The Little Mermare

"I just don't know what we're going to do with you, young filly!" Queen Celestia said, shaking her head in exasperation. She sat on her throne, with Luna beside her and Sunburst perched upon her crown.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I just forgot," Twilight said.

Celestia sighed at her daughter's excuse. "As a result of your careless behavior.."

"Careless AND reckless behavior!!" Sunburst snapped from within the prongs of Celestia's crown.

"Yes, careless and reckless behavior, thank you, Sunburst. Anyway, as a result, the concert was..." Celestia began again, before Sunburst swam straight toward Twilight's face.

"IT WAS A DISASTER! That's what it was!! Completely and utterly ruined!! This concert was supposed to be the pinnacle of my distinguished musical career. Now, because of YOU, I'm the laughingstock of the entire kingdom!" the crab howled at the Little Mermare. Luna frowned at Sunburst's behavior, before Spike swam straight up to him in anger.

"LEAVE HER ALONE! It wasn't her fault!" he shouted. Sunburst paddled back in shock until he bumped into Celestia. The little fish gulped at the glare the Sea Queen shot at him, before swimming back to Twilight's side.

Luna looked from her sister to her niece, before she turned her gaze to the purple-and-green fish. "Well then, proceed, Spike. Give the explanation as to where you and Twilight were during the concert," she said kindly, before looking at her sister and raising her brow.

"Yes, Spike. Proceed," the Queen said, sitting back in her throne.

Spike gulped, looking from the solar monarch to the lunar monarch, before nodding fast. "Right. Right, um, well...it's easy to say where we were and what happened. First, this shark chased us. Yeah, yeah. And we tried to..." he said, breathing hard to demonstrate the frantic swimming that he and Twilight had to do. "But, we couldn't, and then he..." Spike continued, growling loudly and pretending to be Garble the Shark.

Celestia and Sunburst looked at each other with skeptical eyes, where as Luna kept her gaze solely on the little fish.

"And...And we...WHOA!" Spike hollered, spinning around for emphasis. "And then we were safe," he sighed happily. Luna smiled warmly, until Spike continued. "But then, there was this seagull! He came down and was like, "This is this, and that is that, and..."

"Seagull?" Celestia asked, sitting up in her throne. Spike gasped, clamping his fins over his mouth before hiding within Twilight's mane. The lavender mermare gave him a look, as Celestia swam toward her daughter, Luna behind her.

"Oh, you went up to the surface again, didn't you? Didn't you?" Celestia accused. Luna's eyes darted to her niece's, as she sighed.

This wouldn't have been the first time Twilight had gone to the surface. Luna had to partly blame herself for Twilight's fascination with the surface world, as she had brought her her first book from there. Where exactly she'd got it from, Celestia never found out and Luna never told, but regardless, it was that first book that expanded Twilight's mind, referencing places such as Manehattan, Fillydelphia and places such as that, exotic and strange places that the Little Mermare could only dream about. After that, Twilight started venturing out herself to the different sunken wrecks that were scattered around to find different pony oddities. Of course, she was never sure what they were, and so she would always bring them to Cheese for appraisal.

"Nothing happened," Twilight said reassuringly. Unfortunately, it did nothing to ease her mother's mind.

"Twilight, we've talked about this. You could have been seen by one of those barbarians, those surface dwellers, those Ponies!" Celestia said. Twilight frowned.

"Mom, they're not barbarians! How can you say that?! You barely know them!"

"I know enough about them to know that they're dangerous, Twilight!! Do you think I want to see my youngest daughter ensnared by fish-trapper's net?!" Celestia asked, placing her hoof under Twilight's chin.

"Mom, I've been alive for 16 moons now! I'm not a foal anymore!" the lavender mermare glared, pulling her head away from her mother's touch.

"Do NOT take that tone with me, young filly! As long as you live in MY ocean, you will abide by MY rules, do you understand?!" Celestia snapped.

"But Mom..."Twilight protested.

"And that is FINAL! I do not want to hear another word about the surface ponies and I NEVER, EVER want you to go up to the surface world again. Is that clear?!" the Sun Queen bellowed. Twilight's eyes watered, and her bottom lip quivered, before she swam away crying.

Celestia's eyes widened at the reaction, a pang of guilt hitting her heart. Sunburst, however, simply scoffed.

"Hmph! Teenagers, Your Majesty. Give them an inch and they will swim all over you," the crab said.

"SUNBURST! That was uncalled for," Luna barked at the crab, who jumped in shock. Then, she turned to her sister. "That was quite a display, Tia. Well done," she said sarcastically. Celsetia sighed, slumping into her throne.

"Do you think I was too hard on her?" she asked to both.

"Of course you were," Luna said as Sunburst, in unison with her, said, "Definitely not."

Celestia looked at her two advisors and sighed, motioning for Luna to explain her point.

"Tia, Twilight is young. Not just that, she's also smart. Very smart. Yet you still wish to have her partake in the concerts when you're not even sure if she enjoys it," the lunar monarch began. Suburst spluttered at her words, but Celestia simply motioned for Luna to continue. "How is she supposed to open up to you when you are so quick to lose your temper. Besides, you never have taken any time to learn what interests she has. You are the Queen, Tia, I am not denying that, but you could learn something from your daughter. Why are you so afraid to let Twilight grow how she wishes?"

"I am afraid that she could turn into Adagio, Luna. You remember the day of the banquet! The atrocities that Adagio created," Celestia replied.

"Twilight is NOT Adagio, Celestia. Our sister was troubled, more troubled than Twilight is. Twilight simply wishes to be happy and live her own life, Adagio was jealous of you. They are two very different things, Tia. I understand Adagio's fall still weighs heavy on you, but if you keep looking around expecting another version of her to appear, you will only serve to hurt your children and yourself," Luna concluded.

"Thank you, Luna. Truly, your wisdom is unprecedented. Suburst, your point?" the solar monarch asked.

"It's simple, Your Highness. If Twilight were my daughter, I'd show her who's boss! No more flitting up to the surface, no more of this fascination with surface ponies. She needs round the clock surveillance, constant supervision, someone to watch her," the crab said simply. Luna frowned, shaking her head. That was the exact OPPOSITE of what Twilight needed, but Celestia smiled and nodded her head.

"You are absolutely right, Sunburst! Twilight needs someone to watch out for her," she said.

"Absolutely she does," Sunburst agreed.

"She needs constant supervision," the Sun Queen continued.

"Yes, constant," the crab replied.

"And YOU are just the crab for the job! You keep an eye on Twilight and make sure she stays out of trouble!" Celestia chuckled. Sunburst paled, but bowed and nodded, swimming away from the two royals.

"Tia, did you not hear a word I said?" Luna sighed.

"Every word, Luna, but you must understand. Twilight is my child, her safety is my priority. I understood your point perfectly, but the risk is too great. I'm sorry," Celestia said.

"And you believe Sunburst can do the job?"

"Sunburst is my most loyal advisor, second to you, Luna. He will do as he's told. I'm sure of it."

Luna frowned. Something in her gut said that this was only going to get worse before they got better.

Sunburst swam away from the Sea Queen and her sister, muttering to himself.

"For the love of the Sun, how do I get myself into these situations? I should be writing symphonies, not following after some headstrong teenager!" As he lamented to himself, Sunburst noticed Spike and Twilight seemingly conspiring together. The crab's brow raised, as he saw them swim off faster than normal. "What is that girl up to?" he asked, following behind them as best he could. Easier said than done, however. The purple mermare and the spikey swam at a pace that Sunburst was not used to. He was thankful, after about a half mile, that they finally stopped. Catching his breath, he saw Twilight and Spike pull away a rock leaning against the base of a larger rock. Spike swam into the now revealed hole first, before Twilight followed him.

The yellow crab gasped, having to speed toward the rock before it plugged up the hole again. He was lucky he got through right before the rock slid back into place or he might have lost a leg, or three. Taking a deep breath, he ventured deeper into what had now been revealed to be a grotto, before his mouth fell open in shock.

The entire grotto, from top to bottom, was FILLED with surface pony trinkets! Sunburst couldn't even identify them, but he knew they'd come from the surface, nothing of their sort was found below the waves naturally. On a small outcropping, in the center of the Grotto, was Twilight with Spike above her. He looked on in sadness, as the Little Mermare stared at the Dinglehopper. Her satchel lay on top of a round metal object, that looked much like a sand-dollar, next to her. The Snarfblatt hung out of it. Directly in front of her was a large object with 3 prongs, where a small angled object made of metal sat on one side. On the other side, a similar small metal object, with a round head, sat on the other side.

"Twilight? Are you okay?" Spike asked sadly.

Twilight sighed, twirling the Dinglehopper slowly in her hoof. "If only I could make my mother understand. I just don't see things the way that she does, Spike. I don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad," she said wistfully. Sunburst frowned from his hiding place, as he watched Twilight pine for the surface world.

"I mean, look at all of these things, Spike! Aren't they incredible? In all the sea, you'd have to say I'm the only mare who has everything. Somepony could look around and think my collection was complete, couldn't they?" she asked, placing the Dinglehopper in the empty center prong, creating a beautiful display with the other two.

"I mean, so many of these treasures, so many strange and wonderful things and all of them serve a different purpose! Like this one!" she said, pulling down a circular object attached to a string.

With a flourish, Twilight popped open the lid, revealing the white face with two black arrows. "Cheese called this a gizmo! Apparently, it's supposed to bring the surface ponies good luck when the two arrows are in the same position! Then there's this one!" she said, holding up a long metal rod that was round at one end, with gems encrusted into it. "Cheese says this is a whatzit, a surface pony weapon from old times! They apparently used it to bludgeon their enemies. Thank goodness they don't use them anymore, huh?" she said with a giggle, placing the whatzit down.

Sunburst rolled his eyes, as Twilight continued to gush.

"Then there's my thingamabobs! Cheese says they were given out as party favors at surface pony parties! I've got 20 of them! See!" she said with a smile, opening a wooden box to reveal that she did indeed have 20 thingamabobs. Then, her face fell in sadness, as she closed the box and placed it down. "And, don't get me wrong, all of these things are great, but...it's not enough. Scavenging through wrecked ships has become stale. I want more!"

Sunburst watched cautiously, as Twilight's desires grew.

"I want to be where the ponies are! I want to be able to see them dance, like in the performances described in the book from Aunt Luna," she giggled, taking Spike and spinning him around in giddy happiness as the hidden crab harrumphed

"You can only get so far with a tail and fins, Spike. Hind legs are needed for cantering, prancing! Even going for a casual walk down...what's the word? Oh yeah! Down the street! "

"The surface world! Up there! That's where I wanna be. Where the ponies run, and walk and play. Just to be able to wander, to roam, to be free! That's what I want! To be part of that world!" She looked up wistfully to the opening in the grotto, the moon shining above the waves.

In that moment of bliss and dreamlike wonder, Twilight let her imagination run wild. She let it carry her above the waves and onto the surface. She could almost feel the wind on her face, and the grass between her hooves. She let her desire carry her up, up, up toward the hole in the top of the grotto. It was so close! So close she could nearly taste it. To be able to live out of the water, to lazily spend a day laying warm on the sand, oh, what she would give for that.

"Oh Spike! I'm ready! I'm ready to know what everypony else knows! I want to ask them my questions and get actual answers, answers from creatures who really understand! To learn, Spike! That's what I want! To learn! Learn what a fire is, and why it burns, learn what a 'windmill' is, all of the things I read from the book Aunt Luna brought me!"

In a flash, she grabbed the very same book and flipped through it, giggling. "Just look at all of it, Spike. All these wonderful things, and they're all up there, while I'm down here!"

With a sigh, she closed the book and placed it on the shelf with a bunch of other books, as she began to swim toward the hole up above once again, her desires now coming out as pleading. "When will it be my turn, my chance? To be able to finally explore the land above! Just to be out!! That's what I want, truly! To be out of the sea!" she yelled out, raising her foreleg up through the hole and toward the waves. Out of reach.

Sunburst gasped. Twilight slowly began to float back down to the floor of the grotto, her eyes tearing up. "I just wish that I could be...part of that world." Even in soft tone of voice that came from her throat, her natural, beautiful singing voice carried those last four words up through the grotto and out, out through the hole at the top of the grotto, up past the waves and finally, finally dissipated high above the clouds of the Pony Kingdom. Silence reigned, as Twilight and Spike simply sat in her grotto, surrounded by her trinkets, her surface pony collection. To the Little Mermare, it would be the closest she felt she would ever get to truly be part of that world.