“Owch!” Twilight Sparkle yelled in pain as a book fell on top of her from above. She had been reaching for a high up book and didn’t want to be bothered with using her magic. As she rubbed her head to feel the newly forming bruise, she immediately regretted her lazy decision.

“You alright over there darling?” Rarity looked up from the book she was reading and spoke up from across the room. She looked with mild concern to the unicorn that was sprawled out across the floor from where she had fallen back.

Twilight stopped caressing her tender head for a moment to return a reassuring expression to her friend.

“Yeah… oww… I’m good.” The purple mare exclaimed while getting up and brushing herself off. She then picked up the book from the floor and walked back over to her table.

Twilight let out a heavy sigh as she skimmed through the book to ascertain its contents. She and the others had been through a veritable pile of books in their search for information, all of which had turned out to be useless.

“This is taking longer than I expected… have any of you guys found anything useful?” Twilight looked up to her friends scattered around the room. She hoped that they were having better luck than she was.

“Nope! Nothing over here!” Pinkie Pie announced enthusiastically as she poked her head out from behind a row of shelves.

“Nothing but a few indexes on spells here.” Tom looked up from the book he was reading and gave a short glance over in the direction of the others.

“Sorry Twilight, nothing of note over here.” Rarity huffed in frustration as she reported on her lack of discovery.

“Nothing here as well I’m afraid.” Fluttershy droned softly as she continued reading over the few books she had opened on the table next to her.

Upon hearing the demoralization of her band of fellow researchers, Twilight sighed heavily before glaring down at the book in front of her. She then planted her head down onto the table in frustration, letting out a loud thud as her hair flopped around from the impact.

She closed her eyes and huffed in defeat. She felt like staying in this position and falling asleep, but decided against it and instead gave herself a break. Lack of progress was starting to get to her. She needed a moment to relax and recompose herself.

Suddenly, Twilight was disturbed by a strange whirring sound. She opened her eyes to look around and noticed that the lights were flickering. Everyone in the room dropped what they were doing and watched in confusion as the lights steadily started blinking on and off. The lights gave a dragged out fizz as they flashed off one final time, encasing the room in darkness. The ponies looked around uneasily as they tried to find their way around in the blackness.

“W-w-what was that?” Fluttershy squeaked nervously as she darted her eyes through the dark room.

“I think the power must have gone out.” Twilight reasoned in order to calm the nervous pegasus’s fears. “Tom, can you open up that window over there?” The unicorn asked as she observed faint rays of light streaming in through the closed blinds on the wall.

Tom felt his way around in the dark as he cautiously approached the windows. He then gripped ahold of the pole dangling from the side of the window and spun it to open up the blinds. Sunlight immediately streamed in, making the room at least navigable amid the shadows.

“What the…?” Tom recoiled in surprise as he felt water running onto his hand from the pole. He looked to the window and stared in bewilderment as he saw water streaming from the frame of the window down onto the pole and window sill.

Twilight and the others shared in his surprise and confusion as they looked over to the window. They then noticed water running down the walls in small lines at various spots at the top of each wall.

“Water…? I didn’t think that there were any pipes around here.” Twilight observed in confusion as she put her hoof onto a wet spot on the wall to feel and see if it was in fact real.

“Pipes wouldn’t explain water coming in from above the window would they?” The human retorted quizzically as he looked around to the steadily dampening walls. Suddenly his senses went off, causing a puff of blue mist to eject itself from his mouth. He looked around while trying to process the feeling he was getting.

“Odd, I’m sensing a lot of ambient energy throughout the school.” Tom explained while not really expecting a thoughtful reply.

“What does that mean Tom?” Fluttershy asked nervously while inching closer to the group to feel safer.

“Well, it might explain all the water. If enough energy is used with the right purpose, anything can happen to change a location. From simple things like making water run down the walls, or more complex things like changing the layout and size of rooms within a building.” Tom explained slowly while facing the group. The human’s explanation made the ponies even more nervous than they were before.

“We should go see what’s going on.” Twilight suggested while heading toward the door. The others followed her cautiously as she opened up the double doors and stepped into the hallway.

The school looked entirely different from when they had gotten there. Not just because of the newfound lack of artificial light, but also due to a wholly different atmosphere. The air seemed much cooler and damp; almost as if they were out on a lake, which didn’t seem like too far a stretch for comparisons as the walls and floor of the school were completely darkened from excessive dampening.

Streams of water fell down steadily across the walls and ceiling as far as the eye could see, and puddles of water seemed to sit on the floor, or more precisely, in the floor. The puddles seemed to be placed inside holes in the floor, setting them flush against the sides of the floorboards as if the floor in those areas had been transformed into an indeterminably deep puddle.

The ponies gasped in shock as they surveyed their surroundings. They looked horrified at the strange and sudden transformation of the once humble school. Tom surveyed the area curiously as he made note of what transformations had been made.

“Wh…wha…w-what in the name of Celestia happened here?” Twilight stuttered in bewilderment and shock as she moved out of the way from a dripping stream of water coming down from the ceiling.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Stuff like this usually doesn’t happen by itself. There is normally some kind of monster that goes along with it.” Tom remarked warily as he eyed the rather large puddle of water that blocked off the entirety of one fork in the hallway.

“Oh my goodness, what about the kids?!” Rarity exclaimed in surprise as she thought about Ms. Cheerilee and her class of children. Her face paled even further when she thought about Sweetie Belle and the other crusaders.

Twilight and the others widened their eyes as they too thought about the other ponies that must have been in the school.

“You’re right… We need to find them and get them out of here. Who knows what kind of danger they’re in?” The purple mare suggested in a serious tone of voice.

“But how do we find them? This place is so big.” Rarity said in a concerned tone while glancing around at her surroundings. Even on a normal day, there were a lot of places to look in the building. And if what Tom suggested was true, the school could have gotten bigger when it changed into the misty wetland that it is now.

“Maybe we should split up? We could cover more ground that way.” Twilight suggested. Their efforts would be better used if they could search multiple places at once.

Tom frowned in concern as he thought about the idea. He didn’t know anything about the situation before him; so he didn’t want to let the ponies out of his sight for a minute, let alone letting them wander around a supernaturally flooded school by themselves.

“I... I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” The human stated hesitantly as he had to consciously adjust his expression from one of nervous concern to a more stoic look.

“What? Why…? We would be able to accomplish more if we spread out.” Twilight pleaded for the human to see the merit in her reasoning.

“I’m… just not comfortable with leaving you alone.” Tom trailed his eyes off to avoid looking any of the ponies in the face. The others smiled a bit from hearing the concern the slayer had for them. Twilight nudged him and smiled confidently when he turned to face her.

“Hey… We’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about us. We wouldn’t let anything happen to each other, right girls?” The purple mare looked behind her for support from the others. They smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, we stick together! Nobody is going to hurt my friends on my watch!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed eagerly while putting an arm around Rarity and Fluttershy.

Tom sighed uncomfortably as he mulled over the issue in his head. He finally shrugged and looked to the group of ponies in defeat.

“Alright, alright… if you guys are so adamant about it, I guess we could split up… It’s not that I don’t agree with you about the benefits, I just… *Sigh* Just be careful out there girls. We don’t know what we could be dealing with, and I don’t want to see anybody get hurt. Am I understood?” Tom spoke up near the end to make himself clear.

The ponies all nodded with serious yet confident faces on. Twilight then went into planning mode and took ahold of the situation.

“Alright… Rarity, you take Pinkie Pie and go look for Sweetie Belle and the other crusaders.” Twilight instructed to the two ponies. Rarity nodded while Pinkie gave a stoic salute.

“Fluttershy, you come with me to find Cheerilee and the other kids.” Twilight asked while looking at the yellow mare with a serious expression. The pegasus fought through her nerves and became more confident as she thought about how frightened the others could be. She gave the unicorn a silent nod and stood by her side to wait.

Tom interrupted the unicorn before she could suggest something for him to do. He had his own method of finding out what was going on in situations like this, so he wanted to take his own direction.

“And I will try to get to the bottom of this.” The human stated in a serious tone. Twilight nodded to him before turning to face her troop of ponies.

“Okay girls... just remember, we are the elements of harmony. Others should look to us for confidence in times of need. So let’s get out there and help some ponies… Just be careful and stick together, we don’t know what we’re dealing with here.” Twilight spoke seriously to her friends and tried her best to prepare them for their assigned duties.

The group gave each other one last nod of confidence before going their separate ways. Tom took a running start and jumped over the patch of water that was blocking one of the hallways, Rarity and Pinkie went down the left hallway from the fork and started to look for the crusaders, While Twilight and Fluttershy made their way down the hallway to their rear as they set about to find the other children and any other ponies who needed help.

The soaked floorboards squeaked underneath Twilight’s hooves as she made her way through the water damaged halls. Even in places where there were not any spontaneous spouts of water coming from the walls, the wallpaper shriveled and wrinkled as it was soaked through completely. The two ponies walked slowly and cautiously as they nervously pressed forward.

They scanned each classroom they passed carefully for any signs of life. Many of the rooms seemed flooded as the chairs and desks slanted into the puddles that had opened up in the floor. Some of the rooms were completely submerged, leaving only the chalk board and supplies hung on the walls above the floor of water.

“It’s so cold in here… It wasn’t exactly toasty before, but now…” Fluttershy spoke up from behind Twilight to calm her nerves and have some sort of conversation. Twilight could tell that the eerie atmosphere was making the shy pegasus very uncomfortable.

“I know… I wonder what could be causing this.” The unicorn replied back to her friend softly.

The two walked for a while in silence before coming to the end of the hallway, forcing them to make a choice. They turned to the left and looked up in surprise as they noticed the sight of the entrance to the school.

“Hey look… the door! At least now we have a way out.” Twilight exclaimed cheerfully while stepping forward. Fluttershy gasped in surprise and grabbed the unicorn to pull her back. The force of the sudden pull made Twilight fall on her back and grunt in pain.

“Ugh… hey, what gives?” Twilight looked to the pegasus for an explanation. Fluttershy only pointed with her hoof in front of them in response.

“Look!” The yellow mare exclaimed in shock as she pointed ahead. Twilight followed her outstretched arm to see what the problem was. She suddenly widened her eyes and dropped her jaw in shock.

Sitting in front of the two ponies was a rather large stretch of water that went from where they were standing all the way to the door.

“Wow… Thanks Fluttershy.” Twilight looked to her friend and offered her gratitude. The two then got up and walked over to the edge of the body of water.

Twilight laid down at the edge of the water and stuck her hoof in to test its depth. The water was practically freezing cold, making the unicorn jump slightly from the shock to her system. She quickly discovered that her entire arm fit into the murky trench, and she still could not feel the bottom. She couldn’t even feel the side of the floorboards. It was like there was a space just underneath them that had an infinite stretch of water filling it.

“This doesn’t make any sense. I can’t reach the bottom… how is this water not falling into the basement?” The unicorn turned to her friend and asked with bewilderment evident on her face.

“I don’t know… I just hope we can find another way out of here. Who knows what could be down there?” Fluttershy stated nervously while looking down into the cloudy depths.

For some strange reason, perhaps due to Fluttershy’s comment, Twilight suddenly felt uneasy with her arm dangling into the water. It was like she was expecting something to swim up and grab her, pulling her down to a watery grave. Twilight nervously pulled her arm out of the water and got up. She shook the excess water from her arm and looked back to her friend.

“If we really had to, I suppose we could climb out through a window.” Twilight stated lightheartedly while trying to shake the jittery feeling she had from reaching into the water.

Fluttershy giggled briefly at the thought, when suddenly the two heard a scream emanating from a room down the hall. The two quickly raced down the hall and searched feverishly for the source of the noise. They skidded to a halt next to one open doorway as they noticed several colorful shapes inside.

Inside of the classroom, several desks and chairs floated precariously on the surface of a large body of water that stretched clear to the back of the room. Bobbing up and down on top of the overturned chairs, several young fillies and colts eyed around them in a fearful state. At the back of the room clinging to the teacher’s desk was Ms. Cheerilee. The purple mare noticed the two ponies at the doorway and looked to them with pleading eyes.

“Twilight, Help us! I can’t swim and I know some of these kids can’t either!” She yelled in a panic to the two as she balanced her weight across the desk as it shifted around in the water.

Twilight could see the fillies and colts as they gripped the tops of their chairs tightly. The small chairs barely kept them above the surface of the water as they floated at odd angles.

“H..help!” A young pink filly that Twilight recognized as Diamond Tiara cried out fearfully as she clung to her chair.

The sight of the urgent situation sent Twilight and Fluttershy into an adrenaline filled rush. They ran to the edge of the water and darted their heads around rapidly.

“I’ll lift a few of them over here, you pick some of them up!” Twilight exclaimed in a panic to her pegasus friend. Fluttershy put aside her lack of elegant flying skills and spread her wings. She jumped into the air and did her best to stay airborne in the small space. She slowly hovered out to one of the colts and picked him up to take him back to safety.

While the pegasus rushed to fly the children to safety, Twilight tried her best to concentrate in the tense situation. She lit her horn up and carefully lifted up Diamond Tiara, she then slowly brought her to the small section of solid ground in the room.

After the filly slid to the wall to rest her tense body, Twilight then turned to lift another kid up. The two continued rescuing the children while keeping a close eye on Ms. Cheerilee. After Fluttershy carried the last filly to safety, she turned around and prepared to go after Cheerilee. Suddenly, the desk the frightened teacher was sitting on dipped to the side, dumping the purple mare into the cold water.

Twilight and Fluttershy watched in horror as Ms. Cheerilee desperately tried to keep herself afloat. She dunked her head under the water briefly before popping back up and gasping for air. The unicorn quickly realized that she was too exhausted to lift the pony out of the water with her magic. She turned to Fluttershy and frantically made a decision.

“Keep the kids safe!” Twilight exclaimed before suddenly taking in a breath and running forward. She jumped into the cold water and splashed down next to one of the desks. By the time she resurfaced, Ms. Cheerilee had gone under the water again, only this time she did not come back up.

The unicorn swam frantically to the spot where the teacher had gone under, she then held her breath and dove under the surface. She was relieved to see that the frightened teacher had not lost consciousness as she held her breath under the surface. She reached her hoof out to Twilight as she sank into the seemingly bottomless pit.

Twilight tightly grabbed ahold of Cheerilee and pulled her close. She then kicked hard to carry them both to the surface. The two gasped for air as they burst through the threshold of water. Fluttershy had ushered the children out into the hallway and came back into the room to watch for the two. She cheered happily as she watched her friend treading water to carry the teacher to safety.

Twilight huffed in exhaustion as she approached the side of the floor. She lifted Cheerilee up to Fluttershy and pushed her along her way as the pegasus pulled on her from up top. The unicorn let out a sigh of relief as she saw Fluttershy pull the soaked pony to the wall with her.

Twilight sat still in the water for a moment to catch her breath. She floated peacefully in the water and bobbed up and down, when suddenly she felt something solid brush up against her leg. The unicorn looked behind her, thinking that one of the chairs had drifted over to her, but suddenly widened her eyes when she saw that none of the chairs were anywhere near her.

“AH!” Twilight cried out in fear and frantically scrambled to get up onto the ledge. Fluttershy saw the unicorn in a panicked distress and quickly ran over to help her out of the water. Twilight clung to Fluttershy protectively and brought her closer to the wall, she then turned to the water and inspected the surface.

The lavender pony looked anxiously to the water as it returned to a still state from her hasty exit. Much to her surprise, the water moved no further as she darted her eyes back and forth in expectation. Fluttershy looked to her terrified friend with a concerned expression.

“Twilight… What’s wrong?” The pegasus asked in a worried tone as she looked to where the nervous unicorn was staring. Twilight slowly calmed herself down as she began to think about the situation logically again. She reasoned that her imagination must have played a trick on her.

“I… I… It’s nothing, I just…” The purple mare slowed down her frantic breathing as she watched the calm water ripple gently. “I could have sworn that I felt something touch me.”

Pinkie Pie and Rarity found themselves wandering through a rather large room. The ponies had a difficult time in telling the original purpose of the room as half of the floor was opened up into a watery pit. The pair could only wonder if the room even belonged to the original school or if it just appeared with all of the water. As maddening as that thought was, there were no other logical explanations. They walked through the room and observed their surroundings curiously.

“Ugh… this damp air is absolutely horrible for my hair.” Rarity whined in frustration as she ran a hoof through her hair. The two were walking along the edge of the water leisurely as they admired their surroundings, however bleak they may have been. After all, it wasn’t every day they got to see the odd sight of a schoolhouse soaked through with supernaturally appearing water.

“Hehe, I think it feels kinda nice… kinda like we’re on a misty shoreline.” Pinkie Pie giggled innocently as she tried to turn the white unicorn’s view around.

“Well I’m sorry darling, but I don’t think that would be any more pleasant.” Rarity shrugged as she watched the chipper earth pony walk beside her. As she kept her eyes on her friend, Rarity slipped on a wet patch of floorboards and tumbled sideways into the water.

“Whoa!” The unicorn cried out in surprise as she felt her legs slip out from under her. She then flinched and shut her eyes as she went headlong into the chilly liquid. She bobbed her head up and sputtered as she blew water off of her mouth. Pinkie Pie chuckled lightly at watching the white mare’s hair floating around beside her.

As much as she wanted to be upset at the party pony, Rarity failed to ignore the humor in the situation as she let out a light chuckle herself. She tried to get up on the ledge when suddenly she felt something resisting her leg pulling up. She tugged at the trapped limb for a few moments before concluding that she was stuck.

“Pinkie, could you be a dear and help me up? I think my leg is caught on… a plant?” Rarity tilted her head curiously as she felt the organic texture of the object wrapped around her back leg.

Pinkie Pie stopped laughing and nodded as she went to assist her friend. She tugged on her a few times as hard as she could before realizing she was getting nowhere.

“Hold on a sec. Let me jump in and see if I can’t get a better angle to work at.” Pinkie said to the unicorn as she prepared to jump in. Rarity shut her eyes as the pink pony hopped into the water, causing it to splash in her face.

Pinkie Pie quickly popped up and swam over to the trapped unicorn. She held her breath and dove under the surface to determine the source of her distress. She was surprised to see a long strand of what appeared to be kelp and moss was wrapped around the unicorn’s leg. Further down in the water, Pinkie could see several more plants reaching up in an attempt to get to the surface.

Wasting no time on pondering the strange sight, she grabbed the unicorn’s leg and yanked it at an angle. The kelp stretched taut as the pink pony wrestled against its pull. Suddenly the plant snapped in two, freeing the white mare.

Pinkie pushed Rarity out of the water and watched as she shook herself dry. The white mare turned to the floating pink pony and smiled.

“Thanks for the help.” Rarity stated cheerfully. Pinkie smiled in return as she admired her good deed.

“No problem… now could you help me up? It’s freezing in here.” The pink mare asked while reaching her hoof up to the unicorn. Rarity stooped down to pull the pink pony out of the water, when suddenly Pinkie gasped in surprise as she was pulled forcefully underwater. Rarity widened her eyes in shock and gasped herself as she watched the pink pony shoot back to the surface and gasp for air.

“Pinky! What happened?!” Rarity asked frantically as her friend looked around in fear.

“*cough* *sputter* I don’t know! I think something just gra-” Pinkie stated in a panic when she was suddenly cut off by being pulled back under. Rarity stared at the spot where the pink pony had been violently yanked under. Her eyes shrank to tiny dots and her jaw quivered in fear and horror as she desperately waited for her friend to resurface.

“Pinkie Pie!” She yelled in horror while watching the rippling water.