//------------------------------//
// On the Seas of Love or On the Seas of Madness and Death 
// Story: Friendship is Madness 
// by Lobstercraft 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 4: On the Seas of Love
or
On the Seas of Madness and Death


Big Macintosh was mighty surprised that the giant amusement park cruise ship was filled with almost exclusively couples. Then he remembered it was the day after Hearts and Hooves Day.
“Oh my…” blushed Fluttershy as she noticed this was totally a romantic thing. “It seems Rarity made a mistake.”
“Eeeeyup,” Big Macintosh agreed. He still didn’t know what Fluttershy knew.
“Oh,” she replied, kind of hurt. “Well… I guess we should go back.”
“Nope,” replied Big Mac. That'd be kind of rude to Rarity; and besides that he wanted to get on the ocean. They were leaving from Canterlot, so Devil’s Reef couldn’t be too far away.
“Oh,” Fluttershy blushed even more as she took his response the wrong way.
What proceeded was the quietest date just about ever. The most either of them talked was when deciding what to do next and when correcting people’s comments about what a cute couple they were. And they only did that about half the time on account of how damn shy they both were.
Since Fluttershy was too scared to ride anything other than the gentlest rides they spent a lot of time divided between sitting quietly and walking around. Fluttershy noticed Big Macintosh kept staring cryptically out to sea, so she asked him, “What’s the matter?”
Big Macintosh looked at her as though he didn’t know what she was talking about.
“You keep looking out to sea,” explained Shy, “I… Is something the matter?”
“Nope,” he replied.
“Oh.” She smiled and paced her words sheepishly, “Well, what were you thinking about?” 
“Nothin,” Big Macintosh lied. What could he tell her? He wasn’t sure himself. Something had happened to his friend, something involving the reef out there. He didn’t know what to think, let alone say.
“You look upset,” said Fluttershy, nervous that she had done something; or not done something. 
“My…” Big Mac began, “…friend wrote me sayin’ something bad had happened to him at sea. He vaguely mentioned Devil’s Reef over there.”
“Something bad!?” Fluttershy gasped, “You mean like, a shipwreck? Or sea monsters!?”
“Maybe.”
“Eep!” she lunged against him.
“!” He blushed a bit. She realized she was pressing against him and was also embarrassed.
“Sorry,” she yelped as she backed up.
“Ah ain’t gonna let nothin’ bad happen to ya.” said Big Macintosh. “Don’t you worry.”
“I…” Fluttershy blushed EVEN MORE SOMEHOW, “Okay.”
That night after the uncomfortably romantic cruise dinner there was an unexpected announcement.
“Fillies and gentlecolts! Don’t leave just yet! For now we will be holding the Dream-en-Mer Hearts and Hooves Slow Dance Competition! The winners will be crowned King and Queen of the Sea, and will receive two free tickets to return next year to the Hearts and Hooves Cruise!” the announcer carried on as Fluttershy tried desperately to find an excuse to ask Macintosh to dance.
“Oh!” she had it, “Maybe, we should try and win those tickets to, you know, repay Rarity.” Brilliant.
Big Macintosh looked at her for a minute before exiting his seat, helping her out of hers like a gentlecolt and taking her hoof to dance.
They totally won, because the judges decided they were FlutterMac shippers.
But that’s not all folks, because as night came around, the two ponies came to the revelation that their tickets were for THE SAME ROOM! OMG I know, right?
“It…” Fluttershy gulped, “seems Rarity made another mis…take.”
“Eyup,” Big Macintosh concurred, staring wide-eyed at the lone queen-sized bed. Then he thought this might be a good thing. If they shared a room he could better protect her, just in case.  Big Macintosh couldn’t bring himself to fully accept or comprehend what had happened to Pokey, and if he had actually brought Fluttershy into a dangerous situation he’d never forgive himself. He placed a blanket and pillow on the floor and made himself comfortable.
“O… okay,” Fluttershy replied. Truthfully, she was dreading sleeping alone with the possibility of sea monsters sea-wrecking sea ships. She felt safer with Big Mac down there. 
Around 1:00 a.m. Big Macintosh was still restless. He went outside for some air and by fate he found he wasn’t alone. There was an old fisherpony out having a smoke.
“Hello there,” the salty old sea-stallion greeted. He sounded like that guy who played Herman Munster.
“…” Big Mac nodded a greeting and returned his gaze to Devil’s Reef.
“Ya lookin’ at the reef out there?” asked the old dude.
“Eyup.”
“That there’s Devil’s Reef. A no-good name for a no-good place, ya see. I for one think it’s crazy they let the ship get this close; reckless, even. Irresponsible, ya hear me?”
Big Macintosh looked inquisitively at the old pony.
“There’s... things… that gather round that reef.”
“Shadows?” Big Mac asked. Pokey had referenced shadows gathering around the reef in his note.
“Shadows indeed,” the sea-stallion nodded., “evil things. D'ya see that dark spot there in the distance, over there?”
Big Mac looked in the direction he was pointing and nodded.
“Over there’s Innshorsesmouth. Shady place; fit for shadows as you can see. It’s a town, there in that darkness. Ponies don’t believe me, but I swear they ain’t normal over there. And I’m not prejudiced, but they got that ‘Innshorsesmouth look’. And I know why. Yes I do. It’s that Old Stallion Marsh’s fault. He brought those ‘ways’ back from across the seas. He summoned em, those things, when the town fell on hard times. They bring fish and gold, but not for free, no. They must give in return… They give to Dagon.”
“Dagon?” questioned Big Macintosh. It seemed there was some truth in what Pokey wrote. Though it was still unlikely with just this old kook to corroborate, Mac was becoming a believer.
“That’s their god y’see? Th’ain’t loyal to the princesses like us good pony folk. No. They make sacrifice. Pony sacrifice. They interbreed with them too, those shadows, the Deep Ones. That’s why they got that queer look about em. They look normal at first, but it gets worse over time. Y’see they change, till finally they become what they was born of and return to the sea. Nopony’ll do nothing about it though, cause nopony believes.”
Later on, slumber would finally come to Big Macintosh. He had a dream about sea-ponies swimming up out of the lake in Ponyville. He also dreamt of Fluttershy doing ballet atop his apple trees. Dreams are weird.