//------------------------------// // Ponies of the Sea: Shoop Be-doo // Story: Rolling in Beaches // by Bico //------------------------------// ROLLING IN BEACHES ~ BICO PART I: PONIES OF THE SEA ACT III: SHOOP BE-DOO Spike and Wavedancer walked along the beach in silence, though for Wavedancer’s part this was very much involuntary. Spike couldn’t help but notice her appraising looks and unaccustomed closeness. In spite of his infatuation with Rarity, he couldn’t deny that this filly was starting to make him feel… funny. They reached the hotel grounds after a few minutes and she led him to the back to the hotel’s hot spring. She turned to him expectantly as they came to the edge of the spring. “So… Wavedancer,” Spike said. “What… what did you want to bring me out here for?” Wavedancer looked at him with an unusual expression on her face. Then she turned her flank to him. “Um…” Spike said. “What…?” Wavedancer began to cough and retch, and Spike rushed over and patted her back. “Hey, are you alright?” Wavedancer gave one last giant heave and a sizeable pearl which shone brightly with rainbow light popped out of her throat and into the hot spring. She then jumped in after it, splashing Spike with hot water. “W-Wavedancer?” Spike said, stunned. “Hay, Wavedancer? Are you…” Her head popped out of the water and her two forehooves came up, holding the pearl in them. “Finally,” Wavedancer said. “That was getting uncomfortable.” Spike looked quizzically at the pony in the water. “Wavedancer… you can talk?” She gave a sly smirk as she tucked the pearl away somewhere under the surface of the water, and then she reached out and pulled Spike in. He flailed around for a moment, but then found the surface, gasping for air when he did. Wavedancer swam to his side, her face centimeters from his own. “Spike…” “Uh…” Spike’s temperature was rising dangerously. “What are you doing?” “I like you, Spike,” Wavedancer said. “Let’s be… friends.” She leaned in closer, her lips almost brushing his. For a moment, she could have sworn she heard a very high pitched squealing sound, but it surely must have been her imagination. Then Spike pushed her away. “Spike?” “L-l-listen, Wavedancer,” Spike said. “You’re really nice and pretty and Celestia knows I like you and all…” He faltered and looked away for a moment, collecting his thoughts. Then his reptilian eyes turned back to her, all his emotions filling them. “I have to be honest with you, though. I… I like somepony else. She probably doesn’t even know… and even if she does, I doubt she feels the same way. Still, I have to be true to my feelings.” Wavedancer smiled sadly and backed away from him. “I understand, Spike. I thought… I’d hoped… well, maybe if you liked me I could get something from you…” Spike was silent for a moment. “’Something’?” Wavedancer leaped out of the water, and only then did Spike realize that she was no longer an earth pony. Her front half looked similar to the way it did before with the exception of two large fins fanning out like wings behind her forelegs—now her only legs—much like a pegasus’ wings. She also had a long dorsal fin going down her back and down to the scaly green serpent’s tail that now took the place of the rear part of her body. Her pearl cutie mark was no longer visible, instead being covered by scales. Spike’s jaw dropped. “Spike?” Wavedancer asked. She looked down at her snakelike tail. “Oh… well, I guess this comes as a bit of a shock. Let me explain: you see, it’s the magic of the Rainbow Pearl. Swallowing it turned me into an earth pony. Incidentally, I also… couldn’t talk with it stuck in my throat.” “Oh,” Spike said. “That seems legit.” He narrowed his eyes. “But… what ‘something’ did you want from me?” “Actually, it has to do with the Rainbow Pearl,” Wavedancer admitted. “It’s a sacred item of Princess Rodi, and… well… I’m afraid everypony thinks it was stolen.” “What?” Spike said in surprise. “Why would they think that?” “Well,” Wavedancer said with a guilty look. “Mostly… because it was. By me.” “You?” Wavedancer looked away. “It’s a long story. Well, I suppose you could say that I was curious. I’ve never been to the surface, and Princess Rodi decreed long ago that we hippocampi could not let anypony from the land know of our existence. I read in a book, though, about some of the Rainbow Pearl’s abilities.” “You have books underwater?” Spike asked incredulously. “I only meant to use it for a short time and see what was up here, but… I’m afraid the Tritons found out the pearl I left in the Rainbow Pearl’s place was a fake before I thought they would.” Spike nodded. “It’s a pretty unique looking pearl with all the rainbow… ness. I’m not surprised.” Wavedancer sighed and hung her head. “Yeah, it was foalish of me. But, listen, when I saved you… I dropped an important piece of the Pearl. Without it, something really bad might happen.” Spike thought back and realized what she was talking about. “You mean this?” He held up the sparkling clamshell he had found next to him that morning. “Ah!” Wavedancer exclaimed happily. She picked up the pearl in her mouth and slithered over to Spike. She opened the shell and placed the pearl inside it. “That’s it!” Spike smiled at her. “Well, that was easy. But why didn’t you just ask in the first place?” “I… I didn’t know if you’d help me,” Wavedancer said. “And I’m in a lot of trouble, anyway. I wouldn’t want you to get involved.” “If you’re in trouble,” Spike said. “Of course I’ll get involved.” “What?” Wavedancer said, looking at him in shock. “No, I couldn’t let you… I mean, for a young dragon like you—helping a hippocampi like me—it would be… too dangerous!” “What are you talking about?” Spike said. “I couldn’t just turn my back on you, Wavedancer, especially not now. If you’re in distress, you can count on…” The night calm was shattered by a loud roar. Spike and Wavedancer turned to see a large, dark form flapping above them with bat-like wings. The dark form swooped down from the air and snatched Spike up. Spike and the shadowy dragon shot out over the sea, dodging fountains of sea foam that seemed to attack it with purpose. “No, Spike!” Wavedancer screamed. “Spikey-wikey!” Another voice cried. Rarity galloped up to Wavedancer and tackled her. “What did you do to him, you monster?” “Wait,” Wavedancer pleaded. “I didn’t do anything. It’s the dragons!” “You led them here, didn’t you?” Rarity demanded. “They were after that… that pearl you coughed up like a cat with a hairball.” “Nice imagery,” Wavedancer commented. “Thank you, Dear,” Rarity said. “I do my best. Anyway, that dragon was after that pearl, right?” Wavedancer sighed. “Yes. It’s an ancient treasure which has intimate ties to the dragons and their origins.” Rarity let Wavedancer up. “The dragons’ ‘origins’? Well, you’ve gone and dragged Spike into this, and that means you’ve dragged all of us into it as well. Shall we go retrieve him and this pearl?” “So,” Wavedancer said timidly. “You’re… you’re really going to help me?” “Help you, Darling?” Rarity said. “Honestly, I couldn’t care less about your problems, but if those dragons harm a scale on Spike’s head…” she stamped her hoof in the sand. “They’ll have to deal with me.” Spike was dropped unceremoniously onto a cave floor, where he scrambled to his feet, doing his best to look brave. This was a bit difficult given he was a two foot tall drake surrounded by a number of slavering dragons at least two stories tall. “Wh-what do you want? Wh-why did you bring me here?” “Welcome to the Scaly Backs River Clan.” The huge shadow of a dragon was spread across the wall, bat-like wings spread. “I am the terrible and mighty Princess Scalestasia Finabella Hea—” “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” The dragon had by this time come into view, and Spike could see that she was barely as tall at the shoulders as a pony, though she was a bit longer. Her scales were a light blue and her belly scales and spines looked like gold. She wore a wreath of gemstones on her head and carried a jewel-encrusted scepter in one claw. She stood in a four-legged posture and carried herself with the haughty stance of nobility. The Princess halted in the middle of her introduction. “What? Why do you interrupt your Princess?” “Well,” Spike said diplomatically. “Excuse me, Princess, but there’s no way I’m going to remember your whole name. Mind if I just call you ‘Scales’?” The Princess worked her jaw for a moment, eyes darting around nervously at the much larger dragons assembled. Finally, she settled into a royal scowl. “A princess… a princess is always to be addressed as such by her inferiors… though…” She shifted her wings uncomfortably. “One might suppose, as the dragon who retrieved the Rainbow Pearl from the clutches of those… those sea ponies, you may be considered—if not an equal—at least having earned the right to call a royal personage by a… ‘nick’ name?” Her red eyes fixed more confidently on the young purple dragon before her. “And you, young gentledrake. What is your name?” “Uh… Spike,” he responded. “Spike,” the princess said. She raised her voice and said, “A toast to Spike the Valiant!” The other dragons echoed her words in a deep rumble, and they proceeded to toast the young dragon with their fire breath. Spike screamed in terror as the flames washed over him, dropping the clam shell, which snapped shut as it hit the ground. “I’ve lost it.” “I honestly thought you’d lost it around the time you decided to steal that pearl, Darling,” Rarity said flatly. “No, I mean…” Wavedancer snorted in frustration. “I can’t sense the Rainbow Pearl anymore. The shell must be closed. That keeps its powerful magic contained, so I can’t pick it up anymore.” Rarity glowered. “That’s rather inconvenient. I don’t suppose you’d know where to find the dragons, anyway?” “Well,” Wavedancer said tentatively. “I know that the dragon who picked Spike up is from a clan near the Scaly Backs River, but their lair is secret, and the river is twenty five miles long.” “Well,” Rarity said. “We’ll just have to start looking, I suppose. Unless there’s some other way you can think to find Spike.” Wavedancer looked guiltily out to sea. “Well… there is something… but… it would be… unpleasant.” “I would endure any unpleasantness for Spike!” Rarity said. She thought back to all the times Spike had helped her, from offering to serve as a pincushion to fighting off Diamond Dogs in an attempt to save her. “He would do the same for me, after all.” Wavedancer looked at Rarity with concern evident in her creased brow. “Well… alright. If you’ll come with me, that would be a big help. But… we’ll have to get you a ride down.” “’Down’?” Rarity repeated. Wavedancer slithered to the edge of the water and called out in a melodic voice: “Shoop be-doo!” “Shoop-shoop be-doo!” came an answering call as two pony heads bobbed to the surface of the water. One was a pony with a blue coat, a mussed pink mane, and red eyes while the other had a pink coat, sapphire eyes, and a long blue mane tied with a yellow ribbon. “Seawinkle, Sealight: I need some help,” Wavedancer said. “Are you sinking fast?” Seawinkle asked. “I’ve had some… nasty shocks,” Wavedancer replied. “Feeling like all hope is gone and washed up on the rocks?” Sealight said. “You can always count on us when you’re in distress.” “That’s why I sent you that SOS,” Wavedancer said with a smile. End Part I To be continued in Part II: The Rainbow Pearl…