Trixie had no idea if her eyes were playing tricks on her or if this was too good to be true, but as she walked out of the door along with her group, her eyes rested upon a hallway that was made entirely of sapphire and silver, with golden streets branching off in multiple directions to all sorts of different looking rooms. While those rooms grabbed a small portion of her attention, her main focus was upon the ponies that walked the halls of this magnificent city. They looked similar to the pony in the Temple of Giants, but instead of having a cold glare they all had smiles on their faces as they conversed with each other.
"Is this...Atlantis?" Starshine asked in disbelief as he and the others walked into the magnificent chamber where Trixie was standing. His question was not lost on the residents of the sunken city, and they looked over at the group with some curious expressions, but also with smiles as one of the ponies broke away from the others and walked towards the group.
"My, my, can it be? Surface dwellers in our city?" he asked with a bit of an accent as he looked over the group with a smile on his face, his eyes resting on Trixie. He was a greenish color of pony with a long mane of seaweed on his head in place of his mane, but he smiled at the group and did a slight bow in front of Trixie. "But it cannot be. No surface dweller is as beautiful as the pony I see in front of me."
"While I thank you for the compliment, I must warn you that flattery is wasted on me," Trixie said as she returned to bow, the others following suit as they too looked over the sea pony. "I will admit, though, that I am still in shock over just how beautiful the city still is. I would have thought after a thousand years under the ocean..."
"Why would ponies that live in the sea have trouble managing a city that is under the waves?" he asked her with a chuckle as he looked towards the door they had come through. "I did not know that this teleporter still worked. And what do you mean, 'a thousand years ago'? All that matters is the present, not how long the city has been bathing. It will rise eventually, but now is not the time to talk about future events, it is time for the present. Now then, since you are the first guest we've had in a while, how would you like to see the city, in all its glory?"
"That would be so cool!" Starshine said with a smile before he groaned and held his head.
"What is the matter, Starshine?" Trixie asked in concern as he groaned again, the sea pony chuckling.
"That must be the excitement getting to him, since one of his age rarely gets to see such a sight," the sea pony said before a look of disbelief crossed his face. "And by Poseidon, I seem to have lost my manners and forgotten to introduce myself. I am Aquarius the Second. Just call me Aquarius though, and I am at your humble disposal." Armora rolled her eyes as he bowed again, but Trixie returned the bow graciously and gave him their names, not wanting to offend them in their home. "This way if you would, we have a lot of room to cover."
"Can we trust him?" Bark whispered to Trixie as Aquarius began talking about the hallway they were in, mentioning how all of this silver came from trades with the two princesses.
"We have to," Trixie whispered back. "I don't want this to be a repeat of your pack. I'd rather not have to fight my way out of a city sitting at the bottom of the ocean." Bark backed off a bit as Trixie looked around at all the sea ponies who watched them as they went by, where she could see some slight suspicion as well as a hint of worry in their eyes. 'It is to be expected. If I recall, the last time they met a surface pony was when Sombra tried to rule over them. That would make me suspicious of surface ponies as well.'
"And this is the one of the many places where we can observe the sea life," Aquarius said to break Trixie out of her thoughts, revealing to her a circular room filled entirely of glass.
"Um, I don't see anything," Starshine said as he winced again and Aquarius smiled, stamping his hoof on a circle in the center of the room. Trixie and the others (except Bark) gasped as the sea outside of the glass room, where thousands of crystals had lit up and cast their pale light into the sea, revealing thousands of sea life that swam around outside of the glass. Trixie couldn't name the number of creatures that swam around outside, even though she did try, and found herself amazed by the number of creatures that she couldn't name.
"It is incredible," she whispered to herself, Aquarius chuckling to himself as he walked up beside her.
"It is only the second most beautiful image in here," he said with a wink at Trixie, who rolled her eyes in response as Aquarius turned back towards the hall. "Come, there is more to see...ha, and then we will stop by the great hall for food. You must be hungry after such a long journey to find us." Just as he said this, both Bark's and Armora's stomachs growled, causing Aquarius to laugh. "Maybe I should make lunch our first stop." The group followed him into a hall that was twice as magnificent as the one they had entered, filled with sea ponies who talked with one another, but fell silent as Trixie and her group entered.
"Fear not my friends, they are our guest," Aquarius called out to the others. "And we shall treat them as such for as long as they stay. So instead of being afraid, how about we instead celebrate having some new blood here?" The other sea ponies let out a hearty cheer and Aquarius motioned for Trixie and her group to sit at a table, while he ran off to get something for them.
"I take it that none of you mind seafood?" he asked, as he placed a number of interesting plates in front of the group once he had returned, ranging from seaweed salad to a multitude of fishes. Trixie looked at the salad with interest, but then the fish caught her eye.
"I do not wish to be rude, by I try to avoid meat," she said as politely as she could.
"That is fine, I know that those on the surface do not have the same ways as us," Aquarius said as Bark began sniffing the fish, before grabbing it and swallowing one of them whole. Starshine took one of the small salads and quickly downed it as well, shaking his head in amazement.
"Wow, this is actually really good for fish food!" he exclaimed as he ate the rest of it, leaving Aquarius to chuckle.
"I do not know whether to be insulted or grateful" he said with a shrug as he looked over at Armora, who sat looking around with a frown on her face. "Is there a problem, Miss?" Armora hissed in response and Aquarius raised an eyebrow as he looked to Trixie. "I did not quite catch that."
"I'm still not quite certain what she says at times, but I think she's saying that she feeds on love or love potions," Trixie said, smiling as Armora nodded her head to show she got it right. Aquarius placed a hoof under his chin, frowning as he thought.
"I do not know if we have anything like that, but I can go look for you," he offered, taking off once Trixie had nodded before spinning around to bow to her before taking off again.
"So, what are your first impressions?" Bark asked her after he had finished off his fish. "They seem like the friendly sort."
"If you ask me, they're a bit too friendly for my tastes," Trixie said as she looked around at the other sea ponies, some of whom waved at her as she looked. "I consider it to be suspicious."
"Maybe that's because you've spent so long getting the cold shoulder and being hated, that any act of kindness seems suspicious to you?" Starshine offered as he tried to sneak Trixie's salad, sighing when she used her magic to move it away from him. "So far they seem really nice, and if this had been anywhere else somepony would have tried to kill us by now." Trixie conceded his point and began to wonder if she was just being paranoid.
'Maybe I have forgotten what it's like to just be accepted,' she thought as Aquarius came running back over with a red vial in his teeth.
"I can't believe that I actually managed to find one," he said as he tossed Armora the vial of love potion. "We haven't had a need for potions in a long time. Or any magic for that matter."
"Why is that?" Trixie asked.
"Well that's because...because..." he said as he looked more and more confused, but then he shook his head and his smile returned. "No idea. Come on, I want to show you something cool." This time he led the group into a chamber filled with all sorts of weapons and a mat on the ground, where Trixie and the others looked around the training room with interest.
"Very interesting, but why show us this?" she asked as Aquarius walked over to the weapons rack and hefted a trident off of it, spinning the weapon around a few times before he walked up to a training dummy.
"Because since you're surface dwellers, I was wondering if any of you had seen another sea pony while you were up there," he asked as he began to strike the dummy multiple times. "Because that pony was my father. He was sent up there to recover something that was stolen by one of the most evil and foul beings to ever place his unworthy hooves in Atlantis." Starshine opened his mouth to answer, but Trixie cut him off wit a shake of her head.
"We did find another sea pony, but he was already dead by the time we found him," Trixie said with a hint of suspicion. The sea pony had to have been in that temple for well over a thousand years, yet Aquarius was talking as if his father had left yesterday.
"That is too bad, he was really one of the best," Aquarius said as he decapitated the dummy before turning and placing the trident on the rack again. "What came of the infidel who stole from us? What became of Sombra?" Starshine once again tried to answer, but once again Trixie cut him off.
"He was sealed in ice by the two princesses a thousand years ago," Trixie said carefully, watching for his reaction. Upon hearing the news, Aquarius let a huge smile cross his face.
"That is good; glad to see that the princesses are still our allies," he said as he walked by them, muttering to himself just loud enough so that Trixie could hear him. "Wonder when their supplies will get here though. It has been a while." She raised an eyebrow at this statement and wondered if he was really all there. On the way to the next sight, Trixie noticed that they passed by a massive golden door that was adorned with all sorts of priceless jewels and gems, not to mention it was five times bigger than all the other ones.
"That's where our king lives," Aquarius said with a smile as he caught where she was looking. "He likes his privacy, but if the four of you want, I'm sure I can get you to see him tomorrow if you want. By the way, you never did say why you came down here in the first place." Trixie cast a quick look at her friends, who all nodded silently in agreement.
"We came down here looking for an item," she said. "A trident that was said to be left here by Star-Swirl the Bearded. It has been written that he came to visit you...a while ago, and that he left an item with you as a sign of friendship." Aquarius placed a hoof to his chin in thought before a smile broke out on his face.
"Oh yes, I remember him now. Yes he did bring a most magnificent gift for us, but sadly he left before he got to meet the king," Aquarius said as he shook his head. "Said he was in a rush and something about trouble in Canterlot. How is Canterlot these days?"
"It is fine," Trixie said. "What happened to this gift?"
"It was a trident unlike any I have ever seen," he responded. "Filled with gems that made it glow in the under sea light. So naturally we gave it to our king as soon as we could. He was upset about not being able to meet Star-Swirl, but he eventually got over it. My goodness, it has gotten late, hasn't it? I must take you to your rooms for the night."
"There is no need for that," Bark interjected. "We can head back up to the surface and come back down in the morning. There is no need for you to-"
"Nonsense, this could be your only chance to say that you have slept in Atlantis," Aquarius said to cut him off. "It is a chance that you cannot pass up. Besides, the teleporter only works when there is sunlight out; you will not be able to use it." Trixie and Armora both looked at each other with a bit of hesitation, but knew that it would be impolite to decline. "Great, let me show you the way to your chambers."
"Why aren't we telling him about Sombra?" Starshine whispered to Trixie once Aquarius was out of ear shot. "Doesn't he deserve to know?"
"It doesn't matter now," Trixie muttered back. "Besides, I don't want to bring back any painful memories. Also, if they find out he's alive they might launch an assault against the surface, and that's something no pony wants."
"Will you each be having your separate room?"
"No, we will split them in two," Trixie said as she placed a hoof on Starshine's shoulder. Aquarius smiled and opened the door to one room for Trixie, bowing slightly as she passed by. Trixie smiled nervously in response and entered the room, once again having her breath taken away by how it looked. She had expected the blue color of the sheets on the beds, but she had never expected a small observatory in a part of the room along with a glass floor that allowed her to see the sea creatures as they swam by.
"I will come by to check on you later," Aquarius said as he winked at Trixie before showing the other two their own rooms, leaving Starshine free to jump on the bed and begin bouncing.
"It's a water bed!" he exclaimed with a smile as he continued to bounce until Trixie caught him with her magic and place him on the floor. "So what's up with that Aquarius? He seems to really like you."
"He's just being nice," Trixie responded as she looked down through the floor. "That's all."
"If you say so," Starshine said with a shrug as he went into the side bathroom. "Whoa, there are fish in this toilet! Or does this go to the sea? What do you think would happen if I clogged the toilet? Would the whole sea come in?"
"All I know is if you try it, you're going to be in a lot of hot water," Trixie responded as she laid down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling with a bit of confusion. She had read in the books that the sea ponies had been much more hostile towards the surface dwellers ever since Sombra had invaded, but in pony, they were as nice as any pony that didn't know her would be. Was this another case of the books being wrong or was it something else? But she was grateful to be able to talk to a pony without fear of having them run away screaming at the mention of her name, like the monster she was.
'I wonder how Sombra got over being hated so much?' she thought to herself as Starshine came out of the bathroom with a few more towels than he should have. After a brief explanation and a longer clean up period, Starshine jumped onto one of the beds to go to sleep.
"Hey Trixie?" he asked her. "It's really cool down here. Do you think it would be cool to live down here?"
"I don't know, Starshine, I kinda like he sun," she responded as she gazed at the sea life swimming by the window.
"But down here there's no pony that tried to hurt you or is afraid of you," he brought up. "They all seem really nice down here and they all seem like friends with each other. Would it be so bad to live down here, away from the hate?" Trixie had to think about her answer, but by the time she had Starshine had already fallen asleep. She shook her head with a smile as she pulled the covers up over him, gently kissing him on the forehead before heading out of the room to check on the others. Once she was certain they were fine, she began to wander the halls, unable to sleep.
'I wonder what the king is like?' she thought as she walked, noticing just how quiet it was at night and how empty the halls seemed when all the sea ponies were gone. In fact, without all the life in the halls, the art looked dusty and forgotten while the statues seemed to be falling apart. 'Will he be willing to let me borrow the trident or will what Sombra did in the past be too much of a wound...actually, I never did ask Sombra why he took that filly. The books say that he took it to use in his own dark ritual for immortality, but he can still be killed, so he obviously never went through with it. In fact, none of the books ever say what happened to the filly. I wonder-?'
"What are you doing in these halls so late?" Trixie snapped out of her thoughts and turned to see Aquarius standing beside her, with some armor on and a blue lantern in his hoof with a trident across his back. "You should be in your room at these hours. The sea can be dangerous at night."
"I am sorry, I just had to clear my mind," Trixie said with a sigh as she turned to head back, but Aquarius placed a hoof on her shoulder to stop her.
"Is something the matter? I can listen if you need me to," he offered. Trixie almost said no on instinct alone, but something stopped her this time. She remembered what the others had said about her being paranoid and becoming a recluse...and maybe she had become that after so long in exile. And if she was going to try to be nicer and friendlier...why not start with somepony who was nice in return?
"Starshine asked me if I would like to live down here," she said, Aquarius looking surprised.
"And you said...?"
"I don't know," she said with a sigh, looking out one of the windows. "I do enjoy life on the surface, but up there everypony is so...cruel to me, to everypony who travels with me. But down here everypony is nice and friendly and...it's just something that I'm not used to. Being treated...not as a monster, but as a regular pony." Aquarius lowered his head as he heard this, knowing what she was saying all too well.
"Most sea ponies are actually, if you'll pardon the sea pun, in the same boat as you," he responded. "Most of the surface dwellers despise the sea ponies because of how we look and act, most of the time without even getting to know us. Whenever Celestia and Luna called meetings, we would have to be snuck into the city so the ponies didn't riot--all because we look different," he said with a snarl before looking over at Trixie. "But I'm glad to see that not all ponies are so narrow minded...and that they can be beautiful." Trixie rolled her eyes again, but this time did turn away a bit to hide a slight blush.
"I can say the same for you. I had read legends that the sea ponies were a warlike race, but I can see now that you all are kind ponies that love to live," she said with a smile. "And thank you for the kind words. It has been a long time since I have heard anypony say something like that to me."
"Then the ponies on the surface must be more blind than I thought," he said as he gently took her hoof and kissed it. "Because I would give my life a hundred times over for somepony as kind and generous as you. Now if you excuse me, I need to go. If I get caught not taking my guard duty seriously again, it's latrine duty for a week. Farewell!" He waved to Trixie as he walked away, while Trixie raised a hoof slightly to return the wave before she turned to head back. She entered the room, where the first thing she heard were the sounds of Starshine snoring as she slipped into her own bed, looking out the window as a tentacle scared off a group of fish.
'Maybe you're right Starshine,' she thought as she turned over and closed her eyes. 'Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here.'