Cynosure

CHAPTER 1

Twilight Sparkle's POV

The edges of the unicorn Twilight Sparkle were vision were blurry, dream-like. But this was certainly not a dream. The scene felt too real. Twilight could feel her pain and despair. It was weird, though, how she couldn't comprehend were she was or why she was where she was. Twilight was in the eye of an underwater tornado in the middle of an ocean. It seemed as if she was protecting a mare unicorn. The unicorn's face was bloody and dirty. The unicorn was crying and trying to stand up, Twilight held her down with her front hooves. The unicorn looked at Twilight with her green eyes.

"I need to go help them," the green-eyed unicorn's voice was silky and floated around Twilight like music.

"You're too weak," Twilight surprised herself by saying, "plus, it's no use."

The unicorn slumped to the ground as whispered, "I know." Her glimmering green eyes were filled with anguish.

High above, Twilight heard wings fluttering. Loyal pegasus Rainbow Dash flew above them outside the rim of the underwater tornado. Crouching behind Rainbow was the kind pegasus Fluttershy. Panic filled Fluttershy's expression as she looked down at them. Rainbow Dash, with her bravery, dashed down toward them. An invisible force field across the surface of the underwater tornado of some sort hurdled Rainbow back. Rainbow's cry of agony was echoed by Fluttershy's frightened shriek.

Another sight caught Twilight's eye. A pink air balloon drifted to the left. The tall spinning water wall made it difficult for Twilight to see all of the air balloon. Applejack, who was always a trustworthy earth pony, was one of the passengers in the pink air balloon. Applejack held a rope in her right hoof. The other end of the rope was tied around the usually joyful earth pony Pinkie Pie. The generous unicorn Rarity looked down at Twilight  and the mysterious unicorn. Rarity's beautiful face had an expression of misery. Even from all the way down here, Twilight could she tears pooling in Rarity's angelic eyes.

The all of a sudden the water walls shook. Twilight Sparkle saw Pinkie jump out of the air balloon. Like Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie was bounced back. Rainbow and Fluttershy helped Applejack reel Pinkie Pie back in the air balloon. Rainbow Dash flew back down but not close enough to touch the force field. Twilight could see it in Rainbow's eyes that there was nothing they could do if the water did come tumbling down on Twilight and the unicorn.

The walls shook again. This time water did come tumbling down. Twilight Sparkle heard screams of horror. Terrified Rainbow came flying down toward the force field again. Following her lead, Pinkie Pie jumped off the air balloon once more. As their previous tries, the force field kept rejecting them.

Twilight felt the unicorn stand up besides her. Well, try to stand. Her weak hooves gave up on her. She fell to the ocean floor  and her head slammed down to the floor. Twilight  noticed that the unicorn's left front hoof was broken.

"You better stay still or-" Twilight tried to warn but the unicorn interrupted her.

"NO! Stay back!" she yelled. Once again, her voice filled the space around them like magic.

The first load of water splashed on them. Twilight gasped at the ice-cold feeling and spit out seawater. She couldn't have missed the unicorn's reaction to the seawater. As soon as the water touched her mane, she glowed blue. Her eyes turned completely neon green. She seemed to get stronger, if that was even possible. Twilight also noticed that the unicorn didn't get wet, at all. While Twilight was dripping wet, the unicorn was perfectly dry. With her new-found strength, she stood up and closed her eyes.

What she did next shocked Twilight more than the fact that the unicorn wasn't wet and was glowing. When about three tons of water came crashing down, it only hit the unicorn but not Twilight.

"H-how did you..." Twilight gasped. The unicorn looked at her and smiled.

"I hear you're the most advanced unicorn with magic in Ponyville," her sing-song voice said.

Before Twilight could answer, another wave crashed on the glowing unicorn, making Twilight yelp. For the first time, she noticed the unicorn's cutie mark. It was a light blue trident.

"Yes," Twilight said mesmerized by the unicorn's cutie mark.

"Then create a stronger barrier around you," her luscious voice said. Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated on creating a barrier. She felt the power surge through her horn and explode around her. Twilight opened her eyes and saw a barrier protecting her. Twilight glanced at the unicorn and the unicorn nodded in approval.

Then Twilight saw flashes. She looked up and saw lighting bolts aiming their way. The unicorn screamed. The lightning bolts got through the force field and pierced the water. As soon as the bolts hit the water, the water turned completely slate gray.

"No, no, no!" the unicorn shrieked. As soon as the most microscopic drop of darkened water touched the unicorn, all hell broke loose. The glow that come from the unicorn diminished. She fell to the floor and her eyes rolled back. The magic barrier from the unicorn that had just previously protected Twilight banished. Twilight's own barrier wasn't powerful enough to deflect the next hit of water. The black water stung a little. Twilight glanced at the unicorn and saw that wherever the water touched her more, a deep gash appeared on her aqua-colored coat. She also noticed that the unicorn was now getting wet. The more wet she got, the grayer her body became.

Twilight felt a drop of water roll down her cheek. At first she thought it was just seawater but the drop felt warm. Twilight brushed away the tear with her hoof. She need to help this unicorn. Before she could do anything, all of the water stopped spinning and collapsed on them. Twilight shrieked and threw herself over the unicorn protectively. She gasped as the water stung her bare back. The water surrounded them. Twilight was suffocating. She opened her eyes but all she could she was the gray water. She had never been good at holding her breath underwater. Twilight help tight to unicorn and tried to swim to the surface. Twilight lost her grip on the unicorn. She desperately tried searching for her in the blackness of the water but failed.

Twilight Sparkle's head was throbbing due to the absence of oxygen. Her senses became more dull by the second. She let the water push her down to the seafloor. So this was how it was going to end, huh? Twilight never imagined drowning. As she arrived at the seafloor, she felt as if all magic had been sucked out of her. It felt as if the water was pushing away her life until there was no more life in her body.

To be continued...