**Chapter 6**
Coral columns spiraled their way up to meet balconies and hold up the huge white and blue building that was the Seapony's castle. They all stopped to state in awe, save for Discord, who put his lion's palm up, but refrained from using magic thanks to a smug glance from Luna. The tops of very pointed towers disappeared into the aqua blue water above.
A Seapony was chatting idly into a phone as she strolled by, navigating carefully through the busy street. She -her top half- was a pony with a mane the color of the sunset, and it ranged from orange to pink to purple. It was slightly wavy and was pinned down by a clip with a couple of pearls stuck together, with a small, very dark grey shell in the middle of the row. Her tail was light purple with even lighter blue or orange borders around the scales.
A pink, opaque, silky fabric covered her tail, and was attached to her front (and only) hooves by two gold bracelets with small diamond chips engraved. In those hooves the Seapony carried some bags from a shop of some sort. She wore only a little makeup too, which somehow didn't wash off, and sunglasses on her head.
The other Seaponies wore and looked similar, but with differing sizes -from tall to short- and colors. Their houses were similar to the ones in Canterlot, the city they were in being the most formal of them all since it was the capital. The only difference was that all of them were made of coral, shells, and the occasional medium-sized pearl adorning the front doors like wreaths.
"...Yeah!...I know right! So unfair," The Seapony, who was about the age of a teen, seemed to be complaining about something. "Bye, gotta go Sandy, mom wants me to more extra studying, ugh..."
After ending the call, the she leaned over slightly to put the shell-phone in her handbag. The Seapony seemed to loose balance of the paper shopping bags she was carrying in her hooves, and one filled with more of the opaque, silky fabric slipped off one of them and tumbled down.
It was caught by a light blue aura, and it's spilled contents magically moved back to the bag. Mesmerized, the Seapony stared at it. No Seapony could use magic, so they weren't used to seeing objects begin to float ominously. She looked even more surprised when she saw Luna and her companions, her blue eyes widening as big as dinner plates. The Seapony was immediately on the cement of the sidewalk in a bowing position.
"Get up, please. There's no need for that," Rainbow Dash answered casually. "We just wanna talk to your princess...queen, whatever."
"Q-Q-Queen P-Pearl's in the palace, she'll be in her throne. Can't miss it," The Seapony answered, getting over her nerves halfway through the first sentence, and her face beginning to show bewilderment.
"Thank you."
"Wait, I know what a pony is, and that isn't one!" She pointed to Discord.
"Well, how rude. I'll let you know that I'm Discord, God of Chaos," Discord huffed, crossing his arms defiantly.
Right then, a nearby clump of seaweed just happened to turn bright purple with blue polka dots.
"Oh. Sorry. I'm Sunset Burst, but you can call me Burst."
"Nice meeting ya, Burst, maybe we'll se you later," Rainbow Dash answered.
Sunset Burst stared a bit at the now departing travelers, then rushed home to tell her mom the news of the ponies in Aquarius.
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"Greetings, Queen Pearl," Luna said with a formal bow. "I am Princess Luna, Princess of the Night."
"Hmm, ponies in Aquarius, how nice they're finally paying a visit. I could finally get to know my strongest ally," Queen Pearl mumbled to herself, before addressing Luna. "Greetings to you as well, fellow ruler. And what, might I ask, may you be doing in our humble city?"
The queen was a Seapony with a ethereal mane, like Celestia and Luna. However, her mane seemed to be shorter, it didn't flow out quite as long. She was a light gray color with a shimmering silver mane. Queen Pearl was also a bit larger than other Seaponies, similar to the height difference between equine royalty and their subjects. However, the thing that stood out the most weren't her startlingly bright pink eyes, it was the fact that she had two silvery tails.
'Wow, what is that thing?! Our history and geography teachers never mentioned that...' Rainbow Dash thought to herself, frowning at the thought of school.
She then shook her head vigorously and thought to herself, 'No, no thinking about school during Summer Vacation.'
Dash exchanged looks with her sisters and saw that they thought the same.
"Well, we'd like access to the portal. You know, the one to the Solar Kingdom."
"Oh, of course! Our closest ally is always welcome to use the portals we guard. That thing is just catching dust anyway..."
'Ugh! Is this...Seapony thing...well, she probably isn't a thing...okay, Seapony, ever gonna stop droning on?' Dash thought, barely refraining from pulling her face down and groaning.
Apparently, Queen Pearl didn't. At least it seemed to be so. She kept them there talking for hours, though about a quarter through the whole thing she led them to a separate room, this one much more fancy than the other one back at Canterlot where Luna had last talked about their plans in detail. Most of the plan.
Suddenly, the boring half-conversation (Queen Pearl was the only one talking most of the time) was interrupted by another Seapony coming in, and not particularly quietly, either.
"Mother, the- wait, who're these...ponies? In Aquarius?"
The queen's eyes lit up and she motioned her daughter to sit in a medium-sized chair next to her. "Come, Rolling Wave, sit. We can finally show you to converse properly with the neighboring kingdoms!"
"Mother, I told you, I like the name Dad gave me!"
"First of all, I know he insists you call him 'Dad', but around me, please call him 'Father'," Queen Pearl paused to put her face in her hooves. "Second, 'Tsunami' is a reckless name. Your father and I talked about this!"
"But Mother, I-"
Tsunami looked identical to her mother, except for the double tail and pelt color. She had a simple brown mane tied into an intricate bun, which was tied by a dark blue thread. Her pony half itself was light blue, and her tail was slightly darker with silver lining her scales.
"No, we have guests right now. We shall discuss this later, Rolling Wave."
Tsunami slumped in defeat, but quickly regained her posture thanks to a glare from her mother.