August 26, 3095 Imperial Calender (1522 AD)
Pound Cake took a deep breath, squinting as he fixed his eyes on the thin pole sticking out of the ground. Opening his eyes and exhaling, he took a step forward and swung his wing, sending the horseshoe flying. It nicked the edge of the pole, spinning off and landing to the side.
"Luna's plot!", he exclaimed in frustration.
Southern said, "Ah, don't worry. You were closer than ah was!"
Soundboard cracked her neck, sliding off of a bale of hay and grabbing a horseshoe in her magic aura. "Alright. Let me show you how it's done!"
Maraschino snorted, looking up from his game of checkers with Depressi. "You want to take a turn?"
Depressi said, "No, no. I have a feeling it'd be an embarrassment for them if I tried."
Pound looked back at the two of them, asking, "And what does that mean!?"
Depressi said, "It means that I can hit it while throwing three at the same time." He turned back to Maraschino, and moved a piece. "Your move."
"You moved it wrong", Maraschino said, pointing to the piece. "In checkers, you move it one place diagonal. Like this."
Depressi watched him move one of his own pieces and then move it back, before snorting and looking around as if he heard something. "What a strange game."
Soundboard grunted in frustration. Depressi looked over and saw that the horseshoe that the unicorn had thrown had fallen short, skidding and landing just before the post. Pound noticed him looking and said, "Ok, seriously. I heard your special talent is throwing and shooting stuff, so why not show off? Prove it."
"Heard it from where?", Depressi asked. "I don't recall telling you, or even you asking about it."
"Grace told me", he said.
Depressi cocked his head in confusion, standing up and asking, "Why were you talking with her? No offense or insult intended, but you two don't seem like you'd normally interact."
As if to answer his question, a pine tree in the distance began to shake, sending a torrent of needles and birds leaving its limbs. Southern also stood, muttering, "Not again." She broke into a gallop, heading across the orchard towards the woods. Maraschino and Pound cake looked at one another, before joining her.
Depressi asked, "What is going on?"
"Looks like the Crusaders tried one of their more insane stunts", Soundboard said, shaking her head. "I'd really thought that Styx and Graceful would keep them from doing something too stupid, but they keep surprising me."
"Crusaders?", Depressi asked. "As in the group that my Aunt was a part of?"
"Yeah. Both my moms have stories about them, by the way", Soundboard said, snickering. "They were REALLY out of control. These ones aren't as bad, but they've still done some crazy crap. Come on. We should go make sure they're ok."
Depressi nodded, flaring his wings and taking off and flying after Soundboard. They arrived at the place where the Whitetail Woods and Sweet Apple Acres meet, catching up with the other three.
Depressi landed next to them, looking at a group of foals who were currently untangling themselves. He recognized two of them, Graceful Wind and the Terran colt he had seen about two weeks ago on Sweet Apple Acres. There were three others, all of whom were groaning and standing up and allowing him a better view of them.
One of them was a unicorn filly, likely the oldest of them. She had a dark lavender coat with a burgundy mane with a pair of stripes, one pink and one darker purple. She wore a small four-pointed pink star on a necklace, and said snidely, "I told you this was a bad idea, Cherry."
The smallest and likely youngest of the group stood up, replying, "Oh, come on. It was worth a shot! Besides, it was fun!" She was a pale pink color, two different shades of pink running down her curly pink mane.
Another one stood up, trying to hide beneath a large pink mane. Her fur was steel gray, with cloven hooves as opposed to the normal rounded ones, along with a more blocky snout and a pair of massive horns. She said softly, "Um, girls? And, and Fritter?"
The five of them turned as Southern stood above them, the massive mare putting a hoof to her shaking head. "Fritter, ah told ya time an' time again. You know yah ain't supposed to do dangerous stuff like this without supervision."
"But Ma couldn't, and Pa, Uncle Big Mac, Aunt Zecora, and Aunt Apple Bloom are in town!", the tangerine colt, who must've been Fritter, said. "And Cherry was sure this would be fine! This weren't even a crusading try; it was just practicin' fer us tryin' Rock Climbin'!"
"Ah don't care," Southern said. "Fer Luna's sake, what would yer Ma think if ya got hurt?"
The colt seemed to freeze and kick the ground. Southern sighed before continuing, "Now, anypony hurt?"
"I am!", Graceful exclaimed. "Styx fell on me!"
Styx and Southern sighed at the same time, and Southern said, "Alright. We're goin' back ta the barn. I'll get the first aid kit, and we'll take a look at ya. In the meantime, the rest 'a my friends will keep an eye on ya, ok?" The foals nodded, and Southern said, "Let's go then."
As the group of them lead the way back to the main homestead of Sweet Apple Acres, Depressi flew up next to Pound Cake and said, "I'll take a shot."
"What?", he asked.
"You want me to try my luck at the horseshoes", Depressi said. "So, I'll give it a shot."
Pound smiles and says, "Alright!"
They arrived back at the barn, with the foals waiting while Southern headed back towards the main house. Depressi picked up the horseshoe, feeling the weight. It was a bit heavier than he was used to. He took another minute or so in order to get the feeling of it right, before grabbing the edge of it in his paws. He gave a pair of wind-up swings, before finally throwing it. The horseshoe hit the pole dead center, tearing it out of the ground.
Pound looked at him in stunned silence as Depressi headed back to the barn. He stopped to pat him on the shoulder, and said, "It's all in the wrist." He sat down next to the bale of hay, pulling a flask off of his belt and taking a swig.
"Excuse me?", a voice said. Looking to his right, he saw Graceful had come up to him, the rest of the Crusaders behind her.
"Yes?"
She said, "Well, I told my friends about our meeting at our mutual uncle's house and about your cutie mark. I was wondering if you would tell us how you got it?"
"Yeah!", the pink Terran filly, Cherry if he remembered correctly, said, hopping up next to Graceful and pushing onto her shoulder a bit, making the pegasi wince. "From what she described, it sounded awesteresting!"
"Awe-stress...I am sorry, what?", Depressi said.
The unicorn said, "Cherry has a bit of a habit of combining words, much like her mom. In this case, it's a conjunction of the words 'Awesome' and 'Interesting'. I'm Styx, by the way."
"And, the others?", Depressi asked. "Just so I know who's who?"
Styx pointed to each of the foals in question as she said, "You already met Graceful. The colt is Apple Fritter. The crazy pink one-"
"Hey!", Cherry said.
Styx smirked, before continuing, "-Is Cherry Pie. And the hybrid is Silver."
"Hi", Silver said, waving.
"Salve", Depressi replied, before putting the cork back on his flask and putting it down next to him. "Alright. Well, I got my mark about eight years ago. I was a few years older than you." That part gave him pause. "For that matter, why are you doing this now? I didn't get mine, as well as most of my other equine friends, until we were at least ten. You can't be any older than six."
"Because it's fun!", Cherry cheered.
Styx added, "And it's never too early to give it a try."
"I suppose that's fair", Depressi said. "Anyway, I was on a boat with one of my friends...
++++~++++
Eight years ago...
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Harpoon?", Depressi asked.
Across from him was a dark green Terran filly with a messy mop of black mane, who was rowing a small dingy. She wore a rumpled and salt-wrinkled tunic and a wide-brimmed hat. She smiled, revealing a mouth missing two teeth with another one cracked.
Harpoon said, "Ah, come on! We're just going to one of the caves under your mom's fort. There are navy patrols everywhere!" To prove her point, she pointed to a small skiff, a trio of Pryhan sailors and a marine on board, skimming near the coast.
"Yeah. But, still...", Depressi said, rubbing the back of his foreleg.
Harpoon said, "Oh, come on! It's cool! Besides, it's not all that big a deal. It's just a cave."
Depressi sighed and face-palmed. "Why are we friends?"
"Because you're too stiff for you own good", Harpoon said. "And you need me to help you stop being stiff."
"There's nothing wrong with being disciplined", Depressi muttered.
"Ok, we're here!" Harpoon let go of the oars, setting them next to her on the boat as they drifted into a cave. The water reflected in weird ways off the water, giving the impression of swirling shapes on the ceiling, resembling a massive mosaic made of jade.
"Ok", Depressi said. "I'll admit. This is kinda cool."
Harpoon laughed out loud, grinning like a brigand. She said, "I told you! This stuff's cool!"
The two of them sat in the boat for a few more minutes, just looking at the magnificent looking shapes dancing across the top of the cave. A faint sound caught Depressi's attention, who looked and saw a movement in the greenish-bluish water. "Uh, Harpoon. What is that?"
Harpoon looked over to where Depressi was looking, spotting the shape moving just under the water. Her eyes widened, and she said, "Well, that's not good. We should go. Grab an oar."
Harpoon didn't even wait for a proper reply, tossing him an oar which he caught with his wing. He slid the oar into its place, rowing in turn with Harpoon. They began to make their way out of the cave, moving just past the mouth of the cave and into the sun before hearing the sound of displaced water behind them. Depressi looked back, just in time to see a Havelon Eel lunge out of the water towards their small boat.
++++~++++
"Wait, a wha'?", Fritter asked.
"A Havelon eel", Depressi asked. "It looks like... Oh, how to describe it...?"
"I know what an eel looks like", Styx said. Silver nodded in agreement.
"Ok, that's a good point of reference", Depressi said. "Now, imagine the eel being about as tall as a pony, as wide as two, and about eight meters long."
Cherry asked, "Meters?"
"Pryhans-and most other countries, for that matter-use a system called the metric system", Styx said. "It's about... twenty-five hooves?"
"Closer to twenty-six, but yeah. Anyway, now give that eel a long tongue with a trio of grabbers on it for holding prey, and that's about what a Havelon eel looks like", Depressi said.
Graceful shuddered. "Ah. How ghastly."
"Yeah, they're disgusting to look at", he said. "Pretty tasty, though."
Graceful stood sentry-straight, before fainting. Fritter snickered, muttering, "Note to self. Bring that up whenever she tries to get me to put on somethin' fancy."
Depressi snorted in amusement. "Anyway, where was I...?"
++++~++++
The two of them backed away from the center of the boat, Depressi flapping his wing and taking to the air. The Havelon eel slammed into the middle, crushing the wooden boat to splinters. Harpoon went spilling into the water, surfacing with a gasp. Immediately, as she watched the eel vanish under the water, she turned over and began to paddle to a rocky outcropping.
The eel swung back around, it's form whipping through the water like a Thunderlance ball through the air. Depressi looked side to side in panic, eventually falling on the Pryhan patrol boat nearby. The sailors on board looked over, eyes widening and turning the motor on.
Harpoon managed to reach the rocks, clambering up onto them and getting as close to the cliff as she could. The eel slammed into the rock, it's rough, scaly skin skimming along the rocks before backing off, hissing in anger. The eel swam around the sides, sending the green filly scampering side to side to avoid its hissing jaws.
Depressi continued to look around, before taking a deep breath. His mother had faced down armies, and if she could do that, then he could save his friend. He looked over to the wreckage, spotting a snapped oar.
He flew down, grabbing it with his paws and flying up to a decent height. The patrol boat was getting closer, the sailors on board readying crossbows, but they didn't have a good angle to hit its underbelly or head.
The eel feinted to its side, sending Harpoon backing up before whipping around the outcropping and latching onto her leg. Harpoon screamed in pain, and Depressi cringed. Through his squinted eyes, he took a deep breath. He reared back the oar in his paw, before launching it forward.
It sailed right into the things eye, the splintered wood sinking in with a spray of blood. It let go of Harpoons leg, rearing back and hissing to the sky. Losing interest in its prey, it dove back under the water and disappeared. Depressi landed next to his friend, asking, "Harpoon, are you ok!?"
She winced, before weakly chuckling and asking, "Do I look ok? Still, I owe you."
"Don't mention it.", Depressi said. He felt a faint flare on his flank, but dismissed it as the rush of adrenaline fading from his system.
They were interrupted by another voice calling, "Get them on board." Looking over, they saw one of the sailors climb off the boat and run over to them. The speaker was still on the boat, bearing the polished brass sharks-head emblem of a Midship Officer. He asked, "What are you two doing all the way out here?"
Both of their eyes widened in realization. Harpoon whispered, "We are so busted."
++++~++++
"I didn't notice until later. My mom pointed it out when we got back... after she berated us for going into those caves, of course", Depressi said.
"Wow!", Fritter said.
"Yeah!", Cherry said. "That was Awesome!"
"Very interesting", Styx said, rubbing her chin in thought.
"Alright, ah'm back!", Southern called out, a first aid kit balanced on her broad back. She stopped, eyes widening at the sight of Graceful in the dirt. "Wha' happened!?"
"Nothin', cuz!", Fritter said. "She just can't handle somethin' cool!"
"She's fine", Depressi said. "Now, I suggest we wake her up. Don't want her mom worrying about this."