A guest of Seaquestria
Wanda Young opened her eyes as she was at the bottom of the ocean. She exhaled and noticed something odd. A bubble had formed around her head. She took a breath and exhaled slowly, like she was above water.
“Mommy?” Wanda said. “Where are you?”
“No time to explain.” Wanda turned her head to her right to see the hippogriff who kidnapped her. Only she was no longer a hippogriff. Her legs have transformed into a fish’s tail. Her old tail had become the end of her new tail. Her mane’s texture turned from feathers into a beautiful scale. And her beak was replaced with a pony’s muzzle.
Wanda swam backwards before the transformed hippogriff grabbed the man’s cub by the wrist.
“We need to get you safe to my mommy Queen Novo,” the hippogriff said.
“Wait,” Wanda said as she paused. “Did you say...Queen Novo?”
“Yes,” The transformed hippogriff said. “Now we need to get going.”
The hippogriff pulled Wanda by the wrist and swam towards a nearby cave entrance. Wanda looked upwards at the ocean’s surface as she was being pulled by the hippogriff.
“But what about mommy?” Wanda said.
“Right now, your protection is needed from him,” The Hippogriff said.
“But I want mommy and the rest of my friends to be with us,” Wanda yelled as she watched helplessly at the ocean’s surface.
As Wanda was pulled into the cavern, she watched a stone door begin to close from behind her. Wanda could do nothing but watch the doorway behind her closed up as she was being pulled away.
“MOMMY!” Wanda yelled as the doorway behind her was shut tight.
Back on dry land, Princess Luna paced back and forth as the other youngs watched helplessly. Sunset looked anxious as Abigail meowed into the air.
“Poor Wanda,” Twilight said as she walked up to Sunset. “And we were about to depart from Mount Aris when this disaster happened.”
“Wanda’s my sister,” Sunset said. “I’d be damned if we leave Wanda behind. If I know mother, she’ll fight to get her back.”
“And considering that Rainbow Dash was on her side,” Pinkie Pie said. “I’d say getting her back will be a piece of cake.”
Danged Spell looked upwards and saw Princess Celestia and Rainbow Dash flying towards them. But as he looked, he noticed that Wanda was not with them.
“Uhh guys,” Danged Spell yelled. “I think we have a big problem on our hooves.”
The moment Princess Celestia landed on the ground, she ran up to a large, thick tree and started pounding it in anger. Princess Luna ran up to Celestia as the elder sister kept hitting her hoof on the tree’s trunk.
“Sister,” Luna yelled. “What happened?”
Celestia stopped pounding the tree as she lowered her head down. Tears formed on her eyes as she struggled to contain herself.
“They took her,” Celestia cried. “That hippogriff dove underwater with Wanda still in her grasp. This is my fault that I let this happen.”
“It’s not your fault,” Princess Luna said as she raised Celestia’s head up. “We were all caught off guard by that hippogriff. None of us saw it coming.”
“At least she’s safe,” Rainbow Dash said as she planted her hooves on the ground.
“What exactly do you mean safe?” Moondancer said as she walked up to Rainbow Dash.
“I could clearly make out a bubble forming around Wanda’s head in the ocean,” Rainbow Dash said. “Plus I recall seeing that hippogriff undergoing a metamorphosis of some sort, becoming some like a half-pony, half-fish creature.”
“Half-pony half-fish?” Sunburst said. “If I recall, that happens to be a Sea Pony.”
“A what?” Sunset asked.
“Just imagine a pony if she could swim in the water instead of running on land,” Sunburst explained. “Sometimes they’re referred to as the hippocampus.”
“But something does bother me,” Twilight said as Spike looked at her with a sad look on his face. “How did she transform that fast into a sea pony?”
“Now that’s something to think about,” Sunset said.
Princess Celestia raised her head. Though tears flowed from her eyes, she looked far more determined than ever.
“Everyone,” Princess Celestia said. “Our task has changed from departing Mount Aris to a rescue operation. Though we know that Wanda is safe, I will not leave this area until we get her back. I’m sorry to have to put this burden on you all, but I need you all to find a way into where that sea pony took her.”
Luna stepped forward and said “Make no mistake. We are under two crises here in Mount Aris. One involves Wanda’s kidnapping, and the other involves the disappearance of the hippogriffs. I believe that once we find Wanda, we’ll find the truth to what happened to the hippogriffs. If we find a secret entrance, we should be able to locate Princess Wanda and get her freed. Now let us begin.”
Princess Luna and Princess Celestia turned around and walked towards the ruined village as Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Abigail, Moondancer and Danged Spell followed from behind. Sunburst grabbed Starlight Glimmer and walked with her behind the group. Golden Lace stood there, watching the group walk away.
“Is this what these snowflakes have been through since the La Maresa incident?” Golden Lace said to herself. “To think, I actually enjoyed lashing out at them for my own amusement.”
Golden Lace ran right behind the group as they went back towards the ruined village, hoping to find any clues to the fate of the hippogriffs.
Meanwhile, deep within the underwater cave, Wanda could only stare backwards as the hippogriff-turned-seapony dragged her towards a light that lay ahead of her.
“Don’t you worry there,” the seapony said. “Mama’s going to be so excited to see you. A real life human girl like she described.”
“But I want to see my mommy again,” Wanda said. “And all my friends.”
“But you’ll make more friends down here in Seaquestria,” the sea pony said as she dragged Wanda even further. “Maybe I could keep you as a sister to me.”
But as the sea pony dragged Wanda down even further, she overheard a loud voice call out “PRINCESS SKYSTAR! YOU COME HERE THIS INSTANT, YOUNG LADY!” Wanda looked at the seapony called Princess Skystar before looking downwards at the light, which appears to take the form of a village.
“Oh no,” Princess Skystar said to herself. “What did I do now?”
Princess Skystar’s tone went from excitement to horror as she pulled Wanda towards the village up ahead. Wanda could do nothing as Skystar pulled her close towards the light up ahead.
At the base of an underwater village, many sea ponies gather around a larger sea pony as they watch Princess Skystar drag Wanda towards their village. This larger sea pony, with a light fuchsia-ish grey coat, a gradient of brilliant fuchsia and strong mulberry mane and strong magenta eyes, scowled at Skystar as a pair of guards swam towards the young princess.
“Princess Skystar,” one of the guards said as he approached the young princess. “Your mother, Queen Novo, awaits your presence.”
“Oh dear,” Skystar said. “Mama’s really going to give it to me now.”
Skystar slowly swam towards Queen Novo and the other sea ponies, holding Wanda right behind her. Wanda looked up at Queen Novo as her face changed from fear to curiosity.
“Aunt Novo?” Wanda said quietly.
As Princess Skystar swam up to the group, Queen Novo glared at her, upset and angry. Skystar just stood there as she swallowed hard.
“Young lady,” Queen Novo said. “First off, what did I tell you about going back up to the surface? You know very well that it’s dangerous because of what the Storm King did to us.”
“But I wanted to see if there was anyone out there,” Skystar said in a scared tone.
“And second off, why did you have to separate Wanda from her mother?” Queen Novo said in a harsher tone.
“Wait,” Skystar said as she released her grip on Wanda’s arm. The little man’s cub swam a distance away as Queen Novo drifted towards her daughter.
“As far as I’m concerned,” Queen Novo said in a harsh tone. “You’re in big trouble for separating Wanda from Princess Celestia. Do you understand what kind of trauma you put Princess Celestia and little Wanda in?”
As Skystar stood by watching Queen Novo scold her, Wanda watched from afar. Hearing Queen Novo’s tone of voice scared the little man’s cub, as tears flowed even faster from her eyes.
“Aunt Novo...why are you so scary?” Wanda said before she burst out crying. Her bawling caught Queen Novo’s attention.
“I’ll deal with you later,” Queen Novo said to Princess Skystar as she turned her attention towards Wanda.
Wanda just stood floating under the water, crying her eyes out as Queen Novo swam up to the little man’s cub. She reached out and pulled Wanda close to her, all while paying close attention to the air bubble that surrounds the Man’s Cub’s head.
“There there,” Queen Novo said in a soothing tone. “I didn’t mean to make you cry, little Wanda. In fact, I was just upset at Princess Skystar for what she did to you.”
Wanda looked up as her tears began to reside. She saw Queen Novo look down at her with a warm, gentle smile. Wanda smiled back as she gave Novo a big hug, even while her air bubble prevented her from touching her chest with her face.
“I’m terribly sorry for what my daughter did to you, smallfry,” Queen Novo said. “She’s optimistic, but tends to get overly excited for the small things that happen.”
Wanda looked up at Queen Novo and said “Aunt Novo. What happened outside? Why is your village a complete wreck?”
Queen Novo’s tone turned from calm to shame. She looked down at Wanda and said “It was the work of the Storm King, a tyrant who will do what it takes to conquer the whole world.”
“Storm King?” Wanda asked as she shivered in fear.
“But this isn’t a story I can just tell you,” Queen Novo said as she slowly let go of Wanda. “I know that your mother is here, and so is your Aunt Luna, your sister Sunset, and your new friends. And while you are a welcomed guest here, I’m afraid you’ll have a problem navigating underwater without a little gift.”
Queen Novo swam upwards and extended her hoof towards a magnificent, chandelier-looking castle. Inside, a series of magical orbs glow brightly before emitting a powerful pulse of magic, spreading far away from the source and towards the exterior of the palace.
“Wow,” Wanda said as she was amazed by the glow of the shockwave of magic energy.
The magical burst spread through the interior of Seaquestria, passing through the sea ponies without affecting them. The burst landed right on Wanda, surrounding her in a warm light.
When the light disappeared, Wanda’s appearance had changed. Instead of legs, she now had a light cerise fish tail. And instead of her tank swimsuit, she now had a tube top around the upper part of her torso. Her air bubble had also disappeared as a flower formed in her hair around her left ear. Wanda looked at her new form and face beamed with excitement.
“Wow,” Wanda said as she looked at her new tail. “I look almost like a sea pony.”
“Actually,” Queen Novo said as she swam down towards Wanda. “You resemble more of a mermaid.”
“A mermaid?” Wanda said.
“Yes,” Queen Novo said. “A mermaid is an ancient creature with the upper torso of a human girl, and a fish tail like the rest of us. Some say they came from another world through a form of trickery. But not that many ponies, not even hippogriffs or sea ponies, have discovered mermaids.”
“This is amazing,” Wanda said as she swam around giggling. “I’m a mermaid now.”
As Wanda swam freely with her new form, Queen Novo turned her attention to Princess Skystar, who still looked troubled.
“Young lady,” Queen Novo said as her tone shifted to a calmer, yet stern, tone. “You will accommodate Wanda through her time here in Seaquestria.”
“But,” Princess Skystar said. “How do I do that?”
“Start by apologizing to her for what you did,” Queen Novo said.
Princess Skystar swallowed hard as she swam up to Wanda. But as she approached, the Man’s Cub-turned-mermaid gasped at Skystar and swam behind a large rock, hiding in complete fear.
“It’s okay, smallfry,” Queen Novo said. “Princess Skystar didn’t mean to put you in grave danger.”
Wanda emerged from the rock and saw Skystar reach out for her. The mermaid slowly stuck her head out.
“I’m sorry that I separated you from your mama,” Skystar said. “I really didn’t mean it. I just wanted to show you to my mama because of what she told me about you.”
Wanda reluctantly reached out and placed her index finger on top of Skystar’s hoof. Princess Skystar stood there as Wanda took her finger off before placing her hand on top of the sea pony’s hoof.
“See?” Skystar said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just thought you looked cool.”
Wanda smiled as she grabbed onto Skystar. The two swam together through the village as Queen Novo watched with a smile on her face.
“You keep her entertained,” Queen Novo said. “And I’ll forgo grounding you. Promise?”
“Promise,” Princess Skystar said as she came to a stop with Wanda behind her.
“Now will you excuse me?” Queen Novo said. “I need to open the way for Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and their students.”
As Queen Novo swims towards the palace, Wanda watches as many baby sea ponies rush around her. She giggles as one with a light, magenta-grayish coat, pale, light grayish orchid fins and a mane consisting of two shades of light cornflower blue swims up to her.
“You look like a real cutie,” Wanda said as the small seapony boops her on the nose. “What’s your name?”
“That’s Silverstream,” Princess Skystar said. “She’s my cousin.”
“Your cousin?” Wanda asked.
“Yeah,” Skystar said as Silverstream swam up to Wanda’s head and laid on top of it. “Her mother and my aunt’s name is Ocean Flow, while her father is Sky Beak. Aunt Ocean Flow was one of the first to discover the secret of the pearls of transformation. That way, if something horrible happened, like with what the Storm King did, we could hide away and keep everyone safe.”
“But what did the Storm King do?” Wanda asked.
“I’m afraid that’s something I’m a bit scared to talk about,” Skystar said as she looked downwards with a sad look on her face. “It’s too traumatizing.”
Wanda looked at Princess Skystar with Silverstream still resting atop Wanda’s head. Skystar slowly drifted away as Wanda just stood there.
“Early ago,” Wanda said to herself. “I was scared of Princess Skystar as she took me down here. But now, I think something is truly up. If only mommy was here, she could get to the bottom of this.”
Back in the ruined village above the water, everyone was searching all over, trying to locate anything that would uncover a secret entrance of some sort. Even though they were determined to rescue Wanda, they looked exhausted from all that digging and moving debris out of the way. The only ones who weren’t present were Princess Luna and Pinkie Pie.
“I know finding a way into this secret location is hard,” Rainbow Dash said. “But man, it feels like my hooves are about to fall apart.”
“We’ve got to keep searching,” Sunset said as she dug faster and faster through the rubble. The faster we find Wanda, the better everything will turn out. And I mean it.”
Sunset SHimmer continued to dig through the pile of debris like she had gone mad. One of them came close to hitting Twilight, catching her and Baby Spike off guard.
“Sunset,” Twilight yelled. “Have you lost your marbles?”
“No time to talk,” Sunset said as she jumped into a wrecked house and began to search. “I need to get my sister back.”
Twilight let out a sigh as she and Spike began to walk towards the house that Sunset jumped into. Danged Spell walked up to Twilight and wiped the sweat off his brow.
“Ever know what it feels like to lose a sibling in this kind of mess?” Danged Spell asked.
“I don’t think I’ve had that happen yet,” Twilight said as she looked down at Spike, who only looked up at his big sister. “But I can only imagine what would happen if someone were to take Spike away from me.”
“Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I lost my baby sister Dream Seeker to the Windigo’s Guild, or a group of hoodlums,” Danged Spell replied. “And for what Sunset’s going through, I’d say she has every right to be upset, considering that Wanda is her special sister, and our best friend.”
“You’re right,” Twilight said as she used her magic to move some of the debris out of the way. “If something bad happened to me, my big brother wouldn’t waste a sweat to find me, even if he wanted to exhaust himself.”
“That’s the spirit, Twilight,” Danged Spell said as he ran up to Twilight and Spike and helped move the debris out of the way. “Let’s find Wanda and get her to safety.”
Nearly every pony was busy digging through the debris and ruined houses in the meadow area of Mount Aris. Even Golden Lace pitched in. The only one who didn’t was Starlight Glimmer, who just sat there looking downward at the grass. Princess Celestia took notice and flew over to the young unicorn filly with Abigail running right behind the princess of the sun.
“Are you alright?” Princess Celestia said as she placed her hoof on Starlight’s cheek. “You’ve barely moved from your spot since we began searching for that secret entrance.”
Starlight shifted her eyes away from Princess Celestia and looked to the side. Abigail ran up to Starlight and rubbed her paw on the filly’s leg. But Starlight paid no attention and let out a sigh.
“She’s not taking it very well,” Sunburst said as he walked up to Princess Celestia, Starlight Glimmer and Abigail. “And I don’t just mean the lack of a cutie mark.”
“She’s worried about Wanda as well,” Princess Celestia said. “I knew she was feeling depressed since we began our field trip. But I didn’t expect her to be this depressed.”
“Starlight really liked to hang out with Wanda,” Sunburst said. “She was there to at least cheer her up when Twilight and I weren’t available. But now she thinks that she’s...well...I really don’t want to say it.”
“Personally,” Princess Celestia said. “I don’t believe it. And as long as I believe that Wanda is alive, I know that I’ll keep fighting till I wear myself out. I’m not going to let something like this get the best of me.”
As Abigail continued to rub her paw on Starlight’s hoof and meow at the same time, she overheard a voice yell out “HEY GUYS! LUNA AND I FOUND SOMETHING IN THE PALACE!” Abigail turned her head towards the stairway, and saw Pinkie PIe and Princess Luna at the bottom of the stairs. Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer took notice as they both soared right towards the party pony without a second thought.
“What did you find, Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Please tell us,” Sunset said as she grabbed Pinkie by arms and pulled the party pony towards her.
“We found a secret doorway that may lead to where Wanda and that hippogriff went to,” Pinkie Pie replied. Those words caused Sunset to drop Pinkie Pie before jumping into the air with excitement.
“YES!” Sunset yelled. “WE’RE COMING FOR YOU, WANDA!”
“There is one slight problem,” Princess Luna said, causing Sunset to freeze in the air and land on her four hooves. “We’re trying to find the switch that leads down to this secret area.” Luna added.
“Oh come on,” Sunset said. “What kind of sick joke is this? I want to see Wanda again.”
Celestia flew over to Sunset Shimmer and placed her arm around the young sun filly before she said “It’s alright. We were able to find this secret entrance. Now all we have to do is to open it. And if we can’t find the switch, then I promise you, I’ll pry it open with my magic.”
Sunset’s eyes began to run. She got on her hind legs and gave her adopted mother a big hug before she cried. Twilight, Danged Spell and Moondancer walked up right behind Princess Celestia with Spike riding atop of Twilight Sparkle.
“Looks like the family spirit is strong with Princess Celestia,” Twilight said. “Just like with my family.”
“What did you expect?: Danged Spell said. “A real family sticks together. No one is left behind. It’s what my dad always told me.”
“I bet he also taught you all those cheesy puns,” Moondancer said with a smirk on her face.
“Yeah, he taught me how…” Danged Spell said before he paused at that last minute. He turned his face towards Moondancer and yelled “THAT AIN’T FUNNY, MCGEE!”
Moondancer just laughed really hard as Danged Spell seethe in anger.
A bit later, inside the hippogriff palace atop Mount Aris, the entire place looked like it was ransacked as there were only a few objects scattered across the room alongside more of the lightning-bolt flags decorating the place. Everyone was in front of a large doorway, still completely shut tight. Princess Celestia looked around, trying to make sense of the mess.
“Wow,” Rainbow Dash said. “I know I make my room a mess. But this is something else.”
“I bet those hippogriffs must have had a swell place,” Golden Lace said as she observed the throne room. “Well before whoever did this happened.”
“As much as I would be disgusted by that quote,” Twilight said as she and Spike looked around. “I actually do agree on some part. Even more so, I still don’t believe that the Windigo’s Guild weren’t involved this time.” Golden Lace just looked at Twilight following that statement.
“That’s something I’m not going to get used to,” Golden Lace replied.
“It’s still fascinating that Queen Novo figured out a way to get her people away from danger with this kind of secret entrance,” Sunburst said as Starlight looked up at the doorway, completely awestruck.
“You’ll never know when you need to make a grand exit,” Celestia said. “A wise ruler would install one of these in their castle, either as an emergency exit, or as a hidden sanctuary.”
“And I still can’t believe that Luna and I found the secret entrance,” Pinkie Pie said. “Imagine if we find a lair full of Hippogriffs who were hiding in plain sight just after the invasion of the big meanies hit.”
“There’s just one problem,” Rainbow Dash said. “How the hay are we going to open this up?”
“Rainbow Dash is right,” Danged Spell said. “I mean, what are we supposed to do, yell out open sesame?”
The moment Danged Spell finished talking, the door began to slide open, surprising everyone in the room.
“Spell,” Sunset said in excitement as she grabbed onto Danged Spell. “You figured it out. How did you do it?”
“Beats me,” Danged Spell replied. “But when it comes to these stone doors, I always have a granite approach. Get it?”
Celestia and Luna chuckled as everyone else around Danged Spell groaned before they yelled “Danged Spell.”
As the doorway opened up, Princess Celestia looked onward and her jaw completely dropped. Queen Novo appeared, stepping outside from the secret entrance. But she was no longer a sea pony. Instead, she had transformed into a hippogriff. Celestia and Luna stood in shock as Queen Novo walked out and approached everyone.
“Hello Princess Celestia,” Queen Novo said. “It’s been awhile. And I wish to apologize on behalf of my daughter for taking your darling Wanda away.”
Celestia and Luna just stood there before they both fell backwards and fainted, causing every youngling around them to panic.
“PRINCESSES DOWN,” Pinkie Pie yelled. “I REPEAT! PRINCESSES DOWN!”
Queen Novo walked up to the fainted Princesses as Sunset struggled to fan them both with her hooves.
“I think they’re both speechless,” Novo giggled.
To Be Continued in…
A reunion under the sea