I pace back and forth on the sand, staring up at the airship wreck.
I had no idea ships could be so big. Mother used to tell me stories of the long-ago days when ponies had air-slung vessels larger than our house five times over made of wood and metal, but I never imaged how big they would be... or how small I would feel beside them. How did ponies manage to build this?
"By the skies above..." I mutter. "Who left this here? Why?"
"We have no idea! That's the best part!" Sea Spray laughs. "I knew you'd think she was cool! Your jaw practically hit the floor!"
"H-how old is this?" I point a shaky hoof. Something about the crystals on the wall isn't sitting with me right.
"Oh, Omita's old," she says, laying on the sand. The water is still and she looks quite peaceful. "It's older than anything we've made. The elders say it was here before us." She shrugs. "They say she's even older than the Will of the Ocean, but I don't know about that."
"The Will of the Ocean?" I tilt my head. "Um, what's that?"
"You've never heard of it?" She looks concerned. "It's the reason why we can't go to the sea. It's why the waters of the world are so angry! How can you not know?"
"Well, I've lived over the Great Ocean my whole life, and I've never heard of it before."
Her eyes go wide. "What? You live over the ocean and you don't even try to protect yourself?!"
"Huh?" I can't stop worry from creeping into my voice. "Protect myself from what?"
"Haven't you seen them? The warped beasts? The corrupt fish? The waters are stalked by tainted, twisted creatures, and are hostile to all things good because of the Will of the Ocean."
I remember the long fish trying to speak to me.
"H-how do you protect yourself?"
She waves a hoof at the ship. "It's all over the walls. Those crystals, they're sacred and filled with power that wards away the evil. Look." She lifts her necklace with one hoof and when she taps at its side with the other, it swings open.
There's one of the glowing crystals inside, a sharp sliver of yellowish-gold, faintly glowing against the pearlescent interior of her shell necklace. It's not like the ones on the walls of the cave, it's faceted and cut, and I realize with a start that it looks almost exactly the one my uncle sold.
That's when we hear shouting from outside.
I rush to the vine-curtain and poke my head out. About a dozen ponies are in the air, flying in wide circles over the island.
"I think they're looking for me," I say as I pull my head back.
Sea Spray looks at me for a long moment, then smiles sadly. I decide I like it much better when she's laughing. "You need to go." She says. "They'll be mad if they see me with you."
Then she lifts the necklace over her head. "But I want you to have this."
"What? I-I-I can't take that!" I stammer.
"Take it," she insists, "I can get another one. I want you to be safe." She swims up to the water's edge and pushes it into my hoof. "Goodbye, strange colt."
"Um... Goodbye." Is all I can think to say. Then she slips into the water.
I stumble out of the vines and out into the sun. Before I know it, I'm staring my uncle right in the face.