//------------------------------//
// Under the Sea 
// Story: With a Shine in His Eyes 
// by Kotushk Fier 
//------------------------------//

	King Aquus was actually quite a polite host. After exchanging minor formalities and introductions, he had me shown to a room temporarily until he could gather seaponies who had more information on their problem. The room itself was grand, with silken marble walls studded with large, luminescent pearls. Unlike land ponies, seaponies didn't have to lay down to sleep, instead, they surrounded themselves with specially enchanted bubbles that wouldn't pop. I was having fun with the bubbles when I was interrupted to speak with King Aquus. The look on my escort's face made me feel rather embarrassed for playing with the bubbles, but I'll be damned if it wasn't worth it.

After an uncomfortable walk back to the throne room, King Aquus took me behind his throne and showed me into a large conference room. Floating inside where thirteen other ponies, including Shimmer Wave. After taking my proffered place at the long table, an iridescent teal seapony floated slightly higher and began speaking.

"Now that we have a surface dweller here in this hall, we can begin to level our grievances against the surface world and..."

"No, Eel Shine, he did not come here to hear about our problems with his kind. And in fact, if you stopped stealing the kelp they fish for, you'd find your family would have far less troubles with them," King Aquus' voice rumbled out, silencing the seapony immediately.

"About why I'm here, err, why am I here?" I questioned.

"Quite a way with words you have there. I jest with you, though. But the matter itself is most grave," Aquus replied. "Recently, a weyr of seadragons has taken up residence right outside of our fair nation, and have been eating all the fish nearby. Without the fish to eat the kelp, it has begun to outgrow our efforts, growing into our homes and tearing them apart. And as a side note, the influx of magical energies from the dragons has infused the kelp to grow in a most prodigious rate. Needless to say, we need a solution, and land ponies have far more experience with dragonkind than we do. Our last seadragon sighting was over three thousand years ago."

"Hmm, unfortunately, we don't really have that much more experience, and we have hardly any experience with weyrs in general. However, show me where they nest, and I will see what I can do for you. As for the kelp, I can teach your magicians a spell to..."

"We have no magicians."

"To... To... Uhh, you don't have magicians? No magic at all down here? But... How was this palace built then?"

"Dedication and hard work. We used tools to shape tunnels in the marble that was exposed from the sea, and used those to direct currents and further the effects of erosion."

"Wow... I'm impressed. I suppose I can give copies of the spell with delayed activation, but I might need some pearls."

"Pearls? For what?" a dark grey seapony suddenly spoke up.

"I need something pure that can hold magic easily."

"Can't you use something else?"

"Pearl Duster, your family won't be losing anything from this venture. As I recall, the kelp is nearly to your home, is it not?"

"Ahh... Quite right, sire."

"As I was saying, I can give copies of the spells using pearls, and just have some of your ponies spread them across the kelp. As for the dragons, I will handle them alone. I know dragons don't normally respect ponies, and I'd rather they not be alarmed by a large contingent of ponies showing up."

"That makes sense. Pearl Duster, Eel Shine, your homes are the ones most threatened at the moment by the kelp, so your families can help with the pearl distribution. Meanwhile, I'll bring some pearls from our treasury. That way Pearl Duster won't be bringing that issue up later."

"Hey! I'm not as contentious as to do that now!"

After the conference, I was escorted back to my room to wait until King Aquus delivered some pearls for me to enchant. What it meant to them was that I was going to help them reclaim their territory. What it meant to me? BUBBLES!

Ahh, but it was not to be. Not even five minutes later, a large box of pearls arrived in my room, and I set to enchanting.