Away and Afar

by PropsValroa

Chapter 38

They spent another half hour or so swimming in the direction they had been given. Jump Start didn't know what to say about that outcome. She knew that it would've been better if Collapse only talked about the relevant stuff, but she didn't want to be the one to tell her.

Eventually they began to see distant figures swimming about. They looked alot like seals, but knowing what they do now, they could reasonably assume it was a group of seaponies.

There seemed to be a lot of them. At least a couple hundred all moving about the place, sometimes doing things in pairs.

Now that they could see a couple hundred seaponies all around Collapse would look to Magloria and Jump Start and do a slight 'aww' under her breathe. Instantly she felt better upon seeing all the seaponies. It was beautiful to see them all moving about, like one big herd. Imagine all the hugs she could get! Don't get too ahead of yourself, Collapse.

"There are so many of them...so many seaponies...Isn't it just so cool?" she asked to nobody in particular. "Out of 100 I am sure at least one would be willing to listen to our...crazy stories..." she chuckled somewhat and looked to Jump Start, putting her hoof on her shoulder casually.

"Hey, how about you introduce us this time? You haven't done any introducing yet." she said playfully.

Magloria shrugged, not really feeling any different from the last few times that they saw seaponies. "We've already seen that many down in Pearlth, or even in Descent. These seaponies are likely no different to them, aside from possible behaviour tendencies from living in a more open area." she said.

Jump Start looked surprised at the suggestion. "Oh! Um... you sure? I mean I guess I could..." she said, seeming nervous from the idea of greeting with so many.

When they were close enough they started hearing music being played. On top of that, many of the seaponies seemed to be swimming to the beat of the music. They were dancing.

As they watched, they noticed that some of the seaponies had now noticed their approach. Jump Start gave a wave. "Hi." she said, earning a few waves in return.

Collapse gave the seaponies a wave as well and looked to Jump Start and Magloria. "When surrounded with seaponies...do as the seaponies do..." she giggled and began to dance along with the music. "Come on, have a little shake and join the fun!" she spoke, seeming quite pleased that Jump Start had worked up the courage to greet the seaponies.

Looking to Magloria she'd smirk, hiding how much she truly wanted to smile. "We could dance together, so to speak. Hey, you have your cool water powers too. Imagine if you could use that to make your dance moves a little more...spicey, so to speak. That'd get us some good attention...then we can introduce ourselves in a more *fitting* manner to the situation." she spoke, it was clear she was scheming a little bit too, like a filly going against what their parents told them to do.

Magloria didn't do anything at first, being quite unwilling to join in on the activities that were happening in her typical non-nonsense fashion. However when Collapse mentioned her ability to manipulate water, she smiled.

Not the nice kind of smile though, the kind of predatory smile when you're planning to do something someone else won't enjoy. "Alright then. You want some spicy dance moves? I'll give you some." Her horn lit up.

Before Collapse could react in any meaningful way, the water currents around her started moving... rapidly. She began 'dancing' a lot more energetically, and a lot more unwillingly.

It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough that it drew some more attention to their group. Good thing Magloria didn't decide to spin her around at extreme speeds, that could've been quite nauseating and possibly embarassing.

Meanwhile Jump Start was politely introducing herself to a couple seaponies that decided to greet her, and was currently explaining why they weren't seaponies, which obviously had been pointed out.

Upon seeing that predatory smile a part of Collapse regretted the idea but she was glad she would at least bring some form of playfulness out within Magloria, even if it was of the devious kind.

With no time to react Collapse had spun around? The seaponies for a second had seen a creamy yellow blue where Collapse was. That might have been funny to them, too. Collapse didn’t really mind - she was used to embarrassment but there was a slight tinge of it there. “H-hey!” Collapse giggled at the end of it but it was more of a nervous giggle at that. “It would be a really bad idea to piss you off now that I am thinking of it…” she nervously blushed.

Although Collapse got what she wanted…sorta. While she liked the idea of Magloria controlling her situations, she realized she could do way more than she wanted if she wanted to. So powerful, yet graceful Magloria is.

After that had happened she realized Jump Start was handling the introductions. That was good. Another thing Collapse didn’t have to mess up.

Magloria nodded. "Yeah, it would be. I have a lot of control here. Not so much for my ice magic, because water is really bad for keeping things cold. Still, better than the jungle." she said.

Jump Start came back to the pair and explained what she came up with. "Well I told them about how we're lost and we needed help getting back home. They couldn't help with bringing us back, but they can help us with building. We'd just have to find one on the beach when we need their help, and pay them for their efforts. They occasionally go there to relax."

Collapse nodded and accepted Magloria's response. Upon hearing what Jump Start said, she was more than pleased. Finally they were getting somewhere.

"Nice work, Jump Start!" Collapse complimented her with a wide grin. "Did you ask about where we are in relation to what else is around here? What do they know about the Felines? We could potentially avoid the Felines all together and build a ship with the seaponies, which would be great. I'm curious to what else they know, but I would expect their place of residence is on the ocean floor." she stated.

"If they are anything like the others we met, then they could give us another water breathing spell so we could do more underwater too." she added.

Jump Start nodded. "I got a little bit from them, but not much, didn't want to pry too far into what they know." she said, then started to explain what she learned.

"The only proper landmass that they know of around here is the big island that we came from, which they call Lush Above. There are a couple other smaller islands around the place, but they're not big enough to have a population that could help us."

She shrugged. "They don't know anything about the felines, aside from how some of the rivers are dangerous, thanks to hunters. They probably just don't bother with them and stay away."

"Lush Above. Wonderful name, but at least are getting somewhere." she spoke and seemed saddened at the thought of someone wanting to hunt the seaponies. What evilness would have to be inside someone to hunt such wonderful ponies? And besides, they are sentient.

"Alright well, what should we do now? I have a feeling we may have to sneak inside the feline settlement if we are to get information, unfortunately." she remarked, thinking about Magloria's plan from prior.

"Well, if you wanted to find out anything else from the seaponies around us, preferably one that won't get annoyed by questions, now is really your only time to ask." Magloria said, looking up at the surface as a flash of light could be seen off in the distance, followed a few seconds later by a rumble.

"Seems like we also lost track of time, or the weather picked up." she added, looking a bit displeased.

"I'll go ask around about some things. Meet you back here." Jump Start said, then swam over to a small group.

Collapse agrees to Magloria, then would seem a bit concerned about the thunder and the lightning in the distance. "Yeah, I'm going to go off and ask some questions myself. Feel free to do so if you'd like." Collapse said to Magloria, acknowledging Jump Start.

She then swam off towards another group of seaponies. Upon getting to them she would greet them in a friendly manner. "Oh um, hi. My name is Collapse. If you don't mind I have a few questions about you guys. Do you have like, settlements on the ocean floor? Another group of seaponies I met had something for a water breathing spell, do you guys know anything about that here?" she asked calmly.

The seaponies she swam up to took notice of her and, besides inspecting her non-seapony form and mannerisms, listened to her questions.

A green Hippocampus stallion with a strange accent answered the first question. "Yeah, we have a few places 'round here. Best place it at tha' base and up tha' side of one of them mini islands. Great spot to be, lotsa opportunity there. Even get the above stuff from tha' island!"

Another, a yellow and white Kelpus mare answered her second question. "We have spells like that here, but they're not often used at all. We don't need them, and anyone who does can just spend a day or two on a beach to recover. Only those with a fascination with unnecessary spells would really know about it." she explained.

Collapse thanked them for the answers. "I am asking because I, and my two other friends are not seaponies as you can see. We can't breathe underwater without a spell and having such a spell would be of great interest to us." she remarked, smiling at the stallion's accent and looking to the mare. It was cute to see their various differences.

"Alright so uh, where would the nearest settlement be? We might want to go there and get an underwater breathing spell if we can find anyone who can do that for us. We are also interested in finding a map or some representation of this place in larger terms so we can find out where we are at and everything like that, since we are very lost." she added.

The green stallion continued to answer. "Closest place from our party would be... 'bout 20 mins thata way." he said, pointing off into the distance. That didn't give them much time at all to get back before the storm hits, and that wasn't even including the time they'd need to search for someone who could even do the spell.

An orange and purple striped Kelpus mare, wearing a pair of thin-framed glasses answered next. "We have a map at the place we all live at, but it only shows the things down here. If you're searching for something that can help with looking around where the air-breathing types above live, we can't help you." she said.

Collapse nodded as she took in the information she was told, at the very least they knew of where to go now that they knew. "Well, as we are air-breathing we wouldn't really be able to access the map or the areas you live unless you can get someone up here who can cast the spell on us. We have a few shells. You use shells for currency right?" Collapse asked for confirmation.

"One final question, do you have any surface settlements or know of any surface dwellers?" she asked further.

"We do use shells, but I don't know anyone who would know that spell." The orange and purple mare stated. She pointed to the crowd, many still busy dancing to the music being played. "You could ask around, but you're still unlikely to find someone."

"Nope, nuddah." The green stallion said. "We can't stay on land for long stretches of time, so buildin' there would just be a plain bonkers idea. Havn't done much with tha' locals up there either, th'most we see are just simple-minded beasts."

Collapse nodded again to these. "Alright, thank you for answering my questions. I'll ask around and see if anyone knows anything." with that, she'd wave and flick her tail in their direction as if showing off her different bodily structure to them in a subtle way.

Upon moving away, she'd ask other groups about anything they know about the above ground areas and where other groups of creatures are in relation to what they know. As well as asking for if anyone knows about a water breathing spell that they could come to the surface and perform it on Collapse and her two companions.

The flick of her tail earned her some looks for sure, if that was what she wanted to get. Though since the seaponies were looking at the weird newcomers anyway, perhaps it was just coincidence.

Besides, it's not like some of the seaponies don't have tails made from hair anyway.

The other seaponies that she questioned about things pretty much gave her the same answers that she already got. That being they don't really interact with those on the surface. Unfortunately none of those asked knew a water breathing spell, nor did they know or remember anyone who did.

Seems like if they wanted a refreshed water breathing spell, they'd have to go through a grueling search through the closest settlement, which would result in them returning during the storm, and possibly at night as well.

Realizing what Collapse had realized, she would swim back to Magloria and would relay the various information to her. She was pleased that they were able to figure out certain things but Collapse wasn't too eager to go out in the sea during a storm or at night. It was best to wait until there was a better time to go. Although, she was also curious what Magloria and Jump Start had been up to while she was out and about asking.

By the time she headed back to them, the storm was likely getting closer.