A Merpony's Adventure

The light above the water grew dimmer causing the rocks along the floor to light up in a pattern. Twilight blinked as she silently moved along, she kept quiet as Star was watching and paying attention to the currents. Twilight however was paying attention to the rocks as they brought her to a large pile gathered around a cave. Bottle and crystals hung from the ceiling as moss and kelp grew along the rocks. Moving into the cave she noticed it looked exactly like the space she had in Selene’s mind. Just the cave had more books. Star quickly moved along the shelves as Twilight sat on the small bed.

“I don’t know why she gave you that”

“What do you mean? She was trying to help” Twilight opened the book in her hooves as Star rolled her eyes.

“You're going up a tainted sea witch. One who can control the shadows. The very same shadow you are learning about” Star let out a sarcastic comment as Twilight closed the book.

“What am I supposed to do then Star?”

“Faust tears were rumored to be given to her sister Harmony to create jewels to bring peace and healing among the land, during the time of chaos and sickness. It said that healing was what brought merponies to life as the cold and harmful creatures would kill a merpony once they left the cave creating nothing but death” Star spoke up as she rummage the shelves moving bottles and tossing books. Twilights ears went up as she looked towards Star.

“Wait you said Jewels of peace and healing”

“Yeah”

“Are you talking about the elements of harmony?” Star stopped and groaned. We had Faust tears this entire time!” she banged her head against the shelf.

“What do we need to do?”

“How fast can the princesses get their and back” Star smiled as Twilight shrugged “Well shit” Star went back to moving different potions cursing under her breath. As Star was pulling out different potions and placing them back Twilight drifted off into a daydream. Selene was leaning up against her. Turning her head she noticed how weaker she looked. Ribs were showing as her eyes were sunken in.

“How are you feeling?”

“Tired”

“We’re still searching”

“It will be too late” her voice was fading. Twilight was pulled from the daydream as Star shook her.

“I found my last bottle” she held up a small bottle of a glowing blue liquid.

“That means”

“I can make the potion but we need to come up with how we are going to give it to her.”

“Selene looked bad”

“Let's get the potion made” Star smiled as she moved to the cauldron holding her hooves up. As Twilight moved closer to take notes Selene was sitting in the library reading as it was the rare moment the witch allowed her to take over. She let out a soft sigh as she was holding one of the few books she could read as Sapphire came in bowing before placing a tray of kelp and some coral in front of her with grilled fish.

“Eat” the witch appeared beside her as Selene looked towards her as Sapphire left the room.

“Why are you making me eat? Didn’t you want me to die?”

“Now why would I want my host to die?” she looked down at Selene who was holding a book in her hooves “you're holding the book upside down” her voice was calm as Selene looked down at the book.

“I can barely read it”

“That’s because you have not eaten unless I ate,” she noticed Selene was closing the book causing the witch to sit beside her “You know if my tail wasn’t black it would be green” this made Selene look up towards the witch.

“You were a healer?”

“A powerful one.”

“Then what happened?”

“Eat and I will tell you” the witch pointed to the food causing Selene to move towards it. She sighed and started to pick at the food. The witch smiled as she sat across from her.

“During the plague the mad King Midas. He was the fourth ruler of Maremuda and”

“Wait but the fourth King was King May?”

“No King May was the fifth King. The history of King Miads apparently has disappeared from history. Now King Midas was the ruler during the time of the plague. This is where he obtained the title of the mad king. This is where things go south for us healers. I say this because there are two types of ponies who can use magic. the rulers and the healers. King Midas grew mad with the plague and thought we were after him. this made him curse us with the plague. He cursed any green tail born in Maremuda with the plague. This plague he cursed us with causes us to grow mad as he did”

“Is that why you attack other merponies?” Selene had finished her food as the witch nodded.

“I was after the damn trident the King used on us when I ran into you. When I ran into you my sanity disappeared and the plague took over. I was not in my mind and when I attacked you I apparently activated the seal on the necklace you are wearing. That is when things get complicated” the witch smiled as Selene looked up towards her.

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“I haven’t been in my right mind till now. You have been too far from the sea and that bloody Star or whatever you call her is not in my way” she huffed as Selene pushed the tray away from her as she let out a yawn.

“You haven’t been resting have you?”

“No, I been busy watching. Why don’t you let me get you into the kingdom?” this made the witch stop and stare at her as she laughed.

“They know your curse has been active. They won’t let you in” she huffed as Selene glanced around.

“I can take you to my grandmother’s cave. I know it has more books and potions.” She watched as the witch smiled.

“That cave does have the spell that freed Skelly from this curse”

“Skelly has a temper”

“We all do” the witch chuckled. She smiled as Sapphire moved back in bowing.

“The plan is going smoothly”

“Sapphire get the witches ready for a sneaky attack. We just want to get to the castle to break the trident. I do not want to kill unless we need to. Right now Selene here is taking me to her grandmother’s cave” the witch smiled as Sapphire nodded. Selene got up from the table placing the book down before leaving the castle in the wall.

“Can you keep yourself together?”

“If there is no one from Maremuda around” Selene nodded as she moved through the trenches noticing the light above was missing. As she reached the top of the trench her eyes started to scan the seafloor for glowing rocks. Once she found the rocks Selene moved from the trench slowly. her eyes were scanning the area before continuing on. She took it slow as she moved towards the cave. Once she made it to the mouth of the cave she entered it slowly allowing the witch to form beside her.

“So this was the cave that merpony lived in” she huffed before moving to the shelves. Selene’s ears twitched as she heard whispers in the next room.

“I am going to check on the cauldron”

“Fine” the witched huffed as Selene entered the next room. glancing around she rubbed her head as she looked back to the witch as she moved shelves. Before moving her head she noticed a tail hiding behind the cauldron.

“So King Midas. Do you think my father’s vault will have information on him?”

“I doubt it. He was known as the Mad king. That jackass of a pufferfish could have hidden his information anywhere” she growled as Selene noticed the twitch in the witch’s eye.

“Are you okay?”

“I smell a fish from Maremuda” she growled turning her head. they were still alone in the cave.

“But we're alone. There are merponies from Maremuda.” She watched as the witch let out a loud growl before letting out a huff “You really lose your sanity over a merpony from Maremuda” Selene was making sure her voice was loud enough as she noticed Star and Twilight were watching them from the cauldron.

“Like I said we are cursed with the plague. It’s a bitch to live with as you have your mind and you trying to act like everything is okay. And then the next you want to attack and kill the merpony beside you because they're from another kingdom. Or because you have no impulse control due to the bloody plague” she noticed Selene was in a corner looking up at her.

“Were fine. No pony is here so if I do lose control we just damage some books” she smiled as Selene looked away from the witch.

“There is nothing here on King Midas. I can’t even find the book that has the bloody spell that merpony used on Skelly”

“But the spell didn’t turn Skelly back to her original green tail. She is a sea reaper with no memory of the life before”

“I rather forget about being a healer and what the Mad King did to me and my healers. I hate this plague he put on us. I want to rest! I want to make sure the other healers are no longer hunted. I want them no longer go crazed when they're near the bloody kingdom” the witch hissed as she got in Selene’s face.

“Okay, I get it. You want to have your sanity. Do you want my grandmother’s spellbook? Look for the words Roseate. She wrote her name on the side of the book” Selene waved her hoof at the witch.

“Wait the queen of Maremuda, Queen Roseate is your grandmother?” the witch let out a chuckle “No wonder I had hell trying to take over.” The witch kept snickering as she let a breath out “Well since the information we need isn’t here let's prepare for a raid of the castle tonight”

“Why tonight? I thought sapphire said tomorrow was the party?”

“Yeah but the kingdom will be heavily guarded. Plus you can sneak in easily” the witch smiled as Selene let out a gulp.

“What if they catch me”

“I’ll take over and pull us into the shadow” the witch smiled as she left the cave causing Selene to shake her head. she groaned before following the witch leaving Twilight and Star to sneak out of their hiding spot.

“So the witches aren’t witches but cursed healers” Star looked towards Twilight “How good are you when it comes to research?” she noticed Twilight’s eyes lighting up as a smile formed on her face.

“I can do research. But I never heard of this King”

“We will half to ask King Triton” Star picked up the large bottle they made before leaving the cave. Twilight stayed close to Star as they moved back towards the kingdom. Once they got to the wall Twilight could see ponies already started the celebration. Taking a breath in she moved into the crowd looking for King Triton but was pulled to the side.

“Here you are my student” Celestia smiled as Twilight looked up at her.

“Princess Celestia! Have you seen King Triton?”

“I have not. The last place I saw him was at the castle” she pointed towards the castle watching Twilight shot away from her. Twilight moved through the houses as Star followed her. Twilight was panting as she reached the castle where Triton was talking to a few guards.

“Ahhh Twilight the princesses are looking for you” he smiled as Twilight stood up.

“King Triton can we speak to you?” she looked up towards him as he waved the guards off.

“You know the new routes” he spoke up watching them leave before turning to Twilight “What do you need to talk to me about?” he smiled as Twilight sighed.

“Who is King Midas” she watched as he looked around before nodding down the hall.

“Follow me” he was short as Twilight followed him towards his office. Triton pushed the door to his office open as he moved over to a large silver vault-like door. Twilight watched as he pulled the door open.

“King Midas is a touchy subject here in Maremuda. And when I say touchy I mean no one knows of him. It was around the time of the revolt and the plague. We lost a lot of history back then. What is left of him is in here with the rest of the history that was almost lost” King Triton looked over at Twilight “Why do you need this?”

“we may found another solution to save Selene” his eyes widen as he looked towards the vault.

“I will send your friends and the princesses this way. Tell me what you find” he disappeared leaving Twilight and Star to themselves.

“Yes,” Twilight smiled as she dived into the books causing Star to stare as she had six books floating around her quickly.

“Oh boy”