It's a beautiful afternoon in the sea kingdom of Seaquestria. Novo is busy interacting with her daughter and the Mane Six when Sky Star brings up the biggest question of all. "Momma, where do hippogriffs come from?" Novo then looks at her daughter shocked then smiles. She then begins her story as her daughter and the Mane Six sit and listen.
"Once upon a time, there was a Hippogriff named Rubius who fell in love with a mermare named Pearl Crystal. They were rulers of two kingdoms that absolutely despised each other. They spent several hours a day together until eventually, Pearl Crystal gave away her fins to be with him. She then became a normal pony but Rubius loved her all the same. The two then had a child, my grandfather, Rudius. You see, your great grandmother's mermare blood transferred to my grandfather. Due to her DNA in his system, he was able to swap between his merstallion and hippogriff forms. That ability has since been passed down to all seaponies."
"Whoa!" says Sky Star wide-eyed. "That's so cool!"
"For sure!" bursts out Rainbow Dash.
"Hush you two, let me continue my story," replies Novo. She then continues. "A few years later, my grandfather met my grandmother, another hippogriff named Helena. The two then fell in love, got married, and gave birth to my father, Rubius Albertus and his little sister, Pearlina. They too had the special ability to change between seapony and hippogriff forms. Fifteen years later, my father met my mother, a unicorn mare named Majesty. Two years after their marriage, they gave birth to me and just like my grandfather and great-grandfather and even my father, I had the ability to transform between hippogriff and seapony forms. Ever since then, that gene has continued down our family tree until you, my daughter. Now you know about your ancestry, your past, and even more about me."
"Another question," says Sky Star, "whatever happened to daddy?"
"Well..." stutters Queen Novo. "I'll tell you when you're older on that one."
"Why wait? I'm old enough now," whines Sky Star.
"Fine... I'll tell you..." groans Queen Novo. "It was several years after we met that the hippogriffs went to war with a race of creatures known as the dark shadows. They were shadows made of solid shadow led by a king made of dark shadows. Your father led our soldiers, led the charge. I, however, stayed behind the lines because at the time I was pregnant with you. A few hours later, I got news that your father was killed in battle. I couldn't hold back my tears. I began crying immediately after I got the news. At least, he died in battle. At least, he died an honorable death. Alongside your father, several others died including one of his best soldiers, his baby brother, Captain Calanus. Yeah. That's how your father died. That's why you never met him."
"Wow!" says a shocked Sky Star. "I never knew. Why did you never tell me until now?"
"Because you were too young back then, too innocent," replies Queen Novo as she draws her daughter close to her in a great big hug.
"Well, I'm glad you finally told me the truth about our kind, my father, our lineage," replies Sky Star.
"And I'm glad to get it off my chest," replies her mother.
"Well, he's a hero, an honorable one at that," says Twilight Sparkle, breaking the silence.
"Indeed," replies Novo. "And I'm proud of him for that now. I wasn't back then. Back then, I thought he only died to get out of raising our child even if it was in battle. Now I know the truth, he couldn't help getting killed. Our enemy truly was fierce, truly deadly."
Queen Novo then pulls out a picture of her husband and hands it to Sky Star. "I want you to have this," she says with a smile.
"Thank you!" replies Sky Star with a giant smile as she embraces her mother in a great big hug. "I'll keep it close to me. Forever."
A few minutes later, the group all swims off to a nice dinner of seagrass stew. After they finish eating, the Mane Six go off and make some shell and sand dollar based crafts with Sky Star. "I bet it was nice for you to finally hear about your father, huh?" says Applejack. "I too know what it's like to lose parents. Both of mine are deceased. You're lucky to still have one that is alive."
"Wow," replies Sky Star. "I guess I never realized how truly lucky I am. Even so, I just wish I had gotten to meet my father."
"Well, I bet he's proud of you and the beautiful young seamare you've become," replies Applejack with a smile.
"Yeah, I sure hope you're right," replies Sky Star with a smile.
Meanwhile back in her throne room, Novo pulls out an old picture of her and her husband and rubs her fin across it. She then begins to cry. "Oh, honey, how I miss you! How much you've missed! Sky Star has grown up so much! If you were here, you'd be so very proud of her! She gets her stubbornness from you! I'll always miss you, you know. I know it's silly, but it's true." She then breaks into full-on tears as the picture falls onto the table beside her. "How I miss you! I miss you so much! So so so very much!"
A few minutes later, the sounds of her tears reach Sky Star's ear. "I'm sorry but I have to go," sighs the princess as she swims towards the throne room. Once in the room, Sky Star swims up to the throne and embraces her mother.
"You still miss him, huh? Don't you mom? But you need to be strong. You need to be strong, for me and for your seaponies," says Sky Star.
"I know," replies the queen, "but it's hard sometimes. It's hard not having your father around sometimes."
"Well, I never knew father, but I'm sure he'd hate to see you like this," replies Sky Star. "Now, let's go off to the spa. You need the time to relax." Queen Novo nods and follows her daughter to the spa. There, the two enjoy a nice massage and seaweed wrap. It's going to be a hard next few days for the two. As for the Mane Six, they are now back to their normal forms and are back on land heading off towards Canterlot to tell the princesses about their recent visit with the seaponies and all that they learned while there. They really and truly can't wait!
