Crashing thunder, roaring waves, and the occasional flash of thunder. That's all that the mare could remember. It was dark, and the mare felt like she floating in liquid darkness. She tried to take a deep breath, only to choke.

She was underwater!

Struggling, the mare tried to swim up, or at least, she thought it was up. Desperately trying to keep the remaining air in her lungs, the mare breastroked to get to the surface. Finally, she did break the surface, gasping for air.

All around her, the waves crashed and reached unimaginable heights. Angry dark storm clouds swirled above, shooting out white lightning. Rain pelted the mare's already soaked mane like razors.

'Where is the shore?' The mare thought, 'Or is it just my luck I ended up in a world of only water and no land?'

The mare glanced around, desperately trying to keep her head above water. She spotted a dark strip up ahead that just had to be land. Using all her remaining strength, she began to push herself through the unforgiving waves. It seemed so far away, and the mare was incredibly tired already, just from treading water.

She was almost half way there when her luck ran out. A wave that seemed almost ten feet tall overtook the mare, swallowing her up into the sea. It had taken her so fast that she could not get a big breath. She was pushed down to depths that made her ears pop.

It was no use. The mare was too tired, she was too deep, and the remaining air in her lungs was almost gone. She began to slip into darkness, floating lifelessly in the ocean.

---

At about miday, a white mare paced in front of a mint-green tent. In front of her stood a metal grate, covering a dark hole in front of the tent.

The mare's bright red eyes narrowed in determination, as she stared at the grate. Her spikey blue mane fluttered slightly around her face from the small wind coming off the ocean. The smell of ocean breeze swirled through the air, bringing tropical scents to the mare's nose. She was standing on an out of place hill, which the tent was set upon in the woods on the outskirts of the small, rural town of Ponyville.

The only thing standing between the mare and the tent, was the stupid grate.

"I can do this..."

Swallowing her fear down, the mare took a step foward. Her hooves clacked against the metal grate. As soon as she did step on the grate, a loud, booming voice echoed from the hole.

"Species identified! Unicorn, mare! Talent of music makin-!"

The mare shrieked, and galloped off the grate, running down the stairs leading to the bottom of the hill. Her blue mane flew behind her from the rush of the wind, as she ran down a small path. She stopped, breathing in heavily.

"I am such a scaredy-cat..." The mare sighed sadly, staring down at her hooves, "How can I ever fulfill my dreams when I can't even step on that stupid grate without freaking out?"

She began to walk down the dirt path, which was lined with trees. The path suddenly became much more sandy, and was lined with walls of rocks instead of trees. The path finally ended, and opened up to a strip of white, sandy beach. The ocean waves were quietly lapping at the shore, and the sea foam popped at the edge of the waves. At the end of the beach was a large, dark cave entrance.

The mare sighed, walking along the shoreline. She came here to get away from everything, for it was very peaceful. At least here, she could forget her fears. She squinted down the shore, spotting a large lump of sand laying in the sea foam.

"Kids," The mare scoffed, "Will they ever learn to clean up their sand castl-?... Wait..."

That lump of sand didn't match the color of the sand. It was too dark... And it was furry, not sandy.

It was a pony!

"Oh my Celestia!" The mare gasped. She sprinted down the shore, reaching the mare in little time. She appeared to be the same age as her, with soaked brown fur and a darker brown mane, completely a mess. She was wearing a pink bowtie, which was severely torn. Marking her flank was a fancy purple music note, almost unnoticeable through her dripping wet coat.

The white mare put her ear to the other mare's chest. She was still breathing, just unconscious. Using all her strength, the white mare clasped her hooves together, and brought them down on the other mare's chest. The brown mare coughed loudly, spitting up sea water and seaweed. Her light purple eyes shot open, frantically darting around, checking her surroundings. They met with the white mare's confused, red eyes.

"You okay?" She asked.

The brown mare hesitated, "Yes... Thank you."

The white mare offered her hoof, helping the other mare up. The brown mare shook out her soaked mane like a dog, causing the other to flinch away.

"I'm Vinyl Scratch," Said the white mare, "Who are you, and what in the world happened?"

"I'm..." The brown mare paused again, "Octavia... And..."

Suddenly, she completely blanked out. She didn't remember a thing from before she ended up in the ocean. How did she end up in the ocean? She wasn't from here, for none of her surroundings were ringing a bell.

"I'm sorry... But... I have forgotten." Octavia said.

"Forgot?" Vinyl asked, "Uhm... Did you hit your head on some rocks or something?"

Octavia rubbed her head, "Sorry. I don't remember anything."

Vinyl's eyes widened when she saw Octavia's hoof rubbing her head in pain.

"Whoa! What gave you that?"

Octavia gazed at her right hoof. Three, large, jagged dark red lines were etched into her hoof. They appeared to have scabbed over, but Octavia realized that they still stung pretty badly.

"I... I don't remember."

Vinyl cocked her head, "You've got some sort of amnesia. Maybe I should take you to a doctor. Plus, those marks on your hoof look pretty bad too."

"I'm fine!" Octavia suddenly burst out, "I mean... I'm fine..."

"Okay, if you're fine..." Vinyl said. She pointed at Octavia's cutie mark, "Hey! You do music too?"

Octavia looked at her cutie mark, "Umm..." She vaguely remembered playing an instrument... Was it the piano? Or the tuba? No... It was the cello. She remembered that.

"I play the cello." Octavia finally answered after a long time.

Vinyl seemed to be let down by this answer, "Oh... I'm a DJ. Well, not yet... I'm still afraid to get up on stage. I mix my own beats at home, just for me. Dubstep, hardstyle, house, industrial... You name it, I do it."

"Oh..." Octavia trailed off.

For a moment, the two were silent. They stared at the ocean together, their manes fluttering in the ocean breeze.

"Do you remember how you ended up in the ocean?" Vinyl broke the silence.

Octavia hesitated, "No. I said I couldn't remember anything up until I found myself floating in the ocean. It's... It's just a big blur, my memory, that is..." She quickly changed the subject, noticing something hanging out of Vinyl's styled mane, "What's that in your mane, Vinyl?"

Vinyl quickly reached into her spikey blue mane, pulling out a rock. Carved into the rock were very complex pictures of three pony-like creatures, surrounding six other creatures. Various lines and markings were etched around the ponies, like a lightning bolt striking out of a cloud, three butterflies and three gemstones. There were many more, but Octavia didn't have time to make them out before Vinyl pulled the stone close.

"I found it a long time ago, when I was just a filly," She said, holding the stone like it was a stuffed animal, "It's always been really special to me."

"It looks familiar for some reason." Octavia stated.

"I've always had this rock with me," Vinyl continued, "I don't know what it is, or what the pictures mean, but I always thought it was special."

"Where did you find it?"

Vinyl hesitated, "In an old ocean bluff. Dragon's Bluff, where I... Hang out."

Vinyl set it down in the soft sand for a second, "It's... Probably just something from an old ruin. It might be worth something, but I'm not going to sell it. It means too much to me."

"I understa-" Octavia started to say, but she was suddenly knocked ten feet back by a blast of light blue.

Vinyl barely had time to turn around before another blast of blue hit her in the face. She fell back, her vision blurry from the hit. She managed to see a pair of claws snatch her treasured relic and run to the end of the beach.

Immediately, Vinyl shot up, getting a clear look at the thieves as they fled. One was a mint green pegasus, with a wind-blown yellow and orange mane. The other one was an orange unicorn with a mane of flaming dark orange and yellow. The other one, who had snatched her relic, wasn't even a pony at all. The thief's back half was of a lion, while the front half was of an eagle. It was a gryphon.

"Hey!" Vinyl cried, "Give that back, thieves!" She saw Octavia knocked out a few feet away and ran to shake her awake, "Octavia! Wake up!"

Octavia lazily opened her eyes, turning her head to the unicorn, "Hurr?" She asked, her mouth full of sand and shells.

"Someone took my treasure!" Vinyl answered, "They took off toward the Beach Cave, at the end of the shore! You've gotta help me get it back!"

Octavia thought this over. Vinyl did seem very very attached to that relic, and she would be heartbroken to lose it. Octavia turned to the white unicorn, determination in her eyes. She gave a simple nod, and Vinyl's bright red eyes lit up with joy.

"Oh thank you!" She cried. She pointed a hoof down to the end of the shore, where a cave was cut out into the sandstone, "Quick! They went that way!"

So the two galloped in the sand, chasing after the thieves. Little did they realize, that this was the start of it all