It was night by the time Yona awoke. Her panic attack had left her exhausted, and after much consolation from her coltfriend, she’d drifted off into a deep, peaceful sleep. It was almost enough to forget that she was on a sea voyage, floating on what was a tiny white blip in an endless blue expanse.
As her freshly opened eyes regained their focus, she noticed something heavy pressed against her chest. It was Sandbar, who had also fallen asleep since his return from the dive. He still wore his pearl-shell necklace, and though his fur had mostly dried out, the ribbon he wore in his hair was still damp.
Yona had to admit, on a calm night like this, the gentle rocking of the boat felt kind of tranquil. Even in Ponyville, it was never truly quiet at night. There would always be something going on, be it drunken revellers stumbling home from a night at the pub, or the scurry of nocturnal animals scouring trash cans for food. Out here, however? The rhythmic splashing of waves over the boat’s hull was all there was to hear, save maybe for Sandbar’s gentle breathing.
A small ‘aww’ escaped her lips. She loved the way Sandbar pouted in his sleep. It was one of many traits she loved about him, especially the way he smashed through gender norms like an angry yak in a ceramics shop. Ponies had such strongly held senses of gender identity, frequently organising grand formal events as an excuse to dress up.
It was the opposite of Yak culture, the definition of functional. Sure, they liked to weave cloaks in plenty of fancy colours, but no one gender would ever claim to revolve around a particular palette like ponies did. Her partner was male, but he was also exceptionally feminine – not to mention exceptionally cute. He was unashamedly Sandbar, and for that, she adored him.
“Sandbar is Yona’s best coltfriend,” she kissed him on the cheek.
A long yawn escaped Sandbar’s lips, and he sat up. “Hi, Yona,” he rubbed his eyes. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yona did,” she replied with a light nod. “Yona not wake Sandbar up, did she?”
“Nah, you’re fine,” he stretched out his forelimbs and popped his neck joints. “I never sleep much at sea, anyway. How are you feeling?”
“Yona feeling okay,” she said after a moment’s pause. “Yona still not used to boat movement, but Yona not feel sick, at least.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Silverstream and I made an interesting discovery down at the reef. You wouldn’t believe what we stumbled across!”
“Oh?” Yona tilted her head. “Please, tell Yona!”
“Seaponies! But not just any seaponies: southern seaponies, completely different from the kind Silverstream and I can become. They live in the water indefinitely as a part of the huge reef ecosystem. And, get this, they don’t have any arms! They just have these tiny little wings that propel them through the water, and grasp stuff with their tails. They’re supper small, too, only as wide as my hoof.”
Yona listened intently as Sandbar rambled, nodding along as she conjured vivid images of this strange new breed in her mind.
“Seriously, I wish you could’ve seen it. Coral reefs are such amazing places!”
Her expression dropped. “Yona sorry she miss it,” she twiddled her hooves. “Yona want to like it, but Yona too scared. Yona hate letting Sandbar down.”
Sandbar’s expression wavered. It was only for a second, but it was enough to know that he, too, felt a certain pang of guilt over the whole situation.
“Yona, I…” he began, then sighed. “I can’t lie to you. I am a little disappointed that you’re still afraid, but not in you.”
Yona blinked.
“What Sandbar mean?”
“I mean, it’s not your fault you’re still afraid. I set my hopes too high. It’s not realistic for you to just clop your hooves and be rid of a lifetime’s worth of fear. I’m sorry I pushed you into this.”
Yona remained silent for a little longer, allowing Sandbar’s words to stew in her mind.
“Yona wanted to come,” she said eventually. “Yona love seeing Sandbar so happy, and Yona know that ocean makes Sandbar happiest. Yona not care how scared she gets, so long as Sandbar is happy.”
“It’s silly, isn’t it?” Sandbar sniffled. “I set myself up for failure, and now I’m guilt-tripping you over this whole thing. I can’t be happy if you’re not happy, and you can’t be happy if I’m not happy.”
“But Sandbar want Yona to be happy?”
“Of course I do!”
“Yona agree, this be difficult. Yona want to keep talking and find compromise, but Yona not sure what more to say.”
Sandbar rubbed his chin, then looked out of the cabin window. “I have an idea.”
Yona’s ears pricked up. “What Sandbar thinking?”
“How about we chill up top for a bit? We can look at the starry sky together.”
“But Sandbar,” Yona said, barely hiding her growing smirk. “Starry Sky live in Ponyville, not out in ocean.”
Sandbar stared blankly at Yona for a good ten seconds before the joke clicked.
“Gotcha,” Yona giggled, booping Sandbar’s nose with her hoof.
“Okay, I admit,” Sandbar laughed back. “That was a good one.”
“Sandbar feel more happy, then?”
“Absolutely,” he leant in and kissed Yona on the lips. “I love you, Yona.”
“Yona love Sandbar, too,” she replied, then leant back to kiss some more.
It took a moment for Yona to find her hooves again, but not for as long as earlier in the day. When she reached the top of the stairs, the sight before her took her breath away. She had seen stars before, but never like this. In Ponyville, she could see maybe a few hundred stars, if she were lucky. But out here? They were sprinkled across the heavens like toppings on Pinkie Pie’s cupcakes.
There were more stars in a single nebula than there were grains of sand across Baltimare beaches. The bright, incandescent full moon was like the ocean’s reflection; a marble orb resting upon an onyx canvass.
Yona didn’t feel the least bit scared. She looked at the night sky in the same way Sandbar looked at Equestria’s ocean; marvelling at its beauty, instead of fearing the dangers.
She recalled the special significance of the moon in Equestrian culture. Where once it had been a rocky prison—forever reminding the ponies below about the price of treason—now it was a jewel in the heavenly crown of Luna’s domain. Now that she thought about it, it wasn’t hard to see Luna’s viewpoint. So many creatures took the night sky for granted, using its darkness to rest and recharge from a long day of hard work.
The longer she stared, the more she realized how few ponies understood the incredible nature of a clear night. One could spend a lifetime naming the stars, only to never make it halfway. It was the stuff of dreams made real, and it was through those dreams that Luna brought peace to the creatures of Equestria and beyond.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Sandbar said, dropping down a pair of pillows before laying back against one, his forelimbs tucked behind his head.
Yona didn’t reply. What could she say? There was not a single word in the Equish language that described how utterly flabbergasted she felt. How had she been so oblivious to such nighttime wonders until now?
“Attention, Yona! Equestria to Yona!” Sandbar mimicked the sound of a loudspeaker radio as he poked his yak lover.
“Sorry.” Breaking from her emotional enchantment, Yona sat down and shuffled up to Sandbar. “Yona just amazed by beautiful stars.”
“You know, it’s kind of funny. I had the same reaction on my first sea voyage, too.” Sandbar turned his gaze skyward, pointing to a cluster of stars directly above him. “See that? That’s the constellation Sleipnir. If you look at it just right, you can see it has eight legs, like in the myth.”
“Wow,” Yona remarked, then pointed over to Sandbar’s left. “And what’s that one?”
“That one’s Ygdras. It’s supposed to be a coiled dragon eating its tail, but if you ask me, it looks more like a nautilus; you know, those squids with the spiral shells?”
“Did Sandbar ever collect seashells?” Yona rolled onto her side, asking him expectantly.
“I used to, but haven’t had time,” Sandbar rubbed his chin. “Maybe once we graduate I’ll start again.”
“Yona loves that idea! Maybe Sandbar can teach Yona all about different shells, and different stars, too?”
“I was just thinking that! How about I tell you what my favourite star is?”
“Yes, please! Yona really want to know.”
Sandbar rolled onto his side, extended out one hoof and tapped Yona on the nose.
“It’s you, silly.”
A hot blush burst across Yona’s cheeks. “But Yona not beautiful like stars are. Yona just plain old Yak.”
“Think of it this way: in one galaxy, there are billions upon billions of stars. All of them are as bright, or even brighter, than Celestia’s sun. And around each star, there are uncountable numbers of planets. And yet, here we are, just one pony, and one yak, floating in the Southern Celestial Sea. Out of all those stars, all those planets, you exist on only one.
“You could be anyone or anything, yet you are the Yak that transformed my life. Equestria is a special place, precisely because Equestria has you. I love you, Yona. And there’s nowhere else in the whole wide universe I’d rather be. You are the rarest treasure a pony could find, and I want to hold on to that treasure for the rest of my life.”
Yona’s jaw dropped. A small trickle of tears dripped down her face, but she smiled regardless.
“Yona mean that much to Sandbar?”
“You do, absolutely,” Sandbar reached out and grabbed Yona’s hooves between his own. “You are my special Yak, the only one I’d ever want to be with.”
“Yona loves Sandbar!” she cheered with an unrestrained explosion of delight. Throwing her hooves around him, she pulled him in close, smothering him in kisses. “Yona want to be with Sandbar, for as long as stars shine.”
For once, Sandbar didn’t object to the near bone-crushing pressure of Yona’s hugs. Instead, he returned the intimacy with equal force, pressing his whole body against her as he returned the kisses. For tonight, they had something to celebrate: the revelation that not even the ocean could keep them from loving each other.
The following day, Sandbar set a course for the open sea, adding Princess Sandy’s gift to his navigational aids. Slotted between the compass and its housing, the bright purple dragon scale gently flickered as the yacht sailed on, pulling its needle in what Sandbar hoped was the direction of sea dragons. He had been warned that it wasn’t an exact science, but without other methods of locating the illusive serpents, he would have to make do.
Days passed. The scale’s glow remained constant, but still there was no sign of any dragons, though this didn’t stop Sandbar from enjoying all the oceanic treasures. He made a reliable routine, following Princess Twilight’s example to schedule his activities—splitting his time between steering, swimming, and spending evenings alone with Yona.
On occasion, he even managed to coax her out from the cabin, just long enough to witness the open ocean wildlife in action. One day, a pod of grey-shaded Dolphins raced alongside the ship’s hull, performing a variety of spins, flips and other acrobatics that rocketed them clear from the water’s surface.
Yona watched them intently, leaning on the deck’s railings for a good ten minutes before she started feeling dizzy. In a move that would make even Twilight blush, Sandbar made a point to record his partner’s progress through each day, scribbling down each cumulative second, with intent to create a full-sized graph. Should she ever waver in her battle against her fears, her coltfriend would be there, ready to remind her of all she’d achieved so far.
As if to reward her courage, the next day brought a sight even more spectacular than the last. A pod of gigantic whales arose from the depths, their over-sized foreheads poking out of the water just long enough to take a breath.
Not to be outdone by the Dolphins of the previous day, one whale shot up from the depths, breaching the surface with a grace unbecoming of its gigantic form. For one, long second, its body appeared hanging in the air. Then, it toppled over, splashing back down with boat-rocking force.
“These whales are some of the most incredible divers,” Sandbar said to Silverstream. “They can swim down to over two-thousand metres on a single breath—”
“Hey, uh, Sandbar,” they pointed their talon behind Sandbar to no avail.
“—That’s like the abyssal zone levels of depth. You know, where light can’t reach at all…”
With no other option left, Silverstream rolled their eyes and let out a long sigh. “Hi, Yona.”
Sandbar’s expression fell. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder, and saw Yona sitting behind him. How he hadn’t noticed her dredging up the stairs was a mystery as big as Equestria itself.
Yona, for her part, was still smiling regardless, even letting a little giggle escape from her lips. Even so, she still had one of her braids twirled around her hoof.
“Sorry, Yona,” Sandbar blushed, flattening his ears. “I haven’t upset you, have I?”
“No, it ok!” Yona beamed back, rising to her hooves and trotting on the spot. “Yona love how much Sandbar knows, remember? Please, tell Yona more!”
By the fifth day at sea, Sandbar’s quest was starting to feel hopeless. Despite all the wonders he’d seen, in addition to the dragon scale’s guidance, he hadn’t seen anything reptilian, dragon or otherwise.
Then, later that evening, Silverstream burst into the cabin, rapidly bouncing on the spot.
“Guys, guys!” they chirped, rapidly clapping their claws together. “You’ve got to see this! Quick, quick!”
“Uh, wha—?” Sandbar sat up and rubbed his eyes, still held within Yona’s loving embrace. “Silver? What’s going on?”
“Sea dragons, sea dragons!” Silverstream was now bouncing so fast, they were practically vibrating with unrelenting Pinkie Pie energy. “Come on, you’ve gotta see them!”
“What Silverstream yelling about?” Yona asked, blinking several times as she rested her head on Sandbar’s shoulder.
“Sea dragons, Yona!” he proclaimed. “Seems we’ve hit the jackpot.”
Sliding out from her hooves, Sandbar stood up. But as he made for the door, the yacht suddenly lurched to starboard, nearly throwing him into the far side wall. He held himself steady, but his expression soon darkened, reflecting the ominous grey clouds gathering outside.
“Looks like a storm’s coming,” he said matter-of-factly. “That boat’s already rocking over the swells, but we should be able to manage it, if we’re careful. Might want to stay below deck, Yona. It’s going to get a little rough.”
Yona’s eyes went wide, the dire news waking her up faster than an extra-strong shot of black coffee. It was a cruel irony, to come all this way on a nerve-wracking journey, only for the treasure to be snatched away at the last moment. Already she could feel her knees rattling harder than ever.
“No,” she gulped, straightening her posture. The little yak in the back of her mind was screaming to drag her flank back into bed and re-bury herself under the pillows. But she refused to relent. She was going to do this, no matter how scary it was. “Yona want to help. Yona can hold compass, or read map. Yona not care about storm, so long as Sandbar and Silverstream get to see dragons.”
“Are you sure about this, love?” Sandbar took Yona’s hoof and looked her in the eye. “When I said it’s gonna get rough, I’m not kidding. Please, don’t push yourself for our sake. Silver and I can handle the ship, no problem.”
“Yona sure!” she exclaimed, forcing her bravest face and banging her forehoof against her heart. “Yona feel safe with Sandbar. Yona came on voyage to test herself, and Yona feel she came really far. Yona can’t back down now!”
“Um, no pressure or anything,” Silver added hesitantly, tapping their index talons together. “But if we’re gonna catch up, we’d better get sailing soon.”
Turning the sails sidelong against the wind, the yacht burst into motion. True to Silverstream’s word, dozens of serpentine creatures swam past the boat’s hull, their long bodies arching repeatedly as they swam just below the water’s surface.
Now that he had a better view, Sandbar saw they weren’t running from the storm; they were swimming toward it. A huge cell of blackened clouds enveloped the sky, pelting Luna’s Wonder with rain and churning the waters into a long series of peaks and dives.
Yona’s heart hammered in her chest, forcing her to take deep gasps of air just to keep her panic reflex checked – made even harder by the frequent spray of salty water washing over her. Her gut clenched with every drop, filling her mind with vivid visions of impending doom. Would the yacht capsize? Would it split in two? Would she cling on to the wreckage, or go down with the ship? Even with the seapony magic, how would Sandbar and Silver keep her afloat?
No. She forced those worries down, sealing them within a mental box of hardwood and heavy iron. She had to focus. She would defy every worry, every conditioned response that tried to make the worst-case scenarios a reality.
“North-Northwest!” Yona bellowed. “Little more left! Straight ahead, now!”
The seas were getting rougher, but Yona persevered, her eyes glued to the compass as the needle spun, predicting every change in the dragon’s direction seconds before they moved. The scale’s glow was her light in the dark, its radiance acting as her soul distraction from violent waters around her.
Just as she thought her fear had been conquered, a flash of lightning shot down from the heavens, striking the water with a tremendous boom. Yona screamed. Her box burst open. This was it. She could take no more. Throwing herself flat against the deck, she covered her head with her hooves and waited for the end.
“Oh. My. Gosh.”
At first, Yona couldn’t tell who was speaking. Was it Celestia? No, not with that vocal cadence. Was she dead? No, she could feel her body sprawled against the cold deck, and her head supported by soft pillows. Her fur, however, was soaked through to her undercoat, despite the thick blanket draped over her. Her ears still rang from the deafening thunder.
“Yona!” She heard a familiar voice cry, followed by the fast clopping of hooves against the deck. Was it…? It was! It was Sandbar, her coltfriend, his loud voice overflowing with an odd mixture of concern and enthusiasm. “Yona, are you okay? Can you open your eyes? You’re gonna want to see this!”
Slowly, she did as he suggested, lifting one eyelid just a crack. Then she opened the other fully. Dots flashed across her blurry vision, but she could still make out the vague shapes of Sandbar and Silverstream. She stood up slowly, fighting back a wave of dizziness. Sandbar dropped to his knees, catching her in his waiting hooves.
“Easy there, Yona,” he smiled. Once her vision settled, she noticed how still the boat was, barely moving at all. The sun was out, erasing all traces of the storm as if it had never happened.
Then, she saw it.
What fluttered down from the heavens was not just any bird. It was a bird the size of a fully grown dragon, its golden-brown feathers shimmering in the sunlight. It had a short, narrow beak, big enough to swallow a pony whole, a broad fan of tail feathers, and, most spectacular of all, four gigantic wings, enveloping Luna’s Wonder within its shadow.
But its fearsome black talons were not descending over the boat. Rather, they were spread out, ready to land on something even bigger.
At first, Yona thought they had run ashore, stumbling upon an island slap bang in the middle of the ocean. But the more she looked, the more she understood. It wasn’t just an island. It was a living island, with trees, grass, and a breath-taking array of flowers growing off an earth-covered shell.
“Aaaah!” the turtle bellowed a long sigh of relief. “Fresh air at last!”
Yona was stunned. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever conceived of a creature so… Well, huge didn’t even begin to describe it! Sandbar and Silverstream were just as dazzled as her, their eyes glued to the turtle as it shook off a hail of barnacles from the sides of its shell.
“What do you say, Yona?” Sandbar asked, once again trotting on the spot. “Think we should ask to go ashore?”
Yona answered by charging Sandbar, tackling him to the ground and nuzzling his cheek.
“Did Sandbar see Yona? Yona did it! Yona was brave! Oh, Yona loves Sandbar, so very, very much!”
“Should I take that as a yes?” Sandbar giggled, blushing brightly.
“Oh, my. What’s going on here?” The turtle looked over the boat. “Ponies? All the way out here? Well, that is a surprise!”
“Well, we did sail here to find dragons,” Silverstream flew closer, hovering just beyond the yacht’s bow, their voice shaking with childish glee. “But I would love to talk to you, as well! Can we, can we please?”
“Well, you certainly are enthusiastic, I’ll give you that,” the turtle chuckled. “I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Chelys A’tuin, though you can call me Mr. Chelys, if you’d prefer.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Sandbar said, somehow managing to pry himself away from his ecstatic lover. “My name is Sandbar, pronouns he and him. This is my partner, Yona, and the hippogryph in front of you is one of my best friends, Silverstream.”
“Hi!” Silver chirped. “My pronouns are they and them and it’s so awesome to discover turtle islands really exist!”
“Yona happy to meet Mr. Chelys, too, but…” Yona hesitated, suddenly noticing the gap between him and the yacht. “…may Mr. Chelys swim closer? Water still very deep, and Yona not want to fall in.”
“That’s quite alright,” A’tuin said with a small chuckle. Dipping his head, he gently flicked his massive fins, pushing himself forward just enough to meet the boat.
With the sails safely straightened, Sandbar threw on his pinkest dress and wrapped his tail around Yona’s. Gently, he led her across the bow of Luna’s Wonder, ready to begin the next grand phase of their adventure.
Laying back in the shade of a tall palm tree, comfortably snuggled against Yona’s thick fur, Sandbar took out his pencil and began jotting down the first draft of his essay.
Dear Princess Twilight, Sandbar began. For my final friendship report, you are not going to believe what I came across on the voyage of Luna’s Wonder!