A seapony's Heartstrings

by Paradise Oasis

Call upon the Sea Ponies

Call upon the Sea Ponies

"WHAT?!?" Seawinkle shrieked, as soon as Whitecap told her. "They have our children? THEY HAVE MY DAUGHTER!?!"

"Your daughter's strong spirit shines through, it seems." Whitcap noted. "To the point she and her friends snuck away to 'help' us out."

"We need to all up the whole Sea pony army!" Sea Winkle snorted. "We'll sing those mer-freaks a funeral dirge, and bring thier funky kingdom crumblin' down around them!"

"My lady, I think we need ta chill, and figure out a plan!" Whitecap advised. "We have ta get more info on this whole portrait mess!"

"Our kids are gonna be shark food, an' your worried about some stupid picture?" The duchess snapped.

"Information is our funkiest weapon, Seawinkle!" The sea pony advisor countered. "We just go jammin' on in there, and it'll be the kids who end up tain' a bad trip!"

"You're right, Whitecap, as always!" Seawinkle snorted in frustration. "But for the kid's sake, we'd better get some answers about this whole mess, and fast!"

...

"I need to get on with my life."

As she sat on her bunk below decks, Bon Bon could only stare out her room's porthole in sadness. All of the good times, all of the happy memories... they were all in the past now. One night's disagreement had forever robbed her of her dearest companion in all the world.

"Wherever you are, Sea Swirl, I hope you're happy!" The earth mare thought angrily. "You finally separated Lyra and I forever!"

Bon Bon was a passenger on the S.S. Bluebelle, haunted by the memories of the past, and trying to put Equestria behind her forever. The mare had heard of a new settlement, called Pioneer Point, back in the lands ponkind had migrated from when they first arrived in Equestria. Having staked out a homestead in the new land, Bon Bon's sister and her family had invited the depressed mare to join them. Hoping to make a new start of things, she had gratefully accepted.

"Well, at least you'll be coming with me!" Bon Bon snorted, stating at a large portrait of Lyra sitting beside her bed. A final gift from her beloved friend, Lyra Heartstrings had commissioned the portrait from Ponycasso, the now-famous Canterlot master, who had originally from Ponyville. It was the only thing she had to remind her of her lost love now, a minor comfort in a world that seemed so dark and grey to her now.

Resigning herself to her sorrow, Bon Bon glumly trotted her way up onto deck, where several passengers were happily milling about. A few stallions most mares would consider handsome trotted up to her and tried to start a conversation, but the sad-eyed earth pony didn't respond to any of them. Leaning on the deck rail, Bon Bon merely stared out at the empty sea, thinking about how nice it would have been to have Lyra Heartstrings here to share the view with her.

But far out to sea, an angry Sea Mare glared at the ship from afar, narrowing her eyes as she saw the earth pony on the deck.

"There's our target, sisters!" Sea Swirl told the other Sea Ponies around her. "Now, make sure you get every other pony off that vessel, I don't want any innocent ponies takin' a funky trip to the bottom with the terrible temptress!"

"But why are we givin' this jive mare such a hard time, Sea Swirl?" One of her leiutenants asked her. "We hate hurtin' any pony under any circumstances!"

"Revenge, Sister!" The angry lead sea mare snorted. "Revenge against the greatest crime against the concept a' sisterhood!"

"Sea Winkle!" Captain Barnacle called out, looking down into the water as the Salty Mare glided through the river. "Sea Winkle, are ya there, Lassie? I found some information on that portrait for ye!"

"Shooby Doo! Shoop Shooby Doo!" Sealight whinnied, popping up from under the water. "How's it shakin', Cap'n? The duchess is kinda busy right now, so I'll take whatever ya find out ta her!"

"Take this to yer duchess, lass!" He threw a waterproof tablet into the water. "The castle archivist conjured this up for ye! It tells the whole story about who's in that portrait, and why it's important for yer herd!"

Catching the tablet with her fins, Sealight read part of it over, her eyes suddenly going wide.

"By the Seapony Sister! This explains everything!" The sea pony gasped. "Thank ya kindly fer gettin this funky info for us! Now I gotta get it back to the duchess!"

"Any time, lass!" Barnacle smiled, as Sealight dove back beneath the waves. "Any time!"

...

"My queen, there is no word from the Sea Pony kingdom!" Seaspray announced grimly. "And the amount of time we had specified has now expired!"

"Is there no other alternative, general?" Wavebreaker asked. "Is it really that much of a crime that four children committed, that they have to die for what they did?"

"My queen, we have no choice!" Seaspray snorted. "If you let these sea ponies get away with what they did, it will undermine your authority with the rest of the herd. Perhaps even to the point of revolt."

The queen sighed, sinking into her throne. "Very well, Seaspray! We shall feed them to the sahaugin... I leave these matters in your capable hands!"

"Thank you, my queen!" The merpony general bowed, a dark smile crossing her face. "I promise, I shall not fail you!"

As Seaspray swam away from the throne room, a voice crept into the merpony's mind.

"You've done well, my servant!" The voice hissed. "Your actions shall bring about the war between underwater Equines that I so crave!"

"Thank you, lord Squirk!" The merpony spoke aloud. "I am happy to be of service to you!"

In her mind's eye, Seaspray could envision the tentacled horror who once ruled the oceans of this world. Once defeated by the Paradise Estate ponies, the eldritch Abomination was now sealed in a cavern far beneath the waves, seeking enough power to break free of his imprisonment.

"This war shall bathe the seas in hatred! Empowering my servants and I, and allowing us to take our revenge upon the Ponies of Dream Valley!"

"And I trust that once you have flooded Ponyland, and restored your kingdom beneath the waves, that we Merponies will be given the Seaponies former kingdom to rule?" The general asked hopefully.

[b ]"Oh, that will be an easy matter, my dear!" The horrific entity chortled. "Trust me, when all of this is done... you merponies shall be the greatest among your kind!"

...

"By the horsemaster, how did we not know of this?!?" Seawinkle asked in shock, swimming through the calls of Mermaid Castle in circles. "Bon Bon and Lyra... the origin of all of this conflict between our herds!"

"This situation wasn't a well publicized incident in Equestrian history." Whitecap noted, trying desperately to calm her ruler down. "The only reason a record was made of it by Dream Valley historians, was Sea Swirl's connection to our herd's origins!"

"What a horribly unhip thing that Bon Bon did!" Seawinkle snorted. "Alienating our foremother from her sister like that!"

"Actually, I think both Sea Swirl and Bon Bon were in the wrong. " Whitecap added. "It was Lyra Heartstrings who was the victim in this whole situation."

"What?!?" The enraged duchess shrieked angrily. "Do ya actually think my ancestor was in the wrong with this whole funky fiasco?"

"Sea Swirl was in grief over her alienation and loneliness, and her extreme actions were based on that grief." Whitecap pointed out. "Nevertheless, it is your ancestor, and Queen Wavebreaker's ancestor, who began this blood feud between our tribes."

"And it's up to the two of us to end it!" Seawinkle sighed. "It all sounds well enough, Whitecap, but all this jive talkin' ain't gonna be easy!"

"You have ta find a way ta get both sides jamming in harmony, my queen!" The advisor pony told her. "This stupid little feud has been jiving on and on for centuries! If sombody doesn't try ta get along with somebody, our herd's great-great-grandkids are gonna be fightin' and killin' over a bout of jealousy an' betrayal that happened before our great-great-grandparents were born!"

"Where does the cycle end?" Seawinke asked, shaking her mane in disbelief. "Very well, Whitecap! Let's go and get our children back!"

"Right behind ya, sister!" Whitecap agreed, as the two swam out of the castle.

...

Bon Bon awoke to the sound of rushing water outside her cabin, and the feeling of the boat listing to it's side. Quickly leaping out of bed, she trotted over towards the door, throwing it open.

"Is anypony out there?" She yelled, gazing out into the vacant hallway. But as the earth mare looked down the hallways towards the engine room. She could make out the sight of water rushing into the steerage compartments.

"Help! Somepony help!" Bon Bon wailed, galloping up towards the deck. "We're sinking!"

But she found the top of the ship entirely devoid of any kind of pony life. Food carts rolled backwards and crashed, spilling plates and silverware all over the place. And deck chairs and tables tumbled over, and fell into the sea.

"Where am I?" The earth mare asked, dumbfounded. "W-what's going on?"

"What's going on, you little harlot, is yer day of reckoning!" A voice snorted from the water. "It's time for your filth ta be washed away by the pure waves of the endless sea!"

Bon Bon gazed out at the waves, spotting a... half pony, half fish, it looked like to her! Rubbing her eyes with her hooves in disbelief, The earth mare finally recognized the now hornless former unicorn.

"Sea Swirl!?!" Bon Bon whinnied in disbelief. "I can't believe it! W-what happened to you?"

"I sought refuge from your cruelty beneath the waves, you funky witch! And I found myself a new family!" The earth pony noticed several other sea ponies popping up around her friend's little sister. "And when I found out you were crusin' on this ship, I decided it would be a groovy time ta give ya what was comin' to ya!"

"Y-you did all of this?" Bon Bon snorted, angrily. "You sunk the vessel, and endangered all those ponies' lives... just to get at me?"

"All of the hip an hapenin' passengers are safe an' dry... we ferried em' all to safety!" The Sea pony mare told her grimly. "But thanks to some sunken treasure we paid the right ponies off with... you won't be seein' dry land again, ever!"

"But why?" Bon bon pleaded. "Why did you do this to yourself? Why did you do this to me?"

"Because ya corrupted my sister! You stole her from me! You made forget about me, and spend all o' her time with YOU!" The Sea pony yelled angrily. "An' now, you can take yer sister stealing to the bottom o' the sea with ya!"

As Sea Swirl and her ponies turned to swim away, Bon Bon's expression grew dark.

"It was YOUR fault she was out on the ice that night, Sea Swirl!" The earth mare called out. "She was angry with me over YOU!"

The sea mare stopped for a moment, before looking over her shoulder and replying. "Goodbye, Bon Bon. Hope you're good at holding your breath!"

As the Sea Ponies swam onward, a voice cried out in anger behind her;

"This isn't over, Sea Swirl! You hear me!?!" Bon Bon called out after her. "I will survive this, I swear I will! I swear my descendants will hunt your precious Sea Ponies until the end of time! The waters of Equestria shall run red with your grandchildren's blood!"

Sea Swirl and the others swam on, while Bon Bon galloped back to her cabin, shutting the door and crying, as she clung to the portrait of Lyra Heartstrings. As the sun set in the western sky, the boat silently slipped beneath the waves, never to be seen by surface ponies again.