The Tides Have Turned

Chapters

Prologue: On the Beach at Dusk
Chapter 1: Commotion in the Ocean
Chapter 2: The Voices of the Pokémon
Chapter 2.5: Meanwhile...
Chapter 3: How to Train Your Human

Prologue: On the Beach at Dusk

Day 0

The sun set over Sunnyshore City, glinting off of the solar panels that covered the bridges. While the so-called Gateway to the Sinnoh League was bustling with trainers passing through during the day, it was peaceful, almost serene, in the evening. The orange-tinted sky was so clear, it was easy to forget about the thunderstorm the night before.

Jay had a lot of time to himself. His single mother was a freelance Pokémon Doctor, so she was often away on assignments. If things went well, she'd be back within the next hour. Today, she'd been sent to help a Floatzel who got tangled in a fishing net on Route 230. Jay had no interest in becoming a trainer despite almost being old enough to have a Pokémon of his own, but he was fascinated by them nonetheless.

On days like this, Jay liked to sit on the beach, watching the world go by. The sand was still damp, but the breeze was warm. The tide was low, and the sunset illuminated the small waves lapping at the sand.

Jay saw something out of the corner of his eye, near the edge of the beach. It was a rounded, flat Pokémon, whose top half was dark blue, with a pair of antennae that occasionally twitched. Most distinctive of all was the pattern on its back: five yellow rings, arranged roughly in a circle. It was a Mantyke.

Jay gasped as he noticed that this Mantyke's right wing was bent, trapped underneath its body. He realised that it must have washed up on the beach during the storm. How long had it been here?

Jay approached the Mantyke, carefully turning it over to the left to take the pressure of its wing, revealing its light blue underside. Its right wing drooped limply, but thankfully wasn't bleeding.

Jay splashed some seawater over the Mantyke's gills, causing it to stir back into consciousness. He ran back home, which was near the beach, where he rummaged through the shelves until he found a couple of smooth pieces of wood and a tough length of cloth - enough to improvise a splint.

Jay ran back to the beach, and placed the pieces of wood horizontally across either side of the Mantyke's injured wing. He then tied them together using the cloth, being careful not to pull it too tight.

"It's okay," Jay said between heavy breaths, mostly to himself. "You're going to be fine." The Mantyke looked at him hopefully. He tried to lift it up, but it was much heavier than he expected.

"Jay!" A woman shouted. "I'm back!" It was his mother. She knew that Jay liked to spend time on the beach, so she often met him there in the evening.

"Hi mom!" Jay called back. "I'm, um, just doing something right now..."

Jay's mother was about to ask what he was doing, but gasped when she got closer. "Jay, I am so proud of you!" Her warm, brown eyes lit up.

Jay wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Um... Thanks?"

"Okay, so that cloth isn't adequate - there's always a few bandages on the top shelf - and that wood isn't waterproof - but still, you did it! You performed first aid on a Pokémon, all by yourself!" Jay's mother hugged him tight.

"You really think so?" Jay replied sheepishly.

"Of course I do!" She looked down at the Mantyke. "Now, we should take this little one to the Pokémon Center to be patched up."

That night, Jay's mother was tucking him into bed.

"I'm so proud of you for what you did earlier," his mother said. Jay didn't have the heart to say that he was annoyed at how many times she'd praised him. "But I've got to wonder... what compelled you to save that Mantyke?"

Jay looked down, eyelids heavy with tiredness. "Because... it was the right thing to do. Mom, I'd, um... I'd like to be a Pokémon Doctor when I grow up, just like you."

"Really? Why didn't you say so?"

"I wanted to, but I never had the time to. You're always out, and busy, and... I just never had the time to ask." Jay glanced up at the ceiling.

"Really? Well then, I'll start teaching you the basics tomorrow. For now, good night and sleep tight."

"Good night..." Jay mumbled. His mother turned off the light as she left the room.

"Rest now, my dear children, for when you awake a whole new world shall be your home."

Day 1

Off the coast of Equestria was the sea kingdom of Marelantis, a city made entirely of coral that came in a dazzling variety of colours, from pink to yellow to green. The reef was teeming with colourful fish of all shapes and sizes, as well as Marelantis' main inhabitants: thousands of hippocampi, also known as seaponies. They looked rather strange to an outsider, like a mermaid pony, or a literal seahorse. Under the guidance of Queen Oceania, who had dominion over the ocean in the same way that Princess Celestia had dominion over the sun, these seaponies were in charge of taking care of the reef and the fish that inhabited it.

One such seapony was Glimmering Pearl, or Pearl for short. She was fairly young, and had a stringy, purple mane that flowed in several directions like seaweed, a pale lilac coat, and a dull sea-green tail that rapidly fluttered from side to side. Near the edge of the reef, where few seaponies lived, she was inspecting a cluster of sea anemones, being careful not to touch them.

"Okay, so the clownfish population seems stable. That's a relief," Glimmering Pearl sighed. "But what about the sea snakes? I don't like them, but the queen says we have to protect them... Wait, what's this?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Pearl noticed something conspicuous. While most of the corals in this area were yellow, this one was pink and white. Curiously, she swam closer to the coral, only to discovered that it had... a face?

Chapter 1: Commotion in the Ocean

Day 1

The first thing Jay noticed when he woke up was that he was lying face-down on the beach. Which was strange, because he distinctly remembered going to bed the night before.

The second thing he noticed was that the sun was practically burning his back. While Sunnyshore City was the warmest place in mainland Sinnoh, there was no way it would be this hot this early in the morning, in spring.

The third thing he noticed was that he felt... different. Very different.

Jay pushed himself up, blinking sand out of his eyes, and looked around. He was on a sandy beach, surrounded by a bright green sea. He seemed to be on an... atoll? Is that what they were called? Wherever he was, it was much too tropical to be anywhere near Sinnoh. How did he get here?

Then, Jay looked at himself. His arms were much shorter than he was used to, and they were covered in orange fur, with blue fins along each wrist. Gasping in surprise, Jay stumbled over to the water, tripping over in the process. After getting back up, he took a good look at his reflection.

Most of Jay's body was covered in the same orange fur as his arms, but there was a patch of cream that stretched from the lower half of his short-muzzled face to his underbelly. There was a yellow ring around his neck. He turned around to look at his back, and saw two cream spots, and two tails dragging awkwardly along the ground.

There was no mistaking it: he had become a Buizel. But how? And why?

Suddenly, Jay realised that he was alone. "Mom?" he called, but soon realised that searching for her was futile: even if his mother was here, she wouldn't recognise him. He stumbled towards a group of trees - much too small to be called a forest - hoping that at least someone could tell him where he was.

"Hey! Would you happen to know where the heck this place is?" Jay heard a girl yell behind him. He turned around, and saw that she was... another Buizel?

Shocked, Jay stared at her for a few seconds as he struggled to think of a response. "Um... no, sorry," was all he could muster.

"Well, that's helpful..." the other Buizel crossed her arms. "What's your name, then? I've never seen you around before, and I know EVERY Buizel where I'm from."

Jay took a deep breath to calm himself. Now that the initial shock had worn off, he figured that he could understand Pokémon because he was a Pokémon himself now. "My name is Jay," he said.

"Well, my name's Deluge, but you can call me Delle. Pleased to meet you!" Delle held out a paw, which Jay shook awkwardly.

"Thanks, but... Do you know where we are?"

"Nope!" Delle exclaimed quickly. "I just woke up here a few minutes ago. I lived near an island much bigger than this one - I think humans called it the Battle Zone? Just yesterday some nice human lady person saved my dad, and now I can't find him..." Jay had a feeling that he knew who this "nice human lady person" was and almost smiled, but then felt a pang of sadness. "But if I had to guess, I think he'd be in that rocky place down there." She pointed towards the clear sea. "There seems-"

"The reef," Jay added.

"The what?" Delle exclaimed.

"The reef. It's what rocky places like that are called."

"Oh, you mean one of those colourful places where everything lives? Heard of those. Never seen one, though." Delle paused. "Anyway, there seems to be a lot of Pokémon down there. My family might be down there, and even if they're not, I can always ask if anyone's seen them. Who knows, maybe we'll find your mom, too?"

"I guess so..." Jay looked down sadly.

"What's the matter?" asked Delle.

"Oh!" Jay looked up again. "Long story."

"Okay then. Whatever the case, let's go!" Delle dived head-first into the water; after taking a deep breath, Jay cautiously followed her. He expected the water to itch his skin and burn his eyes, but... no. It felt like he could see better underwater than he could on land in this new form. He could see the grooves on unfamiliar shells that littered the seafloor, illuminated by distorted, beaming sunlight. The clear water felt so... inviting!

Ahead of the two Buizel were stacks of ragged, yellow coral, forming an undersea forest that teemed with fish he'd never seen before. Among them were a few Pokémon he did recognise, but had never seen in person, which stuck out like a sore thumb.

He watched Delle swim ahead of him, spinning her tails like a propeller to effortlessly propel her whole body forwards as she darted around the coral. It looked so fun! Jay felt really clumsy behind her, slowly moving his arms in circular motions because he didn't how to move his tails. He had thought that swimming would come naturally, but evidently not.

Jay stopped as he noticed a glow coming from a nearby edge of the reef. It mesmerised him; he couldn't even blink. He slowly swam closer and closer towards it...

"What's taking you so long, Slowpoke?" exclaimed Delle, snapping Jay out of his trance. He realised that she must have turned around to find him.

"That," Jay said, pointing towards the light. Just then, the two heard a shriek.

The two Buizel looked at each other. "Someone must be in trouble!" exclaimed Jay, before the two swam towards the source.

Glimmering Pearl had never seen anything like this.

Back when she was at school, her favourite subject had been the extensive lessons about the ecosystem of the reef. If just one invasive species showed up, the balance would be totally ruined. It would either eat the native species or otherwise out-compete them; either way, with no predators to keep it in check, the invasive species would soon drive countless others to extinction.

This coral-with-a-face was one such example of an invasive species. But how? It didn't look like it could swim. What was even weirder was it seemed like it had just... appeared. It definitely hadn't been there a few minutes ago, and Pearl was very thorough when it came to examining the reef. It was her job, after all.

Still, it was... cute. The coral-thing gave Pearl a confused look.

Pearl swam upwards to get to the centre of the reef and alert the other seaponies of her finding, when she realised that the coral-with-a-face wasn't the only new arrival. The rocks were covered in flat, purple clams with long tongues, and things that looked like brown shields; above, a few bright blue seahorses of different sizes and flat, pink, heart-shaped fish swam around. A blue and purple starfish-looking thing was chasing another coral-with-a-face; neither of them were particularly fast. She could hear unfamiliar, whale-like songs that sounded like they came from miles around.

Pearl came face-to-face with what looked like a dolphin-shaped anglerfish. She briefly wondered what an anglerfish was doing this high up, but soon found herself mesmerised by its round, yellow, bell-like light. It adorable, but not as cute as the coral-with-a-face. It opened its mouth wide in what looked like a smile...

And was promptly tackled out of the way by a sunfish-shaped shark.

Pearl shrieked, cowering in fear, but then noticed that the shark wasn't trying to attack her. Instead, it was... talking to her? At least, it sounded like it was trying too; all she could hear were a series of low-pitched sounds coming from the shark's mouth that sounded like angry yelling. She didn't even know that sharks could make sounds.

She then noticed two orange mammals of some sort swimming towards her, one more confidently than the other.

"That Lanturn was trying to EAT you!" the Sharpedo yelled. "You'd BETTER be thankful that I saved your life!"

Jay and Delle swam towards the commotion. In a yellow corner of the reef, a Sharpedo had just tackled a Lanturn away from... something lilac-coloured, with a green tail, that vaguely resembled a Seadra. Whatever she was, she seemed to be a local.

"Excuse me, Mr. Sharpedo," Delle said, swimming up to the Sharpedo and being careful to avoid his huge, sharp teeth, "I don't know much about a Lanturn's eating habits, but if you want someone to be thankful that you saved their life, yelling at them isn't exactly the best idea."

"Fine..." the Sharpedo sighed before rapidly swimming off. After he was gone, Delle approached the lilac creature.

"Strange dragon, would you happen to know where this place is?" asked Delle.

She got no response.

"Maybe you should try being a bit more polite?" Jay suggested. "I'll try. Excuse me, miss, do you know where we are?"

Still no response. Instead, the "strange dragon" swam away towards the heart of the reef, though she didn't seem to be afraid of them.

"Hey, wait!" exclaimed Delle as she swam after her. Jay followed suit. Since he was a slow swimmer, he got to have a good look at his surroundings.

The reef was filled with Pokémon he'd seen pictures of, but never in person: Shellder and Kabuto were standing on the coral, while a few Horsea, Seadra, Kingdra, and Luvdisc swam about. He spotted an Alomomola in the distance, watching on in concern. A Corsola backed away from a Mareanie in fear, but even more afraid were the locals: as he approached the centre, which was less yellow and more blue, he noticed that there were countless buildings that blended into the reef, and he could see half-scared, half-curious looks on the faces of many strange dragons (until he learned what this species was called, he'd be calling them that) through the windows. It looked like the underwater equivalent of a bustling city centre.

Eventually, he ended up in what looked like a central plaza, where several confused strange dragons swam around. The water here was relatively deep, as the rocks that formed the foundation of the reef were further below. Overlooking this plaza was a magnificent blue palace of some sort, with a balcony hanging over the entrance.

"Took you long enough," remarked Delle, who had her arms crossed.

"So... what have I missed?" asked Jay.

"Not a lot. Just a bunch of these weirdos panicking."

Jay stopped to listen to the commotion in the plaza.

"Oh, the queen, the queen... what will the queen think of this?" a dark blue strange dragon mumbled as he paced back and forth.

"I woke up this morning to find these clams - clams! - all over my kelp garden. I had spent ages growing that!" a silver one yelled.

Even more aggravated than the strange dragons were the Pokémon.

"Just yesterday I was in cold seas, and now I'm somewhere tropical?" a Dewgong complained loudly. "This heat can't be good for my fins!"

"Are they gonna eat me?" a young Lapras asked, retreating under her mother's flipper. It took a moment for Jay to realise that "they" were the strange dragons. Jay had never seen Lapras underwater before; he had only seen them on the surface.

"Of course not, darling," the mother Lapras replied. She began to sing what sounded like a wordless lullaby, that would have been soothing had it not been drowned out by the noise.

"Just where am I? I demand answers!" a Kaputops exclaimed, taking his anger out by hitting his scythe-arms into the rocks that he was standing on.

"Who are you? Where are we? We're in an unfamiliar sea!" a group of Lileep eerily sang in unison. Repeatedly. They sounded like the world's most annoying cheerleaders. Jay had had enough after hearing it the second time.

"SILENCE!" a voice shouted. Everyone turned to see the dark blue strange dragon, who had now swam up in front of the balcony.

"We are not sure what caused the appearance of the strange creatures this morning, but we are currently dealing with them," he continued. "If a creature is causing trouble, do not hesitate to report it to us."

A few strange dragons turned silent and headed towards the palace, where many guard-looking strange dragons were waiting, but everyone else continued talking. One voice in particular caught Jay's attention.

"So, I woke up early this morning, and I was just going about my job in the Yellow Branch, when suddenly, a piece of coral appeared, and - get this - IT HAD A FACE." It was the lilac strange dragon from earlier. She was talking to a bright pink one. "But that's not the weirdest part. This cute kinda-anglerfish, kinda-dolphin thing showed up, and it was SO ADORABLE! And then... I was almost eaten by a SHARK! Then these two orange cuties showed up, just before I came back here, and they drove the shark away. Not sure how they managed it, though. Speaking of which..." She seemed to notice Jay and Delle and turned around.

"Um, excuse me, MISS," Delle said, aggravated. "But if you were LISTENING, then you'd know that the Sharpedo WASN'T trying to eat you. He SAVED YOUR LIFE!"

"...There they are!" the lilac strange dragon exclaimed, completely ignoring what Delle had just said. Delle facepawed.

"I don't think she's intentionally ignoring you," said Jay, stopping Delle from having an outburst. "Do you think that maybe... they can't understand us?"

"But we can understand them... Strange." Delle shrugged. "Whatever this lot are, they can't be Pokémon."

"Oh my gosh, they're so cute!" the pink one gasped. Delle frowned at this. "They remind me of something I saw earlier. They're a lot smaller, though."

"Is she talking about a Floatzel?" Delle's eyes lit up. "That might be my dad!"

"My little sister would love to see them!" the pink one continued. "But..." She looked down sadly.

"What's the matter, Oyster?" asked the lilac one.

"She was poisoned by one of the new arrivals. It was purple, and had a lot of spiky arms in a circle. Have you seen one of those, Pearl?"

"Sounds like a Mareanie!" exclaimed Jay.

"A what?" asked Delle.

"A Mareanie. A predator that lives in tropical seas and mainly eats Corsola branches. Hadn't seen one myself until earlier on today as I was swimming here, but I've heard about them," he replied.

"Nerd," Delle remarked.

The lilac one, whose name was evidently Pearl, shook her head. "I haven't, but your sister needs help ASAP! Can you show me where it was?"

"Not far from where I live, in the Orange Branch. Just follow me," the pink one, whose name was evidently Oyster, replied. She swam off, followed by Pearl, followed by Jay.

"Why are you following them?" asked Delle. "You swim like a human, for crying out loud!"

Well...

"Because... it's the right thing to do." Jay paused. "Um... and we might find your dad!"

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Delle. "Then I'll come with you!"

The Orange Branch, as Oyster had called it, looked like a residential district. It felt humble compared to the blue area and its magnificent palace. A young strange dragon tired to pick up a Shellder in what looked like a front garden, before her mother came and told her to put it down and go back inside. She was the only strange dragon that Jay had seen outdoors in the Orange Branch, in fact. The silence was eerie.

Eventually, Jay was alerted to the sound of a young girl crying.

"There she is," Oyster said. Jay looked down to see a tiny, pinkish-orange strange dragon lying on some rocks outside of one of the houses. Jay saw a purple gash across the base of her tail.

"What happened?" Pearl asked exasperatedly.

"She was just playing outside when she came across that... creature," said Oyster, sounding like she was holding back tears. Jay wondered if it was even possible to cry underwater. "I just went outside to check upon her when I saw it... it plunged a spike on the top of its head into her tail and she started falling... I had to carry her onto this rock to stop her from falling into the abyss. I wanted to help her, but I didn't know how... even our best doctors would have no idea how to treat this..."

Pearl looked furious. "Where's the culprit?" she demanded rhetorically.

"It was just around the corner... whoa!" Oyster exclaimed as Delle quickly swam past her, Jay following suit.

Delle found the Mareanie on an outcropping behind the houses. "Alright, Maree-anie," she said, putting her paws on her hips. "Why did you hurt that girl?"

The Mareanie looked offended. "Well ex-CUSE me! I was just trying to protect my territory, and then this wotcha-ma-call-it showed up! I had every right to attack, thank you very much!"

"Um... Mareanie," Jay said. "I don't know where your territory is, but it certainly isn't here. None of us Pokémon know where we are right now." Wait, did I just say "us Pokémon"?

"Well, I suppose this sea feels weird somehow... but still, she should've known better than to provoke a Mareanie! We're the most feared Pokémon in the sea! Except Gyarados, and Sharpedo, and Wishiwashi, and... well, you get the idea." The Marenie covered his face with his arms and went dormant.

"Well, that's solved," Delle said, smirking, before her expression clouded. "But that doesn't solve the problem. What should we do now?"

"Well..." Jay thought for a moment. "You know how Oyster said that none of the doctors from here would be able to help her sister? Do you think a Pokémon would be able to help her?"

"Good idea," Delle replied. "But what Pokémon should we look for?"

Jay tried to remember what marine Pokémon he knew about. "Um... Alomomola? I saw one earlier. I've heard that they're good at healing, like the Chansey of the sea. They're big, and pink, and have these fins that bend like hands. Do you think we should go looking for one?"

Delle nodded. "Sounds like a plan," she said, before the two swam back the way they came, towards the centre of the reef.

Glimmering Pearl swore that the two orange mammals were intelligent. For one, they seemed to understand what she was saying. As soon as she said that the purple thing was around the corner, they darted off there! She noticed that the one with one spot on its back was a better swimmer than the one with two spots.

Not only that, but they dealt with the purple, venomous creature by... talking to it? At least that's what it looked like to Pearl and Oyster as they watched from a safe distance. She felt a strange sort of respect for them. Despite their small size, they were unafraid of something that almost killed a seapony.

Pearl noticed that the mammals had stopped talking to the purple thing, and started talking to each other in their strange, unintelligible language, before swimming past her and Oyster with determined looks on their faces. Did they just plan something? Whatever it was, she hoped it would save Conch.

Speaking of which... Oyster couldn't take her eyes away from her sister, who was still whimpering in pain. She tried to offer words of comfort, but clearly didn't know what to say.

"Conch... please... you'll be fine... I promise!" Pearl could hear the tears in Oyster's voice. "I just don't know how... but you'll make it! Oh please, please make it..."

After the longest few minutes of her life, Pearl finally saw the two orange mammals swimming back, this time with a lumpy, pale pink, heart shaped fish, almost twice their size, with huge fins.

One of them held a paw in front of the fish, as if telling it to wait, before the two of them swam down to where Conch was and lifted her up, with some difficulty. Oyster looked shocked, but the two seemed to ignore her.

The one with two spots on its back pleaded with the fish, before the fish swam closer and embraced Conch in its dorsal fin, which bent over sideways. It soon lifted it, revealing that the gash was gone. Upon realising that she was healed, Conch excitedly swam into Oyster's forelimbs. The two orange mammals drew closer.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Oyster as she hugged her sister. "Thank you so much!" The fish took one last look at the seaponies before it swam away.

Pearl smiled as she realised that these new arrivals weren't all bad after all, irreversible damage to the ecosystem notwithstanding.

Author's Note

Fun fact: this chapter was almost called "The Weirdest Day of the Rest of Your Life".

Major revisions
28/Jul/2018: Changed the description of Marelantis' Yellow Branch in section 1, added Sunken Treasure's announcement in the Blue Plaza scene.

Chapter 2: The Voices of the Pokémon

Day 1

"Excuse me, but have you seen a Floatzel around here?" Jay asked a cowering Shellder, which was standing in a garden of seaweed.

"N-no... I haven't... s-sorry..." replied the Shellder.

Since they couldn't ask her Oyster where she'd seen a Floatzel, for some stupid reason Deluge still didn't understand, Jay suggested that the two Buizel would have to make do with the next best thing: ask other Pokémon in the Orange Branch. Jay did the talking, of course, just like when they found the Alomomola earlier. She also had to slow down to follow him, which just felt weird. What kind of Buizel wasn't fast?

What was up with Jay, anyway? The poor kid could barely swim, yet he knew more about the sea than she did. He had been separated his mother, but he didn't seem too concerned with finding her. Was he an orphan who had spent his life wandering the sea alone, picking up loads of knowledge along the way? Or was he raised by a particularly smart trainer? If so, where was his trainer? Come to think of it, why hadn't she seen any humans around here? This reef, as Jay had called it, looked like the perfect gawking spot. Thinking about stuff like this made her head hurt...

"No luck there, then," said Jay, shaking his head. "But we can still keep trying, right?" Delle could hear the uncertainty in Jay's voice. It was clear that he was trying to not upset her, but it sounded more like he was trying to not upset himnself. There was no way that Delle would give up on the reason she came here! Especially after what had happened yesterday... Delle shook her head to forget about the bad memory.

Slowing down also made Delle realise how eerily silent this place was. The local weirdos were all huddled inside the eye-searingly bright orange... buildings? Is that what they were? Delle had seen those a few times, but never underwater. Weird. Meanwhile, the few Pokémon they came across were all on their own, in stark contrast to that central place. Delle couldn't decide which was worse: this, or the singing Lileep.

It was so silent, in fact, that Delle could hear a shout in the distance.

"Get them!"

Delle looked over her shoulder, and saw a pair of this reef's weird locals (that's what she'd be calling them for now), both of whom were carrying spiralling seashells she had never seen before. Since the two Buizel were the only Pokémon in the immediate area, they couldn't have been talking about anyone else. But what had they done to deserve being captured? They hadn't done anything wrong. If anyone deserved to be captured, it would be the Mareanie they talked to earlier. He was a prick.

Whatever the case, Delle was a good swimmer, so she would easily be able to outspeed and outmanoeuvre them. Jay, however...

Quickly, Delle grabbed Jay by the wrist, practically dragging him as she swam away from the locals, not even caring where she was going.

"What was that for?" asked Jay.

"Some of the locals are trying to capture us, idiot!" snapped Delle.

"No need to be so harsh..." mumbled Jay, but he quickly became more alert when he saw the locals as well.

"Sorry!" she quickly apologised. "Just hold on!"

Unfortunately, the pair of locals were catching up to them. Delle soon realised that this was because Jay was slowing her down, but she couldn't just abandon him! He hadn't done anything wrong!

Delle noticed a branching path and darted across it, hoping that the locals wouldn't notice her.

Once she was deep enough into the path, she leaned against a wall, before realising that it was too bumpy to lean against comfortably.

"That's a relief," she said. "Let's go back to looking for dad, Jay!" She turned towards him... only to realise that he wasn't there. "Jay?"

Delle realised that she had let go of him when she turned around the bend. She looked down the way she came, and saw that the locals had caught Jay in...

A net.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no oh no OH NO!

They were dragging him to who-knows-where, and she might never see him again, and it was all her fault for not paying attention...

Delle surfaced for air to calm herself. The surface seemed so barren in comparison to the reef, and she started to feel lonely.

Delle assessed the situation. She was going to see Jay again. All she needed to do was follow the locals, making sure they didn't notice her. For once, slow-swimming would come in useful.

Delle dived back into the water again. From her high position, she could see that the pair of locals were taking Jay to the blue centre of the reef. Sincerely hoping that the Lileep had shut up by now, Delle dived down into the corridors of the Orange Branch and chased after pair of locals from a distance, keeping a mental note of where they were headed.

Delle had almost reached the end of the Orange Branch, where it met the centre... and promptly smacked face-first into someone.

"Oh!" exclaimed Pearl. "I was looking for you!" Delle turned towards her, hoping this detour wouldn't take too long. "Sorry if this sounds weird, but... can you understand what I'm saying?" Delle nodded. "And where are you going?" Delle pointed in the general direction of the centre. "Are you looking for your friend?" Delle nodded again. "I saw him being dragged to the palace earlier. I tried to tell the guards that he had helped save Conch's life, but they were too busy to listen."

If Delle was paying attention, she might have realised that Conch was the name of Oyster's little sister, but her mind was too preoccupied to notice that. Instead, she realised that Pearl would be able to convince the guards to let Jay go!

Delle grabbed onto Pearl's... forelimb, whatever it was called, as she swam even faster towards the centre.

"What was that for?" exclaimed Pearl.

From the windows in front of the balcony, a tall, white hippocampus with an iridescent sea-green tail watched over the Blue Plaza with a look of concern. Outside, Queen Oceania could see white seals that looked like they didn't belong anywhere near the tropics, long-necked turtles with bumpy shells, purple sea lilies, and brown arthropods with blades for arms. The echoes of their unfamiliar voices reverberated throughout the ocean like a haunting song.

All day, Queen Oceania's council had been flooded with reports about incidents involving the strange creatures that had suddenly appeared that morning. A pink eel with a long, pointed proboscis had bitten a hippocampus; the Pink Branch had been filled with a seemingly endless amount of orange fish; a ball-shaped whale had gotten stuck between walls of coral and had to be freed.

Marelantis had dealt with incidents like this before - sea serpent attacks were fairly common - but never this many at once.

Queen Oceania had ordered the Royal Guard to capture any of the creatures that seemed to pose a threat to Marelantis, and take them into custody until she figured out where they came from and what to do with them. Until then, they would remain in the lowest floors of the palace.

If anyone knew how to deal with this, it would be Princess Celestia. Queen Oceania was about to write a letter, but she was interrupted when a dark blue hippocampus, with a light blue mane and tail fins shaped like clamshells, burst through the doors.

"Your highness!" exclaimed Sunken Treasure, bowing before her. "Another creature has just been taken into custody! It seems to be the young of the large, orange otter that was captured earlier."

The next thing Jay realised, he was in a spacious, light blue room. The walls were decorated with dark blue, vein-like patterns, and encrusted with seashells and jewels he'd never seen before. It looked pretty... until Jay realised he was in a net.

Memories of the last few minutes came flooding back to Jay. He had been escaping from a couple of strange dragons with Delle, then she let go of him, then a net came out of a seashell...?

Why did Delle abandon him, anyway? Did she not care about his well-being, and only cared about him as long as he could help her find her father? Jay felt a twinge of anger.

...Wait, that couldn't be right. She was clearly concerned about him even when he was slowing her down, and she hadn't even found her father yet.

All Jay knew for certain was that he was trapped in a beautiful prison.

"How did you get here, kid?" a deep voice asked, which caught Jay by surprise. He turned around, too see that it was... a Floatzel?

"Oh, me?" Jay replied, taken aback. "Well... I was in the Orange Branch, looking for someone, and then we got chased by a couple of... Those guys... " Jay gestured towards a strange dragon in the room, who he assumed was a guard of some sort. "I got caught, but I was with another Buizel, and I don't know what happened to her."

"Another Buizel?" the Floatzel asked. "By any chance, was her name Deluge?"

Deluge? Where had he heard that name before? Oh... it was Delle's real name!

"Yes," Jay replied flatly, before something clicked. "Wait... are you her father?"

"Why, yes!" the Floatzel enthusiastically answered. "My name is Torrent. Pleased to meet you!" ,

"Well, Torrent... my name is Jay. Delle and I were looking for you." Jay looked down sadly. "How did you get here, then?"

"She still hasn't outgrown that silly nickname?" Torrent muttered, shaking his head. "I ended up here because I SAVED one of their kind from being stuck under some rocks, but they thought I was trying to attack her! I tried to explain that I meant no harm, but they wouldn't listen to a word I said!"

"Well... that's because the inhabitants of this reef can't understand us," said Jay bluntly.

"I knew it!" shouted a raspy-sounding Kabutops in a cage on the other side of the room. Jay figured this was because he would easily break out of a net. "I tried asking some of those Seadra-looking guys where I was, but what answer did I get? NOTHING!" As the Kabutops slashed at the bars, Jay realised that this was the same one he saw in the plaza earlier.

A Milotic on the same side of the room glared at the Kabutops, her pink head-fins swaying slightly. "Mind your manners," she said in a singy-songy voice. She turned to look at Jay. "My trainer and I awoke just outside of this palace, where the guards immediately mistook us for a threat. We tried to calmly explain to them that we weren't, but when that didn't work, I fired an Ice Beam in their general direction to scare them away. But I didn't actually hurt them!" She flicked her blue-scaled, fan-like tail in annoyance. "I was captured while my trainer escaped, and I don't know where she went."

It took Jay a moment to process everything he just heard, but one thing in particular stood out to him. "Wait, did you say trainer?"

"Indeed I did," replied Milotic. "I didn't recognise her at first..."

Milotic was interrupted by the sound of a hole being punched through one of the walls.

After a few minutes that felt like hours, Deluge and Pearl arrived in the centre of the reef. They both looked up at a lumpy, towering structure made entirely of blue coral. In Delle's opinion, it looked rather boring. The only parts of it that stood out were the light blue lines that criss-crossed it like veins, and seemed to glow. Pearl, meanwhile, was gawking at it in awe.

"This is the Aquamarine Palace," said Pearl. "The most beautiful sight in all of Marelantis!" Pearl seemed to notice that Delle tilted her head. "That's what this place is called, by the way. This magnificent palace is home to Her Majesty Queen Oceania, but it also seems to be where your friend is being held captive."

Just then, the two guards from earlier emerged from the palace's entrance.

"Wasn't there another one?" one of them asked, looking around. Delle quickly darted around to the back of the palace, checking to see if the guards had followed her. Pearl followed her shortly afterwards.

"Yes. Can't find it anywhere, though," the other replied.

That was a close one!

"Good call!" exclaimed Pearl, briefly glancing back at the entrance.

"By any chance, are you two looking for someone?" a calm, yet stern, voice asked. Delle turned around to see that the voice in question belonged to a Pokémon she didn't recognise. Her tan, serpentine body was over eight times Delle's length. A long pair of light blue fins that looked like human hair ran down from her head, and her tail was golden.

"Yeah," replied Delle. "Well, I am, anyway. Pearl here just came along with me. My friend got captured for absolutely no reason whatsoever." She crossed her arms.

"A friend of mine was also captured and taken here," replied the other Pokémon. "She thought it was a good idea to try to attack some hippocampi that thought-"

"Some what?" asked Delle.

"Hippocampi, singular hippocampus, are the inhabitants of this reef. Surprisingly, they have little in common with a Hippopotas."

"What's a Hippopotas?"

"Never mind." There was an awkward pause. "Anyway, Milotic thought it was a good idea to try to attack some hippocampi who thought we were a threat. She can be so reckless..." She shook her head. "Still, it would be a disgrace if I were to abandon one of my comrades!"

"So... How exactly are you planning on rescuing... Milotic?" asked Delle, tilting her head as she said the unfamiliar word. Just then, she caught the faint sound of voices coming from inside the palace.

"I was planning to sneak into the palace when there we no guards around," the other Pokémon replied, "but perhaps your friend Pearl could reason with them instead. Though, it would be rather difficult to form a plan with someone who can't understand you..." The two Pokémon turned to look at Pearl, who seemed to be lost in thought.

Delle swam up to the wall, pressing one of her ears against it to hear where the sounds were coming from. No luck there... or there...

Ah! There it was! She couldn't make out exactly what they were saying, but she could definitely make out the voices of Jay and... Dad!

Delle had heard that coral was easy to break, and judging from how it felt, this was correct. But how would she go around breaking it...?

Delle span her whole body around in a corkscrew motion until she was surrounded by a vortex of water. She then slammed herself into the wall, causing it to crack slightly. She did this again and again, until there was a hole big enough for her to fit through.

"...Or you could just do that."

Jay turned to look at the newly-formed hole in the wall, broken pieces of coral drifting to the floor.

"Delle!" he exclaimed. Delle seemed to notice him, but didn't say anything. She looked confident at first, but as she looked around the room, her expression turned... uneasy? She swam towards Jay's net and desperately tried to pull it apart, but couldn't.

"Jay... I'm sorry," she said through gritted teeth as she tugged at the net. "If I hadn't let you go, none of this would have happened!" She seemed angry at herself.

"You don't need to blame yourself," Jay replied. "It was an accident!" Delle looked slightly surprised.

Just then, the guard on the other side of the room became alert. Jay watched in shock as he lunged towards Delle, pointing his spear directly at her, a look of shock on her face...

Jay could barely watch. He was about to cover his eyes...

When Delle twirled around, expertly dodging the guard's attack, and causing his spear to hit the wall and get lodged in by its point. Jay noticed that this spear was made not of metal and wood, but of seashells.

As the guard tried to pull his spear out of the wall, Delle twirled around and slammed into him, knocking him to the other side of the room and causing him to hit a wall. While the water slowed down the throw, it still looked like it had to hurt, and the guard was dazed.

"That was a bit excessive, Deluge," said Torrent.

"Sorry, dad..." said Delle, before her eyes lit up. "Wait... dad?!"

"I'm glad you're safe," replied Torrent. "More importantly, I'm glad you're here! I was worried about you!"

"Oh!" exclaimed Delle. "That reminds me, Pearl told me that this place is called Marelantis. She's a hippocampus we met earlier - that's what they're called - some Pokémon just told me that." Finally! Jay didn't have to call them "strange dragons" any more!

"Speaking of which, there she is!" exclaimed Delle, as a differently-coloured Milotic swam into the room through the hole.

"Cynthia!" exclaimed the Milotic in the net. The name sounded oddly familiar to Jay, like he'd heard it on TV. "I'm SO glad you came!"

Cynthia looked from the hole in the wall, to the spear embedded next to it, to Delle, to the dazed guard. "Oh dear," she muttered, before turning to Delle. "As I said, if you want to convince hippocampi that Pokémon are not a threat, attacking them isn't the best idea." Cynthia sounded slightly condescending.

"Fine..." Delle muttered.

Cynthia gave Delle a glare, before turning to look at the rest of the Pokémon. "As for the more... pressing issue at... hand," she said, looking at her sides sadly. "How are we going to free all of these Pokémon?"

"I've already tried pulling the nets apart, and that didn't work, so... good question," Delle replied.

Jay looked around the room, looking for a solution. "I know!" he spoke up. "See that Kabutops over there? He could break us out of the nets! But first we'd need to get him out of the cage, but we don't have a key, and we can't melt it, so..." Jay looked down sadly, feeling hopeless. "Wait... Milotic said she knows Ice Beam! She could freeze the cage, then someone else could shatter it!"

Upon hearing this, Milotic released a straight beam of ice from her mouth. Most of it didn't go through the net, instead freezing the fibres. Jay looked at the other Milotic.

"Um... Cynthia?" he asked, catching her attention. "Would you mind doing that?"

"I'm not so sure," she said. "I'm still an amateur when it comes to moves."

"The greatest trainer in all of Sinnoh, calling herself an amateur?" exclaimed Milotic, earning her several confused looks. "Go on, try! You've seen me perform Ice Beam countless times. I can always help you hone your skills later, but for now, this is our only chance." She proudly placed her blue tailfin against her front.

Wait a minute... THAT'S why Jay recognised Cynthia's name! Which meant... he wasn't the only Pokémon here who used to be a human!

"I suppose so." Cynthia nodded, before releasing her own, rather jagged, Ice Beam onto Kabutops' cage. She then struck the frozen metal with her tail, freeing him.

"Thank you!" shouted Kabutops. "But how are you a trainer?"

"It's a long story," replied Cynthia.

Kabutops went around the room, slicing apart the nets with his scythe-like forelimbs. Jay was one of the last Pokémon to be freed. He flinched as his net was torn apart, worried that Kabutops might strike him by accident, but was grateful afterwards.

Once all of the Pokémon had been freed, the guard became alert again. He stared at the events that had just unfolded in complete and utter shock, before fleeing the room. The Pokémon all stared at the door in silence, wondering what would happen next.

Queen Oceania had just finished writing her letter to Princess Celestia, when a silver hippocampus burst into her room.

"Your majesty, the creatures... They've freed themselves!" he shouted.

"Really?" asked Queen Oceania, rhetorically. "Show me."

After a few minutes that felt like seconds, Jay stared as the guard returned, along with a very tall hippocampus. She looked at the hole in the wall, the shattered cage, and the shredded nets littered all over the floor with concern. The Pokémon didn't dare to move.

"What happened here?" she asked in a motherly tone.

The guard pointed at Delle. "That one broke down the wall, and tried to pull apart that one's net." He pointed at Jay, while Delle looked furious. "Since it posed a threat, I tried to attack it, but it ended up attacking me instead!" The tall one looked appalled. "I passed out, and when I awoke, the brown thing was free and had torn apart all the nets!" Kabutops awkwardly hid his arms behind his back.

"That does seem strange..." said the tall one. "How did it break out of its cage?"

"I haven't a clue, your majesty," the guard replied.

"I see..." The tall one paused to think. "For the time being, I order that these creatures should not only be recaptured, but restrained - especially the two you mentioned. We cannot rule out the possibility that they are a threat to the safety of Marelantis."

"NO!" Delle shouted. She tried to lunge forwards, but was stopped by Jay placing a paw on her shoulder.

"Don't," he shout-whispered. "You'll only make the problem worse."

"WAIT!" someone shouted. Jay turned around to see Pearl squeeze herself through the hole.

"Your majesty... You don't know the full story!" Pearl shouted, bowing in respect. "I can't vouch for the others, but the orange ones mean no harm!"

"Please could you elaborate?" asked the tall one. Considering that other hippocampi called her "majesty", Jay figured she was the queen.

"I was about to!" shouted Pearl, earning her a stern look from the queen. "Sorry. Anyway, those two were among some of the first creatures I met. They followed me for a bit, and overheard my friend Oyster telling me that her sister had been poisoned by another one of those creatures. Despite not knowing who we were, despite having no obligation to help us, they decided to save Conch! Okay, some big pink thing they found did the saving for them, but still. The point is, not only can these creatures be benevolent, but they can even understand us!"

"I see," replied the queen. "But if they were benevolent, why would one of them attack a guard?"

"The one who attacked the guard was looking for her friend, who had been captured for no reason." Delle nodded in agreement. "Of course, I don't know the full story, so how about you ask them?" The queen looked confused. "You can cast a translation spell, right?"

"Yes..." The queen turned to the guard. "Fetch me my trident." He left, and returned a few minutes later with what looked like the world's largest, fanciest fork, and gave it to the queen. The tips of it glowed, causing a wave of... magic, Jay figured, to spread across the room.

The queen swam closer to Delle and looked her in the eye. "Tell me everything, little one," she said, in a slightly condescending tone.

An aggravated Delle was about to speak, but Jay interrupted her, his heart pounding. "Um... I'll do the talking."

"Go on, then," said the queen.

And so Jay explained everything, about how he woke up on the atoll that morning not knowing where he was, about how he met Delle, about how they were looking for Torrent, about how they saved Conch, about how most of the Pokémon here had been unfairly captured, about the plan to free everyone.

"I see... since most of you are innocent, you can go off free," she said. "But!" She banged her trident on the floor. "This one - Delle - shall still be punished for property damage and assault." Delle looked ashamed, but didn't say anything. "I have to ask though, Jay... what is the meaning of the word 'Pokémon'?"

"Oh! Um..." In Jay's entire life, he'd never had to explain what Pokémon were. Explaining his day was one thing, but explaining something he had always taken for granted, to a queen? He couldn't find the words.

"Allow me to explain," Cynthia spoke up. "We are all Pokémon. Pokémon are highly powerful, elemental beings that come in all shapes and sizes, but they... we all have one thing in common: a strong desire to grow stronger by battling. Don't worry, though: most Pokémon won't attack unless provoked." She named the species of every Pokémon in the room.

"Very well," said the queen. "My court and I will discuss how to integrate you into Marelantis. In the meantime, I must issue an apology to all of you Pokémon who were unfairly captured."

The guard began reluctantly guiding the rest of the Pokémon out of the palace. Delle, of course, had to stay behind, but Torrent promised that he'd wait for her. Jay turned to Pearl.

"Thank you," he said.

"Why are you thanking me?" she replied. "I should be thanking YOU!"

That night, Jay returned to the atoll, struggling to fall asleep under a sky of unfamiliar constellations. He absent-mindedly rubbed two sticks together, hoping to create a spark, to no avail.

Something moving in the moonlit water caught his attention. It was Delle, who clambered onto the shore.

"There you are!" she exclaimed. "My punishment was that I had to fix the wall. It wasn't that bad, really. What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to light a fire."

"What's a fire?"

"Never mind..."

"Jay, I came here to ask... My dad's over at this island that he woke up on, not far from the Orange Branch. Would you mind staying with us tonight?" Delle asked.

"No thanks," Jay yawned. "I don't want to spend ages getting there at this time..."

"That's okay," Delle replied. "But you could always meet up with us tomorrow! Maybe we could help you find your mom?"

"Delle..." Jay sighed, staring down at the sand. "Remember Cynthia earlier, and how that Milotic called her a trainer?" Delle nodded. "Well... the truth is... she's not the only one here who used to be a human. I was, too..."

Delle gasped, and just stared at Jay for a solid few seconds. "Really? Well... that would certainly explain why you swim like one."

"Not funny," Jay sulked. "You can teach me how to swim tomorrow. The point is, if my mom's here, then she's probably a Pokémon too, so we wouldn't recognise each other. And that's assuming that she's here in the first place..."

Delle looked puzzled, as if she didn't know how to respond. "Well... that's a shame. Still, would you mind if I met up with you tomorrow?"

"Sure..." Jay replied.

Jay watched as Delle jumped into the water. She waved goodbye, and he waved back, before she dived beneath the surface.

As Jay fell asleep, he stared up at the vast, starry expanse, wondering if this whole day was a strange dream.

Author's Note

While I was writing chapter 1, I made a playlist of music to listen to for inspiration. (Links are barely visible in author's notes, wow.)

I'm trying to keep this story at an E rating, but it may change to T at some point.

I barely ever write canon characters. Have I written Cynthia well?

I've tweaked this chapter several times since it was published. I originally rushed the last parts because I was about to go out.

Major revisions
29/Jul/2018: Removed the part about Cynthia becoming Queen Oceania's adviser because it felt too abrupt. I'll save it for later.

16/Aug/2018: Removed the first paragraph and moved it to chapter 2.5.

Chapter 2.5: Meanwhile...

Day 1

On a tropical island in the Marelantic Ocean, a seafoam-green earth pony colt frowned at a very tall palm tree. If Palm Pebble were a pegasus, he would be able to fly up and reach the coconuts; if he were a unicorn, he would be able to pick them with his magic. But he was neither, so he only had one option: ramming into the tree to cause the coconuts to fall down. It hurt a little, but it got the job done.

Palm Pebble ran into the tree, but no coconuts fell down. Instead, the tree... moved? Shaking his wavy mane out of his face, he noticed that the tree had legs and a tail, and its coconuts had faces. Further down the beach, he saw a pink, bipedal... thing yelling at some kind of insect.

Palm Pebble spent most of the morning watching the pink thing and the insect have what looked like a conversation, even though he couldn't understand a word of it, until he remembered that he was supposed to get coconuts from legless, faceless trees. So he did.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder what the creatures had been talking about. A unicorn could cast a translation spell, but there were no unicorns on Hibiscus Island, and only one pegasus.

On the southwestern coast of Hibiscus Island, there was a village. It consisted of huts made from the wood of palm trees, surrounding a bonfire that was lit every night. It was a peaceful place where everypony knew everypony, and the creatures that appeared that morning had done little to disturb that peace...

For the most part.

That afternoon, Palm Pebble was looking at the fruit stalls in the north of the village. Every morning, ponies would leave their produce in crates there. His mouth watered. There were pineapples and papayas and starfruits and mangoes and mangosteens that moved... Wait, what?

Upon closer inspection, he noticed that one of the mangosteens was bright pink instead of dark purple, and had a smiling face. Odd. It must have been another one of those creatures. As soon as it noticed Palm Pebble, it bounced towards the jungle in the east.

Suddenly, Palm Pebble heard a rocking sound coming from a crate to his left. He turned to see a pale yellow creature with huge, triangular ears emerge from the starfruit crate, the stains of various juices surrounding its mouth. It was holding up the ripest starfruit with joy, but its joy soon turned to shock as it noticed him.

The thief shoved the starfruit into its mouth and leaped out of the crate, knocking it over and spilling starfruits all over the ground in the process. While several ponies rushed to clean up the mess, Palm Pebble chased after the thief as it ran into the jungle on all fours.

At the edge of the jungle, there was a log, that had become covered in moss over the years. The thief effortlessly jumped over it, and Palm Pebble followed suit... but slipped and fell flat on his face on the other side. The thief stopped to laugh at him, it seemed, before running off again. Palm Pebble decided to call it "Rascal".

Picking himself up, he saw Rascal look around, swivelling its ears. It then ran towards a broad tree, picking up a blue ukulele that was propped up against its base, and began to play it... badly. It strummed back and forth, not even trying to play a melody.

Curiously, Palm Pebble slowly stepped forwards to get a closer look. He noticed that Rascal wasn't strumming at all, but instead the guitar was glowing slightly. Was this creature capable of unicorn magic?

Palm Pebble looked around, and noticed that, despite Rascal's lack of talent, it attracted quite an audience. All sorts of creatures came to watch it, from the pink mangosteen from earlier, to several parrots with music notes for heads who were perched in the branches above.

Suddenly, Rascal stopped playing and put the ukulele down. It ran towards Palm Pebble on all fours, its cheeks sparking. He tried to back away, but Rascal leaped twice its height into the air, screaming as it surrounded its body with electricity before launching a bolt at Palm Pebble.

The last thing Palm Pebble saw before passing out was Rascal falling back to the ground, landing on its back.

When Palm Pebble came to, the first thing he heard was the sound of furious wingbeats. He opened his eyes to see the same yellow insect he saw on the beach earlier, its shiny, black eyes staring at his face. It said something in a high-pitched, soft voice that sounded like a question. Palm Pebble didn't know how to respond, and after a few seconds, it fluttered away towards the pink thing he'd also seen earlier, who had been watching over a now-standing Rascal.

The pink thing (Pinky, he'd call it) approached Palm Pebble, with the insect fluttering above her shoulder. He realised that Pinky was over twice his height, and it bent down to check one of his forelegs. He yelped in pain as she touched it, and he noticed that most of his fur was singed. Pinky tried to ask him something, too, in a high-pitched voice that wasn't as soft, but still sounded gentle. Palm Pebble just stared blankly at Pinky, causing it to look frustrated, before it let go of his foreleg turned to talk to the insect.

After about a minute of conversation, Pinky turned back to Palm Pebble. She touched his singed fur and closed her eyes in concentration, before a wobbly, pink wave spread out from her hands, un-singeing his fur and removing the pain. Palm Pebble had figured out that Rascal used electricity to "play" the ukulele, but this had to be magic. What else could he call it?

After it had finished, Pinky stood up and smiled, accentuated by its blue eyes. Palm Pebble just stared, not knowing how to respond. He could thank it, but did it even understand his language? He didn't know. Instead, he smiled and waved, before heading back to the village.

As he left, he heard something that made him briefly turn around. Rascal was... crying? He wanted to go back and comfort it, but he didn't know how he could help.

That night, after Palm Pebble had told everypony around the bonfire the story of how Pinky had saved his life, he decided to take a walk on the beach. Normally, there were no ponies around, just the sounds of lapping waves and the chirping of (ordinary) insects. Even tonight, the only thing that had changed was that there were a few walking palm trees, but they all kept still.

On the far side of the beach, he saw Pinky and the insect again. Keeping his distance, he saw Pinky staring at its reflection in the ocean despondently, while the insect tried to cheer it up. Eventually, the insect landed on the sand, its single pair of wings dropping. What were they upset about?

Palm Pebble wandered back to the village, hoping he'd learn the answers soon.

Author's Note

This was originally going to be at the beginning of chapter 3 and take place on day 2, but then I realised it would be better as a continuation of the scene at the beginning of chapter 2 on the same day, and that chapter 3 might have ended up being even longer than chapter 2, before I decided to split day 2 into two chapters.

Major revisions
Moved the first paragraph of chapter 2 to here.

Chapter 3: How to Train Your Human

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.