//------------------------------// // There's Something in the Water // Story: Shadow Grave // by Composer99 //------------------------------// “The necklaces are all heavily enchanted, but they all seem the same,” Twilight complained, pacing along the rocky shoreline. “I can’t be sure what they’ve been enchanted for, although I’m pretty confident they have something to do with how Shadow Grave has lived this long. If you can even call whatever she is alive.” “Oooh, I know!” Pinkie Pie said. “It’s like a zombie or vampire in Nightmare Night. She’s undead! Spooooooky!” She stood for the last word, holding her forelegs out and wiggling her hooves. “Undead? That sounds scary,” Fluttershy said with a shiver. “How could she survive this long, though?” Applejack asked. Twilight stopped and turned to face the others. She scratched an ear with a foreleg. “I’ve thought a bit about it since Celestia told us about her, although I'd have to do some reading to get up to speed. Some magical theorists I’ve read about postulated that everypony has a sort of life-force. This life-force connects a pony to the magic of the world – it’s where, these theorists suggest, cutie mark magic comes from, along with each pony tribe’s inherent magic. “Nopony’s ever devised a way to test for the existence of a life-force, that I know of. But supposing such a thing did exist, maybe you could separate it, in whole or in part, from a pony’s physical body: that way, even if the body is destroyed, something of the pony still exists – still lives. “I don’t know how, but maybe Shadow Grave found a way to do that with herself. It could explain not just how she’s lived for so long – if lived is the right word for... for an undead creature, thanks Pinkie – but also how she survived Celestia and Luna’s attack with the Elements of Harmony. “It also might explain what these necklaces are doing here. If Shadow Grave could just store her life-force somewhere safe, she’d never have to fear being permanently defeated.” “So you think one of these necklaces is concealing her… life-force, and the others are decoys?” Rarity asked. “Yes, but I’m not sure which one. They’re identical in every respect.” “What if they’re all fakes?” Pinkie Pie asked brightly. Twilight flashed her an annoyed look. “Pinkie Pie, that doesn’t…” she began before trailed off. Her pupils shrunk in her eyes, and then she smiled. “Pinkie Pie, that’s it! You’re a genius!” “Aw, shucks,” Pinkie Pie waved a hoof, blushing. “I can’t tell which one of these is real, because none of them are!” Twilight said excitedly. “Come again?” Rarity asked, perplexed. “It’s like going to the carnival and playing that game where there’s a little ball that gets shifted around underneath three shells or cups, and you have to guess which cup has the ball underneath,” Twilight explained. “But if the pony running the game is swindling you, none of the cups has the ball. It’s a trick: a shell game.” “Then where’s the real one?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Either Shadow Grave has it herself,” Twilight replied, “or she’s hidden it someplace else. Discord didn’t pick up on any of her magic anywhere else in Equestria, so if she hid it, it’s in this cave.” Twilight looked over at the pond. “And I think I know where.” She pointed a hoof at the water. “It’s in the pond.” “How could we possibly get it, then?” Fluttershy asked. “Ha! Leave that to me,” Rainbow Dash announced, taking to the air. “Rainbow Dash! What are you doing?” Twilight shouted. “That - that thing is still in there!” “I’m way too fast and too agile for any ol’ tentacle monster to catch me!” Rainbow boasted. “Rainbow Dash, are you sure about this?” Fluttershy asked. “No sweat! I’ll just whip up enough wind to make a whirlpool and look around the bottom!” “Uh, that actually sounds really difficult,” Twilight said. “Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said grandly, “you know me! I know wind, and I never back away from a challenge. Equestria’s future is on the line, and everypony’s counting on me! On us! I’ve got to step it up!” She zipped out over the water near the outcropping, and began to circle around, fast. “It’s hard to tell on account of how fast she’s going, but does anypony else notice she’s glowing?” Rarity asked. “Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! She’s our pony! If she can’t do it she’s a great big phony!” Pinkie Pie shouted. She was sporting a big foam hand, oversized ball cap, and pennant, all in Rainbow Dash’s coat colour and sporting her cutie mark. “Okay, Pinkie, first of all, where did all that stuff come from?” Applejack demanded. “And second of all, phony?!” “Whaaa-aaat? You think of something that rhymes with pony on short notice!” Pinkie Pie replied before sticking out her tongue at Applejack. Applejack rolled her eyes. “Never mind,” she muttered. Rainbow Dash was now strongly glowing. Her mane, tail, and wings had erupted in a riot of colour that streamed behind her as she whipped around and around. The water beneath her swirled, sluggishly at first, but with increasing speed. “Odd,” Twilight said, looking out over the water. “That creature in the water hasn’t made a grab for her yet.” As the water spun faster and faster, it began to push outward from the centre of Rainbow Dash’s circle. She slowly descended, forcing more and more of the water out. “She’s really doing it!” Fluttershy exclaimed, amazed. Before long, the whirlpool had expanded around Rainbow Dash, and had opened all the way to the bottom of the pond. “There!” Applejack exclaimed. Not far from the terrace, half buried in barren sand, was a large piece of jewelry, and beside it, a thick tome. “I see them!” Rainbow Dash responded. She paused for an instant, then raced to the exposed bottom. She stood there long enough to pull the jewelry out with her teeth, and managed to scoop up the book in her hoof. The water swirling around her began to slow, and to totter over, as if it was going to collapse on her. Rainbow Dash pushed herself off the ground, flapping furiously. “C’mon c’mon c’mon,” Twilight said under her breath, backing up nervously. Rainbow Dash cleared the top of the water just as the whirlpool cascaded in around her. One of her back hooves, however, was stretched back a bit further than the others, and got caught in a splash of water as she was slowed for an instant by a downdraft of air. The water behind her erupted into turmoil, and the cavern echoed with a thundering roar. Spike, Starlight Glimmer, and Discord all stood suddenly, staring at the cave entrance. Shocked, Twilight stepped back, tripped over the skeleton, and flipped backwards onto the stone behind. She rolled into the wall along the back of the outcrop. “Ouch!” she shouted, leaping away from the glowing runes as if bitten. “That stung!” “Oh my goodness, what do we do?” Fluttershy asked. “I’ll distract it!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flying around the turmoil in the water. Tentacles swatted at her, but she evaded them. “Get in the boat!” “That’s our signal!” Spike shouted, and he bolted for the tunnel. “Whatever happened can’t be good,” Starlight said as she galloped after Spike. Discord hesitated momentarily, fidgeting. “Starlight’s right. You’ve faced down alicorn Princesses. What’s the worry?” He fidgeted for a moment longer, then made up his mind. “Wait for me!” he shouted, running for the entrance. “C’mon, hurry, I don’t think I can hold it off much longer!” Rainbow Dash shouted. She zipped between tentacles that swiped through the air. In the light of Twilight’s flare, they could see that each tentacle was equipped with hundreds of gripping suckers, and on each sucker was a short, sharp barb: if a tentacle caught something – or somepony – it wasn’t letting go. “I’m. Going. As. Fast. As. I. Can!” Twilight grunted through clenched teeth. The stone boat was bouncing through the turbulent water. “Wooh! Wooh!” Pinkie Pie whooped with each flop of the boat as it fell down a wave. “Urk!” Applejack moaned. “Darling, please be sick into the water,” Rarity said, holding on to the gunwale for dear life. “Look! Over at the tunnel!” Fluttershy said. Her voice was hardly louder than normal. Starlight, Spike, and Discord had emerged from the entrance to the tunnel leading back to the surface. With another bellow, the creature breached its main bulk out of the water. Its body smacked into the boat, causing it to catapult into the air. One of its tentacles backhanded Rainbow Dash with a mighty swat! The impact caused her to revert to her normal appearance in a flash of blue, and she began streaking for the wall. “STOP!” shouted Starlight, her horn glowing. Everything froze. There was the boat, on its side in the air, about to dump terror-stricken ponies into the pond, and Rainbow Dash, frozen in mid-hurtle. “I say, what was that?” Discord asked. Starlight had had just enough presence of mind to exempt him from the spell’s effects. “New spell. Stops time. Gotta concentrate on it. Get everypony outta there – quick!” Starlight managed to grunt out. Discord’s arms reached out, stretching to incredible length. They were joined by other arms that sprouted from his body. Each paw and claw grasped one of the ponies and yanked them to the safety of the shore. An additional pair pulled the necklace and book, depositing them in front of Twilight. Starlight released the spell and toppled over. The boat flipped through the air and smashed into the cave wall, shattering into chunks of stone before vanishing unceremoniously in the dark waters. “Uhhh, what just happened?” Rainbow Dash asked groggily. “Thanks for the rescue!” Twilight panted to Discord and Starlight as she got to her feet. “That’s what friends are for, right?” Discord said ingratiatingly. “Uhhh, not to spoil the moment,” Spike said, “but we gotta RUN!” A great mass of tentacles splayed forward, reaching for them. A huge pseudopod emerged from the water, dripping as it unfolded to reveal a gaping maw, which bellowed. As the creature’s body rose up, other pseudopods sprouted from its body, opening up to reveal eyes with curved black slits for pupils. As chunks of the cavern ceiling began to break away, splashing into the water and crashing onto the shore, Twilight grabbed the necklace and tome in her magic while Spike jumped on her back, Discord scooped up Rainbow Dash and Starlight, and they all ran for the tunnel. They were outside the cave. While most of the party gathered the saddlebags they had brought and left outside, Starlight rested near the fire, and Twilight examined the necklace. This necklace was made of silver, unlike the others, and its pendant was a large chunk of onyx, into which several diamonds had been embedded: the diamonds formed a pattern, like a constellation of stars. “That’s Shadow Grave’s old cutie mark, when she was Constellation,” Spike said. “Yes,” replied Twilight. “That’s why I’m sure this is the object in which she stored her life-force.” “Her what now?” asked Spike. “Never mind,” Twilight said, before calling out, “Stand back everypony!” She took aim at the necklace and blasted it with her magic. Nothing happened. There was a moment of silence while Twilight frowned at the necklace, before looking up. “Discord, why don’t you try?” “You’ll forgive me for being reluctant,” Discord said as he walked towards Twilight. “This Shadow Grave character seems to have been particularly concerned about stopping me.” “It’s funny, that,” Twilight said. “Apart from the Elements of Harmony, the only magic I’ve ever seen that could thwart you was Princess Celestia’s – and even then, not always. How did Shadow Grave become skilled enough with magic to do some of the things she’s done? She never actually became an alicorn.” She looked down at the book. “Maybe this book holds the answers,” she pondered. She took it in her magic and stuffed it in her saddlebags. Twilight stepped away, retrieving her saddlebags while Discord picked up the necklace and peered at it. Discord set the necklace down. His goat hoof grew to enormous size, and he stamped it on the necklace several times. He lifted his hoof up and it shrunk to its normal size. The necklace was intact. Discord shrugged, picked up the necklace, opened his mouth unusually wide, and swallowed it. He smacked his lips, and said, “It tastes a little metallic.” Then he burped, loudly, and the necklace popped out of his mouth. While now damp, it was otherwise unharmed. “Oh, Mr Tough Guy, are we?” he snapped at the necklace. He snapped his fingers, and rays of white light shot from his eyes, striking the necklace. It flew into the air and bounced along the sand before sliding to a stop. There was no sign of damage. “Well, I could probably figure something out given sufficient time,” Discord explained, “but I don’t believe extra time is a luxury we have just now. Spike, I’m sure the Princess will be very interested in that last letter from Celestia?” Discord snapped his fingers, and the necklace floated back to Twilight. Spike hurried over with rolled-up parchment in hand. Twilight unrolled it in her magic and read the letter, her eyes widening with a snort of shock. “Discord’s right! We’ve got to get back to Ponyville,” she said. She looked down at the necklace. “If only we had more time to figure out how to destroy this.” “Don’t worry, Twilight,” Spike said, “I’m sure you and your friends will work it out. You always have before!” Twilight looked around at everypony. Her eyes widened briefly with realisation, then she smiled. “Yes, I’m sure we will.” They all gathered together. Spike helped Starlight get back on her feet, and Discord snapped his fingers. They vanished in a burst of light, leaving behind the dying embers of their fire and the stillness of the desert night.