A Princess's Trials
by Present Perfect
Part 3: The Abyss
"There you two are!"
Tempest jerked awake at the sound of the cheerful, upbeat voice, forgot she had two fewer hooves than normal, and rolled herself into a ball somehow trying to meet her challenger head-on. Also, she woke Twilight up.
Swimming towards them, looking exceedingly happy despite the earliness of morning, was Princess Skystar, in her seapony form. "I have been looking everywhere! And now I found you both wrapped up on this ledge, and oh my gosh I had no idea you two were like that!"
The smugness of her grin could have rivaled that of her mother's. Tempest now had two hippogriff faces she wanted to destroy.
"It wasn't like that," she hissed, looking to Twilight, who was coming to much more slowly. "You saw nothing, do you hear me?"
"Oh, I hear you," Skystar said, giggling as she flicked Tempest under the chin. "I saw loooots of 'nothing'." She made little flapping motions with her fins.
"Skystar?" Twilight said groggily. "What're you doing here?"
"I'm here to rescue you two, of course!" Skystar exclaimed, flipping end over end. "Well, y'know, lead you out of this place, anyway. I've heard lots of horrible things about the abyss, and it sounds like Mom wanted you two here for a loooong time, but anygriff knows the only way to not get out of here is trying to get back into Seaquestria."
Tempest was momentarily pleased with herself for having figured that out already.
"I thought you wouldn't enjoy staying here," Skystar continued, "so I wanted to come help you get home to Equestria! You do want to go to Equestria, right? Nowhere else first?" She pouted ever so slightly, clasping her fins together.
Twilight frowned. "Does your mother know you're here? Won't she be angry if she finds out we left?"
"Oh, pfft, please!" Skystar waved a fin. "I'm already grounded, what's she gonna do? Super-ground me?"
Tempest found herself relaxing for the first time since she'd woken up. Skystar might have been... flighty, to put it one way, but she certainly meant well, and there was no sense discounting someone willing to risk her own comfort to help out others. That was, after all, what friendship was all about. Wasn't it?
"Anyway," said Skystar, grasping their hooves with her weird, clammy fins, "follow me, I'll have you back in Equestria lickety split!"
Tempest gave Twilight a look. Twilight, for the first time in a day, smiled. Then her stomach rumbled and her face turned bright red.
"Oooookay!" Skystar swam out in front of them. "First, I show you how to get food underwater. Then we go to Equestria."
Getting food underwater was nothing like either of the ponies expected. Things were likely different in Seaquestria proper, but out here in the wide ocean, it was simply a matter of "Find whatever kelp you can, don't eat the blue stuff, also fish are friends." Tempest had no idea why she'd added that last bit.
Kelp, as it turned out, was filling but hardly tasty, being far too salty for any palate but the hippogriffs'. Breakfast was thus a quick and practical affair, all too soon leaving them once again facing their primary concern.
"Do you know how to get back to Equestria?" asked Princess Twilight.
"Um."
Princess Skystar put a fin to her chin, stuck her tongue out and squinted at the water all around them. She spun in place, very slowly, tapping her chin the entire time. When she was done, she moved to Twilight's side and stage-whispered, "I don't want you to freak out, but I actually have no idea where we are."
Unimpressed, Tempest raised an eyebrow. "Could we perhaps get a bearing from the ocean's surface?"
"Oh! Good idea!" Skystar jabbed a fin at her. "Wait here, I'll be right back!"
She ascended like a rocket, leaving Tempest and Twilight staring at one another through the bubbles left in her wake.
After a moment, Twilight said, "Kinda wish I had that much enthusiasm right now. Part of me is just dying to do some up-close studying of sea life."
"We may have more pressing concerns, Your--"
"Back!"
Skystar appeared between them in an explosion of bubbles.
"Did you find the shore?" Twilight asked with a thin, hopeful smile.
"Nnnnnno," Skystar replied, looking chastened. "In fact, I spun all around and didn't see any shore at all! We're way out in the ocean, I guess!"
It took every ounce of Tempest's willpower not to roll her eyes. "Did you notice the position of the sun, perhaps? Equestria lies to the west. That should be all we need."
Skystar regarded her, eyes slowly growing wide. "Oh wow! I never thought of that! Hang on!"
Once again, she shot up to the surface. This time, Twilight gave Tempest a rueful grin and pointed up. They followed the wake of bubbles, but much more slowly, meeting Skystar almost halfway as she came back down.
"Whoa! A lot closer to the top than I thought!" She giggled madly. "Okay, so I have good news and bad news."
"What's the good news?" asked Twilight.
"Checking the position of the sun was a really good idea!"
Tempest sighed a stream of bubbles. "And the bad?"
Skystar poked her fins together. "I forgot to say the first time that it's foggy up there, and that's why I couldn't see anything. Including the sun."
Tempest groaned and wished she could kick something.
"All right," said Twilight, placing a hoof on Skystar's fin. "Look, if we just go back the way we came, we'll run into Seaquestria and Mount Aris eventually, right? And then we can just..." Her ears folded back. "Not go there. But it'll be a good marker for direction, right?"
Tempest nodded. "Do you remember which way we came from, Princess Skystar?"
"Yes!" said Skystar quickly. "Probably. I think so." She nibbled on her fin. "Oooooh, I hope so!"
She flitted back and forth as Tempest fixed her with a level gaze. After hemming, hawing, chewing her fins and gnashing her teeth for a solid minute, Skystar took a deep breath, squared herself up, and saluted them.
"Okay, I've got it! This way!"
And she took off.
Tempest had been content to let the two Princesses take the lead, but after a half hour or so of somewhat aimless swimming, Skystar dropped back to level with her.
"Soooo, Tempest," she said, an enormous grin on her face.
"Your Highness."
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, first, call me Skystar. Second..." She bunched her fins up under her face. "I saw you and Twilight way snuggled up together this morning! Are you two in looooove?"
Tempest's mood soured automatically.
"No," she said flatly. "She is my Princess, and I am her guard. My duty is to protect her from all threats, which apparently include emotional distress and loneliness. We are... friends. Nothing more."
"Are you suuuuure?" Skystar flipped upside-down, regarding Tempest from below. "I don't meet a lot of 'friends' who get that close."
"Just. Friends."
Skystar gave a small pout and stuck her tongue out, returning to swimming alongside her.
Tempest hesitated for a few moments. But this Princess was really getting on her nerves; why not turn the tables a little?
"You're very odd for a princess," she said calmly.
"What?" Skystar's eyes bugged out. "Odd? Who said I was odd? Was it my talking shell-puppets? Because I don't use those anymore, I have real friends now!"
Holding back the urge to sigh and roll her eyes, Tempest said, "Why bother coming with us?"
Skystar tsked. "Uh, duh! Twilight and her friends go on cool adventures all the time. No way am I missing out!"
"Surely you're needed back in your kingdom? You must have some royal duties, some ruling that's more important to perform than going on some frivolous journey?"
For the first time since Tempest had met her, Skystar went quiet.
"Nah," she said at last, voice soft. "My mom does all that kind of stuff. I'm too young, and I keep getting in trouble all the time anyway. She never listens to me."
"I see." Taking a deep breath and making certain her voice was as gentle as possible, Tempest said, "Perhaps your mother is waiting for you to show you're mature enough to lead before she takes your decisions into account."
Skystar lapsed into contemplative silence and remained that way until Princess Twilight dropped back to join them.
"What are you two getting up to back here?" she asked, a hint of a smile on her face.
"Just talk, Your Highness," Tempest said evenly. "You are welcome to join it."
"Good to hear it. I actually do have something I wanted to ask about, Skystar."
Skystar perked up. "What's that, Twilight?"
Twilight licked her lips. "When we were... swimming through Seaquestria, we noticed the fish looked really... sad?" She sent a look Tempest's way.
"Oh." Skystar's ears and fins fell. "Yeah. They've all been kind of mopey since we started moving back to the surface."
Twilight gave Tempest another look, then put her hoof on Skystar's side.
"Queen Novo said you'd abandoned your seapony forms. And it looks like you're taking the underwater palace apart, too."
"Yeah." Skystar rubbed her fins together. "We were kind of stuck down there for a hundred years. Mom says we need to be able to stretch our wings again."
"It seems a shame," Twilight said at length. "Your people have this amazing ability to move between worlds. Why stick to just one when you can have both?"
Skystar gave a noncommittal shrug. "It's what my Mom decreed."
"Jamal was there. He seemed pretty upset. I was sorry we couldn't talk to him."
Skystar sniffled. Twilight put one of her delicate wing-fins over the other princess's back.
"I know you're all ready to make new friends on the surface," Twilight said softly. "But don't abandon the ones you've already made down here."
Slyly, Tempest added, "You know, a plan to unite two worlds is the kind of thing that would mark a Princess as a mature decision maker..."
Skystar perked up at that. She swam out in front of them, a determined look on her face.
"You know what?" she cried. "I'm gonna do just that! When we get back to Mount Aris, I'll stay, and I'll tell mom about all our unhappy fish friends, and... And I'll try and talk something out with her!"
Tempest became suddenly aware of movement behind the princess. "Skystar..."
Skystar pounded one fin against the other. "Yeah! We'll look for another place to get building materials from, and rebuild the coral palace, and the above-ground palace, and everyone's homes..."
A number of silhouetted forms weaved back and forth among one another. They were growing steadily larger.
"Princess..."
"...national edict to sing songs and play games..."
Twilight swam up to Skystar, grabbed her head, and turned it. "What is that?"
The silhouettes roared.
Skystar went pale.
"Tiger sharks!" she shouted, grabbing Twilight. "Swim for iiiiiiiit!"
Tempest turned to face the threat as Skystar and Twilight shot past her in the other direction. They had been swimming so long already; she wasn't about to give ground, or water, to some overstuffed fish. There were three of them, each twice again as big as herself. Their stripes and gaping, fanged maws grew more visible by the second. Charging her horn, she lowered her head and--
Pain lanced through her body.
Tempest was overwhelmed by confusion. What had happened? Why was she just floating in nothingness? Why could she hear her name, being called from somewhere far away?
Something tugged on her hoof, and nothing she did could keep it from lugging her away. As sensation slowly crept back into her head, Tempest saw a yellow blur whizzing back and forth in front of those looming walls of teeth.
"--pest, snap out of it! Come on, please!"
Tempest shook her head. "Princess? What happened?"
"I don't know!" Twilight looked her over, panic written across her face. "I think you might have tried using your firework spell and it backfired somehow! We've got to get out of here. Skystar! Come on, we have to leave!"
With a shout halfway between a warcry and a sob, Skystar lashed out at the nearest shark, dove under its strike, and scurried past them, screaming, "Actually swim for it this time!"
Tempest and Twilight followed without argument.
The tiger sharks proved to be relentless hunters.
They chased the trio clear across the ocean. Sometimes, they would lose sight of them and slow down, only to find themselves nearly surrounded a minute later.
Tempest could do nothing to fend them off, complaining that fighting underwater was like trying to embroider while on a trampoline. Twilight had tried using her magic, but it reacted like trying to push her hoof through jam. She could not conjure, teleport, evoke or telekinesse in time to save them from anything.
And so they swam on.
The sharks never gave up until the shore was in sight, and the sandy ocean floor rose up to meet them. Without enough water to support them, they could only churn angrily off the coastline.
Twilight, Tempest and Skystar crawled out of the water, up onto the sandy beach, the moon shining brightly above in the clear sky. This is exactly why I went for the pearl, Twilight thought. Life outside Equestria is too hard.
They fell into exhausted unconsciousness.
Denial is the first step in the road for snuggles
So. Yeah. I think relations between the two countries will be VERY bad after this. Fuck you, Novo.
So, were the tiger sharks regular shark sharks, or shark/tiger hybrids?
"And be nice to Bruce. He's been clean for almost a year now."
Given what we've seen of Novo, she won't actually listen to anyone else unless the fate of her nation is at stake, and even then, the odds are against those who disagree with her.
The Storm King's been rampaging for a century!? Okay, I don't care how isolationist Equestria has been, at that point, someone would have heard of him. I'm giving you a lot of benefit of the doubt, but this one strains disbelief even more than I can take.
Skystar said nothing.
"A well-executed neck snap, Princess," said Tempest, "but not the best time for one."
Are tiger sharks related to sea lions? What about water bears?
Aside from certain decisions, another engaging installment. Novo's reaction to this should be quite the sight to see. She'll likely spin it as a kidnapping.
Yeah, I figured Skystar wouldn’t leave them hanging. Does she have a piece of the crystal orb thingamabob that’ll let her transform into a hippogriff? Will it transform Twilight and Tempest? I forget whether it’s been mentioned if that’s a thing yet.
9791100
Hmm...actually gonna have to agree with Fan here, if for no other reason than I’m having some timeline difficulties. Namely, unless Tempest more than a century old, I don’t see how she could have committed any crimes against the hippogriffs, and thus, why would she be treated as having done so?
"Oh hey blue fish! Do you know where is the shore?"
"The shore? I know where the shore is! It's over there! Follow me!"
*Moments later...*
"... Can I help you?"
9791100
Consider this: Yes, it's perhaps unlikely that after a century, no one in Equestria's heard of the Storm King. But then again, no one in Manehattan had ever heard of Princess Twilight Sparkle, either: No one had "heard" of the Storm King because only the common pony had heard of the Storm King, and the common pony didn't tell anyone about the Storm King. The common pony is an idiot. I keep writing about this, but no one seems to listen.
9791127
Well hey, if Granny Smith is apparently four hundred years old (going by the show's admittedly kind of disjointed canon)....
9791098
It might turn out to be more accurate to say that relations between Queen Novo and Equestria will be very bad after this. Possibly between Queen Novo and Hippogriffia, too. If we go by the above assumption, even just in part, then every currently living hippogriff either remembers life before Seaquestria, or has heard about life before Seaquestria from firsthand accounts. Once they decide that life in Seaquestria sucked, and determine that life after Seaquestria still sucks, they're going to start looking for someone to blame for that, and the easiest target will naturally be the Queen who said that once they were back on the surface, things would be the way they used to be (especially if there's a Princess not far away saying that there's neat stuff that's new, and also those Equestrians are pretty cool and wouldn't it be neat to see them again?).
Never take any action that you know will require you to break your promises; rule based solely on authority never lasts long.
9791157
Twilight had ascended only a few weeks or months earlier, though, so while it strains credulity it’s not...impossible. I mean, Cadance is flying around and apparently not really much older than the Mane-6, yet Rarity didn’t remember Cadance’s ascension, which I have to imagine involved at least as much pomp and circumstance.
Although now I have a potential fic title: “Why Didn’t I Get a Parade?”
But for a conquering force to be going around for a century and no one notices? And again, it creates some Tempest timeline problems. Granny Smith’s age appears to have been quietly retconned given that she looks visibly younger when Applejack’s parents first meet, unless we want to make them and Applejack as well much older than the show otherwise suggests.
9791157
Do Manehattanites not know who Princess Twilight is, or do they simply not care? Even without knowing about the coronation, refusing to stop your cab for an alicorn is a deliberate statement.
Also, the common pony may be an idiot, but Equestria is not solely common ponies. The uncommon, rare, and mythic rare ponies would have to be in the dark as well. To say nothing of a fleet of smash-and-grab, burn-and-pillage raiders sustainably wreaking havoc for that long. The Storm King strikes me as someone who'd rather decapitate the sheep than merely shear it.
Yeah I am out. This whole hippogriffs arc is just dumb and not executed in a believable way. Celestia would not allow this PERIOD. And a century does not make any sense.
This seems absolutely bonkers and nonsensical to orchestrate drama and shipping. Forget “ruins relations with Equestria”, this ruins my suspension of disbelief.
9791163
Ok, now I have to lean on you to consider a) writing this fic, and b) writing it in the style of “Whatever Happened to My Part?” from Spamalot.
9791168
It’s a deliberate statement only if she’s actually an alicorn, and not just some unicorn with prosthetic wings, or some Pegasus with a prosthetic horn, or even worse, just some dumb pegacorn.
Or, and this is mostly just to put that out there, consider that horses and ponies do not have object permanence, and immediately forget that things exist, sometimes even after repeated exposure. It would certainly explain a few things.
I’m not saying anything. I’m just saying.
9791170
Wait, what’s this about hot hippogriff-on-hippogriff action? When did I miss that?
Is she friends with a particular blue dory fish?
9791098
The latter. :) It's maybe a little more ATLA than MLP, but they're scary and eats things. :B
9791100
9791127
I'm going to have to beg headcanon forgiveness on the timeline. I can't imagine another reason why Mount Aris and the hippogriffs were lost to common memory unless they'd been in hiding for a long time. The Storm King's ruthless enough that a single attack could send an entire nation underwater so long as he's at large, don't you think?
And no, Tempest isn't a hundred years old. :P
9791273
I'm okay with most of that—though given how Ponyville reacted to a zebra, I could definitely see this as more a legacy of Celestia's communication issues and Equestria's isolationism prior to Twilight coming into her own as Princess of Diplomacy—but there's one issue I can't resolve.
Then what did she do to the hippogriffs? She's clearly performed some manner of unspeakable act against them, but they've been in magic-retardant seawater for her entire life.
9791273
Yes! I knew it!
And I figured the reason Hippogriffs were gone from common memory was because, as we've seen many times, Equestria is extremely insular and clueless about the outside world. Or their own history. Celestia was certainly totally unaware the hippogriffs were in hiding.
9791279 9791277
Well, mostly I put that down to it being an episodic kid's show that only thinks up things as the show progresses. Though the fact that Celestia being unaware of them being in hiding also works if the attack was very recent.
The thing is that I'm somewhat less forgiving of these sorts of gaffes with fanfiction, since we're not writing for a kid's show. While I can understand how the head-canon might help, the problem is that your attempt to correct it here is creating problems within this story, vis-a-vis Tempest apparently somehow having done something to the hippogriffs despite them having lived underwater her entire life.
9791277
According to supplementary materials, Tempest is the one who destroyed the hippogriff capital trying to retrieve the Pearl on the Storm King's orders.
9791232
A dumb auto correct
9791273
Sorry but that just doesn't work. This arc DOES NOT WORK.
Granted the movie script was terrible but this does not fix the issues.
Wait, what? That doesn't jive with anything we know from canon, or even this story. Should it have an alternate universe tag, perhaps? It would account for several things at this point, otherwise the plot holes are going to cause the foundation to give out and the story to collapse at this rate.
9791273
Or, you know, the two countries just never interacted. You're hamfisting a relationship between Equestria and Seaquestria for the sake of arresting Twilight via an extradition treaty that doesn't make sense, and you're piling details onto that to try to make it work: Celestia and Novo are now cousins; Seaquestria was actually conquered by the Storm King a century ago; Queen Novo says that their legal system didn't survive being submerged a century ago but couldn't be bothered to have it restored or replaced in that whole time, which only works if they were recently submerged; Celestia doesn't tell Twilight any of the information that would have HAD to come up between Celestia and Novo regarding why Novo and her country have been out of touch for a whole century; Tempest committed horrible crimes against Seaquestria while it was underwater but never even found out what happens when you cast lightning bolt surrounded by electrically conducive liquid; according to Skystar, Novo expected Twilight and Tempest to remain in the abyss for a very long time, after being transformed forcibly against their will, with no ability to defend themselves or even the knowledge of what they can eat (let alone where to find it), with no escort or guard detail, with deadly carnivorous predators in the area - basically an execution of the element of magic.
It's just not working. You're contradicting your own story in multiple ways, let alone canon, and it's increasing with every "fixer" detail you add.
Kind of want to see a what if chapter where Celestia confronts Novo.
“Queen Novo?”
“Yes?”
“Care to explain why my newest member of royalty was eaten by Tiger Sharks?”
“Well you see...”
HEADBUTT!!!!!
9791492
This but with somewhat less vehemence is what I feel. And Wydril, having recently lost my cool over another fic series and it’s plot holes and contrivances I absolutely 100% get where you’re coming from here...but by the same token speaking from experience you should maybe scale back the vitriol just a bit. A wee bit.
Anyway, PresentPerfect, I know you don’t like the idea of Equestria just forgetting about Mount Aris, but making the Storm King active for a century really does seem like a bridge too far for a large number of reasons. Scaling it back to, say, 10 years, seems a lot more workable with both the movie/show’s timeline, and more importantly, your own. Is there anything in the story as written right now that would require major changes if that were the case?
9791757
9791492
I'm with RDD. I might have murdered Nothing Without Me by accident, and being right at things isn't automatically helpful.
9791757
Er, what vitriol? I'm not feeling any of that. Vehemence sure, since it's a story that has my interest and I'm invested in it, but passion alone isn't a negative. You might be reading more from what I typed than I'm trying to say.
9791277
Hm. I mean, my answer is "She was part of the Storm King's campaign". I suspect that may not be enough, somehow.
9791300
All I can say is this arc is a very small portion of this story, and after this segment is over, we'll be done with it.
9791384
This is highly amusing, as I couldn't actually remember what she sounded like and just wrote Silverstream the entire time. :B Let's hear it for placeholder characters!
9791492
Just going to point out, this definitely did not happen since, y'know, they all fled to Seaquestria to avoid being conquered. He wrecked Mount Aris, he maybe came back once or twice, but Seaquestria remained untouched.
9791757
I don't think so. But it's also really not as important as people are making it out to be.
9791384
You be surprise how quickly some places decay. Seen a place abandon for ten years falling apart.
9791830
The last post felt...strongly worded. Let's just leave it at that.
9791832
That's...subjective. For the Storm King to have been active for a century in the lands surrounding Equestria (within meaningful walking distance of it, even) but to not ever have been confronted by Equestria and Celestia, paints both in a very negative light. Likewise it creates a major problem vis-a-vis how could the hippogriffs seem to have so much personally against Tempest Shadow, when there shouldn't have been a way for her to meaingfuly interact with them? They aren't reacting to her like just some grunt who wore his colors.
It's also problematic because it's a gaffe in a story that already has a few gaffes, namely the hippogriffs essentially abducting Twilight, and Twilight and Celestia appearing to be so ignorant of what they were getting into with the extradition treaty. As I recently remarked vis-a-vis The Third Wheel series, a little rain never hurt anyone, but a lot can kill you. A few mistakes or oversights here and there are plenty forgivable and don't even need to necessarily be addressed or corrected, but if they start piling up then it can cause major problems with audience engagement.
9791832
But it had damaged to bad. I have lost interest in this fic because of this arc and the errors made in this. I strongly urge scrapping this arc.
So, the good news is they have help, the bad news is it's from Skystar.
So, the questionably legal banishment for life was also to an environment full of hungry predators. Throwing a foreign Princess to basically a death sentence without the courage to actually say that's what it is? Queen Novo looks worse and worse as this goes on.
9791852
Yeah, I can give it that, certainly. Accidentally ninja-edited the post you responded to as well. I can say though, it is not my intent nor did I ever believe that I was being cruel in my posts. The suggestion of the AU tag was completely serious and not a tongue-in-cheek barb or anything of the sort, and anything else has been intended to be read plainly.
9791832
Ah, I should have clarified that then, but I've been considering the total area the hippogryphs have lived in, land and sea both, as the nation of Seaquestria.
Yeah, as this stands now, I'm not sure I can keep going with this story, either. I have only so much suspension of disbelief, and the author's response to people pointing out actual contradictions in the narrative has essentially been "just suspend your disbelief harder". That's... not something that stirs confidence in where this story is heading. Sure, maybe this arc will be over shortly... but with how it's been handled, how can I be confident that the next arc won't have comparable issues?
9792043
"Sir, your house is on fire!"
'That's okay.'
"How is that possibly okay!?"
'Once it burns down, it will no longer be on fire.'
"But then you won't have a house!"
'And it won't be on fire either.'
This is just for comedic relief, and not a criticism of the author.
9791847
I’m living this. The house I’m in has had no maintenance for about 12 years, and is now considered unfit for human habitation. I try to keep up with cardboard and heat seal, but windows get cracks. It’s a 1700s farmhouse—the horsehair insulation just doesn’t cut it anymore (not drafts, breezes). The furnace broke and the owner refused to fix it or let it be fixed 2 years ago, then had the water turned off at the main w/o winterizing. That’s been fun. There’s the 20’s electric system, and the modern one, and don’t mix them up; the electric in the wall the fridge is on goes out if it rains too hard; the stove is dead. There are holes in the walls from the outside. Every copper pipe has burst. The right front is visibly sinking, and water pours in the basement stonework.
I have no authority to fix anything major. I’m disabled, on SSI, and finally got a voucher in April. But this house looks a lot different than it did a few years ago, and way different than the pictures of it from the previous owner. The mold, the vines, the gutters fallen, the sagging shutters, the paint, the floors, it’s a damned shame.
I mean, this is definitely better than a lot of literature-like-material on here...
My guess from the start was Novo was Chrysalis making a power play and sowing discord (sowing Discord is different and probably R rated).
"Let's you and him fight" is the oldest game for a reason.
You know, I certainly wouldn't mind a Cold War between Equestria and Seaquestria after this.
If this happened in our world in the old days, this would be imminent war.
9792180
wow I'm sorry you're dealing with that bullshit. Mao had the right idea about landlords.