//------------------------------//
// That's Not What Happened 
// Story: Shattered 
// by Zeck 
//------------------------------//

	Sea Swirl was forced down, none too gently, on her back. Her plush pillows cradled her head and the covers embraced her. She tried to sit up out of reflex, but a yellow hoof pressed down on her chest and forced her back down. She wiggled a little under its weight, but the hoof just pressed harder, pinning her. 
“Uh…what’s going on?” Sea Swirl asked. Her room was dark, illuminated only by a small candle on the far side. As its light flickered, she was able to make out the form of a pony sitting on the edge of her bed. 
“You are not leaving,” a voice whispered.  Sea Swirl shuddered a little as the hoof rubbed her chest. “Mm…somepony seems excited.”
“Heh heh…” Sea Swirl laughed. “Uh…maybe more like nervous? Confused too.” 
It was a lie. Despite being pinned to her bed by the hoof, she felt no sense of dread. On the contrary, her heartbeat picked up with each passing second. 
“Nervous? Hm…” The pony leaned forward so that her face appeared in the soft light. “Maybe I can do something about that…?”
Two crystal blue eyes stared down at the Unicorn. They were half closed like always, but now they looked sultry, not full of contempt. A tongue poked out from a cute mouth and slowly traced a circle around the lips, making them glisten in the candlelight. Sea Swirl’s thighs tensed as she watched the display.
Strands from a purple mane fell down and their tips tickled Sea Swirl’s nose as they covered one of the blue eyes. Soft yellow fur filled the rest of Sea Swirl’s vision as the pony leaned in close. The Unicorn could feel each breath on her face. They were deep, slow breaths, and each one made her quiver a little more. 
“Uh…hi, Symphony,” Sea Swirl said with a weak smile. “You, uh, mind telling me—woah!”
The yellow Earth pony pressed down hard on Sea Swirl’s chest as she shifted around on the bed. She straddled Sea Swirl’s stomach and then gently sat down on the Unicorn’s hips.
“Comfortable?” Symphony whispered. She swished her tail between Sea Swirl’s hind legs and the Unicorn’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “May I take that as a yes?”
“Uh…Symphony? What are you—?”
Symphony pressed her other front hoof down on Sea Swirl’s throat, cutting off her question and her air. “I do not remember saying you could talk. Did I say you could?” Symphony’s tail swished as she asked the question. 
Sea Swirl let out a quiet whimper as her body tensed. She locked eyes with Symphony as her breathing became shallower and she quickly shook her head. 
“That’s what I thought,” Symphony said as she removed her hoof from Sea Swirl’s throat. She placed it next to the other one on Sea Swirl’s chest and slowly began to rub the Unicorn’s lavender fur. “Hm…now what should I do with you? You do seem pretty—” Symphony whipped her tail and Sea Swirl gasped “—tense right now. Perhaps I should help you relax?”
Sea Swirl’s heart was in her throat as the Earth pony sat on top of her. She swallowed the lump as best she could and licked her lips several times before she managed to find the words to speak. “Uh…Symphony? Are you feeling…okay?”
“I’m fine,” Symphony whispered. The yellow mare leaned forward and put her mouth next to Sea Swirl’s ear. She pursed her lips and blew a small breeze onto the Unicorn and Sea Swirl’s ear twitch in response. “What about you?”
“Uh…” was all Sea Swirl could say as the tip of Symphony’s tongue traced the edge of her ear.  Her lavender fur bristled and the lump returned to her throat as Symphony drew little circles around her ear. 
Slowly, Symphony’s front hooves began to move away from Sea Swirl’s chest and toward her sprawled out forelegs. The hooves massaged her every bit of the way, pushing Sea Swirl to the brink of her limits, until finally their hooves met. Symphony gently pressed down on Sea Swirl’s hooves, pinning her in place. 
“Ready?” Symphony asked in a voice that caused Sea Swirl to lose track of everything around her. All she could manage was a small nod.
A moment later, Sea Swirl gasped as she felt the Earth pony bite down on her ear. Her body jerked as nerves overloaded with pleasure she had not felt in a long time. She reflexively tried to move her front hooves, but Symphony kept her pinned. All she could do was lay there and feel Symphony’s tongue and lips slowly work on her ear.
Symphony began to move down the side of Sea Swirl’s face, kissing every part of it. She reached the Unicorn’s jawline and traced its edge with her tongue before she nibbled slightly on her neck. She moved on to her throat, and then slowly ran her tongue down the length of Sea Swirl’s neck. She reached her collarbone and then retraced the same path back up the purple neck with her lips. She went over Sea Swirl’s quivering chin, but stopped just below her quaking lips. 
Sea Swirl’s breath was coming in ragged gasps now. Her whole body was on the verge of breaking apart, and she was fighting with all her might to remain still. All it would take was one hip thrust, or one swish of Symphony’s tail, and she would lose herself. 
“T…T…” Sea Swirl stammered with her eyes closed. She could feel Symphony’s chin resting on her face. She could smell her scent and feel her breath. The pressure of the mare’s hips threatened to tear the last thread of Sea Swirl’s self control. All she needed to do was move just a tiny bit, and…
“Mm…what was that?” Symphony’s very voice was enough to send a new wave of torturous pleasure crashing through the Unicorn’s body. 
“Tease…” Sea Swirl panted.
“Mm…”
Symphony pulled her right hoof away from Sea Swirl’s and brought it to the Unicorn’s throat. She pressed down just enough that Sea Swirl’s pulse beat even faster. 
“Open your eyes,” the Earth pony said. 
Sea Swirl did as she was told and met the piercing gaze.
“There you are.”
Symphony pressed her lips against Sea Swirl’s. Their tongues touched and Symphony’s tail swished, brushing the inside of Sea Swirl’s thighs.
The Unicorn could take no more. With her freed foreleg, she wrapped Symphony in an embrace and pulled her close. The Unicorn’s hips pushed up as she did. She felt Symphony’s body tense in response, fueling the fire in Sea Swirl’s own body. She pulled Symphony as close to her as she could, relishing the feeling of the mare’s fur pressing against her own while their lips remained locked. 
Symphony’s hips moved slightly and Sea Swirl’s mind went blank as pleasure tore through her body with such force that she—


*                                                  *                                                  *


Sea Swirl jerked so hard that the chair she was sitting it tilted backward and dumped her onto the ground. The back of her head hit the stone floor and rocked the last traces of sleep from her mind.
“Ow…” she said as lay on the ground, staring up at the umbrella that covered the small dining table. She sat up and rubbed the back of her head, trying to figure out what had just happened. 
She was in a small café that she liked to frequent in Canterlot. A few of the other ponies there were staring at her, including the waiter. 
“Are you well, ma’am?” he asked as he and the customers he was waiting on all looked at her. 
“Yeah,” Sea Swirl replied, blushing. “Just, uh, fell asleep I guess.”
“Very good,” the waiter replied, and then returned his attention to his current customers. 
As if that was a sign, all the other ponies returned to their own conversations and paid Sea Swirl no further mind.
Sea Swirl picked her chair up and sat down in it. She grabbed the small glass of water on the table with her magic and lifted it into the air. As she brought the straw to her mouth, her mind began to wander. She had been dreaming, but what had she been—
Sea Swirl nearly spit the water out of her mouth as she remembered the dream. She slammed the glass back down on the table and hit her chest a few times, forcing the water down her throat. 
What the hay was that about?  she thought. Why am I dreaming about her? And doing…that? I don’t even know her that well! Sure, she’s beautiful, but—whoa! Beautiful?! 
Sea Swirl laid her face down on the table and rubbed her head with her hooves, trying to force the thoughts out of her mind.
Okay, so she thought Symphony was attractive. That was no big deal. She thought a lot of mares, and even a few other species, were attractive. There was nothing wrong with that. 
But that dream!
“Forget it,” Sea Swirl told herself. “She’s not into that. It was one of the first things she told me when we met.”
The memory of Sea Swirl putting her lips against Symphony’s flooded into her brain, and the same thought raced through her head again:
She had such soft lips.
“ARGH!” Sea Swirl knocked her head against the table. “Stop it! I was saving her life! It wasn’t like that! What type of pony starts falling for somepony just because of something like that?”
Sea Swirl’s mind replayed her question for her and then asked her a new one. 
Who said anything about falling for her?
“Grr!” Sea Swirl opened her eyes, but kept her chin resting on the table. This was all because of what had happened on the trip to the ocean. She had just been glad of the company because she missed sleeping next to another body. That was it. Nothing more.
Satisfied with her excuse, the Unicorn raised her head and waited patiently for her meal to arrive. But her mind continued to wander down embarrassing paths. 
Can’t believe I woke up just before the best part…!
Sea Swirl’s cheeks flushed as the unwanted thought ripped through her mind. The dream had been pretty…intense. If it had gone on for just a few more seconds, she might have started making a scene in the café and…she didn’t want to think about what else might have happened. 
“Here is your hayburger, ma’am,” a waiter said as he walked over to Sea Swirl and put a plate down in front of her. “Enjoy your meal.”
“Thanks,” Sea Swirl replied. She lifted the burger and took a massive bite out of it, grateful to have something to take her mind off of her dream. 
Unfortunately, her plan didn’t go as well as she hoped. The feeling of food did manage to drive the enjoyable memories of the dream from her mind, but she found her thoughts still dwelling on Symphony. 
They hadn’t seen each other since they had returned to Canterlot yesterday.  Was the yellow mare thinking about her too?
Sea Swirl’s slumped as she realized how pitiful that thought was. It had only been a day, for Celestia’s sake! And yet she was wondering if Symphony, a pony she barely knew, was thinking about her.  
“It’s just nice having somepony in Canterlot to talk to,” she said, her mouth full of food. She was well aware that she didn’t really fit in with Canterlot society, and while the Unicorn did know Princess Celestia on a friendly level, the Princess couldn’t exactly walk down the street or get a bite to eat with her. It would draw way too much attention. 
Having Symphony around was just a nice change of pace to the rather lonely times she spent in the city. That was all it was. 
True, the Earth pony was beautiful with her yellow fur and her rich purple mane, and her blue eyes were hypnotizing when they weren’t scowling at something Sea Swirl said or did, but Sea Swirl wasn’t attracted to her. No, of course not. She was just happy to have a pony friend in Canterlot that wanted to spend time with her. 
Yes, that was all it was. That stupid dream had been nothing more than the result of her body missing having another body to cuddle with, and after what had happened on the trip—
Sea Swirl blushed and shoved that memory from her mind.  She really should go apologize again to Symphony for what had happened. 
Content with the belief that she had no special feelings for the Earth pony beyond wanting to be her friend, Sea Swirl smiled and tore into the rest of her burger. She hummed to herself as she ate and the smile on her face spread until she was beaming. She finished off her lunch, left her payment on the table—plus a generous tip—and made her way out of the café. 
Canterlot’s streets were the same as they always were. Ponies walked up and down the sidewalks, all of them in a hurry to get somewhere, but all of them wanting to be seen. Some of them had their noses raised in the air a bit higher than usual, while others walked with a slow gait that was the usual pace in the royal city. 
Most ponies probably didn’t even realize how desperately they were trying to be noticed. It was, after all, the standard in Canterlot. But Sea Swirl came from Ponyville, where ponies pranced, walked, and sometimes even bounced down the streets, so her eyes picked up on the differences easily. 
Seeing so many high and fancy ponies walking around reminded Sea Swirl of her work. Her trip down to Horseshoe Bay had been a huge success, at least in terms of gathering. She and Aqua had found a generous amount of stones, and plenty of pearls on top of that. Business was going to be good for a while now. 
Smiling and still humming to herself, Sea Swirl joined the throng of ponies and began to make her way down the street. She briefly wondered if she should stop by Symphony’s place to apologize, but she realized she had no idea where the pony lived. She shrugged the thought away, deciding that next time they ran into each other, she would just ask. 
As she walked, Sea Swirl began to draw up designs for jewelry in her head. Visions of necklaces draped over pony necks threaded through her mind. The ideas of all the different earrings she could make pierced her thoughts. She found the smile on her face growing larger still as pearls and gems flashed in her head. She was going to be busy for the next few days for sure. Thankfully, she didn’t have any special orders that she needed to work on, so she could just focus on her crafts.
“I wonder if Symphony would like something?” the Unicorn asked herself as she walked down the street. For half a heartbeat, her mind wandered along paths of Symphony’s beautiful figure in earrings or necklaces, but then the rational part of her brain caught up and squashed the thought flat. “As…an apology gift, of course,” she laughed to herself. She scratched the back of her head and laughed more when she noticed a few ponies were now staring at her with raised eyebrows. She flashed her best smile at them, and then took off at a fast trot, leaving a few baffled onlookers behind her. 
That’s not a bad idea though, she thought as she trotted down the sidewalk. The yellow mare would certainly forgive Sea Swirl if the Unicorn brought her a nice gift too. She was from Canterlot, and Sea Swirl’s pieces were popular, so of course she would appreciate it. 
Now she just needed to decide what to make. Would Symphony look good in a necklace?  Would she prefer a choker, something tight around her elegant neck? Or would she want something loose that draped down her fur and followed the curves of her front? Maybe earrings were the way to go? Small ones that drew the eye to her soft ears but didn’t drown them out, hiding behind the lush purple mane that graced her head? Or long earrings that glittered through her mane and made ponies stop and stare in envy? 
Sea Swirl treated Symphony like a doll in her mind, constantly putting on one piece of jewelry as soon as she took another piece off. She kept going, making sure the pieces flattered her face but didn’t become the focus of it, as she walked down the street, her tail swishing happily behind her. 
“Maybe I should—” Sea Swirl came up short as her eyes spied a flash of yellow ahead. Her legs stiffened and her throat tensed to the point that air struggled to escape. She forced her eyes closed, and then tried twice as hard to open them. 
Symphony was walking out of a shop up ahead. The pony stepped onto the sidewalk and turned her head away from Sea Swirl. Her purple mane spilled down her neck in long waves and parted like velvet curtains at her shoulder blades. It began to flow across her body as she turned her head to look the other way down the street, and as her crystal blue eyes slowly revealed themselves, Sea Swirl had the horrifying feeling that the mare was about to look directly at her!
Sea Swirl sucked in a breath so fast that it caught in the back of her throat. She hacked and leaned forward, no doubt drawing more than a few judgmental stares from nearby ponies, but she was glad for the distraction. She could get her body to move now and Symphony hopefully hadn’t seen her staring like a—
“Hello,” a voice said as a pair of yellow hooves appeared on the sidewalk in front of Sea Swirl. 
Nuts!
“Uh…hi, Symphony,” Sea Swirl said. She raised her eyes so that she was looking up at the mare through her bangs. Thankfully, her gaze only reached the bottom of Symphony’s neck. “Fancy running into you here.”
“Did you drop something?”
“Nope!” Sea Swirl straightened herself instantly. Breathing was becoming harder with every second. Her fur was starting to itch on the backside of her legs, and her eyes were refusing to lower their gaze from the sky. 
“I see,” Symphony said, her voice cold. “Well…it was a pleasure.”
“Wait!” Sea Swirl shouted. Her hoof shot out and she had to struggle to stop it from reaching Symphony. She came up short just in front of the mare’s nose. The crystal blue eyes looked at the hoof, and then they locked with Sea Swirl’s.
Those two blue orbs, half covered with yellow lids, lined with striking lashes, gazed at Sea Swirl and threatened to devour her. 
“Yes?” Symphony finally asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice as she continued to stare. 
“Uh…” Shoot! What did I want to say? Sea Swirl’s eyes managed to tear themselves away from the blue spheres and that was when she saw what was around Symphony’s neck. “Is that new?” she asked as she adjusted her hoof to point toward the piece of clothing.
“Yes,” Symphony said as she looked down at her neck. A purple bowtie, the same shade as her mane, was tied around her neck with a white lace. It was pulled tight, pressing against her throat. Sea Swirl could see the muscles in the Earth pony’s neck pulse with each breath. Her throat pushed against it with each rush of air, threatening to tear the pure white fabric every time. 
“It, uh, looks nice,” the Unicorn said as she licked her lips. 
Symphony’s eyes opened a fraction more than normal. “Thank you,” she said after a moment. “I normally wear one.”
Sea Swirl gulped and tore her eyes from the bowtie and the tense neck behind it. “Really? I’ve never seen you wearing it.”
Symphony’s eyes shifted down for a split second. When they looked back up, they were filled with her normal hardness. “I lost my old one. I bought this one just now.”
Sea Swirl suspected she knew what had happened to the old bowtie by the look on Symphony’s face, so she decided not to press the issue. Instead, she finally remembered the reason why she had wanted to speak with Symphony in the first place.
“So, uh…did you have fun last weekend? Well, maybe not fun, but I hope it wasn’t too terrible. I mean, not that you said it was terrible! No! I mean I believe you when you said that you enjoyed yourself. I’m not calling you a liar or anything like that, but…” Sea Swirl took a deep breath and hung her head. “I’m doing it again, aren’t I?”
Symphony blinked once, her face still that perfect mask of Canterlot upper class. “I’m used to it. But yes, the trip was mostly pleasant.”
“Heh heh, yeah, about that…” Sea Swirl sat down on the sidewalk and rubbed the back of her neck. This was turning out to be a lot harder than she had imagined, and the fact that that dream was tearing through her mind wasn’t helping at all. 
“Did you not enjoy the trip?” Symphony asked, and Sea Swirl could hear the darkness creep into her voice. “Was I too much trouble for you? If having me there bothered you that much, I will leave right now and you will not have to worry about seeing me again.”
“No!” Sea Swirl pleaded, hoping that Symphony didn’t notice the desperation in her cry. “Like I said, I loved having you—er, I mean, I loved having you there! Really! If you hadn’t been there, I would have ended up sleeping on the beach. So, uh, thanks for letting me sleep in the bed with you. It was great!”
Symphony’s eyes went wide. “What?”
“Oops! I didn’t mean it like that! It wasn’t great because of that. We didn’t even do that—not that I’m saying you wouldn’t be great at it. I’m sure you would, but not that I know, right? Heh. We couldn’t do it anyway, since I was passed out. Besides, you don’t even like mares, right?”
“Excuse me?” 
“Uh, I think I’m going to just stop talking now. If I stuff any more of my hoof in my mouth, I’m going to choke to death.”
For a long time, the two mares stood on the sidewalk. Other ponies passed them, giving them nothing more than a quick glance, but to Sea Swirl it felt like each one was laughing at her. Symphony was probably ready to wring the life out of her herself. 
“You obviously want to say something,” Symphony said finally, shattering the silence. 
“I…wanted to apologize,” Sea Swirl said, forcing each word from her mouth. “Again.”
“For?”
“Uh…you know. That whole thing with the bed?”
“I was not about to toss you on the floor like some laundry,” Symphony replied in a huff. 
“No! What I mean is, well…you remember when we woke up, right?”
The color that flooded into Symphony’s yellow cheeks was all the answer Sea Swirl needed. 
Symphony had allowed Sea Swirl to share the bed at the inn with her. When Sea Swirl had awoken the next morning, her face had been nuzzled squarely in the Earth pony’s chest. Her forelegs had been wrapped around Symphony’s body like a filly, and she had wrapped her hind legs around one of Symphony’s legs. Symphony’s thigh had ended up pressing against a rather sensitive area on the Unicorn, and before consciousness had fully come, Sea Swirl had been enjoying the moment.
It hadn’t been until Symphony had tried to move her leg that Sea Swirl had woken up enough to have a coherent thought, and when she had, she had been mortified. She had let out a terrified yelp and pulled away so quickly that she had fallen out of the bed and smacked her head hard on the floor. The covers had come with her, and when she had tried to rise, they had tangled around her legs and hooves to the point where she had ended up bound on the floor and Symphony had had to come over and help her.
Sea Swirl hadn’t said a single word the entire time, and she had refused to even look Symphony in the eye until breakfast later that day, at which point she had spent the next hour apologizing over and over. 
Sea Swirl felt a cold sweat break out on her forehead as she recalled the memory. Worse, part of her mind was now wishing something very different had happened while she had been tied up on the floor, completely at Symphony’s mercy…
NO! Stop it! Sea Swirl viciously shook her head and forced herself to speak, if only to keep her thoughts in check. “Okay, here it goes. I’m sorry I snuggled up next to you like that. I didn’t mean to, honest. I’m also sorry about…that other thing I was doing. I wasn’t really awake and, well, I’m sorry.”
The color only seemed to grow brighter in Symphony’s cheeks with each word the Unicorn spoke.
Great. I’m making it worse. Good job, girl.
Symphony looked down for a moment, but when she looked up again, to Sea Swirl’s astonishment, a small smile was tugging at the corners of her lips. It vanished in the blink of an eye, but Sea Swirl was sure she saw it. 
“I told you, it was not that concerning,” Symphony said. “I…did not even realize you were next to me until your scream woke me.” Symphony’s ears twitched. “Honestly, I’m not surprised though. You did use me as a pillow on the trip there, too.”
Sea Swirl could only nod as she blushed. 
“As for the other thing...” Sea Swirl braced herself for the berating that she knew had to be coming. “I…found it rather amusing.”
“Huh?!” That wasn’t possible! How in Equestria could she find what Sea Swirl had been doing amusing?
“Yes,” Symphony continued. “Did you not?”
“Er, I don’t think that’s the word I would have chosen, no.”
“Well, I did. You snarled up in the bed covers on the floor, looking like a caught puppy, was highly entertaining.”
Sea Swirl opened her mouth to protest. They were clearly thinking about two very different things. But then a thought crossed her mind. Did Symphony really not know? For Sea Swirl, it had been painfully obvious, but that was because it was her own body. That didn’t mean that Symphony had felt it, and if she had been asleep like she said, then it was very possible that Sea Swirl’s motion hadn’t been enough to disturb her.
Besides, it had just been a little bit of unconscious grinding. It wasn’t like she had been actively awake and trying…
Sea Swirl decided that if Symphony didn’t know, then she would let the matter die right there. The last thing she wanted to do was tell the pony that she had been using her thigh like that while she had been asleep. Best case, Symphony would smack her so hard she’d lose a tooth and the mare would never speak to her again. 
“Yeah, uh…that was pretty embarrassing for me,” Sea Swirl said with a laugh that she hoped didn’t sound too forced. “Anyway, like I said, sorry about snuggling you. And screaming in your face. And yanking all the covers off. Can I make—”
Symphony’s crystal blue eyes went wide and she began to back up. A look of panic threatened to smash her normally calm demeanor as she stepped away from the Unicorn. 
“Symphony?”
“Um…” Symphony’s eyes were no longer looking at Sea Swirl. They were focused on something behind the pony. “I…just remembered! I, uh…have to go take care of something.”
Sea Swirl looked over her shoulder, trying to spot whatever it was that had frightened Symphony. All she saw was the usual crowd on the streets of the city. “Symphony is everything—hey!”
Symphony had already turned around and was walking quickly in the other direction. “My apologies, Sea Swirl. I must hurry!”
“But!” Symphony broke into a run. “Um, can you stop by tomorrow?” Sea Swirl called after her. 
The Earth pony raised a yellow hoof, but she did not look back as she ran down the street and disappeared. 
“That was weird.” The only time Sea Swirl had ever seen Symphony panic like that had been when the mare had seen the ocean. But they weren’t near any bodies of water right now, so what in Celestia’s name could have spooked her so badly? 
Sea Swirl looked over her shoulder again, but she still saw nothing out of the ordinary. All she saw were ponies dressed in fancy gowns or tailored suits as they went about their business. None of them seemed to be paying a sliver of attention to Sea Swirl.
A flash of white above the crowd caught Sea Swirl’s eye. The only reason she noticed it was because it looked so out of place in the sea of pony fashion. She cocked her head and stood up on the tips of her hooves, hoping to get a better luck. Surely she had imagined it. No pony in their right mind would wear that hat in Canterlot.
Just as Sea Swirl was positive that she had imagined the whole thing, she saw the flash of white again. This time, she was certain of what she saw. 
Somewhere in the middle of the throng of ponies, somepony was wearing a white cowboy hat. That was unheard of in the middle of Canterlot. 
It wasn’t that Sea Swirl didn’t like the hat—after all, Applejack was always wearing hers in Ponyville and Sea Swirl thought it looked fine on her—but she was well aware of the fact that the fashion wasn’t exactly popular in Canterlot. Either this pony wasn’t from the city and thus didn’t know, or care, about Canterlot’s brutal judgmental fashion, or they had lost a bet. 
Sea Swirl shrugged the curious sight away and turned to begin her walk back home, but then she heard somepony calling out. “Oh, excuse me! Miss Unicorn!”
Sea Swirl made a face at the sound of the voice. The pony certainly wasn’t from Canterlot, not with that accent. She sounded more country that Applejack, if that was even possible. She smiled to herself and began her walk home without turning around. 
“Hey, you! The Unicorn with the purple tail! Hold up, will ya?”
Sea Swirl reeled in surprise. That pony was calling to her? Baffled, she turned around and pointed to herself with her hoof. 
“Yeah, you!” the pony called as she jumped above the crowd and waved. “Give me a sec, would you? We’re almost there!” 
Sea Swirl remained off to the side, out of the way of other ponies, and waited for the pony to reach her. A few moments later she appeared, and Sea Swirl’s eyebrows shot up. 
A yellow Earth pony walked up to her with a smile on her face that almost rivaled Pinkie Pie’s. She had a smooth, thick mane that was the deepest shade of sapphire and her eyes were colored like the sky. Her tail was as straight and rich as her mane, but it was wild, with several strands splitting away in a manner that only added to her country look. She had a rustic beauty that came from living outdoors and farm work, but it was what she was wearing that made her stand out so much.
Besides her hat, which kept her mane out of her face, this pony wore a simple lime-green shirt that was beyond frayed at the edges. She had an orange sash tied around her slender waist with its two ends dangling playfully in the air. A matching bandana was around her neck, causing Sea Swirl to smack her lips together as she looked at it.
Whoever this pony was, so was so far out of place in Canterlot that odds were she was the focus of many lunchtime meals. 
“Hi!” the pony said as she approached, her eyes wide and gleaming as she waved her hoof. 
“Hello…?” Sea Swirl offered in reply. She had no idea why a pony who could give Applejack a run for her bits was talking to her. She was fairly certain she had never met this mare. “May I help you?”
“Yep! Me and B.B. were—”
“B.B.?” Sea Swirl cocked her head to the side. She didn’t recognize that name either. 
“Yeah, she’s right—oh.” The mare turned, revealing a blue cutie mark that Sea Swirl was fairly certain was some sort of musical thing, and looked back at the crowd. “Where did she go? She was right behind me.”
“Fiddle! I told you to wait!” a voice called from the crowd.
“Sorry B.B.! Honest!”
Sea Swirl watched the flow of ponies on the sidewalk, keeping an eye out for another country pony, but she saw none. It wasn’t until she noticed a pony making her way toward her and the strange mare that she realized this was who B.B. probably was.
B.B. did look like she belonged in Canterlot. She had a sky blue coat that was expertly groomed, and a pair of eyes that were a shade of amethyst. Her dirty brown mane was in a style that that Sea Swirl had never seen, rising up on her head like a wave and then coming down in a motion that brought the word ‘swoosh’ to mind. She had a strange cutie mark that was the same shade as her eyes. Once again, Sea Swirl was fairly certain it was music related. That belief was reinforced by the fact that B.B. was carrying what appeared to be a violin case on her back.
And around her neck was a bowtie, exactly like Symphony’s in ever way except the bow was pink, not purple. 
Sweet Celestia, why is everypony wearing something around their necks all of a sudden? After that dream, I’m going to lose it!
“You took off running through that crowd like a crazy pony!” B.B. said as she walked up. “There was no way I could keep up with you in that mess!”
“I saw her though!” Fiddle pleaded. “Honest!”
B.B. growled. “If you say so. I still think this is a waste of time.”
“I did see her! Didn’t I?” Fiddle looked at Sea Swirl, her eyes wide with hope.
“Er…I don’t really…” Sea Swirl looked at the two ponies, her mind racing. She was positive she had never met Fiddle before. She would have remembered a pony this different. But she wasn’t so sure about B.B. Had this Earth pony come into her shop before? Was that how they knew her?
B.B.’s eyes looked at Sea Swirl and the mare blinked as if she had just noticed the Unicorn standing there. Then a warm smile came to her lips and she shook her head. “She didn’t introduce herself, did she?”
“Um…no,” Sea Swirl said, blushing a little. “Do I know either of you?”
“I apologize for my marefriend,” B.B. said. Sea Swirl looked at Fiddle and caught the quick blush in her face before she pulled her hat down to cover it. “She gets so focused sometimes that she forgets other stuff.”
“My name is Fiddlesticks,” the yellow mare said from behind her hat. 
“And I’m Beauty Brass,” the other mare said as she offered her hoof. “A pleasure to meet you, Miss…?”
“Oh, just Sea Swirl,” Sea Swirl said as she shook Beauty Brass’ hoof.
“B.B. is my marefriend,” Fiddlesticks added as she came out from under her hat. A heartfelt smile was blazing on her face as she spoke.
“Finally admitting it willingly, huh?” Beauty Brass teased.
Fiddlesticks’ face once again disappeared with an adorable squeak. 
“So, uh…can I do something for you two?” Sea Swirl asked.
Beauty Brass looked around for a moment and then shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Fiddlesticks thought she saw somepony she’s—”
“We’ve,” Fiddlesticks corrected.
Beauty Brass rolled her eyes. “We’ve been looking for, but I don’t see her. She probably just saw your hair color and thought you were her. Sorry to trouble you.”
“I did not!” Fiddlesticks protested, stomping her hoof. “It was her! Purple man, yellow fur!”
“Symphony?” Sea Swirl asked in surprise. Did these two ponies know Symphony?
“See?” Fiddlesticks said, a triumphant smile spreading across her face. “Told you, B.B. She was just here, right, Sea Swirl?”
“Uh, yeah,” Sea Swirl answered. She felt like she was entering a game without knowing all the rules, but part of her was excited. If these two actually knew Symphony, than maybe Sea Swirl could finally learn some things about the mare! “You just missed her, actually. She took off just before you got here. She seemed like she was in quite a…hurry…”
A thought slowly began to creep into Sea Swirl’s mind. She recalled how terrified Symphony had been a moment ago, and how the two had first met.
Sea Swirl narrowed her eyes slightly and raised her guard a little.
Fiddlesticks turned and glared at Beauty Brass. “It’s your fault she ran!”
“My fault?” Beauty Brass asked. “You’re the one that was jumping up and down like a filly, trying to see over the crowds. She probably saw you first and bolted.”
“If you hadn’t hit her then—”
Sea Swirl remembered the bruise on Symphony’s face when she had pulled her from the water. 
“It was you!” The Unicorn lunged forward so fast that Fiddlesticks jumped and Beauty Brass nearly tripped. “You did it! How could you? You two tried to kill her! Well I’m not letting you try again! I’m calling the Guard right now!”
Fiddlesticks gasped and her mouth hung open. Beauty Brass blinked several times, but then she recovered and met Sea Swirl’s raging gaze. “Kill her?” she asked. “What are you talking about?”
“The cliff! The waterfall!” Sea Swirl shouted, but the look of confusion on both the mares’ faces was slowly ebbing away her confidence. “You beat her and then you tossed her off the cliff outside of Canterlot.”
Fiddlesticks eyes, which Sea Swirl had been certain could not grow any wider, threatened to pop out of her face at the accusation. Beauty Brass’ narrowed slightly. 
“We did no such thing,” the sky colored pony said. “That mare is a bitc—”
“B.B.!”
“That mare is a brat, through and through,” Beauty Brass continued with a look at Fiddlesticks. “And I’m not sorry I hit her. But we would never even think of doing something like what you said.”
Sea Swirl’s blood boiled at the insults directed at Symphony, both spoken and unspoken, but part of her knew Beauty Brass was telling the truth—about Symphony being difficult, not her denial of the crime. She still wasn’t ready to fully believe that these ponies hadn’t had anything to do with Symphony’s near death. 
“Tell me what happened then,” Sea Swirl said darkly. “Or I will call the Guard.”
“We don’t know!” Fiddlesticks said. “The last time we saw her, she was in tears and ran off. Honest!”
“She was screaming about how Fiddlesticks ruined her life,” Beauty Brass said, then she looked at Fiddlesticks. “Right after she smashed your violin on the ground.”
“We’ve been trying to find her so we could give her back hers,” Fiddlesticks said. She reached over and pulled the violin case off of Beauty Brass. She popped it open and showed the instrument to Sea Swirl. “They got swapped at the talent show, and…she seemed really upset. I thought I could apologize to her when I gave hers back. I tried when we found her playing music on the corner, but…”
“Fiddle, you don’t owe her an apology. If anything, she owes you one. Several actually,” Beauty Brass said.
Sea Swirl’s blood turned to ice in her veins as she looked at the instrument in the case. She reached out to touch the violin with her hoof, because she was shaking so bad that she wasn’t sure she could stabilize her magic. 
Symphony had asked why Sea Swirl had saved her when they had first met. She had asked the same question when Sea Swirl had told her that she had carried her up the mountain. When Sea Swirl had asked about her cutie mark and whether she played anything, she had responded with a curt no, as if the very thought of music caused her pain. Sea Swirl had thought all those things odd at the time, but she had brushed them off as nothing more than the results of trauma. Now, though, she feared she knew the truth.
No pony had thrown Symphony from the cliff.
Sea Swirl gulped. “I…see,” was all she could manage to say. Judging by the looks on Fiddlesticks and Beauty Brass’ faces, they had come to the same conclusion she just had. 
“Well, I’m glad she has a friend here,” Fiddlesticks said in a cracked voice. “Can you give it to her? I’m pretty sure she’ll just run away again if we try it.”
“I…don’t know where she lives,” Sea Swirl said. She was still busy trying to wrap her mind around what she suspected. Why hadn’t Symphony told her? Sure, they weren’t super close, but…
“Her address is inside the case,” Beauty Brass said, shaking Sea Swirl out of her thoughts. “We tried her home over the weekend, but she wasn’t there.”
“No,” Sea Swirl said. “We were at the beach.” She continued to stare at the violin. She closed its case and took it from Fiddlesticks. “I’ll give it to her.”
“Thanks,” Fiddlesticks said. “Um…look. Tell her that I am really sorry, and B.B. is too.”
“Am not.” 
“Don’t believe her. Anyway, nice meeting you. Um…good luck with…stuff.” Fiddlesticks tipped her hat and turned to leave. Beauty Brass looked at the violin case and then at Sea Swirl. She nodded once and then followed Fiddlesticks back into the crowd.
Sea Swirl stood there for a long time, staring at the case floating in front of her. Her chest felt hollow, and her legs threatened to collapse under her weight. It was taking every part of her will to hold the case. She had known that Symphony had been keeping something about the cliff meeting to herself, but Sea Swirl had no idea that it had been this bad. 
“Symphony…” She popped the case open, lifting the lid to reveal the wooden instrument. She didn’t know much about music or instruments, so she couldn’t tell if the violin was good, but it looked fine to her. The bow was nestled on top of it, and some of the strings looked a little worn to the Unicorn’s eye.
Slowly, she pulled the instrument out and looked underneath. There, on the bottom of the case, was an address along with Symphony’s name. Sea Swirl knew she could find the place. She put the violin back and then began to make her way to Symphony’s home.
As she walked, she tried to think of something, anything, to say to the mare, but the words refused to come.


*                                                  *                                                  *


Sea Swirl found herself standing outside of an apartment complex. It was in a lesser district of Canterlot, and it showed. It wasn’t a bad place by any stretch, but she could tell instantly that this was where ponies who didn’t have deep pockets lived. There was no flare for elegance anywhere. The paint was a plain tan color with white trim, and the shrubs were trimmed into simple cubes instead of some crazy design. The few ponies she had seen coming and going hadn’t been dressed head to hoof in fancy clothes, but in regular dresses or shirts. They were definitely Canterlot folk, but they weren’t the upper echelon that Sea Swirl normally saw. 
“This is where she lives?” Sea Swirl whispered as she stared at the place. She had assumed Symphony lived in a nice home, or at least in one of the many fancy apartments in the city. After all, the mare certainly carried herself and talked like she belonged in such a place. 
“Can I help you?” a pony asked. Sea Swirl looked in the direction of the voice and saw a brown stallion with a red mane walking over to her. He had broad shoulders, but the smile on his face was friendly. 
“Oh, I’m just…looking,” Sea Swirl said. 
The stallion nodded. “It’s not the grandest place in Canterlot, I’ll admit. But I do my best to make sure it’s kept up and presentable. The rate’s cheaper here too, if you’re interested.”
“Oh no, no thank you,” Sea Swirl said. “I was just…looking for somepony. I believe she lives here.”
The stallion cocked his head and looked at the case Sea Swirl was carrying. “It wouldn’t happen to be Symphony, would it?”
“How did you know?” Sea Swirl turned to the stallion, surprised that he had figured it out.
“I’ve seen her carrying a violin around before, although not lately.” The stallion scratched his chin and smiled. “You play with her or something?”
“Are you kidding?” Sea Swirl laughed. “I couldn’t even play one of those musical triangle things. No, I was just, um…hoping to give this to her.”
“That’s odd,” the stallion said.
“Why?”
“Well, you’re the third pony to come looking for her in as many days,” the stallion continued. “The other two looked like musical folks, so I figured you were one too. Symphony’s never had visitors the entire time she’s lived her.”
“None?” Sea Swirl asked, shocked. 
“None. At least, none I’ve ever seen. I’m glad she finally paid her rent, because I would have been really worried if I had had to kick her out all on her own.”
“Oh, yeah,” Sea Swirl said with a smile, but she could feel the sweat breaking out on the back of her neck. “Um, say…it’s probably none of my business, but…how did she pay?”
“With a pearl,” the stallion answered. “Covered her whole rent, plus her late fees, and she still had some bits left over. Not much, but enough that she was able to buy some decent food for once. I saw her bringing the groceries home the other day.”
“Oh,” was all Sea Swirl could say. 
“Yeah, I was kind of worried that she might have stolen it,” the stallion added, completely missing the look of despair on Sea Swirl’s face. “I mean, I don’t usually see gems of that value here.”
Sea Swirl swallowed and lowered her head. “I can assure you she didn’t steal it.”
The stallion looked at her with a puzzled expression, but then he shrugged. “Well, wherever she got it, I hope she can get more. Poor girl’s always struggled to make ends meet. I’ve given her as many breaks as I can, but I’m not running a charity here.”
I...really don’t know anything about her.
Sea Swirl thought of the gift she had wanted to make for Symphony. She had been sure the mare would have loved it, whether it was a pair of earrings or a necklace, but now the idea seemed shallow. She would probably end up selling it just to pay her rent. She didn’t need fancy jewelry, she need—
Sea Swirl straightened as she got an idea. That was it! She knew how she could help! She immediately turned and began to rush back to her home. 
“Hey!” the stallion called. “Didn’t you want to give her that violin?”
“I’ll give it to her tomorrow!” Sea Swirl shouted over her shoulder as she ran. She didn’t know Symphony as well as she wanted to. In fact, she now realized she knew her even less than she had thought. But she was certain she knew one thing about the mare; she was stubborn. If Sea Swirl had just offered to pay her rent, the mare would probably refuse, or worse, never speak to her again. 
No, free bits, jewelry, gems, and stones weren’t the answer. The mare’s pride wouldn’t allow it. If Sea Swirl wanted to help her, she was going to have to be crafty about it, and she had a pretty good idea of where to start.