Fish and Lilypad

by teamidris

1. Black Brook's Journey

The little filly had just finished breakfast and now the whole weekend was hers to enjoy. The only snag with this warm sunny day was deciding what today's adventure should be! The stream seemed like an ideal place to find inspiration, so off she trotted.

While the cool water ran past her hooves a new thought crossed her mind. Where did the water go? She knew where it came from, as she had been with Glyn and Sam to the spring on a picnic. The rain fell on the hillside and bubbled up from the gravel, which was simple enough. But where did Black Brook's water disappear to? She went to find Dad.

She soon found Glyn working on the mower in the biggest hay barn. Parts lay all around him as he fumbled with a small gear in his large hooves.

"I think this machine must have been built by fairy watch makers," he said as Fish appeared around the door. "Put this onto that would you, before I loose it completely. The rest I can do, but not this bit. Your mother said I should have had taken it to the blacksmith, but I'm too far into it to admit defeat."

Fish slipped the little spur gear onto the shaft with ease. She thought it might be a fair swap for a question.

"Daddy, where does the Black Brook go?" she asked, as Glyn fitted a square nut to hold the gear on.

"Oh, yes, I remember the first time I followed it to the river when I was your age. I nearly fell in!" Looking down at Fish wistfully he added, "I guess you'll be jumping in? Assuming you don't just walk the stream bed all the way. Be careful of the river though, as the water can drag you off. I don't want to be catching a train to the sea side to fetch you back," He grinned.

"I'll be careful," she sang as she trotted out of the double doors towards the stream. Glyn tightened the nut and popped into the house to make a phone call.

"Done already?" asked Sam, who had heard some heated words directed towards the mower earlier.

Glyn gave her a hug. "No, but thanks to Fish's little hooves I'm well on the way. I've just popped in to ring a friend who lives by the river. He can keep an eye out for our little wandering Cloud. She should be there in an hour or so."

Fish did indeed follow the stream bed. Some bits were flat and the water flowed wide, bubbling gently over small stones. Other parts were narrow and fast where tree roots had grown close together and channeled the flow. She had to be extra careful with these, as the water tended to dig out the bed eroding a deep hole.

She also passed through a couple of muddy ponds that turned her soft coat from light grey to stinky black. It soon washed off when she reached a clear section.

"Where are you off to?" asked a tan mare feeding some chickens, a flowery bag hanging at her side and a puzzled expression on her face.

"I'm off to see the river!" exclaimed Fish.

The mare chortled. "Say 'hi' to the seaponies for me then," she smiled, as Fish disappeared into another deep bit.

As Glyn had predicted, her short legs carried her out across the water meadow to the edge of the river in an hour thereabouts. From her viewpoint the stream began to widen and then flow slowly sideways. As the banks fell away to the sides she could see the river in front of her. It was clearly deeper than the stream and floating leaves showed it had a steady motion. She moved forward, carefully making sure she didn't step into a drop off.

The water became ever deeper as she kept walking. It was up to her middle as she noticed something move under the water in front of her. Fish was used to being teased and was fairly sure that the mare had been trying to fool her earlier. However, the thing that just swam past under the surface didn't look much like a trout.

Standing completely still Fish moved her nose closer to the water as she tried to look through her own reflection. But that wasn't her face looking back from below the surface! She jumped back in surprise as a unicorn filly popped up out of the water with a big smile on her face.

"You're new, I haven't seen you here before? I'm playing chase with the otters, come and join in." And with that the seapony disappeared back into the river with a splash of her tail.

Fish was now completely baffled. A pony she had never met before, that wasn't earth pony, pegasus or normal unicorn had just asked her to play and she was too scared to follow!

The water stirred again as the head popped up right in front of her. "I'm Lilypad, I forgot to say that before, are you coming? They have a head start on us."

Fish just managed a, "Hi" before the seapony was gone. A second later she was back.

"Are you going to transform? Mummy say's I'm too small to try yet... Oh!" Lilypad paused for thought. "You're a land pony," she giggled. Placing her head under water she made an odd noise before re-surfacing. Upstream an otter's head appeared and then disappeared. "I said I would be along for a re-match in a while. I'm Lilypad," she grinned.

Fish replied cautiously, "I'm Cloud, but everypony calls me 'Fish' because I play in water so much. I wondered where my stream went after it left our farm and it came here. I can swim really well, but that looks dangerous."

Lilypad looked a bit taken aback that her playground could be considered dangerous. It was a bit more exciting when it flooded, because you had to be careful about logs in the fast moving water, but dangerous? It was the safest place in Equestria as far as she could tell.

Thinking about it further Lilypad could see that Fish wasn't going to be able to play in this part of the river. Just downstream was a large gravel flat which was deep enough for her and not too deep for her new friend. "Come on," she called, "we can play just down there." She pointed a hoof at the bend down river. "Race you."

Fish fully understood that dare and jumped for the bank just as she heard Lilypad's tail splash. Leaping through the reeds she quickly made for the open grass. Speeding along she ran down a sand bank and out into the shallow water. Lilypad was already waiting for her further out.

Neither pony was quite in their element, but playing chase was still good fun. Fish swallowed quite a lot of water and Lilypad got beached a couple of times. Despite her aquatic tail she was soon back in the water.

Once they had got bored of that game they changed to stick racing. It was nice to play with someone who could easily race downstream and fetch them back for another try. As the sticks floated gently past Fish decided to ask more about the river. "Do you live here all the time?"

Lilypad stared at the water. "Mostly. We go to the sea to visit family. Mum and dad work in the river down at the docks. They used to live in the sea, but I've always lived here. The sea is huge and I like my friends here better and our house is here."

Fish wondered what a seapony home was like. She was sure it would be amazing, but she knew she couldn't get to it without breathing underwater. There wasn't time to do much about it anyway looking at the sun. It was late afternoon and she had to be back before dark.

"I have to get home," she said. "It's a long walk back and I mustn't be late. Will you be here again?"

"Of course," said Lilypad. "Just come back here and bang two stones together under the water three times. One of us will hear you."

The little grey filly made her way steadily back up the Black Brook to her home. She paddled past the farm where she had seen the tan mare, who was now playing with a small filly. Just before home she found a clean hollow with bubbly water to wash off any remaining mud. Arriving at the kitchen door covered in dirt was guaranteed to instigate a severe scrubbing behind the ears!

A quick run around the meadow to dry off and she was ready for tea and to tell of her wondrous day. Sam and Glyn listened fascinated to the story of what was for them a very rare pony indeed. Then they put their excited but exhausted little filly to bed ready for a new day.

Comments

[teamidris]

The first three were the 'Pony Poets' short stories, where the pony family made up a poem while they went about their day. This story follows on from "Fish in the Clouds" and is the second short story without any poetry.
I was about half way through when I realised that I didn't really know much about sea ponies and had absolutely no concept of what their house might look like? Other than that it was a joy to write.
My tales of Glyn, Sam and Fish are interspersed with various works which arn't always pony related. Some are on my YouTube channel and some are cast far and wide.
I'll slip in a big Thankyou to Jowy Bean and Neighrator Pony who did a stunning job as they always do. And I'll also mention Cut Glass who is my saviour in editing.
Thanks for reading.