A seapony's Heartstrings

Chapters

A picture is worth a thousand words...
when you're in distress
simply signal S.O.S!
Call upon the Sea Ponies
coming to terms
Helpful as can be ponies

A picture is worth a thousand words...

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

Archivist pony's note; I have done my best to translate the Sea pony's strange utterances for the benefit of the reader. However, in order to keep the exotic flavor of thier speech patterns, I have chosen to leave the Sea Pony euphemisms- 'hip', 'funky', 'far out' and so forth- in for the reader's benefit.

There are many strange things in this world of talking ponies, many unusual creatures of every shape, size, and description. One fact that stands without dispute, is that the surface of this land is home is the home of ponykind. Earth ponies and unicorns, flutter ponies and Pegasus... all trot along happily on the green earth, and play under a warm sun.

But far beneath the waves- beneath the lakes and streams that dominate the countryside- they are home to ponykind, as well. Not the land ponies, who prefer the soil under their feet, or the sky ponies, who prefer wind under their wings. No, these places were the domain of the sea ponies- fin bearing equines who long ago abandoned the surface to their land-dwelling cousins. Magic had adapted them to their new lives far under the waves, and few of them saw any reason to look back to the land with any regret.

It was the middle of a sunny afternoon, when three Sea Ponies were to be seen splashing their way through the Rainbow River. At their lead was Seawinkle, the blue mare with a pink mane. The duchess of the sea ponies, she commanded all the aquatic equines in her freshwater dominions. Behind her swam Wavedancer and Sealight, her two mares-in-waiting, who were always by her side.

"Try ta keep up, gals!" Seawinkle called back to the two ponies behind her. "We're almost home ta our hip and humble abode!"

"We can dig it!" The two sea ponies giggled, following their lady downstream.

As the three sea ponies swam their way towards Rainbow Lake, they noticed several land ponies on shore and in their fishing boats, who waved at the aquatic equines as they passed.

"Hiya, ponies!" The three called out in greeting. "Hope ya havin' a groooovy day!"

Sadly, all the ponies in the boats and along the shore heard was "Shooby Doo! Shoop Shoopy Doo!" coming from the Sea Ponies mouths. Shaking their manes at the silly sea ponies, they went back to their picnics and rowing.

Poor Surface dwellers, Seawinkle thought to herself. Their ears cannot pick up the sub harmonics in seapony song, and they were unable to understand underwater communication. Oh, the sea ponies could still speak the surface tounge easily, of course. But it was sad that their land cousins could not talk to them in their own tongue.

"Seawinkle! We're comin up on the river's guardian!" Wavedancer called out, the pink mare with the blue mane veering off to the left. The duchess nodded, and followed suit.

It was then that the came up to the spot, where the river poured into the Rainbow sea. As they rode the waterfall over into the large body of water, a long purple serpentine form rose from the water, greeting the mares with a fanged smile.

"Oh hellooooooo, ladies!" The blonde sea serpent called out to them, waving a claw in an effeminate manner. "Good to see you home! Your manes look faaaabulous, as always!"

The ancient guardian of the Rainbow River, Scaleclaw had been around in the time of the harmony bearers. The festive water dragon was fond of telling the tale of how they helped him repair his moustache once.

"Why thank ya, Scaleclaw!" Sealight whinnied back. "And your groovy stache is lookin' totally groovy!"

"Why thank you, darling!" Scaleclaw replied in a lisp "But you're only saying it because it's true!"

As the three ponies swam past the sea serpent, they swam out into the center of the small sea. Thousands of sea ponies swarmed around different levels of the water, who turned and bowed as Seawinkle passed them. Heading for the very center of the sea bed, they swam towards a large, pink undersea castle with many towers and turrets rising from it's sides. The duchess smiled- Mermaid castle might not be particularly large or ornate, but to the seaponies, it was home.

"Welcome home, Duchess!" A white pony called up to her, lowering the clamshell-styled drawbridge. "Did you have a hip visit with the land pony emissaries?"

"As well as could be expected, Sea Mist. Loud, noisy, and full of those jive talkers we call politicians." Seawinkle replied swimming down the pink and blue hallway, to her main audience chamber. The leader of the sea ponies swam up to her throne. "Tell me, what went down while I was rappin with the surface ponies?"

"Well, Sea Breeze got a new crop of kelp for the fall harvest, so we'll have a far out food supply this year!" Sea Mist whinnied. "Oh, and the Sea pony trio signed a twelve record deal with Canterlot music! I just can't believe how much land ponies love our singing!"

"Sounds like things were totally hip while I was away!" Using sea pony hydrokenesis, she levitated her shell brush up to comb her magically waterproofed mane. "By the way, where are my husband and daughter?"

"Duke Kelpie is still away at the ocean, huntin' gator ponies." Sea Mist replied, tossing her red mane. "As to little Sea Star, she and Whitecap took the Dolphin Carraige to explore the wrecks along the ocean shoreline."

"That's a funky trip for such a tiny pony to take!" Seawinkle replied in a worried tone. "Still, if she took Whitecap and the Carriage with her, my baby should be simply groovy!"

...

"My lady! Please slow the carriage down!" A terrified Whitecap cried out, holding on to the side of the large conch shell for dear life with her fins. "I'm about ta loose the kelp I had for breakfast!"

The Dolphin Carriage rocketed along the ocean floor, with a giggling baby sea pony driving heavily on the reigns.

"Aw c'mon, Whitecap!" Sea Star laughed. "Don't be such an old fuddy duddy!"

The little sea pony pulled back on the reigns, causing the dolphin pulling it to a sudden stop.

"Aieeee!" Whitecap screamed, as the sudden jolt sent her flying out of the carriage, and hurling through the water. "Couldn't you work on your stops, little sister? I almost had a really funky landing!"

"Awww, lighten up, Whitecap!" Sea Star giggled, petting the dolphin steed with her tiny fin. "Reese was just having a little fun... wern't you, Reese-weese?"

"Reese-weese?" Whitecap snorted sarcastically. "Oh, brother, what jive you talkin, sister!"

Before the royal governess could even catch her breath, her charge had already swam into the porthole of one of the ships.

"My lady!" The white pony with a purple mane cried, swimming up to a hole in the port side. "Please, wait for me!"

Swimming through the holes in the ship's floors, Whitecap made her way down to the cargo hold.

"Wow, just look at this thing! It's an old Equestrian Galleon!" She whinnied excitedly, darting from artifact to artifact. "This gold harp has markings from the Trottingham foalharmonic on it! And this statue of Princess Luna has eyes that feel like they're looking right at you!" She swam around in a circle excitedly. "Who knows what else this thing was carrying went it went down!"

Sea Star was surprised, when Whitecap failed to respond with her usual complaining. Swimming over to where her governess was floating, the little Duchess found her staring at a large portrait, still hanging on the ship's intact hull.

"Whooooooaaaaaa!" Sear Star whinnied, looking up at the portrait in awe. "Who in the heck is that?"

It was a blue unicorn mare with a blue mane, and a white streak going through both. She was reclining in an alluring position, grinning out at the viewer with a mysterious smile. The sea pony foal then noticed something about the portrait.

"Hey, what that picture of a Lyre on her flank for?" Sea Star asked her governess. "I've seen other land pony images with those, too!"

"That's a cutie mark, Sea Star." Whitecap replied, "It's a magical brand that appear on land ponies when they discover their special talents. Our ancestors had them, once."

"Oh! Kind of like the scale patterns we get, when we discover our special talents!" Sea Star exclaimed. "I just thought land ponies got tattoos on their butts!"

Whitecap simply laughed at that, then looked back at the Lyre-bearing unicorn. "I wonder who she could be?"

"She looks a lot like my mom, if ya ask me!" Sea Star snorted. "Though this sister does have a slightly lighter coat!"

"Hmmm...I do think you're right." Looking at the picture, Whitecap did notice a resemblance between the blue pony in the portrait, and Duchess Sea Winkle. "Maybe we should get this picture back to-"

It was then, that the two of them noticed a fell chill in the water, and realized that they were not alone.

"W-what's that cold?" Sea Star whinnied in fear. "Sister, something's not right..."

"Oh no... the merponies..." Whitecap snorted, speaking the name of the sea ponies hated rivals. "They must have felt ouir presence here, we're too close to their territory!"

"We gotta get outta here, sister!" A terrified Sea Star shrieked. "Before the merponies sends one of their pets after-"

A massive grey and white shark suddenly smashed through the hull, tearing after the two sea ponies with fangs bared. The two aquatic equines shot away from the wreck, the beast in hot pursuit. Augmenting their swim speed with hydrokenesis, the pair were able to keep well ahead of the underwater eating machine.

"Get to the chariot!" Whitecap cried out, speeding ahead. "We'll have to come back for the portrait later!"

The two ponies made a beeline towards the chariot. But the loyal dolphin steed saw the shark coming, and dove in to save his masters.

"Reesee! No!" Sea Star cried out, as the squeaking dolphin charged at the shark. The two bodies tore into each other, in a vicious pinwheel of teeth and blood.

"We gotta save him!" The little duchess started swimming towards the fight, but her governess held her back. "We can't just leave him here to-"

"No, child! It's too dangerous!" Whitecap swam back towards the river, towing her young charge along by hydrokenesis. "We have to use his sacrifice to get you back to the fresh water, we have no choice!"

"Reesee! NOOOOOOOO!" The little filly wailed, as her governess towed her back inland.

...

"How's the little one taking it?" Duchess Seawinkle inquired, swimming up from her throne.

"She's devastated, my lady." Whitecap whinnied sadly. "That dolphin was like a sibling to her. I'm sorry I didn't stay and defend Reese, my lady."

"You did what you had to do. Any longer in that salt water, and both of your gills would have become corroded." Seawinke swim-paced in front of her throne.

"How dare the meponies send one of their sauhaguin pets after your daughter, my lady!" Sealight hissed, floating to the right of the throne. "Those costal waters are ours by treaty!"

"We cannot let this go unpunished!" Wavedancer snorted. "Once Duke Kelpie returns, we'll go to arms, and bury those saltwater-sucking fiends!"

"Chill, ladies, chill!" Seawinkle told her two ladies in waiting. "We must fully grasp this funky situation, before any unhip actions are taken! Now, you say there was a portrait of a land pony that looked like me!"

"Yer diggin it, my lady!" Whitecap nodded. "We were gonna float the thing back here but we got attacked first, ya dig?"

"I dig yer jive, sister!" Seawinkle agreed. "I have a feelin' my look-alike has something ta do with this mystery."

"What shall we do, my lady?" Sea Mist inquired.

"Time for a rap session with the surface ponies." Seawinkle snorted. "Time ta find out just who this 'Lyre' pony is!"

when you're in distress

When you're in distress

"Sea Star, honey...." A sea pony mare's voice echoed through Mermaid Castle. "Sea Star... are ya in here?"

A worried Seawinkle swam her way into her her daughter's room, hoping to comfort her grieving daughter. The room was a mess- with coal and shells and clothing thrown about. The little one was right in the center of her clamshell bed, curled up in a ball. A stab of pain shot through Seawinkle's heart, as she saw her daughter there on her kelp mattress, crying her eyes out.

"Little one, are ya goin' ta be all right?" Her mother asked, swimming over to her side, and caressing her mane with a fin. "I'm here, if ya need someone ta jam with!"

"W-why?" the sobbing filly finally spoke. "Why did dolphin have to die? He was only trying to protect us!"

"He gave his life to protect ya, little one!" Seawinkle's tears were not visible underwater. "You were just that groovy to her!"

The little filly looked up at her mother. "Why did the merponies pet have to be so mean?" She cried. "All we were doing was looking around!"

"I wish I knew, little one." She lay down on the bed beside her crying daughter, and stroked her mane. "I wish I knew..."

...

"Enough jive talkin' over what the merponies did!" Sealight, the head mystic and shamaness of the seapony tribe, snapped angrily. "Surf Dancer... you're our undersea head of pony intelligence! What have your sources uncovered?"

Several mares were gathered in Mermaid Castle's council chambers, deliberating one how do deal with this outrageous assault on a member of their royal family. Most of these aquatic Equines were whinnying for war, but cooler heads among the council were urging for caution. With the Duchess currently busy attending to her grieving foal, it fell to Seakight to preside over this gathering.

"Well, according to my sources, the sunken ship that our little duchess was exploring is a sacred place to the merponies!" Surf Dancer replied. "Her intrusion into the vessel was seen as a desecration in their eyes, and a literal act of war!"

"But why would a rotting, petrified wreck at the bottom of the ocean be holy to those scale tailed fiends?" Whitecap spat. "Probably another merpony trick, to justify thier violent action, and entice us to lower our defenses!"

"Actually, they claim that ship was the vessel that brought the 'great matron' to them, when it went down." Surf Dancer replied. "She is credited with being the foundation of merpony civilization, and chief architect of their entire culture."

"Yeah yeah, I am well aware of the tales of the great Merpony Matron." Wavedancer waved a fin dismissively. "She was the adversary of the hip and far out Seapony Sister, the first leader of the sea ponies!"

Every mare floating around the council table knew that tale well- how the Merpony Matron and Seapony Sister had been rivals for the friendship of the great Pony Songstress... and thier heated rivalry had led to her death. Both the Matron and the Sister had each blamed the other for the loss of the great Songstress... and Sea Ponies and Merponies had hated each other ever since.

"Do you believe the portrait Sea Star found in the sunken ship may be a clue to solving this mystery?" Sealight asked. "Also, has any though been given ta rappin' with the merponies, about this whole funky fiasco?"

"Sea Winkle's leadin' a team ta Dream Valley, ta have the land ponies look into this 'mystery mare." Whitecap whinnied. "While I'll be takin a jaunt ta the Merpony kingdom ta listen ta their jive talkin!"

"Good! I hope we can get this far-out problem solved, before Duke Kelpie and the stallion get back from their seasonal gator pony hunt!" Wavedancer replied nervously.

"The Duke will never be willing to reason or negotiate with the Merponies."Sealight finished. "We have two weeks ta solve this, before a wave of seapony testosterone, washes us all away in a red tide a' war!"

...

In a far away stronghold, deep beneath the ocean waves, a very different sort of Aquatic equine was holding a meeting over the events that had occurred on the sunken ship. In a bleak and dreary dining hall, a council of six merpony mares- all clad in the scale armor of their warlike race- debated and deliberated over further action against this unholy treaty violation.

"This is an outrage!" Seaspray hissed, stamping her front hoof on the table in front of her. "Those silly Seaponies have violated one of our most sacred places, and must be punished of their atrocities!" An angry yellow mare with a pink mane, she was the kingdom's supreme military commander.

"Now just calm yourself down, my good general!" Queen Wavebreaker, the pink merpony with the purple mane, snorted at her chief military officer. "We do not even know if the Sea ponies realized their actions were a violation of one of our holy places!"

The mares surrounding the table were split between the opinion on what to do about the recent Sea Pony action. They had desecrated the vessel of the Mer-matron, the holy heroine who had saved the merponies from the brink of destruction.

"It is yet another trick by the fiendish Sea Ponies! We all know those hoofless freaks have always been against our tribe!" Seaspray snapped, addressing all of the assembled merponies. "As you all know, it was they, who drove us out of the clean and fresh waters of Equestria so long ago, banishing us to these salty and frigid waters! It was only the arrival of the great matron from the surface, that allowed our herd to survive!"

"Stay your tongue, Seaspray!" Wavebreaker snorted. "I will not condone your warlike rhetoric! It is a wonder you have not yet taken an action that would lead us to war!"

"That is incorrect my queen!" Seaspray smiled darkly. "I had already sent a Sahuaguin from the shark pits to deal with the intruders, as soon as their presence was detected!"

"You did WHAT?!?" The queen whinnied in shock. Several voices of protest arose from the other council members. "Were any sea ponies killed in the attack?"

"Unfortunately no, my queen!" The general snorted. "But we did manage to kill one of their pathetic dolphin servants!"

"Seaspray, you fool! " The queen snapped. "Your actions may have put us on a course that leads to violence and bloodshed!"

"Worry not, my queen!" Seaspsray bowed to her superior. "Before we are done with this whole affair, you shall see my actions were justified!"

"For all of our sakes, general...." The queen replied. "...I hope you are wrong!"

.....

"Mama, if yer goin ta Dream Valley, I wanna go with you!"

The little sea pony duchess had washed away her tears, and was eager to help solve the mystery that had led to her friend's death. Her mother, however, was not as eager to have her along.

"Sorry hun, but I'm not riskin yer hide after what just happened!" Sea Winkle exclaimed. "You'll be safer here, with Whitecap watchin' over ya!"

"But mama, this is all my fault!" The little filly protested. "If I hadn't been groovin' around in that shipwreck, then non a' this woulda happened!"

"Sea Star, honey.... it's not your fault the merponies acted in such a funky manner!" Her mother assured her. "Don't ever think your hip little friend's passing was because of anything you did!"

"Yes, mama." Sea Star replied, as Seawinkle kissed her forehead, and swam out the door. After her mother had gone, however, the filly swam up to the window, and out and away from mermaid castle.

Sneaking her way stealthily away from the royal palace, Sea Star made her way to the far side of the lake, towards the residential district, where the common sea ponies lived. Here, among the cluster of coral houses all joined together, were several little friends that the small duchess had made.

"Sea Shimmer! Splasher! Are you here?" The little filly called out. Up from the residences came two other little fillys, who smiled and giggled, swimming in a circle around her.

"Heya, Sea Star!" Sea Shimmer, the yellow filly with the greenish-blue mane, greeted her. "Good ta see ya!"

"How've ya been, sister!" Splasher, the blue filly with the purple mane, agreed. "Have another adventure ready for us to go on?"

"Heya, girls!" Sea Star giggled. "I have a hip trip for us ta go on, and you aren't gonna believe what's at stake!"

"Are ya breakin' the rules ta go out?" Splasher whinnied.

"And could ya get in trouble for goin' out with us?" Sea Shimmer inquired.

"Yep! That's the funky situation, sisters!" Sea Star replied with a grin.

"Then count us in!" The two replied in unison.

"Then lets go!" Sea Star exclaimed. Together, the three baby sea ponies swam off towards the great and foreboding ocean.

....

A thousand years in the dim, near forgotten past...

The little unicorn filly levitated one of her crayons up, and finished coloring one of the dolphins on the page blue. Sea Swirl loved dolphins, almost as much as she loved the sea. She hoped she would have the opportunity to see both someday.

"Little sister! I'm home!" Came out of the kitchen, as the filly heard the door to the apartment open and shut.

As Lyra Heartstrings trotted into her apartment, she turned on the light, and looked around the room. This place could be ever so quiet and dreary at times... but still it was a warm and inviting place to come back to... it was home.

"Big Sister! You're back!" Sea Swirl came galloping into the room. The little foal with the mulberry coat and blue mane rushed up and hugged the teen filly. "How was your day at school?"

The blue filly with the white and blue striped mane smiled at her sister. Ever since their mother had died, Lyra had brought her little sister up by herself- just two ponies against the world. Ponyville's authorities had allowed the teen to raise the child, instead of putting her in a foster home. Not yet being old enough to attend school, Sea Swirl usually spent the day at home alone. Until her big sister, her only friend, got back.from school.

"Oh, it was fun!" She replied with a grin. "We had a new filly transfer in from Los Pegasus, and I was able to make friends with her!"

It was at that point, that another teen filly trotted in the door after Lyra. A cream colored earth mare trotted in, and smiled at the two unicorns.

" Sea Swirl, this is Bon Bon!" Lyra replied excitedly. "Isn't she the coolest?"

"Hi Sea Swirl." Bon Bon replied, looking down at the little foal. "It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah, that's great, big sister." Sea Swirl told her, ignoring the other filly in the room. "So, are you ready to go to the zoo now? We'd been planning to go today for a month!"

"Sorry, little sis! I'll have to take a rain check! I just stopped by to grab my jacket!" She grabbed her jacket and umbrella. "Bon Bon and I won't be back from Cheerilee's party until two,, so just grab yourself something to eat from the fridge, k?" She and her new friend trotted out the door, shutting it behind them.

"But.... you promised...." The lonely little Sea Swirl trotted back over to her coloring book, tears rolling down her face and staining the pages. Next to where the tear drops fell, was a picture of the two sisters that the filly had drawn, looking out and the ocean together.

As the little filly buried her face in her hooves and wept, Diana Horse and the saddlepremes came on the radio behind her.

"Heya there, ponies! This goes out to all the little fillies and colts out there!" Diana whinnied with glee, before they burst into song.

"Shooby Doo! Shoop Shooby Doo!"

simply signal S.O.S!

simply signal S.O.S!

"Sister! I'm home from school!" She trotted into the apartment, setting her books down on the counter in the kitchen. "Are you back yet? Are you ready to go?"

Having just finished her day at elementary school, Sea Swirl had said goodbye to her friends, and galloped home to get ready for tonight. Brushing her mane and putting her best saddle on, she sat down and waited for Lyra to come home.

Today was the day she had waited all year for... her birthday! The day she and her sister went out to the best restaurant, and ate and talked and laughed together. Then, they would come back, and share the lovely cake that her sister had worked so hard to make for her! It would be one of the few times Sea Swirl and Lyra Heartstrings would get to spend together.

One of the few days they could spend together without the incredibly annoying Bon Bon around!

"Huh, she's not back from work yet." The little filly thought to herself, smiling. "I guess I'd better just sit down and wait for her."

It had been five years since that stupid earth pony filly had come into their lives, and her older sister had spent more and more time with her friend. She barely talked to Sea Swirl anymore , basically leaving the little filly to her own devices. So it came as no surprise, that the little filly enjoyed the few times she still got to spend with her older sister.

So she sat down, and waited, and waited...

... and waited...

Soon the sun began to set, and Sea Swirl began to worry. Had something happened to her sister? Could she had to work late?

"Well, it's too late to go to the restaurant now." The little filly thought to herself. "I'll just get the cake out, and we can celebrate my birthday right here!"

So the little filly got the cake from the fridge, and lit the candles. Sea Swirl then sat down and the table, and waited, and waited, and waited some more.

It was several hours later, well past one in the morning, that a tried and happy Lyra finally came home. The unicorn filly was stuffed from a good meal, and laughing from a joke Bon Bon had told her.

"Sea Swirl? You awake?" Lyra called out. "I brought you home the leftovers from Bon Bon and I's-"

She then saw the cake with the burned down candles, and the little filly asleep in the chair, her face buried in her hooves.

And Lyra heartstrings suddenly remembered what she had forgotten all about today.

"Oh no..." The older filly thought aloud. “How could I have forgotten?"

....

"Avast there, Captain Barnacle!" The lookout called, looking through his magnifying glass. "Three Sea Ponies, off the starboard bow!"

It was sometime in the evening, and the Saucy Mare, ponykind's most notorious pirate vessel (though it went by the Strident mare when running legal jobs), was making it's way upstream. The earth ponies aboard had spotted several sea ponies in the river, motioning to the ship with their fins. It was the lookout, however, who finally had the sense to inform the ship's captain.

"First officer Salty! Have the helmsman ring us about!" the blue earth stallion on deck called out. "Let us see what these fine mares have to say!"

"Aye, captain!" Salty responded. "Helmsman, bring us about! Be sure not to hit those lovely sea maidens in the water, when you turn the vessel!"

"Shooby doo! Shoop Shooby doo!" The three mares sang in greeting.

"Heya, Cap'n Barnacle!" Seawinkle greeted the salty old sea dog. "How's things shakin' for the land ponies?"

"Well blow me down! Tis the sea pony duchess!" He removed his tri cornered hat and bowed to her. "Oh, not bad, lass. Not bad! Tell me, what brings ye and yer lovely mares to the surface this day?"

"A bit of a funky problem, I'm afraid." The duchess whinnied sadly. "We have a bunch of uncool jive, goin down with the merpoines!"

Seawinkle laid out the situation to the captain, as quickly and carefully as she could. The captain listened and nodded occasionally, until the duchess was finished.

"Hmm, a portrait of mare in a shipwreck, you say?" The captain with the treasure chest cutie mark looked down at her with his one good eye. "That tis like trying to finding a piece of hay in a needle stack, lass!"

"Oh, please help us! Isn't there anything the land ponies can tell us?" Sealight pleaded, finally speaking up. "All of seapony kind is in danger from this threat!"

"Well, I'll see what I ken do." Barnacle replied, scratching his chin with his hoof. "Perhaps the archive ponies at the palace know somethin'!"

"Thank ya, cap'n!" Wavedancer replied, as all three sea mares bowed to him. "You're the grooviest!"

"See ya later, ladies!" The scurvy sailor pony bowed to them. "Tis always a pleasure to speak ta ye!"

"Shooby doo! Shoop Shooby doo!" The three dove back into the river, and the captain signaled the ship to continue on it's way.

...

"You sure this is a good idea, Sea Star?" Splasher asked nervously, as they swam out of the rainbow river, and into the sea of wrecks.

"Sure I'm sure." The little duchess whinnied, trying to hide her nervousness. "This is the way to the Merpony citadel, we just have ta be careful jammin' our way there!"

The cold water of the ocean tides washed over the sea fillies, casing them to shiver. The three had been bold and confident when they had all set out from the seapony kingdom. But since leaving the safety and comfort of the inland waterways, the three were becoming more and more scared out in these dangerous and murky waters.

"Wow these old ships sure are spooky!" A spooked Splasher muttered. "I wonder how long they’ve been down here?"

"My mama said some of them have been down here a hundred years!" Sea Shimmer exclaimed. "Some even may be over a thousand years!"

"Ohhh, that is so cool!" Sea Star replied. "Ya think there are any ghosts down here, haunting the wrecks?"

"G-ghosts?" One of the little fillies eyes went wide with terror. “I-I don't wanna go on an adventure anymore!" A downright scared Splasher whinnied. "Let's turn around, and swim home!"

"Stop bein' such a fraidy pony!" Sea Star snorted, as they swam past a sunken galleon. "For the last time, we're not just gonna give-!"

The little duchess was interrupted by a loud growling behind her. As the three sea fillies turned around, they found themselves face-to-face with a large, bloodthirsty combination of fins and fangs.

"Oh no! It's the Sahaguin again!" Sea Star shrieked. "Swim for it, girls! Or we're all sea food!"

The three screaming fillies tore away from the sea of wrecks, the bloodthirsty eating machine in hot pursuit. The three veered off to the left and the right, but they were unable to lose the merpony's pet mutated shark. Using their hydrokenesis to propel themselves forward, they were barely able to keep ahead of the monster's snapping jaws.

"Let's split up, gals! He can't follow all of us!" A panicked Sea Star called out. The other two nodded, and they all split off in separate directions. the confused Sahaguin hesitated for a moment, before plunging after the panicked Duchess.

"Get outta here, girls!" Sea Star called out, as the huge monster closed in on her.. "I'll keep him jivin' you two split!"

"No way! A sea pony nevah leaves a sistah behind!" Splasher called out. "Especially not our duchess!"

The other two used their hydrokenisis to lift a rotted out treasure chest off the sea floor, levitating it right up in the shark's path.

"Sea Star!" They called out in unison. "Veer off, now!"

The little sea filly turned at the last minute, sending the monster plowing into the old chest, and smashing it to pieces. The sahaguin cried out in pain, swimming off, and leaving a crimson trail behind it. As the beast fled, the girls saw several real sharks following the red trail through the water, intent on snagging a meal.

"Yay, we did it!" Sea Shimmer called out. "That was so hip!"

"That's for the innocent dolphin you killed, ya big meanie!" Sea Star called after him. "You never kill another gentle sea creature again!"

"Come on, girls!" Splasher called out to the others. "Let's get on to that mepony castle!"

The other two nodded, and they swam on through the sea of wrecks. It wasn't very long, however, before another obstacle greeted the young sea ponies.

"You three, stop there!" A voice suddenly called out, as a bunch of merponies with spears surrounded the fillies.

"Well well well, a bunch of little sea fillies!" An armored officer chortled, holding a spear in their faces. "You three are a loooong way from home!"

"Uh oh..." Sea Star wailed. "I think we're in trouble..."

"Move it, seapony scum!" One of the soldiers barked, as he and two other guards shoving a sharp spear points into the little fillies backs. "You're going before he throne of queen Wavebreaker! She will decide your fate now!"

As the merpony guards led the three away, Sea Shimmer barely had time to call out;

"Is it too late to go home now?"

....

"You danced really well tonight, Bon Bon!" Lyra chuckled, nuzzling her friend. "I can't believe you almost ran into those two couples near the punch table!"

"Aww, I just had a little too much cider tonight!" Bon Bon chuckled. "I never would've been that clumsy on a normal night!"

The two were coming back from one of Pinkie Pie's parties, laughing and talking together, when Lyra opened the door to the apartment they now shared. Once they got in the door, however, they were met by a angry looking Sea Swirl. She was packing up the last of her things in a small sack, and barely gave the other two fillies a notice.

"Sis? What are you doing?" A stunned Lyra asked, looking on in disbelief.

"Aunt Octavia and uncle Nadermane have invited me to come live with them in Canterlot with them." She replied simply, levitating her pack onto her back. "I've decided to take them up on it."

"Come on kid, this isn't the time for joking!" Bon Bon snorted. "Lyra and I just had a really good night tonight, don't go ruining it!"

"This is no joke." Sea Swirl regarded her coldly. "You two obviously want to be here alone, and I don't want to get in your way."

"Sea Swirl Heartstrings!" The older sister snapped angrily. "How dare you talk back to Bon Bon like-"

"Don't talk like you're mom, Lyra! You're not fit to trot in her hoofprints!" Sea Swirl snapped back. "You forgot all about participating in the sister hooves social, for the fifth year in a row with me! And you let that trollop move in here with us! You've both made it painfully obvious you don't want me around here!"

"Oh, Sea Swirl...." Lyra started apologetically, realization finally dawning on her. "I never meant to..."

"Hold on Lyra, I'll handle this!" Bon Bon got up in Sea Swirl's face, snorting steam. "Now listen here, you ungrateful little filly! Your sister has made a lot of sacrifices for your spoiled little flank, and if you think-"

BOOM! A telekenetic blast threw the earth filly back several feet, slamming her into the wall.

"Bon Bon!" A panicked Lyra cried out, rushing to her side. "Are you all right?"

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU FOR TAKING MY SISTER AWAY!" Sea Swirl galloped out the door, tears streaming down her face. "Someday I'll come back, and hurt you for taking my only family away!"

"Sea Swirl, I'm so sorry..." A worried Lyra thought to herself, as she comforted a disoriented Bon Bon. "Great Celestia, what have I done?"

Call upon the Sea Ponies

Call upon the Sea Ponies

"WHAT?!?" Seawinkle shrieked, as soon as Whitecap told her. "They have our children? THEY HAVE MY DAUGHTER!?!"

"Your daughter's strong spirit shines through, it seems." Whitcap noted. "To the point she and her friends snuck away to 'help' us out."

"We need to all up the whole Sea pony army!" Sea Winkle snorted. "We'll sing those mer-freaks a funeral dirge, and bring thier funky kingdom crumblin' down around them!"

"My lady, I think we need ta chill, and figure out a plan!" Whitecap advised. "We have ta get more info on this whole portrait mess!"

"Our kids are gonna be shark food, an' your worried about some stupid picture?" The duchess snapped.

"Information is our funkiest weapon, Seawinkle!" The sea pony advisor countered. "We just go jammin' on in there, and it'll be the kids who end up tain' a bad trip!"

"You're right, Whitecap, as always!" Seawinkle snorted in frustration. "But for the kid's sake, we'd better get some answers about this whole mess, and fast!"

...

"I need to get on with my life."

As she sat on her bunk below decks, Bon Bon could only stare out her room's porthole in sadness. All of the good times, all of the happy memories... they were all in the past now. One night's disagreement had forever robbed her of her dearest companion in all the world.

"Wherever you are, Sea Swirl, I hope you're happy!" The earth mare thought angrily. "You finally separated Lyra and I forever!"

Bon Bon was a passenger on the S.S. Bluebelle, haunted by the memories of the past, and trying to put Equestria behind her forever. The mare had heard of a new settlement, called Pioneer Point, back in the lands ponkind had migrated from when they first arrived in Equestria. Having staked out a homestead in the new land, Bon Bon's sister and her family had invited the depressed mare to join them. Hoping to make a new start of things, she had gratefully accepted.

"Well, at least you'll be coming with me!" Bon Bon snorted, stating at a large portrait of Lyra sitting beside her bed. A final gift from her beloved friend, Lyra Heartstrings had commissioned the portrait from Ponycasso, the now-famous Canterlot master, who had originally from Ponyville. It was the only thing she had to remind her of her lost love now, a minor comfort in a world that seemed so dark and grey to her now.

Resigning herself to her sorrow, Bon Bon glumly trotted her way up onto deck, where several passengers were happily milling about. A few stallions most mares would consider handsome trotted up to her and tried to start a conversation, but the sad-eyed earth pony didn't respond to any of them. Leaning on the deck rail, Bon Bon merely stared out at the empty sea, thinking about how nice it would have been to have Lyra Heartstrings here to share the view with her.

But far out to sea, an angry Sea Mare glared at the ship from afar, narrowing her eyes as she saw the earth pony on the deck.

"There's our target, sisters!" Sea Swirl told the other Sea Ponies around her. "Now, make sure you get every other pony off that vessel, I don't want any innocent ponies takin' a funky trip to the bottom with the terrible temptress!"

"But why are we givin' this jive mare such a hard time, Sea Swirl?" One of her leiutenants asked her. "We hate hurtin' any pony under any circumstances!"

"Revenge, Sister!" The angry lead sea mare snorted. "Revenge against the greatest crime against the concept a' sisterhood!"

"Sea Winkle!" Captain Barnacle called out, looking down into the water as the Salty Mare glided through the river. "Sea Winkle, are ya there, Lassie? I found some information on that portrait for ye!"

"Shooby Doo! Shoop Shooby Doo!" Sealight whinnied, popping up from under the water. "How's it shakin', Cap'n? The duchess is kinda busy right now, so I'll take whatever ya find out ta her!"

"Take this to yer duchess, lass!" He threw a waterproof tablet into the water. "The castle archivist conjured this up for ye! It tells the whole story about who's in that portrait, and why it's important for yer herd!"

Catching the tablet with her fins, Sealight read part of it over, her eyes suddenly going wide.

"By the Seapony Sister! This explains everything!" The sea pony gasped. "Thank ya kindly fer gettin this funky info for us! Now I gotta get it back to the duchess!"

"Any time, lass!" Barnacle smiled, as Sealight dove back beneath the waves. "Any time!"

...

"My queen, there is no word from the Sea Pony kingdom!" Seaspray announced grimly. "And the amount of time we had specified has now expired!"

"Is there no other alternative, general?" Wavebreaker asked. "Is it really that much of a crime that four children committed, that they have to die for what they did?"

"My queen, we have no choice!" Seaspray snorted. "If you let these sea ponies get away with what they did, it will undermine your authority with the rest of the herd. Perhaps even to the point of revolt."

The queen sighed, sinking into her throne. "Very well, Seaspray! We shall feed them to the sahaugin... I leave these matters in your capable hands!"

"Thank you, my queen!" The merpony general bowed, a dark smile crossing her face. "I promise, I shall not fail you!"

As Seaspray swam away from the throne room, a voice crept into the merpony's mind.

"You've done well, my servant!" The voice hissed. "Your actions shall bring about the war between underwater Equines that I so crave!"

"Thank you, lord Squirk!" The merpony spoke aloud. "I am happy to be of service to you!"

In her mind's eye, Seaspray could envision the tentacled horror who once ruled the oceans of this world. Once defeated by the Paradise Estate ponies, the eldritch Abomination was now sealed in a cavern far beneath the waves, seeking enough power to break free of his imprisonment.

"This war shall bathe the seas in hatred! Empowering my servants and I, and allowing us to take our revenge upon the Ponies of Dream Valley!"

"And I trust that once you have flooded Ponyland, and restored your kingdom beneath the waves, that we Merponies will be given the Seaponies former kingdom to rule?" The general asked hopefully.

[b ]"Oh, that will be an easy matter, my dear!" The horrific entity chortled. "Trust me, when all of this is done... you merponies shall be the greatest among your kind!"

...

"By the horsemaster, how did we not know of this?!?" Seawinkle asked in shock, swimming through the calls of Mermaid Castle in circles. "Bon Bon and Lyra... the origin of all of this conflict between our herds!"

"This situation wasn't a well publicized incident in Equestrian history." Whitecap noted, trying desperately to calm her ruler down. "The only reason a record was made of it by Dream Valley historians, was Sea Swirl's connection to our herd's origins!"

"What a horribly unhip thing that Bon Bon did!" Seawinkle snorted. "Alienating our foremother from her sister like that!"

"Actually, I think both Sea Swirl and Bon Bon were in the wrong. " Whitecap added. "It was Lyra Heartstrings who was the victim in this whole situation."

"What?!?" The enraged duchess shrieked angrily. "Do ya actually think my ancestor was in the wrong with this whole funky fiasco?"

"Sea Swirl was in grief over her alienation and loneliness, and her extreme actions were based on that grief." Whitecap pointed out. "Nevertheless, it is your ancestor, and Queen Wavebreaker's ancestor, who began this blood feud between our tribes."

"And it's up to the two of us to end it!" Seawinkle sighed. "It all sounds well enough, Whitecap, but all this jive talkin' ain't gonna be easy!"

"You have ta find a way ta get both sides jamming in harmony, my queen!" The advisor pony told her. "This stupid little feud has been jiving on and on for centuries! If sombody doesn't try ta get along with somebody, our herd's great-great-grandkids are gonna be fightin' and killin' over a bout of jealousy an' betrayal that happened before our great-great-grandparents were born!"

"Where does the cycle end?" Seawinke asked, shaking her mane in disbelief. "Very well, Whitecap! Let's go and get our children back!"

"Right behind ya, sister!" Whitecap agreed, as the two swam out of the castle.

...

Bon Bon awoke to the sound of rushing water outside her cabin, and the feeling of the boat listing to it's side. Quickly leaping out of bed, she trotted over towards the door, throwing it open.

"Is anypony out there?" She yelled, gazing out into the vacant hallway. But as the earth mare looked down the hallways towards the engine room. She could make out the sight of water rushing into the steerage compartments.

"Help! Somepony help!" Bon Bon wailed, galloping up towards the deck. "We're sinking!"

But she found the top of the ship entirely devoid of any kind of pony life. Food carts rolled backwards and crashed, spilling plates and silverware all over the place. And deck chairs and tables tumbled over, and fell into the sea.

"Where am I?" The earth mare asked, dumbfounded. "W-what's going on?"

"What's going on, you little harlot, is yer day of reckoning!" A voice snorted from the water. "It's time for your filth ta be washed away by the pure waves of the endless sea!"

Bon Bon gazed out at the waves, spotting a... half pony, half fish, it looked like to her! Rubbing her eyes with her hooves in disbelief, The earth mare finally recognized the now hornless former unicorn.

"Sea Swirl!?!" Bon Bon whinnied in disbelief. "I can't believe it! W-what happened to you?"

"I sought refuge from your cruelty beneath the waves, you funky witch! And I found myself a new family!" The earth pony noticed several other sea ponies popping up around her friend's little sister. "And when I found out you were crusin' on this ship, I decided it would be a groovy time ta give ya what was comin' to ya!"

"Y-you did all of this?" Bon Bon snorted, angrily. "You sunk the vessel, and endangered all those ponies' lives... just to get at me?"

"All of the hip an hapenin' passengers are safe an' dry... we ferried em' all to safety!" The Sea pony mare told her grimly. "But thanks to some sunken treasure we paid the right ponies off with... you won't be seein' dry land again, ever!"

"But why?" Bon bon pleaded. "Why did you do this to yourself? Why did you do this to me?"

"Because ya corrupted my sister! You stole her from me! You made forget about me, and spend all o' her time with YOU!" The Sea pony yelled angrily. "An' now, you can take yer sister stealing to the bottom o' the sea with ya!"

As Sea Swirl and her ponies turned to swim away, Bon Bon's expression grew dark.

"It was YOUR fault she was out on the ice that night, Sea Swirl!" The earth mare called out. "She was angry with me over YOU!"

The sea mare stopped for a moment, before looking over her shoulder and replying. "Goodbye, Bon Bon. Hope you're good at holding your breath!"

As the Sea Ponies swam onward, a voice cried out in anger behind her;

"This isn't over, Sea Swirl! You hear me!?!" Bon Bon called out after her. "I will survive this, I swear I will! I swear my descendants will hunt your precious Sea Ponies until the end of time! The waters of Equestria shall run red with your grandchildren's blood!"

Sea Swirl and the others swam on, while Bon Bon galloped back to her cabin, shutting the door and crying, as she clung to the portrait of Lyra Heartstrings. As the sun set in the western sky, the boat silently slipped beneath the waves, never to be seen by surface ponies again.

coming to terms

Coming to terms

"Children, I cannot tell you how much it pains me to do this!" Queen Wavebreaker told them sadly. "But I cannot let such a transgression go unpunished!"

The three fillies were held fast in an iron cage, about to be released into the Sahauguin holding pen. Spalsher and Sea Shimmer quivered in the back of the cage and cried, while Sea Star turned to face the merpony queen defiantly.

"Take me if you have to punish somebody, my good queen!" The young duchess called out, catching the monarch's attention. "But release my companions, for they have done you no wrong!"

"Such a noble sense of sacrifice you have for your subjects, little one! You would have made a fine ruler for your herd!" Wavebreaker thought for a moment, then nodded. "The other children do not stand accused! Guards, release them at once!"

"B-but your majesty!" Seaspray exclaimed, protesting loudly. "You cannot just-!"

"That is enough, general!" Wavebreaker snarled at her, as the guards released the other two fillies. "The princess is the one who committed this sin! We shall not spill innocent blood!"

Seaspray scowled, then nodded. Splasher and Sea Shimmer looked at their young duchess sadly.

"We wish we could help you, Sea Star!" They called out in unison, tears welling up in thier eyes. "We're so sorry, sister!"

"It's all right, girls!" The little duchess told them, as the cage was slowly slid towards the large pen's door. "Go back to your families, and tell my mother I'll stay groovy, even in the great horsemaster's ocean in the sky!"

...

As the water washed into Bon Bon's cabin, the earth mare suddenly found herself totally immersed. Closing her eyes, the sad and angry equine prepared herself for the next life.

"Lyra... I'm coming to join you very soon...." She thought to herself.

But fate had another plan. A sudden gush of water forced her towards the window, and out the open porthole. The surprised earth pony suddenly found she could breathe.

"W-what's going-?" The surprised mare thought, opening her eyes. She found herself in an air bubble, being pushed along by three aquatic ponies. But these weren’t the sea ponies who sunk her ship- oh no! These were ponies whose top halves were normal equines, while their lower halves were entirely like a fish's tail. One of the fish-like ponies looked back at the earth mare, speaking through the water.

"Do not fear, we shall not harm you!" The blue mer-stallion told her. "We have saved you, from certian death!"

"W-why have you saved me?" The dumbfounded mare asked him, staring blankly.

"Because if those sea devils want you dead..." The mer-stallion, who she later found out was named Triton, told her. "Then there must be something about you worth saving!"

It didn't take long for Bon Bon to find out that these odd creatures- these merponies- were the descendants of equines changed by Starswirl the Bearded. They had been driven from their aquatic homes in Equestria by Sea Swirl, and her band of freaks, after they had attacked a few Sea Ponies without provocation. The Sea Ponies had judged thier viscious attacks on sea live and agressive behaviour too 'voilent', and forced them out of thier freshwater homes in Equestria's river and lakes. Like her, they had been hurt by the sea ponies. Like her, they wanted revenge.

"So... who leads you?" Bon Bon asked, sitting on the shore of the small island they had brought her to.

"Nopony leads us!" Pearly, one of the merpony mares, told her. "Our last chieftain died in battle, defending us from the hated sea ponies!"

Bon Bon thought about this, and thought about her own place in life. She also considered how she had no place in either Equestria nor the pioneer settlement- both freshwater regions where the sea ponies would learn of her survival, and hunt her down. No, this tropical island was her best refuge, far and away from any dry land. Already, the wheels were beginning to turn in the crafty mare's mind.

As time passed, the merponies, not prone to much common sense in their thought and actions, began to follow Bon Bon's advice more and more- how to contain and tame the Sauhugin with nets, how to harvest the kelp beds on the ocean floor, for extra food. They continued to follow her instructions more and more, despite the fact she was a surface pony.

"A surface pony, bah! Every connection I had to the surface is dead!" Bon Bon thought to herself. "I wish o be under the waves, where I may take my vengeance upon Sea Swirl!"

As the months turn into years, hatred and anger festered more and more in the exile's heart. Thoughts of her friends back in Ponyville, along with the happy times she had spent with Lyra, faded out of her mind. Replaced by the desire for revenge against those that kept her imprisoned here.

She was also spending a great deal of time with Triton, the stallion with the red scales and blue mane, who also felt her rage against the sea ponies.A mare who normally wouldn't give a stallion a second glance, the lonely Bon Bon enjoyed the company Triton provided, glad to have somepony to talk to. Coming up onto the shore, the stallion would sit by her side, as she gently caressed her mane as they lay there.

"They took everything from us!" The angry stallion snorted. "And we must make them pay!"

"We'll get our chance, my friend." She told Triton, staring off into space. "We'll get Sea Swirl, when the time is right..."

The day arrived, however, when Triton and Pearly came to her with a strange potion, offering her a chance to be free of her island Prision... a chance to swim the waters, as they did.

"The great Squirk has heard how you have aided us in our survival!" Pearly told her, tossing the corked bottle up onto the shore. "This will make you one of us, in exchange for loyalty to him!"

"Bah! Why should I give this creature my loyalty?" She scoffed, staring down at the potion. "What can he possibly give to me?"

"An end to your loniliness..." Triton gazed at her turthfully, before his gaze turned dark. "...and revenge!"

It is not known which of these ideas swayed the earth pony, but it was not long before the merpony mare named Bon Bon became queen of the merpony herd, re-organizing thier entire society for efficiency . So successful were the mare's efforts, that the herd ceased to merely survive, and actually began to thirve....

"Now just hold on a minute, Wavebreaker!" Sea Winkle suddenly swam in, diving right in front of the queen. "Now we don't have ta end all this with a funky act of violence, now do we?"

At the Same moment, Whitecap dove out in front of the guards, stopping them from moving the cage forward. Seaspray rushed forward, but was blocked by Sea Shimmer, who was bearing her teeth.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" She snarled, giving the merpony general pause.

"Hello, Duchess!" Queen Wavebreaker snorted, facing Sea Winkle. "I expected that'd you'd show up here!"

"Mommy!" Sea Star called out, seeing the older duchess. "Be careful!"

"Wavebreaker, don't do this!" The Seapony duchess called out. "Don't make a little filly pay for the sins of three long dead mares!"

"What are you talking about?" The dumbfounded queen enquired, motioning the guards to stand down. "What do you mean, 'two mares'?"

"I have a long story ta tell ya, sister!" Sea Winkle rolled her eyes. "And yer not gonna believe how complicated this whole funky mess is..."

...

"I wonder if I did the right thing..."

Sea Swirl was in her bed in Mermaid castle, sitting up in in her kelp bed. As soon as she spoke, Offearl, her beloved husband and Duke of the Sea Ponies, sat up beside her.

"Are you all right, my love?" The concerned sea stallion asked. "Something seems to be bothering you!"

The Sea Pony Duchess had met Offearl at the laboratory they had both been transformed at, and the two had stuck close even after they had gained their freedom. The sea ponies had then moved in and taken built a city of their own at the bottom of an inland sea, where the Sea Ponies had begun to thrive.

"I'm not sure I did the right thing in taking Bon Bon's life!" The Sea Pony whinnied, leaning in on her husband. "I wanted revenge, but what I did-"

"If she was half as bad to you as you describe, my love, you were merciful as it is." He replied, nuzzling her back. "My love, we have driven those barbaric merponies from our waters, and made a home for ourselves here! Let the dead rest in peace!"

"I-I guess you're right!" She whinnied, s the two rolled over, and went back to sleep.

...

Bon Bon spent over a year overseeing construction of an underwater city of coral and reef deep below the waves, and a luxurious palace which she would call home. The exiled mare had built a new home and life for herself, and the time had come to strike back at those who had hurt her new herd.

"Now, my dear Triton!" The white merpony mare told him, swishing her scaled tail angrily. "Now is the time for you and your warriors to seek vengeance!"

Bon Bon was no expert at combat or warfare, but she soon found this was the one thing her violent herd was actually good at on their own. Ships traveling the briny sea were swiftly attacked and sunk- their cargo looted for valuables, and the bodies of all the drowned ponies fed to the merponies' greedy sahaugin pets. Few sailors were allowed to return to shore, and they only to spread the horror stories of what lurked in the deep.

"The sahauguin strike the sides of the ships, and our tridents skewer the ships defenders!" Triton boasted, lying on the clamshell bed next to Bon Bon. "It's so easy to slaughter these foolish land ponies!"

"This is only the first step, my love." Bon Bon whispered sweetly to him, licking the side of his face.. "We only need to draw the hornets out of the nest!"

As the cargo loss and death toll began to rise, the land ponies cried in outrage. The Sea ponies, realizing the exiles they drove out into the ocean must be causing the problems, sent an attack force to deal with these tailed upstarts.

It was an utter massacre, with the Sauhaguin ripping dozens of Sea Ponies to pieces, and Merpony tridents skewering the aquatic equines before they even knew what had happened. It did not take long before Sea Swirl realized a new leader had emerged amongst their foes, and the Sea Ponies were in for a war.

Several battles were fought along the coast, Sea Ponies hitting the tailed ponies hard with powerful waves of Hydrokenesis, and mesmerized by seapony song. A stalemated border formed along the coastal shore, as hundreds of lives lost on both sides. In one particular skirmish, the leaders of both sides were present, and Sea Swirl received the shock of her life.

"Remember me, wench?" Queen Bon Bon called out from behind her armies, taunting her foe. "Bet you thought you'd never see me again!"

"You!?!" Sea Swirl's eyes went wide in horror, as she saw the white merpony with a red crown on. "How did you-?"

"I told you I'd survive, witch!" The angry mare shot back, shaking her hoof at her opponent angrily. "I told you I'd make you pay for what happened to Lyra!"

"Me?!? You're the one who stole my sister away!" She screamed, motioning another wave of sea pony troops forward with her fin. "You made her forget me, and she died under you watch!"

"She blamed me for your leaving!" Bon Bon yelled at her. "It was your fault she was out in the snow that day!"

"I hate you!" Sea Swirl shot back. "I wish you had never met my sister!"

"And I wish you had never been born!" Bon Bon snorted back.

The battle took it's toll on both sides, however, and both were forced to retreat.

The years came and went, and the constant stream of conflicts between the sides changed nothing. After several decades of ruling the sea ponies, Sea Swirl lay in her conch bed, the last strains of life draining out of her aged frame.

"Don't let the crime against my sister be forgotten!" She told her eldest daughter, coughing and wheezing. "Lead our herd as duchess in my stead, and keep taking the fight to the merponies!"

"Yes, m’am...!" The tearful filly nodded. "I promise I'll keep jiving those funky merponies!"

"And the beat goes on...." Sea Swirl smiled, closing her eyes for the last time. "Lah dee dah de dee..."

In the merpony capital, a grieving Triton stood over Bon Bon's bed, sobbing tears that were not visible underwater.

"Don't grieve, my love!" Bon Bon coughed, holding a hoof to her mouth. "Merely promise me that you will never stop fighting Sea Swirl's children!"

"I-I swear!" Her mate wept bitterly. "Our daughters will keep up the fight, even after I am gone!"

"Goodbye, Triton!" Bon Bon slumped back into her bed. "I'll be waiting for you... in the great ocean in the sky..."

And so the battles and conflicts continued, generation after generation. Along the neutral zone between the factions, the rotting hulk of a sunken ship, contained the magically preserved portrait of a blue mare, which almost seemed to weep at the millennia of violence that followed...

...

"...So as you can see, Wavebreaker, we're keeping alive a feud that started long before our birth!" Sea Winkle finished. "we've been fighting and dying over two mares and a ruined friendship!"

"But you're daughter violated one of our sacred taboos!" Wavebreaker protested. "We cannot just let her swim away unpunished!"

"Must the next generation, our own children, continue to die for a war that is not their own?"

"Mommy?" A little blue filly with a silver tail looked into the room, her innocent pink eyes glancing about the room. "Mommy, what's going on?"

"Sea Princess..." Wavebreaker whispered, thinking of her daughter fighting- and dying- in this endless, ceaseless war. Looking back towards Seaspray, the queen also thought of the possibility of her own troops revolting against her. Finally, she narrowed her eyes, and made her decision.

"Guard!" The queen called out, scowling in anger. "Release the child!"

"MY QUEEN!!!" Seapray cried out in protest.

"General, still your tongue, or I shall have it cut out!" Wavebreaker roared. Seaspray stared at her queen in shock for a moment, then fell silent.

The guards quickly opened the cage door, and the little filly swam out towards our mother. But as she passed the queen, Wavebreaker quickly grabbed a trident from the queen, and slashed the little filly across the face.

"AIEEEEE! MOMMA!" The little filly wailed, black liquid oozing from her eye sockets. "Momma, I can't see! I'm blind!"

"WAVEBRAKER!" Seawinkle called out in anger, but the queen had already turned away from her.

"The eyes that saw the forbidden Portrait have been dealt with, the filly has paid her dues in full!" Wavebreaker snorted, passing a satisfied Seaspray. "The truce is restored for now, duchess! Take your little girl home!"

"This isn't over, Wavebreaker!" Sea Winkle snorted, helping her daughter out, as the other Sea Ponies followed. "Duke Kelpie will bury your kingdom under a sea of merpony blood! You'll pay dearly for this outrage!"

"Come along, little one!" Whitecap told Sea Star soothingily. "We'll get you a unicron mage from the surface, and get those eyes taken care of in a jiffy!"

After the sea ponies left, the queen turned towards Seaspray. "Tell our lord Squirk he'll not have long to wait for his war!"

"As you wish, my queen!" Seaspray nodded, before swimming away.

"It's really sad you did that to her, mommy." Sea Princess told her mother, swimming up to her side.

"And why is that, my child?" The queen asked looking at her little filly.

"I really liked that sea pony." The child replied simply. "I think she and I coulda been friends."

-fin-

Helpful as can be ponies

Helpful as can be ponies

"I hope she gets here soon!" The blue unicorn mare thought to herself. "I've been waiting for over an hour!"

The afternoon sun was high in the sky, as Lyra waited for her visitor to arrive at the Ponyville cafe. She tapped her front hoof on the table, as the serving pony refilled her glass of juice for the third time.

"Hello, Lyra." A voice behind her whinnied coolly. "I'm glad to see you are here."

"Little Sister!" A joyful Lyra immediately leapt to her hooves, and jumped over to embrace the mare behind her. "It's so good to see you again! What has it been, seven years? Eight?"

"I've been back for birthdays and holidays, sister." The mare snorted in annoyance, slowly moving to hug her sibling back. "And I've been around Ponyville now and then!"

"Anyway, it's still great to see you again!" The blue mare sat back down again. "Bon Bon and I hardly hear from you anymore."

"Happy to see you too, Lyra." Sea Swirl calmly trotted over, and took a seat herself. "Speaking of which, how's Bon Bon doing?"

"She's all right. We got a house over on the west side of town, you really should come over and see us sometime!" Lyra frowned. "But I heard you lost your job in Fillydelphia! Are you going to be ok?"

"Yes, they let me go, it's true." She picked up a menu. " But everything's going to be okay. I've got another opportunity lined up now."

"Really?" Her sister's ears perked up. "Is it here in Ponyville? I'd love to have you back home again!"

"I'm afraid not, sister." Sea Swirl shook her head. "Certain parties are starting some kind of underwater colonization program, and I've volunteered to be a part of it!"

"Underwater colonization?!?" Lyra asked, confused. "But why, little sister? You're a musician, it's what our family has always done! What is with this obsession with the sea?"

"A musician is what you and Aunt Octavia raised me to be, and it's your special talent, not mine." She looked back at her twin dolphin cutie mark. "I've always been drawn to the ocean's waves, almost like they are calling me... home."

"Sea Swirl, are you certain you're not just still upset with me over everything that happened between us?" Lyra looked skeptical.

"This has nothing to do with that!" The angry mare snorted. "I came here to say goodbye to you, big sister! But if you're just going to-"

"Okay, okay. Look, I'm sorry." Lyra gave a soft smile. "I just worry about you sometimes, okay? Just please take care of yourself, and write when you can!"

"Don't worry, sister, I will." Sea Swirl embraced the other mare. "I promise!"

....

"Please let us go, Queen Wavebraker!" Sea Star pleaded. "We didn't mean any harm, honest!"

"Yeah, we only came here to try and talk stuff out with you!" Splasher agreed. "We didn't want to jive talk, and start up a totally funky war!"

"'Funky', 'Jive'... the filth that tumbles out of you little vermin's mouths!" Seaspray snorted. "I say we should contact midnight castle, and see if our ally the Dark Lord would care to purchase them!"

"No, please!" Sea Shimmer cried in terror. "We don't wanna be changed into evil strydons by Tirek!"

"General, that is quite enough!" The queen glared at Seaspray, causing her to wince. "We Merponies have more dignity, than to go around scaring young fillies for the fun of it!"

"Thank you, good queen!" Sea Star smiled. "I knew you would-"

"Don't think this gets you off the hook, young lady!" Wavebreaker snorted. "You and your friends violated sacred taboos of our people, entering the hallowed ground of the shipwrecks!"

"And your kind have caused us no end of grief!" Seaspray spoke up again. "Seaponies, protecting land pony ships traveling the ocean, preventing us from sinking them. Your disgusting race prevents us from drowning those hooved land huggers, and taking their valuable cargo for our own!"

"I will speak with your mother about these events, Sea Shimmer." The queen acknowledged the young duchess, as she had recognized her from the start. "But if compensation of our grievances is not addressed, the gator ponies will be dining on sea pony fillies tomorrow night!"

...

"Look, Professor Booker! She's waking up!"

"Excellent! Let's she if she psychologically survived the transformation intact!"

The tank Sea Swirl awoke in was filled with water. Her first reaction was to panic and gasp for air... only she found that her lungs no longer burned for oxygen. She did not understand why she did not feel her front and back hooves, until she glanced down her body, and remembered that they were no longer there.

It was a strange sensation, actually... having front fins, and having the lower half of your body curl into a coiled-up tail. She had been told she was going to end up something like this, but it was still shocking enough to leave her stunned into silence for the moment.

As she floated there motionlessly, the gills on either side of her neck opened and closed reflexively, taking water in and out. As her thoughts and emotions swirled around in her mind, the water in the tank sloshed and moved with it.

"Look, Midnight!" Booker exclaimed, pointing towards the tube she was in with his hoof. "Hydrokenesis! She can bend and shape the water with her thoughts!"

"Interesting!" The unicorn he had called Midnight exclaimed. "I wonder if the others have that ability, as well."

Turning around in her cyndrilical glass tube, Sea Swirl saw a hundred of the other volunteers for the project- all sleeping in their tubes, transformed as she had been. Brothers and sisters in their new state, all having become creatures of the waves!

"Miss Sea Swirl, are you all right?" The unicorn called Booker asked her, looking into the tank. "Have you anything to say?"

The sea pony thought for a moment, remembering the singing over the earth pony pop star, Diana horse, from her childhood. Calm, cool, and totally hip, Sea Swirl had idolized the singer as a filly. And had always wanted to be like her when she grew up....

Raising her head up high, the transformed mare let forth a melodious cry-

"Shooby Doo! Shoop Shooby Doo!"

The mares and stallions in the other tanks awoke. Opening thier eyes, they responded to her in kind.

"Shooby Doo! Shoop Shooby Doo!"

"Reamrkable!" Midnight whinnied.

"Amazing!" Booker agreed. "Simply Amazing!"

"Heya, boys! Ah gotta favor ta ask!" She whinnied, emulating the speech pattern of her heroine. "It’s nawt that we don't appreciate all of the funky stuff you cats have done for us, but could we ask for larger accommodations? These dressing rooms are kinda cramped!"

As the two shocked unicorn researchers talked amongst themselves, Sea Swirl realized she now had many, many sisters- a family who would not abandon her for some cheap floozy of an earth pony mare. The open and free waters were her home now, with the others of her kind forever at her side. Sea Swirl was no longer shackled by the chains of a painful past, that had left a little filly home alone, crying on her birthday.

Now...she would never be alone again.

...

~"Ring out the old, ring the new!

Time for a major operation's due!

To a hope we all must cling

let the bell of freedom ring!"~

"What is all that racket!?" The merpony captain of the guard roared, storming into the castle dungeon. "We can heard it all the way up in the throne room!"

"It's the sea pony fillies, sir!" The frightened lieutenant replied. "They've been singing like that ever since we locked up in their cell!"

"What? This is not possible!" The dumfounded captain roared. "They should be cowering and crying, not singing!"

~"Ring out the news, speak loud and clear!

Tell them the day of liberation's here!

Soon the change's will take wing!

Let the bell of freedom ring!~"

"Sing when they're happy, sing when they're sad." The lieutenant replied, remembering an old merpony saying. "To sing is the sea pony way."

The captain saw several of the merpony soldiers were entranced, the song's defiant tone of freedom stirring something inside them, as the hypnotic seapony song worked it's magic.

"Order the guards to plug their ears with sponge fragments!" He roared, swimming back up the stairway. "We need to get rid of those brats as soon as possible!"

~"There goes the bell! We won the fight!

Send up the song of victory good night!

Oh, the joy the dawn will bring!

Let the bell of freedom ring!"~

...

Whitecap and her two fellow sea ponies swam towards the ocean border, but were quickly met by General Seaspray and two of her guards.

"Seaspray, long time no see!" The Sea Pony waved a fin at her. "How you been, girlfriend?"

"Save the snaky seapony comments for later, Whitecap!" The hooved merpony mare snorted. "We have a message for your duchess!"

"Lay it on me, girl!" Whitecap hissed. "I'll take the message back ta my sistah!"

"We have the young duchess seapony, Sea Star, and two of her friends!" Seaspray smiled evilly. "If Sea Winkle doesn't give in to our demands, her daughter will meet a terrible fate!"

"Why you-you sea slugs!" Whitecap's eyes went wide. "Threatenin' a buncha kids like that!"

"We do what we have to, in order to win!" Seaspray retorted, as she and her two guards swam away. "We'll be in touch!"

...

"This is all you fault!"

It was a cold winter's night, and Lyra was sitting at a tavern in Ponyvile, downing her eighteenth glass of cider, and scowling at Bon Bon. It was taking every ounce of her willpower, to stop herself from reaching out, and strangling the earth pony in front of her.

"Lyra, you can't blame yourself or me for what happened!" The other mare protested. "She made her own decisions, and-"

"Sea Swirl never would have run away, if it weren't for YOU!" The unicorn scowled at her. "I neglected her because of you, and I stayed with YOU when she ran away!"

It had been two days since the release of the names of the ponies that had died in the Tambelon research center disaster- the very place Sea Swirl had been volunteering for experiments. The worried unicorn mare had feared the worst when her sister hadn't written to her in several weeks. But when Lyra Heartstrings saw Sea Swirl's name on the list, it sent the poor unicorn into a spiral of depression.

"Lyra, please don't say that..." Bon Bon whimpered. "You're my best friend, and-"

"No! I need to be alone right now!" Lyra snorted. "Good bye, Bon Bon!"

The angry mare threw on her scarf, and stormed out the door.... leaving the stunned earth mare behind her.

The Pegasus had scheduled an ice storm for that cold, dark, and chilly night, but the weeping unicorn paid it little heed. Trotting out across the ice and snow, she was blinded by the drifting and blowing clouds all around her.

"Stupid, stupid snow!" She snorted aloud, as she was passing by Ponyville lake. "I wish I could just- AIEEEEEEEEEE!"

The unicorn slipped and fell, tumbling down the crest of a hill. The back of Lyra's head hit a large boulder, ending her screams with a loud CRACK! She lay there silently, as a burgundy-colored stain spread out across the snow beneath her.

"Lyra! NO!!" Bon Bon shrieked, sliding down the hill to the spot where the unmoving mare lay. The earth pony had come to her senses, and left the tavern to find her friend... but she had come to late.

"Lyra..." Bon Bon wept sadly, leaning over the dead mare's body.

From the nearby lake a pair of eyes watched the scene unfold. Rage filling her heart, a grieving sea pony was already planning to send the mare named Bon Bon, to a watery grave...