Author's Note

Inspired by a forum comment by Arcticbrony.

This oneshot is slightly darker than the anthology’s usual fare.

The seapony is an official character.

The Lonely Ocean

I can’t breathe.

It feels worse than suffocation. It feels like all the air has been sucked out of my lungs, and my lungs along with it, and I have no desire to get them back. I can’t feel my limbs, either. They don’t feel severed; it’s like they were never there to begin with.

I open my eyes to see that the world around me looks dark, murky, and blurry. I feel weightless, and my surroundings are neither warm nor cold, like a place beyond temperature. I can hear distorted echoes coming from below, and look down to see nothing but darkness that stretches on endlessly. Above me is the light, but it seems impossibly far away, a distant dream that I can never reach. I feel like I’m in a void, and I’m the only living thing around. Is this what it feels like to die? Am I stuck in limbo, unable to move on?

And then it hits me: I’m underwater.

My heart races. How did I get here? Have I been reported missing? Is anyone looking for me? I almost take a deep breath to calm myself, but I have to remind myself that I can’t. I feel like I’m going to sink, any minute now. I frantically dart around, trying to look for the nearest land, or anything to ground myself, rocks, sand, something...

Wait... how am I moving? And why haven’t I drowned yet?

I catch a glimpse of something flat, round, smooth, and purple in the corner of my eye. I try to turn around slightly to try to get a better look at it, but end up going in circles. Swimming feels weird, like I should feel the weight of the water slowing me down, but instead I feel like a hot knife cutting through butter.

I eventually get a good look at the purple thing. It’s attached to a thin, pink tail... but I can’t get a good look at what it’s attached to. Is it part of my body now...?

So I’m a Gorebyss. It’s okay, self, you can wake up now...

...

...I’m still awake. I’m lost and alone in an empty world, in a body I don’t understand. I call out for help, but I’m startled by the sound of my own voice; it’s distorted, and I can barely make out my own words.

Just then, I hear a strange song. The long notes are so deep that I can feel them as much as I can hear them. It reminds me of those Wailord songs you can buy recordings of, but it’s not quite the same. What’s more, it’s getting louder; whoever’s singing it coming closer. I can see a shadow coming towards me...

And then, it becomes clear.

The singer some sort of dark grey and white... thing. It has a tail like a Dewgong’s, but a lot less delicate, while its top half looks like a Ponyta with seaweed for a mane. It’s... adorable! As I wonder what purpose its hooves could possibly serve, it waves one of them as it turns around, as if beckoning for me to follow as it continues to sing it song. I follow it.

As I follow the singer, the waters become brighter and shallower, until I can finally see the sand far below me. It’s reassuring, but it also makes me feel disoriented; the idea of not being on the ground feels so wrong. Other Pokémon start to follow her, too; I notice a Mantyke and a Remoraid who are almost inseparable, and the faint glow of a Finneon.

Eventually, the waters become so clear and green that I can see the shadows of the waves amongst the swaying seaweed. I look ahead to see what looks like a vast, twisted forest made of knobbly rocks in all sorts of vivid colours, inhabited by beings much like the singer, as well as swarms of tiny fish I don’t recognise. Upon closer inspection, I realise that it’s a city, and the spiralling buildings are made of coral. This place is beautiful. I want to cry tears of joy, but I can’t.

The singer beckons us to keep following it. Yes, us - I’m not alone forever after all.