"Oi!" Scriven called from the railing of the Sea Pearl. The black griffon was calling to his shipmates as the ship settled some ways off the coast of Sunanwaves. When several of his pony comrades joined him, he leaned in and whispered, "...Are we really about to send our mate down there? We don't know if there is such a kingdom down at the bottom of the sea. 'Undercari'? What kind of terrible pun is that? Sounds like a child's book!"
The tallest among them, a red unicorn mare with a flowing blonde mane and tail smacked the griffon upside his head. "What-a you talkin'?" she said in an Istallian accent, though she'd spent years trying to rid of it, with little results. "You show some respect - that's the royal family you mockin'."
"Ai, Rossa!" the griffon complained, rubbing his head where he'd been struck and sending the leggy unicorn a glare. "I'm just talkin', no need to take it so seriously!...gigante," he muttered, the last word under his breath.
Rossa Bellezza glared down at the shorter griffon, her eyes blazing with loathing and consternation. "If you gonna insult a lady in different languages, make sure it's-a not the same word in both languages, pendejo!"
"It is a real place, Scriven," came a gentle male voice from the back of the group. The small gathering turned to look back at Dascyllus, one of the seaponies that served as part of the crew. He was small for a seapony, a little smaller than the average earth pony, which he greatly resembled. At least he would if it weren't for the colors. He was a brown color, with a long section of white that started at his muzzle and went up between his eyes and down his back. His mane and tail were blue, dotted with bright yellow spherical patterns that somewhat resembled eggs. The backs of all four legs had the same protrusions, extensions that helped him to swim.
Dascyllus didn't really stand out among the crew in terms of personality - he was actually quite the opposite. He tended to keep to himself as much as possible. He never had a whole lot to say, but when he did, others listened. This being a pirate ship that sailed the oceans, listening to the seapony when he spoke of the ocean was almost always relevant.
With the attention suddenly on him, the seapony lowered his head in embarrassment. "The valley of Undercari isn't quite a kingdom yet, though," he said, determined to carry on the information he'd dared to supply. "The crowning ceremony for the princess is tonight. That's why we're sending 'the messenger' down there, so he can offer greetings and respect and our word of honor to never bring them harm."
"Oh yeah?" Rosso said a tone more gentle than she'd been using with Scriven. "And how's-a he gonna get down there? You gonna take him, Dascyllus?"
This, much more than having the attention turned on him, seemed to frighten the seapony. He lowered himself slightly and shook his head vehemently. "O-oh, no, not at all. I can't...I can't go down there again. It's too...dark."
"It's not dark at all!" a cheerful voice erupted from behind him. The other seapony on the ship, Scaled Melody, jumped out in front of Dascyllus, much to his relief. Melody, as she preferred to be called, was much bigger than her male counterpart, nearly as large as Scriven. Her body was a bright green, while her mane was a striking pink with yellow highlights. Her tail was short but thick, and sported a massive fin that ran on either side of her tail, and resembled a great pink and yellow fan.
Melody was like a ray of sunshine for everyone on the ship. She was eternally happy and joyful, and while certainly not annoying, she was loud and spread her cheer to all those in hearing distance. It wasn't just her demeanor, either. It was said that somewhere in her bloodline was the blood of a siren. While Melody herself was not a predator, she seemed to have a power that could sap away sadness and spread good feelings to others.
"The bottom of the sea is so bright, it's like the sky up here!" she exclaimed, gesturing with her hooves up at the sun. "Once you get past the dark belt, which is completely black and creepy, the bottom of it is enchanted to send the suns rays down onto the bottom of the ocean. All the sea ponies get as much sun as we do! It's like..." she paused and jumped over the side of the ship and into the water below. She flew back up into the air and began spinning, sending water and rivulets of reflected rainbow light over the crew, then landed on the railing and looked down at the others. "- like that!"
A chorus of good-natured groans rose from the ranks of the group as they were splashed by the seapony's antics. One might've thought they were annoyed at Melody, but the seapony heard nothing but comradery and affection in their voices. It was enough for her. She hopped down as Scriven shook himself off and returned to his original position of looking down into the water. "Still...to send Gabriel down into the water..." he said, shivering. The idea of going so deep down into the depths and into the blackness of this 'dark belt' made his heart quake.
"Don' worry about the deep," Rossa said as she peeped over the griffon's shoulder at the water below. "You won' have to leave the safety of-a your ship," she said with a mocking grin as she ruffled his crest. "You can stay on the surface and help clean up!"
A slow, long sweeping sound from behind the group could be heard at that moment. Rossa and the others all put on smirks and grins in Scriven's direction before turning to see the largest creature on the ship, the kirin known as Vara. She was a majestic creature: her body was a deep pea green, and from her neck down her chest and along her belly were light tan scales so hard that the sharpest spear would be broken against them. The same scales ran from her nose and along her forehead, ending in a tall, bent horn. A pair of whiskers grew from her muzzle and flowed nearly all the way back to her rear.
Vara's last and most striking feature was her mane and tail. The hair on her head was jet black and so long it could cover her whole body, so she kept it braided and bunned neatly and elegantly against the back of her head. Several blue beads decorating her mane were of a lighter color than her deep blue eyes. Her tail was very long, longer than her whole body, and along the bottom of it flowed more of that glorious black fur. It, too, was long, and was braided twice. There were beads in the braids, as well as one bead at the end of her tail. The backs of her legs also boasted more of the beautiful, shiny black fur.
The kirin acted, willingly, as the ship sweeper. Not just the deck, but all of the ship. She was so very skilled at keeping the ship clean that even if the others didn't pitch in to keep the ship spotless she could still do it herself. While all kirins had magic that acted much like unicorns, Vara's magic was not wielded through her horn, but through her long whiskers. It was a mysterious magic that purified and cleansed. Foreign objects simply vanished when she touched them, thus ridding the ship of grime and dust so fast that the other crewmembers wondered why they ever bothered to clean before she joined them, which had only been three years ago.
As the large kirin swept around the crew carefully, she turned and cast the griffon a small, kind smile, plastered over a hint of derision. "I'm almost done, Scriven. Perhaps you'll have time to go into the deep, after all."
Scriven glared at Vara, his feathers bristling and his fur standing on end, a bruised ego showing through the blush on his face. "That's not even funny!" he shouted.
"But it is humorous!" called the youngest of the crew. Scriven sighed inwardly as he and the others turned their attention to their youngest crewmate, a young zebra mare. She sported beautiful violet eyes, as well as stripes of dark purple in her mane and tail. Her cutie mark was the shadow of a sextant, superimposed over a map of the world. Like her cutie mark suggested, the young zebra, at fifteen years of age, longed to see the world, and make maps of the places she visited.
The young mare of course hailed from Zebrafica, a land of dry plains, deadly desert and treacherous mountains, a land of wild creatures and little pity for those who didn't know what they were doing. Ramani Ya Dunia, a family name, had been taught from the day she was born how to survive there. She'd always yearned to see what else there was to see, to travel, and to make a log of her travels.
With her were her guardians, a pair of oryx siblings, friends of her parents. The two were older, in their 30's, and much more experienced than the young zebra. The male, Xennen, was slightly taller than the average pony stallion. His colors were white, a dark, almost black brown, and a lighter shade of brown. The colors were interspersed yet layered, making him an elegantly furred creature. His horns were long and pointed, making his head a very fast and very powerful weapon.
Dendalla, his sister, bore the same colors, though they were much brighter than her brother's. Both oryx were very stoic creatures, and seldom had anything to say, though Dendalla was slightly more talkative than her brother. When she was talking, the time was usually spent bonding with Ramani.
The two were hardly ever seen apart from their charge. The three had been travelling together for a few years now, and had joined the ship on the pretense of seeing the world. Unknown to the young zebra, however, the two had a much more focused reason for the three of them leaving Zebrafica: their country had been leaning more and more towards civil unrest - Ramani's parents didn't want their daughter to be caught up in the imminent violence, and granted their daughter's wish to travel, sending their closest and most trusted friends to protect her.
Ramani giggled again and poked the griffon's beak. "You are not so rushing to swim, yes? But you are given the time to do so, so you are afraid!" she said in broken Equestrian. Her accent was almost perfect, but she hadn't quite gotten the words to string together as they should. Scriven was tempted to point this out to her in annoyance, but he managed to keep his beak closed. Xennen's even stare at him from Ramani's side was indication enough not to retort.
"Now now," came a gentle, yet strong male voice from the back. The group parted as to allow a tall pegasus stallion approach Ramani. He was a light tan color, almost cream. "Scriven is no scaredy kitty. He's the bravest griffon I know." Ramani giggled and nodded in agreement, actually moving forward to receive a hoof as it brushed through her mane. Gabriel smiled down at her, an approving gaze in his eyes. The fact that Xennen didn't seem to mind the other "captain" spoke volumes.
The white-haired pegasus was a sight to see - as a Saddle Arabian pony, he was taller than most Equestrian ponies, at least a head taller than the average stallion. His mane and tail were a pure white, an exotic shade to go with his tan coat. "You sure I ain't just the only griffon you know, amigo?" Scriven asked his best mate, more than a hint of amusement in his inquiry.
Gabriel rolled his eyes and patted his friend's head in mock condescension. "Quite sure, old friend. You and I both know Jorden, of course."
Scriven made a face and waved the intruding hoof away. "Ehh, not much good from knowin' that alborotador. She's in a league of her own when it comes to bein' a "stand-up griffon". Ya can't lump me in with her, so it don't count."
"Mm..." Gabriel muttered in reluctant agreement. Before he could ruminate on this much, though, hoofsteps approaching from behind caught his and the others' attention. Vara resumed her sweeping, Xennen and Ramani resumed sight-seeing, and the two seaponies resumed their posts nearby. Scriven stood at Gabriel's side as the captain of the ship approached.
Orland, the Sea Pearl's captain, was an older stallion, approaching middle age. It didn't show, though the unicorn had seen some days. He wore his grey mane in dreadlocks over his cream coat, both of which set off his deep blue eyes. The pony skull and cross-bones were prominent on his flank, as well as on Gabriel's, though there were minor differences. While Orland's cutie mark's sword were long and thin, Gabriel's cutie mark swords had wings on the handles.
Gabriel turned to face his captain, and offered him a light bow that nearly brought his chest to the deck. "Captain," he gave in greeting, then stood back up to his lofty height over the unicorn. Orland rolled his eyes and put a hoof on Gabriel's back as the two turned nearly as one to look down over the ship and into the glimmering ocean. "Are you so sure it should be me, captain?" the Saddle Arabian asked, displaying the usual self doubt in the face of being tasked with something important. "I mean, I'm not-"
"You're our messenger, Gabriel," the shorter unicorn told him. "You have a gift - ponies trust you, and you've earned this."
Gabriel, too humbled by his captain's words to respond immediately. After a moment, he smiled down at Orland, but before he could respond, there was a call from down below. "'Hoy!" the voice called, a young, cheerful female voice. Gabriel and Orland glanced at each other - it was time. They both looked over the edge to see a beautiful magenta mare in the water, a long, thick tail just visible under the water - a seapony. "Good morning! I've come to escort the one called Gabriel to Undercari, and-look out!" she cried, pointing with a hoof up at the railing, just under their points of view.
Gabriel and Orland both looked down in alarm. Both were too late as a lithe form pulled itself up onto the railing. It appeared to be a simple mare, pale blue in color with a deeper blue mane and intense green eyes, yet the long, thin tendrils that waved about from her mane was most telling. It was too late to look away or prepare themselves as the light from the siren's eyes captured their gaze.
"Well, well. What do we have here?" the siren said breathily as she pulled herself up onto the railing, her long body trailing behind her as she reached forward to touch a hoof to Gabriel's chin. He and the captain stood there in a partial retreating position, frozen, their eyes wide. "It's the good captain of the legendary Sea Pearl, and his little pet, the good angel messenger...this is a rare opportunity."
"Mariasha!" The siren looked up in time to see a figure practically dancing in the air, and coming down fast. She let out a growl and dragged herself onto the ship, flipping end over end until she came to a stop some ways to the side of the two, now freed from the siren's hold as Melody dropped to the deck from above before her shipmate and captain, both of whom stumbled backwards, now able to move. "You know better!" Melody scolded, an unusual venom in her eyes and voice as she turned to face the full-blooded siren before her. "Tonight is too important a night to cause such trouble."
Mariasha made a face and held a hoof to her chin thoughtfully, weighing her options. She didn't have a whole lot of time to give it thought as she found herself surrounded on all sides by at least a dozen pirates, blades drawn and horns lit with spells. "Oh my. Have I been a bad girl?" she said saucily, glancing around at the angry ponies and griffon, a hoof poised at her lips innocently. "Maybe I need to be spanked."
"You be 'shanked' if you don't behave, coño!" Scriven growled.
Rossa bonked him on the head with a steady glare on the griffon. "Language!" She faced the siren, who looked genuinely curious at the foreign word. Smirking slightly, the tall Istallian mare smiled kindly at Mariasha. "Coño...it means 'beautiful in his language. You should pass it around to your sister sirens."
"Easy! Back off, give her room," Orland called. The angry group parted slowly, though wary eyes all around were centered on the siren as the captain approached. Mariasha smirked and bowed mockingly in a show of clear disrespect.
"Captain Orland of the Sea Pearl. How doooo you do?" she said, her voice soft and silky, yet there was a strain in her voice. The voice of a siren was naturally attractive - the fact that one could hear the tension, perhaps malice in her voice, was a clear sign; she wanted him in a violent way.
Orland, however, kept his cool a little easier than Gabriel, who stood behind the captain with an air of indignation at being caught by surprise. "I'm doing fine, thank you. It's a wonderful day for a trip into the deep to world of Undercari. Ah..." he paused, holding a hoof to his chin thoughtfully. "I'm aware there was to be a siren among us on this trip, yet I think it was not meant to be you, but a siren we're more familiar with...what was her name? Leucothia?"
The siren shook her wet mane and laughed mockingly. "Leucothia can't grace herself with her presence today...she's busy spending the day with her boy toy. She would've been here, but I guess she forgot how 'important' it was to come say hello. Well, ladies and gentlecolts. I think it's about time to go give our respects to the lords down below." Mariasha winked at Gabriel, a welcoming gesture that she used her whole body to articulate. "Well? Are you going to take me down below?"
Gabriel cleared his throat when the captain gave him a look that told him flirting in this situation was a bad idea. "Of course...it'd be a pleasure to see the world below, and offer my respects."
Mariasha pouted; she was hoping for more sport from the famed messenger. Well, there was plenty more time for that. "I'm coming, too." Or maybe not, the siren grumped to herself as Scaled Melody, a creature well renowned for her siren bloodline, stepped forward, a stern look in her eyes. "Not that I don't trust you to get the job done, Gabriel..." she commented, looking to her shipmate with a tentative and mildly shy gaze.
"No, I understand," Gabriel told the seapony as he turned to her. "Your help is most welcome. I feel safer already."
Melody gave a little happy squeak as Gabriel patted her on the head, her big tail swishing back and forth joyfully. "Wonderful," Mariasha said, a hint of jealousy in her voice. "If we're prepared then I suppose we should get going already." The siren pulled herself awkwardly over the side of the ship, creating a great splash down below.
The crew, the members that were on deck anyway, gathered around Gabriel, offering words of encouragement and praise. "I have much envy!" Ramani called from her place at the side of the ship. "The bottom of the sea...if only to see it..." she said with a sigh. As Gabriel approached her, she turned and put her front hooves on his chest and stared up at him with a stern look in her big eyes. "You must make memories down below! Return and tell us all that you see, I must know!"
"You got it, kiddo. I promise, I'll tell you everything when I return," Gabriel told her, bowing his head lightly in respect to the young zebra. She gave him a winning smile before backing up as he made his way to the edge of the ship and took one last look at the others, a brief moment of nervousness entering his eyes that only the captain might've seen. Orland gave Gabriel a firm nod and a stern smile from the back of the group. You've got this son. Now go, his eyes seemed to say.
Gabriel sighed, throwing off a bit of stress in his shoulders. He'd been through many ordeals, but diving down to the bottom of the sea - this was new. He'd been diving down before, but even the dark belt was much too far down to see. This was going to be a new experience. Finally, he was ready. He leapt off the side of the ship and down into the water below. As he surfaced, he was met with the seapony from before, the magenta mare who'd initiated contact.
She frowned sheepishly at him, her forelegs tucked under her chest, her chin held low apologetically."I'm so sorry for the trouble I caused. I completely forgot to warn you about our siren..."ally". I hope you can forgive me."
Gabriel shook his head lightly as he kicked his legs in the water, attempting to keep above the surface of the water. "Think nothing of it. Nopony was harmed. Now, let's..." he was cut off as he found himself pulled under the water and into the forelegs of the siren. Even under the water, her face was clearly beautiful. He might've been charmed if he wasn't panicking and struggling to free himself and return to the surface.
Gabriel felt his lungs burning for air when there was an impact, too fast for him to make out. He tumbled end over end in the water, his body sailing into the deep. He found himself falling, falling into darker water. Suddenly he stopped, and a gentle, melodic voice entered into his mind, as clear as if it were coming to him from above the water, I've got you, Gabriel! The pegasus felt hooves at his side, and he could swear it was Melody's voice he heard. He finally opened his eyes to see it was indeed her.
The Saddle Arabian narrowed his eyes skeptically. Had he really heard her in his head? Yes, of course! her voice came again, though she hadn't moved her mouth. How was this possible? She'd never done this before on the surface...That's because a seapony's ability to communicate with other creatures telepathically is greatly strengthened in the ocean, silly, she said in his mind again, as if reading his. Now listen, I need to help you breathe, but it's going to hurt...I'm sorry. Just hang on!
Gabriel didn't know how she was going to do that, and he was running out of air - the pull under the water had been too sudden, and the impact that he'd suffered, which he'd guessed had been Melody to free him from the siren, had also been taxing on his breath. He was starting to return to that panic when Melody kissed him. So she was going to breathe for him? Well, that'd be fine, he guessed...and then it happened. She opened her lips, her kiss tantalizing and sensual. Without warning, she started to suck.
Gabriel panicked as he felt the air leave his lungs. It felt like he was being compressed from he inside out, and so he was, with Melody acting like a vacuum, taking all his air and making his body start to collapse on itself. He would've let out a scream if he'd had any air left. Suddenly, it was over as quickly as it began, and his body snapped back into shape after having been dangerously close to breaking. He doubled over and coughed, thrashing about in the water as Melody moved away from him with a light giggle that rang clearly in his ears. "Are you crazy?!" he yelled. "That could've killed...me?"
Gabriel opened his eyes and looked around, easily spotting Melody floating about in the water in front of him. A cursory glance above him gave him a good view of the Sea Pearl above him, as well as the siren and the seapony pacing back and forth nervously in the water. He also noticed that there was a flow of water rushing into his body, and out of it. His lungs seemed to have stopped...was he dead? "What...Melody, what did you...?"
Melody giggled once more and swam closer to him, then put her hooves on either side of his neck, blocking a pair of protrusions on his neck he was sure weren't there earlier, and suddenly he felt his breath cut off. Gills! He backed away from her, eyes wide with disbelief. "I...How...?" he stammered, his voice carrying through the water as if the water were air.
"Magic," she said, waggling her hooves at him in a mystical fashion. "Some seaponies - not all, though - have the ability to grant others the ability to breathe under deep water. You'll need it, Gabriel...if I tried to take you down to the bottom of Undercari in a bubble, you'd literally compress like you did before, except it'd hurt a lot more and you wouldn't survive."
"I...wow," Gabriel muttered. And I thought the surface was rough, he thought to himself. You haven't seen everything yet, sweetheart, came Melody's voice in his head, a grin spreading on her face. The sea is much more dangerous below the surface, but it's sooo beautiful, too! Gabriel stared at her a moment, then cleared his throat. "Uh, Melody, can you just communicate with me with your voice? I'm not always thinking the nicest things and I wouldn't want you to overhear something you wish you hadn't been listening to."
Melody frowned, an apologetic look in her eyes. "Oh, uh...I don't really have control over that right now, Gabriel. I could remove the psychic link between us, but...you'd drown."
"It's one of those, huh? The whole package or nothing at all?" Gabriel sighed, his wings flapping once in the water. He found that they had little resistance under the water, much like he would in the air. This whole underwater change was pretty cool. He 'flew' around her a few times, finding that he could move in the water like never before. "I guess this isn't so bad..."
"Wait till you return to the surface," Mariasha said cruelly as she swam down to the two, accompanied by the magenta seapony. The siren floated lazily around Gabriel, her tail running flirtatiously under his chin. "Don't think you'll just reinflate like a balloon just like that...the decompression process is much more painful, but I guess you can thank your friend here for putting you through that."
Gabriel ignored Mariasha for the moment, and cast his gaze down into the blackness of the ocean below. He could see a pitch black coating far, far down below, something he wouldn't have seen before this change. Even now he could feel an apprehension of going further down below than he'd ever gone. He could feel his heart start to beat faster. It was so loud, he wondered if the three mares could also hear it.
The pegasus felt a hoof wrap around his. He turned his head to see Melody smiling comfortingly at him. She leaned in to kiss his cheek, then looked down below once more. "Well...this is it, Gabriel. Are you ready to see my world?"
Gabriel took in a deep breath, then let it out hard, sending up a collection of bubbles towards the surface. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be...let's go pay our respects." Mariasha rolled her eyes, but said nothing as the group slowly began to descend towards the pitch black that was the dark belt.