Bending Over Backwards

*Gasp* Adrian bolted upright. Adrian tried to stand which resulted in a splitting headache causing him to fall to his hands and knees. Grasping hair in each hand Adrian Fell into the fetal position for what felt like hours before the headache subsided. Trying more cautiously Adrian stood with more success. Finally being able to see his surroundings Adrian found himself on a beach. To his left was more beach ending in a rocky shore. To his right was what looked like endless beach. Adrian stood confused until he heard a crash of water. Looking to his left, he saw water crashing against the rocks. It seemed like more than water though; someone or something was crashing into the rocks from the water. Running towards the rocks Adrian began to move his arms, feeling the tingling sensation of control over water.
　　
　　
　　Skidding to a stop Adrian moved his arms in a fast but fluid motion bringing the creature and the water around it up and then dropping it on the beach. Running over to it, Adrian was shocked to see that it looked like a horse, except half of it was a fish.
　　
　　
　　A... Mermaid? No… She’s got a horse’s head… What on earth is this creature? A Merpony? Now more confused than ever Adrian took a step back. It was then that the creature stirred and looked at him. He could see the pain and desperation in its clearly female eyes.
　　
　　
　　This creature was strange and may not have looked quite right; but it was still a living creature, and Adrian had already promised himself that he would take care of any human or animal he could. Dropping at its side Adrian examined it. As he worked, the creature stirred and looked at him with its large eyes that seemed to lightly entrance him.
　　
　　Then it spoke.
　　
　　
　　“He...he...help”

　　As she spoke, for its voice was clearly female, its breathing grew heavier until she finished. After finishing, she seemed to lose will and pass out, falling back into a limp form.

　　Still firmly confused, Adrian stuttered and blinked for a few seconds before brushing his shock aside. Helping an animal and helping a sentient creature are two different things. If it is sentient, it knows pain and Adrian was compelled to remove that pain. Holding out his arms, he began to trace them lightly over the creatures form doing his best to heal what he could. Finding the worst wound he could see, he began his work. The wound was a large gash to her side, a gash Adrian imagined came from the rocks. As he worked Adrian’s mind wondered.
　　
　　
　　He observed the creature before him in closer detail than before. The front half of her was horse but the rest was fish. Her mane was draped on the beach and her two front hooves lay just as forgotten. Slowly, the wound healed until it all but disappeared leaving a large scar. Adrian continued looking but soon realized that he would be able to see every wound as she lay on her side. By now she should have awoken but something was preventing that. Curious, Adrian pushed her onto her other side and gasped. She had another gash but this one looked as if it was festering. This gash was clearly not caused by any rock, but a claw of some sort. The claw of something either very filthy or very evil.
　　
　　 Adrian snapped out of his shock once again and began to clean the wound. It would take a lot more to heal this; in fact, he didn’t know if he could. This wound was much larger and in much worse condition. As he finished cleaning, he began the healing process. The work was slow and tedious, but eventually, he managed to close the wound.
　　
　　
　　As he sat, he continued to wonder why she wouldn’t wake. Maybe she was fighting off some poison. He had cleaned the wound as best he could but maybe she was further gone than he thought. Then it snapped and he cursed. Lifting her, he carried her to the water where he gently lowered her to lay. He left her there and walked along the beach looking for sticks to make a fire for himself. He returned not long later with enough wood from the nearby forest and made a fire a few feet from her. Close enough to keep an eye on her but far enough to keep the fire from dehydrating her. After a few hours of restless waiting the Creature stirred and propped itself up on its front hooves. Looking around it didn’t take long for it to spot the fire and Adrian sitting next to it.
　　
　　
　　Deciding to speak first Adrian leaned forward. “Are you okay?”

　　“I think so. Thanks to you,” the Merpony said weakly.

　　“Its something anybody would have done if they could have.”

　　“No… really it’s not.” Her eyes were downcast.

　　“Why?” Adrian inquired, curious.

　　“Merponies are not… thought well of.”

　　“Why not?”

　　The Merpony summoned some newfound strength to straighten up slightly in the water, allowing her to look at the Waterbender with less strain... “We are not evil, but the common pony thinks of us as Sirens, which are evil.”

　　Adrian pondered the answer before giving his own. “Well… I guess that sorta makes sense in a weird objective and racist view.”

　　“So you are not afraid of me?” she asked, somewhat surprised.

　　“Should I be?” Adrian honestly had no idea why he would be afraid. She seemed nice enough, the fact that he was conversing with a creature that you’d normally read in a fantasy book.

　　“Well…it’s just that all other ponies wouldn’t have helped. In fact they probably would have killed me over leaving me to die, much less putting me back in the water.”

　　“Speaking of the water. What exactly cut you?” Adrian asked.

　　“Th-the rocks?” She tried to brush off the question.
　　
　　
　　Adrian could see through her façade; there was clearly more to this than this creature was letting on. “Not the rocks. I am talking about the gash on your other side.”

Looking at the scar the Merpony shuttered. She looked back at Adrian.

　　“I do not remember what it looked like. All I remember is two large eyes. They were yellow and each a different size. It had large, white fangs, and then I was near the rocks where the Merponies do not swim. It’s dangerous, you see.”

　　“I saw. Just be glad I managed to get you out.”

　　“I was wondering about that. How exactly did you do that?” the Merpony asked, perplexed.

　　“Well you see I am what my people used to call a Waterbender. I can take control of water and move it to my will. It’s not always easy, but I can. So what I did was, I lifted the water and you and brought it to the beach.”

　　“How is that possible?” The Merpony seemed more amazed than confused; but both emotions where in her eyes.

　　“Well it’s like how I healed you. I can move water almost with my mind. Well it’s more like my mind is the first step. I have to acknowledge the water and then I can use my arms and to a smaller extent the rest of my body.”

　　“What do you mean acknowledge the water?”

　　“Well water is everywhere. In the ocean, that tree, inside of you and me, and even in the air. I can’t quite pull water from the moisture in the air but I know it’s there. I have managed a subset of blood bending. You see your blood has water in it, not all that much but enough to make it a fluid and allow me to move. I can’t control you with it like the one good blood bender in my family, but I can move it around enough to heal wounds. In fact I think it took several hours to heal one wound.”

　　The Merpony’s awe seemed to increase at this strange being’s abilities. “That is amazing. What else can you do with water?”

　　Adrian pondered for a moment. “Well… I can freeze it almost instantly. It’s not easy but I can do it.”

　　“How?” Now the Merpony really seemed excited. Adrian could see the curiosity in her eyes.

“Well everything in live is made of parts. These parts can be in three specific forms. Solid, Liquid, and Gas. In all three of these forms the pieces move. As a solid, they move slowly, the pieces get closer to each other and have less room to move so they move slower. As a liquid like water, they have more room and move a bit faster. The fastest of the three is gas. In this form, the pieces can move as far apart as they want, and move as fast as they want. When I freeze water it’s like I make the pieces get close together and move slower.”

“So can you do the opposite?” the Merpony asked.

“What do you mean?” Adrian replied, unsure.

“Well can you make them move faster?”

“So boil the water at command?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“Well I have never tried that before but let me see what I can do.”

　　Adrian began to dig a hole in the beach. He knew if he placed water in a saturated beach, it wouldn’t all sink into the sand. When Adrian finished he stood and began to move his arms. Lifting the water in a line, he moved it directly to the hole until it filled and stayed full. Sitting down Adrian once again took hold of the water and focused. At first, nothing happened and Adrian began to lose hope.

　　Then he noticed steam and redoubled his efforts. Bubbles began to form as the water itself heated and began to boil. Once it had achieved a full boil Adrian severed his control of the water and it cooled again. Adrian then looked back to the Merpony who stared at the water with the same look of wonder that she seemed to have during the whole conversation.

　　“That was amazing.”

　　“I know. I’m sweating now,” Adrian panted.

　　“Um what is sweat?” she asked, genuinely confused.

　　“Uh… nothing… just forget I said anything.”

　　“I wish you could come see my people. I am sure they would be more than happy to meet you. Especially since you saved me.”

　　“Well I breathe air. I can hold my breath but-”
　　
　　
　　Before he could finish the Merpony interrupted him with ecstatic joy in her voice. “We all breathe air; we are like whales. We need air to breath. That is why I can sit in the water and not have to submerge.”

　　“So what. You have cities?”

　　“Oh yes. We have cities with large magic shields that the bearded one made for us. Starswirl was the one pony to understand us for what we are.”

　　“So you live in large bubbles of air under the water? How do you keep wet?”

　　“Waterways and pools.”

　　“Well I can use my water-bending to make a bubble around my mouth when under water. I simply have to separate the air from the actual water. Anyways. I should be able to follow you deep then.”

　　“Then it is settled. You must meet my people. They will love you.”
　　
　　
　　With that, Adrian joined the Merpony in the water as she used her front hooves to turn to face the open water. “Wait I never asked you your name did I. Let me start. My name is Adrian.”
　　
　　
“Oh my name. My name is Princess Maroon.” With that, she wrapped her foreleg around his arm and dragged him into the water towards her home.

Further down the beach, laying down in perfect comfort among the jagged rocks was a familiar Draconequus.

Sighing, he sat up. “It is about time they left. I was afraid I would be sitting here all night. I didn’t know my tooth could do that much but hey. You live eons and you learn.”