Stuck in the Sun
NOTE: This story is set before the imposition of a National Lockdown in England. Do not attempt what Tom does in this story at the moment.
Tom made his way out his car and across the parking lot, carrying all of the supplies he needed for the day. It was a beautifully bright and warm day, with not a cloud in sight and plenty of people out. For those who need filling in, he was on holiday in the North of England, and was now in the second stage of his tour. He was now roaming up and down northern England and southern Scotland, and today had brought him to a very important place with regards to local history. The mighty structure stood overlooking the beaches and seas as an eternal reminder of English power.
Bamburgh Castle (pronounced Bam Burugh, and not Bam Burg) had been built in the 11th Century on the sight of a much older Celtic hill fort and another castle on top of that. Various revisions and expansions had been made to the structure over the years as changes were made and bits repaired as the Scots, Vikings, and rebels chipped away at bits and pieces of it. But the structure had eventually passed into the hands of the Armstrong family, of Armstrong Whitworth fame, who had restored and rebuilt it to create an elaborate family home, and they still lived there to this day. However, tourists could go and visit the fine castle and look around for a modest entrance fee, which helped to pay for maintenance and operating costs, not to mention a fine cafe too.
But this wasn't why Tom was here, at least for now. He would go up there and look at the castle later, but right now he had somewhere else he wanted to go. After all, everybody likes to spend a summer holiday residing by the side of the silvery sea, unless you went overseas (which you couldn't, due to the pandemic), and Tom was exception to this fact. In fact, if he had his way, he'd reside by the side of the silvery sea. But he couldn't afford that, so a rather smelly canal in Nottingham had to do. But here he was in the fresh sea breeze with the salty air rolling in from the sea and ocean. He had collected his beach stuff, and as such prepared to go. He slung his bag over his shoulder. Then he locked the car door and set off for the beachside, following a path through a turnstile that weaved through several sand dunes on the way down to the beach. It was quite a fierce slope that he found himself walking down, to reach the bottom of the hill. It was an extremely steep hill, that would be a very stiff climb to get back up. Tom didn't mind a stiff walk though. Exercise was something that was very important to him, after all. He proudly strode downhill with a smile on his face. He loved the sea, and today he was to set forth and swim in it.
He set his stuff down, and looked around him and hears a group of children talking. "Did you see it on the boat tour?" asked one.
"I most certainly did!" said one of the others. "It was on one of the boat tours further south. I saw a mermaid on the rocks!"
"You did not!" said another.
"Here!" the first said, showing a photograph. "From the Northumberland Gazzette, published only yesterday. Many witnesses saw this, and stated that they saw both a big eagle like creature and a mermaid. Lots of photos too."
"I see," said the skeptic child. "It's the weirdest looking mermaid ever too. I've never seen one that looks like a weird fish!"
Tom tuned it out. He had seen that paper, and thought the story was some elaborate joke. Presumably a bored editor had fabricated pictures of mythical creatures, or failing that made vectors of MLP characters. Having said that, he had read a report of a man falling off a Cunard vessel sailing from Norfolk to Liverpool, and he had heard of shards of broken glass all over the place. As he walked to the seafront, keen to put his hands in the water, he suddenly saw something shimmering in the water. He bent down to look at it. It was a shard of purple glass, and as he touched it he was suddenly sucked out to sea.
Such was the force and speed of the suction that Tom was knocked unconscious. The fragment of glass that was in his hand was still there, his body unhurt or damaged by the underwater incident, and sure enough, as he floated underwater, the fragment began its works of changing him.
His entire body went an extremely pale whitish green, covering all of him as his face was suddenly stretched outwards into a horse like muzzle, nose and mouth compressed together into a single combined structure. His eyes, widening, turned to a very pale blue as his hair was pulled back into a single mohawk like fin, coloured blue and turquoise as it floated in the water's gentle pull. The shard of glass floated out of his hand as his neck was stretched upwards, and was attached into a necklace with a purple band around his neck (see? Males can wear jewellery!). As his body was stretched a little, causing his clothes to tear and break away, his hands proceeded to melt into blue flippers as his arms snapped backwards and gained an extra joint, becoming limbs by which he could pull himself along whilst swimming in the water. Very little trace of his former humanity was left now, and this continued as his... male bits were soon hard to see, but not gone, as his legs and feet merged together as more fins emerged from the back. These fins were also blue, joined shortly after by a much larger set which had the appearance of wings. The feet melted into a giant flipper, which suddenly grew downwards and burst outward to cover a very large area. This was also coloured in the same shades as the mohawk, and suddenly the tide reversed, throwing this mysterious creature onto the beach.
When Terramar opened his eyes, he was confused to see a bunch of children crowding over him. He tried to sit up, but he couldn't. He was stuck on the beach!
"Ahh! Help!" he wailed. "I can't move!"
One of the children walked over to and nearly trod on his tail- and promptly got a flipper to the face. Terramar, on the other hand, continued to panic. "The tide is out, and I can't move!" he said. "If I'm stuck here for too long, I'll dry out!"
Suddenly, he saw Sky Beak fly overhead and land near his head. "It's alright, son!" he shouted. "I've got you! Ocean, pull at his tail!"
Ocean Flow emerged from the water and switched to a hippogriff, grabbing onto Terramar's tail and pulling him upwards. "He's stuck pretty badly in the sand!"
"Just a bit more force should do it!" Sky Beak called. "Quick; he looks badly dehydrated!"
With a last pull, they yanked him off the beach and tumbled into the water, both Ocean Flow and Sky Beak switching to seaponies in the meantime. Ocean Flow pulled her clearly traumatised son into a hug. "There there, dear. It's OK. I'll keep you safe. Nothing can hurt you now."
"Thanks mom," Terramar whispered. "I'd be dead meat right now. Those weird creatures on the beach seemed to be wanting something with me."
"They were gawking at us on the rocks a little while back," Sky Beak mentioned. "But at least you're safe now. Thing is, Silverstream's not been seen anywhere. Want to join us for the search?"
"Yes please!" Terramar replied. "But maybe from the air. I've had quite enough of water related hijinks for one day!"
They swam back to the beach, and whilst there the trio spent a moment in the sun, two hippogriffs and a seapony together.
Then, fully intent on their mission to find Silverstream, they flew off into the sunset, Terramar rocketing through the air like a rocket.
"Slow down, son!" Sky Beak called, as he took off to keep up. "We've been walking these shores all our days!"
"But with you guys by my side, I'm walking on the waves!" Terramar whooped.
"Mummy! It was right here!" said the first child, frustrated.
"What was?" the woman asked, confused.
"The mermaid! You saw it, didn't you Charley?"
"We all did!" said Charley, holding up his phone. "Two more even appeared and carried it off! They all spoke English, too."
"Well, why shouldn't a mermaid speak English?" the woman said, looking closely.
"Those weren't mermaids!" said another child. "Those were characters from My Little Pony!"
"See? Equestria is real!" said the first child.
It was a very confusing day on the east coast of England, but it was only going to get weirder.