Tide felt a sense of accomplishment as she was slowly escorted into the medical wing of the royal palace. She’d traveled far, she’d found help, and best of all, she’d escaped those who sought to invade her home. While she wasn’t certain what that reason was, denying them her knowledge and obedience felt incredibly satisfying. More satisfying was the promise of sleep, a good nap sounded like a great idea.

Eventually, they arrived at a set of double doors with a large red cross in the middle. The doctor that was leading the way opened the door to reveal a long room with row after row of medical beds and privacy screens. The smell of sterility and antiseptic was apparent, and there were a few other ponies walking about. Most wore either the white lab coat of a doctor or the white cap of a nurse. Most were going about checking on what few patients were in the room, but Tide’s entrance warranted a few curious looks. Tide didn’t particularly care. She already knew she wasn’t exactly normal by their standards. Let them stare.

The two nurses flanking Tide helped her into one of the beds. Once she was seated comfortably on her stomach, the two nurses took their leave. The doctor from before waited for the two nurses to leave before she closed the privacy screening to the small enclosed space with two medical cabinets on both sides of the bed. The doctor was a chestnut colored unicorn mare with an off yellow mane. Her cutie mark was that of a white and silver caduceus. “So... my name is Dr. Right Aid, I’ll be conducting your examination. Princess Celestia said you can’t exactly talk, so I’m just going to do a basic physical and ask some basic ‘yes or no’ questions, okay?” the doctor inquired. She sounded about as young as she looked, probably late twenties or early thirties.

Tide nodded her understanding.

“Okay.” She moved to collect a stethoscope from a cabinet. “I’m going to check your lungs and ribs. The princess said there might be the possibility of fractured or broken ribs with the additional possibility of nerve damage.”

Tide nodded.

“Good,” Right Aid said as she floated the ear pieces into place and placed the stethoscope on the left side of Tide’s barrel. “Deep breath in, please.”

Tide obliged and took a deep breath through her nostrils and held it for a moment. The doctor listened before instructing her to release the breath. She moved the stethoscope to the right side of Tide’s barrel and asked her to take another deep breath. Tide, again, obliged and took a deep breath. Still nothing noticeably wrong.

“Okay, now the back,” Right Aid stated as she moved the instrument to Tide’s back. “Another breath.” Tide followed through except, this time, Right Aid heard something unusual. It sounded like... there was another lung. Small ones, yes, but definitely something there. Right Aid had to make sure. She asked Tide to take another breath while she moved the stethoscope from Tide’s back to her barrel. As she suspected, the sound was only noticeable on her back. At first, she wasn’t sure what to make of this, until a thought came to mind. “Uh... odd question but... do you... have a swim bladder?” the doctor inquired cautiously.

Tide smiled lightly at this and nodded.

Right Aid blinked in amazement, “Wow, so it really is more than just looks. You really are part fish.”

Tide just rolled her eyes. “Yes, because the scales, fins, and muscular tail are just for show.” Aside from her own snarky comment, Tide didn’t do much to voice her thoughts... not that she could.

“Okay... well, aside from some differences in anatomy, your lungs and... swim bladder seem fine,” Right Aid stated calmly before removing the stethoscope from her ears and let the device rest around her neck. “I’m going to check your abdomen for any sensitivity or bruising. While you didn’t seem to be struggling too much with breathing, I want to check to be sure. So, I need you to lay on your side. If I touch anything sore or painful, I want you to let me know. Don’t power through it. Understand?”

Tide was hesitant to respond, she was feeling some pain, but it had been pretty negligible. While she considered herself fairly durable, she didn’t want to take the risk that there might be something worse that she wasn’t feeling the full effects of. She ended up laying on her side so that the doctor could inspect her.

Right Aid began her inspection by investigating a small discoloration around Tide’s abdomen. A good amount of the scales were either missing or damaged. The area where the scales were missing was an odd gray color, whether this was severe damage or not, was hard to tell, but it seemed like a good place to start. She tentatively felt around the discoloration and immediately noticed that Tide was flinching and groaning. “That hurts?” Right Aid asked cautiously as she pulled her hooves away and back onto the floor.

Tide nodded with gritted teeth.

Right Aid prepared to ask how much it hurt but was stopped when she remembered Tide’s inability to speak Equestrian. “Would you say it’s something you would find hard to deal with if it was consistent?”

Tide nodded.

Right Aid hummed for a moment before she announced her next action. “I’d like to do a quick magical scan of this area to make sure there isn’t anything broken. If it is, I’d like to get it bandaged up.”

Tide left out a sigh. She was really hoping there wasn’t anything broken. Anytime she spent recovering would be time she could be spending helping her protect her home. Hopefully, there wasn't anything too serious.

Back in the throne room, Celestia asked the guards to have the remaining guests reschedule their appointments. She'd seen the docket for the day and there wasn't anything of immediate urgency.

When the guards left, she turned to Daring and Blueblood. The two were talking amongst themselves. Daring sounded a little angry based on the tone of her voice. Blueblood, conversely, was silent. The expression on his face suggested that he was listening and in deep thought as well. “I understand what you are getting at, Daring, but we must handle this carefully,” Blueblood stated calmly.

“But you saw what happened! They’re invading!” Daring shot back in a subdued but clearly angered tone. “Who knows how much progress they could have made since then!”

“Again, it is understandable, but we also don’t know what we’re dealing with. These unicorns are clearly using some powerful magic and seem to know something about Ms. Tide’s home that we don’t.”

Celestia nodded before adding, “Blueblood is correct, Daring.” Her tone was just as calm as Blueblood's and it quickly caused Daring to give Celestia her full attention. “We have too little information to work with. While I want to help, we simply cannot at this moment.” Daring was clearly not happy with this statement. Before the pegasus could offer a retaliatory comment, Celestia spoke again. “I have every intention to assist Tide Caller and her home kingdom; however, to do so we must be better prepared.”

Daring felt compelled to say something, but a small part of her knew that Princess Celestia and Blueblood were correct. Most any situation she could handle, but it looked like her next adventure was going to take her underwater. Unlike Tide, she couldn’t survive in that environment without a steady source of oxygen. Despite her desire to help, she yielded to the better logic. “I understand, princess.”

Celestia smiled. “I understand your frustration, Daring. This is a new situation and we are going to be on a plane that virtually nopony has been to before. For now, we will learn what we can and plan our next move.” Both Daring and Blueblood nodded. Moving past the two ponies, Celestia ascended to her throne and opened up a special compartment on one of the side rests. Inside were a few pieces of parchment along with a set of quills, ribbons, and a small inkwell. Grabbing a quill and a piece parchment with her magic she began to write. After a minute of writing, she rolled the parchment and wrapped a small ribbon around the letter.

After the ribbon was applied, it burst into flames and the remaining soot flew through an open window. Blueblood and Daring watched as the letter disappeared. “Who did you send that too, Auntie?” Blueblood asked curiously.

“The Spellforge Academy,” Celestia responded. “I’m certain I remember somepony requesting to work on an underwater breathing spell to salvage some ships we lost in a storm a few months ago. I want to see if they've made any progress.”

Blueblood nodded in understanding. “That would be helpful. Shall I continue my searches for more about this organization then?” he asked.

Celestia nodded, “Please do. Anything we can learn about them could be beneficial. Especially if they are collecting magical artifacts. Many of them are incredibly dangerous and shouldn’t be used haphazardly. Report anything you find to me and Daring.”

Blueblood nodded his understanding and took his leave, but stopped to give Daring a friendly pat on the shoulder and wished her luck. This left Daring and Celestia alone to discuss matters further. Celestia took the opportunity to debrief Daring on her latest adventure. “So Daring Do, could you please recount what led to you discovering Tide Caller?” she asked in her official tone.

Daring bowed and started her debriefing. “I was working on my latest story when I got word from one of our informants in Baltimare. They got word of an illegal artifact sale going down.”

Celestia nodded. “I received the report. The artifact was unidentified, but was considered to be of great worth to many collectors.”

“Yes, that’s what they told me as well,” Daring affirmed seriously. “They contacted me after they saw Ahuizotl was one of the buyer and he escaped with the artifact. And since Ahui never deals with anything simple, they thought it best call me in and track him down.”

“And so you did. That’s when you encountered this organization?”

Daring nodded. “Yes, Princess.”

Celestia stepped off her throne to approached Daring. “You said before that the group was trading a ring of Tacicron for the collar. Were you able to recover the ring?”

Daring reached under her poncho to produce a ring of Tallecron. “I’m not sure if Ahui has any of the other rings, but I’d be willing to bet he’s got his goons looking for them.”

Celestia looked over the ring before letting out a heavy sigh. “He plans to use the rings to threaten Equestria.” She returned her gaze to Daring. “If you can ever apprehend Ahuizotl, it’d be a great service to Equestria.”

Daring let out her own sigh, although it had an air of annoyance. “I’ve tried, Princess, but Ahuizotl is cunning. The few times I’ve managed to corner him, he’s figured out a way to get out. Any other time, I’m trying to get away from him.”

The solar princess gave the adventurer a look that was a mixture of amusement and concern, but she opted not to comment. “Well, I know you will take care to keep the ring safe.”

Daring stowed the ring back into her saddle bag under her poncho. “Always do, Princess.”

Celestia smiled and patted Daring on her shoulder. Afterword, she turned to looked to the side hallway that led to the infirmary. “Perhaps we should check on Tide. She should be about finished with her examination.”

Daring gave an affirmative nod and the two made their way to the infirmary.

After a short walk, Daring and Princess Celestia arrived at the castle infirmary. While not crowded, the many privacy screens kept Daring and Celestia from locating Tide immediately. However, a quick inquiry to one the doctors scurrying about helped point the adventurer and the princess to their fishy visitor. When they did find Tide, they found her lying on her side while her doctor rubbed a strange smelling ointment on her chest. This caused Princess Celestia to inquire, “Is everything okay, Dr. Right Aid?”

Right Aid jumped at the unexpected voice and quickly turned around. “Oh, Princess! You scared me,” Right Aid said in a startled tone. “Thankfully, Ms. Tide is okay, aside from some bruising on her ribs. More than likely she is going to be sore. I’m actually really surprised.”

“Why’s that?” Celestia inquired.

“I was expecting her injuries to be much worse based on what you told me. If I had to wager a guess, I’d say her unique biology kept her from suffering any serious injuries.” Right Aid moved over to a nearby table and collected a thin film x-ray. “According to the scans, she doesn’t have any breaks or splits, but she does have some sub-dermal bruising. I suspect she is going to be in a bit of pain until the bruising subsides. I gave her some topical cream to ease the pain a bit.”

Celestia nodded. “Anything else of concern?”

Right Aid shook her head. “I... well... maybe?" she added. “Her physiology is far different than anything I’ve ever seen. So this might be something you under better than me.”

Tide shot the doctor an annoyed look before rolling her eyes. “Must we keep bringing up my anatomy?” she grumbled to herself.

“Her physiology is quite literally part fish, but I also discovered something... truly bizarre,” she added with fascination in her words.

Celestia and Daring both cocked a curious eyebrow. “Bizarre how?” Celestia inquired curiously.

Right Aid held up the x-ray and used her horn to illuminate the back side the of the film. Celestia immediately noted what Right Aid was referring to. Daring, on the other hand, was at a bit of a loss. “I don’t get it. What’s weird about that?”

Celestia walked up to the x-ray film and pointed to small outline around the image. “This is a spell,” the princess looked over the film closer. “It would seem that there is some spell on her... but it’s very minute.”

Daring looked worried. “Wait, do you think those unicorns put something on her?” she asked in concern.

Celestia shook her head dismissively, “No, if this were a tracking spell it wouldn’t look this weak. This is something else.”

Tide took this opportunity to let out a low moan that got everypony’s attention. When everypony was looking at her, she made a scribbling gesture with her hooves before pointing to herself. It took a second, but eventually, the group caught on to Tide’s request. Daring quickly pulled her poncho aside and produced a piece of parchment. Tide took the parchment in her magic and began to write something with her hoof, her magic surging through her hoof and causing words to shine on the parchment. Celestia, Daring, and Right Aid all looked on in anticipation, all wanting to know what the seapony was going reveal, After a few moments, Tide finished and passed the parchment off to Celestia.

The princess took the parchment in her magic and began to read. Daring and Right Aid inched closer to get a look at what was written. “The magic is an ancient spell for underwater breathing. My kingdom used the spell long ago to allow us to live underwater. It’s been active since our it sank.”

Celestia looked up from the parchment with curiosity in her eyes and concern. “How long has this been active exactly?” she asked as she passed the parchment back to Tide.

The fish pony took the parchment in her own magic and seemed pensive before she began writing. It was only a few seconds before she passed the page back to Celestia. Again, she, Daring, and Right Aid looked at the page. This time only a single sentence was written, “Roughly a thousand or more years.” Celestia and Right Aid blanched at this number. Daring, however, was more impressed. “Wow, has a spell ever been active for that long?” Daring asked curiously.

Right Aid and Celestia responded with an instant and substantive, “No.”

Daring flinched at the decisiveness of the response, “That sounds... bad.”

“No pony has ever been able to sustain a spell for that long,” Celestia responded, her voice hinting that she was thinking as she spoke. “At least, not for more than a day or so..”

“Any... particular reason why?” Daring asked curiously.

Tide listened to the conversation continue with wrapped interest. “Interesting, they haven’t figured out,” Tide thought to herself. “Although, it seems they have attempted to do what we did.”

“No pony has ever been successful because at some point the spell user would become magically exhausted from constantly refreshing the spell,” the princess explained. “Even in large numbers, there was never enough stamina to keep the spell active. Best record was three days and they had to stop due to sleep deprivation.”

The explanation caused an immediate question to pop into everypony's’ mind almost immediately, “If no pony had done it before, how did Tide’s civilization manage to do it?” This question also caused Daring, Right Aid, and the Princess to look at Tide with further fascination.

Tide flinched slightly when she was suddenly the object of the group’s attention and her fins reflexively fanned out in surprise. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised they’re curious,” Tide thought to herself. “But should I really tell them how we did it?” The thought hung in Tide’s mind for a short time before she smirked and used her magic to pick up the parchment and began writing. When she finished she passed the parchment off to Celestia again.

“We channeled magic into a special reverberator so that would apply the magic over time and had multiple crews refreshing the device at intervals. Over time, we stopped using it.”

The trio all read the letter before a simultaneous look of confusion crossed their faces. For a while, the two ponies and the princess contemplated what the message could mean. Tide watched curiously as the other ponies pondered the messaged. “Show me how clever you are,” she thought as she watched. “Connect the dots.”

“Hold on,” Daring interjected.

Everyone turned to face Daring as she rubbed her temples. “You used a device to help you breathe underwater... but now you don’t, yet the spell is still active? How does that work?”

“Hmmm, she’s close. Not entirely there but close,” Tide thought. “I suppose I should just come out with it.” Tide picked up her parchment and began scribbling again, but, in a bit of cheekiness, Tide only wrote two words “We evolved.”

To Daring, this only added to her confusion. However, for Celestia and Right Aid, the two words caused them to go wide eyed. Daring took notice of the surprised looks and promptly made her internal question known, “Okay, what does she mean? I feel like I’m missing something.”

Celestia put her thoughts forward albeit with an uncertainty that neither Right Aid or Daring had never heard before, “I... I think she is being... literal.”

“But... but...” Right Aid attempted to offer a counter to the explanation, but the details seemed to match up too perfectly. “Magical evolution... is that even possible?”

Tide nodded as she muffled a small chirping giggle. “This is amusing, but I need to get this back on track.” She dispelled the message she’d written before and wrote a new message in its place. “I’m willing to discuss the details, but I’d also like to discuss what our course of action is to save my home.”

The group read the message before exchanging looks with each other. After a short-lived silence, Right Aid excused herself to collect additional ointment for Tide, while Daring helped the fish-pony off the examination bed. Tide winced slightly as she hit the ground, her bruised ribs sending a wave of pain throughout her body. Thankfully, the pain was momentary and Tide was able to bear it.

“I’d be happy to discuss our next course of action, Tidecaller,” Celestia stated with an encouraging smile. “Once Doctor Right Aid has applied the ointment and cleared you to leave, we shall review what to do.” Tide nodded in acknowledgment, a small determined smile on her face.

Celestia couldn’t help but return the smile with equal determination and a decent amount curiosity. She had some questions for her visitor, and she had every intention of learning as much as she could about this new species.