It was dark by the time they got back, so Ariel let Twilight and her friends sleep at the palace. The next morning, her head was up in the clouds as she got ready for the day.
" That boy really got stuck in her head, didn't he?" Applejack remarked.
" Let's just hope she doesn't start bumping into walls." Rainbow Dash added, dully watching Ariel.
" Or her dad." Twilight mentioned.
Sure enough, King Triton arrived to see his daughters. Ariel happily put a flower in his hair and wished him a good morning, catching him off guard. Her sisters told him that she was love, annoying the ponies.
" Awesome. Now what?" Rainbow Dash asked.
" Don't panic. As long as he DOESN'T know who it is, we're safe." Twilight tried assuring her friends, even if she was a bit worried about the outcome of King Triton finding out.
The ponies found Ariel picking flowers with Sebastian pacing back and forth nervously.
" I don't think the king knows." He said to himself.
" But it will not be easy keeping something like this a secret for long."
" Sebastian!" Pinkie said, greeting the paranoid crab.
" How's Ariel?" Twilight asked.
But she didn't need an answer as a petal fell in front of her. Looking up, the ponies saw Ariel doing the " He loves me, loves me not." with the flower petals.
" So the dear has a crush. Nothing to fret about." Rarity calmly said.
" How could you say that? She's in love with a human!" Sebastian stated angrily and went to Ariel.
" Ariel, stop talking crazy!"
She didn't listen.
" I gotta see him again, tonight. Scuttle knows where he lives. I'll swim up to his castle, then you girls and Flounder will splash around to get his attention."
" Slow down Ariel..." Twilight tried telling the excited mermaid, who was clearly not hearing her.
" I can't wait to see him again!" She proclaimed, gleefully holding Pinkie's flippers, who grinned nervously.
Sebastian finally stopped Ariel.
" Ariel, listen to me. The human world, it's a mess. Life under the sea is better than anything they got up there."
He then began to sing. Sea creatures joined in on the fun. But Ariel was uninterested and stayed off to the side.
" Sebastian can try all he wants, but he is not going to change my mind." She told her friends.
Twilight and her friends weren't sure what to do. Luckily, Flounder had found them and whispered something into Ariel's ear. Excited, she took off.
" What did you tell her?" Twilight asked him.
" Can't say. But it's pretty cool!"
Intrigued, the ponies went with them, leaving Sebastian by himself. They all arrived at the grotto.
" Flounder, why can't you just tell me what this is all about?" Ariel asked as they swam inside.
" You'll see. It's a surprise." Flounder replied.
When they saw his surprise, they were themselves, especially Ariel who stared at it in awe. It was the statue of Prince Eric.
" Flounder, you're the best!" She said and hugged him.
" How did you find it?" Fluttershy asked.
" It was actually pretty close by." He replied.
" The ship did sink pretty close to this area." Twilight said aloud while calculating the details.
" Anyhow, good find Flounder."
While watching Ariel admire her statue, Twilight sensed a sudden presences in the grotto. She became uneasy.
" Um...girls?"
" We know..." Rainbow Dash whispered, her expression fearful.
Ariel paused when she noticed the still ponies.
" What's wrong?"
She looked behind them and saw why.
" Daddy?"
The sea king glared angrily from the shadows before approaching Ariel, Twilight and her friends swiftly getting out of his way.
" I set certain rules and I expect those rules to be obeyed." He sternly told her.
" Is it true you rescued a human from drowning?"
Ariel tried to explain to her father, but he wouldn't listen. Their argument got so intense that King Triton lit up his trident and began to destroy the grotto.
" Look out!" Applejack cried as the power from the trident went over their heads.
To finish off the job, King Triton destroyed the statue, devastating Ariel.
" Hey! That wasn't nice!" Pinkie let out before he quickly turned towards the ponies, causing her and her friends to back down immediately.
" You six!" He said, angrily pointing his trident at them.
" Stay away from my daughter and leave Atlantica at once!"
" No...please!" Ariel desperately begged as she got between her father's trident and her frighten friends.
Twilight cautiously approached him.
" Your majesty...please..."
" Not another word!" He shouted.
Feeling sad and defeated, Ariel fell to the floor and cried. King Triton had a moment of guilt before finally leaving.
" I'm so sorry I got you into this." She told Twilight and her friends.
" Don't blame yourself." Twilight calmly replied.
Sebastian silently approached Ariel.
" Ariel, I..."
" Just go away." Was all she said.
He, Flounder, and the ponies sadly left so she could be alone.
Outside the grotto, the ponies discussed about their current situation.
" What now, Twilight?" Pinkie muttered.
" I don't know yet." Twilight replied.
" Well we can't leave the poor dear." Rarity stated.
" But you heard the king..." Fluttershy mumbled.
" The very...very...loud and scary king."
" We know. But I don't think we should." Applejack said.
" But I agree. He's terrifying! He'd make a good scarecrow."
" Getting banned from a kingdom. That's not gonna look good are on records." Rainbow Dash remarked.
" No. We're gonna make this right." Twilight confidently proclaimed.
" Well we wouldn't be in this predicament if Sebastian hadn't screwed everything up."
" I didn't mean to tell. It was an accident!" The crab exclaimed, trying to defend himself.
" C'mon now." Applejack said, looking at him knowingly.
Sebastian dropped his defenses.
" You're right. Got no one to blame but myself."
Suddenly, they all looked up and saw Ariel swimming away with a pair of eels.
" What's she doing?" Fluttershy asked.
" Ariel? Where are you going?" Sebastian said as he and the others caught up with her.
Sebastian went right up to her face.
" Ariel, what are you doing here with this riffraff?"
" I'm going to see Ursula." She answered.
Hearing her name, Sebastian tried to stop her, but she rudely shook him off and kept going.
" You girls need to stop her. Who knows what that sea witch will do to her!"
Twilight and her friends took off with Sebastian and Flounder trailing behind. At their destination, a big, scary-looking skeleton loomed over them.
" Are you sure this is the place?" Fluttershy mumbled, hiding behind Applejack.
" Oh, this is Ursula's place alright." Sebastian confirmed.
The skeleton was pretty intimating, but they knew they had to get Ariel.
" Let us go in first. We have a better chance of her listening to us." Twilight told the crab.
" Right..." He muttered, still filled with guilt.
" Quietly girls..." Twilight whispered to her friends before they ventured into the liar.
" This place puts the creeper factor up to one hundred." Rainbow Dash commented as they looked around.
" I don't like it." Fluttershy mumbled, staying close to her friends.
Just then, they came across a tunnel full of sickly, disgusting plants. The ponies froze at the sight of them.
" What the heck are those things!?" Applejack let out.
" Just keep going and try to ignore them." Twilight advised.
Swimming past them was uncomfortable for the ponies. Once that was done with, they reached the heart of the liar and saw Ursula negotiationing with Ariel. Twilight and her friends stayed hidden as they overheard their conversation.
" Now here's the deal." They heard Ursula say to Ariel.
" I will make you a potion that will turn you into a human for three days."
She then went on to say that Prince Eric has to fall in love with Ariel before the sun sets on the third day. If she succeeds, Ariel would remain permanently human. If not, she would turn back into a mermaid.
" And you belong to me!" Ursula finished, grinning evily.
" Ariel!" The ponies shouted, coming out of hiding.
Sebastian and Flounder, who had entered the liar and tried to stop Ariel, were trapped by the eels. Ursula turned to them and grinned, knowing that they would show up.
" Why...hello dears. Come to see your friend's wish come true? Or are you going to take that away from her as well."
" Don't you play that trick on us, witch!" Rainbow Dash fiercely told her.
" Come with us Ariel. This isn't the way." Twilight said, she and Pinkie swimming up the hesitant mermaid.
" We're your friends. She isn't!" Pinkie pointed out.
" Friends? Hah! That's cute." Ursula laughed.
She turned back to Ariel.
" Anyway...have we got a deal?"
As another part of the deal, she asked for Ariel's voice as a payment for her services. Ariel was thinking of all of this. Her friends tried desperately to get her stop, but Ursula kept them shut. The sea witch threw her potions into her cauldron and then poofed a contract right next to Ariel. After much thought, she signed it, shocking her friends. Ursula got to work right away. First thing she did was take Ariel's voice and then with her magic, a bubble surrounded her and she started to transform. Escaping from the witch, Twilight and her friends tried to intervene, but got caught in the cross fire, and they too began transforming. Ursula laughed evily while all of this was happening. When it finished, the ponies were flabbergasted that they had their original bodies back. And Ariel had legs now! Realizing they could no longer breath underwater and Ariel couldn't swim, the ponies, along with Sebastian and Flounder, took a hold of her and sped up to the surface.
