Sea

The sun was high in the sky. It was about noon. The dhow, still entirely alone, slowly made its way southwest, following the rising wind's inexorable push. A long white wake lay behind it as it cruised along at almost fifteen knots, pushed quickly forward by the pull of its large, strong sail. Its rudder made minor adjustments to the left and right as it continued moving, doing its best to keep the dhow on the right route.

Twilight Sparkle sat in her spot in the stern of the boat, holding the tiller with one forehoof and leaning the other into the water behind her wooden boat. There was not much to do in the middle of the ocean; all she could see for miles around was water and waves. In the very far distance, she saw a spout of water from a surfacing whale.

She almost smiled at the distant shining sight of the whale as it jumped out of the water before diving back down into the depths. Just as she was about to break a small smile, she felt a sudden wave of sadness; her expression instantly dimmed and she looked back down at the waters and the wood with a look of abject boredom and hopelessness.

A small fin breached the water next to her. Inquisitively, she looked at it. Just as she was about to reach out and try to touch it with her hoof, it dove down then leapt out of the water next to her. It was a dolphin, one that'd likely been following her for miles. Its smooth, grey skin rippled as it leapt up and down out of the water. A pair of small black eyes gave it vision as its long, bottle-like nose poked out of the front of its face. It seemed to almost be looking at her with a smile, almost saying "I'm your friend!" It was a dolphin that looked, indeed, very happy to be alive. With reckless enthusiasm it leapt up and down alongside the boat, occasionally diving down for a second before popping back up on the opposite side of the boat. It carried with it an air of happiness, of excitement, of joy just at being alive. Good feelings; the feelings of a simple, content creature.

Before Twilight knew it, a second dolphin had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. It hopped on the opposite side of the boat from the first, and had a sort of natural synchronization with its companion. Whenever one dolphin would hit the water and go under, the other would burst out of the waves, arc through the air, and land in the sea just as the first resurfaced.  They seemed to chatter to each other as they jumped, excitedly babbling about in the songs that only dolphins know and that are made only for dolphins to understand. The air practically radiated a warm, happy aura as the two playful creatures hopped along, on either side of the small dhow, without a care in the world.

And, for the first time in what seemed like months, Twilight Sparkle smiled.