[River] Treasures of the Deep [Closed]

[Skye]

Satchel hummed softly to himself as he plodded slowly over the hill and gave pause to the vista before him. It had been a long time since he'd been back to this part of Equestria, and it was still one of his favorite places to be. He could never stay for long in any part of the world, yet he would often return to some favored places from time to time. From here, he could see the whole of Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres spread in the valley below. In the distance, the glittering spires of Canterlot shone like its own star from the edge of the mountains on the edge of the Whitetail Wood. A broad smile crossed his face as he took notice of the river nearby, remembering the last time he'd come this way. He wondered if AquaDrop might be swimming along somewhere nearby.

On the off chance she was, he decided he'd take the scenic route and follow along its course until he eventually came to the bridge where he'd originally encountered her and the boisterous pegasi who'd been in her company. He meant them no ill will after the last time, and felt his tactful retreat had been the best idea after all. They'd parted as amicably as possible, and if he likely ran across them again, maybe they wouldn't be too angry with him for any slips of the tongue he might have made. After all, he was always thankful of pegasus ponies for providing him the occasional shade by cloud on his journeys, or a cooling rain on a particularily hot day. Alienating a Pegasus pony was never a good idea.

But a Hippocamp was an unusual creature! He'd learned a bit more in his travels, more about them than he'd known before. In one of the villages he'd visited just weeks ago, an older pony had told him tales of their society. She'd met them before along the shores of Equestria and taken part in some sport during a summer. She'd met a few, or so she said, and told him that one thing he could be sure of was that they were just like any other pony in that they liked interesting things too. Stories, trinkets, experiences, the sea folk were certainly no strangers to society! And so, he'd thought of her. Satchel whistled to himself as he walked along the river, a merry little tune he'd picked up from somewhere.

[Kudalyn]

Aqua Drop

Aqua swam along the bottom of the river, swimming slow to conserve her energy. She was swimming against the current with a heavy load behind her - she was dredging this part of the river. The sand on the bottom had gotten uneven and particularly dirty in this part of the area, and it was her job to do the dirty work. Nopony else could do it as well as she could of course.

She clamped the bit in her mouth even tighter, straining against a fast portion of the river. Attached to the wooden bit in her mouth was a net with a heavy bottom on it that dragged the riverbed. The bottom of the net leveled out the sand, and the net caught any litter that had gotten stuck in the sand. It also sifted out the rocks and let them rest evenly and cleanly on the bottom of the river to improve water flow and give little critters places to hide.

Stopping at a slow part of the river, Aqua let go of the net, letting the wooden bit float to the surface. It wouldn't go far, attached to the net, and it was hard on the teeth! She would have to mention it to the crafters next time - make a softer bit! Maybe wrap it in cloth or something.

Seeing a shadow pass overhead, she looked up. Somepony was trotting down the side of the river, whistling so loudly and merrily even she could hear it far underwater. Floating there for a bit, Aqua watched, thinking the silhouette was vaguely familiar. She slowly followed it, floating closer and closer to the surface. She didn't let herself float right to the surface, preferring to gaze through the water, trying to figure out where she had seen this brown and tan pony before.

[Skye]

The brown pony paused at the shore of the river, looking out over at the dusturbance in its surface. There were always all kinds of fish and things in the river floating and bobbing about, making ripples and such in the water, but this seemed to be one particular spot and even when he stopped, he saw it was moving. He was sure of this by comparing it with a submerged tree on the shore as the ripples passed. After thinking a moment, he brightened, his ears perking. There was only one creature he knew of around that could be doing something significant enough to make the water do something like that! Aquadrop must be around! Though he had no idea what she was doing. How fortunate was that! He wondered where the pegasi who had been keeping her company on their last encounter had gone.

But she must have found a reason to stay about! He wondered if she might come up for a bit. He didn't have any sandwiches on him this time, he had been hoping to pick something up from a local shop on his way into town. Though he watched for several moments, he realized that she probably didn't have to come up for air, being a seagoing creature herself. Then he blinked as the ripples stopped, and something with wooden floats bobbed to the surface. He wondered what the strange contraption was, the water was somewhat murky with stirred up silt, so he couldn't see very clearly to its bottom, at least not in this portion. He wondered what it was, though. Satchel slipped his pack carefully to the ground in some reeds, then leaned out into the water, his face inches from its surface, trying to see what might be hiding in its depths.

[Kudalyn]

Aqua Drop

Aqua floated even closer to the surface as the land pony inched closer to the surface of the water too, the two ponies squinting at each other. As his face came into focus, Aqua remembered. It was that ...bag fellow... from when she first arrived in the Ponyville region! He had shared a bit of his lunch with her. Purse.... or some sort of bag thing was his name. She could recognize that bad haircut anywhere!

Smiling, Aqua swam up a little bit, breaking the surface. She grinned at Satchel, her nose just half a inch from his, her head not even fully out of the water they were so close together.

"Hey! Long time no see!" She exclaimed, staring right back at the land pony, her big eyes reflecting him perfectly.

[Skye]

Satchel peered closer at the waters, seeing his own reflection at first, the glare of the sun obscuring whatever might be lurking in those depths. But yet, as he peered closer, he began to realize that what he was seeing wasn't merely his own reflection, but that there was another face with his own superimposed over it. But the ripples in the water and the murkiness made it difficult to tell for sure. What strange magic was this? He'd never seen it before. Satchel's eyes weren't nearly as good seeing through water as Aqua Drop's were, and it took him good moment to register that what he was looking at was actually another pony!

But all of that flashed through his mind in only an instant when suddenly Aqua's face broke the surface, practically nose to nose with the hippocamp, and his eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "Ka-yii!" he exclaimed, scrambling back, and falling flat on his butt. His chest heaving from the sudden scare, panting. "Warn a pony before you do that!"

[Kudalyn]

~Aqua Drop~

"Oh come on, where's your sense of fun?" She giggled at him, half-hauling herself out of the water so she could rest her front half on land, her tail idly splashing in the water behind her.

She flicked her wet mane out of her face, brushing it to one side. She smiled at the startled stallion, laughing to herself at his startled expression and odd pose as he caught his breath on the grass.

"So, How have you been? Last time I saw you you shared that sandwich-thing with me. I still don't like bread, but the inside bits I really like now." She smiled.

[Skye]

Satchel blinked, rubbing his posterior where he'd struck the ground before getting back to his hooves. "You just caught me off guard, is all. I'd like to think I can be plenty fun!" He blinked for a moment as he thought about the first encounter, then looked around and up for the random pegasi that had been so prominently around before. Noting the skies were clear, he brushed his mane back over his eyes and flashed Aqua a smile. "Oh, that was nothing, just a simple cucumber sandwich, it's definitely cool and juicy even when it's warm and great for trips. I'm sorry not to have brought one with me this time around, though. But that does remind me!"

He drops his head and pokes his nose into his satchel, which had fallen to the ground in the excitement. "Oh, I hope it came through alright, that was quite a drop...ah!" putting his hoof on the strap, he withdrew his head with a shiny and sparkly globe carefully held in his mouth. "Ah oht oo ohing." Satchel looked about and after spying a nearby flat rock, placed the strange orb on it. It turned out to have its own little base that appeared to be made of some kind of porcelain, but inside was what was the most fascinating! It seemed to be filled with a clear liquid and floating within were very fine particles of something shiny. A tiny model of a bridge over a miniscule stream was inside the globe, and as the particles settled, made it look like snow.

"It's called a snow globe! While I was visiting Talonopolis, I saw someone with a bunch of these. I knew when I saw it that it was perfect, and for some reason, it made me think of you."

[Kudalyn]

Aqua Drop

Blinking, Aqua scootched over to the small globe, her eyes widening to almost impossible sizes as she got closer, the sparkles and shine from the globe reflecting in her eyes.

She stuck her nose against the globe's glass, staring inside with unadulterated glee.

"I...it's so.... sparkly..." She said dreamily, seeming to be in a almost trance as she watched the sparkles settle. Tentatively reaching out with her hooves, she picked up the globe and shook it vigorously. She quickly placed it back down on the rock and stuck her nose to it again, watching as she sparkles danced and twirled inside the small globe.

[Skye]

Satchel sat on the shore, grinning as Aqua moved closer to the snowglobe. He'd found it while travelling the griffon lands, a shopkeeper had a few of them specially made as curiosities. When he'd seen it originally, it had reminded him of his first enocounter with the hippocamp that he couldn't resist picking it up for her. Their first meeting had been so brief, but it had been a lasting impression. He'd thought of little else on the journey. "They make all kinds of neat things there in Talonopolis, but it's high up in the mountains, in griffon country. They've got this way with glass that has to be seen to be believed. Their windows are ever so much clearer than anything we have around here. Well, next to a clear river, that is."

The pony swished his tail and brushed his mane back with a hoof. "And the best part, is that it's weighted at the base, so you can take it with you and put it where you would like without worry of it floating away. They had other ones with wooden bases, but I knew that you'd prefer something you wouldn't have to constantly keep an eye on. Or at least, for as long as you could tear yourself away from it." he grinned again. "Do you like it? It's not as fulfilling as a sandwich, but I think it'll last much longer."