//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18 - The Deep End 
// Story: Halfling 
// by Dee Pad 
//------------------------------//


Halfling
By Dee Pad
=====================================================================

Chapter 18: The Deep End

=====================================================================


Chamella rolled her neck around slowly, a few satisfying pops loosening her vertebrae.  Those cracks sounded like they might have echoed through the whole cavern in the silence, seeming so loud to her that anypony could have mistaken it for the actual snapping of bones.  She didn't really care whether or not it was actually heard, as long as the kinks in her neck were alleviated.

It had only really been about a little over a full day since they left Ponyville.  Chamella had lived in the Changeling Kingdom for most of her life, only spending the past two years living in Ponyville, but it was strange to her that just being away from her new home for even a day made her miss the luxuries that she'd found there.  Having come from humble beginnings, she never expected she'd be spoiled so quickly.  She felt a little ashamed of herself.  Chamella was starting to realize that she'd probably never survive if she had to return to the Changeling Kingdom again to stay, whatever the reason would have been.  Going back to hunting down food instead of making a casual, weekly trip to the market would basically be torture.

Of course, the thing she missed most right now was her warm, cozy bed.  Having spent the past two nights sleeping on the ground—the previous night on jagged stone—she craved the comforting embrace of cotton sheets, quilted blankets and a fluffy, down pillow under her head.  She currently felt like her spine was tied in a knot, and it probably didn't help that they've been on their hooves almost constantly since leaving home, not to mention the saddlebags they'd been lugging around.  One thing was for certain, though: when she got home, she was going to lie in bed for three days straight and just savor it.

But Chamella wasn't the only one suffering.  She could hear the occasional, subdued sigh coming from the pegasus walking alongside her.  If anything, Winter was having an even harder time than Chamella.  Granted, that was to be expected considering Chamella grew up in the Changeling Kingdom, but the inherent dangers that came with the environment coupled with just the stress of the situation made for one distressed pony.  Winter's hoofsteps were audibly heavy, and she wasn't keeping her wings flush to her side anymore, letting them droop slightly.  Her fur was mottled with dirt, her feathers were ruffled and her mane and tail were looking mangy and knotted.

Not only that, but Winter seemed to be in a different headspace all day, unlike how she'd been since arriving, or even after coming to accept her mistakes.  Every time Chamella glanced over in Winter's direction, she found the pegasus discreetly eyeing her, only to look away with an uneasy expression before they could make eye contact.  Chamella had considered questioning her about whatever it was that was obviously bothering her.  However, she decided against it.  She tried enough times lately to get Winter to open up and figured she'd give her a little time to herself on this occasion.  Chamella hoped that Winter would know by now that if she felt she needed to talk, she could.  Whether or not the changeling could say anything that would help was another story.

Chamella looked over through the corner of her eye.  Winter appeared to be doing the same, as she had been all day.  The pegasus turned her eyes forward once more the moment she noticed she'd been caught staring again.  Admittedly, Chamella was getting more and more curious about what was on her mind, not to mention a little frustrated.  Clearly whatever it was that was bothering Winter had to do with her.  Chamella knew Winter still didn't exactly have a high opinion of her, but the way she'd been acting made it seem like it was something else.

Chamella was about to finally speak up, but the moment her mouth opened she noticed Winter's ear twitch and swivel forward.

"You hear that?" Winter asked quietly, listening closely.

The two stopped walking so as not to overpower the sound with their clomping hooves.  Chamella perked her own ears up to listen in, even extinguishing the light of her horn for a few moments to remove the magical hum it produced.  There was certainly a noise coming from further down the cave; a steady, endless sound that was not the buzzing of insectoid wings, nor as grating.

"Is that... water?" said Winter, a touch of hope in her voice.

"Sounds like it.  There must be a stream ahead."

As a nice change of pace, Winter finally managed a smile.  "That's great.  We can refill our bottles."

"I am getting kinda thirsty."

Despite the prospect, the two mares didn't bother to quicken their pace, not wanting to exert themselves anymore than they needed to.  The source of the water sounded close, resonating through the cave as if to lure them towards it.  The cave itself also appeared to be narrowing the further they went.  Not enough to be uncomfortable, but enough to make flight difficult.  If anything, that only further suggested that it would be unlikely that they would run into any changelings down this way, as Chamella had assumed the previous day.

Eventually the path lead them to another chamber, around the same size as the room full of mushrooms they had spent the night, and like that room, this one was almost equally as awe-inspiring.  First of all, there was indeed a water source there.  Water ran down from the left wall through several holes in the ceiling, indicating that there must have been some other water source above them; it gave them a relative idea of how deep underground they'd come.  That water poured down the wall, across the ground and into a basin in the middle of the room, around ten feet in diameter and six feet deep, carved into the stone floor by years of erosion.

But it wasn't just the pool of water that grabbed their attention.  Peppered in random spots along the walls and ceiling were a variety of many small gemstones.  Rubies; sapphires; emeralds; even what appeared to be a few diamonds.  Their uncut edges reflected the neon green glow of Chamella's horn, painting the walls with flickering, multi-colored lights.

Winter took a few slow steps through the room as she watched the dancing colors.  "Wow.  And I thought the mushrooms were pretty."

"I bet Rarity would love to be here right now," Chamella giggled.

The pegasus leaned in close to one ruby near eye level on the wall.  "So are these valuable, or just common gems?"

"I... don't really know," Chamella admitted with a touch of embarrassment.  "As much as I work with gems, I never really got a knack for appraising them.  I haven't really gotten a grasp on determining purity and stuff yet."

"Hm.  Well, whatever," Winter said with a dismissive shrug.  "We don't really want to weigh ourselves down with this stuff anyway.  Even if they are really beautiful..."

With that said, Chamella promptly removed her saddlebags, pulling out all of her beverage containers.  She'd brought three bottles of water and juice with her for the trip, which she was now realizing was not nearly enough.  The only liquid she had left was about a quarter of a bottle of apple juice, which she quickly downed now so she could replace the contents with water.  Really, it was a stroke of miraculous luck that they happened upon this place; another day in the caves and they would have found themselves quickly becoming dehydrated.

Winter waited hesitantly as Chamella filled her first bottle.  "Is this safe?  Like, is the water clean enough to drink?"

Now that the question had been raised, Chamella, too, raised a curious eyebrow.  The changeling lifted her now full bottle of water and examined the contents.  There were a few particles floating around in there, but otherwise it was pretty clear.  "Looks okay to me."  She took a small sip to test it, not finding any real issue with it.  "Maybe not perfect, but it's better than nothing."

Winter shrugged.  She couldn't really argue when their options were as limited as they were, so she followed suit and proceeded to refill her bottles, too.

Now that they were sitting on the water's edge, the pair could see more jewels embedded in the stone at the bottom of the basin under the glow of Chamella's horn.  Winter found the sight of it oddly calming, something she really needed after all the stress she'd been put through thus far.  The beautiful jewels reminded her of the one Shade had given her back then.  Of course, after what happened during her last excursion to the Changeling Kingdom, there was no way she was bringing her necklace with her this time.  She wasn't about to risk losing it again, especially since it meant even more to her now than it did back then.  She had already lost one of her precious "snowflakes," and that was the whole reason they were here in the first place.

Her train of thought now having come full circle, Winter packed her bottles away and prepared to move forward.  "Let's get going."

Chamella breathed a quiet sigh, a little disappointed that they couldn't rest a bit longer.  "Alright."

The changeling was about to join Winter as she left the chamber, however, the pegasus hadn't actually started going anywhere, only looking around, confused.

"Uh, where do we go from here?" asked Winter.

Chamella, too, had a look around.  There didn't appear to be any tunnels leading out of the room aside from the one from which they arrived.  Chamella approached the opposite side of the room to the only wall that was devoid of gemstones.  Rather than an actual wall, it appeared to be a pile of boulders.

"It looks like there was a cave-in," Chamella surmised.  She flittered up to the top of the pile, taking notice of a small gap in the debris.  Through it she could see that there was indeed another room beyond, but the gap was too small for either of them to squeeze through, and the boulders were far too big to move.

"So, what, now we have to go back the way we came?" Winter inferred, aggravation rising in her voice.  "The last time we saw any other paths was hours ago!  Now we're going to lose even more time!"

Chamella's ears folded back in shame.  "I'm sorry, Winter.  It was my idea to come this way.  I really didn't know this would be a dead end."

Winter was visibly frustrated, casting a slight glower in the changeling's direction.  But she took a deep breath to calm herself so that she wouldn't lash out.  "It's fine.  We knew this could happen, it's just unfortunate that it did.  At least we got some water out of it."

Chamella raised an eyebrow when Winter mentioned the water.  She looked at the basin again.  She was only now noticing that, despite the constant flow of water pouring into it, the basin was not quite full.  On a whim, she looked back through the gap in the rocks, shining her magic more brightly to illuminate the barred off room.  It looked similar to the one they were currently in, only there was a complete lack of gems.  There was even another basin of water in the center, but this one was full and overflowing, the water draining further down the cave.

"Wait!"  Chamella zipped down and hovered above the basin.  "I think this pool is connected to the other side."

Winter stared down into the water, seeing exactly what Chamella was talking about: an underwater tunnel.  "So you're saying we can get through by swimming down there?" she assumed, intrigued, yet wary.

There were a few moments of awkward silence as the two of them simply stared into the pool of clear water.  Winter finally looked over at Chamella, gesturing to the pool.

"Well?"

The changeling jerked her head up, stammering in response.  "Huh?  Y-You want me to go?"

"It was your idea.  I just figured, you know..."

The dark chitin of Chamella's face went a little pale and she swallowed nervously.  "W-Well, when you put it that way..."

"There a problem?" asked Winter with a raised eyebrow.

"Um...  Kind of.  See, changelings don't exactly make for good swimmers," Chamella explained, lifting a leg to help get the point across.  "These holes make it a little difficult.  And if we can't fit through or something, it might be hard to get back."

With a sigh, Winter removed her saddlebags, rummaging around inside them.  "It's not exactly far to go, but fine, I'll go first."  She removed the flashlight she had packed, then passed the bags to Chamella.  "Can you fit our stuff through that gap?"

"Wait, can you swim?"

"Yeah.  I'm a pretty good swimmer, I'll have you know," Winter said, practically bragging.  "There's a rec center in Cloudsdale that my parents would take me to every now and then when I was a filly.  I spent a lot of time in the pool there.  I can even use my wings for extra propulsion.  A lot of people don't realize that pegasi are actually great swimmers in general.  We're naturally lighter and more buoyant than earth ponies and unicorns."

"Alright, I get it.  A simple 'yes' would've been fine," Chamella interrupted with a roll of her eyes and a hint of envy.

With a slight grimace, Winter ignored her tone, flicking on her flashlight to make sure it was working.  "I hope this thing's waterproof.  Otherwise I'm not going to see a thing down there."

"I can shine my magic onto the water through the gap so you can see where you have to go," Chamella offered, flittering up to the top of the rock pile with her bags.  She sized up the gap, comparing it to the saddlebags.  "I might have to take some stuff out to fit it all through."

"That's fine," Winter replied, having dipped her flashlight into the water to test it.  Thankfully, it seemed to work fine when submerged.  "Alright, I guess I'll see you on the other side."

Winter held the flashlight between her teeth from the end; a rather awkward way to hold it, but she didn't really have any other options since she needed her wings to help her swim.  With that, she turned around, lowering herself carefully into the water, hind legs first.  Her whole body shuddered as she gradually submerged herself, the cold water sending a chill through her.  On the bright side, she was in desperate need of a bath anyway; her coat and mane were starting to feel kind of grimy.

With a deep breath through her nose, Winter plunged her head under, letting go of the edge of the basin to begin swimming.  She found it a little awkward to keep her flashlight pointed straight forward, but thankfully she could see the green glow of Chamella's magic lighting up the walls of the opposite basin even from this side.  The only thing she really had to be careful of was scraping herself on the rocks.

With a strong flap of her wings, she began to propel herself forward.  The passage was a bit tight, but not enough to slow her down too much.  It barely took any time at all for her to reach the other side.  Once she was within the glow of Chamella's magic, she planted her rear hooves on the floor and pushed herself upward, grasping onto the rim of the pool and taking a breath the moment she splashed out, her flashlight dropping onto the ground.

"You made it!" Chamella cheered with a smile from the other side of the cave-in.

Winter pulled herself out of the pool, shaking off the excess water like a wet dog.  "Nothing to it really.  Although drying off is gonna be a problem," she said, wringing out her sopping wet mane.

"Can you grab this stuff?" Chamella asked, holding some of Winter's supplies that she had removed from her saddlebags.

Having gotten as much of the water out of her coat and mane as she was going to be able to, Winter sauntered over to the rock pile.  When she was underwater, Chamella had apparently used her magic to gently place a few bottles and plastic containers of food on the ground at the base of the stone blockage.  She hadn't gotten much through yet, but then again it didn't really take long for Winter to swim through to the other side.  In any case, Winter grabbed some more containers and bandages and whatever else she had packed that hadn't already been discarded as Chamella passed them through, eventually leading to the changeling pushing the empty bags through as well before moving on to unpacking her own supplies.

After a few minutes of climbing up, grabbing stuff, and setting them down, Chamella informed Winter that they were finished.  "Alright, that's everything."

Winter clambered up to Chamella, her damp wings preventing her from fluttering up.  "Okay then, time to come over here."

Any enthusiasm drained away from the changeling's face.  "Um, right."  She glanced back at the pool, looking a touch nervous.

Winter couldn't help but smirk.  "Are you really that scared of a little water?"

"I'm not scared, I'm just not a good swimmer."

"Don't worry about it too much.  It's not far.  You can probably pull yourself along the bottom on one breath without much difficulty."

"Easier said than done," Chamella muttered with a distinct lack of confidence.

Winter was starting to get a little irritated with Chamella's wimpy attitude.  "Stop complaining and just get over here.  This is hardly the most dangerous thing we've come across so—"

Winter paused mid-sentence, noticing something odd.  Despite how many gemstones there were in that room she'd just left, she noticed a strange gap on the wall where there were none.  She could have sworn they were more evenly distributed.  Her attention was then suddenly drawn to the ceiling, where she could clearly see a series of gems actually moving.  And under the glow of Chamella's magic, she realized it wasn't just the gems, but it looked like the rocks were moving, too, a pair of red rubies almost appearing to be staring at Chamella from behind.

"Chamella, above you!"

"Huh?"

Chamella spun around, turning her gaze upward and shining her magic over the ceiling.  She only had time to see something open its mouth, the light reflecting off a set of razor sharp, diamond-like teeth, before whatever it was clinging to the ceiling dropped down to try and take a bite out of her.

With a surprised yelp, Chamella buzzed to the side, roughly bumping into the wall in her haste to avoid being chomped.  She stared down at the creature as it recovered from its fall.  Gazing back at her with eyes like rubies was some sort of crocodile-like animal, its scales practically identical in appearance to the rock around them, which explained how they hadn't noticed it.  On top of that, its body was lined with the same kinds of jewels that decorated the walls, strengthening its camouflage.

Chamella's heart rate had jumped up significantly after that sudden scare, but aside from the knowledge that the creature could scale walls and ceilings, she felt at least a little safer now that she knew it was there and could keep an eye on it.  The problem now became how she was supposed to join up with Winter with this thing on her tail.

"Look out!"

At Winter's warning, Chamella felt a sense of dread, turning around again to find a second crocodile clinging to the wall next to her and ready to take a bite out of her.

Chamella tried to dart out of the way, past the crocodile, but the animal managed to swat her with its long tail as it leapt off the wall, causing Chamella to collapse onto the floor roughly.  She was able to reconstitute herself in time to see a third one crawl out of the water of the basin, inching menacingly toward her with mouth agape.

With fear in her eyes, Chamella scrambled to her hooves, galloping as quickly as she could to the room's entrance.  Now standing in the dark corridor from which they entered, she chanced a glance behind her.  The crocodiles weren't actually chasing her, but appeared to be standing guard in the room, staring at her as if waiting for her to make a move.  And in the few seconds that she'd been running, another two of them had cropped up from somewhere, revealing just how few gemstones were actually embedded in the walls, as most of them were upon the creatures' backs.

Chamella seemed to be safe where she was, as the crocodiles didn't seem interested in pursuing her out of the chamber for some reason.  But now regrouping with Winter seemed practically impossible; there was no way she was going to be able to out-swim five of them.

Winter had to watch on as Chamella panicked over what to do.  She had no idea of how she could help, as swimming back through would just put them back at square one, but with five vicious reptiles trying to kill them.  "You...  You've gotta find a way past them!" she shouted, not knowing of anything else to say to aid her companion.

"You think I don't know that?!" Chamella shot back, her eyes darting between each of the animals.  "But how exactly am I supposed to do that?!"

"I don't know, I'm just...  I can't really do much to help from here!  Use your magic!  Can't you, like, zap 'em or something?"

"What?!  I can't—"

Chamella paused, her eyes widening as a thought came to her.  She didn't have confidence that her magic was strong enough to harm these creatures whose scales were seemingly made of stone.  But just because she couldn't "zap 'em," didn't mean she couldn't use her magic another way.  She had a plan, but whether or not it would actually work she had no idea.  It was a gamble, but she really didn't see any other way around this mess.

Chamella took a deep breath, buzzing her wings and hovering into the air.  Her heart was beating like a jackhammer; she knew that if this didn't work she was basically croc' chow.  Quickly, she flew to the center of the room.  She was caught off guard when one of the crocodiles jumped up in an attempt to bite her leg, but she was able to pull herself up quickly enough to avoid its bone-breaking jaws.  Chamella flittered above the basin, frantically going over the idea in her head one more time before she executed it.  She heard the hurried clattering of many claws on stone as one of the creatures expertly started scaling the walls.  Chamella knew she had to act now before they got the drop on her from above.

"What are doing?!  Get out of there!" Winter called out in a panic.

Instead of heeding Winter's warning, Chamella closed her eyes for a brief moment, then surrounded herself in a bubble of magic and dove straight down into the water.

She opened her eyes again, finding herself submerged in water as if that wasn't what she was expecting.  Now that she was down there, she was suddenly struck by an intense feeling of regret and dread.  The water created more resistance against her barrier than she had anticipated, making it difficult to push her way through.  She had to fight just to prevent her bubble from floating back to the surface.  Chamella flittered her wings as fast as she could to move herself forward, sweat already beginning to run down her face.

Chamella heard a splash behind her and didn't have to turn around to know that the crocodiles had jumped in after her.  She couldn't move any faster, her wings were already burning as it was.  She was starting to realize that her magic was much less reliable than she'd anticipated.  She could see ahead of her that it actually wasn't much further to the other side, the problem was that she didn't know if the gap between her and the creatures was smaller.

The changeling let out a frightened yelp when she felt something prod the back of her shield.  They were nipping at her heels, but thankfully that bump actually pushed her forward a bit.  But now that they were right on her tail, she wasn't sure if she'd even make it.  She needed one final push...

In her desperation, Chamella spun around, releasing a flash of blinding, green light from her horn.  The crocodiles that had been chasing her flinched from the colorful deluge, becoming disoriented for a brief moment.  Sucking in a deep breath of air, Chamella used that moment to drop her barrier, starting from the rear so that the water flooded into the air pocket she'd created from behind her, pushing her forward.  Knowing she had little time, Chamella scrambled to pull herself along the bottom until she could see the surface above her.

The problem was, with all the panic, her frantically buzzing wings, and fighting against the water, she had already tired herself out.  Chamella didn't have any strength left to climb out, clawing and clambering uselessly against the wall.

But Chamella saw a pair of white hooves reach down into the water, grabbing hers and pulling desperately.  The changeling's head burst out of the water with a loud gasp and Winter helped pull her out and onto relatively-dry land.  The pegasus then helped her put some distance between them and the water, in case the crocodiles were still in pursuit.

They staggered towards the direction that the overflow from the basin was running, opposite from where they originally entered the conjoined chambers.  Having noticed a distinct lack of splashing aside from what they produced with their own hooves, they slowed down, chancing a look back.

They weren't being chased.  Winter and especially Chamella paused to catch their breath, having found themselves out of immediate danger.  The pegasus took a chance and crept cautiously back to the exit pool, picking up her dropped flashlight and hesitantly leaning over it and peering down to the bottom.  She saw no sign of the creatures in the water, no reflecting light off the jewels on their bodies.  Out of curiosity, she climbed up the pile of boulders congesting the passage and shone her light through it.  Sure enough, all five crocodiles were present and accounted for on the other side, the final one climbing out of the basin as she looked in.

Winter let out a sigh of relief, climbing back down and approaching the supplies she hadn't had a chance to repack.  "I think we're in the clear."

"They didn't follow me?" Chamella asked, still shaking slightly.

"Nope.  They're all over there again.  For some reason, they just don't seem interested in leaving that room."

Chamella, too, let relief wash over her like the water dripping from her smooth skin.  She made to help Winter with their gear, packing her supplies back into her own saddlebags.  As she did, she looked around the room they were in.  She had noticed it earlier when she was looking through the gap, but once again she noted the utter lack of gemstones in the walls.

"Maybe they were protecting those jewels," the changeling guessed.

Winter simply shrugged.  "Whatever the case, at least we can be sure there aren't any more in here.  What even were those things?  They looked like crocodiles, but... not."

Chamella shook her head.  "I don't know, I've never seen them before."

"Which means we're probably lost again..."

Chamella didn't look at Winter.  The shame was already welling up as much as the overflowing basin.  "Sorry..." was all she muttered.

Her bags full up again, Winter slung them over her back.  "Don't worry about it.  Let's just go.  I don't exactly feel like this is a safe place to take a break."

"Sure..."  Chamella threw on her bags on as well, following behind Winter with her head down slightly.

After that it was pretty much just the sound of their hooves splishing and splashing in the shallow runoff that echoed through the rather narrow passage leading forward.  The tunnel had gotten so cramped that Winter and Chamella couldn't walk side by side if they tried, especially with their bags on.  Speaking of their bags, they were now feeling a little heavier, having gotten a little damp as they were packing away their supplies.  With that combined with all the water that was still dripping from their bodies, they were starting to feel particularly exhausted.  And if that wasn't bad enough, having wet wings meant that they didn't have an easy escape route if they were to have another encounter like that before they managed to dry off.

Winter glanced over her shoulder at the changeling following close behind her.  Chamella wasn't looking forward, but was staring down at her hooves as she walked, looking rather sullen.  Winter figured that it must have been due to the comment she'd made earlier.

"Listen, you don't have to feel bad about not knowing where we are.  I was just... talking out loud.  I wasn't trying to demean you or anything," Winter explained as comfortingly as possible.  She figured her travel companion could use a little calming down after what she just went through.

That didn't seem to perk up Chamella at all.  In fact, her ears drooped even more and she let out a long, defeated sigh.  "I...  I just wish I could be a better guide.  If I'd been more familiar with these caves, we might have already found Snowflake by now.  I wish I could be more useful in helping to find him..."

Winter frowned at Chamella's defeatist attitude, sympathizing with her feelings on their situation.  She didn't say anymore.  It felt as though they'd gone back and forth on this sort of thing enough times already; she didn't really feel like there was anything that hadn't already been said at this point.

As they continued to traverse the narrow passage, the sound of the gently running water underneath them steadily began to grow louder.  And the more they walked, the more they started to realize that it wasn't the water running with them, but it was coming from up ahead.  It was starting to sound less like a babbling brook and more like a rushing river.  Inciting curiosity, the two mares shared equally unsure looks and hurried their pace through the crevice until they reached its end not far down the way.  When they finally emerged from the passage and into a more open cavern, they got a good look at what the source exactly was.

They stepped out onto a ledge overlooking an enormous cavern, taking care not to get too close to the edge as their wings would be too wet to save them from such a long fall.  But the fall wasn't what caught their eye, but rather the falls.  To their right was a large waterfall pouring all the way down from the ceiling a fairly long distance above them.  Several smaller water sources flowed through cracks in the rocks, and all of this water made it feel like they were in a cavern under the ocean right now.  And all of it was feeding into one large stream down below where they stood, rushing off another ledge and running into a deeper part of the river with violent rapids that lead into the darkness of the cave.  Winter and Chamella didn't know where that river would lead, but they assumed, judging by the jagged rocks and stalagmites, that it wasn't safe.

What did look safe, however, was the flat area below them.  A sizable plateau with the water from the falls running over most of it, forming a shallow, but wide creek.  The walls around the left and right sides of the plateau were lined with considerably large stalagmites, a result of the moisture building up and solidifying for who knows how long.  But thankfully there were areas of dry land, the bank of the stream being smooth and flat and covered in coarse, dark sand from decades—maybe centuries—of erosion.  There was certainly more than enough room on either side for them sit and take a breather.  That was the plan right now, the only issue being getting down there.  Flight wasn't an option at the moment, but as luck would have it, there was a narrow ledge that lead all the way down along the wall on their left, so they carefully shimmied their way down along it until they managed to reach the bottom.

With a loud sigh, Winter threw off her saddlebags and plopped herself down on the dry bank.  "Finally.  Wide, open cavern..."  She scanned the walls, taking note of the distinct lack of gemstones.  "No sign of those crocodile things.  This definitely seems like a good spot to take a break."  She started rifling through her bag to look for something to snack on.

Chamella wandered over to the stream's edge, gazing into the crystal clear water.  "This probably would've been a better place to fill our bottles.  Don't think those things were swimming around in here."

"Good point.  Might as well do that then," Winter suggested as she opened a container of fruit salad she'd packed.

"Oh, my gosh!"

Winter nearly spilled her food all over the ground, startled by Chamella's sudden exclamation.  "What?!  More crocs'?!"

"Better," Chamella replied, a wide grin on her face as she stared into the creek.

The changeling looked like a cat ready to pounce, her eyes focused and fixed on the water.  With one quick motion, Chamella plunged her head into the water and almost immediately retracted it with a small trout held between her teeth.  She looked over her shoulder at Winter with wide eyes, like a pet looking for encouragement for a job well done.

Winter simply raised an eyebrow at Chamella's enthusiasm over a little fish.  "A fish?  That's what you're so excited about?"

Chamella seemed a little disappointed by Winter's reaction, removing the trout from her mouth and holding it with her magic.  "Well, it's something I can eat.  But I guess that doesn't really help you, huh?"

The pegasus shrugged disinterestedly as she ate a spoonful of chopped fruit.

Chamella was about to eagerly bite into her catch, but hesitated, casting a concerned glance at Winter.  "You're not gonna be weirded out by this, are you?"

Winter smirked.  "You do know who I live with, right?  I think I'm one of the only ponies in Equestria who has meat in her fridge."

"Have you ever seen Shade eat a live animal?"

The smirk faded from Winter's face.  "Um...  No, I haven't."

Chamella raised her brow, wanting to be sure that Winter could handle the sight of it as the fish continued to struggle within her magical grasp.

Winter shrugged off her worries.  "Just eat it.  I'm sure I can tough it out.  But if I might ask, how'd you catch that thing so easily?  Fish are pretty quick."

"It's not my first time.  I was never great at chasing down mice or rabbits like Shade, but sometimes I'd go to a nearby stream and wait for fish to swim by.  It was pretty rare, but I did manage to catch something from time to time."  She turned her attention to the flailing trout, licking her lips as she prepared to dig in.

Winter found herself unable to look away as Chamella sunk her sharp fangs into the fish's flesh, ripping a chunk of it's meat off and happily chewing it up.  Despite having its innards now exposed and some of them missing, the trout continued to thrash, holding onto the last thread of life it had left, all the while Chamella smiling contentedly as her face and teeth were stained with meat and blood.  It didn't look quite as gory as it would have been with some other kind of animal, but Winter felt a bit more unsettled than she thought she'd be; she had found herself suddenly losing her appetite.

Chamella gulped down the mouthful of tasty fish, licking the flaky morsels from her muzzle.  She hadn't had fish in a long time.  She normally leaned toward chicken or pork, but Chamella had forgotten how much she enjoyed fish, even raw like this.

The hungry predator prepared for another bite, but paused with mouth agape.  Through the corner of her eye, Chamella noticed that Winter was staring at her.  Her face looked uneasy—almost fearful.  Chamella recognized that expression.  She had repeatedly caught Winter casting that look in her direction since they'd woken up that morning.  Now she was thinking it was time to inquire.

Chamella placed the now dead fish on the ground, looking at Winter as gently as she could to try and coerce the pegasus into opening up to her.  "Winter, are you okay?"

Winter straightened up, surprised by the question.  She hadn't realized she'd been so blatantly staring at the changeling.  "Huh?  Uh, I-I'm fine.  Why?"

Chamella frowned at the obvious lie.  "I know something's bothering you.  You've been staring at me weird since this morning.  Are you mad at me?"

"What?  Mad?  Well, no."

"Then what's up?"

"Nothing.  Stop worrying about everything," Winter huffed defensively.

Chamella wasn't willing to accept that.  She stood up and walked over to Winter, looking compassionately at her.  Winter seemed to inch back instinctively as the changeling sat next to her, turning away tellingly.  Chamella had a feeling this was about to go back to the previous quarrels between the two of them.  "Please, Winter.  If we're going to be working together on this, we need to help each other.  And I want to help you."

Winter looked back at Chamella, unsure of herself, even with Chamella's harmless, pink eyes staring back at her softly.  "You... probably don't want to know."

Just as Chamella thought: there was something bothering Winter.  "Look, whatever it is, I can't help you if you don't share."

Winter stared silently at Chamella for a few moments.  It was evident that she wasn't about to let up.  She let out a reluctant sigh.  "It's... about last night."

Chamella quirked an eyebrow.  "Last night?"  Her eyes widened slightly as she deduced what Winter was talking about.  "Do you mean the nightmares you had?"

She received a silent nod in response.

"What happened that would make you act so on edge?  Was it that bad?"

Winter was quiet for a moment longer before finally sharing the details.  She knew it was probably something that Chamella didn't want to visualize, but she was insisting.  "You killed Shade."

The changeling blinked.  That wasn't quite what she was expecting.

"And then you were about to kill me, but that's when you woke me up.  You said 'If I can't have him, nopony can.'"

Chamella felt her heart sink, not just because of the hypothetical scenario, but also at its implications.  "You still don't trust me..."

"Look, I don't think you would ever kill Shade.  I don't think you'd ever kill me, at least not on purpose.  I know you're trying to make amends and everything, but I...  I just can't forget the things you did."

Chamella looked completely crestfallen at hearing that, turning away from Winter and hanging her head with the shame of the mistakes that continued to haunt her.  "So you're still not ready to forgive me?" she muttered.

Winter shuddered a little.  "I haven't been able to get the image of it out of my head since I woke up.  It felt too real.  Every time I look at you, it flashes in my mind again."

The pegasus heard a quiet sniffle, her attention turning to Chamella.  She had started to cry, a few tears welling up in her eyes.  The changeling attempted to wipe them away, but they were just replaced by more a second later.

"I-I'm trying, Winter, I really am," Chamella said shakily.  "All I want to do is make it up to you, but if helping to find Snowflake isn't enough, then I don't know what I can do."

Winter didn't say anything.  Yesterday morning she might not have even cared about Chamella's feelings in this situation.  To her, Chamella was the bad guy.  She wasn't supposed to feel sorry for her or sympathize with her.  She was an obstacle, something standing in the way of her happiness and well being.

At least, that's what she originally believed.  But as she sat here next to Chamella now, listening to her suppressed sniffs and sobs, she couldn't help but feel guilty.  And that was the weird part; why should she feel guilty?  She hadn't done anything wrong...

...Right?

Chamella really had been making an attempt to reconcile.  She'd apologized profusely and even willingly put herself in harm's way, not just for Snowflake, but for Winter as well.  What was more, Chamella had already saved her life.  Twice.  Winter actually had to ask herself: what did Chamella have to do to earn her forgiveness?

Winter stared at Chamella, her conflicted expression evident.  The changeling was still looking down at the floor, weakly drying her eyes with her hole-riddled leg.  The worried mother hesitated for a moment before speaking the first thing that came to mind.  "I...  I don't know what to tell you.  But for now, why don't we find Snowflake and see what happens?"

With one last sniffle, Chamella finally looked back at her, clearly still upset, but with a flicker of hope in her bright pink eyes.  It wasn't exactly the answer she was looking for, but it was better than nothing.  She could tell that Winter was at least trying to make an effort.  "Alright," was all she said in reply, somewhat half-hearted and forcing a weak smile.

"So, um..."  Winter scratched her head awkwardly, looking around the immediate environment.  "Where do we go from here?"

Chamella followed Winter's example and had a quick glance around.  True enough, there were no tunnel entrances anywhere around the plateau they were on, save for the one they came through.  They had seen a few alternate paths between the mushroom chamber and the crocodile den, but that was several hours ago.  Hopefully they wouldn't have to trek all the way back after coming so far.

Chamella cantered over to the edge of the plateau where the stream ran off and into the harsh rapids below them.  Winter walked up alongside her, peering as best she could down the way the river flowed.  The cavern was just as open in that direction as it was where they were, suggesting that perhaps there was a way forward somewhere in that direction.

"I'm not really interested in doing any white water rafting," said Winter, staring down at the splashing waters.  It appeared as though even more water was flowing from underneath where they stood, making up the majority of the water flowing into the rapids.  It was starting to feel like all of the water in the Changeling Kingdom flowed through here and collected in one place.  That unfortunately made the waters that much more treacherous.

Chamella pointed a hoof toward the distance.  "I think I can see some tunnels in the walls over there.  If we can get over there, we can keep moving forward."

Winter stretched out one of her wings, taking note of the extra weight in them than she was used to, not to mention the moisture still dripping from them and the rest of her body.  "Well, until we dry off, we're not getting anywhere.  We can't fly in this condition."

"And I don't see any pathways along the walls we can walk on."  Chamella shrugged as she turned back and trotted over to her bags.  "I only had a couple of bites of fish anyway.  I'm still a little hungry."

"Likewise.  We could probably use a break anyway," Winter agreed.

Chamella managed a grin upon hearing that from her.  "It's nice to see you're not rushing yourself anymore."

Winter let out a resigned sigh.  "Not like we have a choice, so I might as well not argue."

After rifling through her bags for a few seconds, Chamella pouted at the selection of food she had packed.  She cast a glance over to the stream again.  Now that she had a taste for it, she couldn't help but crave fish.  It was just as well; fish wasn't exactly something she could take with her, so having some now and saving what she already had seemed like a good idea anyway.

"I'm gonna see if I can catch some more fish," Chamella said with enthusiasm as she hurried over to the bank of the water to scope out her prey.

Winter sat herself down where their bags were, leaving Chamella to her hunt.  Her appetite had steadily been coming back, and she had a fruit salad she hadn't managed to get through yet.  Winter picked up her lunch again, not hesitating to take a mouthful of apple and pear slices.  As she ate, she watched as Chamella stalked the water's edge, keeping her eyes open for more fish.

It didn't take long for Winter to finish her meal, almost too quickly for her liking; she must have been hungrier than she thought.  But the issue really was that her wings hadn't dried off yet.  So despite intending to take this time to rest, she decided to get up and walk around to try and pass the time.

Winter noticed that Chamella was still busy looking for fish and didn't seem to be having much luck.  In spite of that, however, Winter was starting to smell a rotten odor.  There was the one fish Chamella had caught earlier, but that hadn't been laying there nearly long enough to start smelling that bad.  The pegasus had a quick look around the immediate vicinity, following the direction of the smell.  It didn't take long to find the source as Winter approached the left side of the drop off to the river, holding her nose as she got close.  There were half a dozen fish skeletons scattered around by a cluster of sizable stalagmites, picked clean of all their meat save for the heads and tails.

"Hey, Chamella, how many fish have you caught so far?" Winter called out.

Chamella turned her attention away from the water for a moment.  "Hm?  Only that one from before.  Why?"

Winter directed her attention to the remains next to her.  "There's a bunch over here that've already been eaten."

Chamella simply gave a dismissive shrug.  "Some other changelings probably came through here at some point."

"Think they might still be around?" asked Winter with a touch of worry.

"Maybe, but what're we supposed to do about it?  We can't really leave unless we go backwards, and I don't exactly want to do that."  Chamella let out an annoyed groan as she looked back down at the water.  "I wish I could have as much luck as they did, though.  I haven't even seen another fish yet."

"Maybe I can help," Winter offered, stepping up to the water's edge and peering into the stream.

Chamella gave her a skeptical look.  "I don't really know if you have the tools for hunting, but I appreciate the offer."

Winter let out a sigh.  "I'm just looking for something to do, alright?  Just let me help."

She only received a shrug from Chamella, so she began scanning for passing fish.  A minute hadn't even managed to pass and Winter already began to get bored when nothing swam by, seeing nothing but her own reflection staring back at her.  She got distracted from the water when she sat down on the sandy bank, tracing shapes into the coarse granules with her hoof.  Winter cast a glance over to Chamella again.  The changeling had begun wading through the fetlock-high water, scanning all around her for her quarry.  Winter found herself grinning a little.  Watching her diligently looking for fish was kind of like watching an animal hunting in the wild, like a dog or a bear scouring the creeks and rivers for a meal.  She found it an amusing sight for some reason.  Chamella even seemed to be having fun, despite not having much luck, and especially despite where they were and what they came here for.

Winter ran a hoof through her mane.  It was still a little damp, but was gradually drying off.  She could only imagine what a mess she looked like now.  Chamella probably didn't have any issues with her appearance considering her long, straight mane always looked like it was a little wet, plus she didn't have a coat of fur to maintain.  But now that she was thinking about it, Winter could feel her crimson locks matted to the sides of her face and a few small knots in her alabaster coat.  And coincidentally she had a natural, reflective surface in front of her, so now was as good a time as any for a little grooming.

The pegasus leaned over the gently flowing water and immediately froze.  She was expecting to see her own amber eyes staring back at her, but what she didn't expect was the reflection of an additional pair of gleaming, silver eyes looming over her, accompanied by a smirk of pearly white fangs.

"Ahhh!"

Winter shrieked in terror and leapt forward into the water with a loud splash.  Chamella, hearing the commotion, spun around to see what was the matter, her eyes landing on the same thing as Winter's.  Standing at the bank of the water was what they thought at first must have been a ghost; a changeling with a white mohawk, one wing, and a bloodthirsty look in his silver eyes.

Blight.

"This must be what they call 'fate,'" Blight said with a chuckle.

Winter stared in horror and disbelief, taking another step backwards in the water.  "Y-You're supposed to be dead.  Chamella dropped you into that ravine."

Blight, his smirk persisting, shook his head.  "Like I said, this is fate.  The rivers of the abyss spared my life and washed me all the way here.  Besides, I can't just die when I have such an important mission to complete."

"You're still going to follow Queen Chrysalis's orders even now?" said Chamella.  "Just leave.  We won't stop you."

"Oh, this isn't about Chrysalis, or anyone else.  This is a personal mission now," Blight clarified with a wide, maniacal grin.  "I've been presented with a challenge, and I intend to overcome it by killing both of you.  Of course, even if I wanted to leave, I can't.  Because someone tore off my wing!"

Blight's demeanor had shifted from sinister to enraged in an instant, his vertical pupils narrowing to the size of needles.

Both Winter and Chamella took defensive postures.  They both knew they were in trouble; even if Blight was trapped here, for the moment, so were they.  They couldn't fly so long as their wings were still damp.  Their only option was to deal with him.

Blight, seeing the looks in his preys' eyes, composed himself, grinning sadistically again.  "Sorry, I lost my composure for a moment there.  I suppose I shouldn't be angry.  The more of a fight you put up, the more satisfying this is going to be."  He took a step into the water, inching closer to Winter as the pegasus instinctively backed away.  "I am going to enjoy this far more than you can imagine."

The vengeful changeling swatted a hoof over the surface of the creek, kicking up a spray of water in Winter's direction.  The pegasus flinched as she was splashed, shielding her eyes.  Before she even had a chance to open them again, she found herself tackled to the ground by Blight, being pinned on a sandbar in the middle of the stream.  Winter found herself in an all-too-familiar position with Blight gazing down on her and licking his lips hungrily.

But before he could even ready himself to take a bite of his prey, his attention was diverted by rapid splashing heading his way.  Without even looking up, Blight leapt backwards as Chamella attempted to tackle him off of Winter, resulting in the female changeling taking a clumsy spill into the water.  Chamella lifted her head, spurting water from her mouth, but didn't have a chance to compose herself before feeling a hoof forcefully push down on the back of her head, dunking her under the water again.  Chamella struggled to free herself, kicking her hooves around to no avail before she felt the pressure lift and her head shot back up with a sharp gasp of air.

Coughing, Chamella spun around frantically, trying to keep her attacker in view.  She found him struggling with Winter, but Blight appeared to have the upper hoof, delivering a swift kick to the pegasus's withers.  Winter collapsed on the bank of the stream in pain, and Blight was creeping toward her again with that same sadistic grin.  Chamella hurriedly stood up and began to rush over to help Winter, but a sharp, piercing gaze over Blight's shoulder froze her in her tracks.  The psycho turned toward Chamella, but glanced back at Winter one more time as she tried to stand up, giving her another swift kick, forcing a pained yelp and causing her to collapse again, clutching her bruised midsection.

Chamella let out a concerned gasp for her companion as she watched her writhe on the ground.  She then turned her attention back to Blight with a furrowed brow, baring her short fangs.  "Leave her alone!"

Blight chuckled darkly.  "Oh, don't think this little birdie is my primary target right now.  I know you're the one I've gotta keep my eye on, cutie pie."

Despite his smirk, Blight's voice was accompanied by a low growl.  There was a distinct look of rage in his narrowed pupils.  He clearly had no plan to forgive her for ripping off his wing and tossing him into that ravine.

Blight began closing the gap between him and Chamella.  The female wasn't about to let her fear overwhelm her.  She knew their lives were on the line and they had no viable escape route.  If she didn't fight back with everything she had, they could very well die.  Without any hesitation, Chamella fired a narrow beam of neon green magic from her horn, aimed straight at Blight's head.  Unfazed by the attack, Blight simply leaned his head slightly to the left, the beam only barely grazing his cheek and leaving a minor burn.  It was only then that Chamella realized what exactly was behind Blight, the errant beam zipping over Winter, missing the prone pegasus by only a few inches.  Thankfully she was unharmed, the shot merely cracking off a small stalagmite behind her.

In the moment that Chamella lost her focus, having almost inadvertently hurt Winter, Blight leapt towards her, ramming her roughly with his shoulder and sending her rolling into the flowing water.  Chamella started to stand up, but was blindsided by Blight once again as he gave her similar treatment as Winter, kicking her harshly in the shoulder.  Chamella shouted as the blunt pain shot through her, gritting her teeth in an attempt to endure it.  She didn't even have time to nurse the bruise before Blight clamped down on her long, water-soaked mane with his teeth, dragging her across the rocky riverbed and over to the sandbar in the middle of the stream, Chamella crying out in pain all the while.

Blight tossed the female onto her back, the front half of her body upon the sandbar while her hind legs remained submerged in the water.  He then planted a hoof firmly on her chest and gradually increased the pressure he applied as though threatening to break her ribs.  Chamella fought back as best she could, swinging her front hooves in a panicked bid to punch him off of her.  That plan not exactly having much impact, Chamella fell back on her previous tactic, lighting up her horn for another blast at her attacker.  However, her attempt was snuffed out when Blight violently smacked her with a backhoofed slap before gripping her horn tightly and forcing her to stare him straight in his sadistic silver eyes.  Chamella could only gaze in utter terror at the malicious and bloodthirsty maniac, his fangs seeming to glint even in the darkness.

"You know, I think I'm starting to grow attached to you, sweet pea," Blight said in a low, disturbing tone.  "No one's ever fought back as fervently as you.  I'm beginning to relish the challenge you're presenting.  It's..."  He licked his lips disgustingly.  "...exciting."

For a moment, Chamella stopped struggling.  As stomach-turning as that sounded, there was a minute amount of hope present in her pink eyes as it sounded like he might spare her so he could continue to enjoy the chase.

Blight's toothy grin grew ever wider and more devious when he saw that tinge of hope.  "That's why I'm going to take my time killing you.  I want to watch the light fade from your eyes."

His horn lit up, and before Chamella could figure out what he was doing, her head was quickly encased in a bubble of water under the influence of Blight's magic.  She didn't have a chance to take a breath, and with no air she began to panic immediately.  Blight pinned her flailing hooves to the ground as he gleefully watched her struggle uselessly.

What little air was already in Chamella's lungs was forced up from her frightened and gargling screams, bubbling up to the surface of the watery sphere she was drowning in.  The water began to flow down her throat and into her stomach and lungs.  Her heart pounded as though it were trying to break free from her chest, working through the remaining oxygen in her body alarmingly quickly.  Her building fear made it difficult to focus her magic.  All she could do in retaliation was create a pathetic pop inside the water bubble.

The pain built in her chest as her lungs filled with water and her heart desperately tried to keep her alive.  All the while she had to stare up at the psychopath holding her down, his maniacal grin and glinting, silver eyes still clear as day to her despite the distortion of the water and green glow of his magic.

Chamella's vision began to blur, and her thoughts started to become muddled.  She started losing the strength to fight back, and eventually she didn't even recognize the horrific face gazing down on her anymore.  It felt like she had been laying there for an eternity, as if she were being tortured, held at the brink of death so that her pain would never end.

But it was then that the pain began to subside.  Chamella was no longer panicked, suddenly overcome with an unusual feeling of euphoria.  The fear was gone, the pain was gone.  Now she simply felt tired, like she had just pulled an all-nighter working on an outfit with Rarity.  She couldn't fight the creeping somnolence, her vision clouded with moisture and her brain unable to form a complete thought before trailing off.  All she really wanted to do right now was get some sleep.

Chamella let her eyes drift shut, and allowed the darkness to envelope her.

Blight chuckled menacingly as he felt the female cease her struggling, her body going limp beneath him and her eyes gently closing.  "Oh, that was fun.  I'd thank you, but, well...  Heh heh.  But don't worry, the fun's not over quite yet."  He ran his tongue across his hungry fangs.

He was about to lean forward to take the first bite out of his victim, but paused.  His ears perked up at the sound of splashing behind him.  He'd almost forgotten about the pegasus.  It appeared his meal would have to wait.

Blight looked over his shoulder, expecting to be tackled by the pegasus.  What he saw instead was the mare standing on her hind legs and brandishing a broken stalagmite, and she swung it like a baseball bat at his head.  His knee-jerk reaction was to duck underneath the attack, but he couldn't move quickly enough to completely avoid it.  The solid chunk of rock struck his curved horn, resulting in a loud crack as it snapped off and flew into the air and was washed away by the coursing stream.  With no conduit through which to focus his magic, the water surrounding Chamella's head splashed onto the ground.

Winter staggered back on all fours and dropped her weapon in the water.  Her forceful assault resulted in a lot of pain from the bruises Blight had given her, but she wasn't about to let it slow her down.  Blight was reeling, screaming out in pain of his own and he held his head with his hooves where the jagged stump of his horn was.  Winter wasted no time, taking her opportunity to tackle Blight to the ground, then tackle him again as he attempted to get up.  Blight didn't even get a chance to fight back before Winter pushed him back to the plateau's edge and, with one last aggressive shove, tossing him over and into the raging rapids below.

Blight managed to cling to the surface, flailing to stay afloat as he was tossed about in the river.  He managed to get one more look at the pegasus standing at the stream's end before the current pulled him into the dark recesses of the cavern, letting out a furious bellow as he vanished from view.

Winter watched as Blight was swallowed by the darkness once more, panting for breath and pain throbbing in her midsection.  But she let out a gasp when she remembered.

"Chamella!"

Winter rushed over to the changeling's side, shaking her by the shoulders desperately to try and rouse her from her state of what she hoped was unconsciousness.

"Chamella, wake up!"

She received no response.

Dread filled Winter's entire being as she stared down at her unmoving companion.  She leaned her head down, holding her ear close to Chamella's mouth, then her chest.

No breathing.  No heartbeat.

Her panic only heightened, but she wasn't about to accept this.  Winter took a deep breath to compose herself.  She thought back to her first aid training on Ponyville's weather team.  She'd never had to use it before and hoped she'd never have to, but at this juncture she had no choice.

Winter straightened Chamella's head and held her mouth open.  She then inhaled a lungful of air before leaning down to place her mouth over Chamella's.  She blew two quick puffs of air into Chamella's windpipe, then sat back up, placing her front hooves on the changeling's chest and pumping her rib cage forcefully.

"One, two, three, four..."  Winter counted along with her pumps, trying to recall exactly what she was told during training.  Two quick breaths, followed by thirty chest compressions.  She kept pumping and kept counting.  "...twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty."

She took in another breath, passing along two more puffs of air to Chamella, then turned and listened.  She still wasn't breathing.  Winter felt her heart race even faster, but she returned to giving chest compressions.

"Come on, wake up.  Please, you have to wake up."  Winter stared up into the cavernous darkness as she performed CPR, hoping desperately that she'd awaken.  "...twenty-nine, thirty."

Two more puffs of air, but still no response.  Back to compressions.

Tears were beginning to well up in Winter's amber eyes as she continued her attempt at resuscitation.  "Please...  You can't die, Chamella.  I can't do this without you.  Get... up..."

Two more breaths.  No response.  More compressions.

The tears were flowing freely down her cheeks now.  It took every once of willpower Winter had to put the necessary force into her pumps.  "You can't...  Sh...  Shade needs you...  Snow needs you..."  Her tears dripped down onto Chamella's silent chest.

"I need you..."

She delivered two more puffs, still receiving no response, then returned to pumping.  She wasn't willing to give up.  She couldn't afford to give up.  She knew, without Chamella, she had no hope of getting through the changeling hive, let alone finding Snowflake.  She couldn't give up...

Winter gave Chamella two breaths, listened for a reaction, and when she received none, administered another thirty chest compressions.  Then she repeated the process.  And repeated it again.  And again.  With each failed attempt to revive her, Winter's hope drained more and more, and her tears flowed more and more.

"Please...  Wake up..."

She had nothing left, but she refused to stop.  Despite her shakiness, Winter managed to inhale another breath of air, placing her mouth over Chamella's again.  She puffed one breath of air, and that was all.

Winter felt Chamella's body convulse suddenly, and water gushed up into the pegasus's mouth.  She jerked back, her face covered in disbelief as Chamella started violently coughing up the water in her lungs.  After what felt like ages, Winter's tear-stained face managed a relieved and elated smile.

The revived changeling hacked up the remaining water in her body, rolling over and starting to prop herself up weakly.  She lifted her head, looking around in confusion until her glossy eyes met Winter's.  "Winter?  What happened?" she asked hoarsely.

Winter tried to answer and explain what just happened to her, but in her current emotional state she found it difficult to find words.  Instead, Chamella found herself pulled in for a tight embrace, the pegasus's hooves wrapping tightly around her.  Chamella was caught off guard by the sudden hug, and among the water that beaded on her smooth, chitinous skin, she could could feel the warmth of Winter's tears against her shoulder.

Chamella's eyes widened as it all came flooding back to her.  Blight had tried to drown her.  She thought he had drowned her.  Did she die, even for a moment?

There was a tinge of panic in the changeling's eyes, and she looked around frantically, but couldn't spot what she was looking for.  "W-Where's Blight?"

Winter leaned back from her hug, wiping the tears from her eyes with her fetlock; an ultimately fruitless effort considering how soaked her coat was.  "He's gone.  For now anyway," she answered, looking over to the edge of the plateau where she had last seen him.

Now knowing that the threat was no longer present, Chamella turned her eyes to Winter, staring at her in subdued disbelief.  "Did... you save me?"

Winter hesitated at the slight surprise in the question.  "Well, yeah."  She could see the disbelief in Chamella's eyes.  She had an idea of why the changeling might have a hard time believing that.  Winter looked at her more softly and apologetically.  "Chamella, I know I've said before that I didn't like you or trust you, but even then I'd never just sit by and let you die."  She forced a somewhat lighthearted grin.  "Shade would never forgive me if I did.  Besides, I'm not about to let you get out of your godmother duties that easily."

Chamella was still a little rattled, visibly worn and shaking slightly after that frightening exchange.  She looked at Winter reluctantly for a second before acting on what she felt she needed to do, leaning forward to give Winter a grateful hug in return.  "Thank you."

Winter simply smiled, letting Chamella continue the embrace for as long as she felt was necessary.  She felt a rather strong sense of satisfaction in saving somepony's life, but even more so given who it was.  "Chamella, I want you to know that I didn't just save you because I need your help to find Snowflake."

Chamella pulled back, curious.  "What do you mean?"

The pegasus's face became much more solemn as she elaborated.  "When it hit me that you might actually die, I felt so much more terrified than I thought I would.  I didn't just feel like I'd be alone down here without you, I felt like I was actually going to lose something important to me that I didn't know I had.  Maybe I never treated you the way you deserved, but I know you always wanted me to consider you a friend.  And that's what I felt I was losing: a friend."

Chamella was suddenly overcome with a warmth in her chest, and her cheeks were tinted a light red.  "You... think of me as a friend?"

"You've put your life on the line for me even though I treated you like crap," Winter said, her ears folding back with guilt and breaking eye contact.  But she looked up at her again with a small smile.  "I don't deserve a friend like you, but I'm glad I have you anyway.  The least I can do to repay you for protecting me is to do the same for you."

The changeling grinned bashfully.  "You have no idea how much it means to hear you say that."

"And I'm not done yet.  I know I said that when we get out of here we'll see if I'm willing to forgive the things you did, but considering that both of us could very easily die down here, I don't think it's fair to wait."

Chamella's pink eyes widened with hope.

Winter offered a warm smile to her friend.  "So, you're forgiven.  All that stuff, it's in the past now.  Okay?"

After taking a moment to let that sink in, Chamella threw herself at Winter once more, her gratitude growing ever more.  The emotions running through her were indescribable.  For so long she'd waited to hear those words, and finally hearing them was like an enormous weight being lifted off her back.  "Thank you so much," she sniffled, grateful tears streaming down her cheeks.

As relieving as it felt to make her as happy as this, Winter wanted to get away from the mushy stuff and try to lighten the mood a little.  "Just remember: you owe me one now," she informed jokingly.

Chamella pulled away, tilting her head in confusion.  "Huh?"

"Well, you kidnapped me, then kissed Shade.  But you saved me twice since we got the Changeling Kingdom, so I guess that makes up for those.  But now I saved you, so, yeah.  You owe me."

Chamella observed the playful smirk on Winter's face, giggling herself and deciding to play along.  "How about I buy you dinner when we get home?"

"Dinner to repay me for saving your life?"  Winter pretended to think about it for a moment, then shrugged.  "Sounds fair to me."

After sharing a lighthearted laugh together, a somewhat awkward silence fell over them as they looked around.  Chamella looked down, realizing that they were both still sitting in the running stream.

"Guess it's gonna be a little longer 'til we can move on, huh?"

Winter let out a groan when the realization dawned on her, and both mares finally stood up and made their way over to the bank where their bags were.  Their little tussle with Blight had undone all the waiting around they'd done to dry off.  "Guess so."

"I still haven't really had a chance to eat."  Chamella looked back at the stream, an apprehensive frown creasing her lips.  "But I think I'll give up on the fish.  Between Blight and those crocodiles, I think I've had enough water to last a lifetime."

Chamella sat herself down by her saddlebags, rummaging through for something that piqued her appetite.  Winter just sat next to her, smiling fondly as her changeling friend decided on a simple granola bar and a small bag of potato chips.  The pegasus still couldn't believe how relieved she was to see Chamella still alive.  She knew now how much Chamella actually meant to not just her, but her family.  Chamella was a part of her family, and she was done with trying to push her away.

Winter extended a wing around Chamella's midsection, pulling the changeling in for another surprise embrace.  Chamella was a little caught off guard, but grinned happily as she chewed on her granola bar.  After a near-death experience like that, she needed that positivity, and it meant so much to her to get it from the person she had wronged in the past.