribbling ideas in his journal. All this underwater travel had him thinking of a way to use that.

 

"What if?" He asked himself. "Somepony built an entire city underwater and only invited those who fit his ideals there." The scenario played out in branching story paths in his head. "Nah . . . no one would enjoy that!" He dismissed as he got up to leave the mess.

 

((OOC: -before trotting over to the nearest bulkhead and repeatedly slamming his head against it . . . HARD!))

Edited May 4, 2013 by Steel Accord

[Ano170 162]

(OOC: Heh, sorry I fell asleep on you guys last night...).

@@Count Paradox,@,

 

 Feather blinked in surprise at Paradox - he didn't look much like a cook to her. Taking a bite out of her own lunch, Feather discovered she was wrong; the food wasn't half bad.

 

"Hello~ And my name's Moon Wave. You could probably guess what my name would mean fairly easily just from looking at my cutie mark."

 

Feather looked up from her food, not noticing the sauce smeared across her muzzle. She cast a cursory glance at the other mare's flank; sure enough her cutie mark was a moon and a wave.

 

"Well, I can guess what drew you to this trip." Feather murmured, more to herself than the two other ponies at the table.

 

She was about to make a joke about Moon Wave having gravitated towards the expedition, but stopped herself.

 

Puns aren't funny, Quill. She chided herself.

 

Instead, Feather laughed. "Join the club," she told Moon Wave. "My name is my cutiemark!"

[Agent505 660]

@@Marathon,@@Steel Accord,@@Dawn Stripes,

 

 

(Steel? Frostbite is still on her way to the mess hall with Lila, she's not gone to her summons yet also, Marathon, I assume you've been busy so i'm going to move Frostbite along) 

 

Frostbite's ears perked up when she heard her name being called over the intercom "I'm going to break those things before this trip is over..." she mumbled to herself "Looks like I need to go, i'll find you after lunch, or, something." and she began trotting off at a pace towards the next meeting.

 

"Stupid meeting...how are we supposed to eat when we're being called around all the time? And I still need to sort myself out..." she grumbled again as she walked back down towards the bridge, expecting the navigation room to be somewhere on the way. Several wrong turns and thumped floors later, she managed to find herself outside the navigation room. 

 

"I swear..." she forced the door open in frustration and stormed into the room, not saying anything else, simply standing at the back of the room silently waiting to be bored with another briefing. 

[Undyne 1,483]

Star Keeper puzzled over it for a second, but didn't really come up with anything conclusive. "I don't really remember, so I guess no. There must be a thousand other stallions who look like me." He stuck out a straight yet nervous hoof. "My names Star Keeper, I'm the historian on this expedition. And what do they call you?"

 

Star? That's when it hit him. "Star Keeper... Yeah. You were at that circus. First one I met too. Quit that circus a while ago... Well, I'm Short Fuse, Fuse for short.", Fuse had blankly put out, accepting the hoof of his with a somewhat firm shake. "Demolition pony for this."

[Dawn Stripes 301]

(OOC: Hay look...stuff went down while I was sleeping. And Steel, your OOC went over my head so I'm gonna' ignore it.)

 

Sarge looked over the two ponies in front of him. One was a steely blue pegasus with a navy blue mane, the other was a unicorn mare with jeweled hoofguards. Better luck with the pegasus, he suspected--they made pretty decent soldiers, better than the jewelry type--but experiences had taught him that the navy was filled with very, very odd ponies, and he wouldn't know them for sure until he knew them.

How to start this....CO always started by telling us how little we were worth. Somehow I'm not sure these kids would enjoy that. I'm not technically their superior on this trip, anyhow. He settled for an impassive, appraising sort of glare until he figured it out. We're all soldiers here--right? They know what we need to get straightened out, I'll let them handle it. Treat them like adults.

 

"Well?" He put a hoof down in front of the unicorn, starting with her. "What have you got for me?"

[Count Paradox 3,548]

Paradox became nervous and turned away. He didn't want them asking about his cutie mark, it was too painful to talk about, and he didn't want to scare them off like he had every other pony. So he just continued to eat his food quietly, staying out of the cutie mark conversation.

[Agent505 660]

@@Dawn Stripes, 

 

(So i've been quite out of character with Frostbite so far, that's going to change right now ^^) 

 

"A cold heart, an empty stomach and little patience" she responded shortly, looking the stallion up and down, noticing his obvious military outfit and larger than normal build. "But I presume you're asking why I was assigned to guard the occupants of this sardine tin? - or more accurately, what I can offer that will protect them?" she broke eye contact, and started looking casually about the room, walking around as she did so. 

 

This was going to end well, the only thing Frostbite enjoyed less than being around other ponies, was being around other ponies who tried to present authority.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Creeping Dusk

[Dawn Stripes 301]

@, 

@@Steel Accord,

 

At least she had a little sand. Giant wasn't pleased by her sudden grating or anything, maybe after spending so long dealing with polite eggheads off-duty, but decades of mutual grating at the hooves of superiors and subordinates had made him, as many Guardsponies, a little tone deaf, and a few months off the battlefield hadn't erased that.

 

Besides--'sardine tin'--Giant quite frankly couldn't agree more.

 

"Got that right," Giant informed her. "I didn't come here to give you the specs you already have. You're here to brief me. I want to know what my odds are of reaching dry land again. So give me the straight, and in Luna's name let's hope it's something." He turned to the pegasus--Steel Accord. "And that goes for you, too. What am I looking at?"

Edited May 4, 2013 by Dawn Stripes

[Agent505 660]

@@Dawn Stripes, 

 

"So are you afraid of getting wet, or are you afraid of the cold?" she turned her head with a smirk on her face. 

"I think your chances of getting out of here are as good as the rest of us, dont you? Any number of guards assigned to this expedition wont make a difference if we spring a leak...unless they all practiced my magic of course." Letting out a somewhat dry chuckle, she sighed happily too, before turning a serious look on her face and standing square to the Stallion. "Haven't you read our files? Or something...dont you military types always get on top of that sort of thing?" then with one final, condescending shake of her head she answered his question.

 

"Ice magic, is what I can bring to the table. You have moisture in the air or liquid on the ground, I can use it as a weapon. As far as any other forms of magic go...well that's a no show for me, i'm afraid. I've practiced ice magic for several years now and I would say I am very good at what I do - I think being underwater should be enough moisture for me to work with..."

 

Her stomach rumbled loudly and she looked down, causing her mane to drop in front of her face once again. She groaned, but simply left it dangling there as she lifted her head back up, re-establishing eye contact - or at least as best she could. 

[Dawn Stripes 301]

@, 

 

"No TK, eh?" Still, ice magic sounded good. The intimation of being able to plug leaks was a source of great comfort.

 

"As for getting a dossier, I SHOULD of, but our glorious leader doesn't seem to think of this expedition as a military exercise," he grumbled. "If you'll look at the helpful information available to you from my employment file, you'll see such helpful information as the fact that I grew up in Canterlot and my favorite color is yellow."

 

He watched her dip her head as her stomach rumbled-- "And as for water..." he leaned over her and locked eye contact right back at her. "The plating on the Defender is sufficient to survive any pressure level short of a megaspell shockwave. The observation windows are made of three feet of plexiglass and reinforced with skyforge steel beams, bulletproof and good against thirty thousand meters of depth. The submarine will NOT be leaking." He shivered involuntarily. "I know that perfectly well. I just prefer not to look outside if I can help it."

[Miss Light Diamond 2,801]

Suddenly, the whole submarine rumbled slightly but stopped after a couple seconds. *Click*"We have reached the bottom and are now cruising at 14,280 feet."*Click*

 

Ocean smiled and quickly finished her meal before getting up and making her way back to the bridge.

[Steel Accord 6,658]

@, 

@@Steel Accord,

 

At least she had a little sand. Giant wasn't pleased by her sudden grating or anything, maybe after spending so long dealing with polite eggheads off-duty, but decades of mutual grating at the hooves of superiors and subordinates had made him, as many Guardsponies, a little tone deaf, and a few months off the battlefield hadn't erased that.

 

Besides--'sardine tin'--Giant quite frankly couldn't agree more.

 

"Got that right," Giant informed her. "I didn't come here to give you the specs you already have. You're here to brief me. I want to know what my odds are of reaching dry land again. So give me the straight, and in Luna's name let's hope it's something." He turned to the pegasus--Steel Accord. "And that goes for you, too. What am I looking at?"

 

"Steel Accord, Canterlot columnist and bodyguard for hire." Steel responded curtly. "My father was in the Royal Guard, retired at present. As for my skills as far as security goes, I have trained extensively in sword-fighting. I am an expert with many types of weapons. Arming swords, rapiers, cutlasses, spears, staves (if I'm in a pinch) but my preferred weapons are pegasus wing-sabers." He lifted his wings to full reveal his scabbards, as well as his cutie-mark, a sword crossed with a pen.

 

((OOC: I corrected my previous post. You are not mentioned. I deeply apologize.))

Edited May 4, 2013 by Steel Accord

[Dawn Stripes 301]

@@Steel Accord, 

 

By the stars, he was serious, wasn't he? Giant took a glance at the cutie mark. Yep, there was a sword, alright. He took it literally too. You didn't see many of those anymore.

"Steel Accord, hm...is the clan name Steel or Accord." He assumed the lad was from a Canterlot clan anyway, judging by the way he exuded a family history of guard. "I'm trying to see if I knew your father. There weren't all that many of us at one point in time, you know. Sounds like he would have been about my age; I'm supposed to be retired Guard," he chuckeld, "Don't tell anypony."

 

"...now cruising at 14,280 feet."*Click*"

 

Giant took a deep breath and nodded like an automaton. Pegasus with Guard experience--under normal circumstances, Giant would have been relatively thrilled to have somepony so reassuring nearby. The experience was the most important thing, especailly in unknown situations, at it had been exactly what Sarge was fishing for. However, an intercom had just gone off detailing that the sub was now at maximum cruising depth. And it had to go detail the extent of that depth. His mood abruptly plummeted by several thousand feet.

 

"So I'm working with a mare whose magic is entirely based on water," he observed, "And a colt who's a master at...medieval weaponry. No firearms."

If Giant's face wasn't already sort of greenish, the nausea coloring him would have been rather noticeable. 

Edited May 4, 2013 by Dawn Stripes

[Agent505 660]

@@Dawn Stripes, 

 

"Based on ice" Frostbite snapped defensively. "I've lived by myself in the Frostback Mountains for several years now, living off the land and thriving how I can. I can look after myself..." she muttered as she cantered out the door, trying not to break into a full gallop to the mess hall. 

[Steel Accord 6,658]

@@Steel Accord, 

 

By the stars, he was serious, wasn't he? Giant took a glance at the cutie mark. Yep, there was a sword, alright. He took it literally too. You didn't see many of those anymore.

"Steel Accord, hm...is the clan name Steel or Accord." He assumed the lad was from a Canterlot clan anyway, judging by the way he exuded a family history of guard. "I'm trying to see if I knew your father. There weren't all that many of us at one point in time, you know. Sounds like he would have been about my age; I'm supposed to be retired Guard," he chuckeld, "Don't tell anypony."

 

"...now cruising at 14,280 feet."*Click*"

 

Giant took a deep breath and nodded like an automaton. Pegasus with Guard experience--under normal circumstances, Giant would have been relatively thrilled to have somepony so reassuring nearby. The experience was the most important thing, especailly in unknown situations, at it had been exactly what Sarge was fishing for. However, an intercom had just gone off detailing that the sub was now at maximum cruising depth. And it had to go detail the extent of that depth. His mood abruptly plummeted by several thousand feet.

 

"So I'm working with a mare whose magic is entirely based on water," he observed, "And a colt who's a master at...medieval weaponry. No firearms."

 

If Giant's face wasn't already sort of greenish, the nausea coloring him would have been rather noticeable. "Gentlecolts," he said, rising unsteadily to four legs, "I think it's time to retire to the mess..." He made it almost to the door before collapsing in a foreleg-chair. "Uh....you go ahead. I will...stay here, and...navigate. Things."

 

Steel understood the Master Sergeant's skepticism. He wasn't the first. Most in Canterlot thought the arts "primitive" and "barbaric" even. Though on the occasions when he HAD to defend his wards, nopony saw him coming, and that gave him an edge.

 

The Master Sargent looked uneasy with the depth, understandable, sea sickness and all that.

 

"Master Sargeant." Steel said. "Do you require assistance?" He offered. "For what it's worth, my father was named High Speed. The first in his family to join the military. My mother's name was Easel Accord, I was named for her. She comes from a long line of educators and artists."

Edited May 4, 2013 by Steel Accord

[Dawn Stripes 301]

@@Steel Accord, 

 

"Negative, son!" said Giant, trying not to snap. The last thing he needed was to look weak in front of the whole security force. The sub was hardly moving here in the center, he could get over this on his own. "I'm fine. Perfectly fine. You go ahead and get lunch, I'll come along as soon as I'm hungry."

 

Running a hoof through his scraggly mane and straightening it out, he already began to feel better as long as he focused on the fake fire-noises. He could pretend he was in a cabin somewhere with the old Giant clan on Hearthwarming. "Wait a second," he burst thoughtfully, "Accord! Knew I remembered it. You're not the one supposed to be descended from old Hurricane, are you? That young buck Fancypants kept going on about after the culture festival, when I met him? Wait, no...blast, memory must be going already. Couldn't be you. He was talking about a colt who wrote about sword fights, now that I think about it."

Edited May 4, 2013 by Dawn Stripes

[Steel Accord 6,658]

@@Steel Accord,

 

"Negative, son!" said Giant, trying not to snap. The last thing he needed was to look weak in front of the whole security force. The sub was hardly moving here in the center, he could get over this on his own. "I'm fine. Perfectly fine. You go ahead and get lunch, I'll come along as soon as I'm hungry."

 

Running a hoof through his scraggly mane and straightening it out, he already began to feel better as long as he focused on the fake fire-noises. He could pretend he was in a cabin somewhere with the old Giant clan on Hearthwarming. "Wait a second," he burst thoughtfully, "Accord! Knew I remembered it. You're not the one supposed to be descended from old Hurricane, are you? That young buck Fancypants kept going on about after the culture festival, with the jousting or whatever it was? Wait, no...blast, memory must be going already. Couldn't be you. He was talking about a colt who wrote about the sword fights, now that I think about it."

"That is indeed I Seargent." Steel said with a bow. "An anachronism I may be, but an honest one at that. I couldn't hit the broadside of an Ursa Major with a machine-gun." He admitted. "However, catch me within striking distance of a foe, and I garuntee you'll see somethig new." He added with a grin. "Fancypants is a good friend of mine and my most frequent client. That story he told you was how I got my cutie-mark. I would like to write adventure novels one day and what better way to tell a swashbuckling tale than by writing from personal experience?" Edited May 4, 2013 by Steel Accord

[Dawn Stripes 301]

@@Steel Accord, 

 

"You write what?" Sarge said curiously. Huh. The new generations. First he thought this colt was a soldier, and now he was coming with something else altogether.

 

You've been training too hard to see ponies as drill times, his CO laughed inside his head. Ponies can be all sorts of things. What about the gunnery sargeant who did nothing in of duty but plant daffodils in the fox-holes? You don't remember him? Or is it because you're starting to grow into your own little mold that the idea of being too many things at once scares you?

 

Giant shut him up by rolling his eyes.

"Well," he shrugged, "I suppose you're in the right place if you want a good story. Whatever else happens, this is bound to be interesting." He thought back. He didn't really know Fancypants, but some Guardspony had to stand around all day at that festival to make sure no crazy grabbed a mace and started disturbing the peace with it. Frankly, he'd hated the stallion--then Fancy'd offered to finance Giant's entire platoon for a training expedition. Then Giant had become a hypocrite.

Sarge almost giggled. Swordfighting and storytelling--yes, that sounded like the kind of thing Fancypants would be on the look-out for, didn't it? 

"No offense," he said, "but as for myself, I don't get a lot of reading in except for technical manuals, field reports, and the occasional passage out of the Good Picture Book."

Edited May 4, 2013 by Dawn Stripes

[Steel Accord 6,658]

@@Steel Accord,

 

"You write what?" Sarge said curiously. Huh. The new generations. First he thought this colt was a soldier, and now he was coming with something else altogether.

 

You've been training too hard to see ponies as drill times, his CO laughed inside his head. Ponies can be all sorts of things. What about the gunnery sargeant who did nothing in of duty but plant daffodils in the fox-holes? You don't remember him? Or is it because you're starting to grow into your own little mold that the idea of being too many things at once scares you?

 

Giant shut him up by rolling his eyes.

"Well," he shrugged, "I suppose you're in the right place if you want a good story. Whatever else happens, this is bound to be interesting." He thought back. He didn't really know Fancypants, but some Guardspony had to stand around all day at that festival to make sure no crazy grabbed a mace and started disturbing the peace with it. Frankly, he'd hated the stallion--then Fancy'd offered to finance Giant's entire platoon for a training expedition. Then Giant had become a hypocrite.

Sarge almost giggled. Swordfighting and storytelling--yes, that sounded like the kind of thing Fancypants would be on the look-out for, didn't it?

"No offense," he said, "but as for myself, I don't get a lot of reading in except for technical manuals, field reports, and the occasional passage out of the Good Picture Book."

Steel nodded. "No worries Seargent. Not everypony has to be a scholar. Your cutie-mark's a shield, that says you are a soldier through and through. Just the kind of pony I respect and gladly pledge my sword to." Steel said. He removed one of his swords and balanced it across both outstretched wings in front of him. He did a bow before returning his weapon to it's scabbard. It gave the appearance of a formalized, but personal ritual. Edited May 4, 2013 by Steel Accord

[Dawn Stripes 301]

Giant felt a blossom of warmth. His CO smiled at him from beyond the grave and chuckled as Giant removed his beret in some attempt to reciprocate the gesture. "Right back at you, son. 'You have my Kalashnikov' doesn't sound as good as pledging a sword, but nonetheless..." he grinned, looking forward to a little adventure for the first time since leaving the shore, "I'm starting to feel a lot better about this mission."

 

It was a little bizarre, but cheerful. "Huh. You really did pick up old Canterlot habits, though, didn't you? I haven't seen anypony pledge a sword since paps gave me a ceremonial rapier and tried to make me pledge life service to Luna."

Edited May 4, 2013 by Dawn Stripes

[Steel Accord 6,658]

Steel chuckled. "A personally cultivated behavior, Seargent." Steel explained. "Some ponies 'claim' to be gentlecolts, while others don't even try to hide behind a pretense of false civility. I decided a long time ago to spit in the face of modern apathy. So my bearing is something of an act of rebellion." He admitted somewhat sheepishly. "However, I hold myself to the image and indeed try to conduct myself as befitting what ponies expect of Canterlot. We ARE Equestria's capital after all, the literal shining city on the hill. Ponies like Fancypants are deserving of their fame and sucess. Others, on the other hoof . . ." He frowned thinking of Jet Set and Upper Crust. The vultures always looming for the scraps of Fancypants' favor. Steel's mentor was gifted with patience and restraint he did not have to deal with them.

" . . . are the reason some tourists leave unsatisfied." He put as politely as he could.

Edited May 5, 2013 by Steel Accord