Overcoming Oceans

“More pastry, guys?”

Shining Armor, former Captain of the Royal Guard, and co-ruler of the Crystal Empire, sits directly across the table from you, levitating another plate of delicious cinnamon rolls in front of your face. Well, how can you say no to round two? Twilight Sparkle, sitting snugly next to you, plucks up a roll for herself with the flick of her horn, and places it next to the rapidly-filling cup courtesy of the hovering teapot via Princess Mi Am… er, Cadance’s magic aura.

As friendly as the ambience is, what with the merry exchanging of stories and smiles, you feel a slight sense of unease by something. Looking around the table, glancing at Shining and Twilight chewing on their food as the rest of it levitates in front of them, and Cadance effortlessly floating the teapot from one cup to another, it becomes glaringly obvious.

You’re an earth pony. Everypony else in the room is using magic, not just for the sake of it, but because it’s pretty much been that way their whole lives. It’s hard to tell whether or not you should feel left out. It’s best just to play it safe and nibble your cinnamon roll as the royal couple start reliving their past adventures to you and Twilight.

The hours tick by, and the train chugs steadily onwards past the Rumbling Rock Ridge. To the north, Foal Mountain drifts by in the distance, glimmering in the midday sun. The longer you remain in the carriage, the more you think of these two rulers as living, breathing ponies rather than embodiments of leadership.

Shining Armor, for example, seems to behave more like a colt than a prince.

“So yeah, then Cadance just grabbed Spike AND the Crystal Heart outta mid air, like WHOOSH!” Shining Armor waves his hooves dramatically as he talks, because as we all know, doing that enhances all forms of storytelling tenfold. “And then she did this awesome thing where she used her magic alongside the Crystal ponies to repel the darkness and the whole city just lit up like P-SHEEW! And then evil King Sombra was all like ‘Noooo!’ and then BOOM!” He smacks the table with a burly hoof, causing all the cutlery on said table to jump, and the odd teacup - thankfully empty - to topple over.

“And that’s pretty much how we saved the Crystal Empire,” Cadance beams, finishing the story before her husband could get too excited. She turns her regal eyes towards you, “What about you? We’d like to get to know you better; what’s your story?”

In a few brief seconds, you scan through any past stories that stick out in your head. You can’t think of much, truth be told. At least, nothing that can top their latest story of saving a long-lost empire from ancient dark forces, nor their previous one of thwarting the insect-like army of the Changeling Queen using the power of love.

Your life is pretty uneventful - at least, it has been since you moved to Ponyville - and that’s exactly how you like it.

You gesture back to her; a combination of shrugging shoulders and a shaking head. “Nothing too interesting. I came from a family of swimmers, not adventurers. I guess I could tell you about my aunt and uncle who worked as lifeguards, or my nephew who became an Olympic diver, or my second-cousin who became a famous surfer. Hardly slaying monsters and saving kingdoms, I’m afraid. Pretty uneventful.”

Shining Armor chuckles to himself, one foreleg leaning on the table, “Heh, uneventful? I almost wish we could trade lives! That way Twily would have to save your rump instead of mine!”

A gasp. Cadance puts a hoof to her lips at a sudden thought, “Speaking of Twilight, you’ve never told us how you both met!”

Oh no. Oh dear Celestia, here we go…

“Hey, yeah,” Shining adds, “Come on, tell us about that! How did you first meet?”

Of course, you remember the story quite vividly; you first met Twilight trying to turn the beloved lake just outside your shack into a makeshift ice rink. However, her spell was untested and, when it came to checking the strength of the ice, she stumbled across a thin patch.

That’s where you came in, distraught with the fact that she’d frozen your pride and joy. You started yelling at the top of your lungs (which, you mentally add, are superior to most other ponies’ lungs due to you spending quite a lot of your life underwater). Twilight, startled by the yelling, slipped, fell through the thin ice with a crack and…

…well, she nearly drowned. And even after you and her dragon friend, Spike, saved her, she was still sick with hypothermia for a while. Oh well, you’ve both put that unpleasantness behind you. Now it’s time to tell her militarily-trained older brother with a small Empire under his command that you nearly snuffed his little sister within seconds of meeting her.

“Actually,” Twilight Sparkle, the light of your world, pipes up, “the first thing he ever did when we met was save my life.”

That certainly piques the interest of the royal couple. Twilight continues her version of the story unabated; how she fell through the ice, the shock of the freezing water preventing her from teleporting out. How, in her submerged, breathless panic, she saw you trying to save her with the combined efforts of her faithful dragon assistant. How, after she had broken free from her cold, watery prison, the first thing you did was take her into your home and dry her off without even asking for her name. Twilight even goes on to tell them about your unyielding compassion as, after she was diagnosed with hypothermia, you stuck around to help her recover.

Shining Armor and Cadance are just staring at you both in fascination, sometimes nodding their heads and spurring the story onwards with murmurs of agreement or curiosity (and, in Shining’s case, the occasional nibble of a cinnamon roll). Twilight finally finishes her recollection of the tale at your first kiss; the milkshake date at Sugarcube Corner. Due to her brother being in the room, she omits any… mature events that occurred shortly after.

“And after that first kiss, well…” in unison, you and Twilight shuffle closer to each other in your seats, “that’s when we knew it was love.”

You can see it in her eyes; that amethyst gleam of happiness as she relives your fateful first days together. Shining Armor and Cadance compliment the story’s ending with a harmonized “d’aww”.

If that’s not a sign for accepting you as part of the family, you don’t know what is.

*******

The sky outside the moving train pushes the burning sphere of daylight ever-onward. The city of Baltimare becomes a rising silhouette on the horizon, and Horseshoe Bay would be just beyond it.

“You’re gonna love it there,” Shining Armor rubs his fore-hooves together in anticipation, “Cadance and I rented a private villa for us all to stay in, and it’s right next to the beach and the Lover’s Arch!”

Cadance notices your double-take at the mention of a private villa; you had assumed it would just be a very posh hotel. “Being the diarchy of a small empire has its advantages!”

Twilight’s ears pricked up at a different word; “Wait, what’s the Lover’s Arch?”

“It’s a submerged natural arch formed just off the bay’s coast,” Cadance replies, “Above the water, it looks like a small cluster of rocks, but when you dive under the surface, it’s actually a huge heart-shaped arch on the sea bed. They say that if two ponies swim under the arch at the same time, they’re destined to be together forever!” The princess of love heaves a giddy sigh, her eyes drifting husband-wards. “So romantic!”

“Whoa,” you turn to face Shining Armor, “is that true?”

The stallion in question leans back in his seat. “It’s more like superstition and tradition amongst the Horseshoe Bay locals, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the rocks were enchanted or something; this is Equestria, after all.” He then lifts a foreleg and places it lovingly around his alicorn wife’s shoulders, “Either way, Cadance has always wanted to swim under it with me, so that’s why we rented the villa for the week.”

Twilight Sparkle gasps quietly to herself; you can guess what she’s about to say; “We should totally do that too!”

A tingle of unease creeps down your spine. You try not to bite your bottom lip. “Y-you really think so?”

“Of course!” your unicorn lover beams, “Shining and Cadance are both proficient in magic and love. You’re the best swimmer I know, heck, you’re better than most in Equestria. This underwater - and possibly magical - Lover’s Arch thingie is the perfect way for us to bond as a family!”

Oh for pony‘s sake, you didn’t tell her about… no, you didn’t, did you?

“Um, yeah, it sounds fun,” you cross your hind legs under the table. You hope the others don’t notice the anxious, repeated tapping your rear hooves are making on the train carriage’s floor. “I haven’t been in the sea for, uh, a long time.”

Your eyes drift towards the nearby window as the city of Baltimare looms ever-closer. Soon the train will terminate there, and you’ll most likely be getting a simple carriage from there to Horseshoe Bay. Personally, you knew of the location well enough; you just thought you’d be able to avoid swimming in the ocean there, preferring to lie in Celestia’s sunlight on the beach, or sip the exotic drinks and dance with your lavender lover in Luna’s moonlight.

Heck, even if you felt the need to submerge yourself in water, you’d be perfectly happy dipping yourself into a sun-soaked swimming pool, and nuts to the chlorine; it’d still be better than swimming in - ugh - the ocean.

No. Maybe it’s just bad nostalgia. You’ve grown up since then. Maybe once you see the greeny-blue waters with your own eyes, you’ll realise that there’s nothing to fear from it.

Twilight snuggles up to you, glad to have your support in the idea. You push yourself closer to Twilight in return, hoping she’ll be able to support you when the time comes.

Meanwhile, Shining Armor prods the bare, crumb-dotted plate with a hoof, envelopes himself in deep thought for a moment, then politely asks the crystal pony staff for more cinnamon rolls.