The third stone

“Woah.” Was all Ivy said when she opened her eyes.
When they had found this little space, it had been dark, and she had not been able to see a thing. Now, however, in the morning light, she could see how high up they were. Ahead of her she saw the plains stretching out, the only thing interrupting the brown field was the bright river. The horizon… she could not even decide where the land ended and the sky begun, simply because it was too far away. She had never thought her eyes were capable of looking this far.

“I would suggest not looking down.” She heard her sister say.
“D-don’t worry, I won’t.” Ivy replied, but the truth was that she already had, and she backed off to the wall.
“I think we might reach the spring today.” Hikary said. “It doesn’t look like it’s far away anymore… the top of the mountain.”
 Ivy looked up, and she had to agree with her sister. It didn’t look very far at all indeed.

Next to them, the river was still flowing as silent as always. The mountains up here were less steep then they were closer to the ground, for some odd reason, and so the river flowed less hard and the climb was a lot easier on them. “Here, have some food.” Hikary said, handing Ivy some of the dried fruits. She was getting sick of them already, but accepted them anyway. It was not like there was any alternative.

After they had eaten, Ivy drank some water from the river, and then helped Hikary with packing their things. When they were done and had made sure all their mess was cleaned up, they set out on their climbing once more. The rocks were easy to climb here and they did not have to worry about them breaking loose, which made the climbing both easier and safer. Ivy refused to think on what would happen if they slipped, or if one of the rocks ended up being loose.

They climbed the entire morning, sometimes fast, sometimes slower, steadily progressing until Ivy wondered how far they had to go. Did rivers always start this high up? How were rivers born anyway? Ivy realized she had no idea where the river of the new Friendship Lands, the Ima River, originated. She knew there was a waterfall close to the mountains, but she had absolutely no clue where it came from beyond that. She had never even thought about it. She decided she would find out, when they were back from this journey.

When the sun reached the highest point in the sky, Ivy and Hikary reached a platform, a straight place in the rocks that looked like it was made by ponies and not natural. The ground was flat, and it looked like a road, just like it had done back at the unicorn sanctuary. And the river… when Ivy looked up at the mountains, she saw no sign of the river. The water flowed softly here, coming from inside the mountains instead of from above.

“This is it.” Hikary said.
She stood on the platform and helped Ivy on it. When she was safely on the platform, Ivy inspected her surroundings. Next to them, there was what looked like a dent in the mountains. Both the river and the path they were now standing on seemed to disappear into that dent, but she could not be sure for the rocks blocked her view. On their other side, the path stretched on, but Ivy could not see where it would lead them.
“I’m guessing it goes back it the Old Lands…. Or at least it used to.” Ivy guessed.

“Maybe… or it was another way out.” Hikary commented. “After all… until the eruption, this river used to flow inside the country and not here. It only flows here now because its original way has been blocked.”
Hikary opened her backpack and handed Ivy something small to eat. They drank a bit, and when they were both done they decided to follow the path. When they had walked on a little bit, Ivy could see that both the path and the river led into a cave.

The cave was not like the one they had slept in two nights ago. It was huge; the ceiling was at least four or five meters high and it was at least ten to fifteen meters broad. While the wall above the road was a bit lower, the wall above where the river was looked broken, and the place was scattered with rocks. “It probably broke open when the pressure of the water became too high.” Hikary commented.

They entered the cave, and because it was so big at least it wasn’t very dark… for now. Ivy hoped they did not have to go in far. The water flowed normally here, not as fast as it had lower, but then again, gravity did not have its way with it here yet. The river flowed almost straightforward, not down. Ivy could not hear the water flow at all. Apart from their own hoof steps, she did not hear anything. Instinctively she held her bag a little closer to her body.

It did not take them long to reach what seemed like the river’s spring. Their path was suddenly blocked by a large wall made of hundreds of smaller and bigger rocks. There was not one little hole in the wall and Ivy did not for one moment doubt that this wall was a lot deeper than they could possibly ever see.
“The cave must have collapsed here during the eruption… so the water could not get out anymore. And therefore…” Hikary said as she looked at the opening behind them, “the original wall, which was probably a lot weaker and thinner, gave in. And so the new Fiume River was born.”

“That’s… beautiful, I think. The river refused to give in… and found life in another way.” Ivy said.
Hikary smiled. “It did.”
For a while, they just stood there, looking at the water slowly appearing from beneath the wall of stones. Where it came from, Ivy could not tell. How could water come out of rocks? Yet, her eyes did not deceive her. The water definitely did seem to come out of the rocks.

“So… I guess we have to start looking for the stone now.” Hikary said while she put her backpack against the wall.
 “Ah, yes.” Ivy said, realizing she had forgotten all about the stone for a few moments.
She looked around, but she saw no sign of any magical stone. The stone in Batafurai had been glowing, but she saw no glow even remotely like that here. In fact, this seemed like a rather unlikely place for a stone to be.
“Do you still think it’s here? I mean… I don’t see anything.” She asked her sister.

“I’m quite sure the stone is here. Just not on the surface.” Hikary walked towards the water.
Ivy followed her sister, and she looked down into the water, only to see the bottom was covered with smaller and medium sized rocks.
“You think it’s down there?” Ivy asked.
“Maybe.” Hikary replied. “Or it is behind that wall… but in that case I’m afraid there’s very little we can do now. So let’s hope it’s below there. Come, the water won’t hurt us.”

Hikary let her hoof in the water for a little bit, and then stepped in. As before, the water hardly seemed to touch her. More confident now, Ivy followed her sister into the water. The water felt as if it was not moving at all; as if Ivy was standing in a puddle instead of a river. As she walked on, she noticed that the rocks below her feet were loose and not stuck in the ground as she had thought.

“Why aren’t they washed away by the water?” Ivy asked, as she moved some with her hoofs. “And why are they loose while the ones on the road are all stuck?”
 Hikary seemed to think this over for a bit before she replied to her little sister’s question. “Well, I’d say, the pure water kept them from getting stuck, while on the shore, the elements had their way with them. And as for why they are not being swept away… well, neither are we, right?”
 That much was true, Ivy had to admit.

Slowly, Hikary began to move some of the stones with her hoof. They gave way easily, and Ivy followed her sister’s example. The smaller rocks especially were moved without any trouble, and sometimes Ivy had the idea the water was helping her move the bigger ones. Still, she saw no sign of the stone she was looking for. All she saw was grey, dull rocks. Deeper and deeper through the rocks they dug, and Ivy soon forgot how long they had been here. Her hoofs started to hurt, but Hikary showed no sign of slowing down.

Just when Ivy was about to ask for a break, she heard her sister explain a gasp.
“Ivy, here!” Hikary yelled, and Ivy quickly turned and walked to Hikary, who has been digging close to the wall.
“What is it?” Ivy asked, and her sister pointed towards the water. Below a few rocks, Ivy saw a faint blue light shining. It wasn’t strong, and it was hard to see, but it was there, and she had no doubt that it was a stone.
“The third stone…” She whispered. “We found it!” She exclaimed then, realizing what it meant. It was here, it was actually here. Hikary had been right, it was here, they had found it, the third stone!!

“Let’s dig it out!” Hikary said, and they both started to remove the rocks.
It took them a while to remove all the rocks that covered it, as some were quite heavy, and some were just really small and annoying to get out. Still, with every stone they removed, the blue stone revealed itself a little more. A blue glow shone towards them from inside the stone. It was indeed very much like the stone Ivy had seen in Batafurai, only the colour was different.

When they had removed all of the stones that covered it, Hikary tried to pull the stone out. “It’s stuck.” She muttered while she pulled. The stone did not move for an inch. “Then we’ll have to remove the surrounding rocks as well.” Ivy commented, and began to remove the rocks. It was unbelievable, but the stones that pressed on the blue stone did not even seem to be able to scratch it. A magical stone indeed.

“Maybe try again?” Ivy suggested after they had removed some more rocks.
“Okay, sure.” Hikary said. Ivy stepped back a little bit, and Hikary began to pull again.
“It’s coming loose!” she yelled, and Ivy could see the stone was moving slowly.
“Pull, Hikary! You can do it!” Ivy encouraged her sister.
Hikary pulled once more, giving her all this time, and the stone finally had to give in. While holding the stone, Hikary fell over on the ground next to the water.

“Oh, you did it! We got it!” Ivy exclaimed.
She wanted to walk to her sister to help her up, but something stopped her. That sound… it had been deadly quiet here, so what was that rumbling sound she heard now? Then, without notice, she was swept off her hoofs and fell into the water, which, in turn, pulled her away from the wall and out of the cave.

“Ivy!” she heard her sister yell over the sound of the water.
Ivy tried to get a grip on the stones, but they all gave way the moment she touched them. None of them were firmly stuck in the ground, so the water continued to keep its hold on her. With a pang she realized that while the water flowed straight here, it would soon fall down hundreds and hundreds of meters. If she did not manage to get out of the water soon…

“Hikary! Help!” She yelled, unsure if her sister even heard her over the sound of the falling water that came closer and closer.
 She struggled to hold on, but none of the rocks kept in place the moment she touched them. The waterfall came closer and closer, and panic overtook Ivy.
“Ivy grab my hoof quickly!” She heard her sister yell, but because of all the water that was all around her she could not see her sister.

“I can’t see you!” She managed to yell.
“On your right! Hurry!” Hikary yelled. Ivy stretched out her leg to her right, but she did not feel Hikary. She couldn’t even see her. Realizing it was her only chance, she tried to get more to the right, and then reached out again. This time, she felt Hikary’s hoof, but she could not get hold of it in time.
“Once more!” Hikary yelled, and with all her might Ivy pushed herself up.
This time, Hikary managed to get a hold on her and started to pull her out of the water. Soon, she felt the steady surface of the road below her, and she managed to pull herself out of the water with the help of her sister.

Out of breath, Ivy fell down on the ground. Hikary quickly ran back to get a blanket, so Ivy could dry herself. “Here, take this.” Hikary said while she handed her younger sister the blanket, but Ivy was shaking too much to actually accept the blanket, so Hikary began to cover her sister.
“What… happened…” she managed to say.
Hikary, also a bit short on breath, answered: “The stone… it appears the stone was, after all, the source of the river’s powers. When we pulled it out… the stone lost its control on the water, and Fiume is now… nothing more than any ordinary river you might find.”