Author's note. I lowered Ariel's age for this story, just a little. In the film, she's sixteen, so I've made her fourteen. Just so that there is some time between this story and the film if that makes sense.

Enjoy and please review.

King Triton swam through the ocean's water, his strong tail propelling him forward with powerful thrusts. He liked to go for early morning swims, before the day got busy and he was needed. Sebastian would come to him with a list of items that needed his attention, this normally took most of the morning. And then he either had to go and do some of these things, or he had to find the right beings to take care of them.

It was very tiring being a kind, he had so many demands on his time.

But he always tried to find time for his seven daughters, he didn't wish for them to become strangers. His eldest for instance was destined to someday become queen, meaning he took a great interest in her studies and how she conducted herself in public. The same went for his other daughters though there was slightly less pressure on them to do well.

Thinking of his daughters suddenly made him think of one in particular. His youngest daughter Ariel was a real handful at times, she was very wilful and a little rebellious. Although she did her best to please him, that didn't stop her from wanting to do her own thing, even if it was something he disapproved of.

Like her obsession with human objects, it was really starting to get worrisome. Humans were dangerous creatures, they regularly caught sea life, usually to eat them. But they also loved Mermaids and would happily catch one to put in a tank. He didn't want that to happen to any of his people, least of all his daughters.

But Ariel just didn't seem to understand, if you went too close to a human, you could get severely hurt. Even if a human wasn't out to catch you, there were nets that Mermaids could get tangled in, or snared on hooks. The thought of his naive young daughter being scarred or even killed sent shivers down his spine.

He continued on his way, his thoughts wrapped up in humans and Ariel. He decided he would send some scouts out to ensure that there were no loose human things around, especially rusty hooks and the like. He also wanted to eliminate any temptation for Ariel to collect any human trinkets.

Now Triton didn't actaully have a problem with any of his daughters collecting one or two human trinkets that was harmless. Even within their city, human objects did end up there and there was generally no harm in keeping them. In fact, he had a little statuette of a land horse, he quite liked that.

But the last time he'd caught Ariel with human items, she'd had a whole chest full and she hadn't looked like she was content with that number. He'd grounded her and set her some punishment chores but he had a very bad feeling that hadn't put her off the idea at all. But what was he supposed to do, he just wanted her to realise the dangers.

If only his beloved wife was still alive, he couldn't help but feel she would know what to do about their youngest. She'd been such a dedicated mother and the girls always listened to her when they wouldn't listen to him. It had been hard on all of them when she'd died but poor Ariel was probably the worst off, she could hardly remember her mother. She'd been so young, Triton knew she could probably only just remember her mother's face and sweet singing voice, nothing more.

"Oh Athena," he groaned softly, as a shoal of brightly coloured fish swam overhead. "I need you so much, I don't know how to get through to Ariel."

He said this very quietly so that no one could hear him. He couldn't help it, he sometimes spoke as though she was listening, it helped him to remember her. It felt like she answered as well, he just needed to recall what she'd say in a certain situation.

"Don't give up."

He smiled, yes, that was what she'd say.

"Come on Flounder,"

Triton started, that was Ariel, and by the sound of it she had her yellow fish friend with her. Those two were inseparable, ever since they had met. The fish's name was Flounder and he always gave the impression of being dragged into things he didn't like. He enjoyed staying out of trouble while Ariel always seemed to be in it.

He frowned, what were they up to now? He decided to follow them, just to make sure Ariel wasn't getting into mischief.

He followed at a safe distance, ensuring that they didn't spot him. Not that they were on the lookout, his Ariel tended to be rather focused when she had a destination in mind. Her single-mindedness was both strength and a weakness. He was just wondering which one it was going to turn out to be in this case.

Eventually, after a little chasing and playing, Ariel and Flounder arrived at their destination, which was a cave entrance. With a bad feeling, he watched as they disappeared inside with him slowly following behind. He gave them a few minutes inside before he too entered the slightly narrow tunnel.

He could hear giggling as he approached, hovering in the tunnel so he could see what his daughter was up to. His eyes widened, two of the walls were covered with human trinkets and other strange objects carefully placed on homemade shelves. He mentally sighed heavily, Ariel's addiction to collecting had clearly gotten a lot worse. But what was he going to do about it?

"Ariel," he said sternly as he emerged into her cave, causing her to gasp and spin around, her eyes widening in shock.

Flounder squeaked in alarm and dived behind a large container, peeking out as Triton floated into the middle of the cavern. Ariel looked very nervous, she knew she wasn't supposed to be collecting objects and she didn't know what her father was going to do.

"What is this?" Triton demanded, his voice a bit louder than normal but not as loud as Ariel was expecting.

She swallowed, her hands tucked behind her back as she said.

"My...my collections, daddy."

"And what have I repeatedly told you about collecting human objects?" Triton said sternly.

"That I'm not supposed to, I mean, I'm not allowed," Ariel said softly, her cheeks flushing slightly with the embarrassment of being caught.

Triton eyed her sternly, he had to decide on a punishment that would really get the message through to her. Clearly, grounding her and giving her punishment chores wasn't enough. His eye shifted to a small stone figure of what looked like a human child and a memory suddenly surfaced. He now knew what he had to do.

"That's right," he said softly, holding out his hand for her.

She took it sadly and he led her out of the cave. After waiting for Flounder to dart out, Triton pointed his triton at the cave entrance and blasted it, causing rocks to fall and seal it all up. Ariel flinched but didn't protest, she knew what had been coming.

"Come along," Triton said quietly, and still holding her hand, swam off with her.

"Where are we going daddy?" Ariel asked after a while, as she saw that they weren't heading back to Atlantica.

"To the surface, Ariel," he replied and she gasped in shock, he'd always told her never to go there, why was he now taking her there.

"Why are we going there?" she couldn't help but ask.

"You disobeyed me Ariel, you need to be punished," Triton said, giving her a stern look as he guided her to the place he had in mind.

"Oh," Ariel said but she was still confused. She didn't understand why she needed to be taken to the surface for punishment.

They finally reached it and broke the surface to find themselves in a cave which had a bright beam of sunlight lighting it up. Triton pulled himself out of the water and onto a rock before doing the same with Ariel. He saw her glancing around, wondering if there was something special about it.

There wasn't, apart from the fact that human couldn't reach it so they wouldn't be disturbed.

"Uh," Ariel said, more nervous now as Triton aimed his triton at her.

She gasped as a glowing beam hit her body, making it all glow before morphing. Once the glow had died away, she found herself wearing a human skirt and shirt. But not only that, her fins and tail had been turned into smooth human legs. She stared in amazement, her father had turned her into a human, something she'd dreamed about.

But before she could say anything, he gently pulled her over and laid her across his lap. She flexed her two new legs, it felt so strange having to limbs instead of one strong one. The material against her skin also felt strange, so soft and warm but a little confining. She was used to a lot less clothing, they didn't need clothes underwater.

"I've given this a lot of thought Ariel," Triton began, his large hand resting on the back of Ariel's back. "And since you are so fascinated by humans, I've decided you'll be punished like one, with a spanking?"

"What's a spanking?" she asked, utterly innocent of what it was.

"I'm going to smack you," Triton explained before raising his hand and bringing it down heavily on her rear.

She yelped, though it appeared to be mostly shock rather than pain. He'd meant it that way, he wanted her to understand what he was doing before he got down to it properly. He now started spanking her properly, holding her firmly on his lap while bringing his hand down repeatedly on her rear.

She yelped loudly, clinging tightly to his lap but not protesting, she seemed too shocked to. He wasn't sure if it was because of her age, she was only fourteen or because she was still adjusting to her new body but he was glad. He had studied humans and he noticed that this punishment was used on children of different ages and it seemed to work.

"Ow, ow," Ariel yelped, her bottom appeared to be a lot softer than her tail so this spanking burned a lot more. She still wasn't sure why her father needed to change her human to do this but couldn't summon up the energy to figure this out.

"Ouch, I'm sorry daddy, oww," she cried, the burning pain was building and she didn't like it at all.

"You will be," he assured her, giving her another ten good smacks before suddenly lifting up her skirt, to reveal a pair of blue knickers.

This was another article of clothing that felt very weird to Ariel, she was used to wearing a bra but not knickers. It felt uncomfortable, she was used to complete freedom of movement and not to things rubbing against her delicate new skin. But when she realised what her father had lifted her skirt, she couldn't help but say.

"Daddy, what are you doing?"

"This is the second part of the spanking, the first you just received," Triton explained. "Now you're getting it on your covered bottom but without the protection of that skirt."

"Oh," she groaned miserably, she wasn't happy about losing her protection, her soft skin needed every bit she could get.

Triton began spanking her again, this time doing it a bit harder causing her to yelp louder and more frequently. Her new legs started to kick, she was starting to get control of them but all she wanted to do was kick the pain away. However, her father was too strong a Merman to let it bother him, he just held onto her even more firmly as he continued to spank her firmly.

"Yow...Oww...oww...ow...," Ariel cried, gripping her father's tail even harder.

"How much longer...ouch...daddy?" she asked, almost hysterical now.

"There's another part to go," Triton told her gently before saying. "But it's the last part, and then it will be over."

"O-okay," she sniffled, wiping the tears that were now starting to slip down her face.

She was given another series of harsh spanks before her father finally paused to pull down her knickers. She yelped in shock, although in a way it was a relief, it somehow didn't feel right. As she half turned to look at him, Triton explained.

"A bare bottom spanking is what happens to really naughty girls, Ariel. I've told you not to go looking for humans and their objects but you keep doing it. I'm not telling you this to be a killjoy, I'm telling you because I love you and want to keep you safe. There are so many dangers involved with humans that you wouldn't believe."

Ariel flushed bright red, she felt ashamed for worrying her father like this. She knew he meant well, she just couldn't help herself when it came to human objects. There was just something about them that drew her.

"OW!" she cried as Triton started spanking her bare bottom, now going at a fast, hard pace so that in a matter of moments, her pink bottom started to turn bright red.

He continued this for around another forty spanks, grimly ignoring her yelps and the way her legs jerked every time he landed a harsh spank. Just as she started to go limp, he decided that she'd had enough. He finished with a very fast round of ten spanks before stopping.

"It's over now," he told her softly, rubbing her back as she sobbed.

Once she was a bit more composed, he lifted her up and hugged her tightly, letting her know that she was forgiven. With a wave of his triton, she was transformed back into a Mermaid and he slipped back into the sea with her.

She still had a burning ache in her rear but the cold water quickly soothed it. She was still hugged her father as he started to float downwards, her tail limply swaying from side to side.

"I didn't enjoy that," he told her firmly. "I hated doing that but I want you to understand, I don't want to lose you. I couldn't bare it if I lost you or any of your sisters, you all mean the ocean to me."

"I know daddy," she sniffed, burying her face in his strong chest. "I'm sorry, I'll try to be good, I'll try."

"Good girl," he said with a smile before taking her hand and leading her back home.

She followed, occasionally rubbing at her sore rear and thinking that she never wanted another punishment like that again. But even though it had been unpleasant, she had still gotten to feel what it was like being a human and...she'd enjoyed that part.

And even though she wanted to please her father, she still loved everything about humans and wanted to know more about them. And who knew, maybe she could even be one properly one day.

But for now, she wouldn't go exploring any more wrecks. Her poor bottom just wouldn't be able to handle it.

Author's note. As you'll know from watching the film, Ariel eventually breaks her promise but not for around another two years. That punishment did have an affect even if it wasn't a permanent one.