CHAPTER SEVEN

The two impossible mares trekked onwards, leaving the lights of Ponyville behind and the vast, dark unknown ahead. Canterlot Mountain jutted into the distant sky, the moon reflecting off the lake at its bottom, creating a beautiful beacon of silver light on the ground. As they walked, Twilight filled Fluttershy in on what Celestia had told her; how they were alive, how Luna was (sort of) present in this Equestria, and what they needed to do to defeat Nightmare Twilight. Fluttershy listened eagerly, occasionally asking questions but mostly remaining silent.

"...So, we're going to look for the Amulet of Alicorns first?" She asked, pointing towards the body of water in the distance.

"Alicorn Amulet." Twilight corrected. "And yeah. I think it'll be the easiest to find, and each artifact we destroy will make Nightmare Twilight weaker and weaker. When they're all gone, she'll be gone too."

"Good." Fluttershy said smugly, turning around to face Ponyville, which had long since disappeared over the horizon. "Because...what happened there..."

"That was sick." Twilight agreed. "That probably won't be the only thing she'll change, either."

"You...you think...my friends..."

Twilight stopped walking and turned to look at Fluttershy, staring the mare straight in the eyes, wearing a sombre expression.

"I guarantee it. I'm sorry, Fluttershy."

"But why? Why is she doing this? What did we ever do to her?"

"She doesn't care about that. All she cares about is making a timeline where it is absolutely impossible for the Mirror Pool to close. A timeline where Nightmare Moon is never defeated, where the Elements of Harmony are never reunited, and where the sun never shines again."

Silence fell between the two mares again, neither pony speaking for the duration of the walk. Cautiously, Twilight decided to bring up a question she had been dying to ask but had deemed too sensitive and irrelevant. Now, though, since they were simply walking and had plenty of time to talk, Twilight decided it was time.

"Do you have anypony waiting for you at home, Fluttershy?"

"Of course..."  Fluttershy mumbled. "There's Rarity, and Applejack--"

"I don't mean them. I mean...somepony closer."

"Yes." Fluttershy said, her voice still a barely audible whisper. "A filly."

"WHAT?" Twilight cried. "You have a coltfriend?"

"I didn't say that..." Fluttershy had stopped walking, and was blinking away tears forming in her blue eyes. "There were plenty of foals and fillies who lost their parents during...Nightmare Moon."

"You adopted....that is so sweet of you. What is her name?"

"Summer Sun. I named her after something I read in a book about Celestia. Apparently there used to be a whole SEASON devoted to sunshine! It's only been...I think a month, since I adopted her." Twilight could see from the way Fluttershy spoke of the solar princess that she greatly wanted to meet her...in person, not in the artificial sensation of a dream. "I...I left her at home...Luna told me she would be safe..."

"She will be. We're going to fix all of this."

"Twi..." Fluttershy asked, wiping her watering eyes dry. "How did you know I had somepony special? I...I didn't tell you..."

"You didn't have to. It isn't hard to see that you have something you're fighting for. But...why keep it a secret from me?"

"Ever since I've seen you, I feel like all I've done is plead and order you around. I...I've been selfish enough as it is."

"Are you kidding me?!" Twilight exclaimed. "Fluttershy, if it weren't for your quick thinking, we would have both died with the rest of Equestria! Stop degrading yourself like this!"

"I'm sorry..." Fluttershy said. "She...Summer Sun...she was so sweet...I wish you could have met her."

"Listen to me." Twilight clutched Fluttershy's shoulders, looking the mare straight in the eyes. "We're going to fix everything here. Every bad thing Nightmare Twilight did, we're going to fix it. I promise."

In a half hour's time, Twilight and Fluttershy were peering into the dark water, both weighing the costs of descending the terrifying depths. Canterlot Mountain jutted out, so close and yet so divided from them by the cold water. The mountain was bare, where there should have been a city, although the waterfalls were still present. If Twilight listened carefully, she could hear the steady rhythm of the water pounding onto the lake's surface. The moonlight shone on, bright beams uninterrupted by clouds, instead striking the falling water and casting a dim rainbow across the night sky.

"Oh my..." Fluttershy said, her eyes wide in amazement, pointing at the lunar rainbow.

"It's beautiful!" Twilight gasped, unclipping her saddle-pack and allowing it to fall onto the ground, and using her magic to remove her crown and set it down next to the pack. Fluttershy followed suit, removing her own saddle-pack and necklace and placing them in a neat pile next to Twilight's.

"I'm really hoping you learned to swim since our last time here..." Twilight began, dunking her forehoof into the nearly frozen water.

"Oh, of course!" Fluttershy replied. "I'm not the best swimmer, but I'm not terrible either."

Canterlot Lake was a huge body of unnaturally dark water, which stretched well onto where there should have been earth. The lake was incredibly deep, which seemed quite impossible considering how only its width had increased. Nightmare Moon must have created the lake artificially to contain all the water, since there was no sun to evaporate the majority of it, although centuries of erosion had since given the lake a quite natural look.

Waves crashed gently onto the dirt shore, the lake in a perpetual state of high tides. Twilight had seen the waves much bigger than what they were now...in fact, she had seen them as roaring torrents easily capable of drowning a pony...but that was a different story altogether.

"So you can swim then." Twilight exhaled heavily. "That brings us to the more...concerning of problems."

Fluttershy cocked an eyebrow. "But...you said you had a spell for underwater breathing..."

"Yeah. That's not the problem I meant. I was referring to the immense, pony-devouring underwater spider with the creepy red eyes."

"OH!" Fluttershy screamed excitedly. "You mean the Eastern Equestrian Aquatic Plecoptera!"

"Uhh...I guess so..."  To Twilight's surprise, Fluttershy did not look in the slightest bit frightened...in fact, she looked almost pleased. "I have the feeling we aren't thinking of the same insect."

"The Eastern Aquatic Plecoptera is the third largest insect in all of Equestria!" Fluttershy proclaimed as she grabbed her saddle-pack, bringing the burlap bag closer to her and withdrawing a small journal. The book was bound shut with twine, and was charred significantly. The scent of smoke hung heavy in the air as Fluttershy flipped through the pages urgently. "It's an incredibly fascinating creature! I'm pretty sure I have an entry for it in here."

Twilight crouched down, trying to get a glimpse at the cover of the book. The title was partially obscured by dirt, and much of the left corner had been lost to fire, but the title of the book was still eligible.

"An Illustrated Guide to Hazardous Equestrian Wildlife." Twilight read out loud, her eyes scanning the book and eventually locating the author, signed neatly near the bottom. "By...Professor Fluttershy?!"

Fluttershy instinctively tensed, slamming the book hard against the earth, concealing the title.

"I...I thought bestiary sounded too harsh..." Fluttershy blurted, blushing madly and doing her best to conceal the books contents.

"But..but...Professor?!" Twilight exclaimed, her voice a mixture of confusion and happiness. "That's amazing, Fluttershy!"

"It's complicated." Fluttershy said. "When everypony was liberated from Nightmare Moon and started expanding across Equestria, pretty much the day you left, they started encountering all kinds of intimidating animals. Most ponies thought animals like that should be banished from Equestria...or worse...so I went out to..."

Eventually, Twilight's curiosity got the best of her, and she instinctively pulled the book from Fluttershy's grasp and towards her. Initally, Fluttershy looked surprised, but made no actual move to stop her from looking through it.

"You documented all these animals?!" Twilight gasped in amazement. The book was covered in painstakingly drawn images of Equestrian beasts, their ferocious maws growling at her from beyond the graphite they were rendered in. On the opposite page of each illustration was a handwritten description of each animal, their diets, mating cycles, nocturnality or diurnality listed alongside brief but beautifully transcribed paragraphs about them.

"Fluttershy, this is unbelievable!"

"Most ponies said that when I first showed them it. Princess Luna herself named it the official...." Fluttershy cringed slightly. "...bestiary of Equestria, and had copies of it made and sent to schools all across Equestria. I'm not even finished writing it yet!" Fluttershy complained, staring at her hooves. Twilight simply looked on in shock; of all the books she had seen in her life (and she had seen no shortage of them) Fluttershy's bestiary was by far one of the most beautifully illustrated and intricately written...and yet the author herself remained completely humble to the literary marvel she had composed out of kindness alone. Strangely, this alternate version of her friend, whose profession was that of a zoologist and not an animal caretaker, seemed even more fitting to her love for so many different species of animals that any other pony would be terrified of.

Oddly enough, the bestiary was not alphabetically listed, but Twilight reasoned that this must have been because Fluttershy had documented all these animals as she had seen them, exploring Equestria with no specific goal in mind. Only about fifty animals were listed, most in the immediate area of Ponyville, Canterlot, and the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy most likely had not had enough time to cover anything more in her mere five months of freedom, and she certainly must have halted her travels when she decided to start a family, incidentally beginning one of the first families in the New Equestria.

Eventually Twilight handed the journal back to Fluttershy, the book open on an entry about manticores. Fluttershy idly flipped the pages, still looking for her entry on the lake monster, although it was quite evident when she spoke again that she did not need it.

"The Eastern Aquatic Plecoptera is an incredibly fascinating creature. It's one of the few animals in the world to both constrict and use venom to subdue its prey. In fact, its venom is potent enough to paralyze a medium size dragon!" Fluttershy recounted with textbook like efficiency. Noticing Twilight's horrified expression, Fluttershy laughed and pushed the book towards Twilight, the graphite rendition of the horrible insect all too familiar to Twilight. "Don't worry, it's really quite harmless to ponies. It preys on much bigger things. Although it is incredibly territorial. That's probably why it attacked us last time."

"Well, unfortunately for us, we're going to have to invade its territory. What do you think we should do?"

"Umm..." Fluttershy consulted her journal entry for the first time, pulling the book back towards her and scanning the page. "Ah yes! Well, it is almost completely blind. In fact, it can only see the color red. That's why its eyes cast red light all around it...that way, it can see what's around it."

"So its nocturnal, I assume?"

"Yeah. So, if we could simulate daylight..."

"We could." Twilight pondered. Light magic was incredibly easy, even creating lights bright enough to light the entirety of a lake. "But I don't think that would be a very good idea. Nightmare Twilight would definitely know something is up when she sees one big patch of daylight in the middle of her beloved eternal night."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Fluttershy tapped her hoof thoughtfully against the dirt. Suddenly, she leaped to her feet, sending the journal flying. Twilight caught it with her magic seconds before it plunged into the water, setting it back down on the ground carefully. "I'VE GOT IT!"

"What?!" Twilight nearly screamed in reply, instinctively rising as well.

"Well, like I said, the Plecoptera isn't that intimidating to ponies. I could keep him distracted while you search his cave for the Alicorn Amulet."

"And why would it be there?"

"That's the best part! Like I said, the Plecoptera can only see red. Reflective objects would be incredibly fascinating to it, since they would be almost completely red to it. If it's anywhere, I guarantee the Plecoptera has it in its nest. They are very curious."  

Twilight resisted the urge to point out that this was an insect they were talking about...the very idea of insects being curious, or territorial for that matter, seemed utterly ridiculous. Furthermore, from what she had seen, there was no way Fluttershy could simply distract that monster without being attacked herself. And unlike Twilight, Fluttershy had no way of teleporting out of danger should it come. Then again, from what the contents of Fluttershy's Bestiary suggested, she had been in situations with dangerous creatures before and yet seemed to have no negative experiences...her compassion towards animals was almost supernatural.

"If you're OK with getting close to that mons--uhh, Pleecopter, then sure..." Twilight desperately wanted to point out that the best solution would be to just exterminate the insect, but there was absolutely no way in Equestria Fluttershy would ever let that happen, even if every thing they changed in this alternate timeline would be erased assuming they were successful.

"Oh of course!" Fluttershy said gleefully, already pacing along the shore, looking into the dark water excitedly. "Although we still have the problem of breathing...and light..."

"Already on it." With two quick bursts of magic, two bright spheres of green light exploded from Twilight's horn, flapping around the two ponies on silvery butterfly wings. Fluttershy stared at them with wide eyes, a large grin on her face.

"They're beautiful! Are...are they alive?"

"No, they're just lanterns. One should follow me and the other should follow you, even underwater."

"Oh..." Fluttershy said, sounding quite disappointed. "How long will they last?"

"That is the best part!" Twilight replied, once again casting magic, although this time the result was completely invisible. "I just cast an underwater breathing spell on both of us. It should last exactly ten minutes...when we have five minutes of air left, the lights will turn yellow. When we have two minutes, they'll turn red. When you're down to the last thirty seconds, they'll start blinking, and they'll go out when you're completely dry. Although the water around you will instantly pressurize as soon as your air sphere is deflated, so I don't recommend going too deep if you're running low."

"Why?" Fluttershy asked, peering into the depths worriedly.

"Uhh...well, it's not exactly pleasant. Just believe me, you don't want it to happen."  

Twilight was in no mood to explain the concept of 'the bends' to Fluttershy, and she could guarantee there were no decompression chambers in this dystopian world anyway.  

Above them, the moon slipped behind the growing clouds above, but the lanterns lit the area quite well, so that two large circles of green light stretched onto the shore behind them and diffracted into the water ahead. With the time on her breathing spell slowly ticking down, Twilight wasted no time in stepping into the freezing water, instantly feeling her muscles tense up as she slowly walked deeper and deeper. Fluttershy, on the other hand, flew above the water and high into the sky, before folding her wings inwards and allowing the force of gravity to pull her headfirst through the lake's surface. Twilight dunked her head under, watching Fluttershy's green light slowly descend into the dark water depths. To her surprise, Fluttershy was churning the water with her bat wings, making her travel much quicker than Twilight's own wild dog paddles.

As Twilight dove deeper and deeper, she saw no signs of any life under the waves. The only thing other than herself was Fluttershy's distant green light bobbing around as the pegasus searched for the hideous lake monster. Occasionally the moon would poke through the clouds, but the sand slowly diluting the water obscured the majority of its light. Just as she was beginning to wonder how deep the lake could possibly be, the hard rock surface of the bottom of the lake jutted out suddenly, nearly blinding her as the green light was reflected straight back into her face. The sky and surface of the lake was completely lost to the billowing sand above, the underwater lantern now the only source of light. Even Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen, but Twilight could have sworn she saw two bright red lights close together and moving quickly to where she had last seen her friend.

She has it under control. Twilight reassured herself internally, easily concluding what the two red lights were. She's dealt with that beast before.

The rocky lake bottom occasionally and suddenly broke into large sections of sand, or thick forests of kelp, which Twilight did her best to avoid. Judging from where she had seen the monster ascending, its cave should be close by...she just hoped it wouldn't be too deep to swim to the bottom of.

Finally, the gaping mouth of the monster's cave revealed itself through the sand just as the lantern flickered slightly and turned yellow.

Five minutes remained.

"Hello..." Fluttershy said softly, shocked that her own voice was so clear underwater. "I'm not here to hurt you, I promise."

With a wave of her hoof, the fluttering yellow-light dimmed until it was a barely visible speck, and with it gone, the red light of the lake monster's flashbulb eyes fell over the treading pegasus. Slowly, cautiously, the monster swum towards her, its beady eyes popping out of its enormous head. The lake monster was huge, easily dwarfing Fluttershy, coming closer to the size of a small house. Thousands of fabric like tentacles wavered under the water, and its sharp earwig-like pincers clicked in and out curiously as it regarded the odd creature in front of it.

Fluttershy did her best to not be frightened as the creature extended some of its tentacles, wrapping them around her and bringing her closer to him. She knew very well that if the monster wanted to, it could tighten its grip and cut off her air, but at the moment it seemed content with simply examining her. Reluctantly, Fluttershy allowed herself to be drawn closer to the insect.

"I'm not food..." Fluttershy whispered nervously, as the insect continued to click its pincers open and closed, as if it were listening to her by feeling the vibrations of the water. She simply must add that to her entry. "You can understand me, right? Most animals can..."

Fluttershy squirmed slightly in the monsters grasp, trying to move her head to see if Twilight was nearby, in case something went wrong. But Twilight was no where to be seen. Upon detecting its potential prey moving, the monster tightened its grip and with a blink of its bulging eyes flooded the surrounding area with a brighter red light.

"Please let me go." Fluttershy ordered it gently, unsurprisingly receiving no response. "Ahem! I said...let me go, please!" Fluttershy commanded it firmly. "My friend and I are not going to hurt you and I expect you to do the same!"

Slowly, reluctantly, the lake monster loosened its grip on the pegasus, retracting its tentacles and allowing them to float idly above it, swirling like the long reeds far below them.

"Thank you." Fluttershy said, approaching the insect at her own free-will. Its eyes widened as it saw her approaching, tensing slightly. Somehow this creature felt intimidated by something a fraction of its size. Fluttershy would have found it incredibly strange, but then again, she had seen ponies rear away from tiny spiders in fright....and they called her the coward.

Suddenly, the Plecoptera's eyes grew wide and it let out a great roar, the sound distorted by the water. Fluttershy thrashed through the water in fright, trying to determine just what it was that had disturbed the creature.

Beside Fluttershy, a tiny pinprick of red light danced and fluttered around her, signalling the final two minutes of air. Hastily, Fluttershy beat the light back with her hoof, causing it to flicker and die out completely. Almost immediately after the light had disappeared, the insect calmed down, although it was significantly edgier, letting out another roar as Fluttershy moved to comfort it.

"Hurry up, Twilight..." Fluttershy said to herself, nervously glancing at the dark water below her. Another red light, probably Twilight's, was wavering in and out of view through the billowing sand the insect had upset. Fluttershy whispered a quiet prayer to Celestia that the Plecoptera wouldn't notice it, silently cursing Twilight for picking red of all colors. Fortunately, the insect was more focused on her...although when it began clicking its pincers maliciously and advancing towards her, she decided 'fortunately' was perhaps the wrong word.

"No!" Fluttershy commanded, but her words were ignored by the approaching insect. She had no choice but to flee, leaving the blinking red light that was Twilight Sparkle behind, and instead thrashing at the water with her wings and hooves. Overhead, the moonlight was a beacon distorted by the growing waves. Beneath her the Plecoptera was roaring furiously, pursuing its escaping prey at great speeds.

Breaking through the water and soaring into the cold night air, Fluttershy simply continued beating her wings, this time without any resistance. The insect leaped into the air after her, but she was already much too far into the sky. Twice more he surfaced, still determined to have his prey. On the third jump, the insect flung out its tentacles, wrapping them around the pegasi's legs.

Fluttershy did not even have time to scream as she was pulled back through the water, quickly realizing she could no longer breathe.

"Help!" She screamed, her words coming out as garbled gibberish. Even if she could still speak underwater, Twilight had either surfaced or drowned, and nopony was around to hear her pleas. Even her natural talent for soothing animals would be impossible without the ability to successfully communicate her desires.  

Miraculously, the insect had decided not to drag his prey into the darkling depths, although he did coil his tentacles around her more as she thrashed and kicked madly.

This is it... Fluttershy thought. At least Twilight is alright...she can do this alone.

The monster below her was watching her through unblinking eyes, waiting patiently for the pony at the end of its grasp to go limp, its mouth open in anticipation. She had never been so terrified of anything as much as she was terrified of what would be happening to her in mere seconds. Squeezing her eyes shut, Fluttershy did her best to think of all the ponies she loved who would be waiting for her on the other side, doing her best to not wallow selfishly in her own demise.

A bright flash suddenly jerked her eyes open again, and before she even knew what had happened, Fluttershy was back on the grassy shore, Twilight crying and screaming frantically.

"I'm so sorry, Fluttershy! That was too close!"

Fluttershy managed to stand up, before immediately falling back onto the ground, coughing and sputtering.

"You're alright!" Twilight gasped, at her side in an instant. "Oh, Fluttershy...that was so stupid of me!"

"The...the Amulet..." Fluttershy panted. "Did..."

Twilight quickly grabbed the golden red necklace, placing it on the ground in front of Fluttershy. The Alicorn Amulet glowed lightly, its red light casting a perforated sphere of magic around the two huddling mares.

"One down..." Twilight whispered, cautiously lifting the amulet and placing it inside her saddlepack, which laid some distance away. "Two more to go."

Fluttershy's reply was very suddenly interrupted as a loud explosion rung out through the night, followed by the sound of a huge mass splashing through the surface of the lake. Twilight and Fluttershy whipped around, and looked on in horror as Canterlot Mountain crumpled and was lost in the depths of the lake, rocks and straggly trees all slapping against the water and promptly sinking swiftly.

"NO!" Fluttershy screamed, remembering all the ponies who had set up their refuge within the Canterlot Cavern, now trapped inside a drowning mountain.

Twilight, on the other hand, reacted immediately and cast her invisibility spell which had fortunately had enough time to recharge since last time. Fluttershy looked at herself as her body disappeared, crying out in confusion.

"Shh!" Twilight whispered. "Nightmare Twilight is close..."

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