Catch A Falling Star
The water parted and blinding sunlight filled the Unicorn’s vision. Fresh air rushed into her lungs as she broke the surface and took to the sky. She twisted her body into a half spin and spread her front hooves toward the sky as she fell back toward the water. She smiled up at the sun and relished the countless glistening droplets that surrounded her. They were more beautiful to her than anything she ever found at the bottom of lakes or the ocean because they never lasted. They existed only for a brief moment before they were returned to the waters that made them. She watched one land right at the tip of her nose and she smiled, then spun again and plunged back into the water.
She felt the familiar playful tug on her mane and the bubbles rushing through her coat. Her tail swam behind her, bringing a comforting weight to her mind. She rolled through the water several times until she was surrounded by bubbles and her tail was tickling her nose. She floated for a few moments in utter bliss, wishing she could stay this way forever, but as the bubbles thinned and her lungs began to protest, she resigned herself to returning to the real world.
Sea Swirl’s iris mane broke the surface of the lake a second time followed instantly by the rest of her head. She didn’t fly into the air this time, but simply bobbed along the surface. She sighed and laid on her back in the water and allowed herself to float while she stared at the sky. She loved the water and there was nothing like a good swim after a long day’s work. It helped her relax, and if it weren’t for the fact that she needed to eat, there were days when she would have simply remained in the water.
The Unicorn took another deep breath and lazily began to backstroke toward the shoreline. She tilted her head back a bit until she was looking at the world upside down. Her satchel was still sitting in the white sand, its flap gently flopping back and forth in the breeze.
“Guess I should be heading back,” she said. She rolled over in the water and then closed on the shore in a matter of moments. She felt the sand come up under her hooves and she stood up to walk the rest of the way out. She stood on the sand and allowed her mane to hang about her face in a wet mess. Some of it fell into her raspberry-colored eyes and she giggled as it tickled her nose. She took a deep breath and blew the strands out of her face, but they fell right back. She rolled her eyes and brushed her hoof through her hair, draping the wet strands over her horn to keep them out of her eyes.
Sea Swirl shook herself and whipped her tail, sending water flying in every direction. She flicked her head once, snapping her mane through the air, and smiled when it fell back into place, safely out of her eyes. She then turned to her satchel and sat down to rummage through it.
“Okay, let’s see make sure I got everything I need.” She dug through the bag to take inventory; five emeralds, three sapphires, a few rubies, and over twenty pearls. More than enough to fill all of her current orders she decided. She put the satchel on her back and stood up. Her hooves sank into the sand with the extra weight for a moment, but she didn’t mind. Next to the feel of water, the feel of sand brushing against her hooves was her favorite thing in the world.
As Sea Swirl began to walk along the shore, she smiled at the sound that the stones made as they clinked together. It was true that most of them could easily be mined, dug up, or in some cases found inside rocks, but the ones she found were special. They spent years underwater. While precious stones that were removed from the ground were rough and had sharp edges, the ones from the ocean or lakes were smooth. Currents gently rubbed away their edges, and sometimes minerals in the water mixed with the stones, creating breathtaking swirls of color. Ponies could certainly chisel and smooth gems down with tools, but they never managed to capture the same feel and natural beauty as a gem that came from the ocean.
And then there were the pearls. They were Sea Swirl’s milk and butter, because they couldn’t be mined. They only came from the water, and that made them a rarity. And like any rare item, that made them all the rage in Canterlot. She was always receiving requests, and in many cases demands, for the small white items. One pony had once asked, in a not too polite way, for over five hundred of them in the matter of a day. Sea Swirl had told her the impossibility of such a task, to which the pony had threatened to run her out of Canterlot. That threat had lasted for only a day. Once other ponies had found out that their precious pearl merchant was being threatened, they had nearly run the client out of Canterlot instead. Only Sea Swirl’s threat of not selling to any of them had prevented it.
The Unicorn didn’t much care for Canterlot society. The pay was certainly nice and the bits she made more that covered her traveling expenses, but there were days when she wished she could just leave it all behind. She just didn’t fit in there.
Of course, she didn’t really fit in back home in Ponyville either. She spent so much time in Canterlot, or traveling to the ocean or lakes around Equestria, that ponies back in Ponyville barely noticed her. Sometimes, when she had a big order to fill, she would be gone for weeks, and yet no pony would even notice. She would come back home to find her mailbox empty, her house undisturbed, and no pony waiting for her. At least in Canterlot ponies noticed her, even if it was just for her services.
Sea Swirl sighed and fell backward onto the sand, tossing her satchel aside as she did. One place that valued her for the wrong reasons and another that didn’t seem to value her at all. She wondered if there was any place she could go where she’d actually feel like she was a part of the community.
As the Unicorn lay on her back, her eyes drifted up the mountain far above. She saw Canterlot sticking out of the mountainside, its grandeur supported by brilliantly white pillars. She supposed most ponies found it beautiful, but to Sea Swirl, it was just stone. What she enjoyed looking at were the flowing, crystal clear waterfalls that fell from the city. They started somewhere further up the mountain as a river. The river was always flowing, carving its way through the mountain and forming a beautiful sequence of waterfalls, one after another, until it pooled into a lake around Canterlot. The lake was a common tourist spot for visiting ponies, and Sea Swirl had to admit that at night, the water caught the moonlight and starlight just right, making it seem like the city was floating in the sky.
But the water couldn’t stay around Canterlot forever. The city would flood, and so trenches had been dug and other pools had been built and the water continued to flow down the mountain. One stream fed into a pony-made pool beneath Canterlot, which was where the more elite of the city went to swim in order to avoid the common rabble, while the other two streams flowed freely down the mountainside. The results were the biggest waterfalls in all of Equestria. The roar of the falling water was terrifying and mesmerizing at the same time, and at certain parts of the day, Celestia’s sun hit the waterfalls and turned them into flowing rainbows. Not like the rainbows that Cloudsdale has spilling out of their city, but true rainbows. If she was ever near the area at the right time, Sea Swirl always made sure that she caught a glimpse of them.
All of that water eventually came crashing down in a violent display of power at the base of the mountain and fed the very lake that Sea Swirl had been swimming in. She made it a point to stay away from the waterfalls because of their pressure, but every now and then she would sneak close to them just to feel the rush of the water as it churned around her.
She also occasionally found some interesting items near the place. Watches, jewelry, cups, glasses, and…some more private items sometimes if she was there at night. She always pulled everything out and tried to return the ones she could, but most of the time the items were damaged beyond repair so she just threw them away along with the actual trash she always found. She didn’t want one of her favorite swimming holes to become a dump.
“Jet Set and Upper Crust are probably getting impatient,” Sea Swirl said as she continued to stare up at the city above and listen to the roaring water nearby. She sighed and sat up, listening to the sound the sand made as it fell out of her coat. She shook herself once to remove the rest of it and then stood up. She grabbed her satchel and continued her trek across the shoreline.
The Unicorn reached her cart and tossed her satchel into it. She now had five full bags of gems and pearls. That was more than enough to last her for a while, even with some of the crazy orders she had received. Of course, now she had a new problem. Canterlot was way up the mountain, and she was at the bottom of it. With a cart that weighed more than she did.
Groaning, Sea Swirl hitched herself to her cart and began the long walk back up the mountain. She had once tried to use her magic to help her move the cart along, but the thing was so heavy and the trip was so long that it had worn her out long before she had even reached the halfway point. So now she just pulled the cart up the hill. It wasn’t that hard for her. It was just work, and not the fun type of work like diving for precious stones.
Sea Swirl stopped and looked back at the lake one last time. The water still looked so inviting, and she was certain she could find more gems in it if she really wanted to. But she didn’t want to. She just wanted to swim some more, and she knew that wasn’t right. She still needed to eat, fill orders, and pay bills, and until she found a way to make just swimming do all of that, she was forced to resort to gem diving and all the extra work that entailed.
“This weekend I’m free,” she said. She looked up at the roaring waterfalls and the cliffs above. Assuming she was able to get everything done, she could take the weekend off and go swimming. Maybe even go to the ocean. She hadn’t been there for a bit, and she was certain that Aqua missed her. It would be so nice to—
“What is that?” Sea Swirl narrowed her eyes and tried to focus on the object she saw. It was falling from the cliffs up above, and falling rather quickly too. The Unicorn growled in anger. Some fancy pants Canterlot pony was probably throwing trash over the cliff again. Didn’t they realize that other ponies lived in Equestria and that the country wasn’t their own special dumping ground? She was going to have to talk to Celestia about this. Surely the Princess could pass some law or something that stopped ponies from…
Sea Swirl’s thoughts trailed off as the object drew closer. Was that a pony? No, that wasn’t possible. The swimming pool at Canterlot had a fence around the entire ring, a grate that blocked anything larger than a minnow from passing through the drain, and at least two Pegasi always on watch duty just in case. The only way a pony could fall from that height would be if she jumped off the actual cliff by the lake up there, but no pony would be that—
“Oh Celestia!”
It was a pony, and judging by the fact that Sea Swirl didn’t see any wings, it was a non-flying pony. Which meant that if it hit the water from that height…
Sea Swirl frantically searched the skies for any sign of a Pegasus. Maybe one was diving to catch the pony right now and she just couldn’t see it. That had to be it. Except, she didn’t see any sign of a rescue. There were no other dark shapes in the sky diving after the falling pony.
Sea Swirl began to prance in place. What was she supposed to do? Call for help? But what help would make it in time? The Wonderbolts were fast, but not that fast. No, if help was going to come, she had to be the one to bring it.
Sea Swirl lunged forward and fell flat on her face as the weight of the cart pulled on her. Cursing, she kicked herself free from the harness and began to run as fast as she could back toward the lake. She hit the sand and for once didn’t relish the feeling of her hooves sinking into it. It felt like she was running through syrup now, and every second dragged on forever as she watched the pony fall. She wasn’t going to make it in time.
Sea Swirl took a deep breath, deeper than any she took when she went diving, and focused all of her concentration on her magic. She closed her eyes for half a second and started to shake as the magic built around her horn, then she opened them and reached out for the falling pony.
The Unicorn smiled in relief when she felt her spell close around the falling pony and slow her decent, but that relief quickly vanished when the spell broke two seconds later. The pony had simply been falling too fast for her to get a good grip on it. She watched in horror as the pony slammed into the water near the roaring falls and disappeared from sight.
“Oh no. No no no no…” The Unicorn put on a burst of speed as she closed on the water’s edge. Even she had trouble swimming near those powerful waterfalls, and she practically lived in the water. If that pony had somehow survived the fall, it was going to drown under all of that pressure.
Sea Swirl began casting her spells as she ran. She felt the magic glaze over her eyes. The air around her head began to swirl as she closed it around herself. She reached the water just as the last spell soaked into her coat and mane and she dove in without pause.
Thanks to her spells she didn’t even feel the dive. The water slipped across her coat as if she was covered in oil, allowing her to swim through it with unnatural speed. The pressure beat against her eyes but didn’t sting them because of the glaze she had placed over them, and her lungs filled with air as the spell around her head sucked the oxygen straight from the water and fed it directly into her throat. She didn’t like using any of these spells because they took away the sensations she loved most about swimming, but now she needed them.
Sea Swirl swam like a pony possessed toward the roaring waterfalls. Usually she found the sight of the white water tearing through the water under the surface soothing, but right now it terrified her. She had never dared to actually swim into the torrents because she doubted she was strong enough to escape them, but she had no choice. She briefly caught a glimpse of yellow fur among the chaos and she pressed forward.
Even with her spell reducing the water’s effect on her, Sea Swirl still found herself struggling against current. The water beat on her relentlessly and the bubbles obscured her vision. She frantically looked around for any sign of the pony as her lungs started to strain. She looked back at her tail and saw that it was slowly changing from its normal iris color to a dark shade of blue. She had maybe another minute before the spell wore off and she would need to breathe regularly again, and if she was still near the waterfalls, that was going to be impossible.
Panic began to rise in the Unicorn as she continued to struggle against the water. Where was that poor pony? Was it even still alive? What if she died trying to find it? What if—
Another flash of yellow beneath Sea Swirl caught her eye. She shot straight down, allowing the pressure from the waterfalls to help her decent, until she reached the bottom of the lake where the yellow mare was. Her eyes were closed and she wasn’t moving. Sea Swirl feared she was too late.
Sea Swirl coughed and felt precious air escape her lungs. She had to leave the water now or risk drowning. She reached out and grabbed the mare by the hoof and then pressed her hind legs against the lake’s bottom. She counted to one and then pushed off of the sandy floor as hard as she could, dragging the mare behind her. Her muscles strained with the effort as she fought the current. The magic on her eyes faded and they began to sting as the water beat on them. Her lungs burned as her breathing spell collapsed. Her hoof ached as she held on to the mare as best she could. The surface was so far away. She wasn’t going to make it. If she let go, she might still have a chance…
Sea Swirl shoved the thought aside and used the anger it caused to give her another burst of speed. Just when she was certain she could go no further and her eyes started to dim, her face broke the surface.
Air rushed into her lungs and she coughed violently. She had only come close to drowning once before and she had forgotten just how terrifying the experience was. She tried to suck in more air but it seemed like she was only inhaling water. She spat it out constantly, wondering if she had somehow managed to swallow the entire lake, when she remembered why she had done something so foolish.
Sea Swirl looked behind herself and pulled the mare to the surface. She didn’t move, didn’t gasp for air, or show any signs of life at all. Panic rose once again and Sea Swirl began to swim for the shore, making sure that she kept the mare’s head above water as best she could. The swim was the hardest of her life, and just like when she had been trying to reach the surface, it seemed to take forever. Several times she almost lost her hold on the mare, but finally she reached the shallows and was able to stand up. She grabbed the mare’s mane and dragged her the rest of the way out before collapsing on the sand herself.
“You…you better…be alive…” Sea Swirl gasped as she lay on the sand. She rolled over onto her stomach and looked at the mare. She wasn’t breathing. That got Sea Swirl moving instantly. She knelt next to the unconscious pony and put her ear to the mare’s chest. No heartbeat. That wasn’t a good sign either, but she knew what to do. She had spent enough time around and in water that she had learned a few things.
Sea Swirl put her mouth on the mare’s and blew and then pressed down on her chest three times. Nothing happened so she tried again. Again nothing. Frustration flooded her mind and body as she bent down for a third time. Once again, she put her mouth to the other pony’s and blew in a breath, but before she was able to pull away, water rushed into her mouth.
Sea Swirl gagged and nearly spit the water back into the mare’s mouth, but she was able to pull away and spit it out on the mare’s chest instead. She was grateful that the pony still seemed to be unconscious because she thought that was pretty disgusting.
The yellow mare began coughing more and more as she spit up water from her lungs. Sea Swirl tilted her up and gently held her there as water dribbled down her cheeks and neck. She shuddered violently as she coughed and Sea Swirl reached out and stroked her forehead.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “I got you. You’re safe.”
The mare just groaned and went limp in Sea Swirl’s embrace. For a moment, the Unicorn feared she had lost the pony again, but she relaxed when she saw her chest slowly rising and falling. At least she was alive. Whether or not she was going to be okay was a different story.
With her nerves calming and the adrenaline fading from her body, Sea Swirl finally looked at the mare she was holding. She was an Earth pony, with a bright yellow coat that glistened in the afternoon sun. Her purple mane was longer than most ponies’ and it was draped across her face and over her shoulders. Parts of it were already starting to dry and it looked like it was naturally wavy. Her tail appeared to be the same way, with the edges of it starting to curl already in the sun. Her cutie mark was some sort of music note, a few shades lighter than her mane and tail.
All and all, Sea Swirl thought she looked rather pretty. Her lips had certainly been soft, and Sea Swirl licked her own as she thought about them. Then she blushed and shoved the thought out of her mind.
The mare didn’t look like she had suffered any injuries from her fall, but there was a nasty bruise forming on her cheek. Had somepony hit her? Had somepony…thrown her off of the cliff?
Sea Swirl’s blood ran cold with that thought. If somepony had tried to kill this pony, then odds were they thought she was dead. If they found out she was still alive, then no doubt they would try again. And they might even come after Sea Swirl in order to keep her silent. They might even be on their way down to the lake right now, and she was in no condition to fight. She had exhausted all of her magic with her breathing spell. She needed to get both of them out of there before whoever had tried to kill the mare showed up.
Sea Swirl did her best to put the mare on her back. It took some doing, and once she finally managed to get her safely up there she realized just how heavy another pony was, but she didn’t care. The Unicorn forced her hooves to move through the sand as she began to carry the unconscious Earth pony back toward her cart.
“Who…?” a soft voice whispered. Sea Swirl stopped and looked over her shoulder to see a pair of beautiful crystal blue eyes staring up at her.
Wow, those are pretty…
“Who…are you…?” the pony asked.
“I’m Sea Swirl,” she replied. “I saved you.”
“W…Why…?”
Sea Swirl was about to ask her why she was asking such a weird question, but the mare’s eyes fluttered shut again. Well, at least she knew the mare could still talk, even if she didn’t seem to be making much sense.
Sea Swirl reached her cart and stared at the bags of precious stones she had collected. There was no possible way she was going to be able to carry them and the pony all the way back up the mountain to Canterlot. She had no choice then. She began to pull the bags out and emptied each one. She sighed as the gems spilled out onto the ground. She didn’t care about leaving them behind, but she wasn’t looking forward to Jet Set and Upper Crust, and probably several other ponies, being irritated with her for delaying their order.
Sea Swirl was about to dump out her last bag, the satchel she had filled with pearls and a few other stones, but she decided not to. Pearls were her specialty, and while she didn’t mind if another pony came along and claimed all of the gems she had just dumped, she didn’t want somepony doing the same with the pearls. She shoved the satchel all the way to the back of the cart and then carefully laid the mare in the cart too. She wished she had a blanket or at least a pillow to make her more comfortable, but there was nothing.
Sea Swirl walked to the front of her cart and hitched herself to it. She looked up at the city high up the mountain and then looked up at the sky. It was going to be dusk by the time she reached Canterlot. Not that that was an entirely bad thing. There would be fewer ponies out and she wouldn’t have to worry about having to explain why she was carrying an unconscious pony in the back of her cart. The guards might get suspicious, but if it came to it she could just call Celestia and have the whole thing straightened out.
Sea Swirl began the long walk back up the mountainside, doing her best to go as smoothly as she could. Every now and then she glanced over her shoulder to check on the mare, but the Earth pony didn’t move and only occasionally let out a quiet groan. The Unicorn wondered what her name was, where she had come from, if she played any instruments, and what she was like in general.
She wondered about all of those things and more, but one thought kept creeping to the front her mind.
Those lips had been so soft.
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I giggled at 'Symphony'.
heeeeee
4681489
I saw your name pop up on my feed thing and I thought, "No way..."
Now this is interesting, glad I decided to follow you. Looks like I have a bit of a backlog to read now.
4682793
Well I'm glad somepony likes it. Judging by the voting, ponies apparently hate Sea Swirl and Symphony. Or me. Or the story. I've never written one before that's been so utterly destroyed. But if you like it, I shall keep going.
4683335
I wouldn't call it 'utterly destroyed' just yet, it's only the first day and only five people have rated it. Although it would be nice to know why it got 3 dislikes off the bat, perhaps that's the risk of writing with minor background characters.
Regardless, I've been liking the characters so far and the continuity you've been keeping between stories, so I'm definitely looking forward to whatever you write up.
To be honest, I saw your blog post and decided it would be rude of me to follow you but not read the stories you write. I must say, I am very glad I came to that decision. I like it so far and can't wait to see where you bring it. Anways, have fun on your trip, I can wait till August. Until next time,
-Sphinx
Some people might be turned off by the apparent lack of popular, familiar characters.
Still, well done.
~(OvO)~
4692257
Well I'm happy that you enjoyed reading it. It did make me feel to read the comments that popped up. I hope I have fun on my trip. Road trips aren't really my thing as I don't like being stuck in the car with three other ponies, but I'll manage.
4699972
True I suppose. I just thought that maybe some ponies would like to read a story about different characters for a change. So many Octavia/Vinyl, Lyra/BonBon, Twilight/Rainbow, and all the others out there. I thought something new might be nice, but I guess change is bad.
But I'm glad you enjoyed it
I am slowly digging through all the interlocked stories you have for this chunk of the pony world. Good stuff so far. Kepp it up!