The seething sea ceaseth and thus Shimmering Sea hast savethed us

by kitten_girl86

Chapter 2

She could feel the weight of the water on her chest. She could hear nor see anything except for a small light above her. She struggled to swim to the surface but she kept floundering in the dark waters and falling deeper. When she thought that the water would finally win, a bright white light burst forth from the surface and lifted her out.

“Where dost these dreams come from Shimmering Sea?” asked Princess Luna’s voice.

Shimmering Sea woke with a start, her mane & tail in a mess, sweating, breathing heavily, tears running down her face and her eyes like pinpricks.

She knew the dream; the one that plagued her from time to time. The one she could never explain.

Shimmering Sea had spent the entire previous week –since her “birthday” party- trying to find some record of her real parents in Manehattan. Hospital records... birth registry... even security footage from the day she was dropped off... all came up fake names, anonymous and too dark to make anything out besides a cloaked figure.

She had considered going to Canterlot to check the records there but figured that if her birth parents wanted to remain secretive, they’d have stayed closer to home. She decided to try Ponyville records and if nothing came up there, she’d go seek out Princess Twilight for help.

A few days later, Shimmering Sea found herself on the Ponyville Express; her saddle bags filled with her memory box, a bag of bits her parents had given her at the train station and the few papers of her Manehattan “evidence”.

Despite her hesitance, she had started wearing the shell necklace in the hopes that someone might recognize it but so far, ponies had only commented on how pretty it was.

Now as she sat in a seat on the left side of the train, watching as the skyscrapers of Manehattan disappeared behind and farm land surrounded by mountains spread ahead.

The car she was in was pretty much empty and the trolley pony had already passed by but Shimmering Sea was not hungry. She was more tired than anything. Her nightmares were getting worse despite Princess Luna’s intervention and she could do nothing to change them.

Barely a few minutes resting on the soft train cushions and the monotony of the train on the tracks, Shimmering Sea was lulled to sleep.

The dream or day-mare in this case, started the same as all of them: her sinking in dark water. “Oh Shimmering Sea; why dost thee torment thyself with these dreams?” asked Princess Luna’s voice again. Shimmering Sea only shook her head. She had become so used to these dreams that she no longer struggled with the sinking.

Suddenly a second light, pale blue in colour appeared from behind Shimmering Sea and a new voice came from the water. It was a light female voice and she was chuckling. “Oh my child... why has it taken you this long to relax? Now I can help you find me... you must continue to wear the necklace.”

As the voiced faded, Shimmering Sea awoke gently.

“Next stop: Ponyville!” came the announcement from the conductor pony.

Shimmering Sea was astounded that her dream had finally changed; relieved, in fact. Was that my mother’s voice I heard? She wondered to herself as she gathered up her saddle bags and prepared to disembark the train as it pulled into Ponyville station.

~*~

As Shimmering Sea walked through Ponyville, she was amazed at the friendliness of the town. Oh sure, Manehattan was nice but this was really friendly and welcoming.

She had found the town hall without any trouble but after searching the records, she had come up with nothing.

When she came to a gingerbread looking building, she was able to ask a total stranger for directions to Princess Twilight’s castle and did not get accused of being a tourist. The grey pegasus mare with strangely slanted eyes was carrying a muffin as she came down the steps. When Shimmering Sea asked, the mare stuffed the muffin in her mouth, flew up a few pony lengths and pointed Shimmer in the right direction before giving a solute and flying off.

Approaching the big crystalline castle, Shimmering Sea could see a wooden sign placed outside the main door:

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship
Appointments upon request
-----
Ponyville Public Library
Open Daily 8am to 8pm
Subject to change according to emergency

Shimmering Sea nudged the huge front door open without a sound despite the crystalline structure. She wandered the huge, empty hallways wondering where to go.

She was spooked by the sound of rustling wings and a shadow overhead only to be relieved when a large brown owl landed on a stone bench nearby. She’s not sure how but she knows that this creature is a boy.

“Hoo?” he asks. “Umm... I was hoping to speak with Princess Twilight. I need her help with something,” Shimmering Sea said hesitantly, not sure if he’d understand her.

“Hoo-hoooo!” he responded and flew off down the hall to another pair of large doors. He motioned with his wings for her to join him but held a wing up to keep her in the hall as he slipped in.

Inside the room, the Council of Friendship was in session. Spike was writing down all the notes while Rarity was admiring herself in a hoof mirror held in her magic. Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep out of boredom; Applejack was trying to listen but it was a losing battle; Pinkie Pie had started making balloon animals and Fluttershy was feeding Angel Bunny some carrots. Twilight Sparkle was reading from a list, but what that list was, Owlowiscious didn’t care; he was on a mission.

He landed gracefully on the map table in front of Fluttershy and (very pony-like) leaned over, using a wing to cover his beak and whispered something to her.

“Oh my!” said the sweet little voice that was Fluttershy. Twilight, attuned to her shy friend’s voice, stopped talking immediately. “Is something wrong, Shy?” Twilight asked.

“Oh.... I'm sorry for interrupting.... Owlowiscious says there’s a pony outside looking for you Twilight. A new pony, he says,” Fluttershy gently said.

“OH MY GOSH! A NEW PONY TO PONYVILLE AND I WAS NOT THERE TO GREET THEM??” screamed Pinkie Pie. One of Pinkie’s cupcakes on the table map in front of her suddenly levitated up in a blue aura of magic and threw itself into Pinkie’s shocked open mouth while Rainbow Dash woke with a loud snort.

“Calm down darling,” said Rarity with a flick of her mane. “I'm sure you’ll get a chance to give this pony one of your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ parties in due course.”

“Rarity’s right, sugar-cube. If ya’ll are done here, Ah got bushels to do back on the farm. Best not keep that filly waitin’,” said Applejack.

Twilight, finally recovered from the abrupt interruption of her talking, realized that Applejack was right. The rest of this meeting could wait and only now did she recognize how long she had dragged it on for. Meanwhile, Owlowiscious whispered something else to Fluttershy, who in turn, giggled and said, “Oh no, Applejack does that a lot. You get used to it after a while.” Owlowiscious only turned his gaze on AJ with the owls’ equivalent of a raised eyebrow.

“If this meeting is over, I'm outta here. Thanks for the nap, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash, living up to her name, flew up and dashed out the door, not taking any notice of Shimmering Sea who waited out in the hallway.

Rarity said her farewells and started walking out of the throne room, Pinkie Pie bouncing her way out. Fluttershy hesitated a moment before sending Owlowiscious to let the pony inside.

Shimmering Sea entered as Rarity, Pinkie and Spike left; Applejack dawdled at the door. As Shimmering Sea observed, the throne room was magnificent... not that she had seen many throne rooms, granted, but it was beautiful. The cutie mark thrones, the magical map table, the tapestries... but what really inspired her was the chandelier in the ceiling. Everypony knew what had happened to the old Golden Oaks library when Tirek went on his rampage but Shimmering Sea felt honored to just be in the same room as that piece.

Twilight watched passively as the new pony, a unicorn mare, marveled at the chandelier. She did not mind at all; why, sometimes during her reading breaks, Twilight would come here herself to admire the thing.

When enough time had passed, Twilight cleared her throat. The pony finally noticed the princess and hurried over to bow.

Twilight helped her rise. “Now, none of that please. I am Twilight Sparkle and this is my friend, Fluttershy. Is there something I can do for you?”

Shimmering Sea’s throat had gone dry only for a moment before she found her voice. “Princess Twilight, my name is Shimmering Sea and I only found out last week that after 16 years I'm adopted. I need somepony’s help to search for my birth family but Manehattan came up empty and I have no idea where else to go.”

Then, suddenly, the magical map activated and took both Twilight’s and Fluttershy’s cutie marks to Ponyville. But then a string of magic came from the map and made a copy of Shimmering Sea’s cutie mark and joined it with the other two. Then, all three of them zipped across to Manehattan. They all watched dumbfounded as the three cutie marks stopped at Manehattan and literately DOVE into the ocean not far from shore!

Applejack trotted back over to observe the three cutie marks hovering under the water. “Ah reckon that’s a new one for us,” she said pointing a hoof. “Which part? The underwater location or the new pony?” Shimmering Sea asked. “Both,” replied Applejack.

Twilight let loose a sigh of resignation. “There’s no point beating about the bush. The three of us will go to Manehattan and figure out things from there. I’ll send a message to Princess Celestia.” Twilight left the throne room to find Spike as her magic grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from a nearby pedestal.

“I’ll need to go home and feed my animals before we leave,” said Fluttershy. “Ah’ll go with ya Fluttershy seeings as Ah'm headed that way,” Applejack said. “I’ll need to ask Zecora to check on the animals while I'm away,” whimpered Fluttershy. “Naw, don’t you fret. Ah’ll go ask her for ya,” AJ said. “Oh thank you Applejack. You’re so sweet,” said Fluttershy. Any more of their conversation was muffled as they stepped outside.

Spike, having sent the letter to Princess Celestia, saw Shimmering Sea looking a little lost. He hurried over to her side. “My name is Spike. I'm Twilight’s Number One Assistant. Is there anything you need for your trip?”

“Oh... umm....” Shimmering Sea’s stomach betrayed her. Spike only snorted a laugh and motioned for her to follow him. “You and Twilight are the same... you get so distracted, you forget to eat.” Shimmering Sea blushed as Spike led her to the kitchens; he fixed them all a dinner of hay burgers and fries; a bowl of mixed gems for himself.

Author's Note:

Yes, this chapter was a bit longer than the last one only because I had so much to write. And I do hope I spelled the owl's name correctly!

Comments

[kitten_girl86]

I find myself rushing over the boring bits to get to the good stuff. And then the good stuff is usually long and detailed. It's a terrible habit that I've been trying to break for years but it does not look like I will succeed.