[River] A Watery Predicament [Closed]

[Tempest Rime]

"Relayed by mouth." Tempest pondered the idea. "How imprecise. I would think messages would often get garbled." She shrugged as Aqua swam off and began to unpack the instruments to take the lake's measurements, setting them out and carefully arranging them so that she could go over each one with Bolt when they got started. She gave a brief summary of each one as she set them out, explaining how their measurements are taken and what they indicate.

When Aqua finally resurfaced, Tempest smiled at her awkwardly. "Oh, I don't really know the details of what's in the lake itself. I generally keep to the surface. I think the lake is just naturally this way." Tempe was feeling more and more awkward by the minute. She really didn't have anything to do with the quality of the lake itself, and now everypony was looking at her like it was her responsibility or something.

"Uh, besides, most of the area hasn't been doing as well as this lake. We've had a few rivers that are starting to get nasty buildups of silt, that can reduce the amount of water they can hold and create flooding hazards if we're not careful. At some point we may need to dredge a lot of the rivers to clear them out so they can supply enough water for the agricultural uses."

[Kudalyn]

Aqua Drop

" 'Dredging' ...you mean cleaning the rivers? Yeah, I did notice a few parts of some of the rivers are ridiculously shallow... I actually had to walk - or flop is more like it - through the shallows to get to water deep enough I could swim through it."

Aqua thought for a moment, treading water. "Hrm.... well... I could see what I could do to help... I would need help with the bigger stuff of course, but I could keep an eye on the water from the inside. Like, keep things free of litter, make sure the water level is good, make sure nothing gets clogged, the like. That way I could also get to know the area's rivers better so I wouldn't get lost!" She chuckled, splashing her hooves in the water happily.

She looked over onto the lakeside, looking around, thinking. Making her decision, she dove down to the bottom of the lake, finding some strong kelp and pulling it from the lakebed. She looked around once more with the seaweed in her mouth - no sign of that squid she heard of... but he can wait. If this was gonna be her home, she can deal with him later. She wanted to explore aboveland!

She swam up to the surface, swimming to the lakeside and hoisting herself up beside Tempest and spitting out the seaweed on the grass. She then looked around a bit until she found some bark that had fallen off of a nearby tree. Picking it up, she flopped down to lay on the ground, curling her tail up to where she could reach it. It took a bit of wiggling and tugging, but she managed to wrap the bark in some of the spongier kelp, and then tying the wrapped-up bark to her tail, right in front of the big flipper at the end of her tail.

She then rolled onto her belly, lifting herself up to stand on her now-protected tail. She took a few experimental steps - this land stuff wasn't the soft sand she was used to wading through, she knew that.

Aqua placed her two front hooves in front of her firmly, rocking forward and pulling her body off the ground for a second, swinging her back half towards her front hooves. Using the forward momentum, she then pushed off of the ground with her tail, stepping forward with her front hooves again. She did a few more of those loping swing-steps... they were anything but elegant, but they worked. Also, the seaweed-and-bark tail guard worked fine. It wasn't too uncomfortable on her tail, and it protected her skin from the ground - she had a feeling Ponyville wouldn't have streets covered in grass.

She loped back over to Tempest, feeling a bit awkward but happy her idea was working. "Well, now that I am ready to completely embarrass myself on land, could you mind showing me the way to Ponyville? I've never seen a land-pony town before!"

[Tempest Rime]

"Yes, if the rivers fill up with too much silt it can cause all kinds of problems..." Tempest paused, considering Aqua's proposal. "You know, it is a major project whenever it comes up to dig out all that muck, I bet the nature bureau could make room to hire you on full time if you're interested. Some preventative maintenance of the rivers could save us a lot of time and money, not to mention the ecological benefits."

She smiled. "Of course, it's not just up to me, but I can definitely put in a word for you. You'll still need to do an interview with the bureau, but I don't foresee any issues."

When Aqua started working on whatever it was she was doing, Tempest took the opportunity to finish up the last of her measurements and pack up her tools, showing Bolt how all the measurements were taken in the process. Once everything was packed and ready, she turned her attention back to the hippocamp.

She made a confused expression. "What are you making?"

[Kudalyn]

Aqua Drop

"Oh, well, I figured that since I'm going to be walking around on dirt and gravel and who knows what else is on land, I should protect my tail so I don't scrape the pelt off of it. My pelt isn't used to anything harder than sand and sea floor to be pushing off of." She said, hopping over to Tempest.

She found that while hopping around like that was a bit difficult, it wasn't unmanageable, specially with the little shoe-thing she put on her tailfin. Added more traction. And the more she walked, the more she got used to the rhythm.

"Well? Shall we be off then? I can't wait to see what kind of buildings you land ponies live in, and what sort of things you ponies do on a day-to-day basis." Aqua said, smiling happily. "Oh, and if you want, I can try and carry some of your instruments for you. I don't think it would be a problem."

[Tempest Rime]

"Ooh, that's clever. That would be uncomfortable, I suppose. Like if my wings dragged against the ground." Tempest shuddered at the thought of how much damage that would do to her feathers.

"Alright, I need to stop by the town hall first to file today's reading and put away the instruments. Oh, and we can file an application for your employment while we're there. After that I'm free for the day, so we can see whatever you want. We've got all kinds of places. There's a nice park, the library, a few restaurants, some sweet shops, a seamstress, a spa..."

She smiled at Aqua's offer to carry some of the tools. "Thanks, but there's no need, they are a well-designed set, see." She folded the last of the instruments neatly away into its bag. "They all fit together perfectly, and they're actually quite lightweight." She took wing and fluttered overhead casually to demonstrate.

She pointed towards a nearby hill. "The town should be visible just over this hill, we're not far away at all."

[Kudalyn]

Aqua Drop

Aqua immediately started hopping eagerly towards the direction Tempest pointed, already pumped to see what exciting stuff was over the hill.

"Well, let's get going! I can't wait to see what your buildings look like, what your food tastes like, what your ponies do all day! All I used to really do was swim in circles, eat seaweed, and bash up some sharks. I've heard of land ponies having different jobs, but I've never seen them in action!"

She kept hopping eagerly, but she couldn't go any faster than a normal land ponies' trot. Aqua figured this might be a problem later on, but right then she didn't care. She never took the time to look for land ponies on any islands out in the sea, but since she was right inland, she may as well make some new friends! She also enjoyed watching the ponies walk and fly - It was just so different from what she was used to! But so ingenious - they could walk and run as fast as they wanted on four legs, and weren't inhibited by a big lumpy tail! Instead, they had elegant tails of hair trailing from their spines, absolutely crazy and beautiful!

After a while Aqua got a little tired and slowed down a bit as she got closer to the top of the hill, taking longer hopping strides. "Hey Tempest... I've been thinking... Aside from the odd island pony that may have moved inland... no other pony has seen anything like me, have they? I mean, I can stand up for myself.... but won't you get odd looks for hanging out with a weird thing like me?"

[Tempest Rime]

Tempest smiled. "Well, Ponyville is hardly the most impressive city in Equestria, so don't get your hopes up too much. It's a small town, we're sort of out in the middle of the agricultural center of the kingdom. But that does mean that the food around here is always fresh. Back in Cloudsdale we had to import everything from here, which isn't a super long way away, but there's still a markable difference."

She dropped back down to the ground in order to better keep pace with Aqua. There was no reason to hurry, anyway. She trotted alongside at a leisurely pace, actually finding herself enjoying the company rather than the usual self-conscious strain socializing usually produced in her.

She was baffled by Aqua's question. "Odd looks? Why would anypony give me odd looks? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm sure they'll be quite curious at first, but once the novelty of meeting a hippocamp wears off, I'm sure nopony will take issue with your species. They even got over their fear of the spooky zebra who lives in... the Everfree Forest." Tempest's voice dropped to a loud whisper as she mentioned the forest. Just the name sent shivers down her spine.

"And there it is," she said as they crested the hill and the town stretched out before them. "In all its humility. It's not that much to look at, but it's a fine place to live."

[Kudalyn]

Aqua Drop

Upon seeing the small village spread across the horizon, Aqua lost all apprehention upon meeting the villagers. It was simply adorable! Bright colorful little houses with cobblestone streets weaving to and fro between them. Little flowers blooming in every corner, and from here she could see the other ponies trotting back and forth, or flying from place to place.

Giggling happily, Aqua took a step forward... and slipped. Tumbling forward, she started barrel-rolling right down the hill, head over fin! She curled herself into a loop, still giggling as she rolled right down the hill at high speed, rocketing past very surprised ponies as she rolled right into to the middle of the street, coming to an exhausted, but happy, halt. She uncurled herself, her eyes crossed a little as she dizzily looked around waiting for the world to stop spinning. She shook her head, sitting up as she curled her tail around herself like a cat to prop herself up.

She whipped her head back and forth, trying to take in all the sights and sounds. The surprised ponies around her were giving her confused and slightly apprehensive looks at the strange creature that literally rolled right into town, but she didn't care! She knew Tempest would be right behind her to support her, ahd she was too happy to really care what the townsponies thought!

[Hippo]

It had been a good day so far. The weather was lovely, the trees sang harmony by the wind, and the birds chirped in everlasting unison. And even better yet, Granola Gracie had an engagement with the Ponyville flower shop. It had be a few weeks since Granola was able to find a new specimen suitable for florals-sake.

Typically, she would find a new rare plant in the woods and attempt to share its beauty with the ponyfolk in Ponyville. But last time, what she discovered was a weed-like flower that made everypony sneeze if they got within 100 hooves of it. It frustrated Gracie at the time, but it wasn't as nearly as unfortunate as the time she introduced a bright pink plant that sprayed other plants around it with poison, killing them. But no, this time was different. She was confident that the new plant she found would be suitable for almost anypony to have in their garden, be that their recreation.

As she trotted through town on the way to the flower shop, she noticed a light blue colored ring of motion tumbling down a hill at town's edge. As the figure rolled through the flatter streets and slowed it's rotation, a creature appeared from the dust and dirt. At first glance, Granola noticed the missing appearance of what looked to be the pony creature's hind legs. In a sudden burst of urgency, Granola felt the need to find out if she was hurt. After she ran a little closer she came to a halt as soon as she realized that this creature looked to be half pony, half fish. "What in Equestria is that," she ask a random pony next to her. Granola, along with everypony in the vicinity and a flabbergasted look on their face.

[Tempest Rime]

"Aqua!" Tempest jumped into the air and darted after the hippocamp. "Are you alright? That fall looked really bad..." She peered at Aqua Drop with concern for a moment, ignoring the small crowd until she was sure her new friend was unharmed.

Once it was apparent that Aqua was alright, she turned her attention to the other ponies, taking a loud formal tone as she addressed the group. "Ahem, good afternoon everypony. This is Aqua Drop, she is a hippocamp." She glared briefly at the pony who had rudely phrased the query. "Miss Drop is new in town, so please give her a warm Ponyville welcome."

The introduction made, she fluttered down so that Aqua could answer the inevitable barrage of questions herself. Tempest was only slightly more familiar with most of these ponies than Aqua was, so she elected to let them give their own introductions.

[Kudalyn]

Aqua Drop

Aqua looked around as Tempest introduced her a bit defiantly at the gaping townsponies - she didn't blame them for looking at her like that, but she was made of tough stuff. She could handle a couple thousand weird looks.

"Yeah, yeah, Hi. As she said, my name's Aqua. Gawk, while you can, cause I'm not stopping!!" She said gleefully, propping herself on all threes again as she loped forward, grabbing Tempest's tail playfully. "Hurry, hurry, come on, come on! I wanna see the town!!" She said, already on the move down the street as a couple of ponies backed away cautiously from her, a few even running indoors and slamming the shutters on their windows shut!

Aqua just sighed at them and shook her head. Honestly, was she really the wierdest thing they had ever seen? Surely living inland, they had to have seen worse things than a lil' old harmless hippocamp.

[Hippo]

Granola's facial expressions responded sensitively to Tempest's explanation. She knew that it wasn't right to judge others by their appearance, something the entire community of Ponyville had learned about Zecora some time ago. So Granola decided to break the invisible social barrier that separated the Ponyvillians from the hippocamp and newly acquainted pegasus. "Hi. My name is Granola Gracie. Sorry if I alienated you there for a second." Granola smiled gleefully and for at least a second provided a friendly persona. "You're kind of a fish out of water." Granola regretted saying the last sentence the moment it came out of her mouth. She immediately understood that her unintentional pun would not go unnoticed and she was sure Aqua would take offense to a fish joke.

This wasn't the first time Granola's mouth got her into trouble. Her short meditation on her social blunder controlled her eyes as she took notice at Aqua's appearance at a closer distance. She was close enough to see the individual size of Aqua's scales and the full length of her tail fin. "So... you like to swim?" Granola was trying to break the ice, but it was like picking apart an iceberg with a toothpick for her. She gave a cheesy smile and tried to prevent Aqua and Tempest from 'getting the wrong idea'.

[Inkwell]

Up until then, Inkwell was enjoying a normal, beautiful day. He looked over the scene at the town square, once again delighting in the vast crowd of ponies gathered here, talking and enjoying the day along with him. Additionally, he took it as a bit of a challenge, a call to capture the scene on canvas, which he did. A crowd of more than three dozen ponies appeared in his nearly-finished landscape, looking every bit as lively and peppy as they did in real life, if he did say so himself.

And then a mystery pony came rolling into town. Quite literally.

He blinked and stared at the newcomer, noticing that it didn't appear to be a pony at all. It was a bizarre amalgam of pony and dolphin, a combination that Inkwell had sort of imagined, but never actually seen evidence of in real life. It almost didn't seem plausible, but then he took a closer look at her skin. It was actually softer and had a finer coat than most ponies'. He decided right then that he had to draw her. He could finish that painting from memory later.

"What in Equestria is that?" a brown filly asked him, but soon a green pegasus arrived and cleared things up, introducing the creature as a hippocamp named Aqua Drop. Inky was one of the few ponies who gave Aqua a round of applause. Actually, he was pretty much the only one. "What?" he asked the ponies who stared at him. "That was an impressive tumble!"

He packed up his easel and painting as quickly as he can, once he was sure the painting was dry enough to transport, and got out his sketchbook, trotting alongside Aqua, who clearly reveled in the attention and displayed a peppy attitude. "Hey, I'm Inkwell!" he said, clearly excited to meet a new species. "Welcome to the town! I think you're going to love it here!" He turned his eyes back and forth to his sketchbook as he sketched the basics of her anatomy.

[Kudalyn]

Aqua Drop

Aqua hobbled on happily, looking around at all the pretty shops and houses along the street. The houses were slowly getting bigger, which she took to mean she was getting closer to the center of town. Suddenly, a brown pony nervously trotted up to her, apologizing for her rudeness and trying to make some small talk with her... albeit nervously and awkwardly. She even cracked a few lame water jokes, which Aqua laughed lightheartedly at.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that I 'like' to swim." She said gesturing to her tail. Aqua only took a few more steps when another pony, a unicorn this time, trotted up to her excitedly, introducing himself while carrying a large sketchbook in front of him... so she could barely see his face. Aqua rubbernecked around the sketchbook until she could see him and what he was drawing, and blushed a little when she saw that he was actually sketching her!

"Well thanks! First actual welcome I've gotten since walking into town. Also, if you want to draw me without seeing me be a silly floppy fish, come visit my lake! I just claimed the big lake that's outside of town. I'll be staying here till the weather gets cold, then I'll probably migrate back to sea." She said, sharing a few tidbits about herself.

[Tempest Rime]

Tempest trotted alongside happily, pleased that Aqua was making a good first impression, and content to stay out of Aqua's way while she met people. Tempest would only foul things up with her awkwardness if she tried to edge in on the conversation. Still, at the mention of Aqua leaving for the winter, a thought occurred to her. "You know, we do have a very skilled unicorn in town, I can't make any promises, but she may be able to throw together some kind of spell to keep the lake warm through the winter. She lives in the library, I believe, I'll show you where that is in a moment."

Finally they arrived at the town hall. "Ah, here we are. This is the town square, and this is town hall, where the weather office is located. Though, I'm usually the only one who actually uses the office, most of the real work happens out of doors, of course."

She glanced at the small entourage they had picked up. "Um, the office is rather small, why don't you stay out here and greet your, uh, fans while I drop off these forms and pick you up that application. I'll be back momentarily." With that, she darted inside, leaving Aqua and the others alone for the time being.

[Hippo]

As Tempest left her well-introduced friend, Granola, who was still nearby, smiled in harmony with joyous moment of meeting somepony new. New in more ways than one.

It suddenly dawned on her. Granola, noticing Aqua's fish-like features, suggested to herself in her mind that this hippocamp might need some water for survival purposes. "Oh My Gosh!! You need water don't you!!?" Without giving any time for a response from Aqua, Granola gave a quick panicky tip toe and ran away shouting, "Don't worry I'll be right back!"

[Inkwell]

Inkwell couldn't help but chuckle at the corny banter between Aqua and Granola. This sort of awkward comedy was much more Rose's cup of tea, but even Inkwell couldn't help but see the humor in the situation. And Aqua's rubbernecking made him laugh a bit more, levitating the sketchbook and pencil out of the way. Sure enough, the drawing he made of a land-walking hippocamp did make her look a bit silly. "Heh. I like drawing silly things sometimes. But I'd be happy to take you up on that offer! I wouldn't mind a good swim."

Her stately pegasus friend ducked into the mayor's office, and Granola ran off to get some more water for her. "Um, do you need water?" he asked, looking at Aqua's body curiously. It seemed moist enough to him, but what did he know?

[Kudalyn]

Aqua Drop

"H-hey! Wait a minute!" Aqua tried to yell out at Granola, but she galloped out of earshot too quickly. She sighed, looking over at Inky. "I do need water, but not desperately. I can stay on land without water for about two hours before I start to get too dry - after that all I'd need is a dunk in a pond, lake, or even someone to spray me down with water or something. As long as my pelt doesn't dry out. If my pelt dries out, it gets really itchy and even starts to crack a bit. Then I wouldn't be able to leave the water until it healed."

Aqua thought for a minute, 'sitting' down on her tail for a rest. "It's like.... do your lips ever get too dry and split and hurt? It's like that, but all over my body. it isn't pretty. It happened once, and I learned my lesson the hard way."

She looked around, taking in everything. It was all so new and refreshing! She loved the change of pace - normally she's on her own in the sea, because she couldn't stand the nearby Hippocamp city. But this place was bustling, without the stuffy-city feel. Just friendly.

[Tempest Rime]

Tempest cheerfully stepped back out of the building, her tools stored away, her paperwork filed, and an application and pen held carefully in her mouth for Aqua. She handed them over, already quite anticipating not having to dredge the rivers this year. She smiled broadly after handing over the papers, as she'd found some good news.

"Ahh, here you are Miss Drop. An application for the nature bureau, and for referral, you can go ahead and put me down. As it turns out, there is actually a position for river maintenance, which we have never actually had filled, so I'd wager it's all but a sure thing, you'd just need to file the application and you can go ahead and get started anytime."

Tempest clapped her hooves together happily. She glanced around. "Oh, where did Miss... uh Gracie, was it? Um, where did Miss Gracie go?"

[Hippo]

Granola ran to the fountain near the center of the town. She found water, but she was a little stumped on how she was going to get the water from the fountain to a parched Aqua. Granola pictured Aqua in her thoughts gasping for a breathe of water, panting, and dying. Her frantic eyes glanced by the local flower shoppe. "Aha!" Granola hurried into the shoppe and walked up to the closest plant specimen. With her hooves, she pulled the plant, roots, and soil out of the pot that it was in. The shoppe owner grew spontaneously disgruntled.

"Hey what are you doing!?"

"Don't worry, I'll explain later." Granola grabbed the dirty flower pot with her mouth and ran outside back towards the fountain. She dipped the pot into the water, filling it to the brim with fresh cool water. Granola galloped quickly back to where Aqua was, but not too fast as to spill the life-saving water due to jostling.

It was then that she realized the apparent size of the pot she grabbed. It was particularly small. She could have grabbed a bigger one, but didn't. Oh, well, she thought to herself, this will just have to do. Granola pictured Aqua in her thoughts again, crinkling up and suffering. She could see her scaly skin dried up and peeling from her body. Granola hoped it wasn't too late.

She ran up to Aqua with urgency and tipped the pot upside-down at her head. Instead of a flushing flow of water splashing Aqua in the face, a single drop of water fell from the brim of the pot onto Aqua's cute snout. Granola's eyes grew huge with shock. "What?! I filled it up!" Granola looked into the pot with one eye to find a drainage hole the pot had at the bottom--a typical style of flowerpots. Granola grew so disappointed and angry. So much so that she threw the pot down smashing it to pieces. She screwed up again.

She was so focused on what to do next, that she wasn't hearing any of the opinions of others that were trying to educate her properly of the situation. Granola facehoofed her head over and over. "Come on, Granola, think, THINK!"

Granola reopened her eyes with confidence. "I got it, don't you move around too much in the dry air, I'll be right back with more water." Granola galloped away again, this time in a different direction.

[Inkwell]

Inkwell was quite sorry he asked about Aqua's need for water. He was glad that it wasn't as severe as that other pony thought it was, but he could visualize the decay and destruction of Aqua's skin entirely too well. In his mind's eye she became desiccated and decrepit. He shook his head to try and shake the image. "Well, I think we can probably trust you to tell us when you need water," he said. "And we have plenty to spare, so you'll be just fine. No need for... cracking pelts. Ew." He looked away from Aqua and made a face.

Then the green pegasus he barely knew came out with a job application form for Aqua. She was getting settled in town pretty quickly! The words Tempest said mostly went in one ear and out the other, though, as logistics in getting a town to work didn't particularly interest the lofty-minded artist. He did, however, catch a question about the other pony, Miss Gracie. "I dunno, she said she had to get some water for Aqu-"

And there she was again, pouring water onto Aqua's head, all one drop of it. In her rush she accidentally used a vessel that couldn't contain liquid, a flowerpot with a hole in the bottom. Before Inkwell could talk her out of it, Gracie ran off to get some more. "No-wait-Aqua-said-she-was-good-for another couple... hours," Inkwell said as quickly as he could, trailing off when he realized she wasn't listening to him at all.

"Yeah, there she was."

[Kudalyn]

Aqua Drop

"Form? Oh yeah! You said I could probably fill that river-cleaner job thing. I'll go fill it out.... aaaas soon as I find something to write with." She laughed, taking the papers from Tempest and placing them on her back. She'd pick them up before she started walking so they wouldn't fall off her back.

Suddenly, a very hurried Granola came rushing at her out of the corner of her eye, a determined look on her face. As she hurtled towards Aqua with something heavy-looking in her mouth, Aqua instinctively flinched, closing her eyes tight. She was startled by the one drop of water that dripped out onto her head, her eyes fluttering open.

"Wh-wha?" She said, but before she could say anything else, Granola threw the pot onto the ground angrily shattering it at Aqua's hooves. Granola galloped off once again with Inkwell desperately trying to explain to her the situation... but Granola was already long gone, a brown and green blur.

"Oh for kelp's sake. That mare...." She said, shaking her head at the frantic pony. "Oh, and Inky? My pelt doesn't do... what I think you think it does. It just gets really dry and flaky, and can be hurt easily. It doesn't crack like dried mud, and I don't shrivel up like kelp on low tide. I just get really dry and thirsty. Relax." She said, laughing.

She shifted a little, getting herself a little more comfortable on her hooves. Her tail was getting a -little- tired, but nothing she couldn't handle. She still had more to explore!

[Tempest Rime]

Tempest smiled. "Besides, there's plenty of water right here if Aqua needs it." She pointed a hoof up at the sky, which was partly cloudy. "I may be small, but I am still a weather pony. I can pull a rain cloud down if need be. There's really nothing to worry about, I'm sure."

Tempest scowled as Granola dashed off again. "How inconsiderate. She destroyed that flower pot, and left the pieces here where anypony walking could end up stepping on them. Just a moment, I'm going to clear that up." She disappeared back inside for a few seconds, emerging with a broom in her mouth, which she used to sweep the pieces of the flower pot up, gripping a dustpan between her hooves as she fluttered over the mess.

[Hippo]

Granola hasted her way to the Ponyville firehouse. She ducked inside the building and cried for help, but no one seemed to be available. She spoke to herself, "Alright, Granola, looks like you're gonna have to do this on your own."

Granola went around the side of the building, where a wagon with a huge reservoir of water and a long hose was sitting. This water was not for drinking, it was positioned here in case of an emergency, mainly a fire. Even though this wasn't a fire, it was still an emergency in Granola's eyes and she tossed the wagon handle over her body and began pulling it as fast as her little legs could. She got only a few hooves before she realized pulling the cart was not going to work.

Suddenly, a male pony approached her. "Where's the fire?!"

Granola thought quickly as the gentlepony subliminally offered his help. "There's no time! Listen, I'm going to pull that hose on the wagon to the emergency and when I yell 'GO' I need you to pump the water out as fast as you can!."

Granola bit the hose end and ran towards Aqua's location, a couple blocks into the 'maze' of ponyville. She weaved through carts, jumped over walking ponies and B-lined her way against several trees. By the time she reached Aqua, the hose had been wrapped around several trees and light poles. Granola shouted at the top of her lungs, "GO!!!"

Nothing happened.

"I said GO!!!!" Granola was wondering what was taking the 'helpful' pony so long. But little did she know that the stallion had heard her the first time, and began pumping water as fast as he could. The hose had a kink in between two trees had Granola jumped through and the water pressure began to build and build and build.

As the water continued to be held up by the kink, Granola was getting frustrated and tugged heavily on the hose. This allowed the kink to unravel and the hose was live again. As the water rushed towards the spout at Granola's end, the ground began to shake, and Granola was shocked. Within seconds, water began thrusting out of the hose end taking Granola for a ride.

http://soundcloud.com/riverhippo/green-hair-drama

Eventually, Granola would crash land after the pressure of the water had subsided. She was dizzy and disoriented. She tried to stand up straight as she slurred her words. "Don't worry, little fishy. I'll... ...I'll think of something. I'll think... ...of some-" Granola fell face first.

[Inkwell]

The sigh Inkwell gave in response to Aqua's reassurance was easily audible. "Oh, thank goodness!" he said, putting a hoof on Aqua's shoulder, as if to confirm that she would be alright. "I don't know why I thought you'd shrivel or anything. I must have been thinking of my sister's scary stories. She writes horror stories you see-"

He caught Granola out of the corner of his eye, and felt his heart leap up to his throat. His coat turned even paler than usual as she approached with a FIRE HOSE. What on earth was she thinking?

A horrific mental image crept into Inkwell's mind. He saw himself collapsed and weeping over the waterlogged remains of his sketchbooks. The hose reduced his beloved artwork to a pulpy mess, the ink he'd carefully inscribed running and diluted through the papers in unrecognizable patterns.

Inkwell told himself to run, to get as far away from the hose as he possibly could. Yet his legs wouldn't move; his knees shook and his hooves felt rooted to the ground. He felt cold, as though a stiff breeze blew straight through him, and he could only watch as Granola pointed her hose in her direction.

But in a fateful reprieve that seemed to emerge from the bottomless kindness of Celestia's heart, Granola couldn't get the hose to work at first. As she struggled to turn it on, Inkwell finally found the strength to run, bounding behind the nearest house and cowering with his hooves over his face. He could hear the ghastly results of the hose finally activating, surging out of control and spraying indiscriminately. Granola's screams rose above the din, the panicked results of a fool who realized too late the folly of trafficking with such dark powers. Finally, silence reigned, and Inkwell knew that he would have nightmares about this even for the rest of his life.

He rushed back out into the open to see if anypony was hurt. When this instinct was satisfied, he turned and glared at Granola. It was a look that could bore a hole in the thickest rock. "What is WRONG WITH YOU?" he shrieked, his voice cracking from the adrenaline rushing through his body.