This story is a sequel to Transitioning Love
Ever since he was little, Sandbar has loved sailing. It has always been a part of his family heritage, and now, during his final year of Friendship School, he has the opportunity to partake on an epic sea voyage off the coast of Baltimare. Better yet, he has the love of his life, Yona Yak, and one of his best friends, Silverstream, to join him!
The only problem? Yona has thalassophobia. She cannot swim, and her fear of the ocean is as crippling as it is deep seeded. Can Yona face her fears and help Sandbar find the legendary sea dragons? And how will it effect her relationship with Sandbar, long term?
A last minute entry to the Pride and Positivity event! Extended to early July, each fic submitted will count as a donation to LGBTQ+ charities, or similar humanitarian efforts.
This story is a sequel to Transitioning Love, but prior reading of that story is not required. Mild content warnings for references to Transphobia and depictions of panic attacks.
Story title named after a song by Alestorm, and cover art used with permission from Little Tigress.
I blame Rainbow Dash and Applejack. ...What? Yona almost drowned because of those two nitwits.
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Funnily enough, I wasn't thinking about that episode when writing this. It was only after the fact that I realised Yona's Thalassophobia was canon XD.
I had to go back through and read the prequel story to understand why this was a Pride and Positivity entry in the first place. I wound up misreading thalassophobia as something else. But then again thalassophobia is a fear of the ocean specifically. If Yona can't swim in general, is that even the right definition?
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It's specifically a fear of deep ocean. Yona not being able to swim justifies it *somewhat*, but her being on the boat at all is still a struggle.
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Frankly Yona is far braver than I am in that regard. I won't set foot on a boat at all.
This was really nice, and it was great seeing Sandbar, Yona, and Silverstream interact and deal with Yona's fears, plus their own relationships. I was pretty surprised there were actual new species discoveries in the story; I do think the meeting with the other seaponies felt out of place, but the sea serpent and turtle bits did well in showing off the wonders of the ocean.