//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Family Visit // Story: Drowning in Love // by Silentpegasus //------------------------------// Chapter 12 Family Visit The seven ponies found themselves back in Wake’s home and took a moment to collect themselves. “Nice thinking Twi.” He said with a smile. The mares all gave the lavender Unicorn a similar nod. “No problem.” She said in a loopy sounding voice before collapsing. “Is she gonna be okay?” Wake asked as they walked over to her. “She’ll be fine hun. Just used too much magic is all.” The orange mare said as she helped her friend up in a sitting position. “Mind telling us why the place was more rowdy than a rodeo when ya came out.” Wake let out a sigh and told the mares about the confrontation he had with the mayor. Dash looked at him in shock. “You agreed to fight a shark!” Dash yelled in shock. “Are you insane?” “I must side with Rainbow Dash on this darling.” Rarity said in a concerned tone. “Seriously! A shark is a huge!” Pinkie added. “Guys this isn’t my first hunt.” He said as he got to his hooves. “You killed one shark Wake.” Twilight interjected as they followed him. “I doubt that that makes you an expert.” He stopped as he came to a blue wooden door. “That is where you’re wrong Twi.” He said as he turned on the light switch. The mares looked to see several pictures of sharks hanging on the wall along with several diagrams outlining their muscle and bone structure. “After my little encounter I started to learn everything there is to know about sharks and with my mom being a marine biologist it was fairly easy.” “Why would you want to learn about these things?” Dash asked. “Know thy enemy Dash.” He said with a sigh. “Since I became a life guard I needed to know how to rescue ponies from a shark attack and if need be, kill one.” Fluttershy gulped at his words. “Granted, I’ve only had to do that a few times. It gets...messy.” The stallion then shut off the light and led the mares back up stairs. “I’ll try to capture it alive and relocate it.” Fluttershy looked up at the stallion and smiled.. “R-really?” “I said try, if that thing tries to put the bite on me then I’ll be forced to defend myself in whatever way I can.” He said in a flat tone. Fluttershy got to her hooves and hugged him. “So how are you going to find this thing anyway?” Rarity asked. “Don’t know, I don’t even know what this thing is yet.” He said as he rubbed his head. A loud growl then erupted from his stomach. “Heh, sorry we skipped out on lunch.” “And breakfast! I’m starving!” Pinkie said as her stomach roared. “Right sorry about that. How about I cook us something?” He asked. “With what? You don’t have any food.” AJ said with a smile. “That’s where you all come in.” He said with a smile. The blue stallion pulled out a note pad and a pencil before he started writing. Once he was done, he handed the list to Applejack and Fluttershy. “I need you two to go into town and pick up some ingredients. If you need a hoof then just go and see Mix.” He said with a smile. “Better yet, invite him along.” “Can do.” Applejack said with a nod. Fluttershy nodded and the two left the home and headed out towards the market. “Now you four, I’ll need a hoof with fishing.” He said as he trotted past them and pulled out a few fishing rods and nets. The stallion also pulled out five strange mouth guard looking things. “What are these?” Twilight asked as she looked at the strange devices. “They filter out the oxygen in the water so you can breathe.” He said as he passed the rest of them out. Wake then led the mares out of his house and down towards the shore. The ponies then stepped onto a wooden dock. “Okay so there are two ways that I fish,” He said as he put the poles down. “You can either do it the old fashioned way with the poles, or you can do my way which is a lot more fun.” “What’s the fun way?” Pinkie asked. Wake grinned and backflipped into the water. The mares all waited for him to remerge from the blue depths. The stallion then flew out of the water with a large trout in his net. The blue stallion then threw the fish in the bucket resting on the dock. “Sweet!” Pinkie said as she charged off the dock only to be stopped by the blue stallion. “Hold up Pinks.” He said in a flat tone. “Hey Twi, do you have a telepathic spell?” “Yeah, why?” The lavender mare said as she cocked her head in confusion. “Good, open up a channel between all of us. I don’t want anypony going anywhere alone in these waters.” Twilight’s horn glowed and the ponies all felt a fuzzy feeling in their head. “Testing, Testing.” The unicorn mare thought. “We read you Twi.” Dash said. “Okay good.” He said before diving back into the water. The other mares quickly followed suit and jumped into the water. Twilight would have let her jaw dropped had it not been clenched around the breathing apparatus. Several fish were swimming around in schools. “This is amazing!” Twilight thought. The ponies then swam towards the surface the ponies all took a breath of fresh air and smiled. “That is so cool!” Pinkie said with a smile. She then looked at the fashionista in confusion. “Hey Rarity, where did you get that neat swimming cap?” “Swimming cap?” The white mare looked down in the water and saw that there was a small brown cap like thing on her head. It was brown camouflage and had a pair of eyes. The white mare started to scream and swim in circles. “Get it off! Get it off!” Dash and Wake were in a fit of laughter at the mare’s state. Wake grabbed her tail and pulled her over to him. “Hold still.” He said with a smirk. He then reached over to Rainbow and plucked one of her feathers from her wings. “Hey!” The stallion then used the cyan feather to tickle the object. The arms then started to release and Wake pulled the small octopus off her head. The creature then latched itself onto Wake’s muzzle. “Hey, no pony does that to Wake except me!” Dash yelled as she tried to pry the creature off the stallions face. “Dash! Stop!” He said as he handed her the feather. “Use this.” “Why?” “Octopi are ticklish.” He said in a flat tone. “Where?” “Under the tentacles.” He said as he pointed to the appendages. The mare shrugged and tickled the creature that let go. “Do me! Do me!” Pinkie chimed. Wake shrugged and handed the sea creature to the mare who started to wear it as a hat. “Is he trying to suck my brains out?” “I think he’d starve to death first.” Wake said with a snicker. The other ponies all shared a laugh and continued to hunt for fish and admire the sea life. By the end the group had accumulated a variety of fish. Twilight swam to the surface and looked at the scenery. The lavender mare then saw a dorsal fin duck below the water. SHARK! She yelled through the link. Everypony in the water rose to the surface and looked at the fin. Wake sighed and pointed. The ponies then saw that it was a dolphin. The mares all let out a sigh of relief and watched as the dolphin circled around them. “Just don’t let them get too close.” Wake said. “Why? They won’t eat us right?” Dash said. “Yeah, but they’ll try to bone everything in sight.” The mares all gulped. The dolphin the squealed and swam away in fear. Wake cocked an eyebrow and ducked under the water. He followed the dolphin and stopped as he saw a familiar outline of a hammer head shark. “Everyone out of the water now!” He yelled through the link. “Why?” Rarity asked. “We’ve got a hammer head coming in.” The mares all gulped and wake watched them vanish in a flash of purple light. He returned his attention to the shark and kept sill in the water. The shark entered the cover and circled around the blue stallion. Wake stared into the shark’s pitch black eyes and got primed to move. The two then heard a loud roar coming from the cove opening. The hammer head swam towards the exit and looked around. The large beast then vanished as a large shadow ripped it from it’s place. Wake’s eyes shrank as he saw a large amount of blood come from the shark’s body. The stallion squinted and saw that the shadow was easily fifty feet long and had massive razor sharp teeth. Wake felt a wave of fear creep down his spine and flew towards the surface. The cyan mare hovered overhead waiting to see a sign of her colt friend. Her eyes grew sick with worry as she saw a small amount of red stain the water. She was about to dash into the ocean when she saw Wake fly out of the water. Dash caught him and saw the frightened look on his face. “Wake? Are you okay?” She said in a concerned tone. “L-let’s just get to shore.” He said as he flew towards the beach. The group of mares quickly crowded around the two fliers. “Are you okay?” Twilight asked. “Yeah, how’s our catch?” He said as he looked at the nets. “Good, I guess.” Pinkie said as wake trotted past her. The mares all looked at one another and collected their catch. The ponies then trotted back up to Wake’s home. As they got in the door opened to reveal the orange and yellow mare with bags on their backs along with the tan stallion. “Hey man, nice to see you fishing again.” He said as he looked at the catch. “Yeah, let’s get cooking.” Wake said as he motioned for his friend to join him in the kitchen. “Just give me a minute I gotta do something.” He said as he walked into the living room. He opened his pendant and parred the shiny lid twice. The shiny surface glowed a faint red. An image of a light red Unicorn mare rubbing her eyes then filled the face. Her mane was a chest nut brown and her eyes were light blue. “Hello?” She said in a groggy tone. “Mom?” The mare’s grogginess soon vanished as she heard Wakes’ voice. “Wake! It’s so good to see you agin!” Wake took notice of her messy appearance. “Did I wake you or something?” “No, I was just napping.” She said with a yawn. “Where are you?” “Home.” The mare’s expression shifted to that of shock. “What are you doing back there?” “Just checking on Mix and the house.” “Wake, don’t lie to me.” The stallion then heard somepony enter the room. “Um, dude,” Dash said as she cocked an eyebrow. “Who are you talking to?” “Who was that?” The voice said. “That was my mare friend-” “Your what?” The red mare yelled. “Honestly you need to tell me these things!” Wake face hoofed and was now getting annoyed. “Mom!” He bellowed. “We have a possible sighting on a Megalodon in Colt Cod.” The mare cocked an eyebrow and looked at the stallion in shock. “Are you positive?” “Considering I just saw something that was fifty feet long rip apart a hammer head like it was a rag doll it’s a good guess.” The mare rubbed her eyes again and stood up. “I’ll be right there.” She said as the connection cut out. Wake closed the pendant and looked back at Dash who looked at him in shock. “Tell Mix to make room for one more.” “Who were you talking to?” The two then saw a bright flash of red light and the two shielded their eyes. When they looked back Dash gulped as she saw an older red Unicorn mare with a pair of rectangular glasses perched on the edge of her nose. Dash recognized the mare as the one in the family photo she had seen at Wake’s house in Ponyville. “Dash, this is my mom. Shell Diver.” He said in a nervous tone. The cyan mare gulped and felt a bead of sweat form on her brow. The red mare narrowed her eyes and adjusted her glasses. “Mom this is my mare friend Rainbow Dash.” “I see.” The mare said as she trotted forward. She then felt the aroma from the kitchen. “Ah I see that Mix is here.” “Yeah, we’re just getting ready to eat.” Wake said as he tried to calm down his mother. The red mare kept her eyes on Dash as they three rejoined the group As the lavender mare looked at Shell she almost fell out of her seat. “Oh my gosh! You’re Shell Diver!” Twilight yelled with an excited look on her face. “Yes, yes I am,” She said in a happy tone. “and you are?” “Mom, this is a friend of mine, Twilight Sparkle.” Shell looked at her son in shock. “As in student to Princess Celestia?” “Yup.” Shell smiled and shook Twilight’s hoof. “It’s an honor to meet Celestia’s pupil.” “It’s nice to meet a biologist such as yourself.” The lavender mare said. She then looked towards Fluttershy who was acting more nervous then usual. “This is Fluttershy, she’s Ponyville’s local animal expert.” “Oh I’m far from an expert.” She said in a nervous tone. The kitchen doors then opened to reveal the tan DJ. He smiled as he saw the red mare. “Mrs. Diver, so nice to see you again.” He said as he hugged the mare. “You too Mix. Thanks for house siting for me while I was in Griffonia.” She said as she returned the hug. Mix smiled and returned to the kitchen. “I’m gonna go give Mix a hoof. Play nice.” He said as he looked at Dash. Dash scowled and rolled her eyes. As the red mare glared at her she threw on a weak grin. Forty minutes later the group all sat down to eat. Wake and Mix pulled out a server with shrimp, clams, fish and a whole assortment of sea life. “Wow.” Twilight said in amazement. “Dig in.” Wake said as he sat down. The group eagerly started eating the food and talking amongst one another. Every time Dash looked up she could feel the red mare’s gaze on her. After the meal was completed and the dishes were done Shell spoke up. “So Wake, you mentioned a Megalodon?” “Right, to business.” He said as he motioned to his forehead. The mare trotted over to her son and connected the tip of her horn to his head. The ponies watched as a projection of the stallion’s memories were plastered on the wall. The mares all gasped as they saw the large hammerhead get taken down. Shell gulped and bit her lip. “Oh my.” Fluttershy said. “That thing is huge!” Dash yelled. “Yeah and I think that it’s what’s giving Colt Cod it’s shark problems.” “Why haven’t I heard about this?” Shell asked. “Take a wild guess.” Mix blurted out. “Squid?” The stallion nodded. “I wanted to send you a message, but he threatened to shut down my club.” Mix said in a defeated tone. “I see.” She said as she rubbed her chin. “It’s late and tomorrow we’ll get some evidence.” Shell said as she stood up. She trotted over and kissed wake on the had. “Mom!” “Oh come now honey, I’m your mother. It’s practically my job to embarrass you.” She said with a giggle. “Mission accomplished.” He said in a defeated tone. “Need a place to stay Mix?” “Nah man, I got to head back to my place anyway.” He said as he stood up. “See ya later.” The stallion said as he walked out of the house. The group of mares all slowly made their way to their rooms. As Dash reached the top of the stairs she saw the red mare waiting for her. “Mind if I talk to you Ms. Dash?” She said in a flat tone. “S-sure.” Dash said as she gulped. She followed the mare into her room and felt a small wave of panic take over. “Look, I don’t have anything against you personally and you seem like a nice mare.” Shell said with a sigh. “However, the last time Wake got close to somepony it backfired in the worst way.” “I’d never-” “I’m not saying you would.” She said as she held up a hoof. "I just don't want to see his heart get broken again." “Look here Mrs. Ocean expert.” She said in a strong tone. “Wake told me about his wings and his brother. I know how hard it was for him to tell me and I’d never stab him in the back like that.” She said in a challenging tone. “I’m the Element of Loyalty for a reason.” The red mare cocked an eyebrow and smiled. “Nice to see that my son has good taste in mares.” She said with a smile.“I’m just giving you a warning. If you hurt my son in anyway then I’ll use you as bait for my trip when I’m studying killer whales.” Dash gulped and felt fear creep over her. “Are we clear?” Dash shook her head in confirmation. “Great!” She said as she smiled. “See you in the morning.” Dash gulped and quietly left the room. As she walked into Wake’s the stallion saw the shocked look on her face. “You okay?” “Your mom is scary.” She said as she got into bed. “You have to be when you swim with sharks.” He said as he got into bed. Dash rested her head against his chest and nuzzled him. The two ponies held one another until they fell asleep in each other’s embrace.