The Sun and Moon Under the Sea

by Foal Star

chapter four: Secrets of the Sea King

Celestia awoke with a turn the next morning, finding that Luna was strangely absent from the room. Normally it wasn’t uncommon for her sister to sleep in well passed sunrise, having a more nocturnal sleep schedule, and that was even more likely during vacations.

“Now where is she?”

The princess swam through the room, searching for any indication of Luna with little success, that is until she came across a set of ornate doors leading to a large dining room.

Tempted, the princess pushed open the doors, only to gape in surprise upon seeing Luna sitting next to the Sea King, now with a large golden tiara on top of her head.

Interestingly, despite having only just met the day before, the princess was laughing and chatting with the sea king, acting unusually friendly with the monarch.. Yet, despite the seemingly warm and friendly atmosphere,Celestia felt concerned, there was something off about the whole discussion.

Deciding to, test the proverbial waters, the mare swam over to the two and chirped. “Hello Luna, you’re up early this morning.”

Luna turned around and responded back cheerily. “Oh, hello, dear sister, Neptune and I were just having a wonderful conversation. We were debating over our kingdoms and which one is better.”

Neptune looked over at Celestia and asked, “Yes, she told me that you have ponies called pegasi that controls your weather, is that true?”

Celestia gave a nod, slightly surprised the king hadn’t atleast heard some mention of what was common knowledge in Equestria. ”Indeed, it is quite true. Granted, Pegasi mainly use weather factories to monitor and control the weather in Equestria, they do have some natural abilities such as moving clouds and limited control over storms.”

Neptune scoffed and crossed his fins, unconvinced by the Princess’s proclamations. “I don’t see how that works with hundreds of pegasi controlling your weather works?”

Luna burst into fits of laughter and explained, “Oh come now! I told you, they have a factory that makes the weather and they run it seasonally, it’s not like they make it snow in the summer after all.”

Celestia shrugged, still a little stunned at how familiar the two seemed to act around each other, but put it out of her mind. “Well, I’m glad to see you too interacting so well. I do hate to interrupt, but would it be possible for me to…”

Neptune, quickly raised his fin and stopped her sentence midway. “Not a problem your highness. What kind of ruler would I be if I didn’t offer breakfast to my guests.”

Neptune clapped his fins and the chair was pushed out and Celestia swam over and sat just across from her sister as a plate with fish eggs and cooked seafood. While initially hesitant of the odd food selection, perhaps because of her transformation, Celestia found the food rather tasty and indulged herself for a moment whilst watching her tablemates continue to chat. However, as she looked closer, she noticed a rather odd looking crown currently situated upon her sister’s head.Celestia taking a sip of some, what she assumed what a type of juice, to wash down her meal, she coughed to get the pairs attention.

“Pardon me for interrupting, but I could help but notice that odd crown on your head dear sister. Care to explain?”

The lunar princess blushed, looking a little embarrassed and nervous as she squeaked. “Oh, well it’s because I’m the Queen of the Sea ponies, Neptune and I are getting married.”

Celestia’s glass immediately dropped, followed quickly by her mouth, were it not for her gills still moving one would swear she’d suffocate. Still she was unable to form any coherent words, only a light hiss as she tried to speak.

Neptune meanwhile, nonchalantly gave a nod and continued to explain things as if it was casual conversation, “Indeed, that is true, we are going to get married this week. Actually, we were discussing the wedding planner when you arrived.”

Luna squeaked in surprise and chirped, ”Really!? This week!? I was hoping we’d have atleast a month or two!”

Neptune turned to the princess and merely smiled at her. “Why wait my precious Luna! The sooner the better I say!”

Luna blushed, her concern quickly forgotten and couldn’t help but hug the king but the tender moment was broken when Celestia reared up and shouted, “Seriously!? Luna, how you could you commit to this!”

Luna turned around towards her sister and scoffed, “Hey, I fell in love what’s wrong with that?”

Celestia eyes furrowed and growled, “I don’t mind you falling in love, but getting married in less than a day is suspicious. As I stated, if this relates to the trade agreement, we don’t live in the classical era anymore, that isn’t necessary. And have you forgotten your responsibilities to Equestria? You are the Princess of the Moon, you can’t just up and leave like that.”.”

Luan crossed her fins in agitation and snapped back, ignoring her increasingly fuming sister, “You’re just jealous that I’ve managed to finally find a husband while you haven’t even gone on a date in 1000 years.” For a moment Celestia’s anger was replaced with outrage and mild embarrassment at the claim while Luna continued. “Now you need to go to queen novo and tell her were okay, I’ll stay here.”

Celestia roared in frustration, practically leaping out of her seat...as much as being underwater would allow, and retaliated, “Absolutely not! I’m not leaving you here! I’m staying until I figure out what’s going on!”

Neptune rose up with his full height and roared, “That’s enough!”

The two princesses turned around to the sea king, Luna looking more nervous while Celestia still had a stern expression, not willing to back down.Thankfully, the king quickly calmed himself before he continued. “Princess Celestia, while I understand that you care for your sister, are you so certain with your decision. Luna told me all about how you forcibly banished her to the moon for a thousand years. While I can understand to an extent it might have been necessary, it was also quite cruel of you. And now she is truly happy and you want to ruin that. ”

Celestia narrowed her gaze at the king, her usual decorum quickly melting away with each passing second. “While I do concede that my decisions in the past may have been harsh, that doesn’t change the fact that my sister wouldn’t just agree to this out of the blue. I may not know why exactly she is like this, but I can assure you there is something amiss. For now however, my sister and I will be leaving this place, we have other matters to attend to.”

Luna however, shook her head and turned towards her sister, “ Sister, I know you're concerned about me, but honestly there is nothing amiss here. I genuinely love him and wish to stay here,.”

Celestia felt some of her conviction wither, surprised by the amount of certainty that Luna spoke with. ,“Luna, I can understand that you feel very strongly about this. Perhaps would could discuss this back in Equestria before we make any final decisions.”

Luna looked at her sister and was going to say something but Neptune flew over towards Celestia and boomed, “I won’t let you! If you are determined on leaving then go, but Luna will stay here until the wedding is done.”

Celestia stared down the sea king and crossed her fins and exclaimed, “If Luna is staying then I’m staying. After 1000 years I swore I would not abandon her or leave her side.”

Neptune gave a sinister smirk and scoffed, ”Then, to make sure you don’t sabotage the wedding I need to make some adjustments until I can trust you won’t try anything.”

Celestia snapped, “What!”

Sadly, before the Princess could even get up, Neptune’s horn erupted with blue light, encasing Celestia in it’s glow. In a flash,Celestia found herself transformed into a small, sea pony body, clad in of all things, a maid’s outfit t. Celestia blushed to see the black dress covered in white frills now covering her tiny body, and prepared wg to snap at Neptune but only to find her mouth wouldn’t open, as if a hand was forcing her to be silent..

The King meanwhile, simply continued to smirk at the demeaned and diminished ruler.“Now, my new maid, go clean Luna’s room, and make sure it’s spotless.”

Celestia was going to snap back but all she could do was make a curtsey before swimming off to do as she was instructed, leaving the king and Luna alone, with the Princess not even raising an eye or a fin to what she just saw.

---

As the day went by, Celestia cleaned Luna’s room without any visible argument. She swept, mopped, dusted, fixed the sheets, scrubbed the bathroom and fixed up the vanity table. All this done without a single complaint to the absurdity of it all, atleast not one she could make by choice.

As Celestia was finishing up drawing the curtains overviewing the rest of the kingdom, Luna came in, impressed by how clean the room was.

“My, my sister. And here I had always assumed the reason you left the cleaning to the servants was because you couldn’t handle it yourself.”

The only response she got was an angry frown from her sister, who continued to clean in spite of things..

Luna sighed at her sister’s hostility, taking a seat on the bed as she watched her. “Celestia, I’m sorry that all of this has happened and I understand you are just looking out for me, but I can with certainty your worry is misplaced. Neptune and I are in love, I don’t see how you can’t understand that.”

Celestia turned around to face her sister, frown still present. “I just don’t understand how you could fall in love so fast with the master?” Celestia blinked as she realized what she’d just said, almost horrified at the implication.

Luna snickered and continued, again ignoring her sister’s odd behavior, “Well, it started last night. I had gotten up just to get some fresh air and I went out to admire the moon. But out of nowhere, Neptune came out and we talked for a little. Then as the night dragged on I followed him to his chambers and we talked some more, soon we started I don’t know…connecting…it felt like we were tied together, like the moon and the ocean.”

Celestia sighed at her sister’s nativity, “Luna, the master put some spell on you just as the master has one me. The fact he could even do something like this to me, shows that he posses extremely potent magic. We need to get out of here now.”

Luna shook her head and growled, “You still don’t understand! You’re just jealous of me!”

Celestia snapped back, “Luna stop this! You’re making a big mistake!”

Luna who had enough and now just irritated barked out an order to her sister. “Just leave and scrub the throne room.”

Celestia simply did a curtsey and whispered almost painfully, “yes mistress, at once” and promptly swam off slamming the door behind her.

---

As Celestia was grudgingly polishing the floors of the palace with a rag, she continued to growl and rage internally, yet could not do anything to fight off whatever spell was controlling her.

“There has to be some way to make Luna see reason. Yet as I am now, I’m completely powerless. What can I do?”

So distracted by her own inner monologue, she didn’t notice a familiar yellow flounder swim up beside her. , “Psst, hey come over here.”

Celestia, now broken from her thoughts, looked up and turned around. Spotting the fish, she hesitated for a moment, before checking to seeno pony before finally she swimming over.,“What do you want, need me to clean something for you too?”

The flounder flinched slightly at the Princess’s irritated tone, but shook it off quickly enough. “Okay, I understand you’re not exactly in the best of moods, but please listen. I can help you and your sister if you just listen to me.”

But before he could continue some guards swam by and Celestia quickly resumed cleaning the floors, doing her best to look busy to. Once they were gone, Celestia quickly turned back to the Flounder.

“Now, you need to understand that you’re right, Luna is under the control of Neptune. He did the same thing to me when he turned me and my crew he into his own soldiers.. I was able to get us free and we escaped with his stupid transformation orbs. But then he sent a storm crashing our ship and cursing us. He didn’t save you out of the kindness of his heart, he’s using you.”

Celestia looked at him and growled, “So why should I trust you, especially after everything you put myself and my sister through?”

The flounder sighed and continued, “Just listen, all we need to do is steal the trident. Once we grab that the spell he placed on Luna will dissipate and we can all escape, all I ask in return is to use the trident to turn me and my crew back to normal.”

Celestia was still suspicious of the pirate captain and asked with a suspicious tone, “So are you going to backstab us once we leave?”

He shook his head and explained, “I don’t have a reason to, I just want to get off here so I can see my daughter again, please.”

Celestia paused, knowing that she only had one chance to steal the trident or be transformed into something worse. Reluctantly, she gave a nod the former captain. “Alright then, I’ll do it tonight, I’ll ask to polish the thing and steal it once I’m alone, be ready.”

---

Later that evening, as planned, Celestia had asked to polish the trident and was quick to get to work, though was kept under the eye of Neptune, still looking as smug as ever r. “You know, once you accept our union I can turn you back to normal.”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “I’d rather clean and cook then be subjected to you. Besides, I’m Luna’s older sister, it’s an unwritten law that I be overly suspicious of anyone who even tries to date her. Have to make sure you’re not evil or anything.”

He looked up and scoffed, ”I’m not evil, I’m just protecting my kingdom. How can I be sure that you and Luna aren’t evil? Besides, from what Luna was telling me I’m not sure I can trust you either.”

Celestia stopped polishing for a moment and turned to the king. ”Yet, you’re the one who cursed those pirates to roam the seas forever? Are you honestly telling that I’m worse than you?”

He scoffed again, “Are you honestly saying they were innocent? If I just left them to do what they want then my kingdom could’ve been razed to the ground.”

Celestia replied, ”That’s what happened with Luna when she transformed to Nightmare Moon! If I left her to do whatever she wanted, I would be dead and she would’ve completely taken over Equestria! I know it was a horrid thing to do and I’ve regretted it everyday for 1000 years, but I had no choice.”

Neptune paused, trying to find a proper argument. “Right…well…” he looked down as Celestia swam over and explained, “Listen, you may be lonely and I’m not here to judge you, but you are taking things too fast. Please, let us go back to Queen Novo to let her know we’re okay. Then we can come back and discuss trade and if Luna decides to be your wife, then she will in a formal fashion.”

The sea king paused and scratched his chin with a fin unsure of what to say. However, the moment of reflection quickly ended, as he slammed exclaimed loudly, “No, that won’t do. I need her to stay here until the wedding is done. I have to assure the future of my kingdom. Now continue your duties and we will speak of this no more.”

Celestia begrudgingly went back to sweeping the floor as the Sea king continued to read. She eyed the trident just a few feet away, unsure of how to steal it. But just then, Luna came in wearing a long white flowing wedding dress. “Oh, thank you, I love it!”

Neptune swam over and gave a nod of appreciation. “I knew you would, you look positively radiant in that dress.”

Celestia saw her opportunity and quickly swam across the room, taking the trident and before Neptune could say a word aimed it right at him. “I tried to do this the civil way, but you’ve left me no other alternative. You’re going to release my sister and I or so help me I will turn you into krill!”

The sea king stepped back knowing Celestia wasn’t bluffing. Luna,concerned, swam over and whispered, “Celestia what are you doing?”

The mare growled, “I’m saving you that’s what I’m doing!” As expected, her sister didn’t look convinced, only bringing a greater sense of anger to Celestia, who lift the trident higher, magic beginning to glow from it’s tip. “Now take the spell you have put on my sister off, NOW!” Her last word was accented by a yell and a spark from the trident.

Shaking slightly at the threat, the king complied and fired a beam of magic at Luna. The momentarily stunned princess blinked for moment and shook her head, before regaining her senses., ”Celestia, what….what are you trying to do, you’re going to ruin this beautiful dress.”

Celestia gaped as Neptune smirked floated over her. ”You see, you were wrong Celestia, her love for me is genuine.”

Celestia looked up and growled, “No, you have something forcing her to love you. I know it.” She forced the trident and pointed at the sea king. “Now release her.”

Neptune smirked, ”Transform me into whatever you want but I swear I have nothing to do with your sister’s love.”

Celestia, now completely out of patience, was going to but something was stopping her. She knew she wanted to transform him into shrimp but her muscles didn’t seem to want to comply with her mind.

He flew up and took the trident from her fins and pointed it at her. “It’s a shame, but I don’t think you’re cut out to be a maid. Perhaps I might have to force you into fish or a dolphin, you might make a good little pet for us to keep around.”

Celestia was unsure of what to say or do she couldn’t help but be compelled to bow and wait for the king to do his work. But Luna swam over. “No! Even if we are in love I can’t betray my sister.”

The king eyed her harshly. “She’s trying to destroy our love, we can’t let that happen.”

Luna snapped back, “if you harm her in anyway then it’s over.”

The King paused for a moment, before growling as he aimed the trident at Luna, ready to use it on her. However,Celestia, despite her composure, managed to fight off the influence enough to grab the trident and as the two fought for control, Luna slammed Neptune into the wall, smashing the necklace she was wearing.

In an instant, Luna stopped moving for a moment as her eyes started to blink, as if she was trying to adjust her sight after being blinded. She quickly scanned the room, before looking at herself and an expression of shock grew. “Why...why am I wearing a wedding dress?””

Celestia smiled seeing her sister back to normal, yet didn’t let go of her hold on the trident. “It’s a long story, but right now we need to get a hold of this trident.”

Luna, quickly pulling off the dress, turned her now angry glare at the king, who flinched in fright, now finding himself confronted with two, very angry princesses. Getting to Celestia’s side, the pair were able to rip the trident from the king’s fins, pointing it at him ready to fire.

The frightened king held up his fins in defeat, now quivering in terror. “I surrender, please no more.”

Luna growled before taking another look at Celestia. “We’ll deal with you in a moment, first things first.”

Taking the trident in her own fins, Luna turned the trident on Celestia and without a word, shot a beam at her, quickly returning the Princess to her former state.

“Ah, that’s much better.” Celestia muttered to herself. “And I now have a new appreciation for the castle servants. I should probably do something for the when we get back home.”

“Later sister, for now we have another fish to fry.” Luna put emphasis on the word, “fry” as she pointed the trident back at the king. “Now then, why exactly did you try to force me to marry you and turn me against my own sister?” The trident started to glow again with bright light as she spoke.”

The Sea King looked down and explained solemnly, “I…I apologize for my actions. I truly thought it was destined for us to be together. You the moon, me the sea. I thought it was meant to be.”

Celestia glared at Neptune and continued the interrogation. “Don’t try and lie to us. I spoke to the pirate captain. He told me that you caused the storm that separated my sister and I from Seaquestria. Then you sent those same pirates to capture us. Is that all true or not?”

He grumbled and kicked the a small pebble and sighed, “Fine, no point in keeping up the charade. Yes, it’s all true.”

Luna angrily growled, placing the tip of the still glowing trident directly at Neptune’s throat, who could only whimper and cry in response. However, instead of attacking, she simply lowered the weapon and turned to the discarded wedding dress. Quickly levitating it, she tore the garment in half before shredding it further and finally destroying the remains with the trident.

Celestia meanwhile, glared down at the fallen king, her fury on full display. “Now, my sister and I will be leaving and you will promise not to harm any pony ever again and we shall do the same. However, it is clear that we cannot trust you to do any kind of trade with our kingdom, and until such times as we determine you are trustworthy, we shall hold onto the trident, lest you go back on your word. Is that clear?”.”

The last part she spoke with the Royal Canterlot Voice and it sent the king crashing back against the wall. Shaking himself off, he looked down and saw he had no choice but to accept and growled. “Fine.”

Celestia and Luna then took off and swam through the halls and found the pirate captain floating about.

The flounder looked at the pair with a knowing smirk. “I see you managed to get through to your sister.”

Celestia returned the smirk in kind. “Indeed, and we have you to thank for that.” She then turned the trident’s point on the captain. “And I believe we have an agreement to fulfill.”

Without another word, the magic of the trident surrounded the captain, quickly returning him back to his original form. The trio quickly exited the castle, where the remains of the pirate crew were waiting and Celestia follow through to help them as well.

Their business concluded, the group quickly left the undersea city, and hoped to put the memory of what they had experienced behind them.

Comments

[Yosh-E-O]

Also a great addition to a most fun-filled story! Lots happened but, in my opinion, at a pace comparable to an episode of MLP. Nothing dragged on and the right amount of activity between each portion was spot on. Definitely easy to imagine what was going on.

What I like is how it has a feel like a younger reader may have in developing their own story. It's hard as a writer to make tales that best fit that early stage of creativity. However this story has done well in keeping it very fun without worrying too much about anything except having fun in telling a story. It certainly brings me back to how fun it was to be creative without thinking I had to have everything make perfect sense, etc. It's nice to read something so free and fun while easily imaginable.

<LoL!> Still loving Pirate Captain Flounder. Great visuals there, too.

Nice job!