Powdered Snow Falls Softly

by libertydude

Room of Doom

The cave continued downward the further Celestia and Pinkie went. Their hooves slipped against the rocks, which grew slicker with each step. Water leaking from melted snow above furthered their difficulty. More than once they had to pause their journey to catch their breath. Not helping was the gradually lowering ceiling, which Celestia frequently had to turn her neck to make her way through.

Yet the journey also became easier in some ways. They soon discovered that whatever magic filled the cave caused a bright green glow in the walls. Perhaps a mixture of magic and local bacteria, Celestia thought. They soon agreed to put out their torches, which had started dimming anyway.

After what seemed like hours, they exited the tunnel into a large room. Straightening her long-bent neck, Celestia gaped in surprise.

The room’s ceiling was adorned with sharp stalactites. Thousands covered the top of the room, each pointing down like a plethora of knives ready to come down. The walls of the room were smooth rock, water trickling down their walls.

For the first thirty feet, the solid floor shared the walls’ smoothness. Then, the floor turned into a wide, clear pool of water. The edge of the water met the surrounding rock perfectly; the slightest disturbance would send water crashing over the edges onto the floor. In the dimness of the light, Celestia could not see the bottom, but she could see the reflection of the stalactites perfectly. Whatever water was dripping in here was uncontaminated by minerals or anything else that would discolor the water’s clearness.

“Alrighty!” Pinkie said, hopping atop Celestia. “Let’s fly over this pool and get us some cookies!”

Celestia looked across the room. On the other side of the pool, fifty feet away, sat the same even ground like they currently stood on. Just past this space stood an open archway leading deeper into the cave. The same green light filling the cavern illuminated the steps leading downward.

Opening her wings, Celestia took a step forward.

Then she paused.

“What is it?” Pinkie said.

“This is too easy,” Celestia said. Her wings curled back against her body. “The power guarding the recipe wouldn’t make such a breezy obstacle. There’s a catch here…”

Pinkie hopped off her back, inching towards the water.

“Don’t get too close, Pinkie,” Celestia cautioned. “We don’t know if something is in there.”

“Right,” Pinkie said, taking a few steps back. “Besides, I don’t have the best records with mysterious pools of water.”

Celestia’s eyes scanned the room. She tried to look for anything amiss, some magical sign etched into the walls, anything that would-

The realization hit her. She pointed to the wall on her right. “The water, Pinkie.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s running up the walls.”

Pinkie’s eyes shot to the wall. Indeed, she could see that the streaks of water did not fall down to the pool, but instead up towards the stalactites’ bases. The long streaks closer to the grounded pool remained for several seconds, making it easy to mistake them running down.

“This room is a booby trap, Pinkie.”

Pinkie froze solid. “Are we in danger?”

“Always,” Celestia said, eyes wandering the room again. “It’s just a question of what triggers this danger.”

Against her wishes, Pinkie’s body began to shake. “C-Can we move?”

“For now.” Celestia picked up a loose rock. Around four inches in circumference, the tiny boulder fit perfectly in her hoof. “But be ready to run back the way we came if that changes.” Rearing back, she chucked the rock over the pool towards the other side.

For several feet the rock flew forward. The second it starting to fall down toward the pool, however, the rock halted in the air. Then, with a speed even Rainbow Dash would be astounded by, the rock shot up towards the ceiling and thrust itself upon a stalactite. The force split the rock into several smaller pieces that fell back toward the pool. They too soon stopped and shot back upwards to the rocky blades to impale themselves. On and on this fall and reversal occurred until the dust could not be seen.

“A Reversal Room,” Celestia said grimly. “Simple, but effective.”

“You mean, everything goes backwards?” Pinkie said, still nervous.

“Anything that goes over this pool. Up and up we’ll go until we’re shish kebabs.” Celestia sighed. “Reversal rooms were used to keep thieves from trespassing the homes of sorcerers. Apparently the curse Kalamandra made allowed the recipe to create one too.”

“So how do we get across?”

Celestia sighed. “That’s just the problem. Reversal Rooms always had unique methods of passage. Sometimes the sorcerer would carry a magic talisman or a special plant. Occasionally they’d whisper words that only the sorcerer would know. But they were all unique for each room. There are a thousand different options and we have virtually zero of them.”

“Can’t we teleport or fly across?”

“Too risky. We’d have to assume I could fly against the curse’s forces, which is a gamble I’m not willing to take. And teleportation requires magic. It might work, but it may go wrong for us by teleporting us somewhere else or worse, right over the pool.”

Pinkie looked over the pool, hugging herself. Her nervousness had transitioned into deep thought.

“I should have known this would happen,” Celestia groaned. “This curse would never give up the recipe that easy. I should’ve…”

Celestia’s rant did not reach Pinkie’s ears. Her head was cocked, staring down at the pool in front of her. Eyes still fixed, she reached over and grasped another rock. Gripping it in her hoof, she rolled it toward the pool.

Her gasp pulled Celestia from her tirade and guided her eyes over to the pool. Celestia’s own gape soon followed.

The rock was rolling atop the pool! Ripples echoed wherever the rock touched. The surface was undeniably liquid water, yet the rock rolled like it was on the smoothest ice. On and on it went, until the force of Pinkie’s roll waned and the boulder came to a stop.

Then, a half-second later, it shot up to the ceiling to be stabbed by the stalactites.

“Dang it!” Pinkie whined. “The rock you threw was in the air, so I thought maybe it would only grab things in the air. I was hoping all we had to do was keep our hooves on the floor to be safe.” She sat down and pouted.

Celestia, however, began to inch toward the pool. Grabbing another rock, she turned her back to the pool and tossed the rock over her shoulder. Her aim was just right, the rock landing right at the edge of the pool and rolling along the surface. Going, going until it too rolled to a stop. Both Celestia and Pinkie stared, waiting for the rock to plummet upwards and be stabbed repeatedly to dust. Several seconds went by in agonizing silence.

Yet the rock continued to lay there on the pool, still as the grave.

A wide smile filled Celestia’s face. “That’s it!” She grabbed Pinkie into a powerful hug. “Pinkie, you genius, you cracked the secret!”

“Fwa fwa?” Pinkie mumbled, her face shoved deep into Celestia’s chest fur.

“Sorry,” Celestia said, releasing Pinkie. “When you rolled your rock, it kept going until forward motion stopped. The same thing happened when I threw the first rock, except that was when it started to fall down. Whatever goes over this pool falls up if it goes down or moves forward. When I threw my rock backwards and along the surface, however, it was fine.”

“So we need to go across the pool backwards and without moving ourselves downward?”

“Exactly!”

“But…how?”

“Simple: We get a running start going backwards, then throw ourselves on our bellies to slide backward across the pool!”

“Why not just walk backwards?”

“We have to put our hooves down in order to walk, and I’m not sure if the room will interpret that as ‘going down’. We’ll need to stay on our bellies if we want to be safe.”

Pinkie turned and looked over the pool. A slight shiver filled her body, before a deep breath steadied her. Turning to Celestia, she whispered: “I want to go first.”

“No,” Celestia said in a firm tone. “I’ll do it first. If anypony’s going to risk getting impaled, I should be the first. I got us in this mess, I’ll pay the price if I can’t get us out.”

Pinkie shot herself between Celestia and the pool. “And I’m not going to let you do this by yourself. We’re friends, Celestia, whether you like it or not, and friends do things together.”

Celestia stared down at her for a few moments, then nodded. “Alright. We’ll do it together. Whether salvation or destruction, we’ll share the fate.”

Pinkie nodded and turned away from the pool. Celestia likewise turned around to face the entrance to the room. Each took deep breaths, then looked at the other.

“Ready?” Celestia said.

“Ready,” Pinkie said.

They began to run backwards as hard as they could. Celestia counted each step, waiting until the last possible moment.

I hope this’ll carry us all the way across, she thought. I don’t want to think about what happens if we get stuck halfway.

The doubt faded as the last five feet of solid ground came.

At the three foot mark, Celestia screamed, “Now!”

Downwards they threw themselves, their bottoms hitting a small patch of the solid floor just before the pool. They flattened their bellies and chins to the floor. Celestia could tell when the surfaces shifted beneath her. The pool held a softer touch than the hard ground, like glass smoothed by a sander and waxed to utter perfection. Like ice without the chill.

Celestia closed her eyes as she felt the rush of the pool beneath her. I’ll try to teleport us if this doesn’t work, she thought. But if I can’t, I want to think of this smooth pool before the end.

Forever and ever she seemed to slide, even though she knew that she was gradually slowing. How far she’d gone, she couldn’t tell. Ten feet felt the same as ten hundred in the intensity of the situation. She wanted to shout something reassuring to Pinkie, who she could hear sliding alongside her, but she couldn’t think of the right words.

How odd I should be comforting the Element of Laughter! Celestia thought. What else shall this-?

She felt a slight bump under her flank. A roughness that went up her body, from her belly to her chin. One that brought her to a complete stop.

Celestia forced her eyes open. The pool sat before her, a thin line of ground separating her from the water.

She turned to her right to see Pinkie Pie in the same position. A look of utter relief filled the party pony’s visage.

Then utter joy.

“Yippee!” Pinkie Pie squealed, bouncing all around the floor. “We’re alive, and we’re going to get cookies!”

Celestia laughed, despite herself. Seeing Pinkie’s change in demeanor seemed to light a fire under her as well. To see a pony go from despair to joy was one of the grandest experiences Celestia had ever seen in all her years. Magic could work miracles, but so could hope.

“Yes, we shall,” Celestia said, standing up. “Though I hope this curse only made three challenges, because I’m getting tired.”

“You and me both, sister!” Pinkie said. “Powder Cookies better be in the S-Tier of cookies for all this trouble!”

“Oh, they are, Pinkie,” Celestia said, following the party mare to the chamber’s exit. “They very much are.”