A Heart Like The Sea

by Drunk Luna

Chapter Fourteen

At least fifty enormous black figures arced through the water, straight to the platform on which Cassie and the other princesses stood. Neoma bit her lip nervously as the orcas swam toward her, their blowholes puffing loudly. The largest male orca in the group, who weighed at least seven tons and was well over ten feet long, surfaced in front of Cassie and rolled over onto his back for a belly rub.

“Oh, Triton,” Cassie chuckled, “you are the biggest teddy bear I’ve ever met.” She rubbed the massive creature’s white underside affectionately, grinning from ear to ear as she did so. Triton slowly rolled over underneath Cassie’s hooves and took a deafening breath, expelling a huge puff of mist from his blowhole. The sound startled Neoma, who jumped. Cassie gave her older sister an encouraging smile.

“It’s okay, Neoma,” she said. “You’re completely safe. I feel safer with these guys than I do with other dolphins. They’ve rescued me from sharks before.”

“Your sister is right, darling,” Luna added, reaching out to stroke Polaris’ back. “They’re so sweet and friendly. See? Good girl,” she cooed to the gigantic animal as if the orca were a puppy. Little Elara stayed close to Polaris, eyeing the newcomers shyly as she pressed against her mother’s side. Docile, gentle Polaris approached Cassie and Neoma slowly and nuzzled Cassie's wing, clicking and whistling softly. Neoma eyed the orca cautiously as Polaris gave her a gentle nudge. She stroked Polaris' back tentatively, a small smile lifting the corners of her mouth.

"She likes you," Cassie said, mirroring her sister's smile. Neoma began to relax, and she rubbed Polaris just in front of her dorsal fin. The orca sighed contentedly and rolled over onto her side in the shallow water. Luna chuckled as Triton leaned into her touch.

“Yay, now it’s a party!” Flurry Heart whooped, scrambling out of the water as a bright red Pegasus trotted out onto the beach. Flurry galloped into the Pegasus’ hooves and he lifted her, twirling her around as he kissed her deeply. Cadance waded onto the shore to greet the young stallion, who hugged her and bowed respectfully. Cassie felt the air around her thicken as Neoma's dreamy smile was replaced with a grimace. Her light blue eyes were suddenly drained of the life that had just returned to them minutes before. The turquoise thestral alicorn turned wordlessly and walked out of the sea, then spread her wings and took off to the balcony of her bedchamber.

"Shit," Cassie muttered, following her older sister. When she entered the room, Cassie was surprised to see that Neoma wasn't crying. The princess of the northern lights lay motionless on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

"How in Equestria will I ever move forward when I can't even look at a cute couple without feeling like my heart is breaking all over again?" Neoma groaned. "Cassie, I'm pathetic." She sighed heavily, buried her face into her pillow, and released a muffled scream. Cassie rubbed her sister's back.

"Give yourself time to heal," she said softly. "It hasn't been long at all, Neoma. Please stop being so hard on yourself. I'm proud of you for coming out to swim with us; that took a lot of courage. I really hope it helped. I'm so sorry if I pushed you too hard or upset you."

"No." Neoma sat up, sniffled, and wiped her eyes. "Cass, being with those orcas was amazing. I can't wait to go out again; I felt free for the first time since Silver left. I'd love to do it again tomorrow, if you don't mind. I just... can't look at Flurry and Fireblood together without feeling sick to my stomach, and I hate myself for that."

"Then why don't we swim at sunrise?" Cassie suggested. "Nopony else has to come with us if you just want some alone time with your little sis." Her grin coaxed a chuckle from Neoma, who rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Okay," she agreed. "Let's do it. I want everypony else to join us, though. It'll be like an orca party."

"Sounds good!" Cassie said, prancing excitedly.

Comments

[Patriots3492]

This reminds me of Free Willy 2

[Drunk Luna]

11573674
You just figured out my inspiration for this story! I'm actually listening to the soundtracks from all three movies right now!

[Patriots3492]

11573685
Good choice, The place I work at in Utah had the Biologist who worked with the Whale who played Willy do a zoom call last year and he talked about he helped how they got the whale to freedom and the whale's name was Keiko

[Drunk Luna]

11573692
Yeah I knew about Keiko, his story was actually really sad. I'm so glad you commented! I wasn't sure about how the premise of this story would be received, and I honestly wish it would get more attention. Thank you so, so, so much for reading! More chapters are coming!

[Patriots3492]

11573699
No Prob

[Brony_Fanatic]

I'm loving the story so far Cassie's and Neoma's relationship is very interesting to read!