Gillian

by kitten_girl86

Knowledge and Choice

Once the novelty had worn off, Sea Trident began to wonder who had caused the transformation. He did recall seeing somepony or something in the water with him but now he saw nothing. He began swimming along the sandy bottom, searching the plant growth and nearby rock formations. “Hello? Is anypony there?” he called as he searched.

Cora waited until Sea Trident was facing her and a couple of body-lengths away before coming out of hiding. Sea Trident was surprised and mesmerized by her beauty. Blue color, like Sea Trident, the fish scales of Cora’s tail continued up her stomach. Her really long navy blue hair kept its natural curl, even under water. Her cutie mark was a piece of pastel blue coral over a white crescent moon. She had no hip fins because those were specific to stallions only. Her striking bright blue eyes gave Gillian the feeling of great age despite her 20-year-old youth.

She approached him carefully as she did not want him to bolt. “Don’t be afraid. My name is Cora and it was my magic that changed you.” She reached out and took his unresistant hoof. Sea Trident was so enchanted by her voice, he wanted to hear more.

She guided him to a nearby stretch of sheltered sandy beach, hidden inside a rock formation. There, she showed him how to crawl up onto the sand while she stayed partially in the water.

“Your name is Sea Trident, right?” she asked. He nodded slowly, wondering how she knew.

Cora reached over to a small depression in the rock wall and pulled out a few scraps of paper. As she spread them out, Sea Trident could see that they were various newspaper stories about him, from the time when he had first operated his fishing boat to a direct quote he gave on behalf of the local fisher ponies about a bad storm. He even spotted the photo ID fishing license that had gone mysteriously missing the day of his strange fall & fish scales appearance and a crumpled up discarded business report he had tossed overboard two weeks prior.

He quickly realized that she had been watching him for a long time and he was ‘chosen’.

Suddenly, he felt a tingling sensation in his tail. He looked down in time to watch his tail transform back into hind legs and he completely turned back to his old wrinkled self. “What in the world?” he yelled, his voice echoing painfully in the small space.

He looked up at Cora. “Will I always be this way?” he asked. Cora wrinkled her nose before shaking her head. “This ability to change back will only last 3 days... long enough for you to conclude your affairs on land before taking on your merpony form permanently on the next full moon. My magic is not strong enough to do that without it [a full moon]. But if you so choose to not accept... if you wish to remain land pony, you only have to stay in land form during the full moon and the previous 3 days will be just a dream. But at any time while you are on surface in land form and you touch any kind of water in any amount, you will revert back to merpony until you are dry.” Cora carefully scooped a small amount of water. Two small droplets later, Sea Trident was back in his youthful merpony form.

Cora hesitated a moment longer. Sea Trident noticed and encouraged her to continue. “There’s one more thing Sea Trident. Even if you do decide to take on the merpony form and go through with the full moon, after that time, you will still be able to turn into a land pony in the same way.... just not to your old form. You would take on a land pony version looking like you do right now. I can only do the land pony transformations on the day leading up to, on and day after a full moon because I am merpony-born. You are land-born, thus still able to revert back. And ageless youth can be a wonderful thing and a curse; I am nigh on 94 years old but I'm still considered a filly in my pod.” Cora smiled as she thought of the pod and hoped that Sea Trident would stay. So far, he was doing much better compared to the others.

“Your pod?” he asked as he slid into the water, not wanting to change back. Cora nodded. “How many are there? Any of them like me?” he asked.

“My pod is about 150 strong but there are pods all over the world. You won’t meet any of them until the full moon ceremony, if you decide to stay. Currently there are two others like you; Adney, chosen about 60 years ago and Raevon, chosen 17 years ago. When Adney, raised in Fillydelphia, put his affairs in order, he sold his business and bought an island near Haywaii and made it a protected sanctuary site. He built a well hidden farm on the island and he does the land farming for us. Kind of ironic since his name means ‘an island dweller’. Raevon is Manehattan born & raised; now he’s one of our best hunters and mentor to our merpony-born boys, which are few and far between. That’s why we must seek out male ponies like you every once in a while. There have been many, many others but not all accept that the full moon will turn them land pony if they stay dry and they drown themselves by accident. A few were saved by placing them here on the land for the 3 days, trapped in a magical coma, kept dry until after the full moon and then returned to land.”

"Those are very strange names, Cora; what kind are they?" Sea Trident asked. "Well, merponies have more plain names and when a land pony comes to the sea, he takes on a merpony name."

Sea Trident drifted out to a little deeper water and floated on his back, his tail moving ever so slightly to keep him in place. He knew that this was his best chance at a better life. His fishing only barely kept his head above water (he smirked at the pun) and his only family left wanted nothing to do with him; they would not care if he disappeared.... well, except for his sweet niece, 6-year old unicorn filly, Orchid Bouquet. She was the only one who mailed him a card at Hearth's Warming each year. He’d sell the house ; put all the money in a trust for her so she could go to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns when the time came. It was the least he could do for her... maybe write a letter for her to read, explaining why he had to go away.

The guys at the shipyard would not miss him much either and he had that tab to pay off at the local pub.

Suddenly, Sea Trident realized he had already made up his mind to stay and he was now making a list of what he’d have to do to put everything in order. He also knew that he’d have to be careful... he didn’t want to rouse suspicion. He’d tell people that he was sick of staying in one place; he wanted to do some global travels on his boat while he still had enough youth to enjoy it with. In actual fact, he’d take the boat with him and get the pod’s help to sink it, thus turning it into his new home!

Turning to Cora, he took a deep breath. “I don’t need any time to think about it, Cora. I'm staying with you and I know how to do it,” he said. "And I want my new merpony name to be Gillian." Then they spent the next hour discussing his ideas and how to make them work.

Dusk saw Gillian walking out of a second hoof shop, having sold all of his furniture except for one small three drawer dresser which he planned to take on the boat with him and his land bed’s mattress (only because he thought it would seem suspicious if he sold that prematurely). He had a huge wad of cash in his vest pocket; more than enough to pay off his bar bill and give a round to the other patrons.

The transformation back to land pony came with a little complication that Cora failed to mention. The fish scales on his fore legs had returned but now he also had some on his hind legs. Thankfully, it had been a chilly night so he could justify the long, baggy torn jeans and old forester jacket he was now sporting over his fishing vest.

As he entered the bar, many of the conversations stopped. He noticed that there were more patrons than usual for a Sunday night, including a table of griffons, but Gill ignored them; he harbored a secret that made him so giddy, nothing could spoil the moment.

The bartender, Mythic Brew, looked up at Gill and noticed the change in him. “What’s got you so happy, Trident? I’d ask if you made a record-breaking catch but you don’t fish on Sundays,” Mythic Brew said and Gill laughed. “Yeah, you could still say something like that. Sundays are good for me to think. And I've decided to get the heck out of Dodge. I'm an old coot... no one cares for the likes of me around here and fishing has been terrible lately anyway. I'm selling my house and taking the boat on a global cruise; maybe try my fishing luck elsewhere. I'm leaving the money I make from the house in a trust for my Orchid and I'm here to pay my bill.... and drinks for everyone!” he hollered the last little bit which was met with a chorus of cheers as he handed the wad of cash to Mythic Brew.

As Gill got up to leave, Mythic Brew put a hoof on Gill’s fore leg. “Are you sure everything is ok? You’re not... you know?” Mythic Brew asked. “No, Brew; nothing of that sort and if you knew me, I’d never leave my Orchid like that. If you must know, I've met someone who shares my adventurous spirit and she wishes to accompany me.” Gill knew it wasn’t a total lie but fibbing to Mythic Brew was sour in his mouth. “I've sent Orchid Bouquet a letter telling her that I’ll be away traveling but she can still send her Hearth's Warming card here, if that’s ok with you. I’ll make sure to be in the area during that time to come get it or I’ll send my companion, Cora.” Mythic Brew hoof-bumped with Gill, promising to hold onto any mail from Orchid and see to it that it gets to him.

As Gill left the bar, he knew that it could never be himself to collect Orchid’s letters. He and Mythic Brew knew each other from their school days; Mythic Brew would easily recognize him even in Gill’s youthful land pony form and be freaked out by the whole thing. “Maybe someday I can trust him with the truth,” Gillian said to himself as he walked back to his empty house.

He bypassed the house, went right for the dock and jumped in without any hesitation. Cora was waiting for him near the pillars of the dock. They returned to the beach cave for the night sleep. They laid tails in water, land pony on sand and slept snuggled together.