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// 9 - Rapid Progress 
// Story: An Undertale of Equestria 
// by David Silver 
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We got a raft quickly, with Trixie casually snatching some coins out of one of my pocket to pay for it. "For peace," she said with a cocky grin.

If I didn't already like her... She wasn't wrong at least. Sure I was basically broke again, but we had to have that raft, so there wasn't much to do about it.

Trixie lifted the front of the raft in her magic as Pinkie  took ahold of the back of the rubbery craft in her mouth and we hurried back to the pool we'd started at.

The crystal ponies had vacated. A step up from cowering in place, or so I figured. Aquator suddenly poked his head free of the waters. "Come to fail, have you? Just remember, I get  to parade you around after you fail. The ponies of this city will know you tried with those feeble hands of yours, and you were the only ones willing to even do that."

Pinkie let go of the raft, which bounced softly against the ground, though still held up in the front by Trixie's magic. "Don't be a sourpuss about it. You might even like it when we're done."

"Of this I have doubts, unless you mean relishing in your defeat." He stepped free of the water and shook himself out as if he was covered in fur, rather than being made of water. "Who are you? You are not bound to the Child of Light."

Pinkie shrugged. "I already have a super amazing team. I don't need two. My name's Pinkie! Nice to meetcha." She bounced up to the big horse as if he wasn't special and offered out a hoof to the confused water horse.

While they got to know each other, Trixie and I got the raft into the water and hopped onto it. It sank into the water, but seemed solid and ready. I turned back to Pinkie. "Time to go! Say goodbye to your friend."

Pinkie flashed a big smile. "That's my cue! See you later, alright?"

As she bounced away, he shook his head with confusion showing on his watery face. "You will wish you hadn't, ignorant topworlder. You may not be one of the accursed crystal ponies, but I will have you as well in due time."

The river looked to be a gentle flow against us. I mean, it was against us, which meant magic and muscle to move, but it was so slow, I didn't see it as...

"Let me make this better for you." Aquator cackled as he put a hoof in the water. "A gift, from me to you." The water vibrated powerfully before its flow reversed and accelerated by the moment. We were being sucked right down the tunnel, and he was soon out of sight as we were plunged into darkness.

Pinkie pulled out a lit lantern from... somewhere? I didn't see in the dark, but I also didn't see any pockets or clothes she could have been hiding it in, especially lit. "Woo! This is way faster!"

Looking ahead, I saw rocks rising from the water that'd tear our raft apart in a quick instant at the rate we were going. "Look out!" I pulled at the raft with a great heave, but I could only nudge it a little bit. Trixie's magic quickly joined my efforts, and Pinkie jumped into the mix. Together, we began to steer the raft as the deadly obstructions sailed past too quickly for comfort.

Trixie pointed up ahead as her magic shifted sides. "Right this time!" Pinkie and I had to scramble for the other side to keep the raft to the narrow channel of safety. A squeak of rubber told us we weren't perfectly in line, but there wasn't a hole, so close enough.

Leaping from the water, a fish of pitch darkness flashed disturbingly bright teeth before it fell back in, only to be joined by several of its friends, apparently all waiting for us to mess up and end up in their water. We wouldn't be lost in the water long with them around.

I heard a dull roar and went pale. "Trixie, how can there be a waterfall if water is supposed to flow into the city?"

Trixie looked thoughtful a moment before she nodded. "Of course, the waterfall must be flowing... the other... way!" Her calm expression turned to abject fear as we smashed into the waterfall and suddenly going up along it. We fell back to the rear of the raft as gravity tried to pull us right out of our rubber boat. Pinkie squeaked as she rolled over backwards and started to fall, but I grabbed her left forehoof and held on tight. When Trixie recovered from the surprise of it, she grabbed Pinkie up around her whole body and pulled her in quickly. But there was no time to relax. Jutting out of the waterfall were more deadly-looking rocks, coming down at us instead of emerging from ahead.

A small part of me, the part that remembers what life was like back on Earth, quailed at the entire thing. We were flowing up a waterfall! That should not be possible! Of course, I was also sailing with a bright pink pony, and a blue unicorn, so maybe the waterfall was just the latest of impossibilities I'd have to accept.

We pulled and heaved, urging the raft out of the way as the rapids carried us along. The top of the waterfall was coming, I could see it!

Then the water began to slow.

Pinkie gulped audibly. "I think our ride's over."

"Jump!" I shouted, and we abandoned the raft, coming down in the slowing water just at the top of the waterfall and paddling madly. The water started to reverse course, and the raft plummeted quickly into the darkness.

Pinkie came up from underneath me and lifted me out of the water as she swam towards the shore, where Trixie was already sprawled out and tired looking. Pinkie came up and flopped over beside Trixie, panting for breath. "That was... fun..."

Trixie raised a brow at Pinkie. "You are mad. Thank you for retrieving my familiar." Her magic pulled at me, drawing me to her side. "She became worried they... he?" She tilted her head at me. "What do you prefer?"

A fair question. I wasn't either, but I remembered being a guy, so why not? "He works."

She nodded. "Very well." She pulled out the map she had before, which had somehow avoided becoming wet. Ponies came with very high quality pockets, it seemed. "We're not too far from where we need to reach. Getting back may be... troubling, but we'll cross that bridge as we reach it."

I looked between the two of them. "Everyone alright?"

Pinkie rolled up to her haunches and shook herself out, sending water flying. "I'm okay! Can we do that again on the way out?"

Trixie raised a brow. "If you have another raft, perhaps Trixie will consider it."

"Aw." Pinkie stood up and peered into the darkness. "Well, we might as well get going."

I held out a hand towards her. "Can I take the lantern? Seeing it bounce around on your tail is making me nervous."

Pinkie brought her fluffy tail around to me and I curled my fingers around the ring on the lantern. It wasn't too heavy, and I hefted it up as we walked forward. "How did this not get put out in all the water?"

Trixie tilted her head. "You will live a happier life, familiar, if you begin to accept Pinkie's antics at face value. She is beyond such concerns."

What was she, a god?

"Nothing like that, silly." She leaned in and nuzzled my cheek before bounding ahead, leaving me staring at her retreating form. 

No! I had to stay focused. I was determined to see this quest through to the end. Then I could go home!

Trixie nudged me from behind, and we started hiking alongside the river. A hint of something caught my attention along the wall and I turned to it, holding up the lantern to illuminate an aged fresco. It showed dark-furred ponies gathered in a circle, all seated on their haunches. In the middle of them all was a black sphere, and they looked happy and content about it. "What does this mean?"

Trixie stopped and turned to look with me. "Trixie is uncertain. They look... not unsimilar to King Sombra, though she admits they look more peaceful in this picture than most of the others she's seen."

Pinkie leaned over onto me as she looked it over. When had she come back from up ahead? "Why are they all so dreary colored?"

I waved a hand at the fresco. "If they lived in the dark, what would they need bright colors for?"

Pinkie tapped her chin. "How did they see then?"

Trixie scoffed. "Pinkie... Just because they live underground doesn't mean they are without magic of their own sort. Trixie is certain the dark did not trouble them."

I turned away from the fresco and we continued our trek. "What if they were used to the dark by amplifying what little light there was, then there was suddenly a lot of light?"

Trixie frowned. "They would be in a lot of pain."

Pinkie threw her forehooves over her eyes. "Ouchie. Is that what happened to them? Poor ponies. How do ya think that coulda happened?" She did a cartwheel forward, just to get caught upside down. "Oops." She began to sink slowly into some kind of tarry sludge.

Trixie reached with her magic and tried to pluck Pinkie free, but the goop didn't want to let go of her and it became a tug of war, with Pinkie going nowhere in a hurry. "You should watch where you're going. We're not on a vacation."

The goop suddenly swirled up over Pinkie, who barely had time to get out an 'eep' before she was engulfed in the form of a tarry pony. "Mmm, she tastes so sweet... What a treat you have brought me."

Tension exploded in my chest as words snapped into being beside him. 'Food' and 'Hug'. I didn't have any spare food on me, and I wasn't sure I wanted to hug something that already ate one of my friends. "Um, hello?"

The tar pony tilted... her? She sounded like a her, and was shaped similarly to Trixie. She tilted her head at me. "Are you the Child of Light? You're a lot cuter than the stories said. They said you were huge and could take on a whole army at once." She stepped forward slowly, leaving tarry puddles behind her with every hoof that touched the cavern floor. "You're just adorable! I could eat you right up."

Trixie crossed between us. "Halt right there. Return the pink pony to us. She may be loud, but Trixie does not wish her to drown."

Tarry, which I had decided to call her, looked at Trixie with a tilt of her head. "She's alright, and delicious. Want to go check on her?" She reached out a dripping hoof. "You look like you could be scrumptious..."