Go With the Flow

~~~

Star Point arrived to a rather dramatic scene, just as the motor was beginning to sing out its protests as it drank up the last bit of the tank.

He’d been tailing Tempest’s airship for Celestia knew how long. The sun had been covered by clouds, a light rain had turned to a storm, and soon he was riding along waves of increasingly terrifying size, but he did not stop or even slow his pursuit.

It became harder to track the airship as the sky darkened with storm. At some point, several hours south of the griffon fishing town, it seemed to have veered away from its original destination and taken on a new course. Why, Star could only guess. Regardless, it meant they were no longer heading towards the Storm Legion’s hideout, which Star was relieved by.

Well. Partially relieved. For if they were not taking Flowing to the Storm King, that meant Tempest no longer had reason to. He did not for the life of him think Flowing would have possibly given up the location of Seaquestria no matter what Tempest had threatened her with, though, which to Star Point meant that she had something else up her proverbial sleeve.

The rain had turned to storm when finally, Star saw... something on the horizon.

The first thing he saw was the tail-fin of an airship, lying against an outcropping of rock half submerged by the sea. Then, as he got closer, he saw the flailing tendrils of…

“Oh Celestia…” he breathed out. He’d been on the ocean for as long as he could remember, but he never would have thought he’d have been able to add ‘kraken’ to the list of sea creatures he’d encountered. The lusca had been one thing… certainly a rarity, of course, but he’d heard tell of them from sailors less experienced than himself, and had always known they’d been lurking beneath the ocean. A kraken, however…

The scattered remnants of the airship slowly came into view as he approached, killing the motor as he did and letting the boat simply drift in on its own momentum. Any confusion as to what he was stumbling in on vanished when he saw the Storm King insignia, plastered on the side of a balloon, sinking beneath the waves.

It wasn’t a comforting sight, since he still hadn’t seen any sign of Flowing, but it was something to work with all the same. Letting the boat continue to drift its way in, praying the kraken did not pay any mind to what was, from its perspective, simply another tiny piece of wreckage, Star scanned the waves for any signs of Flowing. Or Tempest.

And that was when he heard a splash behind him.

“Look who’s late to the party.”

There were tears in his eyes as he whipped around instinctively, and they started to streak openly down his face as his hooves blindly locked around Flowing, looking up at him with a smirk on her face and a profound weariness in her expression.

“Flowing!” he nearly fell out of the boat as he leaned over the edge to grab the seapony with both fins and squeeze her tight enough that he could hear her let out a strangled little 'urk!’ sound. “Flowing, I’m so sorry... I’m so so so sorry, gods I thought I lost you, I thought you were gone, I thought...”

“Woah, woah...” Flowing gave him a nuzzle, reaching a fin to her stallion’s sea-salt-soaked mane and running it through it, softly. “Easy, Starry. Easy. I’m here...”

“You’re okay... Flowing, I couldn’t... I didn’t... I don’t know what I’d do...” he knew he probably sounded like a complete fool, sputtering fragments of meaningless, obvious sentences, but he truthfully couldn’t keep his mind on any one thought within the sheer ecstasy and relief of seeing his lover alright. She was, gratefully, patient... Or, as patient as one could be whilst surrounded by destruction and carnage and a furious kraken presently in the process of rending apart the ruins of an airship.

Around her tail was a length of chain about a meter or so, which ended in what looked like an opened shackle.

“W-what did you, uh...” Star began, and then shook his head. “Forget it. Get in. We’re getting outta here.”

“Alright. I think I got everypony out of the wreckage anyways,” Flowing replied. She let go of Star’s head and moved her fins onto the side of the boat instead, starting to climb inside...

And then, Star’s heart leapt in his chest as a sharp splash of water shot up from behind her, and Flowing let out a sudden shriek. Then, she was yanked away, back into the drink before she even had a chance to scream for help.

Star cried out instead, and before he knew it he was diving out of his boat and down after her without even knowing what had pulled her away. He saw it quite quickly though, as soon as he was submerged in the frigid water; a harpoon was lodged in the collagen of her tail-fin. As Star traced down the wire connecting the harpoon to the device that had fired it, he saw the exact mare he’d been expecting to see.

Tempest was furiously pulling the harpooned seapony closer to her, while Flowing screamed and protested and fought against the puncture in her tail. Her struggling only further complicated her position, intertwining the line of the harpoon with the chain that had already been dangling behind her, and weighing her down. Both of them were falling down into the depths below, further away from Star Point, even as he swam like a mad-stallion trying to catch up with Flowing. Her own forefins were flailing out in his direction, trying to reach out for him.

If the commotion itself did not attract the kraken, Star did not know what would. Sure enough, he could see one of the tendrils leaving behind its continued assault on the sinking airship, and instead veering its way toward the three of them. Star was swimming directly in the path of billowing red blood that was floating up from where Flowing was being dragged down.

Apparently, Flowing noticed it, too.

“Starry!” Flowing pleaded. “Leave me! Be safe!”

He kept swimming. He ignored her pleas, and continued his chase. He had to catch up, he was so close, he was swimming like his life depended on it, holding his breath as long as he could, and…

“Swim up, Starry!” she cried. “Keep your boat safe, it’s our only way outta here!”

Our way out. He knew she was right… and he was beginning to feel his consciousness fade as he ran out of breath. If he couldn’t catch up to them as the sunk, then he’d best at least make sure that Flowing had something to surface to. She wasn’t going to swim very far with her tailfin the way it was now... which meant his improvised motorboat was all they had left. He didn't want to think what might have happened if he hadn't shown up when he did.

He surfaced next to the sailboat with a mighty gasp, his vision still swimming as oxygen rushed back into his lungs, and he gripped onto the gunwhale of the boat itself for support. Then, still gasping, he clambered over the edge and fired up the engine. Hopefully, the sound would distract the kraken, and give it something else to chase.

He supposed he’d swapped roles from Flowing herself, the last time they’d been in this situation. If she’d impressed him with her agile swimming, he supposed he’d have to do the same.

~~~

The moment she saw that Starry had safely surfaced, Flowing pivoted around, and started to swish her fins to bring her closer to Tempest. She tried to swing her tail, too, once she had gained a bit of slack, but her tail was in the most pain she could remember it being in for some time. She didn’t even want to turn and look at it, because she knew it wouldn’t really be a motivating sight. It hurt to swim, but she had to do it anyways, and adrenaline was overpowering the need to stop and recover.

“You don’t know when to quit, do you?” Flowing cried out, as she charged towards Tempest. She saw the unicorn fishing out a dagger from her armour, which Flowing got ready to swat at with a forefin.

It was desperation. There was no other explanation for Tempest’s actions. Just, pure, unhinged desperation and fury and a refusal to admit defeat. Still, with the harpoon wedged in her tail fin, she was bound to this unicorn for a little longer, which meant taking care of the problem once and for all, and in a decidedly unseapony-like way.

Tempest swung at Flowing with the dagger as she swam into range. Flowing ducked her head and collided into Tempest, not as quickly as she would have liked to, but as quickly as she could manage with her injured tail. She heard Tempest grunt out in pain as she was head-butted, and then make another attempt to drive the dagger into her. Snarling, Flowing responded with the only weapon she had at her disposal. A bit less civilized of one, but no less effective, as she sunk her teeth into Tempest’s left ear as hard as she could. Tempest cried out in pain, and instinctively pulled on the harpoon gun.

Another spike of pain in her tail, as the still-lodged harpoon pulled against the wound it had already made. Flowing was already beginning to feel dizzy and light-headed.

She didn't have time to linger on the feeling, though. Tempest was swinging at her with the dagger once more, and she nimbly ducked out of the way. Injured or not, Flowing was in her environment here, and Tempest's movements were surely more sluggish than she'd been used to. In the ensuing window of opportunity after she had dodged the dagger swipe, Flowing responded by biting down hard against the hoof that was still gripping the sharpened steel.

Tempest howled out in pain, and the dagger slipped out of her grasp. Down it fell, past the both of them, to join the rest of the tyrant's discarded affairs. Tempest did not take kindly to this turn of events, and with a mighty tug, she yanked the harpoon gun and pulled Flowing with it. The bite of pain was enough to daze her, and in her temporary stunned state, Tempest twisted her body around and delivered a hard buck directly at Flowing's back.

She was sent flying away by a few feet, and Tempest was already swimming after her. With the harpoon gun still connected to the chain, Tempest quickly used it to wrap around Flowing's torso, pinning her forelimbs against her side while yanking her pained tail forwards. Flowing howled in pain, and thrashed around violently, fighting against the rusted chains, but it was a pursuit in vain as long as Tempest's grip was still keeping them tight.

"Got you now, seapony..." Tempest growled out. She swam a little closer, a diabolical grin on the unicorn mare's face.

The pain in her tail came and went in throbbing doses. She couldn't reliably move it to save her life. Her forelimbs were too entangled in the grip of the chain to be of much use to her. Her eyes scanned her surroundings desperately, looking for something... anything to use. Yet they were all alone, and most of the wreckage had already sunken past them, now.

Tempest wrapped a hoof around the chain-cord combination, tucking the gun itself into a holster on her combat suit. Flowing saw her look around, and then, glancing upwards, she began to kick her limbs to pull them both to the surface.

She never got the chance.

The moment she got within range, Flowing leaned forwards herself. She might not have been able to strike at Tempest herself, but perhaps she did not have to.

Her fangs found purchase on the piping of Tempest’s oxygen tank, and pressed down. She felt the reinforced rubber fighting her, but her sharp teeth were used to far more resistance than a bit of pony piping. She bit and bit, not giving Tempest enough time to react before there was an abrupt, deafening hiss as she bit through the oxygen line. Instantly, Tempest was lost in a torrent of bubbles, her eyes going wide in surprise and fear. Panic overtook her as oxygen left, her hooves letting go of the chain, the tight grip loosening as she instinctively began to struggle with the oxygen line instead.

Flowing extended her tail to it's full length, as quickly as she could manage. The whipping motion disconnected the embedded harpoon from her tail, which stayed attached to the chain for several more seconds before it, too, slid off from the motion of her swimming.

She was ascending as rapidly as she could possibly manage. Starry was up there, waiting for her, and apparently keeping the kraken occupied. It was time to go, and she was never going to get a better chance. Her tail ached as she swam, getting worse the more she used it, but it would hopefully at least hold out to get her to Starry’s boat.

Flowing turned. Tempest was still struggling with her oxygen line, and trying to swim to the surface, though the combat suit weighing her down seemed to be complicating the endeavour. It might have been water-tight at some point, but all the thrashing about with Flowing, combined with the gash Flowing had made with her teeth when she had bitten into her, had largely compromised its integrity. Now, filling up swiftly with water…she would continue to sink despite her best efforts, if Flowing had a proper read on things.

“Sirens damn it…” she grumbled out. One look up, at the twinkling moonlight of the surface. Escape. It was right there. After all of this, she could finally be free. No longer would she have to worry about some Storm King punk ever getting in the way of her freedom again. And truthfully, wouldn’t the sea be a much better place, if the likes of Tempest weren’t sailing it, causing trouble?

The thought existed in Flowing’s head for only a few seconds. They were a few seconds too long, and the hollow, empty feeling of shame that rooted itself in her heart was nearly unbearable.

Seaponies helped. If there was a call for distress, a sinking ship or a lost sailor or a hurt sea creature… they helped.

They shouldn’t get to pick and choose who ‘deserved’ it. And besides, hadn’t it been what she had wanted from the beginning? To help Tempest? Perhaps it was the folks who rejected help the hardest that needed it the most.

She could have pontificated on the morality of her people’s ways until the seacows came home, but it would not have mattered. Momentarily, she was swimming back down, grabbing Tempest’s forehoof in her fin and swimming towards the surface with the unicorn tyrant in tow. Tempest felt… limp, and unresponsive in her grip, as though she’d already passed out. Flowing had to move fast, which was easier said than done with the big gash in her tail, and the lengthy chain and shackle still weighing her down. When she finally surfaced, she felt as woozy as Tempest probably did, but when she squeezed the unicorn closer to her she could at least still feel the beat of her heart.

So she did have one. Flowing wasn’t certain.

Star was, thankfully, nearby. Flowing could hear the whining of the boat motor, and soon enough he was peeling into view, mane all dishevelled, drenched in sweat and rain and motor oil, and somehow the most handsome thing Flowing had ever seen in her life.

“Think… Kraken kinda just… left. I guess it decided I wasn’t a threat and the actual threat was gone…” Star started to say, and then stopped himself when he for the first time seemed to notice the purple unicorn Flowing had hauled out of the depths.

“H-here…” Flowing gasped out, roughly pushing Tempest into the sailboat. “Gotta…”

Words were failing her. Exhaustion was catching up, combined with the throbbing in her tail that was swiftly getting worse. She nudged her head in the direction of the rock outcropping.

“Gotta get her somewhere safe…” Flowing tried again. It was her turn to climb into the boat, which clearly wasn’t built for the weight of two ponies and a seapony. Water splashed over the sides for the short journey it took to get Tempest over to the rocks, but they managed it all the same. Star hopped out as soon as the sailboat thudded against the rocks, planting his hooves firmly on the rocks, and gripping the bow in one. With a grunt, he dragged it up to rest on the rocks, and then reached in to carry out Tempest.

Flowing was worried he would have trouble carrying the bulky, muscular unicorn mare, but he barely even hesitated. Maybe all the time spent carrying her around had paid off. Maybe he was just that strong, and she’d somehow let herself forget. Regardless, with little else besides a gentle grunt, he lifted Tempest out of the boat, and rested her down on the rocks as gently as he could manage.

Then, he was heading back to the boat, and Flowing watched as he headed into the tiny storage locker where he’d stowed the sail. Initially, she’d assumed he’d been gathering the sail itself, and she was surprised when he instead withdrew something else from within.

A flare gun. The ancient one, that she’d doubted would even work. He rested it near the back of the boat, and then reached over to gently take Flowing’s tail in his hooves.

“Dear…” he breathed. “I’m… I’m sorry…”

“T-this?” Flowing forced a laugh, which came out a little more pained than she’d intended. “It’s fine, really. It’ll grow back. ”

“Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt,” he said. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

With a tired sigh he turned, leaning down to pick up the flare gun in his teeth.

Just as he turned to set it down on Tempest’s unconscious lap, the unicorn coughed and stirred. Flowing felt a spike of terror shoot through her, and she saw Star Point flinch, the flare gun nearly dropping out of his mouth and into the drink as he whipped around to face her.

“You…” Tempest coughed again, her eyes fluttering open only to narrow as she looked at Flowing and Star.

They both froze up. Flowing looked at Star, who was still standing with the flare gun in his mouth and a goofy, dumbfounded look on his face. Tempest still seemed to be a little too weary from her almost-drowning, to be ready to fling herself headlong into trying to kill or capture them once again, but that didn't make her any less terrifying…

“…Saved me…” Tempest finished, bluntly and matter-of-factually, her narrowed gaze focusing on Flowing. “Why?”

Flowing stared for a moment. Why? Why had she? Wasn’t that obvious? Did she really have to spell it out for this pony? How could she successfully track a single seapony across the entire ocean and then fail to answer the simplest question imaginable?

She didn’t have to. Climbing out of the boat, his horseshoes clacking out as he landed onto the rocks, Star stood over Tempest Shadow, looking down at her with an expression that almost looked to Flowing like pity.

He spat out the flare gun, which clattered noisily onto the rocks next to Tempest.

“If she has to answer that for you, then you wouldn’t really understand anyways,” he said. “I hope one day you will, Tempest. I really do.” He nodded at the flare gun. “Fire that when we’re gone. And with luck, we won’t see each-other again.”

Star turned at that, one strong hoof touching the bow of the boat. Then, he pushed them out and jumped inside, the boat shuddering. They drifted backwards, away from a Tempest who was simply staring at them, confused and lonely.

Flowing’s fin found Star Point’s hoof, while the other started up the motor and took the till. She kept her fin there, holding his hoof tightly as they skimmed the waves and started back on the long journey back to Herring Harbour.

~~~

Tempest watched the motor boat vanish into the rain and haze, her hoof cradling the flare gun held in her lap. She coughed a few more times, unable to really get the taste of seawater out of her throat. She supposed it was better than if she’d been unable to cough at all.

When the speck that was the sailboat had finally vanished from view, she took the flare gun in both of her hooves and, pointing it into the marble-coloured sky, she fired. The sharp burning of ascending red sliced through the featureless oceanic grime, and she hoped it would be enough to grasp the attention of the Thespis’s lifeboats, when they came back around.

She spotted a few of her guards, further down the archipelago, and over the course of twenty-minutes or so, she stumbled her way across the slick, slippery rocks until she had reconvened with them. She didn’t say much. There wasn’t much to be said.

She knew the question was inevitably going to come up, when they were all together once again, and the temporary thrill of the hour had diminished away. What next, for them?

She knew what, of course. But she also knew it wouldn’t exactly be easy to say. The same way it wasn’t easy for her to say why Cirrus Bolt existed outside of her logistical desires. The same way she spared him, and hid him, and fought for his safety, and deep down somewhere in the back of her mind knew that in another life she could have even called him a—

Well. She knew it wasn’t easy to say.

When it came time, she’d tell the Storm King the truth, as much of it as she could include whilst omitting Cirrus from it. The seapony had tricked her. The seapony had used the chaos to escape. She didn’t have to include the fact that the seapony and her lover had saved her life… after all, it wasn’t as though anypony besides the three of them had seen it.

Whatever the Storm King’s next move was, he would have to accept that it was one they would have to make without the Pearl, and without the Hippogriffs. At least for now…

On the horizon, she could see the lifeboat, doubling back around right on cue. Realizing she was still holding onto the flare gun… the only evidence she had left that Flowing and Star had ever been within her grasp, she tossed it into the drink along with the rest of the wreckage of the Thespis slowly falling to the bottom of the ocean.

~~~

Flowing fell asleep against Star point as his tired hoof kept them angled towards home.

The engine had sputtered and died not long after they had left Tempest Shadow behind. The wind wasn't exactly in their favour, which meant it would be a long ways home. Fortunately, all he had to worry about was hitting the Equestrian Coast. Once they were there, they could hitch a ride back towards Herring Harbour without concern of Tempest's airship interrupting their journey.

His heart burnt for Flowing. He'd torn off a piece of the jib sail and used it as a makeshift bandage, but all it really succeeded in doing was obscuring her injury from him, whilst he knew it was still there.

He'd get her home. He'd take her back to his place... the comfy little shack he rented out close to the docks, and he'd keep her there while she recovered. It was the only thing he could think to do.

Flowing had slept for most of the journey, though at one point she'd risen and, after a brief lesson from Star Point, taken over at the till for him while he caught a few hours of sleep himself. He hadn't realized he'd been operating on the same several hours of sleep he'd gotten in the lighthouse. It all felt like just yesterday.

The one thing Star Point had not been expecting to see when he returned to Herring Harbour, was another seapony.

She surfaced when the familiar lighthouse of home came into view through the morning haze. Star had initially assumed it had been a dolphin or whale that had somehow gotten far off course, but as she approached them it became clear that, no, this was absolutely one of Flowing's own.

"Seapony..." he breathed out. Gently, he reached a hoof over to rouse Flowing awake. "Flow, look... seapony! Friend of yours?"

She yawned, and squinted her eyes against the bright morning light. She looked for a few moments, and then he saw the surprise and recognition flash into her eyes. "Oh wow..."

It took Star a few moments to realize that it wasn't fearful recognition, at least. But she looked utterly perplexed by the arrival of the seapony who was bearing down on them quickly.

"Flowing Sands..." The new fish said when she was in earshot, slowing her swimming and affixing the other seapony with a narrowed glare. With Flowing's tail tucked away behind her in the sailboat, it wasn't until she was right on top of them that she recognized something was wrong. "...Sirens, Flow, what happened to your tail...?"

"Nothing, really. It's nothing. What are you doin' here, Seasmoke?"

"Tailin' your stubborn flank!" Seasmoke replied shortly. "I swear, you just about gave me a heart condition out of pure worry. You realize that you vanished without a trace, yeah?"

Flowing managed a short chuckle. "Starry, meet my friend, roomy, and resident worrywort, Seasmoke. Sea, this is Star Point. The colt I told ya about."

Seasmoke's gaze finally left Flowing to look over at Star Point instead. The sailboat shifted a bit as Seasmoke used a forefin to prop herself up over the side. "The fisherpony. Hi there. I'm Flowing's caretaker, when she gets too close to swimming into an anglerfish's jaws because she saw something shiny."

"Or kraken's," Star replied, shooting Flowing a sideways glance. "Hiya there. I'm gonna, uh... If you're here, I'm gonna assume you..." He nodded towards the distant plumes of smoke on the horizon--a hundred waking ponies back in Herring Harbour fighting the cool morning air.

"Oh yeah, yeah, they filled me in." Seasmoke waved a forefin. "I've been staying here for a few days now. Hospitable folk. Really, uh... Worried sick about you two. I can't possibly relate."

"We've been..." Star looked to Flowing.

"We've been on a bit of an adventure."

"As I can see by your tail." Seasmoke's smirk turned to a frown. "You okay, gal? What happened?"

The sailboat was still drifting towards Herring Harbour, and Seasmoke had turned her body a bit, so that one hoof was still draped over the side of the boat while her tail began to churn the waters, helping tug them closer towards the distant town. In scattered, frenzied doses, Flowing and Star took turns recounting the past few dream-like days they'd spent together, on and above and below the high seas, while Seasmoke continued to work as a biological tugboat.

"...Anyways. Harpoon guns hurt. Tempest mare's a jerk...." Flowing rolled her eyes, her angler light idly bobbing out of restlessness. "But it'll heal over in... a few weeks, a month. I'll be fine."

"Mhm. But are you okay to go home?" Seasmoke asked, glancing back and tilting her head. "Or... or are you not doing that?"

Flowing did not reply initially. Star had been... wondering how to ask it himself. After their last encounter with Tempest, he'd been wondering if he'd be returning to any sort of safety and security back home. Part of him had a hunch that he would be. That he wouldn't have to worry about running into Tempest again, and that she wouldn't be pursuing them even if she could. He liked to think maybe they'd gotten through to her somehow. But truthfully, he had no idea.

"I... I guess I probably should." Flowing bit her lip. "But it's a long swim..."

"I can take you," Star said. "I'll... drop you off. We'll take the sailboat. And then..."

"And then we won't see each other until I recover..."

"If that. Novo's gonna be pissed when she learns what you did, Flow..." Seasmoke said. "Not to scare you or anything. You'd better fabricate a good story to explain your tail, cause... yeah."

"...You think she'd try to stop her from seeing me if she found out?" Star Point bit his lip, feeling a wayward tug in his chest.

"I dunno. Maybe? Maybe not? She's not a bad pony, but she's got her own to look after, yeah?" Seasmoke shrugged. "Not tryin' to be a downer. Just being real."

"That Tempest mare isn't coming back, is she?" Star felt Flowing's fin scrambling about, blindly looking for and eventually finding his own hoof. "Like. Being honest. She's probably done hunting us after that, right?"

"I... I think so. I don't think we'll be seeing here again."

"Then I want to stay here. At least while I recover. You, uh. You gonna be okay with that, Sea?"

Seasmoke was silent for a moment. Star saw her gaze shifting between the two lovers, always cold and scrutinizing. It was nearly half a minute before the silence was broken at all, and anything resembling a smirk formed on the other seapony's face.

"Hey. I can't break this up. Tell you what. I'll tell Novo I haven't heard from you if she asks. I'll come by every week or two to check in. Now that I know where to go. And that the land-dwellers are cool."

This time, it was Flowing's turn to smirk. "You liked it, didn't you?"

"...I didn't say that."

"The swim in. The adventure. Spending time with the landfolk, and havin' them be amazed by you. C'mon. Ya liked it."

"Maybe a little..." Seasmoke was blushing ever so slightly, and quickly, she shook her head, jerking her attention towards Flowing's tail. Gently, she detached from the sailboat, sliding fully back under the water as the sailboat was starting to drift into the harbour proper. "Anyways! I'd bet you probably want to get home and rest."

"It's been... a long few days." Star nodded. "Thank you, Seasmoke."

She clicked her tongue. "A friend of Flow's is a friend of mine. Good luck, you two."

With that, Seasmoke dipped under the waves, swishing her tail and vanishing beneath the waves. Leaving the two of them alone again, with Herring Harbour waiting for them both on the horizon.

"It's, uh. Look. I'm gonna be honest, Flowing. It ain't a place I'm expecting you to call home. Ain't even as impressive as my trawler."

"Starry. It could be just this sailboat and as long as you're in it with me, it'll be fine."

He smiled. "Love you, dear."

"And I love you. Take me home, Starry."

~~~

“So that’s it, huh?”

Tempest didn’t look up from the bubbles in her mead, even when Cirrus broke the silence. “That’s it. You’ll still get what I promised you, Cirrus, but…”

“But you had a change of heart.”

Tempest finally looked up at that, affixing Cirrus with a cold glare. “That is not what happened. They got away. I cannot continue expending so much time and resources pursuing a single seapony, Cirrus.”

“So she bested you, then.”

“I did not say that, either.”

“Well, it’s one thing or it’s the other, Tempest. Either you had a change of heart and don’t wanna chase her… or you’re throwing in the towel.” Cirrus’s expression was surprisingly not as smug and degrading as his word would have implied. Tempest still found it hard to look at, though, and her mead far easier to stare into.

“Cirrus, you are flying upon a dangerous wind.”

“Tempy, it’s okay to tell me the truth. I’m your friend.”

“I’m not your friend.”

“Well, I’m yours! C’mon.... just tell me a little bit...”

Tempest exhaled heavily, and knocked back a heavy swig of her drink. “The seapony proved to be craftier than I had anticipated. I was… caught off guard, and in a compromising position. And, when she could have prevailed over me and put aside any chance of me ever pursuing her again…” Tempest shrugged helplessly. “Well. I’m here, still. So. She didn’t.”

Cirrus’s eyes went wide. “She saved you?!”

Tempest let out an irritated snort. “I… believe that I… ‘owe her one.’ As the saying goes. I would be dead if she hadn’t… well. Saved me. As you say.”

“…Huh. So you do have a heart.”

“Cirrus…”

“Betcha the Storm King didn’t take kindly to your, uh. Change of plans.”

Tempest laughed. “As if he knows. He was mad enough about the Thespis going down. I did not think to include the detail of how, in a fit of rage, I dove in after the seapony and nearly drowned doing so.”

“You, uh. You really wanted to catch her, didn’t you?” Cirrus took a little sip of his own mead. “I’m sorry, Tempy.”

“You did well, Cirrus. You have no reason to be sorry.”

“Yeah, well. Felt like crap, ‘doing well.’ I’m… look, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad she’s okay. And I’m glad you’re okay. And… I don't get it either, so don't ask. I just hope this doesn’t mean anything for your horn.”

Tempest looked up at that. “…Thank you, Cirrus.”

“You’re far from finished anyways, right?” he managed a little smile. “Plenty of bad left in my favourite bad gal?”

“My plans remain unchanged. I simply don’t have the Pearl to assist them.”

“Lemme know how I can help.”

Tempest took her mug in a hoof. She stared into what remained of the liquid within, bubbling and swirling about. She thought of the sinking Thespis, the fury of the kraken. She thought of the fear that had been in her heart, when she realized that she was going to drown, frightened and alone and entirely at her own hooves. The result of her own greed, her own lust for power and for a sick perversion of ‘justice.’

Then, she thought of Cirrus, down there with her. She thought of him, with the rest of them. Thrashing against the waves, against the current…

Perhaps there was a reason she worked alone. And perhaps it wasn’t so far from friendship, after all.

“I’ll keep you posted,” She lied.