by G. M. Berrow
Up above, Tempest had had enough. She’d pointed out Captain Celaeno and her crew’s silly outfits. They were supposed to be wearing standard-issue Storm King–brand delivery gear. Celaeno claimed they were having a pirate-themed party. It was very fishy. The rule book didn’t allow time for parties, so they were definitely lying.
“You know who else is really good at parties?” Tempest growled. “Ponies. Now, I’m gonna count to three, and if you don’t tell me where they are, your ship is going down!” But before she could even count, Tempest was interrupted by a loud shriek. She galloped over to the underbelly. One glance confirmed it—the ponies had escaped through the trapdoor in the bottom of the airship.
“What?!” Tempest’s shrill voice rang out. She scanned the sky for the colorful equines but couldn’t find anything. Tempest stomped her hoof on the deck in frustration. She peered over the edge one last time, hoping the ponies had all made it out alive. Not because she cared much, but because Tempest wanted that princess in one piece. And she would get her.
“Hey, Tempest!” Grubber shouted. He ambled up, holding a cupcake and a worn piece of scroll.
“What’s that?!” she barked. Couldn’t he see she was busy trying to wallow in her own frustration right now?
“I found this. It’s a kind of cupcake thing with sprinkles.…” Grubber grinned. “And this is… uh…”
Tempest yanked the scroll from his claw and unfurled it. There were crazy-looking scribbles all over it. “It’s a map,” Tempest observed. And it was the perfect clue. “They’re going to Mount Aris.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Heeyew!” Applejack sighed with relief. She placed her hooves on the edge of the wooden box that had become their makeshift hot-air balloon basket and peered out at the landscape of bushy green trees below. “That was some quick thinkin’, Twilight!”
“Yes, darling!” Rarity marveled. “How in the world did you gather all those items and assemble them in midair while we were plummeting to our own doom?” She smoothed down her mane. “And using Spike’s fire-breathing abilities to heat the balloon? Truly inspired.” Spike beamed at the compliment.
“Next stop, Mount Aris!” Rainbow Dash called out as she flew alongside the hot-air balloon. She pointed to the narrow, pointy mountain in the distance.
“I don’t know how I did it,” Twilight admitted. “But it was great. And now we’re home free!” She took a deep breath. The air somehow seemed sweeter on the heels of victory. “Yahooo!”
The stone stairs to Mount Aris were winding and endless. As they trudged upward, the ponies were reaching a new level of exhaustion. It didn’t help that the landscape was completely desolate, either. It was pretty depressing.
Rarity, in particular, was beginning to get quite whiny. “That’s it! I simply. Cannot. Even! I have nothing. The bad guys have won!” She collapsed into a dramatic heap on the ground. “I’m so sorry.…”
Rainbow Dash, who had been periodically flying above to check their progress, called down some words of encouragement. “We’re almost there!”
“Will you stop saying that?” Rarity huffed. Instances such as these were the only times she was truly jealous of Rainbow Dash for having wings.
Rainbow brightened. “No, really—we’re here!”
It was the final push they all needed. The ponies sped up, taking the last sets of stairs twice as fast. When they reached the top and saw the entrance, it all felt worth the journey. “This is it!” Twilight exclaimed. Excitement bubbled up inside her stomach.
They all stood back and admired the sight. The gates of Mount Aris—home of the Hippogriffs—were quite eerie and beautiful. Two ancient stone columns carved into Hippogriffs flanked the walkway, inviting visitors in with a sense of mystery and mysticism. Twilight, a history buff, felt a twinge of intrigue that made her want to read everything ever written about these creatures. She could recall learning next to nothing about them in her studies.
“Well, I’ll be!” marveled Applejack, leaning back so far that her brown hat almost fell clean off her noggin. Once she’d secured it back on her head, she trotted in through the gates behind the others.
“Are we sure this is the right place?” asked Rarity, looking around the deserted stone street. It did look a little worse for wear with all the cracked statues and toppled pillars everywhere. Many of the doors to the beautiful, dome-shaped dwellings had been left ajar, and weeds had begun to grow everywhere.
“Hello?” Applejack called out. “Is anypony home?”
Pinkie Pie took a different approach. She bounced around, looking for any signs of life. “No Hippogriffies here. Or here. Or here! Wait…” Pinkie crouched down and lifted a little rock with her muzzle. “Nope. This place is emp-ty!”
Empty? After everything the ponies had gone through to get here, Twilight didn’t understand how this was possible. Celestia had to believe that the only way to save Equestria was to find the Queen of the Hippogriffs, or she wouldn’t have instructed Luna to go find her. Plus, the map Twilight had found at Capper’s had led them right here. None of it made any sense.
“Well, where are they?” Twilight said in disbelief.
Spike scanned the desolate landscape and shuddered. “Something bad happened here. Something turned this whole place into a ghost town!”
“A gh-gh-ghost town?” Fluttershy whimpered. She didn’t like the idea of ghosts or anything remotely scary.
“Wait!” Rarity perked up and began to look around. “What’s that gorgeous sound? It’s like a song.…” The ponies listened closely.
There was a beautiful voice echoing through the empty city. “Aaaaaah… ahhhhh… ahhhhh!” The melody was familiar and haunting at the same time. The ponies bravely trotted along, searching for the source.
“It’s coming from over there!” In the distance, Twilight noticed an interesting building with tall archways. Like everything else in the area, it had been partially destroyed, but it looked as if it were once a magnificent castle.
Once the ponies were inside, the singing grew louder. The sound was amplified by the acoustics of the cavernous space. “Ahhhh… ahhhh…” The pretty melody continued, but it was now accompanied by the splish-splash of running water, for there was a large fountain in the center of the room. It was set in the middle of a small pond and shaped like a pink lotus flower, just like the kind the ponies used in treatments back at the La Ti Da Spa back in Ponyville.
Was that a shadow of somepony behind the flower? It was too murky to see the fountain properly. Rarity stepped forward for a closer look and marveled at its sheer beauty. A few rocks under her hoof tumbled down and plopped into the water.
“What was that?!”
The shadowy figure gasped and leaped into the water, causing a splash to spray onto the ponies.
Twilight and Rarity exchanged an excited look. The Hippogriffs may have been long gone from this place, but there was definitely somecreature here. Maybe this mystery creature could help them find the queen! It wasn’t much, but a droplet of hope was better than nothing.
“Hey! Wait up!” Pinkie Pie called out to the creature. She leaped without hesitation into the water. “CANNONBALL!”
“Pinkie!” Twilight cried out, and jumped in after her. One by one, the other ponies and Spike jumped in, too. SPLASH! But the creature was gone. Pinkie’s mane dripped, sad and wet, against her face.
Applejack was about to console her friend when the pond started to swirl, pulling them into a whirlpool! “What in the hay?!”
“AAAAAHHH!” they all screamed in unison.
The ponies were being sucked underwater, and there was no way to escape.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Everything was dark. Twilight moved her hooves around, reaching for anything to grab on to, but all she felt was the sensation of being submerged in deep water. She was still holding her breath and desperately needed air. Twilight wanted to magically procure some, but everything felt fuzzy, and she couldn’t remember how to use her ho
rn until…
POP! A bubble appeared around Twilight’s head. She exhaled gratefully and lit up her horn. All her friends were wearing head bubbles, too! They looked just as relieved as she did.
“Way to leave it till the last minute, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie joked, tapping her hoof on the sturdy surface.
Twilight shook her head, incredulous. “I didn’t make these bubbles.…”
“Then…” Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide with a mixture of fear and wonder. “Who did?” She swam closer to the other ponies, and they formed a little underwater huddle.
Suddenly, something swam past! It was impossible to tell what, but it looked like the dark outline of a fish. Twilight really hoped it wasn’t a shark. “Hello?” she called out. “We’re looking for the Hippogriffs.”
A glowing yellow orb shot toward the ponies, lighting up the whole area. It was so bright and mesmerizing. “How do I know I can trust you?” it asked.
“Please!” Twilight Sparkle begged. “The Storm King invaded our land, and we need to find the Hippogriffs—”
“The Storm King?!” The orb glowed even brighter as it came closer, transforming into something incredible. Twilight had never thought they were real, but swimming right before them was definitely a Seapony! Her face and front hooves were similar to a regular pony’s, but she had pale-yellow scales, aqua-colored fins instead of a mane, pink fluttery wings, and a beautiful fish’s tail instead of back hooves. She introduced herself as Princess Skystar.
“I’m so glad I saved you guys!” she squealed in a cute voice. She sounded even more chipper than Pinkie Pie did after eating cupcakes. “I’m totally taking you guys to my mom!”
Princess Skystar grabbed Twilight’s hoof. The ponies formed a chain and let her lead them down into the watery unknown. They swam past rocks and schools of colorful fish, into a sea cave tunnel, and beyond. “We’re almost there!” Skystar assured them. She giggled in excited anticipation as she swam through a rocky opening and into a glowing underwater paradise.
“This is where I live!” Skystar held out her hoof to present the view to the ponies with pride. Happy Seapony families swam around a sparkling wonderland, giving their princess a little nod as she passed by and clearly wondering about the curious strangers she was escorting. Just up ahead, a palace in the shape of an upside-down flower opened to receive Skystar and her guests.
“Wow!” Spike marveled, unable to control the direction of his floating. Rainbow Dash helped to spin him upright again.
“I know! I know!” Skystar giggled happily. Her visitors had barely seen anything yet, and they were already impressed. Once they’d swum up into the flower palace, Skystar approached a pearly-white Seapony with purple fins lounging luxuriously on a purple throne. She wore a golden crown. Skystar swam up to her. “Mother! Look what I found!”
“Is it another shell?” the queen replied without looking up. “Because I am telling you, if it is another shell, I am—” When she finally did notice Twilight and the others, she let out a massive gasp. “Princess Skystar! What have you done?! You know surface dwellers are forbidden here!” At this, several royal guards sprang into action, surrounding the ponies with spears.
“Nononono, MomMomMomMom, please!” Princess Skystar whined. “It is so not like that! The Storm King is trying to destroy their home, too.”
“We need to find the Hippogriffs,” Twilight called out bravely. The guard pointing a spear at her narrowed his eyes, but Twilight ignored him. This was important. “Do you know what happened to them?”
The royal Seapony sighed. “Well, of course I know. I’m the queen. I know everything.”
“Oooh! Oooh!” Princess Skystar smiled widely and clasped her finned hooves together in unabashed delight. “It is such a good story!”
But the queen held back for some reason. “Don’t you dare tell them!” she chided her daughter, and the two began to playfully bicker. Ultimately, Skystar ignored her mother’s wishes and swam up to the wall of the palace.
“Once upon a time, like… a while ago, the Hippogriffs did live on Mount Aris!” Skystar touched the wall with her hoof, and it began to light up magically with a glowing illustration of the Hippogriffs and the Storm King. “But that horned beast showed up to steal their magic!”
Twilight met the worried eyes of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. They were all nervous to hear the next part. Spike was biting his lip. What if Skystar said the Storm King had eradicated the Hippogriffs entirely? What would that mean for Equestria? The bubbles on their heads allowed them to breathe, but they all held their breaths in nervous anticipation.
“But”—Skystar smiled brightly—“to keep their kingdom out his clutches, their brave and majestic leader, Queen Novo, hid them deep underwater, where he could never go.” The wall glowed with a scene depicting the same beautiful Seapony kingdom in which they were now floating! “We are… well, we were… the Hippogriffs!” Skystar gestured to the palace and the Seaponies around them. She let out a jovial giggle. “TA-DAH!”
“Well, I guess the pearl is out of the oyster now.” The older Seapony sighed. “I am the Queen of the Hippogriffs.”
Twilight found herself grinning with delight. They had really found her—the Queen of the Hippogriffs was right in front of them! She didn’t seem overly accommodating, but Skystar seemed to really like Twilight and her friends. She would definitely help save Equestria!
“Hold on; now, let me get this straight.” Applejack cocked her head to the side. “When the Storm King came, you just abandoned your entire city and fled?”
Skystar smiled and rolled her eyes. “We didn’t flee! We swam.… You know, in order to flee!”
“But how?” asked Rainbow Dash. Ponies didn’t randomly transform into other species, so she couldn’t imagine how the Hippogriffs had managed it.
“Oh!” Princess Skystar swam over to her mother. She began to flip her tail and twirl around. “Can we show them? These are the first guests we’ve had in, like, forever! Canwe canwe canwe canwe canwe canwe?!”
Queen Novo raised an eyebrow and sized up the ponies again, still considering if it was a good idea that they were there. It seemed like she had come to the conclusion that the damage had been done. “Well, I suppose I should make sure it still works,” she said, swimming up to the giant jellyfish above her throne. Queen Novo gave it a gentle tap, and immediately, the tendrils parted to reveal a glittering, luminescent pearl.
It glowed so brightly that its light touched the entire palace. Magic began to swirl around, reaching for Spike and the ponies. Before they could even realize what was happening, they were transformed into Seaponies as well!
“These fins are divine!” gushed Rarity, admiring her pretty new fish’s tail. The purple fins were curled perfectly, just as her tail had been.
Rainbow Dash sped around in a circle with expert form. Swimming was entirely different from flying, but she could tell it was just as awesome. She zoomed back to her friends. “Hey, Applejack! I’ll race you to that coral!”
“You’re on!” Applejack called back, and the two of them zipped away.
“Woo-hoo!” Pinkie Pie laughed, doing twirls and blowing bubbles. “Try it, Fluttershy!”
“Yay,” Fluttershy said softly. She barely moved her tail.
“Guys,” Spike said in confusion. “Guys! What is happening?!” The poor Dragon had become a puffer fish! He ballooned out and began to float up. Everypony giggled.
Twilight observed her friends with elation. She swam up to Novo and Skystar and said, “This is amazing! With this, we could transform everypony at home into something powerful enough to face the Storm King’s army!”
Queen Novo’s face grew dark. “Or it could end up in his greedy claws.” She swam back to her beloved treasure and plucked it away. Novo clearly didn’t like how sad it made the young purple pony to see her take it back to the jellyfish, but her jaw was set—she also clearly knew what she had to do. “Honey, I’m sorry about your home. I truly am. But my responsibi
lity is to protect my subjects. The pearl is not going anywhere.”
But they had come all this way. Queen Novo and the Seaponies couldn’t just hide down here forever. There was so much they were missing up on land! As the queen bid the group farewell and left for her afternoon seaweed wrap, Twilight could keep only one thing on her mind—that pearl. She was going to borrow it. Hopefully, before anypony found out.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Princess Skystar was quite apologetic about her mother’s behavior. She explained that it had been such a long time since her mother, or any Seapony for that matter, had interacted with outsiders. They had grown wary of anypony who wasn’t with them, because they might be against them. And even though their ordeal with the Storm King had been a long time ago, they were still very afraid of his wrath.
“So that’s it,” said Applejack, feeling defeated. “You can’t help us? We left home for nothin’?”
“No…” Princess Skystar brightened. “Omigosh, I have the best idea—you can stay with us… forever!” She swam back and forth, her pretty aqua fins shaking with excited fervor. “There are so many things we can do! We could make friendship bracelets out of shells, and picture frames out of shells, and decorative wastebaskets out of shells. Oh, it’s so wonderful to have new friends to share my shells with!”
“Oh, oh…” Rarity said gently. She hated to shoot down the hopeful look in Skystar’s eyes after she had been so wonderful to them. “That sounds lovely, darling, but you must realize we can’t stay.”
The Seapony princess slumped in sadness. “Oh, no. Of course. Of course! Of course you have your own friends back home. It’s fine—it’s fine!” She turned around to go, completely deflated. “It’s probably for the best. Yeah, I’ll just, um, I’ll get Mom to, uh, turn you back so you can go home.”
Pinkie Pie felt just awful. The thing that she hated more than anything in world—or the sea—was seeing somepony be so gloomy. “I know we have to go, but you guys saw how disappointed Princess Skystar was. Couldn’t we stay for just a little longer?”