Chapter 10-2: Objects and Images

“Dig ib Wa Buque?” We’d joined Naiara at the edge of a ravine, and were taking in the sight stretching out in front of us. My bleeding nose was temporarily plugged with some tissue, which had the charming effect of distorting my speech.

In front of our eyes, La Buque lay open. From our perch, at the tail end of a snaking crevice, we took in the surprisingly unique layout. From how Naiara had described it earlier, I had been expecting an empty valley in the ground, but the truth of the matter was very different. It was almost certainly uninhabited, but it was far from empty.

Stretching from one cliff face to the other, and running along every bit of wall we could see, were dozens, maybe hundreds of walkways. Seemingly hewn from stone and reinforced with rope and mortar, and equal parts cut from, dug into, and hooked onto the walls, the crossings zigzagged and crisscrossed through the ravine.

At the end of each crossing, on the rock walls, were hollows, possibly homes, and eroded stairways between the suspended bridges. Each bridge was connected to two or three others, and formed a maze-like back-and-forth for travelling through the canyon.

“I’d forgotten it was like this. It’s been too long since I last saw it.” Naiara was wowed by the architecture, as we all were, but her eyes were still roving back and forth, searching for her friend.

“Too bad it’s dead around here,” Bosco began, an appreciative smile on his lips, “In its day, this place must’ve been…”

“…Amazing.” Undertow finished. I spared her a quick glance, which turned out to be too quick as it made me dizzy. My nose must’ve bled worse than I thought.

Still, she’s only really seen Lethbridle and Sprinkles Supplies since coming with us, really built up and as modern as can be for the Wasteland, coming to a place like this, no other ponies around to scare her. This place must be almost a playground for her. I neglected to comment on her restrained awe at the design, mostly for my own dignity.

A small chk! sound drew all out eyes. Breaking off from a high walkway, a fragment of stone tumbled downwards, colliding with, and bouncing off, other walkways in its fall, until finally we heard it strike something solid, far below.

Looking a little closer, we all saw that many of the bridges were in various states of ruin. Many were missing chunks, like some gigantic creature had taken bites out of them.

I really hope, for Breeze and all our sakes, that there isn’t a monster around that can do that.

Other signs of time became apparent as we stared. Cracked fastenings in the cliff walls, collapsed stone littering the area, and some crossings simply ending in dead ends, or requiring leaps of faith to traverse, with little or no hope of catching a lower bridge if you messed up your jump.

Maybe the monster’s unnecessary. “Be shubband sday lungah dan be neet.”

Bosco and Undertow just looked at me in confusion. Naiara grimaced, still scanning the dilapidated city. “We don’t have time for your games, Snow. Breeze is here, and the place doesn’t look too stable. We’d better find her quickly.”

Naiara was right. We weren’t here to see the sights. There would be time enough for that after we found Aqua Breeze. I stepped back so that I was in line with the colt and filly, putting Naiara squarely in our sights. This really was her mission more than anything. She was closer to Breeze than I was, I just wanted to help.

Plus I’d rather not talk until I get this damn tissue out of my nose.

Our lack of argument spurred her on, and she turned back to La Buque’s maze. After a few seconds, her jade eyes narrowed, and she pointed. “There.”

We followed her outstretched hoof with our eyes, while she continued. “That’s the best place to start. Looks like it’s stable enough to walk on, and it seems to have plenty of connections.”

Bosco nodded his agreement. “Alright then, lead the way. You’ve got the surest hooves. We’ll follow you.”

“Okay, but remember that if I say stop, you stop. I say move, you move. Got it?”

We gave three nods. Satisfied, she set off, circumnavigating the edge, until we reached the starting point. Said starting point still required a two-meter drop to reach the first walkway, which was unforgiving on my tired, sleepless, fresh-off-a-marathon-magic-session limbs.

My four knees screamed in protest as I landed, which almost made them buckle and faceplant me into the stone. If Bosco hadn’t steadied me, I probably would have broken my nose, which didn’t need another reason to bleed.

Once we were all safely down onto the walkways, we set off to find Breeze. Naiara led us, single file, along the first walkway, stretching perpendicular across the canyon.

Our progress was not smooth. Naiara stopped at every creak, or groan, or whistle of wind, to make sure that we were safe before continuing. Bosco was behind her, almost as alert, and stopped himself just fine when she did. I, being third in line, and not possessed of particularly impressive reflexes, found myself bumping into Bosco’s backside more often than not, for which I was increasingly equal parts embarrassed and annoyed. The fact that Undertow walked so close behind me didn’t help either. If she were further back, I’m sure she would have been fine to keep herself separate.

I just don’t have the heart to tell her to move away. The end result was that Undertow ended up just as jostled as I was. She didn’t seem to show any annoyance though.

After thirty minutes of this, however, and no sign of Breeze, Naiara certainly did. “Uuuagh! This is taking too long!” In frustration, she kicked out at the barrier of our current walkway. Her kick caused the stone to fissure, and the cracks slowly began to spread outwards.

“Uh oh.” Didn’t matter who said it, we were all thinking it.

“MOVE!” Leading by example, Naiara bolted for the nearest wall junction, with the three of us close behind. As we galloped, the rumble of cracking masonry increased.

Undertow, bringing up the rear, barely managed to get her hooves onto more stable ground before the section of walkway we’d been on shattered, throwing up dust and throwing down debris, which tore and blasted huge chunks out of lower bridges as it fell.

“Ah boo awwighd?” I fussed over the other unicorn, making sure she wasn’t injured from the close call.

“Y-yes, I am fine,” she shakily responded, “thank you for your concern, Lady Snow.”

Bosco was examining the broken bridge, which now bore a gap that was far too long for us to cross again. He gently knocked the butt of his pistol against the jagged edge, and a few slivers were knocked loose. Shaking his head, he stood up and faced Naiara. “No good. This stuff’s pretty weak.”

She gave another grimace. “You’re right. If we walked together we’d have to take it slow to avoid causing any instability. We should take a couple of different walkways. We’ll cover more ground and it’ll be less strain on the stone.”

“Well… alright…” Bosco didn’t look terribly thrilled at this, “…But we should try to make sure that we always have one of the others in our eye line, so we don’t get too split up from each other.”

“Yeah, fine.” Her reply, and her demeanour, were distracted. “I’m gonna head down and look around closer to the bottom. Why don’t you three move a little further along, check out the next bend?”

“What did I just say? That’ll separate you from the rest of us.” Bosco was indignant at the zebra’s lack of attention.

“I’ll keep an eye on where you go!” She shot back with rolled eyes. Taking the nearby stairs in a single bound, she landed lighter on her hooves than I would ever be able to.

“Naiara!”

She ignored him and kept going, disappearing out of sight.

A grumph emerged from the colt’s throat. “You’re not the one who pulls this kinda impulsive crap, Snow is!”

I clipped him around the ear for that. “Bowoah!”

“Ow!” He looked like he was gonna keep arguing as he rubbed his ear, but let out a long breath instead. “Yeah, okay. Sorry about that. I just don’t want anypony going alone.”

“I umbers… ugh, hoeb on.” I reached up and gently pulled the tissue from my nostrils. It came away red, but the blood didn’t look fresh. It’d closed enough in the last half hour that I wouldn’t need it.

Taking a few experimental sniffs, I was quite happy to discover that there were no breathing issues, nor was any more loose blood expelled. I couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction. “Much better. Anyway, as I was saying, if you’re so bothered about this, then go after her. Undertow and I can check out the next bend. If there’s no sign of Breeze, you two can catch up faster than we can.”

“Why don’t you go?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but Undertow beat me to it. “I-I wish to stay with Lady Snow,” she interjected rapidly, before just as hastily adding, “her magic instruction is not yet complete.”

I took pity on the nervously fidgeting filly, turning to Bosco. “What she said. I’ll look after this one, you go look after Naiara. Besides,” a thought suddenly struck me, “you two have never met Breeze, so it’s best if Naiara and I split up, it gives us a better chance to find her without her going hostile on us. I’ll tell you right now, Breeze is dangerous when she’s scared.” Thoughts of the beating I took from her when she was searching for her sister resurfaced in my mind.

If Naiara hadn’t been there…

“Alright,” Bosco groused, though he also seemed relieved. “I’ll go after her. You two can head over to the next part of the ravine. We’ll meet up later.”

Reaching up, I gently tapped his shoulder with my hoof. “Keep yourselves safe, alright?”

He returned the gesture. “You too.” Undertow received a reassuring smile. “Both of you.”

Hesitantly, the goggled unicorn reached up and bopped his other shoulder, a small return smile showing in the corners of her mouth.

~~~~~~

The next bend proved just as fruitless as the first. Undertow and I spent the better part of an hour travelling its byways back and forth, up and down, in and out, and came away with very little. The remainder of the hour was spent trying to find a way to meet up again, which became an exercise in frustration as the layout of the walkways proved aggravatingly disordered.

After walking up to the bridge I believed Undertow was on, for the third time, only to find that she was on a completely different bridge, also for the third time, I found myself wishing for the magical prowess to solve all my problems, for what must be the umpteenth time.

What I wouldn’t give to be able to just make a damn route straight to her. We’re not there yet though, not even close.

“Undertow?” I called out, after a few more attempts. She wasn’t on the same walkway as me, but maybe she was close.

“Lady Snow?”

SUCCESS!!! I spotted the Deep Diver a few levels down. She was rubbing her ear strangely.

“You okay?” My concern grew as she continued to rub, and then tap her ear. “Undertow?”

“I am… okay, Lady Snow. I think the air here is affecting my hearing. There is a noise, almost like I am underwater.”

I cast about, trying to make sense of what she was saying. “What do you mean? What noi…”

Then I heard it.

It was subtle, like any other background noise, you’d barely register it unless you were looking for it. A hissing, static-y sound that was chillingly familiar.

“Undertow, get under cover!” I forcefully yelled. “Right now!” The distance between us seemed to stretch as the new danger approached.

“What is it, lady Snow? What’s wrong?” She was standing on the tallest part of her bridge, as if the extra few inches would allow us to reach each other.

I waved her towards one of the hollows in the cliff face. “Get out of the open and get your water ready! Whatever you do, don’t let them bite you! I’m coming to find you!”

“Please, Lady Snow, what is coming?” I hated the raw emotion in her voice, it matched the feeling I had in my heart. She was scared for me, and I was scared for her.

“Hissyflits! Their poison is deadly! Don’t let them touch you!” I had to raise my voice now. The static was much more pronounced. “Button up your barding, tight as you can! Goggles on, rebreather in. Expose as little as possible!”

I raced towards one of the hub points in a vain attempt to find a way down to her, all the while that she was calling out to me. I just wished she would get out of the open. I’d fought these things before. Hell, I’d been poisoned by these things before, I knew what I was up against.

Undertow was a far superior fighter to me, but I didn’t want her taking unnecessary chances. Hissyflits were lethal. One bite could be deadly. There weren’t any miraculous, antidote-wielding Steel Rangers around La Buque, and we were too far from anywhere else for her to get help in time.

“UNDERTOW, GET OUT OF SIGHT!” I screamed as I ran, barely heard over the static hissing.

Then the six cat-bat hybrids came around the bend.

Shit! I was exposed, in the middle of a crossing, too far away from either side. As soon as they noticed me, I was screwed. I didn’t even have the Power Hooves that I managed to kill all of one Hissyflit with outside Neighlway.

If I keep still, they might just pass b-

“Lady Snow?”

My eyes shot wide. I told her to get out of sight!

Whipping off my Molar hide cloak, I waved it over my head, as big as I could make it. Doing everything I could to get the attention of the flying creatures, whatever it took to get them away from Undertow. “Over here, you poison jackholes!”

The motion caught the eye of the lead Hissyflit, which changed course towards me. The intensity of their static cries ramped up as the other five soon joined it, announcing their hunt.

With the monsters screaming down on me, and lacking any real plan, I turned and ran. I didn’t know, or care, which path I took, so long as it took us away from Undertow.

My random path took me along the wall at first, which gave me nothing to look at but the incoming pack as they bore down on me, sharp fangs glistening with dripping venom.

Reaching the end of one walkway, I took the available stairs, heading further down into the ravine, desperately seeking a way to escape from the situation. This desire only increased as I heard wing beats at the top of the stairs behind me, along with a keeling cry as one swooped over my head, my blind ducking being the only thing that saved me.

Still, I could still hear them as they came around again, and it was clear that I couldn’t outrun them. I had no plan, and couldn’t escape. What was I gonna do?

Skidding around a corner, I lurched forward along the next bridge, just as something thudded into the stonework I’d just passed. Looking forward, my heart sank.

This path was collapsed in the middle, and the gap was not short.

Still, given the flapping terrors behind me, I had little choice but to go for it. Putting whatever speed I could into my burning, running-solely-on-adrenaline limbs, I gained the smallest sliver of extra speed, just before my hooves left the solid stone and my body arced through the air towards the other side.

Slamming chest first into the broken edge, all the air was driving out of my lungs as I scrabbled for purchase. Come on, come on!

Something ploughed into me from behind, a Hissyflit, but thankfully I felt no sting of icy venom, as the Molar Hide cloak kept the fangs from penetrating. Still, it dislodged one of my scraping hooves.

Nonononono! With my lungs still empty, I could only think my despair, rather than speak it, as I hung weakly from my one hoof, which was racing towards the edge anyway.

Another Hissy struck my toughened hide cloak, right behind my shoulder, turning me just enough to rip my last grip from the bridge.

My mouth opened in a soundless scream as I dropped. The half dozen hybrids were much more vocal as they dived to follow.

Well, at least for a moment. Almost immediately their howls turned confused and frightened, as watery tendrils shot in from all sides. The light played across the surface of the water as it thrashed back and forth, battering and tossing the Hissyflits back and forth.

Watching with the detachment of somebody who knows they’re about to die, I marvelled at the sight. The water moved from striking the beasts, to trapping them in liquid spheres.

My attention was reattached as I felt something wet wrap around a hoof, and suddenly I was not falling straight down, but rather swinging in a smooth arc, as another water whip had snagged me mid-fall, and was not guiding me towards a lower walkway.

I’m… uh… I’m still going really fast. Like this-is-gonna-hurt-so-much really fast.

It did.

I slammed down hard on the walkway, my already suffering muscles spasming and seizing. I had no time to catch my breath, though, as a liquid voice flowed past the bubbling interference. “You cannot rest yet, Lady Snow! I require your assistance!”

U-Undertow? I was so exhausted and hurt after days of no sleep, travelling and fighting, that even my thoughts were skipping. “Where are you?”

“There is no time. Please, Lady Snow, use your spell. Touch the water with your horn.”

Raising my head painfully, I was greeted to a strange sight. Each Hissyflit was encased in a ball of water, fighting to get free, and a thin string of liquid ran from each sphere, to join together a few inches from my horn. It was like a bunch of living balloons. As I watched, the balloons shook as the Hissyflits inside beat their wings to escape before they suffocated.

Undertow’s voice sounded out from another walkway, I couldn’t tell which one. “Hurry, Lady Snow. I can’t hold them for much longer. You must use your ice now!”

“O-okay.” Rolling slowly to my hooves, I focused only on the water ‘balloon strings’. After a few false starts, my horn finally began to give off the glacial aura for my magic.

I tiredly nodded my head forward until the horn found the strings. I couldn’t manage to find the strings away from my horn in enough time, and Undertow had known that, so she’s positioned the trap as close to my horn as possible. She was most certainly a good teacher.

The spell fired as soon as my horn made contact, and the strings began to freeze solid as the ice tore along them. In the balloons, the Hissyflits redoubled their efforts when they recognised the new threat, but it was too late. The ice found the balls, and began freezing them one by one. One flyer got a wing out before the cold took it, but the rest didn’t even manage that.

Like at her lake, Undertow’s magic lost hold of the water when it turned to ice, and the preserved monsters dropped like rocks down into the gorge. I heard them shatter when they found other walkways, or the hard stone floor of the ravine.

Slumping against the side of the bridge, I was just glad for it to be over. I didn’t move from there until, minutes later, I heard hooves clattering along the stone towards me.

Reaching me, Undertow crouched down so that she was within my field of vision. I couldn’t see her eyes under the goggles, but she looked anything but relaxed. “Why did you do that, Lady Ice?”

“…Didn’t want you to get bitten. You’d die.”

Her frown only increased. “The same is true of you. You could not have survived against those creatures without my assistance. Did you promise to protect me, only to throw your life away for nothing? There was no guarantee that I would have survived without you. That is not protection, Lady Ice!”

That was another bruise to my battered heart. I tried to stand, but found that I was barely able to hold my weight up. “Undertow, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I won’t do that again.”

Relenting, she slung one of my front legs over her shoulder and began slowly walking me along the bridge. “I am glad, Lady Snow,” she nuzzled me as we walked, her damp mane cool against my cheek, “I do not wish to see you hurt.”

I promise, Undertow, when I’m strong enough, there will be nowhere in the Wasteland where you will not feel protected. I wished I could have said that out loud, but I didn’t feel worthy of it at the time, with her taking most of my weight.

~~~~~~

It took us another two hours to get back to where we’d last seen Bosco and Naiara. We slowly made our way down towards the canyon floor, being mindful of any uninvited fliers.

There was no sign of any Hissyflits as we walked, for which I was very thankful. I’d recovered enough to walk unassisted, but I was genuinely troubled by Undertow’s words, coupled with my absolutely wrecked body.

I needed sleep. I didn’t know how I’d get it, since I felt no better about the whole ghoul fight than I did days ago, when my insomnia began, but I was physically falling apart, heavily bruised, finding it harder and harder to use the little magic I had, my nose had bled again for a short while, and I was absolutely certain of some jarring notions.

If I didn’t get fixed up, and soon, I wouldn’t be able to learn magic properly, and in turn, I wouldn’t be able to protect Undertow, and my friends.

That was not acceptable anymore. As soon as we found Breeze, we’d head back to Lethbridle, and I would find some way to sleep.

Really glad there’re no Hissyflits around right now.

SPANG! A bullet cracked off the masonry besides us.

Oh what now?

“Raiders, here?” Undertow pulled me down, as the unseen shooters began hooting in delight.

“Raiders,” I repeated, deadpan, “here?”

Taking a few breaths, I turned, still in cover, so that I was facing towards the Raiders. “Knock it off, I’m Red Ice, and I am NOT happy that you idiots are shooting at us. Go away.”

I did not get the response I was hoping for.

“Who’s Red Ice?” One asked.

“Don’t know, don’t care. I want me a couple of unicorns since you lost the damn Pegasus!”

They were after Breeze? If they lost her, does that mean she’s okay?

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck YOU! Bring me those girls!”

Crouching next to me, Undertow was nonplussed. “I don’t believe these Raiders are part of your alliance, Lady Snow.”

“Great… freelancers.” I muttered. Red Ice’s name wouldn’t get us out of this. We’d have to fight.

POP! POP!

I eased an eye over out of cover in time to see one of the Raiders, a yellow earth stallion, tumble over the lip of the bridge they were on, dead from the bullets Bosco had just put into his chest.

From a walkway above us, the charcoal colt had a perfect angle on the Raiders, and their return fire did nothing but strike the stone he stood on.

Still, it was five to one, Bosco would need help. “Undertow, get ready.”

“Nope!”

Flipping onto our platform with practiced equine grace, Naiara landed in our cover. “They’re ours. We need you two to help Breeze.”

I woke up more at those words. “You found her?”

Naiara was still keeping an eye on the Raiders, but managed a nod. “We did. She’s over there,” we followed her hoof, “but we need Undertow’s help.”

“What’s wrong?”

She began shoving Undertow towards the direction she’d pointed. “No time, you’ll see when you reach her. We’ll keep these guys off her, but if one of them gets past us, Snow’ll have to look after the two of you.”

That doesn’t sound too good. Still, we can finish this quickly, so we’ll risk it. “Alright, we’re off then. Be careful with these guys. They only need to get lucky once.”

“Just go,” she flashed a confident smile, “we got this.” Then she was gone, bounding across to another platform, acting as a lethal distraction for at least one Raider, who got a bullet through the neck the moment he turned to look at her.

Leaving the battle behind us, Undertow and I stayed down, shimmying along under cover while heading towards where Naiara had been pointing. She’d indicated the ravine floor, so maybe Breeze was hiding out somewhere?

When we reached the floor, I saw why Undertow was needed. What I’d originally assumed to be dry rock turned out to be, in fact, a shallow but fast-moving current.

If I’d known this was here when the Hissyflits were around then I’d have just let Undertow take care of them from the start.

Looking around, I saw no sign of the missing Pegasus. “Breeze? Are you here?”

I heard no reply, with the only sounds being the quiet river and the far off gunshots. Nodding to Undertow, we began following the water, heading further down the ravine. It stayed mainly to the centre of the expanse, but snaked back and forth as we went, occasionally forming small reservoirs at slower points, before picking up speed again after.

Around a corner, we came across an obstruction. A pile of rubble and stone had fallen, and the water disappeared into the centre of it. A cursory glance didn’t reveal any way around.

This was the direction that Naiara had pointed in, so Aqua Breeze was probably nearby. “Breeze? Can you hear me?”

Both of us jumped as a voice seemed to emerge from the pile. “Who’s that? That you, Naiara?”

“Breeze!” I exclaimed, cheered, “It’s me, Snowflake. Naiara’s busy with some Raiders right now.”

“What?” That wasn’t good news for her. “Those guys are still here? I thought they’d give up by now. It’s been a whole day!”

“What can I say,” the Raider stallion’s words were fresh in my mind, “they were really interested in bagging a Pegasus.”

“Ugh, great. Well, can you get me out of here?”

I looked around again in confusion. “That depends. Where’s here?”

“Oh yeah,” she sounded both sheepish and impatient, “forgot you weren’t here before. There’s a gap on top. Climb up and you can get in. You gotta hurry though, the water’s rising!”

“Water?” I turned to Undertow, who’d been examining where the stream disappeared under the stones, “Right, we’ll be just a second.”

I trotted up to the pile, setting a hoof on it, testing for stability, and began climbing. For the most part, the collection of fallen rock was stable enough, though smaller fragments shifted occasionally.

Grunts behind me showed that Undertow was following.

Reaching the top of the pile, I gingerly picked my way towards the hole Breeze had mentioned. It was dark inside, almost too dark to see, but I could make out basic outlines, faintly, within the dankness. “Breeze?”

A flash of lighter colour shifted back and forth, accompanied by splashing. I recognised the white stripes in her mane, though looking wetter than usual. Just beneath, a pair of orbs glinted. “Snow, good to see you. Think you can help me out here?”

“I can’t really see much from up here. What’s wrong?”

The navy blue eyes looked away. “I’m kinda stuck. My wing’s pinned, courtesy of those bastard Raiders out there. They came after me with grenades, which blasted all this rock free. My wing’s pinned, and water’s coming in.” I heard, more than saw, her spit in disgust. “Fucking Raiders.”

Oh yeah, telling her about Undertow, and all that I’ve been up to, is gonna be so much fun.

But that’s for later.

I looked around the pocket where Breeze was trapped. The drop didn’t seem that high. “Alright, I’m coming in.”

Before I jumped, I turned to the ‘Raider’ with me. “Undertow, stay up here, and see if you can move the water out of here, use this hole to pull it out. Um… well, I don’t really care where you put it, so long as it isn’t in here.”

Her horn was already glowing. “I understand, Lady Snow. Please be careful.”

I flashed a sure smile. I wasn’t about to put myself in danger again if I could help it. Knowing her power, there really was no danger of drowning with Undertow here.

Without another word, I hopped down into the hole. I splashed down close to Breeze, with the water cushioning the fall. “Hi again.”

Before the trapped Pegasus could respond, the water in the pocket began drawing towards the centre, funnelling upwards against gravity, as the Deep Diver boss magically ignored gravity. Breeze and I watched in silence and, even in the low light, I could tell she was impressed. “She’s good. Who is she?”

I smiled proudly. I certainly agreed. “That’s Undertow. You can get a proper introduction later. Suffice it to say, she’s really great with water, and she’s teaching me magic.”

An appreciative whistled echoed around the enclosed space. “You lucked out with her.”

“Didn’t I just? But enough of that for now. How can we get you out of here?”

She gave a few experimental tugs on her trapped wing, but winced after the third, and relented. “No good. It’s stuck tight. I can’t shift the rock from here. I doubt you can either. We need more muscle. We can try when Naiara gets back.”

I hesitated. “That could be a while, and there’s no guarantee that she’ll be in good shape when she does. There were still four of those Raiders alive when Undertow and I left. If they’ve got grenades, Bosco and Naiara could have their hooves full for a while.”

Her frustration was evident. “UGHHH! I don’t wanna stay here any longer. I’ve been down here a full day already! I want to fly again, and I’m all wet. I wanna get out of here and get back to…” she stopped abruptly, which drew my attention back to her,

“Hmm? ‘Back to’ what?”

“…Cassie.”

“Ah.” We lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, the only sound being Undertow’s draining of the water. What else could I say to that? Breeze knew I wasn’t happy with her sister, but I wanted to make it clear that I didn’t hold a grudge against her either. “Let’s… put that aside for now, and focus on getting you out of here, deal?”

“Deal.” The relief was palpable, from both of us.

I put my hooves on the rock that pinned her wing, and gave a shove. It didn’t move a millimetre. Stuck tight indeed. So what could we use to get her out? Undertow was busy, and my magic was basically useless here.

She’s right. We need Naiara, or Bosco. Heh, if I really wanted muscle, I’d call in Schwarzwald. Somehow, I don’t think she’s available, though, so we need a new approach. “…I got nothing.”

“May I offer a suggestion?”

The water mage’s question surprised us both. “Yeah, sure. Go ahead, Undertow.”

Goggled eyes still on the rising water, she didn’t look at us as she spoke. “Aqua Breeze, the surface under your wing, is it stone or soil?”

Blinking, the techy Pegasus went about checking. She finally managed to lever her wing up enough to examine the underside. “Looks like its soil, but it’s probably pretty dry in a place like this.”

Undertow wasn’t dissuaded. “Perhaps usually, but if the water has been pooling within your enclosure, it may have soaked into the soil enough to loosen it.”

I beamed with pride again. “She’s really great with water.” I repeated.

Breeze was already scraping and digging with the hidden blade from her greave, thankfully on her unrestricted foreleg. After a few seconds, she gave a small cry of triumph. “It’s working! I owe you one, Undertow. I think I can dig myself out with this.”

Much happier, I sat back with a splash, as the last few inches of water drained away. “That’s great. Well done, both of you.”

As they worked, I decided to use my few peaceful moments to get some practice in with my magic. Closing my eyes, I tried to recreate the lesson I’d had with Undertow earlier, sensing the water away from my horn, and reaching out magically. I had approximately zero success, as I couldn’t drum up the necessary concentration after all the mental fatigue I’d been through.

I really need a good night’s sleep. I’ll take medicine, or get blind drunk, or something… anything really. Whatever works.

“Hey, Snow? Think you could send some of that horn light over this way? I don’t wanna stab myself in the wing by accident.”

“Oh, yeah sure. I can do that.” That was about the limit of my magical ability at present, but I could manage that much. Soon enough, a glacier-blue glow was illuminating the enclosure, allowing me to get another look at Breeze. She didn’t look too worse for wear for her experience, considering having been down here for a full day, and soaked to the bone. The filly could definitely use a sandwich or two, though, which we’d fix as soon as possible. Not that Breeze was the most fragile of girls, anyway.

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