Rarity’s mind raced with fear and worry as she stared into the water where her friend had just disappeared beneath the murky surface. Judging from what little the pink mare had gotten out before she went under, Rarity deduced that something had pulled her under. But she had no idea what could have done it.

“Pinkie! Are you okay?!” The unicorn yelled frantically as she watched the rippling water. Not that she was expecting a response, but the jarring silence in the room only made her panic more.

She looked to the far doorway and contemplated running for help, but by the time she returned with someone else, Pinkie Pie would be long dead. Rarity had a revelation in her head that filled her with both determination and terror. She would have to save the pink pony by herself.

“Come on Rarity… Pinkie needs you to be strong right now.” Rarity steeled herself to calm her frantic nerves. She didn’t manage to quell the fear inside her, but the unicorn stood up and stared into the water with resolve anyway.

Rarity concentrated and lit up her horn. She started sweating nervously as she searched the water with her magic, desperate to come across the form of her friend below the surface. She then gave a sigh of relief as she wrapped her magic around a pony shaped object.

Rarity was relieved to feel the pony showing signs of life underwater. She squirmed around desperately, trying to escape the thing pulling on her. But the unicorn’s relief quickly turned back to panic as she realized that she could barely move the pink pony an inch upward.

She strained heavily as she tugged on Pinkie. Whatever was fighting her for the life of her friend wanted her badly enough to put up a good battle. Rarity started panicking as she felt Pinkie going limp in her grasp. Her panic set in further as she saw air bubbles flood to the surface.

“I am not about to let my friend die in my grasp!” Rarity heaved angrily as she pulled with all of her might. Slowly but surely, the pink pony started traveling upward as the unicorn gained the upper hand over the strange force.

The force suddenly let go of the pink pony, causing her to shoot to the surface. Rarity quickly lifted the unconscious pink mare onto solid ground. She dragged her away from the water a short ways before feeling confident that they were far enough away for the mysterious creature to leave them alone.

Rarity’s face grew pale as Pinkie rolled her body on the ground like a lifeless puppet. She put her ear to Pinkie’s chest to see if her heart was still beating. She was relieved to hear the weak pitter-patter of the pink mare’s heart.

“Come on Pinkie… You’re going to be ok… Please be okay.” Rarity spoke softly to the unconscious pony while thinking back to her knowledge on first aid. She then started compressing her chest forcefully to perform CPR. After a few cycles of compressing her chest and giving her mouth to mouth, the white unicorn was starting to get more and more fearful for her friend’s life.

Pump, pump, breathe, and repeat. No matter how many times she compressed the party pony’s chest, or breathed into her mouth, nothing was happening. Pinkie still remained unmoving and lifeless. Rarity could feel a wave of sadness rushing over her, as if her body had already come to the conclusion that her mind refused to.

Just before the unicorn was going to give up, the pink pony sputtered forcefully as water came out of her mouth. Rarity rolled her onto her side and watched as Pinkie coughed and sputtered while ejecting the water from her system. After spending a few minutes coughing repeatedly, the pink pony laid on the ground silently while breathing deeply in and out. She then looked around in a lethargic and confused manner.

“*Cough*… What happened?” Pinkie spoke weakly as she looked around her. Rarity quickly pulled the pink pony close to her and embraced her in a tight hug. Pinkie looked at her in confusion for a moment before wrapping her arms around the white unicorn slowly.

“Thank Celestia you’re alive! I was afraid that I was going to watch you die for a minute there.” The white mare cried joyfully into the pink pony’s soaked fur. Pinkie Pie pushed her away for a moment and looked at her with surprise as she remembered what had happened.

“What happened?! Where did that thing go?! Where are we?! I…” Pinkie asked frantically. She would have continued asking questions had Rarity not gently put a hoof to her lips to silence her.

“Sshh… That thing can’t hurt us now. We’re far away from the water.” The white mare softly droned to comfort the pink pony. The two nervously looked forward into the watery pit. The surface was deceptively calm, as if the intense struggle had all been in the ponies’ heads. Rarity slowly helped Pinkie Pie to her feet. She shouldered the pink mare’s weight as her legs trembled weakly. The two then hesitantly walked close enough to the water to watch it without getting too close.

The white unicorn was slowly filled with dread as she thought about their close brush with death. She thought about what would have happened if their positions had been switched around. The only reason she had saved the pink pony was because she was a unicorn.

“Thank you for getting me up so quickly Pinkie… If you hadn’t jumped in, and I was the one that got grabbed, I don’t think we would be talking right now.” Rarity looked to her friend with sorrow and gratitude.

“It’s ok… I wouldn’t trade places with you if I had the choice.” Pinkie brought herself to smile a little, returning her cheerful disposition slightly. Rarity smiled warmly to the pink pony before looking back at the water somberly.

“What was that thing anyway? Did you see it?” The unicorn asked curiously. Pinkie looked back to her with sad confusion.

“I don’t know… It just grabbed my leg suddenly and tried to pull me down. I managed to get away from it at first, but then it grabbed harder and forced me under. I didn’t see anything when I looked down at my leg either.” The pink mare shuddered nervously as she thought back to the cold feeling of drowning.

“It’s ok now darling, you’re safe…*Gasp* What about Twilight and the others? What if there are more of those things and they don’t figure it out until it’s too late?!” Rarity exclaimed fearfully as she thought about her other friends.

“What about Sweetie Belle and the others? We can’t go back for Twilight and Fluttershy and search for them at the same time.” Pinkie Pie reasoned in a worried tone. The pink mare shared her friend’s concern, but she was also concerned about the three fillies missing somewhere in the school.

“Ughh… You’re right. I will look for the girls… you go back and warn the others.” Rarity groaned in frustration as she came up with the only solution that made sense to her.

“What?! That’s crazy! You could get hurt, or worse!” Pinkie gasped in surprise as the unicorn adopted a more serious expression.

“I’ll be fine… we just need to stay away from the water.” Rarity stated with false confidence as she tried to convince the pink pony to see her things her way.

“No… I’m not leaving you. We’re just going to have to trust that Twilight and Fluttershy will be fine. The girls need us right now. Who knows what kind of danger they could be in?” Pinkie retorted adamantly as she refused to leave her friend alone.

“I suppose you’re right… let’s hurry up and find the girls. The faster we get them to safety, the faster we can regroup with the others.” Rarity sighed in defeat as she thought about how her little sister must have been faring.

The two nodded to each other in determination before walking to the door, all the while being sure to avoid walking too close to the pit of water. As they walked through the damp hallways, they found a new sense of dread as they observed how many puddles and large pools of water were scattered around the school. They knew that the thing that had almost drowned Pinkie Pie would almost certainly be waiting for them to fall into the water again.

Twilight and Fluttershy joined Ms. Cheerilee out in the hallway. The teacher and children were still shaken up from their ordeal. They looked around the bleak corridor fearfully as they tried to wrap their minds around why the school suddenly became so different.

“Thank you so much Twilight, I am eternally grateful for your help.” Cheerilee smiled in gratitude as she looked around to the children gathered around her.

“It was my pleasure Ms. Cheerilee. I’m just glad everyone is safe and sound.” Twilight smiled in flattery as she rubbed the back of her head shyly.

“What’s going on anyway? Why is there so much water everywhere? I didn’t think the pipes were this bad…” The teacher pondered as she looked around the soaked school.

Twilight gave her a puzzled look as she tried to think of a logical conclusion herself. She had never come across something like this before. And now that she knew the extent of the damage, the matter only confused her further.

“We don’t know… but Tom should be getting to the bottom of this mess as we speak. Now, are there any other children or ponies in the school?” the unicorn asked quizzically as she turned her attention to the dire situation around them.

“Most of the other children were outside for recess, and I think all the staff was on a collective break. The only ponies that are unaccounted for as far as I know are Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo.” Cheerilee listed off the three fillies names and shifted her face to a more concerned frown. “I hope nothing bad has happened to them… as much as they make me want to pull my hair out some days, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happened to any of the children in my class.” She stated sadly. The sight of the teacher worrying so much about her students made the two frown sympathetically.

Fluttershy gave her a reassuring smile and put a hoof on her shoulder. Cheerilee lightened up her gloomy expression slightly as she looked up to the yellow mare.

“I can promise you that we will find them, but for now we need to get you guys somewhere safe.” The pegasus spoke softly while looking around to the frightened colts and fillies.

Cheerilee and Twilight nodded before starting to walk down the hallway. They decided that the library would be a safe enough place for them to stay until all of this was over. Once they arrived, the group of kids flooded into the library along with their teacher and got relatively comfortable. Twilight smiled at the group before settling her eyes on Ms. Cheerilee.

“You guys will be safe here. Just stay put until we sort this thing out okay?” The purple pony spoke reassuringly to cheer up the sad looking teacher. Cheerilee flashed a brief smile to the pair. Fluttershy and Twilight briefly waved goodbye to the children and their teacher. They then turned around and walked out of the library.

The two took a moment to look at each other apprehensively. Despite how confident they tried to sound to the others and to each other, the ponies had no idea how they would go about finding the three fillies.

“Now what do we do?” Twilight asked her friend, hopeful that she would come up with somewhere to go.

“I don’t know… I guess we could try to meet up with the others.” Fluttershy stated dully while looking over to where Rarity and Pinkie Pie had walked off.

Twilight sighed and gave a slow nod before walking off with the pegasus in tow. They walked through a few corridors of classrooms before turning off and coming across a large pile of rubble blocking their path. Through a few holes in the rubble, the two could see a trench of water leading over to another stretch of floor.

“Ughh… guess we can’t go any further this way.” Twilight shrugged in annoyance while looking closer at the rubble.

“Well, we looked in most of the other areas… do you think you can lift this out of the way?” Fluttershy asked while inspecting the size of the debris.

“No, I think this is too big for me to move. *Sigh*” Twilight huffed as she observed the large pieces of the barricade. Even if she weren’t so tired from using her magic so much in such a tense situation, she wouldn’t be able to move the large barrier.

Fluttershy looked closer to one of the holes in the rubble. She perked up with intrigue as she noticed something that caught her eye.

“You might not need to… look over here.” The pegasus beckoned Twilight over to her and pointed through the hole. Sure enough, there was a hole in the wall just beyond the rubble. It was just large enough to squeeze a pony through it, and it appeared to lead into a room.

“That looks like it goes to a classroom… But it’s before the next room past the rubble, which means…” Twilight observed while looking over to the door on their left. It led into another classroom that they had previously overlooked. The two nodded to each other confidently before walking into the classroom.

The room was no different than any of the other classrooms they had come across. The floor was mostly comprised of pits of water. However, a small gangway of floorboards connected the side of the room the ponies were on with the small island that sat at the other side of the room along with the hole in the wall.

Twilight stepped closer to the thin path across the water. She put a hoof onto the planks and pressed them down to test how sturdy they were. The boards creaked under her weight as they sank a little ways into the water, getting the unicorn’s hoof wet as pools of the cool liquid ran over the board in streams.

“Looks like the only way across without getting wet is over this path… I hope it can hold us up, I don’t feel like taking another swim today.” Twilight stated uneasily while looking down into the water. She couldn’t quite shake what happened earlier out of her head. No matter how hard she tried to tell herself that nothing happened, the memory of something brushing against her sent chills up the unicorn’s spine.

“Can’t you teleport over there?” Fluttershy asked quizzically, interrupting Twilight’s thoughts.

“I used a lot of energy lifting so many things in such a short amount of time. I don’t think I could muster a complex spell like that.” The unicorn sighed in frustration as she checked her remaining strength.

Fluttershy looked at her friend sympathetically as she stared nervously into the water. Twilight was normally very logical in situations concerning fear and uncertainty, so seeing the unicorn in this much distress worried the yellow mare.

“Tell you what, I’ll go first… to test it out for you.” The yellow pegasus stepped forward and turned to her friend with a warm smile. She figured that having a more sensitive pony cross over the makeshift bridge with no problems would give Twilight some confidence.

“I... umm, thanks I guess.” Twilight reluctantly allowed Fluttershy to go first. The unicorn wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she felt uneasy having to go that close to the water in this place. The encounter earlier had left an imprint on her that filled Twilight with dread as she thought about crossing the watery trench.

The pegasus turned and focused intently on placing her feet within the borders of the thin path. The boards sank a little ways and bobbed up and down as Fluttershy slowly walked over them. Twilight watched her friend with a slight sense of unease as she balanced herself to keep from falling. The creaking noises of the boards did nothing but add to the ambient tension in the room as Fluttershy made it past the halfway point.

“See? Not as flimsy as it looks I guess.” Fluttershy turned to her friend as she observed her progress. Suddenly, the board snapped in two beneath the pegasus’s feet. The initial jolt of the splitting pieces caused them to violently dip downward and sideways, sending Fluttershy into the water.

She yelped in surprise as she was suddenly rendered weightless for a brief moment while falling. She went headlong into the water and sank under the surface for a moment as she was not prepared for swimming. Twilight jerked her head in surprise and watched frantically for her friend to resurface.

“Fluttershy?! Are you ok?” The purple mare raised her voice in concern as she watched the water splash around violently. Suddenly the pegasus resurfaced and gasped for air. Twilight let out a sigh of relief as she watched Fluttershy orient herself in the water.

“S-s-see? N…n-nothing to w-worry about.” The pegasus stammered as her body acclimated to the freezing water. She then turned around and swam for the nearby shoreline. Fluttershy grabbed the edge of the far island of floorboards and struggled to pull herself up. Her shivering muscles did not make the task easy as the yellow mare fell back into the water from her attempt.

Twilight grew nervous as she watched the water around Fluttershy. Perhaps it was only in her head, but the unicorn could almost swear that she could see the water rippling on its own behind the pegasus.

“Umm… Fluttershy? Could you hurry up and get out of the water please?” Twilight asked with mild concern as she nervously eyed the soaked pony trying to get up. She tried to sound as calm as possible, as she did not want the yellow mare to not believe her, or start panicking herself at something that could very well not exist.

Fluttershy grunted as she strained her weak arms to pull herself up. Between the freezing cold water, and the energy she used to fly those children to safety, the pegasus was unable to help herself up. She sighed in frustration and swiveled her head around to look at her friend.

“Twilight… I can’t get up by myself. Could you come over here and give me a hoof up?” The yellow mare asked politely while trying again in one last ditch effort to get up on her own.

Twilight hid her sense of uneasiness as she surveyed the now broken pathway before her. The two pieces of the bridge were still connected to their respective shores, anchoring them in place. She wasn’t sure if the same thing that happened to her friend would happen to her.

“Yeah sure… just give me a minute ok?” The unicorn said reassuringly over the watery expanse. She then started hastily, yet cautiously making her way over the bridge.

Fluttershy chattered her teeth as her skin was starting to turn a paler shade of its usual color. Although she didn’t want to rush her friend, she was really starting to feel the effects of being in water this cold for so long.

“C-could you hurry every chance you g-get? It’s r-r…really c-cold in here.” The icy pony strained against the tight feeling of her muscles tensing up from the cold water, which was making her chest squeeze on the air leaving her lungs.

The unicorn steadily made her way over the rickety stretch of boards, being careful not to fall into the water herself. She wobbled side to side as the floor swayed under her weight, making her pause and carefully think about her next step.

She finally reached the broken section of the bridge. The other side was just a quick step over the hole and a few feet away. Twilight hesitantly stood on the edge of the planks. She planted a hoof onto the other side and waited for the ground to stop wavering. Once she had two legs on the other side, the unicorn realized that she would need to quickly hop over to prevent the other board from sinking as her weight was focused on one point.

Twilight jumped her lower half over the gap in one fluid motion. The board dipped into the water suddenly, causing the unicorn to lose her footing and smack her body onto the piece of floor. She wrapped her arms around the board to prevent herself from sliding off. The shock of the cold water immediately sent a wave of energy through her body.

Fluttershy spun her head around upon hearing the noise of her friend falling onto the boards. She observed Twilight flinch her eyes shut instinctively as she clung to her support, unsure of whether or not she would continue falling.

“You ok T-Twilight?” The freezing pegasus courteously asked to see if her friend had not been hurt during the fall. Even when she could barely speak from near hypothermic conditions, Fluttershy still felt concern for her friends.

Twilight peeked one eye open to observe her surroundings. She discovered that she was in fact still on the bridge. Other than the stinging cold feeling prevalent in her limbs, she had not injured herself by scraping against the wooden plank during her fall.

“Yeah… I’m good. Give me a sec and I’ll be right over.” Twilight stated reassuringly to her friend as she pondered on how she would get to her feet on the flimsy board.

The unicorn grunted as she strained to use one leg as leverage to get herself up while she held on with her other hooves. She managed to get three of her legs onto the thin structure with little trouble, but just as she was about to pull her final leg out of the water, she suddenly felt something reach up and grab the still submerged limb.

“Ack!” Twilight cried out in shock from the sudden sensation of touch. Just as quickly as it had grabbed her, it yanked her downwards, causing the frightened pony to slide off the plank with her lower body. She desperately wrapped her front legs around the plank again and held on for dear life as the mysterious force tugged on her lower legs.

Fluttershy gasped in surprise as she watched the unicorn bob violently in the water from repeated pulling.

“Twilight! What’s wrong?!” The pegasus cried frantically while watching her friend struggling to stay on the now bending board.

“Something has my leg! It won’t let go!” Twilight started panicking as she kicked her free leg at whatever was holding onto her. Much to her horror, her leg failed to collide with anything as she desperately knocked against her pinned limb at the area where she felt the tight grip.

The unicorn quickly realized that she would not last long this way. If she were to let go of the board now, she would not be able to swim hard enough to escape from this thing should it choose to drown her. But at the same time, she couldn’t hold on for very much longer. She had to do something fast if she was going to save herself and her friend.

She groaned in a mixture of fear and desperation as she slid her hooves over the board to locomote sideways. She winced in pain as her bare skin rubbed over pieces of exposed wood. The small slivers poked and prodded at her as she haphazardly ignored lifting up and over them. Thankfully, most of the slivers broke off before they completely punctured her skin.

Twilight reached over and placed a hoof firmly onto the platform of floor. She prepared to jump her other hoof from the board to quickly latch onto solid ground, when she was suddenly pulled farther down as she was moving her leg over.

“Agh-” Her frightened outcry was silenced as her mouth dipped under the water line. The unicorn coughed and sputtered to eject the unwanted fluid from her throat. She clung to the floor as strongly as her lone arm would allow. She then struggled to lift herself up high enough to grip the platform with both arms.

Fluttershy watched on in horror as her friend was struggling for her life. The purple pony had tears in her eyes as she pulled with all of her might to escape the grip of the invisible force. The pegasus wanted to help her friend desperately, but she would only be a hindrance to her in the water. She made one last attempt at climbing out of the water on her own, when she was suddenly interrupted by the sound of Twilight shooting out of the water as the force let her go.

The unicorn brushed up against the wooden floor as her own excessive strength lifted her up without any resistance. The bandage on her chest slid off and flew into the water, but Twilight wouldn’t have cared even if she had noticed. She lifted herself onto the floor and scooted her legs inwards to distance them from the edge.

“*Huff*… *Huff* I did it!” Twilight exclaimed in both elation and exhaustion. She smiled triumphantly to her friend in the water, who shared her friend’s joy at her escape, until the two thought for a moment and stared at each other in horror.

“AHH!” Fluttershy screamed in terror as she was suddenly pulled downward. Only one of her arms managed to hold fast on the ledge after the initial pull on her body.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight widened her eyes in terror as the force went to attack her friend. She lunged her body forward and grabbed the pegasus’s hoof just as it was yanked from the ledge. The unicorn dug into the floor with her back legs and wriggled her body around to get more leverage. Despite these efforts, the yellow mare’s head was just barely kept above the water.

Fluttershy desperately reached her other hoof up in order to grab onto the solid floor. With the unicorn pulling on her forcefully, she managed to grip onto the ledge with her other hoof. With the two ponies’ combined strength, they managed to make even more progress as they slowly gained ground on the force. The pegasus managed to grip both of her hooves onto the floor as the unicorn wrapped her arms around her shoulders to pull.

The two suddenly shot backwards onto the floor as Fluttershy’s legs left the water. Twilight pulled her friend closer and hugged her tightly. Both to reassure the pegasus that she was ok, and to reassure Twilight that her friend was not going anywhere without her.

The ponies lay on the ground, panting and heaving as they looked at each other with loving gratitude. They slowly shifted their attention to the water in front of them.

“*Huff* what was that…?” Fluttershy asked while out of breath. Despite her exhaustion, a palpable sense of fear was clear in her voice.

“I think that was what touched me earlier… *Huff*” Twilight observed the calm water before turning to her friend and smiling. “Whatever it is, it can’t get us now.” She stated confidently while offering the pegasus a bright smile. If the mysterious force was able to chase them on land, it wouldn’t have made such an effort to get them in the water only to stop suddenly.

Suddenly, the two felt the floorboards underneath them move slightly as something rammed into them from below. The loud noise jolted the ponies to their feet. They looked around fearfully as another bump made the floor shake beneath them.

“That thing just doesn’t quit does it?” Twilight uneasily braced herself to prevent her body from moving during the assaults on the floor. The two suddenly gasped in horror as the floor started to form small cracks.

“We need to get out of this room!” Fluttershy exclaimed as her voice started to tremble from fear. Twilight gave her a firm nod before walking to the hole in the wall they observed earlier. The unicorn’s face paled as she observed what was outside of the small opening.

A large trench of water filled up the entire width of the hall in front of them. The ponies could see another room in front of them that appeared far less flooded, and to their left they could see that the water stretched on a ways before giving way to the hallway floor.

“Oh no… I must have forgotten about the water past the rubble.” Twilight observed grimly. She looked back to her friend with concern evident on her face.

“We can’t step foot into the water… that thing will grab us before we even have a chance to climb out!” The pegasus nervously squeaked as she started breathing faster out of fear. Twilight quickly realized that she was right. There was no way either of them could make that jump. And even if they could, they would be helpless to assist the other if they failed.

“We’re just going to have to wait for someone else to come by, or for Tom to return things to normal.” Twilight’s plan didn’t even comfort herself. She knew that their chances for survival lay with the structural integrity of the floor, which was quickly fading with each thundering blow it took. The two ponies huddled together and placed their arms around each other as they nervously watched the floor shake with each consecutive blow.