Tetralogy of Transformationby The Blue EM2ChaptersOpen up Your EyesTime to be AwesomeQueen of the SeasOne Small ThingOpen up Your EyesTom considered himself a fairly ordinary guy, all things considered. Apart from the fact he enjoyed watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (which was something of a guilty pleasure for him) as its associated spinoffs, he was the sort of man whose hobbies were considered to be fairly normal for a fellow of his age, being a railway enthusiast (he disliked the term 'anorak'), a keen gamer, and also an amateur military historian. Any era would suit him well for study and research. Any weapon or armour raised his interest, be it Roman or Renaissance, British or Belarussian, or Pike or P90. It is with this latter interest we concern ourselves today, for as he availed himself of the morning paper, he read a rather interesting headline in his local newspaper which caught him by surprise. AMAZING FIND AT CENTRAL NOTTINGHAM DIG SITE! Archeologists were amazed to uncover a strange suit of armour in a dig site near the construction of a new shopping centre in Nottingham yesterday. The armour is of an unknown era, and astonishingly well preserved for its age, but the size of the armour is what amazes them. We spoke to David Watkins; "Well, what makes the armour so fascinating is the fact it's seemingly built for an equine, but an equine far smaller than any ever seen in the United Kingdom. We are not sure if this is a hoax or not, but the dating we've done on the metal would suggest it's at least 500 years old." We will continue to report on this story as it develops. Tom finished his coffee and got himself outdoors, pulling on his coat as he set off towards the tram stop. "I must take a look at this armour," he said. "If it's a truly miraculous discovery, it could change the entire understanding we have of history for the next few decades, perhaps forever!" The tram journey to NG2, the nearest station to the dig site, was nice enough. The tram ran smoothly, no idiot drivers tried to outrun the tram, and all seemed to be fine in the world. The sun shone, the sky was blue, there was not a cloud to spoil the view. Tom got off at the stop and walked towards the dig site. Nearby were two friends of his, Lance and Andy, amateur archeologists like himself, and keen detectorists on top of that. "Hey Tom!" Lance called. "You here to see the new armour they've found?" "You bet I am," Tom smiled. "It beats pulling up bean cans and ring pulls, eh?" "I found a 1976 Coleman in perfect condition yesterday," Lance replied. "That's pretty rare." "Not as rare as that gold coin you found, mate," Andy answered. "Oh well, it beats finding bean cans. Seriously, why do people around here dump so many bean cans?" "I have no idea." Tom shrugged his shoulders. "Shall we head over?" "Sure thing. Detectors off!" The trio walked over to the glass display case that had been erected, and the armour had been displayed within it. The armour pieces had been assembled in an order that depicted how it would have been worn, and consisted of several segmented back plates similar to 'codfish' armour worn by Roundhead troops during the English Civil War. There were also pauldrons for the front and back shoulders, as well as four armoured horseshoes. The plates were a very deep purple or blue, with two turquoise lines running down the pauldrons on the rear legs, which formed into a symbol that resembled a pair of horns. "Good lord!" Lance said, looking closely. "Whoever built armour this small?" "Whomever built armour this small, you meant," Andy corrected. "And what were horses this small doing during the Civil War?" "OK, Mr Pedant," Lance snorted. "I have no idea! Was this some sort of absurd display of wealth? What do you think, Tom?" "I'm not actually sure," Tom admitted. "The armour somehow looks familiar, but I can't place it somehow. But look! There's a piece missing from the backplate." "So there is! Very well spotted." Andy glanced at Lance. "Pub?" Lance smiled. "Go on then." The two men strolled off, but Tom stayed by the box. "You coming, mate?" "I'll follow you guys up! I want to take a closer look." Tom was peering so closely at the armour he didn't notice something next to his feet. The missing segment of armour was somehow lying there. As Tom stepped to go, he slipped, and his hand landed on the plate, triggering a massive electric shock. "Open up your eyes, little one," said a voice in his head. "I guess you will have to do." Tom had no chance to anger before a deep, throbbing pain built up in his forehead. As his mouth and nose were forced together into one piece of his face, a muzzle if you will, part of a horn smashed its way of his forehead. But it was incomplete, with several jagged parts and cracks to indicate where parts had broken off before. Tom came to a horrified realisation as to who this was, as his eyes turned turquoise and his teeth began to flatten, his canines reduced to equine teeth. "The armour! It belongs to Tempest Shadow!" A scar came into being over his right eye as he came to this conclusion. "Took you long enough to figure it out. After she died in combat against the Hippogriffs, I need a replacement. Luckily, I have you!" Tom's neck was forced to a longer length as his spine was washed in a flame of agony, pushed down to an equine stance. No matter what, he couldn't stand up. "No! I'll never-!" He stopped as his memories started to fog over and fall apart. His body continued to change as the memories continued to change. His arms snapped forwards into front legs as his hands melted into hooves, and his chest expanded into a barrel. He remembered it all! Being wounded by that bear. Being rejected by her friends for her deformity. Thrown out and laughed at by society because she was imperfect. As his manhood was sucked into his body, replaced with the female equivalent, the hatred began to consume her. She hated everything. But most of all, she hated ponykind for throwing her out and forcing its citizens to subscribe to its friendship crap. Her legs, now back legs, snapped into the backwards position as her feet became hooves. Her clothes merged into a single garment, a heavy black bodysuit that ran partway down her forelegs and hind legs, and partway up her neck. A magenta tail popped out of her butt as her hair morphed into a mane the same colour, styled in a mohawk. She gained pony ears, to replace the human ones she formally had, finally followed by purple fur sprouting from her skin and covering over her flesh. She smiled as she looked over herself. "It won't be long until this world fears my wrath," she said. "But my armour would help me greatly." As a response to her words, the armour in the case glowed, and the glass shattered. The plates floated over, and began to fit into place. First came the backplates, three in all, which locked into the top of the bodysuit. Second came another piece to protect the area above her tail. The chestplate bolted into position, soon joined by an armoured collar to protect the back of her neck. The first two pauldrons attached themselves to her shoulders, consisting of a wider top plate joined to a smaller lower plate. The rear plates attached themselves to her rear legs, larger and bulbous to deflect bullets. Each of those pauldrons had the twin turquoise lines on them, the emblem of the Storm King. As the horseshoes attached themselves to her hooves, Tempest Shadow was teleported to the command deck of her cruiser. An officer saluted her. "Commander Shadow, we have our targets confirmed." "Who shall feel the Storm King's wrath today?" Tempest smiled. "One band of the griffons refuse to submit to his authority," the officer replied. "I take it you shall be leading the assult?" "Naturally," Tempest smiled, as she boarded her drop pod. "We're in position over the target!" the pilot radioed. "Dropping pods in 3, 2, 1, dropped!" Tempest focused her mind for battle as her drop pod plummeted to the planet's surface. Moments later, it smashed into the ground, rocking as the balancing cores engaged. Seconds later, the doors dropped as a hail of gunfire roared toward them. Tempest shook her head. Such fools. She charged her broken horn, sparks flying from it and into the air, and charged. Author's Note Love her or hate her, there's no denying that Tempest Shadow was an absolute hoot to watch in action, made all moreso by Emily Blunt's performance as the character. Whilst her character motivation was perhaps a little too similar to Starlight Glimmer, she was a well done addition to the villain canon, methinks. Lance and Andy are a reference to the Britcom Detectorists. A show I thoroughly recommend. Time to be AwesomeAvast, me hearties! I be writing like a pirate now! Hoist your here sails and take to the high seas with our new swashbuckling tail! The high seas! A grand place of adventure and plunder. Tom, the landlubber he was, took in his morning news with stride as he read the paper. He saw that the day was to be a grand and dramatic one indeed. For it reported to him that the seas were to become a place of grand excitement in Nottingham today. GRAND REGATTA TO BE HELD IN NOTTINGHAM! said an advert in the paper. AHOY THERE! DO YE WANT TO BE ON THE HIGH SEAS! THEN GET YOUR SALTY LEGS DOWN TO THE WATER'S FRONT FOR SAILING AND OUTFITTING TRIALS! JOIN US ON THE SALTY SEADOG FOR A DAY OF THRILLS AND EXCITEMENT! WATER YOU WAITING FOR? COME ON DOWN, YE SCURVY DOGS, AND SAID TO GLORY, WEALTH, AND PLUNDER! Tom smiled. "I must say, that sounds quite fun. I always fancied myself as a sailor, and now may be my chance to prove my worth on the high seas! Off I must go, for the river awaits me!" He stood up from his desk, and set off into the distance, crashing into his door. "Ouch! I guess that opening the door first would probably have helped me get outdoors." Tom was equally fascinated by pirate history as he was by military history. Apart from exciting tales of grand exploration and epic adventures on the seas, there was also treasure, great battles with the authorities, and songs and sea shanties galore. On a rather interesting side note, pirate ships were amongst the first true democracies in the world, with crews voting on crew positions, plunder, and what to attack. Not only that, it fed into the development of American democracy too! Tom, was, of, course, quite excited to get his sea legs back into order. He had last been to sea many years ago, on the old ship Providence, and his friend Jimmy lived not far from where Blackbeard had met his end. He fancied himself as a sailor, as I have repeated several times, and so he hopped onboard the boat to see the crewe assembled before him. "Listen in, ye scallywags!" called the captain, a tall man with a massive beard. "I am Redbeard, your captain, and I expect all of you to handle to your very best! We are not just a crew, we are a closely knit family, and for that we must stand together and work hard. Do you understand?" "Aye aye, captain!" called the crewe, Tom included. He could tell they were in character in all senses. "Right then! Cast off the lines, open the sales, and man the rigging! Hard to starboard, Mister Gallen!" "Aye sir! You heard the Captain! Get moving!" The crew all ran about, adjusting all sorts of kit and moving the heavy equipment needed to get a sailing ship on the move. Off the Beeston Bounty sailed, moving into the mist beautifully. After a few hours of sailing across rivers and seas, the Bounty docked on a small island in the Bristol channel. They had travelled a very long way, and Tom (and the rest of the crew) were very keen for a rest. The life of a pirate was a tiring one, and potentially very short too, so they took rest whenever they could. Tom decided he could do with a bathroom break, and so went out of sight by a considerable distance to take a break to relieve himself (the island suffered from a conspicous lack of plumbing). He went for a stroll around the backs of the trees and rocks, until he spotted something sitting there. He took his chance to relieve himself first, and then dealt with the objects. The first of the objects was a piece of green rock. The other was a mechanical foot, which looked like a claw. "These certainly look familiar," he mused, and picked one up as he did so. As ever, he forgot the most important lesson; never mess with weird objects, as they may be magical and could turn you into a fictional character. The green rock flashed bright, and threw him onto his rear. When the light cleared, he looked down in a mixture of surprise and utter confusion. Both of his legs from the thigh downward were gone. Attached into their places were artificial ones. The one on the left had a backwards knee joint, with a metal brace for a three clawed foot. The right hand one featured an emerald rock cut into a leg like shape, which made sense as otherwise walking would be very difficult. "OK, I now have artificial legs," he said. He tried to get up, but struggled due to the rather odd mechanics of the prosthetics. As he tried to figure out what had gotten him into this mess, the part of his legs that he still had fitted shifted in size, gaining extra muscle. His pants soon joined in on this shifting, changes into a pair of short breeches, similar to what a classical pirate was often depicted wearing. His manhood was soon removed from this world as the changes accelerated. She tried the foot joint, and swung herself up onto her feet confidently, her shirt shifting in size for her new biology as her waist pulled inwards. Shortly after, her chest increased in size, a mixture of breasts and heavy fluff as a large brown coat appeared on top, with a golden chestpiece over her chest and bronze pauldrons over her shoulders. The coat extended down to her her ankles, or rather where her ankles would have been on her natural limbs, the gold pattern running as far as the knees. More cream fur spread over her arms as her little fingers shrank back into her hands, with sharp claws emerging from the remaining digits. The skin over those claws and forelimbs became a light brown, with more of the cream fur running upwards, through her neck, and over her face as her nose and mouth were replaced by a beak. Her hair surged backwards, and changed into elaborate green plumage. Green eyeliner appeared over her eyes, and her eyes turned pink as her ears slid upwards, filled with golden rings. A golden ring with an inset emerald appeared on her left hand as a giant brown hat with a massive red feather appeared on her head. The now anthro parrot glanced about as she tried to figure out where she was. "An unknown island, eh?" she smiled. "Probably got some good treasure on it, if my reckoning is correct." "Captain?" called a voice. Celaeno turned to face Boyle, one of her crewmates. "Beggin' yer pardon, ma'am, but we're ready to set off." "Tell Spittle to fire up the boiler," Celaeno. "I'll be there as soon as she's up to temperature. Just want to do one last sweep for the boxes, after all." "Aye, captain," Boyle nodded. "Spittle! Fire the boilers! Get the propellors up and running! We be ready for takeoff in a half hour!" "Understood!" the voice shouted back as the mighty steam turbine of the newly christened Bearded Shark spooled up. Celaeno smiled as she began her trek back. Rainbow Dash, the pegasus she'd befriended on that fateful voyage all those years ago, had arranged for a new ship to be launched from Cloudsdale Shipyards to replace the Bounty. It handled perfectly, and had more than enough space for all the treasure they could find. After all, they had a search permit now. She jumped onto the deck as the turbine got up to speed, and the gas bag filled to capacity. Seconds later, the airship was up and away, steam pouring from the turbine as it steamed off towards a new adventure. Author's Note This fine bird of a feather was, arguably, the best thing in the movie. She's sassy, tough, and the only one bold enough to tell Tempest to stuff it to her face. Couple that with Zoe Saldana's powerhouse of a vocal performance and you've got an awesome character. Queen of the SeasTom was now on the coast of England, a long way away from Nottingham. Today he was a long way south, at one of Britain's greatest naval bases. Portsmouth was one of the largest docks, harbours, shipbuilding yards, and command centres in the country, and the home of the Royal Navy's surface fleet, with two thirds of its ships being maintained there. The naval base also proudly hosted the Historic Dockyard and the Museum of the Royal Navy, which was home to (amongst other things) HMS Mary Rose, lost in a freak wind in 1545, HMS Warrior, the first ironclad, and HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship and the oldest warship in service with any Navy anywhere (although that was an interesting description since it sat permanently in a drydock). Tom was here to see the history of the Navy, as well as survey the fleet. The annual Naval Regatta was today, and was being led by HMS Queen Elizabeth II, the first of the Elizabeth class supercarriers. Other notable ships taking part included the Warrior, recently restored to full working order, HMS Belfast, fully refloated and operational, and HMS Cavalier, leased from Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent. In all, it was lining up to be an historic day. Tom had secured his place along the seafront and sat in his chair to watch the spectacle unfold. The event would open with a flyover from the Fleet Air Arm, followed by the combined might of the Red Arrows and the Blue Angels. Then the many ships assembled for the action would sail through the English Channel, in all 40 vessels of varying ages and sizes from 10 different nations. Tom relaxed in his chair and watched as the events unfolded. "Quite exciting, eh?" asked a fellow next to him. Tom glanced over to see an older man standing there. "Nothing stirs the heart of an Englishman like the might of the Royal Navy." "If the Queen Elizabeth ever stops leaking, that is!" joked another, much younger chap. The older man looked at him in a disapproving manner. "Eh, it was a joke!" "And it should stay that way, you scallywag!" The older man looked to Tom. "Apologies about him." "Well, it does leak, sort of," Tom explained. "Water displacement has a tendancy to do that." "So I see," the older man sighed, before sitting down in his chair. "I served for 20 years in the Navy, most of it on patrol in the Far East after the war. It was a dark and tragic time, so much uncertainty." "So I've read," Tom said, looking on as the first ships sailed into view. "Magnificent sight, eh?2 "There's no doubt about that!" said the young man again, as the boats rolled by, the water crashing against their bows. Nothing, it seemed, would even slow their advance in any way, shape, or form. It was marvellous, sea spray if you will. Tom relaxed again and looked onwards when he suddenly noticed something very odd sitting there before the portable chair he had. Sitting before it was a pink feather that was unknown and yet somehow familiar to Tom. He bent down, and picked it up with a surprised look on his face. It was then the massive pulse of energy hit him, and he knew he had to run. Run as far as he could to ensure that nobody could see what was happening to him. "Excuse me a moment, but my bladder has chosen the worst possible moment to need to be relieved. I'll be heading there now." Tom got moving before anybody could question the fact his voice had started to shift in pitch as he went away, shifting from his usual gruff Midlands tones to a voice of regal slendour with a fair amount of sass in there as well. As he continued on his way, his left hand (still gripping the feather) began to shift, his pinkie finger retracting into his hand. As it did so, the thumb shrank back to become a much smaller digit, and his nails sharpened into claws. This was repeated on his other hand, so he now had claws where his hands had once been. His legs gave way beneath him, so he flew through the air and behind a building as it continued apace. His back cracked forward and reshaped as his pelvis and shoulders reshaped to accomodate bipedal movement. His clothes were ripped to shreds as this happened, and fell to the floor as a pair of giant, regal wings sprouted from his sides, flailing out into the air, and folding up by his sides as his feet morphed into hooves. His knees snapped backwards, and his elbows inverted too to create forelegs. The claws had, of course, reshaped to make moving about on four limbs practicable and comfortable. The strange human hypogriff hybrid was about to get a lot more hippogriff, as his manhood was sucked inwards. Her ears moved up her head and flared outwards. Her eyes turned purple as they grew in size and were surrounded by purple eye shadow. Her mouth and nose pushed forward into a beak (itself slightly yellowed), as a golden crest appeared atop her head, from which light pink and deep purple plumage sprouted, followed by a tail in the same hues from her rear. Atop that tail appeared turquoise things that looked like tentacles. Blue feathers attached themselves to the top of her crest, inset with white, as her entire body was covered in pink fur and feathers, with blue fur emerging around her shoulders, and running around her front too. Turquoise feathers emerged from the backs of her lower legs as the process completed itself, and Tom looked over herself in shock. "What is this?" he asked. "A hippogriff?" She then noticed a lot of people looking at her. "What are you lookin' at?" she asked. "I'm just the Queen, don't mind me!" What she had just said caught her own attention. "Wait, Queen? I must be Queen Novo!" Unfortunately, she was not paying attention to where her back legs were, and she slipped off the dock and fell into the water, descending into inky blackness as she did so. "Novo! Novo!" Novo slowly regained consciousness on a beach and shook her head. "Wha- what happened?" she asked as she got up. "My queen, you're alright!" Novo suddenly saw the hippogriff in front of her. He had dark blue fur and a turquoise mane and tail. Novo smiled. "You don't need to call me that, sweetheart. We're equals, you know?" And she gently hugged him whilst he nuzzled her chest. "You mean the world to me, Kainos." "Of course," Kainos replied. "I'm just relieved you're alright. Admiral Seaspray's been looking for you everywhere! The great naval exercises are about to start!" "Oh, Seaspray, that bore," Novo sighed. "Here I was hoping I could get this day off for just you and me." "Ah, Your Majesty!" said Seaspray. "There you are! The exercises are about to start, and we need you to announce the festivities." "It would be my honour." "Prince Kainos?" "Yes?" "A matter of import. We have been unable to locate Princess Skystar anywhere in the viscinity." Novo tuned out the conversation between Seaspray and her husband and walked to the water's edge. In the distance, many ships of varying sizes were lined up for the exercises and naval parade. It was certainly set to be an interesting day, if nothing else. Being a Constitutional Monarch, she tended to delegate most daily tasks to elected officials. She was merely the figurehead of the hippogriff civilisation. As she watched the water, her sister, Ocean Flow, suddenly popped out of the water. "Queen Novo! I bring dreadful news!" "What's going on?" Novo asked, suddenly confused. "I've found Skystar! She was playing in the coral reef and got her tail snagged on a net!" Kainos looked horrified. "But that's right where the exercises are! The Valiant's leading that exercise. Her wake is go powerful it'll kill her!" Novo made up her mind that instant. "Seaspray, get the captain on the horn and try to slow him down. Kainos, take to the air and patrol the air. Keep any and all hippogriffs off that area. The last thing we need is any interruptions." "What about me?" asked Ocean Flow. "We take to the water," Novo replied. She jumped forward, and with a blinding flash from the Pearl, switched to a seapony. The Queen and her sister swam through the water, determined to save Princess Skystar no matter the cost. Author's Note All hail her sassiness, Queen Novo! Queen Novo, whilst a bit vain and rather full of herself, was great fun to watch. Uzo Aduba's voicework was excellent (and contrasts with Kristin Chenoweth's performance brilliantly), but it was the animators who did a truly fantastic job, with Novo able to convey more humour through a single movement of her eyebrows than any line of dialogue ever could. For those wondering, Kainos is the name I came up with for Novo's missing (or perhaps deceased) husband, seen here; For those wondering why Kainos is a Prince and not King, here's your explanation; Novo was in the line of succession when she married Kainos, who married into the Royal Family. Kainos became a Prince upon marriage, with all the perks that brought, but as he was not born into Royalty, being a commoner, he had no claim to the throne. For the same reason IRL, Prince Phillip (Queen Elizabeth II's husband) is a Prince and not a King. One Small ThingOff to the seas we go once more. Wow, this is a first. Three nautical themed stories in one collection, and in a row no less. I really am going interesting places these days. Anyways, I suppose we'd better get started, and how better to get started than to link up with our man of the hour, Thomas Elias Haddington, or as he prefers to be known, Tom (though, curiously, Katrina had a habit of using his full name on occasion, which was a little unusual). Here he was, and once more he was near the sea. Who wouldn't want to be by the seaside if given the chance? Most people, I'd reckon. This time, he had travelled of to a small town in the Northwest of England, a place called Blackpool. This was a town best known for its seaside, the many amusements, a tower (based on the one in Paris, but a lot shorter), a multitude of tat shops and rubbish museums with misleading advertising, and, most importantly of all, trams. Tom had hopped onto a tram to travel to the beach, as there really was no other way to travel in Blackpool. Seriously, who would drive when you have trams? As the tram rattled along the street, he started singing, as he was known to do. "Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside! I do like to be beside the sea! Oh I do like to stroll along the Prom, Prom, Prom! Where the brass bands play, "'Tiddely-om-pom-pom!' "So just let me be beside the seaside! I'll be beside myself with glee and there's lots of girls beside, I should like to be beside, beside the seaside, beside the sea!" So pleased were many of the locals that he knew a classic song of the English seaside that they joined in. A passing brass band also joined in, for some reason, and the passengers were all jolly and merry. "What a lovely day it is!" said a passenger. "Perfect for spending a day by the seaside!" "It sure is," Tom laughed. "Seriously, who needs to go to Spain when you have weather like this?" "It's a cultural thing," said another. "People go to Spain to bum about on a beach because they go to Spain to bum about on a beach. There really is nothing else to it, really." "That is certainly true," Tom sighed. "Ah well, things could be worse. As for me, I do delight in the pleasures of the old fashioned English seaside, and these heritage trams are certainly adding to the atmosphere." "Blackpool saved the tram!" said the driver, who had overheard the conversation. "When most other cities abandoned their tram systems, Blackpool kept its, and in doing so let the way in the re-establishment of British trams in so many cities." "I live in one of them," Tom replied. "Nottingham has trams, and it's seriously good too." The driver reached for the bell. "Pleasure Beach! Pleasure Beach next stop!" The tram rattled to a halt, and the doors opened. Tom stepped off and thanked the driver. He watched as the tram rattled away, and then he turned to walk to the beachfront, where he could see the sea (he had avoided drinking any wine. Hence his nose was not shining, and as a result he was certain he would see what people see in the sea). Tom stood by the seashore and looked down into the water. He could see sand underneath the water, and in that sense he now understood what people saw in the sea. He was very satisfied with this find, when he looked again at an object floating towards him in the water, that looked oddly familiar to him in many ways. For a start, it was a great big sphere. It was also a pink sphere, which glowed with some form of spectral energy. Colours of orange and white bubbled inside, being barely contained by the marvellous spectacle of the object that floated before him. "Hmm," Tom sighed. "I must admit that this object looks oddly familiar. I have seen it somewhere before, but where was that?" Tom bent down to take a closer look, to inspect this strange thing, only to realise too late what the object in question actually was. "That's the Pearl! The Pearl of Trans-" He never got the chance to finish his sentence. The pearl suddenly glowed, and seemed to explode, catapulting Tom outwards to sea, still fully clothed, and he hit the water with a bang, very lucky he didn't break anything as he hit the surface of the sea. As for the Pearl, it was long gone, having teleported elsewhere. But Tom was now Under the Sea. You may make the obvious joke in the comments if you wish. Tom knew something was wrong when he awoke. His clothing was still in place, and as he looked down he suddenly noticed something off with his legs. It was highly blurry, and he never questioned how he could still breathe underwater. It was what happened next that truly unnerved him. His legs shrank in length, getting ever shorter, the bones vanishing and compressing until there was no trace of then ever being there. His lower end shifted in shape, any trace of conventional limbs there vanishing, leaving a floating torso in place. A tail emerged from the coccyx, and then moved forward round to encompass the front of the torso as well, before growing downwards and stopping after a few seconds. It was then followed by a giant blue flipper popping out of the bottom, which split apart partway down and left a gap in the centre. "OK, so I'm now a merman. A bleedin' merman. At least I've still got tho- oof!" His manhood had decided to take his leave (seriously, how do seaponies reproduce?), replaced with something else. Another blue fin, a stabiliser if you will, popped out of her back to help hold her in place, and this corrected the balance problem. Most of his clothing had floated off into the sea as yet more rubbish in the ocean, as a pair of translucent pink water wings popped out of her back as her chest slimmed down into something closer to an equine. Her arms snapped forwards so that the joints faced backwards compared to a human arm, and her hands ran together and melted into a pair of flippers (blue, of course). Her neck grew upwards in length as a red collar appeared around her neck, followed by a necklace with ridiculous numbers of shells around it. Her much longer neck now resulted in the top of her head being much closer to the surface. Her eyes turned blue as they grew in size, and her mouth and nose stretched forward to create a muzzle of some sort, giving her the look of a seahorse. The underwater equivalent of a fin popped out of her head as a blue luminescent blob, not disimilar to that mounted to an angler fish. Pink coral as an earband appeared on the left hand side of her head as a fragment of pearl appeared around her neck. Finally, her entire body was covered in yellow scales, to protect her underwater. Princess Skystar had no sooner come to terms with her new surroundings than she suddenly teleported to be elsewhere. "Hey! This looks like a fun place to play!" To which end, she swam along as fast and as firm as she could, towards the edge of the horizon, then swung upwards, jumped through the air, cleared the surface, and then dived to the ground. Unfortunately, she hadn't left enough clearance, and her tail got snagged on a rock. A rock that was marked for nautical exercises. "Oh no!" Skystar cried. "If I can't get free, I'll get blown to bits!" She desperately tried to free herself. She wiggled as hard as she could, and flopped relentlessly as she tried to get off this blasted rock. But her efforts were all for naught, as she was too well caught. In the distance, she could see the battleships start to aim for the target. Suddenly, Prince Kainos flew overhead, heading for the vessels. "Hold on Skystar!" he shouted. "Help is coming!" Skystar hoped it would, as those ships were about to commence target practice. Seconds later, Novo and Ocean Flow popped up out of seemingly nowhere and got to work. "Ocean Flow, you get her upper body!" Novo called. "I'll work on getting her tail free!" She switched to a hippogriff, and got her claws to grip the tail as best she could without hurting Skystar. "Quick!" Skystar cried. "Those ships look ready to fire!" "Let's hope Kainos gets there in ti-" There was a flash of light in the distance, followed by a loud bang. "Oh shit." The shells got closer and closer, so Novo switched ends and simply pulled as hard as she could. The shells got closer and closer. At the last second, Novo's efforts succeeded, and she pulled Skystar clear. The pair tumbled into the water, and Novo turned Skystar over to shield her from the blast. The flames cleared, and Skystar hugged her mother with all her might. "Thanks mom!" she cried. "If it hadn't been for you, I'd have been a goner." Novo gently rubbed her daughter's head, having switched to a seapony in the meantime. "I can't bear to lose you," she whispered. "So why were you out here whilst the Navy was on a live fire exercise?" "Nobody told me the Navy was drilling!" Skystar replied. "I'll have a word with that captain," Novo said grimly. "I can only assume Kainos didn't get there in time." Her face then softened. "But I think I know where you need to go. Let's head for home, and watch the Navy from a considerably safer distance." "Race ya!" Skystar laughed, and swam upwards. With a single blast of energy, she changed into a hippogriff and flew for the shore at incredible speed. Novo laughed. "Two can play at that game, child." So she took to the skies as well, mother and daughter racing for the shore, happy in each other's company. Author's Note I adore Kristin Chenoweth's work. So when I learned she'd been cast in the movie of my favourite TV show, naturally I was pretty chuffed. She didn't disappoint; although her acting could do with some work (and initially I found Skystar pretty annoying), the moment she opened her mouth and started singing I was blown away. I would list her as my favourite character from the film, but not my favourite seapony/hippogriff. You'll find out who that is next month.
Open up Your EyesTom considered himself a fairly ordinary guy, all things considered. Apart from the fact he enjoyed watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (which was something of a guilty pleasure for him) as its associated spinoffs, he was the sort of man whose hobbies were considered to be fairly normal for a fellow of his age, being a railway enthusiast (he disliked the term 'anorak'), a keen gamer, and also an amateur military historian. Any era would suit him well for study and research. Any weapon or armour raised his interest, be it Roman or Renaissance, British or Belarussian, or Pike or P90. It is with this latter interest we concern ourselves today, for as he availed himself of the morning paper, he read a rather interesting headline in his local newspaper which caught him by surprise. AMAZING FIND AT CENTRAL NOTTINGHAM DIG SITE! Archeologists were amazed to uncover a strange suit of armour in a dig site near the construction of a new shopping centre in Nottingham yesterday. The armour is of an unknown era, and astonishingly well preserved for its age, but the size of the armour is what amazes them. We spoke to David Watkins; "Well, what makes the armour so fascinating is the fact it's seemingly built for an equine, but an equine far smaller than any ever seen in the United Kingdom. We are not sure if this is a hoax or not, but the dating we've done on the metal would suggest it's at least 500 years old." We will continue to report on this story as it develops. Tom finished his coffee and got himself outdoors, pulling on his coat as he set off towards the tram stop. "I must take a look at this armour," he said. "If it's a truly miraculous discovery, it could change the entire understanding we have of history for the next few decades, perhaps forever!" The tram journey to NG2, the nearest station to the dig site, was nice enough. The tram ran smoothly, no idiot drivers tried to outrun the tram, and all seemed to be fine in the world. The sun shone, the sky was blue, there was not a cloud to spoil the view. Tom got off at the stop and walked towards the dig site. Nearby were two friends of his, Lance and Andy, amateur archeologists like himself, and keen detectorists on top of that. "Hey Tom!" Lance called. "You here to see the new armour they've found?" "You bet I am," Tom smiled. "It beats pulling up bean cans and ring pulls, eh?" "I found a 1976 Coleman in perfect condition yesterday," Lance replied. "That's pretty rare." "Not as rare as that gold coin you found, mate," Andy answered. "Oh well, it beats finding bean cans. Seriously, why do people around here dump so many bean cans?" "I have no idea." Tom shrugged his shoulders. "Shall we head over?" "Sure thing. Detectors off!" The trio walked over to the glass display case that had been erected, and the armour had been displayed within it. The armour pieces had been assembled in an order that depicted how it would have been worn, and consisted of several segmented back plates similar to 'codfish' armour worn by Roundhead troops during the English Civil War. There were also pauldrons for the front and back shoulders, as well as four armoured horseshoes. The plates were a very deep purple or blue, with two turquoise lines running down the pauldrons on the rear legs, which formed into a symbol that resembled a pair of horns. "Good lord!" Lance said, looking closely. "Whoever built armour this small?" "Whomever built armour this small, you meant," Andy corrected. "And what were horses this small doing during the Civil War?" "OK, Mr Pedant," Lance snorted. "I have no idea! Was this some sort of absurd display of wealth? What do you think, Tom?" "I'm not actually sure," Tom admitted. "The armour somehow looks familiar, but I can't place it somehow. But look! There's a piece missing from the backplate." "So there is! Very well spotted." Andy glanced at Lance. "Pub?" Lance smiled. "Go on then." The two men strolled off, but Tom stayed by the box. "You coming, mate?" "I'll follow you guys up! I want to take a closer look." Tom was peering so closely at the armour he didn't notice something next to his feet. The missing segment of armour was somehow lying there. As Tom stepped to go, he slipped, and his hand landed on the plate, triggering a massive electric shock. "Open up your eyes, little one," said a voice in his head. "I guess you will have to do." Tom had no chance to anger before a deep, throbbing pain built up in his forehead. As his mouth and nose were forced together into one piece of his face, a muzzle if you will, part of a horn smashed its way of his forehead. But it was incomplete, with several jagged parts and cracks to indicate where parts had broken off before. Tom came to a horrified realisation as to who this was, as his eyes turned turquoise and his teeth began to flatten, his canines reduced to equine teeth. "The armour! It belongs to Tempest Shadow!" A scar came into being over his right eye as he came to this conclusion. "Took you long enough to figure it out. After she died in combat against the Hippogriffs, I need a replacement. Luckily, I have you!" Tom's neck was forced to a longer length as his spine was washed in a flame of agony, pushed down to an equine stance. No matter what, he couldn't stand up. "No! I'll never-!" He stopped as his memories started to fog over and fall apart. His body continued to change as the memories continued to change. His arms snapped forwards into front legs as his hands melted into hooves, and his chest expanded into a barrel. He remembered it all! Being wounded by that bear. Being rejected by her friends for her deformity. Thrown out and laughed at by society because she was imperfect. As his manhood was sucked into his body, replaced with the female equivalent, the hatred began to consume her. She hated everything. But most of all, she hated ponykind for throwing her out and forcing its citizens to subscribe to its friendship crap. Her legs, now back legs, snapped into the backwards position as her feet became hooves. Her clothes merged into a single garment, a heavy black bodysuit that ran partway down her forelegs and hind legs, and partway up her neck. A magenta tail popped out of her butt as her hair morphed into a mane the same colour, styled in a mohawk. She gained pony ears, to replace the human ones she formally had, finally followed by purple fur sprouting from her skin and covering over her flesh. She smiled as she looked over herself. "It won't be long until this world fears my wrath," she said. "But my armour would help me greatly." As a response to her words, the armour in the case glowed, and the glass shattered. The plates floated over, and began to fit into place. First came the backplates, three in all, which locked into the top of the bodysuit. Second came another piece to protect the area above her tail. The chestplate bolted into position, soon joined by an armoured collar to protect the back of her neck. The first two pauldrons attached themselves to her shoulders, consisting of a wider top plate joined to a smaller lower plate. The rear plates attached themselves to her rear legs, larger and bulbous to deflect bullets. Each of those pauldrons had the twin turquoise lines on them, the emblem of the Storm King. As the horseshoes attached themselves to her hooves, Tempest Shadow was teleported to the command deck of her cruiser. An officer saluted her. "Commander Shadow, we have our targets confirmed." "Who shall feel the Storm King's wrath today?" Tempest smiled. "One band of the griffons refuse to submit to his authority," the officer replied. "I take it you shall be leading the assult?" "Naturally," Tempest smiled, as she boarded her drop pod. "We're in position over the target!" the pilot radioed. "Dropping pods in 3, 2, 1, dropped!" Tempest focused her mind for battle as her drop pod plummeted to the planet's surface. Moments later, it smashed into the ground, rocking as the balancing cores engaged. Seconds later, the doors dropped as a hail of gunfire roared toward them. Tempest shook her head. Such fools. She charged her broken horn, sparks flying from it and into the air, and charged. Author's Note Love her or hate her, there's no denying that Tempest Shadow was an absolute hoot to watch in action, made all moreso by Emily Blunt's performance as the character. Whilst her character motivation was perhaps a little too similar to Starlight Glimmer, she was a well done addition to the villain canon, methinks. Lance and Andy are a reference to the Britcom Detectorists. A show I thoroughly recommend.
Time to be AwesomeAvast, me hearties! I be writing like a pirate now! Hoist your here sails and take to the high seas with our new swashbuckling tail! The high seas! A grand place of adventure and plunder. Tom, the landlubber he was, took in his morning news with stride as he read the paper. He saw that the day was to be a grand and dramatic one indeed. For it reported to him that the seas were to become a place of grand excitement in Nottingham today. GRAND REGATTA TO BE HELD IN NOTTINGHAM! said an advert in the paper. AHOY THERE! DO YE WANT TO BE ON THE HIGH SEAS! THEN GET YOUR SALTY LEGS DOWN TO THE WATER'S FRONT FOR SAILING AND OUTFITTING TRIALS! JOIN US ON THE SALTY SEADOG FOR A DAY OF THRILLS AND EXCITEMENT! WATER YOU WAITING FOR? COME ON DOWN, YE SCURVY DOGS, AND SAID TO GLORY, WEALTH, AND PLUNDER! Tom smiled. "I must say, that sounds quite fun. I always fancied myself as a sailor, and now may be my chance to prove my worth on the high seas! Off I must go, for the river awaits me!" He stood up from his desk, and set off into the distance, crashing into his door. "Ouch! I guess that opening the door first would probably have helped me get outdoors." Tom was equally fascinated by pirate history as he was by military history. Apart from exciting tales of grand exploration and epic adventures on the seas, there was also treasure, great battles with the authorities, and songs and sea shanties galore. On a rather interesting side note, pirate ships were amongst the first true democracies in the world, with crews voting on crew positions, plunder, and what to attack. Not only that, it fed into the development of American democracy too! Tom, was, of, course, quite excited to get his sea legs back into order. He had last been to sea many years ago, on the old ship Providence, and his friend Jimmy lived not far from where Blackbeard had met his end. He fancied himself as a sailor, as I have repeated several times, and so he hopped onboard the boat to see the crewe assembled before him. "Listen in, ye scallywags!" called the captain, a tall man with a massive beard. "I am Redbeard, your captain, and I expect all of you to handle to your very best! We are not just a crew, we are a closely knit family, and for that we must stand together and work hard. Do you understand?" "Aye aye, captain!" called the crewe, Tom included. He could tell they were in character in all senses. "Right then! Cast off the lines, open the sales, and man the rigging! Hard to starboard, Mister Gallen!" "Aye sir! You heard the Captain! Get moving!" The crew all ran about, adjusting all sorts of kit and moving the heavy equipment needed to get a sailing ship on the move. Off the Beeston Bounty sailed, moving into the mist beautifully. After a few hours of sailing across rivers and seas, the Bounty docked on a small island in the Bristol channel. They had travelled a very long way, and Tom (and the rest of the crew) were very keen for a rest. The life of a pirate was a tiring one, and potentially very short too, so they took rest whenever they could. Tom decided he could do with a bathroom break, and so went out of sight by a considerable distance to take a break to relieve himself (the island suffered from a conspicous lack of plumbing). He went for a stroll around the backs of the trees and rocks, until he spotted something sitting there. He took his chance to relieve himself first, and then dealt with the objects. The first of the objects was a piece of green rock. The other was a mechanical foot, which looked like a claw. "These certainly look familiar," he mused, and picked one up as he did so. As ever, he forgot the most important lesson; never mess with weird objects, as they may be magical and could turn you into a fictional character. The green rock flashed bright, and threw him onto his rear. When the light cleared, he looked down in a mixture of surprise and utter confusion. Both of his legs from the thigh downward were gone. Attached into their places were artificial ones. The one on the left had a backwards knee joint, with a metal brace for a three clawed foot. The right hand one featured an emerald rock cut into a leg like shape, which made sense as otherwise walking would be very difficult. "OK, I now have artificial legs," he said. He tried to get up, but struggled due to the rather odd mechanics of the prosthetics. As he tried to figure out what had gotten him into this mess, the part of his legs that he still had fitted shifted in size, gaining extra muscle. His pants soon joined in on this shifting, changes into a pair of short breeches, similar to what a classical pirate was often depicted wearing. His manhood was soon removed from this world as the changes accelerated. She tried the foot joint, and swung herself up onto her feet confidently, her shirt shifting in size for her new biology as her waist pulled inwards. Shortly after, her chest increased in size, a mixture of breasts and heavy fluff as a large brown coat appeared on top, with a golden chestpiece over her chest and bronze pauldrons over her shoulders. The coat extended down to her her ankles, or rather where her ankles would have been on her natural limbs, the gold pattern running as far as the knees. More cream fur spread over her arms as her little fingers shrank back into her hands, with sharp claws emerging from the remaining digits. The skin over those claws and forelimbs became a light brown, with more of the cream fur running upwards, through her neck, and over her face as her nose and mouth were replaced by a beak. Her hair surged backwards, and changed into elaborate green plumage. Green eyeliner appeared over her eyes, and her eyes turned pink as her ears slid upwards, filled with golden rings. A golden ring with an inset emerald appeared on her left hand as a giant brown hat with a massive red feather appeared on her head. The now anthro parrot glanced about as she tried to figure out where she was. "An unknown island, eh?" she smiled. "Probably got some good treasure on it, if my reckoning is correct." "Captain?" called a voice. Celaeno turned to face Boyle, one of her crewmates. "Beggin' yer pardon, ma'am, but we're ready to set off." "Tell Spittle to fire up the boiler," Celaeno. "I'll be there as soon as she's up to temperature. Just want to do one last sweep for the boxes, after all." "Aye, captain," Boyle nodded. "Spittle! Fire the boilers! Get the propellors up and running! We be ready for takeoff in a half hour!" "Understood!" the voice shouted back as the mighty steam turbine of the newly christened Bearded Shark spooled up. Celaeno smiled as she began her trek back. Rainbow Dash, the pegasus she'd befriended on that fateful voyage all those years ago, had arranged for a new ship to be launched from Cloudsdale Shipyards to replace the Bounty. It handled perfectly, and had more than enough space for all the treasure they could find. After all, they had a search permit now. She jumped onto the deck as the turbine got up to speed, and the gas bag filled to capacity. Seconds later, the airship was up and away, steam pouring from the turbine as it steamed off towards a new adventure. Author's Note This fine bird of a feather was, arguably, the best thing in the movie. She's sassy, tough, and the only one bold enough to tell Tempest to stuff it to her face. Couple that with Zoe Saldana's powerhouse of a vocal performance and you've got an awesome character.
Queen of the SeasTom was now on the coast of England, a long way away from Nottingham. Today he was a long way south, at one of Britain's greatest naval bases. Portsmouth was one of the largest docks, harbours, shipbuilding yards, and command centres in the country, and the home of the Royal Navy's surface fleet, with two thirds of its ships being maintained there. The naval base also proudly hosted the Historic Dockyard and the Museum of the Royal Navy, which was home to (amongst other things) HMS Mary Rose, lost in a freak wind in 1545, HMS Warrior, the first ironclad, and HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship and the oldest warship in service with any Navy anywhere (although that was an interesting description since it sat permanently in a drydock). Tom was here to see the history of the Navy, as well as survey the fleet. The annual Naval Regatta was today, and was being led by HMS Queen Elizabeth II, the first of the Elizabeth class supercarriers. Other notable ships taking part included the Warrior, recently restored to full working order, HMS Belfast, fully refloated and operational, and HMS Cavalier, leased from Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent. In all, it was lining up to be an historic day. Tom had secured his place along the seafront and sat in his chair to watch the spectacle unfold. The event would open with a flyover from the Fleet Air Arm, followed by the combined might of the Red Arrows and the Blue Angels. Then the many ships assembled for the action would sail through the English Channel, in all 40 vessels of varying ages and sizes from 10 different nations. Tom relaxed in his chair and watched as the events unfolded. "Quite exciting, eh?" asked a fellow next to him. Tom glanced over to see an older man standing there. "Nothing stirs the heart of an Englishman like the might of the Royal Navy." "If the Queen Elizabeth ever stops leaking, that is!" joked another, much younger chap. The older man looked at him in a disapproving manner. "Eh, it was a joke!" "And it should stay that way, you scallywag!" The older man looked to Tom. "Apologies about him." "Well, it does leak, sort of," Tom explained. "Water displacement has a tendancy to do that." "So I see," the older man sighed, before sitting down in his chair. "I served for 20 years in the Navy, most of it on patrol in the Far East after the war. It was a dark and tragic time, so much uncertainty." "So I've read," Tom said, looking on as the first ships sailed into view. "Magnificent sight, eh?2 "There's no doubt about that!" said the young man again, as the boats rolled by, the water crashing against their bows. Nothing, it seemed, would even slow their advance in any way, shape, or form. It was marvellous, sea spray if you will. Tom relaxed again and looked onwards when he suddenly noticed something very odd sitting there before the portable chair he had. Sitting before it was a pink feather that was unknown and yet somehow familiar to Tom. He bent down, and picked it up with a surprised look on his face. It was then the massive pulse of energy hit him, and he knew he had to run. Run as far as he could to ensure that nobody could see what was happening to him. "Excuse me a moment, but my bladder has chosen the worst possible moment to need to be relieved. I'll be heading there now." Tom got moving before anybody could question the fact his voice had started to shift in pitch as he went away, shifting from his usual gruff Midlands tones to a voice of regal slendour with a fair amount of sass in there as well. As he continued on his way, his left hand (still gripping the feather) began to shift, his pinkie finger retracting into his hand. As it did so, the thumb shrank back to become a much smaller digit, and his nails sharpened into claws. This was repeated on his other hand, so he now had claws where his hands had once been. His legs gave way beneath him, so he flew through the air and behind a building as it continued apace. His back cracked forward and reshaped as his pelvis and shoulders reshaped to accomodate bipedal movement. His clothes were ripped to shreds as this happened, and fell to the floor as a pair of giant, regal wings sprouted from his sides, flailing out into the air, and folding up by his sides as his feet morphed into hooves. His knees snapped backwards, and his elbows inverted too to create forelegs. The claws had, of course, reshaped to make moving about on four limbs practicable and comfortable. The strange human hypogriff hybrid was about to get a lot more hippogriff, as his manhood was sucked inwards. Her ears moved up her head and flared outwards. Her eyes turned purple as they grew in size and were surrounded by purple eye shadow. Her mouth and nose pushed forward into a beak (itself slightly yellowed), as a golden crest appeared atop her head, from which light pink and deep purple plumage sprouted, followed by a tail in the same hues from her rear. Atop that tail appeared turquoise things that looked like tentacles. Blue feathers attached themselves to the top of her crest, inset with white, as her entire body was covered in pink fur and feathers, with blue fur emerging around her shoulders, and running around her front too. Turquoise feathers emerged from the backs of her lower legs as the process completed itself, and Tom looked over herself in shock. "What is this?" he asked. "A hippogriff?" She then noticed a lot of people looking at her. "What are you lookin' at?" she asked. "I'm just the Queen, don't mind me!" What she had just said caught her own attention. "Wait, Queen? I must be Queen Novo!" Unfortunately, she was not paying attention to where her back legs were, and she slipped off the dock and fell into the water, descending into inky blackness as she did so. "Novo! Novo!" Novo slowly regained consciousness on a beach and shook her head. "Wha- what happened?" she asked as she got up. "My queen, you're alright!" Novo suddenly saw the hippogriff in front of her. He had dark blue fur and a turquoise mane and tail. Novo smiled. "You don't need to call me that, sweetheart. We're equals, you know?" And she gently hugged him whilst he nuzzled her chest. "You mean the world to me, Kainos." "Of course," Kainos replied. "I'm just relieved you're alright. Admiral Seaspray's been looking for you everywhere! The great naval exercises are about to start!" "Oh, Seaspray, that bore," Novo sighed. "Here I was hoping I could get this day off for just you and me." "Ah, Your Majesty!" said Seaspray. "There you are! The exercises are about to start, and we need you to announce the festivities." "It would be my honour." "Prince Kainos?" "Yes?" "A matter of import. We have been unable to locate Princess Skystar anywhere in the viscinity." Novo tuned out the conversation between Seaspray and her husband and walked to the water's edge. In the distance, many ships of varying sizes were lined up for the exercises and naval parade. It was certainly set to be an interesting day, if nothing else. Being a Constitutional Monarch, she tended to delegate most daily tasks to elected officials. She was merely the figurehead of the hippogriff civilisation. As she watched the water, her sister, Ocean Flow, suddenly popped out of the water. "Queen Novo! I bring dreadful news!" "What's going on?" Novo asked, suddenly confused. "I've found Skystar! She was playing in the coral reef and got her tail snagged on a net!" Kainos looked horrified. "But that's right where the exercises are! The Valiant's leading that exercise. Her wake is go powerful it'll kill her!" Novo made up her mind that instant. "Seaspray, get the captain on the horn and try to slow him down. Kainos, take to the air and patrol the air. Keep any and all hippogriffs off that area. The last thing we need is any interruptions." "What about me?" asked Ocean Flow. "We take to the water," Novo replied. She jumped forward, and with a blinding flash from the Pearl, switched to a seapony. The Queen and her sister swam through the water, determined to save Princess Skystar no matter the cost. Author's Note All hail her sassiness, Queen Novo! Queen Novo, whilst a bit vain and rather full of herself, was great fun to watch. Uzo Aduba's voicework was excellent (and contrasts with Kristin Chenoweth's performance brilliantly), but it was the animators who did a truly fantastic job, with Novo able to convey more humour through a single movement of her eyebrows than any line of dialogue ever could. For those wondering, Kainos is the name I came up with for Novo's missing (or perhaps deceased) husband, seen here; For those wondering why Kainos is a Prince and not King, here's your explanation; Novo was in the line of succession when she married Kainos, who married into the Royal Family. Kainos became a Prince upon marriage, with all the perks that brought, but as he was not born into Royalty, being a commoner, he had no claim to the throne. For the same reason IRL, Prince Phillip (Queen Elizabeth II's husband) is a Prince and not a King.
One Small ThingOff to the seas we go once more. Wow, this is a first. Three nautical themed stories in one collection, and in a row no less. I really am going interesting places these days. Anyways, I suppose we'd better get started, and how better to get started than to link up with our man of the hour, Thomas Elias Haddington, or as he prefers to be known, Tom (though, curiously, Katrina had a habit of using his full name on occasion, which was a little unusual). Here he was, and once more he was near the sea. Who wouldn't want to be by the seaside if given the chance? Most people, I'd reckon. This time, he had travelled of to a small town in the Northwest of England, a place called Blackpool. This was a town best known for its seaside, the many amusements, a tower (based on the one in Paris, but a lot shorter), a multitude of tat shops and rubbish museums with misleading advertising, and, most importantly of all, trams. Tom had hopped onto a tram to travel to the beach, as there really was no other way to travel in Blackpool. Seriously, who would drive when you have trams? As the tram rattled along the street, he started singing, as he was known to do. "Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside! I do like to be beside the sea! Oh I do like to stroll along the Prom, Prom, Prom! Where the brass bands play, "'Tiddely-om-pom-pom!' "So just let me be beside the seaside! I'll be beside myself with glee and there's lots of girls beside, I should like to be beside, beside the seaside, beside the sea!" So pleased were many of the locals that he knew a classic song of the English seaside that they joined in. A passing brass band also joined in, for some reason, and the passengers were all jolly and merry. "What a lovely day it is!" said a passenger. "Perfect for spending a day by the seaside!" "It sure is," Tom laughed. "Seriously, who needs to go to Spain when you have weather like this?" "It's a cultural thing," said another. "People go to Spain to bum about on a beach because they go to Spain to bum about on a beach. There really is nothing else to it, really." "That is certainly true," Tom sighed. "Ah well, things could be worse. As for me, I do delight in the pleasures of the old fashioned English seaside, and these heritage trams are certainly adding to the atmosphere." "Blackpool saved the tram!" said the driver, who had overheard the conversation. "When most other cities abandoned their tram systems, Blackpool kept its, and in doing so let the way in the re-establishment of British trams in so many cities." "I live in one of them," Tom replied. "Nottingham has trams, and it's seriously good too." The driver reached for the bell. "Pleasure Beach! Pleasure Beach next stop!" The tram rattled to a halt, and the doors opened. Tom stepped off and thanked the driver. He watched as the tram rattled away, and then he turned to walk to the beachfront, where he could see the sea (he had avoided drinking any wine. Hence his nose was not shining, and as a result he was certain he would see what people see in the sea). Tom stood by the seashore and looked down into the water. He could see sand underneath the water, and in that sense he now understood what people saw in the sea. He was very satisfied with this find, when he looked again at an object floating towards him in the water, that looked oddly familiar to him in many ways. For a start, it was a great big sphere. It was also a pink sphere, which glowed with some form of spectral energy. Colours of orange and white bubbled inside, being barely contained by the marvellous spectacle of the object that floated before him. "Hmm," Tom sighed. "I must admit that this object looks oddly familiar. I have seen it somewhere before, but where was that?" Tom bent down to take a closer look, to inspect this strange thing, only to realise too late what the object in question actually was. "That's the Pearl! The Pearl of Trans-" He never got the chance to finish his sentence. The pearl suddenly glowed, and seemed to explode, catapulting Tom outwards to sea, still fully clothed, and he hit the water with a bang, very lucky he didn't break anything as he hit the surface of the sea. As for the Pearl, it was long gone, having teleported elsewhere. But Tom was now Under the Sea. You may make the obvious joke in the comments if you wish. Tom knew something was wrong when he awoke. His clothing was still in place, and as he looked down he suddenly noticed something off with his legs. It was highly blurry, and he never questioned how he could still breathe underwater. It was what happened next that truly unnerved him. His legs shrank in length, getting ever shorter, the bones vanishing and compressing until there was no trace of then ever being there. His lower end shifted in shape, any trace of conventional limbs there vanishing, leaving a floating torso in place. A tail emerged from the coccyx, and then moved forward round to encompass the front of the torso as well, before growing downwards and stopping after a few seconds. It was then followed by a giant blue flipper popping out of the bottom, which split apart partway down and left a gap in the centre. "OK, so I'm now a merman. A bleedin' merman. At least I've still got tho- oof!" His manhood had decided to take his leave (seriously, how do seaponies reproduce?), replaced with something else. Another blue fin, a stabiliser if you will, popped out of her back to help hold her in place, and this corrected the balance problem. Most of his clothing had floated off into the sea as yet more rubbish in the ocean, as a pair of translucent pink water wings popped out of her back as her chest slimmed down into something closer to an equine. Her arms snapped forwards so that the joints faced backwards compared to a human arm, and her hands ran together and melted into a pair of flippers (blue, of course). Her neck grew upwards in length as a red collar appeared around her neck, followed by a necklace with ridiculous numbers of shells around it. Her much longer neck now resulted in the top of her head being much closer to the surface. Her eyes turned blue as they grew in size, and her mouth and nose stretched forward to create a muzzle of some sort, giving her the look of a seahorse. The underwater equivalent of a fin popped out of her head as a blue luminescent blob, not disimilar to that mounted to an angler fish. Pink coral as an earband appeared on the left hand side of her head as a fragment of pearl appeared around her neck. Finally, her entire body was covered in yellow scales, to protect her underwater. Princess Skystar had no sooner come to terms with her new surroundings than she suddenly teleported to be elsewhere. "Hey! This looks like a fun place to play!" To which end, she swam along as fast and as firm as she could, towards the edge of the horizon, then swung upwards, jumped through the air, cleared the surface, and then dived to the ground. Unfortunately, she hadn't left enough clearance, and her tail got snagged on a rock. A rock that was marked for nautical exercises. "Oh no!" Skystar cried. "If I can't get free, I'll get blown to bits!" She desperately tried to free herself. She wiggled as hard as she could, and flopped relentlessly as she tried to get off this blasted rock. But her efforts were all for naught, as she was too well caught. In the distance, she could see the battleships start to aim for the target. Suddenly, Prince Kainos flew overhead, heading for the vessels. "Hold on Skystar!" he shouted. "Help is coming!" Skystar hoped it would, as those ships were about to commence target practice. Seconds later, Novo and Ocean Flow popped up out of seemingly nowhere and got to work. "Ocean Flow, you get her upper body!" Novo called. "I'll work on getting her tail free!" She switched to a hippogriff, and got her claws to grip the tail as best she could without hurting Skystar. "Quick!" Skystar cried. "Those ships look ready to fire!" "Let's hope Kainos gets there in ti-" There was a flash of light in the distance, followed by a loud bang. "Oh shit." The shells got closer and closer, so Novo switched ends and simply pulled as hard as she could. The shells got closer and closer. At the last second, Novo's efforts succeeded, and she pulled Skystar clear. The pair tumbled into the water, and Novo turned Skystar over to shield her from the blast. The flames cleared, and Skystar hugged her mother with all her might. "Thanks mom!" she cried. "If it hadn't been for you, I'd have been a goner." Novo gently rubbed her daughter's head, having switched to a seapony in the meantime. "I can't bear to lose you," she whispered. "So why were you out here whilst the Navy was on a live fire exercise?" "Nobody told me the Navy was drilling!" Skystar replied. "I'll have a word with that captain," Novo said grimly. "I can only assume Kainos didn't get there in time." Her face then softened. "But I think I know where you need to go. Let's head for home, and watch the Navy from a considerably safer distance." "Race ya!" Skystar laughed, and swam upwards. With a single blast of energy, she changed into a hippogriff and flew for the shore at incredible speed. Novo laughed. "Two can play at that game, child." So she took to the skies as well, mother and daughter racing for the shore, happy in each other's company. Author's Note I adore Kristin Chenoweth's work. So when I learned she'd been cast in the movie of my favourite TV show, naturally I was pretty chuffed. She didn't disappoint; although her acting could do with some work (and initially I found Skystar pretty annoying), the moment she opened her mouth and started singing I was blown away. I would list her as my favourite character from the film, but not my favourite seapony/hippogriff. You'll find out who that is next month.
