A drop of water hit the floor, the sound echoing through the corridor. Sweetie Belle shuddered, hearing a splash and feeling cold water on her hoof.
“Eww...” Pipsqueak muttered. “Where is all that water coming from?”
“I have no idea,” Shady Daze replied. The whole tunnel was flooded; a muddy, slightly fluorescent water was reaching their knees.
“Something touched my leg!” Snails exclaimed. “There’s something there! It has tentacles!”
“Shut up.” Diamond Tiara smacked Snails in the back of the head. “It’s that moss. The water is full of it.”
“Yeah...” Shady Daze looked into the water. “But... Should moss glow purple?”
“Should we be in here?” Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “Stop asking dumb questions. And you, stop flying here. You’re pissing me off.”
“Why?” Zippoorwhill asked. “Should I wet my hooves out of solidarity with you?” She flew deeper into the tunnel. “Nothing here.”
Sweetie Belle followed the pegasus with her gaze. She could now barely see her – even the cold light of the moss couldn’t pierce the darkness veiling them. Diamond Tiara was only few steps apart from her, yet Sweetie could hardly see her silhouette. “Is it me, or is it getting darker?”
“I don’t think so,” Pipsqueak replied, staring into the water and following Zippoorwhill slowly. His fur was wet and covered in mud – he was almost completely underwater. “It’s getting brighter...”
“In your head, maybe,” Shady Daze muttered. He trotted to Pipsqueak and shook him. “You okay there?”
“Sure,” Pipsqueak replied. “How about you?”
“I’m good,” Shady said. “How about the rest?”
“Warm water,” Snips said. “Could be worse, right?” He prodded Snails.
“Yeah...” Snails shuddered. “It could have drowned us all... Or maybe a monster would have emerged and swallow us alive...”
“Shut up,” Diamond Tiara muttered. “You’re not making it better...” She groaned when a large chunk of moss stuck to her hoof. “Let’s get out of here.”
They trotted faster. Zippoorwhill was still flying in front of them. Pipsqueak shrugged and started to swim, almost catching up with her. The water was now reaching Sweetie’s flanks. She imagined what’d Rarity say if she saw her. She’d probably have to get her fainting couch.
“Hey, Diamond...” Sweetie muttered. “It’s kinda like your swimming pool... Though with dirtier water and less sun.”
“Maybe,” Diamond Tiara replied, looking at Sweetie’s unsurely.
“I like Diamond’s swimming pool more,” Snips said. Just like Pipsqueak, he was now swimming.
“What were you doing in my swimming pool?” Diamond Tiara asked. “And when?”
“Long story.” Snips shrugged. “It was on the day when Snails got his cutie mark.”
“Do you want to know how I got my cutie mark?” Snails asked, smirking.
“No,” Diamond Tiara said, trying to get rid of the water soaking her mane.
“Yes,” Sweetie Belle replied, jumping forward and splashing water on Shady Daze.
Snails licked his lips. “So, it was when...”
“I keep wondering,” Shady Daze said. “How did you two get your cutie marks while Sweetie, her friends, and me are still blank flanks. That’s just strange. Especially since I think my special talent is connected to writing.”
“... and then I fell into that big hole...”
“You and writing?” Diamond Tiara shrugged.
“Well, I’m much better editor in chief than you were...” Shady smiled.
Diamond Tiara flipped her mane, almost losing her tiara. “I think the new issues lack some... personality...”
“... and then I met an old, wise snail that told me...”
“SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!” Zippoorwhill exclaimed, flying to them. “What is wrong with you?”
Sweetie Belle blinked. Only now she felt it – a constant buzzing in her ears and a strange sensation in her lungs. It seemed like the air was a heavy fluid she was trying to breathe it. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“Why were we talking about my swimming pool?” Diamond Tiara looked around groggily.
“I have no idea, but it’s just above the surface of the water,” Zippoorwhill said. “I don’t feel like getting crazy, unlike some of you.”
“Indeed,” Shady Daze muttered. “We’d better keep our heads high. Pipsqueak? Pipsqueak!?”
They looked around, but Pipsqueak was nowhere to be seen. Shady took a deep breath and took a look underwater. He was standing like that for some time, until Zippoorwhill flew to him and pulled him out.
“He’s not there,” Shady said, panting heavily. “Also, I saw the others...”
“What?” Sweetie exclaimed. “They drowned there?”
“No,” Shady replied. “It’s like... I saw Scootaloo, Rumble, and Ruby trying to open some hatch in the floor. I don’t know if they managed to do that, because Zip pulled me out...”
“One drowned pony is enough...” Zippoorwhill muttered.
“Do you think Pipsqueak drowned?” Diamond Tiara asked.
“He was the shortest and you were all tripping on whatever is in the water.” Zippoorwhill flew a bit higher, almost touching the ceiling with her head. “Hell, you could’ve even drowned him yourselves.”
“What?” Snails shuddered. “We’d never do that.”
“Well, if that thing if the water wanted you to do that...” Diamond Tiara shrugged. “Let’s go. The sooner we get out of this puddle the better.”
“And we’ll leave Pipsqueak like that?” Snails asked.
“This thing wanted him dead,” Diamond Tiara muttered in monotone. “I’d like to remind you that your friend is only slightly taller than Pipsqueak.”
Snips looked around and shivered. “We’d better go...” he muttered.
They trotted forward, slowly walking through the muddy water. Zippoorwhill was still flying in front of them, yelling at them from time to time, when she was noticing that their conversation was getting stranger.
“So... you saw Scootaloo there?” Sweetie Belle asked. “How was she?”
“I don’t know,” Shady muttered. “I think she was crying...”
Sweetie Belle stifled a sob. “I hope she and Apple Bloom are okay...”
“I haven’t seen Apple Bloom there.” Shady looked at the water. Its level was getting lower; it was now reaching their knees. Stone walls around them were covered in moss, which was also hanging from the ceiling.
Zippoorwhill landed on the floor and staggered towards them. “This place is some damn jungle...” she whispered and sneezed. “I don’t...” She lowered her head, panting heavily.
“I can see something there...” Diamond Tiara muttered, staring at the wall. “Pipsqueak?” She rushed forward blindly and rammed into Snips.
“Hey!” Snips exclaimed, smacking her. “What are you doing?”
“Pipsqueak... There...” Diamond Tiara whispered, spitting blood and getting up from the floor.
“Where?”
“Here.”
“I can’t see him,” Zippoorwhill muttered, staring in a different place than them. “You, Snails?”
“I’d eat something.”
“Me too,” Shady Daze said. “And no, I think I can see Pipsqueak. Over there. Also, Snails, remember that one time when we were in that place and we did that–”
“Stop it!” Sweetie Belle shouted, her voice cracking. Zippoorwhill looked at her groggily. “It’s that moss...”
“Is everypony here?” Diamond Tiara asked, counting her companions. “One, two, three, four, five... Okay, we’re all here.”
“We need to run,” Sweetie Belle muttered. “Run and sign so we don’t get lost...” She cleared her throat. “Ninety-nine buckets of oats on the wall...”
Her voice nearly drowned in silence; the moss on the walls was muffling all the echoes. All she could hear was strange ringing in her ears – a sign that she’d soon descent into madness again.
“Ninety-nine buckets of oats!” Diamond Tiara shouted rather than sung, her throat dry. One by one, other ponies joined them.
“Take one down, pass it around, you got ninety-eight buckets of oats on the wall!”
They rushed forward, singing as loudly as they could. Their hooves were hitting against the floor, giving a muffled sound.
“Take one down, pass it around, you got sixty-two buckets of oats on the wall!” Sweetie started to cough, but the song carried on. Next to her, Zippoorwhill was flapping her wings slower and slower. Shady Daze and Snips were barely able to sing, their voices strained after spending most of the day in a cold water.
“Fifty-nine buckets of oats!”
Sweetie felt a hard surface under her hoof. She looked at the walls and saw that the moss was gone, replaced by bare stones. She didn’t stop, however; she continued her gallop for some time before dropping on the floor, panting heavily.
Diamond Tiara collapsed next to her, followed by Zippoorwhill. Snips, Snails, and Shady joined them soon after. All of them were shuddering.
“What’s wrong with you?” Diamond Tiara asked. “You couldn’t catch up with us?”
“I...” Snails swallowed his saliva. “I felt like something was holding me there...”
“Me too,” Shady said.
“Same with me,” Snips added.
“I haven’t felt anything like that,” Diamond Tiara muttered and yawned. “We’d better go to sleep. Dunno how about you, but I’m tired of all that running, swimming, and singing...”
“Yeah...” Zippoorwhill muttered, curling into a foetal position. “Goodnight, guys.”
“Goodnight.”
Sweetie Belle opened one eye. Her right hoof was numb, so she turned, bumping into Diamond Tiara, who groaned in her sleep. Sweetie opened her other eye and looked around. The tunnel was completely dark. She could only hear the others’ snoring and a continuous hum in the background.
Suddenly, she saw something in the tunnel. She blinked and looked at it again: a pair of blue lights hanging in the air. She could swear she’d seen something like that before.
Sweetie reached her hoof to wake up somepony, but at the same moment, the lights blinked and disappeared. Sweetie looked once again at the place where they used to be and lit her horn. The faint, green light could barely pierce the darkness.
“What the hay...” Diamond Tiara muttered in her sleep.
Sweetie shrugged and lay down again. In a few minutes she was asleep.
A drop of water fell from the ceiling right on Sweetie’s face. She winced and turned on the floor, trying to run away from it. She bumped into Zippoorwhill and opened her eyes.
“How long did we sleep?” Zippoorwhill muttered and raised her head.
“I don’t know...” Sweetie stretched her hooves. Her whole body was stiff after lying on the floor.
“Hey...” Zippoorwhill looked into the corridor behind Sweetie. “Weren’t we further away from that moss?”
“What are you–” Sweetie turned back and saw that the moss was ending right behind Diamond Tiara. What was worse, Shady Daze wasn’t with them.
“Wake up, everypony!” Zippoorwhill shouted.
“What’s going on?” Snips asked groggily.
“We need to run!” Sweetie exclaimed. “This thing is chasing us!”
“What? How?” Diamond Tiara backed away from the moss.
“Where’s Shady?” Snails asked.
“He was sleeping next to me...” Diamond Tiara looked at the place where Shady used to be. The floor there was now completely covered in moss.
“We’ll all die!” Snails exclaimed. “This thing is going after colts...”
“Then you’re safe,” Diamond Tiara deadpanned. “Let’s get out of there.”
“What about Shady?” Sweetie Belle asked, looking into the corridor. It seemed a bit blurry, as if there was a mist there.
“Do you want to go there?” Diamond Tiara asked. “I don’t.” She trotted forward. Snips and Snails followed her, leaving Sweetie and Zippoorwhill alone.
“So...” Sweetie Belle looked at Zippoorwhill.
“I think we shouldn’t go there,” Zippoorwhill said. “You saw what this moss did to us when we were there... We wouldn’t be able to help Shady... We’d only die ourselves.”
Sweetie turned away from her and took a step towards the moss.
“Please...” Zippoorwhill muttered, flipping her glasses. “Do you want to leave Apple Bloom and Scootaloo?”
Sweetie Belle froze. She looked into the misty part of the tunnel again. It was tempting to go there and... And what? Sweetie shook her head and slowly turned back. “I’m sorry, Shady...” she whispered, following Zippoorwhill. “I’m so sorry...”