When Legends Rise

“What a right mess you’ve gotten us into this time” Octavia sighed, massaging her forehead in frustration, she and I were stood off to one side of the site where Autumn and I had found the carcass, even now I could still see it out of the corner of my eye, burning itself into my memory, as Autumn and Vinyl were stood over the body discussing potential theories. Tarn was back at the camp, I’d point blank forbid her to come anywhere near this place.

“I didn’t exactly ask for this” I said, and again the image of the carcass flashed into my mind, making my shake my head “fuck me, that’s an image that won’t be going away for quite some time”

“Vinyl’s used to this” Octavia said, half glancing over but very quickly looking away “she tries to hide it, but she’s desensitised to stuff like this”

“And what of Autumn?” I asked “I was nearly voiding my breakfast, but she seems almost unshaken right now”

“She’s no stranger to death either, she served on the southern continent, remember?” Octavia said. Vinyl and Autumn walked over, the latter looking decidedly grim-faced. “Well?”

“At a guess” Autumn said “got to be a predator species, no offence to you, Onælan, but pony cannibals just don’t happen, if I had to make guess as to the species, I want to say possibly griffins, though magic wielding Kelpies are known to reside in this area”

“Kelpie?” I asked.

“Generic term for aquatic omnivorous equines” Octavia said.

“Capall-Ishk, Cabyll-Ushtey, Nixies, Shoopilties & Nuggles” Autumn rattled off “mouth full of teeth and a bad attitude, the lot of them, I’ve had more than my fare share of run ins with the blighters”

“This is unusual even for them” Octavia said “they usually feed on fish and birds, and they certainly aren’t clean with their kills on the off chance they do sink their teeth into something larger”

“Any ideas, Vinyl?” I asked, she shook her head. “Well what’s the plan then?”

“Go back to the boat, get ready to cast off” Autumn said “I’m going do some scouting” and with that she took off and wound her way through the trees before rising out of sight.

Some time later myself, Octavia and Vinyl, now back on the Defiance, were stirred from our thoughts by the sound of heavy flapping. I made my way outside to see Autumn approaching in the distance, though it quickly became apparent that all was not well. She came in low and fast and I had to all but tackle her to stop her crashing right through the cabin wall.

“What in the hell happened to you?” I asked, heaving her up. I noticed several ricochet marks on her armour, and more than one bullet wound in her torso.

“Fucking river pirates” she gasped out, shaking from the adrenalin “They were the ones that dumped the body in the woods, they spotted me hiding in a cloud and turned a punt gun on me.” her tone suddenly became distresses “A-barth an Jowl a gyj, they got my fucking wing!”

“Since when did your world have fucking guns?” I asked.

“Now is not the time!” she barked, limping into the cabin “we need to haul flank out of here, they’re going to be coming this way any minute now. Onælan, you and Tarn need to get the boat prepped to leave. Vinyl I’m going to need to borrow your magic to dig these blasted pellets out! Octavia, I need you to keep the other two safe until I can get back out there” we all nodded in turn and I quickly dashed outside and began to untie the mooring lines whilst Tarn set about getting the engines prepped. We were just about ready to leave when the shrill toot of a whistle pierced through the air, and I peeked over the canopy to see a clapped out steam boat making its way up the river, it was armed to the teeth with harpoons and crossbows, and right up at the front was a massive shotgun, some 24ft long.

“Fuck” I hissed, before an idea came to me, I began tightening the safety valves on the boiler.

“What are you doing?” Tarn asked in a hushed voice.

“we’re going to be blasting out of here soon enough, just act casual” the other boat coasted gently up and I leant my hand against the boiler in such a way as they couldn’t see it and began to pour thermal energy into the boiler, heating the water up and ramping up the pressure. I would have to time this right as I could see the pressure gauge climbing noticeably. The other boat was filled with all manor of strange looking ponies, some looked like sharks, others were hugely built with sharp teeth glinting in their jaws, others still had great tentacles sprouting out their back

“Good afternoon!” called one in a thick scottish accent, wielding a nasty looking hook “you wouldn’t happen to have seen a pegasi round these parts would you? Probably injured”

“I’m afraid not, maybe try further down the river” I said.

Well, if it’s all the same, I think I’ll take a look on your fine vessel just in case” the kelpie retorted, I glanced at the pressure gauge, 500psi. That ought to do it. Acting on a whim I suddenly dashed for the controls, whanging the reverser into full forward and slamming the regulator wide open. I’ll admit, I was expecting a decent departure speed, maybe akin to a small speed boat. I was not expecting the damn thing to practically launch itself forwards drenching the kelpies in water and causing two of the three ponies present to yelp out in surprise. I would have found myself tumbling off the back of the boat and into the river, were it not for Octavia dashing for me and biting onto the collar of my chestplate. I didn’t have time to dwell on it as I lunged for the tiller to stop us careening into the bank.

“Tarn! Get your arse on the regulator before we lose all our steam!” I barked over the roar of the exhaust, and she quickly dived for the controls and began notching back the reverser

“We can only run like this for so long, you chuck a conrod if you keep this up!” she shot back.

“I’m just nudging her!” I replied. Autumn stumbled out of the cabin, still bleeding and having to lean on the doorway for support.

“What in the bright blue blazes are you doing!?” she yelled.

“Getting the fuck out of dodge” I said, guiding the ship around a corner and throwing up a sizable wake. A few leagues later and I eased her off and began looking for a secluded spot where we could hide out. Eventually we found somewhere under the shade of a low hanging tree and I gently drifted her to a stop, at which point tarn began feeling the cylinders over.

“We can’t stop here for long” Autumn said “they will have found a turn around point and will be headed back up this way.

“And I don’t think the engines have it in them for a second burst like that” Tarn said “I’m pretty sure you bent one eccentric-rod already, she was running rough when we brought her to a stop”

“But she’ll still run?” I asked, at which the diminutive kobald smirked, tapping one cylinder with an adjustable spanner

“Shes limping, but she’s not out yet” she said.

A few minutes later we genjurly departed, true to Tarn’s word the pistons were running a touch rough, no longer firing equally, which gave the boat a distinctive off-kilter beat, no doubt that would attract the attention of these river pirates.

We trudged our way up stream for the next several hours, trying to go as fast as we dare without alarting any waiting pirates. As the sun started to set conditions began to deteriorate, a thick fog rolling in as the river changed into a swamp, multiple times we would hear shouting along with gunshots ringing out through the stillness, clearly they were trying to probe through the fog to see how close we were, adding to the stress whenever the propellers would get tangled in weeds and we ground to a halt as myself and Vinyl would jump into river in an attempt to pull them loose. Octavia would keep watch from the rear of the boat, reared up on her hind legs with bow in hoof and the drawstring pulled back in readiness to fire at any approaching ships.

Autumn on the other hand kept deteriorating from her wounds, we just hadn't had time to properly see to her, and eventually Octavia had all but pulled rank on her as a princess to get her to at least try rest after one too many times of attempting to come out and direct us. Credit where it's due, the rest of us were very quickly getting the hang of self coordination despite the pirates looming just beyond our view, we just sort of clicked into a given role.

*POV 3RD person*

Octavia peered through the gloom behind the boat, scanning the river, nay, swamp, for even the faintest hint of the pirates, all the while she was planning ahead trying to think of any nearby settlements that would not only not be under the Pirates’ hooves, but would also be able to tend to Autumn.

Her attention was diverted very suddenly by a loud splash and made her way to the side of the boat to see Onælan treading through the waste high swamp water holding a can of what looked suspiciously like compressed gas for running the boiler.

“What are you doing?” she asked, at which point Autumn limped out, obviously stirred by the commotion, Onælan turned around, keeping pace with the boat and pointing upstream.

“I need you to take the defiance half a league up that way” he said “find somewhere hidden and wait for me there for about an hour”

“And what if you don't come back?” Autumn asked, clearly sounding worse for wear as her words came out as a half wheeze. Onælan shot her a deadpan look.

“then keep going” he said, and with that he turned and began treading his way down stream.

“What do you suppose he's going to do?” Tarn asked. Vinyl frowned, peering through the fog as the strange creature disappeared into the mirk. Then blue magic lit up above her.

“retaliating first”

Octavia turned to Tarn and nodded to the controls.

“Well get to it, we need to get out of here, as he said” and with that the kobald eased open the regulator more, prompting the faintest hint of acceleration.

Some time later the boat was stopped, as Tarn and Vinyl worked to clear the propellers of weeds yet again. They had just finished untangling one proller when the entire sky to the east lit up bright orange. For a moment which seemed to stretch out for eternity all was still and quiet as the glow slowly faded, before a shockwave accompanied by an ear-shattering BOOM rocked the boat and sent Octavia & Autumn stumbling, the latter falling against the wall of the cabin with a yelp, meanwhile Vinyl and Tarn were both knocked under the water by the force of the shockwave. Then, once more, all became still, early so. Some time later, after Tarn and Vinyl had freed the second propeller, Octavia’s ears twitched and quick as a flash she drew her bow, aiming it downriver as the sounds of water splashing drifted into her ears. A looming figure appeared through the gloom, before the fog shifted slightly to reveal Onælan trudging and panting through the water, the punt gun which the river pirates had mounted on their boat slung widthways across his shoulders and carrying two large sacks, one on each end. He stomped over and Vinyl rushed to ift the punt gun off his shoulders with her magic. The four of them were reduced to gawking as Onælan heaved himself onto the boat, blood and water pouring off of him.

“Are you ok?” Tarn asked, and when he gave her a questioning look she continued “you’re bleeding” Autumn exhaled heavily.

“That’s not his blood” she said in a half whisper, her ears pinned back, likewise, Octavia and vinyl had similar looks on their faces as Onælan walked towards the two sacks.

“Those pirates won’t be a problem to us or anyone else anymore” the human said, before rifling through the one sack and heaving out what looked like the parts for a steam engine, then dumping it in front of Tarn “think you can make use of that to fix the boat?” the kobald was too stunned to respond as Onælan made his way into the cabin, pulled out a bottle of whiskey and proceeded to neck what was left, downing it in a few gulps, then made his way over the the sink and began washing his face. Octavia glanced at the rest of them.

“I...we need to get going” she said, clearly shaken, before turning to Autumn who was struggling to even stand at this point. “you’re still hurt, and we need to find a settlement soon before you get any worse”

*POV 1st person Onælan*

I was sat at the front of the boat, letting the effects of a quarter bottle of whiskey wash over me, when I heard limping hoofsteps make their way over and turned my head to see Autumn approaching, glancing at me with an uneasy expression.

“I’m not going to turn around and slaughter you lot, if that’s what you’re thinking” I said, the whiskey helping greatly to embolden me. The burnt-orange pegasus heaved herself onto a bench and laid down, half panting. Her torso was practically covered in bandages which were peppered with red blotches from the punt-shot.

“Where the buck did that even come from?” Autumn asked “I’ve known you, what, 3 weeks? And other than the incident in Trottingham you haven’t given me so much as an inkling that you’d wish harm on others. Then you go and pull that?”

“What about the keisarin?” I asked. “I’ve been voicing my disdain for her often enough” at this Autumn gave a sheepish smile

“I assumed that was...the emotions talking or something, I don’t know” she said “I never thought you’d actually do something so...bloody. I mean for Celestia’s sake, you’ve been so god damn meek when I’ve been trying to spar with you that you end up on your flank all the time. So where the fuck did that come from!?”

“I guess I’m afraid of what I can do” I said “I consider you…” I paused, mulling the words over “not a friend, because you’ve been an utter cunt these past few days, but...you’re not my enemy either, I don’t want to fight you, any of you. With me it’s a case of bottling up my anger and letting it fester, or letting it all out at once like you saw back there. I’m scared that if I really push myself with you…I’m scared to hurt you...despite what you might think from back there I don’t want to hurt people, but sometimes the situation forces my hand” Autumn snorted.

“Are all of your species this complicated or is it just you?” she asked.

“Honestly, I have no fucking clue” I said, frowning as my memories as usual proved to be infuriatingly vague “If fantasia wasn’t a god with the power to reduce me to a stain on the floor I would have punched her weeks ago” Autumn cocked an eyebrow at that.

“You know she can probably hear you, right?” she asked.

“Good!” I said “I want her to know that I’m still pissed about how she got me here in the first place, that I probably won’t ever stop being sore about it as long as I live. I had a life back home, with friends and family, and more importantly I didn’t have to kill every other week just to survive. I’m willing to bet that she had a very specific reason for dragging a human, specifically me, across dimensions as opposed to just using another inhabitant of this world, and it’s for that reason, whatever it may be, that she doesn’t just turn me into a mindless zombie or something, and until evidence to the contrary makes itself known, I’ll continue to voice my displeasure at her actions”

“And if she goes and takes complete control of you anyway?” Autumn retorted.

“Then clearly it no longer becomes my issue” I shot back.

It was getting exceptionally late by the time we reached a settlement that didn’t look suspicious, so late that we all but dumped a bag of coins to pay the overnight mooring fee in the lock-keeper’s office then proceeded to collapse in an exhausted heap in the single large bed which we had to share (I had very quickly learned that ponies are a whole lot more cosy, much to my exasperation), Though Octavia had helped Autumn to the house of a nearby doctor first.

The next morning I stirred slowly, surveying my surroundings I took stock of where everyone was. Tarn I could feel against my back as usual. Octavia meanwhile was snuggled up in my arms with Vinyl, still awake, just dozing lightly, behind her. I heard Octavia stir with sigh and looked down to see her eyes fluttering open, she glanced around in confusion before looking up at me, a soft smirk gracing her features.

“I thought you said you didn’t do cuddling” She whispered.

“I don’t” I muttered, still groggy “But my people have a saying, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”...plus I’d be an idiot to deny that this is...nice”

“So you have a soft side after all, and here I thought you were just a cold hearted killer” she said, though her tone held no criticism or displeasure.

“Nah, you’d need to go to Autumn for that” I retorted, prompting a frown from Octavia.

“You would probably make things a lot easier for yourself if you weren’t so passive aggressive towards her” she said, I snorted at this, before relaying our little altercation yesterday, when I finished she scowled. “I shall be having words. I certainly won’t have such behaviour, we need to learn to work together, we were OK last night, but there is still some room for improvement. And if Autumn continues like that, then it certainly doesn’t help” at this Vinyl’s head popped up, blue writing materialising above her head as an impish smirk flashed across her muzzle.

“I’m going to say that I agree with Autumn, I propose we strap you down and rut you dry…” as the words appeard Vinyl’s tongue lolled out and she shook her head back and forth. I rolled my eyes and Octavia sighed, before an elbow planted itself firmly in Vinyl’s stomach, prompting a grunt from the white unicorn.

“I don’t have to see what you’re saying to know that it’s most likely crass, uncouth and more than likely at odds with what I’ve just said” Octavia said. Vinyl shuddered in a silent chuckle as more words materialised.

“I regret nothing” I looked to Octavia.

“Are you going now, or…?” I asked, leaving the question unfinished out of habit, I wasn’t sure where I picked it up, but I often tended to leave such questions unfinished, let the other party finish it themselves. Octavia shook her head.

“No, it’s still fairly early, besides...” she then yawned and nestled her head in my chest “As you said, this is nice” I noticed more blue words appearing above Vinyl, much dimmer this time. Her face held a half smile, though there was a hint of seriousness to it

“She’s taking a liking to you, so don’t buck this up. Or I’ll buck you up” that put me somewhat in edge.

“Great” I thought “First a kobald, now a goddamn princess. I do not have time for this touchy feely crap” but all the same, I quickly found myself settling back down and drifting off to sleep.