973 ALB

I was languidly swimming close to the ocean surface, basking in the sunlight that filtered down through the water. It was warm up here, pleasantly so. Today was a day for relaxing and not much else.

I heard a faint splash off to my right and almost glanced at it, but didn’t bother. It was probably only some fish leaping up out of the water. When the splashes became more frantic and started sending waves underwater towards me, I finally spared a glance in that direction.

The day quickly ceased to be a day for relaxation.

I quickly started swimming towards the scene, moving as fast as my tail could carry me. A pegasus pony had fallen in the water and was currently sinking. Now, normally, that wouldn’t be a problem. One of the ponies on shore would come out, fetch her, and it wouldn’t require the assistance of a nearby seapony such as myself. The problem here was the tiger shark. They were rather nasty predators and would easily take down any landponies that they came in contact with. As was unfortunately evident by the red that was starting to seep into the water.

There was no time for me to go get help; waiting too long would easily result in the pegasus’s death. And there was no way I’d let that happen. I resorted to the tried and true assault method of seaponies: I rammed the creature in the side at full speed.

Now, that normally wouldn’t sound too deadly. But I was one of our top swimmers and could hit speeds of seventy-five knots. So hitting it in the side was the equivalent of hitting it with a five hundred pound rock. It broke its grip on the pony and sent it reeling, nursing a broken rib or five. Leaving the young pegasus to slowly sink, limp drifting in the water, it turned its attention to me. It was not a dumb creature, but I knew that I was smarter.

It let loose an ultrasonic roar and charged, mind solely focused on revenge. I deftly maneuvered out of the way and let it swim past before racing forward and grabbing its tail. Holding it securely in my forehooves, I bit down as hard as I could. The taste was vile, but I didn’t need to hang on for long. It thrashed once again and sped off, executing a turn to face me again. Despite my attacks, there wasn’t a trace of fear in its eyes. I didn’t expect there to be; this was a predator, one who didn’t make it to the top through cowering. But I wasn’t looking to kill it, as there wasn’t enough time for that. I only had to incapacitate it, get it to flee.

It charged again, obviously not learning its lesson. I dodged again, this time sliding under its belly and grabbing on with my hooves and fins. It started swimming in circles, thrashing to get me off. It wasn’t easy to remain holding its slick skin, but I just needed to last long enough to push it to the surface. Using my tail, I slowly pushed the two of us up.

We broke the surface and it let out a roar of pain. Sharks rarely ever surfaced and their eyes were not used to the bright light of the sun, even brighter on a day like this. As I hoped, it scorched its retinas and left it floundering blindly. As I spun out from under it, I caught sight of three pegasi flying ahead. Waving to them with a flick of my tail, I grabbed a breath of air and held it in my mouth as I dove back down to fetch the one they were surely looking for.

I sped down, easily finding the bright pink among a sea of blues and greens. She was still bleeding, a fact that was never good. The salt water would help, but getting her on land was essential. Lack of oxygen would kill her before her wounds did. I gently wrapped my hooves around her head and tilted it back, pressing my mouth against hers. I passed my breath of air to her, hopefully keeping her alive for the time it would take me to reach the surface. Holding her around the waist, I swam up as fast as I could manage.

As soon as I broke the water with her, the pegasi spotted me and swooped down to help. One of them nodded their thanks before picking her out of my hooves and speeding to the beach. I submerged again, following them. Years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to save this pegasi, let alone be near the surface. If it hadn’t been for the brash seapony Crest, she would have died.

It didn’t take me long to reach the shore, but the pegasi had already beaten me there. I was just in time to see her cough up water and start breathing again, a sight that filled me with relief. The pegasi were all surrounding her, not noticing my arrival. I awkwardly slid onto the sand, supported only by my forehooves.

“How bad are her wounds? I never got a chance to look at them.”

All three pegasi jumped before turning to look at me. They seemed speechless for a moment before the only male spoke up. “She has a pretty bad bite on her leg, but nothing that she won’t recover from. What happened down there?”

I waved my hoof, almost losing my balance as I did so. “A tiger shark found her and dragged her beneath the surface. Hence the bite.”

I was suddenly wrapped in a warm, fuzzy hug. Her skin felt weird, but warm, covered in hair as it was. My damp skin quickly soaked it, but the hug lasted for a little while longer. It took me by surprise; it seemed that landponies were quicker to make contact than we were. “Umm, thanks?”

There was a cough from behind my hugger and it let go, showing me that she was a pony that looked to be a little younger than the one I rescued. “Thank you for saving my cousin Miss—“

Her white face screwed up in confusion, obviously not sure what to say. “Cerulean,” I supplied.

“Thank you Miss Cerulean! I don’t know what I’d do without Cadance.”

I smiled. It was almost impossible to do so at how bubbly and cute she was. A movement behind her made me turn my head to look, seeing Cadance start to lift herself up on her hooves, one held off the ground. She looked at me curiously, apparently having never seen a seapony before. “Did you save me?”

I nodded. “You fell into the water for some reason and were attacked by a tiger shark. I chased it away and rescued you.”

“Then I cannot thank you enough. I owe you my life.”

I waved it off with a hoof. “I’d do the same for any creature in need. We’re stewards of the ocean and everything in it, much as you are stewards of the sky. But if you ever become a princess of Equestria, don’t forget about us.” I meant it as a joke, but it somehow didn’t seem like too crazy of a possibility.

“Ponies should always be friends to other species, no matter what. I’ll never be able to forget what you’ve done for me.”

“I’ll remember that if I should ever meet you again,” I replied. I paused, considering something. Deciding upon my course of action, I lifted one of my shell necklaces off and placed it over her head. “So that you’ll never forget.”

I turned and made my way back to the ocean, sliding down across the sand this time. Pausing at the moment where I would dive out of sight, I waved a flipped to the mare whose life I saved and disappeared beneath the waves.