Both the air and the water keeps getting colder. Normally this isn't a problem for me, being able to dive deeper than the day light can reach. The deeper, the colder. But this is a new kind of cold; A cold I've never felt before. My movements become slow, even though I try to swim quickly. Even my body begins to shake... Not unlike that small sand colored pony from three dark cycles ago. I think I understand now. He was cold, and now I'm feeling the same.

Looking above the water, I notice some lights. It looks like that place the Sea-Ponies live in. SeaQuestria I think. All the same I need to keep my distance. Looking around, I notice a glow similar to what's in my cave on the opposite side of this water. Creeping slowly over to it, I crawl out of the water. I'm never bothered about breath when I'm in or out of the water. I can breath the same way whales and dolphins can, and the way fish do.

Making myself as small as I can, I make my way over to the glow. It's coming from some very fine grey dirt... Reaching out, I find it's giving out the same heat as my cave. Nowhere near the same amount, but it's still heat! Climbing up, I burrow myself under the dirt and settle in for a night's rest.

~~~~***~~~~

Tide Pool stood next to his mother as Terramar knocked on his sister's dorm in the Friendship U. Campus. His sister, Silverstream, was a hippogriff of very light pink, save her beak, talons, and hind hooves. her mane and tail a silver with sky blue streaks. Around her neck was a similar piece of pearl as Terramar and Ocean Flow. When Terramar mentioned that he needed her friends help, she quickly gathered her friends in her dorm.

"So, what's this big emergency?" The blue griffin, Gallus asked. Terramar looked over to Tide Pool. Inhaling deeply, The colt stepped forward.

"Last week, I was taking my Diver's Final; And while I was down in the reef near SeaQuestria, I accidentally discovered what is probably the last living Leviathan" Tide started. "The next day I went back out with my dad to see if we could find it again. And we did."

"Excuse me." A light blue changeling, Ocellus, spoke up. "But weren't the Leviathan hunted to extinction over twelve hundred years ago?" She asked, a look of confused curiosity covering her face.

"I don't know the details." Tide resumed. "But I do know he's a sapient creature. He spoke to us and told us to stay away from the sea until the winter ended."

"Don't you mean Sentient?" The seafoam green pony asked.

"Sentience and sapience are two different things." Ocellus began to explain. "Sentience is consciousness of emotion. All living things to some degree are sentient. Dogs, Lizards, Puckwudgies, et cetera. Sapience is capability of thought and intelligence. The ability to gain wisdom." She finished.

"Ahhh." the group said confidently.

"Yona curious. What is Levy-a-ton?" The yak, Yona asked.

"A giant sea creature. Anyway, I was about to start planning out how to talk to him when-" Tide resumed, before Terramar interrupted him.

"Before Dad and I went to his house. I was out on a night swim, and saw him fishing. He fell into the ocean. I saw something swim out of the Blue Hole in the reef. It watched as he and his pop were circled by a large Bull Shark, when a bolt of lightning came from the creature and hit the shark. I watched it drag their boat to them, shove them in, and swim into the boat."

"Yeah... that." Tide said. "When they came over the next day, My sister," The colt grumbled "Told your dad about the leviathan, and he over reacted."

"I completely agree." The elder hippogriff said. "Your father went straight to Queen Novo and scrambled a good piece of our military. Almost hysterically claiming that it's a mindless predator, bent on sinking ships and eating other creatures."

The six friends all looked to each other and began to speak among themselves. Some seemed skeptical. Namely Gallus and Ocellus. Silverstream seemed most enthusiastic. Sandbar, Yona, and Smolder, the off fire colored dragon, were just hesitant, unsure of what to do.

"We'll talk about it tonight, and get back to you in the morning." Sandbar offered diplomatically. "That work?" All the creatures turned to look at the young Tide Pool.

"As good as I can hope. We are on a time crunch. When Sky Beak got the Sea-Ponies riled up, the chased Levi upriver. That river ends at the lake just outside town. He should be here in a few days at most." Tide shrugged, before turning tail to leave. Young Tide wasn't going to hold his breath. Things like these had a tendency of not getting done. Leaving the dorm, he made his way to the hotel room his mother had rented. In the back of his mind, he kept hearing the cry of a Leviathan.

~~~~***~~~~

Waking up, I notice all the heat had faded and I was now just laying under a pile of grey dirt. Great. Looking up, I see that the normal blue in the sky had gone, and was now a dull grey. The storm season had officially begun. Shaking myself of the dirt, I wandered into the large plants and, uh... relieved myself. Quickly then, I dove back into the currents, and continued my swim. As I swam, I saw many fish I had never seen before. Plants that seemed both familiar, and alien. Deep waters, shallow waters, waters so shallow, I had to walk over the land to continue.

As I swam, I kept wondering why I had let this happen. I was so careful this time... What went wrong? Was it me? Was it those ponies? Did a Sea-Pony see me? I really wanted to know. As I wandered, I heard a loud rumble. It didn't come from my gut, no.. This came from above me. Looking up, water began to fall from the sky, and not in small amounts either. I wasn't in deep water so I couldn't just dive to escape. The current of water wasn't going to get deeper anytime soon.

Looking around, I notice a pony den... this one looking like it had been abandoned. It was better than nothing so I made my way in. The sky erupted in light, and sounded with a loud growl. The light for a moment lit up the den. It was certainly abandoned. Everything inside looking like it hadn't been touched or moved in a long time.

My ears twitched at the sound of the water hitting the land and the top of the den. It's rhythmic tapping was almost... peaceful, and calming. Reminds me of those times I'd swim out to a small island a-ways out to sea. I'd lay on the warm rocks and nap under the daylight; The sounds of the waves splashing against the rocks... It's enough to make one forget about their troubles, if only for a short while.

My gut rumbled loudly again, reminding me I still needed to eat. I like to think I was familiar with pony dens, as they like to put them on their large boats; And I had swim through and explored several that had gone to the sea bed. I knew they had little places to store certain things like food. My search seemed simple enough. Look through the little holes and see if any food was left behind.

During my search, I came across a room with lots of places for storage. Moving panel after panel, I had found various things. Most of which was inedible. Letting out a small snort, I kept looking. Then I opened a panel, and found small round things. I don't know what they were, but I saw what looked like a fish on the front, so I assumed fish must be inside. I found a few more of those things, and began to try and find a way to get at the fish inside.

The water outside continued to patter, with the occasional rumble. Jamming one of the teeth on my front fin into a flat part of the round object, I noticed it had pierced through. The smell of fish wafted into my nose. While not an unpleasant smell, it was rather bland. I began to tear at the round thing... I think I heard ponies call them 'cans'... I managed to tear enough off that I was able to get at the fish inside. Looking outside, I watch the water hit the ground, the grey sky slowly drifting.

I look down and began to eat. It wasn't flavorful fish by any stretch, but it was enough. After the third can, I felt a craving for something else. I felt like I needed to drink. Never really needed to do that before. While my body can soak up hydration from surrounding waters, I didn't want to step outside. Too much of a risk to expose myself like that. And the air currents add to how cold it is.

"CHOO!"

Like that... Anyway, I began to search this part of the den again. This time I found several 'containers' that were certainly filled with liquid! Opening one, my nose was attacked by a horribly disgusting smell. Whatever this contained had gone bad a long time ago. I kept up my search until I found another sealed container with what appeared to be a large, red fruit on it. Carefully prying it open, the smell this one gave off was a very nice smell. It's taste was just as nice. Not too obnoxious, but very sweet. The seal on this one seemed to keep the liquid very fresh.

After sating my hunger, I began to explore this den some more. Plenty of cozy places to use as a place to sleep. Opening a slightly opened panel I looked inside and... Here was another place for rest, but... not for me. On the soft padding, was a pair of bodies; Long rotted away to bones. One, had the shape of that small pony's father, with the extra limbs from the back. The other, had what appeared to be a spine sticking out of the head. They lay together, holding each other... I don't know which was male and the other female. There wasn't any way for me to tell.

I had a serious compulsion to leave this part of the den. Leave these two to their rest. I slowly backed out of the room, my head bowed. When I left, I closed the panel that I entered through, and turned to find a new place to rest. Settling down on the pads in the main cavern, and began to drift into a nap. The sounds of the rhythmic tapping outside, lulling me to sleep.

~~~~***~~~~

Tide, his parents, as well as Terramar and his mother, all sat at their table in the local diner for breakfast. Silverstream and most of her friends joined them.

"We'll help." Silverstream announced excitedly.

"What do we need to do?" The young dragon asked, crossing her arms.

Tide, as well as his family was genuinely surprised! Usually creatures acted first, asked questions later. Tide supposed Friendship U. really lived up to it's name.

"Would Princess Twilight and her friends be able to help?" Marina asked calmly. "We are talking about a significant amount of hippogriffs and Sea-Ponies. Just three adults, and seven foals, no offense meant of course, aren't going to do much."

"Ocellus has already gone to see Fluttershy about just that." Gallus said, his voice laced with impassiveness. "She and Fluttershy both have a thing for this."

"And he ain't wrong." A new voice sounded. Every creature turned, and saw the orange country mare, Applejack, standing a few yards away from them. "Which one o' y'all is Tide Pool?" she asked.

Tide stepped forward, suddenly unsure of himself.

"That would be me, Miss Applejack." Tide responded nervously.

Applejack looked the colt over carefully, a gentle smile on her face.

"Sugarcube, you don't gotta be nervous. Just tell the truth. Did you really see a sea monster?" Applejack began.

"No." Tide responded.

Applejack tilted her head, suddenly confused. Fluttershy had told her that a colt had met a sea monster, yet here he was, saying he hadn't.

"Levi isn't a monster. He's just another creature like yaks, griffins and sea-ponies." Tide growled, his face firm. His parents, unsure of what to do, watched their son. "He has done nothing wrong. It's us ponies and sea-ponies who labeled something we didn't understand as a monster." Redwood and Marina beamed. Tide may just be able to pull this off!

"That's very mature of you, Darling." A graceful, white unicorn added.

"Yeah. Just because a dragon is a dragon, that doesn't make them monsters." Added a smaller white unicorn.

Before too long, Even princess Twilight had arrived with her remaining friends, as well as another group, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Tide had heard of the three young ponies from Terramar on the train ride over. Only when everyone was present did Tide tell his story; His parents adding to the story where it was needed, as well as Terramar.

"Goodness..." was all Fluttershy could say.

Twilight sat in thought. So, the legendary Leviathan was not only still alive, but probably down to the last of it's kind. Normally this story would be passed off as a foals imagination, but with several witnesses... The newest princess was unsure of what to do. The colt from the coast had even brought photographic evidence. While not blurry, the subject was far away.

"I'll be honest, Tide. I don't know what we should be doing..." Twilight began. "I can write a Canterlot Marine Biologist and have her review the evidence you brought. If your story checks out with her-"

"We're on too much of a time crunch. Levi and Queen Novo could be here any day now. We're talking about saving a life who as we speak is being pursued, just so he can be murdered in cold blood out of mindless fear." Marina growled, before realizing who she was talking to and settled back down. "I'm sorry princess. I may not have seen the young creature as clearly as my son and husband did, but I did see something unusual be chased upriver by Novo and her guards. My colt is no liar. If Tide says that was Levi, I have every reason to believe him."

Almost all beings present looked at Tide's mother as if she had temporarily grown a second head! It wasn't often someone had the guts to raise their voice to royalty. Twilight turned her head to Applejack, who had been watching the colt intensely since his story started. Applejack simply nodded in reply to the unspoken question.

"Very well. I can have her here by tomorrow, and we can try and at least stall Novo. Last thing we want, or need, is a war." Twilight sighed. "I honestly still have reason to doubt it... but, I have seen things that challenged conventional beliefs."

"Nightmare Moon, Pony of Shadows, Mirror Pool, things like that." The bouncing pink pony, Pinkie Pie offered. "If it was an old mare's tale, it's probably true."

Twilight summoned up a scroll and quill, and began to write; Dictating aloud to any who cared to listen. Before long, she had her purple dragon, Spike, send it off to the Canterlot Oceanographic society. With a sigh, Twilight began to ponder what to do next.

~~~~***~~~~

I found myself awake when the sounds of the water had stopped. Looking up, I see that the daylight had mostly gone. Time to get moving... I've used too much time sleeping... I need to get moving. Hopping up, I move as quickly, and quietly as I can, back into the waters, and move up current. The water here still isn't too deep, and the air is getting colder by the moment.

My movements continue to get slower, but I can't stop. It's only a matter of time...

"CHOO!"

"I heard something!" A voice calls out. Well tuna fish... spent way too long sleeping.

"Yeah! Sounded like a sneeze." Another voice replies. My breath quickens and I force my body to move faster. Before long, I find myself back in some deep water, and keep moving up current. I miss my warm cave...

Author's Note

Sentience and Sapience are quite often confused. Most people often use Sentience where sapience is more appropriate, and vise-a-versa.

Funny enough, the scene in the cabin, was inspired by watching a compilation video on the eating and drinking animations from Escape from Tarkov.
This one specifically.

Again, Levi has had little to no contact with a civilized source of knowledge. All he knows is what he's picked up. So he naturally wouldn't know what a 'Room' or 'House' is, let alone cabinets or bottles.

Constructive criticism again, is always welcome.