The Little Seapony

Back inside the cave, Discord was shoving everything he could think of into a suitcase. “Don’t give me that look, Pinkie,” he said when he noticed the worry on Pinkie’s face. “This is none of our business. The two of us are getting as far away from this chaos as possible. Ugh! I can’t believe I just said that.” He grimaced, and then shook his head. “We have to find a way to keep you alive. I know what Chrysallis said, but she has to be wrong. There must be another way! We just need some time to figure it out.” Determined, he started packing with more vigor, throwing everything from blankets to a bugle horn into the suitcase.

“I know you’re worried about Pinkie, but if we don’t stop our father thousands of ponies are going to be killed,” Maud said with a foreleg around her sister. Although she was still half fish, it turned out that Maud was freakishly strong and had no problem dragging her tail along with nothing but her forelegs in order to follow Pinkie and Discord into the cave.  “I love Pinkie too, but we can’t just – “

Discord whirled towards her, red eyes blazing. “Yes we can! I am not going to let Pinkie die without a fight!”

Maud let Pinkie go and turned towards Discord, giving him her whole attention. “So you’re going to let Equestria fall into Chrysallis’s hands, just to save Pinkie?”

Discord looked away. “If that’s what it takes.”

“Do you really think she’d want that?” Maud asked.

“No,” he admitted, grumbling. “She’d probably want to do something stupid and noble. That’s why she needs me to stop her.” He stopped packing for a moment and looked around. “Hey, where is Pinkie?”

“She’s gone.”

“Blast it all!” Discord shouted, throwing the suitcase across the cave. “We’ve got to stop her!”

Suddenly the sound of a conch shell being blown echoed through the cave. “It’s too late,” Maud said. “My father is already here.”

On the surface of the sea, just a few dozen feet off the beach nearest to the town, a large army of seaponies had gathered. In front of them was King Igneous. His war captain was next to him with a large megaphone in one hoof. The gray blue war captain cleared his throat and began to speak. “Citizens of Ponyshell Island, if you surrender now and return Princess Pinkamena into our protection then we will try to be lenient when we enslave you all.” As landponies from the town heard the message and began gathering along the shore wearing worried and often frightened expressions, Captian Sea Foam lowered the megaphone and leaned over to the seaking. “My king, are you certain about this whole slavery business?”

“We’ve spoken about this before Captain Sea Foam,” King Igneous replied with a slightly annoyed expression.

“I know, but even if they did kidnap Princess Pinkie like you said, slavery still seems a bit,” Captain Sea Foam left the sentence hanging, unsure how to finish it without making his king seem like an overbearing dictator.

“These landponies know no bounds,” the King replied. “First they killed my wife and now they’ve kidnapped my daughter. They must know that Aquestria is not a kingdom to be taken lightly!”

From their hiding spot behind a large boulder, Discord growled in frustration. They hadn’t had any luck finding Pinkie, so they decided to go find the seaking where they believed Pinkie would most likely be doing something, to quote Discord, ‘completely stupid and suicidal.’ Unfortunately for them, although they found the king easily enough, Pinkie was nowhere to be found. “Where is that blasted mare?” Discord groaned.

Back on the beach, a bright green unicorn stepped in front of the other landponies. “What are you talking about?” he shouted at the seaking. “There aren’t any seapony princesses in this town!”

The king tore the megaphone out of the Captain’s hands. “Lies!” he spat at the unicorn. “I saw, my former daughter, the traitorous Maud take Pinkamena here! I know you have her! Bring her to me and we will show you mercy. Withold her and you will suffer unconceivable amounts of agony and hardship!”

The ponies on the beach broke out into angry shouts, causing the seaponies to brandish their spears and tridents at them threateningly, just in case they decided to attack. Safely hidden behind the boulder, Discord turned to Maud with a raised brow. “Traitor?”

Maud’s usually stoic expression softened a fraction, making her look slightly guilty. “Father may have seen me tie up Chrysallis and thought it was Pinkie.”

Discord frowned as he watched the chaos forming on shore. Normally he would be enjoying the sight, but his worry for Pinkie got in the way.  It was frightening how much of a hold she had on him. In only three days, that silly pink pony was able to get into his head so thoroughly that he couldn’t even properly enjoy pure unadulterated chaos when he came across it. It was so unfair! “What do the seaponies even expect to do?” he spat, trying to get his mind off Pinkie. “They can’t exactly rage a war from the sea and I doubt turning the army into landponies will fit in with your father’s superiority complex!”

“If Pinkie doesn’t show up soon, I believe we will find out,” Maud replied, staring at the increasingly agitated ponies on the shore.  The shouts of outrage were getting louder with each passing moment.

The king glared at them. “So be it,” he intoned through the megaphone. “Remember, you have brought this all upon yourselves.” he gave a nod to Captain Sea Foam. Reluctantly, the captain removed a large conch shell from where it was belted around his hip and blew into it three times. For a moment nothing happened, but then came a rumbling from beneath the waves. Gargantuan tentacles with suckers the size of wagon wheels crested over the waves, followed soon thereafter by a ginormous squid head. Instead of the beak of the squid being located beneath the head, between its eight tentacles like a normal squid, the deadly sharp beak was located just beneath its enormous yellow eyes. It squawked defeaningly, showing several rows of saw-edged teeth.

For once, Maud’s normally stoic expression had completely fallen away to absolute shock. “The kraken,” she breathed, as the seabeast crawled onto the shoreline squawking madly and knocking over homes and businesses while the landponies ran away screaming “I never…I can’t believe Father would-“

“Shouldn’t we probably do something?” Discord asked uncertainly, watching the carnage with some concern. Even though he often caused property damage and injury during his many chaotic escapades, he didn’t particularly like to see ponies die. Unless it was Cheese Sandwich, he amended. He was totally okay with him dying after what he did to Pinkie.

“What exactly do you want to do?” Maud said, beginning to recover. “It’s a kraken.”

“I can see that!” Discord roared in exasperation.

Just then, Pinkie Pie came rushing through town riding atop a giant blue tank. Sunlight beamed off her bright yellow helmet causing a halo of light to shine around the seamare, highlighting the fierce look in her dazzling blue eyes, and the gleam of her teeth in her manic grin. She was the most beautiful thing Discord had ever seen. She aimed the tank straight at the sea monster and fired several times. Cakes, pies, and other baked goods of every description pelted the beast, pushing it away from the fleeing ponies.

“You too, Pinkie?” King Igneous said with sadness as he watched his daughter betray him. His eyes turned cold. “So be it,” he said, and made no move to stop the kraken from attacking his daughter.

“No,” Discord breathed. Without a second thought, he dashed out from behind the boulder and started running toward the kraken and Pinkie. “Where are you going?” Maud yelled, or tried to yell. It wasn’t much louder than her normal speaking voice really.

“To help Pinkie!” Discord shouted back. He raced towards the blue tank, but before he could reach it, the kraken swung a tentacle at the tank, sending Pinkie flying into a brick wall. She slouched over on the ground, unconscious. Discord screeched to a halt. Seeing Pinkie’s body bloodied and broken on the ground as if dead, something inside him broke. Power, the likes of which he had never felt before, built up inside him like a balloon that had been blown up a bit too much. Suddenly, the magic inhibiting bracelet on his arm shattered and the balloon popped. Sweet, sweet chaos flooded the town. Discord hardly noticed. He was too sad, too heartbroken, too furious. He no longer controlled any of it. He didn’t even try. He let the chaos spread through the town turning the half destroyed buildings into chocolate and the sand into smooth blue and yellow colored glass. Trees and shrubs grew eyes and ragged teeth, uprooted themselves, and began attacking whatever was closest to them at the time whether it was pony, building, or kraken. The chaos even spread to the sea where it turned the water into bright pink saltwater taffy. The seapony army struggled to escape the sticky treat, but the more they struggled the thicker and stickier the taffy became.

Witnessing the absolute bedlam their fair town was turning into, and not so gently urged on by some of the monster topiary, the few townsfolk who had not managed to escape the town yet ran away screaming as fast as their legs would carry them. Discord paid none of them any heed. All of his focus was fixated on the seaking. With measured calmness, he walked towards the royal, not even stopping when the kraken lunged a tentacle at him. He merely snapped his claw and the once monstrous seabeast shrunk to the size of a kitten.

“Get away from me you fiend!” King Igneous demanded as Discord approached. “I know who you are. You don’t scare me!”

“I don’t?” Discord replied with a smirk, walking on the pink taffy as if it was solid ground. “Well, of course not! After all, why should I scare you? It’s not like you are so horrible of a father that you would chase your daughter away, forcing her to make a deal with a changeling that would eventually end up killing her, or that you let a kraken attack said daughter, the only pony who I have truly cared about in nearly a thousand years!” He laughed mirthlessly for a moment and then paused. “Oh wait a minute,” he said. “You did do those things, didn’t you? My mistake.” His expression turned cold and vicious as he raised a claw, poised to snap. “Maybe you should be afraid of me, after all.”

Just before he snapped his claws, he felt something soft and squishy clench around his middle. He looked down to see Pinkie. Bits of pink taffy mixed with blood stuck to her fur and mane, but otherwise she seemed unhurt. Discord was relieved to see that she was okay, but the pleading look in her eyes ruined the reunion for him a bit.

“Pinkie, these ponies tried to kill you and everypony else in this town,” he reminded her gently. “They have to pay for what they have done.” Pinkie buried her head into his fur and shook her head.  He growled, gentleness forgotten. “Why, after all they have done to you, do you insist on granting these ponies mercy?” he insisted.

Pinkie mouthed something, and Discord snapped his claws with a sigh. “-love them,” she finished. Suddenly, she gasped. “Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh!” she screeched, letting go of Discord and jumping up and down on the taffy like it was a trampoline and not a sticky, gooey deathtrap. “I can talk again! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” She beamed at Discord happily for a moment, and then quickly turned serious again. “Discord, you can’t hurt these seaponies! I know you’re upset,” she continued in a placating manner when he started to object. “You have every right to be. My father did kind of release a kraken and destroy the town after all, and that was very wrong of him, but you have to let them go. They are my family and I love them no matter how homicidal and war crazy they might have gotten recently.”

“How?” Discord demanded. “How can you love these ponies when all they have caused you is pain and heartache? They don’t deserve your forgiveness or your love! Just let me get rid of your father at least, and then –“

“No, Discord!” Pinkie refused, moving to stand between him and her father. The taffy squelched under her feet a bit, but otherwise didn’t pull her too far under. “My father may be a bit grumpy and has trouble understanding me pretty much all the time, but he is still my father. He never would have purposely hurt me…not until just now, anyway, but I blame Chrysallis for that. He is not a bad pony or a bad king. He is hurt and confused and Chrysallis took advantage of that. If you hurt him, I am never going to forgive you.”

“Chrysallis? What does she have to do with any of this?” King Igneous asked with a confused look.

“Chrysallis has been impersonating Pinkie for the last few days,” Maud answered, suddenly appearing beside her father.

“Oh,” the seaking said, suddenly realizing the implications of that statement. He looked away guiltily. “Oh.”

Captain Sea Foam, however, had other things on his mind. “How did you get through the taffy?” he asked bluntly.  “I mean, Princess Pinkamena did it through her…Pinkieness, but how did you get out here?”

“I carry rocks a lot,” Maud stated simply. “I like rocks.” Captain Sea Foam decided not to inquire further.

Meanwhile, Discord and Pinkie were still staring at each other in heated silence, each one daring the other to break. Sweat beaded on Discord’s brow as he concentrated. Alas, at the moment of truth, his own eyelid betrayed him.

“HA!” Pinkie shouted with a laugh. “You blinked!”

“No I didn’t!” he huffed.

“Yes you did! You totally, totally did!”

“Ugh! Fine!” Discord growled. He snapped his fingers, and he and Pinkie were back on the beach. Everything had been turned back to the way it was before. The sand was sand again, the buildings were made of wood, the taffy turned into seawater, and the plants went back to being stationary and generally non-lethal. Only the kraken remained in his kitten form, which most everypony agreed was probably for the best.  “There!” yelled Discord once it was all done. “Happy?”

Pinkie grinned at him, and then suddenly a wave of dizziness swept over her and she swayed. Discord rushed to steady her. “Pinkie? Are you okay?”

Pinkie sat on her haunches and put a hoof to her head. “I think so,” she answered. “I just got really dizzy for a second there. That was weird.” She tried to stand, only to fall right back down again. Discord caught her before she hit the ground. “Thanks, Discord,” she smiled weakly at him. “Maybe I’m not so alright, after all.” She looked towards the sun. It was just about to hit the horizon. “Oh,” she said. “That explains it.”

“No! It’ll be okay, Pinkie!” Discord insisted. “I’m not gonna let you die! I’m not sure how I can fix it right now, but we’ll figure it out! I promise! Just hold on for a little longer.”

“Don’t worry, Dizzy,” Pinkie comforted. Discord’s heart clenched a little tighter at the tender nickname. Nopony had called him that since he was a foal. “I’ll never really leave you,” Pinkie continued.

Discord sniffled a bit. “Because you’ll always remain in my heart?”

Pinkie gave a weak laugh. “No, silly, because I’ll haunt you.”

A few tears fell down Discord’s muzzle. “Pinkie,” he said tenderly. “I love you.”

Pinkie smiled. “I know,” she said softly as her eyes slid closed.

“NONONO!” Discord shouted desperately as Pinkie’s breathing slowed. “Please! Don’t do this to me, Pinkie! You can’t! I won’t allow it! Just hold on for a little longer! You can do it. I know you can. Just please, don’t leave me!” Despite how much he pleaded, Pinkie did not move, and when the sun finally dipped under the ocean waves, Discord bent his head over Pinkie’s body and wept.

A shadow above him caused the draconequus to look up. A white alicorn was staring mournfully down at Pinkie. “You!” Discord scowled. “How dare you show your face here!”

“I am sincerely sorry, Discord,” the alicorn, Princess Celestia, replied. “I did not learn of your plight until just this morning when a purple unicorn librarian named Twilight wrote to me about the letter you sent her, concerned that you might be up to something untoward. Since then I have been keeping a close eye on what progressed here.” Bowing her head she added, “I wish I was able to make it here sooner, but I had royal duties I had to attend to and was not able to leave-“

“That’s always the story with you, isn’t it?” Discord interrupted, his voice cold. “You could have prevented this whole mess by just giving me my powers back to begin with, but no! You were too busy, and now Pinkie’s dead!”

Celestia gave him a sympathetic smile. “She is not dead my dear friend.”

“What do you mean she’s not dead? Look at her!” he demanded angrily holding Pinkie up for Celestia to see.

Celestia bent down towards the pink mare, and then, closing her eyes, her horn lit up with a bright magical aura. She lowered her horn to Pinkie’s chest, allowing the aura to spread until it encased Pinkie’s entire body. After a few minutes, Celestia released her magic and raised her head. Slowly, Pinkie opened one eye, and then the other. She yawned. “Wow! Dying really takes a lot out of a pony!” she said a bit groggily. She wiggled out of Discord’s arms, frowning at him “Aww! You’re not dead too, are you? I was supposed to haunt you. You ruined it!”

Discord merely stared at her in response. Celestia chuckled. “You are not dead, little one, and neither is Discord.”

“I’m not?” Pinkie gave the princess a confused frown. “But I thought – “

“You simply used too much magic in too short a time period and were simply having a bit of trouble recharging,” Celestia explained. “I just helped you along a bit.”

“Pinkie doesn’t have magic,” Discord said, finally beginning to overcome his shock.

Celestia smiled knowingly. “Are you sure about that?”

Discord took a deep breath, thinking about all the impossible things he had seen Pinkie do. “No, not really,” he admitted. “But how is she alive? Chrysallis’s magic should have killed her.”

“Haven’t you ever wondered why Queen Chrysallis could survive so long without love when her subjects could only last a few days?” Celestia asked sweetly. “Changeling drones cannot love. They do not know how. That is not the case for the Queen. Chrysallis loves her subjects, and although that love has driven her to do some terrible things, it is a true love nonetheless. She is able to use the energy of her own love to power her magic. It is not a perfect system, so she often needs to supplement it by feeding off others, but it allows her to survive much longer with longer times in between feedings than a normal changeling. Pinkie is not a changeling queen, but neither is she a drone. She is a pony, and ponies, whether they hail from the land or the sea, know how to love. Pinkie is even more unique because she loves everypony without reservation. Even those that may have hurt her in the past.” She glanced at the seaking watching them from the waves. He had enough grace to look ashamed.

“Because her love for her family and the ponies on this island was so strong,” Celestia continued, “Pinkie did not need the love of others to power the spell that changed her. She was able to power it all by herself.”

Discord looked down, a little disappointed. “Don’t look so sad my friend. The love you have for Pinkie still plays a part in all of this.”

Discord laughed awkwardly. “What? Love? When did I ever say I loved her? I never said that!”

“Yes you did!” Pinkie corrected. “You said it earlier when mmmffm-“ Discord clamped her muzzle shut with a leather strap.

“Silly Pinkie,” Discord said leaning his elbow on her head and giving her mane a condescending pat. “Don’t believe a word she says. She’s always coming up with crazy things!” Pinkie glared at him, making Celestia chuckle.

“If you did not love her and sincerely want to help her, you would not have had the power to break that arm bracelet,” Celestia explained with a smile. “Because of your sincere feelings, you were able to save everyone in this fair village, including Pinkie, even if you did, perhaps, get a little carried away with things.” He shrugged nonchalantly, as Pinkie tried pulling the strap off of her muzzle. She tugged at it fiercely for a moment until it finally came off with a loud pop.

“Pinkie you have a great responsibility now,” Celestia continued, turning to the mare. “The changeling magic Chrysallis used on you has given you great powers. You have always been more in tune with magic than other ponies of your race, but now that is going to be magnified. As long as you continue to love and care for the ponies around you and spread happiness and cheer, you will not have any problems.”

“You mean if I don’t love ponies I’m gonna die?!” Pinkie screeched with a terrified expression. Then she suddenly grinned. “Okey dokey lokey! I have no problem with that.”

“How can you say you have no problem with that?” Discord blurted. “What if you stop loving ponies?”

Pinkie shook her head. “Don’t worry Dizzy,” she reassured him. “That’s never gonna happen, ‘cause you and me are gonna travel all over Equestria together finding more and more ponies to love, spreading cheer and happiness all over the world!!”

Discord stared at her. “We’re doing what now?”

“Oooh! Oooh! Oooh!” Pinkie screeched excitedly, ignoring Discord and turning to the princess. “Does this mean I can shapeshift now?”

“Yes it does, my little pony,” Celestia said.

“So I can turn back into a seapony whenever I want?” she asked.

Celestia smiled. “You can turn into any shape you see fit.”

Pinkie’s eyes lit up and she bounced up and down happily. “Even a hippopotamus?!” Before anyone could say otherwise, Pinkie took a deep breath and with a flash a large pink hippo stood in her place. “This is the most fantastic thing ever!” she said. Or she tried to say. All anypony around her heard was happy hippo grunts.

While Pinkie pranced around in her new form, Celestia turned to Discord. “Discord, I’m placing Pinkie Pie in your care,” she said. “Her magic is very unique and until she learns how to properly use and understand it, she is going to need guidance. I see nopony more fit than you to provide it. Take care of her.”

Discord looked touched. “Thank you, Celly.” The princess nodded at him in acknowledgment.

The moment was ruined, however, when, in her excitement, Pinkie suddenly leapt at Discord, squashing him. “Pinkie!” Discord gasped, arms flailing underneath Pinkie’s considerable girth. “Breathe! Can’t!” There was another flash and pinkie was a landpony again.

“Better?” Pinkie asked on top of Discord’s chest.

After taking several deep breaths, he smiled and patted her on the head. “Much.”

Pinkie gave him a strange look. She wasn’t sure if she should try it again, but that was Cheese and this was Discord, and – before she could think of any excuse not to, she leaned forward and kissed Discord full on the lips. Shocked, Discord didn’t respond at first, but he was very soon kissing her back.

In the ocean, King Igneous gave a small smile as he watched his daughter break away from Discord and hop around the draconequus, laughing and grinning on the beach. “Captain Sea Foam,” the king said.

The Captain snapped to attention. “Yes, my king?”

“Tell the soldiers it’s time to return home,” he commanded. “The war is off.”

“Yes, my king!” the Captain replied with a relieved smile. He blew the conch shell once and signaled the soldiers to head back. One by one, the soldiers disappeared under the waves. Soon only Maud and the king were left.

“I think Pinkie is really happy here with Discord,” Maud said as they watched couple on the beach.

King Igneous sighed. “Yes, I think so too.” Meekly, he turned to Maud. “I’m sorry for accusing you of treachery and disowning you.”

“It was Chrysallis’s fault,” Maud replied. “I don’t blame you.”

“I do,” Igneous revealed, causing Maud to stare at him. “If I hadn’t gotten so caught up in my own grief and turned the entire kingdom into my own personal pit of misery, Pinkie never would have had any reason to run away and Chrysallis never would have been able to use me in this way.”

“I’m sure Pinkie understands,” Maud reassured him.

“I hope so,” he replied. “Come on. It’s time we went back home.”

“Shouldn’t we tell Pinkie goodbye?” Maud asked.

Igneous shook his head. “Let’s not bother her.” Maud frowned at his reply as he dove under the waves, but followed him anyway.

On the beach, as Celestia was telling Discord that she fully expected him to fulfill all of his duties as prince of chaos now that he had his powers back, Pinkie was distracted when she heard a loud splash. She turned to the water just in time for her to see her father and Maud disappear beneath the waves. She frowned, sad that her father left before she was able to talk to him. She had really wanted to try and patch things up between them, but maybe he didn’t want to.

“So Pinkie, where do you want to go first?” Discord said, growing bored with Celestia’s talk about responsibility and interrupting the alicorn in mid-rant. Celestia rolled her eyes at him, but stopped talking. To Pinkie’s surprise, Discord lifted her up and placed her on his shoulders. She immediately brightened and giggled, grabbing onto him around his neck so she wouldn’t fall. “If we’re gonna travel Equestria spreading love and laughter everywhere, we should probably start right away.”