Continuing their expedition to find the lost Omni Spellbook, Flash and his team were once again driving across the land.
Accompanied by Princess Luna and their newest Esprit teammate, Springer the Jakhowl, they were comfortably enjoying the ride across the forested area on their way to the marshland between them and their final destination. "Shouldn't be too long now," Luna told them. "The marshland should be straight ahead. And once we get over that, there shouldn't be anything between us and the area I hid the spellbook."
"Great," Trixie didn't look happy.
"What's wrong?" Springer asked from Wallflower's lap.
"She just doesn't wanna go near a marshland," Soarin smirked.
"Can you blame me?" Trixie asked, "all that mud and who knows what swimming around in the murky water. Maybe I should ask Flash to make me a full body hazard suit, to make sure I don't get infected by anything."
"I don't think you need to worry about getting dirty," Wallflower told her. "This truck was able to get over a mountain. I'm sure it can handle driving through mud. Right Flash?"
"Yup," Flash nodded as he pointed to something on the dash. They looked down and saw that instead of the sulphur and carbon detector, a screen-like device was there. "I added this when I remade the truck. Now it'll scan the area in front and give us a detailed map of what's ahead. Including any deep mud puddles."
"Exactly," Luna nodded. "As long as we avoid anything too deep, this beast shouldn't have any trouble getting us through it."
"Exactly," Flash nodded. "And even if we come to something it can't pass, I can always make a chariot or something for me and Soarin to pull over it." The others nodded, expecting an easy time.
But as that thought filled their heads, something happened that reminded them an adventure was never meant to be easy.
Suddenly, the engine made a strange noise and Flash no long felt any pressure under his hoof. He looked down and saw the speedometer was going down, along with the revs and everything else. "What's happening?" Trixie asked, as the car slowed down.
"I don't know," Flash looked worried. "I'm not getting any power." He couldn't figure out what was going on. The truck was powered by his relic's magic, so...
His eyes went wide as he looked down at his belt, which wasn't glowing as vibrantly as it should be. Panic filled his heart, as the truck completely died and rolled to a stop. Moments later, the entire thing vanished before any of them could prepare themselves.
They cried out as they all fell to the ground, their bags falling with them. They all moaned as they picked themselves up, the lot turning to Flash as he tried to activate the belt again. "No, no, no, NO!" He took out the truck card and replaced it with his lightning blade, but shutting the belt did nothing. "It's dead!"
Luna reached down and grabbed the device, the belt-strap and card case vanishing as she pulled the relic off. She looked it over, whilst Flash looked terrified. What if he had overused it? What if there was a limited amount of magic the device had and he had used it all up? What if the only thing that had ever gotten him where he was, was now powerless and Shining would no longer want to sponsor him?
"It's recharging," Luna stated.
"Huh?"
"It's out of magic," Luna explained. "So it's gone into some kind of magical charging mode. I can feel it drawing magic from the atmosphere." She handed it back to him. "Looks like you finally hit its magical limit."
"Guess it makes sense," Wallflower stated. "You've been using it almost nonstop for days. Guess even magical relics need to take a break every now and then."
"So it'll work fine once it's recharged?" Flash asked, Luna nodding as he sighed in relief.
"But until then, it appears we'll be walking." The others frowned, not liking the idea of that. But given they should have been walking the entire trip, they couldn't really complain.
So they all grabbed their bags and began to walk down the forest path. However, they were now making much worst time then they had originally expected. The marshland would have only been thirty minutes away if it was by truck. But know, who knows how long it was gonna take.
They continued down the forest road, happy that at least the weather was good. There were clouds in the sky, which meant they weren't getting baked by the sun, but they weren't rain clouds which was good for them. It was the perfect hiking weather, though they wished they didn't have to hike so much.
After an hour of walking through the woods, Trixie was missing the truck. "Any idea if there are any monsters in this area?" She asked, as they made their way further down the open road.
"No," Luna sighed. "So be ready in case one shows up." As she said that, she realised something and turned to Flash. "Without the relic, you don't have any way to defend yourself."
"I'm good," Flash showed her something she hadn't noticed was strapped to his hip. A dagger holster. "A friend of mine gave me this in case I was ever in a fight and couldn't use it. It'll let me use Sky Magic to slash at any opponent I come across. Should keep me from getting myself killed." Luna nodded as Springer ran ahead, excited to experience whatever was waiting for them up ahead.
And as he did, his nose suddenly caught something. "I smell water." That was a surprise, since they didn't think they were close enough to the marshlands to smell anything.
Following Springer, they quickly came to what he was smelling. A giant lake. It was about a half-mile away and as they got closer, they realised it was even larger than the town they had just been in and had a sandy beach surrounding it.
They were all amazed by the sight of it, Trixie looking giddy. "Yay!" She cheered before running towards it, "beach rest!" The others followed suit, as they spotted a path running down the side of the cliff that surrounded the lake, the lot of them jumping onto the beach and sighing at the warm sand pushing against their hooves. "This is perfect."
"What's perfect?" Wallflower asked, not looking sure why they were even there.
"This place!" Trixie cried, "it's the perfect place to rest." The others frowned, not sure they were following. Sure, they had been walking a while, but they hardly felt like they needed a rest. "Come on guys. Ever since we left the train, it's been one insane event after another. So why don't we wait here for the belt to recharge and have some fun."
"Fun?" Springer looked interested about that, "how?"
"There are lots of ways to have fun," Trixie told. "We're surrounded by sand, so we could make sand castles and sculptures. Or, we could go swimming."
"Swimming?" Wallflower looked worried as she stared at the water, "is that a good idea? We're supposed to be on an important expedition."
"I don't see why we can't stay for a bit," Luna stated. The others turned to her. "We're way further ahead then I thought we'd be at this point. So I don't have a problem with us taking time to rest and recharge. Trixie was right about us facing one insanity after another so far. If we're constantly pushing ourselves without a rest, we'll snap. So let's enjoy ourselves whilst we can." The others, minus Wallflower, smiled at this.
"YEAH!" They all cheered, jumping up before taking their bags off. Reaching into their bags, they pulled out some extra changes of clothing.
Trixie had pulled out a bathing suit whilst Flash and Soarin took out some shorts. There were rocks up ahead that the guys ran behind, returning a few moments later dressed in shorts that were the same colour as their jackets with their cutie marks on them.
Trixie was dressed in a blue bathing suit with her wand cutie mark on her side. The three joined up and turned to Luna and Wallflower, Luna having used her magic to create a solid rock in the shape of a chair. She sat down and pulled a book out of her bag, whilst Wallflower was just standing there.
"Aren't you coming?" Flash asked, Springer having already run into the shallows to play around.
Wallflower tapped her fingers together, "I didn't bring a bathing suit. Didn't think we would be spending time at a beach during an important expedition."
"Neither did we," the three told her before Flash continued. "I just packed it in case we had to go underwater to check something out. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it." The others nodded as Wallflower shrugged.
"Well, no swimsuit. Guess I can't go swimming."
"I gotcha covered!" Trixie smiled before reaching into her bag and pulling out an second bathing suit. "My spare, just in case I had an accident and needed a second set of swimwear. Should fit you."
"Yay." Wallflower sighed, "thanks." She moved around the large rock and returned a few minutes later, dressed in a gray suit that reminded Flash of something from Japanese anime. It fit her pretty well, considering Flash didn't think she and Trixie were the same size.
"You look great," Trixie smiled before they began to head out into the water. The water was lukewarm, the perfect swimming temperature, and they quickly joined Springer in the shallows. He kicked water at them, making them laugh as they kicked back. Even Wallflower kicked some up occasionally.
But Trixie wanted to see how far out they could swim. So she started swimming towards the centre with Flash and Soarin chasing after her. Springer rushed up to Wallflower. "Come on!" He jumped up and pushed her forward, making her cry out as she staggered forward. As it turned out, the lake didn't gradually get deeper.
Instead, there was a sudden drop and Wallflower fell off it and began to sink below the water. This caused her eyes to go wide and she started flailing around insanely, catching the other's attention.
The all turned towards her and saw Wallflower's head break through the surface. "HELP!" She struggled to stay above the water and they all rushed back over to her, Luna getting up from her chair after hearing this.
Springer managed to grab the back of her suit and pulled her back to the shallows, allowing her to get her hooves on solid ground. "Wallflower!" Flash cried when they reached her, but Wallflower quickly ran back towards the shore. "What's wrong?" They followed her and Luna was waiting for them. "Are you okay?"
The almost petrified look she had on her face told them she was not okay. "Why didn't you tell us you couldn't swim?" Soarin asked.
"I can swim," Wallflower finally spoke back.
"Then why did you freak out?" Trixie asked, "did you get caught on something?"
"No." Wallflower looked out at the lake, imagining how deep it was. And as she did, a horrible image appeared in her mind that made her begin to panic and stagger backwards. This was enough for Flash to figure it out.
"You're afraid." The others were surprised by this, "you're afraid of water."
"Not...water. Deep water."
"What?" Soarin clearly didn't understand.
"If I can touch the bottom with my head above it, I'm fine. But if it's too deep..." She began to curl herself up, as her friends shared a look. They had never seen Wallflower look so scared before.
"Wait," Trixie blinked, "you've been sailing a bunch of times. You never looked scared then." The others nodded.
"Well I'm wearing a life jacket," Wallflower countered. "And I'm tied to the boat, so I know I'm not gonna go down. I know it's silly, but I can't help it."
Luna stepped forward, "what caused it?" The others looked at her, Wallflower appearing shocked. "The way you're talking and acting. It is clear this fear comes from something that happened to you. So...what caused this fear of deep water?" Wallflower continued to hug her knees, clearly not liking the idea of telling them why she was afraid.
Eventually, she sighed. "When I was four, my family went camping. It was great and I was having a lot of fun. But then, my grandfather and I went to clean our dinner plates in a river that was really deep. He was so focused on cleaning the pots, he didn't notice me jumping on rocks that were in the river. Not until I slipped."
"You fell in," Luna realised with her nodding.
"I was only under for a few seconds, but they were the scariest few moment of my life. My grandfather was able to pull me out, but ever since going into deep water makes me relive that horrible experience."
"Yes," Luna nodded, "I can see why that would leave a mental scar."
"So you've never been able to go near deep water since?" Trixie asked.
Wallflower shrugged, "I'm okay in swimming pools. But when I'm near natural bodies of deep water, especially without lifeguards or floatation devices, I...I...I..." She started to hyperventilate and the others frowned, feeling sorry for Wallflower. Springer moved over to her and let Wallflower cuddle him, this seeming to calm her down. As her breathing got under control, Flash realised he needed to do something.
"We've gotta get you over this fear," he stated much to Wallflower's shock. "If we don't, then Wallflower will have this demon looming over her forever."
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Luna told him. "This kind of trauma can't just be overcome. It requires years of therapy and taking it slow."
"Yeah, but we can't just ignore this. Not only is it gonna affect Wallflower for the rest of her life, it could get in the way of her Adventurer career. What if this spellbook we're after somehow found its way underwater and we have to dive down in order to get it. I don't wanna leave Wallflower behind."
"Same," Soarin crossed his arms, "and what if we needed Wallflower whilst underwater. Her terran strength is super useful."
Flash knelt down in front of Wallflower, "I won't force you to try and overcome your fear. But can we at least try and help you get over it." He held his hand out and Wallflower stared at him for a moment, wondering if he really could help her overcome this fear.
She had suffered from this for too long. If Flash knew a way to help her, she had to at least try. "Okay," she took his hand and Flash pulled her up to her hooves. "But how are we gonna try and overcome it?"
Luna sighed. "From what I have seen, facing a fear even once can weaken its effect on a pony amazingly." She turned towards the lake. "I am willing to wager that if you can swim all the way to the bottom of the lake whilst keeping calm, you'll be able to do it again much easier. And every time you do, the fear will grow less and less until you no longer have any fear at all."
"Great," Flash pulled Wallflower towards the water, "then we'll start slow. Just get you used to being in the water but keep your head above the water." Wallflower moaned, clearly not happy about this.
They waded into the water and Flash was ahead of her, waiting until he reached the edge of the shallows. Once they were there, Flash turned to Wallflower and told her to take a deep breath. Wallflower did so and Flash pulled her down. The pair were soon crouching under the water, Wallflower's face telling Flash she didn't like this.
The avian counted to ten before pulling them both back up. They gasped as they did so, whilst all but Luna waded out towards them. "Great. Ten seconds. We'll do that three times and then increase the mount. Got it?" Wallflower nodded, as the pair took a deep breath and dived under the water again.
They did this three times Like Flash suggested, then upped it to fifteen for five times. The pair continued this for a while, Wallflower getting more and more used to being under the water.
Once Flash was comfortable she was okay, he swam back to shore and returned to her with some rope. "What's that for?"
"Life line," Flash replied as he tied one end around his waist. "You're worried about sinking, right? Well you won't sink if you're fastened to me."
"But what if I pull you down with me?"
"How?" Flash asked, "we float." To prove his point, he leaned back and let his density do the rest of the work. He floated there for a moment and Wallflower felt silly for forgetting that. "I know you're scared," Flash stood back up. "But you've got the five of us with you to keep you safe. Trust me, nothing bad is gonna happen to you." Wallflower took a deep breath, knowing he was right.
She tied the rope around her waist and the pair began to swim out towards the centre of the lake, where the others had moved to. Wallflower was doing a backstroke, thinking if she didn't look down she could pretend she was in an outside swimming pool.
But as she swam and thought about diving down, the memory of all those years ago came flooding back to her. And so, she started to panic and her swimming became more erratic. Flash saw this and stopped, "Wallflower. Relax." But she didn't and was starting to hyperventilate, forcing Flash to pull her back to the shallows by the rope. "It's okay. Nothing's gonna happen to you." They made it back and Wallflower jumped onto the sandy lakebed. Flash was starting to think maybe he couldn't get Wallflower over this fear.
The mare sighed once she had calmed down. "I'm sorry. I know you're trying, but it's just too hard."
"It's okay," he assured her. "We all have fears. It's a natural part of life. And it's not like your fear came out of nowhere. Ponies can drown, so it's okay to be scared of that happening." Wallflower nodded, glad that Flash wasn't upset about her for failing.
Over with their friends, Springer, Soarin and Trixie had seen Wallflower's freak out and wished they knew a way to help her. "I guess we'll be avoiding water based quests when we graduate," Soarin sighed.
"I'm sure Wallflower will get over it," Trixie told him. "It's just gonna take time." They nodded and hoped that Wallflower would find a way to overcome her fear, but knew they would need to stay away from the water during their adventures until she did.
As such, they planned on having as much fun as they could at this lake before they had to leave.
However, in that moment Trixie felt something grab her leg. "Huh?" Was all she could ask before she was suddenly pulled under the water.
Soarin and Springer heard this and looked around, seeing no sign of the mare. "Trixie?" Soarin asked, wondering where she had gone. But before he could ask Springer to scan for her, something grabbed his leg and pulled him down. "WOW!" Springer saw this and gasped before diving under the water.
When he did, he saw Soarin and Trixie being pulled downwards. Something was wrapped around their leg and waist. Something long and wiggly.
That same something shot up from the lake's depths towards Springer, who was able to avoid it but only by the briefest of distance. When it shot passed him, he realised it was a long tentacle, being red in colour with suckers covering one side of it.
Several more of these tentacles shot up from the lake's depths and attempted to grab him, but Springer was able to swim around and avoid most of them. One shot towards him and he was forced to fight back, bringing his paws together to form a sphere of blue energy.
This was his Aura Blast, which he fired at the tentacle. When it connected, the sphere exploded and created a shockwave that blew Springer upwards and out of the water. "GUYS!" He yelled once he was in the air, "HELP!" The others turned to him and as they did, something else exploded out of the water.
A bunch of tentacles were now flailing out of the water, Trixie and Soarin trapped in two of them. They both struggled against the tentacles, which slowly slithered up their bodies and gained a tighter and tighter grip upon them. "Let me go!" Soarin cried.
"I've seen enough comics to know where this might be going," Trixie growled as a tentacles got dangerously close to her chest.
Luna dropped her book and rushed to her staff, grabbing it as Flash and Wallflower rushed back to shore. Springer had begun to fall towards the water and as he did, a tentacle flew out towards. "FLASH!" The avian heard his partner and nodded, digging deep and allowing more magic into his Amulet.
The light exploded out of it and flew towards Springer, who managed to kick away the tip of the tentacle and bounce of its side. As he did, the light wrapped around him.
"Esprit...EVOLUTION!" As more tentacles shot towards him, the cocoon exploded and Springer was revealed to be in his adult form. "Steel Paw!" The spikes on the back of his paws morphed into long metal claws, which she swung around the cut the tentacles into pieces.
As he did, Luna took to the air with her staff in hand. Flash and Wallflower grabbed their weapons, Flash getting Soarin's bow since he doubted his knife was gonna be much use. He leapt into the air behind Soarin, as Wallflower remained on the shore.
"Guys," she whispered. She wanted to help, but the thought of going out into the water caused her entire body to freeze up.
Flash watched as Springer leapt from tentacle to tentacle, slashing at the tendrils. But whatever this creature was, it was smart. As the tentacles started avoiding him and pulled both Soarin and Trixie up and out of reach of him. "Do something!" Trixie yelled, as the tentacles tightened up on them before pulling them both towards the water.
Luna gasped and quickly cast a spell, "Bubble Head!" She thrust her staff forward and a pair of bubbles shot towards Soarin and Trixie, hitting the pair on the head just before they were pulled under the water. They both held their breath, but then realised something wasn't right. Their faces didn't feel wet.
Looking around, they saw that the bubbles were wrapped around their head. He breathed in and too their relief, they weren't drowning.
"That should give them some air," Luna told Flash. "But it won't last forever."
"Then let's get them out of there!" Flash pulled on Soarin's bow. He didn't dare use an electric attack with his friends surrounded by water, but hopefully his air blasts would be just as effective. "Aero Shot!" He fired and the air arrow flew through the air, hitting a tentacle head on. But the air just burst without doing any damage. "What?"
"Fireball Shot!" Luna launched a flaming projectile from her staff, which hit another tentacle and did nothing as it exploded again it. "Our attacks aren't working."
"Why not?" Flash asked, as the tentacles started flying towards them. He slashed at them with the bow as Luna did the same with the blade of her staff, the two remaining on the defensive. Springer continued to jump from tentacle to tentacle, doing whatever he could to avoid getting captured.
"Aura Blast!" He launched a larger sphere then before, right at a tentacle. But the tentacles curled back before flicking forward and knocking the sphere back. The sphere shot towards Springer and exploded in midair, sending him flying backwards. "Aaaah!"
"Springer!" Flash shot down to try and grab his partner, but a tentacle managed to snag him first.
"Gyah!" Springer flinched when the tentacle caught him and wrapped around his body. His arms were forced to his sides with the tentacles above his claws, meaning he was unable to use both Aura Blast and Steel Paw.
Flash tried to blast the tentacle with his bow, but the attack just bounced off the tendril. "What is with this thing."
"Lumino Shot!" Luna cried, firing a laser from her staff. It struck a tentacle, but didn't do anything either. "This thing must have an element its weak to." She worried that by the time they found this element, Trixie and Soarin would be out of air. "What's this creature's secret?"
A tentacle flew towards her and Luna knew she only had one option. So when it got close enough, she put her staff away as she dodged to tendril. Then, she grabbed hold of it and used all her omni-enhanced terran strength to pull.
She let out a mighty roar, as the tentacle was pulled up into the air with her. Flash, who had been trying to free Springer, heard that roar and was amazed when he looked up to see Luna pulling the giant creature upward. "Wow," he gulped, "remind me not to get her mad."
After a few moments of pulling, something was dragged out of the water. The creature's full body.
It was a giant shell, which was made out of several sections stacked one on top of the other to form a cone-like structure. These sections were covered in spikes and at the tip, a number of these spikes could be seen pointing forwards. The tentacles were sticking out of a hole in the bottom and two of these tentacles were holding Soarin and Trixie.
The two of them were now completely tied up, with only their heads and hooves left uncovered.
"You guys alright?" Flash asked, fearing the pair were hurt in some way.
Both of them flinched as they had trouble breathing, the air bubbles the only thing that had kept them alive. If the tentacles got any tighter, they feared they were gonna have broken bones. "Do...something," Trixie begged.
Luna was beginning to feel the strain of the creature's weight. With it out of the water, she was now up against the full impact of it. She grunted under the weight and looked down, her eyes going wide when she saw the creature. "So that's it." She dropped the beast and it fell back into the water, creating a large splash as she looked it over. "I know what this thing is!"
"Great," Flash told her, "so how do we beat it?"
"It's called an Achilles Tentacruel. It's a rare type of monster that lives in lakes like this. They are also completely immune to any form of magic, along with having incredible regenerative capabilities." Sure enough, all the tentacles Springer had cut up where now fully repaired and ready to grab something to eat.
"That still doesn't explain how we beat it!" Flash cried, as he avoided a tentacle that tried to grab him whilst Springer was pulled down towards the lake.
"They can only be destroyed if you damage one part of them. A gem that acts as their life-force and If it's destroyed, the creature will follow suit."
"Great!" Flash looked at the shell, "where is it?" Luna didn't know. She had only ever read about the Achilles Tentacruel, but had never seen one up close. She knew it had to be somewhere on the shell, but where was the ultimate question.
Flash and Luna flew around, as the creature's shell sank more and more. There was no sign of the gem on the shell above the water, which meant they had to look under it. "Bubble Head!" She swung her staff around and fired a bubble at both Flash and Springer, the pair getting it over their heads right before Springer hit the water.
She then attempted to cast one over herself, but before she could a tentacle flew up and knocked her staff out of her hands. "Luna!" Flash gasped, as another tentacle then grabbed the omni and wrapped itself around her.
She cried out as it pinned her wings and arms to her body, then started pulling her towards the water. She fired a blast from her horn, but knew it would do nothing to the creature.
As she was pulled under the water, Flash dived down and began to swim through it. It was times like this, he wish he still had feet. He was forced to rely on his wings, since her hands were holding his bow, the avian swimming as fast as he could. He managed to catch up to the creature as it pulled his four friends down, Flash mostly worried about Luna since she didn't have an air bubble.
Flash remembered an old history class from when he was a colt, talking about how their ancestors couldn't hold their breaths back before they evolved their anthro bodies. Luckily, they had developed that skill and Luna would be putting it to the test until Flash could save her.
He knew he couldn't free her from the tentacles. His only hope of saving her was to find that gem she was talking about and to destroy it. As such, he swam down to the shell whilst avoiding the tentacles. Once close enough, he grabbed onto one of the spikes and used them to pull himself around. He didn't know how this creature saw, but hopefully it couldn't feel anything on its shell.
He quickly circled around the different sections and as he did, he noticed something. At the very bottom of the shell, just above the spot the tentacles were coming out of, a green gem the size of his head was sticking out. He had found its weak spot.
However, as he dived down to attack it, the creature appeared to sense his presence.
The tentacles began to attack, the tendrils flying towards him. Flash looked around and saw them, his eyes going wide before he swam to the side. The tendril barely missed him and Flash could tell it was a lot faster than him underwater. He had to be fast.
He pulled on the bow and aimed at the gem. But just as he was about to fire, a tentacle slammed into him.
The force made him drop his bow whilst the air blast he shot missed and hit the shell next to the gem. The tentacle tried to grab him, but he quickly drew his dagger and slashed at it. The pair of them struggled against one another, fighting to try and overpower the other.
Back on the shore, Wallflower waited for her friends to surface.
But as the seconds passed, her worries grew more and more. "Something's wrong." She was about to step forward, but then realised what she would need to do to help them. The thought of going into the water made her body lock up, as the memories of the incident from all those years ago flew through her mind. She couldn't do it...or could she?
Her memories slowly shifted to other ones. Happier ones.
Flash helping her with the school's garden, even though she knew he wasn't big into gardening. Soarin, helping her practise her hand to hand combat. And Trixie, who often gave Wallflower makeup advice and once even told her she had a lot of beauty hidden within her.
Then there was Luna and Springer, who hadn't been with them that long. But despite that, she still felt a great amount of attachment to them. Luna was willing to risk her magic to protect them and Springer was so lovable. And, of course, she couldn't forget how Flash was willing to help her overcome her fear of deep water. How could she just turn her back on them?
"Everypony," she whispered. She took a deep breath and was likely about to hyperventilate. But when she thought about her friends drowning or being eaten, that thought seemed to terrify her more then going in the water. "HOLD ON!" She ran forward and got all the way up to her waist before she jumped forward, swimming in the water before he mind realised she was doing it.
She swam as fast as she can until she reached the spot she saw her friends go under, then took a deep breath before diving. She was a good ten feet down before she realised she was completely submerged, her heart beating a mile a minute as it told her she shouldn't be down this deep. But she refused to let her fear kill her friends.
Speaking of friends, she spotted the lot of them up ahead. They were all getting wrapped up, though all but Luna were still covered by a bubble around their head.
Springer was the first one to notice her, "WALLFLOWER!" The others turned to see her approaching and were amazed, but then worried as tentacles shot towards her.
"Look out!" Trixie cried, as Wallflower activated her gauntlets. The larger surface they created allowed Wallflower to swim further, the girl dodging the tentacle and punching them away.
Flash, who was still trying to cut himself free, turned to her as she got closer. "Wallflower!" He pointed at the gem, "break that!" Wallflower nodded, as her lungs were starting to burn.
She swam fast as she could with the tentacles swinging around her, the terran one wrong move away from getting caught by them. She finally reached the shell and threw a punch, slamming her fist right into the gem. The impact was strong, but the water still slowed it down. As such, the gem cracked but remained intact.
'No,' Wallflower thought as she prepared to punch it again. But before she could-
"LOOK OUT!" Her instincts took over and she leapt away, as a tentacle whipped at it. She was forced to swim away and as she did, another tentacle grabbed her by the hoof.
'Oh no!' She tried to wiggle free, but the tentacle managed to get a firm grip on her. She fought against it as best she could, but the tendril managed to wrapped around her hoof. She panicked and in doing so, accidently released her breath. The others panicked, especially as Soarin and Luna's ai bubbles were starting to get small.
Flash feared for his friend. And, knowing this was his only option, pulled his dagger back and threw it. The weapon spun through the water, Flash having charged it with the cutting power of air. But it slowed down before it could reach Wallflower, not appearing it was gonna get close.
However, Luna used her magic and blasted it. This propelled it forward again and caused it to hit the tendril just below Wallflower's hoof.
The tentacle was cut from the main body and Wallflower was able to swim free. But her lack of air was quickly becoming a problem.
However, as she swam away, she noticed something on the lakebed. Another shell. She knew it was a long shot, but they didn't have any other choice. So, she swam down and grabbed the shell before turning it over. And to her shock, it actually unleashed a bubble.
She had positioned her mouth over it, so it flew straight up and allowed her to breath it in. Precious oxygen flowed into her lips and she was able to refuel her lungs before holding her breath again, as the tentacles. moved towards her.
"Look out!" Soarin cried, those words being the last before his and Trixie's air bubbles finally popped.
Wallflower jumped up off the lakebed and managed to avoid the tentacle, grabbing onto one with her large gauntlets and using it to pull herself forward with all he strength. She shot through the water as fast as she could, aiming straight for the gemstone. A tentacle appeared between her and her target, which shot forward. But Wallflower was able to avoid it by spinning like a drill, causing her to move through the water faster.
She shot passed the tentacle and pulled her first back. The momentum pushed her forward with impressive speed and, finally, she reached the gem.
'TAKE THIS!' She screamed in her head before thrusting her first forward, slamming into the gem.
The stone cracked even more and finally broke apart, unleashing a powerful burst of light that blinded everypony. For the first time, the monster let out a mighty scream as the light engulfed its entire body. It then exploded, freeing Wallflower's friends.
Everypony smiled as they felt themselves able to move, though four of them were lacking air.
Flash swam over and grabbed Luna, who looked like she was about to pass out. Springer, Trixie and Soarin quickly hurried to the top of the lake, whilst Wallflower stared at the spot the creature had one been. The reason was because she saw something appear from within the light. A shell that looked like a smaller version of the one the creature had.
For some reason, she felt an urge to take it with her.
The other five finally broke through the surface and gasped, Flash and Springer's air bubbles vanishing. Flash focused on Luna, who still didn't seem to be completely conscious. "Luna. Princess! Wake up!" She finally came around with a gasp, the omni looking around and realising where she was.
Then she realised that Flash was behind her, his arm wrapped around her. Unfortunately, this meant he was clutching a certain area barely anypony had ever gotten to touch. This made her cry out and push Flash away, the teen realising what the problem was.
"Sorry!" He cried, blushing as Wallflower broke through the surface.
"Is everypony okay?" She asked, the lot of them nodding but feeling really tired. They all swam back to shore and when they did, they panted and laid upon the sand.
Trixie then turned to Wallflower. "That was amazing. You totally saved our flanks!" Wallflower blushed at this, whilst the others smiled.
"She's right," Flash smirked. "You were scared, but you overcame it."
"Not really," Wallflower sighed. "I just...felt another fear that made me more scared then I was of the water. Losing you guys." The others smiled, all of them touched by this statement. "I was terrified of the water, but the image in my head of what was gonna happen to you was even worse."
"True," Luna nodded. "Fear can be just as great a motivator, as it is a roadblock. And I wouldn't be surprised if you found going under the water far less scary than it seemed before." Wallflower smiled at that though. She would like it if she didn't have to be scared whenever they were near water.
"So what do we do now?" Soarin asked, Luna pushing herself back to her feet.
"We're gonna have to take another dip." They all looked confused, "I lost my staff in that fight. And Flash dropped his dagger and your bow. I doubt you intend to just leave them at the bottom of the lake." The boys moaned at the thought of having to find their weapons.
Trixie then noticed something in Wallflower's hand. "What's that?" They all looked down and Wallflower held up the shell, which made them tilt their heads.
"I think it's a monster drop. But I don't think it'll have any uses."
"Ahh man," Soarin frowned. "After all that, it would have been cool to get something useful." Luna stared at the shell, then at Wallflower. The omni's eyes shifted between the two before a smile formed on her lips.
"Actually, I might have an idea. Wallflower, may I have your gauntlets for a moment?" Wallflower looked confused, but nodded and took her gloves off. She handed them to the princess and Luna placed them on the ground, then held her hands up over them. Her horn glowed, as she started muttering something. Her hands then glowed and the light started falling off them like snow, landing on the gloves and causing them to glow as well.
Springer looked like he was about to ask what she was doing, but Flash put a finger to his lips. He had a feeling Luna wouldn't want to be disturbed and have her concentration broken.
After another minute or so of Luna chanting, she finally stopped and the light around her hands dimmed.
The gloves continued to glow for a few more moments before the light faded, Luna picking the gloves up and smirking. "Perfect." She handed them back to Wallflower, "here you are."
Wallflower took them and looked the gloves over, "what did you do?"
"I gave them an upgrade. I've noticed you're fighting style is quite limited with your gauntlet's basic designs. Hopefully, this should help make you a more well rounded fighter." Wallflower put the gloves on, but they didn't feel any different. "Take the shell and press it to the gem."
Wallflower did so. And as soon as she did, the gem unleashed a light that swirled around the shell and sucked it inside. The light faded and Wallflower was shocked by this, the others just the same. "You made her gauntlet eat the shell?" Soarin asked, Luna nodded.
"Yup. Now it'll use that shell to create a new weapon. One that should be useful depending on what it becomes." She turned back to Wallflower, "think about the shell." Wallflower did and in that moment, the gloves glowed like they were about to transform. And one did.
In a flash, Wallflower's right gauntlet was suddenly transformed into something entirely different. It was now just like the creature's shell, being made up of three sections that covered her entire upper arm. It was mainly cream coloured, but was blue around the bottom were it was fused to her arm.
"Wow!" Wallflower's eyes went wide, as she looked the shell over. "What is this?"
"Like I said, it's created a new weapon for you to use. Not sure what it is yet, but it should be as hard as that monster's shell was." Flash tilted his head and when he did, he was reminded of something. A time from his first childhood, when he used to watch Saturday morning cartoons.
Suddenly, he realised what the shell reminded him of. "A drill." The others looked at him in confusion. "It looks like a drill arm. Maybe if you concentrate, it'll spin super fast." Wallflower didn't understand, but she trusted Flash. As such, she imagined the shell on her arm spinning. And sure enough, the three sections began to spin with the middle one spinning counter to the other two.
The others were amazed, as the shell grew faster and faster. Eventually, it was spinning so fast it was nothing but a cone-shaped blur.
"Incredible," Luna smirked before looking over at a nearby rock. "Go see what happens when you punch that rock with it." Wallflower nodded and charged forward, thrusting the spinning shell into the rock. The impact caused the area the tip struck to shatter, breaking it apart and allowing the drill to dig deeper into the rock.
When she pulled back, Wallflower stared at the rock and was amazed by the damage done to it. "Wow."
"Impressive," Luna smirked. "Now you have your own piercing attack. I'm sure that will come in handy if you ever come up against an opponent with high defences."
Wallflower smiled as her shell fist transformed back to normal. "Thank you, Luna."
"No problem," Luna nodded. "And it's not just the shell those gloves will be able to use to make new weapons. Any monster drop should allow you to do the same." Hearing this, Trixie gasped.
"Hey, what about all those monster drops we got when we went out with Shining Armor?" The others realised she was right, Wallflower rushing over to her bag.
She didn't know why, but she had decided to bring all three of these items with them. The paralysis gas crystal was useful, but the stinger part and ball of silk were just dead weight. Until now.
She picked up the crystal and turned to her friends, wondering if it was okay for her to use it like this. They nodded, since if it made a weapon with that ability they would be able to use it more then once. Wallflower fed the crystal to her gauntlet and sure enough, a moment later it transformed into something else.
It was a tube-like weapon that reminded Flash of the arm cannon from that old video game, Megadude. It was red in colour and had a black stripe running down the side of it. Flash had a feeling that it would fire the same paralysing mist the centipede they fought could, which might be quite useful.
She then fed it the stinger part, causing it to transform again. It was just like her normal gauntlet, only it was black instead of green. And on the back of it was a black tube that had a white spike sticking out the front of it.
Finally, she fed the gauntlets the webs and both of them transformed this time. They were now a pair of white gloves with large cuffs around the wrists. Black web-like patterns ran around the white fabric and between each knuckle was a yellow metal opening.
"Wow," she whispered as she switched between the five forms her gauntlets now had. She never thought overcoming her fear of water would be so rewarding.
Over the next hour, the six of them remained under the water looking for their lost weapons. Wallflower did find going underwater less terrifying now. If she could fight a giant monster in deep water, being in monsterless water was a cakewalk. She was even able to use her shell fist at a propeller, allowing her to move through the water even faster.
They managed to find their weapons and when they returned to the surface, Wallflower started testing out each of her weapons to get used to them and figure out what they could do. The others laughed at Wallflower's upgrade, whilst also enjoying making sand castle and sculptures.
Even Luna began to do some sand work, the lot of them doing this until Celestia lowered the sun. As it got darker, they made a beach fire and roasted marshmallows. It was a great time for all of them, since the day had turned out quite well despite the lot of them almost drowning.
Wallflower had overcome her fear and gotten a slew of new abilities, which would help their team grow stronger and stronger. No doubt, Team Relic was now a force to be reckoned with.
The next day.
Flash placed his belt on his waist and when it strapped itself into place, he smirked before taking out a card and slotting it into place.
To everypony's joy, the truck appeared around him and reved up. The belt was back to full power and they could continue to drive to the relic. So the lot of them climbed inside and strapped in as Flash drove off, Wallflower looking back at the lake she had grown so much in. Maybe one day, she would return to this place.
For now, she would focus on what was ahead of her. They didn't have long to go now. Once they were over the marshlands, they would be at the area Luna had hidden the spellbook. Whatever was waiting for them there, she knew they could overcome it. For her team was one that could not be stopped, no matter what was thrown at them.