The ponies watched as three air bubbles popped on the surface of the puddle. "Rarity!" screamed the group, all except Rainbow Dash. She flew up high and dove into the mud at full speed.
Underneath, she began to sufficate and sink. As her lungs began screaming for air, she began to feel a presence around her. It was a welcoming and warm presence. She heard a voice in her head saying, "Don't be afraid. You won't feel a thing. Release yourself and fall into darkness!" The voice became extremely harsh at the end, as if it knew how important Rainbow Dash's mission to save her friend was. Then, just as Rainbow was losing it, she felt Twilight. Her aura, that is, reaching out to her, trying to pull her back to her senses. Rainbow Dash, without even knowing it, released her aura and reached out to Twilight in a desperate attempt to revive. Success! She felt Twilight's aura surround her and fill her soul to the brim with energy. She snapped her eyes open expecting to have them filled with mud, yet none came. As she looked around, her vision was darkened, however she could see a blue outline in the haze only 5 feet in front of her. "Rainbow, this is Twilight. I'm using an oxygen spell to keep you breathing but it won't last forever. Can you see Rarity?"
"I think so! I'm making my way to her now," said the pegasis, still confused at how Twilight could be projecting her magic through all the mud surrounding her. She began to swim, if it can be called that, toward what looked like Rarity's aura. It was fading quickly though. She reached her and shouted to Twilight, "Now get us out of here! Use some sort of teleportation spell or something, I don't know. Just hurry!" Rainbow began to feel her skin tingling with the unicorn's magic. She saw a flash and then, nothing. She couldn't see. Everything was still hazy black. She began to freak out, hyperventilating and losing control.
"Rainbow Dash, calm down! You're safe!" shouted Twilight, trying to speak over Rainbow's breathing.
"No I'm not!" she screamed. "I can't see anything! Everything's black and hazy!"
"*sigh* I think I know what's going on, but I need you to calm down." Rainbow Dash slowly started to calm down, getting her breathing in check and preparing to listen to Twilight.
"Now, the blackness might be a side effect of my magic which, if it is, I think it will let you detect pony auras. Before we get that magic out of you, try looking toward me to see if it's true." Rainbow did as she was told and, sure enough, she could see everyponys' aruas. Applejack's orange aura, Pinkie Pie's pink aura, Fluttershy's yellow aura, Twilight's purple aura, and the slowly strengthening deep blue aura of Rarity. She could even see her aura when she looked at herself; a bright cyan color.
"Okay, great, I can see pony auras. Now can you please help me see again?"
"Of course. We might need your element though. Speaking of which, where is it?"
So Rainbow Dash began relating all of what had happened in the past 15 minutes, with the glowing of her element and what it eventually led to. She also told of how it was stuck in mid air, with no way to move it.
"I see. Your element must be reacting to a magic tool," she said with a hint in her voice. "Alright then, we'll just have to try to get you back to normal with our current elements. On three girls." One by one, Rainbow could see each of their auras drain into their elements, all except for Rarity, who was still unconscious. They blasted her with energy and she soon could see them all again. Rarity was covered in a thick, brown layer of mud, while everypony else seemed to be fine.
"How's Rarity? Will she be okay?" asked a rather out of character Dash, who was worried for her friend's life.
"She'll be fine Rainbow, just give 'er time," said Applejack.
Twilight spoke up then. "Rainbow, lets go take a look at your element. Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack, stay with Rarity incase she wakes up before we get back."
"We're on it!" shouted Pinkie Pie at the rest of the ponies.
"Okay then. We're all set. Lead the way, Rainbow." Hearing this, the cyan pegasis launched into the sky and off toward where her element still hovered. Twilight followed her as best she could, but found it hard to keep up with Rainbow's speed. Never the less, they arrived shortly, ready to investigate the strange happenings of Rainbow Dash's element.