Seaweed ice cream with seaweed sauce and seaweed sprinkles on top!” Princess Skystar exclaimed, passing Fluttershy a cup full of green stuff. Fluttershy hesitated, then dug in her clamshell spoon and took a huge bite. It might’ve sounded weird, but it was delicious.
“Yummmm…” Fluttershy said. She glanced around at the other Seaponies enjoying their seaweed treats. “What’s this place called?”
“The Seaweed Shoppe!” Skystar offered. She gestured to the massive menu. “They have seaweed sandwiches and seaweed pancakes, too, but the soft serve is my favorite! I’m so glad I get to share all this with you, Fluttershy!”
“Me too.” Fluttershy nodded in return. It made her feel good that Skystar was having so much fun already. After their snack, the two friends swam through the village square. Everywhere she looked, Fluttershy was greeted with interesting sights and sounds. There was a craft fair selling sea-glass maracas and other fanciful items. Nearby, an area littered with food carts was being overrun by a small group of blue crablike creatures. They scrambled over one another to get to a cart selling fried seaweed tacos. Fluttershy gave Skystar a nudge and pointed to the critters. “What are those little guys?”
“Beezlebugs.” Skystar scrunched up her muzzle in distaste. “They usually stay in the fields outside the kingdom, but for some reason we’ve been seeing more and more of them around….”
“Seems as if they came for the delicious food!” Fluttershy joked to lighten the mood. Clearly, Skystar saw the Beezlebugs as little pests. They were a little funny-looking, Fluttershy thought, but still cute in their own buggy way.
“Ooooh!” Skystar shouted, grabbing Fluttershy’s foreleg and dragging her over to the center of the square. “This is my favorite!” A pair of octopuses were break-dancing by the fountain, their eight arms flying out in different directions. One grabbed a light pole and swung around three times, then suctioned onto the side of the Starfish Boutique. He let his partner spin on his head awhile before jumping back in.
A small crowd of Seaponies had gathered around to watch, but they seemed distracted. They kept leaning into one another and talking, then turning away from the performance. Fluttershy didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but she was floating right next to a pair of Seaponies who were speaking loudly to hear each other over the music.
“Do you think it’s true?” a pink Seapony with bright-fuchsia wings asked. There was worry in her voice. “What Golden Fin saw last week?”
“Who knows? I always thought those nasty creatures didn’t exist!” her friend replied, looking a bit frightened. “But what if—what if they actually do? We’d all be doomed!”
Fluttershy turned to Princess Skystar, wondering if she’d heard what they were saying. What were nasty creatures? Were they talking about Beezlebugs? But Skystar was dancing along to the music. She shimmied around, twirling and laughing. “Aren’t these performers terrific?!” she trilled. “Sometimes my mom lets me come out here to watch. You know, as long as I’m being watched.” Skystar gave a little sigh and rolled her eyes. “Such a pain in the tail fin, right?”
Skystar pointed to the two young guards who had been assigned to trail the princess and her guest everywhere they went. They weren’t half as serious as the others, and sometimes when Fluttershy turned around, she caught them goofing around with each other. Fluttershy didn’t remember so many guards from her last visit. Was this something new?
“Do you have to bring them?” Fluttershy asked. She glanced over her shoulder at the two Seaponies. Now they were tossing a conch shell back and forth.
“Yeah, it’s a real drag, huh?” Skystar sighed. “But my mom has been really overprotective lately. Maybe if we swim quickly, we can ditch them!”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Fluttershy frowned. “I wouldn’t want to upset the queen again.” After the last time, she felt she was navigating some murky waters regarding pony–Seapony relations.
“Don’t worry.” Skystar giggled. “I’m only kidding. We’ll follow the rules…this time. Whoa! Look at that!” They turned their attention back to the show. The octopuses jumped and joined their arms, swinging each other around. Skystar clapped her fins together in delight and tossed a big pouch of sand dollars into their donation bucket. A few of the Seaponies in the crowd were staring at the princess. They’d obviously recognized her.
“Fantastic!” Skystar proclaimed once the dance had ended.
Fluttershy nodded in agreement. “Should we go to The Aria now?”
“Great idea! Actually, we’re just in time for the matinee. If we hurry, we can even grab some seaweed popcorn at the concessions stand!” Skystar exclaimed.
“Oh! Yum, yum,” said Fluttershy, feigning excitement. If she ate any more seaweed, she was going to turn green. Still, it would be worth all the seaweed in the ocean to see the buzzed-about show. “I’ve heard starfish have the most beautiful singing voices!”
“Just wait until you hear the harmonies,” Skystar said, smiling. “Totally unreal!”
As they wove through the crowded amphitheater (with the two guards in tow), Fluttershy couldn’t help feeling a bit self-conscious. It seemed as if everypony was still watching them. It could have been because she was with a princess. But Twilight Sparkle was a princess back in Equestria, so she was used to stares whenever they were together. This felt different, somehow. Was she imagining it?
She pushed it out of her mind and tried to enjoy the magnificent performances. Fluttershy had almost forgotten the strange feeling by the time a huge, curvy starfish took center stage for the final song. She wore a fluffy kelp boa and a long blue gown made of shimmering oyster shells. Her squid-ink eyeliner made her look glamorous, which reminded her of Rarity. Fluttershy would have to remember the style so she could report back to her.
“Feel the rhythm of the deep, down below, pick up your fins and do the ocean mambo, twist to the beat, fast and slow!” she belted out, bringing up two of her arms to clap out the rhythm. A light shone down on the stage, revealing three puffer fish backup singers.
“Do the ocean mambo, fast and slow…” the three fish sang. “Ohhh ahhhh ohhhh…” The fish in the center kept pushing the other two with her fins, obviously trying to get farther out front. She turned to the side, letting the light capture her best angle.
Princess Skystar and Fluttershy bobbed along to the beat. Skystar shrieked at the finale, when the three fish swam laps around the starfish, their scales glittering. When it was over, the two filed out of the theater, caught in the crowd of elated Seaponies. “There’s nothing like a soulful starfish song,” Skystar said, beaming.
“It was wonderful!” Fluttershy agreed. “The whole place was dancing! I loved the second- to-last song, too.”
Skystar smiled, remembering the choir of starfish parading around onstage, singing different parts and clapping their arms together to the music. They’d worn incredible costumes of green and blue kelp boas with dangly shell earrings (of course Skystar had admired the earrings).
As they were swimming out, an older Seapony with neon-green fins came over to them. He wore a shell headpiece that looked rather regal. “Princess Skystar,” he said, giving her a little bow. “It’s so nice to see you here, outside the walls of the castle!”
“And you, Sir Aston,” Skystar replied with a friendly smile. “Sir Aston, this is my good friend Fluttershy.”
“What a pleasure,” Sir Aston said with a smile. He turned back to Skystar, his brows furrowed together. “How is your dear mother doing? There were rumblings around town about a Seapony spotting a”—Sir Aston’s eyes began to dart around in caution; he lowered his voice and finished his sentence—“a Sand Dragon. Is it true? Very troublesome, if so. I wonder what she’s—”
“Psht! Don’t believe everything you hear!” Skystar chirped, not skipping a beat. “But anyway, we’ve really got to swim. We’re heading back to the castle now, actually.”
“Please give Her Majesty my regards.” Sir Aston bowed again. “I may be retired, but I’m always here to offer assistance, if need be.” Sir Aston swam off.
“He used to be my mom’s adviser,” Skystar explained to Fluttershy. “I think he’s bored or something. Whenever I see him, he’s always trying to rustle up some gossip about top-secret Seaquestrian state business.”
“So that explains what I heard in the village square!” Fluttershy nodded. “Some Seaponies were talking about Sand Dragons. But I guess it’s just a rumor.”
“Well… not exactly.” Princess Skystar glanced around, as if she was worried somepony might hear them. The guards were swimming at least ten tail fins back. “Down here in the water, there’s a legend about great beasts called ‘Sand Dragons.’ Supposedly, they lived deep in the sands of the ocean floor hundreds of moons ago. If they are woken before it’s time, they get very angry. Nopony has ever seen one…. Until last week.”
“What happened?” Fluttershy asked, eyes growing wide.
“One of the guards was exploring the surrounding areas of the kingdom when he found himself in a Beezlebug field. He heard a strange noise,” Skystar explained. “When he went to investigate, he saw a giant creature with huge fangs coming right out of the sand! He was quite shaken when he reported back to the castle. He said the creature looked as if it could smash a whole building with just a flick of its tail!”
“That sounds scary,” Fluttershy said. She’d dealt with her share of Dragons before, but the Sand Dragons sounded really intimidating. And mysterious.
“Don’t worry! I’m sure my mom’s got a plan,” Skystar assured her friend. “There’s always the chance that it wasn’t even a Sand Dragon. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, you know? The ocean can be very dark outside our kingdom.”
“Mmmm hmmm,” Fluttershy replied. She remembered that it had been pitch-black the first time she and her friends had found themselves below the surface. Skystar had rescued them by shining her light.
But now, Skystar just kept swimming, as if what she’d just told Fluttershy weren’t a big deal. But everything was starting to make sense. The village felt different because it was different. Everypony was on edge. Somewhere, out lurking in the deep, there could be a big, angry Sand Dragon. Who wouldn’t be afraid of an ancient giant, fanged beast?
Most of the trip home they were quiet, except for when Skystar stopped to point out a new café or her favorite place to collect shells. She even pointed out the reef that she was planning to take Fluttershy to tomorrow morning, before she left. They could look at all the colorful coral and glitterfish. Fluttershy followed behind her friend, but her thoughts kept drifting back to the Sand Dragon. Would Queen Novo really be able to fix everything? Or was Skystar being too optimistic?