Abhorsen : Friendship is Free-Magic

by MerlosTheMad


Chapter 1 : Rarity Dies

Warm sun, comfortable chair, cool drink and a day of nothing else but lazing about in complete relaxation. Such was a day that many ponies dream of or look forward to constantly. Sometimes, they would work for weeks on end after tirelessly and diligently practicing their given trade to acquire such a vacation. For some ponies, life was a repetitive cycle of such endeavors and circumstances. Some ponies, however, did not have such luxury, and were instead destined for greatness.

For Rarity the unicorn, this was all too true. For time and again alongside her friends—the other Elements of Harmony—she would quite frequently face eldritch horrors and mystical beasts. At any time, such creatures as dragons would show up without warning to threaten Equestria and its noble citizens. All too often her day to day life was interrupted when the Princesses would call upon herself, and her five pony gal pals to do battle with those same threats. Of course Twilight Sparkle, her friend and confidant, would always eagerly rush forward to stop these incursions into the otherwise peaceful land. With the exception of perhaps Fluttershy, so would the others!... But other than to stand by and help her friends out of loyalty through these tough and tragic times, Rarity didn't relish the thought of ever doing anything of the sort. However, she would most certainly, always fight beside Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie, no matter what the obstacle...

But, Rarity didn't have to like it, or the adventure and troublesome happenings that came with that responsibility. The station of heroine was itself, thrust upon her before she even knew it, all those months ago. Ever since helping in the defeat of Nightmare Moon, it all had continued like this for her. Still, she most definitely, held no regret over the way her life had pushed forward. Quite the contrary; many of the best times of her life had been beside her friends, in good times or bad.

Bearing all this perfectly well in mind though; it was explicitly simple for Rarity, the Element of Generosity of Equestria, to conclude one thing: that days like this were truly... truly....

A blessing.

I really can't say what I was thinking to begin with that morning. Normally on a day off I would seek to enjoy it with my good friends whom everypony in Ponyville is well acquainted with. But today I just wanted a simple affair; a lounge in the sun by myself lying beside the cool waters of a pond.

Oh this weather is simply diviiine, wait what's that noise? I tilt my ears towards where I think the noise is coming from. How lucky! I believe I hear my friend's voices over the next hill... Oh no.

"MAKE WAY! Make way for her royal Pinkie Pie-ness!" Maniacal giggling followed in the form of teehees and shouting.

"Whoa, Pinkie- Slow down!" another, scratchier voice shouted in warning to the first.

I look over in time to see... Pinkie pulling Rainbow Dash, in a small red wagon no less. How odd-

My thoughts were interrupted by a veritable tidal wave of pond water, which splashed up over the embankment to hit me full force with a loud splooshing noise.

Once they floated back to the top of my mind, my now soured thoughts resumed. It was foalish of me to think such whimsical fancies I suppose, like having a quiet day. I had truly thought that my respite of basking in the sun beside cool waters had been safely secured too... I peeled my sun hat off my soaked head and horn where upon I deposited it on the ground beside myself to stare up glumly at my two friends.

"Pinkieee! Rainbow Dash! Do you two realize what you've done!?" I'll admit, the voice I used to shout at the once calm pool's now rippling and occupied waters became slightly... shrieky towards the end. But it's not as if I'd meant it to be. Rainbow Dash looked up from where she now stood at the bank. She had been shaking like a dog, no doubt to get the freezing liquid out of her soaked fur and water-logged feathers. Pinkie Pie likewise ceased her chaotic splashing in the pond to respond to my calling her name.

Rainbow grinned sheepishly and opened her mouth to speak, but Pinkie promptly interrupted her.

"OH! Hiya Rarity! Eheh, I didn't know you knew about the super secret pony pool party I was throwing too! WHEEE!" The party obsessed mare fell backwards to splash about again, flailing her fore legs wildly.

Rainbow Dash scowled back at her friend and picked up from where she'd left off. "Ehheh, hi, Rarity. Sorry about that. Pinkie and I were coming to hang out here and cool off." After kicking a hoof back to get the last of the water off herself, she looked over again.

"Well still, you're little stunt has ruined my drink, ruined my sandwich..." I looked down remorsefully at the daisy and rye lunch which I had brought with myself. "But worst of all!" I finished dramatically, pointing down with a hoof for good measure. "You have both ruined my hat!"

The velvet and silk sunhat lay sadly beside me, hopelessly soaked and beyond hopelessly molested.

Pinkie's head popped out of the nearby water onto the shore and landed with a wet slap in front of me. She grinned then began barking like some strange animal, scaring the living daylights out of me in my current emotionally elevated state. "Arp-arp!" Oh, the horror!

"YEEee— Pinkie! Stop it or you'll... Oh, what the hay's the use now?" My look of surprise melted to one of defeat. Pinkie continued to slap her soaking legs together and smile up at me.

"Maybe you should chill out a little bit, Pinkie. She seems pretty upset about the water." Rainbow took on a surprisingly considerate tone; after snickering uncontrollably at my plight, anyway.

"Chill out!? Well I'm already doing that, you silly fillies! Come on in, the water's great! It's nice and cool and fresh and cool and... Cold!" Pinkie splashed the water for effect, grinning happily and obliviously.

"I think I'll pass." I rolled my eyes at her incredulous carrying on.

With sadness, I looked down at my ruined chapeau, which now lay like a wounded animal in the sun. I suppose it could be worse, I thought, trying to find a bright side to things. I do hope it doesn't shrink from drying too quickly, at least... Fortunately, I was well aware that good, tightly woven silk didn't shrink from merely getting wet, and satin only shrank from exceedingly hot water. Unfortunately, I also knew my hat was a very loose weave to allow a cool breeze to ebb through it, and air drying would certainly shrink it.

Without warning, one of the two friends now plaguing the get-away day I had so carefully planned for myself, began to shake the remaining water out of her coat. The act successfully threw all of the water onto... onto my own coat, which had still been soaked anyway, I might add. I hardly batted an eyelash, desensitized to such things as I was, but that isn't to say I wasn't upset.

I responded appropriately. "Aaah! Pinkie, puh-lease, darling! I'm in the middle of trying to enjoy the cool breeze of the day in solitude, not that I'd mind company, but a modicum of propriety is all I ask of you!" I tenderly began wringing out my now horribly sodden and thoroughly ruined mane.

Pinkie Pie drew her eyebrows down and scrutinized me for a moment, humming.

"Oopsie!" Pinkie leaned back with an apologetic look. "Sorry about that, Rarity. Not sure what that was you said about paparazzi. I don't even have a camera! You crack me up sometimes, you know?" She giggled along with Rainbow before her attention shifted once again.

Her eyes had now locked with my poor, defenseless hat.

"Ahem," I broke in, hoping to restore some sanity to the situation. "Yes, you see what you've both done? My chapeau is ruined!" I gave her a sad look. It wasn't my intent to guilt her over the thing, certainly, but hopefully this would get them both to calm down.

Above me, Rainbow elicited what she thought on the matter. "Pssch, hat schmat, Rarity."

Pinkie Pie spoke up again with a different idea though.

"Wet hat? We can fix that! Hah, lookit me, I'm Zecora!" Pinkie continued to snort and giggled her pink mane off at her apparently accidental rhyme. Afterward, before I could even raise another proper complaint, she jumped at my poor hat like a pink lightning bolt, picking it up in her teeth, and then tossing it high into the air!

"Rainbow Dash! I choose YOU!" Pinkie's expression turned into a wide, toothy grin as she stared up at the sight. My eyes also locked in horror with my dripping hat as it flew up higher and higher.

Rainbow Dash spoke beside me and my wide eyed look moved over to her. "Hmph, yeah yeah, I got this."

Air rushed around me from the vacuum Rainbow had created as she sped towards my hat, all of this before I could say, "Stop! Don't dry that! It's—!"

I knew already that I was too late.

Rainbow Dash spun around the hat in a tight cylinder. She's dryiiiiing it. Air drying it! Not silk! Not satin! My mental cries would do nothing, panicked as they were. Even worse, the wind from the aerial display whipped at my poor mane even more, and I could practically feel the stray hairs beginning to poke out.

Once the damage was done, the hat floated down gently on a guided breeze from Rainbow and fell into my lap. It had shrunk several sizes accordingly from the supernatural, magical wind treatment. In addition, the ruby studded ribbon that had accompanied it was no where to be seen.

Rainbow fluttered down somewhere beside me, speaking in her boastful tone about something or another. But right then, I had only attention for this atrocity before me.

"—nd then I dashed that hat with a dash of Dash! Rainbow style, no pun intended. Heh, hey, was it always that small?" Rainbow gestured with a pointed hoof towards the former hat, now at best large enough for a squirrel to wear.

I could feel my face clench up and a snarl came from somewhere, but neither that nor the threat of wrinkles was important right now.

"Ah- uuuh, you okay... Rare...?" Rainbow asked in a hushed voice.

Pinkie and Rainbow Dash crouched and leaned away from my sudden glare as I climbed up from my beach chair. Both were clearly fearful of the just desserts they only now saw on the horizon. I stormed up to them; they stood on hind legs reeling from my sudden approach. In unison the duo elicited two surprised yelps and then—

My hooves gently nudged them just enough to push them over the small rocky edge, which dropped off into the pond. Both of my friends made the most gratifying of splashing noises as they both tumbled into the water.

A horribly pleased, and not at all guilty smirk bloomed across my muzzle. That, is just music to my ears. I twitched them gratifyingly to the sound of Pinkie and Dashie spluttering.

"Hah. Take that, you ruffians," I elicited.

I didn't care that I was inadvertently splashed again by Pinkie and Rainbow after they crashed backwards into the pond; my revenge was had. Shaking briskly, I tried to get some more of the continuously invading pond water out of my devastated mane and poor tail. The two mischief makers popped out of the water a moment later, both of their manes once again plastered against their heads.

Then, Rainbow Dash called out from below me. "Oh, it is ON!"

"No! That wasn't a challee-EEENGE!" I squealed in vain as two pairs of hooves, one set belonging to a chortling pink pony and the other to a cyan miscreant; grabbed my front hooves and threw me out over the pond several strides into the air. Their mad cackling followed me until the water filled my ears and all I heard was the splashing from my legs.

Gasping, I broke the surface of the frigid spring water and wiped my eyes furiously. It's in my nose! Oh, by Celestia's beard, my poor mane! I was just able to stay afloat by paddling my legs furiously, until finally I got enough water out of my eyes to see both of my friends smiling like a couple of right buffoons. Have they no respect for a mare's hard work or pedicure!?

I scrunched up my forehead in an unladylike manner, and got ready to 'get even', as it were. "Oh. It. Is. On—"

Rainbow burst out laughing, interrupting me. "I knew you were gonna say that! Hah! I beat yah too it already, little-miss-up-tight!" The pegasus pushed off the bank and took to the skies, showering Pinkie, and more so myself with a flood of water that rose in her speeding wake.

Pinkie Pie cheered and splashed more, making an even bigger scene with no visible effort.

I sighed in defeat, realizing there was no beating these two at their own game, and paddled to the shore. It was a bitter acceptance, made all the more bitter by Rainbow Dash's antics.

"Hey, don't look so glum, Rarity..." Rainbow smiled down smugly from where she hovered, then blew a raspberry at me, adding insult to injury.

Rarity is not one to accept defeat so easily, Dashie... Looking over, I could see Pinkie beaming at us over her toothy grin, which I was sure had been held for several minutes now. Well, if you can't beat them Miss Rarity, join them!

"HAIYAAAH!"

"Wo-WOAH! Easy!"

Another great splooshing noise, the third for my day, erupted around me.

At this rate I'm going to grow fins. I paddled my hooves steadily, once again under the surface of the water. Hehe, if only Rainbow could've seen the look on her face! Tackling her had been easier than I had imagined it would be, even with her flying two strides above the pond like that. I decided since I was so far under this time, that I would look around for her trying to surface from below, and then dunk her again. The game was afoot, as far as I saw it. If laughing or chuckling evilly could be possible underneath the water, I would have been. My eyes scanned around me for her, but I only saw the churning water of Pinkie backstroking lazily.

Where is she?

I felt a tug at my hind hooves and let out a water muffled giggle. She'd beaten me at her own game already; I conceded. Somehow, Rainbow had stayed beneath me.

All the same, I was beginning to run out of breath, and started paddling towards the surface. Something seemed quite odd, and caught my attention right away. My brow furrowed in confusion, because it undoubtedly seemed as though I was not moving an inch beneath the Pinkie Pie made waves.

Paddling harder, I reached towards the surface, trying my hardest to reach the fresh air. Horrified, I realized it was... actually getting further away.

My rear hooves kicked out behind myself at the same time that I looked back, glaring at Rainbow Dash.

I gasped outright, the last of my breath leaving in the form of foamy bubbles.

Below me wasn't Rainbow Dash; in fact, there's nothing but darkness and water down there. Oh Celestia, I'm trapped in an under current!? But this is a pond, that doesn't even make sense! Ponds don't have currents! Pitch black walls enveloped up around me, even as I had the thoughts decrying their plausibility.

There wasn't even a bottom to the pond, it just kept going, and I was sinking deeper into it.

Nature was teaching a big lesson about just how massively I had made the wrong assumption about a pond's safety. If I could tear up underwater, I would have, despite how panicked I was.

I looked up overhead again to the shrinking source of light, still ripping at the pond with my hooves to escape. More and more the water-obscured sunshine faded away. My frenzied thoughts weren't helping any, and neither were my frantic attempts at paddling to safety. I never had been a very strong swimmer.

My attempts only served to froth and churn the water surrounding and swallowing me. I could feel my lungs filling with water, I couldn't breathe, and began choking even as my legs still fought the current.

I had time for one last thought. Am I going to die?