As sunlight pierces through the dark clouds, it bathes the base of a massive, out-of-place mountain overlooking the ocean, so tall that it scrapes the bottom of the cloud layer. It’s surrounded by rocky outcroppings that stretch far up and down the coastline, which transitions to grassy hills the closer it got to the beach.
A path is carved through them to the mountain, and the huge stone wings emerging from the back of it cover the sides, leaving the front open for the path to crisscross it to the top. The Mane Seven and Co. have made good progress scaling it, they now being just a few hundred meters from the top. Tionic has taken the lead, followed by Twilight and Spike, Sonic, Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and finally Rarity.
“We just had to crash the balloon at the bottom of the mountain!” She complains, and she dramatically falls to her side, groaning in frustration. “That’s it! I simply cannot, even, go another step further! The bad guys have won! I’m so sorry!”
‘Drama queen,’ Tionic thinks, rolling his eyes. He glances down at the outcroppings, spotting a mangled mess of wood, rope, and fabric close to the path, and a shiver runs down his back. ‘At least we walked out of that mess.’
“Enough with the theatrics, Rares!” Sonic shouts down over the edge. “We’re almost there!”
She groans. “You already said that!”
“No, we’re actually here now!”
Reaching the top, Tionic, Twilight, Spike, Rainbow, and Sonic see a marvel of stonework before them. Walls cover the entrance of the city in a protective barrier, each of them with intricate designs carved into them. The actual entrance is an opening with two bird-like stone monoliths facing each other, their heads aimed downward like they were watching whoever came into the city.
“This is it!” Twilight exclaims, trotting toward the entrance as the rest of her friends reach the top. “We’re finally here, guys!”
“Well, I'll be,” Applejack chuckles as she gazes up at the towering monoliths. “Hippogriffs, here we come!”
“Time to rest my hooves!” Rarity says, sighing in relief as she catches up with the others.
However, their enthusiasm quickly disappears when they enter the city and look around. The place looks abandoned and overgrown, the aviary-inspired buildings cracked and falling apart. Trees grow out of collapsed walls and roofs, and foliage scales the walls and the stone street. The fog creates an eerie feeling in the city, making it look even more desolate.
“Are we sure this is the right place?” Rarity wonders, eying a cracked pot covered in cobwebs. A spider skitters out, and she quickens her pace to rejoin the others.
“Hello?!” Applejack calls out, only getting her echoed voice back. “Is anypony home?!”
“No Hippogriffies here!” Pinkie says, looking through a window. She then pops up behind a building and then another a few times, moving all around the city. “Or here! Or here! Or here or here or here! Waaaaaiiit!” She drops down in front of Twilight, lifting a small rock before putting it down. “Nope! This place is emp-ty!”
“But... Celestia... the map,” Twilight says, looking around for something, anything. “They have to be here!”
“Wait, didn’t Capper mention there hasn’t been any activity here for decades?” Tionic wonders, eyeing a building that was about to collapse. “That would explain why the place looks like a ghost town.”
“A g-g-g-g-ghost town?!” stammers Fluttershy, her eyes shrinking in fear. She nearly goes skyward when she feels something touch her shoulder, but she quickly calms when she sees it’s just Rainbow laying a hoof on her shoulder and not some corporeal entity.
“Flutters, ghosts don’t exist,” She says, hoping to soothe her old friend’s nerves. “There’s no need to be afraid of something that -!”
Distant humming echoes through the city, the sound bouncing around the place and making it hard to tell where it was coming from. Fluttershy squeaks and clamps into a ball, trembling like a leaf hanging onto a branch.
“…the universe just had to prove me wrong, huh?” She questions with a bored expression. Sonic rolls his eyes as he walks over to the two mares.
“You do realize that you’ve seen real ghosts, right?” Sonic deadpans, jabbing at Rainbow’s shoulder. He kneels to Fluttershy’s level and slowly rubs her pink mane. “Or did you forget that trip to that old mansion I told you about when I was the Werehog? Also, I believe a certain plumber and his brother would disagree with you.”
“…okay, you’ve got a point.”
“It sounds like it’s coming from…” Tionic closes his eyes as his ears twitch and swivel around. He locks onto the humming and his eyes snap open, and he points toward a building built into the side of the mountain blocked by some rubble. “…over there!”
Heading over, they scale the rocks to find a way in, which Twilight does and gestures to the others to follow her. Lighting her magic, she heads in to discover a spacious cave behind the rubble, and the humming gets louder. Once everyone joins her, they head further in, and when they reach the end of the cave, they see something amazing.
The rubble transitions to a room in the shape of a dome, with designs and glyphs etched and painted into the stony material. Two horse heads are placed on either side of the massive room, the water flowing from its back giving it the illusion that it had a flowing mane. The water splashes into a pool, and stairs lead from the entrance and into the water. Another set of stairs is on the other side, leading to a balcony that overlooks the pool. In the middle of the pool sits a large, glowing pink flower, where the source of the humming was coming from.
As the group descend the stairs, the glow turns out to be a figure of some sort, but they were too far to tell what exactly. Unfortunately, Pinkie stepped on a fragile part of a step, sending the piece tumbling down the steps.
The figure’s head snaps up in alarm as it gasps. “What was that?!” The figure exclaims, before diving into the water.
“Hey, wait up!” Pinkie exclaims, bouncing down the stairs and jumping into the pool after it. “Cannonball!”
“Pinkie!” Twilight exclaims, rushing down the steps and wading into the water. The others follow suit, but Sonic and Tionic stay on the step right above the water and watch from there. After a moment, Pinkie then resurfaces and spits out some water. “She's gone!”
Then something flushes, making everyone look around in confusion while Twilight just groans.
“Now what?” The flower in the middle rises and closes before disappearing underwater. Like pulling a plug in a sink, the water drains down the opened hole and drags the girls and Spike in.
“Girls, Spike!” Tionic exclaims, diving into the water. “Grab ahold of each other! I’ll pull you out!”
They do so, and he dives into the swirling water. Tionic quickly latches onto Rarity and starts swimming toward the edge. Despite pulling six ponies and a dragon, he manages to get some headway, but the pull of the water is too strong and it pulls them back into the vortex.
“Oh, I’m gonna regret this, aren’t I?” Sonic groans. He wills himself to move and jumps in the water. The cold water shocks him as it seeps into his quills, but he doesn’t dwell on it. He grabs Tionic’s arm, but before he can do anything, Pinkie reaches the center and gets pulled down the spout, dragging everyone along with her.
“I knew I should’ve stayed at home today!” Spike exclaims before he’s pulled under. Everyone is sent tumbling down the spout, their sense of direction lost in the chaos. It comes to a halt when they’re dumped into an underwater cave, the water stagnant and unmoving. Everything is plunged into darkness as something blocks the light from entering the water cave, and in their shock, everyone had swallowed a lot of water, greatly diminishing the amount of time they could hold their breath.
Even though they were underwater, they could still hear the dreaded music playing as if they were wearing headphones. Twilight’s lungs burn from the lack of oxygen, but she can only float there and watch her friends drown through dimming consciousness. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Tionic struggling to reach her, his movements slowing down. With a last push, he propels himself forward and grabs her hoof. The last thing she saw was Tionic giving her a small smile before her eyes roll back into her head and everything fades to black…
…
…
…
“GAAAAAASP!!!”
Twilight takes a deep breath of air as a bubble appears around her head, and the pain in her lungs slowly fades. She then hears a series of strange sounds before the audible hacking of her friends reaches her ears. With her eyes now focused, Twilight can see that her friends all have the same air bubble around their heads and are taking deep breaths.
“Way to leave it to the last minute, Twilight!” Sonic exclaims, slowly getting his breath back after his coughing fit. “It’s not like I wasn’t traumatized enough by water!”
“I didn't make these bubbles!” Twilight says, poking her bubble. “I don’t know a water-breathing spell, since they’re so rare to come by!”
“Then…” Fluttershy pants. “…who did?”
“I don’t know, but what I do know,” Rarity says, pointing to Twilight and Tionic. “Is that Tionic hasn’t let go of Twilight’s hoof.”
Looking down, everyone can see that Tionic is holding her hoof, and as soon as they realize what they were doing, they quickly let go and pull their arms back.
“S-s-sorry!” Tionic exclaims, his face flushed with embarrassment. “I-I kinda just… reached out… and, uh, y-you were the closest.”
“No, i-it’s alright,” Twilight mumbles, her face in a similar color of red. “I didn’t mind…”
Despite her mumbling, Tionic had heard her loud and clear. But before he could process what Twilight said, something swims behind them, spooking the others as they huddle together. Tionic’s embarrassment is quickly replaced with caution, and he swims in front of Twilight, glaring into the darkness. His quills light up, bathing the area in a soft blue glow.
“Who’s there?!” Tionic exclaims into the inky darkness. “If you come out, I promise you won’t get hurt!”
Out of the gloom, a ball of light materializes in the water, mesmerizing the group. The light is alive, moving in ways that appear to be those of a cautious creature. Twilight swims ahead but stops when Tionic places a hand on her shoulder.
“Be careful, Twilight,” He mutters, and she nods before turning to the orb again.
“Hello?” She ventures, curious if this orb of light could speak. “We're looking for the Hippogriffs.”
To her surprise, it responds. “How do I know I can trust you?” The apprehension in its voice, which she could tell was female, was evident. Not only that, it was apparent that it was the same one of the figure singing back at the pond.
“Please,” Twilight pleads, hoping this creature could somehow help them find the Hippogriffs. “The Storm King invaded our land, and we need their help.”
“The Storm King?!” It exclaims, and it swims forward, revealing itself to be a butter-yellow merpony with a turquoise mane and tail fin. She has red, gossamer-like wings, fading to her skin color close to where the joint connected. The light was a strand of her mane that emitted it, and above the fins on the sides of her head is a type of floral hair tie, but with a pink coral. A red necklace hangs from her neck, housing a brilliant pearl. Her turquoise eyes are wide with excitement as she circles the group. “I'm so glad I saved you guys! I'm totally taking you to my mom!”
“Would your mom know where we can find the hippogriffs?” Twilight asks, but instead of answering, the newcomer grabs her left hoof and pulls her alongside her. Acting fast, Sonic grabs Applejack and Rarity, Rainbow grabs Fluttershy and Pinkie, and Tionic gestures to Spike to climb on his back. Seeing what they were doing, Rarity holds onto Fluttershy’s tail, Pinkie grabs Tionic’s leg, and Tionic latches onto Twilight’s right hoof.
The newcomer giggles. “My mom might have an idea of where the hippogriffs are! Oh, and my name’s Skystar!”
“Well then, it’s nice to meet you, Skystar!” Tionic grins. “Thanks for the save earlier. We would’ve drowned had you not come along when you did.”
“You’re welcome, uh…” Skystar stops. “…wait, I don’t think I got your names.”
“Right, we almost drowned a minute ago, so introductions weren’t as important,” Tionic chuckles. “Anyway, the mare you’re dragging is Twilight…”
“Nice to meet you!”
“…the dragon on my back is Spike….”
“What’s up?”
“…the one holding my leg is Pinkie Pie…”
“Hi there!”
“…behind her is Rainbow Dash…”
“Fastest flier in Equestria, at your service.”
“…then Fluttershy…”
“H-hello…”
“…Rarity…”
“A pleasure, Darling.”
“…Sonic…”
“Yo!”
“…Applejack…”
“Howdy, partner!”
“…and I’m Tionic.”
“Oh, you guys have some cool names!” Skystar giggles, and she surges forward. Her grin grows when the cave starts to widen. “Ooh, we’re almost there!”
Skystar lets go of Twilight’s hoof, leaving her and the others to swim on their own as she surges ahead. The group let go of each other to swim on their own, except Sonic, who just latches onto Rainbow for dear life. His wife just rolls her eyes, chuckling at the way Sonic acted as she wraps her hooves around her husband’s midsection. When the group rounds a corner, they’re greeted by a sight to behold – an expansive underwater cavern that could easily fit two Canterlot Castles inside and still have more than enough space to move around.
At the top of the cavern hangs a coral palace that looked like it had been meticulously grown over decades in such a way to create this wonder of nature. The bottom holds up the largest building here, a bulb-like room with two extensions underneath that glows a soft pink. This was most likely the throne room, and where the queen of these ‘seaponies’ resided.
As the Mane Seven and Co. stare in awe at the sight, merponies watch them from the floor of the cavern, cautious of the creatures that they’d never seen before. They follow Skystar to the underside of the bulb and go through the hole, which leads to the throne room.
It’s made entirely out of coral, with various shades of pink, orange, and purple, everywhere. Three blue jellyfish with incredibly long stingers float on both sides of the room, and another near the roof is a larger white variant that holds a mass of blue tentacles on the inside. In front of the entrance they swam through, two lines of purple coral that lead to a purple throne shaped like an open flower, and a gold bottom.
On it lies a pure white seapony with a purple tail and back fins, light blue hoof and ear fins, a very light baby blue collar, and a magenta mane that fades to purple at the end. Three light blue strands protrude from her forehead, the largest two emitting light and a golden crown sits in front of them. She looks bored, as her eyes are closed and her head resting on her hoof.
“Mother, look what I found!” Skystar exclaims, swimming up next to her.
“Is it another shell?” Her mother asks, cracking an eye open a little. She rubs her head and sighs.
“Mm-mm,” Skystar shakes her head.
“Because I am telling you if it is another shell, I am—!” Skystar’s mother gasps when she lays eyes on the Mane Seven and Co. “Princess Skystar, what have you done?! You know surface dwellers are forbidden here! Guards!”
The group gasps as five spear-wielding guards surround them in an instant. Tionic swims in front of Twilight, and Sonic and Rainbow take a spot around their friends.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Tionic exclaims, slapping a spear away from his face only for it to return even closer. He rips the spear out of the guard’s hooves and snaps it in half. The guard flinches at this, and the glare Tionic was giving him wasn’t helping his nerves. “Take it easy! We haven’t done anything to you!”
“No, no, n-no! M-M-Mom, please!” Skystar begs, trying to calm her mother down before things got out of hoof. “It’s not like that! The Storm King is trying to destroy their home, too!”
“We need to find the Hippogriffs,” Twilight explains. “Do you know what happened to them?”
“Well, of course I know, I'm the queen,” Skystar’s mother says, placing a hoof on her chest. “I know everything.”
“Oh, oh, it's such a good story!” Skystar says excitedly, swimming up to a wall between the blue jellyfish.
“Don't you dare tell them!” Her mother warns, glaring at her daughter, but her warning falls flat.
“Once upon a time, like, a while ago, the Hippogriffs did live on Mount Aris,” Skystar begins, waving a hoof over the wall. It reacts to her hoof as a picture of Mt. Aris appears, a few griffon-like creatures surrounding the mountain, presumably hippogriffs.
“Did I not say don't tell them?” Her mother groans, holding her head in her hooves. “But hey, I'm just the queen. Don't mind me.”
“Fine, I can't tell you!” Skystar humphs, but then circles the next section. “But if I could tell you, I'd say that that horned beast did show up to steal their magic!” Another picture appears, this time of the Storm King. Though it was just a picture, the gaze sent shivers down the Mane Six’s backs, while Sonic and Tionic’s quills bristle from instinct.
“Seriously?” Novo deadpans as she returns to her 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!” She circles the next one, and a hippogriff with a striking resemblance to Skystar’s mother appears. The last one she circles reveals the underwater cave they were in, the seaponies, or hippogriffs, as they had realized by now, drawn around the castle. “We are... well, we were the Hippogriffs! Ta-da!” She then swims close to the group, holding a hoof to the side of her cheek. “But I totally did not tell you that!”
“Well, I guess the pearl is out the oyster now,” Her mother sighs, and gestures to herself. “I am Queen Novo, leader and ruler of the Hippogriffs.”
“Hold on, now,” Applejack swims up a little to gain their attention. “Lemme get this straight. When the Storm King came, ya just abandoned yer entire city and fled?”
“I think I can tell you why, Applejack,” Tionic pipes up, and all eyes turn to him. He locks his gaze with Novo’s as he speaks. “The way I see it, you care deeply for your subjects, Queen Novo. So when the Storm King came and threatened to take over, you had two options – stay and fight the invading army, or escape somewhere the army couldn’t find you.” Tionic mentally pats himself on the back as Novo’s eyes widen ever so slightly, indicating that his suspicions were right.
“Seeing that you didn’t want to lose any of your subjects, you chose the latter option and fled here via the water caves,” Tionic gestures out the window back to the cave entrance. “When the army arrived, they discovered a city with no one there and quickly lost interest. But I’m guessing you felt it wasn’t a good idea to go back to the surface and risk being invaded again, so you stayed here and built a home for your kind.”
The throne room sits in silent awe for a moment. Everyone stares at the Spark, marveling at his ability to quickly piece together what happened with so little information. Queen Novo’s shock soon turns to admiration as a smile graces her face.
“I will admit, I didn’t expect you to guess what happened so perfectly,” She says, her smile turning to a grin. “Your looks defy the wisdom you hold, creature.”
“Thank you, your MajesteeEEE,” Tionic forgets he’s underwater and does a front flip instead of a bow. Everyone chuckles as he rights himself and clears his throat. “Anyway, I take pride in my talents, and I don’t know where I’d be today without them.”
“I know a good leader when I see one,” Novo praises. “Keep this up, and you may be a ruler sooner than you think.”
“Pfft, yeah, I’m not cut out for running a nation,” Tionic chuckles, imagining himself sitting on a throne wearing a golden crown and velvet cape, a scepter in his hand. The thought makes him snort. “Yeah, nope. Anyway, enough about me. What I’d like to know is how you became seagriffs. Last time I checked, no living being can just change their body structure as you did.”
“Oh! Can we show them?” Skystar exclaims, stars in her eyes as she turns to her mother. “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,” Queen Novo chuckles at her daughter’s eagerness as she swims up to the roof where the white jellyfish floated. “I suppose I should make sure it still works.”
Novo and Skystar swim around the jellyfish, and just like the murals that appeared on the wall, it reacts to the seagriffs’ presence. The blue tentacles inside extend in a spiral, and the end opens to let a peach pearl radiating power sink into Novo’s waiting hooves. She places a hoof on top and rubs it once, stirring the power inside to come out. Skystar squeals at the sight, watching as the waves of peach energy roll off the pearl and bath the Mane Seven and Co.
The effects are immediate. The bubbles around their heads pop as the magic flows over them, changing their bodies in an instant to better suit the environment they were in. The girls’ back legs and tails fuse into merpony tails, and a stabilizing fin appears on their backs with their Cutie Marks emblazoned on both sides and glowing. Gills form just underneath their necks, and anypony with wings now had translucent ones, perfect for balance and moving well underwater.
But for Tionic and Sonic, it was different. There was no noticeable change to their bodies, except for the gills on their necks. Instead, blue, see-through platforms appear under their feet, and when Sonic lifts a foot, the platform disappears and reappears when he sets it down. The speedsters essentially had their own track under their feet and could run anywhere underwater now, the only limit being obstacles getting in their way.
“These fins are divine!” Rarity exclaims, admiring her new fins and scales, loving the beautiful sheen her mane gave off in the light.
“Hey, Applejack!” Rainbow exclaims, catching the farmer’s attention before she points to an outcropping of coral nearby. “Race ya to that coral!”
“Yer on!” Applejack exclaims, and swims off after Rainbow.
“Woo-hoo!” Pinkie cheers, looping around Fluttershy as if she was born a merpony. “Ooh! Try it, Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy giggles nervously, opting to float in the water. “Yay.”
“Guys? Guys?!” And Spike… well, he was turned into a pufferfish, and slowly floating upward. “What is...” He sucks in water, expanding to a ridiculous size. “...happening?!”
“Aw, so cute!” Fluttershy gushes, giggling as Spike struggles to figure out how to control himself.
Sonic, however, stood unmoving from his spot since the transformation, staring off into the nonexistent distance and mumbling to himself.
“I can move underwater as if I were on land, and I’m breathing literal water,” He mutters, his eye twitching. “I don’t know if I should feel happy, terrified, or both at the same time.”
“I think it’s awesome!” Tionic exclaims, looping around the hedgehog before stopping in front of him, a glint in his eye. “Now let’s see if I can be the first thing alive to break the sound barrier underwater!”
That snaps Sonic out of it, and his competitive attitude comes back in full swing as a cocky grin crosses his face.
“Oh, I’m not letting you take that title!” He exclaims, leaning down. Two platforms form under his hands, so revving up a Peel-Out was much easier. The platforms blink in and out of existence, creating a light show beneath his feet. “Try to keep up!”
And just like that, Sonic became the first thing alive to break the sound barrier underwater, closely followed by Tionic. The shockwaves from the double Water Boom weren’t as extreme as on land, but they still shook the cave and knocked loose rocks free from the ceiling. They loop around the cavern a few times but stop when they realized they were creating a whirlpool. They of course get a few glares from the Hippogriffs, and all they could do was chuckle nervously before zipping back to the throne room.
“This is amazing!” Twilight exclaims, swimming over to Novo, her gaze not leaving the pearl. “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!” She growls, holding the pearl closer to herself.
“But...”
“Honey, I'm sorry about your home. Truly, I am,” Novo says solemnly, but her face shifts into a glare. “But my responsibility is to protect my subjects. The pearl...” She holds it up, and the blue tentacles suck it back up. “Is not going anywhere.”
“But we've come all this way!” Twilight exclaims, hoping to reason with the queen. “And you can't just hide down here, trapped forever! There's so much you're missing!”
“We are one hundred percent okay with that!” She snaps. Chittering draws her attention as an orange squid with blue fins swims up to her, a few pieces of seaweed draped on one arm like a butler would a white cloth. “Yes, Jamal?”
Jamal chitters for a moment, her face lights up. “Ooh! Time for my seaweed wrap,” She swims out of the room via the open sides, and there are more chitters from Jamal as he follows. “Yes, a massage, too. Mama needs her deep tissue.”
With Novo gone, Twilight stares at the jellyfish holding the pearl, and her friends swim/walk over to her side.
“So that's it?!” Applejack exclaims, pushing her hat back down on her head before it floats off. “We left home for nothin'?”
“Oh, my gosh! Best... idea!” Skystar exclaims, and gestures to herself. “You can stay with us! Forever!” The Mane Seven and Co. cringe at the thought, but Skystar doesn’t notice their expressions. “There are so many things we can do! We can make friendship bracelets out of shells and... picture frames outta shells and... decorative wastebaskets out of shells... Oh, I have so many projects that involve shells, haha! Now I have someone new to share them with! I mean, aside from my friends, Shelly and Sheldon.”
“Right, Shelly, and Sheldon?” She holds up a pink and purple oyster shell in her hooves, googly eyes stuck to the tops. She shakes the shells respectively as she snorts, holding them out. “Get it?”
“She is one letter away from getting hit by a lawsuit from Nintendo,” Sonic mutters to no one in particular, a bored look on his face.
“That sounds lovely, darling,” Rarity says, gently pushing ‘Shelly’ and ‘Sheldon’ back. “But you must realize, we can't stay.”
“We've got our own families ta git back to,” Applejack explains. “We’d be abandoning ‘em if we stayed here.”
“Oh,” Skystar’s expression falls, but she forces it back to a cheery one. “Of course, of course. Heh. Of course you have your own friends back home. It's fine. It's fine! Shelly and Sheldon get jealous anyways. It's probably for the best. Yeah, I'll just, um... I'll get Mom to, uh, turn you back so you can go home.”
They watch as the young princess swims off, her expression nothing like how it was a few moments ago.
“I know we have to go, but you guys saw how disappointed Skystar was?” Pinkie asks. “Couldn't we stay for just a little longer?”
Applejack sighs. “Pinkie, we just don't have time for—”
“No, no, no,” Twilight suddenly says. “Pinkie's right.”
“Say what now?” Rainbow utters, wondering if she heard right. Tionic locks his gaze on the princess, and his mind starts running through the possibilities. Looking up, he realizes what Twilight is planning to do and quietly slinks behind one of the blue jellyfish.
“Well, we still need to come up with a plan to get back,” Twilight explains, pulling Pinkie aside. “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!”
She squees from the compliment.
“So, go ahead and show Skystar the best time ever!”
“I won't let you down!” Pinkie exclaims, saluting before swimming off to find Skystar.
“I'm counting on it,” Twilight nods, and watches her friends leave. Right as they’re out of sight, she turns around and swims back to where the pearl was, but what she didn’t see was Tionic come out from behind the coral he hid behind and follow her. She’s about to go for the pearl when Tionic zips in front of her, making her jump back in surprise.
“Twilight, I know what you’re trying to do, and I’m not gonna let you do it," Tionic frowns, folding his arms. “This is a stupid idea, and you know it!”
“Tionic, please move!” Twilight begs, trying to get around him. “This is the only way to save Equestria!”
“By stealing a magical artifact from a hidden civilization?!” Tionic sidesteps in her way again and places a hand on her chest to hold her back. “Do you have any idea what that would do to the relationship between Equestria and Seaquestria?!”
“I’m only borrowing it!” Twilight exasperates, flailing her hooves in an attempt to reach the pearl. “I’ll put it back after I save Equestria with it!”
“And what are you gonna use it for?” Tionic shoots back. “Turn all of Equestria into seaponies and relocate them to the sea?! That’s just a nationwide evacuation, and you’ll be upending countless lives because you think ‘this is the only way’! And what about the Storm King? He’ll still be around after that, and he’ll continue to come after you and threaten everyone in the process until he gets what he wants. As far as I know, that pearl doesn’t have a weapon system.”
“But I -!” Twilight starts, but what Tionic said made her stop and think for a moment. The points he was making made sense, and she was beginning to see the error in her decision. “I... I didn’t think that far ahead...”
“Exactly, you weren’t thinking,” Tionic frowns, then sighs. “Look, there are so many other ways to save Equestria and defeat the Storm King, but this isn’t one of them. You need to think through things fully before deciding which option is the best one.”
“You’re still growing as a princess, Twilight,” He continues, kneeling and placing a hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. “You’re going to make mistakes, but you’ve got to remember that you aren’t the only one who’s doing the saving – you have friends to turn to. Just look at what Pinkie’s done already.”
Tionic gestures out of the room, and they spot Pinkie, the girls, Sonic, and what seems like every hippogriff in the city doing a dance routine together, fish and lights all around them. Even Queen Novo was with them, swimming through the water with her daughter in perfect harmony.
“She’s already made friends with all of the hippogriffs, and it looks like she’s even convinced Queen Novo to help us,” Tionic smiles, watching everyone having a great time together. “You see? We don’t need some pearl to save Equestria, you already have the one thing you need – your friends.”
Twilight looks back out the window, and giggles. “You’re really good at this, aren’t you?”
“Talking others out of dumb ideas and giving pep talks comes with the package deal of a leader,” Tionic smirks, standing up. “And leaders have to stick together, right?”
“I guess you’re right,” She says slowly, but she was still hesitant. “Maybe we should join the girls and Sonic, it seems like they’re having—”
She never finishes. The room turns red, and an alarm starts to blare, shocking the pair. Without warning, tentacles wrap around Twilight, trapping her and restricting her movements. What makes it worse was that these were stinging tentacles, excreting poison and shocking Twilight.
“AAAGGHH!” She screams. The poison was not only a paralyzing agent, but it also melted her fins off, rendering them useless and putting her in extreme pain.
“Twilight!” Tionic shouts. He dashes to the tentacles holding her and pulls, despite the shocks coursing through his nervous system and the smell of burning flesh reaching his nose. “Hold on, I’ll get you out of this!”
Right as he says that, Novo, Skystar, Sonic, the girls, and a multitude of hippogriffs come into the room. Novo’s grim expression hardens, and her frown deepens into a scowl.
“All of this so you could sneak in and take the pearl?!” She exclaims and swims over to deactivate the alarm.
“No!” Tionic shouts, still trying to pull the tentacles off Twilight, still enduring the poison. “She didn’t even touch the damn thing! Your faulty security system was activated for no reason, other than us being in here!”
“That ‘faulty’ system can detect the intentions of anyone in the room,” Novo growls, pulling the orb out of its cradle. The lights stop and the tentacles retract, leaving Twilight to sink to the floor. Tionic catches her, and Sonic, Spike, and the girls swim/run over to them. “Meaning, if somegriff has intentions to steal the pearl, it will slowly creep up on the perpetrator and capture them without notice.”
“Wait, what?” Tionic freezes, and the pieces click. He slowly turns to Twilight. “You… you were still gonna steal it… even after I talked to you about how it was a bad idea?!”
She tries to look away, but the poison had fried her nerves and she can only shut her eyes. Tionic is conflicted, mad that Twilight was about to betray him, but worried about the state she was in. His powers show up as those emotions built up inside, but this time, electricity bounces from his lit quills.
“This is why we don't bring strangers into our home!” Novo says to Skystar, then she glares at Twilight and the others, who have conveniently gathered together. “You don't deserve to be one of us.”
She aims the pearl at them, and a bright flash of peach-colored light envelopes the group.