The Steadfast Sky : Chapter 11
The Grey Potter
http://cosmicponyfanfiction.blogspot.com/

I was tumbling underwater, pulled by a force I could neither fight nor control. Everything was muted. Movement was difficult. Water kept forcing itself up my nose, and I was wasting precious air trying to keep it out. I kept my eyes tight shut, believing there was nothing to see in the impenetrable gloom. The current suggested an echo of a roar, the sharp scraping and clattering of pebbles and sand colliding.

Slowly, I stopped falling. I was floating, suspended in the most curious way, like I was truly weightless, without effort or motion. I waved an arm around, my legs, feeling the dull splash of their movement, trying to find ground, air, something. What way even was up? I sat, still, until I felt myself gently rise.

Okay, that way led to the surface. I snapped open my wings. I didn’t know how to swim… but if there was a place where I could easily use these stupid things, let it be underwater!

I struggled to drag them up and down. My bird wing moved easily, as easily as my legs. But water slipped through the feathers as if they were nothing. The membrane of my bat wing almost caught too much with each stroke, water like weights pushing into my skin, nearly tearing it. I would retract my wing almost instantly, preferring failure more than a bit of pain.

It was difficult to tell with my eyes closed, but it felt like I spun in place a little. I was still bobbing hopelessly in the exact center of the middle of nothing. Useless, useless wings! In my frustration, I heaved a sigh.

A bubbles rushed from my mouth before I could grab my snout shut. I didn’t have the time to be wasting precious air! Not with the surface so far out of reach, and my lungs beginning to ache for a breath…

I decided about then that the time was ripe for panic mode.

I flipped and rolled in the water, kicking furiously, forcing my eyes open to look through the murk. Up, down, side to side, there was nothing around me, everything vanished. I flapped my wings again, against the pain, pulling currents of bubbles behind me, forcing myself somewhere. Anywhere!

A dark strip hovered into my vision, on one side, something solid, something there. I thrashed furiously toward it, pawing the water with my claws, letting water jam itself up my nose. At this point it didn’t matter anymore. Another furious stroke later, I drifted into the object and quickly gripped it with my claws. Wood! A tree! Hallelujah! I scraped myself upward and moments later I hit air. Cold, frigid, wonderful air! I gasped and snorted, breeze transforming me into an icicle, gravity suddenly deciding to exert itself.

But air!

I shook off some of the water and heaved myself up the waterlogged tree. I was shivering, and my nose and lungs had taken on the smell and feel of burned nuts, but I was alive. I found a branch that looked less than dead, and peered out over the lake.

I was on the opposite shore now, as far as I could tell. The humongous half-pony fish snorted around the other edge, pawing the ground and knocking over trees like they were only bushes, dragging its fish tail after it in the water. Was it sniffing for my friends? Did it have a good sense of smell? How could that be if he spent all day with his nose burning inside out? A cheater, that’s what the behemoth was.

From what I could tell, Luna and Celestia were under a cloak of darkness, or at least… I hope that’s where they were, I couldn’t see them anywhere. The beast hadn’t found them, that was certain. But none of us could swim, so… I mean, I got lucky, but those two…

I stared down at the black water beneath me, waves splashing against my tree trunk. What if they got dragged under as well? My insides shrunk two sizes, limbs retreating tightly against by body. I just barely made it myself, and I could climb trees. Those two… my friends, they, I hope they were as lucky, no, luckier.

I shifted on my paws as I stared at the water beneath me, noticing how much I was shivering. Did I feel this bad while we were falling? Like I had nothing? Like there was no hope? How could I have ever enjoyed this? There was no way out of this was there? Could I find a clever solution for this situation, for finding my friends? All hope is lost, that’s when I pull out all the stops, try everything! Right? There was a solution to finding my friends, there had to be…

C’mon brain! Stop… stop not thinking! Stop staring down at the inky black death lake! This is serious!

“Celestia! Luna!” I screamed. “Where are you?!”

The beast whipped around to glare in my direction, spinning body casting thick waves that smacked and shook my tree. Yep, I’m clever. I clung to the branch as it creaked ominously beneath me, threatening to drop me back into danger.

The beast slunk under the water, turning into a black mass as it swam, a spreading a triangle of waves that headed right for my tree. It rose up, amid the half submerged forest, head hovering over its tops, slowly looking around.

I’ve dealt with adult Draconequus this big before. I did exactly what I would do in a situation where one of them was mad at me: sunk deeper into the foliage and prayed that age had blinded it.

It treaded water, breath a fine white mist.

The monster raised a hoof big enough to squash any pony flat, mud caking its edge, water cascading down the nail’s ridges. With great deliberation, a tree crumpled under its weight, bending, breaking, snapping, splashing, forlorn, into its tree brother, twigs entangled and branches embracing. With another shove it crashed into the water, and was forced under. Drowned.

Let’s not use the word drowned.

The gigantic half horse snorted again, steam rising from its nostrils as it began eyeing my tree. Up went his hoof again. There was a crack, and the whole tree shivered as I did.

With a squeal I leapt forward, flapping my wings desperately as the tree crashed into the water below me. My few desperate beats gained me only a slight amount of air, and was rapidly falling back to the ground, the water. I focused all my power into my feet. If I can’t swim, then maybe I can make the water solid?

My magic failed to act quickly enough. I splashed into the water and it hardened into ice around my claws, trapping them in painfully tight angles. I yelped and released the spell as the monster spun around. My head dunked under the waves, back into the muted world.

Panicking, flailing in the water, the shadow of the beast loomed over me. I cast up a hand. A spell, any spell! Through the waves, white noise coated the monster’s eyes, not bright enough to blind, but dense enough to obscure.

It shook its head. There was an echo of a whinny, and an all too sharp slap of its tail in the water, sending me spinning once more. I didn’t wait to stop this time, I had to concentrate. Something not quite ice, something that wouldn’t encase and kill me…

I transformed the water beneath me, and haphazardly bobbed to the surface, riding a semisolid bubble of watery skin. I stumbled to keep my feet in the waves, threatening to flip over at any moment as I bobbed in and out of the water. The monster scraped at its eyes as I looked around, feverish in my search.

“CELESTIA! LUNA!” I bellowed before I could think. “CELESTIA!!!”

A small streak of light beyond the retaining wall, popping into a shower of sparks, like a firework. There! They were alive! I dunked underwater briefly, and then began to run, as fast as I could while maintaining the spell. So, not even a jog. But it was faster than swimming!

The monster snorted and roared on the far shore. My illusion began to vanish as I distanced myself from it, throwing my concentration into the specificity of the water walking spell. I tried to cast something simpler, a copy illusion of myself moving in the opposite direction. That’s what being clever was!

Of course, it wound up being completely useless when a sudden wave overwhelmed me. My spell popped, and I went under once more, tumbling and turning, directionless and rudderless as I started.

It didn’t last long.

I smacked into something, a sharp object jamming itself in my back. I flipped and turned, current pulling my sideways. I waved a claw forward and it scraped across a long surface, a hard surface. Rock! I had hit the wall! I scrambled alongside it, and it wasn’t long until I hit a soft patch, a thick glob of muddy glue. One tap and it softened, bursting. Water jettisoned itself through the sudden gap, and I was dragged through. I struggled and squirmed to fit my wings through the crack, but finally I popped out the other side.

I tumbled through the air, and braced for impact. If a bruised shoulder was all I was going to get tonight, then I count myself lucky. The ground never came. A golden glow washed over me and I was yanked sideways, slapping right into the damp embrace of my unicorn friend.

“Discord! Oh, Discord, you’re alive! I was so worried!” Celestia cried, squeezing me around the middle with her forelegs. Her mane was splattered across her face, her coat dripping with water, as mine was. “Oh thank goodness we’re all still alive!” I struggled to escape her grip, but she simply clung to me. Luna, also looking soaked, bounced into view and joined in, hugging my tail.

I laughed! This was all just like the fall all over again… The cold panic, the thrilling escape, the aftermath, with Celestia panicking and Luna being Luna…

“For a second there, I didn’t think I’d see you guys again either!” I wheezed, still trying to pry myself loose. “How’d you two get here?”

“When the big wave splashed over us,” Luna started excitedly, “We got thrown into the trees!”

“Not literally into the trees, mind,” Celestia corrected, “but certainly among them.”

“And then the big monster came over, but I snuck us right past him! Like, fwoosh! Shadow sneak!”

“So we arrived down here, and wondered what had happened to you. But luckily, Luna heard you yelling for us…”

“So big sis threw up that huge firework!”

“Not… threw up… But the point is,” Celestia finally set me down, and I allowed myself an actual breath. “We’ve all made it.”

“Yeah…” I smiled and let Celestia bask in the glow of her precious safety for a moment longer. Then I leapt for the wall and began climbing up its uneven ridges. “I’m going back in!” I declared.

“What?! No! Why?!” Celestia squeaked, “Get down from there!” Celestia’s magic yanked at my tail, but with barely a thought I dissolved it. Lovely thing I learned, messing with magic!

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a way to beat it!” I shouted down, scrambling up as fast as I could.

“How?!”

“I’m gonna goad it into smashing into this dam!”

I heard her sputter, far below me now. “That’s ridiculous! We were all finally safe! Let’s just go back to the town and let them deal with this!”

“No way!” I barked, a grin crossing my face. “That’s not what the Adventure Trio would do!”

Celestia moaned as Luna broke out into giggles.

“Go Discord, go!”

“Don’t encourage him, Luna!”

“I suggest you two get to high ground!” I yelled down as I heaved myself over the last lip of the wall.

This was it, that feeling! This energy! I remember falling, being scared out of my wits. Feeling useless, feeling stupid. And then… this thrill! The moment the plan comes together! The giddiness of living, no, of emerging victorious over adversary! I was shivering all over, itching to move, to keep at this! A crazed thought came to me. If the feeling of victory could be a cutie mark, I’d have gotten right then!

Out here, doing this… This was a way to live! No brothers taunting me with only weak tricks as retaliation. No Ruin insulting me and grinding it in me how worthless I was. No elders loathing my existence as a child among them. Today, here, I was the hero! I could accomplish the impossible, stand out among the crowds, better! Smarter! And willing, heck yeah! Bring it on, world!

With my feet on top of the dam, I flapped my waterlogged wings, shaking them free of water.

Out here, I could soar!

“HEY YOU!” I bellowed with my entire body. The half pony fish monster turned its massive head, snorting jets of steam. “Yeah you! HEY! HELLLLOOOO!!”

“HELLO.”

Silence of a killed moment made the air ring. My insides deflated, and the giddiness washing away. I merely sat, a soaked creature staring into the face of… whatever this was.

“Um… what?” I squeaked.

The beast rolled through the water, over to where I sat. Not the angry charge I was expecting and hoping for, but a casual, swimming stroke.

“YOU CAN TALK?” The creature boomed.

“Was, was just about to ask you the same thing, big guy…”

“WELL THIS IS EMBARRASSING,” The beast grumbled, voice still louder than I could ever shout. “I APOLOGIZE FOR ATTACKING YOU. I HAVE HAD MANY PESTS TRY AND TAKE MY HOME LATELY. AND, WELL,” he lowered his head to my level, staring at me with his massive eye, as big as my entire head, “HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH A KELPIE INFESTATION?”

“No… no, I can’t say that I have,” I admitted in the smallest voice possible.

“WELL THE PALE ONE LOOKED VERY MUCH LIKE HE WAS GOING TO INFEST MY LAKE. I AM SORRY IF I HARMED YOU IN MY PANIC.”

“Ah… well…” I coughed, trying to gain my composure. This was shocking yes… but in a good way. The goading plan was a dumb idea anyway. I straightened my back and tried to appear authoritative. “Celestia’s not a kelpie, or a guy,” I said firmly, “Just your average unicorn pony.”

“OH, A PONY!” I winced and flattened my ears as the beast raised his voice, clapping his colossal hooves together like the bang of a thunderstorm. “OF COURSE. I HAVE NOT DEALT WITH PONIES IN YEARS! I AM SORRY FOR TRYING TO HURT YOU AND THE PONIES, LITTLE CHIMERA.”

“Actually, I’m a Draconequus!” I shouted up at him.

He paused and looked down at me with one massive eye. “THESE ARE SOME STRANGE WATERS I HAVE SETTLED IN...” he muttered, still louder than anything reasonable.

Through the possibility of being deafened, I heard my friends shouting for me. They had climbed up the side of the hill again, and were standing on the shore, among the trees. I looked up at the monster and walked over to the ponies, carefully balancing on the wide and uneven top. Waves of water nearly pushed me over as the behemoth followed behind me, making the walkway slick.

“Hey guys. The uh…” I looked up as the lake monster hovered over us, water dripping from his seaweed mane.

“MY NAME IS BASIL,” he bellowed.

“Yeah, Basil… Well,” I waved at myself, “My name is Discord, and these are my friends, Luna and Celestia”

“IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU.”

Celestia stared up at the monster, stunned, jaw clamped firmly shut to prevent it from hitting the mud. Luna tumbled backwards from craning her neck too high, falling down on the soaked leaves. She giggled.

“Hi Basil!” Luna yelled. “Are you the one who built this wall?”

“YES I AM.”

“Why’d you do that?!”

“I NEEDED A CHANGE OF PACE.”

“A… a change of pace?” Celestia looked to Luna, confused.

“What do you mean by that?!” Luna cheerfully called up.

“I USED TO LIVE IN A LARGE SEA KNOWN AS THE AGE, HAVE YOU HEARD OF IT?”

“No…” Celestia said.

“WELL I DIDN’T GET MANY VISITORS THERE. MY SEA SERPENT FRIENDS DIDN’T STOP BY VERY OFTEN AND… WELL.” Basil ducked his head down to our level, looking between us. “HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TALKING TO A LIVING WHIRLPOOL?”

“No again!” Luna giggled.

“THEY ARE NOT THE TYPE FOR SMALL TALK.” His hoof rose out of the water, twirling slowly in a large circle. “I THOUGHT I WOULD JUST MOVE AWAY. SEE THE SIGHTS. SO I BUILT THIS LAKE. BUT SO FAR, NO ONE HAS VISITED ME. NOBODY BUT SOME UNTALKITIVE SNAPPING TURTLES.”

Celestia edged a few more feet from the shore. “I see… how unfortunate.”

“So this is like your house?” I asked from my position on the wall. Basil nodded slowly, chin making a slapping sound when it hit the water.

“YES, THIS IS MY NEW HOME.”

I looked to Celestia, who jerked her head sideways slightly, staring back at me. Luna looked up at her sister, then began nodding cheerfully. Well this was an unhelpful exchange. What are we even trying to not talk about?

“Well, um.” I turned to Basil. “I like what you’ve done with the, uh, trees.”

“THANK YOU, LITTLE DRAKAN-QWIS.”

“But Basil!” I was firm again in my standing, clear in my direction! “When you blocked off the river, you cut off a major water supply downstream for a lot of ponies!”

Basil blinked. “I HAVE?”

“Yes! So you can’t just—“

“I HAVE NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS?!” Basil whinnied, rearing up out of the water, voice booming once more. Waves rushed to the shore, over the dam. I dropped to all fours and gripped to the log in an effort to remain where I was. “WONDERFUL! ARE THEY COMING TO VIST?!”

“No, they’re not!” I shouted, righting myself, “Basil, you’ve caused a drought and it’s made them very agitated!”

“SO…” It was difficult to tell, but as Basil sunk back into the lake, I could have sworn he looked crestfallen. “THEY ARE NOT FRIENDLY?”

“Not until you return their water, no!”

“Doesn’t that mean Basil has to move, though?” Luna asked, propping herself up on the dam by her forehooves, directing her question at me. “He just wanted to get out and meet new friends… We can’t just tell him to leave…” Celestia yanked her back.

“Well he can’t stay,” she exclaimed. “The earth ponies were using the water first!”

“THE RIVER WILL HAVE TO BE RELEASED EVENTUALLY, EITHER WAY,” Basil thundered. Then, supposedly to himself, “DO THEY NOT UNDERSTAND HOW A DAM WORKS?”

I chuckled and shrugged up at him, “We’re just a bunch of city kids. I’m surprised we even knew what trees were.”

“I CAN EXPLAIN THOSE!”

“Eh, maybe later.”

“Basil!” Celestia yelled.

The lake monster’s head swiveled slowly around to the shore.

“YES, CELESTIA PONY?”

“Can you return the river?” she demanded.

“I CAN.”

There was a moment of silence that was never meant to be. Celestia stared expectantly up at Basil, Basil looked confused down at Celestia, Luna flipped her head between the two and I just sat and watched, waiting for the inevitable.

“Well…” Celestia finally asked, her voice a cough, “Go ahead then?”

Another silence began. Basil carefully raised a hoof to his chin, as if this was something he had to think about.

“MAYBE I WANT TO GET TO KNOW MY NEIGHBORS FIRST,” he boomed. Celestia groaned, bringing her own muddy hoof to her face.

“But you said that you’d give up the water eventually anyway!” she cried.

“Are you going to hold the river hostage for company, Basil?” I demanded, springing to my feet. Basil spun on me, as quickly as he could. “Is that what you want to do?”

“… MAYBE.”

“How cruel!” I shouted, “Is that what a good neighbor would do?! Is that what a good friend would do?” Basil lowered his snout, moping. “It was an honest mistake to block off the river! But to hold onto it after you’ve realized what you’d done wrong? Do you want to be friends with the ponies or not?!” I swear, he was pouting right then. Either that or he was going to vomit on us.

“BUT WHAT IF I GIVE THEM BACK THEIR RIVER AND THEY STILL DON’T VISIT?”

“Don’t worry, Basil!” I shouted, grin returning, “The Adventure Trio would never let the towns do something like that! We’ll make certain that, in return for the water, they come visit you!”

Basil stared down at me once more. Slowly, he backed into the water and flipped around, popping up close to the middle of the dam. I scurried off the dam as he slammed a massive hoof into it. With an echo like a bang, a boulder tumbled off the top of the wall, slamming into the river bed below, crashing and crushing several trees. Water followed it in a jet, gushing from the hole. In an instant, a clear and crystal waterfall was formed, splattering and smacking down to the riverbed, washing downriver in a continuous wave. Luna began cheering, and I followed suit. Celestia dropped to the ground, relieved.

“MY HOUSE WAS BIG ENOUGH ANYWAY.”

It was day once more. Basil was flopped over the edge of his wall, waving us goodbye as we began our trek back downriver. A formal letter of exchange was carefully wrapped and packed in Celestia’s waterlogged saddlebag.

“Did Basil really have to talk with us all night?” Celestia yawned, rubbing her eyes, “We didn’t even have much to say…”

“Oh, admit it,” Luna cheerfully replied, “Basil’s a nice pony!”

“Also, that seaweed salad of his was really tasty!” I added. I was following the pair on the ground today, watching the clear water as it flowed naturally in its banks.

“I didn’t like the texture… too slimy.” Celestia yawned again

“Anyway!” I bounced forward, pumping my fist in the air and striking what I believed to be a very action-y pose. “Our first mission as the Adventure Trio was a complete success! Right guys?!”

“Heck yeah it was!” Luna squealed, posing with me, one hoof raised. “Everything got sorted out and nobody was hurt! Victory for the Adventure Trio!”

Celestia sighed, ambling slowly past us.

“I will admit,” she carefully started, “That turned out spectacularly, considering what I thought would happen.” She smiled back at us. “I’m sorry for doubting you both about this adventure thing. But if we keep doing this… Can we call ourselves something other than the Adventure Trio?” She laughed nervously, “It just sounds so silly!”

I laughed and gave Celestia a one-armed hug. “Well, somebody’s finally coming around!”

She smirked. “Oh hush, you—“

Luna gasped, and we both turned to see her turning in place, staring at her saddlebag. One side had begun to glow.

“Omigosh! I’m so sorry! I don’t know how I set it off!” Luna squeaked, trying to buck her bag off. “I didn’t touch it, I swear!”

“I-isn’t that the side with the evil butterfly rock?” Celestia stammered.

“So…” I stared at Luna as her bag finally tumbled off. She ducked behind Celestia. “We just gonna let it sit there?”

“I suggest we—“ She sighed as I proudly sauntered toward the glowing bag of doom. “Just be careful, alright?”

I walked around the bag, as if I was surveying it. Gently, at arm’s length, I unbuckled the radiant sack and flipped it open.

A silver orb appeared briefly, hovering in front of my eyes before shooting directly at my face. I recoiled as it burst apart, vanishing. Eyes clamped down from the glare, something settled around my neck. Heavy, but comfortable. Blinking the light away, I looked down. A golden ring was spun above my shoulders, an silver gemstone set in the center, resting over my heart.

“Discord? Are you okay?” Celestia asked as she slowly approached me.

“Y-yeah, I think so…”

“Okay…” She stared at my chest. “What the heck is that?”

“A… necklace?”