The sea serpent, towering over the nearby trees, finished yawning, stretched, and glanced around his surroundings, no doubt looking for the clopping noise that had woken him from his afternoon siesta. His eyes, each the size of a pony's head, settled on Daring Do. She tensed up, ready to bolt.
"Well hello there!" the huge creature said, in a friendly manner huge creatures rarely take when speaking with their food, "my name's Steve! Welcome to the Everfree forest!"
"Um..." said Daring Do, not sure what to think of being addressed by a Sea Serpent as though she weren't edible, "hi, I'm Daring Do." Still ready to flee, she took in his strange appearance.
Besides having an enormously long, snake-like body, he was covered in sharp purple scales, had long, slender front legs, ending in claws, a gator-like snout, and, curiously enough, a large, well groomed golden mane, and a large, well groomed golden mustache. From his left... ear? fin? Whatever it was, from it hung his sole piece of apparel, an earring, that included, curiously enough, a dangling bit of wavy indigo hair.
"Well look at you," eying Daring Do as though she were less an intrepid pony adventurer, and more a plaintively mewing kitten, "you're a little explorer, aren't you? But you're missing..." Steven glanced a little down river, and quickly snatched up Daring Do's pith helmet, which, borne by the wave, was making an escape from its danger-prone owner. "There you go!" He set the wet hat upon Daring Do's substantially wetter head. "A perfect little explorer! So, are you exploring the forest? There's plenty to see here!"
"Perhaps later," Daring Do said, relaxing her guard only the slightest bit, "I'm looking for the castle of the royal sisters."
"Ohhh," Steve said as flamboyantly, "that's the first place I'd recommend! That place has so much history behind it!"
"Excellent," said Daring Do, "history is what I'm after."
Steve the Sea Serpent delicately lifted Daring Do out of the water, and onto the other shore. "It's just over that way," Steve said, pointing in what was almost the right direction. "It seems everypony who comes this way is headed there," Steve said, twirling the hair on his earring idly.
"Other ponies have come this way recently?" Daring asked, her eyebrow arched quizzically.
"Yes," Steve said, "there was a little group of ponies who passed by earlier today, and the one who did the talking had the cutest little accent! Before that, was that one time when the sun seemed a little late to rise."
"Huh," said Daring, familiar with the story of the Nightmare's defeat, "you met the elements?"
"The what?" Steve asked, a confused look on his face, "all I know is, one of them helped me out of a terrible situation! A black cloud had flown by, and mutilated my moostahsh!"
"Uh... huh..." Daring Do said, processing what she'd just heard, "You said some ponies headed up to the castle. Have they come back yet?"
"Not yet," said Steve.
"Well then, it's been fun, but I really must dash." Quietly, Daring added in her head. Daring dashed quietly towards the castle.
"Have fun!" Steve's shout was as loud as it was cheerful, as he waved goodbye.