Water began to fill the place rather quickly and John cursed to himself several times. “I’m sure you all can tell why I hate water.” He mused as we all rushed down the pyramid and to the floor, which already had water up to our knees.

“Don’t bother trying the way we came. We won’t get anywhere.” I told them, knowing it would be a waste of time because the floor that we fell through would most likely still be closed shut.

“So what do we do?” Billy asked frantically as water came up to our bellies. I began to look around frantically. This was getting bad fast. Bear was already paddling to stay afloat.

The water reached midsection of my body and moments after that, we too were paddling to stay afloat. “Idea!” John announced and we looked over to him. John looked to Elijah. “Second time being a hero in today. Take one of your sticks of dynamite and light it above water, take it down to the tunnel exit we saw and blow the door down. The water should rush out fast enough that we won’t drown… any-pony have any better ideas?” He asked and we all shook our heads then swam over to the wall where the tunnel had been by.

Elijah hesitated before lighting the dynamite with a fuse three times the size of a regular stick. “What’s wrong?” John asked and I could see that Elijah was struggling to keep afloat.

“I don’t know if it is good idea… me going, I mean. I have lots of weight on and might not be able to swim back to the surface in time.” Elijah replied. John grabbed the stick of dynamite in his hoof. Elijah pulled out a little tin and opened it. Inside were dry matches.

He lit the fuse on the dynamite and John quickly submerged himself then swam downwards. Surprisingly, the dynamite fuse stayed lit underwater. I could see through the clear water as I watched John stuff the piece of dynamite against the wall then quickly paddled for the surface.

He broke through the surface with a gasp and began frantically wiping water away from his eyes. I felt a ripple under the water then felt the suction as water was being drained from the tunnel.

“Try to stay above water as long as you can… I don’t know how long that tunnel is.” John stated. Brixie grabbed hold of Billy while Elijah grabbed Bear. I looked to John and quickly latched myself to him.

After a few moments, the water around us began to whirlpool as the water drained. John had stuffed the gold billons in his saddle bags and I prayed that they wouldn’t fall out.

After a few more seconds, the force of the whirlpool sucked us underneath the water and swirled our bodies around violently before draining us out the tunnel way. I kept my eyes shut but held onto John tightly, making sure never to let go of his body. Despite the circumstances, I felt rather secure and safe while I held John.

We were sucked through the powerful make shift drainage tunnel and it only took a few seconds before it felt like my oxygen supply was being forced out of my lungs. I began to feel a burning in my chest as I tried to keep my mouth shut.

The water whirl pooled our bodies violently and as it rocked our bodies I accidentally let my mouth slip open. I felt water invade my mouth and I quickly made the mistake of gasping. Water filled my lungs and I tried to gag it out but more water invaded my body. This was it… I was going to drown… I think I’m beginning to share John’s hatred of water, even if it is in my dying moments.

John’s perspective:

After a few more seconds, our bodies were hurled out the end of the tunnel and we splashed into a river. I quickly surfaced our bodies but Daring was limp. Water stung my vision but I kept my eyes open as I quickly spotted land and paddled over.

I didn’t even begin to look for the others and immediately placed Daring on solid ground. “Daring… hey kid… you’re alright… right?” I asked frantically but there was no reply. My hooves began to shake as I listened to her breathing. Nothing.

“BUCK!” I hissed then put my front hooves together and began giving her CPR, something Hearth had taught me when I was young. “Please Daring… don’t you die on me… don’t you bucking die on me!” I yelled. I continued giving quick compressions to her chest in an attempt to get her breathing but nothing seemed to be happening.

I quickly opened her mouth so that it would stay open then took a breath, held my nose shut along with hers then breathed air into her mouth. I began to give compression pushes to her chest again. Every 10 compressions I’d give her mouth to mouth but after about a minute it was starting to look dull for her.

“Buck… buck… BUUUUCCCCK!” I yelled as I quickly forced a powerful breath of air into her mouth and she gagged then a large mouthful of water came up through her throat. I leaned her over and she puked out the water in her lungs.

“Ack… gah… ack… goddess dammit… I hate water!” She gagged. As she finally caught her breath she looked to me. She was about to say something but just as she opened her lips I pressed mine against hers and immediately began to make out with her.

Daring’s perspective:

Jeeze… John was so abrupt. I had only just regained consciousness and the guy begins to make out with me before I can say a word. Oh well, he had a promise to keep and I was going to make sure he did.

I let him gently lay my body back on the ground as he shuffled over top of mine. I began to rub my hooves up and down his already soaking back. “HELP!” Yelled out a voice that belonged to Elijah.

We both shot up and looked to the voice’s origin point. Elijah was trying to swim in the water… no, he was trying to swim after Bear who was struggling to… oh no.

“Shit!” John cursed before I could. There was a waterfall at the end of the river, not even twenty yards away from Bear who was whimpering fearfully as he tried to paddle away from the strong current, but he was already caught in the rapids. John immediately tossed off all his equipment and rushed towards the river.

John lept into the water nude and began to make a dash for Bear as he continued to struggle. Elijah tried to make it to Bear but his equipment was weighing him down.

John quickly arrived to Bear who began to panic. John grabbed the dog and quickly swam towards shore. I let out a breath of relief. After all we had been through, we really deserved some slack.

Suddenly there was a large splash behind John who swore out in rage. He gave Bear a push as he began to splash and fight with the water. ‘What is he…’ My thoughts trailed off as I spotted crocodiles… wait why were crocodiles here? This was freshwater.

John struggled and fought with the crocs, the tide now taking him and the crocodiles with him. “Come on you bitches… I’ve fought salamanders more terrifying than you!” John yelled as he snapped off a tree branch from a fallen tree that had splashed into the water.

John began to beat the crocodiles with the stick but it did little to deter them. I quickly realized that John was deathly close to the water fall. “JOHN! THE WATERFALL!” I screamed. “Brixie, grab him in your magic!” I yelled, hoping that Brixie could hear me.

“I can’t… I’m too exhausted to cast any spells!” Brixie yelled back. The crocs all swam away, knowing that if they came any closer that they would most definitely be pulled off. John let out a victorious cheer but then looked back and gasped as he realized why the crocs were leaving him along. He began to thrash about as he tried to swim against the current but it was just too strong for him.

I took to the air and began to rush towards him. “John… just hold on!” I yelled.

“TO WHAT!?” He yelled back. Smartass, even at death’s door he cracks jokes. I was close… so close. I began to extend my forelegs. I wouldn’t stop, just fly by and pick him up as I went.

“John, lift your arms!” I ordered him. He looked to the waterfall and gulped then lifted his arms in the air. The current now took him faster without him struggling. Right before he fell off the edge of the water fall I flew right above him and reached down to grab him … and missed.

“BUCK!” I screamed as I felt my hooves just graze past his.

I looked back in pure disbelief. I had missed. My one and only chance I had and I had blown it. “OH SHIT!” John swore as his body was pulled off the edge of the waterfall and down the monstrously high drop. I tried to fly after him but his body was sucked into the water itself and I immediately lost track of his body location.

‘No-no-no-no NO!’ I screamed in my thoughts. This couldn’t be… not like this… not again. I began to fly down the waterfall to try and find him at the bottom but I couldn’t spot him. Maybe he just hadn’t reached the bottom.

My heart was racing. This couldn’t be how it happened. John had gone through too much to just… die like this. He was a goddess damned ranger… a law bringer. He had survived against all odds again and again. So he wouldn’t die from the likes of a waterfall… he just couldn’t.

My heart continued to race as I zipped back and forth along the bottom of the waterfall, waiting to spot John. But he never came. I began frantically zooming up and down the river, figuring maybe I missed him… this couldn’t be it.

After what must have been two or three hours, the others managed to find their way down to the bottom river. “DARING!” Billy called out as I splashed through the water frantically, looking for any sight of John.

“DARING!” Billy yelled again but still I didn’t listen. Billy rushed into the water with Elijah. “DARING!” He yelled for a third time as he placed a hoof on my shoulder. I tried to keep looking but he grabbed me and held me in spot.

“LET ME GO!” I screamed, almost in tears. He wouldn’t comply however, and kept holding me. “I SAID, LET ME GO!” I screamed, tears now filling my vision and making it harder to see.

“Daring, you’ll catch your death in pneumonia. You have to get out of this water. It’s ice cold.” Billy told me but I wouldn’t listen to him. “Daring… I’m sorry. Believe me I am. John was one of my only friends in this world. But you have to get out of this water… Daring… John is gone.” He told me in a sympathetic voice.

“Don’t say that! He’s not dead… he can’t die!” I screamed.

“Daring… I’m sorry… Elijah?” Billy asked and Elijah nodded. They both grabbed me from behind before I could react. I began to struggle and thrash in the water as they began to pull me out.

“LET ME GO! GODDESS DAMMIT BILLY… ELIJAH… I WON’T LET HIM GO!” I sobbed as they pulled me out of the water. They held me in place for a moment and finally it set in. There was no way John could have died… but he did. John was gone and I never… never got to say goodbye.

I collapsed into a heap on the ground and began to sob in emotional pain. I shouldn’t have let this happen again. Once again I let a stallion into my heart and once again it ended in heartbreak.

Elijah and the others sat down beside me. Brixie spoke up. “We should get back to town…”

A few days later:

It was still hard to believe it. John had died… and so simply. A waterfall. Weird how he always feared water and somehow it had managed to be the death of him. I sat in the motel room, completely alone. I looked at his black cow-pony hat, duster coat, pistol and shotgun. They were the last reminders I had of him.

I wasn’t sure if I’d give them to the museum along with the gold billons, as part of the history of those who were lost on the expedition, or if I’d keep them with me to always remember him by.

The answer came by itself. I wouldn’t be able to part with them. No matter what happened. Elijah entered the room. “Hey Daring… I know it’s a bad time but the ponies from Baltimare just arrived with our horses… Come on kid, it’s time to go to Canterlot.”

I sighed depressingly. Canterlot, that’s where the museum was. I looked to Elijah with a faked smile. “Thank you Elijah. I’ll be out in a minute.” I told him and he nodded then trotted away, closing the door behind him. I slipped on John’s duster and placed his Colt M1911 in my hip holster. I slung the shotgun around my back. Finally I slowly placed his black cow-pony hat over top of my head then tipped the brim forwards as I smiled. “You’ll always be with me now.” I spoke to no-pony in particular.

Author's Notes:

So I'm not sure If I'll have it 'To be continued' with a sequel (Don't worry, I'll post a link to the sequel if I do) because the story is becoming rather long and I think I'm not even to the halfway mark. Or I might just leave this on hiatus for a few days while I figure out where I'm gonna go with it from here. With John dead, Black Mane still on the loose and Daring heartbroken... I gotta say John dying is like one of those "FUCK! Why does the awesome character have to die?!" maybe Elijah will become the really kickass character that becomes the other main character along with Daring... Anyway, I'll leave it up to you as readers, would you rather me do a sequel and post a link to it, or just continue on with one story that'll probably rage on just short 200000 words...