A storm raged in the middle of the night, the dark sky clouded over so that not even the moon and stars offered any sort of light. Rain poured hard and unforgivingly across the entire island and the ocean around it while a brutal wind whipped at the trees and any unfortunate soul outside.
Of which there were many out on this dark and stormy night.
The Isle of the Lizard People—before it became lost—was about to be in the middle of a crisis. The horrible things they had heard, the rumors they didn’t want to believe, had just been confirmed to be true. Ponyseidon was gone. Merlantis was lost. Their beloved Merponies who they saw as kin were on the precipice of destruction.
Only the leaders of the Lizard People knew this at the moment. Most lizards still slept, peacefully unaware, the rumors still only rumors to them.
Tomorrow morning would be different, but for now it was their last night of peace.
On the western coastline of the island, where the storm blew fiercest and the waves crashed against the rock, a convocation stood inside a small temple just a short ways away from the dock. The temple was actually the very first stone building ever built on the island, before the Merponies came the Lizard People only had wooden cabins and huts. It was left as a monument to Ponyseidon and how he had uplifted their people. Mostly hidden away and forgotten by the general populace of the island—who now had far bigger temples and monuments in their city—it made the perfect place to meet like this.
At the moment though, there was one lizard not inside the temple. She was not supposed to be inside the temple. She was not supposed to even know what was going on. Lucky Scales (who would one day have a descendant by the name of Fairscale) was the young daughter of the island’s governess.
A curious girl of only ten years old, she wanted to know what was going on, she wanted to know why her mother and so many other important lizards from the island had left their homes to come here in the middle of such a terrible night. It was only by chance that she had been woken up when someone had come to get her mother, and the hushed whispers she heard exchanged between them had ignited her curiosity. Making her way through the city in this wind and rain had been difficult, but she was sure it would be a worthwhile adventure. There was something big going on. Bigger than anything she had been through in her short life.
Lucky Scales could see the ocean from where she was, less than a hundred feet away the coastline was being bombarded by waves far more violent than Lucky Scale could ever remember seeing. Even further out, waterspouts spun about on the ocean and lightning cracked in the sky. The thunderclaps coming from the ever shining bolts of lightning were so powerful they even rumbled over the banshee wind blowing over the island.
It was scary—she had no trouble admitting that, even at the age she was where she liked to pretend she wasn’t afraid of anything. The storm around the island, that looked like it might have even been roaring across the entire ocean, was too dark and powerful to be normal. There was an unnatural, primal, fear welling up in her stomach the more she looked out there at the raging waters and the dark clouds. She shivered. Despite being out of the rain, safely underneath the protection of many of the island’s tropical trees, the cold wouldn’t leave her after she had gotten soaked sneaking her way here from the city.
She didn’t think she had to be quiet with how loud the wind, rain, and thunder were. But she still walked as carefully and quietly as she could as she edged up towards the temple, making sure her feet didn’t snap any twigs sitting on the ground. Her eyes looked up at the smooth stone walls of the temple and the obelisk on its roof. Every now and then lightning would illuminate it clearly for her—the beautiful monument to Ponyseidon.
Like every lizard, she loved and idolized the Merponies. Every opportunity she had to see them was a momentous occasion. It wasn’t just her curiosity to learn what was going on, she wanted to see the Merponies. Another glance to the coast showed a plain wooden boat barely surviving in the waves while it was tied to the dock. The Merponies never traveled on anything more special than that, quite often they swam wherever they needed to on their own power. But the fact that they had used a boat now at all to get here meant that there was definitely something special about the Merponies who had come. And why they had come.
Despite the fear inside her she found herself smiling as well, it was all too exciting, her heart was pounding in her chest as she crawled around the side of the temple to reach the entrance. The temple had no doors, it was just an open entrance to show that any and all were welcome to come inside. Normally there would be torches lit even during the day to light up the long hall that led into its interior but tonight there was nothing. Was it because the storm would surely blow any torches out? Was it because they wanted things to be completely hidden and to dissuade anyone who may have come out here—unlikely as that was? Lucky Scales was guessing the latter. It seemed like something her mother would do if things were really this serious.
Speaking of her mother, she really hoped she didn’t get found out. The punishment—even if it’s not like she was directly told to not come out here—would certainly be severe.
That thought made her shiver in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.
Lucky Scales hugged the wall, pulling herself along it as she entered the temple and tried to find the secret meeting she knew was going on. Like this she wouldn’t stumble over anything, and it would be even more difficult for someone else to see her in the dark. If she just kept quiet and crept along she was sure eventually she’d hear or see her mother and the others wherever they were in the temple. It had to be one of the deeper rooms or she would’ve already been able to hear them by now.
Instead all she could hear was still just the sound of the violent storm outside.
There had to be at least some torchlight in here though, how would the meeting take place if nobody could see anybody else? Lucky Scales was certain that soon enough she’d see the light of flames flickering in the dark. The further she went into the temple the sound of the rain and wind died down and for a brief moment it was almost quiet while she slowly crawled along the wall. Eventually she came to a corner and after breathing deeply a few times to catch her breath she turned around it.
Whispering.
Hushed voices.
She wasn’t imagining it. She knew she heard something coming from ahead. Her heart beat even harder in her chest as she crawled along, fighting the instinct to go faster. Silently she went, her ears open for even the slightest sound now. Though she had been in this temple many times before, she hadn’t memorized the layout or anything so she still needed to be careful where she was going. There was the possibility she would run into a sudden staircase or wall if she was going too fast. Or right into her mother.
Another few seconds went by and she heard what was certainly a muted gasp. A low question. A feeling of surprise. More muttering and whispering.
Lucky Scales had to stand still and listen. She could still hear some of the storm, she just had to be able to pick out the sounds of the conversation within the temple. Her hand left the wall she was using to guide herself as she walked to the other side of the hall and started walking down a new corridor in the temple.
The whispering and hushed voices became louder. More frequent. Lucky Scales no longer had to strain herself to hear them as she slowly walked further and further into the temple. Her legs trembled with every step and a voice inside her head was beginning to speak up—should we be here? Should we be doing this right now? Maybe it would be better to go back outside, run through the storm all the way back to the city, and go home. Crawling into bed and pretending like none of this ever happened.
No. No way. She wasn’t going to turn back now.
And… she saw something now too. The barest flicker of light ahead. Lucky Scales gulped, both fear and excitement causing her to tremble even more. She had to be even more careful now as she approached it, lest any of the lizards or Merponies gathered around it saw her coming. Quiet. Stealthy. Hopefully her mother and the others there would be far too occupied with what they were talking about to notice a small girl sneaking up to them.
She could see the outline of the corridor ahead, illuminated by the light. She was about to leave it and enter a new room where the light originated from.
Lucky Scales held her breath and stopped taking steps, instead sliding over the floor, inching forwards, just to make sure she didn’t make a sound. When she got to the corner she paused. This was the last chance before either seeing what was happening or turning around and forgetting this ever happened. It didn’t take her five seconds before she snuck her head around the corner. What she saw was something that would cause much fanfare if the rest of the lizards of the island knew about it.
A single candle illuminated the room, the fire flickering atop the melting wax, and showed her eyes everything.
Her mother was standing on one side of the candle, with several elders and other important lizards Lucky Scales recognized from the island. But more shocking than any of them was the large, hunched over, robed figure in the middle of them. Despite being fully shrouded by both clothes and darkness, the figure was easily recognizable.
The matriarch. Lucky Scales had to clasp a hand over her mouth to keep from gasping. If even the matriarch—who was never supposed to leave the mountains—had come here… it sent a new wave of fear through Lucky Scales. She had only met the matriarch once before, all lizards when they’re young have to. There as no other lizard it could be. None were as large as the matriarch or had her distinct body shape.
On the other side of the candle was a sight just as amazing. Three Merponies stood, pristine and dry, any other creature that had just come from that dock to this temple would still be soaking wet. The one in the center was tall, with a spiky orange mane, golden piercings in her webbed ears, and deep green eyes. Her scales glittered in the dark along with the other two. A far cry from the dry and non-reflective scales of the Lizard People. They were so different, so different and unique to any other creature Lucky Scales and the other lizards of the island had ever seen. There was something majestic about them that she couldn’t put into words. But it was almost like she was looking upon Ponyseidon himself when she saw these Merponies. Like the matriarch, it wasn’t the first time she had seen Merponies, but it was always a special occasion.
The two Merponies to the right and left of the one in the middle stood slightly back, while the obvious leader directly faced Lucky Scales’s mother. At the same time, Lucky Scales noticed something else: there was a wooden box resting on the back of the lead Merpony. She wondered what could be inside it?
The silence that Lucky Scale had intruded on was broken when an especially loud roar of thunder made its way through the entire temple. The lizards, aside from the matriarch, shook in fear and Lucky’s mother looked imploringly to the Merponies.
“It can’t be true, can it? Please… what you’re saying… that can’t be happening,” her mother spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.
Even still, Lucky Scales could hear the despair and terror in it.
“It is,” the lead Merpony answered, her voice tired and broken. “Merlantis is lost. The Trident is lost. We are… the Merponies are doomed. The violence brought to us could not be overcome.”
“What will happen to you?” One of the elders spoke up.
The leader shook her head. “I do not know. Run? Hide? At this point that’s all we can hope for… but our time in the Grand Ocean is at an end for now.”
“Please… if there is anything we can do to help. We would give anything for you, you know this,” her mother spoke.
“We can not ask that of you now. The violence will come here. Already there is a good chance that those who seek to destroy us will come here in some way, if we were here when they did… or if they knew you had given us further aid, I am afraid they would wipe you out,” the leader said. “You have always been Ponyseidon’s most trusted subjects. His first. His most beloved. We can’t bear to see harm brought to you.”
“We don’t care!” It was a whispered yell from her mother. “Anything… anything is better than losing you.”
The leader shook her head. “No, you can not help us like that. But there is another thing we have come here to ask you to do for us, if you are so set on helping us.”
“I-I do not understand,” her mother said.
“We need you to take care of something for us. Something that is too dangerous for us to take with us now. Something we can’t let fall into the hooves of our enemies,” the leader said. “And one day—even though it is a day that may never come—one day you may return it to us Merponies. That is how you can help us.”
Her mother was nearly shocked into silence as her eyes drifted to the box on the Merponies’ back. “What… what is it that you need us to watch over?”
“I believe you already know,” the leader said and the other two Merponies lifted the box off her back. Together they held it before her mother, the elders, and the matriarch, and opened it up.
A shining golden light came from inside. So bright and so sudden that Lucky Scales and all the others had to close their eyes briefly and let them adjust. When Lucky Scales was able to open her eyes and look again—she saw something she had only heard spoken of in legends. A shimmering golden necklace held by the lead Merpony. It was of a simple design, but no less brilliant, with five tear-drop shaped crystals, clear as ice, hanging from it. There was no question about it. Lucky Scales was looking upon one of Ponyseidon’s three legendary treasures.
She gasped in wonder before she could stop herself and all the occupants of the room turned to look at her.