1706191

"Gluttony, of course!" Bound replied without skipping a beat.

Spiral opened her mouth to retort, to disprove what her psudo-sibling had just said, but when it came down to it she couldn't. "I, uh.... Actually, that one fits you pretty well, Sea."

"Right you are, Envy!"

Cue facehoof.

1706213

Driz giggled, a light hearted giggle, not in any ways a mean one. "Envy?" she said incredulously to Spiral and then looking back at Bound curiously. "Any reason you picked that one for her?" Wonder what sin I would be, if I had to pick, she wondered curiously, but shook it away. That was a stupid thing to wonder about. Maybe she'd write about the sins later. The sins, seaponies, and chaos creatures. This was going to make a chaotic book when she got back to Cloudsdale. Whenever that was.

1706250

"Weeeeeeeeeeell.." Sea Bound began, swimming down to Driz's side, "Spiral's so timid for a reason, don't 'cha think?" She nudged the pegasus a few times with her elbow before continuing in a sing-song voice, "She's got no sense of worth, and covets all she sees, but the good Lord Father knows that mare's the mare for meeeeeeeeeeeee~" The mare blinked a few times before smacking her lips like there was a bad taste on her tongue, "Yeech, that was so bad I can taste cheese, and not the good kind!" She rushes off to go remidy this, coming back a few seconds later with half a cupcake in her hoof.

Spiral, meanwhile, had nearly died of embarrassment.

1706308

Trying hard to process what had just happened, the Pegasus mare's head spun in confusion. "The mare for me?" she finally said, after about twenty seconds of pure silence, broken only by Bound chewing her cupcake. "Celestia, I'm confused...alright, then. Do you think I can take a look in one of your guys' rooms, maybe? Or do they work just like regular old bedrooms too?" Driz realized her mistake as soon as she had said it. "Not saying that your house isn't like a regular house, because it's not...it's underwater and all, and..." Her head spun once again. "Oh, never mind."

1706386

"Sure, you can take a look at my room; Shell looks like she should get some rest," Indeed, the mare had nearly fainted from embarrassment, evidently believing that her crush thought that somepony else was crushing on herself or something. "'Sides, then we can trade stories and stuff! C'mon!" And she was off, darting upstairs through a hole in the ceiling because underwater you don't need stairs.

Spiral, meanwhile, slowly made her way to a door on the ground floor, looking rather worn.

1706428

Driz flapped her wings and extended her arms towards the hole, propelling herself upward and following Bound to the second floor. "So, Bound," she called up, panting ever-so-slightly. "How many schools of seaponies are there around here?"

1706512

"Lots!" Came the seapony's nonspecific reply from within her room on the second floor, not having had the sense to wait for Driz so she could know exactly where that was. Despite this setback, however, it was rather easy to find which one was Bound's you only had to follow the sound of the mare's voice, after all.

Inside was disorganized messy a wreck freaking hard to navigate the biggest mess in a bedroom Driz had ever seen. Strange green parchment floated just about everywhere, crumpled up into balls to denote the fact that they were rejected for one reason or another. Strange pens drifted throught the water, quills not being able to work down here in the slightest. Heck, even clothes were mixed into the cloud of mess, something that Driz didn't really want to notice but did anyway. All in all, however, it sorta made sense: Sea Bound was an energetic, off the wall, and so far unpredictable mare. If her room were organised then something would probably be wrong with the world. Either that or somepony had cleaned it for her.

1706551

"Wow," Driz stammered, putting on a fake smile but staring with absolute horror at the mess laid out before her. "This is certainly...something." She forced a grin onto her face and looked around. "Is that a book by Ocean Breeze?" she asked suddenly, noticing something near the corner of Bound's room. It couldn't be...it couldn't be...Ocean had only published four copies of that book...was it a replica? "Bound?" she repeated in a slightly high-pitched voice. "Is that what I think it is?"

1706704

"That?" Bound asked, turning away from the closet she was currently trying (and failing) to shove as much of the floating mess of stuff into as possible. "Oh, that!" The sea-mare quickly darted over, grabbing Driz along her way.

"That's my pride and joy, signed copy of Ocean's book about seaponies, for seaponies. Probably the only surface writer to ever actually get a book published down here actually." She tapped a half-socked hoof against her chin, "Also the mare that suggested revealing ourselves to you guys to the elders, I think... And the reason we've got those breathing shells too... Dang." She blinks as a thought strikes her, "Honestly, she's got to be the most influential surface dweller so far in our history. Wow."

1706774

"B-But Bound! Do you realize how much this book would cost? How precious it is?" Driz couldn't help herself; she snatched it in her hooves and stared at it, jaw agape, realizing she was touching a precious artifact. Slowly she ran one hoof across the cover. "Can...do you mind if I look at it? I mean...wow. If I owned a book like this I would put it in a display case and read it every day." She shuddered with joy, wings spread wide open, once again reflecting her shock. "This is just incredible!" And you had it tossed in a corner pile of your messy room...Celestia, wow.

1706806

"Uh... Driz..? The only thing that makes that book really special is her signature," Bound pointed out, her eyebrow raised, "Its really commonplace around here I, uh... It's only really special to me because after Ma gave it to me I decided I wanted to be a writer. Got my cutie mark a couple days later..."

Wait, commonplace? What?

1706825

Commonplace? COMMONPLACE?

"Do you REALIZE what you have here? This is a masterpiece! Only four copies have ever been published, and I've been dying to get my hooves on one for years! With one of these I could write fifty books on seaponies and more! And you're calling it commonplace?" Driz trembled with the effort she shrieked out these words, so loud that Spiral could hear it from her room downstairs. "Your mother got this for you?" She grabbed Bound's shoulders. "Where in Celestia's name did she get this where you can call it commonplace?"

1689225>>1706806>>1706774 Water filled Zeke's lungs, but he still clung to Screwball, glaring at Torch.

"I'm not leaving her!" he cried, as he and Screwball were pulled towards the whirlpool... And sucked in.

1706855

Bound looked into Driz's eyes fearfully for a hoof-full of moments, wondering if Driz had lost it, before something clicked in her brain. Driz could see it in her eyes. And then, as the tension between the two continued to mount, the seapony started laughing. She started laughing at Driz, or more specifically, her outburst. Before the pegasus could inquire as to why, however, Bound started explaining in between her chortles.

"D-Driz, d-do youhooho- Do you realize where you a-are? Y-you're in the fr-friggin seapony capital! Of course it would be common down here, she lived here while she was writing it!"

1706885

(*chuckles* Illusive? Zeke got a shell strapped to his face by Torch: he ain't drowning no mores)

1706891

Driz stared at her. A breath went in, and then went out as her mind frantically raced to process what Bound had just said. Slowly her wings folded against her side as her body raced to be calm. "You mean...you're telling me..." She groaned and literally fell over onto a pile of Bound's stuff. "ARGH...got all worked up over nothing. That sucks, I hate it when I do that." She sighed and placed both hooves over her head. "Sorry," she mumbled.

1706938

"Its alright," Bound replies, still giggling, "C-can't expect surface ponies to know everything about bein' underwater, right?" She flops down beside Driz. "'Sides, no harm no foul. I'm just glad you can get worked up over stuff: It'd be boring otherwise."

1706953

"I get worked up over a lot of things." Driz stared up at the ceiling. "I don't like telling other ponies, though. I don't think anypony knows everything that scares me..."

Don't worry, dearie, you're not dead. We are simply taking a look, inside your head.

Driz bit her lip. "Nopony that will remember them, hopefully," she muttered in a small, squeaky voice.

1706961

Bound looks up from the sweater she was burying her face into. "Did something happen..?"

1706977

"No. Nothing of your concern. Only a select few know." Driz sighed and got to her hooves. "That reminds me - where are the others? Are they still at the museum?" Chances are, with Spiral's little confession, the book, and Bound, they're not having NEARLY as strange a time as me...

Chances are, Driz, you are completely and utterly wrong.

1706900 (fixed)

1706994
(Daaaaaaaaaaanka)

1706986

Bound cocked her head at this, "Well, considering you're my friend, it is my concern... But if you don't want to tell me that's okay." She stands up, popping her back a few times, "And I dunno. Didn't you all go off in different directions or something? Museum's kinda boring..."

Well, considering Gingersnap was currently passed out in Driz's couch, Terra likewise unconscious on her bed, Theo lost in some fantasy world and Screwball and Zeke about to be sucked into a Pickle Jar... Yeah, Driz got the short end of the weirdness stick, honestly.

1707060

"They probably went off somewhere. Not quite sure where, though." Driz yawned and sighed. "It's been a long day, and...you know what?" She turned to Bound, whose eyes were filled with concern. "You know what?" she repeated. "I think that I'm going to tell you. I can trust you, after all. But as long as it's you and just you. Spiral can listen too, if she wants. Just make sure no other seaponies listen in, got it?"

Quite true, though she has no way of knowing this...yet.

1707099

"Um..." Bound blinked, not sure how she should respond to such a request. "Well, I uh... I'm not the best at keeping secrets, Driz... E-especially from family. I mean, I'll try but... Well if they ask I won't be able to bring myself to lie to them, you know?" The mare sighs, "They're all I've got..."

1707131

"Oh." Driz sighed; she had really been looking forward to opening up to someone. "It's just that I don't know them, and I don't know if I can trust them...I know they're like your family but if you look on my perspective, they could be any kind of pony. It's alright, then. Maybe I'll just..." She winced at the prospect but forced it back down. She needed to get over the awkwardness of before. "...talk to Spiral about it. Later, though." Driz swallowed. She needed to move on to the next subject. "What do you write about?"

1707234

Sea Bound bites her lip, not liking that she wasn't able to help, but pushing it aside. She wasn't about to bear somepony's burden if letting it slip could potentially hurt things. "Me? Well... I've been trying to write about pegasi and other surface ponies, but..." She sighs, "Kinda need to live up there with them to get a good understanding, y'know?"

1707281

"I could answer some questions you have, if you want," Driz said, crossing her hooves and lifting her head. "What kind of things do you want to know?"

1707322

The mare giggles a little, "Everything, Driz. I don't think a simple Q&A session would be able to cover it. I mean, there's three types of ponies up there, all of them can do different things, and it's so facinating... but in order to learn what I want to know I'd... Well I'd kinda have to do what Ocean Breeze did, except in reverse."

1707357

"There are a lot of things to know...but it's pretty simple once you've covered the basics." Driz frowned. "Sort of." She tipped her head to one side, contemplating. "Kind of..." Finally she groaned in disgust. "I give up. It is pretty complicated. You just have to get used to it, I guess. But I can still answer any questions that you think of right away, if you want."

1707387

Grinning in a knowing way, Bound pulls out a notebook of sorts and hoofs it to Driz. "I've got this and a couple others full of questions and theories and the like, Driz. You sure you wanna open that can of chum?"

1707442

Driz smirked. She had studied all around Equestria. She was an expert on the Elements of Harmony, could classify Celestia and talk for a long time about Luna. Concerning Cadence, it was clear. Earth ponies were easy and unicorns were the usual, along with everything else she knew. "Try me."

1707463

Oh Celestia.

Without any further warning Bound opened the book and started rattling off questions including but not limited to:
What is the average speed of a pegasus?
How fast can your average pony gallop?
Are ponies other than unicorns able to use magic?
How does weather work?
What do you write on?
What do you write with?
Socks?
Building materials? What ones are common for the three different races to use?
Legends say pegasi can move clouds, is this true?
What do you tend to eat up there?
What sports to you play?
Crime rate?
Do clothes have the same significance up there as they do down here?
How the different pony classes get from place to place?
Is it true that somepony is in control of the sun and moon?
Muffins?
Do you have any national heroes?
What about wars? Do those happen up there?
Family structure? What is it like up there?
etc.etc.etc.

What's worse, she talks just about as fast as Pinkie Pie allegedly does when she meets a new pony in town. Fun~

1707563

Driz's eyes stretched open with each new question. "Well, let's go a bit slower now..." She was ignored, as Bound had started and couldn't be stopped. Driz's wings fluttered nervously. "The answer is...wait a minute, no, the answer to that one is...oh dear, I believe that that means..." All the words were jumbling together into one big phrase that sounded somewhat like "soonmuffnatwarstruct" and her facial expressions ranged from to , as well as and .

1707603

Unfortunately, there was no stopping this train once it had started...

Thump.

Until Sea Bound ran out of air (water?) that is. Then she fell unconscious and collapsed. Seems she kinda forgot to breathe... Either that or she didn't breathe enough to compensate for constantly spouting questions.

1707642

Driz yelped in shock and poked Bound tentatively with one hoof. "B-Bound? Sea Bound? Are you alright?" She cursed under her breath and began to shake the sea-mare back and forth. "Come on, wake up."

Finally she gave up after about five minutes of Bound being unresponsive and just stared at her helplessly. She was still holding the journal.

...wait! Driz had an idea.

She took the journal from the unconscious sea-mare's hoof and took out her quill that Screwball had given her earlier. Staring down at all of Bound's questions, she gave a small smile and began to fill in the answers. Bound would wake up eventually, and what a surprise she would get.

1709057

It took a while, and I mean quite a while, like... An hour, but eventually Sea Bound woke up, complete with yawn and lip smacks. "Oh uhm..." She yawns again. "D-did I just, uh.. Pass out on you or something? I don't remember laying down to sleep..."

1709479

"Kind of." Driz was still writing, and therefore didn't have time to give a thorough answer. She had filled in every she could, and was trying to figure out the ones she hadn't filled in, but was nearly done, and was very proud of what she had accomplished.

1709593

Yawning a third time, Sea Bound stood up, "Sorry about that, I uh... I do this thing where I talk so fast I... uh... D-Driz..?" Ah, it seems that she's finally noticed what the pegasus was doing, her eyes growing larger than saucers, "D-did you just..?"

A beat.

"OHGREATFATHERTHANKYOU!" Cue massively energetic seapony glomp, forcing Driz to stop mid-answer as the book was quite literally smooshed between them. Luckily neither the book nor Driz's quill suffered any damage.

1709854>>1709593>>1706885

The moment the zebra and the filly entered the jar, the lid was sealed over them and the jar fell to the ground. Torch stood dumbfounded for a moment as he watched the jar wobble in place for a moment before sitting upright. He approached the jar and stared into it's contents. All that could be seen was a grey fog within. Finally, Torch found his voice.

"The prophecy was true. The prophecy was true!" He shouted excitedly. He then did a couple of back flips in the water. "I knew it! It was all true! I knew I wasn't being stupid! Take that Terra! Let's see who is mom's favorite now!" He then picked the jar up and started rushing out of the museum and towards the elders.

(I wonder how Zeke and Screwball are enjoying their new digs)

1710157>>1706885

Air. Sweet sweet air. Impossibly, the jar was filled with the life-giving gas, and inexplicably larger on the inside when compared to the outside. Seriously, somepony could probably set up a bedroom in there if they wanted... Not that Zeke particularly cared about that at the moment:

Screwball wasn't breathing.

1710188>>1710157 Zeke groaned, rolling on the glass bottom of the jar, still holding onto Screwball...

Screwball?

He put her down, putting an ear to her chest, gasping, shooting up and screaming out.

"Fuck! Screwball! No! No!"

He began pressing his hooves against her chest.

"No, no, no, no, no, c'mon, baby, please, please, no..."

1709854

Driz managed a weak shriek as Bound slammed into her, nearly knocking her over. Luckily she managed to maintain her balance and, ignoring her screaming muscles, let out a weak smile. "Heh...heh...I guess you're welcome?" she said, trying to not push away. This was a hug of friendship, and she was going to be friendly and sit there, like a good little Pegasus. "I hope you like what I wrote. Some answers aren't quite complete, but I did the best I could..."

1710188>>1706885

"This is a momentous day. The spawn has been sealed within the artifact and we shall have it's power reborn in one of our own." He sang mildly as he swam at a rapid pace towards his destination. "I wonder what they mean by the power will be reborn? Perhaps a new sea-pony spawn will be born with the powers of the Lord of Chaos. In any case, I'm just so excited."

He burst open the doors to the elder's chamber and held the jar above his head. The elders quickly scrambled back to their seats with more playing cards and some Monopoly pieces sinking to the ground.

"Damn it! Why did I sell you Boardwalk?"
"Shut up and take your seat already."
"You two! Stop bickering and act regal before the elite!"

When the commotion finally settled, the elder in the middle addressed Torch. "Torch. Why have you decided to disturb us while we are busy? And why have you removed the sacred artifact from the museum as well?"

1710352>>1710314

For five agonizing minutes, Zeke toiled. Five minutes of fear. Five minutes of pain. Five minutes of shattered dreams...

But it was well worth it.

Just when the Zebra was on the verge of giving up, breaking down into a pile of sobbing, heartbroken father, his little filly finally began to sputter up water. As the contents of her lungs vacated themselves onto the glass floor he rolled her onto her side, allowing her to draw breath once more. And boy did she breathe, desperately attempting to make up for the deficiency she had been experiencing.

But she was still alive. And that's all that mattered.

Meanwhile, back up at the surface, Ginger was jarred from his sleep as the was forced to experience every moment of her recovery, having no idea just what was happening. To be honest, Screwball didn't either.

1710342

"Are you kidding?! You've just made my entire month, Driz!" The seapony squealed, refusing to let her pegasus friend go. "I've been trying to get some kind of answer to these things for ages, but haven't been able to go to the surface and get them! How can I ever repay you?!"

1710390>>1710352>>1710342

"Oh, Goddess!"

Zeke picked up his daughter in his arms and squeezed her tight, patting her back to help her get the water out, sobbing and crying.

"Oh, Goddess, Screwy, I was so worried..."

1710404

"Repay me?" Driz laughed, finally getting the guts to somewhat push herself away. "Aww, you don't need to repay me! Just consider it a writer to a writer." She winked and smiled.

1710471>>1710352

Screwball, for her part, wasn't able to say anything for several minutes, constantly coughing and sputtering, even burping a couple times due to air she evidently swallowed in her attempts to fill her lungs. Eventually however, she manages to calm herself down enough to stutter out one word, gripping Zeke all the tighter:

"D-Dad..."

1710487

Taking the hint, Bound lets her friend go. "N-no, you don't understand: I've been trying to get off the ground with my story for ages, and now I can! You've litterally given me a chance at getting somewhere with it! If there's anything you need to know, anything I can do to help you, just let me know and I'll find a way to get it done!"