Flash had been to some pretty creepy places in his life, as this wasn't the first empty village or city he had seen, but something about this place outdid them all. Unlike the town near Omniara and the Lost City of Faust, this place had no spark of life to it. Nothing to indicate that it had housed a living thing within it for a long time. If the hippogriffs had been here, it wouldn't have been for a very, very long time.
"Are we sure this is the right place?" Rarity asked with a slight shiver.
"Hello?!" Applejack asked as Heart ignited his hoof to give them better lighting, "Is anypony home?!"
As she said that, Pinkie began warping around the place in a way that only Pinkie Pie could. "No Hippogriffies here!" She called out before warping, "Or here! Or here! Or here or here or here!" She then appeared in front of Twilight, "Waaaaaiiit!" She lifted a stone in front of the alicorn and peered under it. "Nope!" She dropped it, "This place is emp-ty!"
"No kidding," Springer placed his paw on the wall. "There isn't even an imprint."
"But..." Twilight gulped, "Celestia...the map. They have to be here."
Flash frowned, placing a wing on her shoulder. "Look," he pointed at a nearby statue showing a hippogriff in all its bird pony glory. "They were here. But Celestia isn't all knowing. She couldn't have known they left."
"But why did they leave?" Heart asked as Spike stepped up to the statue.
"Something bad happened here," the mystic flame dragon stated, "Something that turned this whole place into a ghost town."
"A g-g-g-g-ghost town?!" Fluttershy quivered. As she said that, a new sound filled the air. An ominous noise that sounded like some kind of ghostly moan, the sound making Fluttershy gasp and shrink down, Flash rushing over to grab her before she could run off and hide.
"What is that?" Soul asked, looking just as scared as Fluttershy.
Twilight's ears twitched as she found the source of the wail. "It's coming from over there!" She ran to a cluster of rocks that was once a collapsed building, the moaning echoing out of a gap in them.
"I can sense something now," Springer commented, "Why couldn't I before?"
"You're running on several hours without sleep and a lot of physical labor," Flash reminded him. "Your senses are probably too exhausted to work right." They reached the rocks and Twilight lit her horn, preparing to go through before Flash held out a wing. "Let me. Just in case." Twilight nodded as Flash began to climb through the gap, using his sword to light the place up. "I don't see anything..."
Twilight followed, then Applejack, Heart and the others. They found the gap in the rocks led to a corridor, the moans increasing in volume until they slowly realized it was actually music, somepony singing that was being distorted by the echoes. They arrived at the end and found it led to a giant round bathhouse of sorts, with a pair of large pony heads sticking out of the walls. Water flowed from the heads, giving them the appearance of having watery manes that flowed into the pool. Though some of the water also trickled out so it looked like it was coming out of the statue's nose.
"Ew," Flash stuck his tongue out at that sight. The pool was a good twenty feet deep and in the center of it, a large flower could be seen, which the singing could be heard from as a light glowed from the center of it.
But the singing stopped when Pinkie stepped onto a piece of a staircase leading down to the pool, the old stone breaking away and causing a noise that made the musician gasp. "What was that?!" The singer then dove out of the flower and into the water.
"Hey!" Pinkie yelled, "Wait up! Cannonball!" She leapt up and curled into a ball before splashing down into the water.
"Pinkie!" Flash and Twilight cried as they galloped and jumped into the water, everypony following suit except for one.
"Did you see that?" Heart asked from the side, his sister turning to him.
"Get in here!"
"No way! What if I need to kick some butt and I can't because I'm water logged!" Soul rolled her eyes and grabbed him in her magic, lifting him over the pool. "HEY!" He yelped before she let him go, the colt falling into the liquid. After a few seconds, he surfaced and spat out some water. "Not cool."
"You needed a bath anyways," she grumbled as Pinkie appeared out of the water as well.
"She's gone!" She gasped, only for the sound of a machine's gears turning to ring out.
"Now what?" Twilight asked before Pinkie was suddenly pulled back.
"Huh?" She asked before they realized she had been caught up in a whirlpool, caused when the flower in the pool lifted up to reveal it was actually a plug keeping the water in. Now gone, it began sucking them all in.
"SWIM!" Flash screamed, the group trying as the vortex quickly snagged them under.
"Oh no..." Rarity whined as they were pulled under. "I hate epic adventures." With that, everypony was yanked down into the spiral of water.
A few seconds later, Flash found himself no longer spinning and instead in an exit-less room completely full of water. He looked around and saw that they were all holding their breath, but wouldn't be able to hold it for long. He grabbed his sword before it floated out of reach and illuminated the chamber, trying to find some kind of air pocket...only to find nothing.
The ponies began to drift off, unable to hold their breath any longer. The defender began to panic, feeling his eyes already drifting shut and could feel nothing but shame that he had allowed them to get into this situation. And with this, he opened his mouth to let the air he was holding out before breathing in the water around him. But there wasn't any. All he was breathing was pure clean oxygen, causing his body to reactivate and allow him to slowly open his eyes.
As he did, he heard several loud popping sounds, followed by his friend's breaths. "Girls?" He asked, his vision finally clearing and allowing him to look around as he relit his sword. The spotted Twilight first, the princess appearing to realize she was breathing underwater. But it was what was around her that shocked Flash as a large air bubble encased her entire head.
"Way to leave it to the last minute, Twilight!" Pinkie yelled as she too had an air bubble. In fact, they all had them now.
"I didn't make these bubbles!" Twilight yelped. told them,
"Then..." Fluttershy let out a pant, "Who did?"
As she said that, the sound of the water around them sloshing around caught their attention. Flash raised his sword and Springer summoned some Steel Paws, Heart attempting to catch his body on fire...but with no success. "What was that?" Soul asked while hugging Twilight.
Flash stared around for a second, only to facehoof, "Idiot!" He called himself, catching the other's attention. "Hey hippogriff! I know that's you! Come on out!"
"Flash!" Twilight gasped, "What are you doing?!"
"Think about it. Remember what Wingill could do?" The others blinked at him, now remembering what they had been shown back then, only for a voice to speak up.
"Did you say Wingill?!" They turned to the voice, seeing a soft glow in the back of the cavern. "What do you know of him?"
"You know Wingill?" Flash asked.
"He's my friend. But...I haven't seen him in a long time."
"Well I've...run into him before. It's a long story. So, are you really a hippogriff?" The voice didn't respond, "We need to talk to the queen."
"How do I know I can trust you?" The light asked, moving a little closer.
"Please," Twilight begged, "The Storm King invaded our land. And we need her help."
"The Storm King?!" The light yelped before it started moving toward them, eventually revealing exactly what Flash had been expecting. A yellow seapony that looked just like how Wingill appeared, though for some reason she had a blue fin-like mane with a spot that flowed forward and had a yellow light on the end of it. On her back were a pair of red fins that Flash guessed could become wings. "I'm so glad I saved you all!" She exclaimed before flying up to Twilight, "I'm totally taking you to my mom! And along the way, you can tell me about Wingill!"
She grabbed Flash and Twilight's hooves before pulling them through the dark cavern, Flash using his sword to light the way along with the seapony's light. They swam deeper and deeper into the ocean, Twilight asking how much further it was due to fearing they might be crushed by the pressure.
"We're almost there!" The seapony announced as they reached the end of a long cave of rocks, soon arriving at an opening into a larger cavern. The place was so large that every building in Canterlot could have been fitted comfortable inside it three times over. It was a massive dome-like structure with plants growing out of the sides and floor while hanging from the ceiling were a series of house sized glass objects that gave off vivid lights that filled the entire chamber. And in the very center of it all was what looked like a giant castle that was hanging from the ceiling, which looked fancier and more carefully constructed than any other building.
"Wow!" Was the only thing they could all think to say. The seapony swam up to the underwater city and as they did, Flash sensed movement and looked down to see more seaponies. They were hiding in the rocks and plants, the older ones pulling the younglings away.
"Not to friendly, are they?"
"I'm sorry," the seapony replied, "We don't often get outsiders coming here."
"How many outsiders have appeared here?" Springer asked.
"Including you?" When they nodded, she started countering. "Eleven." They all nodded at this, only to go wide-eyed as they realized they were the eleven.
"Oh. No wonder they look so worried," Flash sighed as they arrived at the entrance to the castle. The place had a moon pool, allowing them to swim up into it, only to find that the inside of the castle was just as flooded as the outside. The seapony started spinning around, showing off the place as they looked around and found it was a throne-room that was made entirely out of coral and other underwater constructs.
Flash stared at the coral throne, and when he did, he was greeted to the sight of a creamy pink seapony with a purple and pink mane fin that had three blue antenna that Flash assumed glowed. She had a pair of purple wing fins, and the end of her tail was tipped by a purple fin. She was laid out on the throne, looking almost asleep.
"Mother," the yellow seapony swam up to her, "Look what I found!"
"Is it another shell?" The mare asked, rubbing her eyes as the younger one shook her head. "Because I am telling you if it is another shell, I am-" She stopped and gasped when she saw the group, only to glare at her daughter, "Princess Skystar, what have you done?!" She turned to glare at the ponies, "You know surface dwellers are forbidden here! Guards!" As soon as she said that, four seaponies in armor swam out and pointed spears at them.
Heart clenched up at this, but Flash raised his wing...fin in front of him. "Don't." He whispered.
"No no n-no!" Skystar cried as she swam in front of her, "M-M-Mom, please! It is so not like that! The Storm King is trying to destroy their home, too!" She then pointed at Flash, "And this one says he knows Wingill!"
The mare's eyes went wide at this. "Is this true?!" She asked, getting a nod from the defender.
"Princess Celestia told us to find the hippogriffs," Twilight responded, "And...you are the hippogriffs, aren't you?"
"We were," she told her, "A long, long time ago." She turned to another guard who swam in, "Go get Soft Current. She'll want to hear about this." The guard nodded and swam off while the queen turned back to them. "So, the Storm King has invaded your home as well."
"Yes," Twilight nodded, "A unicorn named Tempest is working with him along with two others. They're after the magic of the alicorns, which is why they're hunting us."
"Well," the queen swam back to her throne. "I hope you understand why I can't just allow you to stay here. If you were followed, you could lead them right to us."
"So you've been hiding from the Storm King?" Heart asked, Skystar nodding.
"Oh, oh, it's such a good story!" She began to swim up to the top of the room while her mother glared at her.
"Don't you dare tell them!" But Skystar didn't listen and waved her fin over the wall, causing parts of it to light up and form a picture.
"Once upon a time, like, a while ago, the hippogriffs lived on Mount Aris." The image showed the mountain they had just climbed, along with the image of a hippogriff next to it.
"Oooh!" They all whispered in amazement, while her mother face-hoofed...face...finned.
"Did I not say don't tell them? But hey, I'm just the queen." She crossed her fins and sat back, "Don't mind me."
"Fine!" Skystar swam back to them, "I can't tell you!" She then smirked and sneakily spoke. "But if I could tell you, I'd say that that horned beast did show up to steal their magic!" She flew over to the wall as another part of it lit up to make an image of the monster they had seen images of before: The Storm King.
"Seriously?" The queen sighed.
She swam to another area of the wall, which lit up and to show the image of a hippogriff that looked strangely like the one sitting in the throne. "But to keep it out of his clutches, their brave and majestic leader, Queen Novo, hid them deep underwater where he could never go!" Another image appeared, showing the city they were currently in. "You've already figured out the rest. That we are...well were, the hippogriffs."
"Well," the queen grumbled, "I guess the pearl is out the oyster now." She gestured to herself, "I am Queen Novo."
"Hold on now," Applejack spoke up as she tried to swim over to the queen. "Lemme get this straight." The guard got between her and the queen. "When the Storm King came, yah just abandoned yer entire city and fled?"
"We didn't flee!" Skystar barked back, "We swam! Y'know, in order to flee."
"But...how?" Twilight asked with curiosity, "I mean, is it just an inbuilt trait of hippogriffs? Turning into seaponies and controlling water?"
"Controlling water?" Novo asked, "what'chu talking bout honey?!"
"Wingill," Flash replied, "He could control water, using it to make blades and other weapons to attack with."
"Wingill?" They all turned a new voice, now seeing a light blue seapony mare with a yellow and pink mane-fin. She appeared about the same age as Novo, the mare swimming up through the moon pool. "You know my son?"
"You're Wingill's mom?!" Springer yelped, the mare nodding and swimming up to grab Flash's shoulder.
"Please tell me he's alright! Where is he now?! Did he come with you?! Maybe up in the city?!"
"No," Flash shook his head, "Sorry, I...haven't seen him in a while. We weren't exactly...friends when I knew him." The mare frowned at this, Novo raising an eyebrow while Skystar tilted her head. The sight made Flash sigh, gesturing to his sword, "I'm...a Royal Knight. I was sent on a mission of sorts and met your son on it. He uh...kind of fell in with a bad crowd. When we met him, he was working for an evil unicorn named Shadow Corrupter who intended on conquering our homeland. Wingill was one of his most trusted...I wanna say generals. Either way, we met during a war for a powerful source of magic and...we won."
"Wingill..." Soft Current whimpered, tears appearing her eyes, "How could he..."
"It's possible he saw this unicorn as the lesser of two evils," Nova growled, "He might have made a deal that could have protected us from the Storm King." She hummed at this, "What became of him the last time you saw him?!"
Flash shared a glance with Twilight, the alicorn nodding back, "Alright. Let's just say...its a bit of crazy story. His side lost the war and his leader was killed. After that, a powerful being chose to wipe his memory and teleport him away. We have no idea where he was sent, but the being assured me it was somewhere safe. Hopefully, without his bad memories, he won't try anything stupid."
"So he doesn't remember me?" Current asked, tears starting to fall, only for Novo to speak up.
"I believe this is for the best. This way, he can hopefully live a happy life without needing to worry about us or the Storm King. Honestly, we're lucky you were the one that found him and not the Storm King. If he got his hands on the pearl shard...."
"Pearl shard?" Twilight asked.
"Oh!" Skystar spoke up, turning to her mother. "Can we show them? Huh? These are the first guests we've had in, like, foreveeerrr! Can we, can we, can we, can we, can we, can we, can we, can we, can we?"
"Well," Novo thought before swimming up to a jellyfish chandelier that hung above the throne. "I suppose I should make sure it still works." The two royals began swimming around the chandelier, causing it to glow before it unleashed a bunch of tendrils from within. The tendrils were wrapped around something, slowly unfurling to reveal a pink orb-like object with light coming off of it.
Flash's keen eyes were able to notice a small shard of it was broken off, his mind flashing back to Wingill as he remembered that he was always wearing a necklace with a similarly colored shard. "What is that thing?"
"Careful, now," Novo told her daughter as she reached for the orb. Skystar let out a squeal as her mother held the orb and started waving her fin above it, causing the object's glow to intensify before leaving it. The light shot toward them, wrapping around the group, popping their air bubbles as it did so. But instead of drowning, Flash and the others found themselves able to breathe underwater. And that wasn't the only change.
One by one, they all began to transform. The ponies found their back legs merging with their tails, transforming into a more dolphin-like form that was their body's color but was tipped with the color of their pony tails. Those who had wings found they turned transparent and morphed into more fin-like objects, while they all grew another fin on their back where their flanks would be that had their cutie marks on each side.
Spike and Springer didn't get that transformation. Instead, Spike's head, arms and legs merged with his body. His tail also shrank so that only the tip was sticking out the back end while his cheek spikes morphed into a pair of fins for him.
Springer's body straightened out against his will, his legs and tail merging into a long black shark tail with blue at the tips. His arms shrank and turned into blue fins with black on the tips while his head merged with his body to give him the appearance of a blue, black and yellow shark.
Flash's body didn't change right away, his Sacred Light flaring up to try and stop it. But then it stopped as Flash wanted to experience what the others were experiencing. When the light faded, the transformation took hold and Flash found himself turned into a seapony as well.
They all stared at their new forms in amazement, Rarity squealing, "Oh my! These fins are divine!"
Heart and Soul started swimming around one another, laughing as Rainbow swam over to Applejack. "Hey, Applejack, I'll race ya to that coral!"
"You're on!" The newly born seapony exclaimed as she grabbed her hat and swam after Rainbow while Pinkie started doing tricks and circles in the water.
"Woo-hoo!" She giggled, turning to Fluttershy, who was simply floating in the water while holding her new tail. "Ooh! Try it, Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy let out a slight giggle as she calmly waved her tail, "Yay."
"Girls?!" They turned to Spike as he began to float upward, "What is-" His entire body expanded as small spins stuck out the sides, making them realize he had become a puffer fish. "Happening?!"
"Aw..." Fluttershy smiled as Spike floated up, "So cute!"
Springer, now a shark, swam up to him and laughed. "How come you get to be something cool?" Spike asked as Springer used his tail to bat him down. "Hey!"
Flash and Twilight stared at one another, then at themselves. "So cool!" The Knight of Friendship exclaimed, "I always wondered what it was like for Wingill going from a sky based creature to a sea based one."
"This is amazing!" Twilight gasped before swimming over to Novo and stared at the pearl in her fins. "With this, we could transform everypony at home into something powerful enough to face the Storm King's army-"
"Or it could end up in his greedy claws!" Novo roared, pulling the pearl away.
"But..." Twilight's brain completely froze, unable to believe that she was refusing to help them as Novo's expression softened for a moment.
"Honey, I'm sorry about your home. I truly am." She then glared at her, "But my responsibility is to protect my subjects." She held the pearl up and the tendrils grew it, pulling the relic up into the chandelier again. "The pearl...is not going anywhere."
"But...we've come all this way."
"Can't you at least use it to turn us into something that can fight the Storm King' forces?" Flash asked, "Like a bunch of massive dragons that's maybe immune to being turned to stone statues." Novo raised an eyebrow at this, "Or at least turn Twilight and Soul into something other than an alicorn. The Storm King's after their magic but if they become...a pair of bison, then they wouldn't have any magic to steal."
"Even if I wanted too, I can't." Novo replied, "When Wingill stole a fragment of it, I placed a lock on the pearl's magic so that it can only transform a being between their natural state and a sea-based equivalent. And I have no intention of undoing that lock so you can go chasing a fantasy. You wanna stop the Storm King, then stay down here where you're safe. He'll never get his claws on your magic, meaning that his power won't rise."
"He doesn't need alicorn magic to increase his power," Flash responded, "He's doing that already! Conquering land after land because nopony's willing to risk fighting him! Evil wins when good does nothing."
"And you can't just hide down here!" Twilight added, "Trapped forever down in this place?! There's so much you're missing!"
"We are one hundred percent okay with that!" Novo barked as a small octopus creature swam up to her and gargled something. "Yes, Jamal?" It gargled again, "Ooh! Time for my seaweed wrap." The octopus gargled a third time. "Yes, a massage, too. Mama needs her deep tissue." With that, she swam out of the room with the octopus. The guards and Soft Current also left, leaving their guests alone in the throne room.
The group frowned at this, Applejack asking, "So that's it? We left home for nothin'?"
"Well...I guess I can understand where she's coming from," Flash responded, the others turning to him with wide eyes, "A bunch of strangers she doesn't know are asking her to fight against an enemy that has no trouble doing horrible things to win. The Storm King has an army, and without the Royal Knights, Princesses and even our guards, we don't exactly have a large army."
"But we also have the dragons and changelings waiting to help us," Spike pointed out after swimming over, "With them and the hippogriffs, we'd have three full-on armies to fight with."
"Maybe," Springer nodded, "But we don't know what else the Storm King has at his disposal. Plus, what if he uses the ponies he's captured as hostages to attack with? This is war, and most of the time, the winners are the ones willing to do the most heinous things."
They all grimaced at this, only for Skystar to exclaim, "Oh my gosh!" They turned to Skystar, "Best...idea! You can stay with us! FOREVER!" She cheered before laughing, "There are so many things we can do!" She started swimming around the room, showing the ponies a bunch of objects. "We can make friendship bracelets out of shells and...picture frames outta shells and...decorative wastebaskets out of shells."
"You got anything to do down here that doesn't involve shells?" Heart asked, getting a nudge from Soul.
"Well...no," Skystar shook her head. "But now I have someone new to share them with! I mean, aside from my friends, Shelly and Sheldon." As she said that, she pulled a pair of clams from behind her back. The shells had googly eyes stuck onto them, the clams jiggling open and closed. "Right? Shelly and Sheldon." She chuckled as Pinkie gasped in amazement. "Get it?" Pinkie's smile grew three times the size, but Rarity swam up to the princess before the earth made seapony could say anything.
"That sounds lovely darling, but you must realize, we can't stay."
Applejack swam up next, "We've gotta get back to our families."
"I'm a Royal Knight," Flash added, "That means I made took an oath to protect Equestria from anything, even if it costs me my life. Staying here would mean I'd being going back on my word, and I never go back on my word." Heart and Springer nodded in agreement while Skystar frowned at them.
"Oh no..." She whimpered before forcing a smile, "Of course. Of course. Heh. Of course you have your own friends back home. It's fine. It's fine. Heh..." She then held the clams away from her before whispering, "Shelly and Sheldon would get jealous anyways." She began to swim away. "Heh. It's probably for the best. Yeah, I'll just, um..." She put the clams down as she added, "I'll get Mom to, uh, turn you back so you can go home." With that, she left and Pinkie swam after her for a second before stopping.
Flash could tell she felt bad about upsetting their new friend and turned to them. "I know we have to go, but you girls saw how disappointed Princess Skystar was. Couldn't we stay for just a little longer?"
As Applejack was saying something, Flash noticed an expression on Twilight's face. One she only got when she had an idea that she would likely live to regret. "Oh, no." They turned to her. "No no. Pinkie's right."
"Say what now?" Rainbow asked.
"We can't stay," Soul chimed in, "All our friends are being forced to do who knows what. They could be fighting in a gladiator style for the king's amusement for all we know." The others gave her a look of bewilderment, "What?"
"Well, we still need to come up with a plan to get back." Twilight began pushing Pinkie in the direction Skystar swam. "A few minutes won't make a huge difference. And if there's anypony who can cram a lifetime of fun into a blink of an eye, it's Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie cheered at this, a massive smile appearing on her face. "So, go ahead and show Skystar the best time ever!"
Pinkie nodded before saluting. "I won't let you down!" She swam off and everyone except Flash followed her out of the room.
"I'm counting on it." As she said that, Twilight looked back up at the chandelier holding the pearl.
"Don't even think about it." Flash chimed in, Twilight turning back to him.
"You know what I have to do. If Novo won't give us the orb, we'll just have to take it."
"How does that make you any better than the Storm King?" Flash countered, "This isn't what Celestia or any of the other princesses would do if they were here."
"But they're not here," Twilight responded, "Tempest took them away and she's gonna do the same to anypony who gets in her way." She began swimming up to the chandelier, but Flash swam between them.
"Twilight, you can't do this. Besides, you heard Novo. The pearl is locked. What good is it gonna do us if it can only turn us into sea creatures?"
"I'll figure out how to unlock it," Twilight replied, "And even if I can't, it'll still be useful. If we run into Tempest again, I'll turn her into a seapony. She won't be so dangerous then."
Flash glared back at her, ready to argue, only for another voice to call out. "Hello?" They turned to see Soft Current, "Mr. Sentry? Are you still in there?"
"Stall her!" Twilight whispered, "Don't let her come in here."
"Why should I? You definitely won't steal anything with her in here." Twilight glared at him.
"That's an order from your princess!" she hissed, "Remember your oath!" Flash flinched at this, only to sigh as he then swam down.
But as he did this, he looked over his shoulder. "Please don't do anything you'll regret later." Twilight frowned at this before he swam outside, spotting Soft Current a ways off. "Hey," he waved, "Is something the matter?"
"No," she shook her head. "I just...I really wanted to learn more about what my son's done since leaving. Do you...do you think you could talk for a little bit?"
Flash sighed, "I guess. But like I said, I didn't really know him that well."
"Just a little information will do," she replied, "Please."
Flash stared at the seapony's face, seeing nothing but despair on her face. The sight made Flash's heart twist, the defender glancing back at Twilight before nodding to the seamare, "Alright. Where's a good place we can talk?"
At the same time, Heart and Soul were roaming the underground. While hanging with Skystar did sound fun, they also wanted to learn as much about seaponies as they could before they left. Or, more accurately, Soul wanted to learn about seaponies, Heart instead wanting to get out of the water as soon as possible.
"Ew!" He moaned when a bunch of seaweed wrapped around his tail, the pony trying to light his hoof aflame to burn it off with little success. "This place sucks. Why'd anypony want to live down here where it's cold, wet and damp?!"
"It's not like they had much of a choice," Soul replied, "What else were they supposed to do when the Storm King attacked?"
"Fight back!"
"That didn't work so well for us."
"Better than running away." Heart sighed as they soon started swimming down the passageway again, only to find a young seapony shooting out from around a corner. "WHOA!" He yelped, dodging the seapony as it came to a stop. "Watch it!"
"Oh," the seapony turned to them, "Sorry." They saw it was a female seapony around their age, who was pink in color with fins and a tail that were two different shades of light blue. She would have said more, but then she gasped. "Whoa! You're those surface dwellers that Skystar brought, aren't you?!"
Before they could reply another voice called out, "Silverstream!" The voice belonged to a seapony that swam around the corner, "What have I told you about swimming off like that?!" He was a white seapony with two different shades of green for his fins and tail, only to go wide-eyed at the sight of Heart and Soul, "Silverstream!" He leapt behind a large rock, "We're not supposed to talk to surface ponies!"
"It's fine," Silverstream waved him off. "Don't mind my little brother. Terramar's just a little nervous around new people."
"I'm not nervous," Terramar growled as he stuck his head out from behind the rock. "I just don't wanna get in trouble with aunt Novo."
"Aunt Novo?" Soul asked, "So you're Skystar's cousins?"
"Yup!" Silverstream eagerly nodded, "And you're the ponies from the surface." She suddenly shot right up and got into Heart's face, "So what's it like up there?! I've heard so much from those that have heard about the surface, but nopony who's actually been up there's willing to tell me anything! What's a cloud look like? What does it feel like when the wind blows? Are there really creature out there that walk on two legs? How long does it take to learn how to fly? I heard there are these things called stairs. How do you play hideo fames with hooves? What's it like when it rains?"
She probably would have said more, but Terramar swam out from behind his rock and placed a fin against her mouth. "Sorry about her. She gets excited when she sees something new."
"I've noticed," Heart gulped, "So...got anyplace around here to dry off? I've heard that some underwater areas have air pockets. Anything like that here?"
"No," Terramar shook his head, "Sorry."
"It's fine," Soul replied as Terramar dropped his fin from Silverstream's mouth. "Don't worry about him. He just hates being wet."
"I don't hate being wet," Heart grumbled and crossed his hooves, "I just don't like not being able to flame on."
"Flame on?" Silverstream asked, "What's that mean? Is it something ponies do? Do you burst into flames and roast everything around you?!" She got a little intense at the end of that sentence, the ponies turned seaponies slowly trying to backpedal, "Come on!" She swam and grabbed their hooves in her fins, "We'll show you all the awesome things to do underwater." She pulled them along before they could argue, Terramar following after them.
Flash and Soft Current were in her house, one of the ceiling buildings that was illuminated by a special underwater moss that somehow could be turned on and off. "After that, Faust placed him and the others in a bubble before teleporting them away. Like I said, he shouldn't have any memory now. Faust said the only thing he'd remember was his name."
"So he'll have no idea who I am," Soft sighed and shook her head, "I...I guess Novo is right. This was for the best. If he kept going the way he was, he would have eventually gotten himself killed. At least now I know there's a chance he's living a good life someplace safe from the Storm King's wrath."
Flash nodded. "I'm sorry. I wish there was something else I could do."
In that moment, Soft Current placed a fin on his hoof. "Just...promise me one thing." He raised an eyebrow at his. "I know the odds of you two running into one another again are astronomical, but...if by some miracle, you find him again, tell him about me. About where he comes from and that I forgive him."
Flash slightly grimaced at this, only to nod, "I will," he picked up the tea Soft had made for him. "But first I gotta find a way to save my home and friends before I can think of looking for him."
"I understand," Soft responded, "I can only wonder what horrors are occurring there right now."
Canterlot looked even worst then when the Storm King had first taken over. Many buildings had been destroyed, while others had been ransacked for anything valuable. The ponies were still being used like pack-mules as the Storm Guards threatened to whip them if they did anything bad. "Dat's right!" Grubber laughed, "Keep wok-in! I don't wanna see a single pon-knee slacking!"
But as he said that, a voice cried out, "Ahhhh!"
He turned and saw one of the ponies fall to the floor, holding his stomach and screaming in in pain. The ponies around him ran to his side, Grubber slowly strolling up, "Hey, hey! What's dah big idea?"
Starlight, one of the ponies, turned to give him a pleading look. "Please, he's sick!"
Grubber looked down and saw the pony had different wings from the others. "What's wrong with him?"
"He suffers from a condition that will kill him if you don't do something," Trixie replied, "He needs a golden apple."
"A what now?"
"I know what they are!" He turned to the voice and saw it was Apple Bloom, trapped inside a cage with two other young ponies. "He brought a bunch of them with him. I know where they were before you came."
"Why sud I let you go and get them?" He growled, "This could be some kind of trap trying to make me look like an idiot! And even if it weren't, what do I get out of putting my hide on the line?!"
"Please!" Starlight begged, "Please just let us get his apples. If anything happens that you don't like...you can kill me as punishment."
Her friends gasped at this, but then nodded and all offered the same agreement. Grubber hissed at this, thinking they were just trying to make a fool out of him so that the Storm King would punish him. But just as he was about to walk away, he heard Rogue moan and turned back to him. The look of pain on his was genuine as far as he could tell, making him sigh, "Let her out of dah cage." The closest Storm Guard looked at him in shock, "Yah eard me." He nodded and pulled out a key, unlocking the cage, "Don't try any-feign!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded as Apple Bloom got out of the cage, "Go with her!" The Storm Guard nodded and chased after her, Grubber turning to the others. "If she's not back in vibe minutes, I'll...I'll..." He let out a growl, "Ah don't know what but it'll be bad!"
Luckily, Apple Bloom didn't need five minutes. She returned in two carrying a large saddlebag, which she threw over to Starlight before the Storm Guard grabbed her and threw the filly back into the cage. The lock clicked shut as Trixie took an apple out and fed it to the thestral.
"Come on...eat." Rogue began munching on the apple, his pained expression vanishing when he did so. By the time he finished the last of it, he appeared to be back to his normal self and let out a sigh.
"Thanks," he told Trixie as she nodded.
Starlight then turned to Grubber, "And thank you."
"Wad ever," he grumbled before walking off. As Rogue pushed himself back to his hooves, they heard a humming sound and looked over to see the device the Storm Guards had been working on. It looked like a large metal ring with runes etched into the metal, several wires connected to a large control panel that was now humming.
"What the heck are they building?" Soarin asked as the humming increased and the machine powered up, unleashing bolts of lightning that shot into the center of the ring. When they connected, a strange looking vortex appeared within the ring and grew larger and larger. But before it could fill the whole thing, it suddenly sparked and the lightning died with the vortex quickly following.
The Storm Guards working on it yelled at several others, who yelled back in a language they couldn't understand before holding up a large piece of paper. The first Storm Guard glared at the page before grabbing it and turning it over, then shoving it back into the other's face.
"Whatever it is, it's almost done, and I don't think it's gonna be anything good."
The others would have said something, only for a loud honking sound to ring out from the sky. They looked up and saw another airship appear through the smog that had been constantly forming above the city by the other ships, only this ship was much more fancily decorated. It zoomed through the sky towards the castle, everypony below needing to brace themselves so as to not be pushed away by the wind it unleashed.
"Oh geez!" They heard Grubber cry, "He's here! He's here!" He looked absolutely terrified, the hedgehog looking himself over to make sure he was properly dressed. "Is everything good?! Noff-fin the king'll get mad at me for?" The Storm Guards shook their heads, "Good. Good. Then I guess I'd better go make sure he's comfortable. The rest of you, back to work!" With that, he ran off while the ponies continued to stare up at the castle.
"So," Script gulped, "The big boss is up there, huh?"
"I hope Twilight and the others have figured out how to save us," Trixie added, "If this guy is anything like the guards say he is, we'll be in trouble if he gets angry."
"Twilight'll come through," Starlight assured her. "She has too."
Back underwater, Silverstream and Terramar had taken the siblings to an opening in the seafloor, which made the water around it warm. When they placed a stone on top of it and got on board, the pair wondered what was going on. "Wait for it," Silverstream told them. "Wait for it. Wait for it."
"We've been waiting for three minutes," Heart grumbled, "What's-" He got his answer when the rock started shaking.
"Here we go!" Silverstream cheered before the rock suddenly rocketed upward, pushing the four up. They all screamed as the ceiling got closer, only for the speed to slow down. They eventually came to a stop and started floating down, the group laughing as they did so.
"That was awesome!" Heart laughed, the others nodding. "I guess being underwater isn't so bad after all."
"Yeah," Silverstream added, "But I'd sure like to see where you two come from too."
"Well, we need to save it from the Storm King before we can do that," Heart responded, "I can't wait to go up against that guy when we attack!" Soul and the seaponies frowned at this, "What?!"
"You really think Flash is gonna let you fight when they go to retake Equestria?" Soul asked, "He'll probably ask Queen Novo to keep us here or something when they go."
"Maybe you'll be left behind," Heart pointed at her. "But I'm a different story." He then remembered back to what the Royal Knights had said about him before this whole disaster occurred. "I'm gonna help save my home. I have to. Flash chose me to be a Royal Knight, and I can't let him down. Even if I have to take down Tempest, Void, Armalum or the Storm King himself, I'm gonna show everypony I'm worth Flash's trust in me! I'm not a loser!"
The others raised an eyebrow at this, but then something else caught their attention: Music.
"I think there's a musical number happening," Soul giggled as Terramar turned to her.
"A what?"
"You don't have musical numbers underwater?" Heart asked before they started swimming toward the music, the two seaponies shaking their heads. "Well, you're about too." They swam to the music and arrived back in the main cavern, where they found a bunch of seaponies singing together with the rest of their friends leading it with Skystar.
Flash and Soft Current also arrived, having heard the music and gone out to see it. Flash smiled when he saw Skystar singing, Queen Novo also appearing and was pulled into the song. "So wonderful," Soft sighed as she listened, "Do you sing like this every day?"
"Not every day. But more often than you think. Don't seaponies enjoy a nice tune every now and then?"
"We used too," Soft sighed, "But...oh how I miss those days. When we came down here, we worried even the quietest noise would be heard by the Storm King's forces."
"Don't worry," he told her. "We'll find a way to stop him." He looked down at his wound, which was now completely gone. the Sacred Light having finally defused the last of the Corrupted Shadow. "We'll make it safe for you to return to the land if you want. And I'll find Wingill and bring him back. Promise."
Soft nodded at this as the song finally came to an end. Pinkie smiled as her friends hugged her, the party pony having fulfilled her promise and gotten a ton of fun condensed into the short amount of time they had. "Well," Novo told them all, "I guess there is one small thing we can do."
Everypony smiled, thinking Novo might actually be willing to help them, only for a strange noise to fill the air. One that made all the seaponies gasp, "What's that?" Springer asked, stopping Spike as he accidently puffed up at the noise.
"The pearl alarm!" Soft Current gasped. "Oh no, the pearl alarm!" Flash's eye went wide at hearing this, quickly spotting Novo giving Skystar a glare before turning to swim off. The others followed after her, arriving at the throne room, only to gasp at a certain sight.
Twilight, who was tied up in the chandelier's jellyfish tendrils, attempted to escape the cords that had trapped her and were pulling her away from the pearl that she had attempted to steal. "No," Flash whispered at this. He heard Novo growl and swim towards Twilight so fast that he knew he couldn't get to her in time.
But all she did was grab the pearl away from Twilight, "No!" She cried as Novo turned to her. "Please!"
"All of this so you could sneak in and take the pearl?!"
"Wait!" Flash called out, "Twilight made a mistake. She's just worried about our kingdom." He turned to Soft Current, "We didn't come here to steal." He could see in her eyes that Soft Current believed him, but Novo growled as she grabbed Skystar and pulled her away from her new friends.
"This is why we don't bring strangers into our home!" Skystar looked down at this, Novo turning to Twilight and the others. "You don't deserve to be one of us." With that, she held out the pearl and unleashed a brilliant light. The seaponies around them quickly got back, Flash turning to Soft Current while Heart and Soul looked over at Silverstream, those seaponies looking sad about what was about to happen.
The tendrils threw Twilight over to the others and it caught them all, the looks of betrayal they had on their faces weren't lost on the princess. That was the last thing she saw before the light overwhelmed them, forming a bubble around them that blocked out the image of the castle. The bubble then seemed to move, propelling them through the water, away from the castle.
As they moved, they could feel their tails morphing back into their normal states and the water suddenly seemed a lot less breathable. In the blink of an eye, they all reverted back to their regular forms as the bubble suddenly popped. They found themselves surrounded by dark ocean, no idea which way the seapony kingdom was in. But they did know that they needed oxygen, all quickly swimming with all their might.
They barely managed to break their heads through the water before they all took massive gulps of air, some coughing a bit due to swallowing so much seawater. Once they had their bearings, they looked up and saw Mount Aris a short ways off. At least Novo had been kind enough to not strand them a hundred miles out to sea. But as they began to swim towards the shore, they all realized what had happened. They had failed in their mission to get help from the hippogriffs, or the seaponies. And without their help, Equestria might be doomed to an eternal storm.