Love on Land and Sea
Chapter 3
Life Under the Sea
Two weeks later...
Under the sea, in the world of Seaquestria, it looked very much the same during the past ten years. But, that can't be said for everything.
In one room of the palace pod, the biggest undersea pod in the kingdom of course, there was piano music being played. There, sitting on a coral bench, playing a piano made out of sea sponges and coral, there sat Twilight Sparkle.
She was now more open and outgoing than when she was younger, but she was still pretty studious. She had grown into a lovely mare, with her violet eyes shining with happiness, and her mane longer and flowing in the water. Around her neck was her necklace of bright pink and yellow sea shells. Her hooves were gently playing notes as she had begun to sing in a lovely voice.
Twilight: Nothing stays the same for long.
But when it changes doesn't mean it's gone.
Twilight then left the piano and swam outside through the window, while still singing.
Time will always get away
As it leaves behind another day.
Soon, Twilight had arrived at the bottom of the cavern, where a lot of critters hang out. There, playing with some bioluminescent fish, was Fluttershy. She, too, was also now a very pretty mare,and a little more confident than when she was a filly. Her rosy pink mane was longer, and her bang was now hanging over the side of her face instead of over her eye. Around her neck was her own necklace of green and silver shells. Since that day when they were welcomed by the sea ponies, the group of friends established their sea shell necklaces as a symbol of their friendship.
The pale yellow seapony saw her lilac colored friend swim over to her, singing the song. She then joined in, singing in a most enchanting and sweet voice.
Fluttershy: Things may come and things may go.
Some go fast and some go slow.
Few things last, that's all I know,
But friendship carries on through the ages.
Relaxing inside a giant clam like it was a chaise, Rarity was looking into the clear reflection, applying some makeup. She also become a most lovely mare, having her eyes coated with eye shadow made from light blue powder crushed from some shells, and black squid ink served as mascara for her lashes. Around her neck was her friendship necklace of light blue and lavender shells.
Rarity saw her friends swimming by from above, and she put her makeup aside to join them in their singing in a nice and beautiful opera-style voice.
Rarity and Fluttershy: Things may come and things may go.
Some go fast and some go slow.
Few things last, that's all I know,
But friendship carries on through the ages.
Just then, a cyan blue blur zoomed by them, causing a swarm of bubbles to appear. But the girls only smiled with amusement. She was always one for appearances. Then, the blur began spinning, making the bubbles around it form into a funnel. Then, the figure pushed the bubbles away, revealing it to be an older Rainbow Dash.
Despite her tomboyish attitude, she had grown into quite an attractive young mare, with her mane a bit longer than her boyish cut as a filly. And her bangs were still dangling in front of her face. But pinned behind her left ear was the Wonderbolts medallion that she got with the poster all those years ago. Around her neck was her own friendship necklace of gold and dark purple shells. She then swam next to Fluttershy, joining her friends in song with a gusto and strong voice.
Rainbow Dash: Been around for a long time,
Rocking out hard 'cause I'm in my prime.
Maybe it'll change further down the line,
But my friendship carries on through the ages.
There was then a loud of a "Yee-haw!". Riding on one of the dolphins that lived in the underwater cavern was Applejack, who had grown into a beautiful mare as well. She once had her mane in twin pigtails, but reverted back to her usual ponytail, and on her head was her father's Stetson hat. Though it would constantly float off her head because of its light density, Applejack didn't mind, just as long as she didn't lose it. Around her neck was her own friendship necklace of white and pale red shells.
Applejack put her floating hat back on her head and swam off her dolphin and towards her friends while singing along in a smooth country voice. The dolphin squealed and squeaked in its language as it swam around his rider. Fluttershy knew that he was saying goodbye before he swam back to his pod.
Applejack: Every single style has something,
Different it can say.
There's nothing wrong with being unique
And special in your own way.
Suddenly, in a burst of confetti, Pinkie Pie appeared. During the years, the other five mares knew better than to question Pinkie's strange logic. So, they all just smiled as the pink seapony started to sing along as well in her cute high-pitched voice.
Like her friends, Pinkie had become a very pretty mare, and even though her mane had grown longer and was no longer in a frizzy boyish cut when she was a filly, but it still floated higher up in the water than the other girls'. Around her neck was her own friendship necklace of orange and bold blue shells.
Pinkie Pie: Maybe you wanna be a pop star;
Get your fifteen minutes of fame, wha, ah! Ah, oh!
That won't last forever,
But friendship remains the same, ah-oh, oh!
The Mane 6 then all started singing together as they swam around in loops and circles throughout their underwater home in sync. Their singing got the attention of most of the other inhabitants, including Queen Novo and Princess Skystar.
All: Things may come and things may go.
Some go fast and some go slow.
Few things last, that's all I know,
But friendship carries on through the ages.
The two seapony royals smiled with pride. Throughout the years, it was becoming obvious that the six seaponies have the most beautiful voices in the kingdom, along with Skystar, and they always have this effect on the ponies that they can't help but listen to them.
Things may come and things may go.
Some go fast and some go slow.
Few things last, that's all I know,
But friendship carries on through the ages
Ohhh-oh, carries on...
After they finished their song, the girls all shared a group hug, laughing and smiling. Then they saw Skystar and Novo waving to them.
"Good morning, girls!" Skystar greeted them cheerfully.
"Morning, Skystar!" Pinkie returned the greeting for all of them, and shared a secret flipper shake with Skystar.
"How was your rest last night, girls?" Novo asked.
"Great as usual." Rainbow Dash said.
"Am I excused now, Mom?" Skystar asked her mother. "I promised the girls that I'd show them something really amazing."
Novo chuckled. "Of course." She complied. "Just remember the one rule that I have for the seven of you."
"Don't go up to the surface." All seven of the younger seapony mares recited, sounding a little bored about it." However, Novo didn't seem to notice it.
"Good." Novo said. "Now, you are excused." Then, the seapony queen swam away.
The girls all stifled mischievous giggles. "Are you girls ready?" Skystar asked the Mane 6.
She was the only one of them who had snuck up to the surface multiple times, up to Mount Aris, her original home before the hippogriffs were forced into hiding. The Mane 6 had learned about that when they were old enough to understand why everypony would get nervous about any questions about the surface world.
But, the seapony princess had recently discovered another way to the surface where the other girls can swim up if they don't want to go up to Mount Aris. And they had been planning for this for the past few days.
"Are we ever?" Pinkie said. "We've haven't been up to the surface since we first came down here."
"Has it really been ten years?" Twilight asked. "So much time has passed since we came. I have forgotten what it was like up there."
"Me, too." Fluttershy added.
"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Rainbow asked. "Let's go!"
"Wait!" Rarity quickly shouted. "Are you sure you don't want to stop by the grotto first?" She asked. "If we have any collections, once we go out, we can know what we can look before heading up to the surface."
"Oh, what the hay?" Applejack gave in. "Why not?"
The girls all swam down towards the darkened ocean bottom of Seaquestria. There, hidden in between two huge boulders meeting up at a point, was a small crack. Each sea pony squeezed through the crack and entered a huge grotto where many trinkets of the surface world was stacked.
Each of the Mane 6 had their own section of the large grotto. Twilight had learned the waterproofing spell from one of her original spell books that was saved all of those years ago and used it on any other spell books that Skystar would secretly bring from the surface, improving her magic skills and learning other spells. Also, she used it on any other books for the other girls.
Fluttershy had tons of scrapbooks that have pictures of all sorts of animals from all over the world.
Rarity had remains of Equestrian magazines that had been left in the ocean by tourists that would dare come this far out.
Rainbow Dash had more posters of the Wonderbolts, along with some Daring Do books. Twilight had introduced her to the series a couple of years back, and both of them had been hooked ever since.
Applejack had tied together pieces of kelp to make lassos, and she had jars of some of her own culinary concoctions.
And Pinkie Pie had all kinds of weird little trinkets, from different kinds of forks to screwy nails, but she also had some cooking books that she and AJ would share to make some treats.
After checking over their inventory, they all left their secret grotto. They had to keep the grotto a secret because if Novo found out that Skystar had been sneaking out, and soon the Mane 6, she would not be pleased.
"Come on." Skystar whispered quietly. She led the Mane 6 to another crack on the other side of Seaquestria. They all squeezed through it and felt like the crevice was leading upwards. Soon, everypony had popped out.
The Mane 6 were in amazement. There was nothing but open water for miles and miles. And the water was clear and a soft bright blue, with hints of sea green. There was lots of underwater plants underneath them, and once in a while, a school of fish would swim by.
"Look over there!" Skystar pointed over to a sunken ship. "That's where I get most of our surface things." Rarity and Twilight got a little nervous about that.
"Let's check it out." Rainbow Dash exclaimed, eager for an adventure.
"Um, are you sure that there's no sharks around?" Fluttershy whimpered. "They're not my very favorite sea creature."
"Don't worry." Skystar assured her. "There had never been any sharks around the many times I snuck out."
"If you say so." Rarity said, still a little nervous.
"Come on!" Rainbow called out, getting a little impatient. Eventually, every pony began following her and Skystar into the sunken ship through one of the windows.
It was dark inside, and it was falling apart. Fluttershy was shaking visibly as she swam after the other girls. Rainbow came beside her.
"Easy there, Flutters." She assured her. "I've got your back."
The shy mare smiled timidly. "Thanks, Rainbow Dash." She said quietly. The other pegasus seapony smiled, and then swam ahead.
"Oh my gosh!" A chipper voice rang out, surprising everypony. Fluttershy even screamed a little and took cover inside an abandoned chest.
Pinkie held up a large serving spoon. "This is the last spoon I needed for my collection." She said.
Everypony rolled their eyes, and Fluttershy came out of her hiding spot. It might still be the shock from earlier, or she was getting the feeling that something was nearby.
"Um, girls?" Fluttershy tried to get her friends' attention. But, she was too quiet for them to hear her.
Twilight then saw an old smoke pipe. "Hey, I think I recognize this." She said, picking it up. "But, I don't remember what it's called."
"How do you recognize that?" Rarity asked.
"I can't quite place it." Twilight answered, eyes narrowing in concentration at the pipe.
"Girls?" Fluttershy tried again. "Maybe we should leave now." But she was still too quiet to be heard.
"It's something from the mainland, that much I know." Twilight said. By now, everypony else except for Fluttershy, who still couldn't shake the feeling that there is something lurking nearby. "Like from where we used to come from."
Suddenly, a large shadow loomed over the many broken windows of the ship. The pale yellow seapony mare slowly turned to where the source of the shadow was, and her blood froze.
It was a large dark gray shark, with rows of teeth visible from its open jaws, waiting to eat the much smaller seapony in one bite. But with an ear-piercing scream, Fluttershy zoomed away from the window, leaving the shark to smash the glass instead.
"SHARK!" Fluttershy screamed, finally getting the others' attention. "Let's get out of here!" The large carnivorous fish had now entered the ship remains and now saw that there was a whole feast inside for it.
Everypony began to scatter. "I thought you said that there were no sharks in this area!" Rainbow Dash yelled over at Skystar.
"There weren't!" Skystar shouted back.
Applejack pushed a large wooden crate with her tail at the shark to keep it from eating her. "Maybe with all of the racket from earlier, we lured one right here!" She guessed as she swam away from the shark, who was spitting out the wood from the crate.
"Pinkie!" Most of the girls chided, glaring at the hyperactive mare.
The pink seapony giggled sheepishly. "Uh, oopsie?" She shrugged nervously.
"Come on, y'all!" Applejack said, grabbing her hat to put back on her head. "We gotta git outta here!"
Twilight looked around and saw that there was an opening leading out to the deck. "Follow me!" She ordered. No one complained as they all zipped out of the ship, the shark on their tails.
Rainbow saw an anchor nearby and got an idea. She swam to it, getting in front to block the view of it from the shark. "Hey, you big ugly!" She taunted. "Over here!"
The shark saw the cyan blue seapony waving her hooves, making fun of it. It angrily charged at her, but then Rainbow zoomed away, making it get its head stuck in the anchor head.
"Yeah!" Dash cheered, pumping a hoof. "That's what you get when you mess with us!"
The other girls swam over to get a better look at the shark, who was struggling to get its head out. Fluttershy felt a twang of pity for the big brute in front of her. Even though she wasn't a big fan of sharks, she had to help it. Slowly, she made her way towards it beside Rainbow.
"Fluttershy!" Rarity called after her.
But her cry was ignored. "Um, calm down, please." Fluttershy timidly told the shark, who was still thrashing around. "Please stay still!" The pale yellow seapony said a little louder, and the shark finally stopped moving to look at her.
"We're sorry that you're stuck, but you did give us such a fright." Fluttershy explained to the shark. "Now, if you hold still and promise that you won't do that again to us, we'll help you get out of there."
The other seaponies were a little confused, but decided not to argue. This was all part of Fluttershy's personality, to show any beast a little kindness, even to the most terrifying ones.
"Can you give us a hoof, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked the purple sea pony. She swam on over. "Can you make the anchor a little bigger for Mr. Shark to get out?"
Twilight nodded, and ignited her horn, enveloping it in bright raspberry magenta sparkles. The anchor soon had the same sparkly magic surrounding it. Then, it grew a little larger, just enough for the shark to remove its head before it shrank back to its normal size.
"There we go." Twilight said, turning off her magic.
"You're free to go now." Fluttershy said to the shark. The large fish nuzzled her before it swam away into the deeper depths of the ocean.
"Please tell me that there will be no more drama today." Applejack asked.
"I don't think so." Pinkie assured her. "Now, show us the surface, Skystar!" She said to the seapony princess, giving her pleading eyes.
Skystar giggled. "Okay!" She said. "Follow me!"
The girls all followed her upwards towards the surface. The further up they swam, the brighter the water seemed to get.
Finally, with a splash, everypony popped their heads out of the ocean water. The Mane 6 felt their breaths hitch with amazement as they looked around. They had forgotten what it was like to feel the wind. The sun beaming down on them, warming their faces and slowly drying their manes. The sea was sparkling in the sunlight, and not that far off in the distance, there was the island where Mount Aris stood, tall and proud against the surrounding sea.
Skystar sighed, sniffing the salty air. "It feels great, doesn't it, girls?" There was no answer from anypony. The seapony princess looked over at her friends, who were still looking around in wonder and slight recognition. "Are you okay?" She asked.
They still didn't answer her. Finally, Twilight gave a response in song. One by one, the other girls piped in.
Twilight: This is where I belong,
Beneath the clear wide blue here.
I feel completely new here in the world above.
Pinkie Pie: It's like my life was wrong,
And somehow, now at last I'm in
My own skin,
Up here in the world above.
Rainbow Dash: There's so much light here,
Light and space.
Applejack: The sun's so bright here
Upon my face.
Fluttershy: It feels so right here,
Warm as love.
Rarity: Life seems to be
Almost calling to me,
All: From this strange new world above.
The Mane 6 felt like they never wanted to leave the surface ever again after being reunited with it in ten years. Skystar smiled fondly. Of course they might react this way. After all, this is where they really came from.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash felt a weird sensation building up in her nose. At first, she thought she was about to sneeze, but then realized that a strangely familiar scent was hitting her nostrils. She sniffed the air, and could tell the sea air from the air higher up in the sky.
As she took one more sniff, her blood started to run cold and her head began pounding. She recognized that smell, and she hadn't smelled that scent in ten years, and on that very day.
Fluttershy saw that her friend had turned pale. "You okay, Dashie?" She asked.
"Guys, I think we should leave now." Rainbow said.
"Why?" Rarity asked. "It's such a gorgeous day out."
"I think it won't last for long." Rainbow said.
Just then, a loud rumble was heard. Everypony looked up and towards the north. Dark clouds were billowing, with lightning flashing once in a while. The water over there seemed dark and dreary. The Mane 6 froze as memories long buried began to resurface as well.
It was a storm. And a big one, too.