Rainbow is Magic S2: Treasures of the Deep Blue

by aceotaku

Chapter 3: Storytime

15 years ago

Ponies ran in terror, screaming as buildings exploded around them. It was a coastal town, facing towards the sea, upon which now sailed a foreboding ship, black sails raised high marked with a terrifying skull around which numerous tentacles wrapped around almost possessively.

It was a telltale sign, a warning and a promise. Pirates.

The captain sat upon the crow’s nest, laughing as his ship fired upon the town. “That’s it, me hearties, fire! Burn it all down and whatever’s left well be ours for the taking! KISHISHISHISHI!”

He frowned as his crew murmured nervously with each other, causing the captain to look ahead as a long figure fly through the skies towards them.

Princess Celestia gazed coldly upon the ship. “NOW HEAR ME, PIRATES!” She called out in what had over years become dubbed ‘The Royal Canterlot Voice’, one used for grand proclamations and announcements to be heard over a large group of ponies across a wide area. “YOU SHALL NOT BE ATTACKING MY PONIES, NOT WHILE I RULE! I AM PRINCESS CELESTIA OF EQUESTRIA, AND I HEREBY DEMAND THAT YOU CEASE YOUR TERRORISM OF MY PEOPLE, OR I SHALL BE FORCED TO DEAL WITH YOU AS I HAVE COUNTLESS ENEMIES FAR MORE POWERFUL AND DANGEROUS THAN YOURSELVES! I AM GIVING YOU ONLY ONE CHANCE!”

The captain smirked and then began laughing. “SHASHASHASHASHA! You think we’re scared of some tall Pegasus!? I AM CAPTAIN ‘GREEDY’ SQUIRK, I FEAR NO MAN, NO CREATURE AND CERTAINLY NO PONY! FIRE UPON HER MEN, BLAST HER OUT THE SKY, AND THEN STRENGTHEN YOUR ATTACK ON THE TOWN!”

Celestia’s lips thinned as she frowned icily. “So be it.” Her horn glowed, a bright golden aura, summoning forth a ball of flame so intense it was if a miniature, secondary sun was forming.

Squirk merely laughed, ignoring the danger even as he crew began their attempt to flee the ship.

Only about half made it off-board before Celestia fired the ball upon the ship, burning the ship with heat and tearing it apart with incredible force, with Captain Squirk caught right in the middle, screaming in pain and fear as his ship sank below the waves.

The Captain was never seen on the surface again.

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Twilight Sparkle got to work repairing the intricate machine before her. On the surface level, it resembled a suit of armour in terms of look and function, though with some aesthetics that were odd to her eyes, but underneath it was much more complex. The armour hid an intricate combination of mechanisms, designed to allow a seapony to manipulate the limbs as easily as if they were a part of a body, as well as control the various rotors that allowed it to move in the water at incredible speed. She grinned to herself as she set to work, her mind easily allowing her to fill in the blanks and correct any damage done to the inner mechanisms.

Behind her, Rarity sat with a smile as she looked at their host, the scarred seapony Bubble Burst.

“So go on, tell us your story.” Rarity said.

Bubble Burst sighed in released reluctance, nodding to herself. “Many years ago....we were not always living in the sea, nor were we seaponies.”

Twilight yelped as her body twitched in shock, hooves flying back to ensure she didn’t ruin the inner workings of the armour. “W-what!?”

Rarity raised her eyebrows in surprise but kept quiet, deciding not to doubt or question the seapony’s claim as Bubble Burst nodded and spoke again. “Yes, it is true. Long ago, our kind were ponies just like you two; we lived on the coastline acting under the princesses’ will, protecting our lands from foreign threats travelling the seas. To aid us, and to ensure it didn’t fall into the wrong hands, Princess Luna gave us one of her most valuable treasures....a powerful magical artefact imbued with a portion of magical force originating from the moon: the Moonstone.”

Rarity’s eyes lit up. “Oh!? I think someone up at the town mentioned that! What does it do?”

Bubble Burst gave her a questioning gaze before shrugging. “Many miraculous things. Whosever held it could heal wounds, cure diseases and even control water as a unicorn would their magic.”

“What happened to your city though?” Twilight asked. “I’ve certainly never heard of you or the moonstone, and how the hay did you guys become...seaponies?”

Bubble Burst looked down. “A great and terrible storm came suddenly, we’re not too sure how it happened or why it was so much more terrible than what we had experienced in the past...regardless, it raged for several days and caused our city to become separated from the mainland and sink into the ocean...at that moment, the Moonstone reacted and sent out a wave of magic, causing the nearby coral to grow massive around our borders, create a bubble around us and change us into aquatic creatures, all to protect us and ensure our safety and prosperity. That’s how my grandmother spoke of it, at least.”

The seapony looked upwards as she continued. “That machine you are repairing has been in my family line for generations, though there used to be far more. Once upon a time, everyone in this city was a powerful warrior, fighting to protect the Moonstone and our city’s other treasure, but over the centuries the others lost sight of their sacred duty, becoming complacent with the seeming safety of our new home, and later generations simply...forgot, their armour and weapons rusted to uselessness. Only my family line remained vigilant, and now I am the last.” She frowned grimly. “And as you can see, I am needed more than ever now, what with these pirates attacking us.”

“....You mentioned another treasure?” Twilight asked suddenly.

Bubble Burst blinked in surprise. “You are actually listening to me?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course I am! It would be rude not to. Besides, I find having something in the background helps me work.”

AT that, everyone’s stomachs growled simoultaneously.

Bubble Burst tried to stop herself from smiling in amusement...and failed miserably. “Very well, I shall continue after I prepare us some food, seeing as your big ‘celebration’ was interrupted. I shall introduce you ponies to a loal delicacy: sushi. We shall continue our discussion while we eat.”

------------------------

A figure swam through the darkness beneath the ocean, sand and debris splashing up as they moved along the ocean floor, near the large coral structure.

----------------------------

When Bubble Burst returned, she carried a large wooden block lined with lined with various plates sporting small bits of rice and fish wrapped in seaweed. She laid it down on the floor as she sat beside Rarity, Twilight stopping her work to trot over and join them.

“They hay are these...?” Rarity grimaced, looking over the meal.

“Sushi.” Bubble Burst replied simply. “Way back when our town rice farms and the magic that affected us also affected the rice, allowing us to farm it under the sea. This is an old recipe using rice, raw fish and pressed seaweed to hold it together.”

Twilight shrugged and took a bite, shivering in delight. “ooooh this tastes great!”

Rarity, face slightly green, slowly reached out a hoof to grab a piece, taking it to her mouth....her eyes widening. “I...I LIKE this!”

“I told you it would be fine!” Twilight said as she ate away, quickly turning to Bubble Burst. “You mentioned another treasure you were protecting here, something separate from the Moonstone.”

Bubble Burst nodded, blinking in surprise. “Indeed. You are quite attentive.”

“So what is it!?” Rarity exclaimed excitedly. “Gold? Doubloons? GEMS!?”

Bubble Burst merely pointed upwards. “That.”

The two mares looked up, rarity frowning in disappointment. “All I see is a bunch weird pictures...”

Indeed, along the walls of the room was painted a mural depicting various strange creatures that stood on two limbs, with two more limbs at their sides.

“They may seem strange, but they are our city’s other greatest treasure.” Bubble Burst explained. “They are a telling of a time long since past, from before the Princesses were born, before ponies or even dragons ruled the land, before magic even existed.”

Rarity gasped. “Excuse- what- BEFORE MAGIC!? WHAT!? Now I KNOW you’re messing with us, there’s no way that’s possible!”

Bubble Burst nodded. “Indeed, magic may have existed back then, but it was fundamentally different from how we perceive it.”

Twilight scooted closer. “Can you tell us more?”

The seapony nodded, taking a bite of sushi. “indeed, I can.” She pointed to the mural closest to them, depicting a large castle standing under the stand, beneath the castle were grassy fields where the two legged creatures frolicked. “Long ago, before ponies, before dragons, before MAGIC...there was another race of creatures who ruled the land. Unlike ponies they stood on two legs, and used their forelimbs to manufacture mechanisms and tools to help them with tasks, and built large shelters to live within.”

“What were these creatures called?” Twilight asked.

“Noone remembers.” Bubble Burst said solemnly, moving her tail to point at the next mural from the left of the first, this one depicting a larger, more detailed by still stylised image of a bipedal creature. It was large, stocky and had a gold crown upon its head, and stood before a group of smaller bipeds as larger ones loomed threateningly from behind the crowned creature. “These creatures were separated into many tribes, with many beliefs and appearances, and in one such tribe there ruled a king. He was fair and benevolent, but was always tied back by his duties as king, which forced him to make tough decisions, but he tried his best to strive for the peace, happiness and prosperity of his people above all else. Another tribe who loved nearby were a constant threat, but the king had managed to convince them to make peace, and would hold a great feast to celebrate. The populace would fast and not eat anything before then, to prove they were taking the event seriously.”

“So they were like the tribes of ponies before the Princesses came.” Twilight muttered to herself aloud.

Bubble Burst pointed to the next mural, depicting a goofy looking biped in a jester’s outfit, grinning as it lay in the middle of a vast spread of food. “However, just as they were ready to begin the feast and feed the tribe, they made a terrible discovery: the king’s court jester, whose job was to entertain, had found his way into where the food for the feast was being held and ate every single last piece himself.” The other half of the image showed the jester in the same pose, this time held in stocks, with the same grin on his face. “The people were furious, the foreign tribe were furious, and everyone was starving. The king was given no choice but to execute the Jester to placate everyone. Before he was beheaded, the king asked the Jester ‘Are you satisfied now? Have you eaten your fill?’ to which the Jester responded, with a mocking grin, ‘No, I have not.’”

Rarity paled at that, feeling sorry for the Jester’s fate. “What happened then?”

Bubble Burst pointed to another mural, depicting an immense inferno surrounding the kingdom, the king standing on a hell and watching as several buildings were drawn to be collapsing among the flames, a massive, dark figure looming high above, wearing a Jester’s hat and a familiar grin. “The Jester returned, his spirit having become powerful and vengeful. He destroyed the kingdom and cursed the king, cursed to watch the world while the Jester destroyed it all. However....”

The next mural portrayed an image similar to last one, but with much larger, boxy looking buildings rising high to a blue sky, a sun shining ahead as the king was shown in the same positon on the hill. “For reasons unknown, the Jester vanished, and the King watched his race grow. There was turmoil, war and terrible things, but there was also progress, change and prosperity as his kind took steps to rise from the darkness and help each other and improve. The King was happy, for his kind had grown so much beyond his primitive system that he maintained, happy that, slowly but surely, his kind would face none of the necessary cruelties he once inflicted....”

Twilight smiled. “Wow, that’s a lovely sentiment...”

Rarity frowned however. “But...why do we not know anything about these people...?”

Bubble burst sighed and pointed to the second to last mural, depicting the Jester standing triumphant over a foreboding, darkly coloured scene of destruction as people tried to flee, many being devoured wholesale into the Jester’s cruel grin. “The Jester returned, once more, and made good on his promise. He came just as the people were finally putting their darkness behind them and reaching a form of peace and understanding...and destroying it all. He feed on their fear, their hatred and their despair, stoking these emotions into all out conflict until he personally came and destroyed all their progress, devoured them all to feed his gluttonous desires and ambitions...and set about trying to alter the world to his wishes, and removed all but the barest traces of the race he once was a part of. The King watched as all hope was destroyd was quickly, so simple, and fled.”

She pointed upwards, to the wall directly behind the trio, depicting the Old King sitting alone, painting on a wall. “The Old King found refuge in where our city now stands and painted these murals, as both a chronicle of his kind, a final refuge of their memory, and a warning to all should the jester one day return.”

“It’s...just a story...right?” Rarity quavered.

“perhaps...but does it not seem strange, ponies using so many tools that seemed ill designed for them? And so many buildings and structures they simply ‘found’, with no question as to where they came from?” Bubble Burst shook her head. “No, I and my forbearers have spent our whole lives believing in these murals and ensuring they survive so that the princesses and future generations can learn from them...and so that these forgotten people can be remembered, even if only in some small way.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought. “how do you know these stories so well?”

Bubble Burst pointed to a stone plaque, each at the foot of each mural, in varying states of ill repair and wear, most of them broken with their text faded. “Those detail the individual story of each mural, though they’re much harder to read now, and thus the details remain passed down from generation to generation of my family.”

Rarity got up, staring up at the disturbing image of the smiling Jester who destroyed an entire race. “I...I think I’ll go head outside...clear my head.” The unicorn quickly ran out the main door.

Twilight frowned. “Doesn’t even offer a hoof to help me out....just runs off on her own all willy nilly....”

Bubble Burst nodded. “Indeed, while I do appreciate her dressing my wounds, as insubstantial as they are, she’s much too much like the other people in this town: flighty, carefree and short sighted.”

Twilight rolled her shoulders and got up, heading back to complete her repair work. “If you’re feeling better, would consider helping me fix this? You probably understand its mechanisms a lot better than I could.”

Bubble Burst nodded and swam to the unicorn’s side. “indeed, though you are doing remarkably well despite never having seen it before.”

“Oh invention and machines are my special talent, and I always do my best to make sure t help anypony in need...even the ones who aren’t ponies in the strictest sense.” Her smile shrank as her tone grew serious. “I was wondering though...what happened to the King, the one who made these murals?”

“He died.” The seapony said simply. “The curse kept him alive far past his years, but eventually even he had run out of time, and he died here, alone. My ancestors found his bounds and gave him a decent burial, as I was told.”

Twilight frowned. “That’s too sad...”

“Indeed... I hope we can return to the surface one day and share his story, so that his fate is not our own...”

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Rarity walked down through the town, toward the coral wall, thinking about Bubble Burst’s story, how she couldn’t believe someone would be...executed (she grew green just thinking the word) for such a silly reason..or that he’d come back and destroy his own people just out spite towards a single person. Rarity felt bad for both the King and the Jester, but most especially for the people caught in between. She wondered how the King felt, being alone for so long, the last of his kind.

She was broken out of her melancholy by a voice.

“Help me.”

The unicorn turned and saw a pale green mare with sea-green mane that drifted lazily in the water, covering one of her eyes, a faded yellow dress hung around her waist as she swam through an opening near the bottom of the coral barrier, looking extremely weak.

“oh goodness!” Rarity walked over.”are you okay?”

“P-Pirates attacked me, I managed to swim away and found myself here...please...I think I won’t make it much longer...please help me...”

Rarity’s eyes widened, immediately remembering what Bubble Burst said about the Moonstone. “Come with me! We’ll help you right away!” She grabbed the pony’s hoof, dragging her alonge, noting how oddly soft and cold the mare’s hoof felt, but shrugged it off as just being stuck underwater for so long. “What’s your name?”

“Angle.” The mare coughed. “Angle Mare....”

Rarity nodded and lead the mare up to Bubble Burst’s home, not noticing the large trench of earth being dug up from under Angle Glow as they moved.

Rarity soon reached the building, knocking rapidly on the metal door. “Bubble Burst!”

The seapony wearily opened the door. “What is it?”

“The Moonstone! You have it, right!?”

Bubble Burst glared. “Why do you want that information...? I thought I told you enough to slake your curiosity...”

“I found a mare, the pirates hurt her! She needs the Moonstone or she’ll die!”

“A mare...?” The seapony narrowed her eyes suspiciously, on edge despite her earlier candour. “What is this mare’s name...?”

“Angel something or other, I’m in too much of a panic too remember right! Just help her, she’ll die!”

“I believe I said my name was ‘Angle Glow’.” The mare in question said.

Something about the mare’s tone set a warning sign in the seapony’s head as Bubble Burst opened the door, trident in her tail.

Rarity turned to Angle Glow, blinking as she noticed the mare was now standing far more strongly and confidently, with a large, cold grin on her features. “Angel...? You seem much better all of a sudden...”

“How very astute.” Angle chuckled. “Honestly, I don’t know why the captain didn’t think of doing this before, not like the other chuckleheads here would be that much smarter....”

Rarity was feeling very confused. “Captain...?”

Angle clapped her hooves together, her smile becoming far more mockingly joking and neighbourly. “Oh I’m sorry! Did I ruin the surprise a bit early! Not like I could’ve gone in without revealing myself anyway...so let’s cut the nonsense!”

Suddenly the floor around Angle exploded, sand and debris drifting in the water around them as Rarity yelped and Bubble Burst growled...the pair’s eyes widening and drawing upwards as a massive figure was soon revealed under the green mare.

Angle Glow stood atop a massive, warty fish with blank, blind eyes and massive, curved teeth in an equally massive mouth, a large stalk trailing from under the mare’s skirt and into the forehead of the massive fish.

“Name’s Angle Glow, scouting party for Captain Squirk’s Fishy Pirates!” Angle Glow sneered, her face literally glowing softly. “I’m a magically altered angler fish, and the Captain sent me to find where, exactly, the Moonstone was...and I figure YOU’RE the infamous Sea Slasher!”

“Get away from us, pirate!” Bubble Burst spat, swimming upwards to attack.

However, without the suit, she was still too slow, as the mutant angler fish flopped down onto her and crushed the seapony’s home merely with its massive girth...and everything else within the building as well.

Author's Note:

There we are! The continuation of this story!

The story about the Jester is VERY important about the ongong myth arc of this universe, and serves to give the seaponies greater significance within the narrative.

I didn’t come up with Angle Glow until a few days while writing this story, but her/his (not too sure honestly) involvement is now so obvious in hindsight I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.

Also, forgot to include a gag referencing it, but the sushi Rarity and Twilight are so happily enjoying is made from...the swordfish and saw-nosed shark Bubble Burst killed in the previous chapter. Have fun knowing that!

apologise if not a whole lot happened here and it may be too short, but eh I kept you guys waiting long enough.

Thanks for reading, and please comment! 0TS(��5

Comments

[Comickook]

Very little I can say beyond excellent job on this latest chapter. The action in the flashback was quite well done as were the exchanges and characterizations throughout the chapter. And, yeah, this is, indeed, getting VERY intriguing indeed.

I'll quite certainly be looking forward to more of this, but will also be perfectly willing to respect the fact that real world concerns have to come first and inspiration might be difficult to come by.