//------------------------------// // Chapter 62 // Story: Away and Afar // by PropsValroa //------------------------------// Collapse nodded and took out a piece of fruit and gave it to Jump Start. "Here you go. I figured you wanted something." she spoke and looked out into the ocean. "Well, I think we could go look for seaponies now." she remarked casually, looking out to see if she could see any friendly seaponies out in the sea nearby. Jump Start accepted the fruit and began to chew on it, now just sitting in the water and wet sand thinking about her defeat, which she still was sulking about. Collapse didn't see any seaponies out in the ocean. The waves were too chaotic to see everything at once, the distance made it hard to see very far anyway, and seaponies are usually swimming *under* the sea anyway. Though there *were* seaponies off down the distant shoreline, or at least what they thought were seaponies. Seals don't come in reds and greens, do they? Collapse would smile upon noticing the seaponies. She'd reach down and give Jump Start a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Hey, I see some seaponies over there. Let's go look at them, maybe they can help cheer ya up." Collapse said playfully to Jump Start, and would begin to lead them over towards where she saw the seaponies from. Were they a bunch of mares, basking in the sun, waiting for Collapse to come to them? Collapse could only dream, but maybe the universe would smile down upon her and grant her wish of being utterly surrounded by mares. There were about 4 or 5 of the seaponies laying about on the beach. Some of them were obviously mares. Others were a bit harder for Collapse to tell at the moment. As they got closer they noticed that the seaponies were having a relaxing time. Some laid on their back, letting the sun warm up their bellies. Others played with lumps of sand, digging it out with their flippers and forming piles of it nearby. One wasn't relaxing though. Instead they were keeping an eye out and watching for potential threats. It was then that this one noticed the approaching group and warned the others, who were all now staring at them. Collapse would look at the assorted bunch of seaponies. The way they were relaxing about was adorable. It was comforting to see their various colors and seeing them playing about as she looked at them, there. She realized the stares and would kindly wave to them, once they were close enough to converse with them. "Oh, hello. Sorry if we are bothering you. We saw you lot sitting here and wanted to just stop by and have a chat, if that's not a problem with you." Collapse said to them calmly, her tail swaying in the wind. Clearly the three of them were different from them, and it is unlikely that these three happened to be in the same group that they met some time ago. All the seaponies turned to look at each other, some whispering to each other while others just looked confused. The one that had been watching out for danger eventually looked back at the ponies, ready to answer. "N-no problem at all. Just didn't expect to see... other things that could talk here. Especially ones that look so similar to us." she replied. More hushed whispers grew, though this time it was loud enough to barely hear. Something about knowing that land walking ponies met them before and that this must be them. Of course it was not spoken as straight forward as that, as information circled around the whispering group. Collapse understood their whispers but didn’t mention that she did. She smiled calmly and sat down next to them. Not too close, as she didn’t want to upset them. “Can say the same when we ended up here by accident. We are actually building a ship so we can sail back home. We come from a long, long ways from here.” she said, looking at them all casually. “I wonder how it must be with flippers instead of hooves.” she tapped her chin. “Must be nice to glide through the waves, and control your movements precisely.” she added. More whispers came from those at the back of the group, confirming that these were the same land ponies that found them, because they had explained they were building a 'ship' as well. One of the seaponies, a pink one with an orange mane, whiskers and a tail fin, spoke up. "It is nice to swim through the water, but it must be even better to have solid flippers like what you have, so we wouldn't have to waddle along the beach." he said. Collapse would move a little closer and show her hooves closer so they could all see them. "Well, where we come from we are indeed inhabitants of the land. We are from a nation across the seas called Equestria, and there are many of us, just like there are many of you." she said. "Well there are three main races of ponies. Unicorns, Earth ponies..." she said, gesturing to the three of them. "And the pegasi, but none of those are with us. Those types of ponies have wings and are able to fly." she smiled calmly. Wanting to return similar information to the ponies, another seapony, this time a turquoise one with a navy blue mane and tail, spoke up. Most of what they said was what they already knew. The existence of Hippocampi, Kelpi and Kelpies and how they were related to each other. The various places they lived in the ocean, including the places close to some smaller islands. Only a few smaller details were new to them, details that weren't all that useful in the grand scheme of things, even if knowing where some strange named purple sea flower thrived would probably be a sight to see. Collapse would then accept this information and then go onto explain about the Equestrian cities and famous areas of Equestria as well as telling them more about magic and the various knowledge the ponies had. She also would introduce their names to the seaponies as well, wondering what their names were in turn. As she talked, she would scoot a bit closer to them as if slowly getting them all to warm up to her. She would let Magloria and Jump Start join the conversation if they wanted. Explaining to the seaponies about the Equestrian lands and the places on it, as well as the nature of their own magic took quite a while. Most seaponies were interested in the lecture, but others who were more interested in relaxing as they were beforehand returned to digging sand pits and sunbathing. She got a variety of names in return for theirs. The turquoise one was Stalwart Sheen and the pink whiskered one was Shimmer Whisker. Oddly obvious name, but it's not like that wasn't the case for certain ponies. Magloria and Jump Start started their own smaller conversations with individual seaponies. Nothing that really shared much information, just casual conversation. Collapse got close to Shimmer Whisker. What a cute name, she thought. She got close enough to give Shimmer Whisker a close look over, comparing her features with that of a normal pony. It wasn’t every day Collapse was near to a seapony after all. Shimmer Whisker can see the innocent curiosity in her eyes as Collapse looks over her. “Nice names for sure. I used to know a seapony for a little while named Aura Surge. That is another story too.” Collapse remarked, and then would go on about their various travels underground and the seaponies underground as well. Perhaps these ones would know something about that, although it was unlikely for them to. Looking over Shimmer Whisker, her pink coat and the scales of her tail was almost completely clear of any markings of any sort. Only part that had a different colour was the fin at the end of her tail which was a deep purple colour. Her proportions matched that of a skinny mare, in Collapse's opinion. Every part of her was slim, very little pudge anywhere to be seen. As already seen, the Kelpie parts were her whiskers and her tail. Her ears and orange mane were both pony, and she had no extra fins on her back, making her a Kelpus. Her eyes were a clear blue colour, which matched the ocean waters. None of the seaponies knew anything about the underground waterways, or what they were home to. Some were shocked to learn that there were some of their own kind trapped down inside the massive whirlpool that they already knew about, and insisted on helping them. After being told there was no waterways up to the surface, they calmed down, saddened that there was nothing they could do to help them. Collapse would take in the sights of Shimmer Whisker and smile at her. Obviously, the whiskers were the best parts of the seaponies. She wished that regular ponies would have whiskers like that. She thought of Magloria's blue whiskers and Jump Start's orange whiskers twitching in the wind. Wouldn't that just be adorable? But Shimmer Whisker was a great seapony for sure. Upon their reactions to what Collapse had told them about she would tell them more in depth about all the things they saw down there. The lakes, the designs of the buildings, how daily life was for those seaponies from what she could tell. While they were cut off from everyone else - they were doing well for themselves, all things considered. She was curious about seapony magic, and would explain more about Aura Surge and her manner of magic - perhaps they knew something similar? They definitely knew of similar magic to what Aura Surge had shown them. Just like the seaponies down in the underground caverns, the seaponies in the ocean also had powerful Kelpies that could perform extreme feats of magic. They were equally rare up here as well, with only a small fraction of the seaponies born having all the different traits attuned to performing magic efficiently. The seaponies that Collapse was talking to didn't know specifically about the spells that were for Kelpies only, but the ones that had the necessary features to cast were able to give a bit of detail into some of the various water-based magic they could perform. Moving faster, directing currents, bubble formation, purification of both water and life. Some even heard of a more taboo magic where they could control the ocean fish. None of them could actually do that though, because bending the wills of others is extremely frowned upon. Collapse accepted the answers she got and would go on to tell about the specific types of spells that Collapse knew. A pocket dimension spell, anti-gravity, and an ignition spell along with a few more offensive spells like lasers and defensive ones like shielding. That was all Collapse was basically capable of. To boot, she would take out her fly ring and show them all what it looked like. She allowed them to touch it if they wanted to, but the fly ring was not powered on just incase. If they touched it, they would find that it would spin idly without friction, It was oddly light for as heavy as it looked - but that was probably because of the lack of friction that was somehow applied into the construction of the device. The seaponies mentioned some of the similiarities that Collapse's spells had with their own. While not true anti-gravity, bubbles or constant manipulation of currents could almost serve as levitation. Shielding similarly could be done with pressurized water. Only one of the seaponies attempted to touch the ring. The others, especially the ones with whiskers, didn't trust the feeling they were getting from the ring. The subtle energies that they felt was wrong to them. By this point, hours of conversation had passed will all the different stories and explanations that had been talked about. The seaponies had frequently returned to the waters for a bit before coming back, to keep themselves properly wet. Now the group was starting to have other needs, so they would soon be leaving for the ocean again to fulfill them. Collapse only had time for a little bit more before they would be heading off.