I See

I see more than ponies think. I believe that's how I got my name. I have been around for such a long time; I have no sense of how time passes, however. The sun rises and the moon rises and the sun rises and the moon rises again. That is all I understand, when it comes to time. I rise with the moon, after all. I know not how long I have had my name, then. All I know is what I am and what I do.

I am the sea. As I was saying, I see much. Ponies call them reflections, what I see. Reflections of themselves in my eyes. It’s always nice to see new creatures. To reflect them. Ponies are my favorites, though; they are always so nice. They have such nice reflections.

I have kept track of all of my encounters with creatures. Then, one day, the pony writing this asked me to talk to her. I was happy to comply. This isn't her story, however. I will tell you of other creatures - those that gave me the personality I have today.

One pony that comes to mind now was a fairly happy stallion. I think his name was Cubed. He came to me when I was still young (in my eyes, at least) and he still visits me to this day. He came to me with a towel and an umbrella and sat next to me. He unknowingly told me stories: he told me about the games he played when he had time and how the sky looked and how the sand burned his hooves. He jumped on me a few times and beat me down, but everybody does that sometimes. We all make mistakes.

As time went on, Cubed brought new ponies and friends with him - a diamond hunter named Patches; an elusive Griffon named Auspicious. My favorite was a pony he called his Girlfriend and Love. I don't know what those words mean. Girlfriend seemed nice, though; she only came up to me a few times, but she looked really pretty.

I saw him and Girlfriend a lot. They taught me a lot about happiness together. They taught me laughing and smiles. I had lots of fun with what they taught me. I wave at everypony I meet now, just in case any of them are as happy as Girlfriend and Cubed. Most ponies don't respond, but that's okay. I'm kinda a loner anyways.

He still visits, although Girlfriend can’t make it often. They live really far apart apparently. Sometimes I hear them arguing when they come nearby, but it’s not often. Every sky has it’s storm, right? They still laugh and smile at each other. That taught me it’s okay to get angry sometimes too (though I try not to get mad often). It’s really nice after storms pass too; there are really pretty rainbows.

But there were other times I learned to get angry. I learned a lot of new emotions from different ponies. It wasn’t long after I met that first stallion that I met another one. He looked like a fire sometimes. His hooves were red and his eyes were red and his body looked like smoke. I think his name was Ash.

Ash had a Girlfriend too, but he usually called her Sweet Heart. They seemed really happy too. But Ash got really sad sometimes. They argued a lot more than Girlfriend and the other stallion, and Sweet Heart seemed to win every argument. Somehow, that seemed a little unfair to me.

The more I saw them, the sadder Ash seemed to be. I tried to be extra nice to them to cheer them both up, but it didn't work. They both kept arguing. I felt bad for Ash. Sweet treated him unfairly a lot, it seemed. I didn't know how to help, though. What do I know about Sweet Hearts and Girlfriends?

At some point, Ash started meeting me alone. He wouldn't play with me or step on me. He just talked. Sometimes, he didn't even talk at all. Sometimes, he just made some weird sounds; he always said sorry for crying after that. I'm not sure what that is, but I sensed that it wasn't very happy. It made me… sad. Really sad sometimes.

Eventually, it was only him. He told me that Sweet had left. I wondered where she had gone. Not that it was from fondness; I just wondered why she left. Ash seemed really nice; he tried hard at everything he did. Why would anypony just up and leave ponies who were so nice? Especially one who had worked so hard to be their friend?

Ash wanted it to be calm for awhile after that. At least, that's what it felt like. I stopped waving to him as much. I just laid next to him as calmly as I could, trying not to be too confused by his emotions. I never really get emotions. I’m not good with those sometimes.

He stopped talking for awhile. He started stopping by less and less. I started to miss him when he wasn’t there, and I really wanted to hear him talk more. I think I liked him more than most. One time, he visited me again and told me he was something called Depressed. That sounds really bad. That was a really bad day.

But then, one day, Ash came to the water. Ash was smiling. So was the mare he had with him, with pretty shiny eyes, and a little colt that jumped on me a lot. He liked jumping!

I made lots of waves that day! He called the mare Sweet Heart too, but she was a lot nicer than the other Sweet Heart. He called the colt Son. I don't know what that means, but Ash seemed to like it and so did Son.

They were happy, even though he had been sad. That seemed incredible to me. He had been terribly sad; now he was laughing. How... Nice. I like when people are happy.

My time is nearly done here now; the writer must leave soon. She is a very important pony. She says she raises the moon. That's a pretty important job.

Since she needs to leave, I will tell you only one last story. It sounds sad, but it has a happy ending too.

There was a little filly who visited me. I never learned her real name. She seemed very happy. But she started visiting me and grew each time she did. She got really tall.

As she visited me, she started acting a lot like Ash. She didn't cry, but she was very quiet. Something about her... Scared me. She... Worried me, I think the word is. I didn't like her being sad like that. I wanted her to stop feeling like that.

One day, she looked a bit different. Her hooves were really pale in places. It looked like someone drew crosses on her hooves. She said more that time, and told me the names she used now. I didn't like it at all.

Worthless. That's what her name was. Pathetic too. Those sound sad. Really sad. I didn't know what to do. She just sounded... Broken. Like the bottles ponies sometimes threw at me.

She started to step on me; she went really far sometimes. She went so far, I couldn't see her head anymore.

A few days, she washed up on shore. She would lie there, coughing and crying. I didn't even wonder what she was doing. I just wanted her to stop it.

The writer told me that that girl was depressed. She seemed like she was sad about the filly's tale. That's not the end of her story though. The point of these stories isn't to make you sad; it's to give you the last emotion I was taught.

Hope.

The filly came back one day. She was standing with Cubed. Both of them were smiling. Later, Ash came up to them too! All of them were apparently friends!

They played together all day. They laughed so hard, they cried. It was a different type of crying though: happy crying! They had a good day.

The criss crosses faded. The smiles lasted longer. Sometimes, the frowns came back; but so did the laughter, in the end.

I might not understand emotions very well, but I understood what that was. That was hope. Life will always get better, even when people are sad! That's something to smile about.

I am the sea. I see more than anypony thinks I do. It's time for this story to end, now. But these stories aren't over; those ponies are real, and they live on past these stories. They still smile; they still cry.

But they always have their hope.

Goodbye, readers. I hope these stories find you in your times of need. And, goodbye Princess. Goodbye and goodnight.

Hope of the Sea

I, Sea,
I call to thee:
Bring me all pain
And misery;
Bring me each tear,
And every regret.
Allow me to wash them away.

I, Sea,
I wave to thee
In the hopes that your smile
Would grace me,
And if you must cry,
Then comfort I'll give,
For all sadness washes away.

I, Sea,
I'll pray for thee.
I'll pray that one day...
One day, you might see,
That all the sadness and pain in this life...
It all will wash away.

Just as the moon rises
And as the moon sets,
All life it exists
For a purpose and this
Is a truth that all must one day know,
To see the hope of the world
As I, the Sea, show

In every reflection,
And each breaking wave,
And as my tide recedes,
I hope all that read
Will smile,
As I wash away.

- Princess Luna

Author's Note:

I am the sea. Each creature I see is my friend. Each emotion and experience they have is my own. They help me be who I am today. But I rarely see myself as what I am. I see myself as unimportant in the grand scheme of things. That is where religion comes into play.
Luna is like God to me in this story. Luna is sitting, writing and observing each and every experience this sea has, just as it sees all others (yet never sees itself), and just as God sees me. Despite how insignificant I am, I am still important to that almighty figure.
That is why I wrote this. Each word is a reflection of me. As I read these words now, I can see the slightest glimmer of that importance my Lord sees in me. I am the sea, as Luna reads it it's story. It is important; we all are.
Never lose sight of that, whether you are religious or not. You. Are. Important. :) Turn to your friends as I did if you need, and never lose sight of your hope.

All characters loosely based on my own friends in life. Posted for a contest (if I made the deadline).

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Comments ( 17 )

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Xuncu

Xuncu #1 · May 1st, 2015 · 1 · ·

Rreminds me a bit of:

Once there was a sea deeper, emptier than any sea. I, born from chaos.
Protected by the flow of silence, I the water, sea that I am.
I rest in silence. Waiting for the time to come.
Where vanity and sea meet, I saw truth. In the eye of truth nothing can be deceived.
Man disgraced the place that I rest. As if he ruled the world.
Wrath of I, shall summon the winds and storm shall tear the ocean.
The 5 monsters that I have created each live, in their own sea.
Whatever encroaches on my territory, I shall destroy.
All shall return to chaos.
[youtube=rumJmjJXnr4]

Arreis Of Avalon

Arreis Of Avalon #2 · May 1st, 2015 · · ·

5926447 xD Oh wow I remember that game! It was tough. The story with that is a nice one. :)

Politicalunrest2400

Politicalunrest2400 #3 · May 1st, 2015 · · ·

Official Review: "I See"
Link: I See
Description: " The sea talks about the things it has learned."

The sea tells story's about things it has learned, from pony's it has seen.

8.5/10 Official Contest Score/ For Writing Quality And Originality: So... There are two parts to this story, and I would like to address each individually.

The first part is the written narrative; the written narrative is powerful, deep, and at times a little clunky. The whole thing is written in the Sea's perspective and voice, which provides it a sense of 'other' and alien-ness to normal human thought. This is in part what gives the story its potency and impact, as the sea is both extremely wise, at times with the feeling of an ancient sage, and has a childishly naive perspective at others. This creates sometimes clunky or awkward transitions. However, that is one way the author shows how alien and different the Sea's thoughts are to ours, how it has almost no perception of time, other then as a series of chronological events.
However, clunky and hard to follow are still clunky and hard to follow. This is definitely NOT meant to be a quick or easy read, its meant to be read when you have a little bit of time to sit down, and give it your full attention. If you don't you might misunderstand something, or miss the implications of what the Sea is saying.
The story's that the Sea tells are extremely powerful and when told through its naive prospective allows the author to explore some very dark themes without being over bearing. Doing so is extremely difficult and takes a cretin level of skill and dedication to achieve. Over all I believe that the author, with a little bit more time, can smooth some of those clunky transitions out, while still maintaining the naive perspective of the Sea. You can have your cake and eat it too, I promise!

The second is the poem at the end; The poem is well written and very powerful. I felt like Luna had a very profound experience speaking to the Sea. Its not a scene or part of the story we as the reader get to explore except in snippets here and there in the narrative, but it is clear that this poem was the result of that fateful encounter between these two forces of nature. The poem adds a sense of fulfillment to the rest of the story that really must be admired.

3/5 For Family Friendliness: While the story has nothing in it that is blatantly inappropriate such as violence or sexual innuendos, the story does deal with some very serious topics such as bullying and attempted suicide. I hate to give such an amazing and mature piece a poor rating here, but if I gave it anything more then a 3, meaning mainly appropriate for adult fans of the show, I would be neglecting the very system I set up. While I believe anyone and everyone should read this story, I also believe that they should be of appropriate age so they can fully understand its implications and the positive message that it sends.

Comment: I really loved this story, and I must say that it is refreshing to me that a story that explores such dark themes as suicide and extreme bullying have at the end, a message of Hope. I thank the writer for participating in this contest.

DismantledAccount

DismantledAccount #4 · May 1st, 2015 · · ·

Could use some work, but I'll give it my upvote.

Arreis Of Avalon

Arreis Of Avalon #5 · May 1st, 2015 · · ·

5926531 Eeee, thank you! I'm really happy with that rating. Given more time, I could smooth out some of that clunkiness, but as of the moment, everything you said is perfectly true! Thank you for inviting me to the contest!

Arreis Of Avalon

Arreis Of Avalon #6 · May 1st, 2015 · · ·

5927684 Thanks for the upvote! I might be editing this eventually, so it might get better or worse depending.

machstormer

machstormer #7 · May 2nd, 2015 · · ·

GREAT WORK!
I the poem at the end

Comment posted by machstormer deleted May 2nd, 2015

Arreis Of Avalon

Arreis Of Avalon #9 · May 2nd, 2015 · · ·

5929959 Thank you! I put a bit of thought into that poem. ^^

Solar Twirl

Solar Twirl #10 · Jun 21st, 2015 · · ·

Beautifully written story, the next time I see the sea, I'll talk to it. Observe it. Wave to it. You've inspired me. Good job. Wait, no. Great job!

Arreis Of Avalon

Arreis Of Avalon #11 · Jun 21st, 2015 · · ·

6117496 Why thank you! I was planning on editing this one day, based on other comments, but I'm not so sure anymore. The more I read it, the more I like how confusing it can be.

Solar Twirl