The three, after asking for directions and the name of the town called 'Tidal Kelp' located on another continent far away from Equestria, arrived at the librarian’s desk where Bookworm was reading a book. They were only there as Corrosion Abyss wanted to investigate something after Light Angel explained how her predicament happened, which made him believe that the whale and whatever the sunny pegasus did with the seashells were in fact connected, and that he would find the information within the library.

Light Angel decided to talk first so that the librarian pony won’t be scared off. “Excuse me,” she said.

Hearing a voice, the librarian pony looked up from his book, and greeted them with a smile. “Hello there. How can I help you?” asked Bookworm.

“We’re looking for books that are about seashells, and even for books that are about magical seashells too,” answered the sunny pegasus.

He thought about it. “Hmm…I know where the seashell books are, but I can’t remember where the magical seashells book is,” said the librarian pony. Bookworm was silent for a moment before an idea popped up. “But I have a friend who does. He knows the entire library like the back of his hoof more than me.” The librarian pony laughed.

She smiled. “That’s great. Do you know where we can find him?” asked Light Angel.

Bookworm pointed in a direction towards the bookshelves. “He’s doing some research. If you see a table with some stallion who has his nose deep in some books and papers, and responds to the name ‘Jellyfish’, then you’ve found him,” he informed.

The sunny pegasus smiled. “Thanks so much,” she said.

The librarian pony smiled back. “It was no problem at all,” said Bookworm.

The void creature was curious about something. “Um, excuse me. Sorry for saying this, but you don’t seem to be afraid of me like the other ponies are,” they said. “I mean, I’m okay with you not being afraid, but I’m just wondering why you’re not.”

He shrugged, still smiling. “You haven’t done anything worth scary, and you’re not attacking me or anypony else. So, I know that you can’t be bad,” Bookworm informed. “Does that answer your question?”

Corrosion Abyss was both surprised and happy to hear the library pony’s answer and smiled. “It does. Thanks,” he said. “Let’s go see this Jellyfish, you two.”

The three left the desk and headed for the bookshelves. After making their way through the aisles, the three made it to a table where there was a stallion who, like Bookworm said, had his nose in a book.

“Excuse me. Are you, Jellyfish?” asked Little Fraise, politely.

While the unknown stallion was focused on the book, he was able to answer the filly’s question. “Yeah, I am. Do you need something?” said Jellyfish, wondering.

“The librarian sent us here because he told us that you know where to find the books on magical seashells,” Light Angel informed.

Hearing that snapped the unknown stallion out of his concentration, who had then placed the book down onto the table and looked up at her out of confusion and wonder, but that look changed once Jellyfish saw the sunny pegasus’ face.

He instantly recognized her from the beach incident. “Hey, you’re that pegasus from the beach. I was relieved to see that you’re okay,” said the unknown stallion.

She smiled. “Thanks. It was weird that I was almost eaten, but I was lucky that the whale somehow disappeared in the end,” said Light Angel. “I know that somepony saved my life, and for that, I’m thankful they did, and I hope that the whale makes its way back home.”

Jellyfish nodded, deep in thought. “She’s a nice mare, but what she doesn’t know is that Wally wasn’t trying to eat her, and the only reason he would do that is if he was trying to capture her without any orders to bring her to them, and I believe something about her or something she did attracted his attention. Also, books about magical seashells sound oddly familiar, and I think I know why,” he thought. “So, books about magical seashells? Well, I’m very sorry, but there’s only one of those kinds of books in this library, and I have it. I’m a researcher/explorer, and I’m doing research about something important right now that can’t wait.” The researcher pony’s horn glowed with a very soft, cyan-colored magic aura.

A book was levitated from out of one of the book stacks on the table and floated over by Jellyfish’s magic. The book was then placed on top of the book that the researcher pony had been reading.

“But I’ll do something better. Since I don’t want to let any of you leave empty-hoofed, if you tell me the description of the seashell that you’re curious about, I can quickly find it in this book and tell you what you need to know,” he offered.

The sunny pegasus hummed in thought before deciding to accept the offer. “Mmm, I found this shell on the beach, out of the water. It looks full white but has a little pink reflet time to time that looks like a mollusk shell with the two pieces closed,” she explained. “Also, I did hear some weird noise with an echo sound during when I had pocketed it. I don’t think there’s a crab inside.”

The researcher pony was impressed at Light Angel’s detailed description of the seashell. “Okay, let me find the shell that matches the description and I’ll get back to you on that in just a sec,” said Jellyfish.

He then started flipping through the book as the researcher pony checked every page, which had the picture of some sort of a magical seashell and their info. Eventually, he made it to the page where the seashell was on.

Jellyfish showed the page to her. “Is this it?” he asked.

The sunny pegasus smiled, nodding. “Yeah! This is the shell I found on the beach,” she said. “Can you please tell us what it says about it?”

The researcher pony looked back at the page, and as he stared at the seashell, it seemed familiar to Jellyfish for some reason but can’t remember why. So, he passed it off as something that the researcher pony came across during his research. “Hold on…” said Jellyfish.

The researcher pony started to quietly read what was on the page to himself, which was starting to feel more and more familiar to the researcher pony until eventually, his reading started to slow down, and the volume of the researcher pony’s voice was lowering while his eyes were widening in shock as Jellyfish realized why the seashell looked familiar. The three were feeling concerned when the stallion went quiet.

“Are you feeling okay?” asked Light Angel.

He snapped out of it and quickly looked up, surprising the sunny pegasus. “Excuse me, um-” said Jellyfish, sounding worried.

“Light Angel,” she informed.

“-Light Angel, but can you show me the seashell that you found?” asked the researcher pony. He had really hoped that his bad feeling was wrong.

The sunny pegasus nodded. “Sure thing,” she said.

As soon as the saddlebag was opened, suddenly there was a light coming out of it, surprising everyone.

“What’s going on, daddy?!” asked the filly, surprised.

The void creature didn’t even know since this was new to them too. “I don’t know, but something in there is creating that light. Light Angel, do you know what it is?” asked Corrosion Abyss.

Light Angel reached into the saddlebag. “Hold on. I think I found it,” she responded.

After a few seconds, a surprised sunny pegasus pulled out a tied-up cloth before opening it, revealing that it was the seashell that was making the light. Then, the light died down a little and shifted into a blue color. “Why is the shell making that light?” asked Little Fraise, curious.

She tried looking into the seashell to see what the light source was but couldn’t because the light itself was blinding her. “I don’t know! I think something inside is making the light,” responded Light Angel.

The void creature looked at Jellyfish. “Jellyfish, does it say anything about why the seashell is doing this?” they asked.

The researcher pony quickly looked back in the book. After speedreading the information, he was able to find out why the seashell seemed familiar and also why it was doing that. “Now I know why it sounded familiar. It’s connected to my research about the Five Ancient Civilizations,” thought Jellyfish. “Okay, from what it says, there’s some legend about it as the shell is known as the ‘Compass Shell’. It will only glow a white light once it is in the possession of a certain individual as it means that the one who was chosen will be the, well, Chosen One.”

Both the void creature and Little Fraise looked at the sunny pegasus before looking back at the researcher pony.

As for Light Angel, the sunny pegasus couldn’t believe that she was chosen by a magic seashell. “.....Eeehhhh?! Are you sure it’s me?” asked the sunny pegasus. “I’m not so strong! I mean, I can’t pick up a full tree or be fast like the wind!”

He nodded. “Well, you are the one who was chosen by the shell. So, yeah,” confirmed the researcher pony.

“Oh. Hummm...” said Light Angel. “Sure, sure?”

His only response was to nod again.

She decided to surrender for now but was still feeling reluctant. “Hum...Okay, I will do my best, but…” said the sunny pegasus. “Sure, I can’t find someone else who can better protect the shell? Like a strong unicorn with big powers?”

Jellyfish shook his head.

She frowned before looking at the seashell. “...For a shell who can’t even walk, I’m not sure your judgment can be perfectly correct,” commented Light Angel. It seemed like the sunny pegasus didn’t have the confidence to be the Chosen One as the whole thing had sounded kind of complicated to her.

Corrosion Abyss, seeing this, floated over and placed a clawed hand on the sunny pegasus’ shoulder. “Don’t worry, Light Angel. Me and my daughter will be here by your side no matter what,” he said. The void creature looked at the filly. “Right?”

She nodded, smiling. “Yup!” confirmed Little Fraise.

Hearing the two say that made Light Angel smile. “Thanks, you two,” she said.

They looked at the researcher pony. Corrosion Abyss, back when the void creature was human, had seen enough movies involving Chosen Ones to know what was going to happen next. “I’m going to guess that the next thing that’s going to happen is that the Chosen One must go on some sort of journey that involves traveling the world, right?” guessed the void creature.

Hearing that had made the sunny pegasus shocked, making her look at the void creature. “Huh?!” said the sunny pegasus. Light Angel looked at Jellyfish, hoping that Corrosion Abyss was wrong.

Unfortunately for her, he nodded. “Exactly. Since Light Angel was chosen by the seashell, she’ll have to go on a journey to the locations of the Five Ancient Civilizations and obtain the treasures,” explained the researcher pony.

“What?! Traveling?!” exclaimed the sunny pegasus, but not too loudly. “But I was already on a trip with two friends. I can’t disappear like that.” Light Angel just didn’t want to be gone from her home for a long period of time and end up worrying everyone since no one was informed by the sunny pegasus about her little trip that had somehow later turned into an adventure. “That can be another time, but for now I will go back home with Fraise and C.A.”

The researcher pony looked at them with a pitying look. “I’m sorry, but the time window to leave is impossible,” said Jellyfish, in a serious tone.

Now the sunny pegasus was confused. “What do you mean I can’t leave? I have to go back home,” said Light Angel.

He sighed. “Let me explain. To guide us to the first Civilization, the one where the seaponies and sea creatures lived and used water magic-” The research pony pointed a hoof at the Compass Shell. “-is that shell. Well, more like the entity inside of it,” he explained.

Now everyone was confused.

“What do you mean by that? There’s something inside of it?” asked the filly, curious.

Jellyfish looked back at the book. “Yes. You see, the Compass Shell was created to be more like a protective home to house the guide inside until it was time for it to awaken,” he informed, reading. “As for the light, when it continues to shine even after the Chosen One has picked it up, and then changes its color to blue, that means that the countdown to the guide’s awakening is near, and soon. Once the light turns red, it’ll awaken and then guide the Chosen One to the Water Civilization.”

Corrosion Abyss was confused. “So, its awakening has to do with her being unable to leave? How long until it awakens?” they asked, confused.

“In a few minutes…” answered the researcher pony.

That surprised everyone.

“A few minutes?! B-But–” said the sunny pegasus, but was then interrupted.

“Which is why you can’t leave or even give the responsibility to somepony else to be the Chosen One. It has to be you and only you,” said Jellyfish. “I’m sorry, but this is one destiny you can’t avoid, Light Angel” He closed the book and magically brought forth another one and opened it. “Let me tell you all the tale of the Five Ancient Civilizations, and to know about them, I need you all to listen.”

The three decided to be quiet and listen.

“A long, long time ago, way before the princesses’ time and even way before Equestria was founded, there were five ancient civilizations on this continent where the ancient creatures and ponies lived together in harmony. Each civilization specialized only with a single magical element,” started Jellyfish. “There were the civilizations of Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Electricity. They lived separately from one another in different locations around the world, but were allowed to visit one another. Everything was peaceful, until one day, a great evil appeared from out of nowhere. He was known as ‘Stryker Aimes’ the Abyss King, and the Ruler of Dark Magic. Stryker Aimes had attacked the land and its inhabitants with both an army and his mastery of dark magic. The inhabitants of the civilizations did battle against the evil alicorn, and while they have lost some of their comrades, they were able to reduce Stryker Aimes’ army by a considerable amount, allowing them to fight back equally.”

The researcher pony looked up to see that everyone was listening with rapt attention. He wanted to make sure that they were listening.

Jellyfish continued. “The leaders of the five civilizations came together and decided that in order to defeat the evil being, they had to create a new, powerful magical item and each selected their strongest warrior and sent them into the battle against their opponent with this weapon. In the end, Stryker Aimes was killed thanks to the magical item, and the warriors’ determination and the sacrifice as only the fire civilization’s warrior was the only one to survive,” he continued. “As for the evil army, they all ran away, never to be seen again. Everyone rejoiced that they had won, but the land was scarred from the many battles. There was no cost to staying. After holding a funeral for all their fallen warriors but before leaving, the five civilizations left behind some sort of powerful treasure that was the beloved artifact of their home, keeping it safe and locked away. But in case the world was ever in danger, each of the civilizations created a way for them to be found again and hid them in order to guide the future Chosen One to the location of the hidden civilizations and find the treasures themselves.”

The void creature had a bad feeling about this. “Wait. If it’s awakening now, doesn’t that mean…?” he asked.

The researcher pony nodded, confirming Corrosion Abyss’ feeling. “There’s a group out there who are the descendants of some of Stryker Aimes’ army, and their plan is to gather the treasures and use their power to take over the world. They’re known as the ‘Dark Elements’,” he answered. “They’re led by five single element magic users, and as for that whale you encountered on the beach, Light Angel, his name is Wally, and he’s a subordinate of the Dark Element of Water, the merpony, Deadfin Stinger.”

Jellyfish got out of the seat and magically placed the papers into his saddlebags. Then, the researcher pony started putting all of the books back in their places with his magic.

The researcher pony looked back at them while not needing to look at where the books were going. “It’s only a matter of time until Wally informs him. Once he’s told about what happened, Deadfin will tell the others,” he informed. “Fortunately, none of them know that you have the Compass Shell, but they will become suspicious about Wally’s behavior and come after you. It’s best we get ready for our trip to the Water Civilization.”

That kind of surprised everyone.

“Wait. ‘Our’?” questioned Light Angel. “You’re coming too?”

The researcher pony nodded. “Of course, I am. You three need my research for your adventure, and I want to help with stopping the Dark Elements from achieving their goal,” confirmed Jellyfish. “Also, I need to get out of this town too. If the Dark Elements can’t find you, then they’ll obviously come after me next for my research. That’s why I think it might be a bit safer if I travel with you all.”

The void creature looked at both the sunny pegasus and Little Fraise before looking back at the researcher pony. “Well…Okay, I guess?” they said. “We might, in fact, need your help on this adventure.”

He nodded happily and directed a hoof to let the three know to follow the researcher pony, which they all did after the sunny pegasus tied the cloth and put it back into her saddlebags.

“Good. Now, we need to get out of this town as soon as possible before they come after us,” he informed. “Luckily, I know somepony who owns an airship. You three can wait for me at the beach while I go and ask them if I can borrow it, and also get it working too. I should be able to meet up with you all in a few minutes. Sounds good?”

The sunny pegasus nodded. “Okay. I’ll see if I can find a way to inform everyone back home that I won’t be coming back for a while,” said Light Angel, sighing sadly.

The three continued on before leaving the library. As for Jellyfish, he had stopped at the librarian pony’s desk, waiting behind some mare as her books were being checked out by Bookworm. Once the mare’s books were all checked out and she left, it was now the researcher pony’s turn.

He smiled. “Bookworm, I have a favor to ask of you,” said the researcher pony.

The librarian pony crossed his forelegs, raising an eyebrow. “Whenever you ask for a favor, it usually ends up with it becoming a big favor. Like last time when you asked me to help you move into a new apartment building,” Bookworm informed. “We had to paint your entire apartment room before we even moved your stuff in., and all that happened last week.”

Jellyfish chuckled as he remembered that day. “Well, then I guess it is a big favor. So, is your airship still working?” asked the researcher pony, curious.

He nodded. “Yeah. Why?” asked the librarian pony, curious.

Jellyfish then began to explain everything. Meanwhile, the researcher pony hadn’t noticed that a small light had flashed amongst the bookshelves.

Author's Note

A Chosen One? A journey? Treasures? Ancient Civilizations? An evil group? What has the three got into? Also, looks like they have someone to help them out on their journey.

What? Kelp Tale was the only name I had for it that came to mind.

The Psychopath proofread this chapter. They're also the one who suggested the fifth element be electricity instead. The original fifth element was metal, but it's technically branched off of the earth element, which was true, so it had to be changed.

Comments are welcome.