When Twilight and Spike walked into Sugarcube Corner, the last thing she expected to see was Rainbow Dash trying to fight the tallest unicorn she had ever seen.
The blue pegasus was getting all up in the stranger’s face, and to his credit, he seemed unaffected. Curiously enough, his mane moved by its own, seeming to fall like water without touching the ground. Twilight's analytical mind immediately searched for an explanation. It could be a illusion, since at this point, the only ponies she had ever seen with independently moving manes had been Celestia or...
She narrowed her eyes. Nightmare Moon had had one as well. But the stallion seemed to be staying silent and didn't look to be terrorizing anypony, except for perhaps her speedy friend.
“How’d you die, ghost? Huh? Why’re you terrorizing us? Where’s your grave, ‘cuz if you don’t stay in it, I’ll make you a new one!”
The stranger, who looked very much not like a ghost, was unimpressed. “Are you quite finished?”
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Leave the feller alone, he helped get Rares back on her hooves, he seems like a swell guy." She said, attempting to grab Rainbow by the tail to haul her down.
Rainbow Dash shook her mane, flying higher to look down her muzzle at him. “Fine, I'll spare you. But I’ve got my eye on you, just ‘cuz my friends like you doesn’t mean I do!”
Sovereign nodded, "Such is fair," he replied dryly.
Spike, after waving at Rarity, whistled in awe at the unicorn. “Wow, he’s tall.”
The stallion turned to them, then, and Twilight noticed the interesting pattern of his coat, and smiled welcomingly at him, just in case he actually was a noble or something of the like. “Hi! I’m Twilight Sparkle and this is Spike.”
Sovereign tilted his head at the two newcomers. The baby dragon was- well, he was a baby, and he would grow if he wished. He hadn't expected to see one here.
The unicorn felt distinctly powerful, and he turned to her, unsure of how to introduce himself this time. He decided to take her lead. “I am called Sovereign Seas.”
Twilight beamed, and the little dragon continued to stare at him curiously.
“You feel weird.” He said bluntly, drawing amusement from Sovereign while Twilight scolded him.
Spike turned to her innocently. “What, you can’t feel it? He feels- he feels squished.”
This time, Sovereign barked out a laugh, and bent to the little dragon, grinning wide.
“Hello, hatchling, do you know why I feel ‘squished’?” He asked in old Draconic.
Spike looked at him blankly before a sheepish grin appeared. “Sorry, I don’t actually speak…”
Sovereign hummed. “I see. I feel ‘squished’ to your senses because you are more attuned to my true spirit. I was more alike to your kin than that of ponies for most of my being.”
Twilight frowned. “What? That doesn’t make sense. You’re a pony- a unique one, but a pony nonetheless.”
Spike looked at him oddly before realization hit. “You’re not a pony at all!”
Twilight looked increasingly confused, along with frustrated due to said confusion. “Spike, what are you talking about?”
Spike’s tongue flickered out as if to scent Sovereign, nodding. “Whenever I send a letter to somepony, I feel their- I don’t know, they all feel a certain way, but Sovereign feels like… I don’t know, like he's supposed to be wayyy bigger, mixed with something like the Princess. Are you a prince?”
Twilight glanced at Sovereign’s sides. No wings. “I doubt he is, Spike. He's already a bit large, no offense.”
“I am no prince.” Sovereign began, to which Twilight nodded, content with guessing correctly, “I am the Emperor of all Seas.”
Twilight’s jaw hit the floor, along with everypony else’s except for Pinkie and Rarity.
“What? I’ve never heard of somepony like that!” Twilight denied it, shaking her head and approaching him to inspect him closer, now suspicious. Was the stranger trying to gain power here in Ponyville? Now that it was her home, she couldn't let him succeed.
“Are you well-learned in everything?” Sovereign asked dryly.
It was Twilight’s turn to look sheepish, hiding indignance under a fake laugh. “Well, not everything, but I’m sure I would have heard of you, a pony Emperor is too important to miss.”
Sovereign smiled mischievously. “Ah, but I’m not always a pony. Besides, you’re only learned in your own culture, no?”
At the prospect of not knowing something, Twilight pouted, ready to deny it when she realized to some degree, he was right. She knew tons more than almost anypony about Equestria, but she had barely dabbled in other cultures. Her eyes began to shine as she realized how much knowledge she could gain.
Rainbow Dash suddenly froze. “Wait. Emperor of the…” Her pupils shrunk and she began to laugh sheepishly, making her friends eye her with suspicion.
“Heheh… You know I was just joking, right? About the- about the uh, ghost thing? We’re cool, right? You’re not gonna send a flood to our town?”
Her friends whipped their heads towards Sovereign with sudden wariness.
Sovereign turned to her. “I am still deciding,” he attempted to joke, wincing when she quickly swept into a clumsy bow.
Applejack, who was able to sense when anypony was lying, tilted her head when she noticed that her fast friend was entirely truthful. “Rainbow, what in tarnation are ya on about now? You know this fella?”
Rainbow scratched the back of her head. “Well, I had a griffin friend back in flight camp. She told me about how wicked you were.”
Sovereign frowned, but didn’t deny how “wicked” he was, even if he didn’t act like that anymore.
Rainbow suddenly looked frightened again, coughing into her hoof. “By the way, I meant wicked as in cool. She thought you were cool, but…” She tilted her head, scrutinizing him.
“I thought you were bigger?”
Sovereign shrugged. “Ordinarily, I am. However, someone changed my mind about ponies a long while ago, so I decided to visit like one.” his mind recalled a voice and old Equish, but couldn’t come up with a name or face for said voice, only that she was the only one he could communicate with when he had become the sea.
Twilight was confused, and shook her head. No time to learn like the present!
“Hey Sovereign, I know we just met but I have a lot of questions.” Sovereign nodded. “Most ponies do.”
Twilight hesitated but pressed on, the prospect of knowledge too tempting to let it pass.
“If you don’t mind, could we head to the library so I can ask you them? I don’t want to loiter in Pinkie’s shop.” Twilight asked kindly, mind going to the elements that lay in her home, ready to be used if this "Sovereign" decided to get violent.
Sovereign paused, thinking of the pocket watch he still had to return, deciding that this wouldn’t take too long. “I accept.”
Twilight beamed. “Great! Mind if we head off now?”
Sovereign had no qualms, following the unicorn back to the library, followed by the rest of the ponies that had been lounging in the bakery.
“So Sovereign, how is it that griffins know of you and we don’t?” Twilight said once everyone was settled. She tried to hide her suspicion, since from what little she knew of griffin culture, violence and brutishness was considered the norm. What did that imply about Sovereign Seas?
Sovereign sighed. “It’s something of a long story.”
Twilight didn't budge. “I have time.” Something in her tone showed that she didn’t truly believe him just yet, so Sovereign sat back and began to explain how the world worked when he had been brought into existence.
The world was wild, and civilization crawled into new ages at slow paces due to the setbacks the world threw at them.
Ponies were scared of the sea, griffins were scared of the sea, everyone who dwelled outside of the sea was scared of it.
But why?
While the rest of the world advanced, taming the wild with magic and power, the sea stayed as it always had.
Dangerous.
At this point, the Sea had no sovereign, no rule, only chaos and strong tides, sharp teeth and even sharper rocks to be bashed against.
But the Sea was fine with that. He had been brought into existence by the wish of none, but the need of plenty. The ocean and all other bodies of water required order, and so they splashed together in ice and steam and water and a touch of magma to create a heart that beat with the tides, cultivating a being that would surely bring peace to the primal seas.
Unfortunately for them, the Sea didn’t care.
He didn’t care, spending his youth testing his powers, joining surrounding residents for a bit of fun, seamlessly transforming his image into mirrors of them all to fit in.
He snoozed with serpents, hunted with carnivorous kelpies, and delighted in wreaking havoc on boats with the massive squids.
He was no thing of order, in fact, he was considered a shapeshifting god of luck, of danger and power and fun.
Overall, the manifestation of the Sea did not care. He only liked to make merriment, forming no real bonds as he wandered here and there in whatever form he felt like.
He cared not how this affected others, he cared not for how many died whenever he felt malicious, waters rushing angrily and forcefully.
So the sea frolicked, happy and content in his surroundings of chaos, cocky and high on his own powers. He was completely fine with everything, until he came across quite an unusual sight.
At this point, he didn’t speak Equish, why would he? He hardly wished to sully his tongue on such odd words. He liked the rasp of serpents and the hiss of kelpies or the bubbling wit of a kraken. He had no reason to learn a bumbling, flowery language like what the ponies had.
And it was for that reason that he couldn’t point out that a child (what were they called, fools perhaps?) was going to drown while their parents struggled with a fire.
The child somehow survived, landing on a rock. The sea wrinkled his serpentine snout at the sight, for that was the body he was wearing at the moment. Sensitive ears picked up the wheezing and shivering, and he was tempted to eat the thing just to hear it stop.
“Stop. You’re going to smash against the rocks and die.” He commanded in the sea-serpent’s tongue, annoyed at its inability to breathe.
The child froze, bending and turning its over-large head at the serpent.
“Ssssshaaammaaa.” The child repeated the serpent-speak (awfully, might the Sea add), reaching a tiny hoof towards him.
The Sea’s body coiled back, eyes turning to slits. No wonder his people despised ponies, they were tactless and stupid, not to mention bad parents. Even the most selfish of mothers in the sea would shield their babies against the dangers that swam about, and here there was a baby, approaching a dangerous carnivore while its parents did nothing to stop it.
He turned his head to the parents, who had given up with the fire, and were now joking together, enjoying the sea-breeze.
“Sssshhaaaa!” The child said again, reaching its hoof out to him, slipping down the rocks, sure to die. The Sea watched as its eyes went wide as it was swallowed by the water, head bobbing above the water every few seconds to take in a tiny and pathetic breath.
The sound of its lungs filling with water scratched against the Sea’s ears to the point where he picked the thing up with sharp claws, tossing it carelessly onto the beach, watching it land in a sand dune, an odd feeling of something warm encompassing him when its head popped up from the sand.
“So it survives,” the Sea mused, slithering forward and draping himself against the rocks, blue slit-eyes darting towards its parents, who had fallen asleep.
Foolish, he thought, resting his head on his paws and watching the child struggle to get up, snorting in derision when it got up on shaky legs, stubby horn standing tall as it turned back to the Sea.
“What.” He demanded, baring sharp teeth towards the child, who took its time in looking towards where its parents were, back to the (objectively, of course) intimidating and terrifying serpent.
It took a few stumbling steps towards him, before sitting down and grinning (it was even missing teeth, how foul) widely at him.
“Sha.” It said confidently, round face screwed up in effort.
“Abomination,” he murmured, eyes lidded and perfectly aware of how he could easily outsmart the little thing-
Pop!
It disappeared! The Sea reared up in surprise, leaning forward and squinting at the dunes to see where it had gone.
“Sha!” The serpent cursed in alarm, whipping his long neck to the side and finding that the little pony had appeared by his side, sitting comfortably on the same rock his body was wound around.
He stared at the little beast in alarm and confusion, and just when he was about to chuck it back to shore, it began to squint, cheeks puffing out in effort, face screwing up like the moment prior.
The serpent tilted his head, lip curled in lingering disgust at the sheer incredulity of the situation, when suddenly, a tiny pop noise sounded, like a bubble bursting.
It was followed by another, then another, then another.
The Sea’s jaw fell open when he realized where the pops came from.
It was growing scales. Three slits on either side of its neck appeared, opening and closing in the way gills were supposed to.
Tiny hoofs grew even smaller claws, and when it opened its eyes and grinned up at him once more, he gawked at the appearance of sharp teeth where gaps had been, extra eyelids, and slit pupils.
“You’re an abomination.” He said to it before launching up and back into the air, landing in the water with a loud splash.
Splash. He turned, annoyed because he knew what the cause of said splash was, and glared at the tiny little freak of nature, the cross between pony and sea serpent.
“Go back!” he hissed, pointing a scaly finger towards the shore.
The pony- the serpent- the thing happily swam forward to try and gnaw at his claw. The Sea scowled, retracting the digit and turning away.
Fine. If the little abomination wanted to roam his seas, then who was he to stop him when he was eaten? Or bashed into a rock? Or hunted… or stolen… and dissected…
The Sea let out a strangled groan, unfamiliar with the odd twisting feeling in his gut. It felt like he had eaten an octopus that continued to writhe in an attempt to escape.
Sure enough, he turned back around and the little abomination was staring at him, waving its clawed hooves at him.
“You will stay with me until you know how to swim correctly, until you know how to hunt. Understand?” He snarled, words coming out in fits of boiling water that washed over the child harmlessly.
The little beast most definitely did not understand, but burbled happily and sidled up to him anyways.
The Sea scowled deeper, a fearsome expression for such a sharp-toothed beast.
“Abomination.” He rumbled out, sneering at the thing when it blew a bubble and tried to pop it with its inconveniently small jaw. Why grow carnivore teeth when you had hardly any fish to eat?
The beast turned to him with wide, slit-pupiled eyes. “Bominshun!” It attempted.
The Sea surprised himself once more at the odd, light feeling in his stomach.”A-bah-mih-nay-shun.” He said, slower this time, unconsciously spiraling around the thing, creating something of a border.
“Mihn shun.” The beast repeated, confident and proud.
The serpent blinked both eyelids at it. “That is… very incorrect.”
“Orek!”
The serpent let out another boiling string of curses, annoyed beyond belief. Why did the mothers of most of the species he met protect their young so fervently?
He tilted his head at the abomination, a deep rumble coming from his throat. He supposed he should give the thing a name, then.
“Orek. That’s your name now, abomination.”
Orek, as it was now named, chimed happily at the sounds, repeating the word over and over, each repetition spreading warmth along the Sea’s body, like a crack in the earth’s plates that allowed the magma heat to seep into inhabitable waters, encouraging life, albeit tiny and insignificant.
“That’s… so… CUTE!” Pinkie Pie suddenly burst out, stars in her eyes.
Sovereign blinked, brought back to the present and pulling out of his reverie.
“Pinkie! You distracted him!” Twilight scolded from where she was sitting, enraptured by Sovereign’s recounting. His story held up with the oldest accounts of history, since ponies had, in fact, been wary of the sea while domesticating the lands.
“Aw, you thought so, too!” Pinkie said before smiling at Sovereign. “I’m super-duper-sorry, Mr. Seas! You can keep going!”
“Yes, please do, I need to know how you went unnoticed by Equestrians for years!” Twilight all-but-begged, leaning forward hopefully.
Sovereign’s soft, nostalgic grin suddenly dropped. “I… the next part isn’t pretty, perhaps I should leave it there-”
“Are you kidding me!?” Unexpectedly, Rainbow Dash was the one to interject. “You can’t leave it there, where’s the action! The fighting? The epic montage where Eric overcomes its underdog start, where it…” realizing the whole room was looking at her in shock, she backed down sheepishly.
Sovereign paused. “I… well, I can give you a simplified version. Long story short, Orek, not Eric, grew up under my fin, and at one point tried to go back. The ponies treated him… unkindly, so I decided never to talk to them. That is all.” He said quickly, standing up and turning to leave the library.
The occupants watched him go before turning to each other to discuss the story excitedly.
“Oh, but that’s adorable, he just wanted a good parent and he found it in Sovereign,” Fluttershy murmured, soft smile on her muzzle, endeared by the act of kindness the unicorn had made.
“Are you kidding!? More like super-duper-cute! Imagine how happy he must’ve been when Sovereign let him stay!” Pinkie gushed, bouncing in place as though she were the one under Sovereign’s care.
“Well, I’ll be honest, that was very heartwarmin’, seein’ the old grump Sovereign used to be turn into a caring lug.” Applejack admitted, getting over her initial wariness over Sovereign’s admittance about eating fish.
“You’re all not focusing. That little dorky unicorn turned itself into a DRAGON! Do you know how cool that… well, I mean… the story wasn’t all that bad,” Rainbow Dash coughed into her hoof, turning the other way.
Spike rolled his eyes. “Not a dragon, sea serpent,” he grumbled despite his enjoyment of the story.
“Sea serpent indeed! Imagine how elegant they all must move under the water, scales glittering… And Sovereign was very generous to keep the foal with him, who knows what would’ve happened?” Rarity swooned, stars in her eyes.
None of them noticed a lavender unicorn slip outside to join the stallion of the hour.
“That wasn’t really what happened, was it?”
Sovereign turned his eyes to her before looking up at the moon. “No.”
Twilight bit her lip before nervously asking the question on her mind. “What happened?”
Sovereign looked towards her again, this time turning his head away from the sky. “You are soft-hearted,” he held up a hoof to stop her indignant retort, “though brave you may be. My story is old, and holds up to the cruelty of before Harmony came to be.”
“I can handle it.” Twilight said confidently, a small smile playing at her lips. “If I can face Nightmare Moon, there’s no way I-”
“Do you forgive her?” Sovereign cut her off, looking up at the moon again.
“What?”
“Do you forgive the princess?”
Twilight stuttered, searching for an answer and falling silent. The silence persisted for a moment before she looked up, joining him in staring at the moon.
“Her actions weren’t excusable, but I know she’s a better pony now.”
A small, bitter smile spread across Sovereign’s muzzle. “There it is. Think of her actions. What part troubles you the most?”
Twilight hesitated before carefully answering. “She… she tried to completely turn life on its head, she could’ve-”
“Exactly, she could’ve. Miss Sparkle, the difference between me and her is that I succeeded.” With that, Sovereign stood, bowed his head to Twilight, and looked off in the distance. “I will be back tomorrow.”
The tall unicorn disappeared in a splash of water, leaving Twilight to ponder his words, itching to pen a letter to Princess Celestia but deciding against it until she could get the story out of Sovereign. Her previous doubts were still present, but there was a softness to Sovereign that held her back, despite his belief that he was somehow worse than the mare who tried to bring about eternal night. Maybe he had flooded a village or two like Rainbow had said? That was certainly unfair, but Twilight believed in goodness.
She looked at the spot where he had disappeared, a determined smile making its way onto her muzzle. If anyone could do it, she could.
Sovereign reappeared in a half-drenched series of jagged rocks, tide lapping rhythmically at the sides of the stones.
He sighed, sitting back on his haunches and letting his head droop.
This is where Orek had been found.
Both times.
“You are a fool and a child,” the Sea growled to his charge who had somehow wormed his way into the entity’s heart like an eel to solid rock.
“They’ll accept me, accept us! The magic all ponies hold, no matter what race, is friendship!” Orek pleaded, tugging the Sea’s claw inefficiently towards the settlement along the coast, a little ways away from where he had met the serpent.
“Abomination, I have not spent years guiding you around the water for you to go and frolic among ponies,” he seethed, hiding fierce protectiveness under a guise of intense disgust.
Orek groaned, harmlessly scratching at the Sea’s scales, a minor side-effect to growing up under the god of the sea. He truly believed he wouldn’t get hurt after staying unharmed while under the Sea’s fin.
“Father!” Orek cried, turning wide, slit-pupiled eyes towards the serpent that was over thirty times his length.
The Sea didn’t budge.
Orek, like many children when denied their wishes, suddenly fumed, simmering water billowing from behind clenched teeth. If the Sea hadn’t been so annoyed, he would have found it endearing.
“I won’t let potential friendships go to waste just because- because you’re too selfish to let me have friends!”
Orek had hit the nail on the head. The Sea responded to rage with rage, roaring and circling Orek several times to cage him in, keeping his treasure secret from the world as he had for years.
“You don’t need friends! You don’t need ponies, you don’t need anything but ME!” The Sea snarled, snapping his teeth.
The issue was that Orek was the first ever being that the Sea had found itself to care for. He was small, and pathetic, and stupid, but he belonged to the Sea, and the Sea knew that to some extent, he belonged to Orek as well. The Sea had belonged to none but himself, and the chance to be more than a passing god to someone had hammered protectiveness into his heart, boosted by his inherent selfishness.
“You’re selfish!” Orek yelled, his horn that hadn’t been used since the initial transformation suddenly glowing blue, the color of tropical waters on a sunny day. The Sea would have found it enchanting if not for the burning anger he felt.
Suddenly, Orek was gone in a splash of magic, and the Sea was frozen for a moment before roaring loud, louder than anything he had ever heard before. The tides roared, too, harsh walls crashing quickly against the shore like snakes lashing out for a bite.
“FINE! GO TO YOUR PONIES AND SEE HOW THEY LIKE YOU, ABOMINATION! SEE HOW YOU COME BACK WHEN THEY HATE YOU FOR WHAT YOU ARE! YOU ARE A FREAK AND A BEAST! YOU ARE THE SON OF THE SEA!”
A day went by.
Then two, then three, and the Sea began to panic. What had they done with him, what had they done to his abomination?
He was whip-like, speeding through the waters towards the port-side city. Upon reaching the outskirts, he hesitated. If he appeared in his current form, they would hide, hide his son if they were keeping him hostage.
Carefully, he crawled out of the water a little ways away from where the entrance was, focusing on what Orek had looked like from when before he was the Sea’s son. Unused to turning into a primarily land-dwelling mammal, he was a little… different.
He was freakishly tall, just like his serpent form which he had stayed with for the entirety of while he raised Orek. A single, wickedly sharp horn protruded from his head, and splotches that resembled his serpent’s colors painted his coat. Unsure of what to do for mane, seeing as a kelpie’s mane was, well, kelp, and everyone else had no need for them, the Sea turned water into one, shaping it into place and keeping it there as he stepped towards the town.
His quick gait was purposeful, muscles from being fed often and well hidden underneath his coat. He walked like a predator, and his prey was anyone and everyone who got in his way.
Sensitive ears flicked towards a group of stallions.
“I promise thee, scales! The beastie had scales and a mouth of teeth sharper than any blade!”
His Equish was bad, despite numerous attempts by Orek to teach him more than basic sentences.
He advanced on the group, towering over them and growling low in his throat. “Where.” Was all he said.
The stallions blinked at him nervously. “Sir?” One said carefully, eyeing the unicorn. It was unheard of to see a unicorn that tall. Perhaps he was some sort of royalty?
The Sea’s patience wore thin. “WHERE!?” He demanded, stomping a hoof and sending deep cracks through the cobblestone.
The stallions paled, each pointing towards the beach, where the Sea had found his son for the first time.
He needed no more from the group, turning on his hooves and dashing, quick as rain, towards the shore, leaping great distances without trouble, leaving a gaping city in his dust.
“Look at the thing twitch! I think it may be frightened,” a jeering voice was heard first, joined by the cruel laughter of others.
“Such an abomination is unsightly, surely the Sea is not as dangerous as t’was heeded so? It refuses to retaliate!”
“I believe it dies!” This time, there was a raucous cheer.
The Sea froze, before snapping forward, galloping towards the group, who gasped and began to explain that they found it so they got to keep it. He heard none of it.
“Orek,” he said quietly, falling to his knees.
His son was beaten badly, scales missing in patches where it was ripped out. His horn had been snapped, explaining why he hadn’t reappeared by the Sea’s side. Sickly skin showed from where he was missing protection.
Wide, slit-pupiled eyes observed him before recognition flickered weakly. “Father.” He responded in Equish, leading the surrounding ponies to pale, freezing in place.
Not a sound was heard except for a few gasps as the freak on the shore slowly morphed, scales disappearing and teeth dulling until he resembled the giant unicorn that knelt before him trembling with rage.
“Abomination, what have they done to you?” The mares and stallions surrounding them felt their blood freeze at the hissing, growling words that came from behind clenched teeth.
“You were right. I’m sorry.” Orek said before laying his bleeding head down on the sand, feeling the waves lap at his sides. His eyes closed, and suddenly, the Sea was taken back, back when Orek was just a little beast with a stubby horn and stubbier legs, drowning in the very waters that surrounded them now.
Wheezing lungs with water inside. The little thing was going to die.
“Orek.” He said, panicking, leaning forward and attempting to pry open Orek’s eyes. His pupils did not shrink.
“Abomination!” He shouted, nudging his side, freezing when the sound of bones moving were louder than air whistling from punctured lungs.
His son had stopped breathing.
All was silent. The ponies backed up slowly, realizing how the shore had pulled back by several meters, low rumbling beginning to sound in the distance. What was happening?
The Sea had felt joy, had felt anger, had felt malice.
Nothing could compare to the world-consuming rage he felt now.
Encompassing his son’s body in ice that spread from his hooves, the Sea kept the water still around the colt, a complete contrast to everything else.
He turned to the ponies, body shimmering, boiling water sending steam into the air.
The steam dissipated with the wind, leaving-
“What in the name of-”
A freakishly large sea serpent, magma oozing underneath its scales, opened a jaw full of razor sharp teeth and roared, spiraling into the air faster than what should have been possible, leaving trails of steam and smoke behind, boiling hot water shifting and keeping him there in a whirlpool.
At this point, ponies thought the sea was dangerous because of what dwelled within it.
The ponies hadn’t met the Sea until that moment.
Tremendous waves rose higher and higher, touching the clouds with their walls before rocketing down towards the earth, smashing all that met it, be it ponies, flora, or fauna.
The Sea didn’t want to see anything left.
Crashing waves tore up everything in their paths like the claws of a vengeful serpent, water rising high enough to block out the sun before careening down, eviscerating civilization and killing hundreds, even thousands as it swept through their cities, long fingers of water prying settlements where they stood and destroying ponies upon impact.
He wasn’t satisfied.
“Hate my waters, do you?” The Sea sensed a huge body of water inland, tongue flickering out as though to taste it before letting out another earth-shaking roar, swiping claws through the air as if to pull something.
A rumble was heard, and slowly, the entire body of water took the shape of one of the Sea’s more destructive forces, a kraken. Brackish tentacles smashed its surroundings as it climbed out of its basin, tearing deep gauges in the ground and smacking ponies hard enough to rupture them.
“To me,” the Sea muttered, serpentine eyes pure black, dark as the waters in the deepest trench. A constant hiss was heard with each seawater drop that landed on his magma-crackling skin.
The words tore the kraken out of the ground as it gripped and tore the earth beneath it in its efforts to join the Sea, leaving nothing but corpses, ruins, and bad land behind, barely a drop of water remaining.
It crashed into the walls of his tsunami, bringing them down and crushing the remains of the buildings.
None of it felt good, even with his waters cascading back to the ocean, even as he had separated the pegasi from the ponies and the ponies from the unicorns, launching the pegasi into the clouds and the unicorns into magically reinforced shelters, the earth ponies putting together rock shelters just in time while their weaker brethren was swept away, dying on impact.
He had left only the strong of each race, inadvertently kick-starting a game of survival of the fittest while his waters towered high.
After three days, he stopped, finished with the undoing of the ones who had killed his son. His wrath was over, leaving only loss.
With that, he retreated into the deepest, most secret spot in the whole ocean, setting his son down atop a beating heart of magma, stone, and ice, melting the ice that had encased him and coiling around the body.
“My abomination, why did you have to be so trusting?” He whispered, the emptiness in him completely foreign. He had never had anything to lose, he was able to gain anything.
But even the Sea could not undo time.
A broken snarl left his lips, magma oozing from his scales cooling and hardening into inky black stone. From there, he would stay for years, his own emotions manifesting in the form of spiking crystals, encompassing his son in a dome, preserving the abomination he loved forever.
From there, he would manifest shelter through the crystals, a grand and pretty thing that his son would have loved, and Orek’s words would finally move his father.
I am selfish. Thought the Sea, moving for the first time in years, shedding magma-hardened scales and turning into water to reform outside of his shed skin.
The end result was a crystal tomb, guarded by his own form circled round and round the body.
I will be better for you, abomination. The Sea decided, turning a weary head towards where a colony of serpents resided. I will make the sea a place where you would’ve stayed.
It was time to earn his place as Emperor.
Sovereign spent the night with his long-dead son, dipping his pony head to rest atop the crystal. He wondered if his son would have found it amusing that he took the form of a pony.
His eyes turned skyward, unable to see the moon from how deep he was.
He thought back to the voice, the company he had kept that somehow led him to forgiving the ponies. He wondered where she was now.
Luna shot upright in bed, jerked awake from her own dreams, ironically enough.
"Emperor?" she whispered, unsure of why the title meant so much to her before exhaustion caught up with her and she collapsed back to sleep.