Rainbooms and Royalty

Rising Tide

Rainbow Dash struggled fiercely, trying to bat the pony—fish—thing away. But where her movements were sluggish and clumsy under the water, the creature’s were lithe and nimble. What’s more, it had help.

Even as one of them was pulling her down by her tail, another attacked from above to shove her down into the depths. Even more soon joined in yanking on her limbs and forcing her down. Looking around, she saw that the others were being pulled down as well.

Frustrated Rainbow tried to either let out a scream or bite at one of her attackers—only to be rewarded with a long semi-prehensile tail being wrapped around her muzzle for her trouble.

Her lungs burned for air and she reflexively tried to open her mouth, desperate to fill her lungs, only to find that the tail around her muzzle had constricted further. Rainbow looked up at the surface pleadingly, grateful in the knowledge that no pony would even notice her crying. She didn’t want to die! This wasn’t how this was supposed to go—she was Rainbow Dash! She belonged in the air, not at the bottom of a river.

Strangely enough though, that wasn’t even her biggest regret. Her biggest regret was that she had failed Celestia. Failed Shining Armor. Failed Ditzy Doo and her daughter. Failed Equestria. Worse, she had dragged Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and even Zecora with her on this doomed trip. Her fault. ‘If only I’d been more firm! I told them they should’ve stayed in Ponyville!’ She closed her eyes. ‘Guys…I’m so sorry.’

Her hooves hit the riverbed. Rainbow’s vision swam—ironic, some tiny corner of her mind mused—from lack of air. She looked up to see a whole swarm, or school she supposed, of the creatures circling around her and her friends. They were swimming faster and faster. Rainbow Dash blacked out for a minute. When she came to, she was laying on the cold, hard ground at the bottom of the river.

Reflexively she opened her mouth to take a deep breathe. It wasn’t until a few seconds later that her brain had booted up enough to realize that she should’ve been choking on water, but wasn’t. The fish…pony…*things* were gone. And that wasn’t the only thing. There was no water!

“What the hay?!” Dash exclaimed as she got up and took a breath. She wrinkled her nose. It smelled fishy and moldy and cold…but it was still air. Her mane and tail was still dripping wet…as was her coat, which she corrected by shaking herself out. Looking around, she saw a giant bubble shimmering around her. Outside it she saw the water and the creatures curiously circling around it. Experimentally, she gently pushed her hoof at the edge. It wobbled but held firm. “Weird…”

A groan alerted her attention to her friends as they stirred themselves. Rainbow darted over. “Everypony alright? Zecora?”

The mystic zebra spat out a mouthful of water. “My thanks for your concern, but if I have injuries, they cannot be discerned.” Her Mohawk drooped slightly but somehow managed to more-or-less maintain its shape.

Rarity shuddered, cold and wet and appalled at her mane. “My hair!” She moaned, tugging Applejack’s borrowed hat over her eyes. “Don’t look at me!”

“Oh for the love of…” Applejack shook herself dry, showering her companions with droplets of water. “Yer fine.”

Fluttershy daintily sneezed. “Oh my! It’s so cold down here.” She looked around at the river held just beyond their bubble of air. “Wow…I could spend time with so many animals if I could stay here!”

“Maybe we should have an underwater party!” Pinkie Pie jumped up. “Shoot! I forgot my swimsuit!”

“Pinkie?” Twilight looked confused. “Why would you even—” she saw the look everypony else was giving her. “I shouldn’t even be questioning this, should I?”