The sun rises, despite being behind the clouds from last night. Inside the RV, Fluttershy woke up from her sleeping bag, got up and realized all of her friends were gone, on her birthday no less.
“Pinkie Pie? Applejack? Rainbow Dash?” She looked around. Not only is she all alone, but never thought her birthday would start off so disappointing. “Where are my friends?”
After she put on her clothes, she got out of Rarity’s RV and saw that it’s soaking wet, but when she saw the clouds, she couldn’t believe it.
“And why are the clouds blue?” She headed back inside the RV to get an umbrella in case she needed it. When she came out again, she wondered if her friends were inside the aquarium. She made her way inside and noticed her fashionista friend walking by herself through the main hallway, still shocked from what she just saw just hours earlier.
“Rarity?” Fluttershy closing the door behind her.
“Fluttershy darling!” Rarity walking up to the birthday girl. “Sorry we didn’t wake you up, but this is an emergency!”
“An emergency?” Fluttershy reacted. Rarity took Fluttershy into the dolphin room where their friends, employees and even the COO are at. When they looked at Fluttershy, they regretted not remembering her birthday, but after what they saw hours ago, they had no choice.”What’s going on?”
“Take a look of what’s inside the pool.” Silverstream pointing. Once Fluttershy saw who was inside, it was Sunset and Twilight but with purple and orange fish tails.
“Hey.” Sunset feeling uncomfortable.
“Happy Birthday.” Twilight replied.
When Fluttershy saw both of her friend's tails, she thought she was dreaming. “You’re mermaids!?”
“Unfortunately, on your birthday...yes.”
“How did this happen?”
Applejack stepped in on filling in the birthday girl on the situation. “About two hours ago, I saw several employees helping out Twilight and Sunset who were laying on the streets.”
“We don’t understand how they turn into mermaids.” Marline replied.
“We do know what happened to us, but I doubt we'll ever change back.” Sunset looking at her tail.
“After we got out of the restroom, the rain didn’t look the same and the clouds were blue instead of grey.” Twilight added.
“Wait! You mean the same clouds I saw a few minutes ago?” Fluttershy reacted.
“I guess that could be right.” Skystar said, while looking out the window.
“Guess your friends went through a mother of all disasters.” Novo looking at Twilight and Sunset. “We’ve never had this kind of weather since we opened the aquarium.”
“And worst of all, we have a show happening tonight.” SIlverstream looking at the dolphin poster on the wall.
With the situation having reached its highest point, the girls can’t think of a way to reverse Sunset and Twilight's transformation. As for the birthday girl, her plans have been dropped, too depressed to even think about seeing the sea creatures in the aquarium. She turned around and left the room, which took the others by surprise.
“Fluttershy?” Spike called.
Fluttershy is sitting by herself by the front door of the aquarium. She didn’t even bother looking at the fish in their tanks. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack entered the hallway as they saw the birthday girl all alone, with nothing to celebrate.
“Fluttershy?” Applejack walking up to her. “We’re really sorry this had to happen.”
Fluttershy lifted her head up, making eye contact with her friends. “It’s alright, none of you deserve the blame.” She responded. “I’m just too sad to do anything on my birthday now.”
The four Rainbooms look at each other, unable to think of a solution to fix this. “But you can’t just sit here all day doing nothing!” Pinkie said. “I already got your birthday cake ready!”
“Not to mention we still have your gifts.” Rainbow added, but this didn’t make Fluttershy feel any better.
“Darlings, all she ever wanted is to have a normal birthday without any Equestrian Magic getting in the way.” Rarity replied. Fluttershy then looked at the fashionista upon hearing her. “We already know it was Equestrian Magic, we just didn’t want the COO thinking we’re crazy.”
“Not to mention it’s becoming fairly obvious whenever something magical happens, we always get ourselves into it, no matter what.” Rainbow looking out the front door. “Looks like it’s starting to pour again.”
“With more Equestrian rain.” Pinkie added.
Fluttershy also looked outside and saw the drops of water landing on the ground. To think it transformed Sunset and Twilight into mermaids, she’s worried if the rain will never go away. Without saying another word, she stood up from her seat.
“I think I need some time alone.” She spoke, which caught her friends off guard.
“But...you don’t want to be alone.” Pinkie said, while making puppy dog eyes.
“Yeah, when you’re with us.” Rarity added.
“But what are we supposed to do now? If it’s true that the divers can’t perform the dolphin show, I feel nothing but emptiness in my heart.” Fluttershy placing her hands on her chest.
“They’re just trying to help.” Rainbow replied. “I know it’s not fair but still.”
“Come on sugarcube, don’t do this to yourself.” Applejack added. “It’s not going to make anything better.”
Fluttershy didn’t bother to look at her friends even when they’re trying to lighten up the mood. “Sorry...but that’s what makes me calm whenever I’m sad or depressed.” She heads to another aquarium hallway by herself, leaving her four friends behind.
“I’ve never seen her taking this so well, yet her depression is still like from before, when she cries.” Rarity looking at the sad birthday girl.
“I guess she did grow up, but not as much as we thought.” Applejack finished.
Back in the dolphin room, Sunset just finished writing her message to The Princess Of Friendship on what happened to her and her friend. The bookworm kept looking at her tail for the past half hour, with Silverstream by the edge of the pool.
“If you’re really going to spend your life as a mermaid, what are you going to do now?” The diver asked.
“Swimming? Like the other sea creatures?” Twilight guessed with obvious sarcasm. “I came here to study them, not to become one of them!”
“It was just a question.” Silverstream answered, backing away from the bookworm.
“Calm down Twilight.” Sunset said, turning around. “I’ve already written a message in my journal, so just be patient.”
“I would if we actually had feet so we can watch the dolphin show.” Twilight said.
“Well what are we supposed to do now?” Skystar said, holding onto Spike. “We’re just trying to help. We never thought people would ever turn into a creature that only exists in fairy tales.”
“But why do you bother to cancel the dolphin show for us? It’s only Fluttershy from our band you’re friends with.”
“Yeah. Who’s also the birthday girl who deserves better today.” Silverstream said, being nice.
“Even if we did do the dolphin show, it won’t be the same without you with her. You paid for all of your friends including yourself to see all the fish and creatures in the aquarium. That’s the best birthday gift you’ve ever given to her.” Skystar added.
Sunset always knew she made a better gift than anyone else, but never thought it was this important to other people. “You...really want Fluttershy’s birthday to be memorable?”
“Even though you just met her yesterday?” Twilight added.
“She showed us how she talked to animals.” Marline said, while feeding the dolphins. “I thought she was joking, but she wasn’t. If you ever met something who had powers like that, you would feel the same way.”
As Sunset would take that as a compliment, she would understand how that feels if she didn’t save Camp Everfree. Then her journal began to vibrate, which caught her attention. She opened it and read the message her princess friend wrote.
“So what did she reply?” Spike wondered as Sunset read the message.
“Dear Sunset Shimmer,
From what I read about your situation, a piece of the seaponies pearl must have appeared in your world. It’s the pearl Queen Novo used to turn anypony into seaponies.
“Wait, my mother, the COO is a queen?” Skystar blinked.
“Yeah, I’ve seen almost everything once I become a pony.” Twilight replied. “Despite not going to all the lands of Equestria.”
After getting interrupted, Sunset read the rest of the message from her journal.
And the part you said about Equestrian Magic changing the weather last night, I got a feeling it could get worse unless you find the pearl. Once you find it, you can use it to not only stop the weather, but also turn you and your friend back to normal. And when you get back to Canterlot High, head to Equestria and give it to me so I can take it back to Queen Novo. Make sure no other people turn into mermaids.
Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle”
After reading the whole message, Sunset put her journal away with a chance to turn this day right side up for Fluttershy’s birthday. “Okay, all we need to do is find a small piece of a magical pearl so we can change back into our normal selves.”
“Well, that doesn’t seem that hard.” Silverstream commented. “We should split up.”
“Okay, I’ll check the outdoors, while you two check the indoors.” Marline suggested. “Don’t worry, I’ll bring an umbrella to keep myself safe.”
“Works for me!” Skystar cheered as she placed Spike down. The three girls left the room leaving Twilight and Sunset alone in the pool.
“It’s only a matter of time to give Fluttershy hope for her birthday.” Twilight smiled.
“As long as they find the pearl in time, she’ll be ready to watch the dolphin show with us.” Sunset smirked.
Outside of the aquarium, Marline headed to one of the pools where most of the sea creatures are at. She knows if it’s true that a pearl appeared at the Aris Aquarium, it must have landed in one of the pools at least.
“First Fluttershy has the powers to talk to animals, then the weather turned her friends into mermaids, and now a piece of pearl appeared out of nowhere belonging to a queen who happens to be Novo except she isn’t COO.” She said to herself. “This day can not get any stranger.”
After looking at nearly all the pools, all that’s left is the dolphin pool. She took out her keys and opened the gate, allowing herself to enter, closing the gate behind her. When she saw the pool itself, there was nothing out of the ordinary, until she saw a small pink object in the corner of the pool.
“That must be the pearl!” She went to the other side to take out a long bait net to get the object out of the water. As she gets to the corner of the pool, she puts the net in the water and captures the object from the bottom. She pulls it out and places the end of the net on the ground. “It looks like it’s sparkling.”
She took out the object from the net and it’s revealed to be the piece of the pearl as well as a necklace. “I can’t wait to show this to Sunset and Twilight now.” As she puts away her bait net, she heads back to the aquarium, locking the gate behind her. Then it began to rain with the blue clouds pouring out the same drops of water from last night. Lucky for Marline, she brought along her umbrella, but the wind continued to get stronger.
“Geeze, the weather is getting worse!” She notices she’s losing her grip of the necklace from her hand. With the wind blowing harder, she decided to put it around her neck to keep it with her.
She managed to head inside of the aquarium with the pearl around her neck. She took several deep breaths to regain her energy while placing her umbrella by the exit door. “Well, that didn’t take long as I thought. Time to give this to Sunset.” She smiled as she headed to the dolphin room.
When she came across an aquarium hallway, she then heard voices in her head. Due to the powers of the pearl itself around her neck, she looked at the sea creatures. “Am I...hearing things?” She got closer to a damselfish and then she heard her thoughts at the moment. “You...don’t like staying here?”
She then went to the other side and heard a pufferfish thinking about the last time he was in the ocean before being placed in the tank. When Marline looked at the pearl, she couldn’t believe it. Just like Fluttershy, she has the ability to talk to animals under the sea. Something she always wanted in a long time. She then looked to her left and right, to make sure no one was around.
“Maybe it won’t hurt to spend an hour using this.” She smiled as she left the aquarium hallway to talk to other sea creatures in the Aris Aquarium.