Cautionary Tales

Celestia rubbed her forehead as she collapsed into her study seat, she had forgotten the feeling of sinking into bed after lowering the sun, with her soft silk sheets and…

No! Don’t be like that, there are plenty of ponies who would give a limb for such luxuries, and remember, it is for them that you stay up this late every night. Celestia was glad she could so easily remind herself of things simply by listening to her inner voice. Now, to get back to work. A knock came upon her study door, never mind.

“Enter,” she said loudly while sorting through the numerous spell tomes piling her desk. As she did the door opened to reveal one of her royal guards carrying a leather satchel over his shoulder.

“Apologies for the disturbance your highness,” he said matter of factly, “but this arrived for you just now, the courier said it was urgent.”

With that he opened his satchel and levitated… a clam onto Celestia’s desk. She looked at this blankly for a moment before realisation dawned on her.

“Of course, thank you very much.” the guard bowed and turned from the room, closing the door surprisingly gently behind him. “Now, what news have you for me?”

Celestia reached forward with her magic and cracked the clam open, inside, not surprising the sun princess in the slightest, was a very small blue alicorn.

“About time,” Mare Equus said curtly, “I thought this would never get to you. I tell you, when Vegnum perfects that system of long distance communication I will most certainly have to invest in it.”

“Yes, what was it she called it? The telephone I think,” Celestia pondered, “regardless I’d rather she put all her efforts into locating the Metropolis gate instead of tinkering with her little inventions.”

“That’s probably a bit of a stretch if we’re honest,” Mare Equus pointed out, “so I just got the good news from our friend in the north.”

“Yes, isn’t it wonderful?” Celestia said, delighted now, “Cadance assures us she has carried out every test possible, the gate is exactly as it was before Roma’s interference.”

“So the elements will do the trick then, that’s good, which brings me smoothly to the purpose of my, uh, visit,” she said clapping her fore hooves together.

“You mean, you found it?” Celestia exclaimed, it wasn’t like Mare Equus to come bearing so much good news.

“Indeed I have,” she said, her voice full of pride, “which I think is impressive considering I had the entire ocean to search.”

“So where is it?” Celestia asked, ignoring her own research material.

“Not far from Aquestria actually,” she confirmed, “If you send your little ponies there I can escort them the rest of the way.”

“I shall, thank you Mare Equus.” the water princess nodded in appreciation of the thanks, “but, just one last thing, the method you used to find the gate…”

“Don’t even go there Celestia,” she said, cutting through her theory before it was even fully formed, “I too tried the method Cadance used with no success, it appears each gate is different, perhaps the veil is adapted to its environment making it that we have to apply different methods to find each of the gates.”

“That sounds like a sure theory,” Celestia said with a sigh, “thank you for bringing me this news, I will send for Twilight now.”

Mare Equus nodded before liquefying into a pool of water that lay in the base of the clam.

Celestia closed it and moved it to the side, conjuring parchment and quill before her. It was just under a week since Twilight and her friends had closed the first gate, while it was good another had been found so quickly after, Celestia’s motherly instincts hoped she wasn’t putting too much on Twilight’s plate. No, don’t think like that, Twilight is a grown mare, she’s a princess now for goodness sake, she can handle this mission, regardless, the safety of the world and life as a whole must always come before an individual. Celestia sighed once more, and put ink to paper.

Cautionary Tales

Rainbow Dash had just finished her morning rounds, a more difficult task than usual what with her wings still broken following her accident at the Crystal Empire. Deciding she needed a pick me up she chose to pay one of her friends a visit. Normally she would visit Sugarcube Corner since she could always rely on Pinkie to give her a snack on the house, but since it was still under quarantine it was obviously ruled out as an option. It was too late in the day to have a chance of getting breakfast at Sweet Apple Acres since AJ would already be in the middle of chores.

The library on the other hoof, Twilight would just be up assuming she was up late last night studying as per usual, and if that was the case Spike would be cooking breakfast. It was settled, she would get food from Twilight under the pretence of a friendly visit. With a plan in motion she sped off, her keen eyes picking out the Golden Oaks Library from amidst the surrounding buildings of Ponyville. If she was to have any hope of being fed she would have to get on Twilight’s good side, that meant no smashing through windows, a feat that was admittedly harder to do when running rather than flying, but she had pulled it off before.

Dash grunted at this thought, going through doors was so lame when there were far more exciting options available. As she neared her destination she began to decelerate, savouring the wind blowing in her mane, reminded briefly of all the flying she was missing out on because of her stupid injury, before coming to a complete stop in front of the library. Blowing a rainbow bang out of her face she sauntered forward and gave a confident knock on the door. It wasn’t long before it was enveloped in a blue light and swung open.

“Hey Rainbow Dash,” Clarity said from the table where she sat reading.

“Morning Clarity,” she replied scanning the rest of the main library for Spike or Twilight, “you the only one here?”

“No, they’re in the kitchen, you could probably get something if you asked nicely,” she responded in a knowing voice. Dash smirked, Clarity had really settled in with their group in such a short space of time, she seemed even more relaxed since their return from the Crystal Empire a week ago.

“Yeah, will do, talk to la…” but she stopped as she saw the book Clarity was reading, “Whoa, you like Daring Do!”

“What, oh, well actually I’ve never read them before,” she admitted, “Twilight was talking about them yesterday and I thought I’d give them a go.”

“They are awesome; I just know you’ll love them.”

“I hope so, though I must say, I didn’t take you for a reader Dash,” she said with one raised eyebrow.

“Well, I make exceptions for awesome stories like Daring Do,” Dash replied nonchalantly.

“Of course you do, well I’ll talk to you later Dash, I’m at this rather good bit where Daring is trapped in a chamber filling with water.” Clarity had been looking at Rainbow Dash when she said it, but she still wasn’t entirely sure if the reaction she just saw was her imagination or not, it had only appeared for the briefest of moments.

“Alright, talk to you later,” Dash replied in her usual tone, if that look really had been there she regained her composure pretty quickly.

Dash left Clarity and entered the kitchen where Spike and Twilight sat at the table, Pinkie Pie stood at the oven flipping pancakes.

“Pinkie, I think Dash would like some breakfast,” Twilight said blankly, not looking up from her book.

“Of course, anything for my best friend Dashie,” Pinkie called back before turning to the room and gasping. “Rainbow Dash, what a coincidence! Twilight just suggested I make you breakfast. Oh my god, Twilight, are you developing Pinkie Sense? Or maybe we should call it Twilly Sense.”

“No Pinkie I am not developing any supernatural sense,” Twilight replied still just as blankly, “I am simply observant.”

“Psst, Spike,” Dash whispered leaning down to the dragon, “what’s up with her?”

“Her magic isn’t working,” he replied, “she’s been moody all morning.”

“Oh that su… wait what? Her magic isn’t working!” Dash shouted forgetting to whisper. Spike and Pinkie both looked panicked, but Twilight just groaned, stood up and left the room.

“Nice going,” Spike spat, “she’s got horn rot, it’s a really nasty disease.”

“Horn rot, geez, is it… fatal?” Dash asked, barely able to hide her fear.

“Oh Celestia no!” Spike exclaimed, “It’s not even permanent, it’s just going to be an inconvenience until her immune system can clear it out of her body.”

“Poor Twilly,” Pinkie said walking over and setting a plate of pancakes in front of Rainbow Dash, “magic is a big part of her, I wanted to throw a party celebrating all her other good personality traits.”

“I’ll go cheer her up,” Spike said pushing himself away from his finished breakfast.

As Spike left Dash began eating her pancakes, vaguely aware of an unpleasant feeling in her gut. The more she ate the worse it seemed to become, so it wasn’t hunger.

“Pinkie, I feel funny, like bad funny,” she said pushing away her unfinished pancakes.

“Uh-oh, looks like somepony needs to have a visit from the tickle fairy,” she replied playfully, Dash just deadpanned.

“No Pinkie, just no. I mean after Spike told me about Twilight’s… condition I’ve been feeling, empty,” Dash explained, Pinkie just rolled her eyes.

“Well duh silly, you feel bad for your friend,” she said turning back to her cooking.

“Oh my god, you’re right. I feel bad for somepony other than myself, being self-centred is wrong… I’d know that if I paid attention to anything that’s ever happened to me,” she said standing up, “I’m gonna go cheer her up.”

But before she could make a move for the stairs an excited squeal could be heard ringing down from the top floor. Dash barely had a second to think about this before a purple ball of fur and feathers came charging down the stairs.

“It came!” she exclaimed brandishing a letter in Dash’s face.

“What came?” Dash said brushing it aside with her hoof.

“Orders from the princess, they found another gate!” Dash felt her jaw drop.

“All right!” she said punching the air with a hoof.

“What’s going on?” Clarity asked poking her head through the doorway.

“They found a gate,” Spike informed her, walking down the stairs.

“Yeah, isn’t it great?” Twilight said, barely able to contain her excitement, “of course you’ll have to wield the element of magic Clarity.”

“Me?” Clarity said shocked, “you really think this horn rot will stop you using your element?”

“Dunno, but why take the chance when we already know you can use it?”

“I guess,” Clarity replied reluctantly, she looked over at Rainbow Dash who just shrugged, offering her a look intended to say ‘at least she’s in a good mood’.

“So where we are we heading? I need to know what kind of party supplies to pack,” Pinkie asked flicking through a catalogue which Dash saw was full of pretentiously named party themes, much like a carpet catalogue.

“Aquestria,” Twilight replied, Pinkie and Dash both raised their eyebrows and glanced at each other.

“Uh, Twi, isn’t that… here?” Dash asked, sure she had made a mistake.

“No, Aquestria, with an ‘a’,” she explained exasperatedly.

“Oh, I’ve heard of that place,” Clarity said with awe, “the city at the bottom of the ocean.”

Clarity knew she hadn’t imagined it that time when she looked over at the others; Dash had an unmistakable look of horror on her face as she said that line.

Once again however she quickly switched back to her usual confident grin.

“No biggie,” she said, only Clarity picking up on the quiver in her voice, “I’ll just go pack, when are we heading?”

“This afternoon, could you go inform the others?” she asked before remembering Dash’s wings, “oh sorry, never mind. I’ll do it myself… hang on, how are you able to get into your house if you can’t fly?”

Dash grimaced, “a ladder, and no it’s not easy.”

With that she trotted from the kitchen, her half-finished pancakes forgotten on the table.

“Pinkie, could you go round up the others?” Twilight asked after Dash had left.

“Sure thing Twilight, I need to pick up some under the sea themed party equipment anyway,” she said bouncing out happily.

“Alright, we better get packing, come on Spike, I want to take this opportunity to practice every aquatic spell I’ve ever read about.”

“But Twilight, uh, your horn,” Spike reminded her causing Twilight’s shoulders to slump.

“Oh yeah,” she said woefully before brightening up, “still, a little light reading can’t hurt.”

With that she skipped up the stairs leaving Spike to roll his eyes.

“Light reading, yeah right,” he scoffed at Clarity, “have you seen how many spell books she has on the subject.”

“Well then you’d better get started if you want to pack them all,” Clarity said smirking.

“Since when were you on her side?” Spike complained, trudging up the stairs after Twilight.

~

Rainbow Dash paced her living room for the tenth, no, twentieth… okay she wasn’t keeping count, but she had been at it longer than she usually had the patience for so it must have been somewhere around that number. Normally the climb up her new house ladder would earn her a well-deserved nap, but her mind was too active after what Clarity had said, the city at the bottom of the ocean… the ocean, the big blue wet thing. The raging, swirling, chaotic, sent sailors to their deaths ocean. Dash gulped loudly, knowing only Tank could hear her, and he could hardly judge.

“It’s okay, nothing bad can happen,” she reasoned, but try as she might her thoughts inevitably ‘swam’ back…

“And the Equestrian Games goes to… Fillydelphia,” the games inspector announced, she was immediately responded with a harmonious groan of disappointment as well as one high pitched ‘nooo’ from one very distraught filly. Rainbow Dash landed back on the cloud next to her father and tried not to cry, but she felt a hoof wrap around her and looked up into the face of her father, his expression apologetic.

“Sorry Dash, maybe next time,” he said, Dash simply nodded and allowed her father to walk her out among the crowd and head home.

Dash’s thoughts were interrupted by a soft knocking on the door, swinging her head around she could make out the tip of a long, pink tail through one of the windows.

“Come on in Fluttershy,” she called out. The door opened gently and Fluttershy poked her head in.

“Oh, I’m sorry Rainbow, but the others were wondering where you were and so I decided to see if you were okay and…” she began explaining quietly, but as soon as Dash heard her say the others were waiting she snapped her around to view the clock and her heart missed a beat.

“Oh hay! I’m late!” with that she scooped up Tank and ran out the door stopping just short of the edge of her cloud house. “Drat, can’t fly, of all the times to be late.”

"It’s okay, I can get us down,” Fluttershy offered, Dash mulled it over quickly before relenting and clambering aboard Fluttershy’s back, if anypony ever saw this she would never be able to live it down. After an agonisingly slow descent to the ground, Dash hopped off.

“Thanks Flutters, hey do you know anypony who can look after Tank for me?”

“Oh I can fly him over to my house then meet you at the station,” Fluttershy offered, “uh, Big Mac offered to look after all my animals while we gone.”

As soon as Tank was unloaded, Dash began galloping as hard as she could for Ponyville. She had left it too late to pack anything so she would just have to hope the others could provide her with any essentials. It didn’t take her long to reach the station, she ran in the running of the leaves every year after all, just because she preferred to fly didn’t mean she didn’t take the time to exercise in other ways.

“There she is,” Applejack called as she came panting onto the platform, “what in the hay took you so long?”

“Sorry, lost track of time,” she said trying to hide the fact she was exhausted.

“Well hurry onto the train now,” Applejack ordered, “you’re lucky Twilight was able to use her status to hold it up for you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Rainbow muttered climbing onto the carriage, ignoring the disgruntled looks other passengers were giving her.

After another few minutes Fluttershy joined them apologising profusely for holding everypony up.

“Alright,” a very irate train conductor began, “if we’re all here, then this train to Van Hoover will be departing right now to make up for lost time.”

“It’s about time,” Spike moaned from where he lay with his head on Rarity’s lap, “next time we’re leaving her behind, I could probably be the element of loyalty after I tag along with you lot on every crazy adventure.”

“Didn’t we already try making you Rainbow Dash once?” Pinkie asked, “Didn’t work out to well if I recall.”

“Probably because you weren’t laughing very much,” Spike responded bitterly.

“So Twilight, what are the travel arrangements?” Rarity asked, looking up from her magazine.

“From Van Hoover we take a ship to Aquestria,” she began before hesitating, “I’ve never been so I’m not sure how we get to the city itself.”

“Maybe we have to swim down,” Pinkie suggested, Dash shuddered at the thought.

“That would be ridiculous Pinkie, nopony could survive that,” Twilight said, Dash clenched her eyes and began picturing the sky. “After all, it’s built in the very deepest part of the ocean.”

That did it; Dash screamed at the top of her lungs and ran from the compartment, leaving six very confused mares and one equally bewildered dragon.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said quietly, “was it something we said?”

“I’ll go check on her,” Clarity said suspiciously.

“So, yeah, after we reach Aquestria, Celestia says Mare Equus the princess of water will escort us to the gate,” Twilight continued after Clarity had left.

“I never had any interaction with her,” Rarity said thoughtfully, “do you know what she’s like?”

“Personality wise, not at all,” Twilight admitted, after all the extent of her own interaction with her had been listening to her talk about colonising the ocean before the summit was cut short. “She’s very strange looking; she appears to have undergone a lot of magical alteration to adapt her to life in water.”

“So she’s like a freaky fish lady?” Pinkie asked.

“That’s, actually a pretty accurate description,” Twilight said laughing at the thought.

~

The filly Rainbow Dash trudged into her bedroom and curled up on her bed, throwing the covers over her head as if to block out the world. Pretty quickly however she heard her bedroom door open and her father’s heavy footsteps cross the room.

“I know you’re upset, but you can’t hide away,” he told her, sitting lightly on the end of the bed, “it won’t solve anything.”

“I know,” she muttered, still not pulling her head out.

“We can still go to see the games,” he continued in an optimistic tone, “I still have all that time off work.”

“I don’t think I want to,” Dash said mournfully, her father sighed. He loved his daughter but she could be as stubborn as a mule.

“Well tell you what, why don’t we go on our own holiday? Forget this rotten business and take a trip somewhere, just you and me?”

There was a long moment of silence before Rainbow pulled her head out from under the covers and looked back up at him with bloodshot eyes.

“I’ll think about it,” she said dully, but her father was happy nonetheless. He leaned down and kissed her forehead before standing up.

“Love you Rainbow,” with that he left the room, closing the door gently behind him. The filly smiled as he left before whispering to herself.

“Love you dad.”

~

“Rainbow,” Clarity called, knocking on the toilet door, “I know you’re in there, I can hear you breathing.”

“Hey Clarity,” she called back after a moment of tense silence.

“Rainbow Dash, what’s wrong? I’ve noticed you acting weird all day,” she asked leaning against the door frame.

“What? No I haven’t,” she insisted in a quivering voice.

“Then why are you hiding in the toilet?” Clarity asked, a victorious grin spreading over her face.

“I’m not hiding, I’m taking a sh…”

“Dash!” Clarity shouted, disgusted, “even if that was true, which it isn’t, you don’t shout something like that out for everypony to hear.”

“I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t interrogating me,” Rainbow retorted, Clarity opened her mouth but found she had nothing to bite back with.

“Fine,” she said at last, “but we’re your friends, if something’s bothering you we’re here to help.”

With that she left the now silent toilet cubicle behind and made her way back to the others. Dash sat on the other side of the door, staring deep into space as her mind drifted back through her memories.

~

Van Hoover was a progressive town, much like Manhattan it dealt in shipping and trade with foreign countries. as well as this it had a budding industry district which a certain individual overseas was insistent would bring Equestrian society into the new age, Twilight briefly wondered which one with a knowing smirk on her face. However, the call of duty meant that none of them would be able to enjoy this new slice of life, as the train from Ponyville only arrived shortly after sunrise the day after it set off, mainly due to its slightly delayed start courtesy of Rainbow Dash.

As such Twilight and her friends were forced to make a run for the boat, forced to ignore the sights and local landmarks, much to Twilight’s dismay. The harbour was packed when they arrived, but then, it gave Twilight the distinct impression of being a place which was busy all hours of the day.

“Well blow me down,” Applejack said giving a low whistle, “maybe I ought’a do some business out here.”

“Focus monopoly mam!” Dash said giving Applejack a clap around the side of the head.

“Come on girls,” Twilight shouted before the two could start brawling, “the boat won’t stay forever, and I can’t hold it up like I did with the train.”

with all arguing aside they set about navigating the busy harbour, the boat they were making for was a large steam vessel, it was actually intended to carry metal works back from Metropolis, but the captain had been willing to make a drop off at Aquestria as they passed over as a special favour to Equestria’s new princess. As they arrived, the predominantly male crew were lined up next to the gang plank, ready to greet Twilight as her and her friends made their way aboard.

“Your highness,” the moustached captain greeted in a crisp voice, “welcome aboard, may I just say what an honour it is to be able to provide you with transport today.”

“That’s quite alright,” Twilight responded, her cheeks turning a little pink, “we’re very appreciative of the offer. What time will we reach Aquestria at may I inquire?”

“We’ll be ready to drop you off around midnight,” he informed her, “until then we have cabins prepared for your short stay. I’ll have my son show you the way.”

With one last thanks to the captain, the crew saluted and dispersed to ready the ship for take-off. One colt, not much younger than themselves rushed forward.

“If you would like to follow me your highness,” he offered, stooping a little.

“My my, I must say, the manners of these fine sailors is commendable,” Rarity whispered to Twilight as they were led below deck, “tell me Twilight, is there any form of royal thanks you can grant as princess?”

“I’m not sure,” Twilight admitted, “I’ll have Spike send a letter to Celestia while we travel.”

The cabins they had been offered were impeccable, clearly the crew had been working overtime to have them in such presentable condition with so little forewarning.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy commented, fluttering over to the porthole, “you can see under the water as we’re travelling, that’s fascinating.”

“Uh,” Rainbow said with a small sway, “I think I’ll take the other room.”

Clarity watched after her, and noticed as she opened the door the other cabin had no windows.

“Have you ever been on a boat Fluttershy?” Twilight asked stepping up next to her.

“No, never,” she said in awe as some indistinguishable creature swam past.

“Now that yah mention it, ah’ve never been off the land myself,” Applejack commented.

“Oh, there’s nothing quite like a relaxing voyage, I’m sure even you will absolutely love it,” Rarity informed her with a little sigh added in for dramatic effect, “why don’t we head up on deck after take-off?”

“That sounds mighty fun, you girls in?” Applejack said sounding trilled at the prospect, Fluttershy nodded eagerly.

“I’m going to get some rest first,” Twilight said, “and remember if you’re up there to stay out of the crew’s way, this isn’t a cruise after all and we don’t want to abuse their kindness.”

“You have nothing to fear Twilight, our decorum will be nothing short of regal,” Rarity assured her.

“I wasn’t referring to you,” Twilight said stiffly, her eyes bouncing over to pink mare who was currently spinning around to see if you got dizzy quicker on a boat that on land.

“Ah, well I’ll keep an eye on her,” Rarity whispered back knowingly, Twilight nodded appreciatively before sitting herself down on one of the cabin beds and trying to relax herself.

The girls departed soon after they felt the ship roar into life and begin pulling out of the harbour.

“Spike, aren’t you going as well?” Twilight asked when she noticed the baby dragon was still in the room.

“Really? You don’t remember what happened the last time we were on a boat?” Spike deadpanned.

“Of course I remember,” Twilight said rolling her eyes, “but seriously Spike, the chances of being kidnapped by merpeople twice in a single life time are highly improbable.”

“Well for once I’m gonna take the safe option and stay inside,” he replied with a disgruntled snort.

“If you insist, but while you’re here can you write a letter to the princess for me?” she asked, Spike seemed to brighten up at the request. He reached into Twilight’s bags and whipped out some writing utensils.

“Fire away,” he said, glad to be doing something that resembled the way life used to be between them.

“That’s my number one assistant, now,” she said clearing her throat, “’dear princess Celestia…’”

~

Rainbow Dash’s father was in the kitchen, trying his hoof at cooking. This was swiftly becoming a weekly tradition in their house, he would dabble in cooking, insisting this time it would be different, and every time he’d all but burn the house to the ground, Dash would sigh and hand him a take away menu and the two would laugh about it later over pizza. It was the smell of his weekly tradition that finally got Rainbow Dash to come out of her room, knowing that if she want there to stop her father, nopony would.

“Look who’s finally up and about,” her father said happily, noticing a very disgruntled filly stomp into the kitchen, “today’s dinner will be Roasted chestnut & herb pesto pasta with mushrooms.”

“No dad,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned, “dinner will be burnt Roasted chestnut & herb pesto pasta with mushrooms, a warning from the fire department and the cheapest noodles we can get at seven in the evening.”

Her dad started laughing, “How did I raise such a smart ass?”

“So, I was thinking about what you said,” Rainbow Dash said taking a seat at the dinner table, “maybe a holiday… wouldn’t be such a terrible idea.”

“That’s the spirit!” her dad exclaimed as the stove behind him burst into flames. After a panicked several minutes the two sat on the sofa, every window in the house cracked open to allow the clouds of smoke to flow freely from the cloud house.

“You know, you don’t have to cook,” Dash said quietly.

“I know,” her dad replied sadly. The two sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Dash finally broke it.

“So what did you have in mind for holiday?”

“Well, I wanted to hear what you fancied, but I did notice a pretty decent cruise in a magazine the other day.” Dash mulled this over in her mind; she’d never been on a boat before let alone a cruise.

“Sounds like fun… what could go wrong?”

~

“Is anypony else seein’ the problem with this?” Applejack asked as the ship slowed to a snail’s pace. Indeed the group of ponies saw nothing as far as the eye could see but a vast stretch of inky black waves.

“Yeah, shouldn’t there be a rig or trawler or something?” Twilight asked, gazing over the side of the boat. No sooner had she said so than a loud, slow ringing began echoing from the bridge of the boat, and the captain called out over the deck.

“Hold onto something ladies!”

Twilight obeyed without question, gripping the rails she was leaning against, then she felt something wrap tightly around her and turned her head awkwardly to see that Rainbow Dash had finally come up and was now clinging to her, her eyes screwed shut.

“Rainbow, what are you…” but she never finished as at that moment there was a low moaning sound, and before Twilight’s eyes the waves broke apart as something began to rise from the depths. It was difficult to see in the low light, especially since the moon was clouded over, but the ships lights illuminated it.

It appeared to be a cylindrical tank, crafted from what appeared to be pearl with glass lining the wall.

“What is that?” Clarity asked dumbfounded once the structure stopped rising and stood stoically on the water surface.

“That’s the Lift,” the captain informed them stepping out of nowhere, “that’s your transport down.”

“Down,” Rainbow repeated with a nervous gulp that nopony acknowledged, they were too busy staring in awe at the Lift.

With a hoof gesture the crew members ran forward and readied the gangplank, sliding it out to meet a glass door that had slid open on the Lift.

“I guess this is where we let you off,” the captain said bowing, “it’s been a pleasure.”

“The pleasure has been all ours,” Twilight replied nodding at Spike who held up leather pouch. “As recognition of your service, I am here by bestowing upon each of you the Evening Star for services to royalty.”

As she spoke Rarity levitated half a dozen medals from the pouch Spike held and gave them to each of the crew members and finally the captain.

“Your highness, I don’t know what to say,” he said, his formal manner slipping in his surprise.

“There’s no need to say anything,” Twilight bowing her head gratefully, “May peace and harmony always be with you.”

As the whole crew bowed once more, each one unable to hide the thrill at receiving such prise, Twilight stepped onto the gang plank and made her way over to the Lift. Once inside she found it lit with a pleasant white glow, she quickly noticed this was due to a series of complex runes carved into the pearl forming the floor and ceiling.

“Look Spike,” Twilight said as the dragon joined her in the Lift, “there must be hundreds of enchantments placed on this room alone to make it fit for living in.”

“Renewing those must be a drag,” Spike groaned. Very soon all the others had joined them in the confined space, including Dash who needed some encouragement from the crew to step out onto the gang plank.

“So now what happens?” Fluttershy asked, walking around the room admiring the feat of magical engineering.

“I guess we just…” Twilight began, but then the glass doors slid shut and the Lift gave a small rumble answering her question, “never mind.”

After the initial tremble the Lift began to descend into the waves, in a surprisingly smooth motion. Almost all of the ponies stood around the wall, peering out of the glass, waiting to catch a glimpse of Aquestria, Dash on the other hoof stood in the centre picturing the sky on a mildly cloudy day.

“Oh this is going to be so much fun,” Pinkie squealed, “do you think they keep fish as pets and walk them on leads.”

“Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?” Applejack asked, although she was smiling at the notion.

“Wouldn’t it be just marvellous if the whole city resembled this?” Rarity asked, gesturing to the rune carved pearl construct they stood in.

“Oh, I see something,” Fluttershy gasped, they all rushed to press their noses against the glass as indeed a faint glow seemed to be emerging as they continued to descend.

“Ohhh,” the all breathed as the pale glow spread throughout the ocean around them.

Then something began to emerge, it looked like a spire of sorts, pearl white, however it was difficult to make out through the constantly rippling current. Then, without warning, the Lift broke right through the water, emerging into a relatively dry environment. All the Lift’s inhabitants stared, their jaws swinging open, even Dash’s mouth formed a small ‘o’.

“That…” Clarity began, looking for the right words, “is incredible.”

They no longer descended through water; instead the entire city of Aquestria was contained in an invisible bubble, almost like a snow globe. However this feat was nothing compared with the actually city. Rarity could not have been more accurate in her desires, the city was an awe inspiring cluster of domes, spires and cathedral like structures, all carved from the same rune embroidered pearl, thus explaining the heavenly pale glow spread out from the city. There seemed to be no space that was not being used for something, the entire hemisphere Aquestria was contained within was filled to the brim with structures.

“You said it Sugarcube,” Applejack murmured, her eyes glued to the sight before her. “What do you think Rare?”

Rarity just babbled some indistinguishable nonsense, her eyes glazed, and a tiny amount of saliva dripping down her chin.

“It’s beautiful,” Fluttershy chipped in.

“At the next summit, I am supporting whatever plans Mare Equus has for expansions,” Twilight said firmly, the others hadn’t a clue what she was referring to, but nodded absent minded none the less.

They became so lost staring down upon the city that the ride ended all too soon. With a shuddering jolt, the Lift touched down upon a pearl platform where a group of figures were gathered, apparently to greet them. As the glass doors slid open, Twilight led the way out, staring all around her at the incredible sights.

“It is quite the sight isn’t it?” a voice said, drawing Twilight’s attention away from the city. She looked forward to see one of the figures had stepped forward from the group, not just any figure either.

“Mare Equus,” Twilight said bowing politely, the alicorn quirked an eyebrow in response to this.

“I appreciate the gesture Twilight Sparkle, but you and I are of equal standing, you should not bow to me,” she informed her; Twilight was surprised by her matter of fact tone. Infact, now that she was here, she was only now getting her first good look at the water princess. The sapphire blue scales and translucent orange fins where an alicorns wings would normally be, she remembered well. The mane of bubbles which had seemed short and active during the summit appeared more relaxed and flowing here, much like Celestia’s mane.

Twilight also noticed she was still wearing the steel breast plate, adorned with the trident across the front and looking thoroughly worn with the sea wear and coral lightly encrusting it. Similarly were the bangles around her legs and the tiara perched upon her head, each topped with a smooth jewel. Twilight wondered if this was her version of royal dress, much like Twilight’s crown.

“Thank you for extending the invitation, your city is just beautiful,” Twilight complimented, Mare Equus’s expression didn’t change.

“Yes, aesthetically there are few that can hope to compete,” she admitted, “but i worked hard to build it, as such I know of its deepest flaws. For example, the Lift that brought you here, gives passengers a nice view, but for transportation to and from the outside world, it is almost useless. Aquestria has been for nearly two hundred years and it remains our only door outside.”

“I can see why that would be a problem,” Twilight acknowledged, she could tell Mare Equus was frustrated by the lack of development, this explained why she was so eager at the summit to push forward her plans for expansion. “Once this terrible business is all over, I’ll certainly see what I can do to help.”

At that comment the water princess cracked her first smile.

“Thank you Twilight Sparkle,” she said, sounding genuine, “I had a good feeling about you from our brief encounter at the summit, now I am beginning to see that initial view was quite close to the mark.”

“Thank you,” Twilight replied, this was going swimmingly.

“Now that pleasantries are out of the way we can set off,” she began again gesturing for Twilight to walk with her, “no doubt you are as eager to see an end to this Aether problem as myself.”

“Definitely.”

“Good, then we shall not delay,” she continued as they walked, “you can inform your servants that we’re heading off now.”

“Servants? They’re not my servants, they’re my friends.” Mare Equus didn’t seem to care about Twilight’s contradiction.

“Whatever,” she replied with a shrug. Twilight frowned, they were getting along well, she didn’t want to spoil things by arguing with her over something as small as this, but she didn’t like having her friends referred to as servants.

Shrugging it off, she looked over to them, they had stood at a polite distance, unsure whether they should approach the princess or not.

“Come on girls, we’re moving on to the gate,” she informed them; they seemed satisfied with this and trotted to catch up. Aquestria was a fascinating city; Twilight prayed they would have just a little time after closing the gate to hang around. As she examined the many buildings they passed through she recognised many of the different rune combinations. Some were designed to support the protection bubble, keeping the entire city from flooding; others were used to maintain the varieties of sea life in the city that would otherwise have been deprived of water.

The locals were a varied bunch, while they saw many ponies, few could be considered ‘normal’, many had some adaption much like the princess herself, whether it be scales, gills, fins, some even had entire limbs altered to give them an underwater advantage. Besides the ponies there were octopuses, turtles, all manner of fish (it was mainly for them that the protection runes were intended). They all seemed relatively cheery, it reminded Twilight of life in Equestria, but then of course Aquestria was still a young nation that had originally stemmed from Equestria.

As they journeyed Mare Equus gave Twilight a brief history which she lapped up with delight, it was incredible to think how so much had been constructed in such a short space of time, there was no denying Mare Equus was a diligent type.

“But I ramble on, you’re probably more interested in the gate,” she said after a long lecture on the challenges involved with underwater farming. Frankly Twilight could have listened forever but she did have a mission that came first after all. “The gate is actually many miles out, not too far mind you, but we’re going to have to take one the subs from the royal dock.”

“Sub?” Twilight repeated.

“Yes, a submarine,” she elaborated, “in simple terms it’s an underwater boat, they’ve been essential in the development of Aquestria.”

“And, quick question, the gate is in the ocean right?” Mare Equus nodded, “then how will we close it? We have to be standing around it to use the elements.”

“A valid question, one I had already considered,” she explained, “after discovering its location I sent my most trusted mages to erect a dry zone around it for your benefit.”

“Dry zone… like the one around this place?” Twilight asked gesturing to the dome surrounding Aquestria.

“Indeed,” Mare Equus replied, letting the conversation die there. After walking for some time their destination came into view, they had diverged from the main road they had previously been travelling along and walked until they arrived at a low, bunker like building sitting right at the edge of the dry zone. Like all the buildings in Aquestria, it was crafted from pearl, featuring many windows. Unlike other buildings however this one was decorated in flowing banners of royal blue, a trident emblazoned on each.

The entrance was a tall and regal set of double doors, flanked on either side by two armoured guards. As they approached the guards snapped to attention and the doors swung open for them.

“There are docks all over Aquestria,” Mare Equus explained as they passed through into the wide expanse, “but this is my own private one, nopony but I and my personnel are permitted to enter.”

Twilight didn’t respond, she was barely listening as her eyes had fell on what she could only assume was the submarine; it was an impressive sight, befitting of the city she had just witnessed.

It appeared to be stylised to look like a sword fish, like the buildings it was carved from pearl with runic letters etched into it, however Twilight also noted there was a brass, skeletal frame attached, as well as four arms reminiscent of the claws princess Vegnum had, stretching from the walls to hold the vessel in place.

“A beautiful vessel your majesty,” Rarity complimented, but much to Twilight’s surprise, Mare Equus ignored her.

“We will set sail in twenty minutes,” she announced curtly, “you may board when ready.”

With that she walked away from them, assumingly to make her own arrangements, Twilight turned to her friends for the first time since they had arrived.

“Well girls, what do you think?” she asked, her tone clearly telling them her own thoughts.

“Spectacular,” Rarity exclaimed gazing all around her.

“It’s mighty impressive,” Applejack acknowledged, “and that’s comin’ from a girl who’s about as in love with the land as ye can get.”

“It is so under-waterific!” Pinkie declared, hoping madly around them, “what do you think Dashie?”

They all looked to Rainbow Dash and let out a collective gasp as they saw the usually cool and collected Pegasus sitting on her haunches, her coat sweaty and breathing like oxygen was about to have a tax put on it.

“Oh Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy began sounding worried, “are you sick?”

“I’m fine, what are you talking about?” she replied in a voice vaguely reminiscent of the time Rarity entered the Young Flyers Competition in Cloudsdale, “I mean, we’re in this amazing city under water! We just met the princess of water! And now we’re about to get on a boat that sails, UNDER THE WATER!”

All the ponies gathered looked nervously at one another.

“Alright Rainbow Dash,” Twilight began, “I get the feeling you’re trying to tell us something…”

“Seriously Twilight,” Spike said with a deadpan expression, “even I can figure out what’s going on.”

Twilight opened her mouth but was interrupted by a whistle coming from the submarine. They all looked around to, to their surprise, an octopus sitting on the ramp leading to the rear entrance.

“The princess said ‘board when you were ready’, but that basically means now,” he explained in a surprisingly comprehensible tone. Looking back at the others, who just shrugged, Twilight started for the sub, the others following closely behind.

Only Clarity was left with the still shuddering Rainbow Dash.

“How long are you going to keep denying this?” she asked exasperated, “admit you’re afraid of water.”

“I am not afraid of water!” Dash spat back, Clarity sighed and walked away from her, at which point Dash whispered to herself, “I’m afraid of drowning.”

~

Rainbow Dash was finally ready to admit she was enjoying herself, though she wasn’t looking forward to the ‘I told you so look’ she would receive from her father. The cruise had been far better than she could have hoped for, it was the perfect balance of relaxing with its lounge chairs and on deck pool, and fun with its many activities in the evenings and the bar games available. They were the only reason her dad had permitted her to be in the bar, and it was only to be when he was there to keep an eye on her.

It might have seemed silly to some but her dad knew all too well of her astounding ability to hustle darts and pool. The trip had been the perfect thing to help Dash forget her disappointment at losing out on the Equestrian games. It was their fourth day when she finally broke the pleasant silence between the two of them as they bathed in the sun.

“Thanks dad,” she said simply, this caused him to raise his eyebrows in surprise.

“What was that? I didn’t hear you,” he replied jokingly.

“Please don’t make me say it again,” Dash whined, “this was just a good idea is all.”

Her dad didn’t respond, nothing needed to be said, and he didn’t want to make his daughter feel any more uncomfortable than she already did. Rainbow Dash sighed contentedly, her eyes shutting gently, her breathing slowing down. She didn’t even notice when the sun was blotted out, or hear the waves turning violent, not until she heard the sound of the siren wailing over the deck.

~

“If you’ve liked everything up to this point,” Mare Equus began, joining Twilight at the cockpit window, “you’re going to love this bit.”

With a curt nod of approval to the octopus who now sat behind some sort of command console, the submarine shuddered into life and the arms Twilight had seen earlier picked the entire vessel up so it no longer rested on the floor of the dock. The octopus continued to fiddle about with controls before anything else happened, Twilight noticed Pinkie’s head spinning around madly, desperate she didn’t miss anything.

“Eyes ahead,” Mare Equus advised, Twilight returned her attention to the window in time to see the entire facing wall of the dock crack open in the centre and began sliding open. The dry zone ended at this point, held impossibly still in front of them, as if a glass sheet had been erected where the dock wall once stood. Next Twilight felt the sub lurch forward, as it was thrust quite unceremoniously by the metal arms through the vertical sheet of water. With a quick flurry of tentacles the pilot detached the sub from the arms holding it and let it drift through the water, not for long though as following yet more fumbling Twilight felt something come to life deep within the sub and it began to propel itself through the water.

“We will arrive at the gate in a matter of hours,” Mare Equus informed them, stepping away from the window and making for the door at the back of the control room. “If you require rest now would be the time to obtain it.”

With that she opened the door in her liquid aura and departed the room.

“This is pretty fun,” Applejack admitted, still staring out the window.

“Pretty fun!” Pinkie exclaimed, shocked by Applejack’s choice of adjective, “this is super, duper, awesome, amazing fun!”

“Or that,” Applejack gave her, “so have you calmed down yet RD?”

But as they turned to see how the panicking Pegasus was holding up they just caught a glimpse of a rainbow tail swishing through the door.

“I’ll go check on her,” Twilight said before any of the others could say anything. Without waiting for a response she marched for the door, giving a polite smile to the driver who waved back with one of his tentacles. Reaching the door she subconsciously summoned her magic to telekinetically open the door… and walked face first into it.

Rubbing her nose she ignored the snickering of her friends behind her and opened it by hoof instead. The rest of the sub was fairly basic, the door she entered through led into a narrow corridor with several other rooms leading off from it. One door had an armed guard standing by it which Twilight presumed was the princess’s quarters. As she walked along she was about to ask the guard if he had seen Rainbow Dash before she noticed one of the doors was partly open. Crossing the distance towards it she began to hear a peculiar sound coming from within, she couldn’t distinguish what it was as it was too muffled.

Reaching forward she pushed the door open steadily to see Rainbow Dash lying on a bed facing away from her.

“Rainbow Dash, are you alright?” Twilight asked moving into the room, Dash didn’t reply, but flinched noticeably at the sound of her voice. “Please Dash, we’re worried about you. Whatever it is that’s bothering you, you can talk to us.”

Still no response, Twilight sighed and pulled up a chair, taking a seat at the opposite end of the room, facing Dash with folded hooves.

“I’m staying here whether you talk to me or not,” she informed the Pegasus, still nothing. Twilight suppressed a groan, why was Dash so difficult?

~

Rainbow Dash must have been lying there for a couple hours at least; a part of her was impressed by her unusual display of patience. It wasn’t until she finally heard the rhythmic snoring of Twilight that she finally rolled over. Twilight looked anything but regal slouched on the chair, her jaw slack. Rainbow sighed as she stretched her limbs, she missed land, she missed the sky, but she missed her wings most of all, her one constant safety net over the years, the knowledge that if things got too bad she could fly straight up to freedom. Yet here she was, countless leagues beneath the ocean, and her wings made useless.

With a sigh she crawled off the bed and landed awkwardly on her hooves, soon this would all be over, they could go home and she would never have to come back again. With a more optimistic outlook she finally cracked her first smile of the day.

“Just a couple more hours,” she whispered so as not to wake her friend, “what can go wrong in that time?”

She just had to say it…

~

Pinkie Pie had been having the time of her life, glued to the window of the cockpit with her friends, pointing out the various sea creatures that swam past them, if only Twilight would come back with Dashie, and then everything would be perfect. Yes, she had been having the time of her life, that is, until she wandered up behind the pilot, intent on getting a closer look at the creature she had never encountered before. It was as she had stood there, pondering the best way to go about befriending him, that she saw it.

The control console the octopus was fiddling with was incredibly complex; Pinkie couldn’t even begin to fathom what anything did. Until she saw one button that drowned out everything around her, the big, round, red button, labelled ‘do not press’. For Pinkie it was like the rest of the world stop existing, all that remained was herself and the button, the only sound, the thumping of her heart echoing through the whole cockpit. As she stared her eyes became wide, she licked her lips, she was becoming filled to the brim with that unforgettable feeling, the one she felt every time she saw a sign saying ‘do not walk on the grass’ or ‘wet paint, do not touch’.

Before Pinkie knew it, she was raising a pink hoof, slowly and steadily, her left eye giving an involuntary twitch. She was nearing he button, she was so close, she could almost feel it giving way beneath her…

“Hey Pinkie, whatcha doin?” a voice asked, pulling her back to reality. She felt dizzy as she turned to see Applejack walking up towards her.

“Just seeing how this all works,” she lied, although be now she was struggling to remember what the truth of the matter was.

“Well leave the gentleman alone, he needs to focus,” Applejack scolded, Pinkie nodded sadly and walked back to the window with her fellow earth pony.

The octopus had barely noticed the pink pony’s presence, far too focused with his own task to pay any heed to what unbeknownst to him was about to be a disastrous situation. He was so focused in fact, that when one of his tentacles absently reached out for his cup of coffee, he didn’t notice his oily grip over the polystyrene cup was insufficient. He barely noticed when the cup slipped from his grasp; it was only when it hit the console, spilling scalding hot coffee all over it that he finally noticed.

~

Rainbow Dash was launched off her hooves, she was sent spiralling across the room by the sudden jolt that travelled through the sub. The next thing she knew her head had collided sharply with something of equal density which was purple. The ringing in her own head was enough to drown out the sound of the emergency sirens being blasted through the ship, but even if Dash had heard them she couldn’t have reacted as she was still being thrown across the room, this time bundled with what she now realised was her own alicorn friend.

By the time the two had stopped being hurled around the small room; they were in a heap… on the ceiling, surrounded by their last meal.

“Rainbow, what the hay…” Twilight began screaming, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t paying attention. Now that they lay relatively still, though she could still feel the sub getting buffeted about, she was beginning to make out the room as her vision cleared. All the previously white runes were now flashing red; the door to the room had been buckled in, and all around the room, cracks spider webbed over the pearl walls, slowly but steadily spraying the room in water.

Rainbow Dash clambered to her hooves, ignoring the pain shooting through her body, particularly her wings which she had landed on more than once while getting tossed about like a rag doll. She stared in disbelief as sea water gushed into the room, filling it slowly from one corner of the ceiling. Twilight was shouting something, but Rainbow Dash had become frozen in horror at what was happening around her.

I’m going to drown! I’m going to die! Her breathing became panicked and laboured and she didn’t even acknowledge Twilight dragging her from the room by the tail.

The hallway outside was no better, the flashing red was incredibly disorienting for Twilight as she pulled the seemingly paralysed Rainbow Dash along with her. Her head was throbbing where Dash had impacted against her, she was angry but at the same time she was afraid she wouldn’t have woken up in time otherwise. She needed to get back to the cockpit with her friends, that meant going left. Unfortunately whatever had happened caused the hallway to slant steeply upwards, and the gradient was still increasing until soon it would be vertical and she would have no hope of getting up.

She wasn’t a strong enough flyer to pull Rainbow Dash up with her, especially with her being so inflexible. Without wasting any more time she pushed forward, dragging Rainbow along, trying to ignore the water cascading down the hall making it almost impossible for her to get a solid footing. More than once she slipped and would have fallen straight down if not for her being able to brace herself by wedging herself in the narrow corridor with her outstretched wings.

“Rainbow, I need you to help me!” she shouted through gritted teeth, still clinging onto her tail, but the Pegasus was still being unresponsive, now shaking violently.

With no choice, Twilight gave up trying to talk a sense of urgency into her and continued her uphill battle towards the cockpit, trailing her friend along with her. All the while the she felt massive jolts go through the sub and hear sickening cracks indicating the pearl it was built from was giving way even more. With a gasp of air Twilight finally reached the end of the corridor, rounding a corner, allowing her to release Rainbow and taking a moment to catch her breath, but something was wrong. This didn’t look like it did when she first left the cockpit to go find Rainbow Dash, it looked more like…

And with a horrifying moment of realisation she understood, she hadn’t even realised the ship was upside down, her splitting headache had seen to that. So when she left the room with Dash in tow, she should have gone right to the cockpit, but she went left… to the rear exit they had entered through. Twilight swore loudly, the sub was now hanging vertical, she couldn’t get back down the corridor safely, and they were trapped up here for the time being. Twilight cursed her horn rot now more than ever as she thought desperately of what they could possibly do, however she didn’t have to think long as she could hear a low aching coming from behind her.

Snapping her head around she managed to see the widening cracks in the wall just behind the still panic stricken Rainbow Dash, and just had time to leap forward and grab hold of her as the whole wall, or maybe it was actually the floor, of the sub gave way, and water came rushing in. The next moments were absolute chaos, Twilight was for the second time in far too short a time frame, thrown about with Rainbow Dash wrapped up in her hooves. When she finally started to slow she opened her eyes, but she immediately wished she hadn’t.

In the commotion the two had been wrenched out of the hole made in the sub and were now caught in the outside current, and she could see what remained of the sub. it had apparently crashed nose first into rocky outcrop, why the octopus had steered them into such a hazardous area Twilight couldn’t fathom, and she didn’t have time to either as both her and Dash were being dragged down. Flapping her wings she tried desperately to direct them, but her feathered wings were made for the air, not water, and her lack of magic meant she was desperately running out of air as well. On top of all that she didn’t even know what state Dash was in.

As she fought against the current, she was inexorably tugged deeper and deeper, until the pair of them collided with the side of what resembled an underwater mountain. Twilight pushed desperately against the water, rolling hopelessly over the jagged surface. She was beginning to lose all hope, when suddenly the rock behind her gave way and she was sucked into something much darker. Again she was at the mercy of the current, that was now intent on dragging her further into the cave until all light was extinguished from view and the two of them were lost in a pitch black underwater prison, that was very quickly going to become their tomb.

Twilight would have cried if she had been able, to have come this far, to have so many depending on her, and she was about to drown in this little ocean cave, probably never to be found or heard of again. Then a faint glimmer of hope sparked in her chest, if the others found safety, perhaps Mare Equus protected them, Clarity could still wield the element of magic, the world still had a chance. But then she remembered the weight she was carrying, Rainbow Dash would still die with her here.

No! I will not give up! Dash would never roll over and die if one of us depended on her!

With new found determination she kicked out desperately reaching forward with a hoof. All around her she felt nothing but rock, but she wasn’t going to give up. She kicked herself in the direction her mind was telling her was up, still feeling around for anything that might… something felt different, the cave seemed to be stretching upwards. Without a second thought Twilight kicked out with the last of her strength, following the tunnel she had found. Her lungs were screaming, she had tried until that point to hum, having read it in a book, but now there was no air left. This had to be the right way, there had to be something, anything, if not this was the end…

Twilight’s head broke the surface of the water, followed swiftly by her grateful gasp of air. Dash made no sound and for a moment she feared the worst. Paddling herself and the now very heavy weight that was Rainbow Dash across the water, she flailed her free hoof, looking for anything she could set Dash onto. It seemed her luck hadn’t let up as soon enough she found a small shell of rock jutting out over the surface. Surprising herself with the sudden burst of strength, she heaved the Pegasus up onto the platform, before pulling herself up after.

Twilight had never been in an emergency situation quite so text book as this one, but luckily she had read and memorised the text book, and just about every other vaguely relevant book, so she knew what to do. She quickly lowered her ear to the Pegasus’s mouth and chest, no breathing but there was a faint pulse, no doubt she had swallowed water. Immediately she set about pumping down on her chest, before performing mouth to mouth, in the back of her mid she was desperately thankful Rainbow Dash wasn’t awake for this; she would never let Twilight live it down.

This exercise continued for some minutes, Twilight knew it wasn’t supposed to be instant but a nagging doubt started to make itself known that it was a lost cause. She shook her head, ridding herself of the negative thoughts. She would do this forever if she had to, however the minutes began to stretch out and steadily the worry began creeping back into her mind. She barely noticed how her own breathing had become panicked, the pace quickening frighteningly. Tears began to sting the corners of her eyes, as she began a cycle of mouth to mouth.

“Wake up!” she screamed pulling back and hammering on her chest, the dam of composure finally breaking and her tears spilling out, “please Rainbow, don’t leave me!”

Then, suddenly, miraculously, the Pegasus spluttered. Twilight was so taken aback she simply froze up and stared as her friend began coughing up enough water to fill a bath. When she was done she began taking deep rattling breaths, Twilight finally managed to shake out of her stupor to sweep Rainbow up and hold in hug Pinkie would have found too tight.

“You’re okay,” she cried, easing up on her hugging when she heard Rainbow start to choke again.

“Twilight,” she breathed in a disturbingly weak voice, “I… I’m alive?”

“Yes, you’re alive,” Twilight said at an attempt at her normally calm, analytical voice while she began wiping her eyes.

“You saved me,” Dash whispered, staring at Twilight with an odd look in her eyes. Twilight laughed modestly looking away slightly.

“No thanks to you,” she joked, “you were frozen up like a statue.”

Her words seemed to strike a chord with Rainbow who turned her head away and cast her eyes down in shame.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered, Twilight wasn’t really angry, as she had fought to get through the corridor she had imagined tearing Dash a new one for causing her so much trouble, but after the panic that had just ensued she found she couldn’t be angry at her, she was too grateful to see her alive.

“What… what happened back there?” Twilight asked tentatively.

“I…” Dash began, shaking once more. What followed shook Twilight to the core. Rainbow Dash looked into her eyes, her brimming with tears, “I’m afraid of water!”

Twilight just stared for a moment, in any other circumstances she would have assumed Dash was just being really committed to a prank, but now it just freaked her out. The Rainbow Dash, afraid of something to the point of freezing up and crying!

“But… but you’re not afraid of anything,” Twilight replied quietly. Dash looked away in shame once more, Twilight realised she had been callous in her choice of words, she scooted forward sand embraced her friend.

“Shhh, it’s alright,” she whispered as her friend quietly sobbed into her shoulder, “Just… talk to me.”

Rainbow took a deep shuddering breath, not replying for a long time, when she did however, her response wasn’t what Twilight was expecting.

“It was my father…”

~

The filly Rainbow Dash was rushed away by a member of the crew, he didn’t answer any of the questions she asked him, jut told her they had to get to the life boats now. She didn’t want to leave without her father, but the crew member was insisting he would be there waiting for them. Once they arrived they found the other side of the ship packed with ponies desperately fighting for a place on the life boats.

“Mares and foals first!” the captain was shouting, the crew member who had taken Rainbow Dash whistled for his attention. When the captain saw them he waved them over.

Rainbow Dash was led over to the captain, where he immediately set about finding room for her on one of the boats.

“Please sir,” she began, politer than usual; “I need to find my dad.”

“Your daddy will be fine,” he assured her, “he’ll get on one of the other life boats once we’ve made sure you’re safe.”

Rainbow looked all around the crowd, it was comprised mostly of men, being the last group to be moved onto the boats, her father wasn’t among them.

“No wait!” she squealed as the captain tried to pick her up, “my dad isn’t here yet.”

“Don’t worry little filly, we won’t leave anyone behind,” he replied in his kindest voice, Rainbow Dash could have trusted him, she could have got onto the boat and hoped for the best that her father would be okay…

“No!” she screamed running from the edge of the deck, fighting through the crowd to get back intot he ship, “I won’t lose him too!”

~

“Too?” Twilight questioned, “Rainbow… are you saying your mother…”

“Yeah,” Dash said glumly, “it was a year earlier, just an accident, nothing more.”

Suddenly she let out a small laugh taking Twilight by surprise.

“She was always the cook in our house,” she explained, her expression suddenly very distant, “she would insist on making up home cooked meals. After she passed dad tried his hoof at it, it would never be very good, it became more of a running joke than anything. Although I think he did as his own way of remembering her…”

Rainbow drifted off for a moment, thinking back to those happier days, Twilight hated to have to tear her away from them but she wanted her to continue her story, and she knew Rainbow needed to get this out.

“Rainbow, you were saying about the cruise,” she reminded her gently, Dash nodded sadly.

“The boat was a nightmare to get through, I won’t give you the details, I think you’ve experienced enough of sinking ships today,” she explained before continuing.

~

Rainbow Dash found her dad, whatever had happened to the ship, a beam had come loose in the engine room and fallen across her father’s hind legs. The cruise ship they had been on had been one of the earliest models of ship designed for recreation. It had been built, boasting itself to be the most unsinkable ship to date; clearly the engineers’ pride had resulted in them overlooking obvious defects when treating the hull of the ship for water resistance.

“Rainbow,” her dad called out weakly as he saw her running forward, “you need to get out of here, I’m sure their evacuating ponies.”

“They are, but I wasn’t going to leave you,” she told him, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and… a part of him had been afraid it was.

“That’s really heroic of you, but Dashie listen,” he said, his voice turning stern, “I’ll be fine, I’ll get myself out of here, you just worry about yourself.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head, what a stubborn filly, just like her father.

“I’m not leaving you,” she replied, her dad opened his mouth to reply but at that moment a section of the wall ruptured and water began pouring.

Rainbow rushed forward and began pushing against the beam, her father yelled out in agony. Confused, she looked closer, her heart sank. a twisted barb of metal had been jutting from the beam as it fell, and it was now embedded in her father’s hind leg. She looked up, meeting his eye, and realised, when he’d told her he’d free himself, he had been lying to get her to leave, he had accepted his fate.

“No,” she whispered.

“Listen to me Rainbow,” he said, his voice quivering, giving away his own fear, “I’m not getting out of here.”

“No!” Rainbow repeated, screaming this time, her eyes welling with tears.

“Listen!” her father ordered, water was pooling around them now, “I will not make it out of here, but you can. You can get to that deck; you can get off this boat. You can go to flight academy; you can show everypony you’re the fastest flyer in Equestria. You can join the Wonderbolts and become famous. You can have friends and a family of your own. You can have all these things but you have to leave now!”

“I can’t go without you,” the filly sobbed, “I can’t do it alone.”

“You won’t be alone,” her father whispered, his voice weakening, “you’ll never be alone. Just so long as you always remember…”

Another explosion drowned out her father’s words, as more streams of water cascaded down upon them, the room filling even faster now.

“GO NOW!” her father shouted as the water threatened to cover his head. Rainbow Dash took one last look at her father, before she turned tail, and ran.

~

Rainbow Dash was now crying with full force, clinging to her best friend who stroked her hair and draped her wings over her. Twilight didn’t say anything, just held on to her friend and gave her a shoulder to cry on. After several minutes of painful silence, Twilight finally felt Rainbow Dash’s shaking eased.

“Rainbow, I’m so sorry,” she whispered into the Pegasus’s ear, “I know that was hard for you.”

“I-I’ve never told anyone that before,” she stammered, her voice a mere croak now. “I tried to be brave when we came here, but when the sub… it just felt too much like…”

“I know, I know,” Twilight soothed as she broke into another wave of sobs. Twilight thought desperately of what she could possibly say to make Dash feel any better, but when nothing came to mind, she settled for silence, letting her friend cry herself dry. She didn’t know how long they were sitting there for, but Twilight became vaguely aware of a chill sweeping up her body. Foolishly she chose to ignore it, passing it off as a reaction to hearing Dash’s story. When she became aware of it again, it was obvious the water was rising.

“Rainbow!” she exclaimed, she had noticed it then too. Both of them leapt to their hooves, the water in the cave was rising, but how? Twilight could only assume the subs crash had upset something. Looking around desperately they scanned the small cave for a possible exit, trying not to think about the fact that it would only lead to the rest of the ocean.

“Twilight,” Rainbow said hoarsely, “I can see you!”

“Well of course you can,” she replied slightly exasperatedly, “I’ve been able to see you since we first got into this cave.”

“No, I mean, if we can see each other, then there must be some kind of light.” Twilight slapped her head, of course, why hadn’t she realised that? The light in the cave was dim but present none the less. Looking around once more, but this time with a notion of what she was looking for, Twilight guessed the light was coming from above them.

“Up!” she shouted, Rainbow nodded and moved over to Twilight. They embraced awkwardly; Twilight wasn’t a great flyer with passengers, much less a mare the same size as her.

Flapping her wings she gained some height, it wasn’t mush and t was a strain none the less, but she kept it up. As they began ascending higher and higher, Twilight got the distinct feeling the water was rising at an accelerated rate. Looking back over her shoulder her eyes widened in shock, after taking minutes to rise over their ankles, the platform they had once sat on was long since buried.

“Something must be giving way,” Twilight said, still pumping her wing muscles, “it’s getting faster!”

No sooner had she said it than there was a stomach churning crunching noise below them, followed swiftly by the familiar sound of rushing water.

Twilight didn’t need to look to know the cave wall was giving way, Dash was also beginning to show symptoms of fear, soon she would become unresponsive and too awkward to fly safely with. Twilight picked up the pace, fighting to reach the crack of light so near and yet so very far above them. They were closer now and while Twilight couldn’t discern the source of the light, it was a strangely familiar shade of blue. More cracking could be heard rising through the cave as they continued to ascend; Twilight chose to ignore it, focusing instead on the increasing difficulty of flapping her wings.

She was so intent on reaching the cave ceiling and that pale blue light that she didn’t hear Dash’s cry of warning, when it did register with her, she looked up far too late to avoid the falling rock.

~

The sudden moment of panic sent a burst of adrenaline through Rainbow Dash, temporarily freeing her from her paralysed state of fear. When the rock connected violently with Twilight’s face, and they began spiralling out of control, she was able to latch herself onto a fragment of rock jutting from the cave wall. Twilight on the other hoof, who had been knocked clean out, dropped like a rock into the churning water below. Dash’s eyes widened in horror as she hung helplessly from the wall.

“Twilight!” she screamed, but to no avail. Her friend, her princess had been pulled away in an instant, obscured by the foaming water still rushing in. it seemed like an eternity Dash hung there, staring in disbelief, her body frozen in terror. It was as if the trauma had forced her consciousness to recede into the depths of her mind, seeking shelter from the harsh reality she had just witnessed.

Rainbow Dash was a filly, trying to hide her nervousness as her father taught her to fly. Rainbow Dash was in Ponyville laughing as her best friend Twilight Sparkle flapped like a foal, unaccustomed to her new wings. She tried to hide her head in shame, but then suddenly Rainbow stopped laughing and stepped forward and began walking her through the steps, unusually understanding of her initial difficulties.

Rainbow Dash was a filly, planting her face into her hooves as her father explained to the Cloudsdale fire department that ‘he was trying to cook a casserole’. Rainbow Dash was a in the Golden Oaks Library as the lavender unicorn wafted the smoke of her latest failure at baking cupcakes out the open window. While Pinkie continued laughing hysterically, Dash stopped and flew over to Twilight and offered her one of Pinkie’s to cheer her up.

Rainbow Dash was a filly, crying into the shoulder of a social worker at her father’s funeral. Rainbow Dash sat in a cave, crying her heart out into the shoulder of her best friend, the very mare that moments earlier had saved her life, Twilight Sparkle.

“NO!” Dash yelled, a sudden fire igniting in her chest. Smashing from the fear gripping her she leapt off the rock, away from safety and into the jaws of her greatest fear. She hit the water like a stone weight, but ignored the pain shooting through her body as a result of her poor dive. Her eyes wide with new found determination she sought out her friend in the swirling darkness, and seeing her limp form falling just metres below her. Kicking out she propelled herself down, her teeth were bared in defiance beneath her clenched lips

I won’t lose you too!

With one last kick she reached Twilight, wrapping her forehooves around her torso. She was heavy, although that might have been due to Dash’s exhaustion, but she didn’t let that stop her. Kicking wildly she tried to right herself, and once she was pointed upwards she began kicking for the surface. The trip up was made more difficult by the unconscious Twilight in her forehooves as well as the continually rising water. But Dash wasn’t going to quit, she wasn’t going to let Twilight down like she had let her father down.

Converting her anger and determination into physical strength, she powered upwards, breaking through the surface. She inhaled deeply before turning her attention to Twilight, unlike her studious friends she neither had the knowledge or the patience to carry out the same resuscitation techniques on her. She knew enough, and so proceeded to slap her face a couple of times before grabbing her head, a little more forcefully than necessary, and locking lips with her. As she tried desperately to breathe life into her she continued kicking her hind legs under the surface to keep them both afloat.

After a short, panicked minute Twilight finally began breathing of her own accord, although her breaths were short and she bore a strange resemblance to Ditzy Doo as a result of her impact with the falling rock, she was likely concussed.

“Twilight, you’re okay!” Dash exclaimed, clutching her friend tight.

“Dash, what’s happening?” she asked, terrified as she realised they were neck deep in water.

“Doesn’t matter, we need to reach the top if we’re to…” she stopped short as she looked up.

The water had risen so that it was now metres away from the ceiling of the cave, the light now revealed to be spilling through a narrow crack. Dash felt all hope die in her chest, they couldn’t fit through that, and with the water rising at this rate and both of them in their current conditions they wouldn’t have the time or the means to make it any bigger.

“Rainbow, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked, frightened by the Pegasus’s lack of words.

“Nothing,” Rainbow lied in a whisper, clutching Twilight close to her chest, “nothing at all.”

No… it’s not fair, after everything, we’re still going to die in here.

Rainbow felt tears of hopelessness rising to the surface, Twilight continued to struggle against her, desperate to know what was going on, but Dash didn’t let up, she didn’t want to watch her spirits crumble. Dash closed her eyes and took one last breath as they began to near the top, the end was fast approaching… but it never came. Dash opened her eyes again, surprised that they weren’t submerged yet.

Looking down she saw the water was still churning around them, it was trying to rise, but it was as if something was holding it back, some invisible barrier… the dry zone? Could it possibly be…

Dash reached up with a hoof and began hammering at the ceiling.

“Hey!” she yelled, “is anypony there!”

She kept pounding the rock with her hoof, ignoring the pain spiking down her leg. Just as she was beginning to lose hope she heard muffled sounds coming from over their heads, and saw shadows flickering across the crack.

Then, as she held her breath, the rocks above their heads shattered. Rainbow quickly cast her eyes down; covering Twilight’s head with the hoof she had used to knock on the ceiling.

“Rainbow! Twilight!” a voice exclaimed. Dash looked up; it was, impossibly, her friends, all of them. They all reached down, grabbing hold of the Pegasus and alicorn, pulling them up to safety and laying them down on the damp rock.

“You’re okay!” Rarity exclaimed, looking in disbelief.

“We were so worried!” cried Pinkie, hugging Dash tightly.

Looking up at their friends Dash saw they all had been crying, even Spike who knelt down beside Twilight who had drifted back into unconsciousness at some point.

“I…” Rainbow tried, but at that point all the strength she had exerted in order to keep herself and Twilight alive was sapped from her, and she slipped into darkness.

~

Rainbow Dash awoke, her head heavy and numb, to an unfamiliar face. Screaming she scooted as far back from mysterious figure as she could.

“Well that’s grateful,” Mare Equus said with no attempt at hiding her disdain. Dash froze, she had just screamed in the face of a princess, but before she could say or do anything, the princess stood up and called over to her friends who were gathered awkwardly some distance away.

“She’s awake.” as soon as they heard that they all rushed over, eager to see her up and about.

“Hang on,” she said, cutting off the barrage of questions they were asking, “what’s going on? Where are we?”

“We’re at the gate,” Clarity replied simply, gesturing behind her. Of course, the light they had seen was the gate. The familiar ethereal blue rip loomed over them, the ominous black orb hovering in the centre. “We thought we’d lost you both.”

“Both… Twilight!” Dash exclaimed, looking around wildly for her friend.

“The princess took her away after examining her,” Fluttershy explained, “she hasn’t told us anything yet.”

“So why am I here?” Dash asked uncertainly, at which point a purple claw tapped her on the shoulder and she turned to see Spike holding out a familiar gold necklace. “Oh yeah.”

~

As the light faded, and Dash felt the element of loyalty go limp around her neck, they looked up, and let out a sigh of relief when the gate was no longer present.

“Two down,” she whispered to herself. With the light source gone they would have been cast into absolute darkness if not for a deep blue glow approaching the group. Dash turned to see the princess walking forward, her horn alight.

“Well done,” she congratulated, although she sounded indifferent to their accomplishment, “I should apologise, the mistake of my own citizen turned what should have been a simple mission into a nightmare for you all.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Dash said dismissively, “how’s Twilight?”

“Your princess, will be fine,” she replied sharply, “she has been through a lot, as have you, I only saw to it that you were fit to use your element, but you are still in desperate need of medical attention. I will be teleporting us all back to Aquestria, as we are without transport.”

Dash nodded reluctantly, she didn’t want to drop Twilight’s condition, but she figured it could at least wait until they were somewhere safe.

Mare Equus raised her head, as her horn lit up, her face became strained. Dash knew from listening to Twilight that long distance teleporting was difficult enough let alone throwing in multiple ponies, even for alicorns. Soon however the spark ignited upon Mare Equus’s horn burst, and the world around then dissolved before snapping back into focus, except now they stood in a room that resembled Celestia’s throne room back in Canterlot Castle, the obvious difference being the pearl walls carved with white runes.

“Twilight!” Dash exclaimed, as she saw her friend’s unconscious body lying almost peacefully a short distance from them. Rushing forward she dropped to her knees, Twilight was alive, that much was obvious, and Rainbow Dash was grateful for that much. Mare Equus stood over her, an almost sad expression as her eyes gazed upon Twilight.

“I’ll place you under a sleep spell now,” she began, “and move you both to the medical centre.”

Dash hesitated for only a second before nodding in acknowledgment.

Applejack walked over to her and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry RD, we’ll be right there watchin’ over yah the whole time,” she assured her, Dash appreciated the sentiment, “and besides, after closing that gate, we’ll have plenty of time to rest before the next crazy adventure.”

Dash was about to respond but was interrupted by a loud belch behind them. They both turned their heads to see Spike standing along with the others, his eyes wide as they swept over the scroll that had just arrived.

“Actually,” he said hesitantly, “we might not have that long to rest before the next crazy adventure.”