//------------------------------// // The first of many encounters // Story: Awakening // by punisher143 //------------------------------// When did my life become so complicated? The past few weeks have been insane, with me and Dash being chased by the closest thing to a demon I can think of. And now, I found myself face to face with a myth. -Excerpt from Twilight Sparkle’s journal, dated two days after leaving Ponyville. Celestia’s sun rose over the horizon, lighting up the world for the day. It also stirred Rainbow Dash awake, who was sleeping on a cloud. Dash opened an eye and cursed the sun a little before stretching and turning to Twilight, who was still asleep. Rainbow started nudging Twilight awake. “Hey Twilight, its morning we gotta go,” Dash said. Twilight fidgeted and turned away from Dash. “Five more minutes, Spike,” she mumbled. Dash gave her a look. “Don’t start that with me. I’ll give you this one time; you tell me that again I’ll dump you in the river.” With that said Dash glided off the cloud and landed next to said river. Dash dunked her head under the water, took a gulp, and resurfaced swallowing the water and shaking off the excess water in her mane. She blinked her eyes free of water and looked around the forest to ensure she was alone. When she found she was, Rainbow just sat and admired the clear weather. She heard a splash from the river and looked down. In the river Dash saw a pony’s head sticking up. She was a mint green unicorn with a white stripe in her mane and she was looking at Rainbow contemplatively. Dash arched an eyebrow at the sight. ‘Why does she look familiar?’ Dash thought. The unicorn eyes widened and she smiled one of the biggest grins Dash had ever seen and swam closer. “Hey, are you a real Pegasus?” she asked. Dash raised her eyebrow higher and looked around before pointing a hoof at herself. The unicorn nodded, still keeping that grin on her face. “Um…yes?” Dash said. The unicorn mouth opened in surprise and then she screamed in joy and jumped out of the water. Dash was surprised to find instead of hooves that she had fins and a curled tail. “Oh my gosh, a real Pegasus! I’ve only heard stories about your kind,” she stopped jumping around and looked at Dash with that large grin of hers. “Hey, do unicorns and earth ponies exist too?” Dash just stared at her, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. The little staring match of theirs ended when Dash held up a hoof. “Wait here for a second,” she said and the unicorn nodded. Dash flew up to where Twilight was still sleeping and nudged her again. “Twilight get up, I need you opinion to make sure I’m not crazy.” “Five more minutes,” Twilight murmured. Dash gave her a look and pointed a hoof at her. “I warned you the first time,” she said and tugged Twilight out of her cloak and picked her up. She flew down to the river and dropped her in. Twilight resurfaced a second later coughing and glared at Rainbow Dash. “What was that for?!” Twilight shouted at Dash. “You wouldn’t wake up. By the way, is there really something there or am I hallucinating?” Dash asked and pointed to the other unicorn in the water. Twilight followed the hoof and met the unicorns eyes, widened in surprised and staring with admiration. She swam up to Twilight and touched her horn with a fin. “A unicorn too?! THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE!” She shouted and clapped her fins together. She stopped and stared at Twilight with that big grin. Twilight blinked a couple times before turning back to Dash. “Do you mean the seapony next to me?” Twilight asked. “That’s what a seapony looks like?” Dash asked. Twilight swam to the bank of the river and shook the water out of her coat. “I don’t know, they’re just myths, can I go back to bed now?” The seapony looked at them in shock. “I’m a myth to you?” she asked, the shock turning into pure joy. “That is so awesome!” She started jumping in the water again while Rainbow and Twilight continued to talk. “No, you can’t go back to bed, it’s already morning anyway,” Rainbow said. Twilight looked at the rising sun. “Oh, so it is. Where did you put my stuff,” Twilight looked at the jubilant seapony, “and why does she look like Lyra?” “That’s where I recognized her from!” Dash exclaimed. “Oh, and your stuff is on the cloud. I’ll get it.” Dash then flew up to the cloud, leaving Twilight alone with the seapony, who was staring at Twilight again. “AND there’s a pony that looks like me too?!” She then gave a squeal that could very possibly have been heard from a few miles away. “This IS the greatest day of my life! I’m so happy I could-“ she stopped swimming and sniffed the air. She sniffed around her and then moved closer to Twilight, who was giving her an odd look, and sniffed again and recoiled back. “You smell like doom,” she said. “I beg your pardon?” Twilight asked. Seapony Lyra sniffed at her again. “Yeah, you smell like impending doom. Or maybe it’s imminent demise,” she sniffed again, “Nope, it’s definitely doom. Demise smells like hot chocolate with cinnamon while doom is more like…burning lemons. You get what I’m saying?” “Not at all,” Twilight replied and Dash landed next to her, saddlebags and Twilight’s cloak on her back. “What’s this about lemons?” Dash asked as Twilight took her cloak. “You two should probably take care of that doom thing soon, it’s not healthy,” Seapony Lyra said, waving a fin at Rainbow and Twilight. “Yeah, we're trying to figure that out. Any other helpful advice you wish to impart?” Dash asked sarcastically. “Sure,” Seapony Lyra said and her face grew serious, “Your journey will be hard one, but persevere and it will end at the core.” She then regained her incredibly happy grin. “That’s it.” Twilight finished putting her cloak and saddlebags on and joined Dash in staring at the Seapony. “What is that supposed to mean?” Dash asked. “I don’t know I’m just a messenger. Well, good luck with the whole ‘doom’ thing!” Seapony Lyra started flopping backwards. “Shoo be doo, shoo shoo be doo!” With a final splash, she disappeared into the water, leaving Twilight and Rainbow staring at the ripples. “Do you have any idea what just happened?” Dash asked and turned to Twilight, who shook her head. “Not at all,” Twilight said and turned away from the river, “Let’s get moving.” Twilight started walking away and Dash spared one more glance toward the river before following. Silence had swallowed any possible conversation Twilight and Dash may have had. After a few minutes of walking, Dash finally sighed. “It’s been a weird time for us, hasn’t it?” Dash asked. “Yeah, I guess it has been,” Twilight replied, “I’m actually surprised seaponies actually exist.” “Yeah, same here; why was it in a river anyway?” “Well, the books I’ve read on them said that they live in any body of water. Now that I think about it, there were several different stories about them” This actually caught Dash’s attention. It also helped that his was the first real conversation they had for a while. “Like what?” she asked. “Well, one story said that Seaponies helped troubled sailors who were shipwrecked during a storm. Another one said they were incredibly deceptive predators that could drag a sailor under the water down to their deaths.” “So, I guess the first one is the most accurate?” Dash asked. Twilight couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, I guess.” Twilight said and perked up when a thought struck her. “You know, I remember a song about them when I was a filly. It always put me to sleep when mom sang it to me.” “Oh really, how did it go?” Dash asked. By the time they reached Fillydelphia, Dash regretted asking that question. “Call upon the Seaponies when you’re in distress,” Dash said in a low voice, “I hate you so much Twilight, you better send an S.O.S.” Surprisingly she was keeping in tone to the song. “I’m sorry, I forgot how much it sticks in your head,” suffering the same earworm as Dash. Twilight then noticed the city coming toward them. “Hey, we’re here!” “Oh thank goodness, maybe I can finally get this song out of my head. So, what’s the plan again?” Dash asked. “Hopefully, we get a hotel for the night,” Twilight said and sighed, “but be ready to move if tall, dark, and gruesome shows up.” “Yeah, but we may get lucky. It might not like cities,” Dash said. Twilight sighed and started toward Fillydelphia. “We can only hope.” It didn’t take Twilight and Rainbow long to find a decent hotel at a decent rate. There was only one problem with the room. “There’s only one bed,” Dash said. Even so, this wasn’t much of a problem. Twilight took off her saddlebags and lay down on the bed. “It’ll do for now,” Twilight said and summoned up her journal and quill. “Besides, if you want to sleep outside and keep watch, you can.” Twilight then opened the journal and started writing. Rainbow took off her saddlebags and joined Twilight on the bed, lying on her back. The two of them didn’t say anything, Dash just staring at the ceiling and Twilight writing. Eventually, Dash hopped off the bed. “Well, I’m bored, I’m going out.” Twilight stopped writing and looked at Dash. “Where are you going?” Twilight asked. “I’m just going to a corner store. You want anything?” “Not particularly.” “Ice cream it is, good choice,” Dash said and left the room. Twilight shook her head and returned to her journal. Rainbow Dash was in a surprisingly good mood as she left the hotel. She noticed a group of foals playing nearby. She walked down the street and spotted the kind of store she was looking for. Rainbow trotted over to the street the store was on and tripped over the curb. Dash looked angrily at the curb and continued on her way, passing by an exercising stallion, and entered the store. The store wasn’t very impressive, but it was a cheap corner store. Rainbow made her way to the drinks and grabbed a soda. She slipped a little on a puddle on her way to the front, where she grabbed an ice cream bar and paid for the items. With around 10 bits lighter, Dash left the store and made her way back to the hotel. Dash noticed that the sun was starting to set. ‘It’s dusk already?’ Dash thought. That train of thought was interrupted when the playing foals nearby kicked an errant ball at the wall near Dash. “Hey watch it!” Dash yelled at them, who shrugged and continued playing. Dash smiled and shook her head and entered the hotel. Seaponies! I couldn’t believe it but they actually exist. Although the one we met was a little weird, I’m sure she is just a one off case. Although I am curious as to why she looked like Lyra. I wonder if- Twilight heard the door open and Rainbow Dash walked in. “I’m back, here’s your ice cream,” Dash said and tossed the treat at Twilight, who caught it with her magic. Dash then got on the bed and worked on opening her soda. “That didn’t take long,” Twilight said. Dash nodded and succeeded in opening the soda and took a drink. “You didn’t happen to see a newspaper while you were there, did you?” Dash shook her head and looked at Twilight’s journal. “You’re writing about that seapony?” Dash asked and Twilight nodded. “Eh, she was weird. What do you think she was talking about? Your ice cream is gonna melt.” Twilight complied and opened the wrapper and continued writing. “I’m not sure, but things like this tend to make sense in retrospect. So, by the time it will make sense to us it probably will be useless.” Twilight took a bite from the ice cream. “What flavor is this?” “Strawberry,” Dash answered. “This is really good.” Twilight said, took another bite, and finished the entry she was working on. ----------------------------------- I wonder if there is a whole civilization of seaponies out there? When this is over I’ll have to investigate that. -Twilight Sparkle ---------------------------------- Twilight re-read what she wrote and put the journal away satisfied. Dash finished her soda and moved to the window. “It’s almost night, so I’m gonna keep watch.” Twilight nodded and Dash flew outside. Twilight started planning what to do tomorrow and took another bite of ice cream. Unfortunately, she took a very large bite and was soon fell off the bed clutching her head. There you go! I find it really amusing to think a seapony would fangirl over regular ponies. Oh, and that RL stuff is fine by the way.