Dawn of the first day:
72 hours remaining
The team arrived at South Clock Town only to find that everything had been reset to the first day. "Well, guys, it's time to find our friends!" Rainbow declared as they began their quest again. Hero removed his changeling mask to revert to his normal self.
They noticed Pinkie's depressed counterpart and decided to at least say hello to her, but she balefully scowled at them and said, "Go away! I don't want to be bothered. Do you understand?" She made it clear that she was not interested in any small talk or conversation in general.
They then decided to head to North Clock Town to see the guard at the gate. "Halt! The northern oceans of The Great Bay lie just beyond this gate, and I cannot allow a kid like you to... a sword? My apologies, sir. It was wrong of me to treat you like a child. The seas have been reported to be harsh lately; be careful."
The guard tapped his spear on the ground to open the gate, and Hero and his friends went through it to reach Termina. As they explored Termina, they came across the barrier and flew over it to reach the shores of the Great Bay Coast.
Hero and his five friends arrived at the ocean again. They noticed a wounded hippogriff floating in the sea, surrounded by blood. "Oh dear, Hero. We need to get that hippogriff to the shore and help him," said Fluttershy. She quickly rushed out to save the hippogriff, and Hero followed to assist.
After Hero and Fluttershy brought the hippogriff to the shore, he stood up weakly on his trembling legs. They could see a deep and fresh wound on his abdomen, and he winced in pain. The hippogriff then took out his guitar and sang a song while explaining what had happened.
🎶 "One! Two!! Three!!!"
"Oh. Baby, baby, listen to me! The Carnival's beginning soon. We're the ones they're waiting to see."
"But that girl, my sweet Silverstream—Our vocalist sounds sweeter than silk or honey. But ever since she's lost her precious eggs, she never did sound the same."
"Woah-oh! In Great Bay now somethin' is a-happenin'. Is it now?"
"Oh. Baby, listen to me! I really don't want to beg. But alas, the Pirates of Amor have stolen her eggs."
"I went to stop them, then pow and bam, I got knocked down, and here I am."
"Baby, if I die like this—Even if I die, it won't be in peace, that's for sure."
"Someone, please rescue her eggs before the pirates take their toll. Oh, somebody, somebody, please heal my soul."
"That's all... Thank you!" He then finally collapsed from exhaustion and succumbed to his mortal wounds. He groaned from the pain of being stabbed and felt too weak from the loss of blood. Slowly, he closed his eyes, letting darkness claim him. "Please find a way to heal my wounded soul for me," he whispered.
Rainbow spoke up, her voice somber. "Try using that song that heals beaten and grieving souls, Hero. I think it's the best we can do for this guy."
Hero nodded and pulled out his ocarina. He played the Song of Healing, and the pink healing magic swelled around him before it reached the hippogriff lying down on the sandy shore. Suddenly, the hippogriff gasped, his mouth agape in shock, and his eyes shot open. A stray tear trickled down his cheek and into the sand, as he felt the healing magic take effect."
As Hero's eyes slowly closed, he felt his consciousness slipping away as the hapless hippogriff's eyes began to turn pitch-black, zooming into his eyes, revealing a pitch-black room. A spotlight illuminated the center stage and Hero could see Mikau and Silverstream walking hand in hand towards it. They looked like a happy couple as if they were about to perform something special for the crowd.
The rest of their bandmates were waiting on the stage, tuning their instruments and getting ready to play. The sound of the crowd cheering for their musical talents was deafening. Hero could feel the energy and excitement in the air. He watched as Mikau and Silverstream took their places on the stage, ready to start their performance. The lights dimmed and the bandmates and crowd vanished.
Silverstream and Mikau stood side by side, resembling two angels in the colorful display of aurora lights that surrounded them. They shared a tender kiss, but tears streamed down their faces, revealing the sadness they felt in their hearts. Their emotions were so intense that it felt as though their hearts were bleeding. A drop of their tears fell onto the floor, like raindrops onto a puddle.
After Mikau's vision faded, he found peace and closure as he passed on. All his negative emotions and hopes for his beloved were embodied in a wooden hippogriff mask that fell onto the sandy ground below.
His spirit appeared next to the team to speak to them, "I am Mikau, dudes. I trust you to help out my beloved—My final request is that you carve my song onto my grave. Unfortunately, I made a mistake and ended up biting the big one, but I'll leave my wishes to you. Just let Silv know that I'll always love her, okay? Peace out! Yeah!" Mikau's spirit vanished as he played his guitar. Hero took the time to create a memorial for the hippogriff.
"That's very nice of you, Hero. What you're doing for him is so thoughtful, romantic, and emotional," Rarity said as they watched Hero pick up the mask with his hooves. A tinge of fear could be seen in his eyes. "I'm so sorry for him, that poor dear. Are you sure you want to do this, Hero?" Rarity asked him with concern for his safety.
He nodded, understanding it was the only way to locate their last two companions and assist Mikau. He held the mask close to his face as it attached to him, merging with his skin and fur with a series of unpleasant crunches. Hero collapsed onto his back, screaming into the mask and becoming frightened by the transformation.
His heart was racing, and his body was aching. He noticed that feathers were growing along the edges of his fur, and his complexion now matched Mikau's. He felt wings sprouting from his back and a spiky plumage forming at his hooves. Additionally, his front feet had turned into claws.
Hero's physique changed as he grew taller and lighter, with toned muscles rather than bulky ones like a yak. The mask locked onto Hero's facial joints, causing him to scream in agony. His appearance instantly transformed into a mix between himself and Mikau, leaving the group shocked by the sudden change.
"That looked plum agonizing to go through," Applejack said. Then, she continued, "How are you feeling, sugarcube?"
Hero used his new claws to touch the beak on his mouth in amazement; he had seriously just turned into a hippogriff. The team noticed a necklace around his neck with a seashell as its pendant. The Hero nodded as the team relaxed a bit, "So, do you think you can swim better now? After all, hippogriffs are aquatic creatures," Rainbow asks Hero.
And Hero nodded, jumped up, and dove into the water. His body transformed as he flashed from his necklace, losing his beak and retaining the upper half of a pony. The claws and wings were gone, and sharp fins replaced the brilliant feathery plumage on his forearms. The lower half of his body was now a mermaid's tail.
"Woah. So hippogriffs can become sea ponies when exposed to deep water. I almost forgot about that. Nice, Hero." Rainbow examined him, "Let's see some of those underwater skills. I want to see how well you can swim."
"I remember when we became sea ponies before. It was so exciting," Fluttershy recalled with a smile. "It would be so cool to be one again." The Hero practiced his new body to get used to being a seapony and a hippogriff. He then spotted a steel house atop the waves of the sea and swam over to its dock. As he climbed up, his body began transforming into a hippogriff once his necklace flashed when he stepped inside the metal hut.
In the hut, there was a laboratory where a stallion researched creatures of Termina, specifically hippogriffs, as they interested him the most. As he saw a hippogriff, he greeted it and asked what he could do for it. He straightened his posture and adjusted his glasses. "Ah, a hippogriff joins me today; how lovely, so what can I do for—"
Hero then entered the lab and the stallion got a better look at him. "M-Mikau!! But you were mortally wounded, weren't you?" he exclaimed. Hero explained everything to him, and the stallion gasped, "Oh man... Poor Mikau. You realize that Novo must never find out about this, right?"
Hero was confused, so the stallion explained who Novo was: "Novo is the queen of Seaquestria in The Great Bay. You were right to have come here first. You are taking on his burdens as well as yours. This is very admirable, indeed—inspiring even," the stallion said.
Hero then asked if there was a way he could make his friends into sea ponies. The stallion replied, "Well, yes. But only Queen Novo can do that. That necklace makes you into a seapony, bonded to your soul like Mikau's, sorry."
Hero understood that this was beyond what could be done at present, so he left. But before he left, the stallion said, "Do you know what happens to Hippogriff eggs? Because they're naturally tied to the sea, they hatch from eggs. But at this rate, the water is too warm and filled with toxic mercury that it would be fatal for their children to grow and flourish."
The stallion then stroked his beard with his left hoof and said, "So I have here a tank filled with the purified water from the sea collected weeks before the water got tainted. You'll have to go to that fortress where the infamous Amor Pirates are. That's where Mikau tried to go before he met his demise. It's perilous there, especially alone."
Hero nodded as if to say he knew. "Man, you're a brave guy if not crazy. Those pirates will kill you if they find you. Don't do anything reckless. You got a lot at stake here." Hero then took his words and remembered them as he nodded respectfully and left.
As Hero swam back to shore, he saw all of his friends waiting for him. Rainbow was curious as to why Hero had gone into the strange house on the water without them. He then broke the bad news to them: "Those eggs that Mikau was talking about are literally with pirates!?" Rainbow asked in shock.
"Oh no, that's not good at all," Rarity murmured under her breath as Hero pointed towards their fortress.
"But you're going over there alone?! Are you out of your mind, Hero? We will accompany you. We all do this together as friends, and that's that!" Applejack was angry at the thought of Hero going alone.
Everyone agreed with Applejack, and Hero then offered to swim with them. He warned them not to ingest the water and that they should be careful. Fluttershy was wary of this since the swamp incident when she fell ill with poison. Hero reassured her that they were all together as friends and that everything would be different this time.
"OK, I will trust my friends. Let's go and save those poor babies. Then we'll continue our search for our friends," Fluttershy says as everyone swam towards the right of the Great Bay Coast, making sure to avoid any undersea mines that the pirates had planted to deter intruders. They soon reached a fortified cube-like fortress with a glowing pink heart on top.
"Okay, then, let's go and get this done." Rainbow and the rest of them were nervous. Hero summoned his courage and led his friends towards their mission.