…
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Since the attack on her kingdom by the sea monster, Squirk, Queen Novo had concluded that there was only one way to fully protect her kingdom from a future assault. Sitting on her throne, she waited for her most trusted military official to walk in.
A few moments later, the door opened and in stepped her trusted general, Seaspray. "You summoned for me, your highness?" He asked, bowing to her.
"Yes, General," Novo replied, gesturing for him to rise. "I've come to a decision in regards to the safety and security of our two kingdoms."
"And what would that be, your highness?" He wondered, looking up at her.
"I wish…I wish…" Novo started to say, but found that she couldn't say it, much to the confusion of General Seaspray. "…Sorry, General, I just can't say it. Look, you've always been my most trusted confidant from even before the Storm King forced us underwater. So tell me, what would you do after a giant sea monster attack like the one we endured at the claws of Squirk?"
Sensing his superior's frustration, Seaspray felt as if he needed to try and do whatever he could to be there for Novo. "I would increase our defenses," He remarked, walking up to Novo's throne. "Though…not in the way you would have wanted. And it would be impossible for us to move all our resources to one kingdom to make it easier to protect."
"Seaspray," Novo sighed, rising from her throne and walking out to the window overlooking the very ocean where not long ago, Squirk had carried out his attack on Mount Aris. "I...I want this kingdom to be even more protected than ever before. You understand me, right?"
"Of course, but…you don't want to risk more lives, is that right?" Seaspray asked with concern and confusion.
Turning back around to Seaspray, Novo sighed again deeply. The decision she had to make was not going to be a very popular one. "Yes," She answered. "I want what is best for my daughter, my niece and nephew, all my subjects. But we have to make tough decisions sometimes," Taking another deep breath, Novo mustered up the courage inside of her to say what needed to be said. "General," she said firmly. "I'm hereby ordering that a wall be built around our kingdom."
Seaspray's eyes widened in shock upon his queen's order! "A wall?!" He remarked, his voice filled with slight protest. "But, your majesty, forgive the impertinence…"
"There is no other option, general," Novo firmly retorted, looking right at him. "We were forced into hiding by the Storm King, and I will not have us go into hiding again if I can help it. The decision I make is not an easy one, but I see no other way to afford us greater protection."
Immediately, Seaspray felt greatly taken aback by his queen's command. He wanted what was best for her and the hippogriffs, but in his min, he felt this was going too far. "Your highness," He pleaded, trying to make sense of Novo's decision. "I must imply…you really need to think about your decision. What will your daughter think…your niece and nephew…your subjects for that matter? Would they want Mount Aris and Seaquestria cut off from the rest of Equestria?"
For a moment, Novo contemplated what was said of her. But she was determined to stand by her decision "We will find a way to stay connected," She firmly declared, sitting back down on her throne. "You can be sure of that, General. Now go and recruit engineers to build that wall. Dismissed."
Bowing reluctantly to her, General Seaspray did as he was told and left the throne room.
But no sooner did he leave than did Novo let her guard down. "The last thing I want is to have any more damage done to my subjects," She thought to herself. "Especially my daughter. How many times must I ground her to make her see that what she decides to do is going to get her into trouble? Sometimes being a ruler isn't all it's cracked up to be." And Queen Novo further continued to absorb the downsides of being a queen.
…
…
News of Queen Novo's decision was soon spread throughout Equestria and Twilight read her latest intelligence at breakfast one morning, trying to make sense of such a decision.
"It's no surprise that Queen Novo would want to build a wall," Rarity remarked as the six princesses ate in the Canterlot dining hall. "I mean…you did try to steal the pearl from her, remember?"
"Uh huh," Twilight nodded, looking back to her corresponding notes. "That was because I was under a lot of pressure to save Equestria from the Storm King. And it was something I apologized for. This is different. Novo's reacting out of fear, just like she did when the Storm King first invaded."
"How different can building a wall be?" Fluttershy wondered. "It's no surprise Queen Novo wants to protect her kingdom from Squirk."
"What about the Maximals?" Rainbow Dash asked. "What would they think of this decision? I mean…they were there when we fought Squirk and those ponies turned robots."
Putting her intelligence down, Twilight began to think of what Rainbow Dash had just said. "Optimus Primal and the Maximals are responsible for the hard defense of our homeland," Twilight declared. "Perhaps there may be an alternative to building a wall that Novo would need to consider. I mean…how would you feel if a wall were to be built around Canterlot?"
"Um, Equestria to Twilight," Pinkie Pie pointed out, making a falling motion with her forelegs. "Canterlot is on a cliff. If we tried to build a wall, it would fall off the cliff! We couldn't build a wall to save ourselves even if we wanted to."
"I'm not saying we build a wall ourselves, not even if some think it would keep us safe. Walls never keep anything out forever," Twilight replied to Pinkie Pie. "It's just that Queen Novo needs to understand that there is a side to building a wall that could be more harmful than good."
"Couldn't they just go back under the sea?" Applejack suggested. "That's where they hid from the Storm King."
"Then they're easy prey for the Pirhanacons and that one psycho robot with the crab legs," Pinkie replied. "Whatever his name is."
"If memory serves me, his name was Rampage," Twilight pondered, looking at her fork and seeing that it had legs similar to the mad Predacon. "I believe that out of all the Predacons, he is the probably the greatest threat next to Megatron."
"Bear in mind also," Spike pointed out, catching Twilight's attention. "The Predacons are more than likely taking their orders from Grogar. And he probably uses them to keep the Maximals busy dealing with Megatron and the others, that way they're not here to help us with threats such as Arabus."
"Maybe," Twilight said to her royal advisor and little brother. "But something tells me that Megatron might be planning something of his own and Mount Aris is among his targets in addition to Canterlot. I reluctantly support the idea behind Novo's decision, but I feel like there's another way to approach this. A way that doesn't involve cutting others off."
"Why don't we go to Mount Aris and see for ourselves?" Spike suggested, clutching onto his Rarity doll. "If anything, you can use this to speak your mind about how you feel. You're the supreme princess now, Novo will have to at least hear you out."
…
Meanwhile, the subjects of Mount Aris were forced to endure the sounds of hammering and drilling as the building of the wall commenced.
Coming into the water, Novo assumed her seapony form as General Seaspray oversaw a group of seaponies constructing the wall at the base of the mountain and going around the access points to Seaquestria.
"Everything is starting off strong, your majesty," Seaspray replied, looking over at Novo wearing a hard hat. "Our goal is to reach three feet of length and depth by the end of the day."
"Excellent, General," Novo remarked as she inspected the progress of the wall's structure. Knocking on it with her forefin, she felt that the wall was strong as it was. "The wall is strong, but not strong enough. I order you to place harder marble. Nothing should be able to break through it!"
"Of course," Seaspray sighed, directing his attention to two seapony engineers. "You two!" Hearing the general's command, they quickly darted over to him. "Find some stronger marble for the wall, her majesty commands it."Heordered and the two seaponies bow and left. Turning back to Novo, Seaspray still felt that Queen Novo needed to give her decision some further thought.
"General, remember that this decision is for our own good," Novo reassured, sensing the worry in her general's eyes. "We cannot fall again like we did to the Storm King. We were lucky last time, we may not be lucky again."
Before Seaspray could say another word, Novo left to further inspect the wall.
Back in the hippogriff kingdom, Skystar was up in her room, seeing the seaponies hard at work on the wall. The young hippogriff princess was dumbstruck by her mother's decision more than Seaspray was. "I don't get it, Shelly and Sheldon," she said to her two seashell friends, sitting on her nightstand. "Mom means well, but I just think this is going too much. What do you think?"
Naturally, the two shells said nothing. "I get it," Skystar replied to them, picking them up into her claws. "You probably think Mom is doing this for the benefit of the kingdom. But why must we keep acting like the Storm King is still alive? We've faced danger before and come out okay, right?"
Looking back to her bedroom window, Skystar felt like she needed to say something to her mother, make her see sense as to what she was trying to do. "I mean, one small thing makes a difference, right? I thought we learned after the Storm King's defeat not to live in fear anymore."
Just then, the young hippogriff heard a knock on the door and walked over to answer it. "Hello?" she asked on the other side.
"Skystar, mind if I come in?" A voice called out and opening the door, Skystar was greeted by her cousin, Silverstream. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"
"No, I was just talking to Shelly and Sheldon about my mom's decision," Skystar answered as the two hippogriffs saw another slab of marble being pulled into the ocean. "That marble must weigh a lot."
"Hmm, more like weighing a ton," Silverstream remarked. "Trust me, you should see some of the things we have to try and carry in gym class. Professor Spitfire says it's part of our midterm exam."
"Yeah," Skystar muttered while looking away from her cousin briefly. "I mean…I want to stand up to my mom but she'll just ground me again. Lately, it seems like she loves to do it."
"My family is thinking the same way," Silverstream nervously nodded, twirling her claw around briefly. "I'm all for being proactive, but this…is a little ridiculous if you ask me."
Just then, the two hippogriffs heard the sounds of a scream and raced over to the window once more as an injured seapony was carried out of the water and back into the hippogriff kingdom.
"You think?" Skystar remarked, looking over at her cousin with a blank expression.
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Arriving at Mount Aris, the royal train bearing Twilight and her friends pulled into the station and they all stepped onto the platform, taking in the small crowds of hippogriffs greeting their arrival. Looking overhead, they saw two hippogriffs carrying another slab of marble for the wall into the ocean below.
"Is it just me or does that marble weigh a ton?" Rainbow asked. "I'm pretty sure not even Bulk Biceps could lift something like that."
"Yeah, surprised nogriff's become a pizza yet." Pinkie added.
"Let's go see if Novo is in her throne room," Twilight declared and all followed her into the kingdom just as Novo came back on land and assumed her hippogriff form. As she was about to make her way into her castle, she heard Twilight stop her. "Queen Novo?"
Turning around, Novo saw her equal make her way over to her space. "Ah, Princesses," She smiled. "What are you doing here unannounced?"
"We understand you're trying to build a wall to protect your kingdoms," Twilight replied, much to Novo's confusion as to how Twilight and the others found out. "Intelligence briefing."
Gesturing them to follow her, Novo brought Twilight and her friends back to the throne room still standing pat on her decision to build a wall. "You've come here to request that the wall not be built, yes?" She asked, much to their surprise. "Let me assure you that my decision is fair and firm. Do you agree with my decision?"
"Novo," Twilight said. "My friends and I…well, we think that maybe building a wall is a bit… well..."
"…Overkill, maybe?" Pinkie asked, causing Novo to stop and turn around to face Twilight and her friends. "What? It's true! You're basically shutting yourselves off from the world all over again!"
"Look, hons," Novo sighed, trying to sound polite yet firm to the six princesses of Equestria. "You saw just how strong Squirk is and now that he is working for Grogar…well, I can't take any chances with being endangered again. How would you feel if you had no other choice to protect your subjects?"
Immediately, Twilight could feel nothing but sympathy for Novo. Looking into her eyes, she could see that there was fear in the queen's eyes.
"We would feel terrible, of course," Fluttershy remarked. "I mean...sure you want everygriff to be safe, but maybe there's such a thing as being too protective?"
"No protection is too much, Princess Fluttershy!" Novo replied, looking over at Fluttershy with a blank expression on her face. "When we battled Squirk, twenty hippogriffs and ten seaponies were killed. Don't you remember that?!"
"Of course," Fluttershy whimpered, stepping back slightly. "We all remember it…"
"The fact of the matter is that the well-being of my subjects is of the utmost importance, honey," Novo declared, moving back and forth between Twilight and Fluttershy. "The next time Squirk and whatever those things are come back, they will not be able to break through and attack us. Not on my watch!"
"Look, Queen Novo," Rainbow Dash declared, hovering right in front of the queen. "In our experience defending Equestria, villains have always found a way to break through our weaknesses no matter how much we try to prepare or increase security. Take Chrysalis for example, when she kidnapped Cadence before her wedding…"
Twilight looked away in disbelief, remembering that moment at the Wedding Rehearsal when she was kicked out for trying to expose Chrysalis for who she was.
"Okay, bad example," Rainbow muttered. "But the point is that no matter what defense you put up, it will never be as strong as you want it to be. If your enemies really want to they'll find a way in. We beefed up security after King Sombra's return and it didn't do us any good when Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow all teamed up against us."
Just then, they heard another scream and another wounded hippogriff was pulled from the water. "You see, Novo?" Rainbow argued. "Your subjects are already getting hurt just from building the wall. You could have more hippogriffs hurt from this than from when Squirk or Grogar return."
Still, Novo stood her ground. In her mind, she was being criticized for her decision and she was quickly growing tired of it. "What do you want me to do?"! Novo asked in a tense voice while lowering her head. "Do you want this kingdom to become easy prey for Squirk or those barbarians?! I have to do something, ladies! You don't know what it's like to witness such torment at the claws of creatures like the Storm King!"
"We're only saying…" Twilight protested, but Novo was hearing none of it.
"Leave me at once!" Novo commanded in a loud voice, gesturing for the six princesses to leave. "I won't be judged for defending my kingdoms!"
Feeling slightly insulted, Twilight and her friends did as they were told. "Come on, girls," Twilight sighed, not wanting to further argue for the sake of her mental health. "If Novo doesn't want to hear what we have to say about her wall then let's reluctantly honor her wish."
Doing as they were told, the princesses left the throne room and once they were gone, Novo quickly began to realize her mistake, dropping her stubborn persona and sighing in embarrassment. But her decision had been made.
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…
Leaving the castle, Twilight and her friends were trying to come to terms to why Novo was being so stubborn about building a wall. As they walked, they couldn't help but notice the looks of disapproval and discouragement on the faces of the hippogriffs.
"Seems to me like we aren't the only ones who disagree with Novo," Pinkie pointed out. "I mean, building a wall? What good will it do? Equestria is supposed to be open to all creatures great and small, right?"
"Somehow building a wall doesn't fit with us," Rarity remarked. "These hippogriffs have suffered enough, haven't they? Is this really the only solution?"
Suddenly, they heard a strong male voice walking up behind them. "You're absolutely right," the voice said and they all turned to see Sky Beak standing behind them. "None of us like this. But none of us know of any way to convince Queen Novo not to go through with this project."
"Sky Beak!" Twilight smiled, walking over and hugging him. "Good to see you again."
"Good to see you again too, Princess Twilight, or I guess I should say Supreme Princess Twilight," He replied, immediately noticing the distressed looks on the faces of the princesses. "Oh, I take it that you and your fellow princess tried to talk to Novo?"
"Yeah, and we don't understand it, Sky Beak," Twilight sighed. "How can Queen Novo be so stuck on building a wall? What good will it do?"
"Nothing," Sky Beak sighed as yet another slab of marble was brought into the ocean. "Nothing at all," He then led Twilight and the others down to the beach where they fought Squirk and the Pirhanacons. "It won't make a difference what we do in building a wall," sighed Sky Beak. "I mean, if that beast comes back, he'll just knock it down. We can't possibly build something that can withstand his abilities and powers. I…I've come to accept the fact that we'll never be fully protected against Grogar and his enemies. But sometimes…Queen Novo can be so in denial about it."
"You darn tootin' that she's in denial," Applejack replied, firmly kicking up some sand. "Buildin' a wall does no good and it's only makin' things worse for everycreature."
"The fact is that we need to be flexible in our decisions because that's how Grogar operates," Twilight said. "If we're not flexible we don't stand a chance against our enemies."
"Then what do you propose we do?" Sky Beam asked. "I've been trying to come up with ideas myself for some time. Anything that won't involve the wall but can still offer us some protection to satisfy Queen Novo."
…
Back in her throne room, Novo was beginning to grow more and more embarrassed with how she treated Twilight and her friends. Just then, the door opened to reveal Skystar and Silverstream.
"Mom, we…we need to…" Skystar stammered, thinking her mother was going to flip out.
"I know what you're going to say, Skystar," Novo sighed, much to the surprise of the two young hippogriffs. "'Building a wall does no good.'"
"Aunt Novo, I think Cousin Skystar has a point," Silverstream suggested. "Building a wall just causes more harm than good. This goes against everything I've learned at the School of Friendship."
"I bet that Celestia or Luna taught you that," Novo sighed again. "Maybe that's why you were selected to be the first student from our kingdom, Silverstream. But I guess Princess Twilight's got a point, much as I hate to admit it."
Both Skystar and Silverstream were relieved to hear this.
But Novo wasn't done yet. "But how else are we going to better protect ourselves?" She wondered, rising to her seat. "Just today five hippogriffs were hurt in building the wall and…" Sighing again, she sulked back down onto her throne. "Our defenses aren't strong, hons," Novo whispered. "No matter how hard we try, they just don't work. Something's better than nothing."
Just then, there was a knock at the throne room door and General Seaspray came in.
"What is it?" Novo asked in a dejected voice.
"Your highness," Seaspray declared. "Princess Twilight and her friends have recommended someone that can help us better defend our kingdoms."
Becoming curious, Novo wondered what her general was talking about. "Who?" she asked and a few moments later, a metallic manta ray flew into the throne room as Twilight and her friends followed suit.
"Depth Charge, maximize!" Before her eyes, Novo watched as Depth Charge transformed from beast to robot, standing in front of her. Once he'd fully transformed, Depth Charge slowly walked up to Novo as both Skystar and Silverstream stepped out of the maximal's way.
"Queen Novo," Twilight remarked. "Do you remember Depth Charge? He helped defend your kingdom along with us and the rest of the Maximals."
Novo gulped nervously at the presence of the metallic maximal. "Somewhat," She whispered. "But what does he have to do with the defense of this kingdom?"
Depth Charge's red eyes studied Novo's anxiety for a brief moment, before looking right at her. "More than you could ever know, sweetheart," He declared. "Your troops need a specialist for deep sea patrols as well as underwater combat…and that someone is me."
Taking another step forward, Depth Charge turned his attention towards the window and looked down to see the wall, now beginning to rise out of the water as a result of the day's work. "For starters," He said in a quiet voice, turning back around to Novo. "Your so called 'wall' provides no security effect whatsoever. Squirk and his minions will just knock it down with ease. What you need is better trained warriors to face the enemy head on."
He then proceeded to take out his gun and for a brief moment, aimed it at Novo before turning around and firing a blast right out the window. "Like that," Depth Charge added. "The stronger the firepower, the greater the chance you will have at defending your kingdom. As of this moment, hippogriff, the preparation to improve your defenses starts now. And with greater underwater surveillance and patrols, you won't be caught off guard as easily. If you are prepared for battle, the tide of victory turns to you."
Having seen enough, the six princesses left the throne room along with Skystar and Silverstream.
"Do you think he will improve our defenses?" Skystar asked as all walked out of the castle. "I mean, I get that we need help, but…"
"Depth Charge is the best at what he does," Twilight declared to Skystar. "Don't worry, you'll see a difference in your kingdom's forces the next time Grogar, Megatron or Squirk attack Mount Aris or Seaquestria, I guarantee it."
Then after hugging both Skystar and Silverstream, Twilight and her friends boarded their royal train for the journey back to Canterlot.
…
"I hope Depth Charge knows what he's doing, Twilight," Spike wondered. "I mean, Optimus did say that he can be a hard robot to deal with."
"He's the only chance that they've got Spike," Twilight firmly replied. "I am aware of the fact that Depth Charge can be a bit of a rogue Maximal, but each must play his or her part in this war, Spike. You know that."
"Perhaps we should have asked Skystar to keep an eye on him," Spike suggested. "I mean…"
"No, Novo will probably ground her again if Skystar further gets involved," Twilight interrupted as she looked out the window of her train car. "Whatever Queen Novo decides to do from here on in is her own decision to make. I just hope Depth Charge doesn't try to overstep his boundaries, he and Novo will need to work together if they're going to succeed." And in time, Twilight and her friends would soon find out if having Depth Charge help out the hippogriffs was the right decision.
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