When you're in distress
"Sea Star, honey...." A sea pony mare's voice echoed through Mermaid Castle. "Sea Star... are ya in here?"
A worried Seawinkle swam her way into her her daughter's room, hoping to comfort her grieving daughter. The room was a mess- with coal and shells and clothing thrown about. The little one was right in the center of her clamshell bed, curled up in a ball. A stab of pain shot through Seawinkle's heart, as she saw her daughter there on her kelp mattress, crying her eyes out.
"Little one, are ya goin' ta be all right?" Her mother asked, swimming over to her side, and caressing her mane with a fin. "I'm here, if ya need someone ta jam with!"
"W-why?" the sobbing filly finally spoke. "Why did dolphin have to die? He was only trying to protect us!"
"He gave his life to protect ya, little one!" Seawinkle's tears were not visible underwater. "You were just that groovy to her!"
The little filly looked up at her mother. "Why did the merponies pet have to be so mean?" She cried. "All we were doing was looking around!"
"I wish I knew, little one." She lay down on the bed beside her crying daughter, and stroked her mane. "I wish I knew..."
...
"Enough jive talkin' over what the merponies did!" Sealight, the head mystic and shamaness of the seapony tribe, snapped angrily. "Surf Dancer... you're our undersea head of pony intelligence! What have your sources uncovered?"
Several mares were gathered in Mermaid Castle's council chambers, deliberating one how do deal with this outrageous assault on a member of their royal family. Most of these aquatic Equines were whinnying for war, but cooler heads among the council were urging for caution. With the Duchess currently busy attending to her grieving foal, it fell to Seakight to preside over this gathering.
"Well, according to my sources, the sunken ship that our little duchess was exploring is a sacred place to the merponies!" Surf Dancer replied. "Her intrusion into the vessel was seen as a desecration in their eyes, and a literal act of war!"
"But why would a rotting, petrified wreck at the bottom of the ocean be holy to those scale tailed fiends?" Whitecap spat. "Probably another merpony trick, to justify thier violent action, and entice us to lower our defenses!"
"Actually, they claim that ship was the vessel that brought the 'great matron' to them, when it went down." Surf Dancer replied. "She is credited with being the foundation of merpony civilization, and chief architect of their entire culture."
"Yeah yeah, I am well aware of the tales of the great Merpony Matron." Wavedancer waved a fin dismissively. "She was the adversary of the hip and far out Seapony Sister, the first leader of the sea ponies!"
Every mare floating around the council table knew that tale well- how the Merpony Matron and Seapony Sister had been rivals for the friendship of the great Pony Songstress... and thier heated rivalry had led to her death. Both the Matron and the Sister had each blamed the other for the loss of the great Songstress... and Sea Ponies and Merponies had hated each other ever since.
"Do you believe the portrait Sea Star found in the sunken ship may be a clue to solving this mystery?" Sealight asked. "Also, has any though been given ta rappin' with the merponies, about this whole funky fiasco?"
"Sea Winkle's leadin' a team ta Dream Valley, ta have the land ponies look into this 'mystery mare." Whitecap whinnied. "While I'll be takin a jaunt ta the Merpony kingdom ta listen ta their jive talkin!"
"Good! I hope we can get this far-out problem solved, before Duke Kelpie and the stallion get back from their seasonal gator pony hunt!" Wavedancer replied nervously.
"The Duke will never be willing to reason or negotiate with the Merponies."Sealight finished. "We have two weeks ta solve this, before a wave of seapony testosterone, washes us all away in a red tide a' war!"
...
In a far away stronghold, deep beneath the ocean waves, a very different sort of Aquatic equine was holding a meeting over the events that had occurred on the sunken ship. In a bleak and dreary dining hall, a council of six merpony mares- all clad in the scale armor of their warlike race- debated and deliberated over further action against this unholy treaty violation.
"This is an outrage!" Seaspray hissed, stamping her front hoof on the table in front of her. "Those silly Seaponies have violated one of our most sacred places, and must be punished of their atrocities!" An angry yellow mare with a pink mane, she was the kingdom's supreme military commander.
"Now just calm yourself down, my good general!" Queen Wavebreaker, the pink merpony with the purple mane, snorted at her chief military officer. "We do not even know if the Sea ponies realized their actions were a violation of one of our holy places!"
The mares surrounding the table were split between the opinion on what to do about the recent Sea Pony action. They had desecrated the vessel of the Mer-matron, the holy heroine who had saved the merponies from the brink of destruction.
"It is yet another trick by the fiendish Sea Ponies! We all know those hoofless freaks have always been against our tribe!" Seaspray snapped, addressing all of the assembled merponies. "As you all know, it was they, who drove us out of the clean and fresh waters of Equestria so long ago, banishing us to these salty and frigid waters! It was only the arrival of the great matron from the surface, that allowed our herd to survive!"
"Stay your tongue, Seaspray!" Wavebreaker snorted. "I will not condone your warlike rhetoric! It is a wonder you have not yet taken an action that would lead us to war!"
"That is incorrect my queen!" Seaspray smiled darkly. "I had already sent a Sahuaguin from the shark pits to deal with the intruders, as soon as their presence was detected!"
"You did WHAT?!?" The queen whinnied in shock. Several voices of protest arose from the other council members. "Were any sea ponies killed in the attack?"
"Unfortunately no, my queen!" The general snorted. "But we did manage to kill one of their pathetic dolphin servants!"
"Seaspray, you fool! " The queen snapped. "Your actions may have put us on a course that leads to violence and bloodshed!"
"Worry not, my queen!" Seaspsray bowed to her superior. "Before we are done with this whole affair, you shall see my actions were justified!"
"For all of our sakes, general...." The queen replied. "...I hope you are wrong!"
.....
"Mama, if yer goin ta Dream Valley, I wanna go with you!"
The little sea pony duchess had washed away her tears, and was eager to help solve the mystery that had led to her friend's death. Her mother, however, was not as eager to have her along.
"Sorry hun, but I'm not riskin yer hide after what just happened!" Sea Winkle exclaimed. "You'll be safer here, with Whitecap watchin' over ya!"
"But mama, this is all my fault!" The little filly protested. "If I hadn't been groovin' around in that shipwreck, then non a' this woulda happened!"
"Sea Star, honey.... it's not your fault the merponies acted in such a funky manner!" Her mother assured her. "Don't ever think your hip little friend's passing was because of anything you did!"
"Yes, mama." Sea Star replied, as Seawinkle kissed her forehead, and swam out the door. After her mother had gone, however, the filly swam up to the window, and out and away from mermaid castle.
Sneaking her way stealthily away from the royal palace, Sea Star made her way to the far side of the lake, towards the residential district, where the common sea ponies lived. Here, among the cluster of coral houses all joined together, were several little friends that the small duchess had made.
"Sea Shimmer! Splasher! Are you here?" The little filly called out. Up from the residences came two other little fillys, who smiled and giggled, swimming in a circle around her.
.
"Heya, Sea Star!" Sea Shimmer, the yellow filly with the greenish-blue mane, greeted her. "Good ta see ya!"
"How've ya been, sister!" Splasher, the blue filly with the purple mane, agreed. "Have another adventure ready for us to go on?"
"Heya, girls!" Sea Star giggled. "I have a hip trip for us ta go on, and you aren't gonna believe what's at stake!"
"Are ya breakin' the rules ta go out?" Splasher whinnied.
"And could ya get in trouble for goin' out with us?" Sea Shimmer inquired.
"Yep! That's the funky situation, sisters!" Sea Star replied with a grin.
"Then count us in!" The two replied in unison.
"Then lets go!" Sea Star exclaimed. Together, the three baby sea ponies swam off towards the great and foreboding ocean.
....
A thousand years in the dim, near forgotten past...
The little unicorn filly levitated one of her crayons up, and finished coloring one of the dolphins on the page blue. Sea Swirl loved dolphins, almost as much as she loved the sea. She hoped she would have the opportunity to see both someday.
"Little sister! I'm home!" Came out of the kitchen, as the filly heard the door to the apartment open and shut.
As Lyra Heartstrings trotted into her apartment, she turned on the light, and looked around the room. This place could be ever so quiet and dreary at times... but still it was a warm and inviting place to come back to... it was home.
"Big Sister! You're back!" Sea Swirl came galloping into the room. The little foal with the mulberry coat and blue mane rushed up and hugged the teen filly. "How was your day at school?"
The blue filly with the white and blue striped mane smiled at her sister. Ever since their mother had died, Lyra had brought her little sister up by herself- just two ponies against the world. Ponyville's authorities had allowed the teen to raise the child, instead of putting her in a foster home. Not yet being old enough to attend school, Sea Swirl usually spent the day at home alone. Until her big sister, her only friend, got back.from school.
"Oh, it was fun!" She replied with a grin. "We had a new filly transfer in from Los Pegasus, and I was able to make friends with her!"
It was at that point, that another teen filly trotted in the door after Lyra. A cream colored earth mare trotted in, and smiled at the two unicorns.
" Sea Swirl, this is Bon Bon!" Lyra replied excitedly. "Isn't she the coolest?"
"Hi Sea Swirl." Bon Bon replied, looking down at the little foal. "It's nice to meet you."
"Yeah, that's great, big sister." Sea Swirl told her, ignoring the other filly in the room. "So, are you ready to go to the zoo now? We'd been planning to go today for a month!"
"Sorry, little sis! I'll have to take a rain check! I just stopped by to grab my jacket!" She grabbed her jacket and umbrella. "Bon Bon and I won't be back from Cheerilee's party until two,, so just grab yourself something to eat from the fridge, k?" She and her new friend trotted out the door, shutting it behind them.
"But.... you promised...." The lonely little Sea Swirl trotted back over to her coloring book, tears rolling down her face and staining the pages. Next to where the tear drops fell, was a picture of the two sisters that the filly had drawn, looking out and the ocean together.
As the little filly buried her face in her hooves and wept, Diana Horse and the saddlepremes came on the radio behind her.
"Heya there, ponies! This goes out to all the little fillies and colts out there!" Diana whinnied with glee, before they burst into song.
"Shooby Doo! Shoop Shooby Doo!"