//------------------------------// // Episode 18: Voyage to the bottom of the sea/The little Mer-Pony // Story: My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season VII // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE EIGHTEEN Fifteen years ago, Equestria of old… somewhere at sea. A young unicorn pony was out with his father, a blue unicorn with a red mane, sailing their boat across the ocean, when suddenly a great hurricane struck. The tiny boat was tossed all over and splashed by strong waves! “Daddy!” the young pony cried “I’m scared!” “Don’t worry, Sea Green, I’ve sailed through worse!” shouted his father as he battled for steering. Suddenly, there was a huge tidal wave heading straight for the boat. “HANG ON, SEA GREEN!!” CRASH!!! The wave struck and the boat was totally destroyed, smashed to bits and pieces. Poor little Sea Green couldn’t swim, and he wasn’t very skilled at using magic just yet. He was drowning fast! He felt himself starting to lose consciousness when he swore he could see someone, or something swimming towards him. The creature got closer, and what he saw next would have made his eyes bulge; it looked like a female pony, but she had a sea-creature tail. He finally passed out, and woke much later to find himself ashore on a beach. “I’m alive!” he realized, and there was only one explanation, “That creature…! She must’ve saved me.” Sadly, there was no sign of that creature anywhere, worse than that, his father was nowhere to be seen either. There was no sign of him being brought ashore either. Poor little Sea Green felt tears coming to his eyes as he looked out over the water, “DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD…!!!” (Just for fun) In the present day, with only one map fragment and one legendary item to collect, Starfleet was searching farther and wider than ever, until one day, Lightning and Starla were sent on a special mission assigned to them by Grand Ruler Celesto and Queen Celestia, and Mykan Stevens was granted permission to join them, to give him a chance to visit the seaside and further his research on the ponies’ world. *Mykan’s POV* Pinkie Pie was present with us, but she wasn’t coming on the mission, she was there to babysit for little Shining Light. She burst right into the room with a big cake on her head and began to sing a familiar and special song to the little foal. Happy month-i-versary to you, yes you, today! I-can't-believe-you're-already-a-month-old. Time-sure-flies-doesn't-it-wow. Seems-like-only yesterday-you-were-born. But now you're a month old today, hey! Little Shining cooed and giggled, and Pinkie she picked him up, twirling him and placing him on her tummy as she lay on the floor. I couldn’t help but chuckle at how cute it was to see a grown pony playing so happily with a baby, but to Lightning and Starla it was almost too beautiful to look away from; especially since their baby was already a month old. “We better get going.” said Lightning. Starla knew he was right, but she couldn’t stop looking at her son, and Shining looked back at her. “Lightning, I just don’t think I can leave him like this.” “Aw, don’t you worry…” Pinkie said, and she picked up the baby and smothered cooing, “We’re gonna have a good time, aren’t we wittle guy?” Shining just sucked on his little fingers and smiled. “Well I hope you know what you’re doing.” I said to Pinkie “I heard the stories of what happened when you tried to babysit for the Cake Twins when they were babies.” Pinkie giggled nervously, remembering all the hardships she had trying to be responsible, “Ah, we learn from things, and I’m sure I can handle one little pony now, especially since he can’t use magic or fly away with these things on him.” Starla, unable to help herself, pecked her little son three times on his head, “You behave now honey. We’ll be home soon.” Lightning came over and patted Shining’s little head and smiling lovingly at him. Seeing the happy family made my smile start to turn to a sad frown, and I clenched my fist softly. “You okay?” Lightning asked me. “Yeah…” I answered softly “It’s just… seeing how happy you guys are makes me think I could’ve had all that with Michelle, but I never will.” The others all felt really bad for me, but I assured them “Hey, come on… we got a mission to do.” Lightning agreed, and soon all three of us were flying high up over the country at terrific speeds. “WHEE-HOO… I love this stuff!” I chortled Starla and Lightning shook their heads playfully at me. The reason we were flying to our destination was because none of us had ever been there before and it was much farther away than other destination. Plus, we had to head for exact coordinates given to us in the letter from their majesties. Starla also levitated her droid in its casing, via telekinesis. The letter which we committed to memory read: “Lightning… Recently we have received report from our tracking scouts that one of the treasures we seek is somewhere over the Western Ocean fat beyond most of our known lands, but we have been unable to locate it exactly, which leads us to believe it may possibly be underwater. You will rendezvous with marine researcher, Dr. Sea Green, who lives in his laboratory by the coast. He can tell you more.” Thanks to our flying at super speed, we reached our destination and could see the ocean. It wasn’t very often that many ponies or creatures we knew ever saw it, other than seeing it from up in space. “It’s so beautiful.” sighed Starla, “Not as beautiful as the stars, but… just a grand.” Lightning and I agreed. We scouted around an area by some rocky hills that overlooked the sea. Atop the hill surrounded by grass was a small and lonely house, far away from any town or village, and out in the yard was a big white sheet. “That’s our marker.” said Lightning “Going down…” We headed down into the yard, landing right near the marker, and surely enough there was someone there to greet us already; an aqua green unicorn with a navy blue mane. He wore a simple short sleeved shirt with dark pants, and wore a pair of square glasses. “Commander Lightning Dawn?” “Yes.” “Dr. Sea Green…” They exchanged handshakes, and after introductions, Sea Green invited into his home and laboratory to get down to business. “I’ll come straight to the point. I’m aware of the mission you have. I was contacted by the Starfleet Officials to enlist my services, and I can tell you… the item you seek is indeed somewhere in the ocean; on the ocean bottom to be precise.” “Well, that’s fine and dandy,” said Lightning “But, forgive me, I don’t see where you come into all this?” Sea Green was not the least bit offended and he explained, “For fifteen years, I’ve done nothing but study Marine Biology and Oceanography.” And he explained the story of what happened to him and his father all those years ago. “Oh, my!” said Starla “I’m very sorry to hear that.” Sea Green nodded thankfully, “But, I haven’t told you the strangest part yet…” and he went on explaining to the rest of us how he survived. “A Mermare…?” asked Lightning “You were saved by a Mermare?” “I know it sounds crazy,” said Sea Green “There’s not a pony or other creature I’ve told this to and the thought I was nuts, but I’m not crazy. How else could I be here? It also led me to believe that if I was saved, maybe my father was too? My father never came back, however, and while a part of me told me to give up and accept he may be gone forever; the rest of me still believes he is alive.” The three of us raised eyebrows at Sea Green, but still undiscouraged, he continued to with his story. For years, I devoted my life to studying the ocean, longing to find that mermare and thank her for saving me, and maybe find my father. Now, after so many years of hard work and research… I think I may have discovereda secret civilizationbeneath the waves.” A long moment of silence followed as the others and I absorbed what he had just said. “I’ve longed to try and go down there to find it myself, but I have neither technology nor the power to go that deep, but I know that you do, and it’s also my hunch that you’ll find what you’re looking for in that civilization.” We all could see where this was going now. “So what do you think? Will you help me?” A moment of silence followed, and finally I said, “I believe him.” Lightning and Starla gazed at me, and Sea Green felt a smile coming across his face. “Why not…?” I said “I used to not believe in fairy tales and magic, and yet here I am, in a magical world surrounded by talking humanoid-ponies, and helping them fight evil aliens. What’s not to believe?” “He’s right.” said Starla “We’ve seen and experienced things unimaginable already.” Lightning was more than convinced, “Well, Sea Green, it looks like it’s unanimous. We’ll help you… but only because this may lead us to the island we seek. When and IF we find it, we’ll have to leave at once.” Sea Green understood but excitedly shook Lightning’s hand “Thank you, Commander. Thank you all; I promise you won’t regret this.” Soon, Starla’s droid was prepped up and ready to go down into the deep first. There was no sense in all of us just diving in without observing first. “Ready, Starla…?” asked Lightning. “Ready.” replied his wife. She activated her gear, and Lightning plugged the uplink to her visor through a monitor on Sea Green’s work bench so we all could view. Starla’s droid came to life, and Starla controlled it to fly out to sea, until her visor began to glow sensing the presence of the treasure. “This is it. I’m sending her down.” SPLASH!! Once the droid was in the water, Starla activated the sonar, and with a touch of a switch, her droid shifted into Aqua-Mode: small panels on the arms and legs folded out to show fins, and the bottom of her boots turned into aqua-jets to help her move about. What a sight to behold. Clean waters all around with many schools of fish and a few other creatures. “Wow.” I said softly. “Magnificent.” added Sea Green “I’ve only seen so deep with my aqua-telescopes, but never this much.” The deeper Starla went, the darker and darker it got due to getting further away from sunlight, but Starla’s droid had its view lights switched on as it neared the seabed. “Depth: 3000 feet.” said Starla “Pressure: 1300 PSI.” “So far so good.” Said Lightning “Our suits could definitely take the pressures.” I couldn’t help but shudder “To think, creatures can survive at even deeper depths and not be crushed, even in my world.” As Starla continued to trek her droid further along, following the signal of the treasure… “Huh? What the-- Did you guys see something just now?” The rest of us didn’t see anything unusual at all. “Your life indication scan shows no form of life other than ordinary sea-creatures.” said Lightning. Starla was certain she saw something; something most unusual moving around in the water, but she shrugged it off and continued searching. *POV Pause* Starla’s droid continued to search forth, unaware that she was being watched and followed, by one sea creature hiding amongst the underwater plant growths. It looked at the droid most curiously and followed it… Then, from where the creature was, a pair of red and wicked eyes shone from the darkness, though nothing could actually be seen, it crept forth sweeping the plants and sands along as it went. As that visible creature continued to follow Starla’s droid, it was suddenly GRABBED by its tail and it let out a scream!! *POV Resume* “You hear that?!” snapped Starla. The rest of us heard it! “Turn round!” said Lightning. Starla made her droid spin to look behind, and she could see the silhouette of some large and unusual sea-creature being shaken about, and a pair of red, evil eyes. “Let me go!” the creature shouted in a female voice. Starla shined her lights on the visible creature and we were all most surprised. It was indeed a mermare! She had a light yellow body and hands with opposable fingers, but she also had a blue fishlike tail and her long blue mane seemed scaly rather than hairy. She had red scaly like wings, and an angler-like rod popping out of her head that gave off a small light “Galloping Galaxies!” cried Lightning. Neither he nor the rest of us had ever seen anything so astonishing before! Sea Green couldn’t believe it especially, he nearly knocked his glasses off his face in shock, “It’s… It’s… Her!” he cried “I’d recognize her anywhere! She’s the creature who saved me when I was little!” He suddenly found himself so captivated by her appearance, “She’s… beautiful.” “She’s in big trouble!” I suddenly said. Starla snapped to her senses and charged her droid forth, arming its bow, to help the merpony. “STARLIGHT ARROW” The shot fired, and even the frictions and flow of the water didn’t affect the light beam as it soared straight at the invisible creature… and passed straight through it! The creature roared and glared at the droid. “PULSAR LASER” The light beam fired at the creature’s eyes, stunning it hard and making it yowl loudly, and release the mermare. The evil creature then decided to retreat, and seemingly vanished without a trace. Starla tried to scan for it, but nothing showed on the radar. At least the beast was gone, and the merpony was fine. The merpony swam closer to the droid, now in complete and full view. Sea Green felt hearts fluttering around his face. “Thank you so much!” she said in a excitable voice “I totally thought I was a goner.” Unfortunately, the water made it so Starla couldn’t speak to her, so she had to flash her lights at her in Morse code, hoping she’d understand, and she did. “Oh, you can’t speak like I can?” she asked. Starla flicked the lights: “I mean you no harm. I am a friend.” “Well, duh…” replied the mermare “If you weren’t you wouldn’t have saved me.” she giggled. The rest of us thought she was a little weird. “I’m Skystar. Who are you?” Starla made her droid salute and blinked “Colonel Starla Shine, Starfleet; so nice to meet you.” “That’s a nice name, for a surface pony.” said Skystar “I have to thank you for saving Me.” then suddenly she got an idea and acted as giddy as Pinkie Pie “Ooh, ooh… I can take you home with me and meet my mother, and like, show you to all my friends.” Realizing the great opportunity, Starla blinked to Skystar “I have friends with me. May they join us?” Skystar swam giddily in circiles “Oh, my, gosh! That would be totes awesome! It’ll be a big party!” Inspite of feeling a bit akward by Skystar’s overactive enthusiasm, the rest of us leapt to the invitation. “This is it!” said Sea Green “Years and years of tiring research about to pay off.” “Well, come on then, let’s go!” said Lightning. Starla recalled her droid back to the surface. Lightning then gave both me and Sea Green each a special energizer badge. “These will cast magical shields you so you can withstand the pressure and breathe and talk while in the water.” “Awesome.” I said “The people of my world would kill to have this kind of power.” Soon we all were in the deep and met Skystar personally. Sea Green was finding it hard to keep focussed, as he was stunned by her beauty, but finally he spoke up. “Skystar… I am Sea Green. You… you rescued me many years ago.” Skystar looked deeply at him, getting closer, and closer, making him feel incredibly numb inside. “Whoa, I totally remember you. My mom said I was crazy to have saved a pony from drowning.” Hearing that made triggered our concerns. Nevertheless… Soon were on our way, guided by Skystar. “Tell me…” said Lightning “What was that creature that was attacking you?” Skystar’s features hardened, “That was Morpheus. He loves to terrorize creatures weaker than he is and wants to rule the ocean for himself. He’s been a pain to me, my family and anyone for a long, long time. But that’s not the worst of it. He has the power to meld into the water around him, making him impossible to see. We can’t attack him, but HE can attack us.” “That explains why my attacks just went right through him.” said Starla. Skystar brought us to a large rock on the seabed, with an odd symbol on it, with a touch of her light from her angler-rod the rock magically shifted revealing a long tunnel. “Don’t be shy…” she said urging us to follow her in. Down, down, down we swam, and at the end of the tunnel, we’re we ever astonished beyond words; a complete underwater city; small but enchanting. All the buildings were simply like Greek buildings, with stone columns for fences and walling, open roofs. It was surprisingly brighter down here too with all the glowing corals and underwater angler lights. There were mermares and mer-ponies everywhere. “Welcome to New Seaquestria!” said Skystar. So much to see… So many questions poured through our minds at how this was all possible, and Sea Green knew he would never feel the same again, “I’ve done it! I’ve actually discovered intelligent life beneath the sea.” The detection of the treasure was no stronger than ever. “It must be somewhere nearby.” said Lightning. Before any of us could say anything else, Skystar hurried us along, “Come on, come on! I want you to meet my mom, the queen!” “The queen?” asked Starla “Your mom is the queen of all this?” “Well, yeah, I just said that.” Sea Green couldn’t help but rhetorically ask, “So that means you’re…?” “…Princess Skystar. You got it.” Sea Green felt his insides melting warmly as he thought,“She’s beautiful… she saved me… and she’s a princess too.” Naturally, the royal palace was guarded, but Skystar took us all in through her own special, unguarded entrance. “I can’t wait for you guys to meet my mom. I think you’ll totally like her.” Suddenly, a whole load of lights came on, and I and the others found ourselves surrounded by guards pointing glowing, sparking lances at us. “Skystar!” called a voice, and that’s when we looked up and saw the queen. Her coat was a light pink, and her tail and fins were purple. She didn’t seem too thrilled to see any of us. “Oh, hi, Mom…” Skystar said without much of a care, “I want you to meet my new friends. This is my mom, Queen Novo.” “I like her already.” I grumbled with sarcasm. Novo looked down at the four of us was a look of disappointment, and then scolded her daughter “You were swimming outside again, weren’t you. How many times have I told you never to leave the safety of the kingdom? You could’ve been caught by Morpheus.” Skystar felt a little ashamed, “I… kinda did get caught by him, but these guys all saved me.” Novo didn’t look any bit pleased, but seeing as we didn’t really mean her any hard. “Okay, I trust you… for now.” She snapped her fingers telling the guards to stand down. “Thank you.” Lightning said. “I’m only doing this because you saved my daughter,” said Novo “But tell me why you’ve come here.” Lightning spoke calmly, “We seek a legendary item that is believed to be somewhere in your kingdom.” Novo felt she understand, and she clapped her hands for her lackey, “Fisher Bait, bring it out.” “Fisher Bait...?” Sea Green cried softly under his breath, and there he was;a blue unicorn with a red mane,arrived holding a large box wrapped in red seaweed, but suddenly he stopped when he spotted Sea Green. Sea Green gawked at the sea-pony, but recognized him anywhere. “Dad…?” “Sea Green…!” “Dad…!” The two swam towards each other, and hugged warmly, almost wanting to cry. “You’re alive!” cried Sea Green “I always knew you were!” “I’m sort I didn’t come home, I just couldn’t.” replied Fisher “Look how you’ve grown…” The rest of us and Skystar were deeply moved by the reunion, but Novo cleared her throat, and motioned over at the box Sea Green’s father let out of his grip. “Oh! Sorry your majesty...” Novo sighed, and shook her head. “What is with her?” Starla muttered to the rest of us “Doesn’t she even care about this?” “Shh, take it easy, honey.” said Lightning “We need to see what’s in the box.” Novo took the box in her hands, and used a bit of magic to remove the seaweed wrap, and there, in a glass casing was a large golden cannon-ball. “That’s it!” cried Lightning “That’s what we’ve been looking for.” and he asked Novo “How did you get this?” “Oh, I can tell you how.” said Skystar. “Honey, don’t you dare…” snapped her mother, but Skystar refused and told us all everything, much to her mother’s disappointment. “I tell you not to, but hey… I’m only the queen.” *Skystar’s POV* Many years ago, before I could barely talk, we sea-ponies used to live on land. We were not in fact ponies, but Hippogriffs; creatures that have the head, claws, and wings of an eagle and the hind legs and tail of a pony. But the land was soon ravaged by war, and disaster beyond words could say. So my mother, Queen Novo, discovered a powerful magic to transform us Hippogriffs into sea-ponies, so we could build a civilization beneath the ocean where we could live in peace and not have to worry about anything on the surface. …Or so we thought! Just as the ocean, like the land, has its jungles and forests, it has its monsters as well; always putting up a fight and coming after us. We fought valiantly to protect our lands, and in doing so we defeated a group of sharks that had this cannon-ball that was buried on the seabed for who knows how long. But it was still a dangerous world out there, especially when Morpheus came along. *Back to Mykan’s POV* “And you’ve all been down here all this time?” I asked. “Yes, we have…” replied Novo “We don’t usually take kindly to those from the surface, and we usually don’t venture out there. With Morpheus on the loose, going out there would be foolish. We’ve tried everything, but even my magic isn’t able to beat him… since we can’t even find or hit him. All our best attacks just go straight through him, and he comes back for more. Still, as long as we stay here, and people keep out of our way, the better.” Fisher nodded and looked at his son, “That’s why I couldn’t come home… After our boat sank in that storm, I was pulled to the bottom by something I couldn’t see. It was Morpheus, and he tried to drown me. Queen Novo and her guards were out searching from Princess Skystar, and they brought me back here and turned me into the sea-pony I am now, or I would have perished for sure., but I couldn’t return, or even let you know I was alive. I can’t begin to imagine how hard it must’ve been for you.” Sea Green didn’t know what to say, but he was just too glad not only to have proven his theory correct about New Seaquestira, but to be reunited with his father after fifteen years as well. “Best part of all…” said Skystar “I have a whole bunch of new friends. I mean, sure, I have my old friends, but making new ones is totes sweet.” Novo sighed and rolled her eyes. Lightning then cleared his throat, “I’m sorry to sully the moment, but I’ll come straight to the point: We need that golden ball.” “Say what now?” Novo asked in shock. The entire palace hushed as all the servants and guards gawked at Lightning, and he explained to them the situation… “I see,” said Novo “I’m sorry things are like that up there, but I won’t just part with this. This is one of our more sacred treasures, and besides… what happens on the surface isn’t any of our business.” Starla took great offense to that, “So you’re not willing to help save this planet? Even if it means the ocean itself could be destroyed?” “She’s got a point, mom.” said Skystar “And besides…” “Besides nothing!” snapped Novo “I’m queen of this world, and that’s my decision.” The gang and I were really starting to dislike her now, but unfortunately Lightning had no authority here since Starfleet regulations usually applied to on the surface of the planet. But Lightning did have solution, “Then would you be willing to make a deal?” Novo turned and glared at him, “What?” “A fair exchange.” replied Lightning “You give us the ball, and we’ll… get rid of Morpheus.” Skystar gasped! The guards gasped! The servants gasped! Sea Green and his father gasped, and all fell silent for a moment… until Novo burst out laughing hysterically. “You… get rid of Morpheus? Oh please…!” even he guards and servants began to laugh. Skystar, Sea Green, Fisher, and the rest of us were not amused! “You’ve been down here for far too long.” said Starla “Much has changed on the surface. We will do it.” Lightning agreed, and I agreed too, and as a result, we were all laughed at again, and when all went quiet again, Queen Novo finally agreed “Okay then. Do it. You beat Morpheus, and not only will I give you our treasure, I might… JUST MIGHT… consider about returning to the world above the waves.” “Done.” agreed Lightning. With that Novo went off, “Time for my daily seaweed wrapping.” Then she was gone to leave the rest of us to come up with a plan. “So, how are we going to beat him?” asked Starla “He’s made of water, we can’t even see or detect him.” “Maybe not…” I said “Maybe there’s more to Morpheus than just water.” “I think you’re right.” agreed Sea Green “I know water, it’s been my life’s research, and it can’t just grab you like that.” That’s when I happened on the answer, “You all know the fourth stage of matter, right?” Fisher didn’t understand. “Gas… Solid… Liquid… what else is there?” “Plasma.” said Sea Green, and he happened on my idea as well. “We’ve got to get back to my lab.” Skystar couldn’t help but ask to go with us, “This is very dangerous, Princess.” said Lightning “Your mom would never forgive us either if we put you in danger too. You should stay here.” Skystar sighed softly, but Sea Green held her hands in his “Don’t worry; we know we’re doing… …I hope.” They gazed deeply into each other’s eyes, and blushed softly. “Come on…” I said “I can take us there in my teleporter now that I have the proper coordinates, but we won’t be able to warp back.” Despite the risks, the ponies and I all warped back to the surface leaving Skystar and Fisher in the palace. Both of them were very concerned about all this! Once back at Sea Green’s lab, he went through the cupboards. “The first thing we have to do is draw Morpheus out, and then make it so he can’t hide from us.” “How?” asked Starla, and she got her answer when Sea Green held up a large jar of “Methyl Orange… just what we need.” “Ah, yes…” I said recounting my chemistry classes “Methyl Orange reactions with certain types of medium. We pour a little of this over the water, and we should get a nice yellow snapshot.” “Alright.” said Lightning “Let’s go find that thing and blow it out of the water.” Starla agreed. and she and Lightning both transformed. “STARFLEET MAGIC” Since Sea Green couldn’t fly like the rest of us could, but he was actually willing to go back underwater and view things from there, despite all objections from the rest of us. “I’m a scientist.” He said with pride “If you think I’d miss an opportunity like this to discover a new form of sea life, think again!” With that, we all headed off. *POV Pause* Back at the royal palace in New Seaquestria, Queen Novo was most relaxed while enjoying her seaweed spa treatment, but Skystar was really growing worried about the others. “Sea Green…” she muttered softly. She seemed to be most concerned about him. Fisher Bait was just as worried. He had only just been reunited with his son. He didn’t think he could bear to lose him all over again. “Princess…” he said to Skystar “Perhaps we both think alike?” Skystar nodded, and while Novo was deeply entranced in her relaxation, Skystar and Fisher Bait slipped off through Skystar’s secret tunnel. *Mykan’s POV* Lightning, Starla and I flew several feet over the water; Lightning and Starla both using their visors to locate signs of plasma. “I’ve got it!” cried Lightning “It’s coming loud and strong over here.” I hovered right over to him, wearing safety gloves and goggles as I opened up the jar of Methyl Orange “Here goes something.” I said as I dumped the liquid into the water “I always was against pollution.” “Wait…! Look…” said Lightning, and he pointed down at the bubbling water below. *Pause* Deep in the water, Sea Green was hiding within some thick underwater plants with his magic suit on. “This is it…” he murmured “He’s coming!” *Resume* The water continued to boil and stir as the creature began to take shape, and suddenly… POW!! The water burst upwards as the creature was now fully visible, as a giant yellow-reddish blog about the size of a large house. Its main body was large with spike-shaped blobs all over its huge head with two huge red eyes, and four large tentacles spouting out of the water. We all gawked horribly at the dreadful beast… Sea Green saw it from below, “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.” he whimpered. The monster roared and snarled at us fighters above, and raised his huge tentacles. “Look out!” shouted Starla, and we all scattered about as the tentacles swiped at us splashing hard in the water, making small waves. I turned round, looking at one of the tentacles and, drawing out my sword, I gave the tentacle a huge swipe, but no surprises; it passed right through it just making a harmless water wave. Morpheus snickered wickedly in growls, and swiped at me again. Lightning and Starla tried firing beams of magic and uniforce at him; it was the same result. “Nothing!” said Lightning. “Not a flicker.” added Starla. Down below, Sea Green could look up through the waves and see; Morpheus’ water-like body couldn’t be damaged, not how we were all doing it anyway. Then, he looked on ahead and could see Skystar and his father heading straight for the danger-zone, and armed with lances from the palace. “Skystar… Dad… No!!” he called. Fisher and Skystar already began to fire magical blasts at Morpheus from below, which alerted him of their presence, and he thrust one of his tentacles down into the water grabbed them both, making them drop their lances. “No!!” cried Sea Green! The tentacle burst out of the water for the rest of us to see our friends as Morpheus began to put the squeeze on them! “Coming!” shouted Lightning, but of course his fists just went right through the watery surface with no effect at all. “HELP… US…!!” Skystar cried. She and Fisher were really feeling the pressure. Down below, Sea Green was panicking. He had no idea how to stop the beast, but he wasn’t about to lose his father all over again, not to mention lose a pony, who he could now fully admit he was in love with, either. He spotted the sparking lances down on the seabed, grabbed them both, and bounded straight for Morpheus. “Let them go!” he thundered, he simply struck it with the lances “LET THEM GO!!” Then suddenly, the lances zapped, shooting two blasts of energy right up through the water, and striking Morpheus directly in his two huge eyes, actually damaging him. The monster roared, and let go of fisher and Skystar, dropping them into the water. “Dad… Princess…!” Sea Green called as he swam to them. “Oh, my!” groaned Fisher as he caught his breath, “Thought I was a goner.” As for Skystar, she already caught hold of herself and gazed straight at Sea Green, “You totally saved me!” and she grabbed him and pulled him towards her, capturing his lips with her. His glasses fell off, but he was too shocked by the sudden… enjoyment… to care. He spoke nervously, “I, uh… guess we’re even now when you saved me.” Skystar smiled a huge grinned and pulled him in for another sudden kiss, much to his delight, and he began to return her kiss, while his father watched with pleasure. Up on the surface, when the blasts hit Morpheus’ eyes, it told us exactly what we wanted to know, “Aim straight for his eyes!” hollered Lightning. The rest of us agreed. “SWORD OF PURE SOUL”I shouted, and my sword powered up, and a rushed down, striking one of the eyes hard. “My turn!” said Starla and she armed her bow“GALACTIC PROJECTILE” POW!! The other eye was struck, and Morpheus was roaring and flailing. Finally, Lightning was up,“UNIFORCE”He fired at the damaged eyes, blowing them both into blobs of slime! With his sources of life gone, Morpheus’ body began to bubble and ooze away… evaporating into nothingness! “They did it!” cried Skystar “They destroyed Morpheus! Oh, I can’t wait until my mom hears about this!” When we all got back to New Sequestria, Queen Novo addressed us all at once. “I would say I’m surprised…” she said, and then she scolded “But I’m not!” right at her daughter’s face “I keep telling you to stay here, where it’s safe, but you disobey me, always gallivant off, and nearly get yourself destroyed!” Skystar couldn’t believe the way her mother was taking this and talking to her. “And I have just one more thing to say about this…” said Novo, and in a sudden surprise, she hugged her daughter proclaiming, “…I couldn’t more proud of you.” Skystar was confused, as was everyone else. “Why shouldn’t I be?” said Novo “After all, you were just acting out of concern, and if it wasn’t for you and for Fisher, as well as your friends… Morpheus may still have been out there.” “Ah, Mom…” Skystar said as she hugged her back. Everyone felt overly-touched by the heart-warming scene. After which, Queen Novo gracefully help up her end of the bargain and surrendered the golden ball to Lightning. “I guess maybe we have been cooped down here for a long time, and seeing the heroics you guys performed… maybe… I’ll consider letting everyone return to the surface, or invite others to see our world. …JUST… Maybe...” The rest of us all took at is the best we could get. “You’re alright, your majesty.” said Lightning “And thank you, for everything.” There was no time to waste; we all had to get the ball back to New Canterlot immediately and as for Sea Green… “Aren’t you coming?” asked Starla. Sea Green was still holding Skystar’s hands and gazing into her eyes, and she gazed back at him so lovingly. His mind was made up. “I think… I’ll stay a little while. There’s just so much I want to learn about this kingdom and all that’s in it. Besides…” he paused and held Skystar’s hands and looked at her deeply “I can’t just abandon her, she saved my life, and… well… I love her.” Skystar blushed, but her mother rolled her eyes feeling she would have to speak with Skystar about this, but Fisher motioned for her to let it be. Lightning shook his hand, “Thanks for everything, Fisher, and good luck.” “Same to you.” replied Fisher “Oh, and one last thing… Please don’t tell anyone about this place, at least not until they’re really ready to come forth. I don’t want them to be disturbed all that much.” Lightning, despite knowing his orders to report what he discovered, felt Sea Green was doing something extremely noble; giving up a chance at fame in discovering a city beneath the sea and all that… …He promised not to tell anyone a thing. With that said, we all bid farewells and Lightning, Starla and myself returned to the surface, via my teleporter, and then it was off for home again. “Too bad we couldn’t stay longer.” said Starla “There are so many questions I had for them all.” Lightning felt the same. His mind was flooded with curiosity of the sea-ponies… -Where did they come from originally as Hippogriffs? -How did Novo discover the transformation magic? Above all things… -How did they all survive The Great War when Equestria was destroyed? “Ah, well… Someday they’ll be another chance.” he said. As we all flew further and further out, the getting fading off in the distance, I couldn’t help but wonder how Sea Green would be getting along. *POV Ends* As the times passed, Sea Green was having a heavenly time. Novo had used her magic to turn him into a sea-pony like his father, so he wouldn’t have to use his special suit from Starfleet all the time. Sea Green spent his days swimming around with his lovely Skystar by his side, exploring many sights and astonishments the sea had to offer. A lovely song played as the swam together… and enjoyed their romance of it all… Skystar gazed deeply into Sea Green’s eyes, and he looked deeply into hers. They came together in a deep kiss… while under the distance watch of Novo and Fisher. While Novo was still rather skeptical, at fisher’s advice, she left things well as they were. It just warmed her to see her daughter so happy. (Promo) In our next episode: Professor Brain reveals new power ups for the team, but which may take time to understand, and Starfleet receives a letter from way out in space for the location of the final piece of the map, which gives Slash the idea of following the team, with a little upgrade of his own that could prove seriously dangerous for both sides. What awaits for our heroes in this new world? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!” (Next Episode: “Long Distance Relation Calls: Part 1”)