Chapter One: Born over the Ocean
The day was wet and foggy in the early morning hours. SeaShore, a tall earth pony, arose early and headed towards the shoreline. His coat was a dark tan color and his mane and tail were pink. The style was short, cropped, and messy. This was necessary though. He was a seaweed farmer and had to dive into the ocean to grow and harvest his crop. Having a long tail and mane would cause problems. As a child, he had almost drowned because his long tail got tangled with the seaweed and he couldn't surface. Ever since, he's kept it short.
He reached the shoreline and waded into the water with a basket tied on his back. The cold water rushed around him as he swam farther out before he dived down. It was harvest time. The long green seaweed waved gently from the current but became agitated as SeaShore swam close and began to pull them by the roots. After about two minutes he got one free from the ground, he opened the basket and stuffed it inside. He was able to pull three more out before he had to surface for air. He shook his head a bit, getting the water off his face, taking slow deep breaths. He was about to go back down when he spotted a pony walking towards the shore. He squinted, trying to see. The pony was as pink as his hair and their main was white with blue streaks in it.
"Oh, for pony's sake!" He grumbled and swam back to shore. When he knew she could hear him, he started huffing. "SeaFoam! I told you to stay indoors today."
His wife, SeaFoam paused, her hooves getting wet by the incoming tide. She frowned reproachfully at her husband. "I can't just sit around and let you harvest all the crop by yourself. Especially when it's much bigger this term."
"And what would happen if you had the baby while you were out there?" He demanded pointing a hoof at her over large stomach.
"It might be easier for it to come out," She said with a small smile. She moved to go around SeaShore and enter the water.
"And then have you get the salt water in any wounds? I'm not having it," He said blocking her as she tried to go in. "I don't care if it takes me the whole month to harvest. I'm not risking your life or our child's just because I am working alone."
She huffed as she set her hindquarters on the sand and stuck out her bottom lip. "Fine... I know you're right."
"Thank you," he said, but he didn't move from blocking her. "Now, get back to the house, please."
"Can I at least watch?" She pleaded.
SeaShore sighed and shook his head exasperatedly, but he was smiling. "I suppose. But I'm not sure how you'll see me through the fog."
She stood up, kissed her husband on the cheek and then headed for a rocky ledge that was well above the water. He watched her go, still unsure if he should go back in the water now that his wife was up. She was always doing reckless things, even when they were children. He turned and went back into the water to continue to harvest the seaweed.
SeaFoam laid down once she reached the flat dry rocks that overlooked the underwater farm. Occasionally, she would poke her head over the edge to see her husband when he came up for air and then scoot back when he went back down. She was feeling tired again. Perhaps she should have stayed in their little hut, but it was so nice lying there with the sea spraying on her face. The early morning light warmed her body as the sun rose, giving the sky beautiful colors. She closed her eyes, drifting off.
Her head shot up when a sharp pain came from her stomach. She stared for a moment at her middle, wondering if it was just pregnant pains. Nope! She felt another contraction with the pain being worse than before. She heard the splash below that meant SeaShore surfaced.
"HELP!" She cried. "BABY!"
"Sweet Celestia!" he shouted and swam as fast as he could to the beach. She was in full on labor when he finally got up to the rock where she lay. "What do I do? What do I do?"
SeaShore was trotting back and forth, trying to figure out how to help. SeaFoam gave him a very disgruntled look. He stopped moving about, but was still panicked. After an hour, the mare let out screams of pain and the stallion let out screams of continual panic. When the baby was finally out, SeaShore wrapped the little foal in seaweed as swaddling cloth and set the baby in the basket. SeaFoam had passed out when she heard her baby's cries from the pain. Her husband pulled her onto his back and picked the basket up with his mouth to carry them off the rock and to their hut. He placed his wife in bed and took the baby out of the basket and into a cradle nearby.
"How are you feeling?" He whispered. He was preparing a bottle for the child.
"Utterly exhausted," She said with her face in the pillows. "Did I really say I wanted two children?"
"You did, but if you want anymore, I'm okay with that," He said as he gave the bottle to the baby.
"Well... maybe we'll have another child, but not for several years," she said looking over at the child. "So... what did we get?"
She said this as if they got a mystery prize. SeaShore chuckled.
"He's a colt," He said. "And a fine strong one."
He picked up the baby and set him next to SeaFoam. She gently placed a hoof around her child and nuzzled his face as he sucked on the bottle. The small new family sat there quietly for a while, enjoying the wonderful peace after the hectic start.
"What should we call him?" SeaFoam asked.
"SeaWeed?" SeaShore asked pointing the plant around the baby.
"No... I don't think so," She said. "It sounds sad. And we can't nickname him Weed. That would be horrible."
"Okay, okay," He said. "I was hoping for SeaShell, but you said you wanted to save that for a daughter."
They still could not come up with a name even after a week. Of course everyone gave suggestions, but nothing seemed to fit just right. When the little foal was able to run about on his own, about three weeks after his birth, SeaFoam brought him to the beach while SeaShore was working in the water. That little boy was running around the water and splashing about. The sight of him playing in the water brought a smile to his mother's face, but it faded when she still couldn't call him by name.
"Spit that out," She said as she saw him open his mouth to let the water in.
His mouth full of salt water, he looked at his mother, then spat it out right at her.
"Hey!" She laughed as she avoided the water. "Don't do that."
He didn't fully understand she didn't want to be sprayed, but he laughed and did it again because it made his mama laugh. She laughed again, going up to him and tried to grab him. He scampered up and sprayed her again. She had to back up to avoid getting the water in her face. She chased him up and down the shoreline for a while, but had to stop. She was still tired and the crying during the nights was putting a strain on her normal sleeping routine. Noticing SeaFoam had stopped following him, the little foal walked up to her and let the last of the water dribble out of his mouth. She sat up and caught him by the back of the neck.
"Gotcha!" She said as she put him in a carrier on her back. "Now stay put, you little sea sprayer."
He laughed and giggled at the nickname. She blinked and tilted her head.
"SeaSpray..." She said thoughtfully. The baby gurgled happily as she said it and she smiled. "SeaSpray it is then."
She nuzzled his face and SeaSpray nuzzled back. There was a small splash as SeaShore appeared in the distance and swam to the beach. He spotted his family and walked over.
"Hello," He said kissing his wife. He then ruffled the baby's head. "You look happy. Something happen?"
SeaFoam nodded. "I decided his name. SeaSpray."
"Interesting name. How did you come up with it?"
She began to tell him the story, short as it was. Neither noticed that SeaSpray decided to somehow climb out of the carrier and run to the water. He looked out at the distance as if he heard something. He tilted his head as he saw something large and white come out of the water then came crashing down. His parents looked up and saw a giant wave coming towards the shore.
"SeaSpray!" SeaShore shouted. He ran forward and grabbed his son as the wave rose over their heads.
As they ran back to higher grounds, SeaSpray looked at the wave and held out his hooves. His parents didn't see, but the wave curved backwards as if pushed back. When the two ponies looked back, the wave was more than half the size it would have been when it reached the shore. Confused, but grateful that it didn't endanger the lower living dwellings, the parents took their son back to the hut.
