Chapter 69
King Trident
Charcoal had been waiting by the pool, all alone for what seemed like a decade. He paced nervously, wondering with each passing moment whether his brother was safe. What if the flock hadn’t made it back in time? What if Trixie had been unable to set up the shields? What if-?
An incredible splash exploded from the pool, and Charcoal’s wings served as an umbrella to keep the rest of him dry. Irritably, he shook the water out of his damp wings and turned to greet his mother’s old friends.
“My, would you look at that? Little Stormwood is all grown up!” the cloud blue mare with an iridescent mane cried in a singsong voice. Charcoal cocked his head. Not many ponies even knew his last name, let alone called him by it.
“I thought it was Charcoal,” a pink mare with a spunky mane scratched her head. His inherited eye for color kicked in, and Charcoal noted that she was more of a thulian pink, far less intense a color than Pinkie Pie’s carnation pink coat.
“My full name is Charcoal Stormwood,” he clarified, casting all of them a warm smile. The pink mare beamed back.
“Oh! That makes much more sense!”
“Charcoal! Ooh, you’re all grown up!” A lime green and blue spotted mare slithered up. She was quite beautiful, and gave off a timid, shy impression, but at least at the moment, there was nothing reserved about her. She strode right up and gave the boy a big hug. He didn’t even remember the mare, and awkwardly allowed her to do so, though he said nothing. She understood immediately what she’d done wrong. “Oh dear. You probably don’t remember me, do you? My name is Kelpie. Your parents took you to see us when you were just a baby. Ooh, you were so tiny!”
“I suppose you won’t remember me, either,” the light blue mare frowned. “I’m Cascade. I used to sing you to sleep when your parents brought you to visit.”
“I’m Jet Stream. You already met High Tide and Whirl Pool.”
“Is that everyone?” the lavender mare looked around.
“No. Where’s-?”
“Charcoal Stormwood.” A dark gray mare with a ghost-like, translucent blue mane emerged from the water, circling around the pool the long way to pull herself up on the rocks beside their guest. She warmly smiled, the crinkles by her eyes displaying her age. Charcoal did not need an introduction to know who this was. “My, how you’ve grown. Your parents must be so proud.” Charcoal’s eyes welled up with pain.
“I sure hope so,” he whispered, biting his lip. Current instantly interpreted that something was wrong.
“Where are your parents, Charcoal? Surely you did not come without them?”
“I didn’t have a choice.” Yet again, Charcoal explained what had happened in Ponyville, what he knew of the changelings’ plans, and what he planned to do about it. These hippocampi had never even heard of changelings, as the mutant species had been created well after they had already isolated themselves. After explaining what changelings were and emphasizing the extreme danger, the mares listened intently, expressions filled with fear, sympathy and horror as the story transgressed. Only Current and her expert poker face remained neutral the entire time.
“And so I came here. We really need your help. If all the hippocampi return to help us defeat Chrysalis, she won’t stand a chance!”
“But didn’t you say that changeling friend of yours- Shift, wasn’t it?- overheard and accidentaly relayed the information to Chrysalis? She will be preparing for us, now,” Cascade pointed out.
“Even so, she and Kindling prepared for minimal resistance groups popping up around Equestria. She didn’t prepare for a huge army to pop up out of thin air. Hippocampi must have some line of defense, right?”
“We rely mainly on our patrols to keep land ponies away,” High Tide apologetically shrugged. “We just kick up a few waves and sing a song or two. It won’t do much against a changeling army.”
“Then how do you protect your ruler? Don’t tell me hippocampi are expected to be goody-four... er, two shoes? There must be some crazies down there.”
“Oh, girls, I think he’s talking about King Trident’s royal guard!” Jet exclaimed. No sooner had she spoken than three sets of hooves were clapped over her mouth. “Oops.”
“King Trident?”
“He is our equivalent to your Princess Celestia,” Current groaned. “He does have a royal guard, though if trouble arises in the palace, he typically takes care of it himself.”
“The entire royal family is well practiced in sea magic,” High Tide elaborated. “No one has ever dared tried to cross his majesty, because King Trident practically has the entire sea at his command.”
“I had no idea hippocampi were magic, aside from siren spells,” Charcoal mused, eyes wide. This opened up a whole new range of possibilities.
“They aren’t spells!” Cascade insisted. The girls laughed.
“We have no magic,” Kelpie agreed, “but long ago, before hippocampi isolated themselves, the alicorns gave the hippocampus king an enchanted, three-pronged staff as part of a peace treaty. The first trident.”
“He’s named after the trident?” Charcoal scratched his head.
“The trident has become a symbol of power and strength,” Current explained. “We have had many kings named after the royal symbol. Our current ruler is actually King Trident VI.”
“With his trident, the king has the power to control the seas, and even carve out new waterways in the land,” Jet Stream’s eyes filled with admiration and wonder.
“Though, he has not dared to intrude into the land masses since the split,” Whirl Pool added.
“So why all the secrecy?” Charcoal asked, recalling how the mares had at first been so reluctant to share this information with him.
“Because,” Current sighed, “he is the only one with the authority to mobilize any of our forces.”
“Then I have to speak to him!”
“NO!” all six cried.
“He hates land ponies,” Kelpie shivered.
“He’d more likely kill you on the spot,” Whirl Pool agreed.
“He doesn’t even know of our contact with your parents,” Cascade trembled. “If he found out...” she shook her head at the gruesome thought.
“Locked away for eternity, or worse,” High Tide agreed.
“Probably worse,” Whirl Pool pessimistically interjected.
Charcoal took in all the fearful mares around him. It truly would be cruel to ask such a thing of the mares who had been so kind to him when it obviously chilled them to the bone. He didn’t even remember these ponies, yet they had instantly treated him as family. At the same time, what choice did he have? The changeling menace affected them, too, whether they liked it or not, and there was no escaping that.
“Look,” he began, “I know it’s got to be hard for you, but I have to talk to King Trident.”
“What part of ‘he’ll kill you’ did you not understand?!” Whirl Pool exclaimed.
“If he doesn’t kill me, the changelings will, so what difference does it make?”
“Charcoal,” Kelpie again tenderly took his hoof in hers. “Your parents are good friends of ours. We want you to be safe.”
“No one is safe! And I’ll never even see my parents again if I don’t try!” Charcoal jerked his hoof away. The mares sadly pleaded with their eyes. Charcoal took a moment to calm himself down. “If you won’t do it for me, do it for my parents. Please, I’m begging you.” The grove fell silent.
“We do owe them that much,” Current decided, a single tear sparkling in her eye.
“Are you CRAZY?!” Whirl Pool screeched. “He’ll kill all of us! This is suicide!”
“I have his majesty’s favor. Trident may yet listen to me,” the older mare reasoned.
“Or get extra angry!”
“His parents saved my life, once. Now I must try to return the favor.” She turned to the boy. “I will take you to King Trident, and do everything in my power to help you get your parents back. With or without your help,” she looked back to the girls.
“I’ve watched land ponies my whole life,” Kelpie spoke, peering back at her cutie mark. “I’m not sure what I would do if they just disappeared. They’re sort of a part of me. I’ll do what I can.”
“If you girls are going, I’m going,” Jet loyally declared.
“Oh... what the kelp?” Whirl Pool groaned in exasperation, throwing her hooves up in defeat. “I’m in.”
“You’re forgetting something,” High Tide interrupted. “King Trident never comes up to the surface. We’d have to bring Charcoal to him, and the last time I checked, thestrals don’t breathe underwater.”
“High Tide is right,” Cascade realized. “How are we supposed to arrange such a meeting?”
“I could swim ahead and try to arrange for a meeting on the surface,” Current mused.
“Current, if you so much as mention the surface, Trident gets angry,” Whirl Pool argued. “I don’t even want to think about what he’d do if he found out there was a land pony involved.”
“I wonder if I could still go to him?” Charcoal suggested. “Do you think it’s possible to come up with an underwater breathing spell?”
“Possibly, but as I said, hippocampi are not magical,” Cascade reminded.
“Are you talking about the unicorn friend you brought?” Tide wondered.
“Exactly,” Charcoal nodded.
“What unicorn friend?” Current was instantly put on edge.
“Charcoal arrived with a couple other ponies that helped him find us,” Whirl Pool explained.
“It was an emergency and I didn’t have time to start blindly looking on my own,” he hastily justified.
“I wasn’t aware you brought company.”
“They’re still waiting on the beach,” High Tide nodded in the direction they came.
“Trident won’t be happy with one land pony, let alone several,” Jet worriedly remarked.
“I’m sure you didn’t mean any harm in bringing them, Charcoal,” Kelpie assured. “They’re your friends, after all.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say friends. I don’t know them all that well. Time Turner, the Doctor, whatever you want to call him, is just sort of odd. He and Ditzy just sort of tagged along, I guess. I’m not really sure what they’re doing here. Water Mark was really the guide. He-”
“What did you just say?” Current’s quiet voice seethed with anger, eyes cold with rage at the mere mention of the stallion’s name.
“That was...?” High Tide’s pupils shrank to pinpricks as she realized her mistake.
“Oh dear,” Cascade dipped farther into the water in an effort to escape Current’s wrath.
“NO! I will NOT work with that sickening excuse for a pony!” Current furiously dove back into the sea entrance of the lagoon, creating a tsunami of a wave in her wake. Even Charcoal’s wings could not keep him dry this time.
“Was it something I said?”
“Water Mark and Current have a bad history,” High Tide rubbed her temples.
“That’s putting it lightly!” Jet burst.
“You know your parents saved Current? They saved her from Water Mark.”
“Ooooh,” Charcoal’s eyes widened as he realized the weight of the situation. What had he done?!
“He tried to ponynap her and turn her into a circus act!” Jet offered.
“All his life, he’s been hunting her because he thought she killed his father. Actually, it was King Trident that sank his ship.”
“He actually managed to get ahold of her before Acrylic and Torchwood helped her escape.”
“We never had any more problems with him after that, so we assumed he’d given up.”
“Guess we were wrong.”
“Not necessarily. He only offered to take me when he heard I was looking for the hippocampi,” Charcoal reasoned. “Maybe he was trying to be genuinely helpful.”
“Ha!” Whirl Pool cackled. “Isn’t that a joke?”
“It does seem rather unlikely,” even the kind, soft-spoken Kelpie had to agree.
“My mom could always find the best in ponies,” Charcoal glared. “You won’t even give him a chance! Maybe he really has changed! Either way, we’re going to have to learn to work together if we want to stand a chance against the changelings!”
“Have fun convincing Current,” High Tide shook her head at the impossible task.
“If he can cast some sort of water-breathing spell, will you still take me to Trident?”
“What if he can’t?”
“What if he can?” Charcoal insisted. The girls exchanged glances. “Come on! You can’t let this one pony change your minds about everything. Even if I hadn’t brought him, you’d still have to work with him, directly or indirectly.”
“I’ll take you to Trident if he can cast the spell,” Tide reluctantly agreed.
“Thank you,” Charcoal sighed, wasting no time and dashing back through the forest. The hippocampi mares hesitantly slithered after him.
Ditzy Doo, Time Turner, and Water Mark were still waiting on the beach.
“What’s taking so long?” Time Turner impatiently paced.
“They’re probably negotiating some sort of alliance. You can’t expect them to talk about it for five minutes and be done,” his companion pointed out.
“But I’m bored,” he complained.
“Stop your whining!” Water Mark growled. He had bigger problems to worry about. Like what Current might do if she found him here. What he had done was unforgivable. He’d nearly ponynapped and exposed an innocent mare out of blind hatred for what he had thought she had done to his father. In trying to avenge him, he just brought more pain and more suffering. If helping this Charcoal fellow forge an alliance with the sea king would spare her from the changelings, then he’d do what he could to right this wrong.
“Water Mark!” Charcoal panted, emerging from the forest. A couple more faces poked out of the bushes behind him, and judging by their head fins, they were hippocampi.
“Yes? What is it, lad?”
“Do you know some sort of underwater breathing spell?” Charcoal gasped, his lack of energy from the day’s events finally showing through.
“Underwater breathing, you say?” Water Mark raised an eyebrow.
“They said they’d take me to see King Trident, but he won’t come up to meet me. So I’ll have to go down to meet him.”
“I see,” Water Mark nodded. “There is a trick we old sea dogs learned, one to keep us from drownin’ in bad storms, see. But it’ll only last ya a few minutes. Not near long enough to negotiate with the sea king and come back.”
“How long would I have?” Charcoal hopefully pressed.
“Ten minutes tops.” Charcoal’s heart sank.
“That’s not even long enough to get you to Trident,” Jet sadly informed.
“If you came with me...” Charcoal slowly speculated, “could you keep renewing the spell long enough for us to get through negotiations?”
“Charcoal, you can’t bring Water Mark with us!” High Tide hissed, zooming up to his side.
“We don’t have a choice,” he argued, pushing her away and turning back to the grizzly unicorn. “Could you?”
“Hypothetically, yes,” he nervously confirmed, heart pounding, “but I’m with the lady on this one. I don’t think it’s such a good idea for me to go down there.”
“It’s our only chance!” Charcoal begged. “Please!” Water Mark considered his options. If he went down to the hippocampus realm, he was liable to be drowned, and perhaps rightfully so, by Current or even the king himself. But this was bigger than him or even Current. The fate of Equestria was at stake.
“Alright,” he consented. “I’ll take ya.”
“Can we come too?” Time Turner hopefully put in.
“No, not the griping crab!” Water Mark groaned. “I’ve dealt with sharks more bearable than you! Charcoal, he has the attention span of a minnow!”
“Oy!”
“Only when he’s bored,” Ditzy defended.
“You’ve got to take us! I’ve sat in on more negotiations than you can count, and handled a good number of them myself.”
“Really?” Charcoal’s eyes shone with respect. Celestia knows he could use the experience right now. Maybe the stallion wasn’t so crazy after all.
“Well, most of them were off planet, actually all of them were, and a good number of those were impromptu discussions to keep the world from ending, but it’s all the same,” he confirmed with a wide smile. Charcoal groaned. Nope. Still crazy.
“He knows what he’s talking about, Charcoal,” Ditzy assured. “I swear by my ginger-lemon mini muffins!” Coming from Ditzy, that was a pretty weighty promise.
“Alright,” the thestral sighed.
“The fewer ponies the better, Charcoal,” High Tide reminded, nodding at Ditzy. Time Turner instantly came to the mare’s defense.
“She goes where I go!” he boldly declared. The determined, set look in his eyes told her there would be no negotiating on this. She threw her hooves up.
“Fine. We all go! It’ll just be one great big happy party.”
“Party? Ooh! I’ll bring the muffins!”
“Uuuuugh!”
“We’re wasting time. Let’s just go.”
“Water Mark, do whatever it is you came here to do,” High Tide irritably rolled her eyes. The stallion said nothing and ignited his horn. All four land ponies felt a slight pinch around their muzzle and throat.
“That’ll redirect the water you take in to syphon back out through your mouth,” he explained, “while filtering the oxygen out and redirecting it to your lungs. Just remember to spit out the water after each breath.”
“That’s brilliant!” Time Turner exclaimed, again pulling out his sonic screwdriver and scanning each of them with it.
“Well... it’s now or never.” Charcoal was the first to step into the water. He was hesitant to try taking a breath at first, but eventually sucked up his courage, literally, in his first breath beneath the surface. It was odd. He felt the water trickling down into his mouth, but stopped before it continued down his throat. At the same time, his lungs still filled with oxygen. He exhaled, squirting out the sea water and a few bubbles. It was an uncomfortable feeling at first, but he was getting accustomed to it. He popped back up to the surface where the others were expectantly looking to him.
“Let’s go.”