//------------------------------//
// Seaquestria 
// Story: The Storm and the Scorpion 
// by BronyWriter 
//------------------------------//

The wind rushed around us as we fell. I glanced down and saw an entire forest rapidly approaching. Excellent. It would make perfect cover. Tempest would send out a search party, but they were looking for two ponies, both of whom could camouflage if need be.

And, well, we needed to.

At the last second, both of us extended our wings to stop our fall. It slowed us down enough that it wouldn't hurt when we hit the ground. Either way, Kristen shot her hooves out and turned the ground beneath us to marshmallow. We landed harmlessly on the ground below.

We laid there for a few minutes, staring up at the airships as best we could through the thick treetops. It would take a little while for them to land, so we had time. I still wanted nothing more than to take a little nap before continuing.

"Man. What a day," I groaned.

"Yeah, it's been weird," Kristen agreed, rolling onto her stomach. "You think they can follow us down here?"

"Eventually, but we'll be long gone. Tempest said it herself: they don't know where we're going."

"Yeah, but we also can't fly there," Kristen pointed out. "She knows we're in the area and she's going to be watching the skies. She's probably going to call all of the backup that she can. You're her seventh book Harry Potter here."

I snorted and turned in the direction we'd last seen Mount Aris so we could begin walking. I wished we could fly, but at the moment that didn't seem like the smartest move. No doubt Tempest would be calling all of the reinforcements that she could, and if she saw us flying toward Mount Aris... yeah, we'd be in big trouble. I didn't fancy the idea of getting the help of the hippogriffs if we had half of the Storm King's army following us. That wouldn't make a good first impression.

"So we're just going to walk there?" Kristen asked as we made our way through the forest. Couldn't we just, you know, fly under tree level?"

I stopped walking and looked up at the trees. The treetops were close enough together that we could fly under them undetected, so all in all it wasn't a bad plan. I nodded, spread my wings and took to the air with Kristen promptly following me. Yeah, much better time. We had to make a few turns to avoid hitting trees, but overall we were going much faster.

"Heh, I knew I kept you around for some reason," I said with a smirk.

Kristen rolled her eyes and flew a little faster to keep pace with me. "I'm not sure how you survived the first five years without me, or did Celestia do all of the work?"

A pang went through my heart at my wife's name, but after everything we'd gone through, I didn't want to lower the mood by being upset. We'd gone through enough as it was. We needed something to lighten us up.

"Oh come on, I'm perfectly able to take care of myself if I need to. I ruled from a whole different city for two or three years before I married Celestia. I fished for my own food in Ponyville, even."

Kristen snorted and cracked a grin. "That must have been difficult. You were never one for fishing when we were growing up."

"I was... I just wasn't any good at it."

Our smiles slowly fell as the reality of our situation hit us again. I sighed and looked up to the trees. "You think we can risk checking to see where we are?"

Kristen shrugged. "Might be. I can go check. You're a little large to be doing recon." She spread her wings and flew to the tops of the trees, poking her head just above the treeline. She looked around for a few moments, then floated down to me. "I see Tempest's ship in the distance there, but we're close enough to Mount Aris that I don't think we'll have too much of a problem."

"Yeah, but if she sees us then we might draw her straight to where we're going, and that'll be bad."

"The alternative is just walking there, and I think we've lost too much time already. We can disguise ourselves a little bit, right?"

"Probably for the best, if for no other reason than we'll be harder to spot." I lit my horn again and shrunk myself down to Kristen's size. "You're the one who did the recon. I'll trust you on this."

Kristen blushed and flattened her ears. "Uh... thanks. Yeah, I think we're close enough. Twenty minute flight, maybe?"

"Sounds good."

We angled our way up and broke through the treeline. I glanced behind us and saw the small speck that was Tempest's ship in the distance. Huh, we'd made more ground than I thought we would. No complaints from me. I turned my head back and saw Mount Aris looming ahead of us. If I had to guess, the hippogriffs were at the very top. Or at least, their center of government was. Unless they were living inside the mountain itself like a sort of Moria thing. Unlikely, since hippogriffs had wings and winged species tended to not like living in dark caves, Luna's bat ponies aside.

We flew as surreptitiously as we could, constantly looking back to see if we were being followed. Tempest's ship grew smaller and smaller as we approached Mount Aris, which suited me just fine. We'd managed to escape last time, but every time we fought her she'd more than likely be more violent in her attempts to catch us. She probably wouldn't even bother to take Kristen back as an extra trophy to the Storm King. I didn't know if they could hurt her with their weapons, but I wasn't really willing to test it out, no matter how eager Tempest would be to.

We reached the base of the mountain without any incident. Seeing nothing resembling civilization, the two of us flew to the top. It wasn't really all that impressive of a mountain, all things considered. the one that Canterlot was perched on dwarfed it. Having said that, Kristen and I both lived in Colorado, so our perception of what an impressive mountain looks like might be a bit skewed.

"What do you think we'll find up there?" Kristen whispered as we got closer to the top. I could see the unease in her expression, which made sense to me. After everything that had happened so far, we weren't going to bet the house on this working out perfectly.

"Not sure, but hopefully the next step in taking Equestria back. I'm not sure what they're going to do, but anything would help at this point."

A wry smile crossed Kristen's face. "You know, this kind of reminds me a little bit of Mass Effect. Unstoppable force randomly takes over our country and we have to gather allies from all over to the world in a desperate effort to take it all back."

I snorted and nodded. "Yeah, sounds about right. Although I doubt The Storm King can shoot lasers out of his eyes that could destroy whole towns."

"Don't jinx it, though."

"Fair enough. What I'm worried about is--"

My words died in my throat when we reached the top and saw it. The first thing I noticed was the unrelenting feeling of doom covering the landscape. All around us were buildings, homes, businesses in various states of disrepair. Some just looked abandoned, but most appeared as though they'd been purposely knocked down. I looked out into the town as far as I could see and saw nothing that indicated that life had been here for a long time.

Kristen and I landed and walked deeper into the ruined city. Maybe if we found some center of government we could at least get an idea of what had happened. Not hippogriffs themselves, but at the very least some records of where they had all went.

"It reminds me of one of those ghost towns you see on TV," Kristen muttered, her wings fluttering nervously. "I don't like it."

"Neither do I," I responded. "We haven't found any bodies yet, so maybe they just all left."

"Yeah, but why?" Kristen stopped and stared at what looked like it used to be a store of some sort. The sign above it had been torn down and lay in pieces in front of the door frame which had no door. The windows had all been knocked out, and the roof tiling had begun sliding off. "Does this look like a place that was just abandoned for some reason?"

"No," I muttered. "I don't like this any more than you do, but we have to figure out where they went next. I doubt Celestia just told me to go to the first civilization that popped into her head. She had a reason to send us here, and I'm not leaving until I find something."

"I guess. I still don't like it."

I grimaced as I continued examining our surroundings. "What's been there to like for the past few days?"

"Good point. Maybe--"

I raised my hoof to cut Kristen off. "Shh. Do you hear that?"

Kristen tilted her head and swiveled her ears around. "Hear what? I don't..." Her eyes narrowed and she leaned forward. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I do hear something. It sounds like singing, I think."

I managed a small smile as the two of us followed the noise. If something was singing then that meant that something was there, and if something was there, we could find out what to do next. If nothing else we'd be able to find out what the heck happened around here.

As we grew closer to the singing, we saw a large cave in front of us. It didn't take bat pony hearing to know that we would find what we were looking for in there. I put on enough speed that Kristen had to take flight to keep up with me. Cool air rushed over me as we entered the cave, and it took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the relative darkness.

The cave had a sort of humid feel to it, which made sense since the first thing I noticed was a lake that took up most of the ground. A rock poked out of the center of the lake and on it sat... something. Nothing I'd ever seen before. It looked kind of like a mermaid pony of some kind. I hazarded a guess that it was a she based on her looks. She was definitely the one singing. Kristen and I exchanged an uneasy glance before taking a few tentative steps into the cave.

"Uh... hello?"

The creature on the rock squeaked in fear and, before I could say anything else, dove into the lake.

Huh. Skittish.

Kristen and I slowly walked up to the lake and peered into its depths. The water was crystal clear, which made it all the more impressive that we couldn't see whatever had run from us.

Kristen and I looked at each other and shrugged. "Should we go in?" Kristen asked.

"Might as well," I replied. "It's not as though we have any other options. Whatever that was is our best lead for what's going on right now."

"True." Kristen looked back to the water and dipped her hoof in it. "So, I know that I can hold my breath as long as I want, but can you?"

"I'm actually not totally sure," I admitted. "It's never really come up." I smirked at her. "Don't suppose you have any gillyweed with you?"

Kristen snorted and shook her head. "I think I left it back in Baltimare. Oh well. We'll figure it out." Kristen slid into the water, going all the way under for a few seconds before poking her head up out of the water with a grin. "Okay, this water is awesome. I might have to get a pool of it for my room." She made a noise of contentment and flopped back to float on the water. "Much better than that desert."

I rolled my eyes and lit my horn to shrink myself down. I didn't know if I could hold my breath indefinitely, and making sure I could squeeze through any smaller areas would probably be best. Plus, even though I was an alicorn, I couldn't turn on a dime while swimming like Kristen could. Being smaller and sleeker would probably serve me better here. Once I was down to a better size, I went into the water after her.

Kristen went under the water for a few seconds too scout out a direction for us to go. I dunked my head under and she pointed to a hole in the rock wall surrounding the underside of the lake. I nodded to her and began using my wings to push myself through the water. After a few moments I lit my horn and a bubble of air appeared around my head. Kristen rolled her eyes at that.

"Hey, better safe than drowning," I said, my voice sounding echo-y in the bubble.

"Yeah, yeah," Kristen said with a wave of her hoof. "Let's just find whatever we're looking for."

"Of course you can talk underwater," I grumbled as I swam alongside her. "Of course you can."

"Being the god of chaos has a few perks every now and then," Kristen said smugly. "It doesn't even feel like I'm breathing in water. Feels like air right now."

"Ducky for you." I scanned our surroundings, which had grown a little darker now that there wasn't a little sunlight to illuminate the water. I lit my horn to illuminate our surroundings. "You think we're going the right way?"

Kristen shrugged. "I think so. This was the only way that I saw, so unless whatever we saw can go through walls..." She smirked. "Like I can, she probably went this way."

I scanned the sea floor for any trace of... anything. All I saw was sand and rocks. "Well, I guess so. I can't shake the feeling that we're headed into another bad area."

"Can't be any worse than Klugetown..." Kristen's ear twitched. "And even if it is, at least Tempest won't follow us down here."

"I'd be rather surprised. From what I saw of the abandoned town, the Storm King has left this place be lately."

"Um... excuse me?" a voice said from behind us. Kristen and I turned to see the mermaid pony thing behind us, poking out from behind a rock. She shrinks back when she sees us looking at her and nervously waves. "Yeah, uh... I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear you talking about the Storm King. You're ponies, right?"

Kristen and I exchanged a glance, then looked back to her and nodded. "Yeah, we're ponies. We're looking for the hippogriffs."

The mermaid pony instantly perked up and swam out from behind the rock. "Ooh, that's awesome!" She swam up to us and took one of my hooves in her flippers and began shaking it. "My name is Princess Skystar! We used to be the hippogriffs!"

Wait... huh?

"Um... used to be?" I said.

"Uh-huh!" Skystar said happily. "It's a really interesting story!" She lets go of my hoof and waves a flipper at me. "But pssh, I can't tell you it now! My mom's going to want to meet the two of you!" She grabs my hoof and begins pulling me in the direction we were already going. "Come on! It's this way!"

Well... this seems to be working out, I guess?

I slide my hoof out of Skystar's grip and begin swimming alongside her with Kristen. "So, you said your name was Princess Skystar?"

"Mhm," Skystar replies with a happy nod.

"So, if you're the princess, that would make your mother the queen of the hippogriffs?"

"Well yeah, sure, she used to be, but that was before we moved down here. Now she's the queen of the seaponies of Seaquestria!"

I blinked, tried to register that, failed, then blinked again.

"S-Seaquestria?"

"Oh yeah, that's what we've been calling it. We were half pony anyway, and since we don't have claws anymore we're half fish and half pony, so we couldn't think of a reason to not call ourselves seaponies because it worked the best and ponies live in Equestria, right? So Seaquestria!"

"That... makes sense to me, I guess," Kristen said. "How much farther is it?"

"Oh, not far at all." Skystar sped up and swam over to a large curtain of seaweed. She clapped her flippers together and made an excited squeeing noise. "Ponies, I wanna be the first to welcome you to..." She hooked her flipper on some of the seaweed and pulled it aside. "Seaquestria!"

Kristen and I swam through the curtain of seaweed and took in our first sights of the underwater kingdom. Dozens of seaponies swam around, talking to each other, playing games, shopping at stalls carved out of rocks, and just generally going about their day-to-day lives. Scanning the area showed me that the underwater civilization didn't look terribly different from the one on the surface. Guess they'd wanted life to change as little as possible.

Skystar swam beside us and let out a contented sigh. "It's probably not as fancy as your Equestria, but we're all happy here. It's home, and that's what matters the most. Oh!" Skystar swam over to a rock and picked up two seashells that had googly eyes glued onto them. She hugged them close, then swam back up to us. "Ponies, I want you to meet my best friends: Shelly and Sheldon!"

Um...

Kristen and I uneasily waved to them. "Hey, Shelly and Sheldon," Kristen said, giving a nervous laugh. "It's... nice to meet you."

"I'm glad," Skystar said, cradling the two shells in her flippers and giving them a loving smile. "Most of the seaponies think they're kind of weird, but that's okay! I'm sure you two have some weird friends, too."

"I... have a pet octopus," Kristen said.

"Ooh, that's awesome! Shelly and Sheldon like Octopuses, too! With all of their tentacles and how smart they are and stuff! I knew you'd get along." Skystar nuzzled the two shells before flipping them around and putting one on each flipper and holding them out like she was talking to them. "Okay, Shelly. Okay, Sheldon. I need to take the ponies to see Mom right now, and you know how she gets with you two." She paused for a moment as if they were responding before rolling her eyes. "Yes, Shelly, I know it's weird. I thought she'd be used to you two by now, but I guess she needs a little more time." She paused again, then frowned. "Now that's not very nice, Sheldon. She's still my Mom, and I don't appreciate you saying things like that about her." Another pause, then she rolled her eyes. "Well if you're going to be like that." She chuckled and swam back down to the rock she originally placed them on. "I'll see you two later."

Well she seems to be a few books short of a library.

"Sorry about that," she said as she swam back up to us. "They can be a little rude. Let's go see my mom now, shall we?"

"Y-yeah sounds good," I said uneasily. "You lead the way."

Skystar chuckled and waved her flipper. "Well I have to, silly. You don't know where she is!"

"Fair point?" Kristen said.

"Follow me. I'll show you the way."

We swam back beside her and let her lead us to wherever her mother was. We passed through what appeared to be the town square, and every seapony stopped whatever they were doing and stared at us. I could hear them whispering all around us. Heh, looks like one thing is similar to Klugetown. I'd long since gotten used to it. This wasn't my first gig as a totally unseen species.

"So, Skystar..." Kristen began. "Shelly and Sheldon. You know..."

"That they're just shells?" Skystar stopped swimming and floated alongside us, a small, sad smile on her face. "Yeah, I know. I'm not an idiot. I know how it looks. Everypony thinks it's really weird." Her jaw wobbled and her voice cracked when she spoke next. "Someti... sometimes things just don't go how you think they will, and you make do. Mom says I should find real friends, and I want to, it's just..." She instantly perked up and pulled us both closer. "Well, I've made two new friends today! That's something, right?"

With that, she went ahead of us, humming a happy tune. Kristen and I followed behind her, wondering how the heck the queen would be if this was her daughter. Hopefully she was a little more level-headed than Skystar.

It wasn't more than a few minutes before we found, of all things, guards armed with flint spears. She let Skystar pass, but when they spotted us, they crossed their spears together while a few more swam around us, pointing their spears at us.

"Halt! What is your purpose here?" one of them growled.

Sheesh, bring out the welcome wagon, why don't you?

"We are here to see the queen," I said calmly. "We mean no harm."

"Oops! Sorry!" Skystar swam between us and the guards. "They're with me! I found them and I'm bringing them to see Mom. You know, royal business and stuff."

The guards exchanged suspicious glances, but they raised their spears after a few moments.

"Very well," the guard said. "Proceed. But be warned, ponies. We are watching you."

"I understand," I replied before continuing to follow Skystar. We turned a corner and it's then that we saw whom I could only guess was the queen of the hippogriffs... seaponies... whatever. She was lounging on an ornate shell made up to look like a throne. All around her was an underwater garden that would rival any in Canterlot Castle. Above her were strands of what appeared to be some kind of jellyfish looking thing holding some kind of pearl that I figured had some kind of importance. Maybe it was their culture's version of the Arkenstone, or something. She spots us a small frown crossed her face, and she glanced over at Skystar. She straightened up on her throne and crosses her flippers.

"Skystar, I hope you have a good explanation for this."

Oh goody. One of those types.

Regardless of her personality, there are manners that must be observed. I swim up closer and bow as well as I can underwater.

"Your Majesty, my name is Prince Antares of Equestria."

"Prince?" The queen raised her eyebrows. "Hm. Should have figured with the horn and the wings. Very well, Prince Antares. I am Queen Novo of the seaponies of Seaquestria." She tilted her head and frowned again. "I have to admit, I never thought I'd see the day when a pony was down here." She looked over at Kristen and her frown deepened. "Much less one that could breathe underwater."

"Oh, uh..." Kristen moved to my side and bowed. "I guess I'm not technically a pony. Sort of, Your Majesty. I'm the God of Chaos."

Queen Novo shot out of her throne and all of her guards instantly pointed spears at us again while Skystar hid behind a piece of coral. "Discord?" Novo said, venom dripping from her voice. "What gives you the right to be down here? And why this feminine form? Did you think to fool us? Have you sprung your trap?"

Kristen's eyes widened. "What? No! I'm not Discord! I'm his replacement!"

"Discord is actually dead, Your Highness," I chimed in.

Novo looked back to me, her eyes narrowing. "And how do you know that?"

I shrugged. "I killed him."

"Really?" Novo replied, disbelief in her voice. "And you managed that how, exactly?"

"A crap ton of dark magic, if I'm being honest," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "Him and I... well we had a bit of a fight and I killed him. Turns out there always has to be a chaos god, so his powers transferred into my sister."

"And I'm not nearly as powerful as Discord," Kristen said. "I only got really good at making edible food a few years ago."

Novo stared at the two of us, her eyes narrow and her brow furrowed. I could almost see the gears turning in her head. Yeah, I'd have a hard time believing it, too.

"Well, um... I guess that makes sense to me," Skystar said, poking her head out from behind the coral. "I believe them!"

"Hm." Novo sighed and sat back down on her throne. "I see. Very well, Prince Antares of Equestria. To what do I owe this meeting?"

"I've come seeking your aid, Your Highness," I said, bowing again. "My country was attacked and has been completely taken over by the Storm King and his armies. We require help to take our country back."

At the mention of the Storm King's name, Queen Novo instantly straightened up, the guards gripped their spears tighter, and Skystar went back to hiding behind the coral. Not good. I gathered that they already knew about him, then.

"The Storm King. You require our help against the Storm King." Queen Novo scoffed and shook her head. "My my. I have to admit that I didn't see that coming." She sighed, and for the first time since I'd arrived, her expression held a little softness. "You have my sympathies if the Storm King has attacked your country. That monster is unlike any I have ever seen."

"He has taken my wife and daughters," I said, moving a little closer. "I cannot let them suffer any more under his control. My subjects deserve to live their lives as free ponies, not the slaves he'll use them as."

"I understand. I truly do. However, I am afraid that I cannot help you."

My face hardened into a glare, and my wings twitched at my side. "Is that so? Why, may I ask, can you not?"

Novo stared at me for a few seconds before turning to her daughter. "Skystar, please leave. Prince Antares and I have some things to discuss."

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Skystar said, slowly moving out from behind the coral. "Yeah, totally." Her expression brightened. "Hey, do you want to play catch the seaweed with me, Kristen? It's really fun!"

"Um..." Kristen looked to me, then back to Skystar. "Sure... I guess."

"Awesome!" Skystar zoomed over to Kristen and threw her flippers around her in a crushing hug. "See, Mom? I'm making friends just like you said!"

A brittle smile crossed Novo's face and she nodded. "That is wonderful, daughter. Now if you could..."

"Yep, yep, totally." Skystar grabbed Kristen's hoof and began swimming away. "Come on Kristen! Let's go play!"

I turned and watched the two of them go. As weird as Skystar was, I hoped that hanging out with Kristen would help at least a little bit. Give her some real interaction. She seemed starved for it. I heard a sigh and turned to see Queen Novo floating beside me.

"I worry about that child. She didn't used to be like this." We watched as Skystar gathered up a ball of seaweed and tossed it over to Kristen, who swam forward to catch it. "I do wish I could help you, Antares. I really do, but look around you. Do you see a military force? Do you see anything capable of beating back his forces?"

"No," I muttered. "I only came here because Celestia told me to. It's the last thing my wife said before..." I took a deep breath. "Before they got her."

"Your wife? Celestia is your wife?" I nodded, and Novo made a thoughtful noise. "Hm. So Celestia actually got married and popped out a few foals. Good for her. Never thought she would. She always seemed so focused on ruling Equestria."

"You know her well?"

"Not lately, but we certainly knew each other back in the day. Thirty, forty years ago." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Has it really been that long? My word how time flies."

"So she knew you well enough that she told me to go to you before any of the other nations. Not the griffins, not the Saddle Arabians... you."

"Yes, I can see why. I think she thought the artifacts we used to have would be of some help to you."

"Used to?"

"Mhm." Novo took a deep breath and finally looked at me. "I think you've already guessed, but we know of the Storm King. He hit our kingdom before yours."

"I thought something like that had happened."

"He sent spies first. They called themselves Cherry Pie and Mort. A pony and a little hedgehog thing. Recon, I guess."

"Tempest," I muttered.

"I guess so. I never found out her real name. They just said they were weary travelers in need of rest and I took them in. By the time I found out what their real goals were it was too late. They knew enough to let the Storm King take us over quite easily."

"If it's any consolation, I killed the hedgehog thing when they took over Canterlot."

Novo let out a light chuckle. "I suppose that does make me feel a little better." Her smile instantly fell. "When Tempest left, I knew we didn't have much time. I had to get my subjects to safety. We didn't have an army capable of beating him back. All we could do was... buy time."

"What happened?"

I created a volunteer army to go on a suicide mission to prevent the Storm Creatures from reaching our capital before we could flee. I had to protect as many of my subjects as we could. I took our most valuable artifact and brought us down here where I knew we'd be safe. I also knew we didn't have the time to get everyone down here before he arrived. We barely made it as it was, even with our defense force."

"Do you think he might have taken prisoners?"

"It's possible, but I doubt it. I don't think any of them would have let themselves be taken prisoner anyway. He would have tortured them to find out where we'd gone." Novo took a deep breath and stared out at her daughter. "We all lost something. Almost every family sent at least one member off to protect us all. My daughter had two friends from as far back as she could remember. They did everything together. They were inseparable." Novo smirked and let out a little chuckle. "Many is the time when I had to stop them from roughhousing in the throne room while we had some important business or dignitary. Even though it irritated me to no end, I was happy to see my daughter with two others who cared for her so much. When the Storm King attacked, they went off to fight him. 'We want to protect you' they said."

"That must have been hard."

"I've never seen such devastation than when they didn't come back. For months afterward, she kept asking anyone who went near the surface to gather supplies or on scouting missions if they had seen them. I wept to see my daughter in such a state. I wept even more the day she stopped asking." Novo closed her eyes and bowed her head. "Now she has those infernal seashells..."

I put my hoof on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I know what it's like to lose everything."

"I know. You've endured his evil as well. You lost your wife and daughters. I can't imagine what that must be like." She opened her eyes and turned to me. "And that is why I cannot do what you ask. We are safe down here. My daughter is safe down here. I cannot put her through that again."

"I understand. I wouldn't either in your position." I grimaced and looked back to Kristen and Skystar. "Is there nothing you can do?"

"The Storm King took our more powerful artifacts when he took over. I have no doubt that he is stronger now than he was when we faced him. All I can do is offer you a place here." Novo swam over to the pearl I'd seen over her throne and took it out of the seaweed containing it. She turned back to me, the pearl in her flippers. "I can use this to transform you two into seaponies. You would be safe here."

"I appreciate the offer, but..." I shook my head. "I have to save my family and my subjects. No matter the cost."

"I understand, of course." She put the pearl back. "I do have this to say to you, then: from what I know the Storm King does not have any magic by himself. He uses artifacts to gain his power. If you manage to get whatever he's using away from him, he will be largely powerless, and I imagine that the Storm Creatures will fold quickly without their king."

"Good to know." I take a deep breath and stretch out my wings. "So I suppose that's that, then. We should be on our way."

"I am sorry. I wish I could be of more help."

"Yeah, I know. I'll let you know if we beat him. That way you can go back to the way things were."

"Perhaps. I don't know. My subjects rather like it down here."

"Well, either way. Best of luck to you."

"And to you as well."

Without another word, I swam away. Kristen and Skystar were still playing with the ball of seaweed when I approached them, and Kristen seemed to be having a little more fun, which was nice to see.

"Okay, I'm going to put a little more spin on it this time! Be ready!"

"Okay!" Skystar said, rubbing her flippers together. "Which way will it go?"

"That's for you to find out," Kristen said, getting into a pitcher's stance and raising the ball of seaweed over her head. "One... two... three!" Kristen threw the ball of seaweed to her right, and Skystar moved to catch it, but just as she moved, the seaweed screeched to a halt and began going left. Skystar squeaked and quickly changed directions, reaching out and catching it with the tips of her flippers.

"I got it!" she said triumphantly, holding it over her head like a trophy. "You were trying to cheat but I still got it!"

"Cheat? Me? Never," Kristen said, waving her hoof. "I was just keeping things interesting."

"Uh-huh, sure." Skystar noticed me floating nearby and turned to me with a smile. "Hey, Prince Antares, want to play with us? I think your sister really has the hang of this!"

"I'd love to, Skystar, but I'm afraid my sister and I must be on our way."

Skystar's happy demeanor instantly faded, and she dropped the ball, letting if float to the sea floor. "Oh... Right. You probably have royal stuff to do." She turned her gaze to the floor. "I understand. You're busy."

"Hey..." Kristen swam up to Skystar and put her hoof on her shoulder. "I had fun, alright? Maybe I'll come by some other time and we can get a new game going."

A hopeful smile crossed Skystar's face, and she raised her head a little. "Really? You'd do that?"

"Of course. Don't friends hang out and stuff?"

"Y..." Skystar's voice cracked. "Yeah, I guess so."

Before Kristen could say anything else, Skystar threw her flippers around her and pulled her in for a crushing hug. Kristen had to wiggle to get her hooves free, but when she did, she returned it.

"Come back soon," Skystar whispered.

"I will. Don't worry."

Kristen gently pried Skystar's flippers off, and, with one final round of goodbyes, we were off. We followed Skystar's directions back to the pool, and before long we were back to the large curtain of seaweed.

"You seemed to get along well at the end there," I said.

"Yeah. She's been through a lot." Kristen turned to me and smirked. "God of chaos. I'm pretty good at eavesdropping."

"I figured you might be listening in."

"So they're not going to be helping us, are they?"

I shook my head. "No. They're not. She gave me a little intel on how to defeat the Storm King, but other than that, we're on our own for now."

"What do you want to do?"

"Well, I recall you mentioning Mass Effect earlier. How in that game Shepard gathered together a bunch of races to fight the big evil villain. The griffins are the closest. I think it's time we go see Empress Kathyrine.