Epic Pony: Friendship is Legend

Part 1: Equestrian Secrets
Chapter 8: The Underwater City

Kelpy proceeded through the underwater tunnel, with the girls following as close behind as they could. Of course, her fish tail made for more adept swimming, so every now and then she had to stop to allow them to catch up.

“It’s so… nice in here,” Fluttershy wondered aloud, noting the billowing groups of seaweed lined along the tunnel.

“Yeah, I love seaweed,” Kelpy mentioned, turning around to talk to the girls, while still swimming onward, “It’s so soft, and smooth. Sometimes I just hang out in kelp beds whenever I’m feeling lazy. I guess you could say that’s where I get my name.”

“So that’s why you were caught in seaweed when we first met you,” Rainbow Dash uttered.

“Well, yes,” Kelpy confirmed, “There was a particularly dense clump of seaweed in that lake. It felt really nice, but I moved around a lot, and it began to wrap around my tail. Before I knew it, I was stuck, and squirming around only entangled it worse. Lucky for me, you two came along,” she added, looking at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

“Lucky for us, too!” Pinkie Pie replied excitedly. “I never thought I’d meet a pony like you! Well, I did have a dream in which everypony had fish tails, but that doesn’t count, because I knew it wasn’t real. But now, I have a friend who really does have a fish tail!”

“And who would that be?” asked Kelpy, a little confused.

“Why, you, silly!” Pinkie Pie answered.

“You think I’m your… friend?” Kelpy questioned nervously.

“Well, of course!” Pinkie Pie insisted. “How could we not be friends, after everything we’ve done so far?”

“It’s nice of you to consider me a friend,” Kelpy stated, “I haven’t really made any friends. I mean, I get along with everypony just fine, but… let’s just say that living in a society concealed from the world has sort of had an effect on me.”

“I know how you feel,” Twilight assured with a smile, “A long time ago, I didn’t really pay much attention to making friends, either. Then I came to Ponyville, and I discovered what a wonderful thing friendship is. You should give it a try.”

“Thanks,” Kelpy responded, “I think I’ll start with you girls. Will you all be my friends?”

“Sure!” they all answered in unison.

And so, they swam on. The tunnel soon ended, opening up to a broad stretch of ocean floor. Hills of rocks and coral, topped with seaweed and other aquatic plants, decorated the landscape. Kelpy stopped and turned to face the girls.

“Alright, my hometown is a few minutes’ swim from here,” she reported, “Just stay by me. There are lots of marine creatures here.”

“Ma-marine creatures?” Fluttershy stammered uneasily.

“Don’t worry, it’s mostly just small fish,” Kelpy explained. She swam off in a slower pace than before, and the girls followed along.

After swimming for a while, the girls spotted something in the distance. An immense rock formation loomed up ahead. It was extremely wide, and stretched beyond the surface. To the girls, it looked like an underwater fortress wall. Kelpy beckoned the girls to keep close as she headed for it.

Once they were close to it, Kelpy held up a hoof to tell the girls to stop for a moment. Looking around, she spotted a boulder larger than she was, covered in moss. She went up to it, and began to swim rapidly in circles in front of it. Her movements stirred up a current that surrounded the boulder. To the girls’ amazement, the boulder gradually rotated with the current, and slowly lifted up from its spot, revealing an opening in the rock formation. Kelpy stopped swimming in circles and entered, motioning for the girls to follow. Once they were all inside, the boulder returned to its original position, blocking the entrance. It was dim inside, but light shone from ahead.

“Stay with me,” Kelpy reminded, as they swam in the direction of the light, “I don’t know how everyone’s going to react when they see you, but I don’t want them to think you just strayed in here on your own.”

Continuing on, the group soon entered an open area. Sunlight beamed down from the surface above, and the reflection of the ripples illuminated the scene. What the girls saw made them gasp in awe.

“Welcome… to the hippocampus city of Oceanopolis,” Kelpy proudly announced.

Before them lay a collection of buildings of various color, size, and shape, arranged neatly in rows. Each building had circular, barnacle-like windows here and there, and a round door or two set a ways above the ground. Streets paved with a scaly-looking material ran between the rows of buildings.

The girls could see vividly colored figures bustling about. They were all hippocampus ponies, just like Kelpy, their fish tails swishing back and forth as they moved from place to place. In diversity they were equivalent to the residents of Ponyville. Some of them were accompanied by other creatures, including crustaceans, manta rays, and many different types of fish.

Kelpy pressed on, and the girls trailed along nervously, walking on the street. As they passed them by, the other hippocampus ponies stopped and stared at them. Some looked appalled, others curious. One little filly gazed so intently at them that she forgot to catch a round, shell-like object her friend had tossed to her, and it bumped into the side of her head.

“Okay,” Kelpy uttered, falling back to swim alongside the girls, “We need to look for information on where the hidden records might be… well, hidden.”

“Do you have something like a library here?” Twilight asked.

“Well, yes,” Kelpy answered, “Although I don’t know if we would find anything on them there. They're hidden for a reason. Even if there was any information on them, it would probably have been confiscated by now. Our chief wouldn’t want just anypony to go and look for them.”

“So they’re that big of a deal, huh?” Rainbow Dash remarked.

“Well, if he’s so intent on keeping it a secret,” Twilight suggested, “Then maybe he knows where they are.”

“I suppose asking him might be the most… logical option,” Kelpy stated, “But he probably won’t even tell us.”

“Well,” Rarity spoke up, “Perhaps, with a little persuasion, he might see reason and-”

“Oh my gosh!” Fluttershy exclaimed suddenly, zipping over to a market stall set up next to a large building resembling a fancy conch shell. All over the stall were glass boxes and cages filled with various creatures. A sign next to the stall read, “Freshly Caught! 10% Off Today Only!”

“I’ve never seen so many uncommon marine creatures in one place before!” Fluttershy tittered excitedly. She pointed out a number of them, saying their names out loud. “That’s a Huffpuff Fish! And those are Mini Minnows! And there’s a Silver Goldfish! And-” she gasped. “Are those Paper Lantern Jellyfish I see? Girls! They have Paper Lantern Jellyfish!”

When she turned to her friends, she noticed them giving her an odd look. Blushing, she explained, “I like underwater animals just as much as land animals.”

A hippocampus pony emerged from the conch-shaped building and spotted Fluttershy by the stall. “Hey, you! Get away from those animals!” she shrieked, quickly swimming over to her.

“Oh, sorry,” Fluttershy mumbled, backing away, “I was just having a look.”

“‘Just havin’ a look,’ eh?” the pony repeated in a doubtful tone, “Is that what you came all this way for? Just to have a look at our pets?”

“Well, no,” Fluttershy muttered nervously, “Y’see, we were just-”

“How did you even get here, anyway?” the pony interrupted impatiently, “You earth ponies aren’t supposed to know about our city! You’re not supposed to be here!”

“Well,” Fluttershy began, “We came here with our friend-”

“Intruders!” the pony cried out, ignoring her. “Guards! We’ve been infiltrated!”

Fluttershy shrank away from the pony and went back to her friends, who looked at each other in worry.

“We’re in trouble, now,” Rainbow Dash commented quietly.

Within a few moments, hippocampus guard ponies came from every direction and surrounded them. Their helmets resembled dorsal fins, and each carried a trident, which they pointed at the group.

“Yeah, big trouble,” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“You are trespassing in hippocampus pony civilization!” one guard barked at them, “You are to be taken to Chief Freshwater! He will decide what to do with you!”

“Wait!” Kelpy shouted, swimming in front of the girls, “It’s not their fault! They didn’t just wander in here! I… I led them here…”

All the nearby hippocampus ponies gasped in response.

“In that case,” the guard replied passively, “You shall go with them!”

And with that, the guards lifted their tridents and began swimming in the same direction, pushing the group along with them.

“Well, we’re going to get an audience with the leader, just like we planned,” Rarity whispered to the others, “Although I’m sure this isn’t how we were hoping to do so…”

They pressed on, heading towards a large, castle-like building in the center of the city.