The dull gray clouds hung low over the sky, the sun not visible in the early morning. The beach town was barely awake itself, however, a small group of workers got up at the crack of dawn, and walked the trail to the harbor. They fished from early dawn to late dusk, from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year. Normally, fishing wasn’t that stable of a job, with all the activists trying to shut it down saying that they don’t eat meat, so what was the point, and the fact that they did have a slight point, ponies didn’t eat meat. However, the island that these workers worked, well, it had a very good structure for those who wished to fish. In fact, being a fisher here was a very wise idea, however, few took part in it, some thinking it was a poor stallion’s job, or they just couldn’t stomach the smell. However, one stallion disagreed, he thought it wasn’t a poor stallion’s job, for no matter what rank you were born into, poor, middle, or noble, you could fish your day away and get a profit from it.
The stallion in question walked along the beach, his mind unfocused on his surroundings. He had just been dumped last night by yet another lover, apparently, he wasn’t good looking enough for the mare, even after a month. Yet, he didn’t take it too hard, he was raised not to. His pale blue fur rushed a bit when a soft ocean breeze passed by, like an old memory. His pure white mane ruffled a bit from the position he took up last night, and the fact he didn’t care to comb his mane, it wouldn’t do much when around water. His mind was clear, even after the breakup. Some would cry, others would drown themselves in all the booze the island had to offer, and then there was the few like him, who sucked it up and kept the small pain inside and stomached it.
He stopped for a moment, his hooves sinking into the sand of the beach. He looked out over the horizon, he didn’t expect to see the sun, he didn’t expect to see anything but a few lone ships, out early trying to make a catch for themselves. That was what he saw, a few lone ships, and once he got to the harbor, he would be one with them, in a lonely group. All he had to do was start moving again and reach the harbor and get on his boat, then sail out to the ocean blue for a few hours, then come right back, hopefully with a decent sized haul. If he didn’t, well, better luck next time. His mind, once clear, started to think, as he stared out over the horizon, he felt at peace, calm, and... a bit happy. A small smile spread across his lips. Why? The clouds, the heavy overcast, he loved it, he loved it a lot. It reminded him of home, reminded him of the good times he had in the rain, when he met his first friend, helped his brother, found his cutiemark. All of these happened when the sky wept, when the clouds let loose their tears to nourish the plants and animals around them.
He sighed, whenever there was a heavy overcast, he always caught himself reflecting on his past, maybe it was because all his most wonderful memories happened in the rain? He did have good ones where the sun shined brightly, but it was always the rain or very heavy clouds loomed over him. Well, now was not the time to ponder any longer than he had, he needed to get to the harbor before the better spots were taken by other fishers. He raised his hoof and struck the sand, and soon began to walk once more to his destination.
The harbor was in sight, and he held a soft smile, most of the other boats were still docked, maybe the other fishers thought that these heavy clouds would start to weep? Either way, he was alright with it, since this allowed him time to go out to sea. As he continued to walk, the high tide started to retreat back into the ocean, leaving behind many little shells and creatures, like crabs and the occasional starfish. However, in the distance, he noticed something. It looked like a pony, but their lower body was that of a fish. His pace quickened a bit, he had heard about the sea ponies, half pony half sea creature, he knew they existed, but he never truly saw one up close. His pace quickened to a slight trot when he saw the creature flip onto its back and flop around a bit, it appeared to be in trouble. Finally, he ran towards the figure. As soon as the figure came into a closer view, Hook slammed on his breaks, his hooves grinding against the sand as he was forced to sit on his haunches.
The figure lied its back, from what he could tell, they were female. The mare’s mane was a soft yellow, her body was a brownish-orange color, and they seemed to have a white underbelly. He looked the mare in the eyes, her pretty soft pink ones stared into his, and he could see the panic and worry in them. When her eyes started to close, he rushed over and grabbed her tail with his mouth, and began to drag the mare back into the water, but despite her seeming to have a thin stature, she was really heavy. He grunted and groaned as he hauled her into the water.
“Jeez you’re heavy, sticking blubber butt!” he groaned through his teeth and her tail as he finally was able to drag her whole body into the water and then some. As soon as he was about to let go, he felt her fin break loose from his grasp and smack him across the face. Then he felt two hoves wrap around his hind legs and drag him further into the water. He panicked and tried to break free, but the mare’s grasp was near impossible to break from.
Soon, he now swam, not too far from the shoreline, a nice quick swim and he’d be on the shore, however, the dorsal fin of the mare that now circled around him stopped him from swimming.
Her head breached above the water, her pink eyes staring at him as she circled him. She looked suspicious of him, her eyes were narrowed as she swam around him, a cold glare of analyzation that was met with his own similar glare. Soon, she dove back under the water, then appeared right beside him.
The first words out of her mouth still make him laugh. She said, her voice smooth and even, with a small blush on her muzzle,” I’m not fat, I’m just... gravity weighs on me differently!”
“I... didn’t think you could hear me, Ms.” Hook replied as he looked at her.
“Well... I could!” the mare replied, her forelegs were crossed as she pouted a bit,” I just couldn’t say anything...”
Hook looked at her for a moment,” Was it because you were beached on shore, without water?”
The mare blushed a bit harder at this, but she nod softly and grumbled, “yeah...”
“How did you get beached?” Hook asked as he looked back at the shoreline.
“I... fell... asleep at high tide and... I guess when low tide came around... the water left me behind...” the mare responded, she looked away, her muzzle scrunched a bit.
“Well,” Hook responded,” At least you’re back in the water, but I need to go and head out with my boat, so I’ll see you later.”
With that, Hook started to doggie paddle towards the shoreline, however, the mare caught up with him.
“Wait!” She nearly shouted,” You saved my life! Don’t you want anything in return?”
Hook looked at her, confused,” Ms-”
“Periculo,” she responded,” Don’t call me Ms, I don’t like it... too formal for this setting.”
“Alright, Periculo, I don’t know why you think I would want something in return,” Hook responded, then gave a light shrug,” I helped because it was the right thing to do, not because I wanted something, well, something other than a mind at peace, knowing I didn’t let an innocent creature die.”
“But-!” Periculo started, but Hook held up a hoof.
“Listen, Periculo, I need to head back to shore and get on my boat, I have work to do, the fish aren’t going to catch themselves.” Hook stated.
“Oh! You’re a fisher!” Periculo smiled,” That’s cool!”
Hook looked a bit confused by this,” How...? Aren’t you a fish? Or at least part of one?”
“No no! I’m part bull shark!” Periculo smiled,” Anyways... since you don’t want anything from me... I’ll let you head back to the shore.”
“Alright... well... bye,” Hook smiled a bit and swam back to shore.
Once he was back on land, he shook out his coat and walked the rest of the way to the harbor. He undocked his boat and drove out of port and into the open water, little did he know, Periculo was following him, she had a plan.
The net was cast into the water, near where schools of fish swam together. He hoped that he could catch a good few, even if his net could hold a small amount of fish. So, he sat there and waited. He knew that fishing would take a while, so he always had on him a book or something to read or look at while he was out there. Some days he would sit there for hours and catch only a few big good ones, while the rest he’d have to throw back to the water. So he had learned a great deal of patience when it came to it. Though he always brought a book, it made waiting all that much easier.
After a few hours, Hook’s ear twitched as he heard something from over the side of the boat, where the net had been dropped. He grabbed his bookmark and walked over to the edge of the boat and peered down over the side. When he saw that shark fin, he nearly yelled out for it to leave. Yet, after a second glance, he recognized it, it was Periculo. Immediately, he hoisted up the net, which was heavier then it had ever been before. As he hoisted the net over the side of the boat, his jaw nearly dropped at the large amount of fish that was in it. Yet, this was too good to be true, so he inspected the net for any holes. He only stopped when he heard the displacement of water and an angry,” Hey!” from Periculo.
Hook looked back over the edge of the boat, which was around three feet above the water. He looked at Periculo, who was pouting, her forelegs crossed with an annoyed expression on her muzzle.
“What are you doing?” Hook asked, his voice held a bit of anger.
“I’m helping you!” Periculo replied with a small splash of her tail.
“By trying to bite holes into my net?” Hook accused.
“Bite holes into your net?” Periculo tilted her head a bit,” I wasn’t doing that! I was leading fish to your net!”
Hook raised an eyebrow,” Really? And why would you do that?”
“Cause you saved my life!” Periculo replied,” And before you say you want nothing in return, I’m gonna be honest with you, I don’t like holding a debt, so I’m helping you get more fish to get more money... at least I think that is how it works...”
Hook sighed and lowered his head, he thought about it for a moment, then gave it a second thought, then finally he looked at Periculo and said,” Fine, you can help with the fish, but don’t, and I mean DON’T bite any holes into my net, it’s very expensive.”
“Alright, I won’t!” Periculo promised.
Hook sighed and took out the fish he was allowed by law to take, then lowered the net back into the water with the remaining fish, allowing them to escape. He saw Periculo dive down into the water and swim off. She didn’t go very far, however, and soon her fin could be seen swimming back towards his boat. He looked at the line that held the net, and it slowly started to bend as fish filled up the net to its max capacity. This happened over and over again, till Hook had enough fish to give him enough money to last the month. He turned the boat around and headed back to the dock, the sun now setting. He packed the crates full of fish and hauled them off to the freezer so that they’d stay fresh.
As he was about to load up the last crate, Periculo appeared near the dock, a large smile on her face.
“That was fun!” She said happily, a large smile on her face.
“Really?” Hook looked at her,” You thought it was fun?”
“Of course! I love chasing fish!” Periculo announced happily, her forelegs rose into the air, as if celebrating something.
Hook couldn’t help but give off a small chuckle at the sight of the mare. To which something responded. It was a low grumble from Periculo’s stomach. She blushed a bit and lowered her forelegs to her stomach, the growled softly,” Darn... I was so wrapped up in this I forgot to catch a meal! I guess I’ll have to go to bed hungry tonight...”
Hook shook his head when he heard this,” No, you aren’t going hungry.”
Hook popped open the crate full of fish, found three of the biggest ones and offered them to Periculo.
“You worked hard today, helped me in the long run,” he stated,” You deserved to be paid in something from me, so here, since you didn’t get a meal, I’ll give you some of the fish we caught together.”
Periculo looked a bit flabbergasted and confused,” But... they’re your fish, why are you giving them to me?”
“Like I said,” Hook stated,” WE caught the fish, not just me. Also, you didn’t get to eat. Are these going to be enough?”
“But-!”
Hook stayed firm as he cut her off,” I’m not going to let you go to sleep hungry, now, are these good enough, or do you need more?”
Periculo opened her mouth to argue, a small blush formed on her cheeks when she realized how nice Hook was being, much more different than males in the ocean. She wanted to argue, but the scent of the fish caught her in a trance. She looked at them and gently rose out of the water and pulled them from his hand one by one, gently, and nodded.
“Yes, these will be enough... thank you.”
Hook nodded,” Alright, then I guess this is goodbye?”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Periculo responded,” we can do this again tomorrow.”
Hook thought about it for a minute... Then nodded,” Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow too,” Periculo responded, and the two went their separate ways.
The next day they met up with one another and did the same thing yesterday, then the next day, and the next. Soon, it was clear that the two had become close friends, and started to share stories with one another.
|A Few Years Later|
“That was how I met your mother~,” Hook replied as he looked at the little shark pony filly in his lap. She had great big blue eyes, a white mane, white underbelly, brown scales, and a shark pony tail. This was his daughter, Agua Fisher. Currently, he had just told her the tale of how he met her mother, and every step of the way through the story she listened, a large smile plastered on her muzzle.
When he finished, the small filly smiled brightly at him and hugged him, her tail wagging a bit.
“So, I’m guessing you liked what you heard~?” Hook asked happily as he picked up his daughter and gently nuzzled her.
Agua giggled loudly, and nuzzled her father back softly,” I did!!”
Hook smiled and set her back down. He once more gave her a gentle nuzzle and said,” You know something, little one?”
“What?” The filly responded with a bubbly tone.
Hook gently poked Agua’s belly, this caused another burst of giggles to come from the small filly,”You are just like your mother when she is hungry, you just gobble everything up~.”
The filly smiled and stuck out her tongue,” I do not!”
Hook softly chuckled and pulls her into a hug, gently nuzzling her head. Just then, the filly’s stomach grumbled loudly. Hook chuckled once more and got up, the small filly hopped up and ran into the kitchen and Hook followed, a smile on his muzzle.
“Now Agua, after lunch we’re going to go visit your mother, alright?” Hook asked as he entered the kitchen. .Agua had seated herself at the table, but due to being too short, her head barely reached the table top counter.
“Yes, dad!” Agua replied with a smile.
Hook nodded and went about the kitchen to make his daughter something to eat.
Author's Note
I sincerely apologize for not posting in a long time, it’s just that I’ve been busy with stuff in real life, and I’ve been losing some interest. Now, does that mean I’m gonna stop writing? No, it doesn’t, so if you do like my stories, don’t worry, I’m still around, and I have some ideas that might take shape!
