Star Point had earnestly hoped that he had seen the last of the Storm King’s insignia.

He had earnestly hoped that the last time he’d ever have had to see it was when it had been sinking beneath the waves, vanishing into the murky darkness along with any hope of the ruined airship posing a thread to him ever again.

He would have been content with such being the legacy held in his mind from the journey he’d gone on along with his marefriend.

Six months later, though, he saw the insignia again.

Of course, it seemed as though everypony in Equestria had, in some capacity or another. The simple lightning-bolt design had carved its way into the collective consciousness of an entire nation in one rather exhilarating week. Those who hadn’t been in Canterlot when the airships had stained their beautiful blue skies black with smoggy refuse, instead saw the symbol plastered across every newspaper that was still running.

After all, ‘Canterlot Falls to Storm King Insurgency’ was the sort of headline one would be a fool not to pursue.

Suddenly, it had seemed like all of Equestria was reunited under the same terror that, previously, it had felt like only Flowing and Star Point had shared. An entire nation, looking with fear at the insignia that, before, Star had only seen relative to his own terrified marefriend's quests for freedom and safety.

Flowing had been in Herring Harbour when it had happened. She'd stayed there while she healed... the town itself seemed inclined to protect her should Tempest return, and some part of Star Point knew the tyrant mare would've been a fool to, anyways. She'd had the element of surprise to thank for her initial success. Without it, she'd be fighting a far more difficult battle.

News had travelled fast through Equestria when Canterlot had first been attacked, and before the afternoon had properly matured, ponies in Herring Harbour were already boarding up their windows and locking their doors and moving themselves down into their basements.

Star didn’t have a trawler anymore, so he took Flowing home instead. He filled a bath-tub for her, and vowed to never leave her side no matter what came to Herring Harbour. Gone was the desire to run away from danger. To turn his tail and flee, to allow tyrants to simply have their way…

Something had changed in him, after they had saved Tempest. A fear that had once taken a hold of him was gone now. He realized now that there was little else in this life that could dampen the drive he felt protecting Flowing.

Not that she needed it. She'd already proven herself plenty capable of saving herself when push came to shove.

The Storm King never came to Herring Harbour, anyways. In fact, as far as Star Point could tell, the Storm King’s forces hadn’t even really succeeded in most affairs outside of Canterlot. They’d taken the capital by surprise, and seemed content to simply hold it while they waited for their General to capture the last remaining Princess. And, of course, everypony had waited with fear and unease for the terrible news, while Star himself thought of how damned close the mare had been to capturing his own princess six months earlier.

And then, several days later, it was all over. The news that the Storm King had been defeated spread faster than the news that he’d ever existed in the first place. Most ponies felt a sense of relief, a happiness that things had gone ‘back to normal….’

Flowing and Star had cried wet, ugly, messy tears of joy the like they never had before. He’d taken her out into the streets where the entire town seemed to be celebrating. But none more than the proud earth pony with the seapony perched on his back, laughing and crying and singing and feeling the most joy she had felt in any of her days below or above the waves.

For them, they would never have to go back to ‘normal’ again.

After the incident six months ago, Flowing’s current situation had become common knowledge. The unspoken but universally agreed upon pact among Herring Harbour was to protect the damn fish no matter who came looking for her. The closest river to Herring Harbour was a decent ways away, but the ponies of Herring Harbour had already come up with their own arrangements to get her there as swiftly as possible if the need would arise.

Star had always been proud of Equestria, and of where he came. He’d never felt like crying because of that pride until then, though.

With Flowing’s secrecy ironically common knowledge, the celebration of the Storm King’s defeat became a little more directed, when ponies saw Flowing and Star. Everypony was putting two and two together, and everypony wanted to be the ones to express their happiness for the two proud lovers from two different worlds that were swiftly coming together once again.

It was nice, but it was a little overwhelming, too.

Like so many nights before, they had decided to go on a swim to celebrate Flowing’s first day as a true, free seapony. Flowing took Star down the coastline for several miles, where a big red and white lighthouse sat, slicing the darkness with its mighty yellow blade of light. For all of the celebration that had been in Herring Harbour, it was a rather serene night just a little ways away from it. They could hear the calling of seagulls, blissfully unaware of the ecstasy that was rushing through the usually quiet community.

There was a period of time where both were simply content to listen to the lapping of the waves. The entire ocean, moving as one. Calm, patient, predictable. At least for now.

“I’m free…” Flowing had said when they were both lying down in the sandy beach nearby. “I’m a free fish…”

Star was laying on top of her, his belly flush with her own. Muzzles practically interlocking, with her angler light brushing against his mane. He kissed her, long and passionate and deep. “You’re free, Flowing.”

“They really got ‘im. The tyrant fella,” she breathed the words out like she was describing a miraculous dream she had. It still felt like it, to Star… heavens only knew how many nights he’d spent alone, wondering if he’d ever see the day when they’d be able to say such with certainty.

“No one’s gonna come to hurt you again.” Star stroked her cheek. He looked down into the endless hazel abyss of her beautiful eyes, and he kissed her again. “We can be together forever…”

Flowing’s eyes were watering again. Her smile could have lit the lighthouse towering above them. In that moment, Star felt as though the joy and relief in each other’s hearts could have been felt across the entire ocean.

“It doesn’t even feel real…” she said, chuckling. “Feels like… like the best dream I ever had.”

They lay that way for hours. Talking little, cuddling and kissing often. There was nowhere to be tomorrow. Nothing to do. No commitments to uphold, no secrets to keep, nothing to hide. The seaponies were free. Friendship and harmony had won, as it had a habit to… and Star could be with the love of his life forever, now.

No tyrants or distance could hold them back again.

Behind him, Star could feel the warmth of the sea lapping against his tail and his back hooves. The tide was coming in, the way it had a habit to around now. The ocean ebbed and flowed, he felt it pushing against him with a bit more force each time…

“Tide’s comin’ in…” Flowing mused. “Should we get’cha back?”

The water felt warm against the frogs of his hooves. He put his hooves down in the wet sand on either side of Flowing’s head, peering down into her warm smile.

Then, he lay flat. His underbelly once more found her scaled stomach and tail. He felt a twitching between his legs as their slick, wet bodies found each other. “Let’s stay here for a bit. Go with the flow, and all that.”

She chuckled, and nodded. “Alright.”

Ebb. Flow. The waves drew him back—he let them, draw him off towards the open ocean ever so slightly, before the tide returned and then pushed against him. His body was eased down into Flowing’s again. He felt his sex rub against her own. Flowing’s forefins wrapped around his back, and he stroked her headcrest and tugged on her earring ever so slightly. The seapony gasped, delighted and surprised.

Ebb. Flow. The waves pushed him deeper into her as the tide grew stronger. His length grew in twitching anticipation every time the waves pulled him away from his lover… because he knew that when the waves inevitably returned, they would drive them both even closer together. He was quickly at his full length, the mere act of contact between himself and Flowing enough. He had to orient himself slightly to get it in proper… but once he had, he simply lay down, letting his weight push both of them into the wet sand.

The waves came back in. Flowing gasped out, as his sex drove deeper into her. The feeling was heavenly to Star… something about relinquishing the control of his own thrusts, and relying on the steady and soothing rhythm of the waves…

The beach was populated by their gentle gasps and moans. Every time Star could hear the incoming waves he tensed in anticipation, and every time the slow and deliberate insertion into Flowing was worth the troughs in the waves.

Who knew the ocean itself could have been so romantically inclined?

Without having to worry about anything besides enjoying himself, and going with the flow, Star was free to nuzzle his snout into Flowing’s neck. She nibbled his ear in response. When the waves were high enough that they started to reach Star’s head, she would lock her lips with his own, sharing her air supply so that they might continue lying together as long as they could.

When he was finally fully submerged by the incoming tide, Flowing wrapped both of her forefins around his head. She kissed him warmly, and eagerly, and messily, moaning out his name as she did so… and it had been too much for him to withhold. With Flowing’s mouth locked around his, he wasn’t able to cry out as passionately as he wished, though with how his entire body tensed and shook, Flowing seemed to get the memo all the same.

Her fins wrapped around his stomach, and she gently lifted herself off of the beach-floor and floated him up towards where the water-line had migrated. She breathed out a shaky, pleasured exhale as his sex was pulled out of her own, and used her tail to tread water as she kept both of their heads above the tide.

“That… was some of the best sex of my life.” Star breathed out. “And I barely did anything.”

“The ocean provides!” Flowing said with a laugh. She gave his cheek a loving peck. “You make such cute sounds when you’re inside of me, Starry.”

He kissed her back, chest rising and falling as the last bits of his electrifying orgasm ran their course. “You’re the most beautiful thing in my life, Flowing. I think I’m the luckiest fisherpony in the world.”

Flowing smiled, and, seeming to notice Star’s breathlessness, offered her back for him to climb aboard. He hoped she didn’t mind his still-half-erect length jabbing into her as he clambered aboard.

“Y’know…” Star mused as they swam back, lit by the orange glow of the sun striking the horizon and casting the twilight sky in a gorgeous crimson kaleidoscope. “I’ve missed the open ocean, these six months. We should get back, soon.”

Flowing nodded thoughtfully, her own head turning towards the same gorgeous sunset. “We can go see Seaquestria now, y’know. There’s nothing stopping us—we’re not in exile anymore. Novo can yell at me, but that's about it. I hear there were even seaponies in Canterlot.”

“I’d like that. And to take you to the rivers of Equestria. And to go say hi to our friends in the Griffon Isles, and…”

He could have gone on forever, but he didn’t have to. He knew the sentiment was shared between himself and his lover. The ocean was a dangerous place, of course. But it was wide open and beckoning them, always. Its beauty surrounded them, and teased them with the prospect of adventure. The desire hadn’t left either of them, since they’d escaped Tempest’s chase… The desire had driven them from their homes in the first place. It had brought both of them onto the open sea. It had led to their meeting, and their falling in love. It had given Star Point's life more meaning than he'd ever dreamt possible, simply by virtue of being able to share it with the one he knew he loved.

And now… doing it together? A free stallion, and a free fish?

In that moment, Star’s life felt as complete as he’d ever dreamt it would be.

~~~

For somepony who had braved horrors of nature, the dramatic violence of ponies and creatures alike, and the vast emptiness of the open skies and open ocean, Fizzlepop Berrytwist was surprised that returning to Herring Harbour was one of the most frightening things she had ever done.

More so, because part of her knew it wasn’t really necessary that she went back at all. She’d grappled with just about every opposing force one could think of, but for the first time she was growing more and more comfortable grappling with herself. That was why she was returning to Herring Harbour, after all. It wasn’t a pursuit of anything tactile, and there was nothing to be technically gained from her doing so…

And somehow, that further convinced her that it was something she had to do.

She left her armour behind in Canterlot. She hoped it would be destroyed when the Royal Guard got their hooves on it. She didn’t have any usage for it anymore. She’d been given a second chance… but really, wasn’t it her third chance? Wasn’t it the offer she should have taken, six months ago?

“If she has to answer that for you, then you wouldn’t really understand anyways. I hope one day you will, Tempest.”

She hoped so, too.

The train schedule had been dramatically interrupted—Fizzlepop couldn’t imagine why… and she wasn’t able to make her way into Herring Harbour until a week had passed. One whole week, after the Siege of Canterlot. The entire time felt surreal to her. She kept having to remind herself that there was no more Storm King to report to. That she didn’t have to be a terrifying figure to anypony again.

In a way, she felt even more directionless. She had built her entire life around the image that she had felt she’d had to be. She’d convinced herself she’d never be accepted. So, now that she had been…

Well. She’d wasted enough of her life as it was. She wasn’t about to waste anymore of it worrying about the might’ve and could’ve beens.

The train ride into Herring Harbour was a lengthy but gorgeous one, taking nearly a day and a half to cross the entire Equestrian landscape with all the stops in between. When she’d finally gotten off the train and strode onto the platform, she felt a sudden tinge of unease in her chest. A single word in her head ringing out, as she started in towards town.

Interloper.

Herring Harbour was a peaceful town. The last time she’d been here, she’d shattered that peace. She’d terrified these ponies. They probably hated her, in as much as an Equestrian town could harbour such a thing. What right did she have to come back here, after asserting to them so clearly the sort of pony she was?

The answer, of course, was something she’d carried from Twilight Sparkle. The pony she was had been Tempest Shadow. She didn’t have to be that pony forever.

The walk from the train station and into the town proper felt, in some respects, even longer than the expedition she’d undertaken to get this far in the first place. It was a walk rife with glances in Fizzlepop’s direction, that swiftly turned away the moment they saw her. She heard hushed, whispered voices, sounding urgent and fearful as ponies scurried away to give her as much space as she could…

There were two ponies that didn’t move, though. One of them was sitting on the side of a fountain in the middle of a square in the marketplace of Herring Harbour. And the other… was within the fountain itself, laying lengthwise with her fishy tail half protruding over the side. They were talking among themselves, Star Point with his back to Fizzlepop. Flowing’s eyes widened, and Fizzle saw her point with a fin in her direction. Star promptly turned, surprise in his face, which crystallized into a steely, narrowed glare as he watched Tempest Shadow approach.

She almost stopped right then and there. Turned back around, and headed back where she came, because what the blazes was she doing, interrupting the peace of ponies who only knew her for the time she’d spent terrorizing them? But she continued on, keeping her head held high, while Flowing put both of her forefins over the side of the stone fountain and stood up straight. Star Point took a step in front of her, protectively and possesively putting some bodily barrier between his marefriend and the ex-tyrant approaching him.

“Wasn’t expecting to see you again…” he said, affixing Fizzlepop with an unbreaking glare. “Tempest Shadow.”

She gave him a single nod. “Yes… I… earnestly thought our business with each other was concluded, myself.”

“Then why are you here?” Flowing piped up, tilting her head thoughtfully. She at least seemed a bit more legitimately curious, versus Star Point’s active aloofness.

“I… Am here on the suggestion of a friend of mine,” Fizzlepop confessed. “After… what happened. I told her of a certain… darkness, I felt. A desperation to no longer be defined by the worse of my life. And she suggested that I seek out those I feel I’ve wronged the most, and attempt reconciliation.”

Star Point blinked. He and Flowing shared a glance, and then he said; “And how’s that goin’ for ya?”

It took some effort for Fizzlepop to keep her expression neutral at that. She felt like snapping at the earth pony’s mocking, but likewise felt overwhelmed by the validity of his tone. All it did was remind her of the insurmountable task she hadn’t had the guts to tell Twilight was beyond her capabilities.

“It is… an overwhelming one to consider,” Fizzlepop confessed. “You two are the first.”

“Oooh, really?!” Flowing’s tail swished a little at that. She tugged Star’s tail with a forefin. “Seee, I told ya we’d see her again…”

“Yeah. I’m not buying it.” Star Point shook his head. “You were trying to take over Canterlot, what? A week ago?”

Fizzlepop nodded shamefully.

“And now, what? You sweep in and say ‘sorry’ and that’s it? Mission accomplished?”

“No. Not just sorry…” Fizzlepop took a single step forwards, and the act of doing so caused Star to tense up all over again. “I’d like to say ‘thank you’, as well.”

“Thank you for what?” Star’s frown turned curious.

“Twilight Sparkle… my… well, my only friend right now. She spoke of me accepting her friendship like it was a turning point for me. But I think she’s…somewhat incorrect.” Fizzlepop rubbed one forehoof against the fetlock of her other. “The truth is… I always doubted what I was doing. I always wondered if I was in the right. I always wondered if the Storm King had my interests in mind. And I always wondered what might become of me if I dared to let friendship into my heart…”

Star’s expression was gradually beginning to resemble that of his marefriend, now. Less cynical and defensive. More… genuinely curious and thoughtful. Fizzlepop hoped that meant she was doing something right.

“…I don’t think I… ‘turned’ towards friendship as abruptly as Twilight Sparkle thinks I did. I think I was turned towards it before, by others, and I let the idea live in my mind while I drove it away. I think that you two… were some of the creatures that helped me keep that idea alive. And I think if you hadn’t… I would not be here having this conversation with you.”

Fizzlepop hung her head as her speech drew to a close. It didn’t feel like it was enough, but it at least felt honest. More honest than any of her cynical broodings of the darkness of the world and the selfishness of the wild felt, now.

“That’s why I wanted to say ‘thank you’. You offered me friendship, and I turned it away. I don’t want to make that mist—”

Fizzlepop’s sentence was interrupted abruptly, as she felt a sudden frigid dampness on her hung neck. Two fishy forelimbs, wrapping around her neck, and pulling her in closer towards the fountain where the adventurous seapony was still perched.

“I knew it…” Flowing said, her voice half muffled as she spoke into Fizzy’s nape. She sounded on the verge of tearing up to Fizzlepop. A bit of a softy, it seemed, even despite her mischievous demeanour and snarky personality.

She released Fizzlepop after a few seconds, grinning sheepishly. Beside her, Star gave a single nod, and offered a hoof, which she shook.

“If you’re trying to reconcile… and you need friends to do that…” he sighed, and then managed a small little smile. “Well. We try our best to help out. It’s Flowing’s thing, I’m just here for the ride.”

“Shoo be do,” Flowing said, nodding sagely. Fizzlepop didn’t want to ask. “For what it’s worth, Tempest… what you did to us…”

Fizzlepop braced herself.

“It was scary, and mean, and unfair… But during that entire thing, I don’t think Star and me ever grew even a little bit apart. What you did to me… it only strengthened something between us. Crystallized it, and made me certain that it would take more than sea monsters and storms and even tyrants take away. And, well. Feels odd to say ‘thank you’ for that, but I figured you should know it anyways.”

Fizzlepop relaxed. The harsh, accusatory judgment she’d been expecting from the seapony (for some reason) had been anything but. She continued to think the worse out of every creature she encountered, and she continued to be proven wrong by them. She hoped it was a habit she could unlearn.

“Right… well.” Fizzlepop’s tail swished awkwardly. “I…ahem. I do want to repay you in more than just words. And I…”

“You owe me a boat,” Star Point said quickly, before she could finish.

“I…. Yeah.” Fizzlepop forced a smile. “That. I… yeah. But the Storm King had a lot of wealth from his, er. Merchandise. Wealth that technically was supposed to be distributed to his second in command following his passing. And I think maybe…maybe, something might have been said to a certain princess.” Gingerly, Fizzlepop reached into her saddlebag. She withdrew the package she’d stowed in there, a gentle jangling sound rattling out as she lifted it out in her maw and deposited it in Star Point’s hooves.

He took it, glanced back at Flowing, and then carefully opened the box to glance at the keys within.

“Baltimare Shipyards. Dock 12. She doesn’t have a name yet—figured I’d leave that to you. But it’s bad luck to sail without a name, so…” she flashed both of them a smile. “Probably best if her maiden voyage is under your command. S’long as you don’t mind the swim down.”

Star Point and Flowing shared another glance. Both seemed to be doing their best to keep their expressions neutral, but Flowing couldn’t really hold it for long before a wide smile cracked across the seapony’s face, and she practically leapt out of the fountain to land on Star’s back and hug his neck tightly. Star let out a breathless ‘urk!’ as he was suddenly near-strangled by his seapony marefriend, and Fizzlepop couldn’t hold back a little chuckle.

“Thank you, Tempest…” Star said eventually. He gave her another nod, and a smile that felt truer and warmer than any of his attempts before.

“It’s…” she rubbed a hoof against the back of her mane. “I’m going by Fizzlepop, now. Fizzlepop Berrytwist.”

Star’s eyebrow rose. Flowing stifled back a tittering giggle with a fin.

“Well, Fizzlepop…” Star asked after a moment, now grinning himself. “What’s next for you?”

“I… have some ponies to apologize to back in Canterlot, but I wanted you two to be my firsts,” she said. “Then… I want to go try and find an old... friend, back in the Griffon Empire. I see him going down the same path as me, and… well. Now that I know it’s not too late to come back from it. I want to make sure he’s got a friend, too.”

Flowing perked up at that. She mouthed the word ‘Cirrus’ to Fizzy, and she nodded in response. Flowing bit her lip, seemed to drive down some other conflicting emotion. As though her initial instinct had been anger, and the seapony herself was making an effort to reroute it to something more akin to relief. Fizzlepop could hardly blame her... before too long, it seemed to Fizzlepop like the poor seapony was on the verge of tears.

Thankfully, Star interrupted the silence.

“Well. If you need a ride across the pond when the time comes…” he nodded towards the open ocean behind him, all wide and blue in its vastness and majesty. “I like to think I know a pretty decent sailor.”

“Thank you. Both of you… thank you.” It was a strange feeling that Fizzy felt, blooming inside of her once again. A growing, soothing warmth. She’d felt it, when she’d accepted Twilight’s friendship back in Canterlot. And again, she felt it now.

Perhaps the adventure ahead of her, the impossible task that was reconciliation… Perhaps that wasn’t so impossible after all. After all, if she’d been offered friendship by as unlikely a pair as Flowing Sands and Star Point, how hopeless could her prospects truly be?

Author's Note

Here we are at the end.

I realize how hopelessly autistic it is to turn a oneshot clopfic into a multi-chapter longfic with character development and a plot, while still trying to maintain the same tone as the original fic. I don't know if I succeeded fully or not. What I do know is that it was a lot of fun to return to these characters in a different context and expand their story.

I hope you enjoyed!