//------------------------------//
// 81 - Under the Sea 
// Story: Perchance to Dream 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

I could feel her swerving around things that I couldn't make out. Fish? I presumed fish. The bubble around my head shrank and I started to feel some of that pressure that water was known for, and it... I don't think I could properly explain how trippy and scary that was. My heart was thumping, but not exactly the normal way. It felt a little confined. All of me did. It was a hug with no start and no end.

"Almost there," she promised, but she had promised that before, and I was becoming less sure of how 'almost' almost really was.

My world turned around in a way that was hard to see, let alone define. Everything swirled in darkness before water began to run free of me. The bubble popped almost comically. We were in a dry place somewhere deep under the surface. I could still feel that oppressive pressure, but I didn't feel like it was killing me... yet. "Where are we?" I couldn't see her, or anything else. I could feel smooth metal under my shaking hands.

"Where I take naps," she spoke from the darkness. "One moment." I could hear her movement. A wet slipping and hooves against metal. Was she dragging herself? Dim flickering light spilled out, destroying the darkness. "Ta-da!"

I looked around, jaw hanging free. We were in what appeared to be a sub. We were in a nuclear sub... "Oh fucking hell..." I swore artlessly. I was trembling with a new sense of horror that only grew worse when I saw what I didn't want to see, a skeleton of some former crew member, bits and pieces fallen to disarray from where it had been fastened to a seat that was turned upside down.

"This is... not... right," I got out as I rose to my feet, my legs feeling like they didn't really want me doing that.

"My old home was better," she agreed, seeming to miss any other objection I might have had. "You said you could get me there?"

Right, focus... That's when I realized I didn't have my purse. No purse, no wonder cube. "Damn it." But... there was hope. "I don't have my caller with me, but I did just vanish. There's a really good chance one or my two friends will try using it, which will make the person who could help us appear near me."

She clopped her forehooves together as she settled into a curled and relaxed position. "Then we wait? We can do that."

Sure... we would wait in some crashed sub that could be leaking radioactive junk everywhere. That sounded... great. What was it even doing so close to shore? Of course, who was to say how close to shore we were at that point? Wave Bell had swum like a torpedo through the water, and I certainly had no landmarks to try to compare with. For all I knew, we were miles away from where we had started.

"Are you alright?" She had noticed I was having a nice quiet panic attack. "Oh! Are you thirsty? Land ponies can't just drink sea water, right?" She gestured at the hole we had entered from. It was perfectly round, which told me it was designed to be there, rather than being a jagged scar of whatever accident caused the sub to sink.

That made me think a little. "It can't be..." If it was nuclear, so much more effort would have gone into recovering it. There were not-nuclear subs, right? It wasn't a thing I had much reason to look up before that moment. "N-no, I'm... not thirsty."

"Are you sure?" Wave leaned forward a little, looking up at me. "You look like you could use a drink." She tapped at the metal with a hoof. "At the least, you should rest with me. You look tired."

Tired was the opposite of what I felt. Despite that, I sank down beside her. I had meant to sink to my rump, but things gave out as I touched the ground and I flopped onto my back, staring up at the ceiling. The back of my head bounced painfully against the floor, leaving my vision swimming a moment as I curled in pain.

Wave wrapped around me, making soft noises a moment. Her left hoof slipped under my head and cradled it. "Poor thing, you really are... What's wrong? Can I help?"

That's when a realization dawned. "I'm being silly. Even if they don't use the caller, we'll be alright."

"Alright?" She tilted her head. "I don't understand. Are you alright?"

"I am." I held out a hand as I slowly sat up. She helped me get upright, sitting properly. "I am. Sorry... Worst case scenario, I eventually fall asleep, and then I'll be able to reach the one that can help us both."

"Both?"

"Yes... both." I sighed slowly, trying to regather my wits. "If she takes you back to Equestria, that leaves me in a boat under the sea, or maybe ocean, and there is no way for that to end well... I'm going to have to go with you unless she can... just magic me back to land. As lovely as that sounds, I don't think she can do that."

"Oh..." Wave did not sound or look like she got it entirely. "But then you'll be in another ocean. How is that better?"

I smiled at that. "I doubt Twilight will bring either of us to an ocean, not directly. You'll have to suffer on dry land a little while she brings you home. She's a land pony, a princess."

"A princess!" She sat up at that. "You didn't say there was a princess involved. Wait--" Her eyes narrowed. "--You also said she's a land pony. Princesses are sea ponies."

"She's a princess of the land ponies," I said, unable to keep a little laugh from my voice. "It's nice to know sea ponies have princesses too. I hope they're just as nice."

"They are! I think?" She lifted her shoulders. "I don't know how nice land pony princesses are."

"Hello?" came a faint voice from the circle of water.

I knew that voice and practically scrambled to bring Twilight into view. She was hazy and faded, but she was there. "Twilight! I am so happy to see you right now."

She returned my smile, though her relief wasn't close to mine. "Where are we? The magic seems to have a hard time reaching here."

Wave Bell slipped close, peering where I was and seeing the pony. Her ears went upright as she reached for Twilight. "Hello there! Who are you?" She made contact with the water and it rippled, distorting Twilight's image.

"Oh, hello there," came Twilight's equally distorted voice. "Please don't do that. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and you are?"

"Wave Bell! Linda was just telling me about land princesses." She withdrew her hoof from messing with the water. "That felt funny. Did you do something to the water?"

"It is a contact between our worlds," explained Twilight. "Please don't touch it, it's dangerous. Linda, what's going on?"

"We are deep underwater," I started out with a sigh. "Wave Bell here hasn't actually set foot on American soil yet, so I was hoping we could get her home, but didn't expect the dry land we would find ourselves would be... here."

Ding! The bell that sounded when I pressed the side of the cube to signal Twilight went off. Twilight glanced off camera. "That's been ringing constantly. It isn't you?"

Oh... "That means Starlight or Trixie realize something is wrong and they're doing what they can. They can't tell what's happened, just that I went out swimming and never came back." There was some hope there... "I'm going to pray they made up an excuse for my family about why I might not be there. I don't need more people panicking about this."

Twilight frowned softly a moment. "I... don't have anything that serves as a link to either of them as I do you, Linda, so I can't contact them so easily. We're just going to have to trust they do the best they can. Why don't you and Wave Bell was it? Why don't the two of you just go back to land?"

Wave Bell waved as her name was called. "There's a lot of land."

I wanted to swear, but I held it in that time. One point for me. "Can you get us back to where we started?"

"There's a lot of land there... I didn't memorize any of it. It all looks the same to me. It's not like I had a friend there." She leaned in close to the image of Twilight. "You're going to get me to Equestria?"

Twilight put a hoof to her head. "Linda... This is a poor idea. Even if I get you two back here, then we're abandoning Starlight and Trixie, to say nothing of all the other ponies. A portal here, under the water, is not going to do us much good. I understand where you're coming from, and it is a solid notion, but the execution... I can't stand by this."

"You won't bring me to Equestria?" Wave Bell's face fell with sadness.

I put a hand out in front of her. "Calm down, we're talking. Twilight, give us some options."

"Go back to land?" She fixed eyes with Wave Bell. "Can you get Linda back to land, any land? Anywhere that's not underwater."

Wave Bell bobbed her head quickly. "I can do this." She grabbed for me and I went rigid, realizing what she was planning. I did not want to find out, the hard way, what trying to use a water scrying pool to transport a living thing, two living things at once, might cause.

"Stop!" I barked and gave her a rough shove.

She stumbled back, confusion and hurt showing on her face. "But... I'm just trying to help."

"And you will, promise, but nothing alive should go through that while Twilight is there."

"Is that what she was trying to do?!" squeaked Twilight, sounding horrified. "I'll check in every ten minutes or so until you're somewhere safe and we can decide what to do from there. She faded away, removing the option of anyone diving through her image.

Wave Bell wagged a hoof at the empty pool, her tail slapping the ground. "All clear. We can go now?"

"Almost. Can you get a bubble on me before we get in the water? But more importantly, I need need you to come up slowly, probably slower than you've ever swum before."

Wave Bell looked baffled at the request. "But don't you want to be on land faster? You sounded like you really wanted to do it quick. Why wouldn't we do it quick?"

"It's... complicated... but my body is not meant to go from high pressure to low pressure." I was no diver, but I'd heard of the bends before. "If we do it too fast, then I could get really badly hurt, or even die. We don't want that, right?"

Her eyes went wider than any creatures should be allowed to. "Oh no! No no! I don't want to hurt you. Are you already hurt? Is that why you were all dizzy before?" She rubbed her hooves together, looking around fretfully. "I really messed this all up... I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright, Wave Bell." I forced a smile that I didn't feel on the inside. I was stressed out, not feeling chipper. "Let's get to land, nice and slowly. Once you get my head above water, then you can be as fast as you want, but getting to the surface, take it nice and slow." I took one step and then another, walking in a circle around the cabin. "About as fast as this."

"It'll take forever... But if that keeps you safe, than that's how slow we go." She gave a firm nod. "You're safe with me, Linda."