It was just another dull, sunshiny day beneath the surface of the Eastern Equestrian Sea. Twilight Slarval slowly slithered across the coral library, her mouth grazing across the sandy seafloor for various forms of sustenance. She inhaled an array of phytoplankton and algae, sating her rumbling stomach. With a slow flick of her antenna, she crawled along a patch of sea sponges—a suitable resting place to reaccumulate slime for her mucus membranes. She sat perfectly still, her abdominal pads well suctioned to the sponge.
Losing her train of thought, she began to ponder the possibility that all the sea's supply of food may have ceased to exist. Being the sensible, well-prepared slug she was, Twilight decided to head back out into the sandy abyss and fill up once again, so that she may survive as long as possible after the probable impending crisis. Luckily for her, there were still plenty of microbes to be absorbed.
Happening across Twilight's path, Pinkie Pod, her dear friend, slid into view. She frantically wagged the many antennae protruding from her body in overwhelming excitement. Little did Twilight know, it was Pinkie Pod's birthday. At least, Pinkie thought it was her birthday. Sea slugs aren't exactly known for their ability to remember annual events, much unlike humans, or even ponies.
Paying little mind—all the mind she had to pay, actually—Twilight carried on in a straight line, collecting a large abundance of organic materials beneath her slimy body. Pinkie Pod had about all she could take, so she thrust herself forcefully against Twilight's flank in hope of finally getting a response, or at least a reaction. Unfortunately for sea slugs, they aren't known for their ability to tackle either.
Twilight slowly changed course as Pinkie slithered up against her. As the purple slug carried on, Pinkie forgot where she was, or what she was doing to begin with. She wagged her sensitive feelers around in the water, picking up the scent of a familiar slug's slime. It was none other than that of her best friend, Rainbow Splash: the fastest slug in all of the Eastern Equestrian Sea! The colorful nudibranch darted across the sandy seafloor at record speeds. At least, they were record speeds for slugs. No mollusk in all of Coralville dared challenge her to a race, unless of course they wish to suffer a humiliating defeat.
In no time at all (several hours), Rainbow Splash sped through the sand like an insane speed demon, meeting her friend near the center of town.
"Blurb," Pinkie said, a small bubble drifting to the surface of the ocean, whereupon it was just enough extra surface tension to mildly annoy a small pelican who'd been sitting there.
Rainbow Splash stiffened the faux-spines lining her body in amusement. One antenna fidgeted very subtly, almost as if to imply that Pinkie Pod were being ridiculously random. Sensing a slight shift in temperature, Rainbow scurried to the safety of a large abiotic shell cluster. She stretched open the sensory glands at the tips of her feelers and detected the billions of tiny rain droplets crashing against the oceans surface.
Just then, Rariphyletic rushed out of her deceased anemone home in a panic. Her glossy skin coat had recently been slime-coated to perfection, and the thought of the rain shifting the pH-balance and damaging her perfectly beautiful mucus membrane was just the worst possible thing! She slithered up to Pinkie Pod, then began to press herself beneath the little slug, shielding her coating from the wretched rain water, seeping down with its unfashionably cool temperature.
Algaejack happened to spot the fiasco from her microbial-community farm. She rolled her feelers in bemusement; Rariph's antics being nothing new to her. Pinkie Pod slowly realized that the majority of her friends were all in one place, which could only mean one thing: her birthday bash had begun.
Meanwhile, Twilight Slarval had wandered near the edge of the Everdeep Reef. Flutterslime's coral cottage was nearby, its familiar scent attracting Twilight. The young slug headed to the entrance, her sensory tentacles rubbing along side of the home's walls. Detecting movement, Flutterslime recoiled deeper into her home, the fear of predators overwhelming her. The dangers of the sea were no mystery to Flutterslime, who was well aware of the superfluous number of threats lurking in the deep, waiting for an opportunity to strike. The most horrifying threat being that of her fellow slugs, carnivorous and cannibalistic as they may be.
Twilight rolled her optical tentacles and let out a deep plume of pheromones. Flutterslime immediately detected the friendly slug's aroma and slowly inched out into the open. Raging thunder crackled overhead, but the slugs were unable to hear it, regardless of whether or not they had the ability to hear. Still though, the existence of the scary lightning had a subconscious effect on the two slugs, inching them closer together, urging each of them to find comfort in the other.
Flutterslime flicked a feeler and retracted her muscles, scrunching her body up into a small ball, all while Twilight Slarval wrapped her own body around the adorable little sea slug. If a slug had ever felt the sensation of true love, these two were feeling it as they shared a warm, sticky, affectionate embrace. Of course, they didn't feel anything, because slugs were incapable of love. They hadn't evolved that emotion yet. Maybe one day, though, when the slugs emerged from the seas to conquer the surface...
* * *
Algaejack gently urged Rariphyletic out from beneath Pinkie Pod. She used her many strong feelers to lift the slug to her foot, who wobbly slithered into the open. Algaejack pointed her optical tentacles towards to ocean surface, where glints of brilliant sunlight permeated the water. Rariphyletic, like the rest of her friends, was only able to detect slight shifts of brightness in the luminosity, since her slug eyes were very simplistic and not a very important organ to her survival. Despite that fact, the most beautiful slug in the ocean found herself being stroked by the loving feelers of a dear friend.
As the scattered thunderstorm passed by, a beautiful rainbow split the sky. Rainbow Splash stiffened her body, the rainbow overhead magically pumping slug-bliss into her gastric pods. Feeling stimulated, she inched closer to her pink friend. Love was in the water as these six slugs came closer together, each preparing to spend the rest of her life with her mate. Not real love though, more like some careless biologists had just been illegally dumping oxytocin above the reef to mess with the wildlife.
Regardless of seemingly nefarious experimentation, the tides came in warmer than usual, offering the six love-slugs an evening of comfort. Such unexplainable events would be attributed to magic by most. Slugs are no exception, they remain ever vigilant for these transemundane phenomena, at least, they're as vigilant as invertebrates can be. Above all, they watch the surface with gleaming optical tentacles, because the greatest moments are always bestowed upon the life of Equestria from the glory of the sun, and the solace if the moon, for slugs that don't believe in magic will never find it.
Such was this, the Magic of Nudibranchs.
