//------------------------------// // 82 - Red Sea // Story: Perchance to Dream // by David Silver //------------------------------// Wave Bell had me back in the coldness of the water, with no light to speak of. I could feel it moving around me at a much more sedate pace than we had first arrived in. She was holding me close, a single source of warmth in a sea of cold. Not rushing manically, I had time to appreciate the feeling of isolation, of alienness the dark sea provided. I couldn't say I favored it much. I gave my ride a good hug. She was the safe place. Wave returned the gesture, her hooves at my back. "You alright?" "I'm fine," I assured as I tried to make out anything that wasn't Wave in the darkness. We were going upwards, I hoped. I couldn't be absolutely certain of that. It was just darkness and more darkness, with Wave pulling me along slowly. Humans floated, right? So I should want to go upwards, but whatever sensation that was, it wasn't powerful enough to orient me at that moment. I could blame it on being a little freaked out. The gloom began to fade and I couldn't help but look around as best I could. The forms of schools of fish and larger fish were flitting shadows among the background, but at last I could see them, and that was a boon, at least I thought so until I picked up the shape of something coming at us from behind Wave. I could see it over her shoulder. I gave her a pinch on the back. "Something's behind you!" She glanced over her shoulder, and the world became even less distinct instantly. She was slicing through the water with a startled squeal. "It's that jerk," she hissed in my ear as she went. "Your oceans have the meanest things in them, I swear." Mean? That was hardly the adjective I expected from what I thought could have been a shark or something. I held tight to the rapidly swimming Wave Bell. "What is it?" "A dolphin, a real character. He always picks on me!" She banked to the... left? I think it was left. "Of course he shows up when I'm trying to be slow and careful. Are you alright?" We didn't seem to be darting up out of the water, which was good. "Just keep the ascending under control and we're fine. Still, a dolphin? I thought they were just cute little things." "Cute?!" Her tongue emerged from her snout. "Anything but. They're mean bullies is what they are! They like to gang up t--" She cut off as we collided with a fish, no, mammal. It was another dolphin right in front of us. It clicked and squeaked. "Like... that." She back-pedaled away from the second, but the first had caught up with us in the delay. "I am the worst host ever..." There were two of them, two dolphins. They were circling around us in wild orbits. They were... dolphins. It was really hard to be instinctively terrified of a dolphin. I had been raised to think of them as charming little creatures of the sea. I decided to try taking this into my own hand, literally. I reached out towards them. "Hello there. Aren't you two lovely little things." I tried to keep my voice calm and welcome. Maybe they'd react differently to a human then they had to the clearly nervous Wave Bell. One swam forward and nipped at the water near my hand. I flinched away as it clicked and swam in closer. Was it testing me? I couldn't be sure, but I decided to up the ante. As it swam so very close, I reached out and gave its belly a little rub. That got quite the series of noises from it, but it didn't immediately bite a chunk out of me, which I was willing to chalk up as a success. The other dolphin curled around and suddenly nuzzled the arm that had pet its friend. Did it want petting too? I wasn't of the mind to deny it. "What are you... doing?" asked Wave, watching with palpable confusion as I began to pet and play with the dolphins. "Why aren't they being mean to you?" One of the dolphins rammed into her, butting her with its round head as if to command silence from her. They didn't seem to like her. Maybe because she looked like a dolphin done wrong? I was only guessing, of course, but they seemed at least alright with a human. Of course, they were still two wild animals with sharp teeth and there I was, playing with them. They could hurt me severely at any instant, and there wouldn't be a lot I could do about it. I tried to keep that intense dread from showing in my actions. I was hoping they would get bored and go away. Alas, they were quite happy to keep on playing. They nudged Wave back to get me free of her and they were starting to move me around the water like a curious pool toy, nudging me this way, that way. They would nuzzle, chirp, click, and I quickly got the idea. They were not playing with me as a peer, I was just another toy for them. A toy they had stolen from Wave Bell, possibly to their great satisfaction. "I have to go," I tried saying, even if I knew dolphins didn't speak English, or any other language outside their own that I knew of. "It's been fun. We'll have to do this again." I gently pushed one away, hoping the meaning would carry through. What came back was a forehead as it rammed into my side in a painful charge. That had not worked. They clicked their unknown dolphin words at me. Were they demanding obedience? Were they just talking to each other? How could I know? The noises suddenly grew in agitation as a form darted through the darkness, grabbed me, and kept going. Wave Bell had made a move. "See, toldja they were big meanies." She sounded like she was scolding me. "You alright?" "That's a popular question today." I gave her a hug, glad to be away from the dolphins. "I'm fine, are they following?" She looked back over her shoulder. "I don't see them, guess they got bored." Her swimming began to slow down as she angled upwards towards the faint light above. "I'll get you back to land. We sea ponies take rescue operations super seriously." Thankfully, no other curious, or hungry, sea life came to greet us during our ascent. The light become clearer and I could start to see what the life around us looked like. It was a wonderful splash of living colors. I had nothing else to do but admire it, so I did. It was a lovely scuba experience, minus the actual scuba. That pressure eased as we went, slowly ebbing away as Wave pushed persistently towards the surface. At last, my head was pushed up above the surface. Wave was under the water, holding me up. I looked around wildly, trying to get my bearings. Water. There was water in all directions. "How far out are we?!" Wave's grip slacked as she slipped up above the water with me, holding me in a light hug. "Oh, no land here, but we're at the surface, so you're safe now, right?" "Safer," I allowed. "Thank you for that, but we do need to get to land. Do you know what direction that'd be in?" She spun, taking me with her as she did a quick three-sixty in place, then she thrust a hoof up into the air. "Look! Bird!" There was a seagull, sailing along the currents of the air. "It has to be coming or going from land. If we follow it, we'll eventually get there." That hardly seemed like an ideal plan, but I didn't have a lot of other ideas, so I just nodded. "Keep it in sight. I don't think those rest in the water, so we should be on the right track, eventually." We followed the bird, skimming along the water's surface. The bubble popped, but I had plenty of air to choose from, so I wasn't upset about that. That was when the bird landed. It landed quite peacefully, bobbing on the currents. It took a nice drink of salt water which was apparently just fine for it. "I don't think following it is going to... work." Wave pouted as her idea went bust. Alright, then we just have to get to looking. If we don't find land, there could be a boat or something. Anything at all, right?" "A boat is going to be much more awkward," I confessed, imagining trying to explain to any given boat how I had ended up so far from land. I was saved by a mermaid, that's what I could tell them. "Not a lot of other options but to get searching." The sun was getting heavy in the sky. That meant we had been out there for an uncomfortably long time. My family was probably freaking out in whole new ways. How many others were involved? Fear gnawed at me as we searched for land, any land. Sure, if we picked a direction and stuck to it, we'd eventually hit something, but that wasn't the ideal way by far. I desperately wanted to have my phone, in a waterproof case. A single flick of Google and the mystery would have been busted. I'd not only know where I was, but how to get where I wanted to be. I missed technology, but there I was, basically naked, being towed around by a clueless sea pony. "Linda?" came a horribly distorted voice. We both turned to see Twilight's deformed form reflecting from the water, vast and faint. "Hello? Where are you?" Wave giggled with joy. "Hello! Wait, you're in... a lot of water. Are we in trouble being in the water?" "I don't... think so..." Twilight tilted her head. "It was quite a challenge getting this to work on such a large surface, but I don't think anything could go through this. To be safe, don't come any closer. Is Linda there?" "Here," I waved for what little good it could do, raising my hand out of the water. "We're lost at sea, but at the surface now." "I can see the sky. Alright--" The interdimensional paging bell went off. "--They are still trying to find you, I can only imagine. Poor Starlight... She must be worried. You're both alright, I hope?" "As alright as we can be." A meeting with random dolphin bullies and lost at sea hardly qualified as what I would normally label as an 'alright' day. "Can you point us towards land, by chance?" "My knowledge of your world's geography is limited, to say nothing of my current view, which happens to be of assorted clouds. But! I thought of an idea that should get you pointed in the right direction." The other half of the signal box came into view, Twilight's. "This is linked to the other one. So if I just do..." Her horn began to glow and a light erupted from her box. "Follow that! I'll check in later and keep checking in until you're safe. Good luck, Linda." She faded away and Wave spun about to face me. "You're right, she really is a nice princess. Now we know which way to go, so let's get swimming." She took a firm hold of me and began shooting through the waves with her full speed. With a direction in mind, there was nothing that could slow her down. It was what I imagined people felt riding on a jet ski, except mine was warm and snuggly and smiled a lot. Land came into view and we both let out a shared sigh of relief. The end of our journey was coming. "I'm going to duck down a little," she said as she sank beneath the waves with me on her back. I could feel her undulating powerfully, propelling us towards that blessed coast.