The Sea Swirl Anthology

by Zorotokon

Sparkeling Futures

"Abacus?"

"Got it."

"Calendar?"

"Yes, I saw you pack it."

“Books?”

“Stacked, packed, checked, rechecked, and sorted according to title, author, weight, color of dust jacket, and number of times the index references itself.”

“Parchment?”

“You’ll get that when you’re there.”

“Quills?”

“Same.”

“Bedding?”

“Amy, you wrote a list. Ask it, not me.”

Overlooking Equestria’s frozen northern coasts, the hamlet of Frieggan sits quiescent between snow-brushed peaks. Flanked by sheer cliffs, the ponies of the valley had long since learned to live a vertical life: their homes sitting atop the surrounding mountains, their jobs and business at the river mouth. Finally, the docks, the town's lifeline, jutted into the oft-frozen bay where river met ocean. These distinct environments: the rocky, wave-lashed tidals, and the gale scoured arctic plains, existed in a temporal state of back and forth; connected only by the ponies that made it their daily purpose to travel between.

Atop a particularly high cliff sits a seastone and pine cottage reminiscent of a very short lighthouse; on the second floor, two ponies wallow in a cluttered bedroom. The first, a purple and violet-maned unicorn with matching pelt and triple-gem cutie mark, read aloud from a lengthy scroll of parchment, held aloft in a glowing wreath of magenta magic. The nearest end was suspended at eye level by the unicorn’s influence, while the other disappeared into the detritus that coated the floor. The other occupant of the room lazed on the bed as if she was the subject of a particularly obtuse Dali painting. Her pelt matched her friend’s, but her mane was tinged a dark blue and her mark was of two circling dolphins.

The first pony began again from her list, a quill summoned to re-check the already checked checkboxes. “Starting again then, first is clothing. Swirly, do you have the bag?” The other pony pulled a large suitcase toward her, a magic ward of sealing glowed bright on the jute as the original straps had long decayed.

“Clothing, yes, you have clothing.” Swirly, given name Sea Swirl, undid the case's seal, assuaging sister’s unfounded and frequent fears of forgetting something. “Not that you’ll need any of this in Canterlot, Amy. You know, it doesn’t even snow in August there.”

Amy, given name Amethyst Star, trotted over to the bed, her movements marked by the tinkling of small bobbles launched by her stride. A particularly unlucky piece failed to escape and instead was crushed underhoof; the miasma of childhood relics carpeting the wooden floor growing no smaller with the trinket’s passing. “I’ll read the item aloud and you’ll tell me if I have it, okay?”

The other unicorn did not reply, her head resting inside the case. “Look Amy, your worrying has caused the suitcase to come alive and eat me!”

Amethyst simply rolled her eyes, readied her quill, and started down the object list as she had done so many times before. “Sweaters?”

“Four. The orange one, the ugly orange one, the passable one you stole from me, and the red one that was dad’s.” The unicorn not currently beheaded by luggage made a note on her scroll and continued.

“Saddles?”

“Warm and cold versions, frilled and unfrilled, you even packed the one with the bits of lace that make you look like a doily.”

“Hey, I like that one!”

“Remember when Gran-Gran put her tea on you that one time?”

“That was a joke.”

“It was also true.”

“Shut up.”

“Don’t bother telling me what’s next, I already know, and yes you packed your stockings.” Finally the unicorn freed herself from the predatorial clutches of the inanimate suitcase and furrowed her brow at her sister. “Why do you need twenty pairs of stockings anyway? I know Canterlot is a wild and crazy town but do you really think you won’t be able to do the laundry between visits from your colt friend?”

Amethyst bristled at the remark, the hair on the back of her neck sticking straight up as the worried frown on her face turned to a scowl of annoyance. Coltfriends had been a major point of contention between the sisters since they first discovered that colts were not composed entirely of cooties and boogers. It wasn’t an issue of one stealing the other as it was growing up in a small town where everypony knew everypony, and talked about them to anyone that stood still long enough to ask if they had heard the latest about the “Purple Terror Twins.”

The main point of contention between the sisters on the subject of romance however, was the proper mate. Sea Swirl preferred her colts brawny, steadfast, and usually slower than aged glass. Amethyst preferred her colts quick witted, petite, and female.

Amethyst ignored the jab and redirected the conversation back to the pony who had broached the subject. “How are things with you and Flotsam anyway?”

“Pah.” The sister on the bed fell back and crossed her hooves, a sour look darkening her complexion. “We broke up.”

“Oh,” the smile on Amethyst’s face was wide enough to embarrass a cat and her intonation oozed gloating like honey, “that’s too bad. You two were such a perfect couple.” At her words Sea Swirl rolled away from her sister, obscuring her face. “Oh, come off it, old Floaty wasn’t that great a colt anyway.” Amethyst sat next to her sister and gently massaged between her shoulder blades while making quite ‘cooing’ noises, a trick she had learned from her mother.

“Come on, Swirly, you can’t lie to me, what happened?”

The moping unicorn pulled one of her sister’s pillows over her head, muffling her reply. “Aye on wfahna alk abou ih!”

Amethyst rolled her eyes and continued rubbing along the spine of her oldest compatriot. “Look Swirly, I know you don’t want to talk about it, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to.”
A hoof nearly matching hers in color reached around and half-heartedly batted at the comforting touch, pushing it away from the still body. The hoof moved back up and tugged at the pillow, revealing the face beneath. “I thought he was the one, you know?” Sea Swirl’s eyes were unfocused, her snout mere centimeters from the wall. “He was so nice to me, and we had so much in common.”

The other pony draped her list over her sister’s reclining form as an impromptu blanket and pulled her quill to her. “Yes, yes, it sucks and stuff, but get over it. Besides, now you can go out and find the mare that’s right for you!”

“Ha!” Swirly scoffed at her sister’s comment and shoved Amethyst off her and the bed, upsetting the clothing suitcase in the process. This sudden flop sent garments scattering everywhere to form a new layer over the already heavily stratified debris. “Maybe I’ll get a marefriend when you get a coltfriend!”

Amy stuck her tongue out at the tease. “It’s not my fault that you’re the weird one of the family that only likes guys.”

“What!?” Sprayed Sea Swirl, faking shock at the oft repeated jab, “look here, Amy, You’re the only one in this family who likes mares!”

“Oh?”

“Dad doesn’t count!”

“And what about Mom?”

This brought Sea Swirl’s usually fast flowing mind to a completely placid stand-still; in the past nineteen years she had spent under the same roof of her mother she hadn’t ever honestly considered her sexuality. She was her mother, she didn’t HAVE one. Her words came out full of dark suspicion as if the concept had been pulled from the abyss itself. “What ABOUT Mom?”

“Did you know that she had a marefriend when she first met Dad and dumped her for him?”
Clearly taken aback, Sea Swirl elongated her next word as her mind both adjusted and recoiled at the thought of her mother liking a mare. “…Noooo.” It was her mother, if she had a sexuality at all, it was dadsexual. “Can we NOT talk about this now, or later, or ever?”

“Aw,” Amy got back on the bed, allowing herself to lie next to her sister, “What else do you want to talk about?”

“Anything else, like how you’ll miss the train if you don’t finish packing in the next five minutes.”

Amethyst Star bolted from her position to the clock on her nightstand. Her magic grabbed it before her hooves did and she let loose a primal growl when she saw the exact time. The horn that was holding the clock dropped it uncaringly to the ground with a heavy thud as metal met the only bare patch of floor.

A voice boomed from below, startling both unicorns in their attempt to speed-pack what remained. “What’s going on up there?”

“Nothing, Dad!” Amethyst Star lied as she consulted her list, eyes blazing up and down the checked and rechecked boxes, looking for anything she might have missed or forgotten. Her sister wrestled shut the clothing bag once again and triumphantly sat upon it, rebinding it with her magic. Amethyst licked her lips as her eyes started darting from list to her baggage, marking off each one as she made sure she was ready.

With a relieved sigh of finality the violet aura surrounding the list rolled it back into a scroll and tucked it away neatly in a saddlebag. Said bag was then picked up by a dark blue aura and deposited on the back of Sea Swirl.

“This is it, isn’t it?”

Amethyst scoffed at her sister’s expression. “Not even close, Canterlot’s great! You can visit me anytime!” The sisters smiled. The two were twins in everything but birthday; one had long mirrored the other in sensibility, taste, and friendship. Only now in their nineteenth year had their paths diverged.

“Amethyst Frost Star,” Amy’s full name indicated that her father was annoyed, or worried; or apathetic. It was hard to tell with him. ”You have thirty seconds to get down here or by Celestia’s barnacle encrusted beard your mother will give you such a talking to!” NOW he was annoyed.

“Gah!” The two sisters pooled their magic together and lifted up the mass of bags, saddles, and suitcases that made up all the worldly possessions that Amethyst was taking with her to Canterlot. The larger pieces were marked with the symbol of the Royal Academy, Collegiate Division to ensure they got to their final destination. In the mass of containers the two ponies rushed out the door and made their way into civilization proper.

In a town like Frieggan, the antics of two ponies like Sea Swirl and Amethyst Star became infamous quickly, and reached legendary status within the month. Thus, the scene of the two rushing over the frozen ground of the plaza square with a cloud of bags floating behind and above them stirred little comment from those who were fortunate enough to catch the spectacle.
Two ancient stallions watched the two stumble, lose control, and fling bags throughout the train platform from their veranda. The first stallion creaked back and forth in his chair as wisps of shouted conversation reached them from across the square, “Looks like the Frost’s eldest is leaving.”

“Yep.” The second stallion agreed.

“Least I think it’s the oldest one.” The chairs beneath the stallion creaked dangerously as he leaned forward to try to make out what was happening in the mess of magic and suitcases. “Is the older one the splashy one or the gem one?”

“Yep.” The second stallion replied.

“Right, right.” The stallion leaned back as a cold wind blew through the square, catching a floating suitcase and slamming it through a train window, saving the sisters the trouble of finding a home for it in the luggage car.

“Yep?” The second stallion asked.

“I don’t rightly think so. Last I heard the other one’s staying here.”

“Yep.” The second stallion confirmed.

With a final curse that echoed across the square the last rebellious parcel was lodged into place on the train and the two sisters faced each other as the whistle blew; one on the steaming engine, one on the platform.

Sea Swirl spoke first. “Hey, Amethyst, good luck, and stuff.”

Amethyst leaned out, pulling her sister in for a hug. “Love you too, Swirly.”

Sea Swirl squirmed in her sister’s grasp, unwilling to escape but she couldn’t exactly breathe. “When you get to Canterlot, kill ‘em.”

Amethyst pulled away, eyes glittering at her sister’s familiar misuse of the term. “It’s knock ‘em dead, Swirly.” The train whistle blew again, forcing the two apart. As the cars started to move Amethyst waved and shouted at her sister: “Come visit me soon!”

“I SAID knock ‘em dead!” Sea Swirl’s final complaint to the disappearing train was lost in a burst of steam as the locomotive left the station. All she could do was wave back as the train started the ascent into the mountains surrounding the fishing village. Within minutes even the steam had been obscured by the poplar and peaks. A final whistle blast echoed back through the pass, and she was gone.

Comments

[AA-12Ducky]

love you

[Prane]

Palaikai recommended me this story. I don't know if you're willing to continue it, but I'd definitely read more about these two sisters, because you've made them quite interesting.

[T1MBUK0N3]

There's a blog of mine called character tags. Look it up.