An Angel from the Deep

  Roxanna sat behind an island a rock she found a little outwards from the beach. Squirt floated in the water beside her. They were listening to the conversation on the shore. They saw the ponies awaken from their unconscious as they saw the dragon and the royals run towards them.  "I can't believe you guys are alive!" the young dragon cried. "Wha...what happened?" moaned the orange pony, rubbing her head. "How'd we get here?" "A mare..." replied the purple one. "What?" replied the others. "A mare...rescued us. She...she was singing. She played music, too. It was so...beautiful."

  Roxanna's eyes went wide. "Hey, she remembers you, Roxanna!" cried Squirt, trying to keep quiet so they wouldn't be discovered. Roxanna gasped in delight! They looked as the prince examined her. "Twily," he said, "I think you may have bumped your head pretty badly. We should get you guys home." "But...but she was real!" she claimed, getting back on her hooves. "You guys heard it too, didn't you?" The others looked confused. "We were the only ones on that ship, Twilight." said the blue pegasus. "There's no way somepony could've swam all the way here carrying us."

  A wave of disappointment washed over the mermaid's and the octopus's faces. "Well, she doesn't seem to remember me." said Roxanna. "Nor do the others." added Squirt.

  "But...I..." "Don't get worked up, Miss Sparkle." said the tall, white, majestic princess. "We must get you and your friends home." Roxanna admired the beauty of the princesses, and was saddened to see them all leave for home. The two friends watched them walk away until they could no longer be seen, then jumped back into the water. The water tingled on their skin, having been out of it for a while.

  Squirt noticed how giddy Roxanna was as she giggled and twirled through the sea. "That was the best adventure ever!" she squealed as she tumbled around. "It was, wasn't it?" replied Squirt, her happiness rubbing off on him. "Yes, I can't wait to go back up there tomorrow night, and the night after that, and the night after that! Maybe we can even meet Twilight Sparkle!" said Roxanna. "Twilight who now?" asked Squirt. "That purple princess who remembered me, she's named Twilight Sparkle. Didn't you hear on the boat?" "Oh, must've forgot." claimed Squirt. "Though, I thought it was kinda weird they called you a mare..." She giggled. "Silly, a mare is a female pony. Twilight thought a pony saved them." "But you're not a pony; you're a mermaid!" Roxanna sighed. "Yeah, if only she knew that."

  The two looked at the night sky that seeped through the surface of the sea. "We'd better head back to our homes before they notice we're missing." "Oh dear, I hope it's not too late! See ya, Squirt!" She dashed away back home, relieved to see Mordecai sound asleep and her bed undisturbed. She climbed back in, finding it hard to sleep after what happened that night. It took her a few hours to fall asleep.

  The next morning, she was still as happy as ever! She swam out to the kitchen, where as usual, Mordecai was making breakfast. "Good morning, Mordi." she said happily as she kissed his cheek. Mordi was Roxanna's nickname for him. He turned around with a surprised, but cheery look on his face. "Why, good morning, Roxy!" he greeted happily. He also had a nickname for Roxanna, that being Roxy. "You're certainly in a good mood this morning." "And why not?" replied Roxanna. "The sea is bright and clear; the fish are merry. It's just been wonderful for me, lately!" Mordecai served Roxanna her morning dish. "I am so pleased to hear you say that, Angelfish!" As Roxanna was eating, she saw him bring out a bunch of cleaning supplies. "Today is Reef Cleaning Day, and such high spirits will definitely help speed things along." Suddenly, Roxanna's happy levels dropped about 20%. "But Mordecai, I was planning to go exploring with Squirt this evening, and I'll be too tired to if I start right after breakfast!"

  "I'm sure you'll be fine." he replied. "Time will pass, you'll see." He went to put her supplies in her room. "I just can't wait to return to the surface!" thought Roxanna to herself. "I'll let you take a break this afternoon if it looks like you used your time wisely." Just then, an idea popped up in Roxanna's mind that made her face beam! "Hey, if I get that break, I can tell Mordecai that I'm off to play with Squirt, and he and I can go to the fields and surface while it's daylight! Oh, how lovely the place will look!" she thought once again to herself. "Don't worry, Mordi. I'll work my hardest." She gave him a salute and swam off to her room. She dusted her shelves, swept the floor, made her bed, and shined her window. By the afternoon, her room was spotless. Mordecai swam in, very impressed at her work. "I can definitely see someone really was diligent in their work, a trait to be proud of." Roxanna blushed. "Thank you so much, Mordecai." "Now if I remember correctly, you have a meeting with a certain, little friend of yours?" Roxanna boldly smiled as she hugged her second dimensional uncle. She swam off quickly to meet up with Squirt.

  She found the blue octopus hanging out on his porch. Without warning, she grabbed him by a tentacle and dragged him to the fields. "WOAH! Roxanna, where are we going?" "We're going back up." she whispered back. "But it's not nighttime yet, we'll get caught!" he replied. "Not if we surface out in the fields." she claimed. Before Squirt could say anything, Roxanna boosted herself, leaving behind a trail of bubbles. A while later, they reached the fields. "It's going to be hard to hide if there's no darkness to shadow us." claimed Squirt. "Don't worry about a thing." she said, a calming tone in her voice. The two were tentacle in hand as they resurfaced once more. They shut their eyes for a while, trying to adjust to the brightness. Once they did, Roxanna stretched out her arms and floated on her back.

  "Maybe someday, I can join the ponies on land." said Roxanna. "But how?" asked Squirt. "If I can convince Mordecai that they're not evil, he might reunite land and sea for good, and maybe give me a chance to be like one of them." Squirt tried to imagine his best friend as a pony, but the image was still pretty blurry. "Mordecai's pretty strict about that stuff, Roxanna." he warned her. "He's the governor of the whole sea, and he forbids us to even be up here." "Pish posh his rules are." said Roxanna with a wave of her hand. "Come on, let's get closer to the shore." They were a few miles away, but that was nothing to a mermaid. They docked on the same rock they did the night before. To their delight, Twilight was on the beach with the dragon. He walked beside her, as they were just arriving. "I dunno, Twilight." he said, scratching his head. "Are you sure somepony was actually singing to you here?" "Sure as I'll ever be!" she replied. "Do you think it was a dream?" "No, Spike, it was not a dream!" she growled, getting a little irritated by her assistant's doubt in her. "She's as real as the sea itself." They gazed over the ocean's horizon. "I just have to find her, I have to!" She sat down and cuffed her hooves around her muzzle.

"HELLO? IF YOU WERE THE PONY WHO SAVED ME AND MY FRIENDS LAST NIGHT, PLEASE COME OUT SO I CAN THANK YOU!" she shouted.

  There was a moment of silence. "Should we go say hi?" asked Squirt, surprising himself with his own question. Roxanna's tail was fidgeting. "I don't know," she replied anxiously, "it's like I want to, but my fins won't flop to it!" Another thought drifted in her head. "Plus, how'd she react to me? Mordecai and I are the only merfolk in this world, and none of the ponies probably know what a merperson is! If I were to reveal myself, would they beat me up like Mordecai said? Or would they just be a little scared, but eventually become my friend? Or run away in terror?" Before she could go see for herself, another pony came into view. They slid further behind the rock. "Howdy there, sugarcube!" said the orange pony. "Applejack, what are you doing here?" asked Twilight, surprised. "I've had a long mornin' of applebuckin', and sometimes I like to come here to relax my hooves in the water durin' break." She slid her hooves into the cool water, sighing a sigh of relief. "Say, what'cha doin' here for, Twi? I've never seen ya 'round when I come here." "I don't, usually." she replied. "She's still looking for that mare she claimed rescued and sang to you guys after the shipwreck." said Spike, sounding rather annoyed. A look of confusion, but mostly care, spread across Applejack's face. "Hon, I believe ya when ya say ya heard somethin' that night, but you're turnin' an anthill into a mole mound." Now it was Twilight's turn to exchange looks. "You're making problems bigger than they actually are." she explained. "Ya need to just take your mind off things for a while. How's about we talk about the sea?" Applejack then realized that wasn't the best subject change for this time, but it might help a little.

  They once again looked out to the blanket of water before them. "Granny told me the sea is the greatest mystery known to pony-kind." Twilight didn't really want to change the subject, but she'd go along with it to make AJ happy. "Yes, that's true. I bet even if I read every book in Equestria about it, there'd be plenty of questions still left unanswered." Spike looked up to her in surprise. "Really?" he asked. "Every last book?" Twilight nodded and rubbed him on the noggin. "Yep, some things we just can't know." Her eyes widened as she looked out to sea, then saddened. "Like where your mystery mare is when you really want to know." Applejack's face turned concerned. Apparently her idea of changing the subject didn't work. Suddenly, a large belch was heard coming from Spike. A scroll appeared from his fiery breath. Twilight began to read it aloud. "My dearest Twilight, please gather your friends and meet me and Princess Luna in the castle courts ASAP. A meeting must be held at once. I will explain everything once you and the others arrive. Sincerely, Princess Celestia." "A meetin'?" asked Applejack. "I wonder what it's all about?" "Nothing bad, I hope," replied Twilight, "but it sounds urgent. We'd better get going." Before long, the three ran off towards Ponyville, their hometown. "Boy, I wish we could go to that meeting." said Roxanna. "I wonder what's going on?"