Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, but here you go. Be sure to follow NineTailBeastBall for helping me out on this chapter and as always, thank you for your patience and support. Remember to stay tuned for more chapters to come in the future and as always, keep on bronying on.

Breaking Out of the Shell

If anyone from home was stuck on Mount Aris with you, they’d be colored impressed since you’ve been here for a week and still haven’t gone off the deep end. You did all you could to shut the persistent Princess Skystar, mainly by locking yourself in your castle room, but she just wouldn’t give up.

Sadly, you were at the end of your rope this morning, no longer sure if you even wanted to look for the purpose that you were sent here in order to find. Cut off from your mother and everything you were used to, everything in this world just seemed pointless. You’ve locked your bedroom door again this morning and for extra insurance that no one would interrupt what you were about to do, you pushed your bed to barricade the door. You’ve decided... to commit suicide.

To no surprise, as you got ready to walk out onto the balcony, you heard knocking on your door, followed by the knob shaking. “Hello?! Is everything alright in there? Hello?!”

Shutting out Skystar’s voice, you acted a little dramatic by taking small and slow steps to the balcony rails as you honored what were likely to be your last seconds of life. You stared down at the ocean waves crashing against the jagged rocks outside the castle grounds. You gripped the railings tight and hunched down, ready to take the big jump.

‘Were you going to do the same thing... Mother?’ you thought to yourself. ‘I can only hope my decision to get away from this nonsense will allow me to join you in the next world. Yeah... the afterlife is where we both belong.’

With no more hesitation, you leaped over the railing, paying no attention to the door even as it broke open. You closed your eyes, feeling the air rush to your face as you waited for your body to crash against the cold, hard earth below you so you could wash away in your eternal, watery grave. But as you opened your eyes to see why you suddenly stopped, you saw that something or rather someone had grabbed your shirt and was now carrying you down to safety.

You slowly looked around and groaned to see that Skystar had soared down in time to ruin your selfish plan. Evidently, the fact that she could carry you so easily proved she was definitely stronger than she was given credit for, and you sensed you’d be getting a painful lecture once she found a place to land.

“What were you thinking doing something like that?! You scared me to death!” Pinning you down by sitting on your chest, you braced yourself as she raised her shaking fist, but the strike didn’t come. Keeping her hand up as she continued to tremble, she just couldn’t bring herself to hurt you regardless of how selfish you were acting.

“Why did you catch me?” you demanded. It really looked like then that the girl was finally going to go through with the punch, but the only thing that touched your face were a couple of tears.

“How could you ask a question like that?! No one has the right to forfeit something as valuable as their life! Father already told you how lucky it is for a human to come to this world for a second chance to live and yet you want to throw away such a wonderful opportunity!?” Skystar scolded.

“What... What would your mother think if she found out that you were taking your new life for granted? That you were so easily willing to give up the chance to have it all? You think she’d be happy about that?!” she shouted, not realizing that she’s said too much. Very much infuriated, you grabbed her shoulders and forced her to get off of you.

“YOU SHUT UP!!!” you snapped, making her flinch. “You don’t even know my mother, so who the hell are you to tell me what she would think?! I was perfectly fine with dying... until I was brought back to life in this damn place! What do you expect me to do, live in a castle all my life like some spoiled freeloader bum?!” you snapped back.

Skystar has obviously lost all of her fiery spirit because of your yelling, and was left stuttering as she thought of something to say. “I... I...”

“That’s what I thought...” Thinking about your beloved mother during the awkward silence that passed, your fury had changed into grief and you joined the princess in crying. “The only reason I’m here is because I did a noble deed and paid the price for it. It just so happens there was someone else who was about to lose their life because some bastard was threatening her, and I took the bastard with me in order to be the big hero. I should be dead... but here I am. Alive... but forever cut off from everything and everyone I know.”

“It never feels good to be away from your loved ones. Believe me, I know... I never knew my biological father because he died when I was just a baby. But even without him in my life, I’ve learned that I have to look at the positive aspects of life. You were brought back to life for a reason: to start over, make some happy memories and new friends. Surely you must have some good qualities,” Skystar said, still unable to stop herself from crying.

You thought about your life back in the orphanage. You became hardened at a young age due to all the times you had to deal with bullies and a few families who gave up on you the second it looked like you were a lost cause. Naturally being around Skystar’s family was a completely unfamiliar experience since they treated you better than any other family by giving you food and a warm bed to sleep in. And if that wasn’t enough, the princess was going out of her way just to stop you, a man who she’s only known for a few days from committing suicide.

Even so, this was still a kingdom and living with a wealthy family sent all sorts of red flags through your mind. You’ve always despised high-classed people, especially since so many of them have shut you out, primarily, your own family. But even as cold of a man society has shaped you into becoming, upon looking at the crying princess, you knew for a fact that those weren’t crocodile tears she was shedding, but genuine ones.

“I... don’t have an answer for that...” you said, making no attempt to stop more tears from falling down your face. “To be honest, I’m not sure what to think anymore after everything that’s happened to me. I don’t know exactly how to act around people. The idea of having a friend, someone to count on seems so... foreign to me.”

You sat down to get a good look at the sea, figuring that even the fish in those waters were more capable of trust than you were. Meeting your mother was the closest you ever came to building a healthy relationship, and now she was gone.

“After what you just heard, can you look me and the eye and tell me that you still believe you’re capable of giving me hope? I’ve already had my life ruined once because of the way I was treated by rich and powerful families like yours when I was young.”

In response to your question, the princess scooted closer to you and rested her chin on your shoulder. This was completely new and unexpected for you and you felt your face heat up from the unfamiliar contact.

“Yes I can. Even if you don’t acknowledge it, there is so much within you that you can give. I truly do sympathize with you because of all the snobs you’ve put up with; But not all of the wealthy are like that. Even without him telling you, I’m sure after you met Father, you figured that there were plenty of other humans in this world. A couple of them lived a rich life as the husbands of Equestria’s princesses, and even though they’ve maintained their wealth after retiring, they’re still as kind and generous as ever. You just have to learn how to open yourself up to these things. I know it’s a long process, but I’ll never give up faith in your ability to pull it off,” Skystar encouraged.

Even though she stopped talking, she still hasn’t taken her head off of your shoulder and you didn’t know what to do or say. ‘What... What is this warm feeling? Am... Am I... happy?’ And as if that wasn’t enough, your chest was pounding faster and you were almost worried that Skystar would notice due to the close contact.

You’ve never experienced this type of feeling before in your life, and it left you frozen in place. But before the mood could be set in, you heard the sound of wings flapping. You and Skystar looked and saw Queen Novo descend. And judging from the way she was looking at you, it would only be a few seconds before she demanded an explanation for why her daughter was sitting so close to you.

“What is the meaning of this?” Novo asked, putting her hands on her hips. She may or may not be angry, but either way, she wanted some answers.

“Please don’t jump to conclusions, Mother,” Skystar said, being remarkably calm, albeit firm. Getting up, she stood between you and Novo, ready to protect you no matter how extreme things might get. “He already has enough on his mind because of the depression that I’ve been trying to help him with. We both got quite shaken up this morning since I stopped him from killing himself, so I figured that having a nice, long talk with him about it might ease the tension at least a little bit.”

The queen’s expression softened, but you turned away as quickly as it happened. “What are you even doing here?” you asked, already having enough to think about without Novo dropping in all of a sudden.

“I was on my way to visit my sister, but I grew curious when one of my guards said they heard Skystar here yelling in the hallway,” Novo said. She was most likely being patient and tolerating your disrespect because of what she just heard from her daughter. You took notice of this and for the first time, you didn’t look at the hippogriff queen as a narcissist who took joy in talking about her power.

“Sister?” you asked, no longer looking away.

“Oh, please forgive me for not telling you earlier, honey,” Novo said slightly embarrassed as she pointed at the ocean. “You see, when our kingdom was ravaged by that vile Storm King all those years ago, we were all forced to take refuge underwater. Of course, it was once again safe for us to return to the surface after he died, but some of my subjects preferred to remain in the ocean.”

Skystar giggled. “You should see my cousin Terramar. He’s never been satisfied with choosing one home. Even now, he likes to go back and forth.”

“At least your family is more organized than mine was... The only one who ever gave a shit about me and made an effort to find me was my mother...” you grumbled before clutching your face because of the nasty headache you were getting from all this talking.

Novo glared at you again. “I’m going to have to make it an order not to use such slander in my presence.”

“Hey, I’ve been through a lot growing up in an orphanage, okay? They took me in when I was just a plucky toddler and made me think that they would keep me safe and find me a good family. Well, they didn’t! Every parent figure, every person who I’ve looked up to for hope and guidance has either let me down or died! It’s been a long, difficult road and being pulled into this world has done little to ease my suffering! I’m not used to being around a genuinely nice family, albeit an egotistical one.”

“...I do beg your pardon?” Novo asked, more offended than ever. Skystar made sure to stand her ground in between you to keep things from getting ugly.

“Mother, please let it go. He’s not feeling himself today, so he’s bound to say things that he doesn’t actually mean.” Looking over her shoulder, Skystar arched an eyebrow from how you were grasping your head. “What is it?”

With your migraine getting worse, you couldn’t think of anything to say and just up on your feet to walk away.

You didn’t know where you were going, and you didn’t care. All you wanted was some alone time so this headache could clear up. With all you’ve seen so far, you had no reason to doubt Queen Novo’s story of building an underwater sanctuary, but visiting another new place was out of the question right now. Besides, you’ve never been swimming before and didn’t want to risk drowning.

“Nnngh!!! Damn it all! Why won’t the pain just stop?!” you grunted, your hands planted on your head. Even with as loud as you were being, you wouldn’t be making much of a scene since there was no one around. You’d rather be alone with a headache than be surrounded by those who would try and lecture you about hope.

Since you were distracted, you failed to acknowledge what was in front of you and ended up tripping on something. Spitting some sand out of your mouth, you got back up so you could get a good look at what made you fall down. “Who put this-” The rest of your upcoming sentence died the moment you turned around. As you began to doubt your widening eyes, you actually slapped yourself to make sure you weren’t hallucinating. As shocking as it was, you were convinced that what you had just tripped over... was your mother.

“No way... h-how did... but... this can’t be...” you stuttered. You leaned down and pressed your ear against her heart to check if she was alright. Her heartbeat was slow and weak, which naturally worried you. “Mother? MOTHER! Wake up! Come on! Open your eyes!” you yelled, but to no avail.

As you continued to try and wake her, the sound of your yelling had eventually attracted Skystar and Novo. “What’s going on?” the princess asked.

“This... This is my mother... For some reason she won’t wake up! You’ve got to do something, dammit!” you yelled.

Caring more about the condition of her newest subject than your choice of words, Novo left to get someone to help, but Skystar remained by your side. Novo returned a few minutes later with some of her guards, and the princess held your hand as you watched them place your mother on a stretcher.

‘What the hell happened to her? Did she die as well? Why is this happening to me?’ you asked yourself in your head, pounding the ground hard as tears escaped from your eyes for the second time this morning. Watching you cry again, the empathetic and gentle princess let go of your hand so she could hug you instead.

Of course, you eventually found the strength to snap out of your shock and allow Skystar to lead you back to the castle. Although, you didn’t say anything, nor did your escort pressure you into doing so. You just couldn’t decide what caused your mother to find her way into this world. Was it an accidental death? Illness? A heroic sacrifice?

You were forced to wait out in the hall as the doctors did their best to wake your mother. Now that you thought about it, you felt more foolish than ever. You realized that if Skystar hadn’t stopped you from committing suicide, your mother wouldn’t be there to greet you in the afterlife. What’s worse is that since humans have a chance of getting a second life in this world, if she had woken up and found that you were no longer around, she would have been devastated.

Moments later, one of the doctors came out and you walked up to him with eyes that were begging to hear about the results of his new patient’s condition. Pushing back his slipping glasses, the middle-aged hippogriff let out a sigh, letting you know he didn’t want to tell you what was going on.

“She’s alive, but she’s apparently lost tremendous amounts of blood which caused her to slip into a coma. On the queen’s orders, we’re doing everything we can, but it’s almost impossible for us to tell when she’ll wake up.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Skystar asked in your place.

“All we can do is wait, your highness. I’m sorry.”

“...I understand. Thank you. Please notify us immediately if the patient's condition changes while we’re away,” Skystar said.

“Of course.” The doctor left you in peace and Skystar lightly tugged on your arm, but you chose to stay where you were.

She sighed. “Believe me, I understand your concern for your mother, but like the doctor said, all we can do is be patient. Besides... you still haven’t given me the chance to guide you down to my other home in Seaquestria. There’s so much I can show you when we go to the place I grew up in after the Storm King appeared.”

“I’ve never gone swimming before...” you quietly confessed.

“Don’t worry about that.” Up until now, you’ve paid no attention to the necklace that Princess Skystar wore. Though as you took into account the way she had squeezed it before leading you back outside, you assumed that the jewelry served a unique purpose. It was only after you were back on the beach that she gave you more specific information.

“Like Mother said, after the Storm King’s defeat, it was safe for everyone to return to Mount Aris, but by that time many of our subjects have learned to adapt to the life underwater and elected to stay there. It just didn’t seem right to force them to leave, so she decided to break down her magical pearl into these several shards so that her subjects could keep their sea forms.”

“What do you mean?” you asked.

“I could tell you, but it would be much better if I were to show you,” Skystar said and held out her hand. She then grabbed her shard necklace before you both took a deep breath and dove below the surface. A bright flash emitted from the pearl, and when it died down, the first thing you noticed... was that there was no need to hold your breath.

“What in the... What’s going on here?” you asked, checking your new body. The second thing you noticed was that your feet have fused together into a tail fin shaped like a shark’s tail.

“That’s the power of this pearl. It has a unique magic that allows those who come in contact with it to change their form.” The princess then hugged herself with a shiver, as if this was a freezing environment. “When the Storm King learned about our powers, he went through great lengths to try and steal it from us. Even though we escaped and retreated to the ocean, we became so afraid of him and his growing army that we took no chances to visit the surface... Mother would often deny it, but I could see how much she missed her life above the waves.”

For the first time since you made the decision to become a cold-hearted and reserved man, you wondered if you were actually about to sympathize with someone. More specifically, you were wondering if you were feeling sympathy for the obnoxious, egotistical queen and her wealthy family. Nothing like this has happened to you before. Were you finally starting to acknowledge Bellator’s claims about underneath his wife’s proud exterior, she truly did have a big heart?

“So you see, until I met the heroes of Equestria it’s been hard for me to make friends. In fact,” she giggled, “I used to go out to collect shells and pretend they could talk to me. Even though I still keep my favorite shells Shelly and Sheldon in my room because of sentimental value, I now have friends who truly understand me and are there for me when I need them. While Mother kept herself from leaving Seaquestria for many years by convincing herself that the outside world was cruel, I never stopped believing that there was good in it.”

Though you kept quiet because more questions were popping up in your head, you let Skystar know you were acknowledging her story by nodding once she was done. This princess has been through a lot for some time. Whoever this Storm King was, you can only assume that he was much worse than any rich snob you came across while living in that orphanage.

“Did the nightmares finally stop?” you asked, referring to how Skystar was trembling a little while ago.

“Yes... but only after Father arrived on Mount Aris. Even though the hippogriffs no longer have to live in fear since the Storm King has perished, my life didn’t feel complete until after Mother got married for the second time.”

Taking hold of your hand again, she began swimming with you right behind her. She guided you through some underwater pathway hidden in these caves. Afterwards, the two of you arrive at your destination: the underwater kingdom of Seaquestria. Compared to the lost city of Atlantis, which was nothing more than a myth, this place was very much real and an impressive discovery.

Skystar giggled sweetly. “Beautiful isn’t it? Truth be told, it was nothing like this when we were forced into hiding. Mother dedicated several long years, making sure her subjects remained strong so we could build the ideal home to continue living. It was difficult abandoning what we were used to, but in order to survive and protect the magic of the pearl, the hippogriffs put their trust in Mother and we all began our new lives as seaponies.”

You were indeed impressed and could only imagine how hard Queen Novo worked not to give into despair after her surface kingdom fell into ruins. Looking around, you saw that a few citizens had noticed their beloved princess and bowed as she waved to them.

“Greetings, everyone. I trust you are all doing well on this fine day?” Skystar asked with a tone befitting a loving ruler who treasured the safety of her people. One young male seapony was bold enough to approach his princess with a smile that matched her own.

“Such an honor to see you again, your majesty. If I may ask though, who is the man accompanying you? Surely you can understand my curiosity since this is my first time seeing any humans besides the king.”

“He just arrived recently and I’m just showing him around the place. He’s had a very rough time in his previous life, so I’m helping him see the positive side of life. I trust you all will make him feel welcome, I presume?” she asked with her warmest smile and the seaponies gave her another bow.

It might have been just your imagination, but you thought that as you swam through the city, you heard a few seaponies wondering if you were dating their princess. “This is awkward...”

“What’s wrong?” Skystar asked.

“It seems a few seaponies are getting the wrong idea, as I overheard a few of them writing us off as a couple. Doesn’t that bother you since we barely know each other?”

The girl just smiled. “As future queen, I don’t intend to oppress my subjects. Mother polished me well to understand when others are merely expressing their opinions of what they think of us. It’s all in good, harmless fun.” Without dropping that amused smile, she then took your hands. “And speaking of fun...”

Skystar showed you right there that changing into a seapony didn’t take away her impressive strength as she dragged you close to the surface where you could be alone.

“W-What are you doing?” you asked.

“Giving us both an opportunity to have a good time,” she said as she came to a stop. “What do you say to a little underwater dancing?”

“I... I don't know, I’ve… never really learned how to dance before, let alone underwater,” you said, looking down in shame. It was already bad enough coming clean about having never gone swimming before today.

“I see... Well, with your permission, I’d like to be your teacher. I’m sure by the time we’re done, you’ll be a wonderful dancer,” Skystar insisted. “I’ve always enjoyed dancing, even as a child. Unfortunately, like I told you before, it was difficult to make friends since the seaponies were living in fear and were more concentrated on survival than having fun. Before the heroes of Equestria appeared, I was forced to practice in private, but I knew in my heart having a partner was the best way to dance.”

The princess offered you her hand, though you didn’t know if you should take her up on her offer. For one, this would be your first time dancing and there was a good chance you would end up making a fool out of yourself. Then again, so much has changed for you already because of the princess’ determination to befriend you.

Sighing, you looked up at Skystar and told her what she wanted to hear. “Alright, you win.”

“Things got a little wild when the surface dwellers came to Seaquestria, but I realize that we’ll have to take things slowly. So follow my lead and you’ll become a professional in no time,” Skystar encouraged.

The princess started things off by swimming backwards while keeping a firm, gentle grip on your hand. Following her instructions, you mimicked her and swam backwards after she came to a stop. After that, she grabbed your other arm telling you to wrap it around her, making it touch her back while she placed her vacant hand on your arm.

“W-What... What is this feeling?” you asked.

“It’s natural to feel nervous during your first dance. Just continue following my instructions and you’ll do just fine. First, kick your tail fins parallel to mine in a clockwise motion,” Skystar said. You did as she asked, keeping your eyes locked on hers as the kicking caused the two of you to steadily move in a circle. It could’ve just been your imagination, but you thought you could feel the watchful eyes of everyone around you, assuming that you and their princess might make it official.

“Perfect, now let’s try a fairly easy one. Without letting go of my hand, kick your tail fin in sync with mine so we can dance forward.” You processed what she told you in your head, then found out what she meant. Keeping your hand locked with hers and stretching it out straight, your other arm remained wrapped around Skystar’s waist and swam in the direction you were pointing to. “Very good. See? Practice makes perfect.”

“I guess... Now what?”

“Let’s try it again. So let’s do a quick turn and swim the other way,” Skystar said. You nodded and held your partner close as you turned around and repeated the dance. It was a rapid change, but you no longer felt paranoid about the possibility of someone watching you. Your insecurities were slowly fading and being replaced with a whole new set of confidence.

“You’re doing remarkably well for someone who’s never danced before. Since it’s my duty to give the subjects hope, I dare say you have a bright future ahead of you. I’m sure it won’t be long before we can share an official dance where neither of us are afraid of being in the spotlight,” Skystar said, impressed with how you caught on quickly.

“...Thank you,” you said after a pause.

“We can come back tomorrow for another session, but for now let’s return to the surface. I doubt your mother would be out of her coma just yet, but I can see in your eyes that you still want to be there for her.”

“Yeah... my mother,” you said, looking down after letting go of Skystar. Watching you space out yet again, the princess waited a few seconds before tapping your shoulder to snap you out of it. ‘Okay, I have to stop doing that,’ you mentally noted.

“Let’s be off then.” Skystar held out her hand and you accepted it. She took you back up to the surface and activated the pearl shards again, transforming you back into your original land forms. You didn’t even bother to wait to dry off before heading off to the direction of the hospital to check on your mother.

“Sir, I’m asking you to have some patience-”

“Just let me through! Even if she’s not awake, it doesn’t feel right not to be at her side!” you snarled, trying to get past some rather stubborn doctors. Unfortunately for them, you were stubborn too. You acknowledged how they said earlier that there was no way to know when your mother would come out of her coma, but you also remembered how King Bellator decided a human should be the first face a new resident of this world sees.

You probably never would have gotten into your mother’s room if the hippogriff king, accompanied by his queen came by and ordered the staff to make way. You ran inside and approached your mother, who looked the same as when you left her. You could only hope that didn’t mean she was going to die.

“Oh, Mother... When will you wake up? If... If I lost you here... I don’t know if I could live with myself...” you said, feeling the tears from your eyes run down your cheeks as you placed your hand on your mother’s face. You didn’t notice as the door opened again, but as a hand touched your shoulder you didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

“Don’t worry,” Skystar said from behind you. “I’m a heavy believer of fate and I can tell destiny wouldn’t reunite a mother with such a loyal son just to separate them again.”

“I hope you’re right... I can’t bear the thought of losing my mother, especially not like this. She’s the only one who ever cared about me... at least until I met you that is...” you said.

After wiping the tears away, you acted without thinking and reached up to hold onto Skystar’s hand to keep it on your shoulder. However, Skystar had a better idea than simply touching hands again, and instead, gave you a big hug. This warm feeling was all it took to push you over the edge, weeping in the princess’ embrace and hugging her back.