A seapony's Heartstrings

by Paradise Oasis

coming to terms

Coming to terms

"Children, I cannot tell you how much it pains me to do this!" Queen Wavebreaker told them sadly. "But I cannot let such a transgression go unpunished!"

The three fillies were held fast in an iron cage, about to be released into the Sahauguin holding pen. Spalsher and Sea Shimmer quivered in the back of the cage and cried, while Sea Star turned to face the merpony queen defiantly.

"Take me if you have to punish somebody, my good queen!" The young duchess called out, catching the monarch's attention. "But release my companions, for they have done you no wrong!"

"Such a noble sense of sacrifice you have for your subjects, little one! You would have made a fine ruler for your herd!" Wavebreaker thought for a moment, then nodded. "The other children do not stand accused! Guards, release them at once!"

"B-but your majesty!" Seaspray exclaimed, protesting loudly. "You cannot just-!"

"That is enough, general!" Wavebreaker snarled at her, as the guards released the other two fillies. "The princess is the one who committed this sin! We shall not spill innocent blood!"

Seaspray scowled, then nodded. Splasher and Sea Shimmer looked at their young duchess sadly.

"We wish we could help you, Sea Star!" They called out in unison, tears welling up in thier eyes. "We're so sorry, sister!"

"It's all right, girls!" The little duchess told them, as the cage was slowly slid towards the large pen's door. "Go back to your families, and tell my mother I'll stay groovy, even in the great horsemaster's ocean in the sky!"

...

As the water washed into Bon Bon's cabin, the earth mare suddenly found herself totally immersed. Closing her eyes, the sad and angry equine prepared herself for the next life.

"Lyra... I'm coming to join you very soon...." She thought to herself.

But fate had another plan. A sudden gush of water forced her towards the window, and out the open porthole. The surprised earth pony suddenly found she could breathe.

"W-what's going-?" The surprised mare thought, opening her eyes. She found herself in an air bubble, being pushed along by three aquatic ponies. But these weren’t the sea ponies who sunk her ship- oh no! These were ponies whose top halves were normal equines, while their lower halves were entirely like a fish's tail. One of the fish-like ponies looked back at the earth mare, speaking through the water.

"Do not fear, we shall not harm you!" The blue mer-stallion told her. "We have saved you, from certian death!"

"W-why have you saved me?" The dumbfounded mare asked him, staring blankly.

"Because if those sea devils want you dead..." The mer-stallion, who she later found out was named Triton, told her. "Then there must be something about you worth saving!"

It didn't take long for Bon Bon to find out that these odd creatures- these merponies- were the descendants of equines changed by Starswirl the Bearded. They had been driven from their aquatic homes in Equestria by Sea Swirl, and her band of freaks, after they had attacked a few Sea Ponies without provocation. The Sea Ponies had judged thier viscious attacks on sea live and agressive behaviour too 'voilent', and forced them out of thier freshwater homes in Equestria's river and lakes. Like her, they had been hurt by the sea ponies. Like her, they wanted revenge.

"So... who leads you?" Bon Bon asked, sitting on the shore of the small island they had brought her to.

"Nopony leads us!" Pearly, one of the merpony mares, told her. "Our last chieftain died in battle, defending us from the hated sea ponies!"

Bon Bon thought about this, and thought about her own place in life. She also considered how she had no place in either Equestria nor the pioneer settlement- both freshwater regions where the sea ponies would learn of her survival, and hunt her down. No, this tropical island was her best refuge, far and away from any dry land. Already, the wheels were beginning to turn in the crafty mare's mind.

As time passed, the merponies, not prone to much common sense in their thought and actions, began to follow Bon Bon's advice more and more- how to contain and tame the Sauhugin with nets, how to harvest the kelp beds on the ocean floor, for extra food. They continued to follow her instructions more and more, despite the fact she was a surface pony.

"A surface pony, bah! Every connection I had to the surface is dead!" Bon Bon thought to herself. "I wish o be under the waves, where I may take my vengeance upon Sea Swirl!"

As the months turn into years, hatred and anger festered more and more in the exile's heart. Thoughts of her friends back in Ponyville, along with the happy times she had spent with Lyra, faded out of her mind. Replaced by the desire for revenge against those that kept her imprisoned here.

She was also spending a great deal of time with Triton, the stallion with the red scales and blue mane, who also felt her rage against the sea ponies.A mare who normally wouldn't give a stallion a second glance, the lonely Bon Bon enjoyed the company Triton provided, glad to have somepony to talk to. Coming up onto the shore, the stallion would sit by her side, as she gently caressed her mane as they lay there.

"They took everything from us!" The angry stallion snorted. "And we must make them pay!"

"We'll get our chance, my friend." She told Triton, staring off into space. "We'll get Sea Swirl, when the time is right..."

The day arrived, however, when Triton and Pearly came to her with a strange potion, offering her a chance to be free of her island Prision... a chance to swim the waters, as they did.

"The great Squirk has heard how you have aided us in our survival!" Pearly told her, tossing the corked bottle up onto the shore. "This will make you one of us, in exchange for loyalty to him!"

"Bah! Why should I give this creature my loyalty?" She scoffed, staring down at the potion. "What can he possibly give to me?"

"An end to your loniliness..." Triton gazed at her turthfully, before his gaze turned dark. "...and revenge!"

It is not known which of these ideas swayed the earth pony, but it was not long before the merpony mare named Bon Bon became queen of the merpony herd, re-organizing thier entire society for efficiency . So successful were the mare's efforts, that the herd ceased to merely survive, and actually began to thirve....

"Now just hold on a minute, Wavebreaker!" Sea Winkle suddenly swam in, diving right in front of the queen. "Now we don't have ta end all this with a funky act of violence, now do we?"

At the Same moment, Whitecap dove out in front of the guards, stopping them from moving the cage forward. Seaspray rushed forward, but was blocked by Sea Shimmer, who was bearing her teeth.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" She snarled, giving the merpony general pause.

"Hello, Duchess!" Queen Wavebreaker snorted, facing Sea Winkle. "I expected that'd you'd show up here!"

"Mommy!" Sea Star called out, seeing the older duchess. "Be careful!"

"Wavebreaker, don't do this!" The Seapony duchess called out. "Don't make a little filly pay for the sins of three long dead mares!"

"What are you talking about?" The dumbfounded queen enquired, motioning the guards to stand down. "What do you mean, 'two mares'?"

"I have a long story ta tell ya, sister!" Sea Winkle rolled her eyes. "And yer not gonna believe how complicated this whole funky mess is..."

...

"I wonder if I did the right thing..."

Sea Swirl was in her bed in Mermaid castle, sitting up in in her kelp bed. As soon as she spoke, Offearl, her beloved husband and Duke of the Sea Ponies, sat up beside her.

"Are you all right, my love?" The concerned sea stallion asked. "Something seems to be bothering you!"

The Sea Pony Duchess had met Offearl at the laboratory they had both been transformed at, and the two had stuck close even after they had gained their freedom. The sea ponies had then moved in and taken built a city of their own at the bottom of an inland sea, where the Sea Ponies had begun to thrive.

"I'm not sure I did the right thing in taking Bon Bon's life!" The Sea Pony whinnied, leaning in on her husband. "I wanted revenge, but what I did-"

"If she was half as bad to you as you describe, my love, you were merciful as it is." He replied, nuzzling her back. "My love, we have driven those barbaric merponies from our waters, and made a home for ourselves here! Let the dead rest in peace!"

"I-I guess you're right!" She whinnied, s the two rolled over, and went back to sleep.

...

Bon Bon spent over a year overseeing construction of an underwater city of coral and reef deep below the waves, and a luxurious palace which she would call home. The exiled mare had built a new home and life for herself, and the time had come to strike back at those who had hurt her new herd.

"Now, my dear Triton!" The white merpony mare told him, swishing her scaled tail angrily. "Now is the time for you and your warriors to seek vengeance!"

Bon Bon was no expert at combat or warfare, but she soon found this was the one thing her violent herd was actually good at on their own. Ships traveling the briny sea were swiftly attacked and sunk- their cargo looted for valuables, and the bodies of all the drowned ponies fed to the merponies' greedy sahaugin pets. Few sailors were allowed to return to shore, and they only to spread the horror stories of what lurked in the deep.

"The sahauguin strike the sides of the ships, and our tridents skewer the ships defenders!" Triton boasted, lying on the clamshell bed next to Bon Bon. "It's so easy to slaughter these foolish land ponies!"

"This is only the first step, my love." Bon Bon whispered sweetly to him, licking the side of his face.. "We only need to draw the hornets out of the nest!"

As the cargo loss and death toll began to rise, the land ponies cried in outrage. The Sea ponies, realizing the exiles they drove out into the ocean must be causing the problems, sent an attack force to deal with these tailed upstarts.

It was an utter massacre, with the Sauhaguin ripping dozens of Sea Ponies to pieces, and Merpony tridents skewering the aquatic equines before they even knew what had happened. It did not take long before Sea Swirl realized a new leader had emerged amongst their foes, and the Sea Ponies were in for a war.

Several battles were fought along the coast, Sea Ponies hitting the tailed ponies hard with powerful waves of Hydrokenesis, and mesmerized by seapony song. A stalemated border formed along the coastal shore, as hundreds of lives lost on both sides. In one particular skirmish, the leaders of both sides were present, and Sea Swirl received the shock of her life.

"Remember me, wench?" Queen Bon Bon called out from behind her armies, taunting her foe. "Bet you thought you'd never see me again!"

"You!?!" Sea Swirl's eyes went wide in horror, as she saw the white merpony with a red crown on. "How did you-?"

"I told you I'd survive, witch!" The angry mare shot back, shaking her hoof at her opponent angrily. "I told you I'd make you pay for what happened to Lyra!"

"Me?!? You're the one who stole my sister away!" She screamed, motioning another wave of sea pony troops forward with her fin. "You made her forget me, and she died under you watch!"

"She blamed me for your leaving!" Bon Bon yelled at her. "It was your fault she was out in the snow that day!"

"I hate you!" Sea Swirl shot back. "I wish you had never met my sister!"

"And I wish you had never been born!" Bon Bon snorted back.

The battle took it's toll on both sides, however, and both were forced to retreat.

The years came and went, and the constant stream of conflicts between the sides changed nothing. After several decades of ruling the sea ponies, Sea Swirl lay in her conch bed, the last strains of life draining out of her aged frame.

"Don't let the crime against my sister be forgotten!" She told her eldest daughter, coughing and wheezing. "Lead our herd as duchess in my stead, and keep taking the fight to the merponies!"

"Yes, m’am...!" The tearful filly nodded. "I promise I'll keep jiving those funky merponies!"

"And the beat goes on...." Sea Swirl smiled, closing her eyes for the last time. "Lah dee dah de dee..."

In the merpony capital, a grieving Triton stood over Bon Bon's bed, sobbing tears that were not visible underwater.

"Don't grieve, my love!" Bon Bon coughed, holding a hoof to her mouth. "Merely promise me that you will never stop fighting Sea Swirl's children!"

"I-I swear!" Her mate wept bitterly. "Our daughters will keep up the fight, even after I am gone!"

"Goodbye, Triton!" Bon Bon slumped back into her bed. "I'll be waiting for you... in the great ocean in the sky..."

And so the battles and conflicts continued, generation after generation. Along the neutral zone between the factions, the rotting hulk of a sunken ship, contained the magically preserved portrait of a blue mare, which almost seemed to weep at the millennia of violence that followed...

...

"...So as you can see, Wavebreaker, we're keeping alive a feud that started long before our birth!" Sea Winkle finished. "we've been fighting and dying over two mares and a ruined friendship!"

"But you're daughter violated one of our sacred taboos!" Wavebreaker protested. "We cannot just let her swim away unpunished!"

"Must the next generation, our own children, continue to die for a war that is not their own?"

"Mommy?" A little blue filly with a silver tail looked into the room, her innocent pink eyes glancing about the room. "Mommy, what's going on?"

"Sea Princess..." Wavebreaker whispered, thinking of her daughter fighting- and dying- in this endless, ceaseless war. Looking back towards Seaspray, the queen also thought of the possibility of her own troops revolting against her. Finally, she narrowed her eyes, and made her decision.

"Guard!" The queen called out, scowling in anger. "Release the child!"

"MY QUEEN!!!" Seapray cried out in protest.

"General, still your tongue, or I shall have it cut out!" Wavebreaker roared. Seaspray stared at her queen in shock for a moment, then fell silent.

The guards quickly opened the cage door, and the little filly swam out towards our mother. But as she passed the queen, Wavebreaker quickly grabbed a trident from the queen, and slashed the little filly across the face.

"AIEEEEE! MOMMA!" The little filly wailed, black liquid oozing from her eye sockets. "Momma, I can't see! I'm blind!"

"WAVEBRAKER!" Seawinkle called out in anger, but the queen had already turned away from her.

"The eyes that saw the forbidden Portrait have been dealt with, the filly has paid her dues in full!" Wavebreaker snorted, passing a satisfied Seaspray. "The truce is restored for now, duchess! Take your little girl home!"

"This isn't over, Wavebreaker!" Sea Winkle snorted, helping her daughter out, as the other Sea Ponies followed. "Duke Kelpie will bury your kingdom under a sea of merpony blood! You'll pay dearly for this outrage!"

"Come along, little one!" Whitecap told Sea Star soothingily. "We'll get you a unicron mage from the surface, and get those eyes taken care of in a jiffy!"

After the sea ponies left, the queen turned towards Seaspray. "Tell our lord Squirk he'll not have long to wait for his war!"

"As you wish, my queen!" Seaspray nodded, before swimming away.

"It's really sad you did that to her, mommy." Sea Princess told her mother, swimming up to her side.

"And why is that, my child?" The queen asked looking at her little filly.

"I really liked that sea pony." The child replied simply. "I think she and I coulda been friends."

-fin-

Comments

[mbpony 512]

Wow, talk about your twisted endings. I mean just...woah.

I cannot believe just how twisted you took the Lyra and Bon-bon meme and made it fit into your overall timeline.

Color me impresss, but also scared with how such a simple action or two can prevent an overall war. Can there ever be peace within the sea between the two kinds ?

Or will the war in the sea overtake the land as well ?

Such questions enough for a future story.

[SpyketheRAWRCat]

stream1.gifsoup.com/view3/3309434/spike-s-noooo-o.gif
NOOO! NOT G3! ANYTHING BUT G3!!!

[Paradise Oasis]

3110426

Wait, where is G3 mentioned in this story?

[SpyketheRAWRCat]

3111442EXACTLY!

[Twilight the unicorn]

I miss the sea ponies