The Jump

by Glimglam

IV: The Past

After the bizarre revelation that was her "father", Octavia had no end of questions for her mother. By the time she calmed down enough to start asking them in a rational manner, she eventually got the answers she desired. Answers that turned her entire world upside-down.

"It's quite the interesting tale," her mother said, giggling softly as the three of them sat in the house's living room. "Years ago, traveling abroad, I'd gone from Equestria to Griffonstone and everywhere in between. Indulging in the culture of the world, music, arts, and all! At least, until I decided to go heavy on the Merlot, one fateful night on the open seas by the west coast. My silly young self fell right overboard! Would have drowned, were it not for your father."

She sighed dreamily, as if recalling the memory. "Not only did he not eat me on the spot, he carried to me safety among some rock and coral outcroppings. Somewhere dry, at least. And oddly warm, which was definitely a plus. Brought me food, kept me company... Needless to say, I fell in love."

"With a shark," Octavia cut in, her expression utterly deadpan.

"Yes, and a real sweetheart of one, I'll say."

Vinyl took another sip of her drink, listening to the story with a considerable amount of interest. "And you both, uh, ended up," she started to say, making a few interpretive gestures with her forehooves, "you know, uh, doing things together?"

"A lady does not kiss and tell," the older mare replied, winking at her. "But all you need to know is that, some months after I was eventually taken to shore and able to return to my usual life, I discovered I was with child. And that child, of course, was you, Octavia."

"Niiice."

Celestia and Luna above, I don't believe this, Octavia thought, her mind still reeling from everything she was being told. Not only am I a bastard child, but I'm a bastard child born of a mare and a shark. Dare I even say, this is too surreal to even be a dream.

"It was a scary and difficult time for me, yes," her mother went on, wistful. "I was only around your age at the time, but it was ultimately worth it. I found myself returning to the same shore where he returned me to the mainland now and then, where he would always be waiting. Waiting to take me away to our special place, and make me his once mo—"

"This is all incredibly fascinating," Octavia spoke up, her voice rather strained, "but I think you can spare us these details. Please."

Her mother giggled again. "My apologies, sweetheart. I get carried away when I recall such sweet memories as those. Such sweet, passionate memories..."

Celestia help me, I think I'm going to feel ill.

"But, anyway," she went on, taking a sip of tea and setting it down, "after Octavia was born, her father and I decided to get married. I will spare my dearest daughter the details of the consummation, but eventually, we settled down by the shore more permanently. Young Octavia would often ride her father, the sweet little thing. I think I still have pictures here, even, if I remembered to bring them."

"Ooh, baby pics. Can I see?"

"V-Vinyl!"

"Once I find them, then certainly!"

"Mother!"

The older mare smiled sweetly, and chuckled before her expression turned somewhat moody. "All the same," she said, looking over at her daughter, "your well-being was our utmost concern. I knew full well that interspecial relations were complicated, and the offspring born from them were not always a success. The fact that you were born a perfectly normal filly was something I was grateful for, but, it also left me wondering about the future. So, I took you to a doctor, who had your fully examined, and..."

She trailed off, staring into space for a moment, before smiling and giggling. "And, well, as luck would have it, you were a completely healthy baby. Utterly spotless. Couldn't have been any less of a perfect hybrid of pony and shark. The only caveat was that, well, the recessive shark genes would not come into effect until much later in your life. Exactly when it would have occurred wasn't a certainty. But we did know it would happen, sooner or later."

Octavia sighed, looking back at her mother. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. "I nearly lost my sanity over today's events. I broke down upon realizing it wasn't a dream. That I had changed overnight. Food I used to enjoy now tastes abhorrent to me." The sharkpony stared her dead in the eyes, clutching her shark-like tail to her chest again and stroking it nervously. "Mother, I ate a bunny. I ate a bunny! And I enjoyed it!"

"Oh, sweetheart..." Shaking her head, Octavia's mother sighed. "If I had known it would be happening now, I would have said something. It was something your father and I were hoping to be around to support you with. In that event, I suppose the timing of our visit was as perfect as it could have been."

She took another sip of her tea, when a thought occurred to her. "Oh, and I would not worry about your sudden predatory cravings," she explained, smiling calmly at her. "It's a perfectly normal aspect of your, shall we call it, 'sharkening.' Your body simply needs to adapt to the changes you'll be undergoing. Eventually, you will be able to fully enjoy your greens once more, and any urges like that will subside. Nothing to it!"

"There's — there's more?" Octavia's eyes widened at the implications of her mother's words. "I-I'm not going to fully turn into a shark like my father, am I?"

"No no no, not at all," the older mare quickly assured her daughter, giggling. "It really is only like a second puberty. You're basically done changing, physically, from what I can tell. And I must say, you really did turn out beautifully. Not just in looks, but in talent, accomplishment, personality, and as a pony overall. Your father and I are very proud of you, Octavia."

Despite everything that happened today, the half-shark mare could not help but smile. "Thank you, mother," she said, releasing a small sigh as a weight was taken off her back. Bizarre as everything seemed, as little sense as it made, at least she had her explanation. "There's just, ah, one thing I'm still not quite sure about."

"Oh? And that would be?"

"Why it took so long for me to see my father again. Why our home is not by the sea, but in Canterlot. Whatever reasons you had for not telling me, if things were so wonderful, why did you and I leave?"

"Oh." She blinked. "Well, money reasons, simply put. Fantastical as such a location was, there were no job positions to be had. The closest city was a few days by hoof, and it was well off the beaten trail. Marrying and living on the shoreline with a shark, unsurprisingly, does not put much bread on the table. Particularly not with a young foal that needed a good, strong foundation to build from." She smiled, shrugging and giggling softly. "These things are necessary, sometimes. But we do plan to return there for our long-overdue honeymoon, soon. Reignite the flames and all."

Octavia nodded slowly, the answer to her question seeming almost obvious, now that she considered it. "I... I see," she said, smiling sheepishly. "I suppose that makes sense. I can hardly imagine what life would be like now, had I never attended the Academy."

Things remained quiet between them for a minute still. At least, until Vinyl seized the opportunity to speak again.

"So... baby pics?"

"Vinyl!"

"Ah, yes! Let me just find my purse..."

"M-mother!"

---

The next few days were ones that, surprisingly, went quite well. After her mother had left — apparently, she had commissioned an airship to hoist her father's water tank away — things returned mostly to normal around Ponyville. More ponies she knew eventually found out about her condition, and for the most part, nopony seemed to mind it. Some even seemed interested in her condition, asking her questions or otherwise striking up random conversations. Not much of the attention seemed to breed much more than some curiosity.

And that was perfectly fine, of course. The less incentive to employ pitchforks, the better.

Her mother had also left her what she called a "care package", to the tune of several barrels of raw fish. 'Remember: three meals a day, no snacks unless it's a holiday c:' a small note on one of the barrels had read. Classic mother. Most ponies would have complained about the smell, and while still somewhat pungent to her own senses, Octavia found it to be a godsend. Seemingly endless amounts of free, tasty, relatively healthy, and possibly non-sapient meat. Certainly better than the alternatives, at the very least.

More than a few times, she encountered "missing" posters with the picture of the rabbit she had unceremoniously devoured days before. "Never again," she muttered to herself after seeing the latest one, shuddering.

Walking home from the latest public concert, she caught sight of — who else — that annoying harpist, Symphony. She offered a small, dismissive wave to her, and the mare meekly waved back, yet avoided eye contact. Something about her had seemed off. Perhaps she's finally learned her place, Octavia wondered, turning to watch her for a moment as Symphony carried on walking down the road. Still afraid of me? Some other kind of personal troubles, perhaps? Oh well. It's not my business either way, but I do wonder about her, sometimes.

The shark-mare eventually reached home, stepping through the door only to find Vinyl asleep on her workstation. And snoring rather loudly, to boot. Octavia rolled her eyes and sighed, remembering how her friend had spent the prior night constantly working on her latest set. "The work of an artist is endless," she mused, shaking her head and setting up her cello in her usual place in the room, determined to get more practice in. "Often hard, often tiresome, often unrewarding..."

She looked over at the sleeping, snoring Vinyl, and couldn't help but form a slight smile. But, some days, you look back, and realize that it was all worth it. To be at the peak of your abilities, of your dedication, and admiration. It's not as lonely up here as many would lead you to think. It merely depends on how you get here. Octavia sighed contently, tuning the strings one by one. Imagine, having climbed the same height, only to find you've gone up the wrong mountain entirely. I wonder if that's what—

A loud snap! cut through the air, interrupting her line of thought as an old string she was tuning finally gave up the ghost. She blinked, looking down at the curled up coil of wire, and frowning.

"Ah, er — I should have probably bought more strings."