The sea never stays still for long. Aquamarine awoke with a jolt as she hit a rock that she had not been next to, let alone seen before she fell asleep. Aquamarine stretched and started to look around. When her sleep-addled brain realized where she was, her eyes widened with shock.
This wasn’t the nice, calm place where she had dozed off, with the crystal clear water, the sand that went from brown to gold to white, the tall kelp copses and the low lying seaweed, and the rocks adorned with shellfish. This was somewhere entirely different. Suddenly, she snapped her eyes shut as soon as she had opened them.
This wasn’t a good thing. In fact, it was quite possibly the worst thing that could happen. Here she was with a group of newfry who barely knew the ropes, floating out so far into the brownzone that it was impossible to see more than a couple of feet in any direction.
The only things Aquamarine could see were murkiness and vague shapes. Checking the kelp attachment she had made to keep the newfry close to her, she followed the line back until she reached a group of three seaponies and one unicorn. It was very hard to tell who was who. However, after a moment of observation it became apparent. One obviously had four legs. Twilight, the researcher. Another was obviously rounder and more buoyant. Herman. One was smaller than all the rest. Waterlily, the poor kid who was separated from her mother by an unfortunate potion outcome. The seapony-shaped blob in the middle would have to be Mary.
Miraculously, they were all sleeping. The blueish seapony tugged hard on the kelp rope, and all ponies but one woke. With a second tug came bleary complaints from the ones who had already been woken, but nothing from the one who hadn’t.
Making sure no-one became detached from the rope, Aquamarine forced her voice to sound calm.
“CLASS!” she yelled. All heads snapped to attention.
Except one.
Aqua’s mind went into overdrive. Was she dead? Unconscious? Barely clinging to life? Stay quiet, mind. If they were going to get through this, then there was only one pony who could lead them. Her.
“It appears that we were caught in a current.” she informed them. Their faces remained blank. “We are now in the brownzone.”
That did it. All ponies’ faces froze in an expression of abject terror.
“Don’t worry. All we need to do is get into the bluezone as fast as possible. I doesn’t matter where in the bluezone we pop out. Just that we get there. Remember, we have an unconscious fry here. Now let’s go.”
The equines snapped out of their daze. They could feel the other’s anxiety and fear through the water, and it put them all on edge.
“I think fresher water is thataway.” Mary said, pointing her fin towards where she sensed the water becoming clearer. Aquamarine poked her head towards where Mary was pointing. The water did seem to have less goop in it, but only by a smidgen.
“Are you sure? It does seem that the water becomes clearer, but...” Aquamarine paused, swimming downwards. “I think you’re actually onto something. It does appear that there is a current leading from the bluezone.” Emma dove down, copying Aquamarine.
“It’s pretty weak. We should be able to swim up it.” Calling down Herman and Twilight, and strapping Waterlily to the lavender unicorn’s back, they began the slow progression upstream.
As they got closer, the water got fresher, but the current grew stronger. It was obvious that they were making progress, but the progress was slow. It seemed like they were starting to go backwards, that their efforts would go to naught, the pushing of the water was stronger than the pushing of their flippers. The water wasn’t so thick, and it was easier to see now. Aquamarine glanced at Waterlily. Her breathing had gotten better.
“Full speed ahead!” she ordered. The others in her group followed the orders, but it became apparent that they either couldn’t follow them for very long or wouldn’t.
“Aquamarine, we are swimming against a strong current. We have been for the past twenty minutes. Do you really expect us to swim faster?” Mary pleaded. Aquamarine didn’t answer, but only gestured over to Waterlily. The unspoken message was understood and the group pressed on.
As the water became lighter and lighter, the current only became stronger and stronger. Aquamarine suspected that there was some kind of large bluezone expansion group going on nearby. Creating a strong current to push away the brownzone was a well-known and easy method of pushing away the brownzone, and there really wasn’t another logical explanation. Seeing as the group was nowhere in sight, and water-pushing groups usually started just where the water became tinted brown, they had obviously made great progress. Darting to the side to escape the push, the bright blue seapony tugged on the kelp rope, sending the unsuspecting seaponies and unicorn flying towards her.
Acting quickly, she untied Waterlily from Twilight’s back and called for help. Waterlily sank limply to the seafloor. A cloud of smooth sand rose up, then sank back down again as she hit the bottom. changing her position so she could reach over to Lily, she checked her vitals. She had a pulse, but it was weak. Her white skin was turning slightly blue. Cyanosis. Calling out for help as loud as she could, Aquamarine cried out until her lungs were hoarse. Nopony called back.
Nopony came. They decided to swim in one direction until they saw somepony. There wasn’t really much else they could do. Fortunately, by an immense stroke of luck, the group spied the start of a continental shelf. Herman swam forwards, looking around. A little beyond them, a coral reef started. There would have to be seaponies around here. Coral reefs on earth didn’t plant themselves, and they definitely had not crossed the bubble barrier.
“Aquamarine! There’s structures!” Herman cried out. He swam a bit deeper down, trying to take a closer look. “It looks like there’s a city! The houses are strange tho-OW!” he yelped, swimming backwards while simultaneously attempting to nurse an angry red mark on his tail fin. “I think something bit me!” he yipped. Aquamarine took a glance at his injured fin. “It’s a jellyfish sting. Luckily, not a very toxic one. You say you spot a city?” she said, glancing around. Herman took a second look. “There is a city.” he told them. “Swim ahead a little more. It’ll come into view.”
Aquamarine did not need to be told twice. Swimming forwards as fast as she could while holding Waterlily in her right fin, she saw that Herman was right. A city lay ahead of them. She checked the white fry’s vitals once more. She was actually a little better, a bit less blue. However, she couldn’t get the young seapony treated until she found a hospital or a bureau. Cities of the size of what lay ahead of her usually had a hospital. Checking behind her to make sure the rest of the group were with her, she sped into the city.