I hit the dirt with an irritated grunt, Autumn loomed above me with an infuriatingly smug expression.

“Oh, come on” she said in a playful tone as she leaned in and lifted my chin up using her hoof-blades, bringing me face to face with a shit-eating grin “where’s that fighting spirit that comes oh-so naturally to predators like you”

It had been 5 days since we had set off from Trottingham, and our surroundings had shifted from open fields to undulating hills, with tall mountains looming in the distance, we’d decided to stop for the day because let’s face it who wants to be boating up a river day in day out? Unfortunately it hadn’t been the relaxed river cruise which I had perhaps mistakenly assumed it to be. Almost immediately Autumn had assumed leadership, taking the role of piloting the boat from me and giving it to Tarn, and making me spend every waking hour “preparing”, what exactly that entailed varied from session to session, from learning magic with the help of vinyl, to seemingly pointless bullshit which Autumn claimed was “character building” like towing the entire goddamn boat dead along the towpath. And then there was the god-damned sparring…

Autumn it seems liked to take the approach of “push them as hard as possible and hope they improve” without actually giving me much in the way actual advice, her justification being that “the enemy wouldn’t go easy on me”. As a result, I often ended up with my face in the dirt and my sword embedded in a tree some 10 foot away as a result of some pegasi-based parrying fuckery which she so loved to employ. It didn’t help that she seemed so smug about it, often pointing out the she was besting a “predator species” whatever the fuck that even meant. Consequently in those three days I’d quickly gone from being indifferent towards her to outright hating her guts and refusing to speak to her when she wasn’t pushing my arse, was it petty? Yes. Did I care? Did I fuck!

Now in case you’re thinking the others had been sat doing jack all, you’d be wrong. Octavia, as it turns out, was a crack shot with a bow, hell, the weapon which she summoned rather than being some sort of blade or staff like I’d half expected was a rather complicated and surprisingly modern looking device akin to a compound bow, with cams pulleys and the drawstring running back and forth along these multiple times. Whenever she would summon her weapon, she would actually call forth two glove like tools, the left arm actually held the two arms of the bow which would fold together so that she could still walk and snap open drawing the string tight when she was ready to fire, the other hoof meanwhile had a series of hooks which allowed her to grab an arrow from the quiver (which materialised on her back when the rest of her weapon was summoned), notch it on the string, and then draw the string back. Octavia explained that the hooks and bow seemed to tap into her thoughts, so she could seamlessly control when it would fold away, or when she was notching an arrow into the string then drawing the bow back, I think she actually managed to let off 5 arrows in the space of a second one time when practicing.

Vinyl, meanwhile, had earned herself quite a nifty little double ended staff with blades at both ends which seemed to buzz when moved rapidly, so much so that when Autumn had sparred with her she’d been able to blast her away with a wall of sound produced by these blades. Safe to say I was not looking forward to sparring with her, my first adhoc magic duel with her was embarrassment enough, seriously, she transfigured me into a freakin ferret and proceeded to toss me up and down in mid air. On the subject of which…

Autumn’s smirk faded, and she straightened her posture as the twin blades on her hoof folded away and she held her hoof out for me to grab.

“Remember I’m doing this for your own good, aye?” she said as she pulled me up, her tone held no arrogance or anger, just simple honesty “Whilst you’re still getting knocked on your flank your reflexes are beginning to improve, you’re able to hold me off for just that little bit longer before I disarm you. I wouldn’t but much stake in you surviving were we to fight to the death, but there may be hope for you yet by the time we reach hiemut” as much as I hated her guts at this point, I still knew how to spot when she was offering genuine criticism.

“I’ll take that as a compliment” I muttered as we began walking back to the boat, to which she shrugged

“I never promised a perfect teacher” she said “but you’ll learn the way I did, and for what it’s worth, it’s got me this far. When you’re able to block on reflex, then I’ll start with the real training” I frowned at this.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t be better to teach me the basics first?” I asked. Another thing which was slightly more tolerable, she didn’t seem to react to what might be considered a stupid question, she simply answered to her own honesty.

“All the parrying techniques in the world aren’t worth jack if you haven’t got the reflexes” she said “gotta build you up that way. Now, how’s your magic?” this was how it progressed, get my ass beat multiple times, then an update on my magic.

“Slower than I would like” I said, performing a basic practice technique designed to help with focus, whereby I called forth the magic, but didn’t direct it towards anything, causing a hazy orange aura to surround my hand, it flickered somewhat “But! I am reading ahead through the basics. Learn the theory, then apply it when possible”

“Good thinking, for once” she said, before glancing around at our impromptu riverside camp, Octavia and Vinyl were currently sparring, whilst Tarn was tending to a pot of stew above a fire “Well, I suppose we’d better go collect some firewood, aye? Come on” and with that she began traipsing off into the woods.

We’d gotten some distance into the woods, picking up random small branches as we went, when she turned to me.

“So...you and Tarn?” she asked, giving me a bemused look, I scoffed.

“Oh please, there is nothing going on between us, certainly not with the fact we’ve been on a boat with you lot the entire time” I said “she’s just a mite clingy” Autumn raised a hoof to her chin, as if in thought.

“Hmm, I don’t know if I’d call if “clingy” she said, smirking “More like “on all fours begging to be rutted senseless”” this snapped something in me and before Autumn could even blink I had her pinned to the ground by the throat, my other hand balled in a fist, and raised in preparation to sock her right in the jaw.

“You best mind your next words very fucking carefully, Autumn” I hissed “I won’t stand to watch you saying shit like that, not after what she’s fucking well been through” Autumn didn’t look the least bit perturbed, and before I know what was happening, she’d kicked me off her and had me pinned to the ground, her hoof pressing into my throat.

“So you do feel something for her then, aye? You’re cute when you’re just brimming with righteous fury” she said, a smug look on her face, I elected not to say anything, but she proceeded to lean forward uncomfortably close. “oh come on, don’t give me that, all alone on a river boat with three mares and a she-kobold, don’t tell me you haven’t considered making a move on one of us even once”

“I’ve barely been on this planet a fucking month” I hissed despite the pressure on my neck “In the grand scheme of things I quite frankly have bigger things to worry about” Autumn chuckled at this.

“You can deny it all you want” she said, by this point our mouths were nearly touching she was leaning in so close, I was trying to pull my head back, wishing above anything that I wasn’t in this situation, only to be held in place by Autumn’s hoof and the ground beneath us. Autumn was speaking in a half whisper, a wild look in her eyes “but you and I both know that the five of us could get it on like a house on fire…we could be bucking well amazing...and that just terrifies you, doesn’t it?” suddenly we both heard a twig snap in the opposite direction of the camp. Autumn went ramrod still, her look shifting from wild to cool and calculating. Looking past her I could just about see a shadowy figure in the distance, I couldn’t make them out but I knew that they were watching.

“Someone’s watching us” I said, my voice barely a whisper “fifty yards from us, south of the camp” Autumn hissed almost silently.

“Can you summon your blade?” she asked, I felt around and sure enough I felt a familiar tug, my sword was floating through the either, waiting to be called forth, I nodded. “Alright, on my say, we get up and head after them, you go left, I’ll go right. Are we clear?”

“Yes” I said, Autumn steeled herself.

“Ok...three...two...one” and with that we both sprang up and half ran in the direction of the watching figure, I summoned my sword and held it in my right hand, whilst I was prepared to conjure a cast-rebound in case we encountered the figure and they turned out to be a unicorn or some other magic user. Very quickly we drifted apart and it soon became clear that I’d lost whoever was watching us, at which point the sounds of the woods started putting me on edge, I’d very nearly hit Autumn in the face with cast-rebound when she eventually showed back up.

“Damn it!” she hissed, looking around “how did we lose the cunt?” my attention very quickly shifted to focus on something which I couldn’t quite make out lying by the base of a tree, but stood out as something separate from the natural leaf-litter.

“Autumn” I said, quietly, and nodded in the direction. The burnt-orange pegasus turned, then as one we very slowly began making our way over to get a better look, when it revealed itself to be some sort of sheet covered with more than a small amount of blood I felt my stomach beginning to drop. Autumn gestured for me to uncover the sheet and, heart sinking, I edged my way forwards as Autumn kept half an eye out for anyone else in the area. I dispelled the charged spell and held my sword in both hands, before sticking the tip of the blade under the sheet and flicking it away, revealing the gruesome sight of what was most definitely the carcass of a pony, stripped of all flesh and organs, the sort of sight which burned into ones retinas and would come to mind at the most inopportune moments. Autumn proceeded to go pale as a sheet. Whilst I cried out in horror and shock and began retching as the acrid smell of death hit me, clinging to the inside of my nostrils. When faced with the sight before us, Autumn summed the situation up rather nicely.

“What the fuck have we just stumbled upon?”

Author's Note

what, did you think just be casual world building and shenanigans?