//------------------------------//
// The Adventure Begins 
// Story: A Compass to the Soul 
// by CartoonNerd12 
//------------------------------//

Princess Skystar lead the boys into an underwater cove where  seaponies and sea creatures of all kind were playing and enjoying  themselves as the princess declared, "Welcome to Seaquestria!"

The guys marveled at the sight that was a coral reef that the seaponies lived in.

"Oh! There's my aunt, Ocean Flow." she waved to the seapony, "Aunt Ocean Flow over here!"

Ocean Flow swam up to them, "Skystar, you're back! And are these the creatures that Terramar has told us about?"

Skystar bubbly replied while swimming around them, "They sure are!"

Ocean Flow asked, "And where is Terramar?"

"He went to get Uncle Sky Beak and General Seaspray from Mt. Aris."

"Oh, in that case, shall we convene to the throne room then until they get here?"

Skystar proclaimed, "Absolutely!" and she swam ahead.

The  group followed after her and they found themselves going up into the  coral reef where they entered into a large underwater throne room. There  was a giant purple throne was currently unoccupied until Skystar swam  to it and sat in it. Not long after that, four seaponies made their way  into the room with Terramar leading the way, then he and a female  seapony went to Ocean Flow as she hugged them.

Terramar told their guests, "Guys, this is my sister, Sliverstream."

Sliverstream  was excited to see the newcomers and was talking at fast rate, "Oh my  goodness! Aren't you all amazing?! Terramar tells me that you're really  ponies, a dragon, and an Abyssinian! Oh what would give to see your  actual forms!" she flipped around.

Flash spoke on their behalf, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The two older male seaponies introduced themselves.

"I am Sky Beak, Terramar and Silverstream's father."

"And I am General Seaspray of her majesty, Queen Novo's Navy."

The group exchanged odd looks at that and Soarin asked, "You have a navy?"

Seaspray explained, "Quite so. Before the invasion happened, as hippogriffs we had a grand and strong navy."

"So you have a ship we can use?" Capper asked, hoping he could get out of his fishy form sooner.

Sky  Beak expressed, "Even if you did take one of our ships, there's still a  chance that something could go wrong like a very strong storm that can  sink it and I don't think you want that."

Flashbacks of that awful  typhoon filled Soarin's mind and he told them, "It's true. Besides,  it's easier and faster if we keep to these sea forms."

Sky Beak  stated, "Agreed. From what Terramar has told us, you're trying to get  back to Equestria and as hippogriffs we wouldn't be welcomed on their  shores."

Soarin, Flash, and Big Mac exchanged a guilty look.

Soarin  told them, "I wish it wasn't so, in fact, thanks to my time on the  island I met so many creatures and honestly, it's ridiculous that other  species can't come into my homeland because really we're only denying  ourselves of great friendships and knowledge of other cultures."

Flash  said, "I agree. We've been left in ignorance and fear and I just find  that to be very sad. So if there's one good thing about landing on  Discord's island is that we got to experience something special."

Soarin  continued to the seaponies and Spike and Capper, "I would like to  express my humblest apologies for ever thinking otherwise about other  species since it was my job as a navy officer to keep outsiders out but  as my fiancée has once pointed out to me, it's a terrible way to make  allies and she was right. And because of my time away, I gained so much  wisdom and friends I never thought I would have." he tells the  seaponies, "Words cannot express of how wonderful and helpful you are  being to us even when we don't deserve it, all I can do is hope is that  I'll be able to return the favor someday."

Everyone was touched by  Soarin's speech then Seaspray suggested, "Perhaps you could petition to  your leader of letting the Hippogriff Navy dock into the harbors of  Equestria so that we may rest and resupply when we need to."

Spike exclaimed, "Hey, that's not a bad idea!"

Mac voiced in agreement, "Eeyup!"

Flash and Soarin exchanged a sad look with Sentry saying, "Unfortunately you don't know our king…"

Soarin nodded, "He's very set in his ways."

Rumble inquired, "But we can try can't we?"

Soarin rubbed the seacolt's head, "I know the king personally, Rumble, so I'm afraid it won't do any good."

"Oh…" he uttered in dejection.

Seaspray commented, "Most disappointing, but we cannot change what others think."

Skystar  decided to lighten the mood by getting back to the topic at hand,  "Well, then, if we are ready to complete this mission then we should get  going now." she swam forward.

Seaspray objected, "Princess  Skystar, may I remind you that your mother has left you in charge of our  people and therefore you must stay put."

Skystar pouted, "Oh poo… you're right…" then suddenly her eyes lit up and sang-song loudly, "Oh, ideaaaa!" she twirled around then she motioned, "What if Aunt Ocean Flow took over?!"

Seaspray  countered, "Out of the question! You are the crown princess of our  kingdom and have a responsibility to fulfill! Think of how furious your  mother would be if she found you gone when she returns!"

But the princess ignored him, "Well then, we'll just have to hurry before she does get home."

Seaspray smacked his face.

Ocean  Flow inquired to her niece, "Are you sure you want to do this? Because  knowing my sister, she'll be upset to know you were gone."

"Oh, Auntie, how often does the chance of adventure come knocking at your door?!"

Silverstream agreed, "She's right!"

Skystar  stated, "This may be my one shot of exploring other places before I  have to take up the crown." she pleaded with big eyes, "So please…?  Please help me have this one moment of escapade?" she kept giving the  puppy dog eyes.

Ocean Flow gave in, "Alright, but you must stay close to your uncle and General Seaspray at all times, understand?"

Skystar cheered and floated up in enjoyment and flipped around.

Seaspray sighed in dismay, "I truly hope we won't come to regret this…"





The rowboat floated on the open water with no sign of land or the ship within the castaways' sights.

Rainbow  Dash flapped up and tried to get a more bird's eye view to see if she  can spot the ship but it was nothing but ocean for miles and miles. She  went back down to join the others and shook her head.

Pinkie panicked while slightly moving around in the boat, "We're all going to die out here!"

Scootaloo worried, "Are we?"

Dash rebutted, "Of course not!" wrapping a wing around her daughter, "I'm not going to let that happen to us!"

Twilight pointed, "But you have to admit, Captain, our situation does look beak at the moment."

She said through gritted teeth, "Yes, Twilight, I'm well aware…"

The unicorn gestured, "We don't have any food or water, our ship is nowhere to be seen, and we don't know where we're going."

Dash pondered for a bit before asking, "Just how close were we to South Amareica before the storm hit?"

Twilight replied, "If I remember correctly it was about 180 miles."

"So that would mean we got rid of least 10 miles by being in this boat."

Twilight inquired, "So you're saying we should keep going straight to South Amareica?"

"It's our best bet to finding land and that way we can meet up with the others for when they get there."

Pinkie motioned, "Sounds like a plan to me!"

Twilight  sighed, "As of this moment, it's the only one we got." she levitated an  oar to her and Pinkie grabbed for the other one, and both began to row.





Being  under the sea was one of the most majestic things Soarin had ever  encountered. Before he was always above the waves on a ship but being  under those waves was a whole new experience and to see the mysteries of  the ocean firsthand was just extraordinary. If he wasn't in such a  hurry to get back home he would have gladly taken time to explore his  new surroundings.

A school of fish passed by the group and Rumble and Terramar started to chase after them playfully.

Sky Beak called after them, "Stay close to the group, boys!"

"Okay Dad!"

Flash commented to his friends, "It's nice to see Rumble smile again."

Spike nodded, "Yeah, the poor kid has been through a lot this past week."

Skystar asked, "What happened?"

Flash replied sadly, "Well… his brother got into a coma by accident."

Silverstream and Skystar gasped, "Oh-no!" with the former saying, "That's awful!"

Seaspray mentioned, "How unfortunate indeed."

Spike said, "But he's doing better. Soarin took him on afterwards and taught him combat skills."

Sky Beak commented, "Interesting, I wish Terramar was interested in learning combat skills."

Seaspray nodded, "The young master should learn how to defend himself and others."

Capper  watched the boys and mentioned, "Something tells me that they'll rub  off of each other like in any other friendship. One will learn from the  other and vice visa."

Sky Beak stated, "One can hope that you are right."





The rest of the day went by to the point it was growing late and the moon and stars had came out.

In the rowboat, Pinkie whined, "My hooves are getting tired!"

Rainbow  Dash said, "We'll stop here for the night then." and started to get  comfortable while motioning Scootaloo get closer to her.

Her  crewmates let sighs of relief out and dropped their oars back inside the  vessel and got comfortable too even though it was hard to do. But  shortly afterwards they fell asleep.

Meanwhile below in the ocean the sea creature group was getting weary from swimming all day, making Rumble say, "I'm tired."

Terramar and Silverstream agreed with him.

General Seaspray motioned, "Perhaps we should stop for the night."

The others but Soarin agreed making Flash swim up to him, "Soar…"

Soarin  looked at the group and knew that they needed to rest and gave in with a  sigh, "Alright… but we leave first thing in the morning, okay?"

Everyone nodded.

They  found an empty spot among a kelp forest and tried to get relaxed. The  hippogriff-turned seaponies were obviously used to this kind of thing  and were able to sleep quickly while it took the other creatures to get  comfy. Rumble slept close to Soarin while Soarin looked up to the ocean  above him with the moonlight shining then slowly he fell asleep not  seeing the boat shape shadow overcastting them.

The rowboat  drifted peacefully on with Rainbow sleeping away and not seeing the dim  light glow surrounding the compass on her neck while at the same time  the compass around Soarin's neck was dimly glowing and he was slumbering  away to notice. Once the boat went past, the compasses stopped glowing  and no one would ever know that they did except maybe… the moon…