Together, Kaelynn and Tellin shoved the metal ceiling out of the way. As she expected, it was hinged, the only way to load or unload anything big in their tank. It took incredible strength to push open, and that was just against the small side. The other metal section was even larger, and would be entirely beyond their ability to move.
Kaelynn stopped beside the water, resting her hooves on the metal lip with her gills just under the surface. There she could observe the room beyond without suffocating.
There wasn't much inside—a heavy wood crank with a coil of rope, attached to the other section of hinged roof. The ceiling overhead was high enough for the metal to swing without scraping against it, but that was all. There was a single wide doorway on the far side, a cargo door that would permit traffic in and out. It didn't look as heavily fortified as the ceiling, at least not through the glow of her salvaged crystal.
"Okay," Tellin said from just beneath her. "We're here. Morningtide will be furious if she finds out. We risk everything she might do if she gets angry. We risk ruining the tank and drowning. Now what?"
Kaelynn tossed her satchel up into the air, tools and weapon and all. If she failed now, it wouldn't matter anyway. "Now we sing," she said, as confidently as she could. "From memory, without the sheet music."
Tellin circled around her tail once more, before popping up to look around the room. It didn't matter how much he defended the honesty of Morningtide, his curiosity was as powerful as she had ever seen it. That's my only advantage. He's desperate to see the world for himself. I can actually promise that, Morningtide never could.
She slipped just beneath the surface. Last time this song worked, she'd been fully submerged for it. She could only assume it would have the same requirements now. "Just try to sing with me the way we did before, okay? It's much easier with your help."
"Okay." He stopped beside her, taking her hoof with his. "I still think you're wrong—but I'd rather go with you than be right all by myself."
"You'll see," she hummed. "When you go out there. There are two worlds worth of amazing things to see. You deserve better than being trapped in a box."
She started by humming, experimenting with different notes until she found the melody. It was still there, mostly thanks to how many hours she had spent trying and failing it. The melody was burned into her brain, and behind it the promise of freedom form captivity.
This was more than simple curiosity, as the songbook required. Kaelynn was part of that world, and she demanded to be part of it again. It wasn't even a song so much as a request she made of the universe.
The words were harder. She kept humming, filling in the phrases she remembered. Simple stuff about walking around friends, smelling the flowers, seeing flames, and other things that only worked on the surface. Tellin followed along, his voice as halting and confused as hers. She could see the doubt in those eyes, and the nervous glances at the surface overhead. Any second now the Shimmer house guards might burst in and slam the door down on them.
From the water beneath, the bell rang, insistent as ever. Tellin twitched away towards it, but she caught him by his hoof, yanking him back. She shook her head, but didn't stop singing to say anything. To stop even for an instant would be to lose the progress she had already made.
She stumbled anyway, over words she barely remembered, and a feeling that wasn't even right for what she felt. This wasn’t a sense of passive curiosity—she was trapped. She wanted to be part of a world that was as much hers as the water.
So she gave up. Kaelynn didn't have the old songbook, but so what? Those songs belonged to a culture she didn't come from, who didn't understand the surface. But her friends were up there, here to set her free at last.
It wouldn't have worked if she was on her own. But for Tellin, not knowing the words wasn't an issue. He didn't know any of the words to her songs, after all. But he could sing along, with an intuitive grasp for music that she couldn't imagine. She had only been one of them for a few months—it was Tellin's whole life.
As with every previous experience, a song this powerful was enough to make time itself blur around her. Kaelynn didn't know if she was singing for a few seconds, or an hour. Afterwards, she couldn't have said what the words were, only that they felt more like something given to her, rather than something she'd invented.
She noticed the change the same way she had the last time something like this happened—when she took a breath, and found herself choking on a mouthful of saltwater. She coughed and spluttered, heaving herself out of the water to hack her lungs free.
"See?" she croaked, her throat still a little raw. From the salt or the singing, she didn't know. "I told you I could—" Tellin wasn't there. She turned, then dove back into the water. She found him there, sinking desperately down to the bottom of the tank, agony on his face. He might not know how to swim without a proper tail, but Kaelynn did. She'd spent her whole life doing it, after all.
She heaved him up over the surface, positioned herself behind him, and squeezed against his belly, expelling a mouthful of water. Tellin hacked and coughed, rolling onto his side and spitting up a little more. Less water than that could be enough to kill someone. But the magic of their transformation probably helped with some of that, or else seaponies would be drowning as often as they succeeded.
Kaelynn scooped up her damp satchel, remaining close beside Tellin. His eyes were dazed, and his breaths came short and sharp—but he was still moving.
"I should've warned you," she said shyly. "We were going above the water, so of course... I just assumed." She felt something strange, like she was shrugging her shoulders, except...
Kaelynn looked down, and froze, staring at herself. Kaelynn had wings. Tellin did too, but she'd been so focused on getting him out of the water that she hadn't even noticed at first. If anything, they resembled Aerial during her brief appearance, clear and vaguely crystalline. But they were more organic than that, like a pair of fins that had grown out of control. At least they didn't feel like they were drying out, the way her fins did when she left them out of the water for too long.
Now that she knew what she was looking for, Kaelynn could open them to either side, stretching like she might after a long time sitting down. The gesture made them darken slightly, as though more blood were filling them after a long time unused. My song was different than the one I memorized.
"I couldn't breathe," Tellin finally said. His voice was even worse than hers had been at first, raw and ragged. "Like I was... ugh... dead. Wished I was dead, maybe." He stopped, expression confused. "No... music."
"Not quite," she said, patting him on the shoulder. "We have music, it's just different. You have to really listen for it." And when I tried to sing my way back, I couldn't last time. Morningtide had to hit me with something to change me back.
But that concern could wait for when they got out. Kaelynn removed her spear from the satchel, resting it on her shoulder and giving it a spin through the air. If only she had arms and legs, she'd feel quite a bit more confident in her ability to fight her way out.
Tellin stood unsteadily. His long, thick tail smacked into the ground several times as he struggled, his expression increasingly pained with each hit. But he managed, looking quite proud of himself. "Like this?"
"Great!" She walked past him, securing the glowstone around her neck. It would be a little disorienting to have it constantly shining into her eyes like that, but it was also the best place to keep it. Hopefully the rest of the mansion would have some light. "Now try to move. I can fight, you don't have to worry about that. Just keep up with me, okay?"
He stumbled forward, shaking with every step. He might've spent his life in a tank, but he'd seen land ponies walk around for most of that time. He imitated, dragging his back legs more than walking along with them. Those are the ones he doesn't know how to control.
"Why would we have to fight anypony, Kaelynn? This is amazing! If we can do this, Morningtide won't have to leave us in the tank all the time! We can be out in Equestria, living with ponies instead of just having them visit! We can go back when we need to, or hide if it seems like the Storm King might find us—"
"He's dead," Kaelynn said, voice utterly flat. "And Morningtide won't let you do that. You're her prize, Tellin. That tank is a display—we have to come when we're called, do tricks or we don't get food. It's Blackfish but you're the one in the aquarium."
"Huh?"
She rolled her eyes, then turned her attention back to the door. She still had the drill, if she needed it. But as she got close, it was abundantly clear she wouldn't. There was a heavy metal latch on this side, rather than a lock. All she had to do was lift it, and she could push the door open. She held it like that, staring out at the space beyond. There wasn't an army pointing their guns waiting here, or anypony at all in fact.
The walls were made of stone, which she expected. They were only one floor up from the aquarium, after all. There was light too, a steady yellow electric glow instead of the magic that was inside her tank. There was only one direction to go, the way closest to them quickly ended in a blank stone wall. But with the door open, it blocked most of the hallway. The floor was flat and the hallway wide enough to permit cargo to pass this way, like the stupid piano.
She stood, waiting in painful silence as Tellin trailed behind her. He stumbled like a toddler taking his first steps, which of course he was. Well, part of it. If he'd actually been a toddler, then there wouldn't be half as much agency about escape.
"I don't know where they are," she said, urging him on. "But my friend Blake, he did two tours, and he's still an absolute badass when someone threatens us. You'll like the Bright Hawk. There's a tank in my quarters for when you want to swim."
Tellin finally made it through the door from the other side, and she let go, letting it bang closed.
As it did, she finally saw what was beyond, leading back the other way.
A single pony stood in the opening, wearing a fine evening-gown and plenty of glittering jewelry. Morningtide's horn glowed a faint green to match her furious expression. Her tail lashed back and forth, the only sign of her emotional state underneath. Her smile was a thin line, like a scalpel before elective surgery.
"I thought about going inside and helping you along," she said, shrugging one shoulder. "I didn't know what kind of magic you were using, but it must've been impressive. Unicorn magic can't get through steel, certainly not this far underground."
"Oh, that?" She grinned, reaching into the satchel to pull out her drill. "The magic of the right tool for the right job." She spun, pivoting the spear through the air, until it rested against one leg, leveled directly at the old mare. "We're leaving now. Get out of the way, and I'll forget everything you ever said or did. I'll leave without sticking this into your head."