A Friend from the Deep

The water rippled gently atop of the expansive lake, the moonlight highlighting every little splash of water the waves threw into the night sky. A gentle breeze rustled through the grassy plains in the background, causing two heads of hair to swish around as they stared at one another in fascination. One mermaid. One unique land creature. A meeting that was forbidden for centuries was finally taking place. From each of their perspectives, a creature so bizarre, so peculiar, and yet so intriguing was staring right into their eyes. What was going to happen now?

“What are you?”

The pair of them had the exact same question at the exact same time. They looked away awkwardly, not quite sure who was to answer first. Roxanna was relieved when Macintosh decided to speak up first.

“Well, Ah’m… Ah’m a pony.”

Roxanna examined his form. Such a simple name for a being that looked so complex to her. “A pony… I like that.” She gives a small grin before realizing that it was probably her turn to tell him who she was. “I’m… a mermaid.”

Reversing their roles, it was now young Macintosh’s turn to look over Roxanna, almost like each of them was a zoo exhibit, and they were the newest additions. Something caught Macintosh off, however. A look of surprise formed on his face. “Ya have a Cutie Mark?”

“A what?”

“Ya know, that symbol on yer side.”

Roxanna lifted up her skirt-like fin and glided her hand over her shining scales, some colored differently than the others to form the seashell with a treble cleft “Cutie Mark” permanently embedded on her hip, covering a large portion of her upper tail. “That’s what it’s called?” She mumbled to herself. “I don’t think Mordecai knew that…”

Macintosh overheard her. “Mordecai? Who’s Mordecai?” These mermaid critters sure have weird names…

“Oh, well, he’s my guardian.”

“Guardian? Ya mean… like, yer dad? Yer uncle?”

“No, not like that. He’s the royal adviser's brother. At least where I come from.”

By the look of Macintosh’s face, he had no clue about what she was talking about.

From the best of her young mind, Roxanna tried to explain the situation she was in, from coming to a different world; having a magical singing voice; and the war such magic could start.

“Wait, wait, hold on now.” Macintosh interjected. “Yer a princess? From another world?”

“Y-Yeah… is that… bad?” Roxanna looked away from him.

“Well, uh… Ah don't really know. Ah’m not really supposed to be here, ya see. Ya shouldn’t be here either. Ponies don’t take kindly to folks from the underwater world,” The red colt explained.

"...What did we ever do?" Roxanna backed up a bit, slightly offended by this fact. "Land creatures were the ones who took our kind and cut off our tails! And they throw all their gross junk into our waters!"

“H-Hold on now! Yer world and mine aren’t the same. Ya’ll got land folks that wanna make food out of yer kind and litter yer water. Our feud, though, is fueled by hatred from both sides. Long ago, a war took place between land and sea. The sea king started it, though; he was jealous that the land had all the nicer things, and he wanted those things fer ‘imself. The princesses managed to stop him from floodin’ all of Equestria, but that didn’t stop ponies from hatin’ an’ fearin’ anythin’ that came from the water. Still goes on today.”

Roxanna took a moment to process what Macintosh had said. “That was mean… but I’m not mean; you don’t look mean either. Why didn’t you try to eat me?”

“Eat ya?” Macintosh recoiled in disgust. “Why in Equestria would Ah try to eat ya? Yer a livin’ thing! That would be jus’ plain wrong.”

“Oh…” Roxanna tried to wrap her brain around these ideas; this was the first time she had ever heard a philosophy different from the one she taught: humans eat fish and have no empathy for ocean life. Even though this pony before her wasn’t human in the slightest (at least from what she heard humans looked like), he didn’t share any of those qualities. She was stumped.

“Ah don’t get why ya didn't tried to drown me in the sea. Ain’t that what sea critters do when ya get too close to ‘em?” Macintosh asked.

“What? No! Only sirens do that, and I’m not a siren! I-I think…” Roxanna looked down, suddenly feeling unsure of herself.

“Ya think so?” Back to the awkwardness again; both children were unsure what to say, as proven by the lack of eye contact.

“Well… when I sing, I make magic stuff happen. Mermaids aren’t supposed to do that; only sirens can. We used to like sirens because they would sing to lure human sailors into sinking their ships, protecting us. But as their magic grew, so did their want for power. Soon they betrayed us, using magic on their own kind to get whatever they wanted. They were banished from merpeople kingdoms, and they are now gone as far as we know of.”

Roxanna wiped a tear. “I don’t want to be a siren; sirens hurt people and don’t do any good things. I don’t want people thinking that I’m evil…"

Suddenly, she felt herself being embraced, the texture her skin rubbed against foreign to her. The short, coarse hair itched a tad, but the warmth that it brought gave Roxanna a sense of comfort. She looked up into the green eyes of the pony above her.

“Ah know yer not evil; ya wanna do good. Jus’ keep that in yer head, and everythin’ will be okay,” Macintosh smiled down at her.

“Okay…” Roxanna smiled in return, happy to know that this pony was on her side. The world above didn’t seem like such a dark place anymore; Macintosh was a shining light that proved that there was love and hope in a place, from what she was taught, was only filled with cruelty.

The two gazed out at the lake’s horizon, the Mare in the Moon reflecting perfectly on the water’s surface. Crickets chirped and frogs croaked. A small gust of wind rustled their hair.

Macintosh stood up, the warmth he provided the girl leaving her. “Ah gotta go now. Mah family will start to worry if Ah stay out any longer. Ah’ll be back tomorrow at the same time as tonight. Will… you be here too?”

Roxanna nodded. “Yeah, I’ll come back! Maybe we could bring some special things to show each other, you know, like treasures.”

“Treasures, huh? Yeah, Ah think we could do that.”

The mermaid grinned, pulling herself back into the water. Her dry gills thirstily gulped down water, and Roxanna felt a rush of relief she never knew she was missing, like a breath she was holding too long was finally released and replaced with fresh air. In her case, however, her body was replenished with water. I better not stay out of the lake for too long… Roxanna noted to herself. Just before they were to part, she had one more question to ask Macintosh. “Hey… why did you come here in the first place?”

“Guess Ah was jus’ curious,” he replied. “What about you?”

“Same reason.” The two shared a small chuckle. “Goodbye, Macintosh; I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See ya tomorrow, Roxanna.”

The two departed for the night, Macintosh heading back to the homestead on the farm while Roxanna dove under the waves back to Mordecai’s cavern. The familiar rush of water on her skin soothed her. She swam through her window, cuddling up in her bed under her seaweed blanket. Her excitement from this night had left her restless, but she was exhausted from staying up so late. While her mind prepared dreams of the above world, Roxanna dozed off, more than ready for when night would return and she could see her new friend once again.

~~~

“Roxanna, time to wake up! Breakfast is ready!”

Mordecai’s loud announcement stirred Roxanna from her sleep. She groaned as her heavy eyelids forced themselves open, not rested enough due to her late-night bedtime. Roxanna slowly sat up and yawned, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She swam out to the kitchen and sat at table. Mordecai brought out her dish and placed it in front of her. He noticed how Roxanna leaned against her propped-up arm, her eyes barely staying open as she took her fork to start eating.

“Roxanna, did you not sleep well last night?” He asked, concern in his voice.

“I slept fine; I just didn’t enough of it.”

“Did you stay up?”

Roxanna’s heart raced up a bit. She couldn’t let Mordecai know what she did last night. She knew the consequences she would have to face if he did. “Y-Yeah… I was looking at song spell book.”

“I see. Well, please, no more reading late. Though that will mean that you will be prepared for today’s lesson.”

Most of the lessons Mordecai taught that day were a summary of what Roxanna would be learning from him while she was under his care. She would still be learning the basic academics required of her back home (much to her displeasure), but the study of her newfound magical abilities would be of the main priority.

“The beginner spells that I have been researching for you will be primarily for your protection, such as if you were to run into any sharks or a land creature-”

“Mordecai?”

The elder teacher looked over at his new pupil. “Yes, Roxanna?”

“Are the land creatures here just as bad as the humans at home?”

Mordecai gave a gentle nod of his head. “Why, yes, Roxanna. Of course they are. In fact, I have recently discovered ancient writings of a species that used to inhabit this very lake long ago. From what I could translate, the land creatures here are vicious and cruel. They are like humans, throwing waste into our waters and slaughtering much of our kind, but the worst of all is a great war that caused the divide in this world. The creatures above acted as though they towered and dominated us, taking any risks necessary to prove that they ruled over the oceans and were far superior to any being under the waves. The previous king of the ocean was never acknowledged by the land creatures; they were too infatuated with their land rulers to care about the waters. Many of our beloved sea people were terminated because of the thoughtlessness of those disgusting wastes of life; the pollution that poured from their constant building and so-called ‘improvement’ of their land leaked into our bodies of water, poisoning those within. The great king knew he had to protect and avenge his people, so he used his mighty power to send massive floods throughout the land.”

“Why didn’t he just go to the rulers and tell them he was mad?” Roxanna asks.

Mordecai furrowed his eyebrows. “To go see a land creature in person would be lower yourself to their level. To go see a land creature in person to negotiate would mean to show mercy, Roxanna! They are nothing but pests to our kind, and we must establish that we are the more powerful ones! They may think that they are all high and mighty as we sink to the ocean depths, but trust me when I say that our day will come when all of the land above shall be sunken miles beneath the depths of our oceans, along with any land creature that dares to even think that they are the masters of us!” The old man tightened his grip around a coral staff, a majestic pearl infused on the top. He slammed the bottom of the staff into the ground, causing a small surge of its magic to rush through. Roxanna remained silent. Mordecai took a short period of time to recompose himself. Finally, he continued.

“Anyways, I believe Poseidon has blessed you with your magical voice to end the existence of the land creatures as we know it, both in this world and in ours. The ones above in this dimension possess powerful magic; with the proper training, I believe you will be able to defeat even the strongest of the magic-welders here. You’ll do the merpeople proud, Roxanna. I have faith in you.”

Roxanna sat still in her seat. All of a sudden, regret started creeping into her mind about visiting the shore the night before.