We heard it before we saw it. A low, rumbling whooshing, coming from the other side of the ridge we were walking next to. It was constant, never wavering significantly or changing much. I knew what was coming and tensed in excitement. This was one of the things that broke up the monotony of trees, trees, trees, and it was beautiful. As we rounded a corner, the rock wall to our side fell away to reveal-

“A waterfall?!” Aegis looked like a foal in a candy shop and ready to start bouncing on his hooves. He promptly dashed off the path and towards the falls, leaving me spitting out dust.

The Sapphire Falls stretched about two dozen feet above us, a narrow but fast-moving stream of water tumbling down the cliff face to a pool more than large enough to swim in. Spray flew from the falls, getting everything around it a little bit damp. A river ran off from one side, heading under a bridge and rushing down the slopes. All the while, the sound from the falls drowned out most ordinary noise in a never-ending rumble. It wasn’t the greatest waterfall in the world, but it was very pretty, and it was nearby. I liked coming here from time to time.

“Wow!” said Aegis, staring up at the falls as he trotted around the pool. “That is so cool! Wow!”

I hacked up the last of the dust, found a dry-ish place to shrug my saddlebags off, and walked up behind Aegis. “Yeah,” I yelled over the rumble. “Nice, isn’t it?”

I wasn’t sure whether or not Aegis noticed me. He kept walking and didn’t look in my direction. “They never talk about what it sounds like,” he said. I’m pretty sure he was just thinking out loud. Either that, or he was telling me things I already knew. “It just never stops!” He reached the outlet from the pool and stopped walking. He swiveled his ears towards the waterfall and just listened for several moments. “Wow!” he said again.

For once, I knew where he was coming from. Trees were trees. Out here, you saw them every day. Waterfalls, though… They were something else. The Sapphire Falls were the only big, or even noteworthy, waterfalls I knew of anywhere near my house. And even if you’ve seen them, there’s just something serene about watching them. I could sit and watch the water flow for hours and hours and hours and not get bored. In motion, they’ve got something a picture just can’t capture.

“I know,” I said to him. “It’s calming. I like to come up here sometimes after a rough day. And also…”

I shoved him into the pool.

He yelped, flailed, and fell into the shallows with a splash. He promptly shot out of the water, screaming, “Cold! Cold! Cold!” When he was about a dozen feet away, he slid to a stop and eyed me warily, ears folded back.

“Oh, come on,” I said with a laugh. “It’s not that bad.” I waded into the pond. It was cold, but not frigid. I thought it was nice, the brisk kind of cold. Soon, I was in water up to my chest.

“Not if you’re expecting it, it’s not,” Aegis mumbled. He returned to the shore and, with some hesitation, prodded the water like it was acidic.

“Come on in, you big wuss!” I hollered. “It’s nice!” I jumped into deeper water, submerging myself before he could respond. The pool wasn’t all that deep; even in the lowest spots, I could get my head above the water if I stood on my back hooves. In spite of the river emptying it out, there wasn’t much of a current; I didn’t have to worry about getting pulled down the mountain.

I surfaced in the middle of the pool. Aegis had taken a few more steps in and was in up to his fetlocks, flicking his tail and still looking at the water like it was going to bite him. “Come on!” I yelled. “What’s the deal?”

Moments after I said that, I regretted it. For all I knew, he could have had some bad experience as a foal or something. Maybe he almost drowned and was afraid of water. I knew a pony like that. She wasn’t nearly this bad, but everypony was different. I could’ve just set Aegis’s fear off, and h-

“It’s…” Aegis slowly took another step in. “It’s cold!”

Well, shoot. “That’s it?”

“It’s really cold!”

Well, double shoot. So much for learning something new. I began paddling towards the shore. “This is not really cold,” I said. “It’s not icy. Your teeth won’t chatter.”

“W-well…” Aegis plodded forward another inch. “It’s still cold!”

I waded out of the water and up next to him. “Just go in,” I said. “It’s easier once you get used to it. I think submerging your head works best.”

“No thank you,” whispered Aegis. Another inch.

“Really, it is. If you’re gonna go in, go in.”

“I’ll go in at my own pace, thanks.” Another inch.

Another inch.

Another inch.

I sighed. “Look, you’re taking forever. Want some help?”

Aegis looked up for a moment to shoot me a glare. “No.”

“Know what? Too bad.” I dive-tackled him and we rolled into the water. Droplets flew everywhere as the cold hit me like a pillow-covered anvil. I came up on top and stood up in chest-deep water.

When Aegis came back up, thrashing, he squealed — squealed — “Oh Celestia and Luna and Celestia and Luna and Celestia and Luna and cold cold cold cold cold!” Water wasn’t coming out of his mouth, so that was a good sign. He bolted for shore.

But not before I grabbed his tail between my teeth and dug in. He didn’t make it two yards, no matter how hard he tried. “Cuhv ah, Aevis!” I said. “Teh moah seguhds!”

“Too cold!” Aegis pulled as hard as he could, but I was an earth pony. He had no chance.

I pulled backwards. He started coming with me. “Fieh seguhds! Ih’s no’ vad vunce yuh’h yussed tuh ih!”

“Fine!” he snapped. He stopped struggling and I released. As he started taking slow steps towards deeper water, he glared at me through the water dripping out of his mane and hissed, “Five. Seconds.”

He was still in the water fifteen seconds later, all the way up to his chest. He was tense and moving slowly, but he was still moving deeper. “Huh,” he said. “It isn’t as bad once you’re used to it.”

“Of course it’s not,” I said as I drifted around on my back. “Haven’t you ever gone swimming in anything other than a pool before?”

“…W-well, uh…”

“You poor, poor stallion.”

“I know I’m a city colt! Stop ragging on me about it!” By now, Aegis was in up to his neck.

“Seriously, you’ve never gone swimming outside of pools?”

“I’ve barely gone swimming in pools. I can do it, it just never really appealed to me.” Aegis tentatively kicked off into the water and started dog paddling. He stayed afloat, at least.

I curled up into a ball and backwards-somersaulted through the water, coming out with my head up. “Any reason why? Or just because?”

“Just because, I guess,” he said. “It’s, I mean, it’s alright, it’s just… nothing great. And cold.” He looked around, then said, “And you know what? It’s been way more than five seconds. I’m done.” He turned around and pulled himself to shore.

“Wuss,” I said, and flicked some droplets at him.

Aegis snorted and flicked his tail at me before shaking himself off. “Just because I-”

“You’re a former royal guard who doesn’t want to go swimming because the water is too cold!”

“Oh, shut up. You’ve told me to shut enough times.”

“Shutting up,” I said. I went onto my back again and lightly kicked my way away from shore, towards the waterfall. I liked the pressure from the falling water; I needed to hold my breath a lot, but it felt like a massage. A very, very cold massage. What the hay, I could live with it.

“Hey, uh, I’m glad you’re having fun,” Aegis called out, “but don’t stay in there too long, alright? We’ll need to get moving again eventually if I’m going to get back in time.”

“Five minutes, max,” I said, and plunged beneath the water before Aegis could respond.