• Published 6th Mar 2015
  • 6,816 Views, 671 Comments

Upheaval: Journeys - Visiden Visidane



The ninth rebellion looms over Equestria, and its defenders must gather all the means they can to face the firstborn.

  • ...
16
 671
 6,816

Applejack 5: Into the Serpent's Grasp

Upheaval: Journeys

Applejack 5: Into the Serpent's Grasp

"Don't let a single one of these traitors escape!"

Dozens of angry neighs echoed Apple Slice's savage roar. Enormous spatters of fresh pony blood ran down the walls of Serpent Watch, while twisted, broken bodies, many of which wore the Southern Legion's barding, lay scattered along the hallway. Apple Slice strode on, his tramplers making horrific squelching sounds across puddles of blood, his chain lazily swishing from his mouth. Applejack struggled to stop this body she was sharing with him to no avail.

"What are you doing?" she tried to scream. "They're ponies! They're not the enemy!"

But Apple Slice pressed on. He caught sight of a fleeing legionnaire trying to unlock a door by the end of the hallway. His chain flew unneringly, looping around the unicorn stallion's right foreleg. A brief tug, followed by a pained cry and the dull snap of a shoulder ripping from its socket, sent the stallion flying towards Apple Slice.

"Mercy, Apple Slice!" the unicorn cried out, his lone functioning foreleg stretched out in supplication. "I have a family to feed!"

"And you fed them, alright," Apple Slice growled. "Fed them with gold traded for pony blood. You want mercy, Long Horn? Here's a death too good for you!" He lashed his chain in a rising, vertical cut. The links suddenly glowed red as they sliced into Long Horn's belly...and kept going. Blood sprayed across Applejack's vision as surely as it must have through her ancestor's red hazed sight. Entrails splattered onto the floor followed by two neatly sliced halves of a dead unicorn. It wasn't just Long Horn's ruined body that the chain left. Apple Slice's strike had ravaged the floor, ripping the wooden planks in half, and even broke through part of the ceiling.

"By the prince..." Apple Slice mumbled, his voice shaking. "If I can't even trust family...how much less..."

Mercifully, the vision faded. Applejack got up with a start, and felt around her face. She grew immensely thankful when she found the fur merely damp with sweat, not sticky with blood.

"Applejack..."

Vanguard stood nearby, still unbarded, but eyes alert and muscles tense. "You alright?"

"Not really," Applejack mumbled. She looked around. It was still dark outside the barracks while several legionnaies slept around her. "Why are you up already?" she asked. "Were you standing guard this whole time?"

"No, I was asleep," Vanguard replied. "Until your tossing and turning woke me up. I had to check when you were mumbling 'what are you doing?'."

Applejack could only hope that the dim moonlight from the windows hid her embarrassed flush well. Then, she lowered her voice to a whisper, prompting Vanguard to move closer with his ears perked. "Vanguard, what happened here?" she asked. "Was there some kind of slaughter by Apple Slice?"

Vanguard's tone turned from concerned to grim. "Is that what you saw?" he asked.

Applejack told him the details as best she could. At this, his brows furrowed further.

"I haven't read about anything like that," Vanguard muttered.

"Not even with your Special Operations stuff?" Applejack asked.

"The Southern Legion's Special Operations hasn't shared much knowledge on the matter," Vanguard replied. "I've assumed that it's due to tighter measures against Imperial Intelligence, but this vision is worrying. Are you sure he called them traitors?"

Applejack nodded. "That important?" she asked.

"Sounds like a purge," Vanguard growled. "Pony blood traded for gold....even today, the Southern Legion has to deal with ponies selling each other. The Empire has always been happy to weaponize its trade goods. However, exposing large numbers of slave-trading legionnaires is not a story about Apple Slice I've heard anywhere. If it happened as you say, and a large portion of an outpost was implicated, it would make some sense for the Southern Legion to cover it up."

"What?" Applejack struggled to keep her voice down, and glanced around. Everypony was still asleep, and patrols hadn't come in yet. "Why?"

"A Western Legion hero coming in and rooting out a massive Southern Legion case of corruption...that would have been embarassing. The Southern High Command at the time wouldn't have wanted such news to reach the prince. I suspect that it didn't, so that means that Apple Slice either kept silent about it or..." Vanguard's frown deepened. "Can you somehow tell when the events in your visions happen?"

Applejack shook her head again. "Sorry," she added. "But why's that important?"

"I wonder how close that incident was to his last stand in Greenfang."

It was Applejack's turn to scowl. "Wait just a goldarn minute..." she whispered harshly. "Are you saying that the Southern Legion--"

"Not saying," Vanguard said. "Considering. When we find out more, that's when I'll start saying." He looked around him briefly. "You should try to squeeze in an hour more of sleep. We'll be leaving soon."

While Applejack agreed, she doubted she'd be able to do that with all the new thoughts in her head. Even if it was true, Apple Slice should have turned these ponies in, not killed them. Before, he killed those two who were trading with Apple Peel because they were a danger to the family. She didn't agree with the whole thing, but she saw why. She didn't see why here. And that rage in his voice, and the tremble in his grip...so different from his flippant dismissal of Apple Peel's concerns over his remaining in the Barrier Lands. This had to have happened much later in his life.

And the was another thought competing for attention in her mind. That move Apple Slice did...she winced at just trying to recall it, but was that something she could do? She was getting the hang of making the links heavy, and she obviously could lash it with tremendous force, probably enough to break some bones, but that move cut through flesh, bone, and barding as cleanly as wire through cheese. Was there a way to make the links sharp as well? Applejack shook her head, and shut her eyes tighter. 'Look at me,' she thought. 'A month ago me would be scolding right now for thinking of stuff like this. Sure, AJ, figure out how to slice ponies in half using a lasso trick your ancestor massacred a bunch of ponies with.' But, of course, she already knew the answer to that disapproval, and it was the reason why she was here to begin with.

The hour did pass without any sleep. Applejack slipped into her barding, and joined Vanguard and the others outside the outpost. She had insisted on staying the night, and she didn't regret doing so, but she didn't want to stay any longer. The wooden hallways of these halls suddenly smelled like blood, and resounded with pleas for mercy.

"See you around, Applejack," Twocolt had said when passed by him. She gave him a hug in response. This place was hardly a dream spot, but she was glad to find him fine.

Outside, they were lucky enough to get a relatively cool morning. The fierce winds of Fenrir's winter which was battering the north and chilling the Heartland translated to ocassionally cool breezes for the Southern Barrier Land. Applejack watched in dismay as her newly-cleaned dragonscale tramplers partly sank into the damp dirt yet again.

"Good to be out here," Anektor said with his usual toothy grin. "You ponies sleep in such confined places. No wonder you do so well in cages!" He stretched out his back and arms, all but showing off that he was easily as tall as a minotaur, though not as bulky. His yawn exposed rows of yellowed, pointed teeth, and he scratched the scales around his belly with short, sharp claws. He had more than his natural weapons to show off. He was clad in a ragged scale mail, which looked more as if he just kept piling pieces of scaly hides on his body until this badly stitched together armor emerged. The sizes, shapes, and colors varied, but Applejack noted that some of those resembled Seshimyssen's, while others followed the pattern of Anektor's, just at a different color. An enormous axe, the gnarled handle looking like it was just snapped off the nearest tree, hung from Anektor's belt. For a pony, it would easily pass as a good-sized battle axe, but for Anektor's massive claws, it appeared as a hatchet. There was also the odd, crescent-shaped blade slung across his shoulders.

"We make do with austere conditions," Vanguard said. "Don't worry, I've filed a report already, Anektor. Every outpost will, from now on, have a spacious guest room with perfumed sheets and a bottle of fine wine to make sure you crocodilians can survive the night."

"I'll look forward to it, Vanguard Clash, don't forget the serving mare with the silk towels to wipe my ass when I shit," Anektor replied. "But enough of this. You will want the route we're taking, yes?"

"Yes," Vanguard replied.

"We will follow this road until we reach where it turns away from the fens," Anektor said. "From there, Ses and I can guide you through marsh hunting trails; a swift way to get to Neksyth's Glory."

"For a tall crocodilian who walks on two legs," Vanguard said. "As many ponies have drowned in the marshes as they have been cut down by ophidites."

"Should be easy enough to guide you through the shallower parts," Anektor said. "I can carry you in my arms if need be. I'm sure Ses here will be happy to as well."

"Not to boast," Seshimyssen said. "But I'm quite experienced in lifting ponies. I know all the good grips."

"I bet you do," Applejack muttered.

Boglight's book covered the marshy parts of the Southern Barrier Land as well. Rain and ice melts from the higher peaks of the west flowed south-east as the great Water Serpent River, where it was joined by another one from the Heartland, officially known as Heart's Tears River, but was more commonly known as the Heartland's Piss. These rivers fed the lakes of the Southern Barrier Land, and it was the borders of these lakes and rivers that formed the treacherous marshes that often bogged downed advances from Equestria or Ophidus.

Applejack wasn't too concerned about the water itself. She prided herself for her swimming, and her gear was currently light enough for that. The things in the water though...fortunately, the outpost had provided some supplies to help in case wading was in their future: packets of salt mixed with powdered Witherstalk herbs for the leeches, various antidotes for snakebites, including vipren, cobrahn, and coatl venom. They were also each given a vial, good enough for a dose, of Deathsleep extract which killed a pony painlessly after a few minutes of ingestion.

"You could kill somepony with it," Grapevine had said. "But I'd save it for when I'm captured by the Empire, or if I'm boiling alive in a crocodilian stew pot."

While they had all these things to bring with them, the outpost had not sent any of its legionnaires to join their expedition. Or, at least, it looked that way. Verdigris promised ranger support. Applejack wasn't sure how that's going to work out if they get in trouble, but she hoped to count on it.

The dirt road from Serpent Watch to farther south wound past great clusters of tightly packed, moss-covered trees and undergrowth. Much to Applejack's annoyance, it was as if they had to move hundreds of feet sideways for a few feet forward by the pace they were taking. She knew that travel through a jungle would be difficult, but she hadn't expected foliage so thick as to be able to form walls of living wood to block them. The horseflies were back as well, and apparently thirstier than ever.

Anektor led the way, his gait slow, but his strides long. Seshimyssen slithered beside him, his tail churning strange patterns behind him that Applejack had to walk on while she and Vanguard followed the two closely.

Hours passed in mostly silence. The noon sun barely made itself known with the thick canopy above them, but the humid heat certainly more than made up for it. They were going down a very slight slope, and the ground was getting noticeably softer. Serpent Watch was hardly a bastion of civilization, but things were getting more untamed as well.

"Here's where we part ways with Equestrian niceties," Anektor suddenly said.

The group stopped at yet another sharp turn of the road. Anektor pointed past a stand of trees with enough space among them to actually let the group pass.

"Easy part's done then," Vanguard said.

"Me first," Anektor said. "Step only where I step." He parted some reeds and took a slow, deliberate step forward.

Applejack didn't miss the gentle splash of Anektor's clawed foot sinking into water, not that it surprised her any less. The "ground" ahead looked like perfectly solid, grassy earth. But the leaves parted with ease as soon as her hoof touched them, and it was warm, slimy water that enveloped her legs up to her knees. She squinted at the water, but all the green, sludgy, tiny leaves on its surface made it impossible to see what was beneath.

"Don't think too much of it," Vanguard said as he waded next to her.

Applejack could barely suppress the urge to rear when her foreleg stepped on...something, that desperately tried to skitter away. A dozen tiny legs brushed against her hoof, before she could release it.

"Me and some of the rebels took this trail to get to Serpent Watch," Anektor said. "Ran into a bloodthorn, if you can believe that, and that was after tangling with a band of imperial harvesters. We should be meeting with them soon. They should have an update on what the Empire has been up to."

"Imperial Harvesters?" Seshimyssen asked. "This far? I doubt it. Probably a noble pushing his luck for profit. You didn't even check their colors, did you?"

"Pah!" Anektor said. "You snakes all look alike anyway."

The going proved predictably slow and difficult. Applejack had to alternate between struggling to lift her legs because the muddy bottom was sucking them in, and stepping carefully to avoid slipping. As they waded farther in, the water reached up to her chest. She could just imagine her fur being completely matted with this slime, encrusted with mud, and crawling with whatever bugs she had picked up along the way. The stink of grime, and damp, moldering vegetation didn't help matters. As more hours passed, the dampness was starting to feel as if it was seeping into her bones. The fear of her hooves softening started to creep in, but still no sign of the Crocodlian Rebellion. A quick glance at Anektor's grim look and his increasingly obvious searching showed that this wasn't expected.

"Lintik..." Anektor muttered. He looked back to Vanguard without stopping. "Looks like my clients got spooked, and ran back to Neksyth's Glory. We should keep going until we either find them or just reach the Rebellion."

"Maybe they're dead," Seshimyssen said.

"I hope not," Anektor replied. "That's going to cut into my pay."

"Does the Rebellion do this often?" Vanguard asked. He glanced around, his frown deepening.

"No," Anektor said. "The Rebellion might be deluded, but it's full of overzealous fools. The would't run off because they're scared. And if they changed their minds about working with Equestria, they'd tell us to our faces. Right before I beat their scales off for wasting my time."

"Something wrong, Vanguard?" Applejack asked.

"Just that I'm at a rather comfortable temperature at the moment," Vanguard said. Applejack looked at him quizzically. "Not something a north-pony should feel down here, is it? And these missing crocodilians..."

Now, Applejack was frowning as well. She should be sweaty by this time. Vanguard was right. "So, maybe they--" Applejack stopped when she noticed two things. First, her chain was glowing a pale, silvery light. Second, some figures were slowly moving towards them. She first assumed that these were the missing crocodilians, but these were pony-shaped figures. "Vanguard," she whispered.

"I see them," Vanguard replied. He stared at the figures, his hoof already closing in on his sword.

Applejack followed suit. She didn't want to assume that these were enemies, but she had a feeling that this wasn't how rangers approached allies. The glow from her chain brightened as the figures came closer. And, if that wasn't suspicious enough, this chill was familiar. Not Northern Barrier Land familiar, or Ponyville winter familiar. All around her, the marsh seemed to darken further. The small branches and twigs above and around them seemed dance around the corners of her eyes, like spiders scuttling out of sight. The air felt heavy, damp, and far too still. Oh, she knew where she felt this before, and she had hoped so much to never feel it again. As for those "ponies"...well, she might have to go against Vanguard's advice, and try to use her shield.

"Ses," Anektor said. "These are Ophidus ponies, yes?"

"Could be," Seshimyssen said, an arrow already nocked. He flicked a thumb over to Applejack. "They don't come by so few. It also doesn't explain the fancy glow from her chain." He looked to her this time, eyes curious and intense. "Care to explain, Applejack?"

"I dunno," Applejack replied. "But it's got something to do with Apple Slice, or something." On instinct she raised the chain, both to inspect it, and to see if it would react further to the approaching ponies. There was no hiding the glow, to the point that Applejack was worried that it would attract things in this dimly lit marsh.

The lead pony sloshed and staggered forward while the other two hung back. As it came closer, Applejack started noticing more disturbing details. This pony was soaked to the bone. Its leather barding was rotten and dripping, its long muddy-brown mane clung to its neck in thick, matted streaks, and a pervasive scent of...dampness just wafted from it, overpowering even the smells of the marsh.

"Stop," Vanguard said. "Who are you, pony, and what are you doing here?"

The pony didn't seem to hear. "Slice..." it moaned. "Is that you? By the prince, we found you at last!"

Applejack stepped back. Not just from the damp, reeking stench, but also upon noticing that half this pony's face had rotted off. Those tattered lips were blue, one eye socket was empty, and the water...so much water from it. Up close, it showed a barely distinct, dark bluish glow.

"Stand back!" Vanguard growled. He stepped between Applejack and this...this walking corpse.

"Restless dead!" Anektor snarled. "A new one to the area, this!"

"Slice," the pony said. "We were heading for Greenfang. I swear, we were heading there! Please..."

"I dunno what you're talking about!" Applejack said. She was halfway to lashing out with the chain. The cold dampness from this pony was chilling her to the core. "I'm not Apple Slice!"

When the pony reached out to touch her, that was all Applejack could take. The chain struck the pony across the face, knocking it to the water with a loud splash.

"Slice, I'm sorry..." came the pathetic cry. Applejack could only shiver and take another step back so that she bumped against Vanguard. The other ponies that had approached showed no concern over their fallen comrade. Instead, they stared on, the dim sunlight barely showing their own soaked and rotten hides.

"You didn't say anything about crossing the haunted parts of the marsh, Anektor," Vanguard said.

"I've passed through here several times," Anektor said. "I never ran into restless pony dead."

"Same here," Seshimyssen said. He stared pointedly at Applejack. "Then again, I don't have a glowing chain."

Applejack stared at the water for a while, wary of that...thing rising. "It said Slice," she said. "It thought it saw Apple Slice."

"And it apologized," Vanguard added with a nod. "Said something about Greenfang as well. Reinforcements? But they never made it."

"Don't be so quick to trust your restless dead, Vanguard Clash," Anektor said.

"Why not?" Vanguard asked. "You know something about this?"

"Our shamans speak of them," Anektor said. "Ponies do not linger often when they die. Not even the ones in the Boiling Marsh rose up to curse at the crocodilians, and they died betrayed. When tales of restless pony dead are told, they are the ones who died so miserably that they are trapped here." Anektor looked at the water where the pony fell in. "And it is always in bodies of water. Your restless dead keep ending up in such places."

As Applejack feared, the water before her rippled and splashed as the pony she struck rose up with a moan. She breathed rapidly, chain already raised for a second strike. Why did it have to be ghosts? The specters of the Six Companions gave her all she could stomach with dead ponies that refused to get it. "Stand back, ya'll!" she snapped. "So help me, I'll lay this chain on you until you wish you could die!" She had to fight her teeth chattering and her legs trembling to get that threat out. She couldn't even tell if it was fear or the unnatural chill from these things.

"You have a better shamanistic chant, yes?" Anektor said. He waved his huge, crescent blade before him in some kind of threatening display, but the other ponies merely looked on. "Something you ponies can do to calm your dead?"

"Not really a common enough problem, Anektor," Vanguard growled. "At least until recently."

"Slice...please...we didn't know. I swear we didn't. It's been so long...and so cold..." All of them were sloshing towards Applejack now. "Neksyth's paid for what he did already. Please, Slice...let go..."

"I dunno what you think I can do for you!" Applejack said. "I'm not Apple Slice, and I got no idea how to not make you cold!"

The ponies stopped and seemed to stare dumbfounded at Applejack. The cold turn from a numbing blanket all around Applejack to a barrage of pinpricks into her hide. "Still!" the closest pony howled. "Still, you mock us, Slice! You can't hold us to this forever! Even you must want this to end! Slice, let us go!"

The last word dragged on for what felt like minutes, with the other ponies joining in with their anguished cries. An unnatural wind swirled the water around them, pelting Applejack with half-frozen droplets. Then, they were all gone, and the chain's glow dimmed. Applejack stared at the thing. "What's going on?" she whispered. Even as she spoke, the unnatural chill passed, and the sunlight passing through the canopy was again enough to brighten the place. Still, there was a mood to this particular part of the marsh, a sad, resentful atmosphere that encouraged them to move on as quickly as possible. Applejack had no problem complying.

"The Old Bear Wrangler had more to him than a heroic death, I take it?" Seshimyssen asked. "Not exactly loved by all if those things had anything to say about it."

Applejack wiped the sudden sweat from her brow. She was only too glad to feel the oppressive, humid heat of this place instead of the abyss's unnatural cold. "He was a lot of things alright," she muttered. "And it just keeps adding up." She took her place next to Vanguard, all too eager to put this confounding incident behind her for pondering later.

Another hour of slow progress passed them by. Applejack was now convinced that she was carrying several unwanted passengers on her hide from the thick, slimy sensation crawling there. It was only now that they decided to eat. Late lunch was a few pieces of dried fruit and a couple of swigs of fresh water. They passed by some of bright red grape-like fruits as they ate. Each cluster looked ready to burst with fresh juice. The pony skeleton hanging by its neck from the vines, however, spoiled any ideas to supplement their meal. With the sun starting to set, Applejack had to wonder how they were going to make camp.

"Vanguard Clash!" Anektor called. He suddenly veered from his direction, and ran towards some trees, forcing all of them to follw suit in a chorus of loud, frantic splashes. Applejack's knees were starting to protest from the constant effort of pulling her legs out of the muck, but she pressed on.

They made it to a small, thankfully dry, clearing; a natural bank which could serve as a good spot to camp.

Or it would be if the large number of broken branches told another story. As did the scattered, bloody axe blades and their broken handles, and the streaks of blood on the nearby leaves and tree trunks.

Anektor had stopped in front of a particularly tall and thick tree. Beneath him, the trails of blood converged towards where he looked. Seshimyssen slithered to his side, and let out a displeased hiss. Applejack and Vanguard pushed past them for a better look.

Two dead crocodilians lay propped up against the tree's base, their tongues lolling and their skulls crushed. Though not as tall and muscular as Anektor, they were still large and powerfully built. The damage went beyond their skulls, however. Their arms were pinned to their sides, bent at unnatural angles having been snapped in two like twigs. Their ribs had caved in. Several had splintered and poked out of their chests.

"What in tarnation happened here?" Applejack asked softly. She couldn't raise her voice lest whatever commited this monstrosity was still nearby.

"Death by squeezing," Seshimyssen said. He pointed to the gouges on some of the other trees, then to the large, deep runnels along the ground. "Halberd chops there, and the trail of a big, heavy ophidite, probably armored too. This is typical constrictor work."

"Not so typical, this," Anektor said. "These two were pinned to this tree, then squeezed together with the tree." He pointed to the crushed bark and the large cracks along the wood. "That takes no typical constrictor. I see no other trails here, no stray vipren arrows, no poison trails from cobrahn spells. The work of a lone ophidite." His teeth flashed in a grin. "A bold introduction to the Rebellion, yes? They will definitely need Equestria for this. What was his name again, Ses? Something about sacks."

"Sakylthos, the Grasp of the Empire," Seshimyssen said. "Hero of the Battle for the Scaled Grove."

"The Slaughter of Scale Grove," Vanguard growled.

"I did not come up with the names, Vanguard Clash," Seshimyssen said. "He recieved the Fanged Medal of Service while I was still working stables. He's a glorified constrictor grunt, if you ask me."

"You know this snake, Vanguard?" Applejack asked.

"Southern Special Operations was willing enough to share regarding him. He started out as a bounty hunter, bringing back escaped slaves. Found favor with some coatls, and got better at his job. Scale Grove was the first major battle he partcipated in. Southern Special Operations has lost two squads trying to assassinate him since then. If he's involved here, then the Empire does have a lot of vested interest in what just happened in Neksyth's Glory."

"We can't turn back now," Applejack said. "There's definitely something up with Apple Slice."

"We won't," Vanguard said. He gave the dead bodies one more glance before moving on. "I had hoped we could sidle past the Empire, and take care of the mission, but we're in the thick of things now."