The flood beside Twilight Velvet flickered. The water was almost up to her platform now. The angry water quieted down, the lightning on its surface robbed of its sustaining energy. Sparking streams of multicolored electricity flowed out of the generator and into the lightning rod’s air terminal. Pulses of harsh rainbow light glowed through the wire as they traveled and disappeared into the ground rod. Velvet’s mind buzzed, but not like in an adrenaline high. It felt like the arteries in her temples were about to burst. She’d hate to leave any sort of stain on this place.

Hissing through her teeth, Velvet levitated the lightning rod closer to the generator. The heat and buzz pressed further on her skull. It was a small price to pay to get her friend out, though, and as the flood’s orchestra finally melded into a decrescendo, the conductor steadily lowered her baton. The symphony was drawing to a close.

Daring Do’s wings ruffled from behind her. Velvet raised a hoof, alternating her focus between her mentor and the water keeping her prisoner.

“Steady…steady…”

The flood flickered. For two brief moments, darkness, not water, flooded the room.

“Now!”

A dark yellow blur zoomed out the window. The artifact on Daring’s hooves sent an iridescent glow crossing the ceiling. Discovering the deception, the flood roared. The aetheric electricity on its surface rekindled and reached for Daring, but Velvet’s rod had stolen too much of its thunder.