Featured music:

1. "Poor Unfortunate Souls reprise"

2. "The Truth About Mervana" song, from Ducktales reboot (Episode: "The Lost Harp of Mervana")

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Estrella woke up extra early on the final day and escaped the stables before breakfast so she could go see Omega and help her work out a new plan to get Benni to kiss her. After what happened last night, she got trapped being bathed with all the other horses and then sleeping. Only now did she finally get a moment to go see her girl.... Except when she got to Omega's room, the girl wasn't there. Estrella thought maybe Omega got up for breakfast already. So, she pushed the door open and began looking around for Omega, when she overheard some of the bipeds talking.

"So this mystery girl was real after all," said Anakin.

"It appears I was the one in the wrong all this time, Benni." Obi-Wan said. "Congratulations, my dear."

Estrella thought the humans were talking about Omega, so she peeked around the corner and hoped to go in and congratulate her girl, only to find, to her great surprise, it was not Omega the men were congratulating.

The humans were gathered around Benni who was with a girl with blonde hair, but unlike Omega, this girl had blue eyes, and she looked a little older than Omega too. And Estrella could swear Benni didn't look like himself; he looked like he was under a trance. How no one seemed to notice, Estrella didn't know, and the alicorn soon found she wasn't alone.

Gabby crawled on the floor and got a look at the new girl.

"I've never seen that girl before, have you?" Gabby asked Estrella.

"No, I have not." Estrella said. "But I have a feeling something is off."

"We wish to be married as soon as possible." Benni said.

"Oh, but Benni, these things take time, and you are still very young-"

"This afternoon, it shall be." Benni said. "The wedding ship will leave at sunset."

That had Estrella really feeling alarmed. She had to find Omega before it was really too late!

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Estrella picked Gabby up by the back of her dress with her teeth and carried her out of the castle.

"Gabriella, have you seen Omega since last night?" Estrella said.

After the boat trip last night, Benni finally got to tell everyone Omega's name, and the girl even finally mastered writing her name. But, no one had seen her since last night, including Gabby.

"No, I haven't seen her. After dinner, my parents made me go to bed early, so I probably slept through anything else."

"Then I think it's time I filled you in on some things on Omega."

"What do you mean?"

"Omega is not as ordinary of a girl as she appears, and she didn't wash up from a shipwreck either."

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Omega and her brothers all looked for any way they could find to get out of the cave. But the mines were huge, and there was barely any light in there from what little ipsium existed in the walls and the glow of the mermen's shells. The rocks just wouldn't budge no matter what Omega and her brothers did.

"We're wasting our time," said Wrecker. "These rocks aren't going anywhere."

"We have to try." Boba said. "Even if Omega didn't need Benni to kiss her, Dad's gonna start to wonder where we all are."

Omega sat and silently cried as she feared the worst, feeling at fault for placing her family in this position. Hunter looked at his little sister and thought she could use a little cheering up.

"Omega... don't worry. We'll find a way out of here." Hunter said, holding Omega's shoulder. But the girl didn't respond. "Hmm. You know, Omega. Not everything in your old grotto was destroyed."

That grabbed Omega's attention, and Hunter brought out the one piece of his sister's old collection that was salvaged. Her silver spoon. Omega smiled hugely as she held her spoon and she cuddled it like a teddy bear before hugging her big brother in thanks. But then, Omega had an idea.

Omega looked at some of the rocks, and she found small cracks between a few of them. Carefully, Omega pried her spoon between some of the cracks, and with some vigorous scraping, one of the rocks got loose!

"Good thinking, Omega!" Echo said.

Wrecker and Echo helped move one of the rocks, and Omega started scraping between them again. Except, Omega saw this was probably going to take a while. And then she had another idea. She remembered Benni talking about people working in these mines before. Maybe there were tools left behind somewhere that could prove helpful.

Omega hit her spoon against a metal cup she found to get all her brothers' attention. Luckily, Omega knew another form of undersea communication. Mermaid Sign Language. Omega signed to her brothers everything Benni told her, and how there might be some tools left in the cave that could prove useful.

"Look for something, anything." Omega signed. "Bring it here, and we can find a way out faster."

"How? We don't know how any of that stuff works." Wrecker pointed out.

"But Omega does," said Boba. "We have to try. Let's go."

And so, the seven siblings split up. Crosshair, Tech, Hunter, and Boba went in pairs to search the mines for tools while Omega stayed behind to continue scraping the rocks with her spoon and Wrecker and Echo would help her move some of the rocks.

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Estrella flew above the kingdom with Gabby on her back so they could look for Omega and her brothers. When she found that none of Omega's brothers were anywhere to be found, she knew something fishy was definitely going on.

"So, let me see if I have this right," said Gabby. "Omega's a mermaid princess and she made a deal to become human permanently if Benni kissed her and she traded her voice and that's why she doesn't talk? Why do I feel like I've heard this story before?"

"Yes. Omega made such a deal, but it appears now an imposter is trying to make sure it doesn't happen, and the fact that she's vanished... coincidence? I think not." Estrella said.

"But in the stories I've heard about mermaids, they could turn into humans themselves." Gabby said. "And they had to avoid getting wet on land because it would sprout a tail."

"I've heard stories like that too. But I thought they were only that when I first met Omega and never saw her become a human on land. I only hope we find her in time."

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The mer-siblings worked for hours. It was about the afternoon by the time Omega managed to get even a small layer of rocks out of the walls, enough to at least make a small hole and let some sunshine in, but not big enough for even the youngest siblings to squeeze out.

Crosshair, Tech, Hunter, and Boba eventually returned with what they could salvage from deep within the mines. Unfortunately, they didn't find much. Just a canteen that had barely any water inside, a couple of old helmets, and something small, metal, and shiny, but also pretty dirty.

"Any of this stuff look useful?" Hunter asked his sister.

Omega looked at the stuff, but sadly shook her head. However, since there was a small opening, Omega's brothers saw one solution: Yell for help!

All of Omega's brothers screamed for help as loudly as they could, hoping someone would hear them and get them out. Unfortunately, the wedding ship was already taking off, and with most of the kingdom celebrating their prince finally getting married, no one was nearby to hear the distressed victims.

But then, Omega cleaned off the shiny thing and realized it was a whistle! It was then Omega remembered something Estrella said about what a whistle could be used for. Omega blew into the whistle to test it out, and sure enough, it was loud! Loud enough to get her brothers to stop yelling and cover their ears.

"Omega!" Crosshair scolded. "What was that?!"

Omega, again, said nothing, and made her way to the small hole, and she climbed on Wrecker's shoulders to get as close to the hole as possible, where she blew into her whistle as hard and loudly as she could.

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Estrella and Gabby continued to search all over the kingdom, but were worried when they found no sign of Omega or her brothers anywhere.

"What if something awful happened to them?" Gabby worried.

"Let's not think that way," said Estrella. "They can't have gone far."

And that was when Estrella's ears shot up and wiggled when a sound hit them, a loud high-pitched sound. Estrella knew what sound that was. A whistle!

"Do you hear that?" Estrella asked the girl on her back.

Gabby stopped and listened, and she could hear the whistle sounding too.

"Yeah. It sounds like a whistle."

"It must be Omega trying to call us!"

Quickly, Estrella flew in the direction of the whistling, following it to where she saw a bunch of warning signs saying not to go into the old abandoned ipsium mines. If someone was looking to imprison a victim someplace no one would dare to go, this would be the place to do it.

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Omega kept blowing and blowing her whistle until she ran out of air. No one seemed to be coming.

"It was a good try though." Tech said. "Perhaps if we took turns blowing it?"

"Omega?" said a new, but familiar voice.

"Estrella!" Omega's brothers exclaimed.

"We're in here!" Boba shouted.

Estrella peeked in through the hole Omega made.

"Qué estás haciendo? What are you all doing in there?" Estrella asked.

"Long story, but someone trapped us and is using Omega's voice, probably pretending to be her." Hunter said.

"I noticed that this morning. Whoever she is, she's marrying Benni tonight, and has him under a spell no doubt."

Omega's eyes widened in horror at that. She had to save Benni before it was too late.

"Estrella, can you do something to get us out?" Boba asked.

"I'll see what I can do."

Estrella flew over to the entrance and saw that there was a giant boulder in the way. She'd never moved anything that big by herself before. But she had an idea.

"Omega, do you have any tools in there with you?"

Omega showed what she and her brothers had with them, and Estrella knew just what to do.

"Omega, use your spoon to pry a crack big enough to get a rope through on both sides. Gabriella, run as fast as you can and get as much rope as you can carry.

Estrella flew up on top of the cave and whinnied as loudly as she could.

Omega did as Estrella said and scraped some small openings at the sides of the boulder. And soon through both ends, two ropes were squeezed through.

"Do you guys see the ropes?" Gabby asked from the other side.

"Got one." Echo said.

"Me too." Wrecker said.

"Okay. Use those ropes to tie a tight knot around the rock and stand back."

Wrecker and Echo tied a tight knot around the boulder, and Hunter signaled Estrella that it was done. Outside, Estrella gathered as many horses as she could call over, and Gabby attached the ropes to each of their reins so they could pull together. Horses were very strong animals; they could pull the boulder out easily, hopefully.

"Alright, everyone. On tres. Ready?" Estrella got in front, ready to pull. "Uno, dos... tres!"

And together, the horses pulled with all their might, and the boulder began to move out of the way of the entrance, allowing Omega and her brothers to get out!

"We're free! We're free!" Boba cheered.

Omega and her brothers were all ecstatic to be free, but that enthusiasm was short-lived when Omega caught sight of the sun setting. She had to hurry.

"The sun's about to set! We have to hurry!" Hunter said.

"Omega, hop on!" Estrella said. "Hunter, you and your brothers go get help. Carousella, rally as many animals as you can to stall the wedding!"
Omega quickly got onto Estrella's back and took off to get to the wedding ship as quickly as possible.

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Meanwhile, the bride-to-be stood at her mirror, getting ready for her wedding to Prince Benni. Everyone thought she was a lovely maiden named Kalista, but in actuality, she was the siren named Crescenda. Her plan? Take over the ocean for herself. She figured with Arla's plan, it would be the perfect opportunity to get the two relics of the two royal siblings.

You see, when Jango and Arla were children, they were each given a special relic to look after, regardless of which one became the next ruler.

Arla was gifted a magical pearl that allowed her to heal the sick and injured; it was also the one thing she had with her when she was banished to the dark seas. Jango, on the other hand, guarded a magical starfish necklace that gave life to the ocean and helped new sea plants to grow. But the trident was the most powerful relic of all; it could control the water, and when combined with the other two relics, was said to make the wielder invincible.

With Arla's plans and the likelihood that Jango would go after her to get his daughter back, it was the perfect opportunity for Crescenda to get all three relics in one place.

Crescenda:

What a lovely little bride I'll make,

My dear, I'll look divine!

Things are working out according to my ultimate design!

Soon I'll have the three relics,

and the ocean will be mine!

Crescenda laughed as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

"What fools those silly merfolk are," said Crescenda in Omega's voice. "Soon, they and the whole ocean will quiver as my power."

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Jango paced, or swam frantically, around his throne as he pondered on the whereabouts of his daughter and his sons. It'd been hours since he'd heard from any of his sons, and he was worried something had happened to them.

"Where could they be?"

"DAD!" Boba shouted, swimming in first.

"Boba! Boys! I was wondering where you ran off to." Jango said. But he noticed one kid was still missing. "Where's Omega?"

"Dad, please don't get mad. Omega's in trouble!" Boba said.

"Omega was mad that you destroyed her stuff," said Hunter. "And she swam off into the dark seas-"

"The dark seas?!" Jango got worried then.

"Yes, and she went to see Aunt Arla, and she turned her into a human. And if she doesn't kiss Prince Benni before sunset tonight, she'll become her prisoner forever!"

Jango didn't need to hear anything else. He told Lama Su to get the royal army ready immediately, and he had his sons lead the way.

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Beautiful music played as Benni and "Kalista" began walking down the aisle together. Barko growled, being the only one on the ship who sensed something off about the bride. But the bride glared at the dog and kicked him, which had the poor pooch whimpering in pain.

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"Don't worry, Omega! We'll make it!" Estrella said, flying as quickly as she could.

Carousella, on the other hoof, called as many animals as she could for help. Fellow flying horses, seals, sea lions, seagulls, pelicans, and Gonky gathered some fellow dolphins to help too.

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"Do you, Benni, take Kalista to be your lawfully wedded wife for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," said Benni, still under the trance.

Crescenda was sure no one could stop her now, until she heard the sound of whinnying coming from above. That was when Carousella, as well as many other flying horses and the birds swooped in at the bride, scaring many of the guests. It wasn't just flying animals, however. Soon, the seals and sea lions, as well as some crabs and starfish leaped onto the boat and all kinds of chaos ensued. The seals bounced Crescenda all around the boat, and Barko decided to join in too.

Estrella and Omega eventually made their way to the boat too, just as Carousella was biting the seashell necklace around Crescenda's neck, then Barko gave the bride a good bite in a very unpleasant space.

The necklace snapped right off Crescenda's neck, and sent the shell shattering on the floor, which not only set Omega's voice free, but broke Benni out of his trance.

No one could believe their eyes when they saw what was happening, but Omega felt an amazing sensation when she heard and felt herself singing out from her own throat again.

Benni couldn't believe it, but he knew now it was Omega all along!

"Omega?"

"Benni!" Omega said, finding it so good to talk again for the first time in days.

"You... you can talk! I knew it! You're the one."

Benni wrapped his arms around Omega.

"Oh, Benni. I wanted to tell you."

Omega and Benni were just about to kiss, but the sun set, and Omega felt weird and collapsed to the floor. Except, Omega was confused. When she looked down to where her tail should've been, she saw that she still had legs.

"What?" Omega gasped. "But... how?"

Crescenda, however, had other plans. She took out her flute and began to play it, placing the ship's captain under a trance, and causing him to steer the boat towards some big rocks! That sent the ship crashing into the rocks, and caused it to sink, sending many guests, including Omega, falling into the water, where she did grow her tail back.

Omega then found herself grabbed by her shoulder by a familiar hand. None other than her Aunt Arla.

"Back to a mermaid, I see." Arla said, and Omega started to cry. In response, Arla hugged her and said, "There now, my dear. It's not the end of the world. You'll be home before you know it, and soon you'll learn the truth about this family."

Omega wasn't sure what Arla meant by that, but she and her aunt were quickly stopped as King Jango arrived with his royal army.

"Let her go, Arla!" Jango said.

"Not a chance, Brother. Omega is under my custody now." Arla said, and she showed the contract. "We made a deal."

"Daddy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

Jango fired magic from his trident at Arla's contract, but nothing happened to it.

"You see, Jango? This contract is legal, binding, and unbreakable. Unlike when you make a promise to your family, something I'm sure you know all about? Just like you know the truth of how you became the ruler of Koralmino instead of me?"

"We all know that story," said one guard. "You attacked your brother in an attempt to banish him and any other heirs."

"Is that what he told you? That's rich." Arla said. "Did he also tell you that those pearl bracelets all of you wear are not a sign of unity, but to keep any of you from seeing the truth of our people?"

Suddenly, Omega and her brothers realized something. All of them had taken off their pearl bracelets after Jango destroyed Omega's grotto! That was before Omega's brothers got onto the land, and they grew legs.

"Aunt Arla? What are you talking about?" Omega said.

"There's a lot you don't know about your father or our past, my dear." Arla said. "I wasn't always half-squid, you know.

Arla took out her magical pearl, and used it to show an old memory of her and Jango when they were young. Jango's kids couldn't believe how much he resembled Hunter when he was young, just without the face tattoo. Arla, on the other hand, looked much different. Instead of the tentacles on her bottom half, she used to have such a beautiful tale of pink, green, blue and purple. It was so shiny, so beautiful, and the light danced off of it like beautiful stars when she swam.

"Is that really you?" said Boba.

"It was." Arla said. "I used to be just like you, until your father banished me, and took away a valuable piece of our people's heritage. I was heir to the throne, and with good reason too. On top of being the first born child, I stood for truth. Your father, on the other hand, stood to hide rather than take chances."

Much like Omega, Arla was fascinated with the surface as a young mermaid, and she loved to collect beautiful treasures and learn all about the different creatures that lived on the land, as well as teach them about the beautiful things that lived in the water.

The truth of the matter was, first of all, as you know, Arla didn't always have those monstrous tentacles. Much like her brother and his children, Arla once had a tail, again, a very beautiful one too. Once, it was the prettiest mermaid tail the ocean had ever seen. But then, all that changed.

"Allow me to explain it through a song of truth." Arla said. She warmed up her voice and began to sing.

Arla:

Once upon a time, it used to be,

The merfolk were creatures of land and sea.

It was true, much like Hunter and his brothers now, the merfolk could become humans on land, and regrow their tails when they hit the water. All was once so peaceful between them and the bipeds.

Until the day that Mokko became king,

And I came and to him I would then sing.

A then Princess Arla swam up to King Mokko, believing it was possible for their kingdoms to have an official alliance. Their worlds were different, but their borders met at the same beach, and between them, they could maintain balance between land and sea.

I agree that we come from different lands,

But we can have an alliance, if you just shake my hand,

Unfortunately, Mokko was not like the bipeds Arla had met before.

He just laughed and he ignored my cries saying,

Mokko:

You wish. You are nothing more than half a fish.

Sure enough, Mokko was a tyrant ruler, not just to his own people, but he spread lies about the merfolk being monsters, and now none of Arla's people were safe getting anywhere near the surface. Mokko ordered his men to attack the merpeople, or they captured them, and then those captured merfolk never returned.

Arla:

Until the day I told the land's tyrant master,

Banning the merfolk has caused disaster,

But he rolled his eyes and shook his head,

Mokko:

Never return here, or you will be dead

After their parents died, Jango and Arla told all the merfolk to stay below until they knew it was safe. Arla wanted to keep her people safe, but she also knew she couldn't abandon the people of the land above to spend eternity with a tyrant ruler. When she heard of the bipeds' plans to overthrow Mokko, Arla told her brother Jango she and the merfolk needed to form an alliance with them and help fight back. But of course, Jango disagreed. He said that would only put their people at risk, and if their king banished them, then all the bipeds would surely want to eliminate the merfolk.

Arla:

I thought back we should fight, but Jango thought it better to hide,

So he ran from the bipeds, the truth, and me,

He left me in the dark sea, truth far from his ears,

That night I became lonely through all these years.

For the longer I stayed in the dark sea,

The more monstrous my body grew to be.

Before her banishment, Arla and Jango got into a huge fight, and they fought over the magical trident. They made a deal that whoever stood last with the trident would be leader. The two fought hard and Arla held the trident high in victory, but when guards heard the commotion and came, Jango feigned that Arla attacked him, and the guards arrested her, thus leading the people to believe Arla was the villain, and Jango banished her to the dark seas so the truth would never reach the ears of his people or his children. But Arla swore to him that sooner or later the truth would come back to light.

"So you see? Your father is the one responsible for these!" Arla motioned to her tentacles. "He took everything from me. He thought he could just take the things he wanted without a higher cost, and later taught that same practice to many of the merfolk. But I showed them the truth. Many came to me for spells when they decided to run from the truth, and thus I gave them spells, but only to teach them the cost of running from the truth. When I realized Omega was in love with a human prince, I saw a chance to bring the truth to light, and to bring this kingdom back to the glory it held when I lived there."

Of course, none of the merfolk could believe any of this.

"Dad, is this true?" Omega said, looking at her father.

Everyone else looked at Jango too.

"Jango, for once in your life, why don't you tell the truth?" Arla said.

Jango was surrounded by many eyes looking at him. He'd held this secret for so long.... He couldn't deny it any longer.

"All of it is true." Jango said, shocking everyone.

"I can't believe you treated your own sister like that," said Hunter.

"You don't understand! I was doing it to protect everyone."

"From what? You said the land people were all dangerous," said Omega angrily. "But it turns out we were part of the land long ago, and you hid it from all of us! You got mad at me for hiding things, and you hid this from all of us!"

Jango, for once, did not snap back at his daughter. He'd been caught red-handed.

"Now that the truth is out, dear brother, perhaps now you can do the right thing and grant Koralmino its rightful leader?"

Jango was about to give the trident to his sister, when two other merfolk swooped in and grabbed the brother and sister, and those merfolk turned out to be none other than Fennec and Ventress.

"Fennec! Ventress! What are you two doing?!" Arla demanded.

"Sorry, Arla. We have a new master now." Ventress said.

Flute music played, and it placed both Arla and Jango, as well as the mer-army under a trance. Fennec and Ventress each took a relic from Jango and or Arla, and down came Crescenda, to whom the two dark mermaids gave the relics. And using the two relics, Crescenda took Arla's voice.

Crescenda nodded in approval as she took the two relics. Now she only needed Jango's trident. Except, when she went to grab it, the trident was gone!

"What?!" gasped Crescenda in Arla's voice.

But it turned out Omega swiped her father's trident to prevent Crescenda from taking it.

"Hand over the trident, Princess." Crescenda demanded.

"No!"

But Crescenda was ready for this. Now that she had the army and Omega's father and aunt at her disposal, she ordered all of them to get her the trident.

Omega and her brothers only saw one solution: RUN! Or rather, SWIM!

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What'd you guys think of that little twist I added to the story?

Please be sure to tell me in the reviews.

Haven't had quite as much energy to write this week because I fell victim to the flu or common cold that's been going around. If any of you have gotten sick, I pray you feel better soon, and those of you that haven't gotten sick yet, be sure to wash your hands, wear a mask when you go out, and stay home if you do get sick.