When Legends Rise

“Oh come on!!!”

Autumn’s frustrated cry echoed through the entire station, causing passers by to swivel their heads.

We’d spent the last week or so living rough hopping from train to train, and quite frankly I was burnt out even with my newfound strength, but we’d finally reached the end of the first major leg. Myself, Octavia and Vinyl were currently sat in the concourse of Trottingham city’s main railway station, feeling quite dead whilst Autumn had gone to buy tickets for the next leg of the journey, an overnight sleeper to the northern reaches of Trottinghamshire, from where we’d hire a river boat into Caracoler & Heimut. But judging by her livid expression when she returned it hadn’t gone according to plan. She sat on the bench next to us and massaged her temples

“The entire Northern line is shut for the season for maintenance” she sighed “that’s 350 miles we’ll have to travel across country on hoof” I blanched at that.

“Are you fucking with me?” I asked “we have to walk the entire way? we can’t take an airship or something?”

“If you want to blow our bits in one go and have us slumming it around the rest of the planet then you go right ahead!” the oxide-red pegasus hissed.

“And there are no alternatives?” I asked “no canals? Not even a network of rivers from which we can at least cobble together a makeshift raft? It would sure as hell beat walking the entire way” Autumn made as if to reply with a scathing remark, but paused, scratching at her neck with a hoof.

“No canals” she said “but...the rivers might be an option, that’s actually not a bad idea...coming from an ape”

“Thanks” I muttered, rolling my eyes. Ever since we’d set off from Canterlot she’d taken to referring to me as ape, or monkey-boy if she was feeling particularly generous, already the novelty was starting to wear particularly thin.

“Give me a few hours to check over my old geographical maps” she said “I might just be able to plot a route”

“In which case we better head to my home” Octavia said, standing up off the bench and beginning to make her way towards the exit, the rest of us following suit “At least then we can spend time in comfort whilst you plan the journey ahead” Octavia had mentioned on the way over that her parents were rather high standing members of the trottingham social circles, though she had refused to elaborate further when pressed on the matter, even by Vinyl.

Upon exiting the station I found myself having to quickly move to one side and lean against a wall, the others quickly following suit as I took in my surroundings, I was blown back by the sheer diversity, and I’m not just talking about different nationalities of the same species, I found myself very quickly losing count of the sheer variety of different species and came to the realisation that trying to blend in wasn’t going to be a problem, there was so much variety of races it was giving me a sensory overload.

There were examples of every race I'd seen represented by the Wrakjon statues in Canterlot Gardens, and more! Unicorns, earth ponies, pegasi, pegasi with bat wings, bug-like ponies, aquatic ponies with shark-like or dolphin-like tails, unicorns with scales and big bushy manes, griffons, hippogriffs, minotaurs, centaurs, actual freaking dragons! Talking dogs even, not to mention hybrids of every form and ratio, apparently most folks didn’t have qualms about mingling.

Once I’d recovered from the culture shock enough I felt slightly more at ease about trying not to stick out to much, and so I pulled my hood down, placed my mask in my shoulder bag, and began making my way through the crowd, though I quickly had to step out of the way as a massive deer some 7ft high, with great big antlers each as wide as I was tall, nearly walked right into me.

“Watch where you’re going, stranger!” the deer called in a distinctly irish accent, and I found myself doing a double take.

“Was that an actual honest to god Irish elk!?” I found myself thinking.

“Typical tourist” I heard Autumn say as she meandered through the crowd, though her tone and expression conveyed that it was more in jest.

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed “I get that there’s more than one sapient species on this planet, but I wasn’t expecting this much diversity in one place.

“Trottingham is like a travel hub for the known nations” Octavia explained “most folks are heading to or from somewhere” at this Vinyl nodded, and words made of blue magic flashed up in front of my face.

“Even for the centuries I’ve been kicking it, this place has always been used a stop-over on journeys”

“Well, at least I won’t have to worry about standing out” I said, chuckling “I thought I was the tallest thing around until I saw the Megaloceros back there” at this the three of them turned to look at me as one, the snouts wrinkled in confusion.

“Megalo-what!?” Octavia asked, her head tilted in confusion

“It’s...what my kind call them” I said “they were a giant deer that went extinct some 8 thousand years ago back home, during the last Ice Age”

“That was an Imperial Elk” The slate-grey earth pony said “they’re the dominant race in lands to the north of here such as Meira and Cervbuckenland”

“Well so long as it means less to draw attention to myself, even for a short while, then I’m not fussed what they’re called” I said, I barely heard Octavia muttering “it won’t be you which has to deal with unwarranted attention” but chose to put it to one side for the moment, though as we walked further away from the station and through the more high class residential districts, I couldn’t help but notice the attention of the nobles being drawn not to me, but to Octavia who began to look more and more uncomfortable with the attention as whispers started to be heard. In a few instances a made sure to lock eyes with a few of them, sending disapproving glares their way, in almost all instances they backed down and hurried on their way. For the next half hour or so we meandered along the road, the land each property occupied seemed to become larger and larger. But still Octavia kept suspiciously schtum about the situation, even Vinyl was beginning to lose patience. Eventually the houses stopped altogether and we were now walking through a great park. I had my head on a swivel trying to imagine just where we might be going, the questions in all our minds were answered when a pair of large gates came into view, and just beyond them what was clearly some sort of hall, or even a palace. Autumn and Vinyl stopped dead in their tracks, their mouths agape as they glanced between Octavia and the set of gates.

“No. Bucking. Way.” Autumn said “no way in Tartarus are your family staff at the Celestia-damned Trottingham palace!”

“A bit more than mere staff, darling” she said, a hint of a smirk on her face. Vinyl’s expression went blank at this as words appeared above her head.

“But...that means you’re the…” she trailed off at this and the words faded, her mind apparently shutting down completely.

“The what?” I asked, looking between them.

“Not many ponies know who I really am” she said “and that’s innentional, my name truly is Octavia Melody, but most would know me as simply The orphan princess.”

“You’re a princess?” I asked “Are you serious, all this time I’ve been swearing around you and acting as if you’re some common pony, but you’re actual fucking royalty”

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way” she said “I don’t want to be seen as some unreachable entity, I’m a pony just like Vinyl or Autumn. I went into seclusion in the first place so that I could get to better understand what it was like for everyday ponies” Vinyl just blinked owlishly as more words appeared above her head.

“I...I...I bucked a princess…” if we’d had drinks at that moment I’m sure myself and Autumn would have spat them out. Octavia merely rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Oh please, not in front of the nobility. You know how much of a pain rumors can be” once I’d gotten over my stupor I shook my head.

“Hang on” I said “you said you were the orphan princess, then who runs the country?”

“You misunderstand the context” she said “I’ll explain fully later, but I’m sure you’ll catch on soon enough” and with that she turned and continued walking towards the gate, the rest of us soon followed after, where we found two guards blocked our path.

Octavia cleared her throat, and began to speak, her voice taking on a much colder, more commanding quality.

“I am Princess Octavia Melody, Duchess of the Yarvik Ridings & the Westwards, and air apparent to the throne of Trottinghamshire, announcing her arrival” the guards stirred at this, going wide eyed, before hastily saluting.

“Your majesty!” they exclaimed, scrambling to open the gates. Before one of them took off at a gallop in the direction of the palace.

“Thank you” she said, softly, nodding her head to the remaining guard, before making her way through the gates. As we approached the steps of the palace I could see two ponies descending, one was a stockily built Unicorn stallion with a dark blue, almost black, coat and a grey mane & tail, and the other a pegasus mare with a light grey coat and yellow mane & tail. As Octavia approached the foot of a stairs the two ponies stopped, looking shocked. The mare spoke first.

“Octavia, my dear?” she asked “Is...is that really you?” at this Octavia bowed.

“I have come home, mother” she said. At this the two ponies rushed down the stairs and pulled her into a loving embrace, tears flowing down the cheeks of all three as they laughed with joy. The stallion who was clearly her father pulled away and examined her

“Look at you, you’ve grown so much” he said, his voice a deep baritone, the joy becoming too much as he laughed before inquisitively pulling at her cloak and examining her armour beneath “but, what on earth are you wearing, my dear?” Octavia let out a giggle as she wiped at her cheek.

“That will take some time to explain, father. It would be best if it were better explained inside” Octavia said, before stepping to one side and gesturing to the three of us “but first, I would like to introduce my friends, Vinyl Scratch, a musician from Ponyville. Autumn Skies, a member of the Equestrian Royal Guard. And Onælan, a being from a far off land whos kind refer to themselves as human, his story is even more complicated than the reason for my own attire” she then turned to us “my friends, this is my father, King Regal Knight, and my mother, Queen Mystic Diamond” at this we all bowed.

“It seems you have quite the story to tell” Mystic Diamond said, drawing the attention of her daughter “perhaps it would be best told over afternoon tea?”

The king let out a wry chuckle as he placed his empty teacup on the table as we finished retalling what had happened up to now. The rest of our group were out of their armour and cloaks, though having no other proper clothing I retained mine, albiet with the mask tucked away, with the staff leant against my chair. Thankfully the king and queen were understanding.

“So...to summarize” he began, failing to hide the amusement in his voice “You, Onælan, are a being sent her from another world by our gods, destined to become a warrior of the elements much like my own daughter. And the four of you now have to travel around this world for reasons which the gods have neglected to fully elaborate on?” he had a smirk on his face by the end of it.

“That...just about sums it up, your highness” I said, awkwardly looking into my teacup, I was still having trouble adjusting to the fact that royalty on this world seemed so...casual, I didn’t get the slightest feeling that the king and queen were at all aloof, but all the same I couldn’t help but feel out of place and completely out of my depth.

“I should laugh at the preposterousness of the situation” he said “but stranger things have happened, we not long received the news about a rogue centaur taking all the magic in Equestria, only to be stopped at the last moment”

“Yeah, about that” Octavia said, hesitantly “Onælan & Autumn may have had a hoof in stopping him”

“Or hand, in my case” I muttered. At this the king’s eyes widened and he raised his eyebrows

“Well, colour me impressed” he said, a small smirk on his face, before turning serious and looking me levely in the eyes “I must admit, I had my doubts when Octavia told us that she had been destined to travel the world with little more than a musician, a guard and an...ape-”

“Reg!” Mystic Diamond hissed. Regal Knight held a hoof placatingly.

“Having said that” he continued “from what you four have told me, I’m finding my worries being put at ease. Understand this, Mystic cannot bear foals, Octavia is all we have, she is the only when who can inherit the crown when the time comes for us to step down” he then slammed his hoof on the marble floor “I would defy the very gods to keep her here if I felt her life was to be put at risk!” throughout all of this Octavia had her head bowed, as if she was being chastised directly. The kings voice then softened “But it would seem that, at face value, she is in good company. Do not prove me wrong” though his voice had softened, he was no less serious as he spoke these words. I was trying to think of something to say when Autumn beat me to it, her posture stiffened as she spoke in the same tone she’d used when speaking to the Equestrian royalty.

“I’m of the Westwards Pegasi, so Octavia is my princess as well” Autumn said “I swear not only on my oath as a Royal Equestrian Guard, but also on my own blood and kin that I will not willingly allow her to come to harm”

“Very good” Regal said, before a smirk flashed across his features for the briefest of moments “And whilst you’re at it, see if you can’t also whip her and your fellow companions into shape, make good warriors out of them” at this Autumn let slip a brief smirk of her own

“It would be my pleasure, your highness” she said, and myself, Octavia and Vinyl exchanged worried glances

“Well fuck...and here I thought it’d be a laid back voyage” I thought dryly, getting the sneaking suspicion that the three of us had just been entered into a makeshift boot camp.