Chapter 12
Honeymoon
The reception lasted almost all night, which suited us just fine. The next train to Tall Tale Beach wasn’t until morning. That was where Torchwood was taking me for our honeymoon. It was just south of Vanhoover, but he said that there wasn’t a more romantic place in Equestria.
We were there at 5:00 A.M. for the train. The attendants took care of our minimal luggage, which was fine by me. I was almost falling asleep in Torch’s arms as it was. Though thestrals were naturally nocturnal, I’d been on Ponyville time for so long that the late night had taken its toll. If Torch was exhausted as I was, he didn’t show it. There were few other passengers on the train at this hour, so we got a whole car to ourselves. I remember that we spoke on the way there, but I’m not sure exactly what was said. I must’ve fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, I was stumbling bleary-eyed into our hotel, The Unbridled Inn, which was supposed to be named after a famous ship. I slept late with Torchwood beside me.
Morning found us still in bed, sleeping the day away. It wasn’t until almost noon that I rolled over in my sleep, accidently brushing noses with Torch and waking us both up. He gave a crooked smile that implied he wasn’t quite awake yet. I foolishly mimicked it.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he yawned.
“Hey, hon,” I sighed.
“You’re so cute when you sleep.”
“I would say the same of you, except I’ve got so much sleep in my eyes that I can’t tell.” He chuckled and pecked my nose. I smiled. We were finally married. He was all mine, and I was his. It was a good feeling. Finally, he rolled out of bed.
“Up so soon?” I groaned.
“It is almost noon,” he pointed out.
“Time doesn’t count on our honeymoon.”
“It does to the rest of the world, and that’s what matters if we’re going to make the 2:00 ferry.”
“Ferry?”
“The oceans here are the prettiest in Equestria. I thought we could go sightseeing before dinner this evening, and maybe close off with a walk along the beach?”
“Sounds fine with me,” I agreed, finally motivated enough to get out of bed. “Does the hotel offer lunch?”
“Hungry?” he laughed.
“No, but it won’t take us long to get ready, and we won’t have much to do in the meantime.”
“I think they serve three meals a day, but if not, I know of an excellent Café on the boardwalk.”
“You’ve been here before?”
“It wasn’t too far from my home in Vanhoover. I used to visit quite a lot.”
“I bet that means you already have our whole trip planned out.”
“I do know the best places,” he winked.
“I look forward to it.” With one last kiss, I finally moved onto the bathroom to get ready.
The day had gone by perfectly. We went on the ferry as planned for the most beautiful, romantic boat ride of my life. Then we browsed the boardwalk, ate dinner at a fine seafood restaurant (for seaweed, of course) and finally ended our evening with a walk on the beach. That was where our date got interesting.
“This is nice,” I sighed. The sun was going down, casting a beautiful orange and pink glow out onto the sand. We were all alone, far out on the beach. We’d glided past the hazardous rocks, giving us an exclusive stretch of coast all to ourselves. There wasn’t a pony in sight.
“I wish every night could be like this,” he agreed.
“No you wouldn’t,” I laughed. “Once in a while is nice, but you like the quiet country, not the bustling beach resort.”
“Fair enough.” I turned back for a moment to look back at our hoofprints in the sand. A wave of foaming sea water brushed over it, partially washing out the imprints. Torchwood stopped while I was distracted. We both took a seat on the sand, just watching the sun go down. I loved the smell of the sea water. The rhythmic lapping of water at our hooves was beginning to lull me to sleep. It was relaxing at this time of day.
“It’s so beautiful,” I said for what must’ve been the hundredth time that day. It wasn’t that I couldn’t think of anything more to say, it was just that I’d never before witnessed the majesty of the ocean. As a recluse in the Everfree Forest, I’d never been to the beach. Torch, realizing this, agreed the first time I’d mentioned it, but now gave compliments like, “It’s not as pretty as you,” or “The ocean makes your eyes stand out” just to switch things up a bit. I was expecting a similar comment, but Torch threw me off guard.
“You should have brought your supplies! You could’ve spent the whole day painting it.”
“But that wouldn’t be fair to you,” I argued. “What would you do while I sat around painting all day? And besides, I’d much rather spend our honeymoon with my husband.”
“I like the sound of that,” he grinned. “Besides, we should make the most of our honeymoon. Now that we’ll be living together, we’ll probably get sick of each other,” he joked.
“I’ll never get sick of you,” I assured with a smile. Torchwood moved in to close off our evening with one last kiss, but we were interrupted by a loud splash. There were no swimmers around, and I’d never heard a wave crash like that before.
“What was that?”
“There it is again!” Torchwood finally stood up, trying to get a good look around and pinpoint the source of the noise. Strangely enough, it seemed to be coming from somewhere behind us, but the ocean was ahead. There were only rocks where the noise appeared to be coming from. I resolved that the cliffs must be causing an echo, but Torchwood proved me wrong when he pointed out a small tide pool just a little ways down the beach.
We both started out at a trot, intrigued by the noise, but Torch finally broke into a canter in his curiosity.
“What is it?” I called as he reduced his pace once more. He hadn’t quite yet reached the pool to be able to tell me, so he said nothing. Just before he reached the edge of the pool, a face poked out. He reared in surprise, and even I jumped, still two yards away.
“Sorry!” the quiet voice squeaked. “I didn’t mean to scare you!” Only the mare’s eyes were visible; she was barely poking her head out from the rocks. Either the pool was far deeper than it looked, or she was hiding. From what was visible, though, I gathered that she was a lime green mare with bright eyes of almost the same hue. All the green would have been overwhelming if it hadn’t been for the bright blue spots all over her face. I don’t mean freckles, I mean spots. Even stranger was that I couldn’t make out her mane or ears. Granted, she was positioned at such an angle that if her ears were flipped down, they wouldn’t be seen, but her mane must have been cropped very short- no longer than a buzz cut. Even so, she was quite beautiful.
“Uh... miss? Do you need help?” A long, dragged out silence had ensued up to this point, the both of us staring at the mysterious mare all the while. She had stared right back, not saying a word.
“No!” she answered all too quickly. She seemed to be waiting for us to leave.
“Are you sure?” Torch suspiciously squinted, looking her over once again.
“Yes.”
“What are you doing in a tide pool?” I pressed, closing the extra distance. The face shied further away with each step I took. This did nothing for my curiosity.
“Looking... for someone,” she squeaked, almost invisible once again.
“Who are you looking for in the tide pool?”
“Acrylic, perhaps we should go,” Torch suggested, untrusting of the strange figure. I wasn’t satisfied.
“My pet,” she finally whispered, almost down to Fluttershy’s level, but not quite.
“Oh? What kind of pet? Maybe we could help you find it.”
“Really, it’s not your problem. You should just go home; it’s getting dark.”
“That’s all the more reason you should keep us around. We’re thestrals- well suited for the night.” She peered around at our wings to see if we spoke truth, but wasn’t fazed in the least. This intrigued me even more. Most ponies outside of Ponyville still jumped at first, as thestrals were still relatively new to Equestria.
“I really don’t need help.”
“I do think that you should come out of the pool, Miss,” Torchwood insisted. “You’ll catch a chill.”
“I’m comfortable where I am, thanks.”
“Are you sure?”
“Arf! Arf! Arf!” We all turned to see a young sea lion barking at us from the water.
“Monty!” The mare exclaimed, practically jumping out of the water to get a better look. She realized with a look of horror that we were still here, and desperately tried to duck back down, but I whipped around at her sudden movement. I didn’t believe my eyes at first. She’d successfully submerged again before Torchwood could see anything. I was frozen to the spot, eyes locked on the pool.
“Torch,” I gasped.
“What?” He followed my gaze, and finally took a couple hesatant paces to the pool’s edge. I was close behind, wanting one last look to confirm what I’d seen.
By now, the mare was trembling under the water, creating ripples on the surface. Even the wobbly image I found was undeniable. She was a hippocampus, a mythical merpony only thought to exist in legends.
Torchwood got over his shock much faster than I, and cast a warm smile to the hippocampus below. Since she was underwater, she wouldn’t have been able to make out anything we could have said, so he offered a hoof instead. She shied away at first, but after weighing his friendly smile against her better judgment, let him haul her back up.
“You don’t have to be afraid,” he gently assured. “We won’t harm you. Acrylic, would you go catch her sea lion? Monty, wasn’t it?” The mare quietly nodded, head bowed in fright. I numbly stumbled off, still awestruck. Hippocampi weren’t supposed to exist. Not even the princesses knew about them, or at least not to my knowledge. When Princess Luna had first returned from her imprisonment in the moon, I’d showed her a mural I painted of all the mythical ponies of Equestria. Back then, thestrals were still thought extinct, so I included one of them, too. Luna hadn’t so much as blinked at any of the other ponies, but when I mentioned thestrals, she offered an extensive lecture about their defeat. Either she had an amazing poker face, or the hippocampi had eluded even the royal sisters for eons!
I had obediently gone to fetch the sea lion, but he had other ideas. Before I knew what was going on, I was chasing the silly thing all over the beach. I was still too numb to realize that he was just toying with me. His antics were even arousing giggles from our hippocampus friend. It was putting her more at ease, but I was too frustrated at the time to notice. When he tried escaping into the water, I’d had enough, and spread my wings to glide over the creature and snatch him before he got away.
I wasn’t sure what Torch had said to the mare in my absence, but she no longer appeared fearful when I returned. In fact, she was smiling, and seemed perfectly at ease. She welcomed her pet back with a friendly nuzzle, leaving me to sit back and look on in awe.
“Acrylic, this is Kelpie,” Torch informed, already sitting beside her on the rock. I was left on the sand, finally getting a good look at her. She’d come out of the pool, now poised on top for the world to see. The sun was going down by now, sending rays of light bouncing off her already glistening tail and only adding to her majesty. She truly was a picture of beauty. Her tail was long and muscular, and held a lot of power. Around where her hips would be if she had hind legs, a cutie mark of a bright blue wave behind a strand of kelp was displayed. Her fluke was a little small, being completely opaque and almost forming a round paddle shape with webbed ends. It started as deep blue close to the center, and branched out in small, wispy tendrils before fading back to lush green. Like her back, it was speckled with blue here and there. It wasn’t as limp as it looked, either, because she held it upright to cradle her sea lion pup. Her whole body was the same lime green, speckled blue all the way down her back. However, I could now see that her whole lower jaw and her entire muzzle was blue, almost as though she had set her head down in paint. I was right when I noticed she appeared to have no ears; she had a webbed fin at the back of her jawbone instead, which seemed to hide a set of gills and ear slits. The blue from her jaw ran into the center of this fin, where it finally gave way to the green once more. The fin ended in three simple, straight points. Her mane was indeed buzz-cut length, but it was actually a very stubby fin running down to the nape of her neck instead of hair. This fin was completely edged in the same bright blue as her other spots, speckled a bit in the middle.
“It’s good to meet you,” Kelpie finally prompted when I said nothing. “I’ve never met land-dwellers before.”
“It’s good to meet you too,” I echoed, finally snapping out of my trance. “I’m Acrylic.”
“Yes, I know. Torchwood told me.”
“Ah,” I squeaked, looking between Kelpie and Torch. I didn’t like the way she looked at him. Between her sugary-sweet voice and batting eyelashes, I got the impression that she was trying to flirt. He seemed a little too intrigued by our discovery for my taste, as well.
“Where did you come from?” he asked, still grinning with amazement.
“My pod lives out past the little islands,” she replied. “But... I’m really not supposed to say anything,” she whimpered.
“Your secret is safe with us,” he assured. “Isn’t it, Acrylic?”
“Sure,” I agreed, a little agitated.
“What about you? Where do you live?”
“We live in a small town called Ponyville. It’s pretty far from here- we had to take a train.”
“What’s a train?”
“Well, a train is like...” he failed to find a comparison that she would understand.
“A boat with wheels?” I sarcastically suggested. But then his eyes lit up.
“Yes! A boat for land,” he nodded. “It takes ponies to places that are too far to walk.”
“How does it move? There are no waves to carry it on land.”
“They usually hire a team of very strong ponies to pull our trains, but I’ve also heard of some that run entirely on steam. I’m not quite sure how those work.”
“It must be amazing, living up on the surface!” she exclaimed. “I’d love to see it for myself.”
“Then why don’t you ever come up?”
“Hippocampi aren’t supposed to be seen.”
“Is that why you were hiding?” She nodded.
“I was looking for Monty. He likes to make me chase him, and I knew it was a bad idea, coming up on land, but I was afraid he’d hurt himself in the little tide pool, so I went after him. He’d already ran back to the ocean when I got here. Then I saw you two, so I hid in the tide pool.”
“We don’t bite,” I tried to joke. Only, my voice came out a little more spiteful than I’d meant for it to sound, and Torch cast me a scolding look while Kelpie winced.
“There was a time you and I would have done the same, Acrylic,” Torch reminded. I furrowed my brow, trying to decipher his meaning. Then it hit me. Thestrals used to be ‘mythical’ ponies, too. Was that what this was all about? When he looked at her, did he see a new breed of pony, or somepony in the same situation we used to be in? Now that I thought about it, there wasn’t a lot of difference between us. Hippocampi were probably as secluded as thestrals, if not more so. At least the Princesses remembered us, but they seemed to have no memory of the merponies. I snapped myself out of my silence before they had the chance to continue the conversation without me.
“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m still just getting used to the idea of another pony breed.”
“Oh, it’s alright,” Kelpie beamed, perking up instantly. “I was a little scared of you too, at first, because I didn’t know you. But now I do, and you aren’t scary in the least!” I cocked my head, slightly baffled by her reasoning. She barely knew us. Still, the apology seemed to satisfy Torchwood, and he turned his attention back to her.
“How long have hippocampi been isolated?”
“Oh, nopony remembers back that far,” Kelpie casually shrugged. “It’s always been like this.”
“Why didn’t you get along with the other ponies?”
“It’s not that we don’t get along. It’s just that we belong in the water and they belong on land. At least, that’s what they tell us. But I love watching land ponies! They’re so fascinating!”
“Believe me, we feel the same way.”
“Do you sleep underwater?”
“Of course!”
“Do you eat underwater, too? Do you drink saltwater or freshwater?”
“Well, we really don’t need to drink. We filter in enough water through our gills.” She brushed her head fins aside, revealing said gills. “Is it true that there are ponies with magic on the land?”
“Well, sure. There are alicorns and unicorns,” I answered, puzzled. Did they really not know anything about the surface? Surely she’d seen unicorn sailors, at least. Or tourists?
“And thestrals dabble in our own kind of magic,” Torchwood boasted before I could press further.
“You do? Ooh! Would you show me? Please?” Torchwood would never pass up the opportunity to pass up his fire dancing skills, but he didn’t get the chance. In a flash of orange, he was bowled over, and pinned to the ground.
“Go, Kelpie, go!” the newly arrived mare shrieked.
“Hey!” I joined in, shoving her off so Torch had the chance to get up. He was back in the fight instantaneously, summoning up his fire to scare off our attacker. Kelpie saw the first sparks and called him off.
“Wait! Everypony, stop!” I was glaring at our attacker, bent in an impossibly uncomfortable position. We were so entangled in each other that neither of us knew who had been winning. “Tide, stop! These are my friends.”
“You can’t be friends with land ponies! You can’t trust them!” I dropped to the ground like a rock when she let go. She must’ve held the advantage after all. Upon picking myself up, I noticed for the first time that I’d been grappling with another hippocampus. This one was bright orange, with a pale yellow underbelly and blue spots on the top of her head like Kelpie. Her eyes, however, were an even deeper blue than mine, and her mane’s fin was fashioned into a mohawk, reminding me of a swordfish. It started out pale yellow, then graduating to orange and finally ending in blue streaks, just like Kelpie’s. Her head fins, too, were edged in blue. Her cutie mark depicted a red surfboard, stuck upright but a little crooked. Her fluke looked nothing like Kelpie’s. It was much longer and looked more like a fish. It looked a lot like her mane, though unlike the Mohawk it both started and ended with blue, streaked and spotted in an erratic pattern. It was also more on the translucent side, unlike our friend’s which was completely opaque.
“They’re different from other land ponies,” Kelpie whimpered. “They promised not to tell.”
“Oh, they promised, did they?” she sneered. “That’s what they’ll tell you. The next thing you know, they’ll be crawling all over our islands!”
“We’ve kept our fair share of secrets,” Torchwood retorted, back rigid and head held high. He wasn’t going to look weak in front of this mare, but he didn’t look too imposing either. He was standing his ground, but looked almost diplomatic in doing so.
“I doubt you’ve kept a secret as big as this in your whole life. Ponies like you live your own perfect lives up there on the surface. Why can’t you just leave us alone and let us live out our own perfect life?”
“We’ve kept this exact same secret for most of our lives,” I insisted. Her eyes narrowed.
“You’ve known about hippocampi?”
“No, we’ve known about thestrals.”
“Bah! Everypony knows about thestrals. I know about thestrals!”
“You do?”
“Everypony knows the seven pony types. We’re the only ones that know about the eighth. That’s us, the sea ponies.”
“Wait, there are eight?”
“Duh. Unicorns, alicorns, destrals, thestrals, pegasi, earth ponies, hippogryphs and hippocampi.” Torch and I exchanged glances. The orange mare looked unsettled. “What?”
“There are only five ponies,” I slowly corrected. “Alicorns, unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies and thestrals. But I guess hippocampi does make six.”
“What happened to hippogryphs and destrals?”
“Destrals haven’t been seen in eons. They’re extinct. And hippogryphs? They’re just legends.”
“They do too exist!” she insisted.
“Do you really think there could be another pony type we didn’t know about?” Torch breathed. “We were supposed to be extinct, too. And we didn’t know about hippocampi until just now.”
“You’re saying that thestrals were isolated, too?”
“For the last thousand years,” I nodded. She seemed to soften at this. “But we came back. You can, too!”
“NO!” she roared.
“Why not?”
“We’re just too different. We’re not compatible.”
“Aren’t you even a little curious, High Tide?” Kelpie spoke. “This could be our chance to see the land!”
“That’s not our call, Kelp. Let’s just go home. And you should, too.” She jabbed a hoof at us.
“But Tide,” Kelpie whined.
“I said come on.” She started back for the water, curling her tail underneath her to use it like a third leg, almost in the same manner Kelpie’s sea lion did. Kelpie was no match for High Tide, and submissively crawled after her. Monty bounded ahead, racing them back to the ocean. Kelpie paused before ducking under, waving farewell. High Tide looked back at us once Kelpie had disappeared. “You two are alright,” she finally decided. With that, she followed Kelpie to their home under the sea.