The sound of the train whistle permeated the cabin a few times before I sat up and began to rub the sleep out of my eyes. After a small yawn and a stretch of my legs, I hopped off the twin-sized bed in my personal cabin and made my way towards the door.
I exited into the narrow hallway and began to make my way down towards the bathroom to relieve myself. Along the way, I paused and looked at the passing vegetation through the train’s rectangular window. The urge to draw something came to me, but I reminded myself that this was a vacation, not an inspiration trip. I begrudgingly continued on my way after a few moments.
After I did my business and washed up, I made my way back to my cabin and got all my belongings together, well, most. I couldn’t seem to find one of my pencils, but oh well, I had plenty more stored away with my luggage. I did, however, make sure my lucky pencil was stowed away safe and sound.
After zipping up my final bag, I floated the two of them up onto the seat before sitting down next to them and directing my gaze out the window.
This vacation has been a long time coming, heck, my parents wanted me to move out of Cloudsdale too! As a unicorn in Cloudsdale, life is a bit more difficult, but I made it work. Anyway, I had been working tirelessly for years as an artist trying to get one of my pieces into the Cloudsdale Art Exhibit. After having nearly all of my art rejected, my latest piece was what caught the attention of a pony with connections who was able to get me in. I was so ecstatic at the moment I nearly passed out. My parents came and visited and I went to the local bars with many of my friends to celebrate. But after the celebration wore off, I realized I didn’t know what to do next. I could try to get more of my art into the exhibit, but I had just done that. Why not do something else? After days of sitting in front of my desk and not making a single mark on my paper, I decided that I needed a vacation, something my parents had been telling me to do for months. I said I wasn’t going to draw anything, but I brought some stuff anyway… you know, just in case, no other reason.
“We are arriving at Wildbark station, please gather your belongings as we will be arriving shortly. We hope you enjoyed your trips.” Came the voice of the conductor followed shortly by the train starting to slow.
I snapped out of my gaze and took this as my cue and floated my bags behind me as I made my way out of my cabin and into the main hall before taking a right and heading towards the nearest door. I was the first one to arrive in front of the doors, followed shortly by a dozen other ponies making their way towards the exit.
“Thank you for using FilthyRich Rail, we hope you enjoyed your ride.” Came the conductor’s voice one final time before the train finally came to a complete stop with a small lurch. The doors opened shortly after and all the passengers, myself included, made our way off and onto the platform.
The trip to the hotel was pretty boring. Trying to hail a taxi for fifteen minutes, arriving at the wrong place, and forgetting something at the train station. But after an hour, I was finally walking into the lobby of the cheap hotel I was staying at. Hey, I said I was an artist, not a famous artist. I’m working on that.
It wasn’t in the best condition, but I had certainly seen much worse. It was a square room with worn-out wooden chairs lining the walls, two hallways in the back left and right corner of the room, a rectangular desk with a brown earth pony mare behind it, and a staircase just behind her.
“Hello?” I said after walking up to the desk unnoticed and setting my bags down on the ground next to me.
“Oh!” she jumped “You scared me! I didn’t hear you come in, my apologies sir.” She said very apologetically.
“It’s alright miss, I didn’t mean to scare you.” I said with a raised hoof “I have a reservation though, the name’s Vibrant, Vibrant Glow.”
“Oh ok, just let me check through my…” she mumbled while checking a list of names sitting on the desk “here we are! You are going to be just down the hall on the right in room 13!” She then dipped under her desk before coming back up, this time with a key dangling from her mouth with a big thirteen engraved on it.
“Thanks…?”
“Caramel, Caramel Fudge.” She responded with a smile.
“Well thank you Caramel, I think I will be on my way, have a nice day.” And with a slight wave, I made my way down the hallway and towards door number thirteen.
“11… 12… ah here we are, 13!” I said as I floated the metal key towards the lock before inserting it and turning before a small click indicated that the lock was open.
The room was fairly normal, a single queen-sized bed to the right of the entrance in the middle of a nightstand on the right with a brass lamp and a small desk, also with a lamp, on the left as well as a window opposite the door and a small bathroom just to the right of the entrance.
I made my way in, closing the door behind me, before setting my luggage on the ground in front of the bed before jumping on and just taking a deep breath.
My body was fairly exhausted from hours of travel, but I was at the same time fairly eager to get to the beach that was supposedly only about a five to ten-minute walk from the hotel. I just continued to lay there for another few minutes but made my mind up shortly after.
I got my saddlebags and began to pack them with the necessities, a towel, a bottle of water, and a nice book so my first trip to the beach in years could be as enjoyable as possible.
After digging through my luggage and getting everything I thought I would need for the short trip, I strapped my saddlebags closed, floated them onto my back, and headed towards the door.
After nearly forgetting my key, I was making my way down the hall towards the lobby. Caramel gave me a little wave, which I returned before I walked past her desk and subsequently out of the building.
I emerged onto the dirt road that connected the hotel to the rest of the small village of Wildbark. Its construction style and seclusion somewhat reminded me of Ponyville. I decided to follow the sign on the corner pointing left with water painted on it, assuming that meant the ocean.
As I trotted down the path, I noticed that the number of hoofprints in the dirt started to dwindle along with the vegetation growing thicker and more out of control. This worried me a bit and I almost decided to turn around, but I quickly changed my mind when a patch of beach that looked almost completely untouched started to fill my vision.
Once I created the small hill, I was able to get a good look at the most perfect patch of beach I had ever laid eyes upon. The fine, yellow sand, the palm trees swaying in the wind, the shells lining the coast, the gentle sound of the waves crashing onto the shore. Everything was perfect, and not a single pony in sight! I wonder why?
I quickly brushed that thought aside and made my way onto the beach and closer to the shore with the satisfying crunch of the sand under my hooves after every step.
I finally found a good spot in the shade of a palm tree. I took off my saddlebags and found my towel before laying it on the sand. After taking a sip of water and wiping the sweat off my forehead, I decided to head to the water to cool off for a bit. While I never really like the water in general, I usually liked it, however, while it was still below my barrel.
With my body needing to cool off, I put all my stuff onto my towel before making my way down the beach quickly towards the water.
The water was nice, not quite perfect, but nice. I continued walking further into the ocean until the water nearly touched my barrel before stopping.
I sat there for a moment to enjoy the relief the cool water gave my overheated body for a few minutes before I decided I wanted to head back.
As I was walking back, one of my hooves struck a rock and I immediately fell forward. My entire body was completely submerged. And me, currently panicking, headed for the closest path to shore which just happened to be a V-shaped divot in the waves just to my right. But as I got closer, I began to realize that I wasn’t getting closer to shore. I was, in fact, getting sucked out into the ocean!
Panicking, I shouted, “Help!” but to only inhale water when I tried to suck in a breath. My poor swimming skills were doing nothing but making me more tired while I continued to get sucked further and further from the shore.
I was scared out of my mind. Each breath I took I risked inhaling water. And every second I could feel my legs getting weaker and weaker. But no matter how hard I tried, the shore seemed to keep getting further and further away.
“Help…” Were my last words before I got a mouthful of water and choked. I immediately began coughing frantically. My legs began to give out and my head began to dip under the water. After inhaling nothing but water, my entire body just gave out.
The last thing I remember was fear before the void finally overtook me.
Author's Note
Hmm, what am I doing with my life? Anyway, hope you liked it. Criticism is greatly appreciated and helps me make the story better, have a nice rest of your day!
Wet… pain… sore… wait... what?!
My eyes snapped open the moment I realized I wasn’t dead. I wanted to instantly take a breath but my surroundings stopped me from doing so. I was underwater. The sand, bubbles, and seaweed all reinforce this thought. I quickly began to desperately swim in the only logical direction, up. Strangely, I wasn’t out of breath, but I didn’t think much of it. All I could think of was the need to get my head above the water.
I moved my forelegs as quickly as I could. My hind legs felt numb, but that didn’t matter. I was getting closer and closer to the surface. My lack of breathing quickly started to catch up to me as my legs got tired and my thoughts began to dull. I was so close, only a dozen feet away from the surface.
I was so close, I couldn’t get this close and not survive! I pushed through the water with all my might, my last drops of energy left me when finally, I breached the surface and inhaled.
Only, rather than having my lungs being gracefully filled with air, I instantly choked. Pain spread through my chest and caused me to fall back under the water. I closed my eyes and gasped out of instinct. But rather than choking on water, it felt like I just took a breath. The feeling of oxygen returning to my body made me inhale deeply, and it worked. My current situation left my mind completely as I floated there panting, my oxygen-deprived mind wanting nothing but more of that precious air.
Finally, after floating there for a few minutes panting, I started to regain my thoughts. The first thing I did was open my eyes expecting to see the surface of the water, only there was no surface. This surprised me a bit, but a quick look at where I was surprised me even more. I wasn’t gently floating on the surface of the water, I was under it.
This scared me greatly, I thought I was just going to drown. But as I just floated there, my mind quickly comprehends the fact that I was very obviously breathing underwater. I waved my arm around which was met with some resistance. I began a swimming motion and began to move. This was all I needed for my mind to agree with my senses and finally come to the realization that I was alive yet underwater.
I just floated there, having no idea what to make of the situation. My mind simultaneously filling with questions. How am I alive? How am I breathing underwater? Where am I? And dozens more continued to fly through my mind, unable to be answered.
“Hello? Where did you go? Mister land pony?” Came a distant voice seemingly from directly under me.
This snapped me out of my mind and back to the real world. I no longer cared about the fact that I was underwater. Somepony must be near, somepony who may know what happened to me. The fact that I was hearing someone’s voice from underwater eluded me at the moment.
“Hello?” I shouted back.
“Hello! There you are!” That same voice responded, growing closer and closer.
I looked down and instantly froze. What looked like a pony was swimming upwards in my direction at a very fast speed wearing a big smile which just so happened to reveal rows of very pointy-looking teeth. I instantly realized that was no pony and regretted my decision. I immediately bolted in the opposite direction as quickly as I could without a second thought.
“Hello!? Please don’t swim away! I just want to help you!” Shouted the voice a moment later, still getting closer.
“Please don’t eat me!” I shouted back, the environment around me flying past as I continued to push myself as hard as I could. All I could think about at the moment was how I was going to ripped to shreds by whatever creature was chasing me.
My mind raced as I myself raced through the water. What the heck did I just do? I asked myself while continuing to try and getaway. I went through flowing seaweed, through coral tubes, and around rocks but no matter what I did, the creature seemed to only be a few steps behind me and gaining.
“I don’t want to eat you!” Came the creature’s response as I swam through another hole in a rock narrowly avoiding hitting it head-on.
“You’re lying!” I screamed back before nearly running into yet another massive boulder. I also realized at that moment how heavily I was breathing which greatly worried me.
“No, I’m not!” The creature shouted seemingly from right behind me “I just saved you! Why would I want to hurt you? We haven’t had a land pony in hundreds of years!”
At this point, I was completely exhausted. I was never a good swimmer, to begin with, and the creature's very obvious superiority in the water crushed my hopes of out ru- swimming it. I knew I wasn’t getting out of this alive. The creature’s previous words went in one ear and right out the other because at that point I just decided to let it happen and just stopped swimming, ready to accept my fate.
“WOAH!” Was all I heard before I was slammed into by something heavy and thrown downward.
I landed back first onto the ocean floor. Though something on my back seemed to stop my back about a couple of inches above the ground and subsequently send a jolt of pain through something I had never felt before. I ignored this, however, as the only thought currently on my mind was my life. Everything I had ever done, my family, my friends, my dreams. All of which began to run through my mind along with the fact that I just basically gave up and didn’t try harder.
“Are you alright?” A quiet voice asked.
My eyes immediately snapped onto the source of the voice only half a dozen feet above me. It looked like a pony, only it was missing its hind legs and with a tail similar to that of a dolphin in its place. It didn’t have any fur, rather it had shiny, pale brown skin which got lighter the closer it got to its stomach. It also had a fin on its back along with some sharp-looking teeth pointed right at me causing me to instinctively take scoot back a little.
“I umm… didn’t mean to scare you....” The creature timidly responded, keeping its distance.
“Just get it over with…” I responded, confused as to why it seemed unsure. I was easy prey, ripe for the taking.
“Umm… get what over with?” Responded the voice I now recognized as female.
“You’re going to eat me! What else would you do!?” I screamed back just wanting her to stop playing with me and get it over with.
“I would never do that to a poor land pony like you! You’re a shark pony now too, noshark could hurt you without getting into trouble!”
This statement made my mind freeze. What did she just say… I asked myself over and over again hoping desperately that my senses did me wrong.
“W-What did you just s-say?” I hesitantly asked, now afraid for a whole different reason.
“Well I umm, had to turn you into a shark pony like me to save you… I hope it’s alright, you were in trouble after all.”
My face paled as I got the answer I was dreading. My mind continued to reject this, however, even despite the fact that I was literally breathing underwater. What if she’s just trying to play me? I thought, then realized I could find the answer myself.
With dread, I slowly tilted my head down, dreading what was possible to some, and after what felt like hours of staling, I finally took a deep breath, looked down, and screamed.
“What did you do to me!?” I shouted, staring wide-eyed at where my hind legs used to be.
“I saved you...” She responded seemingly scared “I didn’t hurt you did I?”
“Hurt me! I-I’m- my-” I was nearly about to shout at her, but then I remembered what I was shouting at and took a moment to rethink my situation a little more carefully. I was alive and according to this creature, it was because of her. Second, I’m different, not really hurt in any physical way, so I guess I should be thanking her. Yet at the same time, she transformed me into some creature I’ve never seen nor heard of before. But yet again, is there really anything wrong with being turned into whatever I was? Oh yea, I can't go on land anymore!
“Umm… did I hurt you mister land pony?” She asked while waving an arm in front of my face which snapped me out of my conflicting thoughts.
“I’m sorry,” I responded with my head down “I just don’t really like having things dropped on me like this. I thought I, umm... died, but now I’m… whatever you are... “ My true emotions began flooding back into my mind as the adrenaline from the previous situation was now for the most part gone. I began to see that things weren’t that bad yet at the same time they were absolutely horrible. I was angry and yet sad at the same time. I honestly had no idea what to really make of it.
“Oh it’s alright, I understand.” She said in a comforting voice “I know what it’s like to have your life changed.” she chuckled “Imagine losing everything you love…” She suddenly took on a much more somber tone, causing me to look up at her a little surprised “but that’s in the past, and right now I need to help you, you’re not in the best shape.”
Hearing this, I took a closer look at myself and saw that she was indeed right. My own rubbery-looking skin was littered with small cuts and bruises most likely from whatever she did to transform me along with our little chase. Also, with my mind finally having almost fully caught up to the real world, I was reminded of my bodily needs and feelings, especially pain.
“If you want to go back to my village I can probably patch you up and give you some food.”
“Alright… thanks.” I finally said after some conflict in my mind. While I had no idea if I could trust her, what else could I really do? Plus, if she is the one who turned me into whatever I am now she must also be able to turn me back. “But,” I spoke up “you have to tell me how you found me and what you did to me, deal?”
“Ok, I’ll do that, but we have to get you fixed up first!” She said in a tone that left no room for argument.
“Oh, and my name’s Vibrant Glow by the way.” I said, holding out a hoof hoping she knows what it means.
“Your name is weird, mine’s Sharp Nibble.” She said with a little giggle, before bumping hooves to my relief.
That name worried me a little, but I tried to ignore it. She wasn’t nibbling on me at the moment so that was a plus.
“Alright, that’s your opinion but whatever.” I said with a small chuckle “I’ll just follow you if you want to go back to wherever you live.” I said as I flipped my self-right side up.
“Alright, it’s not too far this way.” She pointed straight before she started swimming.
As I tried to move, I began to question how I was able to swim away from her that fast and with such agility only a couple of minutes ago. I could just paddle with my arms but that was really slow and made me go up. I looked up to see her using her tail like that of a fish. I decided to try that, but all I did was end up shaking my rear end and not moving.
At this point, she seemed to have taken notice of my struggling form and came back to assist.
“Umm, don’t you know how to swim? You were doing it earlier.” She said as she swam up next to me.
“I don’t really know how I did that, I just kinda did.” I responded, continuing to shake my butt but not my tail.
“Oh ok, well you don’t just shake,” she said showing me what I was doing “you move your tail back and forth like you move your arm back and forth.” She then demonstrated and proceeded to start moving forward.
I began to pretend that my tail was like, well, my tail and tried to move it like I would my normal tail.
“There you go! Now you just gotta go faster!” She encouraged me as I began to get the hang of swimming with a new tail.
“Wow, I guess I’m doing it.” I said, surprised at how quickly I was able to learn to use a new appendage. “I can go pretty fast, but how do I stop?” I quickly asked, a rock now set right in my path quickly growing closer.
“You have to-” The sound of me crashing into a boulder cut her off, causing her to rush over to a groaning self. “Are you alright? I really do need to show you how to do a few other things…”
“Yes, you do.” I said with a groan, rubbing my head.
After about half an hour of swimming lessons, I could move like a pro. Well, a pro that’s really bad. I could move up, down, left, right, forward, and backward! How impressive of me. Anyway, now that I could move to some degree again we began our journey to wherever it was she lived. I also gave her the nickname Nibble which she seemed to enjoy.
As we swam next to each other at a moderate pace, I used this time to think about how my life may never be the same. I could be stuck like this for all I know. I was definitely hoping that whatever she did to me could be reversed, but hoping usually seems to do the opposite for me most of the time.
Instead of falling down the rabbit hole of my own thoughts, I chose to take a look around the completely new environment I was submerged in. It was different, to put it bluntly. Moving felt weird, especially since I could just float off if I wasn’t careful. I also wondered if this is what it felt like to be a pegasus a couple of times. But the big thing that caught my attention was the beauty of the situation. The sun was still just over the horizon and sent rays of sunlight through the water perfectly illuminating the environment amazingly. The creatures, plants, even the rocks all looked so pretty. I had never seen anything like it for myself and immediately wanted to draw something. Then I remembered paper and water don’t mix along with the fact I don’t have any of my stuff which caused me to sigh a little.
“Is something wrong?” Nibble asked from beside me.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? You seem a little sad.” She asked again
“No, it was nothing. I’m alright.” I said trying to not sound as depressed as I was about my recent revelation. This seemed to be enough though as she looked away and didn’t ask again.
We continued on for a little while longer, the vegetation I began to notice was beginning to grow thinner and thinner. I assumed this meant we must be getting closer to wherever Nibble lived.
“We’re almost there, it’s just over this hill.” She said only a moment later, confirming my suspicions.
We continued on just over the sandy hill and I was quickly met with the view of what a village of shark ponies looked like.
Nibble quickly swam in front of me and with wide arms exclaimed, “Welcome to the village of Amity!”
Author's Note
Where have I heard the name Amity before...
