Chapters "What in Poseidon's seas" Keira asked with astonishment.
"I am The Forgotten, and my name is Saris " Saris bellowed but not in anger. He coughed "Sorry that was how I and the other immortals addressed our citizens, it was tradition, but I see no reason to use it in this situation."
"So you are the reincarnated soul of the last immortal Hippocampus?"
"Yes the terms of my punishment, were that I could only be free if the third son, of a third son, of a third son was crowned king. It was no accident that my name was Saris beforehand. I knew it was this vessel that would be crowned king of my empire, I wish I had known that it was going to be in tatters like this when I got crowned."
"So you knew your entire life that you were going to be King!" Keira shouted in anger.
"Yes and no “he answered cryptically, this caused Keira to give him a look of irritation "That is to say, I knew that I was going to be king, but with each reincarnation I forget everything I knew until I was freed or died again, however I could set a goal and try hard to achieve it." he explained.
"Well couldn't you have just taken power before Discord's army destroyed ninety nine point nine, nine (however many nines I need to add) percent of our population!?!"
"As terms of my punishment I cannot take power it has to be thrust upon me, any time I tried to take power I died in the attempt." He explained to her.
"Great, so you come to..."
Saris cut her off "Hail a new age for the Hippocampus race, now that I think about that it seems like they meant that a little too literally.
"You keep saying you were serving a punishment, what crime did you commit?" Keira asked, wondering what crime he could have committed.
"I committed no crime, save one of bringing life to this world." he said bluntly.
"I don't get it. What's so bad about that?" She asked puzzled.
"There is nothing bad about creating life now, but I was the first to do it, and when I did it the other immortals were terrified of it." He explained to her, annoyed at the reason he was punished.
"What did you create?" Keira asked hesitation seeing the annoyed look on his face.
"I created the Kraken, the hippocampus know it as the creature that sleeps for eternity in the abyss waiting for its masters call. I also created the first Alicorn."
"Then why don't you appear as an Alicorn?"
"This is where I spent three hundred years hiding from my fellow immortals, I fell in love with the Hippocampus, simple as that."
"And now you have returned to godhood?"
"Hardly, I am as powerful as the first Alicorn who lived, I believe, five thousand years. But back to the point, I had to release a lot of my power into the sea so they couldn't find me. That's the reason that the sea is self sufficient, and I cannot take that power back for fear my creations will die without it."
"How about this, are you the life giver Saris or the Prince Saris?"
"Technically I am both, but I am Saris, I loved my wife and children, all this life's relations matter to me. But on the other hoof I remember my life as an immortal and I find I have the same personality."
"So, let me get this straight. You are that thirty two year old that we all knew, but you are also the immortal that created the ponies in general?"
"Yes" he said clearly board with the conversation.
"So what do we do now?" Keira asked him.
"Quite simple we begin looking for other ponies to and wake them up. We need to find them all."
"But there are only two of us." she stated.
"Yes and when we wake up another we will have three, then four, then six. It's called exponential growth." he said agitated. I suggest we start in the Palace here then work our way out."
"OK, so which direction are the servant's quarters?" she asked stretching he tail.
Saris thought for a moment, then pointed to his right "If there is any pony still alive they would be in the west wing." he stated seriously.
"Got it lets go." Keira said swimming off. Saris smiled and dropped his brother's old trident and swam after her. He was surprisingly fast considering he was wearing a cloak and he was swimming with one hoof because the other was holding the white gold trident Octotear.
The two of them spent many hours just looking for the Hippocampus that had been able to survive this whole time. In the entire palace staff that had gone to sleep, only five of them woke up. This brought a great joy to Saris's heart but for every pony he managed to wake up, there where fifty three bodies that needed to be buried (Keira did the math) and the kicker was that those were just the staff that had gone to sleep, if he incorporated the full staff of this palace had once had then it was close to a one to four hundred and thirty two, survivors on top.
It had been getting dark by this time and there was a matter of food and sleep to be dealt with. Fortunately for Saris seaweed was in the plenty at the top of the palace and he simply went up and garbed some of it to bring down to the others. As for bedding that was going to be harder, then he got an idea. There was a set of rooms reserved for dignitaries should they want to stay the night, it had several beds and was kept via magic airtight. A Hippocampus can and when necessary stay on land so they were just goanna have to suck it up and sleep in there.
And they did the five servants insisting their new king spent the night in the master bed room why they stayed in the dignitary's servant quarters. Keira got the secondary dignitary's quarters.
It was a fitful sleep; filled with the images of the loved ones that he lost and their remains in their rooms.
When he awoke he found that they all didn't sleep well. Three of the servants had lost lovers and the other two had lost their entire extended families.
"Was that not the second worse day in our history!?! Right after the day we went to sleep!" one of the servants had shouted at him once seeing his king.
"Well if you take all of our history into account I'd say the third." he had retorted.
He had meant it as a sort of joke but the servant wanted to know what he thought was worse. To which he responded "Our war with the flame ponies" he was sounding grim as he remembered his incarnation who had died during the final battle. "They dried out the ocean and if the Pegasus hadn't helped us we would have burned.
"How do you..." the servant trailed off remembering the story that his new king had told him and even offered proof of in the form of raw magical power directed at a statue.
"So what's on the agenda today" a maid asked him.
"Well we go out into the city and start looking for other survivors, tell them what to do and send them to look for more. I want to get at least a sixteenth of the inner circle done. But we need to be prepared for night as well he said looking at the three stallions sitting in front of him. "You need to start moving and cleaning tubs so every pony has a place to sleep. Well we're burning daylight lets hop to it."
They spent about four hours searching before they found another living Hippocampus, It was Saris who found him.
"Wake up!" he shouted shaking the sleeping Hippocampus.
"What the!" the Hippocampus said waking.
Saris got a satisfied look on his face, "Welcome back to the land of the living Eel." he said ominously.
"What? Do I know you?" the Eel asked with a puzzled expression on his face.
"I would hope so Director Felis, I was the one who funded your program"
"Saris! Your king?" he asked seeing the crown on his head.
"I'm much more then the king now, but that's beside the point. You need to go fetch your changling skin and infiltrate Equestria, that is if it is still there."
"Once a Crimson Eel always a Crimson Eel." Felis said with a smile, he quickly swam off to the surface.
As he swam away Saris shouted to him "I expect monthly reports!!!"
Felis shouted back "Got it, the usual!"
Saris needed to know what had happened on the surface, surly the Elements of Harmony had destroyed Discord. That should have set them free. Celestia surely couldn't have let him live this entire time, surely. He thought.
It was another two hours before they found another living Hippocampus, this time Keira found him.
"Please wake up!" she shouted shaking him, she knew him.
"Where am I?" the grey hippocampus asked with a look in his eye's that suggested he was hangover even though he wasn't.
"Wait you’re the Architect! What's your name? Don't tell me, Teneve! was I right"
"Yes I am Teneve, Architect of our great city. But tell me how long were we asleep?" he asked looking at the tattered remains of his house.
"All we know is that it has been over five hundred years"
"From the clock tower?"
"Yes, but come I need to get you to our new king you will be invaluable to the restoration effort."
"The king wants to restore the city?"
"Well as much as can be salvaged once we have woken every pony who survived after all this time".
"Do the air breathers still call us Sea ponies?"
"We've had no contact with the surface, we've only been awake a day ourselves."
"My king you won't guess who I found!" Keira shouted to saris as she swam with Teneve in her wake.
"Kalil?" he guessed at random.
She hadn't expected him to actually guess and lost her train of thought. She quickly got it back "No, the Architect Teneve"
"Good he will be invaluable when we start restoration." he said bluntly "Now put him to work finding and waking other hippocampus."
"Yes my king." she said then took Teneve's hoof and swam away.
On that day they found all of twenty three hippocampus. They spent a month searching for the other survives. Only to find that of the Fifteen thousand hippocampus that had done to sleep only two thousand had survived this long. That had taken them a month.
"There is no fate worse than finding yourself in among the remnants of your once great empire. Knowing that if you fail your people will be destroyed" Saris said grimly.
"Nice piece of old world poetry" Felis said, surprising his king. "I'm here for my report." he was wearing the pelt of a changeling.
"And that is?"
"Equestria tribes, Celestia and Luna rule, and Discord lives."
"What!?! They didn't kill him?"
"No, the Elements apparently can't destroy, he was imprisoned the whole time".
"If Celestia lives then did you find out how long we were asleep."
"No, my king. But you won't like the next part of my report."
"Nothing news could hurt me now."
"They send boats across our territory" Felis said wincing.
"WHAT!!!! THIS IS UNEXCEPTIONABLE!!!!!!!!!! THE PACT WAS ETERNAL, NEXT YOUR GOING TO SAY THERE IS PEACE WITH THE GRIFFONS!!!!!!!!!! " he bellowed literally steaming.
"Yah about that"
"NO!! This is the last straw, get to the griffons land, infiltrate the court and do what you do best, standard reports."
"And what will you do?"
"Me? I'm going to Equestria and fixing this problem, even if it means I need to wake the Kraken to stop this betrayal."
Things where going good for Falling Star, he was about to embark to the griffons homeland to study their constellations. This was rare for a unicorn to do but he was ready. Now he was in the harbor of Baltimare getting ready to board his ride when he heard a loud crash. He ran over hoping it wasn't his telescope, it wasn't.
Before him he saw the ship he was going to board in a few minutes tipped over on its side and sinking. He did a quick look around and saw the box that his telescope was in. Seeing it was OK he breathed a sigh of relief before the other event had hit him like a rock. He quickly ran over to the edge of the dock and started helping ponies out of the water.
He looked up as a shadow passed in between him and the recently risen sun. He was stunned at the giant red tentacle that had risen strait into the air. It crashed down into the center of the ship smashing it in half. It was sinking faster now, mush faster, in fact in the time it took you to finish reading this sentence it was almost complacently consumed by the bay.
Now he saw another tentacle that had latched itself to the end of the dock he was standing on. He saw a pony with a lump of coral on his head a long silver beard and a cloak with gold trim. He was carrying a white gold trident and he looked as imposing as Celestia and Luna.
"Tell thy unicorn, where do thee princess reside" He spoke with a booming voice.
"I didn't understand a word you said" Falling Star said looking shocked.
"It speaks the Hippocampus dialect!?!" the imposing stallion said surprised.
"Yes" Falling said tentatively.
"This is great I don't have to try to speak in that boring old dialect" he said still booming but he sounded more like a modern pony.
"Yes" Falling said now confused and terrified.
"Splendid, now tell me where do the princesses reside, for we have much business to speak of."
Falling was going into shock and he simply said "Canterlot."
"And that is where?" the imposing stallion asked sounding annoyed.
Falling didn't want to be on this bad side seeing what he did to the ship and pointed to the mountain top where Canterlot was located.
"Thank you good citizen of Equestria, but I must take my leave to speak with your princesses. Oh and I wouldn't leave by boat if I were you this beast will be stopping any and all boats that leave coastal waters" he said this then walked past Falling Star, his fish like tail nearly smacking Falling in the face as he passed.
Once the imposing sea pony had left Falling Star fell on he rump and said to himself "Looks like I don't get to see the griffons constellations after all" he said as months of bribery, trading favors, and smooth talking just went down the drain.
Saris was walking through the city, he knew that the ponies would by his bluff. He actually hadn't awoken the Kraken yet, but he would if he had to.
As he walked his odd attire was causing the ponies to look at him. He did notice that there were no flame ponies among then. Could it be that the flame ponies were destroyed buy Discord as well .
A funny looking pony walked up to him and said "My heavens what are you wearing, you look like you crawled out of the ocean." he said laughing and several other ponies began to laugh along with him.
"Is that honestly what passes for humor these days, it's quite pathetic, reminds me of your attire. But you know not who you talk to, For you are in the presence of royalty."
"You royalty" the posh pony said laughing harder.
Saris simply shook his head and pointed his trident at the posh pony. "Don't say I didn't warn you" a small vortex appeared at the tip of the trident. From the tip came out the red tentacle and it wrapped itself around the posh pony lifting him into the air. It swung the posh pony around and threw him into the window of a store.
Two ponies in armor ran over to the posh pony, the posh pony simply pointed towards Saris. The guards turned towards him, and one charged a spell on his horn, a beam shot out of it. This prompted Saris to simply move his trident in between him and the beam, his trident absorbed the beam, which surprised the unicorn. The pegasus flew at his and he simply held p his trident and smacked the pegasus with the side of it.
The unicorn shot a beam into the air and more armored stallions appeared from behind buildings. "I do not have the time to entertain all of you" Saris said as multiple vortexes opened around him, there where eight exactly. large red tentacles came out of them all. The tentacles went to work, they slammed into the ponies, grabbing and throwing them, even though the tentacles were being aggressive, but they didn't kill any of the armored ponies.
As the tentacles raved Saris walked to the edge of Baltimare, even though he was a bit away from his tentacles he could still hear the guards yelling at each other trying to destroy them.
He came upon an odd sight, it was two strips of metal with wood planks set across them. There was a pale looking unicorn nearby, "Pardon but what is the purpose of this odd design?" Saris asked the pale pony.
"It is a train track, if you go to the train station you can purchase a ticket to ride on the train, it's a faster way to get around." the pale pony said explaining to Saris.
"I never said I didn't know that"
"No you didn't but your face did' the pale pony said before he teleported away.
Saris was sitting on his car of the train to Canterlot, he had actually bought the car in front and behind him as well. His new found power had allowed him to create things out of thin air, or was it his newly remembered power, he honestly wasn't sure which made more since.
The train was coming to a stop at the city that, in his opinion, was stupidly suspended over the side of a mountain. As the train stopped he stepped off and found that the posh pony was nothing compared to the ponies he saw in this city.
As he walked he saw that most of the ponies were looking at him. He tried not to think of them, he was trying to think of what he was going to say to her, Celestia, or as she had preferred in those days Tia. How should he address her, he wondered, he decided that she was the ruler of Equestria now, best to remain as formal as possible.
He was walking around and saw a pony crowed by a bunch of others, he was a white unicorn with blue hooves and mane and the most pathetic facial hair he had ever seen.
Saris walked over to a pony vender "May I be so bold to ask directions to the castle where your princesses reside." he asked the vender who was baffled by the way he looked.
"Well, um, you go down this road and turn on the third left, go down to the fifth right then turn the castle will be on the about five blocks down on the left." the vender said eyeing the white gold trident in fear.
"Thank you citizen of Equestria, you have been a help."
Saris followed the directions of the earth pony vender had given him and found himself standing in front of two guards and a large door. He walked up to the door and was about to knock on it when one of the guards turned towards him and said "Sorry citizen we cannot allow any pony in right now".
"I am not a citizen of Equestria!" Saris shouted insulted by the notion of being an air breather. Even though Hippocampus could breath air the hippocampus prided their selves on their ability to survive in the deep and changing ocean.
"It doesn't matter you still cannot be aloud to enter"
"And why is that?" Saris asked annoyed.
"There is a griffon ambassador in today for trade negotiations" the guard said now a little annoyed, but he didn't show it.
"Well then, looks like my presence is needed more than ever now." Saris said as he lifted his trident. He smacked its tip on the door and a powerful shock wave shot out of it. The doors blew back hitting some more guards, as for the guards by the door, they were thrown down the street.
The moment the guards behind the door recovered they charged him. Not one got close to him, as soon as they were in range he would smack them with the side of Octotear.
"STOP!!!!! " Saris bellowed sending out another shock wave, "You dare attack the King of the Sea" he continued as a small vortex opened and a stumpish mass cam out "What the!?!"
There was a series of screeches from the portal as the stump disappeared and a beak came out of it, "Well just put another tentacle through". There was another series of screeches and the beak moved accordingly, "I searingly doubt they cut all of your tentacles off", the screeches continued.
"Yes well then reconstitute...what do you mean you can't...you don't get tired...for the love of Poseidon, fine i'll deal with these under armored ponies myself...yes you can see them before you go."
The beak receded into the vortex and a large eye came out and rolled around, and there were more screeches. "Yes they did change their standards of protection, perhaps they've gone to long without a good war. The screeches sort of hiccuped and Saris started laughing, "Yes I guess that is true" he said still chuckling.
Saris finished laughing "Ah that was a good laugh, now back to work" he said as the trident flashes and a spell contoured into the vortex, and a giant red tentacle came out of the vortex almost immediately and more vortexes opened around Saris. but more stumps came out of them. "Oh sorry" Saris said rubbing the back of his neck, then he shot more of the spell he had shot into the first vortex at the stumps. they all grew into large red tentacles.
Saris was certain that he wouldn't need to stay to watch the fight of the guards and his tentacles. He was about to leave when one of the guards loped off one of the tentacles, which made Saris feel pain in his fore hoof, Darn I forgot about the proximity pain when I use my tentacles he though as the pain amplified because another tentacle got cut off.
He shot the cit tentacles and made them regenerate, I really wish I had gotten all of my power at once . He had to keep regenerating his tentacles because these guards knew what they were doing. "They're not as good as they used to be, but they're better than expected compared to what they look like." he accidentally said out loud.
"We will fight to the death to protect our princesses!!" a pegisus shouted at him.
"Yes your devotion to them is most encouraging, I had originally thought of you as just a bunch of mercenaries she had picked up from the plains of Equestria."
"My leaders said that these changes are as much as they are allowing, no exceptions!!" the griffon shouted.
Luna rolled her eyes "The old trade agreements worked well for your last leaders"
Celestia was bored by this; it happened every time the griffons changed rulers, they always insisted on changing the trade agreements. "Luna is right the trade agreements have been the same for nearly two hundred years, why does your master order the change in the agreements? I'm not going to change It." she said wearily.
"My master insists that the agreements are unfair." The griffon said bluntly.
There was an enormous crashing sound from outside the room in the hallway. Before any of them could react an earth pony knight who wasn't a guard smashed through the door, he landed on the table, his sword nearly hitting the griffon. The knight garbed his sword and ran back into the hallway screaming "For the Maker!"
Celestia and ran to the door as Luna went to check on the stunned griffon. The sight she saw was stunning, a white with silver elder looking pony with a lump of coral was standing in the middle of eight giant tentacles that were writhing around.
The White pony turned towards her, "Ah at last I get the pleasure of speaking to the illustrious Princess Celestia Co-ruler of Equestria. That has a nice ring to it Tia".
"Who are you?" She said looking at the white stallion wearing a cloak with a gold trim.
Saris felt a little hurt that she didn't recognize him, but it had been a while and he did look different. He decided to make a game of her not recognizing him. "You do know me think back to before Chaos's chimera had taken over Equestia."
She tried to when the knight with the over polished magic proof armor hit the wall next to her. "By the Maker, I hate magic" he said as he got up, He grabbed his sword which started to glow with magic. He charged the cloaked pony only to be blindsided by one of the tentacles and flew into a pillar. Celestia had heard him spit a vile curse as he flew.
Luna appeared in the doorway behind Celestia "Who dares to attack our castle!?!" she shouted as both Celestia's and her horns began to glow.
Saris wasn't paying attention to them however he saw a familiar pair of horns in the window. "Vengeance" He shouted as he ran and jumped for the window. He thrust Octotear into the window causing it to shatter before he got to it. He was moving through the air now about to thrust Octotear into Discords neck, and then he saw that Discord was holding the hooves of a yellow pegasus mare. He quickly moved Octotear sideways and nearly hit him.
Saris landed so hard that the water constructs he has been using as hind legs broke. He used this momentum to role as to not break anything else. When he finished the role he began to mutter "Killing an ancient enemy will not bring me peace".
Fluttershy darted behind Discord and he was shocked at the power he was seeing. He recognized it as the Sea Force. He began laughing "Oh looks like I missed a sea pony..."
"Your minion missed more than one Discord" Saris spat cutting him off. "My race has risen, fourth".
Discord snapped his talons and before Saris could react he was engulfed in light. As the light faded he was still there. "This isn't that surprising Chaos's magic never had much effect on me." Saris said.
Discord only laughed harder, "This is a joke right?" he asked Celestia and Luna who had gone to the window. They just shook their heads, Discord stopped laughing abruptly. He turned to the Sea pony "You called me Fourth." he said ominously.
"That is because you are a product of Chaos; he had to compete with his lover who had created the Tree of Harmony."
"How do you know that?" Discord asked pretty sure that Celestia and Luna didn't even know that.
"Because I created the first and second, the Kraken and Alicorn respectively." he turned towards Luna and Celestia "But being the second race wasn't good enough for the Alicorn's, no they had to create five different races to because they wanted to specialize in elements. Then they went and forgot how to be immortal, most annoying to say the least."
"Who in Chaos's name are you?" Discord asked astonished
"The life bringer." he said suddenly.
Celestia and Luna landed by Discord, "What is your name?" Luna asked him angrily.
"The Forgotten" this title actually carried wait with the three of them.
"Then why appear as a Sea Pony" Discord asked, surly you would appear as an Alicorn or in your god form.
"I have a fondness for the sea, after all the Kraken was the first thing I made. and I have been reincarnated as a sea pony since I was punished."
"But tell me Forgotten what is the name by which you went by." Celestia said.
Fluttershy stuck her head out from behind Discord to see who this Forgotten was. Discord felt this and looked down at her, a mini Discord appeared "you OK?"
"Yes"
"What is your name?" Luna demanded.
"Well if it wasn't important enough to remember, I don't see why you need to know."
Discord looked down at Fluttershy and she heard his voice in her ear "Do you think you can try your stare on him?" She nodded at him and then began to stare intensely at Saris.
Saris hadn't even been paying attention to her. Discord noticed this and snapped his talon, drawing Saris attention. Discord pointed towards Fluttershy and Saris followed where he pointed.
Saris's eyes met Fluttershy's and he felt a sudden wave of self-loathing. He felt as though he was going to die.
"My name is Saris, the Forgotten, the King of the Sea, the Exile, the Life Bringer, and the Keeper of the Abyss and all its knowledge” he said as though he was hypnotized.
Discord and Luna heard this and didn't like it, the exile was hated, and however the Forgotten is praised as the creator of ponies. "How are you the Forgotten and the Exile? They're two different beings." Luna asked hesitating not wanting to invoke his wrath.
"Is that how the history has eroded my image? I can assure you that we are one in the same and I do not cause much pain and suffering. Unless you include the suffering life causes itself, if you include that then I am indirectly responsible for the suffering that ponies cause each other. But now that I think about it, that is really the Alicorn's fault for splitting into the other five tribes."
Celestia hadn't been listening, she heard nothing after she heard the name Saris, It's just a coincidence that his name is Saris she told herself. That name still brought up the memories of her past.
"Oh, it is once to see you again Tia, how long has it been exactly? You'll forgive me I've been sleeping and I don't have a good sense of time."
Luna looked at her sister who was visibly shaking; this was not noticeable by Fluttershy. "Tia are you alright?" she asked her sister.
"The pony whose heart I broke is still alive after thirteen hundred years and he's a god. How do you think I feel?" She said to her sister in a hushed tone.
"Especially when you consider the reason you broke my heart, didn't want to see me wither, die and leave you, and now I'm immortal. How Ironic isn't it?"
Discord gave some awkward laughter "Well would you look at the time" he quickly snapped his talons and he and Fluttershy disappeared.
"Why did you teleport us away" Fluttershy asked him.
"That pony claimed to be the Exile, he was immune to any affects my magic could conjure to use agents him. If he is who he really calmed to be then he has broken free from his prison and that's not good on any level."
"Who is the Exile?"
"That's right Celsestia's and Luna's parents banned his worship, in favor of worship of just Harmony or Chaos, well more Harmony than Chaos."
"That doesn't answer the question"
"Fine, the Exile committed a great crime during the creation, no one knows what the crime was, especially since all the gods went and pored themselves into their creations."
"So you of the fourth race?"
"Chaos created my race to challenge the Tree of Harmony; it was told that my race is personally responsible for the creation of most land and flying animals."
"That explains why I like you so much" she said nuzzling him.
“Yes but like Chaos corrupted the plants, Harmony cur uptrend the animals, save the ones in the Everfree Forest. That was where chaos lived before giving is life to save Harmony.” Discord said with a grim look on his face.
“Chaos saved Harmony?” Fluttershy asked in surprise.
“Oh yes the embodiment of those two forces loved each other very much. Such a shame that their predecessors cannot get along.”
"Now that he is gone shall we get down to business" Saris said using his trident to make the water on the ground form back into his hind legs.
Celestia and Luna weren't sure what business he could possibly have with them. Saris saw the look on their faces and chuckled. "I'm the Forgotten remember if you remember the stories, most of my power is in the water itself. We're on equal footing here, and I simply have one demand that is nonnegotiable." Celestia and Luna didn't like the sound of this. "I demand that Oceania be recognized as a sovereign nation again."
Both the sisters breathe a sigh of relief "is that it?" Luna asked jokingly.
"No, but that is the only one that is nonnegotiable. The next is the security of Oceania borders, no ships are to stay in coastal waters lest they be destroyed by the Kraken, and you have fifteen days to get all of your ships into coastal waters before the Kraken starts his rampage."
"What!?!"Luna and Celestia said in unison.
"You heard me, my boarders are well defined and I refuse to allow my boarders to be ignored any longer." He said as the griffon ambassador was standing in front of the broken window. His eye's where wide at what he was seeing. The ancient and forgotten enemy of the griffons had risen from the grave.
Saris saw the griffon and called him over "You have fifteen days to return to your homeland. When you do tell your leader that he cannot allow his any ships to leave coastal waters and if he wants to open negotiations he is to come to the ancient island of Dorim bearing a ship painted red."
The griffon ambassador was stunned "you know that Dorim was destroyed by the eruption of the volcano?”
“Actually I didn’t, well then looks like I need to find another island to host peace talks on. I’ll also need to get in touch with the flame ponies as well…
“The flame ponies are extinct; after Screwball destroyed your kingdom she went and destroyed theirs as well.” Luna said gravely.
“Well that doesn’t change the dilemma much; maybe we can hold the talks in Baltimare…” he trailed off looking at Celestia and Luna.
“Fine we can hold he talks in Baltimare but you will need to let the griffons’ ship pass across the ocean.” Celestia said now taking a diplomatic tone.
“Very well…” Saris turned towards the Griffon ambassador “You know what the ship should look like, I’ll give you griffons three months to prepare then we hold the summit in Baltimare. That gives you two weeks to paint a ship, since it takes a month and a week cross my ocean.”
“No it doesn’t, it takes about a week” the griffon ambassador said matter of factly.
“Well then we shall push up the summit up to a month from now since your ships are so fast now.” Saris said.
“Now go and tell your…ah…leader that they is to attend the summit personally or the griffons will be excluded from the talks”
At that the griffon flew off and another griffon met him in the air and they circled once and flew away. Saris had abused his power to generate fear in the hearts of life and made the griffons feel much fear towards him. This had little to no effect on the Alicorns however because they were simply designed to resist fear. They still had a sense of self-preservation but they resisted useless fear.
Saris turned towards Celestia “So Tia how long has it been exactly?” he asked.
“Thirteen hundred years.” she told him with a hint of certainty in her voice.
“Well I have been away a long time haven’t I? So tell me, how life has been treating you, my dear sweet Tia"
"Don't call me that" Celestia said with annoyance.
"Why not, if I recall you broke it off because you didn't want to outlive me and now I am an immortal, it's actually much more likely I'll out live you."
"But you’re not Saris; you’re a god invading Saris's body." Celestia said calmly.
“That's only partially true. You see I always was saris I just didn’t know I was a god the whole time, I didn't change, unless you include my station or my lifespan, but most of my power is forever lost to me, for I poured it into the sea.” Saris replied.
“You said we’ve forgot how to be immortal?” Luna asked “What do you mean; my sister and I do not age.”
“Yes you don’t but my Alicorns were like the Kraken, in that they couldn't be killed. But your ancestors forgot how to deny death and well look what that has done to your race; there are only two pure bloods left. Now If you don't mind I have a newly revived kingdom to return to."
"My king! You’re back earlier than expected." Keira said in complete surprise, "I thought you wouldn't be returning for at least another two days..." She trailed off as a thought crossed her mind. "Does this mean were the last..."
"Oh heavens no! The ponies of Equestria still live all..." He paused "except the fire ponies, Discord wiped them all out."
"So did you find out how long we were sleeping for?"
"Yes, thirteen hundred years. We only needed to sleep for two hundred of them. Ironically it was Discord who finally woke us up, he created a group of us out of one of the cities of Equestria and that tripped one of the magical tripwires my brother, the former king, set up to wake us up."
"Discord lives!?!" Keira shouted her face twisting in horror, "Forgive me, but surly you are mistaken my king. Surly this is a cruel trick the ponies of Equestria are playing on you. Surly!!"
"There was no desertion I felt his magic, it was Discord. I would have struck him down, in fact I almost did, but killing him won't bring us peace, no, only through prospering in the ruin of our once great kingdom will we find peace."
"But he is responsible for the near distraction of our race!" She was dumbfounded.
"Both Princess Celestia and Luna vouch that he has been reformed and I believe them." Saris said calmly.
"You are blinded by Celestia's beauty."
"I am not, I just trust my old friends" saris protested
Keira mumbled "more than old friends in the case of Celestia I would argue."
"What was that?"
Keira hadn't realized she said that aloud "nothing! Nothing at all!" She said quickly.
"Well if it was nothing then you can repeat it"
"Sorry! But I can't" Keira said rubbing the back of her head with her hoof. "Restoration is going well" she said desperately trying to change the subject.
"Oh restoration is going good, I wish to see what they have gotten done in the day and a half I was gone.”
“I can assure you it is not much but Teneve’s organized work crews and they have begun internal restoration of the Coral Palace. They have also cleared out some of the nearby houses and have set up gathers to collect as much seaweed as possible. I think his plan is to fix up the palace then work outward from there. It should work pretty well I imagine.”
“Well I should go see Teneve then and get the report from him.”
“My king I do hope that all went well in Equestria, who is in control of it now?” Teneve asked as he was scraping growth off the walls of the throne room.
“My visit did go well, and Celestia and Luna are in charge, just as you predicted”
“Looks like you owe me ten doubloons. Oh, that reminds me I managed to clear a way to the treasury, now we can get our economy back on track, plus if all went well soon we will be able to tax the trade ships that come into our region.” Teneve said grinning.
“Yes our economy, now how do you suppose we go about doing that?” Saris said expecting at least a vague answer.
“Quite simply, for a while we will be able to tell the citizens, that they work for the purpose of their race, however we will need to eventually impose an economy to motivate them. Say a year from now we start paying those who work one doubloon for every hour of work they do. Then when they start becoming self-sufficient we start imposing taxes on the various trades. And once we have a crossing agreement enforced by the Kraken we will use that tax to keep our economy running, heck to prevent inflation we can use the money we get from that particular tax to hire builders from the surface to work on the restoration, of course we would need to fasten bubbles for them.”
“How much thought have you put into this?”
“Well when I have nothing to think about while you work, my mind wondered and I have been thinking about it all day.”
“Well with you having figured out how to start the economy, I guess I don’t need to do anything else today. Now where will I be sleeping tonight?”
“Should you not wake the Kraken first, so our borders are secure?” Keira interjected.
“I think we will last the night” Saris said assuredly.
“Saris I know you, what aren’t you telling us?” Teneve asked worryingly.
“I don’t necessarily know if waking the Kraken is the best idea.” Saris said looking away.
“It was your idea!” Keira said clearly frustrated with him.
“You flared up fast”
“Saris don’t change the subject.” Teneve said quickly.
“I don’t know if the Kraken will listen to me in my weakened state.”
“But you are its creator why wouldn’t it listen to you?” Keira asked.
“Because it was made to be independent of me, my vision of life was things to maintain this world, completely independent of me.”
“The gain outweighs the risk, we need the Kraken now more than ever, especially since we went and threw away one of our greatest advantages.” Keira said her military background coming forth in full.
“She’s right, at least one griffon must have seen you and news travels faster than the currents.” Teneve agreed.
“Fine, I will do it first thing in the morning, but now I am tired from staying up a day and a half. Now where will I be sleeping tonight?” Saris said allowing a hint of exhaustion creep into his voice.
“Well we cleared out the royal chambers if you want to sleep there, if the memories are too bad for now you can sleep with the rest of us on the floor of the palace.”
“The floor it is then.”
Saris was standing on the edge of an immense abyss, the void beneath him so dark that you it almost looked solid enough to stand on. He lifted Octotear up so that the three points were facing horizontally and over the abyss. Octotear’s tips were glowing white “Awake from your eternal slumber First for your creator commands it of you!” he shouted and it echoed in the abyss. He pointed Octotear strait down into the abyss, and Octotear shot out a white beam of light.
The ground started to shake and Saris could see a small pink thing rising from the abyss, as it raised it got larger and the shaking got worse. It was shaking until the large squid octopus hybrid was at the top. Its immense eye opened and it bellowed “" You dare wake me!?! " the eyelid narrowed “You look like my maker yet you do not feel like he. ”
“I am he who you call Maker.”
“No, I feel more of my maker in the water then in you. ”
“That is because I dispersed my power into the water to hide here.”
“Am I to believe you are my maker? I would sooner believe that the library at the bottom of this abyss is made out of sea urchins. ”
“Would you now?”
“Yes I would. ”
“Well tell me then if I wasn’t your maker then how would I know how to wake you from your eternal slumber?”
“You clearly broke into the library and learned the spell in the magic section of the it. ”
“That’s a fair assumption, however the spell to wake you isn’t in the library, it was purposely kept out of the library, as to keep you asleep forever.”
The Kraken’s eye widened into its natural shape “I would be surprised if my maker didn’t have a copy of that spell in the Library of the Abyss, the one place where everything is recorded perfectly. ”
“That is true, but there are things that are not kept in the library for the reason of keeping the most dangerous creatures sleeping forever, such as the Arch-Dragon and you.”
"So even the Arch-Dragon has been imprisoned the same way as I, is there no end to this. "
“Don’t change the subject; I need you for a task.” Saris said getting to the point of waking the Kraken in the first place.
"And that task would be? " the Kraken’s eye narrowed.
“I need you to protect Oceania’s borders from ships that would trespass in our waters.”
"What is a boat? "
Saris had forgotten that the Kraken wouldn’t have known this; he wished he had a portrait to show him. “A boat is a mass of wood and cloth that is able to float on the water, sort of bowl shaped and they will have a huge tree of cloth sticking out of the top”. Saris hoped that the Kraken understood.
"And you want me to destroy any of these that enter your territory? "
“Yes”
"What could possibly motivate me to do such a thing? What do you have to offer me in return? "
“Freedom to wonder the sea in which you call home.”
"You are foolish to think that that is a bargaining chip, in order to use it you had to wake me. "
“True but I can make you fall asleep again, thus it is a good bargaining chip.”
"You are cunning to say the least. Fine but do not lie to me about freedom, I know I will have a chain around me if I was to except. "
“Yes but it would be a loose chain and you will have more freedom then if you were to spend the rest of existence not experiencing a single thing.”
"There is truth in your words and you bring up good points, but tell me does not a loose chain hurt the most? "
“Rarely does a loose chain hurt Kraken. But I see your point; perhaps a long chain would be a better analogy”
"It is, but it is still a chain that will forever bind me. "
“How about this you listen to me until the day I die, and then when I die I cast the spell that would free you permanently, on the condition that you leave the hippocampus alone.”
"You are immortal if you are my master, but even if you managed to die you would still keep a chain around me. "
“It was worth a shot”
"Trickery was never my creators strong suit. It clearly isn’t yours. "
“What can I do to make you believe I am you maker?” Saris asked.
"Do only something my master can do… " the Kraken blinked as he thought. "It would have to be something that is impossible for anyone else to do. "
“What if I entered the library, you know that only the worthy can enter it.”
"Yes, but on the off chance you are worthy it wouldn't be the best test. I've got it, reveal your true form to me. "
“I am bound in this form I cannot.”
"That doesn't matter if you simply create a magical construct of what you really look like, no mortal has ever looked at you and lived to tell of the tale. "
“Fine.” Saris said as he lifted Octotaer, and his trident began to glow. In between Saris and his Kraken a small pale blue ball of light appeared. the Kraken’s eye went wide.
"If I wasn't the first I would be dead from witnessing your true form, but for some pony else to know it is impossible, you must be my creator. "
"It's about time you believed me, but I need you to do your creator a favor and in thirteen days you need to sink any ships that are not painted red."
"May I ask, why thirteen days? "
"You may, and it's to let the ships that are out of port make it back."
"And why may I not destroy the color red? "
"So the griffons may make it to the summit to discuss new trade routes across my ocean."
"Then I shall explore the ocean I have been so long away from. "
"What if I say something wrong, What if I end up starting the eighth hippocampus griffon war, what if I ruin are relationships with the griffons forever!?!" Keira asked quivering, however they were riding the Kraken for dramatic effect and it was not clear whether she was quivering from that or the fear of starting a war.
"Relax, you won't start a war, I doubt the griffons would be stupid enough to start another war when we have a god and the Kraken on our side. Right Saris?"
"The griffons are a race that were built by an associate of mine who hated life, and thought it was a great idea to create life that's sole purpose was to kill it. Then harmony went and spoiled his fun and made them passive for about three years. All that did was ban them together under a monarchy and gave them a common cause. So they banned together and tried to racially cleanse all other races but when they finally reached the places where my alicorns lived I intervened and reset them, now they are only partially warmongers. And they are stupid enough to attack us with the Kraken and a weakened god."
"You’re not helping Saris!" Teneve said in frustration.
"Oh...uh...yes well...you won't be starting anther war not while I'm around, I assure you."
"See Saris won't allow another war to happen, now calm down." Teneve said to Keira.
"OK fine, I'll calm down." Keira said as she calmed down.
"Let’s change the subject, might help you calm down a bit." Saris said.
Teneve and Keira looked at each other with mischievous smiles on their faces; Keira said "So tell us, how are you going to react to seeing Princess Celestia again? Every pony knows you and her have a history."
"One I moved on from all those years ago, and if you'll remember I am in morning of my lost wife and kids now, not the time to try to ignite an old spark." Saris said in a grim voice.
"But that doesn't mean you won't try in the future." Teneve said.
"The future is a funny thing." Saris said sounding as cryptic as he could.
"Oh don't go doing that now" Keira said jokingly.
"Besides the loss of your family might motivate you to ignite that spark faster." Teneve said not thinking.
Saris's face flew into rage "You think I would disrespect their memories by forgetting about them so soon! I would never disrespect them by beginning to court Celestia so soon after their deaths."
"And is Celestia starts the courtship?" Keira asked.
This caused Saris to pause, She had cut it off because I was going to die one day, and now I'm as immortal as she is . He chose his words carefully "I doubt she will start the courtship, she broke it off remember." there we are just vague enough to keep them from guessing why she went and broke it off .
"Yes, but that was because she didn't want to see you wither away and die." Keira said.
"How in this blue ocean do you know that!" Saris shouted without thinking.
"Your brother was a notorious gossip and I was dating him during the time of your breakup."
"Ah yes, that he was"
"How much longer till we get there" Teneve asked trying to see passed the front of the Kraken.
"We have arrived " the Kraken said as he began the painful process of turning in the small bay, well small to the Kraken. Once he had finished turning he raised one of his longest tentacles up to breach the water. Saris took out three wads of seaweed and passed them out to the others. they began to chew the wads and the water around where their hind legs should have been began to glow and formed legs.
"Good old legweed, got to love it." Teneve said working his legs.
Keira looked up and saw a ship painted red she pointed to it "Is that the griffons ship?" she asked.
"Should be." Teneve said.
"Enough chit chat we have a meeting to go to and I don't like being late." Saris said starting to climb the tentacle that had breached.
When they all made it up they found the royal guard waiting for them "Sir, would you please follow us?" one of the guards said more then asked.
"Why yes" Saris replied. the guard turned and began to walk away, the Sea ponies followed and the guards took a formation around them. The Kraken was right to put them in the center of the bay, turned out that Princess Celestia had planned for the meeting to take place in a building vary close to the center. Saris also noticed that every pony that they passed ran to the side of the street and would cower down. Saris was smart enough to recognize fear of him and he felt a pang of sorrow for each cowering pony that they passed.
Keira moved towards one of the guards and batting her eyelashes asked him "Does your kind still insist on calling us Sea ponies?"
The guard hadn't expected the question "Yes we do, why do you ask?"
"No reason she said allowing the faintest hint of bitterness creep in her voice.
The leader of the guards stopped in front of a magnificent door and turned to Saris, "You will be leading the discussion, and the Princesses insist that you and your group take the back table."
"Very well" Saris said as they opened the door to see all the Princesses of Equestria sitting at a table on the right side of the room there was no pony else in the room. All of the hippocampus went to the far table and sat down. Saris knew that the lesser forms can return to their, In his opinion, superior form, but this few at a time, it was killing him. "And so the fall of the second is imminent." he said
"Pardon" Luna asked him.
Saris jumped "Did I say that aloud!" he said in surprise.
"Yes" a purple alicorn said to him.
"Well pardon my grief for the fall of the second form of life."
The purple alicorn eye's lit up, Saris could tell that Celestia had told of his particular past to them. "I have so many questions for you!" she exclaimed.
Saris rolled his eyes "Fine fire away." he said half heartedly.
"How many of you were there, and what were their names?"
"There were seven of us. Chaos, Harmony, Time, Space, Dark, Light, and I the nameless one."
"Why were you nameless?"
"Because I didn't contribute to the creation of this existence."
"I thought you created life?"
"I did, but life Most of the "Gods" didn't like the Idea of life."
"Why is that?"
"Would you like the one who did literally nothing to create this realm and he just waltzes in and changes everything."
"Not really." the purple alicorn said.
"How about this, you just spent about ten hours doing royal duties then some random pony came up and changed every other letter you wrote down."
"I wouldn't like it".
"Well that's what I did to them." Saris said smiling.
"So by bringing life..."
"I brought a change that not even Chaos himself liked."
The doors opened and the Griffon King and Queen along with two griffon other guards. "We have arrived" the Queen announced.
It had been three hours of arguing and debating, Saris and the Griffons had been yelling at each other. The racial difference and the history between the two races was too much and they couldn't come to a decision.
"We already have an agreement all you need to do is honor it!"
"No I don't! Those agreements were made by griffons from long ago" the king shouted.
"The both of you are acting like children" Celestia said.
Saris and the griffon king turned toward Celestia. "These griffons are being foolish."
"I do not deal with terrorist!" the griffon king shouted at Saris.
"I'm no terrorist I'm defending my territory!"
"You are halting trade unless we agree to your outrageous terms. I call that terrorism!" The Griffon King shouted.
"I call you a foreign invader!" Saris shouted.
"Well barnacle beard your still a terrorist!"
"I am not Feather brain!"
"Feather brain, is that the best you can come up with seaweed head." the griffon king said mockingly. Saris raised Octotear and the griffon guards raised their swords to defend their king.
"Saris stop this" Celestia said seeing the sea pony mare next to him start to quiver.
"You dare take up arms agents the Life Bringer!?!" Saris shouted.
"You words have no meaning to me, crab face!!"
"You will face the legendary wrath of the Exile!!!" Saris shouted as he raised Octotear and slammed butt of the trident on the ground. As a wave of blue magic passed princess Celestia used her magic to catch a ride on the spell, and was teleported with them.
Saris had blue aurora and his eyes were glowing light blue, the griffon king was getting up, and Celestia had fallen. She looked around and found she was in a wasteland. "Saris where did you take us?" she demanded from him.
"I took the griffon king to the beginning of his race, you stole a ride." Saris said his voice now multilayered.
"That doesn't answer the question." Celestia said.
"We are in the center of the griffons land, this is the spot where Space created the griffons. I want him to see what I saved him from."
"I demand you take me back!'" the griffon king bellowed.
"Fine but first you must see what you were supposed to be."
A small yellow orb floated down from somewhere above. It began to glow bright and everyone but Saris looked away. When Celestia and the Griffon King looked back they saw two griffons that were about the size of a manticore and it had a fury in their eyes.
"You were mindless beast that were supposed to wipe out all life" Saris said to the king "But when you attacked my alicorns I reset you. Your reduced stature is because of harmony but your ability to even have a king is because of me. I insist you respect the ancient agreements of the hippocampus and your ancestors."
"This is a trick, Celestia break the illusion." the griffon king wouldn't believe it.
"It is no trick, there is no illusion to undo." Celestia said shocked at the sight of the griffon.
"Why have you brought me here? Really why have you?"
"Simple" Saris started "I am doing this to show you of your debt and to collect by insisting you agree to the trade routes outlined by our ancestors."
"But why did you bring Celestia with us?"
"I didn't, she wasn't supposed to see this, and she hitched a ride." Saris explained. "Right then. Shall we return?" Saris asked hitting the butt of Octotear on the ground and another blue wave passed over them. All of them were on the ground, Saris had transported them to the exact moment the first wave hit them.
"Fine I will agree to your terms" the griffon king said getting up. This raised some eyebrows from the queen and the guards. the griffon king reached over and signed the paper that he had almost torn. He handed it to the Saris "With this you have the right to sink any griffon ships that cross out of the trade routes marked on the maps of our ancestors.
"I can't believe that worked" Saris said laughing. Celestia had invited all the delegates out to a party she had set up in a park near Baltimare.
"All you did was blast them with a wave of magic" Keira pointed out.
"Well yes, but it worked." Saris said.
Celestia walked over to him "May I speak to you in private".
"I don't see why not." Saris said.
As he walked away he heard Keira say "Hope it" and something he couldn't make out but he continued to follow Celestia.
Celestia lead him the edge of the party, once they were out of earshot of every pony Celestia spun and whispered in his ear "There is a changeling among us".
Saris couldn't help it he was laughing so hard he caught the attention of several ponies and griffons. "Oh Celestia, when did you get a sense of humor. We wiped all of the changelings out, you, the Barracuda, Old Burnside lead the siege of their last great hive, I saw it on fire myself."
"A little over a year ago the changelings revealed themselves and attacked Canterlot. We missed a hive during the purge."
"You missed a hive; I had no part in that genocide."
"You voted for it!"
"As opposed to your vote! If I recall you wanted them dead more than I!"
"They were attacking my ponies more fiercely than any other kingdoms!"
"Is that why you lead several of the hive burnings with the flame ponies!"
"I lead those to show that the purge was just."
"That's not what you told me back then. Could it be that you've started lying to yourself."
"I do not lie to myself!"
"Only to your friends."
"You haven't changed a single bit in these thirteen hundred years!"
"Considering I was asleep for most of that time how much could I have changed. But you certainly have, and yet you stayed the same."
"And what does that mean!"
Saris looked away "Nothing, nothing at all."
"Saris you always were a bad liar."
"Am I or do I just have trouble lying to you?"
Celestia wasn't expecting this question, Saris saw the faintest hint of surprise on her face. He decided to capitalize this small fracture in her composure and began to hum. It was a simple tune but it was a familiar one, Celestia recognized it. "Stop humming that tune!"
"Does it bug you Tia?" Saris mocked jokingly then continued his humming.
"Stop, I order you to stop, you are on Equestrian soil, you will stop!"
"A princess ordering a god, how the mighty have fallen." Saris said shaking his head. "Fine I will stop" he said still shaking his head.
This again shocked Celestia, she didn't expect him to give in. "Or perhaps you have changed." she said giving him a smile.
"More likely I simply am acting like my true self Tia."
"Really, I'm beginning to like he knew you."
Saris shook his head, "Let’s stop." he said coldly. "I not one to ignite old sparks. Back on topic then, Changelings there around feasting on the fear, rage, hope, and admiration we give them?" he asked.
"No these changelings only fest on love" Celestia informed him.
"Oh well that's just great, the one emotion that I don't want to entertain is the one I have to amplify to break his shell."
"You're trying to suppress your love?" Celestia asked him.
"Well my family did die and all, not the best time for love." a look crossed his face. "Did you ever find someone?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well I was just wondering? Oh I'm sure that you have a long line of suitors."
"Not anymore, after about eight hundred years into my reign the men stopped trying."
"You broke a few too many hearts?"
"You could say that."
“Could I now? Good to see you managed to move on.”
“I was more worried about you; after all I broke your heart.”
“You had a good reason, rather a little heartache now then a lot of grief later”
“So you understand my reasons?”
“Yes, well let’s just say being a lonely god back at the beginning, I had a lot of companions.”
“What type?”
“Let’s just say I was in your shoes allot.”
She gave him a look “How often”
“That’s unimportant, we have a changeling to catch” Saris said as he raised his trident. “You remember how this works?”
“Of course, you’re going to poor the desired emotion into you trident and it will be like a moth to a flame, but don’t impale it this time, I want to interrogate him.”
“Very well” Saris said pointing Octotear strait up. Its usual glow turned slightly pink. The light was dim, but this was bright to a changeling and one of the guards walked over to them.
“Pardon, but may I ask? How you survived for so long?” The guard asked.
“That’s a good question, but tell me changeling why do you want to know.”
“I was just wondering…and there goes my cover.” the guard said, then quickly turned and ran away. He got about two feet before he found himself trapped in Celestia’s magic. She pulled him over and turned him around to face her. A real guard came over and Celestia ordered him to take the changeling in for interrogation.
“I guess you were right, there was a changing among us.”
“Well after the last attack I went and found the sensing spell.”
“Then why did you need me?”
“I didn’t.”
“I really do bring the pony out in you.”
“What does that mean?” Celestia said obviously not taking it as a complement.
“Well I was talking to your former pupil and her description of you was not the Celestia I knew. The Celestia I knew was one who enjoyed a good joke, still ladylike, and would have let me impale the changeling. She described you as loving and caring, and always calm. It’s unfortunate, when you freaked out was some of the best times we ever had.”
“You remind me of a simpler time.”
“I don’t really see how that was a simpler time, it seem just as hectic then as it does now.”
“Tell me, what does your city look like now?”
Saris sounded far away “It is in ruin, covered with over a thousand years of debris, it is indistinguishable from the sea floor. Or it would be if it wasn't for the spire shaped house tops cropping up all over the place, and the occasional collapsed building exposing new things to be covered."
"How do you cope with all of that destruction"
"By commissioning a restoration of the most inner city for us to live in."
"Does that include the Coral Palace?"
"Only parts of the palace for now, once we get some semblance of order we will restore the rest of it. I hope to one day see my under water empire brought to its former glory."
"That might take a while"
"Well with this new agreement the coffers will be over flowing, the small tax will allow us buy the necessary metals. Then we will start farming airweed and then we start hiring workers from the surface speeding up the restoration process.Hopefully the inner city will be done before Teneve and Keira die, I do hope it works out for them."
"Have you been matchmaking?"
"It was one of our favorite games, to bad it was so hard to set Luna up with somepony."
"Yes she always did have a problem with the Stallions."
"Does she still have problems? Even over a thirteen hundred years?"
"You really don't know?"
"You know I hate it when you do that."
"She was turned into a bane in the form of Nightmare Moon, and tried to overthrow me. Then I banished her to the moon for a thousand years."
"She did what!?! You did what!?!"
"It's a very long story and we don't have the time for it."
"Fine but you're going to tell me it sometime, you know how I hate not knowing the full story."
"Yes I do, maybe I will tell you next time you visit Canterlot, too negotiate the work agreements."
"How often do you actually act like the real you?"
"I don't get many opportunities to do so."
"I figured as much."
"So how did it go with Celestia?" Keira asked Saris.
"You don't need to know."
"Saris, Keira, do you see that!?!" Teneve shouted.
"What?" Keira shouted back in surprise.
They all looked down of the side of the Kraken and saw what should have been the outer ring of the capital city. It was in mor ruin then it was supposed to be. Ass the Kraken neered the innermost ring they saw what had caused this, there were changelings sort of hovering above the city trying to use magic to break into the Coral Palace.
Saris's eyes went wild with anger, hit the Kraken three times with. This caused the Kraken to bellow with rage. Every single Changeling turned towards the Kraken, it took all of two seconds for them to register what they were seeing. They immediately turned tail and ran from the Kraken.
"They're running from the Kraken!" Teneve said.
"Wouldn't you?" Saris asked. "But now we need to find out what they where planning. Kraken grab one!" one of the Krakens tentacles went out and grabbed one before it could get away. the Kraken brought it up to Saris. "Why did you attack the hippocampus?"
"We attacked you because you ruin our plans."
"How so?"
"You will be destroyed!" the changeling yelled then burst into flame, because of the water it didn't last long, but it was long enough for the changeling to kill itself.
"What the heck!?! What in Poseidon's ocean happened?" The white pony with his silver mane and his blue green fish tale asked himself as he woke up from the long sleep he put himself in to survive that horrid pony’s wrath. Her swirling eye's still haunted Saris after what seemed to be a millennium of sleep. He looked around, what had been the master bedroom of house he had raised his children in. Clara, oh I hope she's OK he thought to himself as he swam to the room she had begun her sleep in.
When he got there he saw her tub was still covered. He crept towards her tub. He started to slowly remove the sheet over the tub, as it floated to the floor Saris Saw the skeletal remains if his beloved wife. His freshwater tears fled from his eyes, him being under water they were only visible for a moment before they were consumed by the salt of the ocean. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! " he shouted in his agony. "Nnnnnoooooo!!!! " he shouted again.
She was still wearing the pearl necklace he had given her the night of their wedding. He couldn't leave it here, but to remove it may damage the remains of his beloved Clara. He reached down and grabbed the necklace, he turned it so that the hooks where visible. He used his hooves to undo them and gently removed the necklace from around Clara's fragile neck. He pulled the necklace close to his heart, he was crying harder now. He was resting by her tub crying for at least an hour.
Well, this is by far the worst day of my life, I guess I should check on the others he thought, his heart heavy for the fear of what he would find in the other tubs. As he swam down to the lower floors of his once ornate house to the rooms of his three darling children. His heart lurched as he saw the door to his first and eldest daughter's room cracked open.
He gently pushed it open and glanced at his daughter's tub. He didn't have to remove her sheet, her sheet had fallen in the tub and it had depressed onto her skeleton. Saris turned away shedding more tears, Oh Poseidon I hope the other two are in better condition he thought.
He turned to the room that had been his only son's; his door was still magically shut. He swam over to it as he went to open the door he dared not think to hope to see his son alive. He was able to open the enchanted door through his blood binding on it. He crept into the room and saw his sons tub. the roof had clasped into it, there was a beam sticking out of it. Saris cheeped closer for a better look and saw that the beam had pierced his only son's chest killing him. By the position of his son's body, he knew my son was awake when he had died, the beam didn't kill him immediately this thought would have made him throw up if he had had anything in his stomach to throw up.
He left the room quickly; the last room was that of his youngest daughter. He didn't think he could handle the heartache of seeing his little girl dead, but no if she was alive he had to free her from the spell.
He opened the door to her room, immediately his heart sank. His sweet little girl’s room was nothing but a hole in the side of his house. There wasn't even a hint of his little girl’s belongings.
Saris shouted " By Poseidon!!!!!! " his outburst scaring the nearby fish.
He bowed his head and began to sob "What could have gone wrong, That spell was to preserve us until that evil being of chaos was destroyed. How could this have happened?"
He closed the door to his Daughter's room and went into the entrance way of his once ornate house. He turned to where his parlor should be and swam to it. As he entered the parlor he saw the one thing that wasn't decayed was his white gold trident which signified his station as the third in line for the Coral Crown, should both his brothers and their families die.
He grabbed the trident and moved his hoof over it he read the engraving aloud "Octotear" in fact the animal that represented him was the octopus, well to be specific the Mimic Octopus. This trident had been custom made for the youngest son of the king, at the top the spear points had been shaped to look like the tentacles of an octopus and at the base of the three spear tips was the constantly changing white gold body of an octopus, as though it was real.
He thought of his brothers, he knew that the middle brother had bravely fought Screwball and her army so he and the others could survive; well he was the barracuda after all . His brother was in the palace was most likely still in his tub in the palace. Yes the king, also known as the Stone fish, named for his ability to not be noticed then BAM he's there and he's fierce.
"Well I better get to the Coral Palace" Saris said to himself, "no use keeping my brother asleep".
He was about to leave the parlor when he saw it. It wasn't a fish no it was one of those things that Screwball had used to destroy the city. He griped his trident and the three tentacles started to glow.
The Chaos Elemental was fast but Saris was faster. As the Chaos Elemental rushed him a long red tentacle appeared from a smell vortex on tip of the trident and warped itself around the Chaos Elemental. The Chaos Elemental wriggled as much as it could before the tentacle began to crush the poor thing.
There was hate in Saris's eyes as he saw the Chaos Elemental's eye’s begun to bulge. "This is for Clara!" he shouted at the nearly dead Elemental.
As the Chaos Elemental died Saris found no peace in the act. He shook his head It is the fool who thinks killing thy enemy will bring him peace The quote from his father played in his mind.
He also remembered the reply of the unicorn general had given And it is a moron that thinks that killing thy enemy will not bring the ocean peace . The good unicorn had often had such bouts with the king, his old friend. Ah those were the days when I had fallen for their solar leader Princess Celestia, I wish it had worked out. "But the past is the past" he accidentally said aloud.
He clutched Octotear his trident and swam out into the grand entrance hall. He turned towards the remnants of his coral door; he swam over to it and pushed it open. He swam out onto Octopus Street; you get one guess why it was named that. He looked up and down the street and saw the decaying buildings.
"I wonder if the clock tower is still operating?" he asked himself. He knew it wouldn't work after five hundred years but it would at least tell him if it had been more or less than five hundred years.
He swam strait up above the house and turned towards the clock tower. It still stood firm, it had been built to survive the ocean currents without maintenance for five thousand years, the clock's spring needed to be wound every four hundred years leaving one hundred years for leeway.
As he swam over the inner part of the town he saw a glisten of another Hippocampus's scales and he swam down to see who it was.
"Hail" the blue Hippocampus said as she bowed seeing the Prince swimming to him.
"That is not necessary now" Saris said to the Hippocampus.
"Forgive me crown prince, for it seems like only yesterday that this city was in full glory" the Hippocampus said to Saris.
"By Poseidon! If it isn't the flying fish herself!" Saris said in surprise.
"You know of me?"
"You were once likely to be my sister-in-law and second in line to be the queen." Saris said explaining.
This caused the hippocampus to blush, "How did you know? We only met in secret." she asked confused.
"Do you remember the rumors that I was in charge of the secret organization the Crimson Eels? Well they were based in fact."
This caused the hippocampus to stumble back in horror; she had heard the rumors of what that particular group was capable of.
Saris saw the look on her face "I see you heard the rumors of what that particular group was capable of. But do remember that most of them died in the war with Screwball."
"For some reason I don't believe you..." the hippocampus said.
"Oh please the Crimson Eels sole job was to protect this ocean from all who would want to hurt it and us!"
"So was the royal army's!"
"Keira! Stop! We need to find out how long we were asleep!"
"Is that an order" Keira spat back.
"If it must be an order to the flying fish then it is!"
"Fine!...how the heck do we figure out how long we were asleep" Keira asked him.
"Well if we were sleeping for fewer than five hundred years then the clock tower would be able to tell us."
"Right! let’s go!"
Saris shook his head in agitation, "You're going the wrong way!" he shouted to her. He began to swim slowly in the right direction. She eventually caught up to him.
As they neared the tower, Saris saw the hands were caked with coral. "Well we know we've been asleep for more than five hundred." Saris muttered, as grim look on his face.
"We were only supposed to be asleep for a hundred years! What in Poseidon's Ocean happened !?!"
"I honestly have no idea of what went wrong. Maybe the chaos magic in the water affected our sleep. Maybe we were betrayed by an infiltrator. Or maybe that monster is still alive." Saris said the look on his face turning into one of sorrow. "Fifteen thousand hippocampus sleeping reduced to two.!" his look of sorrow getting deeper.
"We don't know that we're the only two." Keira said trying to comfort her prince.
"We need to get to the Palace! Perhaps my brother and the Queen are still alive!" Saris exclaimed with a sudden change of emotion.
They made it to the palace in record time; unfortunately the great entry way had been locked shut by rust and coral. "Great now how do we get in?" Keira asked turning to Saris, only to see that he wasn't there. She began to panic “Saris! Where are you!?!" She shouted moving her head around frantically, she didn't see him anywhere.
"I'm up here!" She heard Saris's voice coming from above her. Keira looked up and saw Saris bashing the lock door to the royal balcony where the king would address the citizens of this once great kingdom.
Keira swam up to him, “what are you doing!?!” she asked him surprised by his force.
“Breaking into the Coral Palace via its balcony!” he shouted bashing the door with his shoulder. The door was giving but, however life had found a way in and was making it hard to open the door.
“Oh, to Hades with it!” Saris shouted the vile curse, as he backed up and aimed the points of his white gold trident at the door. The eyes of the little gold octopus turned towards the door and a small vortex came from the center point of the trident. Out of the vortex the large red tentacle appeared and slammed against the door. It wreathed agents the door until a crack appeared and it slipped into it. There was multiple crashing sounds as the coral inside was being crushed. The tentacle slipped out and returned back into the vortex as it closed.
Saris swam up to the door and gently pushed the door open. As opened he saw the mess his tentacle had made, but he also saw what looked like a fireplace, he had forgotten that his brother had converted this room into a parlor for his enjoyment. Of course they were under water so if anyone else had installed a fireplace they would have looked insane. His brother on the other hand had had control of the Aqua Flame, a fire that burned so powerfully that it was impervious to water.
He crept into the room and turned to the door way, Keira close behind him. “Where do you think our king is?” Keira asked Saris.
Saris pondered a second "Ether the master bedroom, or the imperial vault." Saris said motioning to the master bedroom, "it will be easier to check there first".
"Very well" Keira said swimming for the bedroom. "Oh no, there was a magical seal here, now it's broken!"
"That is no reason for alarm, there has always been a seal on that door." Saris said swimming up to the door. He gently pushed it open. Inside there was a tub with a sheet stretched over it. Saris's heart grew heavy, he didn't want to see his brother’s corpse in there, he couldn't handle it, and he just couldn't.
"Saris are you not well?" Keira asked him.
"I don't want to see my brother’s corpse in that tub" he said sounding a million miles away.
"Then I will check" Keira said patting him on the back.
"Fine" Saris said grimly.
Keira swam over to the tub, and lifted up the sheet. She gave it a tug and it came off. As it fell to the floor she turned with a look of remorse in her eyes "May the great Stone Fish rest in his true form" she said with deep remorse.
Saris swam up to the tub, he peered in and saw his brother’s remains. His brother had gone into his sleep wearing the Coral Crown. Saris did not relish having to remove the crown, but he was the new king now and it was a necessary to be holding the crown when one was inaugurated. He reached down and grabbed the Coral Crown and tried to remove it without disturbing its remains. As he pulled it the back of the crown coughs the back of his brother’s head and nearly pulled the top of the fragile skull. He got it off and lifted it up "now where's his trident?" Saris asked looking around for it.
Keira looked around "it's not here" she said.
"What!?! This day truly is the worst day of my life! " Saris yelled with the deep primal agony that we all keep locked up in the deepest part of our heart. "First I wake after who knows how long to find my house in tatters, then I find my family dead in their tubs, I leave the grim sight to find my race in the same condition, and now my king and brother lies dead in his own Palace, and to make matters worse his soul is lost to wonder the ocean because he was to foolish to keep his trident by his tub!"
Keira had forgotten that the royal family sent their souls into their trident upon dying, that would allow their souls to poses the soulless eggs of their spirit animal. But their trident was their conduit that their soul would go to in between lives.
"We need to find his trident, so I can transfer the Sea Force to his to mine" he said tightening his grip on Octotear.
"Where would it be?"
"I can honestly have no idea where the heck it would be"
It took them about three hours to find his brothers trident, Keira actually found it next to a tub in the imperial vault. She grabbed it and swam out the vault. "Saris!!!!" she shouted.
"What!?!" his echo shouted back to her.
"I found it!!" she shouted to his echo.
"Great meet me into the throne room!" she heard his echo yell. She quickly swam to the throne room. As she entered her eyes were drawn to the giant pearl known to all as the Heart of the Sea.
Saris followed her gaze and saw she was staring at the Heart of the Sea" Ah. yes, the Heart does not decay at all" Saris said to her. "Now give me the trident", she gave it to him and he handed her the Coral Crown. "As I hold the tridents You need to place the Coral Crown on my head while I face the Heart of the Sea. The moment you let go of the crown you need to close your eyes lest the Sea Force destroy you. "
"I understand" She said assuredly.
"Be sure you do, I don't want to be the last Hippocampus in existence.
"I do"
"Good, once I am done with the chant place the crown on my head. “he said as he turned to towards the Heart of the Sea. "Oh by the Power of the Sea I beseech thee to pass on the Sea Force from one king to the next like the great currents of the oceans and sea!" he felt the Coral Crown land on his head.
There was a great light from the Heart of the Sea, then he heard a booming feminine voice "And so the Octopus has returned into the fray, yes the third son of the third son of the third son. These generations have allowed you to reincarnate Great One. Your power is returned to you after three hundred millennium. Now know that your immortality is returned and your Beasts of the Sea are yours again to control."
Keira's eyes were clenched shut until she heard Saris's voice tell her to open her eyes. Once he had done so she was in ah. The Coral Crown had become more ornate then she had ever seen it, he had groan a long silver grey beard, and his long body had been covered by a cloak with a gold trim.
"Wow" that was all she could say, her mind was trying to process what had just seen. Then a thought crossed her mind he looked exactly like the old portraits of the last immortal Hippocampus, the controller of the abyss, the life bringer. He looked like the being who was the ancestor to the royal family, and who had put all of his remaining power into the Heart of the Sea, Sea Force and the Kings Trident.
"Saris you look like The Forgotten" she managed to get out.
"Nay! I am he, for my name was lost intentionally and my punishment is served, for I am Saris the Immortal and the Ruler of the Seas!" he bellowed.