The seething sea ceaseth and thus Shimmering Sea hast savethed us

by kitten_girl86

Chapter 11

The newly formed group swam in a safer formation: Lance took lead; Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike came next; Shimmering Sea swam with Amie and Ward followed behind to guard their backs. Lance and Ward kept up with their active protective stances as they crossed over a large crack in the sea-floor. Shimmer saw that it was labeled as Craigshoof Crack on the map and she saw that it slightly resembled a hoof when she looked at it over her shoulder & from a distance. Amie also kept a similar stance as the stallions but not as suspicious.

Shimmering Sea took the opportunity to speak with another uni-mer about the ocean. "So... Amie?" Amie looked over to Shimmer but her mind went blank. "Uhh.... I don't know where to begin," Shimmer stammered, embarrassed. Amie giggled and used her magic to re-roll up the map, placing it back into her own saddlebag. "How about I start about me then?" she offered; Shimmer nodded.

"I was born and raised in the Bone Caves.... both of my parents are uni-mers. Lance & Ward are twins and my cousins on my mom's side. So is Tide Glider but on my dad's side. I have an older sibling but she is an earth-mer so was taken to the city and adopted; two younger siblings: one is peg, other is uni like me. One big happy family in the Bone Caves.... will be nice to have someone new," Amie said as she shifted her saddlebags on her back with her magic. Shimmer thought it was sad that Amie lost her older sister to the city just because of what she was born. "I don't even know her name..." Amie said quietly.

Shimmering Sea searched her mind for a change of topic. "Why are there so many of the Bone Caves lacking a cutie mark?" The question burst from her muzzle before she could stop it. Amie seemed relieved at the change. "So many of us lack our marks because there are so few opportunities to try new things or find new ways to soul search. We know each other too well and so can't hide anything.... it's really hard to explain." Amie struggled to find words. "Perhaps a change of scenery will do the trick for the three of you," Spike spoke up from Twilight's back. Twi & Shy nodded enthusiastically. "Indeed! And we'll help any way we can," Twilight said. "Oh, I wish the Cutie Mark Crusaders could have come along with us! They'd have loved this challenge," Fluttershy said.

"The Cutie Mark Whatists?" asked Amie. Twi, Shy & Spike burst into laughter. "They're a trio of fillies back home in Ponyville who would go "crusading" for their cutie marks... doing anything and EVERYTHING they could do to earn them. They finally did when they discovered that helping others come to understand what THEIR marks mean was their purpose." Twilight lit her horn, creating a trio of silhouettes of Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell, placing each of their cutie marks enlarged behind them. "That was one heck of a cute-ceanera that Pinkie Pie held for them!" Spike laughed, nearly falling off of Twi's back, grabbing her mane in the last moment.

Lance stopped suddenly and looked back over his shoulder. "What's a 'cute-ceanera'?" he asked. Twi, Shy & Spike stopped laughing and stared at him like he had just said that the moon was made of cheese.

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"Kinda silly idea... hmm... maybe if Discord had felt in the mood but it is kinda too old school for his tastes these days!" said Pinkie as she broke the 4th wall momentarily. "Pinkie! Come back in here and play your turn of Cards Against Equestria! I am three Amazing points away from winning this game!" yelled the voice of a certain Draconequus as his eagle claw waved a collection of black cards. "NO WAY DISCORD! I am only one away from winning this!" Pinkie cried as she grabbed a zipper and pulled the hole shut again, giggling insanely the whole time. (1)

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Shimmering Sea finally broke the tension; none of them having experienced the fourth wall episode. "A cute-ceanera is a party celebration given to a filly when she earns her cutie mark. A colt gets a cute-mitzvah instead but same concept."

Lance looked at her for a little longer than necessary but shrugged, said "Cool," and then kept going forwards. "Could they be held for adults?" Ward asked. Shimmering Sea shrugged. "I guess so but I've never heard of one for any adults before," she said. "I wonder how Pinkie Pie would plan that kind of party," Twilight mused. None of them had any answer { and Pinkie was too busy as Card Czar to break 4th wall... somehow Discord had won TWO hands in a row!! }.

They continued to swim for the vast majority of the day. Shimmering Sea and the other merponies felt it in the water when Princess Aqua had performed her magic; they also noticed that it was getting weaker. That worried the group as a whole and as result, their speed increased slightly.

When the sun reached mid-day, the group came to a flat clearing within a kelp forest. "That's a good of a place as any for lunch," Amie pointed out. The twins agreed and steered them towards the spot.

Upon arriving, Ward hurried around the perimeter of the circle and placed a bunch of pale crystals, the tips of his pegasus wings brushing the stone. Each crystal developed an inner glow as he placed the whole bunch of them from his saddle bag; when he finished with the perimeter, he placed the last one - a huge round flat one - in the very center. His wings began a swirling motion in the water, creating an almost whirlpool on top of the center crystal and the whirl grew bigger & bigger until it burst from center and connected with the perimeter crystals, creating a whirling wave around the perimeter. Ward darted into the wave, swimming faster and faster, using tail and wings. When he deemed that the wave would last, he exited the wave and joined the others.

The looks on Twilight, Fluttershy, Spike and Shimmering Sea's faces gave him a sense of pride that he had never experienced in his life. He was always proud of his crystal protection waves but those of the Bone Caves watched him growing up developing the wave. It was nothing new to them; but to these land ponies, this wave was something they'd never seen before.

As Ward settled next to his twin, a bright flash of light appeared from his tail area. There, a section of fish scales had fallen away to reveal a black/grey whirlpool cutie mark with a white crystal in the center. "By the waves! You got your cutie mark Ward!" Amie cried. Gasps & squealing immediately followed as Amie dove for a hug and Lance gave his brother a hoof bump. Twilight lifted a bottle from a saddle bag. "As Pinkie might say, 'This calls for a party!'" she laughed.

Drinks and the salad was passed around; Spike shared some of Lance's fish meat samples, trying a little bit of everything at least once.

As night fell on the surface, they came to another earth-mer village but by-passed it for a series of underground tunnels under an island & one with a vented air pocket for the land ponies to take a break from. The cavern itself had a flat section above water, covered in dry sand and an old fireplace already there. Spike was eternally grateful for a chance to take off and clean the breathing fish bowl he had been using; Twilight returning herself & Fluttershy back to their normal selves and Amie showed Shimmering Sea how to revert back using her pearl necklace. Lance used his levitation to bring some branches from a huge pile at the back of the sand area to the fireplace, broke them up and started a fire while Ward placed a few of his crystals at the entrance.

When everyone was settled, Fluttershy & Amie brought out their food supplies while Twilight sent an updated report to Princess Aqua, careful to mention how far the princess's magic went before petering out.

As they ate, Spike and Lance got talking about land dragons and how different Spike was to them. "Hey, I might not be the same as them, but I would not change a thing!" Spike said proudly over his fish meat, sapphire gem, kelp & seaweed salad. "But don't get me wrong.... a pair of wings would still be really cool," he added as an after-thought, looking at his bare back. Twilight & Fluttershy chuckled as Amie & Shimmer smiled indulgently.

Once dinner was eaten & cleaned up Ward, Lance & Amie set up a watch roister, refusing the offer from Shimmer and the others to take turns.

Night was completely uneventful for everypony (and dragon!) except for Simmering Sea. Despite laying on dry land, she continued to toss and turn in her sleep, completely tangling herself in her sleeping bag. Nightmares of dark shadows underwater chasing her; her pearl failing to maintain her merpony form causing her to revert back underwater too deep for her to reach the surface.... and no Princess Luna in sight to help her! She recognized that fear as being the worst part of the whole thing.

Author's Note:

Writer's block.... and that's all i can say.

(1) I added this in honor of my FiM friend, AmtrakBrony, for his awesome Cards Against Humanity/Equs stories. If you haven't read them, DO!!

Comments

[Dragon of Shadows]

8302097
i reccommend using google drive and getting a shareable link

[CrystalMoon3]

Is this story going to be continued?